Generations of the Wu family were prominent practitioners of the Yinyang style. The family clan was extremely large, with countless side branches after a thousand years. Wu Ruo’s family was one of those Wu family side branches, and thus were influential figures in Gaoling City. Other large prestigious family clans could not compare to the Wu family.
It was currently the era where all sorts of creatures and ghouls ran amok, and also the era where various practitioners1术师 (shu shi): directly translates to “a master of a kind of skill”. There isn’t really an English word for it, so I’ve decided to use “practitioner”. Later in the story, there will be mentions of 修师 (xiushi)/cultivators, which is the term for the more conventional (in wuxia/xianxia/xuanhuan novels) practitioner of cultivation arts. The practitioners in this universe are more like… magic practitioners in English fantasy genre. of different styles and clans measured strengths against each other. That was why the children of the Wu family, at the age of 3, would be sent to learn the Yinyang style at the academy established by the clan.
The children would have to learn astrology, face reading, navigation, disaster prediction, divination, sacrificial rites, practical cultivation, ritual rites, seals and curses, array formations, spirit manipulation, illusions, and compulsion arts2All these subjects translated here were my best attempts at figuring out what each subject was supposed to mean. Most of them don’t really get mentioned throughout the story later, so the only ones of note are: divination, sacrificial rites, seals and curses, array formations, spirit manipulation, illusions, and compulsion arts. In any case, the author is pretty good about describing what’s going on and you don’t need background knowledge on any of these things. I just left this footnote in case anyone was curious about more in-depth details..
As the subjects covered were exceedingly diverse, it was impossible for anyone to specialize in each and every subject. Some people would become proficient in divination, some would master seals and curses or array formations, and some would only specialize in compulsion, illusions, and mind control arts. Other than the founder of the Wu family, there was no one else who had complete mastery of all the different arts. Even Wu Chenzi, from the main clan in the imperial capital, given the title of guoshi3国师 (guo shi): a title that no longer exists in modern Chinese government, the position of guoshi and what it entails has changed over time. Commonly, it’s a religious title granted to the head of a religious organization and does not come with power. In the context of LWSL, guoshi is a position granted by the Emperor and this person assists the Emperor in running the country. by the Emperor, had areas that he was lacking in.
After lunch, Wu Zhu and Wu Xi rested for half a shichen4时辰 (shichen): a Chinese unit of measurement for time, which is roughly equivalent to two hours. A shichen refers to the length of two hours, but it also refers to specific time blocks throughout the day. Each block has its own name, and I’ve made a list in the glossary for reference, but I’ll also leave them in the footnotes when they pop up during the story. before they were chased out of Shuqing Garden and back to classes at the Wu family academy by Wu Ruo. If they missed out on half a day of classes, they would lag behind their peers by a lot. It wouldn’t be too late if Wu Ruo sent people to call them back only after Hei Xuanyi arrived.
Not long after the two of them left, Wu Ruo’s da-bo5大伯 (da bo): Wu Ruo’s first uncle, where the word 伯 (bo) refers to one’s father’s older brother. The 大 (da) prefix literally means “big”, but refers to the “oldest” in this case. Wu Qianjing sent servants to inform them that the newlyweds didn’t have to visit Wu Ruo’s relatives to offer them tea6Chinese wedding tea ceremony etiquette! The newlywed couple usually offer tea to their parents and family elders, and in return they receive red packets with money inside and blessings/well-wishes. More on that here if you’re interested in the nitty gritty details.. The intention of skipping over Hei Xuanyi’s introduction to the family was also to avoid making Wu Ruo embarrassed.
Wu Ruo smiled coldly in his heart, those were just some pretentious words.
In his previous life, when Wu Qianjing sent his servants to tell them this, Wu Ruo and his parents had been especially thankful that his uncle was so understanding and didn’t make things hard for him. Only later did he find out that Wu Chenzi had pushed this wedding engagement to the family’s side branch because they didn’t know Hei Xuanyi’s identity and merely thought of him as some unimpressive clan’s young master. And so, they thought there was no need to waste time on such a nobody.
The him at that time didn’t care about these things, and never took their snobbishness seriously.
At the thought of Wu Chenzi, a frigid gaze flashed in Wu Ruo’s eyes.
This wedding engagement was set by Wu Chenzi’s father as a way to repay their gratitude towards the Hei family, but as the guoshi, there was no way for Wu Chenzi to accept a marriage with the Hei family that practiced dark arts. Because this would not only be a disgrace, but it would also sully his reputation. And Wu Chenzi’s granddaughter also didn’t like Hei Xuanyi, so Wu Chenzi pushed the wedding engagement to the family’s side branch.
Wu Bofang, the clan leader of the Wu family’s side branch and also Wu Ruo’s paternal great-grandfather, took on the wedding engagement in order to attract Wu Chenzi’s attention and let an unknown junior of the family take Wu Chenzi’s granddaughter’s place to marry Hei Xuanyi. But who could’ve known that Hei Xuanyi would say he only liked men and not women?
Wo Bofang directed the marriage to Wu Ruo without a sliver of hesitation.
Of course, Wu Qianqing protested strongly when he knew that his own son would be married off to another man, but Wu Bofang dangled Wu Zhu and Wu Xi’s prospects as a threat to force Wu Qianqing so that Wu Ruo would have no choice but to agree to the marriage.
As Wu Ruo was thinking about these things, one of the guards from the Wu family’s main gate came to report: “Third Master, Third Master, the Second Young Master’s husband7夫婿 (fu xu): this is strange even in the original Chinese. The term is usually 女婿 (nǚ xu), which refers to one’s son-in-law by their daughter. It also translates to “daughter’s husband”. The word nǚ has been replaced with fu, since Wu Ruo is a man. There’s a lot of ways to refer to one’s husband or one’s wife, but they all translate into just “husband” or just “wife” in English. I’ll do my best to explain the nuance in the footnotes, especially if they gave me feels in the original Chinese. has arrived.
