Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 129

Xiao Yaqing’s guards finally began work today. Her parents no longer had any excuse to keep her confined.

The moment she left home, Xiao Yaqing headed straight for the General’s Mansion of Northern Pacification.

After arriving, she did not visit Xia Heng first. Instead, she went directly to Cang Chuli’s Tingtao Pavilion.

She stared at him for ages. Cang Chuli calmly turned a page of his book.

At last, Xiao Yaqing lost patience.

“Cang Mingxu! What exactly did you mean that day?”

“What did I mean by what?”

Xiao Yaqing wrinkled her nose.

“That day! The day you rescued me from the mountain! Why did you ride the same horse as Ah Heng on the way back?”

He had better not try to fool her!

Cang Chuli did not even raise his eyelids.

“Because learning horsemanship from you offers no future.”

“That’s slander! I’m going to the yamen to sue you! There is nothing wrong with my horsemanship. If you don’t believe me, let me teach her again!”

Xiao Yaqing had only come to investigate some gossip. His answer immediately made her furious.

“No need. I have nearly finished teaching her.”

“Hmph. You had better not have any other intentions!”

Cang Chuli remarked as though the thought had only just occurred to him, “His Majesty seems to be planning a selection of imperial consorts next year, doesn’t he?

“The daughters of Grand Secretary Li and Vice Minister Cui are both eager to try.

“Oh, that’s right. There is also Pasang.

“Huyan Lie may be dead, but Pasang certainly cannot be sent back to Tujue. If a marriage alliance succeeds now, perhaps the border could enjoy several years of peace.”

This was no idle provocation. Someone at court truly had made this proposal, though Dongfang Wei rejected it. Pasang remained imprisoned in the imperial prison.

His Majesty favored war, so public opinion had begun shifting in an ugly direction again.

Someone was deliberately guiding the rumors, claiming the present Emperor was cruel and inhumane, cared nothing for the people’s lives, and wished only to expand his territory.

How could those people understand Tujue’s predatory ambitions?

Xiao Yaqing froze for an instant at the news, but quickly recovered.

“Other people’s affairs are none of my concern. Anyway, you… you won’t do!”

With that, she gave Cang Chuli a critical once-over.

This man had possessed a poisonous tongue since childhood and was impossibly troublesome.

She did not know what he was like during war, but at home he suffered from every pampered-young-master ailment imaginable. Even Dongfang Wei had never disliked her when they were children, yet Cang Chuli complained that climbing trees made her dirty!

He was also terribly controlling. Everything had to proceed according to his plan.

All he had was a tolerable face. His height was acceptable too… and his figure was reasonably well proportioned…

But was her sister the sort of woman who could be bewitched by beauty?

Wait. She really might be…

Still, this fellow would not do! He was not worthy of Ah Heng!

Cang Chuli was somewhat surprised that she recovered from the news about Dongfang Wei so quickly. She did seem different from before.

Then again, she spent every day with Xia Heng and the others now… It was only natural.

“Mo Bai, see the guest out.”

Mo Bai entered awkwardly. Had his master quarreled with Miss Xiao again?

“Miss Xiao.”

Xiao Yaqing swept her gaze up and down Cang Chuli several more times and added, “Anyway, don’t even think about it!”

Then she ran, denying him any chance to win back a point.

Cang Chuli remained seated and placed his book back on the table.

In truth, he had noticed something wrong with himself lately. At the slightest opportunity, his thoughts drifted to a certain someone.

It seemed Uncle Zhao and the others were not the only people in the General’s Mansion who had been bewitched…

When Xiao Yaqing reached the little courtyard, she found Xia Heng’s door closed and called, “Ah Heng!”

“Coming!”

Xia Heng answered from behind the house. She was inspecting her vegetable patch.

The vegetables had been planted almost two months ago and were now entering their fruiting period. She had only applied more fertilizer yesterday.

Xiao Yaqing came around the house and examined the patch.

“The potatoes should be fine underground, and the chives are ready to eat. But the chili peppers look a little wilted while fruiting. Will they be all right?”

Xia Heng frowned.

“This variety of chili pepper is supposed to survive winter, but it doesn’t look healthy. The cold may have come too quickly this year. Zhao Die and I plan to build a greenhouse over it.”

Xiao Yaqing’s eyes widened.

“A greenhouse? Would that work? With plastic?”

“How could that be possible?

“Last time I visited Qian’s Trading Company, I saw a kind of tung-oil paper that lets through quite a lot of light. Since it’s soaked in tung oil, dew won’t damage it either.

“It won’t compare to plastic, but it’s worth trying. It’s just expensive. Fortunately, I don’t have many chili seedlings…”

Only after growing crops did Xia Heng realize how difficult tending fields was. To obtain even a small harvest, she was willing to try anything.

“Mm, that should work. It’s all experience!

“I know that paper. Wealthy households usually use it to cover windows. My family has some, but I never thought of using it for a greenhouse.

“I’ll search when I get home. If I find any, you won’t need to buy it.”

“Great! I’ll cut the chives in a little while. We’ll eat chives today, then cover these with the greenhouse too once it’s finished.”

“I can’t stay for a meal. I have to go home soon. My mother is watching me closely these days and told me to return early,” Xiao Yaqing said helplessly.

“Huh? I see. All right. Aunt Xiao really was badly frightened last time. Then I’ll cut you a bundle of chives to take home!”

“I won’t stand on ceremony!”

“It’s nothing!”

Remembering her conversation with Cang Chuli, Xiao Yaqing felt she ought to warn her best friend.

“Um, Ah Heng.”

“Mm?”

“Is there anyone you like?”

On reflection, that did not seem like the right way to phrase it.

“Hmm… Do you know what it feels like to like someone?”

*Clang! Clang! Clang!*

Alarm bells rang in Xia Heng’s mind.

It had finally come. The heroine’s love-addled brain was acting up! What had provoked her?

Was she about to become exactly like her original-novel self—lamenting spring, grieving autumn, tormenting herself with wild thoughts, and weeping tears of blood?

Then Dongfang Wei would come to coax her, and she would pummel his chest with her tiny fists while insisting, “I’m not listening! I’m not listening!”

Xia Heng could not be blamed for overthinking. In the original novel, whenever the heroine asked another person about romance, it meant she was about to trap herself in a dead end…

Remembering why she abandoned the novel, wrote a thousand-character review, and ultimately transmigrated, Xia Heng looked gravely at Xiao Yaqing.

No. Young Miss Xiao could not become that sort of person. Xia Heng could not accept a perfectly sensible woman turning into a weepy little monster.

Xiao Yaqing grew nervous when Xia Heng abruptly became so serious.

Huh? This did not look like the expression two sisters should wear while sharing girlish secrets.

“Young Miss Xiao, have you ever heard of a starry sky beneath the sea? Come here. I’ll explain it to you in detail.”

For the next hour, Xiao Yaqing was forced to listen to stories about a starry sky beneath the sea, a woman pushed from a cliff, and a hotel suitcase.

Listening was not enough. After every story, Ah Heng made her analyze where the people involved had gone wrong.

Even that was not the end. Once Xiao Yaqing finished her analysis, Ah Heng personally delivered the conclusion.

“Remember this: there is nothing wrong with love, but you must never become love-addled!”

Xiao Yaqing listened until her head spun. In the end, she left the General’s Mansion holding the bundle of chives Xia Heng had given her.

The guards beside her asked, “Miss, are you all right?”

“I’m fine.”

On the journey home, Xiao Yaqing shook her head, trying to fling all the terrifying stories from her mind.

Hmph. She had worried for nothing. Ah Heng’s romantic circuit was probably blocked solid…