After Marrying the Disabled Crown Prince of the Enemy Country

Chapter 67          Lipstick

The long deep kiss lasted as long as a gust of wind and rain, and the hands that held Huo Du’s cheeks fell weakly, resting on his shoulders. Although it was not as breathless as last time, it was still a little suffocating. Le Zhi gently nudged his shoulders, trying to get him to loosen.

Feeling her refusal, Huo Du loosened the hand around her waist, but a deliberate smile appeared on the corner of his lips. When their lips were about to be apart, he suddenly leaned over to suck her upper lip and backed away after nibbling it lightly.

Le Zhi’s snow cheeks were red, and her slightly swollen cherry lips were also glistening. She coughed lightly, her eyes twinkled but she pretended to be calm and said, “Shall I push Your Highness to sit in the garden?”

Huo Du chuckled but did not even open his mouth to tease her. He reached out and pressed her soft lips with his fingers and responded with a “yes”.

The warm sun shone on her body, and the sickness seemed to dissipate unconsciously.

Le Zhi held a large stack of account books and sat at the stone table to read carefully.

Have been sick for so many days, and there are so many accounts to check, ah!

She excerpted some of the questions with a writing brush while reading, and every once in a while, she reached out for the candied fruit on the table. After drinking the bitter medicine for so long, she wanted to eat more sweetness to make up for it!

The orange candy in her mouth melted, and before she could get another, a crystal-clear grapefruit candy appeared in front of her. She opened her mouth and took the candy in her mouth almost without thinking.

The sweetness spread in her mouth, and the mint flavor seemed to pass into her nose. Only then did Le Zhi realize who was feeding her candy. She raised her eyes in a daze, looking at the person beside her.

Her heart was full of panic and confusion, which made her tremble uncontrollably, and she suddenly became a little lost. What kind of relationship between them up to today? She felt that she was caught in a huge whirlpool, going around in circles, and it was about to engulf her.

Turning her head to the side, Le Zhi deliberately avoided his gaze as she could not look at him calmly anymore.

At this time, Li Yao’s figure approached from a distance, but she stopped when she reached the corridor, not daring to come forward to disturb them. Le Zhi’s heart sank when she saw the anxious look on her face.

There must be something important with Li Yao’s appearance.

Le Zhi got up and walked toward the corridor. When she got close, Li Yao lowered her voice and said, “Master, you have a letter.” Li Yao took out a letter from her sleeve and handed it to Le Zhi. “Jing Xin and I went to the shop early this morning. When we came back, we saw Lu Ying wandering outside the mansion gate. She didn’t dare let anyone pass the letter, so she just kept waiting for me there. She should have been waiting for a long time.”

After receiving the letter, Le Zhi put away the smile on her face. Since it was Lu Ying who came, this letter must have been written to her by Shen Qingyan.

“I looked at Lu Ying’s appearance, it was very haggard. When she gave me the letter, her wrist was vaguely exposed, and it was bluish-black.”

“What?”

Le Zhi was stunned as Lu Ying was Shen Qingyan’s personal maid and no one should dare to make things difficult for her. Then her injury should be done by Huo Xu.

Shameless!

She nodded heavily, letting Li Yao retire.

Turning around and walking back, Le Zhi lowered her eyes and stared at the letter in her hand, not daring to open it for a while.

“Oh, which little lover’s letter is it?”

The familiar sound of teasing made Le Zhi regain her senses. She raised her eyes to look at Huo Du who was sitting in the white jade wheelchair, glared at him, and threw the letter directly into his arms.

Huo Du chuckled lightly and put the letter on the stone table, “Since you’ve got better, your temper has also gotten bigger.”

Didn’t I learn from you!

Le Zhi sat down and sneered in her heart. Then she opened the letter immediately and read the letter carefully after taking a deep breath.

“Beast!” She scolded in a low voice, and her eyebrows tightened.

Huo Du turned his head to the side and set his eyes on her gloomy cheeks. It just so happened that Le Zhi also raised her eyes and turned over. She felt entangled and after thinking about it over and over again, she said to Huo Du, “It’s Shen Qingyan’s letter, and what she said that day at Fuxi Temple was not everything. She wrote everything down in this letter. It turned out that she has lived like this since she married Huo Xu.”

The fingers tightened suddenly, and the thin letter paper was crumpled.

Swearing, sneering, abusing, clutching… Le Zhi did not dare to think more about how much Shen Qingyan had suffered.

“Have you figured it out?” Huo Du held her hand and patiently loosen her tightened fingers with great patience and put them in his palm. Then he uncrumpled the letter, and asked after glancing at it, “Do you really want to help her?”

“En…” Le Zhi nodded, but there was some hesitation in her expression, “But I’m also worried that in case…”

“In case she turns her back after the incident and does not honor the terms she promised you. In case you help her, she changes her mind halfway and tells Huo Xu everything. Also, in case of Shen Qingyan deliberately test you to help Huo Xu.”

“How do you, how…” Le Zhi was stunned, too shocked to speak.

Was he the roundworm in her stomach*? How did he know everything she thinks?

(the roundworm in her stomach* – metaphor for a person who knows the hearts of others very clearly)

If everything in the letter was true, she really wanted to help Shen Qingyan. But what if Shen Qingyan really chose to help Huo Du unconditionally after all this? She really did not dare to be gullible. She could not ruin her own arrangement just because of carelessness, and maybe it would also implicate Huo Du.

“If you want to help, just help.” Huo Du smiled and conveniently brought a piece of candied fruit to her lips.

Le Zhi lowered her head and conveniently ate the candied fruit. His casual tone reassured her a lot. She curled her lips, twinkled her eyes again, and asked, “What if it’s really a scheme?”

Huo Du glanced at her with cold eyes but said nothing.

“All right.” Le Zhi pursed her lips and said in a humming voice, “If it implicates Your Highness, then don’t blame me.”

“Don’t worry.” Huo Du said in a flat tone, “It won’t implicate me.”

Hearing this, Le Zhi pulled the letter on the table, stood up angrily, and turned to leave. But her wrist was tugged so hard that she had to turn her head and meet those captivating peach blossom eyes.

“What a big temper.” Huo Du tutted softly and pulled the person to his knees and wrapped around her to stop her.

Le Zhi was frightened by his actions.

He has just bandaged his leg, has he gone crazy?

She took into consideration of his injured leg and put her weight on the other leg. In order to support her body, her hands had to wrap around his shoulders.

“You have to ask even though you know it, don’t you?”

In fact, Le Zhi expected that he would help her and became more confident when she heard this, so she snorted softly.

“Le Zhi.” Huo Du put his hands around her waist, pinched her waist casually, and asked, “Does it feel good to be insatiable?”

Le Zhi raised her face, bent her eyes, and responded, “How can this be considered insatiable?”

“Oh?” Huo Du laughed, “Then tell me, what counts?”

Le Zhi blinked as if she was really thinking seriously. After a while, she raised her hand to pick up the teacup on the table and took a sip. Today, in order to cover her sickly face, she put on some lipstick which she rarely used.

The cherry-colored lipstick left on the rim of the cup made it exceptionally charming.

She deliberately handed the teacup to Huo Du’s lips with her eyes moving slightly.

Huo Du raised the corners of his lips, knowing her intention, leaned against the rim of the cup, and drank the rest of the hot tea. Le Zhi looked at the disappearing lipstick on the cup, and her cheeks became hot. She put the teacup back on the table, and looked at Huo Du again, “Is the tea sweet or not?”

He stared at her moist lips and said earnestly, “Your mouth is sweeter.”

Le Zhi was startled, she finally understood one thing. If she wanted to win Huo Du in words, it was simply harder than reaching the sky!

After a pause, she smiled indifferently, leaned over to his ear, and said softly, “I want to find a safe place to meet Shen Qingyan. Brother, can you help me?”

After speaking, she moved back a little to look at him with smiling eyes.

This is called insatiable.

The bright sun shone on Le Zhi’s face, making the touch of redness at the end of her eyes extraordinarily bright. She smiled at him with the corners of her lips curled, a smile that was both adorable and cunning.

Huo Du raised his hand and moved up along her waistline, stopping only when he touched her upper back. He made her stick to him with a little force and then responded delightedly.

She softened her voice and called her brother with sweetness. He would not even refuse her if she asked him to pick the stars in the sky, let alone help her.

The silhouettes of the embracing figures lengthened under the warm sun, and the smile on the two of them was getting bigger and bigger.

—

When Shen Qingyan woke up from her lunch break, she saw a note on the small table next to the bed at a glance. She reached out her hand suspiciously and when she saw the contents of the paper clearly, a look of surprise instantly appeared on her face.

The mansion became quieter and quieter as the sunset and the moon rose, and even Lu Ying had already gone to bed. She followed the instructions on the paper, walked out of the bedroom quietly, and closed the door gently.

She hurriedly walked toward the rear courtyard, and soon came to the corner of the dry well mentioned in the letter. She went around to the left side of the dry well and crouched down, reached out to touch a raised mechanism, and pressed it down hard.

The sediment in the dry well sank instantly, revealing a long and dark passage.

Shen Qingyan was shocked, but in just a moment, she walked in after taking a deep breath.

There was only a faint light in the dark passage, and after walking for a while, Shen Qingyan walked into a bright dark room. And Le Zhi was sitting in the dark room waiting for her.

No matter how surprised she was, Shen Qingyan still maintained her composure as a noblewoman and saluted respectfully to Le Zhi.

“No need to be polite, sit down.”

In fact, when Le Zhi first learned about this secret path, she was no less surprised than Shen Qingyan.

She never expected that Huo Du even had dug out a secret passage leading to Huo Xu’s mansion. Was there any place he could not go to in this vast Great Qi?

“Many thanks, Taizifei.” Shen Qingyan sat down according to her words, and without beating around the bush, she said directly, “Taizifei should have read my letter. Since you are willing to come to see me, does that mean…”

“I can help you.” They did not have much time to exchange pleasantries, not to mention that they were not close friends to begin with, so Le Zhi also explained her intentions directly.

Shen Qingyan was stunned for a moment as if she did not expect her to be so refreshing.

“Thank you.” She nodded slightly, and then said again, “Then how can I help you? How about I ask my father to help you leave Great Qi?”

Hearing this, Le Zhi shook her head and refused, “I will not leave Great Qi.”

“Then…” Shen Qingyan was puzzled.

“If you really want to help me, why don’t you do something else.” Le Zhi smiled and said, “I hope you can convince your father to let the Prime Minister help Taizi successfully inherit the throne.”

Hearing this, Shen Qingyan did not seem too surprised. She had already thought a lot when she was in the secret passage just now. With Le Zhi’s ability, how could she have created such a long secret passage in the days when she first arrived in Great Qi. Also, how could she be able to put spies on Huo Xu’s mansion, and able to send the note to her bedroom quietly.

Sure enough. As expected, Le Zhi had long chosen to stand on Taizi’s side.

It seems that the most ridiculous thing was Huo Xu, who foolishly thought that his childhood sweetheart would always be on his side.

“I can’t promise you this. As for my father, he only wishes to be a benevolent official. When he chose Huo Xu at the beginning, he was also blinded by his gentle and virtuous appearance. He would not choose people at will for his own personal gain.” Shen Qingyan said with a serious expression, “I won’t beat around the bush anymore, His Highness Taizi has a bad reputation outside.”

Le Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. If Shen Qingyan agreed to her easily, she would be suspicious. Such a reaction was normal.

“Even if you don’t want to help Taizi, it’s fine. However, Prime Minister needs to stumble Huo Xu more in the morning court. This shouldn’t be difficult, right?”

Shen Qingyan nodded.

She also saw clearly these days that Huo Xu was definitely not a benevolent monarch. Even if her father did not assist Taizi, he would never help such a despicable person to ascend to the throne.

“The world is deceived by the superficial appearances and so have my relatives and me too. Isn’t the gentle appearance we saw cloaked in pretenses? There are some people, despite their poor reputation, are misunderstood by others and just unwilling to dispute back.” Le Zhi sighed in her heart. After experiencing so many things, she really realized that it was not enough to just rely on the eyes to get to know people but also had to do it with the heart.

Shen Qingyan smiled wryly. Did not she make herself embarrassed before she could see a person clearly?

“It’s getting late today, go back and rest first. After this, I’ll pass the news to you as I did today. If you have anything to look for me, just pass the message to De Shun, who works in the dining room in your mansion. Don’t worry, I’ll help you get out of this place as soon as possible.”

“All right.” Shen Qingyan’s eyes were slightly red, stood up and said with choked emotion, “Thank you.”

She seemed like she could only thank her.

Le Zhi also stood up, held her hand, and said, “It will get better soon.”

It will get better soon.

She said this to herself over and over again on countless nights when her heart was aching. Now, she passed this sentence to Shen Qingyan, hoping that she could survive this.

Shen Qingyan nodded gratefully, turned around to leave but turned around again as if she had remembered something, and asked, “I believe what you said and will also let my father see clearly what kind of person His Highness Taizi is.”

After a pause, she asked hesitantly, “Forgive me for talking too much, I have a question. Are you helping Taizi now just because you think his character is worthy of a benevolent monarch, or because… you like him?”

Ever since Yuxian was rejected by His Highness Taizi, she had locked herself in the room all day without seeing anyone. Shen Qingyan was very worried as she hoped that her best friend could find a good match and would not make the wrong mistake like her.

But the relationship between Taizi and Taizifei today did not look like just a simple marriage?

“I…” Le Zhi was stumped by this sudden question. She stood still for a moment and was unable to answer.

“I see.” Shen Qingyan smiled, raised her foot, and left.

Le Zhi sat down in annoyance.

Why did she suddenly ask her such a question when they were obviously talking about business?

How does she know? What does she know?

“So, do you like him?”

When the familiar voice reached her ears, Le Zhi raised her eyes in amazement and watched Huo Du come out of the shadows in a wheelchair, staring at her with burning eyes.

The author has something to say:

Du: My wife’s lipstick is so delicious!!!

Zhi: How come the poison did not make you mute?