Forbidden to Bully the Storybook’s Heroine – Chapter 112
by Little PandaExtra 2: The ‘What If’ Timeline
Song Muyun’s father was at the morning court session, so only Madam Song was at the Song Residence.
She still remembered Song Yunqian telling Yun’er yesterday to interact more with Jiang Yao, so she was quite warm and friendly toward her. When she heard Jiang Yao was here to see Song Muyun, she didn’t ask any further questions and simply had someone lead her in.
At the crack of dawn, the sound of a beautiful qin melody was already drifting from the courtyard Jiang Yao had secretly snuck into by climbing the wall the day before.
The sky had yet to fully brighten, and she was already practicing.
The maidservant who led Jiang Yao over stood at the courtyard gate and announced, “Miss, Miss Jiang is here.”
The music stopped abruptly. Jiang Yao quickly lowered her head, feeling inexplicably afraid to look at her.
A moment later, a familiar, cool voice sounded from the courtyard. She heard her say, “I know. You may leave. Miss Jiang, please come in.”
Oh, ‘Miss Jiang’… she must mean me, right?
The maidservant curtsied to Jiang Yao and departed.
Jiang Yao pressed her lips together. Standing outside, she suddenly didn’t dare to go in.
She waited until the woman inside spoke again. “Miss Jiang, are you not coming in?”
The form of address grated on Jiang Yao’s ears, and she was instantly displeased.
She finally lifted her head to look into the courtyard, at the woman in a thin white robe sitting behind the qin.
Her face was flushed red from the cold wind as she gazed quietly back.
Jiang Yao’s heart seized. She strode forward with her long legs until she stood before Song Muyun.
The stick of tanghulu was still clutched in her hand.
Song Muyun’s gaze paused on the tanghulu for a moment before quickly rising back to Jiang Yao’s face. “Miss Jiang, is there something you need?”
She used that name again. Jiang Yao frowned, the unhappy words tumbling out. “Didn’t I tell you to just call me Jiang Yao?”
Song Muyun’s hand, which had been stroking the qin strings, froze. She didn’t argue, merely nodding coolly. “Jiang Yao.”
Even though Song Muyun had called her what she wanted, Jiang Yao still didn’t feel happy.
She was not happy.
Muyun seemed so distant, even more so than yesterday. Was it because she detested the gift she’d sent?
At this thought, Jiang Yao clenched her fists and lowered her head, a sense of dejection radiating from her. She asked bluntly, “Did the gift I sent make you very unhappy?”
Song Muyun grew angry just thinking about the gift, but she was accustomed to suppressing her emotions and didn’t let Jiang Yao see it.
She only said faintly, “You are the esteemed Miss of the Jiang family and are naturally generous. Though Muyun cannot compare, I am not the sort of person who covets wealth.”
Jiang Yao stiffened, unable to believe that’s what Song Muyun thought of her. She rushed to explain, “No, that’s not it! I don’t think you’re greedy. I was just afraid you wouldn’t like what I sent, so I tucked some silver notes inside, thinking you could buy whatever you liked for yourself…”
Gazing into the woman’s ice-cold eyes, Jiang Yao’s voice grew quieter and quieter, losing all confidence. Only her eyes looked pitiful.
Song Muyun’s chest heaved with suppressed anger, but her upbringing wouldn’t permit her to be too cross with a guest. She held it back several times before finally succeeding, her voice calm as she said, “If there is something I like, I will buy it myself. I won’t trouble you.”
Such distant words. Jiang Yao’s heart went cold.
A little anger sparked within her, too—not at Song Muyun, but at her eldest cousin!
She gritted her teeth. “My cousin said that when a woman is angry, you should buy her jewelry to coax her. That’s why I went. If you insist on being angry, can you not just be angry at me? Isn’t my cousin at fault, too?”
He led me astray! He’s the one who’s terribly wrong!
Song Muyun was speechless.
Jiang Yao was different from the reasonable scholars she had known in the past. To say such a thing at a time like this was truly shocking.
When she didn’t speak, Jiang Yao gritted her teeth, leaned her striking face closer, and asked, “Are you really angry because my gift was too expensive?”
Song Muyun lowered her eyelids. When she finally spoke, it was to say, “I am not angry.”
Jiang Yao was speechless.
She didn’t believe her at all!
Who would wear a face that cold if they weren’t angry? Yesterday, she even smiled at me.
“If you’re angry, just say you’re angry. If you tell me you’re angry, then I can coax you. How am I supposed to coax you when you’re like this?”
She grumbled under her breath, and Song Muyun’s expression grew even colder. “I don’t need you to coax me. If you only came to ask about yesterday, you may go back now.”
Jiang Yao’s expression tightened, her lips pressing into a thin line. Now that she was here, she certainly wasn’t going to leave without accomplishing anything. She shook her head like a pellet drum.1 “No, no, I’m not going back. It wasn’t easy for me to come. Why are you trying to chase me away again?”
Her voice was even a little aggrieved.
Song Muyun was speechless.
Not easy for her to come? Does she mean coming yesterday, and then coming again today?
“I even bought you tanghulu especially, to try and cheer you up, but all you want to do is get rid of me!”
Her tone was now accusatory.
Song Muyun looked down at the bright red tanghulu in her hand, wrapped in a layer of oiled paper, and said nothing.
She said she wanted to cheer her up…
In all her life, no one had ever tried to coax her. Of course, she rarely got angry at anyone, either. Being with others wasn’t like being with Jiang Yao. Jiang Yao could stir her emotions at every moment.
When Song Muyun fell silent again, Jiang Yao’s spirit flagged. Since Song Muyun was sitting, she decided to squat, tilting her head up to look into the other woman’s pale eyes. Then she held out the tanghulu. “I just bought this outside. It’s not expensive. I don’t know if you’ll like it. Want to try?”
Jiang Yao was thick-skinned. Seeing that Song Muyun wasn’t speaking or trying to chase her away again, she actively forgot that she had just been told to leave and managed to stay by sheer force of will.
The tanghulu was offered right in front of her. Song Muyun hesitated. She had never eaten such things; her father and mother forbade it. It hadn’t mattered before—she never thought about it. But now that Jiang Yao had presented it to her, she found she rather wanted to try it. Her mouth was already watering.
Song Muyun’s hand, hidden in her sleeve, quietly clenched.
Jiang Yao was not the type to be so thin-skinned that she’d awkwardly retract her offering if she didn’t get a response.
Shamelessly, she pushed the tanghulu a little closer, almost brushing against Song Muyun’s rosy lips, and said encouragingly, “Eat it. Just try it. What if you like it?”
Startled by the sudden proximity of the tanghulu, Song Muyun instinctively drew back, but her expression was more hesitant now, not as icy as before.
“Just try it, I’m begging you. I bought it especially for you. I thought of you all last night, and I rushed over to find you first thing in the morning, just because I was afraid you were angry at me.”
Song Muyun’s body grew even more rigid. She had always known Jiang Yao was blunt, but she didn’t know she was this blunt. She just wanted her to eat the tanghulu; she could have just said so nicely. How could the dignified Eldest Miss of the Jiang family resort to begging?
Did she have no pride at all?
“Eat it, eat it.”
She looked at Jiang Yao with a complicated expression, but Jiang Yao was still urging her to eat.
In the end, Song Muyun couldn’t resist the desire in her heart. She reached out, took the tanghulu, and held it in her palm.
Seeing her accept it, Jiang Yao finally breathed a sigh of relief. She rested her pointed chin on her knees and watched her with wide, sincere eyes, urging her to hurry up and eat one.
Pressed by Jiang Yao, Song Muyun had no choice but to part her red lips and pluck one of the candied fruits off the skewer with her teeth.
The sweet sugar coating made a crisp sound as she bit into it.
It’s different from the dream, after all, Jiang Yao thought. In the dream, Muyun licked the tanghulu in tiny little bites. She looked especially cute and much closer to me.
She would never act like that in front of someone she wasn’t familiar with!
Jiang Yao was certain of it.
Now that she saw Song Muyun had eaten her tanghulu, she cleared her throat and suddenly said, “You’ve eaten my food, so you can’t be so angry with me anymore. You have to be at least a little less angry. Just a tiny bit is fine.”
She held up two fingers, pressing them almost together to show just how tiny a bit she meant.
Song Muyun was speechless.
Her voice was still cool as she repeated, “I am not angry.”
Jiang Yao was speechless.
She didn’t believe her at all!
Who would wear a face that cold if they weren’t angry? Yesterday, she even smiled at me.
But Muyun had already said twice that she wasn’t angry. If she insisted she was, it would definitely displease her.
Jiang Yao sighed deeply. Coaxing one’s beloved was truly the hardest thing in the world.
“You think my gift was too expensive, but I brought another gift today.”
Jiang Yao said honestly, her arms wrapped around her knees. She tried her best to make her heroic face look pitiful and hard to refuse.
Song Muyun’s movements paused as she ate the tanghulu. She looked up. What was she going to give her now? Was it something as expensive as yesterday’s gift?
Jiang Yao knew she didn’t want to talk, so she didn’t wait for a reply. She carefully took a long, thin box from her robes and held it out.
“Actually… actually, it doesn’t cost much. Just take it and see if you like it. I bought it all especially for you. It’s very pretty. I don’t like to wear things like this myself.”
She would buy Song Muyun very ornate things, but for her own needs as a martial artist, she only bought simple jade, silver, or gold hairpins. Something with a large jade flower like this wouldn’t last a day in her hands.
Song Muyun looked at the box. She could already guess how valuable its contents were; even the box itself was so exquisite.
She hesitated for a moment before reaching out to open it. Inside, nestled on the lining, was a large peony flower…
She was stunned, her eyes widening. This… this… She could tell the material used for this flower was of the highest quality, and it must have been extremely expensive, but… did people actually buy this sort of thing? Could you really wear it out?
Scholars valued quiet elegance. Song Muyun usually wore simple, refined jade hairpins in auspicious cloud patterns. Even floral ones would only be small blossoms. A flower this large… she could just imagine how much attention anyone wearing it would attract.
There was no way Song Muyun would ever wear it out. She frowned at Jiang Yao and was about to speak when she heard Jiang Yao’s voice, full of disappointment. “Are you going to refuse me again? I knew it. You hate me. You don’t like anything I do.”
Even with her excellent self-control, Song Muyun couldn’t stop the corner of her mouth from twitching. What was she talking about? When had she ever hated her?
She had been a little angry yesterday, but it was by no means hatred. When had she ever hated her?
Song Muyun wanted to explain, but she had never been good with words. Looking at the silently grieving Jiang Yao, she could only manage a single phrase after a long pause. “I don’t.”
I don’t hate you!
But her words were so flat that Jiang Yao clearly didn’t believe her. Instead, she sighed again. “My cousin says that scholars and warriors have never gotten along. I didn’t believe it before, but now I’m starting to. I don’t know what you scholars like, but I’ll go ask next time. For now, can you please not hate me so much?”
Jiang Yao once again looked up at her pitifully. Anyone sitting here, faced with such a Jiang Yao, would have their heart softened.
Song Muyun was no exception. She felt her heart soften toward her. It seemed she often felt this way with Jiang Yao. If it were anyone else, it would definitely be different.
But even if her heart had softened, her mouth could only produce a dry sentence. “I really don’t hate you. You’ve misunderstood.”
She was just a little unhappy. The word ‘hate’ was too strong; of course it wasn’t that.
“If you say you don’t hate me, then accept this gift. Please, will you accept it?”
Jiang Yao had never put so much effort into giving a gift before. She just desperately wanted to see something she gave on Song Muyun’s person.
So she gazed at her, pleading.
Song Muyun froze, the words of refusal stuck in her throat.
She was acting like this… if she refused again, would it drive her mad with anger?
As she hesitated, Jiang Yao saw her chance and quickly added fuel to the fire, feigning heartbreak. “If you don’t want it, just throw it away. I brought it here today with no intention of taking it back anyway.”
Song Muyun was speechless.
After a moment, she finally relented. “Fine. Say no more. I’ll keep it. Is there anything else you wanted to say?”
She closed the lid on the flamboyant peony hairpin, placed it beside the qin, and asked again.
Jiang Yao’s face fell, and she sighed once more. “Why are you trying to chase me away again? You chased me away yesterday, too.”
…
“I’m not chasing you away. I was just asking.”
“So I don’t have to leave?”
She lifted a pair of impossibly clear eyes to look at her. No one could have refused her. Song Muyun turned her head slightly and nodded. “Mm, you can.”
To Jiang Yao, this looked exactly like she wanted to refuse but was too embarrassed, so she just avoided looking at her altogether.
Jiang Yao was thoroughly dejected. It was her first time trying to flatter someone, and both times she had completely missed the mark.2 What else was there to say? It was her own foolish fault. QAQ.
“Are you going to practice the qin again? Can I stay and watch you practice?”
Song Muyun already knew how persistent Jiang Yao could be. If she didn’t go along with her, she was afraid she would put on that heart-softening expression again.
Fine. It was just a small thing.
She sighed in resignation. “As you wish.”
Jiang Yao’s eyes lit up. She quickly stood up to find a good spot to sit and watch, but because she had been squatting for too long, she stood up too abruptly. Her vision suddenly went black. Caught off guard, she stumbled forward half a step. After brushing against Song Muyun’s skirt, she fell right into her arms, her hands grabbing onto her shoulders as she apologized, “Sorry, sorry! I stood up too fast. My vision went a little blurry.”
Song Muyun had been sitting perfectly still, but she could only watch as Jiang Yao pitched forward. She scrambled to catch her, her hands landing securely on the woman’s supple waist to keep her from falling to the ground. She smelled entirely of a fresh, clean scent—not of incense, but more like the fragrance of soap-beans.3
That makes sense. Martial generals don’t like to use incense.
“If you’re all right, you can get up now.”
The voice by her ear was cool, but laced with a strange tone.
Jiang Yao didn’t notice. With an “oh,” her vision cleared, and she obediently got up and stepped aside. She was about to squat down again when Song Muyun stopped her. “There’s a chair in the room. Go bring one out.”
“Oh, okay.”
She subconsciously obeyed Song Muyun and ran into the room. Song Muyun watched her back, a smile suddenly gracing her lips, only to vanish the moment Jiang Yao turned around. She pressed her lips flat again, looking as unapproachable as ever.
Jiang Yao shivered.
She placed the small stool at a distance from Song Muyun that was neither too close nor too far. She didn’t dare get too close for fear of displeasing her, but she couldn’t bear to be too far away, either. She just sat there, propping her chin on her hands and watching Song Muyun.
Song Muyun took several deep breaths to ignore that scorching gaze and completely calm her heart. She lowered her eyes to the qin before her. Her long, snow-white fingers moved, and a fluent, beautiful melody flowed from beneath them.
Even if Jiang Yao didn’t understand music, she could tell good from bad.
Madam Song walked to the outside of the courtyard and heard the music from a distance. She smiled and nodded in satisfaction. A moment ago, she had been worried that Muyun would only be playing with Miss Jiang and forget her duties. Since she was practicing, all was well.
Madam Song didn’t enter, only standing outside for a moment before leaving.
Jiang Yao silently listened to her play for a long time. It wasn’t until high noon that she finally rested. Jiang Yao was shocked. “You have to play for that long every day? Don’t your fingers get tired?”
Her eyes kept darting toward the other woman’s fingers, but she only caught a glimpse of pinkish-red before they were discreetly hidden inside her long sleeves.
Hmph. Fine, don’t let me look. They’re so nimble, they must be fine.
Hidden beneath Song Muyun’s cool exterior was a pair of bright red ears. She couldn’t possibly admit that it was because Jiang Yao was listening and watching so intently that she had unknowingly played for so long, could she?
She only stopped when her fingers began to feel hot and sore. And sure enough, Jiang Yao’s focused gaze was withdrawn as soon as she did.
Song Muyun didn’t know what to make of the feeling in her heart. It seemed she… she desperately wanted Jiang Yao to watch her, a gaze that saw only her.
It would be best if she watched her always and forever, and had eyes for her and her alone.
Song Muyun was lost in this thought. When she came back to herself, she was startled. How could she have such a thought about Jiang Yao?
No matter how proper she was, she knew that only characters in storybooks had such thoughts about another person.
She glanced at Jiang Yao, alarmed and uncertain, then quickly lowered her head again.
Jiang Yao’s inner thoughts: Sob, sob, she hates me so much. She won’t let me see her fingers, she ignores me when I talk, and now she can’t even be bothered to look at me. Do scholars hate martial artists this much?
Just because I practice martial arts doesn’t mean I’m crude!
I can be very gentle and elegant, too!
I can also read books with someone and talk about the wind, flowers, snow, and moon!4
As she thought this, Jiang Yao felt not the slightest bit of shame. It didn’t cost any silver to think, to dream a little.
The two of them remained in that posture for a good while—Jiang Yao watching Song Muyun, and Song Muyun looking down at her qin. Finally, the person behind the qin stood up. Jiang Yao instinctively rose with her.
She heard her say, “It’s getting late. Would you like to stay for a meal?”
Jiang Yao used her not-so-nimble brain to carefully analyze the probability that this sentence was a way of chasing her off.
She came to a conclusion: it probably wasn’t meant to get rid of her. Otherwise, she would have said, “It’s getting late, I’m going to eat now.” By asking her, it meant she had a choice!
Jiang Yao was convinced.
So she answered without hesitation, “Yes. I’m hungry.”
In just a few short days, Song Muyun had already come to understand her thick skin, so she wasn’t surprised by this answer. She nodded with a neutral expression and instructed the maidservant waiting under the veranda to bring the dishes.
It was Jiang Yao’s first time eating at Song Muyun’s home, and she looked around with great curiosity. She asked Song Muyun, “Am I the first person to stay for a meal at your home?”
Song Muyun’s hand, which was pouring tea, paused. All of her friends had strict upbringings and would never ask to stay for a meal at another’s home; they always left early. She knew this in her heart, but her mouth casually denied it. “Of course not.”
Jiang Yao was speechless.
Suddenly, her mood wasn’t so bright anymore.
She felt a little sullen. She turned her head away from Song Muyun and huffed, “Fine, so you’re not.”
Coming from a person who was usually so heroic, the gesture was surprisingly cute.
The corners of Song Muyun’s lips lifted uncontrollably, but she quickly suppressed the smile.
She was used to her emotions being as placid as autumn water.
Although she knew she wasn’t the only one to have a meal here, at least she was one of them. Jiang Yao quickly cheered herself up again and waited with some anticipation for the Song family’s food.
When the dishes arrived at the table, she was dumbfounded. “It’s so… plain???”
There were only two meat dishes: a Jade Cicada Soup5 and some kind of stir-fried meat. Other than that, there were only two vegetable dishes. Jiang Yao’s meals were naturally lavish affairs with plenty of fish and meat. Since leaving the battlefield, she had rarely eaten so plainly. It was simply shocking!
Song Muyun, however, looked bewildered. She glanced uncertainly at the dishes on the table and asked, “Is it plain? I even had two extra dishes made specially for you.”
She held up her hand and gestured toward one vegetable dish and the stir-fried meat.
Jiang Yao was speechless.
In other words, when she wasn’t here, Muyun usually ate only two dishes?
Two dishes wouldn’t even be enough to get stuck in her teeth!
What a tiny stomach she must have. No wonder she was so slender, as if a gust of wind could blow her away.
Jiang Yao shook her head. “Never mind, it’s fine. Let’s sit and eat. Are you hungry?”
Song Muyun gave an imperceptible shake of her head. “I’m fine. Not very hungry.”
“Oh. Well, you should eat more, too. Look how thin you are.”
Jiang Yao instinctively went to put food on her plate with her own chopsticks, but she paused as if remembering something. She picked up the serving chopsticks6 that had been placed to the side and gave Song Muyun a portion of shredded pork.
The Song family’s chef had excellent knife skills; the pork was cut into perfectly uniform shreds. It was just… there was a bit too little of it. It wasn’t even enough for her to have a few bites, let alone share with Muyun.
Oh, well. Better to let her have it.
“You’re thin. You eat more. Put some meat on your bones.”
Song Muyun, who had been about to pick up some vegetables, froze. She watched as Jiang Yao piled a large amount of meat into her bowl. When she finally reacted, she quickly tried to stop her. “Hey, this dish was added especially for you. I don’t like it. You eat it. Don’t mind me.”
Jiang Yao’s eyes widened. “How can you not like meat! People who don’t eat meat are weak!”
“I have lived for fifteen years and have never heard of such a principle.”
She was all but openly saying, Don’t you lie to me.
Jiang Yao wanted to say she wasn’t lying, that this was what her master had told her, but she figured Song Muyun still wouldn’t believe her. She just didn’t like listening to anything she said. Hmph.
The usually lively person was clearly unhappy now. She stopped talking and just lowered her head, sullenly eating her rice and vegetables.
Song Muyun’s grip on her chopsticks tightened, but she had never been one to bow her head to anyone, so she also remained silent. The meal was eaten in a quiet and oppressive atmosphere.
Jiang Yao figured she probably didn’t want to talk to her anyway, and that hosting her was likely a bother for Muyun, so she stood up to take her leave after finishing the meal.
Song Muyun seemed to startle for a moment, then quickly lowered her head, her voice as faint as ever. “Take care.”
Jiang Yao was speechless.
Oh, well. At least the gift had been delivered. The thought of the jewelry she had picked out and bought with her own silver appearing on Song Muyun made her a little happy.
However, in the days that followed—one day, two days, three, four, five days!—
ever since she had given the hairpin to Song Muyun, it was as if she had never received it. Even when Jiang Yao hinted several times, asking if she remembered the hairpin, she would only say that she did, but she never once wore it!
Jiang Yao viciously descended into darkness.
This was just bullying! Did she dislike her so much that she couldn’t even be bothered to wear something from her?
Damn it, the truth was too painful!
The author has something to say:
Actually, Muyun secretly likes Yaoyao, but Yaoyao doesn’t know~
Footnotes
- A pellet drum (bōlàngǔ) is a traditional toy with two pellets on strings that strike the drumhead when the handle is twirled. The simile describes shaking one’s head back and forth rapidly and vigorously.
- The original phrase is a play on the idiom ‘pāi mǎpì’ (拍马屁), which means ‘to pat a horse’s rump’, or to flatter someone. Here, Jiang Yao says she ‘patted the horse’s leg’ (拍到了马腿上), meaning her attempts at flattery backfired spectacularly.
- Soap-beans (zàojiǎo), the fruit of the Chinese honey locust tree, were traditionally used as a natural soap and shampoo. The scent is clean and natural, unlike perfumes or incense.
- To ‘talk about the wind, flowers, snow, and moon’ (fēng huā xuě yuè) is a Chinese idiom referring to classical romantic themes, poetry, or romance itself.
- A poetic name for Jade Cicada Soup (yùchán gēng), likely a clear soup with finely prepared ingredients, not made of actual cicadas.
- Serving chopsticks (gōngkuài) are used to transfer food from communal dishes to one’s personal bowl as a matter of hygiene, a common practice in formal or polite dining.
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