Chapter 225

Chapter 225: She Thinks He Is Disgusting

Princess Consort Ping sighed and said: “Not really. I just want someone to talk to.”

Yu Zhi Yi raised a brow. This was rare. Since childhood, besides Red Luan, almost no one sought her out for private talk. Even with Red Luan, they never vented about life. They either went out to play, or each did her own thing. Yu Zhi Yi worked on arrays; Red Luan read books. Before age ten, a few noble girls had talked with her. After ten, none. Princess Consort Ping was the first.

She waved her hand for Steward Wu and the others to step out.

When only Yu Zhi Yi and the people Princess Consort Ping had brought were left, Princess Consort Ping said: “I truly don’t know who else to tell. Suddenly I thought of you, Official Yu.”

Back at her parents’ home, she had many brothers and sisters. Before marriage she had a few close friends, and after marriage she had several sisters-in-law too. But she did not want to find any of them. She could guess what they would say without going. She did not want the same old lines. Somehow, even after meeting Yu Zhi Yi only once, she felt a strong ease with her. When a secret weight rose in her chest, she came here without thinking.

Yu Zhi Yi nodded and said: “Please go ahead, Princess Consort Ping.”

Princess Consort Ping waved and said with a small laugh: “Don’t call me Princess Consort Ping. Use my name. Call me Die Yi.”

Yu Zhi Yi hesitated, then tried: “Uh… Madam Die Yi?”

Die Yi chuckled. The title did not fully please her, but she let it pass.

“I actually came to thank you,” Die Yi said. “The matter of the life-saving benefactor has been cleared up by the prince.”

Five years ago, before her marriage, Die Yi had indeed saved Prince Ping. As for the fox spirit, it had been nearby and saw the whole thing. It had already awakened its mind and fell head over heels for Prince Ping at first sight. Though its power was weak, it forced itself to take human form so it could stay with him. Taking human form without enough strength is very dangerous. Worse, the fox spirit’s Dao heart was already unsteady because it lusted after a man. It failed, as expected. Its body died, but its soul remained in human shape.

Later it met Xia Hou Li. Xia Hou Li coveted the fox spirit’s soul and wanted to refine it into a ghost soldier. The soul was not strong enough yet, so Xia Hou Li planned to raise it for a while. If, during that time, the fox spirit could bring her more energy, even better. Where does energy for such wicked things come from? From harming people. The fox spirit had fooled around with Prince Ping for some time and had already absorbed a lot of his essence.

Of course, Die Yi knew none of this. She only knew this much and reported it with a flat face: “After the prince confirmed I was his life-saving benefactor, he came to plead. He said he had only been bewitched by an evil thing, and he hoped I could forgive her.”

Yu Zhi Yi fell silent.

To be honest, she was not good at smoothing out other people’s family matters. There is a saying: better to tear down a temple than break up a marriage. She did not agree. Still, she and Die Yi were not close enough for her to advise a divorce. Besides, in this era it was not easy for a woman to divorce. She herself had succeeded only because she had no tangled clan behind her, was firm enough, and could protect herself.

Die Yi was not seeking life advice. She only needed to vent.

She spoke in a low, steady tone: “You may laugh at me, but whenever I think of how long he spent being sweet with a fox spirit, I feel very turned off.”

She added after a beat: “The strange thing is, I did not care before if he had other women. Sometimes he left another woman in the first half of the night and came to me in the second half, and I did not complain. I even felt a little pleased.”

“But ever since I heard him call me ‘boring and cold,’ I cannot stand sharing a room with him.” She pressed two fingers to her temple and confessed: “Every time he comes near, I feel uncomfortable. It is not exactly nausea. I just don’t want him to touch me.”

Yu Zhi Yi rubbed her nose. She remembered something: Madam Zheng had a younger sister. When that younger sister reached marriage age, she set her heart on a man from a matching family. That family also seemed willing, and the families started to discuss a betrothal. But the man himself did not like the younger Miss Zheng much. He preferred to flirt around. The younger Miss Zheng was head-over-heels for him. No one in the household could talk her out of it. She insisted on being with him. At the same time, she could not bear his flirting and often ran to cry to Madam Zheng. Madam Zheng loved her sister and went to argue with the man’s family. She even warned that if the man dared to keep flirting, she would break his legs so he would never step out the door again. She did it to stand up for her sister. But afterward, the younger Miss Zheng was coaxed by a few sweet words from the man and turned around to blame Madam Zheng for being too harsh and for ruining their love. Not long after, they truly married. The man even made snide, shadowy jokes about Madam Zheng at the wedding. Madam Zheng, who had become the “bad guy” to defend her sister, wore a face as if she had lost her own father. Yu Zhi Yi never forgot it. From then on, she understood to never meddle in other people’s relationships. If that is true for family, it is even truer for a client.

Die Yi had spoken for a while without getting an answer. She glanced at Yu Zhi Yi and asked: “Official Yu, are these worldly matters boring to you?”

Yu Zhi Yi shook her head and said: “Not boring. But these are your personal matters. How to choose depends on your own heart. I cannot give you a direction.”

Die Yi nodded slowly, then said in a firm voice: “You are right. I cannot keep living like this.”

Yu Zhi Yi blinked: [Wait, what did I just say?]

Die Yi went on: “Since I met you that day, it feels like a new world opened before my eyes.”

She spoke plainly: “In the Sheng Kingdom, the status of women is much better than a hundred years ago. Some women have stood out in different fields. But compared to men, our numbers are still tiny. To say nothing of other things, look at the Court Hall. There are no female officials of fourth rank or above. History has seen a few, but they were very rare. In our generation, there is only you, Yu Zhi Yi, above the fifth rank. Other professions are the same. Women have to work far harder than men. Even when they achieve something, people still sneer and say: they rose by relying on men and their bodies.”