Chapter 29 (2/2)

“Serene hills emerge fresh after the rain;

The Autumn night air turns cool once again.

The bright Moon shines in between the pine tree;

Over the rocks, the clear spring water runs free.

Sounds of home-coming wash-maids heard through bamboos;

Come fishing boats–the lotus, pushing through.

Let the Spring flowers wither and be gone–

For you, O my friend, may choose to stay on.”

Translation by Alan Ma and Frank Yue[b]

Finished, she softly turned around to leave without a single glance at the table on which the gold bars were laid. Her movements were relaxed and her lake-blue skirt drifted around her, making it seem as if she was floating away.

The gold. Ah, she really cherished and wanted it, but she couldn’t let others see that. In any case, if she relied on the knowledge in her head, then she would be able to earn even more than that one day in the future.

Yu Lian Hua saw that her pillar had left and thinking that there would be no meaning in staying, hastily chased after Ruan Zhu.

Apart from their receding footsteps, not a single sound could be heard in the pleasure boat’s cabin. But a while later, noise poured forth, resembling the same clamor that could be heard at an outdoor market. They continuously recited parts of the poem that the lady had just recited–one person saying one line, another saying the next line to complete it.

After a few minutes, a young man shouted out loudly: “I have transcribed it. You guys listen to see if it’s right? Serene hills emerge fresh after the rain; The Autumn night air turns cool once again. The bright Moon shines in between the pine tree; Over the rocks, the clear spring water runs free……“

Lu Piao Xiang silently mouthed one line after another, his clear and sonorous eyes flashing with emotion. He thought that the poem precisely captured the essence of his piece. In a split second, he felt as if he had met his kindred soul and his emotions bubbled forth.

“Madam Yuan, it seems that you’ll have to deliver these one hundred taels of gold to avoid others saying Madam goes back on her word.” Liu Fei Xu faintly said, the corner of his mouth was lifted in a way that resembled a sneer but was not quite one.

The prefectural magistrate’s wife declined to respond, her face a block of ice.

Ruan Zhu walked out of the pleasure boat, wiping at the sweat that had formed on her forehead. That ancient wife of the government official was too scary. She didn’t know when exactly she had stepped on the tail of her arrogance?

Several days earlier, she had been browsing through a history book and discovered that although Wang Wei was born before Tian Chu had been founded, he had been stabbed to death at twenty years of age after offending the then sixteen years old Great Ancestor, Xuanyuan Ming. This had occurred during the ninth year of the Kaiyuan era in the Tang dynasty, causing the majority of Wang Wei’s work, considered to be one of his generation’s best, to not exist. It was truly a pity, but her plagiarism could be considered as acting in the interests of expanding the literary developments of this country.

………………

Ruan Zhu came to the bow of the ship and saw an upright and tall man underneath the sunlight. A light cyan paozi fluttered with the wind and a silk belt bound his jet-black hair on the top of his head. His skin was bronzed, his facial features were handsome and sharp like a knife. Such an imposing and impressive appearance–tall and striking–added to the steady and calm air his entire body radiated, like the temperament of a mountain.

One kind of paozi. It means ‘Chinese-style gown’ so there’s multiple versions over all these years.

She stepped onto the wooden board that connected the two boats. It had merely been just a while, but she threw herself at him and he spread open his arms to catch her, neatly wrapping her into his embrace.

“Did you have fun?”

Yun Shi Yi princess carried her into their rented pleasure boat. Closing the cabin door, he blocked the outside world from entering.

Seeing that no one had bothered to care about her, Yu Lian Hua pathetically called a small boat over to take her back to shore.

“Eldest Cousin, I seem to have offended the wife of the prefectural magistrate.”

Yun Shi Yi had placed Ruan Zhu on top of the finely embroidered bed. Thinking about what had just occurred, she couldn’t help but become anxious. That prefectural magistrate’s wife was truly too bored. She had just transmigrated not too long ago and had no relations with the other. No matter how she thought, this dislike was an unfathomable mystery.

“What happened?” Yun Shi Yi was absentminded. Every time he was alone with her, he would impulsively desire her. Thinking about how he would have to head south in a few days for work, he became even more reluctant to part from her.

Ruan Zhu spoke about all that had happened, even mentioning how she had previously met Liu Fei Xu, but omitted the part where she had been harassed. She frowned: “I really don’t comprehend. That government Madam doesn’t seem to have any defects and her mind and vigor is also normal. Why on earth would she make it difficult for me?”

Yun Shi Yi was intelligent and roughly understand about 80-90% of the reason after listening to all that she had said. He was pensive. Though giving his wife additional secondary husbands was a compulsory course of events, but if those concubines were not seen and vetted by him, and they took away all of her attention, what would be the meaning of continuing to live?

[a] 梁祝, short for 梁山伯与祝英台. A Chinese legend about a tragic love story of a pair of lovers that has been adapted into an orchestral version that features a solo violin and also into a version that uses traditional Chinese instruments. (Wikis on novel and orchestra version; YouTubes of standard orchestra with solo violin and traditional Chinese orchestra with solo erhu)

[b] 山居秋暝, Life in the Mountains on an Autumn Evening, written by 王維 (Wang Wei). Translation taken from (here).