Lady of Fortune, Jiao Niang

People these days paid attention to the phrase “one shampoo every three days and one bath every five days.” Qi Yun was no exception.

Although the Qi family wasn’t comparable to the big wealthy families in the city, they were still considered to be the richest among ten miles and eight villages. There’s the village and shops, no shortage of charcoal fire, and affordable hot water.

Qi Yun’s body alternated between hot and cold. Ye Jiao made sure that he was under the blankets and resting, but the room was hot due to the charcoal fire. Sometimes when he woke up, he would be sweating all over and needed to wash more diligently.

However, Qi Yun’s bath time was different from Ye Jiao’s. His wife liked to bathe at night, but Qi Yun always chose to take a bath during the day so he doesn’t get cold during the night.

He also bathed when Ye Jiao was away, and it was the same today. Originally, this was the time when Ye Jiao took the stone bud pot to bask in the sun. Ye Jiao didn’t know if it was because she was tired of kicking the shuttlecock, but she took a deep nap and didn’t wake up. Qi Yun took advantage of this time to utilize the water and bathe.

He knew his body and bones. Qi Yun was born with inadequate and weak health. He was well-fed, and wouldn’t suffer a loss in height, but he was still thinner than an ordinary man.

For others, Qi Yun didn’t care what they thought of him.

When replaced by Ye Jiao, Qi Yun was very concerned about this person’s opinion of him.

Until now, Ye Jiao hadn’t really seen what Qi Yun looked like in the bathtub.

There you go, now you can clearly see and have a good look.

When Ye Jiao uttered “so white”, Qi Yun subconsciously grabbed the towel next to the bathtub and directly covered his waist.

In fact, Ye Jiao hadn’t looked that carefully yet. Her eyes kept rolling around the man’s chest. She looked down when she saw him doing this. As a result, Qi Yun slightly raised his voice: “Jiao Niang!”

The Little Ginseng didn’t know what happened between men and women. She also didn’t know what Qi Yun was trying to do with his waist.

But when she heard Qi Yun calling her, Ye Jiao continued staring at him with a pair of beautiful eyes and replied with a smile: “Xiang Gong, this is the first time I have seen you undress.” She leaned over, pulled her sleeve up, stretched it over Qi Yun’s shoulder and compared it: “Look, it’s almost the same.”

Qi Yun looked over subconsciously and saw a jade-white arm, but his skin color was unhealthy and pale.

They were both white, but Jiao Niang was as beautiful as jade and thin as paper.

Ye Jiao’s thoughts were that Xiang Gong’s neck was good-looking, his chest was flat – different from her own – and his ears… Hey, why are Xiang Gong’s ears red? Is the water too hot?

At this moment, Qi Yun tilted his head to look at her, facing Ye Jiao with his slightly raised face.

He thought he would see shyness or dissatisfaction with him on her face, but Qi Yun only saw a pair of clear, translucent eyes like a lake whose bottom you could see.

… Yes, what kind of nonsense is he thinking about?

Jiao Niang doesn’t understand anything. She is pure and naive, unlike the crazy thoughts in his head.

Ye Jiao’s pure expression made Qi Yun feel a lot more secure. There was a smile on his face, and his voice was gentle when facing Ye Jiao: “Jiao Niang, go outside and wait for me; I’m almost done washing.”

Ye Jiao listened to him. Hearing those words, she immediately dropped her sleeve and turned away from behind the screen.

There came the swish of water again and what seemed to be the sound of a man stepping out.

Ye Jiao was not curious. She reached out and took a red plum from the plate on the table, biting it into her mouth.

Hiss, sour.

She wasn’t detracted from her goal, and wanted to find a sweet one.

The Little Ginseng didn’t like waste. After eating so much soil, she had a pious and grateful heart for any food. Even if something was sour, she’ll still eat it clean.

After a while, Qi Yun finished cleaning up and someone carried out the water. The doors and windows of the outer room were opened for ventilation, and the water in the room evaporated. The two people went to the inner room.

With one sitting on the left and one sitting on the right of the couch, Ye Jiao handed over the two plums she was holding in her hand: “Here.”

Qi Yun was dressed in bedclothes and a slightly heavy robe as an outer layer. He took the cup next to him, and didn’t eat the plum right away. Instead, he adjusted his mood and warmly said: “How was visiting my mother in the morning?”

Ye Jiao smiled and replied: “Good. Mother had a bowl of apricot cheese and it was delicious. I don’t know when I can have it again. I wanted to bring it back for you, but Mother said she only stewed three bowls. Wait for me to bring it to you next time.”

She remembered a bowl of apricot cheese so easily. Qi Yun smiled at first, but immediately stopped.

Before Ye Jiao could read Qi Yun’s expression clearly, she saw the man bend the corners of his mouth: “You don’t have to always look after me in the room. The sun’s good today. It’s better to go out for a walk than staying in the stuffy room.”

Ye Jiao smiled back, her voice soft: “It’s not stuffy. I have nothing to do when I go out and it’s very boring. Might as well come back and look after you.”

Qi Yun didn’t know what ordinary women liked to do. He recalled what Liu Shi liked to do and asked: “Maybe you can embroider?”

Ye Jiao was particularly frank: “I don’t know how to,” her voice paused, “but I can learn.”

Little Ginseng had always been particularly passionate about learning how to be human.

Actually, Qi Yun regretted mentioning it. People would make clothes, but common women wouldn’t know how to embroider. When Liu Shi mentioned her natal family, it could be seen that they had a good background. Because of that, she was a good embroiderer and was willing to put time into it.

Jiao Niang’s family was poor and she could’t eat enough nor stay warm enough. Naturally, she had never learned it.

If he asked this way, wouldn’t he hurt Jiao Niang’s heart?

This caused Qi Yun to quickly change the subject: “Embroidering is so arduous and difficult to learn. You don’t need to learn this – you can do something else.”

Ye Jiao didn’t know that Qi Yun had thought about it so much, nor was she hurt. However, after hearing Qi Yun’s words, Ye Jiao perked up in interest: “What can I do?”

Qi Yun’s eyes swept around the room and saw that there weren’t many things that could be used for entertainment.

In fact, Qi Yun knew quite a bit. He knew some piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, but none of these were easy to pick up.

After pondering it, Qi Yun said: “Give me time to think about it. I’ll figure it out after dinner.”

At that moment, Qi Yun thought of the plum handed over by Ye Jiao.

He took one of them and was about to put it in his mouth, but found that the plum wasn’t fully whole and had a bite taken out of it.

The bite was not big; it bit through the red skin and exposed the yellow flesh, making it look particularly conspicuous.

Qi Yun looked at Ye Jiao with surprise. Jiao Niang was holding her chin and looking at him with a smile: “I tasted it. This one is sweet and delicious.”

Tasted it?

Qi Yun looked down at the plum in his hand and then at her: “Why don’t you eat it?”

“I just ate three or four and they were all very sour. I only found these two sweet ones.” Ye Jiao still held her face and looked at him expectantly.

Qi Yun heard this but did not move for a long time.

He needed to lower his eyes to hide his emotions, and pressed his mouth to hide his joy.

Ye Jiao blinked, feeling a little strange: “Xiang Gong, can’t what I had bitten be given to other people…” As she said this, she reached out to take the plum from Qi Yun’s hand, thinking how there’s a lot to learn about being a human.

However, Qi Yun’s eyes flashed slightly. He stopped Ye Jiao’s hand and gently grasped the soft fingertips of his wife with his other hand. Qi Yun softly said: “You can’t take it if others have bitten it, but I want what madam has bitten.” With that, he bit into half of the plum. 

Ye Jiao couldn’t help asking him: “Is it sweet?”

Qi Yun didn’t look at the plum, but looked at her instead and nodded: “Sweet.”

Very sweet, like honey. Sweetened all the way to the heart.

Ye Jiao smiled and put her hand in Qi Yun’s palm, not wasting any opportunity to hold hands.

Qi Yun grabbed her backhand and watched her smile, but Qi Yun didn’t know what he himself was smiling at.

However, after Qi Yun ate two plums, he suddenly remembered: “Jiao Niang, you just ate three sour plums?”

Ye Jiao nodded.

Even though Qi Yun knew that Ye Jiao had good intentions, he stretched his fingers out and squeezed her face: “Don’t eat so much next time. If you eat too many plums, it’ll hurt your spleen and stomach. Tell the kitchen not to cook chicken later tonight.”

Although Ye Jiao knew a lot about medicinal herbs, it was because she grew up in the deep mountains. Refined medicinal herbs were found all over the ground. As the queen of nourishment, Ye Jiao naturally recognized a lot.

However, she knew little about the interaction of these foods.

She looked at Qi Yun with bright eyes: “Xiang Gong, you know all this?” Qi Yun was about to say that he learned it from a book but heard Ye Jiao’s soft voice: “Xiang Gong is really awesome.”

Before, when Qi Yun heard these words he would humbly deny it. But now that he’s heard it many times, he’s become used to it.

If Jiao Niang praised him, he’ll just listen. Plus, he liked to hear it.

At this time, there was a knock on the door and Tie Zi’s voice came in: “Second Young Master, Second Young Lady, Steward Song from the wine shop is here.”

Although Ye Jiao knew that Qi Yun was in charge of the liquor and pharmacy businesses, she had never seen the stewards of these two shops visit the house.

Qi Yun wasn’t surprised at all and said to him: “Let Steward Song wait for me in the study.”

“Yes.”

Ye Jiao stretched out her hand and grabbed his wrist. She pressed her fingertips slightly on his pulse, and asked: “Can you go out?”

Qi Yun held her hand instead: “The doctor said I can go out, but not at nighttime for fear of the cold. It’s not a problem during the day.”

Ye Jiao also felt that his body was much better now, but she didn’t dare slack off. She ran to the cabinet and took out a thick robe for him to put on. Then she stared at him and fixed his collar and cuffs. After taking two steps back, she thought for a moment: “Should I go with you?”

Qi Yun rarely refused Ye Jiao, but this time he shook his head: “No need. Jiao Niang, go rest. You don’t have to walk with me.” However, Qi Yun told Ye Jiao in detail: “I called Steward Song here to discuss the winery with him. We’ll be in the study room and I won’t go far.”

The Little Ginseng tilted her head slightly: “Is something wrong with the winery?”

“The wine shop is very good, and there’s nothing wrong with being lukewarm (with business). We just have to plan well going forward.” Qi Yun spoke and gently squeezed her palm: “Because I married you, I can’t live like I did before.”

After reading the ledgers for so long, he finally made a constitution. Qi Yun prepared to think more carefully about things which he was previously too lazy to deal with.

His Lady loved to eat and play, so he naturally had to find a way to make her life a bit better. So much better that she didn’t have to think so much about a bowl of apricot cheese.

Jiao Niang happily ate the sour plums and left him the sweet ones. Of course he also wanted to work hard to protect her.

When he was leaving the house, Qi Yun suddenly bent down and kissed Ye Jiao on the top of her head before opening the door and leaving in strides.

Ye Jiao leaned against the door frame and held her head, looking at the back of the man who hurried away with some confusion.

Is this… a special way of saying goodbye?

Understanding dawned on the Little Ginseng’s face. Learning to be human is really a long process.

***

The author has something to say: 

Ye Jiao: This way of saying goodbye is very curious, I’ll remember!

Qi Yun: … I always feel like I’m teaching the Lady strange things.

***

Translator Notes:

Celebrating this project getting revived with 2 chapters to start the week – enjoy! Future update schedule will be Tuesdays, Thursdays, and maybe an extra chapter thrown in that week. I’ll be reading alongside while translating – thanks for joining the ride and your patience while I figure out this whole translation thing!