My Fantastic Chef Wife

341. Little Ye Is Beaten

Translator: ChowvanLee

The agate hairpin was bestowed by the Empress. Ye Xiaoxian liked it so much that she kept wearing it.

The maid said, “Empress Dowager took it away.”

“She’s been here?”

The maid didn’t dare to use the word “she” to refer to Empress Dowager, so she said, “Empress Dowager was here.”

“Why does she take my hairpin?”

“I don’t know.” The maid didn’t dare tell her anything.

Ye Xiaoxian couldn’t help but feel angry again.

‘Didn’t she want to starve me? Rescue me now and take my hairpin!’

‘Why did she take my hairpin? Could it be that she wants to wear it?’

Ye Xiaoxian thought and thought and then she suddenly realised that Empress Dowager might be threatening someone with the hairpin.

It should be either Xiao Baoshan or Jin Xiaoyu.

Ye Xiaoxian combed her hair and left her room.

Coincidentally, she saw Empress Dowager appreciating flowers in the yard.

It was almost winter, and the blossom of Chinese roses was going over. Another batch of chrysanthemums was planted in the yard. Empress Dowager was wandering in the bushes and appreciating flowers with smiles.

Ye Xiaoxian wasn’t sure if it was intuitions, but Empress Dowager saw her the moment she was in the yard.

Ye Xiaoxian looked much better, but the obvious mark on her neck made Empress Dowager feel uncomfortable.

“Madam Xiao, you look good.” Empress Dowager said as she slowly walked over to Ye Xiaoxian.

Ye Xiaoxian looked at Empress Dowager and she found that Empress Dowager was wearing heavy makeup.

Ye Xiaoxian said gently, “Thanks for Empress Dowager’s care and I feel much better now. But you, Empress Dowager, why do you wear such heavy makeup? Couldn’t fall asleep last night?”

Empress Dowager was irritated by Ye Xiaoxian again.

But she was used to it. Ye Xiaoxian was like hot pepper, a person who was born to have a bad personality and she wouldn’t change it.

“You’re so stubborn. You’ve almost died once, yet you’re still so rude to me.”

Ye Xiaoxian sneered, “Since I’ve died once, I don’t care if I die once again.”

“You are dying for a man; is it worth it?” Empress Dowager asked.

Ye Xiaoxian asked, “Isn’t Empress Dowager willing to do anything for a man? You’ll do whatever Lord State Preceptor asks you to do. I would like to ask you, Empress Dowager, is it worth it?”

Empress Dowager spread her hands and showed off her rich robes, “I listened to that man. Now I’m Empress Dowager. What about you? You’re not allowed to kill yourself and have to suffer when you’re alive. You ask me is it worth it? What do you think?”

Ye Xiaoxian looked at Empress Dowager disdainfully, “So what if you are Empress Dowager? You just have a few more servants. To me, this place is so small that I walked it all around just in minutes. Empress Dowager, you’re just a beautiful canary trapped in this cage.”

Empress Dowager’s expression turned cold.

Ye Xiaoxian added, “Have you seen the vast desert before? Have you ever seen the gorgeous grasslands under the blue sky? Have you seen the rivers beneath the Tianshan Mountains? Do you know what a rural cottage with a murmuring brook under a little bridge nearby looks like? You must have never seen it before, right? You can only be trapped in this gorgeous palace every day, guarding your own small territory. Then you think that you’re the noblest woman in the world. The truth is, when you’re out from here, no one will recognise you!”

Empress Dowager was agitated again.

Her chest was rising and falling rapidly because of anger, her face turning pale and her fists clenching tightly.

‘This little bitch really is getting bolder and bolder. Who does she think she is?’

‘How dare she talk such nonsense in front of me!’

‘The most resentful thing is that.. she is right!’

‘I am trapped here every day and couldn’t even walk out of the palace. I have the best food and wear the most expensive clothes. However, I have no friends here, only a group of servants who are carefully waiting around me.’

‘State Preceptor could often enter the palace and accompany me for a while now, but I know how the people in the palace is saying about me. Who wouldn’t say that I am a slut?’

The more Empress Dowager thought about it, the angrier she got, hard to breathe.

She tried her best to restrain herself, but failed.

In the end, she finally broke out. “Guards! Beat this bitch twenty strokes with the board and do it here!”

Ye Xiaoxian felt her blood froze.

‘I had just hung myself, and now I’ll actually be beaten again?’

‘Alas, I wish I haven’t offended this old woman!’

When she was pressed on the stool, she confirmed one thing, ‘If I’m in a TV series about the ancient palace, I won’t make it through three episodes.’

As expected!

She was pressed against the stool, then a eunuch held a long and wide board and started beating Ye Xiaoxian’s butt and thigh.

A stroke almost killed her.

But she gritted her teeth hard, not letting herself make any sound.

After the second stroke, she was sweating all over.

The third stroke, the fourth stroke … On the tenth stroke, she felt like she was a piece of steak on a slab. Someone wanted to smash her into meat paste and then turn it into beef balls.

On the fifteenth stroke, she couldn’t make it. She couldn’t feel anything and then lost consciousness.

…

At State Preceptor’s residence.

Xiao Baoshan had already appeared at the gate of State Preceptor’s residence in the early morning.

The housekeeper opened the door and saw Xiao Baoshan. He came over to welcome Xiao Baoshan and said, “Assistant minister Xiao, State Preceptor has been waiting for you for a long time.”

However, Xiao Baoshan didn’t intend to go in but he said, “You tell State Preceptor that I agree to his conditions. I’ll get out of the city tomorrow.”

Then he turned and left.

The housekeeper hesitated for a moment then went in to deliver the words right away.

State Preceptor hadn’t set off to the court that day. Hearing the housekeeper’s words, he couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Xiao Baoshan has figured it out in the end. It’s a good deal to swap Yan Ziyan for his wife.’

Fortunately, Xiao Baoshan chose Ye Xiaoxian; otherwise, State Preceptor would be worried about his own daughter’s life.

Therefore, State Preceptor immediately drew up an official despatch to Xiao Baoshan and asked him to go to the Heihe City to investigate the current situation of soldiers’ register in the name of the Department of War.

After the despatch was completed, he asked someone to send it to Xiao Baoshan at once.

Xiao Baoshan received the despatch, scanned it, and then closed it. After that, he returned to his residence silently.

“Baoshan, you’re back so early today?”

In the yard, Jin Xiaoyu was feeding carps.

She had cleaned up the pond yesterday and filled the water. She went to the market and bought a lot of carps. She heard that carps were easy to keep, and could bring good luck.

Xiao Baoshan nodded and said to Jin Xiaoyu, “Go pack up and follow me out of the city.”

“Get out of the city? Why?” Jin Xiaoyu asked.

Xiao Baoshan handed the despatch to Jin Xiaoyu.

Jin Xiaoyu unfolded the despatch and her expression suddenly darkened. “Baoshan, did you agree to State Preceptor’s request?”

Xiao Baoshan didn’t say anything.

Jin Xiaoyu didn’t know what to say.

‘State Preceptor must have threatened Xiao Baoshan by Little Ye again. Xiao Baoshan loves Little Ye so much. He could do anything for Little Ye.’

‘Well, this is his choice. I have no right to intervene.’

‘However, why does Xiao Baoshan bring me with him?’

‘Could it be that he wants to kill that guy named Yan Ziyan in the Heihe City with me?’

Jin Xiaoyu stopped thinking in Xiao Baoshan’s silence. Xiao Baoshan asked her to pack up, then she would pack up.

…

Xiao Baoshan prepared two horses. He and Jin Xiaoyu rode one respectively and swiftly left the city.

However, after leaving the city and arriving in the suburbs, Xiao Baoshan did not head north. Instead, he took Jin Xiaoyu along the south way.

Jin Xiaoyu felt strange. “Baoshan, we seem to be going down the wrong road.”