This Young Master attempted to start the runaway wife arc.
Translation Checker: jellypeaches
Editor: jellypeaches, Dobhsh
Meng Huan asked, “What are you doing?”
“This servant was checking the affairs in the compound and found that madam’s yard was not adequately clean, so I thought to say a few words.” Xu Fanggu said, all smiles, “I hope I didn’t disturb madam’s refined appetite.”
She raised her eyes, and the servant girl beside her got the message. She pulled out a disciplining ruler and smacked Feng Zhi’s palm repeatedly. “This is for slacking! This is for not doing your work!”
Feng Zhi was on her knees with her ear pinched and twisted until it was red.
“Don’t think you can be arrogant after climbing up a high branch. Aren’t you fully aware of what kind of scum origin you’re from?!”
Meng Huan walked over and pushed the hands away. “What high branch has she climbed?”
“Madam’s high branch, of course.”
Meng Huan argued, “Then how is her origin scum?”
“How could a servant not be scum?” Xu Fanggu asked.
Meng Huan turned his head and looked at her, perplexed. “Are you not a servant as well?”
When she heard this, Xu Fanggu wasn’t the least bit dissatisfied. Instead, she smiled, and the maids and servants around her also smiled. “This maid is indeed a servant. However, servant status is also divided into higher and lower ranks. It’s only natural for a higher-ranking servant to punish a lower-ranking servant. Otherwise, this mansion would become a place without order.”
If they were arguing in terms of social order, Meng Huan was outmatched. He pulled Feng Zhi up from the ground and said solemnly, “If you need to discipline her, then do so. Why swear at her as well? Feng Zhi, don’t listen to them. You are not scum.”
With a red, tearful face, Feng Zhi shook her head. “Madam…that’s not it.”
“What’s not it?”
Feng Zhi shed more tears. “When they say scum, they’re talking about madam.”
There was a moment of silence.
Something seemed to buzz in Meng Huan’s brain. He slowly raised his head and looked at Xu Fanggu. “So it turns out you were cursing at me for climbing His Royal Highness’s high branch and having scum origins??”
The core of irony is what’s left unsaid; if explained directly, then it’s no longer as impactful. If she really had to confront Meng Huan, she wouldn’t be able to do it with a smile, with the corners of her mouth still aching from the strain. “Madam, this servant did not mean it like that.”
Meng Huan looked puzzled. “His Royal Highness truly is a high branch, but how am I of scum origin?”
“Is there anything lower than the Imperial Music Office?” A servant girl behind Xu Fanggu murmured.
This was a testament to the sheer number of people in the compound. In a scant few days, the servants had stripped Meng Huan down to his bare bones. They thought he was some young master of a rich family, but it turned out he was just the son of a criminal official sent to the Imperial Music Office. No wonder His Royal Highness refused to touch him.
“Just being from the Imperial Music Office makes me scum?” First of all, Meng Huan didn’t have this kind of concept or understanding. Secondly, in his opinion, the original host was a good person. “If that’s really true, you should ask His Royal Highness why he took a fancy to someone from there and if he should be called scum too for liking someone of scum status.”
Xu Fanggu replied, grumbling, “Madam is a concubine, so don’t lump His Royal Highness with the likes of you.”
“Why is it that when I mention His Royal Highness, you become angry?” Meng Huan showed a puzzled look. “It can’t be that you fancy him?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Madam?” Xu Fanggu’s demeanor changed suddenly.
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The color of Xu Fanggu’s face changed from red to white. “How can this servant have a problem with madam?”
Meng Huan said, dismissing her, “Then you can leave.”
Xu Fanggu smiled, saluted, and soon left.
Looking at their departing backs, Meng Huan flattened his lips, feeling his mood was ruined and his appetite gone. He really couldn’t understand what these people came here to do. Looking down at Feng Zhi’s ear, it had been twisted so hard that it was bright red.
In times like this, Meng Huan wished he could be a big villain like Lin Bozhou, but he wasn’t. Running to the side room, he comforted, “Let me get some ointment for you.”
Feng Zhi sobbed with her head down, looking greatly distressed. It was also Meng Huan’s first time encountering such a situation. “You and others are going to be bullied by her for staying with me; does that upset you?”
Feng Zhi replied, “Not at all. They’re to blame for acting like everyone’s beneath them.”
A-Qing, another maid, rubbed the ointment for her and huffed, “Head Steward Xu’s people feel that other than His Royal Highness, they’re the masters of the compound. Xu Fanggu is always accompanied by a group of servant girls and male servants, which only boosts her arrogance. She picks on anyone who is not to her liking, giving them either a face slap or corporal punishment. The others are too afraid of their authority to speak up.”
Meng Huan sighed and sat back in his chair. “So hostile.”
“Only when His Royal Highness is too busy with the country’s affairs to check on the matters in the compound do they begin to act like this.” A-Qing said, “Madam, you must be careful; I’m afraid they might not let this go.”
“Is that so?”
Meng Huan didn’t really take it to heart. After lunch, he continued drawing in the yard. When dinner was served, Feng Zhi raised her chopsticks and stirred the dishes, commenting, “Why does the food not look fresh?”
A-Qing fanned her nose and complained, “Why does it smell sour? Are these leftovers?”
Meng Huan approached with a frown, picked up a ladle, stirred a few times, then scooped out a dead cockroach. Its antennae were coated with oil.
“Did they do this on purpose?” Meng Huan let go of the ladle.
Feng Zhi was at her limit. “This servant will inform His Royal Highness this instant.”
Meng Huan shouted, “Wait.”
“Madam, what’s wrong?”
“…” It was hard for Meng Huan to explain. What he wanted from his stay in the compound was different from other people’s expectations. He didn’t want to compete for favors and was very eager for Lin Bozhou to forget about him. If he were to complain now, would that not make his presence known to him once more?
Meng Huan answered slowly, “It’s really not a big deal. Don’t we also have a kitchen in the courtyard? Since they didn’t want to bring us food, we’ll cook our own food.”
He had money anyway.
Feng Zhi and A-Qing could only nod. “As you wish, madam.”
Meng Huan was relieved. Sure enough, money made the world spin, and having money was the same as having everything.
While watching the maids work in the yard, there was a loud knock at the door.
A male servant asked, “Is madam here?”
When Meng Huan went to answer, the servant bowed, standing in the dark. “There’s a letter addressed to madam.”
A letter?
At the mention of a letter, a loud thump sounded in Meng Huan’s head. Lu Nanxing again? He hurriedly stored the letter in his pocket, murmuring his thanks, and looked around, making sure no one saw it.
Opening the letter with his sweaty fingers, it wrinkled from his nervousness and sweat. Hiding it from plain sight with his body, Meng Huan approached the light to read it.
“&%￥#2!(&%￥￥*+￥#@)…”
He furrowed his brow.
Isn’t Lu Nanxing’s handwriting a little too sloppy, like chicken scratch?
Behind him, A-Qing brought in the dishes and announced, “Madam, the food is ready.”
Meng Huan hastily put away the letter. “Coming!”
Sitting in the yard, Feng Zhi calculated their spending budget. “Madam, if we don’t eat food from the main kitchen, we’ll need to entrust someone to source our food from the outside. I’ll keep track of the expenses, and we can pay them monthly. Sounds good?”
Meng Huan agreed, “Yes, that sounds good.”
With only the letter in his mind, he nervously clenched the chopsticks in his hand and slowly asked after a moment, “Feng Zhi, how much money do I have left?”
“Thirty-two taels.”
Meng Huan asked cautiously, “Is there enough to hire a tutor?”
“Enough. Madam, this is for…?”
“…”
Meng Huan took a deep breath. “I want to learn how to read and write.”
–
That night, the content of the letter finally got the better of Meng Huan as he went to find the male servant who had helped him read it last time.
The servant entered, looking uncomfortable the moment he saw him.
Meng Huan coughed, “Come help me read a letter.”
The servant kneeled instantly. “Madam…” Was the madam still not aware that he had ratted him out?
He trembled and stuttered, “Madam, this lowly one does not dare participate in these matters and also does not dare to read the letter…”
Meng Huan pulled out a bracelet.
The servant quietly accepted the bracelet and the letter at the same time, thinking to himself. Why has His Royal Highness not dealt with this daring assassin?
“Read it.” Meng Huan urged.
The servant went to the lamp and inspected the letter in his hands. He thought that reading about the assassination of the Prince Regent wouldn’t make him tremble again. Never did he think that his hands would still shake at the sight of this letter.
“What does the letter say?” Meng Huan looked at him.
The servant took a deep breath and simplified, “The letter first expresses yearning and care for madam, before asking whether you have made progress in the assassination of His Royal Highness or obtained any valuable information. At the end, it asks if you have the chance to leave the compound and meet up in three days’ time. The location is Li’s Restaurant on Anhe Lane, Dongsheng Street.”
When listening, Meng Huan frowned deeply. But afterward, his brows smoothed.
On one hand, he felt that Lu Nanxing’s demands of him were outrageous, but on the other hand, he suddenly found himself with the option of escaping from the compound.
He put away the letter, looked up at the servant, and said, “Keep this a secret and don’t share it with anyone. I may require your assistance again in the future.”
“…”
The servant said, “Thanking madam’s generosity.”
Once outside the courtyard, the servant didn’t hesitate to go straight to Lin Bozhou’s resting quarters.
–
In the brightly lit bedchamber, Lin Bozhou had just returned from the imperial city. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. Raising the hem of his robes, he dipped his feet into a wooden bucket.
The eunuch, who was at his service, settled the man’s feet in the hot water while adding some medicinal herbs that were known to relieve fatigue and promote good health. Then he massaged the soles of the feet, right on the pressure points.
The only sound in the room, apart from the water, was Shan Xing’s smooth voice reciting the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance.
After reading, Shan Xing closed the book. “Your Royal Highness, we received the governor of Zhezhi’s reply today, saying that food is being bought from merchants, government officials, and nobles. After collecting thirty ships’ worth, they will transport it to Huanghuai. They ask you not to worry.”
At the mention of a letter, Lin Bozhou tapped his forehead and thought of something. “How is madam doing these days?”
“According to the servants, madam is either painting in his courtyard or at various waterside pavilions.”
After saying this, Shan Xing remembered something. “Also, madam seems to be looking for a tutor to teach him how to read and write.”
“Mmm?” Lin Bozhou raised his eyes.
At the door, a servant entered. “Your Royal Highness, this lowly one requests an audience.”
This was the same servant who helped Meng Huan read the letter. He came in and knelt on the ground.
Shan Xing was gleeful. “Oh, so that’s the reason.”
Lin Bozhou tried not to smile. “What’s in the letter this time?”
The servant recited the contents of the letter.
As the candlelight flickered, the atmosphere was somewhat quiet. Lin Bozhou was tapping his fingers on the back of his chair, as if savoring the contents of the letter. After a while, he said, “All right, finding a tutor to teach him how to read and write isn’t a bad idea.”
However, Shan Xing’s attention was on the second half of the letter. “Your Royal Highness, do you think madam will really slip out to meet this person?”
To put it seriously, this was a premeditated assassination of Lin Bozhou.
To put it mildly, this was the tryst of a married man.
Lin Bozhou gently ceased his tapping, creating an audible final tap, and pressed his fingers on the surface of the chair. The next order carried a bit of chill.
“This Regent wants a close eye to be kept on the compound gates.”
The author has something to say:
Huan-bao: Loading the story of a runaway wife…
Lin Bozhou: [interrupting] Loading failed.
I’m honestly getting so flabbergasted at the fact that Meng Huan isn’t suspecting that a certain someone is ratting him out T^T
Thanks for the chapter!
He still doesn’t know how this world works. Funny and stupid, it makes me worry.
So funny. Poor boy being picked on and attacked through food
That Xu girl… So Stupidly arrogant. Ay, her lucky days are finished by herself.
Huanhuan you naive little chicken aaaaa. But it’s better that Lin Bozhou is aware of huanhuan’s movements. I’m too worried if he actually managed to runaway only to be tricked/captured by bad guys =v=;
Lin Bozhou probably feels the same way at this point 🤣
But now, if anything, he has an excuse to escape: his servants offend him, and his husband does not care
Thank you very much for the translation 💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝💝
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
Aaaah, so bad, so bad
Thank You for the new chapter ( ˘͈ ᵕ ˘͈♡)˚๐*˟ ♡
DANG IT T_T it was getting good😮💨
SOOO CUTE THANK U 4 THE CHAPTERS
❤️❤️❤️