CH 13

Physician Sun had examined Jiang Mingyue for quite a long while, but he still couldn’t say what illness she was suffering from and ultimately, did not prescribe her any medicine either. Jiang Mingyue had woken up from her coma on her own. At the time, Old Madam Xu even suspected that this physician, named Sun Dechang, was a quack. However, when he said Jiang Mingyue had fainted due to anger, Old Madam Xu once again believed Physician Sun was a real physician. What the physician said couldn’t be wrong. After all, Old Madam Xu had raised Jiang Mingyue herself. How could she not know what a bad temper Jiang Mingyue had?

Normally, when Jiang Mingyue received one fewer hairpin than Jiang Yue’e, she would stay angry for 10 to 15 days. She would criticise them all the time because of it, preventing their entire family from living in peace. So how could she possibly contain her anger from today’s incident? Knowing that she wasn’t good enough for Zhao Lingxiao and being scolded that she wasn’t good enough for Zhao Lingxiao were truly two different things. The former was having self-awareness, while the latter was having someone point at her nose and scold her for chasing someone out of her league1Idiom. Literally: the toad wants to eat swan meat.. Wasn’t this extraordinarily shameful and humiliating for Jiang Mingyue?

Old Madam Xu thought it was very likely this petty granddaughter of hers might anger herself to death if she didn’t quell her anger today. As for how Jiang Mingyue was going to quell her anger, Old Madam Xu pondered without confidence, ‘Would beating the Wei Family’s third son half to death work?’

Inside the medicine shop, Jiang Yue’e and Jiang Mingyue looked at each other in silence for quite a while before Jiang Yue’e finally turned her head to look in the direction of the screen. With nothing to say, Jiang Yue’e just said anything she could think of: “Physician Sun said he was going to write up a prescription. I wonder what medicine he will prescribe you, Mingyue.”

Jiang Mingyue: “Elder Sister, I’m not a physician. How am I supposed to know what medicine Physician Sun will prescribe?”

Jiang Yue’e opened her mouth hesitantly, with a helpless expression. After struggling to find the words for a moment, she first placed her hand on Jiang Mingyue’s and then said, “Is Grandma intending to beat the Wei Family’s third son to death?”

Jiang Mingyue lowered her head and saw her older sister’s hand pressed against hers.

“You mustn’t go,” Jiang Yue’e said next. It wasn’t good for an unmarried young lady to show her face in public in such a situation.

“How could Grandma kill someone?” Jiang Mingyue replied. “Every day, she keeps harping on about how she wants to kill Zhao Qingrong, but isn’t she still alive?”

“Aiyo.” Jiang Yue’e raised her hand and covered Jiang Mingyue’s mouth. It was so sad that she was a woman who had already married into another family, yet she still had to worry about both the young and the old of her maiden family. “With the way you’re talking about Second…” The Jiang Family’s eldest miss wanted to refer to Zhao Qingrong as their second mother2后娘: literally, it means ‘later mother’, as in the mother that they gained later. It’s the colloquial term for stepmother. I translated it as ‘second mother’ to distinguish it from ‘stepmother’., but she unconsciously felt that ‘Second Mother’ wasn’t a particularly nice term of address. Consequently, the pitiful uneducated eldest miss of the Jiang family blanked out and started sweating anxiously.

Jiang Mingyue let out a sigh and said, “Elder Sister, you mean Stepmother?”

Jiang Yue’e’s face reddened as she said, “Yes. She’s our stepmother. Furthermore, she’s a princess. Don’t speak so recklessly all the time about how you’re at odds with Stepmother. What good would it be for you if word gets out about this?”

“All right, I know. I won’t talk about it again,” Jiang Mingyue said half-heartedly.

“If it wasn’t for today’s incident, I wouldn’t have even thought of it.” Jiang Yue’e’s face was pale from worry. She was sincerely concerned for Jiang Mingyue, “You’re already of age to get married. Has anyone visited the manor and made a marriage proposal?”

Jiang Mingyue blinked. There truly hadn’t been anyone.

“Probably not. If there were, Grandma would have told me about it,” Jiang Yue’e said with a worry-filled expression, “It was hard for me to get married, but that was because I’m ugly…”

“Who said you’re ugly?” Jiang Mingyue got angry.

“Grandma said it,” Jiang Yue’e replied, not even angry that her younger sister interrupted her. “And she said it more than once.”

Jiang Mingyue did not dare speak up anymore.

“I’m ugly. And let’s not talk about how I’m uneducated. I haven’t even learned all the words,” Jiang Yue’e continued to criticise herself. “If it wasn’t because Father saved the life of your brother-in-law’s elder brother, I wouldn’t have been able to marry your brother-in-law. But Mingyue, you’re pretty, educated, and you know all the words. How can there be no one visiting the manor and making marriage proposals?”

Jiang Mingyue pouted inwardly. The one their father had saved was the eldest son of the first wife in Ningguo Gongfu3Shen Qi’s elder brother. Out of gratitude, the government official of Ningguo made a promise with Jiang Ruqiu for marriage between the two families and that it would be Ningguo Gongfu’s eldest young master who was marrying Jiang Yue’e. The result though? In the end, the one who married Jiang Yue’e was Ningguo Gongfu’s second young master who had a crippled leg.

Those who were disabled could not work in the imperial court. So Ningguo Gongfu passed their disabled second young master, who didn’t have great future prospects, to the Jiang Family.

“Let’s just go home.” Jiang Mingyue suddenly felt very dispirited. For some matters, it was pointless even if she understood why they happened the way they did. Fortunately, her brother-in-law, Shen Qi, treated her older sister pretty well, so it could be considered a blessing in disguise3歪打正着 idiom: to succeed by a lucky stroke.

Just as Jiang Mingyue said they should just go home, someone from Ningguo Gongfu called for Jiang Yue’e from outside the screen: “Second Young Madam4as in the wife of the second young master. We’ll be using ‘madam’ as the title for the ladies who are married. .”

“It’s your brother-in-law’s manservant. I’ll go to the front and have a look.” Jiang Yue’e stood up.

Since Jiang Mingyue was lying here, it wouldn’t be good for the manservant to come inside. So Jiang Yue’e could only go outside instead.

“Second Young Madam, the Wei Family’s eldest young lady is here,” the manservant hurriedly informed his family’s second young madam the moment he saw her.

“Wh-What?” Jiang Yue’e was stunned. Who was the Wei Family’s eldest young lady? She didn’t know this person.

Suddenly, a gust of wind passed by her side. Jiang Yue’e stared blankly as Jiang Mingyue walked out the doors of the medicine shop.

With a delayed reaction, Jiang Yue’e asked the manservant, “What’s she going out there to do?”

The manservant: “…”

How was he supposed to know?

Jiang Mingyue briskly walked over to the Imperial College. Wei Lanzhi had arrived. This woman always knew how to act pitifully and pretend to be well-behaved. Jiang Mingyue had to go take a look. She couldn’t let the old and young of her family, who only knew how to yell about fighting and killing, suffer!

Support our translations on Ko-fi!