After Becoming the Cannon Fodder Live-in Spouse A (GL) - Chapter 39: The Thirty-Ninth Day

Chapter 39: The Thirty-Ninth Day

If Shen Si had not already investigated the Xu family from top to bottom for three generations and placed all these matters on the table in Yaoguang Pavilion, Shen Jinglan would have thought that her little princess consort was performing some revenge story of enduring humiliation, tasting gall while sleeping on brushwood, and sharpening a sword for ten years.

The Xu and Ye families had no friendship at all in the past. According to the investigation results, Ye Fuguang probably had not seen this Xu Leyao much before, because the former either went out to the gambling house to squander a thousand gold pieces at a time or went to the flower house to find those warbling warblers, while the latter mostly went out with classmates in the Imperial Academy, at most liking to go out alone to find some food in the streets and alleys of Yong’an—

Thinking of this, the surging jealousy in Shen Jinglan’s heart was all suppressed.

She asked very calmly, “Did she offend you?”

Ye Fuguang belatedly realized that the horse was no longer running and had stopped at a place by the lake where the water grass was lush, lowering its head to eat grass. Her sense of security returned a little, and she finally dared to loosen one hand that was grabbing Shen Jinglan’s lapel, wiped the tears from her own face, and then honestly shook her head, “No, she did not.”

…If she did not, why was she still thinking about how to send the person to the big prison?

Shen Jinglan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as she sized up the person in front of her and found that she still could not see through this little animal.

At this time, Ye Fuguang guessed her thoughts. Her vermilion lips moved, but she could not hum out that vicious sentence “I think my sister sitting in prison alone is quite hard, so I want to send her friend in to accompany her.” After a long while, she could only express it in another way.

“It’s just… supposing, I mean if…” Ye Fuguang hummed and hawed as she gave an example, “If she provokes the Emperor to be unhappy in the future, or commits a crime and is to be arrested into prison, can she be locked up in the Horse and Step Army Division Prison in front of the palace?”

Ye Fuguang felt that she really seemed like that kind of bad woman who tried to rely on whispering pillow talk to powerful ministers and then get rid of all the people she disliked.

This time, Shen Jinglan was silent for a very long time and only answered one sentence, “The Horse and Step Army Division Prison in front of the palace is the imperial army prison and also the Son of Heaven’s private prison. Peeping into the palace curtains is a serious crime.”

“Oh.” The child sullenly replied, “Then I will not ask next time.”

She said so, but she glanced at Shen Jinglan with a very strange look, looked once, then looked away, and after a while, glanced back again. Just as Shen Jinglan was about to ask, she took the initiative to speak:

“Can I say the last sentence?”

“Hmm?”

“Locking her in there is quite suitable.”

Shen Jinglan did not know how to interpret the little girl’s look and words, nor did she have any intention of interfering in the imperial army’s power. Upon hearing this, she touched her cheek and wiped off the wet marks on the other half of her face as well, saying indifferently, “Since there is no enmity with the Xu family, do not say such words again.”

She had said so, so Ye Fuguang could only pray to that super thick incense stick in Xiangguo Temple to herself that if Xu Leyao really failed in the imperial examination and was to be arrested by the Emperor, then please lock her and Ye Yuge together just like in the original work—

Thereby triggering their prison escape plot.

…

The little princess consort who had finished her devout prayer keenly noticed that the scent belonging to Shen Jinglan was no longer as aggressive as before and was not being kissed fiercely or played with excessively now, so she tried to lean over to kiss Shen Jinglan’s chin and asked out loud:

“Is the Prince still angry?”

She very obediently promised, “If the Prince does not like the consort going out, then the consort will not go out in the future.”

Anyway, as long as Xu Leyao could go in, she would have completed the promise to Ye Yuge, and recently Ye Fuguang had tasted all the good food stores in Yong’an. If there was a flavor she wanted to taste, she could let the prince’s mansion’s cook replicate it.

Shen Jinglan looked at her with an indifferent expression, showing no joy or anger. After a moment, she first turned over and dismounted the horse, then hugged Ye Fuguang down.

The little princess consort’s feet had just touched the ground, thinking that she could finally recover, but she forgot that she had first experienced a wave of carriage jolting and later was taken to gallop wildly on horseback, so her legs had no strength at all. The soft-soled embroidered shoes had just stepped on the grass and she uncontrollably fell down sitting.

She happened to fall near the front hooves of the black horse.

Shen Jinglan instinctively looked toward the black horse. She knew that this horse had a fierce temperament. In the past, when leading a herd of wild horses, it not only liked to provoke fierce beasts but also liked to bully other herbivorous animals, such as sheep herds and deer herds.

Who knew that the black horse’s big eyes looked at Ye Fuguang once, as if it had never seen such a fragile human before. It stopped chewing grass, looked at Shen Jinglan’s face again, and after a while, perfunctorily nudged Ye Fuguang’s back with its head, as if wanting to help her stand up.

Ye Fuguang was startled by its action.

Her face turned even paler, and she asked Shen Jinglan out loud, “P-Prince, what is it doing?”

—It is sympathizing with you and even thinks you are a cripple.

Shen Jinglan pressed her forehead and hugged her up again. Seeing the black horse greedily relishing the taste of this fertile wild grass, she did not say anything and just walked to a direction nearby where the green grass was dense, wanting Ye Fuguang to rest well.

As a result, the little princess consort hugged her neck like an octopus, wrapped around her waist, and tried hard to shake her head, “Do not put me down. There are so many bugs, ants, and snakes in the wild. I am afraid.”

Shen Jinglan: “…”

She once again had that doubt about where exactly the Emperor had found this treasure Qianyuan for her.

–

Because Ye Fuguang refused to get on the horse again, in the end, Shen Jinglan accompanied her to walk back to the manor.

Even on a spring day that was not very hot, the long trek was enough to make both of them sweat and soak their clothes. After arriving at the manor, Ye Fuguang was pulled by Shen Jinglan to the edge of a hot spring pool shielded by a bamboo grove as a screen.

In the half-curved pool made of black and white round stones, spring water with geothermal heat from the mountains outside the suburbs was introduced, and it was not very hot, just slightly steaming with water vapor at the edges, perfectly suitable for relieving fatigue.

But the one being relieved was not Ye Fuguang’s fatigue—

She looked at Yinping and Quhua who had been driven away, then looked at the Prince in front of her who had already spread his arms waiting for her to undress him, bit her lip, and could only resignedly lean over to start loosening Shen Jinglan’s belt.

The little side consort thought that her expression of not wanting to work was well hidden, but in fact, she did not know that the thoughts written on her face were too obvious and were clearly seen by Shen Jinglan who was close at hand.

The Prince of Qi made her angry and amused, suddenly lifting his hand to pinch her chubby cheek, “Serving this Prince, does beloved consort look very aggrieved?”

Ye Fuguang’s face hurt from her pinch, and she replied indistinctly, “No…”

Not very aggrieved, just a tiny bit?

Shen Jinglan thought of the person in front of her who clearly had a history of misdeeds, flirting everywhere outside, and then just now she only took her for a horse ride, and she cried so娇 and soft, and in the end even implicated her to walk back with her. Now it was just letting her help change clothes, and she was aggrieved.

She turned her eyes to look at the pool beside her, then at the figure in front of her who had finished undressing her robes and turned away with a red face, preparing to go around the bamboo grove to leave. She asked calmly, “Where do you want to go?”

“Since beloved consort is unwilling to serve this Prince, then bathe together.”

…

Not long after.

A “plop” sound rang out in the pool.

Accompanied by the soft voice’s startled exclamation.

After the servants tactfully avoided farther into the bamboo grove, in the pool steaming with water vapor, Ye Fuguang’s plain-colored robes were floating on the water surface, and she was held in Shen Jinglan’s arms, but her hands were bound by the belt and not allowed to touch randomly.

—What kind of bathing together is this?

Ye Fuguang felt that both of them were not wearing a stitch of clothing, and Shen Jinglan’s fingertips with calluses were still rubbing near her waistline, which was dangerous no matter where. She wanted to cry without tears and thought that she now really seemed to understand the protagonist of a rag novel.

Right now, as long as the Prince of Qi was willing, he could treat her like a bath towel and use her however he wanted. Later, she would definitely become like a tattered rag,呜呜呜.

Why did Shen Jinglan always like to bully her?

Ye Fuguang could not think of an answer and could only randomly kiss Shen Jinglan’s face. When the wet kisses fell on the other’s cheek, her equally wet voice sounded, “Prince… wife master… can you let me down?”

She hurriedly guaranteed, “The consort can serve the wife master, can wash your hair and pour water for you.”

But do not let her undergo this kind of test!

Moreover, Shen Jinglan touching here and there but not allowing her to touch was completely tormenting her, even making Ye Fuguang feel heat rising near her scent gland, which prompted her to want to get rid of the restraint on her wrists even more, but the harder she tried, the more she could only rub her skin red.

The long hair of both that had fallen into the water now floated strand by strand, vaguely entwined together. On the water surface, only the parts near the shoulders were exposed. Near Shen Jinglan’s left shoulder, there was a very shallow and long scar, which contrasted with the redness at the corner of her left eye that had been steamed hot by the water temperature and become glistening.

Ye Fuguang finished kissing her and waited for a long time without getting an answer. She looked at her for a long time with tears in her eyes and hazily thought that the beautiful beauty in front of her, at this moment, was like a history book recording the years of the previous dynasty and the great sect.

…Very strange.

When she saw that there were already these scars on the body she exposed above the water, the little princess consort who had originally been made to tremble at the waist by Shen Jinglan’s intentional caressing suddenly blinked her eyes. The amorous colors in her heart all dissipated. She inexplicably lowered her head to kiss Shen Jinglan’s shoulder.

Her light pink lips kissed that scar that had healed for a long time but still looked ferocious. Ye Fuguang suddenly felt that she was quite lucky.

Although she had not experienced much love from relatives since birth, she was born in a very peaceful era, and her body was also quite good. From childhood to adulthood, she had not gotten any serious illness, and the classmates and teachers around her were also quite friendly, so she had not even seen much bl00d.

Let alone such a terrifying scar that, in an era without antibiotics, was enough to take a person’s life.

She kissed along the scar on the other’s shoulder and thought about it, even sticking out her tongue tip to trace the uneven, spider-like traces on that skin.

Shen Jinglan, who had just been toying with her leisurely, suddenly stiffened all over.

She withdrew her hand from underwater, held her lower jaw, and made this little dog that had suddenly licked her old wound sit up straight in her arms again. Her sharp phoenix eyes stared at her: “What are you doing?”

–

Unknowingly.

The scent belonging to Ye Fuguang had already covered this entire pool.

That snow-white flurry was much more intense than the reluctant bit she used to release when she pressed her scent gland and used the scent to provoke in the past. At this moment, it made people clearly feel that she was like a Qianyuan.

The originally warm and pleasant pool, covered by the little princess consort’s uniquely characteristic scent that even seemed to be able to affect the temperature, gave Shen Jinglan a feeling of alternating cold and heat, but this coldness did not harm her. Instead, it made her feel that the restlessness from overdoing activities all morning slowly subsided.

Her scent also slowly bloomed in this snow-white, as if it was supposed to bloom in this season. What was particularly characteristic was that, in the eyes of other Qianyuan and Dikun, the red camellia that always belonged to Shen Jinglan slowly turned white under this snow-white coverage.ω

It verified the fact that she had long been branded by this snow-white.

Ye Fuguang, who was held in her arms, originally wanted to speak, but was attracted by this illusion-like snow and camellia flowers in front of her. She asked blankly: “…What is this?”

Shen Jinglan glanced indifferently. Because her scent in the Dikun was of a relatively high concentration type, she could easily let others see these scenes, but in the past, Ye Fuguang’s scent was not obvious, so she probably had never seen it.

She was concise, “Scent illusion.”

Ye Fuguang raised her hand wanting to touch it, but only after moving did she realize that the belt on her wrist had absorbed water and was too heavy for her to lift. She whined and fake-cried once, coquettishly saying, “Wife master, untie it…”

She kissed Shen Jinglan again. This time, the kiss fell on the wet red scar at the corner of her left eye, and she said indistinctly, “I want to touch that one.”

Shen Jinglan’s throat moved.

She turned her gaze to glance at the entwining white camellia flowers blooming next to them, as if they had originally grown out from this pool. Her tone was clearly very indifferent, but her voice was hoarse, “This can only be looked at, not touched.”

Ye Fuguang began to play pitiful, “But you also know that I have never seen these since childhood, after all, I was born with incomplete scent glands. This is still the beginning of treating this old ailment. Can I not get a little reward for obediently treating the disease?”

She looked really too obedient.

So Shen Jinglan momentarily forgot that she had also used this appearance to deceive that Xu Leyao into confiding her heart and taking her as a bosom friend.

…

After Ye Fuguang gained freedom, she impatiently raised her hand wanting to touch the snow falling like an illusion in the sky, but as expected, her palm caught nothing.

Instead, the camellia blooming pitifully next to her lowered its petals and touched her fingertip with its flower bud. Even though there was similarly no feeling, this scene gave people a comforting warmth—

Especially knowing clearly whose camellia scent this came from.

The little princess consort turned her eyes to look at the person holding her and slowly remembered that a Qianyuan’s scent could suppress a Dikun’s. Although the original work mentioned it briefly, Shen Jinglan was exceptionally talented and was the type that did not change color under Qianyuan scent suppression, so she could lead such an invincible army.

But.

Shen Jinglan had been marked by her dew induction. Could she not try it as well?

Ye Fuguang remembered again the feeling of her heart fluttering from being touched earlier, raised her hand to hug her neck, like dodder flowers quietly entwining, smiled sweetly and called “wife master,” as if she could not see the striking red marks just bound on her wrists.

Until those flying snowflakes silently piled up and covered, vaguely pressing Shen Jinglan’s hand to the bottom of the water, shackled by the ice and snow-forged handcuffs.

But this was just an illusion left by the scent.

The real situation was that Ye Fuguang had once left her scent in the scent gland on her back neck, flowing into her bloodstream, causing a bloodline suppression effect. In other words, as long as this little dog was willing, the current Shen Jinglan could be suppressed by her scent to the point of being unable to move.

She lowered her eyelids but hooked up a smile, “What does beloved consort want to do?”

Seeing that she had no movement, Ye Fuguang boldly took revenge, imitating the way she had bullied her earlier, using her soft palm and fingers underwater to measure her waist and abdomen curves, even dangerously slowly upward, her fingertips drawing circles on her body, and only when she stirred up ripples on the water surface did she innocently raise her eyes to look at her:

“I want to serve the wife master, help you wash clean. No need to be polite. This is all what the consort should do.”

Shen Jinglan’s tongue tip pressed against her molars.

Since her birth, no Qianyuan’s scent had been able to have this effect on

her. At this moment, she somewhat empathized with other Dikun. Seeing that this little dog’s eyes were starting to change, as if the bad water full in her belly was about to spill out, she lazily and毫不客气地 commanded:

“Get—

“Down” had not been said yet when Ye Fuguang blocked her lips.

The little side consort covered her ears and stole the bell, thinking that as long as she could not hear it, it meant the Prince of Qi had not given the order.

Moreover, she was not too excessive; she was really helping Shen Jinglan bathe. She quickly went to touch the bath beans placed on the shore, but only used this to rub every inch of the Prince of Qi’s skin. Actually, Shen Jinglan’s skin did not have the silky touch like hers, but it was another kind of fascinating feeling. The graceful lines hid unknown power, making Ye Fuguang addicted to taking advantage.

Realizing the other’s eyes were gradually becoming dangerous, the little princess consort paused, and in the intervals of kissing, coaxed Shen Jinglan, “The Prince promised me not to bully me anymore, and I will withdraw the scent, okay?”

Shen Jinglan looked at her expressionlessly.

Little brat, she had turned the world upside down.

–

In short, that day, after the little princess consort who had served the Prince to finish bathing went ashore, she impatiently dressed and bound her hair, and only after going far from the bamboo grove did she withdraw the scent as well.

When Shen Jinglan finished dressing and went ashore, she saw her side consort casually hiding in a courtyard, even letting the maid lie for her and pretend to be unwell, in short, just unable to go out and unable to serve anyone anymore.

She smiled coldly, planning to see how long this little rabbit could hide.

Then she found that Ye Fuguang really stayed indoors in this manor, not going out the main gate or the second gate, and pretended for several days.

When she could not tolerate it anymore and planned to catch the person, she saw the imperial army leader following nearby come to convey the decree, saying that the Emperor summoned in the palace and asked the Prince of Qi to enter the palace as soon as possible.

Shen Jinglan put away her leisurely rabbit-hunting posture, changed into court attire for entering the palace, rode a horse to the city edge, then changed to a carriage to rush into the imperial city. Only after entering Mingde Hall did she know that there was a small mishap in this year’s spring examination. Some examinee reported that classmates colluded with the Minister of Rites.

“This matter is most suitable for you to handle,” her bl00d-related imperial brother looked at her sincerely, walked to her side, and said to her, “A’lan, you also know that nowadays those civil officials’ factions are fighting fiercely. The people I can trust now are only you.”

She was expressionless, showing no sign of whether she bought this emotional card or not, and formally cupped her hands to accept the task. She asked one more question out loud, “Who is the examinee colluding with that Minister Xu?”

“It is his own family member—”

Shen Jingming raised his hand to put the dossier into her hand, “This Xu Yi is also like that. Knowing that there is someone in his family who wants to take the imperial examination this year, he did not avoid suspicion. Now someone has impeached him with a memorial. In short, A’lan, you investigate this matter clearly. Lock up those who should be locked up, punish those who should be punished. I fully authorize you to dispose of it.”

Shen Jinglan lowered her eyes to scan the dossier and saw a familiar name at a glance:

Xu Leyao.

A trace of surprise immediately appeared in her phoenix eyes that had the same contours as Shen Jingming’s.