LWSL Chapter 54

When Wu Zhu and Wu Xi returned from the academy and found out about what Wu Qianjing and the others had done, they were shocked and upset, and also extremely angry. They never would’ve thought that these people who had always been quite kind to their family would do something like stealing betrothal gifts.

However, no matter how angry they were, as part of the younger generation, they couldn’t do anything too disrespectful¹大逆不道 (da ni bu dao): refers to “behaviour that is unfilial, rebellious or otherwise in grave breach of societal norms”. The phrase literally translates as “treason and heresy” so it’s a little bit more dramatic than being disrespectful. towards their elders. They could only suppress the flames of their anger and help Wu Ruo to sort out the materials to be used for equipment making, and store them into the carriages.

Wu Ruo ate dinner at Shuqing Garden, and then under the envious and jealous gazes of everyone in the Southern main estate, he left the Wu estate, bringing along 13 cars of materials for equipment making.

Manager Yu, who had been left inside the horse carriage, had already starved till his stomach was growling with a ‘gululu’ sound. When he received the baozi that Shi Yuan handed to him, he immediately ate it in huge bites. After he swallowed the last mouthful of baozi, he said: “Six—Sixth Young Master, I’ve already completed the things that you’ve instructed me to. Could you dissolve the contract?”

When Wu Ruo heard this, he glanced up, and looked at him with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile²Two things here: in this sentence, it says 微微抬起眼皮 which means he slightly lifted up his eyelids, which sounds extremely bizarre directly translated. I’m assuming it means Wu Ruo looked up towards Manager Yu. Also, 似笑非笑 means “as if smiling, but also not smiling”. Kind of like an ambiguous expression.: “Manager Yu, my contract is of the permanent sort. There’s no way to dissolve it.”

“What!” Manager Yu was angry and anxious but also didn’t dare to rebel.

“As long as you don’t betray me, this contract will not have any effect. You can still do what you wish as usual. I know you don’t like being under someone’s control, but, right now, you should be worrying about how to patch up your lie.”

Manager Yu’s eyes flashed with panic, stammering as he asked: “Patch, patch what lie?”

“Today, you told them that you asked them to mortgage the weapons because your friend needed weapons to catch a huge Yao, but my uncles will not be so easy to fool. When the time comes, they will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly, and you…”

Wu Ruo spoke up to this point, then stopped. Manager Yu couldn’t help swallowing his saliva; he could already imagine his own miserable demise: “Then, then what should I do, Sixth Young Master? I was helping you to handle this matter, you can’t leave me to die³见死不救 (jian si bu jiu): literally “to see death and not help”, basically it refers to seeing someone in some kind of shit and just straight up ignoring their plight..”

Wu Ruo gestured for him to come closer.

Manager Yu leaned forward⁴The Chinese text says 于掌柜把耳朵递了过去, which literally means Manager Yu handed his ear over to Wu Ruo. It… doesn’t translate so well, so I modified it a bit. He’s leaning forward to let Wu Ruo whisper in his ear discreetly..

Wu Ruo instructed him in soft tones.

The more Manager Yu listened, the tighter his eyebrows wrinkled together. In the end, he gritted his teeth, agreeing to the matter.

Wu Ruo’s lips turned up meaningfully, gesturing to Shi Yuan to tell the driver to stop the carriage so that Manager Yu could get off.

It was as if Manager Yu was being chased by evil spirits. The moment he got off the carriage, he immediately ran off without a trace.

Wu Ruo smiled, immersing himself in deep thoughts.

Currently, it was almost the New Year, so he would let his dad and mum and the others spend a happy new year peacefully.

When he arrived back at Hei Manor, Wu Ruo saw Hei Xuanyi and Nu Mu sitting in the main hall playing chess.

When Nu Mu saw Wu Ruo, he smiled and raised his voice: “Little Hei, your wife has returned.”

Hei Xuanyi put down the black chess piece that was in his hand, looked towards the entrance, and said nonchalantly towards Wu Ruo who was entering: “You’re back.”

Wu Ruo felt like they had been waiting for him to come back, and couldn’t help smiling slightly: “Have the two of you eaten dinner?”

“We’ve eaten.” Nu Mu asked: “You went back to the Wu estate to to question them about the betrothal gifts, how did it go? Did you manage to get back your betrothal gifts?”

“I got them all back.” Wu Ruo walked to the side, so that they could see the servants carrying in one carriage after another of gifts into the estate.

Hei Xuanyi said indifferently: “Tomorrow, I’ll start making⁵5 — again, reminder, the word Xuanyi uses here to say ‘make’ the equipment is 炼制 (lian zhi) which technically means to ‘chemically refine’ something. In this case, I think Xuanyi means he’s going to use his cultivation to refine the materials into weapons/equipment. the equipment.”

Wu Ruo nodded his head: “Okay.”

Previously, he kept delaying it because he was worried that when Wu Qianjing returned the betrothal gifts, he would have to account for the number of betrothal gifts. So, that was why he wasn’t in the rush to make the weapons.

Hei Xuanyi also said: “About to hatch.”

Wu Ruo was dumbfounded.

What was hatching?

Nu Mu curiously asked: “Hatch? What’s about to hatch?”

Only after a long moment did Wu Ruo understand what Hei Xuanyi’s words meant, he looked at him in surprise: “You mean that big white egg that I gave you is about to hatch?”

Notes: I’m laughing my ass off at Hei Xuanyi. He really just randomly drops ‘about to hatch’ in the middle of a conversation about something else entirely. I love that he doesn’t bother to explain himself and just thinks that Wu Ruo will be able to understand him. I also love that Wu Ruo actually can understand him. The two of them are absolutely adorable.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

• 1
  大逆不道 (da ni bu dao): refers to “behaviour that is unfilial, rebellious or otherwise in grave breach of societal norms”. The phrase literally translates as “treason and heresy” so it’s a little bit more dramatic than being disrespectful.
• 2
  Two things here: in this sentence, it says 微微抬起眼皮 which means he slightly lifted up his eyelids, which sounds extremely bizarre directly translated. I’m assuming it means Wu Ruo looked up towards Manager Yu. Also, 似笑非笑 means “as if smiling, but also not smiling”. Kind of like an ambiguous expression.
• 3
  见死不救 (jian si bu jiu): literally “to see death and not help”, basically it refers to seeing someone in some kind of shit and just straight up ignoring their plight.
• 4
  The Chinese text says 于掌柜把耳朵递了过去, which literally means Manager Yu handed his ear over to Wu Ruo. It… doesn’t translate so well, so I modified it a bit. He’s leaning forward to let Wu Ruo whisper in his ear discreetly.
• 5
  5 — again, reminder, the word Xuanyi uses here to say ‘make’ the equipment is 炼制 (lian zhi) which technically means to ‘chemically refine’ something. In this case, I think Xuanyi means he’s going to use his cultivation to refine the materials into weapons/equipment.