Big thanks and a shout-out to biki for sending me a laptop so that I can translate LWSL more conveniently!
Special thanks to biki and saitohimea for the tips on ko-fi!
Hei Xuanyi only checked the fake skin in his hands after making sure that Wu Ruo was fine.
This piece of fake skin had been specially crafted. Even if it came in contact with water or fire, it would not fall or melt off. All the more, it would not simply be scratched and fall off because of any ordinary hidden weapon, so there was definitely something wrong with that hidden weapon just now.
Hei Xuanyi very quickly noticed the portion that had been torn open was smeared with streaks of a transparent liquid substance. The two edges of the tear had withered up, and even looked like they had been corroded.
“Don’t move.” Wu Ruo grabbed the hand that reached out to touch the liquid substance just in time: “That must be huarong liquid1化容 (hua rong): literally ‘to dissolve one’s appearance’., if you use your hand to touch it, it will dissolve the skin and muscles of your fingertip. Luckily you were wearing a fake skin on your face, otherwise, your whole face would’ve been disfigured.”
In his previous lifetime, he had seen this huarong liquid before on the face of a young maiden who had been disfigured. As long as even a tiny bit of it came in contact with one’s face, it would disfigure one’s entire face, turning it unbearably rotten, with no possibility of recovering.
Later on, he heard that Wu Chenzi’s granddaughter, Wu Yuxue, was the one who had created this huarong liquid, specifically used to disfigure the appearances of beautiful young maidens. As for whether it was true or false, he had no way of knowing. However, a kind soul from the Huangdu Wu family had once warned him, he should absolutely under no circumstances meet Wu Yuxue with his current appearances, otherwise, the consequences would be terrible.
The him at that time rarely came to Huangdu City, so he had never taken these things and words seriously. Even if he met Wu Yuxue, he would only see her from afar. However, it had to be said, Wu Yuxue really was very beautiful. She fully deserved being dubbed as the number one beauty in the whole of Tianxing.
Wu Ruo thought about how that hidden weapon had originally been pointed at him and couldn’t help but glance towards Wu Yanlan’s horse carriage. Before, he seemed to have seen a woman peeking out from the carriage to look in his direction, but more than half of her face had been blocked by Wu Yanlan, so he hadn’t seen who that woman had been. However, he had heard Wu Yanlan call her xiaogugu, so, he guessed that that woman was probably Wu Yuxue.
In that case, the huarong liquid had really been created by Wu Yuxue?
Hei Xuanyi’s cold gaze immediately narrowed. He turned to look at the horse carriage that Wu Yanlan was sitting in, but the horse carriage had already gone a fair distance away.
Wu Ruo took the fake skin from his hands and followed the direction of his gaze: “Other than Wu Yanlan, the other person sitting in the horse carriage is probably Wu Yuxue…”
People from the Wu family? Hei Xuanyi’s gaze hardened.
When Wu Ruo could no longer see the horse carriage, he asked: “Hei Xuanyi, don’t you think you should explain this fake facial skin to me?”
Hei Xuanyi looked away from the horse carriage and back at Wu Ruo, replying: “At that time, I didn’t want to marry Wu Yuxue, so I wore this fake skin.”
“Then, after you married me, why didn’t you take this fake skin off?”
Hei Xuanyi hesitated for a moment before saying: “Didn’t want you to fall for me because of my face.”
Wu Ruo snorted, irritated: “You’re too cocky.”
In his previous lifetime, even when he had seen Hei Xuanyi’s actual appearances, he had also only been stunned by his looks for a moment, but his opinion of Hei Xuanyi hadn’t changed at all just because of this face.
However, if he’d been in the same position, he also wouldn’t have wanted others to like him only for his appearances and overlook his other strengths. In his previous lifetime, he’d had this exact experience. When others saw him, they often focused first on his appearance, but didn’t care much about his abilities.
Hei Xuanyi pursed his lips and didn’t say anything, just steadily staring at Wu Ruo like that.
Wu Ruo coughed lightly, feeling uncomfortable, and apologized: “Alright, I can understand your way of thinking. But, with your conditions, even if you didn’t marry Wu Yuxue, you could’ve easily married someone who was better than me in every aspect, why were you willing to marry a fatty like me back then?”
He had finally found an opportunity to ask about this matter.
Hei Xuanyi frowned slightly: “I don’t want to deceive you, but I need to wait for you to follow me home before I can explain.”
Even if Hei Xuanyi told Wu Ruo some of the truth, he might not believe it, and if he lied, all the more it was unlikely to be believed.
Wu Ruo closed his eyes.
Of course, there had been a motive in marrying him.
However, hadn’t he already guessed this conclusion a long time ago? Why did he still feel so terrible in his chest after hearing these words?
Hei Xuanyi saw Wu Ruo’s expression of disappointment, and a sliver of anxiety came through in his usually expressionless face: “Although I can’t tell you, but I promise, I will never hurt you or your family.”
“…” Wu Ruo opened his eyes and looked at Hei Xuanyi.
This person easily could’ve deceived him, but he didn’t do so, so should he believe Hei Xuanyi or not?
“Dage, dasao, what are you two doing in the middle of the road?” Hei Xuantang, who had come back after making a round, saw that the two of them were standing in the middle of the road, blocking the path of passing horse carriages, and walked towards them, curious. However, he saw that the fake skin on his own dage‘s face had been removed, and clicked his tongue: “Dage, you’re finally willing to take off this ugly fake skin?”
It was no wonder why there were so many people crowding around here just now, so it was because they were all looking at his dage and dasao. Not to brag but his dage was surely the most handsome looking man in this entire world; when his dage stood next to his dasao, they were a natural perfect match.
Wu Ruo and Hei Xuanyi seemed as though they couldn’t see Hei Xuantang, staring at each other silently.
Hei Xuantang noticed that the atmosphere seemed out of place, so he guessed that it must be that Wu Ruo had gotten angry that his dage hadn’t told the truth about the fake skin, so he hurriedly spoke up for his dage: “Dasao, don’t blame dage for hiding the truth from you, my dage has never liked people staring at his face since he was young. Wearing a fake skin to meet you, it must definitely be because he didn’t want you to fall for his appearances and not his personality.”
Wu Ruo kept the fake skin into his shadow realm and then turned his gaze to Hei Xuantang: “Dandan and the others?”
Hei Xuantang hastily said: “They’re buying food from the stall up ahead.”
He had only come over because he’d noticed there was a crowd, who would’ve guessed that everyone was looking at his dage and dasao.
Wu Ruo turned and walked off.
Hei Xuantang immediately held back Hei Xuanyi, who was about to follow after Wu Ruo: “Is dasao angry?”
“Hn,” Hei Xuanyi frowned: “He asked me why I married him just now.”
Hei Xuantang’s eyes widened: “Then did you tell him?”
“No.”
“Oh, that’s a relief, that’s a relief2没说就好 (mei shuo jiu hao): this phrase literally means ‘it’s good (that you didn’t) tell him’, but that’s a little long for a repeated phrase, so I opted for something shorter.” Hei Xuantang sighed in relief: “If you told him, he definitely wouldn’t be willing to go back with us, dage, you would’ve also made this trip for nothing.”
Hei Xuanyi glared at him coldly.
“Sorry, I said the wrong thing. Dage, I’m just worried. But, even if you don’t say it, dasao also suspects, doesn’t he? After all, who would be willing to marry a great big fatty?”
“I’m willing.”
“…” Hei Xuantang was a little speechless: “Dage, you’re not the same, you…”
Hei Xuanyi simply ignored him and went to look for Wu Ruo.
After Wu Ruo found Dandan, he brought all of them to the jewelry store to look for Wu Xi and the others. Along the way, he bought some accessories for Dandan because he had noticed that all the children in Huangdu City would accessorize with many items, so he didn’t want his own child to fall behind others.
When he arrived at the jewelry store, he first bought a few accessories meant for adults. Then, he bought a set of silver accessories with bells and put them on for Dandan. No matter if it was his wrist, ankles, neck, waist or even his fazan3This refers to the stick-like accessory that goes through the bun in one’s hair. Example of a fazan here, you’ll see it being used commonly in guzhuang dramas. As a side note, it is not a gendered hair accessory. Fazan can be used by males or females., all of them had bells. Any way that Dandan moved, there would be crisp ringing noises.
Hei Gan was extremely pleased with this set of accessories; in the future, it wouldn’t be so difficult for him to look for Dandan anymore.
Wu Xi and Guan Tong both also loved the ringing bell noises coming from Dandan, so they hugged him and kissed him all over.
Wu Qianqing saw that his wife and children were so happy, so he asked with a smile: “What about Xuanyi? Where has he gone off to?”
Wu Ruo wordlessly glanced at Hei Xuanyi who was standing next to him.
“Dad, I’m here.” Hei Xuanyi took the initiative to speak up.
Wu Qianqing looked in the direction of his voice and saw a man who looked very much like Dandan. He couldn’t help but be stunned, this handsome man was his son-in-law?
Wu Xi and Guan Tong were also stunned, their gazes jumped back and forth between Dandan and Hei Xuanyi.
Wu Ruo replied helplessly: “Dad, let’s talk about this when we get back.”
Wu Qianqing came back to his senses and nodded: “We’re done with purchasing our things. How about the rest of you?”
“Hn.”
Everyone carried bags of all sizes and returned aboard the horse carriage, then, they split into seats on both sides of the carriage. Wu Qianqing, Guan Tong, Wu Xi and Wu Ruo sat on the right side, their gazes were all extremely unified in staring at Hei Xuanyi who was sitting across from them.
Hei Xuantang hurried to speak up for his dage, explaining the reason for wearing the fake skin.
Wu Xi took a look at Dandan who was sitting on her lap and eating candy, thought about it for a moment, then stuffed Dandan into Hei Xuanyi’s arms, sighing in admiration: “Dandan really resembles Yi-ge.”
Wu Qianqing asked Hei Xuanyi directly: “Is he your son4What Wu Qianqing means here is: “is Dandan your biological son?” since they have zero reason to believe that Dandan hatched from an egg, so Wu Qianqing is assuming that Dandan is the illegitimate son that Hei Xuanyi had with some other woman, and he’s concerned that Wu Ruo might be treated poorly for being a man and not being able to bear legitimate children for Hei Xuanyi and his family line.?”
Hei Xuanyi nodded.
Wu Ruo said: “He’s also my son5Clearly Wu Ruo understands what his father is concerned about and he’s answering this question genuinely, because Dandan is their son, without any third party input. It’s just a little difficult for the other people in this setting/context to grasp..”
Wu Qianqing looked at Wu Ruo and heaved a sigh in his heart. He thought about how even his son hadn’t gotten angry about Hei Xuanyi hiding his true appearance, so it wasn’t his place as father-in-law6丈人 (zhang ren): this is specifically the term for the wife’s father when referring to the father-in-law. There is a separate, different term for the husband’s father, which should be 公公 (gong gong) if I’m not mistaken. This is also the same term that’s used during some period dramas to refer to the eunuch, so I’m not 100% sure if they would use this term to refer to the husband’s father during this setting/context. If it ever comes up in text, I will be sure to leave a note. to say much about it either.
Guan Tong saw that the atmosphere was a little muted, so she took out the faguan7Another type of hair accessory, but these are mostly used for men. I’m not 100% sure whether women also used faguan as well. In some guzhuang settings, the coming-of-age ceremony for young men is called the 冠礼 (guan li) a.k.a the guan ceremony. I think it’s quite meaningful that they bought him a faguan but I also can’t say for sure why. that she had bought and said: “Xuanyi, you’ve already been married to Xiao-Ruo for half a year, but we haven’t given you a gift before. This is a faguan that we all chose together just now, although we’re not sure if you would like it.”
The faguan was a silver tangerine flower with a black precious stone embedded into the heart of the flower, which matched the black robes that Hei Xuanyi wore very well.
Hei Xuanyi accepted the faguan: “Thank you, mum and dad, I like it a lot.”
Guan Tong smiled and said: “As long as you like it.”
Hei Xuantang looked at the faguan and then looked at Guan Tong and the others, with an expression that said ‘I want a gift too’.
Guan Tong felt that he was just like a child and pressed her lips together, holding back a smile, and took out a flashier faguan, handing it to Hei Xuantang: “Xuantang, we didn’t know what you would like either, so we also chose a faguan for you.”
Hei Xuantang hastily accepted it and smiled toothily: “I like it, I like it loads!”
Wu Xi realized that this person was extremely interesting and let out a snort.
Wu Ruo also took out the accessories that he had bought and gave them to his parents and younger sister. He had even bought something for Hei Xuantang; on top of that, he had even bought things for Hei Xin, Hei Gan and Ji Xi. He only didn’t get anything for Hei Xuanyi.
Hei Xuanyi stared fixedly at Wu Ruo.
Hei Xuantang helped Hei Xuanyi to ask: “Dasao, what about something for my dage?”
“I didn’t get anything.”
Hei Xuanyi: “…”
After they got off the car, Hei Xuantang discreetly whispered into Hei Xuanyi’s ear: “Dage, dasao is still angry with you. What should we do?”
Hei Xuanyi: “…”
He didn’t know what to do either. He wasn’t like Hei Xuantang who knew how to make others happy.
While they were eating, Wu Ruo kept ignoring Hei Xuanyi, to the point where he didn’t even look at him. After he was done eating dinner, he left the main hall to settle his own matters. Wu Ruo only returned to their rooms to rest late at night.
He ignored Hei Xuanyi who was sitting at the head of the bed, reading a book. He stepped on the side of the bed and crossed right over Hei Xuanyi’s body.
With sharp eyes and quick hands, Hei Xuanyi caught his wrist.
Wu Ruo glared at him: “What are you doing?”
Hei Xuanyi frowned: “Still angry?”
“What do you think?” Wu Ruo pulled his hand back. He dug a small pouch out of his shadow space and tossed it at Hei Xuanyi, then, he laid down with his back facing Hei Xuanyi and went to sleep.
He already knew Hei Xuanyi’s true appearance, so why would he be angry because of this? When he was ignoring him earlier, it was only because he wanted to make Hei Xuanyi feel a little anxious.
When Hei Xuanyi opened up the pouch to look, it was full of Blood Replenishing and Energy Replenishing Pills. So, come to think of it, after eating dinner, Wu Ruo had gone to make these pills for him.
The corners of his lips couldn’t help but curl up, he leaned over and hugged Wu Ruo from behind, whispering quietly into Wu Ruo’s ear: “Thank you.”
The corners of Wu Ruo’s lips twitched, and he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Translator’s note: My apologies for the erratic updates, life is tough and translating is unfortunately not one of my top priorities. I will not have a fixed schedule for posting, but I will try to update at least once a month so that this translation can be finished in the next two or three years rather than a decade from now LMAO Thank you to everyone who supports these translations by reading, liking, commenting or tipping. Your support means a lot to me, and I promise not to abandon this project.
