Chapter 2.2: Jiang Lî
The quilt was originally thin. However, due to the damp weather, it became cold and heavy, making those covered under it to feel extremely suffocated. She lifted the quilt and, feeling her stomach became more comfortable, she slowly sat up.
The sobbing noise by her side came to a halt immediately. Through the soft candlelight coming from the top of the table, a pleasantly surprised face came into view as it said: “Young miss is awake!”
Young miss?
Xue Fang Fei stared blankly and looked up and down at the person in front of her. The appearance of the girl seemed to be about 15-16 years old. Her eyes were swollen like the stone of a peach, looking adorable. Her dark-blue, plain cotton clothing was not suited for her body. From head to toe, there wasn’t a single jewelry. Looking at her foolish appearance, Xue Fang Fei burst out laughing.
Calling her young miss, could she be a servant girl? Even during the time she was at Tongxiang before she married, the servant girl at her side would not wear such an ugly-looking attire.
Xue Fang Fei thought back, that wasn’t right, the important point was, she didn’t remember having this servant girl before. From her maiden home until she got married, she had four personal servant girls. Afterwards, two of them got married. The morning after that shameful event at the feast, Shen Yurong’s mother wanted to beat the remaining two servant girls to death. Xue Fang Fei prevented that by pretending to be angry, and chased them out of the house before she could get hold of them. Later on, those who waited on her could be a.s.sumed to be Princess Yong Ning’s informers.
Princess Yong Ning! Images suddenly flashed quickly before her eyes. Xue Fang Fei remembered that Princess Yong Ning clearly came to provoke her. Then Princess Yong Ning’s people strangled her. Could it be… She had not died yet? How was that possible? Princess Yong Ning was the type of person who would completely eliminate everything down to the root1. It was impossible to spare her life.
Could it be… That she was rescued? Was it Shen Yurong? Or someone else?
Xue Fang Fei could see that the young servant girl wasn’t lying. The servant girl stopped her giggling, somewhat afraid, and she called in a small voice: “Young miss? Young miss?”
“Who are you?” asked Xue Fang Fei. Once she had spoken, she stopped, feeling that something wasn’t right. However, she couldn’t put her finger on what was wrong.
The young servant girl was even more anxious, she replied: “Young miss, this servant is Tong’er2 ah!”
Tong’er? Xue Fang Fei couldn’t remember if there had ever been a person called like this around her.
“Young miss,” Tong’er looked like she was about to cry, then said: “Young miss, this servant is aware that your heart is not happy. How could they just s.n.a.t.c.h your marriage? Madam had set down young miss’s marriage when she was still around. Marquis3 Ningyuan’s family, how could they break their promises in such a way4? Furthermore… master…. young miss, this servant knows you5 are blaming master. However, you cannot think about giving everything up ah! Even if it’s not for yourself, please think of madam, after all madam’s spirit6 is watching over you from heaven, she would feel extremely sad ah!”
Xue Fang Fei stared blankly at the small servant girl7 bawling her eyes out, while she was thinking in her heart, what she’s got to do with Marquis Ningyuan? Xue Fang Fei knew the heir of Marquis Ningyuan. Her sister-in- law, Shen Yurong’s younger sister Shen Ruyun, admired the young heir of Marquis Ningyuan very much. In the capital city of Yanjing, he was famous for being a beautiful man. What has that got to do with her?
The servant girl was still lost in her weeping when a sudden clap of thunder sounded abruptly outside, illuminating the room: a cold and shabby room, an ice-cold quilt; and at the same time, also illuminating Xue Fang Fei.
Suddenly, Xue Fang Fei realized what was wrong.
This voice….. tender and crisp, although exhausted, yet it was suffused with the characteristics of a young girl’s softness and stickiness.
This was not her voice.
“Who am I?” asked Xue Fang Fei.
Tong’er stared blankly.
“Who am I?” Xue Fang Fei repeated her question.
“What do you mean?” Tong’er replied indignantly, then promptly continued: “You are the current government cabinet Chief a.s.sistant Lord8 Jiang’s first wife’s official daughter, Jiang family’s second miss, Jiang Lî.” Then, she added another sentence for emphasis, “An honorable golden branch9, the Chief a.s.sistant’s daughter!”
Jiang family, chief a.s.sistant’s daughter, the second Jiang young miss, Jiang Lî.
Xue Fang Fei closed her eyes.
She would be Jiang Lî.
A small comment as the editor. We would have originally left it as Jiang Li, but remember that Fang Fei’s baby name was ‘Ah Li’ (阿狸)? In this case, calling Jiang Li in an endearing way would also be ‘Ah Li’ (阿梨), but the p.r.o.nounciation of these kanjis is slightly different, so we thought it would be best in order not to get confused later on if we started writting it differently from the beginning (tho maybe I should have chosen Lî for XFF’s name, it appears less often and is a bit of a pain to write the ‘î’ with hat every time >.<)
So, I made a small mistake with the meaning of Xue Huaiyuan in chap 1.1, although the meaning I provided wasn’t wrong, there is another meaning which I find more fitting: Huaiyuan (怀远) meaning profound heart. There was actually a senior official in Tang dynasty called Li Huaiyuan (李怀远), which despite his humble birth and bearing was very respected by the Emperor and the Crown Prince-later-turned-Emperor, and well he got many important official posts and t.i.tles throughout his life. I think he might be considered someone exemplary due to the brilliancy of his work and his humility and uprightness, and used as inspiration for this kind of characters in c-novels (but then again, I might be wrong, I just looked it up in wikipedia lol).
In any case, if you ever transmigrate to ancient China, be sure to do so in a family where your father is called Huaiyuan, they are the best daddies! Xue Huaiyuan is best daddy, and Qin Huaiyuan from Return of the Swallow is bestest best daddy ever! Go read ROS if you haven’t yet, it is one of the best female MC c-novels out there!! You will definitely not regret reading it, and you will have something to enjoy as you wait for MDD chapters to come out^^
On another note, it makes me mad that the kanjis for Yun Rong (云容), our lovely MC from our other novel (Who moved my mountain, check it out if you haven’t ^^), are found in the names of these two sc.u.mbag Shen siblings. Heaven shall punish them for such profanity, and if it doesn’t, well, Fang Fei will.
Footnotes:
1: 斩草除根, lit. to cut weeds and eliminate the roots. Idiom meaning to eliminate completely.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
2:儿 (er), it’s another diminutive like Xiao (小) or Ah (阿) that is added at the end of one’s given name; used as endearing term, again with family, children and loved ones. In this case, close servants may also be called using Xiao or ‘er by their masters.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
3: 侯 (hou) – marquis, second of the five orders of ancient chinese n.o.bility, t.i.tle used to adress a n.o.bleman or high official.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
4: 背信弃义, lit. breaking faith and abandoning right; idiom meaning to betray, treachery, perfidy.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
5: Throughout the chapter (and I a.s.sume in the rest of the novel and also for other characters in the same position) Tong’er uses a courteous form of ‘you’您 (nin), befitting of her position of servant addressing the master, opposite to how XFF calls her, using the informal ‘you’ 你 (ni).:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
6:在天之灵, lit. spirit/soul resting in heaven, refers to the soul and spirit of the deceased.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
7: 丫头 (yatou) – servant girl.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
8: 大人 (daren), respectful t.i.tle used towards superiors, also used to allude to court officials.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
9: A golden branch (金枝玉叶), also appeared in chapter 1.2 referring to Princes Yong Ning. Lit. golden branch, (with) jade leaves. It’s an idiom used to allude to to high n.o.bility, and especially the imperial household. It’s often used to express this idea of grabbing this golden branch (invaluable treasure), aka successfully making a connection with someone that is extremely powerful which would bring you endless benefits. Or if you are the golden branch, others will want to curry favour with you to obtain some privileges through you.:leftwards_arrow_with_hook:
- Tong’er (桐儿), Tong is a tree name, it may refer to Paulownia, Firmiana or Aleurites; ‘er is endearing diminutive.
- Marquis Ningyuan (宁远), Ning meaning peaceful, Yuan meaning profound.
- Shen Ruyun (沈如云), Ruyun means ‘like a cloud’.
- Yanjing (燕京) is the old name of Beijing, Jing is the capital city (so it can also be found as Yan Capital), Yan means swallow (the bird chirp chirp).