Chapter 32
She stood up and pinched her knees. Her legs were stiff from sitting for a long time, and her knees still hurt as before. The extremely uncomfortable feeling made her frown.
"Can you have someone take her away and clean her up first?" Why does she always have the ability to make herself so dirty!
"Bai Die, take Xiao Yue'er to take a bath, and also tell the kitchen to prepare dinner."
"yes."
"Wait a moment." Gong Yuchen spoke to stop Bai Die who was about to leave.
"What's the matter, Your Highness?"
Gong Yuchen walked up to Yi Luoyue and reached out to remove several hairpins and pearl flowers from her bun, leaving only an exquisite emerald jade hairpin on her bun.
He handed the hairpin in one hand to Bai Die, and took off the gold and jade necklace from her neck and handed them to Bai Die.
The liberated Yi Luoyue twisted his stiff neck and found it was still comfortable. But what did he want to do?
"What are you doing?"
"If you obviously don't like it, why make it difficult for yourself?"
"Oh! Daddy, you guys continue. We'll go first." They pulled Bai Die, who was holding the jewelry, and walked out. At this moment, Bai Die also saw something was going on, so she led Xiao Yue'er and the others away first, and also dismissed the maids outside.
"You all go down too."
"yes."
Everyone in the room except Gong Yuchen and Yi Luoyue left.
He knows?
"Let's go, I'll take you back to your room." After saying that, he held her up again with both hands, being extremely careful to avoid touching her wound.
"Ah!" She quickly stretched out her arms and hugged his neck tightly, afraid of falling off... Uh... How much did he like holding her? But she also quite liked this feeling of being in the clouds.
Walking into the backyard and through the courtyard, you will see the colorful autumn chrysanthemums in full bloom on both sides of the path, and then you will walk towards the most exquisite Moon Pavilion in Dangui Garden deep in the courtyard.
"Gong Yuchen, your relationship with Gong Yuxian is not very good?" She put her head on his shoulder and chatted with him casually.
"How can you tell me how to have a good relationship with someone who schemes against you all the time?"
"So he's the reason you came to Yidu as a hostage?"
"He doesn't deserve it yet."
"I've never understood why you've come here as a hostage. The friendship between my father and yours shouldn't require this. Besides, how did you act like a hostage in Yidu? I've noticed you weren't very polite to my eldest brother, and you had quite a bad temper."
"Do you think my father made me the crown prince just to keep me as a hostage?"
"That's not the case. I know you're your father's only son now, and the throne is yours. Being a hostage has nothing to do with it." She pressed her neck against his. He had a strange scent, like fallen leaves on a sunny autumn day. She hadn't known a man could smell so good. She felt so sleepy that she yawned unconsciously.
"Are you sleepy?" His tone became gentle for once.
"Maybe it's because I had a fever last night. There are still so many troubles today, so I feel a little tired." She yawned again and spoke in a coquettish and aggrieved manner.
"Who are you bothering about? Li Fei? Gong Yuxian?" There was a sour taste in his tone.
"They are quite annoying, but not as annoying as you." Yi Luoyue's eyes were blurry and her head was dizzy.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Gong Yuchen." She bit her lip lightly, rarely noticing that her mind was a little confused. She really wanted to ask what the relationship between him and Gong Mingxue was, but what right did she have to ask?
"What?"
"Hmm... nothing, you smell so nice." The hands around his neck tightened involuntarily, and she leaned close to his arms, falling asleep while talking.
He gently rubbed his cheek against her nose teasingly.
"Go to sleep, I won't fall on you," he chuckled.
Returning to Yue Pavilion, he laid her on the bed, took off her shoes and socks, removed her hairpin, and let her long black hair scatter on the bed. He quietly looked at her sleeping face, and his fingertips lightly traced the line of her lips, his movements gentle, for fear of waking her up.
An hour later.
Looking at the frowning Xiaoyue'er, Gong Yuchen couldn't help laughing. She could read and write, but how could her handwriting be so ugly?
"Damn daddy, stop looking!" Xiaoyue felt embarrassed by his laughter and covered the words with her hands to stop him from looking.
"Since you're studying, why don't you practice calligraphy?"
"Practicing calligraphy is so troublesome. I recognize it, but it doesn't recognize me."
"If you practice for half an hour every day, you will be able to get better in a few days." He advised her earnestly.
"Daddy, I'm a girl and I'm not going to take the imperial examination, so why should I write so beautifully? Besides, if I could write beautifully, why would I need a teacher?"
"Oh, after all this talk, it turns out you were just being lazy." Yi Luoyue laughed as he walked out of the dormitory.
"Auntie, you're awake!" Xiaoyue, who had just been practicing calligraphy under Gong Yuchen's supervision, immediately abandoned the four treasures of the study and her strict father and ran to Yi Luoyue when she saw her wake up.
"Sorry, I fell asleep. You haven't had your meal yet, right?" Yi Luoyue looked at the father and daughter with apology. She invited them to dinner but ended up falling asleep.
"No, we're waiting for my aunt."
"Bai Die?"
"Princess?" Bai Die walked in from outside.
"Send dinner and place it in the outer room."
"yes,"
In a short while, seven or eight dishes of delicious food were placed on the table.
The three of them ate and chatted.
"Auntie, Daddy knocked a bigger hole in the wall." The little guy couldn't even close his mouth while eating and kept chattering.
"It's a big hole, the kind he can walk around in!"
"Little girl, are you complaining?" Gong Yuchen continued to fill her bowl with food.
"No, I just wanted to let Auntie know that the hole Daddy made is much bigger than the one I made."
Ever since this little devil joined Yi Luoyue, he has learned how to bully others by taking advantage of his power.
"You were the one who broke it first. Someone was installing a door, so Daddy broke it down, didn't he?" Gong Yuchen smiled silently. This was the feeling of a family he had always longed for, right? A husband, a wife, and a mischievous daughter.
"Gong Yuchen! What do you mean by someone?" Yi Luoyue protested.
"Daddy, you're hopeless." Xiaoyue gestured with chopsticks.
"You're just too naughty!" He lectured her angrily.
"Yes, it's this troublemaker!" she agreed with a smile.
"You don't love me anymore." She pouted and looked at them with resentment in her eyes.
"Love, love, love, I love you the most. Eat quickly." Yi Luoyue touched her head lovingly.
"I ordered the wall of that courtyard to be expanded and a gate to be installed later to facilitate travel."
"Ask for the door I drew." Xiaoyueer did not forget to remind them.
"Okay, I'll install the door you drew."
"I'm full." Xiaoyue patted her little belly which was as round as a ball after being fed by the two adults.
He took a handkerchief and wiped her mouth.
"Xiaoyue'er, go inside and play with Baishuang. Your aunt and your father have something to say."
"Okay, then, Auntie, can Xiaoyue practice the piano? I'll play it for you on Auntie's birthday, okay?"
"Okay, then let Baidie take you to the piano room to choose a piano. See which one you like."
"good."
"Goodbye, Daddy." The little guy quickly kissed him on the face and happily went outside to look for Bai Die.
After the maids cleared away the dishes and replaced the snacks, Yi Luoyue asked them to leave.
"What do you want to tell me?" It was rare that in such a relaxed environment, even his words were spoken softly.
"About today, my royal brother and Gong Yu presented them."
"Tell me about it?"
"Have you noticed that Gong Yuxian's appearance was most likely at the behest of my eldest brother?"
"It's not hard to find."
"Then do you know their purpose?" she asked tentatively.
"For you, for me."
"For you? For me?"
"Didn't you ask me before why I came to Yidu as a hostage?"
"Will you tell me?"
"Why not? It's not really a secret anyway."
His thoughts slowly returned to the past.
"My father had five sons, three of whom died before the age of five. Although I am the legitimate son, I actually have an older brother who is the crown prince. If he had not died unexpectedly after coming of age, it would never have been my turn as the crown prince."
"You brothers have a good relationship?" Yi Luoyue noticed sadness and regret in his tone when he mentioned his brother.
"Hmm." His gaze passed through time and space, becoming vague and empty.
"At that time, I had parents and an older brother who loved me. My brother educated and brought me up since I was a child, so we had a deep relationship. He taught me to read and write, and accompanied me in practicing martial arts, riding and shooting. The only thing I had to worry about every day was when my brother would go to my mother's palace to find me. He was probably the person I loved and respected the most in this world." As he spoke, he frowned.
"Until the day he came of age... According to our Western Yi customs, my brother was supposed to hunt a deer in the hunting grounds to celebrate his coming of age. But unexpectedly, he was attacked by a pack of wolves... Wolves shouldn't normally be found in hunting grounds."
Yi Luoyue listened quietly to this tearful story and held his hand tenderly.
He held her hand tightly, took a deep breath, and his frown finally relaxed.
"After my brother passed away, I became the crown prince. However, within a year of becoming crown prince, I suffered several accidents and poisonings, which made my father suspicious of my brothers' deaths. Although I had a suspect, I had no evidence to convict him. Moreover, that person's influence in the court was so complex that it would not be easily eliminated."
"Also, you asked me why I wasn't a hostage? It's because my aunt and my father are from the same mother, my uncle Gong Che is the Duke of Anguo of Yi State, and your mother and my mother were close friends. To protect me, the only heir of the Western Yi, they sent me to Yi Capital as a hostage. However, not many people knew the inside story, and it was because of your mother that your father took such good care of me."
"I see."
"So even though I'm a hostage, my treatment in Yidu is no different from that in Xiyi. I'm even safer than in Xiyi."
"Then who wants to kill you?" She looked puzzled.
"Gong Yuxian's father, my imperial uncle." A sarcastic smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"Because he was born out of wedlock, he was denied the throne, and he bore a grudge against me. The deaths of my brothers are all due to him."
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