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Chapter 2: Qian Xiaoqi, Wait
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Qian Xiaoqi couldn’t describe what she felt when she saw Song Liangzhuo. It was like drinking a cup of iced pickled plum soup in the great heat of summer, like sitting at the edge of a lotus flower pond, enjoying the breeze while singing a little tune and snacking on little five spice-seasoned melon seeds. In short there was just one word: comfortable.
But so what if it was comfortable? Xiaoqi didn’t remember how much she loved him at all. All she knew was that he had hit her, and even caused her precious head to knock against some table. For Xiaoqi not to be angry about this was impossible. Xiaoqi had this very faint feeling that this was the first time she had ever been hit from the time she was a child until now. She also felt that she wouldn’t push someone down a well. Don’t ask her how she knew, she just knew. A woman’s sixth sense is very accurate. Xiaoqi has always believed this point.
As Qian Xiaoqi looked at Song Liangzhuo who walked in wearing a robe of white, her feathers became a bit ruffled. He was clearly wearing matching married couples clothing with that Wen Ruoshui! When walking back from the government office, shouldn’t he be wearing an official’s uniform? This is a provocation! Plainly and clearly a provocation!
Song Liangzhuo saw that Xiaoqi was staring straight at him and felt a bit embarrassed as well as a little displeased. Covering his mouth, he gave a slight cough. “Have you reflected? Do you know where you’ve wronged?”
Qian Xiaoqi responded with a different topic. “Miss Ruoshui just came over earlier.”
“What about it?”
“Nothing much.” Qian Xiaoqi cast a glance at Song Liangzhuo, then she wrinkled her nose and said, “She said you two have a really good relationship and that you two have known each other ever since you guys were little.”
Song Liangzhuo rubbed his forehead without a word.
“She’s really pretty.” Qian Xiaoqi glanced at the festive red inside the house and knitted her brows. “Lu Liu said that tomorrow should be the first return of the bride to her parental home. Are we still going back?”
“What does Wife say?”
Qian Xiaoqi trembled for a moment, then grinned. “Don’t call me Wife, I know you don’t like me. You should just call me Xiaoqi.”
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Song Liangzhuo readily followed the good advice. “What does Xiaoqi think?”
“Let’s not go back for now. You can just have someone send a card over. After my cheek stops swelling I’ll go back by myself.”
Song Liangzhuo felt a twinge of guilt as he looked at her still swollen cheek. He doesn’t hit women, but he had never seen someone who would still keep their neck straight and refuse to admit it after harming someone. Not admitting it was bad enough, but in the end she even said something like ‘So what if I pushed her? If you have the ability then just push me down as well’!
He knew that she wasn’t a gentle and virtuous kind of person, but he didn’t expect that she would be so unreasonable. Where was there even a trace of the bearing of a daughter from an large influential family? In a moment of rage, he ended up hitting her.
In actuality, Song Liangzhuo immediately regretted the moment he flung that palm out. Even though he wasn’t completely delighted to marry her, he did know of the feelings she had towards him. He knew that even though her behavior was a bit uncouth, her personality was straightforward. Moreover, it’s not like anyone forced him to marry her. It was he himself that headed over to ask for the marriage, wasn’t it? No matter what he should give her a cozy and satisfactory life.
Qian Xiaoqi took advantage of the time Song Liangzhuo was deep in thought to steal a couple more glances. She discovered that this little guy truly was worth multiple second looks, but it’s still not to the point that Madams and Aunties would go crazy about him, right? Qian Xiaoqi slightly squinted her eyes and an image immediately appeared in her mind.
Ding boom ding boom ding(sound of festival drums and bells)~ An auntie with faint wrinkles on her face waved her handkerchief frantically as she leaned over the side of the restaurant window. Not having the time to care about the white face powder that was softly sprinkling down from her face, she cried out in a coquettish voice, “Official Song, Official Song! Look over at this servant ya, this servant has truly missed you to death ah!”
Ding boom ding boom ding~ Song Liangzhuo’s silk-like charming eyes looked over. The auntie’s eyes rolled back and she fainted in ecstasy.
Qian Xiaoqi lifted her foot to nudge the auntie next to her… Hehe, she’s fainted for real!
Qian Xiaoqi drew back the corners of her mouth and laughed. Song Liangzhuo gave an uncomfortable cough, then made his tone more gentle as he asked, “Have you applied medicine?”
“Huh? Ok!” Qian Xiaoqi returned to her senses and swept a glance at the table. Then she grabbed the tea Song Liangzhuo poured and downed it in one gulp.
Song Liangzhuo sighed. “You can’t gulp like this when drinking tea.”
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“Oh*.” Qian Xiaoqi looked at the fragments of tea leaves in the bottom of her tea and sighed. “Official Song sure uses things sparingly, to be drinking this type of loose tea from mountainous regions.”
The character for ‘oh’ 哦 actually has 4 pronunciations, one of them actually more like ‘errr’. But o2 indicates doubt or surprise. O4 indicates that one has just learned sth and another o that has no emphasized lift or down is added to end of sentences to give a more friendly and informal tone. It’s also added to the end of sentences when you’re enlightening the other person on something they didn’t know. Fun ne? Btw, in translations, the ‘ne’ I use is of Chinese ‘ne’. But the ‘ne’ I use in my comments, I’m thinking of the Japanese ‘ne’. Lol, confusing right? Sorry~
A woman that looked about forty walked in with a smile. Lu Liu had already informed Xiaoqi earlier that this was Auntie Feng. She has always worked in Song fu and counted as quite high in seniority.
Auntie Feng smiled towards Song Liangzhuo as she said, “Young Master, Miss Ruoshui doesn’t feel well and asks that Young Master take a trip over.” When she finished speaking, she even gave Xiaoqi a glance filled with remote meanings.
Xiaoqi felt a whole bunch of goosebumps rise up in response to that one glance from Auntie Feng. She hurriedly waved her hand. “Go go. Official Song, take care.”
Song Liangzhuo felt uncomfortable with the sound of ‘Official Song’ but he also couldn’t really think of what would sound better. It seems that, in the past, she also called out to him with ‘Official Song’s.
Song Liangzhuo apologetically nodded towards Qian Xiaoqi, then got up and left the room.
Xiaoqi expelled a stuffy breath. She didn’t know why, but her heart was depressed as if something was pressing on it. That expression in Song Liangzhuo’s eyes, it was clearly looking down on her ah! Xiaoqi unhappily wondered, in the past, was her heart muddled by lard? Why would she choose to run, chasing after a man that didn’t like her? Seriously must have been crazy!
Didn’t Lu Liu say that she also had some charm? Finding someone to love her probably shouldn’t be anything hard! Wonder if it was possible to divorce? When she gets back she’ll ask those big sisters at home!
Xiaoqi slapped her forehead and marveled at the fact that she knew there were a couple big sisters at home. After thinking about it, she concluded that she had lived with them for seventeen years after all. Even if she lost her memories, she might still remember the people dearest to her subconsciously. Xiaoqi clicked her tongue and said silently, looks like the feelings towards Official Song also weren’t that deep. Otherwise, why wouldn’t she be able to recall those memories? In the past she was definitely bewitched.
Dinner was eaten together with the entire family. The so-called family was actually three people. Xiaoqi bit her chopsticks as she aimed a rather envious glance at Wen Ruoshui who was sitting rather close to Song Liangzhuo. In her heart, she started planning out when she would also find a man to stand a little closer to. Looking at them like this, they seriously seemed like an ideal couple consisting of a talented man and a beautiful woman, causing the people around them to be extremely envious. When will she, Qian Xiaoqi, also be able to become a beautiful woman in that pairing of ‘talented man and beautiful woman’?
Wen Ruoshui shot over a glance, then proudly lifted her chin and picked several chopsticks of dishes for Song Liangzhuo.
From the start there weren’t a lot of dishes. Qian Xiaoqi watched as chopsticks-full of glossy water spinach ran towards Song Liangzhuo’s bowl and her heart hurt a little from distress. She didn’t dare space out anymore and hurriedly immersed herself in eating. Originally, she wanted to seize the sole plate of red braised pork, but just as she reached out she recalled the matter of being muddled by lard. So, instead, she flung her hand with slight vexation and switched to clasping some green vegetables.
But this action had different implications in Wen Ruoshui and Song Liangzhuo’s eyes.
Wen Ruoshui disdainfully wrinkled her nose and looked at Xiaoqi who was eating with large mouthfuls. “You sure can eat!”
Xiaoqi rolled her eyes and paid no heed. Xiaoqi didn’t move her chopsticks towards that plate of red braised pork again even once. Song Liangzhuo thought she was reminded of his chiding earlier and, with some guilt, picked a piece of streaky pork and put it in Xiaoqi’s bowl.
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Xiaoqi looked at the delightfully fragrant streaky meat on top of her rice and was conflicted. To eat, or not to eat. That is the question.T/N
If she ate it, not only would she be muddled even more by lard but she would also lose dignity and be laughed at by Wen Ruoshui. But if she didn’t eat, haa, she’ll really want to eat.
Xiaoqi sniffed greedily with her nose, then, with a lot of backbone, put that juicy meat back into the plate. She thought, what didn’t her Qian family have? Why would she care about this one piece of red braised pork of yours?
Xiaoqi paused for a moment and knitted her brows, trying to recall what the Qian family was like. But sadly, her mind was blank. Xiaoqi shooked her head, a little vexed, then lowered her head to continue eating vegetables and rice.
Song Liangzhuo had given special instructions to the kitchen to prepare this red braised pork to help Qian Xiaoqi’s body recover. Seeing that she didn’t eat a single piece, he thought she was still annoyed with him so he lowered his dignity to ask gently, “Xiaoqi doesn’t like this kind of meat?”
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Qian Xiaoqi glanced at the juicy and fat meat. She shook her head, then nodded her head, but in the end smiled and said with a rather magnanimous attitude, “I’ll leave it for Lady Ruoshui to eat.”
Song Liangzhuo gave a gratified smile. “In the future, just don’t do any more bad things.”
Qian Xiaoqi wasn’t in a good mood from the start, but now, with his one sentence, her mood fell to the pits. She gave a gloomy humph and finished shoving in the rice in two, three mouthfuls. Then she got up and said, “You guys take your time, I’ll go out and walk around.”
Song Liangzhuo really hasn’t had the chance to interact with Qian Xiaoqi before. In the past, he had always avoided her, and yesterday there was such an unforeseen event. Right now she was clearly angry, but he didn’t know whether he should soothe her with some words or not.
Wen Ruoshui gave Song Liangzhuo, who was still staring dazedly in the direction that Qian Xiaoqi left, a little push and smiled. “Zhou gege, hurry and eat. Eating cooled food won’t be good for digestion.”
Song Liangzhuo returned to his senses and gave a faint smile. Looking at the red braised pork in his bowl, he also lost his appetite. Ever since he flung a slap at her, he always felt in the depths of his heart, like… as if he owed her.
Qian Xiaoqi walked around in the courtyard and encountered Lu Liu who had just come back from eating in the kitchen, so she walked with Lu Liu to her little house. Qian Xiaoqi looked at the little house Lu Liu lived in and suddenly started to miss home.
“Lu Liu, is our home more comfortable than this place?”
“Miss, in the future this is our home ah. Miss, what’s wrong? In the past you liked him so much, but you’ve barely just gotten married for two days and you already want to go back?”
Qian Xiaoqi took off her shoes and climbed onto Lu Liu’s bed. Giving a light humph, she said, “I’ve forgotten it all. It’s not like you don’t know that either. Since I’ve forgotten, naturally I’ll pass my days whichever way is most comfortable!”
Lu Liu had a ‘so it’s like this’ expression and smiled. “Miss, don’t be miffed with guye. As much as that Miss Ruoshui rampages, what can she do? Isn’t Miss still the Official’s wife? This position isn’t something anyone can change! Just earlier I heard the cook in the kitchen say that although guye has always been frugal, tonight he actually specially ordered the kitchen to make a plate of red braised pork for Miss. Did Miss eat it?”
“Uh-huh, ate!”
Lu Liu looked at Xiaoqi whose entire face was black and covered her mouth as she giggled.
“If you ask Lu Liu ah, that guye isn’t completely uncaring towards Miss. If Miss properly dresses up a little, Miss is also a beauty ne!”
Qian Xiaoqi hugged the blankets and sat up. She stared at Lu Liu with bright gleaming eyes. “Lu Liu, say, did my dad make a deal with Official Song? Did he sell me for the sake of the Qian family business?”
“Ah? Why would Miss think this?” Lu Liu had a bit of trouble following this turn of the conversation. “The idea that Master saw that Miss was suffering in her pursuit and helped Miss marry over would be more plausible.”
Qian Xiaoqi’s arms and legs hugged the blanket as she plopped back down disheartened. “Talking to me like I’m that little Ha Pi.”
Lu Liu covered her mouth as she smiled. Igniting the oil lamp and starting to work on some sewing, she said, “Miss said you lost your memory but this servant doesn’t believe it at all. How could you even remember the little Ha Pi at home? That’s Miss’s precious little darling you know. Miss would leave all the tasty things for it to eat.”
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“Eh?” Qian Xiaoqi curiously flipped over to face Lu Liu as she smiled. “What does it look like?”
“Round like a ball, fluffy with fur, nice and white. He can charm pretty much anyone.”
Qian Xiaoqi wasn’t very satisfied with Lu Liu’s reply. Round, white and with fur; exactly like a white steamed bun with fur that had just come out of the steamer. But, it’s almost time to go home, isn’t it? Xiaoqi finally found something that would make her happy and she rolled on the bed. She made a ‘yah’ sound in her throat, then giggled and asked, “Can I live here with you?”
Lu Liu glanced at the entrance, then got up and curtsied towards the direction of the door before turning back to look at Qian Xiaoqi. “Miss should return to your room.”
Qian Xiaoqi’s smile stopped forming halfway and hung strangely over half her face. Her neck twisted up slowly towards the direction of the door as she saw the Song Liangzhuo who was slowly walking in from out of the dark. A light ‘ah’ sound hummed in her throat and her neck tilted before it fell back onto the bed.
__________
Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Edited by Ocelot
[Chiyomira’s Corner]
T/N – Lol, Hamlet?
Aaah, I feel the pangs of pain again as I’m translating these old chapters.
Glossary
So. Xiaoqi has lost her memories and is being harrassed by Ruoshuii. In this arranged marriage there are too many people