“Losing is victory’s mother,” Liang Zhu said with a smile. “How can you achieve victory without experiencing defeat?”
The Princess screamed, “I don’t care! I want to win!”
Liang Zhu said with a smile, “Playing cards is a group competition, so we need more classmates to join…”
The Princess looked at Liang Zhu, puzzled.
Liang Zhu helplessly shrugged. “You can’t beat me, but at the very least, you can beat them, right?”
Was it really like that?
Soon, the Princess lost a three-player game of Fight the Landlord.
In the four-player game of Upstream, the Princess still lost.
The Princess, whose personality was already hot-tempered, became so angry that she wailed.
After playing cards all daytime, Liang Zhu smiled and bid farewell at dinnertime.
When he returned to Wutong Courtyard, Chuchu had already prepared a delicious meal and was waiting for Liang Zhu.
Although Chuchu had not cooked the meal herself, it still tasted like home cooking.
Liang Zhu had just finished eating when the gate of Wutong Court was kicked open.
“Little Pillar, get out here!” The Princess entered the room bloodthirstily. “If this Princess doesn’t win this round today, I’ll take your surname!”
Liang Zhu shuddered. Holy crap, this little girl had actually followed him all the way to Wutong Court!
The Princess held a deck of playing cards and played them with the aura of a gambling god.
Behind the Princess, Xiao Meiyue kept trying to persuade her. “Her Highness the Princess, your identity is noble. You can’t play like this!”
The Princess looked at Xiao Meiyue with disdain. “Get lost!”
The timid female official fled in panic.
Liang Zhu was not afraid in the slightest. “Go on, how do you want to play?”
The Princess slammed the table and announced grandly, “I want to play strip poker with you!”
Liang Zhu: …
Strip poker was an amusing anecdote Liang Zhu had casually mentioned during the daytime. He had not expected the Princess to take it seriously.
But playing strip poker with the Princess really was not appropriate.
What if the Princess lost? Could he really make her strip?
Xiao Yanzhi had probably thought of this too, which was why she wanted to win a few rounds through this method.
Under the Princess’s murderous gaze, Chuchu was forced to learn the rules of Fight the Landlord.
Thus, the battle began.
The Princess puffed out her cheeks slightly and threw down her cards. “Four sixes!”
Liang Zhu desperately signaled to Chuchu with his eyes: please, let the landlord off just this once. If we lose, she’ll have to strip!
Chuchu said happily, “Four eights!”
The Princess was so depressed that she almost cried.
Soon, the round ended, and Xiao Yanzhi, who had been the landlord, lost.
Liang Zhu magnanimously said that if Xiao Yanzhi felt it was inconvenient, she did not have to strip.
“What’s inconvenient about it?!” The Princess angrily threw her outer coat onto the floor. “Again! I refuse to believe I can’t beat you!”
Liang Zhu desperately signaled with his eyes, then finally stated it outright. “Your Highness, you can choose to be a commoner!”
“Hmph!” the Princess said indignantly. “Eight generations of my family have been nobility. Why should I become a poor farmer?”
Thus, the Princess lost this round again. Tianlai Novel Network
The weather was warm, and the Princess was not wearing many clothes, so this time she chose her outer skirt.
Thus, Xiao Yanzhi, wearing only a traditional chinese bodice and petticoat, definitely lost the third round.
What she should take off next became a major problem.
The Princess was caught between two difficult choices.
In the end, Liang Zhu could not stand watching any longer. He reminded the Princess that she could still take off her socks!
The Princess suddenly understood. “Hahaha, that’s right! I can still take off my socks!”
By the fourth round, the socks were gone too.
Liang Zhu thought that they absolutely could not play a fifth round, so he began putting away the playing cards.
The Princess was furious. “Little Pillar, what do you mean?!”
Without even looking up, Liang Zhu continued putting away the playing cards. “I’m afraid you’ll lose even your pants. Just give it a rest. Go back, wash up, and go to sleep.”
“You look down on me, don’t you?” The Princess shoved Liang Zhu forcefully. “Little Pillar, you’ve beaten me all daytime! I’m not leaving until you let me win one round today!”
Although the Princess managed to push Liang Zhu, he became angry. “You’re getting rebellious. How dare you touch me?”
As he spoke, Liang Zhu pinned the Princess onto the stool, raised his ruler, and struck her three times.
Smack, smack, smack!
Through the petticoat, Chuchu could see three bright red marks on the tender skin and delicate flesh of her thigh.
Chuchu, whose mind was filled with loyalty to the monarch, was stunned. This guy had actually beaten up the Princess?
And it seemed he really had not held back at all!
What left Chuchu even more speechless was that the Princess did not seem to be in pain or afraid. Instead, she looked rather happy.
“Wow, this is so interesting!” the Princess said happily. “Let me go! It’s my turn to hit you!”
Liang Zhu was thoroughly speechless. “Are you insane? I don’t like being hit!”
The Princess was furious. “I don’t care! You hit me, so I’m going to hit you too!”
As she spoke, the Princess leaped up and tried to attack Liang Zhu.
With Liang Zhu’s current strength, more than twenty strong men could not get close to him. How could he be afraid of a little girl like the Princess?
However, when dealing with someone like the Princess, hemp rope was the most effective item.
Soon, the Princess was tied up like a zongzi.
The Princess cursed Liang Zhu in a voice like silver bells. “Little Pillar, untie me right now, or I’ll exterminate your nine generations of relatives!”
Liang Zhu gagged the Princess as well.
Chuchu was nearly scared senseless. “Master, what do we do now?”
“What do we do? Tie her up, of course!” Liang Zhu said with a yawn. “I’m going to sleep. You should wash up and go to sleep too. If we tie this girl up for one night, she’ll definitely become honest!”
The Princess: “Sob, sob, sob, sob!”
（Translation: Dead eunuch, just you wait!）
Liang Zhu went back and snored away, but Chuchu could not sleep at all.
Watching the Princess she revered as a goddess get tied up like a little zongzi by this guy, Chuchu stood to the side with a worried expression, bringing the Princess tea and water, wiping her sweat, and washing her face.
Drinking water was, after all, something that required relieving oneself.
The Princess held it in until her face and neck turned red, but Chuchu, being nothing more than a pure maidservant, only knew how to wipe away sweat.
After a while, the stool became wet, and the world fell quiet.
No matter how much the Princess struggled, Liang Zhu continued sleeping peacefully.
Because Liang Zhu had to sleep!
Whether it was the cultivation technique “Spring Sleep Unaware of Dawn” or practicing the “Great Joy Bright Chant,” it seemed both could only be accomplished in a dream.
But after Liang Zhu slept and woke up, he had not dreamed of Xiao Yanran.
Liang Zhu woke up with a depressed expression. What was going on?
Why could he no longer practice both techniques in his dreams?
What had gone wrong?