by Ning er
Only, Yun Qian Meng was all to happy to accept all of these challenges. As long as she could pit her wits against Su Qing for a while, then these quiet days would be even more interesting!
“Xiaojie, there’s one other thing. Butler Zhao was reportedly preparing gifts recently, hearsay is that he wants to propose a marriage from xiangye.” After a few moments of silence, Mu Chun managed to tell her of the news she had heard.
“Xiaojie, Liu yiniang brought third young miss over to pay respects.” Just as she had finished, Shui’er who was guarding outside brought over a haggard-looking and worried Liu yiniang and Yun Yan.
Chapter 11: One doesn't visit a temple without cause | Chu Wang Fei
Glossary
妹妹 meimei – younger sister; 三妹妹 san meimei – means third (younger) sister
姐姐 jiejie – elder sister; can be added to names to show respect or a close relationship; 大姐姐 da jiejie – the eldest sister in the family
嫡 di – related to the first wife, the children born of the first wife have higher standing
丫头 yatou – usually referring to a servant girl; can also mean girl, latter usually used as a form of endearment
小姐 xiaojie – young miss; usually from a good family, but can be used to refer to any young girl
儿 ‘er – child; added to names as a form of affection, closeness or endearment
奴婢 nubi – slave servant girl; referring to themselves in third person is a form of debasement
姨娘 yiniang – concubine, not the legitimate wife; added to the end of the maternal name to show their (lower) status compared to the wife
夫人 furen – legitimate wife; would be added to the surname of the household as a form of address; usage is similar to the English “Missus”
庶 shu – of common birth; in this setting, it means born to a concubine
婆子 pozi – older female servants
(TL Note: I’m trying to leave some terms untranslated if they’re used as names, to give a better feeling of how the characters are speaking and how close they are to each other. If anyone feels like they’re starting to drown in pinyin, don’t hesitate to comment about it. I’ll see what I can do. ☺)
(Edit: I was advised that Zhao’s position 管家 guanjia was more equivalent to the role of a butler in feudal China. It certainly makes sense, since he seems to hold a rather high position amongst the servants. Might take a bit to get used to it.)
