Ever since the sachet was taken by Yuxi, Ke Minjie"s heart had been so anxious, but she didn"t dare to let other people see her objection, so, she had to bear it with great difficulty. Upon returning to Ye Residence, Ke Minjie immediately went back to her yard under the pretext that she was not feeling well, when she was actually telling old woman Cui about what happened.
Old woman Cui soothingly said, "Miss, don"t worry. All the herbs in the sachet are ordinary herbs. Even if Fourth Miss smells them, there will be no problem." The herbs in the sachet would be harmless to ordinary people. It was a pity that men could only propose, and G.o.d disposeChinese saying : man"s schemes are inferior to those made by heaven¹. She wouldn"t think that Yuxi would know pharmacology, thus making her able to see the clue. To be exact, Yuxi had long suspected that Ke Minjie had a malicious mind.
Old woman Cui"s words calmed Ke Minjie, who quickly adjusted her mood and went to accompany Madam Ye after lunch. When old woman Hua arrived at Ye Residence, it happened that Ke Minjie had gone back to her courtyard to change her clothes.
After a short rest, Ke Minjie went to the main courtyard with some pastries. As soon as she arrived at the main courtyard, she felt the atmosphere there was wrong.
Ke Minjie stuffed a pouch into a maid"s hand and asked, "What happened?" When she went to change clothes just now, everything was just fine, but now the atmosphere had changed into a depressing feeling.
The maid accepted the bribe given by Ke Minjie with great pleasure as she replied with a smile, "It was nothing. Madam just felt somewhat out of sorts. Madam is very fond of Miss. If Miss goes in and talks to her, Madam"s state of mind will surely turn back to good."
Old woman Cui wanted to accompany Ke Minjie to the main house, but she was stopped by Madam Ye"s personal mama, who let Ke Minjie enter the main house by herself, while she talked with old woman Cui about the daily lifes of the family.
Ke Minjie entered the main room which was very bright because of the lit tung oil lamps. She looked at Madam Ye who was sitting at the seat of honour, as she smilingly went up to her and greeted, "Aunt."
Madam Ye stared at her niece who was smiling like a flower. Ke Minjie felt like she was being scrutinised, thus she asked, "Aunt, what"s the matter? Is there something wrong with my body?"
Madam Ye returned the sachet in her hand to Ke Minjie and said, "Fourth Miss of the Han family had sent this sachet back to old woman Hua."
Ke Minjie"s face changed a bit, but soon, her smile returned to her face as she stated, "Didn"t Fourth Miss of the Han family say she liked the embroidered b.u.t.terflies on this sachet so much? Why did she return it now?"
Madam Ye stared at Ke Minjie as she said, "Minjie, Fourth Miss Han has studied pharmacology for a long time. She only s.n.a.t.c.hed your sachet when she smelled a peculiar fragrance from it." It could be seen from Fourth Miss Han"s behaviour, that she was very suspicious of Ke Minjie. Although her suspicion was a bit strange, nevertheless others had managed to detect the problem.
Ke Minjie turned stiff. How was it possible? How could a well-bred girl like Han Yuxi learn pharmacology? She pretended to be calm as she explained, "Aunt, my sachet is only filled with refreshing herbs. I do wear it myself, and there is no harm so far."
After waiting for Ke Minjie to finish her explanation, Madam Ye added, "Old woman Hua had already shown the sachet to the Imperial Physician. He said that if Qing-er had sniffed the sachet, she would have a miscarriage in less than a sichen2 hours²..." Old woman Hua deliberately shortened the time to make Madam Ye worried, so that she would not spare Ke Minjie.
Ke Minjie"s whole body froze. After a while, Ke Minjie was able to response by throwing herself in front of Madam Ye and cried, "Aunt, I don"t know, I really don"t know that the sachet will be bad for Dajieda=eldest, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie³. If I knew, I would have never worn it. Aunt, please believe me, I really didn"t mean it."
Madam Ye patted Ke Minjie on the shoulder and said, "I know. I know you didn"t mean it. I just want to remind you not to wear any sachet when you visit your Dajieda=eldest, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie³in the state residence next time. You also know that your Dajieda=eldest, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie³is weak and it was not easy for her to conceive this child."
After listening to Madam Ye"s words, Ke Minjie"s heart finally settled, "Aunt, don"t worry. When I go to the state residence next time, I won"t wear sachet any more."
Madam Ye smiled and said, "Well, you"re a good child. Look at this crying face, like a *flower cat. Somebody, bring over a basin of water."
After Ke Minjie had done cleaning herself up, Madam Ye had someone send her back to her own yard.
As soon as she arrived at her own yard, Ke Minjie drove the others out and said to old woman Cui, "Mama, the secret of the sachet has been discovered. Both my aunt and my Da Biaojieda=eldest, biaojie=elder female cousin⁴know about it."
Old woman Cui"s complexion kept on changing, "How could it be discovered?" Even if the Fourth Miss of the Han family saw that there were herbs in the sachet, these herbs had a very weak fragrance, so she would not be able to smell anything strange. As long as she didn"t go to a physician specially, she wouldn"t find any problems with them. .
Ke Minjie was almost gnashing her teethChinese idiom displaying extreme anger⁵when she said, "Han Yuxi had learned pharmacology. She s.n.a.t.c.hed my sachet because she smelled something wrong with it. Mama, what should I do now?"
Old woman Cui asked incredulously, "What did you say? Fourth Miss of the Han family studied pharmacology? Why haven"t we heard of this?"
Ke Minjie felt quite frustrated as she questioned, "How much do we know about the affairs in the state residence?" She only heard that the Fourth Miss of the state residence had excellent chess skills, but Ke Minjie didn"t know that she also knew pharmacology. Clearly it was a very good plan, but eventually fell into the hands of Han Yuxi. Ke Minjie truly hated this situation that she couldn"t help gnashing her teethChinese idiom displaying extreme anger⁵.
Old woman Cui calmed herself down and asked, "What did Madam say?"
"Fortunately, my aunt only thought it was an accident. She told me not to wear any sachet next time I go visit my Dajieda=eldest, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie³in the state residence, so as not to cause anymore misunderstanding again," she answered.
Old woman Cui breathed a sigh of relief, "Fortunately, Madam believes in Miss. However, since we have lost such a good opportunity, it will not be so easy for us to act next time."
When Ke Minjie thought that the graceful and handsome man might have nothing to do with her in the future, her heart was unwilling to accept it. "Mama, is there no other way?"
Old woman Choi shook her head and said, "Nothing for the time being." When she saw Ke Minjie"s depressed expression, she tried to comfort her, "Don"t worry, Miss. It will take her ten months to deliver a baby. She is only pregnant for a little over a month now, and with eight more months to go, there is no guarantee that the baby will be born smoothly. Even if it is born safely, it doesn"t mean that she will have a son."
Ke Minjie clenched her fist and said, "What Mama meant was that I shouldn"t rush it." She must hold on, otherwise she would really have no fate with him.
Ke Minjie"s thought was too glorious. For such a big thing, how could Madam Ye have no doubt? She said that way just now was to appease Ke Minjie, and it wasn"t because she actually believed in her.
Not long after, Madam Ye questioned Ke Minjie"s personal maid. In those days, when Ke Minjie ran to Madam Ye for shelter, she only took old woman Cui to the capital. The maids served beside Ke Minjie were all from the Ye family. This maid was the child of the Ye family servant. All her parents and brothers had been sent to the state residence to serve her daughter.
Madam Ye"s confidant, old woman Feng, asked Ke Minjie"s personal maid, Xiaoyan, "Is there anything strange with Miss Ke"s schedule recently?"
Xiaoyan was scared, but she still shook her head and answered, "Miss has always been proper." Miss Biaofamily relationship via females⁶had been very kind to her over the past few years, and after getting along with her for so many years, she also had a feeling of wanting to burn incenseadoration⁷for her. For some things, she faintly surmised that she should also help to hide. .
Where would Madam Ye bother herself with an askew maid as she said, "I will sell you to a brothel tomorrow. As for your parents, it is not bad to let them go to Liaodong to mine."
The affection Xiaoyan felt towards Ke Minjie was uncompared to the affection she had towards her own family members. Now, she was scared to walk on the opposite path. "I"ll tell you, Madam. I"ll tell you everything. I only ask Madam to spare my family." Xiaoyan finally knew that she couldn"t escape from being d.a.m.ned. After all, she should have told Madam about this thing long time ago. Except that, she was worried it would ruin the close relationship between master and servant, thus she kept silent.
Ke Minjie had also been wary of the maids who served her, mostly because their life contracts weren"t in her own hands, so she never told her secrets to the maids. Even though Xiaoyan got her heart most, she could only tell the important things to old woman Cui. But no matter how hard she tried to conceal it, the people who served her closely could always see the signs.
Xiaoyan stated, "Ever since Miss Biao met Da Guyeda=eldest, guye=son-in-law (used by wife"s family)⁸that day, she has no thought for tea or riceChinese idiom : to have no appet.i.te⁹. Over the past two years, every time Da Guyeda=eldest, guye=son-in-law (used by wife"s family)⁸ accompanied Da Gunainaida=eldest, gunainai=married daughter¹⁰back to Ye Residence, Miss" mood would be especially good. Besides that, Miss Biaofamily relationship via females⁶has often asked for information about the state residence." This meant that Ke Minjie took a fancy to Han Jianming more than two years ago.
Although Han Jianye and Han Jianming were brothers, they did not look alike at all. Han Jianye looked exactly like the Qiu family, big and tall; however, Han Jianming was like Han Jingdong, the Lord Duke of the State. Han Jingdong owned a very good skin, otherwise he would not have attracted Qiu Shi"s eyes. However, Ke Minjie took a fancy to Han Jianming not only for his appearance, but also for his ident.i.ty and status.
When Madam Ye heard that Ke Minjie had an improper thought on Han Jianming, she became furious. In fact, her realisation that the suspicion on Ke Minjie of playing an important part in trying to hurt her daughter, had now been confirmed.
Old woman Feng was much calmer, "What else? Do you know about Miss Biaofamily relationship via females⁶"s plot to harm ?"
Xiaoyan"s face was horrified. She thought she told them what she had known for so long because no one had discovered it until today. It turned out that Miss Biaofamily relationship via females⁶had been obsessed with the plot to murder . "Madam, I really don"t know. If this handmaiden had known, she wouldn"t have dared to hide it." Having said that, she cried once again, "I thought that my Da Guyeda=eldest, guye=son-in-law (used by wife"s family)⁸was a good-looking man and the Shiziheir of n.o.ble family¹¹of the state residence. So, it was normal for Miss Biaofamily relationship via females⁶to fall in love with him. However, over the past two years, Miss Biaofamily relationship via females⁶had adhered to etiquette and had not made any unusual moves. Otherwise, this handmaiden would have told Madam."
Old woman Feng believed Xiaoyan"s words.
Xiaoyan suddenly remembered something and said, "Madam, I once poured water for Miss and because I entered the house without her permission at that time, I vaguely heard about her wanting to be Da Guyeda=eldest, guye=son-in-law (used by wife"s family)⁸"s concubine." On that occasion, because she entered the house without permission, she was fined three months by Ke Minjie.
Madam Ye shivered with anger. She had thought about it all the time. It was really unexpected that Ke Minjie had taken a fancy to her son-in-law. She slapped her hand on the table as she said, "I dug my heart outbe totally devoted¹²for her, but didn"t expect that I have been raising such a white eyed wolfcold-hearted, cruel person¹³."
Old woman Feng also did not expect that Ke Minjie"s heart was so big that she wanted to be the concubine of Da Guyeda=eldest, guye=son-in-law (used by wife"s family)⁸. "Madam, the only thing that we can be rejoiced right now is that the discovery was timely and Da Gunainaida=eldest, gunainai=married daughter¹⁰was not hurt. Madam, the top priority now is how to deal with this matter. Since Madam in-law knows about this matter, why don"t Madam make a statement."
Madam Ye wiped her tears and said, "Tomorrow I will personally go to make amends." It was she who had led the wolf into the houseChinese idiom : exposed one to danger¹⁴and nearly made her lose her daughter forever.
Old woman Feng also said, "Madam, this is all thanks to the Fourth Miss of the Han family." What she meant was that they also had to express their gratefulness.
Madam Ye nodded and said, "Go to the warehouse and pick out more good things." Good things were prepared to be given to Yuxi, and as an apology to Qiu Shi.
Old woman Feng mother-in-law nodded and asked, "Madam, what about Miss Biaofamily relationship via females⁶?"
"What about her?" asked Madam Ye. "After all, she"s not my own daughter, and it isn"t appropriate to publicise it." Seeing the bewilderment on old woman Feng"s face, Madam Ye sneered and said, "Her father is still alive. Her marriage should be decided by her father, so I won"t do it on her behalf."
Ke Minjie"s mother died of illness eight years ago. His father married her stepmother a year later. The woman started out well, but when she gave birth to her own child, she started to regard Ke Minjie as a thorn in her side and wanted to take away her mother"s dowry. Thus, Ke Minjie couldn"t live at her own home and just took old woman Cui as they ran to the capital to ask for help from Madam Ye.
Master Ye held military and political power in his hands, Let alone Ke Minjie"s father who was a low ranking official. Even the most powerful Song family had to give him three tenths of courtesy. Under the shelter of Ye family, Ke Minjie had a very comfortable life over the years.
Old woman Feng nodded, as she thought that this method was indeed very good. Not only did it make people choose not to make mistakes, but it also helped them undo their hatred. With the character of Master Ke and Ke Minjie"s stepmother, it was definitely impossible for them to find her any good family. There was nothing better than letting Ke Minjie fell into the fiery pitlife of difficulties¹⁵.
Noob Translator"s Musing
* the words used here was 花猫 (hua mao) or hua=flower, mao=cat. When I tried to find the term "cry like a cat", I found , a type of illness. It couldn"t be that, right. When I tried to search with the term 花猫, it gave me a type of hybrid domestic cat in China that is called li hua mao (fox flower cat), in short hua mao, while in English it is called Dragon Li. Chinese do love their dragons, don"t they? So, I"m thinking, should I maintain using "flower cat" or change it to "hua mao"?
Back to the story, if Ke Minjie didn"t do all those evil things to her cousin, Madam Ye would have fought for her marriage. Although it won"t be as high as her cousin"s marriage, but, it sure would have been higher than her father"s position.
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