Chapter 85: Anger
Pei Yan saw that she was really asking for mercy and was not being pretentious, so he said "hmm" softly and mentioned something else that made her happy: "Speaking of reading, I have some free time recently, so I can continue to teach you."
Jiang Shuyi was silent for a moment, then suddenly cried out, rubbed her temples and lay back on the couch, squinting one eye and looking at him: "Your Majesty, my head hurts!"
Pei Yan looked at her, with a hint of doubt in his eyes: "Don't you want to study and practice calligraphy with me?"
Jiang Shuyi used to insist on studying with him in order to win his favor. Now that she doesn't have to compete for his favor anymore, she is naturally a little lazy.
Rather than learning calligraphy herself, she preferred to watch Pei Yan busy with government affairs and then cause trouble on the side.
But she saw that besides confusion, there seemed to be a bit of loss and sadness in Pei Yan's eyes. Even though she didn't know if she had seen it wrong, Jiang Shuyi still couldn't bear it.
"Well... it's not that I don't want to." She blinked and changed the subject: "It's just that if I want to learn this time, the method will be different from before. I don't know if Your Majesty will agree."
"What other methods are there to study?" Pei Yan smiled indulgently: "Tell me about it."
Jiang Shuyi immediately sat up and demanded confidently: "I will only study if your majesty holds me. If I am tired from practicing calligraphy, I will also ask your majesty to rub my wrists. If I learn well, your majesty will reward me, but if I don't learn well, your majesty must not say a word to me. I must be gentle from beginning to end, otherwise I will cry in front of your majesty!"
Pei Yan's smile deepened as he listened, and then he seemed helpless and sighed: "Why are you so delicate?"
Jiang Shuyi suddenly looked sad, and shook his sleeve and said, "Your Majesty, are you unwilling?"
Pei Yan couldn't bear to see her like this, so he agreed to everything: "Okay, learn whatever you want."
*
Pei Yan didn't want Jiang Shuyi to feel guilty towards Tong An. To be more precise, he didn't want Jiang Shuyi to focus on anyone other than him.
He politely declined Xitian's request for marriage. Tuoba Han seemed to have expected this and replied that he would not force it. This time, he would let his sister Tuoba Yu'er and the envoy for compensation of gold and silver come to the capital together, and asked His Majesty to meet them first.
Jiang Shuyi was furious when she heard this.
First there was Zheng Yuezhao, who was rumored to be extremely beautiful, and now here comes a foreign princess, all of whom want to enter the palace this time, and see Pei Yan!
She was so angry that she refused to eat.
Pei Yan liked to see her jealous, but didn't want to see her hurt herself.
Especially without meals.
He personally brought Jiang Shuyi's favorite cheese, sat beside the bed, and coaxed her softly, "Yesterday I was holding you and reading, and I taught you calligraphy. I treated you like this, and you're still worried?"
Jiang Shuyi held the quilt with her back to him, grasping the embroidery on it while muffledly saying, "Heroes have always loved beauties. Zheng Yuezhao is an unrivaled beauty. Since Tuoba Han is confident that His Majesty will like his sister after seeing her, the princess must not be that ugly. His Majesty loves me now because I have the best appearance among the sisters in the palace, but if someone better comes, will His Majesty not be tempted?"
Pei Yan said patiently: "If you think I am a person who is easily attracted by beauty, then you will be trembling with fear for the rest of your life. Even without these two people, your beauty will fade one day. By then, any young woman will be better looking than you. How will you deal with it? Will you become mad with jealousy or live in fear all day long?"
Jiang Shuyi was so angry that she almost died.
Pei Yan continued to coax her: "I love you and pamper you. Of course, it was because of your outstanding beauty at the beginning, but five or six years have passed, and my affection for you is no longer comparable to that of others. Isn't it the same for you? At the beginning, you fell in love with me because I was the crown prince and I was handsome. Now, if I fall into trouble and become a commoner or a prisoner, will you leave me?"
Jiang Shuyi came up again in one breath.
She turned around, looked at Pei Yan with grievance, then turned back to grab the quilt.
Pei Yan felt relieved, knowing that he had almost been appeased, and asked him for a way out.
He said gently, "Since I promised to love you alone, I will not go back on my word. Even if you don't do what you promised, I will only punish you. I will not retaliate in such a way that will make you heartbroken."
Jiang Shuyi snorted softly and turned over to look at him.
Pei Yan smiled at her: "Sit up and eat something. I am very worried."
Jiang Shuyi knew that Pei Yan was really worried, but she herself was not very reassured at the moment.
After all, these were things that had never happened in her previous life, and they inevitably made her feel uneasy.
She sat up, and when Pei Yan fed her a spoonful of cheese, she pursed her lips before opening her mouth to eat.
Pei Yan was afraid that she would not eat the next bite, so he said softly: "Do you remember that I promised to take you out of the palace for a tour?"
Jiang Shuyi was indeed a little more energetic and looked at him with bright eyes.
Pei Yan fed her another spoonful, and she ate it quickly, then replied: "Remember!"
"I have some free time these two days, so I can take you out."
Jiang Shuyi was immediately happy. She was about to say something, but the spoon was pressed against her lips again. She simply took it back and asked while eating in small bites: "Two days? Is it tomorrow or the day after tomorrow?"
Pei Yan looked at her gently: "I can take you out tomorrow."
Jiang Shuyi was so happy that her eyebrows curved.
*
Late spring and early summer is a good time when the weather is neither too cold nor too hot.
Pei Yan asked someone to prepare clothes for him to wear when he went out of the palace incognito. When he returned from court, Jiang Shuyi had already changed into them.
She wore a goose yellow shirt with a cross collar and narrow sleeves, and a green silk skirt that was popular in Beijing. She also wore a light gauze skirt. When she walked, she looked like smoke and mist. Jiang Shuyi danced around in a circle and asked him with a smile, "Does it look good?"
Pei Yan looked at her face again, which was so white that it seemed to be shining. He paused for a moment and said "hmm".
Jiang Shuyi excitedly urged him to change his clothes as well.
Cheng Shouzhong helped Pei Yan change into a tea-white round-necked brocade robe, tied a sachet embroidered with black bamboo around his waist, took off the imperial crown and replaced it with a hair crown embroidered with a silver crane.
Pei Yan's daily clothes in the palace were mostly light-colored. Apart from the different styles, there was no other difference. Jiang Shuyi felt a little disappointed, but did not show it. She still looked around him with a smile: "I thought Your Majesty would wear red or royal blue. I heard that men in the capital are very popular in wearing these two colors."
Pei Yan glanced at her and said, "Colors match people's temperaments. Youngsters from aristocratic families are restless and have nothing to do all day, so they wear colorful clothes to compete with each other for splendor."
Jiang Shuyi thought about it and it made sense. From this perspective, the gentle, calm, indifferent and peaceful tea white color was more suitable for Pei Yan.
And it gets better and better the more you look at it.
While Cheng Shouzhong and the others were not paying attention, she stood on tiptoe, quickly kissed Pei Yan, and then shyly buried her head in his arms.
After Pei Yan reacted, he lowered his head and saw only the red tips of Jiang Shuyi's ears.
For a moment, he didn't know whether Jiang Shuyi still wanted to go out of the palace for fun today.
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