How Dare You?! 成何体统 (Cheng He Ti Tong)
By 七英俊 Qi Ying Jun
Translation by Spider
Is this a tactical retreat? Yu Wanyin wondered, is he trying to make me feel guilty, perhaps.
But for some reason, she didn’t feel any resistance. In fact, she felt a sense of relief, even finding it easier to breathe.
“Even if you don’t pretend to be pitiful, I’m not going to leave,” she said, patting Xiahou Dan’s hand. “Get well soon. We still need your acting skills for our next plan.”
Xiahou Dan silently watched her. She sat there, her eyes starting to wander slowly like a little animal preparing to hunt.
Yu Wanyin was lost in thought when suddenly her nose itched, and she sneezed.
Xiahou Dan touched her sleeve, “You got completely soaked?”
“It’s no big deal…”
Xiahou Dan grabbed the hand bell beside him and called for a servant, “Take the Noble Consort for a bath.”
Yu Wanyin soaked in a hot bath, her gloom lifting. She felt she hadn’t been this content and peaceful in a long time.
After drying her hair, she planned to say goodbye to Xiahou Dan, but he naturally said, “It’s raining outside, don’t trouble yourself, just sleep here.”
Yu Wanyin hesitated for a moment, then happily lay down beside him. The bed was warm, and the sound of the thunderstorm outside made her sleepy.
“Does it still hurt badly? Want me to massage it for you?”
“Mm.”
Xiahou Dan laid with his eyes closed, feeling her move closer. The little creature was completely unguarded, just seeking mutual warmth.
Xiahou Dan feigned illness and skipped court for two days. On the third day, he sat on the throne with his usual expression, lazily saying, “The Empress Dowager has wanted to build a mausoleum for many years. Her birthday is coming up, and I wish to show some filial piety. Ministry of Revenue, are the tax revenues sufficient?”
The Minister of Revenue was stunned, “I’ll verify immediately.”
Xiahou Dan had previously executed a Minister of Revenue in court; the current one was that man’s brother. The change of such a high-ranking official caused no ripples, with all affairs continuing as usual.
Such was the court of Great Xia.
For over a decade, the two factions within the court had been locked in a power struggle, leading to the appointment of numerous officials who did nothing substantial except line their own pockets. Officials came and went rapidly. appointed in the morning, took office in the afternoon, and perhaps were laid to rest by evening.
In this environment, everyone was either focused on surviving by any means necessary or exploiting their positions for personal gain. Countless policies went unenforced, and those who tried to accomplish real work had long been eliminated.
The Minister of Revenue was anxious.
For other edicts, he might manage to feign compliance, but he couldn’t afford to mess up the Empress Dowager’s mausoleum. After all, he owed his position to the Empress Dowager. This was his chance to prove himself as a new minister.
However, the harsh reality was: the national treasury was truly empty.
Such a massive project as a mausoleum. Where could he possibly find the funds?
The Minister of Revenue thought of the only solution: continue to extort the people.
The next morning at court, Xiahou Dan lazily said, “The Ministry of Revenue proposes to increase taxes again this year. What do you all think?”
Who dared to say anything? The Emperor had whims to showcase filial piety. Even though everyone knew the people were already squeezed dry and another tax increase might incite rebellion, no one dared to speak up.
Xiahou Dan waved his hand, saying, “Let’s proceed with that then.”
For some reason, the news of the tax increase spread rapidly, reaching every corner of the capital within days. The people were filled with resentment, but their complaints never reached the emperor’s ears.
One day, Xiahou Dan left the palace to visit an ailing old minister. Before setting off, he gave some specific instructions to the guards driving his carriage.
On the way back to the palace, the carriage suddenly came to an abrupt halt.
Xiahou Dan sat steadily inside, hearing a guard outside shout angrily, “Who dares block the imperial carriage!”
The shout was so loud that people half a street away turned to look.
Xiahou Dan knew the actors were in place. He leisurely lifted the curtain and stepped out, asking, “What’s going on?”
In the distance knelt an extra in tattered clothes. As soon as he saw Xiahou Dan step out, he began to wail like a slaughtered pig, “Your Majesty! Heaven above! Please open your eyes! The common folk, every household, toil from dawn till dusk all year round, yet have barely enough to eat. My younger siblings, born in a famine year, were starved to death by my parents, who wept bitter tears…”
Li Yunxi, mingling in the crowd, “?”
Why does this impassioned speech sound familiar?
The extra repeated the entire monologue Li Yunxi had given on the boat verbatim, ending it with a tearful wail, “My family can’t survive any longer. If taxes are increased again, we will have no choice but to cut off our heads and offer our blood to sustain Your Majesty!”
He kowtowed loudly.
Li Yunxi, “…”
The surrounding commoners, moved to tears by the speech, joined in the crying and shouting. More people kept arriving from afar, blocking Xiahou Dan’s way back to the palace completely.
Xiahou Dan looked utterly embarrassed, his fists clenched tightly. Suddenly, he slapped a guard and shouted hoarsely, “Useless! Bring the Minister of Revenue here at once!”
Under the watchful eyes of the city’s citizens, the Minister of Revenue knelt before Xiahou Dan.
Xiahou Dan demanded, “Why are you increasing taxes?”
The Minister of Revenue, “…”
Wasn’t that your own edict?
The Minister of Revenue, trembling, recited the content of the memorial, wisely refraining from mentioning the Emperor’s filial piety and claiming it was his own idea.
Xiahou Dan righteously demanded, “So the tax increase is for building a mausoleum? What about the tax revenue originally allocated for the imperial tomb?”
The Minister of Revenue was silent with fear.
Xiahou Dan said, “Take me to see it. Today, we must give… give the people an explanation!”
Moments later, the Minister of Revenue, drenched in cold sweat, tremblingly opened the door to a treasury.
Xiahou Dan stood rigidly at the entrance for a long time, then suddenly burst into hysterical laughter, shouting, “Where’s the money? Where’s my money?!”
The surrounding palace staff immediately knelt down with a flurry of motion.
With a fierce look in his eyes, Xiahou Dan grabbed a guard’s sword and strode towards the Minister of Revenue.
The Minister of Revenue wet himself on the spot, crying, “Your Majesty!!!”
“Your Majesty. ” An Xian ran up with quick steps, “General Zhang of the Right Army urgently reports. “
He whispered in Xiahou Dan’s ear, but Xiahou Dan impatiently said, “Speak up!”
An Xian announced loudly, “He reports that the military pay has gone mouldy.”
Xiahou Dan threw down the sword, took the memorial from An Xian, glanced at it, and then threw it at the Minister of Revenue’s face, shouting, “They are threatening me, saying that if this year’s military pay isn’t increased, they won’t have the strength to defend the borders.”
Everyone knew that most of those generals were supporters of Prince Duan. At this critical moment, they were pressuring the Emperor because they had heard about the tax increase and wanted a share of the revenue.
Xiahou Dan stumbled, “Good, good. Everyone comes to me for money, yet the treasury is empty. This kingdom might as well change its surname!”
The Minister of Revenue, having finished wetting himself, calmly said, “This servant deserves to die.”
Xiahou Dan didn’t pick up the sword again. After catching his breath, he tiredly said, “This Emperor needs to discuss this matter with the Empress Dowager.”
Meanwhile, the Empress Dowager had also heard about the day’s farce.
She was somewhat alarmed, “The treasury being this empty is indeed a problem.”
People who had never led troops were always afraid of those soldiers. They feared them but also relied on their protection.
“The military men have simple minds. For now, we need to feed them well,” the Empress Dowager adjusted her gold and jade-inlaid hairpin and smiled, “Have the Ministry of Revenue find a way to allocate some supplies to them.”
Her confidant asked, “And the mausoleum?”
The Empress Dowager gazed at her brightly polished nails and remarked, “It’s rare for the emperor to show filial piety; naturally, the mausoleum must be built.”
In the Imperial Garden, Zhang San had already planted a flower arrangement in the so-called “double dragons playing with a pearl” shape, which would bloom in a few days.
After dismissing the palace attendants, he picked up a shovel and buried a box under the “pearl” of the arrangement. Inside the box, he hid a note, “If you are like me, leave a message. I want to meet you.” written in simplified characters, from left to right. Any time traveller would understand it at a glance.
Before the flowers even bloomed, Zhang San began to find excuses to wander nearby every day.
However, the soil remained undisturbed.
Xiahou Dan recounted the drama to Wanyin, who laughed so hard she bent over. “You’re such a great actor!”
“After all, it’s the only skill I have left.” Xiahou Dan replied.
Yu Wanyin nodded thoughtfully, “It’s quite effective. This way, Er Lan and the others should make their appearance. It’s only a matter of time before the Ministry of Revenue implements the Zhongfa method.”
“But the issue with the seeds remains unresolved…”
“It’s time to look into Yan Kingdom’s affairs,” Wanyin said thoughtfully. “I’ll go to the library first and do some research.”
The library had been rebuilt and a collection of new books had replaced the ones destroyed in the fire.
Yu Wanyin spent a day there, finding several books related to the Yan Kingdom. She spoke a few kind words to the palace attendants, hoping to take the books back for further reading.
As she passed by her old workstation on the second floor, she casually glanced out the window and suddenly froze.
A new batch of flowers had bloomed in the imperial garden.
Standing on the second floor and looking down into the flower bed, a huge “SOS ” shape caught Yu Wanyin’s eye.
Goosebumps rose on Yu Wanyin’s skin. She turned to ask the palace attendant, “When were these flowers planted?”
The attendant replied, “I do not know, my Lady.”
Yu Wanyin couldn’t care less about borrowing books anymore. She hurried downstairs to the flower bed where the SOS shape was formed by clusters of spider lilies, their flowers a pinkish-purple colour starkly different from the surrounding flora.
Could it be as she thought? Was this really planted by a transmigrator? There was definitely no such plot in ‘Transmigrated: the Devil’s Beloved Consort’.
Could it be another accidental arrival of a new companion? If this SOS was a message, there should be other clues nearby.
Yu Wanyin scanned the surroundings, meticulously searching every tree hollow nearby, but found nothing. Not giving up, she bent down to inspect the soil under the flower bed.
Suddenly, footsteps approached from behind.
Yu Wanyin had a premonition and turned around. The solemn young prince was quietly staring at her.
Their eyes met for a few seconds. The young prince made a respectful gesture, “Lady Noble Consort.”
“…Your Highness, what are you doing here?”
The young prince looked at her, his eyes seeming both guarded and lost, “Just passing by.”
Yu Wanyin took two steps closer to him, a remarkable suspicion forming in her mind.
She pursed her lips and tentatively asked, “In front of my house, there are two trees. Do you know what kind they are?”
The young prince stared at her blankly, showing no reaction.
Yu Wanyin took another step closer, “One of them is a jujube tree. What about the other?”
The young prince furrowed his brow slowly, “Lady Noble Consort?”
From a distance, a young eunuch hurried over, bowing to Yu Wanyin and then addressing the young prince, “Your Highness, the Empress Dowager is waiting for you.”
Disappointed, Wanyin watched them depart.
“Your Highness, please come with me quickly,” the eunuch hurriedly pressed, his voice strained. “The Empress Dowager is not feeling well.”
Like a sleepwalker, Zhang San was pushed into the Empress Dowager’s chamber.
For a moment, he didn’t recognize the woman lying in bed, her face skewed, eyes bulging. She had suffered a stroke, ageing twenty years overnight, saliva dribbling from the corner of her mouth. She trembled as she weakly reached out her hand to him.
Zhang San held the Empress Dowager’s hand tightly.
Her five fingers gripped him like talons, as if grasping onto a lingering obsession. The resentment in her eyes almost seemed to transform into a malevolent force ready to consume him.
Outside the hall, a voice announced, “The Emperor has arrived.”
Zhang San paused and turned around.
A tall figure strode to the bedside, kneeling and calling out, “Imperial Mother.”
Before the Empress Dowager could respond, he lifted his head and gave Zhang San a cool smile. “Dan’er.”
Zhang San remained silent.
The Empress Dowager on the bed glared fiercely at the Emperor. Yet he seemed composed, wiping the drool from her mouth with care, smiling gently. “Imperial Mother, rest well and you will recover soon.”
Zhang San stood silently in place, inhaling the cold, rusty scent of power shifts in the air. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his mind. He kept it to himself, enduring silently.
It was the first time he had ever experienced a headache.
The Empress Dowager’s condition deteriorated rapidly, and she passed away a month later.
The Emperor successfully fulfilled his wish to appoint a new Empress.
The new Empress, young and beautiful, adorned with jewels and her nails tinted with red paint, gently pinched Zhang San’s face, “Dan’er, from now on, this one will be your mother.”
Zhang San calmly tilted his head slightly, avoiding her touch, and softly replied, “Imperial Mother.”
He had spent a long time in this palace, long enough to understand many things.
For instance, the new Empress had been poisoned by the Empress Dowager before ascending the throne, and had been rendered unable to bear children for life.
Also, the Empress Dowager’s stroke and death were likely related to the new Empress in some way.
Furthermore, the new Empress certainly resented him. On the other hand, she also needed to tame him. When she outlasted the Emperor, she would be Empress Lü.
He wasn’t a true child. But as an ordinary middle school student, perhaps his cunning was still no match for the palace-bred children.
Before, it was the Empress Dowager who controlled him. Now, it was the new Empress. He couldn’t contend with either of them.
But that concubine, the devil’s favoured concubine who should have been the protagonist of the entire story, his only counterpart, where was she?
Zhang San had tried bringing the new Empress near that SOS flower bed to observe her reaction. But her gaze passed through the flowers without any ripples.
She was busy consolidating her family’s power, firmly controlling both the former court and the harem.
Zhang San knew that his influence as the future emperor was being gradually eroded. But he was powerless. His birth mother in the books had long since passed away, and the Emperor had no special fondness for him.
His headaches became more frequent.
Where is that person? When will they appear?
Can he still wait for her?
That night, Yu Wanyin enthusiastically found Xiahou Dan and told him about the flower bed.
Xiahou Dan paused, “Could it be planted by Xie Yong’er?”
“I initially thought so too,” Yu Wanyin said, “but Xie Yong’er’s every move is recorded in the book. She definitely didn’t do this. Moreover, she always thought she was the only transmigrator and wouldn’t think of seeking others like us. I think this must be someone else, like us, accidentally transported here.”
“But we’ve been here for so long. If there were someone strange, they would have been discovered long ago,” Xiahou Dan replied unconcernedly.
“Perhaps that person is trying hard to hide themselves? He, or she, doesn’t know who to trust and can only seek help in this way… No, I have to go and investigate who planted that flower bed,” Yu Wanyin insisted.
Xiahou Dan smiled dismissively, “It’s probably just a coincidence. You see SOS, but they may have planted it just as a decorative pattern like ‘Twin Dragons Playing with a Pearl.'”
“I know. But what if? What if someone is still waiting for us to rescue them? Being alone in this world must be terrifying.”
Xiahou Dan silently watched her.
Yu Wanyin smiled, “Don’t be like this. Let’s use our imagination. With three people, we could play a card game. Do you think that person is a man or a woman? Would they like hotpot?”
A year after being bestowed as Empress, Zhang San reached the age to start studying in the Ministry of Personnel.
In this world, the Ministry of Personnel was usually where all imperial princes attended classes together. But after Zhang San enrolled, he found the vast study room empty, with no one around except him in the centre, while all the tutors comically circled around him.
He knew this was the Empress’s intention. This ambitious woman was isolating the Crown Prince at the root.
Zhang San didn’t believe in fate.
Even though he didn’t have much actual ability, he still harboured a sense of superiority as a modern person and was unwilling to easily succumb. He wanted to do everything possible to improve his situation until he found that companion.
Zhang San obediently attended classes for a few days, until the Emperor and Empress came to inspect his studies. He shyly said, “Your son sits alone day after day, it’s really lonely and boring. Please, Imperial Father Emperor and Imperial Mother, could I have one more companion?”
He wanted to try making friends and building his own influence.
The Emperor glanced at the Empress. The Empress touched Zhang San’s head and smiled, “Then let Bo’er accompany you.”
Xiahou Bo was a few years older than him, born of humble origin as a bastard, yet he was handsome and refined, like a precious orchid. Only when he greeted him in court did his eyes reveal almost indiscernible cold disdain.
The tutors had Xiahou Bo sit opposite the Crown Prince.
During the lengthy lectures, Zhang San’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier. Just as he was nodding off, he suddenly heard a crisp “snap.”
He felt like he was back in middle school math class, shocked, he lifted his head.
“Snap,” another sound. The tutor’s ruler was raised high and struck heavily on Xiahou Bo’s palm, “Pay attention!”
Xiahou Bo had not lost focus.
The tutor was merely punishing him on behalf of the Crown Prince.
The lecture resumed, and Xiahou Bo curled his swollen hand, staring fixedly at Zhang San, his thin lips pursed into a line.
After class, Zhang San immediately asked the little eunuch who followed him, “An Xian, what’s the matter with Xiahou Bo? Don’t think about hiding it from me, I can always find out.”
An Xian trembled and spoke vaguely, but he understood enough: in the long history of palace intrigue, his deceased birth mother had killed Xiahou Bo’s mother. Yet, with the involved parties deceased, within the palace’s labyrinth of deceit, who could truly distinguish between truth and falsehood?
The only thing Zhang San knew for certain was that Xiahou Bo resented him.
And the Empress was very pleased to deepen that resentment.
From that day on, all the tutors’ punishments for Xiahou Bo became increasingly severe. Soon they were no longer satisfied with just using a ruler; willow switches appeared in the Ministry of Personnel.
Even the eunuchs and palace maids competed with each other in their creativity with meals and tea, devising many ways to insult others. Whenever Xiahou Bo expressionlessly swallowed dirty water, they would eagerly look towards Zhang San as if anticipating his approval.
It was said that the Empress instructed them thus, “When the Crown Prince has a headache, there must be someone nearby who suffers even more.”
Zhang San pleaded softly several times, but by then, the Emperor was gradually letting go of affairs, leaving everything to the Empress.
The Empress didn’t relent by sending Xiahou Bo away but brought in more princes born from lesser consorts who were not favoured.
It can be imagined that each classmate became a prop in “cheering up the Crown Prince” for the Empress. In everyone’s eyes, Zhang San was firmly tied to the Empress, as if they were mother and son.
Sometimes Zhang San wondered, isolating the Crown Prince could be done in many ways, and the Empress chose the most radical one, perhaps because she had harboured resentment against all the princes ever since her abortion.
At that time, the woman did not anticipate that in this office full of venom, she would eventually nurture a creature that would surpass herself.
The bruises and bloodstains on Xiahou Bo increased day by day, but his gaze towards Zhang San became more restrained. Now there was no longer a trace of hatred on his face; he was gentle and courteous, with a polite smile. He was so likeable that all the abused princes rallied around him.
Zhang San didn’t believe in fate.
He had tried to stand up during lectures to argue on behalf of his classmates. The elderly tutors bowed to him in fear, begging him to calm down, but the next day, they became even more severe in their punishment. His protests turned into clumsy performances, mocked by the other princes.
He had tried to bring meals to all his classmates himself to improve relations. He personally selected sumptuous meals and snacks, watching as the palace servants packed them into lunch boxes and took them to the study room. However, when his classmates opened the lunch boxes, they found nothing but coarse fare.
One irritable prince couldn’t bear it and smashed his lunch box on the spot, “Crown Prince is indeed so affectionate!”
“Third Brother.” Xiahou Bo patted the prince’s shoulder, signalling him to calm down, then politely said, “Thank you for the Crown Prince’s favour.”
Zhang San, “I didn’t. this isn’t. guards!”
The little eunuch who carried the lunch box knelt down, crying heartbreakingly. When Zhang San angrily scolded him, the other princes looked on with mocking eyes, watching their own orchestrated drama.
Zhang San couldn’t explain himself. His head throbbed as if it would split open. He kicked over the eunuch, “Who ordered you to do this, speak!”
“Your Highness, spare my life, spare my life…”
It was precisely at this moment that Xiahou Bo spoke in a gentle voice, “This eunuch’s crime doesn’t deserve death. Please show mercy, Your Highness,” and proceeded to eat the coarse fare.
Zhang San stood still, feeling chilled all over.
In that brief moment just now, he caught the exchange of glances between the little eunuch and Xiahou Bo.
While he was playing house, trying to “improve relations,” Xiahou Bo had already learned how to frame and manipulate others.
He also tried to stay in bed for half a month by feigning illness, refusing to go to the study room.
At this time, the Empress, who had ignored him, appeared again, sitting by his bedside with apparent concern, “Dan’er, His Majesty heard that not only are you lazy in studying, but you also try every means to insult your classmates, and he is angry now. Hurry and kneel down to apologize to him.”
Zhang San was so angry his liver hurt. He couldn’t maintain that obedient and naive mask anymore, staring coldly at her, “Who exactly is the one insulting them? I believe Mother Empress knows better than your son.”
The Empress was astonished, “Who? Tell me, Imperial Mother will plead for you.”
Zhang San, “…”
Zhang San wrote a long letter and personally handed it to the Emperor.
He used all his intelligence, first praising the Emperor’s benevolence, then recounting his own and his brothers’ experiences, avoiding any mention of grievances, only expressing concern for the Emperor, fearing he might be misled by evil people.
He didn’t wait for the Emperor’s response.
In front of him, the Empress still had that ambiguous smile, “Crown Prince, oh Crown Prince, this palace regards you as its own, but never expected you to misunderstand this palace so deeply. It’s truly disheartening.”
Zhang San, “Father. “
The Empress sneered, “Do you think in today’s former dynasty and harem, your father still rules? I’ll tell you, I have hated many people in my life, but none more than him.”
Zhang San’s heart skipped a beat.
Did this woman just say this? Was he about to be silenced?
The Empress’s long nails scraped across his face, exerting force and drawing a drop of blood. “If you are unwilling to be united with this palace as mother and son, there are other princes who are willing.”
At that moment, Zhang San understood one thing for the first time.
In this story, who he was, what kind of person he was, didn’t matter that much.
Zhang San knelt down with a thud in front of the Empress, bowing his head, “It’s my unfilial conduct. I will reflect in seclusion.”
During his days of seclusion, the iron lilies arranged in the shape of SOS in the Imperial Garden were once again in bloom.
Zhang San went repeatedly to observe the soil, returning disappointed each time. Until one day, he suddenly stopped in his tracks from a distance. The soil beneath the flower bed showed signs of disturbance.
Without even bothering to grab a shovel, Zhang San knelt down and started digging with his bare hands, uncovering the buried box.
He used his dirty nails to pry open the box. The note he had left inside had disappeared, replaced by a strangely shaped leaf.
Over the next few days, Zhang San searched tree after tree, finally finding similar leaves in a corner of the deep palace.
He traced his fingers inch by inch along the trunk, finally feeling a finely carved character, “Ugly.”
In the dead of night, Zhang San slipped out past the sleeping palace attendants, walking alone towards that tree.
A frail young palace maid was standing under the tree holding a lantern, her face pale as she looked at him.
Zhang San held his breath.
He hurried up to her, “Did you find my note?”
The young palace maid trembled and dropped the lantern, falling to her knees abruptly, “Your Highness, spare my life, the maid did not know it belonged to Your Highness!”
Watching her reaction, Zhang San’s heart gradually grew colder.
Unwilling to give up, he tentatively spoke to her, “Hello?”
The young palace maid looked bewildered and frightened.
All the blood in Zhang San’s body was cooling, “If you didn’t recognize that flower bed, how would you have known to dig there?”
“The maid… the maid serves in the nearby side palace, often seeing a figure lingering from afar. Seeing the peculiar shape of the flower bed, curiosity arose in her heart, so she dug…”
The young palace maid’s voice quivered, “The characters on the note were strange in shape, and the meaning was unclear. The maid thought… thought it might be from a guard who isn’t very literate… The maid deserves to die!”
Zhang San let out a hoarse laugh.
“Stop pretending. Are you afraid I’ll harm you? Trust me, we are of the same kind.”
The young palace maid looked bewildered and frightened.
“I… I only have you in this world.” Zhang San approached her step by step, but she kept stepping back.
Zhang San stopped.
“Are you really not?”
“Not… what?”
Zhang San suddenly smiled gently, reaching out to lightly touch her face. “It’s nothing. Now you know my secret.”
The young palace maid looked bewildered yet shy.
Zhang San’s hand slowly moved down to her delicate neck.
Before sunrise, he submerged her in the pool.
She was his first kill.
Yu Wanyin asked trusted palace servants around but no one knew who planted the cluster of iron lilies.
“They say no one has touched that corner of the Imperial Garden in recent years,” Yu Wanyin said disappointedly.
Xiahou Dan shrugged. “See, I told you. You were overthinking it.”
“But from above, it really looks like an intricately crafted SOS…”
Xiahou Dan pondered, “Now there’s a new problem. These flowers have just started blooming and will continue for a while. What if Xie Yong’er passes by and, like you mistaking the double dragons for SOS, starts suspecting the same thing?”
Yu Wanyin covered her mouth in realisation. “She would also suspect there are others like her nearby.”
“And then, who knows, she might suddenly suspect the two of us,” Xiahou Dan teased.
Yu Wanyin became visibly anxious. “We can’t leave that flower bed there. Can you come up with a reason to remove it?”
“Come on, do you think I need a reason to renovate the Imperial Garden?” Xiahou Dan joked.
That afternoon, after confirming Xie Yong’er hadn’t left her quarters, Xiahou Dan ordered the renovation of the flower bed.
The spider lilies were uprooted one by one. Xiahou Dan sat in the pavilion, watching from a distance with indifferent eyes.
Turning his head, he saw Yu Wanyin looking glum.
“What’s wrong?” Xiahou Dan chuckled.
Yu Wanyin looked a bit embarrassed. “Just consider me being paranoid. I was thinking, what if there’s another like us who went through great lengths to plant those flowers as a distress signal, only to receive no response and then have the flowers uprooted… What if we left a note in the original spot?”
Xiahou Dan paused.
He looked at her tenderly. “There’s a risk Xie Yong’er might find it.”
“Alright,” Yu Wanyin gave up.
Translation by Spider
Next: Chapter 9
Previous: Chapter 7