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nChapter 54 : Mid-Autumn Festival

nIn the early week of the eight month, the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts from Hebei arrived.

nQiu Shi took the gift list, scanned it, then, handed it to Mama Li and said, “Take them and register.” It was not like the Duke Han of the State’s official residence depended on Third Master’s annual gifts to survive anyway, and she wasn’t going to keep sulking over something this trifle.

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nMama Li did not comment on the gift list, but talked about another thing, “This time, Third Master sent a lot of good things to Third Miss, but none to Fourth Miss.”

nQiu Shi unexpectedly started to ridicule Third Master’s act again, “It’s not surprising that the same thing happen every time.” During New Year or other celebrations, Yuchen would always be given gifts separately, while Yuxi was always been neglected.

nMama Li said, “How can this be the same? Now, Fourth Miss is also studying with Teacher Song. She’s performing so well now that even if she is not better than Third Miss, she will not be worse in the future. In doing so, Third Master is not afraid of hurting her heart.” If Fourth Miss produced favourable results after learning from Teacher Song, she would be able to marry into a good family, which was also beneficial to the family. If father and daughter were at odd, even if Fourth Miss married into a good family, it would not help the family.

nQiu Shi did not think so, but she smiled and said, “Him, hurting her heart? The gifts are all prepared by Wu Shi. If Yuxi wants to blame someone, she will surely blame Wu Shi. How can she blames her own father? Just like these gifts, do you think Third Master really doesn’t know?“ With brother-in-law cleverness, how could he not know that Wu Shi’s gifts were getting less and less? Wu Shi just wanted to save more money for her family resources.

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nAlthough Yuchen received many good things, she was not happy at all. She went to find the Old Madam and said, “Grandmother, only I alone received things from Hebei, but not Fourth Sister. Year in year out (Chinese idiom : over many years), there will surely be animosity between Fourth Sister and me.“ She had gotten along well with Yuxi nowadays, and it had given birth to affection for her. She didn’t want to affect her sisterhood with Yuxi because of these messy things.

nThe Old Madam put down her cup and asked, “How do you think it should be solved?”

nYuchen answered, “Either they buy another gifts for Fourth Sister, or don’t give anything at all to both of us. Grandmother, please persuade Mother on this matter!” Previously, they only sent her small things, so there was no need for the gifts to be concealed. This time, Wu Shi sent her two chests of things to her alone, so, it won’t be hard for people to criticise her. Yuchen could also feel that there was bad attention behind Wu Shi’s gifts. This showed that there would be trials and hardships appeared in the their family later on. When her father returned home with his new family, the residence won’t be peaceful anymore.

nThe Old Madam nodded and said, “I’ll talk to your father about this.” Yuchen was the younger generation. These things were not good for her to speak about, so, she had to be the one who needed to come forward.

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nAll the maids and old women in the Rose Courtyard cried out the injustice to Yuxi. Unfortunately, Yuxi, as the party concerned, did not take this matter to heart at all. Instead, she kept on thinking about her baozi (steamed stuffed bun) shop and grocery store, “The Mid-Autumn Festival will be over in a few days. The business of the grocery store should be very good, right?” The grocery store opened by her was a little more expensive than other store because of its good quality. However, the residents living in Shangyuan Street generally had some money and were willing to give it up. Therefore, the business of the grocery store was not bad. In the first month, she made a profit of six taels of silver, and the prospect was very promising.

nHongshan said with a smile, “Miss, the moon cakes in our shop are so delicious that they will definitely be sold out.” This was also luck, because the woman who made the moon cakes was not found by Mama Fang, but by herself. This woman’s surname was Zhou. Hongshan overheard that Mama Fang wanted to hire a married woman through interview, and she took the initiative to find her. Zhou’s Jiangnan cookings were very authentic, and the moon cakes were also very good. Mama Fang hired her after tasting the foods she had made.

nThe day before Mid-Autumn Festival, Han Jianye returned to the residence.

nYuxi took Zijin to see Han Jianye and told him that she wanted Zijin to learn martial arts from him. Han Jianye shook his head and said, “Xi-er, Master’s martial arts must never be indulged to others.”

nYuxi persuaded, “Second Brother, it’s not that I’m asking you to teach Zijin all the skills you have learned from your Master, I’m asking you to guide her at least with two simple tricks?”

nHan Jianye shook his head and said, “I can’t. Even if it is just to guide her, she must consult my Master before she can succeed. If I let Master knows that I will teach martial arts to others without his consent, I am afraid I will be expelled by him.“

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nYuxi got a fright. If her Second Brother was expelled from his school, his future would be lost. She hurriedly said, “If that is so, then just forget it.”

nHan Jianye smiled and said, “When I go back to the mountain, I will ask Master first. If that old man agrees, I will teach this little girl two tricks.”

nYuxi nodded and said, “Second Brother, don’t tell anyone about this!” Couldn’t let the Old Madam punished Zijin before she could even learn any martial arts.

nHan Jianye smiled and said, “I won’t tell anyone. Yuxi, you’ve lost a lot of weight recently!” He still found the previous plump, round and mellow Yuxi was much good-looking.

nYuxi said, “No, I’m the same as before.”

nHan Jianye smiled and began pinching Yuxi’s face, “Well, what is still the same as before, there is no meat on this face. I can only feel bones. You have to eat more. It’s better to be fair and plump. “

nYuxi head was full with black lines. When did her being fair and plump was good? When she was a fat baby! This Second Brother’s temper was really too jumpy that she did not know when he would mature up.

nDuring the New Year Eve feast, all the masters of the state residence would eat together. For Mid-Autumn Festival, it was no exception. Everyone would gather in the main house.

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nYuxi looked at Concubine Lian who should not have appeared, and felt a click in her heart. Although Concubine Rong had been favoured before, she never appeared on New Year’s Day feast. This Concubine Lian must have a good way to get the Old Madam to agree to let her appear when the family was having a reunion.

nLooking for an opportunity, Yuxi asked Liuyin in a low voice “Sister Liuyin, why is Concubine Lian here?”

nLiuyin smiled and said, “Concubine Lian is pregnant, so the Old Madam specially granted permission for her to attend today’s dinner.” Concubine Lian’s pregnancy had been kept in the dark, without showing the mountain and without revealing the water (Chinese idiom : to hide the key facts). She even hid the news from her Madam. After the pregnancy reached the first three months did she expose herself.

nYuxi eyes moved. For Concubine Lian to even hide her pregnancy from Eldest Aunt, clearly showed that she did not trust her. However, for her to hide it from everyone for the first three months, she must have coaxed all the maids and old women around her. This method none lacking than Concubine Rong. Yuxi didn’t know if the Old Madam had played any role in this or not.

nLiuyin noticed that Yuxi’s look was not very good, but she was very considerate and did not forget her Lady’s kindness to Fourth Miss. “Don’t worry, Miss, Concubine Lian is measured and not as arrogant as Concubine Rong. Moreover, the Old Madam will not let her break the rules. ”

nYuxi looked at a pregnant Concubine Lian, who was still standing to serve dishes to Qiu Shi’s, and smiled gently, “The rules are irregular, and vary from a person to another person.” No matter how good Concubine Lian was, she would not be able to shake the position of the her Eldest Aunt, but there was another favourite concubine like Concubine Rong aside. It was no used for Yuxi to worry about these matter anymore. It wasn’t like she could intervene in this kind of thing.

nMooncakes

/ Yue Bing

nSource | China Sichuan Food

nAfter the lunar greetings, the crowd gathered to eat moon cakes. The Old Madam smiled and said to Yuchen, “Chen-er, today is the night of the mid-autumn festival. You can play a song to help us cheer up.”

nYuchen immediately ordered her maid to fetch her qin and played a very cheerful tune.

nListening to the melodious music from the qin while eating delicious cakes and fruits made Yuxi enjoyed herself so much.

nWhen the song finished, Yujing said with a smile, “Third Sister plays beautifully. Fourth Sister, I heard your painting is very good, I wonder if Fourth Sister can draw tonight beautiful scenery?“

nYuxi knew that Yujing could not hide her true nature, and she was unable to settle down just a few days after she came out. “I learned painting from my teacher, but my painting skill is far worse than that of my Third Sister, so I will not present an ugly picture for everyone to see.” She didn’t care if people said Yuchen was better than her, because Yuchen was really much better than her. This was a fact. She didn’t need to avoid or treated it like a taboo. However, everyone had their own skills, and she also had skills that Yuchen could not match, such as embroidery, although this skill was cheaper than painting or playing qin.

nYuchen smiled gently, “My Fourth Sister is too modest.” Teacher Song told her that Yuxi was gifted in painting, but Yuxi preferred embroidery and spent very little time on painting, which made Teacher Song felt regretful. In fact, Yuchen could not understand some things. Was embroidery more important than painting? If it was her, she would certainly have studied painting instead of embroidery.

nAfter the Mid-Autumn Festival, Han Jianye went back to the mountain.

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nAn example of an ancient fist handbook (quanpu). This illustration is from Yao’s fist handbook.

nSource | Jp5000

nTo Yu Xi’s surprise, Han Jianye’s personal attendant sent her a fist handbook a few days later. He said, “Fourth Miss, after hearing the Young Master talked about Zijin, Master Yang gave this fist handbook and said that Miss Zijin should practice according to this handbook.”

nAfter waiting for the attendant to leave, Yuxi opened the fist handbook, which was full of various moves. Well, she actually couldn’t understand this thing, so, she gave the handbook to Zijin and said, “When you are free, you should practice according to the pictures in this book. You should not stop practicing everyday, okay?”

nZijin replied without thinking much, “Okay.” Learning this was much simpler than learning Chinese characters. Although she only needed to recognise three words daily, they would certainly add up over time. However, she immediately forgot what she had learnt after she finished her study, though she could learn thing quite fast. Every time she was scolded by Miss, she really wanted to cry.

nYuxi said, “If you practice your fists, go to the backyard instead of the front yard. Remember that?” Zijin fist practice couldn’t be concealed, and she also didn’t want to conceal it. However, the front yard was full of people where they came and went most of the time. If Zijin accidentally hit someone, it would be very troublesome. While, the backyard was spacious and no one walked around. So, Zijin could practice there casually.

nZijin hurriedly nodded and said, “Okay.”

nAt the end of the month, Yuchen told Teacher Song, “Ma’am, Grandmother said that nurturing momo (wet nurse) will come in two days. When she comes, I can’t study with teacher for the whole day anymore.”

nEvery year, on the ninth month, the Imperial Palace would release a group of people. These momo, who had served concubines in the palace, were in high demand. The Old Madam had chosen suitable momo and was waiting to welcome her to the house.

nTeacher Song, who was not surprised by the news, said, “From now on, you come to Magnolia Courtyard early every morning, while in the afternoon, you can learn the rules and etiquettes from momo. I’ll give you the new schedule next time.” In fact, if she had to say a few words, Yuchen’s rules and etiquettes was already very good. So, there was no need for nurturing momo. However, this kind of matter, she didn’t have the power to intervene.

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