Second Marriage

Translator: tarararawr

Chapter 3 Part 2

The palace road was covered with a blanket of darkness. The candles were lit a long time ago on both sides, but the palace road was long and profound. The rows of lights illuminating it were not very bright.

Ye Shen was walking through the palace road with a lantern in one hand. He was followed by a young Imperial guard who had just accompanied him by the sedan chair. The Imperial guard was like the dark night following closely behind him.

The stone carved auspicious beast1 on the roof of the main hall slowly became visible after they walked silently for a long time. The young Imperial guard gazed at the light under his feet and suddenly looked up to ask, “Will you be reporting to His Majesty?”

“What report?”

He asked rhetorically.

The young Imperial guard was dumbfounded by the question. He opened his mouth and asked a moment later, “Didn’t you leave the palace to go to the Li Family because of His Majesty’s words?”

That’s why he went out on a mission, right?

Ye Shen was still walking slowly, and he used his thumb to lightly press on the mahogany stick to raise the lantern up.

He really did leave the palace to go to the Li Family because of the Emperor’s words.

He had been by the Emperor’s side this afternoon. When it was approaching the evening meal, an urgent war report was hurried into the palace.

The soldiers that had rushed all the way to the palace were on the verge of collapsing. They knelt in front of the Emperor and said the Xiao Family’s father and son committed a huge mistake. It was unknown whether they were alive or dead, and the border was in chaos.

The Emperor threw his teacup down. After he carefully questioned them, he read the war report written by the deputy general and his face became very unsightly.

After that, his eyes fell to his side. He ambiguously said these words, “Your eldest sister’s husband’s family and the Xiao Family are marrying, right? Isn’t today the big wedding? Why don’t you go join the festivities?”

And so he left the palace.

He had been by the Emperor’s side for many years. It was said that he understood the Emperor. While he did have some understanding, there were also times like today when he could not clearly guess the meaning of the Emperor’s words.

Therefore, he did not know what the purpose was for him to leave the palace to go to the Li Family.

He had always acted for the results he wanted, but today was an exception and he left the palace confused. He was also schemed by the little girl from the Xiao Family.

However, he didn’t anticipate that the Li Family would abandon Xiao Youning and that allowed him to open his eyes to the situation.

She was a little girl that the Li Family swept out of the house to protect themselves first when the Xiao Family’s father and son had an accident and the Emperor did not give the order to punish the Xiao Family. She was just a little girl that was not worth mentioning in front of the eyes of the Emperor, and it was unlikely that the Emperor would make things difficult for her even if her father had become a criminal official.

He thought the Li Family was stupid, so he turned around and left abruptly. As a result, he made trouble for himself because of the Li Family’s stupidity.

That little girl from the Xiao Family… Ye Shen rarely wrinkled his eyebrows. The flame in front of him flickered as a gust of wind blew. It resembled the calculating light in Xiao Youning’s eyes in front of the Li Family’s gate.

She probably didn’t know that he had already noticed her cunning look when she started to scheme.

“There is no need to report. His Majesty’s concern was only an offhand remark.”

He bent his fingers slightly and handed the lantern to the young Imperial guard. Then, he put his hands into his sleeves and quickened his pace.

Well, there was nothing wrong for a little orphaned girl using this kind of scheme in order to continue living. It was the Li Family’s fault. And he was related to the Li Family, so it was normal for him to be connected to the blame.

After the young Imperial guard took the lantern, he hurried to keep up with the pace. He remembered there was something else and said, “The person investigating the matters from last time returned…”

——

Xiao Youning was woken up by the sound of shops opening on the street.

When she opened her swollen eyes, she stared at the unfamiliar dark blue canopy veil. Her eyes were blank.

There was another bang outside, followed by the sound of a woman’s swearing.

“Why did I marry a lazy bum like you? I don’t even want to heat up a frying pan! You should be stabbed with a thousand knives2…”

After that, there was a long string of curses, which Xiao Youning ignored. She slowly sat up and her eyes were calmer.

She sold the gold hairpin last night. Then, she found an inn close to main street for safety purposes. This street was patrolled by military forces at night.

“Young Miss, why did you wake up so early?”

" "

Yuan Guo was awakened by her movements. She rubbed her eyes and sat up.

Last night, her Young Miss hid under the quilt and cried for a long time. Although her Young Miss was trying to not make a sound, she was very close and had some martial arts skills. How could she not be aware of it when her ears were sharper than an ordinary person’s?

It was not easy for a young girl that had just reached the marriageable age3 to encounter these sorts of misfortunes and shoulder the burden in front of outsiders.

Her Young Miss had been loved by the Master and Young Master since she was young and grew up in the palms of their hands.

 

Footnotes

like a dragon挨千刀 (āiqiāndāo) – means someone who cannot resolve his hatred after stabbing someone with a thousand knives. It comes from the idiom 千刀万剐 (qiāndāowànguǎ) which means one thousand knives and ten thousand stabs or to make mincemeat out of somebody. It’s also used to describe a crime so serious that death cannot be justified.In Ancient China that age is 15.