Higher Level Wife - 152 - True Love (?)

Chapter 152: True Love (?)

Author: White Pear Flower

Raws: https://book.qidian.com/info/2386994/

Translated by Gumihou

Proofread by Pill Bug

Gumihou: Yes, Gumi added the (?) for obvious reasons.

Jin Fengju smiled and said, “I was not escorted. I came here on my own.”

[1a] Then, he beamed meaningfully at Fu Qiuning, who blanched at his expression. [2a] She thought: Why is this fellow leering at me? How disgusting…

[1a] He must have misinterpreted Fu Qiuning’s disgust for something else, because the leer turned into a droopy grin as he said, “What? Are you worried that something would happen to me? I know some martial arts, you know? If I were to allow the two boy servants to escort me, they would only become burdens for me. How tiring, do all of you see me as some sort of weakling?”

[2b] “… …” it was all she could do not to retch into her sleeves.

[1b] “Oh my, if you worried to the point of speechlessness, how about moving into Elegant Mansion as soon as possible? It would save me a lot of worries ~~” by then, he had climbed onto the kang and was [1a] staring meaningfully at Fu Qiuning.

“…you are truly the calamity star of my life,” said Fu Qiuning. [2a] She knew that it was only a matter of time before she was forced to move. He had already bought out all the servants in her courtyard, including her two so-called ‘personal’ maids. Him traipsing over to her place in the middle of the night without escorts would only invite more comments. If something were to happen to him, whether it is assassination, a fall, or, hell, even a divine strike from the very heavens, she would probably be blamed for it.

[2b] For some reason, her answer made him happy to the point that his eyes sparkled. He suddenly lunged forward with a beam, “Then, when will you move in? I shall have someone clean the place up immediately!”

[2c] “… you are saying as though you haven’t had the place already cleaned out, renovated and decorated…”

[1b] “Hahahah! As expected, my Qiuning is the cleverest!”

[2d] Fu Qiuning could only stare as this so-called ‘brightest and cleverest’ man in the Capital laughed stupidly at her. There was no talking sense to him. He would just re-interpret everything she said to whatever he wanted to hear. She could only hope that he would get over this weird obsession of his soon. Preferably before she gets pregnant with his ‘favour’. Who knows what his other women would do to her if she, the ‘official wife’, were to carry his ‘heir’?

[2d] Gyaahhhh!!! She’s already worrying about that future child’s future!!!

“What are you thinking about?”

Jin Fengju’s sudden question shook her out of her thoughts. [2d] Although she had been shaken out of a nightmare of her own making, life was not better since she found herself in a living nightmare instead. Shaking slightly, she forced a smile and said in a slightly high-pitched voice, “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.”

“Seeing such an expression on your face makes my heart ache,” Jin Fengju sighed. He shook his head sadly, saying, “You must be thinking that in the future, ‘while the newcomer laughs, the old one cries’. Qiuning, you clearly don’t trust me. You don’t trust in my sincere love or respect for you. You must think that I would have a change of heart and believe that once you are old and greying, I will transfer my love to one of those young and pretty women, don’t you?”

Fu Qiuning was taken aback. [2e] Just… how did this insane guy come to this kind of conclusion? It’s completely the opposite of what she had been thinking. Go and transfer your love away now!!

“Aih, I know that it’s pointless to say anything. Brother-in-law loves Elder Sister so much, and is even a little afraid of her, but he still raised a prostitute on the side. Men are all like this, it is useless for me to argue anything.” Jin Fengju had [1a] grabbed Fu Qiuning in his arms, rubbing his chin on her head, as though he could rub his conviction into her mind if he rubbed hard enough. “I shall prove it to you, Qiuning! Just continue to watch my actions, now that we have shared a bed. You shall understand just how deep my affection for you is!”

[2a] “… …” Fu Qiuning remained silent. When faced with the insane, it was best to remain quiet and watch the situation carefully before acting.

As for Jin Fengju, he was thinking: Most other women would have said something duplicitous like ‘This humble woman is not a jealous wife, this humble woman dare not expect anything extravagant…’ [1b] to think that his Fu Qiuning actually stayed quiet like this, silently showing her displeasure… ahhh! My Qiuning is so shy!

“As expected of my Qiuning,” Jin Fengju said with a tender smile.

[2e] “… …” Fu Qiuning had completely checked out of this conversation.

“Ah, speaking of which, what was the song you were humming just now? Why have I never heard it before? Hurry up and sing it for me.”

[2f] “… …” Fu Qiuning was exhausted, but she still had to entertain this crazy person. Who told her to transmigrate into this world as a helpless woman who had to depend on this crazy person to live well? After a quiet sigh, she said, “It is based on the Legend of the [3] White Snake. The song that I was humming just now is when she was looking for Xu Xian.”

This White Snake legend also existed in this world, although it was slightly different from the modern version. The concept of ‘white lady’ didn’t exist yet.

“Oh?” as expected, Jin Fengju immediately perked up. “Well, let’s have a listen.”

[2f] “… …” was he in love with her voice? No, he was in love with novelty. This man adored operas and other related entertainment. Well, even in the modern world, people fell in love with electronic waifus or become obsessed with idols. Was he seeing her as some sort of idol?

Still, there was no reason to decline an opportunity to practice her art. She stood up and smoothed down her skirt, before raising her chin and began to sing:

“

Westlake appears the same

Withered autumn meets the eye

”

When the song was over, Jin Fengju sat in a daze, as though still buried in its recollections. He sighed a long sigh and said, “This White Snake Spirit is clearly a foolish woman in love. As for that Xu Xian, he is unfit to be called a man. In a way, he is worse than the turtle.”

“Indeed, she is a foolish woman,” [2g] Fu Qiuning agreed. What, was she supposed to argue against a statement that was clearly baiting her to make him look good?

“… indeed, indeed! Ah, if it were me and I found out that you are a snake demon from that monk, Fa Hai, I shall stuff his mouth with gold and silver. Failing that, I will silence him permanently. I will never let him hurt you.”

[2g] “… …” so, this was the eloquence of the emperor’s favourite. This fellow sure knew how to flatter a person. Look at him waxing grandly about a fantastical situation that would never happen. How could someone be so shameless?

“What is it? Have you been struck dumb with my words? Clearly, I rarely speak sweet words to my sweet Qiuning, otherwise, my dear wife would not have lost her soul after hearing just one sentence from me. [1a] Ah~ I, your husband, shall correct this slight and shower you with more tender words in the future,” Jin Fengju crooned as he stroked Fu Qiuning’s smooth long hair.

Cringe.

[2g] It was all Fu Qiuning could do not to barf at this overly sweet declaration. She had to turn away from Jin Fengju’s face. When she felt the face touching her neck she jumped out from his embrace and, with her back to him, declared, “In the past, I used to believe that the Stone Bridge Oath was the most… ‘touching’ I had ever heard. However, after hearing Lord Husband’s words, I must say that… Lord Husband’s words are even more touching…”

“What is this Stone Bridge Oath?” Jin Fengju beamed, [1a] getting up to drape himself on his wife’s back.

[2g] Unable to escape the situation, Fu Qiuning said, “It’s… back at the village, I heard several matrons chatting with each other. They had just returned from a story-telling session given by a passing scholar. The story is about a young scholar bewitched by a fox spirit. He was so fascinated by her that he declared: I should wish to transform into a stone bridge and withstand 500 years of sun, 500 years of rain and 500 years of wind, just for you to walk across me once. The saying stayed with me because it was so cri- touching. However, I had all but forgotten about it. Hearing Lord Husband’s words, I am suddenly reminded of this saying.”

Jin Fengju nodded and sighed a long sigh, “Too infatuated, too infatuated, I fear I can’t do it…”

If you want to talk, just talk, stop rubbing your face into my neck…

Thankfully, before she could actually lose her temper and do something she regretted, the sounds of footsteps interrupted them, and Yu Jie’s voice carried over, “I finally manage to put them to sleep. Madam, these days, it is very difficult to put Young Miss and Young Master to sleep. I told them three stories, but they still wanted more. I had to tell them two more stories before they finally…”

She paused, finally catching sight of the master draping himself over the mistress. Surprised, she stammered, “Y-y-young Marquis? Ah… this maid greets the master… I-is there anything…”

“En, nothing much, I just thought I’d come here,” said Jin Fengju said with a faint smile as he casually moved away from Fu Qiuning to sprawl elegantly on the kang. He flicked a glance over Yu Jie’s hair and said, “You have worked hard to put Feng’er and Jiao’er to sleep. That buyao on your mistress’ table, go ahead and receive it as your reward. Be at ease, so long as you continue to do good work, I will not treat you unfairly.”

At this, Yu Jie beamed and happily picked up the buyao, a single glance was enough to tell her that it was a valuable piece. A little worried, she said, “I dare not wear such a good thing, surely, only our Madam could…”

Jin Fengju interrupted, “What’s all the fuss? It’s just a little accessory with some good pearls stuck on it. What’s so fancy about it? I told you to take it, so just take it. You have followed your Madam for many years, enduring hardships on top of more hardships. What is a single buyao? You are worthy of wearing more precious things.”

Hearing this, Yu Jie happily accepted the buyao and skipped out.

Fu Qiuning [2a] pressed her lips together. “I see you are now buying favours with my possessions.”

[1b] Instead of looking contrite, Jin Fengju’s smile deepened and he said, “Dear me, I have not even complained about anything yet, but here you are scolding me. Let me ask you, of the jewellery I have bestowed to you, are there any that are inferior to that piece? If you like it so much, I can have someone bring in an even better Eastern Pearl buyao, After all, I cannot let you walk around with an accessory gifted to you by that woman. Don’t you understand the hearts of women? They are not easy to deal with.

What’s more, you should wear some jewellery whenever you go out in the future. As my Official Wife, and the Second Young Madam of this estate, people would not consider your actions pure, or indifferent towards wealth. Instead, they would misunderstand and think you are posturing. Worse, they would think that you have lost favour and will try to climb over your head.”

[2g] “… are you really going to lecture me about the hearts of women?” instead of addressing the other nonsensical, self-aggrandising words, she decided to focus on this one single line.

[1b] “… indeed, indeed, ahaha! Come now, sleep, sleep. Now that you have hinted so many things to your dear father, I’m afraid that Prince Hong will have plenty of things to say tomorrow. Come, sleep.”

[2g] Fu Qiuning stared at the man squirming on the kang, still in his outdoor clothes. She thought: So, this is how you react when shoved into a corner. Also, are you really not going to change? Should I bring it up and embarrass him? Let’s bring it up.

[2g] “My Lord Husband must be incredibly busy or looking forward to going to court tomorrow,” she said, and waited.

[1b] “… yes, yes!” Jin Fengju leapt out of bed and started taking his clothes off. “Indeed, I cannot wait to hear what Prince Hong has to say tomorrow.” Even as he dropped his belt to a corner, he snorted coldly, saying, “That Prince Hong, if he was the type that could hold himself back, he would not be struggling against Prince Lie today.”

“I see,” [2g] she was not really interested in the topic, but Jin Fengju wanted to keep showing off, so she had to humour him.

“In fact, Brother-in-law and Prince Hong’s mothers were the emperors’ favourite imperial concubines back then. Unfortunately, Concubine Min, Brother-in-law’s mother, passed away early while Prince Hong’s mother is still alive. As for Prince Lie, his mother is young and beautiful, and more importantly, she is the most favoured person in the harem. The other princes were not at all outstanding, thus, factions eventually formed around these three princes.”

[Gumihou: How could a person who is sick in the head (JFJ) and someone without her full mental capacity (thanks to AR Qiuning) be ‘In Love’? They could only be ‘In Love?’]

[1] Add details:

[1a] Add to JFJ’s creep factor. It was missing, which was too bad, but that’s okay. Gumi is happy to assist~

[1b] JFJ is crazy enough to reinterpret everything Fu Qiuning did and said to his advantage. So there was really no need to force FQN to act like a possessed idiot just to make JFJ act like an idiot in love.

[2] Remove the AR Qiuning:

[2a] Switched out all of Kyaa~~!Qiuning with Original Goods!Qiuning

[2b] Deleted all the saccharine ‘kyaa~~ it’s not like I’m afraid of assassins but if you get hurt, I’d~~ iyaan~~’ replacing it with “… …” of disgust.

[2c] Calling out JFJ’s bullshit instead of going ‘iyaan~~ I’m so busyy~~ oh, um, the Thorny Roses are~~ kyaan~~!’

[2d] Instead of worrying about him ‘cheating’ on her with other women and talking about how men in the modern world where women’s rights were (somewhat) respected, worry more about ACTUAL issues. Like having a KID with this insane man in this insane world!!!

[2e] In place of ‘he guessed my thoughts correctly! Kyaa~~’ go with ‘what bullshit is he talking about now?’

[2f] Instead of happily chatting with the crazy, have FQN act like normal person when trapped with a crazy

[2g] Calling out texts that were clearly made to make JFJ look good. At the same time, delete all of AR Qiuning’s disgustingly pandering ‘iyaan~~’ dialogues

[3] Legend of the White Snake

Xu Xian – human male who is in love with the White Snake

Fa Hai – monk who aims to save Xu Xian’s soul from the White Snake

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_White_Snake

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