Inner Residence arc ー Chapter 9 (Part 1): Furong Expressing her Feelings
One day, Yunxiang ran over to tell me, "Miss, those townsmen outside the city were calling you as the 'Beautiful and Compassionate' Young Lady Min."
I burst into laughter. "What?"
Yunxiang was exultant. "They're all treating you as an immortal. What's left is only setting up a temple for you."
I looked at myself in the mirror. Xie Zhaohua's were delicate and pretty and her pair of large eyes looked very intelligent, but she was still quite a bit of a far cry away from 'beautiful'. However, a woman will generally be elated when praised as beautiful. I was pleased as I looked at the mirror.
Yunxiang said, "I heard Mdm Qian from the kitchen say that Second Madam was also a beauty and was a kind person too. It's just that she was too unlucky and died young. Miss, they said that your eyes resemble Second Madam's."
I have seen Xie Zhaohua's biological mother's portrait before. Traditional Chinese painting in ancient times were all relatively more abstract*. After looking at it for half a day, I still couldn’t reach any conclusion. I only found out that she was a fragile woman like a willow branch trembling in the wind. Since Xie Zhaohua had a robust body and could eat and sleep a lot, it was evident that she didn’t inherit her mother's sickly and weak body.
*T/n: A few images to give you an idea
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chen_Hongshou,_Appreciating_Plums,_detail.jpg
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beauties_in_History_(detail_I)_by_Ch%27iu_Ying.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Empress_Zhao_Feiyan.jpg
The next day, I sneaked out again.
Once Mdm Ma saw me, she greeted fervently, "Young Lady Min, come over here to sit, I have cooked some tea eggs*."
*T/n: Eggs boiled in tea and soy sauce may be added sometimes
A picture for your reference:
I smiled. "Not bad, Mdm has been comfortably off recently."
"That husband of mine just found himself a job to oversee the horses ."
"You all could find a job already?" I rejoiced.
Mdm Ma's face was brimming with happiness. "Yes. Although we still can't enter the city, they also don't chase us away anymore. Now that we have a job, we no longer have to be distressed over sustenance."
Mdm Ma's son, Jinzhu(Jīnzhù) dashed over here swiftly and shouted, "Mother, that mister has helped joined back Second Child's leg.
Mdm Ma let out a sigh of relief. "That's really great." Then she said to me, "There is a mister who had also come these few days and he also sent us food and treated us."
When I heard that, I asked, "Who is he?"
"It's me." It was a very, very familiar voice.
I turned around my body. In the cold wind of early spring, Song Zijing was standing while clasping his hands behind his back. He had a graceful and refined bearing and greatly had a natural deportment and appearance like the white plum blossoms. His smile was genial and it accentuated his attractive and elegant appearance. My little heart even trembled once.
Song Zijing said with a smile, "I was wondering who that Young Lady Min, the goddess who descended to the mortal world was. So it was actually you."
No matter how thick-skinned I am, even I felt embarrassed at this moment.
Mdm Ma said, "So you two knew each other. The elderly say, humans congregate by types, animals are divided by herds* and good people also gather together."
*T/n: It's something like 'birds of the same feather flock together'.
I asked Song Zijing, "Why are you here too?"
Song Zijing said, "I heard that there were refugees outside the city who were short of food and clothing, with no permanent residence. Now that the weather is starting to turn warm, I was worried a pestilence may outbreak so I came to check it out."
Both student and teacher skipped class. If Madam Xie were to choose to inspect what I have achieved from the tutelage, she wouldn't think that the both of us to eloped hand in hand right?
Song Zijing said, "As soon as I came, I heard them talking about a benevolent young lady who was liberal with her money. Fourth Miss has really broadened my horizons."
I blushed and led him towards the Land God temple, "It's really great that you have come. I couldn't really manage just on my own. Among them, there are some with weak bodies and have contracted typhoid once. I used medicines to suppress it, but I'm afraid of a relapse. This region that they're inhabiting is cramped and out of the way and their drinking water is all fetched from a small canal at the side. That canal water is not clean so even though I have told them to first boil the water before using, this is also not a long-term solution."
Song Zijing said with a smile, "Don’t worry, they won't stay here for long. The local authorities have already permitted the shop proprietors to employ them. After they have found their livelihood, they will naturally leave this place and you also won't need to worry about the spread of an epidemic."
I was curious. "Haven't they been objecting all the while and even wanted to chase them away so why the sudden change?"
Song Zijing had yet to reply when the people inside the Land God temple saw us and warmly greeted, "Young Lady Min, Mister Song."
This Song Zijin's charisma was really unparalleled. He had only come for one day and has already made the male, female, old and young frenetically enchanted by him. I saw him leading a small girl along with his left hand and a small boy with his right hand while he switched between turning his head to talk to an aunt and turning his body to chat with an uncle. There was actually nothing much for me to do there.
At this moment, Yun Xiang suddenly ran over here in a rush and shouted loudly, "Miss, Teacher Song. The Zhao family has dispatched people here to find Teacher Song."
Song Zijing furrowed his brows.
I probed, "Miss Zhao?"
Song Zijing nodded his head in an imposing manner.
This Miss Zhao was also too amazing. She has yet to give up despite coming to this. She really insisted on wanting to see him whether he was dead or alive.
I said, "Why don’t you simply meet her face to face and tell her properly?"
In the end, even Yunxiang was smarter than me. "Miss, in that case, Teacher Song would have never gotten out of it alive."
True, Miss Zhao might be able to not take it to heart but it may not be necessarily true for Gramps* Zhao.
*T/n: Polite appellation for an elderly male
I told Song Zijing, "You should quickly escape!"
Yunxiang said, "Tens of soldiers have come. Both the east and west sides are covered."
Are they going to eliminate the bandits using arms?
I came to a firm decision in my heart and ordered Song Zijing, "Remove your clothes!"
Even Song Zijing who was usually calm and composed was troubled by this sentence that his handsome face turned red instantly.
I stamped my foot. "I will dress up as you to escape!"
Song Zijing was stern. "No, I can't implicate you!"
I directly started to strip his clothes while saying, "So what if they catch me? At any rate, I am a young lady from the Xie family so that Old Fellow Zhao also won't offend my father like this."
Yunxiang also came over to help and we stripped his outer clothes quickly and efficiently. He blushed while helplessly unable to resist and refused repeatedly that it was both pitiful and cute. I hastily put on the clothes. This set of clothing was fitting when Song Zijing wore it but when it was me wearing it, there was an extra large section. He actually looked quite thin.
Yunxiang had just helped combed my hair when the child spreading the news outside shouted, "They're here!"
I lifted the clothes and blew Song Zijing a flying kiss, "We'll go on our separate ways and meet up at the academy!"
Without waiting to see Song Zijing's blushing face as I deftly climbed the window to escape.
Just as I expected, those gang of Zhao Family soldiers really took me as Song Zijing and all of them chased after me. I have already traversed through this area so I was familiar with the topography. As I turned left and right, they just couldn't catch up to me.
When I saw that the distance between us had widened I dashed into the city in one breath. With this, it's going to get lively.
Translated and Edited by: HaruOngy and LalaKurouds