RVW – Chapter 25

Chu Baning handed over the authority to Ah Nan. The people present’s expression changed in a wide variety, there are those who looked astonished, envious, and even relieved.

Surprise and envy were easily understood. Those who breathed an air of relief are those who only knew of Ah Nan’s superficial personality, believing Ah Nan’s gentle temperament. Wasn’t it just them wanting to ask for her help to gently disclose this affair? Since Su Wang entrusted the matter to Ah Nan, he would not renege his claim no matter what Ah Nan did.

Right now, Lu Lao furen and Lu Erbo are those who think like that.

Ah Nan actually really wants to light a candle for them¹Figuratively, not actually lighting a candle. The term is almost the same as saying RIP to someone because you know they will get their ass handed to them., whip these delicate and tender young masters with leather whips so they can experience a certain island country’s top notch invention of SM play. Let’s see if they still dare to bully²The term used here is 仗势欺人, taking advantage of one’s superior position to bully others others after this, believing they are all powerfull and untouched, superior, and not take human dignity seriously!

However, Ah Nan knew that this kind of yy³Yy (意淫 yi yin) is a slang when someone is fantasizing something, usually used in a perverted (sexual) ways, but here it refers to unrealistic thoughts. could only be kept in her head. If she really did it, her reputation would be ruined.

Just like now, she clearly wants to whip these two little farts hard⁴She said she wants to “抽飞”, whip them until they “fly” from the impact of the whip, but there are people watching, even Lao Taitai is staring at her with a kind of fervent meaning in her eyes that she has never used before. Her Erbo who she had never interacted with directly had eyes full of tears of hope. Imperial Chancellor Lu and her three siblings were only watching from the sides…

For the sake of her future reputation, she could only become a virtuous woman, saying in a bashful tone, “As Wang ye decide, this subject⁵臣妾 is a way to refer to one self (female), the meaning is like ‘this subject’ or ‘this slave/concubine’ (which is not correctly used here considering Ah Nan is a Wangfei (first wife), so this subject may be better) has no objection.”

Upon hearing this, the people of Lu Clan truly thought that she was just a Shu daughter and had no independent vision! But this is better, easier to handle…

Chu Baning eyes swept over the crowd lightly, taking each one of their expressions. After a moment of contemplation, he said, “Since Wang fei is benevolent and couldn’t bear to scold them, then let Lao furen decide!”

Lao Taitai‘s heart sank. She had a bad premonition.

“Lao furen, what do you think these two ought to be punished with?” Chu Baning held a teacup in one hand, gently scraping the scattered tea leaves in the cup with the lid, throwing the problem to Lao furen.

Upon hearing this, Lao Taitai knew if this matter could not be handled properly, their Lu family would offend the most powerful Wang ye of the dynasty. Lao Taitai is really distressed. Her heart hurts for her beloved grandchildren had they been given heavy punishment. But giving too light of a punishment might make Wang Ye angry. It’s really a dilemma. Lao Taitai had no choice but to look at her third son, the Imperial Chancellor. If he spoke up, Su Wang would probably give him face.⁶As in Chu Baning might step back if Imperial Chancellor opened his mouth out of respect.

Imperial Chancellor Lu received anxious glances from his own mother and brothers, realizing that it was time for him to step up. He coughed lightly and said, “Wang ye, how about we consider this? Let’s punish them to kneel in the ancestral hall for ten days! Shaoling and Shaocheng has no intention of hurting anyone, so let’s teach them a lesson, to save them from being impetuous and doing some foolish actions without knowing the immensity of heaven and earth.”⁷不知天高地厚 (Not knowing the greatness of heaven and earth) refers to thinking themselves as all powerful, exaggeratedly think their abilities are great.

Imperial Chancellor Lu felt that this punishment was really too lenient. What’s there to worry about kneeling in an ancestral hall? In Ningcheng, his family’s Ah Nan knelt a lot, there is an instance when she knelt so much that her knees became black and purple⁸bruised. But that time was an order from Lao Taitai. It was not good to meddle in the inner residence matter as an adult male. He could only send some good ointments to his daughter afterwards, making his fatherly heart ache for a long time. Now, let these two boys who bullied his family’s Ah Nan experience its taste.

Although Imperial Chancellor Lu felt that the punishment was lenient, he couldn’t help but worry about his mother. Lao Taitai was getting older. If the punishment was too severe, Lao Taitai might not be able to accept it for a while. What should he do if she fell ill.

Upon hearing that he was about to kneel in the ancestral hall for ten days, Lu Shaocheng’s face turned bloodless. For a while he knelt there with fear and wretched expression, looking back at his relatives eagerly, hoping that someone could intercede for him.

Lao Taitai felt heartbroken. Her two beloved grandsons were to be punished to kneel in the ancestral hall. Such a dark and damp place, it’s no place for two young masters with pampered and noble bodies to stay. They would definitely fall ill within a day. But she knew that this was the most appropriate suggestion made by her son the Imperial Chancellor, better than whatever crazy means Su Wang might come up with, lest he make the two boys suffer even if they wouldn’t die⁹Again, 不死也脱层皮, even if they don’t die their skin would be peeled off..

Chu Baning thought for a moment and nodded his approval.

At this moment, the young lady standing next to Lao Taitai suddenly came out and bowed fully to Su Wang. The sound of pure soul, as beautiful as a pearl jade combined, perfectly lovely to hear¹⁰RAWS: 清灵的声音如珠玉相碰，十分好听. Please forgive my inability to translate eloquent poetic words. It’s basically praising the girl’s appearance and voice, but man it’s so hard to pick out the words in english :”). She lowered her eyes and respectfully said, “Wang ye, please spare Ling di and Cheng di this time! Their bodies are weak and cannot withstand the dampness of the ancestral hall, and they will get sick.”

Seeing someone pleading for him, Lu Shaocheng’s eyes lit up as he looked at his cousin, full of anticipation.

Chu Baning narrowed his eyes, not answering.

The young lady mustered the courage to look at him, and was soon frightened by those dark eyes that made her hands and feet cold, but stubbornly did not shift her gaze.

Ah Nan frowned, her heart feeling unhappy. Gloomily thinking, what is this Lu Feiting doing, excitedly trying to exploit an opportunity? And she was even extremely brazen to go as far as to dare to directly face a Wang ye¹¹This here, Ah Nan kept referring to Lu Feiting’s action as crazy and outrageous, a *lot*. The ‘directly face’ here also refers to looking at Chu Baning’s eyes, which is extremely rude and unbecoming of her status as she didn’t deserve it.. Isn’t this treating her as a dead person?

“Liu Yatou¹²Liu as in sixth. Ya tou (丫头) is a form of address from an elderly to a junior (girl)., step back!” Lao Taitai angrily swallowed her words¹³As in she wants to scold Lu Feiting but have to mind manners., fury apparent in her eyes.

Lu Feiting’s body trembled, biting her cherry-colored lips and silently retreating to her original position.

The three siblings from the Imperial Chancellor’s family and the two young girls behind Lao Taitai, Lu Feian and Lu Feiya, all curved their lips, silently mocked Lu Feiting’s act of “cleverness”¹⁴自作聪明, meaning thinking themselves are clever. Those siblings and girls are mocking Lu Feiting’s “smart.”. Had she not seen that the punishment of these two was proposed by their San shu¹⁵三叔, third (younger) uncle., the Imperial Chancellor? Her trying to stand out by pleading for two little ghosts may warrant her the reputation of being a kind hearted person who cherishes her younger brother, but isn’t it also directly giving a big slap to Imperial Chancellor Lu? Lao Taitai was also angry. Darkly thinking to herself that this granddaughter is usually quite outstanding and clever, how could she act foolishly at such a time? Su Wang clearly wants to punish the persoon, is it the time for her, a younger person, to step forward?

Lao Taitai was really exhausted, in the corner of her eye, she glanced at the boy still hanging under the tree in the yard, then quickly gave her third son a look.

Imperial Chancellor Lu could only brace himself and said, “Then… Wang ye, can you let Shaoling down for now? I believe he has also learned a lesson this time and will not repeat it again.”

Chu Baning solemnly refused, “Truly sorry, Father-in-law. Lu Shaoling spoke rudely to Ben wang. Ben wang letting him be blown by wind and wake up his brain is also for his good, so that he won’t only have the courage and not the brain in the future.

Upon hearing this, most of the people in the room were surprised.

This reason is actually very high sounding¹⁶冠冕堂皇, but when someone so solemn speaks in such a tone, it only makes people feel very funny, powerless, and troublesome¹⁷The word used here is 蛋疼 (literally egg pain), which you might have found on the previous chapter’s note. So I searched for it and it turned out to be slang for a troublesome or boring situation. The term was created by the chinese World of Warcraft players. I’m not getting too deep into that. Anyway I have edited the previous chapter about this egg pain.!

Finally, Lu Shaoling still had to be hung for an hour, waiting until the dinner banquet began before he could be released. Lu Shaocheng was also taken back by Lu Erbo first, he will go to kneel in the ancestral hall after dinner.

Soon, there were only Chu Baning, Ah Nan, and a few maids left in the main hall.

Chu Baning asked the maids to retreat to a distance, stood up and said to Ah Nan, “Tired, let’s go rest in a while.” As he spoke, he headed towards the wing where Ah Nan used to live.

Ah Nan followed behind Chu Baning. After walking for a while, reached out and gently pulled a corner of the man’s wide sleeve in front of him, whispering, “Thank you.”

Chu Baning’s footsteps halted, then touched her head without saying anything.

In fact, this kind of soundless action is more touching and moving than verbal comfort.

Ah Nan felt like crying, but also wanted to laugh, her face showing a very strange expression. Chu Baning felt a little amused and suddenly reached out to pinch her soft cheeks. He found the sensation really good and couldn’t help but pinch it twice more. Ah Nan’s wholeheartedly moved heart was pinched until only pain remained, really wanting to glare.

The maids and guards in the distance saw this and quickly shifted their eyes¹⁸眼观鼻、鼻观心 (literally eyes observing nose, nose observing heart), refers to when one look away due to embarrassment. It could also be used to refer to concentrating without paying attention to distractions., trying to pretend that they didn’t exist.

Chu Baning gently stroked her pinched-red cheeks, once again recovered his solemn appearance, holding her hand and walking side by side with her.

 

***

 

The dinner banquet arrived quickly, and the feast was held in the main hall of the Imperial Chancellor’s Hall.

When Ah Nan and Chu Baning appeared together, the already quiet hall became even quieter, with an inexplicably stagnant atmosphere in the air, and the expressions of the Lu family became very subtle. Finally, Imperial Chancellor Lu brought them forward to salute, breaking the atmosphere and let them take a seat for the banquet.

Ah Nan looked around, not finding the already taken down Lu Shaoling. Lu Shaocheng, being incomparably obedient, was on Lu Erbo‘s side, eyes fixedly not looking sideways.

After greeting the elders, Ah Nan followed the Imperial Chancellor’s wife to the seating area for the womenfolk.

This dinner was supposed to be a welcoming dinner for Lu Lao furen, but today there was such a scene that no one was in the mood to enjoy it. However, everyone still looked very happy and pleased, then looked at the solemn face of this Wang ye that looks similar to an old person, thoughts showing across his face¹⁹心里默默内流满面. To be honest I’m not sure what this means. I guess Ah Nan is saying that Chu Baning’s thoughts are written all over his face, while her family all had a mask of “happy.” Him being solemn like that stresses her family.. She complained about a certain Wang ye: In the end, what are you doing coming here today? Are you intentionally adding stress to people?

Ah Nan sat with a group of female relatives, being partitioned from the seats on the other side by a screen, separating the male and female seats.

Although the Imperial Chancellor’s wife is a noble and famous furen, Ah Nan has risen into a Wang fei of royal ancestry, her status is still higher. However, Ah Nan respected the Imperial Chancellor’s wife as the Di mother, furthermore this was also a family banquet. Thus she didn’t pay particular attention to that status, so she didn’t sit at the top seat and sat with Lu Feirong.

On the other side of Ah Nan is Lu Feiting, followed by Lu Feian and Lu Feiya, the two girls aged around fifteen years old. Lu Feian is the daughter of Lu Dabo²⁰大伯 (eldest paternal uncle), referring to Imperial Chancellor Lu’s eldest brother. So Lu Feian is Lu Shaoling’s Shu sister. while Lu Feiya is from Lu erbo‘s family. Both are Shu daughters born from their father’s concubines who were brought along by Lao Taitai due to their looks and talent.

During the banquet, everyone was eating quietly, except for the voices of men drinking and laughing on the other side, mostly from Lu Erbo. Lu Erbo is a merchant who travels far and wide, has a lot of experience and knowledge, and is particularly eloquent and talkative. He is a charismatic and slick person, he could talk so wittily and made an ordinary event into interesting and fascinating subjects, even Chu Baning can’t help but ask him about some regional affairs multiple times. Lu Erbo has unique insights.

Lao Taitai only sat down for a while during the banquet, then let the maids support her back to rest, attributing to her age and fatigue on the boat. At that time, Lu Feiting wanted to help Lao Taitai go back, but was refused. Lao Taitai patted the young lady’s hand, telling her to relax and get together with her sisters more often, not having to stick to her side. Lu Feiting had to act coquettish and sillily tangle around, speaking good-sounding words to coax Lao Taitai to smile joyfully, finally making her forget of the unhappiness towards her from earlier situation.

Lu Feirong, Lu Feian, and Lu Feiya also coaxed Lao Taitai, and even the Imperial Chancellor’s wife spoke softly. Lao Taitai showed a joyful smile at last. She went to excuse herself to Chu Baning when leaving, before finally going back to rest.

In fact, most of the people present understood that Lao Taitai still cannot accept that because of Ah Nan, Lu Shaoling and Lu Shaocheng were going to be punished by kneeling in the ancestral hall. In addition, Ah Nan’s status changed too fast, Lao Taitai still cannot accept it.

Lao Taitai has left, the women’s section suddenly quieted down. The ladies all dined quietly and elegantly.

Ah Nan was eating when she suddenly heard a cry of surprise, then realized that Lu Feiting, who sat next to her, had accidentally dropped her chopsticks, one of them dropped onto her skirt.

Lu Feiting turned red, quickly apologizing to Ah Nan, her expression ashamed and flustered. Ah Nan smiled and comforted her, just clothes, it’s not a problem, being very amiable and understanding, not embarrassing her.

A maid quickly came and replaced it with a pair of clean chopsticks. Lu Feiting was still blushing red, expression bashful, saying softly to Ah Nan, “Qi mei, you have such a good temper. Previously, it was Jiejie who was muddle-headed and not understanding. Jiejie apologizes to you here. Can you… forgive Jiejie?”

Ah Nan was extremely astonished. This Lu Feiting, the apple of Lao Taitai’s eyes, Lu clan’s beloved daughter, whom everyone flattered and pampered dearly, who only have eyes for high places²¹Honestly I can’t find words to express this one (素来眼高于顶, literally eyes always looking on greater/higher place). This basically means if you are not above her status, she will not put you in her eyes., actually apologized to a Shu daughter like her?

Ah Nan glanced at the figure on the other side of the screen, suddenly realized that she had married a very powerful husband—Although her husband’s fate of killing his wife and losing his son was too hard, and no one was optimistic about her as the Wang fei, but no one could stop him from grasping important and heavy-weight authority. Ah Nan just realized, people are really complicated animals, it is uncertain if those who used to despise might one day be hit by reality and come to flatter oneself.

Ah Nan, who had once lived in a country advocating for equality and justice, is a kind-hearted person. Even when she gained power, she didn’t want to trample people under her feet and treat their dignity as humble as a shoe. Ah Nan thought, in any case, Lu Feiting’s future is already determined to be marrying someone in Ningcheng, and they wouldn’t see each other again, then there’s no need to mind it anymore.

Lu Feiting saw Ah Nan forgiving herself, smiled sweetly and whispered to Ah Nan.

When Ah Nan finished dealing with the bashful and amicable Di daughter of Da bo’s family, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, lowering her head to eat in silence.

Lu Feiting looked at Ah Nan with a very friendly look, still wanting to say something more. Seeing Ah Nan eating seriously, she knew she didn’t want to talk anymore. She closed her mouth and looked around, realizing that Lu Feian and Lu Feiya were also talking in whispers. Once again shifting her gaze, she happened to see Lu Feirong turn her face around, looking at her with a smile yet not a smile with a smile. The mockery in her phoenix eyes was clear, giving Lu Feiting the feeling of being seen through. She couldn’t help but have a guilty conscience, then lowering her head and ate silently.

After the dinner, Chu Baning did not say anything to make Ah Nan stay, Ah Nan also pretended that she hadn’t said anything. The two of them left the Imperial Chancellor’s Mansion together.

Imperial Chancellor Lu and his entire family went to the door to bid farewell, the hearts of the whole family were filled with joy and relief: Finally sending away this great Buddha! Thank you, Heaven! Thank you, Earth! Thank you, Buddha!

It seems like Chu Baning has shown great authority in this family banquet, but no one dared to toast him, so he is not drunk and Ah Nan also doesn’t have to worry about facing a drunkard. Ah Nan and Imperial Chancellor Lu’s family bid farewell one by one, then went up with Chu Baning to Su Wang’s mansion carriage.

When they arrived at Su Wang’s Mansion and had just entered, they saw Housekeeper Qin approaching with a solemn expression, then hinting with his eyes for the maids, Momo, and young servants²²小厮 (young (boy) manservant) to leave. Using a small voice, whispered, “Wang ye, Wang fei, lady Shiqing has passed.”

“……….”

The husband and wife’s expressions were exactly the same, looking somewhat blankly at the housekeeper, not knowing who this lady “Shiqing” whose name had a strong sense of having-the-experience-of-facing-the-vicissitudes-of-life²³The girl’s name is 诗情 (shi for poetry, qing for emotion), basically alluding that the girl’s life or emotion may be reflected by poems, usually are melancholic. Some of the ‘subject’ in those poems might have tragic life was. And Ah Nan, whose common sense is still mostly stuck in her modern times’s memories, clearly has an additional question: what does ‘pass²⁴In case you don’t get it, what the housekeeper said was “没了,” literally no more, implying someone has passed away, died.‘ mean?

Housekeeper Qin sighed inwardly, knowing that his own Wang ye had never cared about such things, he finally spoke more clearly, “Wang ye, Wang fei, lady Shiqing is one of the three girls bestowed by the Empress Dowager.”

---

Translator’s little theater:

Chu Baning, inwardly: Hmm, good elasticity, soft and squishy.

Ah Nan: Stop fucking pinching my cheeks you old man!

Note:

Ah Nan and the readers, keep your eyes on Lu Feiting! (nah she isn’t that important, but one I’m most annoyed at ><)

Also, updates will be sporadic, but I will try to upload at least twice a week. This week I will update everyday until friday tho. Thanks for reading!