GTB Chapter 119

Chapters 119-120: Didn’t Check the Almanac Before Going Out

After Jiang Jiuchu prepared everything and sprinkled the medicinal powder behind Shí Yan, she suddenly remembered something and immediately asked, “By the way, Your Highness, do you have any anesthesia?”

Shí Yan glanced at the green porcelain bottle and said, “No, just sew it up like this!”

“Could you ask Mu Feng to get some from the imperial physician?” Jiang Jiuchu felt that threading a needle through flesh and blood like this would be very painful, and it would be impossible without anesthesia.

Shí Yan didn’t answer her, but instead urged directly, “Sew it quickly, it’s easy to get infected if it takes too long.”

Hearing this, Jiang Jiuchu didn’t say anything more. After all, no one wants to endure pain, and if he could get anesthesia, he would definitely go.

She pursed her pink lips, gently closed the wound with her left hand, and with her right hand holding the needle, found the right spot and pierced downwards.

However, she still overestimated herself. The moment the needle touched the flesh, she quickly pulled it away, and asked with a trembling voice, “Your… Your Highness, does it hurt a lot?”

“It doesn’t hurt, but it would be better if you could be quicker.”

Shí Yan clearly felt that the shallow prick she had just made had been pulled back by her. He swallowed, suddenly feeling that this woman was a bit unreliable.

“Oh!” Jiang Jiuchu really felt like she was being forced into this. She thought, he must have encountered something terrible and unspeakable today, otherwise, why would he ask her to sew up his wound?

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then pierced in without hesitation. The deeper she pierced, the tighter her small face wrinkled. After sewing the first stitch, sweat was already breaking out on her forehead.

“Does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt.” Shí Yan felt her successfully sew a stitch, and his heart relaxed slightly. He wasn’t lying either, because the places her fingers touched seemed to attract his senses and distract him from the pain of being sewn.

“Okay, I’m going to sew the second stitch, bear with it.”

Jiang Jiuchu would ask after each stitch, and also tell him when she was about to pierce, hoping he could be mentally prepared.

Like this, after repeating more than a dozen times, Jiang Jiuchu, who had finally finished, was already drenched in sweat.

Looking at the neatly sewn wound, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She turned around and brought the copper basin containing hot water to the table, and began to gently wipe away the dried blood on Shí Yan’s back with a cloth, then began to apply medicine and bandage him.

Her careful movements warmed Shí Yan’s heart. So, a woman’s gentleness was this deadly.

No, it was her gentleness that was deadly to him.

Looking at the beads of sweat on her forehead, he pursed his lips, wondering if there was any heartache for him in her sweat, besides fear.

“Okay.” After bandaging him, Jiang Jiuchu slumped down, ready to ask him how he felt, when she realized that Shí Yan was still naked.

She quickly got up and walked towards the wardrobe, took a white undergarment and walked behind Shí Yan, “Put this on!”

“Okay.” Seeing her so actively serving him, Shí Yan’s lips curled up. No matter what, he should be considered her husband in her heart, right?

After helping Shí Yan put on his clothes, Jiang Jiuchu said to him, “You definitely can’t take a bath tonight, let me get you some water to soak your feet!”

Hearing this, Shí Yan was very surprised, never expecting her to take care of him to this extent, “Okay.”

He sat back in disbelief, staring blankly at Jiang Jiuchu pouring water for his foot bath.

Jiang Jiuchu brought the poured hot water in front of Shí Yan’s feet, hesitated for a moment, “Let me help you take off your shoes!”

“No need, I can take them off with my right hand.” Shí Yan was startled and quickly lifted his foot to take off his shoes and socks himself.

Seeing that he could take them off himself, Jiang Jiuchu said, “Then soak them, I’ll go take a bath first.” As she said this, she took a set of clothes and went into the bathroom.

Shí Yan looked in the direction of the bathroom, feeling that Jiang Jiuchu’s overly attentive attitude was abnormal.

But then he thought, could it be that she was being so nice to him because she knew he was Yun You Gong Zi?

After all, his father liked Yun You Gong Zi so much, she shouldn’t be that bad either, right?

But as soon as his thoughts reached this point, he thought of another possibility, and his eyes instantly darkened with this possibility.

Perhaps she knew he was Yun You Gong Zi, and therefore knew that her lie had been exposed. So, she was worried that the painting would expose her relationship with Song Fuge, and that’s why she was being so insincere?

Thinking of this, the flattered look on his face had already faded. Compared to the two, he believed the latter more.

In fact, Jiang Jiuchu didn’t think so much, and diligently served him for five days.

After all, someone once said that a drop of water should be repaid with a spring.

One, she was giving herself a chance to repay a drop of kindness, and two, to prevent him from using kindness as a threat in the future, making her serve him while bathing.

Moreover, he was indeed injured, and when it was inconvenient, and there was no one to serve him, she could only help.

Therefore, she would rather serve him well for a few days than serve him every day in the future.

Six days later, Ji Shutíng came to the Seventh Prince’s residence early in the morning and ran to Jiang Jiuchu excitedly, “Jiuchu, guess what gift I brought you?”

“What gift?” Jiang Jiuchu looked at Ji Shutíng in confusion, wondering why she would suddenly give her a gift for no reason?

“Come, follow me and you’ll know.” Ji Shutíng quickly grabbed Jiang Jiuchu’s hand and walked towards the outside of the Emerald Bamboo Garden.

Jiang Jiuchu was dragged by Ji Shutíng all the way to the front yard, and finally couldn’t help but ask, “Where are we going?”

“The gift I’m giving you is at the entrance of the residence.”

Listening to Ji Shutíng’s words, Jiang Jiuchu became even more curious. What gift couldn’t be brought into the residence and had to be seen outside?

However, when she saw the two white horses at the entrance, she suddenly understood.

She looked at Ji Shutíng in confusion and asked, “Why did you think of giving me horses?”

“Isn’t there a horse race in two days? This young lady specially sent you fine steeds so that our sisters can get into the top three.”

Ji Shutíng walked to a white horse with a reddish tail, “This is for you, called Red Tail.”

“How is it? Isn’t it better looking than my all-white one? I left you the best-looking one.”

Jiang Jiuchu looked at the white horse in front of her. The horse’s tail had a bit of brownish-red, which was indeed very special, and these two horses looked like top-grade steeds at first glance.

“Did your brother get them for you? These two horses must have cost a lot of silver, right?”

Hearing this, Ji Shutíng’s face showed a hint of happiness, “My brother didn’t give them to me, Master Gu gave them to me.”

“Master Gu gave them to you? Why would he give you two horses?” Jiang Jiuchu asked in confusion.

“These two horses are sisters, they grew up together since childhood, and their fur color is the same, so I bought them together.”

Hearing this, Jiang Jiuchu didn’t want to accept them, “Oh! In that case, it’s not appropriate for you to give them to me, right?”

“It’s okay, I bought these horses with Master Gu. Although he paid the silver, I’m the one who wanted to buy these horses together for you.”

As Ji Shutíng said this, she said, “How about we ride them around the foot of Lake Green Mountain? I haven’t ridden them properly yet! I came here today specifically to ask you to ride them together.”

“Okay.” Jiang Jiuchu thought that since Ji Shutíng helped her choose the horses, she could accept them.

She hadn’t ridden a horse for a long time, or rather, she hadn’t ridden a horse since coming to Kyoto.

However, she didn’t have much hope for the horse race in two days. Her horsemanship was only so-so, it would be good enough if she could ride, as for the top three, she didn’t dare to think about it.

After Jiang Jiuchu and Ji Shutíng passed through the bustling streets, they increased their speed and headed towards Green Mountain Lake.

Green Mountain Lake is called Green Mountain Lake because there is a clear lake near the foot of the mountain. The lake water flows into the mountain foot ditch and flows around the mountain.

It is cool here in summer, so every year from May, there are pleasure boats in the lake for people to relax.

“Seventh Brother, is that Seventh Sister-in-law?” On the pleasure boat, Shí Yuanchen pointed to the pink-clothed woman in the distance and asked.

Shí Yan followed his gaze, who else could it be but Jiang Jiuchu?

For these five days, he had stayed at home for five days in order to get her to take care of him more. He didn’t expect that as soon as he came out, she would run to ride a horse.

He looked at the figure at the foot of the mountain not far away, not expecting that she, who was so delicate and weak, could actually ride a horse.

Chu Yifeng looked at the pink-clothed woman in the distance, but couldn’t see her face clearly.

When he withdrew his gaze, he noticed Shí Yan’s persistent gaze, and waved his hand in front of him.

“You see your wife every day, isn’t that enough? Why are you still staring so intensely? People who don’t know would think you’re looking at a beautiful woman outside!

Shí Yan withdrew his gaze, glanced coldly at Chu Yifeng in front of him, ignored him, and picked up the wine cup in front of him and took a sip.

If you want to talk about being a playboy, this person really deserves it. His name as a playboy is still thanks to his influence.

“My Seventh Brother already has my Seventh Sister-in-law, what beautiful woman does he need to see? Only you, although you have countless beautiful women, they all add up to four words.”

“What four words?” As soon as Chu Yifeng heard this, he felt that Shí Yuanchen was definitely not going to say anything good, but he was still curious to ask, wanting to hear what four words they were?

“No need to be so curious, just four very common words, you know, mediocre and vulgar.”

Shí Yuanchen was seizing the opportunity to show off in front of Shí Yan. Since the day he asked Seventh Sister-in-law to help him steal the painting, he hadn’t been able to enter the Seventh Prince’s residence.

He was worried, afraid that his Seventh Brother would ignore him from now on because of this matter.

Chu Yifeng was a little angry, thinking that Shí Yuanchen could say some new words, but that was it?

However, although the words mediocre and vulgar are common, they are indeed very damaging. He really felt uncomfortable listening to them.

“Hmph! We’ll see what kind of Eighth Princess you can find in the future. By then, it will just be a matter of each person having their own preference! The celestial being you think of might not even be as good as my mediocre and vulgar ones!”

“Hey! Stop disgusting me, if the princess I find is not even as good as your group of mediocre and vulgar ones, I’ll go be a monk.”

Shí Yuanchen was really angry this time. He didn’t expect his future princess to be like Seventh Sister-in-law, but she wouldn’t even be as good as Chu Yifeng’s mistresses, right?

Not to mention the appearance, just the deliberately coquettish voice and the eyes that hooked back and forth made him feel uncomfortable all over.

“Heh! We’ll wait and see, by the way, speaking of which, I haven’t seen this Jiang…”

Chu Yifeng paused, looked at Shí Yan, and said again, “I haven’t seen your princess yet!”

During the last Hundred Flowers Banquet, he didn’t participate because he had a cold and felt unwell.

He went to the second Concubine Gui’s birthday banquet, but he still didn’t see this Seventh Princess, and he didn’t know what kind of woman could make Shí Yan reveal such eyes.

He looked curiously at the pink-clothed woman in the distance again, but the distance was a bit far, and he could only see that her figure was slender, but he couldn’t see her specific features.

“You don’t need to see this prince’s wife.” Shí Yan was uncomfortable when he saw Chu Yifeng’s gaze looking at her in the distance.

After all, this guy was a veteran who came out of a pile of women, claiming that he knew the geometry of the body with one glance and the depth of the charm with two glances.

“That’s right, you don’t need to look at my Seventh Sister-in-law, your eyes that look at mediocre and vulgar women every day are not suitable for looking at my Seventh Sister-in-law.”

“Shí Yuanchen, are you deliberately trying to make trouble with me?” Chu Yifeng also got angry, it’s fine if his mistresses and lovers are criticized, it’s just playing around, but this guy actually belittled his eyes, which is unbearable.

“Have you been short of silver to spend lately?” Chu Yifeng hit the nail on the head, directly pointing out Shí Yuanchen’s weakness.

Although he didn’t know about the painting, he knew that Shí Yuanchen was poor, and naturally knew that he often fawned over Shí Yan to ask for silver.

“I’ve always been short of silver to spend, don’t you know? Are you, as a brother, wanting to help me out? This prince will give you this opportunity.”

As Shí Yuanchen said this, he directly stretched out his hand towards Chu Yifeng. He wasn’t poor for a day or two, and there were no outsiders here, so he could give up his face.

“You’re thinking pretty beautifully.” Chu Yifeng curled his lips, not expecting this person to be so thick-skinned.

The light gauze of the pleasure boat fluttered, and the two people’s bickering rose and fell with the breeze.

In the distance, when Jiang Jiuchu and Ji Shutíng ran to the foot of the mountain, they walked slowly along the road.

“Shutíng, I can’t get any top three, you should compete well in two days, I’ll cheer for you.”

Jiang Jiuchu felt that Ji Shutíng’s horsemanship seemed to be better than her own, and perhaps she could fight for the top three.

“Don’t! Do you think those young ladies in Kyoto have good horsemanship? They’re all just flashy.”

If you work hard, you might get a top three, and the Emperor will reward you.

“Not too interested.” Jiang Jiuchu was actually interested in her heart. After all, it was rare to have such an opportunity, and she also wanted to compete happily once.

However, her horsemanship was limited, and in addition to the incident at the last palace banquet, she didn’t know who harmed her? She couldn’t take pleasure without thinking of danger, so it’s better not to be in the limelight.

“Oh! Isn’t this Miss Ji and Seventh Sister-in-law!” A voice came from behind the two.

Hearing the voice, Jiang Jiuchu and Ji Shutíng looked back and saw that Shí Jìn had already ridden over to their side, followed by a woman.

The two had seen this woman before, it was the woman who was hugging and kissing Shí Jìn at the last Hundred Flowers Banquet.

Jiang Jiuchu and Ji Shutíng exchanged glances, greeted Shí Jìn and accelerated their horses.

However, if the two were fast, Shí Jìn was fast, and if the two were slow, Shí Jìn would also be slow.

Shí Jìn took into account Jiang Jiuchu’s identity, so he rode beside Ji Shutíng, but his eyes scanned back and forth over Jiang Jiuchu through Ji Shutíng.

The scan made Jiang Jiuchu feel that her summer clothes seemed to be too thin, and she felt uncomfortable all over.

“Second Brother, what are you doing following us? Wouldn’t it disturb the elegance of you and this… lady?”

As Jiang Jiuchu said this, her gaze fell on the woman. She didn’t know which family’s concubine daughter she was, but if she remembered correctly, this Second Highness had promised her last time that he would marry her as a concubine.

But she didn’t see him ask for a marriage decree at the Hundred Flowers Banquet? Could it be that he brought her to the residence in a small sedan chair?

Or maybe she hasn’t entered the residence yet. After all, if a person like Shí Jìn carried her back to the residence, he might not be interested in taking her out to ride a horse after spending day and night with her.

“It’s okay, I just happened to meet you, so I’ll accompany you. There are few pedestrians here, so if you encounter unruly people, Second Brother can also help you, can’t I?”

Ji Shutíng and Jiang Jiuchu both rolled their eyes at the same time. It’s true that they didn’t check the almanac before going out. A thief crying “stop thief” is nothing more than this.

“Seventh Sister-in-law.” Just as the two were thinking about how to get rid of him, another voice came from behind.