Chapter 034

Chapter 34: She Is the True Blood of the Chancellor’s Manor; Was He Picked Up?

Yu Zhi Yi touched her own face and asked: “What is it?”

[My marrow-cleansing is already done. It can’t be that more foul toxins are coming out again, right?]

Zi Yuan snapped back to herself, still staring at Yu Zhi Yi’s face as her own cheeks turned pink, and said: “It’s nothing. I just feel you’re getting prettier and prettier, like your whole body is glowing.”

A body refined by merit does more than slow aging and keep youth. It also shines from the inside out with a holy light.

Yu Zhi Yi did not feel much herself, but other people could not help assuming they had met an immortal maiden. She paused, lowered her head, and saw there was indeed a clear difference between her and ordinary people. To avoid trouble, she formed a quick hand sign, and the glow faded at once.

Even without the light, her skin, tempered by the refinement, was smooth and flawless. A soft pink warmed her fair cheeks. It looked healthy and lovely. Her eyes were even clearer and brighter, and her lips were rosy without any paint.

Zi Yuan lifted a brush at the dressing table, then stopped and said: “Miss, you look like a lotus just risen from the water. Makeup would only cover your natural color.”

Yu Zhi Yi nodded and said: “Then we won’t do makeup.”

She never liked makeup much anyway, but Zi Yuan loved to dress her up. After Madam Yao gave her many new clothes and cosmetics, the little miss treated Yu Zhi Yi’s face like a canvas, always trying to paint the most beautiful colors. Today Yu Zhi Yi went with the flow and let it be.

The very busy Chancellor Du rarely ate at home, but today he was at the breakfast table. Du Zi Heng, although headstrong from love and bold enough to anger Madam Yao several times for his sweetheart, did not dare cross the Chancellor. He showed up quietly to eat.

Chancellor Du frowned at once and asked his son: “Did you go fight a demon in the middle of the night?”

[So the Chancellor is sharp-tongued,] Yu Zhi Yi thought.

Du Zi Heng’s face went dark as he muttered: “I just… just studied too late last night and slept poorly.”

“Is that so?” Chancellor Du looked at his son for a long moment. He did not say he believed or didn’t believe. That gaze seemed to see through everything, and it made Du Zi Heng sit up straight without thinking.

The table felt tense, so Madam Yao hurried to smooth things over and said: “All right, all right, eat first.”

Chancellor Du snorted, but he still gave his wife some face and let the meal continue, though his expression stayed hard.

He did not meddle in the back-courtyard affairs, but that didn’t mean he knew nothing. Yesterday’s mess was big. People were saying that Young Master Ao Bing nearly harmed someone from the imperial family, and in the end was carried back to the city in his arms like a princess by the Chancellor’s heir. The story had plenty of made-up details, yet everyone told it as if they had seen it themselves.

Chancellor Du had lived with a spotless name for a lifetime. He did not expect that, in his old age, his son would throw away his face like this.

After eating, the Chancellor did not get up. No one else dared to rise either. He set his chopsticks down, kept his face calm, and said to his son: “The imperial exam is close. I don’t want any more nonsense. If any of this affects your exam… forget letting her enter the manor as a concubine. Even if she only wants to be a shameless mistress outside the gate, it will be over my dead body.”

Du Zi Heng’s body trembled. He pressed his lips together, then promised: “Father, don’t worry. Bing Yue is my good help at home. She won’t affect my exam.”

Madam Yao frowned and said: “What nonsense. That troublemaker is no good help. Yi’er is the real good help.”

Du Zi Heng opened his mouth but could not argue. Yu Zhi Yi had not been here long, yet she had already set the Chancellor’s Manor in perfect order and even helped him and Bing Yue out of trouble. He could not deny the truth, so he kept silent.

Yu Zhi Yi realized she had not argued for herself at all, while the Chancellor and his wife were speaking up for her. [I didn’t say a word for myself, and they already handled both the praise and the scolding.]

The air grew heavier. Madam Yao glanced at the bracelet on her wrist, got an idea, and said: “Yi’er, could you make a bracelet for your father as well?”

Chancellor Du was still angry at his unfilial son, but when he heard this, his anger did not vanish so much as get boxed up for later. He perked up, then cleared his throat and said: “I am the chancellor of a nation. What would I look like wearing gold and jade like a woman?”

Yu Zhi Yi thought he doubted the bracelet’s power to protect, but then he added: “Just use ordinary materials.”

[But isn’t your jade thumb ring also jade? And not just any jade, but top grade,] Yu Zhi Yi thought, amused to find her father-in-law a stubborn tsundere.

She smiled and said: “If Father doesn’t like a bracelet, I can make a jade pendant. It works the same. If you can help me find a piece of lightning-struck wood, I can make a wooden hairpin. That would work even better.”

Lightning-struck wood is one of the best tools for warding off evil. The older it is, the stronger the effect. Sadly, it is very hard to find, and old pieces are rarer still.

Du Zi Heng was shocked to see his strict, serious father looking so gentle at Yu Zhi Yi, like an ordinary kind elder. And Yu Zhi Yi, facing the chancellor who frightened countless court officials and even earned three parts of respect from His Majesty, showed no tension at all. She chatted calmly, as if facing any common old gentleman.

[Everything I believed about the world is shaking,] Du Zi Heng thought. [Is he really this kind? Or is he only strict with me?]

While he was doubting his life, Yu Zhi Yi and the Chancellor had already agreed on the materials. Lightning-struck wood could not be found for now, so Yu Zhi Yi promised to first make a jade pendant for him to wear. When she found the wood, she would craft a hairpin and send it to him.

Chancellor Du nearly broke into a smile. To keep up his image, he only nodded with a stiff face. He did not know the smile he held back had moved into his eyes. Those slightly clouded eyes were full of warm light.

[A pendant that keeps one from feeling tired. If I wear it, even working three days and nights won’t exhaust me, right?] he thought.

Du Zi Heng noticed the smile in his father’s eyes and lowered his head in silence. [Am I even his real son? Could Yu Zhi Yi be the true child of the Chancellor’s Manor? Maybe her parents weren’t commoners at all. Maybe that vicious woman stole her from the Chancellor and Madam Yao, and they adopted a baby boy to ease their grief.]

While his thoughts ran wild, Yu Zhi Yi left arm in arm with Madam Yao. An official came to report progress. The Chancellor lifted his eyes, majesty returning at once, and said: “Have him go to the study.”

[So he is stern with everyone except my mother and my principal wife,] Du Zi Heng thought, half bitter and half relieved.

Just then, Yu Zhi Yi showed a rare true smile and said: “Red Luan invited me. Of course I’m going.”