Female Lead Quits Chapter 4
The resort was, after all, not their own; to live like they were in their own residence where each person had one courtyard each was impossible. Father Su and his third-younger brother’s family each had their own yard which were adjacent to each other.
Although Changqing’s family had more members, that wasn’t the only thing to take into consideration when arranging who stayed in which yard. Father Su’s courtyard was almost twice as big as his third-younger brother’s.
Su Yuan had five or six rooms to herself, and although Dong-lang was young, she still brought a lot of things over, hence the allocated number of rooms for her was pretty much the same as Su Yuan’s. The remaining dozen or so rooms belonged to A-niang and diedie.
Although it couldn’t be compared to living in their own residence, it also couldn’t be considered too cramped. Su Yuan preferred the living arrangements here at the resort where one family lived in one courtyard, ate breakfast, lunch and dinner together, and could interact with each other more.
In the mornings, she and diedie would practice martial arts in the yard whilst A-niang dragged Dong-lang to sit aside as onlookers; it was more lively during the afternoons, when diedie taught Dong-lang how to write, Su Yuan set aside to read, and A-niang made clothes.
Su Yuan had only learnt embroidery for a few days before she lost interest, and although Mother Su could embroider, she rarely did so. Most of her needlework were clothes, and these clothes were only inner-wear; outer-wear were too complicated and troublesome to make, so these kinds of clothes were typically assigned to their residence’s embroidery servants.
During late afternoons, when the sun wasn’t too hot, Su Yuan would take people out for a stroll; with the token her cousin gave her, she really could go wherever she wanted in the resort. Of course, she could also see her aunt, though, it wasn’t necessary to see her uncle, the current Emperor.
The current Emperor had six sons; the Eldest Prince had already died a few years ago and the Second Prince was weak. The Sixth Prince was born humble as his birth mother was just a palace servant. She left after giving birth without gaining any rewards, and the Sixth Prince was handed to a wet nurse instead of a high-ranking concubine.
Hence, only three princes accompanied this year’s summer retreat; the Empress’ biological son, the Third Prince, (1) Concubine Shu’s Fourth Prince and the late Concubine Li’s Fifth Prince.
Although the Third Prince wasn’t titled as Crown Prince, in reality, he had the same responsibilities. Since entering court, he’d completed many errands. He couldn’t stay idle either since arriving at the resort; most of the time, he’d be following the Emperor to deal with government affairs.
Whenever Su Yuan wandered outside she pretty much never saw her cousin; however, she’d always receive her cousin’s care. Rare fruits presented as tributes, three meals a day served by an Imperial Kitchen’s chef – it was said that this chef was favoured greatly by the Emperor, and it was the first time he’d ever cooked for a minister’s family – jewelry made from pearls and jades, ancient classics…
Su Yuan wasn’t a poor person and the things her cousin gifted her couldn’t be bought with money; it was just, many of these things were unnecessary to her. Same words – more interaction is necessary, but their relationship shouldn’t just be focused on little things like this.
Su Yuan specially wrote a letter about this and sent it to her cousin; first to thank her cousin for his kindness and second to express her wishes for him to never do this again in the future.
With this letter, Su Yuan also sent some gifts she’d prepared; they were all valuables, the result of several generations’ accumulation. As the Duke of Qi residence’s top lady, Su Yuan never lacked anything.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
After the Third Prince received the letter he laughed; he’d already expected his biao-mei to reject him, but the letter’s content was a bit frank.
It was written using colloquial language, if not simpler, and there wasn’t a single idiom throughout the letter; very simple and easy to understand. He reread it three times over, yet didn’t find any metaphors or hidden meanings.
It straightforwardly told him that she wasn’t lacking anything so he didn’t need to bother with her so much, and that if she truly did need something she’d tell him.
This kind of personality was more direct than any biao-mei’s the Third Prince knew of; this meant she was considering him as one of her own, right? There was no need to hide behind obscure words when interacting with one of your own; you could just say whatever you wanted to say. How interesting.
His biao-mei wouldn’t be able to live the same life as his mu-hou’s; it was better for her to live freely outside the palace. No matter what, he’d always be able to protect his biao-mei.
The Third Prince regarded Su Yuan as a free bird that shouldn’t be locked in a cage, but there was someone against the idea of her being a free bird – and he wasn’t an outsider either. The novel’s male lead – the Fifth Prince.
Since arriving at the resort, whenever Su Yuan went out for a stroll in the afternoons there’d be a high chance of her encountering the Fifth Prince. Although he was only a year older than her, with his jade hairpin, a folding fan in his hands and polite tone, he already wore an adult-like appearance.
“The weather has been extremely hot recently. It’d be best if biao-mei let someone hold up an umbrella for you to avoid a heat stroke.”
Su Yuan was also afraid of the scorching sun, so whenever she went out it’d always be when the sun had almost finished setting; why would she need an umbrella? Moreover, she didn’t have any good impressions of the Fifth Prince; on behalf of the original, she felt such a lovesick and emotional person to be completely worthless.
Hence, whenever she spoke it would sound rather rude. “(2) Chen-nu lives a (3) rough life, so it doesn’t matter whether I use an umbrella or not. On the contrary, Your Highness should be the one using an umbrella.”
He was dressed exquisitely, layers after layers of brocade garments wrapped tightly around him even on a July day; he appeared to be attending a celebratory event, not coming out to play in the gardens.
The Fifth Prince pursed his lips, appearing to be a little embarrassed, and gently swayed the folding fan in his hands. “Biao-mei’s joking around. As a man, I naturally have no need for an umbrella.”
Su Yuan looked at the folding fan the Fifth Prince was holding and felt strenuous for him. What could such a small fan possibly do? Moreover, if he wanted to fan himself he’d have to exert a bit of effort. To fan oneself like the Fifth Prince fanned himself was no different from not fanning at all.
Uncomfortable; strenuous; boring.
The more Su Yuan interacted with the Fifth Prince, the more she didn’t want to be with him; how could she not understand the Fifth Prince’s intentions? He just wanted to get her favour so he could marry her in the future. The benefits of vesting the Su Family would also strengthen his relationship with the Third Prince, killing two birds with one stone.
But she wasn’t a maiden who’d just experienced the first awakening of love; no matter how exquisitely the Fifth Prince dressed or how intimate his words were, she’d only feel bored.
Such means was a low move. In the Fifth Prince’s perspective, she was just a simple-minded, brawny girl who’d take the bait with just a little coaxing.
Over time, Su Yuan gradually became unwilling to go out for strolls; she couldn’t send someone to scout the area first either, so who knew when she’d encounter the Fifth Prince again?
In the novel, the original and the Fifth Prince already had a good impression of each other; could it be because of these unintentional encounters?
Unable to wander freely around the resort, Su Yuan decided to have fun outside the resort a few times; the first few times was at the nearby hunting grounds with her diedie.
The Imperial hunting grounds held more prey than any other hunting grounds; ordinary mountainous forests just couldn’t compare. Some prey were raised to be foolishly naive, so there were wild rabbits that ran slower than any rabbit elsewhere; every time she went hunting there, she was naturally rewarded.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Before they had to return to the Capital, Su Yuan followed her biao-ge to wander around the county. There weren’t many shops there and the things they were selling weren’t very satisfactory; instead, it was the small items sold outside by the vendors that were quite interesting – it was the first time Su Yuan had ever seen a wooden hairpin in the shape of a small cat.
It looked like a rather lazy cat, lying lazily with its long tail as the wooden hairpin; one could directly insert it into their hair.
“It looks very interesting; unfortunately, it’s carved from ordinary peach wood. If you like it, I’ll get people from the palace to make a few jade hairpins with the same style for you to play with.”
Not only did the Third Prince look down on its material, he also looked down on its workmanship. He thought it too rough; the only thing that caught his eyes was its ingenuity.
Su Yuan didn’t really think much of it either. One, her appreciation ability couldn’t compare to her cousin’s; two, she initially was the type of person to just do whatever they wanted. She may not have liked beautiful and expensive things, but any cheap items – as long as they caught her eyes – could still become one of her beloved possessions.
“This hairpin looks ingeniously vivid and realistic, so there’s no need for craftsmen to remake one; this one is fine. I know biao-ge treats me well, but with our close relationship, we still have many long days ahead of us; we don’t have to prioritise such little things.”
Close relationship. If he wasn’t used to his biao-mei’s colloquial speech, the Third Prince would’ve laughed out loud; it wasn’t that he found it indecent, he’d just never heard of this term. It sounded both odd and funny, something he wasn’t very adapted to.
“Biao-mei’s right, with our… Close relationship, there’s no need to prioritise such little things.”
The Third Prince smiled but didn’t laugh aloud. Unlike Su Yuan, he was still on the verge of laughter; fortunately, they were still on the streets, so he knew to use the veil to cover his lips.
Whether it was the original’s memories or her own interactions from the past two years, this cousin of hers had always been a model prince. His every word and every deed was in accordance with etiquette, and he had no flaws that could be picked out; it’s like his character was made for people’s admiration. Nowadays though, he tended to speak using colloquial language that couldn’t be tolerated in text.
Like an immortal descended from his altar to enter the world; a respected elder from the (4) Hanlin Academy that suddenly went to a teahouse to talk about childrens’ texts.
How could such a rare scene not make people laugh?
The Third Prince’s loud laughter followed his cousin’s and his heart felt slightly more relaxed; he didn’t think much about it before but, thinking about it now, he felt he was carrying too much weight, his nerves were too tight, and he was putting too much pressure on himself.
He still had to learn a few things about relaxation; after all, he could be considered to have almost experienced a life-or-death situation. What else could he not get over? Even if he wanted to become an Emperor whose name would be remembered for thousands of years, it wasn’t a matter that could be achieved overnight; there was no need to hurry.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
The Third Prince was very ambitious, but he was, after all, raised to become the Crown Prince anyway. The Emperor had originally intended to wait until his son had married before titling him as Crown Prince, but after experiencing the traitor situation, he’d already written an edict at the resort.
On the second day after returning to the Capital, the edict conferring the title of Crown Prince was issued and announced to the world, making the Third Prince, Song Yu, the Crown Prince.
Everyone had expected this, but after it really happened it still surprised a few, making them feel a little upset.
The Su Family naturally felt happy. Everyone, from the Duke of Qi and his wife to their three sons and their families, understood this was a good thing. The Third Prince became the Crown Prince; this meant that not only was Su Family the current Empress’ family, they’d also become the future Emperor’s family.
Unlike his two brothers, Su Changqing felt slight bitterness amongst his joy. Alone in his study whilst he enjoyed a cup of wine by himself, his joy slowly dissipated until only bitterness remained.
Indeed, the Empress was the Su Family’s, but she was the daughter of the first wife; she was Su Changping’s biological sister, not his.
Just like the title of Duke of Qi, his auntie would be favoured. He’d never change from a concubine’s son to the first wife’s son and, no matter how much his father loved him, the position of ‘legitimate heir’ would always be Su Changping’s.
Su Changping merely had good luck to be born from the womb of Duke of Qi’s wife. Whatever he wanted, he’d get; when practicing martial arts during his childhood he had the best (5) shifu; all the best weapons would belong to Su Changping. It wasn’t until he stubbornly decided to abandon the path of martial arts and walk the path of scholars, did Father finally begin to properly train him.
Su Changping had no sons for so many years; Father would persuade him several times to adopt a son, but as long as Su Changping firmly refused, Father wouldn’t force him.
God treated Su Changping kindly, not even lacking him a son; although slightly late, he still obtained a pair of son and daughter, so there was no need to adopt an heir.
Now that the Third Prince was the Crown Prince, in the future, Su Changping would have the final say in the Su Family; he was the Third Prince’s biological uncle, whilst Su Changqing would always be the distant uncle.
(1) Concubine Shu and Concubine Li – although not expressed in the translations, these two concubines have different ranks. Concubines Shu (淑妃 shu-fei) is a rank higher than Concubine Li (丽嫔 li-pin)
(2) Chen-nu – when speaking to someone of a much higher rank than you, you must refer to yourself as ‘chen’, meaning ‘servant’. The suffix ‘nu’ (or ‘nv’ on keyboard) means ‘female’
(3) Rough life – a more relaxed and ‘good-enough’ life, rather than a life with self-appointed rules to keep oneself in check (e.g. someone who doesn’t put that much effort into their appearance lives a ‘rough life’)
(4) Hanlin Academy – (from Google) ‘an academic and administrative institution founded in the eighth-century Tang China by Emperor Xuanzong in Chang’an’
(5) Shifu – teacher
*Note: Changed ‘proper descendant’ to ‘legitimate heir’
