Chapter 55: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 12

 

 

When everyone heard this, they all collectively sighed, after the loud boos and jeers, they turned their head to continue to listen to Old Qin’s story.

That person said, “What are you all sighing for, did I lie?”

A person beside them said, “My good friend, that’s just a street rumor, the people who could pull out the Common People’s Order, if there aren’t a thousand then there’d at least be eight hundred, this is the fakest rumor ever made!”

Before Ming ChangYan was even born, once every year news would make its way into the martial circles saying that someone from some random sect had pulled out the Common People’s Order. The reason behind these sorts of rumors, was so that they could earn support from the people during the Great FengShan Feast and make this hero’s reputation within the martial circle’s sects more resound. As soon as this method was introduced, everyone else followed suit, after it circulated for a while, it seemed that almost everyone had pulled out the Common People’s Order at least once.

But in the end, the truth came out: In the 40 years that lead up, only the Noble Gentleman was recognized as the owner of that precious blade.

That person hurriedly said, “It’s true! I came from the capital! There was an alchemist who saw it with their own two eyes!”

“At that time, he had found a job at the capital to run errands for people, but on that day when he was delivering something, he saw that Teacher Ji had brought his students to Egret Academy saying that they were going to take a look at the Common People’s Order. Because of the Great FengShan Feast, the blade had been brought here for the time being. Teacher Ji altogether had six to seven students with him, one of them was the former crown prince of the Eastern Palace.”

“The crown prince said that he wanted to pull out the blade, the people around him didn’t try to stop him, but when he went up to pull it out he was unable to. Afterward, everyone else went and gave it a try but only one girl didn’t. Teacher Ji allowed her to try it out, but she said she was uninterested and didn’t give him any face. After everyone had left, this girl went up and tried pulling it out and she was able to pull out a slit of it but then stuffed the blade back in!”

“Teacher Ji saw it too, but for whatever reason didn’t say anything. It’s true, I wouldn’t lie to you guys! She really pulled it out! He heard them call her Young Lady Qin, if it wasn’t Princess HanZhu, then who could’ve it been!”

The crowd laughed at his nonsense.

Old Qin said, “Let’s first put Princess HanZhu to the side for now. The second person I wanted to talk about today is the previous dynasty’s crown prince, Nan Ye. As everyone knows, this crown prince—”

In those days, the crown prince was every girl’s dream in the capital. Handsome in appearance, lively in nature, when he rode his horse along the roads, the buildings would be filled with red sleeves beckoning him over. He was easy-going and naturally gifted, willful, and distinguished, he caused countless women to fawn over him.

Old Qin continued, “At a young age, this person had already gotten hold of military leadership, resisting foreign aggression to keep his people safe. He was the pillar for the previous dynasty, if they didn’t have him, they would’ve completely collapsed in a matter of two years. However, though the crown prince was fearless and unequaled, and had no enemies in this world, he was flirtatious and got into countless love affairs. Even acts that no man would ever do, he’s accomplished multiple times. There were rumors that there was no one who ever met the prince that hadn’t been teased or played with. It’s clear that he was extremely bored! Thoroughly bored!”

The longer Ming ChangYan listened to him, the more familiar it sounded.

Zhao XiaoLan noted, “This crown prince is a lot like Ming shaoxia!”

The corner of Ming ChangYan’s mouth twitched, and firmly said, “XiaoLan, why are you saying this?”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “The last time Old Qin had such a bitter expression on his face was when he was criticizing Ming shaoxia.”

Ming ChangYan protested, “Utter nonsense, when has MingChangYan—when has Ming ChangYan ever been that flirtatious!”

He secretly cast a glance at Huai Yu, before once again emphasized, “That’s a bunch of nonsense!”

Old Qin continued with the discussion about the crown prince Nan Ye, after an unbridled criticism, he suddenly changed the topic to how Princess HanZhu and the crown prince both entered the same sect at the same time. The two were childhood best friends and innocent playmates, then becoming each other’s shixiong and shimei and were on very intimate terms with each other.

The longer he continued to speak, the more vile and obscene the topic became till Ming ChangYan’s expression gradually darkened. Before he could even make a move, a shelled peanut was already making its way towards Old Qin’s position. Old Qin was caught off guard and ate the two peanuts that had been thrown his way. He swiftly tilted his head back, his entire face was red from the pain, his hands flailing around and tripping.

He raged, “WHO!”

For a short while, everyone present was completely shocked at this unforeseen event, not a single word was uttered.

Old Qin was just about to turn around when unexpectedly, just as he started to move his face, he felt like he had just been slapped by someone causing him to suddenly pause.

A very small chopstick had hit his face.

He fell into a rage from humiliation, unable to bear it, he slapped the table and shouted in a loud voice, “Fucking! Who hit me!”

Looking around, no one admitted it. Internally, Old Qin knew that he had misspoken. Someone wanted to embarrass him, even if he had pent-up grievances, there was no way he would ever shut up.

“Gentlemen, if any of you have any complaints about this old man, then stand up and voice them. There’s no need to be sneaky and use concealed weapons behind my back! Isn’t that a rather lowly method!”

Ming ChangYan sneered, it seemed like he was the one behind the chopstick.

He stood up, but was caught by Huai Yu.

“Don’t stir up trouble.”

Ming ChangYan was taciturn for a while, Huai Yu continued, “We’re not in a hurry to reprimand him for a small matter, wait till he’s offstage before slowly settling accounts with him.”

It was only then that Zhao XiaoLan said, “Was it you who just hit Old Qin?”

Ming ChangYan didn’t say a word, his complexion bad, he lifted the curtain and left. Zhao XiaoLan said, “Yan-jiejie seems to be in a bad mood, I’ll go take a look at her.”

He was just about to stand before he was pressed down by Zhu Rong. He slowly took a sip of the tea and smiled, “Why are you worrying about other people’s affairs when you have yourself to worry about?”

Zhao XiaoLan thought what he said was very reasonable. Furthermore, Huai Yu had already followed him outside, so Zhao XiaoLan didn’t say any more, sitting down and taking a bite of his cake.

Ming ChangYan didn’t walk very far after coming downstairs. He walked for a while along the extremely busy street.

Huai Yu followed behind him and saw him sit in front of a tea shop.

He sat down, Ming ChangYan said, “My mother would’ve never had an affair with the previous dynasty’s crown prince.”

Huai Yu said, “I know.”

Ming ChangYan didn’t know why but he felt very gloomy. It’s not like he hadn’t heard stories about Qin Zhen before in previous years that were even worse than that one, they could be found everywhere. It’s just that, he had grown up beside Qin Zhen and knew very well that his mother had never paid attention to these sorts of matters. But this time, while he was in front of Huai Yu, no matter what, he was unable to swallow this anger.

He suddenly struck the table causing the shop owner to say, “Sir, what made you so angry that you’ve resorted to hitting our shop’s tables.”

The person that runs this tea shop had the surname Zhu, ranked sixth in his family, and people around here called him Zhu LaoLiu*. Zhu LaoLiu’s wife had already passed away and his only son left for business in the capital. He was by himself and had nothing else to do, so he messed around and opened a tea shop. He wasn’t looking for money, so when a customer arrived, he didn’t greet them very diligently. Over time, very few people came to this tea shop. So today when Ming ChangYan sat down without thinking, he was actually his first customer of the day.

(TN: Old Six Zhu, but I thought that sounded kinda weird)

“What kind of tea, I’ll infuse some for you.”

Ming ChangYan said, “A cup of flower tea.”

Zhu LaoLiu slowly poured him his tea but didn’t leave. He was known around the area as a famous rag bag, he didn’t like doing business but loved to chat with others. You couldn’t gossip about court politics or interesting news about the martial circles without him. At this moment when he sat down on the same table as Ming ChangYan, he found a topic and began chatting with him about it.

“Are these two guests from afar? Did you come here for the Fireworks Festival?”

Ming ChangYan set down his cup, “Precisely.”

Zhu LiaoLiu said, “Then you’d better be careful. Good sir, let LaoLiu warn you, it’s best if you don’t wear those kinds of clothes in Huating.”

Ming ChangYan looked at his own style of dress but couldn’t find any problems with it, thus he looked up and asked, “Why’s that?”

Zhu LaoLiu explained, “The country magistrate for Huating has an eye disease. He doesn’t like anyone wearing black. He insists on arresting them and question them through torture if he isn’t able to find out a reason why then he would drag this person by the end of a chariot all the way to the food market before hanging them out in the sun. It’s only until the person is burned alive that he drops them. Of course, you couldn’t just take someone’s life in vain, so the lord had found a reason for all of it. So no one these days has been wearing black.”

Ming ChangYan didn’t understand, “What’s the reason?”

Huai Yu said, “The Noble Gentleman.”

Zhu LaoLiu affirmed, “Correct.”

Ming ChangYan exclaimed, “Why is it him again?!”

Zhu LaoLiu said, “Sir, this you don’t know. There have been rumors floating around everywhere saying that after Ming ChangYan fell into the Yanbo River, his ghost came back for revenge! Otherwise, how would you explain the frequent sect massacres during these past two years in Jianghu from needles!”

Ming ChangYan said, “Ming ChangYan’s not the only one in this world that uses needles, why is it when anyone uses needles, it’s all blamed on him, what’s with that.”

Zhu LaoLiu said, “XiaoHan Temple’s done too many shameful deeds, they’ve been receiving their retribution these past few years. The vile person who’s been behind these needle murders has already killed many of XiaoHan Temple’s monks.”

Hearing this, Ming ChangYan sternly said, “Killed XiaoHan Temple’s monks?”

Zhu LaoLiu said, “If it wasn’t for XiaoHan Temple and the country magistrate teaming up, why would our country’s magistrate kill every person in black that he sees! The monks at XiaoHan Temple are suspecting that Ming ChangYan hadn’t died, back during the purge at Yanbo River, XiaoHan Temple was the largest and fiercest. Since Ming ChangYan didn’t die, then they would be the first to settle accounts with.”

Ming ChangYan said, “But maybe Ming ChangYan was a kindhearted person, and he never actually thought of taking revenge?”

Zhu LaoLiu proclaimed, “Impossible!”

Just then, the water for the tea started boiling, Zhu LaoLiu rushed to turn off the fire.

Huai Yu asked him, “Do you really not want revenge?”

Ming ChangYan faintly smiled, “Impossible. I can allow them to kill me, but I can’t kill them? That’s unfair, just wait till I make mincemeat of them. Plus my sister and YuLou’s share, as long as I’m alive, I’m going to get it all back including interest. But, if this shaoxia wants to kill someone it’ll always be just and honorable, I don’t like those dirty tricks that people use behind others’ backs.”

Huai Yu nodded, Ming ChangYan said, “It’s just that I didn’t expect XiaoHan Temple would so openly conspire together with the administrative office.”

During the time when Ming ChangYan first got hold of the Common People’s Order, when the news reached the imperial court, they first observed him for a few months before they sent someone over to discuss a cooperation with him. The emperor didn’t allow Jianghu to develop any further, so for the past dozen years, he’d been thinking of every possible method of controlling Jianghu in the palm of his hand. The Common People’s Order was a secret symbol of power for Jianghu, having it was equal to having the entire Central Plain’s martial circles. But when the court found him, besides promising him benefits, they also threw in a pile of fantasy-like conditions for him. Ming ChangYan took a single look and knew that he couldn’t accept them so he bluntly rejected their offer.

But Ming ChangYan pulling out the Common People’s Order was something that no other mortal had been able to do in 40 years, there was no way the imperial court would give up so easily. As a result, the court sent different people to go find Ming ChangYan, they would all leave in high-spirits but come back disappointed. There was nothing they could do that could make Ming ChangYan agree to their conditions, and after a year, the other side finally gave up and stopped coming to look for him.

Ming ChangYan said, “The emperor gave up on me, but couldn’t allow me to use this blade of mine wantonly across Jianghu. The Common People’s Order that he wants, is a good blade that will listen to him, if it didn’t listen, then he would try everything to snap it in half. But if he wants me to serve him, it’s impossible in the past and it’ll still be impossible in the future. Otherwise, what would be the point of me coming to the Central Plains, just to change from a small cage into another large cage?”

Speaking of which, Ming ChangYan thought of the emperor that he saw with his own eyes and how silly he seemed. In truth, he thought that the emperor looked somewhat foolish. Ming ChangYan didn’t really believe that all those things back then were written by the emperor’s own hand. After Ming ChangYan rejected the court’s conditions, it wasn’t like he didn’t make preparations for being targeted by the imperial court. Who would’ve known that the opposite party would lurk for so long, drew a large circle on the ground for him to jump in before he finally picked himself up clean?

Huai Yu said, “Before the Common People’s Order recognized you as it’s owner, in those 40 years, it was always XiaoHan Temple that had been safeguarding it. After you took hold of it and with it the control of their previous power over the martial circles in the Central Plains. But this power that has been accumulated for 40 years, isn’t something that would die down in such a short time.”

Ming ChangYan groaned, “I used to believe that if the blade was in my hands, XiaoHan Temple would calm down a bit. Although being targeted isn’t something that can be avoided, I had offended XiaoHan Temple the moment that I arrived. Every time something like a sect massacre or murder occurred, they would always place the blame on me. Even if it was fake, the more you say it, the more people were going to believe it.”

“They’re all very skilled and bold, even without the Common People’s Order they’re still thriving. Nowadays they seem to be scheming with the Huating officials, exploiting the people, eating away at the civilians, while shamelessly using their money to build themselves a large temple in Huating. Simple good-for-nothings.”

After that, he added, “You’re not included in the imperial court, little Huai Yu, don’t misunderstand.”

Huai Yu, “Why do you think the monks in XiaoHan Temple are getting murdered so often?”

Ming ChangYan grinned, “Naturally, we should ask the villa’s you master.”

Huai Yu glanced at him, Ming ChangYan said, “Do you remember that opera we saw at the Flower Viewing Festival.”

Huai Yu nodded his head.

Ming ChangYan said, “I came to the Central Plains too late, I have a lot of things I need to ask about. But my guess is, that play that the opera performed that day may have had something to do with the villa that was exterminated. Did you notice the jade pendant that was hanging by that child’s waist?”

Huai Yu pondered for a bit before replying, “A piece of white jade.”

Ming ChangYan said, “That’s right. Not only was it a piece of white jade there was also a pink petal in the middle of the jade.”

“The stage was really far away, even if I stared till my eyeballs fell out I’m sure that I wouldn’t have been able to see it, so it’s not like I saw it but I’m guessing. And I’m sure that my guess is definitely correct. Jade with a flower in the middle, the flower must be pink, and it must’ve been the jade of that young master of that villa. This piece of jade had been polished for a millennium from the water of black ice, and by coincidence, a flower petal got stuck inside and thus it became a piece of fine jade. Back then, it was one of the most precious treasures in Jianghu.”

Huai Yu said, “You’ve seen this piece of jade before?”

Ming ChangYan said, “I’ve never seen it before. But I know someone who definitely has. Not only has she seen it, she might even have it!”

Huai Yu blurted out a name, “Xiu LingLong.”

 

The author has something to say:

Thank you everyone for your bombs!*

(TN: Uhhmm not sure how to describe them, they help promote the novel on the charts and I think like 50% of the earnings from them go to the author)

Every night, I’m late into the night trying to get them to bed [screaming]

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work I’ll bitch slap you with my chopstick.

 

 

 

The next few chapters will be more interesting I promise! This one was a bit shorter than the other ones so it came out faster.

Anyone find a recent obsession after being inside for so long? Mine is spending too much time playing Obey Me. I don’t think anyone understands how much I need that Lucifer UR+ card for the Easter event.

If you see any grammatical/translation errors please notify me!

Also, I love your comments they motivate me to translate faster ୧⍢⃝୨

 

 

 

Chapter 54 : Table of Contents : Chapter 56