Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. The old lady glanced at Wuxia's already protruding belly and said, "The Marquis had business to attend to and did not come with us." This was not exactly a lie, but it was a way of avoiding the main issue so as not to frighten anyone or cause Wuxia to have a miscarriage.
As night fell, Wushuang tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
With Chu Yao's extraordinary abilities, he would definitely know immediately if the family returned to the capital.
Will he come to see her?
Wu Shuang shyly pulled the blanket over her face, shamelessly hoping for a man to come to her boudoir for a secret rendezvous in the middle of the night.
One moment she longed for someone to come, the next she felt she shouldn't. Torn between these conflicting thoughts, she was suddenly awakened by the sound of a clapper.
The weather was hot, and to enhance the cooling effect of the iceberg-shaped curtains, the bed curtains were not drawn. With a slight tilt of her head, she could see the entire bedroom. By the cool moonlight streaming through the window, Wushuang was startled to see a figure in front of the bed. She sat up abruptly, clutching the blanket and opening her mouth, about to scream for help, when the figure swiftly stepped forward and covered her mouth with a large hand.
"It's me."
Chu Yao's voice rang in her ears, and Wu Shuang's heart, which had been hanging in her throat, plummeted back into her stomach. She almost jumped up, her small hands clinging to Chu Yao's arm, and threw herself into his arms without any hesitation.
"Chu Yao, Chu Yao!" Wu Shuang rubbed her face against Chu Yao's chest, her voice soft and sweet, "It's so good that you're alright. I thought you had upset the Emperor because of He Yao and Gesang."
Chu Yao was knocked backward by Wu Shuang's tackle. He chuckled and used one hand to ruffle her fluffy head, asking, "Gesang is one thing, but what does He Yao's matter have to do with me?"
Wushuang looked up at him: "Wasn't it you? Isn't it because He Yao started everything that you're taking revenge on her?"
“Silly girl, you can’t just say things like that. She’s a county princess, after all, and she has a whole squad of guards protecting her. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t do it.” Chu Yao shook his head and denied it. “It’s clearly her own admiration for Gesang. When she heard he was injured, she went to his tent to visit him. Not only did they spend the night together, but His Majesty caught them in the act.”
Wu Shuang was astonished, her mouth agape, wider than an egg. After a long while, she finally found her voice and said incredulously, "He Yao admires Gesang, yet she still advises him to steal another woman to be her prince consort? If it were me, I wouldn't be willing to help you with something like that!"
Not only did they not help, they even took out a horsewhip to whip Chu Yao to vent their anger!
"You're comparing yourself to He Yao?" Chu Yao seized on the loophole in Wu Shuang's words, raising an eyebrow as he asked, "So, she admires Gesang, and you admire me?"
Wushuang jumped out of his arms with a "Ah!" and her little feet scrambled back on the bed: "You...you don't need to overthink it. I was just saying it casually. I don't admire you at all. It's clearly you who has always admired me!"
Chu Yao, with his long arms, grabbed the person and pulled him back into a hug: "You're right, it's me who admires you."
Wushuang had prepared a whole host of arguments to debate with him, but to her surprise, he used an unexpected tactic, surrendering without warning and even confessing his feelings. She blushed with embarrassment, completely at a loss for words, and could only obediently let Chu Yao hold her, her little hands naturally clinging to his neck as she softly whined, "You have no idea how worried I was. I even got sick, had a fever for days, and almost went crazy. The doctor said it was summer heat, fatigue, fright, and worry. Half of the cause was because of you, but you didn't even come to see me."
At the time, she didn't think much of it, but now, as she talked, she actually started to feel wronged, saying, "You'd better make it up to me quickly."
With a curfew in effect, no one could move on the streets, and all the shops were closed. How could he possibly compensate her immediately? Chu Yao's thoughts drifted to indescribable places. He coughed a few times to clear his mind of these inappropriate reverie, then looked carefully at Wu Shuang's unmade-up face and said, "No wonder I thought your face had become sharper." He then picked her up and bounced her around. "Hmm, you've also lost a lot of weight. So you were sick."
Wushuang chuckled: "I got sick just a few days after we separated. I've made up for all the weight I lost back then."
"I think it's okay to add more meat; it feels better with more meat."
It was hot, and Wushuang wore a thin and short undergarment to sleep. As Chu Yao spoke, his large hand slipped under the hem of her garment and touched her waist.
Wushuang retreated sharply again, but this time she retreated too quickly and tripped on the crumpled summer quilt, falling headfirst.
Chu Yao smiled and helped her up: "Don't make such a commotion, or you'll wake up the maids on night duty outside."
How dare he say that? Who's really making trouble here?
Wushuang was both ashamed and angry, and raised her hand to slap Chu Yao's hand. The sound of "smack" was crisp and satisfying, but her palm hurt a lot. When she looked closely, her fair palm was red.
"Scratch my itch?" Chu Yao teased, "But don't hurt yourself."
Wushuang snorted and pulled the summer quilt over herself, wrapping herself up from neck to toe. "Then you'll take me out to eat tomorrow to make up for it. I want roast duck, crab, hot pot, and grilled venison." She rattled off all the things she wanted to eat. "If you're worried that Mother won't let me go out with you alone, you can have Wanwan send me an invitation."
Chu Yao simply hummed in response, his expression unconsciously becoming more serious than before: "Tomorrow won't work, I have other things to do."
"Is it related to His Majesty's sudden departure back to the capital?" Wushuang asked.
"Sort of, but not entirely."
Chu Yao sat sideways on the edge of the bed, casually pulled Wu Shuang, blanket and all, to his side and hugged her, then solemnly recounted the whole story.
On the day of the arranged marriage for He Yaogesang, Emperor Deqing woke up in the middle of the night and saw a crack in the tent near his bed, with a head peeking out from the gap. He was startled awake, but the person who had been spying on him had vanished. Emperor Deqing ordered his men to chase after them, but the guards failed to capture anyone suspicious.
Emperor Deqing was furious, but had no other choice. To ensure his safety, he ordered the camp to be broken up and the journey to begin immediately, and forbade anyone not to leak the news to anyone else.
"Could it be that His Majesty took the dream seriously?" Wushuang asked curiously. Dozens of guards stood watch outside the imperial tent, making it impossible for ordinary people to get close. How could someone have cut open the tent and crawled in? "Otherwise, how could we not find anyone?"
“However, the tent did have a gaping hole, long and high enough for a person to crawl through. I saw it with my own eyes,” Chu Yao said. “If my uncle hadn’t woken up then, who knows what that person would have done next.”
That's true," Wushuang nodded in agreement.
“Then… Your Majesty suspects…” She recalled the time when the crown prince was deposed in her previous life, and hesitantly raised her index and middle fingers, making a “two” shape with Chu Yao, “So you didn’t take him with you?”
"Uncle Emperor thought this arrangement would ensure safety, but who would have thought that something else would happen on the way?" Chu Yao replied, seemingly unrelated to the question.
After setting off, the imperial entourage traveled for several days, avoiding official roads and post stations for fear of revealing their whereabouts, and only camping and resting along the riverbanks and in the woods. At first, everything went smoothly, but on the tenth day, assassins appeared in the camp.
Perhaps Emperor Deqing had considered this carefully beforehand; on the way back to the capital, his imperial tent appeared no different from those of his entourage, and its location varied each day. The assassins, after breaking into the camp at night, couldn't find the correct spot and alerted the guards on night duty, ultimately being captured alive by the Fifth Prince Chu Yun's troops.
However, the assassins did not confess who ordered them to commit suicide. During the interrogation, they bit into the poison pills that had been hidden in their teeth beforehand and committed suicide.
"Then wouldn't we be unable to find anyone plotting rebellion?" Wushuang interjected.
Chu Yao shook his head slightly: "Later, when the bodies were disposed of, they found that one of the bodies had an incomplete Crown Prince's mark on his body. My imperial uncle immediately ordered my father-in-law to lead troops back to escort His Highness the Crown Prince back to the capital."
Saying they were escorting someone was just a nice way of putting it; in reality, it was surveillance and guarding.
Upon hearing the words "father-in-law," Wu Shuang's cheeks flushed involuntarily. However, the atmosphere was heavy, and it was not appropriate to argue with him. Moreover, she was more concerned about her father's safety than the inappropriate address: "Chu Yao, is Father in danger?"
“No need to worry, the number of soldiers my father-in-law brought is five times that of the Crown Prince’s guards,” Chu Yao said. “They already have an absolute advantage in numbers, and he sends messengers every day, so things are progressing very smoothly. The latest news this evening is that they have arrived in Hebei Province and will be able to enter the capital in no more than three days.”
Chu Yao kept reassuring Wu Shuang, telling her not to worry, but he wasn't as relaxed as he appeared.