Translator: Jalyss
Proofreader: Odyssey
Chapter 61 – Ice Lord’s Birthday (part 2)
The people were different from court officials, who didn’t dare to discuss Feng Ming’s private affairs out loud. In addition, the two people in the rumour weren’t in the capital. So, in less than a day, the entire capital was talking about the ambiguous affairs between His Excellency, The Ice Lord and the so-called Young Master Yue.
It was rumoured that His Excellency, The Ice Lord kissing a man was absolutely true. Rumours of His Excellency, The Ice Lord running to Hong Xiang Pavilion when he learned that the man had gone there were rampant. His Excellency, The Ice Lord then finally returned looking angry. Many people had witnessed this, so it was a fact, not a rumour.
Actually, there are many versions of the rumours. The women’s fragile hearts took a hit when they heard that His Excellency, The Ice Lord, whom they admired so much, liked a man.
In short, this legendary Young Master Yue was liked by His Excellency, The Ice Lord instantly became popular, but n.o.body knew who he was. Hong Xiang Pavilion had said that this Young Master Yue had the appearance of a fairy, but they didn’t know anything else.
“Why did the young miss not take this servant along?” Mu Qiu looked at the young lady wearing men’s clothing. She also wanted to leave the house. Recently, the young miss always goes out alone and comes back late. She was curious as to why the young miss went out.
“Little Qiu Qiu, get ready for lunch. Prepare some of my favourite dishes,” commanded Bai Xi as she walked. Four hours should be enough for her to go back and return. She would be just in time for breakfast where she could celebrate a little.
Just because her two hundred and fifty thousand silver taels were taken didn’t mean she couldn’t win another two hundred and fifty thousand silver taels back. This time she didn’t go out as Young Master Yue and just put on men’s clothing. She knew that Yue Hua was the talk of the town due to the relationship with Feng Ming.
“Why is the young miss heading out again? Is the young miss going to look for Young Master Yue? She didn’t believe the rumour that the incoming master would like men, but the young miss didn’t seem to believe the incoming master. She remembered the young miss’s face after she returned yesterday. The young miss’s complexion had been bad and she had been cursing the incoming master.
“Nothing.”
“That is…”
“If someone comes looking for me, say I’m still sleeping.” After Bai Xi patted Mu Qiu’s shoulder, she started to leave.
“Yes, young miss.”
Bai Xi used her martial arts to disappear from Mu Qiu’s sight. Not long after she left, Qing Wu quietly appeared in Xi Yuan and looked for Mu Qiu.
After Bai Xi left the Bai mansion, she did not immediately rush to Ju Cai Zhuang. Instead, she found a beggar in the city and gave the beggar a few portraits she had prepared beforehand. After a few instructions, she gave a hundred liang and then made her way to Ju Cai Zhuang.
However, when she arrived at Ju Cai Zhuang, she saw that the gate was closed. Was it not open yet? No, she remembered that it was open for business at the same time yesterday, so why was it now…
Suddenly, she overheard a conversation between three people, making her understand why.
“Strange, why isn’t Ju Cai Zhuang open for business today?”
“It isn’t just Ju Cai Zhuang. None of the gambling houses in the capital are open. They don’t dare to open.”
“Huh? That’s weird. All the gambling houses? What happened?”
“Didn’t you know? His Excellency, The Ice Lord sent someone to each gambling house yesterday to order that no gambling house can be open for business as of today, otherwise they will take it as going against the Feng family. Who would dare to oppose the Feng family?”
“Wow… His Excellency, The Ice Lord is…”
“Why did His Excellency, The Ice Lord do this? Even Ju Cai Zhuang, which is run by the Feng family, is closed. What’s going on?”
“n.o.body knows. I only know that all the gambling houses in the capital are afraid to open their doors to do business without His Excellency, The Ice Lord’s instructions. They don’t want to go against the Feng family.”
“I thought that today would be my lucky day. I wanted to try my luck at the casino. What the h.e.l.l. I can’t even go in.”
“Yeah, here was good. Now, there isn’t a place to play.”
“We’ll bear with it. It’s important to keep your life.”
Bai Xi walked away, her expression becoming uglier. She took a deep breath, and then another. All the gambling houses were closed. Okay, very good. This move was ruthless.
Since the gambling house was closed, Bai Xi wasn’t in the mood to stay on the streets. Less than 2 hours later, she returned to Xi Yuan. When she just returned to Xi Yuan, she heard something that made her angry once more.
“Little Xiang, I heard you have a partner?”
“Eh? You… How do you know?”
“Don’t worry about how I know. How did you meet him?” This tone was full of curiosity. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
Although their voices were quiet, Bai Xi could still hear it clearly.
The servant who had been called Little Xiang turned red, but she couldn’t hide her happiness. “It was actually on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival.”
“Eh?”
“Didn’t we sneak out of the house that day to steal from the vegetable garden next door?”
“Ah, yeah, I remember. We were almost caught that time. It scared me to death.”
“Actually, after we came back that day, I found that my sachet had gone missing. So, I went back secretly. It was then I ran into him, and then…”
“Oh, so it’s like this. When Lian Hua (a servant of the palace) told me, I didn’t believe it. But that’s good. You found your ideal husband. Where is mine? Ahh…”
“So it was Lian Hua. A-Yun, don’t worry. Old Yue will definitely match a red string for you because we all stole the vegetables during the Mid-Autumn Festival.”
“Mm, I hope so.”
“Why are you talking about stealing vegetables?” Bai Xi asked as she appeared.
“Ah! Young… Young Miss!”
“Young Miss, forgive this servant! This servant didn’t mean to be lazy here!”
“You just said that you stole vegetables during the Mid-Autumn Festival?” She felt like she had been fooled; she had been cheated for so long.
“Yeah?”
“Explain.”
“Just… That is… On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, as long as an unmarried girl can steal vegetables or green onions from another vegetable garden, they can ask for a favour,” Little Yun said anxiously.
Bai Xi frowned.
Little Xiang saw this and said anxiously, “Young Miss, there is a custom like that. If you can steal green onions, then you will marry a good man. If you steal vegetables, then you’ll marry a good husband.”
“Then if you steal the vegetables or green onions, does the other party need to know?”
“Eh? If the owner of the vegetable garden curses at you, then you’ll be lucky. If the owner is the sweetheart of the thief, and the owner knows, then that means… that is… Teasing. That is definitely teasing.”
Bai Xi didn’t say anything after hearing those words. She turned and walked towards the front yard, but the aura on her body scared people, and they didn’t want to approach her.
Good, very good. She recalled that she was asked to go to his backyard and take the green onions in the middle of the night. It wasn’t that he had lost his mind, but she had. She actually listened to him and ran to his backyard to steal the onions. Teasing? At that time, what kind of sentiment was that supposed to be?
“Eh? Young Miss? Why is the young miss back so soon?” Mu Qiu was about to go to the kitchen and prepare her favourite dishes for lunch when the young miss suddenly came back. Based on the previous outings, the young miss would only come back after two hours, right?
Bai Xi didn’t seem to hear Mu Qiu’s words and walked to her room.
Mu Qiu rushed forward and said softly, “Young Miss, A-Wu said that the seventh of next month is His Excellency, The Ice Lord’s birthday. What will the young miss give to His Excellency, The Ice Lord?”
A-Wu told her a lot. Sure enough, the rumours were all false. She knew that Young Master Yue also liked the young miss, but she had never seen Young Master Yue.
Bai Xi paused. “A gift?”
“Yeah! A-Wu said that, before His Excellency, The Ice Lord left the capital, he specifically asked A-Wu to tell the young miss, so the young miss must not forget His Excellency, The Ice Lord’s birthday.” Mu Qiu nodded obediently and didn’t notice the chill in her young miss’s eyes.
A loud noise sounded, and the ground shook.
The loud noise not only frightened Mu Qiu, but also all the servants of Xi Yuan. Even the other courtyards in the Bai mansion heard the loud noise. They ran out of their rooms or stopped what they were doing. Bai Lin, who had rushed to Xi Yuan, had been scared and fell on the ground.
Bai Lin had appeared near Xi Yuan because, after she had heard the rumours in the capital, she had rushed over. She was right. How could His Excellency, The Ice Lord have something to do with that ugly girl? She was almost frightened by older sister Yang’s words. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late.
Actually, her purpose in coming to Xi Yuan wasn’t just to determine if the rumours were true, but to also see how depressed the ugly woman was now. Although she didn’t believe what older sister Yang had said, there was a saying where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Additionally, it was rumoured the His Excellency, The Ice Lord had appeared in the mansion a few days ago and even left with that ugly girl. That was why she deliberately made this trip.
However, before she could reach Xi Yuan, she heard a loud noise followed by angry curses. “d.a.m.n man! He wants a gift? What the h.e.l.l!”
Immediately after, she heard the loud bang again and sped up, insanely curious. But, she didn’t expect to see such a picture when she was en-route to Xi Yuan.
The ground in Xi Yuan was full of broken branches. There was a big tree that had been cut and was on the ground. Leaves were scattered all over the yard. It was like a battlefield. Did that woman do all of this?
If so, when did she become so powerful? If not, then who was it since n.o.body in Xi Yuan had this kind of power.
“Eh? Third young miss?” Mu Qiu spotted Bai Lin standing at the front door of the courtyard.
Bai Lin turned and walked out without raising her head. She staggered. She worried that in the next moment she would suffer a tragic fate like that big tree.
“Young miss, the third young miss has gone.” It was strange that the third young miss came to Xi Yuan today, but why did she suddenly leave?
“For the next while, no matter who comes, turn them away.” Bai Xi walked into her room after she finished giving instructions.
“Eh?” Mu Qiu stood there blankly as she looked at the messy yard in front of her, dumbfounded. What was wrong with the young miss? Was she angry? But didn’t the young miss know that the rumours were false?
After, a lot of people came to Xi Yuan. Some of them were from Bai Chong Yuan, some from Bai Jin Hang, and some from Zhang Shu Yi, but they were all sent away by Mu Qiu. As for those who saw the debris in the courtyard, Mu Qiu covered it up.
At The Other End
A black carriage was parked by the river. The horse was quietly eating gra.s.s as a white crescent figure was standing next to the river and facing the wind. His gold eyes were fixed on the cloudless sky.
Suddenly, Feng Ming sensed something and turned around abruptly, his golden eyes looking in the direction of the capital.
“Master.”
“Qing Yun, do you think she will be angry?” Gold eyes looked at the horse eating gra.s.s and the corners of his mouth twitched upwards. His eyes flashed with a smile.
Qing Yun was startled. He naturally knew who the master was talking about, but this was the first time he heard his master ask such a thing, and about a woman to boot. But, since that time, he shouldn’t be surprised by this anymore.
“Why does Master provoke Young Miss Bai Xi?” Doesn’t his master like Young Miss Bai Xi? Why would he provoke her? Is his master afraid that Young Miss Bai Xi won’t pay attention to him? It was difficult to guess his master’s thoughts.
Feng Ming looked up and smiled. His tone was not as indifferent as before. “Qing Yun, when will you get married?”
“Ah?” Qing Yun looked up at his master abruptly, his eyes full of surprise.
“If you have a woman, you need to be responsible for her.”
“Ma… Mas…” Qing Yun was speechless. How did his master know about this?
“Okay, it has been decided. When you go back, you will send betrothal gifts. As for the bride price, I will have someone arrange everything.” After Feng Ming finished speaking, he got into the carriage.
Qing Yun was dazed for a while. His master arranged the marriage like this? But… he didn’t even know who the woman was. He didn’t even know what she looked like. He only knew there was a flower-like birthmark on her back. How will he send betrothal gifts? How was he going to get a wife?
Soon, he returned to his senses and continued to drive on the road.
Xi Yuan
After Bai Xi unleashed her anger by destroying the tree in the courtyard, she returned to her room. She didn’t immediately fall asleep. Instead, she copied the scriptures seriously rather than swearing and smashing the furnishings in her house.
She didn’t know how long she copied for or how many copies she made. She only knew that her anger had been extinguished. When her heart was calm, she put down the brush in her hand. That man was right, copying scriptures could really calm a person down.
“Eh? Older brother?” As soon as Bai Xi put down the brush and stretched her waist, she saw Bai Yu Jie reading quietly in the room.
Bai Yu Jie raised his eyes to meet hers and said in a joking manner, “Hey, older brother has been sitting here all afternoon. It turns out that older brother is non-existent.”
“Older brother really likes to joke around.” Bai Xi moved to sit on a stool next to Bai Yu Jie, and the latter poured a gla.s.s of water for her.
“Not angry anymore?” As soon as he returned to the mansion in the afternoon, he heard that Xi’r had destroyed the tree in the yard. He was told that it was for martial arts training, but he knew that this was not the case. Sure enough, when he saw the destroyed tree, he knew that he was right.
“Older brother really likes to joke. How could I be angry?” She was really not angry anymore. After she used her internal force to destroy the tree outside, most of her anger had disappeared. Plus, she copied two scriptures in a row, so of course her anger was gone.
But, strangely… When did her tolerance become so poor? No, towards Feng Ming she had weak everything.
“Xi’r, you don’t have to lie to your older brother. Did the rumours make you angry?” He clearly remembered Feng Ming admitting that Xi’r was his woman. It had only been a few days and now there was such trouble outside. Those rumours were well-founded and weren’t an organised plot by someone.
“No.”
“Stupid.” Bai Yu Jie touched Bai Xi’s head. “Did he bully you?”
“Older brother, it’s really nothing,” Bai Xi answered anxiously.
When Bai Yu Jie heard her words, he felt a bit of pain in his heart. It turned out that person had already made it into her heart. “Are you worried that older brother will find him and trouble him?”