The next day, Yuxi found out that Xuan s.h.i.+, the wife of Marquis Changping's s.h.i.+ziheir of a n.o.ble house¹ had come on behalf of Zhou Lei, her family shuborn from of concubine² son as his matchmaker. Zhou Lei was a shuborn from of concubine² son, and Yuru was a shuborn from of concubine² daughter, thus, they were well matched in terms of status.

Yuxi knew that this marriage would be impossible, so she did not pay much attention to it. Sure enough, later on, Qiu s.h.i.+ graciously declined the marriage for the simple reason that Zhou Lei was not a good enough candidate for Yuru. Although Yuru was a shuborn from of concubine² daughter, she was, after all, the eldest shuborn from of concubine² daughter. Besides, she also had a good reputation outside. It would be a waste to match her with Zhou Lei. The other main reason was that, it would not bring any benefits to the Duke of the State residence by forming this relations.h.i.+p.

To Yuxi's surprise, Qiu s.h.i.+ even discussed with her about Han Jianye's marriage and even asked her a question, "Yuxi, what do you think of Miss Xinrong?"

Yuxi didn't react at first, but then smiled and replied, "Xinrong Jiejieelder sister³ is really a good person! Is there anything wrong with her, Eldest Aunt?" She had been very busy these past few years that she had no free time to chat with both Zhou s.h.i.+ya and Duan Xinrong. Currently, the friends.h.i.+p between the three people could still be maintained by writing letters to each other, and they also share the same interests anyway. That was why, even when they didn't meet with each other frequently, their relations.h.i.+p was still really good.

Qiu s.h.i.+ then asked, "What do you think of matching Miss Xinrong with your Ergeer=two/second, ge=elder brother, short form for Gege⁴?"

Yuxi opened her eyes wide and asked, "Eldest Aunt has asked a matchmaker to go to Duan family? What did the Duan family say?" She had known Xinrong for several years, and if Xinrong could marry Han Jianye, it would be wonderful. But, this idea had never crossed her mind. It wasn't because she thought that Han Jianye was not worthy of Duan Xinrong. It was rather because the Duan family was a scholar family.

However, the Duan family was not so lofty as to say that they would not a.s.sociate themselves with those who had n.o.ble merit, nor did they say that they would not marry their daughter into a n.o.ble family. If this were the case, there would have been nothing wrong with Chiang Jing. It was only that, scholars did not like martial art man who flourished himself with a knife and played with a weapon. Since Han Jianye wasn't good in study, he had to flourish with a knife and handle a sword.

Qiu s.h.i.+ shook her head and said, "No. I think Miss Xinrong is very good in all aspects. So I like to invite someone to pay a visit to Madam Duan." The matchmaker would be invited only after both parties had made a private agreement. Therefore, she wanted to see the att.i.tude of the Duan family first.

Yuxi felt that this marriage was going to be quite worrisome. Firstly, Han Jianye had never been good in study which did not comply with the Duan family requirements. Secondly, her Eldest Uncle patronised his concubine's room, which everyone in the capital knew about. This clashed with Duan family principle, that stressed on customs and etiquette. In Yuxi's point of view, this matter, nine out of tenChinese idiom : mostly likely⁵ was not even going to work.

Yuxi also gave a mouthful bite of death to Qiu s.h.i.+'s hope by saying, "Eldest Aunt, Xinrong Jiejieelder sister³ is really a very good person . I also hope she can be my Ersaosecond brother's wife⁶. It just that, Duan family is a scholar family, so it is possible that they have planned to also find a scholar for Xinrong Jiejieelder sister³."

Qiu s.h.i.+ was also worried about this matter. That was why, she deliberately discussed it with Yuxi.

Yuxi consoled her, "Eldest Aunt, a man as nice as my Ergeer=two/second, ge=elder brother, short form for Gege⁴ will not have trouble finding a good sister-in-law." Han Jianye had a straightforward temper and did not have so many crooked intestines. For this reason, she really thought that whichever woman married Han Jianye in the future, she would surely have a very happy life.

Qiu s.h.i.+ was unwilling to give up. She finally found the one candidate who was good in all aspects and for her to give up before she went there to ask, was not her natural temperament.

How could Yuxi not see Qiu s.h.i.+'s inner thoughts? She would not pour any cold water on Qiu s.h.i.+'s hope any more as she said, "Eldest Aunt, I think it is better to ask Dageda=big/eldest, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege⁷ about Ergeer=two/second, ge=elder brother, short form for Gege⁴'s marriage. Dageda=big/eldest, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege⁷ walks outside more, so he must have socialise a lot and knows much more people." It was said that Dageda=big/eldest, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege⁷ acted more like a father in the family. Although Dageda=big/eldest, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege⁷ was only two years older than Ergeer=two/second, ge=elder brother, short form for Gege⁴, the way he conducted himself in society was much higher level than that of Ergeer=two/second, ge=elder brother, short form for Gege⁴.

When Qiu s.h.i.+ heard this, her face immediately filled with dissatisfaction. "Your Dageda=big/eldest, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege⁷ has no vision."

As Yuxi listened to this talk, she knew that the person whom Dageda=big/eldest, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege⁷felt satisfied with didn't even manage to enter her Eldest Aunt's eyes, "Which young miss did Dageda=big/eldest, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege⁷ mention to Eldest Aunt?"

Qiu s.h.i.+ hesitated for a moment, but finally told Yuxi, "Your Dageda=big/eldest, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege⁷ said, that young miss of Mao family was pretty good. So I found a chance to meet her. This girl looks like a hemp pole, making me worry of what will happen if a strong wind blew pa.s.s. With that body, how will she bear the burden of raising children and taking care of the household ch.o.r.es in the future?" The young miss of the Mao family whom she was talking about was the second diborn from formal wife⁸ daughter of Left a.s.sistant Minister from. Her family background was very good, but Second Miss Mao was too slim. Qiu s.h.i.+ liked the plump type. According to her, such women were more fertile, so girls with hemp-stalk bodies would never enter her eyes.

Yuxi felt awkward. "Then, Eldest Aunt should try to carefully look at her once more."

Qiu s.h.i.+ took Yuxi's hand and earnestly said, "Yuxi-ah, a woman's figure should be gentle and beautiful, not thin and weak." There was basically a standard for a large family to choose a daughter-in-law. For Qiu s.h.i.+, this was her main standard.

Yuxi smiled and said, "Eldest Aunt, it's not like you don't know how much I eat." Usually, a young miss of a household only ate a bowl of rice in each meal. However she needed two bowls for each meal. In addition to this, it was also important for her to have her fruit dianxinwell known as dim sum, which is how 點心 were read in Cantonese. They are prepared as small bite-sized portions of food served in small steamer baskets or on a small plate⁹. For this reason, her height was now more than half a head taller than her height in her previous life. This made her extremely satisfied.

Just then, Ye s.h.i.+ came over. Yuxi immediately stood up and greeted her with a smile, "h.e.l.lo, Dasaoeldest sister-in-law¹⁰." Ye s.h.i.+ always treated Yuxi very good and she really wanted to win her over, but Yuxi had always acted distant towards her. This was not only confused Ye s.h.i.+, but also felt quite strange to Qiu s.h.i.+.

Ye s.h.i.+ came over to discuss with Qiu s.h.i.+ about some things, all of which were about the official residence. Yuxi had always avoided such things before, and she was ready to walk away this time too.

However, Qiu s.h.i.+ grabbed her by the hand and said with a smile, "Next year you will have to learn household managing from your Dasaoeldest sister-in-law¹⁰, so it is better for you to start listening to it now."

Yuxi had an advantage. It was actually unnecessary for her to study, but once she studied, she would study hard. After she heard Qiu s.h.i.+'s words, she sat quietly by the side, and listened carefully to the household duties brought up by the two people, just as she usually did while listening to Teacher Song's lectures.

There were a lot of things to do during the New Year. After Ye s.h.i.+ had done discussing the matter with Qiu s.h.i.+, she went out again. Qiu s.h.i.+ looked at Ye s.h.i.+'s back and sighed slightly. Ye s.h.i.+ was good in everything. The only bad thing about her was, there was no news yet on her stomach even when she had been married for more than two years. As a result, Qiu s.h.i.+ became nearly worried to death.

Although Qiu s.h.i.+ often regarded Yuxi as an adult and told her about a lot of things, but regarding this matter, it wasn't good for Qiu s.h.i.+ to open her mouth. What would she accomplish from bringing up about her daughter-in-law couldn't give birth?

New clothes would be made at every New Year, and this time, Yuxi would get six new clothes. Despite Rose Courtyard being really simple, Yuxi's food and clothing were no worse than others.

In the late twelfth lunar month, people in the state residence became busier and busier. At this time, Yuru, Yujing and Yuchen helped Ye s.h.i.+ with household ch.o.r.es.

Kufu couldn't help muttering, "If only Miss would follow suit." Being a household manager was something every girl must learn. The earlier, the better.

Yuxi laughed, "My Eldest Aunt saw that I've just gotten well, so she didn't want me to work hard. It also means that, when the first month of the new year comes, I will start learning about managing household from my Dasaoeldest sister-in-law¹⁰."

Kufu breathed a sigh of relief. She was afraid that Eldest Madam would forget about her Miss.

Zisu looked at Kufu with a smile, "Eldest Madam loves Miss so much. She has thought of everything for her. Why do you need to be this worried?"

Kufu hurriedly begged for mercy.

The atmosphere inside the room was very joyous. It happened that a discordant voice sounded at that moment, "Miss, Mama Chen from Third Madam's yard has come." The people from the Biteng Courtyard were the least popular in the Rose Courtyard.

This time, Mama Chen was inviting Yuxi to Biteng Courtyard.

Since Yuxi became well from her last illness, she only went to Biteng Courtyard with Yuchen on the first day and the fifteenth day of the month to greet Wu s.h.i.+, but she did not go there at any other time. She looked at Mama Chen, and asked with an indifferent look, "Why is Mother suddenly looking for me?"

"It's New Year's Eve," said Mama Chen respectfully. "Madam is planning to give some extra bought jewellery for young misses, so please come over." She couldn't help feeling quite afraid of Yuxi. One after another, her Master had suffered a lot in this girl's hand.

After Yuxi was punished by Han Jingyan, she didn't do any extra things, except for letting her people publicised Qiu Yanfu's story that happened in Marquis Pingqing residence. The last time Miss Biaofamily relations.h.i.+ps via females¹¹ ran into Second Young Master, it could still be considered as a coincidence. However, this time, in Marquis Pingqing residence, it was not a coincidence. Moreover, without Madam of the household, coupled with Great Grandmother curbing the rumours, the servant of the Duke of the State did they best in retelling the rumours, which now had so many versions available.

When Wu s.h.i.+ heard the rumour, she became furious. She punished two gossiping servants on the spot and went to see Qiu s.h.i.+, to demand her to severely punish her gossiping servants. As a result, Qiu s.h.i.+ not only rebuffed Wu s.h.i.+ back but also made a cynical remark directly to her face. This made Wu s.h.i.+'s face distorted because of anger.

Not only Wu s.h.i.+ and Qiu Yanfu who thought that this was Yuxi's revenge, even Mama Chen also believed the same thing. However, they could only guess it and couldn't find any evidence to support their claim. Even if this matter was brought to Master's attention, they would not be able to stand up to it, so they had to pent-up their unspoken grievances deep inside their hearts.

Yuxi had an indifferent expression as she stated, "Since Mother had intentionally invited me, I'll be there later on." She couldn't stand Wu s.h.i.+, but Wu s.h.i.+ was still her elder, thus, she couldn't avoid her. Hai, it was really upsetting to have such a person hanging around. It was not actually that difficult to move Wu s.h.i.+ away but Wu s.h.i.+ had two sons, which were like a death-defying gold medal for Wu s.h.i.+. Furthermore, there was still filial piety pressing down on her, so she couldn't directly deal with Wu s.h.i.+. Even if she schemed against Wu s.h.i.+, the outcome would only be like fighting the enemy by killing one thousand but self-defeat eight hundredChinese saying : even though one side won, but that winning side also lost a lot of things¹². .

Mama Chen returned to Biteng Courtyard and immediately informed Wu s.h.i.+, "Madam, Third Miss and Fourth Miss will be here later on."

Wu s.h.i.+'s face turned cold. She had personally sent someone to invite them to come, and despite that, they had the impudence to make her waited for them. No one knew that she was currently nursing a grievance, which already made her sick of being their stepmother.

For Wu s.h.i.+ to feel sick of doing something was normal. It was already hard to be a second wife and it became much harder when she happened to be their stepmother. Many stepmothers managed to suppress the children left behind by their predecessor, simply by controlling these three things: first, money, second, fame and third, marriage.

For money, Yuchen and Yuxi already had a.s.sets in their hands, thus they were financially independent, and also, it was absolutely impossible for her to skimp on their food and clothing. As for their reputation, although Wu s.h.i.+ held the t.i.tle of their stepmother, there was still the big head, Old Madam Han, holding her down. There was no way Old Madam would let Wu s.h.i.+ ruin Yuxi's reputation that easily. As for marriage, Yuchen and Yuxi were very much outstanding, naturally these matters became important resources for their future marriages. Would Old Madam and Han Jingyan let her intervene? Without these three chips, how could Wu s.h.i.+ keep Yuchen and Yuxi under control? Of course, this was also the real reason why Yuxi didn't want to pay much attention to her.

After a while, an outside maid announced, "Madam, Third Miss and Fourth Miss are here."

Wu s.h.i.+ tried hard to muster a smiling expression. In the past, since her husband came from the Duke of the State residence and also held a high official position in Hebei province, even wives of Hebei higher authorities had to treat her well and polished their faces when they met with her. But now, back in the capital, she had suffered more irritations than she did in previous decades.

Yuchen and Yuxi entered the house, and gave their greetings to Wu s.h.i.+ together. Even though Wu s.h.i.+'s heart was unwilling, she didn't dare to treat the two girls badly. What she didn't know from the previous rumours, was that, the Old Madam already didn't have a good expression of her.

After a while, Yurong and Qiu Yanfu also arrived. Seeing Yuxi, Qiu Yanfu immediately lowered her head, but soon after, she looked up again and greeted them both with a smile.

Yuxi immediately gave a cold snort, then, completely paid no attention to Qiu Yanfu, not willing to give her even a tiny bit of face. As for Yuchen, she just gave Qiu Yanfu a brief nod as a greeting, and then also took no notice of Qiu Yanfu's friendliness. Because of the previous incident, Yuchen felt extremely disgusted with her too.

Qiu Yanfu hated Yuxi very much. For a young miss, reputation was very important, but now, her reputation had been completely ruined by Yuxi. She wanted to get her revenge, but sadly, she was powerless to do so. Even Wu s.h.i.+ couldn't deal with Yuxi, let alone her, who lived there with her status as Miss Biaofamily relations.h.i.+ps via females¹¹. She was rich, but she couldn't just squandered money like dirtChinese idiom : spend money like water¹³. Moreover, many things in the residence couldn't be bought with money.

Yuxi didn't pay any attention to Qiu Yanfu at all as she asked Wu s.h.i.+, "I have been told that Mother wants to give some bought jewellery to us. Will we need to order it first or just directly choose it?"

Wu s.h.i.+ answered with a smile, "Someone will send all the jewellery directly to me later, so you can just choose those that you have taken fancy to."

Yuxi asked again, "Are they from Ruyi Pavilion?" Ruyi Pavilion was the largest and best jewellery shop in the capital. The jewellery made there were of excellent quality.

Wu s.h.i.+ was originally prepared to spend some money to earn a reputation for herself. Unexpectedly she was still been despised for it. Because of that, she could only suppress the grievance she felt deep inside her heart.

It wasn't long before a person from the jewellery shop brought the jewellery in. A big household usually let the merchant brought things to the house for them to personally choose. While, the activity of shopping on the street was generally for them to relax.

A lot of jewellery worn by Yuchen were made with palace craftsmans.h.i.+p, and some were customized by Ruyi Pavilion. So, she did not take these jewellery given by their Mother to heart. She was unlike Yuxi. Since she was relatively reserved and cared more about the reputation of Second House, she didn't say anything bad, only symbolically chose two bright red hairpins.

Yuxi was disgusted with Wu s.h.i.+ again but she also didn't want to lose her share in front of outsiders. She picked a hairpin which was inlaid with precious stones on it. Her affection for precious stones and gold was also her minor shortcoming.

Wu s.h.i.+ was somehow a little surprised. She thought Yuxi would pick a lot of jewellery just to let her bleed! She didn't expect that Yuxi would be so obedient this time around.

In response, Qiu Yanfu commented with a smile, "Biaomeiyounger female cousin¹⁴ has really good eyes and picked out the best ones with just a glance." She was actually mocking Yuxi's love for money, and how Yuxi's eyes only aimed for them.

Yuxi seemed like she did not understand what Qiu Yanfu actually meant as she replied with a smile, "Every New Year, Eldest Aunt will always order a set of head ornaments from Ruyi Pavilion for me, which are more than I can actually wear. This time, I got some head ornaments because of Mother's kind intention. However, maybe because I have seen so many good things and my eyesight had gotten skilled over time, I unconsciously picked out the best one."

When the madam of the jewellery shop heard Yuxi's words, she gave out a praise, "Miss really has an excellent eyesight."

Yuxi glanced at the hairpin in her hand and smiled lightly. "It just so-so!" It was unknown whether she was commenting on her eyesight, or the hairpin in her hand. Then she handed over the hairpin to Kufu, and didn't even look at it again.

Yuchen just shook her head helplessly.

When Wu s.h.i.+ saw Yuxi acting like this, she nearly vomited out a mouthful of old blood. She suddenly realised that she just spent money on jewellery that turned out to be unsatisfactory.

Noob Translator's Musing

for the wait.

Last week, I caught the cold and was busy tending my kittens who had eye disease. This week, I managed to have time to translate. It also took time for me to translate this chapter as my mood kept on changing during the process. Sorry again for the wait~

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