Jing Wan greeted them one by one.
These people, aside from Jiang-fuma, were all high ranking officials, their amassed power very much heavy. Even Jiang-fuma was also someone accustomed to coming in contact with influential officials, so the air about him naturally wasn’t the same as the average. Have to say, ordinary young ladies, when meeting such a group for the first time, no matter what, would all be somewhat nervous and afraid. Even those princesses and junzhus were all the same, but Jing Wan wasn’t the same. Her etiquette was adequate, her expression natural, as she stood there upright with her eyes slightly lowered.
Whether this was feigned, or she really was as such, naturally couldn’t deceive this bunch of seasoned old foxes.
They all slightly nodded with a bit of praise. To say something blasphemous, even as the mother of the country, her highness, the Empress, this young lady practically wouldn’t need to discipline herself to get used to at all. She would be able to sit on that seat steadily and majestically in the quickest way possible.
Cabinet Minister Ruan, however, sighed a little. Originally, he thought that his own youngest di daughter was already the best among this age, but looking at it now, she was still far inferior. People of their age and status naturally won’t solely judge a person by things such as scholarly and literary talent. Just imagine, Jing Wan, in their eyes, has even reached the high level of being the ‘mother of the country’ (Empress) already, so naturally there was nothing to nitpick.
Cabinet Minister Jiang’s line of sight landed on Jing Wan’s hand. Although it was half covered by her sleeves, he more or less could still see a little. He furrowed his brows, somewhat displeased, “You injured your hands? These hands, for a qin player, are of the upmost importance, how can you be this careless.”
“Replying to sir, today, this one unintentionally entered the zone, thus bringing about this sort of outcome. In reality, this one’s qin skill is unable to reach that level of standard. In the future, this one naturally will be careful.”
With this, Cabinet Minister Jiang finally smoothed out his brows, “That qin isn’t suitable for you to use. When practicing on normal days, switch to a suitable one.”
“Yes, this one will bear sir’s instructions in mind.”
“Ren Xun, she’s still just a young girl, don’t be this stern, careful not to scare her. Little miss’s one song was astonishing, perhaps she might even become your friend[1].” Ruan Rui Zhong said with a smile.
“Rather forgot that Head Cabinet Minister Ruan also has a daughter about the same age. Presumably, Head Cabinet Minister has gotten used to being a benevolent father on normal days, so towards young girls around the same age, you’re all particularly soft on? Becoming friends or not, rather hard to say. This kind of thing has always been the person being requested taking priority. In the days to come, if fated, having such a little friend is not necessarily impossible.”
Jing Wan smiled. The way this Cabinet Minister Jiang talked and handled things, although was a little cold and aloof, but what was rare was that he was a rather open-minded and frank person. To have been able to sit on the position of a Cabinet Minister Elder, presumably the Jiang family must have exerted quite a bit of effort.
“This old man’s granddaughter can just grow some flowers in her free time. As for playing the qin, that kind of hand injuring affair, no need.” When Luo Pei Shan learned that Jing Wan had injured her hands, he was terribly heartbroken. That’s why, in the future, it’s best not to play the qin, just grow some flowers, or paint a few strokes, and if still bored, just take a look at the imperial bulletin. Otherwise, can also come chat and bond with this grandfather.
Cabinet Minister Jiang frowned at Luo Pei Shan, and just when he wanted to say something, Jiang-fuma immediately stood out. This tang uncle of his, loving the qin to insanity, wasn’t just said for fun. He didn’t tolerate others saying a single bad thing about the qin. “Since Miss Luo has injured her hands, afraid she won’t be able to set about transcribing the qin score now. This qin score, does the Luo Manor have a copy?”
“The qin score is at Qi’an Fu, and have yet to be brought to the capital. The injuries on the hand isn’t at all serious, and won’t affect anything.”
“Ten fingers connect to the heart, let’s talk once your injuries have recovered.” Although Cabinet Minister Jiang was eager for that qin score, one can’t be unreasonable either.
“Don’t worry sir, it really isn’t considered severe.” Can only say, the medicine Jing Wan used had a miraculous effect. The most painful period had passed, and right now, she didn’t feel any major pain at all. “This one can write from memory right away.”
“Really not over exerting yourself?”
“Not overly exerting myself.”
“Fine, then just write it from memory.” Cabinet Minister Jiang’s tone carried a trace of zeal. The others all silently smiled.
This while, the servants were all outside, so Jiang-fuma very eagerly grinded the ink stone.
Jing Wan slightly blanked. This uh, probably no need to be this anxious. In any case, you’re still the Grand Elder Princess Manor’s Fuma, grinding the ink for a young girl like her will shorten her life. Cabinet Minister Jiang berated him, and had his own servant boy called in.
Seeing Jing Wan’s rather confused look, Jiang-fuma also felt somewhat awkward.
Sir Diwu chuckled, “Girly, why do you think Jiang-fuma is this anxious, isn’t it all for being able to have that pot of eighteenth scholar in hand sooner, just thinking of quickly having this qin score matter settled. After all, Cabinet Minister Jiang is an elder. Ever since he received the news, he has been unable to sit tight, hating that he can’t immediately have that treasure grasped in hand. This while, he most likely wants to consult with you to let his people directly go to the Luo Manor to move that pot of treasure.”
Jing Wan sending away a pot of eighteenth scholar, Luo Pei Shan very much heartached, while Head Magistrate Diwu felt disgruntled. That clearly was something that he encountered first, but now, it was about to fall into someone else’s hands instead.
Jiang-fuma didn’t deny. Looks like he really did have this thought.
“After the banquet, this one has something to take care of and might need to take a trip back to the Luo Manor. When time comes, this one will have the flower brought over.”
To Jiang-fuma, it sounded as if Jing Wan was specially taking the trip for him. This young lady was really too considerate, heard that those pots of treasure were all raised in this little miss’s own courtyard, so for her to be able to go back and fetch it herself, it naturally couldn’t be better. Furthermore, regardless of what, they were all singlehandedly raised by this girl after all, so she definitely would be more clear than anyone else on how to best protect the flowers.
This behavior of his made Elder Jiang just want to give him a slap across the face. But with this many people present, it’s best to leave him some face.
Jing Wan held the brush. Although the pain intensified, it didn’t affect her too much. She first wrote down four words: ‘Ambush From Ten Sides’.
“Ambush From Ten Sides? This is the name of the qin piece?”
Jing Wan nodded, and then as she wrote, she had the words from the Grand Elder Princess’s mouth passed on to Cabinet Minister Jiang.
(T/N: This is what an ancient qin music score looks like, it’s really just instructions on how to play the piece; also the exampled image is not the piece Jing Wan played, I still think it’s kinda impossible to play Ambush From Ten Sides on the qin. I also included at the bottom below the footnotes a video explaining how to read the unique symbols on the score, modern qin scores still use this system just it has been expanded upon.)
Sure enough, Cabinet Minister Jiang instantly became excited, “The Grand Elder Princess is right, this piece might very possibly be that piece. Good, good, really just too good. This piece although is a pipa solo, but this old man have always wanted to hear it, then have it converted into a qin piece. These years, I’ve been continuously searching for it, but from beginning to end, unable to find a single trace. Yet unexpectedly, I suddenly got the chance to see it today. Truly is ‘searching high and low, nothing to find, only to effortlessly obtain it in the end’.”
Jing Wan helplessly smiled. If a single piece of music can really make an elder this happy, then it was also worth it. Moreover, according to this Elder Jiang’s nature, he definitely will let this piece spread out. To have come here from another world, similarly letting it become widespread shouldn’t be considered a mistake, right?
She handed the two music scores to Elder Jiang. Elder Jiang held them in his hand as if he’d gained the most precious treasure. That smile was just like a small child having just received candy.
With this matter taken care of, they can now start discussing other matters. What were the others here for? Aside from flowers, what else could there be?
Just when someone was about to open their mouth, Jiang-fuma’s servant boy’s voice sounded from outside instead, “Fuma-ye, his Majesty’s imperial decree has arrived.”
They were all people who were used to receiving the imperial decree, so the people in the study were all rather calm.
Luo Pei Shan instructed Jing Wan a few words, and afterwards, Jiang-fuma let someone take her away. The people in the manor needed to all be present to receive the imperial decree after all.
Jing Wan joined the female guest ranks from the side.
On the imperial decree was just bestowments for the Grand Elder Princess. However, this inner court attendant also brought an oral decree.
Roughly, it was just, ‘That bastard son of this emperor, as expected, is one without good fortune. For Sun Yi Jia to be able to be undamaged is truly a blessing. The wedding date doesn’t need to be postponed either, whichever day Sun Yi Jia was originally suppose to marry, it’ll still be that day, just the final destination has changed, that’s all.’
Alright, this matter, for the most part, won’t go wrong anymore. Aside from the Luo family needing to busy themselves, there was nothing else.
When the crowd finished being speechless at Le Cheng Emperor, they began to congratulate the two families again.
[1] ‘Friend’ is a very vague way of translating this term, I really couldn’t think of something close enough. The original term ‘zhi jiao’ means more as someone who shares common interest or views, translating the two characters separately it literally means ‘exchanging knowledge’.
T/N: Last part in this chapter, is going to be mostly more background information but a lot of stuff is finally revealed. is in seven parts (total of 14k chara), it was so long that it felt like I’ll never reach the end when I was translating it. I want to say this might be the longest chapter but I feel like there’s another later chapter that might be even longer than this one. RIP Me. Why can’t authors split their chapters evenly ;;;;v;;;;)
