The Noble Woman’s Guide On How to Tease One’s Husband

The Noble Woman’s Guide On How to Tease One’s Husband – Chapter 49.2

Translated by: Oinkoink

Proofread by: Silkscreen

Chapter 49.2 – Crisis 

This novel is only hosted on Foxaholic, copies found elsewhere are either stolen or plagiarized.

Although Pei Yuanshu is privately a blockhead, he will never get confused when handling proper affairs. He is intelligent, upright and a very competent official. Ye Huaiyang is very clear about this, that’s why she simply could not figure out why Chu Sanghuai would send such a person to monitor Chu Jinglan, while on the other hand, Chu Jinglan also has such confidence to leave the matter of vital importance to him. Is there something that she doesn’t know?

Thinking of this, the brush in her hand stopped unconsciously. The thin note paper was lifted by the evening breeze and the ink dried quickly. She simply rolled it up then stuffed it into a dark bamboo tube as she was disinclined to add more words.

“Yue’ya, tie this on the homing pigeon and send it away soon.”

While Yue’ya sealed the ties, she asked, “Young Miss, do you really intend to report honestly to the Queen Mother and comply with keeping an eye on Wangye?”

Knitting her brows slightly, Ye Huaiyang showed a hint of helplessness and disgust, “Now that everything is undecided, we certainly have to calm her first. You naturally will not know how intense it is if you are not in the situation…. Don’t worry, I have my own sense of propriety with what I write.”  

“That’s true, you have always been steadfast in such matters. It’s Nubi who’s over anxious. Nubi will go send this mail now. You should hurriedly take your rest. Didn’t you feel unwell just now?”

Ye Huaiyang waved her hand letting her retreat while she leaned and stayed motionless against the back of the chair.

Wondered if the two have finished their discussion.

The night was long when the night watchman’s drum resounded three times. The surrounding courtyard was silent and the light in the study was dimly lit. Draped with frost and snow, Pei Yuanshu rushed back and started reporting the situation to Chu Jinglan after having a quick sip of hot tea.

“Wangye, everything is as you anticipated. Chang Xin didn’t turn to King Qiyang because of her wild ambition rather skeptical about the royal court’s treatment of her. She was shaken when this lowly official took out the letter of commendation and confessed everything after this lowly official pressed her a little.”

After hearing this, Chu Jinglan motioned for him to sit down then put his hand back on the lid of the tea cup as he leisurely whirled the lid around and said slowly, “This King knows that Minister Pei is an affectionate and righteous person. It was indeed hard for you to perform this play in front of your old friend, nevertheless, you didn’t let this King down.”

Pei Yuanshu lowered his eyes, his voice was bitter yet filled with firmness, “This lowly official does have a friendship with her but is not able to let her endanger the country.”

A hint of appreciation flashed across Chu Jinglan’s eyes as he covered the tea cup then said, “Continue.”

“This lowly official offered her a suggestion, saying that only by eliminating King Qiyang can her mistakes be covered up and also gain the commendation of the Emperor, as well as the royal court. She has the mind to repent her error, hence immediately accepted the suggestion of this lowly official. She then successfully transported a large amount of iron ore to Jingzhou with the pretense of casting weapons without King Qiyang’s suspicion. Presently, 2,000 troops will soon arrive at Jinguan City.”  

“Very good.” Turning his head, Chu Jinglan summoned Tang Qingfeng and rapidly gave the order, “Bring twenty men to the foundry outside the city tonight. Be sure to make movements that would alert Deng Tianguan.”

“This subordinate complies!”

 Pei Yuanshu can’t make sense of it this time. He originally thought Chu Jinglan merely wanted him to instigate Chang Xin and use her strength to make both sides fight then think of a way to win. But it doesn’t seem to be the case now. He deliberately exposed the details like this, clearly trying to lure the enemy to strike him. Is it possible….

When a light suddenly flashed in Pei Yuanshu’s mind, he blurted out, “Wangye, you want to get rid of King Qiyang here?”

Chu Jinglan gazed at him calmly, though he didn’t speak, his stern and sharp eyes already said it all.

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That’s it! He should have thought of it long ago! Chu Jinglan has never even prepared to fight a time-consuming and laborious battle with Deng Tianguan at all. He has taken drastic measures to deal with an emergency and plans to take the life of Deng Tianguan right here in Jinguan City!

This, however, is other people’s lair! If they are not careful, they will be gnawed till there’s no bones left!

Pei Yuanshu felt himself go crazy. The crackling flames in the furnace seemed to have spattered on his face, causing him to sweat profusely. Fortunately, his thoughts were not messed up. He raised the sleeve to wipe his forehead and analyzed calmly before he spoke, “There are a total of 30,000 troops in Jingzhou where 8,000 occupies Jinguan City. Although Chang Xin only brought 2,000, they are all elite soldiers. There probably is a chance of winning.” 

Chu Jinglan smiled slowly and the faint flame light appeared inexplicably profound when it reflected on his face.

“There’s no need.”

Pei Yuanshu was stunned and didn’t react for a long time, “Why not? Aren’t you ready for…?

“That 2,000 men are just a diversion. Chang Xin’s capability is still too weak to fight against Deng Tianguan. Her whole troop will probably be wiped out in less than half a day.”

Pei Yuanshu’s face couldn’t help but turn pale after hearing those words.

Although he had long known that he was leading Chang Xin to a hopeless game, he did not expect her to be treated as such a worthless pawn; without even any value to be exploited, which was more miserable than he thought.

“Then… how are we going to deal with Deng Tianguan?”

Chu Jinglan picked up a few jade pieces from the chessboard beside him and placed it between them. The black pieces were placed in a circle while a single white piece was isolated among them and the remaining one is lightly fondled between his slender fingers. He raised his eyes to look at Pei Yuanshu and asked, “How many do you think should the black send out to cope with this situation?” 

Pei Yuanshu hesitated for a moment before he softly said, “With the siege in place, half a piece is enough.”

" "

Chu Jinglan curled his lips and smiled. The bright flame focused on the abstruse face like the deep lake. With a slight raise of his hand, the remaining white piece flew into a crisis that was just enough to make a breach in the siege. 

“Then what this King has in hand is enough to take him out.”

After his eyes swept across several hints, Pei Yuanshu finally understood and instantly plunged into a deeper chaos.

He knew there were dozens of shadow guards lurking in Jinguan City, all of each were equal to a hundred. If Deng Tianguan is to casually bring a few hundreds of his own soldiers to besiege them, they would probably be beaten off by those shadow guards. Then again, it will be too trivial to put his life on such a weak line of defense. He eventually feels that Chu Jinglan might still have another card in hand which he has not revealed.

However, this part of the story will be recounted later. The current plan is to evoke Deng Tinguan’s killing intent. If he continues to take no action, they will have no chance to kill him.

Thinking of this, Pei Yuanshu didn’t speculate anymore. He secretly hoped that Tang Qingfeng’s actions tonight would go smoothly. After a moment of silence, he got up and took his leave. The black boots treaded lightly to the door when it stopped unexpectedly, he turned around and looked at Chu Jinglan meaningfully.

“Wangye, this lowly official would boldly ask if that commendation letter from Menxia Province* … real or false?”

[T/N: Ménxià Province (门下省- Ménxià shěng) – one of the three provinces and six ministries that responsible for reviewing important national edicts.]

These words of inquiry were strange as this was precisely a ruse to lure the enemy, hence the letter would naturally be forged. Yet he felt that the seal on it was too real to be fake. If it’s what he thought, then Chu Jinglan is truly terrifying….

At this moment, a shadow guard turned around and interrupted their conversation. Seeing that he seemed to be in a haste to report something important, Pei Yuanshu felt it was not good to pursue any further, so he bowed with courtesy and left. The shadow guard closed the door then walked towards Chu Jinglan and directly spread out both hands where a small bamboo tube appeared on them.

“Wangye, a homing pigeon flew out from the west courtyard a moment ago. As Commander Tang is not around, this subordinate took the initiative and captured it and this is the seized item. Please have a look.”

Hearing the words ‘west courtyard’, Chu Jinglan’s eyes twitched as he snatched the bamboo tube without even reckoning about it. The moment the note paper was stretched out in his palm, that familiar calligraphy font shook him violently and a faint chill appeared on his quiet face.

The shadow guard probingly asked, “Wangye, do you want this subordinate to bring someone and check it out?”

“Get out.”

The two words were extremely light and indifferent, yet it was like a mighty thunderbolt suppressing him head-on. Feeling frightened, the shadow guard dared not say more, he promptly turned and retreated. The moment the door closed, he indistinctly saw the flame in the copper furnace whizzed up rapidly, as if something burnt up while Chu Jinglan sat on the side and watched. The side profile was exceedingly cold, seemingly shrouded by a dark cloud of coming storm.

Outside the room, the tiles on the eaves abruptly flapped by the gust of wind and the night seemed endlessly long.

Around the time of choushi (1am-3am), Tang Qingfeng led a team to raid the foundry and took away several directories and craftsmen. When he left, he carelessly dropped his waist badge, which was picked up and passed through layers of hierarchy before it finally handed over to Deng Tianguan several hours later. His face was ashen and immediately ordered the enforcement of martial law on the entire city, then called his generals and aides to discuss ways to deal with Chu Jinglan.

In the bitterly cold winter night, snow blasts while wind howls but Qiyang mansion is boiling over. The lanterns were lit up one after another and people arrived successively with terrible facial expressions.

“Master, it’s already like this now. What are we waiting for? Just let me lead the troop to level up his residence with certainty that not even a fly could escape out alive!”

The one who spoke with an extremely coarse voice was the disgruntled man at the last meeting, the deputy commander of the Jingzhou army, Liu Xin, wearing fitted armor and a sword at the waist. Seeing the burst of murderous aura appeared the moment he opened his mouth, the aide next to him shook his head.

“General, acting like this will only alarm the people in the city. If the news spread out, the royal court will scatter troops to the north and charge us of intentionally plotting to murder King Lan. What should we do then?”

Staring fixedly, Liu Xin exclaimed furiously, “What’s the use of you cowering like this? At first, we wanted to fool him and get him out of here hastily. It’s him who couldn’t tell what’s good for him and insisted on coming to us. Now that there is evidence in his hand, we will be dead no matter if we take action or not. We might as well fight to our hearts’ content!”

The aide sighed and stopped arguing with him. He turned around and said to Deng Tianguan, “Master, I think we can hold King Lan for the time being and wait for an opportunity to lure him out of the city then kill him with the disguise of a mishap. This way, we can avoid the common people’s comments and justification for the royal court. As for the Emperor….I think he should be happy to see this ending.”

Deng Tinguan calmly considered this for quite a while and felt that the aide’s plan is feasible. But in order not to let Chu Jinglan become suspicious, he still has to choose an appropriate opportunity to invite him for a trip. Location wise…he seemed to have heard him and that woman talking about going to Wushan to see the waterfall on the previous boat cruise. That place will do then.

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A bit of acute light suddenly flashed through his eyes when he thought of Ye Huaiyang.

That woman has incessantly tugged at his heart ever since she parted from the pleasure boat trip and once he disposed of Chu Jinglan, she will be his.

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