Explore Chapter 53 of 'The Story of the Golden Powder Family' with the original Chinese text, English translation, detailed Chinese vocabulary explanations, and audio of the Chinese original. Listen and improve your reading skills.
Now, after Yanxi and Leng Qingqiu were newly wed, Yanxi still clung to his young master's ways, indulging in idle amusement day and night outside. Leng Qingqiu, left alone in the bridal chamber, found each long night especially trying, as waves of sorrow surged within her.
That evening, Yanxi again found an excuse to go out and did not return until late at night. Leng Qingqiu leaned against the window gazing at the moon, recalling their first encounter at Falling Flowers Lane and all the tender sentiment of that time. But now, though united in marriage, she felt only estrangement, and an involuntary pang of bitterness gripped her heart.
The next day, Yanxi finally returned. Leng Qingqiu gently admonished him, but Yanxi said, "A man's socializing is but ordinary business. Why worry so much?" Leng Qingqiu fell silent, left with no recourse but to weep in secret.
The Jin family residence was deep and labyrinthine, each courtyard and chamber a world unto itself. Though Yanxi's mother, Mrs. Jin, was kind, the myriad duties of the household left her little time for close attention. Leng Qingqiu, being new and unfamiliar with everyone and everything, often betrayed her nervousness in conversation, which led even the servants to regard her with silent contempt.
That afternoon, Yanxi was in the study arguing with his third brother Peng Zhen about money matters, their voices shaking the roof tiles. Leng Qingqiu, hearing the noise, hurried over to mediate. Peng Zhen sneered and said, "Now that Seventh Brother is married, his expenses are greater. How can the monthly stipend from Father be enough for his spending?" Yanxi flushed red with anger, almost coming to blows.
For several days in a row, Yanxi either lingered outside or quarreled with his brothers. Leng Qingqiu sat alone in the empty room, finding solace only in books. Occasionally, she went to the courtyard and saw the wives and sisters-in-law from other rooms chatting and laughing merrily. Feeling herself an outsider with no place in their circle, her sense of forlornness only increased.
One day, Yanxi actually stayed out the entire night. Leng Qingqiu sat waiting until dawn, the candle's wax melting into ashes. Only then did she realize that the noble house was a sea of depths, and that a fine husband was a precarious reliance. Outside the window, the dawn light grew pale, but within her heart, the eternal night promised no ending.