Chapter 68: Third Young Master Gu’s Affections
Faced with his wife’s wide-eyed, expressionless look, Gu Xinglang began to sweat. As a new Royal Son-in-Law, he was unfamiliar with how to express tender affections. All he could think of was, how in the wonder am I supposed to know who’s thinking of the princess right now?!
Yu Xiaoxiao waited for Gu Xinglang’s answer until she got impatient. Did she make a mistake somewhere? It didn’t look like he was planning to flirt back.
After some thought, Gu Xinglang finally asked, “Princess, how did you know Junior Master Fenglin’s name was Wen Fenglin?”
Yu Xiaoxiao felt like someone who’d been forced to look at something annoying after already taking her pants off. We’re supposed to be flirting right now, so who cares about Wen Fenglin?!
Gu Xinglang continued, “You know about the junior master?”
Yu Xiaoxiao pulled her hand out of Gu Xinglang’s grasp and said rather sorely, “I just blurted whatever out. What do I care what his surname is?”
Gu Xinglang looked at his wife’s blank expression after her hand was gone. “Are you angry?”
Yu Xiaoxiao looked out the window. Forget it, looks like I’m destined to be a single dog until I die. What did my besties say? If a man has no thoughts about you, then he either feels nothing for you or he has problems down there. Yu Xiaoxiao perched on the window while touching her cheek.
My face looks the same as it did in my past life. Does this mean my looks aren’t good enough to attract men? Well, dang. Feeling rather depressed, she resigned herself to the tragic fate of staying single forever.
Gu Xinglang looked at Yu Xiaoxiao with an anxious heart, but he had no idea what to do. He didn’t know how to say honeyed words or sweet nothings. Should I take her into my lap? But he was stuck sitting with no way to move. Maybe I should take her out to eat again after the carriage stops? But when he recalled the lunch they just had, he was worried she’d overeat. As his nervousness grew, he finally gritted his teeth, took off his outer robes, and leaned forward to drape it across Yu Xiaoxiao’s shoulders.
“Autumn is getting frosty, don’t catch a chill.”
Yu Xiaoxiao turned back to look at him. “I’m not cold.”
Gu Xinglang was embarrassed. “There’s a breeze outside the window.”
Yes, there was a breeze blowing in from the carriage windows, but it was filled with the scent of life. Yu Xiaoxiao liked it very much and squinted her eyes against the wind. “It’s a very comfortable breeze,” she said.
Gu Xinglang’s outer robes were quite big, so they all but engulfed Yu Xiaoxiao’s still growing body. Rather than Her Royal Highness Princess Linglong, what Gu Xinglang saw in this instance was Yu Xiaoxiao’s droopy, slightly drowsy eyes and the wind whipping her tendrils of hair until they stuck to her forehead and temples. He was suddenly reminded of the “fox flower cat” (狸花猫) raised by his mother called Lil’ Blossom. When Lil’ Blossom closed her eyes to sunbathe, she looked just like Yu Xiaoxiao at this moment.
“When we get back, I want to take a nap,” Yu Xiaoxiao said.
Gu Xinglang nodded before he suddenly opened up his arms. “You can sleep in my arms for a bit first.” Then he waited anxiously for his wife’s reply.
Yu Xiaoxiao deliberated between the window and Little Gu’s embrace before eventually picking her husband. She leaned against his chest and mused with narrowed eyes, he might not feel anything about me, but I don’t think he’s annoying, either. If I can take advantage of him like this, might as well.
Gu Xinglang wrapped his arms around her shoulders for a while before he finally murmured, “Princess, I had no idea who could be thinking of you just then.”
Yu Xiaoxiao had almost fallen asleep when her body stiffened. Daheck?
“But it’s fine as long as you’re not cold,” Gu Xinglang went on. “Go ahead and sleep.”
Yu Xiaoxiao began to think in Gu Xinglang’s arms until she suddenly sensed what was the matter. Maybe it’s not that he doesn’t have any feelings, but that he doesn’t understand how to flirt? She straightened in his embrace and lifted him by the chin. “You don’t know how?”
Gu Xinglang gave a start. What did I do this time? What don’t I understand? He asked, “What don’t I know?”
Yu Xiaoxiao said, “I sneezed and asked who could be thinking of me. You’re supposed to say, ‘I was thinking of you.’”
Gu Xinglang’s jaw dropped. Is that how it works?
“You can’t keep on like this,” Yu Xiaoxiao said after leveling him with a long look. “Girls need to be spoiled. Even if you feel nothing about me, you’ll meet one you like sooner or later, ah. If you don’t know a thing about flirting, how are you supposed to pursue her? You have to remember this famous saying.”
Gu Xinglang was still petrified. “Wh, what famous saying?”
“Girls only like bad boys,” Yu Xiaoxiao replied. “Pure, innocent types are doomed to be second male leads. If you want to be the Male Lead, you have to do–do those things, understand?”
Huff. Gu Xinglang was about to lose it. Those things? What things? What do I understand? Why is it so hard to hold a conversation?!
“You got all that?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked.
Gu Xinglang calmed himself as the wheels in his head spun quickly. He was thinking even faster than his time commanding armies in the field. What do I say so my wife understands me? Are all imperial princesses like this? Is it true that beyond the palace walls lies a completely different world?
“So you’ve learned your lessons?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked next.
Once again, Gu Xinglang drew Yu Xiaoxiao back into his arms and said in a heavy tone, “I’m not a bad person, nor do I feel affections for anyone else.”
“That’s because you haven’t met the right person yet,” Yu Xiaoxiao explained.
“I’m already husband and wife with you, princess,” Gu Xinglang said desperately. “Who else could I like besides the princess?”
Hm? Yu Xiaoxiao tilted her head in Gu Xinglang’s hug. So this guy does have feelings for me!
Gu Xinglang went on, “Princess, I won’t have any other woman in this lifetime. You’re my wife, so isn’t it fine for the two of us to spend the rest of our days together?”
“A lifetime together?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked.
Gu Xinglang tightened his grip on Yu Xiaoxiao and affirmed, “Yes, a lifetime together.”
“There’s plenty of good women in the world, you know,” Yu Xiaoxiao suddenly felt sorry for Gu Xinglang. It’s a shame to hang to death on a single tree.
Gu Xinglang said, “No matter how many women there are, I don’t know any of them. What does it matter to me how good they are?”
“You could try–” Yu Xiaoxiao wanted to say that he could walk around a bit since he had to work to attract girlfriends in the first place, especially when future prospects were impossible in a household of men. But Gu Xinglang was so afraid of what she’d say next that he only let her get three words out before pressing his lips against hers. His heart was resolved–this was his wife, so it shouldn’t matter much if he kissed her!
Yu Xiaoxiao’s advice for Gu Xinglang died in her throat after that.
At the Big Bowl Restaurant, Yu Xiaoxiao had finished off her lunch with a dessert of osmanthus flower yuanxiao (元宵). Because she’d eaten so much, there were still traces of the sweet rice dumplings in her mouth. As the tip of Gu Xinglang’s tongue probed past her lips and into her mouth to entwine carefully between her teeth, the cloying, sugary sweetness was enough to intoxicate him.
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