The Ice Lord Prime Minister's Black-Bellied Wife

Nothing has been edited, and I highly doubt prisma is gonna help me again. My sister has ditched me 😦 If I have to edit the text to make it flow nicer and sound more natural in English, then there would be more delays, so I’m just leaving it like this for now. Hopefully it’s still readable.

I got my thesis comments back yesterday, so I have a month to fix all of those D: I don’t want to look at the literature again… But, a pass with minor amendments, so almost there.

I also don’t know if I translated the chapter title right. 結下樑子（一）I’ve been told it means ‘starting hatred’ or ‘starting problems’, so translated it as the latter.

Chapter 31 - The Start of Problems

Xi Yuan

Mu Qiu sat on a stone bench in the backyard and looked at the broken hairpin on the stone table, distressed. She was whispering constantly 'what's to be done? His Excellency, The Ice Lord has destroyed this hairpin. How could this be good?'

She just didn't expect that now her sisters would crowd around her and ask, "Older sister Mu Qiu, the young miss has returned to the courtyard, but it seems that the young miss's mood is not good. Older sister should quickly go and check on the young miss."

"Mm? Didn't the young miss say she was going to see Old Master?" She recalled that after the young miss returned, she read the book she received from His Excellency, The Ice Lord. She had even heard that the young miss was going to visit the Old Master. Why was she back so soon?

"Yeah, but the young miss just walked back in a daze and returned to her room. Older sister Mu Qiu, the young miss normally favours you. Will you go check on the young miss?"

Mu Qiu picked up the broken hairpin and cradled it to her chest before walking off.

Speaking of Bai Xi, she had flipped through the book that Feng Ming had given her. She simply could not understand the contents. It was supposed to be a secret manual for martial arts and she still could not understand it. It was a difficult read, and other people would be unable to read it, let alone memorise it.

She had thought to take this book to the old man in Mo Gan Yuan as he was very knowledgeable, but she ended up encountering her dad and older brother. Out of curiosity, she stayed hidden and read their lips, so she understood what her dad was saying.

Although she couldn't read all of her dad's and older brother's words, from the last few words her dad spoke, she already understood. The guesses she made a few days ago were correct. She actually wasn't a member of the Bai family. No, she was, but also wasn't. Her dad had said that her body had the blood of the Bai family. If that was the case, then one of her biological parents was a member of the Bai family, but who?

She remembered there was something the Bai family was not allowed to talk her about - her mother. Was the Bai family blood in her body from her mother?

Just… How could her dad and older brother sit in the octagonal pavilion and talk about her life? Wait, her dad had mentioned…

There was a loud bang sound, breaking Bai Xi's thoughts. She couldn't help but turn to see the source of the sound, Mu Qiu. In all of Xi Yuan, only one person dared to knock that loudly on the door to her room. The person prostrating on the ground was her servant.

"Little Qiu Qiu, when did you start to think that I liked this kind of ceremony?" She recalled the way she had initially described Little Qiu Qiu, as a nanny, since this form of address was more suitable.

"Young Miss, are you okay?" Mu Qiu raised her head, surprised that the young miss seemed fine. Strange, Didn't Lian Yue¹ say that the young miss was in a bad mood? Furthermore, when she had knocked on the door just now, the young miss had not moved, so she thought that something had happened to the young miss. So, she went against her teachings and opened the door. But now…

"Oh? You want me to get in some sort of trouble?"

"No, no, no! Without a doubt, this servant hopes that the young miss is fine! Young miss didn't go and find the old master and quickly returned?" Mu Qiu quickly sat up and asked her young miss carefully.

"I didn't go since that old man may not necessarily know. Ahh, that hairpin…" Wasn't this the hairpin that Feng Ming broke? She didn't remember picking it up on the way back. Where did it come from?

"It was this servant who brought it. This servant wanted to see if there was a way to fix the hairpin."

"If it is broken, then just throw it away." She originally didn't have interest in it. She also didn't to wear a bell on her head; it was too noisy.

"But this…"

"Little Qiu Qiu, I want to start memorising the contents of this book. You should go out and tell the others not to disturb me." If it was a general book, she was confident she could memorise it in a day. But, since it wasn't, she would need to think about it.

Mu Qiu glanced at the hairpin in her hand and then looked back at the young miss, who had already buried herself in her studies. She finally exited quietly. After she left, she looked at the broken hairpin. This hairpin had been the young miss's favourite hairpin as it was given to her by the young master for her tenth birthday. Did she really want to throw it away?

The Second Day

Luo Yue Xuan², the courtyard where Feng Ming resided, was also where Bai Xi had to wait for him. Bai Xi, sporting a pair of panda eyes, arrived on time in the large open space of Luo Yue Xuan. Feng Ming arrived at almost the same time.

The two's gazes met, but not for long. The moment they looked at each other, a flash of inner force cut towards Bai Xi's face. If she hadn't dodged in time, and if she hadn't exercised previously, she would have been sent flying.

Just as she recovered and was about to question him, another burst of inner force was sent her way, and it was much faster than the previous one. Although she was able to dodge it, with the increased frequency and duration of the attacks, her movement had slowed and she occasionally failed to dodge. She was hit by the inner force, injuring her shoulders and arms, leaving bruises.

Finally, when she was reaching her physical limit and knelt on the ground, a quick and accurate inner force attack struck. She managed to use the rest of her physical strength to avoid the attack, leaving it to hit the ground 3 cm away from her. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath and completely exhausted.

Four hours. In no less than four hours, she had used that 100 square metres of space to dodge Feng Ming's sudden attacks while enduring the sun's heat. Even if she had been practicing for more than ten years as in her previous life, she would still begin to feel tired, much less this body.

Feng Ming stood in the same place. He looked at Bai Xi, who was lying on the ground and said in a cold and apathetic tone, "You only know how to dodge. Useless!" After saying those words, he left. In the open space, only Bai Xi remained lying on the ground.

Covered in dirt, Bai Xi returned to Xi Yuan. She almost frightened the waiting Mu Qiu to death when she arrived. Luckily, the other servants were not around, or Bai Xi's appearance would have been passed on to Bai Yu Jie.

After washing the sweat away, changing into new clothes, and putting medicine on her wound, Bai Xi lay on her bed. Her eyes were full of unwillingness, however the unwillingness was not directed at Feng Ming's surprise attacks. She had spent a day and a night to get to know the contents of that book, but that man didn't mention it. If she had known it would be like this, she would not need to waste her time memorising that book.

For the next three days, Bai Xi spent most of her time dodging Feng Ming's attacks and Feng Ming would always disappear after saying, "You only know how to dodge. Useless!"

Compared to the first day, Bai Xi was distinctly aware that her physical strength was gradually improving along with her speed. Most importantly, she wasn't covered in dirt like the first day. The length of time it took for her to end up exhausted on the ground had been reduced and she felt that her steps were lighter.

However, the weather this day was not clear like before, but was raining heavily with sounds of thunder. This kind of weather made people afraid to take even half a step out of their room.

"Young Miss, you really want to go?" Mu Qiu worried as she looked at her family's young miss. These days, the young miss always woke early to go over. But, each time she returned, her body was covered in wounds and she felt distress.

Bai Xi didn't reply. She looked at the heavy rain outside, which had been falling for the past hour. If Feng Ming wanted to cancel today's lessons, he would have sent someone to tell her earlier. After all, only a wall separated them, right? But nobody had come to tell her anything, which meant that today's lessons would continue. But, should she go in this sort of weather?

"But…"

Mu Qiu hadn't finished speaking when a black shadow appeared before their eyes and said, with a deep voice, "Master said that there is no need for Young Miss Bai Xi to go to Luo Yue Xuan to practice martial arts."

^{1.(憐月) Lian means love/pity. Yue means moon/month.↩}

^{2.(落月軒) Luo means 'place to stay' or 'drop'. Yue means moon/month. Xuan means high/lofty.↩}