Marrying The Imperial Elder Chapter 33

* opening line and title of a famous ancient Chinese poem from the Classic of Poetry

Hearing this, Zhen Tingyun smiled. “I know Mother is willing to trust both Grandmother and me. But this is an important matter, so it must be explained clearly. Since Qiusi has already brought the items, I’ll trouble Grandmother and Mother to take a look. That way my innocence can finally be proven.”

Madam Pei also wanted to see the truth for herself. Since Zhen Tingyun had so tactfully offered her a way to step down, she naturally nodded in agreement.

A moment later, a maid lifted the curtain, and Qiusi entered carrying a long, slender wooden box in both hands, handling it with great care.

Seeing her, Zhen Tingyun spoke first. “Mother, please examine it for yourself. Then you’ll know exactly what happened and restore my good name.”

Madam Pei glanced at her, then reached out to take the wooden box. She opened it. Sure enough, inside lay a purple jade xiao.

Under the lamplight, the purple jade shimmered with a lustrous glow. The entire flute was flawless from end to end, obviously no ordinary object but an exceptionally precious treasure. Even Madam Pei herself had seen very few items of such quality. She couldn’t help but be startled, secretly thinking that anyone capable of giving away such an object could not possibly be an ordinary person.

However, with everyone watching, she didn’t examine it closely. Suppressing her surprise, she calmly lifted the two thin booklets from beneath the flute and flipped through them. As expected, they were a collection of musical scores and notes on horseback riding and archery. There was nothing resembling a token of secret affection.

It truly was exactly as Zhen Tingyun had said. These were instructional materials from a teacher. She had misunderstood everything.

Madam Pei was now both curious about the identity of this mysterious teacher and somewhat guilty for wronging her daughter. She sighed deeply. “I misunderstood and wrongly accused you, making my daughter suffer such an undeserved grievance.”

Then she handed the box to Old Lady Zhen so she could examine it as well.

Old Lady Zhen only recognized a handful of characters and naturally couldn’t make sense of the booklets. But she certainly knew the value of gold and jade. The moment she saw the purple jade xiao, her eyes immediately lit up. She almost reached out to keep it for herself.

Fortunately, Zhen Tingyun watched her closely from the side. Only after examining it did Old Lady Zhen reluctantly hand the box back. “Since your teacher gave it to you, then keep it properly. Be careful not to lose it.” 

Only then did Zhen Tingyun cheerfully answer, “Yes.”

She practically snatched the box from Old Lady Zhen’s hands and carefully put it away.

Watching events take such an unexpected turn, Zhen Yiyun felt as though countless ants were crawling over her heart. Not only had Zhen Tingyun completely cleared herself of the accusation of secretly exchanging gifts and affection with a man… she had somehow gained a mysterious, powerful noble as her teacher.

Regret, resentment, and humiliation all churned together inside Zhen Yiyun. She had truly suffered a double loss. 

Yet even Madam Pei, their own mother, had openly admitted her mistake. As the elder sister, Zhen Yiyun could hardly stubbornly refuse to apologize. So she had no choice but to lower her head as well, swallowing all her humiliation. Softly, she said, “Second Sister… I was wrong. I shouldn’t have let my imagination run wild. For the sake of our sisterhood, I hope you won’t hold it against me. Please forgive me this once.”

Hearing this, Zhen Tingyun slowly turned around. Leisurely, she looked at the embarrassment coloring Zhen Yiyun’s face. There was an unmistakably strange note in her voice. “For the sake of our sisterhood?”

Zhen Yiyun felt humiliated beyond words. Her face flushed even redder.

Then she heard Zhen Tingyun ask with a half-smile, “When Elder Sister falsely accused me and slandered me without any evidence, did you think of me as your own sister?”

In truth, in Zhen Tingyun’s eyes, the woman before her was merely a wandering soul occupying her elder sister’s body. How could she possibly be considered a real sister? Likewise, although Zhen Yiyun spoke of “our sisterhood,” she herself had never regarded the original heroine as a younger sister.

From the very beginning, she had seen Zhen Tingyun only as a rival.

An enemy.

Never a sister.

This time, Zhen Tingyun had finally had enough of all of Zhen Yiyun’s petty schemes. Simply seeing that face made her stomach churn with disgust. She had already made up her mind. This time, she would teach Zhen Yiyun a lesson she would never forget.

Hearing those words, Zhen Yiyun became even more mortified. Her face alternated between red and pale. For a moment, she couldn’t utter a single word.

Seeing her rare display of embarrassment and anger, Zhen Tingyun actually smiled. Two dimples appeared on her snow-white cheeks. Her lips were rosy, her eyes curved into crescents. She looked extraordinarily bright and lovely. But the words she spoke were anything but lovely. In fact, they were deliberately infuriating. “And what if I insist on pursuing this matter to the very end?”

The moment she heard that infuriating tone, Zhen Yiyun nearly tore her handkerchief apart.

In her own mind, she had only been thinking about the family’s reputation. She had merely spoken a few extra words. Besides…

Wasn’t it Zhen Tingyun herself who had behaved carelessly?

She had become entangled with some man in his twenties or thirties without informing the family beforehand. As her elder sister, wasn’t it only natural for her to worry that her younger sister, being young and naïve, might make a terrible mistake and secretly report it to their parents? What was wrong with that?

Furthermore…

She had already lowered herself. She had apologized. She had suffered enough humiliation already. They were family. Couldn’t Zhen Tingyun simply let bygones be bygones? Did she really have to keep harping on such a minor mistake?

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She almost couldn’t suppress the flames burning inside her. Even her eyes seemed ready to spit fire. Fortunately, she wasn’t truly foolish. She knew now was not the time to lose her temper. Suppressing her anger, she lowered her eyelashes to hide the fire in her eyes. With tears glistening, she said, “I… I was only worried that Second Sister was still young and might unknowingly have done something wrong outside so I told Mother…”

Before she finished speaking, two crystal-clear tears slipped from her eyes. They landed softly upon the blue stone floor. The sound was almost imperceptible.

Like dew trembling from the heart of a blooming rose. The flower was in full bloom. Even the dewdrops seemed to carry a faint fragrance. Gentle. Pitiful. Enough to make anyone’s heart ache.

Watching this scene, Madam Pei ultimately couldn’t bear it.

Although both girls were her daughters, and although, in terms of appearance, Zhen Tingyun resembled her more,  Only Zhen Yiyun had been personally raised by her own hands. She was like a delicate rose that Madam Pei had watered every day, carefully nurtured, and lovingly protected with all her heart. She simply couldn’t bear to watch that precious, beautiful rose be crushed like this.

So Madam Pei couldn’t help trying to smooth things over. “Yiyun truly meant well. This was all just an unfortunate misunderstanding. Ting Jie’er, you’ve always been sensible and generous. Don’t argue with your elder sister over something like this…”

“I cannot agree with Mother’s words.” Zhen Tingyun replied calmly. “Does being sensible and generous mean that I should simply endure this sort of thing? Does it mean I should always forgive people whose ‘good intentions’ end up harming others?”

Seeing Zhen Tingyun openly contradict her, Madam Pei became somewhat displeased. Zhen Yiyun had already apologized. As their mother, she herself had stepped in to reconcile them. Why was this child still refusing to let the matter rest? She truly had the same stubborn temperament as Old Lady Zhen. Indeed, whenever Madam Pei noticed something she disliked about Zhen Tingyun, she invariably associated it with her mother-in-law, Old Lady Zhen.

Her expression darkened. Zhen Tingyun pretended not to notice at all. Instead, she calmly asked, “Besides… Does Mother truly believe that Elder Sister acted out of kindness? That she did all this… for my sake?”

Zhen Yiyun bit her lip, her face turning deathly pale as she stared at Zhen Tingyun in disbelief. “Second Sister, what do you mean by that? If it weren’t for your sake, why would I meddle in any of this? …I know you’ve become suspicious of me and won’t believe me, but… but you can’t wrongly accuse my intentions as your elder sister!”

Madam Pei also frowned.

“At this point, why does Elder Sister still insist on putting on such an act?” Zhen Tingyun remained unmoved, letting out only a cold laugh. “If you had truly been acting for my sake, then after learning about this matter, you should have come to ask me first. Once you’d learned the truth, you could have decided what to do afterward, whether to scold me privately or report it to Father and Mother, that would have been entirely your choice. But you never asked me a single question. You immediately assumed I had secretly exchanged tokens of affection with a man, then turned around and reported me to Mother. If my conscience hadn’t been clear, if I hadn’t had evidence, wouldn’t I have been wrongfully condemned by you today?”

“I… I was simply anxious at the time.” Zhen Yiyun hurriedly explained. “After all, it concerned our family’s reputation. Of course I had to tell Mother.”

“Exactly.” Zhen Tingyun replied calmly. “So, in the end, Elder Sister only made two mistakes. First, you thought the very worst of me. Second, you have absolutely no sisterly affection for me. That’s why the moment you saw the jade xiao, you suspected I was secretly involved with a man. And the moment you suspected that, you immediately ran to tell Mother.”

“So, as for someone like Elder Sister, I don’t dare speak of ‘our sisterhood.'”

Each sentence was sharper than the last. Every word cut like a blade.

It was as though she were stripping away Zhen Yiyun’s dignity before everyone present.

How could Zhen Yiyun possibly endure such humiliation? Tears shimmered on her lashes. Her body trembled. She looked as though she might collapse at any moment, frail enough to be blown away by the wind. Yet even now, she couldn’t admit the truth. Grinding her teeth, she said, “Second Sister… you’ve misunderstood me.”

“If Elder Sister insists it’s all a misunderstanding then let’s call it a misunderstanding.” Zhen Tingyun spoke lightly. She didn’t even bother looking at Zhen Yiyun anymore. Instead, she turned to Madam Pei and abruptly changed the subject. “Oh, by the way, I imagine Elder Sister also mentioned the carriage to Mother. I wonder exactly how did she describe that matter?”

Madam Pei hadn’t expected her to bring this up. She frowned slightly.

Zhen Tingyun glanced with amusement at Zhen Yiyun, who stood there pale-faced, pretending to look pitiful. Then she smiled. “Elder Sister must have said that she generously gave me the carriage, while I completely ignored our sisterly bond, disappeared without returning, and forced her to ride back in the Pei family’s carriage. Wasn’t that what she said?”

Given Zhen Yiyun’s petty nature, Zhen Tingyun had already guessed as much back when the carriage had been “generously” offered.

Madam Pei couldn’t help saying, “Why bring this up now?” Ordinarily, Madam Pei would certainly have scolded her younger daughter over such a matter. When sisters went out together, they ought to leave together and return together, looking after one another. How could someone simply wander off on her own? But after the earlier misunderstanding over the supposed secret affair, that issue had seemed insignificant. Now that both she and Zhen Yiyun were in the wrong, it was awkward to revisit it.

Zhen Tingyun merely smiled. Her bright apricot eyes sparkled. She spoke crisply. “I know Mother has always trusted Elder Sister. But since there are two sides to this story, why not summon the coachman and ask him what really happened?”

Zhen Yiyun’s face turned even whiter. Cold sweat appeared across her forehead. She looked as though she might faint. Madam Pei, however, had already begun to understand. Carefully, she asked, “I trust both of you equally. If you have a different version of events, then tell me.”

At those words, the smile on Zhen Tingyun’s face faded. She answered solemnly, “Perhaps Mother doesn’t know. It was Elder Sister herself who insisted I take the carriage. She was also the one who told me not to return for her. She said she’d ride back with the Pei family. And then, she turned around and reversed black and white, speaking ill of me. I truly don’t know how I’ve offended her that she hates me so deeply that she never misses an opportunity to smear my name.”

“I… I…” Zhen Yiyun couldn’t even think of a defense. All she could do was shake her head frantically. “I didn’t! Mother, believe me! I truly didn’t!”

“Whether you did or not isn’t something that can be decided by the two of us arguing.” Zhen Tingyun interrupted her decisively, cutting off her frantic denials. Turning toward Madam Pei, she raised her hands in a formal salute. With complete seriousness, she said, “Mother need only summon the coachman. Question him word by word. Only then will everyone know between Elder Sister and myself who harbored malicious intentions who filled their mouth with lies and who deliberately turned black into white.”

Madam Pei said nothing. She looked deeply at the two daughters standing before her.

After saluting, Zhen Tingyun simply stood there. Her back was perfectly straight. She stood with quiet dignity. A faint smile still lingered upon her delicate face. Yet her eyes, dark as lacquer, remained fixed steadily upon Madam Pei. She waited for her mother’s answer.

Beside her, Zhen Yiyun stood pale-faced, tears glistening in her eyes. She bit her lip and looked at Madam Pei with fear and pleading. Like a drowning person desperately clutching at the last piece of driftwood.

Old Lady Zhen also seemed to realize what was happening. She remained seated in silence, waiting for Madam Pei’s final decision.

For the first time, even Madam Pei found herself in a difficult position.

She was an intelligent woman. Naturally, she understood exactly what Zhen Tingyun was doing. By exposing Zhen Yiyun’s ugly motives before everyone, she was forcing Madam Pei to discipline her eldest daughter. Truthfully speaking, this matter really was Zhen Yiyun’s fault. All Zhen Tingyun wanted was justice.

But… Zhen Yiyun was the precious jewel Madam Pei had personally raised with her own hands. Though angry that her daughter had disappointed her again, Madam Pei couldn’t help favoring her. In her heart, she told herself that this had merely been a young girl’s petty jealousy and little schemes. Surely it wasn’t serious enough to warrant public punishment. Besides, it was already the end of the first lunar month. Her eldest daughter’s coming-of-age ceremony on the twenty-second day of the second lunar month was less than half a month away. If she publicly punished her eldest daughter now, how could the girl possibly hold her head up afterward?

Thinking this, Madam Pei silently sighed. She turned her gaze toward Zhen Yiyun. Her voice became cold. “Speak. What exactly happened?”

Remembering how she had previously spent so much effort patiently explaining everything to her eldest daughter, using even her own experiences to illustrate the consequences, only for the girl to nod obediently at the time before turning around and behaving like this again, Madam Pei, proud by nature, felt both anger and humiliation. Especially since she had now lost face before Old Lady Zhen. Her temper finally flared. She strode forward, grabbed Zhen Yiyun by the arm, and struck her twice across the back. “I’ve told you again and again! As sisters of the same family, you should love one another and support one another. And yet you’re as stubborn as a bull, with your heart set all wrong! Not a single word I’ve said has ever entered your head!”

Zhen Yiyun received several hard slaps across her back from Madam Pei. It hurt, and it was humiliating. She became convinced that even her mother had been blinded by the heroine’s halo. She felt angry, wronged, and frightened all at once. Tears streamed down her face in torrents, and before long her eyes were blurred with crying. All she could do was softly murmur, “Mother… Mother…” She looked so pitiful that she seemed on the verge of crying herself unconscious.

After striking her a few times, Madam Pei’s heart ached when she saw her eldest daughter crying so miserably. Yet, from the corner of her eye, she noticed her younger daughter still standing where she was, as though rooted to the spot, making no move whatsoever to step forward and stop the punishment. Madam Pei sighed inwardly. She knew this younger daughter had a hard heart, and there was no point continuing the beating. 

Wiping away her tears, she turned sorrowfully to Zhen Tingyun and said, “You have both studied the classics, so you should know the lines: ‘The blossoms of the cherry tree, brilliant are their calyxes. Among all people today, none are as close as brothers.’ In this world, how rare it is for sisters to be born into the same family. Yet your elder sister is so thoughtless, never willing to heed my words. Ting Jie’er, I only hope you will take them to heart and remember them.”

Zhen Tingyun waited, but all she saw was Madam Pei gritting her teeth, scolding a few times, and delivering a few token slaps. She felt both annoyed and amused. Annoyed that, even now, she still failed to fully see through the situation in this household; amused that Zhen Yiyun thought herself clever while Madam Pei’s favoritism was so obvious.

Old Lady Zhen herself played favorites, but even she couldn’t stand Madam Pei’s favoritism. Unable to hold back, she snapped, “This girl harbored malicious intentions and slandered her own sister. You’re done after just scolding her a few times and giving her a few slaps?”

Madam Pei felt miserable herself, but she had her own reasoning. Dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief, she wept as she said, “Yiyun is already this age. In a few more days she’ll have her coming-of-age ceremony and become a grown young lady. If our family truly made a scandal of this now, she’s still a child with thin skin, I’m afraid she’d never have the face to face anyone again… ‘To raise without teaching is the father’s fault.’ Her father and I failed to teach her properly. We allowed her to become so muddleheaded that she committed these foolish mistakes. In the end, it’s because I failed as her mother and did not do my duty…”

As she spoke, Madam Pei took hold of Zhen Yiyun’s arm and solemnly promised Old Lady Zhen, word by word, “Please rest assured, Mother. From now on I will discipline her properly. I absolutely won’t let her make the same mistakes again.”

Old Lady Zhen still wanted to continue scolding her, but Zhen Tingyun, who had been watching the entire scene coldly from the sidelines, spoke up to persuade her. “Grandmother, let it be.” Madam Pei had already scolded her and already hit her. No matter what else happened, she certainly couldn’t bear to punish her any further. Besides, with the fact that she would soon be holding her coming-of-age ceremony, it was unlikely she could receive any severe punishment anyway.

Old Lady Zhen was still furious, but all she could do was pity her young granddaughter for having such a partial mother. In a fit of anger, she rose from her seat.

Then she wrapped her little granddaughter in her arms and cried loudly all the way out of the main hall of the principal courtyard. “Oh, my poor Second Girl! Why are you the one with such rotten luck? Both of you have the same father and mother, yet you’re the one saddled with such a biased mother! And on top of that, such a heartless, vicious elder sister! How is anyone supposed to live like this?”

Back in the countryside, with that voice and that lung power, Old Lady Zhen could plant herself at her doorway with her hands on her hips and trade insults with someone from dawn until dusk.

So those few wails of hers were astonishingly loud, echoing through the entire courtyard in one breath.

Caught completely off guard as Old Lady Zhen swept her into a tight embrace, Zhen Tingyun hadn’t even had time to react before she was whisked out of the courtyard like a gust of wind.

Burying her face in Old Lady Zhen’s arms as she listened to the exaggerated wailing, she nearly burst out laughing. Madam Pei had been reluctant to punish Zhen Yiyun severely in order to preserve her dignity, but after Old Lady Zhen made such a public scene, what dignity did Zhen Yiyun have left?

Even Madam Pei had lost face along with her.

It could only be said that Madam Pei and Zhen Yiyun were probably so accustomed to eating politely at the table and behaving with refinement that they’d never imagined someone would simply flip the entire table over.

Hehe. If I can’t eat at this table, then no one gets to eat at it!

***

Zhen Tingyun struggled so hard to suppress her laughter that she buried her head deeper into Old Lady Zhen’s embrace. Her shoulders trembled as she simply pretended to cry instead, while inwardly she felt an uncommon sense of satisfaction.

Grandmother and granddaughter returned together to Old Lady Zhen’s courtyard, and only then could Zhen Tingyun no longer hold it in and finally laughed aloud.

Old Lady Zhen had still been seething with anger, but seeing her granddaughter collapse into her arms laughing uncontrollably, she couldn’t stay angry after all. She merely poked the girl’s smooth forehead with a finger and said resentfully, “You little rascal, you only know how to laugh at your grandmother!”

Zhen Tingyun hurriedly replied, “No, no! Grandmother stood up for me and vented my anger for me. I’m just happy.”

As she spoke, she couldn’t help laughing again. Wrapping her arms around Old Lady Zhen’s waist, which was too broad for her to encircle completely, she leaned against her and whispered, “I knew Grandmother loves me the most.”

Like a spoiled child, Zhen Tingyun rubbed affectionately against Old Lady Zhen until even the hair at her temples became tousled.

For a moment, memories of the days when grandmother and granddaughter had depended on one another in her childhood came flooding back, making her eyes sting with tears. Whatever sort of person Old Lady Zhen might be, full of faults, favoring boys over girls, she had always treated Zhen Tingyun well and almost always stood on her side. Just like today. Although Old Lady Zhen knew perfectly well that Yuanhui had once stolen a horse and that his identity was probably suspicious, she hadn’t uttered a single extra word and had simply stood by Zhen Tingyun.

Old Lady Zhen’s heart, too, softened into a warm ache from her granddaughter’s affectionate nuzzling. She gently stroked the girl’s hair over and over again with her rough, calloused palm.

After quite a while, Old Lady Zhen finally remembered to speak. Lowering her head, she asked, “Have you eaten dinner yet?”

The tears Zhen Tingyun had only just managed to work up were immediately driven back by that question. Well then… she knew it. Old Lady Zhen simply wasn’t the sentimental type. In the middle of an emotional moment, she could veer off onto an entirely different topic. Still, she really hadn’t had dinner today. She’d eaten too many pastries and drunk too much tea at Yuanhui’s place, and by the time she returned it was already late. She wasn’t hungry, so she had skipped supper.

So Zhen Tingyun rubbed the corners of her eyes and nodded. “Mm. Not yet.”

Old Lady Zhen had only asked casually because she wasn’t good with emotional words. The moment she heard the answer, all her melancholy vanished. She gave her granddaughter a hearty slap on the back and snorted, “Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Then she hurriedly called out, “Bazhen! Quickly, go have the kitchen cook a bowl of noodles. Chicken broth! And tell them to add plenty of chicken meat.”

Having just received a solid smack from Old Lady Zhen, Zhen Tingyun felt that the casual blow from her grandmother had been much harder than the slaps Madam Pei had given Zhen Yiyun. Still, hearing Old Lady Zhen rattle off one instruction after another, she couldn’t help finding it amusing and leaned against her grandmother with a smile. In more refined households, people usually simmered chickens to make a clear broth, then used the broth alone to cook noodles or prepare dishes, rarely eating the chicken itself. Country folk, however, craved meat; even fatty pork was considered delicious, let alone chicken.

Old Lady Zhen paid no attention to whether her granddaughter was smiling or not and simply kept nagging her. “Is there no rice or flour left in this house? How is it that you can go hungry in your own home?”

As she spoke, she jabbed a finger hard against her granddaughter’s forehead and scolded in exasperation, “Are you stupid or what?”

With that strength and that booming voice, she nearly rattled a person’s brains out.

Zhen Tingyun was quick-witted. She immediately took hold of Old Lady Zhen’s arm and shook it gently, acting spoiled as she changed the subject. “Grandmother, can I sleep here with you tonight?”

Old Lady Zhen secretly felt delighted that her granddaughter was so attached to her, but she stubbornly kept up a stern front. “You’re already this old and you still want to sleep beside me?” After saying that, she worried her granddaughter might feel embarrassed, so she hurriedly put on a serious face and reluctantly added, “Just this once. Don’t let it happen again!”

Zhen Tingyun blinked and smiled at her grandmother, thinking to herself, Well, well! My old grandmother even knows how to use idioms now! She’s improved a lot!

While grandmother and granddaughter chatted and laughed together, Madam Pei, on the other hand, had a pounding headache.

After Old Lady Zhen’s dramatic scene, both Madam Pei and Zhen Yiyun had completely lost face.

Naturally, Zhen Yiyun was the one who had been humiliated the most. She had barely managed to keep herself together earlier, but the moment she heard Old Lady Zhen’s loud wail, her vision went black. Unable to endure it any longer, she fainted on the spot. Meanwhile, Madam Pei herself was also mortified. She thought of all the effort she had invested in her eldest daughter, only for the girl to disobey her and stir up such trouble, causing even her own mother to lose face along with her…

The more Madam Pei thought about it, the more frustrated she became. She had lost the patience she usually had with her wayward eldest daughter. Seeing the girl’s pale face as she lay unconscious, Madam Pei no longer had the heart to fuss over or pity her. She merely waved her hand, ordering the maids and older servants to carry the unconscious Zhen Yiyun back to her room. Madam Pei herself slowly returned to the couch, closed her eyes to collect herself, and carefully reviewed everything that had happened that evening from beginning to end.

Though she was unwilling to admit it, she understood that in her haste she had panicked and made the wrong move.

When Master Zhen returned home that evening, Madam Pei did not hide anything from him. Instead, she recounted the entire affair in careful detail.

Want to show your support? Go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! Want to get early access to 5+ chapters in advance? Go to my Patreon to join now! :)