RVW-47.1

“Which one is Su Wangfei? I, Zhao Qihua, want to see you!”

The voice was as crisp and melodious as a wind chime. But although it was a pleasant voice, it contained the air of unbridled arrogance, making others feel resentful. They have yet to meet face to face but she sure had made others somewhat loathe her.

“Is it…. The daughter of General Zhao’s family?” Gu Xiaoyan’s reaction came quickly, her expression turned slightly unpleasant as she asked.

He Furen nodded with a heavy expression.

As for Ru Lan, Zhang Momo, and the others, their eyes have turned cold. Their family’s Wangfei was shouted at and provoked by some arrogant woman who came from god-knows-where at their doorsteps. Just thinking about it infuriated them more.

Only after hearing their words did Ah Nan realize that she was the daughter of General Zhao Geng, the commander of Tongcheng army.

Before coming to Tongcheng, Ah Nan had learnt about General Zhao from Housekeeper Qin. It was said that Zhao Geng was born into the illustrious Zhao clan from a few hundred years ago, the Zhao clan since those times had always been the Da Chu Dynasty’s Great General. The clan was so illustrious and prominent that the sovereign kings feared their meritorious deeds would overshadow their master and thus tried to weaken them. It wasn’t until the past hundred years that the Zhao clan began to decline, and when time reached Zhao Geng’s generation, only he and his little sister were left, relying on each other to survive. When Zhao Geng grew up, thinking of his still young and underaged sister, he decided to partake in the martial arts imperial examination without an ounce of hesitation. He was then successfully appointed by the Emperor himself as the Martial Arts Zhuang yuan¹The top scorer or 1st place in the examination. Zhao Geng hadn’t thought of reviving the Zhao clan, and thus, whether it was by the previous Emperor’s plotted consent, he himself requested to be stationed in the borders. Thus he became the General of Tongcheng’s troops up until now.

Zhao Geng has been spending his life in the stationed borders, guarding and defending the country. He has been dedicating his life since the previous emperor to the current one, serving through two monarchs. Due to his unwavering loyalty and dedication for Da Chu, even devoted his entire life in a deserted and harsh place such as here, the previous Emperor was touched with his loyalty and wanted to console the Zhao clan. Thus, he passed a decree for his sister to be married to his son, the tenth prince——who was the currently reigning Emperor Chongde. So everyone knew that the current Empress was General Zhao’s Di little sister.

Although General Zhao was a hero in the eyes of the masses, his only heir in this life was his only daughter——Zhao Qihua. This woman the born from General Zhao’s first wife, the first wife passed away not long after birthing Zhao Qihua due to her difficult birth. General Zhao felt heartache for his daughter who lost her mother immediately after birth, and on top of that he himself also no longer had elders, so he decided not to marry a second wife and raised his daughter alone even through difficulties.

Before the age of ten, Zhao Qihua had spent half a year in the capital and the other half in Tongcheng with her father. She was then taken to Tongcheng by General Zhao once she was ten and had stayed there until now, when she was seventeen and already a beauty as graceful as jade. Her current age was actually considered pretty old, but she has yet to be married. It wasn’t that there was no matchmaker proposing marriages for her. In fact, there was a lot of high official and noble Furens in the capital who had wanted to make Zhao family’s lady as their Di son’s wife; this way not only would they be able to establish some relationship with the Empress, but also able to have a son whose in-laws had both military authority and prominent background. But General Zhao at that time thought his daughter was still underaged and thus wanted her to remain by his side a few more years, but it had been prolonged up until now. When he realized that his daughter was already an adult and wanted to find a husband for her, he suddenly found that it wasn’t good to find one in the borders. As for finding one in the capital, although there was the Empress who would help them, he was also afraid of her marrying into the capital and got bullied. What should he do if no one looked after her?

And thus in such a dilemma, Zhao Qihua’s marriage was dragged on like this.

Moreover, although General Zhao was someone people revered to as a patriotic hero who protected their country, anyone who had seen Zhao Qihua would all agree on the same thing. That is, the daughter he raised was someone very headache-inducing. And the reason was actually something hard to explain in just a few words ah.

Not long after, an arrogant and brash young lady wearing fiery red riding robes, complete with horsewhip in her hand, kicked the door open and went inside.

The lady was also a stunning beauty. Her brows akin to the silhouette of the far away mountains that made her look dignified, her emotive big eyes like the limpid autumn waters, and her red clothes contrasted with her smooth and lustrous skin made her looked all the more tender and rosy, perfect with no slight blemishes. Although she was holding a whip on her hand, it didn’t make her look like an overbearing tyrant, instead it gave people the impression of an arrogance akin to the beautiful but garish blazing flame. Such bright and vigor gave a touch of vitality to the dark and cloudy Tongcheng.

Zhao Qihua broke in as such. Following her were some maidservants who were unable to obstruct her, there were a few whose pace were too quick. When they were left behind by the young lady, they weren’t careful and ended up falling to the ground, the servants behind them who were also rushing in couldn’t brake their legs on time and also fell. One by one, they fell and became a heap of human mass.

When Ah Nan and the others came out, they saw how around 5 or 6 maidservants had become such a unit. As for that lady, she was frowning obviously, seemingly unable to see why these people were so clumsy. Beside the young lady was a maid whose expression was completely dead-eyed²The word used here is 无耐, it actually means something like helpless and just like, resigned to whatever was going to happen and fate, already numb towards her family’s master’s behaviour. 

Zhao Qihua’s gaze swept over those who had just come out, straightforwardly bypassing He Furen, the clothed-in-commoner’s-attire Gu Xiaoyan, the dressed-as-maids Ru Cui and Ru Lan, then the someone who seemed-like-a-snowball-and-didn’t-seem-like-someone-who-had-married-and-became-a-wife Ah Nan…… Then, there’s no one else.

Zhao Qihua was a honest and straightforward kind of person, when she saw no candidates of “Su Wangfei” that fitted her criteria among them, she immediately asked in a loud voice, “Hey, didn’t they say that Su Wangfei is living here? Why am I not seeing her here? Could it be that she was so sick she couldn’t get out of the bed?”

Zhao Qihua’s words undoubtedly caused violent explosion, the maids and Momos of the Su Wang Mansion gritted their teeth as dislike grew inside them. Such a skill in attracting hatred was indeed rarely-seen.

He Furen glanced at Ah Nan. She was the hostess here, she felt deeply sorry if her guest were disturbed by others and couldn’t help but put on a cold expression, “Lady Zhao, why have you come here today? Su Wangfei is here to recuperate from her illness, not just anyone can come and see her.”

Zhao Qihua didn’t like He Furen’s tone, so with some doubt in her voice she asked back, “Chu family’s Jiejie, when have I ever offended you? Why do you always put on such a bad expression when you see me?”

You have offended me a lot of times! He Furen gloomily remarked inwardly, but she also couldn’t foolishly said it out loud, so she could only put on a superficial smile and said, “Lady Zhao, when has there ever been an unmarried lady loudly said something and held on a whip as they rushed into someone else’ home? Wouldn’t this be an object of ridicule?”

“No way ah, they would definitely recognize me once they see this whip. Who would dare ridicule me?” Zhao Qihua said with an expression full of distrust. Really, who knew whether this young lady was actually a fool or a fake one.

He Furen didn’t want to argue on such a matter with her, she just wanted to send this hatred-magnet lady away quickly, “Lady Zhao, may I know what is your purpose in finding Su Wangfei?”

“Oh, nothing really. I just want to come and see her in person. I want to see what kind of person Su Wang was willing to marry.”

The corners of Ah Nan’s lips rose when she heard her answer. This lady was indeed honest and truthful.

He Furen also didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, “Lady Zhao, since that is the reason you wanted to seek Su Wangfei, why didn’t you just let someone send a formal message for a visit? Don’t use such a method that looked like you were trying to start a war like this.” He Furen thought, if her daughter were to have such conduct, she would definitely have to break her legs.

But Zhao Qihua scratched her head and then said something that stunned them, “Sending messages or whatever is too troublesome, such back and forth before going, isn’t it too inconvenient? I just want to come and see what kind of person she is, not that I come here to have tea and chat with her. Also, who let those people block me from going in?! They sure have guts to even have the cheeks to obstruct me. They should be grateful that I didn’t pull the whip on them.”

Seeing the lady’s as-it-should-be expression, everyone now knew that she didn’t take them seriously and was also quite used to such behaviour. However, it’s likely that she had never considered or thought that such of her actions would bring others a lot of trouble.

Ah Nan thought, this lady is such an outspoken and blunt person. But if such bluntness caused others trouble, it would attract others’ hatred. No wonder He Furen didn’t really want to see her.

“Hey, Sister Chu, so where exactly is Su Wangfei ah?”

At that moment, Ru Cui had already come from the room with a small stool. Under everyone’s gaze, she calmly put it behind Ah Nan and then helped her sit on it. She then respectfully stood beside her and then looked curiously at Zhao Qihua outside the room. 

Ah Nan pursed her lips in a smile, she sat down and smilingly said, “Lady Zhao, I am the Su Wangfei you are looking for.”