Cuddling with the Cold Female Protagonist – Chapter 37
by Little PandaVolume 2: The Captivating Splendor of Jingdu
After returning to the Pingyang Marquis’s Mansion, Su Yi secluded herself in her small courtyard, planning her next steps.
The people who had ambushed them last time at the First Imperial Prince’s mansion were definitely after the female protagonist, it had nothing to do with her. Now that the female protagonist was gone, her personal safety should be guaranteed.
With the external threats gone, only the illness that had troubled her for so long remained.
Although the poison in her body had been sealed by Feng Ruoqing, it wasn’t a long-term solution after all. She still occasionally felt breathless, and walking for extended periods left her utterly exhausted. Therefore, she absolutely had to find Changsheng Valley2, find the divine physician, and get treated.
But Changsheng Valley was said to be far away. First, she needed to arrange for food, clothing, lodging, and transport. Going alone was certainly impossible; she also needed to arrange for guards. To prevent falling ill on the road, she needed to bring medicine with her. Adding up all these things, the money she had on hand definitely wouldn’t be enough.
So, the most urgent task was to make money.
She had one thousand five hundred taels3 of silver. Having no business experience herself, her mother, by contrast, was an old hand. So, she took the silver, explained everything that had happened to her recently to her mother in detail4, and asked her mother how to use these one thousand five hundred taels to start a business.
Seeing her daughter come to her with one thousand five hundred taels of gleaming silver, Su Ming felt both happy and proud. Her Yi’er had grown up, knew how to provide for herself, and was even shrewder than her mother. She herself had earned less than three hundred taels5 in two months, yet her daughter could earn several times her amount at once.
“Niang knew my Yi’er is the smartest and cleverest.”
Su Yi felt like a student who had just brought home a test with a perfect score, becoming embarrassed by her mother’s praise. “It’s because Niang taught me well.”
“Aiya, such sweet words, no wonder Grandma dotes on you.” Su Ming found her child more promising the more she looked at her, couldn’t resist rubbing her small face, and slowly shared her years of business experience.
Su Ming dealt in bolts of cloth6. After all, everyone needed to eat and wear clothes; cloth was a necessity of life. This was what she did back in Fengcheng, she returned to her old trade, selling the same things.
But there were so many shops selling cloth in the capital; the street where Tianyi Restaurant was located alone had seven or eight. Therefore, her business wasn’t thriving, otherwise she wouldn’t have only earned just over two hundred taels in two months.
Hearing her mother talk about the cloth business, Su Yi suddenly remembered the merchant woman she had met at the restaurant, named Geng something. She also did cloth business in the capital; perhaps asking her could yield some experience.
However, she didn’t know where she lived and couldn’t find her now, so she could only explore on her own first.
After thinking for a moment, Su Yi said, “Niang, after we finish eating later, let’s go take a look at your shop?”
Su Ming had bought a small shop in the capital specifically for selling cloth.
“Okay, okay, Niang will take you to see it.” Su Ming naturally wouldn’t refuse her precious daughter’s request. After finishing their meal, she took Su Yi to the small shop she had bought.
Although Su Ming was from a wealthy family in Fengcheng, she wasn’t quite as well-off in the capital.
Considering her daughter’s illness, she didn’t dare spend too much money, only managing to acquire a small shop at the end of an alley. When they arrived, only a few assistants were busy inside; there were basically no customers to be seen.
“Niang, the location of this shop doesn’t seem great.”
Su Ming sighed, “Niang knows what you want to say, but shops in this capital aren’t cheap.”
Su Yi didn’t say anything more. She had Yan Can support her as she carefully looked around the shop, discovering that it only sold bolts of cloth, no ready-made clothes.
This wasn’t surprising. There were no machines in ancient times; everything was purely handmade. A single ordinary piece of clothing took a seamstress at least a month to make. Moreover, there were no electric lights in ancient times, and poor families couldn’t afford oil lamps, so they couldn’t work after six in the evening. This dragged out the time, naturally making things slow.
However, seamstresses were a thing from her previous ancient times; she didn’t know if it applied here in Yanxue Kingdom.
Thinking this, Su Yi turned her head, “Niang, here, are the ones who make clothes women or men?”
Su Ming slapped her forehead, “Ai, Niang really doesn’t know about this.”
Her own clothes were all made by the maids at home. She was usually busy with business, how would she notice such things?
An assistant moving cloth overheard their conversation, thought for a moment, came forward, bowed respectfully to Su Yi, and then answered her, “Miss, this humble one7 knows about this. Naturally, it’s women. Men aren’t much use; being a seamstress is meticulous work. They are always careless and sloppy8, how could they do it? They can only stay home and take care of the children. These things naturally have to be done by women.”
Su Yi smiled, “Yes, men aren’t much use. Then are the wages for these seamstresses high?”
“They’re just not high. Making one piece of clothing a month only sells for a few dozen wen. Besides, everyone buys cloth to make clothes themselves at home. Who wants to buy from the shop? It’s so expensive.” The assistant sighed, “Unless a family has other prospects, they wouldn’t let their daughter become a seamstress. Ruining your eyes is one thing, but you don’t even earn much money. After all, we also have to support a whole family.”
Su Yi expressed understanding. She wheeled herself around the street for a few turns in her wheelchair and found that it wasn’t just their shop; other shops were the same.
She had been in this Yanxue Kingdom for many years now. Here, women were revered, so most of the heavy and tiring work at home was done by men. But women still had to undertake some work because Yanxue Kingdom advocated ‘more daughters, more blessings’. Every family had at least three children, and the cost of raising them was also a headache. So, besides farming, women had to learn a craft or work as an assistant for others to support a large family.
Being so busy, spending extra time making clothes for the whole family, young and old, was actually not worth the trouble9.
Therefore, some women let their fulangs make the whole family’s clothes. Even if the stitches were coarse and the clothes sewn ugly, they endured it. After all, they needed to earn money; there was no other way.
Having gathered the information, Su Yi now had a plan10. She returned to her family’s shop and asked the assistant who had volunteered to answer her questions, “What is your name?”
“Replying to Miss, this humble one is called Zhuo Chengfeng11.”
Su Yi smiled, “Not bad, it’s a good name.”
Zhuo Chengfeng scratched her head shyly, “My mother gave it to me.”
Su Yi had someone bring paper and brush, wrote something resembling a recruitment notice, and asked Zhuo Chengfeng to post it at their entrance. She said to her, “I want to hire a few seamstresses, those who can work for me single-mindedly12. I’ll post the notice here. Can you read?”
“No, my family was poor, couldn’t afford private tutoring.”
Su Yi relayed the words on the notice to her, quietly telling her, “If anyone comes asking, just say that those who come to work for me will receive a monthly wage that won’t be low, but I require exquisite embroidery skills. If someone applies, come and tell me. I’ll check their embroidery skills then.”
Zhuo Chengfeng nodded quickly, “Yes, Miss, this humble one has noted it down.”
After saying this, Su Yi had Yan Can give each assistant in the shop one tael of silver, smiling, “I’ll have to trouble you all from now on.”
One tael of silver was enough to buy two hundred jin13 of rice, seventy or eighty jin of meat, and dozens of bottles of wine.
The assistants were overjoyed. Their monthly wage was only five hundred fifty wen. They hadn’t expected the Young Lady to be so generous, giving them nearly two months’ wages at once. They thanked Su Yi repeatedly.
Su Yi shook her head and smiled. Human jealousy is terrifying. She had asked Zhuo Chengfeng to help her today and needed to reward her. But if she only gave it to Zhuo Chengfeng, among so many assistants here, there would surely be some who felt upset. Making things difficult for Zhuo Chengfeng or causing her to be ostracized was not her intention.
After looking around the shop, Su Yi felt a bit tired and decided to head home14 to rest.
On the way, she asked her mother somewhat curiously, “Niang, why didn’t you say a single word while I was handling things just now?”
Su Ming pulled her into her arms, saying lovingly, “Niang’s Yi’er has grown up. Niang eventually has to let go and let you do things yourself. If Niang interfered, would those people listen to Niang, or to you?”
Su Yi was deeply moved. This mother of hers truly doted on her. She snuggled against her mother’s chest, “Niang is the best.”
Su Ming smiled and patted her small face, “You must be exhausted today, right? Go back and rest well.”
“Mm.” Su Yi blissfully fell asleep in her mother’s arms, not even waking when carried out of the carriage. Back at the mansion, she slept exceptionally soundly.
The next day, there was no news from the shop, so Su Yi stayed in the mansion and didn’t go out. But she wasn’t idle either. After having someone prepare brush, ink, paper, and inkstone, she began drawing design sketches.
That’s right, she planned to return to her old profession. Before her sudden death, she had been a designer. Bridge and waterway design, building design, landscape design, fashion design, layout and font design, etc.—she knew a bit about all sorts of design. Because her skills were many and varied, she had many orders, otherwise she wouldn’t have died suddenly… cough cough, that’s beside the point.
In short, she had considerable expertise in clothing style design. Based on her observation of the dressing style of women in this dynasty, she found that women here liked to wear practical, neat styles. After all, whether doing manual labor, farming, serving as soldiers, or hunting, inconvenient clothing just wouldn’t do.
Combining modern workwear design and ancient designs, Su Yi drew several sets of clothes suitable for peasant women, artisans, and soldiers. However, these weren’t the main focus; these people probably didn’t have much money, and even if they did, they wouldn’t likely come to buy. She drew these just in case.
The main focus was several luxurious yet dignified and lightweight styles of aristocratic attire.
Ordinary commoners might not have much money and couldn’t buy much, so she targeted the main clientele: the dignitaries and nobles in Jingdu.
In Jingdu, if you randomly dropped a brick, you could hit a rich person—except for herself, of course.
With the mentality that if you’re going to fleece sheep, you should go for the big ones15, Su Yi drew over a dozen beautiful styles, planning to have the seamstresses embroider according to the drawings once they were all hired.
Yan Can saw her drawing. Although she couldn’t understand what Miss was drawing, she could understand Miss’s desire to earn money. Thinking for Miss’s sake, she spoke up, “But Miss, those dignitaries and nobles don’t seem to buy clothes from shops. They always buy the cloth and have it made at home. If we sell ready-made clothes, they probably won’t buy them, right?”
Even their Su Mansion was like this; Miss shouldn’t be unaware.
Su Yi smiled confidently, “Don’t worry, I have a plan for that.”
She certainly knew that dignitaries and nobles bought cloth to make their own clothes, but there was something irresistible called the bandwagon effect16.
She just needed to ask someone of prominent status to try on the clothes she designed, and then have her help promote them within the circle of dignitaries and nobles. Her designed clothes would surely become popular in Jingdu.
That’s right, this person of prominent status was—
The Second Imperial Daughter!
Ever since meeting Ji Qingyun in the outskirts that day, Su Yi had set her sights on her. The book said the Second Imperial Daughter had a good personality, was helpful, loved making friends—truly the perfect easy mark17—ah no, the best candidate for a partner.
If even an Imperial Daughter said something was good, how could others not try it to see just how good it was?
The curve of Su Yi’s lips was already wide enough to hang an oil bottle18.
Seeing Miss like this, Yan Can also felt relieved and focused on grinding ink for her.
After waiting four days, Zhuo Chengfeng finally ran over to tell her that two women had come to apply.
When Su Yi arrived at the shop and stepped inside, she saw two women sitting there, dressed in rags, sallow and emaciated19. They were clutching bowls and chopsticks, wolfing down a small plate of meat while the nearby assistants watched them sympathetically.
Su Yi was truly astonished.
What was going on? Although Yanxue Kingdom had poor people, everyone, no matter how poor, had enough to eat. Where did these two come from? Why were they in such a miserable state?
“These two are…”
Seeing a young lady dressed in fine silks and satins20, looking like a celestial being, walk in, the two women quickly put down their bowls and chopsticks, stood up timidly, wiped their mouths embarrassedly with the back of their hands, and dared not say much.
Su Yi frowned. The appearance of these two women was all too familiar to her. In her previous life, in TV dramas, and around her, there were too many women as humble as this.
Even the poorest women in Yanxue Kingdom were mostly full of confidence. These two women’s expressions were completely different from those of Yanxue women; they didn’t look like people from this dynasty.
Sure enough, Zhuo Chengfeng came over and whispered to her, “Miss, these two secretly fled21 from Dongli Kingdom22.”
In this female-revering novel, there were three countries.
Yanxue Kingdom, Huachen Kingdom23, and then Dongli Kingdom.
These three countries, from west to east, corresponded respectively to: female reverence, gender equality leaning towards male, and male reverence.
The novel didn’t explain how these three completely different ideologies formed, but these three strange ideologies coexisted just like that.
Yanxue Kingdom was in the far west, separated from Dongli Kingdom by Huachen Kingdom. For these two to have smuggled themselves over from Dongli Kingdom was quite remarkable.
Su Yi nodded and looked at the two women, “You are from Dongli Kingdom?”
In Yanxue Kingdom, without official documents, illegal border crossing was also punishable by arrest. Thinking Su Yi was going to report them, the two women quickly knelt down and pleaded with her, “Miss, spare our lives! We truly couldn’t survive anymore, otherwise we wouldn’t have left our homes24 and fled here. Please, Miss, spare our lives.”
“Rest assured, I won’t report you to the authorities.” Su Yi helped them up. “Did only the two of you escape? Isn’t Huachen Kingdom between Dongli Kingdom and here? Weren’t you caught in Huachen Kingdom?”
Seeing Su Yi’s gentle attitude, the two women’s fear lessened slightly, and they slowly recounted their experiences.
It turned out the two were seamstresses from an embroidery workshop. One was called Lai’er25, the other Zhao’er26. Dongli Kingdom stipulated that women must discuss marriage by the age of fifteen; otherwise, the government would randomly assign someone for them to marry. If they disobeyed, their families would be punished.
They had already reached fifteen but didn’t want to marry, so they agreed to escape together. “There were seven or eight other sisters27 with us. Originally, we were supposed to travel together by boat, avoiding Huachen Kingdom, coming directly through the sea connecting Dongli Kingdom and Yanxue Kingdom. But on the way, the boat was capsized by waves. Only we were rescued by fishermen and survived, begging our way to the capital.”
As for why they didn’t stay in that fishing village, their thinking was still stuck in Dongli Kingdom, where human trafficking was rampant, especially in poor, remote areas. They feared the villagers might be ignorant; what if they were sold to some household as concubines? Only in the prosperous Jingdu would trafficking be less common, so they begged all the way to the capital.
Su Yi was silent for a long while before asking, “Since you were afraid, why did you smuggle yourselves over here?”
“I don’t want to get married.” Lai’er wasn’t tall, but her eyes were very determined. “I heard people say that women in Yanxue Kingdom can earn money on their own, and marry according to their own wishes. I thought we could probably live better here than at home, so I wanted to come and see.”
Zhao’er nodded, “Me too.”
Although their government posted notices saying Yanxue Kingdom had harsh conditions, was full of bandits, had extremely poor public security, was plagued by poisonous insects and miasma, and had many fierce beasts, and that women were weak and would quickly succumb and die if they went there, she still wanted to come.
“You are very courageous.” Su Yi looked at them with admiration and handed over some materials. “You say you are seamstresses. Coincidentally, I have cloth and patterns here. Embroider something for me according to these. If your embroidery skills are good, you can stay.”
The two women quickly took the cloth and patterns Su Yi handed over. Afraid Su Yi would change her mind, despite their stomachs growling with hunger, they didn’t even bother finishing their meal and quickly sat down to embroider.
After half a shichen28, the two had finished. They unfolded the small handkerchiefs to show Su Yi.
Lai’er’s was a butterfly, Zhao’er’s was a blade of grass. Su Yi had been fortunate enough to see many embroidery exhibitions and could tell that these two pieces would not look out of place even among those exhibition items.
“Very good.”
Receiving Su Yi’s praise, the two finally breathed a sigh of relief. Zhao’er lowered her head shyly, “To be honest with Miss, we were both top-tier seamstresses in the embroidery workshop before.”
“Then you can stay.” Su Yi nodded, had Yan Can take out two hundred wen, and told the assistants, “Take them to bathe, give them a set of clothes, take this money, and treat them to a good meal together.”
The two women said gratefully, “Okay, thank you Miss, thank you Miss.”
Su Yi shook her head, “It’s nothing. Go wash up first, come back to the shop the day after tomorrow.”
The two women, expressing endless thanks, were led away by the assistants. Gan Cao watched their backs, somewhat curious, “Miss, do women in Dongli Kingdom have a really miserable life? Then why don’t they run away?”
“How would I know.” Su Yi tapped her lightly. “Alright, stop thinking about random things. Back to the mansion, back to the mansion, I’m starving.”
Footnotes
- 绣娘 | Xiùniáng | Lit. “embroidery lady/mother”; Seamstress, embroiderer. A skilled female artisan specializing in needlework.
- Previously, Longevity Valley
- ≈ 56,250 grams of silver
- 一五一十 | yī wǔ yī shí | Lit. “one five one ten”; An idiom meaning to recount something fully and truthfully, down to the last detail.
- 300 taels ≈ 11,250 grams of silver
- 布匹 | bùpǐ | Bolts of cloth; piece goods; fabric.
- 小人 | xiǎorén | Lit. “small person”.
- 丢三落四毛毛糙糙的 | diū sān là sì máo mao cāo cāo de | 丢三落四 (diū sān là sì) means forgetful or scatterbrained. 毛毛糙糙 (máo mao cāo cāo) means careless, rough, or sloppy. Together, they describe someone unreliable and lacking attention to detail.
- 得不偿失 | dé bù cháng shī | Lit. “the gain does not make up for the loss”.
- 心里就有数了 | xīnli jiù yǒu shù le | Lit. “in the heart/mind, there is now a number”; An idiom meaning to have a clear idea, understand the situation, or have a plan figured out.
- 卓成凤 | Zhuō Chéngfèng
- 心无旁骛 | xīn wú páng wù | Lit. “heart without distractions”; An idiom meaning to be completely focused or dedicated to a task.
- 斤 | jīn | A traditional Chinese unit of weight, also known as catty. Approximately 500-600 grams depending on the system (market jin is typically 500g). 200 jin ≈ 100 kg or 220 lbs.
- 打道回府 | dǎ dào huí fǔ | Lit. “strike the road return to the mansion/residence”; An idiom meaning to set out on the return journey, to go home.
- 薅羊毛就得逮着大的薅 | hāo yángmáo jiù děi dǎizhe dà de hāo | Lit. “fleece wool must catch the big ones to fleece”; A colloquial expression meaning if you’re going to take advantage or profit (often slightly exploitatively, like getting freebies or discounts), target the source with the most to offer.
- 从众效应 | cóng zhòng xiào yìng | Herd mentality; bandwagon effect.
- 冤大头 | yuān dà tóu | Lit. “wronged big head”; Slang for someone easily taken advantage of, a sucker, someone who spends money foolishly or generously without realizing they might be exploited.
- 嘴角的弧度已经可以挂一个油瓶了 | zuǐjiǎo de húdù yǐjīng kěyǐ guà yī ge yóupíng le | Lit. “the curve of the corner of the mouth could already hang an oil bottle”; A vivid, exaggerated description of a very wide smile or smirk.
- 面黄肌瘦 | miàn huáng jī shòu | Lit. “face yellow, muscles thin”; An idiom describing someone looking pale/sallow and emaciated, usually due to hunger or illness.
- 绫罗绸缎 | líng luó chóu duàn | Lit. “damask, gauze, silk, satin”; A collective term for fine silk fabrics; represents wealth and luxury.
- 偷偷跑过来 | tōutōu pǎo guòlái | Lit. “secretly ran over”; Implies fleeing or sneaking over, context suggests illegal border crossing.
- 冬丽国 | Dōnglì Guó | Lit. “Winter Beauty Kingdom”.
- 花辰国 | Huāchén Guó | Lit. “Flower Morning/Time Kingdom”; Another country, situated between Yanxue and Dongli.
- 背井离乡 | bèi jǐng lí xiāng | Lit. “turn one’s back on the well and leave the village”; An idiom meaning to leave one’s native place, often under duress or hardship.
- 来儿 | Lái’ér | A given name, potentially meaning “come” or “arrival,” with the diminutive suffix “er”.
- 招儿 | Zhāo’ér | A given name, potentially meaning “beckon” or “recruit,” with the diminutive suffix “er”.
- 姐妹 | jiěmèi | Sisters; can also refer to close female friends or peers in a collective sense.
- 时辰 | shíchen | A traditional Chinese unit of time, equal to two hours. Half a shichen is one hour.
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