LOFJN Chapter 17

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Ye Jiao glanced at it but didn’t pay much attention. The rib soup she was carrying was on her mind, and she urged Tie Zi to call Qi Yun to eat.

Qi Yun put the pile of paper on the desk in the small room. He didn’t take it out again until Qi Ming visited the next day. 

When Qi Ming saw it, his face wrinkled.

He was the youngest member of the family. Whether it was Father Qi or Liu Shi, he was spoiled and pampered. Big Brother Qi Zhao was much older than him and protected his younger brother everywhere. Naturally, he indulged Qi Ming for fear that he would be wronged.

However, Qi Yun was different. His Second Brother hadn’t hugged him much to coax him as a child. If Qi Yun wasn’t urging him to study to progress his literature, he was forcing him to write compositions.

Qi Ming complained in the past, but when he grew up, he realized that his second elder brother was frail and could not survive past thirty years old. Even if he was a brilliant talent, he wouldn’t be able to achieve fame. This restriction made him hope that Qi Ming could instead stand out. 

Qi Ming learned early; after understanding Qi Yun’s good intentions, he became obedient to Qi Yun. In front of Second Brother’s presence, he was as docile as a little white rabbit.

At this moment though, Qi Ming couldn’t control his expression. The corners of his mouth drooped and he said to Qi Yun: “Second Brother, I know I’m wrong. Can I not copy words today? I want to talk more with Mother.”

Qi Yun picked up the paper and glanced at it before putting it aside. Only then did he look at him. Qi Ming didn’t mention copying words, but said: “Long time no see, Third Brother. Shall we play with swords?”

Playing with swords: it wasn’t about two people fighting with swords. Today’s academies required students to know the six arts, and some taught kendo. But even if Qi Ming could fight, Qi Yun’s body and bones couldn’t stand it. 

The “sword play” Qi Yun mentioned was where each person named a sword, and the other person recited ancient poems and words related to the sword.

Obviously, the name of the sword was used to play games, but the real intention was to explore Qi Ming’s knowledge.

Qi Ming liked reading and was even a little obsessed with it. Hearing this, he immediately raised his head and said: “Test me then.”

A smile flashed from the corner of Qi Yun’s mouth, and his voice was calm: “Chi Xiao.”

Qi Ming didn’t even think. He immediately replied: “Hit the water and overturn the sea; the wind penetrates the red sky.”

“What about Long Yuan?”

“The beautiful jade is born of the rock; the precious sword comes out of the abyss of the dragon.”

“Keep talking: Yu Chang.”

“The ancient lute and crawling snake are priceless; the precious sword and fish intestine are entrusted with a spirit.” [1]

Qi Yun didn’t stop asking questions, and Qi Ming didn’t stop answering them. There was no stumbling at all, and Qi Yun’s eyes became more and more satisfied.

However, Qi Ming became more and more frightened.

He had been studying abroad since he was five years old. He seldom went home. Instead, he lived at the academy and diligently learned. Plus, Qi Ming was a poet who loved poetry and books; reading made him happy. Over the past few years, he had dabbled in literature far more than his peers.

His second brother had to stay in bed eight days out of ten, and was still able to be so knowledgeable. Qi Ming was surprised at first, and then admiring, and then impressed.

Qi Yun didn’t call him to play with swords to show off. He lightly tapped the top of the desk. Qi Yun lightly said: “The sword is about sharpness, and you are a scholar. However, the pen in your hand is no worse than the sword. It can bring you much more than a sword can bring. But look at this handwriting – is it worthy of your talent? 

Hearing this, Qi Ming’s ears turned red. He drooped his head and responded in a low voice.

He also knew that his own handwriting didn’t look too nice, and Second Brother was doing it for his own good. It was correct to practice more.

When he thought of pleading with Qi Yun just now to avoid practicing calligraphy, Qi Ming blushed.

Qi Yun looked at him and slowed his voice: “The county exam is approaching, and the test paper will be copied by someone. This calligraphy practice can be slowed down, but you can’t slack off. In order to have a bright future, it would be good to have your characters presented to people.”

Qi Ming immediately nodded and agreed. He didn’t dare slack off.

At this time, Liu Shi asked people to come and call Qi Ming over. Qi Yun didn’t stop him and let him go.

On Qi Ming’s way out, Qi Yun lightly said: “Remember in the future, a gentleman should be cautious of independence.”

Qi Ming immediately agreed. 

How can I not remember? 

I wrote it hundreds of times yesterday; I’ll never forget it in my life!

After Qi Ming left, Qi Yun picked up the large characters written by Qi Ming again.

Although Qi Yun felt that Third Brother’s characters didn’t look too good, to be fair, they were still much better than his own Jiao Niang’s. 

Qi Yun thought again: how many days has it been since Jiao Niang learned? It’s already good that she’s able to write characters.

Besides, Jiao Niang’s round words can’t be written by others.

With a smile on his face, Qi Yun got up and went out. He found that his Jiao Niang did not walk around with a flower pot in her arms as usual. Instead, she sat at the stone table, looking at more than a dozen pots of flowers and plants, large and small, lined up on the ground. He didn’t know what was on her mind as she held her chin.

Seeing this, Qi Yun walked over, sat down next to Ye Jiao, and asked with a smile: “What’s wrong?”

Ye Jiao withdrew her gaze and turned her head to look at Qi Yun. She handed over the post that a man delivered to her.

“I received these flowers and plants early in the morning, and the person who sent them was the daughter of the steward of the pharmacy.” Ye Jiao remembered Steward Dong, but she didn’t know Steward Dong’s daughter. 

These weren’t for Qi Yun, but for Ye Jiao.

Ye Jiao stared at these flowers for a long time. It wasn’t because they were beautiful, but because they were all medicinal flowers – there were even plants that Ye Jiao recognized.

Some were nourishing and some exorcized the cold. All in all, they were good things. 

However, Qi Yun glanced at them and said: “Steward Dong married the shopkeeper of the pharmacy, who could be regarded as his own family. Since she’s given these away, you can just accept them.”

It wasn’t new for the manager to give gifts to the owner, and a few pots of flowers and plants weren’t big deals.

Ye Jiao blinked: “Will this gift be too much?”

Qi Yun’s eyebrows were soft: “It’s just some ornamental flowers, so it’s fine.”

Ye Jiao firmly believed that her house’s Xiang Gong was as knowledge as the ocean, and his words didn’t seem fake.

On second thought, Ye Jiao felt that it was similar to the stone bud grass from before. She recognized it, but others didn’t know what it was for.

She heard Qi Yun say: “If you don’t like it, you can return it too.”

Ye Jiao hurriedly said: “I like it; I really like it.” Then, she instructed Xiao Su and Tie Zi to carry the flowers into the wing. She would carefully study them later.

Qi Yun only thought that Ye Jiao liked to take care of flowers and plants, and he didn’t ask too much. He smiled and stroked her hair. The afternoon was peaceful and pleasant.

While life was peaceful in the Qi family’s yard, they didn’t know that outside the yard, Qi Second Son was already famous.

Nowadays, everyone paid attention to superstition and were a little hostile to the rich.

Even though the Qi family was usually kind and took special care of their neighbors and tenants, there must be some people who were jealous of their wealth.

Of course, no one would do anything bad because of that jealousy. Even if they had the heart, they didn’t have the guts. Although it was a clear world today, there was a gap of 100,000 miles between the rich and the small households. No one had the courage to mess with them.

As for chatting behind the scenes when talking about the shortcomings of the parents, no one cared. There were always those who liked to talk about other people’s rights and wrongs.

That’s how rumors of Qi Second Son’s bad health spread.

Everyone said that Qi Second Son had a ferocious appearance, with raised eyebrows and vertical eyes. He was ugly and as white as paper. Others would avoid him when they saw him from afar. The Qi family had been doing well for so many years but had a stumble. Qi Second Son was not only fierce-looking and evil, but also a short-lived ghost.

Rumors gave the appearance of reality. [2]

Anyone who talked about Qi Second Song should sigh pitifully first, and then comfort themselves –

The life of the rich is also not easy. Look, such a short life!

It seemed that thinking this way allowed them to reflect that their poor lives weren’t too hard.

However, with the flow of deliveries out from the Qi wine shop, any fool could see that the wine shop was doing better for itself.

Steward Song always praised how Second Young Master was so capable, how Second Young Master had such ability, and how Second Young Master was great from heaven to earth! 

It wasn’t that Steward Song was deliberately saying this; the flower-white silvers and shiny copper plates were just so eye-catching. Steward Song was so old, and it was the first time he was so proud his eyebrows raised. Naturally, he praised Qi Yun to the sky. 

It’s just that his words were too exaggerated, and not many people believed them.

But anyone with eyes could see that the Qi family’s wine shop was booming and was hiring a lot of people. These people said that they were very busy inside and that the supply exceeded the demand every day.

Even if Steward Song’s other words weren’t very credible, the words “Qi Second Son has the ability to make money” could still be trusted.

One by one, the news spread to the Ye family’s village.

The Ye family’s village wasn’t rich, but there were people with blabbering mouths everywhere. If they received news, they would talk about it over and over again. In particular, the subject of this news had some contact with their own village, so the conversation was even more lively.

By the river, several women who were washing clothes together were talking about the Qi family.

“Something evil is going on. Years ago, I said that the Qi family’s second son wasn’t very healthy, but how long has it been until today? Suddenly he got better again.”

“I don’t know if he’s healthy or not, but I heard people say that the reason why Qi Second Son was weak and sick was because he opened his heavenly eyes and had the ability of the God of Wealth, so…” 

“Come on, open what heavenly eyes. Are you saying the second son is God?”

“If you want me to say, the lady of the Ye family is the lucky one. She was originally a chongxi bride; who knows how good her life is now. Look at the show that happened before. Which of the girls in our village have this kind of dignity?”

“Didn’t Ye Ersao always say behind her back that she ate for free? Now it’s all okay. There are good in-laws that she (Ye Ersao) can’t climb on. I don’t know what she’s thinking.”

Speaking of this, an old woman sighed: “If only my daughter got married back then.”

This remark led to a joke: “Forget it. We all knew that marrying back then was like a fire pit. Would you have been able to let your biological daughter jump into it?”

While speaking, she watched Ye Ersao coming from a distance.

Ye Ersao had always been stingy and treated her neighbors badly. If she wasn’t asking to borrow needles and thread from the family in the east, she was asking to use a crock pot from the family in the west. When others asked her for help, she never had a good face, which offended many villagers.

Seeing her coming, a woman stopped washing her clothes. With a squeeze in her heart, she raised her head and called to her: “Second sister-in-law, congratulations; your younger brother-in-law has great skills!”

Ye Ersao had been awkward recently, but after hearing this, she was so angry she almost passed out.

***

The author has something to say:

Qi Yun picked up Qi Ming’s words: Practice hard, be diligent

Qi Ming: Yes!

Qi Yun picked up Jiao Niang’s words: So cute and round

Ye Jiao: Xiang Gong is right.

Qi Ming: … QAQ

=w=

“Hit the water and overturn the sea; the wind penetrates the red sky.” – Cen Shen

“The beautiful jade is born of the rock; the precious sword comes out of the abyss of the dragon.” – “Miscellaneous Poems” by Cao Zhi

“The ancient lute and crawling snake are priceless; the precious sword and fish intestine are entrusted with a spirit.” – “Gift Tao Liu” Lu You

***

Footnotes:

[1] Yah, you read that right. The name of the sword is literally translated to “fish intestines.” Apparently this is considered the “sword of bravery.” The story is: some chef assassinated a king with this sword, which came out of the fish the king was eating. Lmaoo I don’t know either. You can check out the backgrounds of the 10 famous swords of China’s ancient times here: Europe.ChinaDaily

[2] The literal translation is: “The arrangement had noses and eyes.” There’s an idiom in that phrase with the translation “there are noses and eyes,” which according to Baidu, means that a lie is told in such vivid detail that it becomes real.

***

Translator’s Notes:

Tried my best with the poems (thank you @ translation tools) :’)

Extra chapter this week to celebrate Lunar New Year! Fun story: I was born during the new year, so technically my Chinese birthday is every Lunar New Year. Makes it easy to keep track of things haha.

Also omg I love old lady gossipping scenes (probably because that’ll be me in years to come). They’re so funny.

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