After Su Rong had finished bathing and returned to the inner hall, she saw Zhou Gu sitting on the bed with a gloomy look on his face.
She smiled at him, "Did you finish reading the letter?"
"You tell me!" Zhou Gu glared at Su Rong, "What a load of nonsense she wrote. It is a wonder you could still laugh after reading it."
He was unable to vent his anger, "Are you telling me she is sick in the head? Has her brain turned into water? No, I bet her brain is just filled with liquid. The Crown Prince likes you. Should she tell you that? And that the two of you should both like him? It is just ludicrous."
The more he spoke, the darker his expression became. "Also, does she actually have the gall to ask me to tutor her on how to be a crown princess? She will mimic whatever I do? I attend court every day, can she? I work in the Ministry of Housing every day, can she? I don’t need to learn mannerisms, but she must. What the hell should she learn from me? Stupid woman."
The more he spoke, the angrier he seemed to be. "The Crown Prince must have been influenced by her. What a bright and wise person he used to be. Look at him now, in such a short time since we left, he gets twisted around by her. She drove him to the point of wanting to marry her. She is a nagger, he should just refuse, what could she do then? Cry? Let her cry to death. If she doesn’t get married, then so be it. Even the princesses of the royal family have been married off or divorced. That’s even more embarrassing for a female county ruler. It won’t be a laughing matter for the Crown Prince. Has the Crown Prince gone insane? It must have been his silly idea. In my opinion, the Crown Prince will suffer in the future."
Su Rong: "..."
She was amazed at Zhou Gu’s rant, every word scorching Duanhua, even the Crown Prince himself wasn’t spared.
It was obvious how much disgust and hatred Zhou Gu had developed towards Duanhua from all these years of her winding him up. This letter had clearly infuriated him.
"Why are you laughing? You can still laugh!" Zhou Gu glared at Su Rong, "I’m telling you, you must sever ties with Duanhua. Don’t deal with her anymore."
Su Rong twitched the corner of her mouth, "Isn’t that a bit too extreme?"
"How is it not? You saw what she wrote in the letter, all that nonsensical stuff. I refuse to believe that if this letter was not delivered to you and was seen by the Crown Prince, he wouldn’t be enraged." Zhou Gu was furious.
Su Rong coughed, "That’s why the letter was written to me, not to the Crown Prince. She acts quite submissive in front of him and wouldn’t dare to say this to him."
"She acts submissive in front of the Crown Prince?" Zhou Gu scoffed, "The Crown Prince has punished her several times and she didn’t change much. She cried while reciting books, cried while being struck on her hand with bamboo, cried while pounding the table in the Crown Prince’s study. She even cried while holding a rope, saying that if she couldn’t enter the Eastern Palace, she would hang herself in front of its gates. These are all things she has done in the past!"
Su Rong was shocked, "She’s really this bold?"
"Bold? Her wailing has flooded the Eastern Palace more than once." Zhou Gu said impatiently, "I came to Daliang to escape her, and look, she’s still trying to file complaints against me in front of my grandfather. She’d better get lost."
Su Rong: "..."
She never expected a letter from Duanhua could cause such a violent reaction from Zhou Gu. He looked like he was ready to explode. If she had known earlier, she would not have spitefully shown Zhou Gu the letter.
She hurriedly went up to him and hugged him, trying to soothe him, "Alright, don’t be angry anymore, it’s bad for your health. Why bother getting angry with her? Yes, she is indeed a dimwit. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have gone so far as to nag the Crown Prince until he put up an imperial decree to choose a handsome husband for her. Ironically, she turned out to be the Crown Princess herself."
If anyone else were to hear of this, they would surely say it’s quite interesting. If it were that easy to become a crown princess, anyone would take the risk.
However, anyone else attempting this would not be successful. It was only Duanhua who had managed, with her unique personality.
"So you know that I’m angry?" Zhou Gu was coaxed by her, but he still wasn’t feeling appeased, and only managed to utter a single sentence, "You must break off your friendship with her."
"Wouldn’t that be a little harsh?" Su Rong softly negotiated with him while stroking his chest to soothe him. "Look, although Duanhua can be annoying, she is open with me about everything and we get along well. I don’t have many lady friends, she’s the only one. If you make me break off my friendship with her, I won’t have any friends left. Also, the Crown Prince did not state the reason in his letter, just a single line which left us guessing for days, very curiously. Now Duanhua’s letter has cleared up our doubts. Isn’t that great? In the future, if I keep corresponding with her, we can know all about what’s happening around the Crown Prince..."
"Why would you want to know what’s happening around the Crown Prince?" Zhou Gu’s face darkened even more.
"Well then, just to laugh at them." Su Rong bluntly answered, "We are allies, close friends, with Daliang, and we must maintain this relationship until the day we jointly devour Dawei. Duanhua will be his Crown Princess in the future, the only one. The words that we can’t get out of the mouth of the Crown Prince can be easily obtained from Duanhua."
Zhou Gu’s face lightened, and he looked at her oddly, "Is that what you’re thinking? Then be careful not to tell Duanhua everything about our side in case she takes your letters to show them to the Crown Prince."
Su Rong’s eyes lit up, "So, can I whine a bit about our hardships in the letters to Duanhua? Our situation in Nanchu is really difficult right now. Daliang, despite being reduced to a thin camel, is still bigger than a horse. They only loaned us 300,000 soldiers and got us some seeds from Dawei for the spring planting. But that’s not nearly enough. However, it’s not appropriate for me to ask the Crown Prince for more. If Duanhua could sympathize with me and nag to get us more..."
Zhou Gu: "..."
Where did all these deep thoughts come from? It seems like she wants to manipulate the Crown Prince.
His anger vanished all at once. He pointed at her forehead, "You should be content. This shriveled camel that is Daliang is covered in parasites. The Crown Prince will probably need a couple years to get rid of all of them. After all, it’s vast and abundant, unlike Nanchu which is easier to govern."
Su Rong laughed, "So, you’re not angry anymore?"
Zhou Gu said, in a disgruntled tone, "Forget it. It’s Duanhua we’re talking about. Treating her like a football would be a compliment. Do as you please regarding her."
It’s a waste of his energy to be angry over her.
Su Rong leaned over to kiss him, thinking to herself: my husband is really easy to appease.
That night, Su Rong didn’t reply to Duanhua’s letter. She spent a long time entangled with her husband under the bed curtains. Sweating and leaving Zhou Gu with red eyes, he had to take another bath before he stopped.
When Zhou Gu came back from his bath, his body was cold. He fiercely pinched Su Rong’s cheek, his voice hoarse with a thick rasp, "If you dare to annoy me again, I’ll move back to Huang Hall and leave you alone with an empty bed, suffering insomnia."
Su Rong chuckled to herself, look at what he’s saying, is it her who is afraid of suffering insomnia? But she still begged for mercy, "I won’t do it again! I won’t do it again!"
These past few months, they’ve both been exhausted, falling asleep every day after uttering a few sentences. Even the goodnight kisses weren’t given for a period of time. This was the first time in two months that the two almost reignited a passionate flame between them.
Zhou Gu lightly snorted, "Sleep."
Su Rong nodded, "Sleep, sleep, sleep."
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