Her Highness Doesn’t Want to Work Hard Anymore

She Doesn’t Want to Listen Anymore!

“I’m not hungry,” Hua Manman said shyly. “Wangye can go ahead and eat it.”

But in her heart she was crying out —

I really want to eat it!

But I’m way too full. How come humans can only have one stomach? Why can’t I have a couple more stomachs?!

As he listened to her inner thoughts crying out in mourning, Li Ji slowly took a bite of the almond butter cake. His long and thin eyes narrowed slightly, and traces of a happy smile could be found in the corner of his eyes.

“It’s actually quite tasty.”

Hua Manman swallowed.

“The almonds have a nice crispy texture,” Li Ji continued. “And the taste of milk comes through. It’s sweet and delicious.”

Hua Manman: “……”

Shut up, you asshole! Stop talking!

She doesn’t want to listen anymore!

Li Ji took his time and savored the almond butter cake in his hand until the last bite. In the end, he even remembered to stick out his tongue and gently lick the crumbs off his cold white fingertips.

When he heard the heartfelt voice of Hua Manman’s inner thoughts, his smile can’t help but grow more amused.

He really likes the way she can only watch him but can’t eat. How fun!

The housekeeper came back. As soon as he entered the door, he saw the happy smile on Zhao Wang‘s face and stopped in his tracks.

This housekeeper could be said to have watched Zhao Wang grow up since childhood. As a child, Zhao Wang was well-behaved and sensible, and often revealed such genuinely happy smiles. But ever since Duke Zhen passed away, Zhao Wang has never laughed from the heart.

This would make it the first time in five years that the housekeeper had seen such a comfortable smile on Zhao Wang‘s face.

Li Ji noticed the person who had entered, and the smile on his face quickly faded.

“How is it?” he asked coldly.

“Her Highness Junzhu is unwell, and cannot come out to greet the guests,” the housekeeper said hurriedly. “I hope Wangye will be understanding.”

Even an insensitive person like Hua Manman could tell by this point that the relationship between Li Ji and Rouwan Junzhu did not seem to be very good.

When the son gets married, if the mother doesn’t show up it can’t be helped. But now the son has brought his newly married concubine with him to greet his mother together, yet the mother still uses her illness as an excuse to avoid meeting face-to-face with her son.

This attitude can only be described as an extreme level of neglect.

But Li Ji didn’t seem to care.

“Seeing as my mother is still not feeling well from her illness, then she should take care and recuperate. I’ll visit her later when I have the chance to.”

The housekeeper hurriedly agreed.

“Return,” Li Ji said to Hua Manman.

Hua Manman pushed him outside.

Because the doorways in the Duke’s mansion all have a threshold, when it came time to cross the threshold Chen Wangbei had to lend a helping hand in order for Hua Manman to push the wheelchair across.

Just as they had left the hall, they saw a young man, whose eyes and eyebrows bore a resemblance to those of Li Ji, swiftly walking over.

This man was dressed luxuriously, and an overly enthusiastic smile hung from his lips. Even before this person walked over in front of them, he was already calling out:

“Cousin, I didn’t expect you to come visit today. Please forgive me for not greeting you when you first entered!”

He cupped his hands in greeting towards Li Ji, then turned his gaze towards Hua Manman, who was standing behind Li Ji, and observed her from head to toe.

“This must be my little cousin’s wife, correct? She really is as lovely as a flower, my cousin is so lucky!”

Hua Manman was at a loss, and it showed on her face. Who is this person?

Chen Wangbei supplied in a low whisper:

“This is the Li Lou, son of Duke Zhen’s younger brother.”

Hua Manman suddenly realized that this was the nephew of the late Duke Zhen.

But Duke Zhen and his younger brother had long since established their own separate households, and the two families should have their own separate estates. Why was Li Lou showing up here? And on top of that, he was even acting like the host? It was as if Li Lou was the master of this estate, and Li Ji was just another guest.

Li Lou was still happily chattering on.

“It’s rare for my cousin to come back for a visit. No matter what, you must have lunch here first before you leave. I’ll have someone pass word to the kitchen and ask them to prepare some more dishes for us. In a bit, us two good brothers should get together and share some drinks! Oh, that’s right, have you seen Aunt Junzhu? Aunt’s health has been poor recently, and there’s no way we could just leave her without someone to care for her by her side. Fortunately Aunt likes me quite a bit, so she specifically asked me to accompany her.”

Li Ji didn’t react much to this, and coldly uttered one single syllable:

“Oh.”