Making Him Ache with Desire
Inside Songfeng Courtyard.
Xia Ruochu reclined against a chaise longue, leisurely eating grapes.
She was waiting for someone.
Judging by the time, he should be arriving soon.
Footsteps sounded outside the door, accompanied by the low murmurs of the personal guards.
Xia Ruochu put down the grapes in her hand and leaned weakly against the couch.
She had barely lain down when Xiao Chengyi strode through the doorway.
His sharp gaze settled on her.
Xia Ruochu struggled to her feet and curtsied. “This consort greets Your Highness.”
Xiao Chengyi spoke with a hint of mockery. “Is the Princess Consort feeling any better?” His voice was so cold that even the grapes could have frozen into blocks of ice.
“This consort is fine,” she said gently.
Her shoulder drooped slightly, causing her nightgown to slip halfway down her shoulder, revealing a bloodstained bandage at just the right moment.
She hurriedly pulled her robe back into place and looked at Xiao Chengyi with a pair of watery, timid eyes, as though she were terribly afraid of his reprimand. She truly looked pitiful enough to stir anyone’s sympathy.
Xiao Chengyi slowly averted his gaze and said coldly, “I’m returning to the residence today. You’ll stay here to keep Old Madam Xiao company. You’re not allowed to stir up trouble with your lies.”
“Yes,” Xia Ruochu replied, breathing a huge sigh of relief inwardly.
At last, she could spend some time in peace without having to live in fear every night.
Using her recovery as an excuse, she could also meet with people from Yangyi Hall every day, familiarize herself with the account books, and learn about the shop’s current situation.
She would accomplish two things at once. This injury had been worth it.
Although she had deliberately caused him a little trouble in front of Old Madam Xiao, it wasn’t really such a serious matter, was it?
Xiao Chengyi knew that she kept her word, so he ought to trust her even more.
“This consort has kept my promise, preserving Your Highness’s wise and mighty reputation while sparing you from having to face me every day.” She tentatively asked, “Is Your Highness satisfied?”
The room fell silent for a moment.
“You’re recklessly audacious.” Xiao Chengyi’s voice was laced with icy coldness. “If you dare deceive me in the slightest again, I certainly won’t spare you.”
“No matter how obediently you pretend to behave, I know perfectly well what a selfish, hypocritical woman you are.”
Xia Ruochu raised her head in bewilderment, only to see a heavy shadow darkening the man’s eyes.
“Xia Ruochu, have you never felt guilty?”
“Three years ago, my mother went to a temple to fulfill a vow. She encountered a riot among displaced refugees, and the axle of her carriage broke, leaving it stranded at the entrance to a bridge.”
“The Marquis of Yongning’s carriage passed by. You saw someone in mortal danger and refused to help. You even ordered your coachman to whip the horses and hurry away, leaving my mother to fall into the river and die a terrible death.”
His voice was perfectly calm, yet every word carried an immense weight as it struck her heart.
“As a young lady of the Marquis’s residence, your servants would certainly have obeyed if you had given an order. Your silence was tantamount to murdering my mother.”
“Don’t play your little schemes in front of me. I’ll let you keep your life for the time being.”
With that, he swept his sleeves and left, not lingering for another moment.
Xia Ruochu stood frozen in place as a chill gradually seeped through every part of her body.
Had the original owner of this body really done such a thing?
Strangely enough, she had absolutely no memory of the incident.
Xia Ruochu did not remain troubled by the circumstances of Xiao Chengyi’s mother’s death for long.
It wasn’t something she herself had done, so there was no reason for her to feel guilty. Besides, six years ago, this body had been only thirteen years old. What had actually happened was still unknown.
What mattered most now was that her enemies had come looking for trouble.
For several consecutive days, the female physician Xinyi entered the residence to “change Xia Ruochu’s dressings and help her recuperate.” In reality, she was bringing news about the medicine shop’s operations.
“Fourth Young Lady, I’m afraid Yangyi Hall won’t be able to hold on much longer.”
Xinyi was an orphan girl whom Old Master Shen had rescued. Even after the Shen family’s decline, she had remained steadfastly loyal to them and was someone Xia Ruochu could trust.
“Someone has bought up all the notoginseng and cattail pollen available on the market. These are the most essential medicinal ingredients for Yangyi Hall. Now we can’t prepare our medicines for injuries. Although I possess medical skills, I feel truly ashamed to face the hunters and farmers who come to us seeking medicine.”
Upon hearing this, Xia Ruochu’s fingers tightened.
“The Duke of Rong’s residence. Zhao Shu. She really has made a move against Yangyi Hall.”
Yangyi Hall was situated near the Western Mountains. Most of its visitors were impoverished people who climbed mountains, felled trees, hunted, or gathered firewood. Her maternal grandfather had chosen this location precisely to make medical treatment accessible to ordinary people who had little money.
The shop was not large. Patients were examined and prescribed medicine in the front hall, while medicinal herbs were dried in the rear courtyard. The Shen family had never expected it to make a profit. Instead, they had subsidized it year after year, solely to help the sick and save lives.
But times had changed.
Her mother’s dowry, worth half the city, along with the businesses accumulated by three generations of the Shen family, had all fallen into the hands of the Marquis of Yongning’s residence and the Duke of Rong’s residence.
Yangyi Hall had survived only because it was an unprofitable shop, but it could no longer withstand even the slightest disruption.
Those people were willing to disregard the lives of injured patients entirely just to target her. They were truly despicable.
Xinyi was puzzled. “How does Fourth Young Lady know it was Zhao Shu? Could it not have been Madam Liu and Third Young Lady causing trouble?”
“Madam Liu isn’t that impatient,” Xia Ruochu said with a cold smile.
Madam Liu had endured more than ten years without an official name or status, given birth to children, and ultimately driven the principal wife to her death before taking control of the Marquis’s household affairs and finances. How could she be an ordinary woman?
At present, Xia Lanxuan was scheming to marry into a powerful family. Neither mother nor daughter would want to stir up trouble at such a time.
The Xia family did not possess the same degree of power and influence as the Duke of Rong’s residence. Now that Xia Ruochu held the title of Princess Consort of Prince Su, someone as calculating as Madam Liu would not rashly seek trouble with her.
The time for Xia Ruochu’s customary return visit to her maiden family had long passed, yet not a single member of the Xia family had asked after her. They were clearly waiting to see how things developed, hoping that Xiao Chengyi would eventually throw her out with a letter of repudiation.
Zhao Shu, however, was different.
She had a violent temper and couldn’t endure the humiliation of that one lash.
No, two lashes.
Destroying things that others treasured was also one of Zhao Shu’s favorite tricks.
Xia Ruochu regarded such petty tactics with contempt.
Even without Yangyi Hall, she was perfectly capable of building a business from nothing.
But she happened to be particularly fond of this small shop that had such backbone.
Since that was the case, she might as well make good use of this incident.
She instructed Bihan to fetch a silver box and hand it to Xinyi.
“My money should be enough to keep us going for a while. Arrange for the shop assistants to purchase medicinal ingredients from other medicine shops, regardless of the purchase price. Tell the common people who come to us that Yangyi Hall’s medicine prices won’t increase by a single coin.”
“Post a notice stating that Yangyi Hall is willing to sign two-year supply contracts at market prices and pay a thirty-percent deposit in advance. Bihan will spread the word that we’ve already secured a new source of supplies in Mingzhou.”
“Don’t show any weakness to outsiders, or someone might take advantage of our difficulties to make things worse.”
Xinyi knew nothing about business matters, so she could only nod and follow the instructions, sighing inwardly.
Although Fourth Young Lady held the noble position of Princess Consort, others were bullying even her family’s own shop, and she still had to contribute her own money to keep it running.
It seemed the rumors circulating outside were all true. This Princess Consort held the title in name only, without any real standing. The medicine shop would probably be lost sooner or later.
Xia Ruochu, however, behaved as though nothing had happened.
After Xinyi left, she changed her clothes and went to work.
She certainly hadn’t been idle these past few days.
She had set aside a plot of land in Songfeng Courtyard for a medicinal herb garden, planting mint, perilla, fish mint, and other medicinal herbs that grew and propagated easily. Every day, she busied herself alongside the gardeners, thoroughly enjoying the work.
Finding long skirts and gold hairpins inconvenient for moving around, she had even drawn sketches and asked the embroiderers to hurry and make several sets of lightweight clothing.
She wore a short cross-collared jacket paired with wide-legged silk trousers and styled her long black hair into two looped buns. Occasionally, when the mood struck her, she would tuck two fresh perilla flowers into her hair.
Old Madam Xiao actually liked this playful style of dressing.
“I was wondering whose little girl, not yet old enough for her coming-of-age ceremony, had sneaked out to play!”
Xia Ruochu prepared soothing soups to help Old Madam Xiao sleep, along with light snacks containing little sugar and salt. The old lady’s previous symptoms of gout and wasting-thirst disease had improved considerably, and she grew even more affectionate toward Xia Ruochu.
Before long, the servants in the residence also became willing to stay by her side. She didn’t meddle unnecessarily or cause trouble, and she rewarded the servants with any extra food she made. There were all kinds of delicious snacks, many of which were varieties they had never even heard of.
Everyone liked this unusual Princess Consort and simply regarded her as though Old Madam Xiao had taken in a biological granddaughter.
There was just one thing no one dared mention to her face. Ever since Prince Su had left that day, he had never returned.
The poor Princess Consort was not favored by her husband.
A woman’s status depended on her husband. Without Prince Su’s favor, the snobbish members of powerful noble families would ridicule her. In the future, she would probably have no choice but to hide away in Grand Madam Rong’an’s residence.
Even Bihan worried about her mistress.
“Young Lady, why have you become a completely different person since you fainted? You’re not even anxious about making plans for your own future. How do you still have the leisure to fuss over flowers and plants?”
Xia Ruochu, however, had plans of her own.
She was waiting for the right opportunity.
Now that Zhao Shu had targeted Yangyi Hall, the opportunity she wanted had finally arrived.
Counting the days, it was about time to summon back that husband of hers who had left and never returned.
The weather was clear and pleasant that day.
Guan Shuo, the commander of the guards, hurried out of the main hall, looking thoroughly dejected after receiving a scolding from Grand Madam Rong’an.
Military reports from the frontier had suddenly become urgent. Prince Su had spent several consecutive days personally overseeing and coordinating defensive deployments, even staying overnight in the imperial palace. By now, it had been seven or eight days since he had last set foot in Grand Madam Rong’an’s residence.
Guan Shuo was responsible for coordinating the guards’ duty schedules and daily communications between the two residences. He frequently traveled back and forth between them and couldn’t avoid the old lady even if he wanted to. Naturally, he had become the target of her frustration.
“Commander Guan, please wait!”
A clear, bright voice called out to him. He turned around and saw Bihan, the Princess Consort’s personal maid.
“Miss Bihan, what is it?” he replied, although he did not stop walking.
“Our Princess Consort requests Commander Guan’s presence!”
His footsteps abruptly halted.
Guan Shuo was surprised, then frowned deeply. The Princess Consort had never had any dealings with him before. Why was she looking for him?
He genuinely had no favorable impression of this Princess Consort of Prince Su, who was rumored to be arrogant and domineering.
There was no other reason than the twenty strokes of the military staff his personal guards had suffered for no reason.
On the day of the wedding, His Highness had become furious because of this woman, and his men had been subjected to twenty strokes without having done anything wrong.
The following day, she had gotten into a conflict with County Princess Changle. Afterward, His Highness blamed the accompanying personal guards for failing to fulfill their duties and awarded each of them another twenty strokes of the military staff.
What a troublemaking beauty! What a disaster!
He wished he could take a detour to avoid a mistress who caused so much trouble.
“Commander, please come with me quickly. The Princess Consort has something she wants you to take back to Prince Su’s residence.”
Without giving him a chance to speak, Bihan had already begun leading the way with a cheerful smile.
Now he couldn’t refuse.
Guan Shuo figured that since she had something to send to Prince Su, he could simply collect it and leave.
Upon entering Songfeng Courtyard, he hesitated, intending to say that it would be inappropriate for an unrelated man to enter the inner chambers. However, he was led to a garden of young plants instead, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Grand Madam Rong’an’s residence, usually quiet and deserted, had never been so full of life. Servants came and went, tending to a garden filled with plants he couldn’t identify. He had no idea what benefits they had received, but every one of them had a healthy, rosy complexion and worked so diligently that it seemed as though they were tending their own gardens.
The only person missing was the Princess Consort, with her splendid and noble appearance.
Where was the Princess Consort?
“Reporting to Your Highness, Commander Guan has arrived!”
A petite figure rose from among the medicinal herbs.
She wore a short begonia-red jacket scattered with floral patterns and moon-white silk trousers. Her dark hair was arranged into two spiral buns, and her face was free of makeup. Beneath the autumn sunlight, her cheeks were flushed a rosy red.
The young woman lifted the mud-stained hems of her trousers and ran up to him in just a few steps. Her voice was sweet and soft.
“Thank you for taking the trouble to come all this way, Commander Guan.”
Guan Shuo froze.
The Princess Consort was nothing like the cool, ethereal woman he had seen before, who seemed so distant and difficult to approach.
This outfit…
He remembered his little sister back home, who had cried and made a fuss as she saw him off when he left to join the army many years ago. She had worn the same adorable double spiral buns and looked at him with the same clear, bright eyes.
After a long moment, Guan Shuo lowered his head and cupped his fists in salute, his voice involuntarily softening.
“This humble general greets the Princess Consort.”
“There’s no need for such formalities, Commander Guan.” Xia Ruochu smiled faintly.
At a signal from her eyes, two older female servants who performed manual labor carried over a large bamboo basket suspended from a shoulder pole. Inside were more than twenty deep bamboo containers arranged neatly in rows. Each container was about as wide as the mouth of a bowl, and its opening was tightly sealed with oiled paper.
“What are these?” Guan Shuo asked curiously.
Xia Ruochu blurted out, “Overlord… Tea.”
She then explained gently and carefully, “Because of me, the personal guards under Commander Guan’s command were implicated and punished. I’ve felt uneasy about it ever since.”
“The autumn weather has been growing colder recently, so I’ve prepared some tea drinks using plain tea and soy milk as the base. The bamboo containers can keep them warm for a while. Please take them back to the residence and distribute them among the personal guards who were punished because of me.”
She pointed to the thin cords tied around the bamboo containers.
“The different cord colors indicate slightly different flavors.”
“Those tied with red cords contain brown sugar and ginger juice. Those with green cords contain hawthorn and osmanthus flowers. The ones with yellow cords contain autumn pears and tangerine peel, mixed with honey. They can help relieve dryness and soothe autumn coughs.”
After pausing, she seemed to realize that she had spoken too much. The tips of her ears turned slightly red, and she lowered her head in embarrassment.
“Please consider them a small token of my appreciation.”
“Oh, one more thing. Commander Guan, please remember not to let His Highness drink any. He has a chronic throat ailment, so these drinks aren’t suitable for him…”
Before she could finish speaking, her voice caught in her throat, and tears welled in her eyes, threatening to fall. She looked every bit like a virtuous wife whose heart ached terribly for her husband.
Even after leaving Songfeng Courtyard, Guan Shuo was still somewhat dazed.
“Miss Bihan, is the Princess Consort usually this shy?”
“Our Fourth Young Lady has always treated people very well and carries herself with grace and confidence.” Bihan was directing the older servants to load the large basket of Overlord Tea onto the carriage.
“Please don’t take offense, Commander Guan. Fourth Young Lady hasn’t been in good spirits. She’s already cried several times today, so she wasn’t able to have a proper conversation with you.”
Guan Shuo was taken aback.
And she called that not having a proper conversation?
The Princess Consort was far gentler than those noble young ladies who looked down on everyone.
“Why was the Princess Consort crying?”
“There’s something Commander Guan doesn’t know.” Upon hearing his question, Bihan looked troubled. “Fourth Young Lady no longer has any family members she can rely on. The medicine shop left behind by her maternal grandfather is the only thing she has left to remember him by.”
“That medicine shop was originally established to help impoverished commoners. Recently, we don’t know whom it has offended, but someone has deliberately bought up the entire supply of medicinal ingredients used to treat injuries. Old Madam Xiao also dislikes Fourth Young Lady involving herself in outside affairs and appearing in public. Fourth Young Lady doesn’t dare disobey her and has become so anxious that she can hardly eat or drink.”
“Fourth Young Lady often says that her maternal grandfather taught her from childhood to be kindhearted and compassionate, to help the world and save lives. Now that she has to watch injured people suffer without medicine to treat them, how could she not be heartbroken?”
Guan Shuo was filled with righteous indignation upon hearing this.
“Who would dare act so outrageously? Does His Highness know about this?”
“Absolutely not! Commander Guan, please don’t get me into trouble.” Bihan waved her hands repeatedly. “Fourth Young Lady specifically instructed me that His Highness is busy with official duties, and she wouldn’t dare trouble him with such trivial matters.”
“Alas! His Highness doesn’t care for my mistress either. Poor Fourth Young Lady. She’s completely devoted to His Highness, but she can only keep her feelings hidden.”
Bihan wiped the corners of her eyes and turned to leave.
Guan Shuo was overwhelmed by conflicting emotions.
He really was a terrible person! He had misunderstood such a beautiful and kindhearted Princess Consort all this time.
No wonder the Princess Consort’s eyes had reddened earlier when he asked why she hadn’t specially prepared a container of Overlord Tea for His Highness.
With a sorrowful expression, she had said, “His Highness certainly wouldn’t want to consume anything I’ve made.”
The medicine shop that was her only remaining connection to her family was being maliciously targeted, and she was powerless to do anything about it. She had also been neglected by His Highness despite having only just married him.
This Princess Consort had indeed suffered quite a few grievances.
Meanwhile, inside Songfeng Courtyard, the aggrieved Princess Consort was leisurely sipping milk tea.
Unfortunately, cow’s milk was a rare commodity in this era, so using large quantities of it was impractical. She was also worried that some people might be lactose intolerant. However, preparing the drink with almond milk gave it a distinctive flavor, and it was quite delicious too.
“Young Lady, why didn’t you tell Commander Guan all those things yourself? You made this servant work so hard to memorize those lines,” Bihan asked.
Xia Ruochu smiled. “You don’t understand. Some things are more effective when someone else says them.”
When it came to feelings between men and women, once everything was laid bare face-to-face, the intrigue disappeared.
Love was most beautiful when feelings remained ambiguous and unspoken.
There had to be a mixture of truth and falsehood, a sense of being close yet distant, leaving the other person constantly guessing. Only then would the longing and desire become increasingly difficult to endure.
If you wanted someone to keep thinking about you, the best method wasn’t to constantly appear before them, but to quietly become a part of their life.
She certainly wasn’t going to open her mouth and beg Xiao Chengyi to come over.
She wanted Xiao Chengyi to come looking for her of his own accord.