Chapter 60: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 16

 

The Fireworks Festival was in full swing. Ever since Ming ChangYan came to the Central Plains, he’s only ever stayed in Jiangnan and has never visited Huating before. Although he’s heard of Huating’s Fireworks Festival before, due to his overloaded schedule in TianQing, no matter how much Zhong YuLou tried to coax and pester, he held it off till next year. And then it turned out that by the next year, he would have to bid farewell.

Ming ChangYan closed his eyes and sighed. His heart suddenly jolted, causing him to knit his brows.

Huai Yu had noticed his abnormal behavior after he had sighed, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

As he approached, the muffled fragrance on Huai Yu’s body became all the more omnipresent, engulfing him whole.

Ming ChangYan waved his hands and smiled, “What could be wrong, my heads just dizzy from standing for too long, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Of course, Huai Yu didn’t believe his words, reaching out and grabbing the other’s right hand to check their pulse. The pulse was stable and there didn’t seem to be a problem.

However, with this, the distance between the two became closer.

Originally, it was due to Ming shaoxia’s guilty conscience that he felt a nagging anxiety in him, making him stand far away from Huai Yu. Then after the Fireworks Festival began, he suddenly felt that this distance was perhaps a bit too far, he hadn’t handled it well, so he found various reasons, such as, “Being too far away is an inconvenience”, “What if that little brat overthinks”, “I should stand closer to him, otherwise I’d seem strange how he was standing close before but now he’s standing far away.” In short, Ming shaoxia was just confusing himself at this point, opting to quietly move closer.

After Huai Yu took his pulse, the originally close distance became even more ambiguous.

Ming ChangYan’s body stiffened as he unnaturally shifted his attention to the fireworks.

But unfortunately, what kind of fireworks in the sky or what colors they were, Ming shaoxia didn’t know.

Huai Yu asked him, “Would you like to sit for a while?”

Ming ChangYan came back to his senses and said, “No, I’m fine with standing! Standing…..helps me get some fresh air!”

Huai Yu calmly said, “Didn’t you say you felt dizzy from standing.”

Hearing this, Ming ChangYan went silent.

Huai Yu beckoned over a guard and ordered them to bring over a chair. Ming ChangYan thought it’d be better to accept deferentially than to politely decline, plus why would he stand and watch when he could sit and watch.

Once he sat down, he couldn’t help but think: Although little Huai Yu usually has a temper as bad as a tyrant, he’s actually pretty good to me.

No one had ever been this nice to him, apart from his mother. Ming ChangYan was someone who has a distinct view on gratitude and grudges, he takes revenge when there’s animosity, and repays kindness when it’s given. But Huai Yu’s kindness is like rolling a snowball, it grows bigger the more you roll it, and at the end of it all, he’s nearly unable to afford any of this kindness.

At that moment, as light flickered across Huai Yu’s face, Ming ChangYan looked on and carelessly thought of something impractical.

Huai Yu was looking straight ahead, he suddenly asked, “What’s the matter?”

Hearing this, Ming ChangYan faintly smiled, “Nothing, you just seem particularly gentle today.”

He was about to say a few more words when from the corner of his eye he caught a glimmer of light. Ming ChangYan had always been curious in nature, whenever he noticed anything odd, he’d insist on taking a closer look. As a result, a closer look revealed that it had been the head of a XiaoHan Temple monk.

He suddenly burst out in laughter, Huai Yu said, “What are you laughing at?”

Ming ChangYan motioned him over. Huai Yu was suspicious, but still bent down to listen to what Ming shaoxia had to tell him.

Suddenly so close, Ming ChangYan suddenly paused, inevitably recalling that night’s half-kiss.

Huai Yu waited for a long time, but not long enough for Ming ChangYan to say anything, thus he turned around and saw the other wearing a foolish, blank expression. He couldn’t help but say, “Ming ChangYan?”

Ming ChangYan suddenly came back to his senses, laughing it off he pointed at the far off distance, “Look over there, isn’t that a monk from XiaoHan Temple?”

Huai Yu looked over, nodded, then replied, “What’s so funny about that?”

Ming ChangYan was unable to stifle his laughter, asking in return, “Don’t you think the bald heads of XiaoHan Temple’s monks are really funny? In my opinion, they don’t need to buy so many candles for their temples. They just have to stand under the moon at night, with the moonlight, they’d be able to light up the entire temple by themselves!”

Huai Yu contemplated for a moment, likely envisioning what that would look like, then laughed.

He rarely smiled, even if he did, he would only slightly raise the corners of his mouth. And for him to laugh out loud, was truly scarce.

Ming ChangYan suddenly opened his mouth and exclaimed, “Little Huai Yu, you have tiger’s teeth*?”

(TN: “虎牙”; essentially it’s a tooth, specifically the canine, that’s pointed at the end. Fun fact, they’re actually considered to be quite a cute feature to have. Here’s an example: https://3img.hitv.com/preview/sp_images/2019/2/28/zongyi/328538/5236227/20190228144903282.jpg)

Huai Yu abruptly realized something. The smile quickly disappeared from his face, as he changed his appearance back into a solemn expression.

Ming ChangYan refused to overlook this as if he had discovered some kind of huge secret that ruptured a playfulness within him. He didn’t even want to sit on the chair anymore, both his hands reaching up to Huai Yu’s face as he tried to pry open the other’s mouth to have a look.

“Let me see! You brat, no wonder you never laugh as much! If not for this shaoxia’s good eyesight, I may not have even spotted it!”

Huai Yu clicked his tongue and pushed him away, “Get up.”

Ming ChangYan delightfully said, “Not getting up, not getting up! Show me them!”

Huai Yu used both his hands to try and push and pull Ming ChangYan off of him. But to no avail, as Ming ChangYan was currently like sticky candy, and couldn’t be shaken off no matter what.

He pulled at Huai Yu’s cheeks as he heartily laughed, “Ey, little Huai Yu, come on, show me. It’s over, it’s over, I know now, is it because you have tiger’s teeth that you dislike laughing!”

Huai Yu was frozen before immediately turning angry from embarrassment, “Stop touching me!”

Ming ChangYan ignored his words and relentlessly said, “I’m touching you! What can you do to me about it!”

Huai Yu was a bit taller than him, he took two steps back and pondered for a bit. He couldn’t hit him, nor could he scold him, just as Ming ChangYan said, he couldn’t do anything about him. He was at a loss.

He changed the subject, “If you have nothing to do, then go bother XiaoHan Temple, don’t come to me.”

Ming ChangYan opened his mouth and said, “How could I do that. What’s fun about bald donkeys! I’m annoyed by just watching them!” Then he said, “Are all of XiaoHan Temple here? How come I haven’t seen that many of them around?”

As soon as he said this, Baili Deng who was standing on the side suddenly answered, “Probably only half of them. Huating’s Firework Festival is a well-known program. At this time, almost everyone’s arrived in the vicinity of Taibai Yanyu Building, the monks from XiaoHan Temple are corroborating with officers to supervise the people along the coastal area. They probably left a few gatekeepers behind, or those that need to do their classwork.”

Ming ChangYan thought: With such a large festival, according to the usual conduct of XiaoHan Temple, they’d likely bring out their whole nest to display their sect’s authority. But for them to only bring half their people, I’ve truly underestimated them.

Baili Deng continued, “But Huating’s Fireworks Festival indeed is wonderful. The fireworks are big, with different varieties and patterns, it truly is hard to come by. But it’s hard for us, the guards, in such a chaotic environment, we’re not able to hear things clearly. If something bad happens, forget catching the culprit, it’s a question whether we’d even know right away.”

The third prince listened along the sidelines and smiled, “What could happen at such a distinguished gathering? The fireworks have already ended, you’re just being worried about nothing and thinking too much into it.”

Ming ChangYan slightly smiled, after smiling, he suddenly had a bad feeling in his chest.

“Where’s the new location for XiaoHan Temple?”

Huai Yu replied, “The former site of the Zhuang family.”

Ming ChangYan muttered for a moment, “I know. I’m asking where exactly that’s located.”

Baili Deng noticed his expression was amiss and reported an address.

Ming ChangYan deliberated for a bit, “I have a bad feeling. You guys stay and watch, I’m going to swing by the former site of the Zhuang family.”

Huai Yu suddenly grabbed him, “I’ll go with you.”

Ming ChangYan nodded. He secretly thought: It’d be better if he came anyway, my cultivation’s too unstable and all over the place. If Huai Yu was around, he can also rest easy.

Just as they left the building, when they were passing through a small stone bridge they bumped into the Zhu Rong who was just making his way towards them.

Both Ming ChangYan and Huai Yu were startled. Zhu Rong noticed the two were in a hurry and asked, “The two of you are leaving?”

Ming ChangYan vaguely responded, “It’s a bit urgent, can’t really accompany you guys right now.”

With that, he together with Huai Yu left.

They only took a few steps when Ming ChangYan turned back again. He looked behind him, after waiting till Zhu Rong was a bit farther away did he pat Huai Yu’s shoulder and say, “Guess, what did he leave to do?”

Huai Yu gave him a faint glance, Ming ChangYan said, “Huai Yu, you can’t come with me, there’s something wrong with Zhu Rong.”

The bells gently rang. Zhao XiaoLan’s ears twitched, happily turning around and saying, “Zhu Rong!”

Zhu Rong nodded towards him.

A-Jun yelped, “Zhao XiaoLan, did you grow eyes on your back?”

Zhao XiaoLan said sincerely, “I just heard the sound of the bells.”

When A-Jun heard this, she became even more flabbergasted, “Do you have doggie ears?”

When Duan Min heard A-Jun’s words, he was a bit curious, probably really wanting to see who’s ears actually look like a dog’s.

Zhao XiaoLan laughed since A-Jun had always been looking for various ways to scorn him. Over time, he got used to it.

After arguing, this led to Zhao XiaoLan immediately noticing that Ming ChangYan had disappeared. He let out an ‘eh’ and said, “Where did Yan-jiejie go?”

Baili replied, “They asked me just now about XiaoHan Temple’s new location?”

Zhu Rong shot him a glance.

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Why did she ask about this? Nevermind, Huai Yu-gege’s with her, there shouldn’t be an issue.”

He turned around when Li Li suddenly said, “Young master Zhao, let’s call it a day.”

Zhao XiaoLan was surprised, “Are you leaving?”

Li Li smiled, “I’m a little tired.”

Zhao XiaoLan nodded then said to Zhu Rong, “Zhu-xiong, I’ll send off Li Li, you…..” He felt a bit embarrassed and lowered his voice, “Could you accompany me?”

“Although my cultivation is already pretty high, you’re aware, it’s easy to get into an accident while walking the road at night. I’ll feel more at ease with another person protecting Li Li!”

With the light shining on his back, he couldn’t see Zhu Rong’s expression and only heard an, “Okay.”

Zhao XiaoLan let out a sigh of relief and promptly said to Li Li, “Where do you currently live, I can call a carriage to send you there.”

Li Li nodded but didn’t say anything.

Zhao XiaoLan called over a carriage, along the way, Zhao XiaoLan acted like a clown, chattering about all the various knowledge he’s acquired. With Zhu Rong accompanying him, his stuttering lessened, feeling a bit more confident when talking to Li Li.

When they arrived at their destination, somehow, one of Li Li’s sleeves got caught on the carriage railing. When opening the door, with a hiss, a piece of cotton was torn off revealing a large part of her arm. The skin was a white as snow, but upon closer inspection there appeared to be a number of thin scars, as if they’d been cut several times by a sharp weapon.

Zhao XiaoLan had put all of his attention towards Li Li, and thus was the first to notice, saying, “Maiden Li Li! What happened to your arm!?”

Saying this, he quickly came closer for a closer look: The scars interlaced and had already scabbed over, surely an old injury.

They clearly didn’t look like they’d been caused by scraping against the carriage either, so Zhao XiaoLan was confused.

Li Li calmly pulled her arms back into their sleeves, and said to Zhao XiaoLan, “Years ago when I was in the Hundred Flower Abyss, I accidentally knocked over a porcelain lantern. The lantern’s sharp engravings of flowers shattered into pieces, accidentally cutting my skin, which left these scars. For Young Master Zhao to incur ridicule, may young master not take offense.”

She threw a glance at Zhu Rong then continued, “It’s late, be careful on your way back.”

Before Xiao Yu went through the front gate, she gave Zhao XiaoLan a ferocious look, “Disrespectful!”

The gate was slammed shut, the sound echoing to the heavens.

Zhao XiaoLan felt a bit bleak as he asked Zhu Rong, “Zhu-xiong, was I really disrespectful back there, is Maiden Li Li angry at me?” He immediately added, “I didn’t mean anything else! I really thought she’d gotten hurt…..sigh, she was born rich, to bear such serious injuries, how can I not feel distressed!”

Zhu Rong smiled and said, “It’s to be expected for a woman to take offense to things like scars on their bodies. Besides, if she cared about you, she certainly wouldn’t want you to see them. As far as I can see, you might as well try to find some sort of panacea that can help her get rid of them, maybe she’ll be very happy.”

Hearing this, Zhao XiaoLan wasn’t sure whether Zhu Rong’s words were real or not, he was in a daze for a bit, after thinking it over he said, “You’re right, but I don’t know who can get a hold of this kind of medicine.”

Zhu Rong gave him a slight smile and reminded, “Aren’t you very close to the Young Prime Minister? Tell him this, then ask him if he has a way, how’s that?”

Zhao XiaoLan looked to have suddenly seen the light, he was just about to lament Zhu-xiong’s cleverness and quick-witted approach, when there was a sudden disturbance from across the street, hordes of people were gathering, which attracted Zhao XiaoLan’s attention.

Zhao XiaoLan loved getting in on the action, and also loved fighting against injustice, especially when Zhu Rong was beside him; with someone covering for him, he could act more undisciplined.

He just took a few steps forward when his arm was grabbed by Zhu Rong, “Zhao SuHe, what are you leaving to do?”

Zhao XiaoLan answered, “I want to go see what’s going on, why is it brighter over there?”

“Don’t worry,” he said, “Zhu-xiong, I’m just going over to take a look, if you’re not coming, you can stand here and wait for me. I’ll be right back.”

He didn’t wait for his reply before running two steps forward. He looked back, and in just a blink of an eye, Zhu Rong had vanished.

Zhao XiaoLan’s face was slightly stunned, “……Zhu-xiong?”

There was only the nearby screams and cries, blown here by the wind, that brushed by his ears.

From the crowd came a hysterical cry, “FIRE!! HELP!! COME HELP!!”

It turned out that XiaoHan Temple had caught on fire.

Zhao XiaoLan came back to his senses and quickly ran forward.

Ming ChangYan had been using qinggong* along the way when he spotted a flame from far away.

(TN: Qinggong is a technique in Chinese martial arts where you make the body extremely light in weight by altering the flow of qi in the body)

Just now, because it was urgent, he hadn’t been able to explain much before asking Huai Yu to go back and spy on them, neither does he know how he was doing now. When they had run into Zhu Rong, he had been reeking with blood and killing intent. If his guess was correct, everything points at disaster for the monks that stayed behind at XiaoHan Temple.

When he arrived at XiaoHan Temple, the smoke was already billowing. The main hall of XiaoHan Temple had already been completely covered by the fire, Ming ChangYan could only reach the courtyard before he couldn’t go any further. He surveyed the area and could only sigh: It looks like I ran here for nothing, don’t mention a survivor, even finding a body intact would be impossible.

XiaoHan Temple had been expanding its power for decades, their accumulated strength can’t be underestimated, but this fire has made them suffer. He didn’t expect that back then when TianQing was still very influential, nothing bad had happened to XiaoHan Temple, on the contrary, now after he had died, did this big villain appear. Now, this sect’s strength has been damaged, it will be hard for them to reinstate that former prosperity for a while.

There were numerous emotions flowing through Ming ChangYan, but didn’t have the intention to drop stones onto a man who had already fallen into a well*. He was worried about Huai Yu, just as he was ready to depart, he didn’t notice that someone had already arrived. Turning around, he was met head-on with that someone.

(TN: “落井下石”; to add insult to injury, to bring misfortune to someone already misfortune.)

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work I’m prying your mouth open.

 

 

 

I’m very sorry for leaving for over two weeks and not updating, I just held it off because I felt very disinclined to translate for a while. So here’s what I’m doing, I’ll translate and post chapter 61, and then take a break for like a week or two. I’m just feeling kinda drained lately and I need some time to rest.

If you see any grammatical/translation errors, please notify me, I make some mistakes that I go back and secretly edit out but it takes me ages to find them.

I wanted to post this drawing I did of MCY but since I’m currently on my computer, I don’t have the actual image with me so I’ll just post it with the next chapter ٩(//̀Д/́/)۶

Have a great day~~

 

 

 

Chapter 59 : Table of Contents : Chapter 61

Chapter 59: The Fake Gentleman* – Part 3

(TN:伪君子; also means hypocrite)

Warning: There are some detailed descriptions of gore

 

 

Ming ChangYan abruptly kicked the roots of an innocent tree, and with the wind blowing behind him, he ran away!

Seeing this person who looked like a smeared painting disappear right in front of his eyes, Huai Yu was caught off guard.

His expression changed and he yelled, “Ming ChangYan!”

Ming ChangYan stopped, the cold air hitting him in the face calmed him down a lot and he thought: Why am I running away?

Another voice in his mind said: Run somewhere where no one can see you, blush all you want, blush with all your might, and that little brat wouldn’t be there to ask you why!

Ming shaoxia was fuming with rage between gritted teeth: Asking me why, this shaoxia wants to ask himself why!

Huai Yu caught up in a few steps and said, “Why did you run?”

Ming ChangYan had just regained his rationality and his consciousness began functioning again, the redness on his face and heartbeat died down as he said, “I can run away if I want to, why are there so many why’s? What can you do, tie me up? Little Huai Yu, you ask too many why’s!”

Huai Yu was taken back, “You want to leave?”

Ming ChangYan, “Hm? Leave where? Oh, not now, I’ll leave after I resolve XiaoLan’s problem.”

After thinking about it, he thought: I really have been spending too much time together with Huai Yu, weird how it’s always gotten me so flustered.

“Even the finest feast in the world has to come to an end. Alright, let’s not talk about this now, let’s go look for XiaoLan first.”

Huai Yu suddenly grabbed his arm and paused for a bit, “Then I won’t ask.”

Ming ChangYan hadn’t fully reacted yet as he questioned, “Won’t ask what?”

Huai Yu pursed his lips and refused to speak.

After a long time, he repeated, “….I won’t ask anymore.”

Ming ChangYan was confused by his words, but at the same time, he was confused by his own actions, and now he was even more confused by Huai Yu’s actions.

It was a complete mess.

Since he wasn’t able to understand so he simply stopped thinking about it, Ming shaoxia consoled: Everything will work out in the end.

“I was quarreling with you for so long, I completely forgot about how XiaoLan was doing.”

Huai Yu said, “Why are you so worried about him?”

On second thought, Ming ChangYan thought: What’s there to worry about Zhao XiaoLan’s romantic backdrop. Besides, even if something did happen, Zhu Rong’s secretly there to accompany him, himself being there doesn’t really make a difference.

After composing himself, Ming ChangYan made his way back to the pavilion. He found a good spot to sit down, where he had a good view of the situation below. Zhao XiaoLan invited Li Li to view the flowers, but now that he didn’t have a billboard to read off of, he was flustered and didn’t know what to say. All of a sudden, Li Li smiled which caught him by surprise.

“I remember you. You often write me letters with little flowers on them.”

Zhao XiaoLan’s face flushed and suddenly felt less nervous, “That’s me. Ever since I laid eyes on my lady, you’ve constantly been in my mind.”

Li Li said, “How did you know that I liked watching snowfall?”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “I heard of it. It wasn’t hard to inquire about Maiden Li Li’s preferences, it’s just that snow in June was too hard of a task, that’s why I thought of a stupid method.”

Li Li looked at him and asked, “What stupid method?”

At that, Zhao XiaoLan didn’t respond, replying instead with his actions. He clapped his hands three times and instantly, all of the black clothes covering the June Snows were torn away.

June Snows bloom when they come in contact with sunlight. When Li Li looked upon the vast greenery, she was slightly puzzled.

Xiao Yu couldn’t help but ask, “Young Master Zhao, are you trying to fool us? It’s such a fine day, how could it possibly snow?”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Xiao Yu-jiejie, just wait a moment.”

As expected, in less than half an incense of time, the first June Snow trembled as it slowly blossomed. Then, one after another, one by one, wherever a flower pot was located, a June Snow would bloom. They buried the pavilion with a thick layer of snow-white.

Upon seeing this spectacle, Li Li slowly widened her eyes.

Just then, the eastern winds blew its way on Taibai Yanyu Building, setting off a rain of flowers. From afar, it looked like snowflakes falling down from the sky, with the fragrance within the snow, the beauty was beyond compare.

Zhao XiaoLan’s heart was pounding as he secretly glanced at Li Li. Li Li seemed to be captivated at the scenery, unable to take her eyes off it. There was a gleam in her eyes, the tens of thousands of flowers were incomparable to beauty in front of them.

Li Li faintly nodded, “Thank you Young Master Zhao for your trouble.”

Zhao XiaoLan came back to his senses, using his fan to scratch his hair, “It’s fine as long as Maiden Li Li forgives me!”

Li Li smiled, “How can I forgive Young Master Zhao, if I never blamed you in the first place.”

When Zhao Xiaolan heard this, he let out a breath of relief, “That’s good, that’s good!”

Li Li caught a flower floating down the sky, “I heard that June Snows only bloom once and that their blossom was shorter than two incense sticks of time. It’s a pity that such a beautiful flower has such a short flowering season.”

She paused then said, “I’ve met countless men in my life. Among the men that came to see me, some came to me for my dancing, others for my face, and even those that wanted to invite me simply to give themselves face. But there will be a day that my face grows old, my body, unable to dance, and unable to satisfy their vanity.”

“All I have now is not eternal, just like these June Snows, only a moment of bloom, before the petals fall and dissipate. Flowers are like this, so are people.”

Li Li turned around and looked at Zhao XiaoLan.

“Young Master Zhao, what did you come here for?”

Zhao XiaoLan gazed at Li Li in a daze. He never thought that Li Li would say so many words to him.

A moment later, after seeing Zhao XiaoLan stammer over his words before faltering speechless, Li Li smiled, “Nevermind, I was just asking casually, Young Master Zhao doesn’t have to take it to heart.” After she finished, with a faint nod, she turned around and prepared to leave.

“Maiden Li Li, that’s not it!” Zhao XiaoLan suddenly said, “It’s because June Snows were so beautiful and the flowering season so short, that they deserve to be cherished.”

“Good things always exist for a short time…but! As long as I have it, I will always remember it! Maiden Li Li…..you, you, mustn’t be sad over your face growing old in the future.”

“Even if you grow old and unable to dance, there will still be people who love you, people who will keep you in their heart, no one will always be alone!”

Li Li looked at him.

Although Zhao XiaoLan said such bold words, the moment he came back to his senses, his entire face blushed a deep red and for a moment didn’t dare to look up.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, he promptly began fumbling around his chest, before taking out a jade bracelet.

“Maiden Li Li, this, this is for you!”

Li Li thought that he looked extremely cute, thus she watched him in preparation for what he was going to say next. For a long time, Zhao XiaoLan continued muttering but was unable to make clear the origins of this bracelet. Finally, the more he said, the quieter he became. He merely held the bracelet and handed it straight to Li Li.

Li Li teased him, “Young Master Zhao, how can I wear it if you’re like this?”

Zhao XiaoLan’s body shuddered, and this time, even his ears turned red.

He took a deep breath before making up his mind, stuttering, his hands trembled as he reached to pick up Li Li’s left hand. The two’s hands were very similar, as they were both as white as sheep’s milk and fine as jade. That white jade bracelet was carefully put onto Li Li’s wrists by Zhao XiaoLan, in contrast with the skin, it looked even paler.

Li Li began, “The color white is clean and stands aloof to the world. Although it’s good, I prefer red.”

Zhao XiaoLan asked, “Red?”

Li Li gave him a faint smile, “But there is no red snow in this world.”

Zhao XiaoLan repeated, “Red snow, red snow…”

Li Li said, “Young Master Zhao, there’s no need to take it too seriously. I was happy today. I’ve said too many useless words, it makes me seem troublesome.” She changed the subject and said, “Thank you very much for inviting me out today Youg Master Zhao, Bai Jin….can’t thank you enough.”

Bai Jin was Maiden Li Li’s real name.

She said, “The fireworks show tonight, I’ll watch it with you.”

Zhao XiaoLan instantly looked up, “Real, really?!”

Li Li laughed, “Why would I lie to you?”

Zhao XiaoLan was extremely happy and laughed a few times. He even said a few “yes’s”.

Xiao Yu began, “Zhao…”

Zhao XiaoLan didn’t wait for her to finish, when he spotted someone at the corner of his eye, he broke out into a run.

“ZHU-XIONG!! ZHU-XIONG!!!”

Not too far away, Zhu Rong stood there with a slight smile.

Zhao XiaoLan ran so fast that he nearly fell down. The first thing he did when he saw Zhu Rong was announce, “I got an appointment with Maiden Li Li!”

Zhu Rong said, “Slow down.”

Zhao XiaoLan slowed down and stood in front of him, panting he said, “Li Li said, she would watch the fireworks with us tonight!”

Zhu Rong gave him a soft smile, “It’s with you, not us.”

Zhao XiaoLan was surprised, “You’re not coming?”

Zhu Rong supported his chin and said, “Why should I be there when you have an appointment with a beautiful woman, have you heard of something so absurd?”

Hearing this, Zhao XiaoLan scratched his head and fell into a dilemma. After a while, he said, “Then let me go talk to Maiden Li Li to reschedule for another time?”

He was just about to turn around when his collar was grabbed by Zhu Rong, “You already promised, if you go back on it now, do you really think there’ll be a next time?”

Zhao XiaoLan looked back at him and suddenly realized the gravity of this situation.

Zhu Rong continued, “There are many other opportunities to be together in the future, you can go watch the fireworks with her, I’ll meet up with you later.”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Okay. But Zhu-xiong, you have to come find me after the Fireworks Festival. You already promised to help me fish this year, I’ve already bragged to A-Jun, if I don’t take first place this year she’ll laugh at me!”

Zhu Rong smiled, he didn’t agree but didn’t disagree either.

By eight, the entire sky had already turned dark. With the Fireworks Festival in Huating fast approaching, the streets outside of Taibai Yanyu Building had already been decorated with lights and banners. The peddlers and carriages came and went, shouts lingering throughout the street.

After Ming ChangYan finished watching the June Snows, he walked out of the Taibai Yanyu Building, and began walking down the street.

Huai Yu walked beside him. In less than ten steps, Ming ChangYan had narrowed his eyes and bumped Huai Yu’s arm, “Look upfront.”

Huai Yu followed his gaze and saw that in the distance was a monk from XiaoHan Temple laughing and talking with a beautiful lady in their arms. Although this monk had changed into a different set of clothes and not XiaoHan Temple’s uniform, that bare head of his was downright eye-catching.

Ming ChangYan joked, “You see, now even the monks are trying to find themselves women.”

Huai Yu said, “Why do you care about such things.”

Just then, he heard a pleasant-sounding jingle of tiny bells. Ming ChangYan was somewhat surprised as he turned around, “XiaoLan?”

Zhao XiaoLan cried out, “Yan-jiejie!”

There was a string of silver bells strapped beside his waist, jingling as he walked.

Ming ChangYan questioned, “Why are Zhu Rong’s bells with you, where is he?”

Zhao XiaoLan explained, “Zhu-xiong was busy. These bells aren’t his, I just bought these a moment ago!”

Ming ChangYan said, “Why did you buy a string of bells?”

Zhao XiaoLan sighed, “It was always Zhu-xiong who would come hang out with me, but now that he’s gone, sigh! I could only find a substitute and hope that Zhu-xiong’s incarnation will give courage! But that’s not the point, Yan-jiejie, the Fireworks Festival is starting soon, I made an appointment to watch it with Li Li at Taibai Yanyu Building, I’ve already made a reservation. It’s at the outer pavilion of Yanyu Building, we can see the best fireworks there!”

Him, “I came to find you for a reason, A-Jun and the others are already there, we’re just waiting on you and Huai Yu-gege!”

Ming ChangYan smiled, “Then lead the way.”

Sure enough, when they arrived at the outer pavilion of Taibai Yanyu Building, the tables and chairs had already been set up, complete with soldiers guarding the area. Apart from the ones that Zhao XiaoLan had already mentioned before, there was also the third prince and the country’s magistrate. Ming ChangYan suddenly realized: No wonder there are so many troops, both the son and daughter of the emperor are here.

After entering the pavilion, Ming ChangYan noticed that A-Jun’s complexion wasn’t very good. She looked fuming as she sat in a stool, her hands hugging her elbows. Duan Min stood speechless beside her, after taking a closer look, he discovered that Duan Min had another elegant black headband on his head. It seemed that A-Jun had bought some random new gismo and used it to dress Duan Min up again.

The third prince stood up and cupped his hands together, “Young Prime Minister.”

Huai Yu nodded and the two exchanged a simple greeting. The third prince then looked at Ming ChangYan again and said slowly, “Madame.”

Ming ChangYan nearly spits out all the tea in his mouth as he waved his hand around, “Excuse me. Don’t listen to the nonsense that A-Jun says and follow after her by making fun of me, us citizens really don’t deserve it! The Young Prime Minister and I are just friends, if the third prince doesn’t mind, then you can just call me a friend.”

Hearing this, the third prince said with a smile, “I had thought the Young Prime Minister was so extraordinary, that he’d actually taken a man as his wife.”

Ming ChangYan purposefully broke him off, “HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Zhao XiaoLan was confused, “Yan-jiejie, why are you laughing?”

Ming ChangYan stiffly responded, “I can laugh if I want, why ask so many questions.” He grabbed Zhao XiaoLan’s shoulders, “Children shouldn’t ask so many questions about grown-up matters.”

Baili Deng began, “Young Master Zhao, this way please.”

Ming ChangYan was a bit surprised. Baili Deng didn’t seem to recognize him to be Concubine Yan from the palace. After all, the medicine that had turned him younger had already weakened significantly. And since he never bothered to ask Hua YunChang for a second pill, his current appearance was barely any different from his appearance back then, he truly didn’t look like a woman at all.

Only Zhao XiaoLan and A-Jun, these two brain-dead children, would firmly believe that he was a woman.

Zhao XiaoLan was very excited to see Baili, “Baili, this is your first time seeing the Fireworks Festival, right!”

Baili gave him a bashful smile and said, “Indeed.”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “I’ve always only seen you inside the palace, you never come out to play. How come you came this time with Sanhuang-xiong?”

He was never arrogant in the palace, and because of that, he was always on good terms with the imperial bodyguards and palace maids.

Baili Deng said, “I came out of the palace today, in order to protect the safety of the princess and the third prince.”

Zhao XiaoLan laughed, “Then you really came with the right person! You’re just in time for the Fireworks Festival, in a bit, I’m going to take you to experience all the dangers here at Jianghu!”

Baili helplessly said, “Young Master Zhao, since you know the dangers of Jianghu then you should stay away from Jianghu. Don’t participate in it, so as to not cause any grave, irreversible mistake.”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Don’t worry, that won’t happen. The more dangerous, the more I like it. After all, I’m going to be the world’s number one! How can I cower when faced with a difficult situation! Speaking of, my cultivation has had somewhat of a breakthrough recently, I’m not too far away from becoming number one. After the Fireworks Festival ends, you and I are going to swap some pointers!”

“Besides, I still have Zhu-xiong, if I’m no match for someone, he’ll help me! I’m going to surpass both you and him!”

Baili said, “Alright.” After a pause, he suddenly reminded, “But Young Master Zhao, a human’s heart is unpredictable, you must never let your guard down. You should still be careful, and take care of yourself.”

Zhao XiaoLan didn’t seem to pay in any mind; he waved his hand, indicating that he didn’t need to worry. Baili Deng paused for a while, and was just about to open his mouth and say something but was cut off.

Ming ChangYan notified, “Zhao XiaoLan, you Maiden Li Li is here.”

Zhao XiaoLan’s eyes brightened as he turned around to welcome the person he admired.

The bell’s echos followed after him.

The sound lyrical and detached, calm, and tranquil. It resounded across the night sky, traveling near and far, from the Taibai Yanyu Building to the closed entrances of XiaoHan Temple.

“Ding dong, ding dong…..ding dong, ding dong…..”

“Ding dong, ding dong…..ding dong, ding dong…..”

Suddenly, a splatter of blood landed on one of the silver bells.

The jingling came to an abrupt stop. Zhu Rong stopped and gave a faint smile, “Is it very painful?”

Below his foot was a horribly mutilated person, struggling and rolling around. Still alive, they had both their hands scratching at their throat until they gouged out pieces of skin and flesh, within the bloodied chunks exposed dense needles. Their eyes and mouth were so widened that their eye sockets had nearly split. They had swallowed hundreds of needles that had firmly pierced its way through their chin, cheek, and throat.

Zhu Rong nonchalantly kicked them away. The entire time, he was swinging his fan around, leisurely as if on a walk. The borders of XiaoHan Temple were completely unmanned.

There was a dead body every five steps. There were some at their final struggle and others that had already taken their final breath, not a single one of them didn’t have terror in their eyes. Their eyeballs had burst, the pus and blood thick and sticky as they were slowly dripping to form threads, before slashing onto the ground to become a small blood pool.

At today’s Fireworks Festival, in order to show the prestige of their sect, XiaoHan Temple had half the people go to the scene to maintain order, and the other half to remain here.

Zhu Rong’s footsteps were brisk and he was in a good mood. He hummed an unknown tune between his lips as he walked into XiaoHan Temple’s Bodhisattva hall. In the hall, there were a total of 18 Bodhisattvas that wore a ferocious expression of them. Facing the direction of the entrance, Zhu Rong kicked the Bodhisattva sitting above the altar and jumped up himself, occupying their position. He had one leg dangling beneath the altar, the other bent on its knees, beaming as he looked upon the barely alive monks below him.

“Fangzhang, is it very painful?”

On the floor, Dao Xuan-fangzhang was vomiting pus and blood with his throat pierced through with hundreds of needles. His perseverance was astonishing, even under such torture, he was still able to shakily stand up.

His voice was like broken bellows, coarse and unpleasant, leaving only an airy voice, “Let go….let us go….”

Zhu Rong smiled, “Old monk, I couldn’t hear what you just said, a bit louder?”

Dao Xuan-fangzhang kept an unwavering gaze on him. Zhu Rong’s smiling expression gradually turned ice-cold. Callously, he suddenly kicked Dao Xuan in the chest, Dao Xuan was hit so hard that he knelt on the ground, unable to stand back up.

Zhu Rong lowered his voice and said with a chilliness to him, “I said, I couldn’t hear you.”

“Please…..let us…..let us go….”

Monk Dao Xuan’s gazes faltered towards the floor where there were still a few disciples lying unconscious. Waking up after a long time, a few of the disciples were so afraid they were scared to move. Upon closer inspection, the disciple’s hands and feet had been nailed to the ground by a long, thick silver needle, even the slightest movement would tear flesh and cause unbearable pain.

Zhu Rong bored as he played around with the fan in his hands, his expression suddenly changed as he pitied, “Okay. But old monk, I’ll only spare three people, choose how you will.”

After that, he added, “I’ll give you ten seconds to think about it.”

Hearing this, the monk Dao Xuan’s face turned a deathly pale. The disciples there were even more terrified, as they all looked towards monk Dao Xuan. In their gazes held prayers, fear, as well as a deep hope.

Monk Dao Xuan was in a dilemma, just then, Zhu Rong had begun lazily counting down, “Ten, nine.”

He was engrossed in watching the two sides in front of him, their eyes filled with hysterical madness and paranoia.

All of a sudden, he skipped over the numbers in the middle, laughing as he counted without any prior warning, “Three, two, one.”

Monk Dao Xuan didn’t have time to respond when the bodies of several disciples suddenly began convulsing as some of the splattered blood landed below the eye of one of the Buddha statues. Slowly, it slid down like they were crying tears of blood in mercy.

Zhu Rong lifted his shoulder. At first, it began as a low chuckle, before long it had turned into a peal of wanton laughter, like he had just seen the funniest joke in the world.

He never had good intentions in the first place, playing with their hearts, toying with their relationships! He never thought about letting XiaoHan Temple go, only to satisfy his own vile interests of watching them struggle with morass.

When monk Dao Xuan realized this, he flew into a fit of rage as he completely lost his rationality. He frantically crawled towards Zhu Rong, like he was about to skin him alive and cut him into pieces.

Swaying his legs, Zhu Rong made no move to dodge or run, and on his face wore a smile as he continued to sit there, relaxed. He was only a step away from him when monk Dao Xuan took his final breath and fell straight to the ground.

The young man sitting on the altar’s smile completely disappeared.

“Boring.”

He swung around his fan.

“Boring.”

He hopped down from the altar, stepping on top of monk Dao Xuan’s corpse, he walked out of the front gates of XiaoHan Temple.

Zhu Rong overturned the oil lamp from a table, and allowed the flames to slowly grow in size, his cold, pale complexion as he looked on speaking levels. He was so adept in his movements that it seemed like this wasn’t the first time he’s done such cruel acts. From within the flames, countless wails and cries could be heard. Shadows twisted around him, whether real or not, they looked to be wearing splendid robes clearly not of XiaoHan Temple.

They seemed to be weeping and screeching in his ear, “Zhuang Xiao….Zhuang Xiao…..”

“Hateful…..I’m so hateful…….”

“So ruthless……murdering your own father……didn’t die naturally…..”

Zhu Rong’s was expressionless. Silent, for the echoing jingle of bells.

With each step, the effect of the bells grew stronger as the voices beside his ear gradually disappeared. Huating’s first firework had already been set off when he reached the gates.

He suddenly remembered he had an appointment with Zhao XiaoLan.

 

The author has something to say:

Even Zhao Zhao himself doesn’t even know why he’s always bashful!

All of the supporting cast have been introduced! Although they’ve appeared in earlier chapters, now they’re all officially here!

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work then I’m dressing your from head to toe in ugly leopard-print and cameo clothing.

 

 

 

Hey guys, with the recent things that’ve been happening not just in the US, but globally, like the terror bill in the Philippines. I’m not the most well-informed person for you to hear about this, but I will say this. Black lives matter and any person who wants to argue with me about this can leave this site, you’re not welcomed here.

LINK: https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

On a lighter note, I hope everyone’s been able to find some source of solace during these insane times. I’ve been getting into Fire Emblem Three Houses, and I love my baby boy Dimitri so much, he just fills me with joy.

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

Please stay safe everyone, and fuck the police ♥️

 

 

 

Chapter 58 : Table of Contents : Chapter 60

Chapter 58: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 15

 
Ming ChangYan suddenly started coughing, and his eyes were quickly dyed red. He shouted, “Excuse me! Stop! Let me reiterate, I am not!”

A-Jun was surprised, “Did you guys quarrel?”

She was the second person to ask that today.

Ming ChangYan’s throat twitched. He swung his hand around, “Nevermind, nevermind, there’s no point. Why did you come to Huating?”

A-Jun fumed, “It’s all because of Zhao XiaoLan! That guy had the guts to drag me over to Huating for the Fireworks Festival!”

Ming ChangYan said, “What, he didn’t tell you?”

A-Jun seethed, “No! He told you? Oh well then, I’m going to have to find and settle accounts with him, Duan Duan!”

Ming ChangYan hurriedly said, “Ay ay ay, even if you want to settle accounts with him, why call Duan Min? Do you want him to die?”

While the two were chatting, the third prince walked up and joked, “I didn’t know that the Young Prime Minister had gotten himself a wife.”

Ming ChangYan suddenly felt afraid of being found out. After all, he only met the third prince that once when he was dressed up as a woman in the palace. Now that he looks like a man again, he probably wouldn’t be recognizable.

“She was just joking around, it’s all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding, haha.” Ming ChangYan said as he gestured towards Huai Yu.

Huai Yu nodded.

A-Jun looked somewhat displeased.

When she saw Ming ChangYan, she felt as if she’d found an accomplice. Thus she dragged his arm and walked forward.

Ming ChangYan exclaimed, “Great aunt! What are you doing?!”

He wanted to say that there should be some distinction between men and women, but in the eyes of A-Jun, he was a woman. Moreover, A-Jun was too young; because Ming ChangYan himself had a little sister, he was very indulgent towards girls and always pampered them. The consequence of allowing this sort of development was that he now had to face A-Jun’s unbridled temper.

“I don’t want to stay together with Sanhuang-xiong*, I’m tired from just watching him!”

(TN: “三皇兄”; in case anyone wants a refresher, this just means Third Imperial Brother. Similarly, Dahuang-xiong would be Eldest Imperial Brother, and Erhuang-xiong would be Second Imperial Brother.)

Ming ChangYan said, “If you’re tired from watching him, then why did you come to Huating with him?”

A-Jun turned around, “He was the one who asked to come, he insisted on coming with me. I was planning on just going with Duan Duan!”

Ming ChangYan understood and said, “Right. What kind of older brother would watch their own sister go outside by herself, he’s probably just worried about you.”

A-Jun stuck out her tongue and grimaced, “Like I’d believe that! Who would dare harm me when I have Duan Duan protecting me? Humph, Sanhuang-xiong is only being polite towards me to get to the throne, I won’t fall for his trap!”

Dazed, Ming ChangYan’s interest suddenly piqued, “Get to the throne? What, are they electing another emperor for the Central Plains?”

A-Jun sighed then consoled, “Don’t be afraid, father’s kind-hearted, he doesn’t need his concubines to be buried together with him. Besides, even if he did, Huai Yu-gege wouldn’t allow it!”

By now, Ming shaoxia was already too lazy to explain this muddled relationship between him and Huai Yu, so he simply let A-Jun to just casually comprehend it.

A-Jun continued, “After Dahuang-xiong died, the spot for the crown prince is empty again. Although I don’t want to participate in their war, I know that Sanhuang-xiong’s approaching me only because I’m the empress’s sole daughter. Him winning my favor is like him winning the empress’s favor!”

Ming ChangYan said, “If he wants to be the emperor, then why does he need to earn the empress’s favor? Does your Sanhuang-xiong not have a mother?”

A-Jun said, “His mother was a palace maid with low status, so what can he do? He wants to win mother’s favor because father loves her. The only person in this world who could control my father is my mother and no one else.”

When Ming ChangYan heard this, he thought: This emperor is just a love-sick fool, it’s a pity that his love went to the wrong place, why is he over here stealing people’s wives and treating them like treasures!

A-Jun said, “In short, I don’t like him very much. Now that we’ve finally arrived at Huating, I can finally get rid of him, you have to play with me.”

Ming ChangYan said, “I’m busy! Go find Zhao XiaoLan.”

A-Jun, “Did that something number one beauty come to Huating too?”

Ming ChangYan, “Yeah.”

A-Jun, “Then great! With that woman here, then the only thing on Zhao XiaoLan’s mind would be to please her, he wouldn’t want to play with me. I’m not going there to get snubbed!”

Ming ChangYan, “But if you want to play with me, aren’t you afraid of your Huai Yu-gege?”

A-Jun paused for a moment then used the tip of her shoe to kick a tiny pebble. It was only after a moment of hesitation that she replied, “A little.”

After that, she suddenly regained her senses and her two eyebrows shot up, “Hey! You haven’t entered the household yet! You’re fortunate that this princess is asking you to play with her! With that big temper of yours, it’d be dreadful even after you marry in, it’ll all fall onto this princess’s head!”

Ming ChangYan said, “Great aunt, what kind of books have you been reading? What entering the household, what marrying in? Listen to my advice and stay away from Liu Kuang, he’s not going to be your husband.”

A-Jun blushed, “Who, who who who who mentioned Teacher Liu!”

Ming ChangYan, “If you didn’t get those hideously vulgar books from him, then where’d you get them?”

A-Jun was unable to retort. Fuming, she humphed and shouted with her face still red, “I’m going to make Duan Duan beat you to death!”

Ming ChangYan promptly apologized, “Alright, I was wrong. Aren’t you trying to find Zhao XiaoLan to play with you? I’ll bring you to him, alright, princess I’m apologizing!”

A-Jun reluctantly forgave him, pulling Duan Min’s hand, she asked, “Do you know where he is?”

Ming ChangYan rubbed his nose, “You’re gonna have to let me think about it.”

Biding the third prince goodbye, Ming ChangYan indeed kept to his promise to A-Jun and took her to find Zhao XiaoLan.

However, Zhao XiaoLan was so busy that he didn’t have time to greet them. When he saw A-Jun coming, he only waved to her and said he would keep her company later.

Ming ChangYan surveyed his surroundings and saw how Zhao XiaoLan was carrying loads of pots while dripping with sweat. One moment he was making his way outside, the next he was coming back in, it was actually really boring.

After a stick of incense, Huai Yu also found this place.

When Ming ChangYan noticed he was here, he stopped feeling bored. He grinned and said, “What do you think Zhao XiaoLan is doing?”

Huai Yu shook his head.

Ming ChangYan, “According to the carriers, he’s been arranging things from the very start. It seems like this isn’t some last-minute decision, he’s probably been preparing since this morning.”

His fingers itched to lift up one of the black cloths covering the pots. Zhu Rong stated, “You mustn’t.”

Ming ChangYan’s hand stopped and he looked up.

The tiny bells produced a soft and serene sound.

Zhu Rong said, “This cloth mustn’t be lifted.”

Ming ChangYan questioned, “Why?”

From a distance, Zhao XiaoLan noticed the two standing together. Quickly setting down a pot, he jogged over, “Yan-jiejie, what’s wrong?”

Ming ChangYan asked, “What are you doing rushing back and forth for? And these black coverings, what’s under them?”

Huai Yu responded, “Flowers.”

Ming ChangYan raised an eyebrow, Zhao XiaoLan smiled, “Huai Yu-gege’s right, it’s flowers.”

A-Jun walked up and asked, “Since they’re flowers, then they should be for people to see. Why are you covering them?”

Ming ChangYan snickered, “Of course it’s because he doesn’t want us to see so that’s why he covered them up?”

Zhao XiaoLan turned somewhat red as he exclaimed, “June Snows. The flowers are June Snows!”

Ming ChangYan, “I know this flower, but why are you covering them up?”

Zhao XiaoLan began, “There’s a specific breed of June Snows that are among the most precious. They only bloom once in their lifetime, the moment they come in contact with sunlight, they immediately begin blooming. It looks just like snow when they bloom. I heard that Maiden Li Li likes to watch the snowfall, but with this kind of June weather, it’s too hard to make it snow! So I thought I could use these to make her happy!”

Hearing this, Ming ChangYan clicked his tongue then sighed, “Zhao XiaoLan, I underestimated you. It takes a lot of time and effort to do these things, it’s lucky that you don’t find it troublesome.”

Zhao XiaoLan unfolded his fan and fanned himself a couple of times, “A beauty’s smile is priceless.”

Him, “I can’t keep talking with you, I’ve already invited Li Li to view flowers later this afternoon!”

After saying that, Zhao XiaoLan added, “Yan-jiejie, you guys can also come!”

Ming ChangYan said, “It would be disrespectful to decline.”

With that, Zhao XiaoLan suddenly said again, “There’s one more thing! Yan-jiejie, you must help me!”

Ming ChangYan felt a chill on his back.

Zhao XiaoLan this guy, every time he said the words ‘I need help,’ it would likely lead to some sort of heartless injustice on Ming shaoxia’s side. When he said those words just now, he couldn’t help but feel a little scared.

“Tell me carefully, what do you need help with? Let me remind you that we’re not visiting a brothel this time!”

Zhao XiaoLan repeatedly waved his hands around, “Not this time! Never again!” He glanced at Huai Yu and was met with a cold gaze. Zhao XiaoLan suddenly felt a pang of guilt, “It, it’s like this. Every time I see Maiden Li Li, I can’t speak.”

Ming ChangYan said, “Why can’t you speak? You’re pretty weird if you meet the one you love, shouldn’t you be chattering away?”

Zhao XiaoLan’s face was flushed as he said, “If I could chatter away, would I still be unable to talk to her and be estranged?”

Ming ChangYan looked at him for a bit more before sighing, “Fine, since you’re so pitiful, I’ll give you an idea, lend me an ear.”

Altogether, the over ten thousand flower pots had to be carried out by over a hundred people. At noon, they were finally able to move all the June Snows to the Tanbai Yanyu Building. The eastern part of the building faced the lake, and on the west if faced Xiaolin Mountain, it was a famous garden in Huating.

Xiao Yu accompanied Li Li as they arrived at Tanbai Yanyu Building.

“That Young Master Zhao sure thinks he’s a big deal to invite you out on such a hot day! The moment I see him, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind!”

Li Li said, “I forbid it.”

Xiao Yu muttered, “I was just saying it, it’s not like I’m actually going to do it. My lady, don’t be mad at me.”

As the two continued walking, Xiao Yu looked around and saw that the surrounding area was full of flowers, plants, and even a subset of pavilions, all of them covered with a black cloth. Li Li slightly wrinkled her brows, Xiao Yu bluntly said, “What the hell is Young Master Zhao trying to do? So weird!”

After saying that, Zhao XiaoLan waved at them and said, “Maiden Li Li! Xiao Yu-jiejie!”

Xiao Yu spat and said, “Who is he calling jiejie, shameful!”

Zhao XiaoLan quickly scurried over and stood in front of Li Li, his complexion turned red as he came to an halt, “I, myself, is, no….”

Li Li patiently looked at him, he stuttered for a long time before she said, “Whatever you want to say, you can say it slowly, I won’t run away.”

Zhao XiaoLan stammered out, “I, I invite you to see the snow.”

Xiao Yu laughed, “See the snow? Young Master Zhao, I believe your brains have been fried silly, where do you see snow in this weather? How are you going to make snow?”

Zhao XiaoLan took two deep breaths before he was finally capable of speaking again.

He began, “Maiden Li Li, a few days ago in the capital, I was in a hurry so I didn’t have time to tell you sorry. I was the one who invited you that day to come to the waterside pavilion and watch the opera, but I didn’t know that something like that would happen, this, this matter, I….”

The more that Zhao XiaoLan spoke, the further his eyes drifted away. In addition to the repetition of a few lines, Xiao Yu discovered that with every sentence he said he would glance towards a fixed direction. After occurring numerous times, Xiao Yu slowly began forming some suspicion. But this girl was naturally smart, so she bided her time as she prepared to catch him in the act.

Not far away, Ming ChangYan set down the hand he was using to hold up a piece of cardboard. He moved his arm and hissed, “He can probably see it, right?”

Huai Yu stood beside him and watched him concentrate his attention at Zhao XiaoLan, feeling a bit unhappy.

Ming ChangYan thought: There were only four to five sentences in total, don’t tell me can’t even read off a document?

He turned over the piece of cardboard in his hands and with craftsmanship had written a conventional greeting, it started with: Maiden Li Li, a few days ago in the capital….

They were the words that Zhao XiaoLan had just spoken prior.

Ming shaoxia’s lousy idea was precisely this stupid method. Since Zhao XiaoLan was nervous when standing next to her, then why not pretend it was all a play? Memorize the words that he was going to say and if he forgot the lines, then Ming ChangYan would write a few lines on a piece of cardboard, stand a distance away, and remind Zhao XiaoLan.

Who would’ve imagined that such a reminder would be caught by Xiao Yu.

After that white piece of cardboard flashed by again, it was already suspicion enough. Xiao Yu frowned and began walking towards Ming shaoxia’s direction.

Ming ChangYan wasn’t really afraid of her per say, but Zhao XiaoLan finally managed to make an appointment with Li Li, if it was ruined by him then he’d be condemned for the rest of history as a traitor. And at the moment, Huai Yu had been forcibly dragged here by him, if they were found out, then it would ruin his innocence. Arduous yet fruitless, Ming shaoxia silently cursed in his head, so when everything else failed, he took Huai Yu and retreated.

Huai Yu was startled by his pull. Ming shaoxia was so busy running away and he wasn’t able to pull on the other’s arm in time, so he grabbed onto his hand. The other’s hand was ice-cold, like carved jade, pale and smooth. Upon contact, Ming ChangYan said in surprise, “Why is your hand so cold?”

Huai Yu began, “It’s your hand that’s too hot.”

It was only after Ming ChangYan came back to his senses that he noticed the two overlapping hands. The situation had been urgent, so when he dragged him and ran, he failed to pay attention to the small details.

And now, it wasn’t his hands that were hot, it was his face.

Huai Yu’s expression suddenly turned austere as he asked, “Why are you blushing.”

Ming ChangYan turned pale with fear, “There’s no such thing!”

He promptly reached up to cover his face but then felt that that method was too clumsy of a denial, it would easily give himself away so he turned to the side and changed the topic, “This spot’s pretty nice, if you look down from here, we can enjoy it when the June Snows are released.”

Huai Yu nodded, “Mn.”

Seeing him let it go made Ming ChangYan secretly let out a sigh of relief.

But he suddenly asked again, “Then why are you blushing?”

Not only was Ming shaoxia’s entire face red, now even his ears were red as his mouth began filling with nonsense, “I heard that June Snows are hard to find, it seems that Li Li has completely overtaken XiaoLan’s mind, he might as well just marry her already. When that time comes, I’m going to demand him for some of the wedding liquor, in any case since I helped him out so many times. And when that time comes, XiaoLan would definitely invite you, so don’t forget to show him some face.” At this point, he was already confusing himself and wasn’t entirely sure what he was saying, “If I had a boy, I would teach him martial arts, if I had a girl, I’d let Lady Hua play with her, in short, they mustn’t fall into Xiu LingLong’s hands, that’s it, yup that’s pretty good! Right, Huai Yu?”

Huai Yu sighed, “Whatever you what.”

Ming ChangYan’s eyes were burning, as he looked straight ahead, his body felt stiff and wouldn’t move a muscle. His heart was thundering and beating so hard his eardrums ached.

After a long silence, he finally recovered the soul that had just flown out of his body.

The instant he calmed down and everything was still, Huai Yu persistently said, “Why are you blushing?”

Ming ChangYan had finally reached the end of his patience. He yelled out in a cracked voice, “You brat! Can’t you just pretend that nothing happened!”

Huai Yu paused then said, “No.”

 

The author has something to say: Bad little fish*: No [resolute]

(TN: 小坏鱼; the Huai used here means bad, 小坏鱼 has a similar pronunciation as Little Huai Yu which is 小怀瑜.)

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost is stolen and if you steal my work I’ll freeze your hands into popsicles.

 

 

 

It’s finally summer~~

Since I’m unable to go traveling anywhere soon, I’ll spend a bit more time translating. I want to get to more scenes of fluff and our MCs being together!! UUUUGHGHGHHG (╯‵□′)╯︵┴─┴

The weather is getting super hot, so remember to stay hydrated guys! I’ve gotten heatstroke twice before, once at Sea World, and once on a subway in China. It feels like hell on earth, so be careful!

Hope you’re having a good start to your summer break~♡

 

 

 

Chapter 57 : Table of Contents : Chapter 59

Chapter 57: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 14

 
Ming ChangYan abruptly jumped back a step.

The heat on his face wouldn’t go away so he used his hands as fans and fanned himself with them.

Huai Yu’s expression seemed even worse than before.

Ming ChangYan continued walking but paused from time to time, seemingly wanting to say something, eager to break apart this strange silence. It’s just that Huai Yu walked very fast and didn’t even glance sideways. No matter what petty maneuver or sound that Ming ChangYan made, he ignored them all.

Ming shaoxia didn’t use to be scared of people not talking to him. Back when he was in TianQing, he also had a lot of fights with LiMin-Jun, but because the difference between their cultivation was so drastic, when Ming shaoxia really used his fists there was a possibility of him beating LiMin-Jun to death. That’s why LiMin-Jun established a rule, whenever they fought, Ming shaoxia wasn’t allowed to use his fists, they could only engage in a cold war, not talking, waiting until the both of them calmed down. This was a good idea, it saved energy and money for medicine, plus, as long as LiMin-Jun didn’t want to talk to him, then he could go outside and have fun. For ten days to about half a month, LiMin-Jun wouldn’t try to talk to him. If it wasn’t for LiMin-Jun finally being unable to keep from talking to him any longer, then Ming shaoxia could have even forgotten what the other’s last name was.

Obviously, this skill has lost its effects on Huai Yu.

He didn’t want to talk to Ming shaoxia, but Ming shaoxia couldn’t help but want to talk to him. Often when the silence stretched out for too long, he would be at a loss. He was originally properly thinking about some other problem, but in the end, it all rushed together and ended up on Huai Yu and it became: Is he ignoring me because he’s angry?

“Ai!”

Thinking about this, Ming shaoxia sighed heavily.

Huai Yu paused his footsteps.

“Why are you sighing?”

The moment he spoke, Ming shaoxia’s reason for sighing disappeared.

“You’re paying attention to me now?”

Huai Yu softly humphed.

Ming shaoxia was beaming.

“Let’s go, there’s no point in staying here at Xiu LingLong’s, I’ve already asked all I needed to ask. Let’s go get something to eat first or I’m gonna starve to death!”

The two returned on the boat, found an inn, and stopped to eat a meal.

After they finished, Huai Yu asked, “What did she say to you after she made me leave?”

Ming ChangYan knew that he was going to ask that, so he didn’t hide anything and directly answered, “I asked her about the crown prince. Of course, that didn’t really matter, what’s important was that all the people who were killed with the Thousand Needles Through the Throat had all been old friends of the Zhuang family. This matter most likely has something to do with the Zhuang family.”

Huai Yu said, “Are you implying that Zhuang Xiao didn’t die?”

Ming ChangYan nodded, “XiaoHan temple wasn’t among the sects that were exterminated and old friends of the Zhuang family. I asked Xiu LingLong just now, XiaoHan temple had only begun building temples in Huating in recent years, which was when the frequent killings began. I think it’s probably because Zhuang Xiao doesn’t want them to build their temples there.”

Huai Yu inquired, “If this really was all done by Zhuang Xiao, then why did he murder his father’s friends.”

Ming ChangYan said, “Now that’s some food for thought. Why don’t we ask exactly why everyone’s blaming all these sect massacres on me!”

Finishing, he said, “It’s probably the doings of XiaoHan Temple. I’m not accusing them without reason, even though I have made a good number of enemies in the Central Plains.”

At the mention of this, Huai Yu snorted.

Ming ChangYan rubbed his nose, then continued, “But XiaoHan Temple absolutely hates me! Those ancient bald monkey’s hatred for me just came out of nowhere, when it comes to them claiming the Common People’s Order is theirs, fine, that’s justified, but that blade has always picked its own master. They haven’t been able to pull it out for decades, but now that it’s in my hands, it’s turned into me stealing from them!”

Huai Yu drank a cup of tea and said, “You’re thinking in the wrong direction. XiaoHan Temple wronged you, the reason being to overtake Jianghu. When Zhuang Xiao kills, it’s by using the Thousand Needles Through the Throat, though the technique is somewhat different from yours. Besides, there are many people who use needles. Think, why do they always pinpoint it on you?”

Ming ChangYan pondered for a bit then said, “Are you saying that Zhuang Xiao’s killings weren’t directed at me, but that someone is deliberately killing these people with the facade of being me to shift the blame on me? Then this person’s pretty hard-working, what are they even trying to do!”

Huai Yu said, “They want you dead.”

Ming ChangYan raised his brow, “Why, what will they gain from my death?”

Huai Yu, “Why are you asking me, I don’t want you dead.”

With that, he got up and proceeded to walk downstairs.

Ming ChangYan really did ask a rather nonsensical question, what benefits will come from his death? There are numerous people who would benefit from this, there’s just too many to count.

He quickly chased after him, “Hey, wait for me!”

He thought: And he says he doesn’t want me dead, I’m already at the brink between life and death!

Ming shaoxia caught up to Huai Yu and tugged at his sleeves, “Don’t be angry, I’ll give you a treat. I’ve already told you all that Xiu LingLong said to me.”

Seeing Huai Yu like this caused him to promptly take a tanghulu from a nearby stand, taking out two copper coins from his chest, he threw them at the shopkeeper.

Ming shaoxia waved it around, “It’s very sweet, do you want some?”

Huai Yu, “No.”

He took a bite and purposely ate it in a way that made a lot of noise, “It’s really sweet! You better not regret it later!”

Huai Yu said, “No.”

Ming ChangYan happily chewed away. He suddenly reached out and snatched the tanghulu from Ming shaoxia’s mouth, “You’re not allowed to eat it.”

Ming ChangYan wasn’t about to let him do as he wished.

Ming shaoxia, “Such an overbearing temper, such an overbearing person! You don’t like eating it so you forbid me from eating it!”

While walking, Ming ChangYan spotted some familiar robes that appeared on the opposite side of the street, turns out it was a few of XiaoHan Temple’s senior monks.

One couldn’t just avoid their enemies. Ming ChangYan didn’t intend to acknowledge them at first after all this was Huating, they’ve bumped into monks plenty of times during these past few days. However, he didn’t expect that after walking a few steps closer, he was able to recognize the aura of an old acquaintance of his among the group of senior monks.

For a long time, he’d used a person’s aura in order to identify them. Therefore, for ordinary people with no knowledge of cultivation or people of weaker status in Jianghu, if they didn’t see each other often, it would often be difficult to identify them. On the other hand, if the other was of high ability, and especially if they were his sworn enemy, then he would have an acute memory of them. Even though they haven’t met in several years, the subconscious part of his brain would automatically be reminded of that loathing: The bald monkey that you hate the most has arrived!

This acquaintance of his wasn’t just some ordinary acquaintance, it had all happened by coincidence. It was after he had obtained the Common People’s Order from the Great FengShan feast. He’s the only outsider, besides the inner disciples of TianQing, that knew about his real appearance. The backbone of XiaoHan Temple—Dao Zhen-fangzhang*.

(TN: I hate titles and names of festivals/events/people/cultivation techniques, fangzhang is like the same as an abbot, which if people don’t know what that is *raises hand*, they hold the position of administrator for a Buddhist temple, just means they hold a more superior position that’s all you have to know.)

At this point, he had only recovered about 60-70% of his cultivation. Although he had Huai Yu beside him, there wasn’t that big of a problem in terms of power. Even so, if he was to expose his face now, it will only cause more trouble than not, so absolutely not!

Quick thinking, he turned around and threw himself into Huai Yu’s arms.

Huai Yu was completely stunned by him, before he could even regain his senses, he heard the muffled voice of the person in his arms say, “Hug me.”

Huai Yu thought that he was feeling unwell because the illness in his body was acting up again. He was just about to bend down and carry Ming ChangYan when the other corrected, “No, no! Hug me while standing! Cover me!”

Unclear on what kind of bad idea the other was trying to pull off, Huai Yu could only oblige. He held the other tightly in his arms, gently, he stroked his hand through the back of Ming ChangYan’s head. Tilting a little sideways, he covered him.

Just as expected, when the monks from XiaoHan Temple glanced over and saw these two who were closely bound together, they immediately looked away like their eyes had been stabbed by needles, quickly walking away while saying ‘Amitabha.’

It was only when Dao Zhen together with them disappeared, that the two separated.

Ming shaoxia was so engrossed in avoiding them, he didn’t expect that after throwing himself into Huai Yu’s arms, he would be so close to the other. The muddled fragrance on Huai Yu’s body was much stronger than usual, which made his head feel faint and his face flush red. After they separated, Ming ChangYan quickly took in a breath of fresh air as he exaggerated, “That bald monkey, still the same stuck-up as always!”

“What’s the matter.” Huai Yu calmly asked as he brought his hands behind him and turned around.

Ming ChangYan finally regulated his breathing, after he took a few breaths he said, “It was Dao Zhen, one of the monks from just a moment ago had seen my appearance before, which was Dao Zhen.” He paused then added, “Anyhow, I can’t expose myself.”

After hearing this, Huai Yu seemed to have accepted this explanation and walked onward.

Ming ChangYan thought that this little brat was angry again, so he quickly caught up to apologize, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Don’t be angry! I couldn’t think of anything else just now.”

“I’m not angry.” Huai Yu’s eyes glanced his way a few times, but he didn’t look at him directly. His steps slowed down as he emphasized, “I don’t mind.”

“Then, then that’s good, haha, thanks for your generosity….”

He was just about to liven up the atmosphere when someone suddenly bumped into him. Ming ChangYan retreated a few steps back and was caught by Huai Yu.

“Do you even know how to walk.”

Just as he said those words, a crowd up ahead suddenly broke out into a cheer, “Yes!!”

Ming ChangYan laughed and said, “Look, someone answered for me.”

He steadied himself, looking ahead he saw that on a viewing platform a group of Jianghu performers was putting on a show. Because Huating was holding the Fireworks Festival, a lot of outsiders from different parts of the country came to have a look. Every part of the city was bustling with excitement.

On the platform, first up was spitting fire, the second was splitting a rock on someone’s chest, then finally, it was swallowing a sword before using it to fight. After the end of each performance, a person would circle around the crowd with a rag hat. If the performance was good, then the hat would be filled with more money. If the performance was bad, even if everyone held onto their money, they wouldn’t accept it.

Ming ChangYan commented, “I’ve been in the palace for so long, I haven’t seen these sorts of performances in a while.”

It’s not like the palace didn’t have these kinds of performances, but the emperor liked beauties. He only liked to have a few good-looking girls go on a stage, then have them twist their hips a little and dance over and over again. That’s all they would do and after watching it so many times, he got tired of it. Ming ChangYan didn’t like seeing people dance, so he decided to squeeze into the crowd to take a closer look.

He barely moved when his collar was grabbed by Huai Yu.

“You’re not allowed to go.”

Ming ChangYan sighed, “I can’t do this, I can’t do that, then what can I do!”

Huai Yu humphed.

Just as he was looking around, a man in black jumped down from the roof.

To be exact, he didn’t really ‘jump down,’ but held onto a piece of white silk and gracefully made a few circles in mid-air before elegantly landing in the middle of the stage.

Ming shaoxia narrowed his eyes and felt a little uncomfortable.

“Who do you think he looks like?”

Huai Yu glanced at Ming ChangYan.

Ming ChangYan continued, “It seems like this is another Noble Gentleman. But this one’s got some guts, he knows perfectly well that Huating’s magistrate is over here arresting anyone who wears black, yet here he is flaunting it around. I guess he realized he’s lived too long.”

To sum what the Noble Gentleman wearing a bamboo hat black veil said on stage, he was going to show everyone a TianQing sword technique, but this technique of his was a spectacle too terrible to endure. The sword in his hands fell out of his hands twice, just looking at it made Ming shaoxia feel exasperated for the other’s failing.

Offstage, there were quite a few vendors set up peddlers selling millet pancakes. Ming ChangYan felt a little hungry, but he had just used his last two copper coins to buy tanghulu and now he was penniless. Plus, he’d only taken one bite of that tanghulu before it was taken away by Huai Yu. At a loss, he suddenly thought of something. He borrowed a nearby old man’s bamboo hat, tore off a piece of black gauze, and crudely sowed it onto the bamboo hat using the Moondrop Needle before putting it on his head.

In a split second, flowers covered the entire stage, the fragrance of the flowers spreading throughout the crowd causing everyone to cover their noses and sneeze. Immediately afterward, a black silhouette flew down onto the stage. Ming ChangYan was covered in flowers and grass, he had easily passed through a hundred or so tiny flowers. They used limited resources in order to create such an astonishing display. It even startled the Noble Gentleman on the stage to stumble back a step.

Ming shaoxia swatted his hands together and coughed.

The Noble Gentleman said, “Who are you!”

Ming ChangYan cupped his hands together, “I’m also a Noble Gentleman!”

The spectators looked at each other in dismay, when no one was able to respond, Ming shaoxia laughed and said, “My fellow countrymen, I am—the Noble Gentleman! Ming ChangYan! I passed your precious lands today and used up all my money. I’m in a tough position right now, so I have come up here to perform for everyone—”

The other Noble Gentleman thought: What does he want to perform? Ming ChangYan that guy only has two skills, one being the Moondrop Needle, and the other being the TianQing sword techniques. I’ve already performed the sword techniques and seeing as he doesn’t have a sword, don’t tell me he’s going to perform needlework?

Huai Yu was also somewhat curious and glimpsed at him a couple of times.

The Ming ChangYan on the stage drew in the audience’s attention, sitting down on a stool, he finished his speech, “The Noble Gentleman eating watermelon!”

“Everyone with money can come up to the front and those without money can borrow some to get a spot up front!”

Huai Yu, “…..”

The audience wasn’t buying and burst out in sighs, until one person said, “Hold up! Everyone think about it, what do you need to use when eating watermelon!”

A peddler in grey heard this, knowing the answer he quickly raised his hands, “I know I know!”

That person, “Dear brother please explain!”

The peddler in grey said, “Of course it’s with the mouth.”

The crowd was completely silent. The peddler in grey rubbed his chin, “What’s the matter? Am I wrong?”

That person swung his hand, “That’s true, but besides the mouth, you also have to use another object. Everyone look, what’s placed beside the watermelon?”

A person replied, “A watermelon knife!”

“That’s right. It’s a knife! Now I assume everyone here knows what the Noble Gentleman is an expert in using?”

When that peddler in grey heard this, his eyes brightened, he knew the answer to this one too, “I know, he’s an expert at being handsome!”

A person said, “Are you here to mess around?!”

“You keep cutting in. Good friend, don’t mind him, continue!”

That peddler was pushed around the crowd until he was squeezed outside. He sighed a few times before finally going outside the crowd.

The person from before continued, “As everyone knows, Ming ChangYan is an expert at using blades, and the Common People’s Order beside his waist is also a blade! And that watermelon knife is also a blade. Maybe he’s going to use the watermelon to show his knife skills!”

Everyone agreed with his words.

“You’re right, you’re right!”

“Well said, well said!”

“Makes sense, makes sense!”

With this, everyone looked up on stage with expectation, their gazes landing on Ming ChangYan, and how he would prepare this watermelon.

They saw him slowly pick up the watermelon knife using his left hand before slashing down with a loud ‘he,’ which made everyone’s hearts jump. Then with a ‘hiya’ he sliced down twice and cut the watermelon into four pieces.

After he finished, Ming ChangYan let out a sigh of relief, he sat upright and circulated some qi around. Picking up a slice of watermelon, he lifted his veil and slowly began eating it.

Everyone kept a fixed gaze on him in fear that they might miss some kind of knife technique.

So for a whole incense amount of time, the hundred or so people offstage looked under Ming ChangYan’s black veil. A red watermelon would go in, but only a green rind would come out. The black veil moved up and down until he had finished eating, it was only then when Ming shaoxia let out a satisfied sigh and cupped his hands together, “Thank you for your support, my performance has come to an end!”

It was then that the audience flared up.

This…this was just getting a monkey to perform tricks*! Even when teasing a monkey you at least give it a banana! All you did was have the monkey take a sniff of the banana with the peel on! Is this something a person could do?!

(TN: “耍猴”; To make fun of somebody, or to tease)

Sure enough, Ming shaoxia was worthy of the title Ming shaoxia. With that natural power of his that allows him to make anyone die from rage, no matter how many times he’s killed or where he is, he’s still just as infuriating as ever, even more so it seems!

He was being thrown watermelon rinds and cabbage all while jumping and dodging, crying out in the process, “Hold up! Wait, wait, wait, wait! Don’t hit people! Let’s be honest, my performance on watermelon eating wasn’t that bad! There are two Noble Gentlemen on the stage, why are you guys only hitting me! Unfair!”

Ming shaoxia pointed at the other Noble Gentleman, “If you want to hit someone, hit him too!”

When that Noble Gentleman heard this, he stopped his foot in anger, “Why hit me! Weren’t my TianQing sword techniques good!”

Ming shaoxia strongly argued, “Nonsense! You call that sword-play good? This shaoxia can do a better performance with his feet! Plus what I performed was the real Noble Gentleman eating watermelon, isn’t that better than you fooling everyone?”

That Noble Gentleman said, “Are you for real?!” He widened his eyes before he suddenly lowered his voice and scooted over, “Brother, everyone’s out here trying to make a living, we’re only here to get a bite to eat. Is there a need for you to intervene? On the account that we’re both impersonating Ming ChangYan, stop smashing my stage, I’ll split the money in half with you, how’s that?”

Suddenly, before Ming ChangYan could even reply, Huating officers had already surrounded the stage. The leading guard shouted, “Where’s the Noble Gentleman!”

Ming ChangYang laughed, “I didn’t go looking for them, but they sure came looking for me!”

He raised his hand, “I’m here, what can I do for you?”

The other Noble Gentleman quickly pulled off his veil to reveal a mediocre-looking face. He panicked, he hadn’t expected the officers would arrive so quickly. Seeing that the peer beside him didn’t fear death, he was both scared and alarmed, promptly crouching down to grab his things before running away.

The leading bodyguard exclaimed, “You’re looking for death! Seize him! The country’s lord is accompanied by the third prince today on a tour of Huating. Anyone who dares defy orders will be detained in jail until further notice!”

Ming ChangYan secretly thought: No wonder the officers arrived so fast, it wasn’t because someone reported it to authorities, but because of this shaoxia’s bad luck that he’d come here the same day as the emperor’s son!

Four guards pushed through to try and capture Ming ChangYan, but before they could even touch him, the four all simultaneously felt a sudden pain in their ankles and knelt on the ground.

Huai Yu coldly said, “What are you still standing there for.”

Ming ChangYan laughed and instantly flattered, “Thank you, Young Prime Minister, for saving my life! I will remember this for as long as I live!”

The guard’s expression changed as he yelled, “How dare you!”

At the same time, from afar came, “How dare you!”

It was the voice of a young girl.

The guard looked over and saw a young girl furiously walk over, with a stern-looking young man standing beside her. The country lord had a bend back as he was trying to curry favor behind her, and finally, behind them all was the third prince wearing a smile.

That girl was precisely A-Jun.

She declared, “Who do you think you are! How dare you speak to our country’s Prime Minister in such a tone!”

As soon as that guard noticed who was behind this girl, he could already guess the identity of this person. Thus he was so shocked that it made his legs go soft, causing him to kneel on the ground.

Trembling from head to toe, he was in such a state of panic he forgot how to properly form words, “I, I, I wasn’t talking to the Prime Minister, it was, it was to the Noble Gentleman! The Noble Gentleman! Yes! It was him!”

The guard suddenly raised his head as he pointed at Ming ChangYan, “It was him! He’s pretending to be the Noble Gentleman! I was yelling at him!”

When A-Jun heard this she was baffled as she reprimanded, “What Noble Gentleman?! What kind of logic do you as a servant have! You’re not allowed to yell at the Prime Minister, so it’s only natural that you can’t yell at his wife either!”

 

 

The author has something to say: I see no error in A-Jun’s logic! *throws everything on the floor*

The Young Prime Minister isn’t angry, the Young Prime Minister doesn’t mind, the Young Prime Minister just wants to calm down.

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any other repost is stolen, and if you steal my work I’ll wack you with my watermelon rind.

 

 

 

And the award for best misunderstanding goes to, you guessed it, this chapter!

Once again, I am posting that at 5 am in the morning with class tomorrow (༎ຶ⌑༎ຶ)

I so want to go on a break again, but then I guess I’ll wait till like chapter 100 or something. It’s just a lot of work translating a whole novel by yourself and you get really tired sometimes. Don’t worry, I have no plans to drop this translation, I’M GOING TO GO THROUGH IT TILL THE END!! Even if it’s a break, I think I’m literally just going to take a week or two off then come back.

If you see any grammatical/translation errors please notify me! I’m half-asleep right now.

Stay healthy my dudes.

 

 

 

Chapter 56 : Table of Contents : Chapter 58

Chapter 56: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 13

 

After Ming ChangYan finished his tea, he bid goodbye to Zhu LaoLiu.

Huai Yu paid for the tea and followed behind him.

Ming ChangYan, “From what I’ve seen, there are two ways of eradicating a sect. The first is the Thousand Needles Through the Neck, the second is to tie them up using a needle and thread and suspend them in midair until the person wastes away. Both methods are extremely cruel, but the former is the one I can’t do.”

Huai Yu, “You can’t do?”

Ming ChangYan said, “I can’t do. It’s because I don’t know how to put the needles in someone’s neck without them noticing. Then, as they begin to move around and struggle, the needles will start to slowly pierce through their throat, rolling and stirring in pain until they die.”

He suddenly turned around, “I didn’t know it before, but you reminded me. That night when that monk from XiaoHan Temple died from pain in that alley, you said something to me.”

Huai Yu’s footsteps paused.

Ming ChangYan had been concentrating on his analysis, but at Huai Yu’s pause, he couldn’t help but be taken back to when he had said ‘You kissed me?’ He had originally said it for laughs, something to bully Ming shaoxia with. But as luck would have it, a day later, the two had actually kissed on site. Ming shaoxia’s complexion changed, he felt that he could feel the other’s cold touch on his lips, as he continued walking, it felt like his feet were fluttering.

Huai Yu repeated the words he said that night, “Maybe when they put it in, he couldn’t feel the pain.”

His words brought Ming shaoxia’s train of thought back on track.

“Yup, precisely!” He said, “It’s because I don’t know how to put it in, I don’t know how to make someone temporarily lose their pain.”

Huai Yu muttered to himself before saying, “Medicine, or voice.”

Ming ChangYan’s eyes brightened, “That’s what I thought! Zhuang Xiao’s mother, after she was deemed Princess of DongYing, the sect that she was previously in—was an expert in controlling people’s hearts using voice manipulation. What’s more, she was able to cause hallucinations to them after singing for them, and thereby they wouldn’t be able to feel any stimulation from reality. This method of killing was undetectable. Because overuse could result in poisoning, the Central Plains martial circles classified it as a forbidden technique and that sect gradually declined.”

Huai Yu said, “DongYing evil arts.”

Ming ChangYan said, “Ai, now that’s wrong of you, Young Prime Minister. Just because you couldn’t beat them doesn’t make them inferior to others! Just because they classified it as a forbidden technique, it’s now called an evil art. Honesty, it’s a pity that I was born a bit later if I was born twenty years earlier, then I would’ve definitely wanted to experience this sect’s cultivation technique. Then maybe I could’ve even learned how to use this Thousand Needles Through the Throat.”

When Huai Yu heard this he raised his eyebrow, “Why would you want to learn that?”

Ming ChangYan said, “It’s not like I’ll actually learn it! Plus, I don’t need to learn it, I’ll just take a look.”

He liked all the different kinds of cultivation techniques out there in the world. So if there was one that he didn’t know, and someone else knew, he’d be anxious to learn it and try it out. Even now, although Ming shaoxia had already become number one in the world, he still felt envious at the other sect’s new techniques.

The reason why Ming ChangYan was so interested in these kinds of techniques is that the good majority of the sects within the Central Plain’s martial circles mainly use swords or blades. Moreover, even if someone brought eighteen weapons on them to battle, the two techniques that they would use were often their sect’s most powerful move. Unfortunately, these moves were very superficial, if it was shown or used once or twice on Ming shaoxia, then in just a few days he would’ve been able to completely memorize the other party’s move from memory. He would’ve even used the base of that technique to refine it even better than before. As a result, back then a good number of the sects hated the Noble Gentleman’s guts, all of it relating to him copying other people’s techniques.

He said, “The Central Plain’s techniques are just too easy to see through, I could use them after just watching it once, and use it even better than them. They harbored a grudge against me, so they started retaliating!”

Huai Yu said, “Then why don’t you repent instead of bullying others.”

Ming ChangYan smiled, “Nope. If their skills aren’t as good as yours then they deserve to be beaten. It’s not like I didn’t let them hit back, look at them, even after a decade their conduct’s still the same as ever. Once foreign techniques exceed their expectations, or if they can’t find a way to dispose of it, then they all start to expel this outsider and begin labeling it as an evil forbidden art. Even in the past, the cultivation in the Central Plains will forever be a way for social connections, they will always be satisfied with being sticks in the mud, what’s even the point of talking about progress?”

Huai Yu said, “Indeed.” Pausing, he asked, “Where do you want to go?”

Ming ChangYan was randomly walking together with him on the street, he said, “We’re going to go find Xiu LingLong. I need to find out a few things.”

LingLong Pavilion was located near a river in Huating, the further they went, the stronger the winds were. Ming ChangYan wasn’t wearing a lot and felt a bit cold, so he involuntarily leaned closer towards Huai Yu.

He said, “This river has no name, because it’s located near LingLong Pavilion the people here at Huating call it the LingLong river. On the fifteenth of each month, the LingLong river will have an antique event, right here.”

After that, Ming ChangYan paused his footsteps and pointed at his feet.

“This event is called the ‘Ghost Market,’ the people that come here don’t set up stalls, they’re either carrying a suitcase or holding a bag, and a good few directly place their items close to their bodies. If two people catch each other’s eyes, then they would put the item in their sleeves and let the other person stretch in to feel around. If they think it’s something that they would like, then they would discuss a good price on their cuffs. One hand hands over the money while the other hands over the goods, without any sort of regret whatsoever.”

“This Ghost Market is usually held during times when there’s thick fog. After they’re finished with their business transaction, the person would take a few steps forward before disappearing into the fog. If someone bought fake goods, they shouldn’t make it public, it’s your own fault for not having feeling in your hands and getting the wrong thing. Another option is to sell this fake again!”

Huai Yu said, “You’ve sold things here?”

Ming ChangYan shook his head, “What kind of treasures do I have to sell? I heard all of this from Xiu LingLong. She did too many dirty things in the past, it’s only because of them that she’s able to create such a bizarre thing as a Ghost Market. It’s just like gambling, making riches and misfortune only depends on one thought. And those troublesome treasures of hers were all washed away because of this.”

The two continued chatting as they walked before stopping at the ferry crossing near the river. Ming ChangYan grabbed out a transparent glass chopstick from Huai Yu’s robes and knocked a series of irregular beats on a large clock at the ferry crossing.

A ghostly boat slowly drifted its way over from the river.

Ming ChangYan said, “Let’s get on.”

On the surface of the river, the fog was even thicker.

Ming ChangYan jumped on the boat, the boat swayed a little on the water as they were hidden within the fog.

Ming ChangYan said, “Xiu LingLong lives on an isle in the middle of the river. Unless this boat leads the way, then no one will be able to find her. She’s done too many guilty things, the number of enemies that she has isn’t any less than me. The people who ogle at her money might even be more than the number of people who ogle at the Common People’s Order.”

Huai Yu asked, “What did you just knock?”

Ming ChangYan explained, “Secret code. When it’s time for the Ghost Market, the people there speak in code so that people who enter the market by mistake wouldn’t be able to buy anything. The code that I knocked just now was for the boatman, no more than ten people in this world know it. But now, you know it too!”

Huai Yu, “Xiu LingLong’s secret code?”

Ming ChangYan nodded, “That woman cherishes her life very much. It’s always been her coming to look for you, it’s almost impossible for you to look for her. Look, she’s even on guard against me. Look at the waters, we’ve clearly been here before, this boat has taken around in quite a few circles already, she’s afraid of me memorizing the route.”

Huai Yu commented, “The fog’s already so thick that you can’t see clearly, how could you remember the route?”

Ming ChangYan said, “That’s why I said she’s too cautious.”

Sure enough, the boat wandered around for about an hour before they finally saw an isle.

Docking by the harbor and getting onshore, the boatman led them forward before at last, a luxurious mansion appeared in front of them.

Ming ChangYan sighed, “A house made of gold and lamps made of pearl, only Xiu LingLong. Let’s go, she probably already knows I’m coming.”

Two extremely attractive young men opened the door for them, walking inside, all around them, whether it was holding a lamp or carrying a dish, they were all done by handsome and busy young men. Ming ChangYan followed along the corridor that led all the way into the main hall. There he saw Xiu LingLong waving her fan while laying on a chaise lounge, it seemed like she had been waiting for them for a long time.

“What kind of wind blew you here?”

Ming ChangYan said, “Skip the nonsense, I’m here to ask you a few questions.”

Xiu LingLong grinned as she sat up from her lounge, “Young Master ChangYan, when someone comes looking for me, who isn’t kneeling and sobbing, yet as soon as you come in you’re ordering this pavilion master around, such talent!”

Ming ChangYan said, “I have an even bigger talent. If you continue to ramble I’m going to rip out all the feathers from your fan.”

Xiu LingLong laughed even harder, she blew on her fan as her eyes slowly moved down before landing on Ming ChangYan, “Do you know, how many people in this world would dare speak this way to Xiu LingLong?”

Ming ChangYan smiled, “I must be one of them.”

Xiu LingLong burst out into loud laughter, after she was finished she gave Ming ChangYan a meaningful look, “You are the only one.”

She fanned herself twice, slowly saying, “Sometimes, I really want to kill you. But if I killed you, then this pavilion master would lose another fun friend.”

Ming ChangYan said, “You haven’t killed me yet. If you really consider me a friend, then you should get rid of everything from this world that has this shaoxia’s name on it.”

Xiu LingLong rebutted, “Take a seat. Little ChangYan, that name isn’t something that I want up, it’s the people’s choice. If I took your names off of them, then people will say that I’m acting with partiality and breaking laws of justice and only caring about my own personal relationships.”

As soon as Ming ChangYan sat down, two young men came in with tea, placing plates on the table along with refreshments, except that there was no wine.

He wasn’t in the mood for tea, and asked directly, “I want to see that piece of jade from that young master of the Zhuang family.”

The hand that was moving the fan stopped, smiling she said, “I don’t have it.”

Ming ChangYan said, “You don’t have it?”

Xiu LingLong said, “From your expression, it’s like I ought to have it or something. I’ve heard of that jade from the Zhuang family’s young master, but because of that fire years ago, who knows where that jade went. Besides, how old was I back then, how could I possibly have this piece of jade.”

Ming ChangYan stood up, “How old were you? Even now I still don’t know how old you are. It’s fine if you don’t have it, then let me ask again, did you know the madame of that villa?”

Xiu LingLong, “How am I supposed to know? Follow me and let’s take a look.”

Ming ChangYan turned around and said to Huai Yu, “Follow her.”

Huai Yu kept his composure and asked, “Are you very familiar with her?”

Ming ChangYan, “A decades worth of an ill-fated friendship, can’t count that as very familiar, just hoping that she’s not thinking about killing me the entire time. Let’s go.”

Xiu LingLong walked in a graceful manner, after passing by a few similarly built corridors, they went around a pond until finally arriving in front of a wooden door.

Pushing open the door, the inside was like a completely different world, filled with tens and thousands of files.

She began, “If I helped you search, what benefit would it gain me?”

Ming ChangYan opened his mouth and said, “I’ll issue you an IOU.”

Xiu LingLong smiled, “The amount of IOU’s that you’ve issued here would probably be enough to fill an entire river. When does Ming shaoxia plan on cashing that in?”

Ming ChangYan waved his hand, “No hurry, no hurry, it’ll still be late even after you’ve died.”

Xiu LingLong simply smiled, not saying anything. Walking in front of a table, she spread out a piece of paper and wrote the words ‘Huating villa’ on it. Ming ChangYan stopped her hand and suddenly said, “Hold up, help me look up someone else.”

Xiu LingLong said, “No harm in saying who.”

After a moment of hesitation, Ming ChangYan slowly said, “The previous dynasty’s crown prince, Nan Ye.”

Huai Yu was stunned, he looked up to glance at him.

Xiu LingLong finished writing and handed the two slips of paper to a young man waiting in front of the case files.

After the burn of an incense stick, they handed over a book. Xiu LingLong flipped through a few pages before throwing it to Ming ChangYan, “Everything about the Zhuang family is in here, I’ll lend you it, you can give it back later. As for the previous dynasty’s crown prince, I don’t dare to hide information about him.”

Ming ChangYan raised his brow, “I don’t believe you, you don’t have anything?”

Xiu LingLong used her fan to cover her face yet her gaze landed on Huai Yu.

Ming ChangYan thought: What’s she going to say that Huai Yu can’t even know?

He said, “He’s not a problem, just say it.”

Xiu LingLong said, “Then I can’t say.”

Ming ChangYan shared a look with Huai Yu, the latter walked out with a cold expression.

When he left, Ming ChangYan turned his head around and grumbled, “You’ve done me a lot of harm!”

Xiu LingLong smiled, “How have I harmed you?”

Ming shaoxia had no choice but to suffer in silence, he couldn’t tell her his hardships so he could only think: Isn’t it already bad enough?! That little brat was driven out by you, if he doesn’t act like a demon when I go back then this whole situation would be unfair!

The more he thought about it, the angrier he felt.

It took him days to coax him back, but now, and in just a day he’s back to his original form.

Ming ChangYan impatiently said, “Whatever you have to say, say it quick.”

Xiu LingLong narrowed her eyes and smiled, “What, with him you’re happy, but with me you’re miserable. Little ingrate, you’re here to ask me for help, yet you still dare to not show me face?”

Ming ChangYan asked, “Just what do you have to say that he can’t hear.”

Xiu LingLong said, “Let me ask you, why do you want to know about the affairs of the previous dynasty’s crown prince. You really think too highly of me, to secretly store information about the previous crown prince could get one beheaded.”

Ming ChangYan said, “It’s not like you haven’t done enough things for you to get beheaded, take it out.”

Xiu LingLong gazed at him before smiling again and taking a seat on the table, “I don’t have anything, but I do know a little about what happened behind the scenes, do you want to hear them?”

Ming ChangYan hesitated a little, “You can turn any truth that comes out of your mouth into a lie, I don’t really believe you.”

Xiu LingLong waved her fan, “You still ask even though you don’t believe me, then stop coming to ask me, I don’t want to say either.”

Ming ChangYan said, “Wait, it’s better if you just say it!”

Xiu LingLong smiled, “You asking about crown prince Nan Ye was nothing more than to ask about Princess HanZhu. I’ll tell you this, he and your mother were shixiong and shimei, Old Ji only accepted these two disciples in his entire lifetime, the two studied together at Egret Academy, that’s it.”

Ming ChangYan asked, “Then what?”

Xiu LingLong continued, “Then on the day of the blessings ceremony, the Zhao family’s first daughter, Zhao YiChan came to the palace to pay respects to the empress, crown prince Nan Ye fell in love with her at first sight, and the previous emperor arranged a marriage between them.”

Hearing this, Ming ChangYan was a bit startled and asked, “Zhao YiChan? Isn’t that….”

Xiu LingLong said, “That’s right, she’s the current empress. Otherwise, why do you think all the books related to crown prince Nan Ye were all completely destroyed? How did you think the emperor got his position in the first place? He grew up together with the Zhao family’s young lady, she was also born a heavenly beauty, her chams moved many. Naturally, the emperor adored her very much. Unfortunately, even a rabbit knows not to eat the grass by its burrow*, if the Zhao family’s young lady had reciprocated his feelings, then why did he wait again and again to confess? That day at the blessings ceremony, Zhao YiChan encountered the crown prince Nan Ye, when they met for the first time their hearts fluttered. The emperor failed to have her, so he murdered his brother and stole his wife. Wanting power, he seized the throne and along with it forcibly made Zhao family’s young lady his wife. During the ceremony celebrating his ascension to the throne, despite the official’s opposition, he made her the empress.”

(TN: Refers to someone purposely not trying to pursue someone they’re interested in, possibly because they didn’t feel the same way.)

Ming ChangYan asked, “What about the people who opposed?”

Xiu LingLong, “He’s the emperor now, it’s only natural that he has his ways. He was even able to successfully occupy the title of emperor, do you really think that he’s a man with no skill? Since then, who here would dare say a single ‘no’ to him. Even here at Xiu LingLong’s you’re not going to find even the smallest document in correspondence to the crown prince, let alone anywhere else. It’s better if you just give up now, plus you’re from Jianghu, why are you so interested in court affairs?”

Ming ChangYan said, “What about my mother? How were she and the crown prince?”

Xiu LingLong let out a laugh, “Your mother was both proud and aloof, she was as cold as ice, anyone within three meters of her would inevitably freeze into a popsicle. Her cultivation was high, she was a master of the Six Arts, didn’t like crowds, didn’t like talking, tall and indifferent, and no one was able to defeat her. Don’t tell me you actually believe those rumors about her? Do you really think that a girl like her could fall in love with anyone?”

Ming ChangYan sighed, “She really didn’t like talking.”

Xiu LingLong asked, “Just what did you hear for you to come ask me about this?”

He knocked on the table but didn’t reply.

Xiu LingLong extended her hand and looked at her newly applied nail polish, her expression changed and she ambiguously asked, “Did you quarrel with the Young Prime Minister?”

Ming ChangYan looked up from his disordered thoughts, “What?”

Xiu LingLong sighed, changing the subject she pretended to be aggrieved, “Everything was going well last time, what made you two quarrel like this.”

Ming ChangYan felt very weird from her questioning, replying, “What does this have anything to do with you?”

Xiu LingLong opened her fan to cover her face as she giggled. Suddenly, she closed her fan again, “I’ll stop talking nonsense to you, you should be careful, a large part of the sects that you destroyed back in the day were old friends of the Zhuang family.”

Ming ChangYan said, “Old friend? Why were they old friends?”

Xiu LingLong said, “I’ve already told you all I know, everything else you’re going to have to investigate yourself. However, there are some harsh words I’m going to have to say first. I can tell that you’ve recovered a bit of your cultivation, but it’s not by any means the level you were in the past, it’s actually a lot less. I don’t know what method you used to achieve this, but the Great FengShan feast will be at the end of the year, the Common People’s Order will once again recognize a new master, you must be careful. If that blade isn’t in your hands, then it’s going to set off a rain of blood all across Jianghu.”

Ming ChangYan responded, “I know.”

Xiu LingLong continued, “I’m counting on you this year, give a good performance.”

Ming ChangYan said, “…..I know!”

After he finished, he originally planned to head straight out the door. But for some reason, he suddenly stopped his footsteps.

Xiu LingLong said, “What? Do you want me to reminisce about the good times, this pavilion master’s time is very precious.”

After hesitating over and over again, Ming ChangYan faltered out a few words, “I want to ask you a question.”

Xiu LingLong raised her eyebrow, “Ask away.”

He was silent again for a long time, but this time he grabbed a cup of tea on the table and drained it.

Finishing, Ming shaoxia looked death calmly in the face as he stammered to ask, “I have a friend, he was kissed by someone, but afterwards the two acted like nothing had ever happened, what do you think his intentions were?”

After saying that, he felt that it wasn’t quite right so he added, “I’m talking about the other party’s intentions, not the intentions of this friend.”

Xiu LingLong was alarmed, her eyes widened as they shined, she raised her voice, “YOU WERE KISSED BY THE YOUNG PRIME MINISTER?!”

Ming ChangYan’s entire face was steaming red, he nervously looked around outside before warning, “Don’t say nonsense! It’s a friend of mine, not me!”

Xiu LingLong supported her forehead and completely ignored his explanation while she slowly sat down, “I can’t believe it, if I was to leak this out, no one would believe me, they’ll view my LingLong Pavilion as some sort of Jianghu con-man. Amitabha, you were really kissed by him?”

Ming ChangYan turned angry from embarrassment, “I already said that they’re a friend of mine, forget it, there’s no point in telling you. It’s only because I was muddle-headed that I came to find you, no wait, I meant my friend was muddle-headed. Just, just pretend that you didn’t hear anything! I’m leaving!”

Walking toward the door, he kicked it open, full of shame and anger he cried, “Outrageous!”

Following which he began harshly criticizing himself: Idiot, idiot! You’re so stupid! You actually came to consult Xiu LingLong about this, you were unlucky to open that damn door, you’re completely out of luck! You’ve done it now, there’s now a third person who knows about this, how do you plan on ending this one!

Ming shaoxia felt so regretful that he didn’t bother to look at the path in front of him, his head bumping against Huai Yu’s back.

He raised his head and fell into Huai Yu’s eyes.

 

The author has something to say: It’s the legendary series called ‘I have a friend that is me’!

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my translations then I’m selling you botched goods.

 

 

 

New chapter new day my friends. Longer chapters = more suffering from me.

I am once again at a loss on what to really say, so uuuhhh yeah Huai Yu is really adorable and I should probably update my character guild thingy but I’m too lazy cause it’s like 1 am. Okay, cue credits.

If you see any grammatical/translation errors please tell me! I’m the only one translating and editing this so I’m not really that much of a professional.

Have a great day |∀･)ジ

 

 

 

Chapter 55 : Table of Contents : Chapter 57

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

Chapter 54: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 11

 

 

Ming shaoxia was unconscious for two days.

But in reality, he woke up in the evening of the second day. However the moment he woke up, he was faced with two problems. First, is that he still hadn’t figured out how to face Huai Yu, that little demon, to actually keep staying here like nothing happened! The second is that he was actually knocked unconscious by a little kid! Way too embarrassing!

Ming shaoxia had lived for more than twenty years, and he had never encountered such a thing before. His mind was a mess, constantly cutting and turning into disorder. Every time he tried to comfort himself about getting kissed by a child and mentally prepared himself to sit up, his mind would unconsciously replay that scene again, from the feel on his lips to how close Huai Yu’s face was to his. It was like it had been branded in his brain, it couldn’t be shaken off, making him want to hit himself on the head with a hammer and force himself to lose his memory.

And just like that, he laid there like a corpse till noon, until Huai Yu finally asked, “How long do you intend to continue sleeping.”

Hearing this, Ming ChangYan knew that his guise had been seen through.

He simply stopped the act, opened his eyes, and sat up from the bed. Huai Yu was currently sitting at the edge of the window, looking out.

Ming shaoxia’s gaze fell straight on the bed curtain in front of him, he didn’t dare to look at Huai Yu’s face.

Inside the room, the silence spread.

Ming shaoxia’s inners were in torment and were itching to quickly say a few words to ease up the awkward atmosphere, but whatever he might say would just make the atmosphere more awkward.

He thought: I can’t be blamed for this, it’s not me who kissed first.

At this moment, there was a sudden noise at the door.

“Yan-jiejie! Yan-jiejie!”

Ming ChangYan was surprised, “XiaoLan?”

He rolled out of bed and made his way towards the door. Huai Yu raised his head to glance at him and lightly tapped his forefinger against the table.

Ming ChangYan pulled open the door, “XiaoLan!”

Zhao XiaoLan turned around from the end of the corridor, opening his fan he was pleasantly surprised, “Yan-jiejie! You really are here!”

Ming ChangYan smiled, “How did you know I was here?”

Zhao XiaoLan quickly ran over, “Huai Yu-gege didn’t return from the Ninety-Nineth Temple, I went there to look for you, but he didn’t come back so I knew that you wouldn’t be there either. It can be presumed that if Huai Yu-gege wasn’t staying at the Ninety-Nineth Temple, then he would be staying at an inn. There are only about ten or so inns around the area, you just have to ask around. I just saw Huai Yu-gege beside the window so I wondered if you were there too, so I came up to take a look and low and behold, after two shouts, I saw you!”

Ming ChangYan laughed. It seems like Huai Yu had also noticed the Zhao XiaoLan downstairs and waited for the right moment to wake him up.

Zhao XiaoLan inquired, “Is Huai Yu-gege here?”

Ming ChangYan opened the door for him, “You came just in time, he’s also here.”

When Zhao XiaoLan entered, he brought with him a lively and innocent aura that scattered the original atmosphere of the room.

“Huai Yu-gege!”

For the first time, even Huai Yu gave him a glance and nodded his head.

Ming ChangYan asked, “Why were you looking for me?”

Zhao XiaoLan drank a cup of tea and said, “I’ll be going to Huating to watch the Fireworks Festival in a bit. Yan-jiejie, do you know what the Fireworks Festival is?”

Ming ChangYan said, “What is it?”

Zhao XiaoLan, “It’s something that’s really pretty! When compared to the Flower Viewing Festival, it can’t be outdone! It’s mainly because the fireworks in Huating are really beautiful, It’s only once a year in May, if we miss it then we’d have to wait till next year!”

Ming ChangYan said, “Then let’s go see it next year!”

Zhao XiaoLan’s eyes wavered for a bit, “I, I want to see this year’s.”

Ming ChangYan raised his eyebrows, “Tell me honestly.”

Zhao XiaoLan glanced at Huai Yu before he suddenly grabbed the lower hem of Ming ChangYan’s robes and stealthily pulled him to the side.

“Maiden Li Li is also going to the Fireworks Festival, I want to go see her.”

It was just then that Ming shaoxia finally realized it. The number one beauty in the world, Maiden Li Li, was a playing card within the martial circles. At the age of fifteen, she became well-known to the world for dancing the《Peacock Flying Southeast》. Whenever a large sect would hold a large banquet or some kind of popular festival, they had always loved to invite her. Even if she wasn’t dancing, she was pretty just staying here.

Ming ChangYan smiled, “You’re still not giving up?”

“I still haven’t apologized yet for last time! I have to meet up with her and properly say I’m sorry!”

Ming ChangYan rubbed his nose and glanced at Huai Yu with a guilty conscience. He didn’t expect the thing that he’d been striving for, for the past few days, to just deliver itself to his door. He said, “Alright, I’ll accompany you. You’re gonna owe me another one.”

At this point, Zhao XiaoLan nervously said, “Right! Yan-jiejie, that night you went to the brothel, afterwards….what did Huai Yu-gege say?”

That day, he got drunk and was carried away by Zhu Rong, he woke up with a splitting headache and couldn’t remember a thing. Naturally, he didn’t know in the end, where Ming ChangYan had ran off to. But seeing that the two were currently together, Zhao XiaoLan was quick to guess that Ming ChangYan definitely ran into Huai Yu that night.

He was already feeling guilty about bringing Ming ChangYan along to a brothel, but now that he was caught by Huai Yu, he was beginning to feel even more guilty.

But seeing that the other hadn’t been treated in an inhuman fashion, Zhao XiaoLan’s guilty conscience eased up a lot.

Ming ChangYan said, “He didn’t say anything. Why is a child asking so much about the affairs of us adults?”

This time, Huai Yu lowered his teacup, and began, “If you’re going to Huating, then I must accompany you.”

Ming ChangYan was slightly taken back, “Didn’t you say you didn’t want to go?”

Huai Yu, “Humph.”

Ming ChangYan choked, then smiled, “Alright, these are your own words, you’ve already agreed to go, so don’t try to blame it on me afterward.”

Huai Yu didn’t reply. After lunch passed and they finished eating, Ming ChangYan changed into a new set of clothes while also packing some extra just in case, his mood was very good.

Ming ChangYan thought that there would only be Huai Yu, him, and Zhao XiaoLan. But who would’ve known that when it was time to depart, Zhao XiaoLan had also brought Zhu Rong along with them.

Cupping his hands half-heartedly, Ming shaoxia counted it as a greeting. The four each had a horse and after seven days, they quickly arrived at Huating.

Zhao XiaoLan this person wasn’t very adept at riding horses, apart from that he had been pampered since childhood and refused to acknowledge his faults. After he couldn’t ride any longer, he had run up to ride with Zhu Rong’s horse, in order to slack off for a bit. Along the way, if it wasn’t his legs hurting, then it was his butt, and he never stopped chatting once during the entire trip. After they arrived at Huating, he immediately found a first-class inn and asked for three rooms.

Ming ChangYan asked, “Hold up, three rooms? XiaoLan, are you sleeping with your friend?”

Zhao XiaoLan was surprised, “No. One for me, one for Zhu Rong, and one for you and Huai Yu-gege.”

Ming ChangYan said, “Why am I sharing a room with him?”

Zhao XiaoLan was utterly astonished, looking back and forth between Ming ChangYan and Huai Yu before staring blankly at him. Ming shaoxia felt very uncomfortable with Zhao XiaoLan’s gaze on him. Eventually, Zhao XiaoLan turned around and said to the owner, “I want four rooms.”

After hearing him ask for four rooms, Ming ChangYan still didn’t feel particularly comfortable. Especially when he opened the door and entered his room, he didn’t exchange a single word with Huai Yu, causing the distress in his heart to sky-rocket.

After separating the two, Zhao XiaoLan separately concluded to Zhu Rong, “It seems like Yan-jiejie and Huai Yu-gege got into a quarrel, Ming shaoxia’s book said that in times like these, it’s best to let the other party figure it out themselves, it’s no good if us outsiders try to interfere.” After a pause, he suddenly realized that they might’ve quarreled because he had brought Yan-jiejie to a brothel, and for a moment he was dumbstruck.

In the afternoon when Ming ChangYan came downstairs, Zhao XiaoLan was unexpectedly sitting behind the second floor’s private room, beckoning him through a bead curtain.

Ming ChangYan walked over and saw that the other was sitting inside with Huai Yu at the other end.

Zhao XiaoLan said, “Yan-jiejie, you came just in time, we were just getting ready to listen to a storytelling.”

Ming ChangYan pretended to nonchalantly walk inside, picking a spot that wasn’t too for nor too close to where Huai Yu was to sit down, “Which story?”

Zhao XiaoLan, “It’s Old Qin who’s telling the story, they were invited by XiaoHan Temple.”

Ming ChangYan, “Old Qin?”

Zhao XiaoLan explained, “Oh! Yan-jiejie, you don’t know, but he’s a very famous storyteller within Jianghu. But I don’t like him very much, in a bit when he starts his story, I’m going to give him a ‘boo.’”

Ming ChangYan smiled, “XiaoLan, you’re really childish.”

Zhao XiaoLan sat up straight as if preparing himself to start booing.

Ming ChangYan knew why Zhao XiaoLan hated Old Qin so much. No one knows why, but this Old Qin gained notoriety because of their deep hatred of the Noble Gentleman, Ming ChangYan. Back then when Ming ChangYan died from falling into the Yanbo River, the seventh day hadn’t even passed yet when this Old Qin arrived at WangHu Tower, and for twelve hours a day, he would tell thirteen of those stories all regarding him. Most of them were about the romantic affairs that the Noble Gentleman had with women A, B, and C. Among them he even added mentions of him committing adultery, plundering, and doing nothing but evil, so vulgar and lascivious that it was almost offensive to the ear.

Ming shaoxia’s heard these numerous times and knows that this is the only trick that Old Qin had up his sleeve. Plus, with him coming every few days to tell the same stories, it provoked annoyance from the people.

Observing the area, he noticed that his inn was built in a rather unique way. They had taken the foundations from how the capital built their courtyards and built it in the shape of a square, with a terrace in the middle and a lotus pond around it. Three sides were surrounded by the water while the other side faced a wall, the terrace was embedded in the middle of the lotus pond and those who were performing or storytelling all came out from behind the wall. The had been hollowed out, directly connecting to a small courtyard out back where all the singers were residing.

Offstage was jam-packed with guests. The audience was filled with elders, among them, there were those selling shaobing and youtiao’s, snacking on melon seeds, and those carrying poles shuffling back and forth. The storytelling hadn’t even begun yet but it was already bustling with noise. One had to lean close to even talk to someone and be heard.

When Ming ChangYan arrived, Zhao XiaoLan had already eaten quite a few melon seeds.

A few of the melon seed shells were piled on top of the table. Needless to say, in just a few moments, a servant girl in red with her hair pulled up into two topknots came over to tidy up Zhao XiaoLan’s table, her face flushed.

Ming ChangYan absent-mindedly ate a few melon seeds, shooting a glance at Huai Yu but didn’t know what he was doing, what he was thinking, his expression completely ice cold, making one feel a certain fear in their heart. Yet Ming shaoxia wasn’t that afraid of him, not only was he not afraid, he was thinking at this moment on how to find a chance to talk to him.

During these past few days, even though the two were traveling together, Huai Yu hadn’t said a single word to him, as if he had offended him. Ming shaoxia tried, again and again, to converse with him, to the point that he was almost nit-picking, but every time he was always skillfully deflected by the other. No matter how good his temper was, after getting this sort of cold-shoulder treatment, his chest never really dispersed that uncomfort.

Ming ChangYan was sadly crying in his heart, thinking: It was clearly him who kissed me, even I didn’t think too much about it, but like he’s so much better, with his little missy attitude and acting like I was the one who sullied him!

But thinking again, he once again actively admitted his mistake: It was my fault for wanting to feed him sedatives, but no matter how bad it was he can’t still be angry, I was already kissed by him what more does he want?

The more he thought about it, the less convinced he was.

Ming shaoxia viciously peeled some peanuts, he didn’t eat any of them, but the pile of shelled peanuts on the table were stacked as tall as Mount. Tai.

After a quarter-hour, an old man came out from behind the stage. Stretching his voice he began announcing the items on the program, everyone listened in. For today, the opera will perform first then the storyteller.

The old man stated that the title of the play was called:《The Deeds and Test of Coquetry of a Hero》

Just from the title alone, he could tell that it would be an entertaining romance story, ones that Ming shaoxia loves the most.

Just then, Zhu Rong lifted the bead curtain and stooped in.

Zhao XiaoLan said, “It’s good that you caught up, if you were a moment later you would’ve missed it!”

Zhu Rong faintly smiled and sat down beside him.

On the stage a loud clang was heard, indicating that the play was beginning.

Originally, Ming ChangYan was very enthusiastic as he watched the play, but the longer he watched the more he noticed that something was a bit off. The main protagonist in the play had a black veil covering his face, a blade on his waist, and was acting chivalrous, his appearance was exceptionally familiar. And at this moment, he was currently conversing back and forth with a woman.

The narrator sang: A handsome shaoxia, a beautiful woman. One wears black, one wears red. The two using the cold moonlight as their lantern, their soft voices speaking tender words, their lingering sentiments!

The female performer sang: The joyous nights are too short, the loneliness too long!

Ming ChangYan sensed that something was amiss.

The narrator continued: These pair of mandarin ducks start from anew, passing the Ghost needle onto them!*

(TN: A pair of mandarin ducks are lifelong couples and are meant to symbolize a loving relationship. The rest of what he said didn’t make sense so I just whatevered it.)

The hairs on Ming shaoxia’s back stood up.

The female performer fell into that shaoxia’s embrace, her voice a myriad of emotions as she softly called out, “Ming-lang….”

Zhao XiaoLan suddenly stood up, “Amazing!!”

He cupped his mouth and shouted.

With the first cheer out, ten thousand more chimed in.

The applause came in like a tidal wave.

Ming ChangYan’s expression was one lacking in confidence. He covertly stole a glance at Huai Yu but saw that the other was expressionless.

This play seems to be one about the Noble Gentleman and his numerous entanglements with women in Jianghu. He became famous at a young age, so it was only natural that he knew many of Jianghu’s beauties, but most of them had been simple friendships. Furthermore, if they met once, there was a very rare chance that they would meet again, in total, the conversations he would have with them wouldn’t even surpass four sentences. But the stories about heroes and beauties will forever be loved by the common people. The Noble Gentleman was number one in the world along with being outstanding in his field, he was fully deserving of the mindless worship from the majority of the common people. As a result, this gave rise to various arrangements and assumptions of his personal relationships.

Xiu LingLong would never slip past anything that could earn her money, ever since she made a name for herself, these kinds of plays have never stopped airing. Ming ChangYan leaned his head to the side and sure enough, at the doorway to this inn was LingLong Pavillion’s banner. This inn was an estate under Xiu LingLong.

If he had seen this play in the past, he would’ve felt good about himself since it shone a good reputation on him. After all, who wouldn’t like the feeling of being surrounded by numerous beauties? But now, Ming shaoxia didn’t know why but he felt out of sorts like he was sitting on a stool full of needles.

Zhao XiaoLan was completely unaware of Ming ChangYan’s abnormality and was extremely excited as he continued to watch the play. After he sat down, his passion never left him as he grabbed Ming ChangYan and said, “Yan-jiejie, it’s pretty good right! I knew that they were going to perform this one today so I brought you guys to come see it!”

“Ming shaoxia’s so cool! Back then it wasn’t just this girl, wherever he went or whatever he did, who didn’t like him! Lin’an’s head magistrate’s daughter was completely infatuated with Ming shaoxia! She had only caught a glance of him but at that moment she swore that she wouldn’t marry anyone but him for the rest of her life!”

After saying that, he said with admiration, “He’s number one in the world after all, it’s only natural that he reached this level. I seriously respect him! I want to become a great shaoxia just like him one day!”

Zhu Rong wore what Ming ChangYan felt like was an extremely fake smile and said, “I heard that he never showed his face, I think it’s probably because that black veil was so exquisitely made that it captivated anyone who saw it.”

Ming ChangYan said, “There’s no such thing!’

This time, he sat closer to Huai Yu. The peanuts that he peeled earlier were also pushed in front of Huai Yu, “They’re just randomly arranged by Xiu LingLong, don’t believe them.”

Huai Yu coldly said, “What does this have to do with me.”

Ming ChangYan was finally able to talk to him, so he promptly replied, “Ok ok ok, it doesn’t have anything to do with you, it has everything to do with me. But I’ve never done these sorts of things before, I swear!”

To think that in the past, he used to praise these plays Xiu LingLong created about him as being brilliant. But nowadays he just wants to dig a hole and plunge into it, before burying himself in it and never coming back out.

Huai Yu ate one of the peanuts, he didn’t say anything, but his complexion wasn’t very good.

Fortunately, this play didn’t last long. It wasn’t long before the old man from before came on stage again.

After he withdrew, Old Qin came in late.

When Ming ChangYan saw him, he couldn’t help but scoff.

Old Qin wore a gray robe and a goatee on his chin. Slapping his palm on the wood he announced in a loud voice, “Gentlemen, today I will be talking about the political marriage of the previous dynasty’s Princess HanZhu!”

Ming ChangYan’s paused for a bit before returning to normal.

Princess HanZhu’s marriage with a major event during the previous dynasty.

Back then, the previous emperor was incompetent, various countries were attentively keeping an eye on him and planning a revolt. Thus he took the daughter of Prime Minister Qin and granted her the title of Princess HanZhu before sending her off to Tokhara to make peace with marriage. Soon after, he sent women one after another to each and every country, but among them, only Princess HanZhu was the most well-known.

And among them, there were numerous rumors spreading around about her.

Old Qin stroked his beard and said, “The daughter of Qin Xiang was called Qin Zhen, her temper cold and indifferent, proud and virtuous. She never spared even half a sentence with others. Her austerity was like that of a snow crystal, it made people feel fear and a chill in their heart.”

Hearing this, Zhao XiaoLan said, “Was Princess HanZhu really that indifferent?”

Ming ChangYan said, “What do you think?”

Zhao XiaoLan said, “I’ve heard someone mention her before, she was rumored to have mastered the four arts, proficient, talented in both literacy and martial arts, no one was able to obstruct her. She was a natural-born prodigy, but it’s a pity….”

Old Qin slapped the wood again, startling the crowd, saying, “It’s a pity that she was born a woman! No matter how outstanding that Qin Zhen was back then, in the end, she was never able to escape from court tactics and was reduced to a good being traded between the countries.”

Ming ChangYan coldly sneered.

Beneath the platform, a person exclaimed, “I know!”

The people around him asked, “What do you know?”

That person, “She pulled out the Common People’s Order!”

 

The author has something to say:

Back then little Ming wasn’t well-liked within the martial circles, but he was actually regarded as a legendary hero among the common people. It’s just that he never understood why people didn’t like hearing his stories on chivalry but loved to hear stories about his romantic life.

The lines that were sung by the performers were all references taken from “The Gallant Maid.”

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work I’ll drown you in peanut shells.

 

 

 

Not sure what to put here today. Uuuhhhh….do you guys want a translation on each of the main character’s names? No? I’ll do it anyway.

Ming ChangYan (明长宴): Ming – clear, bright; Chang – long, forever; Yan – feast, banquet

Huai Yu (怀瑜): Huai – is a surname, can mean bosom, yearn for; Yu – gem, luster of gems/virtue

I’ll only do the main characters for now cause I need to eat dinner and I’m hungry.

Have a great day!

 

 

 

Chapter 53 : Table of Contents : Chapter 55

Chapter 53: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 10

 

 

 

Later in the middle of the night, Ming ChangYan didn’t know when he fell asleep.

When he woke up, Huai Yu had already finished reading the book.

Just as expected, he stayed beside his bed all night.

The moment Ming ChangYan opened his eyes, the first thing he said was, “I want to take a trip to Huating.”

And the first thing that Huai Yu replied to him was, “No.”

Just like last night.

Seeing that he wouldn’t listen to him, Ming ChangYan got out of bed and prepared to get dressed. In the end, it was already morning yet rain still hadn’t stopped, the pitter-patter of raindrops never coming to an end. The clothes that were hanging on the rack still hadn’t dried even after leaving them out for the entire night. Leaning for a sniff, there was even a moldy, scent of rain, extremely smelly.

In short, Ming ChangYan wouldn’t wear those clothes no matter what.

But it’s not like he could just wear a set of inner robes and wander around everywhere, so when breakfast was brought into the room, Ming shaoxia stated his demand, “I want a set of clothes, but I don’t have the money.”

Huai Yu said, “You’re not going out anyway, what’s the point of wearing clothes.”

Ming ChangYan smiled, “What do you mean I’m not going out? I already told you, I need to take a trip to the old site of the Huating villa.”

Huai Yu set down his chopsticks and said without a doubt, “And I’ve also told you, I forbid it.”

It was only at this point that Ming ChangYan finally realized why Huai Yu’s “forbid it” was “forbidden.”

He was startled, “Did you not sleep last night, because you were afraid I would run away in the middle of the night?”

Huai Yu couldn’t deny it.

Ming ChangYan’s eyes slightly widened, “Young Prime Minister, this is called imprisonment! House arrest! This is breaking the laws of the Central Plains!”

Huai Yu directly ignored him. Sitting on the bed, he picked up a new book and began reading.

Ming ChangYan pulled the book away, “Stop looking at the book, look at me! Look at this shaoxia!”

Huai Yu said, “What’s so good about looking at you.”

Ming ChangYan expressed, “Aren’t I prettier than this book?”

He then said, “I don’t have the time to talk about this, give me the clothes, I’m going out.”

Huai Yu humphed, “No. If you have the skill then you can run out naked.”

Ming ChangYan said, “Stop, let me emphasize that I’m not completely naked, I still have my inner robes.”

He suddenly halted before turning around and making a mad dash towards the clothes rack. Huai Yu reacted a step before him; extending his leg, he kicked the chair and hindered Ming ChangYan’s steps. Immediately after, he condensed a stream of spiritual energy in his palm and destroyed the clothes hanging on the rack.

Ming ChangYan exclaimed, “You!”

Huai Yu calmly raised his teacup, blew into it, and slowly took a sip.

After he finished drinking, he said, “Then you can go out in your inner robes.”

Ming ChangYan was angered to the point of laughter by his arrogant and overbearing actions. He walked a few circles around the room before ultimately sitting on the bed and thinking: I don’t believe that he has the ability to keep an eye on me for that long!

Sure enough, after not sleeping for an entire night, Huai Yu wasn’t a god, of course it’d be difficult to endure. After reading for a while, he began to feel very sleepy.

Ming ChangYan was waiting for him to go to sleep, seeing that his plan was close to success, he didn’t try to hide his victory, beaming as he looked at Huai Yu.

“Young Prime Minister, if you’re tired, you should have nice rest.”

With that, he immediately stood up and set aside a space in bed for Huai Yu.

Huai Yu snorted before abruptly hitting two of his acupuncture points. Ming ChangYan instantly stopped moving.

He shouted, “Huai Yu!”

Huai Yu acted like he couldn’t hear and put him in front of a mirror, to have him face himself who was stuck in this odd position. He himself walked towards the bed as if planning to take a rest. Ming ChangYan truly couldn’t understand what kind of wicked taste Huai Yu had, only thinking that he felt stupid and embarrassed. He quickly yelled, “Hey! You little brat, you’re just going to leave me here?”

Huai Yu ignored him, Ming ChangYan swiftly added, “This won’t do, this position’s too uncomfortable, ouch, I can’t take it anymore, the poison in my body is going to flare up in advance.” Hearing this, Huai Yu changed his mind and went back to feel his pulse before picking him up and placing him on the inner section of the bed, himself laying on the outer section. When Ming ChangYan laid down, he thought: What’s going on, I was just saying it was uncomfortable, don’t tell me there’s actually a problem?

“Huai Yu-gege, could you undo my acupoint? If not then I’d have the impulse to talk to you and wouldn’t that be too noisy for you to fall asleep?”

Huai Yu said, “Shut up, I’m tired.”

Ming ChangYan, “You’re tired, yet you stayed up all night?!”

Huai Yu stopped talking.

Even though Ming ChangYan said that if the other fell asleep, he would be so noisy that he couldn’t have a proper sleep. But in reality, the moment Huai Yu closed his eyes, Ming ChangYan stopped talking.

He didn’t say it, but he was thinking about how to get out of this room.

It was impossible to use force. His cultivation compared to Huai Yu could be compared to an arm trying to wring a thigh.

What’s more, he was currently suspecting whether this little brat has some sort of secret technique to be able to accurately locate him every time, there must be a cheat code! Even if he was to slip away, he has to have enough time to slip away.

But it’s not impossible to not go, he could hide behind Huai Yu for a while, it’s possible he could stay in the Ninety-Ninth Temple for a lifetime and never face reality again, right?

Of course not.

He thought to himself: First, it was a dead body in an alley, then it was another dead body in another alley. XiaoHan Temple made countless enemies in these past few years, if there really is someone who wants to kill them, then there’s no ground for blame. But there are thousands of ways to kill someone, why are they using the Thousand Needles Through the Throat?

Ming ChangYan sighed.

Although he was hit in the acupuncture point, he didn’t feel sore as he laid in bed.

Ming shaoxia didn’t just stay lying down, he moved around his spiritual energy, preparing to break through the acupuncture point and then seize the opportunity to secretly slip away.

He laid down for a while when at this moment, the door bolt moved.

A waiter poked their head inside.

His eyes scanned the room before he finally noticed the two people lying on the bed.

Presumably, the waiter came up to ask if the two wanted lunch served, but seeing that the two were both asleep, he threw the cleaning rag over his shoulder and raised his foot preparing to leave.

Ming ChangYan’s eyes were blazing, how could he allow him to just leave! He coughed softly, trying not to make too much of a commotion, his heart fearful as he simultaneously glanced at Huai Yu.

Still asleep.

Ming shaoxia let out a breath of relief. He was fortunate that the waiter was quick-witted, his footsteps light as he walked towards the bed and caught sight of Ming ChangYan lying on the inner part of the bed.

The waiter’s expression suddenly turned indescribable.

After all, anyone who sees two men lying on the same bed like this is unlikely to show a normal expression.

Ming ChangYan was aware of this fact but he didn’t have enough time to explain. He mouthed: Help me with something.

The waiter swallowed his saliva and took a glance at Huai Yu.

He also mouthed something, but unfortunately, the waiter’s common dialect wasn’t very precise and his accent was quite heavy. Even if Ming shaoxia tried his best to identify it, he still couldn’t understand what he said.

The waiter tried mouthing something then using gestures, after a long time of struggling, he turned around and found a set of pen and paper. He wrote a few lopsided characters before spreading out the paper and showing it to Ming shaoxia.

Ming shaoxia looked at it, it wrote: Young Master, even if you two like playing like this, don’t forget to pay attention to your body!

Ming ChangYan thought: What ‘playing like this’? Why can’t this waiter get the point?

He quickly expressed: Help me! There’ll be a great reward!

The waiter’s eyes brightened, writing: Young Master, if you have any commands, don’t hesitate to say!

Ming ChangYan replied: Help me buy some sedatives.

The waiter was both frightened and alarmed, his eyes widened into circles. He advised: Young Master, you’re already like this, why are you trying to do this kind of high-level play?

Ming ChangYan felt like they weren’t understanding each other at all. Not to mention the words written by the waiter, although they were a bit on the ugly side, he was still able to recognize every character. But when they were put together, Ming shaoxia couldn’t fathom the mystery behind it. He was both anxious and worried, his spiritual energy was in such disarray that it went as far as to undo the acupuncture point.

Ming shaoxia’s right hand twitched and he slightly lifted it.

He was overjoyed and promptly mouthed: I’ll give you gold, just help me buy the medicine. If anyone tries to investigate the matter, I’ll take full responsibility!

The waiter was in a dilemma. Without waiting for his reply, Ming ChangYan moved his right arm and reached out to grope around Huai Yu’s chest.

Whenever he saw him take out those tiny golden beads, it was always from here. Ming ChangYan didn’t see Huai Yu change clothes last night, so it could be assumed that the money pouch must be here.

Ming shaoxia didn’t dare to move too much. He was afraid that he would disturb Huai Yu and wake him up, then catch him red-handed stealing from him.

As a result, the hand that was quietly reaching into his chest acted like a boneless wisp of smoke, which gently stirred and groped around. Ming shaoxia held his breath and concentrated on trying to find the pouch.

The waiter was trembling in fear as he watched him grope around for a long time, his palms starting to become sweaty for him.

Good things come to those who wait, Ming ChangYan moved his hand like he was touching a fine piece of porcelain until he made contact with a coarse object. It was different from the soft fabric of the clothes, precisely that of a small pouch.

The bag was tightly fastened on, no matter how hard he tried he could untie it with just one hand.

After plan A failed to work, he moved onto plan B. Ming ChangYan grabbed the string attached to the pouch and gradually dragged it out.

He fixed his gaze on Huai Yu’s face in fear that this expression might change or he might wake up.

Till the money pouch was pulled out, Huai Yu still hadn’t woken up. It seemed like not sleeping for a night really took a toll on him. Even with Ming shaoxia making such large movements he still failed to wake the other up.

Ming ChangYan secretly rejoiced, untying the pouch, he took out two small gold beads.

These gold beads were priceless, the waiter stared blankly at the beads.

Ming ChangYan was extremely reluctant, thinking that using a gold bead in exchange for a bag of sedatives really wasn’t worth it. But at this moment he was seeking help from others, so he could only tearfully hand the gold beads over to the waiter.

When the waiter recieved the beads, he was smiling so happily that his eyes disappeared. Patting his chest, he released one hundred twenty hearts towards Ming ChangYan’s way, affirming that he’ll get the task done. Immediately after, he quietly left through the door.

In the passing, he also pulled the door closed.

Seeing the waiter walk off with the gold beads, Ming ChangYan’s heart dropped and felt as though it was letting out blood.

He silently sobbed, his body aching over the squandering of those gold beads. Not daring to delay any longer, he quickly stuffed the money pouch back into Huai Yu’s bosom.

But it’s a pity that inviting the devil is always easier than sending him away, and thus just as Ming shaoxia was stuffing the pouch back in, the Huai Yu that had been sleeping for a long time finally woke up.

At this time, Ming shaoxia’s hand was still inside the other’s bosom, making him look like a lecher trying to do something unorthodox.

Huai Yu was silent for a few seconds before asking, “What are you doing?”

Ming shaoxia turned into a motionless stab of stone.

“I….”

Admit to taking Huai Yu’s money pouch? What was the point of getting the money pouch? To buy sedatives. And what’s the point of buying sedatives? So that he could use this sort of insidious method to render Huai Yu unconscious and go to Huating.

However, once admitted, then this whole plan would fail.

After weighing the pros and cons, Ming ChangYan closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, replying, “Don’t you see? I’m helping you straighten your clothes!”

Huai Yu raised his eyebrow, “Straighten my clothes?”

Ming ChangYan promptly took his hand back, “Yup, your clothes were wrinkled, I couldn’t stand it any longer so I did you a favor and lent a helping hand. If you want to thank me, there’s no need, they’re just petty favors, the people of Jianghu don’t say such things as thank you.”

Huai Yu said, “I didn’t know that you had to reach inside to straighten up clothing.”

Ming ChangYan’s ears flushed red, “Speak clearly! What do you mean reach inside! Little Huai Yu, speak with consciousness, I only touched one layer!”

Huai Yu commented, “To raise and lower one’s hand.*”

(TN: In a traditional sense it means to be cheating in secret [not like cheating in a relationship], but it’s also slang to have improper physical contact with someone)

The moment he uttered those words, Ming ChangYan’s ears turned even redder than before, stuttering over his words he said, “D, don’t you always have to move you hand around when straightening clothes, if not then how are you supposed to level it out!”

Huai Yu glanced at him like he didn’t want to deal with him.

After he got enough sleep, he decided to go downstairs to buy some food.

“I’ll be back soon, if I don’t see you when I come back, it’ll be at your own risk.”

Ming ChangYan gave him a clever smile, “How’s that possible, you’ve already gotten my acupuncture point, how could I possibly move!”

He said, “Look, I could only break one point, but I probably can’t break the other one!”

Huai Yu hummed then went downstairs.

Ming ChangYan waited for him to finish going downstairs, only when no more noise could be heard did he suddenly jump up from bed.

“Humph, to think that such a trifling method could trap this shaoxia.”

He sat in front of the table and poured himself a cup of tea.

“It’s just that if I left now and he can’t find me when he gets back, he’ll definitely come out and catch me. Since my cultivation is inferior between the two of us, I’ll be caught by him in the time it takes for half an incense to burn. It’s lucky that I’m so smart, since I can’t beat you, this method is more than enough for you little brat.”

Shortly after Huai Yu left, the highly efficient waiter came back with the drug.

Getting hold of what he needed, Ming ChangYan was extremely happy, with his plan already halfway complete, he didn’t even care about the gold beads he’d given to the waiter earlier.

He placed the sedative in his palm to examine it for a bit before lifting the cover of the teapot and spilling all the contents inside. After he finished, he was still afraid that Huai Yu’s cultivation would be too high and the quantity of the sedatives wouldn’t be enough. Finally, due to this psychological effect, he used his finger to flick at the yellow paper to let the last bits of white powder fall into the water.

After he finished doing all this, the large boulder in Ming ChangYan’s heart fell down.

He destroyed the yellow paper and quietly waited for Huai Yu to return.

With nothing to do, Ming shaoxia noticed that there were two books on the table. The first being《Canon of Supreme Mystery》, and the second being《Discourses on Salt and Iron》, both being two famous documents. Ming ChangYan lost interest the moment he read those dull and tedious titles, knowing that inside would be nothing but a lengthy doctrine filled with literary jargon and chewed up characters. As a result, he only intended to flip through a few of the pages. But just as he rummaged through the pages, the contents within startled him.

The pages within the book were filled with comics. Ming shaoxia widened his eyes, upon further inspection he discovered that this was a wuxia comic. The characters were drawn true to life and the storyline was vulgar and humorous, causing one to cannot help but laugh. Ming ChangYan swiftly reached out for the second book and just as expected, it was still a comic book!

So the books that Huai Yu had been reading for the past two days, turned out to be fake coverings of《Canon of Supreme Mystery》and《Discourses on Salt and Iron》!

Ming shaoxia turned around and began laughing. In his heart, he felt very joyful. He only thought that Huai Yu this person was really cute. A cute appearance, a cute person, a cute temper, everything about him was cute. He had never met a single person that made him feel such tenderness towards.

Even after setting down the book, the smile never left Ming ChangYan’s lips.

When Huai Yu came back, the sky had already turned dark.

Ming ChangYan only just finished dinner when he saw the other come in through the door.

Ming shaoxia was very dissatisfied, asking, “Why did you come back so late?”

Huai Yu replied, “Something happened in the palace.”

Ming ChangYan was very suspicious, “Something happened? What happened? How many hours has it been, are you lying to me?”

Huai Yu said, “Why would I lie to you.”

When Ming ChangYan heard this, Huai Yu’s reply was the same words said in a novel after someone went out and found themselves a mistress.

He nearly blurted out: Have you found someone else!

Fortunately, although Ming shaoxia enjoyed reading novels, he didn’t want to dive too deep into this performance. After asking a few questions, he lost interest.

Huai Yu placed the osmanthus cake on the table before taking off the cotton thread and taking out a piece to snack on.

Ming ChangYan politely poured him a cup of tea and smiled, “Don’t just eat the cake like that, it’s easy to choke. Drink some tea to wash it down.”

Huai Yu didn’t suspect him, merely bringing the teacup over but didn’t intend to drink it, it seemed that he wasn’t very thirsty.

He ate a second piece, noticing Ming ChangYan’s steady gaze on him, he asked, “What are you staring at me for?”

Ming ChangYan smiled, “Because you look nice.”

Huai Yu swallowed the osmanthus cake, picking up the teacup he brought it to his lips.

Ming ChangYan’s heart was at its highest peak when he saw him bring the cup up to his mouth. It was only a hair’s breadth away when Huai Yu paused and set down his cup.

“Do you still plan on going to Huating?”

Ming ChangYan was burning with anxiety. He was afraid that no matter what the other party asked, he would have to reply with what they wanted to hear.

“Nope, nope! I promise I won’t go! I’ll listen to everything you say!”

Huai Yu began, “It’s best not to go. However, don’t play any petty tricks.”

Ming ChangYan said, “I wouldn’t dare, what kind of tricks would I be able to play. I already said I won’t go, rest assured.”

Huai Yu shot him another glance, not convinced that he would give up so easily, “Really?”

Ming ChangYan was worried to death, “Really, really! I promise! If it’s fake then you can do whatever you want!”

It was only then that Huai Yu let it go and drained the cup in one gulp.

Ming ChangYan’s eyes brightened, he narrowly jumped up to clap his hands and say: Little Huai Yu! How does it feel! You walked right into my trap!

But at this moment he could only celebrate in his mind and didn’t dare to show even the littlest bit of it on his face. When it’s all said and done, he still drugged Huai Yu, in the future when he encounters him again he’ll have to kiss up to him and apologize.

While in his elated state, Ming shaoxia celebrated too soon.

A cold light suddenly flashed through Huai Yu’s eyes. He stood up, directly lifted up the lapels of Ming ChangYan’s robes, and firmly dragged him forward.

Crackling, the teacup on the table shattered.

Ming ChangYan was caught off guard, causing him to fall onto the table with both his hands and feet. Before he could even cry out, the very next second, he felt two cold lips against his own.

Ming ChangYan blinked as if still unable to fully comprehend the situation. Huai Yu extended his right arm and pinched his chin to force open his lips. Suddenly, the sweet trace of osmanthus cake from the tip of Huai Yu’s tongue made its way into Ming ChangYan’s mouth along with the drugged cup of tea from just now.

He was stupefied for less than half a pillar of incense until all the tea from Huai Yu was in his mouth and he dazedly swallowed it. When they separated, it left behind a trail of tea along his mouth from the overflow. For a moment, shock, shame, multiple emotions violently rushed to his brain, making him dizzy and his brain feeling congested. It was as if all the strength had been drained from his body.

Ming ChangYan was stunned while his face flushed a deep red. After a long time of repeating “you, you, I, I”, his body began to sway as he was unable to continue standing like he was about to faint at any moment.

“…You kissed me!!”

Huai Yu’s face remained the same even after kissing him, apart from the hand behind his back that was softly trembling.

He calmly said, “What’s wrong with kissing you?”

After thinking about it, he added, “I gave you a chance.”

Ming shaoxia’s breath couldn’t reach him, his body turned soft as he achieved his wish and lost consciousness.

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work you’ll find yourself missing two gold beads from your wallet.

 

 

 

So sorry this took so long, online classes honestly suck.

But hey we finally did it my boys (ง ͠° ͟ل͜ ͡°)ง after 53 long ass chapters we got here.

Also, I saw this the other day but no, Huai Yu isn’t really black-bellied. He’s a good boy at heart with bad communication skills.

If you see any grammatical/translation errors please tell me! I got 5 hours of sleep last night.

Love, person-who-will-try-to-get-a-chapter-out-this-weekend-but-can’t-promise-cause-she’s-unreliable ˙ ͜ʟ˙

 

 

 

Chapter 52 : Table of Contents : Chapter 54

Chapter 52: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 9

 

 

One person stands on the wall with an umbrella.

One person stands on the ground leaning against the wall.

The two gazed at each other for a while. Huai Yu jumped down, the sleeves of his robes fluttering in the air, like a cold and beautiful immortal.

Ming ChangYan abnormally took a step back, before he came to a halt, thinking: What am I retreating for?

He coughed and said, “The rains getting heavier, let’s first find a place to stay the night.”

Huai Yu didn’t mention what had happened, merely tilting the umbrella closer to him to cover him up from the rain and fog.

After Ming ChangYan was met with this move, the heat on his face gradually subsided and he could finally think normally, saying, “That monk from XiaoHan Temple died so inexplicably, I can’t tell what they’re up to.”

Huai Yu said, “It doesn’t matter what they’re up to, you should take care of your body first.”

Ming ChangYan gave him a faint smile, “My body’s already healthy enough. Although my cultivation hasn’t fully recovered yet, it’s still more than enough when dealing with a few nobodies.”

He thought about it, then puffed up and grinned, “Don’t forget I’m number one in the world.”

Huai Yu said, “No, you’re not allowed to leave the capital until you’re well.”

Ming ChangYan said, “Little Huai Yu, that isn’t something that you can control.”

Huai Yu said, “Then you can give it a try and see if I’m able to or not.”

Ming ChangYan felt that it would be very dangerous to let this conversation continue on, thus he quickly shut his mouth and very devotedly began to continue walking.

It was already deep into the night when it began raining once again. Huai Yu led them out of the alley, making Ming ChangYan incessantly amazed at him.

“The terrain’s so complicated, how are you able to walk out?”

Huai Yu said, “ You get used to it after walking through it so many times,”

Ming ChangYan sighed, “There’re a lot of alleys in the Central Plains. When I first came, I couldn’t get used to the roads and I still can’t get used to them.”

At haishi*, the rain got even heavier. Ming ChangYan’s entire body was ice-cold as he walked through the rain and fog.

(TN: Around 9-11 pm)

It wasn’t easy to find an inn at this time. Moreover, Huai Yu was extremely finicky, so if he had him stay in an even slightly shabby place it would probably cost him his life.

The two walked for a while when Ming ChangYan said, “Why don’t we just use qinggong*, how long do you expect us to keep walking.”

(TN: Qinggong is a technique in Chinese martial arts where you make the body extremely light in weight by altering the flow of qi in the body)

Huai Yu shook his head, “Won’t do.”

Ming ChangYan asked, “Why not?”

Huai Yu, “You’re completely drenched, not suitable for qinggong, you’ll catch a cold.”

Ming ChangYan was stunned for a bit but didn’t say anything, quietly carrying on. He was probably too quiet that Huai Yu felt that it was too surprising, taking a few more glances at him.

After walking for about an incense worth of time, they finally found a first-class tavern. Huai Yu asked for a room, Ming ChangYan said, “Why do you only want one room?”

Huai Yu said, “Am I paying or are you paying?”

Ming ChangYan, “You’re paying.”

He kissed up to him, “The Young Prime Minister has the final say!”

When they got to the room, a waiter brought up a heated bucket of hot water.

Seeing that Huai Yu didn’t take off his clothes, Ming ChangYan knew that this hot water was prepared for him. He laughed and cupped his hands, “Much thanks to the Young Prime Minister for going through such trouble!”

After saying this, he reached out to remove the sash around his waist. As a result, just as he untied his sash the speed of his hands slowed down. That strange feeling from his heart emerged again, making Ming shaoxia feel very confused.

He paused unnaturally as if the clothes on his body weighed a thousand pounds and couldn’t be taken off no matter what. Huai Yu took out the medicine bag that he had on him and spread herbal medicine onto the water.

It was probably because Ming ChangYan was moving way too slowly when taking off his clothes that it took him half an incense stick to remove a coat, Huai Yu finally couldn’t help but ask, “Are you feeling unwell?”

When Ming ChangYan heard this, he nervously said, “No! It’s a misunderstanding, misunderstanding.”

Huai Yu inexplicably looked at him, “Are you not able to take off your clothing, do you need help?”

At this, Ming ChangYan’s hairs stood up on one end, walking towards the direction of the tub he laughed, “No need no need! My clothes are just wet with water so they wound up in knots that are hard to undo, I’m almost done!”

He secretly thought: It’s not like I haven’t taken my clothes off in front of him before, it didn’t matter before so why am I acting like this now?

There were currently two little people in Ming shaoxia’s mind that were in a fierce battle.

Person A said: Take it off, you’re both men, what are you so afraid of! Don’t tell me if he sees you he’s going to have to take responsibility for you! Or are you saying that you have some sort of ulterior motive!

Hearing this, Person B instantly changed his stance at this war, saying: Exactly!

Ming ChangYan furrowed his eyebrows and shook his head, casting off this strange thought. He glanced at Huai Yu from the corner of his eyes, seeing that the latter had already picked up a book and begun reading it by borrowing the light from the candlestick on the table. This scene was both exceptionally familiar and tranquil. Along with Huai Yu’s small, otherworldly snow-white face, it truly was the image of a beauty who warms the heart and delights the eye, reading under a light.

He thought to himself: Huai Yu looks so concentrated, he probably wouldn’t even notice me. This room’s also big enough, it seems like I’m being too meticulous and it’s making me look dramatic.

Reconsidering he thought again: Besides, we’re both men, it’s not like I’m going to lose a slab of meat if he sees, what am I being nervous for!

During the time Ming shaoxia spent in TianQing, there weren’t any females within the inner section of TianQing—-Hua YunChang didn’t count. So in front of them, Ming shaoxia never understood what having face and gender was. When he was about 17 to 18 years old, he would always be bare-chested with LiMin-jun when making fires, all very carefree as he jumped up and down XianYue Mountain.

And now, he’s going as far as to be embarrassed which was unlike him at all!

Ming ChangYan took two deep breaths.

Then after a while, he took off his outer garment and left behind an inner robe.

He wore this as he calmly made his way into the tub.

Huai Yu was a bit surprised, setting down his book he said, “You’re taking a bath in your clothes?”

Ming ChangYan opened his mouth and laughed, saying, “Yeah, if I bath like this, I can wash myself and my clothes at the same time, so I don’t see any reason why not!”

Huai Yu looked at him with a complicated expression.

Ming ChangYan wasn’t aware of it all, even thinking that this idea was brilliant, exceedingly brilliant, making him feel a bit smug.

Huai Yu stood up from the table and walked up to Ming ChangYan.

Ming ChangYan sat in the water, hurriedly turning the opposite direction, “What are you doing over here?”

Huai Yu coldly spit out four words, “Take off your clothes.”

Ming ChangYan stared at him with a foolish blank look for a while. Huai Yu felt disinclined to speak nonsense to this number one in the world with a frequent short-circuited brain, using his utmost strength to peel the clothes off Ming ChangYan’s body. The latter’s soul just came back to his body and in an act of confusion, began to vigorously struggle back.

The sound of water immediately echoed throughout the entire room.

Ming ChangYan clutched onto his own collar, his face deadly pale, “What are you doing!”

Huai Yu had already stated his intention once thus he won’t say it a second time. Rather he made a prompt decision to peel off the other’s clothes with determination.

The two’s physical strength differed greatly, Ming ChangYan had only regained half of his cultivation and at this moment he realized that he definitely wasn’t Huai Yu’s opponent. After struggling for no less than a quarter-hour, he had completely exhausted his energy and could only allow the other party to take off his inner robe. That inner robe wasn’t taken off by normal means, but forcefully pulled off during the two’s ‘you pull, I go.’ As a result, there were many tattered bits and looked like it can’t be worn anymore.

Ming ChangYan shouted, “Huai Yu! You’re too unreasonable!”

Huai Yu coldly said, “I think it’s because you’re not being clear-headed.”

To take a bath with clothes on, this kind of mythical concept could only be created by Ming ChangYan, this kind of prodigy.

As a result, he took the blame, muttering, he began to slowly wash his body.

After such a scene, the former awkwardness Ming ChangYan was feeling went away. The fatigue chose to emerge this moment making his body slide little by little down the tub until only exposing a head. Suddenly, Ming ChangYan recalled something and asked, “When is the next Great FengShan Feast?”

“December 24 of this year.”

After thinking about it, Ming ChangYan realized that it wasn’t that far away. It could be assumed that XiaoHan Temple has been flourishing these past few years since they recently moved to one of the most prosperous locations in Huating. And for the Great FengShan Feast at the end of the year, they will probably use up everything they’ve got in order to get the Common People’s Order in their hands. If it was just a blade, then Ming ChangYan didn’t really care. But in the Great FengShan Feast, possessing the Common People’s Order represented the power and status one has in the martial circles of the Central Plains.

Just like three years ago; XiaoHan Temple had called upon other sects in the futile attempt to eliminate him, but in reality, they wanted to put an end to both him and TianQing. Who would’ve known that before this group of people could even invade TianQing, Ming ChangYan had already gone ahead and died. Now that they didn’t have any reason to eliminate TianQing and because XiaoHan Temple was only an ordinary sect without the Common People’s Order at that time, they could no longer use this reason to have the other sects continue to encircle the TianQing sect that had already lost their Noble Gentleman.

According to what Xiu LingLong had said, everyone else was still in TianQing. Although they certainly weren’t as well-off as they used to be, neither were they entirely run-down. If the Common People’s Order truly got into the hands of XiaoHan Temple, then everyone at TianQing, especially the inner disciples, definitely won’t be let off by XiaoHan Temple.

No matter who’s hands the Common People’s Order falls into, it can never fall into XiaoHan Temple’s.

Thinking up to here, Ming ChangYan slightly moved his spiritual energy around a bit, calculating how much of his cultivation he would have regained by the end of the year. He once again calculated, if he was to obtain this blade once again in front of the masses….thinking up to here, Ming ChangYan let out a sigh. It’s a pity that he didn’t possess the courage he once had during those years.

Not to mention all those specious sect massacres, after he killed Wan QianQiu, XiaoHan Temple came in and added fuel to the fire and blamed the entire thing on him. If he appears out of nowhere at the end of the year and seizes the Common People’s Order, then wouldn’t it lead up to another encirclement and annihilation?

He used to believe that if he became the strongest, most powerful person in the world, no one would be able to hurt him or the people that he wanted to protect.

It was only afterwards that he learned that this wasn’t the case.

After he finished his bath, Ming ChangYan put on the other inner robe that had been prepared for the guest room. Although it wasn’t as cozy as his own, it was still better than not wearing it.

He was then faced with a second problem.

There was only one bed in the room, who sleeps on the bed and who sleeps on the floor?

He took a quick glance at the floor.

As a first-class tavern, it was natural that the floor wasn’t filled with dust and made with top-notch mahogany wood planks. Even though it was clean, it still made his blood boil. There was a thin quilt in the cupboard, if spread across the floor, then there wouldn’t be anything to cover his body. If used to cover his body, then there wouldn’t be anything to spread across the floor. Unless he wrapped himself into a bundle then there were no ways to satisfy both parties.

Ming ChangYan glimpsed at Huai Yu and thought that with his character, there was no way that he would sleep on the ground. As a result, Ming shaoxia confessed to his own misfortune and gave him this, going towards the cupboard to retrieve the quilt.

Upon seeing this Huai Yu asked, “What are you doing?”

Ming ChangYan carried out the quilt, “Making a bed on the floor. What, don’t tell me you’ve discovered your consciousness and is allowing me to sleep on the bed?”

Huai Yu said, “With the current weather, you’ll catch a cold if you sleep on the floor.”

Standing in the room, Ming ChangYan suddenly broke out into a smile. He threw the quilt away, automatically rolling on and into the bed.

“Since the Young Prime Minister so kindly offered, then I’ll help myself!”

He closed his eyes and prepared to sleep.

After a while without any indication of movement from Huai Yu, Ming ChangYan opened an eye and discovered the other party was still sitting in front of the table, motionless.

He said, “You’re not going to sleep?”

Huai Yu shook his head.

Ming ChangYan raised his eyebrow, thinking: Strange? How can there be someone who doesn’t sleep?

He lifted up the quilt, holding onto the bed, he smilingly reached out his hand and patted the bed, “It’s really soft, are you sure you’re not sleeping?”

Huai Yu took a look at him and said, “Not sleeping.”

Ming shaoxia didn’t stop even if it failed. He rolled in bed a few times before he began to idly tease him again.

“I can’t sleep by myself, the bed’s so big and you won’t take up much space, let’s quickly go to bed!”

Having said that, he gave him an unfathomable smile, “Or, are you afraid that I’ll take advantage of you?”

Huai Yu shot him a glance.

Ming ChangYan suddenly came back to his senses, realizing what he had just said he shut up at once.

However, he couldn’t shut up for long. Ming ChangYan laid on bed with Huai Yu right beside him, how could he possibly fall asleep. He could only listen to the sound of raindrops hitting the window, crossing his hands while being bored to death. Resting his head on his pillow and cross-legged, he was lost in thought.

After a quarter of an hour, Ming ChangYan said, “Little Huai Yu, I can’t sleep. Why don’t you tell me a story!”

Huai Yu turned a page and said, “I have no story.”

Ming ChangYan looked at him and smiled, “Do you not have any stories from your childhood? I’ve never heard you talk about your parents, where are they?”

Huai Yu said, “My father is dead.”

Ming ChangYan was stunned and sighed with emotion, “Those with the same misfortune sympathize with each other.”

Huai Yu thought he would’ve said something along the lines of ‘Sorry for your loss’ or ‘I’m sorry’, etc. After all, under this kind of situation, it would always be a sore spot for others. But this number one in the world has never used common sense to play, and suddenly came out with such a sentence that it made him curious.

“What do you mean?”

Ming ChangYan said, “My dad’s dead too!”

Huai Yu, “That’s nonsense. The lord of Tokhara is very well alive.”

Ming ChangYan gave him a disdainful sneer, “What’s the difference between him being alive and him being dead. In my heart, he’s already dead, I’m just a bastard without a father.”

Huai Yu said, “Then what about your mother?”

When he spoke of this, Ming ChangYan showed a trace of loneliness, “She’s also dead. She died before I came to the Central Plains.”

After thinking about it, Huai Yu felt that there was nothing else to say.

Ming ChangYan, this person, didn’t need other’s comfort at all. Just give him less than half an incense stick of time and he’ll recover by himself, turning lively once again.

Just as expected, in the next moment, Ming shaoxia was eager to talk about the next topic, “Little Huai Yu, speaking of which, you still need to call me a shixiong!”

Huai Yu froze then said, “Why are you saying this?”

Ming ChangYan suddenly sat up with a smile on his face and proudly asked, “Who is Chang Xu to you?”

Huai Yu replied, “Master.”

Ming ChangYan nodded his head, “Yup. He’s the Prime Minister for the Central Plains and you’re the Young Prime Minister, it’s only natural that he’s your master. When did he become your master?”

Huai Yu thought for a moment then reported an age.

Ming ChangYan laughed, “You’re indeed below me! He became my master two years prior. Back then when master was touring Tokhara and he noticed that his shaoxia’s innate skill was high, so he knelt at the door and begged me to be his disciple. And me, naturally I didn’t want to see such an old man lose his face, so I could only reluctantly agree!”

Huai Yu glanced at him then went back to his book.

It was rare these days for Ming ChangYan to be the one with the advantage, so how could he just let Huai Yu go? At that moment he became a demon. When Huai Yu didn’t scream, he proceeded to swiftly reach out and tangled them together.

The two of them didn’t use their full strength and just fought normally, countering every move. Ming ChangYan’s cultivation was currently inferior, thus not long after he was pressed down on the bed by Huai Yu.

Both of his hands were pressed against the pillow above his head, so he could only fiercely struggle by kicking and thrashing his two long legs.

Ming ChangYan miserably shouted, “Again! You played dirty!”

Huai Yu tilted his head, “How did I play dirty?”

Ming ChangYan was no match for him so he immediately acted shamelessly, “How would this shaoxia know, if I could see the trick then would it still be called playing dirty!”

Huai Yu humphed then took a quick look at the color of the sky outside.

“I won’t fight you, quickly go to sleep.”

Ming ChangYan was suddenly free to move again, stretching his muscles and bones, he said, “Are you really not sleeping? Just sitting there the entire night?”

Huai Yu nodded.

Ming ChangYan said, “That won’t do, there’ll be someone watching, I won’t be able to sleep.”

Huai Yu sat beside the bed, “I won’t look at you.”

Ming ChangYan continued, “That’s no good either! I can’t sleep with someone sitting there.”

Huai Yu was silent for a while, as though he was thinking about something. Ming ChangYan, if nothing else, just wanted to argue for the sake of arguing. Since he lost to Huai Yu during their quarrel, at this moment he wanted to take that win back by using his words.

Ming ChangYan said, “Or, you could sleep with me! The bed’s so big that it’s more than enough for two people. I have a very good sleeping posture, I definitely won’t cross over to your side of the bed, you shouldn’t…..”

Huai Yu suddenly called out, “Zhao Zhao.”

Ming ChangYan’s ramble came to a spontaneous end, even his facial expression turned rigid.

Huai Yu called out once, then called out a second time, “Zhao Zhao.”

This time, it was slightly softer and drawn out than the one before it.

Ming ChangYan’s heart beated like a drum, to the point that even he himself had no way of controlling it.

Huai Yu seems to have become addicted. This time, he was the one with the upper hand, his expression thoroughly delighted. While he was feeling pleased with himself, he said it a few more times.

Even though he called out to Ming ChangYan, he didn’t look at him, instead pensively staring at the book.

Ming ChangYan pursed his lips before he pulled up the quilt without warning and bundled his body into a ball, “Stop calling! I’ll sleep!”

Huai Yu tapped his finger on the edge of the bed, ignoring his appeal, he glanced at the bulge in the quilt with a very lofty expression, as if declaring his victory once again.

Ming shaoxia’s heart was beating wildly, thumping uncontrollably in his chest. With his complexion completely red he cursed: That little brat! Ridiculous! Absurd! When I gain back my cultivation, I’m going to recover all the humiliation I’ve suffered up till now!

 

 

 

This was translated by https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/, any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work I’m wrapping you up like sushi.

 

 

 

love is brewing boys, love is brewing (*ﾟ∀ﾟ*)

Huai Yu seemed so soft to me this chapter and I don’t know why. He’s always been really lenient with MCY and I really like translating those little parts where he’s being a sweet little baby.

If you see any grammatical/translation errors please point them out to me! I only skim through the chapters so I tend to miss a lot of stuff.

Have an amazing evening~~

 

 

 

Chapter 51 : Table of Contents : Chapter 53