After Marrying the Disabled Crown Prince of the Enemy Country

Chapter 52          Great Blow

None of them knew how long it had been when Huo Du came out of the bathroom.

Huo Du walked out with a sullen face, the rich rose fragrance disappeared, and the faint sandalwood fragrance wafted to his nose, making his heart slightly relaxed. He really could not think of how to explain what had just happened to Le Zhi.

It seemed that there was no fair explanation.

Annoying.

He walked over slowly and lay stiffly on the bed, without even putting down the bed curtain. Quietly listening to the breathing beside him, Huo Du knew that she had not slept.

Suddenly, the brocade quilt moved slightly, and Le Zhi slowly moved her little hand to his side, covering the back of his hand. Then she would slowly approach him, resting her head on his shoulders and cradling his arm with both hands, and whisper, “It’s alright.”

Full of soothing tones.

Huo Du’s expression was extremely unsightly, and he turned his head to look into her eyes. His gloomy face along with his frown fell into Le Zhi’s eyes, which even more confirmed her conjecture.

This kind of thing is really a great blow to a man’s self-esteem.

Le Zhi sighed silently. She obediently buried her face in Huo Du’s neck, and rubbed gently, “Let’s sleep.”

She knew that it was useless to talk more at this time, and she could only comfort him in this way. She also secretly said in her heart that she must find a way to help cure him.

Only then did she gradually fall asleep with determination.

And the warm and light breath brushed Huo Du’s neck, subtle but hard to ignore as if tickling his heart. He lowered his eyes and fixed his eyes on the top of Le Zhi’s head, feeling his gradually unstable heartbeat and breathing.

Little fox, this brother will be killed by you sooner or later.

Huo Du laughed. He approached her head, kissed her gently, and put his face on her black hair. He slowly closed her eyes in the joy and intolerable torment, accompanied by the faint fragrance of hibiscus flowers in her hair.

—

Before dawn, the horizon plunged into the deepest night. And in the Jingxian Wang mansion, someone stayed up all night.

Shen Qingyan leaned on the headboard weakly, her eyes were empty and tired. The bedclothes on her body were loose, and her neck, shoulders, back… almost all over her body were covered with bruises. The most frightening was her lips which were slightly red and swollen, and it was a bit hard to close.

She looked at the man who had long fallen asleep on the bed with resentment in her eyes. The smell of alcohol in the room was so strong that it was difficult to dissipate, and there was also the heavy smell after the love affair, which was mixed together and made it unpleasant.

In Shen Qingyan’s mind, all kinds of things that happened in recent days appeared in her mind, and she could not help but feel dizzy.

She really hoped this was a nightmare.

A few days ago, because Yuxian made a big fuss, many things came to light. It turned out that Huo Xu had never cut off contact with Le Zhi, except for that time when Yuxian bumped into them, how many times had they met in private?

He could even slap Yuxian for a bedwarmer that looked like Le Zhi.

Shen Qingyan’s heart was cold, and she could not stand it any longer. It was true that she loved him, but she was not a person without dignity. She proposed for divorce, but Huo Xu refused, so she had to ask her father for help, but the Empress interfered as they just refused to let her go.

No, it should be said that Huo Xu was unwilling to give up the support brought by her father’s position as the Prime Minister.

For her sake, her father tried all kinds of methods and even deliberately confronted Huo Xu in court. But after all, taking her into consideration, his father just scolded him, in order to force him to be better himself.

In this world, it seemed that the woman’s life would be ruined if she married the wrong person.

Because of her father, Huo Xu had restrained a lot in front of her, but Shen Qingyan could see that he really did not like her from the bottom of his heart.

Yesterday, Huo Xu was reprimanded by His Majesty in the morning court, and he lost control of Xia Feitai. He was so angry that he returned drunk. Huo Xu this person could still maintain a gentle hypocritical appearance when he was sober, but it was difficult to suppress his true nature once he was drunk.

He blamed Shen Qingyan for the recent misery. He hated Shen Huai for toppling him for Shen Qingyan. Moreover, he did not say a word for him when he was being reprimanded!

Shen Qingyan had just recovered from a serious illness. Her menses had only passed, and her body was still weak. But Huo Xu was drunk, despite her rejection, he just pulled off her thin shirt and approached her rudely.

“What are you pretending to be? Isn’t this what you want?”

This was the only thing he said to her after entering the room. After speaking, he pressed Shen Qingyan to the bed.

Previously, Huo Xu pretended to be gentle in sexual affairs, but this time, he completely revealed his true nature. Shen Qingyan turned her head, and her eyes were wet and red. She did not want to recall, but those embarrassing scenes always popped up in her mind and would not go away.

Huo Xu fiddled and kneaded her wantonly, using several gestures that made her feel humiliated. In the end, he actually pressed her shoulder tightly and forcibly forced her to use her mouth.

She had wiped away the white marks on her lips with a handkerchief long ago, but when she thought of those, Shen Qingyan could not help retching. When she had love in her heart before, she was willing to do this for him. Now that the love was smashed to pieces, all that was left was full of disgust.

The red candle went out, and the first ray of light appeared.

The hangover person muttered and frowned as if he was about to wake up. Shen Qingyan quickly pulled over the quilt and lay down, pretending to be asleep.

She could not face him.

Fortunately, Huo Xu also did not want to pay attention to her either. After he woke up, he rolled over and got out of bed immediately, and did not cover her with the quilt he had lifted.

Shen Qingyan closed her eyes and listened to the sound of the person at the bedside getting dressed. After he was dressed, he walked away.

At the moment when the door was closed, Shen Qingyan opened her sour eyes and tears fell uncontrollably.

At this moment, she felt that she was not the noble Jingxian Wangfei, but someone that was trampled and insulted at will, just like the poor brothel women mentioned in the book.

Lu Ying, who was guarding not far from the door of the room, stayed up all night until she saw Huo Xu leaving, she hurriedly ran over and opened the door.

The muddy smell in the room made Lu Ying frown, and she raised her legs to enter the room. After seeing her master’s face clearly, her heart was tightened. She walked quickly to the bedside and squatted down, took out a handkerchief with her trembling hand to wipe Shen Qingyan’s tears, “Master, don’t cry, don’t cry…”

Lu Ying persuaded with a choking voice, but when she saw the shocking bruises on Shen Qingyan’s body through her loose bedclothes, she could not help but burst into tears.

“Master, shall we go back to the Prime Minister’s mansion?” Lu Ying sobbed, and her voice trembled, “Let’s go tell the Prime Minister and ask the Prime Minister to find a way.”

Lu Ying was extremely distressed. Her master was the treasure of the Prime Minister’s mansion since she was a child. When did she ever suffer such a huge grievance? She clenched both her fists tightly, if the Prime Minister knew, he would never let go of the person who hurt her!

But Shen Qingyan shook her head weakly.

She could no longer go back to the mansion recklessly and embarrassed her father. She was no longer a little girl who had not grown up and could not rely on her father thoughtlessly. She wanted to rely on herself, leave the Jingxian Wang mansion in a dignified manner, and withdraw herself from this wrong and absurd marriage.

“Lu Ying, prepare hot water for me.”

She had to wash away the filth that the man had shed and even had to wash all her affection for him away.

—

The morning sun had only just risen, and the morning fog had not yet dissipated.

“Quick! Ah Chan shoot him!”

Lin Yue stood on the side of Le Zhi, dancing happily, talking and laughing.

The five people in the yard held different weapons and learned from each other. They were the three men and two women that Le Zhi brought back from the slave market.

The woman who was called Ah Chan by Lin Yue held a crossbow in her hand and shot it steadily towards the young man on the right. The young man did not panic, and threw a stone at casually, deflecting the silver arrow away.

Seeing this, Ah Chan’s face turned cold, and she raised her crossbow again, unwilling to concede.

The three on the other side, one was holding a sword and the other was holding a knife, and the youngest woman was holding a flexible whip, fighting with each other, unable to tell the difference for a while.

After a while, the panting sound in the courtyard became heavier and heavier, Le Zhi smiled and shouted to stop, “Let’s take a break before continuing practicing.”

Hearing this, all five of them stopped, but their eyes invariably looked at An Xuan standing on the left, as if waiting for him to speak.

And An Xuan lifted his sleepy eyelids without saying a word.

Seeing that he was silent, the five of them did not move. They were the best in the slave market, but after all, they had not undergone proper training. Taizifei bought them and brought them back to the mansion, and also took care of their health.

They were all abandoned or sold by their families from a young age, wandering around, hungry for a meal and full for a meal, without names and identities. They thought they would be slaves to be beaten and scolded for life, but they never thought that Heaven would still give them such a circumstance.

Although they were not good at words, each of them secretly vowed to repay their master’s kindness.

These days, An Xuan was responsible for taking them for morning exercises and teaching them according to the martial arts they were good at. The five of them were extremely diligent. If An Xuan did not say that they met the required standard, they would not stop to rest.

They must work hard and contribute to the cause as soon as possible! 

The yard suddenly became quiet.

Le Zhi rolled her eyes, glanced at the pastries on the stone table, and deliberately raised her voice to ask Lin Yue, “Who made this jujube paste cake?”

“Master, it was Jing Xin who got up early in the morning to do it!”

“Like this, ah.” Le Zhi reached out to touch the edge of the plate and sighed, “It’s getting cold. Jing Xin made it with great difficulty, and it’s really a waste that no one eats it!”

“No…” Lin Yue just wanted to say no as the jujube paste cake was just as delicious when it was cold. But her master held her wrist and prevented her from speaking.

That’s really weird!

Le Zhi glanced at An Xuan’s face, and as she expected, his stiff expression gradually loosened. Then she heard him speak indifferently, “Rest for a quarter of an hour.”

The five of them were relieved, quickly ran to the stone table, and began to eat snacks happily.

Ah Chan, who did not do well just now, stared at the person next to her unhappily, “Stay away from me!”

The young man shrank his neck. This Ah Chan smiled at everyone else, but she stopped smiling at him. This was too much! But he did not dare to confront her, so he moved a few steps to the side obediently, just in time to see the short girl drinking tea.

“Xiao Xi, you’re swinging this whip softly. Are you hitting mosquitoes?”

“You!” Xiao Xi, the smallest in stature, pulled her face down and made a gesture to hit him.

“Xiao Ming, don’t always bully Xiao Xi.” Another prudent young man said in a deep voice.

Xia Ming laughed, “Ah Yu, why are you always protecting this girl?”

“Can you shut up!” Ah Chan said annoyingly and poked Xia Ming’s back with a crossbow.

Le Zhi smiled and watched them fight. They were only one or two years younger than her, only Dong Yi, who was not very talkative, was three years younger than her. Although they were masters and servants, she also regarded them as younger brothers and sisters.

She named them…

Ah Chan, Xiao Xi, Xia Ming, Qiu Yu and Dong Yi.

Apart from the time for practicing martial arts, Le Zhi also taught them how to read when she had time. She hoped that when everything was over, they could all have a bright future.

Perhaps Le Zhi’s life was incomplete, she hoped that the people around her could live a more complete life.

“Xiao Yiyi, why haven’t you spoken yet?” Xia Ming shifted his target again, “I heard that you made a contribution yesterday! The leader of the carriage robbery was caught by you personally. You’re so amazing!”

Dong Yi, who stood quietly biting the pastry on the side, blushed and said nothing.

Le Zhi looked at him. The skinny and dark youngest young man on the slave market that day looked much better. She was indeed right. Although Dong Yi was the youngest of the five, his aptitude was the best.

Thus, An Xuan arranged for him in the escort team yesterday, originally to let him learn through experience, but unexpectedly there was a sudden accident, and this boy’s reaction was really beyond An Xuan’s expectations.

In less than a moment, Dong Yi had subdued Fu Xian. In addition to being responsive, he also had keen insight, and could accurately judge that Fu Xian was the leader of the team.

After being reminded by Xia Ming, Le Zhi remembered this. Originally, she planned to ask An Xuan, but now it seemed that there was no need to be so bothersome, just ask Dong Yi. She wanted to figure out one thing.

“Xiao Yi, when you were fighting yesterday, how many people were around? Did many people see you fight?”

Hearing Le Zhi’s question, Dong Yi raised his eyes and revealed his clear eyes. He recalled for a moment, then nodded, “Master, although we subdued them very quickly, many people are passing by on the street, and many people should have seen it.”

Hearing this, Le Zhi smiled and nodded thoughtfully.

At this time, Huo Du slowly came over pushing his white jade wheelchair. When the five little ones saw his figure, they could not help but become silent. Even though they were separated by quite a distance, the sense of oppression on him made them cower.

They unanimously saluted Huo Du in the distance, then hurriedly faced Le Zhi and said, “Master, we’ll continue to practice first!”

After that, they each picked up their weapons and ran to another yard.

Lin Yue also found an excuse to retire first.

Le Zhi broke into laughter. She raised her eyes to look at Huo Du, only to see that he was wearing a light gray straight robe today, with silverfish white patterns embroidered on the side, which seemed to glow softly in the warm sun and his outermost was a star blue robe. While his cold and white face was also a little less gloomy than usual.

She looked at the navy-blue dress again and her little face blushed a little.

Did this person deliberately choose the same color as hers?

Recalling what happened last night, Le Zhi was still a little embarrassed. It was because of this that she got up early, lest he would be a little embarrassed to see her when he woke up.

She lowered her eyes and shook her head.

Stop thinking about it!

Business is more important.

Le Zhi raised her eyes and saw Huo Du looking at her from not far away. He deliberately did not come over, sat quietly, put his hands on the armrest, and clasped it lightly with his fingertips, with obvious meaning.

Asking her to go over to push him. The dead lame person was really hypocritical.

She bit her lip, stood up, and walked over, pushing him to the stone table according to his wishes. Then she sat down beside Huo Du and said softly.

“Your Highness, Brother Fu Xian robbed the carriage yesterday. According to you… will Huo Xu knows about it?”

Huo Du was stunned for a moment, then curled his lips. He held Le Zhi’s hand casually but frowned at the coolness of her palm.

“Your Highness took over from him yesterday the control of the affairs of Xia Feitai. He must have been hit hard.” Le Zhi said with a smile. She knew very well how competitive Huo Xu was. When he was a child, he would be too agonized to eat because his homework was no better than Fu Xian.

So now, he must be very agonizing. The more agonized Huo Xu was, the happier she became.

“So what?” Huo Du smiled.

“So…” Le Zhi unconsciously put her other hand on his hand, with a smiling appearance and a sly light appearing in the foxy eyes, “Don’t Your Highness want to take this opportunity to beat the underdog?”