Chapter 35: Force of the Plotline

After all, YuanNing had only just recovered from a serious illness. After staying in the garden for a while, she had to go back to the hall to recuperate. So DuYan got up and accompanied her back.

Halfway through, YuanNing gently pulled on the edge of DuYan’s cape, “Sister, I have something to say.”

DuYan knew what she meant, and turned around and said to the people behind him, "You all stay away further.”

"Sister, do you really hate ChengYu?"

DuYan was a little surprised, "Why do you say that?”

"Because you always bully him." YuanNing looked at DuYan cautiously. Seeing that he was still smiling, she was relieved.

YuanNing knew that DuYan was very good to her. Although everyone in the palace was afraid of her twin older sister, YuanNing knew that her sister and her mother were the people who treated her best.

Therefore, YuanNing always told DuYan what was on her mind.

"I think that ChengYu is quite pitiful. He’s far away from his homeland, and everyone in the palace looks down on him…”

DuYan did not waver at all, "And?"

"Sister, if you hate him, can’t you pretend that there isn’t such a person.”

"Ning'er, right now Cheng Yu is only being bullied by me, but if I don’t bully him, then he will return to his previous situation. Everyone in the palace would be able to bully him then.” DuYan smiled unkindly, “Which way do you think is better for him?”

The trap in DuYan's words completely stunned the simple YuanNing. She looked embarrassed and thought for a long time before she said, "Then--then I can protect him."

DuYan stopped and looked at YuanNing with some surprise. YuanNing's character was considered weak. If it weren't for the queen and his support, maybe other noble children would bully her.

Was the force of the plotline so difficult to resist? No matter what, YuanNing was still attracted to ChengYu and was even willing to do many things for him that were completely inconsistent with her own personality.

When the two stopped walking, everyone who followed far behind also stopped.

A thought flashed in DuYan’s heart.

He had always been a determined person. Since he was determined to isolate ChengYu from YuanNing, he would not waver easily, "Protect him? Then do you dare to stand up to YuanJue when he bullies ChengYu?”

YuanNing blinked, as if recalling being provoked by YuanJue. She had always been afraid of her arrogant little brother, and basically avoided the other when they were alone.

When she was four years old, she was bullied several times by the naughty YuanJue, and it was always DuYan who helped her out.

YuanJue had pulled YuanNing's hair, and DuYan covered YuanJue's hair with horse dung. YuanJue scared YuanNing with a bug, and DuYan grabbed a handful of bugs and stuffed them into YuanJue's collar.

After those few times, YuanJue didn’t dare to do anything to YuanNing anymore, and would only glare fiercely at YuanNing when they met.

YuanNing was about to speak, but was stopped by DuYan, "You have to think clearly before speaking. If ChengYu is not my exclusive plaything, I will not take action when others bully him. I will only protect you from being bullied."

YuanNing's small shoulders collapsed, a little frustrated, "Alright sister, I know."

It was unknown what the two people in front were talking about, but it was all heard by ChengYu.

His hearing was different from ordinary people and extremely sensitive. Even when DuYan lowered his voice while talking to YuanNing, a few words still drifted into his ears.

When YuanNing proposed to protect him, and DuYan did not express any objection, ChengYu's hands hidden in his sleeves were silently squeezed into fists. It was so powerful that blue tendons even appeared on his arm.

With the conversation that followed, his hands gradually relaxed, and his high-hanging heart safely fell into his stomach.

He had never longed for power as much as he does now. Without power, he could only be slaughtered by others, and even had no say in his future.

If the eldest princess lost interest in him one day, his only end was to be thrown into the dark room, like her books and toys, never to be remembered again.

It’s just that ChengYu was only a hostage from Cheng-guo, and his age wasn’t enough. Even if he was determined and quick-minded, he couldn’t think of how to build up his own power in the palace of his enemy’s country.

Soon after, the opportunity to build power was accidentally sent to him by the eldest princess.

During the spring, the capital was a prosperous scene. After the ice and snow melted, more and more travelers came to Yuan-guo’s capital from various places.

DuYan heard that a new restaurant had been opened recently, called "Jucai," and the shopkeeper would provide free tea everyday for the scholars who gave lectures (1).

The Jucai was full of people’s voices every day. Various scholars from different schools came to lecture at the restaurant, and it would not be long before it would become the main scene of the capital.

Hearing this, DuYan knew that this was the opportunity for ChengYu to start rising in power.

In the movie’s plot, ChengYu became the person behind Jucai a few years later. Through the well known lectures, he had recruited many guest officials.

In the plot, YuanNing was a gentle and kind-hearted princess. Naturally, she would not ask for help from ChengYu, and would not usually restrict him.

But now, DuYan needed to provide protection for ChengYu in the name of his servant, and the other party naturally dared not act privately under his deterrence.

If he wanted to lead ChengYu without leaving a trace, he could only use going out to play as the excuse. Fortunately, DuYan had been dragging ChengYu out of the palace to play recently, so the excuse was not abrupt.

Thinking of this, DuYan turned around and said to the maid behind him, "Call for ChengYu."

After a short while, the two had finished getting ready and then left the palace gates with the guard and a maid, and went straight to Jucai.

Jucai was on the most prosperous street in the capital, and the carriage had to stop suddenly halfway.

DuYan opened the curtain to look, and found that there was a long line of floats passing by.

The floats are unique and exquisite in workmanship, decorated with blooming flowers in spring. Even more charming than those floral decorations were the women on the float.

Passers-by stopped to look at them, sometimes whispering acclaims, sometimes clicking their tongues.

DuYan knew what was going on when he saw the scene.

On the gorgeous floats, the gorgeously dressed women were all female musicians from Zhangtai (brothel) Street (2).

Nowadays, the folk customs were simple and ethics were not yet popular. These female musicians were not considered something that could not be seen on the table (3). Among the nobles, scholars and officials, women’s music was often used as a means of communication.

Even among the kings, the exchange of female musicians was used as a means of diplomatic relations.

DuYan hung up the curtain, and watched with interest.

ChengYu was a few years older than DuYan and recognized the identities of these women.

He thought that since the princess grew up in the palace, she wouldn’t know the identities of these women. So he frowned and asked softly, “Princess, what is so good about looking at these female musicians? Why don’t we take a detour?”

DuYan glanced at him with a faint smile, "There is a different meaning to female musicians. The role these female musicians can play is far beyond your imagination. If you use it well, it's no worse than having a thousand troops.”

Looking at the ChengYu in front of him, he thought of the future Emperor Cheng who would use female musicians to create an intelligence network that spread to almost every corner of the continent.

ChengYu was taken aback for a moment, then saw DuYan turning his head, not wanting to speak.

After arriving at Jucai, ChengYu's always calm eyes revealed some interest.

DuYan naturally pretended not to see anything. He instructed the other party to inquire about the Jucai Building for him.

After returning to the palace, he even pretended to be extremely interested in the tea gathering in Jucai, but because of his identity, he couldn't go out often. He could only ask ChengYu to regularly go to the Jucai Building to participate in the tea gathering, record various anecdotes at the tea gathering, and go back to the palace to tell him about them.

After that, everything went smoothly as planned.

Time passed like water and never returned (4).

In a blink of an eye, nine years had passed. ChengYu was about to come of age and DuYan was reaching his golden age (5).

DuYan took several guards and went directly to the most conspicuous building on the Zhangtai (brothel) Street.

He familiarly walked towards the most magnificent room, then lifted his chin.

"Kick."

The guard behind him came up and kicked the door open.

The sound behind the door stopped abruptly.

The beauty next to ChengYu first panicked, and then after seeing the person outside, she regained her composure, and rushed out after saluting.

For a moment, there was only ChengYu left in the room.

He stood up and asked, "Princess, what happened for you to have such a big temper?”

DuYan did not answer, but covered his nose with his sleeve.

ChengYu quickly understood what he meant, and got up and opened the connecting door to another room.

Soon, he came back with a body full of water vapor.

ChengYu was very self conscious. When he went back the first time, he carried the scent of rouge and powder. Thus DuYan had people throw him into the pond and wash him before he was allowed ashore.

"This place smells so bad, I don't know what's so fun that you come here everyday.” DuYan said, “I knew I shouldn't have brought you here. I didn't expect you to be a person who covets beauty."

DuYan didn't care about Chengyu wandering around. In his opinion, ChengYu only had to be there at his call.

Now both of them were no longer children, and DuYan was not really that carefree and unruly princess.

Since ChengYu was outside, it was more convenient for him to act in certain aspects.

For example, he could secretly contact the Wu Family under the pretext of finding ChengYu.

At this time, DuYan just left the lieutenant's mansion and learned that King Yuan had been taking action recently. It seemed that he couldn’t bear the Wu Family and couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

Now that the state of Jiang-guo was at a disadvantage in their confrontation, the general that was guarding at the border was slowly losing his value.

King Yuan didn’t want people all over the world to only know of the great General WuQi.

DuYan looked at ChengYu in front of him. He was already a lively and elegant prince, like a jade carving.

His reputation as a debauched person was already spreading throughout the entire capital. But DuYan knew that this person was already mature and strong enough to make his own path. He was ready to shake things up and soar into the sky.

In addition, now that the Wu Family was becoming more and more difficult to deal with in Yuan-guo, DuYan wondered whether it was necessary to speed up some of the process and send the news of the affair between Queen Cheng and her cousin into ChengYu's hands.

When all was said and done, only when ChengYu was about to take Cheng-guo’s throne, would he pose a threat to Yuan-guo and bring war to the border area that had been stable for a long time.

Once the border situation was unstable, King Cheng would have some scruples and would not dare to easily attack the Wu Family.

(1) Jucai. 聚=assemble, 才=talents.

(2) I debated for a long time on whether to say Zhangtai, or brothel, or the red lantern district. The thing is, I don't know ancient china history well enough to name it well enough in English, so I chose to keep the original pinyin Zhangtai.

(3) 上不得台面. Can not be seen on the table. Someone that doesn't know etiquette or shouldn't appear in public. So this means that female musicians don't have a negative connotation at this time.

(4) 逝者如斯夫不舍昼夜. Time passed like water and never returned. Confucian saying. One regrets the rapid changes in life and the world, and also intends to cherish time.

(5) 二八年华. 15/16 years old or golden time. Generally used to describe a time when a women was young and beautiful. But they wrote 2 8 years here so for a sec I thought DuYan was already 28 years old lol.