Forbidden to Bully the Storybook’s Heroine – Chapter 14

An Opening Exploited

As the sky gradually darkened, Jiang Yao carefully saw the person back to Yueshang House. Before leaving, she made a point to remind her, “You should eat the tanghua¹ soon, otherwise it will melt easily.”

Song Muyun’s white jade-like fingers were still holding the tanghua. She nodded lightly, “I know. I’ve troubled Miss Jiang today.”

Jiang Yao waved her hand. “No need to be so distant. Just call me Jiang Yao from now on. I’ll be going then. You get some good rest, I’ll come find you again tomorrow.”

Jiang Yao took a few steps, then turned back to wave at Song Muyun.

The corners of Song Muyun’s lips hooked up gently; anyone could see she was in a good mood.

It wasn’t until she turned back that Yan Jin approached from not far away, graceful and willowy². She was frowning, her expression tinged with worry. Her eyes lit up upon seeing Song Muyun, and after glancing behind her, she asked urgently, “Where is Eldest Miss Jiang? Don’t tell me she’s already gone back?”

Song Muyun was somewhat baffled. Her brows drew together as she looked at her. “She just left. Are you looking for Jiang… Yao for something?”

Those two syllables coiled around the tip of her tongue, inexplicably giving rise to a bit of sweetness.

Yan Jin’s pair of willow brows³ furrowed even more severely. Her voice was laced with worry, “The Seventh Prince is inside. He had me come to the entrance to wait for you, to tell you to go over as soon as you returned. I was thinking that if Eldest Miss Jiang was here, she might be able to protect you a little, but now this…”

The women in Yueshang House were all bitter-fated women⁴; naturally, their hearts ached for one another on a daily basis. There were quite a few sisters who pitied Song Muyun for having fallen into dust and mud⁵, only to be humiliated in a hundred ways by Murong Qing.

Several times, after Murong Qing left, she couldn’t even stand up. How could that not make people worry?

Hearing the words “Seventh Prince,” Song Muyun’s slender body, wrapped in blue clothes, trembled subconsciously. A moment later, she raised a hand to touch the red butterfly-shaped hairpin with dangling pearls⁶ in her hair, bending her fingers to gently pull it out and hide it in her robes. Her expression turned cold. “Many thanks, Yan Jin-jiejie⁷. Muyun will go now.”

Seeing that she was about to go, Yan Jin grew anxious and reached out to grab her. “Why don’t we have someone go ask Eldest Miss Jiang to come back? She probably hasn’t gone far…”

These past few days, Song Muyun had finally enjoyed a rare few good days, and Yan Jin saw it clearly—it was all thanks to the protection of the Jiang family’s Eldest Miss.

If Jiang Yao were here, the Seventh Prince would, to some extent, have to restrain himself a bit.

Song Muyun shook her head, her expression cold and indifferent, as if she didn’t care at all what she was about to face.

“It’s nothing, no need to call her. I’ll just have to trouble Yan Jin-jiejie to draw a basin of water for Muyun in a little while.”

She lowered her head, her words making it perfectly clear that she intended to go see the Seventh Prince alone.

Yan Jin knew she had once been a woman from an official’s family and possessed some lofty and proud bones⁸, and perhaps was unwilling to ask for help over this matter. Unable to persuade her, Yan Jin could only agree. “Then… don’t go against the Seventh Prince today. It would be good to suffer a little less torment.”

Song Muyun didn’t speak, merely straightening her slender back as she walked inside. She was unwilling to trouble Jiang Yao over such a small matter. The Seventh Prince, at his worst, was still a prince, a candidate for the future Son of Heaven⁹. Jiang Yao was so good; she didn’t want Jiang Yao to tear face¹⁰ with the Seventh Prince because of her. At most, she would just take a beating. Murong Qing wouldn’t touch her.

From the very first day she entered Yueshang House, Murong Qing had told her that in her current state, she was unworthy of his touch.

Yan Jin watched Song Muyun’s departing back, unable to bear it, yet powerless to stop her. She could only tell the serving girl¹¹ by her side to go to the medical hall to buy some injury medicine, while she herself went to Song Muyun’s small room to boil some hot water in preparation for what would soon be needed.

Song Muyun walked into the private room Murong Qing had reserved. Only Murong Qing was inside. Her expression was cold, completely unlike the somewhat intimate manner she had with Jiang Yao. Murong Qing clenched his jaw. He had adored Song Muyun for a long time, yet had not received one thread or hair¹² of reciprocation. Song Muyun had always been cold and distant with everyone, yet of all people, Jiang Yao had only known her for a few days, and the two were already so intimate. He heard they even went to Zhenbao Pavilion together?

Truly not afraid of death.

A dark color sank to the bottom of Murong Qing’s eyes. He extended a hand toward Song Muyun, the corner of his mouth hooking into a deviant smile, his voice gentle. “Come here.”

Song Muyun’s heart grew ever colder, but the expression on her face remained unchanged. She stared at him coldly, standing motionless at the door, until Murong Qing lost all patience and the hooked corner of his mouth flattened bit by bit…

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Jiang Yao returned to the Jiang Residence. The moment she got back, she was summoned by her dad.

Jiang Heng’s study was always kept with the doors and windows shut; it was pitch-black inside. When Jiang Yao first entered, he was in the middle of lighting a lamp.

“Dad, what’s up? I just got back from outside, I’m tired to death.”

Jiang Yao unceremoniously dragged a chair over for herself and sat down, habitually crossing one leg over the other¹³.

Jiang Heng glanced over but didn’t speak. In the quiet study, the crisp sound of his fingertips tapping on the desk echoed. For some reason, Jiang Yao started to feel a little scared. She silently uncrossed her legs and sat up properly.

Once the few candle lamps in the room were lit, Jiang Heng returned to his desk, looked at Jiang Yao, and asked unhurriedly, “You… went to see the Song family’s little girl today?”

He had already begun to investigate this matter. Back then, someone had submitted a memorial to the throne accusing Song Yunqian of concealing the local disaster situation and failing to report it, which resulted in no aid in the form of grain, fodder, or disaster relief silver. The common people were unable to make a living¹⁴, and the enraged Emperor immediately convicted him of the crime of deceiving the monarch. He had felt then that something was not right.

The investigation had gone far too smoothly; the evidence was practically all laid out on the bright surface¹⁵. For Song Yunqian to have reached his position, how could he be so stupid?

But at the time, the Emperor was flying into a thunderous rage¹⁶ over the matter, and all who pleaded for mercy for Song Yunqian were implicated. He couldn’t say much either, and could only ponder it a bit in secret.

What Jiang Yao had said yesterday about Murong Qing and Song Muyun made him even more aware that there were problems.

Logically speaking, Song Muyun should have been sent to the Jiaofang Court¹⁷, so how did she end up in Yueshang House?

Yueshang House was just a private music house, not under imperial jurisdiction. But the person behind it seemed to be some prince. Why would he specifically want to place Song Muyun in Yueshang House?

And why would the Seventh Prince go to Yueshang House every day to bully and humiliate Song Muyun?

Jiang Heng had already ordered people to investigate today. The Seventh Prince’s handiwork was indeed involved in Song Muyun ending up in Yueshang House, but Yueshang House was not the Seventh Prince’s property. And the Seventh Prince did indeed enter Yueshang House daily and repeatedly strike a weak woman like Song Muyun.

For some reason, he felt that Song Yunqian must have displeased some prince to have been framed so crudely, to the point that not even his daughter was spared.

Jiang Yao poured herself a cup of the cold tea on the table and drank it, a cold shiver running through her entire body. She put the cup down, shook her head in satisfaction, and only then did she speak. “Yeah, Murong Qing goes to Yueshang House to bully Song Muyun every day. How could I not go.”

“When you go to Yueshang House, do you often run into the Seventh Prince?”

“More than often, I run into him every single day.”

A flash of disgust streaked across Jiang Yao’s eyes. She was thoroughly sick of Murong Qing, always hanging around in front of the female lead.

Then again, Song Muyun disliked him. If he didn’t show his face every day, Song Muyun would have probably long forgotten him.

Jiang Heng nodded at her words, his gaze falling upon the huanghuali¹⁸ table. The mustache by his mouth twitched. “Then do you know why the Seventh Prince wants to torment the Song family’s little girl?”

He always felt that things were not so simple, and even believed that the Song family’s affair was inextricably linked to the Seventh Prince, who always appeared to the outside world like a clear wind and a bright moon¹⁹.

Jiang Yao was close with her father, and there was almost nothing she wouldn’t tell him. She immediately revealed what she knew. “The Seventh Prince once adored Song Muyun and wanted to marry her as a cefei²⁰, but he was rejected by Song Muyun. From then on, he came to resent her and couldn’t stand to see her live well!”

This was all stuff she learned in her dream, so it should be eight or nine parts out of ten²¹ correct. Thinking about it now still made her a bit angry. Is Murong Qing sick in the head?

If you truly like someone, how could you make them a concubine? That’s too outrageous.

The more Jiang Yao thought about it, the more she felt Murong Qing was not a good match. He wasn’t worthy of any woman. What a piece of work.

The corner of Jiang Heng’s mouth twitched. As if in disbelief, he asked again, “You’re saying the Seventh Prince once adored the Song family’s girl and wanted to marry her? Then why would he now imprison her in Yueshang House and torment her in a hundred ways?”

“Didn’t I just say? Murong Qing’s love turned to hate. He felt he lost face²² by being rejected, so he came to hate Song Muyun.”

Although it sounded rather unbelievable, that was the truth.

Jiang Heng fell silent for a moment. The end of his sentence lifted with a hint of doubtful disbelief. “The Seventh Prince is such a narrow-minded person?”

He can’t even stand a little rejection from others?

Jiang Yao silently rolled her eyes. “You’re only just realizing? Why else do you think I curse him out every time? It’s because he’s so asking for it. He’s always putting on an act in front of others, but behind their backs, he’s all cold ridicule and hot satire²³ with me.”

These words contained a good deal of Jiang Yao’s personal conjecture. After all, Murong Qing had always put on an excellent act in public, and since he coveted her father’s prestige in the imperial court, he couldn’t have been more gentle toward her. It was just that she herself felt it was fake; the moment she saw Murong Qing’s smiling face, she felt it was so fake it couldn’t be faker. Finding his pretentiousness annoying, she naturally would often add oil and vinegar²⁴ when speaking ill of him in front of her father.

In the past, Jiang Heng had always just thought of it as kids having small squabbles, just joking around, but now he was starting to believe it.

Perhaps the Seventh Prince really was such a two-faced²⁵, narrow-minded person.

“Dad, why did you suddenly call me here to ask about all this? Have you finally figured it out? Are you going to stop letting Murong Qing into our house from now on?” She had long been unhappy about Murong Qing having unimpeded passage in the Prime Minister Zai’s Residence.

Only then did Jiang Heng look up at her, but his brow furrowed. “Didn’t I tell you? Don’t be so disrespectful of your elders²⁶. You’ll give people a handle for their talk²⁷.”

When her dad got fierce, Jiang Yao shrank her neck and immediately admitted her fault to avoid a lecture.

Then, as if he had gotten the answer he wanted, Jiang Heng started to shoo her away. “It’s getting late, it should be time for your martial arts practice. Go on now.”

Jiang Yao: …

“You only had this to say to your daughter?”

“I was just asking casually. Since you can’t study and insist on practicing martial arts, then hurry up and go. Don’t be neither accomplished in literature nor successful in martial arts²⁸ and lose face for the Jiang family.” He changed the subject, no longer speaking of the Seventh Prince and Song Muyun.

Jiang Yao pouted, then got up crisply, her chin raised slightly as she replied, “I know. Your daughter will go right now. I definitely won’t let people think you, old man, raised a straw bag²⁹.”

She knew her father had his own plans in his heart. Her dad was much smarter than she was; things she couldn’t figure out could always be solved if she handed them over to him, and this time was no different. In the dream, her dad must have been caught off guard and deceived by that dog bastard³⁰ Murong Qing, which is why they fell to such an end. This time, she only needed to give him a small reminder, and her dad would come to his senses. Murong Qing could forget about stepping on the Jiang family to climb higher.

An almost invisible flash of cold air passed through Jiang Yao’s eyes. She listened to her dad and returned to her courtyard to practice her martial arts. The current dynasty did not explicitly prohibit women from becoming officials, it was just very rare. Her dad was preparing to pave a path for her as a military official, so naturally, she couldn’t drop the chain³¹.

After practicing for about a shichen³², Jiang Yao was exhausted. She took a hot bath and lay down on her soft, comfortable bed, falling asleep in no time.

The next day, she got up and, just like usual, went to Yueshang House alone. On the way, she even bought two extra hot baozi³³, wanting to bring them to Song Muyun.

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The author has something to say:

This author cries beautiful tears and shouts: Stop dawdling, go hug Yunyun!

I could have finished writing this earlier, but my auntie³⁴ suddenly came. I don’t know if you all get period cramps, but this is the first time it’s hurt this much for me, I almost threw up. It’s also the first time the pain made me take painkillers, and it still hurt after I took them. My friend actually told me painkillers take two hours to work! Isn’t that trying to kill me QAQ, this chapter was so hard to write, why do people have to get period cramps!

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