Chapter 100 Teasing

What happened in the palace and the Empress Dowager had nothing to do with Guan Suyi. She held the imperial decree in front of the coffin to pay homage, and then led Baifu and the guards to the Bodhi Garden, and let them tie the filial cloth and then offer incense.

Most of these guards were from the Jiuli tribe. They have deep facial features and tall and strong physique. Standing in the room, they seemed like poking iron towers, making the originally spacious space extremely narrow, and Baifu was sandwiched in it like a chicken that fell into a group of cranes, becoming more and more shriveled and thin.

Jinzi distributed the filial piety cloth, the length that ordinary people could wrap around their waists, they could only tie it around their arms. When it reached the last person, she heard her master ask in a deep voice, “Why are you here?”

“Ah? Didn’t Madam ask this servant to come?” Jinzi was puzzled, but found that Baifu and the others had left the room and stood outside the courtyard, pressing their palms on the hilt of their knife, and the fierce air suddenly filled the air. Looking at the only remaining guard, she saw his eyes shining, the corners of his mouth slightly curved, sending out His Majesty’s unique deep voice, “Madam really has good eyesight, Zhen walked all the way here, but only Madam that saw the clue and flatly expose Zhen’s identity.”

Guan Suyi turned her face away and said coldly, “Expose your identity? Who are you? Does this madam know you?”

The tall guard took off the skin mask on his face and said with a smile, “One moment asked who Zhen was, the next moment didn’t want to admit it, Madam is so willful. Madam is so gentle and kind to others, only at Zhen you furrowed your brows and send angry look, not conceal anything, just because Zhen like you.”

Guan Suyi turned to look at him, and said bluntly, “Yes, I’m like this because you like me. If you feel offended, can you not like me?”

“No.” Emperor Sheng Yuan walked over, wanting to hug his sweetheart but afraid of blaspheming her, so he had to circle around her twice, with a thick smile on the corners of his eyes and brows, “Zhen like the way Madam speaks bluntly, no matter what you do to Zhen, whether scolding or beating, Zhen will accept them all. There is an old saying – the deeper the love, the greater the hatred. The more Madam hate Zhen, detest Zhen, the more it showed that you already have feelings for Zhen, otherwise how can you be so calm when facing Zhao Luli? You have never bothered with him for the shitty things he did, and you never got really angry, because you didn’t take him seriously. But you treat Zhen differently… …”

“Enough, can you not put gold on your face?” Guan Suyi spit fire in her eyes, she really didn’t know what to do with this person. She had never seen someone more shameless than him, how could she have thought that he was simple and honest before? She was really blind!

“Look, you’re angry again. If you didn’t take Zhen to heart, why should you bother with Zhen?” Emperor Sheng Yuan pressed the person on the praying mat. When he saw her angry fists smashed over, the hands that had planned to let go quickly and firmly glued to her shoulders again, and he took a few hits contentedly.

“There seems to be a slang in Central Plains, what is it about beating and   scolding,” He loved Madam’s shy and angry looks, those burning eyes could make his whole heart boiled, could make his whole body flared up. Like a drug addict, he couldn’t stop teasing, “Let Zhen think about it. Ah yes, it’s called ‘beating is kissing, scolding is love‘, madam, beat two more times, scold a few more words, and let Zhen know how deep your love really is.”

Guan Suyi stopped instantly, neither beating nor scolding, she could only hold her forehead and sigh. Indeed, only in front of this person, all her irritable little emotions would emerge from the bottom of her heart, and all her willful little thoughts would be put into action, she was indeed fearless, could this be called love? No, but it also showed that she treated him differently.

She didn’t dare to think about it, and when she saw the skin mask being thrown aside, she couldn’t help reaching for it, “What is this? It seems to be more powerful than disguising technique.”

“Madam, don’t touch it, this thing is dirty. Zhen will talk to you after washing face.” Emperor Sheng Yuan quickly held her slender fingertips with a hint of worry in his eyes, and ordered Jinzi to quickly bring a basin of warm water to wash Madam’s hands.

After a while, both of them freshen up and sat cross-legged. Guan Suyi wanted to move farther, but the praying mat was always grabbed by Emperor Sheng Yuan and was easily dragged back. Seeing that the distance was getting closer and closer, and she was almost taken into his arms, she had to stop.

She found that Hunnar, who removed the simple and honest disguise and untied his inner demon’s shackles, was really difficult to deal with. If you use reason with him, he will talk about feelings with you; if you use feeling with him, he will simply plays a rogue, one move is more shameless than the other. Anyone with a thinner face would definitely lose in front of him.

“What is this?” Her curiosity had already been aroused by the skin mask, so she had to ask clearly.

“This is a mask found on that Miao person, it made of a human skin. How do you think Zhen captured him? It turns out that he was unable to make another plan, and wanted to sneak into the Zhao Mansion and continue to cast poison, so he tracked down a servant in the mansion who has similar body type with him, and wanted to kill him and peel his skin, but the dark guard Zhen sent happened to catch him. It’s also because Madam’s correct housekeeping method, lenient but also strict, so it was really difficult for outsiders to infiltrate the mansion. On that day, he was almost found, and had to hang on the roof for half a day, and when Ruan shi died violently in the middle of the night, and chaos broke out in the house, he found a gap to poison the dining room. Otherwise, if he succeeded an hour or two earlier, there would be countless casualties in the Zhao Mansion.”

Hearing that it was a human skin, Guan Suyi had no interest at all and asked with a frown, “I almost got sidetracked by you, Ye Zhen was put back by you, isn’t it?”

Emperor Sheng Yuan didn’t want to mention Ye Zhen, but he had no choice but to mention it, soothed softly, “Madam, please don’t blame. Zhen just want you to see clearly, no matter how good Zhao Luli is to you now, the person in his heart will always be Ye Zhen. It was indeed Zhen who put Ye Zhen back in the Zhao Mansion. She has a vicious mind and a cunning method, you try to stay away from her, but you don’t need to be afraid of her, Zhen has arranged many manpower by your side, including those who specialize in poison, those who specialize in hidden weapons, and those who specialize in investigation. All of them are experts of the dark guards, and it’s more than enough to guard against that woman. If Ye Zhen touch even a strand of your hair, Zhen will chop her hands off, let her feel death is better than life from now on.”

He paused for a while, then patiently persuaded, “But why do you have to fight with her? It still that old saying, porcelain doesn’t touch rubble, you are a treasure of heaven, she is a filth on the road, the difference between the two is like cloud and mud, it shouldn’t be gathered in one place. If you feel disgusted, simply let the Emperor Teacher ask for reconciliation decree, Zhen even already written the approval.” At the end, he took out a scroll of document from his sleeve pocket and handed it over eagerly.

Guan Suyi stared at his pure black pupils full of eager desire, and suddenly asked, “How did you cover up the color of your eyes?”

“Madam, can Zhen talk a serious matter properly with you?” Emperor Sheng Yuan felt that all his strength had been drained by Madam.

“I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t understand how you change the color of your eyes, isn’t this a serious matter?” Guan Suyi raised an eyebrow and asked.

Emperor Sheng Yuan really felt distressed, explained in detail the method of concealing the color of his pupils, and carefully wrote down the prescription, just as he was about to offer it with both hands, he saw Madam had already stood up and left the room, only a plain white skirt could be seen disappeared around the corner. Jinzi immediately went up to him and smiled, “Your Majesty, it’s okay to hand over the prescription to this servant. The sacrificial ceremony is about to begin. You and Chief Baifu hurriedly stick the incense and go back to the palace as soon as possible.”

Emperor Sheng Yuan gritted his teeth and said, “Good girl, you are so loyal.” But he had no choice but to hand over the prescription, put on the mask, and strode after her.

The altar was full of relatives and friends, and in full view of everyone he couldn’t show any abnormality, so he had to put on the incense stick sincerely and surreptitiously looked at Madam for a while before returning to the palace unwillingly.

As soon as the group left, Ye Zhen walked straight to Guan Suyi, who was sitting in front of the coffin, and asked in a low voice, “Younger sister, you should know me, right? Thank you so much for taking care of A’Li, mother-in-law, and my pair of children these days. Now that I am back, it coincides with the passing of sister-in-law. You’re in charge of everything inside and outside, it must be very exhausting. If you need any help, just tell me, don’t be polite. We are all one family, we should support each other and cross the river in the same boatobliged to collaborate towards common goals.”

As soon as the old madam heard this, she wanted to jump and hit her with a cane, what was this support each other and cross the river in the same boat? Where was she when her son was in his most difficult time? Where was she when the Zhao family were at the most critical moment? Wasn’t she the one that brought all the hardships and disasters to the Zhao family? How dare she said such a thing in front of everyone, really not afraid being struck by thunder!

The ex-wife confronted the second wife, how could others miss such a good show? At this time, all of them looked over without blinking, so the old madam could only suppress her anger.

Ye Zhen was sure that Guan Suyi could not turn her face against herself, let alone shut herself out. She was a Guan family member and should know what it means to “Restrain oneself and return to propriety, be kind and generous”. That’s why it was difficult for a noble man to do anything, even if someone knocked out their teeth, they had to pick it up and swallow the blood.

Guan Suyi didn’t argue with her, simply responded, “It’s good that Madam Ye has return. The three  father and children have been thinking about you. I do have one thing I need your help with.” She pointed to the brocade box placed in front of the coffin, slowly recounted, “My sister-in-law is warm and virtuous, diligent and supple, and a rare good woman in the world, but because of her appearance, she has never enjoyed half of the glory. Now the emperor is grateful to her for protecting her son, and he specially posthumously conferred her a second-rank grant order. Then let’s help her put on these second-rank court dress, and let her walk in a beautiful scenery.”

Ye Zhen’s gentle expression instantly distorted, but quickly converged, as if worriedly dissuaded, “I can understand the deep feeling between younger sister and sister-in-law, but life and death are different. Since you have to wait on the guests and take care of children, if you change the court dress by yourself, then catching on the death air and pass it on to others, will it be beautiful?”

Relatives and friends sitting around nodded in agreement. Changing the clothes of the dead was done by servants, and all kinds of obscurity needed to be removed afterwards. How could the mistress do it herself? This is too careless.

Guan Suyi looked at her and said bluntly, “You just came back, so maybe you don’t know. I wiped the blood on sister-in-law’s body with my own hands, I sewed her stomach myself, put on the clothes, shoes and socks neatly one by one. If I catch any obscurity, it would have been happened long time ago, how can still have the fortune to be posthumously conferred a grant order? Sister-in-law couldn’t even close her eyes, I stroked it three times, but it opened three times, after finally rescued Huai’en and held him in front of the bed, she slowly closed her eyes and smiled. Sister-in-law have spirit in the sky, she will never harm us, but only bless us. As the saying goes, ‘If the love is true, the heart is sincere, there are no taboos; if there are no taboos, all evils will retreat‘. We are a family, you don’t have to be afraid at all, just go in to see sister-in-law for the last time, and tell your farewell.”

After hearing these words, all relatives and friends were touched by her deep friendship, and felt that she was truly benevolent, righteous, brave and unparalleled, really complied with the Grand Princess’ praise, that she was the female Yao and Shun. On the other hand, with Ye Zhen whose face was pale and clearly unwilling, and still tried to find all kinds of excuses to escape, who’s superior and inferior could be easily judged.

The old madam stood up and said with a sneer, “What kind of sincerity do you talk about with her? How many years has she been gone, how much feelings does she have with the Zhao family? Don’t force other to do something, let us mother-in-law and daughter-in-law change the clothes by ourselves.” She raised her legs and walked away, making Ye Zhen who hard to get off once riding a tiger, dripping with cold sweat.

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TN: Woah can’t believe it’s already 100th chapter. I feel it just yesterday I started translating this novel. but there’s still a long way to go, the main story still have 77 chapters left, and after that still have many more extras, like 20+ chapters, and can I spoil it a little bit.