Volume Two: Step by Step to Victory, Chapter Eight: Man Yun Man Hua
Not long after dinner, Ruan Bi was practicing calligraphy when she heard the chirping of swallows and orioles outside.
Xiuzhi lifted the curtain and peeked out, then said happily, "Miss, it's Sister Manyun who's come to see Xiushui."
It seems that Manyun is quite popular. Ruan Bi put down her pen and said, "Xiuzhi, please invite Sister Manyun in to sit for a while."
"Yes, young lady."
Xiuzhi went out and then pulled Manyun back in. Manyun had an oval face, crescent-shaped eyes that seemed to smile even when she wasn't, and a small dimple at the corner of her mouth; she was very pleasing to the eye. She curtsied to Ruanbi and said, "Manyun greets Fifth Miss."
Ruan Bi walked over, took her hand, and said, "Hello, Sister Manyun. I hear Xiushui and Xiuzhi mention you every day. I've been wanting to invite you over for a while to sit down and have a chat."
Manyun's eyes flickered. After all, she was a young girl, and no matter how composed she was, she couldn't help feeling guilty.
"Sister, come see my calligraphy." Ruan Bi pulled her to the table. "How is it?"
"What beautiful handwriting! When did Fifth Miss learn to write such exquisite small regular script?"
"It's something I practiced in my past life," Ruan Bi said with a grin.
Manyun feigned anger and said, "Fifth Miss is truly despicable, trying to fool me with such nonsense."
"No, that's not true." Ruan Bi made up a story. "Sister Manyun, do you remember when I was seriously ill a while ago and lay in bed for more than a month? During that time, I had a strange dream every day. I dreamed that I went to a strange place and lived there for a long time. I even practiced writing beautifully. In the end, after I recovered from my illness, I found that my handwriting was much better than before, and my handwriting had changed."
"So, the Fifth Sister practiced calligraphy in her dream. It was quite an adventure."
Ruan Bi thought to herself, traveling through a thousand years, this must be an extraordinary encounter.
Manyun picked up the calligraphy template and examined it carefully for a while, then said, "With such beautiful handwriting, why don't you copy scriptures for the old lady?"
"Scriptures?"
"Yes, at the beginning of the month, the old lady went to Tianqing Temple and promised Abbot Baiyun that she would copy twenty copies of the Diamond Sutra for consecration and place them in the temple to be given to Buddhists with affinity. Apart from the young lady and the seventh young lady, all the young ladies, as well as the first and second madams, each received three copies. The old lady gave me two more copies. I saw that the young lady's handwriting was so beautiful, so I thought I would take a shortcut. What does the fifth young lady think?"
Ruan Bi was taken aback. Manyun was a smart woman. Since she had come, she meant she was willing to cooperate. She would not waste her time on trivial matters. Could there be some other secret behind copying the scriptures? After thinking for a moment, she said, "I am happy to help you with this, but I don't even have a copy of the Diamond Sutra on hand."
“What’s so difficult about that? I’ll bring you a copy tomorrow,” Manyun said. “We need it on the fifteenth of this month, the day of the temple fair, so we only have five days left. You need to hurry, young lady.”
"Don't worry, sister, there's plenty of time."
Manyun said, "Thank you for helping me, young lady. I will make a wish before Buddha that Fifth Sister will have all her wishes fulfilled."
Ruan Bi said, "It is often said that good people are rewarded. My sister is so good, I think she will surely get what she wants too."
Manyun looked at her, her lips pursed, and she smiled, revealing her dimples. Ruan Bi thought about the two lines of conversation that had the same effect as "Heavenly King covers the Earth, Pagoda suppresses the River Demon," and found it amusing as well. The atmosphere between the two suddenly became much closer, and a sense of mutual attraction began to emerge.
Manyun took Ruanbi's hand and said, "I didn't have much contact with Fifth Miss before, and I only thought that you were aloof. Now that I've met you, I realize that I was blind before and didn't see your straightforwardness. I will have to bother you a lot in the future, so please don't be annoyed with me, Fifth Miss?"
"I would be more than willing, but I'm afraid the old lady can't live without my sister."
"What's so difficult about that? You can visit the old lady's courtyard more often in the future, and you can chat with her when you have time."
"That would be good."
Manyun turned to look at the water clock and said, "Oh dear, I have to go back. The old lady wants me to recite scriptures for her in a little while."
"Then you can go ahead with your work, sister. Xiuzhi, see Sister Manyun off."
Watching Manyun and Xiuzhi walk out of the inner room chatting and laughing, Ruan Bi thought to herself, "The old lady really has good taste. This Manyun is a wonderful person. Although she can't compare to Manhua's looks, in terms of cunning and intelligence, ten Manhuas wouldn't be as good. However, a man like Ruan Jiaxuan, who is short-sighted, can only see the surface. If Manyun really follows him, she might not necessarily be happy."
The next day at noon, Manyun asked her maid to bring her a copy of the Diamond Sutra.
After waking up from her afternoon nap, Ruan Bi asked Xiuzhi to light a stick of sandalwood incense before she began to concentrate on copying the text. Just as she was copying the third chapter, she heard Xiushui announce from outside, "Fifth Miss, Second Miss is here."
Ruan Bi quickly put down her pen, extinguished the sandalwood incense, and hid the Diamond Sutra and the first two chapters she had copied before going out to greet them. The second young lady stood in the outer room with Chunyun, wearing a light yellow high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) and a thin silk shawl embroidered with silver threads. Her head was slightly raised, giving her a somewhat domineering air.
"Second sister, what brings you here to see me?"
The second daughter glanced at her and said coldly, "Didn't I have Sister Luo send you the paper? It was even the finest cold gold paper. But I haven't seen you send any writing over. You used to beg me so eagerly, but after only a few days, times have changed, and you've become arrogant."
Ruan Bi said softly, "Sister, you've misunderstood. I heard that you're learning to manage the household from Mother, spending your days meeting a large group of wives and mothers-in-law, and learning to cook in the kitchen... You're constantly on the go, and I didn't want to take up your time, so I didn't dare disturb you."
The second young lady had indeed been learning how to manage the household from the first madam recently, and hearing this made her feel a little better. She still harbored resentment about being used by Ruan Bi.
"Sister, please come and sit in the inner room," Ruan Bi said, lifting the curtain as she spoke.
The second daughter stepped in, her brows immediately furrowing. "Why are you lighting sandalwood incense for no reason?" she asked.
"I've been having a lot of dreams lately, so I lit a stick of sandalwood incense to calm my nerves during my afternoon nap."
"You're such a busybody." The second young lady said as she sat down at the table, flipping through the calligraphy practice book. "Why have you switched to practicing the small regular script for hairpins lately?"
"I was bedridden for a while, so I got rusty and took this out to practice."
The second young lady glanced at Ruan Bi and said, "Fine, since you have no intention of sending any more messages, you don't need to send any more. I came today to deliver a message from the second young lady of the Marquis of Yanping's mansion: the lotus flowers in the mansion are in bloom, and she invites you to admire them. It's the day after tomorrow, so you should prepare in advance."
A strong sense of conspiracy wafted over, and Ruan Bi said with difficulty, "Second sister, the doctor said that my body is severely weakened and I should rest."
The second young lady said, "If you don't want to go, go and tell Miss Xie yourself. I'm not a mouthpiece." With that, she stood up angrily, turned around, and left.
Xiuzhi brought in freshly brewed tea, glanced back at the Second Miss, and asked in surprise, "Why did the Second Miss leave so soon? She didn't even have a cup of tea."
"Give it to me, I'm thirsty."
Xiuzhi handed a cup of tea to Ruanbi and said, "I thought the second young lady seemed angry just now. Was it because of you, young lady?"
"She said that the Second Miss Xie from the Marquis of Yanping's mansion invited me to admire the lotus flowers, but I said I wasn't feeling well and couldn't go, and she got angry."
"Miss, you're perfectly fine, why don't you go to the Marquis of Yanping's residence? It's a beautiful place."
"Who told you that?"
That's what everyone in the capital says.
Ruan Bi immediately became curious and said, "It's just the residence of a third-rank marquis, how beautiful can it be?"
Xiuzhi looked at her in surprise and said, "Don't you know, Miss? The Marquis of Yanping's mansion was originally the Prince of Liang's mansion. After the Prince of Liang was beheaded, the mansion was confiscated. Later, the eldest daughter of the Marquis of Yanping's mansion gave birth to the Emperor's eldest son and returned home to visit her family. She brought too many people with her, so the Emperor bestowed the Prince of Liang's mansion upon the Marquis of Yanping."
Ruan Bi pretended to think for a moment and said, "I remember now, there was such a thing."
"People used to say that the Liang Prince's Mansion was more magnificent than the imperial palace, like a palace in the sky. I've always dreamed of going there. Girl, you should go, so I can fulfill my dream too."
Ruan Bi couldn't help but laugh when she heard what she said was funny, and said, "Then let me think about it."
After careful consideration, Ruan Bi decided to accept the invitation, even if it meant facing great difficulties. In her previous work, she valued expanding her network the most. Not all daughters of prominent families were arrogant and haughty like the Second Miss Xie; there must be some who were outstanding, knowledgeable, and reasonable. If she could make friends with one or two of them, it might help break the current deadlock.
I spent two days copying the Diamond Sutra twice. On the last copy, when I reached the last chapter, I saw a verse that read, "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, shadows, thunder, and lightning; thus should you contemplate them." I couldn't help but feel a little melancholy. I thought about how I had worked hard for seven or eight years and achieved success in my career, only to have a serious illness take me to another world, and everything I had suddenly turned into a dream, an illusion, a bubble.
After sighing and reminiscing for a while, he wrapped the three copies of the Diamond Sutra, one new and one old, in a handkerchief and asked Xiushui to deliver them to him.
Then she thought about visiting the Marquis of Yanping's residence the next day. Even though it might be a trap, she still needed to dress up. She opened the wardrobe and tried on clothes one by one with Xiuzhi. Just as they were enjoying themselves, Xiushui returned to report. She looked at Ruanbi with a complicated expression and said, "Miss, Sister Manyun has something she wants to tell you."
Xiuzhi was very clever. Upon hearing this, she picked up a few pieces of clothing and said, "Miss, I'll go and re-scent your clothes."
After Xiuzhi left, Xiushui whispered, "Miss, the old lady arranged for Sister Manhua to go to Yangzhou with the Second Madam's family's merchant caravan today, but who knew that a car would suddenly come and kidnap her at the dock."
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