Chapter 48
Luo Yan tried to push away his messy hands, but she lost control of her strength and ended up having his cold, white wrist pressed down on her, holding her firmly in place.
Zhu Yun's eyes shone even brighter, and her eyebrows were slightly raised, as if to say: Yan Yan, you are so enthusiastic.
Her ears turned bright red instantly, and the skin beneath her loose clothes flushed pink. Her limbs also seemed to have left her body, stiff as a marionette.
Little did they know, Zhu Yun felt the exact opposite.
He suspected he was holding a ball of cotton, or a fluffy pastry, so soft it was pitiful, stirring up the most wicked destructive urges deep within him. He wanted to knead it into various shapes, watching it slip through his fingers like quicksand.
And he did indeed do as he wished.
"Ah Yun." Luo Yan called out helplessly, her long eyelashes wet with tears, trembling slightly in his arms, it was hard to tell whether she was more embarrassed or happy.
Zhu Yun heard a clear swallowing sound, and after a moment of stunned silence, he realized it came from himself. He suddenly tightened his grip and lowered his head to kiss her lips.
Hearing Luo Yan compare their relationship to that of a prostitute and her patron, Zhu Yun was furious.
"Do you think I'm the kind of womanizer? I've never been with any woman other than you, so why do you think so badly of me?"
"Hmph, you just called me a whore, and I'm just admitting it. If I'm a whore, then what are you? A client of prostitutes, aren't you?"
Zhu Yun was speechless after being shut down by Luo Yan's few words, and stormed out in anger.
Seeing the prince emerge in a rage, Jinzhan wondered if it could have happened so quickly...
She found it really strange that the two of them didn't end up together this time.
Luo Yan had finally calmed down for a few days, but the prince was already looking for trouble with her. If she started making a scene again, Jinzhan would have a headache.
Thinking of this, she went forward and tried to persuade him.
"Your Highness, Miss Luo Yan has been much quieter lately. Please be forgiving. Men should marry when they are of age and women should marry when they are of age. Find her another husband and let her get married."
"Get out of here."
Zhu Yun gave her a cold look, and Jin Zhan felt a chill run down her spine. She couldn't move at all and knew something was wrong. She knew she shouldn't get involved in the affairs of these two madmen.
"Your Highness... Jinzhan has misspoke..."
As she performed an exaggerated kneeling gesture, she shrank back and secretly glanced at the prince. Sure enough, the prince wasn't looking at her, so she sneaked away.
Jinzhan had a bad feeling. Maybe the prince loved Luo Yan's dramatic and suicidal tendencies. Otherwise, what would he gain from spending six years with her?
If he were to marry another woman, she might be even more insane than Luo Yan.
Since that's the case, it's better to continue serving Luo Yan; at least she only hits the prince, not the servants.
The mental torment was already unbearable enough; if physical torment were added on top of that, Jinzhan would not survive.
She became a servant simply for a few coins a month. There's no reason in this world to find happiness in being a servant. A beast of burden won't be grateful if the whip is lashed less.
Jinzhan was equally annoyed with every master. Whether the prince and Luo Yan were happy or not was not her concern; she only cared about her own well-being. Rather than feeling sorry for her masters who lived in luxury, she would rather feel sorry for herself, who toiled like a beast of burden.
Although she didn't know what kind of person Yang Ruoyun was, her intuition told her that she had no chance.
Although the Prince's mansion has many troubles, the monthly allowance is quite substantial. She doesn't want to be Luo Yan's dowry maid, as the Marquis of Yun's monthly allowance will definitely be halved.
If she stayed in the Prince's mansion, and the Prince brought back another wife who was even more troublesome than Luo Yan, Jinzhan would have a huge headache.
Full of complaints, Jinzhan changed her mind and decided to arrange a marriage between Luo Yan and the prince.
Having followed Luo Yan for many years, her level of madness was at least within Jinzhan's acceptable range. Every time Luo Yan went mad, the prince would give her a monthly allowance, so it seemed like a good job.
With this thought in mind, she entered Luo Yan's room. Luo Yan was still embroidering the mandarin duck sachet, which was stained with blood.
Her skills were really not good; the threads were all knotted together.
"Miss, let me deliver this sachet to the prince for you."
She just shook her head.
"I make sachets just to practice, not to give them away."
The prince wouldn't care about her pregnancy. Even if he knew, he would probably just arrange a marriage for her and send her away quickly. She didn't have the face to marry Qin Sizhao while pregnant with Zhu Yun's child, and there was no need for others to know about it.
"Hey, if you ask me, if you take the initiative more, maybe the prince will change his mind and be willing to marry you."
Luo Yan pricked her hand and smiled bitterly.
"Sister Jinzhan, please stop joking with me. If he were willing to marry me, he would have done so long ago. Why have he delayed until now? I just want to live one day at a time and enjoy peace and quiet."
Jinzhan usually pretends to be deaf and dumb and rarely says such things, so Luo Yan finds it strange.
These past few days, the prince has been staying at the palace as usual, but he seems to be deliberately ignoring Luo Yan. When the two happen to meet, they pretend not to know each other.
Jinzhan couldn't convince Luo Yan. She felt that Luo Yan might have already lost all hope in the prince, and the only way to bring the two together seemed to be to start with the prince.
She then eagerly went over to pour tea for the prince, saying,
"Your Highness, there's something I'm not sure if I should say..."
Zhu Yun nodded.
"Speak."
"In my opinion, Miss Luo Yan has recently tempered her temper and become much more virtuous and gentle... She is not unsuitable as a wife. After all, we have known each other for many years and know each other well. A husband and wife should be together day and night, and we cannot only look at family background. Rather than marrying a girl whose temperament we do not know, it is better to marry Miss Luo Yan."
Jinzhan had been a little distracted and accidentally blurted out her innermost thoughts. She nervously swallowed, realizing that she had been too blunt, and regretted it so much that she kept slapping herself.
“Jinzhan deserves to die. She shouldn’t have spoken so presumptuously about the prince’s marriage. Please forgive her, Your Highness.”
Zhu Yun smiled sarcastically; he hadn't expected Luo Yan to send Jinzhan to deliver a message.
Jinzhan usually avoids their affairs at all costs. I really don't know how many benefits Luo Yan promised Jinzhan before she was willing to risk offending him to say such things.
Luo Yan seems to be really unable to hold back any longer.
But she should have told him directly to his face. How could she propose to him through a servant? Was she waiting for him to be impatient and beg her to marry her?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel even angrier.
Luo Yan has absolutely no respect for him. He must not give in to her wishes and bow down to her.
She should be the one who's anxious and insecure.
He deliberately said in a cold tone,
"Don't bring this up in front of me again. We are just sworn siblings, nothing more."
After going outside, Jinzhan slapped herself twice.
"Pah, pah, pah! Why are you talking so much? It's all unnecessary!"
She was furious. She should have just continued to pretend to be deaf and dumb and lie through her teeth; she had only made a fool of herself.
She rolled her eyes at the prince's door and spat, "You'll regret this!"
Thinking of how the prince would regret it later, Jinzhan couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction. These troublesome masters deserved some calamity to teach them a lesson, so that God would be fair.
Zhu Yun deliberately wanted to leave Luo Yan hanging, so he left the palace again.
He remembered the debt he owed Luo Yan for making him feel insecure before, and now he had to pay it back.
Since she pretended to have a servant deliver that marriage proposal to him, and he didn't respond and just left, she must have been very anxious and uneasy.
Thinking of her anxious and uneasy appearance, Zhu Yun felt a surge of vengeful pleasure.
He recalled how the late emperor had painstakingly appointed his own son as crown prince. He had intended to get rid of Zhu Yun, this bastard, as well, but his body didn't live to see that day and he died.
The current emperor not only inherited the leg defect of the previous emperor, but is also mentally challenged, and the entire deformed and short-lived royal family has long been sidelined.
In the imperial court, the prime minister and the general have long held power, and Zhu Yun, being young, would find it difficult to share power.
He didn't even need to lift a finger; that deformed, mentally challenged emperor wouldn't live much longer. The palace maids around him were too impatient to serve him and would secretly torment him to death.
Everyone knows he will inherit the throne; his only concern now is preventing others from using his lineage to their advantage.
To be honest, while the probability of the general using his bloodline to usurp the throne is not high, it is not impossible, and he still feels uneasy.
Yang Ruoyun was his daughter born late in life, and everyone knew that the general cherished his daughter dearly. If his daughter married him, it would be equivalent to him holding her hostage. His desire to marry Yang Ruoyun was also based on practical considerations.
However, from the first time he met Luo Yanyun, he knew that this girl could sharply break through his rational defenses and turn him into a monster who only knew how to demand love and was never satisfied.
This is actually wrong. Although there are no real obstacles to them being together, it is not good for either of them.
If he were to be rational, he should leave Luo Yan, but he also wanted to test just how far she could tolerate him.
Luo Yan is like a poisonous vine, born to find someone to cling to. She will strangle the tree she clings to to death.
Even if she were to beg him in a truly humble manner, he shouldn't agree to it. He felt he would become the weakling strangled by love.
But emotionally, he also felt that dying like this was a kind of happiness.
Zhu Yun deliberately avoided Luo Yan and did not return to the palace. Only by leaving her could he maintain his rationality for a short time.
With the prince, the master of the house, absent, the entire palace inevitably became somewhat lax, with some slacking off and others taking it easy.
Luo Yan would never help him manage the household. Not only would she not gain any benefits, but she would also offend people. Besides, what did it matter to her whether the Prince's mansion was good or not? It wasn't her property.
She washed off the excess powder from her face, removed all makeup, and put on a prudent and appropriate lake-blue dress. To avoid appearing extravagant, she also refrained from wearing jewelry.
Luo Yan no longer has any trace of Zhu Yun in her heart. She knows that her pregnancy will be exposed sooner or later, and when Zhu Yun dies, that's the end of it.
She is now only thinking about how to rest in peace after death, and has no mind to think about the person who always torments her.
She didn't want to appear like a promiscuous vixen; she only wanted to leave Qin Sizhao with a good impression before she died, hoping to be remembered as pure.
Although her parents may have had their bad points, she has forgotten them all.
After all, people can alter their memories, keeping only the good parts and filtering out the bad ones.
She didn't want much; as long as there was someone in this world who could see her as a gentle and pure woman, that would be enough to comfort Luo Yan's heart.
She had carelessly thrown away her previous purse when it got dirty, so she embroidered a new one. After hesitating for a few moments, she put the new purse into her sleeve and went to Qin Sizhao's residence.
She entered his residence, and someone came to pour her tea. She thought it was a servant and casually shoved her veil into his hand, but instead met Qin Sizhao's smiling eyes.
"Young Master Qin... why did you personally come to pour me tea..."
Luo Yan's face turned red for no apparent reason.
She tried to smooth things over by kissing his earlobe in a flattering way: "So, do you want to take me out to play?"
"No."
"What do you mean?" Luo Yan couldn't believe he was so heartless.
Unexpectedly, Zhu Yun didn't answer but asked instead, "This is the new house I carefully selected. Don't you like it?"
“I like it.” She rephrased it, “You always have to go out of the valley on business, so please take me with you. I don’t want to be separated from you.”
He said calmly, "I'll be back soon."
Luo Yan's upturned lips gradually straightened, her expression one of disbelief: "You...are you planning to put me under house arrest?"
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