Lady Kelpi Translations

Chapter Fourteen:
Shen Zhiyi

Out of all the civil and military officers at court, only the princess’s coffin was welcomed back.

When Jiang Xuening returned to the flower hall, she ran into the You sisters who had hurried over to deal with this matter. They had obviously heard the news that Jiang Xuening, an outsider, had intervened in the affairs of their mansion. There were both the ‘old grudges’ in the previous flower hall and now the current ‘new grudges.’ You Yue’s stared at her as if her eyes could spew fire.

Even You Shuang’s complexion didn’t look good. She could only say hello with a faint acknowledgement.

Jiang Xuening also responded according to the social norms.

The feud between the young ladies of Marquis Qingyuan’s mansion and the Jiang family had been established.

But she didn’t care.

After all, who in the world was afraid of being hated by an ant?

After returning to the flower hall, the news of You Fangyin falling into the water was widely spread. As the specifics were unknown, the rumors were even more outrageous than the truth.

Someone said she was a maid in the mansion who threw herself into the water after enduring being humiliated in her master’s family.

Someone else said it was a serious young girl, who just entered the household as a concubine and couldn’t help but do something foolish.

Of course, the most widely circulated rumor was none other than Jiang Xuening’s recent statement. The girl was an illegitimate young lady from the You household, bullied by evil servants and the matter of ‘falling into the water’ was not so simple…

Because Yan Lin had come to talk to her earlier, many of the young ladies from prestigious families usually followed the rules. It was the first time they had seen such a public ‘private meeting.’ After Jiang Xuening left, there was a lot of criticism towards her.

And they all had thoughts about Yan Lin.

Who would have thought that Second Miss Jiang would appear halfway and make them feel that if Yan shizi dared to act like that before his coming-of-age ceremony, the marriage must have already been arranged.

It really was disgusting.

And then right after that, the incident of You Fangyin falling into the water happened.

The ladies from prestigious family’s everyday life was dull. How could they resist the temptation of gossip? Coincidentally, the host family had gone to deal with the matter and so some took the opportunity to gather around Jiang Xuening to ask what had happened.

Jiang Xuening then said what she had witnessed.

She didn’t add or leave anything out.

After a while, the You sisters finally came back and said that it had been a concubine in the mansion who accidentally fell into the water. Fortunately, she had been found and saved and a doctor was called to examine her.

Everyone naturally had a sense of relief on their faces, saying, ‘It’s good she’s okay.’

But everyone had already listened to what Jiang Xuening had told them. Which family wasn’t a bit dirty and unpleasant? Some made it clear that on the inside they didn’t want to believe the sisters’ nonsense at all, but they were the hosts, so they still had to be given a little face.

As for how they passed on the message when the banquet was over and they returned to their own homes, it was up to them.

Next came lunch, admiring the chrysanthemums, and composing poetry and paintings.

It was all extremely boring for Jiang Xuening.

If it weren’t that she promised Yan Lin she would wait for him at the end of the afternoon, she probably would have left after she saw You Fangyin.

For the past half-hour, she sat by the side, watching these ladies dance and write, meticulously sketching autumn chrysanthemums with different postures on each piece of pre-laid out rice paper.

After everyone had selected the winners, the banquet would be considered over.

No one expected that as the banquet was about to end, the servant announced from the doorway, “Princess Leyang is here!”

Princess Leyang?

Everyone in the hall was taken aback and didn’t have the time to even process. They all hurried bowed and said, “Greetings to Princess Leyang!”

When Jiang Xuening heard this, her eyes twitched and she hated herself for not leaving the banquet early.

At least she was in women’s clothing, this time.

She forced herself to relax her suddenly tense nerves and bowed with everyone in the corner. She subconsciously buried her head low.

There was a faint sound of footsteps in front of the hall, as well as the jingling sound of the jade ring belt pendant hanging from her waist. 

“No need to be polite,” a voice came from above. “A’Shu and I heard the banquet at Count Qingyuan’s mansion wasn’t over yet. We wanted to come see what it looked like. Please rise.”

Word by word, the voice was like pearls and jade falling on a plate.

It was like a fairy’s song.

Hearing this voice, everyone couldn’t help but think about what celestial appearance Princess Leyang should have with such a beautiful voice.

Although a lady from a noble family held a high status, she never entered or exited the palace.

Most people have never seen the princess before. After standing up, they all raised their heads to look at her.

The moment they saw the princess’s appearance, everyone was stunned for a moment. A strange look appeared in their eyes, almost like pity. They secretly expressed in their hearts, ‘Such a pity.’

Shen Zhiyi, the Princess of Leyang, had been born by a favored concubine of the late Emperor. She had been favored since childhood and was well-fed, with delicate and snow-white skin. Her facial features also inherited the delicacy of the favored concubine, making her exceptionally bright and beautiful. When she smiled, she even had sweet dimples that made people feel happy.

However, there was a scar on the lower half of her left eye, near the end of it.

Although the color was light and it wasn’t too long, it was particularly eye-catching and glaring on such a flawless face, making it difficult not to pay any attention. The beauty on her face was completely lost by this scar, causing one to lament, ‘the pearl and jade have cracks.’

This was a disfigured face.

Even if she used powder to cover it up, it was still clearly visible.

It was such a beautiful voice, but the appearance didn’t match.

Jiang Xuening knew the scar on Princess Leyang’s face had been left by Prince Pingnan when he rebelled and invaded the Capital twenty years ago. She had just been born then, taken hostage from the hands of her wet nurse by the rebels. A dagger was used to scratch her face and coerce the other royal families hiding in the Imperial City to come out.

Later, King Qin’s army arrived and quelled the rebellion.

As a princess, Shen Zhiyi was safe and sound, but she was left with a permanent scar on her face that accompanied her from childhood to present day.

Although twenty years had passed, all those who experienced the turmoil then, when they saw the scar on her face, cannot help but recall the horrors that soaked the palace with blood…

The scar of Princess Leyang was the shame that Prince Pingnan’s rebellion had inflicted on the face of the great Qian Dynasty!

Therefore, His Holy Emperor doted on his sister.

Whatever Shen Zhiyi demanded, as long as it didn’t involve the survival of the country and society, he would try to meet them. Even if she wanted to pick the stars in the sky, Shen Lang would ask someone to at least try before giving up.

Shen Zhiyi grew up in the palace and had experienced countless people looking at the scar since she was young. Some looks were pitiful, some were affection, and some were even looks of ridicule. She would even occasionally see the faces of beautiful maids and could tell what they were thinking. So what if she was a princess? With that scar and that color, she inferior to even the lowly palace maids.

When she was young, she didn’t know the meanings behind these looks.

As she grew older and gradually understood things, her anger led to hatred and then hatred led to sorrow.

What women in the world can truly say they don’t care about their appearance?

Shen Zhiyi scanned her eyes across the hall, everyone looked at her with those looks in their eyes. Only one person in the corner buried her head and didn’t lift it. She kept her head low.

This was quite rare.

When she was in the palace, she had been accustomed to the gaze of others. Although it felt like a thorn in her heart, she didn’t react to them and coldly said, “You can continue painting.”

Everyone was startled by the look in her eyes as she swept over them. They quickly withdrew their gaze.

Since the princess had spoken, they didn’t dare disobey.

Everyone returned to their original positions. Painters continued to paint and poets continued to write poetry.

Jiang Xuening also breathed a light sigh of relief. She retreated and pretended that she didn’t exist.

Before she could sit down again, Shen Zhiyi walked straight towards her and stood in front of her. “Are you Jiang Xuening? Raise your head.”

Why did this woman notice her again?!

Jiang Xuening was no longer the empress. Compared to her status as an imperial princess, she was just a young lady from an ordinary minister’s family. Because of this gap in power, she raised her head as she was asked to.

Shen Zhiyi’s flashed with undisguised amazement. After a while, it turned into a bit of sorrowful envy. “I came here for you today,” she said with a soft sigh.

Jiang Xuening’s eyes began to twitch again.

“No wonder Yan Lin, who has never been tempted, is so devoted to you,” Shen Zhiyi said. “You’re so beautiful it even makes my heart flutter. It’s truly enviable…”

She had been attending the banquet at Duke Chengguo’s mansion earlier that day and only then she heard that her brother Shen Jie had gone to Count Qingyuan’s mansion. Shen Zhiyi had always adhered to this gentle and kind brother. When she learned that Yan Lin, someone she had played with since she was young, was also there, she had to ask about it. Only then did she learn that Shen Jie went because of Yan Lin, and Yan Lin had gone because of a certain official’s daughter.

As a result, she became interested.

Watching the Count’s banquet come to an end, she invited Xiao Shu, the young mistress of Duke Chengguo who was a close friend, to go and see who this legendary ‘Second Miss Jiang’ was.

Shen Zhiyi knew that Yan Lin had never been very interested in women before.

If he took a liking to someone, she must have been extraordinary.

So when she looked around and saw the only figure with her head lowered, she approached and asked her to look up. It was indeed the Jiang young lady. Her face was matchless, cold but not cold. Not yet beautiful but unforgettable at first sight.

Jiang Xuening let out a soulful cry from the bottom of her heart. What kind of fate was this? It seemed that Shen Zhiyi’s intention was because Yan Lin had to come and see her, so she met her unexpectedly.

The fate of Princess Leyang was clear to her.

After Marquis Yongyi’s mansion was implicated in the case of Prince Pingnan, Marquis Yongyi’s household had been exiled. Within two months, the northern Tatars became restless and claimed that a new king would succeed and they hoped to marry a princess of the Great Qian Dynasty. The Emperor didn’t want to bring the Yan family back to power so he ended up sending Princess Leyang to marry.

Four years later, the Tatars’ efforts to gather strength came to an end, and they launched an attack.

Out of the civil and military officials in the court, only the princess’s coffin was welcomed back.

By then, the emperor had changed to Shen Jie.

In his grief, he overturned Shen Lang’s conviction for Marquis Yongyi’s mansion, brought justice to the household, and then reinstated Yan Lin, who had been exiled for four years. Yan Lin got the opportunity to lead his troops to quell the rebellion at the border, drove out the Tatars and killed any barbarians who dared to cross into their territory. He was appointed as a general, wielded the tiger talisman and returned to the Capital.
[The tiger talisman was a two-piece object made in the shape of a tiger to show proof of authority. One half was given to someone in the military and would be matched with the other half when verification was needed. Usually the Emperor held the other half.]

Afterwards, it became Jiang Xuening’s ‘disaster.’

She remembered when she first met Princess Leyang in her previous life. She had been dressed up as a man but saw that Shen Zhiyi was too concerned about the scar on her face. She picked up a thin brush that had been used by others to draw on the lanterns at the Lantern Festival, dipped it in some cherry blossom powder, and drew over the scar on her left eye.

At that time, Shen Zhiyi had mistakenly thought she was a man and developed feelings for her.

Later on, when she found out she was a woman, she couldn’t bear it.

Before leaving for the wedding, she specially invited Jiang Xuening to come and paint the same makeup as when they had first met. She sat quietly in front of the makeup mirror, gazing at the beautiful face in the mirror with two lines of tear tracks running down her cheeks.

After Shen Zhiyi left, Jiang Xuening asked herself several times: if there was another chance, would she still draw that design for her when they first met?

She had no answer to that at the time.

She thought she wouldn’t know.

But now, it was only when Shen Zhiyi stood in front of her once again and she had such an opportunity that Jiang Xuening realized that answer to that question was: she would.

“Your Royal Highness is the most dazzling pearl in the whole Qian Dynasty. How can Xuening compare?” She looked up at her and smiled slightly. “You don’t have to be envious.”

This statement sounded like it had been made with her eyes closed.

Sheng Zhiyi felt disgusted the moment she heard it.

But when she met her gaze, she found that her words were very serious and sincere. She was momentarily stunned.

Jiang Xuening turned around and pulled her to the empty painting table in the far corner. She gently picked up a fine sheep hair brush, dipped it in a light cherry blossom paint and said, “I apologize if I offend you.” She then leaned forward and lightly drew a few strokes on the scar under Shen Zhiyi’s left eye.

The originally garish scar turned into the shape of a crescent moon.

It looked like the petal of a flower, falling gently.

When she drew back, the attendant following Shen Zhiyi let out a low exclamation of surprise, her eyes widening.

“If Your Highness cares too much in front of others, everyone will know that this is your weakness and they can hold all the knives and swords to hurt you,” Jiang Xuening said. “But, if Your Highness shows that you don’t care, or you pretend not to care, people won’t be able to guess your shortcomings and can’t hurt you. Your scar is the glory of the dynasty, why be ashamed of it?”

Shen Zhiyi was completely stunned.

No one had ever said such bold words to her. Even though they were straightforward and blunt, it felt like a refreshing breeze brushing over her heart, smoothing her scars.

She stared at Second Miss Jiang, the girl she had just met, and was unable to tear her gaze away from her.

Jiang Xuening felt comfortable after she finished the design. Then thought about it again. Although she had a meeting with Princess Leyang, she still didn’t know how she would deal with Xie Wei in this lifetime. If she could flatter her Royal Highness, and Xie Wei would make a move against her, she could possibly hold some sway. 

There wasn’t anything wrong with that.

Just as she turned her gaze back, she saw Shen Zhiyi staring at her. Her scalp began to tingle!

This gaze…

How can it be exactly the same?!

She instinctively lowered her gaze and glanced at what she was wearing. It was women’s clothing.

But why is this gaze…?

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Xuening suddenly had an unprecedented thought. A thought that made her tremble all over and couldn’t help but stir up a string of goosebumps…

Who said that, in her previous life, Princess Leyang had to have feelings for her because she had dressed up as a man and mistakenly thought she was a man?

In the same situation, there might not necessarily be another explanation…

That is, seeing her dressing up as a man but exuding a feminine aura. She became closer to her but the princess may not know it herself!

If that was the case…

Jiang Xuening’s fingers, which were still clinging onto the brush, suddenly stiffened.

At that moment, facing the gaze of Shen Zhiyi, it was as if she had been struck by lightning. Only four words popped into her stupefied brain…

She was done for.

…

Thanks for all of the support and kind words for Story of Kunning Palace! I know a majority of you all are only here for Love Like the Galaxy, so I appreciate it!

You might start to notice a difference in quality within the next few chapters. I’ve been fine tuning my translation -> edit -> post process and I think I’ve got something gold.

Next Chapter: Zhou Yinzhi