Princess Consort, Take a Short Nap With Me

Hearing this, Lu Jingsi glanced sideways at her.

He was silent for a moment, then rubbed the space between his brows with his long fingers. "The princess consort will have full authority to handle this matter."

"Your Highness..."

When Nanny Liu, kneeling below, heard that her fate was in Su Luoqian's hands, she looked up in terror.

As Nanny Liu watched, Su Luoqian gave her a little wink and a smile.

When she raised her head again, the woman's lovely face had gone utterly cold, and her voice rang out, firm and forceful. "Nanny Liu colluded with an outsider, defied her superiors, and showed contempt for the rules of the residence. She is to receive fifty strokes of the cane and be expelled from the prince's residence."

Fulin, who had been waiting at the side, felt his heart jump at those words.

Fifty strokes could kill a person.

He closed his eyes and sighed silently.

Nanny Liu truly had it coming.

"Spare me, Your Highness! Your Highness..."

"This old servant has always been utterly loyal to you... spare me, Your Highness..."

Lu Jingsi's face was frighteningly grim, his dark eyes as if coated in frost. He let Nanny Liu wail beside him without saying a word.

He had said he would leave the matter to Su Luoqian, and he would neither interfere again nor question her decision.

Seeing Nanny Liu like this, Su Luoqian gave a soft chuckle. She turned to Fulin and said politely, "Eunuch Fulin, sorry for the trouble, but please supervise the punishment later. Make sure to count every one of the fifty strokes."

"Once it's done, take some people and clear out everything in Nanny Liu's quarters."

Standing beside the screen, Fulin lowered his head. "This old servant obeys."

After fifty strokes, whether Nanny Liu lived or died would depend on her own fortune.

Even if she survived, though, she would be paralyzed.

"You...!"

"You vicious woman! You snake and scorpion at heart!"

"I'll beat you to death!"

As soon as the words left her mouth, Nanny Liu, her face twisted and hideous, lunged straight at Su Luoqian.

Su Luoqian was standing right beside the screen. Before she could even react, she heard a bang.

Yinzhu gave Nanny Liu a gentle push, just one gentle push, and Nanny Liu abruptly veered off course and crashed into the screen.

The landscape screen fell with a crash. Nanny Liu struggled on the floor a few times, barely conscious, but she could no longer get up.

"...I... I didn't mean to..."

Yinzhu stared blankly at the scene before her. "I... I only gave her a gentle push."

She really had only pushed her gently. Who would have thought Nanny Liu would fly off as though hurled with great force?

The screen had even cracked.

They won't make me pay for it, will they...?

Su Luoqian came back to her senses and saw what was on her mind. She curved her lips in a smile. "Mm, you only gave her a gentle push."

"Don't worry, you won't have to pay for it."

Yinzhu was timid but strong. Presumably, things had happened so suddenly that she hadn't controlled her strength.

Su Luoqian shot Nanny Liu a cold look. "Don't be in such a hurry. I haven't finished."

"Since Nanny Liu is being expelled from the prince's residence for her misconduct, the supplier of the kitchen's vegetables should be replaced as well."

Hearing this, Zelan bowed. "I'll contact a new vendor right away."

The prince's residence was large, and it needed a considerable quantity of fruit and vegetables every day.

With Nanny Liu there before, the business had been in her hands.

Her husband and son both depended on it for their livelihood. Now that Su Luoqian had ordered a change of supplier, it was tantamount to cutting off her family's source of income.

Lu Jingsi remained seated upright on the edge of the bed, watching it all with a dark gaze.

He knew what Su Luoqian's decision meant for Nanny Liu's family, but he did not object.

Instead, he raised the stakes in a cold voice. "After you've received your fifty strokes, if you still have a life left and dare go to the grand princess's residence to trouble Her Highness, I will take it that you're courting death."

"Your Highness..."

Unable to move, Nanny Liu gazed at Lu Jingsi in grief and indignation, tears streaming down her aged face.

Su Luoqian had no time to watch her act out some tragic scene. She pointed at the mustached man on the floor and asked Lu Jingsi, "Your Highness, how do you intend to deal with this man?"

Lu Jingsi lifted his eyelids. With just one glance, he knew she already had an idea of her own.

He said mildly, "The princess consort may decide."

Hearing this, Su Luoqian smiled. "The palace is still short of people, isn't it? Then send him there to be castrated."

A scoundrel from the streets who had done no small harm to others.

In any case, it was that little bit of flesh between his legs that couldn't stay out of trouble. She recommended cutting it off to cure the problem for good.

Hearing this, the man, who had been lying on the floor too afraid to move, finally reacted.

"No—!"

"Your Highness... please spare my life! I didn't know the woman in this room was the princess consort. If I had known, I wouldn't have dared act so outrageously, not even with ten times my courage."

When Lu Jingsi first heard Su Luoqian's words, his brows rose slightly, and he gave her a sidelong glance, a complicated look in his eyes.

The mustached man was still wailing, so Lu Jingsi waved a hand.

Fulin understood and immediately summoned the servants to drag the man out.

Nanny Liu was taken away as well.

Zelan ordered the broken screen carried away, while Yinzhu fetched water and scrubbed the floor carefully.

After everything was tidied up, only Su Luoqian and Lu Jingsi remained in the room.

Rumble—

After a whole afternoon of stifling heat, a clap of thunder finally sounded overhead.

Dark clouds blanketed the sky, dimming the light in the room, and mere breaths later, rain came pouring down.

Su Luoqian walked slowly over to the dressing table and closed the window. She sat down on the round stool, turned around, and looked at him.

"Your Highness, aren't you going to ask about that cousin of mine?"

Lu Jingsi seemed to give a cold laugh. "Would the princess consort be so foolish?"

"Of course not."

Those words seemed to say nothing, yet in truth they said everything.

Lu Jingsi closed his eyes. There were faint shadows beneath them.

He had left the residence to work on a case the night before and had barely closed his eyes since. His body was already somewhat weary.

Now that the matter was settled, the man stood up, his tall, slender figure looming before her.

He raised his arms slightly, clearly expecting her to undress him.

Today he wore a black brocade robe woven with gold and subtle patterns, sumptuous yet carrying a hint of aloof severity.

Standing directly in front of her like this, he exuded an oppressive air.

Su Luoqian turned her face aside, trying to avoid the masculine scent that had become so familiar without her noticing.

"I don't know how. Have someone else come in."

She had been pampered from childhood, raised in the palms of her parents' hands.

How would she know how to do the work of serving someone?

Even though the instructing nanny had taught her during the time she was preparing to marry, her thoughts had been in such turmoil then that she hadn't been able to take any of it in.

Hearing her words, Lu Jingsi did not so much as lift an eyelid. He said coldly,

"If you don't know how, learn."

Su Luoqian could only press her lips together, stand up, and move closer to him reluctantly.

The clasp on his waist sash was rather complicated, and after fumbling with it for a long time, she still couldn't find the tongue of the buckle.

After a long while.

Lu Jingsi seemed to lose patience. His breathing suddenly grew heavier, and he caught her hand in his large palm, guiding it to the small of his back and finding the clasp with ease.

The tongue was at the back. Su Luoqian wrapped her slender arms around his taut waist and stood even closer to make it easier to undo.

Her delicate cheek was almost against his chest.

Their breaths suddenly mingled.

Lu Jingsi's eyes snapped open, and his dark gaze fixed on her.

From this position, he could see only the ornaments atop her head.

Something stirred in the man's heart. He raised a hand slightly and pulled out her dangling hair ornament and hairpin.

Freed from their restraints, her dark tresses cascaded down.

Strand after strand brushed the broad back of his hand, leaving a faint tickle.

Caught off guard by his sudden action, Su Luoqian paused and gave him a soft, alluring glare. "What are you doing?"

Lu Jingsi held her hand in one of his and continued undoing the clasp. With the other, he loosely encircled her waist and bent down, his breath slightly warm.

"Princess consort, take a short nap with me."