Don’t Be a Kept Man

could instantly tell that it was a high quality product, one that you could not buy on the streets casually.

Just when Chun Qiao wanted to stab Chen Miao Ping, Xie Yu Zhi had used such an item to hit her wrist.
Unfortunately from the impact, it had fallen onto the ground and was now broken into two pieces.

Chen Miao Ping said,

“This pendant has been carved with Second Master’s name, and since it is something you once wore as an accessory, it must be something precious to you.
It is most unfortunate that it is broken.
Once Miao Ping can find a good craftsman to fix it up, I will return it back to Second Master.”

If a man has a good looking skin on his skeleton, almost half the women living in this world would fall under his shoes.
Adding on generosity, a caring heart, and an intuitiveness, another half of the remaining half of the women would fall for him too.

Now, factor in his honey filled mouth and a gentle but steely backbone, packaged all together like this, at most there would only be one out of every ten women that would not fall for him.
It could be said that there was a reason why out of the numerous and uncountable examinees, out of all the talents that had gathered in one place for one thing, Chang Guo Gong’s family would choose him.

Hearing this Xie Yu Zhi looked him deeply in the eyes and then finally said,

“Things that have been broken, I have never wanted again.”

Chen Miao Ping did not mind his words and even had the thought to negotiate,

“Then, in the future when something better is found, Miao Ping will buy Second Master a new one.”

And then he slightly moved aside, reopening the road for Xie Yu Zhi to walk again.

Seeing him discreetly and naturally slip the broken jade into his embrace, Xie Yu Zhi seemed to want to say something, but he did not open his mouth in the end.
He only slightly glanced at his own knees and then limped away, one slow step at a time.

Not long after he left, one of the head maids of Qu Feng Courtyard, Ren Dong, suddenly came back holding a tray in her hands.
She bowed towards Chen Miao Ping before saying,

“This is the medicine Second Master has ordered us to give to Gu-Ye.
Hot water has also been prepared inside for you.
Gu-Ye, please enter the house now.
This maid will help you apply the medicine on your knees.”

Chen Miao Ping was surprised when he heard this and then shook his head,

“No, that won’t be necessary.
I can do it myself.”

He received the tray from the hands of Ren Dong and stepped inside the house.
He closed the door behind him and took a look at the decorations which, judging just from a glance, must be worth tens of thousands of gold.
He couldn’t help but lightly chuckle, the emotions reflecting in his eyes unclear and deep.

Chen Miao Ping leaned against the door, as his hands interlocked with each other, feeling very satisfied in his heart and silently thanked the heavens.

I am very grateful to you, for gifting me such an object.

Handsome, tall, rich and a person that is too easy to deceive.

Please look over me and protect me from being kicked out of this son-in-law position by my father-in-law.

Having such a big event happen this late at night, Chang Guo Gong Xie Yan Ping obviously received word about it.
But he took into consideration the fact that Xie Yu Zhi is grown up and could not be considered a child anymore.
He decided to leave it in Xie Yu Zhi’s hands to deal with on his own.

To be quite honest, Xie Yan Ping really wanted to kick out this worthless and useless son-in-law who married into their family.
But this marriage was bestowed with blessings by the emperor himself and no matter what, it was not something that can be changed on a whim.

Besides, if word of this incident got out, their reputation would start to crumble.
The only thing they could do was blame themselves for not knowing the person clearly beforehand and mistaking a wolf as their son-in-law.

Dian Yun Pagoda was the usual office of Xie Yan Ping where he would take care of all the official documents and other work.
On a regular day, without his permission no one could enter, but Xie Yu Zhi was an exception.

Xie Yu Zhi walked into the office and the sight of Xie Yan Ping sitting behind the desk, with the candle light dimming slowly, greeted him immediately.
There was no indication of how long Xie Yan Ping had been here.
He reported on everything that happened tonight and was only scolded in return,

“Foolish!”

Xie Yan Ping was angered to the point of helplessness and knocked on the desk with force,

“You let Chen Miao Ping kneel for so long and out in the open.
If it ever became known, are you not publically slapping him in the face? He may be willing to bend over and apologize now, but can you promise that he is not just hiding the growing hatred in his heart? What kind of man does not cheat? You should have just sold that worthless servant off.
Would Chen Miao Ping have stopped you otherwise or make a fuss? You allowed something like this to happen, turning a perfect match into a hate filled relationship.
This is absolutely foolish!”

Xie Yu Zhi did not say that he had originally planned to kill both of those bastards and only lowered his eyes saying,

“Those who betray me, must all die.”

“Idiotic!”

Xie Yan Ping was born from and lived entrenched in martial arts, so his temper was quite explosive.
He immediately slammed down on the desk and stood up,

“As your father, I know that you have held hatred in your heart ever since you were betrayed by your subordinate in Dong Xia.
But you have to look at the situation and timing with clarity.
Today is not the same as yesterday.
If they are not blood related, who will scrape out their hearts and souls for you?!”

The moment he mentioned Dong Han, the atmosphere in the air became solemn and tense.

Xie Yu Zhi had been a budding, talented youth and that battle was easily in their favour.
But who could have expected that a trusted subordinate would betray them and reveal all their meetings and other information? Ultimately this led to an army of more than ten thousand walking into the enemy’s trap where literally fighting with their lives on the line was the only way to escape.

His entire life had only that speck of loss, but that was all it took to make him unable to ever stand up again.
The hot blooded spirit in him was suddenly frozen over in that moment of time, and his youth and ambition was grinded into nothingness by the two years of being bedridden from his injuries.
Even more than that, however, was his inability to trust another person again. 

Seeing that Xie Yu Zhi did not speak up, Xie Yan Ping suddenly sighed.
He slowly sat back down on his chair and muttered,

“When your big brother Heng Zhi died in his youth, I, your father, was left with you as my one and only main son.
You are quite like your mother, with a personality just as stubborn as hers.
You like men, which as your father I have acknowledged.
You didn’t want to marry another man as his wife, your father, I agreed.
To pick that Chen Miao Ping as your husband, your father, I have also agreed.
What else do you want……”

Here in the capital city, it was nothing unusual to be in a relationship with another man.
A lot of officials had kept men on the side, but even if they did marry a bridegroom, they would at least marry another female concubine in order to produce offspring, to continue their ancestors’ lineage.
No matter whether it was the imperial family or the average commoner, this was the norm.

Chang Guo Gong knew that Xie Yu Zhi would not allow his husband to do such a thing, and so he picked Chen Miao Ping, the kind of man that could be easily controlled.
He even went as far as to ask the emperor to bless their marriage to shut the mouths of the people.

But reality proved that no man cannot not cheat.
And whether they admit it or not, the marriage was already set in stone, which meant that they will have to accept it as fate.

Xie Yan Ping tiredly closed his eyes and waved his hand in the air.
He said,

“Call the maids to bring a soft cushion.
You yourself go kneel for half a Shi Chen outside.”

This was for the good of Xie Yu Zhi, as after all Chen Miao Ping was the Flower Seeker.
In front of the servants today he knelt for a full Shi Chen, which must have fueled the grudge he would very likely be harboring in his heart. 

If this incident was passed onto the ears of the emperor, it would not reflect well on their family.
Punishing Xie Yu Zhi to kneel for half a Shi Chen should at least give some face back to Chen Miao Ping.
If this was ever leaked out now, others would only think that the family elders wanted to punish them both and laugh away all other thoughts.

Xie Yu Zhi did not move and pursed his lips, silently showing some of his headstrong stubbornness.
Chang Guo Gong lifted his eyes to look at him and asked in a light tone,

“Do you feel wronged?”

And then didn’t wait for an answer before saying,

“It’s natural for you to feel wronged.
Who as a human has not felt this way? But this road is the one that you yourself have chosen to walk down.
For the face and dignity of this family, no matter what, you will continue to walk down that path for me!”

Xie Yu Zhi finally had a reaction to that, and it was unknown whether he took this lesson to heart or not, but he slightly raised his hands and bowed, saying,

“Thank you, Father, for your lesson.”

He slowly limped out of Dian Yun Pagoda, pushing aside the cushion passed on by the servants and knelt down right in front of the courtyard, on the road paved with rocks.
His small and skinny silhouette stood very straight, as if he was a stalk of bamboo.

Xie Yu Zhi did not care about his legs as one was already disabled.
What was the matter if he crippled the other one?

The servants all around were hustling through but did not dare to mock this master.
Even so, it did not stop the gossip sweeping through the estate.
Not long after, it was passed onto Chen Miao Ping’s ears.

“What? Second Master has been punished to kneel?”

Chen Miao Ping had just finished taking care of his wounds and upon hearing this, the pants that were rolled up became loose.
Ren Dong furrowed her eyebrows and looked very worried,

“The maids were passing along the message saying that Second Master had somehow made Guo Gong very mad and is now kneeling under Dian Yun Pagoda.”

 

Notes:
*1 Mo-mo: a way to call an older/more elderly maid, or a female servant who is fairly old and works fairly high up in status in comparison to the other servants.
To be called Mo-mo, they are mostly the ones that have been at their job for a very long long time and they are higher in status than the younger maids.
Depending who their specific master/mistress is, the more higher tiered they can be (so if it was a Mo-mo of Chang Guo Gong, she would be higher in status than any other possible older Mo-mo from within the Chang Guo Gong estate for example).
There’s also quite a bit of other factors, but you can think of it as by status and age (higher + older) as who gets determined to be a mo-mo.

*2 Gong-Ye: a way to call in response to Chang Guo Gong like Second Master.
Can be used for any male head of the household, one that is the most respectable usually (-Ye as a suffix can be used by itself for a male who’s older)