A Seductive Gentleman Chapter 32

Chapter 32: The God of the Yellow River takes a Wife – Part 2

Note: In case anyone forgot. The god of the Yellow River is called He Bo.

Translated by: Ritpoppy

After three days, Huai Yu came back.

Ming ChangYan was in the courtyard playing with needles. He still had a lot of replicas of the Moondrop needle that he pulled out from Aunt Chun's neck. Recently he's been feeling his spiritual energy slowly begin to circulate within his body, even if it was so small it could barely be noticed, it was still enough for him to be gratified. As soon as Ming ChangYan's face gained some color, he immediately began to move around.

However, he didn't dare to conduct large movements. He did though have enough energy to pick up the needle during his spare time and embroider.

Back when TianQing was in poverty and destitute, forget about embroidery, he's even pasted matchboxes together before. Nevertheless, when it comes to making money, embroidery was still the quickest because Ming ShaoXia was best with the needle. His skill was exquisite and his patterns unique every time. The Ghost Gate's Thirteen Needle's work was fine and incomparable, when used for embroidery, although this seemed like treating a big thing as something small, the finished product always had people speechless.

The young madams in Lin'an, as long as they were from a wealthy family, who hasn't purchased Ming ShaoXia's embroidery before. Except everyone was only aware that they were something that the people of TianQing were selling, who made them was unknown.

After many years, Ming ChangYan once again picked up his old profession. As he began to embroider, he slowly began to get the hang of it once again. After not doing it for ages, he was a bit out of practice. His control had worn down over time, dropping the needle several times while threading through the fabric.

With a jingle, the needle fell to the floor.

Huai Yu just happened to stop by at this moment. Picking up the needle, he stared at Ming ChangYan for a long time but didn't say a word.

Ming ChangYan secretly sighed inside, laughing he said, "Not mad at me anymore?"

Huai Yu humphed, "What are you doing?"

He gazed in his direction and saw Ming ChangYan currently sitting on a wooden stool, with an embroidery rack in front of him. On it was a rectangular flower tambour tightly being bound onto a piece of soft white satin. The design was more than halfway finished.

Ming ChangYan lowered the needle and propped up his chin, "Embroidery. Have you never seen it before?"

Huai Yu didn't reply. Ming ChangYan smiled, "Oh, you've never seen a man embroider before. But, if women can embroider, why can't I do it? Don't tell me that you think they're better than me!"

On the soft satin was a realistic white deer. Around its body lingered a faint magical aura swarmed in otherworldly clouds. It was originally just supposed to be a picture of a white deer taking a walk in the snow, but Ming ChangYan stubbornly used a golden thread and embroidered a simple looking man on the lower-left corner. From the crane designs on the man's clothes and scary-looking face like they were on the verge of anger, the person he embroidered was Huai Yu.

Ming ChangYan picked up a pair of scissors and cut off the soft satin. He picked up the needle once again, bordering the fabric with golden silk until it was refined and matchless. Until finally stuffing it into Huai Yu's hands.

Huai Yu looked up, Ming ChangYan grinned, "Don't be angry anymore. I'll give this to you!"

Even though Huai Yu's complexion wasn't very good, he still accepted the handkerchief and stuffed it in his bosom. He coldly said, "Do you still want to go to GuangLing?"

Ming ChangYan put both the embroidery rack and the Moondrop needle away, "I want to. Are you going to refuse me again? You're making it difficult for me to be lenient, little Huai Yu."

Only after a very long time did Huai Yu arduously relent, "Ok, you can come with me, but I have a demand. You must listen to me."

Ming ChangYan was both startled and astonished, "Are you really willing to let me come with you? If I go to GuangLing with you with my current identity, if the emperor someday looks into it, they'll begin to say that you left and eloped with his wife."

He paused halfway through his speech and began to laugh so hard he had to lean on the table.

Huai Yu spitefully said, "What's so funny?"

Ming ChangYan's mouth was still beaming as he said, "Wearing a smile often will bring you good luck. I can't even laugh now? I didn't expect you to actually bring me with you to GuangLing."

Huai Yu remarked, "I'm bringing you, so what?"

Ming ChangYan was all smiles, hastily praising, "Nothing, the Young Prime Minister has a body made of gold, is modest and a simple man. This insignificant Noble Gentleman will naturally follow your wishes. Everything will be done according to your tastes, I'll listen to everything you say!"

After he finished, he asked, "Have you finished taking care of palace affairs?"

Huai Yu responded, "Mn. This isn't something you have to worry about. When do you plan on doing to GuangLing?"

Ming ChangYan said, "Of course, the sooner the better."

The two discussed for a short moment, finally deciding to go together with the Minister of Rites, Xiao Cheng-daren. The moment that Cheng MingLi heard that the Young Prime Minister was going with him, he immediately prepared a carriage out of fear and reverence. The vehicles and horses were on a constant move; arriving at GuangLing in two days. There were peace and prosperity along the way, not at all looking like they were disturbed by an epidemic. It was only after they entered GuangLing's inner-city walls that they saw thin white silk flow in the wind.

Ming ChangYan jumped out of the carriage and landed as light as a feather. He originally wanted to ride a horse but unfortunately, his body still wasn't in the best condition, so he could only give up. His clothes were prepared by Huai Yu, an exact replica of the black garments that he used to wear a long time ago; with a cape that wrapped twice around his shoulders and draped down to his waist. The aura of death that came from GuangLing hit him directly on the face the moment he got out of the carriage. The county official Zhu ChuanKang kneeled on the ground in greeting and led everyone to an inn to rest.

Along the way, beggars were sleeping on the streets and there was no supervision whatsoever. White pieces of paper fluttered in the wind while coffins surrounded the area, making people tremble with fear.

Cheng MingLi sighed, "I had thought the report was merely exaggerating. I didn't expect the situation to be even worse than the written accounts."

Ming ChangYan commented, "Contrary to what you believe, every corner of the world has their own hells."

Zhu ChuanKang explained, "The epidemic began earlier this summer. In the beginning, it was only Graduate Zhou who had caught the disease. A few months ago when the list of names who passed the imperial province exam* was announced, he got in. But on his way back to the Zhou family he fell into the YanDang River, luck favored him and he survived but developed a high fever when he returned. At first, the Zhou family's madam found a doctor to take a look at him, but after half a month he still didn't get any better even after being prescribed multiple medications."

(TN: "乡试"; similar to the Civil Service Examination in China. A provincial imperial exam held once every three years for the chance to claim an administrative office role.)

"Later the family sent a child to come find me since he and I could've been considered brothers. The teacher who was proctoring his exam was my father's student. Thus I grabbed some money, sought out GuangLing's Doctor Wu, and went to see him. Doctor Wu's teacher worked in one of the greatest hospitals, Xiao Cheng-daren you must've heard his name before. Therefore he's considered the best doctor in GuangLing. When he went to take a look at his illness, not only was it incurable, it was already deteriorating."

Huai Yu corrected, "A sickened body does not deteriorate in the beginning, instead it means that they've reached the midway point of the disease. In the beginning, the disease stimulates the mind like they've just been injected with chicken blood*, making them unable to sleep with nowhere to vent their energy. It's only afterward that the body begins to decline, once again becoming rigid."

(TN: In simple terms, it just means to get excited.)

Hearing this, Zhu ChuanKang truly didn't pay attention to what the illness looked like when it first began. Now that he heard Huai Yu mention it, he suddenly realized, "Daren is correct, I didn't notice this at all."

When Ming ChangYan heard here, he interjected, "Afterwards was the entire body rigid, their eyes unable to see and mouths unable to move? Where their five visceras fester causing organ failure, with their corpses looking like they were 70 to 80 years old?"

Zhu ChuanKang replied, "Correct. I have never seen these sorts of symptoms before in an outbreak. If it was an ordinary epidemic, all you have to do is lock up the infected individuals and take care of them, but….."

Ming ChangYan asked, "But what?"

Zhu ChuanKang continued, "But the town's shaman used a tortoise shell to make a divination, saying that when Graduate Zhou fell into the YanDang river he agitated the river god. The river god was angered and descended the epidemic from Heaven down to punish the common people. Only by giving He Bo a favorable woman for him to marry, will they be able to subdue his anger."

Ming ChangYan said, "That's a load of bullshit!"

Cheng MingLi said, "Zhu-shixiong, how do you plan on preventing these innocent young ladies from throwing their lives away for such a preposterous reason?"

Zhu ChuanKang said, "If I had been successful in my preventions, then I would've already done so. The citizens in GuangLing are anxious, the shaman is exploiting them by using the idea of gods and demons to make the people unable to distinguish between good and evil. Me showing up to prevent it is the same as a bureaucrat employing prejudiced power. To not conceal anything to these Daren, within a month there's already been multiple riots. This official is incompetent."

Ming ChangYan reassured, "There's no reason for you to blame yourself. The superstitions within GuangLing is all due to the emperor anyway, it's not like it's uncommon. During critical moments, the doctors are of no help. What else can you do except pray to Gods and Buddhas?"

Zhu ChuanKang glimpsed at him and saw Ming ChangYan dressed in original clothing, his words wanton and unrestrained. The moment he opened his mouth it's 'what the emperor did', 'what the emperor should do'. But the most pivotal detail was that among the people present, he was the only one who thought the other's actions were disrespectful, while the remainder acted like they didn't hear anything.

The four had already stopped at the bottom of the inn where the Imperial bodyguards responsible for guarding Cheng MingLi were waiting.

But Ming ChangYan had no intention of going upstairs, rather he happily smiled, "Huai Yu, this is your line of work. Go go go, let's go take a look at that shaman!"

After taking barely two steps, his collar was pulled back by Huai Yu.

Ming ChangYan joined his limbs together, miserably shouting, "MURDER!!"

Zhu ChuanKang was astonished, "This….."

Cheng MingLi had already been traveling with Huai Yu and Ming ChangYan for many days and was already used to this sort of scenery. He calmly waved his hand, "It's nothing, just small matters."

Huai Yu very seriously lifted him by the collar and hauled him upstairs through pushing and pulling. Ming ChangYan's long legs stomped around creating thumping noises, adopting the manner of someone on their last breath and about to die. Suddenly, the area by the neck suddenly loosened. Ming ChangYan said, "Rude and unreasonable! What kind of young missy attitude are you playing at!"

Huai Yu nobly sat in front of the table and poured a cup of tea.

Ming ChangYan was taciturn in the room. Determination erupted in the silence, thus he raised his feet and began walking towards the doorway. When he arrived at the doorway, Huai Yu coldly said, "I prohibit you to go."

"So unreasonable!"

"You're the one who's not keeping their promise." Huai Yu stood up and said, "In short, right now you can only listen to me."

Ming ChangYan secretly thought: Such an overbearing little brat. If it wasn't because this ShaoXia isn't able to defeat him right now, I would've already hung him up and beat him!

Instead, he said, "Why should I listen to you?"

Huai Yu appeared to be very angry, letting out a humph, choosing to ignore him. He lied down on the bed, pulled up the quilt, and covered his head. After a while, a muffled voice came from the quilt, "Think for yourself."

Ming ChangYan could only sit back down on the stool. Heaving a deep sigh, he thought: Taking a wife home isn't even as difficult as coaxing him.

After thinking about it, he consoled himself: As a child, he was raised in the imperial palace, it's inevitable that he's at least a little arrogant. Since I want to be friends with him and is older than him by a few years, I naturally should have a bit of patience towards him.

While he was comforting himself, Ming ChangYan couldn't help but begin to follow Huai Yu's reasoning: He was the one who had promised to listen to his words.

But after this sort of disastrous thinking, he began to recall countless old debts all regarding the time he spent at the imperial palace. For the purpose of leaving the palace, he kept saying multiple lies.

Such as: Recognizing him as his Dge, 'If Dge says one I definitely won't say two'; 'Everything will be done according to your demands', 'I'll listen to whatever you say'.

Ming ChangYan didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. When he said those words, they were mere words of praise that his brain came up with to coax him. Who would've imagined that Huai Yu took them so earnestly and in spite of everything still kept them in his heart? And now after remembering them to this moment, he wanted atonement.

After realizing his wrongdoings, he didn't dare walk out of the room. So he simply sat by the bedside and tugged a little at Huai Yu's quilt.

"Ai, Gege, Huai Yu-gege, Huai Yu-dage, Dear dge, I was wrong, I was truly wrong this time."

"Say something, Huai Yu are you asleep?"

"Ok ok ok, you're right, I'll listen to everything you say okay?"

There was finally some movement in the quilt.

Huai Yu finally mercifully sat up and very slowly met his eyes, forgiving him.

Ming ChangYan swore, "I've really remembered it now! I definitely won't forget it!"

After he finished pledging his oath, loud noises erupted from downstairs. The inn the two were staying at was located at the heart of GuangLing, with one of the top three inns located directly across from them. The top locations within the Central Plains where one could eat, drink, and play was divided into five areas. Among them, the inns in the Central Plains that provided top-notch comfort were less than one hundred.

Before GuangLing was plagued by the epidemic it was a large trading city, and therefore had one of those inns. Ming ChangYan was very well-acquainted with these since he himself was from Kyoto and because Xiao Cheng-daren had well informed him. Xiao Cheng-daren had also gossiped: The Young Prime Minister this person must live in these inns and must wear golden silk. No matter how expensive or delicious the food is, the moment they're served to him he won't take any more than three bites and he doesn't order more than three dishes. In brief, he's extremely picky.

Huai Yu doesn't like eating full meals but has a passion for snacks. His parcel filled to the brim with pine nut cakes, eating them from Kyoto to GuangLing, not once stopping. He probably thought that this was too childish and therefore to save his reputation as Dge, Huai Yu stealthily ate them behind Ming ChangYan's back. Unfortunately, Ming ShaoXia had the eyesight of a hawk and had already seen through his little tricks. Even though he saw through them he didn't say anything about it, and in addition, even observed him for a few days before coming to the verdict: This brat's favorite food must be osmanthus cake.

At this moment, the noise that was coming from downstairs now came from the inn right across from them. Ming ChangYan opened the window to watch, taking in the scenery from both sides of the street. Four Buddhist monks draped in black and white robes were pressing down a black-clothed man on the ground while violently beating him.

Ming ChangYan faintly smiled, "The bald monkeys from XiaoHan Temple. It's inevitable to clash with enemies, how come I run into them the moment I come out!"

One of the monks said, "Grab him and take him back!"

Ming ChangYan gently chuckled, "Look, is this something a monk with benevolence in their heart would behave? They're practically mercenaries!"

Hearing his Huai Yu suddenly asked, "What's a mercenary?"

Ming ChangYan laughed before he abruptly jumped down from the three-floored building. Huai Yu quickly reached out to catch him but only managed to grab a piece of his jacket. Quickly, the corner of his jacket slipped out from his hands. Ming ChangYan fell to the ground and without saying anything further, raised his leg up and kicked. One kick for each of the three monks. His leg moved at lightning speed, making the monks fall down and almost piss themselves in terror. They angrily crawled up and pointed their fingers at Ming ChangYan.

He patted his hands, extremely arrogant, extremely overbearing, extremely unreasonable.

While he was busy, he found the time to lift his head and gave Huai Yu a wicked smile, "This is the Mercenary sect."

After saying this, without distinguishing between right or wrong, he gave each old monk a fist to the head.

This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work I will sacrifice you to He Bo.

Sorry I've been gone for a month! As compensation, I'm going to spend the entire day tomorrow to work to get a second chapter out!

If you see any grammatical/translation errors please notify me! My email will always be at the top of the page.

Thoughts, comments? Tell me about something that annoyed you think week. Mine was when one of my classmates said that prostitutes and concubines are practically the same thing and I just went 🙃

Have a wonderful day~

Chapter end