The Noble Woman’s Guide On How to Tease One’s Husband

The Noble Woman’s Guide On How to Tease One’s Husband – Chapter 125

Translated by: Oinkoink

Chapter 125 – The Past

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One clear sunny morning, a messenger came to the Hall of Golden Chimes with an urgent distant military report which was handed over to Chu Jinglan while he was deliberating official matters with the ministers when his imperial countenance turned extremely pleased once he unfolded it for a glance.

Ye Huaili had seized the last city, hence the lost territories in the northwest have been taken back and the three-month battle is finally coming to an end!

Once the court assembly was over, Chu Jinglan could not wait to go back to Taiji Palace to share this good news with Ye Huaiyang.

“Yang’er, your Elder Brother is indeed an inherently talented commander-in-chief. Under such perilous conditions, he was able to defeat the many rout of enemy troops with just a few. This is indeed pleasantly gratifying! When he returns triumphantly to the court, I will lead all the ministers to welcome him into the city!”

It was rare to see him this excited. Smiling with a curtsy, Ye Huaiyang feigned as she spoke, “Then Chenqie will first thank Your Majesty on behalf of my Elder Brother.”

Displaying a slight helplessness, Chu Jinglan reached out to pull her into his arms when he suddenly noticed that she was wearing an extremely plain phoenix-tailed skirt, so he asked curiously, “Where are you going?”

Ye Huaiyang curled her lips and said, “A while ago I asked Xin’er to buy a panda back from Shuzhong and it happened to arrive in Wangdu today. Currently it is housed in the clan home. I want to go see it … “

“Bought another one?”

“Yeah … “ Ye Huaiyang’s voice was getting softer and softer, seemingly quite embarrassed, “Lan-lan is big now and I don’t have time to play with him. It’s time to find a wife for him … “

“Why didn’t I know that you even have the talent of being a matchmaker?”

Chu Jinglan couldn’t help laughing and Ye Huaiyang couldn’t stand his teasing look, thus she lightly stomped her feet with a blush and said, “I don’t want to talk to you, I’m going back to the clan home.”

“Where’s the propriety for not taking your husband when you go home?” Chu Jinglan stopped her. Hooking his thin lips with a gentle smile, his voice was jade-like, “Wait, I will change my clothes and accompany you.”

Ye Huaiyang asked doubtfully, “Don’t you still need to discuss the matter of rewards for the troops with Xie Miao and others in the afternoon?”

“Why, am I not allowed to take a day off to accompany my wife back to her maiden’s home?”

“It’s more than I could wish for.” Grinning from ear to ear, Ye Huaiyang was amused by him and pushed him towards the room immediately, “Then you be quick, else the wife will be anxious if it’s late.”

“Yes, I will obey the order given by the wife.” Chu Jinglan looked askance at her with a leisurely smile and went in unhurriedly.

Soon, the two of them left the inner imperial city in an ordinary carriage and arrived at the Ye mansion within an hour. No one expected Chu Jinglan would come too, thus they panickingly welcomed the Emperor, yet he waved his hand to indicate that they did not need to be over-courteous but to be easy-going like before, as if he was not the aloof Emperor at this moment but was only Ye Huaiyang’s husband.

Anyhow, the little one naturally could not be left behind since his parents were here. Chu Xiang, who has never been out of the palace since birth, seemed to have discovered a new world. He was so excited that he wanted to jump out of Ye Huaiyang’s arms and rushed to the garden all the time. But he has not learned to walk yet and needs someone to support him at the back in case he falls accidentally which will certainly be troublesome. Not wanting Ye Huaiyang to worry, Chu Jinglan simply took him over and carried him himself.

He rarely had such intimate contact with Chu Xiang, hence Chu Xiang instantly turned his attention to him. Every now and then, he would tug the purple gemstone on his collar or touch his face and have a great time.

Looking at them from the side, Ye Huaiyang was very pleased. She originally thought that Chu Jinglan wouldn’t know how to carry a child but she did not expect his posture to be so adequate that all the way through the narrow bridge and waterside pavilion, and not knowing how many turns and bends, he was just steadily stable.

Just like that, both father and son with outstanding looks and temperament became the Ye family’s phenomenon since they were particularly eye-catching no matter where they went. Although the two of them have the same handsome face, the older one is aloofly cold and dynamically dignified, while the little one’s face brims with happy laughter and completely a mobile peach blossom* that this contrast causes others having difficulty to look away.

[T/N: 桃花 (Táohuā) – fervently attractive especially to the female]

It’s the pride of heaven that nothing can surpass.

Some maidservants still remembered the words that Ye Huaiyang said at home that year — I don’t want that kind of goods like King Lu even if he marries into the family. Now it seems indeed so true. The kind of people who think themselves are handsome and dashing but entirely can’t be brought out to the public, isn’t he a world apart compared to His Majesty, who is the exiled immortal-like character?

Compared with these father and son, Ye Huaiyang’s appearance is instead considered inferior, but the father and son both treated her preciously. With one hand holding the child, Chu Jinglan wrapped his other hand around her waist without even letting go. Playing happily, Chu Xiang did not forget to lunge towards her for a kiss and the loud smacking sound amused everyone, and of course the happiest one was the mother.

“Xiang’er is truly a good boy, why don’t you give Emperor Father a kiss too?”

Catching sight of his almost dripping drool, Chu Jinglan immediately declined politely, “No need.”

Ye Huaiyang shook with laughter.

The family of three arrived at the backyard in the midst of this joyous atmosphere. The familiar fence and lair are still in place, but only the panda that lives in it has been replaced. This one is a year younger than Lan-lan and a little petite too. With a careful look, it seems more elegant while it is eating and playing which obviously is a little girl.

Chu Xiang was enthusiastic at the sight of the panda and leaned half of his body out wanting to grab it but Ye Huaiyang quickly stopped him.

“Xiang’er, this is not Lan-lan. It is not familiar to you yet, so you can’t touch it for the time being, understand?”

Chu Xiang looked at her puzzlingly, but he did not flail about again.

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Children are full of curiosities and reasoning might not work. In order to refrain him from bawling later, Chu Jinglan immediately cast him to Yue’ya to let her take him to the front yard to play with Huaixin and the others. As such, Ye Huaiyang could finally take a closer look at the new little friend.

“It seems to be a little listless … could it be that it is not acclimatized?”

Chu Jinglan reassured her, “Shuzhong to Wangdu is a thousand miles away. Even a person journeying on a carriage would be travel-worn and weary, let alone an animal. It probably still needs a while more to adapt.”

Ye Huaiyang nodded in agreement and muttered to herself, “I wonder if it will adapt faster if we put it together with Lan-lan?”

“Perhaps.” Chu Jinglan’s train of thoughts shifted when he suddenly turned his head and asked, “Has this panda named yet?”

Ye Huaiyang was still wondering how to cure the panda, thus did not pay attention to the profound meaning of his words and quickly responded with two words, “Not yet.”

“Not yet? Do you still need to give it a thought?” The corners of Chu Jinglan’s eyes raised slightly, overflowing with hints of light-hearted delight, “So chubby and silly, and it is also a female panda, let’s just call it Yang-yang then.”

Ye Huaiyang was stunned before she instantly reacted and pinched him with a smile, “You’ve waited long for this revenge, right?”

Grasping her hand, Chu Jinglan gathered her into his arms while the side of his lips drew out a big smile, “I’ve only picked a name, unlike a certain person who kisses and caresses it, and takes full advantage of it.”

“I don’t only kiss it, but even kiss you too!” Flying into rage out of embarrassment, Ye Huaiyang pounced on him to bite his lips when he supported her body in passing to return a deep, thorough kiss.

The entire afternoon passed by as the two of them laughed and joked. They had dinner in the clan home that evening. After dinner, Ye Xun and Yan Shi played with Chu Xiang for a long time, and gave him whatever he wanted since they both love him wholeheartedly. Seeing that the two elderly were beaming with joy, Ye Huaiyang couldn’t bear to disturb them, so she let Chu Xiang play a while more. When he was finally brought back, he fell asleep within one second, hence both of them simply stayed the night at Ye family upon seeing that.

While Ye Huaiyang was cleaning the little fellow, Chu Jinglan went to the study to find a book to pass the time. Who knew he would conveniently pick out a thick piece of literature when a few letters unexpectedly dropped out, which the covers were written to be unsealed by the head of the family. Since the ink marks were somewhat faint, these obviously were from many years ago.

A piece of letter had slipped out of its envelope which piqued his curiosity, thus he unfolded it to read and stopped abruptly halfway through it.

“According to this subordinate’s probing, Wangye’s injuries fail to fully recover due to the shortage of the most crucial medicinal ingredient which is known as the dogtooth-violet and is very rare in the north. Meng Qi has sent people to look for it in other provinces, but there is no result yet.”

Chu Jinglan then jumped directly to the end of the letter. The date written was the eighth of the tenth month during the sixteenth year of Taihe reign, which was his fourth year in Northern Land and also the year when Ye Huaiyang just became the head of the family.

Without giving it much thought, he immediately unfolded another letter.

“Matriarch, this subordinate has received the medicine that you consigned from Jiangnan and placed them in the Ye family’s drug store, but the Meng family has yet to purchase them. After many inquiries, this subordinate received news that turned out Junwang Rong had quietly made a trip to Northern Land to specifically deliver the medicine for Wangye and Wangye is gradually recovering now, hence you do not have to worry.”

No wonder the variety of the local medicinal ingredients increased all of a sudden. He even thought it was Zhenghe who had someone do it ….

“In the middle of the first month, Wangye went to Mang Mountain with the Meng family, where the hot spring there is said to have healing effects, thus they stayed there for more than half a month. Meng Qi and Meng Xuan have then returned to the city first due to their busy military affairs, while Meng Chen stayed to take care of Wangye. She would personally serve him medicinal decoction whenever he soaked in the hot spring to treat his wounds and never leave it to others.”

The difference of this letter was that it was full of creases which had been hand-crushed. With his brows furrowed, Chu Jinglan then revealed a wisp of understanding.

He did not continue to read. Putting the letters back to its original place, he went out and returned to the bedroom. The small lotus crystal night light in the corner was still lit and the dim light elongated the shadow of Ye Huaiyang’s back which made her appear so thin, yet she blocked all the light, allowing Chu Xiang who was in the cradle to sleep peacefully.

Walking over gently, Chu Jinglan hugged her from behind.

She turned slightly to her side and seeing that he was empty-handed, she asked in a low voice, “Didn’t find a book that you liked?”

“I found it.” Chu Jinglan paused while the tip of his nose brushed against her ear while his voice was full of enticement, “Just a little sleepy, let’s go to bed.”

“Okay.” Ye Huaiyang responded softly. She then tucked Chu Xiang’s quilt before turning around to go to bed with him.

Flicking his fingers to extinguish the small night light, Chu Jinglan then took her into the crook of his arms and suddenly asked in pitch darkness, “Yang’er, has it been a long time since we’ve gone out to play alone?”

After bustling for the day, sleepiness hit like a tidal wave as soon as Ye Huaiyang’s head touched the pillow and only mumbling was left, “Guess so … “

Strangely enough, there was no sound next to her after she responded but the big hand that caressed her spine was gently stroking her again and again, as if lulling her to sleep. Since she was so sleepy, she didn’t even ponder why he would ask such a question. Her eyelids dropped slowly and she soon sank into a wonderful dream.