Early the next morning.
Gu Yan awoke to the sound of Qingming and the maids outside the door. Afraid of disturbing Yun Xiangye beside him, he went outside to wash up.
Seeing several unfamiliar maids, Gu Yan softly instructed, “Don’t wake the mistress. She didn’t rest until midnight last night—let her sleep a little longer.”
“Yes.”
Gu Yan looked at the still-dark sky and headed toward the main gate, a servant boy carrying a lantern for him.
As he reached the entrance, he saw Gu Ling waiting to accompany him to court. “Father.”
Gu Ling clicked his tongue at the fresh red swelling on Gu Yan’s right cheek. “That handprint on your right cheek—did you press it yourself again yesterday?”
Gu Yan touched the swelling on his right cheek, wincing at the pain. “Yes.”
Gu Ling immediately ordered someone to fetch Snow Skin Ointment, unable to hold back his words. “Gu Yan, where is the dignity of a man from the Gu family? To be slapped by your wife again and again—you’re a man, after all. How can you let a woman beat you so often?”
Gu Yan bowed respectfully. “Isn’t this all learned from you, Father?”
Gu Ling frowned coldly. “Don’t talk nonsense. Your mother is very gentle and would never slap anyone. Besides, I never provoke her anger.”
Gu Yan dared not argue further and simply waited for the maid to bring the Snow Skin Ointment.
It was Xie Zhixuan who delivered the ointment. Seeing her approach, Gu Ling frowned slightly and took off his black fox-fur cloak to drape over her. “In the depths of winter, you could have sent a maid with the medicine. Why trouble yourself to come in person?”
Xie Zhixuan looked up at the fresh slap mark on her son’s face, unable to contain her frustration. “What did you do wrong this time to deserve another beating?”
Gu Yan replied, “Mother, I pressed this myself—it wasn’t from a beating. The morning court session is about to begin. I must take my leave now.”
Xie Zhixuan handed the Snow Skin Ointment to Gu Yan. Seeing his reluctance to explain and knowing the court session was imminent, she could only sigh helplessly.
When Yun Xiangye groggily awoke, she heard Run’er’s anxious voice calling her.
Yun Xiangye opened her heavy eyelids, filled with resentment toward Gu Yan. Last night, he had kept her up until midnight.
“Run…”
As soon as she spoke, Yun Xiangye felt a sharp pain in her throat.
Run’er hurriedly brought over warm tea and said to Yun Xiangye, “Miss, the Princess Royal arrived at Chen hour. She and Nuonuo have been playing outside for two hours already. That’s why I had no choice but to wake you.”
Yun Xiangye took a sip of warm tea, coughed twice, and felt her throat burning as if on fire. It must have been because she had broken into a sweat last night, and Gu Yan had taken her to bathe in the hot spring pool without letting her rest, causing her to catch a chill.
Yun Xiangye grew even more furious with Gu Yan, but she also felt anxious about getting up, knowing the Princess Royal had arrived while she was still sleeping in.
“Cough, cough.”
Yun Xiangye tried to rise, but her whole body felt weak. The slightest movement made her throat ache terribly, and her nose tingled sharply. Coughing gave her a splitting headache.
Xie Zhixuan lifted the door curtain and entered, holding Xiao Nuonuo’s hand. Seeing Yun Xiangye on the bed, she hurried forward and placed a hand on Yun Xiangye’s forehead. “Why are you burning up so badly?”
Yun Xiangye leaned against the bedside, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, nearly retching.
“Mother,” Nuonuo cried out worriedly.
After checking Yun Xiangye’s pulse, Xie Zhixuan said, “You’ve caught a chill and have a cold. It’s only natural that you might struggle to adjust to Chang’an when you’ve just arrived. I’ll prescribe some medicine for you. After taking it, rest well. There’s no need to attend the Duke of Wei’s plum blossom banquet in two days.”
“Yes,” Yun Xiangye replied with a cough.
Xie Zhixuan stood up and wrote a prescription, instructing the maid beside her to fetch and prepare the medicine. She then stayed by Yun Xiangye’s side, comforting Xiao Nuonuo, who was crying at the sight of her mother’s suffering.
It wasn’t until after noon, when Gu Yan returned, that Xie Zhixuan shot him a fierce glare and called him outside.
Once outside, Xie Zhixuan said sharply, “Gu Yan, Xiangye is your wife. You’ve only been back for a few days, and you’ve already driven her to a severe illness.”
Gu Yan exclaimed in surprise, “She’s seriously ill? Wasn’t she fine last night?”
Xie Zhixuan said, “Take good care of her later. She’s an orphan with no parents—you should be more considerate and understanding toward her.”
“I’ve already been considerate and understanding enough.”
Xie Zhixuan glanced at Gu Yan’s right cheek, which had swollen less after applying medicine. “If you were truly understanding, would she have slapped your face?”
Gu Yan explained, “Yesterday, when she was arguing with me, I said that if it were anyone else, a wife who caused such a fuss would have been divorced long ago. Then she slapped me without even asking for an explanation.”
“You truly deserved that slap!”
Xie Zhixuan glared angrily at Gu Yan. “How dare you even think of divorcing your wife?”
“I didn’t want to divorce her. I said if it were anyone else, they would have divorced her…” Gu Yan muttered softly.
Xie Zhixuan took a deep breath and said, “Is there any difference? So you expect Xiangye to be grateful that you didn’t divorce her? No wonder she was so furious—a single slap was letting you off easy.”
Gu Yan lowered his head and said, “I was wrong.”
Xie Zhixuan frowned. “Don’t apologize to me. Go apologize to your wife. Hurry inside and take good care of Xiangye.”
Gu Yan entered the room and saw Yun Xiangye drinking medicine. Frowning at her sickly appearance, he asked, “You were fine last night. How did you become so seriously ill in such a short time?”
Yun Xiangye replied hoarsely, “How dare you even ask? Cough, cough.”
Seeing how ill Yun Xiangye looked, Gu Yan frowned deeply and asked, “Did you catch a chill in the bath last night?”
Yun Xiangye glared angrily at Gu Yan. “Isn’t it all your fault?”
Gu Yan took the medicine bowl from Run’er beside him and fed Yun Xiangye the medicine, whispering in her ear, “I was indeed wrong yesterday, but even in your sleep, you were still thinking of Young Master Chu, murmuring his name in your dreams…”
Yun Xiangye recalled the events of last night. In her dazed state, she remembered Gu Yan pressing her about who she loved. It was truly laughable.
He had never truly regarded her as his wife or held her in his heart. He had forced her into becoming the daughter-in-law of the princess’s estate without any preparation, yet he had the audacity to ask her who she loved most.
After drinking the medicine, Yun Xiangye lay down, feeling drowsy and heavy. Illness strikes like a landslide—since returning to Chang’an, she had not gone a single day without anger.
Now, with this illness, she realized that her health was the most important thing.
She no longer argued with Gu Yan about the dream involving Young Master Chu. After all, she had indeed dreamed of Chu Jing last night, but it was a nightmare of his questioning—a reflection of her daytime worries.
Yun Xiangye drifted into a hazy sleep, vaguely aware that she was sweating profusely. Beside her, Gu Yan wiped her sweat and changed her clothes.
Her eyelids felt heavy, and Yun Xiangye had no desire to wake up.
It wasn’t until morning that she awoke. Her fever had subsided, but her head still ached, and her nose remained stuffy.
Gu Yan asked from beside her, “What would you like to eat?”
Yun Xiangye coughed and said, “Walnuts.”
Gu Yan then ordered someone to bring walnuts and effortlessly peeled the shells, extracting the kernels for Yun Xiangye.
Yun Xiangye looked at the large walnuts before her and asked, “What kind of fruit is this?”
Gu Yan replied, “These are walnuts from Chang’an City, different from the mountain walnuts in your Yongxing City. Try them.”
Yun Xiangye took a bite and shook her head, saying, “These walnuts aren’t good. I want the mountain walnuts from Yongxing City. Peel them for me by hand.”
Gu Yan knew Yun Xiangye was deliberately making things difficult for him, as mountain walnuts were much harder to peel than the common walnuts in Chang’an.
However, considering her severe illness, he could only indulge her to keep her happy and ordered someone to buy mountain walnuts.
But while mountain walnuts were commonplace in dried fruit shops in Jiangnan, they were quite rare in Chang’an. Several servants searched the city for an entire day, visiting every shop without finding any.
Seeing Yun Xiangye coughing, Gu Yan didn’t want her to be disappointed, so he decided to ask Zhao Jing the next day if his household had any mountain walnuts.
At the Duke of Wei’s estate, in the Plum Garden, today was the Plum Blossom Appreciation Banquet. Early in the morning, many guests had already arrived at the Plum Garden.
By noon, small groups of guests were discussing the return of Prince Ning’s son to Chang’an.
“I heard Prince Ning’s son has been back in Chang’an for several days. I wonder which family’s daughter he will choose to marry? Three years ago, five noble families sent marriage proposals to the princess’s estate—it still feels like yesterday. Prince Ning’s son is truly fortunate; any woman he marries would be the envy of men everywhere.”
“Prince Ning’s son is already married and even has a daughter. I just don’t know if the consort will attend today’s Plum Blossom Appreciation Banquet.”
“Prince Ning’s son is married? When did he marry? Which family’s daughter? There hasn’t been a wedding banquet at the princess’s estate.”
“Some time ago, the maidservants by the prince’s side went to the censor’s office to plead for mercy. The consort, jealous of their beauty, drove them out of the estate.”
“Which family’s daughter is the consort? How dare she be so jealous as a consort? She can’t even tolerate a few beautiful maidservants—isn’t she afraid of being divorced?”
“I heard she’s just a merchant’s daughter from a small town in Jiangnan. She only married the prince for good luck, so there was no formal betrothal or wedding ceremony.”
“A merchant’s daughter from a Jiangnan town for good luck? What kind of consort is that? They never even had a proper wedding.”
“Indeed, without a formal betrothal, it doesn’t count as a marriage. How could a merchant’s daughter be Prince Ning’s consort? Even allowing her to be a concubine would be considered her climbing above her station.”
Wei Nian listened to the scattered discussions about Yun Xiangye among the guests and let out a soft laugh.
The eyes of the world are sharp—everyone knows Yun Xiangye is unworthy of being Prince Ning’s consort.