Chapter 30 : New Year’s Gift (1)

It snowed that day. White and flawless little snowflakes fluttered down from the sky like beautiful silver butterflies dancing lightly. Snow, fell more and more. Snowflakes flied all over the sky, like smoke, but not to be confused with smoke, like fog, but also not to be confused with fog. The whole world was shrouded with the vast snow.

In the cold winter months, the inside of house had been heated earlier. Yuxi sat in the warm room and looked inside the qipu. Studying the qipu had now become her best hobby, surpassing her former hobby – embroidery.

Moju quickly came in. Since she was cold, she didn’t dare to get close to Yuxi. She said at the door, “Miss, Motao just now fell down and now she can’t get up.” The ground was frozen that Motao slipped while carrying the food box.

Yuxi said hurriedly, “Please go and get a doctor.” Motao was one of the four maidservants of Yuxi who was the least cold-headed. She did things with a dull head on weekdays and had the weakest sense of existence. But this did not mean that Yuxi did not take care of Motao. On the contrary, she still attached great importance to Motao.

Moju nodded in response, “Miss, we still need to wait for breakfast.” Motao had dropped all Yuxi’s breakfast to the ground, so they had to get another one from the big kitchen. However, the main kitchen had to get an extra portion for that, which meant that breakfast would be done slower than usual.

Yuxi calculated the time for her to wait for the main kitchen to be done with it. She was sure going to be late. She then said, “Don’t do it any more. Just bring anything that can be eaten from the kitchen.” If she had a small kitchen, she wouldn’t be in such trouble. However, this could only be considered. The residence only had a kitchenette for the Old Madam and Eldest Aunt, no one else.

After a quarter of an hour, the breakfast was delivered. Today morning breakfast was very simple, only baozi (steamed stuffed bun), mantou (steamed bread), and a bowl of millet porridge.

Yuxi was not a picky eater either. When she had done eating her breakfast, she was ready to go to Magnolia Courtyard.

On her way out, Mama Shen wanted Yuxi to wear another coat, but Yuxi stopped her, “I’m wearing a fur coat and it’s not cold.” She was now much stronger than before and did not need to be wrapped like a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling).

Mama Shen was unable to dissuade Yuxi, so she had to give up.

At the gate of Magnolia Courtyard, Yuxi saw Yuchen. Because it was extremely cold these two days, Yuchen had not come to learn qin early in the morning.

Yuchen was wearing a silver-white foreign satin sable fur cloak on the outside, and her head was covered by the cap of the cloak. When she entered the classroom, she took off her cloak, revealing the inside which was a knee length water red jacket with snow weasel furs and engraved with silver line.

Yuxi glanced at Yuchen’s cloak, but her eyes fell on a kind of ice-cold emerald gourd bracelet on her wrist. Yuchen usually wore few jewelleries, but as long as she wore it, it must be a top-quality product, and it was basically not heavy. Yuxi only looked at the jewelry that Yuchen wore every time, which could make her gain a lot of insight.

Yuxi turned her head and looked at Shishu’s guarded eyes. It felt really bad to be guarded like she was a thief. Before, she just ignored this feeling, but today she felt a bit irritated and said with a deliberate smile, “Third Sister, this bracelet of yours is really beautiful. Can you show it to me?”

葫芦 (hulu) / Gourd

By aroid, CC by 2.0 vis flickr

and pinkytoky (Good Luck Symbol – Hulu, the Calabash Gourd, February 8, 2018)

The gourd symbolised ‘good fortune’ and this gourd bracelet was made from old ice cold emerald. The six gourds on the bracelet were vivid in colour, crystal clear and full of vitality.

Yuxi looked at it and could not help but gasped in admiration, “It’s beautiful.”

Seeing this, Shishu hastily said, “This bracelet was given to my Miss by the Old Madam a few days ago.” Everyone in the place knew what this statement meant.

When Moju heard this, her eyes burst into flames with anger.

There were certain things that you couldn’t say just because you knew it. If you still said it, it would turn out to be something embarrassing. This time, Shishu really angered Yuxi. Yuxi looked at Shishu and said with a forced smile, “You don’t know what you said, but you think I’m scheming for Third Sister’s bracelets.”

Shishu didn’t expect Yuxi to speak so bluntly, so her face instantly turned stiff. She believed she was loved by the Old Madam and her Miss, but she was also a servant girl. How could she be compared with Fourth Miss?

Yuchen did not know why Yuxi suddenly launched an attack against Shishu and said with a smile, “It’s not something valuable. If Fourth Sister like it, then I will give it to you.”

Hearing this statement, made Yuxi felt that things of high value were like weeds on the roadside in the eyes of others. It was really uncomfortable. She smiled and said, “No, there are so many beautiful things in the world that I can’t take them all for myself.” Having said this, she handed the bracelet to Yuchen and lowered her head to sort out her books.

When Yuxi returned to the Rose Courtyard after class, Mama Shen said with a smile, “Miss, the New Year’s gift from Master has arrived.” Today was the eighteen days of the twelfth month of the lunar year, and this year’s gift came at a really good time.

Yuxi immediately gave a respond, “Oh!”. Although Han Jingyan was an official who always worked outside of the capital in her previous life, it did not hinder her admiration for him. Even back then, when she was wronged, she thought that as long as her father was in the residence, no one could bully her. Unexpectedly, Han Jingyan regarded her as nothing after his returned to the capital. Even when she was bullied by Wu Shi, he never cared. That was not all. Knowing that Jiang Family was a pit of fire, she still being pushed into it. Was this her biological father? She didn’t know, but she thought of him as her enemy. Therefore, she had no more affection for Han Jingyan, a cold-blooded and ruthless father.

Mama Shen looked at Yuxi’s expression, which was neither salty nor bland, and her heart thumped. It was like Yuxi did not care at all about Master negligence. Could this mean that Miss was not close with Master either? This was not good. “Miss, the Master has sent a lot of things this time.”

Yuxi thought for a moment and asked, “If I remember correctly, my father has been in Hebei for five years and will be six years by next year. Will father comes back next year? “

Mama Shen smiled and said, “I heard that Master’s achievements are excellent and will probably be promoted next year.” If you wanted to be promoted, you would definitely not come back.

Yuxi was silent for a moment and then she asked, “Mama Shen, what kind of person is my stepmother?” Seeing that Mama Shen did not speak, she said, “If mama is not clear, just this time, let’s inquire about it from the people who came back from Hebei.”

Mama Shen looked a little uncomfortable.

Yuxi didn’t say anything to her face, but she turned to let Hongshan inquire about Wu Shi. Hongshan had a wide range of connections, and Yuxi also gave her some money to take care of it. She soon got the news.

Hongshan had inquired about Wu Shi’s basic situation and she told Yuxi about it later on.

After hearing what Hongshan said, Yuxi deliberately pretended to be dissatisfied and asked, “What else?” It took several taels of silvers to find out the number of wives and concubines his father had in Hebei and also the number of aunts and stepsiblings that she had. The news were too simple.

Hongshan said, “It is said that the Third Madam is strict in her household management. The household is well organized inside and outside, which is highly valued by Master.” In fact, she had some worries. It could be seen from the news that the future mistress of the Third House was not a good person, which was very disadvantageous to her Miss.

Yuxi chuckled. It was good for Wu Shi to manage the family strictly, but those informers could not go so far as to give her these useless news. It should be that these people thought she gave less money. She inquired about Wu Shi’s news just for show. She had been living with Wu Shi for several years in her previous life and was already very clear about her temperament.

Yuxi said to herself, “There are still many years to go. Don’t worry.” It was not until she was eleven that Wu Shi followed her father back to the capital. As soon as Wu Shi arrive in the residence, she fought with her Eldest Aunt for the right to manage the house. The two fought for several years. It was not until her niece, Qiu Yanfu designed Yuxi’s Second Brother that she completely tore her Eldest Aunt’s face.

Hongshan didn’t hear clearly what Yuxi just said and asked, “Miss, what you’re talking about?”

Yuxi looked up and returned to her usual look, “It’s not a big deal to say that my stepmother is a powerful character. However, Grandmother the main person who could decides what happen in the residence.” A few years were enough time for her to be ready. In her last life, she was stupid, but in this life, Wu Shi would never step on her again.

Meanwhile, Qiu Shi was looking at the New Year’s gifts list sent from Hebei. After reading it, her face looked very ugly.

Mama Li noticed that Qiu Shi was not looking good, she hurriedly asked, “Madam, what’s wrong?”

Qiu Shi handed the list to Mama Li said, “They sent several carts of things all the way, all of which were filled with worthless things. It’s a good calculation to have won the title and not spend much money!“ They did send things in a few carts, but if they added up the total values, they would only be up to two or three thousand taels.

After reading the list, Mama Li’s look also turned bad, “This Wu Shi is going too far.” The number of New Year’s gifts increased, but unfortunately there were fewer and fewer valuable things.

Qiu Shi sneered, “She thinks everyone under the sun is a fool, and only she is the smart one!” Wu Shi didn’t want to give up money, but still wanted a face. Didn’t she knew that there was nothing cheap in this world?

Mama Li calmly said, “Madam, during assessment period on the third month next lunar year, Third Master has already been assigned as a tongzhi (an old word for government deputy prefect during Ming and Qing dynasty) for 6 years. If he has to go to an official trip to the reservoir again, we have to make him clear and also to the Old Madam that next year, we can’t afford to use the public fund to pay for the trip expenses.” When her Master married in, the Duke’s official residence was in deficit every year. It took a lot of effort from her Master to make end met till today. The reason for her Master to work hard was not for the sake of Third Master (the original chinese text was 二老爷=Second Master, but isn’t he called Third Master, the head of the Third House? This is confusing. However, for now I’ll use the common title to refer Han Jiangyan).

Qiu Shi understood the meaning of Mama Li’s statement, however, she was somewhat hesitant, “Do you mean to let the Old Madam uses her own money?” She was not a tight-fisted person. She had never thought of the Old Madam’s money. It was just that she thought Wu Shi being so tight with money that she let the official residence to pay everything to dot, made Qiu Shi unwilling to continue paying for their expenses.

Mama Li said, “Madam, even if Wu Shi cannot carry it clearly, the Third Master is not a muddle headed person. I believe that Third Master must have let his confidant send money to the Old Madam and let the Old Madam help with the management. We have to borrow this incident to let the Old Madam knows Wu Shi’s character.“ The Third Master was a son of a noble family. It was impossible for him not to know that they needed money to manage the residence. This money was certainly impossible for the official residence to easily put forth.

Qiu Shi had a headache, “If Wu Shi returns, this residence will not be quite again.” Although she never met this Wu Shi, but by looking at the way she conducted things showed that they would not get along with each other.

Mama Li actually laughed. “Madam, don’t 45worry. When Wu Shi returned, the first person she will see is not Madam, but the Third and Fourth Misses.” Both of them were currently following Teacher Song’s study. Even if they only learnt something superficial, it was still impossible for Wu Shi to suppress both girls.

Qiu Shi shook her head and said, “No matter how strong the Third and Fourth Girls are, they always depend on their brothers in the family. They can’t stand up to Wu Shi.”

Mama Li didn’t argue with Qiu Shi either. Only time would prove it. However, she believed that the Third and Fourth Misses were definitely not ones who tolerated the sound of swallowing (Chinese idiom : to swallow insult and humiliation in silent). As long as Wu Shi returned to the capital, her good days would come to an end.