Chapter 285: Conjecture
Author: White Pear Flower
Raws: https://book.qidian.com/info/2386994/
Translated by Gumihou
Proofread by Pill Bug
Gumihou: Right, I deleted a lot of stuff and put in some actual crisis instead of more ‘lookie me, I so smart, yeah’
Since the Emperor had come to the Jin residence in secret, it was clear that he was not only guarded against the Crown Prince, but had also made up his mind to depose him. The Crown Prince must have done something to trigger this decision. This was a critical moment for the Jin Clan as well since their future depended on whether Prince Rong could ascend the throne.
Taking a deep breath, Jin Fengju did his best to relax his expression as much as possible before entering the Yong Cui Garden. Not far ahead was the Elegant Mansion. When he reached the main gate and saw the brightly lit interior, warmth suddenly suffused his heart as though a thousand jin burden had floated off of him.
As he stepped into the courtyard, junior maids who spotted him quickly rushed to bow and lift the curtains, “Master has returned?”
“Yes,” Jin Fengju nodded. Hearing faint laughter coming from the interior of the building, he asked, “Who came to visit at this time?”
Two maids smiled and said, “It is Madam Jin Yanfang, Concubine Mei and the Feng cousins. They had just arrived and had not left yet.”
Jin Fengju nodded and stepped through the door. As he stepped around the folding screen, he saw Fu Qiuning, Jin Yanfang, Concubine Mei, Concubine Luo, and Concubine Yu seated together. The beautiful Feng cousins were nowhere to be seen; who knows where they went.
At the sight of him, everyone stood up. Jin Yanfang smiled at him and said, “Second Brother truly cherish Sister-in-law. Since it was just after dinner, I thought that my brother would go to his study or meet with Uncle. To think that you arrived just as we women had a little chat. Even if you are a loving couple, surely this is too much?”
[1] Everyone tittered at her remark. Jin Fengju chuckled and said, “You’re the one who came here uninvited, yet you try to kick me out of here by placing the blame on me? Is there no justice in this world?”
The room erupted into yet more laughter. [2] That is, until Jin Fengju noticed the frozen smiles on Concubine Luo and Concubine Yu’s faces. Fu Qiuning had a hand over her mouth, looking as though she was drinking tea, but her cup was still on the table…
[2] It was only then that Jin Fengju realised what he had said. However, since he could not forcefully take his words back, he quickly said to Jin Yanfang, “So, what brings you all here?”
Jin Yanfang happily explained, “While you’re busy growing your love in Quanzhou, the family held two weddings. Both Miss Fengs had married well. Now all that is left is the Feng cousin, so we all came here to discuss Miss Han’s dowry. We happened to see Cangjiao with her cat, and as Miss Han loves cats, she has gone with the Young Miss to see the cats.”
Jin Fengju had already known about the two Feng girls’ marriages through letters. At the mention of Miss Han’s coming marriage, Jin Fengju nodded and smiled winsomely at Qiuning, “Excellent, excellent, Qiuning, ah. Go ahead and help Yanfang come up with ideas for the dowry. They are all young ladies of noble birth with a bit of a difficult background. At the very least, the dowry should be generous to avoid the husband’s family looking down on her.”
“Of course, as Lord Husband commands.”
[2] “… …” Jin Fengju maintained his smile even as sweat rolled down his back. This was even more nerve-wracking than his meeting with the emperor. Why is he bringing up all these stupid topics? Right now, he had just implied that the Jin Family would never have looked down on Fu Qiuning back when she married in if King Zhenjiang had been more generous with her dowry…
[2] Was he stupid or something?
Seemingly oblivious to the tension around her, Jin Yanfang smiled and said, “I know that Second Brother is the best. With your golden name as a guarantee, who on earth would dare look down on them? Last month, after the Feng sisters married out, they came by for a visit and were very courteous and well-behaved in front of the Old Madam and Elder Madam. Well, it looked like their in-laws treated them very well, not only due to their good looks and behaviour, but also because of their connection to our family. Now that Cousin Han is getting married, with Elder Madam and my mother overseeing the match, everything will go very well too. Therefore, there is really no need to go overboard with the dowry.”
Jin Fengju laughed loudly, “Ha ha ha, enough with you. What’s with this petty act of stinginess? If you try to be too righteous, and your sister-in-law restricts Miss Han’s dowry, I fear that you will curse us in your heart.”
Jin Yanfang playfully raised her fist and said with mock anger, “You are not acting like a brother at all. How dare you make fun of your little sister. Sister-in-law, you must scold him for me.”
[3] Naturally, Fu Qiuning wanted no part of this little play they were staging and pretended to be occupied with something else.
It was Concubine Luo who innocently asked, “There was a lot of water earlier, and some maids reported seeing firelight quite far away just now. Surely the damage must be quite extensive for the water to reach this place?”
“Oh?” Jin Fengju started sweating again. Jin Ming had arranged things under his orders, but it looked like he had overdone things a bit. “Not bad, fortunately, we caught the fire in time and managed to put it out. No need for Madam Concubine to worry.”
“But, the water…”
At that moment, Cousin Han entered with a cat in her arms. She rushed towards Jin Yanfang with glee, “Sister-in-law, look! How sweet is this cat? Eldest Young Miss named her spotty, how apt, ah? He’s all black and white speckled.”
It was only then that she saw Jin Fengju on the side. After an exclamation of surprise, she blushed and quickly saluted him. Jin Fengju returned her salute just as quickly. Jin Yanfang stood up and said, “Alright, let us be off. If you wish to see the cats a little more, let us come here tomorrow morning. Now that Second Brother is back, I’m sure Sister-in-law no longer has the heart to entertain us~”
[1] Fu Qiuning looked at her blankly, but decided not to bring attention to her weird attitude. Protesting now would only encourage her.
[1] Jin Yanfang must have treated her dumbfounded expression as ‘shyness’ or something as she tittered delightedly before pulling Concubine Mei and Concubine Yu with her, loudly saying, “Come, escort us out so that this husband and wife may have their sweet moment together~”
[1] What could the concubines do but follow her lead and troop out of the room together? Fu Qiuning had no doubt that her mother and Concubine Yu would avoid taking the path through this hallway and walk around the house back to their rooms instead.
[3] Fu Qiuning gave Jin Fengju a glance. There was a pensive look on his face. Then again, he always looked awkward and pensive around her whenever he was not putting on some bombastic performance. Deciding that she was too tired for one of his dramas, she said, “If Lord Husband have nothing else to say, I shall retire first.”
[3a]
[3b]
[3c] She left him to his brooding as she took off her accessories in the bedroom. She had no idea why these people thought they were being subtle when not a single one of them could keep a straight face or act. While they were much better than the incompetent maids at King Zhenjiang’s palace, Fu Qiuning could honestly say that she had seen better acting from her little students from the world of before.
[3c] Granted, the standards of intelligence in her world were probably much higher than in this world, since highly competent women could openly reject miserable old men still clinging to the patriarchal ways of living. Her life now was… decent, she supposed. It was mostly quiet at least, aside from the random postulations of love from Jin Fengju.
[3c] She did not mind the houseful of children and cats either; it was nice to have the young people around. The maids were like teenage girls with their own drama and angst… it was too bad that she could not have a true female friend here. She could confide in no one about her past. As for putting her trust in the maids… well, even the two maids who had lived and survived with her for the first five years of her life were bought over by Jin Fengju in less than five months through money and connections.
[3c] It was not that she resented them. It was just… how could they treat the bond she had thought they had so shallowly?
[3c] In the end, just as she saw those around her as ignorant people who did not know what was good for them, it was the same for the maids. Not a single maid at Elegant Mansion dared to bar Jin Fengju’s way to her room and did all they could to ‘improve’ their master and mistress’s relationship.
[3c] Not that she could blame them. A woman’s power depends on the men in her life. SinceFu Qiuning’s father had abandoned her, the only other person she could depend on was her husband. Back when original!Fu Qiuning had languished at Night Breeze Pavilion, she had desperately tried to connect with Jin Fengju… all the way until she had given in to despair and hung herself.
[3c] Then, Fu Qiuning… no, her original name was… what was her original name again?
[3c] For a brief moment, she panicked, but then the moment passed, and she laughed at the absurdity of her situation. So what if she doesn’t remember her own name? Who was there to remember her anyway?
“Qiuning, what are you laughing about?”
Jin Fengju, who had been burdened with all kinds of worries ever since the emperor appeared in his family garden, looked up at the sudden laughter. When she suddenly stopped, he felt regret in his heart, but his enchanted gaze remained upon his wife.
“Oh? Was I laughing?” Fu Qiuning said [4] absently. She combed her hair out with her fingers for a while before saying, “It’s nothing, I was just thinking and could not help myself.”
Jin Fengju, [5] having wised up and now had the maids secure that male beast in their chambers during the night, leaned back against the bedpost in the most visually appealing position and said, “Oh? Was it a joke? What kind of joke could it be to make such a calm person like yourself laugh? Come now, tell me.”
[3c] “My life,” Fu Qiuning muttered under her breath.
“What was that?”
[3c] “I said,” Fu Qiuning said in a more normal tone, “It was a story about someone’s life…” She randomly picked a joke about some henpecked husband and told it to him. Jin Fengju looked amused, and possibly half afraid, as he laughed just a little too heartily.
Finally, Jin Fengju said, “It’s getting late, you need to be up early tomorrow. Let us go to bed.”
Then, he got up to blow out the oil lamps, leaving only a single shaded candle to cast its glow in the darkened room.
[Gumihou: I did my best, I really, really did]
[1] Emphasise the fakeness of the relationship
[2] Bring to light this foot-in-mouth moment, the comment is canon by the way.
[3] Delete the ‘special love love super power of knowing when your hubby is in pain, kyaa~’
[3a] Deleted 190 words of ‘special love love power mind reading’
[3b] Deleted 230 words of ‘a summary of what happened’ disguised as an attempt at intelligent thinking
[3c] I was tempted to delete another 320 words of nonsense, but if I did that, the chapter would have fewer than 1500 words. So, reworked it so that it kind of makes sense.
For those who are interested in seeing the original nonsense…
In just a short while, Fu Qiuning had already concocted a melodramatic palace drama in her mind, similar to the struggle for the throne in a historical drama. She was quite satisfied with her storytelling skills, but her only regret was the lack of drama between herself as the female lead and Jin Fengju as the male lead. It seemed like this lively palace drama was missing some excitement.
If we count the five years when she was abandoned as a forsaken woman, well, even those five years couldn’t be considered dramatic. Apart from the difficulties of life, when has the Fragrant Wind Pavilion ever lacked joy and laughter? Where were the tearful confessions under the moon and the heart-wrenching love that should be present in a melodrama? As for the lovesickness leading to spitting blood every now and then, that was completely absent, to the point that even five years later when she saw Jin Fengju, it took her a while to remember his name.
Or perhaps, she and Jin Fengju were not the main characters, but Princess Rong and Prince Rong were. What a great plot! Supporting a courtesan, who is also the daughter of a criminal, and having a child – once Prince Rong ascends the throne, it would be like watching a live version of “Empresses in the Palace.” But thinking about the personality of Princess Rong, she was basically a Wang Xifeng, and considering Jin Fengju’s mention of the courtesan, she must be You Erjie. With these two, they couldn’t even compete in palace intrigue, let alone household drama…
The more she thought about it, the happier she became, trying desperately to find the melodramatic elements of this palace drama. In the end, she realized that the only slightly dramatic element was Prince Hong being sent to Shandong on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but burst out laughing.
[4] She 伸了下舌头, or stuck out her tongue. I find that the author likes to make her female characters stick out their tongues. Deleted
[5] Added details since there’s a lot of word count needed to fill anyway.
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