The Crown Princess prepared the Lotus Sutra for her, which contains more than 69,000 characters. If she were to copy it on her knees, her knees and hands would be ruined.
Yan Chaoxi did not intend to torture herself like that.
...
In the small house in the front yard.
Ji Suizhou occupied the only chair in the room, opened the roast chicken he had brought, and the aroma of roasted meat wafted out.
Seeing Yan Wu writing something on the desk with a pen, Ji Suizhou clicked his tongue and said, "What are you doing with that long face and head down writing all day? Hasn't Princess Dongqi come to see you these past few days? Does she not want you anymore?"
"If you have nothing better to do, go and help me check the accounts."
"Then forget it," Ji Suizhou refused.
Yan Wu owns many private businesses, and he cannot leave the Crown Prince's residence at any time. Yan Chaoxi is often looked after by Ji Suizhou.
Ji Suizhou calmed down for a while, but couldn't help but ask again, "But what are you really thinking? You like her, but she doesn't like you, so you're giving her a sour look?"
Yan Wu paused for a moment, then said simply, "I don't like it."
“Oh…” Ji Suizhou nodded knowingly and sighed, “That’s true, it was never going to be possible between you two anyway, she’s already married to the Crown Prince. It’s just a pity for the princess, she came to Daliang, and her life in the Crown Prince’s residence is not as good as in the Eastern Qi Imperial Palace.”
After saying that, he secretly glanced at Yan Wu and, sure enough, told him to put down his pen, clearly having taken his words to heart.
"I came in through the side door just now, and when I passed through the backyard, I saw the princess being punished by kneeling in the Crown Princess's courtyard copying something."
"It was just a lucky coincidence that we ran into each other. If we hadn't, I don't know how terrible things would have been. Why am I even telling you this? You don't even care..."
Before he could finish speaking, Yan Wu jumped up from the table. "Why didn't you say so sooner?!"
He took a set of clothes, the same style as the prince's, from the cabinet behind him, changed into them, and left in a hurry.
Ji Suizhou scoffed, "Why run so fast if you don't like it?"
...
Yan Chaoxi felt that the time was almost up, so she asked the system to remove the knee pads from her knees. Just as she was about to pretend to faint from exhaustion, she heard footsteps coming from the courtyard gate.
A figure in indigo strode up to her side.
Bichun exclaimed in delight, "Your Highness!"
System: "It's Yan Wu!"
Yan Chaoxi was somewhat surprised to hear this. She only wanted Yan Wu to know afterward, but she didn't expect him to find out so quickly and come over disguised as the Crown Prince.
She didn't look up, but instead stood up, supporting herself on the table. Staring at the hem of his indigo-blue robe, she curtsied and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."
Her legs, numb from kneeling for so long, trembled slightly when she bent her knees. Before Yan Wu could even speak, Yan Chaoxi collapsed to the side, unable to support herself any longer.
Yan Wu quickly caught her and scooped her up in his arms. "Why did the Crown Princess punish you?"
Judging by his voice alone, he was no different from the Crown Prince.
Yan Chaoxi pushed him away with some resistance, but dared not be too obvious, and said with lowered eyes, "The Crown Princess asked me to copy Buddhist scriptures here to pray for everyone in the mansion."
"I only copied one thousand characters just now, and I'm afraid I won't be able to finish copying them today. Could the remaining sixty-eight thousand characters be completed over several days? Once I've finished copying them, I'll send them to the Crown Princess for inspection."
She didn't seem aggrieved; she just asked calmly, as if she was being bullied but didn't dare to fight back, or more accurately, as if no one would stand up for her.
Yan Wuxin was heartbroken, her chest heaving.
At this moment, the Crown Princess was also reminded by the palace servants that the Crown Prince had arrived, and she hurriedly came out. She guessed that Yan Chaoxi must have secretly sent someone to invite the Crown Prince to come and support her!
"Your Highness, what brings you here?" The Crown Princess saw the "Crown Prince" holding Yan Chaoxi as soon as she came out, and her heart ached. Noticing the Crown Prince's cold gaze, the Crown Princess realized he was angry and quickly explained.
“Your Highness, I have been unable to sleep lately. I heard that two of the concubines in the manor are also unwell. I asked the abbot of the temple, and he said that the problem lies with Consort Yan. I was worried that it would affect Your Highness, so I asked Consort Yan to copy Buddhist scriptures here to pray for Your Highness.”
She brought up the temple's explanation again, thinking that the Crown Prince would be on her side. In the past, she had punished those favored concubines and ladies-in-waiting for various reasons, and the Crown Prince had always tacitly agreed.
Unexpectedly, the Crown Prince said, "I don't need Consort Yan to copy Buddhist scriptures for blessings. It would be more sincere for you to do this task yourself. You can copy the rest and send them to Consort Yan when you're done."
"Your Highness?"
The Crown Princess stared in shock, unable to believe that the Crown Prince had said such a thing. She, the principal wife, was copying Buddhist scriptures and showing them to a concubine? Wasn't this going against the natural order, favoring the concubine over the wife?!
Has the Crown Prince been cursed?
"I know whether your purpose today is to sincerely pray for blessings or to deliberately torment the concubine under the pretext of praying for blessings. There is no need to mention this matter again."
Yan Wu turned and left with Yan Chaoxi in his arms, leaving the Crown Princess stunned and incredulous.
"Your Highness, how could he be so biased towards Yan Chaoxi? He doesn't even care about my dignity!" The Crown Princess cried out in anger. "He not only protects that little vixen, but he also punishes me!"
The nanny quickly comforted her, "Your Highness, please don't cry. You were too hasty this time. Consort Yan has had a rash on her face for the past few days and hasn't been able to serve the Crown Prince. He only had his pleasure on their wedding night, so of course he's treasuring her now!"
"In my opinion, Madam Wei's suggestion that day was good. The Crown Prince values his future prospects, and he is willing to sacrifice a woman in order to win over General Fan."
Although the Crown Prince is currently the heir apparent, his brothers are not to be underestimated; they are all eyeing his position and trying to find fault with him to bring him down. The Crown Princess has heard that Fan Yuanxin intends to side with the Fifth Prince, so the Crown Prince is naturally eager to win him over.
"Then let her have two more good days!"
In Qingfeng Garden, Yan Wu carried her back to the house, placed her on the bed, and then held her legs, lifted her skirt, and pushed up her silk trousers to reveal a pair of slender and shapely calves and a pair of reddened knees.
Yan Chaoxi's skin is fair and thin. She had been kneeling with knee pads on, and hadn't actually been touching the ground for more than fifteen minutes. Even so, both of her knees were still red, and looked quite serious.
Yan Chaoxi awkwardly pulled her leg back a little and said in a low voice, "Thank you, Your Highness, for helping me out of that situation."
"Your leg is badly injured. Do you have any medicine here?"
"Yes, there is a small box in the drawer of the dressing table."
Yan Wu got up to find it, unscrewed the cap, and intended to apply it to her. Yan Chaoxi, however, pulled down her skirt to cover it, saying, "I can do it myself in a moment, there's no need for Your Highness to trouble yourself."
Yan Wu was speechless. Seeing that she didn't seem to recognize him, he felt both disappointed and relieved.
He put down the medicine and said, "Then have a palace maid apply it to you. I'm leaving."
"Respectfully seeing off Your Highness."
When Yan Chaoxi looked up again, she was the only one left in the room. In a good mood, she unscrewed the cap, dipped her delicate fingertips in the ointment, applied it to the reddened area, and gently spread it.
"Waaaaah, host, you were looking down just now, you didn't see Yan Wu's broken eyes at all!" the system wailed.
"Don't rush him. He won't realize how wrong his previous ideas were until we push him hard enough."
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