Chapter 100: Chapter 100 Bad Habits
“I don’t know about your marriage —”
Sang Yan hoped Sang Jue could let go of his obsession with Suxi and start a new life.
When Lan Xi ntioned marriage, her face flushed with shyness, “The Emperor has already decided to grant the marriage.”
“With my brother?”
“Yes.”
“This, this is too —”
...
Sang Yan hadn’t expected the Emperor to act so quickly, feeling both joy and worries, “Then you might be benefiting from a misfortune. But I also want to remind you of sothing, my brother has been married before and loved his wife deeply. Unfortunately, fate was not on their side, and the Emperor had them separate. However, he might not be able to let her go just yet. Can you accept that? If you can’t, I can try to persuade the Emperor to revoke the decree.”
Lan Xi replied, “I can. Young Master Sang cos from a noble family and is a valiant young man. The fact that he still pines for his forr wife shows that he is a person of deep emotions, why would I be jealous?”
Those words sounded pleasant.
But when a woman’s jealousy takes over, it twists into many shapes.
“Rember what you said now.”
“Yes.”
Lan Xi stayed and chatted for half an hour before leaving.
In the afternoon,
Xuanrao arrived.
Upon seeing Sang Yan, she first gave her a thorough up and down look to make sure she was alright, then she exclaid, “I went to Duan City, and as soon as I returned and heard your news, I rushed over imdiately. What’s going on? How did you end up here?”
Sang Yan briefly explained, “It was the Empress Dowager’s last wish. She wanted to spend forty-nine days here praying to the Buddha to cleanse the malevolent energy from my body.”
Xuanrao, infuriated, exclaid, “And the Emperor agreed to this?”
Sang Yan shook her head, “Of course, he didn’t agree, but I wanted to co.”
“Why did you want to co here? Life is so simple and tough.”
Xuanrao couldn’t fathom and clutched her chest, saying, “You scared to death. I thought the Emperor had grown tired of you and didn’t want you anymore.”
“How could that be? You really have an active imagination.”
Sang Yan chuckled, not wanting to delve into that topic, and changed the subject, “Why did you go to Duan City?”
Xuanrao heaved a sigh when she ntioned this, “It’s all because of my step-brother, that naughty boy. He’s been led astray by my stepmother, utterly disobedient. He’s seven and hardly recognizes a few characters. I heard that there’s a great scholar living in seclusion in the mountains near Duan City, so I went to invite him.”
“Did you succeed?”
“I wouldn’t return empty-handed.”
She began to lant her hardship, “But you have no idea how much I suffered along the way. I toiled there for a full eight days, serving him like a maid. And you know what? He doesn’t even like to bathe. How can there be such a man in the world?”
Sang Yan keenly sensed juicy gossip and teased, “That’s because you haven’t seen much. The world is full of bizarre n.”
“Odd?”
Xuanrao was unfamiliar with the term.
Sang Yan quickly clarified, “It ans strange.”
Not wanting her to overthink, she continued to probe, “So, what happened next? I feel like there’s a story between you two.”
Xuanrao’s face turned red in an instant, and she fell silent.
Sang Yan was even more sure now but also felt a bit concerned, “You just ntioned a secluded great scholar — how old is he? Please don’t fall into a May-December romance!”
She couldn’t accept such “romantic tales” of a pear tree overshadowing the flowering begonia.
Xuanrao blushed with embarrassnt, “What are you even thinking? He’s a great scholar.”
Her tone conveyed a sense of timidity.
This was the behavior of a woman falling in love.
Sang Yan frowned with concern, “So what? What about being a great scholar? Is that so impressive? Haven’t you heard that ‘oftentis, the valiant are the ones who slay dogs, while the heartless are usually the learned n’?”
Xuanrao felt she was being too harsh with her words, “What’s got into you? Do you have sothing against scholars?”
Sang Yan: “…”
It wasn’t that she held a grudge against scholars, but rather she had issues with herself falling for one.
She felt Xuanrao was very much like her best friend, also filled with admiration for scholars.
When her best friend had introduced her boyfriend, her eyes had lit up with excitent: “Sang Yan, he’s an academic champion! A super amazing one!”
“I didn’t an that, I just don’t want you to give your heart away so carelessly.”
She truly considered her a best friend and didn’t want her to suffer even the slightest emotional hurt.
Xuanrao nodded, “I understand. I do like him sowhat, but liking soone doesn’t necessarily an possessing them. So people are ant to be admired from a distance.”
Just like He Ying.
No matter how much she liked him, he wasn’t hers to possess.
Seeing Xuanrao speak like this, Sang Yan knew she had a sense of asure in her heart, so she didn’t say more.
How could she not hope for her friend to et a good match?
“Just rember, if you encounter any difficulties, co to . As long as I can help, I definitely will.”
“Thank you. Ah Yan.”
The two chatted about many things in the room.
Until sunset, Xuanrao showed no sign of leaving.
Sang Yan urged her, “If you don’t descend the mountain now, it will be very dangerous when it gets dark.”
Xuanrao replied, “Then I won’t go down. I’ll stay with you for the night. It’s been a long ti since we’ve had such a relaxed chat.”
Sang Yan found her reasoning sound and no longer hurried her.
They had dinner together.
After dinner
Sang Yan went to do her evening lessons.
The ti was for an hour.
After finishing, she returned to the room to find Xuanrao already waiting for her on the bed.
“Ah Yan, go freshen up. We’ll continue chatting afterward.”
“Okay.”
Sang Yan quickly finished her washing and lay down on the bed.
Xuanrao, propped on the bed with her hands under her chin, curiously asked about Palace Guarding Moles.
She had heard about it from Qiuzhi and found it fascinating, not having had her fill of the topic yet.
“How did you know that Palace Guarding Moles cannot verify a woman’s purity?”
As she asked, a thought suddenly struck her, and she extended her hand to brush aside Sang Yan’s sleeve. Upon witnessing the bright red mole of Palace Guarding Moles on the inside of her arm, she exclaid in shock, “You, you——”
You’ve consummated your marriage with your deceased husband but still have a Palace Guarding Mole, so you know that it’s ineffective?
She ultimately did not voice this question.
Sang Yan, seeing what she was thinking, withdrew her arm, smoothed her sleeve, and explained, “You’re mistaken. I’m considering the thod by which the Palace Guarding Moles are made. People capture the female chaleon (Chaleon) during its breeding season, crush it, and mix it with vermilion to create it. It’s essentially a kind of pignt that will naturally fade over ti, unrelated to whether a woman is pure or not.”
“But after a woman consummates her marriage with her husband, the Palace Guarding Moles truly do disappear.”
“If you insist on an explanation, I can offer one—it’s the intermingling of male and female hormones. To put it in detail, the main ingredient for making Palace Guarding Moles, which is the breeding female chaleon, is filled with female hormones. When it encounters male hormones from a man, the male and female hormones neutralize each other, and the color fades away. But this isn’t the primary reason why Palace Guarding Moles disappear.”
“…I don’t quite understand, but it’s as if I do.”
Xuanrao looked confused.
Sang Yan decided not to elaborate further: “All you need to know is that these are tools used to bind and oppress won. They’re a malicious custom and should be eradicated.”
Xuanrao nodded in agreent: “You’re right. On my way back, I encountered a woman who had thrown herself into a lake to commit suicide. I heard she was the mistress of a wealthy rchant from sowhere. Because the rchant was often away on business for months at a ti, to ensure a clean household, he would mark his wives and concubines with Palace Guarding Moles every ti he left. The mistress had lost hers, was deed impure, and in an attempt to prove her innocence, drowned herself in the lake.”
Sang Yan listened with a heavy heart: “Ah, another poor woman killed by a wicked practice.”
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