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Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard (Web Novel) - Chapter 70.3 – Entering the Palace (3)
Chapter 70.3 – Entering the Palace (3)
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“Heard you all were practicing for the mid-autumn festival performance here, and thus came to see. Just now, was
that the performance you all prepared?” Han Ming Yi asked.
“Yes, how is it? Isn’t it very stunning?”
“En, very creative, not bad.” Han Ming Yi nodded his head.
“Ha, even Ding Wang said it’s not bad, then when we perform, it’ll definitely shock others! Haha, let’s see how my father will criticize me this time!” Ji Liu Xia said with a hearty laugh.
“Xiao Li’s idea is indeed very good.” Fu Ya Lan said.
Seeing Han Ming Yi staring at herself, Du Xiao Li felt somewhat embarrassed and turned her head towards Luo Qi, “Big brother Luo Qi, how come you’re in the capital?”
“Tomorrow is mid-autumn; the Emperor is grandly holding a banquet and also invited us to participate.” Luo Qi replied.
“Invited you all? Doesn’t the government normally not involve itself with the people of the pugilistic world? How come this time you got invited? Aside from you, are there others?” Du Xiao Li asked in shock.
“In the past, there indeed weren’t any dealings, but this time, don’t know why, the Emperor has sent invitation to people of the three powerhouses, thus my father has let me come.”
“Xiao Li, this is?” Ji Liu Xia asked.
“Oh, this is big brother Luo Qi, he’s the Four Sea Manor’s fourth young master.” Du Xiao Li introduced, then pointed to Fu Ya Lan and them and said: “This is Princess Changle, Cabinet Minister Fu family’s big sister Ya Lan, Imperial Tutor Meng family’s big sister Jiang Zhuo, and also General Manor’s big sister Liu Xia.”
“Ah!” Ji Liu Xia suddenly cried out. She looked to Luo Qi and said, “So he’s the one known as one of the Jianghu Four Gentlemen’s Four Sea Manor’s fourth young master, Luo Qi? When I heard his name just now, I thought it was just the same name! Never thought it really was him!”
“Jianghui Four Gentlemen?”
“En, heard it’s a nickname given to four young men of the pugilistic world. According to rumors, the four gentlemen, every single one, all possessed profound martial arts skills and bewitching appearances, not someone ordinary people can surpass.” Ji Liu Xia explained. “Our Feng Ming has two. One is the fourth young master of the Four Sea Manor that has the title of ‘number one manor in the world’. And one is Yan Luo Hall’s master, Yan Luo.”
(T/N: Yan Luo is just the pinyin for King Yama, the king of hell in buddhism; also Manor in this context is more like a village, it’s basically like a clan village for jianghu people.)
“Yan Luo? What kind of name is that?”
“This is just his code name, no one knows his real name.” Ji Liu Xia said, “Never thought that I’d be able to personally meet one of the four gentlemen’s Luo Qi, truly too exciting!”
“Then the other two?”
“The other two, one is in Northern Yuan, and one in Eastern Li. What their names are, I’m not too clear.”
“Hehe, didn’t expect that the young miss of the General’s Manor would know so much about the matter of our pugilistic world. The one in Northern Yuan is Bei Feng (northern wind), and the one in Eastern Li is Lu Xi Nian.
However, these are all just the good favor of the people of the pugilistic world.”
Han Ming Yi walked to Du Xiao Li’s side and asked, “Are you all going back today?”
“En, the banquet will start tomorrow. We need to go back and try out the costumes and whatnot.” Du Xiao Li nodded her head.
Luo Qi looked to Han Ming Yi talking to Du Xiao Li; his gaze flickered.
After eating lunch, everyone just returned to the capital city together. Luo Qi went to the guest inn the Emperor arranged, Han Ming Yi returned to the barracks, while Du Xiao Li and them went to the capital’s largest clothing shop to fetch the clothes, and then headed to the Princess’s residence to try on their clothes. After confirming that it was all good, everyone finally returned to their own homes.
After returning to the Prime Minister Manor, Du Xiao Li went to Du Yun Han’s study, informing him of her return.
Afterwards, she went to Du Xiu Heng’s courtyard. Tomorrow is the mid-autumn festival, so they were also off from school today. After chatting a while with Du Xiu Heng, and telling him that Luo Qi has come to the capital, Du Xiao Li finally returned to her own Jade Bamboo Courtyard.
However, upon arriving, she discovered that Luo Qi was actually in her courtyard, waiting for her with an unclear expression.
“Big brother Luo Qi, what are you doing here?” Seeing that Luo Qi’s expression wasn’t very good, Du Xiao Li walked over and asked.
Luo Qi looked to Du Xiao Li, silently contemplated for a moment, before finally asking, “Heard you’re engaged to Ming Yi?”
Du Xiao Li never thought that Luo Qi would ask this. Blanking, she nodded her head and said, “Yes. The Emperor bestowed the marriage.”
“Then, do you want to marry him?” Luo Qi asked, “If you don’t want to, I can take you away.”
Du Xiao Li looked to Luo Qi and bafflingly asked, “Big brother Luo Qi, what’s wrong? Why are you suddenly asking me about this?”
“Err, when I’d returned to the inn, I’d heard about the Emperor bestowing you a marriage and was too shocked.
Thinking that you don’t like being restricted, I thus came to ask you.” Luo Qi felt somewhat guilty under Du Xiao Li’s gaze, his words vague.
“Right now discussing this is still too early. I’ve talked to big brother Yi, if when the time comes, I really don’t want to marry him, we can just marry and then mutually divorce. So you don’t need to worry for me.” Du Xiao Li said with a smile.
Luo Qi silently looked to Du Xiao Li, finally letting out a sigh after a long while, “It’s good as long as you have an idea. I’ll be leaving then.” With that said, not waiting for Du Xiao Li to speak, he just flew off.
Du Xiao Li looked in the direction Luo Qi left in and heavily let out a sigh. She stood in the courtyard for a while, and afterwards finally went back to rest.
The next day was mid-autumn festival. In the afternoon, at wei-hour (1-3pm), everyone in turn entered the palace, heading to the designated resting place. The officials and their sons were in one place, while the womenfolk were in another.
Du Xiao Li simply dressed herself and then entered the palace together with Du Yun Han and them. When she saw Du Old Madam also going, she even felt slightly surprised inside. She didn’t expect that this banquet actually invited her grandmother’s generation as well.
However, thinking about it, mid-autumn originally was a day for families to be together. If one’s descendent all entered the palace, how can the elders be left alone to celebrate the holiday.
Most likely there’ll be quite a lot of people in the palace today.
After entering the imperial palace, Du Yun Han took Du Xiu Heng and Du Ke Hui and followed the guiding eunuch away. Du Old Madam took Du Xiao Li and them and followed the palace maid to the other side, to the palace hall where the womenfolk rested.
“Du Old Madam, you’ve come!”
“Aiya, Chen Old Madam, you’ve sure come early.”
“These old bones of ours haven’t met in a long time, right? Today, we’ll have to nicely have a chat. Those girls just let them play on their own.”
“That’s so true.”
As soon as they arrived at the resting place, someone immediately recognized Du Old Madam and warmly called out to her. Du Xiao Li looked to the girls next to that old madam. It was Chen Yue and another two slightly older women. One was still in an young lady’s attire, the other was in an married young woman’s attire. Presumably that was the Chen family’s married daughter.
T/N: Finally caught up with all the chapters, though I still have to catch up on my other two project ;;v;;) Also I will be taking a week break from PCFO this week. I need to clear up some time to take care of some life things.
