Xianggong, Please Divorce Me!

Ch. 9: Since Time Immemorial, All Experts Are Lonely

[1] Shaoye; Young master, or your son (honorific).

[2] Shao furen; Furen as mentioned in chapter 8 is a lady of high rank, generally the wife of a feudal lord or senior official. Here shao furen is the match to shaoye.

[3] Kowtow; a traditional greeting, especially to a superior, which involves kneeling and touching one's forehead to the ground.

[4] 赶巴巴 (gǎnbābā) is what the text has though I believe 干巴巴 (gānbābā) is meant.

[5] Xiao shaoye; xiao here means young or small, so small shaoye refers to the 4-5 year old son.

[6] 借刀杀人; kill with a borrowed knife. This is one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems which are attributed to Sun Tzu (Sun Zi, 孫子) who is more well known for The Art of War. The idea is to inflict harm by having a third party act.

Ch 9 – Since Time Immemorial, All Experts Are Lonely

Su Tang followed Song Shi An and entered the main room of Fu Rui courtyard. Inside she saw the room was large, bright, and clean, with simple unadorned decorative objects though which appeared to be costly. And on a red scandal wood chair that was precisely in the middle, erectly sat a white haired old woman wearing plain and simple clothes, with maid servants standing on both sides, one of which she couldn't make out the age. Nevertheless, there was an appearance of respectfully waiting a long time.

That maid servant seeing Su Tang enter, smiled and bent over, "You see, shaoye [1] and shao furen [2] have come."

Su Tang looked at that maid servants' completely dignified features and one kind of natural appearance, mulling that this ought to be that beautiful gugu, Jin Xiu.

Song Shi An kneeled down, "Grandson pays respect to grandmother."

In response to seeing this, Su Tang without taking extra trouble kneeled down, "Granddaughter-in-law pays respect to grandmother."

The sound "grandmother", that sweet address, that obedient, Song Shi An couldn't help but cast a sideways glance.

Su Tang then afterwards went to the teacups on the serving tray of the furthest maid servant, continued her sweet smile and said, "Grandmother please drink tea."

Song Shi An quickly got goose bumps. This is still that arrogant unbridled fierce woman! Pretending! Truly able to act!

"Well-behaved." Lao taitai smiled especially kindly, drank holding the cup with both hands then put it down and picked up a long and thin red wood box at the side. "This is our Song family possession passed down from generation to generation, only passed to the eldest branch's daughter-in-law of the eldest son. It's been grandmother's these years to give away, now finally I can pass it to another."

Hearing this, Su Tang immediately felt the box in her hand was weighty. She will be the eldest branch's daughter-in-law of the oldest son for only one month. When the moment comes to return it won't it be troublesome.... She instinctively considered passing it back but heard Song Shi An at her side say....