“Don’t say it like that!” Fang Qing interrupted her. With a kind smile, she said, “When my mother was alive, she had the best relationship with Aunt. Even though our generation has never met, the connection can't be severed just like that!”
She then lightly sighed, “My mother had a cruel fate. I thought Aunt would live long and be blessed. Never thought she too -- ”
Lian Ze eyes reddened and twisted his head away.
Although the current Lian Fang Zhou wasn’t the Lian Fang Zhou when Liu Su Mei passed away, her heart still aches; a dull, agonizing pang appear.
“Alright now, it rare for you to come by, I shouldn’t be talking about this. Both of our families haven't interacted with each other for several years. So I'm delighted that you came over! We can have a good talk!” Fang Qing spoke as she invites the two of them to sit and enquired about the current condition at home and the situation at the time when the couple met with misfortune.
Lian Fang Zhou and Lian went into details. Hearing it, Fang Qing was flooded with extreme sadness.
“The most unfortunate are you, siblings! If you need any help, feel free to ask. As long as it's within my ability, I'll help you!” Fang Qing assured.
Since the siblings came such a long way, Fang Qing knew there was a matter.
Lian Fang Zhou receded her emotions, gave her thanks and declared, “Cousin, Ah Ze and I have come because there really is a matter we need your help with!”
Fang Qing nodded, sent a glance at Li ma. Li ma understood and signaled for all the maids that are serving to retreat out of the room.
Lian Fang Zhou was grateful as she knew Fang Qing didn’t want to make her ask before an audience of servants. Although she (Fang Qing) don’t know what she came for, she can guess it is related to money.
“Do tell” Fang Qing encouragingly smiled.
Lian Fang Zhou then slowly spoke "I want to borrow a sum of money from cousin. I'll definitely return it within two-three years.”
“You have ambition! State how much you want to borrow.” Fang Qing gave a faint smile.
Lian Fang Zhou chuckled, “Since cousin asked like that, then I'll tell you upright! I want to borrow ten thousand liang!”
Ordinary women from the inner household couldn’t compare to Fang Qing, as she controls a part of Su family's business. So hearing what Lian Fang Zhou requested, she didn’t gasp in surprise. Only her expression slightly changed.
Li ma, who was standing respectfully from her behind, couldn't help raised her eyes to send a glance over to Lian Fang Zhou, thinking, ‘this miss cousin really dare ask.’
Ten thousand liang! Does she know how much is ten thousand liang?
“Ten thousand liang isn't a small sum. Why are you borrowing so much money? ” Fang Qing questioned.
Lian Fang Zhou was about to elaborate when a man raised his voice as he casually called out could be heard from the outside. “What are you all doing gathering at the door? Who made your Young Madame angry again?”
Li ma spoke then, “It’s Young Master, who has returned! ”
With that, Lian Fang Zhou and Lian Ze stood up. Fang Qing also stood and grinned, “That’s great, you can meet your cousin-in-law!”
Her words just fell, and two male entered sight as they came one after another from outside.
The other is her cousin-in-law, so Lian Fang Zhou gave a quick swept of an eye and lowered her lids, just to check out his profile. This Young Master of Su Family, Su Jing He is around twenty five-six of age. He looked pretty handsome and carried an aura of (bad boy) wickedness and unrestrainedness. Or rather, these wealthy families' son was gifted at being frivolous.
"You have returned! Oh, cousin has also come!" Fang Qing sent an angry stare at Su Jing He and complained, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Afterall Lian Fang Zhou is an unwed girl. At her place, it is alright for her to meet her cousin-in-law. As for other guys, it's not really appropriate.
"I didn't know you have guests here!" Su Jing He laughed it off. His eyes just swept once over Lian Fang Zhou and Lian Ze and lost interest. And grinned, "Then I'll you carry on. Min Zhi (maybe name typo?) and I will leave now. I'll come back later to look for you!"
"Wait!" Fang Qing called to stop him. She was about to introduce the Lian siblings to him when her husband's cousin cried out and chuckled, "Miss, we meet again!"
Lian Ze raised his eyes and icily stared at him. His sister isn't for people to poke fun at.
Lian Fang Zhou found the voice to be familiar, lifted her head in wonder and Cui Shao Xi's handsome face filled with mirth appeared clearly into view. Her heart skipped a beat, and her legs froze as she exclaimed, "It's you!"
"Hahaha! That's right, it's me!" Immensely pleased, Cui Shao Xi burst into waves of laughter.
Lian Fang Zhou resisted the urge to roll her eyes and twitched her lips. Inside, she thought, 'I don't know what you are so pleased about!'
"Oh, so you knew each other!" Su Jing He looked to fro between them. His eyes rapidly spun as he gleeful chortled. Before he could finish laughing, a hiss faintly escaped from his mouth. Pain!
Fang Qing had pinched him. Eyes dilated as she gave him a fierce stare. Su Jing He wanted to distinguish what's going on, but in the end, he decided to smile fawningly. Fang Qing just lightly harrumphed and ignored him.
"That's right!"
"Don't know him!"
On this side, Cui Shao Xi and Lian Fang Zhou spoke at the same time.
Fang Qing and Su Jing He was surprised, somewhat perplexed.
Fang Qing came to the siblings' side, held onto Lian Fang Zhou’s hand and introduced, “These are my cousins!”
Turning to give Su Jing He a glance, she then continued, “This is your cousin-in-law! This guy, um, is your cousin-in-law’s cousin. In a way, you can call him cousin.”
Lian Fang Zhou and Lian Ze automatically overlooked Fang Qing last sentence and just gave greetings to Su Jing He. They called out, ‘Cousin-in-law!’ and toward Cui Shao Xi they called him ‘Cui gong zi.’
“No need to be polite! Haha! These are our relatives! How come I never heard you talk about it before!” Su Jing He with smiling eyes as he raised his hands and turned to ask Fang Qing.
“Both of our families haven't been in contact for many years” Fang Qing lightly sighed, then playfully pushed Su Jing He. “Alright now, you guys have matters to do, so hurry on!”
Su Jing He had yet to speak when Cui Shao Xi already plopped himself onto a chair and cheerily snatched to say, "We got nothing to need to be done. Initially, we came over here to accompany and talk with cousin-in-law! Cousin-in-law won't kick us out, right?"
It was apparent that Cui Shao Xi was very close to Su Jing He and Fang Qing, as his words were utterly casual. Fang Qing grinned, there was really no reason to kick him out.
But in front of these cousins (her husband and his cousin), it was evident that they can't continue their previous discussion. After some contemplation, Fang Qing had come up with a plan: first put it aside as she had originally planned to let them stay over for two days. They'll have time to talk again! With a beam, she invited the Lian siblings to sit, exclaimed, "Since it's like that, everyone can chat together!"
Regrettably, even though Fang Qing felt it wasn't suitable to continue that discussion, someone else didn't agree. Just as everyone took their seat, Cui Shao Xi carelessly asked, "I recall hearing something about ten thousand liang just now at the entrance. With such a large amount of money, is cousin-in-law planning on doing some big business?"
Fang Qing's expression froze. Lian Fang Zhou and Lian Ze exchanged glances. Lian Fang Zhou was mentally giving Cui Shao Xi a severe scolding. Does this person have any sense of discernment? Really, what does he mean by this! Definitely up to no good!
Author note: actually, about that, Su Jing He and Fang Qing have an exciting story, where the shrewish wife taming husband. However, I won't talk about now. Wait until when I finish, I'll write the side story!
Translator note: Why don't I have any recollection of Fang Qing and Su Jing He side story!? Hmmm... I had been over a few years since I finished reading it...
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ma: older/married female attendant
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Here we have a troublemaker...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter!
Claps2 yeyy, we have a naughty-but-good-looking causin? Indeed, a love competitor for General Ah Jin!! Hahah😅
ReplyDeleteMany thanks 💕
You are so on point with this. He let it be known when they first met that he had interest. Now she is in the belly of the whale for him to try and catch.
DeleteCan't wait for the next chapters *sigh* 😅
ReplyDeleteThank you for the chapter! I'm siding with Ah Jian and not liking this Cui Shao Xi =/
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter and all your hard work! Just to let you know - I'm still unfamiliar enough with the different words (biao jie, biao jie fu, etc.) that even with your helpful definitions on the bottom, it made for a much more difficult read. I know your job is not a simple one, but I wanted to at least bring it up from the readers perspective. I think I've seen other translators talk about how the level of specificity doesn't carry over well into English, but they've done a rough translation by either writing "cousin from your mother's side" or something like "cousin (mother's side)".
ReplyDeleteJust a thought. No matter how you proceed, thank you for all your work in this. I've enjoyed the story a lot so far. And your work in including the pictures is great! It's added a special touch.
Noted, thanks for your suggestion. I also want to reduce the chinese pinyin, but couldn't find the right word for biao jie fu.
DeleteThanks! A gracious response. I appreciate your hard work. :)
DeleteComo se llama la historia de la prima y su esposo?
ReplyDeleteThank you
ReplyDelete