A Precious Pearl in the Imperial City

T/N: Thank you so much for the donation @Teckel! Bonus chapter will be up when I get the time to do it ^^;

In Assistant Minister Ming’s residence.

 

After listening to the servant’s report, Shen-shi asked: “Chen Wang really came out to greet her in person?”

 

“Yes. Chen Wang rushed out without wearing his guan1Guan [冠] – It is a type of hair binding ornament used by ancient Chinese men. It kind of looks like this: ; even his hair was not bound. However, he did not appear to be annoyed due to Young Miss’ unannounced visit.”

 

“Okay, you can withdraw.” Shen-shi grabbed a handful of money and gave it to the subordinate: “It’s cold. Use this silver to buy some new clothes for your child.”

 

“Thank you, Madam.” Putting the money into the pocket, the person went out with a smile.

 

“Is this the reason why Wife deliberately didn’t tell JiuZhu that there are many rules needed to be followed for visiting a prince’s residence?” Ming JingZhou sighed: “Chen Wang seems to be a little better than we imagined.”

 

“Regardless of whether he is sincere or not, at least he is not unworthy of JiuZhu’s utmost sincerity.” Shen-shi smiled bitterly: “Since JiuZhu got betrothed to Chen Wang, I have been worrying every day that Chen Wang will bully or humiliate her, given his overbearing temperament. But after today, I can finally be a little at ease because if he is willing to come out and welcome her in person, he probably has some affection for JiuZhu.”

 

“Speaking of it, this type of thinking is a bit weird too. If any other prince did this, I would have only thought that they were being considerate. But when Chen Wang did so, it made me think of him with twice as much goodwill.” Shen-shi laughed at herself: “Thus, it can be clearly seen that I am critical of the wonderful person and tolerant of the stubborn and bad person.”

 

“It’s not that Wife is being prejudiced. Rather, when someone’s behavior is different from usual, others are very likely to deem it as more valuable.” Ming JingZhou smiled: “This is the case with everyone in the world. Maybe… this will also become an advantage for Chen Wang in the future.”

 

Shen-shi suddenly realized this. After a long time, she nodded: “Husband’s words are reasonable.”

 

“Master, Madam.” The steward came in and bowed, “Fu Gui, the chief eunuch of Chen Wang’s residence, requests to meet you.”

 

“Quickly please.”

 

Shen-shi and Ming JingZhou exchanged glances. What is the chief eunuch of Chen Wang’s residence doing here?

 

After they met Fu Gui and listened to his purpose of coming, the husband and wife instantly understood that sending vegetables was a mere pretense; the real motive was to have their daughter stay back to eat at the residence.

 

After Fu Gui left, Shen-shi remained silent for a long time before speaking: “Men ah, not one of them is a good person.”

 

Ming JingZhou: “……”

 

How could all men get implicated in this incident?

 

“Wife is right. I also think some men are really not very good people!”

 

“Aren’t you a man too?”

 

“For you, I am willing to be a traitor.”

 

“Women ah, really troublesome.” After getting dressed, Chen Wang picked up the ribbon from the table, hesitated for a moment, and put it into a box for his guans.

 

“Your Highness, this slave is a eunuch so he doesn’t understand much about women.” The eunuch helping Chen Wang comb his hair summoned his courage and spoke boldly: “But this slave thinks that Ming guniang is a perfect match for you.”

 

“Ben Wang is afraid that she will sob if I say harsh words and become sad if I get angry at her. Hence, while accompanying her, Ben Wang feels worried that she will feel unhappy.” Chen Wang clicked his tongue: “Till a little while ago, Ben Wang never expected that I’d have to coax a little guniang soon.”

 

“Your Highness is a part of the Imperial family; you have a dignified identity. Even if you don’t coax a woman, she wouldn’t dare to be dissatisfied with you.” The attendant continued: “So, Your Highness doesn’t need to bother yourself too much.”

 

“You don’t know a damn thing!” Chen Wang glared at the attendant, even speaking rudely: “She’s a silly little girl. Wouldn’t she be pitiful when she’s crying? Wouldn’t she be pitiful when she is sad? Wouldn’t she be extremely pitiful when she feels aggrieved?! Can a grown-up man like Ben Wang possibly do that kind of a thing?”

 

The attendant promptly admitted his fault: “Please forgive me, Your Highness. This slave is stupid; not only does he not understand anything about women, but he also does not know how to speak.”

 

He finally understood. In His Highness’ eyes, as long as Ming guniang was not happy, she would be a pitiful little girl.

 

“Forget it, what’s the use of Ben Wang telling you this?” Chen Wang strode out of his chamber and went straight to the yard meant for the guests.

 

“Your Highness.” Seeing Chen Wang halt, the maid standing by the door walked up to him and whispered, “Ming guniang is asleep.”

 

Chen Wang looked inside the room. On the soft couch, he saw JiuZhu bundled together like a lump. He didn’t go in: “Once Ming guniang wakes up, send someone to inform Ben Wang.”

 

“Yes.” Noticing that he intended to leave, the maid immediately stopped him: “Your Highness, please wait.”

 

She returned to the table and picked up a little pouch: “Ming guniang asked this slave to hand it to you before she fell asleep.”

 

Chen Wang opened the purse. There were a few mint candies in it.

 

Who cares about eating mint candies on such a snowy day ah…

 

While walking through the winding corridor with the pouch in his hand, he stopped and opened it. As soon as he took out a small piece and put it in his mouth, his mouth was instantly filled with the sweet taste of mint.

 

JiuZhu woke up more than half a shichen later. Once awake, she put on warm shoes and socks and sat in front of the copper mirror to fix her makeup: “Sorry for bothering you all, sisters.”

 

“Guniang is being too polite.” One of the maids said: “Please wait for a few minutes. His Highness will be here soon.”

 

JiuZhu smiled, feeling a little embarrassed.

 

“Woke up?” Chen Wang walked into the room. With a jade guan binding his hair and a large fox fur cloak draped on his body, he looked just like an elegant and handsome gongzi not from this mortal world.

 

JiuZhu couldn’t help but peek a few times at him.

 

“Very good-looking?” Chen Wang walked up to her and fiddled with a pearl hairpin on the table.

 

“Good-looking.” JiuZhu blushed and nodded.

 

“Are you hungry?”

 

She continued to nod.

 

“I think you shouldn’t be called JiuZhu. You should instead be called ‘Little Pig2T/N: A kind of wordplay here since the ‘zhu’ (珠 – which means ‘pearl’) in JiuZhu’s name sounds exactly the same as pig (猪) in Chinese. Both are pronounced ‘zhū’.‘.” Chen Wang handed the pearl hairpin to a maid.

 

JiuZhu looked up at him.

 

“You’re lucky to be able to eat and sleep whenever you want, don’t you think?” Chen Wang coughed: “Let’s go, I’ll take you to eat lunch.”

 

JiuZhu quickly raised her skirt and followed him. She had heard from Sixth Brother Fu that there were a lot of cooks in Chen Wang’s residence. Therefore, the food here must be delicious.

 

So, at the table when Chen Wang saw JiuZhu eating with gusto, he asked curiously, “Is the food very delicious?”

 

“Delicious.” JiuZhu nodded: “The food of Your Highness’ residence is indeed as delicious as the rumors say.” 

 

“Oh?” Feeling curious, Chen Wang asked: “What did you hear?”

 

“I heard that there are many cooks in Your Highness’ residence.”

 

Chen Wang smiled in a meaningful way.

 

“At that time, I thought that the food in Your Highness’ residence must be extremely delicious.” JiuZhu put down the bowl and chopsticks: “After eating this food today, I found that it is exactly how I imagined it to be.”

 

“You heard others say that there are many cooks in my residence, so you thought of the taste at once?” Chen Wang was shocked by JiuZhu’s point of focus: “You didn’t think of anything else?”

 

When a normal person heard this, shouldn’t their first thought be that he was extravagant and hungry for pleasure?

 

“Isn’t a cook appointed just to prepare meals?” JiuZhu noticed Chen Wang’s odd expression. She felt she had made a mistake somewhere so she asked in a low voice, “Could it be that they are cooks just on the surface, but in fact, each one of them is a martial arts expert who is silently guarding this residence to ensure safety?”

 

“Little girl, you must refrain from reading those hideously sloppy huaben3Huaben [话本] – It is a Chinese short- or medium-length story or novella written mostly in vernacular language, sometimes including simple classical language. In contrast to the full-length Chinese novel, it is generally not divided into chapters and recounts a limited number of characters or events. According to sources, only a few huaben of the Song and the Yuan dynasty survive till date.. They can affect your brain.” Chen Wang noticed that JiuZhu liked the boneless goose feet4T/N: Looks like this: , so he put two more in her bowl.

 

She wasn’t very smart in the first place. If she read those messed up huaben, she would really become a little fool.

 

“My brain works rather well. My masters used to say that I was born smart, so I learn things very quickly.” JiuZhu was already full but seeing the two extra goose feet in her bowl, she happily picked up her chopsticks again.

 

Chen Wang sighed once more. Ming JiuZhu’s masters can really talk nonsense without any pressure.

 

He instructed the servants to bring some hawthorn tea to aid digestion. After JiuZhu finished eating the goose feet, Chen Wang asked her to take a few sips of the tea: “Now that you have eaten enough, can you tell me why you decided to brave such a heavy snow and come here looking for me?”

 

“There’s no reason ah.” JiuZhu held the teacup and said with a smile: “When I woke up in the morning and opened the window, I was very happy to find that there was a lot of snow outside. So I just wanted to have some fun with Your Highness. This is the first time I’ve seen such heavy snow.”

 

Yun DuQing did not expect to get such a simple answer; she just wanted to share her joy of witnessing the first heavy snow in her life with him.

 

The girl’s smile was tender and innocent and her eyes were filled with unreserved trust in him.

 

“Ming JiuZhu.”

 

“En?” JiuZhu looked at him with her pair of limpid eyes.

 

“It’s nothing. Let’s go, I’ll accompany you to play in the snow.” Yun DuQing stood up and announced: “I’ll take you back before it gets dark.”

 

“Okay ah, okay ah.” As a poor girl who grew up in the south and had never seen snow, JiuZhu was very interested in playing in the snow. She tossed the teacup aside, got up and quickly walked outside.

 

After the two worked together to build an ugly snowman, JiuZhu got up and stretched her limbs: “Your Highness, I forgot to ask this last time: did you like my painting of the koi playing around the lotus?”

 

Hearing JiuZhu mention the painting, Chen Wang almost broke off the snowman’s nose. He looked at the displaced fluffy rabbit hairpin in JiuZhu’s hair: “It’s… pretty good. The brushstrokes are vivid, fascinating and exceptionally vigorous.”

 

“It’s good if Your Highness likes it.” JiuZhu said happily: “I will draw another painting, a snowscape, for Your Highness when I get back home.”

 

Chen Wang: “……”

 

You don’t need to expend paper and ink like this.

 

“Alright?”

 

Chen Wang nodded: “Alright.”

 

Coaxing this little guniang was really troublesome.

 

When he came out of the bureau of the Ministry of Revenue, it was already snowing heavily outside. Qi Wang mounted his horse, put on the cloak handed by his attendant and drove it back to his residence.

 

With such heavy snow, he didn’t need to have gone to the Ministry of Revenue. However, he never allowed himself to slack off in his work.

 

Halfway through the way, he saw a girl wearing a large crimson cloak and holding a roasted sweet potato, standing on tiptoes in the snow and handing the sweet potato to the man on the horse.

 

He stopped the horse and watched the scene quietly.

 

“Your Highness, it looks like Chen Wang is ahead.” The chief attendant whispered, “Why is he here?”

 

Chen Wang was lazy and pleasure-loving by nature. It was surprising to see him willing to go out on such a snowy day.

 

Qi Wang watched Chen Wang hurriedly bite the sweet potato and rush the girl back to the carriage. Then, he stretched his hand as if he wanted to throw the sweet potato away but after taking another look at the carriage, he finished eating it with disdain.

 

Wiping the corners of his mouth, Chen Wang suddenly seemed to have discovered Qi Wang sitting astride a horse as he lazily cupped his hands in greeting: “Fourth Brother.”

 

“Fifth brother.” Qi Wang urged the horse and drove it near Chen Wang’s horse. Seeing the dark peel of the roasted sweet potato in his hand, Qi Wang smiled, “Fifth brother seems to be in a very good mood.”

 

“Fourth Brother wishes to eat it too?” Chen Wang raised his chin slightly and instructed his chief attendant: “Go, buy a few more for His Highness Qi Wang.”

 

“Fifth brother need not be so polite.” Qi Wang’s tone was soft: “Although I’ve just left the Ministry of Revenue, I still have a lot of things to deal with. I’m afraid I won’t be able to accompany fifth brother here to enjoy the fine food.”

 

“That’s really a pity.” Chen Wang clicked his tongue: “There are so many officials in the Ministry of Revenue. How can they let fourth Brother shoulder everything alone? You must remember how to know and make good use of people so as to not burden yourself.”

 

“It is the most capable people who do the most work. I consider myself fortunate to be able to work hard for Father Emperor and share his worries and burdens.” Qi Wang glanced at the carriage: “Fifth brother is about to get married in a few months, so it’s time for you to help him too.”

 

“Fourth Brother’s words are reasonable. Tomorrow I will enter the Palace to pay respects to Father Emperor so that he can feel happy and worry less.” Chen Wang said lazily: “Isn’t making him happy the same as sharing his burdens?”

 

“Your Highness?” Sensing that the carriage hadn’t moved for a long time, JiuZhu stuck her head out from behind the curtain: “What’s wrong?”

 

“It’s nothing. Put your head back inside, it’s snowing here.” Chen Wang moved his horse towards the carriage and pressed JiuZhu’s head back into the carriage.

 

“Letting people worry even while sitting in the carriage.” He pulled the curtain and turned to look at Qi Wang: “Fourth brother, I’m in a hurry to send my fiancée home. If you have anything to say, let’s talk about it later.”

 

“And if you’re not in a rush…” Chen Wang raised his eyebrows: “How about giving us way?”

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1Guan [冠] – It is a type of hair binding ornament used by ancient Chinese men. It kind of looks like this: 2T/N: A kind of wordplay here since the ‘zhu’ (珠 – which means ‘pearl’) in JiuZhu’s name sounds exactly the same as pig (猪) in Chinese. Both are pronounced ‘zhū’.3Huaben [话本] – It is a Chinese short- or medium-length story or novella written mostly in vernacular language, sometimes including simple classical language. In contrast to the full-length Chinese novel, it is generally not divided into chapters and recounts a limited number of characters or events. According to sources, only a few huaben of the Song and the Yuan dynasty survive till date.4T/N: Looks like this: