Once Wu Xuanran, his sons and grandchildren entered the main hall, he said to them directly: “All of you heard just now as well, your grandfather wants us to move out temporarily. Therefore, I want to stay together with the four of you1The way it’s phrased in Chinese indicates he’s referring to the four brothers, but I can’t think of any non-awkward way to phrase it. so that we can watch out for each other, to prevent us from not being able to manage, in case any of the others from the other main estates or if our enemies show up on our doorstep.”
Wu Qianjing, Wu Qianbin, Wu Qianli, Wu Qiantong all nodded their heads. Not a single person had any objections2Actually, the Chinese word here is closer to ‘opinions/views/thoughts’ and is not necessarily an ‘objection’, but I’ve translated more for nuance here..
Wu Bo looked here and then there, but he didn’t see anyone from Shuqing Garden, so he asked: “Grandfather, what about sanbo3Reminder: san means ‘three’ or ‘third’, and bo is the form of address for your father’s older brother.? Isn’t he4From the way Wu Xuanran has spoken so far and the way Wu Bo speaks, they basically don’t regard the women in the family during discussions and Wu Xuanran only bothers addressing his sons, ignoring the younger generation. going to stay together with us?”
Wu Qiantong’s expression immediately darkened: “Xiao-Bo, the adults are having a discussion, children shouldn’t interrupt.”
Wu Xuanran said indifferently: “This time when we move out, I don’t intend to stay together with them, nor do I want to see them.”
Wu Bo said, muttering haltingly: “But, sanbo has so many enemies, now his spiritual field has been destroyed, sige5Reminder: literally ‘fourth older brother’, he is referring to Wu Ruo’s older brother, Wu Zhu, who has gone for his experience training. isn’t around either, in the whole of Shuqing Garden, only qijie6Reminder: literally ‘seventh older sister’, he is referring to Wu Xi. can command magic, if they don’t live together with us, they will die.”
Wu Xuanran said apathetically: “If they die, then they die, I’m not short of sons7Oh boy, yeah, this one sounds even worse in Chinese than it does in English. I can’t figure out how to translate it directly while retaining the nuance, but Wu Xuanran specifically singles Wu Qianqing out. He’s saying something akin to ‘I don’t need a son like Wu Qianqing’, but that’s not quite exactly it either. The term he uses is 不差 (bu cha), which means ‘not short of something’..”
Wu Shi smiled coldly: “That’s right. It’s even better if they die, ever since they discovered that we took their betrothal gifts, our luck has never been good, if they die, who knows, maybe our luck will come back.”
Ever since the previous incident where, because Wu Shi had lost at gambling, he had caused his family members to be discovered of stealing the betrothal gifts, and afterward he himself had also been punished, Wu Shi had never had good feelings towards the people from Shuqing Garden. Thereafter, so many things had happened and there was even less to be said about that8‘That’ as in, how Wu Shi feels toward the people from Shuqing Garden..
Wu Anyi said: “After we leave the Southern main estate, it will be hard for us to protect ourselves, where would we have any ability left over to take care of people who don’t have spiritual energy?”
Wu Bo: “…”
Wu Xuanran looked at Wu Qianjing: “Qianjing, later, tell Wu Qianqing clearly that we’re going to move out together, and that he is to find a residence for himself separately.”
Wu Qianjing nodded and left Xuanwan Garden, and brought his three other brothers to Shuqing Garden together.
When they entered the estate, they saw that the servants of Shuqing Garden were busying up and down9Literally ‘busy up, busy down’, I’ve translated quite literally here because the expression is so visual. It means the servants are scurrying about, up and down, all over the place, busy doing things., they were looking for places to store the things that they wouldn’t be able to bring along, and storing everything that they would be bringing onto the carriages.
Wu Qianli sneered: “They’re packing so quickly, it can’t be that sandi10Reminder: ‘third younger brother’. thought we already went to find residences, and are asking them to move over already, right? If they knew that we won’t be staying together with him and want him to find a house separately, I wonder what expression he’ll make.”
Wu Qiantong snorted: “Perhaps he’ll beg us to let them move out together with us, to stay together. After all, their entire family, other than Wu Xi, all of them don’t have spiritual energy, how are they going to defend themselves?”
Wu Qianjing and Wu Qianbin met each other’s eyes, although they felt that everything before their eyes didn’t seem the way that Wu Qianli and Wu Qiantong had described, however, as long as they thought of Wu Qianqing, who used to be superior to them in everything, begging them in a low and defeated tone to bring the entire Shuqing Garden family together with them, their hearts filled with an indescribably sense of glee, it even gave them a sense that they were a level above Wu Qianqing.
When Wu Xu, who was currently busy, saw Wu Qianjing and the other three11In Chinese, it’s actually expressed as ‘Wu Qianjing, the four of them’, since you normally just name drop the person with the highest status and then the number of people within the party. It’s interesting to see the difference between the way English and Chinese describes a party of people., he immediately reported to Wu Qianqing.
Wu Qianqing walked out from the main hall and smiled, going forth to welcome the four of them: “Dage, erge, sidi, wudi, I was just about to go and discuss the matter of moving out with all of you. I didn’t expect that the four of you would come over so quickly.”
Wu Qianli smiled and said: “Sandi, we’ve also come to talk to you about the matter of house hunting and moving out.”
Wu Qianqing’s expression briefly faltered12In Chinese, the expression is more literally ‘the colour of his face paused for a moment’.: “Oh, have your discussions come to a conclusion?”
“Yes, there was a conclusion.” Wu Qianli looked toward Wu Qianjing.
Wu Qianjing was considering how to open his mouth and speak about this matter when he heard Wu Qiantong say bluntly: “Dad told us just now, he doesn’t want to stay together with you lot from Shuqing Garden, and only wants to be together with the four of us brothers, so, this time when we move out, he doesn’t intend to bring you lot together with us.”
Wu Qianqing frowned, he already knew beforehand that it would be this conclusion, but in his heart, it still hurt13Just to clarify, in case the English doesn’t quite make sense, it doesn’t physically hurt him, it’s emotionally painful and difficult to bear..
When the other people in Shuqing Garden also heard Wu Qiantong’s words, one after another, they stopped what they were doing and looked towards them14It’s not explicitly stated in Chinese, but all the other people stopped to look towards the five brothers and their discussion..
Wu Qiantong and the others were internally complacent and thought to themselves, you’re scared now, aren’t you?15In the Chinese, there are no pronouns for the ‘scared now’ bit, but the context indicates that they’re having the thought toward Wu Qianqing.
“If sange is worried about your enemies finding you and coming to your doorstep, you can move somewhere close to us. Perhaps when we’re free, we might still be able to take care of you lot. Of course, if you beg us a little more, perhaps we can put in a good word for you with Dad, and let him16The way they refer to Wu Xuanran here is ‘他老人家’ (ta lao ren jia), which is more directly ‘him, that old person’ but it’s not de facto an impolite way to refer to someone older than you. In fact, by acknowledging that he’s of an older generation, it’s a respectful way of referring to him. Nonetheless, this phrase can also be used sarcastically. In this case, whichever asshole brother is talking here, he’s using it to lord Wu Xuanran’s generational privilege over Wu Qianqing and make it sound like it’s out of their control. He’s definitely rubbing it in that Wu Xuanran, their biological father, is snubbing Wu Qianqing. agree to you staying together with us.”
The people of Shuqing Garden all glared at him, angry and indignant.
Wu Qiantong said angrily: “What are all of you looking at? After you lot from Shuqing Garden leave the Southern main estate, after you leave us, you’ll be nobodies. I dare to say it, within three days, we’ll need people to collect your remains!”
Wu Qianqing’s expression immediately darkened. Just as he was about to say something, suddenly, a huge wave of people rushed in.
“Qinjia Master17Reminder: qinjia refers to in-laws., excuse us, we’ve arrived late!” Hei Xin beamed, bringing along fifty bodyguards as he entered, as though he hadn’t seen Wu Qiantong and the rest, the four of them were squeezed to a side: “Is there anything you need our help with?”
He saw that the servants of Shuqing Garden were all moving tables and chairs, so he hurriedly spoke up: “There’s no need to bring along the tables and chairs, the manor is already fully furnished, everyone only needs to pack their valuables and their own clothes, and that should be enough. As for bedding and blankets, and things like that, there’s no need for all of that either, new ones have all been prepared at the manor.”
As he finished speaking, he turned to look at Wu Qianqing again with a face full of smiles: “Qinjia Master, over at the manor, it’s bigger than your Shuqing Garden, it will definitely be enough for you to stay comfortably, I guarantee that you won’t want to leave! We also bought up all the empty houses within the vicinity, those who want to stay nearby so that we’ll look after them can banish the thought18The phrase is more literally ‘don’t even think about it’ or something like, ‘dream on’.. So, you don’t have to worry about or bother yourself with a single thing, you can just come over to stay comfortably.”
Wu Qianqing saw that Wu Qiantong and the others were so angry that their faces were the colour of pig’s liver19Content warning: image of raw animal liver. Picture of raw pig’s liver here for reference., in an instance, his feelings of anguish and fury turned into satisfaction and delight.
Wu Ruo, who had come out from the main hall, saw that his own daddy finally smiled, and was more and more pleased with Hei Xin’s ability to handle tasks: “Dad, what are you chatting about that’s making you so happy?”
After he finished saying this, then he pretended to realize the existence of Wu Qianjing and the others: “Yi20Onomatopoeia indicating surprise., dabo, all of you were here as well? But we’re currently preparing to move out, we don’t have time to invite you in21招呼 (zhao hu) in this context means ‘to entertain guests/visitors’, but if I translate it as ‘don’t have time to entertain you’, it sounds rude, which isn’t the intention, so I adjusted it..”
Wu Qianqing glanced at Wu Qianjing and the others out of the corner of his eye and said nonchalantly: “Your dabo and other uncles are also busy looking for houses to move out of here, they don’t have the leisure to come in for tea.”
“Oh, is that so? Then, who will Grandfather22In Chinese, the term refers to Wu Xuanran and his household, which is separate from the household of these brothers. It includes his wife and the servants serving them, as well as those servants maintaining the physical residence. be staying with?”
“Your grandfather has said that he’s not willing to live together with us, so he’ll only be staying together with your dabo, erbo, sishu and wushu.”
Wu Ruo’s smile widened: “Oh? Then, that’s really great! In future, we’ll have to trouble dabo and the rest to provide for23The term in Chinese specifically refers to providing for the elderly/retired. Grandfather and Grandmother, then my dad and my mum won’t have to worry about the two elders.”
Wu Qianbin’s expression darkened and he said angrily: “Wu Ruo, isn’t it too unfilial of you to be saying these things?”
“How is it unfilial of me? It’s Grandfather who isn’t willing to stay together with us, so I assume that he isn’t willing to take our money to provide for him either. Then, we’ll be able to save even this bit of money as well. I hope Grandfather will be able to keep to his words, because I don’t want to see him coming to our doorstep, looking for my dad and mum, begging my dad and mum to take him in.”
When Wu Ruo finally finished speaking, his expression was even darker and colder.
Now that he’d already found a way to get his dad and mum to move out of the Southern main estate, then there was also no longer a need to pretend to be friendly with these people.
“Wu Ruo, you…!”
Wu Qiantong took one step forward, looking as though he wanted to punch Wu Ruo.
Hei Xin and Wu Qianqing immediately stepped in front of Wu Ruo to block Wu Qiantong.
Wu Qianjing said angrily: “Wu Qianqing, is this how you educate your son? He doesn’t even know the basics of filial piety!”
Wu Qianqing’s expression was icy: “Dage, the sons that all of you have educated are not much better off than my son either. I am their sanshu24Wu Qianjing and Wu Qianli’s children should address him this way. and sanbo25Wu Qianbin and Wu Qiantong’s children should address him this way, yet behind my back they call me directly by my name26Reminder: It’s extremely rude to address someone by their full name in Chinese. It’s sort of acceptable if you are older than the person, but the rudeness is still there. Normally, Chinese people will use the diminutive of the name by adding a xiao or ah prefix for someone younger, otherwise, someone polite will address someone younger by their family name and title. There’s a familial title for every relation in Chinese, otherwise you’d be addressed according to your occupation., their tones are even full of disdain and contempt.”
They really thought that he didn’t know how their children addressed him behind his back. He only pretended not to know because he didn’t want to make a fuss about it.
“…” Wu Qianjing and the others had no words to refute with, it was obvious that they clearly knew about everything their children had said and done.
Wu Ruo spoke up: “Xin-bo27Reminder: bo can also be used for a man older than your father who isn’t your biological uncle. It’s just more polite and affectionate., send the guests off. We don’t welcome them here.”
“Of course.” Hei Xin walked to the entrance and made a gesture ushering them out.
Wu Qianjing was so angry that he flung his sleeves and stalked off.
Wu Qianbin and Wu Qianli followed after him.
Wu Qiantong took two steps, but he simply couldn’t just let it pass. He suddenly turned around and cast a talisman at Wu Ruo and Wu Qianqing.
Hei Xin urgently called out: “Madam28Belatedly realizing that I mentioned I was going to revert back to using pinyin for the titles, but then used English for some anyway. I will probably go back and edit the entire novel once over when it’s done to standardize.! Qinjia Master! Watch out!”
Wu Ruo didn’t move.
When Wu Qianjing and the others heard this, they rapidly turned back but they only saw Wu Qianqing’s lips rapidly chanting an incantation, shouting loudly: “Break!”
This was closely followed with a resounding ‘peng29Onomatopoeia for something crashing to the ground.!’ noise.
The two yellow talismans that were flying through the air immediately exploded apart. The surge of spiritual energy viciously rebounded back, in that instant, it sent Wu Qiantong flying30震飞 (zhen fei): it’s not just flying back gently, but the zhen in this term is also the same zhen used in the word that means ‘earthquake’. It implies that the force that threw Wu Qiantong back is really harsh. more than three zhang31From the glossary: ‘1 zhang is equal to 10 chi, and is about 3.33 meters or 3.65 yards.’ So roughly 10 meters or 11 yards. away.
“Ah!” Wu Qiantong let out a shriek, following that, with a ‘pu!’, he sprayed out a huge mouthful of fresh blood.
Wu Qianjing and the others were frozen in their places then and there, staring in disbelief at Wu Qianqing with wide eyes.
How could this be?!
Wu Qianqing’s spiritual field had clearly been destroyed. How could he possibly still have spiritual energy to use magic?
Just now, they must’ve made a mistake32看错 (kan cuo): literally ‘to see wrong’. They mean that they must’ve seen the wrong thing, not that they were looking in the wrong direction, but that their eyes didn’t perceive what was actually happening properly..
In the past, they had used spiritual energy to check Wu Qianqing’s body. Wu Qianqing’s spiritual energy had indeed been destroyed, with no way to recover from the damage.
“I don’t welcome any of you here. Please leave immediately.33Take note that Wu Qianqing says 我这里 (wo zhe li) instead of just wo where zhe li refers to ‘here’. And in Chinese, it specifically says to ‘leave here (离开这里, li kai zhe li)’ instead of just ‘leave’. The nuance for me in the first sentence is that he’s exerting his status as owner of Shuqing Garden. In the second half, it’s more of a linguistic thing where ‘leave’ can be ambiguously interpreted in Chinese, so he is being very clear not to leave any loopholes in his language for them to take advantage of.” Wu Qianqing’s face was full of rage: “Also, in future, if any of you behave as you wish and try to injure my wife or children 34随意 (sui yi) is one of those words I always struggle to translate. It means ‘as one wishes, according to one’s whim’, and some of the dictionaries I checked with did suggest ‘wilful’, but that’s not quite what it means. Please excuse the awkward phrasing here., then it won’t be as simple as spitting just a mouthful of blood. I will let all of you also have a taste of what it’s like for your spiritual field to be destroyed35滋味 (zi wei) does mean ‘taste, flavour’, but it’s not referring to the physical taste that you sense with your mouth. It’s used in a more literary manner, referring to the ‘taste’ of intangible things. Wu Qianqing more accurately says that he’ll let them ‘try a taste’ of what it’s like for one’s spiritual field to be destroyed, but it’s a little redundant in English..”
When his brothers took action to harm him, he could tolerate it but he absolutely could not tolerate them hurting his wife and children.
Wu Qianjing and the others were still stunned, standing in the same spots without moving, they still had not recovered back to their senses from the reality that Wu Qianqing had already regained his spiritual field.
Wu Qianqing’s expression was cold and he said severely: “If you still don’t leave, then we’ll kick you out36打出去 (da chu qu) is more like, kick out by beating someone up? It has the connotation of violently ejecting someone out, but it sounds ridiculous to translate Wu Qianqing saying ‘we’ll kick your asses out’..”
The 50 bodyguards that Hei Xin had brought over immediately headed over towards the group of them37The four asshole brothers, just in case it wasn’t clear. with murderous expressions.
Wu Qianjing and the others came back to their senses and hastily retreated by a step, staggering, they almost crashed to the ground.
“Get out!” Wu Qianqing roared furiously.
The three of them— Wu Qianjing, Wu Qianbin, Wu Qianli— were frightened silly by Wu Qianqing and the 50 bodyguards, as if in a trance, they scrambled out of Shuqing Garden, stumbling. They didn’t even bother about Wu Qiantong who had collapsed on the ground.
The servants of Shuqing Garden stepped forward, lifted Wu Qiantong up, and simply tossed him outside. Following after, someone asked: “Master, you’ve recovered your spiritual field38The servant is using the polite/formal ‘you’ here.?”
Wu Xi ran out from the main hall, saying joyfully: “Dad! Your spiritual energy is back?”
“Hn.” Wu Qianqing gave a small smile.
“That’s wonderful, that’s wonderful!” Wu Xi cheered happily as she hugged Wu Qianqing.
The corners of Wu Ruo’s lips curled up, and he couldn’t help smiling as well.
Wu Xu39Recap: this is the head steward of Shuqing Garden, so Wu Qianqing’s equivalent of Hei Xin. was so happy that he started crying, he discreetly wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes.
“It’s wonderful, so wonderful, Master has regained his spiritual energy!” Everyone else cheered loudly, faces full of pleased surprise.
In an instant, the whole of Shuqing Garden was filled with the sounds of their cheering.
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