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    Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist

    Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 34

    by Little Panda

    Volume 2: The Captivating Splendor of Jingdu

    Alas, my poor, early-departed Fulang!

    To convince Su Yi that her Fulang had indeed fallen to his death, Ji Qingchi specifically had a Shadow Guard find an unrecognizably mangled corpse.

    After she and Feng Ruoqing finalized their agreement, they had someone inform Su Ming of Su Yi’s whereabouts.

    Su Ming had been wholeheartedly focused on her business during this period. To build up some family assets for her daughter, she was practically working herself to death​1, rising early and sleeping late​2, sometimes even skipping meals.

    This day, as it neared noon, while having the bookkeeper tally the silver earned recently, she ate a simple meal, calculating that after checking the shop today, she would go to the Marquis of Pingyang’s estate to see Su Yi. She hadn’t seen her daughter in a long time. Although she often heard from the maidservant by her daughter’s side reporting that all was well, she always felt uneasy, unsure how her daughter was truly doing.

    Finally, the bookkeeper finished the accounts and said to her, “Family Head, we’ve earned a total of two hundred twenty taels​3 of silver these past days.”

    Earning such a tiny amount in nearly two months wasn’t even enough to rent a shop in Jingdu. The silver she had brought was almost entirely spent buying this house in the suburbs, and this suburban house was small and dilapidated, barely suitable for servants to live in. She could endure the hardship, but her Yi’er, with her poor health, definitely couldn’t live here.

    Family Head Su worriedly put down her rice bowl. Before she could say anything, her steward entered, face full of worry, holding a letter. “Family Head, bad news! A strange maidservant just delivered this letter, saying the Young Lady is injured!”

    Hearing this, Su Ming’s heart leaped into her throat. Forgetting all about her business, she mounted a horse and rushed towards the location mentioned in the letter where Su Yi was injured.

    When she arrived and saw the scene, her daughter lay pale on the couch, a large bloodstain soaking the bandage on her right shoulder. The sight made Su Ming dizzy, and she nearly collapsed. “Yi’er… my darling​4… What happened… How…”

    Her steward quickly supported her. “Family Head, please mind your health.”

    Feng Ruoqing explained the cause of Su Yi’s injury from the side.

    Ji Qingchi had said she was being hunted by her own Fifth Imperial Sister. But naturally, the matter of being pursued by an Imperial Princess couldn’t be revealed. After all, in Family Head Su’s eyes, Su Yi and her Fulang were common folk. Why would an Imperial Princess, having nothing better to do​5, hunt them down?

    Therefore, she and Ji Qingchi had concocted a story: Su Yi had recently offended someone in her business dealings, and that person had hired thugs to harm her.

    With a little inquiry, one could find out that Su Yi had indeed been doing business recently and had indeed, for unknown reasons, offended someone who was deliberately making trouble for her​6.

    Lies, after all, must be mixed with truth to be more believable.

    Sure enough, upon hearing Feng Ruoqing’s explanation, Su Ming believed it, wiping her tears. “This child… why doesn’t she tell her mother when she encounters trouble? Now look at this…”

    Seeing her daughter lying lifelessly on the couch, her heart ached with sharp pangs.

    Feng Ruoqing comforted her, “Family Head Su, rest assured, Miss Su is out of danger. She just needs to rest quietly for the next while.”

    Su Ming wiped her tears, looked around, and didn’t see her daughter’s Fulang. She grew a little angry—could it be that this somewhat restless Fulang saw her daughter seriously injured and abandoned her? “Where is my virtuous son-in-law?”

    “Well…” Feng Ruoqing hesitated, then had people bring in the corpse Ji Qingchi had arranged for.

    Staring at the body covered with a white cloth, Su Ming’s heart trembled, and she stepped back. “This… What is this?”

    “Young Master Chi, in order to save the Young Lady, fell off the cliff himself.”

    “He was a good child.” Su Ming was instantly filled with guilt. Gazing at the white cloth, then back at Su Yi on the couch, tears streamed down her aged face​7. “What sins have I committed? Why have both of them ended up like this…”

    Feng Ruoqing quickly consoled her, “Family Head Su, don’t be heartbroken. Miss Su’s injuries aren’t severe. The most important thing now is for her to recuperate, and also… we must find a place to bury Young Master Chi.”

    “Yes, you’re right.” Su Ming could only sigh and nod, wiping her tears. She arranged for Su Yi to be carefully taken back to rest and personally oversaw the burial arrangements for “Chi Qing”.

    At the Marquis of Pingyang’s estate, Su Ban first heard that someone from the First Imperial Prince’s residence had brazenly committed violence in broad daylight​8, reportedly chasing a man and a woman who were flower-viewing out to the suburbs. The woman was injured, and the man fell to his death at the bottom of a cliff. Before she could inquire whose young lady and gentleman had met such a tragic fate, her subordinates reported that Su Yi had been harmed and injured.

    The house was on fire, and it turned out to be her own house​9.

    Su Ban flew into a rage​10. Who was so audacious as to dare harm her junior relative!

    She quickly ordered people to investigate and sent someone to find Su Ming, saying she had a villa​11 in the suburbs where Su Ming could take her daughter to recuperate quietly.

    Su Ming was just worrying about having no place to take her daughter to recover. This was like receiving a pillow when sleepy​12, solving her urgent problem.

    After thanking Su Ban, she took her daughter to the villa, carefully nursing her back to health day by day.

    Su Yi remained unconscious for three days before waking up. Once her mind cleared, she looked around at the circle of people surrounding her and noticed Ji Qingchi was missing.

    Before she passed out, Ji Qingchi had been holding her, hiding together on a pine tree. Although she knew the female protagonist would surely be fine, she had personally witnessed the iron claw pierce the female protagonist’s shoulder. She was recovering here, so where had the female protagonist gone?

    “Cough cough… Mother… where is my Fulang?”

    After she spoke, the expressions of everyone in the room suddenly turned strange.

    Su Yi looked utterly baffled. What was going on? Could the female protagonist have done something outrageous​13 while she was unconscious? Why did they all have such expressions?

    “What’s wrong? Did something happen to my Fulang?”

    Su Ming walked over and sat beside her daughter, stroking her head lovingly. “Yi’er, Mother only has you as a daughter. You absolutely must not have anything happen to you.”

    Su Yi found this even stranger. She was asking about the female protagonist’s situation, why was her mother telling her this?

    “Mother, I know. I’m much better now.” Su Yi obediently nestled in her mother’s embrace. “But I want to know where my Fulang went.”

    Seeing her daughter persistently asking about her Fulang’s whereabouts, Su Ming gritted her teeth, hardened her heart, and said, “Your Fulang… he fell to his death.”

    “What?” Su Yi suspected she had misheard. Fell to his death? Was her mother talking about the female protagonist?

    Su Ming thought her daughter was heartbroken and sighed, pulling her into an embrace. “Mother is telling the truth. That Fulang of yours, to save you, fell to his death. While you were unconscious, Mother took the liberty of having him buried. Mother knows you two shared deep affection, but he is already gone. There’s no point in dwelling on it. Living well is the right path.”

    After hearing her mother’s account, and seeing that the sorrowful expression on her face wasn’t fake, Su Yi confirmed she was telling the truth.

    Ji Qingchi was the female protagonist; she wasn’t worried about her safety at all. So the one who fell and died definitely wasn’t her. She must have used it as an excuse to get away and return to the Imperial Palace.

    Heavens​14! The female protagonist went back! She successfully went back! Hahahahahaha! She finally didn’t have to live on tenterhooks​15! From now on, the ocean is vast for fish to leap, the sky is high for birds to fly​16! She was free! Hahahahahaha!

    Su Yi struggled to suppress the corners of her mouth that wanted to break into wild laughter. She pinched herself hard twice to force out a couple of tears. “Wuwu… Fulang…”

    Su Ming patted her back, wiping her own tears. “Yi’er, you must take care of your health. Mother only has you, my sole seedling. If your health fails, what will Mother do?”

    “Wuwu… It’s alright… Mother, I just didn’t expect… Seeing Fulang perfectly fine just days ago, I didn’t think things would turn out like this in the blink of an eye.”

    Su Yi feigned crying for a bit. “But Mother is right. Daughter still needs to support Mother, I won’t disregard my own health. However, Daughter still wants to visit Fulang’s grave, at least to offer a stick of incense.”

    Seeing her daughter finally seemed to be pulling herself together, Su Ming said happily, “Good, good, good. When you’re better, I’ll have someone take you there. Right now, your constitution is weak, rest up first. We’ll talk about it once you’ve recovered.”

    Su Yi pinched herself again, but misjudged the force and accidentally pulled at the wound on her shoulder. The pain caused tears to stream uncontrollably from the corners of her eyes like broken threads​17, making anyone watching feel her utter heartbreak. “Okay, I’ll listen to Mother.”

    Su Ming, afraid she might dwell on morbid thoughts, assigned several more maids to accompany her before leaving with peace of mind.

    Su Yi had a weak constitution. The shoulder injury, not particularly severe, took three months to heal.

    When the wound was scabbing over, Feng Ruoqing specially brought a tube of scar-removing ointment, telling her to apply it daily to eliminate the scar.

    Su Yi was very happy holding the ointment. She had been worrying about getting a scar on her shoulder. She smiled, “Feng-jiejie, you’re so thoughtful.”

    Feng Ruoqing had meticulously cared for her​18 for three months, making Su Yi feel much closer to her. Unconsciously, her form of address had changed.

    “Mm, it’s best if it’s useful… I need to go dry medicinal herbs. I’ll leave first.”

    Su Yi knew she loved studying medicine, so she happily waved at her with the ointment. “Okay, goodbye, Feng-jiejie.”

    Feng Ruoqing didn’t even dare linger for pleasantries, leaving as if her feet were on wind-fire wheels​19.

    She was afraid if she didn’t leave quickly, she’d expose the secret​20.

    The medicine Su Yi had been using during this time was all secretly sent from the Imperial Palace. If Su Yi found out, who knows if she’d become suspicious.

    Not noticing anything unusual about her, after applying the medicine, Su Yi had someone move a lounge chair into the garden. She sprawled on it, slowly swaying and sunbathing, while calling over Gan Cao to tell her the latest gossip from outside.

    Although many people lived around this suburban area, everyone was busy struggling to make a living​21. Farmers tilled their fields daily, merchants did business daily. Even her mother was rarely in the house, trying to earn more money. Only she was bored, unable to find any amusement.

    Over time, Su Yi became extremely restless. Every day, she gave Gan Cao a few strings of cash, letting her take a few younger maids into the city to buy snacks, and incidentally, buy some books and paintings for her, and gather any gossip to report back and relieve her boredom.

    Gan Cao took a sip of water and began recounting the gossip with animated expressions​22. “I heard the Marquis is looking for a wife for Su Tianci. Su Tianci is throwing tantrums, saying he doesn’t want an ordinary woman; if he marries, he must marry an Imperial Princess! He’s been causing a scene at the Marquisate for days over this.”

    “Why bring up that good-for-nothing​23 for no reason? Just annoying. That’s hardly gossip. Change the subject.”

    “Yes.” Gan Cao thought for a moment, then added, “A new tavern opened on the street past Tianyi Tower. Yesterday, a huge crowd gathered there! I wanted to take a look, but before I even got close, I was pushed away. They said I was too young to enter. Hmph, what kind of tavern requires you to be grown up to get in?”

    Su Yi said lazily, “Probably an ’18+’ tavern.”

    Gan Cao looked baffled. “Huh? Miss, what did you say?”

    “Nothing, continue.”

    “Oh, let me think again.” Gan Cao scratched her head. After a while, she remembered something else. “Right, yesterday I ran into the Ninth Imperial Princess on the street!”

    Clatter!

    Suddenly, something made a noise, startling Gan Cao.

    Looking closely, it turned out the teacup Miss held had fallen to the ground and shattered.

    Gan Cao quickly moved to clean it up but was stopped by Su Yi. “No need. My hand wasn’t steady just now. It’s just a cup. Let the young servants clean it up later. You’re young; it wouldn’t be good if you got cut… You encountered… cough… encountered the Ninth Imperial Princess, and then what?”

    “There’s no ‘and then’,” Gan Cao said dejectedly. “The Ninth Imperial Princess was in a sedan chair. I didn’t see what she looked like. It’s just that when her sedan chair passed by the Second Imperial Princess’s residence on the street, everyone got excited, saying it was the Ninth Imperial Princess. Then I followed a crowd and glimpsed it from afar, stuck in the throng. I couldn’t even see clearly what the chair carriers looked like.”

    Good thing Gan Cao didn’t meet the female protagonist face-to-face. Otherwise, if the female protagonist recognized her as the maid of this sickly weakling, would she recall her own miserable state during the incident and then silence​24 her, the witness to her embarrassing moment?

    A false alarm. Su Yi breathed a sigh of relief. “Imperial Princesses are so noble; how could common folk like us expect to see them?”

    Gan Cao nodded. “Miss, you’re right. I was quite disappointed at first, but then I thought the same thing and wasn’t disappointed anymore.”

    “Alright, alright. Besides these, is there any other gossip?”

    “Um…” Gan Cao hesitated, then looked at her cautiously. “Does something concerning you, Miss, count… count as gossip?”

    Su Yi smiled. “As long as I, your Miss, haven’t heard it, of course it counts as gossip.”

    Gan Cao thought seriously for a moment, concluding that Miss probably hadn’t heard the next piece of news. She hesitated, then said, “Yesterday, I secretly overheard the Family Head and the steward discussing… finding you a successor spouse​25, finding you another Fulang.”

    Su Yi: “Mm… Hmm?!”

    Her eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Gan Cao. “What did you just say?”

    TOC

    Footnotes

    1. 拼了老命 | pīn le lǎo mìng | Lit. “risk one’s old life”; Meaning: to exert oneself to the utmost, to risk everything.
    2. 起早贪黑 | qǐ zǎo tān hēi | Lit. “rise early, covet the dark”; Meaning: to work diligently from dawn till dusk.
    3. ≈ 8,250 grams of silver
    4. 心肝 | xīngān | Lit. “heart and liver”; An term of endearment for a loved one, especially a child, similar to “darling” or “sweetheart”.
    5. 吃饱了撑的 | chī bǎo le chēng de | Lit. “stuffed after eating one’s fill”; Meaning: having nothing better to do, meddling out of boredom.
    6. 使绊子 | shǐ bànzi | Lit. “use a tripwire”; Meaning: to deliberately obstruct or cause trouble for someone.
    7. 老泪纵横 | lǎo lèi zònghéng | Lit. “old tears stream horizontally and vertically”; Meaning: tears streaming down an elderly person’s face, indicating deep sorrow or emotion.
    8. 光天化日 | guāng tiān huà rì | Lit. “bright sky, transformed sun”; Meaning: in broad daylight; openly.
    9. 房子着火了,那房子还是她家的 | fángzi zháohuǒ le, nà fángzi háishì tā jiā de | A metaphorical expression. Lit. “The house caught fire, and that house is hers.” Meaning: The trouble or disaster being discussed directly affects someone close to her or her own interests.
    10. 大动肝火 | dà dòng gānhuǒ | Lit. “greatly move liver fire”; In Traditional Chinese Medicine, anger is associated with the liver. Meaning: to become furious, to fly into a rage.
    11. 别院 | biéyuàn | A secondary residence, villa, or courtyard house, often used for leisure or retreat.
    12. 瞌睡了送枕头 | kēshuì le sòng zhěntou | Lit. “send a pillow when sleepy”; Meaning: getting exactly what one needs at the perfect moment; a timely help.
    13. 人神共愤 | rén shén gòng fèn | Lit. “people and gods are angered together”; Meaning: something so outrageous or unjust that it angers both humans and deities; utterly detestable.
    14. 苍天 | cāngtiān | Lit. “Blue Heaven”; The vast sky; Heaven; Providence. Often invoked in exclamations.
    15. 提心吊胆 | tí xīn diào dǎn | Lit. “raise heart, hang gallbladder”; Meaning: to be filled with anxiety, fear, or suspense; on tenterhooks.
    16. 海阔凭鱼跃，天高任鸟飞 | hǎi kuò píng yú yuè, tiān gāo rèn niǎo fēi | Lit. “The sea is wide for fish to leap at will, the sky is high for birds to fly as they please”; Meaning: boundless opportunities; complete freedom to act or develop one’s potential.
    17. 泪珠线一般止不住地落下 | lèizhū xiàn yībān zhǐ bù zhù de luòxià | Lit. “teardrops like a thread uncontrollably fall”; Describing tears falling continuously.
    18. 无微不至 | wú wēi bù zhì | Lit. “not even the smallest detail is overlooked”; Meaning: meticulously; in every possible way; with great care and attention to detail.
    19. 脚踩风火轮 | jiǎo cǎi fēng huǒ lún | Lit. “feet stepping on wind-fire wheels”; Refers to the magical wheels used by the deity Nezha in Chinese mythology, signifying great speed. Meaning: to move very quickly.
    20. 露馅 | lòuxiàn | Lit. “the filling is exposed” (like in a dumpling); Meaning: to let the cat out of the bag; to expose a secret; to give the game away.
    21. 疲于奔命 | píyúbēnmìng | Lit. “wearied by running about on missions”; Meaning: constantly busy and rushed; struggling to cope.
    22. 眉飞色舞 | méi fēi sè wǔ | Lit. “eyebrows flying, colors dancing”; Meaning: with animated expression; beaming with joy; elated.
    23. 纨绔 | wánkù | Refers to silk trousers worn by spoiled sons of the wealthy; Meaning: a profligate young man from a rich family; a silk-pants; a fop; good-for-nothing.
    24. 咔擦 | kā cā | Onomatopoeia for a snapping or cutting sound. Used colloquially to mean “get rid of,” “kill,” “eliminate.”
    25. 续弦 | xùxián | Lit. “to join a broken string (of a musical instrument)”. Traditionally refers to a man remarrying after his wife’s death. Here, it’s applied to finding a new spouse (specifically, a fulang) for Su Yi after her first fulang’s supposed death.

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