“Rise!” Seeing Yun Qian Meng making her salutations towards her, Madame Xie immediately went ahead and welcomed her enthusiastically while supporting her to stand up. Her smiling eyes were carefully observing the Yun Qian Meng in front of her. With her heart filled with joy she said “Where can you find such wife nowadays, it is indeed a great blessing for Fei Yang?”

After speaking they saw the clever servant girl who came in with them immediately went ahead and brought the things in her hands beside Madame Xie. Taking that red satin brocade case, she opened it in front of everybody and took out the jade bracelet inside, then personally put it on Yun Qian Meng’s wrist. After which she pulled Yun Qian Meng’s hand and carefully checked it, then she smiled and said “Our Youzhou province is rich in jade stone, Er Niang doesn’t really have anything good to give you, so I especially ordered someone to create this using the Yangzhi jade. You just wear it for fun!”

Yun Qian Meng simply smiled while lowering down her head while looking at the Yangzhi jade that was worn on her wrist. Its surface was glossy, firm, thick, and perfectly spotless white, just like the concentrated fat. The jade surface that was reflecting an radiance appeared to be in pure white translucent condition while having a pinkish misty shade. At one glance one would know that it was a high quality, delicately fine structured, brightly colored, lustrous, and priceless bracelet. However, Madame Xie was extremely modest, not acting smug and proud over the expensive gift.

Yun Qian Meng’s face did not appear to be very happy because of receiving such a precious gift for their very first meeting. Instead she maintained an appropriate smile out of courtesy on her face as she slowly spoke “The gift from the elder, one ought not to decline! Meng’er thanks Er Niang!”

Seeing Yun Qian Meng’s response towards Madame Xie even Chu Nan Shan, who was sitting on the seat of honor in a dull expression, exposed a small smile of appreciation on his face.

“Qing Yang, Jie’er, come and meet your sister-in-law!” Seeing Yun Qian Meng had accepted the gift she gave her for their first meeting Madame Xie seemed to be very happy as she immediately instructed her son and daughter who were standing behind her.

Chu Qing Yang and Chu Jie immediately went up front. The two of them greeted Yun Qian Meng for the first time “Pleasure to meet you, sister-in-law!”

Complying with their words Yun Qian Meng looked at them. Chu Qing Yang seemed to be around twenty years of age, born to be completely handsome. The outline of his face was around fifty to sixty percent similar to Madame Xie, but still fell short from Chu Fei Yang’s charmingness.

After all, Chu Fei Yang was immersed in the battlefield and the royal court all year round, even if he was standing in the corner of a room, the vital energy that emitted out from his body was simply hard to ignore.

And Chu Jie seemed to be younger in age, probably fourteen or fifteen years of age. Her facial features seemed to have inherited from the beauty of Madame Xie. With delicate brows and eyes, small and exquisite mouth and nose. However, compare with Yun Qian Meng’s slim and tall figure Chu Jie’s seemed to be more petite and frail, giving an increasingly more pitiful feeling to the observers.

But, although these two persons had not grow up in the capital their eyes did not have timid expressions. As their natural and unrestrained actions made people know that they were born from a rich family.

And as they made their salutations to Yun Qian Meng the expression in their eyes were not over-enthusiastic, yet was not showing any indescribable rejection but only the most fundamental respect towards Yun Qian Meng.

“Pleased to meet you second younger brother, younger sister!” Yun Qian Meng smiled as she spoke. After which she took two brocade small box from Mu Chun’s hands and handed them to Chu Qing Yang and Chu Jie “They’re not something expensive, I hope brother and sister will not dislike them!”

“You are too courteous, sister-in-law!” The two of them received the brocade boxes, yet they did not open them and just thanked Yun Qian Meng wearing smiles on their faces.

“Wan Wan, Yuan Yuan, quickly come over here to meet your cousin-in-law!” Immediately following them Madame Xie called out for the two young ladies behind her. The two of them slowly stepped forward and simultaneously bent their knees at Yun Qian Meng.“Pleased to meet you, cousin-in-law!” Their voices were clear and gentle and had unique melodious voice which was possessed by young ladies

Yun Qian Meng had not expected that Chu Pei would bring someone from the family of Madame Xie during his current journey back to the capital to report his duty. Luckily in order to avoid mistakes she had Mu Chun prepare some more gifts for the first meeting. Therefore she avoided losing face in front of them at this moment. After handing over the gifts from her hands to Madame Xie Wan Wan and Madame Xie Yuan Yuan, Yun Qian Meng gently said “Pleased to meet you, two biaomei!”

Soon after, Yun Qian Meng started to observe these two young ladies in front of her. The two of them looked almost the same as if they were carved out from the same mold and with a glance anyone would know that they were twins.

The two of them were wearing clothes made from the finest materials, the beaded hairpins in their head were also valuable. They probably came from rich and powerful family, but one things that made Yun Qian Meng feel confused was, these two ladies seemed to look like sixteen years of age, why were they not staying in the Youzhou province and instead thcoming together with Madame Xie Shu Yi to the capital?

The two of them were born very beautiful, not the same as the sweetness of Chu Jie, but the two of them had an elegant and attractive charm that one certainly would not wish to disregard.The air that the young ladies had did not fit their young age., This actually made people to anticipate interactions with them. Yun Qian Meng immediately found the difference between the two of them and kept them in mind, so as to avoid making awkward mistakes in the future.

While Yun Qian Meng was watching the people in front of her, they were also observing Yun Qian Meng. She was wearing a purple rose winter dress today. The collar, the sleeves, and the edges of the clothing were adorned with purely white fox fur. Making both sides of Yun Qian Meng’s delicate profile increasingly sparkling and translucent.

During this time Yun Qian Meng’s facial expression seemed to be calmer, more earnest, and had a unique self-confidence while facing these people whom she had just met for the very first time. Her behavior was quite determined, not having learned to do boot-licking deliberately to gain the desired outcome from other people, and yet she never shown other people her lack of regards and antisocial behavior while pretending to be someone important.historical

And today Yun Qian Meng choose not to wear the jewelries that were kept, instead she just put on the jade hairpin that was used by Qu Ruo Li when she was still alive. On one hands, she was still not aware about the Chu Pei’s family situation, on the other hand, she was not clear as to what would be Chu Nan Shan’s approach towards this whole family.

In order to be sure, Yun Qian Meng only choose to wear the hair ornaments that Qu Ruo Li had worn during the time she was married, so as to avoid Madame Xie to feel stifled in her heart. Which would lead to making Madame Xie her an enemy for no reason. Also it was in order to avoid Madame Xie and others looking down on her.

The manifested behavior were quite reasonable and fair, both in accordance with her honorable status as a well-bred young lady from a famous family and she also avoided losing her face as the new furen of Chu Xiang.

“All of you sit down, aren’t you tired of standing? Meng’er, please also sit down!” This time Chu Nan Shan plainly remarked watching them exchanging their conventional greetings for a long time.

When his voice dropped Chu Wang Fu’s yatous came in one by one holding cups of tea and refreshments in their hands. They quietly laid them on the small side tables that were in front of everyone. Then they carefully retreated out of the hall.

“How’s your health, Wang Ye? Although my husband was assigned in Youzhou but his heart was worried about Wang Ye’s health, he had especially ordered people to purchase a few pieces of thousand years snow ginseng in high price in order to bring them here for Wang Ye. I hope Wang Ye will accept them!” When all the people had settled down on their seats, Chu Nan Shan also regained his usual reserved manner. He was sitting in his own seat sipping tea while Madame Xie politely spoke. Madame Xie’s her personal servant girl lead in a few other servant girls, and each of them carried a half meter long, one foot wide box as they walked to center of the hall. Then, after Madame Xie nodded her head they slowly opened the boxes. Each of the boxes contained a high quality, almost human-shaped snow ginseng. These ginseng seemed to be hard to obtain yet Madame Xie had found a few of them. It appeared that their trip to the capital costed Madame Xie a lot of effort!

“During my adolescent years I went on expeditions all year round. What I ate and what I drank were all completely similar to the officers and soldiers and there were not enough time for me to care about quality. Having me to readily enjoy these priceless ginsengs? I appreciate your obedience but you better bring them home to supplement the body of Pei’er. Don’t let him work too hard!” Chu Nan Shan had seen all the precious things in the world and merely with just a glance he was able to see that the pieced of snow ginseng in front was truly priceless. And Madame Xie had obtained three whole pieces of perfectly intact and excellent shaped thousand years snow ginseng in one attempt. If he was to accept them now, then in the future he might find it hard to berate them. Therefore, as a result he had to decline their offer.

Besides, Chu Wang Fu was simple and unadorned. Chu Nan Shan had been a nobleman for so many years, he did not maintain a household like this for no reason. Snow ginseng worth ten thousand gold existed, but such things were very rare! How could he afford to lose his face as a Wang Ye and also as a grandfather just for the sake of having the three pieces of snow ginseng?

Seeing Chu Nan Shan refuse Madame Xie did not get angry and still smiled gently while those few yatou, who were standing in the corners of the room, carrying the ginsengs did not retreat themselves back beside Madame Xie. These yatou were not affected by what Chu Nan Shan had said, as they were still standing in their spots while still holding those snow ginseng and it seemed as if they would remain standing there if Chu Nan Shan refused to accept the ginsengs.

“Please don’t say those words, Wang Ye! Among all sons and daughter-in-laws, who would not show their filial piety towards their elders after having those good things and instead would hide them away while planning to enjoy it by themselves? Please do not refuse to accept them, Wang Ye, this is merely just a kind gesture from us! Husband and I weren’t able to stay inside the capital all year round, we weren’t able to attend to your needs right beside you, therefore our hearts felt worried. If Wang Ye still refuse to accept them, aren’t you just blaming us for not fulfilling our responsibility as son and daughter-in-law?” Madame Xie was graceful on her choice of words, both saving her face from the embarrassment after being rejected and also making Chu Wang to have no other choice but to accept them, or else it would become a misunderstanding caused by gossip.

But Chu Wang was quite stubborn. If he said he would not take them, then he really would not. How could he allow other people to speculate about it? And besides, Madame Xie’s spoken words earlier demonstrated a slight threatening intention which made Chu Nan Shan to have the determination to reject them even more.

“I have Fei Yang and Meng’er by my side, both children are quite obedient, so how can I not have anyone to take care of me? Such kind of great snow ginseng, why don’t you keep them for Pei’er! All these years he had gone against his will to stay outside all by himself. It was truly not easy for him to do that. If he couldn’t take good care of his own health, wouldn’t it just worry me as a father? Since you are his wife, naturally you must focus more on your own husband. I have bodyguards and yatou to take care of me. There is also His Majesty’s kindness. There’s really nothing to worry about!” In a few words Chu Nan Shan had gone against Madame Xie’s words. While facing this daughter-in-law whom he had just met for the first time, Chu Nan Shan had not given her a hard time, as he just stated the facts. In addition to showing her the father’s love to his son yet this had instead made Madame Xie not daring to press Chu Nan Shan in accepting the snow ginseng again.

“Yeye, Mother had actually spent a great deal of efforts just to get these three stems of snow ginseng and had specially brought them here all the way from Youzhou just to give them to you. You must accept them. Just treat them like our father and mother’s respect to you.” This time Chu Jie, who was sitting quietly in a corner, spoke in her uniquely pleasant manner. Her brows and eyes appeared to be smiling and she seemed to be quite approachable, as when she was facing Chu Wang she was wearing a sweet smiling expression.

Although Chu Jie was Chu Nan Shan’s granddaughter, but ever since she was born until now, it was the very first meeting between the grandfather and granddaughter. Even though they were somehow related by blood but they had not the slightest bit of amiable feeling, and it just could not be compared to the closeness between Chu Nan Shan and Yun Qian Meng during this time.

Seeing Chu Nan Shan’s expression had turned slightly dark, Yun Qian Meng knew his thoughts. Chu Nan Shan was just worrying that after he accepts these priceless snow ginseng, if someday Madame Xie were have some requests, he would be unable to easily decline them. However, regarding this matter it was actually not hard to settle. Chu Wang actually had some conflicting thoughts in his mind and was unable to think of the proper way to deal with this situation.

Seeing this whole family planning to cause him to get angry, Chu Nan Shan was about to speak, when Yun Qian Meng’s clear, relaxed, and a bit witty voice echoed beside his ears “Yeye, you must be hiding some even more rare treasures that you hate to show off, which is why you refused to accept Er Niang’s snow ginseng, right?”

Having heard what was said Chu Nan Shan felt puzzled as he looked at Yun Qian Meng and was able to quickly respond under this girl’s simple smile. The thin layer of ice that had been formed in his eyes had quietly melted away and his face was beaming as he smiled and asked a rhetorical question “Then, Meng’er, what kind of rare things do you think yeye hides inside Wang Fu?”

With this question from Chu Wang, Yun Qian Meng slightly knitted up her brows feeling embarrassed. Her red lips spilled out a sigh and somehow grumbling she said “Yeye’s Wang Fu is quite big, Meng’er had just recently came to Chu family, how am I to know how many treasures yeye hides in here. But, Meng’er knows that yeye is the most generous person. Let Meng'er see, don't let Er Niang wait too long.”

With these words Chu Nan Shan laughed as he was quite amused. And seeing him smiling, Madame Xie and the others smiled even more while they observed Yun Qian Meng with an analyzing gazes that had somewhat unknown sentiments.

It was not Yun Qian Meng intention to save Madame Xie from embarrassment. However, if today's incident was to be heard by Chu Pei and Chu Fei Yang, it would be hard to avoid the animosity between the father and son, which would only worsen the initially weak affection between the father and son. Unwilling to see Chu Fei Yang suffering from grievances, Yun Qian Meng naturally would speak out to ease down the tension inside this side hall.

"You silly yatou, you are quite clever and eloquent! Since that is the case, then I shall give you a treasured object in exchange for these three snow ginsengs!" After speaking Chu Wang called out for Jiao Da and whispered a few words in his ear. After that Jiao Da immediately retreated out of the room.

"Qing Yang, you are twenty this year, what kind of books do you usually read?" Since his mood was brightened up by Yun Qian Meng, Chu Nan Shan started to ask Chu Qing Yang questions regarding his studies.

After all, Chu Fei Yang was naturally gifted with talents and since he was small he had a highly retentive memory. Under Chu Nan Shan's training he was able to obtain position of the top-scorer in both literary and martial skills. Now that he became one of the leaders of the hundred officials, evidently he was the only grandson that made Chu Nan Shan feel very proud of.

Because Chu Qing Yang did not grow up beside Chu Wang, the mutual affection between the grandfather and the grandchild was simply incomparable with the one Chu Nan Shan had with Chu Fei Yang. However, since he was the descendant of Chu family, Chu Nan Shan naturally would not permit his own family to produce a child who only knew how to enjoy life and be a hedonistic son of rich parents.

Hearing Chu Nan Shan’s interrogation, Chu Qing Yang immediately stood up and respectfully responded “Yeye, Father had especially hired a teacher to teach this grandson. During the usual days aside from studying this grandson also learns sword skills from the guards of Youzhou Chu Fu! As grandson knows that gege is highly perfected in his literary and military strategies. I do not seek to be as great as gege and merely with just one tenth of gege’s skills I would be contented already.”

Hearing Chu Qing Yang’s idolizing Chu Fei Yang, Yun Qian Meng slightly casted a sidelong glance at this young man in front of her. He had a slender build and was wearing a sapphire blue long robe which complimented his handsome features. His face looked very sincere, making people absolutely certain about his words.

However, his straight back indicated that he was not someone who simply accepted his defeat. Therefore, when his words reached Yun Qian Meng’s ears, its truthfulness had greatly decreased. No matter what sort of intention Chu Qing Yang had in his mind, or even if it was just like he said, Yun Qian Meng would never allow him to hurt Chu Fei Yang!

The shallow smile in the corner of his mouth was quite fascinating, but the brilliant rays in his eyes was somehow weak, hearing Chu Qing Yang’s response. Yun Qian Meng lifted up the teacup beside her hands, lightly took a sip restraining her seemingly bored behavior. The cold eyes ran into the steam that risen up from the cup, instantly turned her eyes misty, causing people to be unable to fathom her thoughts.

After hearing Chu Qing Yang’s words, Chu Nan Shan simply nodded his head, after which he gestured him to sit down. Then he slowly remarked “You are luckier than your big brother, since you were small your parents were at your side. In the future you must be more obedient towards your parents, don’t forget to repay them for their kindness in bringing you up!”

Some of the words can be said, some cannot be said, if you speak more, it might give rise to other people’s jealousy. Chu Fei Yang was not present at this moment, as a result Chu Nan Shan’s words closely revolved around the important point that can be applied to Chu Qing Yang. He didn’t mention anything more with regards to his eldest grandson, after all Chu Fei Yang remained by his side ever since he was small, if he talked more about him, Madame Xie and other people would think that Chu Nan Shan only favored his eldest grandson.

Even though this was the truth, but since it was his son’s first day of return to the capital, Chu Nan Shan wouldn’t want any conflicts and misunderstandings to occur because of this matter, he also wouldn’t permit Chu Fei Yang to become the butt of public criticism.

“Wang Ye!” This time, Jiao Da walked in carrying a blue brocade box, after which he laid down the brocade box on the small side table beside Chu Nan Shan.

“This is an old painting bestowed upon us by ancestors, I had treasured it until this day. Today if it wasn’t for the snow ginsengs which were excessively expensive, I wouldn’t bring this out! You must keep it safely away, just treat it like a gift that I’ve given to you meeting you for the first time.” While speaking, Chu Nan Shan made a gesture instructing Jiao Dao to hand over the brocade box to Madame Xie.

The smiling expression on Madame Xie’ face went slightly frozen, perhaps she had never expected that the three stems of snow ginsengs would allow Chu Wang to bring out the ancient painting as an exchange, for a moment an indescribable feeling welled up in her heart, not to know if it was because Chu Wang had refused to accept the gifts that she had prepared, or because these three stems of snow ginsengs had lost its importance.

But Madame Xie was able to regain her emotions quickly. Seeing Jiao Da approached carrying the brocade box, she immediately stood up, respectfully accepted it, as she smiled and said “Thank you very much, Wang Ye, granddaughter-in-law shall preserve this painting properly.”

“Wang Ye, Master and Xiang Ye have returned!” This time, the housekeeper of Wang Fu hurried in, and reported this matter to all the people.

“Invite them in!” Chu Nan Shan nodded his head, allowing the housekeeper to lead them in.

Translated by:

cristina

Edited by:

Paula