Vol 8 Chapter 83 (1/2)

VOLUME 8 CHAPTER 83: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS DILU’S SUCCESSOR (1)

Yi Ji POV

Court will be in session soon.

The sky is still dark out as I and several other key officials in Xiangyang hurry towards our lord’s residence to begin today’s Court session.

It’s a good thing that this isn’t the capital as Court sessions are only a weekly affair here.

That said, as an official in charge of ceremonies working under a feudal lord who places especially high importance on ceremonies, perhaps going to Court is easier.

*Cha* *Cha* *Cha* *Cha*…

All officials around were drenched in sweat by now.

Though it was still summer, it wasn’t particularly hot, but formal official clothing was rather thick, and there were more than a hundred paces between the residence and the main entrance so everyone was rather strained,

My clothing is the standard issue for ceremonial officials and didn’t have long c.u.mbersome skirts so it was cooler and easier to move about in. But for the sake of not standing out, I too took small steps like everyone else as I made my way inside.

Though I’m a ceremonial official, I personally find these rules and proprieties to be troublesome.

Why do you have put the offerings in that particular manner and why do you have to do all these prerequisite steps? These doubts swirl about in my head every time my lord pays respects to his ancestors. Personally speaking, the usual reasons of ancestral rules and demands isn’t satisfactory.

“Lord Yi Ji, why isn’t the young mistress around today?” Along with me was Wen Ping, who had shed her battle gear and was now wearing official gowns. I looked at her and saw her rolling her sleeves up with one hand, looking very awkward in her present garb.

“The young mistress has patrol duty today and is currently at the north side of the city,” I replied and continued to inspect her, “I won’t pursue the matter of you rolling up your sleeves but proprieties demand for a long skirt, and that means you can’t hold it up either.”

I s.h.i.+fted my gaze downwards and saw Wen Ping using her hands to hold up her long skirt up to her knees, revealing her calves, which was highly inappropriate for Court.

Though I don’t care about it personally speaking, it is my job as a ceremonial officer to uphold these standards and rules and if my lord should see this, his admonishment will be far worse than mine.

“There’s so much things to bother about. That’s why I hate appearances,” Wen Ping complained as she released her long skirt, “Can things like appearances really save the people of Jing state from danger?”

There’s probably nothing more important than the people of Jing state in Wen Ping’s heart.

“Saving the people is one thing, appearances is another. It is possible to achieve both as they are not mutually exclusive pursuits.” I admonished Wen Ping. Though she speaks little, she always does things as she is told to do so. That said, she often keeps her thoughts to herself which is not a good thing in the long run.

I looked at Wen Ping and saw that she was frowning and pulled her hat down lower to block the rays of sunlight. Seems like the sun has made it past the horizon and is climbing now. And yet, after so long has pa.s.sed, we still have not reached our destination. Is this path really just a hundred paces?

“… I heard that Imperial Uncle came a few days ago?”

“Un, yes,” I nodded, “So you know as well huh?”

“The young mistress…”

“That will do, I understand now.” I nodded and told Wen Ping there was no need to continue as I understood what she meant.

That day, after Imperial Uncle left, I immediately told the young mistress when she returned.

“Is that so?” The young mistress only gave a simple acknowledgement which was just as I expected but just as I was about to turn and leave, the young mistress called out to me once more.

“What else did uncle say?” She asked with her back to me.

But he didn’t say anything else beyond what I’d described to her before so all I could do was repeat what I said with finer details I’d left out before.

“I see.” The young mistress acknowledged what I said simply once more.

“Hmph, he didn’t need to go to so much trouble.” But once again, before I could leave, the young mistress began uttering once more.

“I see… Uncle came to apologise huh, even though he didn’t need to.” Thereafter, the young mistress repeated similar words over and over for a very long time as though she went mad.

Even though I expected the young mistress to be comforted or even feel happy at hearing that Imperial Uncle came to apologise, I didn’t expect her reaction to be so weird.

I felt worried as I thought about this and asked Wen Ping who’d been with her more often these days, “Is the young mistress alright these days?”

“Apart from having a lot to say, nothing much else.”

She’s not alright then…

I don’t know if Imperial Uncle’s visit was a trigger but it’s also probably because the young mistress has some words she would like to say to Imperial Uncle. Unfortunately, Imperial Uncle was preoccupied with the preparations to move out to Xinye and the young mistress was busy preparing herself for the long haul. So whenever she gets some free time to herself, she keeps muttering to herself.

… Never mind, this is something good for the young mistress as well. At the very least, it will serve to motivate her.

When I meet Imperial Uncle again later on, I must remember to tell him, that when the young mistress has achieved some level of success and independence, he should give her some praise.

“Is it very serious, elder sister?”

“Very serious indeed.”