The Scheme of a Beauty - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

We got into a fight in bed.

An actual fight.

Because he saw the blades in my bundle. He picked them up and gave them a casual shake. They clattered loudly, and when he opened the bundle, they scattered all over the floor.

“So my lady wife is a martial artist.”

“So beggars can talk all refined, too.”

We started fighting on the bed. I couldn’t beat him, but I felt that was only because I didn’t have the right weapon.

So I went to rummage through my dowry chest for something more suitable.

And the poison Miss had given me fell out.

“What’s this?” Liu Su smiled like a fox.

“Something that can take your life,” I said solemnly.

Liu Su clearly thought I was joking.

He poured a little into his own cup, stirred it, and drank.

Me: “Don’t!”

He took the chance to pin me against the wall and fed everything in his mouth to me.

Damn it!

Lust truly was a blade over one’s head.

I was dead for sure!

I was, in fact, dead for sure. Liu Su nearly took me apart.

But I did not expire.

That wasn’t poison. It was a drug that made people lose all restraint!

While he was tormenting me, he asked, “What’s your name?”

I was dazed. “I didn’t call out.”

Liu Su didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “I’m asking what your name is.”

“Shutong.”

“I’m a beggar. Where would I get a bookboy?”

“As in ‘the waning moon hangs over sparse parasol trees.’ Shutong!”

He drew out an “Oh,” then, as if he’d finally understood, wrapped his arms around me and went back to sleep.

The next day, I almost missed morning court.

By morning court, I mean the kind where I report to my superior.

Reluctantly, I took my hand off Liu Su’s abs and said, “Today is market day. Hurry and go beg for food. If you’re late, you won’t get anything hot.”

Liu Su said, “I’m not going.”

That would not do!

How could my husband live off me? If word got out, people would laugh at me!

I dragged him up and said seriously, “Husband, I may have brought quite a lot with me as a dowry, but you can’t really eat my food and spend my money.”

He smiled and said, “You’re not the prefect’s real daughter anyway. Why do you care if you spend their money?”

I was stunned.

I thought I’d been pretending pretty well.

Liu Su watched me with a smile for a long while before finally saying, “Actually, I’ve known who you were for ages. All right, help your husband get dressed. I’m going to take begging seriously now.”

After breakfast, Liu Su went out onto the streets to beg, while I went out onto the streets to exchange the secret code. We both had bright futures ahead of us.

Dressed in black, with a veiled hat on my head, I entered the largest Ready-made Clothing Workshop in Fengyang.

I said to the owner, “Heaven is vast, earth is vast, but the shopkeeper is the greatest.”

The shopkeeper said, “This secret code is truly embarrassing.” He set down the account book in his hands and, after confirming no one had followed me, finally let me go in with him.

How miserable. The person in charge of this mission was the one I hated most: Aunt Ke.

I hated Aunt Ke not only because she was strict, but even more because she was utterly loyal to the Empress Dowager.

The emperor was in his twilight years, and the Crown Prince was gravely ill. At present, the only ones who could still inherit the throne were Prince Beishan and the Second Prince.

Ever since Prince Beishan began assisting in court affairs, he had been wanton, debauched, cruel, and inhumane. Yet instead of thinking of bringing back the Second Prince to restore order to the court, the Empress Dowager, greedy for glory and wealth, had joined hands with Prince Beishan and ordered me to assassinate the Second Prince.

I did not want to do the job. But I couldn’t afford to offend the Empress Dowager, and I definitely couldn’t afford to offend the Empress Dowager’s overseer, Aunt Ke.

I said, “Greetings, Aunt.”

Aunt Ke stared at my neck.

Proudly, I pointed at the strawberry field there. “Pretty, isn’t it? I think so too.”

“You married a beggar?” Aunt Ke sneered.

I was deeply pained. “Aunt, all professions are sacred. How can you mock someone because of his occupation?”

Aunt Ke laughed in anger. “If that were really true, why would there still be ranks and stations in society?”

I listened and nodded. “True. But then again, we’re the imperial family’s lapdogs. Dogs and beggars have no right to laugh at each other.”