主子 zhuzi – the masters of the household; the 奴婢 nubi and the 奴才 nucai work under contract for their 主子 zhuzi; legal slavery 奴婢 nubi – slave servant girl 奴才 nucai – slave servant; referring to themselves in third person is a form of debas.e.m.e.nt 老爷 laoye, 相爷 xiangye – old master, master; the head of the house 园 yuan – literally garden; here, it means courtyard, which is where n.o.ble women will be spending most of their time, since they can’t go out freely 国 guo – country; Yun Qian Meng is apparently now in ’West Chu Country’; I don’t actually know if the emperor had authority over all of Chu or not.
(Edit: I made a huge mistake! Housekeeper Zhang’s name was actually housekeeper Zhao! Even if he doesn’t deserve to have his name remembered correctly, all instances of Zhang have been replaced with the correct reading of Zhao. My apologies!)
(Edit: I was advised that Zhao’s position 管家 guanjia was more equivalent to the role of a butler in feudal China. It certainly makes sense, since he seems to hold a rather high position amongst the servants. Might take a bit to get used to it.) ?
When Mu Chun returned, Yun Qian Meng had already freshened up and was reclining on the bed, resting with her eyes closed.
Seeing her exhausted appearance, Mu Chun thought to blow out the candles and leave quietly. Unexpectedly, Yun Qian Meng chose this moment to ask, “How was it?”
Hearing her question, Mu Chun took the candle and arrived at the side of the bed. She repeated everything she had heard one time!
“Young miss, it looks as if laoye’s heart still holds deep affection for Su yiniang!” When she saw how Yun Qian Meng didn’t say anything after listening to her report, Mu Chun’s heart pained at the suffering of this injustice!
Clearly today, the young miss was injured and then further humiliated by Su yiniang, but laoye only appeared to punish Su yiniang in the public eye, instead he continued to fawn over her behind closed doors! It seemed that the evening meal was also one of Su yiniang’s tricks!
“Mu Chun, these things can’t be said in front of others!” Hearing how unsatisfied she felt, Yun Qian Meng’s heart had a warm feeling.
Even though she had only interacted with Mu Chun for half a day, she knew that other than Mu Chun, no one else could be more loyal to her in the xiangfu that was governed by Su yiniang!
You could say that ever since Yun Meng came to this West Chu guo, until now, the only one she could trust was Mu Chun!
As a result, she definitely couldn’t let her have a loose tongue; when all is said and done, she only had one trustworthy worker by her side!
Of course Mu Chun didn’t expect Yun Qian Meng to care for her instead. She couldn’t keep her feelings of grat.i.tude from showing on her face. She quickly nodded, then moved over to the dressing table, taking out the few remaining pieces of silver from a small wooden box. After counting, she asked, “Young miss, how about sending a few nubi to the market to buy some fresh vegetables for you to eat tomorrow?”
Yun Qian Meng looked at Mu Chun’s lowered right hand, seeing only a few small pieces of silver, asked, “How many days until the monthly allowance?”
Mu Chun looked slightly distracted as she was thinking before answering “The third day every month! Today is already the twenty-eighth!”
Yun Qian Meng slightly nodded after listening, she pondered for a while longer before she finally said, “Let’s save the money for now! Let’s just follow whatever the kitchen has prepared for these few days! You must be tired today, bring Shui’er and Bing’er to go have a rest!”
Mu Chun understood immediately, thinking that young miss was definitely saving for a rainy day. After all, even with laoye’s word, if Su yiniang wanted to find a way to cause trouble for them, it was as easy as taking candy from a baby! She immediately wrapped up the silver pieces and returned them to the small wooden box, then, she stepped out of Yun Qian Meng’s bedroom.
Mu Chun’s departure didn’t let Yun Qian Meng go right into dreamland, rather, her train of thought was unprecedentedly clear!
Only, the clearer her thoughts, the more her heart felt heavy with worry.
As a person from modern times, crossing over to an era not recorded in history, and the original owner of her body having no knowledge of worldly affairs, meant that she had a very low understanding of the current society!
Right now, with only Mu Chun by her side, how could she break away from all of these customs and trivialities, then protect her own well-being&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;
She didn’t know if it was because she lost too much blood, but her unceasing thoughts helped her gradually submerge into the folds of sleep&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;
However, on the next day, before the skies were even bright, loud and heavy footsteps sounded from outside.
Yun Qian Meng used one hand to prop up her body; she squinted out the window, yawned lightly and shouted at the door, “Mu Chun!”
“Young miss, you’re awake!” Hearing the shout, Mu Chun immediately waked into the room, her hands carrying a basin of water for was.h.i.+ng the face and a handkerchief.
Yun Qian Meng lightly kneaded her aching forehead, and asked with some temper, “What time is it now? Why is there such a loud racket outside?”
“Answering young miss, that butler Zhao brought some artisans into Qi Luo Yuan at three quarters past three! He says he’s following orders from xiangye to fix up young miss’s buildings!” Finis.h.i.+ng, Mu Chun helped her off the bed, carefully tending to her as she washed her face and dressed up.
Yun Qian Meng was smiling coldly in her heart. It seemed that this butler Zhao was a person with a narrow mind. He just lost some face here last night; but already made plans to get revenge today!
He knew that she was unwell and needed rest, so he purposely got people to start working before the sun had even risen! It was too obvious!
Only, did he really think that she was such a pushover, that she would let him turn her courtyard upside-down?
If she doesn’t make him terrified of her, then her former career as a drug trafficking police captain could be considered a joke!
Opening the wooden windows with one hand, Yun Qian Meng, from the second floor, saw through the faint lighting that a dozen of workers were lifting some tools into Qi Luo Yuan. That butler Zhao just stood at one side and loudly shouted while pointing, “Hurry! Hurry! Able to work inside the xiangfu can be considered your ancestors collected some luck! All of you be more meticulous! This is the eldest young miss’s courtyard, don’t make too much noise!”
Didn’t know if he was doing it on purpose or not, but that butler made sure to especially mention ’eldest young miss’ to the young laborers. Apparently, there was some hidden meaning to his words!
With such an obvious provocation, and another two house guards standing behind him, even Mu Chun, who was behind Yun Qian Meng could not help but frown. It seems that this butler Zhao really didn’t have a good heart!
“Let’s go, we’ll entertain him!” Yun Qian Meng looked coldly at butler Zhao’s performance, then quickly shut the windows, before gracefully strolling towards the middle of the courtyard&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;
Yun Qian Meng’s appearance caused all of the young laborers who were just in full swing slowly stop their work one after another!
None of them had ever seen a young lady from a n.o.ble family. Seeing the young miss of the xiangfu today, plus her appearance was even much more beautiful than in other drawings, all of those young men were unable to stop themselves from blus.h.i.+ng&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;
Butler Zhao noticed everyone of their looks, his eyes flickering with a malicious glint, stepped up quickly before giving Yun Qian Meng a slight bow. He overtly spoke deferentially, “Why is young miss up so early? Is it because these servants were too noisy that woke you up?”
Yun Qian Meng played along with butler Zhao, saying unsympathetically, “Butler Zhao really works hard! The sky is still dark and you’re already so busy!”
Seeing that she didn’t have anything else to say, he couldn’t restrain the giddy expression from showing on his face, but the words he spoke were extremely modest, “Young miss has praised wrongly! These are xiangye’s orders, so they are also the things us servants should do! How unfortunate that young miss’s rest has been disturbed, this servant feels very apologetic!”
While those were his words, butler Zhao’s heartfelt thoughts were completely different! If she tried to bring this matter up with xiangye today, he would have both reason and proof on his side!
After listening to him, Yun Qian Meng nodded. Taking another look at the young laborers who were still staring at her, her heart was unable to endure. She suddenly asked, “Be that as it may, it seems that butler Zhao has yet to wake up. Must have unexpectedly misheard father’s words last night.”
She played down her statement, but butler Zhao’s heart suddenly started beating hard like it was in a tempest! His extremely cunning plan that he thought of from what Yun Xuan Zhi said to him last night, could there really be a loophole or a handle within it?!
Noticing that he had gone quiet, Yun Qian Meng flashed a cold expression. Her eyes cold, she calmly shouted, “Butler Zhao has the nerve! How dare you bring strange, unfamiliar men into xiangfu’s womenfolk’s courtyard?! What punishment do you deserve?!”
Being scolded by Yun Qian Meng, butler Zhao had an extremely foolish expression. After thinking back on Yun Xuan Zhi’s words last night, he relaxed slightly. Grinning widely, he asked, “Young miss, xiangye really did tell nucai to mend Qi Luo Yuan, nucai is only following the orders from the zhuzi! Eldest young miss, why are you trying to make a mountain out of a molehill?”