Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Doesn’t Fengtian Have Any Real Men?

“Of course we’re husband and wife,” Gu Xinglang opened his eyes and saw Yu Xiaoxiao’s puzzled look. He quickly explained, “After paying respects to Heaven and Earth, we became a married couple.”

“But you treat me like a stranger,” Yu Xiaoxiao pointed out. “Since we’re already husband and wife, are you still afraid of being naked before me?” In the apocalypse, people slept with each other without even getting married. What else couldn’t they do now that they were officially hitched?

Gu Xinglang stared tongue-tied. Are royal princesses just different from other girls? Can a husband strip in front of his wife just because they’re married?

“Prove it to me,” Yu Xiaoxiao said.

“Prove what?” Gu Xinglang asked.

“Prove that we’re husband and wife, ah,” Yu Xiaoxiao said, her face calm and her heartbeat steady.

Xiao Wei stood with the bottles of wine at the doorstep, afraid to go inside. Could he pretend not to have heard a thing? Wang momo had already dropped a pitcher in her shock. Well at any rate, Gu Xinglang couldn’t divorce the princess now. Gu Xinglang stared at Yu Xiaoxiao, clueless. How was he supposed to prove it? Consummate their marriage right now?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I knew it,” Yu Xiaoxiao sighed. Now we can’t even just roll in the sheets anymore. Maybe she was better off thinking of ways to get her and Wang momo’s crew out of the capital city.

“What do you know?” Gu Xinglang was quite anxious. Why was it so hard to talk to his wife?

“It’s okay if you don’t like me,” Yu Xiaoxiao patted Gu Xinglang on the shoulders. “We’ll cut the knot as smoothly as we tied it.”

Despite his lack of energy and pain permeating his wounds, Gu Xinglang still sat bolt upright in bed. In an urgent tone, he asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Yu Xiaoxiao thought over her words. Was there anything unclear?

“Princess, we’re husband and wife,” Gu Xinglang took Yu Xiaoxiao’s hand sincerely. “How–how could I dislike the princess? Princess, since we’re already married, then we’ll live and die together. Since I’ve become your husband, I, Gu Qinghui, will never let you down in this lifetime.”

Whoa!

Yu Xiaoxiao blinked at Gu Xinglang. Is this a confession? It sounds a lot more cultured than the soldiers of the apocalypse. All they say is ‘I’ll sleep with you and get shot with you!’

Gu Xinglang saw that Yu Xiaoxiao was still wooden-faced, so he lowered his head to kiss her hand. Despite his thin lips, the gesture was warm and gentle. Because of his fever, his body temperature was naturally high, so it felt like something had burned Yu Xiaoxiao’s skin. She arched her brow and asked, “So you like me?”

Gu Xinglang nodded solemnly. “Princess, my heart delights in you.”

Heart delights in you should mean he likes me, Yu Xiaoxiao mused as she smiled at him. Leaning over, she kissed him on the lips. Because of the medicine he’d drank, she tasted faint bitterness on her tongue.

Gu Xinglang had no idea whether husbands and wives were supposed to act like this. In any case, he’d only seen his brothers’ wives walking one in front of the other in public. Still, Gu Xinglang thought as he licked the place where Yu Xiaoxiao had kissed him, it’s a bit sweet here. Although Third Young Master Gu disliked sweet things, he discovered that he didn’t mind this flavor at all.

Seeing Gu Xinglang licking his lips, Yu Xiaoxiao shifted her gaze from his face to the door. “Why isn’t Xiao Wei here yet?” They couldn’t afford to roll in the sheets right now, so there was no use dreaming.

Gu Xinglang was tired and slowly laid back down, still holding onto Yu Xiaoxiao’s hand. “Princess, don’t say things like meeting and separating in the future.”

Yu Xiaoxiao didn’t reply. How many people stayed with each other for a lifetime? That question was too vast for her, so she couldn’t even begin to contemplate it.

“Go in,” Wang momo urged Xiao Wei. “Don’t you hear the princess calling for you?”

“Your Royal Highness, this servant’s here with the wine,” Xiao Wei announced from the door so the two people inside would believe he’d just arrived.

“Come in,” Gu Xinglang said when Yu Xiaoxiao didn’t answer. Xiao Wei carried the wine into the rooms and helped Yu Xiaoxiao wipe down Gu Xinglang’s body with alcohol-soaked washcloths again. Enveloped in the scent of wine, Gu Xinglang soon fell into a slumber.

“It looks like the royal son-in-law is asleep again,” Xiao Wei remarked.

At this, Gu Xinglang’s eyes flew open to look at Yu Xiaoxiao.

“Go ahead and sleep,” Yu Xiaoxiao tossed her washcloth aside and fed Gu Xinglang half a glass of water. “Once you wake up, the fever will pass for sure.”

“Mm,” Gu Xinglang murmured softly. For the first time in his life, he fell asleep in front of someone he’d just met for two days.

In the main courtyard, Old Madam rose to her feet as soon as she heard someone announced Gu Xinglang’s fever. By her side, old Supreme Commander remained seated. Although he was anxious as well, he still told her, “The princess is with Xinglang. You don’t need to go.”

“How can I set my worries at rest until I see him once?” Old Madam argued.

Supreme Commander Gu said, “How many years can you still accompany Xinglang? The princess is his wife. She’s the one who’ll spend a lifetime with him. Save your worries.”

Old Madam was left sitting back down in her seat to fret in place again.

Yu Xiaoxiao ended up wiping down Gu Xinglang seven to eight times. By late night, Gu Xinglang’s fever had abated. Outside in the yard, Wang momo gave her thanks to the Bodhisattva in Heaven.

Yu Xiaoxiao wandered around until she found the Gu Estate kitchens, then had the overnight chef personally cook her some food. Once she was full, she grabbed half a basket’s worth of moldy fruit from the kitchens.

The chef was stunned as he chased after her. “Your Royal Highness, those fruits aren’t edible anymore.”

“I’m using them to make medicine,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied. Mold from fruit was the basis for growing penicillin. In the medicine-rare apocalypse, even little children knew this fact.

The chef’s jaw dropped as he watched Yu Xiaoxiao carry off the moldy fruit. Because he’d opened his mouth so wide, the autumn wind chilled his tongue and left him tongue-tied for the next few days when he spoke.

By the time Yu Xiaoxiao had hidden away the rotten fruit, Wang momo arrived with Xiao Zhuang. “His Majesty really did agree to give an imperial prince to the Zhuri eldest prince to take back as a hostage.”

“Oh,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied. It was inevitable that it’d happen, so she wasn’t surprised.

“Princess, this servant saw Prime Minister Zhao on my way back,” Xiao Zhuang added.

Yu Xiaoxiao was rather depressed. It looked like the Zhao Clan had excellent survivability.

“Princess,” Xiao Zhuang said, “Prime Minister Zhao was heading for the posthouse hosting the Zhuri eldest prince.”

“Could Prime Minister Zhao be selling out his country?” Wang momo’s question was full of ill intentions.

Yu Xiaoxiao just yawned. Although Zhao Qiuming wanted to be a citizen of Zhuri, the country looked down on him. “Let him do as he wants,” she told them. “No need to bother, he’ll screw himself over eventually.”

Currently, Zhao Qiuming had just been carried into a large room at the posthouse by his personal attendants. He was now faltering to pay his respects to Jing Mo.

“Forget it,” Jing Mo waved a careless hand. If the slave market’s traffickers were present, they’d recognize him as the same young nobleman they’d seen that afternoon.

Zhao Qiuming hastened to thank Jing Mo.

“I heard you were injured by Princess Linglong?” Jing Mo glanced at the bandage wrapped around the man’s head.

“Yes, it was all a misunderstanding,” Zhao Qiuming replied.

“Amusing. Princess Linglong actually knows martial arts,” Jing Mo said icily. “Doesn’t your Fengitan have any real men?”