"Long Life Girl "《長命女》Chapter 2
An Unexpected Future
Xiao Du spoke in a genteel manner, even though he tried his
hardest to explain the situation clearly, his pronunciation was still that of a
bureaucrat, the Liang family were country folks who have listened to a dialect
all their lives, they didn’t understand anything. Just now when they took their
seat it was under the guidance of the maid Xiao Si, it wasn’t because they
understood Xiao Du’s words.
Nan Shi was very direct, her daughter was beside her, it was
then she recalled hasn’t her daughter been an apprentice in the city for a few
months? She must understand more than she did. Nan Shi softly asked Liang Yu:
[Yu ah, what did he say?]
What did he say?
Liang Yu also rarely heard such a dialect, but at this
moment she couldn’t say the words [I don’t know]. Relying on her youthful
intellect, and having actually heard the formal dialect before, and remembering
the crown prince had passed away in the beginning of the year, the explanation
should therefore be: [that is, the original crown prince passed away, a new
heir must be appointed, this new crown prince is…e? Elder sister’s son?]
Having spoken, she was also stunned! She completely
understood!
Heavens a large pie had been thrown at her face, and it was
a meat pie!
Liang Yu was stupefied, the entire Liang family was
stupefied.
Everything seemed so unreal.
They were born and grew up here, they lived off the land
their entire life, all year round they would only be partly full at each meal,
vegetables and tofu were guaranteed. What they saw today, was the luxury that
they never even thought of in their life, they couldn’t even name the items
inside the carriage.
Of course they knew the original crown prince had passed away,
and knew there was a new crown prince, but to them, the only consequence of
appointing a new crown prince was – a new crown prince would mean reducing a
bit of tax, they would be able to eat a bit more meat over the new year.
The Liang family were not idiots, Xiao Du was also speaking
in Chinese, after Liang Yu’s explanation, they considered it, that’s right!
It’s just as they thought! And they can live comfortably in the capital city!
Immediately, they came to their senses, more than ten faces, like the garden in
spring, gradually blossomed.
They were flying to the sky!
Nowadays, it was normal for people to be a third, sixth or
ninth ranked official, there were famous families who have held high positions
for the last ten generations and hundreds of years, the emperor has an empress,
even if the eldest daughter of the Liang family gave birth to the crown prince,
she didn’t have a [formal wife] status. But! Compared to living off the land,
in principle she would be taken care of, that is so much better!
Liang Yu was very happy! Having been the apprentice of
tailor Wu for a few months, she already had an ambition – learn the craft, open
a tailors herself, a huge one, take on several apprentices, run the business
diligently, earn a lot of money to buy land, employ a few people to work on it,
then her parents would never have to work on the land again.
She was the youngest in the family, her parents had given
birth to nine boys and three girls, she was thirteen years old this year, her
parents were over fifty years old. She was very scared her parents would pass
away early, without her being able to allow them to live comfortably for a
little while.
Now it was fine, even though it wasn’t she who was providing for
her parents, at least her parents, especially her mother can work a little
less, she was truly happy.
She glanced at Nan Shi with a smile, saying to herself, now
mother won’t need to get up at
wugeng[1]
and sleep at midnight to spin and weave cloth. However she found Nan Shi
was acting odd. Nan Shi was mumbling to herself continuously: [My oldest
daughter is still alive, my oldest daughter is still alive.]
Liang Yu’s elation was immediately extinguished by a bucket
of cold water to the face.
Liang Yu was ambitious, the worries of a girl did not hold a
position in her mind, her thoughts were used to think of how to make money. Now
it was different from before, her life was carefree, her thoughts also became
focused. The anxieties of a girl rose, thinking about Nan Shi’s expression when
she often spoke of [her older sister] these last ten years, her joyous heart
turned cold.
She had hoped she would come back alive, but now she basked
in her only glory and happiness, without actually thinking about the welfare of
her older sister. To become a distinguished person, effort must be put in, she
had made a name for herself in front of her master, apart from being smart, she
had done a lot more work than the other girls around her.
[Elder sister has been found, mother can relax, I can sleep
well from now one.] Liang Yu thought, [it’s a good thing.]
The Liang family had a tally in
their minds, their joy gradually became louder and louder. Lu Yi watched these
villagers with tolerance, Zhu Ji rolled his eyes in exaggeration, even Xiao Du,
the three of them observed the reactions of the Liang family.
Magistrate Zhang couldn’t sit still, he should have been
accompanying the visitors. When Lu Yi and the others arrived, he only made him
prepare, and didn’t tell him this. Now with his hands cupped together, he
didn’t know whether he should congratulate the Liang family, or wait until Lu
Yi and the others were done talking, these three people were slightly strange:
such a good thing, why didn’t they tell him before? I would have done better
right?
Fortunately the Liang family were country bumpkins,
congratulatory gifts didn’t need much thought, gold silks were sufficient,
magistrate Zhang were also afraid the Liang family wouldn’t even know what even
more luxiurious gifts were!
Lu Yi made a hand gesture at him, indicating they’ll talk
again later, at this moment the three of them could tell, this Liang family,
apart from the young girl, none of them could follow and understand their formal
pronunciation, let alone formal language! This matter, was troublesome.
The three of them had received orders to come, in order to
examine the Liang family, figure out a countermeasure for the situation, if it
wasn’t for Liang Shi who could be exploited by enemies and cause harm to the
crown prince. They had thought the Liang family would be [a normal upright and
clean, educated family], now seeing them, their hearts sank. They couldn’t even
understand normal speech, a lot of effort will certainly be spent. Lu Yi was
rather depressed.
Zhu Ji already wanted to throw up, that tanned enormous
young woman over there, picked up a piece of fat meat and placed it in her
mouth, chewing it up she then regurgitated it into her son’s mouth!
Disgusting!
Zhu Ji turned his head, covering his mouth, and swearing he
would not even eat a piece of streaky pork from now on.
Xiao Du’s smile also couldn’t cling on, from here to the
capital city, at their slowest pace, it would take twenty days to arrive. A twenty-day
journey, to change these people completely, impossible unless a god came down.
Time doesn’t wait for anyone! Currently the state of the
capital city was unstable, if they entered the capital like this, it would
certainly cause problems for the crown prince, it would ruin the everything.
The crown prince’s position was unstable.
Before Liang Shi [changed clothes], Xiao Du and the others got
magistrate assistant Ma, Li Zheng, and a daughter of someone in the county
office, Za Yi, who happened to be an apprentice with Liang Yu to come over,
carefully asking for their opinion of the Liang family. Magistrate assistant Ma
said, the Liang family were prosperous, so it appeared the village didn’t dare
to bully them. To be exact,
Liang Man Cang was a cheapskate, clinging onto his
money. Za Yi said, the Liang family’s daughter is already a shrew at a young
age, she had once chased her own sixth elder brother down eight streets with a
knife, welding it in a familiar manner, trapping her own older brother in an
alleyway, brandishing the knife at him, cutting off half his hair.
Going through the Liang family census, their names ranged
from Liang Man Cang to Liang You Cai…[2]
Unreasonable, destitute, stingy, brutish, avaricious, and
unable to understand basic speech, even the emperor’s maternal uncle, was
assigned the title of imperial censor. Let alone a tottering crown prince?
Xiao Du without expectation
asked Liang Yu: [At your home, has a teacher either been employed?]
Liang Yu’s face heated up, she hadn’t imagined Xiao Du would
speak directly to her. Zhu Ji scoffed with a [chi], Liang Yu’s face
reddened even more, hearing Xiao Du ask once more, she hurriedly shook her
head, trying to reply [no] in the formal manner. How much millet would it cost?
Even if they managed to get to school, they couldn’t, they had to work, when
did they have the time?
Zhu Ji sighed greatly: [Nineteenth, listen to me, don’t
waste your time, teach them etiquette first, there must be manners when seeing
the emperor.] Even though he was a carefree young man, he could tell, the one
who could be put to use out of the entire family was this girl, this girl, even
if she was a shrew young thing.
Xiao Du ignored him, and asked some other questions, Liang
Yu was the one who translated. Nearly done with his questions, Lu Yi suddenly
stood up, smiling he said: [Us being here, I’m afraid everyone would feel
uncomfortable, there’s meat and wine, everyone enjoy yourselves to the fullest,
we will set out on our journey tomorrow.] Having spoken, and indicated Liang Yu
to pass on the
message, he then left.
Liang Yu’s face again turned red, this time out of anger.
Lu Yi looked rather nice, but his disgust was as obvious as
Zhu Ji’s, his courteousness was also an
act, beneath the surface he was
indifferent.
The journey to the capital will not be easy, and once they
reach the capital their lives may not be comfortable. These three people were
from noble families, her nephew was already the crown prince, yet they were
this candid, it would appear her nephew, her older sister’s situation wasn’t
great.
[Bast***ds, just you wait and see! I will make someone of
myself!] Liang Yu lowered her head, making a vow to herself.
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