sleep
Jiang Heng began to find the Marquis of Huai'an an eyesore, so he grabbed Shen Wenqiu's hand, looking as if he was unwilling to let go.
He then turned to look at the Marquis of Huai'an and said coldly, "I want to talk to Qiuqiu and her mother. If the Marquis of Huai'an has nothing else to do, please go ahead and attend to your business."
Marquis Huai'an wanted to stay, but Jiang Heng's words and expression made it all too clear that he found Jiang Heng an eyesore.
He hesitated for a moment before nodding with a forced smile and saying, "There are indeed some official matters to be completed in this study, so I cannot accompany Your Highness for the time being. I shall take my leave now."
Jiang Heng didn't even glance at the Marquis of Huai'an, but simply nodded and pulled Shen Wenqiu into the house.
Aunt Qin hesitated for a moment, then ignored Marquis Huai'an and followed him inside.
But Aunt Qin didn't stay long. She just smiled gently and said to Jiang Heng and Shen Wenqiu, "I'll ask the kitchen to make some dumplings for you."
Shen Wenqiu nodded, smiled at Aunt Qin, and replied, "Okay, thank you, Mother."
Jiang Heng also faced Aunt Qin with a harmless smile, just as obedient as he was in front of Shen Wenqiu, and said with a smile, "Thank you for your trouble, Aunt."
Aunt Qin smiled shyly, knowing they probably had something to say, so she didn't dare linger and turned to leave in a hurry.
Only Shen Wenqiu and Jiang Heng remained in the room. He didn't know what Jiang Heng was planning to do, but he watched him walk around the room, touching this and looking at that.
Shen Wenqiu followed for a while, and only when he saw Jiang Heng stop did he ask, "Your Highness, what's wrong?"
Jiang Heng examined the furnishings in the room, looking at them inch by inch, piecing together Shen Wenqiu's past from these inanimate objects.
What did Qiuqiu look like when she was a child? What did Qiuqiu look like when she was a teenager?
He was a little unhappy for a moment, unhappy that Shen Wenqiu hadn't included him in the past.
But it's okay, he'll be there for me in everything from now on.
As Jiang Heng pondered, he heard Shen Wenqiu speak. He turned to look at him and said with a smile, "I was just thinking about Qiuqiu's past."
His past?
Shen Wenqiu was taken aback; he hadn't expected Jiang Heng to care about this.
Besides, what can you possibly see in such a dilapidated house?
But that's fine too, let Jiang Heng guess.
Otherwise, if you ask Shen Wenqiu himself, he doesn't know what happened to the original owner when he was a child.
The novel only describes Shen Wenqiu in a few lines, and his childhood is only mentioned in passing when talking about the old story of the Marquis of Huai'an.
Shen Wenqiu chuckled lightly, not answering directly, but only saying, "My home is simple, Your Highness, please forgive my humble abode."
Jiang Heng shook her head, walked closer to Shen Wenqiu, took his hand, smiled sweetly, and said, "Qiuqiu, why think like that? The house I used to live in was just a bit bigger, but it was actually just as dilapidated."
Mentioning this matter, Shen Wenqiu couldn't help but feel even more sorry for Jiang Heng.
He had transmigrated midway through his journey, and to be honest, he didn't really have any real connection to the past. However, he glimpsed some traces of his former self in his family's circumstances and Aunt Qin's appearance.
But Jiang Heng is different. This Ninth Prince has lived here since he was a child and has experienced everything firsthand.
They shouldn't have had to suffer all of this.
Jiang Heng looked into Shen Wenqiu's eyes and saw a lot of heartache in them.
Realizing this, he was actually quite happy and even wanted Shen Wenqiu to treat him more tenderly.
In a daze, he suddenly realized that his feelings for Shen Wenqiu might go beyond that.
Shen Wenqiu had a lot to say, but if he said too much, he wouldn't be able to explain why Jiang Heng knew so much, so he just kept it to himself and found an excuse to ask Jiang Heng to sit down first.
"What I really wanted to do was, after I passed the imperial examination and became an official, use my meager salary to buy a small courtyard and bring my mother to live with me." Shen Wenqiu couldn't talk about the past, so he could only talk about the future.
“That’s good. If my mother were still alive, I would definitely want to bring her out of the palace.” Jiang Heng said with his eyes downcast, looking pitiful.
Looking at the pitiful Jiang Heng, Shen Wenqiu felt even more soft-hearted.
He boldly put his arm around Jiang Heng's shoulder and patted him gently.
Shen Wenqiu comforted her, "Her Majesty surely hopes that you will live a good life and have a peaceful and prosperous existence. If that is the case, she can rest in peace in the afterlife."
Jiang Heng looked deeply into Shen Wenqiu's eyes, his tongue pressed against his teeth, his smile deepening, and said, "Yes, I will definitely... live this life well."
After Jiang Heng finished speaking, Shen Wenqiu wondered if she should find another topic to talk about, instead of dwelling on these old stories, as talking about them too much would only cause her more sadness.
Before he could come up with a new topic, he saw Jiang Heng suddenly lean against him as if she were boneless and limp, slowly sliding down until she was lying on his lap.
Shen Wenqiu was slightly taken aback. He felt the warm body on his lap and found the touch quite strange. He couldn't help but ask, "Is Your Highness sleepy? Why don't you take a nap on the couch?"
Jiang Heng refused directly. He adjusted to a comfortable position, closed his eyes, and said, "No."
Since Jiang Heng, as the Ninth Prince, insisted, Shen Wenqiu couldn't say anything.
He looked down at Jiang Heng, who was sleeping soundly on his lap, and recalled the pitiful look on the other's face just now.
Fine, I'll just go to sleep.
Even in a place like the Marquis of Huai'an's residence, when it was just the two of them, they were able to ignore all the intricacies and close their eyes to rest for a while.
Thinking this, Shen Wenqiu looked at Jiang Heng, who was sleeping soundly on her lap, and gently placed her hand on his shoulder, patting him lightly.
Jiang Heng was not asleep.
But under Shen Wenqiu's gentle coaxing, she actually fell into a deep sleep.
Looking back, he realized it had been a long time since he had had such a peaceful and restful night's sleep.
When Aunt Qin returned with the dumplings, this was the scene she saw.
She gently placed the dumplings on the table, walked over to Shen Wenqiu's side, and hesitated, as if she wanted to say something.
Afraid of waking Jiang Heng, Shen Wenqiu didn't speak, but just shook her head.
However, Jiang Heng had been walking on thin ice for the past two lifetimes, and Aunt Qin was not a martial arts practitioner who knew how to walk silently, so she had already woken up when Jiang Heng entered the room.
He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. When the two were tense, he pretended to turn over and lean against Shen Wenqiu's chest, smelling the fragrance on his clothes. For a moment, he really felt a little drunk, and his heart was floating.
Shen Wenqiu and Aunt Qin stared anxiously at Jiang Heng, only breathing a sigh of relief when they saw that he was indeed still asleep. Then the mother and son exchanged a glance and were about to put Jiang Heng down.
To everyone's surprise, Jiang Heng, though seemingly asleep, possessed immense strength and clung tightly to Shen Wenqiu's clothes, refusing to let go.
Left with no other choice, Shen Wenqiu and Aunt Qin could only speak in hushed tones.
Aunt Qin whispered, "His Highness has fallen asleep. What should we do with the dumplings?"
Shen Wenqiu shook her head and lowered her voice, "Mother, you should eat first. I think His Highness is extremely tired and probably won't wake up for a while."
Aunt Qin nodded thoughtfully, glancing at Jiang Heng who was perched on Shen Wenqiu's lap, her expression slightly puzzled. "Does His Highness find our room too shabby? Why is he sleeping on your lap instead of on a bed?"
Upon hearing this, Shen Wenqiu also looked puzzled, but quickly shook her head and explained, "Mother didn't see it just now. His Highness was so tired that he fell asleep leaning on me. He probably didn't have the strength to get to bed."
Aunt Qin nodded thoughtfully and said, "Why don't we move His Highness to the bed? He's not comfortable sleeping like this."
Shen Wenqiu had considered this matter, but he looked down at Jiang Heng, who was taller than him, shook his head, and said, "Mother, you seem to have overestimated your son. Although His Highness does not look particularly strong, he is still quite large. I really can't move him."
Upon hearing this, Aunt Qin also abandoned the idea of moving Jiang Heng. She glanced at the sky outside and anxiously instructed, "But you must also remember to keep an eye on the time, lest it be too late and His Highness misses his return to the palace."
Shen Wenqiu nodded in agreement, "Mother, don't worry, I'll remember."
Having received these words while pretending to be asleep, Jiang Heng secretly came up with a plan.
If we pretend to have run into curfew, wouldn't we be able to take the opportunity to stay overnight in Qiuqiu's old room?
Thinking this way, Jiang Heng actually felt a sense of anticipation.
But then he thought again that he and Shen Wenqiu had not yet reached the point of sleeping in the same bed. If he stayed, Shen Wenqiu, as his subject, would have to sleep somewhere else. Wouldn't that be a waste of time and effort, without achieving his goal?
That won't do. There will be plenty of opportunities to sleep together. We'll figure something out another time.
Therefore, Jiang Heng did not stay at the Marquis of Huai'an's residence that night.
After estimating that the time was about right, he pretended to be asleep and climbed out of Shen Wenqiu's arms. He looked at the other person with anticipation, pulled the other person's hands, which were numb and unable to struggle, and went back to the palace together.
Not long after the winter solstice, many more incidents occurred in the imperial court.
Most of the time, it was the Crown Prince's cronies who committed crimes, which angered the Emperor, leading to the removal of many of the Crown Prince's spies in the court.
According to the Emperor, it was these people who had corrupted the Crown Prince, causing him to make repeated mistakes.
All of this stemmed from Jiang Yunyan's actions during the floods in the south.
Shen Wenqiu had not yet achieved any official rank, so he was not qualified to attend court. Therefore, his understanding of this matter came entirely from reading the original novel.
According to the original novel, in order to help our Crown Prince Jiang Yunyan achieve some results, or as the saying goes, to "gild his image," the Emperor sent him to handle the floods in the south, to make a show of disaster relief and to make up for his previous negative image.
But who is Jiang Yunyan? He is the male protagonist of the original novel, an arrogant and selfish good-for-nothing who is unwilling to even put on a show and has failed his father's good intentions.
As for what he did, this prince, who was accustomed to extravagance and debauchery, naturally did only a few things. After arriving in the disaster area, he completely disregarded the lives of the victims, taking all the relief funds for his own use. He also coerced and lured the workers sent to build fortifications to stop the floods to build the prince's temporary luxurious residence. Those who refused were even beheaded on the spot, so that no one dared to resist anymore.
This would make him a definite villain anywhere else, but in the original novel, after doing all these things, Jiang Yunyan managed to disappear without a trace thanks to the Emperor's intervention. Not only did they manage to suppress the matter, but anyone who expressed dissatisfaction was subsequently purged.
And this matter was brought up in court today.
The commoners who had come to the capital to appeal to the emperor were rescued first and sent to the emperor's presence immediately, without Jiang Yunyan even having a chance to stop them.
Right now, they're arguing fiercely.
When Shen Wenqiu accompanied Jiang Heng to Zhaoming Hall for class, they happened to overhear other princes discussing the matter.
"Originally, the Crown Prince was supposed to come to Zhaoming Hall after returning to the palace. He was almost inside when he was suddenly called away by the eunuch in charge of the Emperor's household," the Fifth Prince said.
"I heard they're still arguing about it. I wonder if this will have any impact on the Crown Prince," the Sixth Prince said thoughtfully.
Shen Wenqiu sat beside Jiang Heng, tidying up his writing implements while listening to their discussion, silently pondering to himself.
There will be no impact whatsoever. As the male protagonist of the original novel, even if Jiang Yunyan makes a huge mistake, it will only be lightly overlooked.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com