Chapter 60.1 Nervous

Both of them were at a stalemate for a while. Su Su got tired of covering his mouth, but was afraid that Tantai Jin would call for the Night Shadow Guards, so she simply ripped off a piece of fabric from the bed curtain and roughly stuffed it into his mouth.

Su Su’s leg was pressed against the tiger’s whiskers. The tiger had turned into a demon, so even its whiskers had demonic Qi. They were sharper than normal rope, and soon, Tantai Jin’s wrists were rubbed raw.

His body trembled and he tightly clenched his teeth.

Su Su glanced at him, and with absolutely no thoughts of sympathy, she even deliberately pressed down with her knee——

Boiling from anger,¹恶从胆边生 (È cóng dǎn biān shēng) – Original idiom: 怒从心上起，恶向胆边生 (nù cóng xīn tóu qǐ è xiàng dǎn biān shēng) lit. Hatred grew from her guts – Anger surges and an intense hatred suddenly arises. she thought to herself, best if it’s embedded into his flesh.

It was winter, so it wasn’t hot, but Tantai Jin was sweating.

Perhaps the pain was too severe, as his body kept shaking.

At first, Su Su still had the energy to keep an eye on him, but she had traveled a long way²长途跋涉 (chángtú-báshè) – an idiom; long and difficult trek; make a long, arduous journey; trudge a long distance while carrying the Old Madam on her back on the way to Liuzhou. Now the delicate soles of her feet were blistered and she was exhausted, so she wearily slept on Tantai Jin’s shoulder. 

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His gaze was erratic, and he finally closed his eyes.

Right now, it couldn’t really investigate or do anything. In order to conserve its spiritual power, Curved Jade went dormant again.

When the first rays of daylight appeared, Tantai Jin opened his eyes.

The tiger demon stuck its head out and looked around³探头探脑 (tàntóu-tànnǎo) – an idiom; peer around surreptitiously, then shrank its size and came in. It exhaled a puff of Qi and the tiger whiskers on Tantai Jin’s wrists silently fell off. He heartlessly pushed the young girl on top of him away and got off the bed.

Su Su was awakened by his push, and when she opened her eyes, she saw the eunuchs coming in to dress Tantai Jin.

Seeing the bone-deep wound on Tantai Jin’s wrists, someone gasped and their hand trembled, accidentally pulling his hair.

Su Su heard his gentle voice, with a hint of a smile, say, “Drag him out.”

“Your Majesty, please spare my life, Your Majesty, please spare my life!”

Su Su was stunned, she was slow to react to the fact that because of a strand of hair, Tantai Jin wanted to kill someone. 

She was about to speak when a eunuch announced outside the hall——

“Commandery Princess Zhaohua has come to greet Your Majesty.”

Hearing Ye Bing Shang’s voice, Su Su leaned against the inside of the bed curtain and didn’t speak.

Tantai Jin paused, “Let her in.”

Ye Bing Shang wore a lotus-colored dress, its hem embroidered with delicate blooming plum blossoms. She had also put a lot of effort in on her makeup today. With half of a lovely and tender red plum blossom between her brows, it made her already beautiful face look even prettier.

If it weren’t for the fact that Su Su disliked her because of the Fleeting Life Wisdom, right now, she would also find her charming⁴楚楚可怜 (chǔchǔ-kělián) – (of a young woman) delicate and charming and pleasing to the eye⁵赏心悦目 (shǎngxīn-yuèmù) – warms the heart and delights the eye (idiom); find the scenery pleasing to both the eye and the mind; delightful.

There was an unusual charm in this woman that even Curved Jade could sense.

Curved Jade muttered, “Strange. It’s not like I’ve never seen someone better looking than her. Little Master, your real body⁶of Buddha or a god is ten thousand times more good looking than hers, but I always feel like she’s very attractive.”

Su Su said, “Is it because of her temperament?”

Curved Jade couldn’t figure it out, “Probably.”

Ye Bing Shang arriving for greetings could be considered as proper procedure. After all, as a “gift” from the Xia Empire to Tantai Jin, she was by default his woman, and should be given a status.

Originally, last night, Tantai Jin was supposed to rest in her palace and give her a status, but he didn’t go.

There was no expression of grievance on Ye Bing Shang’s face. She politely bowed at Tantai Jin and frowned, “This concubine saw a little eunuch being caned outside and found him pitiful. I don’t know what mistakes he made, but can Your Majesty pardon him?”

“It’s just a small matter. Since you’ve pleaded for him, then I shall let it pass,” Tantai Jin said.

He glanced at the Grand Eunuch beside him, who tacitly understood and went out to take care of it.

Ye Bing Shang revealed a faint smile, “Your Majesty is magnanimous.”

Tantai Jin also smiled.

Curved Jade felt indignant, “He grants Ye Bing Shang’s every request⁷有求必应 (yǒuqiú-bìyìng) – an idiom; respond to every plea, but for Little Master, everything needs to be bartered⁸等价交换 (děngjià jiāohuàn) – equal-value exchange.”

Su Su stroked it, not feeling the least bit offended.

Tantai Jin seemed to have forgotten that Su Su was still within the curtain, or perhaps he didn’t want Ye Bing Shang to discover her presence, so he didn’t spare a single glance at the tent.

Ye Bing Shang had a very good sense of propriety, as she calmly excused herself after giving her greetings.

Not long after, Tantai Jin went out as well.

As the monarch of the Zhou Kingdom, right now, he had to go to court.

Su Su jumped down from the bed and walked to the door. She wanted to see where her grandmother had been placed. When she went out, she saw the tiger again, who looked at her in shock and covered its whiskers with its paws.

Soon, quickly realizing that it looked humiliating, it dropped its paws, then quickly grew larger and used its butt to block the door, preventing Su Su from leaving.

Su Su bit her finger and drew a talisman in the air.

An ice shard-shaped weapon appeared spinning in the air. Curved Jade looked sympathetically at the despicable but not-so-smart tiger, and soon, the icicle stabbed into the tiger’s butt.

It roared in pain and ran off with its tail between its legs.

Su Su walked out.

She now understood why Tantai Jin would rather repeatedly squander corpse demons to fight rather than use the tiger. This guy looked intimidating, but it was actually a good-for-nothing with no IQ.

It was only Tantai Minglang who had liked its mighty appearance and used it to put up a front. Tantai Jin really didn’t think highly of this tiger demon. 

Su Su was wearing a palace maid outfit, which was unexpectedly convenient.

Up to now, Tantai Jin still hadn’t held his enthronement ceremony yet. The Zhou Kingdom had been in the constant chaos of war, there were still many things left to do and many new faces in the palace too.

She looked around, and surprisingly, no one stopped her.

Turning past a rockery, Su Su saw a sneaky figure. It was a palace maid——

 Suddenly seeing her face in profile, Su Su thought she looked very familiar.

The palace maid turned her head and saw Su Su too. Her eyes widened, she hurriedly used her sleeve to block her face and was about to leave in a panic.

However now, without the restriction of weak water rope, it was very easy for Su Su to retain someone.

She leapt over and tapped ‘her’ shoulder, then whispered, “Lord Pang, I can recognize you.”

The ‘palace maid’ lowered ‘her’ sleeves and revealed a flushed face.

Pang Yi Zhi wanted to die of anger and shame. He’d probably never imagined that he would bump into Su Su after sneaking into the Zhou Palace. And it was when he was still in women’s clothing.

The sharp-tongued Lord Pang looked exceptionally out of place in women’s clothing.

He didn’t have the delicate features of Tantai Jin, and his scholarly pride made it impossible for him to lower his esteem so his walking posture was very unnatural. 

Su Su thought to herself, it’s a miracle he hasn’t been discovered yet.

“Lord Pang, what are you doing here in Zhou Kingdom?”

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Edited by: Gaze