Note: The names are retained in traditional Chinese characters as the RAWs I’m translating from are in traditional Chinese and it also makes it easier for me when I’m translating. The new vocabulary terms on the other hand are in simplified Chinese.Characters Shown / Mentioned in this Chapter:
葉璃璃兒 – Ye LiLi er – Main Female Protagonist – first di daughter of the Ye family, but the third child in the family.
清霜 – Qing Shuang – Ye Li‘s yatou
定王定國王墨修堯 – Ding w.a.n.gDing guow.a.n.g Mo Xiu Yao – Imperial Prince Ding of the highest rank
黎王 墨景黎 – Li w.a.n.g Mo Jing Li – Imperial Prince Li
Ye Family Members:
葉尚書 老爺 – Ye Shangshu laoye – Ye Li‘s father who has the t.i.tle or position of official in charge of presenting memorials to the emperor and official correspondence
葉老夫人葉老太太祖母 – Ye laofuren Ye laotaitaizumu – Ye Li‘s grandmother from her father’s sidethe old madam of the family
徐氏 – Xu shi – Ye Li‘s mother
王氏王夫人 – w.a.n.g shi w.a.n.g furen – the current main wife of Ye Shangshu and current zhumu of the household
(葉夫人 – Ye furen – can refer to either Xu shi or w.a.n.g shi)
趙姨娘 – Zhao yiniang – a newly-arrived concubine of Ye Shangshu
葉昭儀 (大小姐) – Ye Zhao Yi (da xiaojie) – Ye Li‘s eldest sister
葉瑩瑩兒 – Ye Ying Ying er – 4th daughter in the Ye family
Bold – Names of people, placesItalic – Chinese terms in pinyinUnderline – Unknown
Fu Imperial Capital
Chapter 9: Yiniang Pays A Visit
Qing Yi Xuan[1]
Ye Li leisurely sat inside the room while looking at the silver banknotes that had just been sent over from the Li w.a.n.g[2] fu[3], her clean and pretty face flashing a trace of a cold smile.
銀票 (yinpiao) – Banknote example
As it turned out, this Li w.a.n.g and Ye Ying had already hooked up a year before; in more than a year Li w.a.n.g had successively and in several times taken antiques from Shen De Xuan[4] that were worth over seventeen thousand taels and had actually never given a single tael of silver.
“Xiaojie[5], this Li w.a.n.g really doesn’t want face!” Qing Shuang was standing behind Ye Li as she seethed. Originally Li w.a.n.g was well-renowned in the capital as a handsome man and Qing Shuang had somewhat looked forward towards this future guye[6], but hadn’t expected that that guy who had eyes but couldn’t see went so far as to break off his engagement with xiaojie, harming xiaojie‘s reputation to hit rock-bottom. Already abandoned her in this way, but he still actually dared to take her own xiaojie‘s things for free–really didn’t want face!
Ye Li turned around to hand the banknotes to Qing Shuang and amusedly said, “This is something you can say? Be careful of getting heard by someone or else I wouldn’t be able to save you.”
Qing Shuang ashamedly stuck out her tongue, locking her arms and saying, “I know xiaojie won’t not care about Qing Shuang. Not to mention…in this yuanzi[7] of ours, where would there be people to hear it?” Qing Yi Xuan was the smallest and most crooked yuanluo[8] in the entire Ye fu, even the people meant for serving weren’t many. Apart from a couple of yatou[9] meant for doing hard labour, she was the only person at xiaojie‘s side. Compared with Ye Ying‘s large group of servants, her own xiaojie was actually poverty-stricken–even inferior to the yiniang‘s[10] daughters as well.
“Xiaojie, today how could you easily let that w.a.n.g furen[11] off like that?” Recalling how w.a.n.g shi[12] was looking deathly pale and like she was on the verge of collapsing, Qing Shuang felt both rejuvenated as well as unreconciled on the inside.
Ye Li gave a superficial smile and said, “w.a.n.g shi is the birth mother of Zhao Yi in the palace, also fourth younger sister is the future Li w.a.n.gfei[13]. Do you think zumu[14] and fuqin[15] will do anything to her for my sake?”
Carefully thinking it over, Qing Shuang lowered her head feeling disheartened, grumbling, “Laofuren[16] and laoye[17] are too biased.” But wasn’t that the truth? Even if w.a.n.g shi was made to spit out several ten thousand taels of silver, her own xiaojie also wouldn’t see one bit of it either.
Ye Li patted her with a smile, saying, “Don’t worry. With w.a.n.g shi‘s several ten thousands of taels, at the very least I will be able to take the entire dowry that muqin[18] had left for me. Compared with muqin‘s dowry, those several ten thousands of taels don’t really count as much.”
Qing Shuang nodded, in her heart she had even less good feelings towards the Ye fu. The Ye family originally had a weak foundation; if it weren’t for the support of furen‘s dowry during these years, how could it have the glory it had today? But look at what kind of days her own xiaojie had been going through during these years? It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that it was truly cruel and unscrupulous.
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Worried that her own words will cause xiaojie to be sad, Qing Shuang quickly changed the subject, “Oh right xiaojie, this morning Ye furen mentioned how the people working alongside xiaojie are too little. Could it be about adding several more so as to avoid not looking good when arriving at the Ding guow.a.n.g[19] fu?”
Ye Li‘s eyebrows knitted, Ye Li wasn’t unaware that she only had a few people beside her. It was just that from before Ye Li liked peace and quiet and wasn’t at all willing to allow the people beside her to closely follow her and she also didn’t bother about it.
It’s just that if she had to get married then it was truly a problem. She was able to disregard w.a.n.g shi as someone unimportant since she was able to get ahold of w.a.n.g shi and so w.a.n.g shi was unable to do anything to her. Moreover, she herself couldn’t live out her entire life in the Ye fu. But if she were to marry into the Ding guow.a.n.g fu in the future, she would no longer be able to do as she wished like this. Lightly ma.s.saging the s.p.a.ce between her eyebrows as she thought it over, “In a moment, go tell the steward that I want to pick out some yatou for my yuanzi.”
Qing Shuang nodded in answer, “Then those momo[20] meant for serving beside you….”
“This is something you don’t need to worry about, a couple of days ago jiumu had said that after two days, Lin momo and Wei momo who had originally served beside mother will be sent over.”
The year her mother pa.s.sed away, Ye Li had only just got back her memories when she got seriously ill. In that period w.a.n.g shi had seized the opportunity to incite trouble by having mother’s wet nurse Su momo beaten and driven out of the fudi[21]. It was only when Ye Li‘s health was slightly better that she found out at that time that the only people who had served under her mother who were left behind were Lin momo and Ye Li‘s wet nurse Wei momo. Ye Li naturally knew what w.a.n.g shi was thinking and also understood that the circ.u.mstances at that time meant that she wouldn’t be able to protect these people. Under the pretext that she was worried that her waizumu[22] would be brokenhearted over her mother’s death from illness, she had Lin momo and Wei momo sent back to take care of her family. These years, the fu mostly consisted of w.a.n.g shi‘s people. Ye Li was too lazy to take notice of it so the less people there were beside her, the better.
Qing Shuang‘s eyes lit up and she smiled, saying, “It’s still jiumu who thinks of everything.” She had arrived later and although she had never met Lin momo or Wei momo, she had occasionally heard xiaojie speak of them. They were both the trusted aides of furen when she was still alive, naturally they would lean towards xiaojie.
Solving the problem of yatou and momo, Qing Shuang happily started planning for Ye Li, “There are still two months before the big wedding, I’m afraid the dowry that furen and laofuren had someone send over isn’t half as generous as that of fourth xiaojie‘s. Later let’s have the shops pick something good to send some over, also buy some from all around. Ah…there’s also the clothing materials for xiaojie‘s wedding clothes and dowry…..”
Ye Li sat at the side, smiling as she looked at Qing Shuang getting fl.u.s.tered from enumerating, her mind already flying off to a far off place. Her past life felt like a dream and she also hadn’t thought that she herself would one day be like an unmarried daughter from a n.o.ble house sitting ordinarily in the boudoir waiting to get married off.
Although she already knew early on that Ding w.a.n.g had this and that kind of defects, but Ye Li didn’t really mind it. For the marriages of this era, the women originally didn’t have much say in them, moreover Ye Li had never held any sort of expectations towards love. As long as they were capable of having mutual respect between husband and wife with peace of mind as they go through a lifetime together, it didn’t necessarily mean that it wouldn’t be a kind of happiness. It’s just that…Ding guow.a.n.g fu…thinking about how Ding guow.a.n.g fu was in a detached position in Da Chu, she couldn’t help but frown.
“Third xiaojie, Zhao yiniang is requesting to see you.” The little yatou outside the door reported respectfully.
Towards Zhao yiniang‘s sudden visit, Ye Li was somewhat surprised, nodding her head and saying, “Invite her to come in.”
A short while later, Zhao yiniang‘s willowy figure swayed inside. She humbly greeted Ye Li, “Nubi[23] pays respect to third xiaojie.”
Ye Li placed the bracelet that she had been fiddling with in her hand back into the box, her face looking gentle as she smiled, saying, “Zhao yiniang, you may dispense with curtsying. Is there anything the matter for coming over to my place at this time?”
Absent-mindedly sizing up the alluring woman in front of her, it hadn’t even been a year since Zhao yiniang had first entered the fu and yet she was deeply doted on by Ye Shangshu[24]. Otherwise she wouldn’t have dared speak up like that at laofuren‘s place today.
Ye Li saw that she was dressed in peach-red clothing, her waist tied with a white ribbon, her hair simply pulled back in a slanted bun, a vermillion hairpin with ta.s.sels lightly dangling in her face, her every move evoking amorous feelings in every way.
It was no wonder that not long after she arrived, she was able to get Ye Shangshu‘s undivided attention. Not even talking of w.a.n.g shi who had already given birth to two daughters and one son and had gradually gotten old and faded, even Ye Ying who had the name of being the number one beauty was comparatively somewhat lacking in terms of evoking amorous feelings. It’s just a pity that she came too late, w.a.n.g shi‘s position in the fu was already deeply rooted, it was even more a pity that her family background was too low.
Zhao yiniang was an extremely intelligent woman, so she had never dared to underestimate the obscure and unknown third xiaojie in the fu. However, taking care of third xiaojie from behind was a family that anyone–no matter who–would have to have be apprehensive about, and it was this third xiaojie who wasn’t only merely counting the days but who had personally retrieved the entire dowry left behind by furen. Today she even made w.a.n.g shi ruthlessly vomit blood for the first time. Recalling how w.a.n.g shi looked resentful enough to vomit blood but didn’t dare cause a scene, Zhao yiniang felt a burst of elation on the inside.
“Nubi begs third xiaojie to point out a way for nubi to survive.” Zhao yiniang kneeled on the ground, begging in a low voice.
Glossary:Qing Yi Xuan (清逸 – fresh and elegant 轩 – pavilion with a view / curtained carriage)w.a.n.g (王 – imperial prince)Fu (府 – official residence / family residence compound / household / term for family and home put together)Shen De Xuan (慎 – careful / cautious 德 – virtue / morality / ethics- 軒 – pavilion with a view / curtained carriage)Xiaojie (小姐 – Young miss / lady)Guye (姑爷 – term for son-in-law used by wife’s family)Yuanzi (院子 – a small residence within a family residence compound)Yuanluo (院落 – a residence within a family residence compound)Yatou (丫头 – young maidservant / young girl)Yiniang (姨娘 – normal concubine)Furen (夫人 – lady or madam of the house / wife)Shi (氏 – clan name / maiden surname)w.a.n.gfei (王妃 – consort princess / wife of an imperial prince or “王 – w.a.n.g“)Zumu (祖母 – respectful or intimate way of addressing grandmother)Fuqin (父亲 – respectful or intimate way of addressing father)Laofuren (老夫人 – old madam / t.i.tle for the mother of a n.o.ble or an official)Laoye (老爺 – master / lord of the household)Muqin (母亲 – respectful or intimate way of addressing mother)Guow.a.n.g (国王 – former appellation for '亲王 – qinw.a.n.g' which is the highest rank of a prince, used from Han to Ming dynasty)Momo (嬤嬤 – old maid / wet nurse)Fudi (府邸 – official residence)Waizumu (外祖母 – maternal grandmother)Nubi (奴婢 – slave servant / term used by servants to refer to themselves)Shangshu (尚書 – t.i.tle or position of official in charge of presenting memorials to the emperor and official correspondence)