CH 3.1

03. Royal Family (1)

The guest was not wearing a dress, but rather she was wearing a Hu suit1, which was considered barbaric and vulgar by common etiquette.

The person was dressed in a sharp white Hu Jacket, with narrow sleeves and cross collar, and a red leather belt with metal pendants was wrapped around his waist. It hung long over his knees. In fact, this person’s shoulders are a little bit wide for a woman, but the waistline was strong and thin, and her legs are incredibly slender under the hu suit trousers. the overall look was surprisingly beautiful and appropriate, as if everything should be like this.

The most important thing is that this person’s face is simply a unique creation, a masterpiece of heaven. As a woman, her nose is high, straight, and delicate. Her eyes are also beautiful and stunning, but the lines are harsh and sharp in every angle. Her lips are also the same, thin and delicate, they looked extremely aggressive, inexplicably making people’s heart beat faster when they look at it.

Like all brightly colored creatures in nature, she was beautiful, but dangerous.

Yu Qingjia stared at the other party. She even forgot how to react for a moment. The other party is also scrutinizing her, with her thin lips slightly parted, she unhurriedly said, “Miss Yu has orders, I dare not refuse.”

Yu Qingjia managed to regain back her composure, looked back at Yu Wenjun, and her speech was a bit incoherent,

“She… She is the one you brought back…”

Yu Qingjia did not know how to address this person, after seeing the real person, she inexplicably dare not call her Concubine Ji for some reason, but she couldn’t call her “Little Mother”. Yu Qingjia was a bit tangled, and Yu Wenjun was also troubled.

He really did not pay attention to what Murong Yan’s alias nickname was, in case he wasn’t able to mention ‘Prince‘. They would normally address Murong Yan as ‘Lord’ respectfully, A very small number of courtiers who were his close relatives, could call him ‘Young Master‘, and they didn’t even think about directly calling him by his name. Murong Yan doesn’t need a title, because he won’t simply use it at all.

The scene was stagnant for a while, Murong Yan’s expression remained unchanged, and he calmy said, “Call me Jing Huan.”

“Huh?” Yu Qingjia felt that this name was indescribably strange, “Your surname is Jing?”

“Yes.”

This surname was not considered common in the Northern Dynasty, Yu Qingjia mentally recited it twice in her heart, but always felt something was strange. She muttered to herself, “It sounds a bit like a man.”

Yu Wenjun swept a quick glance at Murong Yan. Murong Yan was only thirteen years old when the Eastern Palace Incident happened, and although his title as Prince of Langya had been restored, he did not say anything about it. Jing Huan, of the Wood, is the same seniority as their generation. Most of these words are taught to him by Murong Yan himself, now he had taken it out as a name to barely fool his daughter. He, who brought back a concubine, doesn’t even know her name. This is obviously not normal. It would be best if Yu Qingjia had no suspicions, but seeing her daughter being fooled so easily made Yu Wenjun feel an indescribable sense of complexity.

Yu Wenjun did not want to stay on this topic, so he quickly broke the silence and said, “Since everyone is here, let’s order the kitchen to prepare the meals. Jing Huan has been tired all day, so she can go back to her room to rest after the meal.”

Yu Qingjia quietly shouted, “Father.”

“What’s the matter?”

At that moment, Yu Qingjia’s mind was filled with words such as “Gender can confuse people” and “if you have a stepmother, you will also have a stepfather”. She shook her head at Yu Wenjun, and then took advantage of her father’s inattention, to turn around and glare at Murong Yan.

She really didn’t expect that the one who came was a vixen with extraordinary beauty.

Murong Yan noticed Yu Qingjia’s blatant provocation, but he did not react. He didn’t even bother to give her a look. Seeing his actions, Yu Qingjia was undoubtedly even more infuriated.

She was simply arrogant and despotic, Yu Qingjia had seen the concubines of her uncles and cousins, back when she was still in the ancestral home, some concubines were favored, so they would inevitably boss around and look at people with their nostrils high, but it was still rare to see an arrogant one like Jing Huan.

Yu Qingjia thought, her father had kept himself clean for so many years, and his backyard had always been clean as well.

So could it be that he couldn’t take it anymore, after being suppressed for a long time? And the first time he brought someone back, she had to be such a difficult character?

The attendant quickly brought up the food table, At this time, he followed the basic courtesy, and still divided the food, for them to eat separately. The dishes are served on plates and placed on each person’s dining table.

Yu Qingjia walked to the dining hall and suddenly found that her own dining table had been removed and two maids were carrying a new table and placed it on her original position.

Yu Qingjia couldn’t believe it.

“Father?”

“Jing Huan is your elder, so naturally you should respect him.” Yu Wenjun waved his hand at her, gesturing for her to sit on the other side, “You can sit down there.”

You should know that the status of a concubine is very low nowadays, not to mention reselling and giving them to others as gifts, even the sons and daughters of concubines have little status.

It was not uncommon for a main wife to regard a concubine like how she would a maidservant, some would even treat a concubine like a slave. Such a situation is common in the northern Kingdom. Now a ‘Concubine Ji’ not only eats in the same room with the master’s family, but also had a higher position than her, the legitimate daughter, which is simply an insult.

Yu Qingjia did not expect that one day her father would also do such things like pampering his concubine and disregarding his wife’s family, and this was just after she entered the house.

Yu Qingjia had always been regarded as a treasure by her father, and now she was suddenly treated with such disrespect. She was angry at her father’s actions, which was unworthy of her mother, and at the same time her animosity towards the vixen who had inserted herself into her family had reached its peak.

Yu Qingjia looked at Jing Huan who was standing opposite her, she had thought that Jing Huan would refuse in fear and sincerity, after all, she still needs to give the master’s family some face. But no, this strikingly beautiful woman named Jing Huan didn’t say anything. She calmly sat down behind the table.

Very good.

Yu Qingjia was angered to the extreme, but still gradually calmed down. With Yu Qingya and the system on the outside, and a vixen who is spoiled and arrogant on the inside, it seems that her life in the future will be very lively.

Yu Qingjia gritted her teeth during the meal, she suddenly felt sad when she thought of her mother who had passed away only four years ago.

At this time, It was common practice to have concubines, and scholar-bureaucrats were even proud of fighting over concubines with wealthy people. She originally thought that her father was different from other men, but now it seems that it is true that men in the world are generally black-hearted. In fact, her mother had passed away for four years now, and her father is still in his prime. So even for future considerations, he can’t be left without someone to take care of him. Yu Qingjia knew that she should be happy for her father, but she couldn’t be happy now no matter what. She secretly spurned herself, she was simply too selfish.

Yu Qingjia is just fourteen years old this year. She lost her mother at a young age, and she had always respected her father. Now a person about the same age as her suddenly appeared to compete for her father’s attention, of course, she would immediately feel alarmed.

In the end, she is only a 14-year-old girl. There is no rebirth, no time travel, her life is blooming in the purest form possible.

The precept of not talking during meals is not that harsh in her family, so when Yu Qingjia was full, and her father has not yet set down his chopsticks, and since she cannot leave the table, she decided to have a conversation with her father,

“Father, why did you take so long to visit friends this time?”

Yu Wenjun said vaguely, “I stayed for a few more days because I was deeply touched by the reunion of old friends.”

Yu Qingjia thought for a moment, she gently glanced at Murong Yan, looking at it this way, this beauty was probably gifted by others during the party. Giving concubines was a very common practice in the Northern Kingdom. Scholars did not think there was anything wrong with giving their women to others. Instead it was considered as a ‘beautiful‘ negotiation. This shows how low the status of a concubine was. When they were in the ancestral home of the Yu family, the Main house and Yu Qingya would often use concubines and concubine daughters to demean her and her mother.1

Hu Outfit [胡服]: Also referred as Hu clothing, nomadic dress, ‘barbarian’ clothing or dress, or foreign dress. Which is a generic term that refers to any clothing which was worn in ancient China and its surrounding regions by non-Han Chinese people.