Chapter 138: Not Envious of Mandarin Ducks, Not Envious of Immortals, Only Envious of Every Day with Zhao Yu

…

Hearing Zhang Chun say that she wanted to marry the whole realm and also wanted to bear ten children, Ye Shi Yun curled her lip: "Look at you, showing off. Anyone who didn't know would think you really grew that thing. Who do you think you are?"

Zhang Chun refused to show weakness: "I told you, I am Zhao Yu. Didn't I get you pregnant, little Ye Shi Yun?"

As she spoke, Zhang Chun extended a finger to lift Ye Shi Yun's chin, full of flirtation.

Ye Shi Yun removed her chin from Zhang Chun's finger, turned her head, and said to Li Lin and Ma Ma Xiao Jiao: "Now I finally understand why Chun Chun was so keen on throwing surprise parties for Zhao Yu. What 'pleasing the gentlewomen'—it's clearly that she wants to take advantage of those women."

Zhang Chun snickered: "You guessed right. Zhao Yu eats the meat and I drink the soup. I've even taken advantage of Li Qingzhao, the greatest talent of history. Now ordinary women can no longer satisfy my ever-growing desires. My targets are already women like empresses, empress dowagers, princesses, and the like. But they're not my ultimate target either."

At this point, Zhang Chun looked at Li Lin, Ye Shi Yun, Ma Ma Xiao Jiao, and Yuan Qingcheng, who was still cooking not far away, and said excitedly: "My ultimate target is you four transmigrators. You are my best prey, cackle cackle…"

Li Lin said nothing. With one palm strike, she split the armrest of the hardwood armchair.

Seeing that the armchair, whose wood was countless times harder than her bones, couldn't withstand a single palm strike from Li Lin, Zhang Chun thought to herself: "I really admire Zhao Yu. He even dares to take a fierce woman like Li Lin, and even got her pregnant. There's truly no one like him."

At the same time, Zhang Chun immediately became obedient. She hurriedly said to Li Lin with a fawning face: "Sister Lin, I was just joking. I don't have any special quirks. I'm a pure woman who only likes men, not a lesbian. I was just trying to scare those few. Even if you lent me ten thousand guts, I wouldn't dare to scheme against you. If anything were to happen between us, it would be you playing with me."

Ye Shi Yun looked at the bully-and-coward Zhang Chun with utter contempt and incited Li Lin: "Sister Lin, just grant Chun Chun's wish. Didn't she tell you to play with her? Then play with her—candles plus a little whip. With her servile, groveling nature, she'd definitely be easy to train into a slave girl. If you don't know how, I'll help you. I guarantee I'll train her until she's on her knees licking your toes."

Li Lin waved Zhang Chun and Ye Shi Yun away as if shooing flies: "You two perverts, stay away from me. Don't teach my son any bad habits."

Ma Ma Xiao Jiao watched the scene before her and laughed heartily, "giggle giggle giggle," nonstop.

Yuan Qingcheng, not far away, had noticed that ever since Zhang Chun, Li Lin, Ye Shi Yun, and Ma Ma Xiao Jiao began sharing one husband, and especially after they all got pregnant with Zhao Yu's children, there were no more barriers between them. They dared to say anything. Chatting about what positions Zhao Yu liked was routine. Yesterday, Zhang Chun had even asked the three women of Li Lin to advise her on whether she should convert her pendant into a plug-in, and asked if they wanted to join in.

Yuan Qingcheng felt that the distance between herself and the four women of Zhang Chun was growing ever greater. Now it had even reached the point where the four of them could sit together and speak freely, while she could only use cooking as an excuse to stay far away from them, who dared to say anything lewd.

Yuan Qingcheng knew very well that this wasn't the four women of Zhang Chun deliberately isolating her. On the contrary, they had been pulling her in, afraid she'd fall behind. To that end, they were still actively matchmaking her with Zhao Yu, not letting her become the odd one out among them.

But the problem was, Yuan Qingcheng's head was full of "there are always treacherous subjects trying to harm the emperor," and she had never felt safe, unable to trust anyone.

This caused Yuan Qingcheng to keep letting down the good intentions of the four women of Zhang Chun.

Until… Yuan Qingcheng became Zhao Yu's personal little cook, and her contact with Zhao Yu increased.

She didn't know why, but Yuan Qingcheng felt very at ease with Zhao Yu, completely without the barrier and distance she felt when interacting with other natives of this world.

Moreover, every time she saw Zhao Yu gobbling up the delicious dishes she had carefully prepared, Yuan Qingcheng always felt inexplicably happy.

This caused Yuan Qingcheng to treat the daily task of carefully preparing dishes for Zhao Yu as her most important matter.

Fortunately, Zhao Yu only needed Yuan Qingcheng to prepare one meal a day. Otherwise, Yuan Qingcheng might not have time to do anything else and could only focus entirely on being Zhao Yu's little cook.

Speaking of which, the reason Yuan Qingcheng became like this was also because Zhao Yu was too good at flirting.

The second day Yuan Qingcheng served as Zhao Yu's little cook, Zhao Yu reached first base. Three days later, he reached second base.

A few days ago, Zhao Yu reached third base.

At the current pace, it wouldn't be long before Zhao Yu hit a home run.

In Yuan Qingcheng's view, she and Zhao Yu should now be considered in the throes of a passionate romance… right?

At least Zhao Yu hadn't forced Yuan Qingcheng to share his bed.

As for Zhao Yu taking some small liberties with her?

Not only did Yuan Qingcheng not feel the imagined revulsion, she looked forward every day to the surprise of meeting Zhao Yu.

Just now, having just put the di san xian into the wok, Yuan Qingcheng couldn't wait to wink at her maid Xu Poxi, telling her to go ask Zhao Yu whether he would come to their side to eat, or whether she should pack up the food and deliver it to him.

After receiving the order, Xu Poxi went to Chuigong Hall to find Zhao Yu.

But it happened that Zhao Yu had no political affairs to handle today, so he went again to the places of the Kucha Princess and the Western Xia Princess, where he had felt somewhat unsatisfied last night.

In the steppe regions, due to the relatively harsh living environment, tribes frequently clashed over resources, population, and the like.

Bride-snatching was, to a certain extent, a manifestation of such conflicts, and also a means of increasing one's own tribe's population and strengthening its power.

At the same time, the steppe peoples revered martial prowess and bravery. Bride-snatching was seen as a way to display a man's courage and strength, and snatching a woman from another tribe was considered an honor.

The most typical example was that, historically, Genghis Khan's wife Borte had once been snatched away by the Merkits.

Later, with the help of his allies, Genghis Khan defeated the Merkits and rescued Borte.

But by then, Borte was already pregnant, and not long after she gave birth to her eldest son Jochi.

As for the snatched women, they knew full well that resistance might bring more severe consequences, such as violent harm or even loss of life. To protect themselves, they could only helplessly accept the reality of being snatched.

At the same time, facing the powerful bride-snatcher and an unfamiliar environment, they would also feel isolated and helpless, seeing no hope of escape or changing their fate, and thus chose to bow to reality.

Crucially, the steppe culture's reverence for the strong led some women to consider being snatched by a powerful man as their honor, thereby accepting the outcome.

More crucially, some women, influenced by the views on marriage and women's roles in their own tribe's or the snatching tribe's culture, felt that women occupied a subordinate position in marriage. Even if snatched, they should submit to fate's arrangement and fulfill their duty as wives.

Whether it was Kucha culture or Qingtang Tubo culture, both belonged to standard steppe culture. Therefore, Zhao Yu was not at all surprised that the Kucha Princess submitted, even though he had killed her only son.

What surprised Zhao Yu somewhat was the Western Xia Princess's submission and cooperation.

For half of its history, Western Xia was ruled by women.

This made Western Xia women different from women in other regions.

Western Xia society had a special term for women: "Makuai"!

In the Western Xia language, "woman" was pronounced "ma," and "great" was pronounced "kuai." "Makuai" meant "strong woman," and also referred to "female soldiers" capable of fighting.

Western Xia was plagued by constant warfare in its early period, causing Western Xia men to suffer casualties in war again and again, gradually leading to insufficient productivity, a shortage of soldiers, and a lack of personnel throughout the entire people, thus requiring women to go into battle.

This made Western Xia women chivalrous and decisive, certain to avenge any grievance.

History recorded: "The Xia custom considers not avenging a grievance a shame."

If a certain Western Xia woman was too weak to avenge herself, she would gather some strong women, entertain them with cattle, sheep, wine, and food, then lead them to charge at the enemy's home, set fire to the enemy's house, and avenge herself.

This had already become the culture of Western Xia women.

Therefore, Zhao Yu had previously been quite worried about the Western Xia Princess. After all, he had killed her husband, and he feared she would emulate Leijinguowohatun.

Who would have thought, Zhao Yu was overthinking it.

Compared to the Kucha Princess, the Western Xia Princess was more proactive and more submissive. It could be said that without her cooperation, Zhao Yu might not have been able to take them both at once.

Afterward, Zhao Yu held the Western Xia Princess and inquired, only to learn that she had never been willing to go to the soon-to-fall Qingtang Tubo for a political marriage. It was Li Qianxun and others who had forced her, so she had no choice but to leave her hometown and relatives to marry into a foreign land. She had no feelings for Xisheluosuo, whom she had only spent a few days with in total. That was why she was very grateful to Zhao Yu for rescuing her.

Of course, all of the above was solely the Western Xia Princess's side of the story. Perhaps she simply wanted to find a support, or even a long-term meal ticket, in the unfamiliar land of the Zhao Song Dynasty. That was all.

But even so, it didn't matter—Zhao Yu had never intended to fall in love with the women he captured; they were merely his medals and playthings, and if he truly developed feelings for them, that would be his own stupidity.

Speaking of which, despite the Western Xia Princess being young, beautiful, and forward, she truly lacked the allure of the Kucha Princess.

Did Zhao Yu prefer older women?

Impossible!

Zhao Yu's absolute favorite was definitely an eighteen-year-old woman.

But the Kucha Princess was truly exceptional—she resembled Mo Nika Bellucci, especially during her era in *Malèna*, and since Zhao Yu was forty in his previous life, he was actually six or seven years older than the Kucha Princess, giving him a psychological advantage.

That was why Zhao Yu could enjoy the Kucha Princess without a guilty conscience.

Notably, after fully controlling Qingtang and severing trade with Western Xia, monopolizing the Silk Road, the Zhao Song Dynasty could gain an additional one to three million guan annually in trade revenue—equivalent to two to five percent of its total fiscal income. Though insufficient to overhaul the dynasty's financial structure, it would significantly strengthen the northwestern frontier and weaken Western Xia.

Moreover, previously, the Zhao Song Dynasty spent twenty to fifty million guan annually purchasing warhorses from the Western Regions and Qingtang Tubo; after controlling the Silk Road, horse costs plummeted while trade volume surged, saving the dynasty thirty to eighty million guan annually. Crucially, the Zhao Song Dynasty no longer had to fear being strangled by Western Xia or Qingtang Tubo when buying warhorses.

Lu Huiqing sent word yesterday that he had dispatched escorts to bring the Kucha Kingdom's envoys to Dongjing Bianliang; they would arrive soon.

With the Kucha Princess as intermediary, negotiations between the Zhao Song Dynasty and the Kucha Kingdom would surely proceed smoothly.

In other words, the Kucha Princess was no longer merely Zhao Yu's sensual haven in bed—she was also a vital pawn on his political chessboard. Her presence would open a gateway for the Zhao Song Dynasty into the Western Regions.

At this moment, Zhao Yu rested his head on the Kucha Princess's soft body and propped his feet on the Western Xia Princess's long legs, receiving massages from both.

The two women, while massaging Zhao Yu, used their imperfect Chinese to introduce him to Qingtang, Western Xia, and the various Western Region states they knew.

Meanwhile, a group of Western Region women and maidens demonstrated their dances, clad in dazzling Dunhuang dance attire—like celestial nymphs emerging from ancient murals, radiating Dunhuang's mystery and dreamlike beauty, as if the sun-warmed dunes of the Dunhuang desert, passionate and profound, as if painting before Zhao Yu the astonishing murals of the Mogao Caves.

This sight delighted Zhao Yu's eyes and made him feel as if he had stepped into the splendor of Dunhuang, where the celestial nymphs and musicians from the murals now seemed vividly alive before him.

Zhao Yu's hands wandered over the bodies of the Kucha Princess and the Western Xia Princess. Their soft, smooth flesh constantly reminded him this was no dream—these foreign women were truly his spoils of war, laboring to please him…

As mealtime neared, the Kucha Princess and Western Xia Princess invited Zhao Yu to stay and taste the hand-pulled rice they had prepared themselves.

But Zhao Yu politely declined.

Yuan Qing Cheng had already told him that today she would prepare a sumptuous feast using the Northeastern tiger, black bear, and other wild game gifted to her by Yelu Yanxi.

How could hand-pulled rice compare?

Moreover, Zhao Yu did not believe anyone in this era could cook better than Yuan Qing Cheng.

So, as was his habit, Zhao Yu went with Xu Poxi, who had come to fetch him, to enjoy the exquisite meal Yuan Qing Cheng had prepared for him.

Upon entering, Zhao Yu saw Yuan Qing Cheng utterly absorbed in plating her meticulously prepared dishes, arranging them to heighten appetite.

Zhao Yu embraced Yuan Qing Cheng from behind.

Yuan Qing Cheng didn't need to look—she knew Zhao Yu was taking liberties.

She feigned struggling slightly and said, "They'll laugh at me."

Zhao Yu kissed Yuan Qing Cheng's lovely cheek and said, "Why fear them? One day, I shall make all five of you sisters serve me together…"

The four women chatting nearby soon noticed Zhao Yu pursuing Yuan Qing Cheng—and Yuan Qing Cheng responding with coy resistance.

Zhang Chun couldn't help saying, "I envy no lovers, covet no immortals—I envy Zhao Yu's every day…"

…

(End of Chapter)