Chapter 10: A n.o.ble Gentleman – Part 2
Translated by: Ritpoppy
Unedited (cause my sister"s sick and asleep right now. I"ll come back to edit this later)
Lin"an"s Flower Viewing Festival is organized by rich, local merchants that have great fame and prestige. It"s held during the middle third of April where numerous individuals from out of town come to take part in the action. It"s one of the many marvels of this area.
Below XianYue Mountain and out the main gate was a lively town, bustling with excitement, with an endless stream of horses and carriages. If one were to journey eastward along the Yunqi Bamboo Corridors, the east market will begin to appear before their eyes.
LiMin-Jun took out a pouch, with a clang, he gave everyone a few ingots of money. Qin YuBao waited to receive the goods before he dispersed, lost in the crowd. A right hand forcefully thrust its way in front of him. Ming ChangYan smiled, "What about my money?"
LiMin-Jun fished out a few ingots from his pouch, slapping them into the palm of his hand. Ming ChangYan opened one of his eyes, saying, "Not enough, not enough. Give me some more."
LiMin-Jun replied, "What do you mean "Not enough", what do you want to eat! Previous years, this much is enough for you to play a whole round of games."
Ming ChangYan pointed at Huai Yu, "There"s also Huai Yu"s portion. He"s a guest, don"t tell me you want him to pay."
LiMin-Jun hatefully scooped up a few more ingots from his pouch, "Scram, scram, scram. We"ll meet up as usual by the small mountain stream."
Ming ChangYan took the money, taking a fox mask from a rack on the right and putting it on his face. Glancing from left to right, he was very pleased with himself. He stood in front of the vendor stall muttering to himself as he selected a particularly adorable black, gla.s.s lens. After paying for the goods, Ming ChangYan patted Huai Yu"s shoulder, the receiving party didn"t react, his eyes covered in a layer of black fog.
"Isn"t it unique? These are small playthings that were shipped from the west. Lin"an is located near the ocean and has many seaports so we have a lot of this kind of stuff."
Huai Yu pushed the gla.s.s lenses away, callously saying, "What"s the point of me wearing this."
Ming ChangYan let out a laugh, "Naturally it"s because you look handsome. If you don"t wear this, what am I supposed to do if, along the way, you get led away by some young lady? I have to take responsibility."
He strolled around with one of his hands clasped behind his back as one incense stick of time pa.s.sed. During this period of time, Ming ChangYan bought a colored lantern, carrying it in his hands. Along the way, an aroma drifted from the lantern, hovering itself on the tip of Huai Yu"s nose.
After a short moment of time pa.s.sed, Ming ChangYan became tired from walking, finding a congee shop to drink some congee. Two bowls of fragrant and rich black glutinous rice were brought forth, Huai Yu drank a mouthful, the sweetness making his toothache. Ming ChangYan had already finished half a bowl when he saw that the other hand only has taken a bite, asking, "Do you not like to drink sweet things?"
Huai Yu replied, "My teeth hurt."
Ming ChangYan cheerfully beckoned forth a waiter, asking for a bowl without sugar in it. This bowl wasn"t wasted either. He reached out and brought the bowl in front of him, using a spoon to scoop up a portion.
Huai Yu grunted, saying, "I"ve already drunk it."
Ming ChangYan objected, "If you"ve already drunk this before, what are you scared of? It"s not like you poisoned it. I"ve had my fair share of leftovers before, what I hate most is when people waste food. Don"t look at me, look at the congee, if you can"t finish it, bring it with you."
Finishing his talk, he suddenly heard an outburst of loud sound. A table was kicked over by a person"s foot, followed by a male wearing a bamboo hat with a black veil saying, "Bring me two pounds of beef!"
A waiter responded, "What are you kicking the tables for? Can"t you see that this is a congee shop? How would a congee shop have beef!"
The man suddenly broke out into a cough: *Ke! Ke, Ke!*
Beside him, there was also a small-eyed attendant. Echoing the other, he scolded, "You stupid idiot! Do you even know who our young master is?"
The waiter raised his head to take a look. Huai Yu followed the other"s actions, feeling that this arrogant and despotic young master"s clothing looked extremely familiar. He raised his eyebrows, "Covering up his face so tightly, who"s supposed to know who this moron is."
Ming ChangYan picked up his chopsticks, tapping his bowl, he lowered his voice, scooching closer to Huai Yu, mysteriously saying, "I know who he is."
Huai Yu squinted his eyes and gave him a glance.
Ming ChangYan replied in unison with the attendant.
"The n.o.ble Gentleman, Ming ChangYan."
"My family"s young master is the world"s most honorable cultivator! The n.o.ble Gentleman, Ming ChangYan!"
Ming ChangYan let out a cheery laugh, supporting his chin, his eyes were filled with glittering tears as he looked at Huai Yu, "Wasn"t I right?"
The waiter flung the cleaning rag over his shoulder, rolling his eyes, "Here comes another one."
The attendant had settled his hands on his waist and had been waiting for the waiter to be scared, kneeling and hitting his head on the ground. Yet all he received was a roll of the eyes, he raged, "Hey! Do you not value your life! Knowing that my family"s young master is the n.o.ble Gentleman, you still dare to act all high-and-mighty!"
The waiter bolstered the table back up, pointing at the YuanHe shop next door, "The number of n.o.ble Gentleman"s that ate in YuanHe shop without paying yesterday in total was fifteen. Eight of them had their legs broken. No one has been beaten up today yet, do you want to become the first?"
The attendant"s face changed, cursing, "F*ck! Our family"s young master is the real n.o.ble Gentleman! All the others are fake!"
The waiter replied, "Go, go, go. Don"t hold up my business, so annoying! If you still don"t leave, then I"m going to close the door and let the dogs out!"
"The n.o.ble Gentleman" felt indignant, after swearing together with his attendant proclaiming that he was going to find his fellow disciples from TianQing sect to come and take revenge later, escaping with his tail between his legs.
Ming ChangYan, having seen his portion of the drama, once again turned his head to face Huai Yu"s untouched congee.
This was translated by any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my translations…boi ノಠ_ಠノ
Huai Yu"s clothing was exquisite and beautiful, giving him a sumptuous style. Ming ChangYan had guessed that he was some n.o.ble family"s young master that had secretly snuck out to have some fun, and wasn"t accustomed to eating these kinds of street foods.
Huai Yu said, "Why do they pretend to be you?"
Ming ChangYan smiled, "Of course it"s because this shaoxia is handsome! Come, don"t bother with these things, it"s not like I don"t have enough people in Lin"an pretending to be me. Look, the townspeople have already grown accustomed to it, what are you marveling over? Besides, the person himself is right beside you, what"s with your fake bickering. Let me bring you to see something cool."
He picked up his colored lantern, walking in large strides on to the street. Huai Yu hurriedly stirred his bowl of congee twice, in the end choosing not to take a bite, and willingly followed behind him.
Ming ChangYan introduced, "This brook is called the Flowing Mountain Stream, if you walk along this Guanyin alley, you"d be able to reach the Tan River. Even though the Tan River is called a river, it"s, in fact, a big lake. Back when the emperor of the Central Plains came down to Jiangnan for a visit, he wrote a wrote a few characters on the Immortal Wooden Bridge located above the Flowing Mountain Stream. Oh right, after a while let"s go to the building outside and eat their brown sugared sticky rice lotus, you"ve definitely never tried it before. Little kids all love to eat these kinds of things."
Huai Yu softly grunted, "I"m not a little kid."
Ming ChangYan didn"t argue, "Yes, yes, yes, you"re a manly man."
Huai Yu pointed at the curb, asking, "What are they doing?"
Ming ChangYan shifted his gaze over and saw two young ladies holding up a flower blossoming lantern, stepping on a stool as they hung the lantern on a tree.
"This is one of the traditions here, called lighting colored lanterns. After lighting the lanterns, you must hang it up as high as possible. The higher you hang it, the more happiness and longevity one has. But there"s another meaning when a maiden hangs the colored lantern."
Huai Yu tilted his head and glanced at him, his face was small so he the gla.s.s lenses didn"t fit properly. Ming ChangYan pushed it up for him, "The higher you hang it, a better husband you"ll marry."
Ming ChangYan saw him unable to take his eyes off the two ladies, grinning, he said, "What"s so astonishing about this, there"s an even bigger event happening tonight!"
After saying this, a vendor booth located on his right caught his eye. The booth had a horde of people, Ming ChangYan loved to join in on the fun the most, thus he brushed the people away and tiptoed to look inside. Looking, there was a large open s.p.a.ce in front of him with large fences built around it. Above hanged a countless number of densely packed flower b.a.l.l.s. On the vendor"s booth, a man wearing a hemp garment coaxed, "Is there anyone else that wants to come up to challenge?!"
Ming ChangYan quickly asked, "Challenge? What are we challenging?"
A young man that was watching them in the crowd began, "An archery compet.i.tion."
Ming ChangYan"s eyes gleamed, the young man pointed at the tall building beside them, "Do you see that large building?"
Ming ChangYan replied, "I"m not blind, of course I can see it. Wasn"t that built some time ago?"
The young man answered, "Yes. This building is very big, it"s a great marvel during the Mid-Autumn festival. If one were to stand at the building"s highest point, they"d be able to reach their hand out and s.n.a.t.c.h the moon from out of the sky. Many years ago, this building was bought by the master of the Zhao family. This person loves to play around, so he ordered a few people to hang flower b.a.l.l.s upstairs, saying that whoever is able to shoot them all down would gain ownership for the building!"
Ming ChangYan looked to the distance, the shooting platform was approximately 100 meters away from the building. It wasn"t difficult to shoot the flower b.a.l.l.s on the fence, what was hard was. .h.i.tting the flower b.a.l.l.s located within the building. Altogether, the building had 7,749 windows, with a flower ball hanging from each window. The compet.i.tor was only required to shoot down 49 of them. When shooting them, the contestant could only win if the shots were continuous.
The young man continued, "It"s already awfully hard to hit the flower b.a.l.l.s within the building, if they want us to use the 49 arrows to shoot down all of them, then it"d just be adding a layer of difficulties onto something already so challenging. They"d ascend to heaven!"
Another man said, "Exactly! This theme is really too tricky, if only Ming ChangYan was nearby! Otherwise, who would be able to accomplish such a task!"
Ming ChangYan listened, modestly replying, "This sir is mistaken with his praise."
The man was confused, "I"m praising Ming ChangYan, what are you answering for?"
After getting choked by this man, Ming ChangYan smiled, "Okay, okay, okay, how do you partic.i.p.ate in the compet.i.tion?"
The young man replied, "500 copper coins for a try."
Ming ChangYan said, "So expensive? Then I want eight tries! Oh, by the way, didn"t you say that there were flower b.a.l.l.s located within the building, why don"t they hang them out?"
The young man responded, "There"s no need for them to bring them out, to be able to shoot down a few on the railings is already pretty good. There"s just simply no one shooting the ones within."
Ming ChangYan paid the fee, the stall owner found him a good bow, picked up eight good arrows, and sent him onto the shooting platform.
Ming ChangYan walked up to the shooting platform, suddenly he turned around, leaning on the fencing as he happily smiled at the Huai Yu standing in the audience, "Ai, little Huai Yu, look over there. Is there anything that you like?"
Huai Yu had his hands resting around his arms as he looked towards the direction Ming ChangYan pointed out. There, piled a few bizarre stuff, such as jade pendants and jewelry. Those that were able to hit a flower ball were permitted to choose something among them to bring home. He remarked, "Only little kids like that stuff."
Ming ChangYan propped up his chin, smiling, "Don"t be so cold, whatever you like, I"ll shoot them down for you!"
Huai Yu turned his head, choosing to ignore him.
Ming ChangYan could only drop the subject, went on the stage and drew his bow. He launched eight arrows, all of them landing 100 meters away. The little servant that was a.s.signed to pick up the flower b.a.l.l.s squeezed into the railings, in a short moment of time, he yelled, "All of them hit it! All of them hit it!"
The audience was in an uproar.
The stall owner cupped his hands and him, commenting, "This young master has great archery skills!"
While unhitching the bow, Ming ChangYan replied, "You"re too kind, too kind. Ah yes, Huai Yu, I told you to pick something you liked, did you pick one?"
The stall owner, "Why don"t this young master give a go at shooting the flower b.a.l.l.s located in the building? If you shoot them down, then this whole building will be yours!"
Ming ChangYan saw this building was brilliantly crafted and extremely beautiful, his heart was itchy as it restrained itself. But in the end, he was helpless. He specialized in needles, and didn"t delve deeply into archery, he was just caught up in the moment, and consciously shot a few flower b.a.l.l.s. He just wanted to receive a few trinkets to play with while getting some small gifts to give as a present for his younger disciples.
He responded, "I"m in a hurry, I"m gonna stop shooting."
Suddenly, a hand abruptly slapped itself on the table. Once the hand backed off, a bead made of pure gold caught the attention of everyone around him. The stall owner suddenly trembled, raising his head for a look, Huai Yu said, "Prepare the arrows."
Ming ChangYan was silent, turning his body around, he went to pick up the gold bead up from the table, "How many times are you planning to shoot, just use spare silver, what are you doing with so much money!"
Huai Yu confidently replied, "I don"t have spare money, only this."
Ming ChangYan"s tooth became sore, thinking: As expected from a wealthy young master, doesn"t even remember to bring pocket money when going out.
"That won"t do, that won"t do, you"re really damaging your family too much! Take it back!"
Ming ChangYan was about to stuff the gold bead back into the other"s bosom when Huai Yu impatiently held his hand, taking this opportunity to stuff the gold bead into Ming ChangYan"s chest instead as he took out another gold bead, slamming it on the table.
The stall owner"s eyes and hands were quick this time, s.n.a.t.c.hing the gold bead, grinning, "This young master to really too generous. Today, you can use this place"s arrows however you like, shoot as you please, no limit!"
Huai Yu responded, "I don"t want the ones on the fence, bring out the flower b.a.l.l.s from the building and hang them up."
The stall owner stared at him, immediately smiling, saying, "This young master wants to shoot the flower b.a.l.l.s within the building, this has never been done before, there"s some difficulty."
Huai Yu continued, "If I tell you to hang them up, then hang them up."
Needless to say, in a short period of time, from within the building, the 49 windows each had a flower ball hanging from them.
Ming ChangYan smiled, "Can you really do it? When you miss a target, don"t come crying to me."
Huai Yu ignored him, standing on top of the shooting platform. When the audience heard that this young man was going to shoot the flower b.a.l.l.s located in the building, one by one they arrived from all different directions, wanting to take a quick glimpse. There were people cheering, saw that Huai Yu was young, singers and performers also joined in on the fun. Contrary to what one might expect, before going up on the stage, Ming ChangYan had been afraid that he might not be able to shoot it, but after arriving on the platform, the one cheering the loudest was him.
"Huai Yu! Focus your eyes then shoot! No need to rush!"
A man standing on the side saw him leaning on the railings, his whole body almost falling over, carefully warned him, "Sir, be careful. Is that your little brother?"
Ming ChangYan was unable to steer his gaze away from Huai Yu, half-heartedly replying, "Eh? Ah, eh, eh eh."
The man patted Ming ChangYan"s shoulders, pointing towards the shooting platform across from them.
Turns out, there was another man competing in the archery compet.i.tion, shooting the flower b.a.l.l.s hung on the fences. His delicately pretty wife was wearing a small muslin dress, standing by the railings, half her body almost falling on to the stage, waving her handkerchief while shouting, "Husband! Keep your eyes focused before shooting! By all means, don"t rush!"
Ming ChangYan, "…"
At this moment, Huai Yu had already pulled back the bow, Ming ChangYan promptly held his breath and fixated his gaze on the arrow in his hand. In a split second, the bowstring was released, the arrow shot forwards with an irresistible force as if piercing through the clouds and shooting the moon, hitting a flower ball located right at the center of the building. Everyone in the audience didn"t even have enough time to inhale the cold air, Huai Yu didn"t even pause to take a breather, once again releasing three arrows in unison. The arrows shot towards the heart of the building, each shot ending in unfailing accuracy and precision.
With the three arrows shot in this way, an hour had barely pa.s.sed before only 1 arrow remained. Huai Yu once again drew out his bow, this time with some strain. Currently, not a sound could be heard, everyone"s attention was concentrated on the young man standing on the stage. He let go, the last arrow flying through the air. The 49 windows were completely empty! On the large building, there was not a single flower ball in sight.
The servant in charge of picking up the flower b.a.l.l.s was dumbstruck, both frightened and astonished at the same time. Only after a while did he come back to life, yelling, "All, all of them have been shot down!!!"
This was translated by any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my translations…boi ノಠ_ಠノ
Yay! No translator notes this chapter! ╭( ･ㅂ･)و
Not yet edited cause I got my sister sick and cause it"s 3 am in the morning plus I have an appointment tomorrow. This came out later than usual cause my cold got worse during the weekend so I was in no shape to translate.
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Hope you have an exotic weekend~