Chapter 289: A Lover
Author: White Pear Flower
Raws: https://book.qidian.com/info/2386994/
Translated by Gumihou
Proofread by Pill Bug
Gumihou: I edited it. Try and guess where.
At that, Jin Zhenyi said, “In that case, Third Brother really needs to study more. The teacher even said he had not been doing his best and even made several mistakes in his essay writing. Maybe that’s why he’s been studying more.”
Jin Fengju was taken aback by this. He glanced over at Fu Qiuning, meaning to exchange meaningful eye contact, but Fu Qiuning was looking contemplatively at Jin Zhenyi. He turned to Jin Changfeng, “Changfeng, did such a thing happen?” When his eldest son nodded, he muttered aloud, “Just what is Wanying doing? Had she locked those children up? No, that cannot be. Surely not in this household. No, I must investigate!”
He stood up suddenly, under the startled eyes of his wife and children.
Jin Zhenyi was the first to say something, “Father, did Second Mother really lock up Third Brother and Second Sister?”
Jin Changfeng jabbed him with his elbow, but it was too late. The question had been asked and everyone was looking at him with curious eyes.
“Don’t you already know?” Jin Changjiao scoffed. “Didn’t your own mother cut your face for a scheme? Brother and I were also abused and abandoned-”
“Alright, enough about that.”
Fu Qiuning interrupted. There was no telling what Jin Fengju would do if the children started talking about these things here.
The children all got up. Some had to be hauled up, since they were too interested in the conversation. Jin Fengju looked both alarmed and guilty. He said, “I- I shall go and question Wanying now-”
“No need. Feng’er will speak with Brother Xuan tomorrow. Feng’er, try and see if you can get them to pay us a visit.”
Jin Changfeng accepted the order without a preamble. Jin Fengju looked like he wanted to say something more, but hesitated. Just then, a large bowl was brought over and set right in the middle of the table.
For a moment, there was silence as everyone stood around the table, gazing at the bowl. Some with anticipation, and others with trepidation.
Jin Changfeng sat down first, prompting the rest to sit as well. The children watched in silence as Fu Qiuning began to personally ladle soup into smaller bowls. The first one was set in front of Jin Fengju, then, she served Jin Changfeng and Jin Changjiao.
Finally, Jin Zhenyi blurted out. “This is the snake soup? Where’s the snake?”
“It had been skinned and chopped up before being cooked,” said Jin Changjiao between happy sips. “It’s delicious.”
Jin Zhenyi looked both horrified and fascinated at the same time.
“Would you like some?” Fu Qiuning asked, amused by his reaction.
“Yeah!!”
She ladled out half a bowl of snake soup for him. “Try it first, see if you like it. What about Third Young Miss and Fourth Young Miss?”
Jin Xiufen and Jin Xiuru shook their heads as they gazed nervously at the bowl. Fu Qiuning did not insist. However, after Jin Zhenyi had finished his half bowl and demanded more, and seeing how their father relished the soup, they quietly asked the maids to bring some for them.
The soup was fragrant and hearty, meaty but not greasy at all. The girls had another full bowl of soup each after finishing their first half bowl.
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The next day, Fu Qiuning got up early to dress Jin Fengju as usual and sent him off to do whatever it was he did at the imperial court. He had explained his duties at length to her, but as far as she knew, it was mostly him carrying out random secret duties on behalf of the Emperor who was busy with some cloak-and-dagger business.
After that, she made her way to Health & Longevity Court, paid her greetings to the senior ladies and looked at some household matters. Jiang Wanying was not around, but since Jin Yanfang had taken care of the household quite well, Fu Qiuning just handed the task over to her before returning to Elegant Mansion.
On the way back, Qiu Yu dragged her feet, still looking sulky. Fu Qiuning looked at the maid for a moment, letting the girl squirm for a bit before saying, “Go and tell Yue Lan that I have two pieces of jewellery that don’t match anything I have. She has a pink quilted jacket, right? Ask her to come in that outfit.”
Qiu Yu immediately brightened and rushed off. She had no idea what the madam was planning to do, but since she had been sent to fetch that slut over, surely Madam must have her ways of dealing with that bitch?
On Yue Lan’s side, since Fu Qiuning had never personally summoned her, she nervously put on the pink quilted jacket as instructed and headed over to Elegant Mansion. For some reason, the maid, Qiu Yu, was sneering at her…
Fu Qiuning was sitting with a pot of tea steaming in front of her.
Qiu Yu loudly announced the arrival of Yue Lan, and then immediately positioned herself in a discreet corner of the room. Fu Qiuning cast her a look before motioning for Yue Lan to come over. Then, she said, “Qiu Yu, close the door after you. Call Jian Feng over and make sure you two guard the door personally. Do not let anyone in. If Old Madam or Elder Madam send someone for me, just let me know through the door. Understand?”
Qiu Yu looked torn, but left the room. As for Jian Feng, she was already hovering just outside the door, having already sensed the drama that was about to happen.
Fu Qiuning waited until the two maids started up a pointless chatter. It was the protocol for maids to do this when their mistress wanted to have a private conversation in the next room.
Meanwhile, Yue Lan was still looking nervous and unsure why she was being called by their Master’s most favoured woman. Compared to Jin Fengju’s other women, Yue Lan looked relatively young, with a rather girlish look about her. Fu Qiuning had to wonder just how young she had been when Jin Fengju decided to bed her. Since he was famous for not bringing in more women after that sudden spate of sleeping around, it had to be over five or six years ago. Just how old was she then…
Before Fu Qiuning could gather her thoughts to say anything, Yue Lan’s face suddenly paled and she fell to her knees with a thud and she cried with tears streaming down her cheeks, “Madam… please spare me. I know I was wrong. I beg for your mercy…”
Fu Qiuning stared at the beautiful face awashed with tears and realised why she was chosen as one of Jin Fengju’s concubines. Well, even if she was not too intelligent, at least she was nice to look at.
The only sad thing was since she had been chosen as a nobleman’s concubine, she would still be accused of cuckolding her husband (never mind that he had plenty of women around) and would be forced to death.
Once again, Fu Qiuning was reminded of the miserable fate suffered by women of this era. In the modern world, even if a woman was shamed to the point that she wished for death, it would at least be by her own hand instead of being forced into it by others.
In fact, if not for a strange quirk in Jin Fengju’s behaviour, she could have been in this woman’s position. In fact, if original!Fu Qiuning had not hung herself to death and was given her proper allowances, it’s possible that she would have searched for someone to fill the void left by her so-called husband.
She waited patiently until Yue Lan exhausted herself from all that crying and said, “Are you done? I shall tell you now, only myself and Qiu Yu know about this. Confess everything and I shall see what I can do to preserve your life at least.”
Speaking too much would just make her sound insincere, so she decided to keep things brief.
As expected, Yue Lan stopped sniffling and looked up with wide, hopeful eyes. She lurched forward to grab Fu Qiuning’s hand and sobbed, “To answer Madam, he is my cousin. Back when I was a maid at the Duke of Jiang’s residence, my mother and my cousin’s family had already verbally agreed to our marriage. Later, I was sent along with Young Miss into this residence to be the Master’s concubines because it was made known that he intended to marry several concubines at once. Second Madam Wan chose my sister and I to be part of the entourage because of our honest and weak characters.
My sister was lucky and had a daughter almost at once and was elevated to proper concubine status. Only I remained as a low-ranking concubine. But, how can I complain? Even I, with my poor knowledge and understanding of the world knew that it is my great luck to be attached to a man like Master, even as a lowly concubine.”
In short, this was all Jin Fengju’s fault.
Again.
Just because he could not stand the idea of being humiliated by others and wanted to punish the only person within his reach who was weak enough not to retaliate. Fu Qiuning hardened her heart once more as she did her best to comfort the girl. After all, this poor girl was nothing but a tool for Jin Fengju to stab against original!Fu Qiuning, and was later abandoned after he decided to play ‘loyal husband’. Half of his harem conveniently turned out to be traitors with this final player suddenly embroiled in an ‘affair’ at the most convenient time. How could she think of this incident as anything but questionable at best?
Moreover, the affair partner was a ‘past lover’ who used to be her betrothed-to-be?
Who on earth could resist such temptation, especially after she had been ignored all these years?
Not to mention, just how did he get in and out of the residence so easily?
In short, there were just too many points of suspicion…
“…m-my cousin was so angry that in a fit of anger, he redeemed himself and shed his slave status to work outside. The last time I returned to visit my parents for a relative’s wedding banquet, which this concubine did not go to due to feeling ill, my cousin unexpectedly visited on the day my parents were not at home! Moreover, this concubine had already sent the maids away and, and, with a single man and woman under the same roof we- my cousin never married. He is not a bad person, but, had been entangled with some jianghu people and, seeing me at home alone we- we could not help ourselves and I, I yielded to him. Since then, my cousin had been infatuated with me and he had snuck into the residence before dawn and, and…”
Fu Qiuning had long since stopped listening.
It was actually a rather boring tale.
She only paid attention when the woman suddenly started blushing and bowing her head again. This was actually an easy fix. With how obsessed Jin Fengju was over herself, all she had to do was guilt trip him by pointing out how he had ruined this girl’s life by practically turning her into a widow and snatching the poor girl from her ‘true love’. The combined guilt and desire to please her would be more than enough to get this girl scot-free. Especially if she couched it in terms of ‘true love’.
At the very least, he would do his best to earn some ‘good karma’ by joining these two lost ‘love birds’ together.
Speaking of which, Yue Lan had started sobbing again.
Fu Qiuning sighed and said, “Enough crying. You should try and get your cousin to stop coming first. I shall think of a way to help you.” [1]
Yue Lan looked up in shock. Then, she trembled and sobbed again, this time in gratitude and disbelief. After all, the normal response under such circumstances was for the entire world to condemn the woman for ‘cuckolding’ her husband, especially such a fine specimen like Jin Fengju. A man with lineage, looks, status and intelligence. Fu Qiuning had no idea what Jin Fengju expected her to do by getting Qiu Yu to lead her so obviously into this scheme.
Lose her temper?
Scream her jealousy?
Perhaps he wanted to see her indignant or something…
Who knows.
[Gumihou: Yeah, made everyone a little less stupid. Some needed a bit more crutch. That’s all you need to know. Also, remind everyone that Yue Lan got into this situation because someone got into their head that marrying several women in one go was the best way to get revenge on the single person who had nothing to do with the scheme to pull his status down.]
[1] Thinking of this, her eyes became a bit moist, and she silently reached out to pull Yuan Lan up. Seeing her face full of panic and despair, as if waiting to be executed by a firing squad, she stood up, took out a handkerchief to help her wipe away the tears, and whispered, “It’s been over a year since the master visited you, right? Honestly tell me, when did you get involved with that man? Is he reliable? Since you’ve done such a thing, you must have had a plan in mind. What are you thinking? I can tell you clearly, apart from me and Qiuyu, no one else knows about this matter at the moment, and I haven’t shown any signs to the master either. I just want to see if I can save your life, but you have to tell me the truth, understand?”
Someone tell me that the above is sincere and touching. Go on now.
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