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Setting period-typical misogyny
Hei Xuanyi hugged the person who was on top of him: “You want to go for experience training?”
“No.” Wu Ruo lowered his head, stopping when there was only half a cun of distance left to Hei Xuanyi’s thin lips: “I just want to kiss you.”
His head pressed downward, and the two people’s lips pressed together. The star constellations in the sky were bright, the view of the moon was beautiful, and the people who were kissing in each other’s arms seemed like a calligraphy painting of the scenery of the night. It made others reluctant to disturb them.
The Four Clans Festival’s bonfire dance and dinner party continued until zishi111pm to 12:59am. before everybody returned to their own clans one after another. At yinshi23am to 4:59am. the following day, the paths to the three other clans were officially closed. Huangdu City returned to its usual quiet state.
Wu Ruo and Hei Xuanyi slept until it was almost chenshi37am to 8:59am. before they got out of bed to wash up and change. After that, they received the message that Ling Mohan had sent over.
The news said that Wu Yuxue and the other four precious young mistresses had gotten into a conflict yesterday. In the midst of anger, Wu Yuxue had actually used huarong liquid to disfigure Yao Yiru’s graceful appearance. Her actions had incited the dissatisfaction and anger of the four other major family clans. Currently, the Shang, Yao, Song and Zhang families’ relationships with the Wu family had become a little stiff. The Yao family was especially so; they were currently making a fuss for the Wu family to hand Wu Yuxue over, otherwise they swore that they would not let things rest.
Even if Wu Chenzi wanted to protect Wu Yuxue, he also had to assess whether Wu Yuxue was more important, or if his great-grandson ascending to the throne was more important. If he lost the support of the other four major family clans, it was equivalent to losing four pillars of strength. The chances of the second imperial prince being able to fight Ling Mohan for the throne would become extremely uncertain.
Even if Wu Chenzi handed Wu Yuxue over, the relationship between all five family clans would still experience some degree of animosity. The Wu family was no longer as intimate with and close to the other four major family clans as they had been in the past. The Wu family themselves had also begun to bear grudges against Wu Chenzi because of Wu Yuxue’s matter, and the issue of spending huge amounts of medicinal ingredients on the Gaoling City Wu family. Gradually, everyone began to grow suspicious of each other.
Currently, no one else was happier than Ling Mohan. He, who had always wanted to sow discord among the five families, had finally gotten his wish. It was a pity that this matter was not enough for them to cause them to fall out with each other once and for all.
“Crown Prince biaoge, you were really ruthless this time. You were actually willing to disfigure the faces of two maidens who were as beautiful as flowers at the same time. Tsk, tsk, in the future, there’s no chance for them to recover their appearances anymore.” Ling Zisheng spoke as if he was distressed for the women who had had their faces disfigured, but there was no sign of consideration for the fairer sex in his expression.
On the contrary, he seemed especially happy: “Crown Prince biaoge, in the past, you used to take action against the officials around Wu Chenzi. How come you changed tactics and acted against the maidens in Wu estate this time? This doesn’t seem like your usual modus operandi, but I didn’t think that it would this fruitful. In the past, even if we wanted to distance them against each other, there weren’t any opportunities. Now, just by destroying the faces of the maidens from two families, we’ve caused them to harbour grudges against each other. In the future, it’ll be much easier to target them. Just now, before I entered the palace to come and look for you, I saw Shang Zhirong being chased out by the Shang family members when she was trying to get the Shang family members to put in a good word for her with the Yao family. In that moment, she looked as wretched as I can describe her to be.”
The two young maidens that he was talking about were Wu Yanli and Yao Yiru, so the one who had disfigured both of their faces wasn’t Wu Yuxue but Ling Mohan instead.
That night, after Wu Yuxue had threatened Wu Yanli, Ling Mohan instructed a mole who had been planted in the Wu estate this entire time to use huarong liquid to disfigure Wu Yanli’s face. This would cause Song Yan, who came from the Song family, to bear hatred towards Wu Yuxue. Hence, this matter would become the fuse for inciting a fire.
Following that, he spread the news of Wu Yuxue refining huarong liquid and thus disfiguring several young maidens so that everyone would know that only Wu Yuxue had huarong liquid. In this way, everyone wouldn’t suspect anyone else.
After that, on the day of the Four Clans Festival, Ling Zisheng took the opportunity again when Wu Yuxue had started fighting with the other four young mistresses to use the huarong liquid that Ling Mohan had given him to act against Yao Yiru. This in turn caused the four families to harbour animosity against the Wu family.
Ling Mohan smiled but didn’t speak.
Ling Zisheng was puzzled: “There’s one thing that I’ve found strange this whole time. Crown Prince biaoge, how did you know that Wu Yuxue refined huarong liquid? And how did you find out that the appearances of those maidens had been ruined by Wu Yuxue? Finally, how did you steal the huarong liquid from her?”
The matter of several maidens in Huangdu City being disfigured had attracted the attention of quite a number of people. Because the physicians couldn’t diagnose the cause for the disfigurement, so they had also been unable to identify the perpetrator. In this manner, there was no way to know about the huarong liquid, much less knowing what huarong was. In that circumstance, no one would know what huarong liquid was either. So how was it possible to steal it?
He didn’t believe that this was something that Ling Mohan had investigated. This was because, some time ago, they had gotten people to investigate this matter but they hadn’t been able to find out any hints regarding the issue.
The face of an unparalleled beauty flashed in Ling Mohan’s mind and he couldn’t help but lose his focus: “Someone else refined the huarong liquid and gave it to me. It was also they who told me to start taking action from Wu Yuxue.”
“Is this person Crown Prince biaoge‘s aide?”
Ling Mohan shook his head no: “They’re just someone who has the same enemy that I do.”
Ling Zisheng asked: “Can they be trusted?”
Ling Mohan raised an eyebrow: “I don’t have to tell them any kind of secret information, and they only has to come up with ideas to target the Wu family. Do you think they can be trusted?”
“Helping to come up with ideas, they must have some kind of goal or conditions, right?”
Ling Mohan looked toward him: “Their goal is the total annihilation of the Wu family.”
Ling Zisheng was stunned, then he roared with laughter: “This person is really ruthless!4Throughout this entire conversation between Ling Mohan and Ling Zisheng, Ling Mohan never specifies the gender of the person he is referring to. Normally I would translate the 他 (ta) pronoun as he/him, but in this case, I’ve opted to use they/them to express the ambiguity of the person’s gender.”
As they were laughing and discussing the matters of the Wu family, Wu Chenzi was currently in the midst of a huge headache. Sitting diagonally across him was the clan leader of the Yao family, Yao Jinghui, as well as his children and descendants.
“Lord State Tutor, Wu Yuxue is your most beloved granddaughter, but Yiru is also this old man’s most beloved 2nd-great-granddaughter. Yet right now, she’s currently in so much pain that she no longer wants to live. She’s lying in bed, repeatedly threatening suicide, how could I not be miserable?” Yao Jinghui said agitatedly: “Lord State Tutor, today, I must say this clearly. Either you immediately get Wu Yuxue to disfigure her own face with the huarong liquid, or you hand Wu Yuxue over to us right now, and let us take her and handle her as we see fit.”
“No, Dad! You can’t let them take Xue-er away! Otherwise, Xue-er will be tortured to death by them!” Shang Zhirong suddenly rushed into the room, begging in tears.
Yao Jinghui glanced at her coldly: “Since your esteemed daughter5令嫒 (ling ai): this is a very interesting, rather antiquated term for ‘your daughter’. It is meant to be a respectful term of address, despite the context of the current situation. I’ve always been curious about this term because I’ve frequently heard the male equivalent, which is 令郎 (ling lang) for ‘your son’ and seeing this come up in LWSL made me Baidu search all the familial forms of address with the ling prefix. Fun fact, 令尊 (ling zun) refers to ‘your father’ and 令堂 (ling tang) refers to ‘your mother’. dared to do such a thing that day, then she should’ve thought of the consequences and take responsibility for this matter.”
He looked at Wu Chenzi: “I hope that Lord State Tutor will not disappoint our four families.”
Wu Chenzi’s expression darkened and he didn’t speak.
Shang Zhirong pleaded: “Clan Leader Yao, give us some time, we will definitely find a physician to cure your 2nd-great-granddaughter.”
Yao Jinghui jeered: “This old man wants to ask you: has your granddaughter’s face been cured?”
“…” In an instant, Shang Zhirong went mute and had nothing to say.
Yao Jinghui snorted coldly.
“I already said many times! I didn’t use huarong liquid to disfigure Yao Yiru! Why won’t any of you believe me?” Wu Yuxue, who had been eavesdropping outside the entire time, said angrily as she marched into the room.
When Yao Yiru’s father, Yao Jinxian, saw Wu Yuxue entering, in that instance, he was mad with rage: “At that time, many people saw you doing it! There’s no use even if you deny it!”
“They’re trying to frame me!” Wu Yuxue agitatedly went to Wu Chenzi: “Grandfather, I really didn’t do this sort of thing. Please believe me!”
Wu Chenzi looked at her delicate and charming face, and felt reluctant in his heart. However, no matter how reluctant he was, he couldn’t lose the big picture for small gains and destroy the Wu family’s ties with the other four families because of her.
With a solemn expression, he clenched his hands into fists inside his sleeves, and said sternly: “Xue-er, you were indeed in the wrong in this matter. You have to take responsibility for your actions. If you don’t want me to personally take action, then you must take the huarong liquid and disfigure your own face. In the future, you will still be my most beloved granddaughter.”
Wu Yuxue was stunned, staring in disbelief at the grandfather who had always doted on her.
In that instance, Shang Zhirong lost all the strength in her legs and collapsed to the ground on her butt. She wailed in anguish: “Dad, if Xue-er‘s face is disfigured, then she’ll be done for in this lifetime.”
Yao Jinxian glared with reddened eyes, howling angrily: “My daughter is already done for in this lifetime!”
Shang Zhirong: “…”
Wu Yuxue finally started to feel afraid. She always thought that no matter what she did wrong, she would always have her grandfather to back her up, and no one would be able to do anything to her. However, she never thought there would come a day that the grandfather who had always doted on her would abandon her so heartlessly.
She hastily knelt down, clinging onto Wu Chenzi’s sleeves and cried: “Grandfather, it really wasn’t me! Please believe me, you have to believe Xue-er! I really didn’t disfigure them! Someone is framing me, Grandfather! You must get to the bottom of this matter, it really wasn’t me!”
“…” Wu Chenzi had more or less of an understanding toward his own granddaughter’s personality. She was a rather haughty person; if she said that she didn’t do something, then she really couldn’t have done it. No matter how wilful she was, it wasn’t to the point that she would lose discretion and use huarong liquid to harm her own family member, or someone from a family that the Wu family was on good terms with.
Moreover, when Wu Yuxue mentioned someone trying to frame her, it wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed it but who could want to harm his granddaughter?
Wu Chenzi’s first thought was the Crown Prince, who loathed the Wu family to the extreme. However, according to his understanding of the Crown Prince, this person shouldn’t have taken action against a few maidens from the residential quarters6The reason why Wu Chenzi emphasizes on these women being from the ‘residential quarters’ is similar to the way a lot of women in the Emperor’s harem are just referred to as ‘women from the Emperor’s harem’ rather than their own people with self-autonomy and agency. It’s plain setting-typical misogyny because the women in Chinese history had no agency. His point is that it doesn’t make sense for Ling Mohan to target these ‘silly’ women because he thinks they have no impact on his political power and status..
Regardless of the truth, he still had to account to the Yao family for this matter. Besides, many people had said that they had seen with their own eyes that Wu Yuxue had used huarong liquid against Yao Yiru so Wu Yuxue was destined to receive a punishment. Otherwise, the Yao family would not take the matter sitting down, and his many years of scheming would also be destroyed overnight.
Wu Chenzi pulled away his sleeve that was in her hands: “Xue-er, go bring the huarong liquid here yourself. In the future, Grandfather will hire the best physicians to cure your face.”
Wu Yuxue sobbed and shook her head no: “No! I won’t bring it! I don’t have any huarong liquid either…!”
“You don’t have huarong liquid, but you have this.” An angry voice came from outside the door. Following that, Song Yan and her servants entered.
Her servants carried a cage and placed it in the center of the main hall. Pointing at the green snake inside of the cage, they said: “She used the saliva from this Spittle Snake to refine the huarong liquid. As long as she’s bitten by it, it’ll disfigure her.”
Wu Yuxue said angrily: “How dare you search my residence without permission!”
She had captured this Spittle Snake and brought it home with her during one of the Four Clans Festivals.
Shang Zhirong glared at her own daughter-in-law, not daring to believe her eyes: “Song Yan, what are you doing? This is your little sister-in-law7小姑子 (xiao gu zi): specifically your husband’s sister, and the xiao prefix means she’s the youngest.! How could you harm her like this?”
Song Yan laughed coldly: “Then has she ever treated Li-er as her own niece? And have you ever treated Li-er as your own granddaughter? After my daughter’s disfigurement, as her grandmother, have you ever gone to take a look at her? Since all of you can’t bear to punish her, then let me as her sister-in-law8嫂嫂 (sao sao): specifically your older brother’s wife. personally take action. Guards, let the Spittle Snake out!
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