Yao Huang still remembered the torment of being closely scrutinized by the Prince last time, so as soon as she pushed the wheelchair to the bed, she went to extinguish the lamps in the room.
The brightest were a pair of gilded lotus lamps. Each candlestick extended into three lotus-shaped holders, burning three candles as thick as four fingers.
A slight breeze seeped in through the cracks of the window, causing the pale yellow candle flames to dance gently, much like her rapidly beating heart at this moment.
Approaching them, Yao Huang picked up a lampshade placed nearby. Just as she was about to place it over a candle, the Prince of Hui's voice suddenly rang out from behind her, "Leave them for now."
Leave them for what?
Even if the Prince did not say it, Yao Huang knew very well. Tonight, the Prince had not brought a book; there was nothing else for him to look at but her.
And that calm tone, bordering on a command, left Yao Huang with no thought of trying to negotiate. During the day, the Prince was very easy to talk to, but at night, he was always domineering and forceful. Even if he saw her crying pitifully and coaxed her with words, he would continue with what he had to do. He was very hard-hearted.
Setting down the lampshade, Yao Huang slowly walked back. She let down two layers of bed curtains in a row, but it was still quite bright inside.
The wheelchair was empty, but Yao Huang knew that proved nothing. The Prince could take off his trousers halfway through; since her back was to him, she would not be able to see anyway.
Blushing, she climbed onto the bed and lay down facing the inner side, nervously waiting for that familiar chest to press against her.
Thinking only of the Prince, Yao Huang did not even realize that she had naturally bent her legs forward, accommodating him in advance.
Zhao Sui saw it clearly, but he did not want his Princess Consort to think he was staying over tonight purely for that.
He lay flat on his back and asked the top of the bed curtain, "Do you not want to see me?"
Yao Huang blinked. "Not at all."
Zhao Sui, "Then why are you posturing like that?"
Yao Huang, "..."
It was clearly a misunderstanding, but Yao Huang had no way to clarify it, getting herself frustrated for nothing.
She turned around and looked at the Prince resentfully. "I want to see Your Highness. I wish I could keep my eyes open and look at you from day to night, and then from night to dawn. Is that okay?"
Zhao Sui glanced at her, his voice flat. "Stop talking nonsense. Before, you liked to hold me and chat for a while, but tonight you were acting like that. If you're not angry, then what is it?"
Yao Huang still could not argue, because arguing would only add to her own shame and annoyance.
Since he wanted to hear some casual talk, Yao Huang casually hugged him, pressing against his shoulder and saying, "Alright, I'll chat with Your Highness right now. What does Your Highness want to hear?"
Zhao Sui, "After Li Dashi died, what happened to Pan Xuniang?"
Yao Huang, "...She had no power or influence. Even if she wanted to redress the injustice for her husband, she had no way to do so. She could only accept reality and try to live her own life well."
Zhao Sui, "Elaborate."
Yao Huang, "...In order to fight the lawsuit, she sold all her family's land and became completely destitute. Fortunately, she met a kind-hearted farmer who was willing to share two acres of land for her to farm..."
Zhao Sui interrupted her. "Does that farmer have a wife? Otherwise, rashly helping a widowed woman would likely cause gossip."
Yao Huang, "..."
Asking all these questions just for a story. If that script was not too indecent to be seen, she would really want to throw the book at the Prince and let him read it himself.
Yao Huang started to make things up. "There were indeed some rumors, so after farming for a year and saving up some rations, Pan Xuniang stopped renting his land. Instead, she went to the town to find work. She was lucky and saved the elderly mother of a blacksmith. The old mother, knowing her situation, took her in as an adopted daughter. From then on, she did some physical labor at the blacksmith's shop, which could be considered as supporting herself."
Zhao Sui, "Continue."
Yao Huang, "...I've only read up to here. I haven't had time to read the rest. I'll tell Your Highness after I finish reading it."
Zhao Sui, "Never mind. I'm not sleepy right now anyway. Bring it over and I'll read it myself."
Yao Huang was dumbfounded. There was absolutely no way she could give him the book. Gritting her teeth, Yao Huang hugged the man and shook him slightly, burying her face in the crook of his neck and saying in a soft, delicate voice, "Your Highness only thinks about reading. Is the book more important, or am I?"
After a moment of silence, Zhao Sui raised his hand to pat her shoulder and said in a low voice, "You."
Yao Huang breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the Prince gave her face and did not insist on the script.
Without reading the script, certain things naturally fell into place. The Prince of Hui turned on his side, devoting his full attention to accompanying his Princess Consort.
Perhaps because it was convenient, the Prince did not turn her around again. Anyway, doing this face-to-face right now did not hinder anything, so Yao Huang just closed her eyes and let him move about.
When both of them were thoroughly aroused, Yao Huang consciously tried to turn her back to him.
Zhao Sui gripped her shoulder. "Just like this."
Yao Huang, "..."
Just thinking about it felt difficult, but the Prince of Hui insisted on trying. All he had to do was open his mouth; it was Yao Huang who had to exert the effort to cooperate.
No matter what, it did not work. Yao Huang did not mind, but she was afraid the Prince would not be able to stand the repeated failures.
Yao Huang did not even dare to open her eyes to look at his expression.
Suddenly, in the moment she unintentionally raised her left leg high, the Prince supported her. "Just like this."
Yao Huang, "..."
Yao Huang almost fell flat on her back into the brocade bedding. The Prince pulled her pillow away, so when she was forced to slide upward, there was no resistance.
In the previous nights, Yao Huang had always been half-lying on her stomach, most of her face buried in the pillow. The Prince could not see her clearly, and she only looked back at him when begging for mercy. Now, Yao Huang could clearly feel the Prince's gaze wandering up and down her body. She saw it herself too, like the earth shaking and mountains swaying, but she did not want to look at all, grabbing her inner garment to cover her face.
Zhao Sui did not interfere. This consumed more energy, and he also did not want his Princess Consort to see his disheveled or ferocious appearance as he indulged in this matter despite his physical disability.
By the time the Prince finally released his right hand, Yao Huang's left leg felt as if it had been crippled.
Zhao Sui rested first. When he had rested enough, he turned on his side. She just happened to be pressed against the headboard, making it convenient for him to massage the muscles of her left leg.
He meant well, but Yao Huang was so sore that she kept crying out in pain.
Zhao Sui lightened his touch. Seeing her teary, moist eyes looking at him resentfully, Zhao Sui asked, "Don't you ride horses often?"
Yao Huang, "Not often at all. Our family only has two mules, and usually, it's my father and brother who ride them. I only get to enjoy a ride when they're resting. Besides, in the more than half a year since the imperial draft registration started, I only went out for a horse ride yesterday. Going at it like this all of a sudden, who could bear it?"
Zhao Sui, "Now that you have Niguang, you can practice more."
Yao Huang, "..."
It was too infuriating. She used her right foot to push his shoulder.
Zhao Sui supported his body with his right hand, gripped her ankle with his left hand, and shifted his gaze to the side.
Yao Huang hastily grabbed the quilt to cover herself, while trying to break free from his grip. Her already hot face burned up anew.
Zhao Sui knew his own condition and did not force the issue.
The next day, he woke up half an hour earlier to help his Princess Consort exercise her right leg. This caused Yao Huang to get up even later. Without even bothering to wash up, she first called Bailing in to give her a massage.
Aji loved learning new skills. Chunyan's needlework was too delicate and complex; she had neither the patience nor the time for it. As for Qiuchan's arithmetic, she knew the simple parts, but the difficult parts made her head ache. Therefore, when Bailing attended to the Princess Consort by massaging her leg, Aji knelt on the inner side of the bed, watching and learning as she helped massage the Princess Consort's other leg.
Noticing a ring of handprints near the base of the Princess Consort's thigh, she asked in panic, "Princess Consort, what happened here?"
She had seen many marks left by the Prince before, but they were all on her upper body. As for this mark on her leg, could it be that the Prince had gotten angry and pinched the Princess Consort?
Yao Huang glared at her. "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."
Aji froze for a moment, then smiled awkwardly, guessing that the Prince and Princess Consort had come up with some new tricks in bed.
The morning passed just like that. After the meal, Yao Huang called for Madam Gao, instructing her to prepare well for tomorrow's luncheon. "They are all my maiden family members, so there's no need to make overly complicated dishes. Five meat dishes, three vegetarian dishes, and a soup will do. Make double portions for everything, and whenever a plate is empty, bring out the refill."
Madam Gao smiled. "Rest assured, Princess Consort. Just wait and see tomorrow."
What kind of banquet was it if it just had double portions? She was going to lead the kitchen staff to prepare a feast of sixteen unique dishes for the Princess Consort's relatives. Even the three fishes the Princess Consort had prepared would be cooked in three different ways!
In the afternoon, Yao Huang took a long nap. When she woke up, her legs had finally recovered about seventy or eighty percent. Realizing that her body was indeed more delicate than it had been half a year ago, Yao Huang had Aji fetch a long rope. She had Bailing and Chunyan, who didn't know how to jump, stand at each end to swing the rope. Then she led Aji and Qiuchan to jump rope, sometimes taking turns, sometimes jumping in pairs, and sometimes all three jumping together.
Jumping for a while and resting for a while, two hours passed. The flushed faces of the master and her two servants were all stuck with sweat-dampened loose hairs.
Yao Huang was the one who lasted the longest among the three; even Aji couldn't compare to her.
Bailing said in admiration, "Princess Consort, you are amazing!"
When she first met the Princess Consort, she thought the Princess Consort was so plump and beautifully rounded because she didn't like to move around. She hadn't expected her to be as light as a swallow when she jumped.
Aji said with shared pride, "This is nothing. The Princess Consort also knows how to wield a spear. Her movements are like swimming dragons and soaring phoenixes, even more beautiful than my young master's."
Chunyan immediately played along, "Could the Princess Consort broaden our horizons?"
Yao Huang took a wet towel to wipe her sweat, glanced at the sun in the west, and smiled. "It's still early. I'll show you a thing or two."
She pointed to a young maid and told her to go to Guo Shu to borrow a spear. Prince Hui was renowned for his military achievements, so the manor certainly wouldn't lack weapons.
Guo Shu came over personally, bringing two spears. One had a wooden spearhead, used by the manor's guards for daily martial arts sparring. The other was a long spear made of ox-tendon wood, painted black with a hint of red, with a sharp spearhead; it was an old spear that Prince Hui had used for martial arts practice in his youth.
Guo Shu's voice carried a hint of pleading. "If the Princess Consort is just practicing, it would be better to use the wooden spear. If you accidentally hurt yourself, the Prince will be terribly worried."
Yao Huang smiled, grabbed Prince Hui's old spear, and told everyone to retreat to the corridor. Then, as if no one else was there, she practiced the spear routine she had learned from her brother.
Ordinary soldiers in the military camp, including her father who was a centurion, learned the simplest spear techniques for fighting enemies. Her brother had also learned this set from their father when he was young. Later, when her brother was admitted to the martial arts academy, the renowned masters arranged by the imperial court taught them boxing, spearplay, saberplay, swordplay, and so on. Fearing that biting off more than he could chew would be counterproductive, her brother chose to diligently practice spearplay and saberplay. Yao Huang not only learned these two from her brother but also made Li Tingwang teach her swordplay.
If it weren't for the fact that she could benefit from Li Tingwang, with his foul mouth, Yao Huang would have ignored him long ago.
After finishing the set of spear techniques, as she retracted the weapon, Yao Huang thrust the spearhead heavily downward, unexpectedly piercing a distinct small pit into the stone brick beneath her feet.
She looked at Guo Shu with a smile.
Guo Shu was shocked at first, then clapped his hands in praise. "Excellent spearplay, Princess Consort. This lowly one underestimated you earlier; please forgive me, Princess Consort."
Yao Huang was very magnanimous. She weighed the spear in her hands and asked, "Can you get me an identical one?"
The two spears her father and brother had saved up money to forge were too heavy for her. This one felt just right.
Guo Shu replied, "The Prince's spears are all specially made by the imperial armory. I will go and ask the Prince for instructions. As long as we have the Prince's token, we can go to the armory to have one custom-made."
Yao Huang said, "That's too much trouble, so let's forget it. I won't use it on a daily basis anyway. If my hands get itchy for practice, I'll just use this old one of the Prince's."
She had served him so diligently in bed at night; presumably, Prince Hui wouldn't be so stingy.
