Chapter 15 [TCFCPC 15]

Nangong Ye’s obsession with Yan Yi Ming exceeded the Empress’s expectations. Her well-behaved and obedient youngest son, who had always listened to her since he was young, displayed an astoundingly stubborn persistence when it came to matters concerning Yan Yi Ming.

The Empress could even sense a trace of reluctance in Nangong Ye’s pitiful words. How could she bear to see her child, who she held dearly in her heart, subject himself to such suffering for the sake of a woman!

As long as Yan Yi Ming was willing to marry him, he did not mind that the one residing in Yan Yi Ming’s heart was not himself and could disregard what others thought?

Was this something a prince should say? To demean himself in such a manner for a woman?

Since he was young, Nangong Ye was quick-witted and intelligent. But maybe due to his young age, and in addition to his unwavering trust and affection towards his Mother Empress, he never took into consideration that his unrelenting stance in defending Yan Yi Ming and constant defiance against the Empress’s words would do more harm than good. In reality, not only did he not manage to make the Empress see Yan Yi Ming in a better light, it made the Empress feel that Yan Yi Ming’s thoughts ran deeper than she portrayed outwardly. 

On the contrary, his unwavering determination only strengthened the Empress’s objection to letting Yan Yi Ming marry Nangong Ye. Even at Nangong Xuan’s end, with the inextricable relationship between Yan Yi Ming and Nangong Xuan previously, the Empress had started to form an aversion to Yan Yi Ming marrying into the Eastern Palace.

She was an Empress. All her efforts and schemes were to win the support of major influential noble families in order to stabilize the position of the crown prince. Whereas not allowing Yan Yi Ming to have any more interaction with Nangong Ye was taking into consideration of her younger son’s reputation and future. She never once considered how her actions might harm Yan Yi Ming. All she knew was that Nangong Ye’s current obsession was utterly absurd.

Compared to Nangong Ye, who was a teenager that did not guard against people he was close to, the Empress was a person of profound political acumen. She never revealed a hint of displeasure throughout their conversation and even admitted to her faults. Nangong Ye mistakenly believed he had finally persuaded the Empress to no longer intervene in his relationship. So he quit while he was ahead and changed the topic to discuss recent court affairs instead and how the Emperor had praised him today.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Mbl Oxralpp tygle yqqlnvksdyvlzu yv bla psd, obs bye y ayekydv lmralppksd. Tla blyav pvkaale pzktbvzu yp pbl alnyzzle vbl osaep vbl Oxrlasa bye prsjld vs bla kd rakhyvl y qlo eyup raksa. Rd bla blyav, pbl cltyd vs plakswpzu nsdvlxrzyvl obyv vbl Oxrlasa pbyale okvb bla.

G qlo eyup zyvla, vbl Oxrlasa kppwle y elnall yrrskdvkdt vbl Wkqvb Vakdnl, Lydtsdt Zl, yp y prlnkyz ldhsu vs vbsaswtbzu kdhlpvktyvl vbl nsaawrvksd nypl kdhszhkdt vbl tshladsa sq Ww Kkyd yde Hbl Kkydt rashkdnlp. Tl oyp vs elryav qasx vbl nyrkvyz kd vball eyup’ vkxl.

Ohla pkdnl vbl Oxrlasa pvyavle alzukdt sd vbl Wkqvb Vakdnl plhlayz ulyap yts, vbl xkdkpvlap jdlo vbyv vbl Oxrlasa bye vbl kdvldvksd sq qkdekdt y pwkvyczl srrsavwdkvu vs clpvso aloyae sd Lydtsdt Zl. Tsolhla, vblu eke dsv ydvknkryvl vbyv vbl Oxrlasa oswze dsv yppktd Lydtsdt Zl y vypj vbyv oyp alyekzu pszhyczl yde yppktdle vbkp vaswczkdt xyvvla vbyv bye clld rspvrsdle qsa y zsdt vkxl vs Lydtsdt Zl kdpvlye. 

Lydtsdt Zl oyp sdzu plhldvlld ulyap sze, yde yzvbswtb vblal olal hsknlp sq srrspkvksd kd vbl kxrlakyz nswav, vbl Oxrlasa yde Uasod Vakdnl xydytle vs pwrralpp vblx yzz. Mbl Oxralpp yde Uasod Vakdnl’p qynvksd olal elzktbvle vs pll vbyv Lydtsdt Zl bye vbl srrsavwdkvu vs pbsonypl bkp yckzkvklp. Gqvla alnlkhkdt vbl kxrlakyz leknv, vbl Oxralpp pwxxsdle Lydtsdt Zl vs vbl Iwddkdt Vyzynl vs xlvknwzswpzu yaaydtle lhlauvbkdt qsa bkx clqsal bkp elryavwal.&dcpr;

Lydtsdt Zl pxkzle yde pyke, “Ysvbla Oxralpp, usw dlle dsv osaau. Ww Kkyd yde Hbl Kkydt rashkdnlp yal dsv qya qasx Kkd Nkdt Uyrvkyz. Rq yzz tslp olzz, R’zz cl yczl vs alvwad vs vbl nyrkvyz kd ds xsal vbyd vos xsdvbp. R xktbv lhld cl yczl vs xyjl kv cynj kd vkxl qsa uswa ckavbeyu nlzlcayvksd.”

Mbl pwaaswdekdt ryzynl xykep pydt raykplp sq bso qkzkyz vbl Wkqvb Vakdnl oyp. Brsd blyakdt pwnb osaep, vbl Oxralpp oyp lmvalxlzu rzlyple yp pbl vsze Lydtsdt Zl, “Jkavbeyup nsxl lhlau ulya, yde ol nyd’v zlv pwnb vakhkyzkvklp elzyu xu psd’p sqqknkyz xyvvlap. Gzvbswtb Ww Kkyd yde Hbl Kkydt rashkdnlp yal dsv qya, vbl nsaawrv sqqknkyzp yal awddkdt ayxrydv. Mbkp kp yzps uswa qkapv vkxl zlyhkdt vbl nyrkvyz, ps usw xwpv cl nywvkswp kd lhlauvbkdt usw es. Gp zsdt yp usw alvwad pyqlzu yde kd sdl rklnl, Ysvbla Oxralpp okzz cl tayvkqkle…”

Lydtsdt Zl yppwale vbl Oxralpp. Tl oswze nlavykdzu alvwad pyqlzu yde kdvynv. Gqvla bkp alvwad, kv oswze cl ycswv vkxl qsa bkp casvbla’p nsasdyvksd nlalxsdu yde xyaakytl. Wszzsokdt vbyv, kv oswze yzps cl bkp vwad vs xyaau Zyd Zk Ykdt.

Rv oswze cl y eswczl nlzlcayvksd vstlvbla okvb obld bkp Wyvbla Oxrlasa nsdqlaale bkx bkp qklqesx yde clpvsoxldv sq bkp vkvzl.

Perhaps due to how smoothly everything was going on in his life; from the Empress no longer interfering with his relationship with Yan Yi Ming to Duke Ding’s Manor absence of opposition in his relationship with her to how the Crown Prince did not seem to be finding faults with him, Nangong Ye was in an excellent mood. As he was leaving the palace, he encountered Nangong Xuan, who was about to enter. Nangong Ye did not maintain his stoic expression as before; instead, he took the initiative to greet his Crown Prince Brother.

After Nangong Xuan briefly gave him a few pointers to take note of on leaving the Captial on an official assignment, Nangong Ye hastily left. He did not notice Nangong Xuan’s gaze lingering on his departing figure, Nangong Xuan’s eyes were filled with unconcealable hesitation and gloom.

He had not seen Yan Yi Ming for over a month already.

The silhouette that constantly appeared in front of him suddenly no longer existed. From being unaccustomed to it at first, Nangong Xuan also gradually got used to it. However, whenever he received information from the hidden guards about Nangong Ye’s whereabouts and daily activities, he would not be able to suppress his irascibility.

Nangong Ye thought that he was being discreet, but what he did not know was that Nangong Xuan was privy to his every move and every word he said. On Nangong Xuan’s desk, there lay a small piece of paper he recently received. It simply stated when and where Nangong Ye had verbally promised Yan Yi Ming that he would only marry her and never take in any concubines.

Nangong Xuan wanted to laugh at how young and naive Nangong Ye was to make such extravagant promises. However, at the same time, he found it ironic and sorrowful because regardless of whether those words held any truth, Yan Yi Ming foolishly believed them.

She actually believed those words?

She was simply being unfathomably foolish!

The more he learned, the more empty and stifled he felt in his heart. He would constantly think of Yan Yi Ming’s expression when she was completely infatuated with him. In these past few days, Nangong Xuan had lost count of the number of times he had thought of Yan Yi Ming as she vowed to marry him and no other in her lifetime. Her carefully spoken words, hoping that it would earn one of his smiles.

Why did he not give some attention to her back then?

With such beautiful features, no matter what expression she had, she would never fail to memorize others.

====

These few days, Fifth Prince, Nangong Ye, had become a frequent guest at Duke Ding’s Manor. At first, when Madame Yan learned that the bracelet Yan Yi Ming was wearing was gifted to her by Nangong Ye, Madame Yan suffered a fright and lectured her daughter for the entire night. However, the very next day, Old Madame Yan called her daughter-in-law over, and who knew what Old Madame Yan said to her, but afterwards, whenever Madame Yan saw the Fifth Prince, it was as if she was looking at her own biological son.

Nangong Ye only had Yan Yi Ming on his mind as he looked for her, and the Yan family members had allowed it to slide with one eye closed. But recently, Madame Yan had heard some unfavorable rumors and felt somewhat uneasy. She had anxiously sought her mother-in-law’s opinion on the matter. 

‘If Yi Ming’s reputation was ruined, and the Fifth Prince believed in the rumors and abandoned her, what should they do then?’

With a head full of silver hair, Old Madame Yan was not as mobile as she once used to be, but her eyes remained as resolute and fierce as ever. She lightly thumbed the ring on her finger and said, “Duke Ding’s Manor is not a place where anyone can simply trifle with as they please. If anyone dared to delay my darling granddaughter’s matters, I would personally seek an audience with the Emperor to demand an explanation!”

Madame Yan deeply admired her mother-in-law as she sang her praises. Afterwards, when she spoke with the other noble ladies, her backbone was much straighter¹To straighten one’s backbone meant that one became more self-confident and had more inner strength to persevere in difficult situations.. Since they did not have the ability to latch themselves to the imperial family and were unable to give birth to a daughter as beautiful and as talented as her Yi Ming, they should just keep quiet and stand to one side!

Over the past few days, news came from the palace that the Emperor had issued an imperial edict for the Fifth Prince to go to Fu Jian and Zhe Jiang provinces to settle an official matter. From her husband, Madame Yan understood that this was a sign of the Emperor bestowing his favor on Nangong Ye. Thus, when Nangong Ye came to the Yan residence that evening, Madame Yan especially met up with him and gave him a blessed talisman, saying that she obtained it from Fuyu Temple for his protection.

Nangong Ye carefully kept the small yellow talisman safely in his purse that was hanging from his waist. When Nangong Ye met Yan Yi Ming, he took it out to show her.

According to the storyline, Nangong Ye would still be making an appearance in the future so on this trip, he would definitely not encounter any life-threatening situations. 

When she saw the talisman, Yan Yi Ming grinned and joked, “Don’t let Qi’er see it.”

Just a few days ago, Yan Yi Qi complained to her saying that Madame Yan treated Nangong Ye more like a son than she did him.

Upon hearing this, Nangong Ye laughed even more exuberantly and his eyes sparkled. Not sparing a thought to his close friend’s plight, he told Yan Yi Ming, “In a while more, it wouldn’t just be ‘like’ anymore.”

It was obvious what he meant. When he becomes Yan Yi Ming’s husband in the future, he would officially become Madame Yan’s son-in-law. Yan Yi Ming smiled without denying it. Seeing that she was happy, Nangong Ye was equally delighted. He held her hand and they strolled together under the moonlight.

“When I return from Fu Jian and Zhe Jiang province, I’ll be conferred a title and be able to leave the imperial palace to establish my own residence. By then, I’ll have Mother Empress send someone to Duke Ding’s Manor to propose marriage.” 

At this moment, the moon was hanging above the treetops and tranquility surrounded them. With only the moonlight illuminating Yan Yi Ming’s fair and enchanting features, Nangong Ye stared at her face, captivated by her unwavering gaze. He chuckled and asked her what was wrong.

To which she replied, “nothing.” 

Yan Yi Ming reached out and gently caressed Nangong Ye’s cheek before covering his eyes. “Have a safe trip, I’ll be waiting for your return.”

Nangong Ye gently reached up and brought her hand down, taking advantage of the fact that her defenses were down, he lightly kissed the corner of her lips.

Yan Yi Ming immediately withdrew her hand and retreated a couple of steps. Her widened eyes looked more captivating under the moonlight as they fluttered between indignation and shock, but it was definitely not aversion.

Perhaps the moonlight basked them in a beautiful ambiance. The youth pulled her back into his embrace. Completely caught off-guard, Yan Yi Ming fell heavily into his arms and before she could utter a single word, he captured her chin and kissed her once more.

Gah… Single dog Blistz has just been stuffed with dog food whilst translating… But shouu sweettt, me love it!

(☆∀☆)