贵女撩夫攻略

Chapter 066

Chapter 66 – Troops Provisions

Since the feast had ended and it was still early, after coaxing Ye Huaiyang to sleep Chu Jinglan came out to the courtyard where Ye Huailing and Pei Yuanshu were having a great time setting off fireworks in the open ground while Ye Huaixin seemingly sat comfortably and watched them from the octagonal pavilion, with a pot of infused tea and a hot charcoal stove.

Lifting the hem of his robe, Chu Jinglan sat next to Ye Huaixin and poured himself a cup of Penglai xianhao. Before the cup reached his mouth, he heard Ye Huaixin asked, "Brother-in-law, is Elder Sister asleep?"

"Asleep." He placed the small jade cup back on the round marble table after taking a sip of tea, "Has she always had such a low alcohol tolerance?"

"It used to be much worse." Reminiscing the amusing incident of the past, Ye Huaixin could not help laughing, "Once when she was a child, she became inebriated after mistakenly taking a small sip of the aged wine at home and somehow broke the pledge-love token that our father gave to mother. When Elder Brother found out later, he asked me to bring her back to the room and took a mouthful of wine himself before going to apologize to our father with the things in hand."

"What happened afterwards?"

"Afterwards, Elder Brother was reprimanded severely by our father and punished by protracted kneeling in the ancestral hall. What could be done as our mother is father's beloved and he has always been unforgiving over matters that relate to our mother. When Elder Sister woke up later, she did not remember what happened but hearing from the servants that Elder Brother had been punished, she sneaked into the ancestral hall in the middle of the night to bring him food with her head and face covered in dust and even had her palms and knees scraped. Seeing that, Elder Brother felt so distressed and asked her to go back hastily but she said it was cold in the ancestral hall and afraid that Elder Brother was suffering alone so she insisted to stay behind to accompany him. She then hugged him and refused to let go. When our mother got there the next day, she saw her nestling within Elder Brother's clothes sleeping soundly and drooling everywhere."

At this point, even Chu Jinglan could not hide his merriment and his usual cold stern face looked particularly gentle under the shadow of fragmented glow.
"How old was Yang'er then?"

"Only seven." Ye Huaixin slightly unfurled his face, revealing a maturity that does not match his age, "Speaking of which, her abrupt temperament can be discerned since then. It's just that the more she grew up, the more introverted she became that we didn't see it. So, in Elder Brother's mind, she has always been that adorable and caring baby sister. When she started to wade in the muddy waters* of Wangdu and insisted on marrying you, one could well imagine how shocked and enraged Elder Brother is."

[T/N: 搅动一滩浑水 (Jiǎodòng yī tān hún shuǐ) – metaphor for intervene/participate in complicated and tumultuous situation]

A huge firework unexpectedly cascaded one after another. Looking at those fragmented glints of gold and silver in the vast sky, Chu Jinglan did not continue the thread of conversation.

Ye Huaixin then spoke again, "Elder Brother might somewhat be blindly devoted but it's not without rhymes or reason. He has been away all year round and does not know how many people have been killed by this parasitic government nor does he know that the prominent families have been reduced to be the executioner just for the sake of striving for fame and profit, even those like me who have stayed in Zhongshu for a year or so could just sigh."

Turning his head to face him, the depth halos of Chu Jinglan's eyes overlapped with the insightful implication as he asked, "Why can't you stay in Zhongshu Sheng* anymore?"