Chapter 52
Xie Qinghong, unaware that she was about to become the dress-up doll of the Southern Prince's Consort, was currently holding the storeroom manual, taking stock of her dowry. The manual was clear and matched the actual items perfectly. Satisfied, she closed it and told A-Xing and A-Yue to lock the storeroom door.
This was her private treasury, the foundation upon which she would establish herself in the South, and she absolutely could not entrust it to anyone else. Even the reborn Qin Heng coveted the dowry arranged for her by the Xie family in the book, which shows just how astonishing her wealth was.
Therefore, Xie Qinghong had never understood why Zheng Yingluo and the others thought their remaining life would be miserable. With such a fortune and the support of their father and brothers, they should be able to live a carefree and happy life no matter what. If their husband's family was not good, then they could just get a divorce. Women already have a hard time in this world, so they can't not treat themselves well.
Feeling very happy after taking stock of his assets, Xie Qinghong turned around and saw another door next to the private vault, so he asked, "Is that door empty?"
Pei An, who had been accompanying him, said, "This is the Crown Prince's private treasury." He originally wanted to express his loyalty on behalf of his master, because the Crown Prince said that the private treasury would be managed by the Crown Prince's wife from now on. However, it was only the second day of their marriage, and he was not sure if the Crown Prince had told his wife. After hesitating for a while, he decided not to say anything more.
Pei Du had just been called out to meet a guest and was not present at the moment. Since his personal property was involved, there was a subtle tension in the courtyard.
"Is the door key in the Crown Prince's possession?"
Pei An quickly replied, "Yes, but the young master doesn't manage it often. It's only opened occasionally when something comes into the storeroom. I'll have to ask Madam to take better care of it in the future."
The storeroom of the Prince of Nan's mansion was built with great security. The door was not an ordinary wooden door that could be opened with a key alone. There was also a mechanism that, if accidentally used incorrectly, would lock the person who opened the door in place, making it impossible for them to escape no matter how capable they were.
Moreover, the mechanisms in different warehouses are different, and these mechanisms were personally crafted by the Crown Prince, so no one but him can solve them. This is all what Pei Anfang just mentioned.
Such anti-theft measures show that Pei Du is very cautious. He only feels at ease when he has everything under his own control. How could he so easily hand over the warehouse to someone else to manage, as Pei An said? Xie Qinghong did not believe it.
Therefore, she only glanced at it twice before locking her storeroom, restoring the mechanism as Pei An had instructed, and returning to her room to rest.
She was exhausted from last night, and Pei Du, drunk, laughed heartily. It was only then that she noticed the shallow dimples on his cheeks. His smile was so alluring that she almost forgot herself; she really shouldn't have. She shouldn't have kissed his cheek, making her feel drunk too.
Pei Du met with guests outside for an hour. When he returned to the courtyard, he didn't look too good. These people didn't know how to read people's expressions. They knew he was newly married, but they still came to discuss the matter of suppressing the pirates at sea with him.
Since the last time he swiftly suppressed the maritime banditry caused chaos among refugees at sea, the pirate problem had subsided. However, just two days ago, many refugees once again emerged from that unnamed island and began robbing fishermen at sea.
Pei Du naturally wanted to go to the island and wipe it out in one fell swoop to eliminate future troubles, but he was in the midst of his honeymoon and was not very willing to go to sea to lead troops.
In the past, when he had nothing to do, he would stay in his study, either reading, writing travelogues, or making things, never letting himself be idle. Now that he has a wife, he naturally doesn't need to stay alone in his study.
He walked briskly back to the room, not seeing anyone in the outer room. When he reached the bedside, he found that the curtain was half drawn, and Xie Qinghong was sleeping on her side, facing inward, holding a soft pillow in her arms. He stared at her intently, reaching out to brush away the stray hairs that had fallen on her eyelashes, but this action seemed to have startled her.
Her eyelids twitched, she mumbled something, and then suddenly called out in a clear and distinct voice, "Pei Du!"
Pei Du thought she had woken up, so he immediately sat up straight as if he hadn't done anything. But after a while, Xie Qinghong was still fast asleep and didn't even turn over.
Pei Du knew she was very well-behaved when she was asleep and wouldn't move much all night. This morning he woke up very early and saw her nestled in his arms as soon as he opened his eyes. Her cheeks were slightly puffed up, and she didn't seem to want to wake up even when he pinched them.
Seeing her sleeping so peacefully, and looking as if she was dreaming about him and seemed a little angry, he couldn't resist reaching out and tentatively poking her face. When there was no reaction, he pinched it again, but still no reaction. Finally, he lowered his head and kissed the corner of her eye. Not satisfied with that, he gently kissed the corner of her lips as well, and only then was he truly satisfied.
Previously, he had never known that having another person in the room would make him so happy.
Xie Qinghong seemed to be sleeping uncomfortable, and finally turned over, facing out of bed, her delicate brows slightly furrowed. Pei Du saw that after she turned over, strands of her hair fell on her eyelashes and the tip of her nose, and afraid that she would feel itchy, he carefully brushed them away.
When A-Yue entered, she saw this scene and paused, wondering why she had come in. The young lady didn't like anyone beside her when she fell asleep, so when she rested, she and A-Xing would do some chores. Just now, she had taken a walk around the mansion and thought it wouldn't hurt to come and check on things every now and then.
Upon entering, Ah Yue saw the young master sitting on the bed, touching the young lady inappropriately. Ah Yue was in a dilemma, unsure whether to tell the young master that her young lady had a bad temper when she woke up, and if she was disturbed, she would not be happy all day.
The girl's morning grumpiness wasn't directed at others, but only at herself; she would be listless and lethargic all day, and nothing could soothe her. Therefore, they were always very careful not to disturb her while she was sleeping.
Who knew that if I didn't keep an eye on him today, Prince Pei would come in and disturb me.
Pei Du noticed that A Yue had been standing there without moving since entering the room. His expression immediately turned cold, and he slightly raised his eyelids to give her a sideways glance.
A-Yue's heart skipped a beat and she dared not look directly at him. She quickly curtsied and took a step back, but thinking that the young lady had finally fallen asleep, she gritted her teeth and stepped forward with all her loyalty and courage. Under the disbelieving gaze of Prince Pei, she lowered the bed curtains without regard for the fact that he was still sitting by the bed.
To celebrate their wedding, the bed curtains had originally been changed to red, but the red was too bright, so Xie Qinghong had them changed to dark green this morning, as she liked green. The dark green curtains hung down, blocking Pei Du's view, and because of the curtains, Pei Du had to take his hands out of his sight.
He stood up expressionlessly and walked out of the room. As he passed Ah Yue, he lowered his voice and said coldly, "You have a lot of nerve."
Once outside the room, A-Yue forced herself to say, "Madam is a light sleeper. She doesn't like light or noise, and she doesn't like people around her. If she's woken up, she'll get angry and won't have any energy all day."
Pei Du paused, then suddenly asked, "What other habits does the lady have? Tell me about them."
A-Yue peeked at him furtively and saw his serious expression, which finally put her mind at ease. Fortunately, she listened to A-Xing. Although the young master was rumored to have a bad temper, A-Xing said that as long as it involved the young lady, the young master would definitely give in.
She replied, "Madam enjoys reading, especially travelogues, and doesn't like to be disturbed while reading. Because of the incident at the beginning of the year when she fell into the water, Madam doesn't like going on the water much anymore. She had heard that there was plenty of water in the south, so she had to learn to swim, but she is still not very proficient."
Pei Du noted everything down, waved for everyone to leave, and stood under the eaves for a long time before finally departing.
He knew that Xie Ayao was afraid of water. When they traveled by water to Huaizhou, she suffered from severe seasickness. This time, she was also traveling by boat, and seeing that she looked normal, he thought she had overcome it.
He sat down in his study, holding a book but unable to read. He knew he had to send troops to deal with the pirates at sea. If all went well, he would cross the strait to the island and wipe out the evil refugees there, thus expanding the territory of the South.
If Xie Ayao couldn't be taken away, he probably wouldn't see her for two or three months. Moreover, the situation at sea was complicated, and even correspondence was impossible. Facing separation so soon after their marriage was extremely distressing for him.
Moreover, how could he tell Xie A'yao about it? That he was going to war at sea on the eve of his wedding, and that his fate was uncertain? In this vast Yue City, she was closest to him. If he wasn't by her side, and someone bullied her, what could she do if she couldn't find anyone to stand up for her and could only suffer the bullying?
Pei Du leaned back in his chair, lost in thought. It wasn't until he heard that Xie Ayao had woken up and asked where he was that he snapped out of his reverie, put his thoughts aside, and accompanied her to lunch.
Xie Qinghong took a nap and felt very comfortable. She hadn't scheduled any tasks for herself today and planned to stroll around the Prince's mansion after lunch. Since the Prince's mansion was so large, she wanted Pei Du to lead the way, but he had been discussing matters with someone in the morning and she wasn't sure if he would be free in the afternoon.
The lunch was quite palatable, a sweet and sour flavor that Xie Qinghong liked. However, seeing Pei Du pitifully only picking at the one dish in front of him, she felt uneasy and secretly asked A Yue to instruct the kitchen to add a dish that the young master liked.
On one hand, she also found it quite unbelievable. This should be Pei Du's house, so why wasn't his favorite dish prepared in the small kitchen? He looked so pitiful, as if he had married into the family and was being bullied by the servants at her behest.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but laugh out loud, thinking that if Pei Du were to marry into the family, his father-in-law's family would all be afraid of him.
"Why aren't you eating? Is it not to your liking?" Pei Du asked immediately when he saw her stop eating.
Xie Qinghong had a small appetite to begin with, and after eating more than half a bowl of rice, he was almost full. He simply stopped eating and used the serving chopsticks to put the only dish on the table that he had eaten on it, saying, "I'm full, but you're not allowed to be picky about food. People who don't know better will think I'm deliberately bullying you. I just asked the kitchen to add another dish, so you can eat slowly."
Pei Du ate with pleasure and then said, "It's okay for me, I can eat anything, but you don't eat much to begin with, so I asked the kitchen to prepare more of what you like."
Xie Qinghong looked at him with dissatisfaction: "You clearly don't eat sweet and sour foods. You're obviously a picky eater. But you're so tall, it's not a big deal if you're picky, but you can eat more of what you like."
Pei Du thought to himself, "This is the second time. Xie Ayao is really soft-hearted. When he says that I don't study, she adds, 'It's okay if you don't study hard, you're so amazing.' When he says that I'm a picky eater, she adds, 'It's okay if I'm a picky eater, you're so tall.' It's as if my shortcomings can be made up for by my strengths."
He felt that he was favored by Xie Ayao, even though he had obtained this marriage by any means necessary and Xie Ayao had no choice.
He knew Xie A'yao was rational and clear-headed, never indulging in romantic love. She could feel loved, so she would always reciprocate with the same feelings. However, she hadn't yet figured out the difference between liking and love between men and women, so what she gave him was only a superficial attraction based on her appearance.
Pei Du understood everything, but he was content and willing.
“Then you’re a picky eater too,” Pei Du said.
Xie Qinghong choked and decided to set an example by picking up a piece of food cooked with dogwood. Dogwood is spicy, and she almost vomited after just one bite. Pei Du quickly brought her a teacup and had her drink water from his hand to rinse her mouth.
"It's okay if you're a picky eater. You can eat whatever you want. From now on, we won't put dogwood in the dishes anymore, okay?"
Xie Qinghong pouted and asked, "So what are you going to eat?"
Pei Du chuckled as he held his teacup: "I'm not picky about food, I can eat anything."
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