Chapter 18 : Kiss Apricot blossom forest had a secret road leading to the underground palace. Its curved and narrow stone stairs extended downward. Due to its close proximity to the sacrificial pit, translucent and sad ghosts would occasionally appeared along the way.
This is a video from a visitor to underground palace inside Ding Ling Imperial Mausoleum at the southern foot of Tianshou Mountain. It was the largest Imperial Mausoleum in that area and one of the two Imperial Mausoleum that is opened to the public.
The steps of the secret pa.s.sage were covered with moss and slippery, though it won"t leave any feet marks behind. Xin Mei had just stepped down two steps when she saw a male ghost come out through the wall, jumped in front of her, tore off his head and burst out laughing, “Beauty, look, I have no head! Wahahaha.“
The female ghost aside scoffed, “What a shame! Look, look, I have no feet!“
The female ghost floated in the narrow secret pa.s.sage, with no feet beneath her blood-stained skirt.
(Silan"s thought : Are they really grieving?)
Xin Mei hesitated for a moment. She looked at the male ghost and then at the female ghost. She opened her mouth and was about to speak, when one hand came up from behind her to cover it. Lu Qianqiao"s deep voice was ringing in her ear. “You"d better not talk. These ghosts are very difficult to deal with.”
He knew too much about Xin Mei"s style of speech. If these grieving ghosts of those who were buried alive got angry, the underground palace would not be saved for them anymore.
She nodded. Her lips scratched his slightly rough palms, and Lu Qianqiao shivered slightly – his body during the transformation period was more like a dry ma.s.s of withered gra.s.s. With just a spark, it was enough to start a prairie fire. He quickly dropped his hand, but he was not willing to be defeated by the blood of war demon. He hold her hand again and gently pulled. Xin Mei could not help but had to keep up with his pace.
“... The ground is slippery. Stick with me.”
Xin Mei could not help looking up at his face. In the darkness, his blood-coloured eyes shone like wild beast – it was not a pretty sight, and it even looked creepy.
She looked at it for a long time until Lu Qianqiao asked in a low voice, “Are my eyes really ugly?”
She shook her head, “No, your red eyes were kind of extraordinary.”
He dropped his head shyly and smiled. He then tightened his grip on her hand, and said nothing more.
The road was full of ghosts, damp and gloomy. The man holding his hand still had a pair of eyes more thrilling than those ghosts. Xin Mei suddenly felt like walking on a sunshine avenue full of flowers. The miserable green will-o"-the-wisp falling one after another were like petals flying all over the sky. The scary grieving ghosts floated on both sides were pa.s.sers-by A, B, C, D, standing on the roadside clapping and applauding. While, Lu Qianqiao"s luminous eyes were like the ever-burning lamps illuminating their journey...
Xin Mei was quick to lose her heart to this gloomy treacherous person.
Along the way, peach blossoms drifted in her mind like devoted labourers. When the secret pa.s.sage finally came to an end, her eyes suddenly opened up to a wide panorama (Chinese idiom : to come to a wide clearing). The underground palace of the Imperial Mausoleum was extremely grand and s.p.a.cious. The ever-burning lamps that would last for ten thousand years, shined the dark underground to be as white as snow. Well, these were not the key points. The key point was-there were several tables in the northeast corner. On those tables, there were several familiar monsters, such as Lord Zhao, Yinglian and Tao Guoguo. They all gathered together to play mahjong and had a good time.
“Did all of you move to the underground palace?” Xin Mei walked over and asked curiously.
Lord Zhao who had lost badly, raised his miserable face. When he saw Xin Mei"s tattered wedding dress, his eyes brightened. He turned his head to look at Lu Qianqiao and saw a huge cut hole on the chest part of his clothes, exposing his two beautifully curved collarbones. Lord Zhao was excited.
“Come, come...” He secretly waved to Xin Mei, “Tell me, have you two already spend your time in bridal chamber secretly? Both of you are in such a mess. Did the General behave wildly? “
Xin Mei thought about the exciting scene in the apricot blossom forest and shook her head. “No, it was me.”
“Oh!” Lord Zhao covered his b.l.o.o.d.y nose and he was going to faint with blurred vision (Chinese idiom : dizzy and eyes dimmed). “Miss, you are an exceptional woman!” (T/N : Lol... Lord Zhao, how easy for you to get a nose bleed.)
Silan came over and gave Lord Zhao a quick glare. He then counted the number of people all around and somehow his face became much uglier every second, “Another monster left the Imperial Mausoleum without permission?”
Tao Guoguo replied with a bitter face, “Brother Silan, they do not listen to our words. They said...They said that Big Brother Qianqiao is dying anyway. Before, they were being forced to stay in the Imperial Mausoleum or something. Now Big Brother Qianqiao can"t even released his Mist Formation, that"s why... that"s why...”
After all, he was still a young monster, and he finally couldn"t help but burst into tears. When Tu Guoguo"s little brother, who looks like a meat ball, saw his older brother crying, he also started to wail loudly. He turned around and threw himself into Lu Qianqao"s arms. He cried softly, “Brother Qianqao, don"t die!”
Lu Qianqao lifted him up a little, made him sat on his arm and gave him a rea.s.suring pat on the back.
“Whoa, whoa, what"s there for you guys to cry about?” Lord Zhao sighed, “On the contrary, this only made the General feels even worse. Come, come. Come to my side. Let"s shuffle the mahjong again.”
He dragged away a few small monsters with unstable emotions to other room, and the crying gradually became inaudible.
Silan"s face was extremely pale, “General ... why don"t I go out and bring back those evil monsters who have fled secretly...”
More than three hundred monsters and demons were in the Imperial Mausoleum. A portion of them were generals who were demoted and banished to Imperial Mausoleum. They were locked up inside by Lu Qianqao"s Mist Formation, to stop them from going outside to harm people. Now that Lu Qianqao was suffering from his transformation, he could not control his body, as well as deploying his troop. Based on common sense, this was the most suitable time for the demoted generals to escape.
Lu Qianqiao shook his head, “Just look for them but don"t hurt anyone.”
Silan left with several powerful demons. Soon, only Xin Mei and Lu Qianqiao were left in the underground palace. He deliberately turned his back on her and took a step forward before whispering, “There are many rooms here, so you can rest in any room.”
... That was it? Peach blossom had being floating in her mind for half a day, and now he threw this sentence to her?
“Lu Qianqiao.” She called from the back as she grabbed a handful of her hair. She was feeling a little upset. “You... Aren"t you gonna tell me something?”
He paused for a moment and finally turned around. His blood-red eyes turned black, just a moment of eye contact with her, and then his eyes moved away quickly.
“About what?” He asked in a low, husky voice.
“I... I don"t know.” She also didn"t know what he should say to her. Shouldn"t he made the decision himself?
He was silent for a moment and then said, “In fact... I still don"t want you to stay in the Imperial Mausoleum. You should return to House of Xin immediately.”
The illusion of floating peach blossoms disappeared with a ‘poof" from her head .
“You"re still acting like that?” Her eyes glared at him again.
“Now that you have decided to stay, find a room to rest. Don"t worry about anything.
Well, they just went back to square one.
Xin Mei bowed her head and thought for a moment. Suddenly she felt a little timid and did not dare to ask that question. But still she asked, “Lu Qianqiao, is it really bothering you to marry me? You... Really don"t want to marry me? “
He said he didn"t hate her, but he didn"t like her enough to risk his life and death to marry her. Whether it was true or false, it hit her harder than any mortification. He gave her a doll and always took care of her quietly. She wasn"t having a wrong idea, was she?
She stared anxiously into his red eyes.
He was silent for a long time. When he raised his eyes again, he looked at her without avoiding her eyes. “... That was false.”
Xin Mei blinked, trying to figure out the truth behind his words. Suddenly he took something out of his sachet, then he raised his hand to throw it over at her. She caught it and looked at it carefully. It was a finished doll with its golden armour and a silver helmet while holding a long knife in its hand, pointing forward majestically.
Her General daren (t.i.tle of respect toward superior).
“A gift.” He said, and immediately turned away. His ears was as red as an agate.
She smiled at once and ran light-heartedly to his side like a rabbit, as she looked up, trying to see his expression. He tried his best to keep his face away from her. Xin Mei held down his shoulder and craned her neck like a goose. She just put her face close to him and stared curiously at his expression.
...... He seemed to have been beaten quite badly by her. The left corner of his mouth was skinned and slightly swollen. While the right corner was still bleeding, and his face was suspiciously flushed. En... She just made him felt embarra.s.sed.
Seeing her staring at the wound, Lu Qianqiao raised his hand to cover his right face. He then glanced at her lightly, and coldly said, “...Go rest.”
“I"m not tired. I"m sorry I broke one of your teeth just now. Does it still hurt? Open your mouth and let me see the wound.”
“No.”
She took out the vial of precious wound medicine from inside her chest collar and waved it in front of him, “Then, let"s apply this medicine to the broken skin on your mouth.”
... If you got any closer, I didn"t know what I was going to do.
He held his breath and felt stiff all over. She pushed him onto the bench and handed him tea to rinse the wound. This body, which was undergoing transformation, was extremely responsive to all external stimuli due to its awakening of strength. The moment her fingertip touched the skin with the ointment, he shivered.
Her soft fingers slowly spread the ointment on his wound. Her white, porcelain face was right in front of his eyes. Her eyelashes were clear and countable.
He felt happy but also in agony. He wanted to push her away, but at the same time, hated to part with her.
The ardent blood of war demon began to surge forward. He could feel a sharp and strange pain under his skin. His ten fingers grabbed the handle of the stone chair with great force. With the sound "ka", he crushed the horn of the small animal carved on the handle.
Xin Mei was startle. “Does it hurt so much?”
She quickly spread more precious wound medicine, and cut a piece of gauze to stick on it, so that he would not accidentally rub it off.
“Is that why you all moved to the underground palace for fear of being discovered?” She began to wash the wound on his other cheek and asked.
Lu Qianqiao"s ears were buzzing. Xin Mei could only hear a vague "hmm" coming from him.
Endured, endured, endured... The word endurance was like a knife hanging up on top of his head. n.o.body was good having a facial paralysis than him. Furthermore, he was good in restraining himself.
His heart seemed to be gripped by something, and he felt agonising suffocation returned, just like the night his eyes had a sudden colour changed. His blood was stirring wildly and he trembled slightly. He could not move. It seemed to him that if he even moved a little, things would become out of his control.
Xin Mei tidied up the wound and saw that his hair was a little messy. There was still a slender blade of gra.s.s sticking on it. She smoothed his hair, removed the gra.s.s and smiled, “Lu Qianqiao, I am not an executioner, you don"t need to be so nervous.”
His eyelashes were shaking violently. The color of his eyes was changing back and forth between red and dark. Their radiance was flickering.
Xin Mei waved her hand in front of his eyes, “Hey, there"s something wrong with you. I"ll get Silan... “
He suddenly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the bright blood-like colour had disappeared. Now, his two eyes became as black as ink.
The prey was right in front of you! Grab her! A cold voice said from the deep bottom of his heart.
He obediently followed the urge of his war demon blood as he was unable to defy his demon instinct. His five fingers, like hooks, silently clasped her shoulders, and with a gentle tug, the soft prey fell into his arms.
He lowered his head and bit her lip fiercely.
He could smell her, which was fragrance and sweet.
He wished he could put his whole body inside her… He stretched out his arms, rubbing her tightly in his arms. He caressed her lips in harsh and fanatically manner. The bitter taste of the precious wound medicine got into his mouth, while the gauze pasted on the wound was rubbed off because of their movements.
He felt that he was trembling, and it might also be Xin Mei who was trembling. His ntangled lips were going deeper and deeper. There was a fine flow of fire between the skins that to had in contact with each other. His tip of his tongue could not resist gently entangledwwith hers. His actions were crude, nervous and intense.
...... The precious medicine mixed in his mouth felt very bitter. The injured skin of his mouth was hurting. He couldn"t breathe as he felt very painful.
Xin Mei was thinking about many unimportant things at random until his hot lips fell on her neck as he started to suck and nibbled. A strange feeling rose from deep inside her body because of this.
She instinctively wanted to struggle, but suddenly he pushed her away. He then put his hand over his heart and cowered on the stone chair while trembling violently. Thin blood gurgled from his qi qiao (seven apertures in one head - 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nose holes, 1 mouth) and in an instant it dyed his clothes red.
Xin Mei immediately got up from the ground. Without thinking of her soften legs, she raised her hand and chopped his neck first. Then she picked up the pa.s.sed out Lu Qianqiao, and shouted as she ran, “Silan! Lord Zhao! Liu Qianqiao"s qi qiao (seven apertures in one head - 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 nose holes, 1 mouth) are bleeding! “ (T/N : Did she just pick up Lu Qianqao by herself? Like you know, the way guy usually pick up girl? Is it called he bridal style? Darn, she"s strong!)
The new bride whose "first kiss" was forcefully being taken away did not even have time to ponder about it. She was currently busy saving her frail and sick groom.
The author has something to say: I am really exhausted. . .
The process of writing this chapter was as follows: every night I spend about 4-5 hours to finish a chapter, and the next day I spend half a day to revise or even rewrite it.
Somehow, I had forgotten to save the ma.n.u.script for this chapter. This nearly made me crazy. I had to dragged my body up till now just to finish retyping it. Though my fever is gone, I still cough everyday... 555
Therefore, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, I"m going to take three days off, and will temporarily stop posting new chapters during those days. I will resume with new chapters on September 25.
。 Dear ones, look at my pure eyes... How can we overlord a child from halting in submitting her ma.n.u.scripts during Mid-Autumn Festival for her health...
P: Happy Mid-Autumn festival, everyone. The doctor has advised (Internet slang : refers to a (fellow) young person in an affectionate way) Shi Si (the author) from temporarily stop eating moon cakes, so she can only look at the moon cakes in her hands with envy.
Noob Translator"s Musing Does Lu Qianqao know about Xin Mei"s curse? Did she in a way made Lu Qianqao"s curse to be activated earlier than it should? He"s still 24 years old. Isn"t the war demon curse only happen when they reach 25 yeats old? If I"m not mistaken, there"s one month left before Lu Qianqao turns 25. Hmmm...