Due to her anger, Yan Ge's face was somewhat red.
Although she was no belle, she had a lofty and unyielding character that was difficult for a belle to achieve. Even though her facial features were not gentle, in Emperor Yuan’s eyes, she was a beauty that was hard to come by.
It might be that he had grown accustomed to those cosmetic beauties in the harem, so he would have such a mind for the unusual woman.
Emperor Yuan treated this matter very transparently. He knew that Yan Ge held an attraction for him she could risk her life for, and so he had no intention of letting her out of the palace.
He was an emperor and he was accustomed to power. Even if his intentions were not strong, he would not allow himself to let go of the things he wanted.
In the second game, Yan Ge was able to recover her prestige and lost by half a piece.
"Keep going!" Yan Ge’s seemed to see hope, and her voice was a little excited.
Emperor Yuan knew the time was not early. She was injured and had not yet recovered her health due to the overbearing poison. Waving his hand, he let the palace servants clean up the chessboard.
He stood up and ruffled Yan Ge's hair in appeasement: "Tomorrow, Zhen[I] will accompany you to another game tomorrow."
Yan Ge's hair was jet-black and the quality was good. As Emperor Yuan kept rubbing it, he felt his sister’s little cat’s fur was inferior compared to her hair.
Yan Ge is just a tree charmer1. In layman's terms, she is a tree demon2.
What did trees fear the most? The wind completely blowing their foliage away.
Although she had lived for thousands of years and had since broken away from her original tree form, her nature remained.
As soon as the Emperor Yuan rubbed her hair, she felt like he had clutched her leaves and rubbed up all her ’hairs’.
"Hey, hey, Blockhead, what is wrong with you?" Ji Zai promptly spoke up to pull the blackening Yan Ge away from the chaos: "What are losing your mind for? You’re a human right now, not a tree, yet you’re still scared of being rubbed? You won’t go bald even if his hand breaks from rubbing!”
Yan Ge's stiff expression was shyness in Emperor Yuan's eyes.
He reluctantly stopped after rubbing her head two more times.
His obsession was growing stronger. He felt that Yan Ge’s matter should be dealt with as soon as possible after the coming of age ceremony: "Go to bed early, Zhen’s[I’m] leaving."
Yan Ge nodded ‘obediently’. If this guy doesn't leave, she doesn’t think she’ll be able to bear it.
Dangit, I was going to shave him any minute, and let him have a taste of baldness.
Ji Zai spread its wings and fluttered them to placate Yan Ge: “Don’t be scared, come to baby’s arms."
The Yan Ge that always had a poisonous tongue in front of Ji Zai was extremely frustrated and aggrieved at this moment: "I hate others touching my head the most."
She couldn’t stand it at all.
"Baby knows you’ve been wronged." Ji Zai knew the tree’s pet peeve. It stifled the urge to laugh and kept on consoling her like an elder: "Come here, baby will give you a hug of love."
Yan Ge rolled her eyes at this unhinged chicken and allowed the palace servants to help her lie down on the bed.
That night, Yan Ge had a terrible dream. She dreamt that all the leaves on her trees were wiped out and she became a bald tree from then on.
The dream was horrible. It was even worse than a nightmare.
After Yan Ge woke up, the pain from the nightmare lingered. She felt the only way to put an end to it was to cut off the claw Emperor Yuan used to rub her hair.
The next day was Emperor Yuan’s coming of age ceremony.
Before dawn, he was dressed up and worshipped in the ancestral hall, and after dusk, he spoke to envoys from various nations at the banquet. All the arrangements for the day were completed and by the time the music ended and the guests left, Emperor Yuan was so drunk he did not know the way back.
The eunuchs asked him where he was going.
As he sat in the carriage, his eyes looked about at a loss.
Where was he going?
1 Charmer (魅—mèi): A type of legendary ghost known for attracting people’s affection. I translated this as 'demon' in chapter 3, but I needed to use another word to distinguish it from the '妖' demon discussed in the next footnote.
2 Demon (妖—yāo): General term for organisms (living or otherwise) that can develop a spirit after cultivating. So, a jewel or a book can be a ‘demon’ with enough time.
Due to her anger, Yan Ge's face was somewhat red.
Although she was no belle, she had a lofty and unyielding character that was difficult for a belle to achieve. Even though her facial features were not gentle, in Emperor Yuan’s eyes, she was a beauty that was hard to come by.
It might be that he had grown accustomed to those cosmetic beauties in the harem, so he would have such a mind for the unusual woman.
Emperor Yuan treated this matter very transparently. He knew that Yan Ge held an attraction for him she could risk her life for, and so he had no intention of letting her out of the palace.
He was an emperor and he was accustomed to power. Even if his intentions were not strong, he would not allow himself to let go of the things he wanted.
In the second game, Yan Ge was able to recover her prestige and lost by half a piece.
"Keep going!" Yan Ge’s seemed to see hope, and her voice was a little excited.
Emperor Yuan knew the time was not early. She was injured and had not yet recovered her health due to the overbearing poison. Waving his hand, he let the palace servants clean up the chessboard.
He stood up and ruffled Yan Ge's hair in appeasement: "Tomorrow, Zhen[I] will accompany you to another game tomorrow."
Yan Ge's hair was jet-black and the quality was good. As Emperor Yuan kept rubbing it, he felt his sister’s little cat’s fur was inferior compared to her hair.
Yan Ge is just a tree charmer1. In layman's terms, she is a tree demon2.
What did trees fear the most? The wind completely blowing their foliage away.
Although she had lived for thousands of years and had since broken away from her original tree form, her nature remained.
As soon as the Emperor Yuan rubbed her hair, she felt like he had clutched her leaves and rubbed up all her ’hairs’.
"Hey, hey, Blockhead, what is wrong with you?" Ji Zai promptly spoke up to pull the blackening Yan Ge away from the chaos: "What are losing your mind for? You’re a human right now, not a tree, yet you’re still scared of being rubbed? You won’t go bald even if his hand breaks from rubbing!”
Yan Ge's stiff expression was shyness in Emperor Yuan's eyes.
He reluctantly stopped after rubbing her head two more times.
His obsession was growing stronger. He felt that Yan Ge’s matter should be dealt with as soon as possible after the coming of age ceremony: "Go to bed early, Zhen’s[I’m] leaving."
Yan Ge nodded ‘obediently’. If this guy doesn't leave, she doesn’t think she’ll be able to bear it.
Dangit, I was going to shave him any minute, and let him have a taste of baldness.
Ji Zai spread its wings and fluttered them to placate Yan Ge: “Don’t be scared, come to baby’s arms."
The Yan Ge that always had a poisonous tongue in front of Ji Zai was extremely frustrated and aggrieved at this moment: "I hate others touching my head the most."
She couldn’t stand it at all.
"Baby knows you’ve been wronged." Ji Zai knew the tree’s pet peeve. It stifled the urge to laugh and kept on consoling her like an elder: "Come here, baby will give you a hug of love."
Yan Ge rolled her eyes at this unhinged chicken and allowed the palace servants to help her lie down on the bed.
That night, Yan Ge had a terrible dream. She dreamt that all the leaves on her trees were wiped out and she became a bald tree from then on.
The dream was horrible. It was even worse than a nightmare.
After Yan Ge woke up, the pain from the nightmare lingered. She felt the only way to put an end to it was to cut off the claw Emperor Yuan used to rub her hair.
The next day was Emperor Yuan’s coming of age ceremony.
Before dawn, he was dressed up and worshipped in the ancestral hall, and after dusk, he spoke to envoys from various nations at the banquet. All the arrangements for the day were completed and by the time the music ended and the guests left, Emperor Yuan was so drunk he did not know the way back.
The eunuchs asked him where he was going.
As he sat in the carriage, his eyes looked about at a loss.
Where was he going?
1 Charmer (魅—mèi): A type of legendary ghost known for attracting people’s affection. I translated this as 'demon' in chapter 3, but I needed to use another word to distinguish it from the '妖' demon discussed in the next footnote.
2 Demon (妖—yāo): General term for organisms (living or otherwise) that can develop a spirit after cultivating. So, a jewel or a book can be a ‘demon’ with enough time.
