CH 49

The general had morning court. She wasn’t willing to keep fighting.

Xia Yujin’s duties weren’t heavy and he didn’t need to attend court. Usually, if he could get by skipping work, he did, and relied on Chief Lao Yang for things to be done. The Emperor turned a blind eye to this, as long as he did not make a huge professional mistake and did not turn the city censorate into a singing hall or theater. And Chief Lao Yang could only shakily do his work, tears flowing down his face, to repay the “trust” the prince put in him. When he occasionally encountered trouble he couldn’t settle, he brandished the prince’s name and was able to pick up every troublemaker unimpeded.

That day, the prince was in a bad mood. As he’d done before, he didn’t go to the censorate, letting Chief Lao Yang and his subordinates handle work. He hid away in his blanket nest, contemplating his tactical failure.

It was embarrassing that his wife had pushed him down, but it was even more embarrassing that being pushed down had made him happy, aroused, satisfied… This could never happen again in the future. He had to maintain the positions — man above, woman below. He had to preserve his dignity as a man and his right as the master.

The main reason for his failure was his physical strength.

He didn’t know what Ye Zhao had eaten while growing up. With her brute force, she didn’t move when he pushed her, and the movements of her waist… her legs… he couldn’t afford to think about it anymore… anyway. Under those circumstances, counterattack was very difficult.

Xia Yujin finally reached a conclusion: in order to maintain harmony in bed, he must first exercise his physical strength.

Even if defeating Ye Zhao was an impossible feat, at least he couldn’t be too inferior to her. Then, whether he got her to pretend to be weak or made her give in when they rolled in the sheets, it would be almost the same. Then he would throw her down, do whatever he wanted to do on top, something satisfying and domineering…

“So good, it’ll be so good…” The more Xia Yujin thought about it, the hotter he felt.

Xishuai and Gutou looked at each other, each thinking that the look on their master’s face was weird and that he might be turning crazy.

To get stronger, he needed to learn martial arts.

Among all the officers at court, Ye Zhao’s martial arts skills were second to none.

Xia Yujin didn’t look too far for a teacher. He grabbed Ye Zhao and asked her to teach him herself, in accordance with his own aptitudes.

Even if Ye Zhao was an outstanding talent, she couldn’t guess the trivial reasons behind her husband’s wanting to learn martial arts, only that he wanted to improve his physical health. Overjoyed, she immediately dragged him into the garden before he changed his mind, taught him a few breathing techniques, lit a stick of incense, and let him start squatting.

“That’s it?” Xia Yujin thought she would have simpler and quicker cheats to learn martial arts.

“Learning martial arts is a gradual process, and you cannot be greedy for success.” Professor Ye put her hands behind her back and started the lesson. “Core and leg strength are key. Training in the Ye family starts at three years old and lasts for five or six shichens a day. There is no shortcut.”

She was a martial arts maniac. She’d been practicing to an insane degree since she was a child and she never gave it up even when going to war. Even now that she was busy with her work, she had to leave out one or two shichens to practice everyday. She slept and bathed in her training room, and didn’t bother to go out except to train with others.

Xia Yujin had no choice but to grit his teeth and train.

It was the end of spring, the summer solstice. The sun wasn’t very intense, the gardens were all bird song and fragrant flowers, with a small breeze. In less than half the time for an incense stick to burn, his back hurt and his legs had gone soft. He couldn’t hold the position anymore.

Ye Zhao, experienced, put a brazier under his ass.

He flinched badly but, remembering the previous night’s defeat, he gritted his teeth. Soon, he was covered in sweat and flushed with exertion.

Concubine Yang and the others had heard all about this arrangement earlier that morning. They all thought that the prince had failed the previous night and not satisfied the general. Now that he was diligently practicing core and leg strength, their wild guess came even closer to being true and they couldn’t help secretly worrying. For fear that the general blame the prince for his incompetence to satisfy her and use this as an excuse for divorce, they quickly sent someone to get some high-quality Hubian[1] wine, then asked the kitchens to serve kidney-boosting dishes such as pigeon breasts for every meal, so that his vigor improved as he served the general, to the benefit of all.

Meiniang and Xuan’er didn’t waste any opportunity to please. While the general was teaching the prince, they naturally happened to be carrying trays of fruit and desserts, hurrying to curry favor. They disdainfully glared at each other in the doorway, then rushed in, smiles sweeter than honey on their faces.

Xia Yujin watched his two concubines fawn over the general, peeling grapes and telling jokes, twittering around joyfully, while he was stuck crouching over the brazier. Extremely frustrated, he yelled, “Is this being proper?”

Qiu Hua, who was standing at his side and overseeing him, tried a peculiar way of comforting him. “Don’t get angry, Your Highness. You’re still so weak, so be careful or you’ll land in the brazier. Those clothes are made of excellent silk brocade, they’re very expensive.”

“Ai,” Qiu Shui sighed sympathetically, “the general is too strict with you. How can you master the same amount of practice as Ye Nianbei? You’ll have to cut it out by half and then again.”

Ye Nianbei was six years old this year.

Xia Yujin was comforted so well he wanted to sit in the brazier.

Ye Zhao quickly stopped the fun and sternly told the two concubines, “Hurry up and attend to your master while he trains!”

Meiniang and Xuan’er sweetly answered and ran to Xia Yujin’s side; one of them opened a mottled-bamboo fan, fanning him with a fragrant breeze, and the other took out an embroidered handkerchief, wiping the sweat on his forehead.

“Keep going,” Meiniang said, cheering him on, “there’s less than half an incense stick left. When it’s over, I’ll massage your legs.”

“The stick is about to burn out,” Xuan’er also encouraged him, “hold on a bit and it’ll be over. If you’re really bored, I could… tell you some jokes, Your Highness?”

Xia Yujin exhaled with great difficulty, almost undone by that ridiculous jokester.

Ye Zhao simply squatted at his side, watching his flushed face, once again thinking about what had happened the previous night and how cute he looked.

There she was, in a great mood, when a maid came in to announce, “General, here is a letter from your lord uncle.”

Ye Zhao’s mother’s maiden name was Liu. They were a military family, and General Liu, stationed at Jiaxing Pass, was Ye Zhao’s eldest uncle.

Since the Ye family was almost annihilated and her uncle thought she was the last son of the family, he took care of her during the Man Jin war. After the war ended, he started thinking about marriage and children for her, to keep the Ye bloodline going; it was only after he’d started looking for potential candidates that he learned that she was a woman. He became so angry that he almost chased her out of the house with a wolf-tooth mace to kill that deceitful, wayward nice of his. The Northern Desert army only appeared stable and united. He didn’t dare act rashly, but he spent everyday worried and on edge, unable to sleep easily, his hair turning white. It wasn’t until the Emperor issued his pardon that he was able to breathe a sigh of relief. Ye Zhao owed him a lot.

Generals weren’t very cultured, so the most delicate parts of the letter were handled by the military advisors.

In his letter, he mentioned being troubled by small groups of the Eastern Xia forces lingering near the border. Now that he’d learned of the unusual happenings in the capital, he’d rather be overly cautious than taken by surprise. Following Ye Zhao’s word, his troops had been heavily armed, the walls had been rebuilt, and Jiaxing Pass had become an impenetrable natural stronghold. The Eastern Xia barbarians would go through once, but not twice.

At the bottom of the letter was a note written in his own hand in a trembling scrawl: As a woman, you must be virtuous, tolerate what you can, and not call for violence or death at every turn, like your mother who would chase her own family with a blade for ten li. You’ve married into the imperial family, so don’t think about getting divorced and coming back home. If he wants a divorce, beat him up first, then think of a way to get the Emperor to separate you. It’ll be easier to remarry in the future — and after you’ve read this letter, burn it. Don’t show it to your husband. As for what you said in your letter about repayment: no need. In a while, your ninth cousin Xiyin will arrive in the capital. Let her stay with you and take that time to find her a match. It doesn’t matter if the family’s of low status, but the man’s character must be good.

Xia Yujin stuck his tongue out, panting heavily, bending forward next to her. “I saw it,” he said darkly.

How could an uncle encourage his niece to beat her husband?

Sure enough — like did not attract like when it came to marriage. They were all so fucking irritating.

Ye Zhao was in a very good mood. She read the letter over and over, her mouth curling up with a smile she couldn’t repress. “Sister Xiyin is coming,” she said, and then repeatedly told the maid, “Get the staff to clean a guest room for my young cousin, next to my courtyard.”

Being ignored worsened Xia Yujin’s mood. “You have so many cousins. Do you get along well?”

“She’s a distant relative from my uncle’s side of the family, not a first cousin.”

Xuan’er, not waiting for Xia Yujin to speak, was the first to ask the important question: “Is she pretty?”

Meiniang coldly stared at her, thinking that this silly girl really was too dense. Looking meaningfully at her, she said, “No matter how pretty she is, can she be as beautiful as our prince?”

“His Highness loves beautiful women,” Xuan’er whispered in her ears, leaning close. “If he falls in love with the general’s cousin and marries her, she’ll be favored by the two of them. Then where will we stand?”

Feeling that she was getting denser and denser, Meiniang explained, gesticulating, “Stupid, if she really is a beautiful woman with both integrity and talent, will it still be necessary to try to have a position in this house?”

“She’s delicate and pretty, very slim,” Ye Zhao replied after being lost in her memories for a long time. “Not ugly.”

The concubines were all relieved.

“She’s not like you, right?” Xia Yujin asked uneasily. “Let me be clear: if she’s too rough, I’ll kick her out to another courtyard.”

Ye Zhao gave it some thought, then shook her head. “She’s a bit reserved, likes to cry and is easily shy, but she’s not violent.”

Now everyone was relieved.

We’re entering the novel’s second main storyline! Things are about to get a little more plotty, though Xia Yujin and Ye Zhao’s relationship will still be very much one of the driving story arcs.

[1 ↑] Lit. 虎鞭泡酒hǔ biān pào jiǔ, tiger’s dick-infused wine! We’ve upgraded!