何为贤妻 To Be A Virtuous Wife Chapter Ninety Nine “Decay”

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Chapter Ninety Nine Decay

The four candidates who had been bestowed by the Emperor were all taken in. Only after they had become yiniang did the people of the wang fu find out the shocking reality – wang ye had been demoted. Since he wasn’t a qin wang anymore, the allowances in the fu and the number of servants had to decrease. The size of the wang fu had to shrink so some people were going to be thrown out.

Just as the servants were worried for their future, they heard another piece of news. Wang ye had been banned from court, and his salary was to be docked for five years. Additionally, he had to admit his crimes in writing to the public.

The servants who had been reluctant to leave the palace weren’t reluctant anymore. They waited for the notice to come so they could find a new employer. As for the taijian and palace maids who had came out of the Department of Household Affairs, they wanted to go back to the department to be assigned again. They would rather find another master than to serve one who had no future. At the very least, anything would be better than now.

Qin Bai Lu hadn’t thought that such an event would happen. She listened to Ru Hua recite the happenings, and choked for a long time before stammering: “Didn’t he want to divorce me? Now that he’s like this, how can he divorce me?!”

Ru Hua sighed in helplessness. Not speaking of the ego that wang ye had, even if a normal person heard what wang fei had said, they would have been angry. In the beginning when wang fei just entered the wang fu, she rashly sorted out the concubines in the fu. When wang ye said a word, the two started to fight there and then, a subject of much mockery by the servants in the fu.

Now that it was like this, wang ye and wang fei had nothing to say to each other, and wang ye had lost power. Wang fei should be thinking of how to comfort wang ye or secure the people of the houyuan. But she was rejoicing in the misfortune. To keep going like this, would there be any feelings left?

Seeing Ru Hua wanting to speak but kept restraining herself, Qin Bai Lu uttered coldly: “Since wang ye doesn’t want me to manage anything in the wang fu, then whatever happens in the fu, I don’t need to spend the effort for nothing. If anyone begs to see me, just say that I’m ill.”

“Yes, wang fei.” Having served wang fei for almost a decade, Ru Hua was clear about wang fei’s personality. She wouldn’t have appreciated any more conversation. She bowed and silently stood to one side.

But Qin Bai Lu couldn’t remain calm for too long. Because the Qin Family had passed on the news that her cousin had been reproached by the Emperor in front of all the noblewomen. Earlier, she had called in sick to avoid attending Qu Qing Ju’s chrysanthemum banquet, so she hadn’t thought such a thing would happen.

Listening to the cause of the matter, Qin Bai Lu was irritated. No wonder wang ye would speak of her Qin Family’s daughters that way. So it had been because of this. It was also no wonder that her paternal family hadn’t sent in their cards to her. So they had wanted to climb on the high branch that was the Emperor. She was only a failed wang fei, what use did she have?

After managing to clearly figure out the matter, Qin Bai Lu felt her heart becoming cold. Both her family and her husband were like this. She had no hope left in her life. Thinking about the pregnant Qu Qing Ju, she lowered her head to touch her own empty belly. She didn’t understand why all the good things of the world happened to Qu Qing Ju. A good popo, a good husband, a good birth, even more, she would soon have a child.

Who said that the heavens had eyes? Some people lived well and others didn’t.

“Ru Hua, pass my orders, Qu shi is seriously ill. To prevent her from infecting others, she will not live in Xi Ce Yuan. Today, she will move to the Xi Ping Zhai in the western corner to recuperate.” She didn’t believe all the women of the Qu Family would be lucky.

Ru Hua heard wang fei’s sinister order, and shook slightly, “Nubi will send it down right now.”

Coming out of the zhengyuan, she looked at the large building and for some reason, felt a gust of cold enter from her back into her heart.

Qu Yue Su, who had been sick on the bed, watched as the servants of the fu roughly pack up her things and piled them in the middle of the room. She hated Qin Bai Lu for being cruel and hated herself because she couldn’t do anything to the loathsome servants.

After the things in the room were packed up, one of the mamas came up and jerked off the blanket on her, coldly announcing; “Qu ce fei, you should get up. Wang fei has ordered for you to move to Xi Ping Zhai before midnight. Nubi will have to offend you here.” She easily pulled Qu Yue Su from the bed, who was dressed in her undergarments.

Qu Yue Su was seriously ill and couldn’t tolerate her handling. Her body froze and she started to cough. As she covered her mouth, she looked hatefully at the mama, wanting to eat her flesh and break her bones.

Ce fei, don’t look like that at nubi. Nubi isn’t the one at fault,” The mama waved her hand saying to the other yahuan behind her, “What are you doing standing there? Help ce fei change.”

When Yao Xi carried a bowl of hot medicine to enter the Ce Yuan, she coincidentally saw Qu Yue Su being pulled out of the room by two mamas, wearing a repulsive colored dress, her hair falling messily behind her back, cutting an extremely sorry figure, “What are you doing to ce fei?!” She put the bowl onto the ground and tried to rush forward to push aside the mamas dragging ce fei.

“Yao Xi guniang, this is wang fei’s order, you shouldn’t interfere,” The mama who was in command sneered, “If you make a fuss, I can only assume you are angry at wang fei and deliberately opposing wang fei’s command.”

Yao Xi stilled. She was panicked and angry as she went forward to support Qu Yue Su, coldly asking: “What do you mean mama, that it is wang fei’s intention for ce fei not to be properly attired?”

The mama twisted her mouth and then responded: “Yao Xi guniang should say less. I’m old and can’t hear anything.” She waved her hand for the servants to drag Qu Yue Su away. Yao Xi could only follow.

The Xi Ping Zhai’s name was better than the room. Yao Xi knelt by the bed with red eyes, looking at her mistress who was unnaturally flushed, kowtowing as she said: “Zhuzi, nubi will ask for wang ye to come, wang ye will save you.”

“There’s no need to go, wang ye won’t come,” She looked at Yao Xi who was crying in hurt, smiling, “Don’t cry, everyone has to make the journey.” She had been ill originally, and after suffering such an ordeal, she wouldn’t survive.

Zhuzi, don’t say that, you will get better,” Yao Xi went forward to grasp Qu Yue Su’s hand, “Nubi will go make medicine for you, you’ll get better after eating it.”

Qu Yue Su shook her head. In a daze, she seemed to have seen the beautiful lanterns at the riverside at the Lantern Festival, the bustling and tight crowds, and Qu Qing Ju and the Emperor holding hands. She muttered: “That originally belonged to me, it’s mine … … Qu … … Qing Ju, why … …”

Her voice gradually grew smaller and finally faded in the silence of the room. Yao Xi looked at the motionless person on the bed and cried out loud.

Wang fei, Qu ce fei of Xi Ping Zhai has passed.” Ru Hua entered the room and saw wang fei was reading a book by the window. She went forward to report in a small voice, “Yao Xi, the servant of Qu ce fei, hopes to see wang ye.”

Qin Bai Lu flipped a page, her head not lifting as she rejected: “Let her go beg He Fu Er, I can’t make the decision.”

Ru Hua saw that wang fei didn’t want to speak and could only retreat. Looking at Yao Xi waiting at the door, wearing plain clothing and her bright red and swollen eyes, she revealed a conflicted expression, not knowing how to tell her.

Wang fei said that she hasn’t been in charge of the household recently. If you want to see wang ye, then go find Chief Steward He,” Ru Hua furtively looked at the surroundings and quickly stuffed a pouch filled with silver into Yao Xi’s hands before acting normal as she returned to the zhengyuan.

Yao Xi slowly stood up. Looking at the pouch in her hand, she walked blankly towards the main building. No matter what, zhuzi had served wang ye for a length of time. Would he not even let the person be properly buried after death?

He Yuan had a beautiful woman in his arms as she served him wine. As he became drunk, he let another beauty play the zither to raise his spirits. He drank until he was almost senseless, and couldn’t even see clearly.

Wang ye, Qu ce fei has passed away.” He Fu Er reported at his side, “Yao Xi, who served ce fei, asks for an audience.”

“Who is Qu ce fei?” He Yuan placed a kiss on the face of the beauty in his arms. As the woman laughed, he frowned, “Gone is gone, why tell ben wang?”

Wang ye, Qu ce fei is Empress’ half-sister,” he Fu Er saw that wang ye was drunk and could only pour tea as he added, “Many people are looking from the outside.” No matter how it really was, they should make it appear better.

“The meimei of the Empress,” He Yuan pushed away the beauty in his arms, rubbing his forehead to clear his mind. He took a long draw of the tea He Fu Er handed over, “If that’s the case, then make sure the servants won’t slight her, and bury according to protocol.”

Not slighting yet according to protocol. That would be difficult. He Fu Er thought but didn’t show any of it. Thinking about whom to appoint to carry out the affair, he praised, “Wang ye can take care of her, it’s her good fortune. This one will get someone to do so.”

He Yuan sneered: “If she wasn’t Empress’ meimei, ben wang wouldn’t have spent the thought.”

He Fu Er changed: “The fact that Qu ce fei had a jiejie who is the Empress, it is her good fortune.”

“Alright,” He Yuan gave a yawn, “According to you, then isn’t it the Empress’ misfortune to have a sister like her?”

He Fu Er laughed dryly. He knew that wang ye was drunk and didn’t dare to reply.

“Leave,” He Yuan once again gathered the beauty beside him into his arms, “don’t disturb ben wang.”

There were many women in Rui Wang Fu. It wasn’t a major matter for a ce shi to die but this ce shi was the Empress’ meimei. So they had to find someone to report it into the palace. The news first passed to the Department of Household affairs, then the department would report to the Empress. But, according to emotional reasoning, this matter should have been reported to the Empress directly. Yet, according to protocol, Qu Yue Su was only a ce shi. Such an unlucky minor matter shouldn’t ever have passed to the Empress. In the end, He Fu Er pondered for a long time before finding a circular way.

Qu Qing Ju had been perplexed upon hearing that the junior supervisor of the Department of Household affairs had asked for an audience. At the moment, she wasn’t in charge of palace affairs so why was the supervisor running to her?

When she finished reading the announcement of death that the supervisor had presented, she felt conflicted inside. She held the letter, but didn’t know what to say. In her impressions, Qu Yue Su was a talented and beautiful woman. She could have married into a good family, but she had to run with her ambitions and picked a wrong path, ruining her life.

If she hadn’t become a concubine of Rui Wang Fu in the beginning, and instead married a son of a noble family, then she wouldn’t have lost her life.

Weakness could harm one’s life, that was the original Qu Qing Ju. Greed could ruin a woman, that had been Qu Yue Su. The former was pitiful, the latter was lamentable.

“Empress,” the junior supervisor of the Department of Household Affair saw the Empress’ expression wasn’t well and his heart jumped. He didn’t know what the Empress was thinking.

“You are excused,” Qu Qing Ju put down the letter in her hand, waving her hand, “Huang Yang, take some people with you to Rui Wang Fu, and burn some incense for ben gong to Qu ce fei, and add some paper money and candles.”

It was lamentable as a concubine, but as a wife, how many women were happy?

In this era of one wife and many concubines, women were fated to sacrifice themselves in history.


54 thoughts on “何为贤妻 To Be A Virtuous Wife Chapter Ninety Nine “Decay””

      1. Hehe, thanks for the update! Qu Yue Su is just a pitiful character. Didn’t thought she would die so early but I guess it makes sense as part of the downfall of all the evil characters.

  1. Thanks!

    QYS…to the end…she still thought that QQJ’s place is hers….so delusional. It was never hers to begin with.

    As for QBL…the heaven does have eyes….QQJ is a beautiful, smart, and NICE person. QBL, on the other hand, is arrogant, petty, stupid, cruel, and prone to jealousy. QBL is getting what she deserves.

    1. I wouldn’t call qqj nice. Indifferent. Pays back in spades. But everything else, I totally agree with

  2. These girls.. QYS and QBL can’t seems to shake their jealousy towards QQJ
    It’s really a pity, more so when QQJ herself don’t have the ambition to be on top like all of the others. Rather He Heng puts her there

  3. thanks—-!
    well, hm. pity the women in rui wang fu. -shakes head- so, yue su died, huh. unfortunate that she had such a family…though, she was treated well by her family. both bai lu and yue su kept on imagining about what-ifs, if they had instead married he heng. they wouldn’t be able to attract he heng, though. anyway, not much about qing ju, so i’m looking forward to more qing ju and royal palace occurrences—!

  4. Third place is good enough for me. 😛 Thanks for the chapter, and aww, I’m actually a little sad. I kind of (a little bit) liked her. Qin Bai Lu on the other hand….

  5. I hope HY and QBL will have it harder. They just murdered QYS. However ambitious QYS could have been, or whatever mistake she made as a child against QQJ, that’s still f** despicable. Those people are all trashes. I hope to see them suffer more.

  6. I thought QYS would be pregnant. Who know that she would suffer such an ironic fate. QBL deserve everything she got but she was so young in the beginner. She should have figure out a partnership like with Ning Wang and Ning Wangfei and temper her own family. At least that way, she can have a bit of respect and power at this moment. This would look bad for Rui wang because QYS is still the Empress’ sister. I wonder if QYS’s parents and brother would show up. I wish to see their reactions.

    1. being young doesn’t mean you can overlook a human life. and from the reaction of her servants, i do think they didn’t like her conduct much less loyal to her.

      1. I agree with you there Mei, even QBL’s maid Ru Hua secretly passing a bag of silver to Yue Su’s maid that to say at least, the servant has some sympathy to others let alone the mistress (QBL).

  7. it’s sad about what happen to QYS but especially so since she died still believing she’s all that. T_T

  8. whoa man the place is rotting more so and at least she wont have to suffer from the place burning down sometime in the near future and I really hope that the servant girl who stuck with her till the end find a good life.

  9. She was a jealous girl and wronged her sister in the past, but she didn’t deserve to die like that.

    He Yuan is such a SOB. The reason the throne wasn’t passed on to him was because he couldn’t even manage to care about another person. You think he would have figured this out by now.

    If QQJ had married He Yuan, she would probably have figured out a way to drag him down with her.

    1. I think if modern QQJ did marry HY, they’ll have the same relationship with QBL and HY, except QQJ will be more tolerable for HY and QQJ wouldn’t care if she isn’t favored

  10. While I didn’t particularly like QYS for QBL i feel kind of sorry she fell in love with the image of HY and was kind of shocked into the reality of the cruelty of his personality. In the end she was just a pawn for both her family and HY. In the end even if HY divorced her, would she be even welcomed back home. And though she is petty and jealous I cant help but think these characters are just teenagers. QBL in fact should be around 17 – 18. At that age, being as spoiled and pampered as she is I can’t help but feel she was set up to fail. Although I will admit that I like how she is not going to involve herself with rulling the fu of a man who she hates. And QYS to the dying breathe she still believed that QQJ stole everything that was hers, which doesn’t even let me pity her, since she can’t accept that she married lower, kind of reminds me of a more extreme version of when Feng Ce Fei was demoted to yunniang and commented that she thought the only difference between Ce fei and wang fei was one word, at least she understood at the end what her true position is unlike QYS.

    P.S. Is Liang shi dead? and I wonder what happened to the son (whose name I can’t remember) and the former Duke who should be released by noq

  11. Ru Wang Fu is so messed up that it is so sad. Qu Yue Su dies. Will we get a scene out of Liang shi? He Yuan is beyond salvation. I’m waiting to see what happens to Qin Bai Lu next.

  12. QYS life at the end was pitiful but her last words…=_= like really??? She got to be kidding right? Nothing belongs to her and in the end she got nothing..that girl is really an idiot… If she wasn’t so greedy for power like her mother she would have had a better life. A di daughter becoming a fei..I’m sure if she wanted she could have stop it! HY is so cold-hearted towards all his women x-x and wow QBL is such an evil b*tch!!! I hope her end would be as bad as QYS! Being a woman back than sure is harsh.. I’m glad QQJ is with HH 😀

  13. I quite pity qu yue su (even if she felt that she should have been in qu qing zu’s place) after all you have to remember she’s still a teenage girl not yet 18 and she was just grieving her shirt life! And in her eyes the qu qing zu is the old one, ie the original owner of the soul who couldn’t be described as glamorous as the adult new qing zu. They are all very pitiful, most are still young girls so I really can’t hate them or dislike them much. *sigh* it’s quite sad how she died and how heartless He Rui was. Seeing QBL have no reaction to her death, not even guilt, that was so cruel, she could have prevented her death by allowing a doctor to visit, at least she shouldn’t have moved her in such a condition, so inhumane.

  14. Thank you. Even though QYS died, she died blaming QQJ for taking what she thought was hers. Though pitiful, it was her choice. Sad to see QBL turned out to be so bitter and jealous of QQJ.

    1. I think that even if she became Wang Fei,HH wouldn’t have liked her so much….and his Mother too.Part of the reason he became fond of her is because her mother’s family is Luo and the Luo family’s daughter married his younger brother thus giving him more power…Right?And ’cause she’s beautiful.

      1. You mean why HH became fond of QQJ? But Luo isn’t QQJ’s maternal family, it is her aunt’s paternal family, I think. And HH never needed He Ming for more power: everything that HM had, HH had as well; and what HH had, HM didn’t have.

  15. QQJ didn’t even survived after marrying HH, how does QYS thinks that she will? It’s only because the new QQJ have hardened her own heart after being reincarnate that she can survive along with a few useful skills. And QBL is such a spoiled girl that can’t even manage her own family matter, and she expect to get a good life like QQJ without lifting a finger. *sigh*

  16. It’s such a pity for a young and beautiful girl die just like that, still if not for her or/and her mother’s greed, she would live happily now, maybe as a legal wife of a high rank nobleman, considering how high her family status used to be, the greed is her downfall tsk
    Thank you for the chapter 😊

  17. “Weakness could harm one’s life, that was the original Qu Qing Ju. Greed could ruin a woman, that had been Qu Yue Su. The former was pitiful, the latter was lamentable.” So true, and in the final second of her life QYS still held on to her greed.

    QBL is digging her own grave with that arrogance. One is on her grave, the other is preparing. Unless she wake up, her fate is sealed.

  18. Im so pissed. Seriously QYS are treated as QQJ younger sister? Really, even though she didnt like Qu family and they abused her and now they are all “Shes Embress younger sister” f*** that! i though like she treated other Qu family QQJ wouldnt give a f**k about QYS but now shes feeliing pity? like why? Coulnt she be standing showing the world that she and the rest of Qu family arent nothing to her and why QQJ dosent change her name to Tian Quan Ju sinche her birth mother was Tian and since the Tian family seems to be the real only family she has.

  19. QYS died as I thought she would. Falling out of favor with the husband into the clutches of the wife. It is an interesting karma that she died of a situation she had placed the original QQJ in so many years before–ill and no one cared to send her a doctor or give her proper care. She and Qin Bai Lu are really a lot alike. I felt it was especially sad due to her talent playing the guqin that she was left to rot and wasn’t valued for anything. Also sad that she didn’t live long enough to understand her mistakes and her own flaws–to know that what she had or didn’t have was a lot of her own doing not just whether she had married He Heng–that roll of the dice. Still, I don’t think she was evil–just not wise–and not all teenage girls are emotionally steady and lacking any rebellious urges.

  20. I did really like to feel sorry for QYS but seeing that even till she breath her last breathe she didn’t understand why the eff she’s messed up and still thought that all that belongs to QQJ should have been hers, I have no shred of pity left for her. It’s best she leaves before she does something more ridiculous.

    All that aside, there would have ben no.way that that would happene, because technically speaking QQJ is older than her. So if their family intend to marry off someone, the first daughter goes first. Even if Liang shi is against it, she will still have to follow protocol.

  21. Ugh, QYS still delusional even in death. HY is seriously disgusting. I don’t like him and I don’t know why some of you are still hoping for him to be “in love” with QQJ when actually he see’s is “lust” and nothing else.

    Anyways, from the banquet I still have that feeling of HH might having a change of heart later on in the future because he took a 2nd look at the Qin relative of QBL’s. I for one, hope that QQJ will never fully give her heart to HH even till the end because I still don’t trust that he will love her only and till death. It may seem like he loves her now, but he will take interest in other women if they fit his criteria of what he looks in a women. So this always makes me feel uneasy and not trust his words towards QQJ.

  22. QYS was only 15 years old, I blame LS for ruining her daughters life. Back then it was up to the parents to have given her a marriage so if LS didn’t push her towards being HY’s concubine and instead married her off to a nice guy like the shu sister then she wouldn’t have had to suffer through all this abuse and die feeling jealousy and hatred towards her sister who lead a much better life.

    1. 15 at that time is not a child, it’s normal to get married and be a Furen at this age. If one lucky to marry the first son of a noble family and the old Furen might be too old and sick or even has passed away then she would be the one running the household like QQJ so the noble young ladies are normally educated since early age to be a dignified and virtuous lady.
      QYS was a pampered lady, so she agreed to be a qie exactly out of greed and jealousy at the happiness of QQJ since the birthday party of her father…
      She thought He Yuan would be the emperor and as a potential Niang2 she would be more noble then QQJ. She is a pampered lady and talented, her parent spoiled her…so if she disagreed, she wouldn’t be forced to be a qie I guess. There is still Lao Taitai who can protect her too.
      It’s not like her being a qie was bestowed by the emperor after being lady in waiting so that she couldn’t say No.

  23. I just can’t pity QYS anymore since she’s not even repentant till the last breath. She has never feel guilty and stay jealous for no reason. For what basis she believes that everything QQJ has should have belonged to her?!?
    It has always been her mother and her taking everything from QQJ.
    Everything she endured till today is the fruit of all her own deed.
    She knows she got karma but didn’t even have any regret…still didn’t see her own mistake…but blaming others instead.
    With such a personality, how can she believe that she would be able to achieve the same position like QQJ if she was married to HH?
    She would have died earlier killed by Feng zijin just like the previous QQJ.
    What HH loves is the personality of the present QQJ, since we all know that he didn’t pamper the old one despite being beautiful.
    The same body but different soul and personality..so it is obvious that HH has a genuine love.


    Indeed. All the women jealous of “Qu Qing Ju” current achievement, they didn’t know the “Qu Qing Ju” they had deemed unworthy of it had long fallen/died in her battlefield (indeed unworthy, dead people tell no tales). This Qu Qing Ju is one that had woke up from death, experienced and had golden finger of modern women trick to tickle her husband’s heart. Like QQJ said, women had to love themselves before anything else (QYS naturally failed here once she thrown herself onto HY, QBL loved herself too much that she lost sight of what should be done to ensure she can continues loving herself). QQJ loves for herself always had HH as the boundary in the back of her mind, that appeals and fascinate HH towards her. And I always feel that QQJ, like HH, also had deep dark scheme undertone behind her actions. Makes you think they are match made in heaven.

  25. I feel most of the paths of the characters are sorted so I can comment (5 years later!! lol)
    1st things first: the setting is historical, complete with how the whole society was set up back then in China so we have to keep that in mind when viewing these characters. 2: the men were raised to believe they are better than females and that females basically owe them everything and anything, at any time, for any reason they care to state or not, and that the entitlement they had/felt was completely right and the way of the world for millenia before and millenia to come. so their treatment and the relations they formed were based from that rock. 3. the women believed that men WERE better than them and even more, that they (women) were worthless in and of themselves, and that their worth was and could only be based on the males around them and the status of those men (and their power and ability etc).
    as such, for me
    QYS: is only worthy of pity for letting herself down. she was pampered and encouraged to believe that only she (out of all her sisters) deserves the best and the most. she lived her entire life and made her decisions based on this one truth that she believed. so when she sees QQJ making it and having those things that she has deemed from childhood to be worthy only of her, she cant calm down and think proper and helpful thoughts. this is why she chose to become a qie instead of finding a good/noble husband and establishing her own fu and possible legacy. if QQJ hadnt been decreed as a wangfei, that’s most likely what she would have gone for and most likely lived a good life. another way would have obviously to just let go of her idea of ‘my ideal life must include being better than QQJ’ and focus on just developing her own self and creating a happy life that does not revolve on the concept of QQJ not being ‘better’ or ‘higher’ than her. I pity her because despite having had everything, she learned the wrong things from her mothers’ knees, that her value is connected to the value of QQJ and so long as she is better than QQJ than her happiness is all set.
    QBL: is mostly worthy of being looked down upon. i only pity that she gave her heart to a man she knew nothing about except the external things and when she learned that his outer trappings did not match or make him a true noble or worthy man, she could not accept and correct her vision. her bitterness comes from not being loved or accepted by the man she thinks is amazing. she has an inferiority complex and refuses to correct it. So unless she can ‘sort out’ those qieshi in the fu, and put them in their ‘place’ which is lower than her and make them feel it, she is not content. Also, she felt that not only herself, but even her wang ye is better than QQJ’s so why should she not be happier, more prosperous, more accomplished, more loved, etc than QQJ. her inferiority complex keeps her vision clouded. she lives for other people’s views of her, and not for her own true happiness and success. a person like this cannot succeed. none of us know what truly is going on with those around that and perceiving them as our rivals when they are not, and pitting ourselves against them, when they could not even care less, is truly a worthless battle. she keeps throwing herself against a rock that she thinks is QQJ but its just a rock. she is bound to fail.
    both these women choose to wear blinders and allow these blinders to shape their view. they are racing towards an ideal that does not exist, ignoring all the signs that could help them to redirect to a better path, and ram themselves on rocks they’ve placed on their own path. some argue that they are young and incapable of much clear thought, but that’s ignoring that the other girls in that setting are making fine choices and living well. take HH’s mother JCY, and the empress, and her sister in law by HM. The first two were also teens when they entered the palace and they managed to survive to become empress dowgers. Her SIL by HM also is doing well (she wasn’t happy but she listed to her elders and is working with her fate to live the best life that she can). The shu sister of QQJ and QYS, also accepts her fate, and ends up with a decent life. But these two ladies QYS and QBL could not accept their situation and try to make the most of it.
    Take QQJ herself. The original died. She gave up. After being beaten down from childhood, it was just too much. She let go and that’s that. I feel VERY sad for her. She is truly worthy of pity because she has no one on her side. She held on as much as she could, with the help of her servants and the occasional encouragement from her maternal family’s side but it was too little, too late and her new situation as HH’s side just did not give her any hope so she just let go. She lacked hope. It had just been ground out of her and nothing could inject it back into her. Those who lack hope are truly the most sad and their lives easily become worthless, even to themselves, hence the giving up and just lying down waiting to die. VERY SAD.
    The new QQJ (I dont recollect reading why she came to this life, did she just overwork herself and died from exhaustion? If that is so, much of how she lives in this life makes sense). Yes she has experience, is a smart educated adult, etc. The most important quality she has is not because she loves herself (QYS and QBL also love themselves, hence think they deserve the best). Its instead, because she does not compare herself to others. Comparison kills. Most people cannot handle the results of comparison. It kills self esteem, it creates jealousy and envy and greed, and it breeds dark thoughts that can lead almost anyone down paths to destruction (QYS, QBL being exhibit one in this story).
    QQJ does not compare herself to these women. She knows that life is just that, for living. So live happily, do your best, enjoy what you can, don’t overstress on things that you can’t control, and the focus should be on you and not on other people. If others give you their good, give them back that good for as long as there is this mutual sharing and kindness. If they take away their favor and kindness and good, dont break down and destroy yourself over it. Their good was theirs and not yours, why beat yourself up. Having this attitude allows you remain calm in most instances and if perturbed, to return to that calm state sooner. Maybe she never speaks about, even in her thoughts, because she herself does not recognize this quality in her or mininterprets it to mean other things, hence leading us readers to view her as a bit too cold, especially in love with HH but to me, it seems very clear.
    From the beginning, she knows her place and uses that knowledge to start carving out her path and everyone pretty much falls in line, even HH, his mom, the servants, and even her rivals (whom she did not provoke, but set themselves against her for various reasons). She came into this world and was a wang fei, a position of power and prestige. she was going to use that to ensure a comfortable life for herself, and if that didn’t work, she would have died trying her best and enjoying her outmost. hence picking the best outfits, dressing well, eating well, sleeping well, and compromising only when absolutely necessary (acting naive so HH’s mother wont go against her, distancing herself from DCD because they had killed their real daughter and she owes them nothing, etc etc etc). All her actions and reactions are mainly from the place of I know who I am, I know my place in this new life, and I deserve happiness (but I’m not going to wait for others to give it to me, and instead, will reach for it myself till someone tries to stop me and then I will see what I will do when that happens).
    Being a confident woman is EXTREMELY attractive to almost any man in this world, and men have been the same since Adam came to this world.
    Now, for the guys, I will say my piece later as this is already too much!

  26. The biggest difference between QJ and YS/BL is that QJ does not compare herself to anyone else in terms of what she has in life and what she can do with it.
    QJ woke up to status as a wang fei and from that point, lives according to her best interpretation of what that could mean to her happiness. The other two young ladies are busy comparing themselves and their status and what they have to QQJ. And their comparison is not even based on solid facts but on conjecture, suppositions, suspicions, and assumptions. They think she is more beautiful but it is not true because in several places it is stated that she is above average but not the most stunning woman. Even the husband they envy her having noted that she is not the most beautiful woman he had seen but something about her keeps attracting him. They think she has happiness at home, but long before any true happiness came to QQJ, her and HH were busy testing each other and probing etc. They think her husband loves her greatly, yet for a long time, it was HH pretending because it allowed a certain image to spread and for other reasons and of course QJ knew it wasn’t true love, but more of a mutual understanding to work together to protect their mutual interests.
    Mst of all, the biggest difference is that no matter what, QJ focused on making herself happy with where she was and what she had available. The girls are busy wanting the other woman’s supposed happiness and are scheming to gain it by any means necessary.
    Comparison is ugly and beings about disaster for those who focus on it obsessively. Comparison at most should be used to improve oneself, and usually should be a motivation factor. Being obsessive about comparison, especially in relation to others and not yourself, can make you lose focus and destroy yourself (case of QBL) or weaken you so much that others can easily destroy you (case of QYS).

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