15Chapter 15: Going Crazy
The two of them played outside all day, and when they returned to the palace, it was already dark and past dinner time. Because the West Garden was occupied by female relatives, the key to the palace had to be locked much earlier than that of the East Garden. Mu Hanzhang exempted several concubines from paying respects tonight, so as not to delay the key to the West Garden.
A full bucket of hot water was prepared behind the screen, with spices from foreign countries added to the water and a layer of fresh peach petals sprinkled on it.
Seeing Jing Shao taking off his clothes and preparing to take a bath, Mu Hanzhang picked up a book and sat on the Luohan bed to wait for him to finish washing before going, but was grabbed by Jing Shao: "Jun Qing, you threw me to the ground today, and my butt is still hurting now."
"Minister..." Thinking of what happened today, Mu Hanzhang's face turned red again. He had already apologized to him in the afternoon, so why was this man still not letting it go?
"You have to be sincere in your apology," Jing Shao grabbed her hand and dragged her behind the screen, "I'm injured, help me take a bath."
Mu Hanzhang stared at him with wide eyes. This was the first time he heard that it was inconvenient to take a bath if your butt was injured: "I... I don't know how to..."
"It's okay, I'll help you take a bath too." Jing Shao took off all his clothes beautifully and jumped into the bucket first. Looking at the princess who was still standing there, he patted the wooden bucket, "Come in quickly, or I'll punish you to help me apply medicine later."
Apply medicine? Mu Hanzhang bit his lower lip. Applying medicine on that place on the bed or facing each other naked in the bathtub, the two seem to be quite dangerous, but if you apply medicine, you can wear clothes...
"Jun Qing?" Jing Shao looked at his princess biting her lower lip and thinking hard, and he thought it was very cute.
"Then... I'll help the prince apply medicine." After saying that, he ran out without looking back.
"Puff~" Jing Shao laughed while lying on the side of the bathtub.
When Mu Hanzhang finished bathing and changed into a new silk dress and came out from behind the screen, he saw a certain prince wearing only an undershirt, no underpants, lying on the bed with his bare bottom, reading a military book with great interest.
"Prince...Prince..." Mu Hanzhang's face immediately turned red. Why is this man like this...
"Jun Qing!" Jing Shao saw his princess coming out of the bath, and hurriedly dropped the military book in his hand and obediently handed over a small bottle.
Mu Hanzhang had no choice but to crawl into the bed and pour some medicine in his palm. Looking at the perfect curve in front of him, there were only a few bruises on both sides, and the muscles in other places were well-proportioned, full of explosive power at a glance. Looking down again, the two slender legs were straight together, and the streamlined muscles made these legs look full of danger and power.
The slippery medicine dripped from his fingers and dripped on the round and attractive place. Mu Hanzhang came back to his senses and took a peek at Jing Shao. He found that the man was not looking at him. He exhaled lightly and put the palm with medicine on it.
When the warm and soft hand touched him, Jing Shao regretted it. The touch was so wonderful that his body quickly reacted to the kneading of his own princess. He couldn't help but secretly complain. Now Jun Qing has not eliminated the fear of the bridal chamber. How can this fire be solved?
"It's applied." Mu Hanzhang climbed down the bed, put the medicine bottle away, and let his slightly hot body cool down.
"Well." Jing Shao responded muffledly, still lying there motionless.
"Prince, go to sleep." Seeing that he didn't move, Mu Hanzhang had to climb into the bed again and cover him with a quilt.
"Well, I have medicine behind me, so I will sleep on my stomach tonight." Jing Shao buried his face in the pillow and slept on his stomach all night.
The next day, Jing Shao went out early to the Second Prince's Mansion to discuss the plan he had discussed with Jun Qing yesterday with his brother. Duofu followed the princess's instructions and brought all the accounts of the past years to the small study.
"Princess, these are the accounts of the past three years. Do you really want to see them all?" Yun Zhu swallowed her saliva as she looked at the one-foot-high account book.
"Yeah." Mu Hanzhang just responded lightly, divided the account book into three parts by year, and started reading from the earliest year.
"The account book is for the accountant to read, why do you have to spend this effort?" Yun Zhu was a little puzzled. If the princess wanted to learn how to manage the household, she could just ask Duo Zongguan or see how the concubine did it.
Mu Hanzhang glanced at the frowning little book boy and smiled without saying anything. The account book contains a lot of useful things. The food, clothing, and expenses of the mansion, interpersonal relationships, and the transfer of servants can all be seen in the account book. In fact, the governance of the country is also like this. Looking at the account books of the Ministry of Revenue, you can know whether the monarch is incompetent and whether the dynasty is prosperous.
"I heard that the concubine was counting the warehouse yesterday and spent the whole morning in it with several servants." Yunzhu took advantage of Mu Hanzhang's tired tea time to whisper to him the news she had found out.
"I know." Mu Hanzhang touched Yunzhu's head and rewarded him with a handful of pine nut candies bought yesterday. If the warehouse is counted at this time, the account and the actual situation will definitely not match.
"The account office did not allocate the monthly allowance of the princess in March. I went to collect rice paper yesterday and almost didn't get it." Yunzhu ate a pine nut candy and was a little angry when talking about this. Fortunately, the princess is a man and lives in the East Garden with the prince, and all the expenses of the East Garden are counted in the prince's share. If it were a woman who married in, wouldn't she have nothing to eat!
Mu Hanzhang heard this and then remembered that he really didn't have any cash in his hand. If there was any urgent matter, it would be difficult to handle.
It would take a while to finish reading the account book. Mu Hanzhang had lunch and took a nap before returning to the study.
"Your Highness, you're back!" After leaving the bedroom, he met Jing Shao who walked in quickly and almost bumped into him.
Jing Shao looked at him straight, his eyes were a little red, and he looked a little strange. After seeing who was in front of him, he reached out and grabbed his wrist, turned around and walked out again.
"Prince... um..." Mu Hanzhang staggered and almost fell down, and was pulled to the front yard by him.
The servants came over to watch the fun, whispering whether the princess had angered the prince.
Jing Shao pulled Mu Hanzhang to the horse without saying a word, clamped the horse's belly, and Xiao Hei neighed and rushed out like an arrow.
The horse galloped on the official road outside the capital, and in a trance, it seemed to return to the snowy day of escape before rebirth. The warm and comfortable days in the past few days made him temporarily forget what kind of mood he was in when he opened his eyes again.
Mu Hanzhang, who was lying on his back, felt the irritability in his heart and slowly hugged his waist. Feeling the power at his waist, Jing Shao stretched out a hand to hold the two overlapping hands, and ran all the way into the courtyard outside the capital. Ignoring the guards who screamed in the courtyard, he drove Xiao Hei all the way to the martial arts stage. He stepped lightly on the wooden stage, pulled out a long spear, and didn't even look at who was on the stage. He caught the person and started fighting.
"Your Majesty!" Ren Feng, who was demonstrating the moves to his subordinates on the stage, was startled. He subconsciously raised his hand to catch the move. When he saw that it was Jing Shao, he hurriedly stepped back three steps. Unexpectedly, Jing Shao rushed directly over. Ren Feng turned around and pulled out a long stick to barely block the spear that was chopped from his head.
Jing Shao fought desperately as if on the battlefield. After a while, he threw Ren Feng off the stage for fear of hurting him. Without an opponent, he continued to dance with the spear on the stage. The silver spear was like a swimming dragon, drawing silver afterimages in the air.
Mu Hanzhang frowned at the crazy people on the stage, and whispered to Ren Feng to take the others away temporarily.
The sun slid down from the top of the mountain to the foot of the mountain, and the sky, which was originally a little gloomy, began to drizzle. Xiao Hei had been led to the stable, and the people around the stage had all dispersed. Mu Hanzhang looked at the person who was still dancing with the silver spear on the stage and slowly walked up.
"My Lord, it's dark." Mu Hanzhang stood on the stage and said calmly in a voice without ups and downs.
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh~" The sound of breaking through the air did not stop at all, and the raindrops were hit by the red tassel of the spear head and spun and scattered.
Mu Hanzhang clenched his fists, turned around and drew a broad knife, and threw it over: "Jing Shao, calm down!"
"Clang!" The sound of the spear head and the steel knife colliding brought Jing Shao back to his senses. The movement of dancing with the spear paused for a moment. Jing Shao looked up at him, "Ah~" He roared to the sky, jumped high, and the silver spear chopped on the wooden stake, splitting it into pieces.
The silver spear fell to the ground, and blood dripped from Jing Shao's fingers onto the ground, mixing with the pattering rain, and quickly turned into a light red color.
Mu Hanzhang ran over and held up his right hand. The base of his hand was cracked, and blood blisters formed on his palm. He took out a handkerchief from his sleeve and pressed the wound that was bleeding. Jing Shao looked up at the sky, and the rain fell into his eyes and slid down his cheeks.
"Jun Qing... They killed my mother... My mother..." Jing Shao said softly, his voice was not loud, like a whisper, but Mu Hanzhang could hear it clearly.
Jing Shao, who had exhausted all his strength, slipped to the ground. Mu Hanzhang squatted down and slowly hugged him into his arms: "Shao... What happened?"
"Jun Qing... Jun Qing..." Jing Shao buried his face in his shoulder. Today, his brother listened to his plan and was relieved to find that his younger brother had finally grown up, so he told him some things he had never told him before, including the real cause of Queen Yuan's death.