Next>>
Chapter breaks are kind of awkward but are based entirely on how the Chinese novel breaks them out. I may start fiddling with it going forward to help with the flow, but no promises :P
There are also a lot of abrupt scene changes throughout the novel. I usually write a transitional sentence in between to help with the flow but going starting with this chapter I"m gonna just put line breaks in between to break it up.
________________________________________________________________
Thinking back to when they first met at the marketplace, she had been trying to raise money for the orphan girl. In that kind of scenario, he would normally send WuQi to donate money in his stead while he stayed hidden. Yet, when he saw her, he suddenly felt the desire to meet her.
While thinking, his hand slowly moved downward and unraveled the tie on her chest band. He bent over again to kiss her, slowly moving down from her neck. He was about to remove her chest band when...
Slam!
The loud sound was accompanied by the sight of a young man angrily kicking open the door to the room.
Surprised, Feng ZhanBai swiftly pulled the clothing that had been torn off back over XuanJi. He looked up and gazed calmly at the unwelcome guest.
A handsome young man wearing purple robes walked through the door. Despite his elegant bearing, the man"s eyes were red with murderous intent. Feng ZhanBai"s reaction had been quick, but it wasn"t quick enough to hide what was happening from Long FeiLi.
“Who allowed you to touch her?”
As he spoke, a flurry of sleeves swirled in the air and the man moved to strike Feng ZhanBai. He quickly sidestepped to dodge the attack and laid XuanJi gently on the bed. He pulled the blankets over her and quickly turned to intercept another strike.
“May I ask who you are?”
Without responding, Long FeiLi unsheathed his sword and pointed it towards Feng ZhanBai. After seeing what that man was doing to XuanJi he had only one thought left in his mind. Kill him.
XuanJi wouldn"t be let off easily either.
----------------------------------------------------
He had watched stupefied at her performance, unable to tear his eyes away from her as she swayed amidst the flurry of snow. When he found out who she was, his head was filled with images of her. Her brilliant smile, her silent tears, her angry expression, every emotion she had every shown him.
That day, when she humiliated him in the great hall he had fully intended to kill her. But when he saw the blood dripping from her mouth, he couldn"t bear to lift his sword.
Even while enraged, he couldn"t bear to exile her to the Cold Palace either.
He angrily declared FengJiu Palace a Cold Palace. Despite that, the luxuries provided to FengJiu Palace were no less than before. Who did he think he was fooling? When had he become so softhearted?
He removed the guards from her palace because he didn"t want to hear any news about her.
He visited other consorts at night but would only think of her.
He agreed to YaoGuang"s request to invite XuanJi because he wanted to see her again….
He did all this because of her, yet she repaid him by escaping from the palace ...to perform in front of other men.
Even though he possessed her body, he didn"t understand her at all. Her mind had always been filled with strange things. He didn"t know she could create a blanket of snow from nothingness, or that she could sing such a moving song, and he didn"t know who this man in white was.
Under dim candle light, he saw her walk towards him and hand him a flower. At that moment, Long FeiLi could clearly see the smile on her face.
And now, she was in the arms of that man, embracing him.
If he had not arrived, would she have become someone else"s woman?
She claimed to love him, but what did that mean now? What did her sacrifice at the Nian residence even mean…..
She had betrayed him!
----------------------------------------------------
Long FeiLi felt the anger bubble, he aimed his sword at Feng ZhanBai and struck. Thinking quickly, Feng ZhanBai pulled out his sword and deflected the blow. The two experts were evenly matched in martial arts. In a fight like this, one misstep could be the difference between life and death.
Hearing what the man had said when he entered, Feng ZhanBai guessed that they knew each other. He didn"t want to hurt Long FeiLi but XuanJi"s condition was steadily worsening. Something needed to be done or her life would be in danger.
“Who you are and what is your relations.h.i.+p with Nian Xuan? If you are unwilling to answer, then forgive me for being discourteous!” With that, Feng ZhanBai swung his sword towards Long FeiLi. The two men continued to fight, a flurry of white and purple fabric swirled around the room as the two struck at each other again and again.
The drug had completely taken over XuanJi"s body. She had pa.s.sed out completely on the bed, unaware of the commotion going on in the room.
A sharp voice suddenly pierced the air. “What"s happening? Stop fighting, we"re all friends here!”
“YuZhi, do you want to die?! XiaSang, who had also appeared by the door, roughly yanked her back. Those two were focused completely on attacking each other. If she had entered the room, a single stray strike could have killed her.
Up until this moment, YuZhi had been blissfully unaware of the havoc their little excursion had caused. After the performance, YuZhi had felt hungry and had gone straight to the kitchen. She was on her way back when she b.u.mped into XiaSang and they arrived at this scene.
--This translation was done by LissuLand if you are reading it elsewhere then it was stolen--
YuZhi looked anxiously towards XuanJi"s unmoving body and then at the bloodthirsty fight. “Ninth brother, stop fighting! Go check on sister-in-law! It looks like she"s stopped breathing!”
Hearing this, both men were stunned. Feng ZhanBai"s entire focus was on the first half of her words. He reflexively blocked the strike that had been aimed at him and turned his sharp gaze towards YuZhi, “ What did you just say? Isn"t she your sister?”
Long FeiLi"s attention, on the other hand, had been caught by the second half of YuZhi"s words. “she"s stopped breathing…” In a flash, he moved over to her side.
YuZhi slowly responded to Feng ZhanBai. “Actually….she"s my sister-in-law. That man is my ninth brother and her husband.”
Feng ZhanBai felt as if he had been stabbed with a knife. He staggered back and stabbed his sword into the ground, leaning on it to support his shaking body.
She was already married….
At this point, Long FeiLi had pulled XuanJi into his embrace and was now coldly glaring at Feng ZhanBai.
Feng ZhanBai gripped the hilt of his sword and let out a bitter laugh.
“I did not know she was already married. She was heavily drugged with an aphrodisiac. I had no intention to offend, but with no antidote on hand, I had little choice if I wanted to preserve her life. She has been in and out of consciousness and was unaware of what happened. Please do not blame her----”
As he spoke, he suddenly stood up and yanked his sword out from the ground. YuZhi let out a shriek as he plunged it directly into his own chest. Blood seeped from the wound, dying his white robes a vivid red.
“Nian Xuan, I was the one at fault, let me repent with this strike.” With those words he disappeared in a flurry of white cloth.
Before YuZhi could even recover from the shock, XiaSang had lifted her up and headed out the door.
As he closed the door behind him, he heard a dark voice. “XiaSang, go find the ident.i.ty of that man.”
“This servant understands”
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Long FeiLi tightly held the woman in his arms, staring at her swollen lips. That which should only be touched by him had been plucked by another man. How could a single sword strike be enough to quell the rage in his heart? As the anger bubbled up again, he almost had the desire to kill the woman before him.
Despite his thoughts, he couldn"t bear to lift a finger against her.
There was a flicker of movement from her eyes as she started to awaken. Like a kitten, she mewled something unintelligible and snuggled into his embrace.
His throat tightened, unable to resist her coquettish actions.
Then she reached out her hands and started tearing at his clothes.
Despite knowing she was acting on instinct, he felt the anger that had subsided boil up again. Right now, she would offer herself up no matter who the man in front of her was.
He threw her bodily back onto the bed.
Unable to tear at his clothing, she started to remove her own again. The clothes that had barely been put back on her were easily torn off and tossed aside.
Long FeiLi picked up the chest band that had been thrown over his knees, the desire to kill her increased. He turned to glare at her but, was unable to look away once his gaze fell on her.
Her skin was breathtakingly smooth and spotless, the pink tips on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s contrasted starkly with her pale white skin. To make matters worse, the drug was stifling her breathing, causing her chest to rise and fall heavily with each breath.
Long FeiLi was used to his Consorts" many attempts to seduce him. Countless women had disrobed in front of him, trying to entice him. He had always reacted calmly without much emotion, but today, it felt like something was tugging at his heart.
Unable to control himself, he pulled her back into his embrace.
A sliver of anger remained as he looked down at her. What tonight was not entirely within her control, but she had willingly given that man a flower tonight with a smile on her face. The man in white was definitely someone he needed to watch out for in the future.
________________________________________________________________
Translator"s Notes:
For some reason my brain does not want to process these names. I keep writing Long FengLi instead of Long FeiLi, probably because I"m getting it mixed up with Feng ZhanBai. I"ve always been pretty bad at remembering Chinese names and it"s starting to show here. I think I caught all of them, but if you see a stray Long FengLi floating around, it"s not a new character, it"s just me being dumb.
On another note, I really like Feng ZhanBai. I"m a sucker for a ML who falls completely in love with the FL and would do anything for her. I feel like Feng ZhanBai fits my ideal as a ML more than Long FeiLi. I"m glad he"s here to give Long FeiLi some compet.i.tion (although we know he"s probably not gonna stand any real chance with XuanJi).
Next>>