Chapter 45: CH 45

Chen Miao Ping looked at Xie Yu Zhi and was about half a second slower than him in blinking. He did not speak either, as if he had not come to his senses yet. It was also at this time that the horse carriage slowed to a stop and Fu Ling’s clear and gentle voice travelled to their ears from the outside, 

“Second Master, Gu-Ye, we have arrived.”

Xie Yu Zhi sent a look at Chen Miao Ping and lifted the curtain covering the doorway to get out. He walked straight into the estate where the maids of Qu Feng Courtyard were already waiting outside to welcome him. Seeing him walk in, one of them quickly followed behind and said as they walked,

“Second Master, the Imperial Palace has passed on the news that Gong Ye probably will not be back for a while as His Majesty has asked most of the ministers to stay behind for a meeting, and also…… and also Palace Physician Ruan……”

Before she could finish, Xie Yu Zhi said with ridicule in his voice, 

“It will never be healed. Day after day, who is he doing these empty and useless actions for? It’s all just to appease His Majesty’s decree. He may have time to waste, but I do not. Tell someone to throw him out!”

He was, after all, the only one main son. Chang Guo Gong has never given up on Xie Yu Zhi’s condition, and even the Emperor passed a decree, ordering all doctors who reported to the Imperial Palace to put all their efforts in finding a cure. Unfortunately, those efforts never succeeded anywhere. 

They were all too scared of the responsibility, not daring to use medicine that would be too harsh to the body and only gave out prescriptions with known and stable side effects. Hence since then, he has been prescribed with only medicine bags of herbs and plants to warm up those unused muscles once in a while. 

All indeed an empty show.

Chen Miao Ping did not follow him, as he was more interested in something else. When they left the Imperial Palace, the Royal Consort of Brightness had gifted them with a few presents that contained quite a few high quality items. He followed Ren Dong who was just bringing some servants with her to check the list given with the gifts and log all records into the estate’s treasury. The entire time he was right on the edge, excited beyond his mind, staring at the commotion with a lot of curiosity. 

Famous paintings and scrolls, jade and expensive jewelry, all these were just passing interests. The only thing that caught his eye was a crystal that was almost clear all the way through.

Chen Miao Ping picked up that rock crystal that was about half the size of his palm and lifted it up against the sun. He found that most of the inner surface had little air bubbles, with only one small part that could be considered perfect. This cannot even be compared to the modern glass in the future, but here in the ancient times, it should 100% be considered as a special and rare item.

Ren Dong logged everything onto a book and seeing him mesmerized like that, smiled and said, 

“This crystal has been cut to clearness, unlike any other jewelry. If Gu-Ye is interested, we can hire a craftsman to carve it into a pendant. It would look very good if it’s hung by your waist to hold down your clothing.”

Chen Miao Ping was just about to agree when he remembered the system that has latched onto his body. And so the moment they left his mouth, the words changed direction,

“I am only thinking that this item has such clarity, that it must shine with such brightness and color on a normal day. It should suit Second Master perfectly. Which, actually, why not do it like this? I will draw a pattern and you find a craftsman to carve it. It should make Second Master happy and at that time, you will be rewarded for your efforts.”

He then remembered that in this time period, a calligraphy brush was the normal tool and he paused. He scanned his surroundings and saw a chicken feather shuttlecock lying in a corner that must have been left by the maids who played with this normally. He went over to pluck a feather out.

Ren Dong had just finished logging everything into the treasury book, and her records were not even put aside before Chen Miao Ping grabbed it. With a piece of paper taken from the records, he used the end of the chicken feather dipped in ink to draw an image. 

He explained in detail, 

“See this……round it out to this shape, add a light green thickness in the middle…… Don’t poke the hole through the middle, do it at the top and the bottom edges. First let the craftsmen round it to this kind of shape, and for the detailing, I will tell you how to carve the finish later. Use only this most clear part near the middle.”

Ren Dong thought the shape was really strange, but she nodded her head in acknowledgement. Once Chen Miao Ping finished relaying his thoughts, he headed back. When he reached the entrance to Qu Feng Courtyard, he heard a loud commotion from inside.

“I beg Second Master, please don’t make this harder for this old man. To heal your leg is the intention of everyone at the Palace. If I defy this decree, His Majesty and the Royal Consort of Brightness will bestow a punishment that I cannot bear!”

Imperial Physician Ruan pushed away the servants who were trying to stop him and stood at the tightly closed door, begging loudly at Xie Yu Zhi. His inner self was not as diligent however, as his thoughts were concentrated on swearing at him, thinking, no wonder why there’s a saying that says blinds are vicious, cripples are weird, deaf are skeptical, mutes are evil. This bad temper of Xie Yu Zhi, hmph, he should be disabled for the rest of his life!

He seemed to be tired from all his begging and wanted to rest for a breath’s time. But then out of the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw the servants of the courtyard bow in sync, 

“To see Gu-Ye.”

Imperial Physician Ruan subconsciously turned his head and saw an attractive young man dressed in a brocade robe standing beside him since who knows when. This handsome looking man was pleasantly smiling at him, but he felt that there was nothing pleasant in the expression. He slowly met with that man’s pair of eyes and his heart somehow seemed to drop in fear for a second.

Chen Miao Ping sat on the bed by his feet . Seeing that Xie Yu Zhi was only concerned about his book and did not even bother to converse with him, he inquisitively looked at the book, 

“Looking at Chun Gong Tu1? Why are you so engrossed?”

Xie Yu Zhi: “……”

He finally put down his book and closed the cover. It was “Classic of Poetry”. Xie Yu Zhi gave him a glance, 

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“Your normal literature when you were studying, is to look at these improper things, hmm?”

Chen Miao Ping said, 

“Not all, as it gets too repetitive otherwise. I usually also read other variations like “Fei Hua Bao Jian”, “Yu Luo Chun”, “Jin Ping Xiu Ta” too.”

He has the original host’s memories and the titles he just mentioned were all explicit in their descriptions of sex.

Xie Yu Zhi was taken aback and then chuckled out loud. He lazily leaned back on his pillow and kicked Chen Miao Ping, 

“Did you depend on those things to get the ranking of Flower Seeker? If it was ever known, how mocking would it be to you?”

“Were you hurt to the bone?”

“Mhmm.”

“Did it hurt your meridians?”2

“Mhmm.”

“Why are your veins so dark? And there’s dark purple all around your knee?”

Xie Yu Zhi picked up his book to continue reading and used it to cover his face. Chen Miao Ping couldn’t clearly see his expression before Xie Yu Zhi replied, 

“The weapon that injured me that year was poisoned.”

He had just read up to the poem of “Betrayed” and Xie Yu Zhi, wanting to take his mind off things, continued reading from where he had left off,

Ah, for thee, thou little dove! Eat not fruit upon that tree.

Ah for thee, thou tender maid! Dally not with gentlemen.

Gentlemen may do rash deeds, Yet be pardoned even then;

Maidens, if they do the same, Never can escape the blame.3

Xie Yu Zhi couldn’t help but read it out loud. He thought that the wording was not exactly correct and so changed a few words, 

“Maidens, if they do the same, never can escape the blame. Gentleman may do rash deeds …… yet hard to be pardoned then.”

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Notes:

*1 Chun Gong Tu: basically a book of pictures of sex/erotica. Depending on when, it has been used to “teach” girls about sex

*2 meridians: part of acupuncture, the points of a body system that energy flow through (kind of like… if you have seen Naruto and if I remember correctly, the points of where chakra builds up in the body? Plum says it’s “Tenketsu”… (ok Plum…)) If you search meridians of acupuncture, you can see many diagrams that indicate all the points in the body.

*3 Poem “BETRAYED” quoted from the Online Library of Liberty, Section I. V. 4: BETRAYED, from “The Shi King, the Old “Poetry Classic” of the Chinese [1891]”, translated by Williams Jennings (Title and the 4 lines of the poem were quoted from that english translation, but it is a little different from the chinese title and the wording of the poetry lines, so if you were to search that to look at the original text, it won’t necessarily pop up. You will need to search “卫风·氓”).

The entire poem, which fairly long, is about a woman who had been abandoned by her abusive husband, from the beginning of her love to marriage to her weary eyes looking at maidens who would soon be discovering the imbalance between men and women to the abusive relationship and mocking laughter from her family and then to her separation.

In particular those lines that Xie Yu Zhi quoted out loud: The first line is saying that the fruit (which is referenced as mulberry in Chinese) is very sweet, but birds who eat too much can be easily drunk from it. The second is how love can be so perfect and glamourous and it can so easily blind people to give everything and be deceived. Third is that men can easily pull away with no consequences after falling in love, while (fourth line) maidens who, once fallen into the river of love, can never escape or get out clean.

The overall message in this particular section of the poem that is conveyed by the woman is to say how women have a limited time of their beauty, and once their looks have diminished, men who were in love became tired and loathsome of them. After they married, their relationship will break apart, and then finally be separated and women will have no choice but to go back to their home they grew up in and be ridiculed/mocked for whatever they had done to make their husbands forsake them. And the woman laments that as much as she could think about what mistakes she has done, which is nothing really, that man will always be in the right. She cries that after everything she has done, she could only receive this lesson that with a patriarchal society that holds men to such high regard, only women in love can ever be wrong/blamed.

Another interesting tidbit: “Classic of Poetry” is the oldest collection of chinese poetry (to date).

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