- Fifth Prince’s title is taken away from him so he is no longer a prince which meant he is now out of running for the throne. Fifth Prince’s mother was also demoted. It’s of note that Fifth Prince wasn’t thinking about taking her with him when he was threatening the Emperor to let him leave but she ended up paying the biggest price.
- Unlike what happened with the Crown Prince when everything was all quietly swept under the rug, the Emperor ordered Ning Yi to do a full investigation. The investigation started with the golden monkeys which leads to bribery and corruptions that involved many many officials. The Emperor ordered the Chang clan to give up all authorities, but using the excuse that there are still fierce pirates that are plaguing the local area the Chang clan refused to give up their military power.
- This incident with Fifth Prince seemed to have taken a big toll on the Emperor and he really fell ill for a time. Despite being ill, the Emperor still insisted on taking care of business and punished quite a number of officials. While he was sick, the Emperor acted like the only son he trusts is Ning Yi and acted like he had to have him around to fall asleep peacefully.
Things in the Capital has more or less been taken care of so the emperor finally has the energy to deal with the Cheng clan. While the Emperor is in the middle of discussing a plan to force Cheng clan to hand over their military power, Zhi Wei shows up with a member of the Yan clan to seek an audience with him.
The royal library after its renovation looks likes it always did but Zhi Wei still looked nervous as she carefully stepped over the threshold, making the Emperor laugh in amusement.
Sitting off to the side of the Emperor is Ning Yi whose whole being exude a sense of lethargy. Ning Yi’s face looked quite pale as well. The weather is not cold at all but Ning Yi’s chair is padded with soft cushions. A bit surprised to see Ning Yi still at the palace at such a late hour, Zhi Wei’s eyes meet his as he suddenly looks up. As soon as their gaze meet, both immediately looked away.
The palace servant shows up with a bowl of ginseng soup which the Emperor quickly took and personally handed to NIng Yi. Signaling NIng Yi to not get up, the Emperor chides “Don’t move, you need to get better.”
Taken aback, Zhi Wei wonders to herself that she hasn’t heard anything about the guy being sick.
“Thank you, Father.” Ning Yi still bows slightly then begins to slowly sip the ginseng soup…not looking at Zhi Wei all the while.
Zhi Wei could feel her waist aching in pain again but she is still all smiles as she presents a scroll to the Emperor.
Upon opening the scroll, the Emperor immediately exclaims with delight “It’s the map of pirates’ location in the south sea!”
Quickly catching Zhi Wei’s signal that it’s his time turn to talk, Yan Huai Shi explains “This is the map that has been put together by my family after their long years of doing business in that area. It includes all the pirates that operate in the south sea region.”
Taking a detailed look at the map as well, Ning Yi glanced over at Zhi Wei who promptly gives him her best “I am really trust worthy!” smile.
“Alright!” The Emperor slap his table “Yi Er (he means Ning Yi), go immediately to…wait…why are there so few?”
Staring at the map in confusion, a look of realization slowly dawns on the Emperor.
“Scoundrel!” The Emperor abruptly slam his palms on the table “There is no limit to the Cheng Clan’s shamelessness! They couldn’t get rid of this small number of pirates?! Every year they even ask for more money and more food! This is nothing like the number of pirates they report every year!”
Prompt to add fuel to fire, Zhi Wei sighs “The innocent citizens in the south sea regions must’ve suffered…”
Becoming even more furious that his lips began to tremble, the Emperor turns to Ning Yi “Yi Er, what do you think?”
Ning Yi takes the map and says “We already know how corrupted Cheng Clan is so this is just adding to their crimes…since Official Wei is here so late to offer up this map, he must have some clever plan. Why don’t father listen to what he has to say.”
Ning Yi’s eyes meets Zhi Wei’s…and once again, their gaze part ways as soon as they meet.
They both know that after years of pirates ruling the south sea, each year the Emperor had to sent more money and soldiers which meant while Cheng Clan has been able to pocket some of it but the local government officials has also gotten rich from it. Now that the real situation at the south sea has been revealed, that means when the Cheng Clan falls in the future and new officials are appointed to the region…the new officials’ ability to get gain will be greatly diminished. And the new officials that are supposed to take over just happens to be Ning Yi’s men. (In these fight for the throne, those who secretly support the different princes would of course also show their support with money. So the more abilities for Ning Yi’s men to get money the more he himself will benefit from it.)
Zhi Wei doesn’t believe Ning Yi would not have thought of this but instead of hinder her, this guy surprisingly has been generously paving the way for her.
Ning Yi lowers his eyes to stare at the tea leaves floating in his cup…you want to charge forward no matter what… so what point is there of me holding you back. If this is how it has to be, then I will beat you in the game you are most confident at.
- Zhi Wei advise the Emperor that instead of wasting vast number of soldiers to quell the pirates that he instead give the local big clans in the region enough power to take care of the pirates themselves. The Emperor of course liked Zhi Wei’s plan.
Zhi Wei bows to the Emperor to take her leave. Ning Yi stands up at the same time and says “I am going to see my brilliant official off.”
The word “my” was said in a low and laughing voice. The Emperor was in such a good mood that Zhi Wei had saved him money and avoided a war that he didn’t think anything was amiss and quickly waved them off but not before cautioning Ning Yi “You are still healing. Be careful.”
Zhi Wei silently thought, this guy is pretending again.
Walking out, Ning Yi’s steps were exceedingly slow. Zhi Wei is getting quite impatient but has no choice but to follow him at a snail’s pace. Ning Yi silently observes Zhi Wei, thinking the best thing about this person is that she is fake, very fake, really fake. Because she is very fake so she will never do anything on impulse. Good, very good.
Watching Zhi Wei who is ever so obediently walking by his side, a smile on her face but her hand underneath her sleeve has formed into a fist- Ning Yi instantly feels quite pleased.
Sensing something is off, Yan Huai Shi found some excuse to drag the palace servant off with him.
Dropping her pretense now that no one is around, Zhi Wei quickly speeds past Ning Yi as she says with a big smile “Ha ha, how can I ask Your Highness to personally escort me so far. Ha ha, please stay, I will walk by myself. Goodbye, goodbye.”
Her sleeve suddenly grabbed by a hand, Zhi Wei uses the opportunity to jab her elbow backward and was rewarded to hear a grunt of pain. Ignoring Ning Yi, Zhi Wei keeps charging forward but Ning Yi refuses to let go and forcefully drags her close. Ning Yi’s action pulled on Zhi Wei’s wound on her waist causing her to give a yelp of pain as well.
Exchange a look, one asks “You really got hurt?” while the other asks “What’s wrong?”
Silence falls after they each asked their question. After a moment, Ning Yi gently squeezes Zhi Wei’s hand, thinking her palm is warm but to Zhi Wei, Ning Yi’s fingers felt cold. Zhi Wei instinctively wants to wrap her hand around those fingers to warm them up but she quickly pulled back.
(That’s the end of that scene so I am not leaving you guys hanging…)
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Wow, I really like this scene in the book. Does the Fifth Prince Mother’s died the same way like in the drama, where she took poision.? Also this scene is similar to the drama, they change it a little, but the book scene was more drama. I was glad to read that Ning Yi was okay and that the Emperor was taking care of him. Question is WZ position of being a woman ever exposed to the Emperor? In the drama that was why she was send to help deal with the pirates.?
I don’t think Fifth Prince mother dies…at least not that I can remember. As for the Emperor, I don’t think he ever found out Wei Zhi’s real identity…but don’t quote me on that. We will get to the reason why the Emperor sent Zhi Wei to deal with the pirates in the later posts but it was not the same reason as the drama.
The emperor “acted like” I’m assuming he doesn’t care much for Ning Yi. In the drama the emperor is difficult to read, at times he seems like he cares, then again all he does is uses Ning Yi to do his dirty work. It’s always nice to see their genuine concern for each other. The drama scene related to this update was pretty good too, again thanks for translating.
The emperor in the drama is actually MUCH nicer than the one in the novel. One gets the feeling that the emperor actually cared for Ning Yi’s mother and his sons in the drama but in the novel, the dude is selfish through and through.
In the novel, what was the relationship like between the emperor and Zhi Wei?
Zhi Wei is just a useful pawn to the emperor and of course our heroine has no illusions to what she is to the emperor but still puts on a good act of the “I will do everything for my emperor” in front of the guy.
Kool. I liked their relationship in the drama before everything went south.
Thanks for another great translation. Are they dodging glances because NY didn’t end up saving ZW earlier?
Yes, things are a bit awkward because Ning Yi is a bit huffy that Zhi Wei doesn’t believe him and Zhi Wei is like “you did exactly what I said you would”.
Thanks for another snippet of this fascinating novel :).
Thanks so much for the round up.