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nChapter 60 : Jiang Hongfu (1)

nA page from a version of Shennong’s Compendium of Materia Medica

nPosted by Pancrat via Wiki

nAfter Yuxi had done her daily routine of writing one hundred characters with a cantilever, she took a look at the qipu (chess score) briefly and then took out the book Shennong’s Compendium of Materia Medica to read. The medical book was so difficult for her to understand that every time she read it, she would always end up asleep. If it hadn’t been for her perseverance, she would have given up long ago.

nYuxi muttered to herself, “I don’t know how to get Momo (wet nurse) Quan to teach me pharmacology.” Now, she finally understood why the Old Madam invited two momo for Yuchen. Momo Gui would be responsible for teaching etiquette rules, while Momo Quan would nurse Yuchen’s body at the same time. Nursing one’s body health, these four words looked simple, but the overall knowledge of it was very large in scale!

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nYuxi tried to reread the medical book, and somehow, she dozed off again.

nWhen Moju noticed this situation, she said with some distress, “Miss, go to bed if you’re tired! Though, it is not a good time for you to fall asleep.”

nYuxi shook her head and ordered, “Go and take an ice for me.” Applying ice cubes on her face would immediately make her sleepiness disappeared.

nMoju felt that Yuxi was studying hard a bit too much, “Miss, with your current situation, your body will not be able to endure. Miss, it doesn’t matter even if you don’t study at all, since, you have never interested in being a talented woman anyway.” Yuxi even told her that before.

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nYuxi smiled, “I just want to learn more useful things. Besides, even my talented Third Sister studies hard day after day. If I start being lazy again, she will surely left me behind by a hundred miles away. ”

nIn fact, Yuxi’s daily time was also very tight. She had to attend classes and learn etiquettes every day. In her spare time, she would study qipu, read obscure medical books, practiced calligraphy and did embroidery. She had no time to rest at all, even after the end of the day. Sometimes, she also felt very tired and wanted to have a good rest. However, when she thought of how high Yuchen’s talent was and despite that, Yuchen still studied hard, she had no complaint. If she was being lazy again, especially with her poor qualifications, she would seriously fall behind. Every time she thought of this, she did not dare to slack off.

nYuxi’s persistence was also fruitful.

nWhen Teacher Song took a look at Yuxi’s writings, she was very pleased that she praised, “There is a lot of progress in your writing.” If she compared Yuxi with Yuchen, there was still a big gap between them. However, it was still very good for Yuxi to make this much progress in such a short period of time.

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nYuxi was silent for half a moment before she said, “Teacher, I would like to study Yan Zhenqing’s Controversy over Seating Protocol next year.” Yuchen was better than her which was a fact that she did not deny, nor could she deny. Since it obvious that she could not compete with Yuchen, it was better that she won’t learn the same thing as her. That way, she would not be suppressed by Yuchen’s undeniable talent forever.

nTeacher Song frowned and asked, “Why do you want to learn cursive script very well? And that kind of writing is also not easy for you to learn.” Only a few women could write good cursive script.

nYuxi took out the book she mentioned previously, “I think cursive script is very beautiful. When I have learnt it, it will certainly be very beautiful when I use it in embroidery.”

nTeacher Song was silent for a moment and then she asked, “Is this really the reason?”

nAn example of zanhua xiaokai.

nSource | VeryBuy

nYuxi smiled and said, “Well, I already had this idea when my second brother gave me this copybook.” Her zanhua xiaokai (a standard font to learn when you just start writing Chinese calligraphy) writing was not bad, but even after years of practice, she would only be a foil for Yuchen. So, it was better for her to learn cursive script.

nTeacher Song was silent for a moment. Then, she said, “Since you want to learn cursive script, you don’t have to wait for next year to learn it. From today onwards, you will copy another one hundred characters according to the copybook every day!” This was also a way to ask Yuxi not to give up on learning to improve her writing in zanhua xiaokai.

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nYuxi nodded and said, “Okay.” This style of writing was not learned in a day or two, but fortunately, she was still young and had enough time to learn it.

nAfter a few days, Yuru finally knew about Momo Gui’s and Momo Quan’s backgrounds. She learnt that they were both female officials of high rank and had served noble people in the palace. She was so angry that she smashed a teacup with her tears fell uncontrollably, “Grandmother is too bias.” She also would love to learn from these women of high rank who just came out of the palace.

nSeeing this, Qingxuan didn’t know how to soothe her Miss.

nAfter losing her temper, Yuru ordered Qingxuan, “You should disclose this news to Yujing’s mother and see her reaction.” Yujing was so quiet, so calm that Yuru was not at ease.

nEven though Qingxuan felt that by diverting the problem to the dangerous woman in the east was not a good solution, she still said, “Okay.”

nHowever, to Yuru’s disappointment, there was only silence coming from Yujing’s side after the news were disclosed to them, as if she didn’t know such a thing at all.

nYuru said doubtfully, “Does Second Sister really has a change in her temperament?”

nNaturally, Yujing did not have a change her temperament, just like the wise saying, it was easy to change rivers and mountains but hard to change a person’s nature (Chinese idiom : you can’t change who you are) . It was just that when Yujing got the news, she only told her mother, Concubine Rong, about it.

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nConcubine Rong’s currently living her days in suffering. All her trusted subordinates had removed by the Old Madam. In addition, ever since the death of her son, she had been living in distress, making her body had not yet recovered even up till now. These days, she had honestly been recuperated in Pleasure Courtyard. Even though people had been told that she was recuperating, she was actually in the same situation as being house arrest.

nConcubine Rong stated, “The Old Madam has high hopes for Third Miss. Since Third Miss was a child, she has been given the best food, best clothing and best in everything. It is also expected that she will also be taught by the best momo from the palace.”

nYujing was very reluctant, “Why is Grandmother being so bias?” Her Grandmother’s current actions had went too far.

nConcubine Rong decided not to hide what she knew from Yujing as she said, “The Old Madam is planning to marry the Third Miss into the royal family. The state residence is currently in a weak position, and now it needs to rely on its in-laws to assist it. Its foundation is too weak. The Old Madam is going to use Third Miss to gain the power.“

nYujing stared at her mother with big eyes, “Mother means that Grandmother wants to marry Yuchen to a prince?” It couldn’t be to the Emperor, since he was already an old man.

nConcubine Rong nodded her head and reminded her daughter, “So, Yujing, don’t ever compete with Third Miss.” Presumably, there was even nothing that Yujing could compete with. Third Miss had a good family background, strong backers, outstanding appearance and high talent. Competing with Third Miss was like seeking disaster.

nYujing was silent for a moment and said, “There’s nothing I can say about Yuchen, but what about Yuxi? I’m better than her anyway. Why does Grandmother favour her so much?”

nConcubine Rong sighed and answered, “Because, she is currently studying with Teacher Song.” Getting this title was equivalent to cross into a layer of gold.

nYujing was extremely resentful, “If it weren’t for that darn girl, I would have also learn from Teacher Song.” This way, she could make her Grandmother looked at her with new eyes, but now it was useless for her to say anything on this matter.

nConcubine Rong advised Yujing, “Now, you don’t go and provoke Fourth Miss. She is no longer the foolish and awkward girl who you can bully at will. It is you who will suffer if you provoke her.”

nYujing’s heart moved. She remembered a rumour among accidental talks she had heard and asked, “Mother, don’t you also think Yuxi had changed into a new person?”

nConcubine Rong was very keen and immediately said, “Second Girl, you must remember that before you do something to Fourth Miss, you must guarantee that you don’t leave any traces on her. Otherwise, you’ll just bring trouble to yourself.”

nYujing could feel an inexplicable feeling in her heart. Now, she unexpectedly had to dread that Yuxi, whom she had turned up her nose and didn’t even put in front of her eyes all these years.

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nAt the same time, Yuxi was already tired from reading and went out of the study, ready to walk outside for a change of mind. Once she was outside, she saw Moju bowed her head, while carefully embroidering a handkerchief.

nYuxi asked with a smile, “Why haven’t you finished embroidering this handkerchief when it has been nearly two months already? You have never embroidered this slow before. “

nMotao just came in at that moment and heard what Yuxi was saying. She answered on behalf of Moju, “Miss, Sister Moju is embroidering these handkerchiefs as birthday gifts for Miss.”

nHearing this, Yuxi took the handkerchiefs from Moju’s hand and saw a rose on one of it. Yuxi had changed a lot now. She used to like lotus flowers, but now she liked roses. Although roses could be seen everywhere, but they had been growing calmly, quietly blooming their own beauty. Just like the roses, she was also ordinary, but she believed that over time, she could also blossom her own glory.

nHongshan’s mouth was the most nimble there, “Miss, Sister Moju had embroidered different roses on each handkerchief. The first handkerchief, she embroidered the bud of the rose, the second one, the newly blooming rose, while on the third one, she embroidered the rose in its fully bloom.”

nYuxi looked at the handkerchiefs in her hand and handed it back to Moju with a smile, “Thank you very much.” Moju had put so much thought for her small birthday.

nMoju smiled and responded, “Handmaiden only have this skill.”

nWhen Yuxi entered her room, she always felt as if she had forgotten something, but she couldn’t remember what. Until when she went to sleep that night where she suddenly bounced off the bed. Yes, how could she forget that three days before her birthday was the day when Jiang Hongfu would have an accident?

nYuxi wiped out a cold sweat. Fortunately, it was still ten days before her birthday and she still had time. However, there was another problem. She couldn’t go out of the residence at all. So, how could she save Jiang Hongfu?

nYuxi thought for a long time but she still couldn’t come up with a reason why the accident happened. Finally, she fell asleep feeling exhausted. However, she had been thinking about this matter in her mind even when she was awake, making her failed to concentrate during the lecture. As a result, she couldn’t answer Teacher Song’s question.

nTeacher Song came to Yuxi’s side with her ruler and said, “Reach out your hand.”

nOnce her hand had been hit, Yuxi could feel it turning red and swollen. She complained bitterly in her heart that this punishment was too painful. It seemed that when Teacher Song used to hit her a few times before, they were just an acts.

nAlthough Yuxi was punished for being absent-minded during class, she still obediently went to admit her mistake to Teacher Song after class had ended, “Teacher, I’ve been busy thinking about something, so I had been in a trance during class.”

nTeacher Song asked, “What were you thinking about?”

nYuxi shyly said, “I had a dream last night. I dreamed that my gift that I had sent to my father had been stolen.” Her statement showed that she was actually a filial daughter.

nTeacher Song didn’t know whether she should laugh or cry, “It’s just a dream. Why do you take it too seriously?” Only at this time did she feel that Yuxi was only a child, not a small adult.

nYuxi looked up and said anxiously, “It doesn’t matter even if it was just a dream. But what if such a thing really happens?” Her real problem now was that she didn’t know how to save Jiang Hongfu!

nTeacher Song smiled and said, “It’s not going to be easy. If you don’t trust the people in the residence, you can find an escort agency. Just ask for some armed escorts to escort it for you.” (T

/N : The link I have provided for escort agency was an example how an escorts agency would like during Ming and Qing Dynasties.)

nYuxi’s eyes sparkled, “Escort Agency? Armed escorts? Do they specifically help escort things? “

nTeacher Song was not surprised that Yuxi had never heard of an armed escort, not to mention that Yuxi was only five years old. Even those came-of-age young ladies did not know what an armed escort was. So, she told Yuxi about the nature of the escort agency industry, “Escort agencies are specialized in protecting property or personal safety for a fee. Armed escorts are people who work in escort agencies. These people are all skilled in martial arts.”

nYuxi was delighted, but she realised that her other problem still had not be solved. She still could not go out. Then, how could she invite an armed escort to secretly protect Jiang Hongjin on that day?

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