It was not until after dinner that Rong Tang was curled up on the beauty couch in the study, warming herself by the fire, that Shuangfu came to report that someone was knocking on the door.
He looked out the window and saw Qian holding her waist, followed by two maids, walking slowly. Behind her was the gray-clothed servant who had bumped into Rong Tang in the garden during the day. He did not have the arrogance he had during the day, but was hunched over and lowered his head, very submissive.
Su Huaijing asked Shuangfu to lead the people into the main room. Rong Tang drank a sip of hot tea and showed no intention of moving. He felt a little surprised, but also a little disappointed.
Su Huaijing asked him, "Aren't you going over?"
Rong Tang frowned and whispered, "I'm afraid she's going to do something to me."
Su Huaijing frowned slightly, and his expression suddenly became gloomy.
Rong Tang: "She is a concubine and a servant in the mansion. She should be polite to me when she sees me. But she is pregnant now. I don't know if she came to me in person to apologize. If she bumped into something, my father would find trouble with me."
Prince Ningxuan didn't care much about his wives and concubines. Wang Xiuyu could take care of all the household affairs in the backyard of Prince Ningxuan's mansion by herself, so he didn't need to worry about it.
As the crown prince, if Rong Tang really made things difficult for one of King Ning Xuan's concubines, it wouldn't be a big deal. Rong Mingyu wouldn't go out of his way to trouble the legitimate son for such a small matter. But now that Qian was pregnant, everything was uncertain, and Rong Tang couldn't help but worry.
After all, most of Rong Yuan's shady tricks were learned from his mother.
Seeing this, Su Huaijing said, "Then I'll go, Tangtang wait here for me to come back."
The beauty couch was covered with a soft and comfortable cashmere blanket. In mid-to-late October in Yujing, the air was already dry and cold. Rong Tang wrapped himself in a blanket and showed a clear and beautiful face. He had just drunk hot tea, and the color of his lips was heated up by several degrees, revealing a layer of light pink, and a layer of fine water light on the surface.
As the lips and teeth opened and closed, the soft and tender pink tongue occasionally showed a little tip. Rong Tang asked expectantly with bright eyes: "Really?"
It gets dark slower in Yujing than in Jiangnan, but it is winter after all. The sky is dim outside the window and the charcoal fire is glowing inside the house. Su Huaijing looks at Tangtang's well-behaved and unconscious expression, his heart moves slightly, he bends down, and is about to kiss him on the lips.
Rong Tang reacted immediately, his eyes widened, he covered his mouth and dodged to the side, staring at the villain with great vigilance.
Su Huaijing pounced on nothing, was stunned for a moment, smiled softly, and asked him sideways: "What are you hiding from, Tangtang?"
Rong Tang couldn't believe it and couldn't understand why this man was so shameless!
It’s bad enough that he acted like a hooligan with a clear conscience, but he even had the nerve to ask him why he was hiding!
Young Master Rong was furious, his eyes wide open, staring at Su Huaijing fiercely, his voice coming out from behind his palm, a little distorted due to the barrier: "What do you think I'm hiding from!"
The little kitten is angry, meow meow!
Su Huaijing was almost dying of his cuteness. He didn't retreat but moved forward. He picked up an open book from the beauty couch behind Rongtang, closed it gently, and placed it on the low table in front of the couch. He smiled and said, "I just want to help Tangtang get the book. What do you think I want to do?"
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment, frowned slightly, and began to doubt the truthfulness of his words.
Su Huaijing sighed, poured him another cup of tea, and pretended to complain: "Brother Tangtang has such a cruel heart. It's fine that he leaves me alone in an empty room every day, but now he thinks I have bad intentions just because I get a little closer to him. Where in the world can you find a husband like this?"
Rong Tang: “…”
system:[…]
[He is acting you.] The system said coldly.
"I see." Rong Tang replied.
He is so smart now! He can at least see through 50% of Su Huaijing's acting!
System: [Half and half, all by guessing, right? ]
"…" Rong Tang: "You are more annoying than the villain."
The system gave a cold "huh" but didn't expose him. It thought to itself, do you really think your wife is annoying
Su Huaijing waited for a long time without a response from Rong Tang, and sighed again. Just as he was about to speak again, Rong Tang couldn't bear it anymore, put down his hands and opened his mouth: "Fake husband—"
With a bang, the sound was blocked behind the other hand. Su Huaijing's face fell and his voice was suppressed: "Okay, stop talking."
Rong Tang blinked: "?"
The cool, cold, smart, and beautiful villain felt extremely aggrieved. She glanced at Rong Tang unhappily and muttered softly, "There's not a single word I like to hear."
He bent down, picked up two oranges and placed them on the charcoal fire, and said, "Don't worry about it, I'll be back soon."
The warm touch of his palms was still on both sides of his cheeks. The charcoal stove in the room was burning warmly. Before leaving, Su Huaijing looked at Rong Tang with resentment. The latter took a long time to come back to his senses. He put the back of his cool hand against his cheek to feel the temperature, but felt it was burning hot.
Rong Tang panicked and immediately dropped his hand. He rested for a long time, silently covering his face. The sweet scent of roasted oranges filled the study, blending with the scent of ink.
I can’t play it, I really can’t play it…
Rong Tang thought with lingering fear.
Who can beat the villain? -
When Su Huaijing entered the main room, he felt that the temperature had dropped a lot.
Red charcoal was expensive, so it was only placed in the place where Rong Tang usually stayed. The main room was not stained with charcoal. Qian was sitting on a chair at the bottom, holding a hand warmer in her hand, wearing a gorgeous and warm coat. Judging from the age of the fabric, most of the clothes were newly made this winter.
Su Huaijing felt a little cold in his heart, thinking that Rong Mingyu really valued him as a concubine. However, he always had a warm smile on his face, making people feel like they were bathing in spring breeze even in winter.
Su Huaijing and Qian greeted each other, sat down, and were about to talk when Shuangshou trotted in carrying a charcoal stove and placed it at Su Huaijing's feet.
Shuangshou whispered back, "The young master was worried that you would get cold, so he asked me to light another pot and send it over."
Su Huaijing was speechless for a moment, then smiled softly. The faint smile on his face instantly became real and moving.
Qian was stunned until their eyes met, then she quickly stood up and ordered someone to push out the gray-clothed boy from the daytime. The boy lost his balance for a moment and knelt on the ground, his head facing Su Huaijing.
Su Huaijing stopped smiling and asked Qian, "What do you mean, Auntie?"
Qian was less than three months pregnant, and the fetus was unstable. It took a lot of energy for her to walk all the way from her own courtyard to Tanghua Courtyard. Her face was a little pale at this time, but she still smiled and said, "Huai Jing, this servant offended the prince with his words during the day. I brought him here to apologize to Tang'er. I wonder where Tang'er is now?"
When Su Huaijing heard her two intimate names, he found it extremely irritating and felt uneasy. He stretched out his hands lazily to warm them on the charcoal stove, the warm red setting off the fair white.
He made up a story: "Tangtang had traveled a long distance and didn't get enough rest. Today, he heard the servant in the aunt's courtyard curse him to die soon. After he came back, he was so anxious that he fainted. Now he is still lying on the couch and hasn't woken up yet."
Qian's face turned even paler in an instant, and the servant kneeling on the ground couldn't help but tremble all over.
Su Huaijing curled his lips and asked nonchalantly, "Why are you so scared now? Since you brought Aunt Qian to Tanghua Courtyard, I guess those words during the day were said by Aunt Qian?"
The servant immediately shook his head: "No, no!"
Qian was also a little panicked. She bit her lip and said weakly, "Huai Jing is wrongly accusing me. How dare I say such a treasonous thing? Tang'er is the prince of the palace. With him, the palace will prosper in the future. Everyone hopes that he will be healthy soon."
"Really?" Su Huaijing glanced at her lightly.
Qian nodded quickly: "Of course!" Then she kicked the boy. She didn't seem to use much strength, but the kneeling man became unstable, his center of gravity shifted, and he fell to one side.
He looked up in surprise and happened to see Su Huaijing's cold and indifferent eyes. His whole body shook as if he was shrouded in death.
Qian said, "This servant is my own servant. He has been serving me since he was young. He is devoted to protecting me and hopes for my well-being. That's why he lost his manners and sense of propriety, spoke without restraint, and said nonsense. Huaijing, don't take it to heart."
"You are speaking without restraint, and talking nonsense?" Su Huaijing repeated softly, and smiled softly with no discernible emotion, and looked at Qian Shi: "I will not argue with you whether it is speaking without restraint or thinking about it. I am just a little puzzled. Since Auntie said that he is your house-born servant, I think he has entered the palace a long time ago. How could you not recognize the Prince of Ningxuan and actually treat us as foreign guests? Even if we are foreign guests, should those words cursing the master be said by the servants and told to others at will?"
"If this gets out, how will others view our Ning Xuan Palace? Are there any family rules in the palace?"
It was dusk, the north wind was howling in the courtyard, Su Huaijing asked slowly and leisurely, then looked at Qian with a slight smile, his eyes showing deep indifference. Qian's heart tightened, and she finally realized that this prince's wife was not a good person.
She paused and said, "It is true that he was born in my family, but he had always been serving his parents at his mother's house and had never been in the mansion. After I became pregnant, my mother was worried that the people I brought from my mother's house were not enough, so she sent him in. It happened that the prince had not been in the mansion for the past few months, so he didn't recognize his master."
Su Huaijing looked at her, silently looking into her eyes, as if examining her, or even more like judging her.
"Is that so?" He nodded and said softly, as if accepting her words.
Just as Qian heaved a sigh of relief, she heard him chatting and asked again, "Who did you hear those words from?"
Su Huaijing spoke slowly and clearly, "Since he doesn't know the prince, and has no contact with him, how could he have such great malice and courage, and curse the master so desperately, and do it so easily? I think someone must have been whispering in his ear every day, and he heard it for a long time, so he naturally took it seriously."
He paused, then looked at Qian with a smile, but his eyes were cold: "What do you think, Auntie?"
Qian was startled by his stare. She swallowed her saliva and said nervously, "I don't know where he heard it from."
"Is that so?" Su Huaijing asked softly, his eyes casually glancing down.
The servant was frightened instantly, and he rolled and crawled to Su Huaijing's feet, crying, "It really has nothing to do with our master. I made it up. I heard that the prince was in poor health and would not live long, so I had evil thoughts. I deserve to die! It has nothing to do with Auntie!"
At this time, he didn't say "our wife", Su Huaijing found it boring.
His expression became more and more serious. Almost every word the other party said made him colder. His fingers slowly stroked the handle of the chair until the other party finished speaking and kowtowed repeatedly to beg for mercy, leaving a bloodstain on the ground. Su Huaijing raised his eyes to look at Qian and asked softly, "Aunt, how do you think this man should be dealt with?"
Qian was stunned for a moment. For some reason, she didn't dare to answer him for a moment, so she tentatively threw the question back: "What do you think?"
Su Huaijing said nonchalantly: "This is my aunt's person, how dare I do anything to him? But if he speaks without thinking, there is no guarantee that he will harm the master one day. Tangtang is kind-hearted and will not bother with him. If it were someone else, would my aunt have to bring me to apologize every day?"
He was telling the truth. Qian was stunned and thought for a moment, with a hint of viciousness in her eyes.
Su Huaijing raised the corners of his lips when he saw this, and stood up to say goodbye: "I have to go see if Tangtang has woken up. It's getting late. Auntie, you've made a hard trip. You should go back early. After all, you are pregnant."
He lowered his head to look at Qian's belly again and chuckled with ambiguous meaning.
It's hard to believe that Rong Mingyu cared so much about a stillborn baby that was about to be miscarried within three months of being pregnant.
but…
What does it have to do with him? Su Huaijing thought.
It’s better to go back and help Tangtang roast oranges.
(End of this chapter)