Having heard what was said, Yun Qian Meng gently lifted up the curtains and looked at gates of Wen Fu. This time there were a few hundred scholars kneeling down beside the gates of Wen Fu. Everyone was wearing hemp mourning garments and shedding painful tears facing Wen Fu, and this situation appearing in the doorway of Wen Fu seemed to be an extremely normal thing, as it did not attract too much attention from the guests who came by to send their condolences.
“Let’s park the carriage here! Let’s walk over there!” But judging by this kind of situation, Imperial Tutor Wen’s expert in literary skills were truly genuine, not to mention all those scholars who voluntarily came to bow down before him, even those high officials in the imperial court, as well as their furen and xiaojie also did not dare to put on their usual arrogant appearance in front of Wen Fu. All of them quietly came down from their carriages in a distant place. Afterwards they quietly stepped inside Wen Fu to light up the incenses, showing their ultimate respect to Imperial Tutor Wen.
“Yes!” Xi Lin responded in a low voice, afterwards he found a place with fewer people, settled down the horse carriage, then lifted up the curtains allowing Yun Qian Meng to come down from the carriage.
“You can just wait here. Yuan Dong and Mu Chun will be sufficient enough to accompany me.” Xi Lin being the personal bodyguard of Chu Fei Yang, it was inevitable for him to bring sword with him. His body also contained the murderous spirit which had been cultivated during his expeditions in the battlefields. Perhaps it will be disrespectful towards the deceased person. Yun Qian Meng allowed him to stay behind, in which he could also protect Ying Xia and Ying Qiu inside the horse carriage.
“Yes, furen!” As for Yun Qian Meng’s commands, Xi Lin usually followed them. Then he held the long sword in his arms then stood beside the horse carriage, not allowing anybody to have the chance to get near the horse carriage.
And Yun Qian Meng led Yuan Dong and Mu Chun as they turned around and proceeded to Wen Fu.
Because there were quite a huge number of scholars kneeling down before the doorway of Wen Fu, some of them had already reached the long road. Forget about horse carriages being able to pass through. Even if the people wanted to walk towards Wen Fu, they could only walk through the sides and edges of the long road, and the number of scholars were still continuously increasing, more scholars continuously came running from a distant place, joining the queues of people bowing and kneeling down.
Being her very first time to witness such scene, Yun Qian Meng could not help but admit that ideology had a lot of influence on others. The Wen family did not have any of their clan sitting in the imperial court, nor any of their woman in the imperial harem, yet they could stand in a lofty position for so many years without collapsing. Perhaps Emperor Yu Qian also very well aware of the lofty status and great respect that Imperial Tutor Wen had earned from all the scholars in the world. If he was being unfavorable to the Wen family, perhaps it will only cause all the scholars in the world to go against him and attack him.
Before approaching the Wen Fu, a middle aged man wearing hemp mourning clothes came rushing out from inside Wen Fu, his facial complexion was slightly sallow, both eyes flushed, eyes swollen, two thick brows were tightly knitted together, giving the observer a calm and sophisticated feeling upon looking at him.
And behind him the two manservant followed, although they were still young, but their faces appeared to be so tired, perhaps since the moment Imperial Tutor Wen passed away, no one inside Wen Fu was able to take a good rest.
That middle aged man stepped out of the threshold Wen Fu’s main gate. Facing those scholars who were kneeling down before the door while he cupped his hands and said “Everyone, I am the steward of Wen Fu. We are unfortunate these days, with Imperial Tutor’s passing away, I represent all the masters inside this house, to thank all of you for coming here to send off Imperial Tutor! But, my masters had said, now that it is too cold outside, the ground had been covered by a thick layer of snow, it is the most freezing moment, everyone please return to your homes after lighting the incenses for Imperial Tutor, please do not kneel down for too long, so as to avoid hurting your both knees!”
“Imperial Tutor……” When the steward of Wen Fu stopped, all the students cried and called out for Imperial Tutor Wen, one after another they sounded too tragic, making other people to shed their tears while hearing them.
“Mu Chun!” During this time, Yun Qian Meng had already arrived in front of Wen Fu’s gate, within the crying sound, Yun Qian Meng called out for Mu Chun in a lowered voice. Mu Chun immediately took the hints, she fetched out an envelope and handed it over to the steward of Wen Fu who was guarding by the doorstep.
After receiving the post the steward opened the envelope and looked, suddenly an expression of respect flashed through his face. Facing Yun Qian Meng he bent his waist and bowed, afterwards facing the doorkeeper he yelled “The Chu Xiang’s Furen has arrived!”
When the doorkeeper heard the voice, he immediately took out a writing brush, writing down Yun Qian Meng’s identity on a thick book of registry.
“Chu Furen, please come in!” Chu Fei Yang’s position was greatly recognized in Western Chu, of course the steward of Wen Fu will have to personally entertain Yun Qian Meng.
This time the entire Wen Fu was immersed in a huge sorrow. Although Imperial Tutor Wen had passed away last night, but the entire Wen Fu was already being covered by a layer of white cloth, it proved that their work was carried out quite efficiently. The garden in the lobby was already packed with people who came to console them, yet it didn't seem messy, every servant girl and manservant were handling their tasks orderly, it may be assumed that the masters Wen Fu were quite strict in disciplining their servants.
“Chu Furen, our old master’s mourning hall is in the main house of the lobby” The backyard was the dwelling place of the masters, naturally it would not allow anybody to easily go in and out of it, so as to avoid some unnecessary misunderstandings. In addition to that the Wen family had already known about Imperial Tutor Wen’s status, which was why they moved his mourning hall to the spacious lobby, so as to avoid being overly crowded.
Looking at the mourning hall before her eyes, Yun Qian Meng nodded her head at Yuan Dong and Mu Chun, hinting the two of them to wait outside of the door. She herself followed behind the steward of Wen family as they walked inside. Taking the incense sticks given to her by a servant girl she bowed down before Imperial Tutor Wen then personally inserted them inside the incense burner, afterwards she approached the furen who was crying beside the coffin, consoling her in a low voice “Furen, the deceased has been gone, please don’t be sorrowful.”
The old furen in front of her seemed to be more than seventy years of age, and assisting beside her were a few middle-aged women of around forty or fifty years of age, they were hanging down their heads shedding tears, they seemed very sad, yet they were still bearing noble demeanor.
“Old madames, furens, this is Chu Furen!” This time the steward of Wen Fu went ahead, then introduced the few persons one by one “Chu Furen, this is our Elder Furen, she is the daughter-in-law of Imperial Tutor, then the rest are the Elder Furen’s daughters-in-law, the wives of the few masters!”
“Oh, it’s actually Chu Furen, good to see you!” Hearing the steward’s explanation, that elderly Wen Furen immediately wiped of the tears in the corner of her eyes, as she spoke politely.
“Don’t be sad, Elder Furen, please be careful of your health! Being sad like this, if Elder Imperial Tutor saw that, he will also feel sad!” Standing in the midst of the mourning hall full of crying sounds, Yun Qian Meng could not help but also feel the melancholy.
The furen of Wen family simultaneously looked at Yun Qian Meng, all were amazed by Yun Qian Meng’s calm nature in such a young age, and the old furen seemed to be a bit lack of energy, she just simply smiled at Yun Qian Meng, afterwards she pointed at a daughter-in-law beside her and said “Pei Wen, you shall accompany Chu Furen then! Chu Furen, I am very old, forgive me for being unable to accompany you further!”
“No need to mention that, Elder Furen, I am the one who should be apologizing for disturbing you.” Seeing Elder Furen being very polite, Yun Qian Meng replied with a simple smile, then she nodded her head at everyone, then she walked out of the mourning hall guided by that Wen Furen.
“Chu Furen, I am the first wife of the second young master of Wen family. We didn't expect Chu Furen to personally come here today, please accept our apologies for not being able to entertain you appropriately.” That Er Furen was quiet, her body contained a strong smell of books, perhaps only Wen family will be able to nurture such kind of woman!
Seeing her simple smile, Yun Qian Meng’s eyes brightened. She knew that this Wen Er Furen was a noble and educated person, then she smiled and replied “Er Furen, what are you talking about! I saw the servants had taken care of things well-organized, how can it be inappropriate? But since Elder Imperial Tutor has passed away, perhaps the furen will have to endure the hardships for a while.”
Seeing Yun Qian Meng’s face being sincere when she said those words, that Wen Er Furen’s eyes flickered with honesty, although there was a huge age difference between the two of them, but in her heart she liked this Chu Furen.
Although the Wen Fu did not interfere with the worldly affairs for so many years, but with regards to their status in the imperial court, every person in every official residence clearly knew about it. For Chu Fei Yang to be able to plead for marriage in a palace feast and married the eldest young lady of Yun Xiang Fu, perhaps this lady had an extraordinary character, or else with Chu Fei Yang’s strategic talents, will it be quite easy enough for him to marry any woman he likes?
Both of them were chatting to each other, without noticing they had already reached a courtyard in Wen Fu that was especially prepared for the women. This time the courtyard was already packed with all the women who came to condole. Seeing Wen Er Furen had personally led Yun Qian Meng to this area, they were a bit astonished. Afterwards, they regained their usual expression, a few ladies who were close to Yun Qian Meng and Qu Fei Qing during normal days were smiling as they nodded their heads acknowledging Yun Qian Meng, while those who were jealous of Yun Qian Meng’s luck were gathered together while they whispered to each other secretly.
“Sister-in-law!” Stepping inside the courtyard, she heard Chu Jie’s voice echoed from far away to a nearby area.
Yun Qian Meng and Er Furen turned their eyes to look at the same time, Chu Jie was dragging the Xie sisters with her one hand, behind her Madame Xie followed shaking her head while smiling wryly as they approached.
“Greetings to Er Niang, and to my three sisters!” Unexpectedly, Madame Xie had already brought the three of them to condole, particularly bringing along the two sisters of Xie family, that was truly peculiar.
Madame Xie smiled as she looked at Yun Qian Meng, seamlessly pulling Yun Qian Meng closer beside her, smiled and said “We came here together with Wang Ye. I initially planned to fetch you at Chu Xiang Fu, but Wang Ye said Chu Xiang will not be around the capital for these few days, it would be better for you to come over to attend this occasion, then we came here in advance! Have you taken your breakfast already, Meng’er? Don’t let yourself get hungry!”
With Madame Xie’s concerned look, and the sincere and credible eye expression, just like a loving mother, and Chu Jie and Xie sisters were smiling as they stood aside, they all looked kind, exhibiting a joyous scene in front of everybody.
Seeing Madame Xie being polite, Yun Qian Meng was filled with gratefulness as she replied “Thanks for your concern, Er Niang! But Qian Meng is all good!”
Madame Xie was scrutinizing Yun Qian Meng’s facial complexion and expression, seeing her rosy face, she nodded her head. Her gaze immediately shifted towards Wen Er Furen beside her, immediately bent her knees “Chu Wang Fu’s Madame Xie is here to meet the Furen!”
Wen Er Furen was initially standing aside, this time seeing Madame Xie introducing herself and also being polite, she immediately recognized that this person was certainly the second wife of the ambassador of the frontier region Chu Pei, Xie Shu Yi. Then she immediately greeted back “Chu Er Furen, don’t be too courteous. Today we are having too many guests, forgive forgive us for not being able to fully entertain you.”
Seeing Er Wen Furen talking to her, Madame Xie politely smiled and said “What makes you say that Er Furen, the things inside the house were being handled in an orderly manner, a while ago these ladies were praising you for that! But unfortunately, Elder Imperial Tutor was gone too soon, me and my husband were initially planning to visit Elder Imperial Tutor after the new year, but now it was already two worlds apart!”
While speaking, the smiling expression in Madame Xie’s face gradually faded away. The expression of gloominess was shown on her face, the tears in her eyes slided down from the face without any explanation, feeling very sorry for not being able to see Imperial Tutor Wen before it's too late.
Hearing her mentioned about her own grandfather, the sadness that Er Wen Furen had been trying hard to suppress was rose up again.Tears began to gradually form again in her both beautiful eyes, yet she restrained them back from falling down, then with a simple smile she replied “You are being thoughtful Chu Er Furen, grandfather will also know about it in heaven!”
Seeing the member of the host family tried hard to endure all the pain to comfort herself, Madame Xie immediately wiped dry the tears on her face. With a simple smile she said “Look what I’ve said, Er Furen, please do not bear it in mind! Lao Imperial Tutor actually had a long life, such kind of luck no one will ever be able to have it. This funeral was actually a happy event! After a while I shall get a bowl and chopsticks of food for Wang Ye, I believe Imperial Tutor Wen’s longevity will be able to bring the same to Wang Ye!”
While speaking, Madame Xie glanced at the women of four younger generation standing beside her, she smiled and said “Meng’er, you may also go ahead and greet the other furen and xiaojie, perhaps my conversation with Er Furen won’t be interesting for you! Jie’er, you must help your sister-in-law, don’t let her get hurt!”
Yun Qian Meng heard Madame Xie was quite concerned about her, she even allowed her very own daughter to assist her, then she smiled and said “There’s no need for that, Er Niang, Meng’er isn’t a child, why will I need to allow Jie’er to assist me. But on the contrary Wen Er Furen has already been standing for a long time, why don't we invite her to sit with us inside the hall for a little while, don't let her get too tired!”
While speaking, Yun Qian Meng moved aside, her beautiful eyes smiled as she looked at Wen Er Furen. Wen Er Fu Ren saw herself standing exactly in the doorway of the courtyard, afraid that she might block other people's path, also being instructed by her own mother-in-law to entertain Chu Furen, she then nodded her head and smiled, leading the few people as they entered the hall.
This time, the inner hall was already full of furen and xiaojie, even the four Lao Tai Jun from the four huge influential families and Yuan De Tai Fei were already impressively seated inside.Tthat proved the great importance of Wen family in everyone's heart.
Wen family treated everyone equally well, whether it was the royal families or the ordinary families of the officials, all were invited inside this hall, neither flattered nor despised, perhaps this was the aspect where it earned everyone's respect.
Seeing Yun Qian Meng and the others came in, the people who were sitting inside the hall glanced at them with different gaze one by one, Gu Lao Tai Jun and Chen Lao Tai Jun exposed smiling and kind faces, but Lin Lao Tai Jun’s eyes looked colder, Jiang Lao Tai Jun’s expression was indifferent, almost seemed as if she had never detected the slightest changes in the atmosphere.
As for Yuan De Tai Fei, her facial expression was even colder, her eyes were like cold blades as they glared at Yun Qian Meng, her face looked cold, so intimidating that no one dared to approach her.
“Qian Meng is pleased to meet Tai Fei, and a all the Lao Tai Jun!” Considering the usual etiquette, Yun Qian Meng simply bowed down before the few of them, her voice sounded loud and crisp, and it sounded sweet in the ears.
Come over here quickly!” Gu Lao Tai Jun was the one who loved Yun Qian Meng the most, before her voice dropped, she then gestured her to approach beside her, her warm hands immediately held on to Yun Qian Meng’s, checking to see they were frozen.
Feeling the faint warmth in Yun Qian Meng’s both hands, Gu Lao Tai Jun then nodded her head in satisfaction, afterwards she looked at Wen Er Furen, then she kindly smiled and said “Thank you for the trouble, Er Furen.”
Wen Er Furen was faced with so many highly respected Lao Tai Jun, also with the presence of this honorable Tai Fei like Yuan De Tai Fei, yet smiling lightly at her, in a calm expression she replied “Lao Tai Jun you are being too polite! Chu Furen is a person who gets along very well with others.”
Yun Qian Meng was observing Madame Xie’s facial expression. Since she had messed up Madame Xie’s plan earlier, this time she did not seem the slightest bit of unhappy, even if all the people were not focused on her, her smile was still decent and dignified, not in the slightest intention of bringing disgrace to her status as the Er Furen of Chu Wang Fu.
But, thinking about her actions earlier, Yun Qian Meng suddenly realized something inside her mind.
She was actually being personally led by Wen Er Furen into the court, Madame Xie naturally was not able to publicly let her leave, but instead she found an excuse to let her go leaving no trace and also let Chu Jie look after her, but she did not let the two Xie sisters leave, this in turn hooked up Yun Qian Meng’s interest.
And during this time all the people's eyes shifted towards the two Xie sisters standing in the middle of the hall, perhaps the slightly exotic beautiful faces of the Xie sisters had attracted everyone's attention.
“These two girls are quite exquisitely beautiful! Such kind of beauties are actually quite rare in ou Westerni Chu!” This time, Jiang Lao Tai Jun simply smiled as she spoke, her gaze shifted from the Xie sisters to Madame Xie and Chu Jie “I presume this must be Governor Chu’s furen!”
Hearing Jiang Lao Tai Jun asking about it, Madame Xie immediately smiled and bent her knees “Madame Xie of Chi Wang Fu is pleased to meet Tai Fei, and all the elders! These two girls, are my nieces, since they were orphaned, I had allowed them to stay with me!”
Madame Xie told them Xie Wan Wan and Xie Yuan Yuan’s family history one more time, yet she failed to mention her own daughter Chu Jie.
Yun Qian Meng raised her brows as she stood beside Gu Lao Tai Jun, the corner of her mouth raised up a into a light but decent smile. Gu Lao Tai Jun lifted her eyes and glanced at her own granddaughter, with one hand she gently tapped Yun Qian Meng’s hand, giving her the silent support.
“They are actually natural beauties! That was very pitiful for the two children, but fortunately they have an aunt like you, or else they would be even more pitiful!” This time, the wife of the Ministry of Personnel who was accompanying and talking to the few Lao Tai Jun inside the hall spoke with a sigh.
Currently, Han Ying Bo is the third rank Jie Yu inside the palace. Han Furen’s status had actually promoted greatly, from her original position of being the fourth rank Gao Ming Furen, now she is already the second rank Gao Ming Furen, consequently she also had the right to speak.
“The Xie family’s Wan Wan, Yuan Yuan are here to meet all the elders, greetings everyone!” This time, Xie Wan Wan and Xie Yuan Yuan stepped forward at the same time, lowering down their heads as they slightly bowed down before all the people, the etiquette was comparable to the imperial family's princess and Jun Zhu, in addition to their charming faces and exquisite figures, they won over everyone's love even more.
“Chu Er Furen is very lucky, although you only have one daughter like Chu xiaojie, but if you didn't mention it, we will certainly think that the two Xie sisters are also your daughters!” Wen Er Furen retreated aside, then sat beside Han Furen, smiling as she spoke.
Seeing Wen Er Furen praising her like that, Madame Xie just humbly spoke “Er Furen, you have overpraised me! No matter how these two children look, I will still be their aunt, how can I allow them to be lonely and not to care anything about them! But after being together all these years, I feel like I am no different than their own mother!”
Having heard these words, all the people just nodded their heads and smiled, and during this time a servant girl quickly walked inside, her clever eyes took a glimpse at all the people inside the hall, then she immediately approached Wen Er Furen, after bowing down she respectfully reported “Er Furen, the Elder Furen asks you to proceed to the front yard. An imperial decree has arrived from the palace, it is waiting for all the masters to receive it.”
Having heard what was said, Wen Er Fu Ren was a bit stunned, yet she immediately calmed down, she slowly got up, bending her knees before the few elders seated in front, she apologized “I shall proceed to the front yard, please entertain yourselves!”
After speaking, Wen Er Fu Ren led the servant girl out of the hall.
Translated by:
cristinaEdited by:
korezmiWhen she left, the noise started up inside the inner court, all the people started to whispering, unable to understand what sort of imperial decree Emperor Yu Qian had issued, whether he had decided to employ the members of Wen family again or he had other intentions, Wen family was originally the most influential family in literature, when the members of Wen family walked out of the house they had their bodies all covered with the fragrance of the books and wisdom, even many students of the Hanlin Imperial Institute had considered the members of Wen family as their teachers, this family possessed a very huge powerful influence, as a result Imperial Tutor Wen had chosen to step out of the royal court, in this way it will lessen the suspicions in the emperor's heart, allowing the members of Wen family to live peacefully with their lives.
But now that Imperial Tutor Wen had recently passed away, the imperial decree of Emperor Yu Qian closely followed, whether it is good or bad, it was really unpredictable!
“Did the Empress Dowager summon you inside the palace?” This time, Gu Lao Tai Jun asked Yun Qian Meng in a low voice, her flickered with unconcealable worry.
Yun Qian Meng seemed not to care as she laughed, then she replied “Yes! The Empress Dowager is actually worried about the marriage of my cousin!”
Hearing Yun Qian Meng’s explanation, Gu Lao Tai Jun’s eyes seemed a bit unhappy, and with her being unhappy it was naturally not because Yun Qian Meng, soon after Yun Qian Meng heard Gu Lao Tai Jun suppressed down her anger as she said in a lowered voice “It must be hard on you!”
Seeing Gu Lao Tai Jun asking her like that, perhaps she already knew the things that the Empress Dowager had told her, unexpectedly Gu Lao Tai Jun was quite updated with the news despite all her devotions to the Buddha.
Yun Qian Meng knew it by heart that the Empress Dowager’s relationship with Fu Guo Gong Fu had drifted farther and farther away, if the Empress Dowager was to remain like that, perhaps she will soon split off from her family.
After a while, sighing sounds echoed one by one from the courtyard, Jiang Mama who was serving Yuan De Tai Fei walked inside the hall, facing all the people she saluted and said “Tai Fei, an imperial decree has been issued by His Majesty, honoring Imperial Tutor Wen’s eldest grandson born from the first wife as the teacher of the Crown Prince, moreover the funeral of Imperial Tutor will proceed with the ceremony of that of a prince!”
After hearing these words, all the people were greatly surprised.
Indeed Emperor Yu Qian had started to reemploy Wen family, he had actually crossed over the initial lineup to employ Wen Xie as the junior teacher of the Crown Prince, such kind of honor, only a few people was able to achieve it since the ancient times.
And the funeral of Imperial Tutor Wen to proceed following the ceremony of the prince, it had invisibly uplifted Wen family’s prestige in the imperial court, causing those who opposed Wen Xie for being appointed despite the initial lineup to shut their mouths!
But, with this kind of imperial decree, as for Wen family which had always been indifferent to fame and fortune, perhaps it will not be a good thing!
“Since that is the case, then let us all go home now!” Hearing the answer that she had been waiting for a long time, Yuan De Tai Fei stood up, under the assistance of Jiang Mama, they walked out of the women’s courtyard.
All the people stood up and saluted, respectfully sending off this honorable Tai Fei.
Gu Lao Tai Jun along with Chen Lao Tai Jun and Jiang Lao Tai Jun engaged in a few chats, then the three of them stood up and left Wen Fu.
“Meng’er, today is the second day of new year, following the tradition, Fei Yang should be the one accompanying you on your way back to Yun Xiang Fu, but unfortunately Fei Yang is out of the capital, I have instructed the servants to prepare some things for you, you must bring them to Yun Xiang Fu, don’t be angry because Fei Yang is not around, okay?” This time, Madame Xie approached, sounding worried as she spoke.
Yun Qian Meng smiled as she looked at her, she slowly digested the words that came out from Madame Xie’s mouth, soon after she smiled even brighter, feeling grateful she said “You are very thoughtful, Er Niang! It was an official business that made my husband leave the capital, how can Meng’er get angry because of this matter! But I might not be able to visit grandpa and father today, please send my regards to them, Er Niang.”
After speaking, Yun Qian Meng lifted her eyes and took a glance at the Xie sisters, then she got up and bid her farewell to all the ladies, leading Yuan Dong and Mu Chun as they stepped out of the hall, after saying goodbye to all the ladies of Wen family, she sat inside her own horse carriage.
“Xiaojie, which Xiang Fu are we heading to right now?” Mu Chun was closely guarding beside Yun Qian Meng, obviously she heard what Er Furen had said earlier.
“Xi Lin, let's go to Yun Xiang Fu!” Seeing the gifts were already piled up inside the horse carriage, Yun Qian Meng couldn't help but admire Madame Xie’s smooth behavior, perhaps by the time she arrived at the gates of Wen Fu earlier, Madame Xie’s people had already brought these things inside her horse carriage.
But, Madame Xie’s actions today really made Yun Qian Meng curious. In front of every influential family, how could someone be busy introducing her own nieces to other people while ignoring her own daughter?
“Furen, we have arrived at Yun Xiang Fu!” Xi Lin’s driving skills were great, he was always being able to use the quickest and the most stable way to send someone to his destination, perhaps this was the reason why Chu Fei Yang had allowed him to stay beside him.
Yun Qian Meng allowed the yatou to bring all the colored gifts down the horse carriage, seeing the eldest xioajie master returned home, the new steward of Yun Xiang Fu immediately ordered people to open the main gate, then greeted Yun Qian Meng while she entered the Xiang Fu.
“Great to see you, da xioajie!” Liu Han Yu who had heard the news immediately led Yun Yan out as they appeared in front of Yun Qian Meng.
“Where's Father?” Yun Qian Meng gestured Mu Chun and the others to hand over the gifts to the steward. She then observed Liu Han Yu and Yun Yan’s facial complexion, seeing the two of them doing fine, she smiled as she asked.
“Xiang Ye had just came home from Wen Fu, he is now changing his clothes in his study room. Da xiaojie, did you also come from Wen Fu?” Looking at Yun Qian Meng’s gorgeous dress, Liu Han Yu asked with a bit uncertainty.
Yun Qian Meng gently nodded her head, earlier inside the horse carriage, she had already took off the mourning dress, so as to avoid being nitpicked by other people.
“I’ll proceed to the guest hall, please do inform my father, Yi Niang!” While speaking, Yun Qian Meng walked towards the direction of the guest hall.
“Ah……” During this time, a white figure came rushing directly towards Yun Qian Meng.
Yuan Dong immediately dodged herself protecting in front of Yun Qian Meng, single-handedly turned the attacker's hand behind the back, making the person unable to make a move.
All the people looked, seeing Liu Han Yu’s face immediately turned serious, pointing at the servant girls and women who came running behind as she cursed “How did you look after her? Why did you allow the er xiaojie master to run out from Feng He Yuan?”
Being reminded by Liu Han Yu, Yun Qian Meng lowered down her head and looked at the person being forced to kneel down on the ground by Yuan Dong. She was only wearing white undergarments, both bare feet were standing on the snowy ground, this time her long hair was scattered around and messy covering her face, without being reminded by Liu Han Yu, she couldn't even recognize Yun Ruo Xue.
“It's nubi’s fault, please forgive us, da xiaojie!” The Mama who was following behind Yun Ruo Xue immediately knelt down, her whole body trembling as she asked for forgiveness.
But aside from struggling to break free, Yun Ruo Xue’s mouth was actually mumbling something, she even lowered down her head to eat the white snow on the ground!
Based on the situation, Yun Qian Meng knitted her brows as she looked at that old woman, in a serious voice she asked “What happened to the er xiaojie?”
The Mama had never expected the eldest young lady master who had never gotten along well with Yun Ruo Xue would suddenly get concerned with the second young lady master, suddenly she got surprised, afterwards she spoke “Da xaojie, after er xioajie went through that situation, she has always behaved this way.”
While speaking, that Mama’s eyes flashed, her seemed to harbor a bit resentment as she shot a glance at Yun Ruo Xue who was still behaving in a crazy way.
Yun Qian Meng saw the Mama’s expression, she immediately glanced at Ying Qiu. Ying Qiu immediately went ahead and lifted up Yun Ruo Xue’s hand to carefully take the pulse, after a long while she released Yun Ruo Xue, her eyes hang low as she replied “Furen, everything is normal for the er xiaojie, she has not gone mentally ill!”
“Are you still trying to pretend?” Yun Qian Meng’s cold eyes shot a glance at Yun Ruo Xue’s back, saying these words in an extremely cold manner.
Yun Ruo Xue seemed as if she did not hear Yun Qian Meng’s interrogation, she was still playing joyfully, but Yun Qian Meng was not anxious. She didn't allow that Mama to stand up, and she did not allow Yuan Dong to release Yun Ruo Xue, but instead she whispered a few words beside Yuan Dong’s ears, then bringing along the other servant girls with her, they walked towards the direction of the guest hall……
Hearing the steward informed him of Yun Qian Meng’s return, Yun Xuan Zhi immediately changed his direction. He originally intended to go to Fu Liu Yuan, but instead he directly proceeded to the guest hall.
“Father, your daughter is here to see you!” Seeing Yun Xuan Zhi stepped inside the guest hall, Yun Qian Meng slowly stood up, giving him an absolutely standard salute.
“Let your father take a good look at you!” Yun Xuan Zhi was actually quite enthusiastic, with a few steps he appeared in front of Yun Qian Meng, both eyes smiling as he observed Yun Qian Meng, then he nodded his head in satisfaction “Your facial color is quite good, that truly makes your father feel relieved!”
Now that the bad thing had happened to Yun Ruo Xue, and Yun Yan was not that famous in the capital, Yun Xuan Zhi naturally looked high on Yun Qian Meng. And with Chu Pei’s return to the capital this time he might stay as an official inside the capital, with this Chu family’s power had became even more stronger.
And hearing Yun Xuan Zhi speaking like this, Yun Qian Meng’s heart secretly sneered. She was not able to rest well for the past two days, her meals were not fixed, but Yun Xuan Zhi was talking nonsense with eyes widely opened, which was actually quite funny.
“Father, your face is also looking good! In this way, your daughter will feel relieved in Chu Xiang Fu. But today after seeing my second sister, my heart felt somehow worried!” While speaking, Yun Qian Meng’s eyes turned dimmer, seemingly as if she was quite worried about Yun Ruo Xue.
Hearing Yun Qian Meng mentioned the name that he hated to hear the most, Yun Xuan Zhi’s brows slightly wrinkled. His eyes flickered with disgust, without any choice he sat down and spoke “All these things she had inflicted them onto herself! As her father I didn't drive her out of Xiang Fu, because I cared about our relationship as father and daughter!”
“Father, you said it right! But Er Mei should not always stay inside Xiang Fu, as time goes by, it will inevitably cause people to criticize her! Father, it will be better for you to look for an honest and reliable person, then allow Er Mei to get married. In this way, she will have someone to rely on for the rest of her life!”
“Oh? Do you have someone in your mind, Meng’er?” Hearing Yun Qian Meng mentioning about it, Yun Xuan Zhi’s heart became active, his eyes looked at Yun Qian Meng with hope!
If Yun Xiang Fu and Chu Xiang Fu had came forward at the same time, perhaps Ruo Xue still had a bit of usage for them. After all, who would dare to offend the two left and right prime ministers, moreover behind them there's still the presence of Chu Wang Fu.
Yun Qian Meng’s eyes lightly glanced outside the door, slightly increasing her voice “Since Er Mei had already become like this, marrying into a family of an official will be impossible! And usually they were extremely strict considering a woman's purity, I’m afraid, in the worst case, Er Mei will have to become a Yi Niang. After all, for the first wife they considered one’s purity, but as for the position of Yi Niang there were no limitations. Or maybe, Er Mei will marry into an ordinary family, perhaps……”
“Yun Qian Meng, you bitch, I’m not through with you!” Before Yun Qian Meng finished making her suggestions, Yun Ruo Xue’s loud cursing voice echoed from the outside.
Hearing Yun Ruo Xue had ‘suddenly’ returned to normal, Yun Qian Meng sneered, and Yun Xuan Zhi face with a bit stunned, perhaps he never expected Yun Ruo Xue to be outside of the door at this time.
And before Yun Xuan Zhi could manage to react, the main gate was suddenly being kicked open, Yun Ruo Xue came rushing inside in a confused manner, lifting up her hand she was about to beat Yun Qian Meng……
Yuan Dong who came afterwards could not allow Yun Ruo Xue’s hand to land on Yun Qian Meng, she slightly lifted her feet in the dead end of Yun Xuan Zhi’s line of sight, Yun Ruo Xue suddenly lost her balance, directly falling back to the other side, her hand directly beaten the top of the desk, her hands were pulling the brocade tablecloth……
‘Hwa la la……” All the teapots and teacups suddenly fell to the entire floor, producing beat by beat of ear-splitting sounds, but it made Yun Xuan Zhi’s face turned red with anger, with one finger pointed at Yun Ruo Xue, unable to say any words further.
“Please don't be angry, Father, Er Mei didn't mean it! Earlier on the way here, Meng’er heard the Mama who was taking care of Er Mei mentioned that, now that Er Mei is mentally ill, it is quite normal to have such strange actions! Father should not get angry at Er Mei!” Yun Qian Meng allowed Yuan Dong to ‘kindly’ assist Yun Ruo Xue, then she herself was appeasing Yun Xuan Zhi.
“Where is there any ounce of your appearance as a xiaojie of Yun Xiang Fu? Where is your usual reserved behavior? You had actually ran out of your room not wearing any decent clothes, I really can't afford to have such kind of daughter!” Yun Xuan Zhi had came along, pointing at Yun Ruo Xue’s nose while he scolded her.
During the recent days, thinking about the humiliation that Yun Ruo Xue had suffered, he had tolerated many of her strange behaviors, but today she had actually made him lose his face in front of Yun Qian Meng. Apparently, he had overly spoiled Yun Ruo Xue, making her becoming more rude.
And after hearing Yun Xuan Zhi’s words, Yun Ruo Xue’s face suddenly turned deathly pale. The tears in her eyes suddenly fell down, then she roared “If it wasn't for this slut, how can I become like this? Daddy, I am Chen Wang’s who was married formally into Chen Wang Fu with eight big palanquins, how could you prefer this slut over me? When mother was still alive, have you treated me like this? I don’t like that……”
Yun Xuan Zhi’s anger was already in the brink of erupting, yet Yun Ruo Xue fearlessly mentioned about Su Qing. It had even more intensified Yun Xuan Zhi’s anger, without saying anything he gave her a big slap on the face, afterwards he roared at Liu Han Yu “Now we will ask them to send you off, whether you will become concubine or slave, it will be unrelated to Yun Xiang Fu, my Yun Xiang Fu is too small, I couldn't afford to shelter a person like you!”
While speaking, Yun Xuan Zhi refused to look at Yun Ruo Xue, without further words he turned around to calm down the anger in his heart.
And Yun Ruo Xue was about to curse again, yet Yuan Dong had hit a pressure point in her body. She could only stare at Yun Qian Meng. Yun Qian Meng naturally did not take things from a person she did not care about to hear. But, regarding Yun Ruo Xue, Yun Qian Meng could not help but shake her head. If she was smarter, she would not have fallen into this kind of situation. Based on Yun Xuan Zhi’s love for her during the former days, even if he was to support her during her entire life, Yun Xuan Zhi will never complain about it. But now that the situation had turned to the worst with the father and daughter being hostile to each other, in the future if she suffered any hardships in the family of her husband, no one will ever defend for her.
Watching Yun Ruo Xue being dragged out forcefully, Yun Qian Meng’s both eyes turned bright and clear, her heart was surprisingly calmer than ever before.
The northern land scenery, with a thousand miles of ice, and ten thousand miles of snow floating around……
The further they proceeded northwards, the temperature got increasingly low, the wind and frost covered with small hails as they hit on a person's body and face, burning up a person's skin, looking ahead, the river was covered by ice for so many days, the scenery below was silver wrapped, holding the heart-chilling coldness.
Qi Ling’er and Hai Tian sitting inside their phoenix palanquins were able to keep themselves warm, and the people riding on the horseback had worn the huge cloak, to block off the huge snowfall that was falling down incessantly.
“There's one more day!” Hai Chen Xi had been calculating the days since they left the capital. Seeing the borderland between two countries getting closer, he said these words to remind Chu Fei Yang and Jiang Mu Chen, but when he opened his mouth to speak the cold wind went inside his belly, puffing out mouthfuls of white smoke, shrouded in front of his eyes then gradually disappeared in front of his eyes.
Despite the fact that Hai Chen Xi had grown up in Yang Ming Shan which had the lower temperature than all other places, but as compared to the current scenery, it simply had a huge difference!
When they came all the way here, aside from the first night at the capital which seemed quite noisy, after that no particular accident happened again.
The three of them had become more cautious, for the fear that there might be an even bigger ‘surprise’ waiting for them.
“I presume the three of you aren’t used to the climate in our northern country, right?” This time, Qi Jing Xuan was riding on the horseback as he approached, watching the three persons who seemed almost not saying anything, his eyes somehow mocked “I didn't know that the men of Western Chu were as delicate as the women, that was truly funny!”
“Few days ago the eldest prince remained quite silent, now that we are gradually approaching the Northern Qi, the eldest prince has become even more active. Apparently the eldest prince’s courage was also given by Northern Qi!” This time Chu Fei Yang spoke indifferently, his words were secretly criticizing Qi Jing Xuan for being a coward, only being able to speak out when he was standing on their own land.
“Chu Xiang truly has a clever tongue, no wonder Hai Jun Wang and Chen Wang are unwilling to speak with you!” Qi Jing Xuan was able to hear the cynical tone in Chu Fei Yang’s words, watching the three completely different expressions of the three persons before him, he started to provoke their internal conflict.
“You are wrong, eldest prince, how can men be like women who make idle gossip? It seems like the eldest prince is somehow different from an ordinary man!” This time, Jiang Mu Chen spoke indifferently, the ice formed in the corner of his eyes was even more bone-chilling than the snow of Northern Guo.
“On the contrary, I think the eldest prince is different from the little woman! But instead he is somehow similar to a woman who was already married, those women who had nothing to do but to provoke hostility among the people, which is truly annoying!” And Hai Chen Xi was not quite left behind, his wicked both eyes was staring back at Qi Jing Xuan’s gloomy expression, the corner of his mouth sneered as he spoke.
“Humph, it is quite rare for the three of you to agree with each other! But I have no idea how long this will last!” Qi Jing Xuan watched as he failed to provoke the hostility between these three but instead it had caused the three of them to face their common enemy. He was greatly angered, by this time they were still inside the territory of Western Chu, if he behaved badly he might break the peace treaty between the two countries, perhaps his father the emperor might put the blame on him including all Qi Jing Yuan’s faults.
Thinking about this, Qi Jing Xuan suddenly clamped his feet on the horse belly then run ahead to the front……
“Humph!” Three disdainful groaning sound echoed at the same time, and the three persons who agreed with each other earlier respectively looked at three different areas, then they continued to proceed ahead……
The sandstorm had swept by for a while, mixed with hail, the snowflakes directly rushed towards everybody, and the armed troops of both countries were already standing in front of the borderland of the two countries, waiting for them to arri
Translated by:
cristinaEdited by:
korezmi
Having heard what was said, Yun Qian Meng gently lifted up the curtains and looked at gates of Wen Fu. This time there were a few hundred scholars kneeling down beside the gates of Wen Fu. Everyone was wearing hemp mourning garments and shedding painful tears facing Wen Fu, and this situation appearing in the doorway of Wen Fu seemed to be an extremely normal thing, as it did not attract too much attention from the guests who came by to send their condolences.
“Let’s park the carriage here! Let’s walk over there!” But judging by this kind of situation, Imperial Tutor Wen’s expert in literary skills were truly genuine, not to mention all those scholars who voluntarily came to bow down before him, even those high officials in the imperial court, as well as their furen and xiaojie also did not dare to put on their usual arrogant appearance in front of Wen Fu. All of them quietly came down from their carriages in a distant place. Afterwards they quietly stepped inside Wen Fu to light up the incenses, showing their ultimate respect to Imperial Tutor Wen.
“Yes!” Xi Lin responded in a low voice, afterwards he found a place with fewer people, settled down the horse carriage, then lifted up the curtains allowing Yun Qian Meng to come down from the carriage.
“You can just wait here. Yuan Dong and Mu Chun will be sufficient enough to accompany me.” Xi Lin being the personal bodyguard of Chu Fei Yang, it was inevitable for him to bring sword with him. His body also contained the murderous spirit which had been cultivated during his expeditions in the battlefields. Perhaps it will be disrespectful towards the deceased person. Yun Qian Meng allowed him to stay behind, in which he could also protect Ying Xia and Ying Qiu inside the horse carriage.
“Yes, furen!” As for Yun Qian Meng’s commands, Xi Lin usually followed them. Then he held the long sword in his arms then stood beside the horse carriage, not allowing anybody to have the chance to get near the horse carriage.
And Yun Qian Meng led Yuan Dong and Mu Chun as they turned around and proceeded to Wen Fu.
Because there were quite a huge number of scholars kneeling down before the doorway of Wen Fu, some of them had already reached the long road. Forget about horse carriages being able to pass through. Even if the people wanted to walk towards Wen Fu, they could only walk through the sides and edges of the long road, and the number of scholars were still continuously increasing, more scholars continuously came running from a distant place, joining the queues of people bowing and kneeling down.
Being her very first time to witness such scene, Yun Qian Meng could not help but admit that ideology had a lot of influence on others. The Wen family did not have any of their clan sitting in the imperial court, nor any of their woman in the imperial harem, yet they could stand in a lofty position for so many years without collapsing. Perhaps Emperor Yu Qian also very well aware of the lofty status and great respect that Imperial Tutor Wen had earned from all the scholars in the world. If he was being unfavorable to the Wen family, perhaps it will only cause all the scholars in the world to go against him and attack him.
Before approaching the Wen Fu, a middle aged man wearing hemp mourning clothes came rushing out from inside Wen Fu, his facial complexion was slightly sallow, both eyes flushed, eyes swollen, two thick brows were tightly knitted together, giving the observer a calm and sophisticated feeling upon looking at him.
And behind him the two manservant followed, although they were still young, but their faces appeared to be so tired, perhaps since the moment Imperial Tutor Wen passed away, no one inside Wen Fu was able to take a good rest.
That middle aged man stepped out of the threshold Wen Fu’s main gate. Facing those scholars who were kneeling down before the door while he cupped his hands and said “Everyone, I am the steward of Wen Fu. We are unfortunate these days, with Imperial Tutor’s passing away, I represent all the masters inside this house, to thank all of you for coming here to send off Imperial Tutor! But, my masters had said, now that it is too cold outside, the ground had been covered by a thick layer of snow, it is the most freezing moment, everyone please return to your homes after lighting the incenses for Imperial Tutor, please do not kneel down for too long, so as to avoid hurting your both knees!”
“Imperial Tutor……” When the steward of Wen Fu stopped, all the students cried and called out for Imperial Tutor Wen, one after another they sounded too tragic, making other people to shed their tears while hearing them.
“Mu Chun!” During this time, Yun Qian Meng had already arrived in front of Wen Fu’s gate, within the crying sound, Yun Qian Meng called out for Mu Chun in a lowered voice. Mu Chun immediately took the hints, she fetched out an envelope and handed it over to the steward of Wen Fu who was guarding by the doorstep.
After receiving the post the steward opened the envelope and looked, suddenly an expression of respect flashed through his face. Facing Yun Qian Meng he bent his waist and bowed, afterwards facing the doorkeeper he yelled “The Chu Xiang’s Furen has arrived!”
When the doorkeeper heard the voice, he immediately took out a writing brush, writing down Yun Qian Meng’s identity on a thick book of registry.
“Chu Furen, please come in!” Chu Fei Yang’s position was greatly recognized in Western Chu, of course the steward of Wen Fu will have to personally entertain Yun Qian Meng.
This time the entire Wen Fu was immersed in a huge sorrow. Although Imperial Tutor Wen had passed away last night, but the entire Wen Fu was already being covered by a layer of white cloth, it proved that their work was carried out quite efficiently. The garden in the lobby was already packed with people who came to console them, yet it didn't seem messy, every servant girl and manservant were handling their tasks orderly, it may be assumed that the masters Wen Fu were quite strict in disciplining their servants.
“Chu Furen, our old master’s mourning hall is in the main house of the lobby” The backyard was the dwelling place of the masters, naturally it would not allow anybody to easily go in and out of it, so as to avoid some unnecessary misunderstandings. In addition to that the Wen family had already known about Imperial Tutor Wen’s status, which was why they moved his mourning hall to the spacious lobby, so as to avoid being overly crowded.
Looking at the mourning hall before her eyes, Yun Qian Meng nodded her head at Yuan Dong and Mu Chun, hinting the two of them to wait outside of the door. She herself followed behind the steward of Wen family as they walked inside. Taking the incense sticks given to her by a servant girl she bowed down before Imperial Tutor Wen then personally inserted them inside the incense burner, afterwards she approached the furen who was crying beside the coffin, consoling her in a low voice “Furen, the deceased has been gone, please don’t be sorrowful.”
The old furen in front of her seemed to be more than seventy years of age, and assisting beside her were a few middle-aged women of around forty or fifty years of age, they were hanging down their heads shedding tears, they seemed very sad, yet they were still bearing noble demeanor.
“Old madames, furens, this is Chu Furen!” This time the steward of Wen Fu went ahead, then introduced the few persons one by one “Chu Furen, this is our Elder Furen, she is the daughter-in-law of Imperial Tutor, then the rest are the Elder Furen’s daughters-in-law, the wives of the few masters!”
“Oh, it’s actually Chu Furen, good to see you!” Hearing the steward’s explanation, that elderly Wen Furen immediately wiped of the tears in the corner of her eyes, as she spoke politely.
“Don’t be sad, Elder Furen, please be careful of your health! Being sad like this, if Elder Imperial Tutor saw that, he will also feel sad!” Standing in the midst of the mourning hall full of crying sounds, Yun Qian Meng could not help but also feel the melancholy.
The furen of Wen family simultaneously looked at Yun Qian Meng, all were amazed by Yun Qian Meng’s calm nature in such a young age, and the old furen seemed to be a bit lack of energy, she just simply smiled at Yun Qian Meng, afterwards she pointed at a daughter-in-law beside her and said “Pei Wen, you shall accompany Chu Furen then! Chu Furen, I am very old, forgive me for being unable to accompany you further!”
“No need to mention that, Elder Furen, I am the one who should be apologizing for disturbing you.” Seeing Elder Furen being very polite, Yun Qian Meng replied with a simple smile, then she nodded her head at everyone, then she walked out of the mourning hall guided by that Wen Furen.
“Chu Furen, I am the first wife of the second young master of Wen family. We didn't expect Chu Furen to personally come here today, please accept our apologies for not being able to entertain you appropriately.” That Er Furen was quiet, her body contained a strong smell of books, perhaps only Wen family will be able to nurture such kind of woman!
Seeing her simple smile, Yun Qian Meng’s eyes brightened. She knew that this Wen Er Furen was a noble and educated person, then she smiled and replied “Er Furen, what are you talking about! I saw the servants had taken care of things well-organized, how can it be inappropriate? But since Elder Imperial Tutor has passed away, perhaps the furen will have to endure the hardships for a while.”
Seeing Yun Qian Meng’s face being sincere when she said those words, that Wen Er Furen’s eyes flickered with honesty, although there was a huge age difference between the two of them, but in her heart she liked this Chu Furen.
Although the Wen Fu did not interfere with the worldly affairs for so many years, but with regards to their status in the imperial court, every person in every official residence clearly knew about it. For Chu Fei Yang to be able to plead for marriage in a palace feast and married the eldest young lady of Yun Xiang Fu, perhaps this lady had an extraordinary character, or else with Chu Fei Yang’s strategic talents, will it be quite easy enough for him to marry any woman he likes?
Both of them were chatting to each other, without noticing they had already reached a courtyard in Wen Fu that was especially prepared for the women. This time the courtyard was already packed with all the women who came to condole. Seeing Wen Er Furen had personally led Yun Qian Meng to this area, they were a bit astonished. Afterwards, they regained their usual expression, a few ladies who were close to Yun Qian Meng and Qu Fei Qing during normal days were smiling as they nodded their heads acknowledging Yun Qian Meng, while those who were jealous of Yun Qian Meng’s luck were gathered together while they whispered to each other secretly.
“Sister-in-law!” Stepping inside the courtyard, she heard Chu Jie’s voice echoed from far away to a nearby area.
Yun Qian Meng and Er Furen turned their eyes to look at the same time, Chu Jie was dragging the Xie sisters with her one hand, behind her Madame Xie followed shaking her head while smiling wryly as they approached.
“Greetings to Er Niang, and to my three sisters!” Unexpectedly, Madame Xie had already brought the three of them to condole, particularly bringing along the two sisters of Xie family, that was truly peculiar.
Madame Xie smiled as she looked at Yun Qian Meng, seamlessly pulling Yun Qian Meng closer beside her, smiled and said “We came here together with Wang Ye. I initially planned to fetch you at Chu Xiang Fu, but Wang Ye said Chu Xiang will not be around the capital for these few days, it would be better for you to come over to attend this occasion, then we came here in advance! Have you taken your breakfast already, Meng’er? Don’t let yourself get hungry!”
With Madame Xie’s concerned look, and the sincere and credible eye expression, just like a loving mother, and Chu Jie and Xie sisters were smiling as they stood aside, they all looked kind, exhibiting a joyous scene in front of everybody.
Seeing Madame Xie being polite, Yun Qian Meng was filled with gratefulness as she replied “Thanks for your concern, Er Niang! But Qian Meng is all good!”
Madame Xie was scrutinizing Yun Qian Meng’s facial complexion and expression, seeing her rosy face, she nodded her head. Her gaze immediately shifted towards Wen Er Furen beside her, immediately bent her knees “Chu Wang Fu’s Madame Xie is here to meet the Furen!”
Wen Er Furen was initially standing aside, this time seeing Madame Xie introducing herself and also being polite, she immediately recognized that this person was certainly the second wife of the ambassador of the frontier region Chu Pei, Xie Shu Yi. Then she immediately greeted back “Chu Er Furen, don’t be too courteous. Today we are having too many guests, forgive forgive us for not being able to fully entertain you.”
Seeing Er Wen Furen talking to her, Madame Xie politely smiled and said “What makes you say that Er Furen, the things inside the house were being handled in an orderly manner, a while ago these ladies were praising you for that! But unfortunately, Elder Imperial Tutor was gone too soon, me and my husband were initially planning to visit Elder Imperial Tutor after the new year, but now it was already two worlds apart!”
While speaking, the smiling expression in Madame Xie’s face gradually faded away. The expression of gloominess was shown on her face, the tears in her eyes slided down from the face without any explanation, feeling very sorry for not being able to see Imperial Tutor Wen before it's too late.
Hearing her mentioned about her own grandfather, the sadness that Er Wen Furen had been trying hard to suppress was rose up again.Tears began to gradually form again in her both beautiful eyes, yet she restrained them back from falling down, then with a simple smile she replied “You are being thoughtful Chu Er Furen, grandfather will also know about it in heaven!”
Seeing the member of the host family tried hard to endure all the pain to comfort herself, Madame Xie immediately wiped dry the tears on her face. With a simple smile she said “Look what I’ve said, Er Furen, please do not bear it in mind! Lao Imperial Tutor actually had a long life, such kind of luck no one will ever be able to have it. This funeral was actually a happy event! After a while I shall get a bowl and chopsticks of food for Wang Ye, I believe Imperial Tutor Wen’s longevity will be able to bring the same to Wang Ye!”
While speaking, Madame Xie glanced at the women of four younger generation standing beside her, she smiled and said “Meng’er, you may also go ahead and greet the other furen and xiaojie, perhaps my conversation with Er Furen won’t be interesting for you! Jie’er, you must help your sister-in-law, don’t let her get hurt!”
Yun Qian Meng heard Madame Xie was quite concerned about her, she even allowed her very own daughter to assist her, then she smiled and said “There’s no need for that, Er Niang, Meng’er isn’t a child, why will I need to allow Jie’er to assist me. But on the contrary Wen Er Furen has already been standing for a long time, why don't we invite her to sit with us inside the hall for a little while, don't let her get too tired!”
While speaking, Yun Qian Meng moved aside, her beautiful eyes smiled as she looked at Wen Er Furen. Wen Er Fu Ren saw herself standing exactly in the doorway of the courtyard, afraid that she might block other people's path, also being instructed by her own mother-in-law to entertain Chu Furen, she then nodded her head and smiled, leading the few people as they entered the hall.
This time, the inner hall was already full of furen and xiaojie, even the four Lao Tai Jun from the four huge influential families and Yuan De Tai Fei were already impressively seated inside.Tthat proved the great importance of Wen family in everyone's heart.
Wen family treated everyone equally well, whether it was the royal families or the ordinary families of the officials, all were invited inside this hall, neither flattered nor despised, perhaps this was the aspect where it earned everyone's respect.
Seeing Yun Qian Meng and the others came in, the people who were sitting inside the hall glanced at them with different gaze one by one, Gu Lao Tai Jun and Chen Lao Tai Jun exposed smiling and kind faces, but Lin Lao Tai Jun’s eyes looked colder, Jiang Lao Tai Jun’s expression was indifferent, almost seemed as if she had never detected the slightest changes in the atmosphere.
As for Yuan De Tai Fei, her facial expression was even colder, her eyes were like cold blades as they glared at Yun Qian Meng, her face looked cold, so intimidating that no one dared to approach her.
“Qian Meng is pleased to meet Tai Fei, and a all the Lao Tai Jun!” Considering the usual etiquette, Yun Qian Meng simply bowed down before the few of them, her voice sounded loud and crisp, and it sounded sweet in the ears.
Come over here quickly!” Gu Lao Tai Jun was the one who loved Yun Qian Meng the most, before her voice dropped, she then gestured her to approach beside her, her warm hands immediately held on to Yun Qian Meng’s, checking to see they were frozen.
Feeling the faint warmth in Yun Qian Meng’s both hands, Gu Lao Tai Jun then nodded her head in satisfaction, afterwards she looked at Wen Er Furen, then she kindly smiled and said “Thank you for the trouble, Er Furen.”
Wen Er Furen was faced with so many highly respected Lao Tai Jun, also with the presence of this honorable Tai Fei like Yuan De Tai Fei, yet smiling lightly at her, in a calm expression she replied “Lao Tai Jun you are being too polite! Chu Furen is a person who gets along very well with others.”
Yun Qian Meng was observing Madame Xie’s facial expression. Since she had messed up Madame Xie’s plan earlier, this time she did not seem the slightest bit of unhappy, even if all the people were not focused on her, her smile was still decent and dignified, not in the slightest intention of bringing disgrace to her status as the Er Furen of Chu Wang Fu.
But, thinking about her actions earlier, Yun Qian Meng suddenly realized something inside her mind.
She was actually being personally led by Wen Er Furen into the court, Madame Xie naturally was not able to publicly let her leave, but instead she found an excuse to let her go leaving no trace and also let Chu Jie look after her, but she did not let the two Xie sisters leave, this in turn hooked up Yun Qian Meng’s interest.
And during this time all the people's eyes shifted towards the two Xie sisters standing in the middle of the hall, perhaps the slightly exotic beautiful faces of the Xie sisters had attracted everyone's attention.
“These two girls are quite exquisitely beautiful! Such kind of beauties are actually quite rare in ou Westerni Chu!” This time, Jiang Lao Tai Jun simply smiled as she spoke, her gaze shifted from the Xie sisters to Madame Xie and Chu Jie “I presume this must be Governor Chu’s furen!”
Hearing Jiang Lao Tai Jun asking about it, Madame Xie immediately smiled and bent her knees “Madame Xie of Chi Wang Fu is pleased to meet Tai Fei, and all the elders! These two girls, are my nieces, since they were orphaned, I had allowed them to stay with me!”
Madame Xie told them Xie Wan Wan and Xie Yuan Yuan’s family history one more time, yet she failed to mention her own daughter Chu Jie.
Yun Qian Meng raised her brows as she stood beside Gu Lao Tai Jun, the corner of her mouth raised up a into a light but decent smile. Gu Lao Tai Jun lifted her eyes and glanced at her own granddaughter, with one hand she gently tapped Yun Qian Meng’s hand, giving her the silent support.
“They are actually natural beauties! That was very pitiful for the two children, but fortunately they have an aunt like you, or else they would be even more pitiful!” This time, the wife of the Ministry of Personnel who was accompanying and talking to the few Lao Tai Jun inside the hall spoke with a sigh.
Currently, Han Ying Bo is the third rank Jie Yu inside the palace. Han Furen’s status had actually promoted greatly, from her original position of being the fourth rank Gao Ming Furen, now she is already the second rank Gao Ming Furen, consequently she also had the right to speak.
“The Xie family’s Wan Wan, Yuan Yuan are here to meet all the elders, greetings everyone!” This time, Xie Wan Wan and Xie Yuan Yuan stepped forward at the same time, lowering down their heads as they slightly bowed down before all the people, the etiquette was comparable to the imperial family's princess and Jun Zhu, in addition to their charming faces and exquisite figures, they won over everyone's love even more.
“Chu Er Furen is very lucky, although you only have one daughter like Chu xiaojie, but if you didn't mention it, we will certainly think that the two Xie sisters are also your daughters!” Wen Er Furen retreated aside, then sat beside Han Furen, smiling as she spoke.
Seeing Wen Er Furen praising her like that, Madame Xie just humbly spoke “Er Furen, you have overpraised me! No matter how these two children look, I will still be their aunt, how can I allow them to be lonely and not to care anything about them! But after being together all these years, I feel like I am no different than their own mother!”
Having heard these words, all the people just nodded their heads and smiled, and during this time a servant girl quickly walked inside, her clever eyes took a glimpse at all the people inside the hall, then she immediately approached Wen Er Furen, after bowing down she respectfully reported “Er Furen, the Elder Furen asks you to proceed to the front yard. An imperial decree has arrived from the palace, it is waiting for all the masters to receive it.”
Having heard what was said, Wen Er Fu Ren was a bit stunned, yet she immediately calmed down, she slowly got up, bending her knees before the few elders seated in front, she apologized “I shall proceed to the front yard, please entertain yourselves!”
After speaking, Wen Er Fu Ren led the servant girl out of the hall.
Translated by:
cristinaEdited by:
korezmiWhen she left, the noise started up inside the inner court, all the people started to whispering, unable to understand what sort of imperial decree Emperor Yu Qian had issued, whether he had decided to employ the members of Wen family again or he had other intentions, Wen family was originally the most influential family in literature, when the members of Wen family walked out of the house they had their bodies all covered with the fragrance of the books and wisdom, even many students of the Hanlin Imperial Institute had considered the members of Wen family as their teachers, this family possessed a very huge powerful influence, as a result Imperial Tutor Wen had chosen to step out of the royal court, in this way it will lessen the suspicions in the emperor's heart, allowing the members of Wen family to live peacefully with their lives.
But now that Imperial Tutor Wen had recently passed away, the imperial decree of Emperor Yu Qian closely followed, whether it is good or bad, it was really unpredictable!
“Did the Empress Dowager summon you inside the palace?” This time, Gu Lao Tai Jun asked Yun Qian Meng in a low voice, her flickered with unconcealable worry.
Yun Qian Meng seemed not to care as she laughed, then she replied “Yes! The Empress Dowager is actually worried about the marriage of my cousin!”
Hearing Yun Qian Meng’s explanation, Gu Lao Tai Jun’s eyes seemed a bit unhappy, and with her being unhappy it was naturally not because Yun Qian Meng, soon after Yun Qian Meng heard Gu Lao Tai Jun suppressed down her anger as she said in a lowered voice “It must be hard on you!”
Seeing Gu Lao Tai Jun asking her like that, perhaps she already knew the things that the Empress Dowager had told her, unexpectedly Gu Lao Tai Jun was quite updated with the news despite all her devotions to the Buddha.
Yun Qian Meng knew it by heart that the Empress Dowager’s relationship with Fu Guo Gong Fu had drifted farther and farther away, if the Empress Dowager was to remain like that, perhaps she will soon split off from her family.
After a while, sighing sounds echoed one by one from the courtyard, Jiang Mama who was serving Yuan De Tai Fei walked inside the hall, facing all the people she saluted and said “Tai Fei, an imperial decree has been issued by His Majesty, honoring Imperial Tutor Wen’s eldest grandson born from the first wife as the teacher of the Crown Prince, moreover the funeral of Imperial Tutor will proceed with the ceremony of that of a prince!”
After hearing these words, all the people were greatly surprised.
Indeed Emperor Yu Qian had started to reemploy Wen family, he had actually crossed over the initial lineup to employ Wen Xie as the junior teacher of the Crown Prince, such kind of honor, only a few people was able to achieve it since the ancient times.
And the funeral of Imperial Tutor Wen to proceed following the ceremony of the prince, it had invisibly uplifted Wen family’s prestige in the imperial court, causing those who opposed Wen Xie for being appointed despite the initial lineup to shut their mouths!
But, with this kind of imperial decree, as for Wen family which had always been indifferent to fame and fortune, perhaps it will not be a good thing!
“Since that is the case, then let us all go home now!” Hearing the answer that she had been waiting for a long time, Yuan De Tai Fei stood up, under the assistance of Jiang Mama, they walked out of the women’s courtyard.
All the people stood up and saluted, respectfully sending off this honorable Tai Fei.
Gu Lao Tai Jun along with Chen Lao Tai Jun and Jiang Lao Tai Jun engaged in a few chats, then the three of them stood up and left Wen Fu.
“Meng’er, today is the second day of new year, following the tradition, Fei Yang should be the one accompanying you on your way back to Yun Xiang Fu, but unfortunately Fei Yang is out of the capital, I have instructed the servants to prepare some things for you, you must bring them to Yun Xiang Fu, don’t be angry because Fei Yang is not around, okay?” This time, Madame Xie approached, sounding worried as she spoke.
Yun Qian Meng smiled as she looked at her, she slowly digested the words that came out from Madame Xie’s mouth, soon after she smiled even brighter, feeling grateful she said “You are very thoughtful, Er Niang! It was an official business that made my husband leave the capital, how can Meng’er get angry because of this matter! But I might not be able to visit grandpa and father today, please send my regards to them, Er Niang.”
After speaking, Yun Qian Meng lifted her eyes and took a glance at the Xie sisters, then she got up and bid her farewell to all the ladies, leading Yuan Dong and Mu Chun as they stepped out of the hall, after saying goodbye to all the ladies of Wen family, she sat inside her own horse carriage.
“Xiaojie, which Xiang Fu are we heading to right now?” Mu Chun was closely guarding beside Yun Qian Meng, obviously she heard what Er Furen had said earlier.
“Xi Lin, let's go to Yun Xiang Fu!” Seeing the gifts were already piled up inside the horse carriage, Yun Qian Meng couldn't help but admire Madame Xie’s smooth behavior, perhaps by the time she arrived at the gates of Wen Fu earlier, Madame Xie’s people had already brought these things inside her horse carriage.
But, Madame Xie’s actions today really made Yun Qian Meng curious. In front of every influential family, how could someone be busy introducing her own nieces to other people while ignoring her own daughter?
“Furen, we have arrived at Yun Xiang Fu!” Xi Lin’s driving skills were great, he was always being able to use the quickest and the most stable way to send someone to his destination, perhaps this was the reason why Chu Fei Yang had allowed him to stay beside him.
Yun Qian Meng allowed the yatou to bring all the colored gifts down the horse carriage, seeing the eldest xioajie master returned home, the new steward of Yun Xiang Fu immediately ordered people to open the main gate, then greeted Yun Qian Meng while she entered the Xiang Fu.
“Great to see you, da xioajie!” Liu Han Yu who had heard the news immediately led Yun Yan out as they appeared in front of Yun Qian Meng.
“Where's Father?” Yun Qian Meng gestured Mu Chun and the others to hand over the gifts to the steward. She then observed Liu Han Yu and Yun Yan’s facial complexion, seeing the two of them doing fine, she smiled as she asked.
“Xiang Ye had just came home from Wen Fu, he is now changing his clothes in his study room. Da xiaojie, did you also come from Wen Fu?” Looking at Yun Qian Meng’s gorgeous dress, Liu Han Yu asked with a bit uncertainty.
Yun Qian Meng gently nodded her head, earlier inside the horse carriage, she had already took off the mourning dress, so as to avoid being nitpicked by other people.
“I’ll proceed to the guest hall, please do inform my father, Yi Niang!” While speaking, Yun Qian Meng walked towards the direction of the guest hall.
“Ah……” During this time, a white figure came rushing directly towards Yun Qian Meng.
Yuan Dong immediately dodged herself protecting in front of Yun Qian Meng, single-handedly turned the attacker's hand behind the back, making the person unable to make a move.
All the people looked, seeing Liu Han Yu’s face immediately turned serious, pointing at the servant girls and women who came running behind as she cursed “How did you look after her? Why did you allow the er xiaojie master to run out from Feng He Yuan?”
Being reminded by Liu Han Yu, Yun Qian Meng lowered down her head and looked at the person being forced to kneel down on the ground by Yuan Dong. She was only wearing white undergarments, both bare feet were standing on the snowy ground, this time her long hair was scattered around and messy covering her face, without being reminded by Liu Han Yu, she couldn't even recognize Yun Ruo Xue.
“It's nubi’s fault, please forgive us, da xiaojie!” The Mama who was following behind Yun Ruo Xue immediately knelt down, her whole body trembling as she asked for forgiveness.
But aside from struggling to break free, Yun Ruo Xue’s mouth was actually mumbling something, she even lowered down her head to eat the white snow on the ground!
Based on the situation, Yun Qian Meng knitted her brows as she looked at that old woman, in a serious voice she asked “What happened to the er xiaojie?”
The Mama had never expected the eldest young lady master who had never gotten along well with Yun Ruo Xue would suddenly get concerned with the second young lady master, suddenly she got surprised, afterwards she spoke “Da xaojie, after er xioajie went through that situation, she has always behaved this way.”
While speaking, that Mama’s eyes flashed, her seemed to harbor a bit resentment as she shot a glance at Yun Ruo Xue who was still behaving in a crazy way.
Yun Qian Meng saw the Mama’s expression, she immediately glanced at Ying Qiu. Ying Qiu immediately went ahead and lifted up Yun Ruo Xue’s hand to carefully take the pulse, after a long while she released Yun Ruo Xue, her eyes hang low as she replied “Furen, everything is normal for the er xiaojie, she has not gone mentally ill!”
“Are you still trying to pretend?” Yun Qian Meng’s cold eyes shot a glance at Yun Ruo Xue’s back, saying these words in an extremely cold manner.
Yun Ruo Xue seemed as if she did not hear Yun Qian Meng’s interrogation, she was still playing joyfully, but Yun Qian Meng was not anxious. She didn't allow that Mama to stand up, and she did not allow Yuan Dong to release Yun Ruo Xue, but instead she whispered a few words beside Yuan Dong’s ears, then bringing along the other servant girls with her, they walked towards the direction of the guest hall……
Hearing the steward informed him of Yun Qian Meng’s return, Yun Xuan Zhi immediately changed his direction. He originally intended to go to Fu Liu Yuan, but instead he directly proceeded to the guest hall.
“Father, your daughter is here to see you!” Seeing Yun Xuan Zhi stepped inside the guest hall, Yun Qian Meng slowly stood up, giving him an absolutely standard salute.
“Let your father take a good look at you!” Yun Xuan Zhi was actually quite enthusiastic, with a few steps he appeared in front of Yun Qian Meng, both eyes smiling as he observed Yun Qian Meng, then he nodded his head in satisfaction “Your facial color is quite good, that truly makes your father feel relieved!”
Now that the bad thing had happened to Yun Ruo Xue, and Yun Yan was not that famous in the capital, Yun Xuan Zhi naturally looked high on Yun Qian Meng. And with Chu Pei’s return to the capital this time he might stay as an official inside the capital, with this Chu family’s power had became even more stronger.
And hearing Yun Xuan Zhi speaking like this, Yun Qian Meng’s heart secretly sneered. She was not able to rest well for the past two days, her meals were not fixed, but Yun Xuan Zhi was talking nonsense with eyes widely opened, which was actually quite funny.
“Father, your face is also looking good! In this way, your daughter will feel relieved in Chu Xiang Fu. But today after seeing my second sister, my heart felt somehow worried!” While speaking, Yun Qian Meng’s eyes turned dimmer, seemingly as if she was quite worried about Yun Ruo Xue.
Hearing Yun Qian Meng mentioned the name that he hated to hear the most, Yun Xuan Zhi’s brows slightly wrinkled. His eyes flickered with disgust, without any choice he sat down and spoke “All these things she had inflicted them onto herself! As her father I didn't drive her out of Xiang Fu, because I cared about our relationship as father and daughter!”
“Father, you said it right! But Er Mei should not always stay inside Xiang Fu, as time goes by, it will inevitably cause people to criticize her! Father, it will be better for you to look for an honest and reliable person, then allow Er Mei to get married. In this way, she will have someone to rely on for the rest of her life!”
“Oh? Do you have someone in your mind, Meng’er?” Hearing Yun Qian Meng mentioning about it, Yun Xuan Zhi’s heart became active, his eyes looked at Yun Qian Meng with hope!
If Yun Xiang Fu and Chu Xiang Fu had came forward at the same time, perhaps Ruo Xue still had a bit of usage for them. After all, who would dare to offend the two left and right prime ministers, moreover behind them there's still the presence of Chu Wang Fu.
Yun Qian Meng’s eyes lightly glanced outside the door, slightly increasing her voice “Since Er Mei had already become like this, marrying into a family of an official will be impossible! And usually they were extremely strict considering a woman's purity, I’m afraid, in the worst case, Er Mei will have to become a Yi Niang. After all, for the first wife they considered one’s purity, but as for the position of Yi Niang there were no limitations. Or maybe, Er Mei will marry into an ordinary family, perhaps……”
“Yun Qian Meng, you bitch, I’m not through with you!” Before Yun Qian Meng finished making her suggestions, Yun Ruo Xue’s loud cursing voice echoed from the outside.
Hearing Yun Ruo Xue had ‘suddenly’ returned to normal, Yun Qian Meng sneered, and Yun Xuan Zhi face with a bit stunned, perhaps he never expected Yun Ruo Xue to be outside of the door at this time.
And before Yun Xuan Zhi could manage to react, the main gate was suddenly being kicked open, Yun Ruo Xue came rushing inside in a confused manner, lifting up her hand she was about to beat Yun Qian Meng……
Yuan Dong who came afterwards could not allow Yun Ruo Xue’s hand to land on Yun Qian Meng, she slightly lifted her feet in the dead end of Yun Xuan Zhi’s line of sight, Yun Ruo Xue suddenly lost her balance, directly falling back to the other side, her hand directly beaten the top of the desk, her hands were pulling the brocade tablecloth……
‘Hwa la la……” All the teapots and teacups suddenly fell to the entire floor, producing beat by beat of ear-splitting sounds, but it made Yun Xuan Zhi’s face turned red with anger, with one finger pointed at Yun Ruo Xue, unable to say any words further.
“Please don't be angry, Father, Er Mei didn't mean it! Earlier on the way here, Meng’er heard the Mama who was taking care of Er Mei mentioned that, now that Er Mei is mentally ill, it is quite normal to have such strange actions! Father should not get angry at Er Mei!” Yun Qian Meng allowed Yuan Dong to ‘kindly’ assist Yun Ruo Xue, then she herself was appeasing Yun Xuan Zhi.
“Where is there any ounce of your appearance as a xiaojie of Yun Xiang Fu? Where is your usual reserved behavior? You had actually ran out of your room not wearing any decent clothes, I really can't afford to have such kind of daughter!” Yun Xuan Zhi had came along, pointing at Yun Ruo Xue’s nose while he scolded her.
During the recent days, thinking about the humiliation that Yun Ruo Xue had suffered, he had tolerated many of her strange behaviors, but today she had actually made him lose his face in front of Yun Qian Meng. Apparently, he had overly spoiled Yun Ruo Xue, making her becoming more rude.
And after hearing Yun Xuan Zhi’s words, Yun Ruo Xue’s face suddenly turned deathly pale. The tears in her eyes suddenly fell down, then she roared “If it wasn't for this slut, how can I become like this? Daddy, I am Chen Wang’s who was married formally into Chen Wang Fu with eight big palanquins, how could you prefer this slut over me? When mother was still alive, have you treated me like this? I don’t like that……”
Yun Xuan Zhi’s anger was already in the brink of erupting, yet Yun Ruo Xue fearlessly mentioned about Su Qing. It had even more intensified Yun Xuan Zhi’s anger, without saying anything he gave her a big slap on the face, afterwards he roared at Liu Han Yu “Now we will ask them to send you off, whether you will become concubine or slave, it will be unrelated to Yun Xiang Fu, my Yun Xiang Fu is too small, I couldn't afford to shelter a person like you!”
While speaking, Yun Xuan Zhi refused to look at Yun Ruo Xue, without further words he turned around to calm down the anger in his heart.
And Yun Ruo Xue was about to curse again, yet Yuan Dong had hit a pressure point in her body. She could only stare at Yun Qian Meng. Yun Qian Meng naturally did not take things from a person she did not care about to hear. But, regarding Yun Ruo Xue, Yun Qian Meng could not help but shake her head. If she was smarter, she would not have fallen into this kind of situation. Based on Yun Xuan Zhi’s love for her during the former days, even if he was to support her during her entire life, Yun Xuan Zhi will never complain about it. But now that the situation had turned to the worst with the father and daughter being hostile to each other, in the future if she suffered any hardships in the family of her husband, no one will ever defend for her.
Watching Yun Ruo Xue being dragged out forcefully, Yun Qian Meng’s both eyes turned bright and clear, her heart was surprisingly calmer than ever before.
The northern land scenery, with a thousand miles of ice, and ten thousand miles of snow floating around……
The further they proceeded northwards, the temperature got increasingly low, the wind and frost covered with small hails as they hit on a person's body and face, burning up a person's skin, looking ahead, the river was covered by ice for so many days, the scenery below was silver wrapped, holding the heart-chilling coldness.
Qi Ling’er and Hai Tian sitting inside their phoenix palanquins were able to keep themselves warm, and the people riding on the horseback had worn the huge cloak, to block off the huge snowfall that was falling down incessantly.
“There's one more day!” Hai Chen Xi had been calculating the days since they left the capital. Seeing the borderland between two countries getting closer, he said these words to remind Chu Fei Yang and Jiang Mu Chen, but when he opened his mouth to speak the cold wind went inside his belly, puffing out mouthfuls of white smoke, shrouded in front of his eyes then gradually disappeared in front of his eyes.
Despite the fact that Hai Chen Xi had grown up in Yang Ming Shan which had the lower temperature than all other places, but as compared to the current scenery, it simply had a huge difference!
When they came all the way here, aside from the first night at the capital which seemed quite noisy, after that no particular accident happened again.
The three of them had become more cautious, for the fear that there might be an even bigger ‘surprise’ waiting for them.
“I presume the three of you aren’t used to the climate in our northern country, right?” This time, Qi Jing Xuan was riding on the horseback as he approached, watching the three persons who seemed almost not saying anything, his eyes somehow mocked “I didn't know that the men of Western Chu were as delicate as the women, that was truly funny!”
“Few days ago the eldest prince remained quite silent, now that we are gradually approaching the Northern Qi, the eldest prince has become even more active. Apparently the eldest prince’s courage was also given by Northern Qi!” This time Chu Fei Yang spoke indifferently, his words were secretly criticizing Qi Jing Xuan for being a coward, only being able to speak out when he was standing on their own land.
“Chu Xiang truly has a clever tongue, no wonder Hai Jun Wang and Chen Wang are unwilling to speak with you!” Qi Jing Xuan was able to hear the cynical tone in Chu Fei Yang’s words, watching the three completely different expressions of the three persons before him, he started to provoke their internal conflict.
“You are wrong, eldest prince, how can men be like women who make idle gossip? It seems like the eldest prince is somehow different from an ordinary man!” This time, Jiang Mu Chen spoke indifferently, the ice formed in the corner of his eyes was even more bone-chilling than the snow of Northern Guo.
“On the contrary, I think the eldest prince is different from the little woman! But instead he is somehow similar to a woman who was already married, those women who had nothing to do but to provoke hostility among the people, which is truly annoying!” And Hai Chen Xi was not quite left behind, his wicked both eyes was staring back at Qi Jing Xuan’s gloomy expression, the corner of his mouth sneered as he spoke.
“Humph, it is quite rare for the three of you to agree with each other! But I have no idea how long this will last!” Qi Jing Xuan watched as he failed to provoke the hostility between these three but instead it had caused the three of them to face their common enemy. He was greatly angered, by this time they were still inside the territory of Western Chu, if he behaved badly he might break the peace treaty between the two countries, perhaps his father the emperor might put the blame on him including all Qi Jing Yuan’s faults.
Thinking about this, Qi Jing Xuan suddenly clamped his feet on the horse belly then run ahead to the front……
“Humph!” Three disdainful groaning sound echoed at the same time, and the three persons who agreed with each other earlier respectively looked at three different areas, then they continued to proceed ahead……
The sandstorm had swept by for a while, mixed with hail, the snowflakes directly rushed towards everybody, and the armed troops of both countries were already standing in front of the borderland of the two countries, waiting for them to arri
Translated by:
cristinaEdited by:
korezmi