The Youngest Daughter of the Hebei Peng Clan Is a Truly a Very Famous Little Heavenly Demon - Chapter 58

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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58.

Of course, a bamboo hat with cotton veil was like a staple for female martial artists, so it wouldn’t draw any attention. If anything drew stares, it would be my fully exposed face.

However.

“Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

I’m sensitive to touch.

I’m the type who would rather be cold than wear a mask when hiking, so the constantly fluttering white cotton veil really bothered me.

“It is uncomfortable.”

Dangsoso, who pulled the veil down, coolly admitted it.

“Then why do you wear it?”

“Lady Peng really has no sense. You’re so seventeen.”

“What.”

My inner thirty-year-old (not yet) self was stung.

“Hey! I roughly guessed it too, you know? I just didn’t ask on purpose! I was being considerate!”

“The moment you say that, it stops being consideration, doesn’t it? A seventeen-year-old kid really can’t help it.”

“Just waiting blindly isn’t the only form of consideration! You’re really suspicious! And another thing!”

Snap.

I pointed at Dangsoso with my index finger and declared proudly.

“I’m older than you! Call me sister!”

“Ah. That kind of setting.”

“Graaah!”

So infuriating!

As I threw a tantrum, the surroundings began to stir.

“Who is that pretty young lady over there?”

“My, that beauty lives up to her looks.”

“Hey! Even so, the greatest beauty in Sichuan is the young lady of the Dang Family.”

“But honestly, don’t you think that person is prettier?”

“Hmm… I’ll admit it.”

Such carefree attitude, staring at faces even when someone with a sword is shouting!

Unlike people from other regions who would quickly flee at the first sign of commotion, the Sichuan people instead crowded around as if an interesting spectacle had appeared.

“It would be nice to see her sitting alongside the Dang Family’s young lady having tea.”

“Oh my~ that would be paradise.”

They even giggled and chattered like housewives watching a daily drama.

“Huh?”

My confusion at the unexpected attention was brief.

Dangsoso grabbed the back of my neck and started dragging me away.

“Wh-what?”

“Lady Peng got embarrassed and tried to run away alone, so I’m taking care of her.”

“You! Are you saying I’m embarrassed?”

“…”

Dangsoso, who had been staring at me intently, threw me to the ground and walked away by herself with heavy steps.

“Tsk tsk tsk, a grown girl acting like that.”

“Oh my! They look so good together, why are they fighting? Aren’t they actors from a traveling troupe from outside?”

“Aha! They must be practicing for a performance.”

The passersby looking down at me sprawled on the ground in a spread-eagle position casually threw out comments.

‘Hmm.’

I jumped up and hurried after Dangsoso. The more I did so, the faster Dangsoso’s steps became as she tried to leave.

“Sosso. Sosso.”

“Not buying.”

Hurry hurry hurry.

Thump thump thump thump thump thump thump.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap!

“Waaah. Don’t abandon me.”

“Ugh.”

When Dangsoso’s speed increased to a level ordinary people couldn’t possibly follow and her veil began fluttering, our impromptu game of tag stopped. Dangsoso stopped in a place with fewer people, lifted her veil, and thrust her face close to mine.

“Lady Peng, look.”

“Uh… your face?”

I stared intently at Dangsoso, who had come close enough that our noses almost touched.

“Cute!”

“…That’s not it. Anyone can tell my face belongs to the Dang Family.”

Swoosh.

Dangsoso stepped back from me and lowered her veil again.

“If I walked the streets with my bare face, rumors would spread throughout all of Sichuan in less than three days.”

“Hmm, but doesn’t the Dang Family have more than ten direct descendants? How would people know it’s you?”

“There are only two daughters in the Dang Family – my older sister and me. I’m the second daughter.”

“Ah.”

That would certainly make the situation different.

Seeing my expression, Dangsoso sighed. Her veil fluttered slightly.

“Besides, I’m exceptionally cute.”

“Huh?”

“What.”

I blinked.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

This girl really loves her own face.

She had the looks to back it up though.

If Ju Sohui and I were the type commonly called China’s peerless beauties, Dangsoso was an adorable cat-like pretty girl who would be widely loved. Convinced by Dangsoso’s confidence, I nodded.

“Sosso is cute indeed.”

“Yes.”

“Sorry about causing a scene earlier.”

“I’m sorry for teasing you too.”

We finished our apologies warmly.

“Lady Peng is a seventeen-year-old kid, so it’s understandable to be sensitive about age. I, as an adult, went too far.”

“What.”

“Try calling me sister.”

“Gyaaah!”

However, round two soon broke out.

I walked through the alleys of Chengdu, bickering with Dangsoso for quite a while.

Avoiding people while heading to the Dang Clan Residence wasn’t difficult. As we moved toward the increasingly crowded city center, the vast building in the distance was clearly visible. After passing through the Dang Mansion that surrounded the area, we arrived at the central district before the day ended.

But with the Dang Clan Residence right in front of us, Dangsoso suddenly pointed to a building.

“Lady Peng, it would be good to stop by that teahouse before visiting.”

“Huh? Why? It’s right in front of us.”

“Still.”

Does she really not want to go that badly?

Perhaps she’s feeling unsettled inside. I shrugged and agreed.

“Alright then. Do you have seats available?”

“Of course, young lady. We have a very good seat to offer you two.”

The woman at the entrance heard my question and guided us with a relaxed smile.

Indeed, a high-class teahouse inside the Dang Mansion. The service was excellent.

Sitting across from each other on the top floor of the three-story teahouse, we could see the walls of the Dang Clan Residence stretching out.

“The residence isn’t as big as I thought?”

That definitely doesn’t mean it’s small.

However, compared to my admiration for the scale of the Dang Mansion I had just passed through, the Dang Family’s private residence was no different from the Eon Family’s.

Dangsoso, hearing my question, explained.

“We can’t ignore the government’s watchful eyes.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

In Sichuan, there exists a government body called the Three Bureaus of Sichuan, consisting of the Sichuan Administrative Bureau (administration), Sichuan Judicial Bureau (judiciary), and Sichuan Military Bureau (military).

Although the current Empress Dowager’s surname is Dang, the problem lies in the fact that the Patriarch Dang from two generations ago practically sold her off to the Imperial Court when she was just a branch family member.

The process was as follows.

Dang Hwa-yeon, born as the third daughter of a Dang Family branch, was extraordinary not only in martial arts but also in beauty, being a peerless beauty under heaven.

So much so that she became more famous as the most beautiful woman in the world, surpassing even the direct lineage of the Dang Family and the promising talents of her generation.

However, the Dang Family was a house with strict hierarchical order between direct and branch lineages.

The Patriarch Dang of that time, finding this quite displeasing, pondered over it and then, considering it a good opportunity, sent Dang Hwa-yeon’s portrait to the Imperial Court.

The Emperor, upon seeing the painting of the rumored most beautiful woman under heaven, immediately exclaimed his approval.

“I hear a beauty called a peerless woman under heaven has emerged from the Dang Family, so the Imperial Court wishes to personally take her as a wife!”

Thus the imperial decree was issued.

No matter how powerful a noble family might be, they cannot resist an imperial decree, and with Dang Hwa-yeon being merely a promising talent from a branch family and even the patriarch being complicit, where could she possibly flee?

In the end, she became a low-ranking concubine in the Imperial Court and was forbidden from leaving the palace.

Meanwhile, the Dang Family received a manor and official positions for offering a peerless beauty, while the sold-off Dang Hwa-yeon lost three children and languished in sorrow.

At some point, she awakened and used schemes to drive out the Crown Prince of that time, making her own son the heir and herself the Empress.

Now that the detestable Emperor (from Dang Hwa-yeon’s perspective) has died and her beloved son has ascended to the throne, she has been promoted to Empress Dowager, the highest elder in the Imperial Court.

Q. Describe the Empress Dowager’s feelings toward the Dang Family at this time. (10 points)

It would vary by person, but it seems Dang Hwa-yeon gnashed her teeth whenever the Dang Family was mentioned.

Meanwhile, from the Dang Family’s perspective.

The branch family daughter they had tried to get rid of had risen to become Empress, so they couldn’t help but be terrified.

Therefore, they returned the manor they had received when sending the branch family member as a low-ranking concubine, and recently, especially until the Empress Dowager’s passing, the atmosphere became one of quietly watching and living cautiously.

“Then is the person who married off the Empress Dowager back then still the patriarch?”

“Ah, that person was executed for treason.”

“Pfft!”

I spat out water while sipping from my water bottle.

“T-treason? Why? No, more than that, if it’s treason, shouldn’t the entire Dang Family have died due to collective punishment?”

“Normally yes, but it was the Empress Dowager’s revenge. The official justification was that since the patriarch committed treason, his eldest son should serve the country and pay for the sins in his place. The eldest son, who was the young patriarch, actually entered the palace as a eunuch to serve the Empress Dowager.”

“Oh…”

So that means they cut off his lower parts.

What a satisfying revenge. (Unlike Joseon eunuchs who only underwent castration, Ming Dynasty eunuchs had everything completely cut off.)

“So the next patriarch became my father, who was the second son.”

“Aha.”

Indeed.

With such history, the Dang Family’s moves to curry favor with the Peng Family made sense.

They say it’s until the Empress Dowager’s passing.

The Empress Dowager, who passed down beauty and talent to Ju Sohui, is also a Chojejung in terms of martial prowess. She’s not even a hundred years old yet, so she’ll probably live another fifty years.

Creak.

At that moment, the door to the private room that had been closed all along opened.

The person who opened the door and entered was a young man who appeared to be in his early thirties.

“I greet the honored guest who has come from afar. And…”

The young man, who bore a subtle resemblance to Dangsoso, set down refreshments in front of me, then turned his gaze to the opposite side.

“It’s been a long time, Sosso.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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