The Emperor’s Beloved Ugly Girl

29. The Pain

Translator: Iris Guo

“Painful?” whispered A’Chou while gently pressing a bedsore on his skin.

“Yes.” Zhong Mingwei moaned and buried his face in the pink pillow.

“Really? You can feel the pain?” A’Chou was very surprised and pressed another bedsore, “How about here?”

“Painful.”

“And here?” A’Chou was so happy that she kept pressing other parts of Zhong Mingwei’s body.

“Painful too!” Zhong Mingwei thought she was ridiculous, “Stop! It really hurts!”

“Ha ha! That’s good!” A’Chou grinned and didn’t continue. Then, she applied some ointment on Zhong Mingwei’s bottom. Although it was a private part, she didn’t feel embarrassed but motivated: “The doctor said that the pain means the ointment works. When I bought it, I doubted if he was right. It turns out that I worried too much.”

Zhong Mingwei got shy when A’Chou was massaging his bottom, and got relieved when her hands finally moved to his legs: “Where did you buy the ointment?”

“In the market. There is only one clinic, and they charged impossibly high prices.” A’Chou just could not stop once she started to speak. She complained while applying the ointment: “Do you know that the prices are incredibly high in Chen Village? The medicine was very expensive, so was the pork. I spent one qian of silver ingots on a pig leg. Such a ripoff in broad daylight! Besides, the vegetables were deathly expensive too, and they normally cost 60 to 80 wen[1] of silver ingots per kilogram. However, they were not fresh at all, and the edible potherbs by the roadside I saw were much better. Tomorrow I’ll bring them home and make steamed buns stuffed with shepherd’s purse and bean vermicelli for you. Fortunately, the bean vermicelli was not expensive, and it was tender and delicious. I’m not bragging, and I can eat three big buns without a break…”

[1] Note: Wen, an ancient unit of weight (0.05 gram)

A’Chou nagged like a twittering oriole, noisy but not annoying. Zhong Mingwei even listened to her every word carefully. However, another person popped up in his mind.

He was already 32. Certainly, he got married before when he was still a noble Crown Prince. At the age of 18, he married Miss Ding, the daughter of Imperial Preceptor Ding Yunwen and his legal wife. They were of the same age. As a girl raised by a big powerful family, she didn’t have any flaws but was very gentle and lovely.

When they were first married, even if they were not madly in love, they respected each other and got along. However, as time went by, he got more and more bored. He lived a life that a Crown Prince should have, but he still had regrets. He didn’t know why then, and he didn’t have to. However, facing the nagging girl at present, he finally figured it out.

Miss Ding had a sense of propriety. She never entered his study, and barely went to the front hall. She normally stayed in the chamber, drank tea, arranged flowers, raised fish, and did embroidery. She even read Women’s Morality dozens of times patiently. As long as he paid attention to a maid, she would take the initiative to ask him if he wanted to marry the girl. Her tone was very respectful and sincere, without a trace of resentment or jealousy. He thought that his dignified and gentle wife was as kind as the Buddhist Goddess.