Lu Yuan did not care about any of that. The meat was already right at his lips. Wouldn’t it be a terrible waste not to take a bite?
His arm wrapped around her waist, and his thumb gently stroked over Su Yuling’s clothes.
“Lu Yuan, you’re hurting me.”
“Wifey, you smell so good.” Lu Yuan rested his chin in the hollow of her shoulder. “You were way too fierce before. I didn’t even notice.”
Su Yuling clenched her hands into fists, desperately suppressing the embarrassment and anger surging inside her.
“Let go of me.”
“No.”
“Lu Yuan, why are you like this?”
“Call me hus… call me Husband.”
Lu Yuan had originally wanted her to call him “hubby,” but then he remembered that in this era, the equivalent term was used to address old eunuchs, so he hurriedly changed his words.
Su Yuling took a deep breath and drove her elbow backward, striking Lu Yuan hard in the ribs.
Lu Yuan grunted, but instead of letting go, he pushed her onto the bed.
“I’m being intimate with my own wife. If anyone dares gossip about it, I’ll throw them straight into prison and let them learn some manners.”
“We aren’t married yet. This goes against proper etiquette. Hurry up and get off me.”
“It’s going to happen sooner or later. Besides, it’s not like we haven’t done it before. You certainly weren’t acting like this last time.”
Su Yuling’s chest rose and fell rapidly. Her face burned fiercely, and a thin mist of tears gathered in her eyes from a mixture of embarrassment and frustration.
“You shameless rogue. You’ve gone too far.”
Lu Yuan clutched his ribs and leaned crookedly against the headboard, grimacing in pain, yet he could not suppress the grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“My dear wife, I’m your future husband. Let’s do it a few more times!”
“No… Ah, I said no… You’re so annoying! What if someone sees us…”
“Ah… You’re lying on my hair!”
Meanwhile, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard.
The steward, Su Bo’an, hurried inside. He had come to discuss the accounts of the Ninth Prince Residence with Lu Yuan.
However, just as he reached the bedroom door, he heard a series of suggestive sounds coming from inside.
Su Bo’an’s raised hand froze in midair, and he stopped outside the door.
He had served as the steward of the Ninth Prince Residence for ten years.
During those ten years, apart from walking his birds and fishing, His Highness had never brought a woman back to the residence, much less visited brothels to drink and seek pleasure.
Su Bo’an had privately discussed the matter with his wife countless times.
‘Could it be that His Highness… simply can’t perform?’
The late Empress had passed away very early, so His Highness had grown up without a mother’s love.
If His Highness never had any descendants, how could Su Bo’an possibly face the late Empress in the afterlife?
Whenever he thought about it, Su Bo’an became so distressed that tears would fill his eyes.
Su Bo’an pressed his ear against the crack in the door and listened for a couple of seconds. His old face flushed crimson, but his eyes quickly grew moist.
‘His Highness has finally figured it out.’
‘The late Empress can finally rest in peace.’
Just as he was overcome with excitement, someone quietly approached from behind.
A young maid came over, and the moment she saw the steward, she immediately prepared to greet him.
Su Bo’an reacted swiftly and clamped a hand over her mouth.
“Quiet.”
The young maid widened her eyes and nodded.
Su Bo’an released her, pulled her two steps back behind a corridor pillar, and lowered his voice.
“What is it?”
The young maid rubbed the spot where his hand had squeezed her face and whispered, “Someone came from the palace. That young eunuch who serves His Majesty brought a royal decree summoning His Highness to the palace. He said His Highness is being called in to receive a reward.”
“A reward?”
Su Bo’an’s eyes shifted thoughtfully.
His Highness had gone out earlier today and returned with a young woman. Right now, he was clearly busy with her inside.
If Su Bo’an went in to report the summons at a moment like this and ruined His Highness’s good time, wouldn’t His Highness skin him alive afterward?
Su Bo’an stroked his beard and made his decision.
“Go tell that young eunuch that His Highness isn’t at the residence and that we’ve already sent people to find him. Tell him to return for now. Once His Highness comes back, we’ll inform him that he has been summoned to the palace.”
The young maid acknowledged his instructions and retraced her steps.
After watching her leave, Su Bo’an glanced toward the bedroom from the corridor before quietly departing.
‘His Highness has finally figured it out.’
‘If he hadn’t, he would have remained a bachelor for ten lifetimes.’
Tonight, Su Bo’an would personally light three sticks of incense before the late Empress’s memorial tablet and tell her this wonderful news.
…
At the Second Prince Residence, in the inner courtyard.
Lu Cheng reclined against a couch with white bandages wrapped around his entire head, leaving only his eyes and mouth exposed.
His left arm hung in a sling around his neck, while his right leg rested atop a soft cushion. With bandages covering nearly his entire body, he looked like a tightly wrapped rice dumpling.
A maid knelt before the couch, holding a bowl of bird’s nest porridge. She scooped up a spoonful and carefully brought it toward his mouth.
Lu Cheng opened his mouth and swallowed it, but some porridge trickled from the corner of his lips and soaked into the bandages.
He muttered a muffled curse and glared at the maid.
“Don’t you have hands? Wipe it off with a cloth!”
The maid trembled in fright. The spoon struck his teeth and accidentally jarred his fractured nasal bone.
Lu Cheng sucked in a sharp breath from the pain and kicked her in the shoulder, knocking her to the floor.
The maid scrambled away in terror. The bowl of porridge overturned and shattered into several pieces on the floor.
Lu Cheng breathed heavily as he stared blankly at the ceiling beams.
At that moment, footsteps sounded from outside the courtyard.
Han Gou was carried inside, barely able to walk.
His ornate brocade robe had several holes torn through it. His face was covered in blue and purple bruises, the blood beneath his nostrils had already dried into crusts, and two of his front teeth were missing.
The moment he entered the room, he dropped to his knees with a thud.
“Your Highness the Second Prince, you have to uphold justice for this lowly one!”
Lu Cheng’s eyes shifted downward. Seeing Han Gou’s miserable condition, he suddenly felt a little better about his own situation.
“What happened to you?”
Han Gou immediately collapsed forward and began crying.
“The Ninth Prince beat this lowly one and even extorted 100,000 taels of silver from me! Your Highness, just look at my face. How am I supposed to show myself in public like this?”
Lu Cheng leaned his head farther back.
His own face was hardly in better condition than Han Gou’s. His nose was broken, his cheekbone was caved in, his front teeth were missing, and his head was wrapped in nearly 1.5 kilograms of bandages.
“You got beaten up by Ninth Brother, so why are you coming here to complain?”
Lu Cheng’s voice sounded muffled through the layers of bandages.
“Your Highness the Second Prince, you and His Highness the Ninth Prince are biological brothers! If you say something to him, surely he’ll show you some respect. 100,000 taels of silver is simply too much.”
Han Gou raised his head, his swollen eyes reduced to narrow slits filled with pleading.
“Biological brothers?”
Lu Cheng sneered. The movement immediately aggravated his injuries, and he raised his voice in anger.
“When he kicked me down the steps, he certainly wasn’t thinking about us being biological brothers!”
Han Gou’s eyes instantly widened.
‘What the hell happened?’
‘The Ninth Prince beat up the Second Prince too?’
‘And the Ninth Prince even kicked him down the steps?’
‘When did that happen?’
‘Why haven’t I heard anything about it?’
Han Gou was dying of curiosity, but seeing that Lu Cheng looked ready to erupt at any moment, he did not dare ask another question.
He could only brace himself and continue complaining.
“Your Highness the Second Prince, but Lu Yuan has gone too far…”
Lu Cheng impatiently waved the one hand he could still move.
“If you were beaten, go to the Censorate and have them submit a memorial impeaching him. What use is there in coming to me? Look at me. Do you think I can even leave this room right now?”
“But Your Highness…”
“Get lost.”