Rebirth Of A Virtuous Wife Chapter 2 27 Jan 10, 2020

The beginning chapters are quite short. It gets longer as we move forward. After all, we have 119 chapters to get through in total 🙂 Hmmmm, what can I say about this chapter? When one tries not to gain any attention, but ends up gaining so much attention to the point where she is now —I should zip now since I'll be spoiling the story haha!

New Glossary:

→ mó mo (嬷嬷) — elderly lady/servant or wet nurse.

→ wáng fēi (王妃) — (main) wife of a prince.

Rebirth Of A Virtuous Wife: Chapter 2

The imperial chancellor's wife had put in a lot of effort to dress up Ah Nan. Except, the result was disappointing when she couldn't help but have a headache due to Ah Nan's temperament.

To make it sound pleasing, Ah Nan is a cute chubby young lady. Yet, on the unpleasing side, she is the type of lady who —no matter how much gold and silver jewellery is dressed on her, she will not be able to shine among other folks. The only positive that helps hide her negatives was her smooth white skin. For what reason when all the jewels were put on Ah Nan, which were meant to show longterm wealth and power, became accessories that look like they are being worn by someone trying to show off that they've just become rich?

There's really no other medicine that could cure this girl's status! With this kind of look, wouldn't she become the Lu family's laughing stock in front of the imperial guests?

The imperial chancellor's wife stayed silent for a few seconds before heaving a sigh, then telling the maids to help Ah Nan take off the gold jewellery on her head. In exchange, the imperial chancellor's wife decided to let Ah Nan wear some silver enamels embellished with colourful gemstones. At first glance, this new makeover made Ah Nan look elegant and gentle, emphasising a young lady who has a loveable personality.

This was the best dressing option for Ah Nan. Those gold jewellery were only making people annoyed!

A handful of young maids and mo mo complimented Ah Nan for her lively and gentle appearance, even saying that she looked no different to a jade-worthy follower of the famous Holy Goddess.

Ah Nan shyly smiled from all the compliments. She secretly glanced over to see the imperial chancellor's wife's reaction, but only noticed that the woman was furrowing her brows very tightly with no signs of relaxing.

Soon after, the imperial chancellor's wife interrupted the maids' praises and checked the time. She took Ah Nan on a carriage and proceeded to the imperial palace.

On the carriage, the imperial chancellor's wife reminded Ah Nan with a serious expression on her face, "Later on, you just have to follow me. Observe more. Listen more. Speak little. No matter what people are saying to you, just smile. Moreover, do not talk back or argue with anyone."

Ah Nan obediently nodded, saving in her head every word from the imperial chancellor's wife. As the imperial chancellor's wife has more than half a lifetime's experience, what was there that the woman wasn't familiar with? There must be a good reason for her to remind Ah Nan those things. Besides, for an active and lively modern girl living in the body of an incompetent young lady from an ancient era, it was better to stay out of everyone's focus and attention.

Ah Nan was already an extremely ordinary girl. God has surely wasted his energy in reincarnating her into a body that is just as ordinary.

If this was a normal situation, Ah Nan wouldn't have to prepare novels like, "A Female's Survival Guide", "The History of Women's Struggles", "The Record of Women's Leisure," or something like that. To summarise it, any novels and stories about ordinary and illegitimate daughters like Ah Nan, she would study them very carefully.

Unfortunately, Ah Nan's personal qualities are too poor and whatever knowledge she learnt from those books have already vanished into thin air. It was already lucky enough that no one has directly pointed out her bad qualities.

Ah Nan has been living in this era for fifteen years, but she hasn't achieved anything. Of course, she hasn't done anything that makes her different to other people either.

The imperial palace is a place that has always made Ah Nan feel the most scared. Not to even mention, in time travel novels, the female lead will usually enter the palace to take the spotlight. Nonetheless, it was also a place that forever kept those female leads imprisoned. Just basing on Ah Nan's past life as an ordinary citizen, as well as her current identity as an illegitimate daughter who has no experience in life —the imperial palace is truthfully a place that she cannot make fun or provoke.

The aspects in which the imperial chancellor's wife like the most about Ah Nan is that she is very obedient and listens well to advice given to her. Although Ah Nan was not birthed by the imperial chancellor's wife, naturally the woman prefers a well-behaved child if she has to compare to her own children, who always makes her worry.

When the carriage stopped in front of the imperial palace gate, an eunuch came to lead them into the imperial harem garden, where they were going to admire the flowers with the Empress Dowager.

It was the middle of the autumn season, so it was perfect timing to admire chrysanthemum flowers and drink chrysanthemum tea.

The chrysanthemum flowers in the imperial garden are all bright yellow, very eye-catching. But in Ah Nan's mind, she could only think of a sentence: Curse of the golden flowers, residues of chrysanthemums, death scattering on the ground.

"Ah Nan, lets go!" the imperial chancellor's wife said in a low voice, interrupting Ah Nan's thoughts and bringing her back to reality.

"Yes, mother," Ah Nan obediently followed the imperial chancellor's wife from behind, who was walking in a manner full of courtesy.

The Empress Dowager is a middle-aged woman who has a very kind face, skin well maintained, leading people to find it hard to believe that such a young woman has already become an Empress Dowager. This was the ideal role-model for other women to follow and strive for! Although the Empress Dowager was wearing very strikingly bright gold hair ornaments, her loving laughter was no different to a Buddha, making people feel very close and connected to her. They almost forgot that she was the mother of the Emperor, and is the most powerful woman in the imperial harem.

Aside from the Empress, beside the Empress Dowager were other favoured consorts. Each of them had very bright gold jewellery worn on their head, causing Ah Nan to think that she could be infected with eye pain.

This world takes the Emperor as the sky, and gold as the representative of nobility. Only those of noble families can have the honour to wear gold jewellery. Those who come from ordinary families —even if they are the wealthiest in the world, even richer than the Emperor —are not allowed to wear gold. This rule was created by long-ago ancestors. If anyone dares to wear gold, it was no different from raising a challenge to the imperial people and their power. Consequently, the Emperor could have people track the offender down and confiscate all their possessions to be stored in the department of state affairs.

At this moment, Ah Nan was very comfortable when she had arrived at the palace. Although, in the eyes of other people, she was very foreign, and this caused Ah Nan from being the most plain-looking to becoming the most outstanding person.

"That's the youngest daughter of the imperial chancellor, right? Look at how she is dressed…"

"No wonder why we have never seen her. Are there any other young ladies who could look this poor in appearance like her?"

"I've heard that the imperial chancellor's wife doesn't mistreat her at all. How did she turn out like this?"

"She didn't choose to dress like that to get attention, did she?”

"Even though she is a secondary daughter, nonetheless she is still the daughter of the imperial chancellor. Does she not have a good eye?"

"Ha! I think she's just trying to act different to other people to stand out!"

It wasn't that there weren't any other noble girls who did not dress as low-key as Ah Nan, but they are all just an act put up for the gathering. At banquets like this in the palace, it makes them feel modestly high-class.

Ah Nan knows to comply to the imperial chancellor's wife and sat behind her, trying her best to make herself less visible in the spotlight. Now she understands why the imperial chancellor's wife couldn't stop sighing before they left their manor. Although she was able to cover up the appearance of a noble girl who has just emerge, she's now seen as different from other people. This makes the imperial chancellor's wife feel frustrated!

Whilst Ah Nan was greatly saddened by everyone's reaction, she thought about adding up her ages from her previous life and her current —making her more than thirty-years-old already. Therefore, she will not take other people's negative opinions to heart.

Even when Ah Nan wants to appear cold, she couldn't due to seemingly looking different to everyone else. In the first place, she was just a secondary daughter and was brought into the palace because there was no one else to come in her place. She was going to let it quickly pass, but who knew because she was so different, this made people divert their attention to her, including the Empress Dowager. Afterwards, she was greeted with a series of questions.

Reluctantly, Ah Nan could only quietly listen to the imperial chancellor's wife guidance and obediently respond to everyone's questions. Most questions were about what books does she read at home, and in terms of art and literature what does she excel in…

Many other young ladies present at the banquet could only grind their teeth and hate Ah Nan to death. Who didn't know the Empress Dowager's intentions to hold the banquet? She was probably planning to search for a suitable young lady to hand marriage to a young and dependable nobleman who has connections with the imperial family. But there goes the daughter of the Lu family, taking all the spotlight. This makes the other young noble ladies want to eat Ah Nan alive.

It was only the imperial chancellor's wife who maintained a calm presence since the beginning of the banquet. She did not act superior nor arrogant as she interacted and laughed with the other noblewomen, conserving her graceful qualities as the leading mistress of her clan.

Ah Nan did not dare to act on her own and had her head kept low as she listened. Even when the other noblewoman requested for her to raise her head, she still kept her eyes low; no confidence to have any eye contact with them. She was scared that if she had accidentally shown any feelings that may offend anyone, then that would be the end of her.

The imperial chancellor's wife was very pleased with the way Ah Nan was behaving. Despite feeling worried because Ah Nan was being brought to the center of attention, thinking about Ah Nan's identity in such a position, she believed that people will not have any intentions to take advantage of Ah Nan anyways. For that reason, the imperial chancellor's wife still took Ah Nan's hand and introduced her to other noblemen in the palace. This lasted until the end of the banquet.

Who would've known, on the second day, the imperial chancellor entered the palace only for the young Emperor to send a marriage decree to the Lu family. Lu Shao Qi was given a decree to marry Su Wang and become a wang fei on the fifth day of the next month.

The imperial chancellor was given a great shock: What is this? Did Ah Nan cause any big trouble?

Translator's Notes:

The part where Ah Nan was talking about the novels, "A Female's Survival Guide", "The History of Women's Struggles" and "The Record of Women's Leisure” …I believe they are titles of actual books, but I couldn't quite accurately translate them because my Chinese is poor lmao. That part when she was thinking of that one sentence “Curse of the golden flowers, residues of chrysanthemums, death scattering on the ground,” I think the original author was creating a wordplay in regards to the Chinese film Curse of the Golden Flower. But again…I'm not 100% certain…just guessing :p