Chapter 54: CH 54

Chen Miao Ping stumbled and almost tripped over himself from being pulled by Xie Yu Zhi. He quickly steadied himself and then ran straight towards Dian Yun Pagoda with determination. But he was not faster than Xie Yu Zhi who forcefully pulled him back again and then covered his mouth, dragging him all the way back like this to Qian Feng Courtyard. Servants who passed by them pitied Gu-Ye from the bottom of their hearts, feeling quite sorry for him.

When they reached Qian Feng Courtyard, the domain under the control of Xie Yu Zhi, he threw Chen Miao Ping against a chair. He then ordered Ren Dong to close the door, and took a deep breath before laughing coldly at him, 

“Go ahead, yell it out. Why aren’t you yelling anymore?”

Ah huh, you really think I don’t dare to yell it out loud and clear?

Chen Miao Ping started to act out again, 

“Father-in-Law! I know who it…..Mmmm!”

Xie Yu Zhi clamped Chen Miao Ping’s mouth shut and dropped his head down near his ear, scolding him,

“You fucking bastard, you have no conscience do you? Who did I go up on the roof for?”

Chen Miao Ping blinked his eyes innocently as he couldn’t talk with his mouth covered by Xie Yu Zhi’s hand. He only silently laid his hand open in front of Xie Yu Zhi, rubbing his thumb against his fingers for the gesture of money. His black eyes were quietly relaying back to him:

Give me back my banknotes.

As long as there is money, everything can be negotiated.

The only thing that can seal my mouth is money.

“……”

Xie Yu Zhi emotionlessly took out that camouflage green pouch from Chen Miao Ping’s sleeves and shoved it roughly back against him. He spit out coldly, 

“You can live the rest of your life with it.”

Chen Miao Ping opened the pouch and inside was exactly seven sheets of 1000 guan bank notes, perfectly stuffed inside. He didn’t really think that the money would be stuffed like this. On the inside, he was thankful for Xie Yu Zhi’s cleverness and on the outside, he was already snuggling up against Xie Yu Zhi to coax him.

“No no, that can’t happen. The rest of my life should be spent with Second Master.” 

After all, when the money’s used up, he’ll be left with nothing.

Xie Yu Zhi ignored him and went behind a partition screen to change his outer robe. He had rushed back too quickly, dragging a certain mouthy bastard, and his clothes were all damp from the rain. Seeing him leave, Chen Miao Ping quickly climbed up on the screen, only showing half of his face, staring intensely with his dark eyes. He quickly passed over a clean robe.

Xie Yu Zhi kept ignoring Chen Miao Ping as even one glance from him was enough to make Xie Yu Zhi want to beat him up. He dressed himself in a new robe that had already been brought over to him and walked straight to his desk. There was a “sha” and the long sword hanging on the back wall was taken out and laid carefully on top of his desk. Xie Yu Zhi sat down and used a handkerchief to polish the blade slowly, one stroke at a time.

The blade seemed to be as cold as frosted water, glimmering with a sheen. Waves of a murderous aura seemed to be wafting from it, which could have only meant one thing – it must have seen blood. Xie Yu Zhi was polishing it with a serious aura and his eyes took on an extremely cold look.

Chen Miao Ping thought to himself, please don’t behead me in a fit of anger. He sat on the edge of the bed in a contemplating phase and then pulled a banknote sheet to fold into a paper airplane. A whoosh and it flew right into Xie Yu Zhi’s embrace.

The other stopped polishing and slanted his eyes right over to him. Xie Yu Zhi’s eyes were still icy cold and Chen Miao Ping laid back on the pillow behind him, laughing, 

“We should share the joy. Second Master should use this to buy some candy to eat.”

It was no doubt a sight to see and was made more memorable with the musicians playing their pipas and guzhengs1, the singers and dancers in their water sleeves2 accompanying the music, the lanterns that depicted mythical creatures, and the unbelievably expensive fragrances that had been lit.

Da Jin considered the right side as the position of higher power and so the hall was separated into two. The right side seated those officials from Da Jin and the left were the ambassadors of the Liao Empire. The Emperor sat on his throne, and because the position of the empress was still empty, the Noble consort of Brightness sat next to him. And the other remaining consorts sat in their order. But this was not important. The most important thing was that Chen Miao Ping spotted someone familiar in the hall.

A fifteen or sixteen year old chubby boy.

You are reading story Don't Be a Kept Man at novel35.com

A chubby boy that was scammed out of 6000 guan by him.

The other was seated not far away from Chen Miao Ping but did not discover him, too busy burying into his food. Chen Miao Ping swept a glance over and noticed that by his waist, he was wearing that rock crystal pendant.

Seeing him look left and right, Xie Yu Zhi asked, 

“What are you looking at?”

Chen Miao Ping used his eyes to signal a message, 

“Ah, who is that chubby boy dressed in blue over there?”

Xie Yu Zhi looked over where he was signalling and then retracted his gaze, 

“Oh, that’s Zhao Si Xian. Li Qin Wang’s3 second son. What, you know him?”

“No, I don’t know him. I just feel like he has this aura of fortune around him. Looks just like the children from new year paintings4.”

Chen Miao Ping was born with a face that was too good looking for this earth. Today he was dressed in dark black and that darkness perfectly balanced that overly attractive face, making him look more solemn and steadfast. 

In this time and place, it was obviously not a good time to be smiling and so his expression was a bit frigid and cold, which only added to his seductiveness. Many girls sitting in their seats couldn’t help but take a look, and then another, and then another. Even the fifth prince of the Liao Empire, Ye Lu Jun Qi, kept looking over for no reason.

Chen Miao Ping was more sensitive to others’ emotions by just their look and feel, and when he discreetly looked over, he felt that Ye Lu Jun Qi’s gaze was not towards him, but towards the one beside him, Xie Yu Zhi.

Chen Miao Ping couldn’t stop his thoughts once that popped up in his mind. Xie Yu Zhi should have battled against the Liao Empire on the battlefield before, and it was said that heroes eyed at and took a liking to other heroes. Xie Yu Zhi was also not bad in the looks department. It couldn’t be that these two have already met on the battlefield and then……

Notes:

*1 pipas and guzhengs: instruments, pipa looks like a guitars and guzheng looks like a piano, which you can see below, but they are vastly different in the sounds they create from their look counterparts. You can hear some of them in this quick youtube video that showcases both and other traditional chinese instruments separately (Guzheng is at 0:16 and Pipa is at 1:08). Or you can check this video for a duo performance with these two instruments to see what kind of sound and atmosphere they can create 

Pipa (left) and Guzheng (right)

*2 water sleeves: A style of clothing for a style of dance, closest video that would be like those dances and dresses https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gHHg8sq4bc I could find or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v08kl_DeCG8, there’s definitely better quality but they’re not on youtube after a quick search + on youtube, it’s usually just one person vs the entire group and just to give you a feel of what the atmosphere was like that is being described.

*3 Li Qin Wang: This is one of those unchangeable + inheritable titles, with “Wang” part which is usually translated as “king”. This is usually a title reserved for members of the Imperial Family given that there’s “wang” included, but it can be pretty distant, as those recorded to be given this specific title aren’t exactly direct lineage, such as one male from a family that’s associated with the surname but with many generationals apart. However this specific person and his title will be explained in chp 55, so I won’t go into it here too much.

*4 children from new year paintings: like the new year traditions I explained in volume 1, new year paintings are like those, but also a bit different in that they will be painted on doorways to welcome fortune, blast away bad things, evil spirits, and so forth(depending on what is drawn of course). In particular these (年畫娃娃) “children” are very chubby little children/babies for fortune, to be blessed with a children, etc. There has been quite a few children that act as these new year paintings children, including a very famous one that passed away quite young.

We’re very close to the end now  Which means we will welcome a new volume for the new year~! But that does mean the climax is coming so… I’ll try to warn you of a major cliffhanger the chapter before again (๑´ω`๑) Hope you all have a great weekend, and see you Monday, Galactic Judges!

You can find story with these keywords: Don't Be a Kept Man, Read Don't Be a Kept Man, Don't Be a Kept Man novel, Don't Be a Kept Man book, Don't Be a Kept Man story, Don't Be a Kept Man full, Don't Be a Kept Man Latest Chapter