Chapter Ten

At dusk, the servants hurriedly prepared dinner and tidied up the house. Because the new master’s requirements were many and precise, before they knew it, it turned into the servants of Zhao Mansion instructing the people of the General’s mansion on how to do things. It was inevitable that the two sides would become hostile.

Originally, the servants of the General’s Mansion could spend their time leisurely, feeding the chickens and fishing. The general who had just returned to Beijing was an easy-going person, and he didn’t need them to take care of him at all. Now there was an extra master, or rather, an ancestor.[1] In the past two days, he had added a lot of work for them, and the servants he brought with him were even more arrogant. Dissatisfied with everything they saw, they assigned tasks to them domineeringly, making them angry.

After a while, a little maid ran into the kitchen and said happily to her companions: “My god, the General actually punished his wife to do horse stance in the courtyard!”

“Is this true?”

The little companions were delighted, and ran to the front courtyard to watch.

The people of Zhao Mansion heard this, looked at each other, and followed suit.

Not long after, a group of servants peeked out from the corridor at the front courtyard, and saw Zhao Yelan crouching crookedly with his expensive clothes hanging on the ground, stained with dirt. His expression was very ugly.

Zhao Yelan heard whispering voices and looked back. With just that one look, they quieted down and left the place, pushing and shoving.

Gao Tan ran over, and was about to speak when Zhao Yelan stopped him: “Xiao Gao, go and see what the kitchen has cooked. If there is nothing I like, let them redo it.”

Gao Tan immediately stopped, hesitated for a moment, then turned and went to the kitchen.

“How old is Gao Tan?” Yan Mingting asked, looking at his back.

“What concern is it of yours?” Zhao Yelan said calmly. “Why do you ask so many questions?”

“Just asking, he looks pretty young,” Yan Mingting said, pressing down on his shoulders. “Put your hands down, squat down a bit, your body isn’t stable. If you sway around, you’re liable to fall down with a single blow.”

Zhao Yelan gritted his teeth. Sweat dripped from his forehead and a blush appeared on both sides of his cheeks. Just like peach blossoms unintentionally smudged on rice paper, the finishing touch was vivid and fragrant.

It was still dark during the morning exercises, so Yan Mingting had missed this sight. Now, he gazed at this novel and stunning thing, and couldn’t help but take a second look.

Zhao Yelan noticed his gaze, raised his hand, and slapped him on the chest.

The servants of Zhao Mansion who were passing by were surprised, and happily sped up, running back to the kitchen, where they exaggeratedly told everyone that Zhao-daren slapped General Yan. The Zhao Mansion recovered some lost ground!

“What are you slapping me for?” Yan Mingting asked.

“I was itching to, that’s all.”

Yan Mingting shrugged indifferently and pinched his face. Grabbing his face, Zhao Yelan hissed in pain and glared.

“Don’t ask, I was just itching to,” Yan Mingting replied.

“General, Zhong Yuehong and He Cuizhang are here,” the guards ran in to announce.

“Understood.” Yan Mingting let go of his grip and turned around, telling Zhao Yelan, “You persist for another quarter of an hour.”

When Zhong Yuehong and He Cuizhang stepped into the General’s Mansion, they happened to meet Yan Mingting approaching them. The three of them didn’t exchange too many pleasantries, and walked together to the study room, where they could discuss business.

When passing through the corridor, the two saw with sharp eyes a figure in fine attire disappearing at the end, and asked, “Is that Zhao Yelan?”

“En.”

“There’s another master in the General’s Mansion, I’m not used to it,” He Cuizhang said. “General, are you used to it yet?”

“Is it something to not be used to? It’s just one more person, how much impact could it have?” Yan Mingting said indifferently. Turning the corner and coming to the study room, he had just opened the door when he was stimulated by a pungent fragrance and sneezed on the spot.

He saw the person inside and said, “It’s fine if you don’t continue training, but why did you come to the study to burn incense?”

“I wanted to use the study.” Zhao Yelan held a history book in his hand, sitting leisurely on his seat to read it, and didn’t give them a single look.

There were too many other people about, and the servants were bustling around and coming in and out. It was very inconvenient, so the three of them came to a century-old tree in the back courtyard.

“General……are you really used to it?” He Cuizhong asked incredulously. They used to discuss business everywhere when they were on the frontier, but this was the first time they had fled to a tree.

How was it that they had worked so hard to return to the prosperous and affluent capital, yet the conditions here were more difficult than fighting in the field?

Yan Mingting cleared his throat in embarrassment, and said seriously, “What do you need with me?”

“There are some clues about what you want to investigate.” Zhong Yuehong lowered her voice and said, “The boy who delivered the old general medicine before he died confessed, saying that someone ordered him to put poison in the medicine. This poison is colorless and tasteless, and the dosage was small. Long-term use will make people dizzy and weak in the limbs, so with the old general on the battlefield……”

On the surface, the old general died fighting for the country, but in fact he was killed by a traitor. The major general didn’t even have time to mourn his father, setting aside personal matters for the sake of the country as he quickly led the soldiers onto the battlefield. It took three full days to win the battle, and the distraught Yan Mingting stopped the team that was transporting the old general’s body back to Beijing. He said that he wanted to spend another night with his father, and then quietly led the coroner to open the coffin for an autopsy.

He did not believe that his father would die at the hands of an ordinary soldier. His father once said that even if he died, he would cut off the head of the enemy general and be buried with him.

That night seemed extraordinarily long. He didn’t want to believe that his father could be defeated so easily, but was even more unwilling to believe that his father had braved untold danger only to be killed by his own people.

The end result was not surprising, only bitter and hopeless.

Since then, Yan Mingting had been concentrating on the battlefield while secretly sending his confidants to investigate the matter covertly. It was only that they hadn’t cultivated any influence in Beijing, and couldn’t inadvertently alert the enemy, so the investigation had dragged on until now. After many years, he finally found some clues after Mongolia surrendered, so he hurried back to Beijing. Even if he knew that he was also coming back to get married.

“Where is that person? Did you find out who ordered it?” Yan Mingting’s expression turned severe.

Zhong Yuehong shook her head bitterly: “He only said that the man was monstrously powerful in the capital, and that the lives of his whole family were in that man’s hands. Then he committed suicide.”

The three were silent for a while. He Cuizhang asked: “The trail was lost, so what should we do next?”

“It’s not lost, we at least narrowed the range,” Yan Mingting said.

“That’s true, there are quite a few powerful people in the capital, but if you want to say that their power is monstrous……” He Cuizhang thought about it, and suddenly pointed to the patio not far away, where Zhao Yelan was surrounded by a group of servants as he ate. “Isn’t he one of them?”

Yan Mingting crossed his arms in front of his chest, gazed at that figure for a moment, and said: “You continue to investigate, the things they have done are sure to have left a clue. Let’s see if we can find traces of that young man’s family.”

He Cuizhang still wanted to say something, but Yen Mingting had already skipped under the tree, saying relaxedly, “It smells so good, and it’s getting late, let’s stay and have dinner together.”

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He Cuizhang and Zhong Yuehong really had to admire the speed of his emotional change. The two walked together behind him.

Born in the army, everyone had a life-long friendship and the rules were naturally fewer. They all used to eat together, but today they encountered some difficulties.

When the two were ready to sit down, they were suddenly sized up by Zhou Yelan’s cold gaze, and their hands and feet immediately became so stiff that they didn’t know where to put them.

Yan Mingting asked people to add two sets of bowls and chopsticks. Zhao Yelan didn’t stop him, but he also gave the order: “Go and wash your hands first.”

He was obviously disgusted, and the two looked at Yan Mingting awkwardly. Yan Mingting nodded: “Go, go.”

“You go too.” Zhao Yelan slanted a look at him.

Yan Mingting: “……Oh.”

The three of them stood in front of a basin of water, staring at each other in silence, and rubbed their hands together. They had just taken them out when a maid from the Zhao residence handed over a piece of osmanthus soap, and the three stared at each other again.

The maid explained: “It is used to rub on the hands to remove dirt and smells.”

The three rustic fellows had to take turns rubbing the soap and cleaning their hands carefully.

He Cuizhang whispered: “General, when will you be able to have dinner, ah?”

Yan Mingting whispered even lower: “You are lucky that you were not asked to take a bath before being served today.”

He Cuizhang felt terrible at the thought. When he looked at Zhao Yelan again, the words “this much is fine” came to mind.

Zhong Yuehong didn’t say anything, but took a few more glances at the sweet-scented osmanthus soap. Even as her family’s daughter, she had never used such delicate playthings. She came from a butcher’s family and had never seen anything like it. After enlisting in the army, even having a source of water was not a guarantee, so where could she have used it?

The three of them finally took their seats, picked up their chopsticks, and grabbed the food quickly, as if there were pursuers chasing after them. The speed of the meal made people speechless.

Zhao Yelan chewed slowly and swallowed a few mouthfuls, and saw that the food on the table had been completely eaten. Then he looked at the three people who were comfortably touching their stomachs, and set the chopsticks down heavily on the table.

Pa – 

The three of them were startled and quickly sat up straight, showing belated expressions of apology.

“Xiao Gao, go and bring out the things in the small kitchen,” Zhao Yelan ordered.

Not long after, exquisite delicacies were brought out. Yan Mingting was surprised: “Why are there so many dishes?”

Zhao Yelan picked up the dishes leisurely: “I was worried that there were too few cooks in your house, so I arranged for people to prepare more in the small kitchen. Thankfully, I gave the order, otherwise would there still be something for me to eat?”

He Cuizhang and Zhong Yuehong smiled cautiously, seeing the delicacies placed in front of him. They were delicious and beautiful, making people salivate, but their stomachs were already full and they could only be envious.

After the meal, the two left the General’s Mansion in disgrace. Before leaving, Zhong Yuehong was stopped by Zhao Yelan. She turned her head uncertainly, and Gao Tan walked up to her and handed her something.

Walking outside the gate, she opened it and saw that it was a brand new sweet-scented osmanthus soap.

“Why were you given this? Controlling us in the General’s Mansion and then sending it with us to wash with every day when we go home? Our calloused hands, even if we rubbed them hundreds of times, we can’t achieve the effect of his delicate skin and tender flesh,” He Cuizhang muttered.

Zhong Yuehong kicked him far away.

In the evening, Zhao Yelan, who had been tired all day, washed up early and picked up a new blanket, preparing to go to bed. It didn’t take long for another person to appear beside him. He turned his back to the other party, thinking that when he came back in the afternoon, he had found that the things he asked for were all there – – his requests having been met, he asked, “Why won’t you agree to splitting the house?”

Yan Mingting put his hands behind his head and crossed his legs: “Sleeping in separate rooms after just being married, I don’t want to lose face when the word spreads. It would look like this General’s Mansion was parading its wealth.”

Zhao Yelan snorted, not understanding what went on in his mind. Just as he closed his eyes, he realized that the other party was covering him with a blanket, and turned to glare at him: “Don’t cross the line.”

“The dog snarls and snaps at Lu Dong Bin,”[2] Yan Mingting said.

“Who are you calling a dog?” Zhao Yelan turned around, picked up the classic book between them, and threw it at him. “Get out of here!”

“Don’t move around.” Yan Mingting tilted his head to dodge the blow, then got up and grabbed his hands with a smile, pressing them on top of the pillow. “If you fight and can’t win, why bother?”

Zhao Yelan struggled for a long time, unable to free himself at all. His wrists were still grasped tightly. He looked at him with anger that stemmed from embarrassment, his chest heaving slightly and his collar messily opened to reveal jade-like porcelain skin.

Yan Mingting was dazed for a moment, then gradually restrained his playfulness and raised his head to look at the roof.

Zhao Yelan raised his head and bit his protruding Adam’s apple.

“Hiss –”

Yan Mingting hurriedly pushed the person away and got off the bed.

Zhao Yelan smiled triumphantly and lay down again. A short while later, he opened his eyes wide, in disbelief that Yan Mingting dared to tie his hands and feet with rope.

“Sleep tight.” Yan Mingting touched his Adam’s apple, his hair standing on end, then stretched out his legs to press down on those wriggling legs.

Zhao Yelan was about to curse him, but when he opened his mouth, it was covered.

“Hush, there is someone on the roof.” Yan Mingting lowered his voice.

Zhao Yelan blinked.

Yan Mingting looked up vigilantly, then down at the puppy who had suddenly become obedient. He smiled and said softly: “Be good tonight, understand?”

After a while, Zhao Yelan nodded.

 

[1] Calling him an ancestor is a sarcastic way of saying that Zhao Yelan is extremely self-important and demanding of respect. ⮐

[2] The entire saying goes: “The dog snarls and snaps at Lu Dongbin and doesn’t recognize his kindness.” This basically means “mistaking a good man for a bad one” and comes from a story about the Eight Immortals in Chinese myth. A man named Gou You (苟杳), which is pronounced the same as ‘dog bites’ (狗咬), was friends with Lu Dong Bin. ⮐

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