The Wife Is First

Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Peach Blossom Wine

“Chen, is still not sleepy.” Hearing the words “go back to the bedroom”, Mu Hanzhang’s ears turned even more red.

Jing Shao felt that his appearance was extremely cute. He raised his hand and closed the boring law book. He pulled him up and said: “I am also not too sleepy, let’s go, I will take you to a place.”

“Wang Ye…” Mu Hanzhang was pulled up by him and stood up. Seeing his eagerness, he could only follow him outside, comforting himself that perhaps he would forget about the gift of thanks in a little while.

When they left the study, they wandered and circled around before unexpectedly going into the garden. 

“Wait for me.” Stopping under the rock garden, Jing Shao squeezed into the cave, and shortly after brought out a small basket with a lid.

“What is this?” Mu Hanzhang was a little curious. There was actually something hidden in the garden of the prince’s palace, Jing Shao’s appearance seemed like that of a child secretly hiding toys.

Jing Shao laughed mischievously and did not answer, just took him to climb the highest rock formations in the garden, on which was built a delicate octagonal pavilion.

“You hold this.” Jing Shao handed the small basket to the person next to him. After he handed it over, he reached out and took the man into his arms.

“Wang Ye!” Mu Hanzhang cried out in surprise, but before he reacted, he was already on top of the pavilion.

“This is the highest place in the palace,” Jing Shao smiled and sat down between the tiles, and patting the position next to him. “Come and sit.”

Mu Hanzhang could only slowly sit beside him. The top of the pavilion was inclined and he always felt like he would slide down at any time.

When Jing Shao saw that he was very cautious and solemn, he felt it amusing, so he reached out and grabbed his waist: “I am here, you won’t be able to fall.” 

Seeing that there were no objections from the person next to him, Jing Shao confidently continued to hold him: “This Star-Picking Pavilion is my favorite place in the palace. On a clear day’s night time, I can see a sky full of stars.”

Mu Hanzhang complied with his embrace, and raised his head to look, sure enough the sky was full of starlight, without any eaves to block them, all around them seemed like a blue dome of heaven, as if they were placed in the middle of a of river of stars. The corner of his mouth could not help but reveal a smiling expression: “It’s beautiful, Chen has never seen such a vast canopy of stars.”

As a bastard, he wasn’t able to act as willfully as Mu Lingbao. Ever since he was a child in the Marquis’ residence, he had to abide by the proper etiquette everywhere. There was always someone watching to mock him for making one wrong step. Nevermind doing something like climbing onto the roof of a pavilion, if he was caught, he guessed he would be gifted a beating by his father. 

“Have you never climbed a tree when you were young?” Jing Shao was a little surprised. When boys were young, they should have all been very naughty. When he was a child, he often climbed the trees in the imperial gardens to grab birds’ nests. He would also climb to the top of trees to see the stars in the middle of the night. When the people in the palace found out, he would be spanked by his Mother Empress, but his Mother Empress hated to use a heavy hand, so the next day he would leap and frisk about and continue to do bad things.

When he heard about Jing Shao’s “great achievements” when he was young, Mu Hanzhang couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He didn’t expect the majestic prince was unexpectedly naughty and mischievous like this when he was a child, but he couldn’t help but be envious. When he was young, no one educated him. His mother did not read much, and could only teach him how to compute things on the abacus, and how to take care of the accounts. And afterwards when his father found out, he also became very angry, saying his mother misguided him, and sent him to the family’s tutors to study in advance, not allowing him to speak to his mother much anymore.