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Forced outing of minor characterWu Qianqing didn’t inform Wu Xuanran and Mu Xiuwan, and simply lead the people of Shuqing Garden, merrily dragging all their big and small luggages1More accurately, it says 车 (che) which means ‘car’ in modern usage and refers to horse drawn carriages during this guzhuang era. I have translated it as luggages to clarify that it’s carrying all their belongings., majestically leaving the Wu estate.
When Wu Xuanran and the others found out that Wu Qianqing’s spiritual field had recovered and that he’d left the Southern main estate, their lungs exploded with rage2肺都气炸了 (fei dou qi zha le) is just another way of describing ‘got extremely angry’. The translation in text is more literal, because I liked the visual imagery.
Fun fact: In TCM (Traditional Chinese medicine), anger is often associated with the liver. Being angry too often will give you liver problems, and if your liver has problems, it is most likely because you are always angry about something. Lungs on the other hand are associated with grief and sadness. I don’t think JYB was deliberately referencing TCM here though., and they collapsed on their chairs, huffing and puffing nonstop.
It was a pity that Wu Ruo didn’t know about this, otherwise, he would’ve been even happier. Ever since leaving the Wu estate, his smile had never left his face. Hei Xuanyi who had been waiting for them at the residence could tell that Wu Ruo’s mood was very good with just one look, it was as if he had set down half of his worries and burdens, the anxious look between his eyebrows was gone, and he was genuinely and wholeheartedly delighted.
When Wu Qianqing, Guan Tong, and the rest, entered the residence that Wu Ruo had newly purchased, at the same time that they let out a breath of relief, there was also some anxiety. They had never imagined there would come a day that they would have to move out of the Wu estate, starting afresh in an unfamiliar environment, so they still needed some time to accept it.
However, the residence was furnished in an extremely elegant manner. With one look, they fell in love with it. On top of that, it was as Hei Xin had said, the new residence was much bigger than Shuqing Garden and could accommodate a lot of people.
Wu Xi cheerfully said: “Erge3Second older brother., this place is really beautiful!”
Everyone from Shuqing Garden was especially happy when they saw the residence.
Wu Ruo said: “This was renovated by Xuanyi’s sidi4Fourth younger brother., if there’s anywhere that you’re not satisfied with, you can hire someone to come and fix it. Oh, and the entrance plaque5If you’ve seen the houses in guzhuang drama, there’s always a huge entrance plaque having overhead of every building entrance gate that informs you what building it is. On residences, it’s usually something like ‘Wu estate’, ‘Hei Manor’, etc. Business establishments will have the name of the business, usually also telling you what kind of business it is. Government buildings will state its purpose, like ‘Magistrate’s Office’, ‘Provincial Governor’s Office’, etc. on the main gate, I wrote ‘Qing Manor6The Qing here is the Qing from Wu Qianqing’s name.‘, Dad, if you don’t like it, you can change it to something else.”
Wu Ruo didn’t want to have any more relations with the people from the Wu family, so that’s why he would name the residence ‘Qing Manor’ after his father7命名 (ming ming) means ‘to name someone or something after someone or something else’. It’s a specific term and can otherwise be translated as to ‘christen’ something or someone. I opted not to use it because of the Christian connotations to the word..
Wu Qianqing nodded in agreement.
If it weren’t for Wu Ruo repeatedly saying that this house had been bought for them by Hei Xuanyi, the house being registered under Wu Qianqing’s name at the magistrate’s office8Similar to modern practices, every residential household must register the homeowner’s name. It doesn’t have to be the name of the buyer., that the place would only be left empty to grow mold and vegetation if they didn’t move in, otherwise, Wu Qianqing was quite sheepish to move his entire family over into the residence.
Guan Tong sighed with admiration: “This place is really not bad.”
This place was even better than Shuqing Garden. In future, staying here, she wouldn’t have to deal with those Wu people and their hypocritical faces.
Wu Xi hurriedly whined cutely to Wu Qianqing: “Dad, let’s just stay here from now on. In the future, can we not go back to the Wu estate?”
Wu Qianqing didn’t say anything.
Actually, in his heart, he had also decided to do that.
From before, he had thought about moving out of the Wu estate, it was just that he couldn’t find an opportunity to do so. Since they had managed to move out now, in the future, there was no way that he would return to the Wu estate. This was because the current Wu estate was no longer the Wu estate that he’d known when he was younger. The current Wu estate was covered in smog and miasma9乌烟瘴气 (wu yan zhang qi) means ‘murky atmosphere’, but I translated it literally because the visual imagery was pretty apt. I find it interesting that the wu in this idiom is the same wu as the Wu family. I don’t think there are any sneaky foreshadowing or literary hints baked into the idiom usage, just a very fitting idiom., filled with schemes, jealousy and suspicions. It was simply not suitable for the existence of those of them from Shuqing Garden.
Wu Ruo let Hei Xin make the proper arrangements for their living quarters10This is referring to assigning quarters for the servants, like who should be sleeping where..
When it came to the noon hour, Wu Ruo remained at Qing Manor for lunch, and he also introduced Hei Xuantang to Wu Qianqing and the rest, so that they could get to know him. Everyone was very happy and couldn’t help drinking a few more glasses, it wasn’t until it had gotten dark that they wrapped up this meal11They started drinking and had lunch all the way till dinner time LMAO.
Wu Ruo leaned into Hei Xuanyi’s embrace, intoxicated. Along the way, he kept pouting and making a racket as he said: “Hei Xuanyi, I’m so happy today. I’m really so happy. My dad and mum finally moved out of the Wu estate, and don’t have to be bullied by those people anymore. My dad’s spiritual energy has also recovered, I also don’t have to worry that my dad and the others will be taken advantage of by my grandfather and his lot.”
Hei Xuanyi gently held onto Wu Ruo by his waist, so that he could be a little more comfortable: “I will assign people to strictly guard the main gate, and not let anyone from the Wu estate harass your dad and mum.”
When he said this, his gaze turned to Hei Xin who was beside them, indicating for Hei Xin to get people to strictly guard the main gate of Qing Manor from tomorrow onward.
Hei Xin, who was holding onto Dandan, nodded his head and quietly instructed the other servants to return to Hei Manor first so that Hei Xuanyi and Wu Ruo could have some time alone.
Wu Ruo lifted his hands and blocked12In Chinese, it says 板住 (ban zhu) but it doesn’t seem like a proper phrase to me. I’m assuming here that it was a typo and that it was meant to be 绊住 (ban zhu), and have translated it as such. If anyone can clarify, please let me know in the comments and I’ll make the appropriate revisions. Hei Xuanyi’s face: “Then you have to protect them properly, and not let my dad and mum die again, don’t let those Wu family people find a loophole to exploit13JYB uses 有机可趁 (you ji ke chen) but Pleco and Baidu both agree that the actual idiom is 有机可乘 (you ji ke cheng). There is a phrase 趁机 (chen ji) which I assume is the reason why JYB made the typo/mistake. again.”
Die again? Hei Xuanyi frowned, not quite understanding the meaning of Wu Ruo’s words. Perhaps he’d gotten too drunk, that’s why Wu Ruo was speaking nonsensically.
Wu Ruo didn’t get a response and unhappily pinched the face full of black scales: “Hurry and promise me.”
“…” Hei Xuanyi indifferently hummed in agreement.
“Good boy14真乖 (zhen guai): is more literally ‘really obedient’, but it’s usually used to praise small children when they behave the way their parents want them to..” The corners of Wu Ruo’s enchanting eyes lifted up, curling into a lovely smile, and he pressed close to the side of Hei Xuanyi’s mouth: “Since you’re being so obedient, let me quietly tell you a secret.”
“What secret?” Hei Xuanyi’s interest was piqued.
Wu Ruo acted as if he was a thief, secretively peeking towards the left, then peeking towards the right. After, he secretively peeked above his head as well, and again peeked beneath his feet.
Hei Xuanyi watched him behaving like this and inwardly felt that it was amusing, and so said: “There’s no one nearby.”
“Oh,” Wu Ruo hooked his arms around Hei Xuanyi’s neck, tugging him down, then whispered into his ear: “Let me tell you, everyone in the Wu family must die. I won’t let them go. Not. A. Single. One.”
“…” Hei Xuanyi saw the viciousness shooting out of Wu Ruo’s eyes and he narrowed his own eyes: “I will help you.”
“You’re really wonderful.” Wu Ruo pouted his lips: “Why was I so stupid in the past, thinking that you were so unlikable?”
This was, after Wu Ruo got drunk, the second time saying that he really hated him. Hei Xuanyi raised his long eyebrows: “How unlikeable?”
“So unlikeable that I didn’t even want to see you.”
“…” Hei Xuanyi guessed that Wu Ruo hated that he’d had to get married15Hey, it’s been a while! Remember how there are different terms for ‘getting married’ in Chinese? Men qu a wife into their families, while women jia out of their maiden families. Hei Xuanyi is guessing Wu Ruo despised how he had to jia to Hei Xuanyi, instead of being able to qu a wife into his own family. to such a big guy like him: “How about now?”
“Now…” confusion flashed across Wu Ruo’s gaze and he stared at Hei Xuanyi for a long time. Following after, he shook his head no, narrowing his eyes, his gaze seemed to pierce past Hei Xuanyi’s ear: “You… you…”
“Hn?”
Wu Ruo violently came to his senses, forcefully pushing Hei Xuanyi away, with a stretch of his forearm, in his hands, he immediately produced a silver jian16A type of Chinese longsword. that was glimmering with spiritual energy out of thin air. He immediately stabbed forward and shouted sternly: “Who goes there?”
A huge gust of wind suddenly blew through the courtyard, following after, one white and one black silhouette suddenly appeared from thin air. Half of the face of the person wearing white robes was the face of a human, while the other face was bones without flesh, and the human half of the face looked especially yao-like. The face of the other person in black robes on the other hand was etched full of countless black talismans, extremely terrifying.
Wu Ruo narrowed his eyes: “The two of you are Gui people17Reminder that this is Chinese fantasy. Similar to Western fantasy where there are several fantasy races like orcs, wizards, dwarves, etc. Chinese has their own fantasy races, including yao, gui, mo, etc. Gui is often translated as ‘ghost’, which evokes the idea that they are incorporeal beings, but it’s not quite so.
Please approach the story with an open mind to learning about what Chinese fantasy races are like, without any preconceived notions based on Western fantasy races. Portrayals of the different races can vary across different works, as they do in Western fantasy.?”
The other party immediately moved to attack Wu Ruo.
Wu Ruo had just lost all his weight, he hadn’t yet had the time to train his body, so, although he seemed like he knew some jian stances, but he didn’t have enough strength or momentum to execute them, there was basically no way for him to inflict even the slightest bit of damage to the enemy.
Hei Xuanyi raised an eyebrow.
According to what he knew, before Wu Ruo had lost weight18The literal translation was closer to something like: “before, when he hadn’t lost weight yet”. It’s a little unwieldy in English, so I’ve edited it and leave you this footnote. The difference in the way English and Chinese phrases negatives never fails to be interesting., he had never practiced any jian styles. However, he appeared to know how to wield the jian and didn’t seem like an amateur.
Wu Ruo knew the limits of his own body19More literally: “Wu Ruo knew the problems with his own body.”, and rapidly retreated a few steps. As he wielded the sword, he began chanting a spell: “Qian, kun, xun, zhen, kan, li, gen, dui…20Wu Ruo is chanting the Eight Trigrams here. More info about it here at the Wikipedia page.“
A brilliant gold light suddenly shot out from in front of Wu Ruo, forming a gigantic gold bagua21Bagua is the hanyu pinyin for the Eight Trigrams.: “Execute evil——!”
The gigantic gold bagua viciously shot forward and directly struck the other party.
The white robed Gui and black robed Gui both laughed coldly. With a light touch of their fingertips, they disintegrated his bagua: “Your spiritual energy is insufficient, the proficiency of this bagua array is far inferior to Wu Chenzi’s.”
Because he had drunk too much wine, Wu Ruo staggered a step backward, smiling lethargically: “Is that so?”
At this moment, the center of the bagua array that had been shattered flashed gold again like a massive wok and unexpectedly trapped the black robed and white robed Gui.
The expressions of the two changed dramatically. They had yet to react before they were engulfed by the gold light.
With a “peng—!” sound, the gold light turned into a huge gold clock and fell to the ground.
Wu Ruo walked over and picked up the huge clock, grumbling: “Who asked you to belittle me? Who asked you to belittle me? Hmph, since both of you underestimated me, I won’t let you out.”
He’d known from the beginning that his current self wouldn’t be able to win against the other party, so, he made a feint to the east and attacked from the west. First, he deliberately used the bagua array to attract their attention, but he actually wanted to use a weapon to seal them.
Hei Xuanyi walked over to help him up.
Wu Ruo beamed drunkenly: “Am I amazing?”
“Hn.” Hei Xuanyi quite admired him. Wu Ruo was a novice to magic, yet his reaction was so quick-witted.
Wu Ruo patted his own chest and said: “I’ll be even more amazing in the future, even… even more amazing than Wu Chenzi!”
Hei Xuanyi supported Wu Ruo with one hand, picking the weapon up with his other hand, releasing the people from inside.
“You… why did you let them out?”
The moment the black robed and white robed Gui came out, they immediately knelt in front of Hei Xuanyi: “Master, it was us who underestimated the enemy. Please punish us.”
They had never expected that a person who had never been through experience training would be so cunning. Of course, the most important point was that the other party’s spiritual energy was not very strong, which caused them to look down upon Wu Ruo.
Hei Xuanyi took a glance at the drunken Wu Ruo and said nonchalantly: “Hei Yin, Hei Yang22Fun fact: their names are 黑阴 and 黑阳, the same ones as the yin-yang symbol., he will also be your master in the future.”
The two Gui immediately knelt and bowed23行礼 (xing li) means to perform ritual bows, in this context. to Wu Ruo: “This servant greets the madam.”
“Oh, so it’s someone you know.” Wu Ruo let out a drunken burp, following closely, with an ‘ou’ noise, he vomited everything that he’d eaten today all onto the bodies of the two Gui.
Hei Yin, Hei Yang: “…”
“Everyone’s familiar with each other, both of you won’t mind that I vomited, right?”
“…” Hei Yin, Hei Yang were both being coldly stared at by Hei Xuanyi, so they could only reluctantly force themselves24硬着头皮 (ying zhe tou pi): the original idiom is mistakenly written as 硬着头发 (ying zhe tou fa) where the correct phrase literally means ‘to harden the skin on one’s scalp’ and the mistaken version JYB writes means ‘to harden one’s hair’. Essentially, it means to force yourself to do something very difficult against your will. to say: “We don’t mind.”
Wu Ruo crawled onto Hei Xuanyi’s back: “Hei Xuanyi, I want to go back to our room and sleep.”
Hei Xuanyi first brought him to the bathroom to wash up, then carried him onto the bed.
The moment Wu Ruo nestled into the bed, he fell asleep.
Hei Xuanyi also closed his eyes, after an indeterminate amount of time sleeping, he felt the person next to him violently shaking as though they were having a nightmare. He immediately sat up.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Wu Ruo heaving deep breaths: “Had a nightmare?”
Wu Ruo seemed like he couldn’t differentiate between reality and his dreams. After a long while, only then did he wipe the sweat from his forehead and said: “I dreamed of two Gui, one wearing black robes, another wearing white robes…”
Hei Xuanyi: “…”
“Madam, are you talking about us?” Two silhouettes suddenly appeared in front of the head of their bed.
Wu Ruo saw them and agitatedly said: “That’s right, it was you two!”
In his dreams, not only did he dream of them, he also dreamed that he had become a Gui, becoming friends with these two Gui. Later on, his body turned from corporeal to transparent. In his heart, he felt an inexplicable fear, he couldn’t resign to disappearing just like that, following that, he was frightened awake.
Hei Yang, Yin both laughed eerily: “Madam can finally see us.”
Wu Ruo looked at them, still unable to come back to his senses.
Hei Yin explained: “In the past, Madam’s spiritual energy wasn’t enough and couldn’t see us.
Wu Ruo wiped his face and asked: “Are you two called Hei Yang and Hei Yin?”
The two Gui nodded dumbly.
Wu Ruo continued saying: “Hei Yang likes stealing women’s dudou25Here is a link to a modern dudou. It’s a kind of form-fitting underwear., Hei Yin likes Hei Yang but has never dared to admit it.”
Hei Yang: “!!!”
Hei Yin: “!!!”
Hei Xuanyi saw the expressions of the two Gui and asked Wu Ruo curiously: “How did you know?”
Hei Yang and Hei Yin asked in unison: “Didn’t you tell him?”
That’s not right!
These were private matters that they had never told anyone. Master couldn’t have known, so how did Wu Ruo know?
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