This chapter has been brought to you by me, Adnana, and Vivie.
Chapter Seventy-Three: Mentality
The attempted assassination of Hua Xi Wan caused huge waves to go through Jing. Yi’an Marquis Fu sent several groups of people to deliver objects. Even though the Hua Family knew that Xian Wang Fu did not lack in anything, this did not stop their actions.
Even Yao shi of Third Master Hua’s family who was a bit of a cheapskate sent some replenishing items. According to her, no matter how much of an eyesore she found Hua Xi Wan, she did not want the other to die needlessly. At most, Yao shi just wanted to see her in an unfortunate situation or to not live as well as her own daughter. However, she did not want the other to lose her life.
The Hua Family sent things to the wang fu, and the other members of the Imperial Family also did the same. Prestigious families that could find a connection to Xian Wang Fu or that were close to the Hua Family also mimicked those people and sent things over. No matter how insincere they were, at least they expressed the regret they felt about the attempted assassination of Hua Xi Wan.
After this matter was publicized, the atmosphere of Jing became even tenser. It was not that these people were afraid they would also be assassinated, but they guessed the even more terrifying truth—someone wanted to get rid of Xian Wang.
Everyone knew that Xian Wang had great love for Xian Wang Fei. If he did not have any matters, he never wandered outside the wang fu, and if he had free time, he liked to return to the fu to keep his wang fei company. The day when someone attempted to assassinate Xian Wang Fei, he had been delayed by the officials at the palace gates. The assassin had clearly not predicted that Xian Wang who usually returned at a regular time would not appear on that day, and then decided to act against Xian Wang Fei instead to affect Xian Wang’s emotions. This would cause him to lose his mind and intelligence when he competed for the throne.
It was the greatest fortune that Xian Wang Fei had two servant girls who protected her with their lives, and that the guard of Xian Wang Fu had been patrolling nearby. If any of these circumstances were lacking, Xian Wang Fei would have undoubtedly died.
No one guessed that this matter had been one which Xian Wang Fei had directed and acted in herself. This was because many people in the wang fu had heard the ruckus that came from the main yard, and the screams. The spies whom certain people had inserted into the fu had heard them. Also, Xian Wang Fei had been wounded in the arm. The rumor was that it was a serious wound and it would leave behind a scar.
Xian Wang Fei was such a beautiful and delicate woman. Could she cut such an ugly scar on her own arm? Also, Xian Wang and Xian Wang Fei were not people who liked to pursue power. What was the aim if they were faking this?
They disliked having too much blood in their bodies, and decided to cut open a wound to play?
Even more people leaned towards believing that someone wanted to attack Xian Wang while the Emperor was not in a good mood in order to eliminate this hidden opponent.
If it was related to the matter of succession, then it would never be a simple matter. When they thought of the presently chaotic state of affairs, they couldn’t help but sigh. The next while in Jing would probably not be peaceful.
Ever since the effects of the laudanum had passed, Hua Xi Wan experienced the feeling of pain. She didn’t even dare to move her arm freely, and she had to take care with what she consumed. This was what was most painful to her.
The two most important things in life were eating and sleeping, and now she could not do either of them well. When she slept at night, she did not dare to flip over, and she could only eat some dishes that were beneficial for wound recovery. It was difficult to bear.
In the last two days, Yan Jin Qiu had requested a vacation and spent almost the entire time around Hua Xi Wan. He told her interesting news, or humorous things about certain officials. This was all to divert her attention so that she would be less sensitive to the pain
This was something the grand doctors had said to him. It seemed far-fetched, but when he saw Hua Xi Wan absorbed while listening to the interesting news of the officials of Jing, he, a wang ye who was never interested in the gossip of other families, had servants search for humorous and interesting news. He tried to have Hua Xi Wan maintain her interest.
“What do you think this Baron Jing Ping is thinking?” Hua Xi Wan sighed. “He raised the son of his first wife to be timid and without abilities, and the son of his second wife to be arrogant and domineering. I heard that the other is also a wastrel.”
“He only made a gamble and lost.” Yan Jin Qiu sighed and said, “Otherwise, he would not have immediately married his second wife just after she came out of her first marriage, right after his first wife died.”
“Many men are greedy for beauty. Baron Jing Ping will not be the first man to do this, and will not be the last.”
Emperor Jing of the Han was so powerful that he could have Empress Dowager Wang, who had married previously and had a child, come into the palace, and then had Empress Dowager Wang’s son by him become the crown prince in the end. Then this son had succeeded the throne and became the famed Emperor Wu of Han.
Baron Jing Ping was only one of the lower-ranked barons, and it was nothing for him to marry a childless woman who had been previously married. However, this should have been based on the fact that he had not committed adultery with the second wife while the first wife was alive, and then hurriedly married the second wife just after the first wife died. In that case, she would not have such a lack of positive feelings about this Baron Jing Ping.
“I’m not the same as other men,” Yan Jin Qiu said as he bent down near her ear. “If I, Yan Jin Qiu, find a woman, then it is for the whole lifetime.”
Believing the sweet talk of men was akin to making oneself stupid. However, she would not be so stupid as to tear apart his sweet talk in front of him. She would slowly listen as though it was something interesting, and it was her own business whether she believed it or not.
However, Yan Jin Qiu seemed to be only speaking this for her to hear, and he did not try to force her to believe it. He looked worriedly at her arm and his brow creased slightly. “The Empress Dowager and the Empress have bestowed down some things today. You are recuperating, so I did not have you get up to receive the decree.”
In reality, both of them knew it wasn’t that Hua Xi Wan was so heavily wounded that she could not get out of bed. It was because she was unwilling as the warm blankets were too comfortable.
Because of her wound, Yan Jin Qiu had enabled her to become even more lazy. Even when eating, she only had to open her mouth and wait for people to place food in it. Most of the time, that person was Yan Jin Qiu.
“The Empress also sent some things?” Hua Xi Wan raised an eyebrow in slight shock. The Crown Prince had just died and the Empress had recovered so quickly?
“En, do you need to see the list? I will have someone bring it.” Yan Jin Qiu peeled a whole orange and handed a slice to her.
She tilted her head to bite into the orange slice. After eating it, she shook her head and said, “No need, I’m too lazy to look.”
The things that came from the palace, from the pearls and jade artefacts to the little playthings, all had auspicious names like Phoenixes Flying Double Flower Brocade, Hundred Layer Dress, or else it was the green jade hairpins that had good fortune clouds. It really tested one’s eyes and memory when the names were called out.
“Don’t look if you do not want to.” Yan Jin Qiu finished feeding her half of the orange and did not let Hua Xi Wan eat any more. He put down the other half and reached out with a hand to caress the soft hair loose on her back. “I have something today that I need to go out for. Remember to have your medicine at the set time.”
“All right.” Hua Xi Wan knew that in the eyes of other people, it was love if Yan Jin Qiu kept her company in the wang fu for two to three days, but if he stayed even longer, it would not be appropriate.
“Then rest well. Do not make me worry.”
After Yan Jin Qiu left, Hua Xi Wan lay on the bed and did not feel any drowsiness. She had Cheng Qiu hand her a book to read to waste the time.
Not long after Yan Jin Qiu came out of the wang fu on his horse, he encountered Yan Bo Yi who was also riding. Both were riding on tall horses and gave bows of equals to each other from atop their horses.
“How is Dimei’s wound?” Yan Bo Yi took out the horsewhip that was hanging from his waist and played with it. “Dimei is of a fragile constitution, and the culprit is evil to have her suffer such hardship.”
“That is true.” Yan Jin Qiu had a natural smile. “Tang Xiong, thanks for the concern. This younger brother will definitely manage the fu well, and not have something like this happen again.”
The two men locked gazes, one with an expressionless face, and one with a face covered in smiles but without any warmth in his eyes.
The people leading the horses for the two men shook simultaneously and then buried their heads.
After returning to the wang fu, Yan Jin Qiu did not immediately return to the main yard. He went to the study instead and then passed through the hidden tunnel. His feet stepped on the ground that was covered in water all year around. When his boots stepped on the dirty ground, they became covered in a layer of dirty water.
Translator Ramblings: Yan Jin Qiu is the best enabler. He spoils Hua Xi Wan more than her parents.
Now that the crown prince is dead, and the crown princess still doesn’t have the child born, to know wether it a girl or boy? YJQ and YBY are the only one who has power to aime for the throne. Though I must say it kinda hard to say that it was a fortune or misfortune for for HXW to be injured. She can be more lazy than before, but can’t eat her usual meals or move in bed that much.
Yay I’m first and thank you so much for the chapter 🙂
Awe correction I’m 2nd
Imperial families are scary! YJQ is really something else….plays lovey dovey then goes to the dungeon to torture some unfortunate soul hehe <3
That taijian is so dead now….. seriously
I just can’t help but still think of YJQ as shady at that last part where he goes into that hidden tunnel… At least he’s good to HXW. That makes up for his shady, cruel side.
Seriously what an ideal even without love they have a perfect coupling. Thanks for this chapter.
*Xian Wang Fei was such a beautiful and delicate woman. Could she cut such an ugly scar on her own arm? Also, Xian Wang and Xian Wang Fei were not people who liked to pursue power. What was the aim if they were faking this?*
You betcha she can cut herself. The fact that people aren’t even suspicious of YJQ of wanting power is fascinating. He plays his role so damn well.
—
*It seemed far-fetched, but when he saw Hua Xi Wan absorbed while listening to the interesting news of the officials of Jing, he, a wang ye who was never interested in the gossip of other families, had servants search for humorous and interesting news. He tried to have Hua Xi Wan maintain her interest.*
YJQ, whipped.
—
*Because of her wound, Yan Jin Qiu had enabled her to become even more lazy. Even when eating, she only had to open her mouth and wait for people to place food in it. Most of the time, that person was Yan Jin Qiu.*
Hahahaha and her parents were worried she would not have such days? Alas, YJQ is her most loyal servant.
—
*“Tang Xiong, thanks for the concern. This younger brother will definitely manage the fuwell, and not have something like this happen again.”*
Ok, back to plot. The way I see it, that spy and that other person who escaped are part of YBY schemes. I don’t think he expected things to turn out this way. At the very least, it would have been great to sow discord between YJQ and HXW but he miscalculated. This fu is a damn fort.
Thank you for this chapter! It’s amusing how YJQ is more than willing to serve his wife during her healing period. If HXW’s parents could see it….lol.
So, I think it’s like this: various people (YBY first and foremost) like to place their spies in Xian Wang Fu. YJQ likes to catch those people, close them in his secret prison and tortu… *cough* interrogate them. This time, one imprisoned spy managed to escape the secret prison, before or after colluding with another spy (the taijian whom the 1st spy then “held hostage”) who was still not imprisoned at this point. The danger here: the escaped spy now had first-hand knowledge about YJQ’s secret prison–which would have unmasked this “unambitious wangye at ease” if it ever became known by other people (i.e., the spy’s original master). Even if the escaped spy could be recaptured, he had already made a lot of noise in the wang fu, which was enough to make people (especially any other spies) suspicious if it wasn’t properly explained.
So Hua Xi Wan’s streak of brilliance here was, she allowed the wangfu’s guard to just do their job (recapture the escaped spy, and also the 2nd, newly identified spy–the taijian) without having to worry about anything else, and she took it on herself to give a credible explanation for the noise/sound of fighting by staging the assassination attempt. This way, not only did she conceal the real source of the disturbance (by concealing the origin/purpose of the escaped spy and thus the existence of YJQ’s secret prison), but she also washed YJQ clean of any possible suspicions the Emperor might have about him at this sensitive time by making YJQ a target of an “assassination” just like the Crown Prince had been.
Exactly. It was a show, mainly for the people inside the fu who might have heard the ruckus, but also for the city outside the fu. The Emperor believing it is an added bonus, I think. It was very quick thinking; HXW is good at thinking on her feet.
Good acting
Thank you so much wyhcwe, Adnana, and Vivie for the translation – and totally agree that XYJ is such an enabler.
Sleeping and eating is life – totally agree with HXJW
And the tension rises.
Seriously, I had chills down my spine when YBY and YJQ met.
😬😬😬
I’m slow not really that smart tbh when it come to double meaning talk in with case in this novel is like they talk in double meaning most of the time … So I need to scroll down the comments section to see the kind soul that explains this and that …. So yup thank you to fellow reader … And BiG big thanks for the hard work dear translator and co
( P.S I’ve terrible memory when it comes to remembering people name)
Because of her wound, Yan Jin Qiu had enabled her to become even lazier.
.. 😁😁😁 being lazy especially at this time is completely alright for YJQ 😁
Thank you for the chapter ε==ε==(っ*｀oЗo*)っ fufu
Sigh…. the ML has love but the MC is so stubborn as the one in Virtuous Wife… She doesn’t believe it so easily…
You know, this used to bother me, too, both here and in “Virtuous Wife,” and while I still generally prefer to read romances depicting deep, mutual love between the OTP–sans all the cynicism and lack of trust–the heroines in TBAVW and 8TT have really grown on me, too. It’s okay that they don’t trust easily, especially since their life partners are, after all, men of the imperial family (never a model of fidelity throughout history). Most importantly, they don’t actually let that lack of trust stop them from giving the relationship a fair chance to grow and develop into something deeper. If her man treats her well, the heroine will treat him well right back; she’ll be a good wife to him, with all that entails. She’ll give him a chance to prove he *deserves* a deeper trust. The heroine isn’t just expecting to be endlessly pampered without giving anything back. Conversely, she also shouldn’t be expected to just give all her love easily. It’s okay to make the hero work for it. 🙂
I get where you’re coming from but I think this doesn’t bother me because the power balance (which was also mentioned in earlier chapters) between men and women are insanely distorted in that time period.
For the women, it’s clear their status depends completely on their husband or son and whether or not their husband likes them/dotes on them. If they’re doted on by their husband, they can live good lives and servants will respect them and they’re protected from unhappy in-laws etc. If their husband ignores them (like the case with MC’s cousin) and favors another concubine, they’re pretty much screwed. The arc with MC’s cousin being abused in her husband’s house, it’s explicitly stated that if a Wangfei hadn’t shown up, the Zhou family could have still gotten away with a slap on the wrist or at least, would be able to force her to stay in the their family.
Also, I don’t see much risk for the ML to fall in love with his wife because the husbands have pretty much absolute power. If he falls out of love with his wife, he can easily take a bunch more concubines and start ignoring his wife at home and easily twist outside perception to blame that his wife as the cause for doing bad things or was a shrew etc.
In this situation, I think it’s totally understandable that our MC is resistant to falling in love or carefully guarding her heart because the women’s lives are so dependent on the whims of their husbands. Like they keep stating, beauty doesn’t last and who can guarantee that your husband will be in love with you forever? (In modern times divorce rates are like 50% so…)
Uh…
Thanks for the new chapter! Lol! Minus the current inconveniences HXW is living her dream lazy lifestyle. XD
Aaaaand she’s back!
Our HXW could be so active for a few chapters, now she’s lazier than ever lol.
YJQ… tsk tsk tsk… you’re spoiling her way too much dude. You’re in it deep!
The author is finding showing us the true side of YJQ
Thank you for the chapter~
pft, glad I’m not the only one thinking that when I read the translator’s note 😛
it may be only me, but I think the author got dumped before writting this novel.
Why do you think that?
Thanks again for the chapter <3
“Even when eating, she only had to open her mouth and wait for people to place food in it. Most of the time, that person was Yan Jin Qiu.” 👈🏻 This is ‘the life’. *sigh*.
Got a strong feeling the emperor or empress had a hand in their son’s death. Empress clearly was being fishy as she told the imperial doctor to make sure he recovered quickly as if it wasn’t naturally so his job description. As well as the emperor who disliked his son for many reasons and had finally having a potential heir he maybe wanted to dispose of him asap and give him a emperor title so his new child can inherit his line. Gotta say if it was the emperor it was way to hasty without knowing its gender. For sheng junwang and Xi’an wang to call each other by familiar names instead of titles again feels weird when they openly displayed their indifference to the public now they’re back to acting chummy although none of them means it???
This slapping on some quick fix and letting others filling in the holes left is awesome
Especially when the holes are being filled so beautifully