CH 35

Chapter 35: Enthusiasm at the Mid-Autumn Festival (part 3)

The corners of Bai Xi’s mouth curve upwards. It seemed that she had found the right person. Maybe this old man could help her move the large stone away. “Old man, it seems like you want to ask me something?”

“Girl, this old man hasn’t asked you anything yet. This book originally belongs to the Feng family and now it appears in your hands. For the Feng family’s young master can give you this with ease… Is it possible that this old man is wrong? Did you steal this? Girl, it’s not that this old man looks down on you. It is just that, with your ability, you should not be able to get within three steps of the Feng family’s young master. It is impossible,” Bai Chong Yuan said bluntly. It was not that he wanted to look down on her, but it was the truth.

“You’re looking down on me? Really, damn old man?” Although she said that, he was actually right. Compared to Feng Ming, she was weak. However, she learned something from the old man – that the book belonged to the Feng family. Since that was the case, why did he give the book to her? And to have to memorise the contents in one day? Besides, how did he know that the other three books would be with her? Was it a coincidence, or…

“Then, do you think that it is worth praising this old man?” Bai Chong Yuan had gotten used to Bai Xi’s manner of speaking and still liked it.

She actually didn’t have any praise for the old man. “Damn old man, you wish1! How about you tell me the origin of these three books? Furthermore, what kind of connections do they have with the Feng family?”

Bai Chong Yuan smiled and flipped the pages of the book. “Girl, have you understood the contents?”

“Mm.”

“And do you remember everything?”

“Yes.” What was this old man up to?

Bai Chong Yuan suddenly stopped turning the pages. “Since that is the case, these no longer need to exist in this world.” He threw the four books into the copper basin.

“Old man, you…” Bai Xi didn’t think that Bai Chong Yuan would do such a thing. She wanted to reclaim the books, but there was not enough time to do so. The moment the books were in the copper basin, the man had immediately set fire to them and the books went up in flames.

“Damn. Old. Man.” Bai Xi didn’t rush over to put out the fire; she just glared at Bai Chong Yuan. She knew that the brazier already had a lot of paraffin oil poured in it. Even if she wanted to extinguish the fire, the book inside was already burned to a crisp. There was no need for her to try and retrieve those books.

The old man’s actions were clearly deliberate. The moment she had taken out the book, he had already planned to do such a thing. The questions was, why?

“This old man did it to help you clear some space on the bookshelf. Besides, you remember the contents of those books, so you don’t need them. Don’t be angry with this old man, okay?” Bai Chong Yuan smiled cheekily.

Save space? Bai Xi’s lips twitched. This old man could really think of such an excuse.

“To make up for this old man’s actions, this old man will let you enter the palace to join in the lively Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations. How does that sound?”

“Not interested.2” She should’ve known that this old man wouldn’t tell her the truth. She sighed lightly and turned to leave.

“Girl, do you want to let Jie’r accompany you to the palace?”

It was a pity that his attempt to entice her didn’t succeed, so he had to walk in front of her to continue.

“The imperial palace celebrations for the Mid-Autumn Festival are very fun and lively. They also have good food and drink. More importantly, many of the most outstanding men in Xi Yue will be there.”

His words were still not able to stop Bai Xi from walking away.

“The Feng family’s young master will also be taking part in the Mid-Autumn banquet at the palace.” Finally, Bai Chong Yuan used his trump card. This one sentence did indeed cause Bai Xi to pause. However, she quickly resumed her pace and walked out of Mo Xuan Yuan.

Bai Chong Yuan did not continue speaking and let Bai Xi leave. However, he had a big smile on his face!

“Why doesn’t the old general explain things to the second young miss? Just one look and one can see that the second young miss is angry at the old general,” said a middle-aged man.

“This girl doesn’t have much patience.” Bai Chong Yuan looked at the ashes in the pot.

—

That day at the Mid-Autumn Festival

Bai Xi was very satisfied when she saw herself in the mirror. She wore a white dress, which was tied at the waist with a white damask silk belt. Above the tie was a white sheep fat jade pendant. Her hair was flowed like ink and revealed a fair white neck. Her lips were like rose petals. She had a small and graceful nose, and long eyelashes. Her eyes were clear and ephemeral, and her skin was crystal clear. Her face was impeccably perfect and she would be considered a typical beauty. No, a beautiful man.

Today she decided to go out with this kind of appearance. She wanted to see how they would find her and bring her to the palace for a marriage meeting3.

Bai Xi remembered that day after the old man returned, Little Qiu Qiu had told her that the madam had sent her a silk skirt and head ornaments for her to wear for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

These people were really quick. For them to say they were making it up to her for burning those books by letting her go to the palace to play and eat a big meal, it was obvious that they had been planning this for a long time. Besides, when the old man said that going to the palace would be a fun thing, she believed that he was saying that as a way to hide the fact that it was supposed to be a marriage meeting.

However, that old man had overestimated her. She was known as the ‘ugly girl’, so how can she go to the palace and catch the attention of those rich second and third generation kids4?

Bai Xi was once again satisfied when she looked at herself in the mirror. She then left quietly, lest she miss her chance.

She had explored every part of Xi Yuan as every corner had a hidden guard which was there to protect her. There wasn’t just one guard, there were quite a few. Did she really need this many people to guard her? However, there was one place that didn’t have concealed guards and was safe, and that was the area near the wall that separated her courtyard from Feng Ming’s Yue Luo Xuan.

Since there was nobody around, she wanted to take advantage of that to leave. After she quickly climbed over the wall, Bai Xi glanced at the open space in front of her before subconsciously looking over at the closed door. A split second later, the door opened, and a white figure appeared, a pair of gold eyes meeting her gaze.

1.Here it says ‘都被你饒了一圈了’, which roughly translates to ‘you spare a ring/circle’. I’m not too sure what this means, but I think her sentiment is more like ‘you wish!’?

2.(不稀罕) This translates to something like ‘don’t cherish’ or ‘not rare’. Not sure how to accurately translate this either.

3.(相親) this means more of when a person goes to a meeting and evaluates what kind of person their potential husband/wife is like, like seeing their finances/appearance/reputation sort of thing.

4.(富二代，富三代) the dictionary says that these terms mean ‘kids of entrepreneurs who became wealthy under some reforms back in the 1980s, so I presume she just meant rich kids.