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 28

Translated by: Oinkoink

Chapter 28 – Scheme (1)

This novel is only hosted on Foxaholic, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized.

Later, the Queen Mother summoned Ye Huaiyang into the Imperial Palace again and there was no outsider this time. Did she want her to confess the truth. Ye Huaiyang pretended to be listlessly ill and vaguely shirk her words whenever the significant parts were mentioned, giving the perception of clumsy denial resulting in self-exposure. After several rounds of questioning, the Queen Mother basically had a definite idea.

Looking at her appearance, she must have been subjected to intimidation from the Bai family and Chu Jinglan.

As the Queen Mother of the current dynasty, she naturally did not need to force Ye Huaiyang to identify Bai Zhixuan with strong means. The entire imperial harem was under her control. What could’t she do? So, after the Queen Mother learned the ‘truth’, she allowed Ye Huaiyang to leave and was silent for the following week.

Rumors gradually roused in Wangdu. Some said Noble Lady Bai had affairs with King Lan, others said the Bai family attempted to errant, furthermore there were some who said the child that Noble Lady Bai carried was not the dragon descendant. Great clamor arose within this period of time that it was difficult to shut people’s mouths and useless for the Bai family to suppress by any means.

These rumors were undoubtedly released by Ye Huaiyang who was not idle while waiting for these rumors to gradually festered. She visited King Lan mansion more diligently and no longer took the conventional route from Lingyun Pavilion, instead openly passing through the main entrance without any apprehension.

Today happened to be Tang Qingfeng’s turn on duty. Seeing her being so opened, he felt somewhat troubled.

“Miss Ye, even though there is no other family within this square, aren’t you being too ostentatious….”

“What’s the matter?” Glancing at him with her phoenix eyes, Ye Huaiyang half mocking and half teasingly said, “Your family Wangye can even cover the side door of the inner Imperial City, what’s this small square? Don’t think I don’t know, there are many shadow guards hidden outside these two residences that even a housefly can’t fly in.”

With a bitter face, Tang Qingfeng stated, “You should at least avoid a little…. what if you are seen by others?”

“No one sees me when I come over from Lingyun Pavilion, but should I tumble, will you be responsible or Wangye?”

“You are an old hand now. You are so stable going back and forth, how can you tumble?” Tang Qingfeng unwittingly blurted out and suffered a glare from Ye Huaiyang that he immediately rectified his statements, “What this subordinate meant isn’t it time-consuming going around such a big detour?”

Ye Huaiyang smiled coquettishly before lowering her voice and asked slowly, “According to what you say…. is it more convenient for me to live in?”

Tang Qingfeng accidentally choked by his saliva that he violently coughed for several times before he replied, “This subordinate didn’t say anything. Miss Ye, please come in…”

No joking. If Chu Jinglan knew he was the one who made Ye Huaiyang conceived this idea, he couldn’t take the thrashing no matter how thick his skins were.

Ye Huaiyang walked in gracefully with satisfaction. Inwardly she thought the simple-minded Tang Qingfeng was truly adorable who was completely different from that wily old bird, Lu Heng. Astute and circumspect in whatever he did, totally despicable. Unexpectedly, mentioning Cao Cao and there he was*. She bumped into Lu Heng who just came out when she turned around the covered corridor to the doorway of the study room.

[T/N: (说曹操曹操到 –Shuō cáocāo cáocāo dào) – Speaking of the devil and here he comes]

“What a coincidence, Miss Ye. Aren’t you usually going to Zhongxiao Pavilion, so what brought you to the study room today?”

“Physician Lu was yelling under the wall the other day, so I came over to see if the snake that my family Lan-lan threw had bitten you. Well, it seems not.” Ye Huaiyang feigned regret.

Clicking his tongue, Lu Heng swayed his folding fan, “Miss Ye truly doesn’t want to see me.”

Ye Huaiyang looked askance him coolly, “How could I dare. I have a cooperative relationship with Wangye now and will need to rely on Physician Lu in the future. What if Physician Lu has an opinion about me, wouldn’t it inevitably affect Wangye’s favorable impression of me?”

“How can I have an opinion if Miss Ye is committed to plan great things for Wangye?”

“No.” Ye Huaiyang leisurely smiled and shook her finger at him, “I’ve always planned for only that person while others are just added value. Physician Lu should not confuse the priority.” 

“This means…. If someday, Miss Ye has a change of heart, you will just leave?” Lu Heng uttered with a faint smile.

Ye Huaiyang looked at him sternly for a long while before she suddenly asked shallowly, “In Physician Lu’s opinion, what is a long lasting feeling? Withstanding the pressure of not marrying and suffering the mockery of others for six years for a man who might not come back, does that count?”

The rarely seen expression of Lu Heng stiffened.

“Why isn’t Physician Lu answering me?”

Lu Heng regained his senses. With a trace of shadow covering his face and a little callous aura, “Miss Ye, according to me, these matters are just the same like tales excerpted from a book or from the storytellers where you will just laugh after listening to it. It would be rather foolish to take it seriously.”

Ye Huaiyang knew Lu Heng was cursing her, but she wasn’t bothered as she commented with profound meaning, “I didn’t see the Physician laughing?”

 Lu Heng looked at her for a long time without uttering a word.

“Why didn’t you enter yet.”

Chu Jinglan’s deep and magnetic voice resounded from the other side of the door which instantly broke the stalemate outside. Pushing the door with one hand, Ye Huaiyang took a glimpse at Lu Heng before she turned and entered the study room. Lu Heng stood still for a long while and left immediately once his expression gradually returned to normal.

In the room.

On the square table placed a pot of tea and a half furnace where purple smoke curled upwards emitting the aromatic scent. Bamboo screen obstructed most of the sunlight from the window. The room was secluded and quiet which was particularly refreshing and pleasant.

Chu Jinglan was seated and writing in front of the table.

Since his return six months ago, he had been idling at home. Besides reading, he would practice swordsmanship. It seemed he wasn’t involved in the military or the political affairs. However, intelligence information would be imported into King Lan mansion secretly which allowed him to pick the thread without divulging. 

Ye Huaiyang knew he was enduring and waiting as he would return to the royal court one day.

In order to conform with Chu Jinglan, she had dispatched all the people from Tianqi Restaurant to monitor all the government officials in Wangdu that not even a trivial information would be missed. As such she could make a timely response before any dangers arrived. At the same time, both of them had also developed a habit of exchanging information every two weeks thus her arrival to the study room today.

Before any words were said, Ye Huaiyang’s keen eyes caught the sight of the floral paper. Without much thought, she took and browsed it as her arched brows raised.

“Why is she asking you to enter the palace again?”

Every time when she was anxious, the honorific appellation would unconsciously disappear. Chu Jinglan didn’t raise his head and only spoke indifferently, “This King sees you have become more and more unruly.”

[T/N: You (你 Nǐ – general appellation  您  Nín – respectable appellation) Most of the time, YHY will used the respectable appellation when talking to CJL.]

“When did Wangye see me?” Ye Huaiyang snorted unconcernedly then placed the floral paper back on the table, “Do you intend to meet her?”

“This King happens to enter the palace to meet the Queen Mother that day thus can’t get away.”

“Why don’t I meet her for you?”

Chu Jinglan raised his head to glance at her and asked, “What do you intend to do?”

“After so many scenes, it’s about time for the show to end. I was just worried there will not be an opportunity and here she delivers herself to the doorstep. Moreover, it is probably fraudulent asking you to enter the palace under such circumstances, so to avoid any danger, let me go.”

Laying prone at the corner of the table, Ye Huaiyang held a writing brush and simply doodled on the rice paper with a relaxed and contented look as if what they discussed was just a small matter that could easily be settled. Sharing the same inkstone, Chu Jinglan was writing something but the tip of the writing brush halted when he heard her words that the strokes and curves of the writing immediately stained with black dots.

“It’s not a trifling matter and the palace is also not a place you are able to control. You are not allowed to go.”

Ye Huaiyang immediately raised three of her fingers as she pledged, “I promised I will not act recklessly, so just let me go.” 

Chu Jinglan ignored her which evidently meant there was no negotiation.

Seeing this, Ye Huaiyang had no choice but to purse her lips and said, “Fine, I won’t go then. This is the brief report gathered by Tianqi restaurant for the past two weeks. I will leave it here.” She placed the file she was holding on the table before she curtsied and left without even talking over like usual. Chu Jinglan stared towards the direction she left and narrowed his eyes faintly. 

Three days later.

In a palace at the southwest corner of the inner Imperial City, a palace maid in an orange palace attire was pacing back and forth with a somewhat restless expression.

“Niang-niang, it’s time already and King Lan is not here yet. Do you think Aunt Hong’s message was not sent?”

Fiddling with the pot of green tea on the table in front of her, Bai Zhixuan’s eyes were listless yet her tone was extremely calm, “Let’s just wait a while more, Aunt Hong has always been reliable and unlikely to make a mistake.”

The door was pushed open from outside as soon as she completed the sentence. A slip of beautiful silhouette stood outside and spoke to her with a brimming smile, “I haven’t seen the Noble Lady for more than half a month, are you safe and sound?”

Bai Zhixuan asked suspiciously, “Why is it you?”

“Who else does the Noble Lady want it to be?” Ye Huaiyang walked in uninvited and sat beside the table. She poured a cup of tea for herself, “Wangye is not coming to meet you today nor will he ever be in the future. You can just put it in your pipe and smoke it.”

[T/N: put it in your pipe and smoke it (死了这条心 Sǐle zhè tiáo xīn) – a rude way of telling someone that they must accept what you have just said, even if they do not like it]

“What, you have even become his steward? Don’t forget how he treated you in Hanzhang Palace the other day. Isn’t it extremely tiring for your wholehearted unrequited love?” Bai Zhixuan raised her lips contemptuously while silently hinted to Xing’er to close the door.

“Emotional matters are like the person drinking water, who knows whether the water is hot or cold. How can someone cold-blooded and heartless like you understand?”

“You—-” Bai Zhixuan was choked with anger but when she caught sight of the teacup in front, she urged herself to endure, “Then what are you doing here? Bengong has nothing to say to you.”

Ye Huaiyang swirled the green leaves in the teacup. When the cup almost reached her mouth, she paused and fixed her stare on Bai Zhixuan, unmoving for a moment.

“I instead have something to ask you, the stuff in the tea was it Heding Hong (arsenic) or Zhenyu San (poison)?”

Bai Zhixuan’s complexion changed drastically.

Ye Huaiyang drew a long sigh and said, “If it wasn’t the late emperor who designated your Bai family for Wangye, he probably wouldn’t have trusted you and been tricked. Just based on this little trickery you still want to kill Wangye again, isn’t this somewhat over underestimated our IQ?”

Bai Zhixuan’s face changed from flushed to pale while her silvery teeth clenched tightly before she resolutely shouted, “Xing’er!”

A dagger instantly held against Ye Huaiyang’s neck.

“Miss Ye, since we can’t kill King Lan, killing you is reckoned as weakening his power. Just blame yourself for being excessively conceited and arrogant!”

“My, there is still a maidservant with martial arts by your side. I wouldn’t have expected it.” With the corners of the mouths raised, Ye Huaiyang slowly took out a dark brown pill from her sleeve, “Let’s talk this over. I will settle this myself then you don’t have to use your dagger or else it will be unsightly with blood splattering everywhere.”

Once she finished her words, she threw the pill into her mouth and instantly swallowed it. The master and servant didn’t know what was going on as they stared at her warily. A moment later, her cheeks started to flush while her breathing became chaotic as she laid prone on the table.

“What have you taken?” Bai Zhixuan asked while seizing the lapels of her jacket.

“You have been residing in the inner palace for so many years, can’t you see what it was?” Ye Huaiyang chuckled lightly then panting again, “I have taken the Xiaoyao pill.”

That was the drug which caused delirium and also the most sinister method commonly used by the masters of the palace.

In shock, Bai Zhixuan’s mind was filled with questions but before she had time to react, the sound of clothes ripping suddenly resounded. When she gazed over, Ye Huaiyang had unexpectedly tore open her clothes revealing the scented shoulder and half exposed the soft white chest.

“Bai Zhixuan, thank you for helping to accomplish my goal.”

Ye Huaiyang smiled serenely then swept the teacup to the ground all of a sudden. Simultaneous to the crashing sound, a ball-bearing abruptly shot in through the window and accurately hit Xing’er’s back. She immediately fell on the ground when hurried footsteps resounded from outside in the next moment. Ye Huaiyang turned and rushed to open the door where the room suddenly brightened.

Bai Zhixuan was stupefied by all these sudden unforeseen developments. When she caught sight of those people standing outside, the color of her face turned deathly pale – the Queen Mother, the Empress and Chu Jinglan were all there. While on the other side of the arch bridge, several imperial concubines were leisurely strolling in the courtyard.

In front of everyone, the half naked Ye Huaiyang pounced into Chu Jinglan’s arms.