Chapter 98.5: Doubt, Game, Flower, Qin

“Ah, that’s right, I almost forgot. Big sister Luo, pick an embroidered pouch then.” Yu Yao brought out the servant girl holding the tray behind her.

“Wenzhu, before this subject picks one, may this subject ask, what all is inside? If by chance this subject picks one that this subject can’t do, then that would be terrible. Really makes one a little scared.” Jing Wan cutely patted her chest.

Yu Yao directly laughed, “Big sister Luo, no need to be scared. It’s fine if you don’t know. I’m here after all, I won’t let anyone punish you.”

“Then this subject is relieved.” Jing Wan smilingly picked a embroidered pouch at random, handing it to another servant girl. “Oh right, Wenzhu, who was it that drew this subject’s name, such honor.”

“It’s Cheng Jun-wangfei[1].”

The Empress’s younger sister, and Li Ru Yi’s old mother!

That servant girl opened the embroidered pouched, “Wenzhu, it’s qin.”

“Big sister Luo, do you know how to play the qin?” Yu Yao Wenzhu gazed to Jing Wan.

“The Luo family fourth miss’s qin skills aren’t bad, but heard from her that her family’s third sister is even more impressive.”

Following the voice, Jing Wan swept a glance over. No need to confirm who opened their mouth, this matter more or less had to do with Luo Jing Ying.

“Then alright, I’ll let someone prepare the qin. Big sister Luo, let’s go over then.”

“Wenzhu go ahead, this subject will go prepare and head over in a bit.”

“Fine then, big sister Luo come quickly.”

Once Yu Yao Wenzhu left, some of the young ladies in the surrounding stuck around, wanting to see what preparations she was going to make. It was just playing the qin, just directly play on it.

“Third girl.” Luo Old Madam, who saw the whole thing from the side, walked over, her complexion somewhat cold.

Jing Wan smiled, “Grandmother, this granddaughter hasn’t played the qin in a long time, don’t know if I’ll play out of tune or not. When time comes and I lose face, you can’t scold me, alright.”

Luo Old Madam heartached incessantly. This child was just like this, whenever encountering something, she can all think of a way to resolve it, never letting anyone worry. But sometimes, she’ll end up suffering the hardships herself, for example like now. “Gong mama, move quickly, use cloth bandages to have third girl’s fingers wrapped up.”

Gong mama actually didn’t know her own miss knew how to play the qin, but right now wasn’t the time to ask questions. With that pair of tender hands of miss’s, just playing one piece will definitely injure her fingers. With no time to go look for bandages, Gong mama without saying another word directly tore off a piece of her clothing, extracted some thread from the fringes, and rapidly wrapped Jing Wan’s fingers, using the thread to tie it.

(T/N: Qin strings are really sharp and it’s very easy to cut your fingers on the strings, veteran players usually have callouses on their fingers from playing.)

Jing Wan looked it over. The bandages didn’t have fuzzy edges and was tightly wrapped around, completely not needing to worry about it falling off during the performance, and it won’t get in the way either. “The way Gong mama handles matters really makes one feel reassured.”

“This girl, still joking around at a time like this.” Luo Old Madam angrily tapped her forehead.

Jing Wan unconcernedly smiled, “This granddaughter will go first then.”

Sun Yi Jia looked to Luo Old Madam’s anxious expression, afraid things won’t be that simple. Thus, she also followed over.

Luo Old Madam watched Jing Wan’s retreating figure, “Where’s Luo Jing Ying?” Her voice was terrifyingly deep. One could tell, she was really angry.

“Old madam, still over by the flower platform. It has already been confirmed, it was indeed fourth miss that incited Ru Yu Junzhu to target third miss.”

“Good, good, very good!”

Jing Wan walked before the numerous noble personages, mannerly and orderly greeting them and paying her respect.

The crowd, seeing her well mannered, neither servile nor overbearing, natural and unrestrained in her conduct, and not the least bit small-minded, inwardly clicked their tongues. This bearing, this cultivation, really is a little too exceptional.

The Grand Elder Princess originally was still suspicious towards the matter of Jing Wan giving flowers, just treating it as another one attempting to climb up, but after seeing her in person, this thought gradually vanished. “Miss wants to give my family’s Yu Yao a pot of eighteenth scholar, do you know how much it’s worth? According to what this princess knows, in the entire capital, apart from the one in your hand, there aren’t more than three. You’re willing to part with it?”

“Replying to Grand Elder Princess, this subject loves flowers and loves raising flowers. What I care about is never its price, I just enjoy the process, watching them grow bit by bit, blooming into a beautiful flower, and feeling pleased at the sight. That is enough. And moreover, it’s this subject’s sister that’s at fault to begin with, so compensating is what one is suppose to do. Furthermore, this subject, aside from flowers, doesn’t have anything else presentable. Since Wenzhu just happens to also like flowers, then naturally it’s the best of both worlds. This subject believes, that eighteenth scholar, even if it comes to your manor, it will still be taken care of very nicely. As long as it is well, even if it’s not in front of my eyes, it doesn’t matter.”

The Grand Elder Princess helplessly smiled, “This child sure says some interesting things, not like raising a flower, but rather like raising a child. This princess and fuma are both lovers of flowers, so we’ll just shameless accept it. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely raise it properly. And if you miss it, you can come to the manor anytime to see it.”

The words in front were nothing, but that last line shocked shocked everyone present. Even the princesses and junzhus all never once received such honor. It can be seen just how rare these words were. If nothing else, Jing Wan’s social status instantly shot up a large chunk.

“Many thanks Grand Elder Princess.”

Nearby, Luo Jing Ying was both anxious and angry. What she was anxious about was everyone finding out about her breaking Yu Yao Wenzhu’s glass lamp, and Luo Jing Wan even meddled in her business, using a pot of camellia as compensation. Perhaps it might even ruin her father’s plan. And what she was angry about was that she still haven’t let that slut lose face, yet unexpectedly let her show off once, receiving the Grand Elder Princess’s favor.

“With Yu Yao Wenzhu’s glass lamp being that valuable, third sister using a camellia to compensate, isn’t it a little too inappropriate?” Luo Jing Ying carefully opened her mouth.

(T/N: Eighteenth scholar is a breed of camellia. Recycling old pictures from before lol. Pretty sure the one Jing Wan has is the white one.)

Eighteenth Scholar

White Eighteenth Scholar

This time, not just the Grand Elder Princess alone laughed. “This young lady must be the one that broke my family Yu Yao’s glass lamp? One glass lamp is worth no more than two three thousand taels of silver, but one pot of eighteenth scholar can be worth at least ten thousand taels of silver, or even gold. And in the eyes of those that are obsessed with flowers, even if given a mountain of gold and sliver, they still wouldn’t exchange it. Moreover, something like a glass lamp, no matter how valuable, it can still be reproduced. But an eighteenth scholar can be discovered but can’t be sought after. This older sister of yours has really suffered a big loss because of you.”

Luo Jing Ying’s face flushed completely red, hating that she couldn’t find a crack to squeeze into. In her eyes, these plants and flowers, even if rare, just how precious can it be? Can it be comparable to that famous and valuable glass lamp? Moreover, something that cost over ten thousand taels of gold, hundred thousand taels of silver, Luo Jing Wan was actually this generous, just giving it away on a whim? If not so, then would she have needed to lose face like this? “This subject was shallow. After returning, this subject will definitely thank third sister properly.”

At least she wasn’t too stupid.

The Grand Elder Princess looked again towards the quiet Jing Wan, her eyes filled with praise. “Does miss have any other rare breeds in hand?”

“Yes.”

“Oh?” The Grand Elder Princess originally was just randomly asking. This kind of good thing, encountering one pot was already pretty good, but unexpectedly………. “Can you tell this princess which ones?”

“Still have a pot of flowering crane feather, one violent fragrant, one pot of yaotai jade phoenix, one mutated strain of scarlet bush lily, as well as…….one three color peony.”

(T/N: See chap 33 for pictures, it’s all the same flowers from before. Also as said before in my old TNs these names are direct translations of their chinese names as they don’t have actual english names.)

The Grand Elder Princess was shocked. She even suspected that she heard wrong, “Is everything you said true?”

“This one doesn’t dare to deceive Grand Elder Princess.”

The Grand Elder Princess deeply inhaled, “Really shouldn’t have asked you, making this princess want to take them all for one’s own.”

“That won’t do, if princess takes them all, then this subject will really be heartbroken to death.” Jing Wan batted her eyes, yet said it in dead earnest.

The Grand Elder Princess let out a ‘pfft’, “This mischievous girl. Although I’m moved, I can’t just forcibly take your things. However, bring them over to the manor sometime, and let this princess nicely satisfy one’s eyes.”

“This isn’t a problem.”

“Grand Elder Princess, isn’t it Yu Yao’s game time right now?” Li Ru Yu truly couldn’t keep watching anymore. The slut that used flowers to seduce her older cousin was actually trying to entice the Grand Elder Princess right now, really deserves to die.

Towards Li Ru Yu, this girl, there really weren’t many that liked her. “Luo third miss, why don’t you play the qin first, when you finish, you can then come chat with me about those treasures of yours.”

“Alright.”

Jing Wan calmly walked up the flower platform. The qin had already been placed there. However, the moment she placed her fingers on the strings, Jing Wan just knew, things were indeed not that simple.

Seeing that qin, the Grand Elder Princess’s expression changed, containing a hidden scowl. She turned her head to the mama by her side and said, “Go ask, who was it that sent that qin up there?”

[1] Jun-wangfei – the title for the wangfei of a junwang, a second ranked wang; I don’t remember how I romanized this title previously, so adding this note here as extra reminder in case anyone forgot these little details, guess I should also add this info to the historical notes page. Qinwang is a first ranked wang, their wangfei’s are either just referred to as ‘wangfei’ or as qin-wangfei, latter too lengthy sometimes so I don’t use.

T/N: So your translator Jen decided to do some calculations, estimating that the fictional dynasty of Qi Yuan is based roughly off the Song dynasty, one tael of silver back then is about 600-1300rmb in today’s money, so for easy calculation, we’ll just round it to 1000rmb. So ten thousand taels of silver is about 10,000,000rmb and converting that to usd is about $1,453,100. So that pot of flower is worth about 1.5mil USD. Now you know why LJY eyes be popping out, I don’t even wanna know how scary that amount is in gold. Disclaimer though, these calculations are just for fun and not meant to be taken seriously. I’m not qualified enough to be an expert in ancient economics.