Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard c1-234

by N/A

  "The third princess was precisely poisoned with your fire and ice poison. You say you weren't the one that poisoned her, do you think we'll believe you?" Leng Er said.

  "Your brain must be broken, right? If they're poisoned with my poison, then I must be the one that poisoned them?" Bai Ning Yuan disdainfully glanced at Leng Er, that clearly was looking down on Leng Er's IQ.

  "You----"

  "Who all have you given this poison to before?" Han Ming Yi signaled Leng Er to not be rash and directly asked his question.

  Bai Ning Yuan just stared at the grapes in Leng Er's hand and didn't speak. All the way until Leng Er had the grape peeled and shoved into his mouth did he finally talk, "Ah, I seemed to have given it to a few people, but who exactly, I need to eat a few more grapes to be able to remember."

  While Han Ming Yi was interrogating Bai Ning Yuan, Du Xiao Li went to see just exactly how many of her grape vines were ruined this time, calculating to have Bai Ning Yuan compensate her later. After heading back, and seeing how they were interrogating him, she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

  Ch. 077.1 – Walking Into Her Heart Following the Sunset (1)

  Walking Into Her Heart Following the Sunset (1)

  T/N: Chapter sponsored by Gilly and Noir! Thank you for sponsoring!

  "How's the questioning going?" Du Xiao Li returned to their side, asking as she looked to Han Ming Yi's stern expression.

  "En, more or less finished." Han Ming Yi said, "Just, who exactly was the one that did the poisoning, we temporarily can't determine yet."

  Du Xiao Li looked to Bai Ning Yuan's somewhat sloppy appearance and worryingly asked, "Are you sure he's telling the truth"

  Han Ming Yi nodded and said, "Everyone in the pugilistic world all know that the poison king never lies. At most, he just poisons the other person to death after telling the truth."

  "Eh-----alright then." Du Xiao Li said, and then no longer bothered asking about these things again. She turned around and looked to Bai Ning Yuan, "Then right now, come settle our debt."

  "What debt do we have?"

  Du Xiao Li pointed to the ruined vineyard and said, "These were all wrecked by you. Of course you have to compensate me. If you don't compensate me, then in the future, I won't sell you any of my grapes."

  Bai Ning Yuan instantly jumped up and shouted, "No way, I came all the way here specifically for this. How can you not give me any?!"

  Bai Ning Yuan's movement had startled all three of them, especially Du Xiao Li. She was certain that the acupuncture point she stabbed the needle into can definitely make him unable to move.

  "You didn't get frozen?!"

  Bai Ning Yuan took the grapes from Leng Er's hands at once. His fingers lightly pinched the skin, peeling out a small opening, and then had the meat squeezed into his mouth. Afterwards, he had the needle Du Xiao Li stabbed into him earlier pulled out and said, "Nope, before you stabbed the needle in, I had my acupuncture point slightly shifted that tiny bit, thus this needle of yours didn't get inserted into the right place. Come, little sister, here's your needle back."

  The line 'little sister' made Du Xiao Li feel like she wanted to vomit blood. Who's his little sister!?

  "If you didn't get frozen, then why were you like that just now?"

  "There was someone to peel the skin for me for free, and I was too lazy to move." Bai Ning Yuan said, "Besides, your this vineyard's owner, I at least should sell you some face, right?"

  "You like eating grapes that much?" Du Xiao Li held her forehead.

  Bai Ning Yuan nodded.

  "Are you really the poison king?" Du Xiao Li looked to Bai Ning Yuan in disbelief.

  "Replacement guaranteed if not genuine." Bai Ning Yuan said, "That's right, what did you give them to eat just now? It was able to cure my poison that easily."

  "Naturally it's specifically for countering your poison." Du Xiao Li replied, and seeing that Bai Ning Yuan wanted to continue asking, she said, "Pay up first, after you pay up, I'll tell you."

  "I don't have money---------"

  "He previously had the fire and ice sold to someone for one thousand taels of gold." Han Ming Yi said.

  "One thousand taels of gold?" Du Xiao Li looked to Bai Ning Yuan with her mouth agape. "You're this rich, yet dare say you don't have money!"

  "It's not on me." Bai Ning Yuan said, "Seeing that you also know poison, how about I give you the fire and ice recipe?"

  Du Xiao Li casted Bai Ning Yuan a glance and said, "I've already concoct the antidote for fire and ice, why would I still need your recipe?"

  "What? You concocted the antidote already?" Bai Ning Yuan was shocked by Du Xiao Li's words. "I haven't even concoct the antidote yet, yet you already figured it out? Are you for real?"

  Du Xiao Li let out a yawn and said, "Big brother Yi, this person, I don't care how you all want to deal with him, but before that, you must have my losses demanded back. I'm going to head back first."

  With that said, she walked towards the courtyard. She knew, encountering Bai Ning Yuan, the fire and ice poison's creator, Han Ming Yi and them won't have the time to send her back right now. Fortunately, it wasn't too far of a walk.

  "Hey, you still haven't told me whether or not you really did concoct the antidote!" Bai Ning Yuan shouted towards Du Xiao Li.

  "If it's real, it can't be fake; if it's fake, it can't be real. Big brother Yi, remember to my losses!"

  When Du Xiao Li returned to the courtyard, Meng Jiang Zhuo was currently accompanying the Grand Empress Dowager and Meng Old Madam. Knowing that Du Xiao Li had returned, she quickly ran out from the courtyard. When she saw Du Xiao Li, she instantly charged over, worryingly asking, "Xiao Li, are you alright? Have the matters been settled already?"

  "En, it's already taken care of. The third princess has already waken up." Du Xiao Li said with a smile.

  "Miss Du, master request for you to come in." Meng Gu appeared behind them.

  "I was just planning on going to see grandma Han. Will have to trouble Meng Gu." Du Xiao Li nodded towards Meng Gu and pulled Meng Jiang Zhuo together with her to go see the Grand Empress Dowager.

  "Girl, you've finally come back. How are things over there?" When Meng Old Madam saw Du Xiao Li and Meng Jiang Zhuo walk in, she opened her mouth first.

  Du Xiao Li curtsied towards the Grand Empress Dowager and Meng Old Madam, and then replied, "The poison has already been cured, and the third princess has already awoken as well. As for other matters, Xiao Li isn't clear."

  "I took a trip back to the manor yesterday and heard my father and mother say you haven't properly rested in several days already?" Meng Jiang Zhuo said.

  "This time, the culprit used the poison king's newly developed poison. In order to make the antidote, I had spent some time." Du Xiao Li said, "Grandma Han, how about I examine your body for you first?"

  "Alright."

  Du Xiao Li went forward and took the Grand Empress Dowager's pulse, following which she retreated a step and said, "Grandma Han's body has been maintained quite well these last few days. The situation is much better than before. That gu is already about to run out of energy. In a few days, we should be able to remove the gu."

  "Really?" Meng Gu somewhat excitedly said.

  Du Xiao Li smiled and nodded.

  "Li girl, go rest first. These dark circles under your eyes are about to cover your entire face!" Right now, Du Xiao Li was close to her, so the Grand Empress Dowager was able to see the concentrated dark circles on her face.

  Du Xiao Li was indeed very tired, and seeing the Grand Empress Dowager's body not have any abnormalities, she thus nodded her head and said, "Alright, then I'll go sleep first."

  Du Xiao Li returned to her own room. Qiao Zhu brought her lunch, letting her eat first before sleeping. And Ying Ge brought her water to wash her face and rinse her mouth.

  "These few days, I have troubled you two with the matters on the estate." Du Xiao Li said to Ying Ge and Qiao Zhu as she washed her face.

  "When
miss isn't here, having the madams and miss served well is the only way for us to not embarrass miss." Ying Ge said with a smile, "Just, without miss here, Qiao Zhu really missed miss."

  "That's right, miss was gone for this many days, even Ying Ge wasn't used to it, muttering every day when miss will return!" Qiao Zhu heard Ying Ge tease her and quickly retorted.

  "This time, it was mainly because I couldn't just leave things here, that's why I had you two stay here. Speaking of which, it seems Ying Ge has never been separated from me for this long before!" Du Xiao Li said with a laugh.

  When she finished eating, Du Xiao Li climbed onto her bed to sleep. Before falling asleep, she told them to let Xia Yuan rest when she returned. Following her around these last few days have really tired Xia Yuan too.

  This time, Du Xiao Li slept all the way until evening. By the time she opened her eyes, the light of the sunset have already dyed the entire estate red. She laid in bed, wanting to see the sunlight shooting in from the window, yet instead saw a figure that shouldn't have appeared here.

  T/N: Sorry for leaving on cliff ahhahaahha but the word count was exact 1700 here. Though I feel it should be pretty obvious who appeared based on the title.

  Ch. 077.2 – Walking Into Her Heart Following the Sunset (2)

  Walking Into Her Heart Following the Sunset (2)

  "How come you're here? When did you come?" Du Xiao Li sat up and asked.

  "Just came a while ago. Heard you were sleeping, thus came to check on you." Han Ming Yi looked to Du Xiao Li's still somewhat absentminded appearance, walking over to pinch her cheeks.

  Du Xiao Li slapped his hand away and said, "Did you take the poison king back? What are you doing at the estate?"

  "Finished investigating so I came back. Actually, taking him back was also just to tell his Majesty, because the people he gave the poison to wasn't that many, and there's only two that have the motive to. However, just based on this, we still can't make a move against the enemy yet."

  "Not someone of Feng Ming?" Du Xiao Li asked.

  "En."

  "Then, you still shouldn't be here, right?"

  Han Ming Yi softly laughed out and said, "That Bai Ning Yuan said he wanted to eat your grapes, so imperial brother could only have him thrown here."

  "Then what about you?" Du Xiao Li said, and then instantly came to realization, "You're saying the poison king is on my estate right now?"

  "Yes." Han Ming Yi looked to Du Xiao Li's pouting lips and had the urge to want to get close, "As for me, I received orders to come protect grandmother's safety. After all, there's a few more people here."

  "A few people?" Du Xiao Li grabbed onto Han Ming Yi's wording and skeptically asked.

  "Forgot to tell you, not only did Bai Ning Yuan move in, your two senior brothers also moved in."

  "My senior brothers also came?"

  "Not just your senior brothers, in a few days, there might be more people coming."

  Du Xiao Li blinked, was she still dreaming, and thus started hearing things?"

  "Hehe, your senior brother said, in a few days, that shifu of yours might come." Han Ming Yi looked to Du Xiao Li's appearance and couldn't help but pinch her little face again. "Alright, you should get up. Everyone's all waiting for you!"

  Du Xiao Li glared at Han Ming Yi with her slightly reddened cheeks, discontentedly saying: "Before I get up and change, shouldn't you go out first?"

  "Hehe......." Han Ming Yi was amused by Du Xiao Li's appearance and left the room laughing.

  "Just you wait!" Du Xiao Li muttered, and then began changing. After she finished changing, she opened the door and went out. Unexpectedly, as soon as she opened the door, she saw the person waiting under the sunset.

  Han Ming Yi was waiting outside the door. When he heard the door open, he turned to see Du Xiao Li wearing a simple long dress. He slightly smiled and extended his hand to her. "Let's go over then."

  The light of the setting sun sprinkled on his body. A warm smiled blossomed for her. His sharp air, his firmness, and his coldness, all were entirely put away for her. What he gave her was only ever this warm feeling. That kind of 'waiting for her under the sunset' feeling was similar to a tired bird returning to the nest, that kind of soundless sense of belonging.

  She suddenly smiled. Everyone all say, the moon will stir up trouble*, yet she never thought that one day, someone would also walk into her heart following this sunset filled sky.

  (T/N: This reminded me of an old song my parents use to listen to a lot when I was little by the same name-----feel free to check it. The meaning is basically alluding to romance under the moonlight.)

  Seeing the wide palm extended before her, she lightly lifted her own hand and mischievously glanced at Han Ming Yi. Just when she was about to place her hand into his, she suddenly slapped down with force and then flung his hand aside, turning away with a smile.

  Since he's already walked into her heart, then she will take this gamble. If she wins, then she'll hold his hand for a lifetime. If she loses, then she'll accept the consequences.............

  When Du Xiao Li arrived in the front courtyard, she heard the laughter coming from the guest hall. Du Xiao Li walked in and saw Bai Ning Yuan chatting with the Grand Empress Dowager and them and amused them into a hearty laugh.

  Seeing Bai Ning Yuan, Du Xiao Li turned to Han Ming Yi, using her eyes to ask, 'Is it alright to let him know the Grand Empress Dowager is here?'

  "He said he was somewhat familiar with gu poison and perhaps could be of some use. This is also one of the reason why his Majesty had him thrown here." Han Ming Yi explained.

  Seeing Du Xiao Li, the Grand Empress Dowager beckoned at her, letting her come sit by her side, "How was your rest?"

  "Slept all the way until now. I probably won't be able to fall sleep tonight!" Du Xiao Li replied, and then looked to Bai Ning Yuan, "Bai Ning Yuan, have you paid for the damages yet?"

  "Ah? Still have to pay?" Bai Ning Yuan widened his eyes at Du Xiao Li and then looked to Qing Chen sitting next to him. In the end, he fished out a plaque from his chest and said, "I don't have money, so I'll just give this to you."

  Du Xiao Li took the plaque and said, "What is this? Can it be pawned for money?"

  Bai Ning Yuan jumped up from his seat at once and said, "Pawned for money? You actually want to pawn this for money? Even if you dare to pawn, no pawnshop would dare accept it!"

  "Then what use is there giving me this?" Du Xiao Li flipped the plaque back and forth in her hands and studied it, "Could it be that this is more important than money?"

  Bai Ning Yuan rolled his eyes and said, "In any case, you can't lose this, or pawn it off. Once I get the money, I will take it back from you!"

  Hearing that he'll come redeem it, Du Xiao Li reassuringly had the plaque put away, and then said to Qing Chen, "Senior brother, I heard shifu will come?"

  "Yes." Qing Chen nodded and said, "Originally, shifu said he wanted to come together with me, but I impatiently wanted to come see the situation here. Shifu is at an old age already, so he's coming slowly. I suppose he'll arrived in a few days."

  (T/N: The ultimate grandpa is coming-------I'm excited.)

  The Grand Empress Dowager, listening to Du Xiao Li and Qing Chen's conversation, asked: "This time, even your shifu is coming?"

  "Yes, shifu said he hasn't come out of the valley in a long time, so this time, he wanted to come out to relax, and while he's at it, come see little junior sister."

  "Is that so." The Grand Empress Dowager understandingly nodded, "He hasn't left the valley in a long time, right?"

  "It's already been five to six years." Qing Chen said.

  "En, last time, when the previous emperor passed away, we'd invited him out, but unfortunately, before he could make it, the previous emperor passed away. From then on, it seems there hasn't been news of him leaving the valley." The Grand Empress Dowager said reminiscently.

  "Yes, from then onwards, shifu never left the valley." Qing Chen said.

&n
bsp; Du Xiao Li heard everyone had chatted together for a whole day, and seeing the time, said, "Grandma Han, I'll go prepare dinner for you."

  "I'll also go." Meng Jiang Zhuo got up and said. Recently, she's plan to learn how to cook from Du Xiao Li. If after she marries, she is able to personally make a table of dishes for her husband, then that was also quite nice.

  Didn't Du Xiao Li previously say, if one wants to grasp a man's heart, need to first grasp his stomach?

  Before, Du Xiao Li had been busy the whole time, so she didn't say. Now that Du Xiao Li had time, she thus told Du Xiao Li her thoughts.

  After Du Xiao Li became aware, she happily agreed and even found time to specially write up a cookbook for her. The dishes inside were all designed according to the taste of Jiangnan.

  When Meng Jiang Zhuo received the cookbook, she was quite amazed, and at the same time, endlessly moved too, because of Du Xiao Li's care, and also because of her feelings.

  T/N: Tbh I'm not used to this author writing poetically so whenever she does I get weirded out. Her sentences are always so straightforward so I get a little taken aback when the writing gets fancy all sudden. It's funny cause I'm used to it with my other two projects where half the novel reads like some confusing ancient prophecy. If you got ancient prophecies to decode, please hire me.

  Ch. 077.3 – Walking Into Her Heart Following the Sunset (3)

  Walking Into Her Heart Following the Sunset (3)

  When preparing dinner, aside from specially making the Grand Empress Dowager's dinner, Du Xiao Li also made a few side dishes for Qing Chen and the others. During the meal, the number one glutton, Bai Ning Yuan, had majority of the dishes all finished off, and even ate two bowls rices, making Du Xiao Li wonder if she should ask him for living expenses.

  After eating dinner, Meng Jiang Zhuo dragged Du Xiao Li outside to stroll in the vineyard. Seeing the bunch of youngsters, the Grand Empress Dowager smilingly had Han Ming Yi and them also go together with them.

  Tonight's moon hid behind the layers of clouds and didn't come out. Meng Jiang Zhuo originally planned on taking a stroll with Du Xiao Li and have a heart-to-heart to talk, but seeing that many people following behind them, she shot them a glare and went back on her own.