How To Survive as a Villain-Chapter 49: They May Have Been Pseudo-Seduced.
At the end of the banquet, they had a very good talk. Xiao YuAn felt like his mind could rest at ease if Hong Xiu was the one to take Xiao PingYang and the rest of the envoys to visit the Imperial City of the Northern Kingdom.
There was still snow covering the Northern Kingdom. While in the Western Shu Kingdom, it wasn’t possible to withstand such a beautiful scenery wrapped in white at all. The group of girls were freezing and their cheeks were flushed red because of the cold, but that didn’t matter to them, they were still very excited.
Xiao PingYang reached out and grabbed the snow on top of the branches. The snow gradually became transparent and melted in her hands, before finally only the cold water remained; these wonderful changes were unexpected and interesting to her. The architectural style of the Northern Kingdom was slightly different from that of the Western Shu Kingdom. The Palaces of the Northern Kingdom were even more magnificent, with nine dragons and golden crows carved everywhere.
These were also snowflakes flying around, which made Xiao PingYang fascinated. She looked up and her eyes fell on a building.
Xiao PingYang pointed to that place and asked: “What’s that?”
Hong Xiu looked down at her eyes and explained: “Ah, that’s the Yuhua Tower. In a few days it will be the Emperor’s birthday, and he will feast with one hundred officials there.”
Xiao PingYang was quite interested: “Since that’s the place where the Emperor of the Northern Kingdom will celebrate his birthday, is there anything special about it?”
Hong Xiu said: “There’s a lotus pond in the middle of the building.”
“Lotus pond? Wouldn’t that be just a scene of dead branches and fallen leaves on an icy and snowy day?”
Hong Xiu covered her lips and smiled lightly: “It’s not a real flower, but a Lotus carved out of Gold, it’s extremely delicate and lifelike. In the middle of the lotus pond, there’s a White Jade Platform. In this country, only Princess Yongning is allowed to dance on the White Jade Platform.”
Xiao PingYang nodded and asked: “Can I go and have a look?”
Hong Xiu hesitated a little, but still led Xiao PingYang and her companions towards the building.
Although it was only a few days before the birthday, Yuhua Tower had already been decorated with lanterns and it looked extremely festive. Many servants were cleaning outside the Pavilion, but the place was in complete silence.
A richly ornamented building, the pavilion was layered with precious burning incense, and the wooden beams and cornices were each more delicate and exquisite than the other.
The Golden Lotus and White Jade Platform was located on the fifth floor.
Hong Xiu then realized that the Pavilion was actually too quiet. It was something strange for sure, but it was already too late. The envoy just stepped inside the fifth floor, when a woman dressed in green clothes with a very large figure shouted: “Hey!”
The envoys were suddenly scared out of their wits, and when they turned around they saw that woman twisting her body and her face was blushing: “What are you doing?? Has no one told you that Princess Yongning is practising her dance here?? Disgraceful, leave quickly???”
Hong Xiu quickly bowed down and apologized, leading the envoys of the Western Shu Kingdom to leave the Pavilion in a hurry.
But Xiao PingYang didn’t seem to hear her at all. She looked at Cui’er and then fixed her eyes on the inside of the fifth floor.
On the Jade Platform, singing and dancing rising at the top of the platform, a woman wearing a plain white cloud skirt waved her sleeves. Xiao PingYang looked at her and saw that she was smiling and dancing gracefully, dancing with a simple hand is the world’s best move.
Upon hearing the noise, Princess Yongning jumped off the White Jade Platform strangely, and walked a few steps with light steps like a swallow.
“Princess Yongning, this maidservant didn’t know that you were practicing your dancing here. I ask the Princess to forgive me.” Hong Xiu knelt on the ground.
“It doesn’t matter, you can get up.” Princess Yongning waved her sleeves and her eyes fell on Xiao PingYang. She asked strangely: “Who are these sisters?”
“Answering to the Princess, they’re the envoys from the Western Shu Kingdom.” Hong Xiu said.
“Xiao PingYang from the Western Shu Kingdom salutes Princess Yongning, the Princess of the Millennium.” Xiao PingYang was, according to the etiquette, very attentive and courteous.
“Western Shu Kingdom?” Princess Yongning murmured, then she smiled cheerfully: “Are you also a Princess?”
Xiao PingYang said: “Yes.”
“Are you visiting the Imperial City?”
“Yes.”
Princess Yongning suddenly grasped Xiao PingYang’s hands and held them up in front of her chest. She wasn’t hiding her joy: “Let me show you around!”
Xiao PingYang was stunned and asked softly: “Don’t you have to keep practicing the dance?”
“Ah, it’s alright. It’s a dance prepared specially for my Imperial Brother’s birthday, I’m already familiar with it.” Princess Yongning picked up her skirt and said: “I’ll go change my clothes, wait for me here.” After saying that, she trotted into the fifth floor.
The envoys from the Western Shu Kingdom looked at each other and someone whispered: “She’s a very warm Princess…”
Cui’er sighed: “You girls might not know, but there’s few women of the same age as the Princess in our Palace, so she actually lacks playmates. Naturally, she’s very delighted to see you.”
Xiao PingYang nodded, and deep in her eyes, there was a hint of tenderness.
Inside the Palace, the tributes of the Western Shu Kingdom were neatly arranged in two rows. Xiao YuAn’s face showed a baby-like intrigued expression, he was looking at each box in that way with Yan HeQing standing behind him.
“Should this be the one?” Xiao YuAn looked around the box filled with silks and satins and rare antiques.
Yan HeQing followed behind Xiao YuAn and was a little confused, just when he was about to ask him what he was looking for, Xiao YuAn stopped abruptly and rejoiced: “This is it!” In front of him was an Ice Basin1 completely sealed in wax, with cold handles.
Xiao YuAn pushed the lid but realized that it won’t budge an inch, so he asked Yan HeQing: “Can you open it for me?”
Yan HeQing pulled out his sword and cut the wax seal, embedded the sword into the gap of the ice basin, and pushed it away with force. Inside the Ice Basin were sealed three layers of porcelain boxes, the bigger one was covering the smaller one and the gap between the third layer and the second layer was full of melted ice water, only the first layer had some floating ice.
Xiao YuAn opened the innermost layer and his eyes were filled with a warm smile: “Ah, sure enough.”
Yan HeQing looked closely at the box and saw that there were many red fruits inside it, the skin was raised, it was quite strange: “What’s this?”
Xiao YuAn picked up one, and after peeling it, that fruit showed it’s white flesh. Xiao YuAn was about to put it in his mouth when Yan HeQing grasped his wrist and blocked this action.
“What?” Xiao YuAn was confused.
“It could be poisonous.” Yan HeQing frowned.
“Pff—–” Xiao YuAn sneered and handed the fruit to Yan HeQing: “Then will you test the poison for me?”
Yan HeQing was slightly shocked, and the fruit was then stuffed into his mouth, it’s taste was very sweet and cold.
“Delicious?” Xiao YuAn asked, “Hey! don’t’ forget to spit out the pit!! The black one in the middle, spit it out!”
Yan HeQing spit out the black pit and held his breath, after a while he said: “It shouldn’t be poisonous.”
Xiao YuAn laughed out loud: “I already know that it isn’t poisonous, otherwise, how could I let you taste it? This is called Lychee fruit2 and it’s a speciality of the Western Shu Kingdom.”
It’s also one of the foods that Yan HeQing likes the most in the original book. In the original book, every time the lychee fruit matures, Yan HeQing will go to the Western Shu Kingdom and eat lychee while holding a member of his harem, living the happy life.
Xiao YuAn wondered if such a famous special product, the envoys of the Western Shu Kingdom would regard it as a tribute, fortunately he was right.
“By the way, do you know this ancient poem?” Xiao YuAn picked up a lychee and held it in his palm to rub and play with it. He looked at Yan HeQing, his smile was full of emotions: “One horseman in red dust approaches the gates making a concubine smile happily, no one else knows that it’s because the lychees have arrived3.”
Yan HeQing stared at Xiao YuAn for a long while, and he suddenly pulled the corner of his mouth showing a very stiff smile.
Xiao YuAn was dumbfounded and the lychee on his hand almost rolled to the ground. When he finally reacted, he stretched out his hand and pointed tremblingly at the ice basin: “They’re all yours!”
He was astonished!!
In order to be able to eat lychees, the stallion protagonist wouldn’t hesitate to show his true colors!!
The men and women shed silent tears!! The readers are crying!! The big and small wives are crying themselves blind!!! Don’t cry, it’s not this world’s protagonist fault!
Yan HeQing, actually, didn’t feel happy at all. He recovered his cold expression and with a light tone, he said: “It’s too much.”
“It’s alright, the weather in the Northland can keep them consumable. That is, just don’t eat too much a day or your stomach will get upset.” Xiao YuAn was slightly scared while pushing the Ice Basin to Yan HeQing’a side.
Yan HeQing sighed: “Thank you.”
Xiao YuAn patted Yan HeQing: “You’re welcome.” The male lead laughed, all of this just for a few lychees.
After the lychee situation was settled, Xiao YuAn looked at the other gifts curiously. This time, the Western Shu Kingdom came with sincerity, so the tribute was dazzling. Xiao YuAn’s eyes glanced over a box of jewelry and silk, he abruptly stopped, reached out and picked up a cinnabar red hairpin engraved with flowers. After looking at it for a while, he held it in his palm and put it away: “The rest will be sent to Yongning Palace.”
Footnotes:
Footnotes
冰鉴 bīng jiàn; The Ice Basin is an ancient refrigerator, it looks like today’s urns and inside is stored with carved blocks of ice. In ancient China it was used to store cooked food and or wine to refrigerate. According to “The Book of Rites”, every year at the middle of the winter, when the water of the Rivers solidified because of the cold, the Emperor ordered people to dig and carve the ice, then these carved blocks of ice would be stored into a cellar to be used at the middle of Spring the following year. When the Spring arrives, it was ordered to take out the ice alongside with some lambs to perform a sacrifice at the Ancestral Temple, once the sacrifice was done, they would keep the remaining ice for themselves for Summer.荔枝 lì zhī; Lychee Fruit (Litchi chinensis), also spelled Litchi or Lichi, is an evergreen tree of the soapberry family (Sapindaceae), grown for its edible fruit. Lychee is native to Southeast Asia and has been a favourite fruit of the Cantonese since ancient times. The fruit is usually eaten fresh but can also be canned or dried.一骑红尘妃子笑，无人知是荔枝来 yī qí hóngchén fēizi xiào, wú rénzhī shì lìzhī lái; part of the poem《过华清宫绝句三首》(guò huá qīng gōng jué gōu sān shǒu), “Three Poems of Huaqing Palace”. A series of poems written by (杜牧 dù mù) Du Mu [803-852] a writer from the Tang Dynasty.
