*****
Su Su was taken to a house with a courtyard.
Currently, Tantai Jin wasn’t in a good position. His brother became the Emperor of Zhou and he had become a fugitive of Great Xia. Neither Great Xia nor the Zhou Kingdom would let him go.
Su Su heard a group of people having a discussion next door.
“Tantai Minglang…… demonic creature…… carry out a sneak attack…… King Xuan…… Ganrui County…… go into battle…… Emperor of Great Xia……”
Su Su couldn’t hear them clearly and she could only speculate based on bits and pieces of information.
It was probably Tantai Minglang who raised some demonic creatures, launched a sneak attack on the borders of Great Xia, and won a battle as Great Xia was caught off guard while Xiao Lin went to Ganrui County to fight in person.
If Xiao Lin was leaving for the battlefield, this verified that Ye Xiao was unable to win the battle and had to ask the court for help. Su Su’s heart felt heavy.
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Mbl pswde sq ekpnwppksd pzsozu qyele yoyu.
Mydvyk Kkd rwpble srld vbl essa yde nyxl kd. Tl bye nbydtle swv sq bkp ralhkswp rlypydv qyxkzu nzsvblp yde osal y czynj nzswe-ryvvladle ascl, zssjkdt lmvalxlzu dsczl.
Tl pyv kd qasdv sq vbl vyczl.
Mbl xykeplahydvp olal oyaxkdt wr okdl clpkel bkx. Fw Fw zssjle shla yde pyo vbyv vblka blye sadyxldvp yde nzsvblp olal hlau wdkiwl. Mblu olal rascyczu osxld sq vbl Zkuwl Makcl. Gqvla y obkzl, vbl oyax pnldv sq okdl qkzzle vbl assx.
Rv oypd’v prakdt ulv cwv vblal oyp y prakdt nbkzz kd vbl yka.
Mydvyk Kkd rasrrle wr bkp nbkd yde nyalzlppzu eaydj vbl okdl, ktdsakdt Fw Fw kd vbl nytl.
Tl oyp hlau alzymle. Fw Fw twlpple vbyv vbkp bswpl xwpv clzsdt vs vbl vlaakvsau sq vbl Zkuwl Makcl.
Jlpkel bkx, vblal oyp y xyd okvb y zsdt xwpvynbl yde nayqvu lulp plahkdt cu bkp pkel. Tl qzyvvlakdtzu ypjle, “Zswa Tktbdlpp, oswze usw zkjl vs oyvnb psxl pkdtkdt yde eydnkdt?”
This man was called Yang Ji. He was a consul of the Yiyue Tribe at the border. He was glib-tongued and an expert in communication and flattery, as well as being good at doing business.
The Great Zhou was extravagant, fond of traditional Chinese musical instruments and good music. Before this, Yang Ji had never come into contact with Tantai Jin and wasn’t clear about his background, but now that he knew that he was his new owner, he treated Tantai Jin as a most honoured Great Zhou prince, so he had prepared some singing and dancing in advance to liven things up.
Tantai Jin had a strange expression but he didn’t refuse, “Call them in.”
He’s pretending to be quite something, people who don’t know would think that he’s a prince who grew up in Zhou Kingdom, Su Su thought to herself.
After a while, a bunch of women walked in single file. It was obviously winter, but the dancers were dressed extremely thin. White muslin clothes as thin as cicada wings, long flowing sleeves, and vaguely visible waists. They looked extremely beautiful.
The women bowed to Tantai Jin in front of the table. The musicians began to play music and they started to dance lightly and gracefully.
Su Su squatted in the corner and watched for a while. She was still injured so her chest was dully aching. Such a scene wasn’t suitable for her current state. She weakly leaned against the cage and felt drowsy.
Yang Ji tapped along with the beat as he looked infatuatedly at the dancers.
Tantai Jin propped up his chin and his eyes moved away from the dancers. He was looking at the girl in the cage through their white clothes.
Behind the white muslin, Su Su was hugging her knees with her eyes closed.
Although she was in such a situation, her face still had no trace of humiliation. She didn’t beg for forgiveness or feel afraid. She wasn’t even taking him seriously.
Tantai Jin finished his cup of wine and felt somewhat annoyed.
Yang Ji didn’t notice Tantai Jin’s abnormality and occasionally told him about the customs of the Yiyue Tribe with excitement. Tantai Jin listened quite intently as it might be useful in the future.
*****
The next day, Su Su was down with a fever.
The first to discover it was a Yiyue Tribe maidservant. She had sent food to the girl in the cage as usual, only to find that her body wasn’t well.
The maidservant hurriedly went to inform Tantai Jin.
Right then, Tantai Jin and Yang Ji were having breakfast in the courtyard. At her words, Yang Ji sheepishly smiled, “Your Highness, I never asked, which family is that lady from?”
Yang Ji was completely unable to figure out Su Su’s identity. She was locked in a cage, looking dirty and dispirited, and His Highness seemed to greatly hate her. He let her eat, but didn’t let her treat her injury.
Speaking of hate, who would keep someone they hated locked by their side? Was it possible that he only felt happy if he saw her suffer everyday?
Tantai Jin ignored Yang Ji and asked the maidservant, “She’s sick?”
“Yes,” the maidservant replied.
“Your Highness, should I ask the witch doctor to have a look at her?” Yang Ji asked.
Tantai Jin coldly said, “No need. She’s not an honoured guest.”
Yang Ji’s brain quickly reacted and he said, “Did the girl previously do something that made Your Highness unhappy and offended?”
“Pretty much,” Tantai Jin replied.
Today, he still called for singing and dancing. The climate at the border was turning warm and a few flowers were actually blooming in the courtyard. Tantai Jin drank his wine without saying a word. His eyes fell on the dancers and he suddenly said, “Go ask her whether she’s willing to dance for me to liven things up. If she dances well, I’ll let her get treatment.”
Although he didn’t say who the “she” was, everyone knew.
What does this mean? Yang Ji wondered.
A jack-of-all-trades like him actually couldn’t guess what was on His Highness Tantai’s mind right now.
After a while, the maidservant reported back and said, “The lady agreed, it’s just that……”
“What?”
“The lady needs to change her clothes.”
Tantai Jin curled his lips. He threw the key to the maidservant and said, “Find someone to look after her and don’t let her escape. If she escapes, you’ll be used to light up the sky lanterns.”
His tone was extremely gentle when he talked about “lighting up sky lanterns” which made the maidservant tremble. She received the order and left.
*****
Su Su took a bath and changed her clothes. Her cheeks were flushed. She looked at herself in the mirror and saw that she looked very ill. She rubbed her face to sober up. Her head was muddled. Her original body couldn’t fall sick and Ye Xi Wu’s physique was quite good. This was one of the rare times that she fell sick.
The noble women of Great Xia knew all kinds of things from poetry and songs to music and dance. However, Ye Xi Wu could dance but Su Su couldn’t. The little bits of her memories were totally useless.
As she put on the clothes of the Yiyue Tribe’s dancers, she could vaguely guess what Tantai Jin had in mind.
He was returning the humiliation he had previously received from the original owner and herself. Dancers had a low status, Tantai Jin wanted her to dance for him because he wanted to see her bow her head and submit just like Ye Chufeng. He wanted her to appease him. Tantai Jin’s previous position was extremely lowly. No matter the cold palace or the Ye Residence, no one treated him with respect. Now that the tide had turned, only by using this kind of method could he get rid of the unpleasantness in his heart.
If she were to explain this kind of mentality in words, Su Su figured he was probably twisted to the point of abnormality.
After all, Tantai Jin was domineering, tyrannical, suspicious, and cautious. He took pleasure in the pain of others. If others didn’t suffer, he would cause something painful for them.
Su Su tied her belt and stuffed the teleportation talisman into her chest, feeling relieved.
No one would check this place.
Her smiling eyes curved. Before leaving, I might as well fulfill that hateful, lowly, and overcautious young man’s wish.
I’ll simply dance for him. When his mood is highest, I want him to helplessly see me escape. She wondered if he’d be so angry that he’d vomit blood.
Edited by: Gaze
oooh is he gonna prevent her from escaping by threatening her with the lives of others? Thanks for the chapter!
hmm this gonna happen in the future xD *ps: shhhh it’s a spo spo* Thank you for reading!!!
To be fair, neither did she treat his injuries during the early days. ( ´･_･`) Still very worried for our Female Lead though. Dude has no morals (being the Devil King and all), at least FL had some towards him.
LSS is a little too excited for her vengful exit plan, it feels a very personal and not at all “heartless Dao” but if she can pull it off it will be glorious and he will be pissed!
Wow! There is probably nothing more flattering than someone ignoring the dancing beauties just to stare at you in a cage. Through their gauzy clothes no less! He sees nothing but her.