Chapter 29 Sleeping Together
The young woman lay limply, clearly already losing consciousness, yet she ignored the maids' advice and drank cup after cup of fine wine.
There are wines from the Western Regions, but even more fruit wines of various kinds.
It was contained in small, round, glass bottles, each about the size of a palm. The pale-colored liquid swayed gently inside, its color softening under the lamplight.
Many of the glass bottles had already been emptied, lying askew beside me, spilling the last few drops onto the ground.
"Drink! Drink with me! We won't leave until we're drunk!"
While drinking and talking nonsense, Lin Lanting loosened his belt, took off his outer robe, looked at the chaotic scene, chuckled a few times, and went into the bathhouse.
In his opinion, what's the point of drinking these kinds of wines? They're weak and tasteless, only good enough to get a spoiled princess drunk.
After taking a shower, when Lin Lanting came out again, he saw the spoiled princess who was completely drunk and unconscious.
He was lying quietly on the bed, while the maids were wiping and undressing him.
The brocade curtains fell, concealing everything.
After they finished their work, the maids left the room in an orderly fashion, and Lin Lanting could hear the soft breathing coming from inside the tent.
Apart from the faint smell of alcohol in the room, it was another boring day.
Lin Lanting had a habit of falling asleep very quickly, and he could sleep soundly even when he was on the march at night.
It doesn't matter where or when.
So he only stared at the roof for a moment before falling asleep.
Lin Lanting was awakened by a muffled thud, not knowing how long he had slept.
The spoiled princess was afraid of the dark, so even at night she would leave a lamp on, emitting a dim light.
Habits formed during the march meant that Lin Lanting was mostly awake as soon as he woke up, and he looked toward the direction from which the sound came.
In a hazy state, he saw what seemed to be a lump of something lying under the bed, which would occasionally move around.
Lin Lanting didn't believe in ghosts or gods, so naturally he wouldn't have any wild thoughts.
There are only two people in this room, so the lump on the ground is the spoiled princess.
Lin Lanting couldn't understand how she had rolled off such a big bed, and frowned as he got up from the couch.
Barefoot on the soft lichen-covered floor, Lin Lanting groped his way to the bedside in the dark, crossed his arms, and looked down at the curled-up figure on the floor.
It was still late summer, so even if he slept on the floor, it wouldn't be a problem. Therefore, Lin Lanting was in no hurry to put him on the bed.
"Princess?"
"Princess?"
After calling twice without response, Lin Lanting squatted down and, taking advantage of the situation, asked, "Li Huiyi?"
"Princess Rhinoceros?"
The more she talked, the more rude she became, but unfortunately, Huiyi, who was in a daze, couldn't react at all and even gave a soft "hmm".
With a thick nasal tone, it sounded extremely well-behaved.
Lin Lanting looked on with surprise and helped Huiyi up from the ground, making sure she sat up steadily.
"If you can't hold your liquor, don't drink so much, especially a soft fruit wine. I really admire you!"
Holding the woman's slender wrist, Lin Lanting tried to pull her back to bed, but as soon as he tugged, the woman in his arms began to wriggle unwillingly, muttering something under her breath.
Lin Lanting was curious, so he leaned closer to listen.
They say people speak the truth when they're drunk, so he wanted to hear what the spoiled princess had to say.
It might be some insults directed at him.
"Hurry, hurry, I... I need to go dig for wild vegetables."
Lin Lanting thought he had misheard and asked again, "Where are you going?"
Still under the influence of the alcohol and in a half-dreaming state, Huiyi honestly replied, "I'm going to dig for wild vegetables."
Now that he was sure he hadn't misheard, Lin Lanting placed his hand against that soft waist and asked in surprise, "What are you going to do with that thing, feed it to the chickens?"
Lin Lanting pondered, didn't Li Huiyi only keep one green parrot?
Even the name sounds effeminate.
Just as I was pondering this, I heard the person in my arms answer in a serious tone: "No, it's for our own consumption. We make wild vegetable soup, and it's delicious!"
Lin Lanting was stunned for a moment, and the smile on his face gradually faded.
Perhaps it was because the spoiled princess's "achievements" over the years were too dazzling and her reputation for arrogance too great that Lin Lanting almost forgot an important matter.
Before the current emperor returned to Chang'an, he and his family spent more than ten years in Lingzhou, enduring hardship.
Li Huiyi is seventeen years old now, but so far, she has spent most of her life in hardship.
It has only been a few short years since they began to enjoy the splendid life they were born to have.
He had only ever seen the other person's wealth and ostentation, and had never thought about their miserable and pitiful state.
It wasn't until just now that Lin Lanting remembered these things.
When the sage suffered his calamity, he was only one year old, a child who knew nothing but how to cause trouble.
As he grew older, he would occasionally hear from others how miserable it was for Prince Heling to be monitored by Empress Zhu.
At the time, he felt it had nothing to do with him. Now, thinking back, while he was living a life of luxury, climbing on rooftops and tearing off tiles, Li Huiyi, a girl even younger than him, was probably busy digging for wild vegetables in the countryside that the wealthy would disdain.
"Don't stop me, or the wild vegetables will all be picked by others. Where did my basket go?"
Lost in thought for a moment, the woman in his arms was still muttering to herself, struggling even more violently.
It was as if there were actually wild vegetables for her to dig in this wealthy city of Chang'an.
Logically, Lin Lanting should have found it amusing and laughed at the spoiled princess for getting drunk and going to dig for wild vegetables in the middle of the night.
But the feeling now was completely different. He couldn't laugh; he just felt a heavy weight in his heart.
I feel tightness in my chest.
Lin Lanting instinctively pressed his hand down on Huiyi, who kept wriggling to dig for wild vegetables. He straightened her shoulders and said softly, "You don't need to go anymore. You don't need to go anymore."
He is a kind-hearted person.
Lin Lanting thought to herself.
Hearing this, Huiyi, whose mind was still foggy, looked up blankly at the blurry-faced boy and asked in confusion, "Why don't we need to go?"
The lights were dim, but the girl's face was fair, like a peeled lychee. Her wet eyes stared straight ahead, and all traces of her usual willful nature were gone.
The distance was too close; Lin Lanting couldn't block the faint, sweet fragrance, which seeped into her nose like the wind.
Lin Lanting felt her nose start to itch and wanted to scratch it.
But he was busy responding at that moment.
Lin Lanting gently pressed Huiyi's shoulder and said with a light laugh:
"Because you are a princess now, and princesses don't need to dig for wild vegetables anymore."
Huiyi listened in a daze, then seemed to slowly remember something, nodding and repeating, "It seems so."
"Then I'll go back, go back to sleep."
The girl awkwardly turned to go back, but the light was too dim, and she tripped over herself as soon as she let go of his hand, almost falling.
Fortunately, Lin Lanting was quick-witted and nimble, picking the person up like a chick. He clicked his tongue and sighed, "No wonder he was able to roll off the bed."
"I guess I'm being kind-hearted; you should thank me properly."
He was just joking to himself, but the next moment Lin Lanting actually heard a thank you.
His tone was soft, as if he hadn't eaten enough, but he was utterly earnest and sincere.
Lin Lanting paused, a look of confusion involuntarily spreading across her face.
If the person hadn't been right under his nose, Lin Lanting would have suspected that the spoiled princess had been replaced.
They're like completely different people!
Lin Lanting suddenly asked, "Do you remember who you are?"
The person rolled their eyes in the darkness and said obediently, "I am Xi Nu."
Lin Lanting's lips twitched, and he almost laughed. He then asked, "Do you still remember who I am?"
Huiyi stared at the person in front of her for a few moments, her gaze unfocused, and slowly said, "I don't know, who are you?"
Lin Lanting finally couldn't help but laugh. The thunderous sound startled Huiyi, who looked at him with wide eyes and a puzzled expression.
"What are you laughing at?"
He was drunk, and his mouth started to stutter, his words coming out in slurred sentences. Lin Lanting continued to chuckle.
After they had finished laughing, Lin Lanting got back to the serious matter.
“I’m telling you, I am your husband.”
Lin Lanting spoke in a serious tone, but his wicked smile revealed that he had another bad idea.
"Husband?"
Huiyi opened her hazy eyes and looked around repeatedly. Her mind was so confused that she couldn't even remember what her husband was.
Huiyi's voice only expressed her doubts, but when Lin Lanting heard her call her "husband," it became a serious matter.
Upon hearing that sound, he felt a sharp, itchy sensation all over his body.
It's really strange to hear such a sound from the mouth of a spoiled princess.
To ease the unease that was making his scalp tingle, Lin Lanting continued to tease him, "So, you have to listen to me, understand?"
Using the arrogant tone that the spoiled princess usually disliked the most, Lin Lanting snorted.
The result wasn't exactly disappointing, but it was still bizarre.
Because the spoiled princess didn't fly into a rage as he expected, and then jump up to argue with him, but instead...
"I understand, my husband."
She was as soft as a cloud, never arguing back, so obedient it made one's heart flutter.
"……you?"
This left Lin Lanting somewhat at a loss for how to handle the situation, her ear tips, hidden in the darkness, turning red.
Sleep peacefully.
After struggling for a while, Lin Lanting had no other choice and muttered something in a low voice.
Huiyi, unsuspecting, obediently nodded and said, "Oh, okay, I'm going to sleep now."
He turned around, groped his way onto the bed, and rolled onto it like a lump of dough.
Once he was sure Huiyi wouldn't fall again, Lin Lanting turned to go back to his bed.
The moment he turned around, a slender, warm hand hooked around him, preventing him from moving forward.
"Husband, won't you come and sleep with me?"
Confused yet earnest, Lin Lanting listened until his throat went dry, feeling that this wine was truly the most magical thing in the world, capable of transforming a person completely.
He turned around, his dark eyes falling on the girl's beautiful face, which was filled with a hint of bewilderment, and said softly, "I will sleep on the couch."
Breaking free from that soft hand, Lin Lanting only wanted to leave as quickly as possible, otherwise something bad would happen.
But clearly, the head-blowering, willful princess wasn't going to let him off the hook, and continued, "Then I'll sleep in the same bed with my husband!"
Lin Lanting almost laughed when he heard this; anyone who didn't know better would think he was going to sleep with his mother.
“I told you, I am your husband, not your mother.”
Huiyi said seriously, "I know, don't husband and wife sleep together?"
"My grandparents are."
Lin Lanting suddenly realized that things had become tricky, and he remained stunned for a long time.
"Come on, you can sleep outside."
Seeing the spoiled princess move further inside, pat the outer bedding, and say with a sweet smile.
Lin Lanting's eyes darted around, and she felt that being flexible at this moment would be the best way to maneuver.
With her lips slightly pursed, Lin Lanting lay down and casually pulled down the curtains.
Instantly, I was enveloped in a serene and fragrant atmosphere.
The girl's soft, fragrant body wrapped around him, hugging his arm and sleeping close to him.
Lin Lanting felt as stiff as a stone, and dared not move at all.
"My husband is so warm. It must be so cozy to hold him in winter."
Her soft body pressed against him twice, and the girl muttered to herself.
Lin Lanting didn't even know what to say.
Normally, he would have plenty of things to say in his banter, but at this moment, he couldn't utter a single word and was simply bound like a piece of wood.
Fall asleep quickly, fall asleep quickly.
Lin Lanting was preoccupied with this, because his initial plan was to coax the other person to sleep first, and then take the opportunity to escape.
Otherwise, if Li Huiyi sees him in bed when tomorrow morning arrives, wouldn't that lead to someone's death?
But things didn't go as planned.
Perhaps it was because the bedding was so comfortable and the fragrance so calming, that Lin Lanting unknowingly fell asleep.
With the arrival of daylight came a calamity.
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Author's Note: Update complete! [heart emoji]
I've had some free time these past couple of days, so I'll update again tomorrow [heart emoji].
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