Chapter 19: The Name of the Consort (Part 1)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Eldest Sister was coming back, so Ye Sheng was in an excellent mood. He gobbled up all the food and all the delicacies into his stomach. Then his abdomen started moving wildly as if ten horses were pulling at it as it absorbed all the energy from the food and spread the energy throughout his body so that his strength would increase.
“The last time I went to the General Collections Library I read some historical records about how the first emperor of the Dragon dynasty started his journey of martial arts cultivation by eating 100 cows and sheep every day to amass a tremendous amount of energy. That’s how he managed to reach an admirable level by the time he turned 30,” thought Ye Sheng to himself after he’d finished all the food.
One had to eat meat in order to practice martial arts, and that was common knowledge. During the initial stages of learning martial arts, there was no way to cultivate anything if you didn’t eat meat.
Even a monk had to eat meat during this period. After one reached Inborn Level, then one could slowly rely less on food. But Ye Sheng didn’t know what would happen when one reached that level.
The most important thing for him now was to eat a lot of meat. With that in mind, Ye Sheng said to the nanny, “I’ll eat the same thing for dinner, inform the kitchen. Please tell them that I’m having a craving for good fish and meat.”
The nanny was stunned for a few moments before nodding her head. She didn’t think too much about it and just assumed that since Ye Sheng had never eaten such delicious food before, he wanted to eat more of it. “I’ll tell the kitchen right now.”
After the nanny left, Ye Sheng moved about for five minutes to make the feeling of being stuffed fade a little, then headed off to the General Collections Library.
He was going to pretend that he was studying very hard.
Ye Sheng spent the entire afternoon inside the General Collections Library reading. Nobody came to disturb him, and Water Chestnut Flower was nowhere to be seen. The General Collections Library was extremely quiet on this day.
In the evening, Ye Sheng emerged from the library and noticed that all of Ye Manor was getting very busy. The servants were tidying up all the things in the house, and many old pieces of furniture had been changed for new ones. There were little bells hanging along the windows, so they would tinkle pleasantly whenever a gentle breeze blew past them. There were red decorations everywhere, and the whole house was filled with a festive atmosphere.
Ye Sheng realized that Ye Manor took Eldest Sister’s visit to the house as a very important matter.
On the way back to his courtyard, Ye Sheng ran into Water Chestnut Flower. She was all dressed up, and her cheeks were fair and pink, so she looked like a very sweet, innocent girl. She was a little surprised to run into Ye Sheng. She greeted him first, “Greetings, Cousin Twelve.”
“Hello, Cousin Water Chestnut Flower. What are you so busy with?” asked Ye Sheng when he noticed that Water Chestnut Flower was carrying several pieces of old clothing.
“Cousin Twelve, you don’t know yet?” remarked Water Chestnut Flower in surprise.
Ye Sheng shook his head.
“Consort Ye is coming back to visit us tomorrow, so First Madam gave instructions that all direct descendants of the family must get a change of new clothes, and they should throw their old clothes away. I’m very fortunate to be able to get my old clothes changed too,” replied Water Chestnut Flower softly.
“Oh, I see. Then you’d better hurry along, don’t delay in doing this.” Ye Sheng quickly stepped aside.
Water Chestnut Flower stared strangely at Ye Sheng, and her staring made Ye Sheng feel his hair start to stand on end. But, in the end, she didn’t say anything and just turned around and left.
“No, wait. Was she finding it strange that I didn’t get angry?” After Water Chestnut Flower left, Ye Sheng suddenly figured this out and started laughing helplessly.
He didn’t have any hopes of getting new clothes in the first place, so after he’d heard what she’d said, he wasn’t really bothered or disappointed. Both First Madam and Second Madam hated him to the core, so why would they let him have new clothes?
He looked down at the clothes he was wearing that he’d worn for the past three years. They were well washed and didn’t have any dirt or stains on them, so Ye Sheng didn’t mind whether they were old or not. He walked back to his little courtyard.
After taking a bath and washing himself, the nanny came back in with another huge tray of delicacies. There were fewer vegetables and fruits compared to his lunch, and more varieties of fish and meat. Ye Sheng polished everything off, then shut himself in the room after he was full and quietly started cultivating.
All of Ye Manor spent the night busying themselves since Consort Ye was coming the next day. The servants were making all sorts of preparations, and even First Madam, Second Madam, and the Old Lady were busy getting ready, since Consort Ye’s status was much higher than theirs now.
Perhaps Ye Sheng was the most relaxed person in the entire manor. He quietly cultivated and tried to comprehend the Reincarnation Seal, while keeping an eye on his dantian, Earth.
More and more Earthlings had started cultivating, and the number of people who had picked up the first three techniques he’d given them were now in the tens of thousands. Even though they had yet to reach Acquired Level First Stage, they had started on their journey of cultivation. Out of the first 107 people who’d reached Acquired Level First Stage, about 30 or 40 of them had made it to Second Stage already.
At this rate, the future of this planet’s advancement was very bright indeed. After Ye Sheng saw all this, he started to think to himself, “I really need to find a technique for strengthening my body.”
As the number of cultivators on Earth increased and the number of high-level martial artists also increased, the amount of strength he could add to his own strength would become a terrifying number. When that happened, his own body’s physical limits would be his greatest constraint.
Once Ye Sheng could make his physical strength increase in tandem with this progress, he would be able to kill off all opponents who were at a higher level than him, and it would be so easy to defeat them too.
Ye Sheng spent that night cultivating in his room instead of sleeping, but nobody noticed anything.
The next day, Ye Sheng opened the door and the first thing he saw was that the entire manor looked like it had been given a total facelift. There were large red lanterns hanging everywhere, with silk ribbons and banners hanging on the major pillars of the house. It was very early in the morning, but everyone important in Ye Manor was already standing at the main entrance to wait for the consort to enter the manor.
All the servants also obediently played their parts by waiting quietly behind their masters without daring to speak loudly or murmur among themselves.
Nobody had informed Ye Sheng about any of this. It was as if he didn’t live here.
Ye Sheng wasn’t angry about this and just quietly looked on. Three years had passed, so he didn’t know what the Eldest Sister who used to like him so much and dote on him looked like now. Would she still treat him in the same way?
That was the only thing Ye Sheng was worried about. If Eldest Sister treated him exactly the same way as before, then the pressure on Ye Sheng would lighten by a lot.
But if Eldest Sister had spent the last three years in the palace and had forgotten this younger brother of hers, then Ye Sheng would have to think of a new plan altogether.
But the chances of that happening were very slim, because as far as Ye Sheng could remember, his gentle Eldest Sister wasn’t that sort of person.
A eunuch came by first thing in the morning to inform the manor in advance. His shrill voice announced, “Consort Ye has already left the palace, and she will reach the manor in about an hour’s time. I would like to request that the Old Lady and First Madam make appropriate preparations for her arrival.”
The Old Lady had a whole head of silver hair and had seen many things in her life. She had a walking stick with a dragon’s head on top and her expression exuded authority, so nobody dared to upset or offend her. She said, “May I ask if His Majesty is coming along with Consort Ye?”
The eunuch was a young one. He clasped his hands together politely and replied, “His Majesty has to attend to some important matters of the country today and cannot get away, so he is unable to come with Consort Ye. However, His Majesty has already told Consort Ye that he will definitely come tomorrow, so I hope the Old Lady can make the necessary preparations.”
“Yes, I will certainly see to it,” replied the Old Lady with a nod. She was very advanced in age, but her bones were still very strong. Her personality was even tougher than her bones. She turned to First Madam beside her and said, “Send orders to make sure those in charge of beating the drums and cymbals are ready, and they are to wait for the signal. At the same time, clear the street of any unnecessary people. I don’t want anyone to disrupt the Consort’s journey here.”
First Madam quietly answered her, “Butler Fu has gone to see to all these things.”
“Where’s my son?” asked the Old Lady in surprise after she looked around a few times.
“Master left the manor yesterday. It seems as if a dangerous cultivator has come to Xianyang, so he has gone to investigate,” replied First Madam.
“Tsk, these cultivators don’t respect the palace and refuse to obey the emperor’s commands. They go about doing whatever they like and should all be destroyed. All these cultivators that have hidden themselves away don’t know their places at all. They’re all destined to become lowlifes,” sneered the Old Lady in a cold voice.
Once she became angry, First Madam and Hu Mei standing behind her didn’t dare to say anything. The atmosphere in the entire place suddenly froze over.
“Grandma, why get so worked up over these cultivators? Eldest Sister is coming back today after all. Ye Manor is getting stronger by the day, and since Eldest Sister has become the emperor’s consort, she’s helped to increase Ye Manor’s prestige as well,” said Ye Lin’er as she clung to the Old Lady’s arm and used her cutest voice to speak.
“Indeed, indeed, we should be celebrating and not talking about these idiots.” The Old Lady immediately broke into a warm and gentle smile.