After saying that, he kissed her ear again, his voice low and husky: "It won't matter if you complain about the pain in a couple of days."
He applied the medicine to her himself, knowing the extent of her injury; there was no way he could fake it.
Upon hearing this, the girl looked utterly dejected, as if she had lost her parents. However, Wei Hong did not feel angry or annoyed by her expression; instead, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction. He sat up with a smirk, but before his buttocks had even touched the bed, he let out a low cry and jumped up.
Yao Youqing quickly got up to look and saw a shiny silver needle stuck in his buttocks, with a long thread hanging from the end of the needle, like a thin tail attached to his back.
Chapter 44 Teasing
Wei Hong frowned, pulled the needle out, and threw it back into the embroidery basket. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Yao Youqing suppressing a laugh.
He leaned over, his hands bracing against the bed, staring into her curved eyebrows and eyes: "Are you laughing at me?"
Yao Youqing had to lean back slightly because of his movement, she pursed her lips and shook her head, but the smile in her eyes still couldn't help but overflow.
Wei Hong moved even closer: "You're clearly laughing at me."
Yao Youqing was forced to lean back a little more and said softly, "I already told you there are needles."
"...So it's my own fault?"
Yao Youqing laughed and asked him, "Does it hurt?"
A broken toe was nothing to Wei Hong; being pricked by a needle was like being bitten by a mosquito, so he didn't take it seriously.
He was about to speak when he suddenly changed the subject: "A little bit, how about... you take a look for me?"
The girl's eyes suddenly widened, her face flushed with embarrassment, and she stammered for a long time without being able to utter a word.
Wei Hong laughed loudly, leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, lowering his voice: "I'll show you another day."
Cui Hao was slightly taken aback when he heard the laughter that suddenly came from inside the room.
In his memory, he had never heard the prince laugh like that since the death of the imperial concubine.
Although as time went by he was no longer as unable to let go of the death of the imperial concubine as he had at the beginning, he had become much more gloomy and was quite different from the dashing and unrestrained young man he once was.
Moreover, he had just been in a fit of anger before coming here today; he was furious.
Cui Hao thought about how furious he had been just now, and then about how he was laughing now. He shook his head and chuckled, realizing that his previous worries had been a bit unnecessary.
He turned to look at Zhou's mother and said, "The princess has a very good temperament."
After saying that, he smiled and left, no longer staying there.
Hearing the commotion inside the room, Mrs. Zhou smiled.
Things in this world are often unpredictable. A marriage that everyone approves of may not necessarily be happy, and a marriage that no one approves of may not necessarily be unhappy.
While she was having a brief conversation with Cui Hao, Wei Hong sat down again in the room and bent down to take off his shoes.
Yao Youqing was a little nervous and didn't know what he was going to do. When he took off his shoes, she saw that his socks were stained with blood again. The wound that had clearly stopped bleeding was bleeding again!
She gasped softly, quickly had someone fetch water and medicine, then sat back down and asked him again.
"Why is it bleeding again? Didn't it stop bleeding before?"
I just bumped into something.
Wei Hong said.
When he threw a tantrum in the front yard, he forgot about his foot injury, kicked over tables and chairs, and reopened the wound that had already healed.
"How could you be so careless?"
Yao Youqing frowned. After he wiped the blood off his foot, she reapplied the medicine and then wrapped his thumb with a cloth, just like Li Dou had done, though the wrapping didn't look very good.
Looking at her serious expression, staring at her long eyelashes and rosy lips, Wei Hong suddenly leaned over and kissed her again.
Yao Youqing was startled, and her hand loosened, causing the half-wrapped bandage to come loose as well.
As Zhou's mother was carrying a basin filled with bloody water out, she turned around upon hearing the commotion: "What's wrong, Your Highness?"
Yao Youqing shook her head, her face flushed, and glared at Wei Hong with her cheeks puffed out.
Wei Hong laughed again and, out of Zhou's mother's sight, squeezed her soft little hand.
Yao Youqing didn't know why he had suddenly changed like this. He hadn't been very affectionate towards her before, but today he was suddenly kissing and touching her.
She wanted to break free but dared not move too much, afraid that Zhou's mother would see. She could only quietly pull her hand out, but she couldn't force Wei Hong to let it out.
Having been through similar experiences, Zhou's mother, though not seeing things clearly, still guessed some of the clues. She smiled and withdrew, handing the basin of water to a servant before turning back and closing the door.
Only after the door closed and there was no one else in the room did Yao Youqing breathe a sigh of relief, muttering softly, "Your Highness, please don't do this. What if someone sees us..."
Although this kind of thing is normal between husband and wife, she was still embarrassed to let others see it.
Wei Hong leaned closer again, his voice low: "Is it okay when no one's watching?"
The ambiguous words and the breath spraying against her ear made Yao Youqing's face flush red, and she didn't know what to say at all.
He discovered a new way to tease her, and was in a great mood. He smiled, rubbed her head, and took the bandage from her hand.
"I'll do it myself, I'm clumsy."
He quickly bandaged the wound and put his shoes and socks back on.
...
The next day, Ding Shou, who had been sent to the capital, returned and reported to Yao Youqing that Yao Yuzhi had only injured her leg and that she was already able to get out of bed with crutches when he went there.
Yao Youqing finally felt a little relieved. She took the handwritten letter that Yao Yuzhi had written to her from him, her eyes reddening.
"Father has worked hard all his life. Although he has retired from the court due to injuries and illness, it is good that he can stop and rest for a while."
“Yes,” Ding Shou said, “Master has been busy all his life and should have taken a break long ago. No matter how we tried to persuade him before, he wouldn’t listen. Although this time it was out of necessity, everyone in the manor thinks it’s not a bad thing.”
"Butler Chang used to say that Master neglected his health for the sake of politics. Now that Master has resigned from his post, Butler Chang keeps an eye on him to make sure he rests on time and eats three meals a day without fail. He also carefully prepares various medicinal meals to help him recover. I noticed that although Master is injured, he seems to have gained some weight compared to before!"
These words made Yao Youqing chuckle, and her previous worries finally dissipated.
"Butler Chang is always very attentive, and I feel very reassured with him taking care of Father."
Ding Shou chimed in, and then deliberately added, "The garment you made for the master was made according to his old size. Although he can still wear it now, it might not fit in a few days. I think you should make him a new one, a little bigger. That way, even if it doesn't fit, he can still alter it. If it's too small, it's not easy to alter it."
Yao Youqing had already sent the clothes to Ding Shou a few days earlier, so they arrived in the capital around the same time. The person who sent the clothes also returned with him today.
The atmosphere in the room became more and more relaxed as Ding Shou spoke. He said some trivial things to reassure Yao Youqing before leaving.
Madam Zhou personally saw him out, and only when no one was around did she ask in a low voice, "Is the master really alright?"
"It's not that I'm completely fine," Ding Shou said. "She did injure her leg, and the pain and worry about the Princess have made her thin. But she's in good spirits and forces herself to eat, take her medicine, and rest on time every day, so it's not a big deal."
As long as a person still has a breath left, they will always find a way to keep going.
Yao Yuzhi was worried about her daughter and dared not neglect her own health, so she took even better care of herself than before.
Mrs. Zhou nodded: "That's good."
Then he asked him if there was any movement from the person in the palace.
Ding Shou said no, except that he still sent people to keep an eye on the Yao family and to secretly read Yao Youqing's letters.
Then he remembered something: "His Majesty is going to hold a selection of candidates, but this has nothing to do with us."
Yao Youqing was already married, so whether or not she participated in the talent show was irrelevant to her. Therefore, neither of them took it to heart, and after exchanging a few more words, they parted ways.
...
On the same day Ding Shou returned, another person also returned to the Prince's Mansion, who had not been seen for a long time.
Guo Sheng frowned when he entered the Prince's mansion and found that the front yard was under renovation.
When he learned that Wei Hong had moved to the backyard because of this, his brows furrowed even more.
That evening, Wei Hong returned to his residence and was about to walk towards the inner courtyard as before when he encountered Guo Sheng, who was waiting for him.
Guo Sheng walked over with a smile and said, "Your Highness, I'm back."
After saying that, he pointed around and said, "The front yard has been repaired, so you don't need to go to the back yard anymore."
While speaking, he criticized the craftsmen for being slow and dawdling, dragging out tasks that could have been completed quickly. He scolded them and told them to finish what they hadn't done. As a result, the work was completed in just half a day, which showed that they had been slacking off before.
Wei Hong: "..."
He stood in the cold wind for a long time, the veins on his forehead throbbing slightly.
"My things are still in the backyard, I..."
Guo Sheng grinned: "Don't worry, I've had everything brought back for you, nothing is missing."
Wei Hong: "..."
Chapter 45 The Cave
Cui Hao stayed with Wei Hong until he entered the mansion, and they only parted ways when Wei Hong went to the backyard.
After parting ways with Wei Hong, he walked straight to his residence, but as he walked, he felt that something was wrong.
The front courtyard of the Prince's mansion had been under renovation for some time. In fact, it could have been completed much earlier, but he deliberately had people leave part of it unfinished, thinking that he would wait until the relationship between the Prince and the Princess was completely stable before proceeding.
But when he went inside, he found that all the traces were gone. The unfinished areas were clean and tidy, as if they had been completely repaired in a single day.
He frowned and called someone over to ask what was going on.
The man said that Lord Guo had returned and, finding the craftsmen lazy and negligent, had personally supervised them to finish the unfinished work.
Cui Hao felt a lump in his throat and asked again, "Where is Lord Guo now?"
Before the servant could reply, he saw two figures in the distance and pointed, saying, "There."
Cui Hao turned around and saw Wei Hong and Guo Sheng walking back one after the other.
Wei Hong, standing in front, had a dark and gloomy expression, while Guo Sheng, standing behind, held his head high and smiled, completely unaware of his master's current mood.
Cui Hao sighed, waved for the servant to leave, and then followed the two men back to Wei Hong's residence in the front courtyard.
After Wei Hong went inside, he listened to Guo Sheng report some trivial matters to him, but he became impatient halfway through.
"If there's nothing urgent, you can leave now. I'm tired and need to rest. Just tell Ziqian about these trivial matters."