Chapter 160: School Disputes (Edited)

Author: White Pear Flower

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

Translated by Gumihou

Proofread by Pill Bug

 

Somehow, she managed to talk Jin Yanfang and the other women around. [1a] Luckily, her time spent convincing anxious parents and stubborn children did not fail her and she managed to convince them out of doing something pointlessly stupid. It was likely that they did not really want to die and were happy to have a reason to not take the drastic road.

Still, it was a relief to see a more relaxed expression on Jin Yanfang as well as the other women. She ventured to say, [1b] “Moreover, your two children only have you to depend on. What would happen to them once you are gone? As for the unmarried young ladies, do you imagine our reputation would badly influence a truly capable man?”

Jin Yanfang sighed and said, “Thank you Sister-in-law for your advice. After listening to you, I finally realised that we had most likely been living in a dream world. Do be rest assured that we shall not do anything foolish. When you see Second Brother, please let him know this as well.”

[1b] Fu Qiuning said, “You have escaped with your life and the lives of your children from bandits. Isn’t this a great blessing? Perhaps it might not look like it now, but think how fortunate you are to have your children with you and your family behind you. I believe I have said all that is needed to be said.”

Jin Yanfang, “Indeed, we sisters have a lot to think about and be grateful for.”

Fu Qiuning, “It is getting dark and the rain is still falling. There is no need for you to send me off.”

Fu Qiuning left Pillow Moon Pavilion. [1c] For a moment, she paused at the gate. One way would take her back to her beloved Night Breeze Pavilion, while the other…

[1d] “Madam, the quilts and bedding had all been set up at Elegant Mansion,” whispered one of the lantern-carrying maids.

[1c] “Is that so? Aren’t you people efficient?” said Fu Qiuning indifferently.

From her vantage point at the window, Jin Yanfang stared into the twilight. Her eyes stared at the twin points of light that paused at the gate before heading towards Elegant Mansion.

 

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As reported, the bedding had all been set up. Moreover, it was all personally set up by her ever-loyal maid [1d] Yu Jie. Aunt Yu was busy with her needlework in one corner while Jin Fengju was reclining on a couch with her book. [1c] Just take a look at this harmonious group of people. Who knew just what kind of discussion happened during her absence?

At the sight of her mistress, Aunt Yu set down her needlework and smiled warmly, “Madam is wet from the rain, I shall order them to bring in some hot water.”

Fu Qiuning nodded. She [1] blinked slowly and said, “The plan was to send you out from Night Breeze Pavilion. Unexpectedly we have moved. There is only a month left for your marriage. Would it inconvenience you?”

Aunt Yu blushed, and in a soft voice, she said, “What is there to inconvenience? It is thanks to Master and Mistress’ blessing that I could stay within this garden a little longer.” Then, she ran out to call for someone to bring in hot water.

Fu Qiuning absently took off her wet clothes. After changing into home clothes, she came to the room only to see [1d] Yu Jie rushing over with a handful of cloth, “Madam! Why don’t you wipe down the Master’s body? His wound should not touch water and we could only pat dry the outside.”

[1d] Then, abandoning the bundle of cloth in Fu Qiuning’s arms, she rushed off.

[1] For a moment, Fu Qiuning looked wordlessly at the cloth in her arms, then at the swinging cloth that served as a door and a softly laughing Jin Fengju.

[1c] She dumped the cloth on a chair and sat down on the kang bed, already knowing what was expected of her. Jin Fengju, despite his injury, which should not touch water, but was never properly dried in the entire time she was at Pillow Moon Pavilion, sidled over to pull at a lock of Fu Qiuning’s hair. He was sniffing the ends of her hair like a [2a] total creep.

[2a] He said, “If Qiuning were to wipe my body down, I shall repay you with some beautifully drawn paper-oil umbrellas. You know the patterns I like. If you do not mind, I could even personally draw some patterns for you.”

Now that Jin Fengju was sitting in Elegant Mansion with Fu Qiuning next to him, the wound on his leg no longer hurt. If only he could spend the rest of his life with Qiuning like that. How beautiful and satisfying it was to spend his days and nights with his beloved just like this. He smiled and said, “Of course, my paintings are only mediocre, I don’t know if Madam would even look at them.”

“Naturally, it is the effort that counts,” Fu Qiuning said [1] dutifully.

Jin Fengju beamed, not at all deterred by her lack of enthusiasm. Even so, he switched to talking about court matters instead, clearly violating his own ‘women should not stick their noses in court business’ rule to boast, “If you must know, I said some strongly worded things against Chu Daxiu at court. Perhaps to avoid looking too biased on my side, the emperor must have deliberately worded his edict to make it look like he was not partial to me. As for Prince Rong’s side, a letter just came to inform that the foetus was fine. That person had woken up once and drank a little water before fainting again. I believe the matter is not that grave. Right now, I am thinking of the best way to make use of this situation. It’s best if we could turn the matter against Prince Lie and Prince Hong.”

“I see…” [1e] What else was there to say?

Once the hot water was ready, Fu Qiuning was obliged to wipe off Jin Fengju’s body, [1] because apparently, all the servants in Elegant Mansion had broken their arms. Whatever, if it pleases him. After wiping off the smugly smirking Jin Fengju, Fu Qiuning went to take her own much-needed bath.

[1d] Her loyal servants, namely Aunt Yu, Yu Jie and Jian Feng, were eagerly chatting about moving things from Night Breeze Pavilion to this place. Since they were so enthusiastic about it, she left them to it.

The next day, Jin Ming returned from Prince Rong’s palace with news that Miss Qiu Ju had woken up and could drink rice soup already. Jin Fengju gave Jin Ming some instructions in a low voice before sending him off. This loyal steward was out all day and did not return until evening. No one was certain what he did all day.

However, the news he brought back caused a frown to mar Jin Fengju’s brows. Apparently, within a single day, rumours about Prince Rong’s cruel and callous nature had spread across the Capital. That was too fast. He had just left Clear Soft Pavilion angrily yesterday and the palace servants did not bother to avoid people when they came to deliver the news. Therefore, too many people knew about the attempted suicide. Therefore, there was no way to verify who was the spy.

Jin Fengju felt very uncomfortable at the idea that there was a spy in the mansion. Someone must have been reporting matters to Prince Lie, but he had no idea who it could be. However, as matters had come to that point, it was pointless to waste time thinking about it. For the time being, allowing that person to spread this kind of false rumour was beneficial for him.

He smirked to himself, thinking: Good, ah. You just go ahead and jump around as you like. See which of us gets the last laugh in the end.

Suddenly, he felt that all was right in the world. Catching the sight of Qiuning reading a book from her corner, his heart suddenly felt itchy and he said, “Don’t you feel that it is a little dull? How about a little opera singing?”

Fu Qiuning lowered her book. [1] The big brain must have worked hard and wanted some compensation/entertainment. Since it was one of the few chances she could sing, Fu Qiuning considered it a win and said, “Very well, what would you like to hear?”

Jin Fengju beamed and said, “I want to hear all of it. I really don’t know what to choose. How about a verse from the Desert Prince’s <<Fortune Telling>>?”

[1] At least, the man has good taste…

[1] Fu Qiuning also happened to like this Yue Opera verse. Therefore, after clearing her throat, she began:

“

As my hand held Qin’er, tragedy fills my heart,

My own life, is mine to decide…

”

 

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In a flash, eight or nine days passed. The injury on Jin Fengju’s leg had more or less healed. Most of the things at Night Breeze Pavilion had been moved into Elegant Mansion. On that day, Jin Fengju had been invited to drink with a friend. On this rare, pest-free day, she and Aunt Yu looked over the betrothal gifts from Third Brother Zhang.

Although Third Brother Zhang’s family was poor, the dowry gift was not thin. [1d] Even though her maids had betrayed Fu Qiuning for the  much more generous master, they were still her only companions aside from the children. Therefore, she stood with them to sigh over the gifts when hurried footsteps were heard thundering into the courtyard.

A small figure rushed in. It was Jin Zhuan. He urgently cried, “Madam, Madam! Not good, not good, ah! The Young Master quarrelled with Young Master Zhenyi! In a fight, Young Master threw an inkstone and injured Young Master Zhenyi’s head.”

“What?” Fu Qiuning was shocked. [1c] Jin Changfeng was the calmest and most sensible child she had ever seen. Just what could have happened for him to lose control like that? [1f] He had already been to school for about half a year by then, meaning that he must have endured subtle and unsubtle bullying from everyone around him.

[1f] She had already seen first-hand how Jin Fengju handled cases of bullying. If he was not the one doing it through wilful abandonment, he would probably only deal with the matter when it was brought up to him, acting all shocked and surprised when it happened, and then rained justified wrath upon the perpetrator when it is convenient for him.

[2b] Moreover, considering what happened at Clear Soft Pavilion and how Jin Fengju had more or less abandoned the rest of his wives and concubines to hang out at her place… it was unsurprising that something had finally happened now that Jin Fengju had finally recovered enough to go out drinking. One of his women had probably waiting for just an opportunity like this to make trouble.

After taking a deep breath to calm herself, she said, “No need to be so anxious. Just tell me exactly what happened.”

Seeing how calm his mistress was, Jin Zhuan also calmed down and began to speak, “I am not clear what happened exactly. I studied alongside the Young Master for the beginning part of the morning. When Teacher Lin declared a break, he allowed us time to play or study as we liked. He often does this. During the break, Young Master stayed in the hall to study while the other young masters ran out to play. The Young Master bade me ask for a handkerchief from the Young Miss. This morning, we somehow lost our handkerchief in our hurry to go to school.

So, I went out. When I returned, I saw a lot of people had gathered in the hall. They were saying that Young Master had hit someone. I saw Young Master Zhenyi with a large bump on his head and the Young Master was standing in place not saying anything. Later, when the teacher arrived, they all told him that Young Master hit someone. The teacher punished the Young Master by making him kneel in the hall. He even said that he will inform the master about this matter. Once Young Master Zhenyi was sent away, I hurried home to report. Madam, you must think of a way to save Young Master, ah. Young Master Zhenyi often tries to stir up trouble with the Young Master, but Young Master never reacted. I don’t know why… he could not endure it today.”

 

 

[Gumihou: Fu Qiuning had somehow also lost her ability to handle children here, going all ‘iyaa~~ kiyaaa~~‘ Whatever, give her back her skills please]

 

[1] AR Qiuning B Gone:

[1a] AR Qiuning was basically calling the other women dumb and that being a counsellor for women is easy because they are so dumb and ignorant.

Fu Qiuning: That’s so… disrespectful

Gumihou: I know, right?

AR Qiuning: They were so dumb I was able to persuade them with a few words. :p Even that Jiang Wanying is shooo dumb, kyahaha~~

[1b] Ladies and gentlemen, close to 300 words of TED Talk on JFJ’s compassionate nature etc etc. After which her throat felt dry (understandable) and she had an elegant sip of tea before following that up with another 100 words. Like, immediately after the TED Talk from the chapter before totals FQN’s long continuous speech is up to 950 words. After JYF’s short answer, she smiled and added only another 100 condescending words (she literally clapped her hands and might as well go ‘bravo’) before leaving…

Dude, like, waaaaattt…

[1c] Please don’t make it look like FQN is about to fly~ towards Elegant Mansion to see that turd.

[1d] Treacherous maids

[1e] Plenty, apparently. Like, wowow, my Qiuning is aware of Prince Lie’s spies!! Must not talk much, shhh!! Oh, maybe FQN is afraid I would suspect her! Never!!

[1f] FQN suddenly transformed into an ignorant mom. Unsure why. Oh wait, it’s so that she would depend on ‘her man’ even more.

Haha.

Nope.

[2] Remove whitewashing off JFJ:

[2a] It’s really not Gumi’s intention, but… JFJ is a creepy creep once all the whitewashing and brainwashing is taken away.

[2b] Give JFJ some credit for the bullying.