After Transmigrating as the White Lotus Crown Princess - Chapter 14

Mu Jinyu dreamed for half the night, and in his dreams, Ning Huan was constantly kissing him.

Originally, Mu Jinyu loathed kissing; he felt that pressing lips together was too sticky and messy, enough to give one goosebumps just looking at it. Once, in a Prince’s manor, he had seen a girl feed Prince Rui wine mouth-to-mouth while Prince Rui’s wretched hands groped her. That scene had disgusted Mu Jinyu so much he couldn’t eat for three days.

But in the dream, Mu Jinyu couldn’t help but want to embrace Ning Huan. The only regret was that his hands wouldn’t move; the moment he tried, his wrists would throb with pain.

Before dawn, A-Xi woke Mu Jinyu up; he still had to attend the morning court session today. Mu Jinyu opened his eyes angrily, only to find that his hands were not in Ning Huan’s embrace today. Ning Huan had somehow found a clothing sash and tied Mu Jinyu’s hands together—and tied them quite tightly. There were even red marks on Mu Jinyu’s wrists from the binding.

He nudged Ning Huan with his knee: “Untie me.”

Ning Huan lazily opened one eye to glance at him, then immediately closed it again: “Have A-Xi untie you.”

He was still drowsy and didn’t want to move a muscle.

Mu Jinyu was a man who prized his reputation above all else. In this household, he was the one who stood high and mighty, while Ning Huan was supposed to be the gentle, submissive little wife. How could he let A-Xi find out that Ning Huan had bound his hands?

Mu Jinyu nudged Ning Huan again: “I want you to do it.”

Ning Huan’s head throbbed with annoyance. He hadn’t slept well for two or three days. Instead of figuring out how to kill the Emperor and become a tyrant, Mu Jinyu seemed more interested in pestering him every day.

He opened his eyes and leaned in toward Mu Jinyu.

Mu Jinyu looked down and saw Ning Huan’s face just as he had woken up; his skin was like pear blossom petals, and his lips were pale red, like peach blossoms—soft to the eye. When his long eyelashes lowered, his whole being carried a sense of gentleness.

Ning Huan’s hands were also beautiful. They didn’t look like the soft, delicate hands that held embroidery needles; his fingers were much longer than a typical woman’s, suited for writing or playing the zither—or perhaps, they were even well-suited for gripping a sword.

Ning Huan’s two hands grasped Mu Jinyu’s wrists.

Mu Jinyu’s heart rate accelerated. He wanted Ning Huan to untie the sash, but why was Ning Huan gripping his wrists like that? Was he feeling sorry for the red marks left by the sash?

Suddenly, a “crack” sounded. With a forceful yank, Ning Huan snapped the tightly woven sash in two, and even the skin on Mu Jinyu’s wrists was scraped raw.

Ning Huan spoke indifferently: “There, it’s done.”

He lay back down and went back to sleep.

Mu Jinyu hadn’t expected that besides being tall, Ning Huan possessed such great strength. Given Mu Jinyu’s current physical condition, if the two of them ever got into a fight, it was hard to say who would win.

A-Xi watched as the Crown Prince crawled out from the bed curtains in a daze. The Prince’s clothes were disheveled, and he looked as if he had been struck by lightning.

Even as he mounted his horse, Mu Jinyu still hadn’t fully reacted. His wrists were still throbbing with a dull pain; he felt as if Ning Huan had nearly dislocated them.

After the palace gates opened, Mu Jinyu entered in a trance. The supervisory officials were watching to see which ministers were disheveled or performing poorly; they specifically came to observe if the Crown Prince was still coughing. As it turned out, the Prince entered without uttering a single sound.

Last night, an urgent secret report had arrived at the palace: the Fengdan tribe had invaded three northern provinces, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of civilians and plundering all livestock and grain.

Over the past decade, the Fengdan had offended the Luo Dynasty dozens of times, but previously it was just Fengdan nobles snatching some women or cattle. This year, the weather was exceptionally cold. Last month, Mu Jinyu had submitted a memorial advising the Emperor to be wary of the Fengdan, but the Emperor hadn’t taken the small tribes to heart and hadn’t expected them to actually dare invade Luo territory.

In the court, different officials held different views; the pro-peace and pro-war factions argued incessantly.

The Emperor scanned the officials below with majesty: “The Fengdan have slaughtered over a hundred thousand of my Great Luo’s subjects. Blindly seeking peace and retreating will only make them think we are easy to bully. Qiongzhou has already been occupied; once they cross the Yu River, they will invade the Central Plains.”

“But,” some officials countered, “we currently lack warhorses and our troop strength is tight. It is truly not the time for a major conflict with the Fengdan.”

The debate lasted for an hour. When court was dismissed, several trusted ministers stayed behind to continue discussing with the Emperor. As the heir, Mu Jinyu should have stayed to join the council, but he was dismissed by the Emperor instead.

Upon returning, Mu Jinyu found some safflower oil to rub on his wrists. They were stinging with pain; Ning Huan’s move this morning had been far too ruthless. Had he known, he would have just let A-Xi do it.

Mu Jinyu’s secret agents had brought him news last month that the Fengdan were eyeing Qiongzhou. Winter had come exceptionally early for them, and a great snow in September had killed countless livestock; they were coveting the grain within Qiongzhou. Mu Jinyu had submitted a memorial then, but the Emperor hadn’t cared at all.

Now, he only needed to stand by and wait for his opportunity. He was the heir and his health was currently poor; unless the Emperor wanted to completely break ties with the Empress’s clan, he wouldn’t be sent out to fight. Furthermore, Mu Jinyu believed the Emperor was unwilling to relinquish military power to him anyway.

He walked through the garden, where the plum blossoms were in full bloom. Die Qing approached with two maids: “Your Highness, the Crown Princess wishes to pick some plum blossoms from the garden.”

Ning Huan was bold, but the maids under him were timid, not even daring to look Mu Jinyu in the eye. Mu Jinyu said coldly: “If ‘she’ wants to pick them, then pick them.”

Die Qing didn’t mention that they had actually started picking them two days ago.

Passing the plum forest, they drew closer to the Qinfang Pavilion. Wherever the Crown Prince appeared, the people of the Qinfang Pavilion would naturally seek news immediately. After a while, a concubine appeared carrying a basin of freshly washed clothes. She had delicate features and was dressed beautifully. As she approached, her hands “slipped,” the wooden basin hit the ground, and she knelt pitifully: “This servant greets Your Highness.”

She deliberately tilted her face up so the Prince could see her.

Mu Jinyu was used to looking at Ning Huan; now, everyone else looked a bit ugly to him. He wanted to leave impatiently, but the concubine said delicately: “This servant can no longer carry the basin. Could Your Highness escort this servant back?”

Mu Jinyu was furious: If she can’t carry it, can he? His wrists had just been injured by Ning Huan.

His eyes narrowed, and he said sinisterly: “Since you cannot hold it, then these hands should be cut off. A-Xi, cut off her hands.”

A-Xi said: “This servant forgot to bring a knife.”

Mu Jinyu let out a cold snort: “Go back and get one.”

On the way back, A-Xi saw Ning Huan holding several plum branches and couldn’t help but salute and chatter for a bit. Hearing A-Xi’s words, Ning Huan’s brow furrowed: “What?”

A-Xi had no choice; he shrugged: “That concubine was sent by His Majesty. The Crown Prince seems dissatisfied with His Majesty. Sigh, it’ll be a mess to clean up all that blood on the ground.”

Ning Huan asked: “Where is the Crown Prince?”

A-Xi pointed in a direction.

Ning Huan knew Mu Jinyu wasn’t a normal person. The storybook had written this as an absurd tale, meant to satisfy the dark power-fantasies of a certain audience; Mu Jinyu himself was the personification of power. In the early stages, cutting off hands and feet was one thing, but in the later stages, his actions became even more insane.

Now that Mu Jinyu was sleeping beside him every night, the thought of his bed-partner being a cold-blooded madman… Ning Huan walked straight over.

The concubine had been scared pale by Mu Jinyu, spilling everything like beans from a jar: “…His Majesty sent me to monitor you, but I can never even see you, so I haven’t reported anything.”

A trace of blood-red glinted in Mu Jinyu’s eyes, and the smile on his lips was icy: “Oh? If you were by my side, you could report every day? Who are you reporting to? Who passes it higher?”

The concubine quickly named several people, then pleaded bitterly: “Your Highness, please do not cut off my hands!”

Mu Jinyu asked: “Can you carry the basin now?”

The concubine quickly knelt and picked it up.

Mu Jinyu let out a series of cold sneers: “For lying to me just now, I want to pull out your tongue.”

The concubine’s head was ringing; she was on the verge of fainting.

“Your Highness.”

A familiar voice came, and Mu Jinyu felt his wrists throbbing again. He quickly turned back to look.

Ning Huan was wearing a pale purple gown today with a moon-white cloak. His posture was like a pine or bamboo, and his jade-like face wore no makeup, yet he possessed more charm than the plum blossoms in his arms.

Mu Jinyu snorted: “What are you doing here?”

“Medicine has been brewed at Lixue Hall. Your Highness should return to rest and drink a bowl,” Ning Huan said calmly. “Did she offend you? Just send her to a country estate to do labor.”

Mu Jinyu only knew that Ning Huan’s food was good, but he didn’t know how the medicine would taste. He snorted: “Fine.”

Upon reaching Lixue Hall, Mu Jinyu discovered the medicine wasn’t finished yet. While Ning Huan used silver scissors to trim the flower branches and arrange the plum blossoms in a ceramic jar, he asked: “The Crown Prince seems unhappy. Did something happen at court?”

Mu Jinyu stared at him for a moment and recounted the morning’s events.

Ning Huan knew Mu Jinyu was about to be put through the wringer again. In the original story, when the Fengdan invaded, the Emperor originally intended for peace, but in the end, he sent Mu Jinyu out specifically to wait for him to die in battle before seeking peace again.

Mu Jinyu was a military talent, but the grain was insufficient and the winter clothing was lacking. Mu Jinyu led his soldiers in the northern border to freeze and starve, nearly dying. To ensure he didn’t survive, the Emperor even had spies reveal his location to the rebels.

After returning from the brink of death, Mu Jinyu’s psyche became even more twisted.

The medicine was brewed and brought over. Mu Jinyu felt a headache just smelling it and even felt waves of nausea in his stomach. He was disappointed; it seemed Ning Huan’s medicine was no different from anywhere else.

He wanted to find an excuse to leave.

Ning Huan took the medicine from the maid’s hand and habitually used a spoon to stir it. Mu Jinyu was about to stand up, but in the end, he sat back down because he saw Ning Huan looked as if he intended to feed him personally.

Ning Huan instinctively blew on the medicine, the white steam curling. His eyelashes seemed slightly moistened, and amidst the bitter medicinal air, he looked very sweet.

Mu Jinyu’s eyes didn’t blink as he watched Ning Huan. He saw Ning Huan’s mind drift; he didn’t know what Ning Huan was thinking.

A maid brought a tray of small snacks. They were honey-preserved plum blossoms. The plum blossoms were naturally fragrant, and red petals were soaked in snowy white linden honey. The honey crystallized easily and had been rolled into small spheres; the red petals and white honey contrasted beautifully, looking even more sweet and fragrant.

Ning Huan handed him the medicine: “Crown Prince, drink it.”

Mu Jinyu ate one honey-preserved plum blossom. A rich sweetness dissolved in his mouth—not the simple sweetness of sugar water, but a layered, fragrant sweetness. The plum blossoms had a slight tartness and astringency, so it wasn’t cloying. He took a sip of medicine and then ate one honey ball, and before he knew it, he had finished the whole bowl. After finishing, he wanted to reach for another honey ball.

Ning Huan, however, handed the plate back to Die Qing: “Take it away. You can have more next time you drink your medicine.”

Mu Jinyu: “When is the next time I drink medicine?”

Ning Huan spoke casually: “Tomorrow.”