Chapter 9 - Raising A Family

Raising a Family

After Mu Mingtang fed Xie Xuanchen, she ate the rest. By the time she started to eat, the food was already a little cold. Mu Mingtang thought of reheating the food, but unfortunately, she was being watched and could not use the kitchen.

After taking her meal, Mu Mingtang began to observe Xie Xuanchen for a while. His body is so thin that there is only a rigid skeleton on his wrists, and all the flesh is lost. He is a patient, so he could not be treated so harshly. When I find a way to move freely, I will find some ways to make up for him.

She felt like fate was playing games with her. Previously, when she was a poor refugee in Chenliu, she had to take a lot of effort to find wild vegetables to prepare meals for her sick grandma Zhou. Now, she has no worries about food and clothing, but she couldn’t prepare food for Xie Xuanchen.

Mu Mingtang put the empty dishes into the food box and waited at the palace gate until someone came to collect it. After the person who picked the food box came, she asked in detail what soup, meat dishes, vegetarian dishes, and porridge should be for tonight before letting them go.

The soldier in charge of collecting dishes frowned when he heard that she had so many demands. Mu Mingtang raised her eyebrows immediately when she saw it: “Why, don’t you want to? Don’t forget that I’m the princess. If you find it troublesome, let me go out and I’ll do it myself.”

The soldier looked back at the chief guard, who kept twisting. He raised his eyebrows and waved his hand vigorously when he heard this: “Go on, do as the princess said.”

“Do you hear me? Do as I said!” Mu Mingtang raised her eyebrows triumphantly, “It’s too troublesome to explain every day. In the future, I will leave a list on the food box. After you take it back, make it according to the dishes on the list. I don’t understand Wang Ye’s[1] medicinal diet, so I just follow the original process, but my daily dishes cannot be neglected. , or else, I’ll…….mmmmm…….I won’t feed the prince, you guys see for yourself!”

Sure enough, the food delivery soldier changed his face when he heard it, and after he responded bluntly, he hurried away with the food box. Mu Mingtang again reminded him: “Don’t forget the food I ordered tonight, make sure to deliver it on time.”

The captain of the guard stood in the corridor and watched the whole process. He admired Mu Mingtang very much. After knowing that she was imprisoned, she still had the guts to order food. Now that her life is in the hands of others, how can she be so optimistic? The head guard stared at Mu Mingtang. When Mu Mingtang noticed it, she didn’t bother to pay attention and slammed the door shut.

Those who had not struggled to live, will not understand how hard it was to live. Now that she has food and clothing without any trouble, she can only accept the current situation temporarily.

After Mu Mingtang ordered the evening menu, she had nothing to do, so she continued to clean room by room in the palace. When she heard a noise outside, the sky was getting dark. Mu Mingtang hurriedly adjusted her clothes and walked to the door. The food box was already at the door.

Mu Mingtang immediately washed her hands and prepared to feed Xie Xuanchen dinner. She poured the bowl of medicinal porridge into the flowerpot as usual and muttered to herself: “My lord, you can rely on my food to support you now. I didn’t expect that I would have no prospects for half my life, but one day I will be able to support you. The famous King of Qiyang. With you this time, I can boast that I will see my ancestors in the future.”

Mu Mingtang was held back for a day, and now she can finally speak freely. She took advantage of Xie Xuanchen’s inability to hear and talked a lot of nonsense. After she finished speaking, she helped Xie Xuanchen get up to feed the porridge as usual, and found that Xie Xuanchen was not very cooperative with eating.

It’s too difficult to take care of him.

Mu Mingtang patiently fed Xie Xuanchen. When she finished feeding, a thin layer of sweat broke out on her back. Then Mu Mingtang wiped the corners of his mouth and laid Xie Xuanchen flat again before eating her food. Like the previous meal, the food was a little cold again.

The porridge that Xie Xuanchen drank belongs to me, and this is a long-term business. If I want to continue this without arousing suspicion, I can only make outsiders feel that I eat a lot and need a lot of dishes for each meal. So She turned over every dish, deliberately making the illusion that she ate every dish. After that, she kept the food box at the gate as she did earlier.

Although it was summer, the Yulin Hall was already a little dark. Mu Mingtang held a lamp and lit the palace lanterns in the bedroom one by one. When she was halfway through the lighting, she suddenly turned around and looked around. The eaves were deep and the courtyard was deep. When the Yulin Hall was at its peak, what kind of magnificent scene would it be when all the lights were on?

Mu Mingtang spent a long time lighting up the lights of Yulin Hall from the west to the east. The lights were bright and lively. However, there was only her and Xie Xuanchen in the hall. Before going to the bed, she had to blow the lanterns one by one. By the time she finished, she was a bit tired. I heard people say that rich people get tired and sweaty just walking around the house. I think I’m joking. Now, it turns out that It’s true. But then again, living alone in such a big house would really be frightening.

After blowing the lights, the hall became dark, and Mu Mingtang didn’t dare to go back to her cubicle, so she had to stay beside Xie Xuanchen’s bed. Xie Xuanchen was famous for killing, and I am afraid that evil ghosts will not dare to float by his side. She thought.

Mu Mingtang had nothing to do, so she could only sit next to Xie Xuanchen: “Lord Qiyang, it turns out that you are the Marquis of Wu’an. I’m ashamed to say that you saved me, but I don’t know the name of my benefactor. I’m here. In the capital, I heard people talk about the king of Qiyang, Xie Xuanchen. When the first emperor gave this name, he must have embraced the prince a lot. Your expectations. The Lord did not live up to his parents’ expectations, and he really shines like the stars in the sky.”

“Speaking of the name, Mu Mingtang couldn’t help thinking of herself. She said, “If you think about it this way, I’ve lost my name. My birthday is on the first day of April. My mother said that she was a girl. My father saw the blooming begonia in the yard and gave me Mingtang with a slap on the forehead. Fortunately, in our family I didn’t grow any dog’s tail flowers, otherwise, with my father’s educational level, I would be miserable. It was said that Jiang Mingwei’s name is after Caiwei. Caiwei Caiwei, Wei also stopped, said return, said return, and age is not the same. Stop. The King of Jin probably means that the sea is inclusive of all rivers and the world. So people still need to read more. I will name my daughter in the future, no matter what. She has a good voice and is very particular.”

After Mu Mingtang murmured, she was stunned, and then laughed at herself, “What do you think about daughter and son? In this life, I’m afraid I won’t have a single child. If I do become pregnant, whether it’s the prince’s or not, it won’t be able to live. It’s better to be alone in my whole life, to live quietly in such a big house, What’s not to like.”

Mu Mingtang lifted the quilt and looked at the injury on Xie Xuanchen’s wrist lightly. She cleaned carefully and changed the dressing frequently, and the wound on his hand looked much better now.

Then she carefully covered the quilt and tucked him into the quilt: “The things in this world are really incomparable, Jiang Mingwei said that if she ran away from marriage, she would run away from marriage, and she could continue to be a princess when she came back, and I have sacrificed for them. Jiang Mingwei said a word, I have to make room for her, life is really unfair. After they marry me, it is estimated that Jiang Honghao will be promoted to full-time ambassador soon. How beautiful. In my lifetime, I’m afraid I won’t see their family unlucky.”

“But Jiang Mingwei can’t be entirely blamed for this. She made a wrong decision first, then came back to be a princess, and Kinh Jin is willingly to be with her. Why don’t I have such an infatuated bamboo horse?”[2]

Mu Mingtang sighed at Xie Xuanchen for a while, and regretted that she missed a good opportunity to cultivate a relationship with that bamboo horse, King Jin. She sighed: “But it’s better to quit early, he is not mine, it’s useless to force, and it makes people suspicious. These two golden boys and girls are more affectionate than golden, and more affectionate and righteous than the protagonists in a play. I’ve been a stand-in from the beginning, but I still can’t figure it out, and I really want to marry Xie Xuanji. Who is Xie Xuanji?

Mu Mingtan felt that Xie Xuanji’s life revolution was very inspirational, he forged ahead and rose step by step, which is the appearance of someone who has achieved great things in the history books. On the other hand, Xie Xuanchen was very arrogant. He did things in his own way and made many enemies. He was not a character that history books like.

Mu Mingtang sighed: “No wonder, King Jin is getting higher and higher. If there is a book, the hero must be Xie Xuanji.”

After Mu Mingtang finished speaking, seeing that it was getting late, he hugged Standing up with the lamp on, “I’m going back to sleep, benefactor, good night.”

After Mu Mingtang left, Xie Xuanchen’s eyelashes moved, but he still didn’t have the strength to open them in the end. Over the years, he has gradually discovered that there was something wrong with the medicine, and after drinking it, it will make people drowsy and sleepless. Xie Xuanchen refused to drink the medicine after he noticed the clue. Every time he woke up, he would break the medicine bowl, but he had not been active for a long time, so he often couldn’t control his strength, and the person feeding the medicine had to take a break. Later, no one dared to come to give medicine, it became porridge. Xie Xuanchen didn’t find it at first, but after a long time, he found out that there was also medicine in the porridge.

He had no choice but to not touch food, which made him weaker and less awake. Recently, his conscious time has become longer, but he is too weak to open his eyes. However, for one or two hours a day, he can hear the movement of the outside world.

He could feel a new maid in Yulin Hall, oh, maybe not a maid, Xie Rui married a wife for him.

Xie Xuanchen didn’t believe any of the people Xie Rui sent. But this woman is not what he imagined, at least she changed the porridge. Xie Xuanchen was satisfied with some points. But Xie Xuanchen could not accept some words of Mu mingtang. What did she mean just now, why if there is a book, the male protagonist must be like Xie Xuanji?

He, Xie Xuanchen is not dead, how will Xie Xuanji be born?

End of chapter 9

Translators Notes:

1. Wang Ye – prince ↵

2. Bamboo horse – childhood sweetheart ↵