Chapter 345 Life in Danger
"This morning I took Zhuozhuo to the Marquis of Yongyi's residence. Xiaorou told me that Princess Pingyuan has chosen the son of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel as a son-in-law for Mu Yuanzhen. Are you aware of this?"
In the quiet room, Sheng An covered her daughter's tummy, who was sleeping like a little pig, and walked over to Xu Jinnian, who had just finished taking a bath, and took two dry towels to help him dry his wet hair.
Feeling his wife's gentle movements, Xu Jinnian relaxed completely, closed his eyes slightly, and leaned back in his chair. "Yes, I heard about it yesterday, but it's not a big deal, so I didn't mention it to you."
Seeing that the man knew but didn't care, Sheng An breathed a sigh of relief, then said with a somewhat complicated expression:
"I thought she loved Mu Yuanzhen so much that she couldn't bear to discipline her and spoiled her so much that she became unruly. But it turns out that when it comes to personal interests, even blood ties are nothing more than this."
"It's nothing but a death throes; it wouldn't be surprising if it did something bizarre."
Xu Jinnian's expression was calm, but his words contained a great deal of information.
Sheng An paused in drying her hair, leaned on the man's shoulder, and whispered, "Has good news come from Pingyuan County?"
Xu Jinnian simply hummed in agreement, without revealing what the good news was.
Sheng An wasn't that curious. Seeing that he didn't say anything more, she understood and kept quiet, focusing on drying his hair.
Xu Jinnian's hair was long and thick, and it took several dry towels to barely stop it from dripping wet.
Sheng An gently combed his hair from scalp to ends with his fingertips, and said with a smile, "Your hair is growing really well. I don't have to worry about you going bald in another 10 or 20 years."
Xu Jinnian was both amused and exasperated. He held her hand and teased her, "What if your husband is too busy with official duties and exhausts himself, and his hair stops growing in three to five years? Would An'an still complain?"
Sheng An wrapped her arms around the man's neck, rested her head on his shoulder, and said without the slightest hesitation:
"Of course I'd dislike it! No woman wants to share a bed with a bald man! So no matter how busy you are with work, you need to balance work and rest. Otherwise, if you really go bald, don't blame me for using your head as a nightlight!"
At this point, Sheng An couldn't help but laugh.
Xu Jinnian had no choice but to turn his head and reach out to cup his wife's cheek, kissing her bright smile: "My wife has given her command, and I will obey without fail, so that I will not let my head become a night light."
The couple played around for a while before lying down head to head on the bed.
Zhuozhuo slept in her own little bed, an arm's length away from her parents.
Fortunately, she sleeps relatively well at night and doesn't kick off her special little blanket, otherwise she would catch a cold on long autumn nights.
Xu Jinnian glanced at her from a distance, then hugged the drowsy person in his arms tighter: "Zhuozhuo is all grown up now. Clean up a room in the east wing and let Hongliu take her to sleep there from now on."
Sheng An was very sleepy and reacted a beat slower. After understanding what the man meant, she refused in a muffled voice: "No, our daughter is only a year old. We can't have her sleep in a separate bed until next year."
Seeing his wife's resolute attitude, Xu Jinnian sighed silently and could only go along with her wishes: "Then let's do it next year."
The little guy, fast asleep and oblivious to the world around him, had no idea that his own father disliked him and that he was almost deprived of the right to sleep in the same room as his mother at such a young age.
Princess's residence is very efficient. As soon as the gossip spread, three days later, Mu Yuanzhen was formally engaged to the illegitimate son of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and the auspicious day for the wedding was set for the tenth day of the next month.
The marriage was arranged so hastily, yet few people in the capital discussed it.
Emperor Jinghe went through the motions of giving Mu Yuanzhen many rewards.
In the past, Mu Yuanzhen would have happily accepted the gifts, then picked and chose, keeping only a few of his favorites, and taking the rest to the princess's mansion's main storeroom.
Now she was a cripple, unable to speak or walk. After the eunuch finished reading the long list of rewards, she was filled with unspeakable bitterness and irritability, wishing she could whip all the rewards to pieces.
However, there was nothing Mu Yuanzhen could do.
Now she's like a pig or dog waiting to be bred, just waiting for her big day next month to be pinned down by a man she's never even looked at, and to give birth to a child she never wanted.
Perhaps, before the child is even born, she will die because her frail body cannot endure the pain of pregnancy.
Mu Yuanzhen went on a hunger strike again, and her maids had to force her mouth open and force-feed her liquid food every day to keep her from starving to death.
Her body grew thinner day by day, becoming even weaker than when she was first poisoned.
After Princess Pingyuan learned of this, she came to see Mu Yuanzhen once, and then continued to order people to give her tonics three times a day until she was willing to open her mouth to eat.
In the end, Mu Yuanzhen could not endure the pain of being forced to take medicine every day and began to eat normally. However, the last glimmer of light in her eyes had disappeared, and she was like a puppet without a soul.
Few outsiders knew about Mu Yuanzhen's current situation, but Xu Jinnian was fully aware of it and was very satisfied with the outcome.
Neither Mu Yuanzhen nor Princess Pingyuan will ever know that all of this was his scheme.
Soon the grand wedding day arrived at the Princess's residence, and many families in the capital received invitations from the Princess's household.
Regardless of what everyone thinks, as long as the Princess's residence remains standing, they will have no choice but to make the trip.
The wedding was extremely grand, and its extravagance was no less than that of the weddings of several adult princes.
Sheng An did not receive an invitation, so he naturally had no chance to witness this grand occasion. He only heard Tan Qingrou describe it in a few words.
"Princess Pingyuan was very generous, giving the family of the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel 120 loads of betrothal gifts. Mu Yuanzhen was unable to personally escort the bride; the groom was sent to the princess's residence with gongs and drums."
During the wedding ceremony, Mu Yuanzhen did not appear; the groom performed the ceremony alone. Overwhelmed with emotion, the groom cried in front of the guests.
Tan Qingrou's face showed a hint of sympathy as she said this: "The groom was also unlucky. He was not favored at home, and his family couldn't bear to give up the opportunity to climb up to the princess's mansion, so they pushed him out."
Tan Qingrou is pregnant and did not attend the wedding banquet at the Princess's residence yesterday. She learned all this from the Lady of the Marquis.
"Anyone would burst into tears in this situation."
Sheng An asked Hong Liu to take Zhuo Zhuo to play in the yard, while he leaned close to Tan Qing Rou and whispered something to her:
"Anyway, Mu Yuanzhen is already like that, it's impossible to force him. If he's a grown man and doesn't want to, he can simply refuse to have sex with Mu Yuanzhen. Perhaps he'll have a chance to escape the princess's residence in the future."
Tan Qingrou shook her head: "You think too highly of Princess Pingyuan. If the groom dares not to consummate the marriage with Mu Yuanzhen, she has plenty of ways to make them get together."
At that point, administering drugs would be considered polite.
“That’s true. We’ve brought him to the princess’s residence in a perfectly legitimate way; we can’t just leave him as a decoration.”
Sheng An couldn't help but shed a tear of sympathy for the groom. If he were a smart man, he would have simply hardened his heart and sterilized himself. Otherwise, if Mu Yuanzhen really gave birth to the child, and the princess's mansion was later purged, he would probably be in danger of losing his life.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com