As Yao Youqing approached the carriage, she noticed that Wei Hong had another person beside him. This person was Guo Sheng, whom she hadn't seen for a long time and who had only returned to the Prince's Mansion a couple of days ago.
It was only then that she realized that the Lord Guo who sent people to take away Wei Hong's things that day was referring to him.
Yao Youqing was unaware that Ling Shuang's true cause of death was the pills given to her by Wei Chi, and she still believed that she died because the timing of treatment was delayed.
Although the person who actually stopped them was someone else, Zhou's mother later learned that Guo Sheng was the one behind it all and told her about it, so she had a very bad impression of Guo Sheng.
Her face was always smiling, and she rarely got angry. But when she saw Guo Sheng, her smile froze, her face darkened, and she looked away, not wanting to look at him again.
Wei Hong stood with Guo Sheng, and Yao Youqing turned her head, ignoring his outstretched hand that was about to help her into the car.
He watched as Zhou's mother helped her into the carriage, then withdrew his hand, looked at Guo Sheng, and whispered, "Stay away from the carriage."
After saying that, he got into the car.
Guo Sheng: "..."
If he had only heard Cui Hao mention it a couple of days ago, and still harbored doubts about Wei Hong's feelings for Yao Youqing, now he had none at all.
He was the prince's right-hand man. Except for the six months he was punished, he had basically been by the prince's side. Now the prince actually told him to stay away from him.
No, it's about being a little further away from the carriage.
But he got on the bus himself, so wouldn't that just mean he'd be further away from him?
Moreover, the prince rarely rode in a carriage before. Even when going to places as far away as the capital, he would ride a horse like them. Now, he was only going to Cangcheng, but he was riding in a carriage with the princess!
Guo Sheng was shocked and bewildered, and he really couldn't understand what had happened in the past six months.
The group set off, and everyone else followed. He fell a few steps behind before suddenly snapping out of his daze and catching up. He casually leaned close to someone next to him and whispered, "Does His Highness... always travel by carriage these days?"
“Of course not,” the man replied. “I only ride in a carriage when I go out with the princess.”
Guo Sheng: "..."
Although he had already guessed it, he still felt a pang of sadness when his guess was confirmed.
The man probably knew why he asked that question, and patted him on the shoulder.
"The princess is a very kind person. Lord Guo, you should put aside your prejudices."
Guo Sheng's face darkened upon hearing this: "What's so great about her? Even you're starting to speak up for her?"
The man chuckled, “The princess is indeed very kind. In the summer, she was worried that we would be bitten by mosquitoes, so she would have people put mosquito-repelling herbs in the palace every few days. She also prepared herbal tea and mung bean soup for everyone to cool off. Everyone was provided with a cool mat so that we could get a good night’s sleep.”
"As soon as the weather got cold, we immediately changed the bedding to thicker ones, even the door curtains. We also had all the doors and windows checked to see if they were drafty, so that everyone wouldn't get cold at night. She thought of everything she could think of. How could anyone not like her?"
Although the stewards of the Prince's mansion would change the clothes and bedding of the people in the mansion according to the four seasons, they generally prepared according to old practices. Unless Wei Hong gave special instructions, they would not easily make changes.
But Wei Hong is Emperor Gaozong's son, the most favored prince in the palace back then, and now the most powerful prince in the Great Liang. He has always had others prepare things for him, so how could he possibly think about these things carefully? He simply lets his servants arrange things according to old customs.
Even though he had someone as meticulous as Cui Hao by his side, he was mostly concerned with military and political affairs and didn't pay much attention to these details of his life.
So while the lives of the servants in the Prince's mansion weren't bad—compared to many other families they were quite well-off—they weren't exactly luxurious.
Guo Sheng's face darkened further upon hearing this: "You think you can be bought off with such a small favor? Has the Prince's Mansion ever mistreated you before? Didn't they prepare thick quilts for you in winter? If you want some cold tea, just ask. Do you think the Prince would be stingy with a little money?"
Seeing that he was about to get angry again, the man sighed.
"We've followed the Prince for so many years, what kind of good things haven't we seen? How could we really be bought off by a little favor?"
"What's important isn't the gift itself, but the princess's intention. She took the initiative and did it before anyone else even asked."
“Since she married the prince, she is the princess. Even if the prince doesn’t like her, she is still the eldest daughter of the Yao family, born into a noble family.”
"How many people of her status would genuinely care about their servants?"
Being taken care of is always a happy thing; who wouldn't like that?
Guo Sheng frowned: "How do you know she's being sincere? Maybe she's just using this tactic to win people over!"
The man laughed, then quickly lowered his voice, realizing it was a bit loud, and said in a low voice, "You'll understand once you spend some time with the princess; she's not the kind of person you describe."
"Furthermore, if she can truly make everyone, including the prince, submit to her through her own means, then that's her own skill, isn't it? Someone like that is, in principle, more worthy of our prince!"
Didn't they say before that only someone as capable as the prince, someone who could stand shoulder to shoulder with him, and not just someone who could serve tea and water, do embroidery and write, was worthy of the position of Princess Qin?
If the princess is really as he says, then that would be exactly what they want!
Guo Sheng frowned deeply: "She's Yao Yuzhi's daughter, who wants to associate with her?"
The man chuckled, "Whatever you want. Anyway, I think the princess is great. She's made me a lot of money!"
"Make money?" Guo Sheng turned his head, looking suspicious. "Make money what way?"
Realizing his slip of the tongue, the man stammered, unsure how to explain, and finally blurted out, "Go ask Lord Cui, he earns the most!"
After that, he refused to say another word.
Guo Sheng wanted to ask more questions, but the group had already left the palace and everyone mounted their horses. It was no longer convenient to say anything, so he had to give up for the time being and thought he would find Cui Hao to ask for clarification later.
...
Wei Hong sat in the carriage, lazily resting his hands on the back of the chair.
He was tall and strong, with long, slender arms. When he spread his arms out, he could enclose the entire back of the chair, including Yao Youqing sitting next to him.
Yao Youqing noticed his hand on her shoulder, her body stiffened slightly, and she tried to move away gently, but his broad palm enveloped her directly and pulled her into his arms.
She gasped and tried to sit up, but the hand on her shoulder was like an iron clamp, holding on tightly. At the same time, the man's hoarse, deep voice sounded above her head.
"You got up early today, are you sleepy? Do you want to sleep a little longer?"
Yao Youqing quickly replied, "No...no need, I'm not sleepy."
Wei Hong nodded: "I'm a little sleepy, I'll take a nap."
He then gently helped her up, leaned over and buried his face in her neck, pressing his entire body weight onto her.
Yao Youqing was pinned to the back of the chair and couldn't move. She wanted to get up but couldn't, and she didn't dare to make any loud noises that might alert the people outside. She was so anxious that she didn't know what to do.
But Wei Hong wouldn't behave. He said he was going to sleep, but he kept moving around in her arms, rubbing his head against her neck, sometimes sniffing, sometimes kissing, and even licking her earlobe with his tongue.
Although the movement was very brief, a fleeting moment, Yao Youqing still noticed it, shrinking back and on the verge of tears.
Wei Hong had only intended to tease her, but seeing how scared she was, he smiled and stood up slightly, planning to give her a light peck on the corner of her lips and then stop.
Little did he know that Yao Youqing happened to move her head slightly as he stood up, and that's when he kissed her lips.
When their lips meet, it's like thunder and fire; a mere taste is no longer tolerable.
As the girl tried to dodge in surprise, the man grabbed her slender waist, pulled her back into his arms, and fiercely kissed her lips, instantly stealing her breath.
This was the first time he had ever kissed a woman like this. He had imagined it before, but he didn’t know it would taste so good. Once he started, he couldn’t stop and only wanted more and more. At first it was just her lips, then her tongue, and everything in her mouth.
He didn't know how long he kissed her before stopping, only that his lips and teeth seemed to still hold her lingering fragrance. He wanted to start again amidst her panting breaths, but the girl's small hand covered his mouth, her voice trembling with tears welling in her eyes: "Your Highness, no...please don't do this! People will hear us..."
Although no one could see them while they were sitting in the carriage, there were people all around the carriage, and if they made a lot of noise, who knew if they would be overheard.
Wei Hong knew she was shy, so he chuckled and pulled her hand down to his lips to kiss it: "Okay, I won't tease you anymore."
If this continues, she might really start crying.
Yao Youqing breathed a sigh of relief and wanted to sit further away from him, but although the man promised not to bother her, he was unwilling to let go of her and still held her tightly in his arms until the group stopped to rest. She then reluctantly let go of his hand, making an excuse to get off the bus to walk around and stretch her muscles.
As soon as Yao Youqing got out of the car, she went straight to Zhou's mother's direction, pulled her away, and kept looking back as she walked, afraid that Wei Hong would follow her.
Wei Hong chuckled and didn't insist on following her. He simply had someone guard her from behind while he stayed behind to rest.
Guo Sheng knew that he had upset Wei Hong again a couple of days ago. He wanted to appease him, but he didn't want to deal with Yao Youqing.
Seeing Yao Youqing leave, he immediately approached her, smiling as he pulled a bag of dried meat from his pocket.
"Your Highness, I bought your favorite dried meat. Would you like some?"
Wei Hong looked at the words "Chen Ji" on the paper package, and his face, which had just been full of smiles, immediately turned gloomy.
"……roll!"
Chapter 47 Shame (Revised)
Guo Sheng had seen the dried meat by chance on the street the day before.
He originally intended to buy something else, but he overheard passersby talking about the snacks and dried meat that the prince and princess liked. Out of curiosity, he went to take a look.
He went to both shops. The words "Your Highness" were added later to the entrance of the pastry shop, and the words "Princess" were added later to the entrance of the dried meat shop. From this, he concluded that the dried meat was what the prince really liked to eat, and the pastries were just something the princess tried to please her. So in the end, he bought the dried meat.
He thought he had been clever for once when he bought the dried meat, but little did he know that the prince would get angry again!
Guo Sheng walked back with a blank expression, opening the paper package and eating a piece as he went.
It tastes pretty good, why is Your Highness angry?
He looked puzzled, just as he encountered Cui Hao, who was resting nearby.
Cui Hao raised an eyebrow when he saw the dried meat in his hand, but said nothing. He picked up the water pouch and took a sip of water.
Guo Sheng walked over to him, chewing on some jerky as he said, "Your Highness is so kind-hearted. He clearly doesn't like this jerky, yet he lets them use that as a pretext. If it were me..."
Before he could finish speaking, Cui Hao, who was drinking water, choked and coughed for a while before stopping. He then turned to ask him, "Did you give this dried meat to the prince?"
“That’s right,” Guo Sheng said, “It was originally bought for the prince, but who knew he didn’t like it at all and even scolded me!”
Cui Hao rubbed his forehead and quietly explained the whole story to him.
Guo Sheng froze on the spot after hearing this, his face turning pale and then red.
It turns out that this dried meat wasn't what the prince liked to eat at all; it was what the princess's dog liked to eat!
"Then why did the prince still have those kinds of signs hanging up? Isn't that..."
Wouldn't that make him look like a dog?
Although he was slow-witted, he knew that the last sentence was something he couldn't say aloud, otherwise he would be in big trouble if the prince found out.
Cui Hao patted his shoulder: "The prince didn't care about the signboard of that pastry shop before, which means he tacitly acknowledged that he also likes to eat it."
"If we let Chen's dried meat take it off, wouldn't that mean he doesn't like it?"
“If someone doesn’t like the food but still buys it frequently, people will naturally be curious about why they buy it and who they’re buying it for. Then…”
He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was clear enough that even if Guo Sheng was stupid, he wouldn't be so clueless as to not understand.
The people in the Prince's mansion wouldn't gossip and tell others that the dried meat was bought by the Prince for the Princess's dog. If Chen Ji wasn't allowed to remove it, no one would ask.