Chapter 20
It was night and all was silent.
The restaurant in front of the intersecting street selling hubing suddenly burst into bright yellow blazing flames, the fire soon spreading to the adjacent walls of the next door buildings. In the blink of an eye, the thick smoke surged and the flame soared.
The Wuhou shop guards and patrolling Jin Wu Wei1 rushed over to put out the fire. The sound of gongs, drums, footsteps, yelling, shouting and cursing mixed into one.
An oxen cart was parked in the dark corner of a square. A ram horn lantern with the Zheng family’s crest on it was suspended in front of the cart.
The cart driver looked nervous, pushing the ashen-faced Du Sinan onto the cart and repeatedly urging: “Ah lang, go now! You can no longer stay in the capital!”
Du Sinan’s clothes were untidy, his long hair scattered over his shoulders, his headwrap crooked on top of his head and his belt loose, appearing very wretched.
Before getting on the carriage, he looked back at the faraway house that was mercilessly engulfed by fire, his palms ice-cold.
The Crown Prince actually attempted to kill him.
Du Sinan knew that the Crown Prince suspected that he was too deeply involved with the Second Prince, but he thought that the Crown Prince was broad-minded and was unlikely to bother about this matter. He was confident that he would be able to gain the Crown Prince’s appreciation.
He did not expect that he miscalculated this time. The Crown Prince actually killed him so quickly and decisively.
The Crown Prince was so adverse to the Second Prince?
Or was…. the person that the Crown Prince was really adverse to actually the Seventh Princess?
Du Sinan narrowly escaped from death. His mind turned, lifted the cart’s curtain and looked at the sturdy guard beside the cart.
Just as he had gone to bed tonight, Xie Qing suddenly burst into his room, pulled him straight out of the blankets and carried him over his shoulders, fleeing over the wall to this location near the square’s wall. He was about to cry for help when he suddenly smelled a strong burnt scent in the wind. He immediately reacted, scared until his liver and guts split2.
He was a strategist. He’d never been to the battlefield and was afraid of death.
With this second chance at life, Du Sinan did not want to lose his life in the capital. He decided to leave the capital first to avoid disaster, and then seek another good opportunity.
Before leaving, he had a question.
”Does the princess have any words for me?”
The Seventh Princess sent someone to save him, and would surely use this lifesaving grace to force him to assist the Second Prince.
Xie Qing expressionlessly said, “None.”
Du Sinan sneered.
He was in such an awkward situation today, all thanks to the Seventh Princess. Why did the Seventh Princess put up a pretense?
Xie Qing handed a waist tablet to the driver: “Leave the city through the west gate. If anyone asks, tell them that you are a servant of the Zheng family and that Her Highness the Crown Princess asked you to deliver a letter from the city.”
The coachman was afraid that if he stayed any longer, he would be burned to a crisp, and nodded like pounding garlic.
Du Sinan sat in the carriage, a mocking smile on the corner of his lips, waiting for Xie Qing’s feelings to change and make a speech to detain him.
The wheels rolled, the cart leaving the long street. Xie Qing finished explaining things and turned around to leave.
Du Sinan waited some time and lifted the cart’s curtain, looking stiff.
The coachman advised, “Ah lang, the princess would not harm you. If the princess had not sent someone to wake us up in time, we would have been burned to death! time you see the princess, don’t be so stiff-faced.”
The princess, with her snowy skin and flowery appearance, like pearls like jade3. Just standing there, smiling sweetly, all the flowers in Chang’an would lose their luster.
Every time he saw the princess, he was so scared that he didn’t dare to let out a breath, but Ah lang was so cold to the princess. Really unromanitc!
Du Sinan couldn’t figure out what Li Yaoying was trying to do. Neither roping him in nor getting rid of him, but also offering to save him…. What medicine was she selling from her gourd4?
”What exactly does she want?”
The cart driver asked, “Ah lang, have you not heard the rumors in the capital?”
Du Sinan frowned: “What rumors?”
The cart driver sighed and whispered, “People in the capital all say that the Seventh Princess admires your talent, but you are only a commoner without an official position, of humble origin.”
Du Sinan rolled his eyes towards the sky. He was most adverse of people talking about his family background.
The cart driver knew that his gongzi did not catch onto his hint and shook his head: “Ah lang… Xue wulang and those people all say that the Seventh Princess wants you to be the fuma!”
Du Sinan’s pupils shrank violently, dumb as a wooden chicken4.
The next moment, he was like a green shrimp thrown into boiling water, his clean face abruptly becoming blood-red.
……
Xie Qing sent Du Sinan away and returned to the wangfu to report the success.
Li Yaoying sat cross-legged in front of the veranda, looking down to check the wangfu’s accounts. In a light green gauze robe and pomegranate red skirt, her chest was half covered, her supple flesh like snow.
Xie Qing asked, “Your Highness, why did you save Du Sinan?”
Yaoying straightened up, rubbing her lower waist. The curling patterned gold bracelet moving on her wrist emitted a light, tinkling sound.
”No reason. It was merely lifting a finger.”
Everything had not happened yet. She didn’t want to cost a person’s life because of something that hadn’t happened. In her last life, Du Sinan was following orders. In this life, it was impossible for him to gain Li Xuanzhen’s trust again and would not be a threat to Li Zhongqian.
Yaoying didn’t expect Li Xuanzhen to be ruthless in his attack on Du Sinan.
The Crown Prince in the eyes of the world was not a narrow-minded person. He was easy-going, treated his men well, respected his strategists, and appointed talents without restriction, which was why there were so many high-ranking generals from humble backgrounds who were willing to follow him.
Why did he hate Noble Consort Xie so much?
Yaoying was lost in thought for a moment.
Xie Qing, as usual, stood quietly outside the half-raised curtain of the long corridor, posture straight as a pine.
Li Zhongqian came back from drinking outside. His feet were unstable, his lapel half open with his honey-colored chest dripping with liquor. He stepped onto the long corridor with one deep step then one shallow step.
Yaoying asked the maid to bring a sobering cane juice and had him drink it.
Li Zhongqian walked to her side and sat down next to her. The hem of his broad robe swept over the account books and papers on the table, and the calculating chips5 fell to the ground with a clatter.
Yaoying was so angry that she gritted her teeth, slapped his arm away and tidied up the chips.
”I have been counting for more than a shichen! Elder brother, please go and sit somewhere else and leave me alone.”
Li Zhongyi was intoxicated, laughing heartily. The more Yaoying disliked him, the more he tried to push himself closer to her.
Yaoying laughed and pushed him, “Elder brother, you’re drunk. Go away and don’t bother me.”
Naturally, she could not push the tall and strong Li Zhongqian with her little strength.
After a while, Li Zhongqian sobered up a bit. He propped himself up on the table with one hand and held a silver bowl with the other, drank a few mouthfuls of cane juice, then turned his gaze on Xie Qing’s face and wrinkled his brows.
”Little seventh. Yesterday, His Majesty summoned me.”
He put down the silver bowl and said softly, without half a trace of expression on his face.
Yaoying’s heart thumped.
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I found this previous cover for the novel. I kinda like the simplicity of this one but my only issue is that it uses the previous title on the cover, but does that really matter? Does anyone have an opinion on which looks better? All feedback is welcome! Also, TMBM and DC schedules are getting switched for the week, my bad to anyone who was hoping for DC today!
1 From what I understand, these are titles for guards whose duty was to patrol/guard around the capital or palace. Wuhou aren’t as high-ranking as the Jin Wu Wei.
2 Idiom/phrase/saying (idk what the diff is ahah) that means greatly frightened.
3 There’s a two part idiom to this. - Snowy skin and flowery appearance: very beautiful. I thought it sounded more poetic this way and I usually translate the flowery descriptions anyway. From Bai Juyi’s Song of Everlasting Sorrow/Regret about Yang Guifei (or Noble Consort). - Like pearls like jade: very precious. I would have usually translated the general meaning but it reminded me of the novel so I decided to give a nod to it.
4 Basically like what nonsense was he trying to pull.
5 This idiom was such a great visual that I left it as is. Meaning dumbstruck.
6 Chips used to do calculations since she was managing the accounts.