The Nine Godheads

Chapter 7 – XiaoBao’s Gift

“Three years…” Hong Xiaobao muttered to himself; with a newfound gleam in his eyes he turned his eyes to the heavens above, “Fine by me!”

Yun CaiXiao has already done her utmost for him and their engagement, a true embodiment of the idiom “loyal and affectionate.” Seeing as how CaiXiao already went so far as to give him a second chance, there’s no way he could back down now. For a woman, regardless of whether or not she is a peerless martial artist, her most precious time would be her ten some years of youthful radiance. Since CaiXiao has already expressed her desire to spend this precious time with XiaoBao, what is there left to say?

“My little sister CaiXiao, I’ll cut to the chase… your XiaoBao definitely won’t disappoint you!” At the same time, XiaoBao suddenly felt as if a previously unfound string in his heart, has been ever so delicately plucked.

Standing up swiftly, XiaoBao held CaiXiao’s hand as he led her towards XuanXiao pavilion with a trot. “Come with me CaiXiao, since you’re back I have to give you a gift! This gift, it’s something I’ve prepared for a while now.” (XiaoBao)

“Gift?” Wondered CaiXiao as she allowed herself to be led by XiaoBao. “I wonder what it is?”

“This gift, it’s something which will be received favorably by all women,” said XiaoBao mischievously. “I gave this item a great name, it’s called ‘High-Heeled shoes’”

“High-Heeled Shoes”… CaiXiao’s curiosity was immediately piqued by this name. [A gift prepared by XiaoBao himself, must be quite an exceptional item.] CaiXiao thought to herself.

Quickly, XiaoBao led CaiXiao to a small room, the room was but a few meters squared, and then closed the door. In this small room surrounded by four windowless walls, on the top-half of the wall opposite the door, hung a pair of ma.s.sive pearls, glowing dimly in the lightless room. As the door was closed, the room as plunged into darkness once more and became the archetypical “hidden cellar”.

“Where are we?” CaiXiao asked as she looked around and reached out her hands to probe her surroundings. The surrounding walls felt to be made wholly of made of wooden planks, and didn’t feel to be terribly st.u.r.dy. But this empty and barren room, what is its purpose?

“Somewhere good,” replied XiaoBao with a smile as he pulled a string hanging from one corner of the room. A small “ring” sounded, afterwards XiaoBao pressed a b.u.t.ton by the door labeled “Third Floor”.

~Creak~Groan~  As CaiXiao had an amazed expression plastered on her face, the small “room” swayed a little. Immediately afterwards, it could be clearly felt that the “room” started rising.

“This… What in the world is this thing?!” exclaimed CaiXiao with open eyes. This kind of machine, even in the ten years that she traveled with her father, she had never seen anything like this. [A small, self-levitating room? How in the world did XiaoBao manage to create such a thing?!]

“Uh, this is one of my inventions,” explained XiaoBao. “This room is attached to a rail, and a steel chain is attached to the roof. The ringing of the bell signals to the guards that I’ve entered, afterwards they will operate a pre-determined mechanism corresponding to the b.u.t.ton I’ve pushed. As a result, this room will either ascend, or descend by moving along the rail and stop at the appropriate location.

[How is this possible?!] CaiXiao was dumbfounded. [He can even invent things like this? As expected of the bizarre XiaoBao, I guess he can’t be predicted using common sense.]

“Oh right, the name I gave to this contraption is called an ‘elevator’,” XiaoBao proudly explained. Finally, with a “gu~dong” and a tremble, XiaoBao opened the door and said, “alright we’re here. Come on, let’s go.” However, CaiXiao was still trying to process all the new information regarding this ‘elevator’ device.

After she was called, CaiXiao quickly regained her composure and said: “This ‘elevator’ device requires the manual labor of the guards right? If the entire process was mechanized, the bell would serve no purpose.” Upon hearing his previous lie pointed out to him, XiaoBao timidly chuckled and said “ahh, don’t mind these small details, since I can’t practice martial arts, these small exaggerations entertain me instead.” (TN: MC made it sound as if the guards only had to adjust a lever, or some small mechanism to arrive at the proper floor. However, CaiXiao realized that the guards are actually the ones manually lifting and lowering the room. To be honest, if he wasn’t re-incarnated, just designing just a system of pulleys would be quite impressive)

To be fair, he can’t be blamed. It’s not his fault that he embodies the Wolf of Greed. He couldn’t practice martial arts, and as a result was constantly bored. It’s only normal for him to pa.s.s the time by playing with his inventions.

At this moment, the two have already entered the third floor of XuanXiao Pavilion. The third floor resembled a library, bookshelves filled with various texts took up almost half the floor. Looking past the screen/ part.i.tion, one would notice that the other half of the floor was occupied by ma.s.sive cabinets and shelves, upon which were placed numerous items of all shapes and sizes. Alongside the cabinets there appeared to be a large bed, and by the looks of it, it had been recently used.

“Come,” with this XiaoBao quickly led CaiXiao inside, next to the bed. “Sit on the bed for now, I will go and get your gift.”

This behavior of leading a young maiden to the bedside, telling her to sit, and then promptly leaving the room ultimately created an indescribably awkward atmosphere which was dyed just the slightest shade of pink. Together with the dim lighting, if XiaoBao came back and said “Scream, even if you screamed until you lost your voice, no one would come save you.”  Then her fate would be sealed.

“Xiao… XiaoBao where are you going?!” Suddenly CaiXiao felt anxious. In this dark and isolated place, with just herself and another young man… it took but a second for CaiXiao’s face to burn up. Various possibilities involving one man, one woman and a dark room instantly sprung into her mind, all of which only intensified the heat in her cheeks. In spite of this situation, CaiXiao trusted XiaoBao’s character and believed that he wouldn’t do anything immoral… right?

As XiaoBao returned, he naturally replied: “When trying on new shoes, one has to be sitting right?” XiaoBao placed the pair of boots he was holding in CaiXiao’s hands, “Take a look CaiXiao, these boots have a flat sole and high heels, makes horse riding very comfortable. These heels make it much easier to hook the stirrups.” A slight smile was seen on XiaoBao as he continued to explain. “However these shoes aren’t only for horse riding, as you wear them more and more they will improve your figure and stature, pretty good right?”

CaiXiao took the boots in her hand and carefully inspected them, she realized that these boots were very finely made with no roughness of imperfections. In a small voice CaiXiao asked “These boots, what material are they made from?”

“Well that would be a secret, but since CaiXiao is someone very close to me, I don’t mind tell you.” XiaoBao pointed to the treads of the shoe, “The bottom is made from a single piece thousand-year-old red willow tree, carved and sculpted to be tough and flexible. The color and texture come naturally from the wood.” Pointing to the top of the shoe, “The rest of the shoe is made nimble cow-hide leather which has a similar shade of red as the red willow. The material is soft, comfortable and very breathable.” XiaoBao summed it up by saying: “It is definitely well made, perfect as a gift for you.”

Hearing his explanation, CaiXiao had her mouth agape… “Thousand-year-old willow, and nimble cow-hide leather. Both of these materials are terribly expensive.”

“That would be correct, just the materials themselves cost 8000 silver.” (XiaoBao)

“8000 silver!” CaiXiao was shocked, “For one pair of boots?”

“Of course,” seeing that CaiXiao was happy with the gift XiaoBao explained, “For me to give something mundane to a genius like CaiXiao, it would only make me lose face.”

However, 8000 silver for a pair of boots. This gift is quite extravagant indeed – in comparison, a normal household’s expenditure would average out to be 50 silver per year. With 8000 silver, it would be enough to purchase a house about the size of a small village.

“Quite a smooth talker aren’t you,” despite that CaiXiao seemed very pleased. It’s no lie that everyone likes to be flattered. “Well, quickly leave.”

With a perplexed expression, XiaoBao asked “Huh? Out? Where should I go?”

“A maiden is changing, as a man do you insist on watching me?” With red cheeks, CaiXiao said “We still haven’t been married yet you know…”

This is REALLY REALY LONG… took me 3 hrs to translate ._. (2266 chinese characters)

Next regular release is scheduled for Sat.u.r.day.