by N/A
"Oh." Listening to Han Ming Yi's embarrassing* matters, the anger in Du Xiao Li's heart lessened a bit. Could it be because she heard that he didn't have any concubines or tongfangs?
(T/N: Although the character translates to embarrassing, a more accurate translations would be 'matters that can be described with this face-->')
"Younger sister."
Upon arriving at Jade Bamboo Courtyard's entrance, Du Xiao Li heard Du Xiu Heng call out to her.
"Big brother." Seeing Du Xiu Heng, Du Xiao Li's mood improved quite a bit. She smiled and waved at him.
Despite having arrived in the capital for this many days, she still haven't had the chance to properly talk with Du Xiu Heng.
"Younger sister, I heard the emperor bestowed another marriage to you?" Du Xiu Heng walked over and asked.
Remembering this, Du Xiao Li felt annoyed again and pouted her mouth, "Isn't it just someone who has too much free time? Anyways, I don't want to talk about this now. Big brother, how about I take you to see the estate?"
"Alright, since you don't want to say, we won't talk about this now." Du Xiu Heng said. He knew she has always been very opinionated. Perhaps this was because she was from another world. In the beginning, he'd thought about finding a good family for her, but very soon he learned, her matters can only be decided by her alone. Else, that wasn't loving her, but rather hurting her.
"Let's go." Du Xiao Li let Xia Yuan go get her silver needles, and then let Ying Ge go bring Silver and Gold together too.
Du Xiu Heng rode on horseback, while Du Xiao Li let Du Yun Han find two horse carriages for her. She and Xia Yuan, as well as Silver, sat in the front carriage, while Gold, Ying Ge, and Qiao Zhu sat in the back. After informing Du Yun Han, the party thus headed out of town.
(T/N: TBH sometimes I feel rather than a father, Du Yun Han is like a new subordinate...)
As soon as Du Xiao Li's horse carriage went out, the commoners of the city immediately recognized and pointed to the horse carriage.
Speaking of which, Du Xiao Li right now can also be considered quite famous in the capital. Before even reaching the capital, rumors regarding her were already flying all over. In Laifu Inn, when Du Yun Han personally went to go pick her up, rumors of her being favored flew all over. But the next day, during the Feng Xue Lou gathering, everyone all learned that she didn't know any talents. Soon after, the news of the army's return temporarily suppressed her rumors, but then in a blink of an eye, first getting rejected by Ren Wang, then getting bestowed another marriage by the emperor, the news spread one after the other. Quite a few people all sighed at how this Du family's third miss really was a headline maker!
However a country girl matched with the women hater Ding Wang, there will definitely be a lot more gossip in the future!
Du Xiao Li never thought that after coming to the capital there would be this many rumors about her. Fortunately, she's never cared about these. Else, she would really be depressed to death.
The horse carriage took them out of the city, heading directly towards the estate. By the time they reached the estate, it was already noon. Immediately seeing there was grapes, Silver and Gold ran down, bolting into the grape vineyard. Luckily the grape racks were all built rather tall, so she wasn't worried about them damaging the grapes.
"Awoo---" Silver called out towards Du Xiao Li's horse carriage, then immediately squeezed into the vineyard.
"Miss." Hearing the horse carriage and wolf howl, the steward Xie Hen lead some people to welcome them at the entrance.
Du Xiao Li got down from the horse carriage and looked to Xie Hen asking, "Is there anyone in the vineyard? Silver and Gold went inside."
"Replying to miss, right now, everyone has all come out, no one should be inside." Xie Hen replied.
"Then that's good. This is my older brother, Du Xiu Heng." Du Xiao Li pointed to Du Xiu Heng, who's already descended his horse.
"Young master." Xie Hen lead the people in bowing to Du Xiu Heng.
"Suddenly coming over today, there really isn't anything important, just came for a stroll." Du Xiao Li's party headed towards the house.
"Aunt Mi just happens to be making lunch right now. I'll go let them prepare some for miss and young master." Xie Hen said.
"Okay." Du Xiao Li said with a smile.
Xie Hen let the servant boy at his side go inform the kitchen, when he accompanied Du Xiao Li in touring the courtyard.
Last time when she came, it was at night, and the next day she had to leave in a hurry and didn't get to properly look at this courtyard and the gardens outside. She heard that Xie Hen and them, aside from planting grapes, also planted persimmons and other fruits. Unfortunately, tangerines couldn't grow in the north and could only be left at Du village.
After walking for a while, Du Xiao Li let Xie Hen go take care of his matters in the estate, while she and Du Xiu Heng walked around in the courtyard.
"Big brother, this place is near the mountain areas, so the temperature is much cooler than the capital. Later, when it gets warmer, we can come here to avoid the summer heat." Du Xiao Li looked around. The estate was right below the mountain. She heard that near the capital there was a several hundred kilometer long mountain range, called Swallow Mountain Range. This place should be at the foot of Swallow Mountain.
"Younger sister, you're really impressive now, making me feel very ashamed. All these years, I've never properly taken care of you, letting you work hard." Du Xiu Heng said.
"Big brother is thinking of these again. Your existence and the family love and warmth you've given me is my greatest fortune." Du Xiao Li said, "Right now, you just need to properly study, and then next year participate in the imperial exam!"
"En, I definitely won't disappoint younger sister's expectations!" Du Xiu Heng nodded and said in a serious tone, "But, are you really planning on marrying Ding Wang?"
T/N: Sorry for delay, I'm slightly down with a cold so after finishing the rest of the sponsored chapters up until now, I won't be doing anymore sponsored chapters until next week. I'll still update with regular chapters, just any sponsored chapters will be pushed to next week.
Ch. 064.3 – Haven't We Long Been Engaged? (3)
Haven't We Long Been Engaged? (3)
T/N: Chapter sponsored by Gigi! Thank you for sponsoring!
"I don't have any ideas right now. After all, there's still two more years until I reach marriageable age. Two years although isn't long, it's not short either. Anything can happen, no?" Du Xiao Li said, "That's right big brother, do you know who Ding Wang is?"
Du Xiu Heng shook his head. In the days he's been here, aside from going to the gathering last time, he had not gone out and has been in his courtyard studying the whole time.
"It's big brother Yi." Du Xiao Li said.
"What?!" Du Xiu Heng turned his head in surprise, "Han Ming Yi is Ding Wang?"
(T/N: Why does no one ever connect the dots? The princes names all follow a pattern and ordinary people usually aren't allowed to have the same name as the members of the imperial family---)
Du Xiao Li nodded, then sighed. In the beginning, she'd only guessed that his identity wasn't low, but never thought that he was a prince. "Big brother Liu Feng is the older brother of Ji Liu Xia from that day at the gathering. He's the current great general's son, and is also a young general now."
"Never thought that they would appear in that little mountain village of ours." Du Xiu Heng said with a sigh.
"Hehe, speaking of which, that mountain village is sure impressive, a prince and now Wangye once lived there, a general, and also two of the prime minister's children also all lived there." Du Xiao Li laughed all of a sudden.
With a grave expression, Du Xiu Heng asked, "Then do you plan on marrying Ding Wang?"
Before he was worried, because they'd never met Ding Wang before. Suddenly getting a marriage decree, he temporarily couldn't accept it. Now, knowing that Ding Wang was Han Ming Yi, he didn't know whether or not Du Xiao Li would agree.
>
"Eunuch Shan said it was Ding Wang that asked for the decree. Right now, I rather want to know why he did this. As for whether or not I'll marry, didn't I just say, it's still a long way until I reach marriageable age. We just arrived in the capital. A lot of things still haven't been taken care of. Once everything's calmed down, I'll think about it again." Du Xiao Li said with a shrug.
In this era where there was imperial power, she just knew she couldn't do as she pleased!
"En, regardless of what decision you make, I will always support you!" Du Xiu Heng said, "In this world, there's nothing more important than you."
Du Xiao Li could hear the meaning in his words. If she didn't want to marry, even if it's defying the imperial order, he will still stick with her until the end!
"En, I will. Even if I don't want to marry, I will still think of a perfect way to break the engagement. Life is precious, how can you just abandon your life because of these things." Du Xiao Li smiled.
"Miss, young master, lunch is already been prepared." Xia Yuan appeared behind them.
"Let's go, the heaven is high, the earth is vast, but eating is still the biggest. After eating, let's go look around the vineyard." Du Xiao Li rubbed her stomach. She was busy all morning today that she didn't even have the chance to eat breakfast. Now that she was in her own territory.....
(T/N: So the author forgot to finish the sentence above...orz I want to cry every time I run into one of the author's typos or grammar fuk ups; it's like a guessing game of trying to piece together what they really meant.)
Coming to the dinning hall, Du Xiao Li saw the table full of local delicacies and said with a smile, "This much, don't tell me you cleaned out all your storages? That would really make us feel ashamed."
"Miss is joking, the things in the estate all belong to miss, so bringing it out for miss to eat is only proper. Besides, there's plenty of these wild animals in the mountains. We would stroll around the mountain from time to time when we're free. We hunted a bunch back." Xie Hen said.
"Is that the swallow mountain mountain range?" Du Xiao Li thought of that continuous like a screen mountain range in the back.
"Yes miss." Xie Hen said, "There's an abundant of wild animals in that mountain, all four seasons nonstop, just in the winter, it's a little less."
"Really, then let's go for a stroll there sometime." Du Xiao Li said as her eyes lit up.
"Miss can go at any time. However, you can only stay in this region. Further north is the imperial family's hunting grounds. You can't just casually enter there." Xie Hen said.
"Haha, then I'll take you all there next time. Alright, for now, let's just eat first." Du Xiao Li looked to the table full of dishes, and instantly felt her appetite growing.
After eating lunch, Du Xiao Li and Du Xiu Heng took a short nap. When passed the hottest period of the day, they finally went to stroll in the gardens. Several fields of grapes surrounded the house, encircling it in the center. In the back, near swallow mountain, was the persimmon orchard, and next to it was apples, pears, and so on.
"Such a large fruit orchard!" Du Xiao Li stood in the vineyard. The vineyard here was bigger than the one in Du village!
"Because this estate had started planning only in the beginning of last year, so we could only buy these lands, and used it all to plant grapes. As for the other fruit orchards, we saw that they'd just happened to be connected to the vineyard, thus we also bought them. If miss sees anything you're not satisfied with, we will change to plant something else."
"No, it's very good, I like it a lot." Du Xiao Li said in satisfaction. Afterwards, she looked to the flat plain before the mountain in the back and said to Du Xiu Heng, "Big brother, look there, isn't it like our old home's terrain?"
Du Xiu Heng nodded and said, "Indeed very similar, not bad."
"Steward Xie, managing such a big estate, you've all worked hard." Du Xiao Li said.
"These are all what we should be doing." Xie Hen said with a smile. However, he could also tell, this master of his that has only visited twice is a good person.
"Awooo---"
Silver and Gold ran down from the mountains and eagerly came to Du Xiao Li's side, circling around her legs. Looks like they were in a good mood.
"Younger sister, it's not early anymore, how about we head back?" Du Xiu Heng asked when he saw that the sun was already leaning towards the west.
"En, once I finish treating Qiao Zhu's grandpa, we'll head back." Du Xiao Li almost forgot an important things she came to do today.
Thus the party rushed back to the courtyard. Once Du Xiao Li finished treating the old beggar, they finally got on the horse carriage and hurriedly headed back. But just as the horse carriage reached the city gates, they were stopped by someone.
"Young master Du, long time no see!" But before Du Xiu Heng and them could speak, a voice sounded, making Du Xiao Li instantly pull open the window curtains.
"Leng Er, you're back?" Du Xiao Li looked to Leng Er and waved to him with a smile.
"Little girl." Leng Er looked to Du Xiao Li. He was also in a good mood, letting his horse walk next to the horse carriage. He looked to Du Xiao Li in the carriage and said, "You all finally came, I've been waiting for so long."
"I was just talking with big brother Liu Feng about you this morning. He said you went on a mission and haven't returned. Didn't expect that you would return today." Seeing an old friend, Du Xiao Li's mood was quite good.
"En, I just returned this afternoon. I heard master say to send someone here to wait for you all, so I thus bravely volunteered to come." Leng Er said.
"Not bad, very generous. However, I don't want to meet your master right now, you won't make it difficult for me right?" Thinking of Han Ming Yi, she felt unbearable stuffy inside, and simply didn't want to see him.
"Eh, girl, having not met in this many years, you sure know how to trouble me even more." Leng Er looked to Du Xiao Li with a troubled expression.
"Haha, I know that big brother Yi won't do anything to you if you go back. The sky is almost dark, I'll be going back now. Later, I'll come find you to play." Du Xiao Li then said to Du Xiu Heng in front, "Big brother, let's quickly go back home. Else, once it's dark, father will worry again."
When she finished saying this, she put down the curtains, and after the horse carriage began moving, she even reached her hand out to wave at Leng Er.
Ch. 064.4 – Haven't We Long Been Engaged? (4)
Haven't We Long Been Engaged? (4)
T/N: Chapter sponsored by Jane Doe, Innovare, Gigi Jinx! Thank you for sponsoring! The chapter of awkwardest parent and child conversation ever.
The guards that came along, seeing that Leng Er didn't do anything and just watched Du Xiao Li's horse carriage enter the city, went up and said, "Sir Leng Er, we're just going to let her walk away like that?"
"That girl, the more you force her, the more she'll refuse. Come on, let's go back to find master." Leng Er said, and then whipped the horse. He didn't enter the city, instead heading towards another direction.
Du Xiao Li didn't have Han Ming Yi's wish to see her put to heart, because at the moment, she truly didn't want to see that person. Letting the emperor bestow the marriage for no reason really made her very upset.
She had Du Xiu Heng left in her own courtyard for dinner. Before they finished, Du Yun Han came over. Seeing them currently eating, he directly sat down and began eating.
Perhaps because Du Yun Han was present, after he finished eating, Du Xiu Heng returned to his own courtyard. Seeing Du Xiu Heng not willing to acknowledge him, Du Yun Han heavily sighed.
"Father, big brother is just temporarily unable to see things through. Once he thinks things through, it'll be better." Du Xiao Li comforted.
"The incident that year, I've already explained to him, what is there still to figure out!?" Du Yun Han helplessly said.
"You just told big brother that you only have mother in your heart. But in our eyes, loving a person, your body and heart has to be
one. Although you only have mother in your heart, you still ended up having children with other women." Speaking of this, Du Xiao Li also felt stuffy inside, her thoughts dark like the crows under the sky. Even if he cried that bitterly in front of Su Su Xin's grave, it still can't erase the fact that he has other children. Moreover, Du Xiu Heng and Du Ke Xin's age difference, and herself and Du Ke Hui's age difference, were all just a few months apart. Then that means, he did those things while Su Su Xin was pregnant.
Cheating while one's own wife was pregnant, this wass the most hateful!
Du Yun Han was also a smart man. Hearing that Du Xiao Li's tone was off, he knew she was also angry, thus quickly explained, "I really just like your mother!"
"Just look at the age difference between us siblings. You dare to say you didn't do that while mother was pregnant? Your body already cheated, mother's also dead, what use is there for you to say these now." Du Xiao Li angrily said.
"That year, I already told your mother. I was drunk both those two times, drunk to the point of unconsciousness. The next day, I don't even remember what I did the night before. It completely wasn't on purpose. Xiao Li, you have to believe father, father...." Du Yun Han although felt telling this matter to his daughter was somewhat embarrassing, but his son was already ignoring, his daughter normally was still a little good to him, however if even his daughter no longer acknowledged him, then he will have to go find a piece of tofu and ram himself to death!
(T/N: The phrase 'ramming to death on a piece of tofu' is normally used to criticize a person's incompetence, so useless that they'll even die ramming against a piece of tofu.)
"I don't believe you, how can you be dead drunk and still be able to......." When Du Xiao Li spoke till here, she stopped, and her gaze strangely looked to Du Yun Han.
She remembered hearing the men in the organization in her past life say: 'When truly dead drunk to the point of unconsciousness, would one still have the energy to roll the bed with someone? Would've long been sleeping like a dead pig! Those so called cheating when drunk are actually just borrowing alcohol to cheat. The mind is actually still conscious.'