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First Arc ー Chapter 2 (Part 5): Missing Fate

Xihe turned her head. Her crystal clear fluid glance carried thirty percent surprise, thirty percent probing, thirty percent scrutiny fused with another ten percent of a pained look. She gazed at her, gazed fixedly at her before she lastly sighed deeply.

From then on, Xihe would summon Jiang Chenyu into the palace to teach the zither every few days. It was to teach the zither in name, but in reality, it was only Chenyu who was responsible for playing while she was responsible for listening. They basically did not speak.

Jiang Chenyu felt that she was observing her but was unclear of her reasons, hence she could only try to be cautious with her words and actions as much as possible.

During this period of time, Matron Huang Jin did not go back on her words and indeed brought Ji Ying’s marriage proposal card back. The marriage proposal card was folded from a lavender paper. The seal had silver linings and the design was still the White Marsh. Apart from the birthdate characters, there was also the first line of a couplet* written at the top.

*T/n: As indicated by the name, a couplet is a pair of lines of poetry.

‘Ying’s Rangoon Creeper, white in the morning, red in the afternoon and purple in the evening. For one night, with a love which is so unforgettable, one listens to the rain in spring.’** 

The words were as graceful and lofty like the person himself and exceptionally refined. 

Jiang Chenyu thought for a while and replied with the second line of the couplet. 

‘Yu’s Common Poppy, luxurious green in spring, light green in summer and withered yellow in autumn. From deep within, with a fondness for the six colors, one bonds to be of one heart.**

**T/n: I tried to make it feel like a couplet even in English but as you can see, it was a terrible attempt. T^T It’s a poetry, so I hope I interpreted it wrongly as well. ><

I’m not sure if it is obvious in the English translation, but Ji Ying inserted a ‘Ying’ character into the first line of the couplet and it is pronounced the same way as the ‘Ying’ in his name.

The other name for ‘Common Poppy’ is used in the Chinese text and the first character ‘Yu’ is pronounced the same way as the ‘Yu’ in Chenyu’s name.

It will also be explained in their dialogue later.

Images of the two plants if you are interested. 

(Rangoon Creeper AKA Chinese honeysuckle)

http://kplant.biodiv.tw/%E4%BD%BF%E5%90%9B%E5%AD%90/%E4%BD%BF%E5%90%9B%E5%AD%90.htm

(Common Poppy/Corn Poppy)

http://huayu.baike.com/article-70981.html


Matron Huang Jin complimented, “As expected of Miss Jiang. You paired* it well, you paired it ingeniously!”

*T/n: Replying with the second line of the couplet to match with the first line

Elder Sister-in-law smiled. “This Ying’s Rangoon Creeper is embedded with the ‘Ying’ character; thus, Chenyu returned him with Yu’s Common Poppy and obtained the ‘Yu’ character. It’s a really good pair.”

After everyone bantered for a while, they dispersed. Jiang Chenyu returned to her boudoir and started to be melancholic; Gentleman seemed to be referring to something with this couplet. Casting aside the first part of the line, what did that ‘a love which is so unforgettable’ mean? Whereas the words ‘purple in the evening’ was an inauspicious metaphor. It was really unfathomable even after ruminating.

However, she could only secretly mull over it in her heart and did not dare to let her mother know of this. Yet, this night just had to become frigid with the heavy snow piled up all over the ground. The next day, when she went to the imperial palace to play the zither, as soon as she entered Bao Hua Palace, she heard the palace maids say that the Consort had fallen sick.

A palace maid called Yun Qi(Yún Qǐ) led her into the inner chamber. The room had a furnace heated up and was also mixed with a faint herbal scent. Within the Seven Treasure brocade bed curtains, Xihe sat while holding on to her quilt. Her complexion was wan and appeared to be considerably feeble.

She originally intended to withdraw then but Xihe said, “You came just at the right time. I don’t know if you can play ‘Nocturne of the Azure River’?”

Jiang Chenyu was stunned for a moment before she replied, “I can.” She immediately played on the spot.

The sound of the zither was clear and melodious, similar to the vast flow of the Yangtze River, as it undulated and slowly died out. Suddenly, a burst of clouds arrived. The heavy rain poured down in torrents, the enormous waves of the river rampaged and roused a thousand-fold gigantic wave. The water and the sky was of one color and the clouds and mist permeated the whole nightscape, like the Blue Dragon* traversing the clouds and the sea, floating swiftly in restlessness.

*T/n: Also known as the Azure Dragon or Seiryuu. It’s rather prevalent in popular culture.

This ancient piece was impassioned and also placed a great emphasis on the details, but with the deft and calm work of her fingers, she played it conveniently and it was unexpectedly effortless as blowing off dust for her.     

As Xihe listened on and watched on, her eyes started to moisten. Finally, her tears fell. 

Jiang Chenyu was taken. As she was momentarily distracted, the strings at the corner instantly snapped. She hurriedly kneeled down and said, “Chenyu should die, may Your Highness forgive!”

Xihe did not speak but only kept looking and looking at her. Her gaze seemed to contain endless misery. In the end, her body suddenly trembled severely and she spurted out blood with a plop.

It did not lean to either side and was all spurted exactly on her face.

The palace servants at the side cried out in fear, “Your Highness! Your Highness, what’s wrong?”

Xihe collapsed backwards with a thump and sunk into an unconscious state. On the other hand, Jiang Chenyu with her head and face covered with fresh blood was frightened until she almost did not know where she was ー How did it become like this?

The events that transpired after that were like a play whereas she kneeled on the floor and stared helplessly at that play. From the beginning until the end, she felt a kind of tranquil disorder as if one was close to death.

It was Yun Qi who first summoned the imperial physician. Afterwards, the Emperor also came. The tiny inner chamber was suddenly surrounded by many people. As the dense herbal smell heavily pressed down, it made her feel as if she was almost going to suffocate.

There were countless voices beside her ear and she faintly caught hold of a few words, “This illness is odd……I’m afraid that her life may be in danger……This Subject is incompetent……” In her line of sight, innumerable lower hems of shirts floated here and there. The yellow one was the Emperor, the multi colored ones with red, green, cyan and blue were the imperial consorts, the lavender ones were the palace servants and lastly, a tinge of white suddenly appeared.

At the same time, there was someone outside who conveyed, “Marquis Qi Ao has arrived ー”

Jiang Chenyu raised her head. Separated by the gauze curtains embroidered with portraits of beauty, she saw Ji Ying kneeling at the outer room. His white dress was bright, just like a savior. The rims of her eyes reddened. Just like a drowning person who had seen a driftwood, her whole body trembled but despite shuddering in fear like that, she was perfectly well aware that she was going to be fine. 

As long as he came, she, would definitely be fine.

Zhao Yin turned around. His face also had an expression that he had heaved a sigh of relief. He raised his voice to say, “Qi Ao, you came at the right time. This bunch of useless trash from the Imperial Physician Institution. Not even one was able to diagnose what type of illness Xihe had been afflicted with. Quickly go draft it out, This Emperor wants to dismiss all of them from their posts!” 

Ji Ying remained composed. His tone was neither fast nor slow, his voice was neither high nor low, but when it streamed into the ears, it contrarily made people indescribably comfortable. “May Your Majesty quell your anger. This Humble Subject rushed over expeditiously after hearing that Her Highness Consort was sick and has furthermore, brought along a divine doctor to come together.” 

Zhao Yin’s eyes shone. “Quickly summon!”

A person dressed in cyan clothes walked in under Luo Heng’s lead and kneeled together with Ji Ying beside him. “This lowly commoner, Jiang Wanyi(Jiāng Wǎnyī)*, pays respect to Your Majesty.”

*T/n: Although both are pronounced as Jiang, the character used for the surname is different

In the inner chamber, an old imperial physician’s body swayed a few times with astonishment all over his face.

Zhao Yin said, “You’re the divine doctor?”

The man dressed in cyan replied, “‘Divine Doctor’ is the villagers favoring and speaking highly of me, I don’t dare to claim to be one myself.”

“If you can treat Xihe’s illness properly, This Emperor will bestow you the title of ‘Divine Doctor’! Quickly come in.”

That person in cyan called Jiang Wanyi replied affirmatively, bowed as he entered and started to take Xihe’s pulse. From Jiang Chenyu’s angle, she could only see that his facial features were charming like a demure woman. His whole body was emanating a refined aura and did not look like a physician but more like a scholar.

On the other hand, the old imperial physician at his side gazed at him, his expression becoming more terrified and the hands covered in his sleeves trembling nonstop.

Jiang Wanyi raised his head and smiled at him. “Father, long time no see. Have you been fine recently?”

The old imperial physician had one breath stifled in his chest and could not say anything at all while the others were even more dumbstruck as they stared with their mouths agape. They had never ever thought that the divine doctor invited by Marquis Qi Ao would actually be the only son of the Imperial Physician Institution’s Chief, Jiang Huai(Jiāng Huái).

Hearing what he had spoken, this father and son pair seemed to have not met each other for many years and now that they have met again, it was instead so strange and made people unable to speculate.

Zhao Yin did not bother about the complicated relations within and only asked anxiously, “How is it, how is it? What kind of illness does Xihe actually have? Why did she suddenly vomit blood and remains unconscious?”

Jiang Wanyi pinched his two good-looking eyebrows and muttered to himself without saying anything.

Zhao Yin said again, “She has caught a cold before a few days ago and caught an illness where she experienced symptoms of endogenous heat but exogenous cold*……”
*T/n: It’s a jargon used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, so I’m sorry that the way I translated it is awkward

Jiang Wanyi released Xihe’s hand and stood straight before he bowed to pay his respects. He slowly said, “Reporting back to Your Majesty, what Her Highness Consort is afflicted with is not the exogenous cold illness.”

Jiang Chenyu’s suddenly lept fiercely as an ill omen surfaced.

As if it was to corroborate her words, Jiang Wanyi’s next sentence was, “In fact, Her Highness Consort is poisoned.”

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