Chapter 1267 - 48: The Joyful Debt (Part 24)
Xie Hengyuan was too exhausted to walk any farther. He looked at Shangguan Feng and said, "Total annihilation?"
"Every last one of them got found," Shangguan Feng said gloomily.
Even the secret passage under the bath barrel had been discovered; really sorry for all the scheming they’d done for so long.
Especially him—he’d been bitten seven or eight times by mosquitoes.
Shangguan Feng rubbed garlic on the spots on his face where the mosquitoes had bitten him.
Very soon it stopped itching.
Their stomachs were growling, so Xie Hengyuan and Shangguan Feng went to the table to eat. They were still young and didn’t drink wine, but there was juice, and they had a great time.
The only pitiful one was Su Yang, still wondering where on earth Xie Hengyuan had gone.
The maids and matrons knew nothing of what was happening in the bridal chamber, and Su Yang hadn’t asked.
After the wedding feast dispersed, Xie Jingchen and Su Jin escorted the Emperor back to the Imperial Palace, then returned to the Prince Zhenbei Mansion.
Su Yang sat on the bed, feeling like life had lost all meaning.
Princess Yinchuan looked at him. "Still going to look?"
"No," Su Yang shook his head.
"I’d like to see how long he plans on hiding."
He flopped back onto the bed.
Princess Yinchuan was dead tired as well.
She did have the tiniest urge to suggest sleeping on the floor, but she didn’t dare say it.
Now that she’d resumed her identity as Princess Beimo, she had to take Beimo’s dignity into account. If people found out that Princess Beimo was sleeping on the floor, how humiliating would that be?
In front of Su Yang it was whatever—he certainly wouldn’t tell anyone, since he’d have a share of the blame for making her sleep on the floor. But as for other people, she had to be on guard.
And then—
Su Yang’s wedding night, though spent sharing a bed and pillow with Princess Yinchuan,
they hadn’t dared do anything at all.
The two of them lay very properly, not daring to cross the line even half a step.
They were so exhausted they fell asleep just like that.
When they woke, daylight was already streaming in.
At some point, he’d ended up holding Princess Yinchuan in his arms. Once he realized it, Su Yang got such a scare.
He was afraid he’d lead his little nephew astray.
Getting out of bed, he stretched lazily and opened the door. A maid immediately stepped forward. "Second Young Master is up this early?"
"Do you know when Yuanyuan left?" Su Yang asked.
"The Young Master left with the Emperor after the banquet ended last night," the maid replied.
"...!!!"
Su Yang felt a sharp pain in his chest.
His wedding night!
Su Yang lifted his head to glance at the sky—there was still plenty of time left in the hour.
He turned back into the room and shut the door directly.
He walked to the bedside. Princess Yinchuan was awake too and looked at him. "Why are you up so early?"
Surely the people in the Dongxiang Marquis Mansion don’t all get up this early, right?
She really didn’t want to get up this early for the rest of her life.
Su Yang had always been an early riser; Princess Yinchuan knew that.
But Su Yang got up early to do horse stance and practice swordsmanship; Princess Yinchuan didn’t need to. She usually got up only after Su Yang finished training.
Back in the Beimo Palace, she’d been the most beloved Little Princess of the King Beimo and the Beimo Empress, so there was even less need for her to get up early to pay her respects.
Su Yang loosened his clothes. Princess Yinchuan yawned and got out of bed. Su Yang looked at her and said, "What are you getting up for?"
"Aren’t we going to serve tea?" Princess Yinchuan asked.
"...We haven’t consummated the marriage yet."
Princess Yinchuan, "..."
A thought flashed through her mind, and the tips of her ears turned bright red.
He doesn’t mean to consummate the marriage first thing in the morning, does he?!
"Has the eldest young master of the Prince Zhenbei Mansion been found?" Princess Yinchuan asked.
"Don’t bring him up," Su Yang said through gritted teeth.
"That brat’s stomach was upset last night. The wedding-night prank hadn’t even started before he bailed."
"..."
"We’ll have to have six or seven kids before a wedding-night prank of ours can be considered halfway decent."
On his own wedding night, let alone consummating the marriage, he hadn’t even dared to give her a proper hug.
One of life’s four great joys had just gone up in smoke like that—his heart ached.
Only, by the time Xie Hengyuan married and started a family, it would be another ten years or so. As an elder, he certainly couldn’t go make trouble in his junior’s bridal chamber, so he could only hand this important duty over to his own sons and daughters.
Su Yang had wanted to make up for the wedding night, but once he stepped out the door, the maid knew he was awake.
Inside the room, the sound of him and Princess Yinchuan talking could be faintly heard as well, so the maid assumed they were up and brought in a copper basin to attend to them.
Su Yang’s hope of making up for the wedding night was completely strangled in the cradle.
Mrs. Jiang entered with a beaming face to help tidy up the bed.
She searched for quite a while and didn’t see any trace of blood.
Mrs. Jiang looked toward Princess Yinchuan.
Princess Yinchuan quickly shifted her gaze off into the distance, mortified.
Her skin might be dark, but her face was actually very thin; she couldn’t withstand the blazing heat of Mrs. Jiang’s stare.
Mrs. Jiang gave Su Yang a glance, and everything became clear to her.
She folded the quilt neatly and withdrew.
Su Yang was baffled.
What kind of look was that from Mrs. Jiang?
What exactly did she think she understood?
Thinking it over for a moment, he realized what was going on.
Su Yang felt stifled in his chest.
They hadn’t consummated the marriage yet—hadn’t everyone already decided they had?
Remembering how he’d said yesterday that Princess Yinchuan was pregnant, Su Yang just wanted to punch himself in the face.