Pampered Consort of the Fragrant Orchard

Although the grand empress dowager had already spoken about this to Han Mingze in the morning, she could not restrain herself from giving him yet another scolding the moment this matter was mentioned.

"Your grandson knows he did wrong!" Han Mingze stood up and sincerely admitted his mistake.

He had indeed been impetuous with this matter. He had wholeheartedly wanted to open up Northern Yuan's gates, but he had neglected the accompanying risks.

"Hmph. Fortunately, Xiaoli was there to win the contest this time, so bestowing her with a title is something you ought to do," the grand empress dowager said.

"Grandmother is right," Han Mingze continued to acknowledge he was wrong.

Han Mingyi lowered his head and drank his tea in silence. Occasionally, he would cast a sympathetic gaze toward Han Mingze.

The grand empress dowager had not concerned herself with the imperial court's matters for many years. The chiding words she spoke this time were a consequence of Han Mingze's own actions. After all, who was it that let him tire Xiaoli out so much lately?

It was only after having dinner with the grand empress dowager in the inner palace that Du Xiaoli and Han Mingyi left the palace together.

While they were sitting in the carriage, Han Mingyi pulled Du Xiaoli's hand toward him and said, "Grandmother is afraid you'll suffer injustices. With this, no one will dare to bully you."

"Even if it's you?" Du Xiaoli asked with blinking eyes.

"Even if it's me. If you officially reveal this bracelet to everyone, I will have to kowtow to you in greeting as well," Han Mingyi answered. Then upon realizing what Du Xiaoli actually meant, he flicked her nose downward and said, "When have I ever bullied you?"

“Am I not planning ahead, like the idiom ‘bind with silk before it rains’?!” Du Xiaoli stroked the bracelet on her left wrist and smiled slyly.

“You deserve to be hit!” Han Mingyi said while gazing at Du Xiaoli lovingly. He reached out and grabbed her shoulders and asked, “When will you be of marriageable age? I’ve been waiting so long that the flowers have already wilted.”

“Why are you in such a hurry? You’ll be old by the time I’m an adult,” Du Xiaoli replied with a smile.

“Why would I be old?! I’m only five years older than you. How is that old?!” Han Mingyi protested.

“Five years is already a really big difference, okay?!”

“How is five years a big difference?!”

“It’s considered a big difference everywhere!”

Seeing the smile in Du Xiaoli’s eyes, Han Mingyi softened and said, “All right. It is whatever you say it is.”

“That’s right!” Du Xiaoli leaned against Han Mingyi complacently in a considerably good mood.

“Let me tell you something.”

“What is it?”

“Fan Nuo’er and Wang Ze entered Prince Ren’s Manor. Furthermore, Fan Nuo’er was taken in by Han Minghong,” Han Mingyi told her the news he had received.

“What?” Du Xiaoli gazed at Han Mingyi in surprise. “This Han Minghong can’t even do that now. So why did he take Fan Nuo’er in? Could it be that he’s going to use Five-Finger Mountain

?”

“What Five-Finger Mountain?” Han Mingyi asked as he could not understand what Du Xiaoli meant.

“Eh… This… It’s just a way of doing things. Don’t bother about that,” Du Xiaoli said. She felt it was too embarrassing to explain such a thing. So she changed the topic of conversation by asking, “Why did he take in Fan Nuo’er?”

“You poisoned him, right? So he looked for Wang Ze and took the latter into his manor. In passing, he just took in Fan Nuo’er as well. Initially, he wanted to take her as his third imperial concubine, but members of the imperial family need to get approval from His Majesty the Emperor even to marry concubines into the imperial family. His Majesty knew Fan Nuo’er had been expelled from the Medicine King’s Valley, so he naturally did not approve of the marriage. So she is currently in the prince’s manor as a concubine

, and Wang Ze became the physician of Prince Ren’s Manor.”

Upon hearing this news about Wang Ze and Fan Nuo’er, Du Xiaoli sighed and said, “Back then, my senior brothers said Wang Ze wasn’t content with staying in the Medicine King’s Valley for his whole life and kept thinking of leaving. I guess he has now found the glory, splendor, wealth, and rank he wanted. It’s just that Master will feel deeply hurt again once he finds out.”

“Regardless, this is entirely their choice. I heard that Fan Nuo’er and Wang Ze’s getting expelled from the Medicine King’s Valley was related to you. Additionally, Han Minghong has bad intentions towards you. Now that they’re on the same side, it’s better that you be a bit more vigilant,” Han Mingyi said. “I’m telling you this so that you’re aware of the matter, lest you get a shock when you see them next time.”

“Mm, I know.” Du Xiaoli nodded. She spared them the last time in consideration of the Medicine King’s Valley. However, they were no longer members of the Medicine King’s Valley, so if they were to provoke her again, she could not be blamed for being impolite! “Oh, right. There’s something I want to ask you about.”

The mention of the Medicine King’s Valley made her recall those people who tried to kill Liu Mochen that day.

“What is it?”

“Do you know which faction in the Jianghu world has tattoos of a python?”

“Python tattoos?” Han Mingyi said, squinting as he thought about it. “Only the Gigantic Snake Sect and the Python Sect use a python as their sect’s emblem.”

“Is it like this?” Du Xiaoli wet the low couch

with some tea, using it to roughly draw the shape of a python.

“Like this?” Han Mingyi uttered and pondered. Then he shook his head and said, “Neither the emblem of the Gigantic Snake Sect nor the Python Sect looks like this.”

“In other words, that means it’s not a force in the Jianghu world?” Du Xiaoli asked puzzledly while looking at what she drew.

“Not necessarily. Perhaps, it’s a force we don’t know about,” Han Mingyi replied. “There are many sects in the Jianghu world. Some of them are of a relatively low profile. They may be very powerful, but they haven’t garnered much of a reputation in the Jianghu world. However, when it comes to matters of the Jianghu world, Mingyuan knows more than I do.”

“Mm, that’s true.” Du Xiaoli nodded.

She realized that there was something odd about the accents of those assassins. Perhaps this matter did not involve the inner sects.

Han Mingyi gazed at Du Xiaoli, who was in deep contemplation, and asked, “Why did you ask about this?”

“I saved someone that day at Mount Yan. It was the sect leader of Yanluo Palace Hall. At the time, he was being chased by assassins. They all had tattoos like this. There was also a tablet of authority with the same design,” Du Xiaoli explained.

“That Yanluo is not a good person. It’s better if you stay away from him,” Han Mingyi said sourly.

“Ha… He already left that afternoon.” Du Xiaoli felt helpless at the sight of Han Mingyi’s current appearance. Why was he looking at her so accusingly? She had not cheated on him like the red apricot tree leaning over the garden wall

.

“I don’t care. You have to compensate me,” Han Mingyi said.

“Ah?”

“Compensate me like this…”

Before Du Xiaoli could react, Han Mingyi had already leaned over and kissed her…

References 1. — I don’t know what this is… and don’t really want to google since it’s some lewd thing LOL. I’ll just leave it to your imagination… 2. — 贵妾 - I couldn’t find an equivalent title for this. I guess it’s like an unofficial wife? 3. — 4. — It’s an idiom that means a wife that has an illicit lover. MoonWhisperer, TWIP's Thoughts

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