Author: Yue Xia Die Ying

NOTES:

  1. Fǔ – household; official residence; mansion
  2. Hou Shizi – Viscount; Marquis’ heir
  3. Xiangjun (Country Lord) – Title given to wives or daughters of high ranking noblemen
  4. Gōng zǐ – title used for sons of officials or nobility (I’ve translated this as Lord)
  5. Tanhua – Third ranked candidate in the Imperial examination system

Chapter 6 (Part 2) – Fierce Woman

The two siblings rode side by side towards the city walls crossing many people who were waiting in line at the gate in order to enter the city. However, nobles like Ban Hua didn’t have to wait in line to enter the city. 

As she was riding on horseback, she heard the faint sound of a child crying. Looking around, she saw a young woman wearing coarse clothes, anxiously hugging a one or two year old toddler. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t coax the child to stop crying and she was so anxious that she was on the verge of tears.

Ban Hua lowered her raised whip and dismounted.  Walking to the woman, she asked,  “What’s wrong with your child?”

The young woman saw that a noble lady had appeared in front of her eyes dressed in brocade robes and wearing shoes embroidered with phoenix patterns and studded with pearls on her feet. Guessing that the lady was of distinguished status, she thought that her child’s noisy crying had annoyed the other party. She apologized repeatedly saying “I’m sorry I’ve annoyed you. I’ll quiet the child right now.”

Ban Hua saw that the baby in her arms had flushed cheeks and unusual lip colour and asked her “Is your child sick?” 

The woman nodded with a haggard expression, but did not dare to let the tears in her eyes fall.

Ban Hua looked at the long line in front of them, then reached out and touched the child’s forehead. She was taken aback by its scalding heat.

“Come with me,” Ban Hua said. Then seeing that the woman was hesitant, she raised her voice and said again, “Come on! Hurry!” 

The woman didn’t dare to resist any further. She hugged the child in her arms and followed timidly behind Ban Hua. She had heard from some villagers that some noble ladies in the city had bad tempers and if someone were to offend them incautiously, they would be lucky to get away with a few lashes from a whip. If they were unlucky, they might even be thrown into a big prison and locked up for a while. She wasn’t afraid of being punished, but what about her child?

Just as the woman was letting her imagination run wild, Ban Hua handed her waist card to the gate guard. The guard saluted her and without looking at the woman holding her child, let them pass by.

“Okay, you take your child to go see the doctor by yourself,” Ban Hua mounted her horse again, slapped the horse’s butt and let the horse trot to catch up with Ban Heng.

The woman was stunned for a moment, only to realize that she had just met a good-hearted noble lady. She looked down at her crying child and took a deep breath. Since even a noble lady had come to help, her child was surely destined to survive.

“Sister, what were you doing just now?” Ban Heng saw her catching up and turned his head to look back. A quick glance showed him that there was nothing out of the ordinary behind them.

“I went to be a good person by doing good deeds,” Ban Hua said, after seeing Ban Heng’s suspicious look.

“Since when did you start doing good deeds?” Ban Heng knew his sister very well. Her biggest hobby every day was to eat and drink. Her food must be the finest and her clothes must be the most exquisite and tastefully chosen. Usually she was too busy just going out to show off her new clothes and new jewelry. Could she still have time for good deeds?

Ban Hua rolled her eyes exasperatedly at him, but a true beauty was beautiful even while rolling her eyes. So even when she did this coarse looking action, she looked adorable and cute.

It’s just that when this scene fell across Shen Yu’s eyes, he didn’t find it so cute. He had wanted to take advantage of the two siblings’ inattentiveness to avoid them, but he never thought that Ban Heng would notice him and take the lead to stop him first.

“Shen Yu!” Ban Heng pointed at him “You stop right there for me!”

“This petty official greets Ban Shizi,” Shen Yu glanced at Ban Hua on her horse, “I greet Ban Xiangjun. ” “

“Today is not the rest day yet. Why is Shen Tanhua not on duty? ” Ban Heng tossed his whip from hand to hand and glancing at the woman beside Shen Yu, sneered,” Tut.. what kind of beauty is this?”

 “The beauty of a woman is not just skin deep. Ban Shizi and this official have different opinions and there is nothing to say.” Shen Yu took a step back, “The two nobles please take your leave.”

Even if Ban Heng’s mind was not smart, he could tell that Shen Yu was scolding his sister as good looking on the surface but empty beneath and his face changed in anger.

“Slap!” A whip lashed down on Shen Yu’s body. Shen Yu groaned in pain and the woman beside him screamed in shock.

“In all my life, I hate men who beat about the bush the most.” Ban Hua lashed her whip again and before Shen Yu, a weak scholar, could react, the whip fell on him again, “If you had pointed a finger at this young lady directly and scolded that I don’t have a single good point except for my beauty, I could still have respected you as a man. Who do you think will be fooled by your sanctimonious appearance if you say a few deliberately ambiguous words  and pretend to be a decent person? “

” Ban Xiangjun, this one is also a court official. Whipping me in the middle of the street is too excessive.” Shen Yu glanced around at all the people who had gathered to watch the liveliness and couldn’t hold back.

“Humph,” Ban Hua lifted her chin slightly. “This lord is simply this unruly. What can you do about it?”

“You fierce shrew …”

“Slap!”

Another blow from her whip fell on him.

“Even though pointing at my nose and scolding me can make you look almost like a man, I still want to thrash you. The grand Tanhua is even insulting women on the street, is this what you call a scholarly demeanor?”

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TL’s Meanderings:

Shen Yu is the scum of the earth. I’m so glad that Ban Hua doesn’t have to be saddled with this dead weight.

What I don’t understand is how is this guy smart enough to get third place in the Imperial Examination? He’s from a second level family and has had the good luck to get engaged to a noble lady who is well above him in terms of wealth, social connections, family and title. She’s even known to be the Emperor’s favourite niece! And this guy decides to jilt her? On the surface, this guy comes out looking like a grade A, prize winning moron who is book smart but dumb about everything else and incredibly self obsessed.