Chapter 93: I Also Send You a Pair of Beauties

In the study of the Tai Zi Fu, the atmosphere was somewhat solemn.

Xiao Ting slightly lowered his brows and eyes, his complexion darkened severely, like a piece of black iron frozen for ages, its cold seeping into the heart.

Across the table sat several trusted aides; Zheng Qi lifted his head and cautiously glanced at Gu Cheng, whose expression was calm and untroubled.

He couldn't help but be secretly surprised; this person truly was scheming, the Crown Prince had suffered such a calamity and had already become genuinely angry, killing five incompetent subordinates early this morning.

Earlier he had been instructed not to act rashly; that night he set a trap that almost killed Gu Jiu Ling, even involving Princess Changping, and yet now she could still sit here calmly and steadily.

Xiao Ting's gaze was icy; usually composed and calm, this time he was a bit unseated, grinding his teeth as he said, "Xiao Yin! In this life I must kill you!"

This time the Crown Prince's disgrace was huge; originally the starving people of Chen Prefecture rebelled, even the local regular army couldn't match them, and this outing was like gilded.

Lao Liu Xiao Zheng understood this, and Xiao Ting naturally also understood.

Who said their authority in the army was insufficient? So this time they seized the chance to win over the troops, to scoop up some capital for themselves, and never expected Xiao Yin to be so bold as to tie him up?

However, Xiao Yin bound him only because Gu Cheng, after arriving at Shang Jing, acted against Gu Jiu Ling; he truly couldn't understand how, in such a fierce battlefield, that man could go that far for a woman, even risking exposing his strength early, tying the Crown Prince, and risking execution to rescue Gu Jiu Ling.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ting suddenly felt a series of suffocating chest pains, and his brows knit tightly.

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These years, the scenes of Gu Jiu Ling pouring his heart and soul into kindness toward him kept replaying.

He thought that he had always comfortably enjoyed the good she brought, never having a single shred of goodwill toward her, let alone the life‑and‑death protection like Xiao Yin's.

He suddenly recalled that when he was young, his mother died early; although he received the emperor father's favor and everyone feared him, he saw his sixth brother, third brother, and other siblings cuddling in the empress dowager's arms to act spoiled.

Everyone else had a mother; he, besides the cold, vast Eastern Palace, had nothing.

He still remembered that time, just after the Origin Festival, when he was seven, idly sitting on the steps at the Eastern Palace gate, daydreaming.

The wind that day was cold, cold enough to pierce a person's bones.

A little girl about his age, with a round face, big eyes, hair tied into two buns, wearing a fluffy red velvet pom‑pom, looked at him cautiously.

He asked who she was; she said she was his Crown Princess, a marriage arranged by her maternal grandfather and his father emperor.

She followed her father into the palace to see her fiancé.

Xiao Ting burst into fury and told her to get lost; he, as the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, was not a casual pastime for a little girl.

The little girl looked terrified, her eyes reddened from crying, and before leaving she didn't forget to toss a prayer charm bag at his feet.

Xiao Ting picked it up; inside was a silver note.

It was his first time receiving a charm bag from someone outside the palace, even given New Year's money, and the giver of the money was still a milk‑scented little girl.

In fact, Xiao Ting never disliked Gu Jiu Ling; he was simply foolish.

Because everyone around despised her for bullying, his not disliking her made him seem out of place, and gradually he also thought she was foolish.

Now it seems she isn't foolish at all; it's just that he is unworthy, unworthy of her kindness toward him.

"Gu Cheng!" Xiao Ting suppressed the pain in his heart and said slowly.

Gu Cheng rose and bowed deeply to Xiao Ting.

Xiao Ting's brows and eyes were tinged with cold frost: "Gu Jiu Ling, you must not touch her again."

"After all, she is also your sister."

Gu Cheng furrowed his brows and said slowly, "I... will strictly follow the Crown Prince's teachings."

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" A guard from outside hurried in, knelt at the entrance, and said, "Your Highness, Princess Consort of Rui is causing a disturbance at the Tai Zi Fu gate; the gate is now tightly blocked by the watching crowd."

"What?" Xiao Ting was instantly stunned there.

The people around were also dumbfounded: Princess Consort of Rui causing a disturbance at the Tai Zi Fu gate?

"Explain clearly!" Xiao Ting's face darkened.

The guard hurriedly said, "Princess Consort of Rui is holding two women, saying they are unwanted by her Prince, to be returned to you, Your Highness, and... and..."

"Speak!" Xiao Ting slapped the tea cup on the table, sending it crashing to the floor.

The guard kowtowed and said, "We still don't know where the two female donkeys were brought from, claiming that coming without going is indecent!"

Xiao Ting stood up and walked toward the gate.

What does Gu Jiu Ling mean?

Is this to come and humiliate him?

"Your Highness!" Gu Cheng hurried to advise, "Your Highness, there are too many onlookers outside; the Crown Prince rushing out like this could damage his reputation. Perhaps order the crowd to be dispersed first, then invite Princess Consort of Rui into the Tai Zi Fu for a discussion."

Xiao Ting finally regained his senses, stopped in his tracks and said in a deep voice, "What are you all standing idle for? Just carry out what Lord Gu instructed."

At this moment, outside the Tai Zi Fu it was already a sea of people, circling round and round, the innermost near the main gate of the Tai Zi Fu.

Gu Jiu Ling held a rope in her hand, the rope binding two weeping, delicate beauties covering their faces; on the lion head at the gate were tied two female donkeys, their heads adorned with flowers, their faces painted with bright red rouge, giving them a forced charm.

The people around, seeing such a spectacle for the first time, were so delighted by the gossip that they forgot this was the Eastern Palace Crown Prince's residence.

"Xiao Ting, bring my aunt out! Hiding inside the residence, what kind of skill is that?"

"If you have the skill to stuff a little wife into someone else's house, you lack the skill to come out and see me?"

"Xiao Yin is your Imperial Uncle; you, a junior, are instead worrying about the elder's bedroom affairs! You are the ocean, your reach is broad enough!"

The surrounding crowd instantly murmured in low voices.

"What's up with the Rui Wang Fu?"

"Isn't it because Imperial Uncle Jiu this time eradicated bandits and saved the Crown Prince's life, so the Crown Prince, grateful, gave his uncle two beauties to serve, which angered Princess Consort of Rui!"

"Isn't that normal? In all of Shang Jing, which man doesn't have three wives and four concubines? Especially someone like Imperial Uncle Jiu?"

"Hehe! Jealous, huh!"

"Never thought the Gu family's miss was a jealous woman? It's truly terrifying, a wife‑killing one, a jealous one, together now."

"Who says it's not? Let's see how this ends."

Gu Jiu Ling, completely disregarding any sense of decorum, stood with hands on hips, pointing at the Tai Zi Fu gate and scolding.

"Still worry that no one looks after my Prince? My Prince has five hundred to a thousand attendants; lacking his food or drink? What idle thoughts do you have?"

"Wolf eats cabbage, you're out of water!"

"You love to stuff women into other families, so today Auntie is stuffing two beauties into your residence; it's such a good thing that you don't even have a proper wife now—these two beauties are yours, and you can revel in music every night and enjoy every day!"

Gu Jiu Ling raised her hand, cracked a whip on the backsides of the two donkeys, and instantly the long, lingering bray of the donkeys rang through the heavens.

Laughter erupted all around.

The heavily sealed gate of Tai Zi Fu finally opened.