PPRW 96

Chapter 96 Ding Jia is more exciting than storybooks

    "Why did Furen talked like this? Furen is still in your prime, beautiful and graceful. One doesn't know how many people envy Furen. The beautiful pictures embroidered on this booklet are all made based on Furen." Mu Yunyao slightly bit her lips and sighed, “Ah, Furen is blaming me for not being kind and honest..."

    This booklet had been prepared for a long time. She took it out at this time in hope that Ding Yuelan could relax her mind and restore her previous reputation.

    Ding Yuelan shook her head: "Little Boss, I’m not blaming you for anything. Ding Jia's affairs have nothing to do with you. You are just a person who exposes the truth. Speaking of it, I actually want to thank you for exposing this. Otherwise, I don't know how many years I will be deceived?" 

    Mu Yunyao, however, gave a bitter laugh and blurted: "It's just that the barrier in Furen’s heart is still impassable."

    Ding Yuelan was silent and nodded her head in a slightly unnoticeable way.

    "...Does Furen has a plan?"

    "I decided to leave after two days..."

    “No, madam will stay as long as she likes. If you move out, it really bothers me,” Mu Yunyao said, drooping her eyes with a trace of sadness. 

    Ding Yuelan no longer spoke, Mu Yunyao knew that with her temperament, it would be useless for her to say anything more unless she wanted to listen to it, but she could not help but felt pity towards her in her heart: "This booklet will be my gift to Furen. Whenever you want to come back, Niyunfang’s door will always be open for you."

    After that, she took out five hundred silver notes: "Living as a woman outside is hard. Just take these silver, it will be regarded as a reward for being the shopkeeper of Niyunfang these days."

     Ding Yuelan finally lifted her head and responded: "No need, it's too much."

    "Take it, even if Furen doesn't want to accept it, don't return it now. Wait until you settle down, have your own business, and then you can give it back to me. Just take it as if you’re borrowing them from me. "

    "I......" Ding Yuelan's heart became more and more troubled. It was a lie to say that she didn’t have even a bit of a grudge (towards Mu Yunyao). But she knew that Mu Yunyao was only involved with Ding family’s affairs because of her. If she hadn't come to Niyunfang at first, nothing would have happened in the future. Now with Mu Yunyao paving the way for her like this, made her feel ashamed and unable to show her face.

      "Well, time is not early anymore. I should go back too. I have to get up early tomorrow."

    When Mu Yunyao left, Ding Yuelan touched the silver notes on the table. She just felt the notes were boiling hot, as if it could directly burn her heart.

    On the next day, when Mu Yunyao just woke up, Jin Lan ran in: "Young miss, shopkeeper Ding left."

    Mu Yunyao washed up and then answered, "I see. Go down and have breakfast. There are still many things to do after this."

    “...Yes, young miss.”

    The departure of shopkeeper Ding caused many people in Niyunfang to be depressed for a while. However, there were many embroidery classes needed to be taught, and they were not allowed to continue to feel sad.

    Governor Zhang took over the case of the Ding family and immediately sent people to investigate it. This investigation was directly blown up in Jingling City. All restaurants, teahouses and even at the brothels, there were people talking about Ding family’s affairs.

    Jin Qiao listened outside, and returned to Mu Yunyao and Su Qing with a vivid description. "Furen, young miss. Don't you know that today, there’s an old woman submitted a report to Governor Zhang, saying that she was the first wife of Old Master Ding (Lao Ye). She said that when Ding Lao Ye was still poor, he abandoned her with one child out of seven sonless children. Then she was given to a merchant as a concubine. The merchant thanked Ding Lao Ye for giving him a business opportunity and then, the Ding Jia made a fortune. Later, Ding Lao Ye discovered that this was a shortcut. He searched for many orphan girls. He wanted to select them for the benefit of the Ding family. Unfortunately, many people regarded him as a male procurer (madam in charge of selling prostitutes). Many girls were sent out, but only a few returned home ...cough…”

    Jin Qiao told everything in one breath and coughed. While listening to Jin Qiao, Jin Lan quickly poured her a glass of water: "Hurry up." 

    Jin Qiao drank a glass of water, and then continued: "After that, Ding Lao Ye adopted the eldest daughter, Ding Yuejin. She was carefully trained until fourteen years old, and was sent to Liu Daren, who was still in the seventh-ranked official in Zhixian County at that time. Liu Daren supported Ding Jia’s with his talent which raised Ding Jia’s status. Ding Lao Ye tasted the sweetness of the benefit and thus adopted Ding Yuexin and Ding Yuelan successively. Originally, Ding Yuexin was acquainted and intimate with Jingling Tongzhi in the beginning. However, he was not appointed to an official post after he passed the provincial level imperial examination. Unreconciled with him, he secretly matched Ding Yuexin and Xuan Fu Daren, while arranging a chance encounter between them both, which led Xuan Fu Daren to be infatuated with her. Later on, when Tongzhi Daren was promoted to an important post by the court, Ding Lao Ye couldn't sit still. He just married Ding Yuexin over to Jingling Tongzhi, but unwilling to give up Xuan Fu Daren, he coerced young Ding Furen into marrying him….”

    Jin Qiao panted and took a full teacup and gulped it down.

    Su Qing listened with amazement, and only felt that the Ding family's affairs were more interesting than those written in the storybooks: "And then?" 

    "Then, I didn’t know what Ding Yuexin and Xuan Fu Daren. Anyway, Xuan Fu shi promised to marry Ding Yuelan. It seemed as though Ding Yuexin once again retreated (for others benefit), but it was unclear why he (XF) also vowed to protect her for life. Later, when they were embracing each other and was found out by young Ding Furen (DYL). As a result, that’s why they made such a scene afterwards.”

    “How did Tongzhi Furen and Xuan Fu shi’s affairs has been hidden secretly yet is still leaked in the end?” Su Qing couldn't help but be curious. 

     "It’s spread by the people in Ding Manor. Furen, you don’t know, now that the Ding family's affairs have come out, many of the Ding family's servants have been dismissed, and those servants know a lot of secrets. They also said that the youngest daughter of the Ding family was supposed to be comforted by the cousin, Ding Yuening. In fact, where is comfort from the cousin, it is clear that she wanted to make uncooked rice into cooked rice. It is said that Ding Yuening, taking the opportunity of visiting Jingling Tongzhi’s residence as a guest, fell into the arms of Xuan Wei Daren, who inadvertently tore open her clothes’ lapel. She confessed to the Daren that she already has a fiancee. Thus, to protect her innocence, Ding Yuening wanted to commit suicide, which made Xuan Wei Daren to promise to marry her...”

    Su Qing listened awkwardly: "This... this is really unexpected... Is there any news from Ding Furen (DYL)?"

    "Ding Lao Ye can’t move after the stroke, but he can barely speak. Some people saw Ding Furen went back to Ding Jia."

    Mu Yunyao’s action of flipping through the account book was like Ding Yuelan's style. The affairs of the Ding family had been discussed with bubbling excitement. The Neiyunfang had also been affected by some factors. However, most of them were good. The embroidery girls who came to learn embroidery focused on serious attitudes. Some women in Jingling city had been able to embroider uncommon embroidery, and after they sold and gained a lot of money, it made others learn more seriously.

    The teaching of the embroidery techniques had already been on the right track, and the memorial written by Cao Yunnian has also been delivered to the capital. Mu Yunyao's affairs gradually diminished, so she began to concentrate on embroidering beauty books. The beauty book was equivalent to the face of Niyunfang. She did not borrow others’ hands for the last book. Naturally, this book also needs to be made with her own embroidery. Because Ding Yuelan left, she did not intend to use the book she had embroidered before. She needed to redraw the patterns, as well as matching the clothes and jewellery. It was quite complicated. However, she genuinely wanted to embroider it, hence she did not have to be too anxious with the task.

    Another thing to care for was a tea house in Jinxiu Garden. Mu Yunyao wanted to let Su Qing take the helm. Nevertheless, after a long time, Su Qing still refused to accept it, so she had to use her own brain. "Young miss, Yin Hong has come over."

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I, Mochimochi, sincerely apologized if I wronged any of you. I may have reacted too strongly to the previous comment. However, I was not threatening to drop this story. I'm just an individual working on this story and tried to share the story I enjoyed reading with others. I don't mind getting corrected on the translation but please do so politely. I'm weak, I can't handle harsh criticisms. I don't want to take risks and wager my own happiness. It's better to stop and give this project to someone else and resume as a reader. I also only comment here and didn't reply to the angry post bc I don't want to start a long back-to-back argument. Let's just enjoy the story and no more~
I've read the readers' comments! Each one of them! Thank you for all the encouragement and criticism they're mailed to me ヾ(•ω•`)o
Sorry again for all the wrongs and long rambling! <(＿　＿)>

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