51 Chapter 51

◎Sulking at the dinner table.◎

Xu Qinghe's throat hurt terribly, as if it had been burned by fire. The simple act of swallowing caused a burning sensation.

She was almost woken up by the pain. She opened her eyes hazily and what caught her eye was the glaring red bed curtains.

After blinking for a while, Xu Qinghe finally remembered that she was married to Wei Che.

When she lowered her gaze, she saw Wei Che, dressed in red, sitting on the ground, resting his chin on the edge of the bed.

He held hers tightly with his large palm, his brows furrowed, and his facial features became inexplicably cold.

Xu Qinghe moved his fingers, using very light force, but still managed to wake Wei Che up.

He didn't seem to be sleeping soundly, just squinting slightly. When he noticed the movement in his palm, he immediately opened his eyes and held her even tighter.

"You..." As soon as he opened his mouth, he found that his voice was very hoarse, so he cleared his throat and said, "Is there anything else that hurts?"

Xu Qinghe shook his head.

Apart from a severe sore throat, she didn't feel any discomfort anywhere on her body. Although she had a rash, it didn't hurt or itch. I guess she had applied some good ointment.

She moved her fingertips and wrote the word "water" on Wei Che's palm.

Wei Che quickly drew aside the curtains outside the bed, rushed to the table and poured her a glass of warm water, and asked the maid to quickly invite the palace doctor over.

After swallowing a few mouthfuls of water with difficulty, Xu Qinghe's mind became a little clearer. Looking at the light seeping in from the window, he was surprised to realize that it was probably already early the next morning.

The people in the Prince of Fuguo's Mansion acted quickly. She had just taken a few sips of water when the palace doctor was dragged over.

"Don't worry, my lord. The princess received timely treatment last night and is now fine. She just needs to take the medicine in time and get enough rest."

The court doctor wiped the sweat from his head, glanced at the prince who was obviously suppressing his emotions, and reported carefully.

He was pulled out of bed in the middle of the night yesterday. He thought something had happened to the Duke or the Lady, but he didn't expect that the servant would directly drag him to the Crown Prince's bridal chamber.

His heart sank. Could it be that the prince was too passionate on their wedding night and did something wrong on the bed?

Later, when they arrived at the bridal chamber, they discovered that the princess could not eat peanuts and had rashes all over her body.

Judging from the princess's condition at that time, the amount of peanuts used was really quite large. If it had been half an hour later, yesterday's happy event might have turned into a sad one.

Wei Che nodded and said "hmm", then waved his hand to let the court doctor leave.

Xu Qinghe leaned against the bright red brocade backrest and looked at the sky outside.

After all, she and Wei Che were married and lived in the same room. Wei Che stood in the inner room with a sullen face. Nanzhi did not dare to come in easily without their permission.

She had no choice but to ring the golden bell beside the bed. Nanzhi, who was guarding the door, heard it and hesitated to come in, but was glared back by Wei Che.

Wei Che walked straight to Xu Qinghe and sat down beside the bed. His expression was relatively relaxed, but it was still different from his usual smile. "What's wrong?"

Xu Qinghe pursed her lips, grabbed his hand and wrote: What time is it now?

Wei Che: "It's almost noon, what's wrong?"

Xu Qinghe lowered his eyes.

According to custom, the bride should visit her parents-in-law on the first day of her wedding.

Even if their marriage should be considered as a relationship based on profit, etiquette cannot be abolished.

But the rash on her face had not faded, which was unsightly.

And then there is…

She always felt a little resistant to meeting her elders, especially since they were the elders she would call "father" and "mother" in the future.

"You last night..." Wei Che suddenly spoke.

Xu Qinghe looked over. There seemed to be a question in his eyes, but he suppressed it and comforted her instead: "You were sick last night. Get some rest first. I will deal with your parents myself."

Since his son said so, Xu Qinghe certainly had no objection and even felt secretly relieved.

"Are you hungry? I want someone to bring you food."

Xu Qinghe didn't eat anything yesterday, and at night he only had a few bites of snacks to fill his stomach because he was sleepy.

When he asked this, she finally felt her stomach was empty and nodded.

Her throat was uncomfortable now, so she could only eat some light rice porridge. Wei Che specially ordered people to cook the rice until it was soft, and also cut fresh vegetables into small pieces and put them in. By the time the rice porridge was out of the pot, it had already been mixed with the rice porridge.

She used to eat spicy food with abandon, but now she suddenly returned to light food, and her mouth felt a little tasteless.

But every time she swallowed the light and soft rice porridge, it would cause a pain in her throat, and her desire for spicy food would fade a lot. She just hoped that she could get better soon.

In fact, the lunch at the Prince's Mansion was very sumptuous, with dragon and phoenix emerald soup, shark's fin with golden sauce, diced pork with soy sauce, radish with vinegar and moo shu soy sauce, mapo tofu, and a plate of spicy boiled fish that she had used to mix with rice in Migu Town.

No matter which dish it was, it was more delicious and tempting than the bowl of clear soup and porridge in front of her.

Wei Che ate silently, not even glancing at her, which showed how delicious the food was.

This was not the first time they had eaten at the same table, but sitting in the residence of the Duke of Fuguo, eating the food prepared by the Duke of Fuguo, and bearing the title of the Crown Prince's wife, the feeling now was somewhat different.

Wei Che didn't like to be attended to while he was eating, and now there were only the two of them at the dinner table. Xu Qinghe couldn't speak and didn't want to. Wei Che usually talked a lot, but now he was eating quietly and indifferently.

A bit strange.

She glanced at Wei Che, who was clearly looking up at her, and their eyes suddenly met.

In the past, he would have made some oily jokes from time to time, but today he was acting out of character, calmly looking away and picking up a piece of fish from the plate and putting it into his mouth.

I don't know what's going on.

The two of them finished their lunch quietly. Wei Che left her in the yard and went to the main room to pay his respects to his father and mother.

Because she was sick and had not woken up, he had been staying here and had never left. Now he finally had the chance to go.

Xu Qinghe reapplied medicine on the rash, walked out of the room, and walked in Wei Che's courtyard to digest the food.

The sun was shining brightly outside, so she and Nanzhi walked under the eaves. Nanzhi held a round fan and fanned her gently to prevent sweat from washing away the medicine she had just applied.

She glanced around and whispered in her ear, "Princess, Prince Wei seems angry."

Xu Qinghe also noticed this, but she still couldn't figure it out. Everything was fine during the wedding reception and the ceremony, so why was he so angry now?

Nanzhi asked, "Could it be because the princess ate peanuts? I think it's the prince's fault. He knew the princess couldn't eat peanuts, but he didn't tell his subordinates. Who could have known that peanuts were hidden in the food they delivered yesterday?"

Last night, after Xu Qinghe had dinner, he took a shower, changed his clothes, and went straight to bed to rest. Half asleep and half awake, he felt the itchiness on his body and the pain in his throat, but he couldn't wake up no matter what.

Fortunately, Wei Che came back early enough, and because he was worried, he lifted the curtain and saw her curled up on the bed. Otherwise, she would have been in great danger yesterday.

But at least he stayed with her all night, called a doctor and sent her medicine, so she naturally couldn't blame him.

Nanzhi was chattering and complaining, sometimes talking about Prince Wei's lack of care, sometimes remembering his strange rule that he didn't like people to enter. Xu Qinghe couldn't hear what she said next.

She suddenly stopped and an idea flashed through her mind.

...But did Wei Che really never tell his subordinates that his future wife couldn't eat peanuts?

**

Wei Che went to the flower hall in the main courtyard.

At that time, all the children of the Wei family were gathered here, and even the eldest daughter of the Wei family, Wei Fu, who was dressed in plain clothes, was serving her parents.

Wei Yun, the daughter of Concubine Jin, is the youngest in the whole room. She looks less than ten years old now, but she is the most well-behaved. She sits quietly on the chair without moving, with only her pair of round eyes darting around.

The fifteen-year-old Fourth Young Master Wei Hao glanced at his sister and wondered where this little girl got such great concentration that she could actually sit still.

He was at an active age now, and had been waiting in the hall for a long time. He couldn't help but ask, "Are the third brother and his wife coming or not? We've been waiting here for so long!"

Wei Yiqun put down his cup and glared at him. Wei Hao quickly shrank his neck and dared not say anything more.

Wei Fu laughed and comforted him, "The princess has been raised in the palace and is very respectful of etiquette. How could she not come to see the elders on her wedding day? Perhaps she is getting up late, so please wait a moment, fourth brother."

Wei Hao muttered, "You're still being polite. It's almost noon and you still haven't come. You can sleep even more than me..."

Zhao Wan glared at him again. "This morning, your third brother sent someone to tell you that the princess was ill last night. As a younger brother, you didn't even say a few words of greeting, but now you're complaining?"

"I know I was wrong, mother." Wei Hao said in a low voice with his neck shrunk.

When Wei Che walked in, he happened to hear his reluctant apology.

He had already put away the gloomy expression he had in the morning, replaced with his usual smile. He came in and sat down on the chair, then laughed at Wei Hao first: "What mistake have you made again? You made your mother so angry."

"Nothing... nothing..." Wei Hao hummed and evaded the question. Everyone in Kyoto knew that his third brother liked that princess very much and that he had worked so hard to get this marriage. How could he dare to say anything bad about the princess in front of him?

Wei Che had good hearing and had actually heard it a long time ago. He glanced at him secretly before looking up at his parents:

"Father and Mother, the princess just woke up, and the court doctor told her to rest well. She wanted to come and pay her respects to you, but I felt I should follow the doctor's orders, so I stopped her. The princess couldn't persuade me, so she gave up and asked me to apologize to you, Father and Mother."

Zhao Wan glanced at her son in surprise and said exaggeratedly, "This is truly bizarre. In all your life, I, as your mother, have never seen you admit your mistakes to me so sincerely. And now you take the princess's words so seriously that you've rushed over here?"

Wei Che raised his eyebrows, puffed out his chest and said proudly, "I'm already married and have a family. How can mother still look at me with the same old eyes? It's really disrespectful to me."

Naturally, as a mother, Zhao Wan wanted to see him improve himself the most.

"Since the princess is ill, just let her rest well and don't worry about anything else." After a pause, Zhao Wan turned and asked, "But... this person is fine, why did she get sick?"

Wei Che replied, "Perhaps it was an oversight by the subordinates. My son had already told the people in the mansion that the princess couldn't eat peanuts, but some were mixed into the meal last night, and the princess accidentally ate it."

Although he said this, Wei Che lowered his head, and the expression in his eyes faded.

It wasn't an accidental ingestion at all; it was clearly a self-directed and self-acted act, just to escape from the bridal chamber!

But the girl didn't think about it. He promised again and again that he would not touch her, so why didn't she believe him?