Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Inside the carriage, a flashy woman with a red flower in her hair, wearing a red gauze dress and rouge on her cheeks appeared.

Yuan Pingya was so startled he thought he'd mistaken the person, but the voice sounded like it belonged to his young lord.

Yuan Pingya took a closer look and realized it really was his young lord... in women's clothes!

The corner of Yuan Pingya's mouth twitched. "Young Lord, what... what are you doing?"

Lu Yunqi flicked the handkerchief in his hand and said, "Can't you see? I'm gonna dress up as a woman to test my husband! I wanna see if he's got camp prostitutes stashed in the army while he's out on campaign!"

Yuan Pingya reminded him, "Our Lu Family Army has a strict rule against camp prostitutes."

"Oh, right, almost forgot..." The Lu Family Army ran a tight ship—no camp prostitutes to drag down morale, period. They didn't even allow women cooks, only male army cooks.

Lu Yunqi said, "Forget all that. I'm heading over there to check it out. Don't follow me! The guards I brought this time are all new faces. If they recognize you, my whole act falls apart."

Yuan Pingya was genuinely speechless. His young lord really knew how to have fun. But it wasn't his place to meddle in the couple's private business. As long as the young lord was safe, he was good.

So Yuan Pingya gave the guards around Lu Yunqi a stern order, "Make sure to protect the young lord."

The guards acknowledged, and the group continued toward the military camp.

From a distance, the Lu Family Army spotted a flashy, over-the-top group heading their way. A patrol officer immediately came up to check, blocking Lu Yunqi's carriage and saying, "No unauthorized personnel allowed in the camp. Leave now."

Lu Yunqi lifted the carriage curtain and said in a falsetto voice, "Officer! Officer, it's me, it's me! I'm His Highness Prince Cang's mistress! I've come all this way just to see him."

"Mistress?!?!" The patrol officer was shocked and scolded, "Quit your bullshit! The Prince is our young lord's... husband! And how the hell could he ever go for a... mistress like you?!"

Not that you could blame the officer—Lu Yunqi's makeup was a disaster, and his fashion sense was just as bad. He looked like a straight-up Japanese geisha.

Lu Yunqi waved his handkerchief and said, "What do you know? The Prince loves my kind of charm! Besides, can good looks put food on the table? What matters is... being able to pop out kids!"

With that, he puffed out his already noticeable baby bump. His baby was already four months along, so he couldn't cinch his belt too tight. With a little push, his round belly popped right out.

The deputy officer beside him spat on the ground and said, "What the hell is wrong with Prince Cang? He's already with our young lord, and now he's got a mistress? And now there's a kid in the picture—what's our young lord supposed to do?"

The patrol officer also cursed, "Pfft, men are all trash!"

Lu Yunqi thought, "Uh... dude, you just insulted yourself too."

The deputy officer brandished his blade and said, "Why not just kill her and get it over with! Save the young lord the heartache! And the Prince too! As the Prince's men, it's our job to lighten his load!"

The patrol officer slowly nodded. "Alright, men, let's—"

"Wait!" Lu Yunqi finally dropped the act and scolded, "Are you all out of your minds? Fighting and killing—what the hell is wrong with you? You won't even spare a pregnant woman? Where's your damn humanity?"

The patrol officer and deputy officer froze, squinting at Lu Yunqi's face for a long moment before finally blurting out in unison, "Young Lord?!?!"

Lu Yunqi quickly made a shushing gesture and said, "Not a word! I came here today to test Murong Jie, and you already ruined it??? Can't you just look the other way and let me in???"

The officer said, "Uh... Young Lord, letting you in is no problem, but if you really were the Prince's mistress, there's no way we could let you through. You're crazy about him—how could he do something like that to you?"

Lu Yunqi thought, with guards like these, he could sleep easy.

He waved his hand, too lazy to keep arguing, and said, "Fine, fine, forget it. Just take me to Murong Jie's tent!"

The officer quickly said, "Yes, yes, right away, Young Lord!"

Soon, the officer led Lu Yunqi to Murong Jie's tent—but Murong Jie wasn't there.

Lu Yunqi asked, "Where's Prince Cang?"

The officer replied, "Young Lord, His Highness went out to scout the terrain."

Lu Yunqi frowned, "He went himself? Aren't there scouts in the army?"

The officer said, "His Highness said some things he needs to see with his own eyes to be sure. So..."

Lu Yunqi clicked his tongue and said, "Fine! You all go out. I'll wait in his tent for a while."

The officer acknowledged and withdrew from Murong Jie's tent.

Lu Yunqi looked around Murong Jie's tent, thinking how crude it was. Though campaigning away from the capital was different, his tent was just an ordinary military tent—no special treatment at all.

Lu Yunqi sighed, thinking that the man was actually pretty decent. It was mainly his upbringing that was the problem—the pain brought by his birth family and the original owner's mistreatment.

Just as Lu Yunqi was lost in thought, a voice came from outside the tent: "Your Highness!"

Lu Yunqi thought, "Back so soon?"

He blinked, smiled slyly, and hid behind a screen made of stacked clothes.

Outside the tent, Murong Jie gave a faint "Mm" in acknowledgment and lifted the curtain to enter. He paused briefly in front of the screen, as if removing his clothes and draping them over it.

It was quite hot in the southwest, so the men in the camp mostly went bare-chested or completely topless.

Lu Yunqi thought, "Heh, is he taking his clothes off?"

So he quietly peeked through the screen and indeed saw Murong Jie standing at the desk in just his trousers, holding a brush and writing or drawing something.

Lust rose in Lu Yunqi's heart. He stealthily slipped out from behind the screen, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around Murong Jie's waist, his hands directly covering his massive chest muscles. As he groped, he said in a falsetto voice, "Husband, guess who I am?"

To his surprise, Murong Jie let out a slight sigh and said helplessly, "I smelled your scent the moment I entered the tent. Why are you still playing games with me? But... speaking of which, it's such a long journey, and you've been pampered all your life. How could you..."

As he spoke, he turned around—and then Lu Yunqi saw the shock in his eyes.

Followed by an instinctive punch that landed right on his nose, accompanied by a scream: "Ah... you... what kind of demon are you???"