Chapter 161

After Zhao Jie ordered Zhu Geng to prepare their carriage, he looped one arm behind Wei Luo’s shoulders and the other arm underneath her legs and personally carried her out of the guest room.

There were still many people standing outside the guest room. After Marquis Guang Xin had hurriedly rushed here from the receiving room and found out that Wei Luo was pregnant, he had immediately grinned from ear to ear. He thought that even the heavens were helping him. After all Zhao Jie had found out about this joyful news here, he would definitely be more caring towards this household in the future because of what had happened today.

When Marquis Guang Xin saw Zhao Jie walking out of the guest room, he walked forward with a smile across his face and expressed good wishes, “Congratulations to Prince Jing and Princess Consort Jing.”

Zhao Jie lowered his eyes to glance at him, but he didn’t respond.

Marquis Guang Xin followed after him to try to curry favor and said, “I’ll have someone prepare a carriage. Your Highness, please wait for a bit. The princess consort’s body is very precious right now. We definitely have to be as careful as possible…”

“Marquis Guang Xin.” Zhao Jie stopped walking. His chilly phoenix eyes turned to calmly look at Marquis Gaung Xin. “Your second son and his honored concubine worked together to bump into this prince’s wife. Tell me, how should this prince deal with his matter?”

Marquis Guang Xin’s smile stiffened. Faced with Zhao Jie’s gaze, he gradually felt sweat running down his back. “This…” He turned his head to glance at Wei Bao Shan, who was standing in a corner. He didn’t know where Chen Teng, that hoodlum, was hiding. When Marquis Guang Xin looked at Zhao Jie again and saw the killing intent that flashed through his gloomy and cold expression, his legs felt weak and he kneeled down to beg for mercy. “Your Highness, please spare him. My unfilial son was wrong for acting disrespectfully. This subject will definitely discipline him properly. Your Highness, please be merciful.”

Zhao Jie’s expression didn’t change. He indifferently threw down these words, “Send him to Sheng Ji Barracks. This prince will personally discipline him.”

It wasn’t possible for Marquis Guang Xin to not know what kind of place Sheng Ji Barracks was. It was an important place where the imperial guards controlled the supply of weapons and also a place where Zhao Jie had complete control of the troops. There was also a dungeon specially set up to interrogate prisoners in Sheng Ji Barracks. Rumors said that the cruel torture that happened in this dungeon was comparable to purgatory. There had never been a prisoner that came out of that place alive. Painful screams could be heard from that dungeon every day. Once someone went to that place, it was better to die quickly than to try to survive.

As soon as Marquis Guang Xin heard Zhao Jie’s words, he was shocked to the point that he couldn’t coherently speak, “Y-Your Highness…” Although he blamed his second son for failing to live up to expectations, he wasn’t willing to send him onto the path of death.

There wasn’t the slightest hesitation in Zhao Jie’s steps as he walked past Marquis Guang Xin. There didn’t seem to be any leeway for discussing.

After Zhao Jie left, Marchioness Guang Xin wasn’t able to continue standing. Her body crumpled to the ground.

Everyone was alarmed. They hurriedly went over to help her up, “Old Madam!”

The marquis’s household was thrown into complete disorder.

—

After they returned home, Doctor Sun was summoned to the residence to examine Wei Luo’s pulse again. There was negligible difference between Doctor Sun’s words and the previous doctor’s. He also wrote down a prescription for medicine that would help prevent miscarriage and strengthen the body. He left after congratulating Wei Luo and Zhao Jie several times.

Zhao Jie ordered the servants to give Doctor Sun another gift to thank him. The improvement in Wei Luo’s health was due to his care during the past few months.

As they were walking in the verandah, Doctor Sun suddenly thought of something. “Your Highness, this old one forgot to remind you about something.”

Zhao Jie said, “What?”

Doctor Sun said, “Madam is pregnant. The pregnancy won’t be as stable during the first three months and last three months. It’ll be best to avoid copulation during this period.”

Zhao Jie slightly paused in walking. Soon after, he said, “Thank you doctor, this prince will keep this in mind.”

Doctor Sun left the residence.

—

On the very same night, Zhao Jie sent this news into the palace. Empress Chen was overjoyed when she found out. She hurriedly sent a message that it was more important for Wei Luo to care for her body. There was no need for Wei Luo to be anxious about entering the palace to see her. She also had people bring over a great deal of supplements meant to prevent miscarriage. Worried that Wei Luo didn’t have any experience since this was her first child, Empress Chen specially sent over two mamas that specialized in attending to a pregnant woman’s daily activities and diet. She was only one step away from treating Wei Luo like a goddess.

Wei Luo looked at the herbal supplements that Empress Chen had sent over and furrowed her eyebrows in frustration. “I had to eat herbal supplements when I couldn’t get pregnant. Why do I still have to eat herbals supplements after becoming pregnant?”

Zhao Jie chuckled and kissed her forehead. “Be good, imperial mother is just worried about you. If you don’t want to eat them, you don’t have to. It’s fine as long as you take good care of the baby and yourself.” As he said this, he pinched her little face.

He indulgently said, “Ah Luo is our family’s little ancestor right now. If you don’t want to do something, who would dare force you?”

Wei Luo stretched her hands towards his neck and looped her arms around his body. She curved her eyes and asked, “Really? Will you do everything that I say?”

Zhao Jie laughed and said, “I’ll do everything that you say.”

Wei Luo was very excited. As it turned out, there was a huge benefit to becoming pregnant. She tilted her head and contemplated for a while before saying, “What if I say that I want to eat fish that was personally caught by you?” Other than wanting to eat fish, there hadn’t been any recent changes to her eating habits.

“Just this?” Zhao Jie raised an eyebrow.

Wei Luo sincerely nodded.

Zhao Jie loudly laughed and said, “Look at you, you’re becoming quite promising. I’ll prepare a fishing rod tomorrow and bring you to the back of the residence to catch fish.”

Wei Luo added, “The fish has to be personally cooked by big brother.”

This put Zhao Jie in a slightly difficult position. Zhao Jie’s hands were used to kill people, not cook food. But, he was willing to make an attempt for Wei Luo. “I’ll do whatever you want.”

Wei Luo leaned against his chest and secretly smiled. Although Zhao Jie was absolutely obedient towards her in the past, it wouldn’t have been good for her to act excessively unruly and indulgent. Now that she was pregnant, all her wishes were considered natural and expected as a matter of course. Obviously, she couldn’t waste this opportunity.

Early next morning, Zhao Jie went to Shen Ji Barracks first.

His words must be obeyed. He ordered people to bring Marquis Guang Xin’s second son to Shen Ji Barracks when it was still early in the morning.

Although Chen Teng appeared tall and strong, he was easily intimidated. Right after he entered the prison, he peed his pants from fright after seeing what was hanging from the walls.

The walls were full of torture instruments and dying prisoners. There were even torture instruments that weren’t fully cleaned and had bits of flesh left on them. He kneeled down next to Zhao Jie and begged for mercy.

Zhao Jie hadn’t intended to torture him to begin with. He had only wanted to scare him a little bit. Zhao Jie had him stand by the side to watch as the jailer tortured one of the prisoners.

When a barbed whip that had been dipped in salt water struck the prisoner, the prisoner wailed like a ghost in pain. Chen Teng’s legs trembled as he stood by the side. His legs felt like soft tofu. He felt something falling on his face. When he reached his hand out to touch it and brought it in front of his eyes to see, he saw that it was a small piece of rotting flesh. His face immediately became deathly pale. He turned around and held the wall for support as he threw up.

Even though Chen Teng returned home with his life intact, it seemed as if he had become a completely different person. He wouldn’t eat or drink. He was absent-minded. Even more serious, he would start vomiting whenever he saw minced meat on the table. In only a few days, he lost so much weight that he didn’t look human.

Chen Teng blamed Wei Bao Shan for everything that had happened. If she hadn’t bumped into Wei Luo that day, Zhao Jie wouldn’t have noticed him. Thus, he deeply hated Wei Bao Shan. Not only did he drive Wei Bao Shan out of Marquis Guang Xin’s residence, he also forcefully aborted their unborn child. Wei Bao Shan didn’t have anywhere to go. She didn’t have the face to go back to Duke Ying’s residence. She ended up destitute and could only wander the streets. A merchant noticed her and sold her to the red light district. As for what happened to her after this, let’s go back to this later.

—

Let’s go back to the day when Zhao Jie went fishing for Wei Luo

The weather was pretty good today. . The sky was clear and the air was fresh with a gentle breeze. In the back of Prince Jing’s residence, there was a large lake with water that was so clear you could see the bottom of the lake. Wei Luo was sitting on a stool in the lake pavilion. She saw Zhao Jie taking out an earthworm from a wooden bucket and hooking it onto the fishing hook. As he cast the fishing line into the water with one hand, the fishing line made a beautiful arc in the air.

Wei Luo handed Zhao Jie a moistened handkerchief, “Wipe your hands.”

Zhao Jie took it and wiped his hands. He had recently returned from Shen Ji Barracks. He had taken a bath and changed his clothes before coming to this place. He didn’t tell Wei Luo what he had done and didn’t want her to know that his hands had recently been covered in blood. His Ah Luo should live her life without any worries or concerns.

The fishing rod had been placed on the side. The two of them were sitting so closely together in the pavilion that from far away, they looked like one person. It was an intimate scene. Zhao Jie was holding Wei Luo’s chin as he kissed her when she saw that the fishing rod was moving. She quickly pushed him away and said, “Hurry, a fish has taken the bait.”

It took a while before Zhao Jie let go of her. When he went to check the fishing rod, there was a large and lively carp at the end of the fishing line.

When Zhao Jie rolled up his sleeve, his strong arm was revealed. One hand carried the fish and the other hand stroked Wei Luo’s head as he said, “Let’s go, big brother will cook fish for you.”

Wei Luo nodded.

Because Zhao Jie spoke as if he was very determined to fulfill her wish, Wei Luo thought he was only displaying false courage. However, when they went to the kitchen, Zhao Jie was calm as if he had already devised a strategy in advance. First, he split open the fish’s body and took out the internal organs, including the kidney. Then, he took the dagger that was hanging from his waist and skillfully removed the scales from the fish. The dagger was decorated with a golden hilt that was embedded with rubies. Whether he was holding a knife or a brush, his long fingers and the distinct joints of his hands looked good. She didn’t expect that he could be so calm and eye-catching even when he was descaling fish.

After he finished removing the scales from the fish, he used his dagger to cut two slashes on both sides of the fish. Then, he grabbed a container of salt, sprinkled a layer of salt onto the fish, and put the fish to the side. The salted fish had to be left alone for half an hour. He wasn’t idle during this time. He sliced ginger and scallions, then he sprinkled them onto the fish. After he poured a little bit of cooking wine onto the fish, he placed the fish into the steamer.

Wei Luo was stunned from seeing this sight. She thought he didn’t know how to cook. Why did his actions show that he was quite familiar with this?

After Zhao Jie washed his hands, he closed Wei Luo’s gaping mouth. “Are you that surprised?”

Wei Luo hurriedly grabbed his arm and looked at him with her large, bright eyes. “When did you learn to cook? How come you never mentioned this before?”

Zhao Jie chuckled and explained, “When the army was at war, living and traveling in wilderness was a frequent occurrence. If I can’t even do this, how could I have lived up to now?”

Back when Zhao Jie was with the army, his best dish was fish and his second best dish was wild animals.

By lucky coincidence, Wei Luo wanted to eat fish. If it were something else, it wouldn’t have been this easy.

Not much later, they were able to smell the fragrant smell of the fish. Zhao Jie put out the fire and took out a plate that had a colorful pattern of reishi mushroom from the steamer. He braved the fragrant steam from the carp and put the plate onto the kitchen’s beech table. He picked up a piece of fish with a pair of chopsticks and brought it to Wei Luo’s lips, “Try it.”

Wei Luo said, “It’s too hot. Blow on it to cool it down for me.”

Zhao Jie blew on it twice. When he looked up, he saw Wei Luo looking at him impatiently. Her small mouth was slightly open and her entire face looked gluttonous. The corners of his lips slightly curved up. Wanting to tease her, he turned his chopsticks and started to bring the fish into his mouth.

Wei Luo hurriedly lowered her head, bit his bottom lip, and seized the first piece of the fish for her stomach.

The fish was fresh and tender. It was also very flavorful after absorbing the salt. After Wei Luo finish eating the first piece of the fish, she wanted to eat more, so she licked the corners of Zhao Jie’s lips and praised, “Very yummy.”