Chapter 88 : Probing (1)

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After the Dragon Boat Festival, Yuxi received an invitation card from Heshou Xianzhu, which was too hot for her to handle independently.

 

So, when Yuxi knew that Heshou Xianzhu had also invited Yuchen, she immediately went to Tingyun Pavilion to find Yuchen.
She morosely said to her, “San Jie, do you think there is something harmful behind this invitation from Heshou Xianzhu? “

 

Yuchen was not a stupid person.
How could she not know that Heshou Xianzhu was acting very peculiar that day? However, it was useless for her to be worried, so she replied, “There’s no harm in it.
For now, just keep the appointment.”

 

Yuxi felt very bitter as she complained, “San Jie, it was the first time I met Heshou Xianzhu in Marquis Taining residence.
Why do you think she had been hostile to me? I already asked Eldest Aunt.
Our residence has never conflicted with Qingyang Gongzhu nor the Qiao family.” Not to mention that there was no conflict between them; even something common like oral quarrel had never happened.
This made Yuxi felt that Heshou Xianzhu’s hostility was a really unfathomable mystery.

 

Yuchen indifferently said, “Don’t worry.
This time, Heshou Xianzhu has invited many other people, not just the two of us.
There is nothing she can do to us while we’re in public.“

 

One should never look at Yuchen like she would usually be like a heavenly fairy maiden.
Her sources for information were much faster and more comprehensive than Yuxi’s.
Whenever there was trouble in the capital, Yuchen would be among the first to know about it.
It was just that, Yuchen had never changed her voice and expression because of emotion, so outsiders never realised it.
Even Yuxi was just guessing it.

 

Yuxi asked, “Who else did she have invited?” It seemed like Heshou Xianzhu would be inviting girls from prominent families to attend the banquet in the name of chrysanthemum appreciation.

 

Yuchen answered, “Yu family, Jiang family, Duan family, Li family and Zhou family.
More than a dozen of them have been invited.” The girls whom Heshou Xianzhu had invited was either a noble girl or from a family of high ranking official.
Her vision was genuinely unusual.

 

Yuxi nodded and said, “That’s good.” She also knew that she was too nervous about Heshou Xianzhu’s smooth and slick way of making social contacts.
Even if Heshou Xianzhu wanted to deal with her, she wouldn’t take action at the banquet held at her own home.
It was just that this feeling of being treated hostile for no reason made Yuxi feel that she had horrible luck.

 

Yuchen looked at Yuxi’s tangled expression and felt it looked a little funny.
“Don’t worry.
Although Heshou Xianzhu is a xianzhu, we don’t need to be afraid of her.” As long as both of them stood upright and steady, there was nothing Heshou Xianzhu could do to them.

 

Yuxi would like to tell her that I also won't be this afraid if I have your kind of background.
Her current problem was that her father did not love her, so did her grandmother, nor did she have the support from her Eldest Uncle’s family.
It was a sad reminder of her bad life.

 

No matter how entangled Yuxi was, she didn’t intend to turn down the invitation.
She knew that it wasn’t good for her always to avoid problems.
Even if she managed to evade them this time, she would still need to face them in the future.

 

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Heshou Xianzhu only requested Yuxi’s and Yuchen’s appearances in the banquet but did not invite Yuru and Yujing.
It was not that she looked down upon them, but the invitations she sent were all for legitimate daughters.
Of course, no one would stop an illegitimate daughter to come along if she wanted to follow.

 

Yujing wanted to go, so she also urged Yuru to go with her.

 

Yuru unexpectedly rejected Yujing’s idea as she said, “Er Meimei, Xianzhu did not invite us.
If we still go without any invitation, won’t it be something embarrassing for us when we arrive there?” Back in the days, she hated Yuxi and Yuchen and her status as an illegitimate daughter.
But after years of being taught by Momo Chang, Yuru had finally accepted her situation.
No matter how much she hated it, she could never change her status.
Instead of complaining and being jealous day by day, she should try her best to please her Mother to help her find a good family for her in the future. [+]

 

Yujing hated iron for not becoming steel when Yuru rejected her suggestion without even taking time to consider it.
However, she knew she couldn’t influence Yuru’s way of thinking, nor could she decide for her.
However, she was still unwilling to give up, but she could only sulk in her room, as she didn’t dare to find Qiu Shi herself.
The relationship between her birth mother and her dimu was like fire and water.
Fortunately, her dimu didn’t throw stones at her who had fallen down a well or secretly harm her.
If not, who was going to pave the way for her marriage? She was already 14 years old now, and she would come of age next year.
She still had to plan for her future herself.

 

After turning the matter over and over in her mind, Yujing finally decided to turn to Yuchen for help.
Since she had a bad relationship with Yuxi and ruled her out, it left Yuchen as her last choice.

 

Yuchen’s reputation as a friendly sister did not come out of thin air.
She would not refuse any request for help as long as it was within her means.
She knew Yujing's purpose, so she hesitated for a moment, but then, she finally agreed.
Yuchen was not Yuxi.
She couldn’t directly say that Heshou Xianzhu only invited legitimate daughters.
However, she instructed her maid to privately tell this matter to Yujing’s personal maid, hoping that Yujing would sound out the difficulties and retreat to avoid defeat.
To Yuchen’s disappointment, Yujing was still preparing to go even after knowing Xianzhu’s intention.

 

Momo Gui felt that she had taught Yuchen too well.
“Miss, you can completely push the Second Miss’ request to the First Lady or the Old Lady.
You should not have agreed to it.”

 

Yuchen tried to explain with a wry smile, “I didn’t expect Er Jie still insists on going even after she knows all the details.” If it was her, she definitely would not go.

 

Momo Gui shook her head and said, “Miss, Second Miss has big intentions.
In the future, Miss should be more on guard against her.” Out of the four young misses of the state residence, the eldest was the most honest, while the second one was the most ambitious, but unfortunately, she lacked the means.
The fourth one seemed straightforward, but she was the most calculating one.
As for Fifth Miss, she had become completely foolish under Wu Shi’s teaching.
Fortunately, she was still at a young age.
Maybe she could break off her bad habits, and perhaps she could be changed back to a clean slate.

 

Yuchen nodded slowly, “Momo, I know what to do.”

 

Qiu Shi didn’t have a daughter of her own; thus, for the past two years, she had spent all her motherly affection on Yuxi.
Knowing that Yuxi would attend Heshou Xianzhu’s banquet, she immediately ordered the sewing room to make two sets of new clothes.
The money for the clothes was from her private account, so others could not complain about it.

 

On the day of the banquet, Yuxi got up early to wash and dress herself up.
She could be casual at home on weekdays, but she couldn’t make any mistakes when she was outside, because she in a way, represented the face of the residence.
If something went wrong, outsiders would only laugh at the poor upbringing the residence had given her.

 

When Qiu Shi saw Yuxi, she smiled and said, “You will have to dress like this more inside the residence in the future.
It looks good on you.” Yuxi was usually not badly dressed, but she did not apply any makeup when she was in residence.
She would never be as glamorous as she was now.

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Yuxi smiled and responded, “It is my aunt who has a good sight for making me such a beautiful dress.” Qiu Shi used bright and good materials for her dresses.
According to Qiu Shi's way of thinking, if young girls didn’t wear bright colours now, when else would they wear them?

 

Yujing, in the end, unable to go to the Gongzhu residence to admire the chrysanthemum as she had wished.
It wasn’t because someone had caused trouble for her, but she had to take some medicine as she had caught a cold.

 

Before going to the banquet, the servants brought the two of them in front of Qiu Shi.
This time, all the people who had been invited by Heshou Xianzhu were around the same age.
So naturally, Qiu Shi would not follow along.
Yuxi had already attended several banquets.
If she just went to someone else’s house, she would not have been this nervous.
But now, she would be going to Gongzhu residence, which made her heart feel highly anxious.

 

When Yuchen saw Yuxi looking worried like this, she smiled and said, “Si Meimei, if you are feeling really worried, you can just follow me later.”

 

Yuxi immediately agreed.

 

It took more than half an hour to get from the state residence to the Gongzhu residence.
Yuxi felt really bored and took a qipu from the table next to her for reading.

 

Yuchen frowned and advised, “Yuxi, reading inside the carriage will hurt your eyes.” On the surface, Yuxi was no worse than Yuchen.
In terms of details, that difference was only a tiny bit.

 

Yuxi listened to Yuchen and casually put the qipu back to its place.
Before, she always envied Yuchen and thought Yuchen was good at everything, but now she didn’t believe so.
Nurturing Momo had taught Yuchen too well that her every word and every deed completely conform to the requirements of a girl from a good family.
However, with Yuchen groomed to be like she was a block of moulding board made others felt that she was unreal.

 

When they arrived at the Gongzhu residence, Yuchen and Yuxi got on a small painted chariot together.
Initially, they should greet Qingyang Gongzhu first, but since the Gongzhu had gone to the palace, this procedure was not required.

 

The two went directly to the garden.
Just as they entered the garden, Yuxi saw a girl coming up to them.

 

The girl who had come over had her hair combed into a zhuima bun, inserted with a peony hairpin inlaid with precious stones, and two Eastern Pearls hung under her ears with gold threads.
The material of her dress was silk satin called Green Jade of Tianshui, and the skirt was full of embroidered petals.
The girl was lovely and easy to like.

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Zhuima bun
Image Credit : 微观时尚圈 (古代女子的发型对比，最丑的是清朝的，秦汉时期最美, October 17, 2018) via QQ

An example of Eastern Pearls Earrings
Image Credit : Akoya via 以雅以南 at Zhihu

When the little girl saw Yuchen, she was stunned for a moment, but she quickly responded with a smile while saying in a loud voice, “Is this Yuchen Jiejie?” She immediately regarded Yuxi as she was transparent.

 

Yuchen nodded and asked, “You are?”

 

“I’m Jiang Qi.
Yuchen Jiejie, you are so beautiful,” the little girl answered crisply.

 

Yuchen was also dressed up today.
She wore a crimson duijin covered with cross collar soft silk shirt.
While on the inside, she wore a greenish-blue ruqun embroidered with branches and peonies.
She styled her hair into a small flowing cloud bun, inserted with a slightly slanted single piece of green coloured jade phoenix head hairpin.
Her ears and wrists were also using the same colour and quality of earrings and bracelets.
Coupled with her extraordinary appearance and outstanding temperament, her beauty was peerless.
 

The orange short-sized jacket is called duijin, while the clothes inside are called ruqun.
Yuchen was also wearing outerwear that covered the duijin and ruqun, like a long coat, but in ancient China, it was called shan (山) or shirt in English.
Please correct me if I’m wrong.

 

Yuxi looked at Jiang Qi and the bad memories of her past spring up in her mind.
Fortunately, Zisu reacted very fast.
When she saw Yuxi become stunned, she immediately pinched her secretly so that Yuxi’s expression could immediately return to normal.

 

Yuchen had long been used to compliments from others, so she just nodded slightly at Jiang Qi and asked, “Did Miss Jiang come alone?”

 

Jiang Qi shook her head and answered, “I came with my sister.” She informed Yuchen that her elder sister, Jiang Yun, was the eldest daughter of the Jiang family.

 

At this time, Heshou Xianzhu came over with her maid.
She took a glimpse at Yuxi, who was standing calmly beside Yuchen.
Her eyesight moved quickly to another side, as she smilingly said, “Qi Meimei, weren’t you the one who kept on saying that you want to see Yuchen Meimei, so today you can feast your eyes on her.”

 

Yuchen frowned slightly when she heard this.

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Heshou Xianzhu seemed to not realise that the words she just said were wrong.
She just continued talking, “Yuchen Meimei, Qingxia Meimei is waiting for you in the yard.
That biaomei of mine has been talking nonstop about you since she saw you last time.
Knowing that you’re coming today, she had come here early in the morning.”

 

So, Yuchen took Yuxi along with her to meet the Qingxia Junzhu.

 

After Heshou Xianzhu said a few words to Jiang Qi, she walked away.
Then, she secretly called the old woman servant, who brought in Yuxi and asked, “Did something unusual with Fourth Miss Han after she saw Miss Jiang just now?” It was not a coincidence that Yuxi met Jiang Qi as soon as she arrived at the Gongzhu residence.
This meeting had been personally arranged by Heshou Xianzhu.

 

The maid who also helped brought Yuxi in shook her head and said, “There was nothing unusual.
However, Miss Jiang only talked to Third Miss Han and ignored Fourth Miss Han.
When this maidservant looked at Fourth Miss Han’s manner, it seemed like she didn’t take the matter into her heart.” There was no way for one’s heart not to feel uncomfortable when being ignored like that.

 

Heshou Xianzhu asked incredulously, “Was there nothing unusual at all?” If Han Yuxi were the same as her, the expression on her face would have drastically changed, or it would have shown a feeling of disgust when she saw Jiang Qi.
Somehow, there was no response coming from her.
What kind of situation was this?

 

The maid firmly answered, “There was nothing unusual.
When Fourth Miss Han saw the miss from the Jiang family, she looked calm, and nothing unusual happened.“ Yuxi was also quite lucky.
When she had become stunned, she had turned her back on the maid who was leading the way.

 

Heshou Xianzhu talked to herself, “Can it be that I have really been thinking too much?”

 

During this time, Heshou Xianzhu also sent someone to inquire a lot more information about Yuxi.
It could be said that the current Han Yuxi and her old impression of her were two completely different people.
However, regarding Han Yuxi’s strangeness, Heshou Xianzhu seemed to be unable to come with any explanation.
Although Han Yuxi had changed a lot, there was nothing unusual about her.

 

NOOB TRANSLATOR’S MUSING

 

It's good that Yuru has found the right way.
This new attitude of hers will help her a lot in the future.
She and Yujing will have an opposite future because of the changes or unchanged attitudes.

 

So, this banquet was actually a plot for Heshou Xianzhu to check whether Yuxi was like her or not.
It funny that she couldn't find anything against Yuxi.
Do you guys think that she will stop plotting against Yuxi?