Author: Yue Xia Die Ying

NOTES:

  1. Hóu Yé – Marquis, second of the five orders of ancient Chinese nobility
  2. Hou Shizi – Viscount; Marquis’ heir
  3. Bó Yé – Count (Count is a nobleman 1 rank beneath a Marquis)
  4. Fǔ – household; official residence; mansion
  5. Yòu xiāng – Right Prime Minister
  6. Xiangjun (Country Lord) – Title given to wives or daughters of high ranking noblemen
  7. Gōngzhǔ- Royal Princess; 5 ranks above Xiangjun
  8. Xiàn zhǔ – County Master; 3 ranks above Xiangjun
  9. Huafu – Chinese classical robes for everyday/casual wear
  10. Jiě jie – Older sister
  11. Mó mo – elderly lady; wet nurse
  12. Bù yáo – dangling head ornament worn by women
  13. Yù pèi – jade pendant; jade ornament
  14. Jī xuè yù – chicken blood jade; jade which is coloured red or has red inclusions (It was very rare in ancient times as the method of mining it was very time consuming before modern techniques were introduced)
  15. Zhuangzi – Country estate of a noble or a wealthy person

Chapter 3 (Part 2) – To Depend on Beauty

Ban Hua’s carriage arrived and the maids and ladies-in-waiting who were at the gate of the villa greeted her respectfully. No matter how the rich and noble women viewed this Ban Xiangjun, they who served as slaves had to serve this master well. Who made it so that this Xiangjun had a good-looking face and a pleasing mouth that could coax even the empress dowager in the palace to like her?

“Welcome to the Xiangjun. You’ve arrived in good time. The princess has been awaiting you in the inner courtyard and this servant will guide you.” Ban Hua, who was fond of beautiful women around her like stars surrounding the moon, showed a bright smile. Pulling a few grains of silver peanuts from her purse, she tossed them to the girl in front of her who said that she would lead the way: “Lets go! The chrysanthemums here at Anle jiejie’s place have always been more beautiful than others. How could I not come?”

“Thanks to Xiangjun for the reward,” The smile on the face of the maid who had been rewarded grew brighter. “Please come this way. Be careful of the steps under your feet.”

 So boring!” Princess Anle idly flicked the jade beads on the tray in front of her and looked across the elegant and noble ladies in the courtyard. Turning her head to the momo beside her, she asked “Has Hua Hua arrived yet?”

 “Princess, Ban Xiangjun hasn’t arrived yet, today,” the momo recalled the rumors floating around Beijing in recent days, but she dared not reveal it in front of the princess. “She must be on the way.”

As the master and servant were talking, suddenly, the voice of women talking and laughing came from outside. A woman dressed in a flamboyantly gorgeous formal palace dress walked in smilingly with a beauty on both sides.

“I said who could make such a big sound of activity except her,” Princess Anle’s face suddenly brightened as she stood up and walked towards the person who had entered, “Well, you’ve again come to tease my household’s girls.  When the time comes for you to leave, they will sing  Ban Xiangjun’s praises to the left and the right and forget all about me. “

” Jiejie ” Ban Hua let go of the beauties in her hand. She went forward to salute Princess Anle but the Royal Princess held her up admonishing, “Stand up quickly! There are more than enough people saluting me and I won’t miss yours.”

“I haven’t seen you for a fortnight but we must always keep up appearances.” Ban Hua and Princess Anle walked into the garden hand in hand.  As she entered, she felt countless eyes falling on her. The buyao dangling at her temple shook mesmerizingly as she flashed a beautiful smile to the noble ladies.

Since they wanted to see, she would let them look their fill.

The skirt she wore was made of tribute satin from the Imperial Palace and her Yu Pei was made of chicken blood jade that can’t be bought with mere money. From head to toe, every single piece of clothing and ornament were simply exquisite and tastefully chosen. She had been dressing up with great care for most of the day just to see the dampening effect that her appearance would have on the gathered noble ladies.

Xie Wanyu looked at her beautiful and arrogant look and her face was almost distorted. Her brother had lost an eye, but Ban Hua was in high spirits and dressed glamorously, almost seeming to radiate light. The anger in her heart rose to almost choke her.

She finally understood why her mother liked to scold certain women as sluts when noone was around to hear. It was because these words could let her vent the anger in her heart that has no outlet.

Princess Anle’s household lacks nothing in beauties, fine wine and delicacies. The noble ladies in the yard happily painted and created poetry while listening to the music played by the musicians. Ban Hua, who had not learnt any art since childhood, was not good at poetry or painting. Her only talent was an extraordinarily sensitive tongue. She only needed a taste to recognize which food ingredients were in any dish, old or new.

“This wine was sent by the people from my country estate. What do you think of the taste?” Princess Anle asked Banyu to taste the new fruit wine.

  “It’s tolerable.” Ban Hua leaned her head towards Princess Anle’s ear and whispered, “Look at that Xie Wanyu. She’s been staring at me so intently for a while till her eyeballs are almost about to fall out.”

“Why can’t you two play together? “Princess Anle is seven years older than Ban Hua  and she can almost be called a child she watched growing up. So she is naturally inclined towards Ban Hua.

“How can I play with them?” Ban Wei took a sip of fruit wine, lazily, “They are talented women of a gentle temperament who love poetry and painting. And don’t you know me? Since when have I liked to study? “

“Don’t complain. If it weren’t that Xie Qilin eloped with someone else, she would be your younger sister-in-law.”

“Who wants to marry a man with a blind eye?” Ban Hua snorted. Leaving behind a marriage with her, a dignified Xiangjun of Marquis’ Household and eloping with a woman from the red light area, Xie Qilin had made her utterly lose face. “Fortunately, he eloped, or I would have had to live with a half-blind man.”

She had initially had a good impression of Xie Qilin. After all, he had looked good and had the ability to sweet talk people. At that time, she was young and ignorant and so she hadn’t raised any objections when her parents agreed to his family’s proposal.

Later, she realized that it’s better to believe in ghosts in daylight than to believe a man’s words. While he was courting her, he had been considerate and gentle. Later, when he eloped with someone, he put on an attitude that he hadn’t known better before and now he’d found true love.

And then there was Xie Wanyu. It was her brother who broke the engagement and embarrassed her family. But now she looked at Ban Hua like she finds her displeasing from all aspects. Isn’t this a mental illness?

“Ban Xiangjun, everyone is writing poetry. Why don’t you come and join us?” Xie Wayun smiled and waved her handkerchief at her, “Come on.”

“Huh,” Ban Hua, who was too lazy to care about Xie Wanyu’s pretentiously friendly appearance, turned her head and continued to chat with Princess Anle

Xie Wanyu was a little embarrassed that Ban Hua didn’t give her even that much respect. She looked up to meet the eyes of the noble ladies and barely smiled: “Maybe Ban Xiangjun has some misunderstanding about our family.”

Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding could it be?

Naturally it was the matter of being jilted by the Xie family.

Although women are more unrestrained now than they were during past dynasties, they still lived in an era where men were superior to women. If a man broke his engagement, it still had a great impact on the reputation of the woman involved even if it was entirely the man’s fault.

If you were good, why would someone break the engagement? Since the man insisted on breaking the engagement, there must be some fault in the woman.

It was originally a lack of sincerity by the Xie family. But looking at the foppish style of the Ban family and the uncompromising lifestyle of Ban Hua, many noble girls agreed tacitly with Xie Wanyu’s interpretation.

What’s the use of being pretty? The Xie family’s second son still doesn’t wish to approach her.

This kind of thinking made many noble girls feel happy and gave them a sense of superiority over Ban Hua. Although the reality is that they didn’t dare to be like Ban Hua where if she’s not happy, she can immediately reject people, and if she is happy, she will bestow generous rewards of gold and silver. And they definitely couldn’t wear the kind of extravagant attire that Ban Hua wears.

 This was simply wrong. As a woman, what ought to be more important were attitude and inner beauty. A woman like Ban Hua was too superficial and vulgar and simply lowered the family’s dignity.

“What’s the matter with Shen Yu?” Princess Anle frowned, “Wasn’t he crying and begging to marry you?”

“Who cares about what’s the matter with him.” Ban Hua took a piece of fruit with a silver fork and put it in her mouth. Her moist, red lips were like ripe and juicy peaches so that Princess Anle couldn’t help but reach out and poke.

 “If he breaks the engagement, he breaks the engagement. Except for that face, he has nothing else worth my attention.” Ban Hua put down the silver fork and blinked her beautiful eyes. She remembered that Shen Yu had not had a good end in her dream and had been banished to the frontier with his face tattooed.

“Since you like good-looking men so much, why not marry Rong Xia?” Princess Anle said with a smile. “There is no man in the whole capital that looks better than him.”

You can click the author’s name at the top of the chapter to see a list of her works in the original Chinese. If you’ve found this translation interesting, please do support the author if you can.

TL’s Meanderings:

I know that the trope of the blindingly beautiful heroine is way overdone in C-Novels but I like Ban Hua’s almost attitude towards her beauty. I feel like she has made her peace with her looks. She enjoys being beautiful and she even more enjoys using her looks to infuriate women who don’t like her carefree attitude to life.

I’ve had people tell me that I’m selfish and wrong for spending my own hard earned money on expensive bags, shoes, clothes or anything that they deem a luxury. So, I feel like I want to cheer Ban Hua on everytime she flaunts her flamboyant attire and jewellery at those who look down on her.

Go Ban Hua!