Chapter 26: The n.o.ble Gentleman – Part 9
Translated by: Ritpoppy (2/3) and Kestrel (1/3)
Sorry, I just couldn"t muster up enough energy to translate the last part, so I used her translation.
Not edited, we die like real men
In October, Ming ChangYan came back from Tokhara and returned to the Central Plains. Upon approaching the entrance of XiYue Mountain, the laurel trees had all turned into bare branches, a very ugly sight.
Just as he arrived at the top of the mountain, a cool breeze brushed past his face, and a figure appeared in front of him.
Ming ChanYan"s eyes glistened, and quickly shouted, "Huai Yu!"
He took off his bamboo hat, rushed forwards and hooked an arm around his shoulders. He was both alarmed and ecstatic, "I thought you"d already left, how come you"re still here?"
After being pulled into his embrace and rubbed for a while, Huai Yu was vexed as he shouted, "Ming ChangYan!"
"What are you calling me for, did you miss me?"
Huai Yu pushed him away and patted his clothes, "You"re so annoying."
"Annoying how? If others asked me to annoy them, I wouldn"t even give them the chance!" Ming ChangYan asked, "Where"s LiMin-Jun and those little rascals? Ah, I remembered, they should be attending cla.s.s at the library right now. Alright, I"ll go find them later."
Huai Yu said, "A month ago, two of your disciples got into a fight, fell down the mountain and broke both their legs."
Ming ChangYan paused before asking, "Who?"
Huai Yu humphed, "I don"t know."
Ming ChangYan pondered for a moment and asked again, "Was it the prettiest one, and the one that doesn"t like to talk?"
"One of them had a sour expression."
Ming ChangYan said, "Yup, that"s them. Ming Yue and YuLou. LiMin-Jun that disgrace of a human, I warned him numerous times to keep an eye on those two children. But here he goes, allowing the two to break their legs under his supervision!"
After talking for a while, Ming ChangYan suddenly said, "Was it because those two fought that you stayed behind?"
Huai Yu refused to speak. Ming ChangYan didn"t have to wait for him to answer before he guessed the situation. He was just about to speak when Huai Yu"s footsteps sped up, turning a corner and disappeared out of sight. Ming ChangYan withdrew his hand and raised an eyebrow.
At 9:15 p.m, Huai Yu was prepared to go to bed when from outside his window, came the chirping of a bird. After carefully listening to the birdcall, he was able to identify it as a nightingale. The more he ignored it, the more jubilant the nightingale"s screeches became, to the point where the screeches sounded more like a goblin spirit that anything else, yelling from outside his window, "Huai Yu! Huai Yu! Huai Yu!"
Huai Yu stood within the room and deeply pondered for a while before he finally decided to take a look at this goblin spirit of a nightingale.
The moment he opened the windows, Ming ChangYan was sitting on top of a tree with his legs dangling down. He swayed them back and forth, smiling, "Why did it take you so long to open the window!"
Huai Yu said coldly, "It"s the middle of the night and instead of sleeping you"re imitating a bird"s call, is it very fun?"
Ming ChangYan was extremely curious as he asked, "You looked like you weren"t in a very good mood so I thought I could tease you happy by imitating a bird call. Hey, how did you guess that it was me?"
Huai Yu replied, "Because birds can"t speak the human language."
Ming ChangYan jokes, "You can"t be sure of that. Have you read the《PuZhou Night Talks》? A student that was in a hurry rescued a small sparrow, so at night, that small sparrow turned itself into a pretty young lady to come find him….."
Huai Yu saw him making gestures and poses as he narrated the story, one moment mimicking the scholar, and the next playing the young lady, his words colorful and livid making the story come to life. Furthermore, the moment they reached the pivotal part of the story, Ming ChangYan brutally stopped.
Huai Yu asked, "Why did it want to come find him?"
Ming ChangYan was waiting for him to ask that question, his eyes curved to resemble two small bridges as he smilingly opened his mouth, "Naturally it"s because it liked him and wanted to repay him for his kindness."
Huai Yu continued to ask, "Then why did it turn itself into a young lady?"
Ming ChangYan said, "Would it have turned itself into a man instead?"
Huai Yu said, "Why did it come at night?"
Ming ChangYan joyfully laughed, "Because evenings are the perfect time to let loose and have fun! Who would do those things in broad daylight? Oh, you still don"t know what happened next, right? Near the end, the young lady took off her shoes and socks–hey! Don"t close the window!"
He snapped off a twig and wedged it between the window opening. Huai Yu didn"t succeed in closing the window before Ming ChangYan had already opened the window, "Are you angry? Then I"ll stop talking."
Huai Yu said, "Why are you mimicking the sounds of a nightingale."
Ming ChangYan crossed his arms, sitting on the tree trunk, he tilted his head and smiled, "In the past when a certain person was sad, I would always do this outside her window. After a while, she would open the window and we would play around."
Huai Yu said, "Who?"
Ming ChangYan smiled, "My little sister."
Huai Yu"s hand slightly loosened, he let out a cold snort, "Little sister? You would tell these to your little sister? Letting loose and having fun?"
Ming ChangYan said, "Of course not. The story differs depending on the person I"m telling it to. When I"m telling this to my little sister, naturally when the young lady comes to visit the student at night…"
Huai Yu listened carefully.
Ming ChangYan slowly said, "It"s to read by the nightlight."
"So it turns out that the little sparrow was the reincarnation of a well-known scholar and began lecturing, teaching, and clearing up any confusion the student had. Naturally, the student was diligent and eager to study. He studied a.s.siduously and pa.s.sed the exams, earning him scholarly honor, returning home in glory!"
After he finished listening, Huai Yu coldly said, "It makes a person think."
At this moment, the two heard a creak coming from behind them. Ming ChangYan looked over and said, "Ming Yue? What are you doing up so late?"
Ming Yue stood by the corridor. He took a glance at Huai Yu, then took a glance at Ming ChangYan, his expression changing, "Da shi-xiong, why are you outside his room."
Ming ChangYan said, "You little brat, I don"t go minding your business, you come around and start minding mine! Go to sleep, put on your clothes, don"t catch a cold."
Ming Yue nodded his head, with one last glare at Huai Yu, he went back to his room.
Just as he left, in the side room, Ming ChangYan jumped off of the tree; patted down his clothes then faced Huai Yu and said, "Let"s go, I"ll treat you to some alcohol. As the saying goes one intoxicated moment is able to solve a thousand worries. It doesn"t matter what you"re worried about, you"ll be able to forget all of it after drinking."
Huai Yu stared at him. Ming ChangYan suddenly stepped forwards and grabbed his hand, pulling him out the window. Huai Yu caught off guard and couldn"t help but be surprised. He immediately responded, falling down as light as a feather. Ming ChangYan praised, "Your skills aren"t half bad, it"s pretty efficient."
Huai Yu turned around and looked back, causing Ming ChangYan to promptly seize his shoulder, "What"s the point of looking back when you"ve already arrived outside. Don"t tell me that you want to go back, that"s really disrespectful to this ShaoXia"s reputation."
Half-forcefully, Ming ShaoXia hauled him away towards XianYue Mountain"s wine cellar. Even though he was deemed number one in the entire country, with excellent martial art skills, and addressed as a ShaoXia by everyone; this person who"s been called the number one in the country has never drunk alcohol before, something that didn"t match up to common practices of martial heroes. Not only did Ming ChangYan not know how to drink alcohol, he also didn"t know how to properly smell the alcohol. He could only randomly pick around the wine cellar, looking from left to right, listening and looking in all different directions, before finally picking out two jars of wine that looked quite nice. Lifting them up, he exited the wine cellar.
Huai Yu wondered on why his way of picking wine resembled someone who was at the market trying to pick out watermelons, every jar of wine was knocked twice, then he stuck his ear on top of it to listen, all while looking completely serious.
Ming ChangYan talked for quite a while before he discovered the other"s mind was preoccupied, he asked, "What are you thinking about?"
Huai Yu hadn"t come back to reality, blurting out, "You."
Ming ChangYan gave him a blank stare.
Immediately, he laughed out loud, "I"m right beside you, what"s there to think about? Aiyah, little fish-xiong*, you really only see the seeds in watermelon!"
(TN: The "yu" he uses here is 鱼 (fish) rather than 瑜 (excellence), so he"s literally calling him Little Brother Fish. The two characters have the same tone.)
Just then, Huai Yu came back to his senses, his complexion changing, "You!"
Ming ChangYan"s smile became even more arrogant, nearly falling over as he rocked back and forth, "Alright alright alright, it"s me it"s me, no need to emphasize it a second time!"
As they pa.s.sed by a pigeon coop, they saw a plump pigeon perched on top of the wooden cage preening its feathers. It was round and fat, with a high and mighty aura, an embodiment of arrogance. Ming ChangYan said, "How did you come out?"
Huai Yu took the two jars of wine, while Ming ChangYan was already walking towards the pigeon. The one that was grooming itself under the moonlight and showing off his good-looks was none other than Little Eight. Huai Yu remembered him only because their first meeting had left a big impression on him, causing his mind to be filled with suspicions: Just how was this pigeon supposed to deliver letters? It was the spitting image of half a gourd*.
(TN: )
This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal our work I"m going to release Little Eight"s Wife to peck you to death.
Ming ChangYan took advantage of the fact that Little Eight wasn"t paying attention as he grabbed it and stuffed it into its cage. Within its cage, there were other similar-looking pigeons, all of them were TianQing Sect"s carrier pigeons.
Ming ChangYan took a handful of millets, stood a distance away from the cage and teased the pigeons. Pretending to feed them, but when the pigeons got close, he"d suddenly pull back. After toying with them for a while, he laughed before finally scattering the millets into the cage.
"Little Eight, ah Little Eight, every time you eat you"re the fastest, yet when you deliver mail you"re the slowest. I think you look good enough to be stir-fried, the next time you only eat but refuse to deliver mail, I"m going to have to cook you!"
Little Eight"s feathers trembled, completely unaware as he cheerfully pecked at the rice.
Huai Yu asked, "Have you given names to all of these pigeons?"
Ming ChangYan, "Of course, if I only name one of them, the others are going to get jealous and won"t properly deliver my letters."
He paused, then suddenly pulled Huai Yu over, seemingly wanting to introduce the rest of the pigeons to him.
Ming ChangYan waved his hand, pointing and said, "This is Little Eight"s little brother, this is Little Eight"s older brother, and that is Little Eight"s Wife. Come come come, come over here, look at this one."
He pointed as the pigeon coop beside it, "This one is Little Eight"s Concubine that we raise on the side. Little Eight got to know her last time he went to HengZhou to deliver a letter, so he brought this female pigeon back and demanded that I keep her. This ShaoXia can"t just go around beating pigeons, but Little Eight"s Wife was extremely ferocious, even I"m afraid of that fierce female pigeon, so I found another cage to put her in. She just couldn"t live with them or else Little Eight"s Wife would peck Little Eight"s Concubine."
Huai Yu, "….."
Ming ChangYan continued to chat eagerly, reciting all of Little Eight"s ancestors and love affairs for Huai Yu to hear.
Huai Yu slightly bent down, pointing to one of them he asked, "What"s this one"s name?"
"Hm?" Ming ChangYan said, "Little Eight"s little brother."
Huai Yu said, "I know. I"m asking for its name."
Ming ChangYan replied, "His name is Little Eight"s little brother."
Huai Yu pointed to another one, and just as expected, Ming ChangYan said, "Little Eight"s Wife," he then added, "That"s its name."
Ming ChangYan laughed out loud, "This pigeon coop is called "Little Eight"s Happy Family", what do you think? Let me inform you beforehand that this name was come up after collecting the opinions of all those in the TianQing Sect, you aren"t allowed to say they"re bad!"
Huai Yu said, "It"s horrible."
Ming ChangYan said, "All right all right, if you say it"s bad then it"s bad, come on, let"s not waste time, I"ll take you somewhere nice!"
He winked his right eye, as Huai Yu tilted his head.
XiYue Mountain was a mountain range that extended eternally into the distance. TianQing Sect was just situated on its main peak. The two headed halfway down the mountain, pa.s.sed through a natural karst cave, walked a hundred li, and arrived at a wide clearing.
Huai Yu squinted slightly, feeling like his whole body was surrounded in curling tendrils of mist, as if he were standing in a fairyland. After they"d kept walking for another quarter of an hour, the full moon broke out through the clouds, and the clear, reflective surface of a great lake appeared in his field of vision.
Ming ChangYan said, "We"re here!"
Huai Yu asked, "What is this place?"
Ming ChangYan found a piece of smooth rock, sat himself down on it, and cracked open the mud seal on one of the jars, letting the aroma of wine waft out.
"I found this place while taking a midnight walk a while back – still haven"t thought of a name for it."
"What were you doing taking a walk in the middle of the night?"
Ming ChangYan pa.s.sed a wine jar to him: "Obviously because I was in a bad mood. Everyone"s going to have times when their spirits are low; the older you get, the more unhappy moments there are."
Huai Yu sniffed at the wine, then expressionlessly drank a bowl. Ming ChangYan was pleasantly surprised, "You"re a pretty good drinker for your age!"
"Aren"t you drinking?"
Ming ChangYan smiled, "I…of course I"m drinking."
Huai Yu, "I haven"t seen you drink any."
Ming ChangYan had yet to ever taste wine, but tonight he had the moon for company, and an immortal-like beauty by his side, making him feel particularly cheerful; so he decided to have a small cup.
He lifted his bowl, taking a sip as he said, "My little sister is the most beautiful girl in my homeland. You could spend three days and three nights counting the number of warriors who want to marry her, and you wouldn"t be able to finish. I won"t agree to any of them though—there"s not enough food over there, and the standard of living is too low; I want her to come live with me in the central plains."
Huai Yu said, "Where are you from?"
Ming ChangYan got half a bowl of wine in his stomach, wiped his mouth, and said, "Tokhara."
Huai Yu, "Tokhara. What was the previous dynasty"s Princess Han Zhu to you?"
Ming ChangYan was silent for a moment, not speaking, then suddenly stood up, Huai Yu standing along with him. The former stumbled once, then suddenly dropped down, hugging onto his waist like he was at the edge of imminent peril; it was only by this that he prevented himself from collapsing entirely onto the ground. Huai Yu was startled, saying, "What are you doing?"
To his surprise, Ming ChangYan"s hold on him only grew tighter, and as if not satisfied with this, he was now attempting to lean his entire body into Huai Yu.
Huai Yu grabbed his hand and tried to pull him off, only to discover that Ming ChangYan was holding on with a death grip. He scrunched his eyebrows, heart full of doubt, and called out, "Ming ChangYan?"
Ming ChangYan didn"t answer.
Huai Yu gave into a sudden temptation, and gently smoothed his hair a few times. At Ming ChangYan"s continued lack of reaction, he confirmed it: This man was drunk.
Once Ming ChangYan got drunk, he didn"t throw a drunken fit, nor did he speak nonsense—his only problem was that he couldn"t stay standing, completely losing his sense of balance, and absolutely needed to hold onto something or else he"d be as wobbly as if the whole world was spinning around him. Huai Yu just had to move a little bit away from him and he"d stubbornly pull him back. Not talking, only acting, and if you pushed him too hard he"d even bite. In short, he was very hard to handle.
Huai Yu had never been faced with such a situation before. Ming ShaoXia was like a sugar cake, his arms and legs latching onto him, grabbing the ends of his hair, completely forcibly occupying the s.p.a.ce his body was in. Huai Yu was tangled to the point he couldn"t move for a good while; the more he moved, the less his opponent was willing to let go.
Huai Yu had no alternative but to say, "Ming ChangYan, let go of me."
Ming ChangYan hugged his waist, face expressionless, and pretended not to hear.
"It"s no good, I can"t stand steady, I"m going to fall…help me!"
Huai Yu clicked his tongue and took a few steps forward, dragging Ming ChangYan along with him; droplets of water stuck to the edges of his clothes, still looking at the picture of a man who"d crashed into the south wall and still wouldn"t bother to turn around*.
(TN:Don"t hit the south wall and don"t look back" is an idiom meaning to stubbornly insist on your own ideas, though in this case it"s being taken literally; well-to-do homes in ancient China generally faced south, with a wall surrounding them, so once you headed out you"d need to turn if you didn"t want to crash into the wall.)
Huai Yu humphed, "If you want to hold onto me then go ahead, I"ll do the walking myself."
He began striding forward, pulling Ming ChangYan along for seven or eight steps. Ming ShaoXia firmly persevered, absolutely refusing to let go, inextricably intertwining himself with Huai Yu, who finally had no choice but to reach over and help support him. After some forceful pulling, he managed to get a good hold around Ming ChangYan"s upper body, and walked another short distance.
Ming ChangYan said, "I feel really dizzy."
Huai Yu stopped, panting, "Then walk on your own."
At that, Ming ChangYan – not wanting to end up falling on the ground – firmly and quickly grabbed once more for Huai Yu. Huai Yu saw something was off and immediately backed away. Sadly, he was too late—Ming ShaoXia had once more used his old trick, and shamelessly latched onto his waist!
The two were thus deadlocked in this position.
After a long while, Ming ChangYan stirred. Huai Yu said, "Now what are you doing?"
Ming ChangYan was drunk out of his mind, knowing nothing but that holding onto him would keep him from falling over, and so treated Huai Yu like his only hope for survival. His stirring now was just to change to a better position, making it easier to hold on securely.
Huai Yu was at a loss, "Ming ChangYan, let go, I"ll carry you back."
"No good, I can"t." Ming ChangYan shook his head, paused, decided he hadn"t emphasized hard enough, and shook his head again, "I can"t, I can"t!"
Ming ChangYan insisted on walking back on his own two feet, moving forward while hugging onto Huai Yu, and so the two of them staggered along a few steps. Suddenly, Ming ChangYan"s ankle twisted – he"d tripped right over a fallen branch. He promptly pushed himself onto Huai Yu, and they went spinning to the floor.
Huai Yu"s back hit the ground, scratching against the rocks and causing him to gasp. Ming ShaoXia used him for a meat cushion and fell into his embrace, entirely uninjured and incredibly content. At this moment Huai Yu felt a fire light itself in his mind, his brows twitching as he decided he wanted to get even with Ming ShaoXia.
"Get off of me!"
Ming ChangYan didn"t notice the great catastrophe about to befall him, feeling around his body with both hands as he mumbled, "The ground sure is soft…."
This was the first time Huai Yu had ever met such rough treatment as being tackled to the ground, and he had seriously reached the limit of his patience; he was just about to grab Ming ChangYan"s mischievous hands when the other suddenly straightened up slightly and, to his surprise, cupped his face in both hands. This time, Huai Yu was so startled even his anger disappeared.
Ming ShaoXia had an extremely attractive face, with long and narrow eyes that curved slightly upwards at the corners, a real standard pair of fox eyes. At the moment these eyes looked confused, hazy and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with moisture, as they stared straight at Huai Yu. Ming ChangYan had moved extremely close to him, their breaths mingling together, their lips so close they almost touched.
Huai Yu suddenly shut his eyes tight, his lashes straight and overly long, leaving a large, slightly-trembling shadow.
This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal our work I"m going to release Little Eight"s Wife to peck you to death.
I"M SO TERRIBLY SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT!!! Please forgive me. It was all because of procrastination. The next chapter will come out after I finished editing it!
School will be starting soon, so isn"t that just amazing.
I hope all of you had a good summer vacation! If you went on a vacation, do tell me about it! I"d love to hear them~
If you see any translation/grammatical errors, please inform me or comment down below! Your comments are like my stable food, I need them to survive.
Thank you for keeping up with me, and remember to drink water to stay hydrated (●´□`)♡