Rebirth Of A Virtuous Wife: Chapter 5

The wedding is finally taking place. What’s going to happen?

I hope you guys are enjoying this triple-chapter release session. Have a nice day! 🙂

New Glossary:
→ wáng ye ≪王爷≫ — prince.

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Rebirth Of A Virtuous Wife: Chapter 5^{Slightly edited.}

With a phoenix crown^[1] on her head and veil over her head, just like that Ah Nan was married off.

Adding up the years of her previous life with her current life, Ah Nan was finally able to experience the feeling of being a bride.

It was only unfortunate that this “lucky fated” bride is being watched by many people who are paying close attention and quietly counting down her life for her.

“Such a pity. I wonder if she can endure until the wedding ceremony is completed?”

“Yeah. Although she is only a secondary daughter, she is still the young mistress of a wealthy clan. She should’ve gone to find a poor household to be married instead. Why choose a path of death?”

“I heard that the young bride from the Lu family is very healthy. Perhaps she will be the lucky one and make it through the consummation night…”

“No…no…no. Even if she manages to endure through the consummation night, then what about the future? As long as she remains as Su Wang Fei, there is no guarantee…”

“Wifeless and childless…I wonder if she will be able to give birth to any children in the future. A woman without children…^[2]”

“Aizz, it’s so pitiful thinking about it again!”

“…”

Listening to everyone’s discussions about her, Ah Nan’s face darkened. She wanted to lift her veil to scream: Right now, the young lady, I, is very brave to the extent where I can fight and defeat a white rabbit! I’m just a little hungry…

It was unfortunate that these words were not believed by the maid Ru Cui either, who was staring at Ah Nan with caring eyes, just in case she could unexpectedly die.

Ah Nan was wearing three layers of inner clothes and three layers for her outer clothes. On her head was the phoenix crown which made her felt like she was unable to breathe any longer. Su Wang was indeed the son that the Empress Dowager love the most. It was quite obvious with the lavishing wedding ceremony…just looking at the big southern sea pearls decorated on her phoenix crown, Ah Nan was already feeling dizzy. The weight of the pearls made the phoenix crown really heavy. So, with Ah Nan’s petite body, she felt like she could almost be crushed.

Ah Nan tried her best to wear the phoenix crown, which she did not know how much it weighed. The red veil that was draped on her head covered her eyes, so she could only reach out randomly to hold onto one end of the red flower ribbon. At the other end of the ribbon stands Su Wang Chu Ba Ning, the younger brother of the Emperor and her husband-to-be.

It would be a lie to say that Ah Nan was not scared. Adding two lifetimes together, this was the first time she is getting married, and it is a marriage that she had no say in. Deep inside her heart, she was very worried about the future. Though many people are around her at this moment, there was hardly anyone who wanted to offer her comfort. They only gave her the when-are-you-going-to-die look. She could only prepare to give herself comfort.

She has heard that Su Wang was not fond of women. She also hopes that he is not one of those old devils. She still wants to live a healthy life. If this is not possible after the wedding, she was willing to stay as a housekeeper. Every day, she could deal with small and big affairs in the manor, then mindlessly eat, mindlessly sleep and enjoy the rest of her life.

Of course, she would also try her best to be a qualified virtuous wife of this ancient era. If Su Wang ever wants to take in any concubines, she would be willing to help find pretty little three, little four, little five…^[3] she has no problem with it. She would only need to be concern about her role as a good wang fei.

While Ah Nan was busy in her own thoughts, she was already being walked to her wedding chamber.

As she passed by people, she could hear lots of voices, saying something like, “She is still alive. How incredible…”

The corners of Ah Nan’s lips jerked. Her body is still very healthy and normal!

The chamber has a festive atmosphere as Ah Nan is seated on her new bed with sights of longan and dried dates on the side. Surrounding her were not only four maids from her dowry, there were also a few mo mo. Apparently, they all came from the palace as representatives of the Empress Dowager.

Ah Nan was feeling hungry. Very, very hungry. Since the morning, she had only drunk water and had a few light snacks for breakfast. There was gnawing pain in her stomach.

She was having stomach pains again. The weight of the phoenix crown didn’t help her feel better either as she felt breathless.

“Ru Cui…”

Hearing Ah Nan’s lifeless cry, Ru Cui was taken aback as if she had just consumed some chicken blood. “Xiao jie, what’s wrong?”

Those who were in the room, such as the group of mo mo, were startled. After all of the struggles to bring the bride into the wedding chamber, was she going to die there…? Please don’t. She was already there; consummate the marriage first. Before she dies, at least let Su Wang take a bite first. The group of mo mo cried inside their heart.

Ah Nan was beginning to feel dizzy with her stomach pain growing. She couldn’t hold it anymore. If she knew about the thoughts from the group of mo mo, she could’ve possibly started beating them until their deaths.

“Ru Cui, I’m hungry…”

Once heard, Ru Cui quickly responded, “Xiao jie, just hold it in for a little longer. Wait for Su Wang to enter the chamber then you can eat!”

Serving by Ah Nan’s side for so many years, Ru Cui knew clearly that her young mistress’ body cannot tolerate hunger. There was initially heartbreak when she saw Ah Nan’s cry, but the Imperial Chancellor’s wife has said that in a woman’s lifetime there is only one wedding, so the bride cannot randomly eat because it could be seen as unlucky! For this reason, she tried to persuade Ah Nan to endure a little longer. Ru Cui felt that her decision was right because she was not going to think of strategies to illegally help Ah Nan bring food to the room.

As soon as Ah Nan heard from her maid, she immediately fell unconscious.

Instantly, the chamber became very chaotic.

After hearing that the bride had fainted in the wedding chamber, the guests who haven’t left were not at all frightened. Contrarily, their faces had the expression of this-is-how-it-is-supposed-to-be. The butler of Su Wang’s manor hurriedly shouted for an imperial physician to be summoned. Luckily, since the Emperor and Empress Dowager were worried that something bad could happen to the bride, they have already organised for an imperial physician to be on duty at Su Wang’s manor.

With cold eyes, Su Wang left the wedding banquet and proceeded to visit the wedding chamber. Behind him were the guests who decided to follow.

Guests who were left behind all looked at each other with mutual understandings that perhaps Su Wang will become a single nobleman again. They sympathised with him.

When Su Wang strode into the wedding chamber, he was greeted by the maids who looked very frightened. No one could blame them for their reaction since it was already the wedding day. A day before the wedding, when the Emperor and Empress Dowager were told that the daughter of the Lu family was still strong and healthy, they were very excited and could only wish to proceed the wedding ceremony earlier. If anything bad were to happen, the servants would have to find a new home for their head!^[4]

Su Wang frowned as he walked passed the group of maids who were panicking. Inside the room, a few lanterns were lit; Su Wang was able to straight away see his bride lying on the wedding bed wearing a crimson red dress. Her face shape resembled that of a small apple, pale and white; she seemed like she could die at any given moment. Her eyebrows were tightly pressed together causing wrinkles to appear as if she was suffering through great pain. Beside the bed, a maid was helping the bride loosening up the collar of her attire, revealing her slender white neck…

“What happened?”

When the low voice of a man rang through the room, the people in the chaotic wedding chamber thought that they had finally found someone reliable to handle the situation. A group of mo mo immediately rushed over to greet the prince as one of them reported, “Wang ye, we do not know the situation but wang fei suddenly fell unconscious. Perhaps it could be the lack of air that caused breathing problems.” Of course, that mo mo couldn’t say that their wang fei would not be able to live any longer due to the curse. She could only create an excuse.

Su Wang squinted his brows.

“…The fact is —the fact is that xiao jie is only hungry…” while loosening her mistress’ dressing collar, Ru Cui added to the mo mo’s sentence.

Blinking their eyes unbelievably, everyone in the room diverted their attention to the young mistress and her maid. The other maids who were sent as a dowry from the Lu’s manor all lowered their head, feeling quite embarrassed: Can they just pretend that they don’t know those two people?

Su Wang’s brows slightly loosened as he looked at the lady lying on the bed. He ordered, “Qin mo mo, go to the kitchen and tell them to prepare some light food for wang fei.”

“Yes!” Qin mo mo responded. Soon after, the group of mo mo left the room.

Ru Cui used a wet towel to dab Ah Nan’s face as she secretly observed Su Wang, who was wearing a red wedding attire that looked very bright and spiritually captivating. His face was very handsome, almost celestial standard. He seemed like a very poised person apart from the serious expression shown on his face. There was an obvious demeanour that showed nobility with his body posture and raised hand. This sort of presence could easily make people surrender.

Su Wang directly walked over to her and said, “Move aside!”

Ru Cui was a little dumbfounded before she quickly stood up. Out of convenience, she shoved the towel that she was holding into Su Wang’s hand and obediently moved to stand on the side.

Su Wang became a little dumbfounded too when the towel was stuffed in his hand. He glanced over at the brainless maid and saw her hanging her head low. In the end, he slightly rolled up his sleeve and used the towel to continue the job that Ru Cui was doing earlier.

He carefully observed the lady lying on the bed. Her face resembled a small apple, her skin was white and smooth, her small mouth was softly breathing. Below that was a slender long neck and under the layers of clothes that have been pulled open was the sight of her delicate collarbones. He could see the ups and downs of her breathing…

Su Wang quickly moved his eyes elsewhere, his ears becoming slightly red.

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Trivia:
→ [1] Traditional Chinese wedding dresses (for women) usually have illustrations of the phoenix, either printed or embroidered on the gown and crafted for a crown/head ornament, usually in gold or yellow or with a combination of other colours. Men usually have a dragon embroidered on their wedding attire. The phoenix and dragon were seen as a good match in the Chinese culture, and having these two together was symbolic of luck, as well as prosperity and harmony in the marriage. In addition, people often associated phoenix with a woman and dragon with a man due to their respective level of feminine/masculine features.

→ [2] “A woman without children…” —in Ancient China, when a woman has no children (especially a son), it can be seen as ill-fated because that would mean that for the rest of her life she will have no one to rely on. So basically her role as a wife in the marriage is ‘not good’. The Ancient Chinese had a belief which was known as the Three Obediences and Four Virtues or sān cóng sì dé ≪三從四德≫.

Three Obediences:
1. Obey father before marriage. (未嫁从父; wèi jià cóng fù)
2. Obey husband after marriage. (既嫁从夫; jì jià cóng fū)
3. Obey son(s) in widowhood. (夫死从子; fū sǐ zòng zǐ)

Four Virtues:
1. Female virtues (妇德; fù dé) – her virtues in ethics as a wife.
2. Female words (妇言; fù yán) – her virtues in speech as a wife.
3. Female appearances (妇容; fù róng) – her virtues in the way she presents herself as a wife.
4. Female work (妇功; fù gōng) – her virtues in managing the household and keeping the family line ongoing (e.g. bearing healthy sons).

These virtues essentially defined whether a woman was “a good wife”, which is expressed by the phrase “xián nèi zhù (贤内助)” —literally asserting that the wife is a “great domestic assistant”.

→ [3] “If Su Wang ever wants to take in any concubines, she would be willing to help find pretty little three, little four, little five…” —I don’t know how it works in other cultures, but in the Chinese and Vietnamese culture, people are often numbered with their title/status in the family (e.g. First brother, Second brother, third brother and etc). In this case, the “pretty little three, little four, little five…” refers to the concubines’ position in the household (based on who’s older/younger or who has marked their territory in the manor first/last). In Chinese, Ah Nan’s words would be translated as “xiǎo sān ≪小三≫, xiǎo sì ≪小四≫, xiǎo wú ≪小吴≫…”. Ah Nan said it in such way to sound more affectionate and generous.

→ [4] “If anything bad were to happen, the servants would have to find a new home for their head!” —it was brutal in the medieval times. A servant from noble households can easily be punished for doing something wrong. It is worse when they work for the imperial family since they can be beheaded (but this usually only occur if the crime is very serious). Since the servants didn’t react so well when Ah Nan fainted —afterwards Su Wang walked into the chamber and saw their reactions —the servants were scared that they’d have to “find a new home for their head” —meaning a graveyard to bury themselves.