Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace

Yui Mei knit her brows at Li Min’s shamelessness.

“The Huang family was the one who requested Princess Pan’s hand, and yet.”

“Nah, it doesn’t have anything to do with me, that old geezer was the one who decided that on his own.”

Apparently, the story they heard from Princess Pan was very different from Li Min’s perspective.

He might come off as heartless, but then, it’s also possible for a political marriage is just something like this.

And despite having a sharp tongue, he didn’t seem to harbor ill will or grudges towards the princess.

Yui Mei pondered about this. Li Yong then continued on.

“So, did you leave Princess Pan on her own while knowing that she was ill?”

Li Min goggled at Li Yong when he asked that prying question.

“No no, I was also shocked! It had been really busy at sea the recently, so I couldn’t go home to check on her. But the guys at the mansion sent me a letter saying ‘there’s no problem at all’, you know. That set me at ease, you see, but when I finally saw her again, she was already like ‘that’.”

So that meant her condition worsened while he was away.

Li Yong did not comment on this, and continued on with his interrogation.

“Did Lord Li Min live in that mansion from the beginning?”

Li Min shook his head.

“Nah, my old man owned that mansion before, and I usually slept at the ship or stayed in my regular inns. Then out of the blue, they just said ‘your marriage has been decided so take charge of the house’ you know. It’s only been a short while since they forced that place on me.”

“The old servants in that mansion — were they already there from the time of your Father?”

“Nope? He took the guys he’s familiar with back to his own mansion. The left-overs were all underlings, that’s why the empty positions were hastily filled.”

So that was the case. Even Li Min wasn’t used to being in that mansion.

If he didn’t ‘lived’ in the mansion, then it was understandable why the servants’ were not trained. 

Li Min just summoned people who can do the job, thinking that they can do something about managing the mansion.

However, one can’t wrap up ‘human relationships’ with just doing replacements.

There was not a single person left in that mansion who could help them adapt.

The staff of the shop took this opportunity to serve the tea, as if they already predicted that it would be a good time to do so.

Yui Mei and the rest took a break from the interrogation, and they sipped the tea.

“But still, I already did a great job glossing over it, but you guys still saw right through us. Well, you already relayed this to Lady Princess, I guess.”

Li Min leaned on his chair and tilted his head backwards as he grumbled.

“….I’m not sure about that, though?”

Yui Mei said skeptically.

“Huuuhh?”

Li Min glared daggers at her at this.

“What’s with that. Yeah I get it, you wanna stick up for Lady Princess, but there’s no way that woman is that perceptive, right. She seemed dull, too.”

Li Min smirked roguishly, but Yui Mei stared at him with reproachful eyes.

“Lord Li Min doesn’t understand a princess’ status, it seems. For women in the Inner Palace, the ability to infer the other party’s real intentions and ulterior motives is truly indispensable. A princess is far superior than the other women in the Inner Palace, so there’s no way she possessed that.”

Li Yong also agreed with Yui Mei’s opinion.

“Indeed, that is true. Princess Pan really did excel in that area.”

“….”

Li Min sullenly shut his mouth when Yui Mei and Li Yong negated his thoughts.

Princess Pan already knew, but she probably chose to keep mum about it, and while attentively watching over Li MIn.

It was the ideal method in order to survive in the Inner Palace, after all.

She then fell ill because of the piled up stress she was keeping to herself.

‘This husband and wife seem like they don’t really understand each other.’

They didn’t dislike each other, but both of them were holding back, so they end up misunderstanding each other.

“Anyway, Princess Pan is currently doing all she could to restore her health. Lord Li MIn should also watch over her, and talk it out with her, too. If the mansion remained that way, then the Princess will just fall ill again.”

Li Min scrunched his brows at Yui Mei’s warning.

“Blimey, being on land is sooo troublesome.Can’t be helped, gonna go home.”

He gulped the tea after saying that.

Thud thud thud thud….

The heavy, hurried footsteps resounded from outside the private room.

“Big Bro!!! This is bad!!!”

A young lad came charging in.

He was wearing a sailor’s garb, so he must be Li Min’s underling.

“You’re too loud in front of the guests!”

Li Min scolded him, but he still repeated “This is really bad!”.

“A merchant ship got targeted offshore, they’re in battle!! Some of the ships already sailed off the harbor to support ‘em, but they’re at disadvantage!”

‘Merchant ship? Battle?’

“… Heh, what a cocky attitude, and right in front of me, to boot. Sorry, can’t go home now. Sorry.”

Li Min dropped those words, then he dashed out of the room without a single glance at Yui Mei and Li Yong. 

After a while, Yui Mei broke the silence in the room.

“What about the bill?”

Did he settle the bill before leaving, seeing he was in that state?

Li Yong calmly answered her question.

“It seems that he’s familiar with this shop, so they’ll probably put it on his tab. Well, there’s no way the Crown Prince will let his subordinates leave a restaurant without paying, so let’s settle the bill.”

And so, they left the shop after Li Yong paid for the private room and tea, and it was a sizable amount.

Yui Mei and Li Yong naturally headed towards the harbour.

Hi everyone, Hanazakura here, thanks for reading, I’m grateful to you guys! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace schedule of release is every Mon, Wed and Fri. 

Please feel free to join us at our discord channel for release updates and more! Hope to see you there! We also have our Novel Updates page, if you enjoy what you are reading, feel free to leave a star rating and review, we appreciate it. I’ll be releasing an extra chapter for every 25 ratings we receive, as my token of appreciation.

I also finally launched my patreon! If you enjoyed the chapters and feel like you want to read more, please feel free to drop by. ;D Currently, you can get 5 advance chapters. This is not mandatory, but I’ll be forever grateful for your support! ?

My Ko-Fi page is also up! Please do check it out if you would like to support me as I strive to provide high quality, manually translated chapters. Extra chapters will be released when Ko-fi goal is met! Thank you very much (deep bow)! I’ll continue doing my best!