Chapter 14

Nangong Du was a little surprised that the problem had been solved so easily. Leaning against the armchair, he played with the teacup in his hands, lost in thought. “Sun Zhao was so reckless that he believed the princess was safe before he even saw her! Am I making things too complicated? Maybe the mastermind behind all this doesn’t mean to sow discord between the Wen and the Nan, but only did this against me for a personal grudge? As a prince’s wife, Yuwen Liuxu was destined to stay in the mansion every day instead of going out at will, so maybe it isn’t that difficult to keep the secret from the others forever…”

When he was in a trance, a voice suddenly rang outside, “Here comes the dowager empress!”

“The dowager empress?” After freezing for a few seconds, it suddenly dawned on Nangong Du that hadn’t it been for the accident in the state guesthouse, he would have gone to the dowager empress’s place with his new princess to serve tea and greet her this morning. He had just sent Sun Zhao away, and now he had to rack his brains to avoid the dowager empress from finding out the gender of his bride! How disturbing! He turned to Yueying next to him. The latter immediately understood his master’s intention and left quietly.

Actually, the dowager empress wasn’t Nangong Du’s birth mother, but she favored him so much and treated him as if he were her own son. Needless to say, there were reasons. First, because they were related by blood. Nangong Du’s birth mother, the imperial noble concubine, Princess Xue, was the dowager empress’s niece, the only daughter of her brother, General Xue Ding, so Nangong Du was Xue Ding’s grandson. Second, before her death in childbirth, Princess Xue entrusted her son to the care of the dowager empress, who had been the empress back then, so Nangong Du was brought up all by the dowager empress, who treated him even better than her own sons. That was why among a dozen brothers of the present emperor, Prince Mu was the only one who didn’t have to reside in any fief outside the capital.

“Greetings, Mother!” Nangong Du walked to the gate to meet the dowager empress.

“Rise, my son! Let me have a look at you!” Disregarding the presence of the eunuchs and imperial maidservants, the dowager empress grabbed her dearest youngest son and sized him up anxiously. “My son, are you all right? Did anything happen in your mansion last night?”

It turned out that his mother was worried about him, not the princess! Nangong Du helped the dowager empress sit down with a smile. “Mother, relax. I’m fine!”

To convince his mother, Nangong Du even slapped his chest hard.

The dowager empress let out a sigh of relief. She was shocked when she heard that Princess Liuxu’s personal maidservant was killed. The first thing that popped into her mind was Nangong Du might be in danger as well. Worried about his son’s safety, before the servants she sent out to inquire about information came back, she went to the Prince Mu’s Mansion in haste.

“I feel much relieved now!” She nodded, staring at Nangong Du with loving eyes. After a while, she suddenly thought of her new daughter-in-law. “How is Princess Liuxu doing?” she asked.

“She’s sobbing in the bedroom. Mother, I’m afraid she can’t come out to greet you,” Nangong Du answered with a stiff expression.

The dowager empress knew her son had an aversion to the marriage, so it was no wonder that he didn’t like the princess of the Wen Kingdom. However, out of politeness, she had to show her concern to her daughter-in-law. After hesitating for a while, she rose to her feet. “Du’er, let’s go to see the princess.”

Unwilling as he was, Nangong Du couldn’t turn his mother down. Dawdling for a while, he had no option but to lead the way to his ‘consort’s’ bedroom.

“Here comes the dowager empress!”

When they arrived outside the princess’s residence, the voice rang loudly again. Several maidservants rushed out from the room and knelt down to greet the dowager empress.

“Isn’t Princess Liuxu up yet?” Nangong Du asked.

“Your Highness, Princess Liuxu is still weeping in the bed and refused to freshen herself up.”

Without a word, Nangong Du looked at his mother, as if he was saying, “I told you…”

The dowager empress paused for a while before she gestured to the eunuchs and imperial maidservants behind her to stop. She then turned to her son. “I’m going inside to have a look!”

Nangong Du knew he couldn’t stop his mother, so he walked into the room following her.

It was already about ten o’clock in the morning, but it was still very dark in the bedroom. The red veils everywhere highlighted the cheerfulness of the wedding chamber, but the dowager empress felt the atmosphere somewhat subdued. The further she walked into the room, the more she found the atmosphere bizarre. “Is my naughty son making fun of his new wife?” she wondered. “Du’er, what’s going on? Why didn’t you ask them to lift the curtains?”

“Because Liuxu can’t stand to be exposed to light!” Nangong Du answered with a pun. Yes, he really couldn’t expose this princess to light.“What?” The dowager empress turned to be even more confused. She never heard Princess Liuxu had suffered from a phobia of sunlight!

Seeing his mother in a daze, Nangong Du immediately explained, “Liuxu’s eyes were puffy from crying. I was afraid the light would hurt her eyes, so I asked the servants to draw all the curtains.”

“Really?” The dowager empress revealed a suspicious look. Though she doted on her youngest son, she was clear how stubborn and mischievous he was. He had been resisting the marriage with Princess Liuxu, and he didn’t seem in a good mood just now, so it was dubious that her son would have done this out of concern for the princess. “Du’er, I know you’re not happy because I forced you to marry Liuxu. I can’t compel you to like her, but after all, she’s the eldest princess of the Wen Kingdom, the apple of the eye of her parents, so you should treat her well and never bully her. Understand?”“Mother, don’t worry. I won’t find fault with her,” Nangong Du promised, a hint of a sly smile crossing his face. He meant what he said, but only if the princess wasn’t a replacement! At the thought of Zixiu’s begging for mercy beneath him just now, he suddenly found bullying this little brat a good pastime.

The dowager empress never expected that her son was thinking of something evil. She immediately praised him for being sensible, which made Nangong Du even smugger. He then made up his mind that as long as Liu Zixiu was obedient, he would spare his life for the time being.

When they walked into the inner room, it was even darker around. The dowager empress saw a figure sobbing on the bed behind the red veil draping to the floor.“Darling, mother is here to see you!” Walking to the bed slowly, Nangong Du reached out and stroked slightly the person behind the veil, which made the latter shiver visibly in an instant. However, the dowager empress didn’t notice this and now she was wondering since when her son’s attitude towards the princess had changed. “Du’er called the princess ‘Darling’? It seems I was being paranoid. Du’er was unwilling to marry her, but after his intimacy with this charming princess, he might have…” At the thought of this, she felt less guilty. Now that his son had fallen for the princess, the dowager empress was certain that this young couple would get along well with each other in the future.

“Honey, mother is here. Stop crying!” While Nangong Du was acting in front of the dowager empress, Liu Zixiu, the surrogate bride, couldn’t help trembling out of fear and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t cry out. At this point, Zixiu suddenly sensed this pervert’s hand reach his private part, which almost drove him crazy.

“Boohoo…” Zixiu managed to hold back the feeling of vomiting before he finally uttered the sound of weeping.

However, it sounded more like a groan to Nangong Du. He quickened the movements of his fingers wrapped around Zixiu’s increasingly firm tumescence, which turned the latter on in an instant. “Darling, do you want me to feed you?” he whispered.

“Go to hell!” Liu Zixiu roared inwardly, feeling both ashamed and angry. Having been f*ucked countless times in a row by this pervert, it was the first time he had ever ‘enjoyed’ his service. Though it made him sick, Zixiu couldn’t deny the indescribable pleasant sensation coming from his lower body. “Gosh! What’s wrong with me? How could this be?!”

The old dowager empress, who wasn’t even at the least aware that her dearest son was doing something nasty with his hand under the quilt, was still sitting at a distance from them persuading her daughter-in-law to take care of her health.

“Um… Boohoo…” Now even Zixiu himself couldn’t tell whether he was crying or groaning!