Chapter 50: 48

In Yan Mingting’s memory, birthdays were rarely celebrated and he was at the border all year round, so he didn’t have the heart to hold a birthday party. What’s more, since his loved ones all passed away one after another, he never looked forward to his so-called birthday. Without relatives, the meaning of the day was gone. On the contrary, it reminded him that he was the “evil star” among the world’s population, and he was left to live alone.

But this year was different.

There was one more person beside him, a person bound to him in marriage. They were one in name, and he was the closest person he had now.

He also couldn’t tell when his thoughts toward Zhao Yelan had shifted.

At first, he just noticed that Zhao Yelan was different from the rumors in the market, but he didn’t let down his guard easily. While observing him and getting along with him, he gradually became aware of his interest.

The person kept emphasizing how cold-blooded and ruthless he was on the surface, but in fact, when he got angry, he would just use the chickens in the back courtyard to vent. There was also the rabbit that he didn’t seem to pay much attention to, but immediately went to check on when he saw the braised rabbit head.

He may be kind, but when he really got serious, he was like the king of Hell. It had to be said that Yan Mingting was still deeply impressed by the scene where he personally killed that strange man in the brothel.

Simple good and evil did not seem to easily define Zhao Yelan.

It was likely that Yan Mingting also had rebellious bones in his body. Once he discovered that Zhao Yelan had an evil side, he would not believe what the world said about him having a cruel nature. On the contrary, he felt that someone else was at fault for torturing a good person until he became like this, and he felt sorry for the other even more.

No matter how miserable Yan Mingting was, at least his father guided him for more than ten years before passing away. But Zhao Yelan had grown up alone in the capital city, surrounded by wolves.

The world was vicious, and no one treated Zhao Yelan well, so why should he cling to the true, the good, and the beautiful?

In the early morning, Yan Mingting was still going to court as usual. To his surprise, Zhao Yelan also woke up, and when he was about to go out, he personally escorted him to the gate.

Yan Mingting suspected that he was still dreaming.

Otherwise, how could Zhao Yelan be so thoughtful!

He had hinted and outright said to Zhao Yelan more than once that he hoped he could follow the example of Kan Chuan’s wife and send him off when he went to court.

But he also knew that according to Zhao Yelan’s temperament, it was absolutely impossible for him to agree to this request.

Now that he did it obediently, Yan Mingting was not accustomed to it and felt flustered for some reason.

In the past two days, Zhao Yelan’s kindness toward him seemed a little too much, but he thought – maybe it was because of his birthday?

He turned his head. It was truly darkest before dawn, and only a waning moon hung in the sky. Faint moonlight fell on the man as Zhao Yelan stood upright at the gate and saw him off. His heart warmed and he waved his hand, urging: “Go back, ba, go back to sleep! I’ll be back soon!”

Zhao Yelan nodded slightly, not knowing if he could see it or not, and then turned and went back. He went to the study with a candle in his hand, and quietly studied the ink and paper laid out.

Yan Mingting had said he would be back soon, but he was still caught up in the affairs of the court. First he discussed with everyone the suppression of the bandits, then after a prolonged time in court, many people held him back to congratulate him on his birthday. They all said that they had prepared congratulatory gifts and were waiting to visit him for a drink.

How could this work!

Were they very close?

Yan Mingting didn’t want to trade sham gestures of politeness with them on a good day, so he rejected all entertainments, let it be known that he would not attend banquets, and did not accept gifts, let alone guests.

Everyone was resentful, but Kan Chuan followed in his footsteps discreetly and handed over a land deed to him.

“How can this be done!” Yan Mingting repeatedly refused. Although he knew that Kan Chuan belonged to Zhao Yelan, he could not accept such an expensive gift. “Take it back quickly, or I will beat you.”

“The General misunderstands, this is not for you.” Kan Chuan glanced around and saw that no one was nearby, so he whispered, “It is for ‘him.’ He accidentally dropped it in my child’s gift, please return it to him.”

How could Zhao Yelan be so obsessed with money, yet leave such an important thing behind? It must have been given to Kan Chuan on purpose, but Kan Cuan wouldn’t keep it, ah.

“I understand.” Yan Mingting frowned, and the suspicions in his heart became even deeper. After a moment, he patted Kan Chuan’s shoulder with a smile and raised his voice, “All right, since what you gave is a calligraphy painting, I’ll make an exception and accept it. No more spending money in the future, ah!”

Although no one was around, Kan Chuan was amused by his cautiousness and agreed: “Okay, it will be the General’s turn to give my child a one-month celebration gift another day.”

“Not a problem, not a problem. But there is one thing that I would like to ask you……”

Breakfast in the General’s Mansion was almost getting cold, and Yan Mingting came in late.

When Xiao Gao saw that he had returned, he immediately called out loudly: “My lord, the General is back! Come and eat!”

Yan Mingting smiled and sat down first, looking at the dishes on the table. There was a bowl of longevity noodles with two eggs in it, along with other side dishes.

“General, eat this bowl of longevity noodles quickly,” Housekeeper Qin said with a smile.

“Where is Zhao Yelan……” Yan Mingting paused as he saw Zhao Yelan coming out of the gatehouse. He wore clothes the color of amber, the shade deep and gorgeous, with flowing clouds embroidered on the sleeves and the hem. The patterns on his body were stitched with intersecting gold and silver threads, so complicated that the pattern wasn’t discernable, but he found it so pleasing to the eye that he couldn’t take his eyes off it.

Yan Mingting suddenly understood why Zhao Yelan enjoyed buying clothing so much.

Clothes made the man look good, and the man also made the clothes look good.

Only by complementing each other could this effect be achieved.

Buy! No matter how expensive, you must buy! Buy them all! Only good-looking clothes were worthy of his person!

Not to mention Yan Mingting, the servants had also been staring blankly for a long time. They had not recovered from the shock all morning, and just thought it was an immortal that had come down to earth, arriving here to open their eyes.

Zhao Yelan was accustomed to these kinds of gazes, and could tell whether they were good or not. It was only that when dressing today, he couldn’t find anything he liked after picking and choosing. After all, he seldom wore the same clothes twice, but today might be the only time he wore it – he was celebrating Yan Mingting’s birthday with him, and the color matched the occasion quite well.

“My lord is so beautiful today!” Xiao Gao was very supportive. “This outfit was bought last year and he has never worn it!”

Zhao Yelan was a little embarrassed when he heard these words just as he was about to sit down. They made it seem as if he had worn them on a specially chosen day.

Well, it was no exaggeration to say that it was special, but this was not the only reason. This set of clothes was very complicated to wear, and was too eye-catching, so he ought not to take it away with him. Since he had spent a lot of money to buy it, he must wear it once.

After convincing himself of this, he looked at Yan Mingting with feigned casualness: “I wear whatever I want.”

“En, I know,” Yan Mingting said seriously. “Even if you dress casually, it will make people feel ashamed in comparison.”

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Zhao Yelan touched his nose in embarrassment: “Eat the noodles first, they’ll get lumpy.”

“All right.” Yan Mingting looked at him while eating noodles. At first he just glanced secretly, but later his gaze became more and more unrestrained. In the end, he even drained the soup from the bowl while staring at him.

“……” Zhao Yelan had a difficult time ignoring his gaze. Before finishing the noodles, he put down his chopsticks stiffly, took a deep breath, and maintained a smile: “What are you looking at?”

“I just feel that everything is fine aside from one small deficiency,” Yan Mingting commented very seriously.

Zhao Yelan’s expression changed slightly: “Where is the deficiency?”

“Come with me.” Yan Mingting put down the bowl, grabbed his sleeve, and walked toward the bedroom.

Yan Mingting’s steps were a little too big, and Zhao Yelan had to increase his speed to keep up. The sleeves of his outfit fluttered beautifully.

Yan Mingting paused for a moment, then led him from one end of the corridor to the other, and then back again.

“Yan Mingting, are you ill?!” Zhao Yelan was dreadfully tormented by him. It was rare for him to decide to spend a good birthday with him today without getting angry, but this fellow repeatedly tested the boundaries of his patience.

Yan Mingting laughed, coaxed him with a few words, and took him back to the room to search through a drawer. After a while, he finally found the flowing cloud jade hairpin, inserted it into his hair, and said with satisfaction: “Not bad, not bad, very nice.”

Zhao Yelan subconsciously glanced in the bronze mirror. He didn’t think it was very beautiful, and it was a bit cumbersome. It was not as good-looking as the gold-plated jade crown he had specially chosen today.

But Yan Mingting didn’t allow him to choose, so he gave up.

Yan Mingting began to stare at him unscrupulously again.

Zhao Yelan took a few steps in the room, was unable to divert his attention, and had begun to think about poking his eyes out to blind him when he heard footsteps.

“General, I heard that today is your birthday!”

Zuo Ran had slept from noon to midnight yesterday, got up to get something to eat from the kitchen, and fell asleep again until now. When she awoke, she heard servants happily discussing birthdays, and only then did she know what day it was. She hurriedly came to congratulate him, but found that there was another person in the room. She exclaimed and covered her eyes: “Did I come at a bad time?”

Yan Mingting: Such a bad time!

“It is fine,” Zhao Yelan said. “Come in and talk.”

Only then did Zuo Ran walk in, wondering: “Are you not going to the Imperial Academy today, my lord? At this time yesterday, you had already set off.”

Right!

Yan Mingting had only been interested in the happy proceedings and hadn’t taken this matter into consideration at all. He said: “Hurry up and change into your official uniform, I’ll send you there. There’s still time.”

“No need, I’m not on duty today.”

Nonsense. He and Ruan Xian had switched dates, but he couldn’t say this or else Yan Mingting’s tail would be up to the sky.[1]

“Very good.” Yan Mingting chuckled, then looked at Zuo Ran. “What do you want from us?”

Zuo Ran swiftly congratulated him on his birthday and took out some coins from her purse: “I didn’t know what you would like, General, so these are my congratulatory gifts. I didn’t expect to ask you to help me on such a day. This trip to the south will take a month at least. My life is as cheap as grass, but I will never forget such kindness!”

As she said this, she knelt down with a plop and kowtowed to Yan Mingting. Her head knocked on the ground almost hard enough to break skin.

“Okay, get up quickly. If Yin Pinglu saw this, she would think I was bullying you.” Yan Mingting helped her up. “You and Pinglu are my friends, so isn’t helping a friend the correct thing to do?”

“Friends?” Zuo Ran panicked. “How can I be worthy of being friends with the General!”

She came from a low family background and didn’t know but a few characters, so how could she dare be friends with General Yan!

“What ‘worthy,’ you value love and righteousness, and you went to the battlefield with us anonymously. Your courage is enough for me to call you my friend. I just reincarnated better than you, but I still need someone to help me when I am in distress. You and Pinglu happened to help me solve a big problem. This is the fate of friends,” Yan Mingting said.

Zuo Ran’s eyes turned red and Yan Mingting teased: “Zuo Ran, why didn’t I realize you were still a crybaby? Where has all your fierceness gone?”

Wiping away her tears, Zuo Ran cheered up again: “Don’t worry, General. After I rescue Pinglu, I will go to the border and formally enlist in the army and join the Yuehong team!”

There were no female leaders in the army, but Yan Mingting favored Zhong Yuehong, and Beijing was too busy with transitioning to a new Emperor to take care of the affairs of the frontier. He set a precedent by promoting a female lieutenant general, which caused a lot of controversy at first, but fortunately Zhong Yuehong persuaded everyone with her strength.

Afterwards, one or two occasional women wanted to join and were arranged under Zhong Yuehong’s command.

“Yes, ah, your women’s army is growing stronger and stronger.” Yan Mingting was very pleased.

Zuo Ran smiled, and also had an idea in mind. She had been trying to escape before, not wanting the Magistrate to discover where she and Yin Pinglu were. But now she realized the importance of status and hated her incompetence. She also wanted to make contributions like Zhong Yuehong and let everyone know how powerful she was, so that no one would dare snatch anyone away from her!

He Cuizhang also came after a while, bringing a few jars of good wine. He said he wanted to drink until they were drunk, but Zhao Yelan gave him a glare and he changed his words: “This good wine should be stored in the cellar first, and we can drink it after the New Year!”

He Cuizhang inwardly patted himself on the back. No wonder the General was henpecked, who wouldn’t be afraid when they saw such a look?

After lunch, everyone began giving gifts. He Cuizhang gave a big sword that he and several other lieutenants had pooled their money to buy, including Zhong Yuehong.

Housekeeper Qin gave a peace talisman, and Xiao Gao also gave a gift – a bunch of tanghulu. He had originally bought twenty skewers, but couldn’t hold back last night and ate ten of them.

The Li family did not come, but their gift also arrived. Li Jinyu sent a compilation of military tactics, and Li Yucheng sent a few gold ingots.

Yan Mingting suddenly felt that perhaps this Li Yuheng and Zhao Yelan could become confidantes, look at this unbearably vulgar money grubber!

Wait……would Zhao Yelan really give him money simply and flagrantly? He couldn’t help but think of last night’s account book. All that money……in the end, should he accept it or not?

He was shamefully moved. Sorry, it turned out that he was also very vulgar, he really deserved to be a member of this family!

 

[1] Tail up to the sky = being arrogant and full of oneself. ⮐

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