by Ning er
When Qu Fei Qing heard that, she bit embarrassingly at her tongue. Then she raised her handkerchief and held it in front of her mouth. She looked around and cautiously said: “Meng er is thoughtful. But, is there something between you and that Hai Tian junzhu? Why is she always so against you? I just heard the eunuch who is serving inside, speak about this matter. I was so scared that I sweated a lot.”
Yun Qian Meng heard that. She didn’t want the well behaved Qu Fei Qing to be scared by these calculations. She smiled indifferently and said: “Junzhu didn’t say anything wrong. It’s my negligence. In the future, biaojie shouldn’t mention this matter in front of people no matter what. The more you know, the more you should pretend not to know to avoid bringing calamity to yourself.”
Qu Fei Qing saw that her situation is far better than Yun Qian Meng’s but she (YQM) still turned to care about her, her heart suddenly felt warm. She pulled Yun Qian Meng and ran to that Ting Yu Xuan……
But when passing the nine corridors, they saw the full of white hair, Rong Yun He sitting on a wooden bench beside the promenade. Although not a word has been said, but his head full of white hair under the sunlight let Yun Qian Meng and Qu Fei Qing see him at first glance. At this time, Rong Yun He also saw the two. Inevitable, the two people approached.
“Xiangfu’s Yun Qian Meng greets young master Rong.”
“Fu Guo Gong Fu’s Qu Fei Qing greets young master Rong.”
Rong Yun He didn’t say anything, it’s just that when that pair of eyes saw that Yun Qian Meng is standing well before him, they relaxed a bit. Then he nodded. He didn’t wait for the two to the leave but left first.
“What a weirdo.”
Qu Fei Qing looked at Rong Yun He’s back and muttered. Yun Qian Meng only laughed lightly in silence. After a long time did she said some words: “Some people have the face of Guan Yu12, but are a beast inside. Although some people are born with regret, but have a good heart. Biaojie, don’t judge people by their appearance. Just now in waizumu’s room, Rong family’s Chen Lao Tai Jun said many words to help Meng er.”
When Qu Fei Qing heard that, she showed surprise. Immediately, she grabbed Yun Qian Meng and asked in detail for what happened just now: “Is it really so? But I heard that this Lao Tai Jun of Rong family really antisocial. This young master Rong has been brought up by Lao Tai Jun since little. His personality is like that Lao Tai Jun. Just now, he also treated us with silence.”
Yun Qian Meng saw that she was so curious; she tapped her (QFQ) head. She calmly said: “An antisocial personality is good to not see people. Those who smile the whole day are the ones who are really scary. Biaojie, in the future you really shouldn’t be deceived by a person’s appearance, otherwise, the one who will suffer is still biaojie yourself.
Qu Fei Qin saw her saying each sentence reasonably; she put them in her heart. She cautiously nodded. The two walked to Tin Yu Xuan.
After the two people left, a slender figure came out from the rocks in the garden. It stared in daze at the figure in purple for a long time. That head full of white hair is shining like snow under the sun.
But the moment Qu Fei Qing and Yun Qian Meng left the promenade, a few people came. One is dressed flamboyantly, dressed in gold and silver. They walked towards the two. The voice sounded really greasy: “Aren’t this zhinu and waishengnu? Our family really hasn’t seen each other in a long time.”
Comments:
1. 老臣(Lǎochén): I, used by older people. It means old official.
2. 朕 (zhèn): I, used by the emperor.
3. 哀家 (Āi jiā): I, used by the empress dowager
4. 本宫(běn gōng): I, used by the females from the imperial family
5. 爱卿(ài qīng): term used by the emperor for his subjects
6. 爷爷(yéyé): paternal grandfather
7. 孙儿 (sūn er): what a grandfather or grandmother calls his/her grandchild.
8. 臣女 (Chén nǚ): I, what an official’s daughter calls herself
9. 母后 (mǔhòu): mother, used by the sons of the emperor to call the official wife.
10. 微臣(wēi chén): I, this small official. This is used by officials when speaking to someone of higher rank.
11. 选秀(xuǎnxiù): a process of selecting concubines.
12.Guan Yu is a general under Liu Bei of the Han dynasty. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yu
13. 侄女 (zhínǚ): niece, brother’s daughter
14. 外甥女 (wàishēngnǚ): sister’s daughter
Chapter 62: One Birthday Banquet Attracted Hate | Chu Wang Fei
When Qu Fei Qing saw the people who are coming towards them, her eyes couldn’t help but flash disgust. But because of their identities, she can only go forward with Yun Qian Meng to greet them.
“Fei Qing greets two shushus1 and two shenshens2.”
“Qian Meng greets two jiujius and two jiumus.”
The first one who opened her mouth, a middle aged beautiful woman is Qu Fei Qing’s san (third) shu’s wife. Originally, she was the doctor of the minister of revenue Tan family’s legitimate daughter. Then she married Fu Guo Gong Fu’s third master who is born from a concubine, as an official wife.
Now Qu Yan is the vice minister of revenue. This Tan family’s Miss is also someone who acts according a situation. Becoming a wife of a vice minister of revenue made her become a little rude when seeing Fu Guo Gong Fu’s eldest Miss. That pair of shrewd eyes revealed a deep disdain.
“Jing Qing, come meet your Fei Qing jiejie.”
Her body turned slightly and shouted towards a girl in a pink dress behind her. That voice sounded arrogant like she was in her own house.
When Yun Qian Meng her that girl’s name, she frowned. If going according to the rules, a child born of a concubine line can’t have the same letter in her/his name as the children born from the legitimate line.
But this Qu Yan has always been ambitious. Even naming his daughter, he used the letter ‘Qing’ which sound the same as the letter ‘Qing’ in biaojie’s name. People who aren’t familiar with Qu family will certainly confuse Qu Jing Qing as a legitimate granddaughter of the Qu family. But this also let Lao Tai Jun unable to find any fault at the name. After all the two letters only sound the same, but they are different letters. If they let Qu Jing Qing change her name, that Qu Yan will certainly let everyone in Jingdu know that Lao Tai Jun as the legitimate mother couldn’t tolerate the illegitimate children. Therefore, Lao Tai Jun and Qu Ling Ao can only close their eyes and did as if nothing happened.
曲景清: qū jǐngqīng: the qing here means clear
曲妃卿: qū fēi qīng: the qing here means high ranking official or a term of endearment used between spouses
Thinking like that Yun Qian Meng looked with slightly curved eyebrows at Qu Fei Qing. Qu Fei Qing was also looking at her. In those big eyes crossed a touch of frustration. The originally raised lips are now also pinched.
“Jing Qing greets Fei Qing jiejie, greets Qian Meng meimei.”
By this time, that Qu Jing Qing already stood before the two. She slowly bowed to the two, but that knee only bent a little forward. It didn’t show much of an arc. Presumably letting this Miss from the concubine line bow to them, her heart must be very unhappy.
“Meng er greets Jing Qing jiejie.”
Yun Qian Meng saw that Qu Fei Qing also looked unhappy, she smiled lightly and returned the greeting. Then she straightened up and looked at Qu Jing Qing.
Today, Qu Jing Qing is dressed in a pink dress. On that pink dress is covered with a pale violet muslin. The skirt and cuffs is embroidered with dyed gold threaded peach flowers. It looked truly fascinating.
In the past months, Yun Qian Meng has been trying hard to learn everything from the ancient times. If she still has her ability of ‘see and never forget’, this golden threads used on Qu Jing Qing, is the finest thread that every Misses want. From Qu Yan’s salary, he will need to save for a whole year before he could buy a liang (around 50 grams) of these golden threads.
But from the peach flower embroidery on Qu Jing Qing’s body, he must have spent a great deal of money. Being a minister must be good, even a vice minister’s daughter can wear something more luxurious than the empress. Don’t know what kind of effect will come out of it, if this is seen by those furens and Misses.
“Jing Qing jiejie’s dress is really more beautiful than flowers. If you stand in the garden, people really won’t be able to tell who is a person and who is a flower.”
Yun Qian Meng opened her mouth to compliment Qu Jing Qing, making Qu Fei Qing look puzzled at her.
Tan shi heard Yun Qian Meng being so sensible, those lips painted in rouge laughed. Her eyes are full of pride. She couldn’t help but show of: “Of course, don’t you see how much money is spent on our Jing Qing’s golden threads? We……”
“Shut up!”
At this time, Qu Yan shouted while frowning. It scared Tan shi that she immediately shutted her mouth. She looked cautiously at Qu Yan and then obediently stood behind him. Qu Yan has the aura of a smart middle aged man on him. Compared to Qu Ling Ao’s outspokenness, just with one glance you’ll know that this Qu Yan is a cunning man. And just now, he timely shouted to stop Tan shi. It’s to block Yun Qian Meng’s intention. Therefore, this made Qu Yan put his gaze onto Yun Qian Meng. That pair of calm eyes, with a touch of cold looked at the smiling Yun Qian Meng. He found out that he couldn’t see even half through this waishengnu who the outside called coward and timid. This made Qu Yan’s heart uncomfortable. If the rumors are false, then Fu Guo Gong Fu has one more helper. For him this isn’t a good thing.
Yun Qian Meng is generously letting Qu Yan slowly look at her. That smile remained consistently on her face.
Now, Qu Qing Fei also felt that the attitude of Qu Yan is strange. That pair of eyes looked at Qu Jing Qing. On her mouth slowly formed a slight smile.
“Yi, isn’t this Meng er?”
The one who came to them is the fourth master from the concubine line, Qu Fu. He is really the same as his name. This fourth master is trying the whole day to make poems. He doesn’t care about the affairs of the state. He only relied on the face of Fu Guo Gong Fu to get the position of being an idle person in the capital. He muddled every day off. These also showed that this fourth master isn’t seeking to make progress. Plus, he is from the concubine line. So those Misses are reluctant to marry him. Fu Guo Gong Fu can only selected a legitimate daughter of a rich merchant to marry him. So compared to that Tan shi’s arrogance, that shi (fourth) jiumu is a lot more low-key. Because her parents is well off, the dress that she is wearing isn’t less than that of Tan shi. Bai shi is a daughter from a merchant family. On her body is more or less, the aura of a clever person. It can be compared to the wife of the vice minister of revenue, Tan shi. One can imagine, when two equally skilled people at scheming get together, there will be much to fuss about.
“Yes! Meng er greets shi jiujiu, shi jiumu.”
Yun Qian Meng saw that Qu Fu has a literary aura. It’s just that that pair of eyes is red because of staying up late at night. His skin is too yellow like he has is sick. And Bai shi who is standing next to her husband but didn’t show any care. Presumably this Qu Fu has been stained by some bad practices of the scholars. He has some literary talent, he’ll go around searching for his beauty. It seems that compared to the ambitious Qu Yan, Qu Fu doesn’t need to try too hard. After all, he is just a wall that can’t help in this struggle.
“Wen er, still nor coming to greet your da jiejie and your biaojie? All day you’re so timid, how do you look like houfu’s Miss?”
That Bai shi coldly shouted at a skinny little girl behind her. The voice is cold without feelings. With a glance, you can know that this isn’t Bai shi’s biological daughter.
That little girl suddenly heard her name, her body trembled. On her face flashed fear, but she couldn’t go against the official wife of her home. She can only slowly step forward. With the head down, she greeted Qu Fei Qing: “Greetings to da jiejie, greetings to da biaojie.”
The voice is as small as a mosquitoes’. The body is thin as paper. It made the always good hearted Qu Fei Qing feel heartache for her. But after all, this is the family mater of shi shu’s (fourth uncle) home. Moreover this Qu Nian Wen is also from a concubine line. There is really no need to get in conflict with san shu and shi shu because of her, lest to not make it difficult for Lao Tai Jun and daddy.
But, although Qu Fei Qing is reminding herself like that in her heart, her eyes still flashed that she couldn’t bear to see her (QNW) like that. Yun Qian Meng knows that she has a good heart, so she patted Qu Fei Qing’s hand without being seen. Then she bowed in front of the few people in front of her: “Biaojie and I still needs to go prepare Lao Tai Jun’s gift. Excuse us first.”
After saying that, Yun Qian Meng pulled Qu Fei Qing who is still feeling bad, away.
“Pei! Look at that cheap face! Does she really thinks that she is houfu’s Miss? What does it matter if she is a treasure? Her biological mother died and she has been rejected by Chen wang. Her life is wretched!”
The two figure hasn’t gone far yet, when that Tan shi couldn’t wait to curse at Yun Qian Meng’s back. With her hands on her hips, she showed her mood without care of the place that she is now at. It let Qu Jing Qing pull at Tan shi’s sleeves a little shameful.
Qu Yan couldn’t stand this appearance of Tan shi that didn’t care about the situation. Obviously, she is also a Miss from a good family, why are her manner so outrageous? Now they are on Fu Guo Gong Fu and today is Lao Tai Jun’s birthday, on the fu there are many people. If this is seen by someone with schemes, the hat of the vice minister of revenue can be brought down. Thinking like that, Qu Yan’s expression turned serious. He shouted towards that Tan shi: “Be careful of your words and actions! Don’t become a joke in front of everyone!”
In front of his younger brother, Qu Yan didn’t want to bring out his family matter, so he only reminded Tan shi with a few words.
Tan shi is obviously someone who bully the weak but is afraid of the strong. Just now she was cursing, but now being reprimanded by her husband, she immediately quieted down. But that pair of eyes glared fiercely at the direction where Yun Qian Meng disappeared. From a point where Qu Yan couldn’t see, she silently say ‘pei’ at that direction. Then did she feel comfortably to follow Qu Yan to Lao Tai Jun’s Rui Lin yuan.
At this side, Yun Qian Meng pulling Qu Fei Qing quickly went to Ting Yu Xuan. Then did she let go of Qu Fei Qing’s hand.
But obviously Qu Fei Qing has been influenced by those people. She is feeling a bit down. Yun Qian Meng saw that, she patiently enlightened her: “Biaojie, everyone has their own life. Although they can’t choose their birth, but they can choose their road. If Qu Nian Wen is a cowardly person, even if you speak up for her today, it won’t change anything. On contrary, it’ll let shi jiumu hate her more. When they go back, she’ll torture her. That being the case, it would be better to close our eyes. Why should you look at everything and put it in your heart? Wouldn’t that block yourself?”
Qu Fei Qing saw that Yun Qian Meng racked her brains to comfort her and also seeing her point, her bad mood gradually improved. She pulled Yun Qian Meng to spoke some words from the heart: “Meng er, to say the truth, I am really envious of you. Although you were born into such a family, but you’re patient, unyielding and know how to deal with situations unlike me who has been protected too well by the family. Seeing that the outside world is so dirty and cruel, I am actually a little afraid of getting in contact with people.”
Hearing that she is saying words in words, Yun Qian Meng’s eyes couldn’t help but flash a hint of worry. She asked concerned: “Why is biaojie saying that? Meng er couldn’t be more envious of you. In this life, Meng er expect nothing. I just wish that Lao Tai Jun will live long, da jiujiu and da jiumu will be healthy, that biaojie and biaoge will marry well and that Fu Guo Gong Fu will have peace and stability. Those are all what Meng er desires.”
Originally
this is a happy thing, but who will know that after Qu Fei Qing listened to Yun Qian Meng’s words, she got sadder. She glanced at the maids in the garden and pulled Yun Qian Meng into the inner room. Then she whispered: “Meng er, I also won’t kept it away from you. You also know, this year I am sixteen. Those matchmakers will come into the fu every day when they have nothing to do. These past few days, Lao Tai Jun, daddy and mother are also helping me choose my future husband. But I haven’t even seen the face of my future husband and need to marry into his family. I don’t want to be like gugu……”
She hasn’t finished talking, but Qu Fei Qing knew that she has said something wrong. She immediately covered her mouth. With eyes full of apology, she looked at Yun Qian Meng. Yun Qian Meng only calmly smiled. She didn’t put Qu Fei Qing’s slip of tongue into her mind. On contrary, she is happy for her: “Waizumu’s, da jiujiu and da jiumu’s eyes must be good. Moreover, with mother’s lesson, I believe that they will certainly be more careful in choosing biaojie’s husband. Biaojie should just relax and don’t bother anymore with it.”
But Qu Fei Qing hasn’t said the other half of her words. The color of her eyes turned darker. She leaned on Yun Qian Meng and said: “Meng er, I’m afraid that zumu nor daddy will have a say in my marriage. Mother went into the palace a few days ago, the empress dowager also talked about this matter. She also let mother bring the portrait of the one’s she (JSY) has set her (JSY) eyes on into the palace to let her review them. I’m afraid that my marriage won’t be that simple. Perhaps…….”
The remaining words, Qu Fei Qing didn’t say them, but Yun Qian Meng has understood. How can a marriage of an official’s daughter be so easy to solve? Not to mention, it’s the empress dowager’s family. Qu Fei Qing as the eldest granddaughter must take up the prosperity of the family onto her shoulders. Thus, the empress dowager wouldn’t let go of such good opportunity to win over the officials. As for herself, if it wasn’t because that Yun Qian Meng committed suicide in the hall and let the empress dowager lose face, she is afraid that her marriage with Chen wang wouldn’t end so soon.