Everyone thought that after Hua Manman became the Princess Consort, her days would surely become more comfortable and pleasant.

In reality, however, she was still the same struggling student, busy with lessons every day.

Her life contained no harem drama or palace intrigue, only piles and piles of homework.

What was worse, Li Ji actually used teaching as an excuse to push his own personal agenda!

Take today, for example. Li Ji taught Hua Manman a slew of idioms for expressing love, such as "love at first sight."

Li Ji said, "Now, make a sentence with ’love at first sight.’ The subject and object must be you and me."

Hua Manman stewed for a long while before finally writing a sentence on the paper—

"For you, it was love at first sight, and a rude awakening at second."

Li Ji was speechless. "..."

He sneered, reached out to pinch Hua Manman’s cheek, and demanded through gritted teeth,

"You’ve gotten quite clever, haven’t you? Now you’re even inventing idioms like ’a rude awakening at second sight’?"

Hua Manman yelped in pain. "Ow, ow, ow! Prince, let go! I was wrong! I’ll never dare make up idioms again!"

Li Ji let go of her cheek, picked up his brush, and decisively struck out the words "and a rude awakening at second."

In the end, only the phrase "For you, it was love at first sight" remained on the paper.

Looking at the sentence, he was finally satisfied.

Hua Manman rubbed her cheek and muttered, ’Is there any point in fooling yourself like this?’

Li Ji shot her a cold glare. "What did you say?"

Hua Manman immediately followed her survival instinct. "N-Nothing."

After the "rude awakening at second sight" debacle, Li Ji decided to give up on idioms for the time being. The next day, he switched to teaching love poetry.

He taught her a great many poems expressing tender affection, and at the end, he tasked Hua Manman with composing one of her own.

His intentions were as plain as day!

Hua Manman was in agony.

She didn’t know the first thing about writing poetry!

Li Ji didn’t rush her. After all, if she didn’t produce a love poem, she wouldn’t be dismissed from her lesson.

Hua Manman, truly backed into a corner, could only beg.

"I really can’t write poetry, but I can sing. How about I sing you a love song instead?"

Li Ji’s goal was simply to hear sweet words from Hua Manman.

A love poem or a love song—either would serve his purpose.

So, Li Ji nodded in agreement.

Hua Manman immediately stood up, took Prince Zhao’s hand, and gazed into his eyes as she began to sing with deep affection.

"Just because in the crowd,

I glanced your way,

For the rest of my life, I want to goof around with you.

Neither of us is a great beauty,

Our voices aren’t sweet or coy,

But we both have a frog’s BGM,

So alone, alone, alone..."

Although Li Ji didn’t understand what "BGM" meant, he certainly knew the meaning of "alone."

Hua Manman was still singing "alone, alone" over and over.

Li Ji flung her hand away and announced ruthlessly,

"From this day forward, you will write one love poem every day. If you can’t produce one, you don’t eat!"

Hua Manman gave him a mournful look. "If you want to starve me to death, just say it. Why beat around the bush?"

Li Ji sneered. "Rest assured, I’ll die of anger from dealing with you long before you starve to death."

... 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

With their constant bickering and teasing, the days flew by.

During this time, Bian Ziming paid a visit to Prince Zhao, presenting him with a carefully prepared congratulatory gift.

The gift was, of course, to celebrate the recent marriage of Prince Zhao and his Princess Consort.

After Li Ji saw the gift, however, his mood soured.

It reminded him that he hadn’t personally attended his own wedding to Hua Manman. Instead, the Fourth Prince, Li Ying, had performed the ceremonial bows with her in his stead.

After seeing Bian Ziming out, Li Ji rushed to find Hua Manman to discuss the wedding.

Hua Manman looked up from a mountain of homework, asking blankly,

"Aren’t we already married? Why would we have another wedding?"

Li Ji plopped down on the low couch with an air of authority and said matter-of-factly,

"That first wedding doesn’t count. I want to have a new one."

This time, he would be the one to perform the ceremonial bows with Hua Manman.

Hua Manman was speechless. "You only have a wedding once. Who has two? It’s not proper."

Li Ji retorted, "I don’t care how many weddings other people have. I’m having another one."

Hua Manman knew this infuriating man was about to stir up trouble again.

She set down her brush and asked patiently, "If we have another wedding, wouldn’t that be considered a second marriage?"

Li Ji was stumped.

Logically, once you’ve bowed to heaven, earth, and your parents, you are officially married.

Bowing a second time would clearly imply a second marriage.

But this was the first marriage for both of them. How could it possibly turn into a second one?

Li Ji was suddenly very displeased.

Seeing his expression, Hua Manman deliberately fanned the flames.

"If people who don’t know the situation see us holding a second wedding, they might think we’d both been married to other people before."

Li Ji retorted unhappily, "Nonsense! I’m the only man you’ll ever have in this lifetime!"

Though he said that, he secretly abandoned the idea of a second ceremony.

He couldn’t let it seem like he and Hua Manman were on their second marriage.

But this only made him more irritated.

He remained sullen for the rest of the day.

He even began to regret his original rotten idea. Why had he let Hua Manman perform the ceremonial bows with another man?

Hua Manman seized the opportunity to suggest they go to their country estate for a few days to relax, adding that they could treat it as a honeymoon.

Li Ji was intrigued by the concept of a "honeymoon" and agreed at once.

Just as the two were about to pack their bags, a messenger arrived from the palace. Prince Zhao hadn’t reported to Chongwen Hall for several days, and the Emperor, worried he might have fallen ill again, had sent someone to check on him.

Only then did Li Ji and Hua Manman remember that Li Ji had a part-time job as a teacher.

They had been so preoccupied with their playful bickering at home that they’d completely forgotten about his teaching duties.

Now that the Emperor himself had sent someone to inquire, Li Ji couldn’t very well keep skipping work. He had no choice but to begrudgingly go.

He woke Hua Manman early the next morning, wanting her to accompany him to Chongwen Hall.

Hua Manman refused to get out from under the covers, mumbling drowsily,

"Why don’t you go by yourself? I want to sleep a little longer."

Li Ji slipped his hand under the quilt and began to tickle her waist.

Overcome with ticklishness, Hua Manman scrambled away from him but still refused to get up.

Li Ji said, "If you don’t get up now, it’ll be noon."

Hua Manman pulled the quilt over her head, her voice muffled by the fabric.

"Waking up late ruins the morning, but waking up early ruins the whole day! I’d rather ruin my morning than my entire day!"

Li Ji yanked the quilt right off her.

Hua Manman curled into a ball, looking like a pitiful little shrimp.

She whimpered,

"I just don’t want to get up! Why do you have to force me? Waaah!"

Seeing she still wouldn’t get up, Li Ji had no choice but to give the quilt back to her.

Only after Li Ji had left did Hua Manman finally poke her head out from under the covers.

She had deliberately refused to get up because she didn’t want to go to Chongwen Hall.

The Fourth Prince, Li Ying, attended classes at Chongwen Hall. If she went, she was bound to run into him.

And what would she do if he asked about the embroidered pouch?

...

Sorry for the late update~