Chapter 27: Marriage News

That face of surprised happiness was none other than Fourth Master Qin that has been the talk of Suzhou city lately.

Fourth Master Qin jumped off the carriage, wearing an embroidered blue robe, with graceful bearing and invigorating good looks, he did not wait for his little manservant to hold up an umbrella, and rushed under the eaves that Ran Yan was using to take shelter from the rain, smilingly looked at Ran Yan and said, “We really are fated!”

Towards this type of improper[1] words, Ran Yan maintained her silence, and only bowed slightly towards him, counting it as a greeting.

“The carriage went too fast, water splashed on Miss, I have truly committed an offence.” Qin Musheng bowed deeply with his hands held in front, his attitude when apologising extremely sincere.

Wan Lu had not thought that it would be him, was stunned for a moment, in addition the grudge she held from the last time he slapped her, in her heart she was faintly unhappy, thus she also did not speak.

“It’s no trouble.” Ran Yan indifferently said.

Qin Mushing looked at the half-obscured face under the veil and thought of the brief breath-taking moment from a few days ago, his heart felt intensely itchy[2], he hated that he could not reach out to get rid of that irksome veil, but he knew that the previous time he behaved carelessly, and had already invoked Ran Yan’s anger, this time no matter what he had to control himself, thinking of this, he said gently, “I heard that you’re recuperating from illness at the estate, and was just about to visit you, coincidentally we’ve met on the road, are you a little better now?”

“I’m very well, no need for Master Qin’s worry.” Ran Yan’s tone was perfunctory.

Qin Musheng completely did not take Ran Yan’s cold indifference to heart, his attitude towards women, was completely based on appearance, little Misses with some good looks, he would not feel embarrassed, in the past when he was infatuated with Sixth Miss Qi, he allowed her to trample all over him, therefore towards a beauty like Ran Yan, this little bit of coldness was truly nothing.

“Yesterday my family has already sent a wedding goose as a proposal gift[3], our marriage can be said to be settled already.” Thinking of this matter, Qin Musheng’s mood was really good, it’s no matter that Ran Yan was cold towards him, in the future there would be plenty of time to slowly teach and adjust her.

In proposing marriage[4], the most important round was the wedding goose. The emissary from the male side needed to grasp a wild goose as a present for the female’s family. This was because wild geese were migratory birds, they had a set time to migrate north and south according to the weather, moreover they had a fixed mate, when one dies, the other does not choose another mate, signifying unchanging loyalty.

Wan Lu lifted her head to look at Qin Musheng in astonishment, she understood clearly that, after the proposal it was to enquire after the name and horoscope of the intended bride, then ask the temple of the couple’s suitability and inform the bride’s family if they match, then the sending of betrothal gifts, after that the male side will propose a wedding date to the bride’s family, once the date for the groom to receive his bride is fixed, that marriage would be like nails hammered onto an iron panel (set in stone), according to the usual speed, these steps would take one to two months of effort! Wan Lu always felt that her family’s Miss would find a good man, and not marry such a rich playboy. Suddenly confronted with such news, she was actually a little out of her wits.

Ran Yan clenched her fists hidden in her sleeves tightly, that father of hers, was he really going to randomly marry her off, what kind of person Qin Musheng was, Ran Yan did not believe that he did not know, what benefits did the Qin family give? Making him so eager to sell his daughter.

Qin Musheng stared at the graceful figure beneath the veil, the bottom of his heart felt like it was clawed at by a cat, he resisted with great difficulty from reaching out to pull off that irksome barrier, “In a few days it will be the seventh evening of the seventh lunar month[5], I wanted to invite Miss to appreciate the lights by the Pingjiang river bank, I don’t know if Miss will give me this honour?”

“Lately there has been many rumours about you, before the rumours cleared up, you should not attract too much attention, I don’t want to become the topic of other people’s after dinner conversation.” Ran Yan tactfully declined, at the same time probing for any useful information.

Besides, this was not yet the time to turn hostile towards Qin Musheng, Ran Yan could only be patient, although the situation seemed imminent, but she was not too anxious, whatever she can destroy she would do her uttermost to destroy, whatever she was unable to destroy she will use medicine to cause trouble for Qin Musheng.

In the Tang Dynaster, after marriage you can still divorce, after divorce you can still remarry, it was not a big issue. It was just that she could not stand that news of her own marriage, she kept receiving them from other people’s mouths!

“Miss should not believe the nonsense that other people say, my few blows absolutely cannot kill Han Shan, him dying prematurely, it’s not my fault.” Bringing up this matter, Qin Musheng was filled with anger, he did not kill that person, seeing his father’s dark expression for the past few days, having to be careful in everything he does, he did not even dare to even eat more rice at mealtimes. But luckily, his father had always dealt with matters clearly, each matter considered separately[6], the matter of connecting to the Ran family by marriage, his attitude was resolute.

Qin Musheng saw that Ran Yan was silent like a pool of stagnant water, quickly suppressed the fire in his chest, with a soft voice enquired about her wellbeing.

The rain outside slowly lessened, but there was still no trace of Sang Chen.

Standing together with Qin Musheng, Ran Yan felt even more tormented, thus said, “I still have matters to attend to, if you have matters why not go ahead and attend to them first, I won’t disturb you further, farewell.”

Saying that, she had Wan Lu hold up the umbrella, and walked out of the East City.

“Where are you going? I’ll send you.” Qin Musheng pined for many days, every night he dreamt of that breath-taking moment, how would he now be willing to let go of this good opportunity.

Wan Lu saw that Ran Yan was ignoring him, thus turned her head and said, “If Master is thinking on behalf of my family’s Miss, please just wait till the incident is over.”

Hearing this sentence, Qin Musheng really stopped his steps, Wan Lu looked at Qin Musheng clothed in splendid robes and standing like a jade in the rain, sighed in her heart, if he really was genuine towards Miss, it would be a thousand fortunes amongst the misfortune[7].

“Miss…” Wan Lu noticed that Ran Yan’s mood was not great, wanted to say something in comfort, but was interrupted by Ran Yan, “Let’s quickly look for Sang Chen, he still owes me a debt, for the next few days we cannot have anything go wrong.”

This debt involved quite a few lives!

Ran Yan saw that Qin Musheng did not follow her, thus took Wan Lu and rushed quickly into the alleyway she came from.

According to Ran Yan’s speculation, something must have happened before Sang Chen exited the alley, because Wan Lu did not see him come from the entrance to enter the East City. Moreover this alley directly faced the main entrance of the East City, if something happened, the guards would not just sit and watch.

The both of them braved the rain and searched a few alleys, but did not find a trace of Sang Chen’s whereabouts, Wan Lu said, “Miss, your body is completely soaked through, why don’t we return first, these streets belong to those who are rich, unlike other areas where fishes mix with dragons[8], Mr Sang should be fine.”

“The day is still early, let’s search again.” Ran Yan felt that one could not use the usual line of thought to estimate Sang Chen, otherwise one would definitely be disappointed.

Wan Lu pursed her lips, and did not try to dissuade her further, but in her heart she resented Sang Chen. Wan Lu liked to look at beautiful men, but in her heart, no matter how beautiful the men, they were not as important as a strand of Ran Yan’s hair.

After half an hour, both of them walked through seven to eight nearby alleys, but still did not find the slightest trace of his whereabouts. Just as they were about to give up, a racket suddenly started behind them.

Ran Yan turned around, and saw a middle-aged man in his forties glaring at the young man standing under the eaves, saying impatiently, “This young master, are you asking for directions or picking an quarrel!”

Wan Lu carefully took measure of that youth that resembled a drowned rat, her mood suddenly brightened, tugged at Ran Yan and walked forward, “It’s Mr Sang!”

“I am just asking for directions, this fellow, how can you say such hurtful words!” Sang Chen started to get angry, his blood and Qi rushed forth, causing his white face and neck to be dyed with a layer of blood colour.

Indeed the clay Bodhisattva has some degree of earth nature[9], Ran Yan thought to herself, it turns out that this rabbit has started to bite!

“What is going on?” Ran Yan saw that the man eyes were bulging, the muscles in well-built upper body was also pulled taut, the vein in his neck was pulsating, it was evident that his emotions were at its bursting point, thus she quickly spoke out to interrupt their conversation.

Ran Yan clear and cold voice eased the situation a little, that man saw that a little lady was asking, immediately as if he was receiving amnesty shout out loud, “This must be your husband, take him away quickly, for the past hour he has knocked on my house door eight times already! From here to the East City, in total you just need to turn three corners, he continuously asked eight times, if he’s not picking a quarrel with me then what is he doing!”

Sang Chen was using his sleeves to wipe at the rainwater on his face, hearing the man saying thus, immediately retorted, “Every single time I walked a very long way before knocking on a door to ask for directions, who knew that every time it would be so coincidental, I would knock on your door, even so, you don’t need to be so hurtful right?”

The man was originally not a patient person, once he heard Sang Chen twisting his words and forcing logic, seized his sleeves, fiercely grabbed hold of Sang Chen’s lapels, “I’m telling you! Even though our Hu family has washed their hands in a golden basin[10], not anyone is able to offend us! You’re dressed like a gentleman, even if you don’t know the way, you still know how to read right? This is the Hu Residence! These two big words, are you blind! If you continue babbling, be careful that I[11] don’t chop you!”

Sang Chen’s face turned pale, stammered out, “You, don’t, don’t act rashly, a nobleman, a nobleman uses words and not violence!”

Washing one’s hands in a golden basin, this phrase was not used regarding proper livelihoods, even if those that follow the right way of Jianghu[12], you still can’t avoid fighting and killing, the moment Ran Yan heard this phrase, immediately said, “Master please don’t get angry, there’s a problem with his brain, this child will pay her apologies to you, please pardon a moment of stupidity.”

The man looked Sang Chen up and down a few times, with a dismissive face threw him away, “Never mind, a little Miss like you still having to serve such a troublesome person, it’s also difficult. The first day that I’m serving as a gatekeeper I met such a situation, let’s just say it’s my bad luck, just quickly take him away!”

After saying that he turned and entered the courtyard, with a peng, he swung the door shut.

Ran Yan let out a breath in relief, it was lucky that this man was still rather magnanimous, otherwise to anger such a person, even if you are to be beaten and disabled, there was still no place to reason with.

Sang Chen buried his head and carefully tidied his lapels, lifted his head to look at the door plate, in a small voice blurted with a pout, “I know how to read, but how would I know that this Hu residence was actually that Hu residence…”

While speaking, he noticed that by his side Ran Yan who was as still as stagnant water, emitted a terrifying aura, thus resentfully stopped speaking.

Ran Yan turned and left without a word, now she was deeply suspecting that before she transmigrated her IQ had rapidly lowered, otherwise how would she miscalculate once again? To be entrapped when lending assistance in error, this time she did not know the person well, she had already agreed exchange an autopsy for Sang Chen’s ceramic, but today everything that caused her to worry, was all because of this damned rabbit!

Sang Chen also knew that he was at fault, shamefully followed behind Ran Yan and Wan Lu, the heavy rain poured, his clothes were drenched till it stuck tightly to his body, revealing his thin and long body that looked increasingly tall and long.

The three of them silently walked near the East City, found a few horse carriages, but they disliked that Sang Chen was soaked with water, and was afraid that the felt in the carriage would become wet, were unwilling to take them. With much difficulty they found a donkey carriage, by the time they returned to the Zhou family’s estate, the carriage shaking the whole journey, the sky already turned dark.

Miss Xing waited at the entrance, when she saw Ran Yan she was happy till she cried, with some rebuke she said, “Miss has really frightened this old servant! Why have you returned so late?”

Wan Lu saw Miss Xing glaring at her, quickly answered, “This matter you can’t blame me, Mr Sang lost his way, Miss and I looked for him for a really long time!”

“This is my fault… Please don’t blame Miss.” Sang Chen bowed deeply with his hands held in front.

Miss Xing move sideways to avoid (Sang Chen’s bow), she was a servant, no matter what she could never rebuke Ran Yan, she was just too worried, that’s all.

Miss Xing saw that Sang Chen was completely drenched, cutting a sorry figure, felt compassion in her heart, so did not say anything to blame him, slowly said, “There’s no need for Mr Sang to be over courteous, this old servant was just overly worried about Miss, Mr Sang got wet from the rain, you should hurry back home to change your clothes, before you catch a cold.”

“Then I’ll take my leave now.” Sang Chen carefully glanced at Ran Yan, before he turned to leave.

Miss Xing had already prepared hot water and ginger soup early on, returning to the house, she immediately urged Ran Yan to take a bath.

Ran Yan did not allow Wan Lu to wait on her, and this matched Wan Lu’s wishes, she urgently pulled at Miss Xing to ask her opinion, “Miss Xing, Master, he- he promised Miss to Fourth Master Qin! They have already delivered the wedding goose! If we had not met Fourth Master Qin today, we would still be in the dark!”

“What!” Miss Xing’s expression changed, both shocked and upset, with a shaking voice said, “How can Master do that! Yesterday when he came over, he actually did not reveal a word about this, he really is, really is heartless!”

[1] 调戏: to take liberties with a woman / to dally / to assail a woman with obscenities