18 – The Little Prince Has a Hole in His Head – If You Don’t Attend Court Again, Your Wife Will Run Away With Someone Else
“Not really.” Wen Nian chuckled lightly. “But if it’s a beauty trap, I might consider it.”
“What a coincidence,” Shi Sui continued. “Then my friend said she doesn’t mind using a beauty trap, as long as you attend court.”
The youth raised an eyebrow slightly and asked, “Alright, no need for all that trouble. Since your friend is about to die anyway, let her stay home and wait for death. Why don’t you try a beauty trap on me? I’ll consider it.”
Shi Sui’s smile stiffened, realizing he was teasing her, and said, “Dream on.”
Wen Nian asked, “Why are you so insistent that I attend court?”
Shi Sui replied, “We’re grasshoppers tied to the same thread, right?”
Wen Nian laughed helplessly. “Who’s a grasshopper with you?”
Shi Sui corrected herself, “You know what I mean. Attend court properly, manage the country. I value my life—I’m afraid of dying.”
Wen Nian asked, “Are you afraid the Emperor will blame you?”
Shi Sui shook her head. “No, I’m afraid if the country falls, I’ll have nowhere to go.”
Wen Nian fell silent for a moment before asking again, “Is that the only reason?”
After a long pause, Shi Sui nodded. Seeing Wen Nian’s expression, she thought he might have changed his mind, but then he said, “Then I really don’t want to go. You should get some rest.”
Shi Sui: “…” Damn it, I should have tried the beauty trap after all. Why won’t he listen?!
Although the events of the morning were rather surreal, they reminded Shi Sui of something. Since Wen Nian enjoyed reading storybooks, perhaps she could use that to persuade him to attend court.
In ancient times, Sun Quan urged Lü Meng to study. Today, Shi Sui urges Wen Nian to attend court.
Look at that—touching and worthy of being recorded in history.
Thus, Shi Sui secluded herself for several days to refine her plan. Yuan Youdao had already lost hope in Shi Sui these past few days, thinking she was useless and that it would be better to persuade Wen Nian slowly on his own.
So Yuan Youdao simply gave up. Since Wen Nian wasn’t attending court, there was no need for extensive security measures in the residence. He took it as a vacation and spent his time planting jasmine flowers in his own backyard.
He had loved jasmine since childhood. With Wen Nian’s permission, he planted many jasmine flowers in the backyard, filling the air with their refreshing fragrance. Squatting in the garden admiring the jasmine under the bright midday sun, he reflected on how Li Yue used to cause trouble constantly, keeping him busy. Now that Li Yue had been thoroughly subdued by Shi Sui, he was pleasantly surprised to find the residence much more peaceful.
He had free time now, as if he had started enjoying retirement early.
Just as he closed his eyes to quietly savor this moment of tranquility, a soft voice broke the brief silence.
“Guard Yuan! Guard Yuan?”
Yuan Youdao: “…”
“What do you want?” Yuan Youdao slowly opened his eyes and looked behind him toward the source of the voice. He saw Sang Yun standing at the entrance of the courtyard, glancing around like a thief. After confirming no one was watching, she tiptoed over.
“Here, don’t think our Crown Princess has forgotten her agreement with you.”
Before Yuan Youdao could react, a pile of storybooks was shoved into his hands. They looked anything but proper. Yuan Youdao said angrily, “I shouldn’t have trusted you! What is all this? Don’t you dare corrupt our Crown Prince!”
“What are you talking about?” Sang Yun retorted angrily. “Would our Crown Princess ever harm His Highness? Be grateful we’re helping you. Just take them.”
Yuan Youdao glanced skeptically at the storybooks in his hands, then looked back at Sang Yun, asking suspiciously, “Are you sure this will work? The Crown Princess isn’t fooling me, is she?”
Sang Yun saw Yuan Youdao about to lift his hand to flip through the book and urgently said, “Don’t look! The Crown Princess said it’s only for His Highness to see.”
As she spoke, Sang Yun hurriedly reached out to stop Yuan Youdao’s hand from turning the pages. When their hands touched, Sang Yun’s ears instantly flushed with a faint crimson. Her hand trembled slightly, and she quickly withdrew it, exclaiming anxiously, “No… you can’t look.”
Yuan Youdao didn’t understand the meaning behind Sang Yun’s sudden actions. He furrowed his brows, his gaze falling on her somewhat flushed face, and asked without a hint of romance, “Are you hot?”
Sang Yun pursed her lips, still not daring to meet Yuan Youdao’s eyes. She felt a bit annoyed and snapped irritably, “None of your business.”
Yuan Youdao’s face was practically screaming, “If you’re hot, just wear fewer clothes, okay?” He then rolled his eyes at Sang Yun and said dismissively, “Who wants to bother with you? I’m going to deliver the book to His Highness.”
That night, a heavy rain fell. As the saying goes, each autumn rain brings a chill. With the arrival of the autumn rain, the weather gradually turned cooler, and the lingering warmth of late summer vanished completely in the downpour. The small tomatoes planted in the backyard had also sprouted, forming a vibrant red patch that looked quite lovely. Wen Nian stood holding an umbrella, watching the little tomatoes in the small garden swaying and tilting under the rain. He thought to himself that the girl would probably be delighted to see this.
She seemed to really enjoy these natural things.
Everything in the world could spark her interest.
Last time, he even saw Shi Sui squatting by the roadside, observing little ants for an entire afternoon.
A girl who yearned for nature like this probably wouldn’t enjoy being trapped like a canary in the deep courtyards of the palace, would she?
In the end, Wen Nian didn’t shield the little tomatoes with his umbrella. He just stood beside the small garden, staring blankly. He thought that perhaps it wasn’t the little tomatoes he liked, but the tender sprouts being battered and tossed by the rain—he enjoyed seeing beautiful things destroyed.
It was as if to say, maybe what he liked wasn’t the girl herself, but the unique carefree and optimistic spirit she carried.
But was this… really considered liking?
For a moment, he suddenly felt the urge to protect the purity and innocence within the girl. He didn’t know what was happening to him.
As he gazed at the small garden, his dark eyes appeared empty and distant, silently peering through the fine rain into the distance. It seemed that since Shi Sui arrived, he had been lost in thought more often.
Tonight’s wind was exceptionally cold. Wen Nian shivered involuntarily, tightening his grip on the umbrella handle slightly.
When the rain was almost over, Wen Nian finally returned to his room. His mind was in disarray. Sitting in a chair, he propped his chin on one hand, slowly let out a yawn, feeling drowsy and lazy. He casually picked up a storybook to read.
As he read, Wen Nian felt something was off. He frowned slightly and flipped through the pages rapidly. Only when he reached the last page did he realize what the problem was. The plot of this book was—
A prince, after neglecting court duties for a long time, ended up with his wife hanging herself.
Wen Nian: “?”
Looking at the messy, scrawled handwriting, Wen Nian couldn’t help but curl his lips into a smile and let out a chuckle. Unhurriedly, he pulled out the second storybook from the table, followed by the third and fourth. The plots were all strikingly similar—
The second book: A man who did no work at home ended up with his wife running away with their child.
The third book: A man who slept all day at home ended up being stabbed to death by his wife in the middle of the night.
The fourth book: A man who drank and beat his wife every day ended up perishing in a fire she set, taking him with her.
…
Until the last book, perhaps Shi Sui could no longer keep up the pretense, so she straightforwardly wrote in black ink on the final page—
If you don’t attend court soon, your wife will run off with someone! Run! Off! With! Someone! You’ll have no wife left!!
Wen Nian: “…”
The youth was so angry he laughed. His dark lashes lowered, his eyes brimming with amusement. He closed the book and laughed for a long while before finally stopping, the earlier gloom completely swept away.
On the other side, Shi Sui had nearly worried herself bald from exhausting her brain cells over the past two days to write those storybooks. She truly felt it was more taxing than pulling all-nighters to prepare for the college entrance exams back in the day. She fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. Late at night, she hazily sensed a heavy downpour outside. Occasional thunderclaps would bleach the room for an instant, bright as daylight, while rumbles echoed outside. Shi Sui slept lightly, and as she turned over, a flash of lightning struck outside the window. In her daze, she saw a figure standing by the bed, ghost-like.
Shi Sui jolted awake, a fine sweat on her forehead, her heart still racing. Hesitantly, she asked, “Dong… Dong Zhi?”
The youth’s complexion was pale, his frame slender, his dark eyes strikingly beautiful. The outline of his profile was illuminated by the faint lightning outside the window.
Shi Sui had always been afraid of the dark, so she lit a candle by the bedside every night before sleeping. The warm glow of the candlelight danced in his eyes, casting a soft, fuzzy halo around the youth. He slowly took a few steps toward her, blocking much of that scattered light.
Shi Sui asked, “Why have you come?”
Wen Nian raised an eyebrow and said leisurely, “If I didn’t come soon—”
“Wouldn’t my wife have run off with someone?”