Volume 2 Chapter 68
Chapter 68: Austere Prince's Ice Silk Garment
"What exactly is going on? Why did it suddenly catch fire? Well?" Ye Hongyi gently helped Yao Mowan down to a seat as he demanded answers from the servants.
"Replying Your Majesty. The fire outside has already been put out. The east wing was the only part burned to the ground. Guan Osprey Palace's main hall and west wing are perfectly intact. In addition, the servants that were putting out the fire earlier discovered this ice silk garment in the debris," replied An Bingshan as he stood in front of Ye Hongyi and respectfully lifted up the garment.
"Where's Ye Junqing?" asked Ye Hongyi coldly.
"Your Majesty… he's over there." Before An Bingshan could reply, Yao Mowan had tugged on Ye Hongyi's sleeve and looked towards the chaise lounge. Even now, Ye Junqing was sleeping soundly on the chaise lounge, with no trace of being close to waking.
"He's fine?" Ye Hongyi lifted his brows as he looked towards Ye Junqing, his voice filled with faint disappointment.
"Mmhm, when Liu Xing rescued him, Liu Xing said that this was what was draped around him. Your Majesty… Now that the east wing is gone, this time he'll leave right?" Yao Mowan blinked innocently as she looked towards Ye Hongyi with a slight pout.
Right at this time, a young eunuch suddenly ran in.
"Reporting, Your Majesty, great Shu's envoy has sent someone to request a meeting." Ye Hongyi was surprised by this news, then he gave consent for the meeting.
"This Shu subject, Huangfu Junxiu, kowtows in salute to King of Chu." Ye Hongyi knew who it was by the sound of his voice. The man in front of him had handsome looks and an extraordinary aura. He held himself up with proud dignity and stern might. The calmness in those eyes even as he met the gaze of a monarch caused people to feel inadvertent admiration.
"Please rise. From what we know, there's still a day of travel before Austere Prince will arrive, so may we ask what he has sent you ahead for?" asked Ye Hongyi as he concealed the wariness in his eyes.
"Replying King Chu, His Excellency Austere Prince sent this subject here to discuss the matter of residency. Back then, Austere Prince had genuinely viewed Queen Chu as his older sister, and as of now, he has heard that Queen Chu's younger sister has entered the palace as a consort. Since he misses Queen Chu, Austere Prince would like to request to stay in Guan Osprey Palace in order to get more familiar with Consort Yao. Secondly, he also sent this subordinate to retrieve his possession, the ice silk garment."
Every single word that Huangfu Junxiu said made Yao Mowan's lips twitch. He viewed her as his older sister? How come she never sensed that? Chu Moxin sure was something to make this initial show of strength before he even arrived. It was enough that he set a fire in order to conceal his secret doings, but he actually dared to publicly admit that this was his doing?
"This.. it's improper for unrelated men and women to interact, and Consort Yao is His Majesty's favorite consort, so how can Austere Prince be allowed to interact with her in Guan Osprey Palace? I'm afraid that this would be quite inappropriate," said An Bingshan in an attempt to mediate.
"Huangfu Junxiu thought that Manager An, as an eunuch, would be more indifferent towards the differences between men and women. But unexpectedly, your way of thinking is still so sordid. Austere Prince wishes to get familiar with Consort Yao only out of familial affection. He harbors none of Eunuch An's suggested dirty intentions. Of course, King Chu can reject this. However, Austere Prince has said that if he cannot stay in Guan Osprey Palace, he will not enter the city tomorrow and will directly turn back to return to Shu." Huangfu Junxiu's expression was gentle but the meaning contained within his words were colder than the winter wind. These words were enough to make An Bingshan's face turn red with anger.
"Forget it. Since Austere Prince cherishes his friendship with Moxin so much, we will allow it. As for the ice silk garment, we don't understand. Since it belongs to Austere Prince, why would it appear in the burnt down east wing?"
In Ye Hongyi's eyes, Chu Moxin's action was to pick fault and start a war. Due to the recent disturbances, now really wasn't (??) the best time to have a war with Great Shu. So if it was something that could be tolerated, he would do his best to tolerate it. This was also the reason why he gave Ye Junqing full authority over how to welcome Chu Moxin. That way, if Chu Moxin does find a reason to start a war, the blame would be on Ye Junqing.
"If it were not for the ice silk garment, how could Esteemed Prince have slept so soundly? Austere Prince's meaning is that, it seems inappropriate for Esteemed Prince to live in Guan Osprey Palace so he went through the trouble of coming up with this method to encourage Esteemed Prince to find another place to live." Huangfu Junxiu showed no intention of hiding things and straightforwardly admitted to starting the fire.
"So it was like this…" Ye Hongyi was internally boiling from anger. If it was possible, he really wanted to kill this arrogant Huangfu Junxiu right now, then send someone to assassinate Chu Moxin before sending troops to Shu to behead Chu Mobei! However, he didn't have that ability.
As Yao Mowan stood next to Ye Hongyi, she felt a large sweat drop appear on the back of her head. Reality has shown that these years hadn't turned Chu Moxin into a decent nobleman at all. On the contrary, he was even more wicked now. From the looks of it, he was even showing signs of surpassing his predecessor.
After Huangfu Junxiu left, Ye Hongyi ordered An Bingshan to immediately set up a new luxurious wing over the ruins of the east wing and he instructed for it to be completed before Chu Moxin arrived. This action probably counted as a silent protest. Wasn't Chu Moxin so amazing as to have the nerve to fully burn down the building? Then he should just burn it one more time! In any case, the person living inside was Ye Junqing so the building burning down wouldn't cause him any harm.
That night at dinner when Ye Junqing woke up and found out everything that happened, he angrily slammed his fist on the table and the beautiful, antique, pear blossom table surface immediately cracked in two.
"In reality, Chu Moxin wasn't too mean. At the very least, he lent his ice silk garment to Prince. Otherwise, Prince wouldn't even have the strength to destroy our dinner table right now. Ting Yue, have someone bring another table over." Yao Mowan completely understood Ye Junqing's current indignation. If it had happened to her, she probably wouldn't have stopped before tearing the house down.
"He's clearly humiliating this prince! Back then, he had used this method to embarrass this prince and now he's using it again! And this prince had actually fallen for it again!" Ye Junqing couldn't believe it. How in the world did he end up getting drugged again?
"The trick isn't anything new, but back then it was on great Shu's territory. This time it was in Guan Osprey Palace." Yao Mowan cruelly reminded Ye Junqing of this fact.
"So you're saying that this prince has gotten weak?! Hmph! Chu Moxin truly goes too far. He had better not let this prince see him or this prince will make him pay!" The veins on Ye Junqing's forehead bulged from anger and his eyes flickered with cold fury.
"Then prince will soon be able to make him pay. His Majesty has already ordered for the east wing to be rebuilt. It will be completed by tomorrow afternoon. For tonight, we'll have to trouble Fluffy to lend Prince some of her territory," said Yao Mowan lightly. In reality, she was also a little apprehensive. She was also unsure of Chu Moxin's motives in this visit.
"When dragons swim in shallow water, they may end up falling in the traps of prawn. When tigers fall from their territory, they may be bullied by dog. Has this prince already fallen to a point that this prince must fight with a cat for territory?" In this moment, Ye Junqing finally felt desolate like he had never felt before. Back then, when he was on the battlefield, everywhere he went, people looked towards him with admiration. As of now, not even the lazy seat warmer Fluffy was willing to even glance at him. How did he, Ye Junqing, end up falling to this point, how!?
"Fluffy's not an ordinary cat." Yao Mowan seemed to be consoling Ye Junqing.
"But it's still a cat!" Ye Junqing had no way of accepting this reality.
The next day at four in the afternoon, when the rumored Chu Moxin appeared outside Guan Osprey Palace, the main hall was already in an uproar.
"Mowan feels that Prince does not need to go so far," said Yao Mowan as she looked at Ye Junqing who was holding the flame soul blade.
"If he's willing to admit his errors, then this prince will consider sparing his life." Ye Junqing hadn't slept at all that night and had been eager to get into battle. Early this morning, he had headed back to his residence to get his favorite sword for the goal of intimidating Chu Moxin. The chances of him setting down his sword now were close to zero. Since Yao Mowan couldn't stop him, she decided to just see how things went. She understood Ye Junqing's personality too well. Since it was something regarding the relationship between the two nations, he probably wouldn't do anything that went too far. In addition, after what happened yesterday, Yao Mowan was concerned that Chu Moxin wouldn't resign to this fate.
__________Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Transcribed by Alicia
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