Chapter 1 – Calling For Someone

Beyond the sounds of the cicada in the yard, one could feel the scorching summer heat. It was so hot that even the tall and dense Chinese parasol tree1 was unable to block out the billowing heat waves. Here, dressed in a thin sky-blue robe with large sleeves, Yin YueHan was currently waited upon by three female servants while lazing on a scented rosewood chaise longue2. With one of them massaging her legs and another fanning her, ShaoYao3, the last female servant, was carefully picking out fresh lychees with orchid fingers4. Besides peeling the skin off, she had used a pair of silver chopsticks to remove the seed before feeding it into YueHan’s mouth. Yin YueHan slightly opened her lips before biting into the white and plump lychee. With such a bite, her mouth was instantly overflowed with its sweet and fresh taste, and her eyes could not help but narrow slightly, making her originally gorgeous face even more lively.

Besides her nimble hands, ShaoYao had also spoken without rest, “Mistress5, this ChenZi lychee6 is so precious that the household only gets one to two baskets of such lychee every year. So, with more than half of them rewarded to our courtyard, the main wife should have received a lesser amount than us.”

Wetnurse Li who was entering the house, heard this and sneered, “Let’s not just talk about how the marquis favors this concubine, but also how many of us are living in this courtyard. With so many of us here, it is only natural that we are distributed with a slightly greater amount.”

Hearing that, the other servants laughed gently with eyes that did not conceal the contempt they felt from the bottom of their hearts. A “hen” who is unable to lay eggs will only be a joke, even if she is the main legal wife. The edges of Yin YueHan’s red mouth lifted slightly, not at all concealing the satisfaction she got from such words. Here in this WuTong courtyard, there are only her people, so she does not fear any leak of such obvious flattery in the form of trampling the main wife. Even if it spreads outside, it will not dampen her.

As the main wife, Wei YuHua had always been childless, unlike Yin YueHan, with her two sons and a daughter. Although she is a concubine, her ability to provide children has allowed her to oppress the main wife. Besides, unlike the Wei family who was declining in recent years, the Yin family had been steadily growing. This coupled with imperial wife Yin Xian’s birth of a dragon son7 had given her ample power recently.

“All of you are becoming more disrespectful and only know how to sprinkle salt on other people’s wounds. If this was heard by others, you would have found yourself in serious trouble,” Yin YueHan gently rebuked them, but her tone was soft with a faint trace of humor.

Seeing that, ShaoYao became bolder and said, “Us servants always tell the truth. Besides, even if such words got spread out, it is also not us who would lose face8.”

Wetnurse Li then sent a meaningful glance which was understood by the servants. They instantly retreated quietly with ShaoYao guarding the door. The wetnurse lowered her voice and said into Yin YueHan’s ear, “Mistress, that person will be reaching the capital in two days.”

Yin YueHan fiercely opened her beautiful eyes that are as frigid as a cold pool before saying, “Do not act rashly and blindly. That woman is waiting to catch me making a mistake.”

“But this will make it difficult for us if he really manages to enter the household and claim his birthright. I initially thought that Su’er’s nobility and position was almost a certainty, but it is unexpected that there would be such a person,” Wetnurse Li said vexedly. As Yin Yuehan’s wet nurse and trusted confidant, it was no secret that she would only get a good life if her own master has one too.

Yin YueHan frowned and coldly humphed, “That woman enjoys doing harmful things to others. So what if she brings that boy back? He is no longer a young boy, how can he get along with a stepmother? The act of bringing him back will undoubtedly serve to show how she is just a replacement first wife. In front of the dead first wife, we are both the same—concubines!”

She then took a breath and suppressed her anger, saying, “Let us monitor the situation, how can a dead person come back to life? It must have something to do with Wei YuHua. It is still hard to say whether this will give her some leverage or backfire on her. There is no need for us to rush forward and benefit her.”

Wetnurse Li bent her back and lowered her head respectfully. “I understand, only Mistress can consider this so thoroughly. Su’er, Jun’er, and Ning’er had grown up by the marquis so their mutual affection must be deep. How could they be compared to a random country boy with unknown origins. With him being in the countryside for many years, he is probably vulgar and lacks teaching. The marquis has always disliked stupid people, so we are still unsure how the future will turn out yet. Therefore, we really should not be thrown into confusion now.”

After listening to this, Yin YueHan’s heart became calmer. “Send someone to monitor them, do not let that woman gain an advantageous opportunity. Alas, with this act of inviting the wolf into the house9, I really want to see who is the one that will end up with more problems.”

~QiuRong Courtyard~

“Madam, why has your complexion become so bad?” asked wetnurse Fang when she saw the haggard Wei YuHua.

The main servant girl replied, “These days, Madam cannot sleep at night and has no appetite for anything.”

Wetnurse Fang sighed, “Madam, since you have already decided on doing this, you should not think about it anymore.”

Wei YuHua, with a face full of distress, then touched her abdomen. “If it were not for my inability to birth a child, I would not even have to endure such misery!”

She knew that doing so was just seeking temporary relief with its own consequences, but she really had no choice in this matter. She would not even be in such a poor predicament if she could provide a child. Nowadays, the only heir of the emperor was the second prince birthed by imperial wife Yin Xian. The crown prince has always been weak and sickly, relying on medicine to hang onto life. This had made him not the first choice for inheriting the throne but the second prince. However, many have begun to have other thoughts as imperial wife Yin Xian, who had given birth to a healthy second prince, was also Yin YueHan’s legitimate sister.

With the rise of the Yin family, how can the Yin family’s legitimate daughter Yin YueHan be willing to be just a concubine? Although it is stipulated in the law that a concubine cannot be promoted to a wife, there are still exceptions to everything, and such precedents are not absent. If Wei YuHua had provided children, she would not have been bullied and humiliated, even if her family was to decline. However, she had remained childless. Had it not been for their old relationship, she would have been dismissed from the position of the main wife by the marquis.

It was obvious that Wei YuHua is the main wife, but she was still firmly oppressed by a mere concubine. It is almost definite that if Yin YueHan’s son inherits the household, she would be removed. While Wei YuHua became more and more nervous (especially with the birth of the second prince), she could not help but remember the son of Wen YuanHou, the first wife who had disappeared. She clearly knew that doing so will not solve the problem and that the 15-year-old child may not side with her. However, she was willing to do so as long as this could suppress Yin YueHan slightly!

In spite of such words, Wei YuHua still felt uneasy. If she had not turned a blind eye with the intention to hide the truth, the child would not have been left outside the household for 15 years. If this were made known to the child, he would hate her to the bone, making her afraid that before the wolf could be driven away, a tiger would be lured in10.

“He has almost reached the capital so there is no use thinking further. I should start thinking of ways to convince him to side with me against the woman living in WuTong courtyard.” Wei YuHua frowned. “That boy is already so big now and I had treated him badly before. How will he listen to me?”

Wetnurse Fang’s eyes flashed and she whispered in Wei YuHua’s ear. Wei YuHua at that moment widened her eyes and exclaimed, “This…This…”

Wetnurse Fang shook her head and Wei YuHua quickly swallowed the words that had already reached her mouth. Despite it being summer, her whole body felt chilly.

Wetnurse Fang then quickly replied, “With this servant responsible, you do not have to worry about it. There will be no mistakes.” Wei YuHua’s heart remained in a mess for a long time as she walked back and forth in the room, unable to calm down.

Seeing this, the wetnurse sighed again, “If Madam…”

Wei YuHua raised her hand and interrupted harshly, “Even if it is bad, how much worse could it be. As long as this can suppress Yin YueHan’s arrogance, such efforts will not be in vain!”

Wetnurse Fang immediately smiled, “Madam, it is great that you understand! You are too softhearted; otherwise that woman would not have been so insolent. He owes you a favor and the magic artifact is in your hands, so how could he not be obedient? Besides, if he wants to have a foothold in this household, he can only rely on you. He and that woman are then the real enemies.”

As the glow of the sunset renders the West into a picture, a few horses and a drawn carriage that were galloping on the road had stopped in front of a post house.

“Young Master, it is getting late. We will stay in this post house today before leaving for the capital tomorrow,” ZhouTong said respectfully after walking in front of the carriage.

A big, round, and shiny head first appeared before the person jumped nimbly off the carriage. Looking at his appearance, he gave off the impression that he was around 14 or 15 years old and delicate looking. His bald head had also caused his eyes to appear even more bright and clean. Standing among the travel-worn crowd, he was really dazzling. After making adjustments to his clothes, he said seriously, “Amitabha, I would like to kindly ask benefactor Zhou to call this monk YuanHui, so as to not embarrass each other if a mistake is made.”

ZhouTong laughed and remained noncommittal. Despite mentioning this several times along the road, ZhouTong had not changed his way of address so YuanHui could only sigh, not bothering to argue anymore.

Perhaps because of its proximity to the capital, the post house here is better than the previous ones. Although it is not big, every object is exquisite. Here, YuanHui did not have to perform an act of eating vegetarian food alone and reciting the Sutra quietly with a sympathetic look when he saw meat dishes. So as soon as the door was closed, YuanHui made sure that there was no one around before slumping and smashing his bald head continuously on the table. “I really want to eat meat! I really want to eat meat! I really want to eat meat!”

After venting for a while, YuanHui resigned himself to the life of eating steamed buns and vegetarian dishes. Anyway, the meal itself does not taste bad. For Zhuang Zhong who starved before, it was just slightly painful to have no meat but not totally insufferable. His very act before was simply just a way to mourn his abstinence from meat.

After he came into this world, Zhuang Zhong had rarely touched meat. Previously, it was because he did not have the means, but now it was due to keeping up his pretense of a monk.

Upon finishing his meal, he took a hot bath and laid in bed while stroking the chain of Buddhist beads on his wrist. His mood was very complicated. “YuanJue, we are about to reach the capital city and I do not know what will be waiting for me there. I will not let you die this unjustly, so I will most certainly find the real culprit who killed you,” he said while clenching his fist with a dignified face.

Subconsciously, Zhuang Zhong’s eyes moistened while recalling that honest smiling face. In this world, YuanJue was the closest to him. They had even discussed pursuing a secular life together, with plans of opening a small restaurant where they could eat meat daily until they threw up. However, now he was the only one left with a bleak and uncertain future.

Zhuang Zhong does not know what kind of power had shrunk and brought him into this world that was unrecorded in history. On that day, he had brought along his tools to a mountain in the suburban outskirts due to a homicide case. At the start, the sky was clear before dark clouds, lightning, and thunder started appearing. It was then that a gust of wind directly blew him over before he woke up in this baffling place.

After being on the road for several days, one could feel the terrible shock absorption11 the carriage had. His whole body ached and he soon fell asleep with a dream – he and YuanJue had attempted to catch pheasants before meeting a tiger and running for their lives. It was until here that he was awakened by the sound of vigorous knocking on the door.

*Translator’s Notes:

If it is not understood, Zhuang Zhong had managed to travel into this body in another world. He is currently named YuanHui and pretending to be a monk.

1

梧桐 is commonly known as the Chinese parasol tree or WuTong. It is an ornamental tree.

2

Longue used here is similar to lounge in terms of meaning. While chaise lounge is used more frequently for outdoor poolside or patio furniture, chaise longue is mostly used for indoor furniture.

3

芍药 is known as the Chinese peony or common garden peony. Here, the servant girl was named after the flower.

4

兰花指 is known as orchid fingers—a lady’s hand gesture with the tips of the thumb and the forefinger touching and the other three fingers raised (usually made on the stage to show delicacy and grace).

5

姨娘 was used and it probably means concubine. I used mistress for the concubine and madam for the main wife as distinction.

6

陈紫荔枝 is ChenZi lychee, one of the types of lychee around.

7

龙子 here refers to a dragon son, a son with dragon blood (imperial family).

8

没脸 literally translates to no face but it is an expression that means being ashamed.

9

引狼入室 literally means bringing a wolf in; bringing disaster upon oneself.

10

The expression is “狼没驱走又引来一只虎” which means bringing in another problem before eliminating the previous one.

11

Here, “减震” was used. To my understanding and interpretation, it is some kind of shock absorption mechanism like what one would likely have in a car.