After Disguising As A Woman To Marry The Foolish Prince, I Became Pregnant - Chapter 11

By the time the group returned to the Prince’s Mansion, it was already midday. There was no other reason for this than He Tianyun being far too restless; he kept sticking his head out of the window and insisted on stopping whenever he saw something interesting. It would have been a miracle if they had been fast.

Du Pingniang had expected this situation and did not ask many questions. She simply asked Zhu Man whether she wanted to rest for a while or eat first.

“Let’s eat first,” Zhu Man instructed. “Not too much, though; he ate quite a lot on the street today.”

Du Pingniang’s gaze lingered on Jingxin, who stood behind her, for a few moments, but she did not press further. She simply gave her assent and quickly had the servants prepare a table of food.

He Tianyun didn’t eat the meal either; instead, he took a piece of ciba (glutinous rice cake) he had bought on the street and began gnawing on it.

Zhu Man said helplessly, “Don’t eat that anymore. Eat some rice.”

He Tianyun ignored him, keeping his head down and gnawing with single-minded devotion.

Zhu Man had no choice but to ladle a bowl of soup for him, saying, “Then have some soup. Be careful not to choke.”

He Tianyun still ignored him. Zhu Man eventually gave up and lowered his head to eat his own food.

After a while, once the rice cake was finished, He Tianyun finally drank the soup and reached for other things to eat.

Although he had a large appetite, no matter how big it was, he couldn’t handle such reckless gorging. Sure enough, after finishing, He Tianyun began clamoring that his stomach was bloated and started throwing a tantrum, rolling around.

Zhu Man sighed, “Shall I rub your stomach for you?”

He Tianyun immediately ran over, grabbing Zhu Man’s hand and placing it on his belly.

Zhu Man pulled him over to sit on the daybed, rubbing his stomach while instructing Jingxin to prepare some digestive medicinal herbs to brew into tea.

It was only then that Du Pingniang asked her, “Where is Hua Jian? Why…”

“I let her stay at home,” Zhu Man said. “Previously, because Jingxin was ill, I brought Hua Jian along. Now that he has recovered, it’s more comfortable to use the one I’m accustomed to.”

Du Pingniang asked no more questions. She took Jingxin to the pharmacy, taking the opportunity to tell him a few things to watch out for.

It was also at this moment that Zhu Man noticed that during his days at the Prince’s Mansion, Du Pingniang rarely questioned his affairs—or more accurately, she knew what should be asked and what should not.

Previously, he had always thought it was because Du Pingniang was easy-going and because he was the Princess Consort, making it inappropriate to ask too much. Now that he thought about it, it seemed more like she had been instructed by someone.

“Princess Consort.” Seeing him dazed, He Tianyun reached out and pinched his cheek.

Zhu Man immediately snapped back to his senses and looked at him: “What is it?”

He Tianyun didn’t answer. Instead, he squeezed toward him and mimicked his actions, reaching out to rub Zhu Man’s stomach.

Zhu Man said, amused, “No need, I’m not overstuffed.”

But He Tianyun remained persistent in rubbing his stomach, so Zhu Man just let him be.

After a while, Jingxin returned with the brewed tea and handed it to Zhu Man.

Zhu Man gave it to He Tianyun and said, “Drink some.”

He Tianyun took it and had a sip. Finding it sweet and sour, he liked it, so he held the cup and began drinking.

“Where is Nanny Du?” Zhu Man asked Jingxin.

Jingxin couldn’t pinch his voice to sound like a woman as Zhu Man could, so he simply shook his head. He walked to Zhu Man’s side and whispered in his ear in an extremely low voice: “Someone came looking for her. I didn’t speak just now, only nodded and shook my head. She didn’t ask further.”

The meaning was clear: Du Pingniang actually didn’t find this strange behavior suspicious.

Zhu Man confirmed his suspicions, nodded to him, and said no more.

This was the one thing Jingxin was better at than Hua Jian; he was clever enough that not only did one not have to worry about him, but he could even provide a few surprises.

He rubbed He Tianyun’s stomach for a while longer. Seeing him grow drowsy, he asked if he wanted to sleep.

He Tianyun nodded, but he refused to go alone, insisting on dragging Zhu Man along. Zhu Man had no choice but to go with him.

The Prince’s Mansion in the afternoon was very quiet. In the room, there was no sound other than the occasional rustle of movement from the bed.

Zhu Man couldn’t sleep, so he stared blankly with his eyes open. He waited until He Tianyun fell asleep before getting up again, sitting at the table, and pouring a glass of water.

After a while, Jingxin returned. Zhu Man handed him the water and asked, “How is it?”

Jingxin didn’t answer. Instead, he went to the bedside to take a look, and only after confirming He Tianyun was truly asleep did he return, saying softly, “The guards are very loose. We can leave at any time.”

“Are you sure?”

Jingxin nodded. “We can just slip out through the back door. If that doesn’t work, we’ll climb the wall.”

At the mention of climbing walls, Zhu Man’s head ached. “Can you carry me over directly?”

“My light-body skills aren’t that good,” Jingxin said. “But we can still climb a tree to get out. Don’t worry, I’m not as clumsy as Hua Jian.”

Zhu Man laughed, “Stop picking on Hua Jian all the time.”

“I’m telling the truth.” Jingxin curled his lip. “If she hadn’t been so clumsy, who knows where we’d be by now.”

Zhu Man sighed and stopped scolding him, lowering his head to continue drinking tea.

He Tianyun slept for over an hour before waking up. Even when he woke, he didn’t get up; he just lay on the bed playing with a Lu Ban lock, behaving quite peacefully.

After a while, Du Pingniang came in with some fruit, saying, “This was sent from the palace.”

Zhu Man was stunned for a moment. “Someone from the palace is here?”

Du Pingniang nodded and said gently, “The Prince hasn’t entered the palace for these past few days, and Her Ladyship misses him dearly. She sent someone to fetch him. It’s estimated he will stay there tonight. Does the Princess Consort wish to enter the palace together?”

Zhu Man’s brows furrowed instantly. After hesitating for a moment, he shook his head. “Can I not go?”

Du Pingniang smiled. “Of course. Then this servant will go wake the Prince.”

As she spoke, she walked to the bedside and explained the situation to He Tianyun.

When He Tianyun heard he was going to the palace to see his Imperial Mother, he immediately scrambled up. He grabbed two toys from the drawer, stuffed them into his robe, got off the bed, and came over to pull at Zhu Man: “Princess Consort, go to palace, see Mother.”

Zhu Man shook his head at him. “I won’t be going. You go with Nanny.”

He Tianyun’s brow furrowed, appearing to hesitate.

Zhu Man persuaded him, “Haven’t you not seen your Imperial Mother for a long time? Go quickly. I’ll be here in the mansion…” As he spoke, he paused, and for some reason, changed his words: “Your Imperial Mother misses you too.”

Hearing this, He Tianyun agonized for a good while before finally nodding reluctantly. Holding his toys, he left with Du Pingniang.

Once they were gone, Jingxin asked in a low voice, “Young Master, why didn’t you coax the Prince?”

Zhu Man lowered his eyes and shook his head very slightly. “I didn’t want to lie to him.”

Jingxin sensed something strange in his tone and asked, “Are we… tonight?”

Zhu Man nodded.

He had been thinking about when would be the best time to leave; he hadn’t expected someone to hand him a pillow just as he was dozing off. The person in charge wouldn’t be back until tomorrow morning—and if they were lucky, perhaps not until noon. That was enough time for them to run very far away.

Jingxin immediately beamed. It was wonderful to be able to leave. He didn’t want to wear these clothes for another second; it felt incredibly awkward.

Zhu Man wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He stayed in the East Courtyard until he finished dinner before returning to his own courtyard.

His things had been packed previously, so now he was just putting back the items he had taken out. This time he wasn’t so flagrant; besides clothing, he only took his jewelry box.

Jingxin, on the other hand, saw him taking so little when he entered the room and felt a bit reluctant: “There are quite a few good things in this room.”

“Manman still has several chests of gold and silver over there,” Zhu Man said helplessly. “We don’t need this little bit. Don’t waste time, let’s go.”

Jingxin had no choice but to give up with regret. He reached out to take the jewelry box from Zhu Man’s arms and led the way toward the back door.

He had already gone out to check; there was only one guard at the back door, and he was dozing off. He had simply knocked the man out and tossed him aside.

Zhu Man felt a sudden headache. “When he wakes up tomorrow and tells the others, won’t it be over?”

“No, at most he’ll just think he really fell asleep,” Jingxin said. “Don’t worry, I’m very experienced at this.”

Hearing his boastful tone, Zhu Man didn’t know what there was to be proud of. He sighed, “Let’s go.”

Jingxin gave a reply and immediately ran to open the door.

Zhu Man followed closely behind. The thought that they were truly leaving this time inevitably made him a bit nervous.

Just as Jingxin was pulling the door bolt, he suddenly stopped and barked toward a certain direction: “Who is it?!”

The sudden turn of events startled Zhu Man. He hurriedly looked over and saw two people standing under a tree not far away. One was a woman holding a lantern, her head slightly lowered. The lamplight reflected on her face; she was looking at him with eyes that were completely devoid of ripples.

And the man standing beside her was dressed in magnificent robes, his long hair fluttering gently in the night wind. His face was hidden in the darkness and couldn’t be seen clearly, but from the silhouette, Zhu Man could tell who it was.

“He Tianyun, Nanny Du… you… how could you…”

He was momentarily speechless, stammering “you” for a long while without knowing what to say. Du Pingniang, however, crinkled her eyes and explained: “The Prince couldn’t find the Princess Consort and threw a fit, refusing to sleep. Her Ladyship had no choice but to let us come to fetch the Princess Consort to the palace.” Her tone was gentle and smiling, as if she completely failed to see what he was preparing to do.

In that instant, Zhu Man suddenly felt a surge of terror.

It wasn’t because his escape had been discovered, but because of this abnormal situation and the memories of his two days and nights in the mansion, as well as his previous escape attempt.

Had Du Pingniang known all along? Was bringing He Tianyun here tonight intentional as well?

He instinctively looked to the side and saw that He Tianyun had already walked toward him. He stopped right in front of him and called out “Princess Consort” in a very light, low voice. His tone sounded somewhat aggrieved.

Zhu Man pursed his lips, a bit of guilt rising in his heart.

He hadn’t stayed in the Prince’s Mansion for long, but He Tianyun had been quite good to him. Although he was foolish, he was foolish in a sincere and lovely way. Now that He Tianyun knew he wanted to sneak away, he would surely be very sad.

In the darkness, he reached out his hand, following the faint light to touch He Tianyun’s face, wanting to offer some comfort.

At that moment, Du Pingniang approached with the lantern.

The warm light also swayed onto He Tianyun’s face as she drew near, adding a gentle glow to his eyes and illuminating his currently reddened eye rims.

Zhu Man was instantly stunned.

He Tianyun was… crying?