Chapter 592 Mother-in-Law and Daughter-in-Law (First Update)

In the next room, Xiao Heng peeled an orange for Gu Jiao.

Gu Jiao rested for four days, and the wounds on her arms and abdomen healed well. The strangulation and puncture wounds on her wrists also recovered well. In another two or three days, the gauze can be completely removed.

Gu Jiao had never recuperated for so long before; she was practically moldy from sitting in the house. She seemed to understand Mo Qianxue's frustration a little better now.

"I'm fine now, I can go back," Gu Jiao said, sitting on the bed.

“No,” Xiao Heng refused outright. “Doctor Song said you need to rest for at least seven days.”

In fact, she should have rested for ten days to half a month, but Doctor Song and Xiao Heng both knew that she was not the type to stay cooped up in the house for so many days. In addition, her injuries were indeed recovering faster than those of ordinary people, so they reduced it to seven days.

Gu Jiao: "Oh."

Xiao Heng chuckled softly and handed her a few segments of orange with the pith removed. He knew she was feeling down, so he had been going to the yamen less often these past two days and had been spending most of his time here with her.

"Grand Tutor Zhuang's matter is settled; Zhuang Yuheng went to retrieve it." He chatted with her to relieve her boredom. "Who would have thought that Consort Jing would have a blank imperial edict from the late emperor in her possession?"

Gu Jiao asked, "Why didn't she bring out the imperial edict sooner?"

Xiao Heng continued removing the pith from the remaining orange segments: "I guess this imperial edict either fell into the hands of the Yan people a long time ago, or it was hidden somewhere. Consort Jing only found it before she died, but she no longer had a chance to get her hands on it. So she left a letter for Qin Fengyan, asking her to retrieve it. However, the Yan people found out on Qin Fengyan's way to retrieve the edict, so they seized it in advance and used it to make a deal with Qin Fengyan."

"What you said seems to make a lot of sense." Gu Jiao ate a segment of orange; it was so sweet!

Looking at her chubby cheeks, which resembled a little squirrel foraging for food, Xiao Heng couldn't help but chuckle and said, "I was just guessing, but none of that matters... Eat slowly."

"Um."

He agreed verbally, but then grabbed several more pieces and stuffed them into his mouth.

Why do you like oranges so much? Xiao Heng was both amused and exasperated, and handed her the other half of the orange, which had been trimmed of its pith.

She took it and pointed with her fingertips at the oranges on the plate.

The meaning is obvious: more is needed.

Xiao Heng raised an eyebrow: "You're getting more and more adept at ordering your husband around, hmm?"

Gu Jiao nodded, readily admitting it.

Xiao Heng smiled and peeled another orange for her.

This time, Gu Jiao didn't eat it herself, but said to him, "You eat too."

Xiao Heng said, "I don't like eating this."

Gu Jiao asked, "So what do you like to eat?"

Xiao Heng gave her a deep look and said, "It's nothing."

He lowered his eyes and continued peeling the orange.

As he was peeling away the layers, he suddenly felt the light dim in front of him, and there Gu Jiao's body leaning towards him.

His breath caught in his throat, and his eyelashes trembled.

Gu Jiao tilted her head, reached out to him, and pinched his chin.

His heart skipped a beat!

"Hmm, there's something dirty." Gu Jiao looked left and right and removed a bit of cotton wool stuck to his cheek.

Xiao Heng blushed with embarrassment.

Was it originally cotton wool?

He thought she was going to—

"Husband, what's wrong?" Gu Jiao asked, looking at him.

"N-nothing." Xiao Heng lowered his eyes in disappointment, placed the peeled orange peel on the table, and began to remove the pith from the orange for her.

Gu Jiao curved her lips into a smile, looked at that handsome yet melancholic face, leaned forward, and gently kissed the corner of his lips.

Xiao Heng was stunned and stared at her in disbelief.

Gu Jiao didn't pull away; she just stared at him so close, blinking.

A surge of heat coursed through Xiao Heng's heart. He was at the prime of his life, how could he resist her teasing?

Xiao Heng's Adam's apple bobbed as he stared at her with intense desire. A righteous little voice inside him cried out, "No, no!" but then another evil little voice slapped the righteous little voice to death.

Xiao Heng reached out, grabbed the back of her head, and leaned in.

Just as they were about to kiss, a loud cough suddenly rang out from the doorway: "Cough cough!"

It was Princess Xinyang's voice.

Xiao Heng stumbled and bumped into the bedpost next to Gu Jiao, getting a big bump on his forehead.

Yu Jin and her maids smirked.

Princess Xinyang simply couldn't bear to look at her.

If she had come alone, she could have easily slipped away unnoticed. But she brought a whole bunch of people with her, and with so many eyes watching, she couldn't pretend to be blind anymore.

"All of you... step back," she said, frowning.

"yes."

Yu Jin chuckled to herself and withdrew with her maids.

Princess Xinyang looked at her foolish son, who was nineteen years old and still a virgin, with exasperation: "What a disappointment! In broad daylight, don't you know how to close the door!"

Gu Jiao: "Don't be mean to my husband."

Princess Xinyang: "So what if I scolded him?"

Xiao Heng's face turned red and his neck bulged. It was one thing for his own wife to be seen in broad daylight, but to be seen by his own mother and Yu Jin was another. The rules he had been taught since childhood did not allow him to do such a thing, and he had just gone too far.

The worst part is that he took the blame for being outrageous, but didn't get to enjoy any outrageous pleasures.

They almost kissed.

What a pity!

"Ahem." Xiao Heng stepped between Gu Jiao and Princess Xinyang, and said to Princess Xinyang in a serious tone, "Why has Mother come over?"

Princess Xinyang chuckled and said, "I can't come, is that it? I'm interrupting your good time, aren't I? Xiao Heng, do you even know that there's something called a door? You can do whatever you want with the door closed!"

Gu Jiao peeked out from behind Xiao Heng: "That's not exciting."

Xiao Heng: "...!!"

Honey, please stop talking!

Xiao Heng broke out in a cold sweat and quickly grabbed Princess Xinyang's arm, saying awkwardly, "Jiaojiao needs to recover from her injuries. Let me help you go for a walk."

"snort!"

Princess Xinyang turned away with a flick of her sleeve.

Gu Jiao turned her face away and snorted, "Hmph."

Princess Xinyang turned around, her eyes wide: "Hey! This girl is still—"

Xiao Heng shielded her with his body and helped her walk outside: "Oh my, the flowers in the courtyard are blooming! They're so beautiful! No wonder they were planted by my mother! Even the palace gardeners couldn't have planted them as well as you!"

Princess Xinyang was pushed and shoved out of the house by her son. Xiao Heng supported her with one hand and closed the door behind her with the other.

Princess Xinyang glared at him, annoyed: "You've forgotten your mother now that you have a wife!"

Xiao Heng looked wronged and said, "Look at what you're saying, do you think I'm that kind of person?"

Princess Xinyang raised an eyebrow and said, "Then let me ask you..."

Xiao Heng interrupted her with a sigh: "If you and Jiaojiao fell into the water at the same time, who would I save first, right? Of course, I would save you! Jiaojiao and I would save you together! Jiaojiao can swim!"

Princess Xinyang: "..."

Princess Xinyang wasn't really there to cause trouble. After humming a few words, she got to the point. She said that she was going out for a few days and wouldn't be back for a while. She had already instructed the Crown Prince on matters of state so that there wouldn't be any major problems.

"Don't leave the capital unless necessary, and don't go out even if you have to. Wait for me to come back."

"good."

After giving her son instructions, Princess Xinyang, along with Yu Jin and Long Yi, boarded the carriage for their journey.

Yu Jin asked, "Princess, where are we going?"

Princess Xinyang said, "Go find another force from the Yan Kingdom."

She had always suspected that the group that attempted to assassinate Xiao Heng dared not act in the capital because there was another Yan state power in the capital.

This force may not be there to protect Xiao Heng; it is very likely that they are spies planted by the Yan state in various countries. They do not interfere in the politics of other countries, but only take it upon themselves to monitor intelligence.

The Nangong family must have acted on their own initiative. They must not let the Yan state discover this, otherwise the consequences would be severe.

Princess Xinyang lifted a corner of the curtain and said to Yu Jin, "Look at the people on the street. They're all dressed like ordinary folks, but who knows, one of them might be a spy from another country—a spy from Yan, a spy from Jin, a spy from Liang..."

Yu Jin asked, "So many spies?"

Princess Xinyang said, "We also have spies in other countries."

Yu Jin was slightly surprised: "The Upper Kingdom has it too?"

Princess Xinyang said calmly, "Liang has it, but Yan and Jin do not."

Yu Jin asked in confusion, "Then how do we know which one of them is the spy from Yan?"

"Guess," said Princess Xinyang.

The carriage stopped outside a fine cloth shop. The driver got out and spoke with the shop owner for a while. Soon after, the owner got back into the carriage and reported: "Your Highness, the pharmacist from Yan Kingdom is going out of the city to collect herbs today. I have already spread the word that there are the medicinal herbs he wants in Cangbei Mountain."

Behind the cloth shop is the underground martial arts arena.

No one knew that this unassuming cloth shop was actually a spy planted by Princess Xinyang many years ago.

Yu Jin frowned and said, "Does the princess suspect that the Yan Kingdom pharmacist is a spy planted by Yan Kingdom in the capital of Zhao Kingdom? Isn't that too blatant? Doesn't he even try to conceal his identity as a Yan Kingdom citizen?"

Princess Xinyang snorted coldly, "Sometimes, the more open and aboveboard things are, the less likely anyone will suspect anything. Besides, Zhao is just a lowly country, so Yan doesn't need to be so cautious. Whether he is the person I'm looking for or not, we'll find out by following him."

(End of this chapter)