Chapter 29: Chasing the Wife

As soon as Yun Ye opened his eyes, he saw Cheng Chumo’s big, bulging eyes, which were full of mockery and contempt, but no compassion. He thought to himself, “I was beaten unconscious by a young girl, and yet he has the nerve to call himself a general?

Ignoring these things, Yun Ye rolled over and got up. He jumped off the couch and was about to rush out without putting on his shoes, but was stopped by Cheng Chumo, who threw him back onto the couch. He was about to scold him, but his hands and feet were held down. Li Chengqian handed him a belt and he was tied up in a big rice dumpling in a few seconds.

Cheng Chumo said as he tied him up, “Xiao Ye, I know you grew up with your master and have never seen a beautiful woman. You saw a girl in a nine-layered dress and your brother took her away. This is my fault. Next time you see a good one, you go for it. I’ll stop the crazy bees and butterflies behind you. Forget about the women in the palace.”

Li Chengqian sat on the chair he had brought back from the Yun family, with his legs crossed and a teacup in his hands. He took a sip of tea, let out a long breath, and looked relaxed as if he were sitting on a city wall enjoying the scenery.

“Chengqian, who is that woman?” Fortunately, his mouth was not gagged this time.

“The women in the palace. Do you think the prince would be a traitor who betrays his own family?” The honorable prince said with righteousness. Yun Ye felt that this face was the best target for boxing.

“A big meal, plus a big bag of fried chicken!” Yun Ye made an offer.

“Can a trivial benefit impress the honorable prince?” Although he swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva, he still firmly refused.

“Three meals, and I’ll train a few cooks for you!” Yun Ye made his offer in one go.

“Done. I’ll send ten cooks to your house right away. Don’t cut corners, or else, hehe, you know. I won’t let you get too excited, but the one you met today is my sister, Li Anlan!”

“Nonsense. Aren’t you the oldest of the emperor’s children?”

“Hmph, rumors spread like wildfire. How could outsiders know what goes on in the palace?”

After signing countless unequal treaties, Yun Ye finally figured out who Li Anlan was. She was the product of the great Emperor Li Er’s drunken escapades. At the time, Li Er, who was still a young man, was fourteen years old. After getting the maid pregnant, he forgot about the whole thing. Due to her mother’s low status, as the eldest daughter of Li Er, she did not receive the treatment she deserved. If it weren’t for If the Empress Dowager had not advertised herself as a virtuous queen and pretended to treat the children of the concubines in the Qin Palace as her own, she would not have discovered the existence of Li Anlan. When the sad Li Anlan met her father, she was already twelve years old. Li Er had nothing to say about his children, of course. When the name was written into the register and it was time to give the name, he was busy killing his brothers and sisters and put the matter aside. It was not until the whole family entered the palace that the matter was brought up again.

Li Anlan, who was twelve years old, was extremely hot-tempered and refused to accept Li Er’s appointment. Li Er, who felt guilty but refused to bow his head, placed Li Anlan and her mother in a remote corner of the palace and reduced their daily supplies as a punishment. Li Anlan was not a weak woman who would sit back and do nothing. She even cultivated a piece of land in the palace and grew her own food. Although she lacked daily necessities, she would not bow to her father. Li Er had no choice but to let her go. This older sister has always been the object of admiration of the other princes and princesses in the palace, but because of Li Anlan’s bad attitude towards the emperor, the younger brothers and sisters had to stay away from her. This created her solitary style in the palace.

“Hahaha, my wife is really extraordinary, she has character, I like her.” After hearing Li Chengqian’s introduction, Yun Ye rolled around on the bed happily.

Not only does this person look like my wife in the future, but he also inherited her fiery temper. Stubborn, independent, and desperately pursuing self-control, this is amazing! This wife has to be booked quickly, otherwise she will be trampled by a pig and have no tears left to cry.

“Hey, Xiaoye, are you sure you’re not crazy? My father didn’t give her a husband, but she forced him to break off the engagement by threatening to die. She said that her husband must be learned, handsome, able to lead an army on horseback, and able to pacify the people when he dismounts. More importantly, he can only marry her for the rest of his life. Otherwise, she would rather live alone than marry someone else. Where can you find such a husband? Even if there is, would he be willing to marry her? Li Chengqian looked disdainful.

“Chu Mo, I’m a pretty good-looking guy, right?”

“Much better than me. There aren’t many left-wing guards as handsome as you.”

“Can I be considered a scholar with five carts of books?”

“There’s no one smarter than you. That’s what my father says.”

“Then do you think that a person as handsome and talented as me has a chance of marrying your younger sister?”

“No doubt, just one word, go!”

Li Chengqian looked at Cheng Chumo and then at Yun Ye, as if he were looking at two monsters. What kind of person could be so narcissistic? Yun Ye was tied up, but he looked like a groom about to enter the bridal chamber. Cheng Chumo rubbed his fists and looked as if he were about to enter the palace and kidnap someone. Ignoring these two psychopaths, he thought about how to get Yun Ye to fulfill his promise.

Li Anlan was very angry. Today, he met a lecher who dared to call his wife in front of the prince. It was obvious that he was a spoiled brat from a wealthy family. There was no good one around the prince. How did all the losers in the world gather in Chang’an? They were all dressed up and slick, and their stomachs were full of grass.

I was furious when my father wanted to marry me to the second son of Zhang Liang, the Duke of Changping. What a bastard! He was ugly, but he put on makeup and wore a big silk flower on his head. He was so ugly that my father was amused. She could barely recite the poem “The Guanyu” and the corn in the five granaries in the south of the city was not even. Such a bag of grass still insisted that she was a general on horseback, swaying on the horse, and when she startled the horse with a stone, she cried out for her father and mother. It seemed that her father really hated her and would marry her off to anyone.

Just as she was feeling sorry for herself, Xiaolindang came running over. She had been loaned out to the Tingtao Pavilion to serve as a maid today. It was said that she was to serve two new scholars. In this palace, only her maid was loaned out, and she was not allowed to go. She could not bear her mother’s desperate pleas. Alas! It was hard on Xiaolindang.

“Miss, I’m back.” Little Ding-dong, with her hair done up in the style of a palace maid, pushed open the window and shouted. The sunlight outside the house fell on Li Anlan, instantly dispelling the gloom in her heart. Little Bell is a complete optimist who never knows what worry is. Seeing that the young lady was looking at her, she took out a lotus leaf package from her bosom and carefully opened it. Inside was a yellowish chicken leg. She handed the chicken leg to the young lady: “Young lady, eat it quickly. I tore it off from a silly man’s rice plate today. He didn’t even notice it. It tastes so good.”

Li Anlan felt a wave of sadness in her heart. She was the princess, but because her mother was of low status, she had been forgotten for 12 years. Now she had come to the palace, but because she was unhappy that her father had forgotten her, she did not want to surrender to him, and she had to fend for herself. She rarely ate meat. The way Little Dingdong swallowed her saliva made her feel very sad.

She tore off a piece of chicken and slowly chewed it, as if she wanted to swallow everything in the meat. She gave the rest of the chicken to Little Ding-dong: “I have enough of this. I haven’t had much of an appetite these days, so you can eat the rest.”

Little Ding didn’t even think twice before taking it and biting into it. After she finished eating the meat, she happily sucked on the chicken bone, making a sizzling sound, as if she was enjoying it very much. “Ding, what’s that silly husband’s name?”

“I heard his name is Yun Ye, he is a marquis. I tore the chicken leg from his plate. He is very funny. After I took the chicken leg, he drank a bowl of radish soup and didn’t eat the rest of the chicken. I thought he had found out, but he didn’t say anything. When the prince asked, he didn’t say anything. He obviously didn’t eat the chicken leg, but argued with the prince for a long time. Do you think he is stupid?” Little Bell was secretly pleased with herself.

“Silly girl, he knows you stole the food, but he’s not saying anything. He’s even covering for you in front of the prince. This guy’s not bad. He’s like a scholar, with a forgiving heart. Unlike the lecher I met today, who actually called me his wife in public. He’s vulgar and despicable. If I see him again, I’ll beat him up and tell him to stop flirting with other people.”

While the master and servant were cursing the lecher in their room, Yun Ye was applying a hot egg compress to his eye socket in the eastern palace. No one could be graceful with a black eye. His heart was in a state of ecstasy. Since coming to the Tang Dynasty, he had discovered the joy of life for the first time. As long as he brought Li Anlan home and had a son in two years, everything here would be no different from the future. Only his own heart and his own family could be truly called complete. Looking at the blurred bronze mirror, Yun Ye said with clenched teeth, “Anlan, you are mine. Whoever tries to take you away from me will be torn to pieces.”

Cheng Chumo and Li Chengqian were standing next to him, and they both shuddered when they heard these vicious words.

“Yezi, let’s talk about the locust plague. Do you really want to see my mother and tell her that you don’t want to go to school?” Li Chengqian decided to change the subject. Yun Ye’s love was too dark and bloody.

“Who says that? How can you give up on school? From now on, I will come to the palace every day to receive my mother’s teachings, rain or shine!” Yun Ye said decisively.

“Are you sure you’re here to receive my mother’s teachings and not to wait for my sister?” Li Chengqian was a little suspicious.

“Of course I’m here to receive education. I’ve found myself to be a lot more degenerate recently, and it’s necessary to listen to more of your mother’s words of wisdom. It would be great if I could see your sister by the way.”

“Xiao Ye, you just said that we were going to the countryside to save the people of the world, and now you’ve changed your mind?” Cheng Chumo was a bit depressed. To be honest, he really didn’t want to come to the palace to take classes.

“Locust plague? What locust plague? Is there such a thing? I haven’t seen me chasing after my wife. Who has the time to save people? That’s the emperor’s business. The most important thing for me now is to get my wife.” After hearing Yun Ye’s words, Li Chengqian and Cheng Chumo pounced on him and pinned him to the couch, ravaging him wildly.