Translator (Jal) Comment: I’ll try and keep only the names (people and places) in Chinese. The idioms will be translated to an English equivalent when possible and will mention the original phrase in the footnotes.
Chapter 3: Affectionate
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"Young miss…" Mu Qiu was worried as she looked at her young lady's back. She just informed the young lady that the young master was returning tomorrow, but third young lady and fourth young lady had brought such news.
"Second older sister shouldn't feel sad. Eldest brother getting married is a happy occasion. As a younger sister, I believe that even if eldest brother gets married, he is also unlikely at this point to pay heed to second older sister."
"Yes, second older sister, I heard that Xue older sister is very beautiful, and is a perfect match for eldest brother, a match made in heaven. And then, afterwards, Xue older sister will be at eldest brother's side, no, she will be our oldest brother's wife, a sister-in-law, hehe." Bai Ling Long continued to embellish. She was unable to make heads or tails of this ugly woman and eldest brother's relationship. Unexpectedly, eldest brother and second older sister were together all the time. When he had good things, the very first thing he did when he came back to the capital was to think of this ugly woman. Why did this ugly woman get all of eldest brother's attention and love? She was also his younger sister, was she not? Why did eldest brother normally dislike her? She also didn't know why grandfather and father, along with eldest brother, all loved this ugly woman?
"Second older sister…" The two watched Bai Xi, who was resting her forehead in her palm, motionless. Although they were unable to clearly see Bai Xi's expression, they firmly believed that the ugly woman was surely in the process of weeping in sorrow. This time, they were rejoicing at Bai Xi's misfortune. They were eager to see the ugly expression on Bai Xi's face.
Just when they stretched out their hands, wanting to swipe away the hand Bai Xi was using to rest her forehead against, Mu Qiu stepped forward to prevent them from doing so, and said, "Third young miss, fourth young miss, my family's young miss is tired and needs to rest."
"Rest? Oh, yes, I had momentarily forgotten that second older sister had an injury. Younger sister can help second older sister to bed to rest." Although she didn't manage to see the ugly woman's enraged appearance, she was still able to see her frustrated.
"What third older sister says is correct. Second older sister, let fourth younger sister help you." Bai Ling Long could certainly understand her third older sister's intention. The two of them glanced at each other and decided to do a pincer attack, attacking from both the left and the right. When they reached out to get a hold of Bai Xi's arms, Bai Xi suddenly raised her head and stretched her arms. Bai Xi yawned and said, "So noisy. Mu Qiu, you should let your family's young miss sleep!"
Bai Lin and Bai Ling Long were both slapped audibly.
"Eh? Third younger sister, fourth younger sister, why are you here? Ah, sorry, second older sister didn't know you hadn't gone yet. I didn't notice and had finished eating, then fell asleep." Bai Xi said, appearing apologetic. She didn't look like she was insincere.
"You dare to hit me!" the two of them shouted in unison.
"Eh? Hit you? Since when did second older sister hit you two? Oh, right, second older sister was woken up by some noisy houseflies. Wait, second older sister knows… Is it when second older sister stretched and accidentally hit you? Let second older sister see where I hit you?" Bai Xi looked worriedly at the two of them. "You both covered your faces. Shouldn't you be careful to take care of your faces? If it is like this, then both younger sisters should immediately go wash your faces? Just now, second older sister ate some fish, so my hands are covered in fish juice and fish bones and the like. And, if second older sister really didn't pay attention and hit you… This…"
Before she could finish speaking, her two younger sisters had already hurried out the door.
"That doesn't matter. Just wash it properly." Bai Xi watched her sisters flee and smiled lightly.
"This servant will immediately go and fetch some water so that young miss can wash up." Just like a lady, she seemed to be holding her head with a hand.
"No need. These hands are clean." Bai Xi lips curled upwards. Afterwards, she stepped through the door and looked up at the blue sky. Her infamous eldest brother was going to get married and this was the reason her two sisters came to notify her? Presumably, they wanted to inform her so they could see her break down? To go so far…? Is there some sort of illicit relationship that she didn't know about? Living in this time period certainly wasn't dull.
Mu Qiu was astonished. The young miss just said that her hand was very clean, so then the young miss just made fun of third young miss and fourth young miss. Also, upon hearing that the young master was going to get married, the young miss was not unhappy. For the young miss to not get agitated over the news, it seemed as if the young miss had finally seen the light and for her to be like this was not bad at all.
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The second day.
The legendary eldest brother was returning home. Bai Xi lazily walked from Xi Yuan to Mo Xuan Yuan1. Mo Xuan Yuan was her grandfather's courtyard. Along the way, she yawned so many times she lost count. Wasn't her eldest brother supposed to return in the afternoon? Why was it that he arrived early in the morning, and now she had to walk for 20 minutes before she could have lunch? She was hungry!
"Young miss, you should not go to Mo Xuan Yuan. What if madam sees you? She will not be happy." Mu Qiu did not remember that she had said this sentence multiple times before.
"She is not happy as long as I am happy." Her father's wife was known to be an ideal woman, and was only her mother in name since the woman didn't treat her like she was actually her daughter, possibly why she carried the burden of having the terrible reputation of being a very ugly woman.
Didn't she have an ordinary appearance and disliked talking? How did this become her being an ugly, foolish girl in everyone's eyes? She found it extremely difficult to believe that such a rumour came about without someone plotting against her.
However, it was very strange. It was obvious that this body was a great beauty. Why did she wear a human skin mask, one which had an ordinary appearance? Furthermore, did this body's previous owner know this secret? She ought to have known. She had woken up on the first day and discovered it. Is it possible that the original person, for 15 years, had never known what she looked like? This really couldn't be explained.
"Young miss, you should not say such things. What if madam hears, otherwise…"
"Otherwise what? You think that I will suffer a loss? Little Qiu Qiu, you should know that your family's young lady is not an average person. I am a man-eating ghost," said Bai Xi as she turned to loop an arm around Mu Qiu's shoulders with a somewhat evil smile. She blew cold air at Mu Qiu's neck, causing her servant to shiver.
Suddenly, someone burst out laughing behind them. "Oh? Then I must be a specialist in catching wandering wild ghosts like you."
"Eldest brother?" Bai Xi reflexively turned to face the person behind her. She could clearly see his appearance and was astonished. She couldn't believe her eyes. Did her brother come to this world, just like her?
"Are you feeling sad because you haven't seen me for half a year?" He reached out to touch Bai Xi's forehead.
"Young master."
Bai Xi stood there somewhat stupidly, her sight fixed on the smiling man only a step away from her. This renowned brother, Bai Yu Jie, looked exactly like her brother in her previous life. However, her brother never smiled like that, and he would have never touched her head in a caring manner.
"You really do not remember your older brother?" Bai Yu Jie's smile didn't dissipate. He removed his hand from her head and then briefly placed it on her forehead, after which he took her wrist to feel her pulse. "Mm, your temperature is normal and so is your pulse. Your wound should have almost healed. Did you become slow?"
His voice sounded nice and caused her to feel warm from the bottom of her heart. This was her older brother? Her brother was this doting? This is the brother who she was supposedly having an illicit relationship with?
"Jie, younger sister Xi is very happy and cannot express this in such a short time." A female voice interrupted her thoughts.
Bai Xi looked at the woman in blue standing next to Bai Yu Jie. Her intuition told her that the woman in blue was the woman known as older sister Xue, Xia Xue, and was going to be her eldest brother's wife. It seemed that Bai Lin and Bai Ling Long were not lying. Xia Xue's looks were not bad, and she suited Bai Yu Jie. However, even if Xia Xue was pretty on the outside, she would have to observe more to determine whether she was similarly pretty on the inside.
"Xi'r2, is that how it is?" Bai Yu Jie obviously did not believe Xia Xue's words. He felt as though Bai Xi was a bit different just now.
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1. Mo Xuan Yuan (墨軒園) roughly means 'ink pavilion garden'.↩
2. Xi'r (汐兒) - the 'er' is an affectionate nickname for Bai Xi, and is used when the two people are close. In Chinese pinyin, if the first name ends with a vowel, you discard the ‘e’ in ‘er’ and only write the ‘r’ (e.g. Xi’r). If the first name ends with a consonant, then you keep the entire ‘er’ (e.g. Lan’er).↩
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Xia Xue (夏雪) - her name means Summer Snow
Bai Yu Jie (白煜傑) - his name means White Illuminating Hero