Chapter 18 Red Mark. It looked like it had been sucked out.

Lu Songyuan's neck stiffened. After a moment of stunned silence, he frowned, reached out and grasped Jing Hui's hand, and looked down at her.

After a few days apart, her face looked much more haggard, with large dark circles under her eyes standing out against her fair complexion, and even her lips were pale.

Lu Songyuan pursed his lips but remained silent.

Jing Hui urged him, turning his wrist around, and said, "Speak."

Lu Songyuan let out a breath and said, "I went to the capital garrison and met with a few commanders. Because His Majesty is seriously ill, the winter hunt has been canceled this year, so there is no need to deploy defenses."

Jing Hui knew about this.

Her expression was displeased. "Then why do you have a sweet fragrance on you? It smells just like the one in Jing'ao Palace."

Lu Songyuan raised an eyebrow, lowered his head and sniffed, and indeed smelled a strange odor.

"I ran into the Second Prince outside the city just now. His carriage broke down, so I gave him a ride for a while."

"It stinks."

Jing Hui curled her lips in disgust, shook off Lu Songyuan's hand, sat back down and said, "This princess is annoyed by Jing Ao, and even more annoyed by the people around her having contact with him. Stay away from him, and don't interfere next time you see him."

Lu Songyuan didn't ask why, he just nodded and said, "Okay."

“Take a shower when you get back. Jing Ao smells as disgusting as he does.”

Jing Hui lowered his head and sniffed his collar, muttering, "After going to his palace, I feel like I smell like him too."

Lu Songyuan leaned back in his wheelchair, glanced at Jing Hui, and then looked away.

The carriage quieted down as it made its way from the palace to the general's residence.

The two places were only a few streets apart, and the carriage swayed and bumped, making Jing Hui very sleepy.

Lu Songyuan's carriage was already broken during the last assassination attempt, and the new carriage was still hard to sit in as it hadn't collapsed yet.

But Jing Hui was really sleepy. She squinted and looked around, then finally leaned forward and lay down on the table, saying, "I want to sleep for a while."

"Um."

Lu Songyuan replied, "Go to sleep."

He then picked up the book and started reading.

The sound of turning pages made people sleepy, and Jing Hui dozed off for a short while, but her neck was incredibly sore.

She looked up at the window and saw that the carriage was still on the street. She reached out and tugged at the sleeve of Lu Songyuan, who was sitting upright next to her, reading a military book.

"Lu Songyuan".

Lu Songyuan shifted his gaze from the book to those slender, white fingers, and finally to Jing Hui's face, asking, "What's wrong?"

Jing turned to face him, closed her eyes, and asked slowly, "How much longer until we get home?"

She wasn't fully awake; her voice was as soft as a flower coated with honey, with a barely perceptible nasal tone, as if she were being coquettish.

Lu Songyuan noticed that Jing Hui was a completely different person when she was asleep compared to when she was on ordinary days.

He unconsciously became more gentle with Jing Hui when she was asleep.

Lu Songyuan glanced out the window; it would take about another fifteen minutes to get there.

The road they usually took back home was under construction today, so Lu Qingyue took a detour.

Lu Songyuan turned to look at Jing Hui, who had already closed her eyes and was breathing heavily.

Lu Songyuan didn't speak, unsure if she had fallen asleep again.

The next moment, her sleeve was tugged again.

"Lu Songyuan".

"A moment."

"It's been a long time."

Having received the answer, Jing Hui straightened up; the table was quite uncomfortable.

She was really sleepy, and after looking around, she still fixed her gaze on Lu Songyuan.

She said confidently, "I want to lie on your lap."

Upon hearing this, Lu Songyuan was taken aback.

Then he frowned and looked at Jing Hui.

Jing Hui strained her peach blossom eyes, looking dazed, and said, "I'm sleepy."

They probably treated him like a servant.

Lu Songyuan paused for a moment, then moved the book off his lap, raised his chin, and asked, "How do you want to lie down?"

Jing Hui looked down and saw that Lu Songyuan's wheelchair was between the carriage seat and the table, just the right height for her to lie down.

"You can just step back a little."

Lu Songyuan did as he was told and stepped back. Jing Hui moved closer to him and leaned down to lie on Lu Songyuan's lap.

Then, after only a short while, his breathing became steady.

Lu Songyuan glanced down at Jing Hui's profile, twirled his fingers, and picked up the book to read.

After a while, Jing Hui called out again, "Lu Songyuan."

Lu Songyuan responded calmly, "Mm."

Lu Songyuan had never been called by his full name more often since meeting Jing Hui than he had ever been from childhood to adulthood, and he was almost used to it.

He turned a page of the book and thought to himself that, if he calculated carefully, he would be five years older than Jing Hui.

"Does it hurt when I press down on your legs like this?"

Lu Songyuan's thoughts were interrupted, and his heart suddenly trembled.

After a moment of silence, he said, "I haven't felt anything for a long time, so just sleep peacefully."

"All right."

Jing Hui shut his mouth.

Upon arriving at the General's Mansion, Jing Hui, as if in a trance, disembarked from the carriage, took a bath, and crawled into bed. He slept soundly until dinner time before fully waking up.

The first thing Jing Hui did after waking up was to order people to investigate what Jing Ao had said to her in Jingning Palace that day.

Ayan accepted the order and went off. As she left, Jinghui instructed her, "Remember not to let my sister know that I am investigating."

Ayan replied, "Yes."

After dinner, Jing Hui and Lu Songyuan finished eating together and then went to their respective studies.

The two studies facing each other were brightly lit, and the two men were busy with their own things without disturbing each other.

When it was time to go to bed that evening, Jing Hui sat on the bed first. She was engrossed in reading a history book when she heard the sound of a wheelchair in front of her.

After Lu Qingyue pushed Lu Songyuan to the bedside, the servants in the room turned off the lights and left, leaving only a dim yellow light flickering in front of the window.

Jing Hui put down his book, crossed his arms, stared at Lu Songyuan, and said with certainty, "Those two girls were sent by you."

It's never too late to settle scores later. She was referring to the two maids in front of the study before she entered the palace.

Lu Songyuan chuckled, locked the wheelchair in place, then used the momentum to sit on the bed, leaned against the headboard, and picked up the book Jing Hui had just been reading and flipped through it.

"What you hear is what it is."

He returned to Jing Hui exactly what he had said that day.

"He's petty and vindictive, narrow-minded and narrow-minded—he's a complete scoundrel!"

Jing Hui crossed her arms and cursed a few times, but seeing that it did no harm to Lu Songyuan, she bit her lip in anger and stomped on Lu Songyuan's leg.

"I don't want to share a bed with someone like you. Get out."

Lu Songyuan raised an eyebrow. "What is it now?"

In the dim light, Jing Hui looked up at him with a stubborn expression. Lu Songyuan pursed his lips, picked up a piece of paper from the table, folded it, and threw it towards the candle by the window.

Jing Hui didn't even see how Lu Songyuan made his move before the candle went out.

Lu Songyuan slid down into the quilt and said, "My legs are weak and I don't want to trouble anyone. I'll have to trouble Your Highness to understand."

"snort."

Jing Hui snorted heavily at Lu Songyuan, then closed her eyes, turned over, and fell into a deep sleep.

During the days she was away, Lu Songyuan lay alone in bed, not feeling anything was wrong.

When Jing Hui returned today and lay down beside him, Lu Songyuan suddenly felt an emptiness in his arms.

Darkness amplifies one's senses infinitely, and Jing Hui's breathing sounds in my ears.

Lu Songyuan was enveloped by Jing Hui's aura. He inexplicably recalled the hand that held his arm when they first met, the lips that drank water, the strength of Jing Hui sitting on him on their wedding night, and the softness he occasionally touched when he held her in his arms.

The more Lu Songyuan thought about it, the more itchy he felt all over, and a strong desire to touch it arose within him.

Lu Songyuan's Adam's apple bobbed.

I can't think about it anymore.

He closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them again.

A familiar softness pressed against my arm.

He turned his head and saw that Jing Hui, who was fast asleep, had unconsciously turned over and squeezed next to him.

She not only hugged Lu Songyuan's arm, but also put her legs on his lap.

Lu Songyuan: "..."

The city wall collapsed into dust with a deafening roar, and Lu Songyuan's tightly clenched hand instantly loosened, never to be closed again.

-

The next morning, when Jing Hui woke up, Lu Songyuan was no longer in bed.

I asked around, and they said he had left early in the morning.

Jing responded, and after washing up, she let Ayu apply scar-removing medicine to her neck.

Several months have passed since Lu Songyuan shot that arrow. The wound has long since healed, but a shallow scar remains.

After examining Jing Hui, Zhang Lin prescribed him scar-removing medicine based on his constitution. Scars heal faster in autumn, and this medicine should completely remove the scars in about half a month.

While applying the medicine, Ayu mumbled incessantly, lifting Jinghui's hair.

When she saw the back of Jing Hui's neck, she exclaimed in surprise, "Princess, what's that red mark on the back of your neck?"

"Um?"

Jing Hui was still thinking about Jing Ning and was somewhat absent-minded. She looked at the mirror in front of her and asked, "What red mark?"

Ayu took a bronze mirror and stood behind Jing Hui. When the two mirrors reflected each other, Jing Hui could indeed see a red mark on his neck.

Jing Hui touched it in confusion, "What is this?"

"This red mark?"

Ah Yu examined it closely for a while, then glanced at Jing Hui and said, "It doesn't look like it was bitten by a living creature; it looks more like it was sucked out by someone."

Jing Hui stared wide-eyed, pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No. I put the book next to my pillow last night; it probably got crushed when I rolled over."

Is that so?

As Ah Yu put down the mirror and turned her head, she happened to see the maid making the bed taking out a scroll from inside the bed.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Princess, please let me take the book away after you finish reading it tonight, so as not to hurt you."

"good."

Just as the two finished speaking, Ayan strode in from outside the door, bowed to Jing Hui, and said, "Princess, someone from the General's side has come to report that he has returned!"

The General of the Central Army was Lian Zhong's only son, and the official position of Lian Zhu, the son of the Prime Minister.

"Lianzhu is back?"

Jing Hui stood up, her face beaming with joy. "When did you return? Have you already arrived in the capital? What did the messenger say?"

After she finished asking a series of questions, Ayan smiled and said, "The person is waiting in the front hall, Your Highness, please."

"good!"

Jing Hui strode out and, upon reaching the front hall, indeed saw Lian Zhu's attendants.

"Greetings, Princess!"

The attendant, who had been by Lianzhu's side since childhood, was overjoyed to see Jing Hui. "Princess, our master is back!"

"That's great! When did you get back?"

Jing Hui was overjoyed and asked, "Where is he? Why doesn't he come in person?"

"It was too late when we arrived in the capital last night, so the lord didn't want me to disturb you. That's why he sent me over early this morning."

"Okay, okay."

Jing Hui said "good" three times in a row, and then asked impatiently, "Where is he? Did he gain anything on his trip south?"

"Well, the adults won't let me say that."

Jing Hui's expression immediately changed.

The attendant, however, still smiled and said, "Our master said that the princess got married without waiting for his return, and didn't even send a letter south. He had to find out from others, and he was very angry."

Jing Hui felt somewhat guilty about this. She blinked and raised her voice, "Then how does he want me to apologize?"

"My lord wishes to dine at the finest delicacies from the best restaurant in the capital, Fu Gui Lou!"

The attendant immediately responded with a smile, saying, "Princess, the master is waiting for you in the private room of Fugui Tower!"

All you ever do is eat.

Jing Hui gritted her teeth and said, "Ayan, come with me, Princess."

"yes."

The three of them went out together, and the attendant drove the carriage. When they returned to Fugui Tower, it was just past 9 a.m.

Fu Gui Lou was located on Taiping Street, which was already quite lively at this time.

The carriage stopped, and Jing Hui, dressed lightly, went out into the street. Standing on the carriage shaft, he prepared to dismount and enter the building when he suddenly felt someone hit his head.

She looked up angrily and happened to see someone sitting by the window of the private room on the third floor.

The man was dressed in red, wearing a golden crown, and his ears, neck, and wrists were adorned with numerous ornaments. He grinned ostentatiously, revealing a set of white teeth.

Seeing Jing turn around, he teased her in a carefree tone, "Still as slow as when we were kids. Ah Zhu, are you planting mushrooms on the road?"