Chapter 39: CH 39

The next day, the morning sunlight streamed in through the window as Gu Hui Yan woke up on time.

Unlike the night of the wedding, he had a rare good night of sleep. He turned slightly and saw Lin Wei Xi sleeping peacefully against his shoulder. Her even soft breathing feathered against his shoulders and neck, making him feel indescribably ticklish.

The sun rose late in winter, so the room was still blanketed in dusk and mist. The light that shone through the layers of red canopy was dimmer. The inside of the bed was drenched in a scarlet red and the faint morning light made the bed canopy glow, lingering on the love between the two of them. In the dim light, only Lin Wei Xi was pale as fine porcelain, almost glowing in the dim red light. She slept deeply, her small face sinking into the soft red embroidered blanket, leaving only half of it exposed. Her soft black hair spread across the pillows and blanket, a strand even covering the side of her face. It made her skin look more exquisite, like white porcelain. The jet black hair, dark red quilt and snow white skin stood in stark contrast, creating a picture that was indescribably breathtaking and enticing.

Gu Hui Yan himself didn’t notice that he’d been staring at her for a long time. His hand moved slightly. The skin under his palm was cool and soft and a delicate fragrance floated up, gentle and fragrant as jade◇. What an accurate description.

Speaking of, it was weird. After it was over the last time, it had taken a long time for Gu Hui Yan to fall asleep, and he’d wake up again when Lin Wei Xi made the slightest movement. He couldn’t sleep with someone next to him but he didn’t have a problem when he held her in his arms.

He didn’t know what was wrong with him.

The red candle outside the bed made a popping sound. It finally burned out after burning the entire night and the room was quiet once again. This picture of a sleeping beauty was too eye-catching. If it weren’t so late, Gu Hui Yan wouldn’t have had the heart to destroy it. However, they needed to enter the palace today. Lin Wei Xi took a lot of time to get ready. If they didn’t get up now, they’d be late for their appointment at the palace.

Gu Hui Yan leaned over, put one hand on Lin Wei Xi’s side and whispered, “Wei Xi, it’s time to get up.”

Lin Wei Xi slept soundly, hazily feeling someone gather her hair and whispering something in her ear. She had slept late and overworked the night before, and now felt like all of her bones had gone soft. How could she bear to leave the warm quilt and wake up? She turned over in the opposite direction, trying to escape the annoying sound. Gu Hui Yan chuckled when he saw this and held her by her waist. Her waist was extremely flexible, and she fell backwards onto the bed, soft and supple. If this were the night before, he would’ve admired her flexibility. But he was now afraid that she’d sprain her waist, so he quickly reached out to support her head and helped her to sit up, “wake up. You shouldn’t be sleeping.”

Lin Wei Xi felt very wronged. She was so sleepy that she couldn’t open her eyes. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get angry at the nuisance who’d disturbed her dream. She was forced out of the warm bed and slight goosebumps spread across her exposed arms when they met the morning air. She wrapped her hands around herself, and with misty eyes and messy hair, she muttered, “It’s cold.”

Seeing Lin Wei Xi like this, Gu Hui Yan felt that she was really too pitiful. The earth dragon◇ had burned all night, so it was unsurprising that she’d be weak early in the morning. But because he always had good health and didn’t feel cold, he ended up overlooking this. It was now too late to have the servants heat up the earth dragon. He could only hug her and use his body temperature to warm her up, “I was careless. This won’t happen again. Get up first. After today, you don’t have to wake up early again.”

While Lin Wei Xi had been awoken by the cold winter morning air, it was worth it to have Prince Yan wake her up. Today, they were going to the palace today to meet the Empress Dowager, so they really couldn’t dally. She sobered up only to find herself still nestled in Gu Hui Yan’s arms. She felt embarrassed and quickly backed up against the blanket and bedding, blushing, “my Prince, I’m awake now. My sleeping posture isn’t very good. Please don’t laugh.”

He merely smiled and straightened out her hair. Then he patted her hair and said, “since you’re awake, you should get up. You only need to wake up early today and not tomorrow.”

Gu Hui Yan didn’t think it was any trouble to wake up his lovable wife. If it were Gu Cheng Yao or his subordinates instead who dared to lie in bed without a good reason, they’d be sent straight to receive the army cane. But with her, he found it very enjoyable.

He watched as she clutched the bedding with both hands and looked at him with caution in her eyes. He understood the meaning behind it and stood up to change his clothes and bathe. Only after he left and the bed curtains were let down did Lin Wei Xi breathe a sigh of relief. She quickly took out her undergarments from the basket at the foot of the bed. Her fingers moving like lightning, she opened the front of the top and fastened the ties around her chest and abdomen. After putting on the rest of her clothes, she lifted the red curtain and got off bed and raised her voice to call in the maids waiting outside.

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Her maids arranged her hair into a high bun and painted on the refined and beautiful palace makeup. Following the rules, a seven-winged golden phoenix dangling hair ornament indicating her status as Princess Consort was inserted into her hair and both sides of the bun were adorned with pearl jade and precious stones. She looked gorgeous, like she was illuminated by rays of light. Her facial features were already extremely exquisite. After dressing up, she looked more like a ruby polished to it’s finest and she almost seemed to sparkle under the sunlight.

Today, they were entering the palace to thank the Emperor and Empress Dowager for their favour. Aside from Gu Hui Yan and Lin Wei Xi, Shizi and Shizi Fei also had to follow along. In order to save time, each couple would have breakfast in their own courtyard that morning. When they were ready, they’d meet in Lin Wei Xi’s courtyard and they’d depart once everyone arrived. Gu Cheng Yao and Gao Ran had arrived long ago. The maids told them that the Princess Consort was still getting dressed. Naturally, it wasn’t a good time for Gu Cheng Yao, as the adult stepson, to enter the room, so he could only stand in the front and wait. Gao Ran stood beside him and waited together. After a while, the curtain to the central building lifted and Lin Wei Xi and Gu Hui Yan walked out side by side. No one knew what the two had talked about prior to leaving the room, but Lin Wei Xi was looking at Gu Hui Yan, who had a smile in his eyes. When they saw the two people in the yard, both of them instantly stopped smiling and their expressions became dignified and serene.

Such obvious changes obviously wouldn’t go unnoticed by the two people in the front yard. Gu Cheng Yao didn’t know what to think. He had never seen his father smile so softly, nor Lin Wei Xi, who was always cold and distant in front of him. It turns out that when they weren’t around him, his father and Lin Wei Xi could actually have such tender expressions. Seeing them support each other like that as they walked out the door, the thorn in Gao Ran’s heart pierced deeper.

◇ Heating system in ancient China

Lin Wei Xi resolutely went through the entire greeting etiquette before getting up. Empress Dowager Qian didn’t say a word but merely smiled and had her servants show Lin Wei Xi to a seat. After she sat down, Empress Dowager Qian looked away from her and glanced at Gao Ran behind her, smiling, “Aijia◇ is old and my palace is lifeless all day long. On the contrary, the Prince Yan Consort’s visit has made things lively again. Look at how beautiful the two of you are. If one didn’t know, who would guess that the two of you are mother-in-law and daughter-in-law? It’s more believable to say that you’re sisters.”

Gao Ran had accompanied Lin Wei Xi to kowtow and salute. While Lin Wei Xi could sit down, she had to stand behind Lin Wei Xi and wait on her. Gao Ran was a little unhappy at first, but hearing the Empress Dowager’s words, her lips couldn’t help but stiffen.

Age was a woman’s Achilles heel. If a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were said to look like sisters, of course, the mother-in-law would naturally be pleased. But for the daughter-in-law, it wasn’t something to feel happy about.

Especially because Lin Wei Xi and Gao Ran were about the same age, but Lin Wei Xi was one generation above Gao Ran. In any situation, Lin Wei Xi would be the one sitting while Gao Ran had to stand. When Lin Wei Xi, the Empress Dowager and the others made small talk, Gao Ran could only stand behind them and listen like a wooden statue. As long as Lin Wei Xi was there, Gao Ran only served to make her look better. When everyone came to say hello, they would see Lin Wei Xi first.

This was undoubtedly a huge drop in status for Gao Ran, who had gotten used to enjoying her high status as the Prince Yan Shizi Fei. Gao Ran stood silently behind Lin Wei Xi and felt it extremely absurd for some reason, as if the situation had returned to before she’d gotten married, when she was a shu daughter and Gao Xi was a di daughter. They were obviously standing next to each other, but all the Ladies could see was Gao Xi and Gao Xi only. They had the same father but different fates. It was vividly contrasted between her and Gao Xi.

Afterwards, Gao Ran managed to scheme Gao Xi’s death, inheriting Gao Xi’s generous dowry and respectable husband. Gao Ran was finally able to overcome her faint jealousy and become the “Shizi Fei”.

Gao Ran thought that the hard times had ended and the future was going to go well, that her persistence had paid off. But who would’ve thought that after no less than a few months of comfort, Lin Wei Xi would appear. What’s more absurd was that after five months, she became Gao Ran’s mother-in-law. The power and position that Gao Ran had just gotten hold of had been taken away in an instant. And even sadder was that while she and Gao Xi were sisters, Lin Wei Xi was her mother-in-law.

This feeling was extremely hard to bear. She had toiled to work out a strategy, only to be beaten back to her original position after barely a few days of enjoying it.

Lin Wei Xi glanced behind her, not caring at all about Gao Ran’s mood. She pursed her lips and smiled, “The Empress Dowager speaks too highly of this humble one. How can this humble one’s weak countenance be compared to the blessed Empress Dowager? Shizi Fei wants to thank the Empress Dowager for the praise, but is slow-witted and she still has many things to learn. I’m afraid she can’t live up to the Empress Dowager’s praise. This humble one is also young, so I hope to be able to learn from the Empress Dowager.”

◇ Aijia is a pronoun used by the Empress Dowager to refer to herself. It’s another form of ‘I’ or ‘me’

T/n: another announcement! I underestimated the amount of project work I have for the second half of the semester, so I will unfortunately have to continue with the current upload schedule. I may upload extra chapters on Wednesday if I happen to have free time, but it’s not a guarantee.

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