NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10.2
Chapter 10.2
Xiao Yan: ……
The palace staff had prepared a comb before the desk, and Gu Yi took it. “Your Majesty’s bun is loose. I will help Your Majesty tie up your hair.”
Xiao Yan was momentarily stunned. ” There’s no need. Just remove the bun and tie it with a silk ribbon.”
Gu Yi acted according to the instructions, combing on one side while silently sighing on the other. Xiao Yan’s hair was so good; it was black, shiny, and soft, like a dog’s hair.
Xiao Yan closed his eyes and rested his mind, noticing the gentle movements behind him. Usually, eunuchs served him, but no concubine had combed his hair in the harem. In his memory, only when he was young a woman combed his hair for him. With this in mind, Xiao Yan frowned and said coldly, “Stop.”
Gu Yi was uncertain, “Am I hurting His Majesty?”
But she already tied it up.
Xiao Yan did not reply and turned over the several volumes of the dossier on his desk. Gu Yi understood; this was a sign that she should retire. She turned behind the screen, leaving the desk to Xiao Yan, and played chess herself on the short couch behind the screen.
When she was bored, she played Great Tycoon. She could hold two roles. The dice Tao Jia found for her were made from jade and smoothly spun when thrown, leaving a good feel in their hands.
When Xiao Yan read the dossier, he heard grunts occasionally. He took a deep breath and rubbed his brow. Getting up, he wanted to know what this Gu Beauty was staging!
He turned around the screen and saw Gu Yi lying on the soft couch, one hand resting on her cheeks as she threw dice at a piece of rice paper filled with strange drawings and talismans. A pair of jade dice landed on the porcelain plate, making gurgling sounds.
“What are you doing?”
Gu Yi turned her head to see Xiao Yan standing beside the screen. Her eyebrows narrowed slightly, and she immediately sat up, smilingly: “This is the Great Tycoon. Does Your Majesty want to play?”
Great Tycoon?
Xiao Yan looked closer at the rice paper with two flower inlays, silver and gold inlay. Circular passages were drawn on the rice paper, with different pavilions on every few frames. Beside her hand was folded a stack of cut rice paper inscribed with fifty, one hundred, etc.
“What is this Great Tycoon?”
Gu Yi saw that he was stubborn. His eyes wanted to play but still maintained his cold expression without smiling. She thoughtfully explained: “Your Majesty holds an inlay, and I hold one. We’ll walk according to the dice. When you pass by places, you can purchase them. I must pay the rent if I pass the place His Majesty bought. Whoever first lost all the money is lost.”
Buying, selling, and renting chess games. Xiao Yan sat on the couch, “Then I will play with you.”
Gu Yi happily said, “Okay. Then Your Majesty will hold the gold, and I will hold the silver, each starting with 500 taels.”
Xiao Yan threw the dice first and walked to a frame with an orange drawn on it.
Gu Yi explained, “This is a tavern. Your Majesty can buy it!”
Xiao Yan frowned, “Why an orange for the tavern?”
Gu Yi: “I painted a cup ……”
Xiao Yan: ……
After a few more steps, Xiao Yan walked to a place where a few vertical bars were, “What is this again?”
Gu Yi hesitated, “Your Majesty, this is the prison, so you can’t have your turn. You can’t throw the dice, and I’ll hold two rounds.”
Sure enough, Xiao Yan raised his eyes and gave her a cold look, “Daring! How can the Son of Heaven be imprisoned!”
Gu Yi swallowed a mouthful of water. “Your Majesty, a game is a game. Is Your Majesty trying to cheat?”
Xiao Yan snorted coldly, “Just keep going!”
The two of them played a game of chess until the hour of midnight.
Gu Yi won. She was both timid and proud, but after all, she was a novice butcher, so she was still more timid than proud.
Sure enough, she then saw Xiao Yan roll up her Great Tycoon rice paper, seemingly to confiscate it.
Gu Yi: “Your Majesty ……” Aren’t you too stingy to lose? But I can draw it again.
Xiao Yan said coldly, “Your drawing skills are worrying. I’m ordering people to recreate this Great Tycoon.“
Gu Yi immediately doggedly said, “Your Majesty is wise!“
Xiao Yan looked into her eyes, “Where did this Great Tycoon come from?“
Gu Yi made up “Anecdotes from the countryside.“
Xiao Yan laughed lightly. His eyes turned, “Under the heaven, there is no place that is not the king’s land and no one who is not the king’s subject. How can a merchant be called a great tycoon (*)? This countryside anecdote is fascinating!“
T/N: 大富豪 (Great Tycoon) is Chinese Monopoly.
Gu Yi heard this and felt numb on her scalp. She didn’t want to get involved in the feudalism debate, so she could only laugh: “Your Majesty is wise! Therefore, this is nonsense. It’s only a game!“
Xiao Yan slightly cleared his face, but his thoughts could not help but drift to today’s memorial about field tax (*).
T/N: the whip law. If interested, you can check Baidu/wiki.
Gu Yi saw him out of focus, so she got up and went to the chamber to light the candles. The moonlight outside the window poured into the hall, illuminating the wooden bed.
Not sure whether Noble Lady Wang will send someone else tonight.
Just as she lit the candle, Xiao Yan entered the chamber. They looked at each other, and the atmosphere suddenly became charming. Gu Yi nervously took a deep breath. She understood that since she was already the Emperor’s person, sooner or later, there would have to be a day like this. Xiao Yan’s face was even evident under the cover of the candlelight, and his dark brown pupils glistened. Xiao Yan hugged her and got onto the bed without half a word of nonsense.