My Naive Ginseng Spirit Wife and My Cultured, Scheming, Delicate Husband

chapter 41

Chu Chengyun had been smiling ever since he entered the town.

He was the third son of the current emperor, with older brothers above and younger brothers below. Neither by birth order nor by legitimate birthright was he expected to contend for the throne.

No one had ever told him he needed to fight for the dragon throne, and Chu Chengyun had always set his goal on being an idle prince living a carefree life.

Although he was intelligent as a youth and skilled in poetry and prose, he loved having fun more than anything. He only hoped that one day his father would grant him a fiefdom, and he could live freely there.

But things went against his wishes. Several months ago, the emperor's condition worsened, and even the imperial physicians could do nothing. Though no one said it out loud, everyone could see that the emperor's end was near; he had at most two years left to live.

Chu Chengyun noticed that his originally gentle and loving elder brother had become aggressive, and his sweet and obedient younger brothers had started forming cliques.

The former fraternal harmony was overturned overnight. Chu Chengyun had never wanted the throne, and had no interest in fighting for it. Unfortunately, he had long been known as a virtuous man in the court—most of the civil officials were on good terms with him. As a result, among his brothers, some only wanted to win him over, while others wanted to kill him.

In the end, Chu Chengyun used a not-so-clever trick—

He pretended he had become obsessed with painting, spending every day collecting famous calligraphy and paintings, often acting ecstatic or heartbroken over a single piece.

But for a prince, loving paintings was nothing out of the ordinary, and no one thought anything was wrong.

So Chu Chengyun changed his approach, and embarked on a long journey of making trouble for others.

To this end, he burned the prime minister's study, smashed the**'s Buddhist hall, shouted "fish is what I desire" and drained all the carp from the imperial pond, strung them up and roasted them in public...

Whether others saw through his act of feigning madness or not, in the end the emperor named him Prince Duan, granted him a remote fiefdom, allowed him to travel outside the capital with no set time limit—in other words, "do not return to the capital without an imperial summons."

On the surface it was granting him an outpost, but in reality it was just sending him away, getting rid of a troublemaker, so they could be out of sight, out of mind.

To this, the new Prince Duan didn't feel sad at all. Instead, he happily packed his things, brought his princess along, and left the capital that very night, looking quite eager to be gone.

After all, no matter what, he was still an imperial prince. As long as he reached his fiefdom safely, he could fulfill his wish of being a carefree prince, and that would be perfect.

Especially since he got to eat charcoal-grilled carp before leaving, it was delicious, so it was totally worth it.

But Chu Chengyun noticed that his brothers hadn't let him go, and even still sent people to test whether he had really given up competing for the throne, which annoyed Chu Chengyun greatly.

What's more, some ministers in the capital didn't think he was avoiding the fight for the throne. Instead, they believed he was following the example of those historically wronged and endured princes, feigning madness to hide his ambitions. They admired him even more, and letters of surrender came one after another, they couldn't wait to support Chu Chengyun now so they could claim the credit of supporting a new emperor later.

As a result, the more the ministers speculated, the more anxious the other princes became, which made Chu Chengyun start to wonder if these people who lived on their own imaginations were actually crazy.

Especially after he survived poisoned tea, assassinations, honey traps and other dangers, Chu Chengyun kept an even lower profile, he even wished he could become an ordinary commoner and disappear completely.

Let all those brothers, all those ministers, get out of his life.

He had done pretty well recently; it had been almost a month since someone put poison in his food, which finally gave Chu Chengyun the courage to go out and walk around.

The reason he stopped here this time wasn't to avoid anyone, but because he had saved a quite talented young man, they had enjoyed discussing poetry and literature together, and he heard the lanterns here are exceptional, so he planned to come see the excitement.

But unfortunately, he had agreed to come with Qi Ming, but they got separated. According to Ye Pingrong's report, Qi Ming couldn't find them, so he went to a wine shop to wait. Chu Chengyun decided he would meet his friend after watching the lanterns, and just walked around the fair with his princess.

His princess, the Meng clan, was the daughter of the current prime minister, a proper lady from a noble family, the most delicate sort. But now she was willing to leave the capital for Chu Chengyun, and dressed much more low-key.

But Madame Meng still loved beautiful things. When she saw the jade rabbit lantern, she gently asked Chu Chengyun: "Husband, I want to go take a look at it."

Chu Chengyun had also seen the jade rabbit lantern, and hearing Madame Meng's words, he agreed immediately. The two walked together towards the stall.

Coincidentally, Qi Yun had also just said goodbye to Manager Sun, and arrived at the stall with Ye Jiao.

The two couples arrived almost at the same time, but they didn't look at each other, both were looking at the lanterns.

Chu Chengyun spoke first: "Is this lantern for sale?"

The stall owner was a middle-aged man with a mustache. He heard the question and answered with a smile: "Sir, this lantern is not for sale. But you can win it by luck."

That's interesting. Chu Chengyun looked curious: "What kind of luck?"

The stall owner pointed to the box in front of him, and said with a smile: "For ten copper coins you can draw one ball from inside. The balls are different colors. If it's black, you get nothing. If it's any other color, you can take the corresponding prize."

Hearing this, Chu Chengyun couldn't help saying: "Isn't this just guanpu?"

Ye Jiao was standing not far away, also looking at the lantern. Hearing this new term, she asked Qi Yun quietly: "What is guanpu?"

Second Young Master Qi, bundled up like a ball of fur, had just finished his conversation with Manager Sun, and was standing diagonally behind Ye Jiao. Hearing the question, he lowered his head slightly and answered: "It's a game where you throw a handful of copper coins on the table, and you win or lose based on how many land with the reverse side up."

It sounds like just a game, but when it involves money, the nature is different.

But the stall owner was not afraid of Chu Chengyun's question, and said confidently: "Every year from the first to the third day of the first lunar month you can play this little game. As long as each round doesn't exceed fifty copper coins, it's allowed by the court." After saying that, the stall owner asked Chu Chengyun with a smile, "Sir, would you like to try?"

Madame Meng heard that this was a gambling game, so she tugged Chu Chengyun's sleeve and said softly: "Maybe we shouldn't."

But Chu Chengyun loved to have fun. Instead, he excitedly gave the stall owner fifty copper coins and said: "Okay, I'll try five times first."

The stall owner took the money with a smile, and placed the box in front of Chu Chengyun.

Chu Chengyun reached his hand in, stirred the balls around, and pulled one out.

Black ball.

Madame Meng quickly comforted him, but Chu Chengyun didn't care, and continued to draw.

Black ball, black ball, black ball...

Ye Jiao stared at them for a while, then her eyes turned back to the jade rabbit lantern. She wanted it, but didn't know how to ask for it.

This man drew five times, all black balls. It didn't look like this game was easy to win.

Little ginseng thought for a long time, but couldn't think of a good way.

At this moment, Ye Pingrong, who had been following behind Chu Chengyun the whole way, stepped forward. He didn't disturb Chu Chengyun, just gently opened his arms, as if blocking the surrounding onlookers from getting too close.

But just then, Ye Pingrong's eyes unconsciously glanced to the side, then, for the first time he moved his gaze away from Chu Chengyun, and fixed it on the woman wearing the red cape.

He recognized this cape—it was the same woman he met on the street last time.

Back then it was just a glimpse, he vaguely felt she looked a bit like his little sister, but he only got a rough look at her features, couldn't see anything else clearly.

But looking closely now, those eyebrows, that mouth, that face—this is definitely the same person!

Ye Pingrong was shocked in his heart, looking at the done-up hair bun on Ye Jiao, and thought: Is my little sister really married? But why is she alone on the street today? Today is the second day of the new year, it's supposed to be the day married daughters return to their parents' home. Why isn't my second brother with her?

Clearly, the eldest Ye son had completely ignored the second Qi son bundled up like a fur ball right behind Ye Jiao.

He wanted to ask Ye Jiao, but since his prince was in the middle of having fun, Ye Pingrong decided to wait and see what happened.

And this entire train of thought couldn't be seen at all on Captain Ye's face; he still looked calm and stern, as still as a mountain.

Just then, Chu Chengyun asked: "Is the biggest prize here that lantern?"

The stall owner nodded: "Yes, it is."

Chu Chengyun had already added several more rounds. He looked at the twenty black balls laid out in front of him, pulled off his money pouch: "Name your price, I'll buy it."

Madame Meng was stunned, then couldn't help but smile, but she still blocked Chu Chengyun's hand.

She was happy that her prince wanted to buy the lantern for her, but Madame Meng knew that even if she gave the money, the stall owner wouldn't easily sell the lantern.

That jade rabbit lantern was supposed to be the stall owner's way of attracting customers, how could he just give it up so easily?

If he sold it, what would he use to attract people to play the game for the next few days?

Sure enough, the stall owner smiled and didn't take the money, instead talked about something else. When his eyes landed on Ye Jiao, the stall owner took the initiative to say: "This madam looks like she likes it too, would you like to give it a try?"

"Me?" Ye Jiao didn't expect he would ask her, and subconsciously looked at Qi Yun.

Qi Yun nodded at her. This little prize game is like ring toss, just for fun, there's nothing wrong with playing a round.

Qi Yun had already thought that even if she didn't win anything, it didn't matter. There were lantern sellers not far away, he could just buy one for his Jiao Niang.

So Ye Jiao walked over. She looked at the box, then looked at Chu Chengyun's twenty black balls, hesitated a little, and said: "I'll try five times."

The stall owner just wanted to change the subject, so he was happy to have another customer. He immediately took fifty copper coins with a smile, and passed the box to her.

Chu Chengyun stood to the side, holding Madame Meng's hand, and didn't pay attention to Ye Jiao. He was just thinking about how much money it would take to get the stall owner to sell him the lantern.

But just then, he heard the stall owner's surprised voice: "A yellow ball! A pair of clay figurines!"

...Huh?

Chu Chengyun looked at Ye Jiao in surprise, Ye Pingrong also froze slightly, and Qi Yun's eyes also fixed on Ye Jiao.

To be honest, after Chu Chengyun didn't win once in twenty tries, Qi Yun was convinced that the stall owner had stuffed hundreds of black balls into the box, with only a few colored ones inside. But now... how did she win one on the first draw?

But Ye Jiao just put the yellow ball aside. She didn't like clay figurines, so she didn't even look at it twice, and stretched her slender white hand into the box again.

When she pulled her hand back, there was a blue ball in it.

You could already hear the stall owner's stunned voice: "Thi... a blue ball! A ceramic ornament!"

Little ginseng blinked, and stretched her hand in again.

"G...green ball! This, a brush rack..." The stall owner's voice stuttered. After giving out this prize, he picked up the box and shook it, afraid that he had just accidentally grouped all the colored balls together.

But Ye Jiao didn't reach in again this time. She asked the stall owner in a soft voice: "What color ball do you need for the lantern?"

The stall owner turned his head to check the note taped to the bottom of the lantern, then answered: "Red."

Ye Jiao nodded. She didn't think it was strange that she kept winning. She just asked to make sure the stall owner wasn't cheating her, because it would be wrong if he could just change what color corresponds to what prize as he liked.

For little ginseng, back when she ate dumplings, she just wanted dumplings, so she didn't care about anything else.

It's the same this time. She only wanted the lantern, so all the other prizes didn't matter to Ye Jiao.

But she didn't notice that the surroundings had gone quiet by now.

Reach in, pull it out.

Ye Jiao opened her palm, snuck a peek first, then the stall owner, who also saw it, directly sat down on the ground. Ye Jiao couldn't help making a sound of surprise, and finally a smile appeared on her face.

And resting in her jade-like palm, lay a bright red ball, quiet and still.