The Lady’s Sickly Husband

This was a long-decided date. Mo Qianxue got slightly dressed up, took over the food box that Yunyao handed her, and got onto the carriage.

Jian mansion had great gardens, and Mo Qianxue strolled along the corridor accompanied by Jian Qingyou.

On the way, she met a few of Jian Qingyou’s cousins and illegal sisters. They showed respect to Jian Qingyou and also smiled at Mo Qianxue.

Despite the smile, there was disdain and contempt in their eyes. The way they looked at Mo Qianxue exactly resembled that of the women in Jia mansion regarded grandma Liu when she had her first tour to Daguan Garden in the famous novel of A Dream of Red Mansions.

They made the courtesy, yet the eyes were were screening through Mo Qianxue.

They had heard that the first young lady invited a country girl here. Why didn’t she kneel down and kowtow to them when she saw these luxuriously dressed up noble ladies? Was she really planning to accept their courtesy?

As long as this country woman was scared by the exaggerated fanfare and kowtowed to them, it meant face-losing for the first young lady and extreme trample and ridicule on her fame. Later in the future, she couldn’t be as unparalleled noble, self-possessed and flawless as ever before.

However, Mo Qianxue wasn’t a bit daunted and looked right in their eyes and smiled, politely accepting their courtesy. Just a bunch of short-sighted spoiled young ladies. If she really cared, it would be real self-degrading. She was a guest, a guest of Jian mansion’s legal first young lady, so she must maintain a high profile.

Running up against a stone wall, those ladies instantly changed their expression, but they couldn’t find an excuse to accuse her.

With no one to stop or hold them, they only had to finish the courtesy, bending down and bowing to say hello.

Mo Qianxue nodded back and greeted them with a few words of politeness to express her thanks.

Jian Qingyou looked indifferent, totally ignoring those illegal sisters and cousins, waved her hand to let them retreat after the formalities, and continued to show Mo Qianxue around the garden.

Nanny Yuan followed them, shocked.

She knew that this Mrs. Ning had skills in doing business but didn’t expect that she also had such a sturdy character.

When things changed, her frame of mind didn’t, and she never took into account other people’s opinion, be it praise or humiliation.

She didn’t intend to please others or become humble in front of them, but all her manners demonstrated nobility and grace.

Jian mansion’s garden was huge, and the scenery became better as they went deeper inside. Nanny Yuan’s expression got better as well.

This garden was the best one in Tianxiang city. The construction and repeated restoration lasted a century, and the grandeur design awed most of the noble young ladies at their first tour here.

In the greenhouse, there were various of rarely-seen flowers and plants which vied blossoming beautifully even in winter.

However, this country woman seemed to regard it as a common sight.

Hence, she was more confirmed that Mo Qianxue wasn’t an ordinary woman, so she got increasingly hospitable.

The corridor was long with twists and turns all along. On the sides of the corridor, high or low, there were artificial hills, flower beds and bamboo forest.

It was not as good as the gardens in Suzhou in modern times, but similar.

Straight bamboos, lush pines, dense trees and long grass.

At the end of the corridor was a big pool.

Deep into the opposite side of the pool was also a densely-planted bamboo forest with multiple layers of leaves swing in the wind.

Just as the poem goes, peaceful wind and thin rain disturbed no sound.

The designer must be a talent.

It seemed easy to create peaceful wind and thin rain, there were actually few artists who really understood this… Without a cultivation of hundred-year culture, it would be impossible to design such a great garden.

By the pool stood an exquisite hexagonal pavilion with a stone table and chair in it, plain yet classic.

Jian Qingyou led Mo Qianxue into the pavilion which wasn’t too big. The servant girls and nannies consciously waited on the outer periphery, leaving them space to have fun and appreciate the scenery around.

Just at the moment, there was shivering in the bamboo leaves on the other side of the pool, as if someone inside was shaking the bamboos.

After a while, a person ran out of the forest, wearing a pink dress which was messy. Her hair was a mess too. She ran in a haste and meanwhile tried to tidy up her clothes in a fluster. Across the river, Mo Qianxue felt that tears drizzled from the corners of her eyes.

Jian Qingyou didn’t look at what was happening over there but kept gazing numbly at the creek before her.

It was already bitter winter. Two pairs of love birds were swimming on the water.

It provoked envy from Jian Qingyou’s eyes, accompanied by the-Lin Daiyu (a character in The Dream of Red Mansion)-burying-withered-flowers-kind-of sorrow. She peeled off pieces of buns and threw into water, attracting the birds to swim around and vie for food.

Mo Qianxue shook her head. In a big mansion like this, there were too many overt or hidden schemes and plots. She, an outsider, shouldn’t be told of. Then, she believed that she shouldn’t point it out to Jian Qingyou, which would embarrass her.

Sometimes, not knowing something was a kind of blessing.

As Mo Qianxue expected, when she looked up, there was a man in purple walked out of the bamboo forest, pacing leisurely and complacent.

Mo Qianxue said to herself: On such a cold day to do that, wasn’t he afraid that his thing might be frozen?

With this melodramatic thing in her mind, instantly Mo Qianxue lost the mood to hang around the garden and yawned.

Only in a while did Jian Qingyou came back to the earth and realized that she was strolling in her mind, which was a bit impolite to her friend, so she hurriedly apologized. Seeing that Mo Qianxue was a little tired, she pulled her to her room to take a rest.

Jian’s room wasn’t luxurious but clean and graceful, just like her, a person who had a taste for life.

The calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall, the root sculpture on the table, and the daffodils on the tea table eye-pleasingly matched with one another either in terms of style or color.

Mo Qianxue didn’t come here empty-handed. She had heard from Jian Qingyou of her domestic things. When she arrived here, it was just after lunch when she could personally present the cake she made to master, madam and old madam Jian.

There were too many people in this huge mansion for her to cover everyone. Besides, it wasn’t necessary to curdle up with others, so she only prepared for three people.

Gift-giving to elders was just one of her habits after years of struggling in the business circle.

Once they took a seat on the soft couch in the room, servant girls and nannies flooded over to serve.

Some fetched tea and refreshments, others handed over damped handkerchiefs, and still others gave a message…

Seeing everyone was on the go so orderly, Mo Qianxue couldn’t help exclaiming in secrecy, aristocrats were indeed different from them folks.

Sipping tea, she remembered the trace of sadness between Jian Qingyou’s eyebrows and joked, “Look at what you have, living in a house with garden but keep frowning all day long? You will no longer look beautiful if you have wrinkles.”

Listening to her words, Jian Qingyou sighed, “We are just artificial flowers living in a big mansion, though wrapped in silk or brocade clothes and looking noble, how can we be as free as you? Dancing to the wind and living in the way as you like. That’s true happiness.”

“You don’t regard me as a rough and uncourteous country woman? Look at you. You’re a real lady.” Mo Qianxue said appreciating her teacup, “You always talk properly, neither fast nor slow, neither in a high nor low pitch, and you also act in a graceful manner…”

Jian Qingyou looked into the eye of Mo Qianxue and said seriously, “I don’t know whether I’m really graceful or not, but I can tell you for sure: Qianxue, you don’t lose to any noble ladies. Your manner, character, courtesy and knowledge are no worse than a female aristocrat. You live as who you truly are; you know what you want and dares to pursue it. I think that as long as you’d like to, you can live the best life ever.”

Mo Qianxue found a little dull of her speech and also became shy by her praising, joking, “Are you frowning because of it? I thought you were trapped in love.”

That was only a joke, but Jian Qingyou felt her heart plummeting.

She lowered her head to look at her shadow reflected in the teacup, hesitating, sipped a little and put it down.

After a moment, she lifted up her head and gave nanny Yuan a look, and the nanny asked all the servants out.

This turned Mo Qianxue serious and gazing at Jian Qingyou.

After demanding out all the servants, nanny Yuan herself also stood at and guarded the door. Certainly, they couldn’t shut the door, as stipulated by the rules of a high-ranked family.

There were no irrelevant people around, but Jian Qingyou didn’t hurry in talking but only fixed her eyes on the peach blossom painting on the wall.

Mo Qianxue brought her eyes onto it. It was a picture of peach trees in full blossom, under which there was a dancing girl, who, by the figure, should be Jian Qingyou.

Staring for a long moment, Jian Qingyou started to talk, “He is a man that I met two years ago. On that day, I went to Hanshan Temple to pray for all. After the ceremony, I saw beautiful peach blossoms in the mountain, so I…”

“He caught me. At that time, the blossom rain fell everywhere. He, in white, was like a descending god…I thought I was in heaven…”

She talked about their first encounter in a light tone and calm expression, as if it had nothing to do with her. However, Mo Qianxue could still sense the deep feelings hidden between lines.

The feelings were hidden well but also placed deep in her heart and into her bones!

Listening to her narration and pondering for a while, Mo Qianxue believed that by her character, she wouldn’t mind, so Mo Qianxue asked directly, “Do you love that man?”

Jian Qingyou’s face turned still for a long while before she asked, “So obvious?”

Mo Qianxue laughed, “Very obvious.”

She fell silent for a moment and suddenly cracked a unparallelly bright smile, as beautiful as those peach blossoms, which seemed to render a circle of halo around her face.

She stared at the picture, feeling like time-travelling back to that day, “Yes, I love him.”

With restlessness, Jian Qingyou turned to look at Mo Qianxue, on whose face there wasn’t disdain but encouragement.

She turned back to look at the picture again. At the sight of the dancing girl in the blossom rain, she put on a sweet but sad smile, saying slowly, “I never heart such beautiful flute tune before. He was standing there, looking at me and playing the flute. My heart never beat that fast. Therefore, I began to dance around him.”

“That must be so beautiful.”

“I thought you would accuse me of being shameless.”

“How come? I really admire you!” The ancient women seldom dared to pursue their love and the deeper the feelings, the harder they tended to suppress themselves. But Jian Qingyou was different, so Mo Qianxue liked her more.

By her taste, the man must be extraordinary.

Jian Qingyou sensed the sincerity in her words, the warm smile on her face and the excited brilliance in her eyes, “I never saw a man smiling like that. He seemed to be smiling but also seemed not, as if he didn’t care anything but it felt like a flame as well, so scorching that you seemed to be able to feel his heat.”

After she finished speaking, her mind seemed to be immersed in the afternoon when she had lost her heart to the blossom forest.

Lost, and expectant…

Silence in the air.

Love! Mo Qianxue knew and understood but still moved by it.

No matter what was ahead, now Jian Qingyou was in love. She felt happy and bitter because of her own love, a bitter-sweetness that only someone who had ever fallen in love could understand.

Mo Qianxue smiled.

At the sight of Mo Qianxue’s smile, Jian Qingyou discovered that she was too agitated. Those were the words that she had wanted to say but didn’t dare to. She didn’t know why she spelled it out recklessly today.

Suddenly she became shy, flushed and turned away her face.

Jian Qingyou didn’t mention the name of the man, yet Mo Qianxue knew that she was referring to Xin Yiming. The white clothes, the jade flute and the elegant bearing belonged to no one other than Xin Yiming in Tianxiang city.

Only such an above-the-clouds man deserved her wholehearted love.

Mo Qianxue gazed at her and said, “He really loves you too.”

“I know!” Jian Qingyou looked back at her and didn’t ask why she was so sure, only smiling like bright morning glow, proud and satisfied.

But as she smiled, the brilliance dimmed down. Mo Qianxue was caught in fluster seeing her disappearing smile.

As she expected—

Jian said, “But, my grandmother, father and mother all protest against the marriage.”

Mo Qianxue asked in a hurry, “Why? I think you two families is a perfect match. Jian family is high-ranked, and Xin family is the governor of the city. You are both top families.”

Jian frowned, “His family isn’t good.”

“Xin family ranks top in Tainxiang city. Why not good?”

“Though in Tianxiang city, Xin family is good, but across the whole Tianqi, it doesn’t worth mentioning. His family has no foundation. At most, it’s an immerging noble, and to be stricter, it’s not noble at all. How can it be a good family in the eyes of grandmother and father?”

“Then what to do? Didn’t he come to propose? Didn’t he try to find a way?”

“He has come many times. A way? He did try, but the gap was just too huge. You know that a noble lady must marry a noble lord. What’s more, I’m an eldest lady and the most important woman of Jian family. I can’t marry any guy. Otherwise, why do you think that I’m still unmarried at an age of 18?”

She made a bitter smile.

Her identity was noble and glorious, but now, it became a stumbling block to her relationship.

Two women always quickly became intimate once they shared their love. Mo Qainxue held Jian’s hand, trying to give her a trace of belief.

In this wicked old society, her comfort seemed so powerless.

She shouldn’t teach a chaste woman to run away with a man, which would entirely ruin her reputation, should she? Or should Jian learn from uncourteous women to cry and shout and suicide to threaten her own families?

The two girls remained silent, holding each other by the hand.

Thinking of Ning Shaoqing’s health condition, Mo Qianxue felt sadder. Now it got nearer to the two-year limit. In next Spring, once her business was put onto the right track, she would take around him to visit famous doctors.

“Do you love him?” Jian Qingyou suddenly changed the subject. She referred to Ning Shaoqing, of course.

Mo Qianxue felt bitter and didn’t know what to answer, hesitating, when suddenly a servant girl’s voice rang from outside, “Nanny Liang, welcome here.”

“Why are you standing here and not serving inside?”

A few voices of greetings sounded nearer. Alerted, nanny Yuan had entered into the room first, standing next to Jian Qingyou to hold her up.

This nanny Liang wasn’t a normal servant; she was the most trusted nanny of old madam Jan.

It was said that many years ago old master had had a crush on her, so old madam started to test her and let her be a concubine, promising that as long as she gave birth to a song, her identity would be promoted again. However, she only kneeled down in front of old madam, changed her haircut, and swore that she would never get married for her life. In this way, she gained old madam’s favor and trust.

As it had turned out, she was right.

Among the then several indoor girls, only one struggled to become a concubine. But the one suffered chronicle diseases after giving birth to a son and lost his love, dead young.

Nanny Liang entered the room and didn’t insist to greet Jian Qingyou after being stopped. She chatted with Jian Qingyou for a while before she turned her eyes to Mo Qianxue.