chapter 97

As the host, Chiang Yi couldn’t stay there all the time, so she gave Yuchen the job of entertaining and be the host to Heshou¹he = harmonious, shou = long life Xianzhu²Princess of the Fourth Rank/usually granted to daughter of a Junwang. No matter what, Yuchen was also half the master of Marquis Pingqing residence.

Heshou¹he = harmonious, shou = long life Xianzhu²Princess of the Fourth Rank/usually granted to daughter of a Junwang said a few words to Yuchen, and then she said to Yuxi, “Miss Yuxi has excellent chess skills. Today it seems like I have nothing to do. How about a game between you and me?”

Yuxi looked embarrassed. Thus, Yuchen answered with a smile on her behalf instead, “Xianzhu²Princess of the Fourth Rank/usually granted to daughter of a Junwang, Yuxi Meimei³younger sister is good at chess, but she has one problem, that is, she plays chess too slow. If Xianzhu²Princess of the Fourth Rank/usually granted to daughter of a Junwang plays chess with her today, perhaps it will not be able to finish by lunchtime.“

Heshou¹he = harmonious, shou = long life Xianzhu²Princess of the Fourth Rank/usually granted to daughter of a Junwang looked at Yuxi’s appearance and said with a smile, “Then, just forget about it.” Not long ago, she had instructed some people to carefully check for any information on Yuxi. Although she felt that there was something wrong with Yuxi, she could not find any clues. After careful analysis of what Han Yuxi had done in these recent years, there was nothing particularly out of line. There were only two possibilities for this result, either she was wrong or Han Yuxi was very good in pretending.

More and more guests arrived for the banquet and even Yu Xiyu came. Obviously, Yu Xiyu’s attraction force was much bigger than Heshou Xianzhu, as some people started to gather just to talk to her.

Yuxi was originally with Yuru. When she saw that Zhou Shiya also arrived at the banquet, she immediately went to Zhou Shiya’s side.

Zhou Shiya whispered to Yuxi, “The Duan family has refused Chiang family’s marriage proposal, so it will be unlikely for Xinrong Jiejie⁴elder sister to come.” If Madam Duan had refused the marriage proposal at the beginning, it would have been fine. The key point was that both families were splitting because of the Eight Characters. Madam Duan suddenly refused the marriage with the reason that their Eight Characters being incompatible, which made the Chiang family quite angry. Therefore, this time, Old Madam Chiang did not send an invitation to the Duan family for her 60th birthday.

This matter was already speculated by Yuxi. “Let’s don’t talk anymore about Xinrong Jiejie⁴elder sister matter. I heard that Er Biao⁵Er=two/second, biao=family relationship via females Shen⁶form of address for a woman about one’s mother’s age; aunt; auntie is forcing you to learn needlework every day.“ As she asked this, her face was full of schadenfreude, making Zhou Shiya who saw it wanted to very much choked her. Of course, if it wasn’t for her image in public, she would certainly have done so.

Zhou Shiya responded with a bitter face, “Not only I should learn needlework, but I also have to learn how to cook. I’m really living a miserable life now. It won’t be easy for me to come out again for the rest of this year!“ She was very particular about food and clothing, but it was difficult for her to prepare them by herself.

Yuxi helplessly retorted, “You ah, grows up in happiness, but fail to appreciate what happiness really means⁷Chinese well-known phrase not appreciate the happy life one enjoys.” Children without mothers, even if they had not met evil stepmother and had no worries about food and clothing, would still walk on tortuous path in the future. In a situation like Yuchen’s, there were only a few who could be doted by their Zumu⁸father’s mother and Waizumu⁹mother’s mother. As for her, there was no need to be mentioned.

Zhou Shiya heard Yuxi’s unspoken implication¹⁰Chinese idiom : the actual meaning of what was said, so she stopped talking about this topic. “Speaking of which, I really admire you. You have learned so well on how to do needlework and cooking dishes. Then, there is nothing for you to worry about in the future.“

Yuxi’s face was showing a slight helplessness, “Who said I don’t have anything to worry about? I have to learn to manage the household from next year. If only managing the household is something trivial.“

Zhou Shiya immediately felt her future prospect was dark, “I can’t escape either! Hai, my Si Jie¹¹si=four/fourth, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie is getting married at the end of the year. I shudder to think that one must serve one’s in-laws and win the favor of one’s husband when one marries another, and one must also beware of concubines who are making trouble.“ It was a thousand good to be at one’s own home, but would be very difficult once you left home to get married.

Yuxi did not know that Zhou Shiya could be this pessimistic. “Your mother loves you so much and she will be sure to find a good family for you. You don’t need to be worried.” Seeing that Zhou Shiya still looked disgruntled, she smiled, “My situation is ten times more difficult than yours. I’m not worried. So, why do you need to be this worry?”

They were muttering when they heard a quarrel. Yuxi heard Yurong’s voice and immediately went out. She noticed that Qiu Yanfu’s clothes were wet and there were many green tea leaves on her dress. She looked very embarrassed. On the opposite side, there was a woman dressed in a gorgeous autumn-coloured dress looking at Qiu Yanfu with disdain.

Zhou Shiya kept close to Yuxi’s ear and whispered to her ear, “The woman wearing purple clothes is Lin Mei, the sixth young miss of the Duke of Ding residence.” Duke of Ding residence was not in a good relationship with Duke Han of the State residence. Over the years, the relationship between the two residences had been particularly lukewarm. However, in public occasions, both residences would maintain their personal affection. So she didn’t know what caused the uproar this time.

Lin Mei raised her voice and said, “I said I didn’t mean it. I already apologized. I don’t know what else do you want from me.”

Qiu Yanfu was livid as she angrily said, “Did you really apologize just now? Also, you obviously did it on purpose, by spilling tea on my clothes.“ She didn’t know how many people would come to bully her if she submitted to the humiliation this time around.

When Lin Mei heard Qiu Yanfu’s words, the corner of her mouth at once raised, “Then I don’t know what Miss Qiu wants? Do you wish me to assist you with money? How much money do you want just tell me, I’ll send it to you when I return to my residence.“

Qiu Yanfu was so angry that she couldn’t say anything back. Lin Mei’s remark was a naked insult to her, which humiliated her as a girl from a merchant family with only money in her eyes.

Yurong was also furious and cried out in anger, “You deliberately spilled tea on my Biaojie¹²elder female cousin, and now you are spitting blood¹³Chinese idiom : venomously slander here. Is this how you have been brought up?”

Lin Mei sneered, “No matter how bad the rules of our residence are, we won’t be parading around with nothing.” Although she was a shu¹⁴born from concubine daughter, her mother was deeply loved by Duke of Ding Shizi¹⁵heir of a noble family. As a result, she developed this huge temper of her.

Yurong was so angry that she stared at Lin Mei as she said, “Who do you say is nothing? You are just a little shu¹⁴born from concubine girl. Do you think you are extraordinary?“

Lin Mei was furious, as being born from a concubine was something painful that she could never speak of. Yuxi noticed that the situation was getting bad that she immediately said, “Miss Lin, today is the 60th birthday of Old Madam of the Marquis residence. If this really breaks out, it won’t be good for anyone.” When guests made trouble in the host family residence, they would offend the host family first, and the next one to be ruin was their own reputation for not knowing slight or important, urgent or non-urgent¹⁶Chinese idiom : sense of priority.

Lin Mei looked at Yuxi and said with a smile, “I don’t know that Fourth Miss Han is not only good at playing chess, but also good at talking.”

Yuxi said with a calm face, “It’s still much better than Miss Lin.” No matter how much she hated Yurong, she couldn’t let her be bullied here.

Lin Mei glanced at Yurong and Qiu Yanfu. She chuckled and did not speak anymore. This also meant that she would no longer pursue the matter.

As Yuxi noticed that Yurong still had an angry face on, she immediately said, “Wu Meimei¹⁷wu=five/fifth, Meimei=younger sister take Qiu Biaojie¹²elder female cousin to change clothes.” In order to guard against emergencies, they would always bring two sets of clothes when they went out. This was why she said this.

Yurong muttered, “Where can we change our clothes?”

When Lin Mei heard this, she burst out laughing. She wanted to sneer, but when she saw Chiang Yi coming in from the outside, she wisely said nothing.

Yuxi was afraid that Yu Rong might say something bad again, thus she went to Chiang Yi and whispered, “Da Biaojie¹⁸da=big/eldest, Biaojie=elder female cousin, Miss Lin accidentally wet Qiu Biaojie¹²elder female cousin’s clothes just now. I don’t know if Da Biaojie¹⁸da=big/eldest, Biaojie=elder female cousin can find some clothes for Qiu Biaojie¹²elder female cousin?“

Chiang Yi glanced at Yuxi, then she smiled and told the maids around her to bring Qiu Yanfu to change clothes. Qiu Yanfu did not know what kind of mentality she was currently having, as she looked at Yuxi and asked, “Si Biaomei¹⁹Si=four/fourth, Biaomei=younger female cousin, will you come with me?”

All the people standing around nearby were watching the play. How could Yuxi not know what Qiu Yanfu meant? “I’ll let Wu Mei²⁰wu=five/fifth, mei=younger sister, short form for Meimei to go with you!” She always thought Qiu Yanfu was very clever and she herself did not know what was really going on today.

Yurong didn’t think much about it. She originally wanted to go out with Qiu Yanfu anyway.

Yuxi thought the matter would end right here, but she didn’t expect that half a shichen²¹one of the 12 two-hour periods of the day=2 hours later, Chiang Yi’s personal maid came over and whispered two words to Chiang Yi’s face. Chiang Yi’s face changed slightly, and then she left in a hurry.

Yuxi didn’t care much when she saw this scene. The Marquis residence had so many guests today that some problems were already expected, just whether the problems were big or small.

She didn’t know who suddenly said, “It’s going to rain.”

The sky was getting darker and darker as it started to go hazy. Soon, bean-sized raindrops fell from the sky, rattling the windows.

Zhou Shiya said in a low voice, “The heaven doesn’t really being cooperative.” No matter who held the banquet, they were most afraid of the weather being bad since it was inconvenient to do anything.

When the time for noon meal arrived, Yuxi still didn’t the appearance of Qiu Yanfu and Yurong. Suddenly, there was something like bad feeling flashed in her heart. Qiu Yanfu wanted to climb a higher branch. In case anything became out of line today, if Qiu Yanfu fell alone, then it would be okay, but Yurong went along with her. Yurong and Yuxi’s condition was like honoured one, you honoured them all, injured one, you injured them all²²be bound together for good or ill. She just didn’t want to get involved. At this time, Yuxi was a little regretful. If she had known about this earlier, she wouldn’t have let Yurong followed Qiu Yanfu.

When Zhou Shiya became aware of Yuxi’s worries, she said with a smile, “This is the Marquis Pingqing residence. Even if something bad happens, the Marquis residence will surely suppress it. Even if it is not for Marquis residence reputation, it will be for your San Jie²³san=three/third, jie=elder sisters, short form for Jiejie. Your San Jie²³san=three/third, jie=elder sisters, short form for Jiejie, Yuchen, is the heart of Old Madam Chiang.“

Yuxi did not felt at ease even after hearing Zhou Shiya’s words. If Qiu Yanfu cared about reputation, she would not have designed after her Erge²⁴er=two/second, ge=elder brother, short form of Gege from the beginning. He married her because he thought he had ruined her innocence.

A lot of things were inconvenient to do when it rained. Today’s lunch had been put off for more than a quarter of an hour. At this time, Yuchen’s maid, Shiqin, came over at Yuxi side and whispered something to her ear.

After Shiqim left, Zhou Shiya asked in a low voice, “What’s up?”

Yuxi breathed a sigh of relief and answered, “My Wu Mei²⁰wu=five/fifth, mei=younger sister, short form for Meimei and Qiu Yanfu are beside my mother.” As for what happened in the middle, Shiqin didn’t mention it just now. She won’t know about it until they went back home.

A light rain was falling outside, as it had no intention of stopping. Because of the rain, it was not convenient to serve the food here. However, Marquis Pingqing residence had long been well prepared as the food on the table was still hot.

It was impossible for one to eat and drink to one’s heart’s content while at someone else’s home. So Yuxi, just ate like any other girl around, where she ate only in small bites, and it took her half an hour.

After lunch, Yuji joined Yuru and Yujing. Yujing looked at Yuxi being alone and asked curiously, “Where are Wu Mei²⁰wu=five/fifth, mei=younger sister, short form for Meimei and Qiu Biaojie¹²elder female cousin?”

Yuxi answered with a smile, “By Mother side.” Yujing wasn’t someone who took the interests of the whole into account²⁵consider the situation as a whole. If she let Yujing knew about something weird, Yujing would surely cry out. It was okay to tell her when the right time came.

Yujing looked suspiciously at Yuxi, but she knew that such occasion was not suitable for her recklessness, so she just kept the matter in her mind.