GTB Chapter 98

Chapter 98: The Empress Dowager’s Earnest Instructions

Jiang Jiuchu suppressed the slight surprise in her heart and immediately replied, “This granddaughter-in-law has no complaints.”

“It’s good that you don’t. This old one just thinks Yan’er’s temperament isn’t pleasing. After all, girls like pleasing and sweet-talking lads.”

“But in this old one’s opinion, when judging a person, especially a man, you have to look at what he has done and… what he hasn’t done, rather than relying on sweet words.”

After the Empress Dowager finished speaking, she looked at Jiang Jiuchu, “Tell me, am I right?”

Jiang Jiuchu hurriedly nodded, “What Royal Grandmother says is very true.”

Seeing her nod, the Empress Dowager tightened the guards on her fingertips, “But as a woman, you still need to be gentle and considerate, and care more for your husband. After all, he is the closest and dearest person to you, and the one who will accompany you for the rest of your life.”

“This old one knows that you didn’t know each other before, so I turn a blind eye to some things, but you can’t just ignore them.”

Jiang Jiuchu looked at the Empress Dowager’s gaze and quickly nodded, “Yes, this granddaughter-in-law understands.”

She finally understood the Empress Dowager’s meaning. She felt that she was not attentive enough to Shí Yan and was criticizing her.

“Alright, go into the bathing room and take a look! It’s good for a woman to be obedient, but you need to see what’s what. If you also listen to this kind of caring matter, it will only make you seem indifferent.” After the Empress Dowager finished speaking, she picked up her teacup and stopped looking at Jiang Jiuchu.

“What Royal Grandmother says is right, this granddaughter-in-law is taught.” Jiang Jiuchu stood up in surprise and hurriedly walked towards the hidden door.

After entering, she leaned against the door, her mind full of thoughts.

The Empress Dowager’s words did not condemn her in any way, but every sentence was condemning her, bluntly saying that she didn’t know what was good for her and didn’t know how to cherish it!

She looked at the gauze curtain in front of her, hesitated for a long time, and still did not raise her foot to walk over. She just stared fixedly. He seemed to be really good, with status and unparalleled appearance, but none of them were what she wanted.

Leaving aside Brother Fu, the man she wanted was like her father, a man who gave his heart to only one person, one couple for life. She belonged to him, and he belonged only to her.

Not knowing how long had passed, Green Luo’s knock came from outside the door, “Princess.”

“What is it?” Jiang Jiuchu responded softly, as if afraid of disturbing the person in the pool.

“Dinner is ready, you can let the Prince out. The Empress Dowager is waiting for you to eat together.”

“Okay, I understand!” Seeing that there was silence in the pool in front, Jiang Jiuchu raised her foot and walked to the outside of the gauze curtain.

“Your Highness, are you done soaking?” Jiang Jiuchu tried to call out, and when she didn’t receive a response, she lifted a corner of the gauze curtain and looked into the pool.

She met Shí Yan’s eyes that had just opened. She quickly put down the gauze curtain in her hand, said, “The Empress Dowager is waiting for us to eat,” and walked back to the sliding door to wait.

At the dinner table, Jiang Jiuchu saw Shí Yan helping the Empress Dowager to pick up food and suddenly felt that she should also do something, after all, she had just received the Empress Dowager’s earnest instructions.

Thinking of this, she picked up a piece of crystal meat in front of her. Just as she was about to put it in front of Shí Yan, she seemed to remember something again, and immediately turned around and put it back in her bowl.

Under Shí Yan and the Empress Dowager’s stunned expressions, she re-picked up shredded carrots and put them in Shí Yan’s bowl, explaining, “You’re taking medicine, so it’s better to eat something vegetarian.”

Seeing that Jiang Jiuchu was still attentive, the Empress Dowager’s expression softened a lot.

Shí Yan glanced at Jiang Jiuchu, thinking that Royal Grandmother must have said something to her, otherwise she wouldn’t be acting like this.

Night fell, and Jiang Jiuchu came out after taking a shower, seeing Shí Yan still sitting at the round table fiddling with the chess pieces.

She took a step forward: “You’re sick today, you can have the quilt. You don’t need to play chess.”

She was naturally a little guilty. For the past few nights, she had let Shí Yan give her the quilt, and had always pretended not to know, still playing chess with him to win or lose.

However, she didn’t seem to care that much whether she could win, after all, he would give her the quilt not long after she fell asleep.

She thought that men weren’t afraid of the cold, and the nights in May weren’t considered cold in the first place, so it wasn’t a big deal to give it to her, but she didn’t expect him to catch a cold because of it.

Shí Yan put down the chess piece in his hand, glanced at her lightly, and got up and walked towards the bed, “It’s good that you have some conscience.”

Jiang Jiuchu’s hand pouring tea paused slightly, she raised her eyes to look at Shí Yan’s back, this sentence sounded a bit strange, could it be that he knew she wasn’t asleep when he gave her the quilt?

She retracted her gaze, took a sip of the tea in her hand, and her gaze fell on the chessboard in front of her.

The more she looked, the wider her eyes became. She slowly put down the teacup in her hand and stared at the chessboard without blinking.

Every move looked unrelated, but they were closely connected. The white and black pieces seemed to know each other’s thoughts, fighting each other, and finally turning into a stalemate.

She glanced at Shí Yan, who was holding a book on the bed. How could she win by playing against herself? Even the most powerful person would probably not be able to break the stalemate on their own! After all, the white pieces were him, and the black pieces were also him, so how could she break it?

Jiang Jiuchu carefully studied every move of the chess game, striving to think of a good condition for the next game and catch him off guard.

Time passed slowly with the gradually melting candle wax. Shí Yan put down his book and looked at Jiang Jiuchu, who was seriously studying the chessboard, “Aren’t you sleeping yet?”

“Oh, sleep.” Jiang Jiuchu looked at the chessboard and didn’t put it away, thinking that she would continue to study it tomorrow and improve her chess skills.

As soon as Jiang Jiuchu got on the bed and lay down, she saw Shí Yan still raising his hand as usual to extinguish the candles in the room.

She was a little surprised by this. Although many men practiced martial arts, how many noble children could endure the hardship of practicing martial arts.

She remembered that her brother had made up his mind to practice martial arts because she was taken away by bandits, but in the end, he missed the best age for practicing martial arts. No matter how hard her brother tried, his martial arts could only be considered average, and he was still far from being a master.

But watching Shí Yan gently raise his hand and the candlelight instantly extinguished, cleanly and neatly, without a trace of flame swaying, she thought his martial arts should be above her brother’s!

Jiang Jiuchu, who had been thinking for most of the hour, was a little tired and soon closed her eyes.

Half-asleep, she suddenly felt a warmth on her body and subconsciously pulled the quilt on her body. After unfolding her curled-up body, she realized that he had given her the quilt again.

She opened her eyes and slowly turned her head outward. The moonlight tonight seemed particularly bright, and she could clearly see Shí Yan’s lying figure.

She thought he wouldn’t give her the quilt again tonight, after all, he already had a cold.

Jiang Jiuchu didn’t understand why Shí Yan was like this, yet he still played chess with her every night to fight for the quilt?

Could this be what the Empress Dowager said about his unpleasant personality? Jiang Jiuchu thought about it and felt that it was indeed not very pleasing.

She lifted the quilt on her body, sat up, and put it on Shí Yan. Tonight, she couldn’t continue to accept this quilt with peace of mind, otherwise he would probably be even more seriously ill tomorrow.

“You can have it! I don’t need it.” As soon as she covered him, she heard Shí Yan’s emotionless voice in her ear.

In the dark night, their eyes met, and they seemed to only be able to see each other’s bright eyes.

“You’re already sick, how can you not need it.” After Jiang Jiuchu finished speaking, she lay back on the inside.

“This Prince already has a cold anyway, so I don’t need another one.” As Shí Yan spoke, he picked up the quilt on his body and turned over to cover Jiang Jiuchu.

“No need.” Jiang Jiuchu quickly turned to the side and reached out to block the quilt that was about to cover her: “My body is in good shape and I won’t get sick. Your Highness should cover yourself!”

Shí Yan’s face darkened, was she saying that his body wasn’t in good shape? But he couldn’t say that he jumped into the cold pool, so he decided to temporarily bear the blame in order to achieve his goal.

“Let’s cover together! Don’t worry, I won’t touch you.” After he finished speaking, he moved the pillow to the inside, tore open half of the quilt without allowing refusal, and covered Jiang Jiuchu.