My Evil Imperial Wife is Too Arrogant

Lou Mu Yan left the main hall with the Empress and the Spiritual Herbs she ‘plundered’, while Lou Mu Bai was left behind to speak to the three in secret.

“Aunt, is Gu Yan Ran’s elder sister still targeting you?” Lou Mu Yan asked as she walked, hugging Lou Mo Zi’s arm.

Lou Mo Zi’s lips curled up with a sneer: “So what if she’s targeting me? She’s just a jester.”

She had never highly regarded Gu Yan Ting. From the very beginning, all she cared about was Yun Tian Chen’s attitude. But the results made her disappointed time and again.

Lou Mu Yan caught the sadness in her aunt’s eyes, but she was also extremely powerless. Strength could be improved, one could fight in an attempt to obtain what one couldn’t, but feelings really weren’t something that allowed other people to meddle with.

“Does aunt want to improve your strength?” Lou Mu Yan pondered a little—maybe doing other things to pass the time could make her aunt a bit happier.

Lou Mo Zi’s heart warmed, and a charming smile bloomed on her gorgeous face: “I’m already past the age of rushing about to cultivate. I’m really not keen on the matters of cultivation.”

She also knew Lou Mu Yan’s thoughts, but she really didn’t have much talent on the path of cultivation, and had stayed at Advanced-Phase Great Sword Master for many years already. Although advancing to the Sword Spirit Stage was only a matter of time for her, but if she wanted to advance to a Sword King, it was almost impossible.

“Then what does aunt like? Alchemy? Smithing? Talismans? Or maybe Arrays?” Lou Mu Yan also heard that her aunt hadn’t been keen on cultivation since she was a child, and these things couldn’t be forced, so she made a few other suggestions. Having things to do was always better.

“Alchemy, Smithing and Talisman making all required talent, and I don’t have any of that.” Lou Mo Zi smiled and shook her head, but when she mentioned the last item, there was a sense of regret in her voice: “I’ve studied the basics of Arrays, but it’s just that there are too few ancient records, so even if I wanted to continue researching, I don’t really have a choice.”

She wasn’t keen on cultivation since she was a child, but she liked to study on the Path of the Arrays, but it was a pity that in the end it she was unskilled at it.

As she thought more and more, Lou Mo Zi’s eyes darkened. Now that her niece mentioned it, she realised that she had really wasted her time on unnecessary conflicts over the years.

Maybe Yan’er was right. She should find something she liked to do. Her heart couldn’t keep revolving around Yun Tian Chen—she was really tired.

“If aunt likes Arrays, then that’s easy. I just read some ancient records regarding Arrays, and I still remember them. I’ll write it down when I return home and send it to you.”

Upon seeing Lou Mu Yan’s black eyes shining as bright as stars, Lou Mo Zi’s heart melted in a complete mess. She smiled and nodded, “Sure!”

After the two talked for a little while, they saw a beautiful woman in a pink dress walk towards them with several maidservants.

Lou Mo Zi’s eyes grew cold, turned her head to Lou Mu Yan and said: “Later, if she provokes us, you don’t have to be considerate. Aunt will take care of things if anything happens.”

She couldn’t bear Lou Mu Yan receiving any grievances and didn’t want the niece she pampered like her own daughter to change her personality because of her. So what if she was arrogant and tyrannical? As long as Yan’er was happy.

“Sure!” Lou Mu Yan naturally took the Empress’s hand and walked forward together.

Gu Yan Ting was indeed a beauty. Different from her aunt’s glamour and magnanimity, she bore a kind of delicate and demure beauty that men preferred more.

In her memory, every time Gu Yan Ting saw Lou Mu Yan in the past, she would ridicule and provoke, specifically targeting her wounds. Her aunt also had a maidservant slap Gu Yan Ting’s face because of this. In the end, the issue was taken to the Emperor, and because of this, the Emperor and Empress’s feelings also grew colder.

All in all, when Lou Mu Yan ‘exchanged moves’¹ with the Gu Clan’s sisters she was always defeated. The two constantly faked being weak and aloof, but Gu Yan Ting’s methods were more skilful.

“This servant consort greets Empress.” Once they were face-to-face, Gu Yan Ting stepped out first and greeted Lou Mo Zi respectfully, her voice soft and gentle.

Lou Mu Yan furrowed her brows—she hated this sort of women that simply wasn’t gentle act delicate or demure. Especially the deliberate soft and sugary voice that made her very disgusted.

“Stand.” The smile on Lou Mo Zi’s face had long disappeared, and she nodded coldly.

Gu Yan Ting stood and looked at Lou Mu Yan with a smile, greeting: “Young Miss Lou.”

Lou Mu Yan didn’t perform a formal greeting towards Imperial Noble Consort Gu, and her voice was indifferent, “Imperial Noble Consort Gu.”

Gu Yan Ting was surprised. Today, these two people gave her a different feeling from the usual.

“Young Miss Lou didn’t go see Sir Chi today? I heard from Yan Ran that he was accidentally injured while cultivating.” Gu Yan Ting looked at Lou Mu Yan with a smile. The meaning behind her words were obvious—the first person to go accompany Chi Yi Xuan when he was injured was her younger sister.

“It’s not like I’m the concubine the Chi Clan set, what does Chi Yi Xuan being injured or not have to do with me? Why should I go visit him?” Lou Mu Yan looked at Gu Yan Ting with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.

Gu Yan Ting’s expressions stiffened. She didn’t expect that Lou Mu Yan, who would immediately change the moment Chi Yi Xuan was spoken of, could be so indifferent today. Now that she mentioned her younger sister being a concubine, anger rose.

Humph, since I can’t provoke Lou Mu Yan today, it’s still good to provoke the Empress.

“Elder sister², are you going to enjoy the flowers in the Southern Park with Young Miss Lou?” Gu Yan Ting covered half her face with a fan and pretended to be shy, “This servant consort commented on how the peonies in the Southern Park were blooming so beautifully a couple of days ago, and then Emperor ordered people to move the peonies in the Southern Park to this servant consort’s courtyard. Now there are no flowers in the Southern Park to view, so elder sister does not need to go for nothing.”

Lou Mu Yan sneered at such direct flaunting, then turned her head and asked Lou Mo Zi: “Aunt, since when did you have a younger sister, why don’t I know?”

“Imperial Noble Consort Gu, this Empress³ only has an elder brother and a younger brother, but no younger sisters. It’s best that you do not randomly seek connections.” Lou Mo Zi continued on from Lou Mu Yan’s words, but today she really wasn’t in the mood to deal with Gu Yan Ting in front of her niece, “This Empress still has something to do, you may withdraw now.”

Gu Yan Ting’s face changed, her white teeth bit her pink lips and suppressed the secret hatred in her heart. Lou Mo Zi wouldn’t be complacent for long now, so she could bear her for the time being.

She just didn’t believe that, after hearing that the Emperor dug up the peonies that Lou Mo Zi personally planted, this woman wouldn’t feel unhappy.

“Yes. This servant consort withdraws.” There was a hint of complacency in her voice.

After Gu Yan Ting finished speaking, she took the maidservants past Lou Mu Yan and Lou Mo Zi, leaving the back garden in lotus-like steps⁴.

But the moment they passed, Lou Mu Yan smelled a very light sweet scent from Gu Yan Ting. She narrowed her eyes—there was a problem with this woman.

After a while, she moved her gaze away from Gu Yan Ran’s back, and when she raised her eyes, she caught a very light sadness in her aunt’s eyes.

Lou Mo Zi appeared indifferent to the situation of the Southern Park on the surface, but she still felt extremely uncomfortable inside. Every single peony there was planted by her own hands, yet who would’ve thought that that man would let people dig it up and gift it to Gu Yan Ting. Was he also digging her heart⁵?

“Aunt, sometimes what you see and hear is not necessarily the truth.” Lou Mu Yan couldn’t help but remind.

Lou Mo Zi suppressed the sadness in her eyes. She didn’t want to mention anything regarding that man anymore, so she changed the subject, “Yan’er, you entered the palace so early in the morning, you must be hungry now, right? Shall we return to my resting quarters and eat?”

“Sure!” Lou Mu Yan didn’t mention anymore. She only had a suspicion in her heart, so it was best to verify it with a little investigation, then speak of it.

Translated product by May Our 梦 Come True

¹fought with them, verbally or physically, and could involve obscure understandings of words as well as scheming.

²concubines and wives etc. would also call each other as ‘elder sister’ or ‘younger sister’ etc.

³techically she doesn’t really use the word ‘Empress’, but a specific way of addressing herself, like how the Emperor addresses himself as ‘zhen’. She uses ‘本宫’. (ben’gong) 本 (ben) I’ve been translating to ‘this’, e.g. ‘this young miss’, ‘this young master’ when they’re addressing themselves. ‘Gong’ technically means ‘palace’, but it’s really weird to say ‘this palace’, and since she’s the Empress, I decided to just make her use ‘this Empress’.

⁴ideal type of walking for females—gentle and refined.

⁵to hurt her, basically.