Two Ex-Husbands On One Stage

Bean Sprouts

“If Lord Pei wants to go his own way, our family can’t force it.” The presiding eunuch spoke gloomily, his eyes shifting from side to side. “Come! What are you waiting for? Please invite Lord Pei into the prison to wait for the Empress Dowager!”

“Yes!” The four mighty officials standing in the hall behind the spectators clasped their fists and came up directly with their sabers around their waists, surrounding Pei Yanzhen with porcelain solid. It was only then that I discovered that this palace man actually brought guards to the wedding.

“Master Pei, please.”

Pei Yanzhen took off the pheasant bridegroom hat on his head and put it on the table, closed his sleeves, and went out with the guards without a word. When he was about to go out the door, he suddenly turned and looked at me across the red curtain, his hand on the corridor column. He stretched out a charming smile and disappeared into the peony night.

For a long time, I didn’t know which bridesmaid accidentally knocked the dowry box in her hand to the ground. Immediately, thousands of Dendrobium Pearls rushed out of the painted incense box and were scattered all over the place. The loud noise of the pearls falling to the ground finally broke the curse and nightmare of the silence, and everyone in the hall suddenly recovered, as if they had just realized what happened.

“Refused to marry…”

“Resisting…”

“Master Pei is resisting the decree and refusing to get married!”

Only Father clapped his big hands together and said, “Okay! That kid has courage! He usually looks like a bean sprout, but that’s not the case today!” He frowned upon seeing me. “You little girl, why are you crying! Let’s go home and ask your Second Yiniang to fry bean sprouts for you to eat!”

I stood up, but as soon as I turned around, I looked up at Song Xiyuan holding a white handkerchief and handing it to me, his face turned to the side. My eyes were blurry, so I couldn’t see the expression on his face.

Despite the commotion, I heard him whisper, “Wipe it. I will pretend I see nothing.”

Father slapped Song Xiyuan’s shoulder with a big palm. “Alright, but don’t pretend that you haven’t seen the pearls all over the floor. Be careful not to step on them and trip.”

Song Xiyuan stubbornly pursed his lips, put the silk handkerchief in my hand, bowed to my father, and said goodbye. Then, he turned around and walked out of the hall.

The bride covered with the veil was supported by the bridesmaids from left, right, and center, and there was only one voice left…

After tossing and turning all night, what I dreamed of was not the shackles, but the whipping. When I woke up, it was twilight, the sky not yet bright. I wiped the cold sweat on my forehead, got up, and called Lu Ying. She warmed up some food from the kitchen and packed it in a food box. Taking advantage of the twilight, we went straight to the prison at the corner of the city.

I tightened my cloak and covered my face with the veil as I stood at the entrance, then stepped into the prison door. Inside the prison was a screen wall with a jail cell, and at a turn was a corridor with four corners and five gates about the width of one person. Every corner was guarded by a prison guard. I knew and witnessed myself that money could buy anything. These prison guards were all full of fierce faces, but they were not an exception.

With Lu Ying holding my box of money, we went unimpeded and untouched all the way to the entrance of the inner prison.

Unexpectedly, the person in charge of the last pass was an iron-faced judge. As soon as we came up, he said, “Lord Pei, who is in custody, committed a felony of going against orders. He is not an ordinary prisoner; he has done the serious crime of disobeying a royal decree. Without the imperial court’s written instructions, you are not allowed to meet him. Please go back, miss.”

I sneered and said, “Don’t talk to me like an official. If you really need instructions, how can the guards let me get all the way here?”

I winked at Lu Ying, and she immediately added two more silver notes.

That made his eyes light up, but he still shook his head and said staunchly, “The court has rules—officials big and small are not allowed to accept bribes. The other prison guards are out of my control, but I am not.”

I sneered again in my heart. Even His Majesty the Emperor took the lead in accepting Song Xiyuan’s five million taels silver in bribes. I didn’t expect that the head of this little cell would actually be upright.

I simply took the box from Lu Ying’s hand, opened it in front of him, and let him take it. Even though the jailer’s eyes shone brightly, he sighed and said, “Miss, let me tell you the truth. Someone said that as long as the young lady is not allowed to visit the prison, no matter how much silver taels she gives, the amount will be doubled by him. Therefore…”

The man muttered a little embarrassedly.

“Who said this?” I asked in a hurry.

The jailer hesitated for a while. Seeing that I was grabbing some silver coins and stuffing them into his hands, he hesitated and said, “The third son of the Song family.”

Song Xiyuan?

Note from Jue: I’m really sorry about the super long gap for an update. This chapter is all thanks to our new translator, JonasD. Thank you so much for taking over this wonderful book and accepting my request to release this chapter this week despite his busy schedule. Also, thank you, Toxicella, for your fast-as-light editing so that we could update today. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Ja-ne~ ^_~