Chapter 28: Tea Party Invitation Card

Miss Xing indeed had extreme understanding of the ways of the world, and was adept at handling affairs, however she lacked ruthlessness and (underhand) tricks, normally she was still able to hinder others in little ways[1], regarding other things she would probably not be able to cope, otherwise she would not have allowed the second wife to mistreat both mistress and servants to this extent.

The marriage being arranged, Miss Xing did not have a plan. Even the wedding goose custom was settled, the remaining time was only one to two months, what methods could she have to turn the tides[2]! Moreover, Ran Wen kept this affair a secret, for what purpose she did not know.

After Ran Yan finished bathing and exited the bathroom, she sent Wan Lu to tell Sang Chen, if the ceramic prototype was not drying well, he can take a little more time.

After that, she went to look at the food she piled up yesterday, according to the time they were placed there, a few items had grown green mould, additionally the weather had been gloomy and rainy, so the mould had spread considerably, in a few days there should be enough mould growing.

Ran Yan did not understand why she was so unlucky, randomly picking one, she picked out such a difficult illness like syphilis. Moreover, when faced with this type of highly contagious disease, any doctor who comprehends the situation would not stand idly by, let alone herself who had some confidence in curing it.

Syphilis had a long disease cycle, Zi Xu’s condition was already at the second stage, even though it was serious, but for the moment her life would not be in danger, but her period of illness was at least three months, if she was not treated effectively, and the disease progress to its late stages it would be a big problem, unable to die and yet living in suffering.

Ran Yan furrowed her brows and sighed, furthermore, the ratio of people allergic to penicillin was one in a hundred to one in ten, that is to say, out of a hundred people, there would be at least one to ten people that have allergic reactions to it, this was a large percentage, right now Ran Yan could only pray that Miss Yan, Zi Xu and Hong Xing were not one of these people.

Traditional Chinese medicine… in modern times traditional Chinese medicine was able to cure syphilis, but before this Ran Yan had not paid much attention to this type of illnesses, and only vaguely remembered a few herbs, and not the whole prescription, thus she wrote a new prescription based on the principals of medical science, to be taken orally and applied externally, but she hoped it would have effect.

“Miss.” Miss Xing saw that Ran Yan was spacing out under the corridor again, took out a satin robe to drape over Ran Yan’s shoulders, and sat kneeling down beside her, “Is Miss feeling worried because of the marriage?”

“Marriage?” Ran Yan raised her brow slightly, only remembering now that her marriage had been arranged, glimpsed that Miss Xing was deeply worried, thus said, “This is not some big matter, everything should be viewed at from a good angle, Fourth Master Qin is still an unmarried young man, from a good family background, no matter what it’s better by far than a’ye marrying me off to be a concubine to those who are over 50 and already have wives and children!

Even if Ran Yan was no longer favoured, she was still the daughter of the first wife, giving her to another family to be a concubine would a slap to his (Ran Yan’s father’s) own face. Miss Xing knew that Ran Yan’s words were just for comfort, thus smiled bitterly, saying, “If Master was really so heartless, we would rather seek shelter from Madam’s family!”

“Everything will turn out for the best[3], there is no need to worry about this matter, I will deal with it appropriately.” Ran Yan added silently in her mind, if she really was forced to marry him, it would be fine if Qin Musheng agreed not to touch her, if he did not agree, then she could only use medicine to make him temporarily unable to have sex, after that slowly look for a way out. But pondering over it, according to Qin Musheng’s dissolute character, she was afraid the latter’s possibility was bigger.

“Miss really has grown up already.” Miss Xing sighed, with downcast eyes said, “This old servant knows that she is useless, unable to help Miss.”

Ran Yan saw that Miss Xing did not seem to finish speaking, thus did not interrupt, and only quietly listened.

Miss Xing said, “When we were in Xingyang, the maidservants by Madam’s side were all allocated by Madam Lu, including myself[4], among the four of us, I was the most useless, timid, unable to handle matters, but when Madam was married, Madam Lu solely left me for Madam. Madam’s suffering, I witnessed it all, but other than being more devoted towards her and taking her side, I could not help her in any other matters.”

During the Tang Dynasty, after a woman marries she would not take her husband’s surname, Xingyang’s Zheng clan and Fanyang’s Lu clan intermarried for generations, it was not the least bit strange that the main wife’s[5] surname was Lu.

“After so many years have passed, I still have not made any progress, now towards Miss, other than devotion and loyalty, other things I still cannot help at all.” While speaking, Miss Xing’s tears were already flowing down her cheeks with hate and resentment.

Ran Yan understood, although Miss Xing had actually comprehended the circumstances clearly, and knew that who was good and who was bad, but she just could not think of a way to handle it, this kind of helpless feeling was really suffocating, instead it would be better to cover both eyes and live freely without knowing anything.

“Don’t blame yourself, I said before that I will protect you both, learning medicine now, earning money, it’s all effort to make myself stronger. Trust me.” Ran Yan’s complexion was a little spiritless, but that kind of steadiness that puts one at ease, it left no room for doubts.

“Naturally I trust Miss!” Miss Xing wiped dry her tears, suddenly remembered something, quickly took out a card and a letter from her sleeves, saying, “Miss, this is the invitation and letter sent from the city this morning, have a look.”

Ran Yan received the items, looked through the invitation first, it was the Yin family’s Third Miss, Yin Miaomiao, inviting her to a tea party, the letter was also written by Yin Miaomiao.

Recalling back, her relationship with Yin Miaomiao was not bad, at the very least their conversations were usually pleasant, moreover the Yin family’s status in Suzhou was preceded only by three families: Qi, Ran and Yan. The Yin’s family upbringing was strict, the daughters they brought up were all model daughters of Suzhou, modest and filial, gentle and virtuous, educated and well-balanced, able to entertain guests in the living hall and cook in the kitchen[6], they had high reputations throughout the whole Jiangnan province. Yin Miaomiao’s character, was naturally also excellent.

Ran Yan put down the invitation, opened the letter, carelessly glanced through, indeed as expected of a letter written by a model person, it really tightly adhered to model standard, the words were good words, the messages were good messages[7], but because it adhered too much to the model standard, there was no trace of feelings conveyed.

Ran Yan thought in her heart, perhaps the other really did not care about her.

“Third Miss Yin invited me to join her tea party, should I go?” Ran Yan knew, these type of etiquette matters, she could not go wrong in asking Miss Xing.

Miss Xing thought about it and said, “Didn’t Wan Lu say the other day that you met many noble women at Orchid House? According to the Yin family’s Miss’s talent and learning, the Orchid Gathering would not exclude her, she definitely knows that you’ve recovered from you illness, that’s why she sent an invitation, thus it would not be good to evade this event.”

“Then I’ll go.” Even though Ran Yan had a cold personality, but in the modern era she still had close female friends, when she arrived in the Tang Dynasty naturally she would hope to find one or two like-minded friends, joining the tea party, it would be a good opportunity.

“Miss should be careful of Eighteenth Miss.” Miss Xing reminded.

“En.” Ran Yan said plainly. Not only did Ran Meiyu have a sharp tongue, she had a malicious heart, it was just fortunate that while she was slightly clever in small things, but she did not scheme deeply, otherwise it would really be frightening.

The heavy rain gradually stopped, becoming a drizzle, before finally returning to Jiangnan’s gentleness. The blistering heat of summer was also extinguished by a lot. As darkness fell, the lanterns in the corridor swayed gently, and you could see the plants in the courtyard sparkling from the rainwater.

Ran Yan ate her dinner simply, and then read medical books under the veranda.

This medical book was given to her by Wu Xiuhe, it talked about the characteristic of pulses from a variety of illnesses. In the current medical world, medical prescriptions were precious things that were kept secret and not divulged to outsiders, not to mention medical books, Ran Yan knew, Wu Xiuhe was giving his all in teaching her.

Ran Yan sat on the chair[8] with a circular back, behind her was padded with a soft cushion, over her a thin quilt covered her body, it was very comfortable. This chair with a circular back was just like the horseshoe chair[9] in later generations, but it did not have legs, and was placed directly on the floor.

It might look something like this but less modern.

A little square lantern made from Korean[10] paper and paste was placed on the small table beside her, with a fine ebony frame, on four sides there were drawings of plum flowers, orchids, bamboo and chrysanthemums, each accompanied by a short poem, it was bright and elegant.

To be next to the breeze and fine rain outside the veranda, just as she was becoming contented from watching (the rain/scenery), Wan Lu led two people back.

They walked close before Ran Yan could see clearly, it was actually Ms Liu[11] and her son Zhou Sanlang.

That day Zhou Sanlang was swollen from the water till his appearance changed, moreover Ran Yan was rushed to save him, so did not have the time to carefully look at him, now when she looked, this child was quite handsome, wearing a dark brown hemp garment of coarse cloth, about twelve to thirteen years of age, with a sharp jaw, oval face and a pair of big expressive eyes that seemed as if they could speak, if it weren’t for the fact that he kept frowning, he would be very adorable.

“Miss, Sister-in-law Liu had come by many times in the morning, but you were not here.” Wan Lu said while closing the umbrella, and led the mother and son both up the veranda.

From a place about 7-8 feet away from Ran Yan, Ms Liu tugged at Zhou Sanlang, the two simultaneously knelt down in front of Ran Yan. Ms Liu prostrated herself on the ground and said, “Miss is the big benefactor of us mother and son, we fled from calamity to here, our family is penniless, unable to return the favour, there’s only ourselves[12], Miss saved Sanlang’s life, from this day forward, the both of us mother and son are at your service!”

Saying that, Ms Liu brought out two pieces of paper from her bosom, gently placed in front of Ran Yan, “This is our slave contract. We don’t want money, please accept it, Miss.”

Ran Yan carefully scrutinised Ms Liu, although the woman before her was already showing signs of ageing, but Ran Yan judged that her age was not old, at the most 35 years old, with a calm bearing, she wore hemp clothes made from coarse cloth, but it could not hide her temperament that was completely different from normal village women.

“Please stand up first.” Ran Yan went forward to modestly help Ms Liu up, but her heart was a wave of scheming, she was sorely lacking of help now, an additional person who was loyal to her, it was also very good.

As for this child, Ran Yan saw that he kept prostrating himself on the ground, motionless, until Ran Yan asked them to get up, only did he slightly lifted up his body, his pretty lips pressed into a straight line, it was obvious, he was not resigned to become a slave.

Within a brief moment, Ran Yan thought of a countermeasure to deal with the situation, this mother and son, she wanted them both, but first she had to get this little guy to yield.

[1] 使点小绊子: try to trip sb. up; put a spoke in sb.’s wheel

[2] 力挽狂澜: to pull strongly against a crazy tide (idiom); fig. to try hard to save a desperate crisis

[3]车到山前必有路: When the car reaches the mountain, there will be a way through (idiom). Everything will be alright/let’s worry about it when it happens

[4] 老奴: Miss Xing continuously refers to herself as ‘this old servant’ but I’ll be substituting it for I/me.

[5] 主母: form of address concubines used for the wife

[6] 上得厅堂下得厨房: indicating that a person is able to do housework/run the household perfectly; in work, they are able to form interpersonal relationships and handle matters on their own.

[7]话也是好话: what was said/conveyed in the letter was good

[8] 圆腰椅床: directly translated it means circular-waist-chair-bed. I’m thinking it could mean a bench instead of a single-seater chair.

[9] 圆腰太师椅: see picture below

[10] 高丽: Korean Goryeo dynasty, 918-1392 / Korea, esp. in context of art and culture

[11] 刘氏: Liu shi – her surname is Liu, and shi indicates that it’s her maiden name, so I used Ms Liu.

[12] meaning they have no money to repay her, and can only offer themselves