Second Marriage

Translator: tarararawr

Editor: Larkspur

Chapter 32 Part 1

“Brother Emperor?” The Eldest Princess’s request for the marriage decree was refused by the Emperor. She asked nervously, “Didn’t you just give an answer?”

As the Emperor held the red-inked writing brush, his eyebrows were already scrunched together in displeasure. He was not polite when he said, “What Zhen said is what is said. Zhen didn’t know that you actually looked upon the Li Family. You don’t care about reputation, but zhen still cares!”

The Eldest Princess was shocked by the reason for the Emperor’s anger and understood that he was disgusted with the Li Family. But in the end, her daughter was her heart and soul and her only child. Also, she had the respect of being the County Princess. If they had to take ten thousand steps back1, then the Li Family was useless from now on. However, wasn’t she, her mother, in charge?

With the imperial family’s majesticness, who would dare to offend them?

For that same reason, didn’t she care about the imperial family’s reputation by asking her Brother Emperor for the marriage decree?

Why was her Brother Emperor unwilling?

“Brother Emperor, it is not your younger sister who is partial to the Li Family. The Xiao Family committed a big offense, and the Li Family’s choice back then was only natural. They would have been associated with a big crime!”

“Zhen has not ordered an imperial decree for a conviction yet, but you have made the conviction for zhen?”

The Emperor finally showed his anger and threw the brush at her feet.

" "

The red ink created a long stain on the Eldest Princess’s dress. The bright red color alarmed her and she trembled in fear. She did not dare to accept the Emperor’s words and fell to her knees as soon as her legs went soft.

“From now on, do not enter zhen’s palace if you have nothing to do.” The Emperor took a deep breath and ordered her to leave.

The Eldest Princess did not dare to say another word and continued trembling as she left. Her reputation after so many years was almost completely thrown away today.

She was a wreck as she left the palace. She sat in the carriage and could not figure out how the Li Family had offended the Emperor’s noble reputation.

It seemed with the way things stood, she’s afraid that this marriage was really inappropriate.

The Eldest Princess finally began to reconsider the appropriateness of this marriage.

Less than a quarter of an hour after the Eldest Princess left the palace, Ye Shen received the word about the Emperor’s anger.

He twisted the bead string in his hand, his deep eyes stared at the fragrant thoroughwort2 on the windowsill. He knew that the Eldest Princess must have hit a brick wall and would even reconsider the marriage to the Li Family.

However, he was still not comfortable. The Li Family had turned their backs on Xiao Youning, and Princess Huijing still dared to step on her. Old and new grudges could not be let go like that.

Ye Shen had his own plan. He stood at the window for a moment and called for Jian Yin. He ordered him to continue to track down the whereabouts of the things that the Emperor had been trying to find.

Now that a lot of things were coming to the surface, and he had someone he settled on, it was better to solve this matter as soon as possible.

He would settle this matter, get married, and stay away from the imperial city. Perhaps he could take her all around to visit and find a place they both liked to settle down at. It didn’t matter if it was a water village in Jiangnan3 or the Shu land4 with the magical legends.

Ye Shen rarely planned for the future, and Xiao Youning didn’t know that he had begun to plan their future. After wilting at home for two days, she began to go out to the major tea houses and restaurants.

Ye Shen had delivered her some news about her father and brother, but Xiao Youning did not make any progress on any new information even after a few days. She began to feel anxious again.

She had gone back and forth through these crowded places for two days and had heard a lot of gossip. There was the buzzing gossip about the engagement between the Li Family and the Eldest Princess Residence. Apart from this, the matters regarding Datong seemed to have been forgotten, along with the matters regarding her father.

Empty handed, she returned home exhausted. She didn’t even have the strength to change her clothes and fell on the bed. She didn’t want to move at all.

Xiao Youning understood that the longer it took to hear new information, the slimmer the chance of finding her family.

The firm belief in her heart was about to sway.

Otherwise, she would go to Huo Mingwu again for help.

It was really hard for her. From naively wanting to cross thousands of miles to Datong and almost dying to now, she had nothing to rely on. It was really crushing her willpower.

Her power alone was too small, but there was no one in the world willing to help her without a reason.

Even Huo Mingwu had feelings for her.

If she asked for help, then she would need to return the favor.

Xiao Youning laid on the quilt for a long time, and Ye Shen finally popped into her mind.

Perhaps it is Ye Shen who is the one that can really find out any new information.

She had not heard from him since the day he left and she still needed to return his kindness from when he saved her life.

She was tangled up again. She thought about how she felt about him before and how she could not make up her mind to go to him for help.

She fell asleep in her confused state again. Her dream was full of blood, and her father and brother were in that blood. She was crying and shouting but there was no response from them.

She woke up from her nightmare, and outside, the moon was already out.

When the night wind blew in through the half-open window, she realized that she felt something cold on her face. She reached up and wiped away a handful of tears.

Xiao Youning closed her eyes.

She owed Ye Shen for saving her life. If he was willing to help, then it wouldn’t matter if she owed him for a little more. She had nothing to repay him with, so if she had to go to him as a slave or maidservant to repay his kindness, then so be it.

The next day, Xiao Youning dressed up.

She did not know that Ye Shen had a private residence outside the palace, so she had people go find Chen Li and asked him to get in touch with Ye Shen’s people and send him a message. As for herself, she went to the street where the imperial prison was located to keep an eye out for him.

She knew that Ye Shen always went in and out of the imperial prison, so she reckoned she might have the fortune of running into him there.

She sat in the carriage for a day but there was simply no sign of him at all. There was also no response from the people Chen Li contacted.

But Chen Li told her of the place where he contacted Ye Shen’s people.

The next day, Xiao Youning went to Ye Shen’s private residence.

Xiao Youning looked at the residence that was only separated by an alley. It had at least four or five buildings, and two side courtyards.

This is what he calls homeless?!

Xiao Youning felt that she was the stupidest fool under the heavens. She actually believed the nonsense Ye Shen told. Sure enough, he was trying to comfort and coax her like she was a child.

She stood at the gate of the residence. She was too angry to leave, so she summoned the courage to shout at the gate.

Ye Shen was out of town these two days, but fortunately the place he was going to was nearby. On his way back, he heard that Xiao Youning was waiting for him at his private residence.

Without saying a word, he went outside of the palace. The fastidious young man did not even change his clothes.

He was thinking about Xiao Youning the entire time. If she was looking for him, then she must not be angry anymore. Perhaps she even missed him.

At this thought, his energy was renewed and went to his private residence as quickly as possible.

Xiao Youning was still there. The young lady in the begonia dress had fallen asleep on the table.

He raised his hand to stop Yuan Guo from waking her up. He quietly stepped forward and bent down to look down at the slumbering little girl.

Her slightly pouting red lips and her pink cheeks could even soften the deepest part of his heart when he looked at her. It’s just, there were the obvious dark circles under her eyes that took away from the delicate and beautiful face. How did she make herself so withered?

Ye Shen straightened up and gestured to Yuan Guo to follow him out.

Footnotes

退一万步 (tuìyīwànbù) – ten thousand steps back refers to what will happen under the worst conditions兰草 (láncǎo) – PicReferring to the area south of the Yangtze River. Usually includes Shanghai and the other places can be found on wikiReferring to the Sichuan area. In ancient times, the Sichuan area used to be called Shu. Written accounts about Shu had a lot of mythological stories and legends mixed into it, so that’s probably why Ye Shen says it like that. Wiki