Chapter 116 – The Old Emperor Is Possessed by a Snake Spirit (1)
As Wenhui said, this chapter should be called Chapter of Footnotes Galore. =P
In Chang Kong Country, there had never been a case of master and servant drinking from the same table; hence, Ning Xuemo’s actions definitely made these servants feel touched and moved.
Her actions were straightforward: she rewarded the obedient well-mannered ones and punished those that deserved it. At such a young age, she had already surpassed those so called elitist nobles in temperament. After a bit of exposure to her, people were filled with admiration and the willingness to follow her orders.
After the master-servant banquet ended, Ning Xuemo issued an order to begin recruiting people again. She told them to put the terms and conditions of the job on the recruitment notice…
Because the starting salary she gave was rather high, added to the fact that the older servants stood in front of the poster and extolled the benefits of the job, within 2 hours, a few tens of people already wanted to sign up.
Ning Xuemo dispatched Old Zhong to explain the rules of the Mansion to them and gave them the contract to sign if they agreed…
In just half a day of effort, Marquis Jingyuan’s Mansion returned to its normal operations, even more vibrant and bustling than before.
After interviewing all the job applicants, Old Zhong confronted Ning Xuemo with a troubled expression. “Miss, after this month’s salaries are given out, we won’t have much silver left. I’m afraid we won’t be able to sustain this level of spending.”
Ning Xuemo merely smiled and said, “Don’t worry, soon someone will come over to deliver some money.”
Old Zhong became surprised. The miss did not have any support, and her bastard of an ex-fiancé had already annulled their engagement. Who would be so nice to give them money?
His thought process did not even finish before the sounds of celebration could suddenly be heard from outside, nearing the Marquis’ Mansion.
Moments later, a person dashed inside to report. “Miss, an imperial edict is here!”
Ning Xuemo smiled as she left. “The gold’s here! Come let’s go receive the edict.”
……
Ning Xuemo would not have thought that her peach blossoms would blooms so lushly[1], to the point that it could scare people and make her want to curse the high heavens!
They always said that transmigrated females would receive many peach blossoms[2], but weren’t these too many?!
She had only been here for a few days and already three big peach flowers became attracted to her!
The Sixth Prince and the Crown Prince, fine, at least they were handsome young men. But the old Emperor too?
He unexpectedly decreed that he wanted her to be one of his consorts!
And furthermore, he even bestowed her this damned name of ‘Beast Consort’!
‘Beast his sister! He’s the beast; his whole family are beasts!’[3]
The one who came to deliver the decree was one of the eunuchs who followed the Emperor, a mob-like character named Liu Gonggong[4].
Not only did he bring the Imperial Edict, he also brought over countless precious gifts, which nearly completely filled the main hall.
After he finished reading the imperial edict, his old face bloomed like a chrysanthemum flower that had been blown by the wind[5]. “Congratulations Niangniang[6], congratulations Niangniang. From now on, you can be considered to have ascended to the Heavens with one step[7]. These things that this old servant has brought are the betrothal gifts from the imperial family. They should be enough. His Majesty sympathizes with you and feels that it must be difficult to run a household by yourself, so he ordered a few palace attendants over to serve you until the marriage ceremony. Niangniang only needs to rest your precious body and wait for the wedding day.”
Ning Xuemo resisted the urge to curse the old Emperor’s eight generations of ancestors, as she smiled and received the imperial edict while thanking the Emperor for his Imperial Grace.
‘That old Emperor’s been possessed by a snake spirit!’[8]
Two days ago he kidnapped her and couldn’t wait to kill her, but now he wanted to marry her as his consort…
‘Did his brain get frozen to the point of short-circuiting from being in contact with the Ancestor’s icy aura?! Or did something go and stimulate his sex drive?’
Ning Xuemo knew that at this moment she could not afford to be reckless, and even more she could not show a hint of unhappiness. Therefore, she put on a facade of surprise and joy as she received the edict, even rewarding Liu Gonggong with a gold ingot, causing him to leave with glee…
After sending off Liu Gonggong, Ning Xuemo turned around and looked at the gift-filled hall. The old Emperor appeared to have gone all out with the gifts; not only were there gold and silver but also precious gems and jewelry boxes.
[1] In China, when mentioning about Peach Blossoms, it’s a reference to love fortune in Bazi (a.k.a. The Four Pillars of Destiny), a type of fortune telling based on your chinese date of birth. It’s tightly relate to astrology, stars alignment and the five elements. In Bazi, Peach Blossoms is a star also known as Xian Chi (Salt Pool) which is the name of a deity. This deity is a fairy who possessed a bath pool where numerous daughters are bathing in… So, you can infer that bathing is associate with sexuality, romance, etc. since you bathed naked in a bath pool usually. It is say that depending on certain period of time, a group of different type of zodiac signs will bath in it and depending on which sign is bathing it, the opposite signs will get attracted to it. In other words, depending on what kind of zodiac signs is align with the Peach blossoms star, the effect will be different and will affect one’s life, fate, personality, etc.
Thus, there might be a period of time where the alignment of stars make it that some people will have lots of success in love, or so Ning Xuemo said, she has lots of peach blossoms.
For more informations, click here, here and here.
[2] Refers to possible love interest(s)
[3] A modern curse in the style of “XX his sister! He’s the XX, his whole family is XX!” Replace he with you/your if telling that to his/her face. You can get a better explanations from chapter 31 of I’m really a Superstar on Gravity Tales.
[4] Respectful term for a eunuch. Usually because they serve the Emperor personally.
[5] Wrinkly smiling face.
I don’t think it’s a very flattering description because chrysanthemum in chinese is sometimes used as an euphemism for butthole and homosexuality. So… wrinkly like a… *coughcough*
[6] Respectful term for an Emperor’s wife and concubines, used for the Empress and Imperial Consorts.
[7] Succeeding in life very easily
[8] Used to describe a person who has a sudden abnormal sexual appetite.