On the third lunar month, the breeze blew lightly with light rain dripping down from the sky without cause, and the soft willow fluttered amid the wind and rain, which was exceptionally beautiful.
Bingmei looked at the rain outside and said, "Fortunately, it didn't rain when we went to the mountain yesterday." If it had rained, it would be difficult for them to walk.
Yuxi smiled. "If it did rain, I wouldn't have gone to the mountain." The mountain road was rugged. It was difficult to walk when it rained. It would be even dangerous to take the carriage.
The two of them were talking when they heard Yuru coming over. Yuxi smiled and went out to welcome her in. But, of course, one didn't visit a temple without a cause. Yuru, the bride to be, had been very busy lately, so she must have come over for something.
Yuru did come over to request something. "Si Mei, the hebao made by my maids are not as good as they should be. So I would like to ask Miss Kufu, who is with Si Mei, to help me make some of them. I wonder if it is possible?"
Yuxi answered with a smile, "Of course, but who are they for? Are they first meeting gifts for the seven junior members of the Zeng family, or is it for the stewardess mama and maids of the Zeng family?" A new bride not only needed to give gifts to her husband's juniors, but she also had to give red envelopes to the old woman servants and maids who were closely serving her husband. This would require a large amount of hebao.
Yuru replied, "It's for the seven junior members of the Zeng's family. I'll let the maids in my yard do the rest." As long as the hebao was packed, no one would care if it was made inferior.
Yuxi asked Kufu, "With only fifteen days left, can you finish embroidering seven hebao?" Kufu's needlework was exquisite, but it didn't have such a fast speed.
Kufu said, "Can you let Bingmei and Caidie embroider them with me? It won't take more than ten days to finish when we do them together." By doing them alone, she certainly could not have embroidered seven beautiful hebao.
Yuxi agreed to Kufu's request. "Then, for the next ten days, the three of you will concentrate on embroidering the hebao as much as you can."
Yuru thanked her and said a few more words before she went back. As the bride to be, she had a lot to do that she could not stay long at Taoran House.
Zisu said, "Miss, for Eldest Miss to specially ask Kufu to embroider the hebao was most probably a lie. She actually wanted you to help her with the embroidery." She felt that Eldest Miss didn’t need to come to beg just for a few hebao.
Yuxi glanced at Zisu and said, "Asking me to embroider? You're just overthinking it." At this speed, she would probably only be able to embroider one hebao by the end of the year.
Zisu sincerely said, "Miss, it is not that you are embroidering too slowly. You simply don't have time to do embroidery work at all." Did Miss think she didn't know that her Miss had spent only three shichen of embroidery a month? With this speed, how could Miss do any good embroidery? Moreover, Miss used these few hours only to exercise her hand for fear that they would get rusty.
Hearing this, Yuxi said helplessly, "I truly don't have time!" She was so busy until she didn't have time to do embroidery. Besides, not to boast, her embroidery skills were already at the top level, so she didn't need to spend time on it anymore.
Zisu would like to say, if you read fewer books, you will have time. However, she only dared to say these words in her heart. She did not have the courage to mutter them in front of Yuxi's face.
Yuxi instructed, "Go and see what has happened to Yuru's side. By all rights, the purse should have been prepared a long time ago, so how did she end up here asking for our help?" The time it took to prepare for the wedding was more than enough, and it was unlikely that the hebao had not yet finished by now.
When Zisu told Yuxi what she had inquired about, Yuxi felt a little embarrassed. Surprisingly, mice had chewed through a box that happened to hold the hebao.
Yuxi was a little dumbfounded. "How could there be mice in Dajie's yard?" Just like her yard, not to mention mice, even cockroaches couldn't be seen. [+]
Zisu shook her head and said, "That's not clear. It's good that it only bit the hebao. If it had bitten the wedding dress, it would have been bad."
Yuxi nodded in agreement. "What you said is very true." If she had to say, it would be genuinely unlucky if it bit the wedding dress.
In an instant, it was two days before Yuru's wedding. These two days were the days to replenish her dowry, where friends and family would come over to add some into it.
Yuxi took the twelve hebao that Kufu and the others had made, also the gifts she had prepared for Yuru and went to Yuru's side.
Yuru took the pair of pure gold double happiness ruyi hairpins that Yuxi gave her and said with a smile, "Thank you, Si Mei." Just now, Yuchen had also come over to add to her dowry, giving her a pair of suede jade hairpins. Her gift scale, however, was not as much as what Yuxi had prepared.
As the two of them were talking, Yujing came over as well. She has been back for three months and has never gone out, as she had been busily working on her dowry in the courtyard. However, it was probably because of the excellent food she ate in the past three months that she had gained a lot of weight.
Yuxi stood up and said, "Dajie, Er Jie, you guys continue to talk. I'll go back first." Yuxi and the two were four years apart and had never had much in common.
On the way back, Zisu said to Yuxi, "Miss, the Lady has prepared sixty-four dowries for Eldest Miss. I guess the Second Miss probably won't have that many."
Yuxi was a little surprised and turned her head to inquire, "That's impossible! The wedding silver from the public account is all the same. Eldest Aunt can’t withhold Er Jie's wedding silver." The marriage silvers for the Duke Han family had been standardised. Therefore, Qiu Shi should not have acted recklessly just because she disliked Yujing.
Zisu shook her head. "No, it was the Song family who sent less betrothal gifts. The Zeng family sent thirty-two, but the Song family only sent sixteen." The Song family had wealth that spoke louder than others, but their betrothal gifts were only half of the Zeng family.
Yuxi snorted, "With such a mother-in-law who only acts according to her own preference without considering anything else, Yujing will surely suffer in the future. However, Yujing's dowries will definitely be sixty-four as well." Fourth Madam Song was also an odd one. She only had one son, Seventh Young Master Song, and it was she, herself, who had been disgraced by sending such small betrothal gifts. However, since the Han family had already given up on Yujing, they couldn’t argue with the Fourth Madam Song over it, so the matter was hidden from the public. However, since Yuru's dowries were sixty-four, Yujing's should be just as many. However, despite the same amount, the value must be different.
When it came to weddings and banquets, the rain was the biggest worry to everyone. Unfortunately, it happened to be raining when Yuru was getting married. Luckily, it was already a late third lunar month and not that cold. If it had been raining while they were still in winter, it would have been a disaster.
When the groom entered the gate, Yuxi could hear the sound of firecrackers ringing in the bridal chamber. Then, when the groom came to pick up the bride, it was even more lively. Yuxi's ears were buzzing with the noise at that time.
Once the groom had picked up the bride, the mansion soon quietened down. Yuxi couldn't help but comment, "When Er Ge married, it was crazily lively until into the night. When Dajie married, it was cold and quiet once she left the house."
Zisu said in reply, "Marrying a daughter-in-law is to increase the family population while marrying out a daughter is to increase the population for other families. So, naturally, it is different. Therefore, the world likes to have sons. " If she were a son, her mother wouldn't be forced to death by her father and that slut, and she wouldn't end up being sold into a brothel. Fortunately, she had met Miss. Otherwise, she would have turned to dust by now.
Yuxi glanced at Zisu and said, "Your words are too one-sided." Seeing that Zisu lowered her head and did not say anything, she knew that Zisu had remembered something sad. Yuxi paused for a moment and said, "Actually, there is one thing I have never told you."
Zisu looked puzzled. "What is it, Miss?"
When Yuxi bought Zisu, she had someone go to Zisu's hometown to check her background. Only after making sure that there was no problem with Zisu's background, Yuxi had decided to bring her along to her side inside the residence. Yuxi said, "Let's talk about it back at the courtyard." It was inconvenient to talk about this while they were in public.
As soon as they returned to Taoran House, they entered the study. Zisu eagerly asked, "Miss, did something wrong happen to my didi?" Although Zisu hated her wicked stepmother, her didi had the same father as her. Thus, the two of them had the same bloodline.
Yuxi shook her head and said, "Your didi has always been fine. But after your stepmother sold you, she took your didi with her and remarried."
Zisu looked at Yuxi and asked, "What else then?" If she had just said that her stepmother had taken her brother and remarried, Miss would certainly not have kept it from her.
Yuxi initially did not want to tell Zisu about this matter because she thought it would be hard for Zisu to take once she knew about it. "That boy should not be your father's real son." Yuxi heard from her informant that Zisu's didi looked like his stepfather, and that person also said that Zisu's stepmother and the man had hooked up while her stepmother was still married to Counsellor Ling. So, in all probability, the child did not belong to Counselor Ling but that man. [+]
Zisu's face was as colourful as if it had been dyed with paint. "Who is that male adulterer?"
Yuxi was silent for a moment and said, "It's your stepmother's neighbour, who works in a gambling house. I thought your father's death was not an accident. So I asked people to check it out. Fortunately, your father did die of illness, not man-made."
Zisu clenched her fist and asked, "Then, did she take our Ling family's properties and remarried?" This slut, she must make her life worse than death.
Yuxi shook her head and told her, "She only took away half of them, and the other half was taken away by the Ling family clan." It should be that the two parties had reached some kind of agreement.
Zisu had a look of sadness and hatred on her face. "After that slut gave birth to her son, my father was so happy that he was unable to tell which way was the north and threw me away beyond the nine heavens. If he knew that this child was not his, I wonder if he would crawl out of his coffin." For the sake of that slut and the child in her belly, her father had forced her mother to death. He even turned a blind eye to the despicable woman's abuse of her. He had never dreamed that his precious child would not be his but rather a bastard.
It was hard for Yuxi to comment on such things.
After Zisu calmed down, she asked, "Miss, what happened to that slut in the end?"
Yuxi shook her head as she replied, "I don't know either. If you really want to know, I'll request someone to ask around." Back then, she was too young to do many things conveniently, but now it was different.
Zisu nodded and said, "Miss, I want to know what happened to that slut." If that slut got her comeuppance, she could just forget about it. However, if that slut didn't, she would not let her get away with it. As for that didi, since they were not related by blood, she could simply ignore him.
Yuxi said, "Yes, I will find a reliable person to ask around." Zisu's old home was relatively in a small town, so there was no need to worry about finding out about the news.
Zisu loosened her clenched fist and said, "Okay."
Noob Translator's Musing
I just thought that if Yuxi hadn't taken in Zisu and Zijin, both of their life would have been exceedingly terrible. Zisu would have died in the brothel, and Zijin would have sold to an evil master who would have taken advantage of her strength by making her do a male job. Luckily, they met Yuxi in this life. Somehow, Yuxi's rebirth has saved many lives, from Mama Fang, Old Woman An, Moju, Motao, Han Jianye, Qiqi, Qiu Shi, Jiang Hongfu, Yuru, etc.
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The Rebirth of Han Yuxi