Chapter 82

As Chu Changge approached, he glared at the four of them, then raised his eyebrows and asked, “You don’t have anything better to do?”

“There is…” East Guardian spoke up under the pressure, “but this matter is the most important one.”

“Which one?” As soon as the words left his mouth, Chu Changge smiled, as he found himself sounding like Murong Yunshu at that moment. When he thought of the expression on her face before he left, the smile on his face intensified. He never thought that even a calm person like her would be at a loss for words.

The four men South, East, West and North originally did not know how to answer his question, and now that they saw him smiling, they were even more terrified.

This didn’t make sense! When a person was in a good mood after having enough to eat and drink, shouldn’t that person look pleasing in the eye of others? How came Leader turned contrary to everyone else…

“Leader.” North Guardian opened his mouth and stuttered, “You…” He originally wanted to continue with ‘are you alright’, but as soon as his eyes fell on Chu Changge’s gentle, uncharacteristic smile, he immediately changed his words, “You look so handsome today.”

“Is that so?” Chu Changge raised his eyebrows, and then he smiled again, “It’s probably because people will surely be in high spirits when they are involved in their own happy events[+]Chinese proverbs : when people experience happy events, they grow free of worry which become visible even from their appearance.”

The Four Great Guardians immediately breathed out a sigh of relief. It was really not their illusion. Happy event truly happened.

“The Old Lady will be very happy to know that the Leader is in high spirits.” North Guardian commented.

The corners of the mouths of the other three East, North and South trembled slightly as they glared fiercely at North Guardian. No one will take you for a mute even if you don’t speak for once…

Chu Changge narrowed his eyes and asked with a smile, “Who is in high spirits?”

North Guardian suddenly realised that he had just said the wrong thing and immediately corrected himself, “It seems like a happy event has happened to Leader.” After seeing the smile returning on Leader’s face, he finally understood why there was a saying that the spring breeze was like scissor[+]from a poem called 咏柳 [An Ode to a Willow Tree] by He Zhizhang. Though it was supposed to be romantic, North Guardian used it literally. 🤣…

Chu Changge smilingly said, “I never know that you can be funny. Come, make me laugh one more time.”

South, East and West faces were full of black lines. Did Madam give the Leader some medicine that he shouldn’t take…

On the other hand, North Guardian shrank his neck with a fearful expression and carefully said, “It’s too difficult to be funny, but I can smile at once.” After saying that, he really grinned at Chu Changge.

South, East and West let out a hearty laugh. It seemed like the Leader was not the only one who had eaten the wrong medicine…

“You should cry.” Chu Changge said, “Maybe you will look much better when you cry.”

Did this mean that his smile made him look worse than when he cried? North Guardian felt that he had just suffered an unprecedented blow.

At that moment, the nine concubines came rushing in, with Lu-er trotting after them.

“You…” the eldest Madam pointed at Chu Changge’s nose and was about to scold him. However, when she suddenly met his harsh gaze, her temper dropped an octave. “You, what have you done to Yunshu?” Her tone was weak, not the least bit like she had come to violently criticise Chu Changge for his crime. It even had the aggravation of an aggrieved daughter-in-law, and here, it became an aggravated mother-in-law.

Chu Changge only gave the mothers-in-law a faint sweeping glance, then said to Lu-er, “Go and boil some hot water.”

Lu-er asked straightforwardly what the hot water was for. Then, Guye[+]son-in-law [used by wife’s family] Daren[+]title of respect toward superiors, who possessed the most remarkable abilities among them, relieved her from her confusion, “To bathe your family Miss.”

At these words, the faces of all the ladies in the room immediately turned pale.

Bath…bathing early in the morning…

The more they thought about it, the paler their faces became. Then they lifted their feet and rushed into Murong Yunshu’s boudoir.

Chu Changge slightly drawn up the corners of his mouth and walked briskly out of the courtyard.

As soon as Leader Daren[+]title of respect toward superiors left, the Four Great Guardians began to discuss enthusiastically.

“I bet that Little Leader has not yet been created.” East Guardian speculated.

South Guardian nodded in agreement, “I seriously agree.”

“It also appeared that it had been done in haste anyway.” West Guardian pointed out.

It was rare for North Guardian to be silent, and evenmore with a deep look on his face.

East, South and West were all surprised that this man who usually scrambled to speak was now silent. They thought he was thinking of something important, thus they asked him a question. “Lil North, when do you think the lonely soul of Little Leader will be born?” It was West Guardian who asked this question.

North Guardian pondered for a long while longer before he mumbled, “Why doesn’t the Leader himself take a bath?”

“……”

“……”

“……”

The above were the inner voices of East, South and West.

*

When the nine concubines and Lu-er rushed into the room, Murong Yunshu was sitting in front of the dressing table with disheveled hair, ready to comb her hair. She looked up through the bronze mirror and faintly looked at a group of people who suddenly rushed in. She found that Lu-er was among them, and said, “Come and comb my hair.”

Lu-er stared blankly for a moment. Then she rushed forward at top speed, and slowly picked up the comb. She wanted to say something but hesitated.

Suddenly, the eldest Madam cried out sorrowfully, “Oh Master! I have let you down…” and then she whimpered.

Murong Yunshu was about to ask the eldest concubine what she was so sad about. But before she could say anything, the other eight concubines all cried out, while saying that they had let her father down.

What kind of drama is this? Murong Yunshu looked at them expressionlessly for a moment before she indifferently said, “It’s a little too early to cry in mourning for me.”

The nine people stopped crying and looked at each other. Uhm, they weren’t crying in mourning for her, were they? After a few seconds, they suddenly burst into tears again. “A woman whose innocence has been ruined, what is the difference between that and death? Might as well count it as death. My poor child, this is all Mother’s fault…”

The more Murong Yunshu listened, the more baffled she became. From where did they hear these absurd words?

By this time, Lu-er had already combed her hair. “Miss, I will go and boil hot water for you.”

Murong Yunshu raised her eyebrows. “Don’t kill the pig[+]the Chinese way of saying ‘humour me’. Originally from the phrase ‘Zeng Zi slaughter the pig’ yet, tell me what are you going to do with the hot water?”

“…Guye[+]son-in-law [used by wife’s family]’s order,” answered Lu-er.

Did Chu Changge order this? What did he tell Lu-er to boil hot water for?

Suddenly, remembering those baffling words coming from the concubines’ mouths, Murong Yunshu abruptly realised that they thought her innocence had been ruined by Chu Changge…

Ruined…

Murong Yunshu suddenly snorted with laughter. If Chu Changge knew that the concubines used the word ‘ruin’ to describe his ‘beastly’ behaviour, she wondered how would he feel.

“Miss, what are you laughing at? Could it be that you have not being forced?” Lu-er asked bafflingly.

Forced?

Murong Yunshu smiled, “He did try to force me, but I would rather die than give in.” As the saying went, it was impolite not to reciprocate[+]one should return as good as one receives. Since Chu Changge wished to be misunderstood by others by making them believe they just had an improper relationship, then she would fulfill his wish. Let him be the improper one.

When everyone heard that she would rather die than give in, they all breathed out a sigh of relief. The look on their faces was akin to how one would be relief at finding that all the silver notes were still in one’s arms after one’s bag had been robbed.

“Is there anything else?” Murong Yunshu asked indifferently.

“No more.”

The mistreated stepmothers tactfully withdrew from Murong Yunshu’s boudoir one after the one. Just as they walked through the door, they saw a fiery red figure from the distance rushing towards them with the speed of lightning. The crowd immediately retreated to the sides to make way for the fiery red figure.

“Second sister, I heard that you were almost molested by a beast?” Before the words left her mouth, Bewitching Fairy Yue, dressed in flaming red, was already standing three meters in front of Murong Yunshu with a face of indignation. It was as if she would kill that beast for Murong Yunshu as long as Murong Yunshu nodded her head.

“Well, coincidentally, the beast who tried to molest me happens to have the same name as your son.” Murong Yunshu said unsavouryly.

In an instant, Bewitching Fairy Yue’s expression became stiff. Why didn’t the four good-for-nothing tell her that the beast was her son…

Murong Yunshu added, “You are now the beast’s mother, so it’s better for you to stay away from me. Otherwise, I’ll have a shadow in my heart.”

The beast’s mother…Bewitching Fairy Yue’s flowery face distorted. “In fact, he and I, have long severed our relationship as mother and son.”

“…” Everyone began to sympathise with Chu Changge.

Murong Yunshu, on the other hand, looked at Bewitching Fairy Yue with an expressionless face. Only after a few seconds had passed did she say, “Then let us also sever our sisterly bond.”

Bewitching Fairy Yue looked puzzled, “Why?”

“One less meal, one less expense,” replied Murong Yunshu.

“…” It was not like she ate that much.

Murong Yunshu added, “You are now no longer a family friend of the people in the house. So if you want to continue to stay here for food and lodging, you need to pay for the room. You can ask Chief Steward Qian exactly how much you need to pay.”

Bewitching Fairy Yue’s forehead twitched, with her face full of black lines. She finally knew the secret of how Murong Mansion’s got its wealth…

*

After the morning’s furore, word of Murong Yunshu being ‘molested’ by Chu Changge had spread throughout Murong Mansion, which eventually reached Chu Changge’s ears.

To Murong Yunshu’s surprise, Chu Changge was quite bothered by this rumour. His dashing eyebrows had been frowning from the moment he sat opposite her. “Isn’t this exactly the result you want?” From beginning to the end, this rumour was all his doing. She just lent a hand in pushing the wave and adding to the billows[+]Chinese idiom : encourage sth to get bigger.

“Of course not.” Chu Changge frowned and thought again before saying, “How can being flirted by a handsome, suave and elegant man like me be considered molested? Bestowing favour is more like it.”

…turned out, all that he cared about was just the usage of words. As expected…truly the style of Mojiao Sect leader.

Murong Yunshu restrained her facial muscles from twitching as she put down a white piece on the qipan[+]chinese chess board, “Your turn.”

Without even looking at the progress of the game on the qipan, Chu Changge casually put down a black piece and muttered, “Why do I feel like the spring this time is very long…”

Murong Yunshu’s heart stirred and her hand shook slightly before she slowly placed the jiangqi[+]originally called xiangqi/ lit. general chess/Chinese chess a.k.a shogi [Japanese term]. Equivalent to Western Chess. I don’t know why the Author didn’t just use the term xiangqi when jiangqi was a term specially for Japanese Chess, and the rules for both games are slightly different. Eh, well 🤷. I need somebody to clarify this for me. I’m😵. piece on the board and said, as if unintentionally, “Spring has only just begun.”

Chu Changge’s raised hand stopped in mid air. When Murong Yunshu noticed his hand still lingered in the air, she raised her eyes to look at him. Unexpectedly, he was also looking at her, and their eyes collided.

Murong Yunshu felt a sense of panic in heart and she was about to avert her eyes when she heard him cry out in pain with his left eye suddenly closed.

“What’s wrong?” Murong Yunshu asked worriedly.

“Sand got into my eye.” Chu Changge said sullenly. From his unhappy tone, it seemed like he wanted to destroy the nine generations of the sand’s family.

Murong Yunshu chuckled and said, “Don’t move. I will blow it out for you.”

Chu Changge cooperated by tilting his head slightly, then slowly opened his closed eyes.

Murong Yunshu tenderly used her thumb and forefinger to tug open his eyelids in order to get a better look. “There’s nothin…” Before the words ‘nothing’ could be fully uttered, she felt a hot breath hit her face, and with it, came a pair of hot lips, catching her lips off guard with rueful enthusiasm that overturned her sanity.

The spring breeze was still whistling and rustling in her ears, but Murong Yunshu couldn’t hear anything. Only a face belonging to a certain person remained in her eyes and mind.

“Close your eyes.”

Chu Changge commanded under his breath. His strong and gentle tone seemed to have a magic power, drawing Murong Yunshu’s soul which was currently unable to think of anything.