Outside Siyi Hall, beside the corridor.
Chen Xiaozong stood with his hands behind his back, leaving only his back to Zhen'er, eliminating any suspicion that he wanted to seduce the maidservant around the princess.
Zhen'er secretly looked at the tall and graceful figure, feeling very sorry.
If the prince consort was as gentle and polite as the Third Master, the princess and her husband would definitely live in harmony and love instead of having a big quarrel every three days and a small quarrel every two days.
She was daydreaming when she heard footsteps behind her. Zhen'er turned around and saw her prince consort, who was also very handsome but always had a stern face, so she quickly lowered her head.
In the entire Chen residence, only the cabinet minister and the princess dared to show any displeasure to the cold-faced and heroic man like the prince consort.
Chen Jingzong walked straight past the little maid.
When the two brothers met, Chen Xiaozong smiled and called him "fourth brother", then walked away.
Chen Jingzong was impatient: "What do you want to talk to me about?"
His imposing manner was intimidating, but Chen Xiaozong was not afraid. He whispered teasingly, "I have nothing to do. I just smelled the fragrance of fish from your place, so I came to remind you, fourth brother. You know, our father is the strictest. If he finds out that you eat meat during the mourning period, I'm afraid he will punish you to kneel in the ancestral hall."
Chen Jingzong sneered: "Where does the fish smell come from? The best dish on the table just now was the scrambled eggs with black fungus."
Chen Xiaozong didn't smell any meat at first, he just listened to what his wife said, so he tricked his brother first.
Seeing his brother deny it, Chen Xiaozong asked with a smile: "Did you really go to the mountains to catch fish?"
Chen Jingzong pointed towards the yard and said unhappily, "Without this ancestor, I might really go and catch a few to satisfy my craving. With her here, I don't want to cause trouble for myself and give her another reason to dislike me."
Chen Xiaozong immediately gave a sympathetic smile.
In fact, when the family got together, the princess still took care of her brother's face and never deliberately showed any displeasure. However, the couple had a bad relationship and always revealed various clues. How could the truth be hidden from anyone
"Okay, since you guys are fine, I'll go back and rest for a while. I still have to continue teaching them in the afternoon. It's a headache."
Chen Xiaozong didn't ask any more questions and left with a smile.
In Fucuitang, Luo Yuyan was lying on her side on the bed, not asleep. When she saw her husband coming back, she asked excitedly, "What did you say?"
Chen Xiaozong shook his head: "Fourth brother said they didn't eat meat, you might smell the smell of scrambled eggs with black fungus."
Luo Yuyan glared, "How can I not smell the difference between scrambled eggs and fried fish? You still don't believe me, right? Don't forget, I have a very good nose. The year you won the third place in the imperial examination, you went to drink wine and changed your clothes on purpose, but I could still smell the powder on your hair!"
Chen Xiaozong suddenly felt overwhelmed. "What do you mean by drinking wine? My classmates insisted on inviting me to a banquet, and they took the initiative to invite a singing girl. The singing girl waved her sleeves and her makeup scattered everywhere, and some of it got on me. I changed my clothes because I was afraid that you would misunderstand and get angry for nothing, but you took it as ironclad evidence to wrongly accuse me."
God is my witness, he has only had one woman in his life, his wife, and he has never thought of anyone else, let alone gotten involved with anyone else.
Luo Yuyan brought up the past just to prove that her nose was working well, and she did not doubt her husband at all.
My father-in-law taught my husband and his two brothers strictly, strictly forbidding them to indulge in debauchery and have affairs with women, and he didn't even prepare connecting rooms for them at home.
It is said that before the second master Chen Yanzong died of illness at the age of 18, someone suggested that he marry for good luck, or at least leave a descendant. Chen Yanzong refused on the grounds that he did not want to waste a poor woman's time, and his father-in-law and mother-in-law did not force him. In other families, the parents might have used medicine to force their son to leave a descendant.
All these things are enough to show the good family tradition of the Chen family.
"Fourth brother said he didn't eat it, so you believe it?"
Luo Yuyan moved inside and let her husband lie down to talk.
Chen Xiaozong: "If it's just him, I don't believe it. But with the princess here, how dare he act so recklessly in front of her?"
Luo Yuyan snorted: "What if the princess is also greedy, then the two of them will be in perfect harmony."
Chen Xiaozong recalled Princess Huayang's noble demeanor and denied it, saying, "The princess doesn't look like someone who is easily swayed by oral desire."
The more noble a person's birth is, the more he or she cares about face. The princess usually dislikes her fourth brother. In order not to give her fourth brother a handle to ridicule him, Chen Xiaozong guessed that even if her fourth brother put the delicacies to the princess's mouth at this time, the princess would not eat them.
It seemed to make sense. Besides, she had already had lunch and was not so hungry anymore. So Luo Yuyan stopped caring about it and snuggled up to her husband to talk about other things.
At Siyitang, because of Chen Jingzong's merciless sarcasm, Huayang turned him away again and asked him to go to the east wing to rest.
Chen Jingzong didn't care.
This kind of temper of hers was normal, and he had long been accustomed to it.
.
With Chaoyun by her side during the day, Huayang wasn't too worried about any ugly bugs appearing around her, but that couldn't be the case at night. She could only sleep well if Chen Jingzong was around.
So, after dinner, Chen Jingzong stayed in the side room without hesitation, and Huayang did not chase him away.
"Princess, the water is ready."
Huayang prepared to take a bath.
Chen Jingzong rested his head on one hand while lying on the couch by the window. He looked at her and said, "You washed it this morning, and now you wash it again. Aren't you afraid of getting your skin peeled off?"
Huayang knew that his dog could not spit out ivory, so he ignored it.
Chen Jingzong changed his posture and closed his eyes to rest.
After waiting for about two quarters of an hour, the person came back. Chen Jingzong tilted his head and saw that she had changed into a white satin undershirt embroidered with green lotus leaves. Her jet-black hair was tied up high with a jade hairpin, revealing a slender, snow-white neck and a pair of flushed cheeks that were unique to after a bath.
His eyes were wide open, but the beauty walked past him calmly without even looking at him, and in the blink of an eye she entered the inner room.
Chen Jingzong was about to follow her in when he suddenly remembered that he had promised her in the morning that he would take a bath every night.
Chen Jingzong went to the west room and quickly wiped it with the remaining water.
After washing, he remembered that he had forgotten to take his change of undershirt. However, Chen Jingzong was too lazy to ask the maid for help. After drying himself, he simply wrapped the outer shirt he had just taken off around himself and went to the inner room as if nothing had happened.
Chaoyun had just helped the princess with her hair, and there was no need for her to serve anything else. She bowed to the prince consort who entered the room, bowed her head and left.
Huayang left the dressing table and glanced outside the bed. Seeing Chen Jingzong wearing his daytime coat, she frowned subconsciously.
Chen Jingzong: "I washed it, but forgot to take the middle clothes."
As he said this, he unbuttoned his coat.
Huayang: …
When he just revealed a glimpse of his chest, Huayang quickly turned around and lowered the gauze curtain.
Chen Jingzong changed into his inner clothes, blew out the lamp, and came into the tent.
My eyes had already gotten used to the darkness, and I saw her lying face down in the middle of the bed, with a thin quilt draped over her body, outlining her slender and graceful figure.
Chen Jingzong was very conscious. He took down the pillows and quilt placed outside the bed and continued to sleep on the floor.
Huayang looked at the bed silently.
In the two years in Lingzhou in her previous life, she and Chen Jingzong had hardly said a single friendly word to each other. At first, he slept on the ground, and then he kept sleeping on it, as if this was how they should be as a couple.
Of course, they had sex after the mourning period, but not often. In addition, she was resisting in her heart, and Chen Jingzong would not be very gentle, so that incident was not very pleasant for her and was dispensable.
On the contrary, last night, because she had lost and recovered, she was quite accommodating to him, and actually...
Huayang shook his head, interrupting the memories that shouldn't have popped up at this moment.
"have you slept?"
His voice came from the ground, neither high nor low, and a little hoarse.
Huayang: "What's the matter?"
If he wanted to come up and sleep with her, she would agree as long as he didn't touch her.
Chen Jingzong put his hands behind his head and looked at the dark ceiling of the bed. "It's okay. I brought back a chicken this morning. Do you want to eat it at noon or in the evening?"
Huayang didn’t think about these things at all, but for some reason, when Chen Jingzong mentioned this, his mouth began to water.
"At night, it's not easy to be discovered."
"Well, the fish in the mountains are fat, but the pheasants don't have much meat. One is only enough for the two of us to have some soup to fill our teeth."
Huayang: "Go to sleep and stop thinking about it." The more he thought about it, the hungrier he became.
Chen Jingzong: “I can’t help it.”
Huayang secretly complained in his heart, it’s just a meal of chicken, why is he so concerned about it
"Then think about it. I'm going to sleep."
Huayang moved inside, adjusted his posture and prepared to fall asleep.
Chen Jingzong: "You don't miss it? I think you seem to be enjoying it."
She really didn't like that before, he could see that, and he didn't dare to delay it for too long, for fear that she would become more and more resistant. But she was completely different last night.
enjoy
Huayang finally realized what he was "thinking about", gritted his teeth and pretended not to hear.
Huayang: "Okay, but you can't touch me."
The medicine can only be taken once every three months, and Huayang doesn't want to ruin his body because of his greed.
Chen Jingzong didn't say anything. He just threw the pillow up and lay down heavily with the quilt in his arms.
A stream of hot air sprayed on the back of Huayang's neck, which showed how close he was lying to her. Huayang could even feel the man's body heat coming from him.
The bed seemed to have suddenly become smaller.
The scenes that he didn't want to recall in his mind became clearer and clearer, even the sturdy bodies of the two guards fighting in his aunt's house.
Huayang moved inside quietly.
Just as he had stabilized himself, he heard movement behind him and Chen Jingzong caught up with him again.
The bed was opposite Huayang. She stopped moving, but Chen Jingzong was like a wolf eyeing its prey. He did not hide his appetite at all, and the breath he exhaled became heavier and hotter.
How could Huayang fall asleep in this state
"Turn away, your breathing is so heavy, it's annoying me." She said pretending to be unhappy.
Chen Jingzong sprayed her twice more, and she really turned over. He also moved two feet away to make it easier for her to turn over.
The couple both lay still, and the tent quickly became quiet.
Huayang still had his eyes open.
She thought about her own rebirth.
It happened so suddenly. Would she wake up tomorrow and find herself back in the Princess's Mansion in the capital, back to the time when Chen Jingzong was no longer around and all the Chen family members were exiled to the frontier
If this was true, she was powerless to change anything, but at least she should let Chen Jingzong know that she didn't dislike him as much as before.
Huayang turned around slowly, and opposite him was Chen Jingzong's back lying on his side. This posture made his shoulders look broader.
Huayang's thoughts drifted away again.
Before she got married, she always slept alone. When Chen Jingzong died and she became a widow, she still slept alone.
It’s the same person, but the feeling is completely different.
Because before she got married, she lived in the palace. The palace was her home, where her father, the emperor, mother, the empress, and her younger brother were.
As a widow, she lived alone in the Princess's Mansion. It was not convenient for her to move into the palace or bring her mother over. Even if she did, her mother would not leave the palace, otherwise it would arouse random suspicions among court officials and the people.
The Princess's Mansion was her home, but it was so deserted that it didn't feel like a home.
If Chen Jingzong was alive and well, even if the couple quarreled every day, it would still be lively.
During those long three years, she still missed him to some extent.
"Don't move."
Chen Jingzong knew it as soon as she turned around, and thought she was just changing her sleeping position, but he was surprised to hear her say this.
Chen Jingzong remained motionless.
Huayang came closer and put his hands on his thin waist.
If he hadn't been so irritating so many times during the day, she might have wanted to hug him like this a long time ago.
Chen Jingzong's whole body tensed up.
Huayang pinched his stiff arm, touched his broad shoulders, and felt his warm body temperature. Only then did she feel that he was a living person, lying beside her.
She felt peaceful and at ease in her heart, but Chen Jingzong seemed to be on fire.
Could this be her new idea for torturing him
Considering that she had just taken medicine in the morning, Chen Jingzong closed his eyes and continued to make a piece of wood.
.
Huayang slept soundly this time.
She remembered that she fell asleep holding Chen Jingzong, but she didn't expect that when she woke up in the morning, it was Chen Jingzong holding her.
Her whole body was held in Chen Jingzong's arms, with his chest rising and falling regularly from behind her and his strong arms around her waist.
Huayang was glad that she was still here, but at the same time she felt that Chen Jingzong's arms were too heavy and made her uncomfortable.
She tried to lift his arm.
At this moment, the arm suddenly stretched forward, and the broad palm grasped her with incredible accuracy.
Huayang: …
"You've lost weight."
Before she could explode, Chen Jingzong retracted his hand and whispered in disgust.
Huayang sat up with a stern face.
Chen Jingzong raised his eyebrows: "Why, you are allowed to molest me but I am not allowed to ask for it back?"
Huayang hits him with a pillow.
Chen Jingzong jumped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.
Although she was angry, Huayang still wanted him to do something. After breakfast, she handed him two family letters she had written yesterday: "Go and ask father. If he has a memorial to send to the capital, send it along with my letter."
The emperor valued my father-in-law. Now that my father-in-law has handled the funeral, he should have written a letter to report his safety to the emperor.
Chen Jingzong deliberately asked: "What if he didn't submit a memorial?"
Huayang: "Then you can send your steward to the post station."
The Chen family's ancestral home was too small, so she and her two sisters-in-law only brought four maids with them, and had no servants available.
Chen Jingzong understood: "I am the servant beside you."
Huayang glanced at him and took a silver leaf from the house and gave it to him: "Here's the reward. Can you go now?"
Chen Jingzong shook the silver leaf, looked at her meaningfully, and left.
Main house.
The cabinet minister Chen Tingjian was entertaining his second brother Chen Tingshi.
He became the top scholar at the age of nineteen, and after that he either stayed in the capital or was sent to work as an official. For the past thirty years, it was his second brother who managed the family property and took care of their mother. Now that the brothers are reunited, they naturally have a lot to talk about.
"Brother, this is our family account book. You were not at home before, but now that you and your sister-in-law are back, I'll leave all the family property to you to manage."
Chen Tingshi pointed to the two boxes of account books that the servant brought in and said respectfully.
Chen Tingjian waved his hand: "What are you talking about? We will have to go back sooner or later. You and your sister-in-law should continue to take care of these."
Chen Tingshi: "Brother always has to check the accounts..."
Chen Tingjian: "You are alienating me!"
His face was stern. Under the pressure of official power for many years, Chen Tingshi no longer dared to persuade him.
Chen Jingzong came over at this time.
Although Chen Tingshi was the second uncle, he still stood up nervously when he saw his heroic and stern nephew.
Chen Tingjian glared at his son: "Why don't you greet your uncle? You have no respect for your parents, how can you be so disrespectful!"
Chen Jingzong said calmly, "We are uncle and nephew, why should we be so distant with each other?"
He actually fought back with the words of his own father that he had just heard.
Chen Tingjian's eyes twitched. This fourth child is not good at studying, but he is better at talking back than anyone else!
Chen Jingzong said nothing more and placed the two letters on the table next to the old man: "Princess's letter, please deliver it to the capital when you have time."
Chen Tingjian's eyes twitched again, and he motioned for his second brother to go out first. He then asked his son, "Do you know what's written in the letter?"
Chen Jingzong: "Don't worry, they are all praising our family."
Chen Tingjian breathed a sigh of relief, but his face was stern as he lectured his son: "Your mother and I have a clear conscience towards the princess. The only one who has wronged the princess is you. You are stubborn and unrepentant. You know that the princess despises you for being vulgar, but you still don't repent!"
Chen Jingzong sneered and left before he finished listening.
(End of this chapter)