Chapter 38

Lin Wei Xi arranged a time for all the servants in the residence to pay their respects to her in Jingcheng Courtyard. From 1pm onwards, she sat in the main hall. The servants formed groups of five, kowtowed to her in batches, then stated their name and responsibilities. The entire Residence was complicated and enormous, and she sat there until 5pm before meeting everyone.

Being the mistress wasn’t easy, especially for a colossal household like the Prince Yan Residence. It wasn’t a small number for a few hundred people to work and operate together simultaneously. It required the mistress in charge to be skilled in household management and organization. Not only did Lin Wei Xi summon all the servants in the residence to put on a show of having them introduce themselves, but also to make clear her status as Princess Consort to the entire residence. The sky was already dark by the time she finished suffering through the whole thing. Lin Wei Xi had kept her waist taut the entire afternoon, so her back felt sore. Especially because she’d slept late the night before, her back was already aching. She’d spent the whole afternoon sitting today, so she was beaten and exhausted.

Wan Xing and Wan Yue promptly supported her inside to take a rest. It was only when she collapsed onto the soft coach that she felt a little better. She didn’t bother to massage her waist, and quickly asked, “what about the Prince? Is he still inside?”

“Yes.”

Lin Wei Xi glanced at the East side room and she couldn’t help the smile that floated on her face. The process today was something she had to go through with. Compared to how important it was, her body aches were not worth mentioning. Things of course went without a hitch today because she’d used a carrot and stick method with Granny Bu that morning. But the biggest reason was Prince Yan.

With Prince Yan sitting in the East side room, who would dare make trouble? Lin Wei Xi had summoned the servants to the main hall, disciplining and admonishing them, so it was quite noisy. But Prince Yan endured it and stayed in the side room to read. Although he didn’t say anything, he would prefer silence over the noise. So his position on the matter undoubtedly deterred everyone from making trouble, supporting Lin Wei Xi to the public.

Lin Wei Xi felt at ease and didn’t bother having Wan Xing massage her waist. Instead, she happily walked straight to the side room. As soon as she opened the door, she sweetly called out, “my Prince.”

Gu Hui Yan smiled unconsciously, “Are you finished?”

“Yes.” She quickly walked towards him. She thought of sitting next to him, but remembered what had happened that afternoon. In the end, she turned at the last minute and sat down properly opposite Gu Hui Yan. “I must’ve disturbed your reading today. I’ll have to thank you, my Prince.”

For some reason, Gu Hui Yan felt sorry seeing Lin Wei Xi do this. He suppressed this small peculiar feeling and said to her, “You talked and met the servants all afternoon. I’m concerned that your body isn’t able to hold out much longer. Let’s have dinner first, then you should rest early.”

Lin Wei Xi smiled heavily, “did you hear… what I said this afternoon? Did it disturb you?”

“No, you didn’t.” Gu Hui Yan said as he smiled softly. Lin Wei Xi didn’t really believe it. She looked at his kind expression and grew increasingly dismayed, “You definitely heard it. I can’t say for sure if you’re secretly laughing at me.”

“You really didn’t.” Gu Hui Yan couldn’t help laughing, the light shining in his eyes was amazingly bright, “Although you’re fierce when you scold others, you never find trouble with nothing. It’s reasonable and well-founded, plus there’s a cause. As long as I’m not on the receiving end, it’s actually quite pleasant to listen to.”

Anyone whose admonishment was described as “pleasant to hear” wouldn’t be happy. Lin Wei Xi was so angry that she glared at Gu Hui Yan and turned her back on him, feeling wronged. His laughter sounded more delighted. Seeing her back grow stiff, he stopped teasing her and got up to support her shoulders as they walked out, “Okay, don’t be angry. Let’s have dinner first.”

Prince Yan himself was supporting her, so she found it hard to refuse. After he held her shoulders, almost taking her whole body in his arms, she found it even more difficult to break free. She awkwardly sat at the dining table, using more force than necessary when taking her food. Did he think that she’d so easily forget, what was it that was so pleasant to listen to? She was the Princess Consort. The servants who were being reprimanded ought to feel intimidated. Prince Yan actually said that it was pleasant to listen to her reprimanding?

She would rather die than be insulted like this. She couldn’t take it.

Gu Hui Yan watched Lin Wei Xi forcefully vent her anger on the food. His gaze was soft and overflowing with amusement. He’d said today that he didn’t need a hobby, but it looked like he would need to change that. It seemed like he had found a new hobby.

The residence’s custom was for each person to arrange their own lunch every day, but for everyone to have dinner together. There used to be three people in the Residence. Gu Hui Yan often stayed at the imperial court in the afternoon and didn’t return to the residence for lunch. He didn’t even necessarily make it for dinner so most of the time, it was just Gu Cheng Yao and Gao Ran themselves dining together. Now that Gao Ran’s hand was injured, they couldn’t expect her to serve the meal with her wound, so she was exempted from dinner. Gu Cheng Yao and Gao Ran would eat in their courtyard by themselves. If this were in the past, Gu Hui Yan would most probably have to eat alone. But now that Lin Wei Xi was here, it truly felt warmer even though there was just one more person to accompany him.

No wonder his subordinates and colleagues were always nagging him to remarry. Gu Hui Yan never felt it necessary. His life wouldn’t change if he had a Princess Consort so why go through the trouble? But he now realized that this was how it felt like to have someone who cared about him and accompanied him.

Although Lin Wei Xi was still angry at him, it didn’t mean that her observational skills she’d developed over the years had disappeared. She found that Gu Hui Yan wasn’t picky with food, but he completely didn’t touch the fish in the middle of the table. She was surprised. Granny Bu and Gu Cheng Yao both said that Prince Yan loved fish, shrimps and other seafood. But from her observation, that wasn’t the case?

Granny Bu was Princess Consort Shen’s dowry maid who had been with her for many years. As Prince Yan’s first wife, did she really not remember what he liked to eat? Not to mention if Gu Cheng Yao, as the only son, couldn’t remember what his father liked to eat, then it was pretty suspicious.

Lin Wei Xi observed him quietly for a while, then asked Wan Yue to scoop her a bowl of fish soup before asking, “my Prince, do you want fish soup?”

Gu Hui Yan merely glanced faintly at her and replied, “no need. You can drink it if you want.”

Lin Wei Xi took a sip and said, “It’s a bit fishy. My Prince, I don’t like this kind of fish. Why don’t we take it away?”

“Alright.” His expression didn’t change at all. Clearly he didn’t care.

Very good. Lin Wei Xi was sure that Gu Hui Yan really didn’t like fish. This was strange. Granny Bu could’ve deliberately told her what Prince Yan disliked in order to mislead her, but in her previous life, Gu Cheng Yao had no reason to lie to her, right? She bit on the vegetables. What was wrong with this family? The son and the servants had gotten Prince Yan’s preferences flipped, but he himself didn’t say anything about it and let the mistakes continue. This kind of thing could obviously be found out if they cared even a little bit to ask.

Lin Wei Xi tilted her head and thought about it, but still couldn’t figure out where Gu Cheng Yao’s ridiculous misunderstanding came from.

After the meal, Lin Wei Xi rested for a moment before taking a bath. After she came out, she went through the trouble to brush her hair and take good care of her skin. It was late by the time she was finished. She was a little embarrassed, but fortunately, she was the mother-in-law and she didn’t need to wake up early the next day to pay her respects. Otherwise if she were a daughter-in-law, with this kind of attitude, she’d be late in paying her respects to her husband’s parents every day.

Lin Wei Xi stood at the door and whispered, “my Prince, I’m done.”

Gu Hui Yan put down his book to see Lin Wei Xi with her jet-black hair let down, steam faintly lingering on her fair and delicate skin. Under the dim yellow light, she looked like a lotus appearing out of the water, her beauty otherworldly.

The more delicate the porcelain was, the more time it took to maintain it. This was clearly an accurate description of Lin Wei Xi. However, with her looking so soft and gentle, standing by the door and tenderly calling him “my Prince”, was there any point in taking a bath?

Gu Hui Yan told himself that she was one generation younger than him. He’d promised Lin Yong that he’d take care of his daughter and initially agreed to marry Lin Wei Xi in order to take care of her. How could he be praised for being a wise military leader but fail as he was about to succeed.

His adam’s apple bobbed up and down. In the end, he looked away with much restraint and said to Lin Wei Xi, “You’ve worked hard all afternoon. Why don’t you sleep early.”

“Ok.” Lin Wei Xi also really wanted to sleep, but her husband was still outside. How could she just go to bed by herself? So she looked at Gu Hui Yan with damp eyes and said, “my Prince, it’s late. You ought to sleep too.”

Gu Hui Yan clenched his fist twice and put down the book, walking into the room. Lin Wei Xi was very happy when she saw him walk in. She blew out the candles in the bedroom, leaving only the last lampstand lit. She then turned around and looked at him sincerely, “my Prince, why are you still standing there?”

He watched her silently and admired himself in the moment, “pass the lampstand to me. You can go to sleep first.”

Lin Wei Xi passed the lampstand to him, reassured. She walked to the Arhat bed and comfortably laid in the embroidered quilt. Gu Hui Yan stood in the bedroom for a moment, half shrouded in shadow. After he  calmed down, he walked into the room.

Yet, he entered the room to see Lin Wei Xi get up in a daze, her voice floating over, “my Prince, you’re back.”

Her voice was refreshing, but it took on a delicate edge as he rounded the corner. On a normal day, he already enjoyed listening to it. Now that she was half-awake, her words made him feel like melting.

His eyes unconsciously darkened, “Why are you not asleep yet?”

“I’m waiting for you.”

Gu Hui Yan was silent. Just how much did she trust him? As the saying goes, something shouldn’t be done three times in a row, so he decided to let nature take its course. He sat on the edge of the bed and helped her lie down, his voice hoarse, “go to sleep if you’re sleepy.”

She gave a soft “yes” but she continued to stare at him without moving. She was so sleepy, to the point that the mist filled her eyes. When someone was looking at him so intently like that, even a saint wouldn’t be able to hold himself back.

Furthermore, Gu Hui Yan wasn’t a saint. He leaned over and brushed his fingers against her cheek. His voice unconsciously carried a hint of slyness, “Xi’er, are you very sleepy?”

Lin Wei Xi didn’t know the reason behind this question and whispered, “I’m fine.”

“That’s good.”

Before she could think about the meaning behind this sentence, she was plunged into a vast ocean. She was actually quite scared of this kind thing. She didn’t have much experience in her previous life, and it had been really hurt the previous night. She didn’t understand why books on this kind of thing described it as a blissful feeling. But before she could say anything today, all resistance was drowned out by the huge waves. After she settled down with much difficulty, Lin Wei Xi was already trembling from head to toe, tears drenching her eyelashes.

Gu Hui Yan carried her to take a simple wash, then carried her back to the bed. her body ached and she couldn’t keep her eyes open the entire time, so she naturally let him handle her. After tidying everything, he laid on the outer side of the bed and patted her quilt somewhat guiltily, “good girl. Come sleep.”

Lin Wei Xi angrily humphed to herself. She didn’t even have the strength to move her fingers. She leaned on her side with her legs slightly bent and her hands on the side of her face, looking very pitiful. She didn’t have a good sleeping posture, and after looking at it for a while, Gu Hui Yan couldn’t resist trying to correct it.

After many years in the military, he had developed an obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Gu Hui Yan tried his best to fix Lin Wei Xi’s posture without disturbing her. In order to sleep properly, her legs needed to be straight. She was half-conscious as she slept. When she felt him rearranging her sleeping posture, it was the last straw. Had he not just moved her back and forth in that kind of position, so why hadn’t he tried to fix her posture then? Lin Wei Xi was very angry but she really didn’t have any strength, so she simply wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned her head against his shoulder, her voice barely inaudible, “stop that. I’m going to sleep like this.”

Gu Hui Yan’s hand stiffened. He paused for a moment before reaching out to support her waist with much restraint. Alright, so be it.