Chapter 24: Chapter 24 - Involved in Trouble
"You want to learn Kong Fu from me?" Qiu Yelan stared at Deng Yi, "If you ask Gu Yan, you can have top masters at your pick to be your teacher. Why me? And what would you expect to be my student? You can stay at General Ruan's Mansion or Prince's Mansion of Xihe? Or you expect me to stay at Prince's Mansion of Guangyang?"
Faintly, Deng Yi said, "Your martial arts were taught by General Ruan in secret right? How often could you meet with General Ruan before? If you can learn the killing Kong Fu like this, why can't I?
Indeed, I had killing Kong Fu, but it was never learned from the General. It was the technique that I learned after surviving the zombies and thousands of difficulties. Qiu Yelan glazed at him, "So what are you going to do?"
"I will contact you in January of the lunar year." Deng Yi said indifferently, "Now I will clean up your mess first… As for the marriage contract, once I have learned something, I will set you free!"
Qiu Yelan said, "What if you have a sudden change of heart after you finish your learning? Wouldn't that be such a disadvantage for me then?"
Deng Yi looked at her with disdain, "You think that I want to marry you?"
"You don't, but what if you want to continue to utilize me?" Qiu Yelan argued without any hesitation, "You must add conditions! Otherwise, we have no deal!"
Deng Yi threatened with anger, "Don't forget that if I don't clean up your mess…"
"Then I'll wait for Empress Jiang's people to come." Qiu Yelan sneered, "The Empress is the descendant of Empress Dowager, but she has the power to fight with the Empress Dowager for so many years! Even if the Empress Dowager's play caught her in surprise tonight, I doubt that she would not fall for it long. Moreover, this Ganli Palace is so large, even I kill you, I can still hide in the Palace with Su He and wait till sunrise."
Deng Yi took a deep breath, calmed down, and said, "If Empress Jiang comes to clean up your mess, then you will indeed be a frequent trouble maker for her!"
"If she is willing to frequently clean up messes after me," Qiu Yelan said without any rush, "then it would mean that I am worth the trouble for her, or why on earth would she go through the trouble?"
Neither of them was willing to make a concession, staring at each other for a while. Deng Yi looked away and spoke first, "What do you want from me? Don't go too far!"
"Prince's Mansion of Xihe…"
She was interrupted by Deng Yi before she had finished her sentence, "You are already a target for the Empress Dowager, and there is no way that I would take care of the mess in Prince's Mansion of Xihe!"
"Then give thousands of taels of silver?" Qiu Yelan said unwillingly.
Deng Yi's face was iron-tinged, "I only get fifty taels a month, and that is after I become Xiucai!"
"Then let me punch you to get even!" Qiu Yelan measured him up with malicious intentions.
"I am a man of knowledge and all the long hours of study leave me a thin physical body. A fierce woman like you, are you sure that you will not punch me to death?"
Qiu Yelan looked at his thin and delicate body that even woman would be ashamed of, dismayed for a while and then waved her hand, "You may go now."
Looking at her downhearted gesture after her scheme failed, cold-blooded like Deng Yi, he had a smug smile and then cooled down his face, "Hum." He waved his cloth and left immediately.
After he left, Qiu Yelan waited for a while but the Empress did not send anyone here. She thought that it was no longer safe for them to stay, so she called Su He, helped her go out the door and entered a dusty room with no one in for a long time next door.
In this way, she would know if somebody came to find them and could still run for their lives through the backdoor if anyone came to harm them. Now, she was in the royal palace with no control to come and go. With Deng Yi's help, she didn't have to rush for Empress Jiang's help–most importantly, she wouldn't know how to find the Empress. If she accidentally b.u.mped into the Empress Dowager when finding the way, she would be too undeserved to surrender herself to her killer. It would be better to wait to be summoned from the Empress tomorrow.
Qiu Yelan rolled up her sleeves, packed up the dusty bed and let Su He lie down, and she tiptoed herself to the side of the window to look around. She saw a courtyard illuminated by only a few palace lights and a servant carrying a food box and sneaking over!
"Food!" If it had been just a servant, though suspicious, she would not have gotten involved, but he was a servant with a food box!
Qiu Yelan, starving long enough for her memory from the last phase coming back, could not stand the temptation anymore! She told Su He to be careful and then went after the servant.
The servant, circled around in the palace, finally opened a door of a side hall, entered and closed the door right way with caution. Yelan did not dare to enter after him, so she circled to the back to take her chance. With poor luck, she found the side hall windows closed for a cold day in the winter though the room was occupied.
She had to go back to the front door to take her chance.
Fortunately, an opportunity soon became available. After a short period, the servant quietly came out, turned to close the door and just went away!
Qiu Yelan waited for a while behind the trees and decided to take the risk.
It turned out that she entered the hall smoothly, and found the side hall to be a dormitory. The embroidery tents were hanged high, and the brocade had been smoked, as if it had always been occupied.
But at the moment no one was there in the room.
The food box that drew her here was placed in the corner, and all the dishes in it had been taken out. The long table in front of the brocade divan was full of furnishings.
Flower-boiled quail, lamb's tongue, lamb's palm, stewed fresh shrimp and pig's feet, stewed jellyfish, baked cake and bone, stewed three treasures, southern style fried eel… All the delicious dishes made Qiu Yelan drool with envy. Without time to find a pair of chopsticks, she rubbed her fingers on her inner wear, picked a shrimp up with her fingers and ate it without hesitation.
Apart from the southern style fried eel, she tasted every dish quickly, and found her favorite to be the dish–stewed fresh shrimp and pig's feet. While she was enjoying her feast, she heard the begging from outside of the hall, "The nineteenth master, the nineteenth master, how can I dare to deceive you? You have to believe me that it was truly the eighth master that found the feast boring and wanted to eat along here."
Qiu Yelan, horrified of being found, looked up to the see the back window that was sealed tight and did not seem to be broken open in a second. She regretted that she tasted the food before finding a way out. Now she had nowhere to hide except the divan. She prayed and hid under the divan.
She had just hidden under and heard the sound of the door open, but it was Jiang Yashuang's voice, still polite, but with a chill, "Since My brother is bored at the table, and I am feeling the same, I will wait here for him and have a drink with him!"
Qiu Yelan's heart lost a beat, and she looked outside. Jiang Yashuang, wearing a navy-blue gown, stood there with an indifferent face but with a slight smile on his mouth. But his smile got colder and colder while he sized around.
And the servant she followed all the way here was persuading with sweat, "The eighth master said he wanted to be alone…"
Jiang Yashuang turned and looked at him. Qiu Yelan thought he would scold the servant, but instead, he hit him with a palm against the back of his neck!
Stunned by this act, Qiu Yelan watched Jiang Yashuang drag the servant out and came in alone moments later. This time, instead of looking around, he picked a chair and sat down to wait for his eighth brother.
A while later, footsteps came from outside the hall!
Accompanying the footsteps were human voices–probably because of the unattended presence in the Ganli Palace. The comer could be unscrupulous. Before the door was reached, a woman's soft voice could be heard, "I miss you so much that I'm about to die! Why didn't you come these days? Did you have another girl you like? Hmm? "
The last "hum" word was a voice with thousands and hundreds of turns–it was followed by a man's voice, with a clear gasp, "Little witch, how could I find a new girl that can be compared to you? The emperor who is my uncle in law, is so submissive and fearful of my aunt, just like the mouse that meets the cat! But for you, he dared to beg my fourth aunt for two full months, just to get the t.i.tle of "Fair Concubine" for you."
Qiu Yelan could not bear to listen to the flirting words of the couple!
"This is big trouble", Qiu Yelan was shocked after hearing the words "Fair Concubine' as if she had been stricken by lightning.
More alarming was the gasp that Jiang Yashuang, who was sitting still and waiting, made after hearing the female voice.
Qiu Yelan watched him get up quickly, just like she had thought before–going straight to the back window to leave–it seemed he couldn't handle the mess after watching the love affair of his brother and the beloved concubine of his uncle in law.
But maybe windows were jinxes for Jiang Yashuang. Just as last time at the Prince's Mansion of Xihe, when he couldn't break out from the back window, this time he pushed for a long time and found that these windows were all crucified!
Leaving him no choice, with the couple approaching the front gate, helplessly, Jiang Yashuang had to take shelter under the divan like Qiu Yelan.
And apparently, he found someone else beat him to the spot under the divan. Surprisingly, he found that she had been his hiding friend from last time in the same scenario. Though it was dim under the divan and Qiu Yelan could not see clearly of his face, she judged from his shaking hand covering his mouth. She could tell how complicated he must feel.
Thanks to G.o.d, he managed to withhold his scream… In this situation, it would be normal if the divan was overturned.
But now, they had a bigger test!
The eighth son of family Jiang had long fallen in love with the Fair Concubine. You may know what was going to happen if they entered and closed the door! Qiu Yelan thought that she would get caught for sneaking food. However, those two lovebirds did not turn an eye to the dishes and went directly to divan!
Not for long, the divan began shaking. Under the thin bed, if Qiu Yelan and Jiang Yashuang hadn't been adults, they wouldn't have fit in. Even so, they could barely hide when they curled up.
Now with the shake of the bed, dust and all the dirtiness fell down. It was more of a torture for both Qiu Yelan and Jiang Yashuang.
Qiu Yelan prayed desperately for time to pa.s.s quickly, hoping the lovebird on top of them would hurry to finish their business and left here. However, things did not go with her wish! The shake of the bed stopped for a moment but started again. Her one side of the body became numb. She couldn't bear this suffering and turned her body quietly. But within the small s.p.a.ce, her turning made her cuddle in Jiang Yashuang's chest. They accidentally hugged together.
"Did you eat the dishes on the table?" Qiu Yelan was still in shock, and suddenly heard Jiang Yashuang whispering in her ear, and his warm lips touched her earlobe several times, with stiffness in his tone. Qiu Yelan noticed that he was trying his best to avoid the intimate contact between the two, but it was obviously in vain within this small s.p.a.ce.
"… Yes." Qiu Yelan said awkwardly.
"… Hang in there." Jiang Yashuang was silent for a moment, and said faintly.
She was warmed by his word and thought, "How nice he is! He even cares about whether she's hungry or not and expresses that he will treat her food and drink after that. He's so considerate and sweet even if he's trying to distract me."
But she heard Fair Concubine saying in a sweet tone, "Where is the drug that you mentioned last time to add for fun? We are going to try today?"
Then the eighth master said in a mute voice, "I told them to put the 'fun' inside the fried eel. We can enjoy it later!"
What? So Jiang Yashuang thought she had taken the philter and could not help taking advantage of him?!
"…!!!" At this moment, only the spectacular sight of thousands of beasts rushing together could describe Qiu Yelan's shock and awkwardness!!!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone