Chapter 52
Chapter 52 - 45: It’s Not a Compensation
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8 min read
Su Rong took Zhou Gu away from the crowd, heading towards a secluded area on the back mountain.
Once they were away from the others, Su Rong candidly admitted, "Well, as you know, I’m pretty, I mean, decent looking, so, I always get into some trouble."
"Decent looking?" Zhou Gu looked at her, wanting to say that she was being overly modest. If she was just ’decent looking’, then what about those who were genuinely so? Should they just go die?
Su Rong touched her nose, "I mean, not bad, that’s not the main point."
"Hmm, I understand, the main point is, you’re using me again." Zhou Gu was speechless, "Su Rong, do you think I’m easy to use? You deliberately brought me here, and just like that, you’ve solved all your troubles?"
Su Rong looked a little embarrassed, "Ay, you’re my fiancé after all, don’t be so petty. Just lending you out a bit, it’s not like you’re losing anything."
"How am I not losing out?" Zhou Gu couldn’t understand her logic, "Shouldn’t you be concealing these kinds of things from your fiancé?"
"If I can’t hide it, then I might as well be frank about it, right?" Su Rong retorted matter-of-factly.
Zhou Gu was speechless.
Su Rong cleared her throat, "Well, if you ever have any troubles and need my help, I’d be willing to assist. This is called mutual benefit."
Zhou Gu wanted to say, "I don’t have such troubles.", but suddenly thought of Princess Duanhua and choked, "Alright, remember you said so."
Su Rong felt uneasy about Zhou Gu’s response and quickly asked, "Wait, you really have such trouble?"
Su Rong asked curiously, "Is there a lot?"
"Not many, I suppose?" Zhou Gu was uncertain. Apparently, his mother scolded him last year, saying he had a face that attracted people, which was very annoying. She, as his mother, felt troubled when young ladies kept showing up, trying to be his wife. But, Zhou Gu decided not to share these details with Su Rong.
"How many is ’not many’?"
"Well, not many."
"Are there any difficult ones? Are they easier to deal with than my troubles?"
Zhou Gu hesitated. Duanhua had been clinging to him. If he hadn’t holed up in the Eastern Palace for a while, Duanhua would have stormed in and caused a scene before the Crown Prince reprimanded her, forcing her to behave. With Duanhua’s personality, she might not be easy to dismiss.
Su Rong looked at him, "Just tell me her name directly, so I can mentally prepare."
Zhou Gu didn’t want to mention Duanhua, but Su Rong, with her puppy-dog eyes fixed on him, was hard to refuse. He eventually said, "Her name is Duanhua, the only daughter of Princess Qingping, who’s been spoiled all her life. She’s very difficult."
"How difficult? Give me an example."
"She follows me home, disregarding even my grandmother’s words, causing my grandmother to have a headache."
Su Rong sighed, declining the protest, "Your grandmother is the senior princess Sheng An, her words are ineffective, then I can’t help you."
She immediately said, "Dear brother, just pretend I never said I’d help you. Just forget it now."
Zhou Gu laughed out of anger, "Are you going back on your word?"
Su Rong replied earnestly, "Considering my safety, I’d better stay out of trouble."
Zhou Gu hmphed, wanted to say she was lacking in ambition, but recalling how Duanhua, with her privileged status and adoration, had made him unable to escape, he didn’t say anything.
The two people continued to walk, and after a while, they bumped into Chen Zhou again.
Su Rong frowned, "Why are you everywhere?"
Chen Zhou saw the couple, was about to greet them, but seeing Su Rong’s unhappy face, he hesitated for a long time and finally didn’t come over, apparently afraid Su Rong would beat him up.
Zhou Gu raised his eyebrows, "You are really powerful, you have frightened him."
Su Rong was silent, "If I were really powerful, he wouldn’t have dared to say those things to you yesterday."
Zhou Gu was noncommittal, smiled and called out to Chen Zhou, "Brother Chen, what a coincidence."
When Chen Zhou saw Zhou Gu greeting him, his eyes lit up, he trotted over excitedly, "Zhou...brother Zhou, it’s not a coincidence, I came specially to find you and Su Rong." After saying that, he carefully looked at Su Rong, "Su...Su Rong...are you still angry, angry at me?"
"When did you start to stutter?" Su Rong looked annoyed.
Chen Zhou half-covered his face and muttered, "Isn’t it because you scared me?"
"Why didn’t I scare you to death?"
"You scared me so much that I couldn’t sleep well last night. I came especially early to apologise to you today." Chen Zhou pointed at his dark circles and said, "Look here, I really didn’t sleep well last night."
Su Rong glanced at his dark circles and snorted, "Ugly people sure love getting attention."
Chen Zhou was greatly hurt and immediately lost energy, "I... I’m not that ugly, am I?" Then, he turned to Zhou Gu and sighed, "I... I’m not as good looking as brother Zhou."
Zhou Gu hooked his arm around Chen Zhou’s shoulder, "I didn’t hear enough yesterday. If there are any more amusing stories about my fiancée, can you tell me more? We can talk while we play?"
Chen Zhou hurriedly shook his head, "No..no more."
"You’re not scared of her, and afraid to say it, are you?"
"No more really." Chen Zhou shook his head, "I’ve not been in Jiangning County for several years. I don’t know anything else."
Zhou Gu looked at him, he didn’t seem to be lying and let go of his hand, "Alright, let’s not talk about it anymore, let’s play together?"
Chen Zhou was very happy, and sneaked a glance at Su Rong. Seeing that she did not object, he agreed, "Yes, sure."
With Chen Zhou’s addition, the atmosphere became livelier. Chen Zhou was talkative, and he seemed to get along quite well with Zhou Gu, treating him like an old friend. He took over Su Rong’s role, introducing the beautiful scenery of Peach Blossom Brook to Zhou Gu.
After a round by the Peach Blossom Brook, seeing that it was getting late, Zhou Gu asked Su Rong, "Shall we grill the fish?"
"No need." Su Rong did not like Chen Zhou and did not want to grill fish for him.
Chen Zhou looked eagerly at Su Rong, "Miss, I have already apologised to you. Why are you still so relentless?"
Su Rong frowned, "Does my forgiving you hinge on your apology?"
Chen Zhou’s face fell, and he muttered to Zhou Gu, "She grills delicious fish."
Zhou Gu glanced at Su Rong then patted Chen Zhou’s shoulder, "Brother Chen, let’s go, time to head back."
Chen Zhou reluctantly nodded, "Alright then!"
As they exited the Peach Blossom Brook, Chen Zhou was astounded to find out they weren’t heading back to the city and asked Su Rong, "Didn’t your elder brother return? Aren’t you going back?"
"What?" Su Rong was shocked, "How did he come back so early?"
Chen Zhou shook his head, "He returned at noon today. I encountered him on my way out of the city."
Su Rong did not want to go back because she did not want to see Su Xingze. She waved her hand at Chen Zhou, "We are not going back now, we’ll see tomorrow. You go back by yourself!"
Upon hearing this, Chen Zhou had no choice but to leave alone.
After Chen Zhou left, Zhou Gu looked at Su Rong and chuckled, "Why are you so petty? You bullied him so much and didn’t suffer much yourself. Plus, he didn’t dare to provoke you today and even apologized to you. Why do you still look so upset even after a day?"
Su Rong glared at him and turned to leave.
Zhou Gu grabbed her arm, "Hey, what are you glaring at me for? You dislike Chen Zhou that much? I find him quite interesting though."
Su Rong slipped out of his grasp, "Ruining my engagement is like killing my parents, why can’t I hold grudges? If apologies work, then what’s the use of government offices?"
Zhou Gu clicked his tongue, "This can’t be taken up to the officials’ level."
Su Rong said nothing.
Zhou Gu laughed, "You sure have a big temper!"
Su Rong hmphed, on the verge of saying something, but suddenly saw a group of people standing at the entrance of the inn, staring at her and Zhou Gu. She immediately froze in her tracks.
— End of Chapter 52 —