Rebirth of a Virtuous Wife: Chapter 22

Finally added all the jump links! I’m so sorry, I was supposed to update a few weeks ago, but my city went back into a short lockdown so I had a small mental breakdown and had to spend some time re-adjusting to some personal things. This chapter also took longer to translate because of the idioms and metaphors used.

As you can see, too, I’ve spent the last few weeks making lots of changes to the palace (the website). While skimming through the chapters to add the jump links, I fixed most of the typos and any obvious errors —so if you do plan to re-read, those chapters have been improved for you (but ideally, I will still need a better proofreader to help me with the subtle grammatical errors). I’ve also added to the sidebar a schedule, which I will try to strictly follow from now on (it’s been very annoying since I haven’t been able to update regularly…). In the future, if you don’t see an update from me, please check the notice board on the sidebar for info but please don’t rush me 😅 My sincere apologies to those who hate slow updates!

Lastly, HAPPY (late) LUNAR NEW YEAR, 恭喜发财, CHÚC MỪNG NĂM MỚI AND HAPPY READING! 🥳🧧

….and pray I can finish translating this story by the end of 2021… 😬🤞🏻

New Glossary:

→ èr shū ≪二叔≫ — second (paternal) uncle / father’s (second) younger brother.

→ sān ≪三≫ — three or 3. 

→ sān shū ≪三叔≫ — third (paternal) uncle / father’s (third) younger brother.

→ shí ≪十≫ — ten or 10. 

→ shí dì ≪十弟≫ — tenth (little) brother.

→ shí gē ≪十哥≫ — tenth (older) brother.

→ lái rén ≪来人≫ — a way to call for someone (aka the servants) to help them deal with errands, chores and other labour work.

→ gōng zǐ ≪公子≫ — son of an official, or of nobility.

→ tài fù ≪太傅≫ — an honorary title for a high-ranking official who acts as the Emperor’s advisor. 

→ tài tai ≪太太≫ — Mrs / madam / (old) married woman.

→ sān tài tai ≪三太太≫ — third madam; the Imperial Chancellor’s wife is addressed as sān tài tai because her husband (the Imperial Chancellor) is the third son in the Lu family. 

→ shào yé ≪少爷≫ — young master of the house / son of a boss.

→ dà gē ≪大哥≫ — eldest brother / big brother (can be used for a man of about the same age as oneself). 

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Rebirth Of A Virtuous Wife: Chapter 22^unedited.

Chu Ba Ning’s serious face was matched with his very calm eyes as he coldly looked at a male wittily climbing the wall.

Lu Shao Ling was a one-dimensional ba wang in Ningcheng. This does not come out as surprising to anyone since his father is the oldest son from the Lu clan. Meanwhile, Lu Shao Ling himself is the only son birth by the main wife, making him the future leader of the Lu family. Most of the Lu clan’s inheritance would probably be handed to him in the future too. Then, he also has the backing of his er shu, who has a booming business that has been expanded all over Ningcheng. With such a successful reputation, anyone who crosses his path will all try to flatter him. Lastly, his san shu is an Imperial Chancellor, whom one can say that he is the closest advisor to the Emperor. With this kind of family tree, who would dare to bully Lu Shao Ling? More or less, even his cousins try to not offend him. It’s very obvious that Lu Shao Ling grew up with a golden spoon in his mouth. With the addition of lao tai tai‘s unconditional favouring, there is no doubt that he thinks very highly of himself too.

Lu Shao Ling has never been looked at by someone with such a cold stare. It gave him the sense of being looked down on. He returned a death glare at Chu Ba Ning and pointed at Ah Nan before speaking, “Ah Nan, you better compensate me with a new Xiao Qing. If not, I will tell grandmother to make you kneel at the Ancestral Hall^[1]!”

Ah Nan was driven mad by his reaction. She suppressed her anger and sweetly smiled, calmly replying, “Shi di, this was actually your fault. How can you just throw a snake out of nowhere like that?”

“Why can’t I? Who are you to dare question what I like to do?” Lu Shao Ling arrogantly responded. Ah Nan’s harmonious tone only made him feel more irritated. As Ah Nan is only an illegitimate daughter of the Lu family, he had always despised her low birth and status. After learning about Ah Nan’s mother’s origin from a few people he has interacted with as he grew up, he detested her even more. Whenever Ah Nan followed Imperial Chancellor Lu to return to Ningcheng to visit relatives, Lu Shao Ling would bring along his other cousins and friends to annoy Ah Nan.

“Shi di, you are the one in the wrong here!” Ah Nan continued to suppress her anger and spoke with an honest expression on her face, “Being disrespectful to your older cousin, attempting to harm your cousin —just with these two crimes —shi di, you’d be well deserved to be punished at the Ancestral Hall for a month. That, of course, would already be very lenient. If this gets reported to the local magistrate, you could very well be jailed.”

Lu Shao Ling was shocked. No one has ever dared to tell him such a thing. He became angrier as he glared at Ah Nan.

At this moment, Chu Ba Ning coldly spoke, “Lai ren^[2], take him down and give him a beating for ben wang!”

Ah Nan, expressionless: Wang ye, he is neither a fruit nor bird. You cannot take him down just like that!

[T/N: There’s a bit of wordplay here. The direct translation of Chu Ba Ning telling his people to give Lu Shao Ling a beating is “Drop/Beat him down”. But the expression in this certain context doesn’t sound right in English. So to make it sound more appropriate in English, I translated it as “Take him down”.

“Drop/Beat him down” and “Take him down” have very different meanings, so in the following when Ah Nan said that Lu Shao Ling is not a fruit nor bird and cannot be taken down, it may have sounded weird in the English translation.

There’s actually a sense of humour here; a tree that bears fruits can be ‘beaten down’ or ‘dropped’ to the ground, while a bird that flies can also be ‘beaten down’ or ‘dropped’ to the ground. But a human is always on land, so how can he/she be “beaten down” or “dropped” (in a literal sense)? 🤷🏻‍♀️😂

The following paragraphs answer our question, because…well…remember how Lu Shao Ling was climbing the wall? Hehe…]

Chu Ba Ning’s order was very harsh. Especially for a child who is just eleven-years-old. What if he gets hit directly off from the wall?

When Lu Shao Ling was about to open his mouth to reprimand, a shadow passed by like a gust of wind, and he was aggressively kicked on the butt. As his whole body dropped from the wall, he fell directly into the bushes as he cried in pain. Ah Nan watched as the small male’s body heavily ploughed into the bushes of flowers. She felt a little heartbroken as she thought about how many of those flowers have been damaged.

Chu Ba Ning slightly turned his head and glanced at her. Ah Nan immediately changed her facial expression, pursed her lips and looked angry to the point she had to cover her chest.

Chu Ba Ning did not bother to spare a glance at the young male crying in the bushes of flowers. He coldly ordered, “Tie him up and hang him on the tree!”

“…”

Ah Nan’s eyes widened and as she stared at the guards carrying Lu Shao Ling, who was still crying and screaming as he got tied up by a rope and was directly hung onto a tree four metres above the ground.

In fact, not only was it Ah Nan who was stupefied, the servants who were present at the scene also became flabbergasted. They could never imagine that their wang ye would use such a method to punish a person. This punishment was too humiliating. Lu Shao Ling has now lost all of his face [T/N: as in, lost his reputation and dignity]. Contrarily, the two mo mo, who came from the Su Wang Manor, did not change their facial expressions at all. Their eyes were unmoved, and body language remained calm. The sight makes people sigh, thinking —as expected of servants serving at the Su Wang Manor; they were too well-trained.

“Ah ah ah!!! You bunch of bastards! How dare you treat me like this?! I will have people send you to your death—”

“Too noisy! Mute him!”

Right after Chu Ba Ning said his order, there was already someone taking actions to cover Lu Shao Ling’s mouth.

The xiao ba wang of Ningcheng was tied up like a cocoon. His tears like a storm. His eyes maliciously looked at Ah Nan and Chu Ba Ning, with his mouth making unrecognisable sounds. As he looked quite pitiful, Ah Nan became softhearted and couldn’t bear to watch the scene.

As their surrounding became less noisy, Chu Ba Ning’s facial expression was unchanging as he dragged a certain someone, who was still in shock, in another direction.

Behind a wall from there, a young male was desperately stomping on his feet with his small face becoming pale. He leaned his ear against the wall to listen to the situation. When he noticed that there was no more sound, his heart sank. Without thinking much further, he ran away from the scene with tears overflowing on his face as if a storm was coming. After running a distance and feeling that it was safe to finally say something, he screamed, “Shi ge is hanged! Shi ge is hanged! ……!”

In a living room opposite where the commotion took place, one can easily observe what was happening in the courtyard.

Ah Nan and Chu Ba Ning sat in that living room as the maids attentively served them tea and fruits. Chu Ba Ning took his time to enjoy sips of his tea. His face still serious as usual. No one could see through how angry he was……

Ah Nan did not dare to do anything rash. She drank her tea as Ru Cui peeled pine nuts for her. As Ah Nan enjoyed the service from her maids, her eyes were also continuously fixed to the scene outside where a boy was hanged up-side-down from a tree. Inwardly, it made her very happy. This happiness was sweeter than drinking honey tea. It was only unfortunate that no one could enthusiastically use a whip to give the cocoon a few beatings.

Ah Nan peered at the wang ye while thinking that she is such a bad woman to have such thoughts, just like a wicked woman would. But such thoughts really help relieve her anger.

Ah Nan was aware that her identity in this patriarchal society was of no importance. So since when she was little, she would always act within her limits, caused no troubles, and had only wanted to grow up to get married into a decent family and become a great wife. But just because she never caused any troubles, it didn’t mean that other people wouldn’t create troubles for her. Back then, a nightmare would always begin whenever she visited Ningcheng and she would have to put in all of her efforts to make plans to avoid those troubles.

Ah Nan can be seen as a docile person, but this kind of docility was only a practice to help her live a better life (in this era) to show people that she is a good young lady. Deep in her bones, however, still preserves the kind of self-love and independence of a modern person. In these past years (in this era), she has kept herself away from the troubles caused by the young master many times (by giving in). Sometimes, these events would even get to the ears of lao tai tai —and though it caused lao tai tai to despise her even more, she could at least leave Ningcheng in peace.

Ah Nan never thought that she would have to fight against a little child. But certain things cannot be tolerated, so she can only fight back.

Remembering all the things that happened in Ningcheng many years ago, Ah Nan couldn’t help but laugh.

While peeling pine nuts, Ru Cui also took a glance a Chu Ba Ning as she silently inched closer to Ah Nan to say quietly to her ear, “Xiao jie, how about we give him ‘a taste of his own medicine’^[3] like that of Murong Fu’s style^[4]? Nu bi is not scared of snakes. I can go catch a few to pay back at shi shao ye. Either way, he cannot move anywhere right now. We can directly throw the snakes at him!”

Ah Nan glanced at the maid, suppressing the urge to give her head of knock, “Ru Cui, we are women. We cannot use Murong Fu’s methods.”

“Then what can we use? Cure ills with poison^[5], shi shao ye‘s body needs more nourishing……” Ru Cui said with a sullen face.

“……We are peace-loving people. We cannot learn evil, ” the corners of Ah Nan’s mouth twitched a little. Right now, there was already someone helping them vent their anger, so why does she need to stand out to be the bad person? Only a character like Azi^[6] would act that way. Ah Nan just wants to be an insignificant character.

Ru Cui “hm” a sound and could only smack her lips tight again with regrets.

On the other hand, Ru Lan stood close by and was silently screaming and crying in her head. Would someone dare to say to her that her wang fei is a person who does not know how to become mad? If they do, Ru Lan would trade her life with them!

While the mistress and maid thought that their discussion was done very quietly, not far away from them sat Chu Ba Ning, who was looking at them very weirdly. He was thinking: who is Murong Fu? Azi? How do they want to “cure ills with poison”?

******

Two flowers bloom, one branch on each table^[7].

While it is quite lively at Ah Nan’s side, in another room, the Imperial Chancellor’s wife was having a conversation with her daughter, who rarely gets to come back to her maiden home for a visit.

“Mother, you do not know, what happened at the front gate just now was unbearable to witness! Even though Ah Nan is a wang fei, she is still a mei mei. So Su Wang should also regard me as a jie jie, right?” Lu Fei Rong expressed her anger, “The wife is only back to visit her maiden home, why did the husband also tag along? Is this a joke for other people to laugh at?”

Lu Fei Rong’s tone was clearly expressing that she looked down on Su Wang’s behaviour. If she had not known Ah Nan’s personality, she would’ve believed the gossips from the streets that Ah Nan is an overbearing wife.

As the Imperial Chancellor’s wife listened, she frowned and acted angry as she reached out a hand to lightly hit her daughter, “This girl! You need to change your aggressive and competitive personality! Who is Su Wang? How can you talk about him like that? Let’s not even mention your husband, even your father cannot afford to talk about Su Wang that way! If this makes you feel uncomfortable and resentful, then why did you choose to marry physician Guang Lu? If you had married the son from He tai fu‘s family^[8], who would’ve dared to look down on you?”

Speaking about this matter, the Imperial Chancellor’s wife is now truly angry. In this capital city, there are many sons from different families of nobility for her daughter to choose from. But this second daughter of hers always likes to act according to her self-interest. After choosing back and forth, she ended up choosing physician Guang Lu. This matter was ridiculed by so many people afterwards.

“Mother, why are you bringing this matter up again? My husband treats me very well. It is better than having to marry the son of He tai fu!” Lu Fei Rong pursed her lips and continued retorting, “How could my marriage be considered bad if we compare it to Ah Nan’s marriage to Su Wang? Mine is much better! You should also know that right now there are many people making bets of when Ah Nan will be cursed to death by Su Wang,” Lu Fei Rong sneered and smiled.

“What are you smiling at?! You better remember not to say such things in front of your father!” the Imperial Chancellor’s wife scolded.

Lu Fei Rong pouted, “I know. Father is so biased towards Ah Nan. It is as if I am not his daughter!”

Imperial Chancellor Lu’s wife shook her head, aware that her daughter is too stubborn to change her attitude just from a scolding. She could only add an advise, “As long as you don’t go create Su Wang any troubles! You should also work to improve your temper. You are not allowed to make any inappropriate remarks in front of Ah Nan!”

“Mother, am I your blood daughter or not? Ah Nan is a daughter birthed by a concubine; she must’ve accumulated eight lifetimes of bad luck^[9] to have ended up getting married to Su Wang. You should know about the gossips spreading throughout the capital city right now. For me to say these things —I am just feeling sorry for her!” Lu Fei Rong smiled sarcastically, “So what that it was tai hou‘s idea? Was she not just trying to give her son some face? She should have reflected on her own virtue first!” Lu Fei Rong slightly snorted, showing her disdain for the Empress Dowager’s actions.

Noticing that the more Lu Fei Rong talked, the more inappropriate the conversation was becoming, the Imperial Chancellor’s wife could only shake her head and heave a deep sigh. Unwillingly to continue the discussion, she changed the subject and asked about her grandson’s wellbeing instead. The minute her newborn son was brought into the conversation, Lu Fei Rong’s bad temper faded. All that was left was a loving expression of a mother talking proudly about her son.

As the mother and daughter were immersed in their conversation, a sudden loud noise came from outside.

Unimpressed, the Imperial Chancellor’s wife faced the person who was making all the noises and scolded, “What’s with the hurrying?! You all are becoming less and more unruly!”

Entering the room was an old mo mo who immediately knelt in front of the Imperial Chancellor’s wife. She fiercely bowed her head to the ground a few times before pleading, “San tai tai, I beg you to save Ling shao ye! He is being hanged!”

When the Imperial Chancellor’s wife heard the news, she immediately stood up from her seat, her hands trembling. She asked about the situation and what had happened.

Lu Shao Ling is the oldest and only son of Imperial Chancellor Lu’s da ge. He is pampered by everyone and is lao tai tai‘s treasure. If something bad happens to him here, then the Imperial Chancellor’s wife will not be able to save herself from being resented by her husband and lao tai tai [T/N: because as the headmistress of the Imperial Chancellor Manor, she is supposed to help keep the house orderly and safe].

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Translator’s notes:
Lol, to be fair, if Lu Shao Ling’s behaviour and attitude make him a bully, then Chu Ba Ning is the biggest bully of all bullies 😂 Aiyayaya, people were so brutal in medieval times…..

And HAHAHAHAH, am I the only one who thought Ah Nan was treating Lu Shao Ling as a piñata when he was hanged on the tree? 😂😂😂

Recently, I started watching “The Sword and The Brocade” starring Tan Songyun and Wallace Chung. A sudden image came into my mind and somehow I think the roles of Ah Nan and Chu Ba Ning would fit those two actors a lot 🤣 Especially Tan Songyun, whose face is kind of chubby, cute and childish 🥺 Yes? No?

Trivia: 
→ [1] Ancestral Hall or cí táng ≪祠堂≫ — Back in the days, most wealthy and noble households will have a room where they display tablets (with their ancestors’ name) to honour them and they call that room an “Ancestral Hall”. Most of the time, formal-paying-respect ceremonies are performed there, such as kowtowing and asking for the ancestors’ blessings before marriage. Punishments are also performed there, such as when a child is deemed as unfilial, he/she will have to kneel there for some hours to reflect on themselves. In general, it’s a very sacred place.

→ [2] So, I had trouble translating lái rén ≪来人≫ because if you directly translate it, it means “come, person”. But if you want to give it a meaning with better context, then it’s a way to call for someone to help them deal with errands, chores and other labour work (because most of the time, the owner(s) won’t bother memorising all their servants’ names and there may be too many to remember. Therefore, these ‘other servants and guards’ are usually unnamed and just called ‘someone’ aka lái rén when they are summoned for service).

The only appropriate translation I can think of is “Someone, come”…but it sounds too casual and un-authoritative. So I kept the original and chose to use the pinyin instead. I hope it doesn’t bother anyone, or if anyone has a better way of translating it, then please let me know 😅

→ [3] “A taste of his own medicine” —The original Chinese did not use this phrase, but I chose to translate it with this phrase because it’s the closest I could translate it from the Chinese idiom “yǐ bǐ zhī dào, hái shī bǐ shēn” or ≪以彼之道, 还施彼身≫.

The English equivalent would be “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”, but I didn’t use this English biblical phrase because the meaning is more about punishing someone by using an equal method (e.g. if one steals, then the punishment would be to chop off their hands). The meaning of the Chinese phrase is more directly translated as “Take the person’s moral and return it to them” or “use the enemy’s method to fight against them” so that they can have a taste of their own medicine, which was why I decided to use “A taste of his own medicine” instead —it also fits in with the context of the story and character of Lu Shao Ling.

The Chinese idiom used to express giving a person a taste of his own medicine would be “yǐ yǎn huán yǎn, yǐ yá huán yá” or ≪以眼还眼, 以牙还牙≫, which is closer to the English version of “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” compared to “yǐ bǐ zhī dào, hái shī bǐ shēn” or ≪以彼之道, 还施彼身≫. 

→ [4] The author borrowed the character Murong Fu ≪慕容復≫ from the 1963 wuxia (martial arts) story “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils” written by Louis Cha aka Jin Yong, who is regarded as the father of wuxia stories. Murong Fu is a descendant of the royal families of the Sixteen Kingdoms ≪十六国≫ (a very chaotic era in Ancient China from AD 304 to 439). He is a very scheming and ruthless character who is known for his style of “using the enemy’s method to fight back against them”. 

→ [5] “Cure ills with poison” is the same as the English saying “To fight fire with fire”. This was translated from the Chinese four-word-idiom, “yǐ dú gōng dú” or ≪以毒攻毒≫. It directly translates as “use poison as an antidote for the poison”. It has a similar meaning to “yǐ bǐ zhī dào, hái shī bǐ shēn“^[3] and “yǐ bǐ zhī dào, hái shī bǐ shēn“^[4]. 

→ [6] Azi ≪阿紫≫ is another character from Jin Yong’s “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils”. She is sadistic and cruel, often taking pleasure in torturing those who offend her. LOL, it looks like Ah Nan is a fan of “Demi-Gods and Semi-Devil” and has told the story to her maids after she grew up in this ancient era. 

→ [7] “Two flowers bloom, one branch on each table” or huā kāi liǎng duǒ, gè biǎo yīzhī ≪花开两朵,各表一枝≫ —Chinese authors like to use this metaphor as a ‘narrative technique’ for stories in the ancient/period genre. It means: Putting aside one matter, let’s talk about another matter. 

This ‘other matter’ is usually linked together with the previous matter, because as the story progresses, naturally it develops into two [flowers], that’s why they’re placed on different tables so that the storyteller can tell the story [the flower] one by one (because it’s impossible to tell two stories at the same time). The ‘two’ in this metaphor is not restricted to only two ‘stories’, but it can mean many stories from one story. 

→ [8] Fun fact: tài fù ≪太傅≫ is an honorary title of a high-ranking official, alongside tài shī ≪太师≫ and tài bǎo ≪太保≫. While the three officials hold the same responsibilities and duties (and it varies throughout each dynasty), and are first against the ranks of other officials, their importance of honorary is different. In order, their level of honorary is:

1. tài shī ≪太师≫
2. tài fù ≪太傅≫
3. tài bǎo ≪太保≫

To reach the stage of being a tài shī ≪太师≫, one must climb the ranks of first becoming a tài bǎo ≪太保≫ and then a tài fù ≪太傅≫. These three officials are seen as the Emperor’s trusted advisors or ‘teachers’ and are people who are very well respected by the Emperor and his other subjects. Therefore, those who have been honoured one of these titles —it’s very high merit that they’ve achieved. 

If Lu Fei Rong had married the son of He tai fu ≪何太傅≫, she would’ve been well-respected just like how Ah Nan is respected after becoming a wang fei (even Chu Ba Ning would have to give her some face). 

→ [9] “eight lifetimes” and not one, two or three and etc. because the number ‘eight’ or bā ≪八≫ is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture as it has a similar pronunciation as the Chinese word fā ≪发≫, such as the fā in fā cái ≪发财≫, meaning ‘to get rich’ or ‘prosper’.