The Sinful Woman's Golden Branch: The Jade-Faced Yama is Actually Me (Twenty)...

When people are well-fed and warm, they start thinking about other things.

It's impossible to expect a princess who loves fun to always eat vegetarian food. I've been busy with military and political affairs lately and have neglected this kind of enjoyment. Now I've suddenly remembered it.

Of course, Ji Siyin was already somewhat restless before this.

Ye Xiqing claims to be slacking off lately, but she hasn't been idle at all. After the killing stopped, she started compiling simplified Chinese textbooks.

As a textbook for learning characters, there was no need to make it too serious. Ye Xiqing wanted to write a short play to add interest and make learning fun.

The song and dance dramas of Da Yu today also have story elements, but overall they are mostly songs and dances with little story content. Ye Xiqing wants to create the kind of operas of later generations that are purely story-based.

Just recently, she wrote a new play called "Mandarin Duck Pendant" or "Two Lifetimes of Love," which tells the story of a princess and her husband's extraordinary and dramatic love.

At the beginning of the story, the princess and her husband were deeply in love, playing music and composing poems together, like two birds flying wing to wing.

Unexpectedly, disaster struck. The prince consort's family committed a crime and was executed by imperial decree issued by the princess's mother, the empress.

The princess tried her best to persuade him to stay, but to no avail. The prince consort died, leaving behind only half of a mandarin duck pendant. The princess saw the pendant and missed her husband dearly, and was filled with grief.

At this moment, the prince consort's twin brother appeared. Unlike the prince consort's gentle nature, this brother was as fierce as fire. After learning that his family had been killed, he was determined to avenge them!

Using a face identical to the prince consort's, he feigned injury and collapsed in front of the princess during her hunting trip.

The princess was kind-hearted and would naturally not stand idly by and watch someone die if she saw him lying on the roadside. However, she was horrified when she saw that the person had a face that looked exactly like the prince consort.

After bringing the person back to the mansion, the prince consort's younger brother woke up and said that he was too badly injured to remember anything.

The princess was overjoyed, thinking that her husband had returned to life, so she took him into her residence and cared for him diligently.

The prince consort's younger brother harbored resentment and hid poison in a cup, intending to murder the princess.

Unexpectedly, even as he held the poison in his hands, the princess still showed him her wholehearted love and care. His younger brother repeatedly tried to offer him a cup of wine, but was repeatedly interrupted by the princess's affection.

When the younger brother finally had the chance to make the princess drink the poisoned wine, he couldn't bear it and knocked the wine cup out the window.

The princess was puzzled, and her brother could only make excuses. After returning home, he comforted himself, saying that love is love and debt is debt. The princess had been kind to him, so he could not be unjust to her. He would definitely kill her next time!

The second time, the younger brother plotted and designed a trap to make a heavy object fall and kill the princess.

Unexpectedly, the heavy object did not fall when the princess passed by, but when he was inspecting the mechanism. The princess was shocked and bravely protected him, even injuring her arm in the process.

Seeing the princess injured, the younger brother was at a loss, feeling ashamed and remorseful, and for a moment he didn't know whether he should still seek revenge for his family.

After much hesitation, hatred prevailed, and the younger brother picked up a knife, revealed his identity, and confronted the princess!

After learning the truth, the princess looked sorrowful and remained silent, only instructing her maid to show something to her younger brother.

At first, the younger brother didn't understand what it meant, but after seeing it clearly, he was shocked and backed away repeatedly, saying it was impossible!

The princess's maid pointed at him and angrily shouted: "How is that impossible!"

Your family has wreaked havoc in the area, embezzled and accepted bribes, seized fertile land, and exploited the people. In all these cases, how have we wronged your family?

Your family deserves to die a thousand deaths. The princess was so good to you, how could you be so heartless as to murder her!

Only then did the younger brother realize how wicked his family had been, committing so many evil deeds, no wonder the Emperor had ordered the entire family to be executed.

He shouldn't have sought revenge, but he had trampled on the princess's deep affection. He felt ashamed and remorseful, and had no face to live on. He drew his knife to commit suicide, but the princess grabbed his wrist.

The princess exerted force little by little, snatched his knife, threw it to the ground, revealing the mandarin duck pendant in her hand.

The mandarin duck pendant is now the only one left in the world; will the other two pendants also be separated?

The younger brother took out his own mandarin duck pendant and combined it with the mandarin duck pendant in the princess's hand, and tears streamed down his face.

At the end of the story, just as at the beginning, the princess and her husband walked side by side, enjoying the spring flowers and paying respects to their former husband before returning home together.

The mandarin duck pendants have been reunited and will never be separated again.

Although the beginning was a bit heartbreaking, the ending was quite good, hence its alternative title, "Two Lifetimes of Love".

The story omits the background and doesn't mention which princess and her husband it is, but princesses whose mothers are emperors are indeed quite rare.

As the first audience member, Ji Siyin was so moved by the variety show based on her own story that tears streamed down her face. Who was playing the role of the prince consort? How could he be so handsome!

He happily called someone over, and upon closer inspection, it was a woman.

Although all sex-related industries that are physically detrimental have been abolished, the entertainment industry will not disappear; there will always be cultural workers and performing artists.

To prevent the entertainment industry from becoming too rampant and harming farmers, this industry must be restricted. Once someone enters the ranks of miscellaneous households, they are subject to the same constraints as merchants, unable to acquire land or hold official positions, and can only enjoy money.

You can only earn a living by having absolute confidence in your skills; otherwise, I won't care if you starve to death.

Despite the harsh conditions, people still volunteered. One of them, whose stage name was "Mantingjiao," was originally a master of traditional Chinese performing arts. She was extremely skilled in the art and had a strong expressive ability. When she heard that she was going to perform for the princess, she immediately volunteered to show her talent.

As the plays were intended for high-ranking officials and nobles, it was necessary to prevent them from becoming obsessed with men and neglecting their duties. Therefore, regardless of whether the characters in the plays were male or female, they could only be played by female actors.

The prince consort who played two roles was none other than Man Tingjiao, and just as Ye Xiqing had predicted, the princess was almost bewitched by her beauty.

Upon learning that the actor playing the role of the prince consort was a woman, Ji Siyin was truly filled with anxiety.

But she really loved this look, so regardless of whether it was a woman or a man, she appointed her as an entertainment official and put her in charge of the entertainment industry in Dengzhou.

The rest of the troupe, out of affection for the princess, also received rewards, much to everyone's delight. Man Tingjiao indeed became famous overnight by performing for the princess.

Ji Siyin has recently been frequently summoning Manchu officials to accompany her and perform for her alone, but they are ultimately fake men. She finds herself itching to watch, but unfortunately, they are all women, and she doesn't like that kind of thing!

There was already some restlessness, and then someone deliberately stirred it up; how could we tolerate this?

People in high positions of power are bound to have a penchant for trying new things.

Ji Siyin had seen countless noble young men and talented scholars in the capital, but none of them were as captivating as this country boy's smile. He even turned back three times along the way.

Ye Xiqing, who had been following behind her, couldn't help but smile when she saw her like this: "Princess, are you captivated by the handsome young man by the roadside?"

Ji Siyin:...

"What's wrong? Is it not allowed? I've been working so hard and making such great contributions lately, can't I even take a little pet?"

Ye Xiqing smiled and nodded: "Of course, but Princess, are you ready to have a child?"

Ji Siyin: Huh?

Although she enjoys playing around with men, she doesn't like having children. Childbirth is not an easy thing to do, and she's not sick, so why would she have children so easily?

He looked at Ye Xiqing with a wry smile, teasingly saying, "Hey, talented lady, do you think that being with a man means having a baby?"

"Haha, that's not the same thing. I'll teach you when we get back!"

Ye Xiqing: ...

Thank you, we modern people don't need the teachings of the ancients.

He calmly looked at Ji Siyin and said, "Princess, I know about your methods, such as getting things out of the body or wearing sheep intestines for contraception, but these are not reliable. Sheep intestines also affect the experience. There is a better way that can solve the problem once and for all."

Ji Siyin immediately became interested: "What method?"

Ye Xiqing revealed the answer: "Have a small bell removal surgery performed on your pet."

Ji Siyin:...

"Wouldn't that make him a eunuch?!"

Ye Xiqing immediately rejected her erroneous idea: "Of course it's different. Eunuchs take everything off, regardless of whether the person lives or dies, but we only need to remove two little things. It's much more cultured and humane than eunuchs."

"Moreover, after the removal surgery, it won't affect your normal work. I have a medicine that can restore your pet's functions to their original state, and you won't have to worry about having offspring."

Ji Siyin:...

"real?"

That's definitely true.

Although I was influenced by patriarchal culture in the past and worshipped that thing more, the essence is actually in the bell.

Without the bell, the ability to have offspring will be completely cut off.

If X-ketones can be supplemented, the other function will not actually be affected.

As someone who had worked in the pharmaceutical industry in one of her previous lives, Ye Xiqing still had some knowledge, so she knew that X ketone was soluble in ethanol, which is alcohol.

Since a solvent is available, there is a way to extract it: extraction.

Some substances that are to be extracted are soluble in one liquid but not in another. Some liquids, when mixed and left to stand, will clearly separate into layers, such as water and oil.

To purify a substance, simply find its solution, then find the layered liquid of the solution, mix and stir, filter out impurities, let it stand to separate the layers, and the substance you want to extract will be entirely in the solution.

If there is a chemical reaction involved, a series of chemical reactions can be used to "wash" the substance back to its original state.

The principle is very simple, but in ancient times, it was discovered that even the stratified liquid could not be found.

Ethanol is indeed a solvent that can dissolve ketone X, but as a hydrophilic solvent, it dissolves instantly upon contact with water, making it impossible to separate into layers. To extract it, a layering solution is needed, and most organic solvent layering solutions in the world do not exist naturally.

Ye Xiqing thought of an organic solvent that could be easily prepared: ethyl acetate.

Ethanol (alcohol) and acetic acid (vinegar) react in the presence of concentrated sulfuric acid to produce ethyl acetate.

Not only can it be separated into layers with ethanol, but it is also more effective than ethanol in extracting X ketone. It's just too troublesome. If it could be extracted by hand, she could even extract penicillin.

Because ethyl acetate is a well-known solvent, one of the most potent substances it can dissolve is penicillin.

Even something as revolutionary as penicillin, Ye Xiqing was too lazy to apply herself, so she left it to Doctor Ding to apply. Would she really apply something as unimportant as X-ketone herself?

She will.

What a joke! She's a courtesan of the princess, not a great scientist. What does it matter to her whether penicillin can be extracted or not? But X-ketone is related to her boss's lifelong happiness!

As an exceptionally dedicated person, she always loves what she does, and she'll do her job well even if she has to be a lackey.

So, Princess, please rest assured, your loyal subordinate will definitely concoct a revolutionary little pill for you!

Ji Siyin:...

"How come you know all sorts of unconventional things..."

Ye Xiqing remained expressionless: "It was taught by the Goddess of Wushan."

"Does the Goddess of Wushan teach anything else?"

"She taught me that you must be well-prepared before deciding to have a child."

"You can't choose a man with a big head, because the head is the most difficult part to deliver a baby, and people with big-headed genes have a hard time giving birth."

“The elderly and weak cannot be chosen, because the person who provides for the child has no vitality, so the child’s vitality must be replenished from the mother.”

“You can’t choose someone who brings misfortune to his mother. If he can bring death to his mother, his children can bring death to you.”

"You cannot have children before the age of 23, or if you are physically weak, you cannot have children. Don't have too many children. If you still want to have sex with your spouse after having children, be sure to have your spouse undergo a cleansing procedure."

Ji Siyin:...

The Goddess of Wushan seems quite concerned about her fertility...

...

Regardless of how Ji Siyin's impression of the Goddess of Wushan changed, she still adopted Ye Xiqing's advice, brought that commoner into her residence, appointed him as a tutor, and took some measures to purify the area.

Ye Xiqing's repertoire was not only performed in aristocratic circles, but also imitated by the common people. Although it was not as good as the Manchu officials' performances, it was still loved by the people because of its dramatic plot and became an instant hit.

Some people watch the play for entertainment, while others take it seriously. There are indeed lazy men in the countryside who are restless and yearn to be favored by the princess. The newly appointed concubine is just such a person.

He had three older sisters and was the only son, which shows how much he was pampered at home.

Unexpectedly, one day the situation suddenly changed drastically. His three married sisters returned home, were given land, and some even brought their children. With land and people at home, he seemed less important.

The young master who used to never lift a finger and was always playing with cats and dogs is now being forced to work in the fields.

He harbored deep resentment and longed to soar to great heights, escape his impoverished home, and ignite all the desires within him for the popular drama. How wonderful it would be to become the princess's husband!

Although he was a bit slow-witted, he had been pampered and raised for many years, and despite coming from a poor family, he had developed an exceptionally handsome appearance.

She boldly flaunted her beauty in the ditch and actually won the princess's favor!

They were overjoyed to have boarded the dragon carriage, and the whole family rose to prominence along with them. Ji Siyin was very generous, sending several cartloads of gifts to their family and promising to find official positions for their three older sisters.

Seeing the princess's great favor, Xiao Yi thought she could rise to prominence and become a member of the royal family!

But to my surprise, I was hit on the balls as soon as I went in. I was stunned. Huh?

Cui Xiaoyu was practically dying of laughter, vividly describing the scene to Ye Xiqing, and nudging her shoulder as she said, "You're going to ruin our new Zanyi! She'll hate you!"

Ye Xiqing: Hmm?

Why hate her?

She is currently studying the testicles of the princess's new consort.

After purifying medical alcohol for disinfection, her pig farming business also made progress.

Boars that have had their testicles removed not only reach market weight quickly but also taste better. Furthermore, their wounds are treated with medical alcohol, making them less likely to become infected and die.

The eggs that had been cut open could be sold for medicinal use, so nothing was wasted, and the practice quickly spread.

In order to produce artificial X-ketones for that esteemed Zan Yi, Ye Xiqing spends a lot of money every day just collecting eggs, not to mention other expenses and labor input.

In their world, this would be considered the same level of extravagance as sending lychees from afar just to please the imperial concubine.

He ate so many eggs, what's there to complain about? Does he think eggs are cheaper than lychees?

It's true that men and petty people are the hardest to deal with; she should just keep rubbing her X-ketone.

However, since the work only required effort and had no technical difficulty, Ye Xiqing found inspiration for literary creation in her spare time.

Another princess was walking along a country road when she suddenly encountered a handsome man and fell in love at first sight.

They lingered for a while, deeply in love, and he brought her into the household, where she was appointed as a lady-in-waiting.

Unexpectedly, the prince consort was ruthless and cruel. He was kind to Xiaoyi when the princess was around, but he would torture her severely when she was not.

Xiao Yi was kind-hearted and kept quiet, but the prince consort went too far. When the princess was away on official business, he took the opportunity to cut off his testicles, making him unable to serve the princess anymore!

When the princess returned, she was heartbroken to see that Xiao Yi had lost his egg. She asked him who had hurt him, but Xiao Yi was too kind and kept quiet even though he had suffered the pain of losing his egg.

Fortunately, the princess was wise and capable, and she found out that it was the prince consort who was responsible, and immediately ordered that this poisonous husband to be punished!

Seeing that all was lost, the prince consort panicked. However, Xiaoyi repaid evil with kindness and pleaded for the prince consort. The prince consort was finally moved by Xiaoyi's kindness and reformed himself.

The princess was also moved by Xiao Yi's beauty and kindness. Feeling sorry for him after losing his egg, she promoted him to the position of Western Prince Consort, making him equal to the other prince consorts and bestowing even greater favor upon him.

As Ye Xiqing wrote, she burst out laughing. What should this story be called?

After thinking for a while, I picked up my pen and wrote down "Three Visits on Horseback".