Huayang recalled what Chen Jingzong had said in her ear on the day she fell into the water.
He said, "If you really loved me, you wouldn't jump into an ice hole in the middle of winter."
At that time Huayang thought he was just blaming her for being rash, but now he realized that he had actually seen through her a long time ago.
Her plan seemed perfect, but it actually had flaws. As Chen Jingzong said, she was not someone who would take risks just for fun.
She had been in the mood to play. When they were in Lingzhou, Chen Jingzong took the children to wade in the creek behind the old house, and Huayang also went there.
But that's because there's no danger in the stream, unlike on the ice.
This flaw was not obvious to her father, the emperor, and her mother, the empress, because they always treated her as a child, and it was completely understandable that she was playful for a while.
Chen Jingzong was her bedside companion and the prince consort who had accompanied her for hundreds of nights. To be honest, even her busy father, the emperor, and mother had never accompanied her for so long.
His questioning face was too cold and his eyes were sharp.
Huayang subconsciously avoided the question, saying indifferently: "You think too much. Why would I pretend to be sick for no reason?"
Chen Jingzong sneered: "Of course you have a reason. You can live in the palace by pretending to be sick and not see me for more than two months."
Huayang frowned.
Chen Jingzong stood up and looked down at her with an even colder expression: "Actually, you don't have to do this. As long as you say a word, I will stay in the garrison for a long time. No matter how lustful I am, I will not force you to do anything. I don't need you to use this self-torturing method to hide from me."
Huayang's heart tightened. She really didn't expect Chen Jingzong to have such a misunderstanding!
Seeing that Chen Jingzong was about to step out of the bed, Huayang shouted angrily: "Stop!"
Chen Jingzong stopped and turned his back to her.
Hua Yang glared at him and said, "You are being unreasonable. If I really hated you that much, how could I have indulged you time and time again in the past?"
What he said was simply heartless. Not to mention the distant past, just talk about how many times the two of them had made love at night during his New Year holiday. He himself said that he had tasted enough sweetness, so how could he still miss her so much
Chen Jingzong turned around, looked at her and asked, "But can you say that you didn't fall into the water on purpose that night, and didn't you want to stay in the palace on purpose?"
Huayang was about to deny it, but Chen Jingzong smiled and said, "You can swear on my life or mine. As long as you dare, I will believe whatever you say next."
Huayang: …
She dropped her eyes.
Chen Jingzong: "If you can't give me an explanation that convinces me, I will conclude that you are trying to avoid me. Don't worry, I will leave now and will not appear in front of you again."
Huayang silently looked at the peony embroidery on the Shu brocade quilt.
She didn't want Chen Jingzong to leave, and didn't want to hear him say such farewell words again.
She had heard it once in her previous life, she didn't respond at all, and then he really never came back.
A few steps away, Chen Jingzong's deep eyes were filled with her figure.
The princess, who was once as pretty as a full moon, is now so thin that there is no flesh on her face.
She pursed her lips stubbornly, but her eyes slowly turned red.
She was obviously the one torturing him, but she acted like she was bullied by him.
Chen Jingzong was so angry that he laughed: "You are not afraid of death, but you are afraid of telling the truth?"
Hua Yang turned his back and said coldly: "I am not afraid of death."
Chen Jingzong: "If you were afraid of death, would you jump into that ice hole? You don't know your own physical condition, and you dare to take such a life-threatening risk?"
He almost shouted this.
Huayang calmed down instead, because she finally understood that Chen Jingzong was not indifferent to her illness, but was so angry because he knew she was pretending and was deliberately torturing herself.
Huayang smiled, stroking the familiar peony embroidery with his fingertips, and said calmly: "I didn't take any risks. I was waiting. I jumped only when you came."
Chen Jingzong: …
The rage that was raging in my body and about to explode was suddenly soothed by these light words.
He came over, sat down on the edge of the bed, took off his shoes, moved in, and hugged her from behind.
"Why do you do that?"
Huayang was silent.
Chen Jingzong didn't urge her and waited for her to speak.
Huayang couldn't possibly tell anyone about his past life.
Needless to say, Huayang told his mother about his younger brother, but was afraid that his mother would discipline him more strictly, which would be counterproductive.
She couldn't say anything about the Chen family, for fear that her father-in-law would be disappointed in his desire to make the country strong and the people rich, and that Chen Jingzong would be resentful.
In order to make Chen Jingzong believe that the Qi family was corrupt, Huayang made up a story that the old lady had given him a dream to warn him. However, the old lady of the Chen family could only "look after" the Chen family members and could not use it on her father. She also could not make up a story that the emperor had given him a dream. Chen Jingzong was not a fool. He might believe the old lady of the Chen family alone, but who would he try to fool if the emperor came again
"For my father."
After a moment, Hua Yang smiled bitterly and gave him a reason that could convince him: "I heard from my mother that my father will hold a selection after the new year."
"My mother is kind-hearted and doesn't mind these things any more. I am not afraid of the concubines competing with her for favor, but my father is too weak. I am afraid that he will lose control and hurt his body. After all, he is old and not as young as he was in his youth."
"But I couldn't persuade him openly, so I had to arrange a self-torture tactic. Fortunately, it worked. Father probably won't hold another selection this year."
She was relieved, but Chen Jingzong thought she was stupid: "If you don't run this year, you can run again next year or the year after. Do you still want to lose half your life every year?"
Hua Yang: "Let's talk about next year. At least there are no new people in the harem this year."
Chen Jingzong frowned: "Your solution is only a temporary solution and not a permanent solution."
Chen Jingzong: …
If the old man dared to keep a bunch of beauties and indulge in lust to the detriment of his body and hurt his mother's feelings, he would beat the old man up, and the eldest and third brothers would also use their eloquent tongues to scold the old man in a roundabout way so that he would feel ashamed and would not be able to do it again.
The ministers' tactful dissuasion would be of no use to Emperor Jingshun. If they handed in the memorials and uttered curses, they would lose their posts at the least, or their lives at the worst.
Active persuasion is not okay...
Chen Jingzong really thought of one thing, and exchanged glances with Huayang. He said guiltily: "I am doing this for the good of the emperor, so please don't expose me in front of the emperor."
Huayang: "Just tell me."
Chen Jingzong coughed and said to her ear, "It is said that the old man likes to take medicine, so let's make a pill that can make a man impotent. It is guaranteed to completely put his mind at ease and prolong his life to a hundred years from now on."
Hua Yang nudged him with his elbow. "It's easy to say, but where can we get this medicine, and how can we give it to our father? Who dares to take this job? If our father takes the medicine, it will be exposed sooner or later. If we really investigate, many people in the palace will lose their heads. If we are found here, I may be able to survive, but your whole family will have to see the old lady."
Chen Jingzong had thought of this before he spoke. This method was a good way to eliminate the problem once and for all, but it was too difficult and too risky to implement.
Huayang was not disappointed because she had already thought of various possibilities, and none of them was perfect.
Rather than endangering the lives of dozens or even hundreds or thousands of people, catching a cold was the lightest price she could pay.
"Let's talk about next year next year. At least I don't have to worry too much about father for the next six months." Huayang said in a relaxed tone.
Chen Jingzong looked at her two arms hanging in front of her.
He held a wrist.
At night he always liked to hold her wrists, and liked her gentle posture that was like a peony flower that could only stand still and be destroyed by the wind and rain.
But now, her wrists are almost skin and bones.
"I will work with you to find a solution to this matter, but no matter what the final plan is, you can't treat yourself like this again."
Hua Yang looked at his slender and strong arms, and recalled his indifference in the carriage, and deliberately asked: "Why, do you think I am not beautiful enough now and it bothers you?"
Chen Jingzong suddenly grasped her wrist tightly, but he retracted his force in time before he hurt her. He gritted his teeth and said, "Your conscience has been eaten by dogs."
Huayang: "It's the same with you. I'm so sick, my whole family feels sorry for me, but you're the only one who gives me a bad face."
Chen Jingzong: "Do you believe me? I'll tell them you're pretending and let them all think you're a silly princess?"
Huayang glared at him.
Chen Jingzong suddenly held her face and kissed her hard.
The Huayang people had become thinner and weaker, and soon they collapsed in his arms.
And no matter where Chen Jingzong's hands fell on her body, she looked skinny and bony.
He couldn't kiss her anymore and asked her how she had managed to get through the past two months.
Huayang was actually very aggrieved. She had suffered so much, but she couldn't even tell her closest relatives, the Emperor and the Empress.
Chen Jingzong was the only person who knew the truth, and she could only pour out her grievances to him.
"Sometimes I was so hungry that I couldn't sleep. I didn't have to pretend to have nightmares and insomnia. Wu Run might have seen that I was hungry and asked the kitchen to prepare a lot of delicious food. But I had to be thin, so I could only lie sickly in bed and pretend to have no appetite."
"There were also a few nights when I was so sleepy that I could almost fall asleep while standing, but I was afraid that I wouldn't get enough sleep and would be energetic the next day, so I had to force myself not to fall asleep."
Chen Jingzong listened silently, and when she had said enough, he only uttered two words: "You deserve it!"
Huayang hit him, his weak little hands hitting the man's strong and broad chest, which was almost like tickling.
Just as Chen Jingzong was about to speak, her stomach growled.
Huayang was a little embarrassed.
Chen Jingzong: "I asked the kitchen to prepare food. What do you want to eat?"
Huayang wanted to eat a lot. She had forced herself to be a sick beauty for more than two months. In fact, she had an appetite that could eat a cow every day.
Chen Jingzong thought of his old man.
That time, when the old man was treated by Doctor Li, he couldn't eat properly for about a month and seemed to have lost more than ten pounds. Later, he resumed his normal diet and recovered in ten days. This was because he lost weight purely due to starvation, not a disease like Gao Dazhuang's.
Eunuch Feng was in charge of the kitchen. Knowing that the princess was hungry, he first served a portion of small wontons that had been wrapped in advance. Each wonton did not have much meat filling, but was delicious enough. The thin wonton skin floated gently in the fragrant soup, which was Huayang's favorite color, aroma and taste.
Chen Jingzong sat beside the dinner table and watched her eat with relish.
After finishing the wontons, other dishes were served one after another.
The princess, who was usually so dignified and particular, didn't eat like a wolf, but her eating manners lacked some elegance.
Chen Jingzong had to persuade him: "You have been hungry for so long, eat until you are 70% full first, don't overeat and get sick."
Huayang glanced at him, pointed at his untouched chopsticks and said, "You should eat too. Mother is worried about you getting thinner."
Chen Jingzong: "Your Majesty is distressed, is the princess distressed?"
Huayang blinked his eyelashes and didn't answer. He picked up a cherry-sized spicy and sour meatball that was cooked till soft, put it into his mouth, and looked very enjoyable.
Chen Jingzong sneered, reached out and moved the plate of spicy and sour meatballs to his side, not giving any to her.
(End of this chapter)