Chapter 30

30 Bad girl. Do not do anything like this ever again Part II

“Why are you here?”

“What about you? Why are you here?”

“I’ve been helping the villagers here.”

“And I’m here to help the villagers too.”

“Coming all this way must’ve been hard on your chest.”

“Y-you!” Miss Bai Yu won this round.

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“Give me that!”

“What are you doing?”

.....

“You’ve just recovered. Sit still.”

“You know how to make congee?”

“Is there anything you can do and I can’t?”

“Hmph!” Miss Xu Peipei won this round because her opponent was too lazy to argue.

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“Qin Wang, this is Xu Peipei / Bai Yu, I have brought you dinner.”

“Why are you here?”

“What about you, why are you following me?”

“Taking care of Wangye is my duty.”

“But you said you came here to help me take care of the villagers.”

“You do it yourself, then!”

Bai Yu sighed at her and Xu Peipei’s actions. Currently, they were like villainesses who was fighting for popularity, creating a comedic scene for the viewers. What Miss Xu did not realize was that it was useless to compete with Bai Yu since Ouyang Mingxian only had eyes for Bai Hua who was giving villagers acupuncture.

Xu Peipei came to this village in hopes that she could look better in Ouyang Mingxian’s eyes by helping villagers, and, at the same time, to stop Bai Yu from stealing all the spotlights. Little did Xu Peipei know that she only made Bai Yu’s job easier, since she took over almost everything Bai Yu did.

Originally, Bai Yu was taking care of both the villagers and Ouyang Mingxian out of duty. She did not have any ulterior motive at all. This time, she had to thank Xu Peipei for taking away her problem regarding Ouyang Mingxian.

After Bai Yu fully recovered, Bai He who had been her sight for sore eyes then had to return to Ouyang Feilong according to the royal decree, carrying her letter that wrote: ‘Then you should learn how to sew’. It seemed that she had eaten a bear’s gall and tiger’s heart.*

When she realized that she might be punished for insulting Ouyang Feilong and tried to take the letter back, her brother had already departed. Bai Yu could only hope that the great black dragon would not be so sensitive that he would get angry and punish her dear brother.

This matter made Bai Yu realize that she was so used to her old habit that she forgot about the noble rank and hierarchy in this world!

“I have troubled you both.” Bai Yu stopped thinking about the letter that she could no longer stop and turned her attention to the man in front of her instead.

Right now, on Ouyang Mingxian’s wickedly handsome face was a clear trace of fatigue. Since Qin Wang had to take over Ouyang Feilong’s responsibility for the number of casualties caused by the plague that had slowly spread to more and more villages, it was natural that the weariness would set in. Luckily, several days ago Bai Yu could find the source of the disease in time, so they had successfully stopped the spread.

Bai Yu’s drowning incident was half covered up. People only knew that she fell into the water and caught a fever in her attempt to find the cause of the sickness which was the contaminated water caused by a dead dear stuck on a boulder in the middle of the river. The truth was that the contamination was a poison on a human corpse, not the rotting dear that Bai He had prepared.

Regarding where the body and the poison came from, Bai He did not have permission from Ouyang Feilong to tell his sister. Even though Bai Yu was not pleased, she understood that a secret mission was involved. So, she helped her brother conceal the story.

Even if it was only a half-truth, Bai Yu still received praise. It seemed that after returning to the capital, Bai Hua would not be the only one to be acknowledged by the Emperor like in the series, but Bai Yu who made an outstanding contribution would receive the reward as well.

You do your good deed, and I will walk in my own path!

Her feat this time did not come from exploiting anyone. This time, they could let go of the grudge against each other.

“Pei-er is very worried to see Wangye working so hard like this.” Xu Peipei poured warm tea for her beloved man. She had to make quite the effort to receive her father’s permission to come to take care of Qin Wang here.

But for the second miss of the Xu family...she was willing to go through anything for the man she loved, and she could not let Bai Yu have any more opportunity to be close to him.

“Please take care of your health, Your Highness,” Bai Yu said out of her true feeling of worry and not politeness. His dedication to the people as the prince of the empire really did make her admire him.

“Miss Bai too, take care of yourself. Don’t be too boisterous.”

Ouyang Mingxian still teased her with a straight face like the last time. His action easily provoked Xu Peipei’s jealousy.

“Pei-er will also assist Miss Bai to lessen Wangye’s load.”

With one sentence, the top-heavy woman made Bai Yu become a three-year-old child and herself the saint. Truly dangerous!

“I have to trouble Miss Xu, then.”

Xu Peipei smiled to Ouyang Mingxian then continued to happily serve him during his dinner. Today she wore a pink dress with a white fur shawl for warmth. Her hair was tied half-up and pinned by a hairpin with dangling ornaments in the shape of lotuses, enhancing her alluring charm. This style of beauty that was her own was a refreshing view indeed.

Bai Yu silently pitied Xu Peipei. She did try hard, even though she would still lose to Bai Hua. Suddenly, she felt her own heart drop at the thought.

Bai Yu looked up to peer at the face of the man who was the focal point of love of the two women here. Though she who came from another life did not have any romantic feeling for him, the pang in her chest still confirmed that the feeling engraved in this body was not so easy to erase.

However, it seemed that she had stared at him for too long and made him aware of her gaze. His dragon eyes and her phoenix ones directly met. Bai Yu did not look away. And Ouyang Mingxian raised his brow in surprise.

She was thinking back to the series, to all her attempts at gaining this man’s attention just like what Xu Peipei was doing. But in the end...she still lost to Bai Hua.

“Miss Bai, you have been staring at benwang for quite a while. Is there anything you want to say?”

I love you.

The voice in her heart screamed, but Bai Yu stamped it down into silence.

“Are you feeling sick, Bai Yu?”

She shook her head to Xu Peipei then turned her face away from the two pairs of eyes. A small drop of tear was discreetly wiped away by her sleeve in time. She could not stop this body from feeling. She could only suppress it the best she could while being close to him.

Ouyang Mingxian looked at the familiar face that he had seen since childhood. How she grew up and how beautiful she became, he knew them all. And of course, how she felt toward him, this Ouyang Mingxian also knew it best.

When his mother was alive and had the title of Empress, she greatly favored this little miss. She intended to make him the only son who was appointed Taizi, even though Ouyang Mingxian did not want it at all at that time. His mother and grandmother both insisted on allying to the Bai family in an attempt to shore up the Wei family’s influence and made him Taizi.

When she was young, Bai Yu often came to play with him. The innocent child did not realize that she was pulled into politics. The marriage proposal in front of his father that day was forced out of him by his mother. He did not know at all how his words as a child would cruelly turn a woman’s life upside down.

Up until now, Ouyang Mingxian tried to make amends for hurting Bai Yu’s pure heart by treating her with respect and staying close with her more than any other woman. Still, there was not a moment that he felt anything toward her, who still devoted herself to love only him.

When his mother died and royal consort Gui Fei was anointed Empress, the Wei family’s influence that had been gathered by Empress Dowager Wei and Empress Wei to support Ouyang Mingxian became unstable. In the end, the eldest prince Ouyang Yongxian, born to Empress Wang, was given the title Taizi.

Ouyang Mingxian never wished to become Emperor like his mother wanted to. He only took the path toward the throne after finding out the truth about his mother’s death, the truth that Wang Gui Fei, royal consort at the time, and the Wang family were actually behind it. It was their slander that damaged his mother’s reputation and honor. And when the new Empress came into power, the Wei family’s influence waned, people who were associated with the Weis were forced out of court positions. Ouyang Mingxian became a prince without authority. There was only Empress Dowager Wei left to support the family’s name as the mother of the Emperor.

These resentments made him unable to let go of Bai Yu.

First miss Bai Yu’s powerful family attracted many princes. Although Da Yang already had its crown prince, the authority within the royal court from her father combined with the military power of the Yue family from her maternal grandfather would make these princes’ standing in politics much more stable.

Fortunately, the current Emperor only had a few princes and princesses, otherwise, the fight for the throne would be bloodshed like in other eras.

The day Bai Yu attended the hair-pinning ceremony to mark her coming of age, Ouyang Yongxian who had just become Taizi sent a matchmaker to propose Bai Yu as his first consort. It was because of the power of two major families in her hand that she was able to refuse the title Taizi Fei.

At that time, Bai Yu loved only Ouyang Mingxian. He himself never believed in love, because he had seen his mother’s fights with other consorts in his father’s inner court. Furthermore, his hatred toward the Wang family and his desire to avenge his mother made him plan to take advantage of Bai Yu’s love, taking her as first consort and using her family’s power to go against the Wang family which became more and more influential by the day.

Ouyang Mingxian knew how terrible this Miss Bai’s personality was, but that was not a problem since he had never loved her from the start. Even after he married her, he would not care what cruel things she would do, since she had always acted reserved, putting up the image of a merciful young lady while committing evil acts behind that beautiful fa?ade.

What surprised him was when she was almost exposed at the palace banquet, there was an intelligent woman who saw through her scheme. The third miss of Bai’s family was quite interesting. Still, in the end, Bai Yu could take back control and escape being punished. It truly did broaden his view, so he decided to tease her,

For Ouyang Mingxian who never believed in love, he did not care if he had to marry a wicked woman, as long as she had a powerful family that could be useful for him. There would be nothing for him to lose, as he saw those schemes as little tricks that women played against each other.

However, all of Ouyang Mingxian’s beliefs were upturned by a single woman. Although he became more interested in Bai Yu, his whole interest changed when he met her...

The woman who would insist on proving her own innocence to the very end.

The woman who saved his life with a strange method, despite herself being called useless.

The woman whose outlook was different from everyone else, who still had a bright smile even when she was being framed.

The woman who treated him as a man, not the prince of the empire.

‘Bai Hua’

The woman who was a precious flower sent to him by fate, whom he will forever protect.

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*Had eaten a bear’s gall and tiger’s heart: Being braver than usual