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Tong Ying’s Wedding (2)
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
“Oh?” Liu Yu slightly leaned forward, asking in confusion, “A great feat? Why don’t you explain in detail.”
“Currently, the plague is wrecking havoc in the north. Without at least two or more months, afraid it won’t be able to subside. I know of a way to reduce the plague.” Shen Lan Chi said.
“The plague is a natural disaster, how can it be reduced just because you say so?” Liu Chang mocked, “Are you trying to deceive our young master?”
“I’m rather willing to believe you once. Just…..” Liu Yu calmly said, “Since the Shen family young miss has this good method, why only bring it out today as a bargaining chip with me? The lives of the people in the north are all not as important as your family members. As such, you’d rather drag out the suffering and wait until today, than be willing to save lives, right?”
Shen Lan Chi said, “I’m not naturally born intelligent, so how could I have found the way to cure the plague when it first broke out? Truth be told, I’d only learned of this method from the mouth of a traveling herbalist just a day ago before coming to meet Gentleman Liu.”
Towards the plague, her knowledge was very limited, and originally, she didn’t remember the way to eliminate the plague either. If she had such a good opportunity, she would’ve long let her father and older brother gain an enormous achievement in front of his Majesty. Why wait until today? It was just now, after deep contemplation, she finally recalled this matter by chance, thus dared to put it before Liu Yu as a bargaining chip.
Furthermore, she wasn’t a saint, just a girl of the boudoir. To suddenly jump out and involve herself in the plague up north, who would be willing to agree? The matters in her own home still haven’t been taken care of, yet rushing to take care of the matters of the world, that was just putting the cart before the horse.
When Liu Yu heard, he contemplated for a moment.
Afterwards, he said, “I’m not agreeing to this matter for his Highness the Second Prince, but for the people suffering from the plague in the north. I, Liu Yu, am a man of my word. As long as it’s something I’ve agreed to, I absolutely won’t go back on my word, asking Miss Shen to send over the method for eliminating the plague today. Life waits for no one.”
After saying this, the carriage curtain dropped.
Seeing that horse carriage slowly start to move, Shen Lan Chi ordered the servants behind her to make way, and for a moment, felt strangely complicated inside.
When Liu Chang passed by in front of her, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, pointing at the hem of his clothes and saying, “Miss Shen, see the mud on my clothes? This is your handiwork! The clothes my young master bestowed to me, can you afford to compensate?”
Shen Lan Chi: ……
Liu Chang loudly burst into laughter and then went to chase after the horse carriage.
Shen Lan Chi watched the horse carriage gradually disappear into the distance, just feeling that this Liu Yu made one unable to comprehend.
To say he was good, yet he would always use some shameful tricks and schemes, following behind that hypocritical second prince who was full of lies all day. But, to say he was bad, he nevertheless still cared for the commoners, a look of serving the people.
Is there really such a person in this world?
When Shen Lan Chi returned home, she immediately wrote up the method for eliminating the plague and sent it to Liu Yu’s manor. She vaguely recalled that this plague was cured by a traveling herbalist in the past life. That herbalist believed that there was something poisonous in the meat that the locals were eating. As such, he didn’t fear the epidemic, going to and searching through every household. In the end, he stated that deer meat must not be consumed anymore, also ordering people to hunt and kill the herd of deer in the forest, having the dead deer all deeply buried in the earth. And through this method, they finally managed to cut down the plague.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Shen Lan Chi although wasn’t skilled in medicine, she could still guess that there certainly must be something on the deer.
• • •
Not long after the spring chill had melted, Shen Tong Ying got married.
Although they’d already divided the family, they ultimately all shared the Shen surname, and it was also the crown prince taking a wife, so even if the Shen family first branch has animosity with the second branch, they still needed to be present, congratulating the bride on her new marriage together with the other branches of the Shen family.
Shen Lan Chi was Shen Tong Ying’s younger tang sister, so needed to be the ‘bridesmaid’ on the day of Shen Tong Ying’s wedding.
According to Great Chu’s customs, the bridesmaids were all the bride’s sisters in the family, and on the day of the wedding, they also needed to dress entirely in red. Just, that red needed to be a bit lighter, and also not allowed to wear jade or gold, so as to distinguish themselves from the bride. The bridesmaids were required to support the bride in stepping over the doorstep[1] and send her onto the bridal sedan. And when the groom comes, the bridesmaids even need to carefully question him, seeing if this groom is aware of the bride’s preferences.
However, the matter of marriage has always been under the orders of the parents and the word of the matchmaker. There weren’t many grooms that were genuinely clear of the bride’s preferences. These questions, the great majority, were all prepared in advance. The bridesmaids were merely going through the motions.
Shen Lan Chi and a few sisters from the Shen clan all changed into a red dress and went to Shen Tong Ying’s room. In front of the mirror, Shen Tong Ying was wearing a tall crown on her head, her red dress like the sunset clouds, her face applied with thick powder, showing a rare charm. She saw Shen Lan Chi’s figure in the mirror, raising her head and saying, “Younger sister Lan, you also came to see me get married?”
When she spoke, the dangling beads before her forehead lightly swayed, glistening with light.
The other bridesmaids knew that the two of them didn’t get along, so all didn’t dare to say too much, just smiling along and praising how beautiful the bride was to the side.
“Older sister Tong’s big day, how can I not come to support?” Shen Lan Chi said with a smile, “Older sister Tong is truly very beautiful on this wedding day.”
Shen Tong Ying hasn’t heard this line from her mouth in a long time already. Hearing again at this time, she felt that it was full of mockery. Shen Tong Ying lifted her hand and touched that scar under the thick powder, coldly sneering, “His Highness the Crown Prince doesn’t love me, so beauty is also useless to me. But, even if he doesn’t like me, even if he once requested to marry you before his Majesty, and even if I’d ruined my appearance, the one marrying him in the end is still me.”
Pausing for a moment, Shen Tong Ying lowered her hand, taunting, “In the future, I will certainly live a thousand times better than you.”
Shen Lan Chi originally wanted to say something, but because today was the day of Shen Tong Ying’s wedding, not good to make too much of a fuss, she obediently kept quiet, just wishing Shen Tong Ying all the happiness and good fortune for the future.
Not long after, an older woman’s voice sounded from outside, shouting, “The groom has passed the Vermillion Bird Gate and will be here soon! Quickly have the bride brought out!”
This was Chu’s custom. When the bride marries, the people of her maiden family will come tease the bride, asking some questions through the veil like how many children she will have after marrying. Shen Tong Ying put on the veil, letting the bridesmaids support her as she stepped out of the room.
“The bride has come out!”
“Pretty! Really pretty!”
Shen Lan Chi held Shen Tong Ying, supporting her out of the room. Xiao-shi was dressed festively, but as soon as she saw Shen Lan Chi, her smile crumbled, flicking her handkerchief and saying, “Aiyoo, I don’t dare to trouble Miss Lan Chi. Later, when his Highness the Crown Prince comes, if Miss Lan Chi were to see his Highness, becoming upset inside, I won’t be able to bear.”
This line of hers was clearly saying that Shen Lan Chi also wanted to marry the crown prince, thus would feel upset running into the crown prince. But, everyone was aware that the crown prince first proposed to marry Shen Lan Chi, then after getting rejected, decided on Shen Tong Ying.
When the people in the surrounding heard, they all couldn’t help but feel awkward.
The daughter of the first branch has set aside the past grudges, coming to be the bridesmaids, which was more than enough to show how courteous and generous the first branch was. On the contrary, this second branch, despite having benefited, still pretended to be ignorant, having a petty look, truly making one dislike.
So as to avoid an embarrassing situation, a woman came up and said to Shen Lan Chi, “Miss bridesmaid, you’re also tired, so why not go rest for a while to the side and have some tea?”
Shen Lan Chi also didn’t want to stay here, so immediately agreed.
After leaving Shen Tong Ying’s boudoir, she sat down in the flower pavilion. She hadn’t sat for long when she heard noisy voices behind her, mixed with a bit of drunkenness. Turns out, it was a few old mamas that took the occasion to get drunk.
“Isn’t this the bride? How come you’re sitting here without your veil?”
“The groom still hasn’t come yet! What is Miss Tong being upset about this time?”
These mamas just had an alcohol addiction normally. Today was the young miss’s big day, so Xiao-shi ordered all the servants to nicely relax, drinking and eating as much as they like. Therefore, they just started drinking without restraint. Because of this, they were already somewhat drunk at this time. Seeing Shen Lan Chi who was dressed as the bridesmaid, they just mistook her for the bride.
Shen Lan Chi had just said that ‘she wasn’t’ when one of the mamas giddily walked out, and a short while later, came back waving a bright red cloth, cheerfully saying, “Didn’t I say that Granny Chen’s place still has the miss’s wedding clothes, put this wedding veil on the miss first.”
However, what she was waving in her hand, how was it a wedding veil? Clearly just a piece of red muslin cloth.
But these mamas didn’t care, forcibly having this veil put on her head, happily saying, “Aiyoo! Our miss really is very pretty. As expected of the beauty we watched grow up. Come, come, come, why don’t we escort the miss out. The bride is coming!”
As she said this, she enthusiastically tried to help Shen Lan Chi get up.
Shen Lan Chi helplessly laughed and just said, “If you all really have me treated as the bride, the second madam afraid will be furious. I although am not your master, I’m still the young miss of a respectable family. I can also have you all punished.”
The word ‘punish’ seemingly made the mamas sober up.
Right at this time, they suddenly heard a voice.
“Why don’t you all withdraw, the groom has arrived.”
Through the veil, Shen Lan Chi faintly saw a tall figure step into the flower pavilion, in a jade crown and fancy clothes, his posture graceful and upright, like a bamboo in the paintings.
A mama smacked her own head and anxiously twirled around, “The groom is already here?! Let’s quickly go to the front. If we go late, we won’t be able to receive any wedding money! Go call over another two servant girls to help support our miss out the door.”
After saying this, the three drunk mamas hastily left, whipping up a whirlwind of alcoholic odor.
Once the three mamas left, the man softly chuckled and said, “The rules in your tang sister’s home truly are awful. On the day of the master’s wedding, the servants are staggeringly drunk, even mistaking someone else for the bride.”
Shen Lan Chi’s brow moved, immediately making out that this voice belonged to Lu Qi Yang.
“What are you doing in my older tang sister’s home………..”
“You’re the bridesmaid, while I’m my older tang brother’s groomsman. I headed out from the Vermillion Bird Gate an hour in advance just for the sake of coming to see the bride.” He said.
“Then, why don’t you go bother the bride.”
“Isn’t the bride here?” Lu Qi Yang said with smile.
“……You!”
Shen Lan Chi was annoyed for a moment, wanting to lift that inexplicable veil on her head. Who knew, in the next moment, her hand just got pressed down by Lu Qi Yang.
He held Shen Lan Chi’s fingers, slender and fair like porcelain. Under the half-rolled up thin red cuffs, there was a long and slender scar.
“How can the bride lift the veil on her own?” He said with laugh, “I’m naturally the one to do it.”
[1] This is something rather minor, but in case anyone was unaware, the doorframe in a lot of old architect have this obstruction at the bottom. It generally serves two purposes. From a practical angle, it’s used to block wind and rain, as well as keep out pests and snakes. Additionally, it also helps strengthen the doorframe as a whole. As for the symbolic meaning, it’s used to separate the inside and outside space, with applications in fengshui.
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