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Co-translated and edited with yuruzuru
Chapter 08. Chun Hua Meets Qiu Yue (春花遇上秋月)
Silence, it was so silent that it was terrifying.
Her eyes opened to a snow white view, Lei Lei was so shocked that she sat upright, and glanced around, there were only many soft white veils hanging from the top, like curtains, unsure how heavy those were, only faint light could pass through, other than that she could see nothing else, she wasn’t even sure if it was day or night.
Why does this feel like a morgue? Has she been murdered?
Her hair stood one by one, and just as Lei Lei was terrified, a sudden cold wind swept across her, the surrounding tents moved in response to the wind, fluttering lightly without a sound, and in the meantime there were shadows, and it was exceptionally dark.
It was not like a normal cool autumn breeze, this wind actually carried with it countless cold and chilling air, prickling the skin and causing it to ache dully, the chill penetrating into the bone, Lei Lei could only feel her whole body rapidly going numb from the cold, even opening her mouth could expel a white breath of air, it was like being in a big cold storage warehouse, she was close to suspecting, that this place was the netherworld mentioned in folklores.
Have I really become a ghost? Lei Lei could barely keep her calm, she rubbed her legs, tried her hardest to stand up, move her hands and feet about, and after feeling slightly better, she started to analyse her current situation in detail, she does not believe there is such a thing as ghost in this world.
Looking overhead, rocks can be seen vaguely; this should be a cave, light is entering from the right, the wind is also blowing from there; it should be the mouth of the cave, with no time to spare to think about the reason those people would bring her here, Lei Lei made up her mind to first leave this place, and so she firmly made her way to where the light was shining from.
Lifting the veils one after another, the light got brighter and brighter, the chill in the wind also got stronger and stronger, the sound of water could also be faintly heard.
At last, she could see the light before her eyes.
There was moonlight in the vast sky, the surrounding scenery was very clear, and mountains were rolling in the distance.
Under the moonlight, Lei Lei was a little dazed, but the intense hunger she felt in her stomach confirmed one thing, this was by no means the same moon before she had lost consciousness, it is most likely already August 15, night of the Mid Autumn Festival.
The sound of water splashing, meant there should be a deep mountain stream in front, which was also exactly where the cold air was coming from, and on the other side was a large valley with a silver white sheen, its colour completely different from the surrounding peaks, astonishingly beautiful.
Here is a high platform, with white marble railing, and on the right was a row of stone steps extending downwards, within the stone cauldrons on both sides was a large raging fire, the flames dancing insolently to the wind.
There was no excitement of having escaped her death, for Lei Lei saw two people.
One stood, the other kneeled.
Her eyes were involuntarily attracted to the one standing.
.
The pure white robe was blown by the wind, it had no variegation, just like a peak of ice and snow, and was not the least bit contaminated by dust, the full moon above his head lost its colour in an instant, which would make people mistakenly think, that he should be the full moon high above, radiating light all around.
Part of his black hair was leisurely hanging down, as if black ink was spilling on his shoulders, firelight and moonlight shone on his perfect profile, the corners of his lips were slightly raised, a touch that was very contrasting to his temperament; a warm smile, this smile made his whole person no longer look ethereal and illusory, and finally had a touch of human flavour.
He did not seem to notice Lei Lei, only looking at the kneeling white-clothed woman with his hands behind his back: “I permitted you to kneel?”
The woman tremblingly rose from the ground: “Master……”
He smiled: “Not listening to orders and doing things on your own, what to do to make you remember much better?”
Light shining from the fire, half of his pretty face was as pale as a dead person, the woman took one step back in horror, she wanted to move further backwards, but her feet were planted firmly to the ground, almost tripping herself——not daring to step back anymore, even more afraid to commit suicide, because that would only make matter worse, and the consequence she would need to face would be more grim.
He turned around.
Finally I can see his face clearly, eyebrows, eyes, nose bridge…...practically more beautiful than a woman! If not for the extremely tall figure, Lei Lei would have thought it would be a woman.
Evildoer! Definitely an evildoer!
But the smile that was as warm as a spring sun made this evildoer not look like an evildoer.
Lei Lei knew this person had long noticed her, but he did not look at her, as if he treated her like a lifeless decoration, his beautiful eyes only slanting down to look at the woman beside him, then he sighed: “How about you do it yourself.”
The woman clenched her teeth, suddenly grasped her left wrist with her right hand, immediately following was a “ka cha” sound, that beautiful left hand of hers was folded at the wrist, just like the transformers that one would play during childhood, her hand folded into an extremely weird, and unbelievable angle, the back of her hand stuck to her arm.
What is she doing! Lei Lei was so shocked that she clenched her teeth tightly, holding herself back from making any noise.
In the midst of the cold wind, the woman’s voice trembled, “Master……”
His expression showed no trace of surprise, he smiled as he shook his head: “Not enough.”
As soon as he spoke, he raised his left hand.
Witnessing with her own eyes how that beautiful hand was extending towards herself, the expression on the woman’s face turned from pain to desperation, not begging for mercy, because she knew it would be futile, more so she lacked the courage to escape.
The movement was as graceful as the action of plucking flowers and leaves, natural, and casual.
He smiled and curled his finger, and dug out an eyeball from that beautiful left eye.
The woman grunted pitifully, but held on strong as to not faint.
On her side profile, what was originally a big black eye, has now become a bloodied flesh hole, fresh blood kept oozing out, as if it was a stream of tears rolling down her face, beauty and ugly co-existed, causing that side profile to look extremely weird.
“You may go.”
“Thank you Master.” The woman seemed to heave a sigh of relief, turned around, staggered along the stone steps on the right towards the stage, disappearing into the shadow.
As for the one like a bright moon, that beautiful man with a warm smile, at this moment he was looking at his two bloody fingers with interest, stuck on his fingertip was an eyeball, it was black and white and red.
Lei Lei suddenly had a spell of dizziness, her empty stomach began to contort, she could not help but turn her head away feeling nauseous.
.
“You still came back?” His voice and smile was kind, asking as if he was a concerned relative.
Lei Lei was shocked, she raised her head to look at him.
That man was still standing at the same spot, and was using a clean white handkerchief to wipe his fingers carefully, and very elegantly, but he wasn’t looking in her direction. Very quickly, those two fingers were clean again.
With a wave of his hand, the stained handkerchief floated to the bottom of the stream.
Only now then he looked at her, full of smiles, and walked over slowly, each step was so calm, so complacent; his robe was blown up by the wind, like an immortal riding the wind, like a poet who walks on the moon, and also like a noble son who travels freely, nobody would have thought of what he just did.
In an instant, Lei Lei thought of the young man.
The young man who does things upright, hates evil, yet has an elegant smile.
Yet in front of her is this eye gorging and scary man, yet he has this gentle and elegant, warm like the sun during spring kind of smile.
Her whole body was breaking out in a cold, she could barely even take half a step, Lei Lei watched him walked right in front of her, reached out his hand to caress her face, freely stroking, his clean and slender fingers looked beautiful up close, as if carved from a beautiful jade; the wind here is very strong, very chilling, her face was already feeling the cold, but his fingers were colder, she could even vaguely feel, the faint scent of blood from his fingertips.
Finally, he tilted her chin up: “Since you are back, why are you not happy?”
His voice was gentle, with no malicious intent, if it were not for the scene she witnessed earlier, Lei Lei’s heart would definitely race, but now, as she was being forced to look straight at that beautiful face, she could only feel her hair standing: “Who are you?”
He froze, and smiled: “You don’t recognise me already?”
Lei Lei reluctantly returned a stiff smile: “I fell off a cliff, and don’t remember anything.” Her eyes glanced at the two fingers: “You…...why do you want to hurt me?”
He looked at her, not saying anything.
Lei Lei calmed down a little, and asked: “You know me?”
“Of course,” he whispered, “Of course I know, how can I not know?”
“Where is this?”
“Qian Yue Cave.”
.
Qian Yue Cave! Triggered by these three words, immediately a lightbulb popped into Lei Lei’s head, so she blurted out: “I want to see Shang Guan Qiu Yue!”
Smiling slightly, he let go of her.
Lei Lei let out a sigh of relief; as expected of the demonic cult, such harsh punishments, since he could recognise her, saying things like “coming back”, seems like this “Chun Hua” really belongs to Qian Yue Cave, and perhaps really related to Shang Guan Qiu Yue!
Seeing that the man was not doing anything to her, she became more sure of her guess, so she tested: “You know who am I?”
“Lei Lei is only but a fake name.”
“That’s right, I am Shang Guan Chun Hua.”
Without the slightest look of surprise or shock, he quietly looked at her face, not overlooking even the tiniest detail, she is standing in front of him alive, no doubt, but there is that slight difference, to think she doesn’t recognise him?
Lei Lei became even more sure, lazy to say anymore, she mustered her courage: “Was it Shang Guan Qiu Yue who brought me back?”
He nodded.
Lei Lei confidently, putting on some airs: “Are you not going to quickly bring me to see her!”
He suddenly smiled: “Okay.”
Lei Lei could not wait to leave this place, at the thought of that eyeball, goosebumps rose all over her body, feeling the chills: “Let’s go.”
He did not move.
Lei Lei rushed him: “Let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Bring me to see Shang Guan Qiu Yue.”
“You are already looking at him.”
Already seen? Lei Lei was in a daze, then she got a shock: “You…...You are a male?”
‘I look like a woman?”
“How is Shang Guan Qiu Yue a male?” Surprise replaced fear.
“Who told you, that Shang Guan Qiu Yue is a female?” Like as if he succeeded in making fun of others, he tilted his face and smiled, “Why, you don’t even recognise me?”
The pampering in his smile was so obvious, like an older brother to his younger sister, making others feel warm and relieved; Lei Lei relaxed a bit, not feeling so afraid anymore; aiyo, there’s a ninety percent chance I am related to this devil!
She muttered: “I don’t remember a single thing.”
“Then how do you know to find me?”
“Because…...when will Chun Hua Qiu Yue come to an end.”
[T/N: 春花 (chūn huā) means spring flower and 秋月 (qiū yuè) means autumn moon, so the line actually meant “when will the spring flower and autumn moon come to an end”.]
When will Chun Hua Qiu Yue come to an end? He laughed: “Now you know nothing, but you’ve learned how to compose poems, who taught you to make a joke using my name, getting more and more bold.”
“Who…...am I?”
“Of course you are my sister Shang Guan Chun Hua.” Shang Guan Qiu Yue pinched her face.
.
Seriously, she’s really Chun Hua! She stared with her tongue tied, in half joy and half worry, happy because she has such a good looking older brother, worry because this brother is a cruel big devil; that bloody horror scene from just now still made her feel some lingering fear, but now that this person, is making jokes and looking at her with smiles, he is definitely an older brother who dotes on his younger sister, it is impossible to relate him to those cruel acts.
Getting no response from her, Shang Guan Qiu Yue revealed his discontent, his tone harboured blame: “It’s fine if you don’t remember others, but how can you forget your brother?”
Lei Lei became alert, and stepped back: “How do I know if you are not bluffing me?”
Shang Guan Qiu Yue shook his head, his slight sigh contained a tinge of self blame: “Had I known that you would become like this, then I shouldn’t have let you do as you wish, and let you handle the task.”
Lei Lei found it weird: “Handle the task?”
Shang Guan Qiu Yue said: “To follow that girl from the Hua Family to Bai Sheng Shan Manor, you hardly move around outside, but this time you insisted on going, saying how you wanted to get the core teaching of the Xiao Xiao Feng Ming Dao for me…...”
“Hold on!” Lei Lei cut him off, feeling surprised, “If I am that personal maid, then there should have been many who have seen me before, why has no one recognised me till now?”
Shang Guan Qiu Yue was also surprised: “Are you not very good at disguising, back then our plan, was to have you disguise as that maid to sneak into the Hua Family while they were sending them off.”
Lei Lei finally understood the sequence of events, no wonder the loyal maid would kill her mistress, turns out that the maid had been replaced by Shang Guan Chun Hua midway!
“Afterwards that girl from the Hua Family was burnt to death inexplicably, and you were gone, I thought you betrayed me, until I heard recently that you have returned, even with a different name……” Guilt was written on Shang Guan Qiu Yue’s face, reaching out a hand to tidy her hair, “I shouldn’t have doubted you, you are most obedient, you wouldn’t betray your brother.”
No wonder his attitude was not friendly earlier on, so he was doubting me; Lei Lei cried secretly, having doubts at the same time, there was nothing unusual happening during the past few days at Bai Sheng Shan Manor, does this mean that Shang Guan Chun Hua failed to obtain the core teaching of Xiao Xiao Feng Ming Dao, then why would she kill Young Mistress Hua and escape, wasn’t she ruining the plan? Unless she decided not to help her brother? And how did she end up falling to her death from the cliff? Or perhaps she didn’t do all these, and that there is someone else behind all these?
She explained: “I really……”
“I know, you really don’t remember, otherwise how could you not have recognised me,” Shang Guan Qiu Yue smiled slightly, “I usually dote on you the most, and you are so sensible, how could you have betrayed me, who harmed you?”
Lei Lei looked at him: “I don’t remember.”
Shang Guan Qiu Yue raised his eyebrow, then he suddenly raised his hand, without waiting for her response, there was a “chi” sound, then there was a huge tear on her chest placket.
Lei Lei was in shock as she hugged her chest and stepped back: “What are you doing!” This is not something a brother would do!
Shang Guan Qiu Yue smiled: “Are you still not doubting if I lied to you, there is a red birthmark on your body since you were young, shaped like a flower bud, hence your name Chun Hua, have a look for yourself if you don’t believe.”
Not simple, as expected of a devil, even reading people’s thoughts so clearly! Lei Lei had no choice but to believe, actually that mark she has seen it many times when she took a bath, roughly the size of a fingernail, brightly coloured, its position is also very unique, it just had to be under the shoulder, but above the left breast, other than the biological brother who grew up together with her, who else would have seen this lady’s converted spot!
.
“Do you believe me now?”
Lei Lei made an “Mm” sound, and whined as she tidied her clothes: “You could have just said it, why tear my clothes!”
“Your own brother, what are you afraid of.”
Even my brother is also not allowed to see my chest, you sure have individuality! Lei Lei was depressed, now that she really is a demonic cult siren, why! Why is this good looking guy her brother! Suddenly recalling the horror scene from earlier, she once again felt the chills, but secretly rejoicing, if this man was not her brother, he might have disposed of her, luckily this devil dotes on his sister!
“Do I know martial arts?”
“You only knew a tiny bit, it’s fine also if you don’t,” Shang Guan Qiu Yue held her hand, and went down the stage along the stone steps, “What are you afraid of, with me here, it’s good that you came back safe and sound, until you recover your memory, and remember who harmed you, then I will kill him.”
The word “kill”, was said so easily, like as if those were done by others, and not by him; Lei Lei suddenly thought of a phrase “face of an angel, heart of a devil”, she said deliberately: “You…...you often gorge other people’s eyes?”
Shang Guan Qiu Yue was surprised: “Were you scared? Don’t you used to often do it too?”
Damn, often? Turns out this Shang Guan Chun Hua is also a small devil! Lei Lei trembled, unconsciously touching the tip of her finger, imagining it dripping with blood and holding someone else’s eyeballs, her empty stomach flipped.
“If you are scared, then I won’t do such things again in front of you,” Shang Guan Qiu Yue continued to pull her along, “Today is Mid Autumn, us siblings are finally reunited, let’s first have some mooncake, then have a good sleep.”
Lei Lei did not say anything, she should indeed get a good sleep, wishing that this is only just a dream.