Chapter 8.1

This is not a professional translation; you have been warned. ʘ‿ʘ

Chen Ping Wu returned to Lin(arrive) Bi(green) Xuan (pavilion), still thinking about the woman he just saw.

This Lin Bixuan is his study, because when you arrive here you can easily see the green willows all over the bank of the lake thus, this name was adopted.

The room is three rooms wide, all of which are open, separated by several duobao shelves. The most remarkable one is the book case in the room, which is much wider than the ordinary book case. There are pen holders, writing brush washers, paper weights and other objects on it. There are several large blue and white cylinders placed beside the book case. Inside the cylinder are scroll paintings.

Everyone knows that the second master of Chen’s family was not very successful in the imperial examination and didn’t make any progress in the officialdom, but Chen Ping Wu’s heart was not in this. What he admired more was the famous people in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. He was deeply attached to the landscape painting and calligraphy. He was pure and handsome, indulged in the mountains and rivers, and only use literary style to appeal romantic. What is the pursuit of fame with knowledge?

To put it bluntly, Chen Ping Wu despised the common affairs.

But he did have some talents in painting and calligraphy. He was called Jiu Heng Jushi. His paintings and calligraphy are hard to find in the market.

Chen Ping Wu sat in the study for a long time, he suddenly stood up and searched for a moment in the bookcase behind him, then found a painting.

Spreading out the painting, it was a woman.

Although not the appearance to cause a downfall of the city, the woman looked like a delicate willow flower.

If Pan Er is here, she will surely find that although she looks different from the woman in the painting, her eyebrows and eyes are very similar. The beautiful eyebrows, watery eyes, and at first glance can’t help it but pamper her.

“Liu-er…”

Stunned for a moment, Chen Ping Wu suddenly shouted Chen Cai, and soon came in a man in blue from the door.

“Master, but what’s the matter?”

“You see that woman just now…”

Chen Cai is the servant born in the Chen family. He has followed Chen Ping Wu for many years, and naturally knows his master’s mind. Just now, Chen Ping Wu’s strange attitude fell into his eyes. He could not help but look at the woman more.

When he came back, he saw that the master had locked himself in his study. He was thinking that the master was having another ^[1] ‘touching the scenery and feelings’, otherwise, why would he come here.

“Master, that woman really looks like Concubine Wang, but Concubine Wang is gone.”

Chen Ping Wu murmured “Yuan-er”.

Chen Cai was shocked immediately, and then he knew where the master was thinking going to.

His smile was a little dry, and he said, “It was really sad that something like that happened in those years, but this woman is from Yangzhou. Yangzhou is a thousand miles away from the capital. She is a thin horse that the eldest son-in-law found. It can’t be such a coincidence.”.

There is another sentence that Chen Cai didn’t say. In those days, he knew that ten girls must be gone, but he knew Chen Ping Wu’s heart knot. Naturally, he didn’t dare to say it clearly.

Chen Ping Wu was in a trance for a long time and sighed slowly, “Maybe I’ve thought more.”

He waved and let Chen Cai go.

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On the other hand, shortly after Pan Er returned to the guest house, Li Rongjia found her.

She asked Li Rongjia to sit down and let Qing Dai served tea.

Li Rongjia’s sitting on the chair in an ostentatious manner. She’s wearing a brown bǐ jiǎ, her hair combed in a bun with an old silver hairpin inlaid with agate stones, and gold-plated earrings on her earlobes. She has a round face, but she has a pair of triangular eyes. The sharp light appears frequently in the eyes between words and talks. At first sight you know that she can’t be trifled with.

She’s really not easy to mess up with. If it wasn’t for Pan Er having experience an additional lifetime, I am afraid that she would have been miserable. This old lady is also tricky. She usually asks Pan Er to learn the rules. She has learned them over and over again. If any action is not in place, she will be whipped with wicker.

It hurts you, but leaving no scars on your body.

Not only that, Li Rongjia’s swearing is also extremely unpleasant. Every time she opens her mouth she swears about this ‘little hooves’. She rarely scolds Pan Er, mostly its Xiang Pu and Qing Dai. ^[2] This is to kill the monkey and warn the chicken. They want to make things difficult for Pan Er and inflict her with fear so that the second madam can control her.

Pan Er knows that if she slaps her with some silver, this old woman will definitely change her face. But in order to avoid the unnecessary trouble, she has to bear it.

At this moment, she just came back from Yunxia courtyard, and Li Rong’jia came here again. Looking at her posture, she is here to beat her again.

Sure enough, Li Rong’s family just didn’t talk a little. In addition to beating Pan Er, she also gave ^[3] eye medicine to the eldest branch and Zhao Xi Yue.

The reason why Zhao Xi Yue look down on her is that Pan’er was born in a humble family. On the other hand, Zhao Xi Yue was born form the Zhao family in Henan, an honorable family. Naturally they do not put her in their eyes. However, it doesn’t matter, as long as Pan Er depends on the crown princess in the future, she can naturally step on this person at her feet.

Sometimes Pan Er can’t help but wonder if the Crown Princess was really born by the second madam, why are they mother and daughter, but the means are so far apart.

She has been fighting with the Crown Princess for a lifetime. She has seen the means of the princess. If she changes to the second madam, it’s impossible for her to be the Empress. I’m afraid the bones will be gone long ago.

This method is not entirely useless. It’s just that she has lived another lifetime and seen ^[4] ‘ all sorts of ghosts and demons’. Like in the previous life, she was grasp firmly by these kind of people.

Everyone was relieved to deal with Li Rongjia’s departure.

Aunt Qing sighed, “It’s hard on you.”

A little while, Pei Yong Chang came in here.

Pei Yong Chang and Pan Er live next to each other’s yard, so it’s natural to know how the second madam handled Pan Er these days.

As usual, she sat down and served tea. This time, Pan Er changed her attitude, saying that she saw Zhao Xi Yue today, and mentioning what Li Rongjia said.

Later, she said, “Master, I think it’s almost the same. You can tell the second madam to accept me as your righteous sister, and take me into the East Palace as a concubine like Miss Zhao. In this way, the first lady and Miss Zhao won’t be too proud. The second madam would be a little ease.”.

Pei Yong Chang was stunned and didn’t expect Pan Er to say that.

He thought about it for a second and agreed.

He considered what Pan Er experienced these days, and he thought about the situation of Chen family, his eyes are filled with wonder.

It’s naturally better for her to be his righteous sister.

When she crossed the road of the East Palace and later if people mentioned Pan Er’s identity, they would say that she was the younger sister of Chen’s son-in-law.

Don’t look down at this small difference. It should be noted that even the senior officials of the government party, their famous names can’t enter the Crown Prince’s ears. If Pan Er is favored in the future, the Crown Prince can’t easily promote the Chen family, and will naturally exalted his (Pei) family.

Again, Pan Er will not be controlled by the second branch.

Before that, Pei Yong Chang said that he would send Pan Er in as a servant girl and he didn’t have this kind of idea.

The maidservant is driven by others and used by others. In the future, every day under the eyes of the crown princess, if you want to be really favored, you have to see the face of the Crown Princess and how it is used by her. It’s different to be a concubine, at least the crown princess will not do too much on the surface.

And these days, Pei Yong Chang has seen the means of the second madam to knead Pan Er. He is also worried about making clothes for other people.

He is not a fool to be an able salt merchant and do such big business. Pei Yong Chang still has his own decisions. He agreed and left in a hurry.

Naturally, he would not mention it now, but used some maidservants of Yunxia courtyard to stir up the flames in the second madam’s ear.

Pei Yong Chang, as the second branch’s son-in-law, had to deal with the people in Yunxia courtyard. Usually, everyone has accepted the benefits of Pei Yong Chang, no need to say it is only naturally convenient to operate at this time.

Especially Liu Mama. In order to brush the sense of existence in front of the second room these years, Pei Yong Chang didn’t give Liu Mama less money. Now that’s a lot of money to put in her hand, Liu Mama dares not refuse.

In addition, recently, three rooms and four rooms have been fighting with the eldest madam in the arena. The disturbance is not small and the old madam also stepped in. She reprimanded the third and fourth madam.

In the future, the family will be under the control of the eldest madam and the third and fourth madam do not really want to offend her totally. They don’t want to the source of calamity so later; they often say in front of the servants that the second madam uses them to fight with the first madam.

At the instigation of several parties, Pei Yong Chang appeared again at this time. The second madam thought that she would not lose the battle. Pei Yong Chang was her son-in-law. Even if she raised the status of the thin horse, she just wanted to disgust the old madam, so she immediately agreed.

For this reason, many things have been done to lift up Pan Er, such as sending clothes and jewelry. It is said that Zhao Xi Yue should take care of Pan Er as a younger sister. After all, Pan Er is smaller in age than Zhao Xiyue.

The eldest madam and Zhao Xi Yue have always been proud of themselves. This move done by the second madam made their daughter comparable to a thin horse. Who can bear this humiliation?

 On the 12^th of April, two sedans were taken into the east palace.

T/N: This chapter is such a spoiler (－‸ლ).
The palace drama begins ~

• [1] ‘touching the scenery and feelings’ [chù jǐng shēng qíng] <触景生情> – be moved by what one sees; recall old memories at familiar sights; the scene brings back memories.
• [2] killing the chicken to warn the monkey [shā jī jǐng hóu] <杀鸡儆猴> – (idiom) to punish an individual as an example to others. [same with the famous French quotation ‘pour encourager les autres’ meaning in order to encourage the others —said ironically of an action (such as an execution) carried out as a warning to others.]
• [3] [shàng yǎn yào] <上眼药> – (literally eye medicine/eye drops) is a metaphor for making small reports to leaders, superiors, elders, etc. about a person’s situation, secretly spoiling the whole person. Small, many actions or things that are not very strong that make you uncomfortable can be described as “eye drops”. 
• [4] all sorts of ghost and demons [niú guǐ shé shén] <牛鬼蛇神>- (fig.) bad characters

duobao shelves

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