I Am This Type of Woman

Chapter 31 - Birthday Banquet

NOTES:

daren 大人 = title of respect, similar to Sir in English.

Xiangjun 乡君 = a women’s title. Ban Hua was a Xiangjun if you recall

Working girls - women with dubious occupations.

Wanbei - This Younger Generation (referring to self)

Weichen - This Humble Official

Late autumn nights in the Capital were extremely cold. Yun-niang sat on the frozen wooden stool, her whole body shivered uncontrollably.

“Miss, don’t be afraid,” Du Jiu put a cup of hot tea in front of the girl, “I am here just to ask, today why did you drop the window rod, what if you accidently hurt someone?”

“Sor-sorry. I really didn’t mean it.” Yun-niang dared not drink the steaming hot tea. Her shoulders were trembling so her voice was trembling as well, “I have just come to the Capital, I rented this house yesterday, please Daren forgive me.”

"I am relieved that Miss didn’t mean it.” Du Jiu scanned the room, it was in disorder. A luggage basket sat in the corner, several cosmetic items were scattered on the dressing table, it was clear she really had just moved in.

“I can see Miss is someone with manners. But what was the reason that after almost injuring someone, Miss had rushed to close the window instead of coming down to apologise?”

“I….. ” Yun-niang wrung the clothing on her knee until it creased, “It’s not that I didn’t want to take responsibility, but I didn’t dare to meet Ban Xiangjun”

Du Jiu twirled the cup in his hand, “Do you mean Fule Junzhu who was with Bo Ye today?”

“So she is a Junzhu now?” Yunniang suddenly realised, she laughed, “That’s right, she is such a charming lady, a Junzhu title suits her.”

Du Jiu saw this woman who called herself Yun-niang had the air of a working girl. She didn’t look like a virtuous woman, how was a woman like this acquainted with Fule Junzhu?

He put the cup down and rose, “So Miss is an old friend of Fule Junzhu’s, I have offended.”

Yun-niang laughed bitterly, “A peasant like me isn’t an old friend of Junzhu’s. A few years ago I eloped with Xie Gongzi. I have made Junzhu lose face, but when she caught us, instead of blaming me, she gave weichen a hundred liang. She said men could be unreliable, but money was reliable.”

She didn’t expect Junzhu’s words to come true. Not far from the Capital, Xie Gongzi was already unable to bear the hardship. One night he left a letter and a banknote then disappeared without a trace. In the letter he said that he would come to pick her up after obtaining his family’s forgiveness. She knew he wouldn’t come back but she still waited for two years.

This time she came to the Capital to ask him one question, what was she in his heart? He gave her hopes, why did he abandon her so heartlessly? Did women like her deserve to be discarded like an old shoe?

“Are you the flower girl who eloped with Xie Er-gongzi?”

Du Jiu looked at the girl in front of him, she was quite good looking, slender like a willow with a face like the hibiscus. But comparing her with Fule Junzhu, it’s like a firefly compared to the moon. He didn’t understand Xie Er-gongzi’s standard on appreciating women, or rather, he didn’t get scholars’ eyesight.