CH 75.2

After Yunniang left, Ban Hua turned to Rong Xia, “You haven’t left yet, or do you want to stay at my house to spy?”

“Not to say a spy, even as a horse coach for Hua Hua, I am still willing.” Rong Xia watched the departing palanquin. Somehow he felt this woman Yunniang wasn’t here by chance, did she come for Ban Hua?

But why she didn’t say anything after meeting Ban Hua?

Was it because he was there?

“No need, no need. If people know I let you this modest gentleman become a coach, I will be scolded by a thousand coaches.” Ban Hua stroke the neck of Rong Xia’s horse, “Go back quickly. Tomorrow is the Second Prince’s grand wedding. You will have to come to the Palace early morning, so go to sleep early tonight.”

“Yes.” Rong Xia smiled. He didn’t mention Yan Zhen and she didn’t explain either. The two smiled at each other, then Rong Xia got on his horse.

“This is a good horse,” Ban Hua patted the horse’s neck, “Does it have a name?”

“Not yet.” Rong Xia’s horse was a jujube red horse with a white strand on it’s forehead. The horse’s hair was shiny, it’s eyes full of spirit, it’s four limbs strong and sturdy, a rare good horse.

The horse rubbed against Ban Hua’s hand, wanted to be closer to her.

Rong Xia saw this bad-tempered horse was unexpectedly close to Ban Hua, he said, “How if you give it a name?”

“It’s hair is so red……”

Du Jiu’s ears stood up. A rare and very valuable horse bestowed by the Emperor, it’s name should not be too simple.

“Then call it White Jade Cake.”

The horse is red, why White Jade Cake. Shouldn’t it be Red Jade Cake, or Red Jujube Cake?

Wrong, a majestic and impressive horse, why give it an unsophisticated name?!

“Why…… How do you come up with this name?” Rong Xia didn’t expect his beloved horse would be given such a random name, and the horse itself was still stupidly rubbing on Ban Hua’s hand. As the master, an earnest and responsible master, Rong Xia felt he had to fight on behalf of his horse.

“It’s all red, except for the most eye-catching white strand on the forehead.” Ban Hua gently rubbed the horse’s neck. “So White Jade Cake is most suitable.”

Rong Xia’s mouth opened and closed again. In the end he nodded, “You are right, this name is very suitable.”

Du Jiu : You two…… whatever makes you happy.

“Hua Hua likes horses?” Rong Xia found Ban Hua’s attention was fully on the horse. He bent down, crouching to look at Ban Hua, “There is one more horse of the same breed in my residence. I’ll have someone bring it here tomorrow.”

“No need.” Ban Hua shook her head, “That must be White Jade Cake’s companion, so let it stay there. I have my own ride, I just like horses since I was little. Whenever I see a good horse, I always want to pet it.”

Since she was very young, Grandfather had taken her to ride. He told her battlefield stories, stories of generals and their horses. The stories had etched a view in her mind that horses were companions. When horses became old, they had to be kept well, they were not to be discarded or replaced at will.

Rong Xia remembered Ban Hua often rode a white horse, “The white horse?”

“Correct.” Ban Hua nodded, “It is called Inky Jade, it was the reward from His Majesty.”

“Inky Jade?” Rong Xia laughed, dumbfounded. A white horse called Inky Jade?

“En. It’s eyes are very beautiful, like a pair of inky black jades.” Ban Hua was very proud when talking about her own horse, “When there is a chance later, I will take it for a riding match with you.”

“Fine.” Rong Xia agreed right away.

Du Jiu’s face didn’t show any expression, but he was thinking that she named her own horse Inky Jade while calling other’s horse White Jade Cake. Could she not add that ‘cake’ word?

“Alright.” Ban Hua withdrew her hand from the horse, “Go back.”

Rong Xia gazed at Ban Hua. Her eyes were very beautiful, like clean and clear lake, so clear that he barely could move his eyes away. But in this pair of clear eyes, there was no reluctance to part from him, there was no lingering feeling for him. There was not even much affection.

She didn’t like him, or it could be said….. her heart was not moved by him yet.

She looked at him in a way of looking at an ornament she liked, a pretty peacock. There was amazement and appreciation, but the feeling between a man and a woman was missing.

“Farewell.” Rong Xia smiled.

“En.” Ban Hua smiled until her eyes turned into a pair of crescents. She waved to Rong Xia, “Take care.”

The sound of horse hooves was soft. After Rong Xia’s shadow disappeared, Ban Hua turned to Ban Heng, “Let’s go back.”

“Sis, we aren’t going to the estate anymore?” Ban Heng thought they were going to bury some silver, who knew they would meet Rong Xia as soon as they stepped out of the gate. One thing led to another and it was put off until now.

“Not going.” Ban Hua raised her head to the sky, “It’s getting dark soon, next time.”

“Alright.” Ban Heng was slightly disappointed. After burying silver twice, he found it a fun activity and he came to love this game.

Read this for free at SleepyPrawn site. Add to my viewer number and I will translate more happily!

—

The area where nobles lived and the building where Yunniang lived was quite a distance away. The palanquin bearers walked fast but the sky had gradually become dark before they arrived.

As they approached the red-light district, the sort of people on the street had also become more diversed, they had to be careful among the unhinged drunkards on the road. When they entered the alley, a young man dressed in a dishevelled scholar attire came out.

He staggered as he walked, muttered something about the injustice of the government, cursed his friends and family. He then crashed headlong into the palanquin, fell to the ground and rolled twice. As his mouth opened to cuss, a man appeared of nowhere pulling out a large sword with a faint cold glow. The young man was so frightened that he couldn’t speak.

In Daye, anyone who dared to carry weapons in public would have special identities such as soldiers, yamen runners, or guards in nobles houses. Mere commoners did not walk around with a sword because they would have been tackled and taken to yamen in less than 20 steps.

He thought the person in the palanquin guarded by some armed guards must be a flower girl favoured by a noble man. Only after the palanquin passed that he dared to curse in a lowered voice.

“Just a courtesan, what’s so great of that one. When This Master, I, ….. becomes a zhuangyuan, I can even marry a gongzhu. It is in the books, the books have face like jade. Women aren’t good things……” He burped, climbed up from the ground, without patting the dirt on his robes, he staggered away.

* yamen = local governmental office in town or region level. They managed local finance and capital works, the judging of civil and criminal cases, and issuing of decrees and policies. * the queen of flowers 花魁  = a famous courtesan. * zhuangyuan 状元 = the top scorer in palace examination stage of imperial examination system.

Walking into a desolate alley, he saw two men dressed in black were thrusting their swords through the fat belly of another man. He was so shocked that the content of his stomach was almost out, but this time he was able stay quiet, probably because he had just been scared by the previous incident. Only after the black-clad men left that he was able to hold onto the wall while creeping closer to the man on the ground.

Closer on, his feet stepped on something on the ground and stumbled in front of the fat man. The hand he used to prop himself touched something thick and sticky. Under the faint light of the moon, something smeared on his palm. He lowered his head to smell it and couldn’t stop vomiting.

“Murder…… Murder!”

“Murder!”

The poor scholar bellowed the loudest scream in his life. His voice startled the houses around that lights were lit and yamen people rushed over.

The victim was quickly identified, he was a fifth-ranked Assistant Head working for the Ministry of Works. In the Capital full of nobles, his rank wasn’t considered high. But this person was surnamed Zhao, and he belonged to a side branch of the Zhao clan with a few nobilities in his ancestry.

* langzhong 郎中 = A position in ancient China. I use Assistant Head just for convenience here, see note below.

The head of Zhao clan was Zhao Li. His eldest son Zhao Jun was a Left Assistant Minister in the Ministry of War. The second son Zhao Zhong was the provincial governor of Xuezhou. The whole Zhao clan was low-profile, they did not normally attract attention in the Capital. The only Zhao people talked about was the third son who had died in childhood.

This dead son was once engaged to Fule Junzhu at birth, the engagement was automatically annulled when he died. Later, when Xie family withdrew the engagement with Ban Hua, the youth death of Zhao third son was said to be the solid proof that Ban Hua was a husband-curse.

Zhao family had again and again explained that the death was due to the ill-health of their own child, it was nothing to do with Ban Hua. However gossip-lovers cared not a whit of what the actual involved people said, they took it as Zhao family trying to please Ban family. It was much more fun to continue peddling one-sided speculation.

When people had a topic for idle gossip, who cared what the involved said, maybe they were lying?

The victim was Zhao Jia, he was a paternal younger cousin of Zhao Li the head of Zhao clan. Zhao Jia belonged to the degenerate sort of idlers, the idlers incapable of doing anything proper, the ones that were proficient in eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling. The other sort of idlers, of which Ban Huai was the typical example, were not fond of playing with them. These two types of idlers did not see eye to eye and hardly ever interacted with each other.

There were two stab wounds on Zhao Jia’s body, stabbed from the abdomen through to the back. The killers must have been very strong, and likely to be two of them.

Who would go to an extra length to kill a useless idler? The Second Prince’s grand wedding was on the next day, and extra manpower had been deployed to secretly perform close surveillance of the city to ensure that no incident would happen on the wedding day.

A murder could still happened in such state, and not even half of the shadow of the killers was found. The water was deep here.

—

The murder case was temporarily suppressed in order to not let it affect the wedding. The Capital was washed in red the next morning, the dowry prepared by Xie family was carried out one by one. Although it was not the real ‘ten miles of dowry’ but it was enough for the Capital residents to watch the liveliness.

Ban Hua was still in her dreamland. Hearing the trumpet and gong sounds outside, she pulled the blanket up to cover her head trying to get back to slumber. But after trumpets and gongs stopped, firecracker noises replaced it. She sat up angrily, “Why is it so noisy outside?!”

“Junzhu, you forgot. Today is the Second Prince and Xie family’s grand wedding day.” Ruyi knew Junzhu woke up upset, she hurriedly tried to comfort in a whisper, “It is crowded with people watching outside. It’s going to be noisy for a while.”

“I’d have forgotten if you don’t mention it.” Ban Hua rubbed her temples, her body slumped back to the bed, as languid as a strand of overcooked noodles. “I really don’t want to get up.”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to get up. Nubi will help you wash face and rinse mouth.” Ruyi said with a gentle smile, “I tell them to bring the breakfast inside?”

“En.” Ban Hua laid lazily in the blanket, wasn’t even willing to raise her face.

—

“The groom has come for the bride!”

“Eh, where is the groom?!”

The riding procession to pick up the bride had reached Xie family gate when they found it was not the Second Prince, it was an official from the Ministry of Rites instead. The faces of Xie family members become slightly stiffened, but they couldn’t show it on the surface.

According to the rules a prince did not have to pick up his new prince consort in person, an envoy of the Ministry of Rites could represent him. However when both were in the Capital, the prince would usually come himself to give face to his new in-laws. When the Crown Prince got married, he had also came in person for his Crown Princess.

What did the Second Prince mean with this, he did not give face to Shi family?

T/N – The ‘spy’ up there is 耳报神 in the raw, but it is difficult to put in the text so I use ‘spy’.

For the story of 耳报神 = The God Who Reports on Your Ear (long!), there was an official called Li Zeyu at the time of Wu Zetian reign. He was formerly a thug and had killed many people. A servant woman in his house saved his life three times by telling him to be careful on such and such dates. When pressed, she said it was owing to the God of Reports, but since she has leaked this she would be punished. That servant really died, so there was noone to warn Li Zeyu anymore. On a certain date, Li Zeyu had to travel to a mountain, he was ambushed by some people. It turned out they were descendants of a family that he had killed, and the servant woman who told him stuff was one of them. They invented the myth of that God and plotted to gain his trust by sacrificing some of their own people (including that servant woman) in order to lure him to that place to kill. So in the end Li Zeyu turned into a pile of white bones at the top of mount Qinghua.

T/N – Langzhong seems to be quite high but not the top tier. Seen 6th or 7th -ranked local magistrates in other novels, so Zhao Jia this 5th-ranked langzhong was not a lowly official, even though he was insignificant in a Capital full of nobles.

In Wiki: In Qin and Han dynasties, langzhong managed the security of the Court. In Han dynasty, langzhong was a kind of langguan position, the official close to the Court. During Eastern Han period, a shangshu started as langzhong, after a year he became a shangshulang, then a shilang after three years….. etc. (I’ve seen shilang often translated as Assistant Minister)

Langzhong sometimes refer to a village doctor, possibly to express respect.