The next day, Su Rong almost couldn’t get out of bed.
Zhou Gu reached out to pull her, "Get up."
Su Rong brushed off his hand, pulled the quilt over her face, and mumbled in a drowsy voice, "I don’t want to get up."
Zhou Gu chuckled in her ear, "Are you really going to miss the morning court meeting?"
Su Rong grumbled, "It’s all your fault for messing around."
"Yes, blame me." Zhou Gu’s voice filled with amusement, "I didn’t even tire you completely yesterday. How come you can’t handle such a small turmoil? What will you do after our grand wedding? Can’t get up at all? What about the morning court then?"
Before Su Rong could reply, Zhou Gu sighed, "Haven’t you been slacking off your training recently? Your stamina is so poor."
Being chocked up, she thought to herself how it was not her being negligent in her training, but her lack of time to practice. It has been six months, right? Unlike Zhou Gu, who still woke up half an hour early every day to train, she could only stretch and yawn when she woke up.
Zhou Gu pulled her quilt, "Get up. From tomorrow, you will get up half an hour early with me and practice together. You can’t go on like this. You’ve been neglecting your exercise. How are you going to fight with Dawei in the future? Don’t let your sword go limp."
Su Rong sat up discontented, "Who are you talking about? I won’t."
She hugged Zhou Gu’s waist, nuzzling her face into him, looking utterly exhausted."Zhou Gu, you’re so mean. Where did you learn all these nasty tricks?"
Zhou Gu leaned down to kiss her face, "Fang Yue sent me a scroll to please me. I only used a few pages yesterday. It’s not even a fraction."
Su Rong instantly woke up completely, "This Fang Yue, he never has anything good."
Seeing that she had completely awakened, Zhou Gu chuckled, "Hurry up, Princess. We really don’t have much time."
Su Rong grumbled, "You’re gonna dress me."
"Alright."
The pair rushed to Jinluan Hall, nearly missing the morning court meeting.
The Nanchu King saw Su Rong looking spiritless and asked her with concern, "What’s wrong? Are you not feeling well? Caught a cold? So sleepy? Why don’t you go back and rest?"
Su Rong shook her head seriously, "Father, I’m fine. I just stayed up too late last night reading family letters."
The Nanchu King believed her, "After the exam, new people will join the court. You’ll be able to relax, and there will be a lot of talent in the court. You can then sleep early."
Su Rong only hummed in response.
The Nanchu King turned to look at Zhou Gu.
Zhou Gu kept his eyes on his nose, his nose on his heart, not making eye contact with the Nanchu King.
The Nanchu King saw Zhou Gu in high spirits, thinking he would admonish Zhou Gu privately after leaving court and ask him to make sure Su Rong gets an early sleep and not stay up too late.
The court meeting today has been extended due to discussing several important matters.
After the morning session, Su Rong left for the Council Hall flanked by several court officials, yawning along the way. The officials, led by Ye Xiang, were concerned about Su Rong, "Please take care of yourself, Princess."
Su Rong nodded with a jumble of replies, "Yeah, yeah, don’t worry, Ye Xiang."
As Zhou Gu was about to leave, he was stopped by the Nanchu King’s men. The Nanchu King called Zhou Gu aside to speak privately, "Zhou Gu, you need to keep an eye on Xiaoqi. Don’t let her stay up too late. After reading the family letters, she wrote another one? Whose family letter? Or did she go through the cases or memorial again?"
Zhou Gu could only reply, "It’s a letter from my grandmother and my grandfather. They’ve set off and will arrive in Nanchu in about two or three months."
The Nanchu King’s eyes lit up, "Your grandfather? The old Duke is coming too?"
"Yes, my grandfather, my grandmother, my mother, my nephew, and Su’s Aunt." Zhou Gu rattled off the names, "They’re all coming. My grandpa has retired."
"Oh, that’s really great." The Nanchu King understood, "No wonder she stayed up so late, probably due to the excitement."
Zhou Gu nodded reluctantly, "Yes."
It had been a while since he had indulged himself in such mischief. Now it has reflected on Su Rong, making her look tired, weary, and sleep-deprived. He indeed feels guilty.
At the same time, he felt helpless, acting as a prince and a princess was not an easy task. Every action under the royal spotlight mattered. It seems he has to be more mindful in the future. He couldn’t mess around with her like he did yesterday, causing her to oversleep.
Seeing a normally energetic person reduced to such a state, clearly overworked and lacking sleep, was simply unacceptable.
Luckily, nobody knew, otherwise both he and Su Rong would be embarrassed.
He still was concerned with saving face.
"Take care of yourself too, son-in-law." The Nanchu King advised, "Now that Chu Duan has entered the Ministry of Housing, you can delegate some work to him. After the examination, there will be more people in your office and you won’t be overloaded."
Zhou Gu, feeling ashamed, responded, "Thank you, Father-in-law, I’ll take care."
The Nanchu King waved him off and let Zhou Gu leave.
Today, the court officials knew that the princess was tired and did not bother her with trivial matters. After resolving several major issues, they tactfully advised the princess to take care of her health, return to rest, and promptly withdrew.
Su Rong nodded in agreement and went to rest immediately.
In the evening, Zhou Gu returned to the Royal Palace from the Ministry of Housing. He met Nanchu King for dinner promptly. Not seeing Su Rong, he asked, "Father-in-law, where’s Xiaoqi? Is she still in the Council Hall?"
"No, she only went for half a day, then went home to compensate her sleep." The Nanchu King was very satisfied, "She should be doing just that. A young girl shouldn’t be ruining her health by working too hard. It’s a long life ahead, and it won’t fix itself."
Zhou Gu felt guilty for not realizing Su Rong’s persistence, "Is that so?"
The Nanchu King said, "She sent a message saying she was too lazy to come for dinner, saying we should eat."
Zhou Gu nodded.
After dinner, Zhou Gu returned to Feng Hall.
Su Rong was still lying in bed. The room was pitch dark, with no lights on. Zhou Gu entered the room, lit the light, and looked at the person on the bed. Seeing she was awake but just wouldn’t get up, looking utterly lazy.
Zhou Gu walked to the bed, squatted down, and took her hand. He said softly, "I was wrong, I will be more careful next time."
He didn’t expect her to be so exhausted.
Su Rong pouted and hooked Zhou Gu’s neck, "You were right, I was negligent with my training. How can this work? Tomorrow morning, I’ll get up with you and practice swords."
Zhou Gu smiled, "Sleep half an hour early and wake up half an hour early every day."
"Yes." Su Rong hugged him, called out softly, "Zhou Gu."
"Yes," Zhou Gu’s heart felt as if it were melting.
Su Rong sat up holding his neck, "Today, I contacted Wanniang, and she also gave me something. You wait."
Zhou Gu: "..."
His face flushed, "Isn’t that a bit overboard? I already made up my mind not to bother you anymore."
"No." Su Rong hugged him, "We still need to have fun. If not, then let’s practice. I heard that there are ’Yin and Yang Harmony Techniques’ in the martial arts world. What if we..."
Zhou Gu immediately interrupted her, laughing out of embarrassment, "Don’t even think about it. Those are secret techniques, definitely not good ones."
Su Rong was silent for a moment.
Originally, she really wanted to ask her fourth aunt in private. Since it was not a good thing, she decided to let it be.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
