Chapter 77
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At Prince Li Residence, people from the palace came for several consecutive days.
The coronation of the crown prince was no small matter. The Bureau of Astronomy had already come several times. On this rest day, it was assumed no one would visit. However, Chief Steward Wang personally led two palace maids over.
“Your Highness, they are from the Imperial Tailor. They need to take some measurements for you to make clothing.”
Xue Fangli gave a faint “hmm.” The two palace maids curtsied and approached.
He didn’t like people getting close, so his expression remained indifferent and cold, making the two maids tremble with the measuring tape, unable to even unfurl it for quite some time.
Xue Fangli, impatient, said, “Hurry up.”
The maids were almost in tears. “Yes, Your Highness.”
The more anxious they became, the clumsier their movements were. They fumbled with the tape for a long time until Jiang Juan, unable to watch any longer, got up from the soft couch, walked behind the screen, and softly said, “Let me do it.”
“What measurements are needed for His Highness?”
“Waist, shoulder width, and neck circumference…”
Jiang Juan let out an “oh,” took the tape from the maid, who gratefully retreated behind the screen. Jiang Juan looked at Xue Fangli and began to direct him, “Your Highness, raise your arm.”
Xue Fangli raised his arm but lazily wrapped it around Jiang Juan. Jiang Juan pushed him away, “I’m taking your measurements. Why are you hugging me?”
“You still need to measure?”
“Why wouldn’t I need to?”
Jiang Juan was puzzled. Xue Fangli glanced at him and slowly recited a measurement, “Your waist.”
Jiang Juan asked in surprise, “Your Highness, how do you know?”
Xue Fangli’s tone was casual, “I held you enough times, naturally I know.”
Jiang Juan: “?”
He looked down at his waist, unable to make anything out of it, then looked at Xue Fangli, still unable to gauge it. Jiang Juan said, “I’ve held you many times too, but I don’t know your waist size. You must be making it up.”
Jiang Juan didn’t believe it and intended to measure himself first. A slender hand took the tape first, and this time Xue Fangli told him, “Raise your arm.”
Unlike Xue Fangli, who seized any chance to pull someone into his arms, Jiang Juan obediently raised his arm. The tape wrapped around him, and Jiang Juan looked down to identify, “No, Your Highness, it’s not the same.”
Actually, it was nearly the same, just off by a bit. But Jiang Juan insisted it was different. Xue Fangli took a look and said indifferently, “Undo your clothes and measure again.”
Jiang Juan: “???”
He was stunned, lifting his head quickly, only to hit Xue Fangli’s chin with his forehead. Jiang Juan gasped in pain, “Your Highness, you…”
“What are you talking about.”
Jiang Juan, after a long silence, finally managed to squeeze out a sentence. He seemed to be in pain and was snapping at Xue Fangli, but his voice was soft, turning his anger into a whiny complaint.
“I mean,” Xue Fangli said with a nonchalant smile, “the measurement I gave is your measurement when you’re bare.”
Jiang Juan: “…”
Xue Fangli asked slowly, “Don’t you want to see if my measurement is accurate?”
Silence, a long silence.
Xue Fangli looked at him with a hint of regret, “You’re still so thin after all this time, especially your waist, too slender. I’m always afraid I’ll break it if I hold you too tightly, too hard to hold.”
Jiang Juan, embarrassed and angry, snatched the tape from him and threw it at Xue Fangli, “If it’s hard to hold, then don’t hold me.”
“You measure yourself.”
Jiang Juan turned to leave, leaving Chief Steward Wang bewildered. Steward Gao, accustomed to such scenes, explained, “His Highness made the Royal Consort angry again.”
After a pause, Steward Gao smiled warmly and nostalgically said, “If this were at night, it wouldn’t be the Royal Consort leaving, but His Highness.”
Chief Steward Wang: “…”
Jiang Juan couldn’t stand teasing. Unable to stay in Liangfeng Courtyard, he returned to his own courtyard. Lan Ting followed, chuckling the entire way. Once inside, Jiang Juan started looking at his waist again.
Jiang Juan asked Lan Ting, “Is it really that thin?”
What could Lan Ting say? She could only shake her head and agree with Jiang Juan, “Just right.”
In truth, Jiang Juan was on the lean side.
He wasn’t overly thin, though, with a well-proportioned build. However, gaining some extra weight was a challenge.
Back in Liangfeng Courtyard, although Jiang Juan didn’t mention it, he was still curious. He asked Lan Ting, “Do you have a tape measure?”
Lan Ting nodded and brought Jiang Juan a tape. With His Highness not around, Jiang Juan undressed straightforwardly. After fumbling for a while and wrapping the tape around his waist, he looked down and was stunned.
The measurement matched what His Highness had said perfectly.
This time, not a single bit off.
Jiang Juan fell into deep thought.
After a long while, Jiang Juan curiously asked Lan Ting, “Lan Ting, do you think His Highness measured me while I was asleep?”
Lan Ting: “…”
She hesitantly said, “Young Master, rather than going through the trouble of measuring your waist, His Highness would probably prefer doing other things to you.”
With clothes off, would he only measure the waist?
Not even in folk tales.
“Other things…”
Jiang Juan’s eyelashes fluttered, thinking Lan Ting made some sense. Rather than measuring his waist, His Highness was more likely to kiss or bite him, in any case, harass him and prevent him from sleeping well.
Thinking of this, Jiang Juan tossed aside the tape.
Returning to his own courtyard, besides being angry about His Highness saying he was hard to hold, he also hadn’t slept well. Jiang Juan lay back, planning to catch up on sleep, but misfortune struck suddenly.
“Your Royal Consort, the Prince Consort and Marquis Anping have arrived,” Steward Gao came running, “The Prince Consort said he has something to discuss with you. Do you wish to see them?”
Jiang Juan: “…”
Of course, he didn’t want to see Marquis Anping, but the Prince Consort had comforted and helped him before. Jiang Juan, in agony, rubbed the couch several times before softly saying, “I will go see them.”
Steward Gao, smiling, said, “Your Royal Consort, please follow me.”
When Steward Gao came to inform Jiang Juan, Su Feiyue and Marquis Anping were already settled in. Su Feiyue, as usual, appeared leisurely, but Marquis Anping was dirty, with matted hair, looking like he hadn’t washed in days.
In fact, he hadn’t washed in days.
After being imprisoned for three days, Marquis Anping was disheveled. He left the Government Office under strange looks, intending to get on his carriage, but was stopped by Su Feiyue.
“According to schedule, come with me to Prince Li Residence and apologize to the Royal Consort.”
With just one sentence, Su Feiyue made Marquis Anping’s heart sink.
In the past three days, he had thought about many things.
Jiang Juan’s past pestering, his current indifference, and Jiang Juan’s intimacy with Prince Li all made Marquis Anping regret it.
But regret was useless.
No matter how much he regretted, he still had to come and apologize for breaking off the engagement, for his past neglect, and cold treatment of Jiang Juan.
Marquis Anping clenched his tea cup, suddenly hearing Su Feiyue speak: “Your Royal Consort.”
Marquis Anping looked up. The young man walked in with the steward of the residence. He was dressed in a spring robe, bright in color, with fair skin and dark hair. However, his hair was slightly disheveled, with a few strands falling, adding a lazy beauty to him, as if…
As if he had just been intimate with someone.
Thinking of this, Marquis Anping gripped the tea cup harder. The next moment, with a “crack,” he shattered the cup, the porcelain shards piercing his hand, blood flowing out.
“Marquis……. do you need someone to bandage that?” Steward Gao hesitated.
Marquis Anping replied in a low voice, “It’s fine.”
If he said it was fine, then it was fine. Steward Gao stayed silent, and Jiang Juan didn’t want to pay any attention to Marquis Anping. He only glanced at the noise and then looked away, not caring if he was hurt.
Seeing that Jiang Juan didn’t spare him an extra glance, Marquis Anping felt even more stifled.
Jiang Juan asked Su Feiyue, “Prince Consort, is there something you need?”
Su Feiyue sighed, “It’s nothing major, it’s just…”
He looked at Marquis Anping with an apologetic tone, “The matter of breaking off the engagement, we wronged you. No matter what, he owes you an apology.”
So that’s what it was. Jiang Juan let out an “ah,” not knowing what to say.
“Zhaoshi.”
Su Feiyue called, bringing Marquis Anping back to his senses. Apologizing, three days ago in the restaurant, he only felt resentment and humiliation. Now, he felt full of regret. Marquis Anping closed his eyes, then slowly said, “Your Royal Consort, I wronged you in the past.”
“Knowing your feelings, yet trampling on your sincerity, daily… spending time with your brother, not considering your feelings, and even offending you.”
“I…”
Marquis Anping’s lips trembled, his heart filled with bitterness, “I wronged you.”
Jiang Juan lowered his eyelashes. After a long while, he said to Marquis Anping, “I don’t accept.”
This body had changed its owner. Jiang Juan was Jiang Juan, not the one who was infatuated with Marquis Anping. Marquis Anping would never know someone bit their tongue and chose to die for him. What was the point of an apology?
Jiang Juan didn’t have the right to accept Marquis Anping’s apology on behalf of the person who shared his name and looks, nor the right to forgive him.
But Marquis Anping misunderstood. His eyes lit up.
If Jiang Juan accepted the apology, it meant he had let go of everything, held neither love nor hate for Marquis Anping, and didn’t care about him at all. But if he didn’t accept…
Love or hate, he would always remember him, and Marquis Anping would always have a place in Jiang Juan’s heart.
“Fine, you don’t accept, fine…”
Marquis Anping stammered, “Do you hate me? If you hate me, I will try to compensate you. All the grievances you suffered, the resentment in your heart, you can take it out on me, you…”
“What are you talking about?”
Jiang Juan grew more confused as he listened, unable to help but interrupt, “Why would I hate you?”
“I don’t hate you,” Jiang Juan said seriously, “It’s a waste of time. If I had time to hate you, I’d rather sleep more. Besides…”
“Why should I hate you?”
Jiang Juan said in confusion, “Don’t you know I have a heart condition? I can’t get angry, and I can’t have big emotional fluctuations. You’re not worth triggering my heart condition, unless it’s something His Highness did.”
But Jiang Juan had great confidence in His Highness. He added, “His Highness is annoying, but he would never do weird things like you.”
Not worth it.
Jiang Juan said many things, but Marquis Anping only heard those three words.
He was not worth it.
The young man wouldn’t even hate him.
Indeed.
From the beginning, the young man had no desire for his compensation and avoided him at all costs.
But why Prince Li?
Why him?
He had endured for so many years, while Prince Li acted freely.
He bore deep grudges, while Prince Li lived carefree!
Why?
Marquis Anping gritted his teeth and asked, “Do you trust Prince Li that much?”
Jiang Juan furrowed his brow, “If I don’t trust His Highness, should I trust you?”
The anger in his heart burst forth, and Marquis Anping questioned, “What makes him worthy of your trust?”
“You always say Prince Li is a good person, so let me ask you, what kind of good person would take a life over a single word of offense? What kind of good person cuts off hands, gouges out eyes, and cuts out tongues? What kind of good person injures others indiscriminately when he goes mad? What kind of good person…”
“Slap!”
Jiang Juan slapped him hard, truly angry, “What business is it of yours about His Highness?”
He hit so hard that his fingers hurt, leaving a handprint on Marquis Anping’s face. Marquis Anping stared at Jiang Juan, gritting his teeth, and asked, “Even if he did all those things, you still think he’s a good person?”
Maybe because his hand hurt, or maybe because he was too angry, Jiang Juan’s voice trembled, “I know better than you what kind of person His Highness is. I’m with him day and night. Do I need to hear from you what kind of person he is?”
Marquis Anping asked, “Have you heard the saying, ‘there’s no smoke without fire’? If Prince Li is really as you say, then what about all the rumors in the capital?”
“He pampers you every day, and you really think he’s a good person?”
Marquis Anping shouted, “He’s a madman! A complete lunatic!”
Jiang Juan was too angry, shaking all over. He wanted to slap Marquis Anping again, but before he could raise his hand, it was gently held and pulled into an embrace. The man patted his back soothingly.
Xue Fangli looked at the trembling Jiang Juan in his arms and said calmly, “Marquis, you said I took a life over a single word of offense. How many words have you offended today?”
“If I won’t take your life today, it would be truly betraying the words you’ve spoken.”
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Obrigada pelos capítulos!!💕😘