Chapter 41: See the Liveliness
Chapter 41: See the Liveliness
After the crown prince died, his daughters were promoted from princess (junzhu) to princess (gongzhu) [1], and his son assumed the title of Prince Huai.
Princess Jiuli and Princess Jiuling were the two who were elevated from princess (junzhu).
When Jiuli was born, the former emperor succeed in forging the weapons, so he gave the young princess (junzhu) a name from ancient times.
Two years later, Jiuling was born. Nothing particularly exciting happened, so she wasn’t any sort of a lucky omen. Her birth, instead, made everyone lose hope.
The crown prince and the crown princess consort had already been married for four years. They had had a daughter, so they should now have had a son. As this was related to the imperial family’s succession and the crown prince’s body had never been well, if they had had a son, then the line of succession would have been made clear.
As a result, when they birthed a princess, the former emperor was old and worried about the crown prince’s illness. His mood was full of melancholy, and so he gave her a name full of hope.
Jiuling [1], from when King Wu spoke of dreaming of living to ninety [2], an omen of longevity.
But sadly, the crown prince could not achieve longevity. The former emperor also did not achieve longevity. Princess Jiuling was not useful.
The storyteller, of course, did not dare say this. He merely lamented the transient beauty Princess Jiuling.
“… after Princess Jiuling had died of illness, Thousand-Man Commander Lu was in mourning…”
Ah.
Miss Jun pulled down her sleeve to cover her hand, which was propped on the corner of the table.
Because it involved the topic of the former crown prince’s bloodline, the main hall’s atmosphere had frozen over somewhat. Because of the group of Jinyiwei watching them like tigers from the upper floor, nobody knew whether to cheer or lament. Everyone’s expressions were twisted as they sat.
“… The emperor was also very sad. The empress then suggested that Thousand-Man Commander Lu should remarry… Princess Jiuli had been acting as a mother, diligently raising Prince Huai and had never married…”
Ah.
Miss Jun tightened her grip on the table corner.
“… The emperor asked Princess Jiuli. She said she wanted to marry Thousand-Man Commander Lu, citing fondness for when Thousand-Man Commander Lu had protected the crown princess and crown princess consort…”
Ah.
Miss Jun felt her fingers curl. Perhaps one of her fingernails had broken off and was piercing her skin. Maybe, but she couldn’t feel the pain.
“…It truly was in-laws marrying in-laws…”
The storyteller’s spittle flew as he excitedly waved his fan about.
“… Thousand-Man Commander Lu wanted to observe Princess Jiuling’s death for three years, but the emperor did not want for Princess Jiuli to wait. Princess Jiuling was left unhappy in the netherworld, so Thousand-Man Commander Lu is to observe her death for half a year. The nuptials are set for next June.
“And so, I am hear to tell everybody of the happy event in the capital…”
Here, the storyteller dropped off, and the whole hall was still.
“Is this a very happy event?” one of the Jinyiwei voice came from above. Following his voice came the sounds of sheathed swords knocking against the railings. The people who heard it felt their scalps go numb.
“A very happy event!” they hurried to shout out in response.
After someone spoke first, everyone else came to their senses and hurried to shout about the happy occasion.
Anyway, this was something that was unrelated to them. Who Thousand-Man Commander Lu married, or who married Thousand-Man Commander Lu was not of any importance to them. These Jinyiwei just wanted to gain the favor of their superiors.
Shouting a few sentences, making the place lively, was no loss to them.
As they knew this, the atmosphere of the whole hall turned livelier.
In this type of atmosphere, the people who didn’t say anything stuck out. Fang Yuxiu couldn’t help but also open her mouth. When she saw Miss Jun entranced in thought, she hurried to poke her.
Miss Jun looked at her.
“This truly is a very happy occasion,” said Fang Yuxiu.
She was prompting her to say it with her.
This truly is a very happy occasion.
This truly is a very happy occasion.
This truly is a very happy occasion.
It was not enough to ruin one, they had to send another.
Making them deeply grateful to their enemy, making them cater to their enemy’s happiness.
Miss Jun felt her heart was like churning rivers and overturning seas. She wanted to retch.
Her hand gripped the table even tighter.
“This truly is a very happy occasion,” she said slowly.
The festivities on the lower floor made the Jinyiwei very happy, and they descended with their swords put away. Two of them went over to the storyteller and tossed him a sack of silver.
“Well said,” they told him. “Tell more people in the coming days that Thousand-Man Commander Lu has twice married princesses. That this is a result of holy blessing and power. That the citizens of Yangcheng will be very happy.”
The storyteller made a sound of agreement.
The Jinyiwei turned around, watching the people in the hall.
“Everyone is happy. If you are happy, you must laugh. Laugh, laugh,” The lead male said with his hands on his waist.
The people in the hall laughed right away.
The Jinyiwei travelled through the crowd, big smiles on their faces, but they were also viciously eying the crowd.
Fang Yuxiu lifted her sleeve to cover her face as she forced out a laugh. Miss Jun was sitting next to her with a wooden expression. Fang Yuxiu had to prod her again.
Miss Jun saw the approaching Jinyiwei, and slowly, a smile bloomed across her face.
Then Jinyiwei passed them, directly going to the exit.
The main hall was loud and clamorous. The people’s eyes flashed as they talked and laughed loudly for an indeterminate amount of time. Finally, someone said they were far away. Like their strength had been sucked out of them, everyone fell limp. Unable to lament anything, they followed each other out one by one. In the blink of an eye, the lively teahouse became deserted.
Fang Yuxiu’s face had paled considerably as she sighed and got to her feet.
“Let’s get out of here,” she said.
Miss Jun still sat there, unmoving. Her smile was frozen onto her face.
Was she so scared her soul had disappeared?
That meant that she wasn’t without a brain. She knew what people could be provoked, and what people could not.
Fang Yuxiu shoved her shoulder.
“Okay, okay. Don’t smile, it’s over,” she said. “Let’s go.”
It’s over?
It hadn’t ended. Everything had just begun.
Miss Jun inhaled deeply, then used the table to prop herself standing.
Fang Yuxiu unknowingly reached out to help her and discovered that she was trembling slightly, seemingly having difficulties with taking a step forward.
Really, what a good-for-nothing, she said in her head while not revealing anything on her face.
“I’ll go and call the servants to come in,” she said.
When Miss Jun had suddenly run into the tea house, the servant girls had not followed in after. When they got to the door, they heard things that they should not be listening to and immediately waited with the other servants outside.
Liu’er, although dismissive of this Young Miss of the Fang Family, but when she thought of how Young Miss was able to speak to her civilly, then of course she could too. She couldn’t possibly mess up Young Miss’ plans, so she listened and waited outside.
Miss Jun grabbed Fang Yuxiu’s wrist.
“No need, I can walk on my own,” she said.
So she’s afraid of losing face. Fang Yuxiu did not offer again, despite her grip on her wrist. Miss Jun soon let her go.
The two people filed out of the building.
The teahouse staff had started to pick up all the scattered tables and chairs. Although the Jinyiwei were scary, the staff knew that their goal this time was nothing harmful, and they should continue with their business as usual.
The people who had left in fright had already disappeared. New customers would come.
Noisy footsteps and the sound of girls’ laughter came from the entrance. When they met with Fang Yuxiu and Miss Jun at the entrance, both parties fell silent.
Ning Yunyan pulled off her hood, smiling her not-smile at them.
She did not say anything and did not make any motion to take a step. She seemed to be letting Miss Jun make the first move and get out of the way. This was what Miss Jun had done before.
Both parties remained in their deadlock, only a doorjamb between them.
But this time, Miss Jun only lowered her gaze and stepped forward, not really avoiding her. After Fang Yuxiu hesitated for a moment, she followed after her.
When the girls out the door saw her leaving like this, they all frowned.
“Miss Jun, get out of the way,” said one of the girls coolly.
“I have to go through this door.”
The girl subconsciously took a step back.
This infuriated Ning Yunyan.
“Don’t you have eyes, watch where you’re going!” she shouted with ill temper. She reached out to violently push that girl.
The girl had no choice but to step forward. Being publicly insulted set her belly on fire. She looked at Miss Jun, who was stepping through the threshold, with unbridled hatred.
But it wouldn’t look good for her to make a move against Miss Jun. It would be better…
The girl’s gaze fell on Fang Yuxiu, who had just stepped across the threshold after Miss Jun.
You can’t blame me for teaching this Fang Family dog a lesson. This is all because of Jun Zhenzhen.
They dare to marry Jun Zhenzhen. From now on, their days of being pulled into things will be many.
The girl raised her hand and sent it flying at Fang Yuxiu.
“Don’t you have eyes, what do you think you’re running into?” she cursed.
[1] A gongzhu is directly descended from the emperor. A junzhu is descended from his relatives. In this case, it acts as more of a title.
[2] Jiuling: it can roughly be translated to ninety years, on other words, a long life.
[3]King Wu spoke of dreaming of living to ninety: this is from a conversation between King Wu (Martial King) and King Wen (Literature King) from the Book of Rites. They were talking about long age. King Wen reckoned that King Wu would live three years longer than him. Both of them died in their 90s.