Chu Wang Fei

by Ning er

  But with his shout, he attracted the sidelong gazes from all the customers in the tavern. As they all stared towards the doorway with curious expressions, some busybodies had even started to gossip amongst themselves furtively, wondering which family’s young miss had secretly exchanged feelings with outsiders, causing this Yuan Qing Zhou to come seek them!

  From the moment Yuan Qing Zhou had started to speak, Yun Qian Meng had already guessed his identity!

  Still, this Yuan Qing Zhou was really too much of a brazen and shameless rascal, actually calling out to another young miss in front of the public! If the news spread, then the xiangfu’s young misses’ reputations would be ruined!

  As these thoughts turned over in her head, Yun Qian Meng surreptitiously pulled Yun Yan’s hand, turned to look at Yun Ruo Xue behind her, then nonchalantly brought Yun Yan with her and entered the tavern, passing by the searching Yuan Qing Zhou, and went upstairs to their rooms……

  Yuan Qing Zhou looked at the situation, and immediately thought that the girl who was standing there motionlessly was Yun Qian Meng. He quickly wore a smile and walked over, “Miss Yun, a few days of separation, is really as long as three autumns!”

  Yun Ruo Xue was already frightened by the previous incident, seeing that Yun Qian Meng and Yun Yan had left her behind, her heart grew even more irritated, and she immediately wanted to furiously catch up with them, but at that moment her path was unexpectedly blocked by Yuan Qing Zhou. She momentarily lost control of her temper and bellowed, “You rogue, hurry up and get out of ben xiaojie’s sight?!”

  At these words, Wang mama behind her immediately felt that the situation was really bad!

  The second young miss clearly wasn’t familiar the silver-clothed gongzi in front, but with such a response, wouldn’t it cause others to misunderstand?

  This time, they were traveling without their parents to look after them, moreso, they were all girls, so they needed to pay even more attention to their words, actions and bearing!

  But this second miss had to have such an irritable temper. At just the slightest feeling of dissatisfaction, she would become reckless and uncaring. With Wang mama’s slight moment of carelessness, something like this had already happened!

  Thinking like this, Wang mama only felt cold sweat dripping from her forehead. She immediately stepped forward to support Yun Ruo Xue, and respectfully said, “xiaojie, we are complete strangers with this gongzi. Surely, he must have mistaken you for someone else! We had better go to our rooms to rest!”

  As she spoke, Wang mama slightly exerted some force and lightly grasped Yun Ruo Xue’s hands, reminding her to pay attention to her dignity!

  Yun Ruo Xue finally realized her own lack of manners. Her eyes that were burning with rage turned to glare fiercely at Yuan Qing Zhou through her muslin veil, then she allowed Wang mama to help her walk up to the second floor……

  Yuan Qing Zhou who was insulted and disregarded in such a way, unexpectedly did not have even half a drop of anger. Instead, he looked greedily at Yun Ruo Xue’s graceful back, and lowered his voice to talk to Ming Xing behind him, “Ming Xing, I like this little girl! She’s unexpectedly spicier than those courtesans from the brothels!”

  Ming Xing saw that his master was feeling good and immediately took the opportunity to lick his boots, “gongzi’s vision has always been good. Look at that xiaojie’s figure, truly a hundred times more alluring than those flighty courtesans!”

  While Yuan Qing Zhou listened to him, Yun Qian Meng’s devastatingly beautiful visage couldn’t help but float into his mind. As he combined it with the burning hot figure right before him, he immediately became excited until he couldn’t tell which way was which. Rubbing his hands together vigorously, he couldn’t help but lick his lips with his scarlet tongue, as his eyes that were harboring evil intentions were further suffused with a lewd glaze……

  “da xiaojie, we nucai have already bought out the second floor. You three xiaojie can feel at ease and rest. We will leave early tomorrow morning!” The guard captain shielded the ladies until all of them had reached the second floor, commanded a part of the guards to keep watch, then finally spoke while he stood outside the room Yun Qian Meng was temporarily resting in!

  “You’ve worked hard, go and take a rest!” Yun Qian Meng’s gentle voice sounded from within, unexpectedly causing the captain’s face to slightly redden. He faced the door and bowed silently, then turned to leave……

  After wiping both her hands clean, Yun Qian Meng pulled out the booklet with the list of gifts and took a look. She realized that Qu Ruo Li, when she was getting married, actually had many manors and villas in her dowry. And these lodgings were distributed in between the capital and Su city, presumably specially prepared by the Qu family for their daughter to visit her parents later!

  If no accidents were to occur, other than the tavern they had stopped at today, they would be staying in these lodgings for the following days!

  Yun Xuan Zhi had always paid attention to his family principles and reputation, so the servants in these residences were definitely his trusted aides. It was likely that Su Qing wouldn’t have the means to take action against her there!

  That meant, that tonight was their best opportunity!

  After her analysis, Yun Qian Meng immediately spoke with a solemn expression, “mama, go tell sanmei, after lights out tonight, she must not fall asleep, nor should she undress from her clothes!”

  When Mi mama saw that Yun Qian Meng was showing a rare grave expression, her heart immediately tightened, and she turned to go at once……

  Yun Ruo Xue sat angrily on her soft bed, then readily took the teapot from the table and threw it to the ground……

  Wang mama saw that she was going to start cursing again, so she immediately went over to appease her, “xiaojie, now is not the time to get angry! furen already has everything set-up, we musn’t let da xiaojie and san xiaojie notice any irregularities!”

  Yun Ruo Xue heard that her words were reasonable, and also knew that the three sisters’ rooms were not that far apart; if she were to rain curses freely, it would surely be heard by others. Only then, did she finally retract the words she was about to say!

  Yet the anger on her face hadn’t decreased by even the slightest bit, as she coldly swept a look at Wang mama and said in a bad mood, “mama, are er jiujiu’s people reliable? Why haven’t they made any moves?”

  When Wang mama saw that she had finally listened to her words, she slowly put down her hanging heart, then leaned closer to Yun Ruo Xue and answered in a low voice, “xiaojie, for this kind of thing, we naturally have to wait until it’s dark to make it more convincing! nubi will first wait upon you while you rest in bed. Wait for midnight, then we will go and watch the good show! nubi has already sent people to keep an eye on any activity from those two!”

  While Yun Ruo Xue imagined scenes of Yun Qian Meng and Yun Yan being derided behind their backs in the future, her mood immediately improved. She then nodded at Wang mama’s words, let the yatou help her throw off her outer clothes, and somewhat tiredly lied down inside the quilt. It didn’t take long for her to enter dreamland……

  At night, the tavern closed its doors and turned out the lights, while all living things began to sink into a slumber……

  Yet Yun Qian Meng was sitting fully-clothed beside the table, while Mi mama and Mu Chun stood behind her loyally……

  Suddenly, a black silhouette jumped in from the tightly closed windows. Mu Chun and Mi mama immediately acted as if they were facing a great enemy, and straightened their backs together to guard in front of Yun Qian Meng……

  Yun Qian Meng saw under the hazy moonlight, that the person’s build was tall and straight. The black clothes on his body were shining with a deep luster, while his tied hair was unexpectedly flickering with specks of golden light. As her heart gradually cleared up, she asked fearlessly, “Who?”

  The person heard her closely whispered question, and immediately searched towards the voice
while Yun Qian Meng had already fished out a flare from her sleeves. As a flame was lit in the limited space, Yun Qian Meng saw an elegant young man walk towards her……

  “Qu Chang Qing!” The man, obviously astonished by Yun Qian Meng’s alertness, immediately let out a deep breath, and reported his own name!

  When Mi mama and Mu Chun heard his distinguished name, they immediately understood that he was Fu Guo gongfu’s di sun shaoye, and Yun Qian Meng’s biaoge. The two of them wanted to greet and bow, but noticed that Qu Chang Qing was making a silencing expression!

  They only saw him fearlessly move to the doorway. Under the feeble firelight, he deliberately circled around a few times, before quickly coming before the three of them to blow out the flame. Then, without making a noise, he jumped out of the same window he used to come in!

  At this moment, a shrill shouting voice resounded from outside the doorway, “No good! A rapist has entered da xiaojie’s room! Someone come quickly……”

  Immediately, all the lamps on the second floor were lit. Yun Ruo Xue’s face was flushed fully red as she rushed over with her clothes still unkempt. Without taking a clear look at Yun Qian Meng’s situation, she shouted while enjoying the other’s apparent misfortune, “jiejie, how could you do such an improper and humiliating thing?!”

  For a moment, everyone cast their gazes towards Yun Qian Meng who was the picture of calm, while Yun Yan who was held up by Wang mama outside the door could only worry helplessly, as her eyes couldn’t help but turn to look into Yun Ruo Xue’s wide open room. Immediately shocked by the scene inside, she couldn’t stop herself from exclaiming, “er jie, why is the rapist on your bed?”

  Chapter 38: Second miss at wits' end | Chu Wang Fei

  家法 jiafa – punishment rod, a rod for punishing children or servants in a feudal household (most relevant definition for this chapter)

  When they heard Yun Yan cry out in alarm, everyone suddenly breathed out. One after another, they withdrew from Yun Qian Meng’s room, and hastily barged into Yun Ruo Xue’s room!

  They only saw, at this moment, that the door was open wide. Looking in from outside, under the dazzling candlelight, a young man was seen lying fast asleep on the messy bed. His complexion was flushed, his lower body was covered dangerously with only a bright red brocade quilt, while his upper body was openly exposed, without even half an article of clothing. Everyone’s gaze suddenly turned towards Yun Ruo Xue……

  Right now, Yun Ruo Xue’s jade-like cheeks were faintly blushing, her hair was let down, and she was standing in the roon in only her white silk inner clothes. Under the bright candlelight, it was actually possible see through the thin layers of her clothing, the shape of the close-fitting undergarments underneath were almost visible……

  Looking back at Yun Qian Meng, her clothes were neat and complete, with not a single stray strand of hair on her head. Her complexion was cool, and her expression calm, absolutely unlike the second miss’s earlier claims!

  With this comparison, and the usual fact that the second miss often bullied the eldest miss for fun, everyone suddenly understood clearly in their hearts. Clearly, as usual, this was another attempt by the second miss to set up the eldest miss!

  Only, the second miss was too outrageous. For an unmarried young lady of nobility, not only did she have illicit relations with an unfamiliar man; she actually went as far as to deflect the blame onto the eldest miss. At such a young age, her mind was already so vicious!

  If not for the third miss discovering the truth in time, they were afraid that the eldest miss’s reputation would have already been destroyed at the hands of the second miss!

  Everyone’s gazes stabbed towards Yun Ruo Xue like sharp knives. Although they didn’t dare to openly denounce Yun Ruo Xue, the expressions of disdain in their eyes made Yun Ruo Xue turn deathly pale. She, who hadn’t yet recovered from her surprise, followed their gazes and looked down, only to realize her current sorry figure, then immediately shrieked and tried to cover up her body. Wang mama’s heart was pounding even more violently at the moment. She quickly took off her own outer clothing and used it to cover Yun Ruo Xue’s body while shouting loudly, “Since when were you allowed to charge into xiaojie’s room? Still don’t quickly get out?!”

  However, although her roar was rather fierce, she couldn’t conceal the shuddering in her voice!

  She couldn’t imagine even in her dreams, when she and Yun Ruo Xue had clearly come to see Yun Qian Meng get humiliated, why did the tables suddenly turn, and the unchaste person actually became Yun Ruo Xue!

  Even though she had experienced life in large estates for so many years, she was also caught unprepared by the situation before her, and could only try her best to preserve Yun Ruo Xue’s reputation!

  “Wang mama, da xiaojie is still here, when did it become your turn to speak?” Seeing that Wang mama was still so aggressive at this juncture, Mi mama couldn’t help but argue.

  Wang mama forced a calm expression and looked at Mi mama. She was just about to start scolding again when Yun Qian Meng’s imposing voice sounded in her ears, commanding, “Captain Liu, have someone tie up that man and wake him up! Everyone else should return to their rooms and rest. If half a word of today’s matter was leaked outside, our xiangfu’s punishment rod is not just for show!”

  For this journey, xiangye had handed him the responsibility of protecting the three young misses’ safety and reputation, but Captain Liu had never expected that such a shameful affair would actually happen under his nose!

  Especially right now, under Yun Ruo Xue’s unceasing shrieks, they only felt even more irritated. Captain Liu only brought a few of the guards and rushed towards the side of the bed. Right as the man had his mouth open wide, they immediately took out a piece of sackcloth and stuffed it in, then worked together to tightly tie up the man……

  The man was woken up by a large slap to the face. Just as he wanted to swear and curse, he found that his own mouth was already blocked up, and his body was tightly wrapped like a dumpling. His humiliation turning into anger, his face flushed red as he widened his eyes to glare towards Wang mama and occasionally shouted through muffled moans……

  Everyone inside the room understood after looking at the situation. Eight times out of ten, Wang mama was acquainted with this man!

  On the side, Wang mama was having her yatou comfort Yun Ruo Xue. Suddenly feeling that everyone’s gazes had plastered onto her body, she raised her head to look and realized that the man was actually the person she had arranged to sully Yun Qian Meng, Zhao Ming! She momentary felt her brain turn blank, and only managed to respond after quite a while. Rushing over to give Zhao Ming a big slap, she pointed at his nose and scolded insinuatingly, “Who are you? Why are you here? Who asked you to do this? Quickly answer, or your life is forfeit!”

  Yun Qian Meng coldly looked at her grandstanding, and surreptitiously gave Captain Liu a glance. Captain Liu immediately removed the cloth in Zhao Ming’s mouth, allowing him to speak!

  “Wang mama, it’s me, Zhao Ming! Didn’t you let me come to da xiao-……”

  Pow! Before Zhao Ming could finish his words, Wang mama had given him another slap!

  Perhaps this slap had all of Wang mama’s strength behind it, Zhao Ming’s head only slanted to a side, and spat out a bloodied tooth from his mouth. Wang mama was trembling from head to tow in anger, pointing at Zhao Ming, unexpectedly unable to speak……

  But Zhao Ming never expected Wang mama would break the bridges after crossing the river. His eyes that turned over were filled with hatred as his mouth that had leaked out the secret continued to shout fiercely, “Old fart, just now didn’t you let me come to your da xiaojie’s room to rape her? Now you treat daddy like this, you court death……”

  As he scolded, Zhao Ming even wanted to pounce over and duke it out with Wang mama!

  But how could Captain Liu let him have his way? Even though he despised what Wang mama did, the eldest miss was still in the room. There was no way t
hey could allow this person to be so impudent. After using some force, Zhao Ming was immediately forced into a kneel on the floor. And, to stop him from damaging the young misses’ reputations with his loud shouting, Captain Liu quickly stuffed up his mouth again, then deferentially told Yun Qian Meng, “xiaojie, nucai will take this person away first!”

  Yun Qian Meng saw that the farce was winding down and coldly glanced at Wang mama, then said blandly, “Carefully keep a watch on him, don’t let anyone visit him!”

  Captain Liu seriously nodded, then personally handled the resisting Zhao Ming to walk out of the room……

  “Miss Yun, are you alright?” But when the doors were opened, they saw Yuan Qing Zhou hurrying over!

  Captain Liu immediately handed Zhao Ming over to a subordinate and planted himself in front of Yuan Qing Zhou, not allowing him to take another step closer to Yun Qian Meng!

  Only, while Captain Liu managed to stop Yuan Qing Zhou’s body, he could not stop his gaze. The scene in the room was completely seen by Yuan Qing Zhou. In particular, Yun Ruo Xue’s unkempt appearance had immediately caused Yuan Qing Zhou’s eyes to shine brightly. Gazing with infatuation towards Yun Ruo Xue’s slightly open lapels, he only regretted that he couldn’t burn a hole through with his gaze……

  Captain Liu saw Yuan Qing Zhou’s lecherous expression and immediately frowned. He couldn’t help but increase the force in his arms, pushed Yuan Qing Zhou out of the room while simultaneously closing the door, then guarded it personally!

  Yuan Qing Zhou saw that the bargain was over, only gave Captain Liu a fierce glare, then quietly spat in contempt and turned to leave!

  Yun Ruo Xue was already shocked silly by the sequence of unexpected events. She only shivered coldly inside the yatou’s bosoms, unwilling to come out!

  Yun Qian Meng coldly swept a glance at her, then didn’t take anymore notice of her. Putting on a faint smile, she stepped before Wang mama, not saying a word while she stared at the woman who was hastily coming up with excuses while her head was lowered!