To Be A Virtuous Wife

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holds duties in the kitchen." Those people didn't why wang fei would ask such a question but they replied without any fear on their faces.

"Such a good wang fu's kitchen," Qu Qing Ju nonchalantly leaned back on her seat. Under the confused gazes of the others, her face darkened and then her hand swept the goblet of wine-stewed pig shoulder to the floor. Very quickly, the room became saturated with the smell of meat, "Take them away and beat them."

Nobody managed to respond. They didn't know why wang fei, who had a personality as soft as mud, would suddenly act up and so nobody moved for a time.

"What is it? This I, a wang fei, cannot command you now?" Qui Qing Ju's large eyes narrowed. She stood and looked at the people in the room, "Or is it that you all feel that it is natural and proper for the kitchen to slight me?"

After being swept over by wang fei's gaze, everybody shook and managed to respond. A few of the taijian and the stronger mamas 正院: The main building or the primary building. The residence of the wife. See more in the glossary on the fu.

络子: laozi, it's an ornament that's usually made through knotting, such as the classic Chinese knot, to create various shapes.

[16] 飞仙髻: flying(飞)immortal(仙) knot/braid(髻)

[17]鸾鸟:mythical bird related to the phoenix

[18] 步摇:dangling hair ornament or literally step shake

[19] 请安: literally ask/request (请) safety/comfort(安). It is performed in the morning by all females of the family in the household to the eldest female, the mother of the highest ranking male member of the family, or in the absence of that, his wife. This includes daughters, concubines, sisters and if the family has not separated and the brothers live together, their wives would also go.

[20] 后院: back(后) courtyard(院). Another way of referring to the neiyuan, the main difference is that houyuan is more commonly used to refer specifically to the women who were concubines of assorted rank and social status.

[21] 妾侍 (qieshi): general term referring to all concubines

[22] 本王妃: this(本) wangfei(王妃). Ben (本) is used by a speaker to refer to themselves in the third person (illeism). This form of speaking is used for more formal occasions, usually when the speaker is part of a conversation among equals or as the highest ranking person in the room.

[23] 侍妾: shiqie. Lower in rank than ce fei but not the lowest in terms of rank among concubines.

[24] 大丫鬟: da for big(大) or first-rank. These are the highest ranked yahuan who have the most experience and spent the most time with the female they serve. According, they receive better treatment than other yahuan.

[25] 西园: literally the Western Park. It would be a set of rooms on the western side of the compound.

[26] 妾: qie.Shortened and very general name for concubine

[27] 宠爱: chong(宠) is to pamper/spoil/love. Ai(爱) is love. Chongai is a very different concept than love. It usually refers to the amount often a man has sexual congress with one of his concubines. The more nights they have, the more chong the concubines is said to have. Favor and affection are terms that are very similar to the concept of chongai.

[28]氏: shi means clan name. Women, upon marriage, are identified by their surname and it is very rare that their personal name is recorded. This is the case even for princesses. They would then be referred to as --shi, to identify the family they came from.

[29] 昌德公府: Chang De(昌德) is the name associated with the title, meaning flourishing/prosperous (昌) virtue(德). Gong(公) means that it is a dukedom. 公府 is therefore the ducal compound.

[30] 太监: eunuchs, who were men that were castrated, are not the same as taijian as taijian refers to specific positions in the Imperial palace and government which were occupied by men that were castrated.

[31] 殿中省: department under the Chancellery, responsible for all aspects of the Emperor's life.

[32] 奴才: literally meaning slave. It's the illeism used by servants to refer to themselves when talking to those in rank above them.

[33] 嬷嬷: while it is pronounced mama, it refers to old female servants, and is used similarly to pozi.

[34] 小高子: xiao(小) is small, gaozi(高子) means tall.

[35] 太医 (taiyi): imperial physician. It is an official position.

[36] 小白菜: it means little cabbage. There is a song lyric where it is "little cabbage, from childhood, there was no dad or mom". It is also the nickname of a woman in one of the major murder cases in 1872, nicknamed so as she wore a white shirt and green pants. She was childhood friends with a man who grew up to participate in the government exams and became a government official. However, she was a childhood bride and therefore had to marry into another family. When the two grew up, the man was accused of adultery with Little Cabbage and murdering her husband due to machinations of another official in revenge. After various ordeals and torture, the truth was revealed. However, the man's body was ruined by the torture and couldn't return to his position. He quickly died after and Little Cabbage became a nun.