Favoring Qie Over Wife (7)

The next day, Song Jia woke up on the first ke of Chen hour to especially get ready for her visit to her maiden home.

Prime Minister Li had always spoiled Li Jia, and repeatedly reminded her to visit after he saw that her daughter appeared to be wan during the couple's bridal visit a few months ago.

If Prime Minister Li had learned that the reason for her pale complexion was a sore waist and her husband's impressive stamina, who knows how ugly his face would have been.

When Zhao Cheng came to her courtyard dressed in midnight blue robes embroidered with golden clouds, the first thing he saw was Song Jia's waterfall of inky black hair being brushed by one of her maidservants. Song Jia was sitting in front of the vanity table, picking out hairpins and different headdresses before putting them down. Her lips were pursed.

Hearing the greetings of 'your Highness' behind her, Song Jia turned her head just in time to see Zhao Cheng approach her with his hands behind his back.

He thought she was dissatisfied with her hair accessories and offered, "If wang fei likes, I will let my manservant buy all the jewelry and accessories wang fei needs."

Zhao Cheng had the title of a qin wang [1], which meant that he was second only to the Emperor. The least of his worries was the lack of money.

Song Jia shook her head and smiled. "Thanking wang ye for his generosity, but qie is already satisfied with what she has."

After saying so, she picked a random buyao and tucked it in. No matter what, she would not be satisfied with the craftsmanship anyway, so why bother to be picky.

Zhao Cheng took the opportunity to glance at his wife. He blinked, then looked at her more closely. Was it just him, or did his wang fei become even more beautiful than yesterday? He noticed that she didn't even put on any make up.

Actually, Song Jia did put on make up. The reason she woke up so early in the morning was because she didn't want her maids to see her 23rd century make up kit that she pulled out of her storage ring. After putting on a facial mask to give her skin a glowing look, Song Jia began applying moisturizer, base, foundation, blush, and eyeshadow. She trimmed her eyebrows and filled it in with an eyebrow pencil.

Afterwards, she made her lips look poutier and luscious than usual by using a nude lip liner and applying lipstick on the center before blending it outwards. Song Jia then coated it with a transparent lip gloss, and her natural everyday make up routine was done.

Zhao Cheng couldn't stop looking at her. Only when Song Jia lightly coughed as she stood in front of him wearing a silk white waist coat over a long emerald green pleated skirt did he remember the reason he went to her courtyard today.

His lips curved into a smile as he teased, "Your father has been frequently nagging me to let you visit him a couple of times while we were at court. It's good that Prime Minister Li would see for himself today that I did not abuse his daughter."

Song Jia smiled in return, "Qie apologizes to wang ye for his trouble."

Zhao Cheng took the peach-colored beizi [2] from Minglan and personally helped Song Jia into it. Its collar was green, so it complemented her skirt.

After a quarter of shi chen had passed, a grand carriage being pulled by four tall horses arrived in front of the main entrance of Prime Minister Li's residence. A leather whip in the hands of a manservant cleared the path, while the driver expertly steered using purple-colored horse reins.

One of the eunuchs that was following their carriage soon announced their arrival.

"Wang ye, wang fei, we've arrived at Prime Minister Li's residence."

Song Jia was lounging amidst the purple cushions, eating a pastry. Sitting opposite her was Zhao Cheng, reading official documents and secret reports. There was a small, lacquered table filled with exquisite and delicious snacks from the palace between them.

When Zhao Cheng heard that they have arrived, he reflexively looked up only for his gaze to fall on the lips of the woman sitting opposite him. Crumbs of sugar dusted her mouth, while her little tongue darted out and licked it clean.

His stomach tightened.

Ignoring his dry mouth, Zhao Cheng got off the carriage first before turning around and offering his hand to Song Jia.

The senior maidservant that was waiting at the main entrance saw how the third prince was treating their eldest miss with respect, and her heart gradually relaxed. Prime Minister Li loved his eldest daughter a lot, and if it were not for eldest miss' wish to be married to the third prince, he would have not consented to the wedding at all.

Prime Minister Li was clearer than most about the backstabbing and trickery that happened beyond closed doors in the imperial family. As much as he could, he didn't want the daughter that he held in the palm of his hand to suffer such a terrible fate. Even if it was the prince that he supported to ascend the throne, Prime Minister Li thought that he would rather have a son-in-law who had a low rank but treated his daughter like treasure.

"Jiejie!"

Before Song Jia could even fully set foot on the ground, a soft and warm body threw herself into her arms.

[1] Prince of the First Rank

[2] A large and loose outer coat. Kind of looks like a satin night robe in my opinion.