Chapter 13 Future
Zhao Zimu hasn’t been woken up early by Ling Er the next morning. Ling Er didn’t knock on her door with breakfast until the sun had already risen. Zhao Zimu sat at the table and watched at what Ling Er brought for her.
The breakfast consisted of light millet congee with salted egg, soy milk, deep-fried breadstick and some appetizers. Zhao Zimu didn’t like to be extravagant. Although, these things were light, but they were to her liking.
Zhao Zimu glanced at Ling Er and said smilingly, “Why didn’t my little Ling Er pull your miss up early in the morning? I remember that someone lay on me yesterday and happily acted coquettishly that today I must wake up early today. Did you change your mind? Or is it that my little girl’s character had changed? Your miss still likes those beauties of Qiansui’s residence very much. It was also a beautiful thing to see them early in the morning.”
Zhao Zimu seemed to be indifferent to everything and showed little interest to the affairs outside. She seemed to not have an interest in anything. In fact, no one knew that she loves beauty. The beauty here didn’t refer to dress herself up beautifully and make up. It referred to beautiful things, especially beautiful people.
Speaking about it, it was strange. She was obviously a woman but she didn’t like needlework and the four arts; those things that women liked. She disliked the stories about handsome scholars and pretty ladies even more. She just liked to admire beautiful people. She looked at their beautiful dresses and faces and heroic demeanor. Of course, the heroic demeanor referred to men. It was just that Zhao Zimu didn’t care. She didn’t care about their gender. As long as she felt that they were comfortable to look at, she would be in a good mood.
- Four arts: zither, chess, calligraphy and painting
Ling Er somewhat knew about this habit of her although it seemed a bit strange. Forget it, if they were male even if she would lose the reserved nature of women and etiquette. However, it was very strange to like beautiful women, right?
Which women in this world didn’t love beauty? Also, they all hoped that they were the most beautiful one. Once they found out someone more beautiful than them, they would be jealous, unreconciled and wished that they could step on the other party. However, her miss wouldn’t.
When her miss met beautiful women, her mood would be better and she would even treat them gently. She (LE) still remembered when they first arrived at Qiansui’s residence, they met some beauties of Qiansui’s residence who came to show off. They explicitly and implicitly beat miss. The meaning was to let her miss be more discreet and not to fight over favor with them.
Not only did her miss not get angry with them, she also treated them very warmly with tea, pastries and gifts of the first meeting. She was very hospitable and didn’t say one heavy word. The whole process looked very pleasant.
Later, those few beauties were sent away or thrown out by Lord Qiansui. She was depressed for a while. The reason was because those few beauties saw that miss was sensible, they would come visit miss from time to time and she could see them often.
Ling Er sighed. She didn’t hide the reason from Zhao Zimu and said, “Ling Er made a mistake. Although, the news that Lord Qiansui would return to the residence was true, but it wasn’t in the morning and could be any other time. Miss, if you want to see those beauties, you can go visit them at their place, chat with them and talk about some girly things. You can then also relieve boredom.”
Speaking about it, it was also frustrating. Her miss didn’t understand the four arts and didn’t like needlework or embroidery. If she was good at one or two of those, she would have things to talk about with the beauties. However, her miss didn’t know any of them. She also didn’t know why Lord Qiansui would let her miss stay. Could it be because her miss is too useless? Ling Er thought a bit sadly.
If Lord Qiansui really sent miss out, at least she could become a real woman. It would be fine even if she was left into the deep courtyard and was not favored. However, she saw that her miss didn’t have that intention. To be honest, Ling Er wouldn’t mind wherever Zhao Zimu wanted to be. She liked her miss. She would be very happy as long as she could follow her miss and she had never considered her own future.
“You think I don’t want to?” Zhao Zimu picked up the bolw of congee.
Ling Er put her hands on the table and supported her small head with them. In her big eyes were clearly written, then, why don’t you go?
Zhao Zimu ate a mouthful of congee and said bleakly, “Lazy…”
Ling Er’s big eyes widened and were full of spirits. Suddenly, she burst into laughter and laughed like a little spoiled cat, “Miss, it was actually more than that. It is also because you don’t know what to say and is too lazy to deal with those tricks and schemes of those beauties. Moreover, miss will get bored after a long time. To be frankly, miss only love the new ones and is bored with the old ones. Be wary that you won’t be able to marry.
Ling Er laughed so much that she shook. Suddenly she stopped and looked at Zhao Zimu who still ate congee without care. She said carefully, “Miss, I’m sorry.”
Zhao Zimu didn’t lift her head, picked up a small fried breadstick on the table and bit slowly. She then asked, “Sorry about what?”
Ling Er hesitated before saying, “Miss, do you really want to continue stay at Qiansui’s residence like this?”
“What’s wrong with this?” Zhao Zimu took a sip of the soy milk and put an appetizer into her mouth. This cooking of her little girl was truly not bad. Suddenly, she didn’t want to marry her off so soon.
In the past life, Qiansui’s residence had fallen into decline. To avoid implicating Ling Er, she had chosen an honest family for her early on. No matter how Ling Er begged and even knelt and kowtowed, she married her off.
Zhao Zimu didn’t mind being implicated but she couldn’t let Ling Er stay with her. Ling Er was different from her. She should have a good future.
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Now, I’m wondering why, with the secret backing of Aunt Qing, why didn’t Zhao Zimo disappear into the martial world when the bad times came long ago? Set the place on fire and leave in the night is my favorite plan.
Thanks for taking up this story – your translating is very easy to read.
Lmao Zhao Zimu over here looking at beauties xD I feel her though. Looking at aesthetic people is the best (๑¯∀¯๑)
Zhao Zimu has some real bisexual energy,lol
dawww the way she loves admırıng beauties a lot like General lady from General above, ım below *-*
I think she’s BI. I heard that while BI don’t mind which gender, they also have preferences that may lean on a certain gender (reason why some BI people are more in a hetero rs while some are more in a homo rs). Of course, this era doesn’t have such a concept yet so she might not understand yet but I think this character setting of her is nice since it would be reasonable why she might not care about ML being a eunuch later.