Good Luck Wedding Chapter 020 – Who is the Pretty Boy?

There was a heater burning in the room, and Ye Yunting slept very peacefully. However, some time past midnight, he vaguely heard the sound of movement coming from beside him. He blearily opened his eyes and saw Li Fengqi sitting on the edge of the bed, looking down to straighten his clothes.

“What’s wrong?” He glanced out the window and found that it was dark outside; it was not yet dawn.

“The falcon is back.” Li Fengqi said. “Did it wake you up? If you’re awake, come with me.”

The falcon is back…

Ye Yunting was jolted out of sleepiness by these words. He stood up quickly and grabbed his robe to put it on. “I’ll go with you.”

Li Fengqi was already sitting in the wheelchair. He nodded lightly, turned the wheelchair and went out. “It’s in the study.”

Returning with the Falcon was the younger brother of Deputy Governor Zhu Wen, Zhu Lie.

Zhu Lie was twenty-eight this year. He was the chief historian of the Northern Xinjiang Governor’s Office and was in charge of its internal affairs. Zhu Wen, as the deputy governor, was responsible for border defense. He was not allowed to move without military orders. Something important must have come up for him to send Zhu Lie here.

Ye Yunting followed Li Fengqi to the study and saw a burly man waiting there, a familiar hunting falcon on his arm.

As soon as Zhu Lie saw Li Fengqi, he hurriedly stepped forward to salute and addressed him as “Wangye”. Then he saw Ye Yunting and paused, expressing his doubts: “Who is this?” This young man looked gentle and frail, soft-skinned, different from the rough men like them who fought on the battlefield.

How could the prince allow this kind of pretty boy by his side?

Zhu Lie glanced at Ye Yunting critically, thinking that his body wouldn’t be able to withstand a single kick from the prince.

But on second thought, the prince was now sitting in a wheelchair and therefore couldn’t kick his feet. No wonder this frail pretty boy could stand there without concern. He clicked his tongue and shot a sympathetic glance at Ye Yunting, thinking that once the prince recovered, the pretty boy wouldn’t be able to do anything but run away.

Only the tough ones could stay by the prince’s side for a long time.

Ye Yunting saw him looking at him with sympathy, and his expression slowly became confused. But he still took the initiative to give his name: “Ye Yunting.”

Zhu Lie smacked his lips for a moment, thinking that the name seemed familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he had heard it before. So he stopped dwelling on it, closed the door, and got down to business.

He took out a dark wooden box behind him, cursing. “My thanks to Wangye for letting this falcon deliver the message; otherwise, I’m afraid that Eldest Brother would have fallen into the trap of that traitor.”

Zhu Lie said that a few days before receiving Li Fengqi’s secret letter, Zhao Yan, the supervisor sent by the emperor, and his entourage arrived at the Northern Xinjiang Governor’s Office .

There were supervisory troops in several border armies in Beizhao, but never in the northern border.

This was because when the old Prince Yong’an was still alive, Emperor Chengzong trusted him very much and never sent supervisory troops to restrict him. Later, when the old Prince Yong’an passed away, Li Fengqi inherited his title and became the governor of Northern Xinjiang by his own his military merit, there continued to be no supervisory troops in Northern Xinjiang.

For Li Zong to suddenly dispatch Zhao Yan, a lieutenant of the Shence Guard Army, to the Northern Xinjiang Governor’s Office as a supervisor seemed a little fishy. Zhu Wen suspected that something must have happened in the capital, but when he sent people several times to make inquiries, he only received vague information. Some said that Prince Yong’an was poisoned not long ago, while others said that Prince Yong’an had been assassinated… In short, there was no clear information.

Zhao Yan’s behavior in the army became more arrogant and contemptuous. Zhu Wen’s suspicions grew, so got Zhao Yan drunk, and only then did he obtain the exact information from him.

The drunken Zhao Yan said that the Prince of Yong’an, with his great achievements, had been regarded as a thorn in the emperor’s side for a long time. He was both poisoned and imprisoned in the palace under the pretext of recovering from his illness, but no medical officer was sent to treat him. By the time that Zhao Yan had set off to the northern border, he heard that the once-unrivaled Prince Yong’an could now only lie in bed like an invalid, counting down the days he had left to live. Then, the Xuanjia Army under Prince Yong’an’s command, and even the entire Northern Xinjiang Army, would be in the emperor’s pocket.

Although Zhu Wen was several years older than Li Fengqi, he had always admired the other man. Which of their xiongdi would not follow Li Fengqi and fight through mountains of corpses and seas of blood?

That was why, after hearing Zhao Yan’s words, Zhu Wen’s blood rushed to his head, and he wanted to order all his troops to go to the capital to rescue Li Fengqi.

Zhu Wen was a rough, impulsive man with no tolerance for anyone slandering Prince Yong’an, so Zhao Yan’s words completely aroused his anger. But Zhu Lie wanted to be more prudent. He always felt that the whole matter seemed to be permeated with some evil force, so he persuaded several other generals to hold the rash Zhu Wen back, and prepared to send several men in secret to the capital for news. Once they gathered more information, they could then plan their next move.

Unexpectedly, just a few days after the spies were sent out, they found the falcon along with the secret message tied to its leg in the Governor’s Office.

After reading the letter, Zhu Wen confirmed that Li Fengqi was fine for the time being. After calming down, several generals realized that something was wrong – they almost fell into Zhao Yan’s trap.

They held their anger but did not attack immediately. Instead, they sent people to keep an eye on Zhao Yan secretly. However, they unexpectedly discovered that Zhao Yan had been exchanging letters with the Yin family recently.

They kept calm, investigated further, and found that there were tens of thousands of Jizhou troops hiding in the mountains at the border of Weizhou and Jizhou.

Jizhou was under the jurisdiction of Yunrong Governor’s Office, and Yin Xiaozhi, the chief governor of Yunrong, was part of the emperor inner circle.

At this moment, the fact that a large number of Jizhou troops are hiding in the mountains of Weizhou heading towards Jizhou already spoke for itself.

Only then did they realize that the emperor had deliberately sent Zhao Yan to provoke them, luring them into raising troops and marching back to the capital to fight. If the emperor were to label them as rebels, the Jizhou army in the mountains would be able to ambush them openly and justifiably, with the purpose of quelling a rebellion.

Zhu Wen, who was impulsive before, did not expect that the young emperor could be so ruthless. When he thought of the 100,000 full-fledged Xuanjia troops he had commanded, his back became drenched with cold sweat.

Hence, he immediately sent Zhu Lie hurrying to Shangjing to meet with Li Fengqi and confirm the situation.

Li Fengqi was naturally well aware of Zhu Wen’s impulsive nature and said coldly, “This incident will also be a lesson to him, so that he won’t fall into someone’s trap next time.”

Zhu Lie nodded repeatedly and did not dare to defend his elder brother. He opened the wooden box in his hand and held it in front of Li Fengqi. “After we got evidence, we beheaded Zhao Yan in the name of deceiving the army. I brought back his head. There is also written evidence, for Wangye to do with as he will.”

In the open wooden box, Zhao Yan’s eyes were round and dead.

Li Fengqi subconsciously glanced at Ye Yunting beside him. Seeing his face without fear, Li Fengqi thought for a moment then said, “Summon Wu Geng and ask him to have a sedan ready to go to the court. Since the evidence is all in order, it’s better to have this done with sooner than later. I shall give Li Zong a grand gift in person.”

As he said this, the corner of his mouth curled up coldly. “I’ll go back to my room and dress up for court.”

After saying that, he called Ye Yunting to go back to the room together.

Ye Yunting paused in his footsteps and approached Zhu Lie to ask for the falcon. “The falcon has completed its mission. General, please give it to me.”

“Is this falcon yours?” Zhu Lie handed the falcon to him and asked doubtfully, “Why do I remember this falcon being taken back by the Yin family? How did it end up in your hands?”

“I borrowed it from someone I know. Now that it’s done its job, I should return it.”

Zhu Lie suddenly understood and laughed aloud. “Then you have been of great help this time. It is not easy to find a hunting falcon that can only deliver letters.”

He originally thought that Ye Yunting was just some pretty boy; he didn’t expect that he’d been so useful. No wonder the Prince brought this person with him-- he turned out to be such a boon.

Since he had aided the Prince so, he naturally had aided Zhu Lie as well. Zhu Lie moved a little bit closer to him. Relying on his height, he raised his hand and put his shoulder, and said: “Since we are both serving under the Prince, we are all brothers. One of these days, when we have time, this big brother will treat you to a drink.”

“…” Ye Yunting hesitated for a moment, not knowing whether to tell him or not that he was, in fact, the nominal Yong’an Wangfei.

Sensing his hesitation, Li Fengqi, who had reached the doorway, turned around and said in an inscrutable tone, “Zhu Lie, whose big brother are you?”

Zhu Lie looked at him in bewilderment, not knowing what was wrong with his words, and said hesitantly, “Young Master Ye looks pretty frail at best. I’m probably a few years older than him…”

It’s okay to refer to myself as a big brother…right?

“I think you have been in Northern Xinjiang for too long; it’s blunted your brain.” Li Fengqi sneered coldly. “It just so happens that the palace is short of manpower. For now, you’ll be responsible for taking care of all the affairs of the palace, so you’ll be able to exercise your brain a lot.”

With a wave of his sleeves, he called on Ye Yunting to leave together.

Zhu Lie was confused. He didn’t understand how he could be punished for speaking rationally. He also followed behind and reluctantly yelled, “Wangye, I am a rough man. I’ll find a careful and thorough steward for this palace…”

Without looking back, Li Fengqi returned to the main room with Ye Yunting.

Zhu Lie stood there, watching the two of them enter the room, and finally remember the question that he’d forgotten to ask. He grabbed a maid holding a lantern and asked, “That Young Master Ye, who is he?”

The Prince usually loathed having other people close to him. How could be be changing clothes with the young master Ye accompanying him?

The maid, seeing this tall and and fearsome man, lowered her head in fear and said in a voice as tiny as a mosquito: “Y-Young Master Ye? Are you talking about the Wangfei?”

“…”

Zhu Lie’s eyes gradually widened, and with one last pat on the head, he finished speaking.

This frail and handsome pretty boy turned out to be the Wangfei.

No wonder he thought that the name seemed familiar. How could it not be? When he first arrived at the palace, Wu Geng told him when he opened the door that the prince now had a consort, the eldest son of the Duke’s household, with the surname Ye. He’d been too focused on looking for the prince at that time so the words went in one ear and out the other, and he didn’t take them to heart at all.

Zhu Lie gradually gave up on himself, thinking that if he was going to be punished, then he would be punished. He also got to act as the Wangfei’s big brother for a while, so all in all it wasn’t so bad.

*

Ye Yunting and Li Fengqi returned to the room and picked out court clothes for him.

Li Fengqi loosened his everyday clothes and put on the complicated and solemn robes.

The robes were dark purple, with a peacock embroidered in gold thread on the chest, a black leather belt to emphasize his strong and slim waistline, and covered with a dark gauze outer later. He also wore a goldfish bag, a three-beam crown and a golden cicada ornament. He looked outstanding and undoubtedly youthful.

Ye Yunting smoothed out the wrinkles on his back and said with some worry, “If Wangye appears in the court today, there will definitely be an uproar.”

During the day, he walked around Zhaohe Main Street and declared that he was alive and well. Now, he’d be going to court on his own volition without waiting for summons.

To the emperor, it would be tantamount to a clear provocation.

“Don’t worry.” Li Fengqi nonchalantly adjusted his wide sleeves and said with a calm smile, “I have something in mind.”

Even if Li Zong didn’t want to receive this morning court’s grand gift, he’d have to hold his nose and accept it.

---

 

===Author’s Note===

77: Who is the pretty boy?
Zhu Lie: It’s me.
77: Whose big brother are you?
Zhu Lie (humble): I’m not a big brother, I am just a younger brother.
——————

===Translator’s Notes===

(1) Adventures in translating:

Me trying to figure out how to translate Zhu Lie’s dialogue: Wait, that can’t be right, did he just say that he brought Zhu Lie’s head? I think I’m getting this wrong…

Literally the next paragraph: Head in a box right here!

(2) Ah Zhu Lie, you had no idea who you’re talking to. *cackling*

(3) I sure do hope you guys have replenished falcon’s food stocks by now!!

 

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