Disclaimer: This is a free fan translation, not for sale or rent. Please do not post anywhere else without permission.
Co-translated and edited with yuruzuru
Chapter 04. A Beautiful Man May Not Get Into Bed (美男威逼上床)
Big brother you’re brilliant; to my surprise your future wife is Young Mistress Hua! Lei Lei had a strange expression, seeing that the young master had his brows creased and was seemingly discontented, she was about to burst into laughter, when all of a sudden she caught a glimpse of Caretaker Zhao and the rest pulling a long face; she could not laugh anymore, and was puzzled.
[T/N: “Big brother” here is a generic term like aunt and uncle.]
The discussion was still ongoing.
Someone asked: “Ye Tan City’s Hua Family is a thousand miles away, so how did they come into contact with Bai Sheng Shan Manor?”
The mister answered: “You all wouldn’t have known of this, Old Master Xiao Yuan had done a big favor for the Hua Family when he was young, the Hua Family Elder was grateful, and hence promised his granddaughter who had just turned five to the little young master of the Xiao Family.”
Everyone realised: “So that’s how it is”
The mister continued: “The Xiao Family has one heir per generation; Old Master Xiao Yuan passed away five years ago, and had once advised Young Master Xiao to get married in three years; it’s just that Young Master Xiao put his heart and soul into practising sword techniques, so it was delayed for two years, and only until four months ago did Young Mistress Hua marry into the Xiao Family.”
Lei Lei held absolutely no interest in the contents of the conversation, for this good grass had already been eaten a long time ago.
[T/N: 好草 (hǎo cǎo) literally translates as good grass, is a saying that means like good catch.]
Each and every one of them weighed: “It’s a good marriage.”
The mister unexpectedly sighed: “It originally was a good marriage, but who knew it’d turn into a disaster.”
Everyone was wildly surprised: “What do you mean?”
The mister replied: “When the happy period was due to arrive, the matter of the longevity nut appeared, causing the three big sects to be in incessant conflict; Young Master Xiao would naturally follow Leader He to run about, busy mediating; Hua Family stood to reason, seeing that Young Master Xiao couldn’t be in two places at once, and since it was not good to delay this auspicious date, they had the young master of the Hua Family personally escort his little sister over; on the night of the marriage however, the Xi Sha Sect and Nan Hai Sect fought again; Leader He was at the wedding banquet at that time, and rushed over immediately upon hearing of said matter; Young Master Xiao had always taken the affairs of the martial arts world as a responsibility of his own; as he was afraid that the fight between the two sects would bring harm to the innocent, he was set on going along, and in fact had not even once seen the face of his newly wedded wife.”
Everyone praised: “Young Master Xiao’s actions are really admirable!”
There were some who laughed: “The young couple will meet eventually anyway, so why the hurry, there’s a common saying ‘a short separation is better than being newlyweds’, the two of them were newlyweds and also separated; hard to tell maybe when things are over, the young couple would have already made out making up for the wedding night, don’t you all think so?”
There were those who laughed and those who cursed.
There were words used within the conversation, that were a little sexual, which contrarily created more buzz amidst the crowd; Lei Lei turned her head around to look at the young man; turns out big brother you left your wife in the bridal chamber on your wedding night, and ran off to uphold justice.
The young man was absolutely still at first, but when intently stared at by Lei Lei, his handsome face flushed once again, and coughed slightly.
So good looking, it’s a pity he’s taken!
Just when Lei Lei was feeling that it was a great pity, the mister suddenly clapped once: “Nothing followed after, this disaster occurred on the wedding night, Young Master Xiao was absent, Bai Sheng Shan Manor got on fire, the bridal chamber and Young Mistress Hua, both were burnt into charcoal!”
Everyone was shocked.
“To think that such a thing happened!”
“How can the people of Bai Sheng Shan Manor be so negligent!”
.
Amidst the sighing, Lei Lei snapped out of her thoughts, she finally understood why Caretaker Zhao and the rest had a sullen face all along, and couldn’t help but pitied that unfortunate Young Mistress Hua; look, not being able to reap the benefits of such an outstanding husband even once, then she perished just like that!
The mister waved his hand to stop the crowd, taking on a mysterious appearance: “I coincidentally have a nephew of a distant brother who works as a servant in Bai Sheng Shan Manor, and I heard that the fire incident was actually very strange.”
Everyone perked their ears.
The mister said: “The bride had a personal maid, and it was her who was serving the bride in the bridal chamber that very night, but after the fire, only the body of the bride was found, and it was just the personal maid that was gone!”
Everyone was very curious.
Someone asked: “Since all was burnt, how could one tell that the body was that of the bride’s?”
The mister shook his head: “You wouldn’t have known this, but the bride carried a longevity golden lock since young, Hua Family’s young master identified his sister’s body via this method.” Then the mister lowered his voice: “I heard that the body has a deep knife wound, although beyond recognition, there was no soot in the mouth, she was definitely murdered first before the arson.”
Immediately someone spoke: “Unless it was the personal maid who harmed her mistress?”
The mister clapped: “How would I know? Till date the maid is missing, nobody can say for sure.”
“Why not look for her in her hometown?”
“Hua Family’s young master said, that maid came a year ago, her background unknown, seeing how she was so pitiful so they took her in, she was extremely dedicated, who would have thought such a thing would happen, even they were in disbelief.”
Everyone let out long sighs.
“You can know everything about a person except for what he truly thinks inside!”
[T/N: 知人知面不知心 (zhī rén zhī miàn bù zhī xīn) is a chinese idiom. The above translation is quite literal, basically the idiom depicts how one will never know the true nature of another person.]
“She must be a spy of the demonic cult!”
Some were worried: “His daughter got into an accident in Bai Sheng Shan Manor, and Old Master Hua is just letting the matter rest?”
The mister nodded: “Of course the Hua Family is devastated, but it was their own servant’s fault, it wasn’t nice to kick a fuss, on the contrary Young Master Xiao felt responsible, although he has yet to see Young Mistress Hua, but ultimately she was his wedded wife, so he’s been investigating the whereabouts of that personal maid since two months ago.” He paused on purpose for a bit: “Young Master Xiao detests evil, a few days ago wasn’t there a few demonic cultivators who were executed, it was exactly when Young Master Xiao passed by, that he settled them then.”
Everyone praised.
After successfully raising the spirits of the people, the mister said unhurriedly: “That personal maid has to be found and interrogated, only then can one know the ins and outs of this matter, it’d be in our best interest to not form any random conjectures.”
Everyone nodded.
Lei Lei was also surprised, murder is no child’s play, that personal maid must have wanted to gain some benefits from killing her mistress, if it was to drive a wedge between the two family’s relations, she obviously didn’t do a clean job.
Suddenly there was a wake up call.
The mister brought everyone’s attention back: “News of this matter was already spread long ago, it’s just that you all didn’t know, as for the other matter that I’m going to talk about next, hehe, it’s even more mysterious than this one!”
.
Everyone hurriedly asked: “What is it?”
“Something strange happened in the neighbouring Gu Yan Village,” The mister acting mysteriously, “In the middle of last night, Gu Yan Village’s Scholar Lu was out visiting a friend, it was late on his way back, to think he got pestered by a female ghost dressed in white!”
Gu Yan Village? Female ghost dressed in white? Lei Lei immediately lowered her head; how come this scenario feels so familiar?
Ghost stories have always been an entertaining topic that people don’t get tired of, everyone became increasingly interested: “How did that female ghost look like?”
The mister was serious: “I heard that the female ghost is dressed in white, and that her tongue is a foot long when sticked out!”
Everyone gasped in surprise.
The mister suddenly lowered his voice and laughed, “Guess what happened afterwards, Scholar Lu woke up only to find that he had fallen on the side of the road, the garment that he was wearing was gone, and he fell sick upon his return, till date he is still lying back at home.”
“Was he taken advantage of by that female ghost, and had his essence sucked away?”
“......”
A female ghost blocks the road at midnight, to absorb the essence of young men; this was such a stimulating topic, the crowd was actively discussing, and at this side of the table everyone including the young man, looked straight at Lei Lei; she was wearing men’s wear, a light green gown that average scholars generally wear——of course, everyone knew that she is not a ghost, but they could not say for sure whether she would take advantage of men or not.
Lei Lei ate silently.
What absorb the yang to replenish the yin, I take advantage of him, might as well take advantage of “Xiao Bai”!
[T/N: Yin and Yang is a concept of dualism in Ancient Chinese philosophy, in which they are opposite forces. Usually it is said that men possess yang whereas women possess yin.]
.
In the deep night, the hustling and bustling sounds outside the window decreased.
After Lei Lei took a bath, she looked into the mirror for a long while, before feeling at ease to lie on the bed, as she had rested earlier in the afternoon, it was hard to fall asleep; to think that “Xiao Bai” has such a unique identity, having met such an important character from the start, Tian Lei female lead’s luck is not just average, who exactly is this “Chun Hua”, her appearance isn’t too bad, can be quite useful. Recalling the stories she heard in the restaurant, her heart skipped a beat, then denied it, even if they don’t recognise the bride, many people should have seen the personal maid, if she really is that maid, they would have recognised her, looks like she’s fated to be anonymous.
While in thoughts, came a loud noise from downstairs, followed by bright fires, horses neighing.
“Seems like it’s this place!”
“Hurry, surround the guest house!”
Lei Lei was so shocked that she jolted upright, jumped off the bed to take a look by the window, only to see that there were countless torches, several people who were carrying knives and swords surrounded the place, wearing similar apparels, that were all black with white border, their gazes were either of panic or of angst, except for two people who looked exceptionally sharp, one of them was a tall forty something year old middle aged man.
Who are these people? Lei Lei was wondering; the innkeeper ran out in a panic: “What are you sirs doing?”
That middle aged man spoke: “Earlier there was someone who tried to assassinate our Xi Sha Sect’s Sect Leader Wen, having hit by Sect Leader Wen’s palm, that person ran in this direction, I’m afraid he might be hiding in the guest house, thus we would like to conduct a search.”
The innkeeper was ashen-faced: “Who could be so bold, daring to assassinate Sect Leader Wen?”
That man sneered: “Who else other than Nan Hai Sect, I’m just about to catch the person alive, and present an argument to Leader He!”
The innkeeper hesitated.
“You don’t have to worry, we know our boundaries, and won’t disrupt your business!” Another person came up from beside to offer consolation, with apparel no different from the rest, but had a very pleasing voice, turns out was a lady, Lei Lei squinted her eyes to see, and found her very beautiful.
The innkeeper heaved a sigh of relief: “Yes yes, please come in.”
The middle aged man faced the side and instructed: “Everyone to go in and search!”
Turns out that someone from Nan Hai Sect attempted to assassinate Xi Sha Sect’s leader, in that attempt, wound up getting hurt by Sect Leader Wen instead, and now followers of Xi Sha Sect are here to search for the assassin. Originally Lei Lei was not interested in all these sect related matters, having understood the situation she turned around and was about to return to bed to continue sleeping, who would have expected that in such a short moment, a man clad in black stood at the front of her bed!
She buried her face in her hands, nearly screeching.
How did this person enter!
.
A cold and handsome face, he looked to be in his twenties, his eyebrows slightly knitted; eyes closed, he appears to have passed out, but his hands still holding onto a long sword, Lei Lei tentatively approached, and realised there were blood stains at the edge of his mouth.
No need to ask further, this person must be that injured assassin.
Most importantly, the assassin is a beautiful male!
Lei Lei acted without thinking; she decided that beauty saves the hero, she wanted to bend over to support him, preparing herself to bring him onto the bed first before thinking, but little did she know that she had not even bent down yet, 一a long sword pointed at her neck.
“Don’t move!” said in a cold voice, he was already standing in front of her, his gaze sharp.
Turns out that he could still move on his own, seems like the chance to put up an act to save the beau is gone, Lei Lei was extremely disappointed, in addition she was upset by the coldness of the sword, she raised her hands: “Speak nicely, nicely…...actually I intended to save you, they are about to search here, let’s first come up with an idea to hide you, how’s that?”
The beautiful male obviously did not trust that she would be this kind, and hissed, pointing the tip of his sword at her: “Get on the bed!”
See, just like that she was forced by the beautiful male to get onto the bed, so Lei Lei went over to lay down quietly.
Then the beautiful male took his shoes off and got onto the bed, as he began to undo his garment.
What is he…...while Lei Lei was feeling nervous and having wild thoughts, the beautiful male already took off his top, revealing the palm print on his chest below the shoulders, that palm print was purplish black, he quickly took out a small jade bottle, used his finger to take some white ointment, then spread it on the print, after which he kept the bottle carefully.
The mixed sounds of footsteps outside the door were getting nearer and nearer, most likely they were in discussion with Caretaker Zhao and the rest.
After wearing his clothes properly, covering his eyes, the beautiful male then leaned back, half closed his eyes, sweat starting to appear on his forehead.
Having lost the chance to put up an act to save the beau, Lei Lei could only use words to express concern: “Do you need to use internal force to heal your wound? Don’t worry, I won’t say anything to them.”
The beautiful male immediately opened his eyes, and resumed his cold posture: “Enough with the nonsense!”
Can’t tell what’s good for him, I really want to save you! Lei Lei became angry, so she stayed silent.
Sound of footsteps got closer.
“Is anybody there is anybody there!” The door was hit so hard that it rumbled.
.
After glancing at the beautiful male beside her, Lei Lei got off the bed, but was pulled back with a grab of her neck, tearing the bed curtain in the process.
“Dare say anything, and I’ll take your life.” The menacing voice was by her ears.
Unable to budge, Lei Lei could only remain silent; taking the initiative to save someone is a form of good will, whereas being forced to save someone feels very distinct from the former, Lei Lei maliciously thought, fine, you don’t let the door open, they’re going to burst in here then catch and kill you!
Not getting a response after so long, the people outside were getting impatient.
“Go in and see.” Came the middle aged man’s voice.
“Inappropriate.” Came the young man’s voice.
“Could it be that Young Master Xiao is shielding them Nan Hai Sect?” There was a sneer.
“Uncle Hao!” Sensing his indiscreet remark, the lady from earlier stepped in, “I believe Young Master Xiao must have his reason.”
“You still side that Leng Sheng Yin, he almost killed your father!”
“Uncle Hao!” She plaintively cried.
So this lady is the daughter of Xi Sha Sect’s Sect Leader Wen, then who is Leng Sheng Yin? Lei Lei glanced at the beautiful male, who had an indifferent expression.
“Bai Sheng Shan Manor always does things upright,” the young man said plainly, “Swordsman Hao even searched my room, there’s nothing to hide, just that staying in this room is a lady, if you are insistent on entering hastily, I can’t hold you back.”
Sure enough Swordsman Hao stopped talking.
Young Mistress Wen suddenly said: “While Young Master Xiao’s concerns are valid, but after calling out for so long, there is no response from inside, or if something strange is happening, that causes Uncle Hao to feel uneasy, I will go in and take a look.”
“Alright, the two of you, follow the young mistress in.”
“Yes.”
.
The moment the door was kicked open, the hand holding her neck was released, then shifted to her waist.
“Speak carefully.” He gave a low warning.
Lei Lei rolled her eyes, opened the bed curtain angrily, then rubbed her eyes, pretending that she had just woken up: “Who is that!”
From observing close up, Young Mistress Wen is indeed very beautiful, the white borders on the black garments when worn on her, doesn’t make her look proud, but alleviates her gentle stature instead: “Young lady you don’t have to be afraid, we are just looking around and will leave.” Her voice was gentle, as she closed in on the bed front, she smiled at Lei Lei: “There was an assassin just now, did anything happen in here?”
Lei Lei shook her head: “Nothing.”
The room was simple, the two other female disciples turned the room upside down, not even dismissing a very small cabinet.
Not seeing any results, Young Mistress Wen seemed to be relieved; noticing that Lei Lei was about to speak, she inadvertently bowed her head, nevertheless casting a glance at something in front of the bed, her complexion changed.
Crap! Lei Lei was shocked.
To think that half a shoe was peeping out from the bottom of the bed, and it obviously belonged to a man.
The palms of her hands began to exude cold sweat, Lei Lei looked at Young Mistress Wen in horror, crying secretly; doomed, if I am exposed to be harbouring the assassin, the first to lose a life would be me, dying at the hands of a beautiful man!
The unexpected happened.
Young Mistress Wen recollected herself, took a glance at those two other female disciples, without sound she turned around, making it seem as if by accident, she kicked that shoe under the bed: “Since there is nothing, we shall not disturb the young lady’s rest, let’s go.”
The two female disciples followed her out.
“Really nothing?” asked Swordsman Hao with a doubtful voice, he evidently did not believe Young Mistress Wen.
“Nothing.” The two female disciples said in unison.
“In this case, excuse me, for being vulgar, Young Master Xiao please don’t be offended.”
“Welcome, please send my regards to Sect Leader Wen.” Said the young man.
After the exchange of a few more courteous words, Swordsman Hao left with everyone.
My, what is this, everything is fine? Lei Lei recollected herself after a long while, then she kind of understood the situation, this Young Mistress Wen and the beautiful male…...affair they are having an affair! The beautiful male tries to assassinate Sect Leader Wen, but was saved by the enemy’s daughter, this is so contrived so contrived!
The torches downstairs gradually dissipated.
Lei Lei looked back: “You are Leng Sheng Yin?”
The beautiful man did not answer, got off the bed and walked to the edge of the window, and disappeared in a flash.
Lei Lei was even more speechless; at any rate this ol’ me saved your life, you could have at least said “thank you for your good grace”, he may be handsome, but just had to act cool.