Chapter 139: Engagemen
Fei Huang Palace.
Ye Wuchen quietly pushed the door open and noiselessly walked inside to reach the bedroom of Long Huang-er. He saw a small figure facing away from him sitting on the front side of the bed, the head hung low and shoulders slightly moved. Not knowing what was going on, Ye Wuchen quietly approached until he was behind her. His gaze explored, seeing what was in her hands, he softly called out, “Huang-er.”
“Ah!” Long Huang-er startled, as if being electrocuted, she sat up, then in a great rush, she hid the things in her hands behind her back, “You-you scared me.”
“Huang-er, what is behind your back? Can I take a look at it?” Ye Wuchen said smiling.
“No… You can’t.” Long Huang-er pulled herself back and kept hiding the object away very tightly, then in a miserable voice she said, “I’ll show it to you when I am done with it… Ah!” Long Huang-er shouted painfully. Her mouth flattened and her eye sockets almost overflowed with tears.
Ye Wuchen quickly went to her and carefully took her hands. Her left hand was holding a piece of white brocade and a needle with thread on her right. A drop of blood slowly flowed out of her small finger. Because she had panicked, she accidentally pricked on her own small finger.
“Look at you, already grown up but still being careless. Anyway, you are…” Ye Wuchen lightly gripped her finger, rebuking her.
A feeling of warmth had spread to her wounded finger and the stinging feeling had completely disappeared in an instant. She lowered her head and said, “During my free time, I also want to learn to embroider something for amusement.”
That piece of white brocade handkerchief already had some crooked lines on it. Evidently, she had just started, so the pattern was just too botched and was a horrible sight. Ye Wuchen was too reluctant to break her spirit as he said, “Okay… When Huang-er is finished, she will definitely show me, right?”
“En, originally I was…” When she had spoken half of her though, she suddenly paused. Her expression twisted a bit, then she asked, “Can we go out to play today?”
Ye Wuchen regretfully shook his head, then in a soft voice he said, “Huang-er, for a couple of days I will be heading to a very distant place. I will return after a certain period of time, so I won’t be able to accompany you anymore. You must patiently wait for me to come back, okay?”
Long Huang-er’s eyes trembled, as she urgently said, “Where are you going? Can you just not go?”
“It’s something very important. I can’t avoid going, but you shouldn’t worry, I will be back soon. At that time, I will take you out to play everyday, okay?”
“Then, when will you leave?” Long Huang-er asked in a sad and reluctant voice.
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Tomorrow morning… Then you will come back earlier. If you are late, I, I will be mad!” Long Huang-er said as she pulled her hands from his grasp and grabbed him. By this time, she had already forgotten that her hand had just being pricked by the needle.
“All right, all right, I will be back soon.” Ye Wuchen stroked her cheeks. Long Huang-er was his current minor concern.
Ye Wuchen had so many more things to prepare, so he did not stay longer at Long Huang-er’s palace. Looking at him as he left, Long Huang-er’s heart felt deep sorrow, longing, and reluctance. She never thought that everything in this world was constantly changing, and that unknown situations always arrived when they were least expected. When they parted this time, the next time they will meet would be three years later.
………………Good day, everyone! I am the separator line…………………
Returning to the Ye residence, the first person he saw was Hua Zhentian who had been waiting for him for a very long time. Ye Wuchen straightened his face and went over, “Father-in-law, what…”
“What father-in-law!? Who is your father-in-law?” Hua Zhentian with a serious face, snorted rudely.
Ye Wuchen remained silent for a short while, thinking of what might have affected Hua Zhentian’s nerves. Originally, he was the one who requested Ye Wuchen to call him father-in-law.
“This… What did Ye Wuchen do to cause you such anger?” Ye Wuchen carefully asked, at the same time he unobtrusively observed Hua Zhentian’s facial expression.
“Humph!” Hua Zhentian snorted coldly, and said, “You didn’t do anything wrong, but you can’t call me father-in-law anymore! Since you have affections towards my daughter, not only was there not marriage, even a formal engagement was nonexistent. What is the basis for you to call me father-in-law?”
Ye Wuchen had suddenly realized that this Hua Zhentian was clearly more excited than him. He promptly replied, “You are right, father-in-law. If you don’t mind, how about Shuirou and I get formally engaged today?”
Hua Zhentian’s bull-like eyes stared, his huge face moved too close to him and said, “Is this for real?”
“Of course, how can I play jokes with my father-in-law?” Ye Wuchen said seriously.
“Hahahaha! Great, great! Then I will be comfortable enough to hear you call me father-in-law! Daughter… My dear daughter hurry and come out. This young fellow has begged me to urgently arrange the engagement with you, quickly come out.” Hua Zhentian excitedly rushed to the main hall and yelled out, as if he had luckily found a precious piece of gold.
Hua Shuirou and Wang Wenshu who were privately talking came out together. Hua Zhentian, with jolting buttocks, welcomed them, “Madame Ye, this young fellow has begged me a while ago to arrange the engagement. I have reluctantly accepted. It depends on you and brother Ye’s decision now. Look at them, they are already old enough, and my daughter’s good reputation spreads far and wide in the entire Tian Long City. Even if you are confident enough, as a father I am not confident enough, so it will be better if we settle it down right away. You see…”
Her son begged him? Wang Wenshu rolled her eyes. Judging by his attitude, he must have been the one who begged. His daughter may have a famous reputation, but her son surely had higher reputation. Who among the other families did not have daughters crying and insisting to marry into the Ye Family?
Ye Wei happened to approach them, and heard the words, so he replied, “Hahahaha, alright. Since Chen-er is about to start his long journey, it will be better to have a happy occasion to cheer up the mood. Though His Majesty had a prior command, let us set things up verbally, how about that?”
“Great! That’s exactly what I thought. Then…” Hua Zhentian’s voice stopped short. His voice suddenly lowered by some degrees, “Speaking of engagement, how should we proceed?”
Indeed he was a rough man… Wang Wenshu secretly looked at him disdainfully, then drew closer to the already blushing Hua Shuirou. “Shuirou, in the entire city of Tian Long, I really can’t find another daughter-in-law like you who makes me feel reassured. For Chen-er to be able to marry you is a blessing.”
“Aunt.” Hua Shuirou softly called.
Wang Wenshu humbly smiled, becoming more and more pleased with this daughter-in-law. She pulled her sleeves and carefully removed the dark colored bracelet from her hand. Ye Wuchen had already noticed this bracelet before, which Wang Wenshu always wore and never took off. Living in such rich and powerful Ye Family, this bracelet appeared to be extremely rough, even its raw material was made from a very ordinary yet highly perfected iron. Ye Wuchen clearly saw at a glance that Wang Wenshu cared about it so much, that there must be a certain story behind it.
“This bracelet was originally from Chen-er’s paternal grandmother. During the years when Chen-er’s grandfather was in the battlefield, he didn’t go home for the several years. Chen-er’s grandmother was deeply in love with him. Later on, she had left behind everything after having been through extremely difficult times, and travelled alone for a thousand miles to eventually find Chen-er’s grandfather on the battlefield. That time, the people present were deeply touched by her passion and determination. The two of them, with the witness and blessings of the thousand soldiers and generals, tied their knot as husband and wife in the battlefield. Their only token for the pledge of their love was this necklace that Chen-er’s grandfather had personally created using the highly perfected iron. Later on, he returned home from victory, supported by the entire Ye Family. Chen-er’s grandmother wasn’t interested in any other rare treasures, and her hand was forever wearing this bracelet, because this was the most precious treasure she had received her whole life. Afterwards, before she died, she had given me this bracelet and told me that only the Ye Family’s daughters-in-law can wear it.”
She pulled Hua Shuirou’s hand close and gently put in on her delicate wrist. Hua Shuirou carefully touched it, her eye sockets slightly heating up, “Aunt, I will forever wear it, until…”
“You have already worn it, you are now the Ye Family’s daughter-in-law. Will you still call me aunt?” Wang Wenshu said with a smiling expression.
Red clouds were all over Hua Shuirou’s face. She was extremely shy, so pinching the corner of her clothes, she said in a low voice, “Mother…”
Before Wang Wenshu had the time to respond beaming in happiness, Hua Zhentian excitedly rubbed his hands as he laughed heartily, “Great, great! Now that the marriage has been decided…”
“Ehem.” Wang Wenshu let out fake coughs, then said, “Relative, you haven’t handed out the Hua Family’s token of promise.”
Hua Zhentian’s laughter was stopped short as if his throat had been clogged by a huge rock. He stared, bluntly dumbstruck as he beated his head in embarrassment, “Look at me, I have unexpectedly forgotten to bring it when I came out of the house. I will return to get it right away.”
What the heck, what should be given as a token of love? Might as well create a bracelet too, then invent a story.
“Father-in-law, you don’t have to. Actually Shuirou has already given me a token of love.” Ye Wuchen called out to Hua Zhentian, then he took out a dark green flute from his sleeve, “A beautiful person had given a flute. Originally, it emphasizes the affection of a young woman. The token of love that Shuirou has given me, I always keep it by my side.”
“Ah… Good, very good, that’s right, then everything has been settled. Hahahaha, come come! Relatives, let’s go and have some drinks. How could we not drink on this happy occasion? Let’s make a night of it!” Hua Zhentian was incomparably warm hearted as he embraced Ye Wei’s shoulder, laughing heartily as they headed towards the front hall. Ye Wei’s face exposed a smile uglier than crying. Drinking with Hua Zhentian? Is that not quite oppressive!?
“Oh right,” Hua Zhentian suddenly turned his body around, obscurely said, “Since the two of you are not young anymore, even if you are not formally married, some things… You can do it if you want to… I suppose our relatives here might want to have grandchildren as soon as possible…. En, go, let’s have some drinks.”
Ye Wuchen: “......”
Hua Shuirou: “......”
Wang Wenshu: “......”
As expected, in no time, Hua Zhentian walked out with his heart fully content, taking Hua Shuirou with him as they went home. Ye Wei was already lying on the floor, unconscious. He most likely would not be able to attend the morning assembly tomorrow.
Before they left, by means of his drunkeness, Hua Zhentian leaned closer to Ye Wuchen’s ears as he deceitfully laughed and said, “A very long time ago I was able to see that you, young fellow, are destined to be a polygamous man. This time around, it’s hard to say that you won’t bring home another woman… So I want to first settle this matter. My daughter will be the first, even the princess must also stand aside.”
“Chen-er, what did he secretly tell you a while ago?” When Hua Zhentian left, Wang Wenshu quietly asked.
“It’s not important.” Ye Wuchen said without much choice. He even prepared to turn around and escape, “Speaking of, another not major nor minor trouble is coming.”
“Trouble?” Wang Wenshu’s face was puzzled.
The moment his voice dropped, the main door that had just been closed a short moment ago was pushed open once again, exposing a smiling face. Seeing Ye Wuchen in the middle of the courtyard, her eyes brightened and she excitedly ran inside. It was Zhuge Xiaoyu.
Ye Wuchen clearly felt Wang Wenshu’s body shiver, then she pulled back a little bit, as she said in a low voice, “Chen-er, as an elder I will not meddle with the affairs of the younger generation. I’ll go ahead to take care of your father.”
She quickly turned around and left. Ye Wuchen was left without any choice and no questions asked. He had already experienced the terrible effect of this anthomaniac woman.
Apparently… He needed to think of an unexpected tricky move more ruthless than before.
Translated by:
Fatty_Uncle
Edited by:
seriouspotato patrick_father_of_dragons