Chapter 1 Chapter 1 If you stay here and don't get married, you will only be a hindrance...
The beggar fawningly handed over a bowl of porridge on the roadside and gulped it down.
"Your Highness is such a kind man! If it weren't for you, I would have starved to death on the roadside, an eyesore to the nobles!"
The boy who distributed porridge raised his chin, squinted at the beggar, and sneered,
"It's good that you know how to appreciate the prince's kindness."
The beggar flattered the servant, and the servant became proud and started to brag.
"Our prince is truly gentle and refined, a graceful gentleman. Not only is he kind-hearted, he is also deeply sympathetic to the people and loves to share their joys. Seven years ago, the prince went to a restaurant, but it unexpectedly caught fire, leaving only an orphan daughter in his family, who was born with extraordinary beauty."
"Did the prince take that orphan girl as his concubine?"
When the old beggar heard about the extraordinarily beautiful orphan girl, his eyes lit up and he began to salivate.
"Humph, taking a concubine before marriage is a disgrace to the family. Our prince is not only kind-hearted, but also very moral. He only recognized that girl as his sister, pampered her with silk and satin, and spent more money on her than the water he drank."
"Hehe... But I happened to see that girl once, and her appearance... Hey! She's really worthy of the silver she paid for!"
A servant and a beggar looked at each other and smiled.
"What do you think about this lonely man and woman...will it happen?"
The old beggar gave a lewd smile.
"Don't dare to talk nonsense."
The servant's expression changed instantly and he went back home.
Inside the palace, in the bedroom, several layers of mandarin duck quilts were wrinkled in red waves. Lingchuan wore a heavy seven-treasure necklace on his upper body, and the giant clams and pearls trembled.
Gu Shi felt that the pearls on her necklace were in the way, so he moved them aside.
He considered himself a very restrained gentleman, but it was only after meeting Lingchuan that he made one mistake after another, leading to such a ridiculous incident.
"Lingchuan, beg me."
She had become a bowstring stretched to the limit, already carried away by the excitement, and said everything he wanted to hear in a daze. She then begged for mercy several times before Gu Shi let her go.
A bright kaleidoscope mirror was facing the bed, silently reflecting many private things.
The bedroom was filled with the smell of powder and flesh. Lingchuan had a formal necklace hanging around her neck, and a light mauve gauze bellyband was hanging on the necklace.
The mirror reflected a breathless beauty, adorned with jewels and precious stones, and kept in the room like a beautiful concubine in a golden house.
With a click—
Lingchuan threw the teacup at the kaleidoscope, but the kaleidoscope did not move at all, and the official kiln teacup broke into two pieces.
Gu Shi pinched her chin impatiently.
"I've got good food and drink, so why are you so angry? What jewelry are you eyeing now?"
He wondered if he hadn't coaxed her well enough today. That's right, they had already tried all the common styles.
But Lingchuan was sulking about the mirror and refused to speak no matter how much he was coaxed.
He became increasingly impatient with her, so he simply called in the maid Jinzhan to help Lingchuan change clothes and return to her room.
Jinzhan looks ordinary, is a bit older, and is very tight-lipped. She pretends to be deaf and dumb about the private affairs of the two of them, and even in private, she will never mention a word to Lingchuan.
After taking a shower, Lingchuan lay lazily on the bed, allowing Jinzhan to apply luxurious rosehip oil on her body.
"The girl has a burn scar on her ankle. She has tried all kinds of ointments, but it won't go away."
"It's just a scar...what does it have to do with you?"
Lingchuan muttered and turned over, and the essential oil on his body smeared all over the bed.
That was the scar left by the fire that night, and Lingchuan didn't want it to disappear.
She hid from Jinzhan and secretly wiped off the ointment on the scar.
"Hey, Miss, don't turn over yet. If you turn over, we servants will have to change the sheets."
Jinzhan complained and brought another cup of hot medicine.
"Miss, you are not feeling well. Please drink the medicine quickly."
Lingchuan suddenly sat up, got angry, and spilled the medicine on the carpet.
"I don't want to drink soups and medicine! I'm in good health! It's all Gu Shi who deliberately made me get used to drinking soupy things so that he could do something to kill me!"
Jinzhan quickly covered Lingchuan's mouth.
"Girl, there are some things you can't say... Ouch, why did you bite me? I want to go find the prince!"
Jinzhan ran to complain to the prince without looking back. Lingchuan knew very well that everyone in the mansion was the prince's spies. She was his sworn sister in name, but in reality she was not even as good as a proper concubine.
Jinzhan was naturally sent by the prince to keep an eye on him.
Lingchuan clumsily put on the complicated and gorgeous clothes neatly and opened the drawer.
Inside was a copy of "The Story of Ying'er", a book that should never appear in the boudoir of an unmarried girl, not to mention that it contained two vivid erotic pictures.
Gu Shi also sent someone to teach her a few words, and when she had learned them, he found a book like this for her to read.
Seeing the pornographic picture, Lingchuan felt disgusted, so he burned it with a candle and threw it on the carpet.
In a short while, the carpet was burned to a ball of golden thread.
"It was fine just now, what are you doing? Why are you playing with fire?"
The prince walked in with a frown on his face.
"Never mind. This carpet isn't a rare find. You can burn it if you want. But you can't ignore the medicine."
Lingchuan said coldly,
"I'm not sick."
Gu Shi pulled her to sit on his lap, put his arm around her waist, and whispered in her ear,
"You know it's a contraceptive pill. If you don't take it properly, you'll probably be the one who suffers the most."
Lingchuan sneered,
"Oh, then I will give birth to your offspring in the imperial court, leaving two lives in one corpse, so that others can see your family's shameful deeds."
Gu Shi instantly tightened the strength of his hands, pinching her so hard that she trembled, but she gritted her teeth and tried not to scream.
"I'll have someone make you another bowl. I'll watch you drink it."
After a while, Jinzhan came in with her head bowed, holding a bowl of medicine high in her hands, without even looking up to see the intimate behavior of the two.
"Your Highness gave me the medicine out of brotherly love and care for me. Please be considerate of my Highness and drink the medicine."
After living in the palace for a long time, Jinzhan developed the ability to tell lies with open eyes.
Lingchuan was still tossing and turning on his legs like a live fish. Gu Shi knew that she would not be obedient, so he took the bowl, pinched her chin, and forced the medicine down her throat.
"Lingchuan, you're almost twenty, and I should be concerned about your marriage. But it's too late today, so let's discuss it tomorrow."
Jinzhan saw that the prince was becoming more and more impatient with her, so she simply helped her undress and go to bed, then blew out the candle.
"Girl, I am too old to endure it any longer, so I am going to sleep."
Lingchuan just lay on the bed and cried silently, without sleeping all night.
The person reflected in the peep show was not the prince's sister at all, but a prostitute used for entertainment.
She touched the small scar on her ankle.
Her parents were very loving and ran a restaurant together. Although they were not rich, they had enough food and drink.
Thinking of getting married, she remembered that when she was ten years old, a boy made a rabbit for her with foxtail grass, and her mother teased her about it. Lingchuan blushed without saying a word.
She remembered her mother playfully hitting her father twice, and she also remembered her father buying her the most fashionable cold cream and rubbing it on her hands. Her mother told her father not to buy these while looking at him with a smile.
Before she was thirteen, Lingchuan always thought that she could marry the boy who gave her foxtail grass, and after marriage she would be able to live a life like her parents.
But a fire destroyed her life.
Gu Shi... He had turned her into a weird monster. She could no longer be the pretty daughter of that small tavern owner, nor was she a royal relative, nor was she so low as to be a prostitute in a brothel, and she didn't seem to be a maid either.
Thinking of how Gu Shi had deceived her, Lingchuan felt so angry that her teeth were itching.
Even if she died, she would never let him have an easy life.
The next morning, Jinzhan woke her up and asked her to wash and dress.
"Today, a distinguished guest is coming. He just passed the imperial examination and was awarded the second-class Jinshi degree. Since he just got an official position, he doesn't have enough money to settle down in the capital, so he is staying at the prince's mansion temporarily. I heard that he is also a handsome man."
Jinzhan called her to the study. Lingchuan also had an idea and roughly knew what the prince wanted to say to her.
The prince was being polite to her for no reason today.
"Lingchuan, you're almost twenty. I've found a husband for you. His name is Zhen Fei. He passed the imperial examination and won the second-class jinshi degree. He'll live in our house soon. After you get married, everything will be the same as before, and you won't be wronged in any way."
Seeing Lingchuan's cold face and silence, with only the rouge on his lips glaring red, Gu Shi continued,
"Don't worry, I have prepared 10,000 taels of silver for your dowry."
"Your Highness means that Zhen Fei is short of money and married me for your 10,000 taels of silver dowry."
This is not the husband Lingchuan wants... She pursed her lips, and the bitter taste of rouge passed through her teeth.
"Zhen Fei is just short of money to settle down now. After you get married, I will remember you and support him more."
"I don't want to."
As if knowing that Lingchuan was unwilling, Gu Shi just sighed and patted her shoulder gently.
"Anyway, you should meet him first."
Lingchuan bit his lower lip so hard that the bitter taste between his teeth turned into a mouth full of blood.
She hurried back to her room, bolted the door, and refused to see anyone.
Two hours later, Jinzhan came to her door and found that the door could not be opened, so she knocked on the door hard.
"Girl, open the door quickly, the young man is here."
"What does that young master's coming have to do with me?"
Lingchuan said coldly.
"Miss, you will get married sooner or later. Can you still cling to the prince? In my opinion, given your background, without the prince's help, you will never be able to marry a second-class Jinshi like Master Zhen."
Jinzhan became annoyed when she heard only the sounds of Lingchuan kicking and smashing things in the house. It was the "master" who made such a mess in the house, and in the end it was still a servant like her who had to clean it up.
"Miss, do you know that the prince and the general's daughter have already sent their invitations? If you stay here and don't get married, you will only be an eyesore to the prince."
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