Chapter 892 Gentleness, My Everything Is Yours
When Shao Wanru returned to the Palace of Benevolent Peace, Empress Dowager hadn’t woken up yet.
Chu Liuchen came back after she had been sitting around for a while in the side hall. He waved his hand to ask all the palace maids to leave, entered the side hall, and sat beside Shao Wanru. Then he reached out to draw her in his arms.
Shao Wanru instantly blushed with shyness, with her bright watery eyes becoming hazy. She struggled hard but failed to escape from his arms. Chu Liuchen was pretty strong, though he looked slim. Shao Wanru was tightly hugged to sit on his lap.
“Let go of me. If others catch us…” Shao Wanru said with a red face as she was twisting her body hard and trying to get rid of his arms. It was a very indecent scene, and what’s more, they were in the Palace!
“What are you afraid of? We are husband and wife now, and we can do something more intimate, let alone this!” Chu Liuchen said naturally, still holding Shao Wanru tightly in his arms.
“We… we are in the Imperial Palace…” Shao Wanru said in a low voice with a red face.
“So what?” Chu Liuchen raised his handsome eyebrows with a confused face, as if he was indeed puzzled by her words. But his beautiful eyes were full of smiles, and it could be seen that he was pretending to be silly.
“Imperial Grandmother will know…” Shao Wanru pinched him and said. “How can he be so unabashed? How can he do such a shameless thing with such a handsome face? What’s more annoying is that he pretends to know nothing about his blatant deeds.”
“Are you afraid that Imperial Grandmother will catch us doing this? Don’t worry, there are only the two of us here. No one will see us!” Chu Liuchen explained in a serious voice, but he failed to hide the smile on his face.
“…”
Shao Wanru wanted to pinch him again. “Do they need to catch us on the spot? A man and a woman stay in the same room after sending all the servants out. What else could they do?”
“Your Highness…” Shao Wanru tried to purse her lips to show her displeasure.
She thought that she looked serious, but she didn’t expect that her delicate face looked cuter because of her bulging face.
She often looked elegant and charming, which was just perfectly beautiful. But at the moment, she had a girl’s coquettish look, which made her lovelier.
Chu Liuchen felt that he could love her more. He turned his head to kiss her on the cheek and then on her pink, petal-like lips. He couldn’t help but breathe faster.
“We are in the Palace of Benevolent Peace!” Shao Wanru was anxious and pushed him with strength.
“It will be fine that we just talk in secret. If we are… when Empress Dowager summons us… How can I face her?”
Seeing that she become annoyed from embarra.s.sed, Chu Liuchen stopped making fun of her. He just held her slender waist with a smile without any other move.
As Chu Liuchen stopped, Shao Wanru breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t struggle anymore and stayed in his arms quietly. She changed her posture into a comfortable one, leaned against his chest, and then fiddled with a jade pendant hanging on his waist with one hand.
The jade pendant was the warm jade that was once given to her, but Empress Dowager asked her to give it back later.
“It was because of this jade pendant that Empress Dowager made up her mind to marry her to Chu Liuchen, wasn’t it?” Thinking of this, Shao Wanru felt warm in her heart.
“What? Do you like it?” Chu Liuchen couldn’t help laughing when he saw her nestling in his arms and fiddling with the jade pendant.
“No, I don’t!” Shao Wanru stopped moving her hand with a blushed face.
“Tell me if you like it, just like saying it out if you like me. I won’t blame you!” Chu Liuchen said with pride.
Shao Wanru felt that her knowledge of Prince Chen’s bottom line was refreshed again.
“How could he be so natural when he said that?”
Shao Wanru pursed her lips and retorted in a low voice, “I don’t like you, Your Highness! I only like this jade pendant. You gave it to me once, but who knew that it was your plot!”
She meant that Chu Liuchen didn’t keep his promise.
What he had given to her was even asked back! Although he didn’t ask her in person at that time, he had schemed that if he wore the jade pendant in front of Empress Dowager, she would ask Shao Wanru to give it back.
Her coquettish look pleased Chu Liuchen. He liked Shao Wanru’s behaving in a spoiled manner in front of him because it was the indication that she sincerely considered him one of her own. Actually, she, as an indifferent person, didn’t care about such a trivial thing at all! At this time, his handsome face became more and more cheerful. “Don’t worry, I won’t treat you unfairly. What is mine is also yours, so there is no distinction between what is yours and what is mine!”
“No, Your Highness. My belongings are always mine!” Shao Wanru said seriously. She blinked her watery eyes and raised the corners of her mouth.
“Okay, everything I have is yours, but everything you have is still yours!” Chu Liuchen said with a subtle smile.
Chu Liuchen had never been a rule-follower, especially at such a moment when his wife flirted with him. He couldn’t help but want to get some benefits. He slowly moved one of his hands up, but before he touched her chest, his fidgety hand was stopped by Shao Wanru.
“Your Highness…” Shao Wanru said with a blush.
“Fine! I didn’t intend to do anything. I just want to have a look…” Chu Liuchen looked at Shao Wanru’s chest with regret and then sighed in a low voice. “When will you come of age? It’s too slow! I can’t wait for the coming of autumn!”
“How long do I have to wait?”
Chu Liuchen thought that he had to cherish the health of his beloved wife even though they had been married, but it was heart-wrenching for him not to eat the tasty food in front of him.
His words were so explicit that Shao Wanru could totally understand them. She couldn’t help pinching his hand hard again.
“How unabashed he is! I can’t believe he’d say something like that!”
“Your Highness Prince Chen, Empress Dowager is up. You are invited!” Xiao Xuanzi’s voice suddenly came from outside the hall.
Shao Wanru hurriedly stood up and tidied up her dress, worrying that it had been messed up just now.
“Come here, let me help you!” Chu Liuchen stood up and said.
Though Shao Wanru’s face was blushed, she went close to him as she was told. After all, she couldn’t see whether she was disheveled.
Chu Liuchen first tucked a strand of her hair behind her head, then bent and gently smoothened the hem of her dress.
Shao Wanru’s eyes fell on his dedicated face. He was bending and tidying up the dress for her with an elegant and gentle smile. She felt inexplicably warm in her heart.
“A man like him was even willing to bend down to do that for me!”
“Okay, let’s go!” Chu Liuchen looked Shao Wanru up and down after finis.h.i.+ng his tidying. Then he held her hand and walked out together with her.
Shao Wanru didn’t shake off his hand though she was shy and very nervous. Even though she had married Chu Liuchen, she was embarra.s.sed to hold his hand in front of Empress Dowager.
Fortunately, when they arrived at the door, he let go of her hand, which made her relieved.
Empress Dowager had been waiting for them in the main hall, and her attention was immediately caught by them when they walked in. She looked at the couple and felt more and more satisfied.
Empress Dowager had just got up and was in good spirits. After chatting with them for a while, she asked Chu Liuchen about his visit to the Imperial Study just now. Shao Wanru sat aside and listened to the conversation between the grandmother and grandson.
“What did your Uncle the Emperor say?” Empress Dowager asked, and the smile on her face was slowly fading.
“As for it… he said that he would send someone to Xu State…” Chu Liuchen answered gently.
“Whom will he send?” Empress Dowager suddenly sat up straight and felt uneasy. That also made Shao Wanru worried and uneasy.
“Imperial Grandmother!” Chu Liuchen said with a gentle and elegant smile.
“Is… is… is he going to send you there?” Empress Dowager’s face changed a lot, and her voice trembled. She reached out to grab Chu Liuchen’s sleeve and said, “How can he send you… Your… your health… You haven’t recovered yet!”
It looked like a loving grandmother from an ordinary family was protecting her grandson.
Shao Wanru’s expression also changed dramatically. Most of her memories of Chu Liuchen in her last life were learned from others, except for the last scene, which was engraved in her heart.
She married Chu Liuchen much earlier in this life than in the last life. She didn’t know what happened to Chu Liuchen at the same time in the last life, but some things in the depths of her memory were recalled by what he had just said. It seemed that Prince Chen almost lost his life during his business trip.
“Since the time is very close… Could it be this trip to Xu State?”
Nan Jiang was remote. Although Xu State was a small state, there was something unknown there to the imperial power. But Shao Wanru did not want Chu Liuchen to take the risk.
Although she didn’t say anything, she widened her eyes and looked at Chu Liuchen nervously, for fear that he would say he was going.
“Imperial Grandmother, don’t worry. I’m not going to Xu State. I’m just going to see off the amba.s.sadors on behalf of Uncle the Emperor! As a remote state, it keeps getting involved in the affairs of our country. Both Uncle the Emperor and I think there must be something wrong with it,” Chu Liuchen comforted Empress Dowager with a smile and winked at Shao Wanru with his right eye.
They had to clean all the evil remnants of the previous dynasty as soon as possible, so a trip to Xu State was imperative!
His rascal behavior made Shao Wanru angry and annoyed, but she let out a sigh of relief in her heart.
Neither did she know what had happened to Chu Liuchen nor she couldn’t persuade him in her last life. But in this life, she wouldn’t let Chu Liuchen take risks again.
Empress Dowager nodded repeatedly and felt relieved, and she asked casually, “Well, as long as it isn’t you… But who will be sent by your Uncle the Emperor?”
In fact, for Empress Dowager, as long as Chu Liuchen didn’t go, she didn’t care who would go at all.
“Commandery Prince Qing recommended himself!” Chu Liuchen said with a slight smile, a trace of coldness flas.h.i.+ng in his narrowed eyes. “Of course, Chu Qing didn’t mean to ask for permission. He just wanted to force me to go!” If it weren’t for Shao Wanru, Chu Liuchen might be willing to go on this business. Anyway, it was good to travel far to broaden his horizon, and he didn’t care whether it was dangerous or not.
But now, he had someone whom he wanted to protect, so he naturally could not go as Chu Qing wished!