Chapter 24: Furious for a Beloved
“Alright, I understand.” Chu Ziqian nodded, leaning in to lightly peck Jiang Yingnan’s lips, “You’re willing to live a good life with me, aren’t you?”
“What if I am, what if I’m not?” Jiang Yingnan still had a wry smile on his face, “I have no choice but to muddle through my life in the Crown Prince’s mansion. But don’t touch me today, give me some time to calm down, okay?”
“…But, today is our wedding night.”
Jiang Yingnan sneered, “You really can’t hold back for even a day? Do you remember how badly I’m injured?”
“…Okay, I won’t touch you.” Chu Ziqian compromised, kissing Jiang Yingnan’s forehead again, “Then let’s rest early.”
When they lay on the bed, Chu Ziqian, as usual, put his arm around Jiang Yingnan, but Jiang Yingnan just wanted to push his arm away.
“I said not to touch, meaning no place at all.”
“…” Chu Ziqian was somewhat amused and exasperated, “Anan, you can’t torture me like this. Today’s events were all caused by the Third Princess, you can’t blame me! If there’s a rift between us, and my family is in turmoil, wouldn’t that play right into the Third Princess’s hands, and let others laugh at us too? Anan, we should unite against her and think about how to deal with her.”
Jiang Yingnan said angrily, “A good man doesn’t fight with a woman, what are you going to do to her? Just worry about these things yourself, I don’t want to be involved anymore.”
“You’re right…” Chu Ziqian pondered, “Although Father allowed her to participate in politics, he doesn’t really want a woman to be emperor, I should still focus my attention on the Fourth Prince.”
Jiang Yingnan turned his body towards the wall, too lazy to deal with this topic anymore.
He had wanted to help Chu Ziqian remove all obstacles and help him achieve his imperial dream, but he suddenly realized that Chu Ziqian could really abandon everything for this goal, for example, when he also became an obstacle.
At this time, Princess Ping, who was considered an enemy by Chu Ziqian, was also thinking about her next plan.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, she decided to join forces with Chu Lianmo.
So the next day, she invited Chu Lianmo to the Princess’s mansion for a banquet.
Chu Lianmo was now used to having Qi Xiaojun accompany him wherever he went, so he said to Qi Xiaojun, “Jun, accompany me.”
“…Okay.” Qi Xiaojun really didn’t want to face Princess Ping. But he couldn’t object. Fortunately, he had changed his appearance and was now appearing as Chu Lianmo’s family member, Princess Ping should not be able to do anything to him.
“What’s wrong?” Chu Lianmo smiled and put his arm around Qi Xiaojun’s shoulder, “You look like someone’s going to eat you.”
“I heard that she’s willful, I’m really a little scared.” Since his expressions couldn’t be hidden from Chu Lianmo, he might as well admit it.
Chu Lianmo said softly, “With me here, what are you afraid of?”
Qi Xiaojun “um”-ed, feeling Chu Lianmo’s body temperature, he really felt a little more at ease.
After arriving at the Princess’s mansion, Princess Ping was already sitting at the table, with a large table of rich dishes.
Beside her stood a handsome young man in green brocade, not dressed like a servant.
“Fourth Prince is here?” Princess Ping greeted Chu Lianmo enthusiastically, “Come, come, sit down.”
“Greetings, Third Princess, greetings, brother-in-law.”
Qi Xiaojun heard Chu Lianmo’s greeting, and realized that the young man in green was Princess Ping’s husband. Luckily, she already had a prince consort, she shouldn’t be eyeing him anymore.
But, why was the prince consort always standing beside her, not sitting down to eat? Wouldn’t that mean he, as a concubine, couldn’t sit either?
“Jun, what’s wrong?” Chu Lianmo noticed Qi Xiaojun’s hesitation after sitting down, pointed to the empty seat beside him, “Sit here.”
“…I thought, the rules here are that family members can’t sit.”
“No, no,” Princess Ping shook her head with a smile, “That’s only my rule for my husband, I don’t care about others.”
Qi Xiaojun frowned slightly, displeased with her manner, but didn’t say anything, silently sitting beside Chu Lianmo.
“You know, I have many interesting experiences in Yan this time.” Princess Ping started excitedly narrating while eating, “I also visited some martial arts sects, do you know a sect called Jinxiu Mountain Villa?”
This surprised Qi Xiaojun. Because when he was in Qi, he also liked to leave the capital and travel around, including some martial arts sects. He had once traveled the world under the alias “Qingzhu Xia” in a veil. Unexpectedly, Princess Ping had similar hobbies.
He had also heard of the reputation of Jinxiu Mountain Villa.
Princess Ping continued, “This Jinxiu Mountain Villa is very special, women are superior, the Villa Master is a woman, and the young Villa Master is also a woman. This Villa Master Ouyang has six daughters and only one son, the son and the sons-in-law have no status in the villa, they can’t even eat with the women.”
“…” Qi Xiaojun finally understood where Princess Ping’s habits came from.
Princess Ping continued tirelessly, “Do you know how the Villa Master teaches her children? The daughters learn swordsmanship and how to manage the villa from birth, the sons learn to play the qin, sing, and dance, they can only be used for amusement… hahaha, it’s really funny!”
“…” Qi Xiaojun listened to Princess Ping’s cheerful laughter, but didn’t find it funny at all, instead, he felt sorry for Villa Master Ouyang’s only son.
“With all due respect,” Chu Lianmo said with a serious expression, “Men being superior may not be good, but the opposite is also true. Whether male or female, why do people have to live according to predetermined rules?”
Qi Xiaojun was very pleased. Chu Lianmo had said what he wanted to say.
Princess Ping pouted, “Fourth Prince, you are a man, you naturally won’t sympathize with me. You say that men and women can live as they want, but is that really the case? In Chu, women can’t take the imperial examinations, they can’t become officials, and even those who can read and write are few, aren’t they?”
“…You also have a point. Since men can now marry men, why can’t women be officials? If I had the power, I wouldn’t let things be like this.”
Hearing this, Princess Ping’s expression became serious, she stared at Chu Lianmo silently for a moment. She understood that Chu Lianmo meant that if he became emperor, things would be different.
“Let’s not talk about this,” Princess Ping suddenly laughed again, “I hit it off with Villa Master Ouyang’s son, and I brought him back this time, do you want to meet him?”
“…Third Princess, don’t you already have a prince consort?” Chu Lianmo almost suspected that she wanted three husbands.
“Oh, where did you get that idea, he’s just a friend. He also wants to travel around, so he came to the capital of Chu with me.”
“I see. Then let’s meet him.”
Then, Princess Ping sent someone to call Ouyang Qin, the son of Villa Master Ouyang.
Ouyang Qin was dressed in pink silk, with a beautiful face covered in thick makeup, his style was similar to Yin Mei’s.
“Greetings, Princess, greetings, His Royal Highness Prince Rui.” He bowed gracefully, then smiled charmingly at Chu Lianmo.
This made Qi Xiaojun feel uncomfortable.
“Is this how your mother forces you to dress?” Chu Lianmo didn’t seem to like his appearance either, and said bluntly, “If so, she’s not here now, why do you continue like this?”
“…I’m used to it.” A hint of sadness flashed across Ouyang Qin’s smiling face, “Even if no one is watching, I can’t change. Like those things like playing the qin and dancing… I only know those.”
Chu Lianmo said, “But you’re still young, you can learn other things if you want.”
“But, although I was forced to do those things at first, I seem to have grown fond of them. So now, when I’m free, I work as a male prostitute at Nanfeng Pavilion, earning money to support myself.”
Chu Lianmo didn’t know what to say.
Princess Ping laughed, “I quite like this type of man… Of course, I also like A Rong.”
She turned to look at Ning Rong, her prince consort, who was standing there timidly, then continued to look at Chu Lianmo and smiled, “If it weren’t for the fact that Chu doesn’t allow women to have many husbands, I’d really want to keep Young Master Ouyang too.”
“…” Chu Lianmo found that he was indeed right, and couldn’t help but smile wryly.
Princess Ping laughed again, “I was young and ignorant before, and I thought Qi Xiaojun was good, but his temper… if we had really gotten married, how could he have obediently obeyed me?”
“What?” The smile on Chu Lianmo’s face instantly froze, he said in astonishment, “You also liked Jun?”
Qi Xiaojun realized that Chu Lianmo also used to call him “Jun”. He wasn’t afraid of confusion.
Princess Ping laughed, “Yes, I even gave him an aphrodisiac, but that kid was adamant, really, am I that bad?”
“…What did you say?” Chu Lianmo suddenly stepped forward, grabbing Princess Ping’s collar, “You gave him an aphrodisiac?!”
“What are you doing?! Let go of me!” Princess Ping was instantly surprised and angry, “I’m your third elder sister, how dare you be so rude!”
“…” Chu Lianmo finally had to let go.
But he still stared at Princess Ping angrily, his eyes blazing with fire.
Finally, he slapped the table, stood up angrily, “Sorry, I can’t eat with you anymore. Jun, let’s go!”
Then, he turned and left.
Princess Ping shouted behind him, “I invited you to dinner because I looked up to you, what are you doing? I don’t care about you anymore!”
Qi Xiaojun was a little stunned by this sudden turn of events, and could only quickly follow Chu Lianmo.
“Your Highness, why did you have to do that? The Third Princess clearly wants to cooperate with you, even if you don’t want to cooperate, you don’t have to offend her, otherwise, in the future…”
“What do you know?!” Chu Lianmo turned and shouted at him, “She hurt Jun, I’m already restraining myself by not killing her! Cooperation, your head!”
“…You mean, the second prince of Qi, Prince Xiao?” Qi Xiaojun knew that his “Jun” now wasn’t Zhou Jun, “You… care so much about him?”