Husband, Be A Gentleman Chapter 53

Chapter Fifty-Three

At home Pei Jin reflected about w.a.n.g Fu Mu’s note.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning felt Pei Jin toss and turn on the bed.

‘Pei Jin, are you a cong you bing?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning kicked Pei Jin who was crawling under her inner robe.

‘s.h.i.+ Ning, your temper is worse by the day,’ Pei Jin teased.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning didn’t want to admit Pei Jin was right about her temper.

‘What are you going to do if you can’t tolerate my temper?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

‘Of course I can tolerate your temper,’ Pei Jin said.

Pei Jin knew if he teased Yan s.h.i.+ Ning too much then she would kick him outside their chamber.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning knew Pei Jin was troubled about something otherwise he wouldn’t have trouble sleeping. ‘Pei Jin, what’s wrong? Did something happen in the palace?’

‘s.h.i.+ Ning, what do you think about tenth brother?’ Pei Jin asked.

‘He’s soft, calm and beautiful,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said. ‘At a glance he looks like someone harmless.’

‘What if my harmless tenth brother wants to harm me?’ Pei Jin asked.

‘What?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

Pei Jin explained to Yan s.h.i.+ Ning about w.a.n.g Fu Mu’s note.

‘We didn’t leave a trace at the harvest festival,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said. ‘How did the crown prince know we were involved?’

‘I don’t know why he knows but he wouldn’t want to warn imperial father unless he has evidence,’ Pei Jin said.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning thought perhaps it was her fault that the crown prince found evidence. She slowly recalled everything that happened at the Yan Manor and she suspected the crown prince was involved in Yan s.h.i.+ Ting’s death.

‘Pei Jin, do you remember I told you Yan s.h.i.+ Ting’s death was suspicious?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

Pei Jin nodded his head. He remembered Yan s.h.i.+ Ning wasn’t certain if someone pushed Yan s.h.i.+ Ting into the well or Yan s.h.i.+ Ting accidently fell into the well.

‘s.h.i.+ Ning are you saying that tenth brother killed Yan s.h.i.+ Ting?’ Pei Jin asked.

‘That day Yan s.h.i.+ Ting scared me and I left her in the gardens,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said. ‘A while later her body was found in the well. I remember in the gardens there’s a sculpture. Perhaps the crown prince was hiding behind it that day, overheard what I said to Yan s.h.i.+ Ting and that’s how he knows we were involved in the wedding incident.’

‘s.h.i.+ Ning if your speculations are true then why would tenth brother kill Yan s.h.i.+ Ting?’ Pei Jin asked.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning couldn’t believe someone who looked harmless like the crown prince would push Yan s.h.i.+ Ting into the well. ‘Pei Jin, perhaps my speculations are wrong and the crown prince didn’t kill Yan s.h.i.+ Ting.’

Pei Jin knew Yan s.h.i.+ Ning was frightened that a harmless Pei Lam was capable of heartlessly killing Yan s.h.i.+ Ting. ‘s.h.i.+ Ning, I didn’t want to go see tenth brother but now I need to go see him.’

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning heard the sadness in Pei Jin’s tone. After Bei Dou captured the crown prince, Bei Dou locked the crown prince in a secure place. But Pei Jin never visited the crown prince and she thought perhaps Pei Jin wanted to maintain the small brotherly bond between them.

‘In the past I was reluctant to let Bei Dou deal with the crown prince,’ Pei Jin said. ‘But now I know I was naive. If imperial father found out the truth then three years of firewood collected would be burned within a s.h.i.+chen hour.’

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning was scared Pei Jin’s fear was true and the emperor would kill Pei Jin if the emperor found out the truth.

‘Pei Jin, why does the emperor hate you?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

‘I thought about why for many years,’ Pei Jin said. ‘I even suspected I wasn’t imperial father’s blood son.’

‘Pei Jin, you know that’s not true,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said. ‘If you’re not the emperor’s blood son then you wouldn’t be alive now.’

‘That’s why at the right opportunity I need to ask my imperial father why he hates me,’ Pei Jin said.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning’s heart ached for Pei Jin because it was something that troubled his heart for years.

‘Pei Jin, there’s something else,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said.

‘What?’ Pei Jin asked.

‘Why would w.a.n.g Fu Mu who is the closest person to the emperor pa.s.s a note to you?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked suspiciously.

Pei Jin hesitated to answer.

‘Last time you promised you wouldn’t hide anything else from me!’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said.

‘s.h.i.+ Ning… you didn’t ask me about this so I didn’t lie to you,’ Pei Jin said. ‘s.h.i.+ Ning… I’ll tell you another secret I haven’t told anyone else before.’

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning silently listened to Pei Jin talk about w.a.n.g Fu Mu.

‘When w.a.n.g Fu Mu was a young eunuch he was bullied in the palace,’ Pei Jin said. ‘Like when he was thirteen years old he knocked over a vase and was nearly beaten to death. He used the strength he had left to run and hide in a chamber. Inside the chamber was a young man who pulled out a pill and put it in w.a.n.g Fu Mu’s life. The young man climbed the window after he heard other people chasing after w.a.n.g Fu Mu. The pill w.a.n.g Fu Mu swallowed was a rare pill that protected a person’s qi. It saved w.a.n.g Fu Mu’s life. At that time w.a.n.g Fu Mu didn’t know who his mysterious young savor was. But it motivated w.a.n.g Fu Mu to survive long enough to repay his savor so he slowly built connections in the palace.’

Pei Jin held Yan s.h.i.+ Ning’s hand. ‘Three years later w.a.n.g Fu Mu met his savor again. It was my imperial uncle, Prince Chen Nan who returned to the palace on horseback after conquering Southern Jiang. w.a.n.g Fu Mu didn’t dare to say that he knew the heroic Prince Chen Nan. So imperial uncle didn’t recognise w.a.n.g Fu Mu. Later their fates changed. w.a.n.g Fu Mu crawled into a high position and my imperial uncle’s status slowly diminished. w.a.n.g Fu Mu’s heart ached for his savor. w.a.n.g Fu Mu secretly followed imperial uncle to help imperial uncle at the right opportunity. But he failed to find out imperial father had put a sleeping pill into imperial uncle’s wine cup until after imperial uncle fell off a horse and died.’

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning felt Pei Jin’s sadness.

‘w.a.n.g Fu Mu secretly grieved for imperial uncle’s death while serving imperial father,’ Pei Jin said. ‘w.a.n.g Fu Mu failed to repay imperial uncle for saving his life. But w.a.n.g Fu Mu remembered out of all the emperor’s sons, imperial uncle loved me the most. So w.a.n.g Fu Mu secretly protected me to repay imperial uncle. Imperial father regards w.a.n.g Fu Mu highly because imperial father believes w.a.n.g Fu Mu doesn’t favor any of imperial father’s sons. Even I didn’t know w.a.n.g Fu Mu was secretly protecting me for a long time.’

‘How did you find out?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

‘s.h.i.+ Ning, do you remember the first day I arrived in Xuan Qing?’ Pei Jin asked.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning’s teeth itched while she remembered her pitiful six-year-old self who was bullied by Pei Jin.

‘During that period Consort Chen died,’ Pei Jin said. ‘a.s.sa.s.sins were sent to kill me but w.a.n.g Fu Mu warned me to be careful otherwise I wouldn’t be alive now… like during Consort Chen’s funeral, w.a.n.g Fu Mu warned me to be careful of my food and drinks. The empress sent a bowl of soup to me and I listened to w.a.n.g Fu Mu’s warning. I used a silver needle to test the bowl of soup, it was poisoned. Afterward I looked for w.a.n.g Fu Mu and he told me about how imperial uncle saved his life. Then he advised me to follow my teacher to Xuan Qing on the pretence that I’m grieving for Consort Chen’s death…’

‘Is that why you came to Xuan Qing?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

‘Yes,’ Pei Jin said.

‘Imperial uncle said he was powerless to help you but he helped you a lot,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said.

‘That’s right,’ Pei Jin said. ‘Without imperial uncle then I would have died long ago. I wouldn’t have met you and we wouldn’t have conceived a child together… s.h.i.+ Ning, we can’t hide your pregnancy for much longer.’

‘Why?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

‘Imperial father wants me to follow seventh brother’s example,’ Pei Jin said. ‘Imperial father asked me if he could choose a second wife and concubines for me.’

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning hid the sadness in her heart and smiled. ‘That’s a good suggestion. I think our home is a little cold. If there are more people then it’ll become lively.’

Pei Jin and Yan s.h.i.+ Ning silently looked at each other’s eyes while smiling.

‘Wife, how can you lie this well?’ Pei Jin asked.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning looked innocently at Pei Jin. ‘What I said earlier was sincere.’

Pei Jin’s hands moved closer to Yan s.h.i.+ Ning’s body. ‘Truly?’

‘Yes,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said.

‘s.h.i.+ Ning, why aren’t you scared of being tickled anymore?’ Pei Jin asked.

‘I’m used to you,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said.

Pei Jin frowned, he couldn’t tickle Yan s.h.i.+ Ning to force her to tell the truth.

‘When will we need to tell others I’m pregnant?’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning asked.

‘We’ll wait a little longer to protect our child,’ Pei Jin said.

‘I’ll be more cautious after others know I’m pregnant,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning promised.

Pei Jin hugged Yan s.h.i.+ Ning. ‘s.h.i.+ Ning, don’t worry. I’m here to protect you. When I’m not here I’ll ask my guards to secretly protect you.’

The night sky darkened but Yan s.h.i.+ Ning couldn’t sleep.

Pei Jin remembered Xiao Zai’s confession and his eyes brightened.

‘Wife, tonight we can’t sleep,’ Pei Jin said. ‘Why don’t we do it together?’

‘No,’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said.

‘Yes,’ Pei Jin said.

Pei Jin took off Yan s.h.i.+ Ning’s inner robe and his head crawled under her undergarments.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning felt Pei Jin’s warm mouth suckled her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and her body turned limp.

Pei Jin nibbled Yan s.h.i.+ Ning’s erect nipples.

‘It hurts…’ Yan s.h.i.+ Ning said.

‘s.h.i.+ Ning, does your chest wound hurt?’ Pei Jin asked.

Yan s.h.i.+ Ning blushed and shook her head. ‘You bit too hard.’

‘s.h.i.+ Ning… later I’ll let you bite me,’ Pei Jin said.

End of Chapter Fifty-Three