Higher Level Wife - 279 - Return to the Estate

Chapter 279: Return to the Estate

Author: White Pear Flower

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

Translated by Gumihou

Proofread by Pill Bug

At the main hall, young maids and matrons promptly brought out cushions for Jin Fengju, Fu Qiuning, Jiang Wanying and the children to kneel and pay their respects to the Old Madam and Elder Madam Jiang. Then, the Old Madam bade her favourite grandson sit by her side. After patting his face and smoothing out some wrinkles on his clothes, she said, “Your father is waiting for you in the study. Go see him. Remember, when you had to leave for the faraway Quanzhou, your mother and I are not the only ones who worry. Though your father did not voice it out, he still worries for you.”

“Yes.” Jin Fengju gave a respectful reply before saying his farewells to Madam Jiang and leaving for his father’s study. Once he left, only women and children were left in the room. Old Madam questioned Fu Qiuning and Jiang Wanying about their experience of the journey, and Jiang Wanying started up her story-spinning skills, which allowed Fu Qiuning to sit back and enjoy her tea.

[1] Yes, this was how it should be between two women who married the same man. They should support each other and not tear down the other for the sake of an ungrateful man.

Old Madam Jin and Madam Jiang were charmed and delighted by the grand send-off that Jin Fengju received from the people of Quanzhou. They were happy to hear that he was so beloved by the people, which added lustre to the family’s reputation. The Old Madam then ordered the 10 Thousand People’s Umbrella [2] to be brought over for inspection. At first, Fu Qiuning was confused because she did not see anyone giving Jin Fengju an umbrella, but then the servant brought in the thick banner and… once it opened up, Fu Qiuning finally understood why it was called an ‘umbrella’.

After examining it closely, the Old Madam ordered the servants to put the umbrella away for safekeeping. Once that was done, she remarked, “In terms of material value, this item may not be considered precious, but in terms of its historical significance, all the treasures in our family combined are not worth a fraction of it. This is a great treasure that must be kept well so that future generations can remember their beloved ancestor who had won the hearts of the people and brought such glory.”

This little speech was followed by a lot of head nodding and even more compliments. The Old Madam basked in the praises before finally saying, “Alright, alright, you’ve travelled tirelessly on boats and horses. Now go back and rest well. Back when you went to Quanzhou, you didn’t know how long you would stay, so you brought many things. Now that you’re back, you need to find time to settle them. My old self is relieved to see you return safely. There’s no need to entertain me here; return to your courtyards now.”

Fu Qiuning, Jiang Wanying, and the others said their farewells and left.

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Fu Qiuning returned to [3] Night Breeze Pavilion (TL: lol, this typo!!) and found Jin Fengju already back. He was busy directing the servants on where to arrange the chests and cabinets they had brought back from Quanzhou. A quick sweep of her eyes showed that her mother and Concubine Luo had already made themselves scarce.

Jin Fengju beamed at the sight of Fu Qiuning, “I thought you might stay a bit longer with the Old Madam. Why did you come back at this time?”

Fu Qiuning shrugged, “The Old Madam let us off early.”

Jin Fengju chuckled, “What a coincidence. Father allowed me off early as well. Since Father knew that I could not reveal to him the dangers of the battle against the Japanese or the anti-Japanese strategies, he was happy enough to see that we had returned safely. By the way, where is the People’s Umbrella? I didn’t see it in any of the boxes just now. I wanted to show it to Father and Second Uncle; they value it the most.”

Fu Qiuning gave him a strange look. “Old Madam insisted on seeing it after Second Madam Wan described the heroic scene of tens of thousands of people coming to see you off at the Quanzhou dock. She also said something about it being a family heirloom. She looked especially thrilled by it.”

Jin Fengju chuckled, “Thrilled? Alright, don’t exaggerate. The Old Madam and Elder Madam will think you’re flattering them too much. Don’t say such things in the future; it might cause gossip.”

Fu Qiuning was about to repeat that it was Jiang Wanying who said all of this when a voice from outside exclaimed, “Yi? Fourth Miss? Why are you here? Why aren’t you with Concubine Huo? Shouldn’t you be looking after her?”

Just then, Jin Xiuru walked in.

The young girl greeted Jin Fengju and Fu Qiuning, “Mother sends her greetings. She feared that Honoured Mother would be tired after travelling so much today, so she would give her greetings in person tomorrow. Honoured Mother, I heard you brought back several cats. May Xiuru see them too?”

Fu Qiuning hummed, “The cats are in your brother and sister’s rooms. You may go and see them there.”

After Jin Xiuru ran off to the inner courtyard, she said, “It’s lovely to see the children get along so well.”

Jin Fengju rolled his eyes, whispering through gritted teeth, “So what if they get along well? Why do I have to live with those creatures? So what if I am afraid of cats? For so many years, not even the Old Madam would keep cats, but you dare to break this rule. Not only that, but instead of keeping one cat, you have several. Moreover, one of them is a wild thing…”

Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and stood up in shock, exclaiming, “Qiuning, can’t you… can’t you control that old cat? Don’t let it come into the mansion; it’s like a bird entering the forest or a fish taking to water. It might end up biting those four golden pheasants and wild chickens to death.”

Fu Qiuning looked at him curiously, “What pheasants and wild chickens?” [4]

While Fu Qiuning was pondering over the mysterious existence of these so-called golden pheasants and wild chickens she was supposed to have in her courtyard, Jin Fengju had already rallied over 20 maids and matrons to track down Mister Cat. Fu Qiuning ignored them as she sipped her tea.

[4] Perhaps, she mused, these pheasants and chickens were leftovers from that time at the island where Jin Fengju had unscrupulously played the ‘catch and release’ style of hunting just to show off. Really, who goes hunting with over 2000 staff anyway?

Later, news of the four golden pheasants and red-crowned two cranes… Oh, so they were cranes and not chickens? No wonder the servants were in a panic, she had thought that they were oddly excitable over chickens of all things…

At any rate, those precious birds were reported to be safe by Jian Feng, who said, “That old cat must not have had time to go hunting yet. It was probably anxious to familiarise itself with the place and had not yet committed the crimes with its claws.”

Fu Qiuning nearly choked at the ridiculous statement.

When Mister Cat came loping into the room, she patted her knees, and the cat obligingly hopped onto her lap. Jin Fengju rushed in not long after. One of the maids had probably run off to inform him about the whereabouts of Mister Cat. He glared at Mister Cat, looking as though he would dearly love to skin the beast and shoved it into a pot.

Unfortunately, Mister Cat was a wily one. Despite him and several maids running around to check on damage within the courtyard, there was none. The pheasants and cranes were fine, and so were the birds twittering within the cages.

Still, that didn’t mean he could not sow discord, right?

“Qiuning, ah. That cat… what if it attacked one of the birds… some of them were gifts from Elder Madam…”

Fu Qiuning continued to stroke Mister Cat. “Mister Cat knew not to attack animals and birds in cages. He has no interest in such things. Don’t you, my love?”

The cat made a low growling sound. It was… a purr?

Seeing the cat act so docile, Jin Fengju attempted to approach. No matter what, since he could not get rid of the beast, the best thing was to try and reconcile-

Slash!

A claw slashed in his direction, causing Jin Fengju to jump back, nearly falling over. “This beast!” he snapped through gritted teeth, “You claim that he knew enough not to attack birds and animals in cages, but how is it that it does not recognise its master?! I am the master of your mistress, one who is even more powerful and rich. So long as you obey me, you may have a bright future with no need to worry about food and drink-” [5]

Mister Cat actually turned to Jin Fengju and snarled.

Fu Qiuning laughed, “How adorable. Look at how he puffed up.”

Jin Fengju watched, horrified, as Fu Qiuning stroked the raised hackles, as though the cat had puffed up to look adorable. Qiuning, ah, can’t you tell that that thing is a devil?!

Fu Qiuning said, “I wonder, does the Old Madam like cats? If she does, I could bring Mister Cat over to greet her tomorrow.”

Jin Fengju snorted and said, “Like them? Adore them, more like. Not to mention, once the news of how the cat was a hero who struck down and killed two Japanese pirates, they will pamper him even more. Just look at it, even now that cat refuses to give me any face. Once Old Madam and Elder Madam started fawning over him, won’t I be stepped all over by him, ah?”

[6] Fu Qiuning gave him a strange look. “In short, because of your paranoia, the entire residence has to suffer for it?”

[6a] Jin Fengju snorted and was about to counter with a light banter when he saw the faraway look in her eyes. What did she say just now? ‘Because of your paranoia, the entire residence has to suffer for it’… was she talking about the time he had foolishly banished her to Night Breeze Pavilion? Was she still angry about that? Surely he had shown enough sincerity to her about how sorry he was?

[6a] Or, could it be that she was still insecure about her position in the estate? But, how could this be? Hadn’t he shown her time and again just how much he favoured her? That Wanying was nothing to him? He had even made every attempt to put her into a position of power by giving her stewardship over the inner court’s finances, but she kept involving Jiang Wanying… he had no idea just what was going on in her mind.

[6a] Finally, he coughed and said, “That’s right, you must be tired from all the travel. Have an early night. As for myself, I have to make some visits tomorrow and take care of some important matters. I am still young and can handle some exhaustion. So long as we can secure peace and prosperity for the family and have leisure in our old age, it will all be worth it. That’s right, you should enter the palace and see the Empress Dowager. Back then, she had not wanted to allow you to come with me. I fear that she must be itching to see a new opera by now.”

[6b] That’s right, let’s remind Qiuning that she still has the backing of the palace. A backing that he had worked hard to secure for her, no less. Perhaps, Qiuning would think more kindly of him after a visit to the palace…

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The next day, Fu Qiuning entered the palace to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager. As expected, after the barest platitudes of greetings and an oddly sincere ‘missed you so much that Our heart ached’, it was all ‘We wish to hear a new Huangmei Opera’. Before she left for Quanzhou, Fu Qiuning had already roughly prepared the singers and performers for a new opera, the [7] Emperor’s Female Son-in-law. However, the Empress Dowager had long since grown bored of both the Immortal Couple and the Emperor’s Female Son-in-law, and was eager to have Fu Qiuning back.

Therefore, she beamed happily at Fu Qiuning, saying, “How fortunate we are you have you back with us. Otherwise, We would be forced to have the Crown Prince issue a decree to transfer you back alone. However, when we thought of the deep love shared between you and your beloved husband, the thought of having you curse this old woman as a busybody who beats up mandarin ducks, I lost the heart for that. Alas, I cannot bear such criticism. I do not wish for people to remember me as a wretch in my old age…”

The concubines seated below let out a few awkward notes of chuckle, and Fu Qiuning felt her scalp tingle. She lowered her head and said, “Your Majesty has every right to send for me. After all, as Your Majesty said, the Young Marquis is the most sensible and filial person. Should you have sent word, this humble woman is sure that he would have leapt at the opportunity to send me back to you.”

[8] The Empress Dowager burst out laughing, causing a ripple of laughter to follow. For a moment, the entire room resonated with the tinkling laughter of dozens of the empire’s most beautiful ladies.

The Empress Dowager even pointed at Fu Qiuning, chuckling as she said, “Goodness, you actually dare! If Jin Fengju heard this, well, well, he might tear your mouth apart. How dare you mock him like this in front of me…”

[Gumihou: Seriously, some of the things that came out of JFJ’s mouth… most of it was canon, I did nothing to make him look worse.]

[1] Some positive vibes for Jiang Wanying

[2] 万民伞 “Ten Thousand People’s Umbrella”, “Wanmin Umbrella”, “Umbrella of the people”

In the Qing Dynasty, when a local official left office, the local gentry and merchants had to show their intention to retain him. The more popular way was to send him an “umbrella of the people”, which meant that the official was like an umbrella that covered the people. The more umbrellas were sent, the more prestigious the official was. If there were still people sending umbrellas or even stopping the sedan chair when the official was dismissed or demoted, it meant that the official was definitely an honest or good official, and the local people were also loyal and righteous. It looks more like a rolled-up banner

From https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%B8%87%E6%B0%91%E4%BC%9E/5339293#:~:text=%E4%B8%87%E6%B0%91%E4%BC%9E%E5%9C%A8%E6%B8%85%E4%BB%A3,%E5%90%8C%E6%97%B6%E5%8F%88%E6%9C%89%E6%83%85%E6%9C%89%E4%B9%89%E3%80%82

Picture from https://www.huitu.com/photo/show/20190822/225153740070.html

[3] Lol, seriously, the author really wrote ‘Night Breeze Pavilion’!!! This showed just how much (little) care she put into the novel!!

Pill Bug: In case people forgot, she should have moved into Elegant Mansion…

[4] Nope, deleting that part because it was never mentioned. Those pheasants were never here.

[5] It was canon, seriously.

[6] Take the opportunity to show JFJ’s basic personality once again

[6a] Proper character development instead of lazy writing

[6b] Dumb man thoughts to explain his dumb actions

[7] Emperor’s Female Son-in-law (by the way, this is Anhui Opera, and not Huangmei opera…) This is one of the more well-loved and dramatic operas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RbCklLtiqs – more traditional

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zog2kPX-Bk – more ‘stage singing’ style