chapter 102

In the cold winter, snow blocked the windows, and the icicles were like crystal pillars, hanging in rows on the eaves. When one walked out the door, one’s breath would turn into white mist.

When Yuxi went out, Zisu took out a pink and emerald green brocade with fox fur cloak from the room, “Miss, it’s very cold outside. You’ve just gotten well, so you need to wear more.”

Yuxi felt that she was almost wrapped into a zongzi by the people around her, but she couldn’t say no. If she said she didn’t want to wear it, it was estimated that the maids around her would take turns to persuade her, and the chatter would make her had a headache.

When they reached the main house, as Yuxi’s maid lifted the curtain, a maid from the room came forward to help Yuxi untie her cloak. Cuiyu whispered, “Miss, Madam Shizi¹heir of a noble house from Marquis Changping residence has come.”

Yuxi nodded slightly and told her that she now knew.

When Old Madam Han saw Yuxi came in, she looked at her carefully. Since she saw that Yuxi was not sick, and really sure that she was really well, she said, “Bring a cup of ginseng tea for Fourth Girl.”

Yuxi learned pharmacology, so she was more particular about this matter. “Grandmother, just ask the maid to give me a cup of warm boiled water instead.” It was not advisable to eat more ginseng without having any illness or disaster.

Old Madam Han didn’t care. She already knew that Yuxi had such character. Yuxi won’t put up with something she didn’t find good for herself or something she didn’t like, and she would definitely open her mouth to go against it. Old Madam Han said to Shanhu, the maid beside her, “Go. Bring a cup of boiled water for Fourth Girl.”

Madam Shizi¹heir of a noble house from Marquis Changping residence was a little surprised. Generally, when a granddaughter was in front of her grandmother, she would always listen to what her grandmother said. She didn’t expect Fourth Miss to be so brave to go against something general. Usually, the bolder ones were favored, but she heard that the Old Madam only pampered Yuchen, and she had never heard of her pampering Fourth Miss!

Yuxi smiled and greeted Madam Shizi, “Good greeting bomu²wife of father’s elder brother.” TNFor a moment there, I got confused between Marquis Changping (brother of Old Madam Han) with Marquis Pingqing (brother of Yuchen’s mother). (－‸ლ)

Old Madam Han explained, “This child has been ill for several days and only recovered today.” After Yuxi got well from illness, she immediately came to pay her respects, which made her felt quite satisfied with Yuxi.

Madam Shizi¹heir of a noble house of Marquis Changping residence naturally would gave Old Madam Han some face, “What a filial child.”

Yuxi didn’t stay in the main room for long. Just from looking at the two people, she knew that they had something to talk about. After a short stay in the main house, she went out and switched route to the main courtyard.

Qiu Shi was warming herself in the room when she heard Yuxi had come over. She immediately stood up and took her to the brazier, “You really are a child. Your body just got well, and you still wanted to run around. It’s so cold outside, what if you got cold again?”

Yuxi smiled. In fact, her illness had already healed much earlier, but everyone around her wanted to take a very good care of her. As a result, this care lasted for more than half a month.

Qiu Shi touched Yuxi’s face and sighed softly, “You have lost so much weight. You have to make up for it.” After saying those words, she instructed a maid to go to the warehouse to take some supplements for Yuxi to take back.

Yuxi was embarrassed. She had eaten a lot of delicious food every day during this period of time, till she raised a few meat on her face and somehow, her aunt still said she was thin. Yuxi pinched her round face and said, “Aunt, I can’t make up for it anymore. If I do, I’ll be a big fat girl.”

Qiu Shi couldn’t help groaning, “Being fat is also good-looking. The little girls in other families are looking too thin, just like a bamboo pole. When I see them, I couldn’t help worrying about their health. If someone else’s family is looking for a daughter-in-law, they surely don’t want to choose a girl that looks like a bamboo pole.”

Yuxi was speechless. Where did all these come from?

Qiu Shi also said, “You also should have learnt about housekeeping on the first day of the twelfth lunar month last time. Unfortunately, you were ill. So you shall learn from your sister-in-law at the beginning of next year instead.”

Yuxi nodded, “Aunt, it’s not that too late for me to learn it next year.” Next year, she would only be 12 years old, and housekeeping was a skill that she knew wouldn’t be able to be learnt just for two or three years.

Qiu Shi took Yuxi’s hand and chat with her for a little while until Shanhu, the maid beside the Old Madam, came to invite her to go to the main room.

Yuxi left the main courtyard and went to Tingyun Pavilion. On her walk there, she could only see snow all the way. It was very cold at this time of the year. In the garden, except for those who swept the snow, everyone else was warming themselves up in their houses. So, she didn’t see that many people along the way. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.

From a distance, Yuxi heard a melodious sound of qin. Without thinking much about it, she knew that Yuchen was practicing her qin. Yuxi smiled and said to Kufu, “Speaking of which, the people around San Jie³san=three/third, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie are really blessed since they can listen to San Jie³san=three/third, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie playing the qin and blowing the flute every day.” Yuchen could also play the flute very well.

Kufu was somewhat puzzled that she asked, “Miss, why didn’t you learn guzheng that day?” She knew that Teacher Song was originally planning to teach her Miss on how to play guzheng that day, but her Miss herself didn’t want to learn it.

Yuxi naturally won’t say that she thought it was only a waste of time to learn this kind of stuff. Thus, she just chuckled and replied, “I don’t have the talent, so I didn’t want to waste my time learning it.”

Yuchen knew Yuxi was coming over and her face was full of smiles, but there was still some complaints in her words, “Why are you still walking around in this cold winter? Isn’t it cold?”

Yuxi handed over her coat to Shiqi and said with a smile, “I heard the beautiful and moving sound from San Jie³san=three/third, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie’s qin from afar. Even in this cold, it still worth for me to come here!”

Yuchen laughed, “If you want to listen so much, I’ll play another song for you.” No matter how excellent people were, they all wanted to have a spectator. For Yuchen, Yuxi was her spectator.

Yuxi narrowed her eyes, thinking, then smilingly said, “I want to hear not only the qin but also the flute.” It wasn’t that she was flattering Yuchen, but Yuchen’s qin and flute skills were very good that they warmed the heart and delighted the eye⁴Chinese idiom : pleasing.

Yuchen smiled and instructed Shiqin, “My Si Mei⁵si=four/fourth, mei=younger sister, short form for Meimei will have lunch with me this noon, so tell the kitchen to cook more dishes.”

Yuxi also had no argument. When she learned etiquette, she often ate in Tingyun Pavilion, which had become a habit for her.

The two went to the qin room. Yuchen was sitting at the qin table when she asked, “What song does Si Mei⁵si=four/fourth, mei=younger sister, short form for Meimei want to listen to?”

Yuxi bowed her head and thought for a moment:. “Did San Jie³san=three/third, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie learn ‘Yangchun’?” ‘Yangchun’ was one of the top ten classical music of guqin. It described the beautiful scenery of early spring when winter went and spring came, with the earth recovering and everything was thriving. The melody was fresh and smooth, and the rhythm was relaxed and lively. This was also Yuxi’s characteristic. She liked to wear bright clothes and bright jewelry, and also liked to listen to cheerful music. According to her idea, the previous life was so depressing that she could no longer be cowardly to have a good life for herself.

This is Yangchun :

Yuchen gave her a helpless smile, “You really know how to choose. I have just learned this song.” This song, Yangchun, was actually very difficult for ordinary people to play.

Yuxi did not think she was making things difficult, as she confidently said, “I believe San Jie³san=three/third, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie can play it well.” In fact, for her, how could one show Yuchen’s true standard without asking her playing the hard part? Of course, more practice was required for a difficult repertoire.

Yuchen smiled gently and began to play the qin.

Yuxi leaned against the chair, closed her eyes and listened to the tune quietly. Although she had not studied guqin, it did not hinder her from giving her honest comments. After she had done hearing ‘Yangchun’, she opened her eyes and smilingly said, “San Jie³san=three/third, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie, your qin skills has improved again.”

Yuchen liked to discuss various topics with Yuxi, such as qin, painting, chess and calligraphy. “Don’t say something that nice. This piece of music is too difficult. I have some difficulty playing it the middle part.”

Yuxi knew that the mood of this song was too great for ordinary people to master, “San Jie³san=three/third, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie, try imagining yourself in a lush meadow surrounded by brilliant flowers, not far from you, there is spring water tinkling and the birds in the tree are singing melodious songs. When you put yourself in that scenes, what do you feel?” The skill and technique were something that Yuxi couldn’t understand as much as Yuchen, but she could recognise the quality of the music.

Yuchen closed her eyes and tried to describe the scene in her mind. After a while, she opened her eyes, gave out a smile and said, “I’ll play it one more time.”

After playing for the second time, without even hearing Yuxi’s evaluation, Yuchen said with a smile, “When I played it the second time, it was much smoother than the first time.”

At that moment, Shiqi came over and announced, “Miss, Fourth Miss, the meal is ready, so you may have your lunch right now.”

Every time Yuxi had a meal in Tingyun Pavilion, she had this idea of kidnapping the cook of Tingyun Pavilion to cook in her yard. Of course, she was just thinking about it in her mind. Not to mention of putting it into action, namely, she would not even say a word about it.

After lunch, Yuxi accompanied Yuchen walked around the house. Tingyun Pavilion was warm in winter and cool in summer. This was what it was said about it, but it was actually true. As long as one didn’t go out, it would feel as warm as spring inside which made one won’t bear to leave.

After walking for less than half an hour, Yuchen took Yuxi into the musical instrument room again. She then took a jade flute from a brocade box. Instead of playing it, she looked at Yuxi and said, “Yuxi, to learn to play flute is in fact very studious, much more so than the guqin and guzheng.” What her words really meant was that, if Yuxi wanted to learn it, she could teach Yuxi herself.

This is how a jade flute sound like.

Yuxi shook her head and said, “It’s okay.” If she married a good family later, would she have time to hear any music? If she didn’t marry well, she wouldn’t still have the leisure to blow this stuff even if she learnt it. According to modern parlance, Yuxi was a pragmatic person, who only wanted to learn something useful, and resolutely refused to learn something that she deemed as useless.

Momo⁶wet nurse Gui suddenly came over and said, “Miss, it’s time for you to take a nap.” She had carefully arranged all Yuchen’s time. When the time came for one to nap, one had to go to sleep whether one was sleepy or not. Even if one laid with one’s eyes open, one had to lay down for that time.

Yuxi smiled, “Then, I should go back to take a nap too.” She also learned etiquette quite well, but not as strict as Momo⁶wet nurse Gui required. Of course, this also had something to do with the future path of the two people. On the condition of Yuchen who would definitely married into the royal family, and as for Yuxi, she must be married into the official family. Therefore, Momo⁶wet nurse Quan didn’t harshly ask for Yuxi to strictly follow the rules and etiquette.

As soon as Yuxi returned to Rose Courtyard, Maidong immediately informed her, “Miss, Madam Shizi¹heir of a noble house from Marquis Changping residence came here today to matchmake Eldest Miss.”

Yuxi was not surprised either. Yuru would be 15 next year. Now was the right time for a matchmaker to start coming over. “Tell me, which family did they discuss about?”

Maidong shook her head. “I haven’t found out about this yet.” To Yuxi, it was already very good for her to find out that Xuan Shi, the wife of Marquis Changping residence Shizi¹heir of a noble house, had come here to be a matchmaker for Yutu. This was also the result of Yuxi spending more than six years to establish contacts in the residence. Of course, the actual main reason was that Qiu Shi turned a blind eye to Yuxi’s behaviour. Otherwise, Yuxi could not have achieved her goal this easily.

Yuxi smiled, “Don’t ask about it anymore. It actually has nothing to do with us.” Even though she had never been in charge in her previous life, it was impossible not to know whom Yuru married to. Yuru later married left assistant minister of the Board of Punishment, Xiang darenrespectful title towards superior third di⁷born from formal wife son, Xiang Zhixue. His ambition was to excel in literary as he was unable to learn martial arts, but he had a good temper. Later, his family donated an official position to him. Thus, Yuru also became an official’s wife. Later, she gave birth to two sons and two daughters. Yuxi envied Yuru very much in her previous life. She thought that Yuru had married well. Of course, this envy was only relative to what had happened to her back then.