Mei Gongqing

Chen Rong laughed. She took a hold of his sleeve and sighed, “Oh you.” It was a sigh, but she was filled with happiness.

She sighed because she knew there was no shortage of aristocrats in Jiankang. Sun Yan had only arrived and yet to find his footing, so it wouldn’t be easy for him to protect her. She was still very happy, nonetheless.

She looked up at Sun Yan. At length, she softly smiled, “Meeting you is the only thing that went right in my life.”

Sun Yan laughed out loud.

They walked back to her room. As they went, Chen Rong told him everything that had happened. While she narrated, Sun Yan’s face altered between shock and disbelief.

When they arrived at her room, looking at Chen Rong push the door to go in, Sun Yan suddenly called, “Ah Rong.”

Chen Rong leaned on the door and looked back.

At this time, Sun Yan’s arms were folded in front of him. He regarded Chen Rong and said, “Ah Rong, dress however you like for tonight’s banquet. From now on, too, you can do whatever you like.” He grinned: “In any case this Daoist name of yours isn’t that authentic.”

Chen Rong thought for a moment and then nodded.

Back in her room, she changed into a light blue dress.

By the time she came out, Sun Yan was already sitting in the carriage. Seeing that the sun had sunk into the horizon and the night fog was shrouding the mountain, they hasted along.

... and here I’ll summarize the rest of the chapter. Sun Yan takes Chen Rong to the banquet on the lake and she trades pointed remarks with scholars as always because they never fail to look down on her. Of course she comes out winning but her victories are small and never quite amount to much. It’s tedious and exhausting to me as a reader and translator, which to the author’s credit, perfectly illustrates the painstaking steps AR undergoes simply to build a reputation that allows her to live. It isn’t fun or easy to translate so I get stuck for a month and never emerge from the chapter.