His Peasant Wife : Yao Ling

"The princes want you to ruin the wedding alliance between the Han Princess and the Qin Emperor," Wang Luo Hai said. Although the Han Princess would only become a concubine, she would be granted a high position only one rank below the Empress. She would also receive a grand wedding to give the Han Emperor a face. They needed to ruin their connection in marriage just in case they would work together to attack their Shu Kingdom and... the job landed on Yao Ying and Lin Jian. It would be a good experience for Yao Ying to learn something new. Wang Luo Hai was also surprised that Yao Ying was able to get such an important mission for his first time, but hey... he became a proud father because of it.

"Can I go with them, Father?" Yao Ling asked curiously. She really wanted to see the Han Princess! However, she knew her boundary... If Wang Luo Hai said that she wasn’t allowed to go, then she wouldn’t go. After all, this was the organization’s arrangement -- not Wang Luo Hai’s.

Wang Luo Hai pondered over it. "This..." Yao Ling wasn’t a part of the organization, so he was a bit hesitant to let her go with them. He wasn’t scared that Yao Ling would ruin the mission. He knew that she wouldn’t but he didn’t want her to attract the organization’s attention. Even if he didn’t want to admit it, each organization had a dangerous presence inside that was best to avoid.

Yao Ying knew why Yao Ling was so interested in joining them and with her coming along, he thought that it was actually a good idea. "Father, I think bringing along Yao Ling is a good idea." He decided to speak up for Yao Ling too.

"Tell me your reason," Wang Luo Hai asked, feeling interested. Oh? The protective Yao Ying also wanted to take along his wife?

"If we want to get closer to the Han Princess, it’s easier for Yao Ling to do that. A woman tends to lower her guard with a person with the same gender. If I suddenly get closer to her, I bet she will feel wary about my intention," Yao Ying explained.

"I indeed have the same thought," Wang Luo Hai admitted hesitantly, then he asked, "What if it will bring danger to Yao Ling?" Wang Luo Hai was still a bit biased with preferring son than a daughter to do the hard labor job or big mission like this. A daughter should be pampered at home. He believed in Yao Ling’s ability, but he was really concerned about her safety. Yao Ying’s martial arts were quite good now, but Yao Ling didn’t have any martial arts basic. A mission... even if it seemed to be an easy one, there was always a hidden danger in it. He was worried because Yao Ling probably couldn’t defend herself if there was a mishap.

"I can handle myself, Father. I believe Yao Ying will be able to protect me," Yao Ling smiled sweetly.

"Ha...~ You can’t always be with him..." Wang Luo Hai sighed, but he also saw the pleading look in Yao Ling’s eyes. His heart softened and said, "Never mind! You, young people just do what you want to do. I will assign several shadow guards for Yao Ling. Don’t worry! You can trust them. I personally select my shadow guard, so you can trust their loyalty," Wang Luo Hai said. He was helpless toward their determination.

Yao Ling was quite happy with the arrangement. "Thank you, Father." She accepted his kindness gratefully. Even though Wang Luo Hai didn’t interact or talk too much with her, she knew that in a way he was spoiling her. When he saw that Yao Ling was tired, he would let her go home earlier from Fu Rong. From the start, if she made a mistake, Wang Luo Hai would patiently teach her. If she thought back, there were really a lot of things that he had done for her.

Yao Ying asked, "Father, when will we start the mission?"

"You have one week to prepare yourself. I also got a quite detailed report about the Han Princess," Wang Luo Hai revealed. He opened the report and read them to Yao Ying and Yao Ling in details.

Just like what they knew previously, the princess looked like a Shu woman. Han woman loves outdoor activities so naturally their skin was slightly darker, however, the princess has flawless white skin. No one had ever seen her face, but it was said that she was a beauty.

Yao Ling asked, "Father, do you have any information about the woman’s hobbies, likes, and dislikes?"

Wang Luo Hai nodded. "Probably because of the Shu’s genes are stronger, the Han Princess seems to prefer indoor activities, for example --- playing qujin and calligraphy. However, that’s the only information that we got. It seems like the Han Emperor really protects this princess well or... there’s a second probability... she’s not his favorite. After all, the Han Emperor has so many princes and princess." Favoritism among the princes and princess wasn’t a secret, but he didn’t really know whether this Han Princess was favored or not. Their spies in the Han Kingdom weren’t able to gain more information about this princess’s situation because there were a lot of contradictories words between the palace maids.

They said that the Han Princess’ place was the most humble one, but no one was allowed to touch and bully her. She was allowed to learn indoor activities, unlike the other princess who had to learn outdoor activities --- because she didn’t like doing the latter. Her clothing was always so humble, but the kitchen had to prepare the best food for her. Thus, her existence there was quite intriguing.

These traits piqued the couple’s interest more and more. It seemed like this Han Princess was an extraordinary one. To survive without powerful mother in the palace was already an amazing thing to achieve and it seemed like her life there also wasn’t so bad.

Yao Ling nodded in acknowledgment. "How do we know whether it’s the princess or not if we don’t have her painting?" She asked curiously. If no one had ever seen the princess, then how could they prevent the big wedding? What if they got the wrong bride?

"There’s a special trait that she has," Wang Luo Hai said after he read the whole report.

"Because of the famous butterfly dance, the Han Emperor blessed her with a special tattoo on her back. The Emperor especially called an expert for this. A blue butterfly tattoo..." Wang Luo Hai explained. "However no one knew the exact shape of the butterfly and how big it is."

Yao Ying and Yao Ling were interested in the butterfly dance. Was she really able to call butterflies when she danced? They believed that she must have had a trick to do that and they really wanted to find out about it!

"Father, what’s the Princess’ name?" Yao Ling asked. Until now, they realized that they only referred the princess as Han Princess.

"The report said that it’s Han Xiang," Wang Luo Hai said.

’Han Xiang...’ Yao Ling kept her name in her mind.

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Xiang can be translated as fragrant. There’s a legend about this concubine. If you want to know more, here is the link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fragrant_Concubine. I just used this as a part of my story because this concubine really piqued my interest >.