Chapter 156: Informed – Unedited
Author: White Pear Flower
Raws: https://book.qidian.com/info/2386994/
Translated by Pill Bug
Jin Yanqiu at her younger brother twice over, abruptly letting out a long sigh and saying, “I will return to the royal residence tonight. Living at home for so many days also did not give me a good feeling and you were even dragged into my troubles. Sigh, what Qiuning said was right. Why were we born as women? We do not even have half an iota of control over our own lives.”
Jin Fengju’s gaze flashed and he suddenly laughed: “How can you say that? When you were in this estate, did anyone else dare to give you a hard time?”
Jin Yanqiu laughed bitterly, “Yes, of course, no one dares to vent their frustration on me, and even my parents also talked with caution to me, but do not I see it? Everyone is as anxious as ants on the hot pot. If anyone had magic powers, they would probably have given me a lift back to the royal estate with a gust of wind.”
When Jin Fengju heard her say that, he knew that though she was complaining on the surface, the knot in her heart had almost been completely untied, so he laughed and said, “Where is it even close to what you exaggerated? Also, this injury of mine was something caused by my own family, being even more unrelated to Elder Sister. Don’t just keep thinking of bearing all the burden yourself.”
Jin Yanqiu snorted, “Your injury is naturally not my business, but don’t think that I don’t know that in court today, the emperor gave you leave, saying it was compassionate, but why is it that you have to wait for summons before you can attend court again? This is to punish you. If your brother-in-law and I hadn’t made this scene, I’m afraid you wouldn’t have followed us and eaten this burden.”
Hearing her say that, Jin Fengju was astonished and sat up to ask, “Sister, who told you that?” His grim expression startled her and she said, “What is it? I may not have set foot outside the estate, but I still have people at the palace. After morning court, Royal Husband told someone the moment he returned to the palace and when my maid heard it, she rushed over to tell me. She even told me that the emperor had asked Prince Lie, Prince Hong and that enemy of our family to stay back to get their views on Chu Daxiu’s censure report.”
Jin Fengju did not seem to take this matter to heart, whatever he had to say to Prince Rong had already been said. He thought that his brother-in-law would do as he said. He was only worried about one thing, so he asked urgently, “in that case, do Yanfang and those sisters know?”
Jin Yanqiu frowned and said, “How would I know that? However, getting censured by that damnable Chu Daxiu today, how would Prince Lie or Prince Hong let go of this opportunity? I’m afraid that in a few days, news of what happened in this estate will be spread around, right? As the saying goes, there is no airtight wall. Isn’t Yanfang and them knowing about it only a matter of time?”
Jin Fengju also frowned for a long time before saying, “En, I know. I’ll handle this matter. Ah, yes, Elder Sister is going back to the palace tonight, so have you sent someone back to inform Brother-in-law?”
Jin Yanqiu sneered, “Why tell him? Can’t I still expect him to pick me up? At this time, I’m afraid that he still doesn’t know how annoyed I am at him. Pei, why don’t you even look at what you have done.”
Jin Fengju smiled and said, “Brother-in-law is not such a person. Truth be told, Brother-in-law has a straightforward personality. Though he may be prone to impulsiveness or silly actions at times, he is a good person at heart. He is a curiously generous person, yet not stupid. This is rare. Not to mention, he loves and respects Elder Sister very much.
Elder Sister, listen to Younger Brother. There are some things which are difficult to not muddle through. You are now married to a man like Brother-in-law. If you were married to Prince Hong or Prince Lie, even if they did not let the courtesan bear their children, they would keep the seven or eight more outside the estate, while having countless more concubines within the family. Would that be better? I think it may not be.”
Jin Yanqiu coldly snorted again but did not speak more.
But Jin Fengju just had to laugh, “I think it should be around noon by now. After lunch, I will ask Jin Ming to go to the palace for a stroll. Whatever is said, this time the fault is also more on Brother-in-law, so let him come to pick you back. Otherwise, if you go back to the palace yourself, what status or face will you have left to speak of? Elder Sister, what do you think?”
Jin Yanqiu stood up and sneered again, “You are not allowed to go to tell him. If you tell him to come to pick me up, then I will not return. Enough, it’s better for you to rest here and take care of yourself rather than mess around with these emotional troubles. I will return first.” She quickly walked out of the room while leaving those words.
Jin Fengju smiled, knowing that although his elder sister had said that, in fact, it was a tacit approval of his own approach.
After the meal, he ordered Jin Ming to take care of that matter. Midway into the afternoon, Jin Ming returned, saying that everything was done. Jin Fengju deliberated a bit before saying, “You, go to Qiuning’s place, tell her that these days I am very busy and will not go to Night Breeze Pavilion. She is likely to be busy with Aunt Yu’s matter as well and I should not disturb her. Telling her that saves the trouble of arousing her suspicion. I’m afraid that if she finds out that I am injured, she would feel bad.”
Jin Ming gave a sound of acknowledgement while thinking: Master, are you sure it is not just you being pretentious? The Second Madam is cold and indifferent. I’m afraid that even if she knows that you will not visit Night Breeze Pavilion these days, it would be just what she wants, letting her enjoy her peace and quiet. But how would I dare to say this out loud?
Arriving at Night Breeze Pavilion, indeed, Fu Qiuning and the others were choosing satin to make veils for Aunt. Seeing him arrive, they asked what Jin Fengju was up to. Jin Ming also answered them one by one according to his master’s words. He didn’t know if it was his misconception, but it felt like the Second Madam’s gaze flashed, as if she realised something. Jin Ming also did not dare to dawdle around, afraid that this clever Second Madam would discover a flaw through her questions, so he found an excuse and retreated.
After Jin Ming left, Aunt Yu and Yu Jie saw Fu Qiuning put down the satin in a daze. They both wondered, “What’s wrong, Madam? Is it because the young marquis can not come over these days, you feel hurt? In fact, not a few days later, it would be as Madam said, being six years since his first arrival.”
Fu Qiuning looked at her and shook her head, “Am I that kind of person? It’s just that there’s something wrong with this. Enough, Jian Feng, go pack up a box of spring rolls and snacks that were fried this morning and send them to Health & Longevity Court. Ask around in the meantime. The young marquis must be up to something.”
Jian Feng acknowledged the order, picked up the snacks and left. Fu Qiuning also was not in the mood to do any more work, only sitting on the couch, secretly thinking: Even if Jin Fengju is busy at this time, it is impossible for him not to come. Whatever happened in the courtroom today, he should come and tell me a word or two about it, right? Last night, it was so late, yet he still came over by himself…
As her thoughts wandered around, she suddenly thought of the thunderstorm that morning when he left. The garden was mostly filled with trees, and she couldn’t help but sit up straight, thinking: He wouldn’t have actually been struck by lightning, would he? No, no, if it were so, someone would have run to report the news. Not to mention that back when he abandoned his wife and sons, God also did not send lightning to strike him. Now, looking at it, the whitewashing has been successful, so would God rouse His own spirit to settle old scores? This was absolutely impossible.
If he was not struck by lightning, then he must have been accidentally injured. Did he fear that I would become worried, and so he refused to let me know? Fu Qiuning got up and paced a few steps around the house, growing more and more irritable. With much difficulty, she waited until Jian Feng had returned and asked her.
It was true that Jin Fengju was injured. While Jian Feng was moving around, it just so happened that the Old Madam also went to the Clear Soft Pavilion. It could be seen that the injury was not very light.
Although Fu Qiuning had guessed eighty or ninety percent correctly, when she actually heard the news, she was still shocked to hear Jian Feng say that he was stabbed by a sharp rock in the garden when dodging a falling tree. Because of that, the emperor also let him rest at home for a few days to await a summons before he can attend court again. Her heart felt as if it was squashed heavily by a huge boulder. She held her forehead groaning, “This calamity star, I have said that I would move in after the Dragon Boat Festival, how has he still suffered such a mishap out of nowhere?”
She wanted to get up to go to visit Jin Fengju. However, remembering Jiang Wanying and the other mouths awaiting her at Clear Soft Pavilion, she hesitated. Just then, there were sounds of footsteps outside. It turned out that the Old Madam sent a maid to invite Qiuning over, saying that the Princess Consort would be returning to the Palace that day and asking her to escort them along.
Fu Qiuning know Princess Consort had finally straightened her thoughts and could not help but breathe a sigh of relief, secretly thinking: No matter what, this storm has finally passed. Only, I do not know how the emperor views Prince Rong in his heart in the end. Does he also have no chance at the crown prince’s position from now on?
She hastily agreed, and after changing her clothes, brought Jian Feng along with her to Health & Longevity Court.
When she arrived at the Health & Longevity Court, she saw that Jin Yanqiu, Madam Jiang, Wanying and the others were already there. Fu Qiuning first greeted the Old Madam and the Princess Consort, and while the others were talking, she went to the Old Madam and asked in a quiet voice, “Old ancestor, how is Lord Husband? He sent Jin Ming to tell me that he couldn’t go to Night Breeze Pavilion for the next few days, so I knew something was definitely wrong. What kind of injury takes so many days to heal? Old Ancestor, at least leave some hints for me so that I can have some idea.”
Old Madam Jin laughed, “When I heard that Jian Feng had come, I knew that you must be the one who sent her to spy. I think my grandson is also smart, yet foolish at the same time, so when Jin Ming said those words, wasn’t it like the saying “There aren’t three hundred taels of silver here”? [1] No wonder you noticed it right away.”
Before Fu Qiuning could reply, Jin Yanqiu had snuck over who knew when, smiled and said “Where would it be saying there weren’t three hundred taels of silver there? Fengju also had no choice. If he didn’t send someone over to report, I’m afraid his brothers and sisters would be more worried, and more likely to be suspicious. It was better to send Jin Ming to send word, perhaps it would have been muddled through somehow.”
She talked while looking at Fu Qiuning nod and smile, continuing, “I really don’t know. My younger brother is smart and arrogant. Just what kind of ability do you have, able to subdue him to such an extent?”
Fu Qiuning blushed so red that she could produce red cloth and said softly, “Princess Consort must be joking, how could it be like that?”
Jin Yanqiu laughed, “What? Still being stubborn with me? My younger brother is also pitiful. His leg was stabbed by a stone and the bones were even exposed, yet he still cannot exchange that for his wife’s concern. This injury ah, he deserves to suffer it for nothing. If you go over and show yourself, it might recover sooner.”
Letting the Princess Consort poke these jokes, Fu Qiuning simply did not know what to say. Peeking around, fortunately, no one paid attention to her side. She also overheard that the children had returned from school. It turned out that Old Madam Jin sent someone to the school to talk to the teacher and asked for the children to be able to leave school early to come over.
The room was lively for a while, and then someone said that Prince Rong had come and was drinking tea with the Old Master in the study. Jin Yanqiu then slowly got up and bowed three times in front of the Old Madam and Madam Jiang. When she stood up, she was already shedding tears. Old Madam Jin and Madam Jiang were also wet in their eyes, choking as they pulled her hand, “Go, go… Later, do not be capricious any more, ah.”
傅秋宁不自禁就想起《红楼梦》中元春省亲的那一节来，心想王妃总比当日的元妃娘娘要好一些，她虽然也难回娘家，只是倒不必像元妃省亲那样严格，何况元妃只有几个时辰的时间，她却是在家里住了几天，比对方强上太多了。
Fu Qiuning can’t help but think of the <<Dream of the Red Chamber>> chapter about Princess Consort Yuanchun visiting her parents, thinking that Princess Consort was still better off than Princess Consort Yuan back then. Although it was also difficult for her to return to her maiden home, she did not have to be as strict as Yuanchun visiting her relatives. Not to mention, Princess Consort Yuan only had a few hours’ worth of time while Princess Consort Jin could stay at home for a few days. It was far better than her counterpart.
Sure enough, from the side, she heard Jin Yanqiu say, “When I was at home, you just couldn’t wait for me to hurry up and go. Now that I am leaving, what are you wiping your eyes and tears for? The capital is right next door, and when everything is alright in the future, I will return home to see you again, so don’t be sad.” Saying that, in the end, she still turned back three times each step, reluctantly leaving under the crowd’s watchful eyes, surrounded by the subordinates of the palace.
[Gumihou: All the comments about JFJ deluding himself re FQN liking him was supposed to be funny, but really, it should be close to reality. This is why I refuse to compromise FQN’s personality and allow her to degrade into AR kyaa~ Qiuning]
[a] Remove white washing [a1] Evidence of JFJ’s idiocy or carelessness which was overlooked by the author. That’s okay, Gumi noticed it and will help you. [ab] Remove obvious attempt to make JFJ look good through ‘the only thing he’s worried about are the ladies nyaa~~’. Really, doing this just makes JFJ looks intelligent instead of a dweeb, but what can we do? Sacrifices had to be made. [b] No changes to the text, but Gumi would like to note that this JFJ’s callous statement of telling his sister to essentially ‘suck it up’ for the family is why rape culture is so prevalent and calls to mind the People v Turner case. Specifically, Dad Turner’s famous ‘steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life’.
Again, please do not date red flags. This is only barely okay in fiction.
[b1] Jin Yangqiu’s raction of ‘coldly snorted again but did not speak more’ implied that JFJ is right and that she should back down before grand logic.Hah. Nope.
[c] Remove the AR Qiuning: [c1] Remove extra details that HINTEDDD!! at FQN’s cleverness. Because, seriously? There’s hinting and then there’s planting a sign that says ‘There’s no gold buried here’ [c2] Re-emphasise how JFJ had bribed the maids, rather than them ‘teasing’ the madam, have them almost coercing FQN to get it on with JFJMake the ‘kyaa~~ Madam misses the Master, uwu~~’ more suffocating coercian than teasing.
[c3] Fu Qiuning being hurt by the maids’ lack of loyalty re [c2]Pill Bug TL Notes:
[1] The original Chinese idiom is 此地无银三百两, “There aren’t three hundred taels of silver here”, basically saying the metaphor reveals exactly what it was trying to cover up.
[a] Jin Yanqiu are you an emotional idiot or not? Make up your mind. You can’t be a rational person before suddenly ‘shocked to death’ over an expression.
Sigh.
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