When Gu Haoyuan had been moving around the courtyard for half the day and still hadn’t seen her get up, he thought this woman had reverted to her old ways.
“Couldn’t even keep up the act for two more days,” he sneered coldly.
For some reason, even though he had already adapted to a life of uncertainty, he still felt a pang of disappointment.
Meanwhile, Ye Ningxin, who was sleeping soundly, had no idea that her long nap had completely wiped away the small amount of goodwill she had managed to accumulate.
By the time she got up, it was already well past noon, and the Prince was utterly famished and despondent.
He even began to think that this woman was doing it on purpose—giving him a taste of something good, only to snatch it away again. Truly a heart of venom.
So when a bowl of fragrant chicken noodle soup was placed in front of him, the Prince was momentarily taken aback.
“Sorry, I overslept. Let’s eat,” Ye Ningxin said, looking at the Prince’s icy expression. She really wanted to knock on his face to see if icicles would fall off.
“He’s barely in his twenties, yet he always puts on such a cold front. Yesterday, I thought he was naive and innocent, but now he seems more like a snow lotus from the Tianshan Mountains,” Ye Ningxin silently grumbled to herself.
The atmosphere at the dining table became strangely tense again. Ye Ningxin ate very little. Starting today, she would be taking Weight-Loss Pills, and to speed up her weight loss, she needed to control her daily diet.
“Prince, I’d like to discuss something with you,” Ye Ningxin said, watching as Gu Haoyuan finished the last sip of soup from his bowl. She decided it was time to have a serious talk with him.
“Go on,” he replied. The hot noodle soup seemed to have had some effect—his icy expression had softened slightly.
“Since you’ve entrusted me with managing the household finances, I naturally want to take responsibility for it,” Ye Ningxin organized her thoughts.
“I was thinking, both of us are currently without support and have no source of income. We can’t just sit around and deplete what little we have.”
“The 50 taels from pawning the jade pendant yesterday are likely our last income. Before that money runs out, we need to find another way to earn. We can’t end up begging on the streets, after all.”
Just imagining the blind Prince sitting on a street corner with a chipped, broken bowl in front of him was a scene too absurd to picture.
Upon hearing this, the Prince’s expression instantly darkened.
Prince: “So?”
“So, I wanted to discuss with you whether we should start a small business,” Ye Ningxin ventured cautiously. After all, given the Prince’s status, they couldn’t act recklessly. But when survival was at stake, everything else had to take a back seat.
“Actually, I’m quite capable in many areas. I’m not great at needlework or farming, but I cook well, and I know a little about herbal medicine…” Ye Ningxin decided to reveal a bit of her skills.
“Would you mind if I opened a medicinal cuisine restaurant or an herbal medicine shop in town? With my skills, I’m absolutely confident I can support both of us.”
She finally finished laying out the plan she had been thinking about.
Now, she waited to see Gu Haoyuan’s reaction.
All of this was a far cry from Gu Haoyuan’s original plans.
He had never imagined making a living through small business ventures, nor had he ever thought that in such a remote and impoverished place, a woman would say to him in his most wretched state: “I’ll take care of you!”
In truth, he had some savings. His current situation was largely a performance for others to see. Those people hoped he would sink to the depths, unable to climb back up, and delighted in seeing him trampled by poverty and humiliation, powerless to resist.
Since they wanted to watch, he would give them a good show.
Over the past year or so, he had rarely encountered someone like Ye Ningxin, who was so full of hope for life. The common people had long been numbed and indifferent under the weight of their struggles, often simply drifting with the tide.
The Ye Ningxin of today was also different from the one he had just married, as if she had become a completely different person.
Back then, he had married merely to have someone to attend to him. He truly hadn’t expected this wife to share his heart and mind.
After pondering for a moment, Gu Haoyuan pulled himself out of his thoughts.
From that moment on, he had genuinely become interested in this Princess Consort. Regardless of her motives, he wanted to observe her for a while.
“Although I bear the title of Prince, I am actually a convicted criminal,” the Prince began to explain the pros and cons to her.
“If you go out to do business under the title of Princess Consort, you won’t receive any special treatment. Instead, you’ll attract all sorts of gossip and rumors.”
“If you run into trouble, I may not be able to help much. In fact, because of my status, I might even become a hindrance.”
Reading between the lines, Ye Ningxin felt that the Prince seemed to be shifting responsibility, implying that she could do her business however she pleased, but he wouldn’t be able to assist her regardless of the outcome.
This man…
The Prince added, “However, you are free to use the household funds as you wish. If your business suffers losses, I can help you figure something out.”
So, after all that, the Prince just wanted to be a silent investor! Ye Ningxin finally understood.
But she seriously doubted the Prince’s words. From what she knew, there was absolutely no second jade pendant in this household worth fifty taels of silver.
That was just as well. After all, the Prince’s physical condition made it inconvenient for him to be involved in everything, and Ye Ningxin didn’t want a partner who meddled in every detail.
With both parties in agreement, Ye Ningxin felt she could see the light of victory ahead.
To ensure a decisive victory in the future, she would need to visit the town more often, observe, and conduct some market research.
But those were matters for later. What she wanted most right now was to take a proper bath.
Since crossing over, she hadn’t even had a hot bath. The original owner wasn’t a diligent person either, and it was unclear how long it had been since her last bath.
When she saw the hot spring Gu Haoyuan was soaking in yesterday, she had been practically drooling. But the situation had been urgent at the time, and she couldn’t afford to indulge. Now, however, she could finally go and enjoy it.
“Prince, how did you discover the hot spring in the back mountain?” she asked.
The Prince replied, “Was it difficult to find?”
She knew he wouldn’t give a straight answer!
Oh well, she wouldn’t nitpick with him, considering how good-looking he was.
“I want to go take a bath. Will you come with me?” Ye Ningxin deliberately teased the Prince. “Since you can’t see anyway, I don’t mind.”
A blush crept up from the Prince’s neck to the back of his ears. He felt as though he had been flirted with but didn’t know how to retort.
“If you don’t agree, then I’ll just go by myself.” Having finally gained the upper hand, Ye Ningxin laughed heartily and headed into the mountains with her change of clothes.
She wasn’t worried about encountering anyone else in the mountains, as this was the backyard hill of her own home. There were no wild beasts, and in her memory, no outsiders had ever ventured into these hills.
But sometimes, memory can be unreliable. Not long after she entered the mountains, the Prince took out a short flute, played two notes, and instantly, a figure in black darted out from a cave, racing swiftly toward the foot of the hill.
“That foolish woman! Is she really not afraid of being seen in the nude?” the Prince muttered angrily.