A Match Made in Heaven

A hand stretched over and without any explanation, it was pressing on Xin Mei’s forehead. Xin Mei could feel her little heart beat rapidly like it would pop out from her chest, while her legs suddenly went soft as she started to panic.

What is he going to do?! He is not going to do it here, is he? Doing it here... isn"t that convenient! Based on the books, shouldn’t it be done beautifully on top of a bed, where you’ll shed one of mine and I"ll shed one of you? (T/N : We"re currently in Xin Mei"s mind. That"s why I"m using present tense.)

“You have a fever.”

Lu Qianqiao’s voice sounded behind her ears. It also gave out warm breath that made her having goose b.u.mps.

What did he say? She was too agitated to even hear him clearly now...

“You shouldn’t have drink too much. Let’s go, I’ll take you back to your room.”

Without any explanation, his other hand grabbed the back of her vest, lifted her up, and then, he carried her under his arm. She was carried away like she was a bag of rice.

Strangely, shouldn’t he be holding her in his arms, or gave her a piggy back? So, what with this situation where she was carried like a rice bag?!

Xin Mei struggled to lift her neck to look up at him, “Lu Qianqiao, it"s going to be hard for you to carry me like this.”

His expression was extremely calm, not at all tender, and his voice was very smooth, “Drinking till your drunk will only make you feel unwell. Hold on for a while. You will arrive there soon.” This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

She was stunned, “I am not drunk!”

He didn’t respond. Well, drunk people never admit that they were actually drunk.

“I’m really not!”

She just wanted to make herself mentally prepared. Why was this so difficult for her?

As soon as he raised his arm, his posture finally changed from carrying a rice bag under his arm to shouldering a rice bag. Xin Mei could not help but silently shed two lines of sad tears. It turned out that in his heart, she was the same as a bag of rice.

Xin Mei’s courtyard was next door to Xin Xiong’s. It was small and exquisite. The courtyard was full of plum blossoms because Xin Xiong had planted them according to the word méi (湄= river bank sound the same as 梅= plum blossom) in his daughter’s name. Originally, he named his daughter Xin Mei (méi 梅 = plum blossom), all because there was a méi word in his wife’s name. He and his wife was a married couple that was very much in love with each other. Later, he invited Immortal Yuqing to tell his daughter"s fortune. He was being told that his daughter was. .h.i.t by a shortage of water in her five elements, so, he changed the word méi (梅 = plum blossom) to méi (湄=river bank). Listening to the advice of Immortal Yuqing, he also planted a lots of plum blossoms in front of his daughter’s courtyard. The plum blossoms would took advantage of her stinginess over her virtuousness. It was said that they would also bring a great benefit to her marriage in the future.

Yet, whether they would actually give her any benefit or something like it, she still hadn’t see any of it!

Xin Mei, who had tears streaming down her face, was carried into her room by Liu Qianqiao. Then, she was tied up with his bewitching rope without any trouble from her. She was forced to lie on her bed which made her grimaced, “Liu Qianqiao! You tied me up again!“

He completely ignored her. He just twisted his handkerchief in the cold water, came over to help her head up, and wiped her face with his other hand. His movements were gentle and awkward, as if he was afraid of hurting her.

How could this man do something like this? Every time, he always acting very considerate and fond of her from the outside, but what other than, what he did was always wrong. Would any husband in the world tie his wife with a bewitching rope? He was the one who held her captive at the first place, and later, he regretted their marriage and turned her, his bride, into an abandoned woman on her wedding day. Then, he went to great length to proposed a marriage, saying that he wanted to be real husband and wife this time around. Now, he said she was drunk, and it was still him who tied her with his bewitching rope—— This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

He, he, he... was such a man’s heart, like a needle at the bottom of the sea!

Who knew that, being husband and wife was more difficult than to have a child.

Seeing that she did not move nor speak, but stared intently at him with her round eyes, Lu Qianqao touched her forehead again. This time it was not burning anymore, as her skin was still wet and a slight chill. He was somewhat reluctant to give up the feeling he got from the touch as he gently stroke his fingers there for a moment longer, then slowly withdrew.

“... Are you still feeling unwell now?” he asked in a low voice.

She gave out a disdainful hum and refused to answer.

Lu Qianqao hesitated for a moment, “You’re acting very weird today.”

“You’re the weird one!” She was very angry, “Liu Qianqiao, I hate you! Today, no, from now on - I"ll hate you from the sole of my feet!“

He didn’t pay attention to her statements. He just tucked her in the quilt, “You’re so drunk. Just go to sleep.”

"You still tie me up, sleep my a.s.s!"

He paused for a moment, feeling worried, “Xin Mei, if you keep on doing what you were doing outside just now, House of Xin will be gone.” This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

She pursed her mouth so much that an oil bottle could hang it, “You’re talking nonsense! I, that... is not... I just... that, what ... “

“What?” He was so confused.

“Nothing! Let go of me! “

He quickly took away the bewitching rope and Xin Mei immediately jumped out of bed, then turned her back without looking at him. “I’m not going to marry you, so leave!”

Lu Qianqiao paid no attention to her childishness, but looked around and smiled slightly, “So, this is the room where you live.”

His knowledge of women’s rooms was limited to Li Chaoyang’s. She was a high-ranking lady and a widow in the war demon clan. Her room was cold and simple, with one wall was full of all kinds of magic weapons. There was no softness and flattery in her room.

Xin Mei’s room was different.

In front of the delicate full moon shaped window, hung sunset glow coloured fine gauze, and a pear flower yellow wood cabinet was littered with several books. There were no beautiful luxurious vases nor corals. While, the cupboard was full of wooden made figurines, colourful clay dolls, odd-looking toys and so on - obviously, this was not the standard lady’s boudoir described in the book, but it was full of Xin Mei’s colours.

On top of a cupboard at the head of the bed, there were two familiar figurines, which were made by him, the heavenly maiden daren (t.i.tle of respect toward superiors) and general daren. One was extremely colourful and magnificent, while the other was majestic and exalted with a long sword. The paint on the faces of the two dolls were already fell off, which was due to frequent touching and playing.

Lu Qianqiao picked up the general daren. There was a line embroidered on the doll. It seemed like, that girl had found someone to get it done later. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

That line of words, alas, that line of words – ‘General of Wh.o.r.ehouse (嫖妓将军 piáo jì jiāng jūn) In His Mighty Splendid Attire’.

His eyebrow shook twice, then he turned his head to ask her, “General of Wh.o.r.ehouse (嫖妓将军 piáo jì jiāng jūn)?”

Xin Mei grabbed it and held it in her arms like a baby, “It’s definitely not you! You better walk away! Don’t touch my things!“

Lu Qianqiao didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry, “Xin Mei, it’s General of Flying Calvary (是骠骑将军 piào qí jiāng jūn), not wh.o.r.ehouse (嫖妓 piáo jì) ...” (T/N : Though, it"s rhyme.)

“Humph, I won’t listen!”

He smiled helplessly and turned to look at the other side of the room. There was a small dressing table. As expected, it was covered with a thin layer of dust. He estimated, that child rarely used it since she was still small. He picked up a box of rouge and gently opened it – well, it had turned into a dried rouge.

He then took a bottle of osmanthus hair oil and open it – well, it had completely dried out.

When he opened the powder box next - well, a few of the powder sticks had split into small pieces.
 

Fried Dough Twist / Ma Hua

SourceRyuka [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Xin Mei, who was behind him, tugged at his sleeve, and twisted it into a fried dough twist, “Not here! Don’t look at the things on this side!“

When Lu Qianqiao saw her really panicking, he patted her forehead and said, “Okay, then I’m leaving. You go to bed early.” This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

He opened the door and left.

Xin Mei heaved a sigh of relief and quickly picked up the precious jewellery box, poured out all the jewelleries inside, grabbed the books and looked around to find a more appropriate place to hide them.

Suddenly the door was pushed open again. Lu Qianqao stepped in and said, “Xin Mei, my black cloth that I used to over my eyes...“

She panicked and the books in her hand scattered all over the place. She didn’t care about the rest, but ‘Orchids And Musk (fig. sweet perfumes) Pistil Collection’ was a picture alb.u.m, not a thread-bound book. At that time, the papers inside the picture alb.u.m flew all over the floor. The picture called ‘Guanyin Sitting on Lotus’ fell at Lu Qianqiao’s feet and was picked up by him when he bent down.

Xin Mei cried out in desperation, “Look at me! Don’t look at anything else! “

He was stupefied. He looked up at her quietly and turned a blind eye to the scattered papers. Speaking of it, this piece of paper in his hand was delicate and smooth. It was also filled with a faint fragrance... this fragrance, he seemed to have smelled it somewhere...

“Very good. Now, put the paper in your hand slowly on the table and turn around...”

She was fidgeting across the room, blushing like a lighter version of the colour of blood while sweating profusely.

Lu Qianqiao was absorbed in catching the faint fragrance of deja vu. Suddenly he remembered something and frowned, “The fragrance in this picture alb.u.m is not right.”

When he was young, he led the troops to drive away the enemy. How proud he was. There were also malicious people from the enemy country who tried to use beauty to lure him into a trap. The fragrance on the picture book was exactly the same as spring fragrance that was lit in his house that day – the Phoenix Cream. A cun (a traditional unit of length, equal to 0.1 chi (市尺), and equivalent to 3.333 centimetres or 1.312 inches) of Phoenix Cream was equivalent to five taels of silver, which was different from those tiger-like spring medicine. Phoenix Cream could even be said to be a good medicine, as it did not make people impetuous or unable to restrain themselves, nor did it have any staying power. Its medicinal properties was only intended to make use of the aroma to let people fantasised. As a result, they were often hard to detect. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね at xin-shou.blogspot.com. 

In those days, when he noticed something was wrong, he immediately destroyed the Phoenix Cream inside the incense burner. Unexpectedly, he once again smelled the sentimental delicate fragrance today.

“Xin Mei, this picture alb.u.m...”

Once he said that, he bowed his head and carefully looked. What he saw was four characters written like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing (Chinese idiom : flamboyant or bold cursive calligraphy) –

‘Guanyin Sitting On Lotus’

And the picture next to the word...
 

Liu Qianqiao froze.