I've Decided To Be This Tyrant's Dark Moonlight - Chapter 59

Xiao Qianxue and Lü La were completely stunned by the large box of eastern pearls, and they looked at Wei Ying again. A beam of light shone from behind the girl, giving her body a faint golden glow. The fuzzy strands of hair by her cheeks were dyed golden, exuding an air of wealth.

Xiao Qianxue: I didn’t expect Ying Ying to be truly rich!

She had heard that Ying Ying didn’t come from a good background, and had even been mocked for it by Gong Beinu. But now, seeing this entire box of eastern pearls, who could dare say she was poor!

“These pearls are of excellent quality,” Xiao Qianxue picked one up and toyed with it in her hand, her fondness obvious. She smiled and said, “Just this one alone could buy a whole street, Ying Ying. How about we take them to the Imperial Workshop and have them made into jewelry?”

Wei Ying shook her head. “No, let them stay in the box.”

Xiao Qianxue thought that only that one pearl had been taken from the emperor’s crown, and the rest were Wei Ying’s personal treasure. Seeing her indifferent and unconcerned attitude, she said, “Ying Ying, um…”

Wei Ying raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

Xiao Qianxue smiled, fidgeting with her fingers, looking a little uneasy. “Can I… buy some of these pearls from you? Or if you want something, anything I have, I can exchange it for them.”

If they were her personal pearls, Wei Ying would have handed them over without thinking. She was a mission-taker; treasures considered priceless by the world held no significance for her—they couldn’t be taken away anyway.

But these pearls had been removed from the emperor’s crown…

She pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered Yun Shao’s glossy, wet, puppy-like eyes. She extended her hand toward Xiao Qianxue apologetically. “No, just this box of pearls is not for giving.”

Xiao Qianxue, usually understanding, returned the pearls to her and nodded. “I was being too forward. I shouldn’t have made such a bold request,” she raised the corner of her lips and smiled slightly. “I thought you didn’t care about these.”

Wei Ying rubbed her forehead. “I don’t care, but…”

But why was she unwilling to give this box to someone else?

Previously, any gold or jewels the emperor rewarded her with, she had always generously shared with friends and attendants without hesitation. If the emperor rewarded her again, she wouldn’t be stingy. So why was she reluctant to give away this box of pearls?

Her eyelids began to feel warm again. After being kissed and burned by the lingering heat, she picked up a cold towel and pressed it to her eyes, lying on a bamboo lounge chair with her hands clasped together, looking completely at peace.

Xiao Qianxue looked at her in surprise, not understanding why Ying Ying had her eyes covered with a towel and suddenly lay down, peaceful as if she had already been buried.

“Ying Ying? I—I don’t want the pearls anymore. I was just casually asking. Are you okay?”

Wei Ying didn’t answer, only thinking about why she alone didn’t want to give away this box of pearls. Why was it that among all the gifts she had received, only this box of pearls was special?

Xiao Qianxue whispered worriedly by her ear, “Ying Ying, what’s wrong? Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have suddenly asked for this. I just wanted to make a nice piece of jewelry to give away. Um, were the other pearls gifts from someone else?”

Wei Ying gave a soft “Mm,” suddenly seeming to remember something, lifted the towel, and looked steadily at Xiao Qianxue.

Xiao Qianxue felt chills run down her spine. “Ying Ying?”

Wei Ying: “I understand now!”

Xiao Qianxue frowned, her heart sinking. “You understand what?”

Wei Ying sat on the lounge chair, hugging her knees with her chin resting on them, long hair falling to either side, swaying slightly with the chair, obedient and cute. She thought: it turned out she didn’t want to give away these pearls because this box had been given by Yun Shao, not the emperor.

It was a gift, not a reward.

The word “reward” implied a ruler bestowing something from above, and the recipient had to kneel and give thanks. She didn’t like that. In the deep palace, everyone had been rewarded by the emperor, but… to have Yun Shao, blushing and hesitating, remove pearls from the crown and hand them over with both hands—only for her—was different.

So this was not the same.

Xiao Qianxue: “Ying Ying?”

Oh no! It felt like some strange mechanism had been triggered; Ying Ying began acting oddly.

She reached for the back of Wei Ying’s neck, trying to find a hidden switch that only clever people could see, to press it back.

Wei Ying felt a tickle at the nape of her neck and quickly recoiled, looking at her in confusion. “What are you doing?”

Xiao Qianxue: “What are you thinking?”

They stared at each other for a moment. Wei Ying pinched her cheek, expressionless, and calmly stated the conclusion she had just arrived at. Compared to her serene and composed demeanor, Xiao Qianxue was in shock, eyes wide, lips trembling, occasionally blurting out some profane words from Yunzhou.

“This box of pearls… all of them were given to you by His Majesty?”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier! If I had really taken them to make jewelry, wouldn’t His Majesty have eaten me alive?”

“Oh my god, when did you two… when at Yangxin Palace… weren’t you grinding ink for His Majesty?”

…

Wei Ying’s head hurt from all the questions. Most troubling, Xiao Qianxue wasn’t even concerned with her “gift vs. reward theory,” but kept interrogating her about when she and the emperor had amassed such a large box of pearls.

Xiao Qianxue clutched her chest, feeling pain in her heart, looking at the box of pearls as if it were a child suddenly sprung from her best friend. One at a time… how many times must that have happened? She looked at Wei Ying with awe. “Ying Ying, you’ve worked hard!”

Wei Ying: “Huh? It’s okay.”

Xiao Qianxue squatted down, looking at her with puppy-like eyes. “Ying Ying, do you… like His Majesty?”

Wei Ying frowned, confused. “Like?”

Xiao Qianxue nodded quickly. “Yes, yes, like! You definitely like him, right?” She pouted miserably. “But Sister Xianfei told us, never to develop real feelings for His Majesty. If you really like him, you’ll want to possess him—who can possess His Majesty?”

Xiao Qianxue fretted, worried for her friend’s love life.

Wei Ying: “Huh? I don’t like him.”

I’m not… I don’t have… don’t say things that aren’t true.

Xiao Qianxue continued: “But if you didn’t like him, why did you accept the pearls he gave you?”

Wei Ying blinked slowly, a rare moment of confusion.

Xiao Qianxue scratched her cheek and continued explaining her distinction between gifts and rewards: “His Majesty rewards us, and we have no way to refuse. But things given by others—you can refuse if you don’t like them. If you didn’t like him, why accept it?”

Wei Ying thought for a long moment, then lightly smacked Xiao Qianxue on the head. Xiao Qianxue cried out, covering her head. “Ying Ying, what are you doing?”

“Huh?” Wei Ying honestly said, “Nothing, just patting it. By the way…” Her eyes caught a figure, and she smiled. “Qianxue, fun’s here.”

Xiao Qianxue turned. “Fun? What fun?”

“Jieyu” was dressed flamboyantly, strutting like a peacock, approaching aggressively.

Seeing her, Xiao Qianxue laughed and waved: “Jieyu, come sit?”

Gong Beinu: “…Hmph.”

These past two days, Gong Beinu had been furious. Everyone knew about her spanking at the Summer Retreat! Because these two kept telling everyone, whenever Li Pin came to the Nonghua Hall, she couldn’t help but glance at Gong Beinu’s butt.

Gong Beinu: like an angry pufferfish.

She glared daggers at Wei Ying and company. If her gaze could kill, they’d have been dismembered by now.

Wei Ying lay like a salted fish, not wanting to move, gesturing Lü La to bring another towel, continuing to press it over her eyes. She simply wanted to remain a lazy salted fish.

But this indifferent demeanor only made Gong Beinu angrier.

Gong Beinu puffed up her cheeks, thinking: She’s grown up! Not even looking at me now!

Her anger like a puffed-up pufferfish!

“Why did you tell everyone about the Summer Retreat incident?” she shouted, a little pitifully, “You made so many people laugh at me!”

So infuriating.

She had once thought Duan Wei Ying was a good person, even reminded her about the monk, so how could she do this?

Gong Beinu, swollen with anger, eyes misty, said, “It’s all your fault!”

Xiao Qianxue opened her mouth to say something, but Wei Ying grabbed her.

Usually, Wei Ying couldn’t bear to see girls cry. Perhaps because of her time in the orphanage, when she felt wronged and crouched on the steps crying, she had wished for someone to comfort her. But no one came.

Wei Ying stood and looked at Gong Beinu.

She was half a head taller, standing one step above the girl, looking down with an imposing aura.

Gong Beinu took a few steps back, looking like a deflated peacock, tail feathers drooping, muttering, “Wh-why are you looking at me?”

Wei Ying remained silent, lifted her hand, and slowly rested it on the girl’s head in a petting motion, coaxing her like a child: “Don’t shout so much. Behave.”

Patting her, Wei Ying thought: it still felt most comfortable when the emperor petted her.

Perhaps because the emperor was always gentle with her, whereas this girl often flared up, making her hand feel rough.

Xiao Qianxue clutched her handkerchief: Ying Ying even pet Gong Beinu!

Suddenly, a pang of jealousy!

Gong Beinu’s reaction was even greater. Eyes wide, she couldn’t believe it. Her voice trembled: “Wh-what are you doing?”

Wei Ying smiled. “You’re cute. I couldn’t help it.”

Gong Beinu froze, cheeks slightly pink. She shouted, “My carefully styled hair has been messed up!”

Wei Ying, in a good mood, smiled: “Come to my room and I’ll fix it for you?”

After a long while, Gong Beinu finally exhaled a “hmph” through her nostrils, muttering, “Who cares if you fix it?”

Wei Ying smiled even more deeply, holding her teacup and looking at the girl with eyes half-closed, smiling.

Gong Beinu’s eyes widened. “What are you laughing at? Are you mocking me? It’s all because you spread rumors…”

Angered by Wei Ying and Xiao Qianxue’s smiles, in her agitation, she accidentally knocked over the box on the table. The lid wasn’t secured, and with a clatter, the eastern pearls spilled onto the ground.

Wei Ying’s smile froze.

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