Second Marriage

Translator: tarararawr

Editor: Larkspur

Chapter 29 Part 2

Today, the sun hid behind the clouds. There was not even a trace of wind, and the whole capital was suffocating.

Xiao Youning left Old Madam Xiao’s place. Perhaps it was due to the influence of the weather, her chest felt heavy with dejection. She went all the way back to the guest courtyard with a steady face, and ordered the little servant girl to start packing.

At this moment, Chen Li, who had been staying in Ye Shen’s private residence for a few days, finally received some news. He had obtained a specific letter and was ready to run to Xiao Youning’s place but a pair of legs stopped him at the gate.

Ye Shen lifted his robe and slightly raised his chin. He had a calm and collected expression. He made Chen Li lead the way.

So Chen Li went to the Xiao Family’s Second to see Xiao Youning, he felt guilty asking her to go to the back door.

Xiao Youning saw him stutter with a flushed face as he asked. His eyes changed directions, and she no longer questioned why he ran out of the courtyard so quickly.

There was an inconspicuous black carriage parked at the back door. The driver was Jian Yin, so of course, there was no need to ask who was in it.

The once dejected girl’s eyebrows rose, and she wanted to laugh. She wanted to call out to Ye Shen, but pressed back her rising excitement.

Ye Shen clearly heard the sound of her footsteps and he waited for a moment. However, she did not make any further movement, so he lifted the curtain with two fingers.

A beam of light entered the carriage, and at the same time, his eyes were drawn to the young woman who was not as lively as she was in the past.

“What is it? It’s only been a few days since we last saw each other and now the little girl doesn’t know me?”

His eyebrows slightly wrinkled and there was a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone.

His voice had always held a harshness from a distance, but today’s words held emotions that washed away any sense of distance.

Xiao Youning stood three paces away from the carriage. She pursed her lips when she heard him. She finally showed a faint smile at the next moment towards where he sat.

The person he had not seen for a few days smiled. Ye Shen’s face seemed to relax and the corners of his eyes slightly rose to a curve. He gestured with his chin. “Get in, let’s talk.”

Since he returned to the palace from his mother’s place, he had been busy. What the Emperor wanted was tricky. It had taken him several years to find a lead. He had been pressed hard these days. He finally made a little progress and was free, so he came to see her immediately.

She was still waiting for an answer from him about the banquet. She could have asked someone else to send a message, but since he realized his feelings, he thought he should come here himself.

He wanted to answer her in person.

Xiao Youning, who did not feel shy, stepped on the footstool put down by Jian Yin and got into the carriage. She sat down near the door.

Ye Shen looked up and saw the distance between them was like the distance between the mountain and the sea. Jian Yin’s eyebrows rose.

Is this little girl trying to avoid suspicion?

Is it because he held her waist last time?!

No matter what it was, it made Ye Shen a little displeased, but he didn’t dare to show it. He had not figured out how to mention his identity in the last few days. His mother had a servant send a letter to help him. It said to keep his mouth shut and not to make a mess of things.

He had no experience in pursuing young women, and his mother’s offer of help would be much better than if he was to dive in head first. That’s why he should stop scaring her at this time.

“I’ll be free at noon tomorrow for the banquet you promised last time.”

Ye Shen had nothing else to talk about, so he reckoned he might as well go straight to the point.

Xiao Youning was startled. She looked up and their eyes met. He was looking at her with full attention. His eyes were bright, like a flame in the dim carriage.

Her heart skipped a beat without her knowing why. She always felt that his eyes were a little different than before, but she couldn’t put a finger on it.

Xiao Youning quickly lowered her eyes. She stared at her dress and mumbled, “Okay…” When she said “okay”, she remembered something. She looked up again and apologized to him. “I’m going to be moving into the house tomorrow.”

There was no reason to go out to eat after moving into a new home, but the house would be in so much disarray that it was not suitable for holding banquets.

“That courtyard in the northern suburbs…,” Ye Shen said as she was panicking.

Xiao Youning was a bit slow in understanding his meaning and looked dazed as she gave an “oh”.

In the next moment, she became nervous and tightly clenched her hands. The Daoist Priest is not going to accept it, right? Is the main reason he came here today is to reject the courtyard?

" "

She unintentionally had these thoughts first, and then she heard Ye Shen’s probing words. “It’s not very convenient to go out of the city to the northern suburbs. If you’re worried that I won’t have a place to stay, can I reserve a guest courtyard at your residence?”

She was living alone outside. He pondered over it and wasn’t worried since it was safer to have a guest house for several of his people to look after her secretly. And… and before he made the next step, he must interact with her without his Daoist Priest identity, otherwise how could he speak of making progress?

Xiao Youning never thought that he would have such a request. She fell into a state of confusion.

For a moment she wondered if she had heard wrong.

 

The author has something to say:

Ye Shen: The pavilion closest to the water enjoys moonlight first1. There must be nothing wrong with the existence of more brushes2.

Xiao Youning: Has the Daoist Priest been taken over by something unclean?

Footnotes

近水楼台先得月 (jìn​shuǐ​lóu​tái​xiān​dé​yuè​) – idiom meaning to benefit from being close to an influential personThis part uses words from a phrase that means notice me or let my existence be valued since existence is a force that is stronger and more lasting than beauty and wealth.