Chapter 13 Returning Home (Part 1)

◎The people of the Lan family are becoming more and more annoying, but the husband is considerate◎

Three days passed quickly.

For Jun Shao, suddenly having an additional person by her side, although slightly unfamiliar, was more comfortable than not.

There was no other reason; it was simply that Shiwu was so considerate that she couldn’t feel awkward.

In just three days, she had become accustomed to someone bringing water when she practiced spear in the early morning, and to someone pouring tea beside her when she was reading military books.

Although Shiwu seemed to not like her enough yet… he always subconsciously avoided her whenever they accidentally made physical contact, but feelings are cultivated, after all!

In any case, she would also be good to him, and slowly the two would naturally come to understand each other’s hearts.

Jun Shao was confident and satisfied, looking contentedly at Lan Shiwu, who was just getting down from the carriage, and reached out her hand to support him.

After having breakfast and lingering for a while, they left. Now they had arrived at the entrance of the Lan residence, and it was almost time for lunch.

The entire Lan family had already been waiting at the door. Seeing the carriage of the An Wang’s mansion approaching from afar, they all put away their sun-shading umbrellas and knelt on the ground to welcome them.

After Jun Shao and Lan Shiwu were standing steadily, under Lan Qu’s lead, they all said in unison: “Long live the An Wang! Long live the An Wang’s wife!”

Jun Shao was originally holding Lan Shiwu’s hand, but when the Lan family members greeted them, she suddenly felt the hand in her palm tremble slightly.

She turned her head following the force, and saw that Lan Shiwu had obviously clenched his jaw, the muscle lines on his face protruding slightly, and his eyes flickering.

She asked quietly, “What’s wrong?”

Lan Shiwu seemed to be immersed in some emotion, and only slowly relaxed when he heard her voice.

After a while, he shook his head: “Just, not quite used to it.”

Jun Shao patted the back of his hand reassuringly: “Don’t be afraid, now that you’ve married into the royal family, even your birth parents would have to bow to you when they see you. This is what you deserve.”

From the first time she saw Shiwu in coarse cotton clothes, to wearing servant’s fabric during the polo match, and then being stripped of his wedding clothes on their wedding day, she had realized that the Lan family was lacking in virtue towards Shiwu, treating him badly.

Now that Shiwu had her to back him up, in front of these Lans, he could walk sideways if he wanted to, and no one would dare stop him if he wanted to walk upright!

Thinking of this, she waved to Dong Ping behind her: “The sun is too strong and scorching, bring the umbrella.”

Dong Ping responded by taking out the purple umbrella embroidered with gold threads, opened it, and shielded the two from the sun.

During this process, none of them paid any attention to the Lan family members.

It wasn’t until Jun Shao was standing comfortably in the shade that she turned her head and saw a shadow from the Lan family seemingly about to stand up on its own.

She frowned, gave Dong Ping a look, and then coughed.

Dong Ping immediately understood: “How dare you! The An Wang has not yet allowed you to rise, how can you act on your own!”

That shadow over there instantly froze.

Then, a gentle and weak voice came: “Ah Shao, my leg hurts.”

Jun Shao then saw clearly that the person who was about to stand up was actually Lan Qu!

She immediately felt a headache coming on.

Lan Qu had a problem with his leg, a lingering ailment from saving her when she fell into the water in winter as a child. It was also because of this that she was grateful to him and attracted to his beauty, and had decided to marry him and dote on him.

Although they had now torn apart their relationship and completely fallen out, she couldn’t ignore his life-saving grace.

Jun Shao hesitated, thinking maybe she should just let it go. After all, the Lan family members had been in the sun for quite a while. But suddenly she felt the hand in her palm slip away like a fish, she couldn’t grasp it at all, leaving only emptiness in her palm.

So she suddenly became a bit flustered.

Oh no! Could it be that Shiwu suspected that she hadn’t completely cut ties with her old flame and was jealous!

Jun Shao was worried that Shiwu would be angry with her, so she hurriedly waved to the Lan family: “Rise! All of you go in!”

While also trying to hold Lan Shiwu’s hand again.

But this time, that hand seemed to have practiced some kind of technique, slippery and elusive, escaping her grasp despite her martial prowess.

Jun Shao wailed inwardly.

She feared she had angered Shiwu this time. She would have to perform well later, support him, and hope it would be enough to make amends.

Since Shiwu wouldn’t let her hold his hand, she didn’t dare to force it, so she could only carefully and virtually embrace him, walking in after Lan Qu with an expressionless face.

Lan Shiwu held his hand tightly in his sleeve, wearing a proper smile on his face, occasionally even able to exchange pleasantries, but his mind was completely unaware of what he was saying.

All he could think of was the familiar, habitual whining tone Lan Qu had used earlier when he acted coy towards Jun Shao.

From this, it was evident that the two of them often interacted like this in the past. With just a little bit of coquettishness from Lan Qu, Jun Shao would do whatever he wanted.

Just now, as soon as Lan Qu said his leg hurt, the princess hurriedly told everyone to rise.

The two of them were so familiar and compatible. If it weren’t for Lan Qu’s lack of clarity, how could he have picked up such a big advantage?

Now, even before the two had reconciled, the princess was already considerate of Lan Qu in every way. If they were to reconcile in the future, would he, Lan Shiwu, still be able to stay by the princess’s side…

It might be better to take this opportunity to appear less close to the princess. Perhaps then Lan Qu wouldn’t mind so much, and if he were to marry into the An Wang’s mansion in the future, he might still be able to keep him as a side husband, and he could still watch the An Wang from afar.

His mind was in chaos. He didn’t know which paths he had walked or what words he had spoken along the way, before being led by Jun Shao into the main hall of the Lan residence.

He came back to his senses.

This was his first time entering the main hall of the Lan residence.

And on his first entry, he was already sitting in the main seat, with even Lan Qu, whom he couldn’t even speak to before, sitting below him.

Lan Shiwu’s hand, hidden under his sleeve, touched the armrest and gripped it tightly.

Meanwhile, Jun Shao had already started exchanging pleasantries with ease.

In the past, when she came to the Lan residence, people took advantage of her affection for Lan Qu and lowered their attitude, showing less of the respect she deserved in their words.

Lan Qu barely maintained proper etiquette, but Chen Shi treated her as if she were a daughter-in-law from an ordinary family, saying whatever he wanted.

He had developed a habit that was hard to quickly change, and at this moment, he couldn’t control himself and blurted out: “Your Highness needs to be more considerate. You had an umbrella to shade you, yet you left us under the sun for so long!”

After these words were spoken, the entire hall fell into dead silence.

Chen Shi then realized that today’s An Wang was not yesterday’s An Wang. A few days ago at the grand wedding, they had been thoroughly embarrassed. His wife-master had suffered from heatstroke and only recovered today, while he and Qu’er were struggling to get up despite their illnesses.

A flash of panic crossed his face, and he hurriedly stood up, trying to remedy the situation incoherently.

“I, this humble husband, spoke out of turn. Please don’t blame me, Your Highness An Wang.”

As he spoke, his legs weakened and he could barely stand. Combined with his unrecovered fever, he immediately felt dizzy and was about to collapse on the ground.

Lan Qu supported him from the side, then looked plaintively towards Jun Shao.

In the past few days, thinking that Her Majesty wanted to welcome him into the palace, he had lost his composure a bit and didn’t bother to pretend anymore when dealing with Jun Shao, his attitude becoming somewhat worse.

But now Her Majesty’s attitude seemed unclear, so she couldn’t easily let go of Jun Shao’s side.

When Jun Shao was looked at by him, she immediately felt irritated.

She had been toyed with like a monkey by the entire Lan family for several years, and she really didn’t want to deal with them anymore, still holding onto her resentment.

But the fact that she owed Lan Qu her life was undeniable, and it wouldn’t be right to completely ignore him on moral grounds.

Moreover, her newly wedded husband was sitting beside her, why was Lan Qu constantly giving her those looks?

Since he was dead set against marrying her, they should have no connection anymore. Even if there was, it would only be the life-saving grace, unrelated to anything else!

Jun Shao noticed that Lan Shiwu wasn’t even looking this way, only focused on his own thoughts. She immediately felt more dissatisfied with the Lan family.

Look, Shiwu was indeed angry!

Thinking about her husband being angry made her feel stifled. She turned her head and said impatiently to the nearly fainting Chen Shi and Lan Qu who was supporting him: “If you can’t speak properly, then don’t speak. If you’re not feeling well enough to see people, then don’t come out.”

“Lan Daren’s presence is sufficient for lunch, you two may excuse yourselves.”

Lan Qu and Chen Shi were suddenly no longer pitiful or faint, both staring wide-eyed in shock.

Lan Quan had been hoping to use this home visit as an opportunity for Lan Qu to appease the An Wang again, but now her plans were dashed, leaving her with a lump in her throat.