ATLAS TRANSLATES

Inside the palace gates, outside the Grand Marshal’s gate were government offices where court officials worked daily. At the border between the South and North countries, there were occasional conflicts. Recently, the South had been losing battles. The court was busy, with various officials discussing war matters rather than enjoying their usual leisure.

In a library, Lu Yun was bent over his desk reviewing new documents. As the Imperial Censor, he was responsible for monitoring officials and investigating illegal activities. With repeated defeats at the border and frequent reports of general and governor changes, Lu Yun’s department was also kept busy.

Just as Lu Yun was reading by lamplight, the library door was pushed open from outside. Prince Chen Liu Chu’s voice was tense: “Third Brother! Xue Chen!”

Lu Xue Chen looked up from behind the half-height bookshelf, his features clear and elegant as he gazed at the young lord who entered.

Liu Chu’s face was flushed red as he closed the door behind him. Glancing at Lu Yun’s work, he tried to keep his voice as calm as possible: “Have you… seen your cousin recently?”

Lu Yun’s expression became subtle before he distantly replied: “No. I’ve been too busy lately. Why?”

Liu Chu noticed the dark circles under the young lord’s eyes and his heart sank, knowing Lu Yun wasn’t lying. The border war with the North had them all tied up and exhausted. Meanwhile, the noble youths of Jianye remained in their world of wine and luxury, dancing and singing. Growing up privileged, these noble sons had no clear understanding of the war. Few cared about such matters like Lu Yun did, who had been staying up late for quite some time now.

Liu Chu said: “You’re extremely tired, you should rest.”

Lu Yun gave a dismissive “mm” in response, his attitude clearly perfunctory. He didn’t want free time – once idle, he would have to worry about Luo Ling Yu. He was both angry and embarrassed. Her long period of ignoring him had left him suspended in midair, unable to move up or down. If he had free time, he would have to fret about this matter. Thinking this way, when Liu Chu mentioned “cousin” earlier, Lu Yun sensitively asked: “What has my cousin done now?”

Liu Chu: “…She and Young Lord Zhou are planning to open a shop together!”

Lu Yun’s eyes narrowed.

Zhou Yang Ling wanted to open a shop in Jianye to make money, likely still paving the way for her father and others. For commoners like Zhou Tan who excelled among their peers, though food and clothing were not a concern and money was abundant, what they wanted most was to marry into noble families to change their common status. Zhou Tan specifically sent his daughter to socialize in Jianye, attempting to form marriage ties with Prince Chen, hoping that even if commoner officials couldn’t enter court, his daughter’s marriage could help improve their status. Unfortunately, Zhou Yang Ling had different ideas from her father. She was willing to socialize in Jianye, but her chosen methods differed from what her father hoped for.

Socializing in Jianye required spending large amounts of money. No matter how wealthy Zhou Yang Ling was, she couldn’t just keep spending endlessly. Her desire to open a shop to keep money flowing was completely understandable.

But for Luo Ling Yu to join in…

Lu Yun’s eyes darkened slightly: she seemed to be getting too close to Zhou Yang Ling? He knew Zhou Yang Ling was a woman, but Luo Ling Yu didn’t know. Given Luo Ling Yu’s usual character…

Lu Yun felt somewhat irritated. He tossed aside the book in front of him and picked up another one.

Liu Chu: “Control your cousin! She, she keeps clinging to Young Lord Zhou!”

Lu Yun gave a perfunctory smile and lowered his eyes: “That’s her own business. She’s not my direct cousin anyway. I have no control over her.”

Although he answered Liu Chu this way, Lu Yun seemed to have found an excuse to ask Luo Ling Yu what she had been doing lately. That evening, he unusually didn’t stay late at the office and returned early to the Lu residence. After dinner, while playing chess alone to pass time, he casually asked the maid Jin Yue what the young miss had been busy with lately.

Jin Yue naturally answered truthfully.

Luo Ling Yu had been convinced by Zhou Yang Ling’s suggestion. Zhou Yang Ling was willing to provide money and people, but knowing her own weak constitution, she didn’t want to waste energy on trivial matters. Though Luo Ling Yu appeared delicate and thin, she was full of energy, and when she saw potential benefits, she tackled things with full enthusiasm. Zhou Yang Ling only gave a suggestion, but after Luo Ling Yu pondered it herself, she was willing to contribute her decade-plus of beauty experience to open a cosmetics shop.

Noble families had always been self-sufficient, rarely using common shops for food, clothing and daily necessities. Luo Ling Yu planned to target her cosmetics shop at commoners, specifically wealthy merchants and customers.

Like Luo Ling Yu who treasured her beauty, the makeup powders, rouge, facial decorations, and lip colors she used daily were all self-made, applying medical principles and years of experimentation to create her own formulas.

To perfect these formulas, Luo Ling Yu had made thick records for comparison. After all, these were noble family traditions that commoners had no chance to experience. If sold, even in small quantities, wealthy merchants would treasure them like precious gems.

Having set the direction, Luo Ling Yu studied daily how to open this shop, how to gain profits fastest, how to spread its name among merchant customers… Zhou Yang Ling didn’t manage any of this, while Luo Ling Yu devoted herself wholeheartedly to studying these matters.

She felt the 40-60 split with Young Lord Zhou was fair and she wasn’t taking advantage. She was putting in so much effort and thought, just not providing the initial capital. Zhou’s suggestion of a 50-50 split wasn’t far off, and now she was taking 40% – Luo Ling Yu felt she was already being generous considering Young Lord Zhou’s handsome looks.

However, Luo Ling Yu had lost her family at age ten. Even before her family’s downfall, she had never seen how others did business or how shops made money. Exploring on her own, she inevitably encountered some confusion and misconceptions. But she didn’t get discouraged – the more unclear things were, the more determined she was to figure them out.

While Lu Yun stayed up late busy with court affairs daily, Luo Ling Yu also stayed up late busy figuring out how to make money.

Just as dawn was breaking, Luo Ling Yu gathered up the books she had been writing all night and hurriedly headed out with her maids. The sky wasn’t fully bright yet when she ran into Lu Yun, who was leaving for court, in the courtyard. Lu Yun had been standing with Second Young Master Lu and other young lords. After Second Young Master Lu said a few words, Third Young Master Lu stood casually in place waiting. Second Young Master Lu gave Luo Ling Yu a knowing look before leading the large group of Lu family youths out the door to take their carriages to court.

The noble sons in their black robes filed out in an impressive sight.

However, Luo Ling Yu only saw one person among the mass of black robes – the young lord whose figure was like a pine or cypress, standing gracefully in the wind. His eyebrows were like ink brushstrokes, his nose like a suspended gallbladder, his lips like vermillion – extraordinarily refined and unmatched in elegance. In the gentle breeze, he stood by the hall’s pillar, gazing at her with sparks in his eyes. He stood still without moving, clearly waiting for her.

Luo Ling Yu was dazed for a moment before walking over. However, her expression was neutral, and she planned to brush past him without speaking.

Lu Yun reached out to stop her.

Luo Ling Yu looked up.

Seeing this, the maids immediately lowered their heads and quietly retreated to become invisible, not wanting to disturb the young lord and lady’s business. Luo Ling Yu noticed the undisguised fatigue in Lu Yun’s eyes and her heart wavered for a moment, then she saw Lu Yun frowning as if hesitating. After hesitating for a while, he handed her a sachet. Luo Ling Yu took it curiously – it was quite heavy. When she opened it, she found it full of shining silver.

Lu Yun coughed once, his face slightly red. For someone like him who was used to being pursued by others and never pursuing anyone, this was probably the first time doing something like this. His voice was somewhat stiff: “Didn’t you say you had no money? Take it…”

Luo Ling Yu snorted and threw the money bag back at him, while also forcefully shaking off his sleeve that was tangled with hers. Luo Ling Yu moved at least three steps away. Seeing Lu Yun’s face turn ashen, she felt indescribably delighted in her heart. The young lady spoke proudly and with dignity: “Third Young Master Lu, don’t try to humiliate me with gold and silver! I’m still a noble lady after all, am I short of money?”

Lu Yun: “…”

Aren’t you really short of money?

Luo Ling Yu: “Who wants your things! Who knows when you might decide to inspect me again. If I took your money, I’d have to set up an altar to pray to it daily…”

Lu Yun looked at her quietly with a cold face: “Luo Ling Yu, don’t push your luck.”

For him to do this was already lowering his face to try to reconcile with her. He gave her such face and offered her a way down, yet she completely ignored it. She was given a way down but refused to take it… After being angry with each other for so long, was she planning to keep ignoring him forever?

A mocking smile curved Luo Ling Yu’s lips as she slowly smoothed her sleeves. Today’s her was no longer the person who needed to curry favor with Lu Yun in the past. She had Young Lord Zhou’s support behind her, and Young Lord Zhou was so good to her, why should she put up with Lu Yun’s temper? She would soon have money and would soon marry Young Lord Zhou. With her beauty and virtuous nature, able to help Young Lord Zhou manage internal affairs and finances, Young Lord Zhou would surely love and respect her and be willing to marry her…

Lu Yun said sarcastically: “Do you still remember your dodder flower dream?”

Luo Ling Yu froze. She had been the Flower Goddess this year and had opened up her social circle among Jianye’s nobles, making her feel quite proud and successful. But while the young lords loved her beauty and talents, when it came to marriage, they would all hesitate. And her dodder flower dream… she basically had no chance of achieving it… even marrying Young Lord Zhou was impossible… Hearing this, Luo Ling Yu became furious that he was poking at her wounds again.

Luo Ling Yu: “What does it have to do with you?!”

Lu Yun walked closer to her with a half-smile: “So… are you going out to seduce… young lords again?”

Luo Ling Yu: “…”

She felt deeply that Lu Yun looked down on her behavior, and his smile seemed completely sarcastic to her. He bent down slightly to talk to her, but Luo Ling Yu stepped back again and angrily pushed Lu Yun away. Luo Ling Yu glanced at him: “So what? I’m not stopping you, if you’re not satisfied, you can go seduce ladies too. After all, Third Young Master Lu is so beautiful, just standing there casually will make Miss Chen, Miss Wang, any miss really, all flock over.”

Lu Yun raised an eyebrow, about to tease her by asking if she was “jealous,” but Luo Ling Yu tilted her head to look him over and sneered: “But you’d need to have the time first.”

Lu Yun: “…”

She had noticed his dark circles and the fatigue in his eyes, immediately hitting his sore spot and making his face stiffen. His desire to give Luo Ling Yu a way down faded away, and anger rose in his heart, thinking he had never seen such a sharp-tongued young lady before. Luo Ling Yu felt completely satisfied. Under the urging glances of her maids, she snorted and walked past Third Young Master Lu as proudly as a beautiful peacock.

Even after getting into the carriage, Luo Ling Yu’s wrist still tingled with excitement from gripping it – she had actually made Lu Yun lose face!

She had actually made that man unable to save face in front of her!

Lu Yun was unhappy, but Luo Ling Yu felt elated, firmly believing she was on the right path. She would get close to Young Lord Zhou, and would rather curry favor with other young lords than give Third Young Master Lu face.

Lu Yun wanted to give her a way down… Luo Ling Yu closed her eyes, thinking this wasn’t enough. It’s easy to scold her, but wanting to reconcile whenever he wants – Lu Xue Chen, how could things in the world be so easy.

Third Young Master Lu and Luo Ling Yu were both angry, their anger undiminished, and their daily occasional conversations were all filled with sarcasm and implications. The servants and maids on both sides noticed this, thinking that these two’s anger had become like flirtation, leaving people unsure how to advise them. Not knowing how to advise, they stopped trying, waiting for the two to figure it out themselves.

Lu Yun and Luo Ling Yu’s intense anger left Second Young Master Lu caught in the middle, not knowing what to do with the two of them. Madam Lu saw her son constantly seeking Luo Ling Yu for heart-to-heart talks and was also very troubled, not knowing what charm the young miss possessed that made Second Young Master Lu not even look at the ladies Madam Lu selected, only focusing on his cousin. Just as Madam Lu was getting so anxious that her mouth developed sores, the servants who had gone to Nanyang finally returned.

Due to unfamiliarity with the local conditions, the servant had been sick for a month and couldn’t proceed. After recovering, going to Nanyang to gather information, find people, and visit the Nanyang Luo family, going back and forth, it was already the end of May. When the servants returned to Jianye, they reported to Madam Lu and she learned that they had brought back a woman. This woman was Young Miss Luo’s wet nurse. When the Lu family went to inquire about Young Miss at the Nanyang Luo family, this wet nurse had intercepted them on the way, insisting on coming to Jianye to see Luo Ling Yu.

Madam Lu had someone bring her in, and the wet nurse called “Madam Qin” was nervously led into the grand and solemn main hall.

The servant was telling Madam Lu: “…Young Miss was quite beloved by her siblings in Nanyang. She was clever and sensible, and the matriarch of the Nanyang Luo family liked how she took care of her younger siblings. When this servant met people, Madam Luo praised Young Miss endlessly, and when asked about how the young lady was doing in Jianye, she was also very concerned. Madam Luo even cried when speaking emotionally about Young Miss’s bitter fate. From what this servant observed, these feelings were genuine.”

Madam Lu nodded.

In the months since Luo Ling Yu came to the Lu family, Madam Lu had actually seen that while this young lady liked to play somewhat, this exactly matched the Lu family’s hope for her to represent them in socializing with other ladies. Luo Ling Yu was graceful and carried herself with proper pride, and though she had some minor schemes… they were generally harmless. As long as she didn’t cause trouble for the Lu family, even though Madam Lu didn’t get along with Luo Ling Yu’s personality, she wouldn’t say anything unprompted.

The report from the servants who went to Nanyang only made Madam Lu more at ease.

The servant hesitated before continuing: “Also, Young Miss is beautiful and talented. I heard that young lords in Nanyang who wanted to propose to Young Miss were countless. The most famous Fan family in Nanyang, I heard that young lord started pursuing Young Miss as soon as she arrived in Nanyang. That young lord was handsome and talented, and though several Luo family ladies also liked him, he only had eyes for Young Miss. The Luo sisters had many conflicts with Young Miss over this… even until Young Miss came to Jianye, that Young Lord Fan was still expressing his love for her.”

Madam Lu’s eyes flickered and she was lost in thought for a moment before saying: “Well… this is normal. With her looks, it would be strange if she didn’t have admirers.”

Having people pursue her just proved Luo Ling Yu was a normal beautiful young lady. If no young lords in Nanyang had pursued Luo Ling Yu, Madam Lu would have worried if there was something wrong with Luo Ling Yu’s character.

Madam Lu asked worriedly: “Did Young Miss and that Young Lord Fan…”

The servant answered: “This servant secretly asked several Luo family ladies, they said Young Lord Fan kept trying to please Young Miss, but Young Miss seemed to never respond.”

After questioning the servant, they questioned the timid and fearful Madam Qin. When Luo Ling Yu’s wet nurse spoke, she was trembling and vague. As soon as Madam Lu asked, she started wiping tears and recalling hardships, making Madam Lu impatient. Madam Qin kept repeating: “…This old servant really missed the young lady, that’s why I wanted to come see her. Our young lady has suffered since childhood, when I don’t see her for a day, I worry…”

“Alright, alright,” Madam Lu had many trivial matters and had no patience to listen to this, “Take Madam Qin down to rest, find a time to call Young Miss over to meet Madam Qin.”

Madam Qin hurriedly thanked her, extremely grateful to Madam Lu.

As both sides were exchanging courtesies, the maid Lu Yao came in: “Madam, Ling Xi has come to get this month’s allowance for ‘Snow Trace Courtyard’.”

Madam Lu immediately had someone dispense the money. She remembered that Ling Xi was the maid Luo Ling Yu brought from Nanyang. Now that Luo Ling Yu’s wet nurse had arrived, Ling Xi would surely know her and they could meet first. But Madam Qin had already been led away, and when Ling Xi came in, she only caught a glimpse of a back through the screen. Seeing there was no opportunity, Madam Lu didn’t mention it.

Because Ling Yu had taken Ling Xi out with her, only Ling Xi remained in the courtyard. Even though she was afraid of Madam Lu, Ling Xi still had to steel herself to collect the monthly allowance. She kept her head down not daring to look at Madam Lu on her high seat, vaguely nodding as she heard Madam Lu’s casual words of encouragement. However, Ling Xi suddenly heard the sound of wood scraping against tiles. She turned her face and saw a figure leaving behind the screen.

Ling Xi: “…!”

She stared wide-eyed, in a daze, thinking she had seen Madam Qin!

Ling Xi’s face immediately changed dramatically: Madam Qin… how did she come to Jianye? Why did she come to Jianye? Could it be that the matters in Nanyang… had Madam Lu already found out?!