Volume 3 Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Fierce Women
"Fine, I'll move aside! Is there a need to be that fierce!?" said Chu Moxin angrily, then he flung back his sleeves and went back to his own room. Behind them, Ye Junqing and Feng Yihan traded a look. Both of them silently agreed that approaching wasn't a good idea, so they turned and allowed the servants to lead them to their respective rooms.
Yao Mowan had just walked into her room when Huangfu Junxiu followed her in.
"This Shu subject, Huangfu Junxiu, kowtows in salute to Noble Consort Yao." When Yao Mowan saw that it was Huangfu Junxiu, she turned to look towards Ting Yue with an annoyed expression.
"Ting Yue, this consort doesn't know him, so please see the guest out!" Ting Yue knew that her master was just acting in a fit of pique, so she purposefully slowed down her walking pace to allow Huangfu Junxiu a chance to speak.
"Junxiu knows that Your Highness is angry, but Your Highness has misunderstood the little prince. The reason why the little prince ran away from the gambling house was because he didn't want Your Highness to see him in such a wretched state. After coming back from the gambling house, not only did the little prince immediately bathe, he insisted on putting the wet clothes back on and standing outside under the sun for four entire hours until the clothes were dried," said Huangfu Junxiu.
"Sir Huangfu, please." Ting Yue only extended her hand to gesture towards the door after Huangfu Junxiu got out the main points.
"Wait. Why did he put on the wet clothes and stand under the sun to dry them? He could've dried them over a fire?" Yao Mowan looked towards Huangfu Junxiu with puzzlement.
"Because Your Highness had personally made that outfit for him. The little prince knew that drying with fire would damage the color of that clothing's material, so he ended up using the dumbest method. Your Highness, the little prince truly does care about you," said Huangfu Junxiu earnestly.
It felt like something sharp had abruptly jabbed her heart, causing it to ache faintly with pain. Yao Mowan got up and looked towards Huangfu Junxiu.
"Lead the way!" When Huangfu Junxiu heard this, he naturally understood that Yao Mowan intended to go talk to his master, so he immediately turned around and started leading the way.
Outside the door, Yao Mowan took a deep breath before lifting her hand to knock on the door. However, before she had the chance to knock a second time, she heard the sound of something shattering come from inside.
"Scram! Don't bother this prince!" When Yao Mowan heard Chu Moxin's irascible shout, she smiled helplessly. She never had a chance to raise Zhong er, so she didn't understand what the bond between a mother and her child was like. That was why she never imagined that she held such an important place in Chu Moxin's heart.
"Little Prince, Noble Consort Yao of great Chu has come to see you," reported Huangfu Junxiu in a low voice awkwardly. The moment Huangfu Junxiu said that, the room abruptly fell silent. However, after a few moments, the door was suddenly opened. Chu Moxin shot Huangfu Junxiu a blaming glare for not saying this earlier.
"What? You still don't plan to acknowledge this consort?" Yao Mowan's lips were curved in an amused smile.
"Who isn't acknowledging you? You were clearly the one refusing to acknowledge this prince…" refuted Chu Moxin as he turned to walk into the room. Yao Mowan followed him inside. She noticed that there was a puddle of water on the ground, but there was no broken porcelain. During that brief period of silence earlier, Chu Moxin had probably been cleaning up those shards.
Yao Mowan's guess was confirmed when she saw Chu Moxin's bleeding finger.
"Why weren't you more careful? Let this consort take a look!" Yao Mowan's brows furrowed and she reached out to take Chu Moxin's finger, but he dodged her grasp.
"This is nothing." Chu Moxin puffed out his chest as he said this proudly.
"I don't care if it's nothing! Let me see!" Yao Mowan strode over to him and, ignoring his protests, dragged him to a seat.
Fortunately there was gauze and gold wound powder in the room. Chu Moxin didn't dare to say a single word even after Yao Moxin finished bandaging his finger.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" Yao Mowan only realized that the room was completely silent after she finished this process and she looked towards Chu Moxin with lifted brows.
"How did I never realize how fierce you were? Men don't like fierce women, so you should be careful," said Chu Moxin seriously.
"…" Veins pulsed on Yao Mowan's forehead as her face filled with black lines again.
"So why did you come to Loulan?" Yao Mowan restrained the anger in her eyes to look towards Chu Moxin with slight puzzlement. Based on the secret envoy's report, it should've been Chu Mobei that came to Loulan. After all, would Chu Moxin, with this personality of his, really be able to contend against King Loulan, that old fox?
"Big Brother had me come." As Chu Moxin glanced down at the bandage wrapped around his finger, his eyes shone with happiness.
"Your big brother actually didn't come himself to handle such an important matter?" Yao Mowan frowned in confusion.
"You think that this prince isn't capable of handling important matters?" Chu Moxin immediately looked up again towards Yao Mowan angrily.
"Ahem… That's not what I meant," refuted Yao Mowan weakly.
"That's exactly what you mean! But Big Brother never said that there was something important here. He just said that women of Loulan look like fairies and told this prince to come see for himself. However, this prince doesn't feel like they're as good-looking as Big Brother claimed," grumbled Chu Moxin.
"Women…" Yao Mowan lowered her eyes thoughtfully as a realization hit her. Chu Mobei was counting his chickens before they were hatched. Whether this would actually succeed or not would truly depend on the Heavens.
That night, when Ben Lei came to the guest house to find Yao Mowan, he had the wonderful luck to encounter Ye Junqing who just happened to be pushing open the door to head out.
"Long time no see, busy person!" Ye Junqing's voice was very unfriendly as he look at Ben Lei who had just jumped down from the roof. Even though his relationship with Yao Mowan had improved, he still held a grudge about Ben Lei's betrayal.
"Prince? This subordinate kowtows in salute to Prince!" As Ben Lei spoke, Ye Junqing heard sounds so he commanded Ben Lei to enter his room and closed the door.
The colored glass candle holder on the jasper table flickered softly as wisps of incense drifted upwards. Ye Junqing lifted his brows as he looked at Ben Lei who was kneeling on the ground in front of him. His voice contained faint acridness as he said, "You've already taken off the armor and returned to the common life, so you're no longer this prince's subordinate and there's no need for you to stand on such ceremony."
"In Ben Lei's heart, Prince is forever Ben Lei's master!" Ben Lei knelt in front of Ye Junqing as he said this sincerely. He was very moved. He hadn't seen Master since the last time he had returned to the imperial city of Chu, so it had truly been a long time.
"This prince can't afford to accept this, unless… Unless you tell this prince what exactly Yao Mowan is trying to do? There's already quite a lot of iron mines in Linxi, so why is she still coveting Wake Mountain's mines? One cannot get fat with only one mouthful. How is she supposed to digest so many iron mines?" This was something that Ye Junqing had never been able to figure out an answer to.
"Since Ben Lei's kowtow is putting a lot of pressure on Prince, then excuse Ben Lei's lack of manners." Ye Junqing's questions were too tricky to handle, so Ben Lei had no choice but to get up and stand to the side respectfully.
"You…" Just as Ye Junqing was about to explode angrily, the door was suddenly pushed open and Yao Mowan leisurely walked in.
"There's no one in the world who's afraid of money biting their hands. Since Mowan has the ability to stock up on iron mines, Mowan also has the ability to find buyers. Prince, if you want to know something, you can just ask Mowan directly. Don't make things hard for Ben Lei." Yao Mowan glanced towards Ben Lei appreciatively. She was very satisfied with his performance.
"This prince has no interest in knowing!" Ye Junqing glared at Yao Mowan angrily.
"If Prince has no interest in knowing, please go take a walk outside. Mowan still has some things to discuss with Ben Lei," replied Yao Mowan without a pause.
"This is this prince's room!" reminded Ye Junqing with a glower.
"Qing Long and the others are nearby. It wouldn't be good if they saw Mowan walking around with Ben Lei in this guest house, right? Of course, if Prince is interested in Mowan's affairs, you can also choose to stay. Mowan doesn't mind." Yao Mowan didn't wait for Ye Junqing's answer and sat herself down by the table.
__________Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
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