Chapter 96: The Duck

Pei Yuan carried two large bags of items. He set one on the table and asked Bao Ning, “Did she come looking for you again?”

Bao Ning nodded. “Didn’t you say yesterday that you were going to give her a warning?” She looked a bit frustrated. “It doesn’t seem to have worked.”

“Don’t worry too much about it.” Pei Yuan didn’t seem surprised that Su Mingyou had shown up again. Instead, he asked, “Have you eaten?”

“No, I was waiting for you to come back.” Bao Ning’s attention shifted as she glanced out the window. “It’s still light out; why are you back so early?”

“Back to feed you.” Pei Yuan tossed the other bag into Bao Ning’s arms. “Wei Meng went to the capital and brought back a lot of good stuff. He’s a glutton, so if he says it’s good, it’s definitely good. Take a look at what’s inside.”

As he spoke, he unbuttoned his outer robe and pulled out a package of steaming hot soy-braised duck. “Bought this on the street in Lihu, from a new shop next to Ruyi Pavilion. Since you haven’t cooked, come and eat.”

Smelling the aroma of the duck, Bao Ning—who was already hungry—felt her cravings fully awakened. She instantly tossed the unpleasant business regarding Su Mingyou to the back of her mind.

First, she opened the bag Wei Meng had sent. Inside were several oil-paper packages containing steamed buns and naan bread, half a catty of beef, half a catty of donkey meat, and many colorful, sweet pastries. Since neither Wei Meng nor Pei Yuan liked sweets, these were clearly meant for her.

“General Wei is so thoughtful. I’ll have to invite him for a meal another day!” Bao Ning was delighted. She sidled over to the table to watch Pei Yuan break off a duck leg.

The leg meat was plump, tender, and glistening with oil. Because Pei Yuan had kept it tucked against his chest the whole way back, it was still warm. Bao Ning asked, “How much did the duck cost?”

“I don’t know.” Pei Yuan looked at her with hooded eyes. “Am I the kind of man who asks for the price? I throw a silver ingot down and don’t even wait for change.”

Bao Ning teased him, “Putting on airs and bragging.”

“Just eat,” Pei Yuan snorted. He wrapped the bone of the leg in oil paper and handed it to her. “Eat it over the paper; don’t get the bed dirty.”

He broke off the other leg and stuffed it into her hand as well. Then, taking the duck’s tail and half the breast, he stepped outside and gave a whistle. Both dogs came running.

Pei Yuan tossed the meat onto the ground, watched them for a moment, and then returned to the room.

“Jixiang is a female dog. She looks so rugged, yet she’s a female,” Pei Yuan remarked. He asked Bao Ning, “Do you think Jixiang and Ah Huang, living together day and night, will eventually develop feelings for each other?”

Bao Ning replied, “You’re worrying too much. Keeping the ‘fertile water’ within one’s own field isn’t a bad thing; it would be nice if they grew fond of each other.”

Pei Yuan gave a low laugh.

He sat down and began to eat. After a while, he spoke up: “I didn’t go to warn Su Mingyou. I want to see exactly what else she is capable of doing.”

At the mention of her, Bao Ning frowned. “I just feel Sister-in-law is very strange. Her words always seem to imply something, but if you were to say she’s actually done something wicked, she hasn’t. If I lose my temper with her, it makes me look petty. Besides, it’s normal for a pregnant woman to be emotionally unstable…”

Remembering the dog-tooth bracelet, she swallowed the meat in her mouth, wiped her hands, and pulled it out to show him. “Look, Sister-in-law gave me this today.”

Pei Yuan said, “I know. I gave orders to Chen Jia; he reported it to me earlier.”

Bao Ning noticed something off about Pei Yuan. Today, he spoke very calmly, lacking his usual arrogance. He even seemed in the mood for idle chatter, even caring about whether Jixiang was male or female. Bao Ning gnawed on a bone, studying him for a moment before whispering, “Did something happen?”

“I just remembered some things.” Pei Yuan twirled the bracelet between his fingers twice before suddenly tossing it onto the floor. He asked Bao Ning, “Do you believe in fate?”

Bao Ning hesitated. “Um… I suppose so.”

“What does ‘I suppose so’ mean?” Pei Yuan laughed. “I didn’t believe in it before. My Father Emperor had a National Teacher named Gong who specialized in planchette writing; his divinations were quite accurate. I didn’t like him. Others said he had the air of an immortal, but behind his back, I called him a white-haired monkey. Once, Pei Xiao reported me to Father, and I got a beating. That villain Pei Xiao knew how to snitch even at seven or eight years old. Later, he stopped those petty tricks—perhaps his mother warned him that it made him look unrefined. So, ever since then, Pei Xiao has worked hard at being a ‘refined’ person.”

Listening to his story, Bao Ning smiled along.

Pei Yuan continued, “Later, I discovered that on the walls of my mother’s palace and on her jewelry, there were strange things—peach wood, dog teeth, and a hidden portrait of Zhong Kui. It wasn’t until after she died that I learned it was because her ‘birth chart’ was cursed. That National Teacher Gong said she had the ‘Fate of a Ghost’—not only was her luck incomplete, but she drained the Yang energy of others. As a concubine, she would ruin the nation’s fortune. But Father was young and headstrong back then; he insisted on bringing her into the palace. Guess what happened?”

Bao Ning asked, “What happened?”

“The year she entered the palace, the dikes of the Yangtze River broke. The water rushed for thousands of miles, drowning tens of thousands of acres of fertile land. People said the prophecy of the Ghost Fate had come true.”

Bao Ning shivered. “But you can’t blame it on that. The Yangtze has issues every few years. Besides, so many other concubines entered the palace at the same time as Lady Xian—how could it all be blamed on her?”

Pei Yuan said, “She was the most favored, so she became the target. And besides, an Emperor… he will always love his empire more. Any tiny shred of evidence that threatens his rule will make him panic; that’s only natural. The tragedy was that he was an Emperor who loved beauties. He felt her fate was bad, but he couldn’t bear to let her go. So, he followed National Teacher Gong’s methods: renamed the palace, gave her those strange ornaments to wear, and forced her to secretly drink talisman water every fifteenth of the month to try and remedy the disaster her fate brought.”

Bao Ning found it bizarre, yet behind the absurdity, there was a twisted logic. She slowly reached out and took Pei Yuan’s hand, wanting to offer him comfort.

“Whether Father was truly good to her, I don’t know, but he was good to me. If my mother hadn’t died and I hadn’t investigated, he would never have told me these things. I am grateful to him.” Pei Yuan paused, then continued, “But my mother is dead.”

“I don’t even know how she died.”

“I remember I was about eight or nine. While I was drawing my bow to shoot at birds, I snapped the cord on my jade pendant.” Pei Yuan gestured to Bao Ning, squinting one eye as if aiming an arrow, and gave a dry laugh. “She was clumsy with her hands. Honestly, I don’t know what Father saw in my mother besides her face; she couldn’t even embroider a garment properly… Anyway, she went to find Noble Consort Gao to fix the pendant cord. Noble Consort Gao is Pei Xiao’s mother; back then, she was only Lady Gao. They were close sisters. How ironic—how can there be ‘sisters’ in the palace? She was naive to a fault.”

“And then she never came back,” Pei Yuan said. “They found her body in the lake three days later. She was so bloated you couldn’t see her face; they only recognized her by her clothes. Father ordered an investigation. They said a candidate named Luo, who had entered the palace in the same year, pushed her in out of jealousy. The Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies was named Yan—Yan Weichang, I believe. He handled the case swiftly. The woman named Luo was executed, and my mother was buried with the posthumous title ‘Duanping’.”

Bao Ning looked into Pei Yuan’s eyes. He was incredibly calm, showing none of the grief one would expect.

Bao Ning felt a deep sadness. She didn’t want to hear any more, yet she knew she had to face this past with him.

“If it had ended there, it would have been fine,” Pei Yuan narrowed his eyes. “But later, when I was twelve, I accidentally stumbled into a rockery. Deep inside a cave, I found a skeleton. Clutched in the skeleton’s hand was that jade pendant of mine with the broken cord.”

“So, how did she really die? Which one was actually her? I begged Father to investigate, and he told me: the dead are gone, do not disturb the tombs, let her rest in peace.”

“Did she really rest in peace?”

Bao Ning didn’t know what expression to make or how to comfort him. He seemed to have truly moved on, speaking of the past like an outsider, but it was exactly that which frightened her. She feared he was suppressing it all deep in his heart, using this calm as a mask. She would rather he hold her and cry. Strength that is too rigid is easily broken; she didn’t want him to be so hard, at least not in front of her.

A premonition stirred in Bao Ning’s heart: If it was the Emperor who killed Lady Xian, would Pei Yuan collapse again when the truth finally came out?

“Let’s not think about this!” Bao Ning suddenly stepped forward and hugged him. “Let’s stop for now.”

Pei Yuan smiled. “I actually have to thank Sister-in-law. If she hadn’t been plotting all day to sow discord between us with these things, I wouldn’t have found the chance to tell you.”

Bao Ning looked up and kissed his chin.

Pei Yuan held her and asked, “Was the soy duck good? You have quite an appetite—eating both legs and not even leaving a bit of skin for me.”

He changed the subject. Although Bao Ning’s heart was still heavy, she didn’t bring it up again, following his lead. “It was okay, but the duck wasn’t fat enough. I’ve heard that ducks that eat only bamboo or lotus leaves taste better when made into soy-braised duck; they have a natural, fresh fragrance.”

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.

Pei Yuan hummed in response, then asked, “Ducks eating bamboo? Such hard things—don’t they scratch their throats?”

Bao Ning paused. “I’ve never been a duck, how would I know…”

Pei Yuan said, “We’ll raise one later and see.”

He picked Bao Ning up and set her on the bed so she was standing on it. He straightened her clothes, frowning. “Do you have any black or white clothes? Don’t wear red.”

Bao Ning asked in confusion, “Where are we going?”

Pei Yuan answered, “Today is the anniversary of your mother-in-law’s death. I’m taking you to burn some spirit money for her. We can’t go to the Ancestral Temple, so the corner of the wall by the courtyard gate will do. Wear something plain; don’t wear those bright reds and greens.”

It was already dark outside. Bao Ning hurried to the wardrobe to find clothes, complaining, “Why didn’t you say so earlier! You should have told me a few days ago so I could prepare things.”

“There’s nothing to prepare, it’s just a formality. Consider it me taking you to pay your respects,” Pei Yuan said, clearing the remains of the meal from the table without looking up. “Dress warmly; the night wind is cold.”

…

Zhao Qian had finished grooming himself. He looked in the mirror, adjusting his appearance until he was sure nothing was amiss. He then took out some lip rouge, applied a bit to his lips, and stepped out the door.

All along the way, he was thinking about what he would say when he saw Pei Yuan—how to discreetly leave a lip print on his collar and then make a clean getaway.

Don’t blame him for coming up with such a cliché and disgusting trick; the more common the method, the more effective it usually was. As long as he got the job done, what did the method matter?

Bao Ning’s courtyard was pitch black; even the main room was unlit. As Zhao Qian was wondering about this, his gaze shifted, and he spotted an eerie flickering light at the corner of the wall.

Support Sansukini on Ko-fi

Thanks for visiting. If you like this story, then I’m shamelessly asking you to visit NovelUpdates and give a 5⭐ review. (人❛ᴗ❛)♪тнайк　чоц♪(❛ᴗ❛*人)

You can also check out my other translations Here