ROHYX Chapter 29 : Nightmare

Old Lady Han soon learned that Yuxi had given up learning music and immediately ordered someone to call her over.

Yuxi went to the main room and did the greeting ritual in an orderly way.

Old Lady Han laid the Buddha beads on the yellow pear wood table beside her. Then, she slowly turned her head, looked at Yuxi, and asked, "Why didn't you tell me that you have just made up your mind not to learn music?"

In the face of Old Lady Han, Yuxi didn't dare to speak nonsense, nor she dared to play dumb. "I've learned it for several days, but it still doesn't even enter any aperture of my head^[1]. Today, I told my teacher about this, and she said that I have no talent for music. Since it is a waste of time to continue studying without talent, I should just stop learning it."

Old Lady Han looked at Yuxi, and it seemed like she could see through her. "Is this really the case?"

Yuxi was not overwhelmed by the Old Lady's imposing manner. She, who had died once, what could she be afraid of? "If Grandmother doesn't believe it, Grandmother can ask Teacher Song."

Old Lady Han gave a cold hum. "You have a lot of nerve." Without her consent, Yuxi really dared to skip learning qin. Her bravery had gone high to heaven. This time she must be severely punished.

Yuxi gave a wry smile. "Grandmother, it's not that granddaughter has a lot of nerve, but I can't learn this. Every time I took music lessons, it became hard for me." Seeing the Old Lady's ugly expression, she hurriedly said, "However, the teacher said that I have talent in painting, so she let me learn to paint well." There were many similarities between painting and embroidery. It was also for this reason that her painting skill was excellent. However, she did not intend to spend too much energy on this skill. The reason was simple. No matter how well she learnt it, it wouldn't have had no actual use when she was in trouble.

Old Lady Han's face softened a bit. "Since this idea is your first offence, copy «Lessons For Women» three times and send them to me a year later." The time limit she gave was still quite long. It was mainly because Yuxi had a heavy learning task. Therefore, she had to put a long time limit.

Yuxi had no objection.

After Yuxi left the room, Old Lady Han leaned toward the side at Yuchen and reminded her, "Chen-er, you can't act like Fourth Girl." Although Yuxi studied very hard, she did not expect much from her. Yuxi, in particular, was often good at advocating, which made her unhappy.

Naturally, Yuchen would never act like Yuxi because, under the guidance of Teacher Song these days, her skill in qin had made significant progress. With a mentor like Teacher Song, she would only determine to work harder and would not give up a chance to learn.

Compared with Old Lady Han's dissatisfaction, Qiu Shi was much calmer. Hearing Yuxi's explanation, she nodded. "If you can't learn, then don't learn. If you are forced to learn, you will only suffer." In her opinion, what was the use of learning the art of qin, chess, calligraphy and painting even if you had mastered them? As long as the girl learned needlework and housekeeping, that was already enough.

Yuxi smiled. "Eldest Aunt's abacus is very good. If Eldest Aunt does not mind, I want to learn it from Eldest Aunt!"

Qiu Shi was not good at scheming against others, but she had a good way of managing everyday affairs. Not to mention that her dowry had increased several times over the years, and it was said that under her care, the residence could make ends meet every year. Before, the place used to run a deficit yearly and suffered huge losses.

Yuxi used to learn housekeeping with Qiu Shi in her previous life. At that time, she began to think that she was going to marry the second son of the Qiu family, so she only learned some simple things. When she got married to Jiang Hongjin, she was always in a state of worry and fear. Why else would she want to continue learning these things in the end? But now, it was necessary to learn from an example of how a good housewife was supposed to be. Being a good housewife was much more practical than the art of qin.

Qiu Shi cheerfully said, "If you want to learn from me, I will naturally teach you, but you are still young. It will not be late to learn it in a few years."

Liuyin came and reported, "My Lady, Concubine Lian is not feeling well. She requested a physician."

Qiu Shi looked delighted as she said, "Go and ask Physician Li to see her."

Yuxi felt Qiu Shi's attitude was bizarre. It didn't matter whether Concubine Lian was ill or not. So, why was her aunt look so happy instead?

Soon, Hongshan enquired about the matter and immediately told Yuxi the information she had heard. "Miss, Concubine Lian is pregnant. The physician said that she had been pregnant for three months."

Concubine Lian had smartly hidden this matter deep enough till it reached 3 months.

Seeing Yuxi didn't say a word, Hongshan continued, "Miss, Concubine Rong's pregnancy hasn't reached 3 months yet." This meant that Concubine Lian's pregnancy happened much earlier than Concubine Rong's.

Yuxi suddenly understood the reason behind Qiu Shi's happy look. Perhaps her Eldest Aunt already knew about Concubine Lian's pregnancy and helped her hide it from the public. Yuxi let out an insincere laugh, thinking of what Concubine Rong would feel once she heard this news.

When Concubine Rong heard the news of Concubine Lian's pregnancy, she was so angry that she smashed most of the furniture inside her room and scolded the old woman who served her, "Why hasn't any news come out about such a big thing?" If Concubine Lian's child was also a boy, it would undoubtedly affect her child's status.

A few confidants around Concubine Rong had been sold by the Old Lady. This recently transferred old woman servant was a bit slow regarding obtaining news. Concubine Rong had money and means to bring the elder woman servant to her side if she wanted to. However, this Old Woman Feng had a very shallow foundation. She had no influence inside the residence and was not very clever. She always had problems doing things the way Concubine Rong wanted.

Old Woman Feng answered, "The news was just leaked today. There was no wind before."

This matter made Concubine Rong's teeth itch^[2]. She believed that this situation was most likely Qiu Shi's sinister plot.

A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than xin-shou.site, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.

Old Woman Feng comforted her, "Ma'am, you should not lose your temper. The most urgent thing now is to raise a good baby. As long as you give birth to a son, you will have to rely on him for the rest of your life."

When Concubine Rong heard this, the anger in her eyes gradually dissipated. She gently touched her belly and said, "You're right. Nothing is more important than the child in my belly."

When Old Woman Feng saw that Concubine Rong listened to her every word, she advised her, "This old servant would like to say something which is not pleasant for Ma'am to hear. The Lady is currently trying to catch Ma'am's mistake. She wants to use it to end your life. So, at this time, we should be extra careful." What she meant was for Concubine Rong not to strike a vicious blow at Concubine Lian. Otherwise, Concubine Rong would be the one who got the worst of it.

After a long silence, Concubine Rong nodded. "My top priority right now is to give birth to a healthy child." They also had to ensure whether Concubine Lian's child would be a son or a daughter. If she was going to have a daughter, they did not need to do anything.

The Old Lady was elated when she learned about Concubine Lian's pregnancy. She then sent a lot of valuable medicinal materials and several valuable pieces of jewellery to Concubine Lian.

Mama Li was on guard against Concubine Lian when she got the news. It was because Concubine Lian was highly favoured by Duke Han and valued by the Old Lady. If Concubine Lian gained enough power, she would pose a greater threat to her Master in the future.

After listening to Mama Li's words, Qiu Shi felt a lingering fear for Concubine Lian. After muttering for a moment, she finally said, "Now that both Concubine Lian and Concubine Rong are pregnant, they will not be able to serve the Lord Duke. I will arrange for 2 more people to serve him." Divided the favours using beauties.

Mama Li said, "My Lady, those persons should be chosen carefully." The concubine whom the Old Lady chose was not only beautiful but also resourceful and calculating. They could no longer pick people with only faces and no brains as they used to.

Qiu Shi gave a brief nod.

The inner court's rivalry had nothing to do with Yuxi. She only needed to know the general trend inside the residence. She picked up her unfinished handkerchief and continued embroidering it under the light. Since learning with Teacher Song, she had not done any embroidery for a long time.

Mama Shen said, "Miss is still young. There's no lack of time for you to embroider later on." Mama Shen was somewhat unable to make sense of Yuxi. If she learned to play qin well, she could use it to dazzle others in social gatherings. However, she practised embroidery more, like she would become one of the embroidery ladies in the future.

Yuxi smilingly said, "Embroidery skill also needs time to hone. So, I'm going to practice for two-quarters of an hour at noon." Since there was less homework given recently, they were given more time for self-study.

Mama Shen saw that any more persuasion would only become useless, so she decided to change the subject, "Miss, Third Miss has a study room, qin room and painting room. Should we also clean the side room to be used like hers?" She hoped Yuxi would not differ too much from Yuchen.

Yuxi shook her head. "Not for the time being."

Mama Shen was puzzled. "Miss, why not use it right now?"

Yuxi looked in the direction of the main room and said, "Because I can't use it for the time being. And remember, don't compare me with my San Jie^[3] in the future. I don't like it." From the start, both of them didn't stand on the same parallel line, and associating them too much would only make her uncomfortable.

Mama Shen didn't dare to speak anymore.

After writing one hundred characters daily, Yuxi reviewed what she had learned in the daytime. Finally, she took out her qipu and instructed, "Bring me my chess."

Among qin, chess, calligraphy and painting, the only thing Yuxi was willing to learn hard was chess. When Teacher Song taught chess for the first time, she said that playing weiqi could exercise people's calculation, thinking, memory, attention and endurance. Yuxi knew her weight. Although she had lived for a lifetime once, she was not particularly outstanding in all aspects. She could only study hard to get better.

Moju came over and reminded Yuxi, "Miss, it's time to go to bed. Tomorrow you have to get up early!"

Yuxi was reluctant to put the weiqi down. She just got the taste of it. However, she had to follow her own schedule. She would be disordered if she disturbed the plan for the next day.

Lying in bed, Yuxi couldn't help thinking about the unfinished chess game just now. However, since she was exhausted to begin with, she finally fell asleep in a daze.

"Hu..." Yuxi sat up from the bed, looked at the familiar place, and breathed a sigh of relief. What a deuce! She dreamed she was playing chess with Jiang Hongjin and had no room to fight back when facing him, who approached her slowly. As a result, she lost miserably.

She didn't know what this dream meant, but she knew that the gap between her and Jiang Hongjin was too big. His methods, intelligence and scheming, were all not bad. Her only advantage was that she had the first chance. If she wanted to stop falling into the situation of her previous life, she must start planning now.

Yuxi muttered to herself, "What's the first chance I can use?"

After thinking for a long time, she thought of a person. This person was Jiang Hongjin's half-brother, Jiang Hongfu, the eldest son of Jiang Wenrui, with his late first wife. He was nine years old when he met an accident in the street market and died early.

Yuxi knew very little about Jiang Hongfu. After all, when she married into the Jiang family, Yu Shi already took charge as the new master. As a stepmother, Yu Shi didn't want the servants to talk about the late first wife and her son. Yuxi only knew about this matter after she heard a drunk old servant of Jiang's residence talk about Jiang Hongfu, saying he was also a brilliant child.

The enemy of her enemy was her friend. If Jiang Hongfu had not died early, Jiang Hongjin would not have had a smooth road.

Yuxi calculated that Jiang Hongfu was eight years old this year, which meant that he would have an accident next year. It was also a coincidence that the day Jiang Hongfu died happened three days before her birthday, so she remembered it clearly. As long as she saved Jiang Hongfu that day, everything should be different from her previous life.

After Yuxi understood this, it felt like a heavy burden had been lifted from her heart and soon made her fall asleep again.

Footnotes Full List

1. Chinese idiom: Can’t understand at all
2. to put someone on edge
3. san=third, jie=elder sister, short form for Jiejie

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