To Be A Virtuous Wife

I hope chapter one wasn’t too overwhelming. It gets much easier from here onwards.

Translator's note: In the Manchus, it was true that secondary wives received a rank and were "legitimate" rather than a concubine. This carried forward as they established the Qing Dynasty but it was corroded to some degree by the Han culture over time. The dynasty that this novel is set in contains elements from the Ming and from the Qing court but those are cherry-picked. Only the "legitimate wife" or 正妻 (zhengqi) is referred to as a wife in this translation. All others would be qie or concubine.

Chapter Two Ce Fei is Still Qie

The ce fei and shiqie didn't think that they would see a beautiful play of brute force once they stepped into the zhengyuan. They looked suspiciously at wang fei and then at the servants who were at their limits due to pain but didn't dare show it in their twisted expressions. What had happened here?

Seeing that wang fei was walking into the room, the four didn't care whether if it was respectful or not and followed. Only Feng ce fei, when she passed, ordered for the people get carried back. However, when she saw that no servant in the surroundings moved, her expression changed and she didn't speak further.

At the front, Yin Liu and Jin Zhan lowered their heads as they guided the others along and held the curtains open for the four. From far away, they saw Mu Jin and Yu Zan coming over with meal boxes. They stopped walking and waited for the two to come close. Seeing that those two weren't clear as to what had happened, the four exchanged glances and looked at the servants who had suddenly become more obedient in the yard before lifting the curtain to enter the rooms.

The rooms had already been cleaned. The smell of meat had been covered by burning fragrance. But Qui Qing Ju didn't like the smell and couldn't resist looking at the flying cane and golden beast brazier.

Rui Xiang went forward immediately to extinguish the incense, changing it for a fainter, less fragrant one. Seeing wang fei's expression relax slightly, she breathed a sigh of relief as well.

"Look at how clever wang fei's yahuan is. No wonder that even wang ye complimented your yahuan," Feng ce fei said with a faint smile as she bowed slightly to Qu Qing Ju. She was laughing at the fact that a few days earlier, wang ye had taken one of Qu Qing Ju's yahuan as a tongfang. : "Wang fei have mercy, nu spoke wrongly."

"It is fine to say what ever in front of me, since once the door is closed, everybody is a member of Duan Wang Fu. But if you slip outside, if others say I cannot maintain discipline, it would be a minor matter, but if you shame Duan Wang Fu, it would be a different matter altogether," Qu Qing Ju sighed lightly, "Technically, you have great seniority in this wang fu, I shouldn't need to say more, it has wasted my words."

"The fact that wang fei is concerned for us nu, it is our honor, it is not wasted." Jiang Yong Yu, who had been standing silently by one side the entire time, came forward and performed a bow, "nu may have spent more time in this fu but is not as respected and valued as wang fei and not as knowledgeable. Wang fei's attentions have taught nu."

The other three didn't think Jiang Yong Yu would lower herself to such a respectful attitude. They felt distain inside but on the outside, their faces all showed looks of agreement.

Feng Zi Jin looked once at Jiang Yong Yu. Inside she thought disdainfully, it was obvious that she wasn't of high birth, that she would even curry favor with an unfavored wang fei.

Taking in all of the expressions, Qu Qing Ju held her chin in one hand on the carved wooden armrest, her right index finger tapping on the chair. Of the four women in front of her, Feng Zi Jin's birth was the best, her father was a third-rank assistant minister of the Ministry of Works. Jiang Yong Yu's father was only a sixth-rank official in the Ministry of Works. The other two shiqie was of even lower-birth. Han Qing He's father was only an eighth-rank official. It was only the fact that she taught Duan Wang on matters of adulthood that she was elevated to become a shiqie. The other silent and often ignored shiqie was Luo Yin Xiu. Her father was deceased and she had, along with her mother, depended on the support of her maternal uncle who was a seventh-rank official in the Department of Transportation.

Looking at the appearance, Feng Zi Jin was the most beautiful, followed by Jiang Yong Yu. Similar to her name, Han Qing He was very clean and Luo Yin Xiu's appearance was just as unremarkable as her personality.

These four simple-looking women and a few unable-to-be-seen-publically tongfang were enough to cause the original to be majorly ill. It could be seen that they weren't so simple after all.

"Naturally it would be good to remember," Qu Qing Ju stood, holding Mu Jin's hand as she started walking outside. The four, seeing her movements, obediently followed to the yard. The yard had been cleaned, not showing any signs that would allow an observer to find that an hour ago, there had been people undergoing a beating.

Squinting as she took a look at the sky, Qu Qing Ju then turned to look at the four women: "Today's weather isn't bad, accompany me on a walk. After so many days ill, I didn't have the time to develop a relationship with you. We will remedy that bit by bit from now on."

In any other fu, when the wife was sick, which concubine didn't come to pay their respects? It was only the concubines in Duan Wang Fu that had the guts to only send presents but didn't come in person. The original endured, but she didn't have to continue.

Listening to wang fei's warm voice saying words with a heavy undertone, Luo Yin Xiu, who had the least courage, couldn't help but shudder. She had originally thought to pay respects daily but Feng ce fei didn't do so. She was only an unfavored shiqie and couldn't even say additional words, or walk an extra step. Now that wang fei wanted to settle old scores, Feng ce fei was fine with wang ye's favor, but she had no such favor, what could she do now?

Jiang Yong Yu, after hearing this, stopped and then looked at FEng Zi Jin. She didn't have wang ye's favor but due to the fact she understood her position, her life in the wang fu could be considered not too good or too bad. Today, upon seeing wang fei, she peculiarly felt that wang fei had some element of power. The woman walking in front of her looked the same, but didn't have that personality of mud. The beating of the servants in the morning had been wang fei making an example, otherwise she wouldn't have made such a ruckus.

Any nobleman with no problems in their brain would always give the wife some measure of respect, especially somebody as intelligent as wang ye. In the past, wang fei had been soft and didn't care to take up the issues and so nothing had happened. Now that wang fei wanted to bother with it, nothing would be smoothed over just because Feng Zi Jin was favoured.

Wang fei didn't have the attention and love of her father and stepmother at home but she had an influential maternal family. Wang ye wasn't a person without any ambition and naturally knew how to respect his wife.

She looked sympathetically at Feng Zi Jin who was walking in front of her once, then Jiang Yong Yu shifted her gaze away. She saw that a procession that was making their way towards them. At the very front was the master of this fu, Duan Qin Wang.[6]

[1] 通房: lowest rank in concubine.

[2] 两 (liang): a tael. Approximately 50 grams. The conversion of silver to gold and to copper ratio would have varied across time.

[3] 奴(nu): way of referring to oneself as a servant, like "this servant".

[4] 荠菜: shepherd's purse. It is related to the mustard family and usually considered a weed.

[5] 万福(wan fu): literal meaning is ten thousand good fortune. This is the proper greeting between women, the right hand covering the left in a loose fist and performing a movement from the right side of the chest moving downwards and at the same time, bowing with the legs bent as though trying to sit down.

[6] 端亲王: before, he had always been referred to as Duan Wang (端王) but Duan Qin Wang is his proper rank. This is the highest level of prince. The only rank higher would be the Emperor.