After Disguising As A Woman To Marry The Foolish Prince, I Became Pregnant - Chapter 17

He Tianyun truly had not expected that the calming incense wouldn’t knock Zhu Man out. In an instant, his hair stood on end from the fright. He crumpled the letter into a ball, stuffed it among the gemstones, and then flattened his entire body over them, remaining motionless.

Zhu Man had indeed fallen asleep, but his mind had remained vaguely conscious of the need to call He Tianyun to bed. He had been holding on and hadn’t fallen into a deep sleep, so when He Tianyun tipped the items out, he knew he had to get up. However, his body refused to cooperate, and it took a long time before he could finally pry his eyelids open.

He only intended to urge him to come to bed; he hadn’t expected such a massive reaction. His interest was piqued instantly as he propped himself up from the bed to find him. “What are you doing?”

Pressing down on the pile of stones, He Tianyun didn’t dare move. He merely looked up at Zhu Man, seeing him rubbing his eyes and yawning, walking toward him with drifting steps. It was clear he was truly exhausted.

He Tianyun felt both anxious and amused, but he couldn’t show it. He could only keep the pile of gemstones covered and remain silent.

Zhu Man sat down at the table and reached out to pull his hand away, but He Tianyun shifted his body slightly to dodge him.

Zhu Man froze for a moment, then looked at the gemstones on the table and asked, “Do you like them that much?”

As he spoke, he reached for the stones on the table, but just as his hand extended, He Tianyun gathered the stones in front of him and continued to use his body as a shield to prevent him from taking them.

Zhu Man laughed out of pure exasperation. “You gave me one during the day, and now you won’t even let me touch them?”

He Tianyun continued to hold the pile of stones without speaking, his lips pouting high, looking entirely unwilling.

Zhu Man felt somewhat helpless. “Alright, I won’t take your things. Go back to sleep first, and you can come back to play tomorrow morning.”

He Tianyun curled his body even tighter, looking like he was prepared to defend his gemstones to the death.

Zhu Man possessed infinite patience for He Tianyun’s face. He asked in a soft, gentle voice, “Are you afraid someone will steal them?”

He Tianyun hesitated for a moment, then slowly nodded his head.

Zhu Man sighed. “These are the Prince’s things; no one would dare touch them here.” Having said that, seeing that He Tianyun still refused to move, he had no choice but to push the box that originally held the gems toward him. “Then put them back first and put them away safely.”

As he spoke, he moved to help, but He Tianyun pushed him away.

Zhu Man finally felt a spark of anger. His brows arched. “Are you going back or not?”

He Tianyun hesitated, then suddenly grabbed the object in his arms and stuffed it into his mouth.

Zhu Man had originally only intended to scare He Tianyun into stopping his late-night playing, but he never expected him to do such a thing. He stood stunned for a few breaths before letting out a piercing scream: “He Tianyun!! You can’t eat that!!!”

He immediately rushed forward to grab He Tianyun’s hand, but He Tianyun covered his mouth and refused to let go. Zhu Man truly couldn’t overcome He Tianyun’s strength, so he could only shout toward the outside: “Someone come quickly!”

The guards stationed outside immediately rushed in. Seeing the Princess Consort trying to pry open the Prince’s hands, they didn’t know what had happened and didn’t dare move recklessly.

Zhu Man said, “Come help pry the Prince’s hands open! He just ate a stone! Also, go call the doctor!”

Seeing the situation, He Tianyun covered his mouth and began running around the room.

Zhu Man and the two guards immediately gave chase. Unfortunately, He Tianyun was far too agile, and fearing they might hurt him, the two guards didn’t dare use too much force. By the time they caught him, there was nothing left in his mouth.

Zhu Man felt as if his vision was going black. “Where is the doctor?!”

“Here, I’m here!” Xu Yi’an ran over carrying his medicine box, still looking completely bewildered. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

Zhu Man said, “The Prince just ate a gemstone from the table!”

Xu Yi’an took a look; some of the stones hadn’t been carefully polished. He grew anxious as well. “It would be terrible if it scratches his throat!”

Thus followed another night of chaotic jumping and chickens flying. Even the imperial physicians from the palace were summoned, and things didn’t settle down until the middle of the night.

Although the examination confirmed he was fine, just to be safe, Xu Yi’an and an imperial physician remained in the room to keep watch.

Zhu Man was also drenched in a cold sweat from the scare. He sat nearby, lecturing He Tianyun: “If you don’t want to sleep, you can tell me. If you don’t want to give them to me, you can tell me. How could you do something so dangerous? You aren’t allowed to just put things in your mouth in the future, do you understand?”

Hearing this, He Tianyun began to laugh.

Zhu Man said crossly, “You’re still laughing!”

He Tianyun laughed even harder. This time, it wasn’t an act; he was genuinely laughing.

He wasn’t truly foolish. What he had stuffed into his mouth just now was the letter. He hadn’t actually wanted to scare Zhu Man like that, but he was only wearing a single layer of sleeping robes; hiding it on his person carried the risk of exposure. Eating it was the safest option. Furthermore, creating such a chaotic scene served to divert attention.

It was just that Zhu Man’s anxious and angry appearance was simply too cute.

Seeing him laugh like that, Zhu Man eventually followed suit and smiled. “If you laugh any more, I’ll spank your bottom!”

As soon as he finished speaking, He Tianyun leaned into his embrace and called out, “Princess Consort.”

His voice carried a smile, it wasn’t slurred, and it even held a hint of a doting tone, which left Zhu Man stunned.

He turned his head in confusion to look at him. “Hmm?”

He Tianyun didn’t give him a reaction but instead lowered his head and kissed him on the forehead.

Zhu Man smiled. “Did you learn that from Consort De?”

The action was very normal, much like a mother coaxing a child; Zhu Man didn’t think much of it at all.

He Tianyun also reacted, so he smiled and lowered his head again to kiss the space between his eyebrows, saying, “I want one too.”

Zhu Man had no choice but to prop himself up and mimic him, pressing his lips against his forehead.

It was soft.

He Tianyun raised a hand to touch his forehead, then touched Zhu Man’s lips. After thinking for a moment, he leaned in and gave them a very light bite.

Zhu Man immediately recoiled, hitting him playfully with a smile. “What are you making a fuss for? Go to sleep quickly.” As he spoke, he pressed the man down onto the bed, pulled over the quilt to cover him, and said softly, “Be good and go to sleep.”

He was treating him entirely like a child.

He Tianyun smiled and burrowed into his embrace like a child.

Zhu Man didn’t mind. He gently patted his back with one hand and soon fell asleep.

With He Tianyun causing such a scene, the palace was naturally alerted. Both Consort De and the Emperor sent people over, and they only left after confirming multiple times that he was fine. By the time Zhu Man and the others woke up, He Xiuxin and He Tianye had already been waiting in the front hall for a long time. Zhu Man had no choice but to quickly tidy up to explain the situation to them.

After seeing them off, he returned to find He Tianyun tinkering with his pile of stones again. This time, Zhu Man didn’t dare touch them, only saying, “You are absolutely not allowed to eat them again.”

He Tianyun smiled at him and meticulously selected a beautiful stone from the pile to hand to Zhu Man.

Zhu Man hesitated. “You’re willing to give it to me now?”

He Tianyun nudged the stone further toward him.

Only then did Zhu Man take it to look; it was a very beautiful emerald.

Zhu Man thanked him and was about to put it away when He Tianyun pulled at him.

He felt helpless. “You’re taking it back already?”

He Tianyun handed the stone to Du Pingniang, who was standing nearby.

Du Pingniang understood and smiled. “This servant will send it to the palace immediately to have them make it into jewelry for the Princess Consort.”

Zhu Man realized the intent and smiled. He walked over to look at the pile of gemstones and asked, “Then can I take one more?”

He Tianyun immediately covered the pile of stones with his body.

Zhu Man took half a step back.

Only then did He Tianyun release the stones. He carefully selected from within the pile again and picked out a blue sapphire with a clear color for him.

Zhu Man took it and understood He Tianyun’s meaning: he could ask for them, but he wasn’t allowed to touch them himself.

Amused, he put the stones away and coaxed him into packing the pile up to be put in the storehouse. However, He Tianyun refused, stubbornly holding onto his box. Just then, Qin Shanhe arrived, so he let it be.

Qin Shanhe brought several guards to carefully categorize and inventory all of his belongings, listing them in a ledger for Zhu Man to see.

His family was not a prominent household, so the dowry for his “daughter” wasn’t actually that much. However, the Noble Consort adored her son; the betrothal gifts sent over after the marriage was settled were immense. Adding the rewards bestowed by the royal family, aside from a small portion left at the Zhu residence, everything else had been brought over as part of the dowry, so there were many items.

Zhu Man remembered roughly what was there. He flipped through it, but the more he looked, the tighter his brow furrowed.

Items were missing.

Qin Shanhe noticed the abnormality and asked in a low voice, “Princess Consort, is there a problem?”

Zhu Man didn’t speak. He had Jingxin bring the original dowry ledger to give to Qin Shanhe.

Qin Shanhe compared them and also sensed something was wrong. He frowned. “Has there been a thief in the manor?”

He phrased it tactfully, but Zhu Man nodded and added a sentence: “An inside thief.”

However, it wasn’t surprising. He Tianyun wouldn’t manage things, Mother Du couldn’t manage everything, and as for Pan Fu…

Zhu Man lowered his head to sip his tea, sighing in his heart.

There was no telling how much of this was his handiwork.

“Princess Consort, how should we handle this?” Qin Shanhe asked.

Zhu Man looked at him. “If this were the Qin family, how would it be handled?”

Qin Shanhe smiled. “Naturally, we would report it to the officials, though few would dare try it in the first place.”

Zhu Man understood. The Qin family had a great business and a massive reputation. If it were small-scale petty theft, the local authorities wouldn’t dare be negligent if the case was handed to them. For more serious matters, given the Qin family’s methods, the culprits likely wouldn’t escape anyway. Unless someone was incredibly audacious, who would want to offend such a giant?

He thought for a moment and said, “Call everyone in the manor to the front hall. Not a single person should be missing.”

Qin Shanhe hesitated for a moment and reminded him, “Manager Pan is still the one in charge of the manor.”

Zhu Man said, “I know. Go ask him for the roster, then have him handle this matter. Tell him that in a moment, I will be checking people against the roster. Anyone who doesn’t show up simply doesn’t want to work here anymore.”

Qin Shanhe agreed and left.

Zhu Man then had Jingxin go fetch some money. He Tianyun sat beside him, looking at him with an expression full of curiosity.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Man couldn’t help but smile. He reached out to poke his cheek and then pointed at the box in his arms. “I’ll clean them up a bit. That way, you won’t have to worry about your stones being lost in the future, right?”

He Tianyun arched an eyebrow. In truth, he didn’t actually care about these few things; he had only acted “protective of his food” suddenly the night before to make amends so that Zhu Man wouldn’t think he was being rejected.

But seeing Zhu Man’s look of wanting to reassure him, he smiled and nudged his chair toward Zhu Man, leaning against him.

The feeling of being doted on by a wife was quite good.