Chapter 71 : Reunion (1)

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Four years later.

 

That night was Zisu’s turn to watch over Yuxi.
In her sleepy haze, she suddenly heard a cry of pain.
Her reaction was quick as she immediately got up and rushed into the house.

 

When Zisu arrived in Yuxi’s bedroom, she saw Yuxi curled up into a ball while rolling on the bed, showing a painful expression on her face.
Zisu cried out in fright, “Miss, Miss, what’s wrong with you…”

 

A scream woke Yuxi up from her nightmare.
She grabbed the quilt and leaned against the head of the bed, gasping.

 

Along with the scream, the lights in all the rooms inside the Rose Courtyard started to lit one by one.

 

Mama Shen came in and put the tung oil lamp on the table.
She saw beads of sweat on Yuxi’s forehead and her clothes were all wet.
She ordered, “Go and get some hot water.
Then, get some fresh clothes and bedding.”

 

Yuxi had now regained her calm and stated, “Don’t draw the water.
Sent the hot water to the cleanroom.
I want to take a bath.” She was sweating from head to toe, so, rather than just wiping them, it was better just to take a bath.

 

After bathing, Yuxi went back to her room.
She noticed that the bedding and mosquito nets all had been replaced.
She was lying in bed as she instructed Mama Shen and others, “You should all withdraw and go to sleep.
I’m fine.“[+]

 

Mama Shen was a little uneasy.
She softly said, “Miss, I’ll stay with Miss!” The current Mama Shen was still relatively dedicated to her duty.

 

Yuxi shook her head and said, “Just let Zisu stay.”

 

Maidong went out and whispered to Kufu, “I don’t know what nightmares Miss had? It looked like it was something really frightening.” It seemed as if her Miss had been tortured, that she had her heart alarmed and trembled in fear.

 

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Moju, Motao and Hongshan were both older and had gotten married last year.
Moju married Meng Xiaofeng, while Motao married the youngest son of the residence's second steward.
Now the four maids beside Yuxi were Zisu, Zijin, Kufu and Maidong.
Kufu and Maidong were both children of the state residence servants.[T/N]

 

Zijin grew stronger and stronger with age.
Later, Han Jianye’s Master felt that she was born with divine power.
It was a pity to put her there.
So, he recommended Zijin learn martial arts from a woman surnamed Zhao.
Zijin had been studying with her for two years now.[T/N]

 

Kufu also felt terrible when her Miss had nightmares, but she could not mention this outside, “It’s all right if we’re the only ones who know about this.
We can’t let the news be heard by the people outside.
The Lord and his wife will be back tomorrow, so we should be more cautious in the future.” The Third Lady was coming, so Miss' life would certainly not be as easy as it was now.
As Miss’ personal maids, they should be more careful not to add more trouble for her.

 

Yuxi laid on the bed and said, “Zisu, blow out the light.
I’m fine.“ She hadn’t had any nightmares in the past few years.
She thought it was finally over.
But she didn’t expect that because Han Jingyan and Wu Shi were coming back, she spent too much thinking about it during the day till it led her to dream of her last life.[+]

 

The light went out and the room suddenly darkened.
Yuxi laid awake in bed, looking out of the window with her eyes wide open, listening to the rustle of leaves outside.

 

After a while, Yuxi closed her eyes and wanted to sleep, but once she closed her eyes, she seemed to be in flames again.
She reopened her eyes, looked at the ink-coloured draperies, and muttered, “It’s no use to be afraid.
What should come is still going to come.
There is nothing for me to be afraid of.
Can my life be any worse than before?“

 

Zisu heard Yuxi talking to herself, but she couldn’t hear what Yuxi was talking about, nor she dared to disturb her.
She just waited carefully for Yuxi’s call.
After a moment, no movement nor sound was coming from Yuxi’s side.
Zisu lightly got out of bed and walked carefully to Yuxi’s bedside.
She saw that Yuxi had fallen asleep.

 

Zisu breathed a sigh of relief.
She was scared to death just now.
She didn’t know what nightmare her Miss had, but her Miss looked so terrible.

 

Yuxi got up two quarters before maoshi hours every day and had developed this habit for several years.
She woke up every day at this time without being awoken by her servants.

 

Yuxi finished a set of wuqinxi in the yard and began to wash after her sweats had dried.
At this time, Kufu brought over a basin of warm water and Maidong with a basin of cold water. Momo Quan told Yuxi that when she washed her face every morning, she should use warm water first, then cold water, which was good for her skin.
Although Yuxi had not yet felt that doing so was good for her skin, she had already formed this habit.[T/N]

 

After cleaning herself up, Yuxi went to the backyard.
People grew flowers in their backyard, but she grew all kinds of herbs.
She planted these herbs more to understand their habits, and not as medicine.

 

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Yuxi stayed in the backyard for two-quarters of an hour.
Then, Kufu came over and said, “Miss, breakfast is ready.”[+]

 

Breakfast includes millet gruel, soup dumplings, thin flat cakes, steamed eggs, and four small dishes.
Now that Yuxi had a small kitchen, she ordered her own breakfast.
After she had done with her breakfast, she drank a cup of soybean milk with honey.

Millet Gruel
Source | 乐乐妈妈 via Xinshipu

Soup Dumplings
Source | Gisling via Wikipedia

Thin Flat Cakes
Source | Baidu

Chinese Steamed Eggs
Source |  米老头 via Xinshipu

This was also requested by Momo Quan.
She told Yuxi to drink soya-bean milk or sheep milk after every meal. Momo Quan didn’t say exactly what its effect, only insisted Yuxi drink soya-bean milk or sheep milk every day.

 

After breakfast, Maidong asked Yuxi, “Miss, are you going to wear the set of light red clothes sent by the embroidering room yesterday?”

 

Yuxi responded with ‘en’.
Yuchen wore quite elegant clothes, while Yuxi liked to wear bright clothes so that she would not be completely suppressed by Yuchen.

 

As Yuxi sat by the dresser, Kufu stood behind and combed her hair.

 

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Yuxi looked at herself in the mirror for a moment.
The girl in the mirror had an oval round face, and her skin was as bright as snow.
Although she didn’t have national grace, a divine fragrance like Yuchen, her appearance was not bad.
Now, she did not understand why she felt so inferior in her previous life.

 

Yuxi saw Zisu take the butterfly flower pearl hairpin out, but Yuxi shook her head and said, “Take out that set of emerald jewellery.” Over the past few years, she had become more and more popular with Qiu Shi.
In addition to the jewellery that Qiu Shi regularly purchased every day, she also gave her several custom sets of jewellery every year.
Besides, Yuxi also received some rewards from the Old Lady.
After several years of accumulation, Yuxi now had a lot of jewellery and more choices to wear.[+]

 

Zisu frowned, “Miss, today is the day when the Third Lord and the Third Lady return to the residence.
Is it not good to wear this set of jewellery?” This set of jewellery was given by the First Lady at the time of Miss’ birth, which was the most valuable one among Miss’ jewellery.

 

Yuxi gave out a slight smile, “I have a sense of propriety, so, I want to wear the one that I have already chosen.”

 

After Yuxi had dressed neatly, she took Kufu and Maidong to the main room.
Usually, when she went out for social engagements, she would bring Kufu and Maidong.
While in her courtyard, she would be with Zisu.

 

On the way to the main room, Yuxi happened to meet Yuchen.
She called out with a smile, “

Yuchen greeted Yuxi back with an ‘en’ and looked at her.
She asked with concern, “Why did you have swollen eyes? You didn’t sleep well yesterday?”

 

Yuxi only smiled and said, “San Jie, Father is coming home today.
I thought about it too much yesterday till I couldn't sleep.
It took me some skills to finally make myself asleep.” After five years of teaching by Momo Quan, Yuxi had completely changed.
Nowadays, it was difficult for others to know her true feelings.
To put it simply, she was now very good at disguising herself.
She was no longer the person who used to show all the joys and sorrows on her face.

 

The only thing that made Yuxi somewhat regretful was that Momo Quan was unwilling to stay in the residence and insisted on returning to her hometown.
Therefore, in the ninth month of the last lunar year, the First Lady found a Momo who was good at making medicated diet to replace her, and then Momo Quan left.
Only Momo Gui still stayed with Yuchen.

 

Yuchen saw that Yuxi did look quite haggard, and with a feeling of relief that could be seen in her eyes, she said, “When Father comes back this time, he won’t go any more.” Father went to work in Hebei when she was a little more than one year old, and he hadn’t come back for many years.
The image of her father was mostly told by her Grandmother.

 

Yuxi smiled wryly as she said, “It is a great pleasure for Father to come back, but he is not the only one who comes back this time.” The implication was self-evident.

 

Yuchen understood what Yuxi meant.
She smiled as she said, “As long as we keep to the etiquette, we will do it well.
About others, we don’t need to worry.” Wu Shi was only a jishi which wasn’t worth worrying about.

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Yuxi nodded and replied, “Well, I will listen to San Jie.”

 

As they walked along, Yuchen stated, “Grandmother always said that the residence was too cold and cheerless.
Now that Father, with our younger brother and sister are back, the residence will certainly be lively.” Teacher Song taught Yuchen until the end of last year.
She did not come to the residence again this year.
Although Teacher Song had left, Yuchen still had a lot to learn, which resulted in her having little time to accompany the Old Lady.
Now that Yurong and Jiancheng had returned, Grandmother would not be afraid of boredom anymore.

 

Yuxi said with a smile, “San Jie is right.
Now that Jiancheng and his family are back, the residence will certainly be very lively.” Jiancheng was born by Wu Shi, but he was not the eldest son of the Second Room.
The eldest son was born by Concubine Xin.

 

Concubine Xin was a personal maid of the Old Lady.
It was also because of her own ability that Jianjun could grow up safely under Wu Shi’s hands.

 

Once Yuxi entered the main room, she saw the Old Lady sitting on the couch in her new dress.
When she looked at her Grandmother clearly, she felt satisfied that the Old Lady had used the headband that she made.

 

Yuchen courtesy and walked to the front of the Old Lady.
She asked anxiously, “Grandmother, you also didn’t sleep well last night? Your spirit is not very good.“

 

The Old Lady smiled, “There’s nothing wrong with Grandmother.
It’s just that your father will be home soon.” She hadn’t seen her son in 11 years, till she almost fell sick.
Her son would be coming back today, and yesterday she thought about whether her child had changed, had he lost his weight or something…after thinking all night, she became more excited, so she didn’t sleep all night.

 

Just then, Qiu Shi came with her eldest daughter-in-law, Ye Shi, Yuru and Yujing.
Ye Shi was the eldest di daughter of the Governor of the Left-wing Army.
She entered the gate at the beginning of the last lunar year and was now helping Qiu Shi’s managing the household.[+]

 

Yuru gave her courtesy to the Old Lady, then she greeted Yuchen and Yuxi with a smile.
Since Momo Chang had a long talk with her, Yuru’s attitude towards Yuchen and Yuxi had been very intimate.
Although Yuxi felt that Yuru was scheming, she didn’t mind acting along, though without a smile on her face.
Anyway, Yuru was several years older than her, as she was going to get married in two years.

 

Yujing was locked up for another year by the Old Lady because of Concubine Lian’s another miscarriage.
After she came out, she had been taken care of by a strict nurturing Momo.
Current Yujing was very formal and over-regulated.
Looking at Yujing now, one would think it was easy to forget her former arrogant and domineering previous convictions, but Yuxi still didn’t put down her guard as she believed that it was easier to change mountains and rivers than to alter one’s character.
She still needed to be more guarded against Yujing.

 

At this time, the Old Lady did not have the mood to talk with others.
She frequently asked people to go outside to see if the Third Lord had arrived.
Her neck kept on rising higher like a giraffe.