IBTSOME Chapter 103 Part 1

I BECAME THE STEPMOTHER OF MY EX-HUSBAND

 

Chapter 103 Part 1 Extra Story: Yan Land’s Record

 

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"Heaven is dark, earth golden. The cosmos is vast and diffuse. Sun and moon wax and wane. The stars are fixed in their constellations...."¹

 

The girl with a double bun sits on a high seat, solemnly held the book, reading clearly. Because her legs could not reach the ground, her lotus root-like legs were still dangling in the air, the red soft shoes embroidered with delicate lotus flowers was peeking from between the clothes, and a pearl the size of a pigeon egg could be faintly seen on the toe of the shoe.

 

This girl who wore all red read aloud for a while, her eyes secretly looked at the door. Seeing that no one was paying attention to her, she lean forwad on the armrest of the chair, reached out her arm to take the agate ornaments on the Treasure Cabinet. The agate has a fine texture, bright and clear color, and the thing that rarer than the material was its carving. The color of this agate changed from red to green, and didn’t know which craftsman was so ingenious, he carved the red part into two lotus flowers, one in bud and the other in full bloom, and the base along the green part carved into lotus leaf.

 

This piece of agate was perfectly integrated and ingenious, and its value was immeasurable. The girl was at the age when she loves to play and loves freshness, naturally loved bright things. One of her small chubby hand grabbing the handrail, and the other arm with much difficulty stretched out to reach the red lotus agate. Wan Yue came in with people carrying the hot tea, and as soon as she went around the curtain, she was shocked.

 

"Junzhu!" Seeing that half of Rui Yang's body was outside the chair, Wan Yue quickly stepped forward to catch her and hugged her back to her seat. Wan Yue was shocked, she patted her chest and let out a long sigh: "Junzhu, if you want to take stuffs just call people, how can you do it yourself? If you fall, even if this servant die ten thousand times still not enough to ask forgiveness to Wangfei."

 

Rui Yang was held by Wan Yue so she couldn’t see anything outside. She pointed at Treasure Cabinet and said childishly, "I want that red flower!"

 

Wan Yue put Rui Yang away, and the little maid by her side brought the red jade agate over. Wan Yue took it from the maid, wiped it back and forth with the kerchief, and then handed it to Rui Yang: "Junzhu, this jade piece is not light, you be careful not to smash your hand."

 

Rui Yang played with the lotus agate, touched it here tapped it there, had a great time playing. Wan Yue watched for a while and said softly: "Junzhu, it's time to study."

 

Rui Yang's round cheeks suddenly wrinkled, it could be seen that reading was not as attractive as the agate. Wan Yue looked amused at such childish look. She bent down and said more patiently: "Junzhu, this servants also know that you are tired today, but Wangfei asked you to read the first ten lines of Thousand Character Classic, in a moment she will return to check. If you cannot recite, how will you explain it to Wangfei later?"

 

Rui Yang's delicate fingers clasped the petals of the agate lotus, and after a long time, she said gruffly, "But I want to go out to see Da Huang (big yellow)."

 

Da Huang was the name she gave to her little pony. Yan Wang Mansion enclosed a piece of meadow in the back mountain. The horse farm has everything, and Rui Yang liked to play on the grass field. When Yan Wang saw that she liked it, he specially selected a docile little yellow horse for her. Although she could not ride it yet, it was still possible for Rui Yang to feed it the grass and play with it.

 

Wan Yue squatted in front of her, asked while imitating her tone: "If Junzhu goes to play with Da Huang, then what to do when Wangfei asks about Thousand Character Classic?"

 

Rui Yang pouted for a long time, and discontentedly said, "Well, I'll go after I finish reading. But the Thousand Character Classic is too difficult..."

 

The little girl who was as delicate as polished jade said with a grieved expression "too difficult", Wan Yue’s heart was full of cuteness. Although Rui Yang was the only Junzhu of Yan Wang Mansion, she was still the jewel that Yan Wang obtained in his middle age. She had been pampered and spoiled since childhood, but her temper was not arrogant. On the contrary, when meeting people she was full of smiles, simply soft sticky rice adorable.

 

In the whole mansion top to bottom, no one dislikes this little Junzhu.

 

Wan Yue said to Rui Yang in a low voice, "It's not difficult. Junzhu is naturally intelligent. If you read it a few times, you will definitely remember it."

 

"Why mother want me to recite this?"

 

"Because Junzhu is already three years old, it is time for enlightenment (start of school). When you grow up, Wangfei will invite the female master to come to the mansion to teach Junzhu the four arts."

 

Oh no, Rui Yang heard Wan Yue's words like this, her little face immediately collapsed: "After I finish studying this book, I still have to study?"

 

Wan Yue couldn't help laughing. She smiled and touched Rui Yang's soft hair bun, and said: "Junzhu is the jewel of our Yan Wang Mansion. Of course, have to dabble in zither, chess, calligraphy and painting. In the future, will intimidate those people in the capital."

 

Although Rui Yang was born in the capital, but her impression started in Yan Wang Mansion. In her world, Yan Wang Mansion was the whole world. Now suddenly she heard aunt Wan Yue, who she was familiar with since childhood, mentioned another place name, Rui Yang was very curious: "Where is the capital?"

 

"The capital..." Mentioning this long-lost name, Wan Yue’s words contained a sigh, "The capital is to the south of Yan land, it’s not too far away, the carriage can go there in three or four days. There are red walls and green tiles, and everywhere has imperial atmosphere, it’s very different from Yan land."

 

Rui Yang let out a soft "Ah" and asked curiously, "Is there also Da Huang's favorite grass?"

 

Wan Yue smiled: "The capital is expensive. Where can spare a place to grow grass, this is too extravagant. Our Yan Wang Mansion in the capital is also one of the best mansions, but the back garden is half occupied by the lake, and the rest of the place is not enough for Junzhu to ride a horse."

 

Rui Yang sighed disappointedly: "The capital is not good at all, I don't want to go to the capital."

 

"Junzhu should not say that." Wan Yue's face was slightly serious. Even in Yan land, it was not a safe thing to rashly say the home was not good. Wan Yue said, "Junzhu is still young, still can speak children’s words. But what is right and wrong in the capital is not something we can say. What's more in recent years, the wind of impeachment has prevailed in the capital. Even First Assistant Zhang not able to die well, let alone other people? Moreover, Junzhu's elder brother is also in the capital."

 

"Elder brother?"

 

The smile on Wan Yue's face faded, but she nodded and said, "Yes, Junzhu's elder brother, our mansion’s Shizi, Gu Cheng Yao."

 

Rui Yang was only four years old now, and naturally there was no memory of her birth, unlikely remember that when she was born, an elder brother who was nineteen years old extremely cherished her. In recent years, Rui Yang had also sometimes heard people mention this elder brother, but in the world of children, if you can't see it with your eyes, then naturally there is no such person.

 

Rui Yang, who had just been enlightened, became infinitely interested in this unfamiliar elder brother, and pestered Wan Yue to tell her about Gu Cheng Yao. Wan Yue unable to resist, had no choice but to pick out a few fairly satisfactory things and tell them to the little Junzhu one by one.

 

Although things were not pleasant back then, the late Shizi Consort repeatedly wanted to harm Wangfei, and Shizi seemed to have some hidden thoughts about Wangfei, but the entanglement of the previous generation did not necessarily spread to the child. When Wan Yue told Rui Yang about Gu Cheng Yao, she only talked about the good aspects of Gu Cheng Yao.

 

It had been three years since Yan Wang returned to the vassal state.

 

In the past three years, after the emperor married, First Assistant Zhang died of illness, and then the vigorous liquidation of Zhang Xiao Lian rose. People in the court come and go, and there were countless officials who have lost their job or their lives due to unwarranted charges, and there were also many upstarts who have soared because of stepping on First Assistant Zhang. Within the capital here were many factions charging violently, but separated by a distance Yan land was as calm as paradise.

TN: If you were here early yesterday, I end up adding the author's note at the end of the previous chapter. If you haven't seen it then check it out.

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1 The first four sentence of Thousand Character Classic by Qian Zi Wen, texts for teaching Chinese characters and calligraphy to little children. I do not translate it myself but use this source     ^↩

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