IDWBE -Chapter 554 A Hot Potato

The entertainment in this world was so monotonous that Lin Yi simply had no interest in it.

What he really missed was the internet era.

Back then, with just a single smartphone, he could happily waste an entire day without eating or drinking.

Han Deqing continued, “These dogs have already turned into wild dogs. They don’t wag their tails when they see people anymore—they’re quite ferocious.”

Lin Yi smiled.

“Send people to drive them away quickly. Remember—don’t kill them. It would be best if they were given to common people to adopt.”

Han Deqing replied, “Rest assured, Your Highness. I will arrange it properly.”

Using the lantern in Han Deqing’s hand for light, Lin Yi continued along the narrow winding path toward Guan Xiaoqi’s sheepfold.

Before long he heard the sound of running water. It was pitch-black everywhere. He didn’t look into the sheep pen but walked past it and continued upstream along the small creek.

After only a few steps, a small courtyard appeared.

White walls and grey tiles—it looked like a very ordinary farmhouse.

Han Deqing stepped forward and knocked on the door. Soon a light appeared inside the yard.

Guan Xiaoqi came out wearing a coat. She first glanced at Han Deqing and then said to Lin Yi,

“Don’t tell me you’re having insomnia again?”

“Not really,” Lin Yi said as he walked into the yard and sat on a stone stool, casually slapping a bunch of mosquitoes dead.

“I just haven’t seen you for a few days, and since I had some time tonight, I came to see you.”

“So many mosquitoes here—how can you stand it?”

Guan Xiaoqi brought a kettle from the living room and poured him some tea.

“It’s still more comfortable than living in your place. Here I’m alone and free. No one restrains me—it’s wonderful.”

Lin Yi pulled her onto his lap, held her hand, and smiled.

“Don’t you know the saying ‘marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog’?”

Guan Xiaoqi muttered, “I didn’t move far away. You can come here in just a few steps.”

Lin Yi said, “How can husband and wife sleep separately like this?”

Guan Xiaoqi snorted.

“As if you would accompany me even if I lived in the residence. Aren’t you always staying with Miss Du?”

Lin Yi laughed awkwardly. “That’s nonsense. Haven’t I spent plenty of time with you?”

“Whether you have or not—you know it yourself,” she said. “Living in the residence or living here is the same to me anyway. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Lin Yi asked.

“Unless I get pregnant. Then it’ll be inconvenient to stay here, and I’ll move back.”

Lin Yi couldn’t help laughing bitterly.

“What’s gotten into you too? You want a child now? A few days ago you said you didn’t care.”

I’m not a breeding stallion, he thought.

Every time he talked with these women, the conversation eventually turned to having children.

Now even Guan Xiaoqi was the same.

She said, “I’ve been married to you for quite some time now. If it goes on too long, people outside—and even in the residence—will look down on me. They’ll say I’m…”

“Say what?” Lin Yi frowned.

“They say I’m a hen that can’t lay eggs!”

She puffed her cheeks angrily.

Lin Yi snorted coldly. “They dare slander you like that? Don’t worry—I’ll avenge you.”

She shook her head. “How? They didn’t say it to my face. I can’t go confront them publicly. If they deny it, will you kill them? Besides, their mouths belong to them—they can say whatever they want. Since they say I can’t lay eggs, I’ll just give birth to one and show them.”

Lin Yi was stunned.

“Anyway, I’m going to have a child. You can’t refuse,” she said stubbornly.

Helpless, Lin Yi was dragged into the house by her.

Since resistance was useless, he simply resigned himself and lay there while Guan Xiaoqi busied herself.

By the end, they were both drenched in sweat.

There wasn’t even a servant around to help, so Lin Yi had to fetch water himself from the yard to wash up.

After washing, his backside was once again swollen red from mosquito bites.

“If someone could invent mosquito-repelling incense,” Lin Yi sighed while lying on the bed, “I’d worship him like an ancestor.”

“Mosquito incense?” Guan Xiaoqi had never heard of such a thing.

“It’s a kind of powder. When burned, the smoke kills mosquitoes,” Lin Yi explained.

Lying on his chest, she said, “That really would be a good thing. But if you stayed inside the mosquito net at night instead of wandering around, you’d be fine.”

Lin Yi sighed.

“I’m afraid my body couldn’t handle it.”

After a moment she realized what he meant and glared at him.

“You really never speak properly.”

Lin Yi asked curiously, “If we really have a child, do you want a son or a daughter?”

“A son,” she answered immediately without hesitation.

“What if it’s a daughter?” he teased.

“Then we’ll keep trying.”

“And if the next one is also a daughter?”

“Then we’ll keep having children until there’s a son!”

Lin Yi laughed.

“What’s wrong with daughters?”

She pouted.

“I’m a daughter myself—don’t you think I know whether it’s good or not?”

Lin Yi said, “You’re doing quite well now.”

She murmured, “My father treated me well too. But because I wasn’t a son, he could never hold his head high in the village. Every year when he burned incense to the ancestors, he would cry and say he had failed them. If I had been a son, he would have sold everything to send me to school. Maybe I’d even have become the top scholar.”

“You’re quite ambitious—wanting to become the top scholar?” Lin Yi laughed and pulled his arm from under her head.

“My arm is numb.”

She sighed.

“I knew you looked down on me.”

“I don’t mean that,” Lin Yi quickly said.

“Forget it,” she said calmly. “I’m a woman. Even if I became the top scholar, it wouldn’t count as bringing honor to my ancestors.”

Lin Yi comforted her.

“You think too much.”

“I’m just telling the truth,” she said. “These days my father has been hanging around with matchmakers. He thinks I don’t know, but I do. He still wants a son. Otherwise he won’t be able to close his eyes when he dies.”

Lin Yi looked surprised. “You knew?”

“I’m not blind or deaf,” she said. “And ever since I followed you, many people think I’m something special. Those who used to look down on me now crowd around me. Even the things I don’t want to know—they keep telling me.”

Lin Yi said firmly, “You’re my woman. Of course you’re remarkable.”

She shook her head. “You’re talking nonsense. You only have one real wife—that’s the Princess Consort. People like me and Sister Jinxiang are just concubines. Is that really so remarkable?”

Lin Yi sighed. “Then tomorrow I’ll give you an official title. How about that?”

“I don’t want it,” she said firmly. “I know you mean well and don’t want me to suffer, but if you only give it to me, what will the others think? How will they see me?”

She admitted Mingyue, Zixia, Jinxiang, and Du Yinniang were good people.

But even good people could hold knives—and they could still kill.

Just like her father had said: Prince He was also a good man.

But wherever his army passed, how many people died?

Were all the heads cut off at the Meridian Gate truly bad people?

Lin Yi sighed again. “Then I’ll give titles to all of you together. Alright?”

“Let them accept it first,” she said, pulling his arm back under her head.

“Forget it. Talking too much makes it sound like I’m competing for favor. That’s not my intention.”

“I know it isn’t,” Lin Yi said, stroking her soft hair. “Since you’re with me, I won’t let you suffer.”

She shook her head. “You can’t guarantee that.”

Lin Yi asked curiously, “I’m the head of the family. How can my word not count?”

She hesitated before saying, “One day I’ll grow old and lose my beauty. You’ll have younger women then. You’ll say the same things to them that you’re saying to me today. The future you won’t be the same as the present you. The present you can’t decide for the future you.”

Lin Yi froze.

What present, what future? That’s philosophy!

“Who taught you to say that?” he asked.

“You did,” she said, pinching his palm. “You once said: the price of growing up is constantly killing the past self to create the future self.”

Lin Yi was speechless.

“You have a good memory.”

“I remember every word you say,” she murmured.

“Thank you,” Lin Yi said, hugging her tightly.

Soon he fell asleep.

He woke before dawn, awakened by the heat.

Sweaty all over, he walked outside bare-chested. Zixia and the others were already waiting.

Yawning repeatedly, he refused the tea offered to him and carefully stepped down into the creek, walking over moss-covered stones.

“Your Highness,” Zixia said nervously, “the morning fog is thick and it’s cold. Please be careful.”

Lin Yi submerged himself completely in the water.

“It’s fine. This feels great.”

After the heat dissipated, he felt refreshed.

Using a pig-bristle toothbrush with a little salt, he brushed his teeth directly in the stream.

After lying on a large rock for a while, he returned to shore and changed clothes.

Hot porridge had just been prepared. He drank two bowls but didn’t touch the pastries.

“Where is Han Deqing?”

“Your Highness, Commander Han went to the Governor’s Office early this morning and hasn’t returned yet,” Zixia said while wiping Lin Yi’s hands.

“Never mind. I’ll go to the palace for a walk first.”

Lin Yi suddenly wanted to see the Grand Princess.

He wondered whether she had figured things out yet.

---

The morning glow filled the sky, coloring the forests red.

Lin Yi rode his donkey in a very good mood.

After entering the palace, he dismounted and headed straight to the Changqing Palace, where the Crown Prince had once lived. It was now the residence of the Grand Princess.

In the courtyard, the Grand Princess was dancing with a sword—graceful and elegant.

Tan Fei and Lei Kaishan stood beside Lin Yi, gripping their blades tightly.

Lin Yi pushed them aside and stepped forward. When the Grand Princess finished her sword form, he applauded.

“Aunt, excellent swordsmanship!”

Without even looking up, she said while wiping the sword, “You know martial arts?”

Lin Yi laughed awkwardly.

“Aunt, you’re teasing me. Don’t you know my abilities?”

She said calmly, “If you don’t know martial arts, how can you judge my swordsmanship? Clearly your praise lacks sincerity.”

Lin Yi replied, “I can’t write immortal poetry either, but that doesn’t stop me from praising it.”

“Arguing sophistry,” she said.

She tossed the sword, and it landed perfectly in its scabbard hanging from a tree.

“Speak. Why did you come so early in the morning?”

Lin Yi sighed. “I missed you, Aunt. I came to see you. Are you used to living here?”

The Grand Princess took a bowl of white fungus soup from a maid.

“If I say I’m not used to it, will you have your mother return Cian Palace to me?”

“That’s impossible,” Lin Yi said. “You know my mother’s personality. Once something falls into her hands, it’s impossible to take it back.”

Cian Palace had originally belonged to the Grand Princess, but now his mother lived there.

And frankly, there was no need to give it back.

After all, a mother is closer than an aunt.

The Grand Princess snorted.

Lin Yi grinned. “But if Aunt insists on living there again, then the price will be high. As long as the silver can help the people, my mother will surely be reasonable.”

The Grand Princess put down her bowl.

“How much do you want?”

“The more the better,” Lin Yi said shamelessly.

“Ten or twenty million taels isn’t too little. Thirty or forty million isn’t too much either.”

She sighed. “You overestimate Jizhao Convent. No matter what rumors say, it isn’t wealthy enough to rival a nation.”

“You know I’m honest,” Lin Yi laughed. “You can’t fool me like that. From what I know, you alone gave the Crown Prince ten million taels.”

“And another ten million to Prince Yong,” she said as she slowly walked toward him.

“Seven out of ten parts are already gone.”

“Really? I don’t believe it,” Lin Yi shook his head. “Jizhao Convent has stood for a thousand years. Just this little money?”

She sighed again. “What do you think Jizhao Convent is? At most it’s just a large sect. Being able to accumulate this much wealth is already impressive.”

Lin Yi frowned. “Aunt, something’s not right. Why are you suddenly willing to talk about this?”

She smiled faintly. “Jingyi and Jingkuan have arrived in Ankang City. I don’t want this hot potato anymore.”

She sounded completely sincere.

For a moment, Lin Yi felt strangely empty inside when he saw her smile.

He quickly shook his head. “Jizhao Convent has come to Ankang?”

Just then a voice came from outside.

“Reporting to Your Highness—Pan Duo requests an audience.”

“Not seeing him!” Lin Yi snapped angrily.

Pan Duo really is useless.