Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Eat your tofu
The red plum blossoms swayed, leaking through the half-open window and casting shadows on the ground.
"What do you think?" Shen Qingchen asked after looking at each other for a while.
"I think so?" Jiang Hexue straightened up, almost nose to nose with him. "I think it's impossible."
"Rather than believing you've been in love with me for years, I'd rather believe that after we got engaged, you deliberately recalled my past preferences—or rather, asked someone to find out about them—in order to maintain the appearance of your love for your spouse."
Shen Qingchen remained silent.
"Don't worry, I'll stick with you." Jiang Hexue took his acquiescence and said with a smile. "I understand. Qingyuan has already chosen you as their marriage partner. If you suddenly marry someone else and treat your wife with respect, Qingyuan will definitely think you're shirking your responsibility, and it could even affect the diplomatic relationship between our two countries."
"So, your princess must be deeply in love with you, and it just so happens that the wedding will be held on the eve of the New Year, right?"
"……continue."
"So, your reputation in public is extremely important. We must make everyone think that you and I are a perfect match, deeply in love. Only then can we dispel Qingyuan's doubts and silence the gossip."
Jiang Hexue smiled calmly: "I guessed it all, right?"
Shen Qingchen closed his eyes helplessly.
Before he could open his mouth again, the girl's lips suddenly pressed against his.
Her lips were as soft as red plum petals, but her movements were exceptionally forceful. As she kissed him, she leaned back in the recliner, her arms wrapped around his neck like a snake, not allowing him to evade an inch.
Shen Qingchen subconsciously gripped the armrest of the recliner, opened his eyes in a daze, and bumped into her translucent purple pupils.
Her eyes were charming and seductive. Not only did she not shy away when his gaze met hers, she also winked at him with even more force.
Shen Qingchen suddenly closed his eyes and tried to retreat, but was pushed back by her.
Jiang Hexue climbed her legs up to his waist, using her heels to push him down.
As their ears rubbed against each other, she opened her mouth and gently bit his lips.
The back of Shen Qingchen’s neck tightened.
He held her ankles and decisively moved her legs apart, moving a little further away, calming his slightly disordered breathing.
"What are you hiding from?" Jiang Hexue sat cross-legged on the recliner, tilting her head and looking at him with a smile. "Are you embarrassed by this posture?"
After the kiss, her lips were exceptionally red, far more rosy than the red plum blossoms outside the window.
Shen Qingchen looked away and did not respond.
"I will take any non-answers you make from now on as your tacit consent." Jiang Hexue forced him to respond.
"Just maintain your affection in front of others," Shen Qingchen said softly after a long silence. "Why did you do this just now?"
Jiang Hexue glanced at him for a moment and beckoned him, "Come over and talk."
Shen Qingchen did not move.
But if he doesn't come, Jiang Hexue will go to him.
"Maintaining their affection in public is a matter between Prince Heng'an and Princess Heng'an." She stopped in front of him. "Just now, it was about Shen Qingchen and Jiang Hexue."
Shen Qingchen's eyelashes trembled slightly.
"You promised me that we can continue when we get home." Jiang Hexue said again. "Besides, I like you."
"So, I wanted to kiss you just now, so I kissed you."
Her voice was gentle, but it left a heavy, unbearable pain in my heart.
"Your love," Shen Qingchen said softly, moving her hand away from her face. "It's too shallow."
I'm just obsessed with the appearance, it can't be called love at all.
It was just a temporary novelty for her.
"I'm indeed a casual and shallow person," Jiang Hexue admitted, her eyes rolling around before she suddenly changed the subject. "My dear, there's a rumor that my lovers are lined up from the south to the north of the city. Do you believe it?"
The evening breeze blows through the red plum blossoms, making a rustling sound.
Jiang Hexue stared at Shen Qingchen without blinking.
She suddenly attacked, hoping to see his subconscious reaction, but to her surprise, he didn't even frown, his face was calm and still looked calm and indifferent.
"Rumors are certainly not groundless, but they shouldn't be taken at face value," Shen Qingchen said objectively. "Since you're letting rumors run rampant, don't you care what others think?"
"You're not someone else." Jiang Hexue suppressed her surprise, curled her lips towards him, and said sweetly, "You're my husband."
"But what the princess is asking now is whether the king cares about the princess's bad reputation, not Jiang Hexue asking Shen Qingchen whether he cares about her past." Shen Qingchen answered with her words.
Jiang Hexue was silent.
She never thought that Shen Qingchen would be so conclusive in his words.
"So, my current answer is that I don't care."
"When did you become so eloquent?" she angrily twisted his waist. "How dare you imitate my speech!"
Shen Qingchen didn't hide, and her hand pinched his waist.
"You are so stubborn!" Jiang Hexue twisted it, but it didn't move, so he just reached out and scratched it.
Shen Qingchen was not itchy either, he just lowered his eyes to look at her, a smile was faint in his clear eyes, and there was a bit of inexplicable tenderness.
Jiang Hexue gradually lost his strength in the gaze, his hands dropped down, and they looked at each other in silence.
"The matter between Prince Heng'an and Princess Heng'an has reached the current level, which is enough. As you said, it is enough to show affection in front of others." Shen Qingchen took the initiative of the topic and smiled lightly.
"As for our matter...you don't have to test me all the time."
"I'm not good at acting, and I never wanted to learn."
"Perhaps what you are worried about is not worth mentioning." His eyes were not aggressive, but they could still hold her tightly.
Like a fine net, it gently enveloped her.
Jiang Hexue looked at him in amazement.
"And perhaps what you desire," the young man said softly, "has already been yours."
-
Jiang Hexue thought about it all night long, but still couldn't figure out what it was that she wanted and that already belonged to her.
There were only two things she wanted.
First of all, it was obvious that he did not get to recognize Aye.
The other is Shen Qingchen’s sincerity.
How did this become hers? And how did it become hers already?
They'd only been married two days, how could there be true devotion? If they'd been married in Liangzhou... that would have been five years!
This fantastic idea only lasted for a moment before being forgotten by its owner.
It must be that Shen Qingchen misunderstood what he was trying to do!
However, Jiang Hexue was puzzled as to where he had misunderstood. The next day, when he looked in the bronze mirror, he saw that he had gloriously gained two panda-like dark circles under his eyes.
She refused breakfast and went back to bed to catch up on her sleep.
She rolled around twice holding her hidden sac but couldn't fall asleep. The culprit of her dark circles came.
"Not eating in the morning will damage your spleen and stomach." Shen Qingchen said softly outside the curtains. "Even if you want to stay in bed, eat breakfast first."
"I can't get up, and I don't have the energy to eat." Jiang Hexue said lazily. "If someone feeds me, maybe I'll eat it."
The young man outside the curtain chuckled softly, "The princess is so spoiled and lazy, don't you think about how to control her?"
"What you said last night is nothing compared to my worries." Jiang Hexue couldn't get up. "I'll definitely have to think about my brother's affairs, but as for the matters concerning my subordinates... with your promise, I won't have to worry about them."
"Besides, I didn't say I wanted a maid to feed her." She pushed aside the curtains with her foot and looked at him with half-open eyes. "If Your Highness is worried that I won't be able to manage my subordinates in the future, why don't you keep it a secret for me?"
She had not washed or changed her clothes at all, and with this movement, her entire foot without stockings was exposed to Shen Qingchen.
The small, round, fair nails were painted with coral-red nail polish, and the bright colors were dazzling against the edge of the royal bed curtains.
The bed sheet was messed up by her rolling around several times, revealing her slender white legs, and he could even see the slightly pink skin at her knees.
"I usually go to bed naked, nothing at all."
Her playful words suddenly echoed in her ears. Shen Qingchen suddenly tightened the curtains and took three steps back.
"What are you doing?" Jiang Hexue sat up, puzzled. "If you don't want to hide it from me, fine. But are you going to tell everyone about it?"
She was afraid of the dark when she went to bed, so the curtains did not reveal the thick light-blocking silk lining, but only the semi-transparent gauze.
As she stood up, the quilt slipped off, revealing half of her slender shoulder.
Shen Qingchen suddenly turned his back to her.
He subconsciously didn't want to answer, but then he thought of her warning last night to "take it as a tacit agreement", and finally said, "No."
"No matter how lazy you are, put on your clothes first."
Jiang Hexue paused for a moment, came to his senses, and couldn't help but chuckle.
She moved towards him, half-knelt on the couch, and lifted the curtain again: "Zhaohua?"
When Shen Qingchen didn't move, she lifted the quilt and got off the bed, then walked towards him.
She took one step forward and he took two steps back, until he saw the nanmu screen door in front of him and stopped.
"If you still want to hide, then open the door and get out." Jiang Hexue stopped behind him. "You'll have three seconds."
Shen Qingchen definitely didn't want to hide.
He was only worried that once the door was opened, the cold wind would freeze her through in her thin clothes... or even her thin clothes.
While he was hesitating, Jiang Hexue had already put her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his back.
"Husband," she asked knowingly. "If you're not hiding, why don't you turn around and look at me?"
"...If you don't answer such a question, what do you think you are?" After a moment of silence, Shen Qingchen asked back.
"When you're shy." Jiang Hexue touched him restlessly.
Shen Qingchen calmed her breathing and inadvertently lowered her eyes, only to see a pair of hands clinging to her waist, slender white wrists, and... two imperial-colored sleeves.
He suddenly moved her hand away and turned around.
The girl in front of him was indeed wearing a neat middle-length dress. When his eyes met, she winked at him cunningly, with a smile of triumph on her face.
"You discovered it so quickly." Jiang Hexue's tone was still tinged with regret. "I thought I could take advantage of you a little more."
Shen Qingchen tied her restless hands, recalled something, glanced down, and indeed caught a glimpse of her bare feet.
He exerted a little force with his arms and lifted her up.
Jiang Hexue subconsciously reached for his neck, but unexpectedly, it wasn't the sideways hug she had on their wedding day...
The soles of my feet stepped on the upper of his shoes, and the embroidery rubbed against them, causing a slight itch, and the distance between us suddenly shortened.
"Even if the ground dragon is burning, it's easy to catch a cold if you're barefoot. It's absolutely not advisable." Shen Qingchen said gently. "Just like not eating breakfast, you must correct it."
"We have some water tofu for breakfast. Come and get ready for some?"
"Water-soaked tofu?" Jiang Hexue pulled her mind back from the glamorous gaze of the man. "Does the chef in the palace also grind water-soaked tofu?"
"I bought it from Liu's stall on North Third Street."
"Sweet? Is it because you caught me eating it that time?"
"Um."
His answers were always brief, and the voice that escaped from his throat was inexplicably soft. His long, thick black eyelashes drooped slightly, casting two light shadows under his eyes.
It was too gentle and too unusual. His eyelashes seemed to be rubbing against her heart, and it was too itchy.
But Jiang Hexue would never let him notice.
She grabbed his ear and asked, "Did you hit your head on the ice yesterday?"
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