The True Heiress Is a Jianghu Woman - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

My parents were both shocked when they heard that I had once saved Prince Kang in Mobei.

My younger brother said in amazement, “What a coincidence. Eldest Sister saved the Heir Apparent, and Second Sister saved a prince. Both my sisters are truly heroines among women.”

Now that he mentioned it, I was rather curious myself.

Eldest Sister did not look like she had ever practiced martial arts, yet she had somehow rescued the Heir Apparent from a den of desert bandits.

Could it be that she knew how to use hidden weapons? Or perhaps the art of beast-taming?

I quickly asked, “Eldest Sister, how did you rescue the Heir Apparent? Back then, the prince and I couldn’t see a thing, and he had even fainted. If I hadn’t been able to summon the Blood Scorpion…”

Er. Never mind. Better not say any more.

I kept a Blood Scorpion, as well as a viper.

If I said that aloud, I was afraid I would frighten them.

But my younger brother pressed on, “Second Sister, I heard that people who roam the jianghu all have nicknames. What’s yours?”

I looked up at the sky, pretending to be profound and unfathomable.

With a face full of admiration, my younger brother said, “Second Sister is beautiful and lively, and skilled with both long and short blades. You must have a nickname as lovely as a fairy’s.”

Heh. This humble nobody is known in the jianghu as the Venomous Woman.

I hurriedly changed the subject. “Eldest Sister, we really are quite fated, aren’t we?”

My mother frowned slightly and glanced at Eldest Sister, though I could not tell what she was thinking.

Eldest Sister forced a smile. “Yes, quite fated.”

That night, I practiced with my blades in the courtyard.

My sharp senses picked up on my mother’s arrival.

I immediately stopped and pretended to be reading.

My mother walked over and said irritably, “Stop pretending. You’re holding the book upside down!”

I grinned at her.

My mother picked up my blade and looked at it in silence for a while.

Then she took off her cumbersome outer robe and performed a set of saber techniques.

I stared, utterly dumbfounded.

My mother wiped the sweat from her forehead, glared at me, and said, “Your mother is the daughter of the Great General of Mobei. What, did you think all I knew how to do was serve my husband, teach my children, and lecture you about some nonsense rules?”

I praised her from the bottom of my heart. “Mother, you look truly valiant and heroic. A woman no less capable than any man.”

My mother said proudly, “Back in the day, I followed your maternal grandfather onto the battlefield. With this saber technique alone, I bewitched your father, a noble young master from a family of bells and cauldrons, until he refused to marry anyone but me.”

As she spoke of the past, her voice was thick with longing.

Seeing that her saber technique was not rusty in the slightest, I knew she must have practiced diligently in private.

Yet in daily life, she presented herself entirely as a proper noblewoman with impeccable manners.

My mother pulled me down to sit and drink tea, then said gently, “Xiao Wu, Mother deeply regrets missing twelve years of your life. I came to see you tonight because I wanted to have a heart-to-heart with you.”

In my mother’s unhurried voice, I learned that she had not become this sort of woman overnight.

Once, she had been carefree in her conduct, fearless in anger and speech, and never allowed herself to suffer grievances in silence.

After she returned to the capital with my father, she felt stifled by the rules of the household.

Fortunately, my father proved capable. As soon as he was promoted, he moved the family out to live on their own.

At first, my mother disdained making acquaintances or friendships with the people of the capital.

Others mocked her behind her back as a crude woman from Mobei.

Because of that, Eldest Sister and my younger brother were ostracized as well.

In the end, it was my grandmother who called my mother over and had a long, intimate talk with her.

My mother reminisced, “Your grandmother was a very wise elder. She said the capital has the capital’s rules, and Mobei has Mobei’s rules. A person who truly lives freely and clearly does not blindly resist everything, but adapts to the situation. Leave your true self for your family, friends, and lover. Save the posturing for outsiders.”

After that, my mother learned from my grandmother how to be a proper mistress of the household, and how to interact with the people of the capital.

Gradually, my mother even found some interest in it.

Managing a household was like commanding troops; it also required the Thirty-Six Stratagems.

Interacting with the noblewomen of the capital also required reading the situation, much like dealing with enemy spies.

As time passed, my mother adapted to life in the capital and could even be said to thrive like a fish in water.

After listening, I thought for a moment and said, “Mother is telling me that as long as we live in this world, we all have to put on an act sometimes. After all, our days are our own, but the ways of the world are not up to us. Even a mighty dragon cannot crush a local snake. Now that this falcon from Mobei has come to the capital, I’ll have to pretend to be a little chick.”

My mother burst out laughing. “That is more or less the idea.”

I expressed that I understood.

No problem. I had long since been beaten down by life and learned when to bend and when to stand tall.

The me of today was just like a stray cat outside.

Put on an act for fifteen minutes, enjoy wealth and glory for fifteen years.

House cats had their way of living, and stray cats had theirs.

Just like my mother taught me.

If anyone asked about my usual hobbies,

I would say I liked reading.

After all, Seven Heroes and Five Gallants counted as a book.

If someone asked how I had survived all those years wandering outside,

I would say a highly respected master took me in and had me cultivate day and night.

People would only assume I had followed an expert to cultivate my character and discipline my mind.

Who would know that what I learned was the art of killing?

My mother said, “In short, just muddle through with a couple of vague answers. As long as it looks respectable on the surface, that’s enough.”

I said with complete confidence, “Don’t worry, Mother. Back when I was roaming the jianghu, I followed my senior brother around swindling and tricking people. I know how to say human words to humans and ghost words to ghosts. I guarantee no one will catch me slipping.”

When my mother heard that, she hugged me tenderly. “I’m teaching you this not because I think those habits you picked up in the jianghu are bad. On the contrary, my daughter survived out there openly and proudly, and learned real martial arts. That makes me very proud. But I have experienced being looked down on, ignored, and pushed aside. So I feel that if putting on a little act can help us avoid all that, it saves us a great deal of trouble.”

I nodded. “I understand. Living in this world comes down to four words: human relationships and worldly wisdom.”

My father was the Minister of Rites, and my mother was one of the most renowned noble ladies in the capital.

I also had a grandfather and grandmother from an illustrious family.

An elder sister waiting to be married off, and a younger brother who would one day have his own marriage arranged.

As the legitimate second daughter of the family, I had to put in some effort for appearances, so outsiders would not look down on me.

When one prospers, all prosper; when one suffers, all suffer.

People like us were all gourds growing on the same vine.

Seeing that I understood so clearly, my mother smiled in relief.

Then she carefully asked me about how I had saved Prince Kang in Mobei.

I kept it brief. “At the time, we had been poisoned and were both half-dead. We couldn’t see each other’s faces clearly. Later, after I took him and escaped, I passed out. When I woke up again, his family had already taken him away. As for the jade pendant he gave me while we were trapped, I accidentally lost it.”

After hearing this, my mother thought for a moment and asked, “Were there any others who escaped with you at the time?”

I thought about it and said, “There should have been five more people. One of them was a young woman. I couldn’t see then, but I vaguely heard her cry twice. After that, she stopped speaking, yet silently took care of me. I imagine she must have been the sort who doesn’t panic in danger and can keep her composure.”

My mother fell into a brief daze, then asked me, “What do you think about your marriage?”

Of course I thought marrying Prince Kang would be best.

I had asked my younger brother about Prince Kang.

He was simply my top choice for a husband.

He was in poor health, but he had power and status.

If I married him and he died young, I could become a widow early.

A widow with money and power-no one would dare manage me or offend me.

In the capital, marriage was the most important event in a woman’s life.

Once you married and then became widowed, you were free.

Although I felt being widowed was basically the same as being single, other people did not think so.

A single woman was considered incomplete.

A widowed life, however, was considered complete.

This world was simply that strange.

I could not fight the ways of the world, so I could only follow the current and do my best to live comfortably.

Thinking of this, I said, “Mother, I’ll go collect my debt from Prince Kang. If he’s willing to marry me, I’ll marry him.”

But my mother said, “Marquis of Dingbei’s Manor is the truly first-rate match. Their family is simple, the Lady of the Marquis has a kind temperament and won’t mistreat you, and the Marquis of Dingbei comes from a military background, so they have fewer rules. It’s the most suitable place for you. So tomorrow, I will definitely try to bring you and the Heir Apparent together and do my best to have you marry into their family smoothly.”

I thought of my eldest sister’s lonely expression and could not help saying, “But Eldest Sister really wants to marry the Heir Apparent.”

My mother sighed. “If one of you must be wronged, then it can only be your eldest sister. After all, you are my biological daughter.”

As Mother and I were talking, I heard a small sound and immediately looked toward the doorway.

Before long, my younger brother came over carrying a food box. He asked in surprise, “Eldest Sister came before I did. Where is she?”

Mother and I then knew that Eldest Sister must have heard our conversation just now.

I thought to myself,

At tomorrow’s flower-viewing banquet, I would make everything clear in front of the Heir Apparent and Eldest Sister.

I would never be the villain who ruined their match.