Chapter 1532 - 822: How Old Are You? (Double-Length)

Now it ended up being him who looked awkward and embarrassed.

As Chen Yi got into the carriage, the paper figure had already flicked the reins. Listless, Wu Shiju came back to himself and asked, "Young Master, by your words, do you mean…"

Chen Yi frowned slightly, thinking this old scholar was far too annoying. He lifted the curtain and dropped a sentence: "Since you can dress it up so nicely, why don't you just leave Han King someday and help Prince Zhou, who understands Han law, onto the throne."

Wu Shiju seemed to freeze again, unable for a moment to find anywhere to argue back from.

Chen Yi let the curtain fall. Just then, the old scholar stepped forward and spoke in a low voice,

"To tell the truth, I once had that intention, only I heard…"

Wu Shiju paused, then lowered his voice further and said:

"The Crown Prince… has a hidden ailment… he cannot get it up."

......…

......…

Chen Yi sat inside the carriage, his back against the wall of the compartment, gaze resting on the opposite window.

Donggong Ruoshu was currently leaning over the carriage window, half her body sticking out a little, curiously taking in the street scenery streaming backward along the way. Once out of the city, the road was no longer lined with ward walls and houses, but with lush, verdant trees. Sunlight poured through gaps in the leaves, scattering onto her body as flickering, dancing spots of light. Her figure was already slender and graceful to begin with; in that posture now, her waist looked even more slim, the curves even more supple.

Chen Yi watched her, but his eyes were somewhat unfocused. His thoughts were not wholly on the person and view before him, but on Wu Shiju's last words.

He truly had never considered that a Crown Prince of a realm, whose status was so exalted, would have such an unspeakable defect. If this were true, it would indeed be a grave hidden danger that could shake the foundation of the state, no wonder Han King Yu Wen Yuan and those "virtuous princes" behind him would start harboring other ideas, and no wonder an old scholar like Wu Shiju would serve Yu Wen Yuan so wholeheartedly.

Yet after all, this was only Wu Shiju's one-sided story, perhaps even just some irresponsible rumor.

Chen Yi's gaze refocused on Donggong Ruoshu's back, and his heart suddenly stirred.

He pondered for a moment, then casually asked, "Miss Donggong, this year… how old are you?"

Donggong Ruoshu was engrossed in watching. Hearing him, she froze for a moment, pulled her body back in from outside the window, turned her head, a bit of puzzlement on her face. She blinked and answered quite naturally, "How can a woman's blooming age be casually revealed to a man?"

There was not much shyness in her tone, more like she was stating a rule she'd heard somewhere.

Chen Yi considered, his eyes turning slightly, then gave Yin Weiyin, sitting beside him, a meaningful look.

Yin Weiyin had been quietly sitting with eyes closed, as if resting. Now that she caught Chen Yi's signal, she slowly opened her eyes, let her gaze rest on Donggong Ruoshu's face for a moment, and asked:

"Miss Donggong, how many years have you seen?"

Donggong Ruoshu answered at once, "I'm twenty-one, twenty-two if you count by nominal age."

Twenty-one, nominally twenty-two.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi did a quick calculation in his mind.

In this life, his first encounter with Donggong Ruoshu had been in the Great Yu Capital City, and at that time she had been just sixteen. That was no age for still being kept at home; in another two or three years she would be considered an old maiden in others' mouths.

Ancient women married early. In ordinary households, it was common to arrange a match at twelve or thirteen and wed at fourteen or fifteen. In noble families it might be a bit later, but mostly they would fix a marriage and consummate it soon after the hairpin ceremony. Back then, it was with this in mind that Chen Yi had not felt even a shred of guilt about consummating with the Little Fox. He was already being considerate—there were places where girls would be married off just into their teens.

As for Donggong Ruoshu, a legitimate daughter of the Chen Family, her betrothal to the Crown Prince of Western Jin must have been arranged very early, probably when she was still a child.

Yet by the time she turned sixteen, not only had she not married, she had actually managed to escape marriage from under the supervision of the Western Jin Royal Family, wandering all the way until she finally fled to Great Yu.

Why would a Crown Prince in the prime of life, of exalted status, delay for so long in bringing home his Crown Princess Consort, who had long been betrothed and whose status matched his? If one said it was due to discord between the two families, the Chen Family had always been a Han-law lineage of Western Jin, highly valued by Emperor Jianji. If one said the Crown Prince did not fancy her, political marriages had nothing to do with fancy or dislike.

Chen Yi's eyes narrowed slightly.

It seemed what Wu Shiju had said… might well be true.

A Crown Prince unable to beget heirs had an inherently unstable position.

The Imperial Family might do their utmost to conceal it, but as time went on—especially when faced with the inevitable realities of marriage—paper could not keep fire hidden forever. And perhaps it was precisely for this reason that Emperor Jianji had turned a blind eye to Donggong Ruoshu's "runaway marriage."

Donggong Ruoshu seemed not to notice Chen Yi's momentary surge of thoughts. After answering her age and seeing that neither of them said anything more, she turned her head back and once again busied herself enjoying the greenery outside the window.

Outside the carriage, the mountain ridges rolled by like carriage wheels. She lay there watching. For a woman as full-bosomed as she was, there was one advantage: she could rest her chest on the window frame and didn't need her hands to support herself. She discovered this on her own. Every time her mother saw her do it she would smack her, but she never changed, even told her mother, if one spot bruised from pressing, she'd just shift her breasts and lean with another patch of skin… Not long after they passed through the city gate, the scenery outside gradually became uniform. The Guanzhong Plain seemed hemmed in by continuous mountain ranges; in the distance were endless ridges. The spring wind was gentle, making people drowsy. Miss Donggong's thoughts drifted, and suddenly something occurred to her.

She turned her head and stared straight at Chen Yi, "Have you fallen for me?"

"Huh?"

This exclamation did not come from Chen Yi, but from Yin Weiyin. The female crown snapped her eyes open; the two pupils seemed to shoot lightning, which made Chen Yi think of Ultraman Seven.

Donggong Ruoshu turned to glance at Yin Weiyin and said with a smile, "Miss Yin, Chen Yi has fallen for me."

The female crown could no longer sit still. She inwardly cursed that this dolt had gone crazy. This stupid girl was always like this—so rude, abrupt, and baffling, with only her figure to recommend her… How could Chen Yi possibly fancy her?

One look, and indeed, Chen Yi also furrowed his brows.

"Miss Donggong, why say that?"

"He asked my age," Miss Donggong said with childlike excitement, "my blooming age."

She looked just like a little six- or seven-year-old girl gossiping about boys. Yin Weiyin's eyes rolled upward; for a moment she didn't know what to say. Chen Yi had asked that plainly because something was on his mind. And besides, with her First Lady right here, how could he spare extra looks for another woman?

Compared to Yin Weiyin, Chen Yi was long used to Miss Donggong's sudden leaps of thought. He didn't even feel like teasing her; recalling how he'd tried to tease her yesterday only to be counter-teased instead, he felt nothing but helplessness.

He said coolly, "Miss Donggong, when I start fancying a woman, I never have any good intentions."

With that one sentence, the stupid girl shrank her neck a little. Yin Weiyin caught it and sneered inwardly.

The women whom Chen Yi fancied had almost all been at odds with him or outright enemies.

In fact, whether women or men, Yin Weiyin had scarcely ever seen anyone who came out well after becoming enemies with Chen Yi. He was the type who would die just to drag the other party down with him, and once an enmity was formed he would eat them alive. In this world there were only one and a half exceptions: Yin Tingxue counted as half, and she, Yin Weiyin, counted as one.

Women's thoughts always happen to converge unintentionally, and women understand women far better than women understand men. Miss Donggong thought of it too: the women Chen Yi fancied had all not gotten along with him. Miss Yin was one—back then she'd even been used as a cauldron. Miss Donggong suddenly felt troubled. She did not want to suffer like that, especially since she was only following the Empress Dowager's orders to seduce Chen Yi a bit, and incidentally absorb some yang energy… After thinking for quite a while, Miss Donggong tentatively asked:

"Could I be… your first liking that isn't an enemy?"

"Uh?" Chen Yi was taken aback, involuntarily following the thread of her words back through his memories. It did seem that every woman with whom he'd formed a bond had once been his enemy… Thinking of it now, he found it rather heavy.

"Miss Donggong, don't entertain such notions." Yin Weiyin's clear voice cut in.

"Got it." Donggong Ruoshu said. Then she came over, cupped Yin Weiyin's arm in her hands, and said, "I'm only seducing him a little, that's all. I know he's your husband, Miss Yin. I won't steal him from you."

Yin Weiyin frowned slightly. With her joking, cheeky manner, it became difficult for Yin Weiyin to even give her a stern scolding. This stupid girl was like a piece of gristly meat—she always made Yin Weiyin feel like her fist was punching cotton. And now her arm was indeed wedged in a fluffy mass as well. Was the padding in this jacket really that thick…

It was not good to say more, for that would make her seem petty, and might also leak matters of the Dream Sea… Yin Weiyin let her thoughts settle and said:

"Miss Donggong, while we have time, I'll teach you a bit of Taoist Skill."