Zhou Gu had convinced himself that he wasn’t too affected by the Nanchu King’s drunken rambling. However, once he lay on the bed, he found himself tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. He was so accustomed to sleeping with Su Rong that he found it unbearable to sleep alone.
While the desire was there, he found it incredibly difficult to act on it.
Reaching out discontentedly, he pinched Su Rong’s face. "You’re so heartless, sleeping soundly without a care in the world. You don’t miss me."
As for him, he was unable to sleep alone, while she could sleep comfortably by herself.
He complained to Su Rong, "You don’t love me as much as I love you."
Su Rong was taken aback by this serious accusation and sat up immediately. "Our decision to sleep separately was your idea. Don’t blame me for it."
"But now that we are apart, I can’t sleep and yet you can." Zhou Gu was very unhappy.
Su Rong hurriedly defended herself. "I’ve been lying on the bed for a long time before I can finally sleep. I don’t fall asleep immediately when my head hits the pillow."
Zhou Gu looked at her suspiciously. "Don’t try to fool me."
"I’m not fooling you." Su Rong raised her hand in protest, "In fact, these days, being held by you, being warm, I don’t even need a hot water bottle at my feet..."
This made Zhou Gu even more dissatisfied. "So, I’m essentially a human heater to you."
Su Rong quickly shook her head, "No, that’s not it."
Having refuted him, she was now fully awake and moved closer to him. "You smell heavily of alcohol. Have you been drinking? With whom? How much have you had? No wonder you’re acting out all drunk."
She had wondered why he’d been talking about the level of their love for each other, something they’d thoroughly discussed before. It turns out, he was drunk.
Zhou Gu took her hand. "Lie down, don’t shake it, you’re making me dizzy. It feels like there are two of you speaking."
Su Rong: "..."
Being pulled down by him, she was overcome with the smell of alcohol, "How much have you had? You still haven’t answered my question."
Zhou Gu hugged Su Rong, her soft body in his arms gave him an intense sense of contentment. Snuggling into her neck, he muttered, "I was drinking with my father-in-law. He insisted on having a drink with me. We must have drunk several jars. His tolerance is impressive, perhaps from missing his wife over the years. I almost couldn’t keep up."
Su Rong tutted, "Just got back to the royal capital after such a tiring journey, and my father tried to get you to drink?"
"I’m not tired." Zhou Gu snuggled for a bit. Cradling her in his arms, soft and sweet, stirred his emotions. He couldn’t resist but to start kissing her neck.
Su Rong giggled, getting ticklish from his kisses, "Stop it."
Zhou Gu, toying with her wrist, could not bear to let go of her. He muttered softly, "My father-in-law told me not to stick to old customs. If he hadn’t broken conventions initially, you wouldn’t be here. He told me life is short, enjoy it while you can."
Su Rong: "..."
Just look at him! Is this how a father should instruct his son-in-law? And she had always thought he was unreliable. Who was his real daughter again?
She had the desire to give in to him, but realized that right now, he was too drunk. How could she do it then?
Su Rong helplessly looked at Zhou Gu. "Who was the one who insisted that they wanted the full wedding experience, rejecting any compromises?"
"I did."
Su Rong let out a sigh of relief. "That’s right, it was you." She patted his flushed, infatuated face. "Behave. Our situation is different from my parents’. We have plenty of time with the ongoing peace talks in Dawei. We shouldn’t rush. You’re a royal husband, you deserve nothing less than the best."
Zhou Gu looked at her through drunken eyes and said, "I have asked my father-in-law. The earliest we could get married is in ten months. He’s tasked the Minister of Rites with planning this. The poor man has almost burnt himself out."
Su Rong gently held his wrist and kissed him, "I have enlisted the help of Wanniang and everyone else, they’re assisting the Ministry of Rites with the preparations. The workers from Brocade Pavilion in Jiangning County have all come to Nanchu. With so many skilled embroiderers working on it, our wedding attire should be ready in three months. We would definitely be married within six months. Trust me."
Zhou Gu’s eyes lit up, "Really?"
"Really." Su Rong smiled and kissed his forehead. "Now, go to sleep. You’ve had so much to drink. If I gave in tonight, I’m afraid you’d be crying to my father tomorrow when you sober up."
Zhou Gu nodded, "Alright!"
He trusted Su Rong, certain boundaries that he had once held onto had been toppled by her simple words. With Su Rong by his side, he would sleep peacefully, just like old times.
"Deal." Su Rong lied down. "What you say goes."
It’s her royal husband she had chosen by herself, she ought to dote on him when it comes to such trivial matters, right?
And with that, Zhou Gu soon drifted off to sleep with Su Rong in his arms.
Now, Su Rong found it hard to fall asleep. She was planning to visit her father the next day and give him a stern warning. He used to be able to drink himself into oblivion when he was alone, but now that she was here, she would keep him in check. She wanted him to drink less or his health would deteriorate rapidly from years of neglect. She did not want her father’s lifespan to be shortened.
Especially when he, as a father, was speaking such inappropriate words to Zhou Gu after getting drunk. Zhou Gu was already having a hard time holding back; it wasn’t helpful for her father to disrupt things.
Although she didn’t think that a wedding experience was something worth going through all this hardship for half a year to a year, since her fiancée wanted it, she naturally wanted to help him preserve it, to be there when he finally had it.
After all these thoughts, Su Rong closed her eyes and fell asleep.
After rushing back to the Ye Xiang Residence and hearing that Guixue was speaking with the wife in the main courtyard, Ye Xiang went straight to the main courtyard.
Madame Ye Xiang was drying her tears with a handkerchief. She felt a mixture of joy and heartache. "My dear, I heard that you almost lost your life protecting Lord Thursday at the command of the princess?"
Guixue replied, "The situation was critical at the time, and the princess had no choice but to entrust Lord Thursday to me. Leaving, no matter whether it was me or Lord Thursday, both gave us a chance to live. But the princess who stayed behind stood no chance of survival. If it hadn’t been for the Qinghe Cui family’s rescue, the princess would have certainly died."
Madame Ye Xiang held Guixue’s hand, "I don’t blame the princess. Our family owes her everything. She’s also a princess, the crown prince of Nanchu, your master, of course, you must obey her orders. I just feel sorry for you, the princess valued Lord Thursday so much that she entrusted his life to you at a time of crisis."
Guixue smiled, "Mother, there’s no need to feel sorry for me. Lord Thursday later thanked me. The princess did nothing wrong. She trusted me that day, that’s why she entrusted him to me. I have no regrets, no grudges, and there’s nothing I cannot let go of. As a future auxiliary minister for the princess, it is not against my original intention."
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