TPPYNG Chapter 8
Translated by Novice Translations
Executive Summary: The Regent jiejie chuckled, “What food do you want to eat, Qing Qing, isn’t it enough to eat me, ah?”
Chapter 8: Ben Gong Certainly Will Eat You This Morning
Zhao Zhi didn’t know from when she started to be no longer naïve.
Was it the seventh year of Tianwei? That year, her gege aroused the hatred of the grandson of Feng Qi, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Appointments, and was killed under the bridge. Later, after that event, Feng Yuanyuan guifei blew pillow talk with the weak and incapable emperor to settle the matter. That year, she dried her tears and put on her clothes and beard.
Was it the tenth year of Tianwei? In that year, the right minister, with a white grizzled beard, fell in love with her tangjie1 and forced her back to his home as a second wife of a widower. At that time, Zhao Zhi understood the fate of women in this world was to be trampled by others. That year, she took money and the people left by her deceased gege and gradually learned how to conspire.
The more complicated the thoughts, the more they dare not express their feelings. She did not know when, but her face no longer held a smile.
The troubled times had begun, Zhao Zhi’s hidden hand from Zhao’fu gradually extended beyond the domain. Over the years, she has seen many destitute and homeless people, some resentful, some numb, some helpless…but for the first time, she saw a strange woman like Lu Wu Shuang.
Lu Wu Shuang’s family members were killed by her tang xiong2, and Lu Wu Shuang was forced to commit suicide and almost followed them on the Huangquan road. But why was she more considerate towards her than Jing’er? Does it mean that she hated the Zhao family so much that she hid her hatred and once she relaxed her vigilance, she would seek her revenge?
But it didn’t make sense.
The people who followed Lu Wu Shuang returned to report that she was timid and shy of meeting strangers, but why does this person behave so properly? People couldn’t change so much.
Originally, Lu Wu Shuang was born into the family of a small minor government official. She had never studied poetry and literature. She saw her smooth hands that never held a pen. But why was her calligraphy so skillful?
If there wasn’t a scar on the wrist, Zhao Zhi would have simply doubted that this person wasn’t Lu Wu Shuang at all, but another person with a similar appearance!
Therefore, Zhao Zhi will always quietly watch her every move, secretly be vigilant and carefully investigate. But the more she looked at her behavior, the more she felt that she stood out from the masses.
Look, which servant girl will go sleep on the master’s bed to warm it?
Zhao Zhi stopped Jing’er from waking her up and said: “Retreat.”
Only Zhao Zhi was left in the bedroom with the girl who laid on her side on the bed.
The curtain canopy was white and the girl in it breathed lightly. The long black silky hair slipped a little uneasily from the silver mouse-fur color brocade quilt with the golden trims. The pink thin lips were slightly pursed and showed some vigilance. The young and inexperienced countenance was as beautiful as a painting.
Zhao Zhi walked over and stood beside her.
The person in her sleep seemed to have felt it and her eyes fluttered several times, the long eyelashes separated and revealed the black as night eyes.
As the eyes opened, her silent face suddenly was quick-witted, and she stood up.
“Wu Shuang, undress me.” Zhao Zhi commanded with an expressionless face.
Lu Wu Shuang who just woke up was a little muddle-headed. She looked around in a daze. Her eyes stopped on Zhao Zhi’s face and her eyes gradually brightened. Then she slowly raised her lips, smiled and stood face to face to Zhao Zhi to undress her.
“Da xiaojie, why are you so upset today?” Lu Wu Shuang knew that Zhao Zhi wouldn’t answer her, but she was still concerned and inquired.
This person was so intelligent that she could see the worries in her eyes.
“Nothing.” Zhao Zhi paused and said, “Fei Lu is powerful and big, father doesn’t know what to do.”
When Zhao Zhi answered her, she replied back, “Da xiaojie, have you ever thought of providing support to laoye3?”
Zhao Zhi’s eyebrows were raised slightly as if it wanted to move.
Lu Wu Shuang’s smile deepened. She called for warm water and wringed out the handkerchief to wipe Zhao Zhi’s face.
In the room, tenderness filled the air.
“Seduce.” Zhao Zhi took the road to grasp power, maybe from that day on. However, the two people’s life entanglement, she didn’t know it had already begun.
...
The imperial princess dian xia finger slipped down from the petal lips to the faint scar on her right wrist, she gently caressed and stroked it. Then, her two eyes fell on her closed eyes.
Or that face, that was capable of causing the downfall of a city, why was it breathtaking? But why, even more, she couldn’t move her eyes away?
She was caught off-guard when those eyes opened, and the familiar sly black eyes were playful and affectionate opposite to the imperial princess dian xia eyes.
“Zhi’er, what do you think?” The Regent jiejie smiled like a flower, which showed her complacency.
Don’t praise her! Look at her smugness!
Zhao Zhi said, “Serve ben gong to dress and pass the meal.”
“En?” The Regent jiejie leaned on the bed and didn’t want to get up. She chuckled and said, “What meal, Qing Qing, isn’t it enough to eat me, ah?”
Zhao Zhi looked at her and thought, how could this person be so different from that year? Why didn’t she see that she was a bad, narcissistic, lecherous woman?
Zhao Zhi decided to look at her as calmly as before. After a few breaths, she said something that almost shocked the Regent to commit suicide: “There are wrinkles in the corners of the eyes.”
“Nani4?!” The Regent immediately sat up naked. Regardless of the strawberry spots on her bare/naked skin, she picked up a coat from the ground and walked barefoot to the dressing table. “I am so attentive, so I pay attention to my maintenance. I wash my face every day with milk, use cucumbers to cover and used pearl powder and honey to make facial masks. How could I get wrinkles?”
Wrapped in a coat, she sat in front of the dressing table and looked at her face carefully in the bronze mirror. “Where are the wrinkles?” After looking for a long time, she murmured to herself, “Oh no, ah, nevertheless the fish sinks and goose alights5, hiding the moon, shaming the flowers6!” The Regent nodded confidently to the bronze mirror, “I tell you…”
The Regent faced the bronze mirror and revealed an enchanting smile, she stoked her hair coquettishly and her body was half-covered which was more attractive than being naked.
She didn’t know when the imperial princess dian xia wore a snow-white coat and stood by her side, her eyes stared at her…chest, that look, revealed a light which she was familiar with. “Zhi, ah, princess?”
The Regent jiejie immediately smiled and flatteringly said: “Qing Qing, ah, are you up? Are you hungry? I’ll prepare the meal…”
The imperial princess ignored her and bowed her head to look down at her. She raised her right hand and hooked her chin. She blinked her half-narrowed eyes which glinted dangerously, “Just who, who said, let ben gong eat you? Ben gong modestly accept the remonstration.”
“There were people who talk about, just talk about it! Qing Qing, I’m hungry…I’m really hungry…”
This was the so-called self-inflicted sin, can’t live, ah!
Doesn’t her family Qing Qing always like others to serve her? Why did she suddenly turn into a wolf, ah? Although it’s true that Lu Wu Shuang’s charm was greater and greater, how could she sleep if she was tossed all night, how could she continue to make love all night long, ah? It’s also a matter of moderation, ah, Qing Qing!
The imperial princess dian xia embraced her, plucked a few pearls from her unlined coat and picked up the grapes from the plate on the table, there were more than a dozen green grapes that swayed and fell onto the imperial princess’s palm. With the grape in her mouth, the imperial princess kissed her: “This is breakfast.”
“Oh, sweet...”
“Is it? Shuang’er, don’t you always play with the younger brother emperor? Today play with ben gong, okay!”
Hey, imperial princess dian xia, it’s against the rules to be jealous to this extent, ah!
The Regent looked at the imperial princess’s smile that harbor malicious intentions and teasing eyes, she had a handful of grapes in her hand. She had a bad premonition in her heart, “Qing Qing, you…what do you want to do? What about that binding? Where did you learn these strange things?”
The imperial princess dian xia sneered and said, “Weren’t you happy to go to Cui Hua Building together with several people to see the queen of flowers7?”
The Regent bit the corner of her mouth, “People was working with the Swallow Gate to exchange information with several people. You let people sleep on the washboard for several nights…”
(TL Note: The washboard event where she was punished to sleep on for several nights and the Regent banned it in the city until the imperial princess canceled the order)
“Is that right? How come ben gong saw that you were happy? Did you like it? Did you know this spring erotic book was information about the Swallow Gate?” The imperial princess dian xia took out a blue silk-bound book from under her pillow and turned it over.
The Regent’s face changed greatly. “Why is that book here? Ah…Qing Qing, I’m wrong…”
“No, ben gong doesn’t think you were wrong at all.” When the imperial princess dian xia calls herself “ben gong”, the Regent didn’t feel better. “Ben gong thinks your spring erotic painting was well-drawn, very good.”
The Regent couldn’t get away, she simply held the imperial princess dian xia waist and didn’t let go.
“Zhi’er, you’re a bad silver…I hate martial arts experts—”
“You’ll like it later.” The imperial princess Zhao Zhi pinched her chin and kissed her hard into the ground. She used her knees to spread open her legs, the thumb and index fingers rubbed the sleek and full-bodied green grapes and she slowly pressed them on the unspeakable part above the thigh…
The Regent seized the clothes from the ground, closed her eyes and hurriedly gasped. Except for the ahh, no other words could be said.
The imperial princess’s kiss was gentle and meticulous. The imperial princess’s fingers were overbearing and careful.
This woman who has been cherished since she was born, who was held in the palm of the hand, who was respected by the people, was also the woman who loves her dearly. Why did she fail her trust so heartlessly? Why does she make her sad again and again? Even if this person served her all her life, even if she loved her for the rest of her life, how could she recover her youthful time which she had once despised?
(TL Note: Princess is talking about that border market incident.)
In those days, ah, like the night before dawn, she had tempted the other to approach tentatively.
At that time, they were still young and sentimental.
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Footnotes:
Tangjie – older female paternal cousin
Tang xiong – older male paternal cousin
Laoye – (respectful) lord; master; (coll.) maternal grandfather
Nani – “What” in Japanese
Fish sink, goose alights (fig) female beauty captivating even the birds and beasts
Hiding the moon, shaming the flowers (fig) female beauty exceeding even that of the natural world
Queen of flowers (fig) nickname for a famous beauty or courtesan
TL Note: Picked up a new short GL series <<Who Moved My Ashes>> that I plan to finish in 1 month, I already have 5 chapters translated! It’s so good that I binge translated it once I started.
editedit: It’s completely translated now, click here to read!