The Pearl in the Palm – Chapter 7
The next morning, the very first thing Ye Jiayou did upon waking was shout, “Zhuzhu!” A maid hurriedly rushed over to cover his mouth. “Don’t yell out, the Miss is still sleeping.”
Ye Jiayou sat up, letting the maids dress him, and asked, “What time is it?”
The maid replied, “Three quarters past the hour of Mao. The kitchen has prepared your breakfast; please eat quickly so you can head to the academy.”
After dressing and washing up, Ye Jiayou ate his breakfast in the outer room. He kept an ear tuned to the movements inside. Just as he was finishing, he finally heard a nanny call out from within, “The Miss is awake! Quickly, bring the water and the medicine! Let the medicine cool on the side, and get the honey ready.”
Several young maids lifted the curtains, carrying tea, water, and medicine, buzzing around so fast their feet barely touched the ground. Ye Jiayou took a few more bites and marched right inside. “Zhuzhu!”
Ye Lizhu smiled. “Come in.”
She had already changed her clothes and washed up. Now, she was sitting before the vanity mirror while a maid gently combed her hair.
Ye Lizhu was dressed in a lotus-pink, cloud-patterned brocade dress. Her ink-black hair cascaded down like a dense mist—not messy in the slightest, but softly draped over her back, radiating a luster even cleaner and more beautiful than the expensive silk. Her face was very small, and having just woken up, it was utterly devoid of color. Even her lips were pale, giving her a fragile, sickly appearance.
Standing to the side, Ye Jiayou declared, “Zhuzhu, you don’t need to go pay respects to the Madam later. The two side-concubines will definitely come to your courtyard instead. Those two concubines have cheap, loose mouths. If they say anything that upsets you, just let the nannies teach them a lesson. Just don’t beat them too excessively—you just got back, we can’t have dead people in the house.”
The maid set down the sandalwood comb and presented several jade hairpins before Ye Lizhu’s eyes. Ye Lizhu casually pointed at one and softly replied, “I am not that fierce. How could I casually punish people at the drop of a hat?”
Ye Jiayou huffed, “The nannies know what to do. Just give them a proper show of strength to put them in their place. Zhuzhu, I’m off to the academy. Wait for me to come back for dinner tonight, I’m eating in your courtyard.”
Another maid presented a bowl of medicinal soup. The nanny took it and was just about to feed Ye Lizhu when she caught a glimpse of the honey on the side and immediately scolded the maid, “Not the linden honey, the jujube blossom honey! Hurry up and change it!”
The maid hastily rushed out.
In another courtyard, Madam Wu had risen and was presently having her breakfast. Her personal maid, Xing’er, complained, “The hour of Mao is almost over, why hasn’t the Eldest Miss come over to pay her respects to you yet? The Eldest Miss may be noble, but she still has to see you, Madam. You are the true mistress of the house.”
Madam Wu smiled gracefully. “Her health is poor, and the Master has spoiled her rotten. If she doesn’t come, then she doesn’t come.”
Xing’er walked outside, stepped out of the courtyard to make a few inquiries, and returned a quarter of an hour later just as Madam Wu was finishing her breakfast.
Xing’er sat beside Madam Wu, gently massaging her legs. “She didn’t come because it turns out she expects us to go pay our respects to her! Where in the world is there such a principle, for a mother to pay respects to a daughter?! Concubine Liang and Concubine Zhou went eagerly over there, and they didn’t even get to see her face! They were sternly beaten down with words by her nannies and sent right back.”
The last time Madam Wu had seen Ye Lizhu was nine years ago. Back then, Madam Wu was merely a concubine. Ye Lizhu had been carved from pink jade and molded from snow—looking incredibly delicate, yet possessing a quiet, well-behaved nature.
Who knew what Ye Lizhu had truly become after all these years?
Madam Wu calmly said, “I will go see the Miss shortly. Have the kitchen prepare two exquisite pastries for us to bring along.”
Xing’er pouted. “On what grounds?! The Master already indulges her, and if you show weakness to her now, she’ll only look down on us. In the future, she’ll climb right over our heads and leave no room for us in this house!”
Xing’er was Madam Wu’s most trusted maid. Madam Wu leisurely stroked the emerald-blue gemstone ring on her finger and said coolly, “Why bother fussing with her? She already has half a foot in the grave.”
…
Ye Jiayou entered the academy. The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, so his two servant boys set down his things and poured a cup of tea on his desk.
The Prince of Chen’s heir, Tao Hanwen, had also arrived early. Holding a folding fan in his hand, he plopped down right next to Ye Jiayou. “Jiayou, well? Did you see your sister? Did she agree to come out?”
Ye Jiayou kicked both his legs up onto his desk. “My sister is taking medicine these days. She can’t be exposed to the wind, nor can she be exposed to the sun. My dad even specially hired craftsmen to build a massive new garden estate in the suburbs just for her to escape the summer heat in the future. Look at the weather lately—even with two tubs of ice in the room, it still feels hot, let alone going out to admire some stupid, broken flowers.”
Tao Hanwen clicked his tongue. “You’re really no fun.”
Ye Jiayou shot back, “Scram, scram, scram! If I’m no fun, then don’t sit next to me during the next exam and beg me to ghostwrite your parallel prose essays.”
Tao Hanwen hurriedly backpedaled, “Don’t be like that! I was just joking. Good brother, I’ll formally apologize, okay?”
The Prince of Chen maintained a neutral stance in the royal court, refusing to side with either the Crown Prince’s or the Second Prince’s factions. Back in the day, the Prince of Chen’s biological sister, Consort Xian, became pregnant in her second year in the palace, but tragically suffered a politically orchestrated miscarriage and could never bear children again. Therefore, while Tao Hanwen was the legitimate heir, the Tao family was massive and he had several older male cousins. Ye Jiayou knew full well that Tao Hanwen was likely scoping things out on behalf of one of those cousins.
He said straight, “If you truly treat me as a brother, let’s put the words out in the open. That is my biological sister. Even if the Crown Prince himself took a liking to her, I still wouldn’t be happy about it! Who the hell wants other men coveting their sister?! Hanwen, if you just wanted to fish for some harmless gossip, fine, but if you’re harboring any other intentions, let me make this absolutely clear right now: My sister’s health is poor. No matter whose household she enters, if that man dares to keep side-concubines or mistresses on the outside… I won’t even wait for my dad to make a move, I will personally butcher him first.”
Tao Hanwen’s heart went half-cold. “Isn’t it completely normal for a man to have three wives and four concubines? Especially with family backgrounds like ours, which man doesn’t have bed-warming maids? Even Princess Huyang’s royal consort keeps four little concubines in his estate! Your own dad has quite a few women too! Why is it that when it comes to your sister, her man must absolutely only marry her alone?”
“My family is just like that. My dad and I are exactly this overbearing.” An Emperor’s daughter never had to worry about marriage, and neither did a Prime Minister’s daughter. Ye Jiayou knew that even if his sister—who actually looked like a heavenly immortal—were as ugly as a malicious ghost, there would still be an endless, surging tide of suitors throwing themselves at their door. There were tens of thousands of beautiful women in the world, but there was only one daughter of Ye Fu’an. “As for your cousins—one plays with boy toys, another keeps a top-tier brothel courtesan… honestly, it’s only because I treat you as a brother that I’m even talking to you. If it were anyone else coming to snoop, I wouldn’t give them an ounce of face, let alone waste all this breath explaining myself here.”
Tao Hanwen didn’t mind Ye Jiayou’s harsh words. If Ye Jiayou didn’t treat him as a brother, he would have just laughed it off and brushed the matter away, instead of speaking so plainly.
Tao Hanwen hesitated for a moment before dropping a bomb, “You just mentioned the Crown Prince. Jiayou, tell you the truth, there is a very real possibility between the Crown Prince and your sister. I stayed in the imperial palace yesterday. Half an hour before bed, my aunt and I went to visit the Empress. Listening to the Empress’s tone, the Crown Prince and the Prince of Qin are heading to your estate tomorrow. It seems the Prince of Qin intends to take a hand in the Crown Prince’s marriage. If your sister enters the Eastern Palace… with the Prince of Qin backing the Crown Prince, you really won’t be able to stop him from taking concubines.”
“The Prince of Qin and the Crown Prince are going to my house today?!” Ye Jiayou hadn’t expected those two to move this incredibly fast! He immediately wanted to ditch class and rush home to check on things, but just then, the school bell rang. Ye Jiayou’s desk-mate, the legitimate grandson of Duke Dun, came bouncing in with all his jiggling fat, and the teacher strolled in right behind him, stroking his beard.
Ye Jiayou was forced to drop the idea.
Crown Prince Zhao Yun was indeed accompanying the Prince of Qin to the Ye estate.
Zhao Yun had also caught wind of the rumors that Ye Fu’an had brought his daughter home, and that Ti Xiao intended to win over Ye Fu’an—most likely by having Zhao Yun marry the Ye daughter.
Zhao Yun knew full well that his marriage would almost certainly be a political alliance, completely out of his own control. He honestly didn’t care if the Ye daughter was round or flat, a beauty or a beast, gentle-tempered or viciously mean. As long as she was Ye Fu’an’s daughter, and Ye Fu’an doted on her enough, that was all that mattered.
However, along the way, Ti Xiao had been uncharacteristically silent, not speaking a single word.
Zhao Yun kept sneaking glances at Ti Xiao.
Ti Xiao sat to the side, lightly pinching a celadon wine cup between his fingers. His features were normally so profoundly deep and chillingly cold that people didn’t dare look him straight in the eye, yet right now, seemingly lost in deep thought, the coldness in his eyes had actually softened by several degrees.
Zhao Yun had absolutely no idea what Ti Xiao was thinking about.
Just as they were nearing the Prime Minister’s estate, Zhao Yun finally broke the silence. “Uncle.”
Ti Xiao cast him a lazy, sidelong glance. “Mm?”
Zhao Yun asked, “I heard that the Ye daughter’s health is quite terrible. The other day in the hall, His Majesty had the intention of letting Zhao Yi marry her, but listening to Ye Fu’an’s tone, she absolutely cannot suffer even the slightest grievance… If she arrives at the Eastern Palace and ends up passing away from illness in just a few days, won’t Ye Fu’an hate us for it?”
Ti Xiao looked Zhao Yun up and down a few times. “Why do you want the Ye daughter to enter the Eastern Palace?”
Zhao Yun: “???”
Zhao Yun sputtered, “Uncle, wasn’t this your idea?”
Ti Xiao let out a cold scoff. “My idea? When did I ever tell you that I wanted you to marry the Ye daughter?”
Zhao Yun argued, “Uncle, the day before yesterday you drank with Ye Fu’an, and yesterday you rewarded Ye Jiayou with a string of beads, suddenly showing such immense favor to the Ye family. Everyone assumes you want me to marry the Ye daughter! But now you’re saying it isn’t so… Could it be that you were just purely showing goodwill?”
Ti Xiao closed his eyes. “It isn’t pure. But the Ye daughter has nothing to do with you, so stop thinking about her.”
Zhao Yun hadn’t even met Ye Lizhu, so how could he possibly be coveting her? Hearing she was a sickly invalid, Zhao Yun wasn’t interested anyway; he didn’t like frail, tragic beauties. He preferred women who were full-figured, with large chests, slender waists, and a voluptuous, charming allure. However… Ti Xiao’s attitude was truly quite ambiguous.
Zhao Yun’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Does Uncle have intentions toward the Ye daughter?”
Zhao Yun was, after all, a member of the younger generation, and Ye Lizhu was even younger than Zhao Yun. Ti Xiao actually felt quite awkward about it in his heart.
Ti Xiao let out a low cough. “No intentions.”
Hearing this, Zhao Yun instantly dispelled that line of suspicion. Since he liked healthy beauties, he naturally assumed Ti Xiao’s tastes were similar to his own.
To be perfectly honest, Zhao Yun thought that picturing a sickeningly frail, reed-like woman standing next to the nine-foot-tall, glacial mountain that was the Prince of Qin… the image was truly too… uncomfortable for the eyes.
Ti Xiao had been austere and cold-hearted for years; Zhao Yun had never seen a single woman truly able to get close to him. The Ye daughter was raised in an ancient mountain temple and had never even crossed paths with Ti Xiao. Zhao Yun reasoned that Ti Xiao probably just didn’t want to use marriage as a means to reel in Ye Fu’an, and fearing it would cause too many misunderstandings, he wouldn’t allow Zhao Yun to have even the slightest connection to the Ye daughter either.
Reasoning it out this way, Zhao Yun completely settled down.
Just then, Ti Xiao suddenly asked, “Yun’er, do you think young girls like men who are a bit older?”
Zhao Yun: “Huh? Well, this…”
Ti Xiao was in his twenties, so he wasn’t old at all. But, compared to the Ye daughter who was just reaching hairpin age, he was indeed a fair bit older.
Being asked such a question for the first time, the corner of Zhao Yun’s mouth twitched. “That depends on how old. If it’s a decrepit seventy or eighty-year-old geezer like Grand Tutor Liu, even I get annoyed looking at his old face; young girls would definitely be even more annoyed. But if it’s a man like you, Uncle—in the absolute prime of your life, holding immense power and authority, with looks that rival Pan An and talents that surpass Song Yu—naturally, everyone would absolutely love you.”
Translator’s Anecdote: The Crown Prince really spent five paragraphs internally convincing himself his terrifying uncle had no interest in the frail girl, only for Ti Xiao to immediately hit him with the ancient equivalent of “Asking for a friend, do girls like older guys?”
The Crown Prince: Sweat drop 😅