"Your Highness, I"m afraid the princess had retired for the day. It would be a good idea for you to go back to Qingwu Courtyard to rest."
Steward Deng swallowed nervously as he stole a glance at the Prince to check on his reaction.
Long Tianhao squinted although he did not appear unhappy on his face. However, he did not intend to leave at all.
Something was not quite right today. Why these two people were were acting so strangely?
"Your Highness, the Princess had retired for the day. She said the night wind was chilly and you should go back early to rest."
Finally, a hesitant voice of a servant from within the courtyard sounded out. She must have braced herself to do such a brave act.
Steward Deng remained silent as he looked to the Prince with his wise old eyes, seeking his opinion.
"Your..." before he could finish saying "Highness", the Prince disappeared from before his eyes.
Steward Deng scratched his head in puzzlement, as he spotted the little gap between the gates. He hesitated for a second before he entered.
The Prince and his princess were really weird people. Why would the Prince leaped over the wall to enter the princess"s courtyard instead of entering through the gates?
With minimal effort, the Prince simply leaped over the wall of Liuxin Courtyard.
It was total darkness in the courtyard, not even a lamp was lit.
For reasons unknown to him, the prince could feel a sense of unhappily welling up inside him.
It seemed that his wife had not realized what he had done.
A gentle wind blew across Long Tianyi face, which cooled it down a little.
The wine was very strong and even he was starting to feel intoxicated.
He walked up to the main house in Liuxin Courtyard and without any hesitation. He pushed open the door to Lin Mengya"s room.
Lin Mengya, who was taking a rest on the bed with closed eyes when the door was pushed open. Her eyes flew open at that instant.
Since Qinghu did not appear immediately, this had to be someone from within the Prince"s Mansion.
She could faintly smell the odor of alcohol in the air and Lin Mengya laughed in her heart.
How dare you, Long Tianyi. Are you going to play the ruffian, using the excuse that you were drunk?
Fat hope!
In the first few nights after their wedding, Long Tianyi barely set foot in this room.
This room looked exactly the same as that day, only that the feminine fragrance in the air had intensified.
It was not from any smoking incense, or makeup powder, nor even spices.
It was entirely the fragrance coming from Lin Mengya herself.
For reasons unknown to himself, the gloomy feeling in him was somehow lifted.
"Your Highness, aren"t you in high spirits, having received a beautiful lady as a gift?"
She said with a dispa.s.sionate tone.
Long Tianhao went into a daze for a few seconds. He could see her sitting on the bed through the moonlight.
"I... I"m only..."
All of a sudden, Long Tianhao was at a lost of words. He did not understand why he had the sudden urge to leap over the wall to get in here.
"If there"s nothing else, Your Highness, you may go. It"s getting late and I"m going to rest."
Lin Mengya did not even attempt to be polite, instead, she directly told the Prince to leave with an impa.s.sive voice, as if she did not have any feelings.
However, these words had a different flavor to Long Tianhao"s ears.
"You"re my consort, so coming to your room to rest is normal, right?"
Suddenly, he sounded a little frustrated.
As Long Tianhao spoke, he simultaneously walked up to Lin Mengya"s bedside.
The two froze as if they were in a cold war.
"Are you really going to be like this, Your Highness?"
Lin Mengya crossed her arms on her chest and stared coldly at the Prince"s figure through the bed curtain.
"So what if the answer is yes? Or no?"
Long Tianhao was not the dispa.s.sionate Prince today. The little alcohol left in his system seemed to have evoked some naughtiness in him.
"If you are positive, then get up the bed and sleep with me."
In a turn of events, it seemed that Lin Mengya had so easily compromised!
"Aren"t... aren"t you angry?"
Long Tianhao tried testing the waters. He could not believe his ears! Did Lin Mengya actually say yes?
"What"s the use of being angry? You are the master so whatever you say counts."
Her words seemed to imply that she someone insignificant, so much so that Long Tianhao did not know whether to get on the bed or not.
Long Tianhao drew the lacy bed curtain up and saw Lin Mengyu, clad in a white garment, closing her eyes to rest.
Although she remained silent, Lin Mengya was clearly displeased.
"I drank some wine."
Long Tianhao finally opened his mouth after keeping quiet for some time.
Lin Mengyu could feel Long Tianhao"s presence close by, but she refused to open her eyes nor make give any response.
"That Hongyu was a gift from King Ming."
For some reason, Long Tianhao began offering an explanation to Lin Mengya.
Could it be that according to the laws of Dapu, the Prince had to report to his consort if he wanted to take a concubine?
"Whether she was a gift from King Ming has nothing to do with me. As long as you like it, you can even take eight to ten concubines. What does it matter?"
Lin Mengya was instantly taken by surprise how she sounded so much like a jealous wife!
She regretted immediately, thinking that it did not make sense for her to feel jealous. Long Tianhao was just her master that was all!
"I won"t take eight or ten concubines. I would only have one wife!"
Long Tianhao was feeling the frustration. Even an emperor would only have one queen, not to mention he was just a prince.
He stomped out in fury after he finished making the last statement.
Lin Mengya opened her eyes and was in a daze, staring into the empty room.
Of course Long Tianhao would eventually meet the girl he loved.
This girl would not be her because she was a heartless woman who had shed much blood.
Had she not already made preparation to leave this place anytime?
In that case, why should she be entangled with the all that happened here?
Once Long Tianhao left Liuxin Courtyard, he came to sit in a pavilion in the garden.
The gentle wind had blown away the effect of the alcohol and his body temperature had lowered.
What was he doing just now?
He shook his head as he was as clueless himself as to why he reacted in that way a moment ago.
He already had Lin Mengya as his consort. That woman was only forced upon him by another.
Moreover, she was not his countryman and there would be differences.
He would never allow such a character to stay by his bed.
On the other hand, his consort was merely a tool for him to continue the bloodline.
Not only was Lin Mengya not one to pester him, but she was also very smart and would be a great help to him.
Despite that fact that there were still many things he did not know about her because he could not see through her, Lin Mengya definitely lived up to the standard of being the Prince"s consort.
The Prince was not allowed to be "married" to any other woman apart from his consort. Did Lin Mengya not know about this law in Dajin?
It was impossible to talk sense between a man and a woman.
While Lin Mengya had completely misunderstood Long Tianhao"s intentions, Long Tianhao was clueless as to how to explain to her.
Early the next morning, everyone in the entire mansion could feel a low pressure diffusing out of Liuxin Courtyard.
Despite Lin Mengya wearing a smile all the time, all the servant knew better not to provoke the princess.
"Sister Baiji, can you please bring the water over for the princess to wash her face?"
The servant girl in the courtyard said to Baiji imploringly, her small face written with fear.
"Can you bring it over yourself? The princess is not going to eat you up."
Baiji had a perplexed look on her face. Usually, these young servant girls would be the ones getting the princess ready, then Baizhi and she would enter the room to help the princess dress up.
What happened to them today, that they were all gathered around the door?
"Alright, Baizhi and I will serve the princess and get her ready for today. You may excuse yourself."
A neatly-dressed Baishao took a few quick steps towards the door and took over the basin of water from the servant girl.
"What"s happened today? Every servant was trying to be lazy. If you let them be, the princess might punish you if she finds out what you did."
Although Baiji blamed Baishao for letting go of the servant girls, she carried the things the princess needed and entered the room together with Baishao.
"My good sister, do you really not know? Last night, the Prince brought home a foreign woman. Of course, the princess would be very angry given her character！These servant girls were unable to tell whether the princess was feeling alright would be too afraid to go close to her."
It was when Baishao tried to explain in a low voice that Baiji, who was rather slow, finally understood.
"But isn"t having a few concubines normal for a prince? Do you mean the princess doesn"t even possess such magnanimity?"
It was common to hear how the head of big families having three or four wives. Even the uneducated rich man in villages took concubines.
How was it that the princess was unable to take it?
However, Baishao did not agree with Baiji"s thinking that it was sufficient for a man to have one wife.
Moreover, not only was the princess beautiful, she was also very capable. Why couldn"t the Prince be content with what he had?
That Miss Jiang created havoc in the mansion.
Clearly, Second Miss was also very fond of Prince.
All these women were nowhere close to the princess, they wondered what was on the Prince"s man.
Once the two maids entered the princess"s room, they shut their mouth and began helping the princess get ready to get up.
Lin Mengya did not lose her temper, neither did she complain about anything to them. She was no different from any other days, everything looked normal.
Straight away the two maids thought that perhaps their mistress was not bothered about the foreign woman after all.
At the breakfast table, however, a frown appeared on Lin Mengya"s forehead as she pushed aside a plate of pickled cuc.u.mbers.
"Why does the cuc.u.mber taste so sour today?"
Hearing Lin Mengya"s comment, Baishao and Baiji turned to look at each other simultaneously.
It appeared that the princess was not totally unmoved after all by what happened. Was she not showing signs of jealousy now?
"Mistress, leave it if you think that it is too sour."
Baiji took the initiative and walked up to take the plate of pickled cuc.u.mbers and put it back on the food tray. Lin Mengya frowned and put her chopsticks into the plate of the cold dish.
"Why does this taste sour too? What"s happened to the work in the kitchen? Did they think that the vinegar is free?"
Putting the pair of chopsticks down on the table forcefully, Lin Mengya remembered that she hated sour food.
Every dish that had been brought onto the breakfast table was sour. How did they expect her to eat any of it?
"Mistress, have some porridge. The porridge is sweet."
Baishao quickly went forward and took away all the dishes that were sour.
By now, Lin Mengya had lost her appet.i.te. She was left with no other choice but to eat the sweet porridge.
"Hm? Why does the porridge taste sour too? The chef is not doing a good job! Baishao, go and teach him a lesson!"
Lin Mengya said, feeling so furious that she cast the bowl of porridge onto the table.
"Yes, yes, I"ll teach him a lesson if that helps you vent your anger!"