Greetings, Ninth Uncle

Chapter 118: To Hide Defects (III)

Sure enough, the next moment, he heard Cheng Yujin said, “Your Highness, this consort just thought of a Zen principle.”

When Cheng Yujin spoke, she never finished it in one breath. She had this habit of moving around in circles and spoke of high-sounding reasons of the world’s philosophy before finally allowing herself to get to the point. Li Chengjing sighed and said, “It’s rare for you to talk about Zen principles. Alright, I will listen.”

Cheng Yujin cleared her throat, and started from an abstract philosophy, “Your Highness, as the saying goes: when the moon is full, it is waning, and when water is full, it is overflowing. People are also the same. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“We should exercise restraint in everything. Otherwise, doing too hard is easy to break. Anything too excessive will only bring negative effects.”

Li Chengjing pondered for a moment and couldn’t help but say, “Why are you always so long-winded?”

Cheng Yujin’s emotions were already stirred enough. When she heard Li Chengjing’s nonchalant words, she looked up and glared fiercely. Li Chengjing accepted her glare with a calm and innocent face, “I’m just telling the truth. If you want to say something, just say it directly. You can obviously finish in one sentence, but always go in a circle and make me tired of listening.”

Cheng Yujin was interrupted when she was still in the process of building her argument. At this moment, she no longer bothered and spoke directly: “Your Highness, I have thought about it carefully and felt that grandmother’s words today made sense. We should focus on having children and stop wasting too much energy.”

Cheng Yujin’s words were vague, but Li Chengjing understood immediately. He couldn’t help raising his eyebrows, totally dumbfounded: “This makes no sense, right? It’s our children’s fault for not coming early enough, so why are you wronging me for this?”

At this moment, there were still servants in the hall. Cheng Yujin quickly glanced around and coughed softly, “Your Highness, too much is as bad as too little. If the water is too full, it will lead to nothing. Don’t you think so?”

Li Chengjing sat upright and said slowly, “No, I don’t think so.”

Cheng Yujin couldn’t help glancing around again. She always paid attention to her manners, yet here they were, discussing this kind of thing in front of the palace servants. Even though she knew they couldn’t hear their conversation, Cheng Yujin still felt very nervous. In this world, probably only Li Chengjing alone could sit upright and talk about his opposition to reducing bedroom activities with such a serious face.

Just at this moment, a palace maid came in to change the tea. Cheng Yujin immediately shut her mouth and straightened her back. In contrast, Li Chengjing still looked very relaxed. He picked up the pot of freshly brewed tea, heated the cup, poured the tea, and said: “In my opinion, Zen principles should be used differently. The midnight glow dies and grows again, just like the tide rises and falls. Yin and Yang make a whole, always in each other’s company and inseparable. When there is Yin, there is Yang, and when there is light, there is shadow. It is impossible to separate and take only one of them. Just like my name ‘Jing,’ a jade lusters, but when the luster creates a shadow, it is called a defect. Just like how the marsh contains pollution from leaking or how the mountains keep the disease from spreading, a beautiful gem (jinyu)¹ hides the defect. Defects are inevitable, and there is no need to deny them.”

Li Chengjing repeated slowly, emphasizing certain words: “A beautiful gem (jinyu) hides a jade’s defect.”

Li Chengjing was talking about the meaning of several phrases taken from scriptures. It was obviously a solemn topic, but Cheng Yujin always felt that something was not right.

A series of rolling pictures suddenly emerge in her mind. After realizing what she was thinking, Cheng Yujin hurriedly scolded herself fiercely inside. How could she be so dirty? It was a solemn scripture!

After Li Chengjing finished speaking, he solemnly praised himself: “This allusion is well used.”

Cheng Yujin’s face turned red with a bang. She thought her brain was too dirty, but it turned out the dirty one was not her!

That’s what this guy actually meant. He said obscene words so openly and brazenly!

Cheng Yujin blushed. She bit her lip, unable to speak. At this moment, there were still many palace servants around. When they saw the Crown and Crown Princess discussing Zen philosophy so seriously, they all cast admiring glances at the two.

Almost dying of embarrassment, Cheng Yujin’s face was so hot that it was about to burn. However, the person on the opposite seat was looking at her with a smile, “Jing has defects, while Jinyu hides the defects. Our names are truly fit, which shows that we are indeed destined to be husband and wife.”

It was simply a public embarrassment, and a very obscene one on top of that. The tips of Cheng Yujin’s ears were burning red, both by anger and by embarrassment. Seeing her reaction, Li Chengjing tried his best to endure his laughter. It was at this time Liu Yi came in, reporting that a court official was waiting outside to give the Crown Prince a New Year’s greeting. Li Chengjing could only temporarily leave his blushing Crown Princess and go out to receive the greeting.

Li Chengjing was full smiling when he left.

Cheng Yujin was about to be killed by embarrassment and anger. When Li Chengjing spoke, he was so upright and dignified. There were so many people around, but none saw his true face.

Cheng Yujin gritted her teeth soundlessly. After the Crown Prince left, Du Ruo and Lian Qiao stepped forward to serve Cheng Yujin. When Lian Qiao poured tea, she asked with admiration, “Crown Princess, what were you discussing with Crown Prince just now? It seems that you two quoted so many phrases from scriptures, very deep and profound. This servant can’t understand at all.”

Lian Qiao wanted to make Cheng Yujin happy with this compliment, but contrary to her expectation, Cheng Yujin glared at her with a cold face. Lian Qiao was puzzled and asked cautiously, “Crown Princess, did this servant say something wrong?”

Seeing this, Du Ruo hurriedly stepped forward to relieve the siege: “Crown Prince and Crown Princess are very knowledgeable; how can we as mere servants understand their profound talk? If this servant is allowed to say, Crown Prince and Crown Princess have not only similar names, but also very similar in temperament. Both of Your Highnesses are extraordinary in demeanor and equally are very dignified people.”

Du Ruo wanted to smooth the scene, but was unaware that she was pouring oil into the fire. After she finished speaking, she was stunned to find Cheng Yujin’s face became even colder. Cheng Yujin snorted softly and said, “Who is like him?”

Du Ruo was stunned: “Huh?”

Cheng Yujin waved her sleeves and said coldly, “Unlike him, I’m dignified both inside and out.”

The Crown Princess was dignified both inside and out, but what did she mean by ‘unlike him’? Du Ruo was confused. She and Lian Qiao exchanged a glance and didn’t dare to say another word.

Translator’s Note:

Again with Li Chengjing and his kinkiness

Wants more chapters?

Click this page for the status of sponsored chapters.

Click this page for advanced chapters TOC.

1. This is a wordplay… the ‘Jing 璟’ from Li Chengjing name has a character of ‘Jade.’ Jades shine but have defects, and a beautiful gem (Jinyu 瑾瑜, written just exactly like ‘Yujin 瑜瑾’ from Cheng Yujin’s name) hides the defect.