Rebirth Of A Virtuous Wife: Chapter 10

This chapter has a bit more new words/pinyin 😬

New glossary:
→ gōng gōng ≪公公≫ — a term used to address an eunuch.

→ huáng xiōng ≪皇兄≫ — huáng means Emperor, and xiōng means elder brother. this term is used by younger brothers of the Emperor.

→ huáng dì ≪皇弟≫ — huáng in this case means royal or related to the Emperor. dì means younger brother. 

→ dì dì ≪弟弟≫ — younger/little brother / or used when a male is younger.

→ nú cái ≪奴才≫ — means slave. used by male servants to refer to themselves.

→ chén dì ≪臣弟≫ — chén means “this subject”. this term roughly translate “this subject younger brother”.

→ huáng sǎo ≪皇嫂≫ — often used to refer to the Empress by her brother-in-laws. The term basically means “imperial (Empress) sister-in-law”.

→ guìfēi ≪贵妃≫ — literally means noble consort; this rank sits below the rank of an Empress.

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Rebirth Of A Virtuous Wife: Chapter 10^{Slightly edited.}

In the extravagant imperial palace, the highest ruler in the imperial court, the reigning Emperor Chongde has let down his guard as he grinned at the tall man standing in front of him. His majestic eyes were full of laughter.

Emperor Chongde is thirty-five years old this year, usually exuding some sort of enthusiasm within himself. His handsomeness is similar to that of Su Wang. He has inherited the throne since when he was twenty-five years old and has always been hard-working for his people. After when he has managed to solve the political mess entrusted by the late Emperor, he was able to gradually take full power of the country into his own hands. Having been an Emperor for quite some years now, he has shown how capable he is as an Emperor.

Standing on the side serving was Liu gong gong, who has been trying to keep his head low, as well as to make his presence at the scene almost invisible-like. He did not dare to look at the solemn, apathetic and serious Emperor (when in front of) the people in his imperial harem. Moreover, he did not have the courage to look at the truly serious person standing on the scene —no other than the most beloved younger brother of the Emperor, Su Wang Chu Ba Ning.

“Ba Ning…how was the wedding night?” the voice of Emperor Chongde was a little husky, quite pleasant to listen to. This shows that his current mood is very good.

“…”

Emperor Chongde lightly coughed and asked, “…Did you consummate?”

“Huang xiong, please watch your words!” Su Wang’s face remained serious.

Emperor Chongde softly laughed and said, “We can say that you have grown up from last night! A huang xiong like I do not have to worry about you not being able to get married anymore, then falling into the path of becoming a homosexual!”

“I have never been a homosexual!” Chu Ba Ning, once again, seriously explained.

Emperor Chongde stood up and stepped towards his brother to pat him on the shoulder. His face was full of sympathy as he responded, “Ba Ning, I understand. You have finally become a true man. Huang xiong is very happy!”

Immediately, Chu Ba Ning’s face darkened.

Liu gong gong’s head could not bow any lower. He prayed that when Su Wang leaves —that he would not be angry. He also wished that their Emperor would stop trying to provoke Su Wang’s patience. With such a serious person being provoked to anger, only God would know the kind of consequences that this might lead to. By then, even the Empress Dowager won’t be able to stop the situation!

“Ba Ning-ah, the new year is approaching. You should give birth to a young prince. Let’s see who else dares to claim that my huang di is fated to be wifeless and childless!” Emperor Chongde could no longer maintain his powerful demeanour as he swung open his arms to show his high-spirit. It was only a shame that he could not run out of the palace to show his joyfulness to the world. He wants everyone to congratulate his di di for finally becoming a true adult.

Su Wang pursed his lips and did not utter a word. Except, his ears did become slightly red. He could only maintain his serious face to make himself as normal looking as possible, seemingly unaffected by a certain Emperor being nosy about his personal life.

Emperor Chongde paced back and forth a few times in the imperial hall when he suddenly remembered something. He took quick steps and loudly spoke, “Liu gong gong.”

Standing on the side, Liu gong gong hurriedly ran over and lowered himself, waiting for an order, “Your Majesty, nu cai is here.”

“Liu gong gong, by my order, go the Imperial Medical Institute to summon Imperial Physician Hu and Li —for them to station at Su Wang Manor until Su Wang Fei is pregnant!”

“Nu cai obey!” Liu gong gong left to comply with the order like a gust of wind.

Su Wang frowned and said with a serious face, “Huang xiong, this is not very appropriate!”

The mood of Emperor Chongde is currently very good. He did not care to pay attention to Su Wang’s serious expression which resembles an old man. Conversely, he laughed and said, “Ba Ning-ah, this is the right thing to do! You should know that because you have married a wang fei, the number of bets made at the casinos in the city have made new records. Also, don’t you think that I don’t know. Some of the court ministers aren’t very competent people, but all of them are stretching their necks to wait for something unexpected to happen to Su Wang Fei…humph, those bunch of old men. They cover up whatever is bad about themselves, but when it comes to other people’s affairs they will do anything and cannot wait to announce it to the public.”

Chu Ba Ning pursed his lips and said nothing.

“Is it really so easy to see the bad in my huang di’s matter?” Emperor Chongde suddenly raised his eyebrows and grinned like a pirate. He looked straight into the man in front of him and solemnly said, “Ba Ning-ah, you must protect your wang fei well so that she can live a little longer! Half of my silvers from the Department of Treasury have been placed at the casino. Do not worry, do not worry. I have bet that your wang fei will continue to live very well, even as far as giving birth to a little prince for you…”

Seeing that his huang di’s coal-black face has finally lessened a little, Emperor Chongde secretly felt a little lucky that he did not make his huang di furious. Of course, Emperor Chongde is also aware that if this was his wife being used as a bet, he believed that even a saint would be angry. For this, he could not really blame Chu Ba Ning.

In order to console his huang di from the unpleasant rumours, Emperor Chongde pulled Chu Ba Ning’s arm and said, “Ba Ning, lets go. Come with huang xiong to have a drink!”

Chu Ba Ning quietly dodged and said with an expressionless face, “Huang xiong, this is not the appropriate time to drink. There are still ministers waiting to see you!”

Emperor Chongde absent-mindedly laughed and replied, “No problem, today is the second day of your wedding day. I have already sent Liu gong gong to put out an official order that if there are no urgent matters, do not disturb me!”

Having always been too focused on handling the country’s affairs, it was a rare occasion for Emperor Chongde to let loose himself. Su Wang could only act in accordance to his huang xiong’s wish and followed him to the side hall for a drink.

The eunuchs and palace maids have prepared chrysanthemum wine and a few exquisite appetisers. The two men of nobility stayed by each other’s side to enjoy the chrysanthemum wine at the imperial garden outside the hall. In the breeze of autumn, daisies bloomed wildly as they swayed against the wind.

After three weeks worth of wine, Emperor Chongde became a little tipsy. His handsome face was a little red. He held onto Chu Ba Ning’s hand and muttered, “Ba Ning-ah, I can finally see you married. That illness of yours…it has been cured, right? Over the past years, because of this matter, mu hou has been very distressed…we have been through an arduous journey in order to reach a day like today, so why…”

Chu Ba Ning restrained himself from being emotional. Expressionlessly, he said, “Huang xiong, you’re drunk!”

“I know…I am just very excited. It’s very rare to be able to get drunk like this,” Emperor Chongde tried to lazily remain on his chair. When he figured that Chu Ba Ning was slowly losing his patience, he finally let go of him, with the corners of his lips smiling, he stared at the righteous man in front of him. “Do not worry, I have already made an order for no one to disturb us. Today, let us brothers drink freely.”

Knowing that his huang xiong always act very cautiously, thus will not put himself into any situation of danger, Chu Ba Ning slightly nodded.

“Hmm…Ba Ning-ah…let huang xiong know, how did you…agree to stay with wang fei? I have even thought that you would choose to sleep in the study room on the wedding night…”

Chu Ba Ning’s face became dark like a bottom of a pan. If he did not know that this person is the current Emperor, he would’ve already mindlessly walked away. Finally, under the interrogation of Emperor Chongde, Chu Ba Ning used a cold tone to reply, “She is ben wang’s wang fei!”

Emperor Chongde looked at him in surprise. He thought for a while before carefully asking, “What you mean is…because the youngest daughter of the Lu family is your wang fei, she belongs to you, therefore you are willing to touch her?”

Chu Ba Ning sipped his wine and turned taciturn. 

Emperor Chongde was not bothered as he carelessly fiddled the jade pendant hanging from his waist. He smiled and continued, “If that is the case, then tomorrow I will gift to you more concubines. How’s that?”

Chu Ba Ning instantly stood up from his seat, throwing back his long sleeve, he answered in a cold voice, “Huang xiong, you’re drunk. Chen di will leave to ask for someone to bring some soup for you to sober up!”

Chu Ba Ning left the hall. On the way, he saw Liu gong gong standing in the distance waiting for orders. He informed, “His Majesty is drunk. Have people serve some soup to him help sober up. Also, the event that happened today cannot be leaked outside…”

“Wang ye, please rest assured. Today, His Majesty only needs to read official documents.”

Su Wang nodded and called for an eunuch named Mu Yuan’er to escort him out of the palace. 

At Su Wang Manor, Ah Nan slept until the late hours in the afternoon. When she woke up, she could only feel the soreness on her waist and back. She stayed lazily in bed, not wanting to move at all. 

Suddenly, a hand with slender fingers lifted the bed curtains. Ah Nan bewilderedly raised her head to see a man standing in front of the bed. His face was serious as he tightened his lips. His silky long black hair was neatly combed back, giving people the impression similar to that of a professor from a university. He is still young, but he acts like an old man.

“Wang, wang ye…”

Ah Nan suddenly remembers her identity. She hurriedly got up from the bed, but soon after lost balance, as she moved too quickly, and almost fell to the ground. When her feet almost reached the ground, a pair of arms carried her from the waist and pulled her into a warm and broad chest. 

The breath of masculinity transmitted a scent of chrysanthemum wine, which rushed into her nose. Ah Nan directly fell into his embrace, feeling a little dazed. 

Chu Ba Ning carried his little wife, who seems to behave like a foolish little kid, back to the bed. In a hoarse voice, he faulted, “Why are you so careless? Your ankle is still injured. Be more careful.”

Very quickly, Ah Nan recovered from her state of feeling dazed. She lowered her head in a serious manner and seriously admitted, “Wang ye is right. Qie shen will be more careful.” 

In her heart, Ah Nan yelled at the bunch of unreliable maids. Wang ye have returned back to the manor. Why did they not wake her up? Little did she know, the group of maids were pitifully kicked out of the room: Wang fei-ah, it is not because we did not want to tell you. But it is because your wang ye is afraid of getting dirty, so he did not allow any of us to step into your room!

Ah Nan piled the maids together in her heart and resented them all at once. She carefully watched her husband casually sitting in front of the bed. Her lively eyes made contact with the deep black cold eyes; it made her so scared that she had to quickly retrieve her eyes from peeping at him. 

Even though they have been married for two days, apart from last night when they rolled around the bed, they have not used any other time to act intimately with each other. Whether it was a good or bad thing, they will still sleep on the same bed. But still, this hasn’t help Ah Nan get into the habit of being used to his serious presence. Every time when she meets with his squid-black eyes, she would feel like hiding…feeling as though the man exudes too much of a strong aura. This makes it hard for her to look at him in the eyes.

Chu Ba Ning observed his wife who looks like a mouse who is being chased by a cat. He frowned, remembering that he still has some matters that he wanted to discuss with her. He cleared his throat and said, “Today, huang xiong honoured two imperial physicians to station at our manor. Why don’t you organise and arrange an appropriate place for them to stay?”

“Qie shen understand,” Ah Nan said in a soft low voice. She inwardly thought about how, out of the blue, why did Emperor Chongde gift their manor two imperial physicians? Isn’t this giving more reasons for outsiders to mock them?

“Also, do you need to prepare anything for tomorrow’s visit to your maiden home? If so, just tell the maids to go find Butler Qin. After visiting your maiden home, you can start to take full control of this household’s affair.”

Ah Nan panicked a little as she stared at him. Her ankle has yet to heal, how could she visit her family in this state? Does this mean she is going to be escorted into her maiden home in a sedan? Marrying this kind of Su Wang obsessed with cleanliness, he would definitely refuse for the mo mo to support her to walk…As for the butler matter —this part wins her favour. With her holding the authority in this manor, no matter how many concubines Su Wang will take in the future, she will not have to feel threatened about her position.

“Wang ye, qie shen have not been able to visit mu hou yet. Is it really alright to visit qie’s maiden home?” Ah Nan asked worriedly. No matter what, the Empress Dowager is her mother-in-law, the Empress is her sister-in-law; they’re all of high status and nobility. Due to her injured ankle this time, she has still not been able to serve tea to her in-laws, yet there are already plans to return to her maiden home. Isn’t this taking their existence too lightly?

Without any choice, there are too many noble relatives. Ah Nan really has to walk every step carefully.

“No problem. It is tradition for the bride to visit their maiden home on the third day of the wedding. Ben wang has already spoken about it; mu hou and huang sao will understand.”

After hearing from Su Wang, Ah Nan could only obey. She kept worrying for tomorrow. Does the injured daughter of the Imperial Chancellor have to directly enter the Imperial Chancellor’s manor in a sedan? Even her older sister, who is a guifei does not get to have this special treatment. For her to do this, will this create some shocking news?

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Translator’s note: 
In this chapter, we got to see more of Su Wang’s relationship with his brother, Emperor Chongde. lmao, Chu Ba Ning is probably the only wang ye who would dare to offend the Emperor and the entire imperial clan actually 😂 Noticed how he lost his patience and began to talk to the Emperor in a more formal manner by addressing himself as “ben wang” or “chen di“? 😂😂😂

This chapter also gives us a heads up about how Su Wang does not like to express himself in front of other people, and how he likes to keep things private with anything in regards to his personal life. It is more obvious in the future chapters, but a lot of his decisions and actions are to protect himself from his “intrusive thoughts” and “mental contamination” —the possible types of OCD he has. Unfortunately, the author never really specified the OCD type our ML has and just explained it as “OCD”, so these are just my guess from a very basic research out of interest (to be a bit more imaginative haha).

There are lots of factors that can trigger OCD and it affects every individual differently. When Emperor Chongde attempted to send some concubines to Chu Ba Ning, his way of responding to the situation was to leave (and he was very unhappy). We can imagine from Chu Ba Ning’s perspective that, in the case of the concubines staying at his manor or wanting to have close contact with him, it will make him feel very ‘contaminated’ (even if he has not seen or touched them yet). There is a psychological reason why he behaves this way, which I won’t spoil now. I wish the author elaborated or explored this aspect of his OCD a bit more in-depth, but oh well, I’m personally not super bothered by it haha.

Trivia:
→ Fun fact: The consort rank guìfēi ≪贵妃≫ was once demolished. It was later re-established in the Tang Dynasty ≪唐朝≫ (618–690CE, 705–907CE) when Yang Yuhuan ≪楊玉環≫ got promoted and was then known as Yang guifei ≪楊貴妃≫. She was pretty famous and is now recognised as one of the Four Beauties of Ancient China. There are many stage plays, operas, films and dramas about her life. Nowadays, many historical/period webnovels like to use this rank because it’s the highest consort rank, just below an Empress. The title guifei also sounds very prestige.

→ Gambling has existed in China since the late Zhou Dynasty ≪周朝≫ (800-256 BC). Some researchers have also stretched to say that perhaps it could have dated back in the Shang ≪商≫ (1700-1027 BC) and Xia ≪夏≫ (2000-1500BC) Dynasties. Fun fact: The Xia Dynasty ≪夏朝≫ was the first government to emerge in Ancient China before it was succeeded by the Shang Dynasty ≪商朝≫.

Gambling in Ancient China comes in various methods: football, cockfighting, horse racing and of course, the infamous dice game otherwise known as dai siu or dà xiǎo ≪大小≫ which we always see depicted in dramas.

Around the middle of the Ming Dynasty ≪明朝≫ (1368-1644), many civilians and even Emperors were addicted to gambling. During its tension with the Qing ≪清≫ army, the Ming’s people retreated to South China where they were introduced to cricket fighting (yep…they were still obsessed with gambling even though their remaining region was under threat). Some historians believed that one of the attributes to the beginning fall of the Ming Dynasty ≪明朝≫ was a result from paper mahjong addiction, while the fall of South Ming was because of cricket fighting, which eventually became an advantage for the Qing Dynasty or Great Qing ≪大清≫ (1636–1912) to be fully established…also the last dynasty before there was the revolutionary-era.

As you can see, gambling was a big deal in Ancient China. No wonder why Ah Nan’s life ended up being used as an excuse for people to gamble 😂