Being Drunk Is a Good Thing
Their breaths mingled, their faces only inches apart.
In the darkness, all her senses were heightened. Xia Ruochu felt the icy touch of a short blade against her neck and seemed to catch the scent of blood.
“What are you trying to do?” The man’s voice was difficult to read, carrying the huskiness of someone who had just awakened.
Xia Ruochu’s heart sank.
Who could have imagined that he would actually sleep beside her? And she had been so deeply asleep that she had mistaken him for a body pillow.
She couldn’t clearly remember exactly what she had done in her sleep, but the hazy dream reminded her that she had not only hugged him but had probably also… touched him.
It seemed she had even mumbled for him to “hug me.”
She was finished.
In just a few seconds, countless thoughts flashed through Xia Ruochu’s mind.
Should she struggle and cry for help? She was afraid he would mistake her for a spy with ulterior motives, and that short blade would slit her throat the very next moment.
Should she explain herself and beg for mercy? Xiao Chengyi already despised her. If he discovered that she had treated him like a pillow, she would meet an even more miserable end.
Then… should she go along with her mistake and try to seduce him?
That was the path she was most unwilling to take.
Xiao Chengyi harbored a deep emotional grievance, and this marriage had never been his wish. If she easily gave herself to him, she would not gain the slightest bit of tenderness or pity. He would only look down on her even more, and he would certainly never help her seek revenge.
Merely surviving would not be difficult. She could hide away in the depths of the Prince’s residence, live without worrying about food or clothing, and spend the rest of her life trapped in a marriage devoid of dignity.
But how painful would it be to live with someone who didn’t love her?
Besides, shouldn’t those who stole what belonged to others be punished?
The hatred of this body’s original owner had already seeped into her very bones and blood. She hated the Duke of Rong’s residence, and she hated the Xia family. She wanted to obtain justice for herself.
How could she allow the path her maternal grandfather had painstakingly laid out for her to go to waste? How could she let her mother and elder brother die in vain? How could she, Xia Ruochu, live with a clear conscience?
She didn’t want a man who didn’t love her. One day, she would certainly leave, but not now.
How was she supposed to get through this predicament?
Suddenly, someone came to mind.
Her heart gave a violent leap. Perhaps she could turn this danger into an opportunity.
A soft, feeble moan escaped Xia Ruochu’s throat. Her slightly cool fingertips tentatively brushed against Xiao Chengyi’s cheek.
“Brother Yunxiao, have you come to take me away…?”
The bones of the man’s fingers trembled almost imperceptibly, but the short blade remained pressed tightly against her slender neck.
“What did you call me?”
Fine beads of sweat gathered at her temples, and her eyes shimmered with moisture as she rested her forehead against his shoulder.
“Brother Yunxiao, why haven’t you and Mother come to take Jiaojiao away…”
“It’s so cold and frightening in the mountains at night. They beat me and wouldn’t give me anything to eat.”
Warm tears slid down through the opening of the man’s loosened collar and onto his chest.
Silence hung above her. His body, as hard as steel, suddenly went rigid.
Xia Ruochu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, though a trace of sorrow welled up in her heart.
Xia Yunxiao was her eldest brother, the eldest legitimate son of the Marquis’s residence. At fifteen, he had led eight hundred light cavalrymen to a decisive victory over three thousand elite enemy soldiers. He was later appointed General of the Agile Cavalry and had spent years guarding the northern frontier, rarely returning to the capital.
Although Xiao Chengyi was bloodthirsty and ruthless, everyone in the imperial court and throughout the realm knew that he valued talented individuals. The two young generals were close in age and had once fought shoulder to shoulder through bloody battles on the northern frontier, forging a deep friendship.
Xiao Chengyi disdained any association with the Xia residence and regarded Xia Ruochu as an enemy, yet Xia Yunxiao was the only one he permitted to approach him for martial arts sparring.
Xia Yunxiao had died from poisoning without any apparent cause. There had to be something suspicious about his death. Xiao Chengyi presumably had his own doubts, but the man was so calculating and guarded that he had never mentioned a single word about it.
She had once vaguely felt that Xiao Chengyi’s willingness to marry her was, to some extent, because she was General Xia’s most beloved younger sister.
Yet after marrying her, he hadn’t treated her well at all.
In that case, she had no need to treat him with genuine sincerity either.
Xia Ruochu gritted her teeth and deliberately pressed herself even closer, wrapping both arms around the man’s lean, powerful waist.
His body heat dispelled the night’s chill, and the faint scent of cool sandalwood was inexplicably reassuring. She pressed her flushed cheek against his neck and murmured softly,
“Brother, do you miss Jiaojiao?”
Xiao Chengyi abruptly sat up.
But she clung to him like a vine, her body seemingly soft and boneless. Following his movement, she nestled into his embrace like a kitten seeking shelter.
“Come to your senses.” Xiao Chengyi’s voice was stern as he lifted her face. “You’re this drunk after just one cup of wedding wine? Look carefully and see who I am.”
That reminded her of something.
Being drunk was a good thing. If she was drunk, she could behave even more recklessly.
“Nonsense, I’m not drunk.” Xia Ruochu raised her small, flushed face, her eyes glistening with tears. “You’re Brother Yunxiao. Only my brother is this handsome. He’s the greatest hero of all.”
Xiao Chengyi’s entire body tensed, his expression exceedingly gloomy.
Taking advantage of the situation, Xia Ruochu wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Brother, don’t you want Jiaojiao anymore?”
“Xia Ruochu!”
The man let out a low roar so terrifying that it could make one’s heart and soul tremble. Her whole body shuddered, and she sprang out of his embrace as though she had been electrocuted.
In her panic, she forgot that the short blade was still held horizontally behind her. The instant she leaned backward, Xiao Chengyi swiftly twisted his wrist.
But he was still half a beat too slow.
The sharp blade grazed her shoulder, and a bloody cut immediately appeared.
Blood began to seep out.
“It hurts so much!” When Xia Ruochu saw the wound, she simply burst into earth-shattering sobs.
“Your Highness… How could it be Your Highness? This consort… I’m bleeding so much… Is Your Highness going to kill me?”
“What did this consort do wrong?”
She grabbed the hem of his white inner robe and pressed it haphazardly against her wound, large tears rolling down her cheeks.
“I was only dreaming about my brother. If he knew that Your Highness even sleeps with a knife and that you cut me with it, there’s no telling how heartbroken he’d be!”
For a moment, Xiao Chengyi was speechless.
If such a wound had been inflicted on him, he wouldn’t even have furrowed his brow.
Yet she had curled into a ball and was crying as though her heart were breaking, as if she were about to lose her entire arm. Her eyes were filled with terror whenever she looked at him.
Was he some kind of man-eating demon?
The bleeding hadn’t stopped. Instead, her attempts to press against the wound had smeared the blood in crisscrossing streaks, making a complete mess of his plain white inner robe. The sight was actually somewhat alarming.
With a dark expression, Xiao Chengyi got out of bed to retrieve some wound medicine and lit the Eight Treasures palace lantern beside the bed.
“Come here.” There was not a trace of warmth in his voice.
Xia Ruochu instinctively shrank back.
“Come here unless you want to bleed to death.”
As though frightened, she immediately moved in front of him and obediently lowered her shoulder.
His rough fingertips brushed over her shoulder, spreading the slightly cool medicinal ointment across her skin. Xia Ruochu’s breath caught slightly.
She had originally thought he would be very rough.
The thin calluses on his fingers had formed from years of wielding a sword, yet at this moment, he restrained all his strength.
A sharp glint flashed through her eyes.
He pitied her. Sure enough, it was because she was Xia Yunxiao’s younger sister.
From now on, this small trace of pity would be her greatest source of support. She would use this opening to break through the defenses around his heart!
Xiao Chengyi applied the medicine swiftly and efficiently. Without sparing her another glance, he lay down on the outer side of the bed and closed his eyes.
Xia Ruochu quietly shifted farther inward, picked up an embroidered pillow, and placed it horizontally between them.
The man turned his head. “Are you guarding yourself against me?”
“How could I?” she replied innocently. “This consort doesn’t sleep very peacefully. I’m only afraid I might disturb Your Highness’s pleasant dreams again.”
Xiao Chengyi gave a soft snort. “Have you thought about how you’ll explain things to Old Madam Xiao tomorrow?”
She pointed at the inner robe he was wearing.
“Rest assured, Your Highness. This consort promised to help Your Highness deal with Old Madam Xiao.”
A crafty glint flashed through her eyes. Since she had been injured, she intended to make sure the injury was worthwhile and maximize the benefits she could gain from it.
“Do you think this will fool Old Madam Xiao?” he asked.
“This consort thinks it will.”
After lying quietly for two seconds, Xia Ruochu finally noticed something unusual.
Modern people all possessed basic knowledge of human physiology. Even though she had never experienced sexual intercourse, she knew that under normal circumstances, there wouldn’t be such a dramatically excessive amount of bleeding.
Could it be that Prince Su, despite his lofty position and immense power, had never been physically intimate with a woman?
An idea occurred to her. She poked half her little face out from behind the embroidered pillow.
“It seems this still isn’t enough. Your Highness, could you cut yourself too?”
She couldn’t be the only one who had to suffer.
After all, in historical romance dramas, it was always the man who casually made a cut, allowing the couple to deceive everyone. Why was it that when it came to her, she was the one who ended up getting cut?
“Certainly,” Xiao Chengyi replied indifferently. “I’ll give you another cut.”
Xia Ruochu immediately retreated behind the pillow and squeezed her eyes shut.
That rotten scoundrel! Once she had finished making use of him, she would definitely throw the divorce agreement right in his face.
The following day.
The atmosphere in the main hall of Grand Madam Rong’an’s residence was solemn.
“What a terrible sin!” Old Madam Xiao pointed a trembling finger at her grandson, her face alternating between red and pale.
Xiao Chengyi’s expression remained unchanged. “Why is Grandmother angry?”
He had just returned from the training grounds and hadn’t even had time to drink a mouthful of tea.
Old Madam Xiao dismissed everyone around them and threw the bloodstained white robe into his arms, along with a red cord and a disciplinary ruler that had come from who knew where.
“No matter how much you dislike Chu’er, you cannot treat a young woman… with such reckless disregard for her well-being.” Old Madam Xiao struggled to find the right words.
“I had no idea which brothels and pleasure houses you’ve visited or where you learned such filthy behavior. You have no restraint whatsoever! It’s utterly disgraceful!”
Xiao Chengyi: “…”
“Chu’er needs to stay here and recuperate. You can return to your Prince Su’s residence. I can no longer speak in your defense!”
Xiao Chengyi frowned.
Did an injury no bigger than a sesame seed really require recuperation?
Then he heard Old Madam Xiao instruct Bihan, “The Princess Consort is injured in a place too embarrassing to speak of. She doesn’t want an unfamiliar physician to examine her, so we’ll respect her wishes. Go and invite a female physician from her maternal grandfather’s medicine shop. Hurry, hurry!”
Xiao Chengyi: “…”
Only then did he suddenly understand.
So this was what she had meant by helping him deal with Old Madam Xiao.
She had embellished the story so that Grandmother would think he was a lustful man with peculiar sexual kinks and send him home alone.
He was so furious that he almost laughed.
Yet he had no way to defend himself. If he said they hadn’t consummated their marriage last night, Old Madam Xiao would become even angrier.
Seeing his gloomy expression and his stubborn refusal to admit any wrongdoing, Old Madam Xiao felt utterly helpless.
“Back then, your grandfather was struck by several arrows. The military physicians had already given up hope of saving him. It was Old Master Shen who watched over him for three days and three nights and snatched his life back from the King of Hell. Now that he has entrusted his granddaughter to me, I find myself unable to take proper care of her.”
“Enough!” Old Madam Xiao sighed heavily. “Since you look down on her so much, I’ll enter the palace and request an imperial decree permitting your divorce. Then I’ll find her another suitable husband.”
“Grandmother.” Xiao Chengyi’s brows drew together. “Is divorce what Xia Ruochu wants?”
“She doesn’t dare bring it up. It’s my idea.”
“In that case…” The corners of his lips moved slightly. “Let’s not divorce for now.”
“What else do you want?” Old Madam Xiao glared at him. “Nanny An said she heard crying and shouting in the middle of the night. This morning, the Princess Consort couldn’t even get out of bed. When I went to see her, she was curled up beneath the quilt, trembling all over. Do you still expect her to dare go near you in the future?”
Xiao Chengyi was rendered speechless.
She had actually made her performance that convincing.
“This grandson merely feels that Grandmother has a discerning eye.” The corners of his lips twitched. “The Princess Consort is rather interesting.”
He cleared his throat softly. “Rest assured, Grandmother. I’ll be more mindful of my limits in the future.”
“Really?” Old Madam Xiao was unconvinced. “Do you even know what it means to exercise restraint?”
“She’s already this grandson’s woman. If we divorce, it will be difficult for her to find another good husband,” he said indifferently. “There’s no harm in keeping her around to make some snacks for Grandmother.”
Old Madam Xiao snorted coldly.
“Don’t look down on Chu’er. The fact that she dared to whip Zhao Shu shows that she has backbone. It’s not as though she absolutely has to marry you.”
Xiao Chengyi did not argue.
Even after leaving the main hall, his expression remained gloomy.
What backbone did she have? She was as timid as a kitten. After whipping someone once, she had been so frightened that she couldn’t stop crying. She was utterly useless.
Yet in front of him, she was growing bolder and bolder.