After Ninth Prince finished venting his anger on Ninth Princess Consort, he saw that she still seemed oblivious, and immediately lost the desire to argue with her any further. That night, Ninth Prince stayed at Ninth Princess Consort's residence.

After the maids had washed them both clean and left, Ninth Prince lay down on the bed by himself, while Ninth Princess felt a little awkward. She slowly climbed up from the foot of the bed and tiptoed to lie down next to Ninth Prince.

"Have you never loved me, Master?" Ninth Master asked, his eyes closed. He couldn't understand why Ninth Princess Consort had always been so cold and indifferent to him since marrying him, seemingly uncaring and never caring whether he came to the main courtyard or not. She showed no jealousy when other princesses gave birth to sons and daughters. So Ninth Master gradually came to this conclusion: only when a woman has absolutely no feelings for a man can she be so indifferent!

A glint flashed in Ninth Princess's eyes, and her mood suddenly became complicated. Her usually calm and beautiful face finally showed an unusual sense of unease and anxiety.

"When you married me, didn't you also say that it was difficult to obey your mother's orders?" Dong Eshi said, rarely showing such emotion.

So that's it! So she still cares about what he said back then! They really did overhear what he and the Eighth Prince said in the private room at Zui Bai Lou! The Ninth Prince recalled the scene eight years ago when he took a liking to Dong E Shi and first met her at Zui Bai Lou. He was too arrogant back then; he clearly liked her, but insisted it was arranged by Consort Yi. He never imagined that such a youthful, impetuous remark would cause Dong E Shi to misunderstand him to this day!

"You woman!" Ninth Master suddenly flipped over, pinning Dong E Shi down. Staring into her eyes, he gritted his teeth and said, "Just a youthful remark, and you've held a grudge until now!"

Lady Dong'e was also excited at this moment. This was the first time in so many years that she and Ninth Prince had spoken their hearts so frankly.

"I don't care for your insistence on marrying me!" Dong E finally said the words that had been weighing on her mind for seven or eight years.

Ninth Prince's pupils contracted slightly as he stared into Dong E's eyes, his heart churning with turmoil. He recalled the moment he first saw her portrait in Yikun Palace, the flutter in his heart, and all the things they had experienced together over the past seven or eight years.

The next moment, Ninth Prince's punitive kiss landed on Dong E's body. Like a storm, like a raging torrent, it swept over Dong E, making her unable to extricate herself from his gentle yet violent embrace.

The next day, Ninth Prince and his wife slept until dawn. The servants outside dared not enter, but seeing that Ninth Prince's long-awaited happiness had finally come to an end, they were all overjoyed. For the past few years, Ninth Prince had favored his concubines and neglected his principal wife. They, the servants below, dared not speak out, but received no benefit either, and thus harbored much resentment. This time, Ninth Prince had just dealt with a newly favored concubine, and now he was sleeping with his principal wife—this showed that Ninth Prince had finally come to his senses!

Ninth Master and Eighth Master had arranged to go to Tantuo Temple together. As soon as Ninth Master woke up, he immediately remembered this. He jumped up, glanced at the quartz clock outside—it wasn't time yet, but time was running out. He still needed to get up, change clothes, wash, dress, lead the horse, get the servants, and have breakfast. Time was so tight!

"Get up, change your clothes, we still need to go to Tanzhe Temple!" Ninth Master said to Dong Eshi beside him.

This woman is a master at pretending to be asleep; she's clearly awake!

Dong Eshi reluctantly opened her eyes and said, "I don't want to go, but do I have to?"

Ninth Master was furious and pulled Dong Eshi up, saying, "We made an appointment, how can we break it?"

Actually, he went to Tanzhe Temple on his own initiative. How could he stand up Master Ba?

Lady Dong'e said aggrievedly, "My lord wouldn't let anyone sleep last night, and now he's making a fuss about getting me up so early in the morning. I'm so tired I don't even want to get out of bed!"

When Ninth Prince saw Dong Eshi muttering to herself with her eyes closed and her lips pursed, he suddenly felt that this little woman was actually very cute. She was completely different from the cold and speechless Ninth Prince Consort on weekdays. How come he hadn't noticed this before?

“It’s still a while before we get to Tanzhe Temple. You can sleep in the carriage. I’ll be your human cushion!” Ninth Master couldn’t bear to scold Dong Eshi any longer and softened his tone.

Dong Eshi was still not satisfied and said with her eyes closed, "Then I want to have breakfast in bed!"

When Ninth Master heard this, he was stunned. There are people who eat breakfast in bed? This woman is really something, really knows how to enjoy life! In fact, the Manchus used to have the tradition of sitting cross-legged on the couch to eat. It was only after they entered the pass that they gradually got off the kang (heated brick bed) and sat on the dining table, following the example of the Han people.

"Then let's wash our faces and brush our teeth together in bed!" Ninth Master decided to let her enjoy herself even more.

So, early in the morning, the Ninth Prince's maids helped the Ninth Prince and his wife wash their mouths and faces in bed, and then served breakfast to them.

The two had breakfast together intimately in bed for the first time, and even talked about how they first met in the toilet. Ninth Prince even admitted that he had seen Dong E's portrait for the first time in Consort Yi's palace and was very satisfied with it, and so on.

Once the carriage was ready, Ninth Prince specially ordered a sedan chair to be carried out to take Ninth Princess Consort out, just to prevent her from getting tired. Ninth Princess Consort's maids were all overjoyed to see Ninth Prince being so attentive to her. From now on, these maids from the main courtyard would no longer have to bow their heads when encountering the maids of the concubines and princesses.

After Ninth Prince carried Ninth Princess into the carriage, everyone watched from the doorway as the couple, who had been separated for seven or eight years, finally met again. Each person felt a different emotion.

"Master, could you please stay away from Eighth Prince from now on?" Ninth Prince's wife said, her eyes closed, as she rested on Ninth Prince's knees.

When Ninth Prince suddenly heard his wife's seemingly nonsensical remark, he was momentarily stunned. How could he possibly distance himself from Eighth Prince? They had been close friends since childhood!

"Yu'er, don't you like your eighth brother and sister-in-law?" Ninth Master recalled that Dong Eshi almost never took the initiative to interact with the Eighth Prince's wife.

“If I don’t have that ambition myself, why should I get involved? If the Eighth Prince doesn’t have the fate to achieve it, I’ll be implicated. What’s the point? Even if you don’t think about yourself, what about Mother?” Dong Eshi said.

Ninth Prince was stunned for a moment; he had never even considered these words! Now it seemed that Eighth Prince had no hope, having been stripped of his title by the Emperor. Prince Heshuo and Fourth Prince seemed to have a better chance.

“Eighth Sister-in-law is also my cousin. No matter how you try to distance yourself from her, you can’t.” Ninth Master thought for a moment and said.

“If Your Highness still wants to live a peaceful life, you need to think about your future. The position of Crown Prince is still undecided, and Father Emperor’s intentions are hard to fathom. If Your Highness doesn’t want to compete, then you should completely stay out of it,” Dong Eshi said, frowning.