CH 6

Ban Hua and Ban Heng moving in unison, turned their heads around and saw a man in a plain brocade robe wearing a silver crown standing a few steps away with two guards. It looked like he had come out of the forest.

Ban Hua calmly put the shovel into Ban Heng’s hands and stood up, patting away the soil on the corner of her robe. As a result, because of the dirt on her hands, the robe became more and more dirty. She simply gave it up as a lost cause and walking towards the other person, saluted him, “Greetings Count Cheng An. My brother and I are just playing a game of treasure hunt.”

“Treasure hunt?” Rong Xia looked at the two siblings with their faces smeared all over with dirt. If not for the two people’s riding clothes embroidered with complicated and gorgeous decoration, they really didn’t look like the children of a noble house.

“My younger brother is immature. After reading a few books, he wanted to imitate those predecessors in the book who did good deeds.” Ban Hua turned her head back to Ban Heng with a shut-up look. “For example, a man led by fate finds the silver he buried and breaks out of poverty and sickness and so on.”

Rong Xia’s facial expression was a bit complicated at the moment, but soon he laughed. Taking out a handkerchief, he handed it to Ban Hua:” Your honourable younger brother is sincere and virtuous.”

“Thank you, but I don’t need it.” Ban Hua lifted her sleeves and wiped her face indiscriminately. What could such a small handkerchief clean? However, this Rong Xia is really good-looking and he looks so perfect when one gets closer. Shen Yu who had previously broken the engagement with her didn’t have skin as good as his and his nose was not so tall and straight either.

Seeing Ban Hua not using his handkerchief, Rong Xia took it back with a light smile: “Do you need our help?”

“Forget it. This thing can only be done secretly and once someone discovers it, there will be no sense of mystery.” Ban Hua kicked the two bags on the ground, and said to Ban Heng, “Go and ask the guard to tidy all this up.”

“Oh,” Ban Heng who saw his chance to escape this awkward atmosphere, bounced up from the ground, turned around and walked away quickly. If it were discovered that he had been doing such a stupid thing, even though he was shameless, he felt that this kind of situation was embarrassing enough to make him want to bury his face in the pit he had just dug.

“We did not mean to disturb Count Cheng An’s scenery appreciation. I will say goodbye,” After the guards had come and taken away the two sandbags filled with silver, Ban Hua bowed in goodbye to Rong Xia, “Farewell.” 

Rong Xia apologized: “I’ve disturbed the young lady and honourable younger brother while they were playing and I must ask the young lady to forgive me.” 

“You are too polite, then … you continue?” If she were dressed in her usual splendid attire, Ban Hua would still be willing to continue the conversation with Rong Xia and appreciate such a beautiful man. But she was now wearing a men’s style hair bun and her body was still stained with soil. Showing this kind of appearance to others was an insult to her god given beauty.

“Take care on your way, young lady.” Rong Xia saluted Ban Hua which Ban Hua had no choice but to return. She turned around and escaped after kicking some dirt over the pit they had dug.

The mountain forest regained its quietness again and Rong Xia looked at the pit in front of him. He chuckled and asked in an indifferent tone: “Did you get to the bottom of this?”

“Replying to the Lord, Ban Xiangjun and Ban Shizi really climbed this mountain by accident today” said  a middle-aged man walking out from the grass behind him, “This pair of siblings are said to be famous wastrels in Beijing, and they have never done anything useful.”

“Ban Xiangjun?” Rong Qi thought about it, “The one who was jilted a few days ago? “

“Yes, it’s her.” The middle-aged man thought to himself, in the whole of Beijing, who can raise children who have nothing better to do with money than play by burying it except for the Jingting Hou Mansion?

Rong Xia walked to the side of the mountain and looked at the two siblings who were slowly walking down the mountainside. In an unclear tone, he said: “The relationship between those two siblings seems to be quite good.”

“They are siblings born from the same father and mother. Naturally, how can their relationship be lacking?” After the manservant next to Rong Xia replied thus, he suddenly recalled some previous events and immediately fell silent in fright.

“Sister, the lies you just made up were not very clever,” Ban Heng snorted. “As one of the capital’s famous wastrels, how can I do such a senseless thing?”

“If you could think of something better, why didn’t you?” Ban Hua took the handkerchief handed to her by one of her female guards and wiped her face clean, “I’ve never been so embarrassed before in all the years of my life.”

Ban Heng whispered softly, “Then you can’t let me take the blame here.”

“Have you ever heard of the saying that taking others’ money makes your hands short?”, Seeing Ban Heng’s unhappy look, Ban Hua turned the kerchief around to wipe off the mud marks on his face and whispered, “It’s okay. There’s nothing we can do about it now. We can’t let him doubt our motives.”

Ban Heng took the kerchief and scrubbed his face roughly: “But what was he doing in the mountain forest this early in the morning? Just appreciating the scenery?”

“Elegant gentlemen like him will inevitably have some strange hobbies. Maybe he wanted to stay on the mountain at night to look at the stars and the moon and get inspired to compose a poem and song.” Ban Hua said with a glance at Ban Heng, “What do you care about him?”

Ban Heng glanced around and whispered in the ear of Ban Hua: “You said that the new emperor in your dream looks good and does not have the surname of Jiang. Is it possible that it is Count Cheng An?”

“How is it possible?” Ban Hua said, shaking her head. “This kind of handsome young nobleman doesn’t seem like a person who would do that kind of thing. ” 

“One may know a person for a long time without understanding his true face. You can’t rule out suspicion just because of his elegance and grace.” Ban Heng snorted, “Which of the charming ladies in the palace doesn’t seem gentle and tender? But who knows what their inherent nature is? Even they may have forgotten their own natures.”

“Who can pretend to be a gentleman for so many years? Wouldn’t that be maddening?” Ban Hua thought for a while and decided that this might not be very probable, “The gentleness of those beauties in the palace is just a role they play in front of His Majesty. Cheng Anbo’s elegance and demeanor is from the bones and not something you can just pretend to have.”

“That’s also true.” Ban Heng nodded.” If I had to hold myself back so much, I couldn’t stand it for more than three days.”

The two siblings rode side by side towards the city walls crossing many people who were waiting in line at the gate in order to enter the city. However, nobles like Ban Hua didn’t have to wait in line to enter the city. 

As she was riding on horseback, she heard the faint sound of a child crying. Looking around, she saw a young woman wearing coarse clothes, anxiously hugging a one or two year old toddler. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t coax the child to stop crying and she was so anxious that she was on the verge of tears.

Ban Hua lowered her raised whip and dismounted.  Walking to the woman, she asked,  “What’s wrong with your child?”

The young woman saw that a noble lady had appeared in front of her eyes dressed in brocade robes and wearing shoes embroidered with phoenix patterns and studded with pearls on her feet. Guessing that the lady was of distinguished status, she thought that her child’s noisy crying had annoyed the other party. She apologized repeatedly saying “I’m sorry I’ve annoyed you. I’ll quiet the child right now.”

Ban Hua saw that the baby in her arms had flushed cheeks and unusual lip colour and asked her “Is your child sick?” 

The woman nodded with a haggard expression, but did not dare to let the tears in her eyes fall.

Ban Hua looked at the long line in front of them, then reached out and touched the child’s forehead. She was taken aback by its scalding heat.

“Come with me,” Ban Hua said. Then seeing that the woman was hesitant, she raised her voice and said again, “Come on! Hurry!” 

The woman didn’t dare to resist any further. She hugged the child in her arms and followed timidly behind Ban Hua. She had heard from some villagers that some noble ladies in the city had bad tempers and if someone were to offend them incautiously, they would be lucky to get away with a few lashes from a whip. If they were unlucky, they might even be thrown into a big prison and locked up for a while. She wasn’t afraid of being punished, but what about her child?

Just as the woman was letting her imagination run wild, Ban Hua handed her waist card to the gate guard. The guard saluted her and without looking at the woman holding her child, let them pass by.

“Okay, you take your child to go see the doctor by yourself,” Ban Hua mounted her horse again, slapped the horse’s butt and let the horse trot to catch up with Ban Heng.

The woman was stunned for a moment, only to realize that she had just met a good-hearted noble lady. She looked down at her crying child and took a deep breath. Since even a noble lady had come to help, her child was surely destined to survive.

“Sister, what were you doing just now?” Ban Heng saw her catching up and turned his head to look back. A quick glance showed him that there was nothing out of the ordinary behind them.

“I went to be a good person by doing good deeds,” Ban Hua said, after seeing Ban Heng’s suspicious look.

“Since when did you start doing good deeds?” Ban Heng knew his sister very well. Her biggest hobby every day was to eat and drink. Her food must be the finest and her clothes must be the most exquisite and tastefully chosen. Usually she was too busy just going out to show off her new clothes and new jewelry. Could she still have time for good deeds?

Ban Hua rolled her eyes exasperatedly at him, but a true beauty was beautiful even while rolling her eyes. So even when she did this coarse looking action, she looked adorable and cute.

It’s just that when this scene fell across Shen Yu’s eyes, he didn’t find it so cute. He had wanted to take advantage of the two siblings’ inattentiveness to avoid them, but he never thought that Ban Heng would notice him and take the lead to stop him first.

“Shen Yu!” Ban Heng pointed at him “You stop right there for me!”

“This petty official greets Ban Shizi,” Shen Yu glanced at Ban Hua on her horse, “I greet Ban Xiangjun. ” “

“Today is not the rest day yet. Why is Shen Tanhua not on duty? ” Ban Heng tossed his whip from hand to hand and glancing at the woman beside Shen Yu, sneered,” Tut.. what kind of beauty is this?”

“The beauty of a woman is not just skin deep. Ban Shizi and this official have different opinions and there is nothing to say.” Shen Yu took a step back, “The two nobles please take your leave.”

Even if Ban Heng’s mind was not smart, he could tell that Shen Yu was scolding his sister as good looking on the surface but empty beneath and his face changed in anger.

“Slap!” A whip lashed down on Shen Yu’s body. Shen Yu groaned in pain and the woman beside him screamed in shock.

“In all my life, I hate men who beat about the bush the most.” Ban Hua lashed her whip again and before Shen Yu, a weak scholar, could react, the whip fell on him again, “If you had pointed a finger at this young lady directly and scolded that I don’t have a single good point except for my beauty, I could still have respected you as a man. Who do you think will be fooled by your sanctimonious appearance if you say a few deliberately ambiguous words  and pretend to be a decent person? “

” Ban Xiangjun, this one is also a court official. Whipping me in the middle of the street is too excessive.” Shen Yu glanced around at all the people who had gathered to watch the liveliness and couldn’t hold back.

“Humph,” Ban Hua lifted her chin slightly. “This lord is simply this unruly. What can you do about it?”

“You fierce shrew …”

“Slap!”

Another blow from her whip fell on him.

“Even though pointing at my nose and scolding me can make you look almost like a man, I still want to thrash you. The grand Tanhua is even insulting women on the street, is this what you call a scholarly demeanor?”

Ban Hua and Ban Heng moving in unison, turned their heads around and saw a man in a plain brocade robe wearing a silver crown standing a few steps away with two guards. It looked like he had come out of the forest.

Ban Hua calmly put the shovel into Ban Heng’s hands and stood up, patting away the soil on the corner of her robe. As a result, because of the dirt on her hands, the robe became more and more dirty. She simply gave it up as a lost cause and walking towards the other person, saluted him, “Greetings Count Cheng An. My brother and I are just playing a game of treasure hunt.”

“Treasure hunt?” Rong Xia looked at the two siblings with their faces smeared all over with dirt. If not for the two people’s riding clothes embroidered with complicated and gorgeous decoration, they really didn’t look like the children of a noble house.

“My younger brother is immature. After reading a few books, he wanted to imitate those predecessors in the book who did good deeds.” Ban Hua turned her head back to Ban Heng with a shut-up look. “For example, a man led by fate finds the silver he buried and breaks out of poverty and sickness and so on.”

Rong Xia’s facial expression was a bit complicated at the moment, but soon he laughed. Taking out a handkerchief, he handed it to Ban Hua:” Your honourable younger brother is sincere and virtuous.”

“Thank you, but I don’t need it.” Ban Hua lifted her sleeves and wiped her face indiscriminately. What could such a small handkerchief clean? However, this Rong Xia is really good-looking and he looks so perfect when one gets closer. Shen Yu who had previously broken the engagement with her didn’t have skin as good as his and his nose was not so tall and straight either.

Seeing Ban Hua not using his handkerchief, Rong Xia took it back with a light smile: “Do you need our help?”

“Forget it. This thing can only be done secretly and once someone discovers it, there will be no sense of mystery.” Ban Hua kicked the two bags on the ground, and said to Ban Heng, “Go and ask the guard to tidy all this up.”

“Oh,” Ban Heng who saw his chance to escape this awkward atmosphere, bounced up from the ground, turned around and walked away quickly. If it were discovered that he had been doing such a stupid thing, even though he was shameless, he felt that this kind of situation was embarrassing enough to make him want to bury his face in the pit he had just dug.

“We did not mean to disturb Count Cheng An’s scenery appreciation. I will say goodbye,” After the guards had come and taken away the two sandbags filled with silver, Ban Hua bowed in goodbye to Rong Xia, “Farewell.” 

Rong Xia apologized: “I’ve disturbed the young lady and honourable younger brother while they were playing and I must ask the young lady to forgive me.” 

“You are too polite, then … you continue?” If she were dressed in her usual splendid attire, Ban Hua would still be willing to continue the conversation with Rong Xia and appreciate such a beautiful man. But she was now wearing a men’s style hair bun and her body was still stained with soil. Showing this kind of appearance to others was an insult to her god given beauty.

“Take care on your way, young lady.” Rong Xia saluted Ban Hua which Ban Hua had no choice but to return. She turned around and escaped after kicking some dirt over the pit they had dug.

The mountain forest regained its quietness again and Rong Xia looked at the pit in front of him. He chuckled and asked in an indifferent tone: “Did you get to the bottom of this?”

“Replying to the Lord, Ban Xiangjun and Ban Shizi really climbed this mountain by accident today” said  a middle-aged man walking out from the grass behind him, “This pair of siblings are said to be famous wastrels in Beijing, and they have never done anything useful.”

“Ban Xiangjun?” Rong Qi thought about it, “The one who was jilted a few days ago? “

“Yes, it’s her.” The middle-aged man thought to himself, in the whole of Beijing, who can raise children who have nothing better to do with money than play by burying it except for the Jingting Hou Mansion?

Rong Xia walked to the side of the mountain and looked at the two siblings who were slowly walking down the mountainside. In an unclear tone, he said: “The relationship between those two siblings seems to be quite good.”

“They are siblings born from the same father and mother. Naturally, how can their relationship be lacking?” After the manservant next to Rong Xia replied thus, he suddenly recalled some previous events and immediately fell silent in fright.

“Sister, the lies you just made up were not very clever,” Ban Heng snorted. “As one of the capital’s famous wastrels, how can I do such a senseless thing?”

“If you could think of something better, why didn’t you?” Ban Hua took the handkerchief handed to her by one of her female guards and wiped her face clean, “I’ve never been so embarrassed before in all the years of my life.”

Ban Heng whispered softly, “Then you can’t let me take the blame here.”

“Have you ever heard of the saying that taking others’ money makes your hands short?”, Seeing Ban Heng’s unhappy look, Ban Hua turned the kerchief around to wipe off the mud marks on his face and whispered, “It’s okay. There’s nothing we can do about it now. We can’t let him doubt our motives.”

Ban Heng took the kerchief and scrubbed his face roughly: “But what was he doing in the mountain forest this early in the morning? Just appreciating the scenery?”

“Elegant gentlemen like him will inevitably have some strange hobbies. Maybe he wanted to stay on the mountain at night to look at the stars and the moon and get inspired to compose a poem and song.” Ban Hua said with a glance at Ban Heng, “What do you care about him?”

Ban Heng glanced around and whispered in the ear of Ban Hua: “You said that the new emperor in your dream looks good and does not have the surname of Jiang. Is it possible that it is Count Cheng An?”

“How is it possible?” Ban Hua said, shaking her head. “This kind of handsome young nobleman doesn’t seem like a person who would do that kind of thing. ” 

“One may know a person for a long time without understanding his true face. You can’t rule out suspicion just because of his elegance and grace.” Ban Heng snorted, “Which of the charming ladies in the palace doesn’t seem gentle and tender? But who knows what their inherent nature is? Even they may have forgotten their own natures.”

“Who can pretend to be a gentleman for so many years? Wouldn’t that be maddening?” Ban Hua thought for a while and decided that this might not be very probable, “The gentleness of those beauties in the palace is just a role they play in front of His Majesty. Cheng Anbo’s elegance and demeanor is from the bones and not something you can just pretend to have.”

“That’s also true.” Ban Heng nodded.” If I had to hold myself back so much, I couldn’t stand it for more than three days.”

The two siblings rode side by side towards the city walls crossing many people who were waiting in line at the gate in order to enter the city. However, nobles like Ban Hua didn’t have to wait in line to enter the city. 

As she was riding on horseback, she heard the faint sound of a child crying. Looking around, she saw a young woman wearing coarse clothes, anxiously hugging a one or two year old toddler. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t coax the child to stop crying and she was so anxious that she was on the verge of tears.

Ban Hua lowered her raised whip and dismounted.  Walking to the woman, she asked,  “What’s wrong with your child?”

The young woman saw that a noble lady had appeared in front of her eyes dressed in brocade robes and wearing shoes embroidered with phoenix patterns and studded with pearls on her feet. Guessing that the lady was of distinguished status, she thought that her child’s noisy crying had annoyed the other party. She apologized repeatedly saying “I’m sorry I’ve annoyed you. I’ll quiet the child right now.”

Ban Hua saw that the baby in her arms had flushed cheeks and unusual lip colour and asked her “Is your child sick?” 

The woman nodded with a haggard expression, but did not dare to let the tears in her eyes fall.

Ban Hua looked at the long line in front of them, then reached out and touched the child’s forehead. She was taken aback by its scalding heat.

“Come with me,” Ban Hua said. Then seeing that the woman was hesitant, she raised her voice and said again, “Come on! Hurry!” 

The woman didn’t dare to resist any further. She hugged the child in her arms and followed timidly behind Ban Hua. She had heard from some villagers that some noble ladies in the city had bad tempers and if someone were to offend them incautiously, they would be lucky to get away with a few lashes from a whip. If they were unlucky, they might even be thrown into a big prison and locked up for a while. She wasn’t afraid of being punished, but what about her child?

Just as the woman was letting her imagination run wild, Ban Hua handed her waist card to the gate guard. The guard saluted her and without looking at the woman holding her child, let them pass by.

“Okay, you take your child to go see the doctor by yourself,” Ban Hua mounted her horse again, slapped the horse’s butt and let the horse trot to catch up with Ban Heng.

The woman was stunned for a moment, only to realize that she had just met a good-hearted noble lady. She looked down at her crying child and took a deep breath. Since even a noble lady had come to help, her child was surely destined to survive.

“Sister, what were you doing just now?” Ban Heng saw her catching up and turned his head to look back. A quick glance showed him that there was nothing out of the ordinary behind them.

“I went to be a good person by doing good deeds,” Ban Hua said, after seeing Ban Heng’s suspicious look.

“Since when did you start doing good deeds?” Ban Heng knew his sister very well. Her biggest hobby every day was to eat and drink. Her food must be the finest and her clothes must be the most exquisite and tastefully chosen. Usually she was too busy just going out to show off her new clothes and new jewelry. Could she still have time for good deeds?

Ban Hua rolled her eyes exasperatedly at him, but a true beauty was beautiful even while rolling her eyes. So even when she did this coarse looking action, she looked adorable and cute.

It’s just that when this scene fell across Shen Yu’s eyes, he didn’t find it so cute. He had wanted to take advantage of the two siblings’ inattentiveness to avoid them, but he never thought that Ban Heng would notice him and take the lead to stop him first.

“Shen Yu!” Ban Heng pointed at him “You stop right there for me!”

“This petty official greets Ban Shizi,” Shen Yu glanced at Ban Hua on her horse, “I greet Ban Xiangjun. ” “

“Today is not the rest day yet. Why is Shen Tanhua not on duty? ” Ban Heng tossed his whip from hand to hand and glancing at the woman beside Shen Yu, sneered,” Tut.. what kind of beauty is this?”

“The beauty of a woman is not just skin deep. Ban Shizi and this official have different opinions and there is nothing to say.” Shen Yu took a step back, “The two nobles please take your leave.”

Even if Ban Heng’s mind was not smart, he could tell that Shen Yu was scolding his sister as good looking on the surface but empty beneath and his face changed in anger.

“Slap!” A whip lashed down on Shen Yu’s body. Shen Yu groaned in pain and the woman beside him screamed in shock.

“In all my life, I hate men who beat about the bush the most.” Ban Hua lashed her whip again and before Shen Yu, a weak scholar, could react, the whip fell on him again, “If you had pointed a finger at this young lady directly and scolded that I don’t have a single good point except for my beauty, I could still have respected you as a man. Who do you think will be fooled by your sanctimonious appearance if you say a few deliberately ambiguous words  and pretend to be a decent person? “

” Ban Xiangjun, this one is also a court official. Whipping me in the middle of the street is too excessive.” Shen Yu glanced around at all the people who had gathered to watch the liveliness and couldn’t hold back.

“Humph,” Ban Hua lifted her chin slightly. “This lord is simply this unruly. What can you do about it?”

“You fierce shrew …”

“Slap!”

Another blow from her whip fell on him.

“Even though pointing at my nose and scolding me can make you look almost like a man, I still want to thrash you. The grand Tanhua is even insulting women on the street, is this what you call a scholarly demeanor?”