My Fantastic Chef Wife

383. Are You Overthinking It?

Translator: Kickassjo

Ye Xiaoxian had said before that they could only go to places like the tea house and the boite with her and that she didn’t recommend them go in the usual days.

The shopkeeper of the tea house knew that Ye Xiaoxian was the general’s family and so he treated them with enthusiasm and even served them free tea, peanuts and so on. During the break, he would come over to talk with Ye Xiaoxian and even give her children gifts.

Since they had booked only half of the seats, there were still other guests in the tea house. Some of them knew Ye Xiaoxian and tried to come over and form ties with Ye Xiaoxian.

Wang Mudan whispered to Xiao Tieshu, “Look, Little Ye is living a rich life in the Capital City and we are becoming her burden, therefore, we have to work hard and make our lives better. Otherwise, we will be seen as her poor relatives and that we are dependent on Little Ye’s family.”

Xiao Tieshu asked, “Are you overthinking it?”

“I’m thinking not only for us but also for Little Ye. Only when our family and the third brother’s family live a good life will we not be looked down upon by others and and not get them any trouble.”

Xiao Tieshu said, “Let’s not talk about this and enjoy the show first.”

Wang Mudan gave up talking.

These shows were much more interesting than those they watched in the village. The third brother’s family was enjoying the show and was too occupied to think about other things. They just wished not to be disturbed.

Xiao Baocheng gave his attention to Ye Xiaoxian from time to time.

He thought that his second sister-in-law knew so many officials whom she never introduced to them and it was obvious that she regarded them as her poor relatives and were not worthy of any introduction.

It was fortunate that he now had a few friends who came from aristocratic families and that they could take them to places.

He now hoped that those young masters would take him to that brothel called Red House again because he missed Little Red who worked there.

……

After the show, Ye Xiaoxian took the two children back home.

The two children were then led to sleep in the small room next door by the servants while Ye Xiaoxian cleaned up herself before lying on the bed.

Xiao Baoshan also came in. Seeing that Ye Xiaoxian didn’t move at all with her eyes wide open, he couldn’t help but smile, “What’s wrong, Madam?”

Ever since he came to the Capital City, he had addressed her differently and called her “Madam”.

Ye Xiaoxian said, “Nothing, I just thought of the show I watched today.”

“Oh? What was today’s show about?” Xiao Baoshan had official business to attend to today and so he did not go to the show.

Ye Xiaoxian said, “One of the shows tell the story of a family’s mother who needs to manage a large family but unfortunately there are a few black sheep in the family.”

Xiao Baoshan came over and hugged Ye Xiaoxian, “It’s a story of other’s family. What does it have to do with us? There won’t be any black sheep in our family.”

“What if there will be? It might not be our Dongdong and Xiao Xia, but they might be from the elder brother’s and the third brother’s families.” Ye Xiaoxian said.

“If there is such black sheep in the family in the future, then I’ll beat him up and then drag him into the prison.”

Ye Xiaoxian smiled and turned to hug Xiao Baoshan, “Alas, I may have overthought it. The children in the elder brother’s and the third brother’s families are obedient and they won’t dare to do anything bad.”

The two of them spoke intimately for a while before turning off the lights and sleep.

……

In the palace.

Li Chengru went to the Concubine Chen’s hall tonight.

Concubine Chen was the youngest daughter of the Yin family whose master was the head official of the Capital City. She was 15 years old and had a pampered child. She had a few older brothers at home, so she was lively and cheerful.

After Concubine Chen moved to the palace, although she felt a little trapped, she knew she needed to restrain herself and stop being so straight-forward.

Perhaps it was because of her personality that she couldn’t help herself soon after she met Li Chengru.

At first when Li Chengru came to her place, he always put up a stern face.

He had a principle which was to equally share his affection to everyone in the imperial harem. Thinking that he had been overly passionate towards Imperial Concubine Shu the other day and had spent two consecutive nights in her hall, he felt a little remorse that he had broken his own rule.

With such a thought, he was in a bad mood.

However, Concubine Chen didn’t know how to take the cue from his words and facial expressions since she was too young and was playful in the past. When she saw Li Chengru’s stern face, she actually tried to tease Li Chengru, “Your Majesty, let me tell you something funny. I was playing in the small garden this afternoon and after a while, Imperial Concubine Shu joined me and we played Cuju (a kind of football in ancient China) together. When the ball rolled to my side, I wanted to impress her with a spin kick and passed the ball to her. And Your Majesty, guess what happened? I missed the ball and I kicked away my shoe instead. I was lucky that Imperial Concubine Shu didn’t mind and didn’t blame me…”

Li Chengru found her a bit funny, and his face which was tense before soothed now.

When Concubine Chen saw that he smiled, she told another joke, “Before I moved to the palace, I has a younger brother at home and he is very cute and liked to stay with me all the time, but at times when I didn’t want him around, I would lie to him…”

Concubine Chen told a vivid story and even acted along as she spoke.

The further Li Chengru listened, the more interesting he found.

Originally, he thought Imperial Concubine Shu was the person who could make him feel comfortable in the palace, but now when he was with Concubine Chen, he discovered that she was cute too.

At least she was lively and cute.

He thought that it might be because he didn’t give them enough freedom and that he was always straight-faced in the past which scared them.

His mood gradually relaxed.

When it was time to sleep, Li Chengru lay down, and so did Concubine Chen.

She was not like Imperial Concubine Shu who would give Li Chengru a massage or something similar. She had been taught by her family that she must seize her opportunity of sleeping with the Emperor to serve him right.

Thus, Concubine Chen threw herself at Li Chengru right away.

Since she had told Li Chengru jokes before, Li Chengru was now relaxed. He found her quite cute and he was much less tense now.

Concubine Chen had been the one taking the initiative before but since she was not skillful and was a bit panic in the beginning, Li Chengru took over the initiative.

As soon as he took the initiative, Li Chengru found Concubine Chen quite fun to be with and she was not bad in such thing. Plus, she tasted sweet like a litchi.

Half a night passed and Li Chengru woke up to find the sky was bright again.

He had stayed in Concubine Chen’s hall for the entire night, and she was sleeping soundly like a child beside him.

It reminded him of the saying he heard before: the lives of a married couple after years of marriage would turn dull, but when you woke up one day and found that she was lying next to you, sleeping soundly like a child, it was what it meant to be a couple.

Li Chengru was rendered speechless.

He didn’t know what to make of it now.

After all, all these women in the imperial harem were his wives.

……

At the meantime, there was an uproar in the imperial harem.

The Emperor had spent the night in the imperial harem twice now. Could he… not only like Imperial Concubine Shu but also like Concubine Chen?

Hence, another group of people came over and seeked guidance from Concubine Chen.

Concubine Chen cut to the chase and told them everything that happened last night: how she told Li Chengru jokes and how they slept with each other naturally afterwards.

All of a sudden, everyone knew the trick.

Imperial Concubine Shu played the instrument to the Emperor, made some dessert and tea, whereas Concubine Chen told jokes to the Emperor. It was indeed a show for talents.

When it came to talents, everyone had been through a selection process and that they all came from aristocratic families so everyone would have a talent or two.

They had always thought that it would be enough to serve the Emperor well in bed.

It never dawned on them that they have been missing the point and that the Emperor liked to see their talents.

Therefore, after they returned to their own halls, everyone started to prepare for themselves.

Those who knew how to dance had cleared a place for dancing, those who knew how to play the flute had recovered the flute in some boxes, those who were good at Chinese calligraphy started to practice The Orchid Pavilion (a literary masterpiece in ancient China), and those who painted beautifully began to grind the paint…

……

In the Capital City.

Xiao Baocheng has been waiting for those rich young masters to come these days.

Those young masters only took him to the Red House once and never came again for him.

He let his imagination run away and wondered if it was because he didn’t act well the other day that they didn’t come looking for him?

Did they find him too boring to play with?

And he missed Little Red. After all, Little Red took his virginity. Whenever he thought about her, he would find himself in a frenzy of yearning and he couldn’t help but wanting to see her right away.

He even wanted to look for Little Red once but he didn’t know the price in the Red House. What if it was very expensive? His family’s restaurant only earned 30 taels of silver a month which might not be enough for him to go for once.

Xiao Baocheng didn’t have the mood to check the accounts recently. Sometimes, he got it wrong and was discovered by Xiao Tieshu, which made Xiao Tieshu particularly angry and wanted to scold him but was stopped by Wang Mudan again.

Finally, the day after the Mid-Autumn Festival, Xiao Baocheng was wandering on the streets and saw those young masters.

He rushed over quickly and greeted those young masters, “Brothers, I haven’t seen you guys for a long time.”

Those young masters laughed at him when they saw him,

“Oh, it’s the younger brother of the General? It’s been a while since we last met.”

“There was a banquet in the palace on Mid-Autumn Festival. Why didn’t you come with your brother?”

“He must have been busy making noodles. How did he have the time to go to palace?”

“Hahaha…”

Xiao Baocheng felt humiliated at once.

However, he didn’t dare to talk back since they were merely telling the truth.

Xiao Baoshan and the rest belonged to the second family and they would surely be the top of other’s invitation list. How could they, the poor relatives, have the chance to be invited to the palace?

Those young masters saw Xiao Baocheng’s embarrassment and said that they would not tease him anymore. Then they asked him, “Did you have fun in the Red House the other day?”

“Yes, it was fun.” Xiao Baocheng was filled with expectancy.

One of the young masters asked, “We plan to go later. Do you want to come along? If you want to go, follow us.”

Xiao Baocheng was overcome with unexpected joy, “Of course I’ll go.”

“Look at you, I can tell immediately that you have seen little.

Otherwise how would you be so excited as if you had never seen a woman before.”

He was rendered speechless.

The group of people got into the carriage and headed towards the Red House.

On that day, when Xiao Baocheng saw Little Red, he was extremely excited. Even when others asked him to try another girl, he insisted to have Little Red.

Xiao Baocheng spent the night outside again and only returned home the next day in a good mood. His parents asked where he went.

He only replied he had hung out with those rich young masters.

Xiao Tieshu wanted to ask for more details but was stopped again by Wang Mudan.