chapter 82

Since Yuchen had seen Yuxi’s condition, so now, she planned to see Yurong. They were all sisters, so, it would not be nice of her to play favourites.

When Yurong saw Yuchen, she took Yuchen’s hand and said, “Third Elder Sister, please help me beg Grandmother not to sell my wet nurse. Third Elder Sister, please help me beg Grandmother!“

Yuchen certainly won’t intercede for her, but she made a suggestion, “Fifth Younger Sister, this is Grandmother’s instruction, and I don’t have any means. However, if Fifth Younger Sister intercedes on your own, as long as you do it sincerely, Grandmother will certainly be lenient.“ In any case, Yurong’s wet nurse was the one who had raised Yurong up, and if Yurong ready to risk everything to plead on her behalf, Grandmother would certainly let her wet nurse stayed for her dignity.

However, Yurong did not dare to beg by herself.

When Yuchen walked out of Shuixiang Courtyard, she had some regrets. Yuxi, the one who had been truly wronged, was quietly reading medical book in her study, while, Yurong only knew to beg her to save her wet nurse, but didn’t dare to do it by herself when she was asked to do it instead. They were both sisters, but why was the gap between them so wide?

Thinking of Yurong’s temper, Yuchen anxiously said to Momowet nurse¹Gui, “If Fifth Younger Sister continues to act like this, she won’t even realise that she has offended people when she goes out to socialize in the future.” Her bad impression of Yurong had already turned to worse as Yurong couldn’t even bear a bit of hardship, full of lies, and wouldn’t assume responsibility of her own wrongdoings. Thank God, she didn’t found out about her bad attitudes now rather than in the future. Though, she didn’t put any hope on Yurong’s good future with her current bad manners.

Momowet nurse¹Gui smiled and responded, “Miss worries too much. Didn’t Old Madam say she would invite a nurturing momowet nurse¹to teach Fifth Miss the rules? Don’t you trust Old Madam, Miss?“ She also despised Wu Shi. Not only her means were inferior, even her own children had been badly taught. Luckily, she gave birth to two sons, otherwise, where would she have any position in the residence?

Yuchen remembered his half-brothers and gave out a wry smile, “Just forget it. It’s useless for us to even be worried.” Not only Wu Shi’s two sons didn’t like to study, even two of the second house shuzison of a concubine²were not good in learning. If one wasn’t good literally, then one would not also be good in martial art skills.

That evening, when Han Jingyan returned to the residence, he first went to the main room, which was his usual practice. Every time he came back, he would first meet the Old Madam and talked with her. Only on this day, she detained him from leaving and spoke to him for a long time. When Han Jingyan finally came out, he had a solemn look on his face.

Wu Shi heard that Han Jingyan had returned and felt uneasy. Seeing his ugly face, she knew it was not good.

Han Jingyan asked her coldly, “Did you hit Yuxi’s face till it swollen today? Don’t you know, for a girl, her appearance is the most important thing?” Even though, he wasn’t fond of this daughter of his, she had been painstakingly brought up by the residence. She would surely be of great use in the future, so how could he allow Wu Shi to spoil it?

Wu Shi resisted the feeling of fear in her heart and still wanted to argue stubbornly, “Lord, Fourth Girl had beaten Yurong’s face badly, and still dared to defy me when I was just saying a few words to her. Thus, at that time, I became so angry that I lost my sense of propriety.” She had always known that being a stepmother was a difficult thing to do, but because she had been staying a long time in Hebei, she didn’t directly contacted Yuchen and Yuxi, so, as a result, she felt nothing for them. Now, she truly agreed that being a stepmother was really difficult. If she had accidentally hit her own children, she certainly would not have caused such big disturbance.

When these excuses were brought up, the blue veins on Han Jingyan’s forehead immediately stood up, “How did you educate Yurong? How can her manner be no different than the shrew on the street?”

It was the first time Wu Shi saw Han jingyan showing such a huge rage. Her heart felt very scared, “I didn’t know what Yurong had said at that time. If I knew, I would definitely have restrained her.”

Han Jingyan stared at Wu Shi and then asked her a question that made her trembled with fear, “Then tell me, how did Yurong know how to say those kinds of words to Yuxi?” There was a good saying ‘if the upper beam was not straight, the lower ones would go aslantChinese well-known phrase : when those above behave unworthily, those below will do the same³’. His heart could not help felt some regret. When Yurong was five years old, his mother said that she would like to take her back to the capital to be educated, but Wu Shi refused. If he had sent Yurong back to the capital to be taught by his mother at that time, she would surely have been as good as Yuchen and Yuxi. Then, she would not have been acting like a girl from a poor, small household right now.

Wu Shi was too frightened to speak. She also didn’t realise, when she was just talking to Mama Chen about the old story of the state residence that day, they would be heard by Yurong, and somehow she remembered Fourth Girl’s story the most.

Han Jingyan was extremely disappointed with Wu Shi. He had known about Wu Shi’t faults before, but overall, they won’t supposed to be a big problem. Today, he finally realised that he was actually mistaken. Since the mother of his children was not smart, his children and heirs would surely get involved in the future.

Thinking of his eldest son whose intelligence and wisdom was no less than Yuchen, made him felt that it was such a pity that he had died young. None of his four living sons was as outstanding as him. He could not explain what he currently felt in his heart, but, it was already too late for him to regret it now, “During this period of time, you have to properly follow Mother in learning the rules. About Yurong, she will be confined in her courtyard to carefully examine her wrongdoings. Until both of you understand the rules, none are allowed to step out of the residence.“ When he was in Hebei, everyone had been busily taken care of his face that even if Wu Shi acted improper, they would not fuss so much about it. However, the capital was different. The residence may seemed to be a big brand, but it actually had no real power. In addition to the recent turmoil in the court, he didn’t wish to be drawn into the royal dispute. Therefore, he was determined not to let Wu Shi and Yurong went out during this period of time.

When Wu Shi saw Han Jingyan lifted his legs and went away, her tears immediately came out. Her stepdaughters were tough and difficult, while her mother-in-law was strict and rigid. Now, even her husband hated her. How did she fall into such a situation?

Yuxi was about to have dinner when she heard the maid outside said, “Miss, Master requests you to make a trip to his study.”

Book of Han carved in Ming dynasty in Tian Yi Chamber Library collection.

Yuxi stood up to put away the history book in her hand and locked them in the cupboard. She had finished reading the historical records and now, she just started to read ‘the Book of Han’.

As Yuxi stood outside the study, she was suddenly in a trance. She had come to this place once in her previous life. That time, she came to ask Han Jingyan to refuse Jiang family’s marriage proposal. As a result, he poured dogs blood onChinese idiom : to curse or berate⁴her and threw her a white silk. His affection for her upbringing had been paid off in her previous life, so she never treated him as a her father after her rebirth. Except that, since she was still unable to leave the Han household for now, she had to lower her headyield⁵to a lot of things.

At this time, Yuxi couldn’t avoid being thankful to Momowet nurse¹Quan. Under her careful guidance for more than five years, Yuxi had made a qualitative leap in controlling her emotions when dealing with others. Up till now, the person she appreciated the most was Momowet nurse¹Quan. This was the first time that an elder had taught her wholeheartedly, and from her, she had learned a lot of very useful things.

Seeing that Yuxi did not move, the page at the door reminded her, “Fourth Miss, Master is waiting for you in the study.”

Yuxi nodded and went inside. Although she had been here in her previous life, as she was all set on asking Han Jingyan to reject the marriage at that time, she was in no mood to see what the study actually looked like. When she finally entered and saw Han Jingyan bowed his head, writing, she had the leisure to carefully looked up at it layout.

After carefully looking at the inside of the study, it reminded Yuxi of Yuchen’s Tingyun Pavilion. All the furnishings here were exquisite and valuable. Even the most obscure porcelain vase in the corner was an antique.

The pen/writing brush holder that Han Jingyan’s had probably looked like this. Except his are made of Ru Kiln, one of China 5 Great Kilns.

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Han Jingyan finally stopped moving his writing brush and put it on a mountain rockery shaped brush holder. After everything was put away, he looked up at Yuxi.

Yuxi gave Han Jingyan a polite salute and called out, “Father.”

Han Jingyan stated, “I already know about what happened today.” Till here, he deliberately pause, trying to see Yuxi’s reaction.

Over the years, with the support of Duke Han’s state residence and Marquis of Pingqing’s residence, Han Jingyan had been able to climb from a small official of 7ᵗʰ grade to the present 4ᵗʰ grade, but despite that, his personal ability should never be underestimated.

Yuxi was not slow. How could she not know that Han Jingyan was currently observing her, but if she avoided it from the beginning, she would appear to be weak.

Han Jingyan noticed that Yuxi’s eyes were red which made her appearance looking very pitiful. He slowly said to her, “Father knows that you have been wronged today.”

Yuxi opened her mouth but said nothing, as her tears fell from her cheeks to the ground. Being able to cry at any time and crying pitiably was also a skill that she had worked so hard to get to this point.

When Han Jingyan looked at Yuxi acting like this, he felt somewhat unnatural instead. “Yuxi, don’t worry, it won’t happen again,” he said with a stiff face. It was very difficult for him to speak soft words (expressing apology, sympathy, etc.) to her, so he picked up the easiest one to say.

Yuxi took out a handkerchief embroidered with roses, wiped her tears gently, then looked up at Han Jingyan and said with a touched face, “Thank you, Father.”

Han Jingyan was very satisfied with Yuxi’s behaviour and asked, “I heard you like to play chess?” As far as he knew, Yuxi’s biggest hobby was playing chess, but her talent was limited and her chess skills were still average.

Yuxi nodded softly and replied, “Yes, I like playing chess, but my skill isn’t good.” She also did not know what level his chess skills had reached. For the girls in the boudoir, playing chess was only a pastime. Only a few made themselves into real masters.

Han Jingyan nodded and said, “Playing chess is just your pastime, since it isn’t a time consuming and need so much of your energy.”

Yuxi nodded, “Yes.”

Han Jingyan asked Yuxi many questions, just to show that his was being concern of her.

These questions he asked were very blunt, but Yuxi still managed to answer them in the most concise words. Up to now, she was eager to leave the study early. She did not dare to stay any longer. It was okay to pretend for a while, but she was worried that something would go amiss if they communicated for a long time.

After Han Jingyan asked several questions, he did not know what else to say. Besides, Yuxi did not show much enthusiasm when answering him. He suddenly felt rather bored as he said, “You should return first.” Till the end of their meeting, they still couldn’t get along well.

Yuxi was so disappointed. She thought Han Jingyan would send something good as a compensation for her. She didn’t expect he would only gave her those few words, which were nothing practical and a waste of her mood.

Not long after Yuxi returned to Rose Courtyard, someone came to send her something. It was a complete set of rosewood chess.

The weiqi pieces from the new weiqi set might look like this, as these ones are really made of agate.

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Yuxi uncovered the exquisitely carved hollow chess pots and looked at the chess pieces in the two chess pots. Her eyes lit up as she touched them in her hands. These chess pieces unexpectedly were all made of agate stones.

Even Zisu was surprised, “Miss, this piece of chess is really beautiful.” It was several grades higher than the set of chess used by Yuxi herself.

Adhering to the principle of not wasting good things, Yuxi instructed, “Put away the original set of chess, then put this in the study.” She finally got something worth a fortune.