Chapter 63: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 19

 

 

Ming shaoxia was extremely sullen, even after he cursed, the feeling didn’t fade and instead became even more rampant.

He sat on top of the palace wall aggravated and gnashing his teeth as he looked at the spot where Huai Yu disappeared.

An innocent stone statue that had been decorating the wall was mercilessly kicked by Ming shaoxia.

Zhao XiaoLan followed along and said, “But Huai Yu-gege, the Hundred Flower Abyss doesn’t open during the day.”

Huai Yu said, “Go straight to Bai Jin.”

Zhao XiaoLan blushed and stuttered, “That, that works! Just so happens that I haven’t seen her in a long time…..”

Ming ChangYan followed behind them, when he saw Zhao XiaoLan arrive at that night’s alley, he faintly paused.

This place was particularly familiar.

Ming shaoxia crouched on top of a crate and recalled that this was the place he had kissed Huai Yu.

Although the kiss was sudden and light as a feather, even upon revisiting it, it still made him feel a slight tremble.

The more Ming ChangYan forced himself to not think about it, the clearer the memory became. So much so that it had become a little scary, it was so clear that he could see it as soon as he closed his eyes.

He used his hands to fan his face, and after fanning he sat on top of the wall and laughed.

He thought: Life is unpredictable, things are impermanent, you kissed this shaoxia here before, and now you’re unfaithfully shifting your affections. You’re lucky this shaoxia isn’t a woman, otherwise, you’d be ruined.

Ming ChangYan quietly followed them a few more steps.

Zhao XiaoLan stood fixedly in front of a wooden door.

He was on high ground and was able to take in the entire scenery behind him. Behind the wooden doors was a courtyard and a three-story house with three entrances and two windows. On the side was a terribly tall tower, only inferior to that of the Ninety-Ninth Palace.

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Huai Yu-gege, this is where Maiden Li Li lives.”

Ming ChangYan secretly thought: So this is the deepest part of the Hundred Flower Abyss.

Xiao Yu opened the door and the two of them entered the building.

Ming ChangYan found a tree, proceeding to climb up before going over the wall.

He was extremely proficient in these sort of stealthy affairs. After landing as light as a feather, he hid; going around Huai Yu and Zhao XiaoLan, he got on the eaves of the house.

Li Li had been waiting for a long time on the second floor.

Ming ChangYan flipped onto the house and squatted outside the window.

Within the window, Xiao Yu lifted the curtains and informed, “My lady, young master Zhao is here.”

Li Li lay sideways on a chaise lounge, with layers upon layers of red curtains surrounding her. Looking around, Ming ChangYan discovered the interior layout of the house was also extremely extravagant, which was quite contrasting to Li Li’s personality.

She froze for a moment before sitting up straight, “Young Prime Minister?”

Zhao XiaoLan immediately explained, “Li Li, I brought Huai Yu here with me. The wound on your hand was too serious, I was worried about just giving you an ointment. It would’ve been better if Huai Yu-gege took a look at it in person!”

Li Li got up and greeted, “For the Young Prime Minister to honor us with your presence, this lowly one is aghast.”

Huai Yu said, “No need.”

From outside the window, Ming ChangYan could only see the view of Li Li’s back, and through the layers and layers of red curtain, he could see Huai Yu’s shadow.

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Then let’s not delay any longer, Maiden Li Li, shall we come in?”

Li Li nodded and Xiao Yu lifted the red curtain.

Ming ChangYan quickly retracted his body to avoid being noticed by Huai Yu.

Xiao Yu brought out a stool, Zhao XiaoLan said, “Li Li, you can roll up your sleeves now!”

Xiao Yu glanced at Zhao XiaoLan, Li Li said, “It’s okay.”

She rolled up her sleeves, and sure enough, there were countless scars crisscrossing her jade white arm. It appeared to be old wounds, which would be difficult to cure.

It wouldn’t have been as odd if these scars appeared on a man. But for them to appear on a woman, this woman being the number one beauty in the world is a bit odd.

Huai Yu stared for a long time, Ming ChangYan too, stared for a long time.

He thought: Strange, there looks to be a pattern to these crisscrossing scars, it doesn’t look like what she described. It looks more like it had been deliberately caused than accidentally being cut by broken porcelain? But how could a weak woman like her come in contact with such a person?

After a while, he thought: How long does Huai Yu plan on staring!

Ming shaoxia raised his eyebrows, his chest feeling very uncomfortable: Even I already noticed the scars weren’t some simple matter, why is he still staring at it? Don’t tell me he saw how good-looking she was and took a fancy to her?

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Huai Yu-gege, what’s wrong?”

Huai Yu said, “Not bad, not futile.”

Li Li softly smiled and thanked, “I anticipated this old wound to stay with me for a lifetime, I never expected for it to take a turn for the better.”

Zhao XiaoLan felt rather proud upon hearing this, “Yeah! Huai Yu-gege’s medical skills are really good! I didn’t even know before until he had cured Yan-jiejie, everybody would’ve been completely in the dark!”

Xiao Yu secretly stole a few glances at Huai Yu, she’s probably never seen such a handsome man before. No matter how many times she looked, she still felt emotional.

Huai Yu prescribed medicine and got up to leave.

Zhao XiaoLan was about to say a few more words to Li Li, but upon seeing Huai Yu leave, didn’t dare to stay.

Li Li smiled, “XiaoLan, come here.”

Zhao XiaoLan paused.

Li Li took out a piece of jade from a drawer and placed it in his hands, “Courtesy demands reciprocity. If you want to see me, take this jade tablet, no one in the Hundred Flower Abyss would dare to stop you.”

Zhao XiaoLan was overjoyed, his face flushed red and excitedly said, “Then, then I’ll come see you tomorrow!”

Li Li chuckled before nodding, “Okay.”

When Zhao XiaoLan received a promise from his crush, in a moment of exhilaration, he wildly sprinted out the door.

But suddenly at the doorway into the Hundred Flower Abyss, he was pinched by a pair of slender lily-white hands.

“ZHAOLAN!”

As soon as Zhao XiaoLan heard this voice, his body suddenly jolted as he cried, “A-JIE!! MY EARS HURT!!!”

The woman who had arrived was Zhao XiaoLan’s older sister, Zhao Ling.

Zhao Ling twisted his ears, “You little brat! Where were you coming out of! Lying to me and saying you were studying, how come I don’t remember ever sending you to study at some low-grade brothel! What kind of things were you studying? Ah?!”

Zhao XiaoLan began weeping, Zhao Ling loosened her grip.

She began, “I’m asking you, what are you doing at a brothel again!”

Zhao XiaoLan was using both of his hands to cover his ears, on guard in case Zhao Ling unexpectedly pinched his ears again.

“I came to deliver medicine.”

Zhao Ling’s long eyebrows arched, “Deliver medicine? What kind of medicine are you here to deliver?”

All of a sudden, her face distorted and she fiercely shouted, “You said you came to deliver medicine?!”

What kind of medicine could be used at a brothel?

It only took Zhao Ling a moment of thought to figure it out. As a result, she was shaking with anger.

Zhao XiaoLan suddenly came back to his senses, and realized what his A-jie had misunderstood, quickly saying, “No! Not that kind of medicine!”

He caught a glimpse of Huai Yu from the corner of his eye and immediately pointed at Huai Yu, “Huai Yu-gege can testify for me! We really came here to deliver medicine, they were just ordinary medicine!”

When Zhao Ling noticed Huai Yu, she restrained herself a lot.

She greeted him while glaring at Zhao XiaoLan.

Zhao XiaoLan’s courage has never been as big as Ming ChangYan’s, who if was ever bullied, would venture to hide behind Huai Yu’s back. Therefore, after getting beaten and scolded by Zhao Ling, he stood there listening motionless from beginning to end.

After Zhao Ling finished lecturing, seeing Zhao XiaoLan’s pitiful appearance, her heart softened.

Her gaze fell on Zhao XiaoLan’s wrist and her complexion suddenly changed, “XiaoLan where’s your bracelet?”

Zhao XiaoLan quickly retracted his hand into his sleeve, pretending to be naive, “What bracelet?”

Zhao Ling swiftly grabbed his hand, making Zhao XiaoLan shrink back. The white jade bracelet that was originally around his wrist had disappeared without a trace.

Seeing how his concealment wasn’t going to pass, Zhao XiaoLan simply recounted honestly, “I gave it away.”

Zhao Ling glared at him, “Who did you give it to?” After a pause, she continued, “There’s something that could save your life in that bracelet, and yet you gave it away without any rhyme or reason, did you even ask me?!”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “A-jie, I know you put medicine in there. But I’m very powerful, I don’t need these sorts of hidden protection….”

Zhao Ling cursed, “Powerful my ass! You don’t study at all, over here having these grand dreams, where’s Zhu Rong? Why isn’t he by your side, I think you’re courting death, you gave away your bracelet and you didn’t bring Zhu Rong with you!”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Zhu-xiong, Zhu-xiong has his own life, I can’t always pester him.”

Zhao Ling said, “Whatever, I just need you to get back the bracelet.”

Zhao XiaoLan’s complexion paled, “No, I already gave it away! How can I just go ask for it back! What would I become!”

Zhao Ling, “Who did you give it to?”

Zhao XiaoLan again said nothing.

In the end, Zhao Ling wasn’t in the mood to keep talking with him, she bid goodbye to Huai Yu, dragging Zhao XiaoLan away.

Ming ChangYan waited for her to leave before slowly coming forward.

He looked around before suddenly exclaiming in surprise, “Huai Yu-gege! How come you’re here too!”

Huai Yu coldly said, “Is it fun?”

Ming ChangYan grinned, “Super fun. What did you think about the scars on Li Li’s arms just now?”

Huai Yu suddenly looked at him inexplicably, “What did you reckon I thought?”

Ming ChangYan rubbed his chin and significantly expressed, “It wouldn’t be—a sexual awakening?”

Huai Yu scoffed and walked forward.

Ming ChangYan called out, “Wait, you’re being unreasonable again. I’m just joking, if you didn’t like it, I won’t say it again. I came to you for something.”

Huai Yu said, “What something do you need that you can’t come to me in the open, that you need instead by stalking?”

Ming ChangYan laughed, “Of course you found out.”

He secretly thought: What a wicked little fish.

Ming ChangYan began, “I came to get my medicine. I already finished all the medicine you gave me before, I need new ones.”

He reached out and placed a hand on Huai Yu’s chest.

Huai Yu caught his hand.

The palm of Ming ChangYan’s hand felt slightly numb.

Huai Yu said, “Did you think this medicine was something that was just blown here by the wind, something that can have just because you want it?”

“Then what? Or you can tell me how to make this medicine and I’ll go make it. Or….” Ming ChangYan trailed off.

Or I could go tell Hua YunChang, she also knows how to make medicine, I could go ask her to make me a batch!

He thought of Hua YunChang.

However, Ming ChangYan stopped himself and didn’t say anything.

A few days ago, he didn’t know what sort of hysteria had hit Huai Yu that had made them argue about Hua YunChang. Besides, Ming ChangYan couldn’t just bluntly tell him that he was jealous, of course, he thought as much but didn’t dare to say it. If by any chance he pissed this kid off, god knows what he would’ve had to do to coax him back.

Or what if, with Huai Yu’s character, he would dig deeper and ask him why he thought he was jealous, how would Ming ChangYan explain then?

Although his skin was thick sometimes, it’s never been as thick as this, it seems that when in the face of Huai Yu, his skin would become even thinner.

Huai Yu questioned, “Or what?”

Ming ChangYan changed the subject, “Nothing. You should answer my other question first, aren’t the scars on Li Li’s arms a bit odd?”

Huai Yu, “What are you trying to say?”

Ming ChangYan explained, “Those scars were obviously caused by someone else. I don’t believe it was because she accidentally broke some porcelain, why do you think she would hide this?”

Huai Yu didn’t respond, merely saying, “It’s not convenient to talk here, let’s go back to the Ninety-Ninth Palace first.”

After leaving the Hundred Flower Abyss, Ming ChangYan began, “Then I’ll come find you tomorrow.”

Huai Yu said, “Tomorrow. No, you’re coming back to the Ninety-Ninth Palace with me now.”

Ming ChangYan was startled, “How could I do that, tonight I….”

He automatically filtered to Hua YunChang again.

Huai Yu asked, “What are you doing tonight?”

Ming ChangYan said, “In short, I’ll come find you tomorrow.”

Huai Yu snorted, “I’m not asking for your opinion.”

Ming ChangYan, “Wh–Huai Yu!!”

He still hadn’t finished speaking when Huai Yu suddenly pointed at one of his acupuncture points. With the same trick used twice, Ming shaoxia once again was met with that same pit from before, and living up to expectations, he dropped down again.

Huai Yu went straightforward and carried him in a princess carry. Ming shaoxia cried, “Don’t, don’t, don’t!! Don’t carry me like that! Change a position!!”

Huai Yu, “Rejected.”

Ming shaoxia’s complexion flushed red, “Huai Yu! Little brat, you show no respect for your elders! This this this, is this how you carry someone!”

Huai Yu turned a deaf ear.

Ming ChangYan was unwilling to give up, once again beginning to struggle like he was on his deathbed.

Huai Yu suddenly said, “Why are you so nervous?”

With this, Ming ChangYan nearly evaporated.

Huai Yu deliberately tapped his acupuncture point, making him unable to even cover his face. He could only allow his face to slowly flush red.

“What, what am I nervous for, nervous, me, nervous, I’m not nervous!”

Huai Yu nodded and affirmed, “You are. You’re stuttering.”

Ming shaoxia closed his eyes and yelled, “Stop talking!”

With the use of qinggong along the way, usually, when Ming ChangYan would leap onto roofs and vault over walls, he didn’t really feel anything. That’s why he felt so strange while he was being held in someone else’s arms, even the wind that blew in his face felt ten times colder than before. Huai Yu’s body was the only thing that had somewhat of a temperature.

Ming shaoxia ate a stomachful of northwest wind, but the heat from his face never dropped. He could only close his eyes and play dead, acting like his soul had already left his body and scattered itself.

The chill was even worse at the top of the Ninety-Ninth Palace.

He’s been to Huai Yu’s bedroom many times, and every time he came back it would be a completely new experience. The only thing that wouldn’t change would be the cold, a cold to the bone. It’s wasn’t even winter yet, and yet his bedroom felt like the dead of winter, the freezing conditions making him shiver.

Ming ChangYan said, “Huai Yu, we’re already here, you should undo my acupuncture points now, right?”

Huai Yu placed him on the bed before going off to find medicine.

Ming shaoxia’s mouth never stopped to rest, sighing, he was left feeling helpless, “You brat! How come you’re so overbearing?!”

He rambled on, “You’re acting like a bandit right now, you know that! This is what the bandit leader of HeiMin Mountain would do! Do you know what they did afterwards, they snatched civilian women and forced them to become bandit wives! This shaoxia wiped them all out! You are following their old ways! I advise you to raise your ideological awareness a little, and let me go right now, or else I’ll—”

Huai Yu leaned against the cupboard, after waiting in leisure, he asked with ease, “Or else you’ll what?”

There were too many torture methods in Ming shaoxia’s head, but he was reluctant to use any of them on Huai Yu. And so, after a long struggle, he didn’t pick one that would work best and was in a clutch.

Huai Yu asked, “I’m a bandit, then what are you?”

Ming shaoxia’s head pounded.

Huai Yu let out a laugh before asking again, “What did I do after I snatched you back, say it again.”

Ming shaoxia had just lifted a rock and hit his own foot. His face was painted another layer of red, to the point that it looked like it’d start dripping with blood at any moment. He was depressed!

At this moment, the doorman heard sounds of activity and ran over to report: Aunt LingZhi, who was always beside the empress, had been waiting there for a long time.

Huai Yu asked, “It’s in the pharmacy, didn’t you let her take it?”

Yet the doorman said, “Aunt LingZhi said that in addition to getting the medicine, she also had things to inform you.”

Huai Yu paused for a moment before inviting Aunt LingZhi inside.

When Aunt LingZhi came in, she noticed that on the Young Prime Minister’s bed lay a man. Even the aunt who has witnessed great upheavals and turbulence within the palace was stupefied.

Huai Yu inquired, “What’s the matter?”

Aunt LingZhi came back to her senses but appeared inconvenient to speak when she saw that Ming ChangYan, this ‘outsider’ was still in the bedroom. Huai Yu was aware of this, and added, “There’s no harm, just say it.”

Aunt LingZhi bowed and finally spoke.

“Her Majesty wants to inform the Young Prime Minister, that the Immortal Grass has been stolen.”

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my translations I’ll freeze you to death.

 

 

 

I’ll get the next chapter posted as soon as possible since I don’t want to leave you guys on such a cliffhanger!! Also because I really like the next chapter චᆽච

Also, you all are like so nice, I’m sorry the post kinda slowed down so much, it was mainly from burnout but I’m way better now! I’ll try to get back to when I posted once a week~~

If you see any grammatical/translation errors, please tell me! I have like super bad grammar.

Love you all, please stay healthy ♥️

 

 

 

Chapter 62 : Table of Contents : Chapter 64