Chapter 39
If audio player doesn't work, press Stop then Play button again
This wasn’t the first time he climbed into a woman’s bed. Why was he so nervous?
Having obtained Ye Zhao’s permission, Xia Yujin immediately took off his outer robes, climbed on her red sandalwood bed, rolled around to check that the bed was wide and comfortable enough, and then started feeling around, discovering that in addition to the dagger underneath the pillow, there was a thin sword placed on the edge of the bed and that from the four corners of the blanket fell ready-to-use weapons, scattering like intricate lotus seeds made of iron.
Was there ever a more reliable and personal bodyguard than his wife?
Smelling faint perfume on the pillow, the tension in Xia Yujin slowly unwound, his fear vanished, and tiredness fell upon him. His eyelids fluttered open and closed endlessly. He hugged the blanket closer and curled up in a ball, watching as Ye Zhao snuffed out the candle with a wave of her sleeves, untied her robes, and nimbly lay on the bed, telling him, “Give me the blanket.”
“Women should sleep on the inside of the bed!” Although Xia Yujin was very tired, he still insisted greatly upon this principle, so he scrambled over Ye Zhao with the blanket, and turned over to lay on the outer edge of the bed.
Ye Zhao’s laughter reached his ears through his daze. It seemed as though she was telling him something, but he was so tired that he only hummed an answer and fell asleep.
Ye Zhao leaned over to look at him.
Moonlight seeped through the muslin canopy like shadows from a lamp, brushing faintly against his beautiful jade-like face. His long, black hair was scattered messily like gorgeous silk threads, his thick eyelashes fluttered faintly like the wings of a butterfly, and there was a small mole behind his ear, delicate and lovely on his smooth skin that looked good to touch.
“Hey,” Ye Zhao called out.
Xia Yujin turned over.
“Hey!” Ye Zhao called again, slightly louder, pushing him.
Xia Yujin gritted his teeth.
After watching him for a long time, Ye Zhao decidedly poked his face. Sure enough his snow-white face was as soft and smooth as it looked, still a little cool. Then she gently grabbed his cheeks with the tip of her fingers, pinched them. The elastic skin stretched well.
Xia Yujin frowned, wrenched away, and mumbled, “Bad, no, no…”
Ye Zhao quickly let go. “If you say no then it’s no,” she soothed him.
After a moment of silence, Xia Yujin suddenly started to smirk. “Pretty girl, come, give me a taste.”
He was flirting with innocent women in his dreams. Her husband really had a lot of scoundrel potential, but he unfortunately lacked some nerve, his technique was still unpolished, and he wasn’t mature enough. Compared to the way she used to make all the women of the Northern Desert, old and young, blush with a wink, he still had some way to go.
Ye Zhao narrowed her eyes, licked her lips, and decided that she would teach him what being a scoundrel really meant.
So she leaned over, softly kissed Xia Yujin’s eyelashes, then brushed over the tip of his nose and finally landed on his moist lips, taking a quick taste. But she was afraid of waking him up, so she didn’t deepen it, then hugged him tightly, lay down to sleep, and let out a sigh.
A bully, she knew how to be.
But a wife — that, she didn’t how to be.
She was good at fighting.
Not so much at intimate relationships.
Before the wedding, Lady Huang once taught her about what the bridal chamber entailed, but she spoke very vaguely and didn’t go as deep as the obscene stories Ye Zhao used to hear in the army when men brought up women over their meals. She still remembered Cadet Ma saying that he liked women to take the initiative in bed, the fiercer the better. Deputy General Wang said that he liked kissing them from head to toe and that satisfying them brought him satisfaction. As everyone was vying to show off their own clever tricks, Qiu Laohu immediately shrugged off his clothes, revealing eight scratch marks on his back, arrogantly saying, “I landed a prostitute last night.”
Everyone immediately felt deep respect for him, lauding him as a “real man,” a “fierce man,” or “manly.” Even Deputy General Lan, who once beheaded twenty people by his lonesome, did not get such high praise.
Deputy General Wang, who didn’t like to see him so pleased, felt sour. “Don’t forget, the fiercest man in our ranks is our general!”
Ye Zhao, who’d been gnawing on a lamb leg intently, raised her head in surprise when she heard them pull the topic to her.
The other soldiers jeered as they stepped on the tail Qiu Laohu was holding high.
“The general’s in! Top three!”
“When women see the general, they go weak without even being touched!”
“The general’s too strong! He swept away the pleasure house’s four great beauties!”
“Fuck! The general’s martial arts skills are unparalleled, how could he settle for one!”
Ye Zhao sincerely admired their imagination.
Qiu Laohu deflated. Quite unwilling to accept defeat, he tried to seek confirmation. “General, what’s the most you’ve had in one night?”
Ye Zhao knew men well, but she felt it embarrassing for the Great General to be inexperienced in front of all her comrades in arms and so, unwilling to lie, vaguely replied, “Don’t worry about this, forget it.”
But unexpectedly, Hu Qing, who was steadily drinking on the side and who never forgot his duty to hit people when they were down, spoke up with unrivaled admiration. “Of course, our general’s great! He started going to brothels at fourteen. At fifteen, he’d gone through all the women, four or five a night without pause. Good thing he got tired of playing around and now improves himself by training! Otherwise, how could he mix with you?”
Ye Zhao almost choked on her lamb meat. When she caught her breath, Hu Qing’s words had already taken on a life of their own and the rumor had successfully spread.
All the soldiers looked at her with terrifying eyes, full of envy and admiration.
Stifled by the truth, Ye Zhao couldn’t argue back, but she made sure that night to beat Hu Qing up until he cried.
Later, when the rumors worsened and spread, the widows of the Northern Desert started looking at her like hungry wolves, a dangerous glint in their eyes. Hungry women were too damn terrifying; it left her deeply affected.
But it seemed that men liked hungry women.
She needed to study up…
Ye Zhao observed her little ermine, sprawled on the bed in his sleep, and felt that her thoughts were going too far; she quickly rubbed out her goosebumps and did some serious heart-searching — whether fighting or taking someone to bed, boasting and armchair planning were useless. You needed to stumble out into actual combat, humbly learn and practice hard in order to succeed. A pity that so many things had happened lately and that Yujin was in such a bad mood; it wasn’t the right time to study. She’d put it off until later.
Xia Yujin rolled over again, grabbed her by the waist, and rubbed.
Ye Zhao lay there quietly, staring at the dark canopy of the bed, planning again her next moves on the chess board, then fell into a light sleep.
The morning star quietly appeared in the sky, the rooster called for dawn, and the first beam of sunlight seeped through the window, gradually lightening the room.
Xia Yujin woke up and rubbed his eyes. His surroundings were unfamiliar: not his study, not his concubine’s room, not a brothel, a pleasure boat, or a friend’s house. He felt heavy, as though he was entangled with a large weight. After a long while, he remembered that he and his wife had spent the night together.
Was it Ye Zhao lying next to him, holding him?
Xia Yujin quickly woke up all the way and unhappily found himself held against Ye Zhao by her arms and legs and pushed underneath her. There was an ironic, infuriating smile on her lips.
Which man found himself held down like this by his wife?
Xia Yujin firmly broke off from Ye Zhao’s embrace and threw his leg over her, declaring his sovereignty. After a moment, feeling that it wasn’t enough, he reached over to hug Ye Zhao, implementing the correct “man above, woman below” position. With a satisfied nod, he kept on pretending to sleep.
But Ye Zhao didn’t seem to wake up. Was she a log?
Xia Yujin waited for a long time, but he genuinely got tired, so he let her go and sat up. When he looked down, he saw Ye Zhao’s hair, slightly curly, fanning out over the pillow and covering her fierce brows and sharp face, which actually appeared gentle and well-behaved. Bored, he grabbed a strand of her hair, rolling it in his hand, only to find that it was very fine and soft to the touch, like the fur of an animal. Then, feeling playful, he picked up her long meandering locks, he amused himself by braiding and knotting them.
Finally unable to keep it up anymore, Ye Zhao freed herself and sat up, straightening her hair and glaring at him. “You’re worse than a scoundrel!”
Xia Yujin bowed his head, ashamed, sitting very quietly, as if nothing had happened.
Ye Zhao sighed, rubbed her forehead, lifted the blanket, and climbed out of bed, finding out that her belt seemed to have broken in her sleep. Because of her habit of hiding her gender, she handled many of her own affairs in the army. She was still very unused to having servants helping her change her clothes and bathe, so she didn’t call anyone and personally untied her belt, picking the clothes that had been prepared the previous night to get dressed.
As she undressed, she suddenly remembered that Xia Yujin was behind her, and she paused for a moment. Then she remembered he was her husband and that it didn’t matter if he looked, so she boldly and quickly took off her clothes, and changed into her casual clothes as quickly as lightning.
Xia Yujin stole a glance from the corner of his eyes, saw that she was facing away from him, and quickly took advantage of this flash clothes-changing to peep at her. He saw that there were what seemed to be some long scars on her back, but they got covered by her long hair that fell to her thighs before he could take a good look. And then, further down, the most beautiful legs he had ever seen in his life, tall and thin and pale, without a single imperfection. He wanted to have a second look at them, but they were unfortunately already covered by clothing. A double-leaf patterned black belt cinched tight against her slim waist, bringing those legs back to mind, adding to the temptation.
His wife didn’t look like a man all over…
The boys in town all boasted that they had found a woman with better legs than Chang’e, the most beautiful woman in the capital. But compared to her, Ye Zhao didn’t seem to be lacking much, and he would place a bet or two that hers were longer. They really looked so good…
Xia Yujin silently gulped, eyes fixed on Ye Zhao. He suddenly felt a little hot and parched, as if he had a fever, a little suspicious that she was trying to seduce him. He began to wonder if he should simply invite his wife to bathe with him and study how long exactly those legs were.
However, decent women of the Great Qin didn’t expose their skin outside of their face and hands in front of their husbands. Although Ye Zhao had a rebellious personality and the temper of a man, there was still a little bit of female consciousness deep in her heart. She wasn’t interested in drinking bare-chested with her comrades or jumping down a river to bathe, and she didn’t like casually showing her body to people.
And because no one had ever commented on it, she didn’t even know whether the figure she hid under her clothes looked good or not.
Seeing Xia Yujin blankly staring at her, she subconsciously reached back to touch her back. There were a few hideous scars there. The shallowest ones were left behind from an attack, back in her young daredevil days when she hadn’t yet perfected her fighting skills; the deepest one, from a fight during the war, when she was fighting with her back to her enemy and was hit by a weapon he’d thrown, right through her chest armor. She thought that Xia Yujin, spoiled and pampered since childhood, accustomed to makeup, couldn’t bear to see such ugly scars.
That was alright.
Ye Zhao clenched her fists.
Scars and temper, it was all her true self.
She could restrain herself for him, but she wasn’t willing to hide and deceive anymore.
Rather than having to stop having to hide later, once the truth was discovered, it was better to expose the truth from the very beginning. Just as Xia Yujin didn’t like her to start, even if she did her best to humble herself, and he could only see one good part of her. So it was better to ignore Xia Yujin first and let him do whatever he wanted, even if he got mad, while she learned who he was deep down, waited until the last moment, and then started on their reconciliation. Then one good quality could become ten.
After giving it some thought, Ye Zhao decided to cut to the chase. “Did you see them?” she asked, full of determination.
Xia Yujin quickly turned away and shook his head.
Ye Zhao shot him a sharp look. “What do you think?”
Xia Yujin felt that his wife was too brazen. How could she openly ask her husband what he thought of the length of her legs? Remembering the wonderful sight he’d just witnessed, flushing a little, and unable to consider losing face, he toughened up to avoid her mocking and said, “Nothing good.”
Ye Zhao was silent.
Thinking he might have gone a bit overboard, he added, “But I guess it’s not that bad.”
Ye Zhao considered his meaning. His tone was ambiguous and a little offensive, but there was room for improvement. She was secretly relieved. There were only a few scars; no big deal, she wouldn’t let him see her back in the future, and he would gradually get used to it. So she left Xia Yujin, who still didn’t know what she was thinking, and told the maids who were waiting outside, “Move all the prince’s things back to the main hall and clean everything up. He will live here from now on.”
“Why are you making such arbitrary decisions!” Xia Yujin exclaimed, startled.
Ye Zhao threw her arm over his shoulders and leisurely replied, “I asked you last night and you agreed.”
Xia Yujin remembered that in the hazy moment as he was falling asleep the previous night, she’d murmured something in his ear.
“For all that I know, you were asking me about a midnight snack…” he muttered.
On second thought, though, the danger hadn’t passed yet, so staying there was a good idea, to say nothing of those enticing legs of hers. See if he didn’t touch them! He’d take back all the advantage she’d taken of him before. So he readily nodded his assent, dragged Ye Zhao back into the room, laying some ground rules: “First, you’re not allowed to take liberties with me! Only I am allowed to take them with you!”
“Alright.”
“Second, I’m your husband, so you must listen to what I say. If I say black, you’re not allowed to say white.”
“Alright.”
“Third, no axes, maces, or other heavy weapons hung on the walls, no meteor hammer inside the wardrobe, and especially no red-tasseled spear stuck in the antique blue and white porcelain vases! You blind wastrel! Do you know how precious those things are? You broke the spout! From now on, except for a weapon by the bed, your double-edged sword, and your precious saber, they’ll be thrown into the side room! Put up proper decorations.”
“Alright,” Ye Zhao said after some hesitation. “Just in case you hurt your foot.”
High on the thrill of taming the fierce tiger, Xia Yujin looked at Ye Zhao when he heard this. The look on her face was full of indulgent fondness, like a cat protecting its beloved little mouse, and he felt his anger rising. Obviously she’d agreed to comply, so why did he feel so down and aggrieved?
“That’s all?” asked Ye Zhao.
“Yes,” Xia Yujin replied despondently.
He secretly vowed that after he found out what this bothersome feeling was, he would personally deal with Ye Zhao! Let her fully understand that she was a woman and his wife, and see what kind of man she pretended to be when she was around him!
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
This wasn’t the first time he climbed into a woman’s bed. Why was he so nervous?
Having obtained Ye Zhao’s permission, Xia Yujin immediately took off his outer robes, climbed on her red sandalwood bed, rolled around to check that the bed was wide and comfortable enough, and then started feeling around, discovering that in addition to the dagger underneath the pillow, there was a thin sword placed on the edge of the bed and that from the four corners of the blanket fell ready-to-use weapons, scattering like intricate lotus seeds made of iron.
Was there ever a more reliable and personal bodyguard than his wife?
Smelling faint perfume on the pillow, the tension in Xia Yujin slowly unwound, his fear vanished, and tiredness fell upon him. His eyelids fluttered open and closed endlessly. He hugged the blanket closer and curled up in a ball, watching as Ye Zhao snuffed out the candle with a wave of her sleeves, untied her robes, and nimbly lay on the bed, telling him, “Give me the blanket.”
“Women should sleep on the inside of the bed!” Although Xia Yujin was very tired, he still insisted greatly upon this principle, so he scrambled over Ye Zhao with the blanket, and turned over to lay on the outer edge of the bed.
Ye Zhao’s laughter reached his ears through his daze. It seemed as though she was telling him something, but he was so tired that he only hummed an answer and fell asleep.
Ye Zhao leaned over to look at him.
Moonlight seeped through the muslin canopy like shadows from a lamp, brushing faintly against his beautiful jade-like face. His long, black hair was scattered messily like gorgeous silk threads, his thick eyelashes fluttered faintly like the wings of a butterfly, and there was a small mole behind his ear, delicate and lovely on his smooth skin that looked good to touch.
“Hey,” Ye Zhao called out.
Xia Yujin turned over.
“Hey!” Ye Zhao called again, slightly louder, pushing him.
Xia Yujin gritted his teeth.
After watching him for a long time, Ye Zhao decidedly poked his face. Sure enough his snow-white face was as soft and smooth as it looked, still a little cool. Then she gently grabbed his cheeks with the tip of her fingers, pinched them. The elastic skin stretched well.
Xia Yujin frowned, wrenched away, and mumbled, “Bad, no, no…”
Ye Zhao quickly let go. “If you say no then it’s no,” she soothed him.
After a moment of silence, Xia Yujin suddenly started to smirk. “Pretty girl, come, give me a taste.”
He was flirting with innocent women in his dreams. Her husband really had a lot of scoundrel potential, but he unfortunately lacked some nerve, his technique was still unpolished, and he wasn’t mature enough. Compared to the way she used to make all the women of the Northern Desert, old and young, blush with a wink, he still had some way to go.
Ye Zhao narrowed her eyes, licked her lips, and decided that she would teach him what being a scoundrel really meant.
So she leaned over, softly kissed Xia Yujin’s eyelashes, then brushed over the tip of his nose and finally landed on his moist lips, taking a quick taste. But she was afraid of waking him up, so she didn’t deepen it, then hugged him tightly, lay down to sleep, and let out a sigh.
A bully, she knew how to be.
But a wife — that, she didn’t how to be.
She was good at fighting.
Not so much at intimate relationships.
Before the wedding, Lady Huang once taught her about what the bridal chamber entailed, but she spoke very vaguely and didn’t go as deep as the obscene stories Ye Zhao used to hear in the army when men brought up women over their meals. She still remembered Cadet Ma saying that he liked women to take the initiative in bed, the fiercer the better. Deputy General Wang said that he liked kissing them from head to toe and that satisfying them brought him satisfaction. As everyone was vying to show off their own clever tricks, Qiu Laohu immediately shrugged off his clothes, revealing eight scratch marks on his back, arrogantly saying, “I landed a prostitute last night.”
Everyone immediately felt deep respect for him, lauding him as a “real man,” a “fierce man,” or “manly.” Even Deputy General Lan, who once beheaded twenty people by his lonesome, did not get such high praise.
Deputy General Wang, who didn’t like to see him so pleased, felt sour. “Don’t forget, the fiercest man in our ranks is our general!”
Ye Zhao, who’d been gnawing on a lamb leg intently, raised her head in surprise when she heard them pull the topic to her.
The other soldiers jeered as they stepped on the tail Qiu Laohu was holding high.
“The general’s in! Top three!”
“When women see the general, they go weak without even being touched!”
“The general’s too strong! He swept away the pleasure house’s four great beauties!”
“Fuck! The general’s martial arts skills are unparalleled, how could he settle for one!”
Ye Zhao sincerely admired their imagination.
Qiu Laohu deflated. Quite unwilling to accept defeat, he tried to seek confirmation. “General, what’s the most you’ve had in one night?”
Ye Zhao knew men well, but she felt it embarrassing for the Great General to be inexperienced in front of all her comrades in arms and so, unwilling to lie, vaguely replied, “Don’t worry about this, forget it.”
But unexpectedly, Hu Qing, who was steadily drinking on the side and who never forgot his duty to hit people when they were down, spoke up with unrivaled admiration. “Of course, our general’s great! He started going to brothels at fourteen. At fifteen, he’d gone through all the women, four or five a night without pause. Good thing he got tired of playing around and now improves himself by training! Otherwise, how could he mix with you?”
Ye Zhao almost choked on her lamb meat. When she caught her breath, Hu Qing’s words had already taken on a life of their own and the rumor had successfully spread.
All the soldiers looked at her with terrifying eyes, full of envy and admiration.
Stifled by the truth, Ye Zhao couldn’t argue back, but she made sure that night to beat Hu Qing up until he cried.
Later, when the rumors worsened and spread, the widows of the Northern Desert started looking at her like hungry wolves, a dangerous glint in their eyes. Hungry women were too damn terrifying; it left her deeply affected.
But it seemed that men liked hungry women.
She needed to study up…
Ye Zhao observed her little ermine, sprawled on the bed in his sleep, and felt that her thoughts were going too far; she quickly rubbed out her goosebumps and did some serious heart-searching — whether fighting or taking someone to bed, boasting and armchair planning were useless. You needed to stumble out into actual combat, humbly learn and practice hard in order to succeed. A pity that so many things had happened lately and that Yujin was in such a bad mood; it wasn’t the right time to study. She’d put it off until later.
Xia Yujin rolled over again, grabbed her by the waist, and rubbed.
Ye Zhao lay there quietly, staring at the dark canopy of the bed, planning again her next moves on the chess board, then fell into a light sleep.
The morning star quietly appeared in the sky, the rooster called for dawn, and the first beam of sunlight seeped through the window, gradually lightening the room.
Xia Yujin woke up and rubbed his eyes. His surroundings were unfamiliar: not his study, not his concubine’s room, not a brothel, a pleasure boat, or a friend’s house. He felt heavy, as though he was entangled with a large weight. After a long while, he remembered that he and his wife had spent the night together.
Was it Ye Zhao lying next to him, holding him?
Xia Yujin quickly woke up all the way and unhappily found himself held against Ye Zhao by her arms and legs and pushed underneath her. There was an ironic, infuriating smile on her lips.
Which man found himself held down like this by his wife?
Xia Yujin firmly broke off from Ye Zhao’s embrace and threw his leg over her, declaring his sovereignty. After a moment, feeling that it wasn’t enough, he reached over to hug Ye Zhao, implementing the correct “man above, woman below” position. With a satisfied nod, he kept on pretending to sleep.
But Ye Zhao didn’t seem to wake up. Was she a log?
Xia Yujin waited for a long time, but he genuinely got tired, so he let her go and sat up. When he looked down, he saw Ye Zhao’s hair, slightly curly, fanning out over the pillow and covering her fierce brows and sharp face, which actually appeared gentle and well-behaved. Bored, he grabbed a strand of her hair, rolling it in his hand, only to find that it was very fine and soft to the touch, like the fur of an animal. Then, feeling playful, he picked up her long meandering locks, he amused himself by braiding and knotting them.
Finally unable to keep it up anymore, Ye Zhao freed herself and sat up, straightening her hair and glaring at him. “You’re worse than a scoundrel!”
Xia Yujin bowed his head, ashamed, sitting very quietly, as if nothing had happened.
Ye Zhao sighed, rubbed her forehead, lifted the blanket, and climbed out of bed, finding out that her belt seemed to have broken in her sleep. Because of her habit of hiding her gender, she handled many of her own affairs in the army. She was still very unused to having servants helping her change her clothes and bathe, so she didn’t call anyone and personally untied her belt, picking the clothes that had been prepared the previous night to get dressed.
As she undressed, she suddenly remembered that Xia Yujin was behind her, and she paused for a moment. Then she remembered he was her husband and that it didn’t matter if he looked, so she boldly and quickly took off her clothes, and changed into her casual clothes as quickly as lightning.
Xia Yujin stole a glance from the corner of his eyes, saw that she was facing away from him, and quickly took advantage of this flash clothes-changing to peep at her. He saw that there were what seemed to be some long scars on her back, but they got covered by her long hair that fell to her thighs before he could take a good look. And then, further down, the most beautiful legs he had ever seen in his life, tall and thin and pale, without a single imperfection. He wanted to have a second look at them, but they were unfortunately already covered by clothing. A double-leaf patterned black belt cinched tight against her slim waist, bringing those legs back to mind, adding to the temptation.
His wife didn’t look like a man all over…
The boys in town all boasted that they had found a woman with better legs than Chang’e, the most beautiful woman in the capital. But compared to her, Ye Zhao didn’t seem to be lacking much, and he would place a bet or two that hers were longer. They really looked so good…
Xia Yujin silently gulped, eyes fixed on Ye Zhao. He suddenly felt a little hot and parched, as if he had a fever, a little suspicious that she was trying to seduce him. He began to wonder if he should simply invite his wife to bathe with him and study how long exactly those legs were.
However, decent women of the Great Qin didn’t expose their skin outside of their face and hands in front of their husbands. Although Ye Zhao had a rebellious personality and the temper of a man, there was still a little bit of female consciousness deep in her heart. She wasn’t interested in drinking bare-chested with her comrades or jumping down a river to bathe, and she didn’t like casually showing her body to people.
And because no one had ever commented on it, she didn’t even know whether the figure she hid under her clothes looked good or not.
Seeing Xia Yujin blankly staring at her, she subconsciously reached back to touch her back. There were a few hideous scars there. The shallowest ones were left behind from an attack, back in her young daredevil days when she hadn’t yet perfected her fighting skills; the deepest one, from a fight during the war, when she was fighting with her back to her enemy and was hit by a weapon he’d thrown, right through her chest armor. She thought that Xia Yujin, spoiled and pampered since childhood, accustomed to makeup, couldn’t bear to see such ugly scars.
That was alright.
Ye Zhao clenched her fists.
Scars and temper, it was all her true self.
She could restrain herself for him, but she wasn’t willing to hide and deceive anymore.
Rather than having to stop having to hide later, once the truth was discovered, it was better to expose the truth from the very beginning. Just as Xia Yujin didn’t like her to start, even if she did her best to humble herself, and he could only see one good part of her. So it was better to ignore Xia Yujin first and let him do whatever he wanted, even if he got mad, while she learned who he was deep down, waited until the last moment, and then started on their reconciliation. Then one good quality could become ten.
After giving it some thought, Ye Zhao decided to cut to the chase. “Did you see them?” she asked, full of determination.
Xia Yujin quickly turned away and shook his head.
Ye Zhao shot him a sharp look. “What do you think?”
Xia Yujin felt that his wife was too brazen. How could she openly ask her husband what he thought of the length of her legs? Remembering the wonderful sight he’d just witnessed, flushing a little, and unable to consider losing face, he toughened up to avoid her mocking and said, “Nothing good.”
Ye Zhao was silent.
Thinking he might have gone a bit overboard, he added, “But I guess it’s not that bad.”
Ye Zhao considered his meaning. His tone was ambiguous and a little offensive, but there was room for improvement. She was secretly relieved. There were only a few scars; no big deal, she wouldn’t let him see her back in the future, and he would gradually get used to it. So she left Xia Yujin, who still didn’t know what she was thinking, and told the maids who were waiting outside, “Move all the prince’s things back to the main hall and clean everything up. He will live here from now on.”
“Why are you making such arbitrary decisions!” Xia Yujin exclaimed, startled.
Ye Zhao threw her arm over his shoulders and leisurely replied, “I asked you last night and you agreed.”
Xia Yujin remembered that in the hazy moment as he was falling asleep the previous night, she’d murmured something in his ear.
“For all that I know, you were asking me about a midnight snack…” he muttered.
On second thought, though, the danger hadn’t passed yet, so staying there was a good idea, to say nothing of those enticing legs of hers. See if he didn’t touch them! He’d take back all the advantage she’d taken of him before. So he readily nodded his assent, dragged Ye Zhao back into the room, laying some ground rules: “First, you’re not allowed to take liberties with me! Only I am allowed to take them with you!”
“Alright.”
“Second, I’m your husband, so you must listen to what I say. If I say black, you’re not allowed to say white.”
“Alright.”
“Third, no axes, maces, or other heavy weapons hung on the walls, no meteor hammer inside the wardrobe, and especially no red-tasseled spear stuck in the antique blue and white porcelain vases! You blind wastrel! Do you know how precious those things are? You broke the spout! From now on, except for a weapon by the bed, your double-edged sword, and your precious saber, they’ll be thrown into the side room! Put up proper decorations.”
“Alright,” Ye Zhao said after some hesitation. “Just in case you hurt your foot.”
High on the thrill of taming the fierce tiger, Xia Yujin looked at Ye Zhao when he heard this. The look on her face was full of indulgent fondness, like a cat protecting its beloved little mouse, and he felt his anger rising. Obviously she’d agreed to comply, so why did he feel so down and aggrieved?
“That’s all?” asked Ye Zhao.
“Yes,” Xia Yujin replied despondently.
He secretly vowed that after he found out what this bothersome feeling was, he would personally deal with Ye Zhao! Let her fully understand that she was a woman and his wife, and see what kind of man she pretended to be when she was around him!
This wasn't the first time he climbed into a woman's bed. Why was he so nervous?Having obtained Ye Zhao's permission, Xia Yujin immediately took off his outer robes, climbed on her red sandalwood bed, rolled around to check that the bed was wide and comfortable enough, and then started feeling around, discovering that in addition to the dagger underneath the pillow, there was a thin sword placed on the edge of the bed and that from the four corners of the blanket fell ready-to-use weapons, scattering like intricate lotus seeds made of iron.Was there ever a more reliable and personal bodyguard than his wife?Smelling faint perfume on the pillow, the tension in Xia Yujin slowly unwound, his fear vanished, and tiredness fell upon him. His eyelids fluttered open and closed endlessly. He hugged the blanket closer and curled up in a ball, watching as Ye Zhao snuffed out the candle with a wave of her sleeves, untied her robes, and nimbly lay on the bed, telling him, Give me the blanket.Women should sleep on the inside of the bed! Although Xia Yujin was very tired, he still insisted greatly upon this principle, so he scrambled over Ye Zhao with the blanket, and turned over to lay on the outer edge of the bed.Ye Zhao's laughter reached his ears through his daze. It seemed as though she was telling him something, but he was so tired that he only hummed an answer and fell asleep.Ye Zhao leaned over to look at him.Moonlight seeped through the muslin canopy like shadows from a lamp, brushing faintly against his beautiful jade-like face. His long, black hair was scattered messily like gorgeous silk threads, his thick eyelashes fluttered faintly like the wings of a butterfly, and there was a small mole behind his ear, delicate and lovely on his smooth skin that looked good to touch.Hey, Ye Zhao called out.Xia Yujin turned over.Hey! Ye Zhao called again, slightly louder, pushing him.Xia Yujin gritted his teeth.After watching him for a long time, Ye Zhao decidedly poked his face. Sure enough his snow-white face was as soft and smooth as it looked, still a little cool. Then she gently grabbed his cheeks with the tip of her fingers, pinched them. The elastic skin stretched well.Xia Yujin frowned, wrenched away, and mumbled, Bad, no, noYe Zhao quickly let go. If you say no then it's no, she soothed him.After a moment of silence, Xia Yujin suddenly started to smirk. Pretty girl, come, give me a taste.He was flirting with innocent women in his dreams. Her husband really had a lot of scoundrel potential, but he unfortunately lacked some nerve, his technique was still unpolished, and he wasn't mature enough. Compared to the way she used to make all the women of the Northern Desert, old and young, blush with a wink, he still had some way to go.Ye Zhao narrowed her eyes, licked her lips, and decided that she would teach him what being a scoundrel really meant.So she leaned over, softly kissed Xia Yujin's eyelashes, then brushed over the tip of his nose and finally landed on his moist lips, taking a quick taste. But she was afraid of waking him up, so she didn't deepen it, then hugged him tightly, lay down to sleep, and let out a sigh.A bully, she knew how to be.But a wife that, she didn't how to be.She was good at fighting.Not so much at intimate relationships.Before the wedding, Lady Huang once taught her about what the bridal chamber entailed, but she spoke very vaguely and didn't go as deep as the obscene stories Ye Zhao used to hear in the army when men brought up women over their meals. She still remembered Cadet Ma saying that he liked women to take the initiative in bed, the fiercer the better. Deputy General Wang said that he liked kissing them from head to toe and that satisfying them brought him satisfaction. As everyone was vying to show off their own clever tricks, Qiu Laohu immediately shrugged off his clothes, revealing eight scratch marks on his back, arrogantly saying, I landed a prostitute last night.Everyone immediately felt deep respect for him, lauding him as a real man, a fierce man, or manly. Even Deputy General Lan, who once beheaded twenty people by his lonesome, did not get such high praise.Deputy General Wang, who didn't like to see him so pleased, felt sour. Don't forget, the fiercest man in our ranks is our general!Ye Zhao, who'd been gnawing on a lamb leg intently, raised her head in surprise when she heard them pull the topic to her.The other soldiers jeered as they stepped on the tail Qiu Laohu was holding high.The general's in! Top three!When women see the general, they go weak without even being touched!The general's too strong! He swept away the pleasure house's four great beauties!Fuck! The general's martial arts skills are unparalleled, how could he settle for one!Ye Zhao sincerely admired their imagination.Qiu Laohu deflated. Quite unwilling to accept defeat, he tried to seek confirmation. General, what's the most you've had in one night?Ye Zhao knew men well, but she felt it embarrassing for the Great General to be inexperienced in front of all her comrades in arms and so, unwilling to lie, vaguely replied, Don't worry about this, forget it.But unexpectedly, Hu Qing, who was steadily drinking on the side and who never forgot his duty to hit people when they were down, spoke up with unrivaled admiration. Of course, our general's great! He started going to brothels at fourteen. At fifteen, he'd gone through all the women, four or five a night without pause. Good thing he got tired of playing around and now improves himself by training! Otherwise, how could he mix with you?Ye Zhao almost choked on her lamb meat. When she caught her breath, Hu Qing's words had already taken on a life of their own and the rumor had successfully spread.All the soldiers looked at her with terrifying eyes, full of envy and admiration.Stifled by the truth, Ye Zhao couldn't argue back, but she made sure that night to beat Hu Qing up until he cried.Later, when the rumors worsened and spread, the widows of the Northern Desert started looking at her like hungry wolves, a dangerous glint in their eyes. Hungry women were too damn terrifying; it left her deeply affected.But it seemed that men liked hungry women.She needed to study upYe Zhao observed her little ermine, sprawled on the bed in his sleep, and felt that her thoughts were going too far; she quickly rubbed out her goosebumps and did some serious heart-searching whether fighting or taking someone to bed, boasting and armchair planning were useless. You needed to stumble out into actual combat, humbly learn and practice hard in order to succeed. A pity that so many things had happened lately and that Yujin was in such a bad mood; it wasn't the right time to study. She'd put it off until later.Xia Yujin rolled over again, grabbed her by the waist, and rubbed.Ye Zhao lay there quietly, staring at the dark canopy of the bed, planning again her next moves on the chess board, then fell into a light sleep.The morning star quietly appeared in the sky, the rooster called for dawn, and the first beam of sunlight seeped through the window, gradually lightening the room.Xia Yujin woke up and rubbed his eyes. His surroundings were unfamiliar: not his study, not his concubine's room, not a brothel, a pleasure boat, or a friend's house. He felt heavy, as though he was entangled with a large weight. After a long while, he remembered that he and his wife had spent the night together.Was it Ye Zhao lying next to him, holding him?Xia Yujin quickly woke up all the way and unhappily found himself held against Ye Zhao by her arms and legs and pushed underneath her. There was an ironic, infuriating smile on her lips.Which man found himself held down like this by his wife?Xia Yujin firmly broke off from Ye Zhao's embrace and threw his leg over her, declaring his sovereignty. After a moment, feeling that it wasn't enough, he reached over to hug Ye Zhao, implementing the correct man above, woman below position. With a satisfied nod, he kept on pretending to sleep.But Ye Zhao didn't seem to wake up. Was she a log?Xia Yujin waited for a long time, but he genuinely got tired, so he let her go and sat up. When he looked down, he saw Ye Zhao's hair, slightly curly, fanning out over the pillow and covering her fierce brows and sharp face, which actually appeared gentle and well-behaved. Bored, he grabbed a strand of her hair, rolling it in his hand, only to find that it was very fine and soft to the touch, like the fur of an animal. Then, feeling playful, he picked up her long meandering locks, he amused himself by braiding and knotting them.Finally unable to keep it up anymore, Ye Zhao freed herself and sat up, straightening her hair and glaring at him. You're worse than a scoundrel!Xia Yujin bowed his head, ashamed, sitting very quietly, as if nothing had happened.Ye Zhao sighed, rubbed her forehead, lifted the blanket, and climbed out of bed, finding out that her belt seemed to have broken in her sleep. Because of her habit of hiding her gender, she handled many of her own affairs in the army. She was still very unused to having servants helping her change her clothes and bathe, so she didn't call anyone and personally untied her belt, picking the clothes that had been prepared the previous night to get dressed.As she undressed, she suddenly remembered that Xia Yujin was behind her, and she paused for a moment. Then she remembered he was her husband and that it didn't matter if he looked, so she boldly and quickly took off her clothes, and changed into her casual clothes as quickly as lightning.Xia Yujin stole a glance from the corner of his eyes, saw that she was facing away from him, and quickly took advantage of this flash clothes-changing to peep at her. He saw that there were what seemed to be some long scars on her back, but they got covered by her long hair that fell to her thighs before he could take a good look. And then, further down, the most beautiful legs he had ever seen in his life, tall and thin and pale, without a single imperfection. He wanted to have a second look at them, but they were unfortunately already covered by clothing. A double-leaf patterned black belt cinched tight against her slim waist, bringing those legs back to mind, adding to the temptation.His wife didn't look like a man all overThe boys in town all boasted that they had found a woman with better legs than Chang'e, the most beautiful woman in the capital. But compared to her, Ye Zhao didn't seem to be lacking much, and he would place a bet or two that hers were longer. They really looked so goodXia Yujin silently gulped, eyes fixed on Ye Zhao. He suddenly felt a little hot and parched, as if he had a fever, a little suspicious that she was trying to seduce him. He began to wonder if he should simply invite his wife to bathe with him and study how long exactly those legs were.However, decent women of the Great Qin didn't expose their skin outside of their face and hands in front of their husbands. Although Ye Zhao had a rebellious personality and the temper of a man, there was still a little bit of female consciousness deep in her heart. She wasn't interested in drinking bare-chested with her comrades or jumping down a river to bathe, and she didn't like casually showing her body to people.And because no one had ever commented on it, she didn't even know whether the figure she hid under her clothes looked good or not.Seeing Xia Yujin blankly staring at her, she subconsciously reached back to touch her back. There were a few hideous scars there. The shallowest ones were left behind from an attack, back in her young daredevil days when she hadn't yet perfected her fighting skills; the deepest one, from a fight during the war, when she was fighting with her back to her enemy and was hit by a weapon he'd thrown, right through her chest armor. She thought that Xia Yujin, spoiled and pampered since childhood, accustomed to makeup, couldn't bear to see such ugly scars.That was alright.Ye Zhao clenched her fists.Scars and temper, it was all her true self.She could restrain herself for him, but she wasn't willing to hide and deceive anymore.Rather than having to stop having to hide later, once the truth was discovered, it was better to expose the truth from the very beginning. Just as Xia Yujin didn't like her to start, even if she did her best to humble herself, and he could only see one good part of her. So it was better to ignore Xia Yujin first and let him do whatever he wanted, even if he got mad, while she learned who he was deep down, waited until the last moment, and then started on their reconciliation. Then one good quality could become ten.After giving it some thought, Ye Zhao decided to cut to the chase. Did you see them? she asked, full of determination.Xia Yujin quickly turned away and shook his head.Ye Zhao shot him a sharp look. What do you think?Xia Yujin felt that his wife was too brazen. How could she openly ask her husband what he thought of the length of her legs? Remembering the wonderful sight he'd just witnessed, flushing a little, and unable to consider losing face, he toughened up to avoid her mocking and said, Nothing good.Ye Zhao was silent.Thinking he might have gone a bit overboard, he added, But I guess it's not that bad.Ye Zhao considered his meaning. His tone was ambiguous and a little offensive, but there was room for improvement. She was secretly relieved. There were only a few scars; no big deal, she wouldn't let him see her back in the future, and he would gradually get used to it. So she left Xia Yujin, who still didn't know what she was thinking, and told the maids who were waiting outside, Move all the prince's things back to the main hall and clean everything up. He will live here from now on.Why are you making such arbitrary decisions! Xia Yujin exclaimed, startled.Ye Zhao threw her arm over his shoulders and leisurely replied, I asked you last night and you agreed.Xia Yujin remembered that in the hazy moment as he was falling asleep the previous night, she'd murmured something in his ear.For all that I know, you were asking me about a midnight snack he muttered.On second thought, though, the danger hadn't passed yet, so staying there was a good idea, to say nothing of those enticing legs of hers. See if he didn't touch them! He'd take back all the advantage she'd taken of him before. So he readily nodded his assent, dragged Ye Zhao back into the room, laying some ground rules: First, you're not allowed to take liberties with me! Only I am allowed to take them with you!Alright.Second, I'm your husband, so you must listen to what I say. If I say black, you're not allowed to say white.Alright.Third, no axes, maces, or other heavy weapons hung on the walls, no meteor hammer inside the wardrobe, and especially no red-tasseled spear stuck in the antique blue and white porcelain vases! You blind wastrel! Do you know how precious those things are? You broke the spout! From now on, except for a weapon by the bed, your double-edged sword, and your precious saber, they'll be thrown into the side room! Put up proper decorations.Alright, Ye Zhao said after some hesitation. Just in case you hurt your foot.High on the thrill of taming the fierce tiger, Xia Yujin looked at Ye Zhao when he heard this. The look on her face was full of indulgent fondness, like a cat protecting its beloved little mouse, and he felt his anger rising. Obviously she'd agreed to comply, so why did he feel so down and aggrieved?That's all? asked Ye Zhao.Yes, Xia Yujin replied despondently.He secretly vowed that after he found out what this bothersome feeling was, he would personally deal with Ye Zhao! Let her fully understand that she was a woman and his wife, and see what kind of man she pretended to be when she was around him!
