The Side Character Wants to Lie Flat

Chapter 371: Chapter 372: Interesting

While helping the Princess Consort get dressed, Si Yun couldn’t help but notice the amorous marks on her body.

Even without having witnessed it firsthand, just seeing those marks was enough to imagine how passionate the night between the Prince and Princess Consort had been.

Her mind uncontrollably filled with indecent images, and a blush crept up her cheeks.

Hua Manman didn’t notice anything unusual about Si Yun.

She yawned and asked languidly.

"Where’s the Prince?"

Si Yun hastily suppressed her wild thoughts and answered with a straight face.

"The Prince left before dawn."

Hua Manman glanced at the bright sky outside. ’Prince Zhao must have already left for Yuqing Mountain with the Emperor,’ she figured.

Hua Manman was rather regretful that she hadn’t been able to see him off.

She furrowed her brow and asked, "Why didn’t any of you wake me when the Prince was leaving?"

Si Yun explained, "It was the Prince who told us not to wake you. He said you had a tiring night and needed more rest."

As she finished, she couldn’t help but press her lips together in a smile.

"The Prince is so considerate of you."

Hua Manman ground her teeth in secret. ’That damned man! If he knew how tired I was, why couldn’t he have gone easier on me last night? He just had to find all sorts of ways to torment me. I cried until my voice was hoarse. What a beast!’

She took the warm tea from a maid’s hand.

She gulped it down in one go, and her throat finally felt a little better.

After Si Yun helped her finish washing up, she reminded her in a low voice.

"Before the Prince left, he also mentioned that you should remember to get some medicine from Feihua Zhenren after you wake up."

Hua Manman didn’t immediately register what she said. ’Get what medicine?’

Seeing this, Si Yun added, "The Prince said he mentioned it to you last night."

As Hua Manman recalled the events of last night, her entire body started to ache all over again.

She had been tormented so much last night that her mind had grown hazy, and she couldn’t remember many things clearly.

She really couldn’t remember what medicine Prince Zhao had mentioned.

Suddenly, the System’s voice echoed in her mind.

"Prince Zhao must have been talking about the birth control pill."

With the System’s reminder, a faint memory surfaced in Hua Manman’s mind.

It seemed Prince Zhao had indeed told her last night that they had run out of birth control pills, and that she should remember to get more from Feihua Zhenren in the morning.

Hua Manman had mumbled an agreement, but her mind had been entirely consumed by a single thought—

’Why isn’t this damned man finished yet?’

This was followed by another series of indecent images.

Hua Manman quickly shook her head, trying to fling those images away.

Just then, a tall maid in green robes walked in. She curtsied to Hua Manman and said with a stutter,

"I... Qing Huan, pay my respects... to the Princess."

Hua Manman had never seen her before and was taken aback for a moment.

’Where did this girl come from?’

Si Yun stepped in to explain.

"Qing Huan was left for you by the Prince.

The Prince was worried about you staying at the Duke Zhen Country Mansion. Qing Huan knows some Fist and Foot Skills and can ensure your safety."

Hua Manman looked Qing Huan up and down.

"I’ve never seen you at the Prince Mansion before."

Qing Huan answered honestly, "I... used to be... the Prince’s... trusted aide."

Hua Manman was first surprised that there was a woman among the Royal Guard, and then her attention was drawn to the way she spoke.

She asked tentatively.

"Your voice?"

Qing Huan explained, "I... don’t speak... very fluently. It’s a... lingering side effect... from a childhood illness. Please... forgive me, Princess Consort."

After speaking, she lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her robes, her heart filled with apprehension.

She was terrified the Princess Consort would dislike her for being a stutterer and refuse to let her serve by her side.

If she were sent back by the Princess Consort, the Prince would definitely be angry.

But Hua Manman laughed, her tone light and natural.

"Your way of speaking is actually quite interesting."

Qing Huan was very surprised.

In the past, when people learned she was a stutterer, even if they didn’t mock her, they would look at her with an expression of near-pity.

It was a look one might give a defective item.

This was the first time anyone had ever described her as "interesting."

She carefully studied Princess Consort Zhao’s expression and saw that she was speaking from the heart, not just offering insincere comfort.

Qing Huan felt an inexplicable surge of happiness.

She couldn’t help but smile. "Thank you... for the compliment, Princess Consort."

Once she had finished washing up, Hua Manman decided to find Feihua Zhenren to have breakfast with him and get the medicine at the same time.

On the way, Hua Manman conversed with the System in her mind.

"How did you know what Prince Zhao and I talked about last night? Don’t tell me you were watching the whole time while Prince Zhao and I were... doing it?"

Her tone was filled with disgust, as if she were looking at a pervert.

The System ground its virtual teeth. "As if I have any interest in watching you two hug and gnaw on each other!

Every time you two take off your clothes, the system automatically engages a censor mode. All I can see is a blur of pixels."

Hua Manman was skeptical. "Then how did you know what we were saying?"

System: "The video might be censored, but the audio isn’t."

Hua Manman: "..."

She commented sincerely, "Like a perverted eavesdropper. That’s still super perverted!"

The System went into shutdown mode again.

’It really shouldn’t have said anything!’

When Hua Manman found Feihua Zhenren, he was still lazing in bed, sleeping in.

"Zhenren, get up! The sun’s already high in the sky!"

Feihua Zhenren pulled the blanket over his head, refusing to get out of bed no matter what.

Hua Manman didn’t think it was appropriate to pull off his blanket, so she had to settle for the next best thing.

"The Prince said you have birth control pills. Can you give me one?"

Feihua Zhenren’s voice came through the blanket, sounding muffled.

Hua Manman pricked up her ears and listened carefully, barely managing to make out what he was saying.

"In the medicine box."

Hua Manman quickly spotted the medicine box on the table.

She opened the box and saw that it was filled with a dozen or so bottles and jars.

Each porcelain vial was marked.

But Hua Manman couldn’t understand what the marks meant at all.

Hua Manman had no choice but to shout at Feihua Zhenren again.

"Which one is the birth control pill?"

Feihua Zhenren seemed to be muddled with sleep, his voice intermittent.

"...Bottom... red... circle..."

From the pile of bottles and jars, Hua Manman found the small porcelain vial with a red circle marked on its body.

She opened it and, sure enough, found two milky-white pills inside.

She sniffed it; it smelled similar to the birth control pill.

Hua Manman immediately tipped one pill into her mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed.

She put the vial back in its place, closed the box, and said to Feihua Zhenren.

"I’m leaving now."

Feihua Zhenren seemed to have fallen fast asleep again, showing no reaction at all.

Hua Manman ran off to visit Princess Rouwan.

But just as she arrived at the door to Princess Rouwan’s bedchamber, she saw Nanny Zhang.

Nanny Zhang looked frantic. When she saw Princess Consort Zhao arrive, she said hurriedly,

"Princess, you’ve come at the perfect time! Please, help us persuade Princess Rouwan. She refuses to take her medicine or eat. If this goes on, how can her body possibly stand it?!"

Hua Manman soothed her, "Don’t worry. I’ll go in and see Princess Rouwan."