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 96

Translated by: Oinkoink

Chapter 96 – Grievous News

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The perfectly round and bright moon hung high in the sky radiating silvery light all around at dusk.

Distant sound of horses’ hooves clattering and trampling stardust on the ground came through the main road. The dark clothes riders were galloping relentlessly against the wind, leaving a streak of long black shadows in the darkness which were gone in a flash at staggering speed.

They soon reached the small town where they would stay over. There was no longer superfluous smoke from the village houses besides the narrow winding trail. Small orange lights illuminating the grass and gravel through the paper windows were soon trampled by rushing footsteps. Though in a hurry, the destination was obvious — the shop inscribed with the Ye word at the end of the alley.

Ten days ago, Ye Huaili had notified via homing pigeons to all the Ye family members in Wangdu’s nearby prefectures to pay close attention to the movements in Wangdu while he and Chu Jinglan would get reports throughout their journey in order to grasp the latest situation in the palace.

They have now arrived in Cangzhou which is only a day’s journey away from Wangdu. Though they have almost reached their physical limit, they do not want to stop even for a step just because the person they both yearn for is not far away.

They will soon be able to see Yang’er.

In these past few nights, Chu Jinglan would dream of Ye Huaiyang as soon as he closed his eyes. Wearing the phoenix coronet with embroidered tassel cape, she sat and smiled on the wedding bed. With Lan-lan in her arms, she rolled into a ball like a small child in the backyard and there was also her laying coquettishly in his arms that every frown and smile were as distinct as yesterday, as if he could touch her with a stretch of his hand.

Only then did he realize he misses her crazily.

He didn’t have this kind of feeling in Shuzhong previously. Perhaps he was overly tired or maybe because the letters that arrived on every fifth day imperceptibly gave him comfort but once everything changed, only then did he feel how big the contrast was. It was so big that he could no longer calm down.

He simply could not imagine a life without her at all.

Restraining all these emotions, Chu Jinglan walked alongside Ye Huaili to the Ye family’s shop. Not a soul was in sight on the narrow street but the presence of the moonlight. Ye Huaili looked up and spoke all of a sudden, “It’s the Mid-Autumn Festival next month.”

Chu Jinglan was silent for a moment before he replied hoarsely, “Yang’er has told me to go back and celebrate it with her.”

“She has always been like that.” Ye Huaili’s expression immediately turned particularly gentle when he spoke of Ye Huaiyang, “Every year when I left Wangdu, she would earnestly ask me to come back for the Mid-Autumn festival, saying that the family cook had made many new flavors mooncakes that regrettably no one partake, which were all nonsense. She never touched mooncakes again after getting sick from being gluttonous when she was nine and she thought I had forgotten about it.”

“She is gluttonous.” The corners of Chu Jinglan’s lips lifted slightly when he recalled she wouldn’t let go of the syrup jar on the Ghost Festival’s day.

“Contrarily the family indulges her, because she usually handles matters maturely with a calm manner and rarely has such childish moments. Mother would have this argument whenever I mentioned this to her. Mother also said it’s not that the family has no money so even if she wants to eat the peach of immortality, we should pluck it for her which really made me not know whether to laugh or to cry. After Father and Mother left home for a long trip, I placed her under much stricter control that even my Uncle and Aunt said I didn’t love her but she was not the wee bit upset at all. She would glue herself to me whenever I came back just like when she was a child.”

Ye Huaili spoke of this with a touch of melancholy that Chu Jinglan heard clearly and asked with slightly raised eyebrows, “Regret?”

“Yes, I do regretted it.” A faint sigh escaped from his throat as Ye Huaili responded sadly, “I am not a qualified elder brother.”

“Then accompany her more in the future.”

Chu Jinglan’s words sounded nothing at first but it eventually felt like entrusting Ye Huaiyang to him after careful discernment. Ye Huaili knew very well the danger of this trip too without a complete certainty in his heart, so he didn’t say anything.

Even after Ye Huaiyang is rescued, King Lan mansion and the Ye family will surely undergo major changes and it will be difficult to return to the way they were before, but even if the road ahead is uncertain, they still have to go on without hesitation.

Both of them unconsciously reached the end of the alley and stopped in front of the Ye family’s shop. What awaited them was the latest situation in Wangdu that Ye Huaili felt rather anxious during this moment every time. He took a quick look at Chu Jinglan and noticed that the surging tides in his pair of black eyes never stopped for a moment though he was expressionless while the anxiety and worry hidden within them would somewhat be revealed when he was extremely tired like now.

As Tang Qingfeng and the others were still waiting behind them, Ye Huaili retracted his gaze and knocked on the door. This shop is run by the Shu[1] branch of the Ye family who usually do small businesses but pass information secretly. The person in charge is also an old shopkeeper and the moment he saw them walk in, he knelt heavily on the ground with extreme abruptness.

Chu Jinglan stiffened unexpectedly with a foreboding premonition floated in his heart.

The old shopkeeper did not wait for them to ask questions but directly raised the letter he was holding over his head and choked with emotion, “Wangye, General, half an hour ago, Laonu[2] received news that the Matriarch has gone … “

Ye Huaili’s expression changed alarmingly. He strode forward and grabbed his collar abruptly as he bellowed, “What do you mean by gone? Gone where?”

The old shopkeeper turned dejectedly pale while he just looked at him without uttering a word yet his grief explained everything.

Seemingly not understanding the words he heard, Ye Huaili let go of him and snatched the letter. He opened the letter haphazardly and roughly browsed to the bottom where the four key words ‘dead from falling-off cliff’ probed his eyes so sharply that his brain rumbled instantly and he could no longer hear any words.

Chu Jinglan pulled that piece of flimsy letter out slowly. With merely a glance, all his blood flowed backwards at once.

His Yang’er …. is died?

The old shopkeeper recounted what had happened tearfully, “Wangye, General, that impotent Emperor wanted to burn the Matriarch alive as the sacrificial offering. Having no choice, the Matriarch grabbed the Empress as a shield but who would have thought that the impotent Emperor would be so inhumane to actually have the imperial guard kill the Empress as well. Being forced to a dead end, the Matriarch jumped off Zhuolutai after revealing the impotent Emperor’s transgressions. Till date, her body has yet to be found … “

Before he could finish the sentence, Chu Jinglan felt an acute pain in his chest and spat out a mouthful of blood that spattered on the plain white letter before dripping to the ground.

“Wangye!”

Tang Qingfeng and a shadow guard turned pale with fright as they hurriedly stepped forward to support him yet he brushed them away forcefully. Barely straightening his body up, he wiped away the blood that covered Ye Huaiyang’s name on the letter.

The two people looked at each other with compassion as they didn’t know what Chu Jinglan wanted to do. Thunderclap suddenly resounded outside the window while lightning struck the window edge reflecting the bloodless face of Chu Jinglan. Upon closer inspection, his pupils had shrunk with no distinction of focal length where he had actually sank into the demonic curb and on the verge of madness. With great alarm, the two people were just about to do something when Ye Huaili unexpectedly punched Chu Jinglan’s face.

“Are you satisfied with this result?”

Getting struck, Chu Jinglan slanted slightly. The bloodstain on his mouth had yet to dry up when fresh ones covered it and dripped all over his lapels but the profoundness amidst his black eyes turned clear suddenly while his sanity returned.

Ye Huaili’s rage was still persisting.

“She should have taken the easiest path in this world. It was because of you that she stepped into this deadly situation and ended up dead without remains now. Are you satisfied?”

Ye Huaili was raving seemingly unable to vent out all the intense pain in his chest but the person facing him did not respond at all, as if having his heart dug out and left with only a wooden soulless body. Seeing this, Ye Huaili wanted to punch him again but was stopped by several subordinates.

“General, Wangfei is still waiting for you and Wangye to avenge her.”

The Deputy General’s brief sentence awakened Ye Huaili. Yes, the person who killed Ye Huaiyang is still sitting immaculately in the Hall of the Golden Chimes*. He is the monarch who holds the ultimate power and it’s justifiable for him to eliminate traitorous people but Ye Huaili found it unbearable at this moment.

[T/N: 金銮殿 (Jīnluándiàn) – popular name for the Emperor’s audience hall / throne room]

That was the younger sister whom he cuddled since young and cherished to adulthood. A younger sister who was more precious than anything else whom he actually forced to jump off Zhuolutai. How could her frail body withstand this kind of harm?

What Ye Huaili didn’t know was that Chu Jinglan had the same thought too at this moment.

A 100-foot cliff with a pitch-dark edge. How terribly scared must she feel to lay alone in that kind of place when she usually sleeps with a small lamp? There were also legions of vultures and insects that would gnaw her delicate skin little by little until she turned into a dry skeleton. He would not be able to identify her again and could no longer hold her in his arms to love her dearly like before.

It was only one more day before he could rush back to save her in Wangdu, yet she couldn’t wait for him.

Thinking of this, fresh blood gushed out from Chu Jinglan’s mouth again.

“Wangye … “

Although Tang Qingfeng felt his heart constricted, he was even more worried about Chu Jinglan. Since the occurrence of that incident six years ago, Chu Jinglan had fallen into grave obsessions that his whole person had become sternly aloof and committed to revenge only. Later, Ye Huaiyang used her tender love to heal him and opened his heart.

But Ye Huaiyang is now dead too and died in the hands of the same person, as if history had repeated itself. Chu Jinglan might not be able to escape this demonic clutch anymore this time.

“Go get the horses.”

Chu Jinglan casually wiped away the bloodstain from the corner of his mouth and walked out unsteadily. Catching up in a hurry, Tang Qingfeng asked, “Wangye, where are you going?”

“Back to Northern Land.”

As Ye Huaili had yet to regain his reverie, he was shocked hearing those words that he turned to face him and stopped him with extended arms, “Why are you going back to Northern Land?”

“To lead  troops to attack Wangdu.”

He did not want to raise war or even bear the infamy of revolt these many years, hence he tolerated till now but at this moment, nothing mattered anymore. He just wants to return and attack the Imperial Palace immediately then take Chu Sanghuai’s severed head as the sacrificial offering for Ye Huaiyang.

All along, Ye Huaili did not put down the stretched out arms that were holding Chu Jinglan back. Chu Jinglan raised his eyes slowly to look at him. The depths of his eyes were serenely dark without the least bit of anger but gradually revealing traces of clear murderous intent.

No one can stop him from avenging Ye Huaiyang, not even her own elder brother.

Unexpectedly, Ye Huaili actually laughed dully which was more unsightly than crying. His rigid and solemn face was full of sadness.

“Chu Jinglan, I never thought there would be a day that I would also dispatch troops and point swords at Wangdu with you.”

Closing his eyes, the hot tears that he had been holding back for a long time finally spilled out from the corners of his eyes, only because of what written on the letter just now the last words Ye Huaiyang said before she died — my husband and my eldest brother will certainly avenge me one day to make you repay in blood the debt of blood!

And right now, Chu Jinglan had already kept the letter in his bosom and walked past Ye Huaili silently for the door.

Rest assured, Yang’er. Husband will not let go of anyone who has harmed you.

[1] 庶 (Shù) – children borned from concubines

[2] 老奴 (Lǎo nú) – Old Slaves

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