Chapter 10: Beauty

"The Grand Servant's1 Vice Minister2, Yang Hua Ting's account books were confiscated. For several nights, Prince Cheng 2.5 has summoned his subordinates one after another into his residence. The emperor was looking for you3 everywhere."

"En4."

"Just now, the lord....." the sword-fitted tall imperial guard had just spoken halfway when the youngster by his side let out a "shush" sound, interrupting his sentence.

The mountain top was extremely quiet, yet the lights in the remote temple were still bright. This night was bound to be a sleepless night. A person wearing beautifully embroidered clothes walked in the night. Neither hurried nor slowly, he said, "Wen Ji, don't talk when you are watching a play."

The imperial guard called Wen Ji no longer spoke.

"He likes watching plays."

Inside the room, Jiang Li was facing Tong'er as she explained.

"Young lady, you said that he is... he is that Duke Su?" asked Tong'er.

Jiang Li nodded: "Correct."

A rare talent that appeared in Yan Chao only once a century. Nowadays, Duke Su was actually the youngest duke. To say, he was currently no more than 24 years old.

Ji Ming Han, the father of the current Duke Su, Ji Heng, was General Jin Wu5, who followed the previous emperor to open up new territory. Due to his heroic contribution, the previous emperor appreciated his loyalty, so he bestowed him with the title of Duke Su.

General Jin Wu was an extraordinary hero with unfailing favor from the emperor. He was the dream boy of all the females in Yan Chao. However, this great general, Ji Ming Han, against all reason, took a criminal, Yu Hong Ye, as his wife.

At that time, Yu Hong Ye's father was involved in a corruption case. When it was discovered, everyone, including his wives and children were implicated. Yu Hong Ye was the shu6 daughter in the Yu family and she was reduced to enter the brothel. The young Ji Ming Han together with his colleagues was having a dinner party when he met Yu Hong Ye and fell in love at first sight.

Yu Hong Ye was an outstanding beauty. She was also quick witted and astute. In fact, even though she was a criminal, the young masters in the capital of Yanjing were still scrambling to win her favor. Later, Ji Ming Han redeemed Yu Hong Ye and brought her in through the front door7.

If Ji Ming Han was only born out of an ordinary household, at most he would be pointed at. A pity, Ji Ming Han was General Jin Wu, which was also Duke Su. The Ji family clan used a hundred and one ways to obstruct him from bringing Yu Hong Ye home as his wife. However, Ji Ming Han continued to handle things in his own way, and nobody was allowed to interfere.

After Yu Hong Ye and Ji Ming Han were married for a year, Yu Hong Ye gave birth to Ji Heng. When Ji Heng was a year old, Dong Xia tried to invade and Ji Ming Han accepted the order to go into battle. As he was returning home victorious, he received news that Yu Hong Ye had died from an illness.

Nobody knew what had actually happened. But the lower-ranked people inside and out the Ji family were all replaced. The few close-fitting servant girls that were beside Yu Hong Ye also never appeared from then on. Ji Ming Han broke relations with the clan and since then, the Duke Su family did not have any other madam.

Ji Ming Han disappeared soon after he handled everything, leaving behind the young Ji Heng to be raised by his father, the Old General Ji. Afterward, the previous emperor passed away and Emperor Hong Xiao ascended the throne. In his early youth, Ji Heng inherited the dukedom. He was the youngest duke at the age of fourteen.

Ji Heng's father's life was quite legendary. But Ji Heng was the opposite.

Letting the common people of Yan Chao discuss him enthusiastically. First of all, there was no one who could contend Ji Heng's appearance.

As it was said, Ji Heng's mother, Yu Hong Ye, was a famous beauty under the heaven. For the people, each smile and each frown was like a painting. Compared to paintings, it was even more moving. The words "beautiful woman" fitted her as if they were said just for her. Ji Heng's appearance mostly inherited his mother's good looks. He was able to make people turn stupid upon seeing him. Moreover, his temperament inherited his father's indifference. To be called General Jin Wu, this person, he naturally had a firm determination.

Ji Heng, this person, was extremely gorgeous yet also extremely cold. It couldn't be said that he alienated people, rather, his heart was too cruel and he was also moody. Perhaps, one second he was speaking to you softly, and in the next second, without blinking an eye, he could have you beheaded. The common people in Yanjing named him "Jade-faced Asura8". Yet no matter how gloomy his temper was, there were still waves after waves of young ladies trying to get hold of him.

This chapter took so frigging long to edit and then add so many footnotes T^T Both Lime and I have 0 knowledge on all these court ranks and stuff apart from what we have learnt through c-novels, which is clearly insufficient... For the first sentence I already had to jump do some historical research, and then had to go back to the raws so often to check the correct meaning and everything.... really, I could have edited like 4 of the normal chapters in the same time... don't wanna imagine how long it took to translate....sob sob

But I guess everyone is happy to learn a bit more of our ML, right?

it's sleeting I can feel the cold just looking through the window....shivers

Footnotes:

1: 太仆/太僕 (tàipú): officially translated as Grand Servant, Imperial Stud, or Minister Coachman. In the political system of the Qin (秦)and Han (漢) dynasties, the central government was run by ministries, led by the high-ranking officials titled as Nine Ministers (九卿, jiǔ qīng) (the organization changed a bit between the 2 dynasties but both use the same name). The Grand Servant was in charge of the Emperor's chariots, carriages and horses, as well as the equine-related affairs for ceremonies and also regarding the government pastures. Source: Wikipedia.

2: 少卿 (shaoqing ): each of the nine ministers had a vice minister to help them, they were their right-hand man. Source: ChinaKnowledge.

2.5: 成王 (Cheng Wang), Wang is a title for prince/king, usually given to the children of the Emperor or someone very appeciated by the liege or someone with merits(e.g. brother, uncle...). There are several ranks (Junwang, Qinwang,...), some are hereditary some aren't, it's not specified which type of Wang it is. Cheng is the title (each Wang has a different title, usually a positive quality). The action of an official affected him, so we can assume that he is a superior of those officials .

3: 您 (nín), 'you' in a corteous way, using formal speech. Used by the servant to adress the Master. I won't be commenting anymore in the formality degree unless it's necessary, but since in English this nuance is lost, it would be nice if you could remember that servants use formal/respectful language towards their masters, the same with people in a lower position to their superiors.

4: 嗯 (ēn). This is an affirmation sound, something like a grunt... also frequently used by ML in a low, deep, magnetic voice that makes FL's (and this editor's) legs go soft....

5: 金吾 (jin wu). This is his title as general, Jin is gold, Wu is I/myold, so if we put a bit of imagination it might be sth like 'the general that brings methe Emperor wealth' (by winning all battles and conquering other lands).

6: 庶 (shu), reminding everyone, a shu daughter is concubine-born, holds much less importance than the official or di children, and is not entered in the family genealogy.

7: To marry her as the rightful wife and bring her through the front door: In ancient China, unless it's the rightful (official) wife, the female wouldn't be married through the (front/main) door. For example, taking a concubine, the sedan would be brought into the residence through a side door/back door instead. To illustrate, there is usually a big double door gate in the middle and two smaller doors on the right and left or at the side of the compound. The big door normally won't be opened, unless there is a major event or someone important is coming.

Anyhow, he himself was very ostentatious. According to the rumors, no need to mention the cabinet ministers, even the princes were a bit restrained when meeting him. Ji Heng's mind was deep, if you offended him, one would cause a lot of trouble to oneself. He enjoyed wearing beautiful clothes with contrasting rich colors. He was also fond of the beautiful and loathed the disgraceful. All the young manservants up and down the residence were elegant and beautiful.

Ji Heng had two hobbies. The first was to collect flowers and the second was to watch plays. In his residence, various kinds of the world's most unusual flowers were gathered. He was also fond of recruiting opera troupes. If they were good to hear, he would reward them with a thousand taels. However, if they were not pleasant to listen to, he would immediately call people to throw the troupe a thousand miles away from Yanjing. Towards him, the performers in the capital city of Yanjing both loved and hated.

Someone had said, Ji Heng loved watching plays because he loved raising male opera singers. In the capital city of Yanjing, many of the sons of wealthy and famous families also had this kind of shameful hobby. However, after this was said, there was a well-known star performer from Jixiang opera group, Liu Sheng, whose four limbs were snapped off and thrown outside the door of his residence. One heard that he failed to climb the bed and was thrown out. But this rumor was baseless.

In short, Duke Su, Ji Heng, was simply a person who was bossy and domineering, gloomy, terribly moody and a beauty who did not have any tender, protective feelings for females.

But a poisonous beauty was still a beauty.

Tong'er had also heard of Duke Su's famous name before. Eight years ago, when they arrived at this nunnery, Jiang Li was only seven years old. At that time, Duke Su was already 16 years old. Which person in Yanjing didn't know him? However, she didn't expect to meet him here

"How was young lady able to recognize Duke Su?" asked Tong'er, "Before, young lady had never met Duke Su."

Jiang Li laughed faintly.

How could she not know Duke Su? During the time when she was still Xue Fang Fei, she married Shen Yurong and moved to Yanjing. Gradually, the title of the first beauty in Yanjing fell on her. Duke Su, who liked beauty and loathed ugliness, had also heard of Xue Fang Fei's reputation.

And how did Duke Su evaluate Xue Fang Fei? Reportedly, Duke Su saw Xue Fang Fei in a public main street while she was visiting the jewelry shop together with Shen Yurong's younger sister. After a glance, he mockingly said: "A beautiful woman yet completely lacking in spirit."

These words were passed on and she became the laughingstock in the capital of Yanjing for a good while. In particular, among those young ladies from the aristocratic families. Abruptly encountering such a stunning beauty like Xue Fang Fei, naturally, the aristocratic ladies were not reconciled. Ji Heng's words could be considered as them venting their anger. Still, there were still men who stood up against the words said to Xue Fang Fei, yet nobody dared to publicly offend Ji Heng.

Xue Fang Fei didn't feel anything was wrong. However, due to this, Shen Yurong was annoyed and depressed and Xue Fang Fei had actually become the one who had to comfort him instead. On the other hand, Shen Yurong's younger sister and mother felt that Xue Fang Fei had made the Shen family's name into a joke. For this reason, they forbid her from going out of the house for three months.

Recalling it now, she still wasn't angry at Duke Su's words. She even felt that Ji Heng's words were indeed correct. At that time, after marrying Shen Yurong, in order to win the favor of Shen mother and sister-in-law, she curbed her nature and passed the days with her movements strictly restrained. Learning to be a good wife and a loving mother, and no longer was the gay and quick-witted young lady.

Loving someone to the point of sacrificing oneself, turning into another person. In the end, she was just like dust, without any spirit.

Jiang Li said: "In Yanchao, only Duke Su's image would fit. Not to mention, there was a red mole in the corner of his eyes."

Tong'er didn't doubt her, merely was puzzled over it and asked: "Why did Duke Su come here? Did he also come to burn incense?"

Of course not.

"Perhaps, he came to collect flowers." Jiang Li thought a bit and couldn't stop herself from laughing, "yet he unexpectedly got to see a good play. The two biggest pleasures in a person's life were satisfied in a day. His mood must be very good tonight."

Without a doubt, she also felt the same way.