The White-Haired Imperial Concubine

The Future Princess Consort

When Man Yao woke up, she had already arrived in the residence of Lord Protector General. She opened her eyes to see that she was resting against a chaise with a snow fox fur cape laid upon it. There was a numb yet warm feeling coming from her her legs. She lowered to gaze to look and her heart lurched, that famed young general who hands carried the military seal, Lord Protector General was actually kneeling on the ground by her feet, tenderly massaging her numb legs!

Man Yao was shocked, “General, what are you doing?! Hurry and stop, Li Yue is not worthy!” She frantically sat up and turned around but her feet were firmly held in Fu Chou’s hands. Her shoes and socks were taken off already, he couldn’t help but knead the small jade foot he held in his large hands. The jade-white and tender skin turned pink under his gentle massaging, looking very pretty. Fu Chou raised his head and smiled at her, “It’s not a big deal, you will get better very quickly.” Finished, he continued his movements.

Man Yao stared at him in a daze, speechless. The sunlight after the rain was warm and gentle, shining through the white window paper, enhancing his clean and handsome face, causing his tall nose and dignified brows to look even more elegant and gentle. This man, he was not only kind but also gentle and tender, if she did not get entangled with Zongzheng Wuyou, even after the political scheming, she should have been satisfied to marry such a man, but she couldn’t muster up any happiness. It was hard to imagine how could such a gentle man command hundreds of thousands of soldiers and lead them to charge against the enemy, and releasing such a killing intent?

As she pondered, she was unaware that she was staring at him, she didn’t expect for him to lift his gaze from her foot. The two pairs of eyes met and the two people started. Man Yao hurriedly turned away, lowering her head down and did not make a sound, Fu Chou lightly laughed, “Try to get up and walk around, does it feel any better?” He took her hand as he spoke and the two people stood up at the same time. She took two steps forward and felt her legs feel energetic like before, the numbing sensation from before was no longer present. She smiled in gratitude, “Thank you.”

Fu Chou didn’t mind and smiled, “Hot water has already been prepared, it’s inside. If you have any other requests, just instruct the yatou(1) here.”

Man Yao faintly smiled and nodded, turning around to head into the bathhouse. When she passed a jade sculpture, she suddenly stopped, turning around to see Fu Chou standing in his original spot, smiling at her. She suddenly felt uneasy and frowned, “General brought me back to the residence like this…are you not afraid of offending Prince Li?” With Fu Chou’s martial arts skills, he could not have been oblivious to someone following him, and with her previous state, he definitely would have deduced that there were problems between her and Prince Li.

Fu Chou slightly furrowed his brows, “I just don’t want you to become sick, I didn’t think that much…since you reminded me, then I should take that into consideration. Why don’t I personally escort you back to Prince Li’s residence after you’re finished bathing, that way I can avoid starting a feud with that currently favored wangye.” He spoke in a half-joking manner as if he never considered this a problem in the first place. A gentle and carefree smile caused the atmosphere in the room to considerably relaxen. When she heard him mention ‘currently favored wangye‘, she felt that there was an unspeakable emotion behind his smile. Whether it was mocking or hatred, or whether it was something else, he hid it so deeply, she was unable to confirm.

From the first time she met him, she felt that he looked familiar but couldn’t recall where she had met him. Now, she examined his face more closely, ignoring all the expressions on his face, discerning a hint of coldness. A face surfaced in her mind, eyes cold and lofty, the five features sharp and distinct, the gaze as sharp as a blade, not letting anyone escape…the Emperor of Lintian!! Her heart jumped, the person he looked familiar to was actually…the Emperor of Lintian?!

Fu Chou saw that she kept on staring at him as if she was analyzing him and a flash of suspicion flew through his eyes but he kept smiling, “What’s wrong? My face…is there something unique about it?”

Man Yao started, snapping out of her daze and pretended to be casual, “I thought you looked familiar, it looks like we’ve met before…in the inn in the eastern suburbs.”

Fu Chou was surprised, the smile on his face stiffened, and a glint flashed through his gentle eyes. He casually walked a couple of steps in her direction, his face still gentle like before and his voice carried hints of joking, “Maybe we have fate. Or maybe…we really did meet before, perhaps in our dreams.”

Man Yao lightly smiled, “Maybe.”

Fu Chou lightly patted her shoulder, speaking softly, “Hurry and go in. If you delay any longer, you will not have a comfortable bath.”

Man Yao understood and nodded, “Alright. In a moment when people come from Prince Li’s residence, please help me stall for some time. I will figure out a way to leave on my own so that you will not be affected.” She paused, looking at his gentle eyes that had hidden depths and spoke again, “In two days, you will become Qiyun’s Princess Rong Le’s fuma(2), before you marry, if there’s an opportunity, you should interact with her more often to deepen your feelings.” She trusted that he would understand her meaning.

Fu Chou raised his eyes to look at her and then laughed, “You make sense! Then I will leave first.”

Looking at his disappearing back, Man Yao’s smile slowly faded away. She turned around and walked past the screen, walking into the spacious bath full of steam.

“kou, kou, kou…” A heavy yet hurried knocking sound rang out from the gates of Lord Protector General’s residence. The person guarding the door, Lao Zhang was unhappy and yelled out, “Who is it? I’m coming, I’m coming, stop knocking! Not even looking at whose house it is yet knocking so heavily, if you guys break it while knocking, you won’t even be able to afford to replace it.” Every time the general returned home in victory, there would always be countless officials coming to ask for an audience. As he ranted, he reluctantly opened the gate a bit and stuck his head out to observe. He was terrified by what he saw, two orderly rows of guards dressed in blue brocade and in the middle was a luxurious horse carriage. The door to the carriage was tightly shut and there were four men standing around it, each one carrying a longsword by their waist, their expressions extremely stern. Looking at these people, Lao Zhang knew that these were not ordinary people. Before he could speak, the guard who was knocking on the gate previously announced in a loud voice, “Prince Li has arrived, hurry up and open the gate, tell your family’s General to come out and welcome him!”

Upon hearing the name ‘Prince Li’, Lao Zhang broke out into a cold sweat, this was a master that even their General had to tread carefully around! He secretly rejoiced that he didn’t act too brashly just now and frantically opened the door, speaking politely, “Yes, this subject will go report right now.”

“No need.” Fu Chou was calm and gentle as if he predicted this would happen and walked out from the inner courtyard. Lao Zhang hurriedly retreated to the side. Fu Chou exited the gate and clasped his hands in greeting towards the horse carriage, speaking politely, “Prince Li has made the trip here and this general was impolite to make you wait, I hope that Prince Li will not blame me.”

A bodyguard opened the carriage door and Zongzheng Wuyou stepped down, his movements quick and light. He stood up straight and looked at Fu Chou, his face expressionless, “General does not need to be so polite. Benwang personally came for benwang‘s…future wangfei. I heard that she came to visit General’s residence as a guest and now that the day is getting dark, benwang…specially came to pick her up to return to the residence.” He especially emphasized “wangfei” these two words as if he was declaring his possession to the rest of the world.

(1) yatou: Young maidservants

(2) fuma: Husband of a princess (aka Prince Consort)

(3) wangfei: Legal/official wife of a prince (aka Princess Consort)