Chapter 22.1

Translated by Aviana

After some clouds and rain*, Lin Qingwan felt as if she was crushed, and her whole self-seemed to be paralyzed.

云雨 (yúnyǔ): Literally cloud and rain; This metaphor is used for sexual intercourse.

This barbarian husband became quite excited, nearly tossing her to exhaustion.

Actually, she felt good, but the pain was too difficult to endure.

Lin Qingwan felt her body sticky and very much wanted to wash, but really couldn’t muster any strength, and was also awfully sleepy; thus she could only give up.

It took quite a long time for Yang Tiezhu to calm down properly. It was only at this moment did he realize that unexpectedly he had left quite a lot of green-colored marks on her fair, supple and soft skin. His eyes couldn’t help but turn red from distress and berated himself for being quite a bastard.

Looking at the exhausted face of the person in his embrace, who seemingly have already fallen into sleep, Yang Tiezhu slowly and prudently got up. He went to the small room, filled the basin with hot water, soaked cloth, and wiped clean his wife’s body.

The more he cleaned, the more his heart throbbed… such a snow-like skin was filled with bluish-green and red traces, there were also swelling and bloodstains…

He ruthlessly slapped himself severely and secretly determined that he must treat his wife properly in the future. Next time he must not be so rough.

After cleaning her up, he once again carefully climbed up on to the k’ang and gently held the person on the bed in his embrace.

Looking at the beam on the roof and then at his wife in his embrace, Yang Tiezhu was both excited and delighted and couldn’t fall asleep that whole night.

………………

Lin Qingwan opened her eyes as she woke up to see a pair of black eyes and a silly smile on that person’s face at the top of her head.

For a short while, she was unable to react and was in a daze for a good while before she could remember that she had married yesterday.

Suddenly she was startled—

“What time is it?” Lin Qingwan raised her eyes and looked outside the window. Outside, the sky was already bright.

In one breath, she hurriedly climbed off the bed, as she reproached Yang Tiezhu, “Why didn’t you wake me up? We still have to serve tea to mother and father.”

Yang Tiezhu foolishly scratched his head. Even after not sleeping the whole night in excitement, one couldn’t also see the slightest bit of exhaustion on his face.

“It still early in the morning. There’s still more time for the tea ceremony. I thought you were tired last night, so I didn’t wish to wake you up early in the morning.” Lin Qingwan glowered at him before quickly climbing out of bed, put on clothes, and then went to the small room to wash herself up.

After washing herself, she took clothes out of the wardrobe and changed her clothes. After which, she combed her hair into a taoxinji* while looking into the mirror. And finished it off by inserting a silver hairpin, making her entire self-looking appropriate and beautiful.

桃心髻 (Taoxinji) It was a fashionable hairstyle during the Ming dynasty. The hair was combed into an oblate shape, and the was decorated with flowers at the top. (See the picture below.)

This day she was dressed in a peach-colored short beizi*, and matched it up with the same colored but a lighter shade ruqun*, looking quite festive and gorgeous, very much in accordance with the identity of a new wife.

Beizi/褙子 – a parallel-collar “jacket” with side slits beginning at the armpit or at the waist. It can be secured at the front either with ties or a metal button. Ruqun/襦裙 – the most basic type of hanfu consisting of a top and a wrap-around skirt. The top is called “ru/襦” and the skirt is called “qun/ 裙”, hence “ruqun”. Sleeves can be narrow or wide. (Check the image below)

At the same time, Yang Tiezhu also finished dressing. He was dressed in a blue colour robes, which Lin Qingwan made for him before the marriage.

Both of them then left the room to go to the main room.

Yang laoye* and He-shi, along with a group of people standing around in the main room, were already waiting for them.

老爷子(lǎoyézi): polite appellation for an elderly male. I have been using old father for this term till now.

Seeing them coming in, He-shi’s face sank. She harumphed, “In which household does popo* and gonggong* have to wait for new xifu* to serve the tea. Lao’er*, your wife’s arrogance is truly quite big.”

婆婆 (pópo): Husband’s mother/mother-in-law 公公 (gōnggong): Husband’s father/ father-in-law 媳妇 (xífù): daughter-in-law/wife (in this case daughter-in-law) 老二 (lǎo’èr): an appellation used by elders to call the second eldest of the family.

He-shi already did not have a good impression on her second erxifu, and every time she thought of her, she kept recalling those 28 taels of silver and those piles of expensive stuff…making her feel angered and stuffy…

儿媳妇 (érxífu): daughter-in-law

Looking at her again, a sweet weak type, who seemed to be like a willow branch trembling in the wind, her complexion became even worse.

Yang Tiezhu was about to step forward to explain, but Lin Qingwan secretly tugged him.

She took a step forward, docilely lowered her head, “Erxi* is indeed lazy and has learned from popo’s teachings.” From her drooping eyelids, Lin Qingwan secretly glanced at the legendary He-shi.

儿媳 (érxí): daughter-in-law (Xifu, erxifu, and erxi are all used as an appellation for daughter-in-law. If you are feeling confused by all thses terms, do let me know, I will use only one of these terms.)

Regarding Yang Tiezhu’s mother, she truly has heard so much for a long time but had yet to see her!

She was quite an average rural old woman, with an obese stature, face narrow at the top and bottom and wide in the middle, triangular-shaped eyes, and lips as thin as a blade. Right now, she was sitting upright on the k’ang and was sharply staring at her.

When she was at Yang-shi’s place, Yang-shi had told quite a lot about He-shi along with the affairs of the Yang jia. As such, she had some understanding regarding this old woman’s conduct and behaviour along with her way of her handling things.

Today, the newly married xifu would have to serve tea to the gongpo*. She was aware that He-shi would use this as an opportunity to suppress her and make trouble for her, startling her. However, she wasn’t late for the tea ceremony, yet she was admonished without a good reason. Lin Qingwan felt that she was quite innocent; thus she would also not act as He-shi wants her to.

After all, today is the first day of her marriage, and certainly cannot make any slip-ups. She could only do her best to not let her find any excuses to make a fuss.

He-shi originally had thought to cause trouble for her sweet-looking new erxifu, scare her to tears, then look for lao’er to make a fuss.

But who would have imagined that she would end up punching cotton? She didn’t feel even one bit aggrieved and even admitted error on her part to her surprise.

Besides her, Yang laoye broke in to mediate the situation,” Eldest xifu still not bringing the tea.”

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