On Mo Xiu Yao's birthday, Ye Li gave him the clothes that she had spent quite some time on as a gift. Of course, given a not so good impression of Fair Lady Lake and the guess that Mo Xiu Yao had a girl of his heart, Ye Li didn’t took Hua Tian Xiang's suggestion to invite him on a boating trip. Though she was indeed curious about this girl of his heart since he barely stepped out of the manor all year round. And why did he marry her since he had a girl of his heart or did he fall for her after they were married? Neither thought cheered her up since she wasn't sure which one made her more unfortunate, getting married as an excuse or being cheated on in less than a month into her marriage? Therefore, their relationship went back to a primary state the same as the days when they were first married which puzzled the whole manor. Or put it more accurately, she was distancing herself from him. Was there a quarrel? The servants wondered. But it didn't seem they had a quarrel since they acted calmly around each other.
Mo Xiu Yao certainly knew that Ye Li was drifting apart from him without a trace. Not exactly drifting apart from him, but trying to let their relationship go back the state of the first few days of their marriage without a trace which didn’t quite work out. Not only because he had found that out, but mamas who were usually around Ye Li and Sun mama who was normally busy did, too. For the time being, he had not figured out why she did that. It seemed... to start in the afternoon that Yang Qian Ru brought him his birthday gift. When he was alone in the study, Mo Xiu Yao was lost in his thought. He didn't think Ye Li was angry about Yang Qian Ru since they both knew it was nothing, besides, given Ye Li's personality, she wouldn't feel wronged because of Yang Qian Ru. Then... was it because of their conversation? Mo Xiu Yao held a book in his hand but didn't have the mind to read it. Instead, he recalled every sentence of that day’s conversation silently...
When he was lost in his thought in the study, Ye Li already changed into men's clothes and went out with Qing Luan and Qing Shuang. Being Princess Ding meant she would draw attention to herself wherever she went so she followed common practice and learned to dress up in disguise. Fortunately, her skills to disguise herself was good enough. Of course, it was nothing near a skin mask but only making little changes to her skin color, brows and other features plus taking care of details such as Adam's apple and pierced ears which made her a good-looking young man with slightly dark skin. Besides, since she wasn’t as delicate as women of this era, those who didn’t know her well could hardly tell it was her in disguise. So, in Qing Luan and Qing Xia's surprised looks, Ye Li left them to deal with accounts in Treasure Pavilion when she herself went out as bold as brass waving a folding fan that she picked up along the way.
Two secret guards who were following her felt sorry for His Highness. What kind of woman did he marry? If it wasn’t for the fact that they had fixed their eyes on the princess this whole time and saw that good-looking young man walk out while checking briefly inside cautiously, they would have lost trace of her. They were the best secret guards of Prince Ding’s Manor. How would they have the face to stay as secret guards if they lost her tracks? They would end up directly back in the army and start to retrain again. But...look at the young man who walked at ease in front of them…
No.3, does he look like a woman?
I can't tell, No.4.
Ever since she could practice martial arts openly without restraint, Ye Li felt she hated her old lifestyle more. Pretending was just pretending, after all. She never had the disposition of a noble lady in her but she wasn’t anywhere near lively or active either. She also had need for normal hobbies and entertainment like everyone else did. As to Mo Xiu Yao, she left that behind after she pondered over it for two or three days. She could accept it if he did have someone of his heart and decide to break up with her. Anyway, she would be rich. She believed he wouldn't be mean about her allowance. But that put a stop to developing affections and a plan for a baby. She didn’t like to have a baby with him knowing that he loved someone else. Having made up her mind on that gave her more spare time so she decided to go out more. Married women were allowed to go out.
“No.3, where is the princess going?” Secret Guard No.4 who was following her quietly asked secretly.
“How would I know? It seems the princess wants to get out of town.” Secret Guard No.3 answered.
“I’ve heard that His Highness and the princess are in a quarrel. Do you think she’s going to run away from home?” It suddenly occurred to Secret Guard No.4 that Secret Guard No.1 and No.2 had mentioned that something was wrong between His Highness and the princess for the past few days when they changed shifts.
“Well... perhaps not?” Secret Guard No.3 hesitated. “How about I follow the princess and you go back and report to His Highness?”
“Can you stop her if she’s really running away from home? What if you lose track of her?” Though they hadn't fought the princess themselves and wasn't sure about her martial skills, they knew hers was more than those showy but not practical martial arts.
“Well... we already lost her!” Secret Guard No.3 cursed. How was the princess gone as soon as they were out of the capital? Was it because they were too focused on their talk?
“Stop wasting your breath and look for her!” Two secret guards emerged from their hidden place and searched for the princess. Though they were careful not to get too close to her, they weren’t far away from her either. The princess couldn’t have gone far in such a short time.
Ye Li sat on a branch and looked down at the two secret guards who were jabbering. They chose their hidden places wisely but were a little nerdy. “Well...you never look up, do you?”
They looked awkwardly at the good-looking young man who was leaning on the tree trunk. That was because Prince Ding's Manor never had a princess who was able to climb trees. Besides, we didn’t even hear a breath hanging behind the tree all this time. “My... My Lady...” They felt embarrassed and decided to get back to the army when the day ended. They were unqualified as secret guards. They would retrain themselves.
Ye Li jumped down gracefully and landed before them. “You’ve been doing well.”
“My Lady, we don't deserve it.”
“I wasn't planning to run away.” She looked at the nervous secret guards with a smile.
Secret Guard No.3 let out a sigh of relief secretly and asked carefully: “Then... why are you out of town, My Lady?”
“I just want to see how long you can follow me.” She smiled and nodded with praise: “In general, you did well. But it would be better if you can control your eyes. I can’t pretend that I didn't know about you guys one mile away fron Treasure Pavilion.”
“Thank you for your teachings, My Lady.” Was that a praise, being found out in a distance less than a mile?
Ye Li looked at the two frustrated secret guards happily and said: “You can follow me, but... you won’t tell anyone what I’m doing, will you?”
The two secret guards were overjoyed at this unexpected turn. “Thank you very much, My Lady. We two and another two have been your secret guards since His Highness and My Lady got married. We won't tell anyone besides His Highness anything about you unless you are in danger.” Secret Guard No.4 explained.
Ye Li nodded. Mo Xiu Yao had told her about the secret guards of Prince Ding’s Manor. Over the past few days she was sure that those guards indeed never told him anything about her. But it wasn’t a big deal if they did since everything she let them see wasn't secret to be exact.
“Well, I could use some help. Come with me.”
Secret Guard No.3 and No.4 gazed at each other helplessly. Didn't they tell her they were “secret” guards?
On Mo Xiu Yao's birthday, Ye Li gave him the clothes that she had spent quite some time on as a gift. Of course, given a not so good impression of Fair Lady Lake and the guess that Mo Xiu Yao had a girl of his heart, Ye Li didn’t took Hua Tian Xiang's suggestion to invite him on a boating trip. Though she was indeed curious about this girl of his heart since he barely stepped out of the manor all year round. And why did he marry her since he had a girl of his heart or did he fall for her after they were married? Neither thought cheered her up since she wasn't sure which one made her more unfortunate, getting married as an excuse or being cheated on in less than a month into her marriage? Therefore, their relationship went back to a primary state the same as the days when they were first married which puzzled the whole manor. Or put it more accurately, she was distancing herself from him. Was there a quarrel? The servants wondered. But it didn't seem they had a quarrel since they acted calmly around each other.
Mo Xiu Yao certainly knew that Ye Li was drifting apart from him without a trace. Not exactly drifting apart from him, but trying to let their relationship go back the state of the first few days of their marriage without a trace which didn’t quite work out. Not only because he had found that out, but mamas who were usually around Ye Li and Sun mama who was normally busy did, too. For the time being, he had not figured out why she did that. It seemed... to start in the afternoon that Yang Qian Ru brought him his birthday gift. When he was alone in the study, Mo Xiu Yao was lost in his thought. He didn't think Ye Li was angry about Yang Qian Ru since they both knew it was nothing, besides, given Ye Li's personality, she wouldn't feel wronged because of Yang Qian Ru. Then... was it because of their conversation? Mo Xiu Yao held a book in his hand but didn't have the mind to read it. Instead, he recalled every sentence of that day’s conversation silently...
When he was lost in his thought in the study, Ye Li already changed into men's clothes and went out with Qing Luan and Qing Shuang. Being Princess Ding meant she would draw attention to herself wherever she went so she followed common practice and learned to dress up in disguise. Fortunately, her skills to disguise herself was good enough. Of course, it was nothing near a skin mask but only making little changes to her skin color, brows and other features plus taking care of details such as Adam's apple and pierced ears which made her a good-looking young man with slightly dark skin. Besides, since she wasn’t as delicate as women of this era, those who didn’t know her well could hardly tell it was her in disguise. So, in Qing Luan and Qing Xia's surprised looks, Ye Li left them to deal with accounts in Treasure Pavilion when she herself went out as bold as brass waving a folding fan that she picked up along the way.
Two secret guards who were following her felt sorry for His Highness. What kind of woman did he marry? If it wasn’t for the fact that they had fixed their eyes on the princess this whole time and saw that good-looking young man walk out while checking briefly inside cautiously, they would have lost trace of her. They were the best secret guards of Prince Ding’s Manor. How would they have the face to stay as secret guards if they lost her tracks? They would end up directly back in the army and start to retrain again. But...look at the young man who walked at ease in front of them…
No.3, does he look like a woman?
I can't tell, No.4.
Ever since she could practice martial arts openly without restraint, Ye Li felt she hated her old lifestyle more. Pretending was just pretending, after all. She never had the disposition of a noble lady in her but she wasn’t anywhere near lively or active either. She also had need for normal hobbies and entertainment like everyone else did. As to Mo Xiu Yao, she left that behind after she pondered over it for two or three days. She could accept it if he did have someone of his heart and decide to break up with her. Anyway, she would be rich. She believed he wouldn't be mean about her allowance. But that put a stop to developing affections and a plan for a baby. She didn’t like to have a baby with him knowing that he loved someone else. Having made up her mind on that gave her more spare time so she decided to go out more. Married women were allowed to go out.
“No.3, where is the princess going?” Secret Guard No.4 who was following her quietly asked secretly.
“How would I know? It seems the princess wants to get out of town.” Secret Guard No.3 answered.
“I’ve heard that His Highness and the princess are in a quarrel. Do you think she’s going to run away from home?” It suddenly occurred to Secret Guard No.4 that Secret Guard No.1 and No.2 had mentioned that something was wrong between His Highness and the princess for the past few days when they changed shifts.
“Well... perhaps not?” Secret Guard No.3 hesitated. “How about I follow the princess and you go back and report to His Highness?”
“Can you stop her if she’s really running away from home? What if you lose track of her?” Though they hadn't fought the princess themselves and wasn't sure about her martial skills, they knew hers was more than those showy but not practical martial arts.
“Well... we already lost her!” Secret Guard No.3 cursed. How was the princess gone as soon as they were out of the capital? Was it because they were too focused on their talk?
“Stop wasting your breath and look for her!” Two secret guards emerged from their hidden place and searched for the princess. Though they were careful not to get too close to her, they weren’t far away from her either. The princess couldn’t have gone far in such a short time.
Ye Li sat on a branch and looked down at the two secret guards who were jabbering. They chose their hidden places wisely but were a little nerdy. “Well...you never look up, do you?”
They looked awkwardly at the good-looking young man who was leaning on the tree trunk. That was because Prince Ding's Manor never had a princess who was able to climb trees. Besides, we didn’t even hear a breath hanging behind the tree all this time. “My... My Lady...” They felt embarrassed and decided to get back to the army when the day ended. They were unqualified as secret guards. They would retrain themselves.
Ye Li jumped down gracefully and landed before them. “You’ve been doing well.”
“My Lady, we don't deserve it.”
“I wasn't planning to run away.” She looked at the nervous secret guards with a smile.
Secret Guard No.3 let out a sigh of relief secretly and asked carefully: “Then... why are you out of town, My Lady?”
“I just want to see how long you can follow me.” She smiled and nodded with praise: “In general, you did well. But it would be better if you can control your eyes. I can’t pretend that I didn't know about you guys one mile away fron Treasure Pavilion.”
“Thank you for your teachings, My Lady.” Was that a praise, being found out in a distance less than a mile?
Ye Li looked at the two frustrated secret guards happily and said: “You can follow me, but... you won’t tell anyone what I’m doing, will you?”
The two secret guards were overjoyed at this unexpected turn. “Thank you very much, My Lady. We two and another two have been your secret guards since His Highness and My Lady got married. We won't tell anyone besides His Highness anything about you unless you are in danger.” Secret Guard No.4 explained.
Ye Li nodded. Mo Xiu Yao had told her about the secret guards of Prince Ding’s Manor. Over the past few days she was sure that those guards indeed never told him anything about her. But it wasn’t a big deal if they did since everything she let them see wasn't secret to be exact.
“Well, I could use some help. Come with me.”
Secret Guard No.3 and No.4 gazed at each other helplessly. Didn't they tell her they were “secret” guards?
