Chapter 42 Chapter 42 Ear Bone Piercing

With just one word, Shen Qingchen instantly brought Jiang Hexue's out-of-control emotions back on track.

Yes, now she still needs his help, so she must not make him angry, hurt their relationship, or ruin their plan.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Jiang Hexue calmed her breath and smiled charmingly. "Husband, how could I not need you?"

"Besides, is the relationship between you and me this one of need and need?" She adjusted the angle of the smile on her lips and sat down next to him.

She put her hands into his fox fur and hugged his waist.

"What is it?" Shen Qingchen lowered his eyes.

"Husband and wife." Jiang Hexue raised her head and kissed his jaw and the corner of his lips coaxingly. "I love you."

Shen Qingchen pursed his lips and did not respond to her.

You lied to him again, he heard it all.

She clearly said with confidence that she didn't love him, didn't care about him, and asked Fu Wangtong to mention him less.

If you don't care, why do you ask so many questions?

Why do you still care about what he does? Why do you still complain about his poor performance?

He always had the illusion and misunderstood that she cared about him.

"Prince Jing and Princess Has are destined to be together. I've divined this." After a long silence, Shen Qingchen finally spoke to explain. "Prince Jing has no interest in government affairs, so he's the most sincere in his dealings with her. Compared to others, he's truly the best choice."

"But Princess Hasi ultimately relies on Qingyuan, and these days, military achievements are particularly important when selecting a crown prince. If the emperor were to make the choice, it would inevitably be interpreted as the emperor favoring Prince Jing, which would be disadvantageous to him."

"In this case, I am the only one who can speak."

Shen Qingchen was tired of talking, so he took a sip of tea. Seeing Jiang Hexue's obviously stunned look in his arms, he lowered his voice: "Do you still hate me like this?"

"I didn't dislike you to begin with," Jiang Hexue muttered. "At most, I'm a little confused. Don't worry."

"Okay." Shen Qingchen responded, his hand lightly resting on her waist.

"What did you want me to explain just now?" Jiang Hexue snuggled closer to his arms and took the initiative to ask.

Her head was buried in his chest, her hair brushing against his neck, soft and fluffy, not itchy, but only making people want to hold him tighter and longer.

Shen Qingchen rested her chin on her forehead, and the impulsive emotions that had been boiling over just now gradually cooled down.

What's the point of forcing her to ask whether she loves him or cares about him?

He already knew the answer.

If it were better, she could have exchanged it for a sweet lie.

If it were a little worse, she would have angrily broken away from him, hiding far away from him, and he would never be able to hold her again.

It’s better to just get by with it yourself.

Shen Qingchen then picked up another lighter topic: "Why do you want to accompany Master Fu to choose earrings?"

"He was wearing a set of Qianxiangfang incense jewelry to promote me among men, but the earrings were really ugly, and I was worried it would affect the effect."

"Why are you looking for him?" Shen Qingchen asked. "If I'm not looking for him, am I looking for you?" Jiang Hexue asked as if it were natural.

But as soon as these words came out, Shen Qingchen fell silent.

"It's because Qianxiangfang has so many different kinds of perfumes." She then changed her words. "Remember, you rarely dress up, and I'm worried about bothering you."

"It's no trouble." He said calmly.

"The Spring Examination will be held in two months. The academy will gather the candidates for three days at most to review their studies until the end of the examination. By then, Master Fu will not be able to help you." He added.

He mentioned the matter of the academy to Emperor Hengshun at the end of the year, and estimated the date, which was probably these few days.

So that Fu Wang won’t come and get in the way again.

"It's so sudden." Jiang Hexue sighed, then laughed. "Fu Er hates going to the academy the most, and now he's in for a hard time."

Shen Qingchen did not agree, pinching her fingertips intermittently, and asked again: "Do you like men to pierce their ears?"

"I like it." Jiang Hexue answered readily. "I think earrings are pretty."

"Back in Mengzhou, I saw a young man with his ear pierced." She gestured to him, pointing to the spot. "It was truly novel. I haven't seen anyone else like that since."

Shen Qingchen seemed to respond lightly, but also seemed not to respond.

-

By the time I had picked out earrings for Fu Wang, it was already dusk.

He didn't stay long, took the earrings and left. Jiang Hexue looked at the time and asked Shen Qingchen: "Where are we going for dinner?"

"As you wish."

"I'm going back to Qianxiangfang later, so I'll go there." Jiang Hexue thought for a moment. "I want to eat the fried Yuanxiao on North Second Street."

Shen Qingchen responded gently.

There were a few diners sitting scattered around the fried Yuanxiao shop. Jiang Hexue ordered two bowls and sat down face to face with him.

The wooden table was old, still with tiny wood splinters that hadn't been smoothed out. Most of the diners around were dressed in simple clothes, so the two of them seemed out of place sitting there.

"I brought you to the wrong place." Jiang Hexue sighed softly as she looked at his elegant moon-white robe. "I was so obsessed with the delicious fried dumplings here that I neglected the dining environment."

Shen Qingchen shook the edge of his sleeve lightly, not caring: "If you come here often on weekdays, you don't have to change it for me."

The fried Yuanxiao were served at this time. The round Yuanxiao on the stone plate were fried until golden and the hot steam was fragrant.

"One plate of peanut filling, one plate of sesame filling." Jiang Hexue pushed a plate towards Shen Qingchen and handed him the wooden chopsticks.

Shen Qingchen had never used this kind of food before, nor had he used wooden chopsticks, so he didn't do anything for a while. When he saw Jiang Hexue pick up one, blow on it by the lips and put it into his mouth, he followed suit.

The crust was crispy, and the sesame filling was fragrant. Jiang Hexue squinted her eyes in satisfaction. Seeing that he had swallowed one, she asked, "How does it taste?"

She held her cheek with one hand, her eyes sparkling.

Shen Qingchen's "OK" reached the tip of his tongue, and when he came out of his mouth, he changed it to: "Not bad."

"Try the sesame one." Jiang Hexue, who got the affirmation, picked up a sesame Yuanxiao with wooden chopsticks and was about to drop it on the stone plate in front of him, but suddenly caught a glimpse of a pair of lovers passing by.

The girl was feeding a peeled sugar-roasted chestnut to the lips of the boy next to her, and the boy took a bite with a smile and rubbed the ends of her hair.

Jiang Hexue changed the direction of the wooden chopsticks that were about to fall on his plate and raised them to his lips: "Zhaohua, try this sesame one."

Shen Qingchen didn’t bite.

"There's someone else here." His eyelashes trembled. "That's not right."

The two of them were both handsome and beautiful, and they were dressed in luxurious clothes. From the moment they sat down, they attracted a lot of attention.

"Old-fashioned." Jiang Hexue muttered. "It's okay. Look at them. You and I are husband and wife, so we should be closer."

She gestured to him towards the passing lovers.

Shen Qingchen looked in the direction of her finger and paused: "Are you sure?"

"What's going on..." Jiang Hexue looked over in confusion, and the moment he saw clearly, he stopped talking abruptly.

The young man over there was leaning over and kissing the side of the girl's face.

The moment they looked at each other again, Jiang Hexue couldn't even hold the wooden chopsticks steadily.

"When I looked at it just now, it wasn't like this..." For the first time, she didn't dare to look at Shen Qingchen. "Just now, the young lady was feeding the young master chestnuts, and the young master rubbed her hair."

"Forget it..." She pulled her hand back.

As soon as he retracted his hand an inch, the wooden chopsticks were bitten by him.

Jiang Hexue stared at him as he took the golden fried Yuanxiao and savored it slowly.

"Your Majesty has a point."

She didn't realize the deeper meaning of it at the moment.

Jiang Hexue said goodbye to him with a smile until she was sent to Qianxiangfang by Shen Qingchen.

He didn't leave, but bent down slightly and asked, "Are you going home today?"

"Let's discuss it later." Jiang Hexue said casually, shaking their joined hands. "I need to make incense, and see if there are any customers who want to customize incense ornaments. I'll definitely come back when I have time."

"Come back quickly, don't you still need to deal with official business at night?" He said he had something to do, so Jiang Hexue naturally urged him.

After looking at each other for a moment, Shen Qingchen whispered, "There's still something missing."

He leaned down further, tilted his head, and placed a kiss as light as a feather on her cheek.

Jiang Hexue was stunned: "What are you doing?"

This was the first time she remembered Shen Qingchen kissing her cheek.

"Like that couple." He raised his hand, cupping her cheek, his voice softer. "But you and I are husband and wife, so we should be closer."

After saying this, he lowered his head and kissed her lips.

-

Jiang Hexue widened his eyes.

The touch on the lips was cool and moist, and Shen Qingchen's movements were extremely gentle and careful, and he first touched it lightly tentatively.

Seeing that she didn't struggle, he exerted force, took her hand, pulled her into his arms, and deepened the kiss.

But the force was still gentle and restrained, outlining the shape of her lips inch by inch, lingering and twisting.

Without any lust, but gentle and innocent, he kissed her lightly and gently.

Jiang Hexue stared at him without blinking, staring at his thick eyelashes that drooped down and cast shadows under his eyes.

"Do you want to see me?" Shen Qingchen withdrew a little, his voice slightly hoarse, and asked vaguely. "Then how about this."

He did not close his eyes again. When he kissed her again, his eyes were fixed on hers without wavering. His straight nose touched hers, and his long eyelashes met hers.

His eyes were full of himself.

Jiang Hexue's heartbeat became irregular along with his.

-

On a clear night with a sparse moon and sparse stars, inside the Heng'an Palace, the newly arrived Water Golden Phoenix was shining with tiny golden rays under the silver moon.

"Your Highness, the person is here." Xuezhu knocked three times on the study door and said respectfully.

"Come in." Shen Qingchen closed the book on the shore and ordered.

The person who pushed the door open was an old man with white hair and beard and a hunched back, followed by a thin medicine boy.

"Shu Bo." Shen Qingchen stood up. "Why are you here, old man?"

The old man was Shu Jing, a close friend of Emperor Hengshun and the former chief physician of the Imperial Hospital.

"If I hadn't come, how would I have known that the young prince had the intention of piercing his ears?" Shu Jing's face was slightly stern. "The young prince is clearly allergic to most metals, and only pure gold can help."

"Not only can you not use gold needles for ear piercing, but even if you maintain your ear piercings later, you'll still worry about allergies and infections."

"Your Highness is not a reckless young man. Why would you rashly pierce your ears?" He couldn't understand. "Could it be that you underestimated the risks?"

Shen Qingchen is definitely not the kind of person who acts on impulse.

"Zhao Hua has thought it through, Shu Bo, don't worry." Shen Qingchen glanced at the young man dressed as a medicine boy beside him. "Eunuch Li, please."

"I obey your command." The medicine boy spoke, his voice was indeed sharp and thin. It was Eunuch Li, the only eunuch in the palace secrets who could pierce his ears.

The silver needles for piercing the ears had been disinfected with white wine. He used a red pen to mark the piercing points on both sides of Shen Qingchen's earlobes. He handed over the bronze mirror and asked, "Your Highness, take a look. Are these two spots suitable?"

Shen Qingchen glanced at the two vermilion dots and was about to answer when she caught a glimpse of the small light brown mole on her right ear.

Jiang Hexue once praised the beautiful little mole.

"No piercing of the earlobes," he corrected himself.

"Then Your Highness wants to...?" Eunuch Li asked tentatively.

Shen Qingchen thought of the young man from Mengzhou that Jiang Hexue had mentioned during the day, and the one she had praised for the novel position of his ear holes.

"Pierce your ear bones," he heard himself say.