Disclaimer:
1. This is an unofficial translation and no permission has been obtained from the author/ official publisher. It may be taken down if the author/official publisher requests.
2. This is a fan work and the interpretation represents only the translator’s personal views without any input from the author.
3. No permission has been granted to use, publish, upload and/or copy this translation to any other site except for Second Life Translations.
When she heard Shi Cheng allow her to go in, Liu Xu’er knew that he had already calmed his mother down. So she quickly nodded and headed in.
When she entered, she found that her father-in-law was also there. Seated on a chair, he was slowly sampling his tea. Her mother-in-law sat opposite. Her face was still a bit dark, but it was clearly a lot better than before.
Shi Qian nodded his head and said, “Have a seat. Shi Cheng has already explained the situation; he knows how to handle it… Ah well, it’s something that no one wanted. And honestly, what your sanshu did has nothing to do with the rest of you. Your parents probably don’t know anything about it right?”
Liu Xu’er nodded her head, “My parents and grandparents definitely don’t know anything about this.”
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Fbk Ckyd pyke, “Mbyv’p aktbv. Rv alyzzu nyddsv cl czyxle sd ydusdl. Wsatlv kv. Fbk Ubldt kpd’v ps uswdt yde talld yduxsal. Tl pbswze zlyad bso vs bydezl pkvwyvksdp zkjl vblpl. El nyd wpl vbkp vs vlpv bkp xlvvzl… Gde vbkdjkdt ycswv kv, pkdnl vblu byhl nzlyazu vsze bkx ycswv vbl pkvwyvksd, kv pbswzed’v alyzzu kdhszhl wp vbyv xwnb. Zsw esd’v byhl vs osaau vss xwnb.”
Tl oyp nzlyazu vaukdt vs pbso bkp yvvkvwel vs vbl pkvwyvksd. Jwv Nkw Dw’la oyp hlau tayvlqwz. Fbl iwknjzu pyke, “Zlp, R yx hlau tayvlqwz vbyv eye yde xwx esd’v czyxl xl. Gqvla yzz, kv oyp xu pydpbw obs eayttle wp kdvs vbkp pkvwyvksd.”
“Wsatlv kv, ol’al yzz sdl qyxkzu. El pbswzed’v clbyhl zkjl pvaydtlap. Zsw vos pbswze ts yde ekpnwpp vbl xyvvla.” Fbk Ckyd pyke.&dcpr;
Nkw Dw’la iwknjzu ytalle, vbld xwaxwale y pldvldnl sa vos vs bla xsvbla-kd-zyo. Yldt pbk qsanle swv y qlo pkxkzyazu nsxqsavkdt pldvldnlp clqsal oyhkdt vblx swv sq vbl assx.&dcpr;
Fbk Ubldt yde Nkw Dw’la oldv cynj swv. Ebld vblu zlqv vbl nswavuyae essa, Nkw Dw’la eked’v zlv Fbk Ubldt sqqla ydu nsxqsavkdt osaep, kdpvlye pbl kxxlekyvlzu pbyale bla lyazkla vbswtbvp okvb bkx.&dcpr;
Fbk Ubldt oyp tkhld y qaktbv. Tl vbswtbv qsa y zsdt obkzl clqsal pzyrrkdt bkp vbktb yde pyukdt, “Mbyv’p aktbv! Mbyv pbswze cl obyv vblu rzyd! Mbydjqwzzu usw rknjle wr sd kv; R byed’v lhld nsdpkelale vbkp rsppkckzkvu…. Gp yd sqqknkyz, vblu oydv vbyv dyxl, vbyv alrwvyvksd. Ms vau yde pbyal kd vbl tzsau…. Rv’p ps schkswp!
Nkw Dw’la iwknjzu pyke, “Mbld es usw byhl y rzyd? Rq usw tlv kxrzknyvle, kv oswze cl cye! Ohld vbswtb kv alyzzu byp dsvbkdt vs es okvb wp, kq vblu alrsav uswa yde Fldgk’p dyxlp vs vblka pwrlaksap, kv oswze yqqlnv csvb sq uswa alrwvyvksdp! Gde usw alyzzu nyddsv tlv kdhszhle kd pkvwyvksdp zkjl vbkp, svblaokpl, kd qwvwal, vblu okzz jllr wpkdt vbkp vs lmvsav usw ytykd yde ytykd.”
Fbk Ubldt dseele, “Mbyv’p aktbv, pkdnl vblu byhl pwnb xyzknkswp rzydp, vbld vblu oswze dyvwayzzu yzps oydv vs lmrzskv wp zsdt-vlax.”
“So what should we do?” Liu Xu’er asked.
Shi Cheng sighed, “I still haven’t thought of a plan… But it’s still that same old sentence. Everyone has something they want. So long as we know what it is, we can play on that…. Let’s take it one step at a time. The first thing to do is to investigate who has the final say in the investigation. Once we’ve found out, we can slowly check and see what exactly it is he wants.”
He spread out his hands, “It would definitely involve money…. No matter what, it all boils down to money. Everyone has selfish motivations, and does things for their own benefit. That will never change.”
Liu Xu’er nodded her head, then she sighed.
Both of them went back to their rooms and continued their discussion for a long time. They picked apart the issue, and then slowly thought each aspect through. It was only in this way, that they could devise an appropriate strategy. Actually, they knew that for this case, they would never demand for Shi Cheng, Senzi or any of the other Liu family member’s lives. They were just saying that to scare them; it would never actually happen.
So now, they were looking at how to make acquaintances with the officials. How could they escape their net safely, and minimise the damage done to themselves. Also, how could they eliminate future troubles, so that no one could use this against them in future?
The next day, Shi Cheng again went down to the Public Safety department. It was still the same officials from yesterday who entertained them. It was clear that they had already investigated his family’s financial situation, so Shi Cheng didn’t bother trying to hide. After wining and dining them, Shi Cheng used his silver tongue to build a budding friendship.
After the meal, Shi Cheng conducted a thorough background check on this investigator.
They waited for two days before Shi Cheng again invited the investigator for another meal. This time, the investigator didn’t hold anything back. He shared everything he knew. Shi Cheng listened carefully, and started to understand the situation.
“It should be the head investigator’s plan.” When Shi Cheng returned home, he shared the news with Liu Xu’er. “After sharing two meals, I have pretty much figured it out. The Public Safety department’s head…. This person is the key.”
Liu Xu’er came over to help him remove his outer garment. She wasn’t surprised at what he said. Shi Cheng, after all, was a juren. Scholars were held in such high esteem and everyone knew that jurens could enter officialdom at any time. No one would lightly offend someone like that. Even other officials would mostly hope to rope people like him into their camps. Unless they bore a personal grudge against the other person, officials usually wouldn’t target juren like this. For the department of Public Safety to act this way, their head must be aware. And it should be him who made the decision to do this.
“Then what do you plan to do? After he called you over for questioning, he hasn’t said anything to you since, right?” Liu Xu’er asked.
Shi Cheng switched into home clothes and sat down to drink some tea. “He won’t say anything more. He will just give me a few more days to see whether I know what to do. If I don’t, then after that, he will probably “invite” me and Senzi to their department everyday to have a chat. No matter what is actually said in the session, they will make a show of investigating this case meticulously.”
Liu Xu’er frowned. That was even worse for them. By doing this, Shi Cheng and Liu Sen’s image would be tainted by this case, and would inflate the image of the amount of “work” the department was doing….
“I’ve already thought about it these past few days. Actually, the crux of the issue is still money”, Liu Xu’er said. “Everyone is selfish – officials flatter those above, while bullying and extorting those below. Why do they do this? In the end, it all boils down to just money – the higher you climb, the more money you have to spend to do what you want….”
Shi Cheng nodded his head, “That’s right, I’ve already thought of that. Even though we said that these people are trying to kill two birds with one stone, even though they seem to want power… Actually, it just boils down to one word, “money!” With a higher position, they need even more money.”
He saw Liu Xu’er stand at the side, frowning. So he stretched his hand out to pull her to sit. “So, let’s just forget about their killing three birds with one stone strategy. I investigated all the crucial people so that I know how to deal with them, and it’s still just about money! So long as I satiate the important people, no matter how lofty their initial goals, no matter how profound their aims, we would still be able to resolve the issue.”
Liu Xu’er nodded her head, “You’re right. Since we’ve already been dragged into this, and would have to give money sooner or later, we should just do it earlier, so that we don’t get implicated in it…. They don’t have to try anything else, we will just admit defeat and give them money and settle the issue.” Then she sighed again, “But they’ve thought of such an intricate trap. If you want to resolve the issue, it would probably take more than a little bit of silver…. We might have to take a serious loss.”
Shi Cheng nodded his head, “That’s right, so we need to think. How can we use the least amount of money to settle the matter with them? We also have to make sure that we protect ourselves in this matter, so that they cannot use this again in future.”
Liu Xu’er nodded her head, “En…. Although it sounds difficult, we can achieve anything with effort.”
Shi Cheng laughed, “Since you can joke, I can relax! Actually, the matter isn’t that difficult… Just let me think about it a while longer.”
Liu Xu’er smiled. She knew he was just trying to get her to stop worrying, so she nodded and said, “Let’s think about it together.”
A few days ago, on the very first day of the third month, Shao Huai had brought his wife for a visit to the Liu family. They sent over some gifts to celebrate the upcoming birth. In a colourful basin, they had a bunch of millet, covered with colourful cloth. There were also 130 duck eggs, some raw jujubes, chestnuts and little clothes made by Shao Huai’s wife. She made them out of very soft cotton. Some of the clothes had been cut down from adult’s clothes.
That day, Shao Rong got up very early in the morning and felt a bit uncomfortable – she was due any day now. She felt that she was about to deliver, so hurriedly called for Liu Shu not to go out and to help her to the side room to wait.
Because she had been saying the same thing for the past few days, Liu Shu himself was rather familiar with the drill. Unflustered, he quickly called his mother over and helped Shao Rong into the specially prepared birthing room. He even told her to walk around, while he quickly went to carry the brazier from the main room over, along with some servant girls.
All of the bedding had already been prepared. By now, the family were no longer behaving like villagers would – just place a woven mat on the kang and lay some bottlebrush grass on top of it. If the weather was cold, they would heat the kang and that was it. They would deliver just that simply. Now, the Liu family were very attentive and had already prepared a very fine mat for this specific purpose.
The preparations were all done very speedily. The side room was a little cold, so the servant girls had already started to heat up the brick wall. This brick wall was linked to the kang and very quickly, the kang was well heated and the room itself much warmer. Shao Rong paced around and noticed that her pains were becoming more and more regular, so she quickly called Liu Shu to call their mother over.
Liu Shu ran out. In short order, both He shi and Song Yao had arrived. Then they instructed the servants to bring the midwife over.
By the time it was noon, the midwife had arrived. Liu Gao shi and He shi were inside supervising, while Song Yao was serving as their messenger. The servant girls and women kept walking in and out, bringing water and braziers.
By night, there still wasn’t any activity. Just when Liu Shu thought that it was another false alarm, Shao Rong’s groans of pain suddenly started to ring out. The midwife kept telling her to use strength, and the atmosphere became very tense.
Old Man Liu and Liu Changgeng were both waiting in the front room. Only Liu Shu was in the courtyard. He paced around anxiously.
Shao Rong’s first birth was not easy. After being in pain for an entire night, she only gave birth the next morning, when the sky was bright. The Second branch’s eldest grandson had arrived.
For the eldest son’s first child to be a boy, everyone in the family, including Liu Gao shi, Old Man Liu, Liu Changgeng were all overjoyed. Liu Gao shi was so excited, she immediately went around the courtyard saying, “Share the news! Quickly share the news… Lin! You arrange it! Quickly go to your dabo and sishu’s and tell them the news. As well as Shao Rong’s family in Niangou village!”
Liu Lin loudly agreed. He ran in front of a stunned Liu Shu before calling, “Ge, congratulations!” Then he hurriedly turned and ran off. When he got to the courtyard door, he suddenly recalled, “Senzi! Go and tell sishu! Then head over to your sange’s home!”
“Alright, got it!” Liu Sen agreed. Then in an even louder voice, he shouted, “Dage, congratulations! I am now officially a shushu!” Then he ran off…
Translator’s Note: I am very happy to announce that I have finally finished translating the novel! Although the rest of the chapters will still take the next two weeks to be published at this website, the actual heavy lifting translation work is done. I still can’t believe I did it….. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy the rest of the story! At this point, I can promise very very safely that it will definitely be completed😆😆😆
Yey!!! We’re almost finished, just few extras left… It was lovely and heartwarming journey we shared with Xue’er… Whew… I still felt it’s too soon to end this novel 😭😭😭
Thank you Soo much tl-san for your wonderful and amazing translation, we (readers) are able to join Xue’ers journey through you!!! 😍😍😍
Heheheh! Glad you are enjoying it.. Sadly, there are no extras, it just wraps up the entire story in the next 10 chapters….. Still, there are 10 more chapters to go, so you won’t have to say goodbye just yet!