Chapter 66.1: Husband, I'll Wait For You

The entire day was boring.

After eating breakfast, Xiaoqi returned to the room and rolled back and forth as she laid on the inn's small bed. In the end, she decided to just bunch her hair up and lead Shanzi to head back home.

Xiaoqi's return was also quite open and honorable. She just hunched over while peeking over the foot of the wall and wandered back and forth in front of the doors for half the day. The manservant that was guarding the door simply pretended that he didn't see anything, and even purposefully gave a yawn before lying askew against the door.

Xiaoqi tiptoed as she floated in, heading towards Mother Song's courtyard at the speed of a whirlwind. Meanwhile, Shanzi confidently turned and headed to the kitchen, planning on using his identity as a guest to get some tasty food. The beautiful missus and Old Man Qian had headed out again to search for delicacies, leaving Mother Song all by herself in the house to make some clothes for her future grandson out of boredom.

Xiaoqi leaned against the door frame and stuck her head in to look at Mother Song. Covering her mouth, she sneakily giggled before flicking her sleeves and clasping her hands behind her back as she walked in. Mother Song lifted her head and glanced at the Xiaoqi that was wearing a man's outfit. She knitted her brows as she said, "Whose family's little Young Master are you? How dare you run to this back courtyard? You're seeking a beating!"

Xiaoqi giggled 'heehee' and went over to cuddle. Hugging Mother Song's arm, she swayed it as she spoke sweetly, "Mom ah, where did Husband go?"

"He went to the government office. Xiaoqi left a bit early. If you had waited for their case to finish and then take off, he would have immediately followed after you." Mother Song aimed a glance at Xiaoqi's underbelly. "You might already be expecting. Stay in the inn properly and don't run around."

Xiaoqi rubbed her stomach and smiled to the point her eyes curved. "I'm already starting to miss Mom. I can't fall asleep by myself."

Mother Song tapped Xiaoqi's forehead and smiled as she chided, "Yet you're still running all over the place instead of staying at home properly, hm?"

"An error appeared in my plan ah." Xiaoqi pouted, perplexed. "Mom ah, say, should I come back? Only after I left did I realize I really miss Husband."

"Sure ah. The moment Liangzhuo comes back and sees, 'Oh! The wife that ran off came back again on her own.' Then there'd also be no rush to finish the case anymore."

Xiaoqi smiled and thought for a while before saying, "Mom, I'll just stay at the inn for now. When I miss Mom, I'll just come back to play. To come back right after leaving would lose so much face."

Mother Song laughed lightly. "Eat lunch with Mom. Those two won't be coming home again today either."

"Okay!"

Xiaoqi ate lunch with Mother Song, then ran to her own house to roll around a little while hugging the blanket. After she smelled enough of Song Liangzhuo's scent, she finally led Shanzi and slipped out of the fu again.

When Xiaoqi strolled back to the inn, she came just in time to see another person head up the stairs a few moments before her.

It was a woman, the woman that she was preparing to shake off. Naturally, Shanzi also saw. He rubbed his chin, a bit confused.

Xiaoqi blinked her eyes and followed after her. She saw that on the second floor, Lin Zixiao had stopped in front of the second room on the east side. Lin Zixiao probably got consent, because she then pushed open the door and entered.

Could it be that the bad green plum was also running away from home? Xiaoqi blinked her eyes and sneakily leaned over. Shanzi cleverly posted himself to stand guard at the stairs and whistled.

Eavesdropping on other people is no good! No good, no good, really no good! Xiaoqi was intensely struggling with herself on one hand, but at the same time also could not stop her own feet from moving forward. Sticking herself to the seam of the door to listen to the sounds inside, Xiaoqi's two large eyes immediately lit up.

The person inside wasn't some other person, it was the person Xiaoqi had repeatedly encountered: Chen Zigong. In the morning, Xiaoqi had dusted off her butt and went back upstairs right after she finished eating. Unexpectedly, the two of them were actually staying on the same floor. They probably haven't talked much. Only when Xiaoqi approached did she hear Chen Zigong speak with a languid tone, "You have business?"

Xiaoqi thought: In reality, the bad green plum really did have good looks. If she was matched with this peach blossom man, her future child would definitely also be very beautiful.

"Ye*." It was silent for a while. "Ye, why are you here in Ruzhou?"

So this 'ye' is either from 'wang ye' which refers to males of the imperial family, or 'lao ye' which refers to the master of a house. If it was from 'lao ye' lol, it's probably cause Chen Zigong isn't old enough to be old(lao), or young enough to still be called Young Master(shao ye).

It was silent again. Xiaoqi pouted. Speaking sure takes a lot of effort for these two; they can't even squeeze out a sentence in half a day's time. Xiaoqi saw that there was a stool in the hallway and sneaked over with her back hunched to carry it over. She sat down at the door and propped up her chin, prepared to properly listen to the bad green plum's secret.

As for the two inside the room, their moods weren't that great. From the looks of it, one was very eager and anxious while the other was almost bored to death.

"Ye, Young Master Song, he's not willing to marry" Zixiao clearly didn't know how she should call herself and pinched her lips half the day before finally saying, "Ye, Young Master Song is not willing to marry Zixiao at all."

Chen Zigong lifted his brows and rubbed his chin as he said, "I seemed to have sent you out of wang fu, so your matters have nothing to do with ben wang(this wang, I) anymore. That's your own personal matter. There's no need to report to ben wang. Ben wang is also not interested in getting involved with your matters."

Zixiao looked at Chen Zigong who was languidly lying down sideways on the bed and said, "Doesn't ye like Lady Qian? Didn't ye send Zixiao out of the fu so that Zixiao could destroy their relationship? That way, ye could"

Chen Zigong shook his head, finding it ridiculous. "Ben wang is not interested in women with husbands." Chen Zigong slanted a gaze at Lin Zixiao. "And even less interested in women that take the initiative to climb into ye's bed."

Zixiao's face turned pale. Only after restraining herself for half the day did she speak again, "Then why did ye bring up things about Young Master Song having old affections in front of Zixiao, and even purposefully said that Lady Qian was interesting and amusing?"

Chen Zigong sat up and crossed one leg up as he sized up Zixiao. He knitted his brows and said, "Lady Xiaoqi is interesting, and you do have old affections with Song Liangzhuo ah. Ben wang was just asking a little, that was all. What, you analyzed something out of it again?"

Lin Zixiao breathed hard and held back to keep the tears in her eyes from falling.

"Ye, then why did ye smile towards Zixiao in the palace? Why did ye say those kinds of things towards Zixiao? If it weren't, if it weren't for that Zixiao definitely wouldn't have agreed to go to wang fu. But even after Zixiao entered wang fu for so long, ye still pretended not to see every day."

Chen Zigong failed to understand. "What did ben wang say?"

"Ye said I was pretty and asked for my name." Zixiao seemed a little emotional and hastily walked forward a couple steps as she continued with a trembling voice, "If I was still in the palace, even if I was just one of Wei niang niang's* palace maids, or at the worse, a servant that swept the courtyard or poured the night fragrance, it would still be better than my current fate. My family dislikes me and even the neighbors don't look me in the eye. How could wang ye, how could" Zixiao held herself back so much that her cheeks turned red, and finally prevented herself from speaking the remaining words.

niang niang = suffix which should only be applied to the empress or imperial concubines, is required to show respect

Chen Zigong knitted his brows. "Your feelings towards Song Liangzhuo"

Lin Zixiao covered her face as she cried, "Don't mention him. Since I betrayed him by entering the palace, I never thought of returning to look for him. Why did you arouse my longing? Yet why did you throw me out again?"

Chen Zigong was speechless. "Lin-, for the time being ben wang will call you Lady Lin. Lady Lin is a bit mistaken about the situation. Ben wang doesn't remember having seen you in the palace before at all. After entering wang fu, ben wang didn't see you calm down either. Ben wang saw that it seemed exhausting for you to work so hard to scheme, and at the same time, found out about your old affections coincidentally, so naturally ben wang pushed the boat with the current and allowed you to leave. What? Ben wang made a mistake?"

Zixiao looked with shock and anger towards Chen Zigong. "You don't remember me? How could you not remember me? Then why were you willing to allow me into wang fu?"

Chen Zigong seemed unwilling to talk much more. He yawned as he said, "Imperial Older Brother bestowed so ben wang just accepted. After all, it's just entering wang fu. It's not like wang fu isn't big enough."

Zixiao was enraged to the point her lips were trembling. A long time passed before she lowered her eyes and asked, "Then that means, wang ye didn't know Zixiao from the start? And Zixiao entering wang fu wasn't due to wang ye asking for Zixiao from His Majesty?"

Chen Zigong nodded. "There are so many talent girls* every year. If ben wang was going to fall in love at first sight, then Hao wang fu would have to be expanded in order to accommodate three thousand beauties."

Talent girls are basically accepted into the palace, however, they don't even rank high enough to be considered to be a concubine. So if they're favored, they may eventually become concubines, But if they are not, they might just end up as palace servants.

When Zixiao heard this, she laughed softly. It gradually grew until her shoulders shook as she laughed loudly. The sound was shrill and dark, it didn't sound like something that would come out of a woman's mouth. It was Chen Zigong's first time seeing a woman acting this way. He quivered and sat up straight. Outside the door, Xiaoqi trembled and slipped off the stool and fell to a sit on the ground.

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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Proofread by Ocelot

[Chiyomiras Corner]

O: More! More please!!

C: In the end I tled and turned in my calc project late. It was also because I had no idea where to start for my calc project. In any case, enjoy! And good kids don't copy! Xp

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