LWSL Chapter 73

Hei Xuanyi glanced towards Wu Sheng and the others, then he looked at Hei Gan.

Hei Gan nodded his head, understanding Hei Xuanyi’s intentions, and took out a piece of gold leaf¹金叶子 (jin ye zi): literally a leaf-shaped piece of gold. I suppose it’s meant to be some form of currency? Jin Yuanbao/JYB is not very consistent about how money works ? and gave it to Shi Yuan: “Buy a sled for each person.”

“Yes, sir.” Shi Yuan took the gold leaf and brought it to a peddler, exchanging it for thirty sleds. Then, he distributed the sleds to each person. The sleds that were bought were very simple and crude. They were not much different than a regular toboggan²冰车 (bing che) vs. 雪橇 (xue qiao): okay, pardon me here because I’m not from a country that gets snow, so even in English, these terms are all very unfamiliar to me. Bing che literally means ‘snow car’, I think this refers to the more elaborate sort of ‘sled’. Whereas xue qiao refers to probably just a piece of wood that you can grab a hold of and glide over ice/snow.

If anyone has a better explanation for these, please feel free to leave it in the comments. I have never done either sledding or tobogganing, so I am completely lost about how any of this actually works.; it was just that there was an extra chair and a pair of ski poles. During the process of skating, one was required to manually skate using the ski poles.

Hei Gan simply said a ‘just play as you wish’, and didn’t elaborate any further.

After receiving the sleds, the expressions on the cold and frosty faces of the bodyguards revealed an extremely rare sliver of a smile.

There was still some time left before the race; everyone practiced skating a few laps on the river first.

The sled that Hei Xin and the others had rushed to make had a total of three seats. Dandan immediately seated himself in the frontmost seat, and because Wu Ruo’s body mass was heavier, he sat in the middle. Hei Xuanyi was left to sit at the backmost seat. When the three of them practiced skating for a bit, it still felt pretty decent.

Most importantly, Dandan and Hei Xuanyi’s strengths were comparatively greater than others, and their coordination was also good. One controlled the direction they went in, and the other was responsible for accelerating; the one in the middle was only responsible for enjoying.

Not long after, the competition began.

Those with sleds skated their sleds towards the shore, standardizing the starting point.

The rules of the competition were very simple. Magic was not allowed; everyone could only rely on their toboggans to skate. The number of participants could be self-determined. Participants could compete on their own, and they were also allowed to compete in groups of multiple people.

However, groups of more than two people could only sit on the same sled. But under average circumstances, a one-person sled was faster, and it was also more agile. There was no need to coordinate with someone else, so, there was essentially no one else sitting three on a sled like Wu Ruo, Hei Xuanyi, and Dandan.

The competition’s starting and ending points were to skate from the shore to the opposing side. The entire distance stretched for 200 zhang; on the opposite shore were three flags. Whoever obtained a flag first would win a spot in the top three of the competition.

The top three would all be awarded. First place would win 5 gold ingots, second place would win 3 gold ingots, and third place would only win 1 gold ingot. Although the prizes were not as much as the stakes that Wu Ruo and the others had bet, but to the average commoner, it was already a huge sum.

So, everyone who had come to participate was here for the gold, and the gold had been provided by a rich merchant in Gaoling City who liked doing charity.

There were particularly a lot of people participating, at least more than one thousand people. Wu Ruo and Wu Sheng’s race was also mixed into the midst of this. Whoever obtained a flag first would win.

Wu Ruo glanced at Wu Sheng and his group and realized there were a lot more Wu family disciples also participating in the race.

The judge of the competition was a woman. At her verbal command, everyone was like a swarm of bees coming out of their nest³倾巢而出 (qing chao er chu): an idiom meaning ‘to come out in full force’. Literally: ‘coming out of the nest (because the nest is overflowing or collapsed)’., the hoard of them surging forth.

The ordinary commoners were still ordinary commoners. Even under the circumstances where the magic practitioners didn’t use magic, they could still rely on their arm strength from years and months of training to win against the commoners.

In not more than half a joss stick of time, the ordinary commoners had fallen behind by a huge distance. The majority of these people were aware that they would not be able to catch up, so they took the initiative to give up on the competition. After skating for half the distance, they turned around to head back.

At the start, Wu Ruo still put in the effort to row for a few strokes. Later on, he realized that whether he put in the effort or not, the speed was still the same. So he simply stowed his ski poles away, tightened his cloak around himself, and quietly watched the scenery before him.

Suddenly, with a ‘peng!’ sound, the body of the sled had been crashed into by someone. Following that, the sled was like a spinning top, rapidly spinning a few rounds.

Wu Ruo hurriedly supported himself on both sides of the sled with both of his hands, steadying himself.

With some rustling noises, Wu Sheng and the others sped past them like a passing gust of wind.

Dandan anxiously shouted: “Father, hurry! They’ve already gone past us.”

Hei Xuanyi said, not quickly nor slowly: “Don’t rush.”

As he said this, Wu Ruo saw that the people from their manor had already rushed forth, tangling together with Wu Sheng and his group.

Hei Xuanyi started moving the sled again, catching up with them.

Following that, someone crashed towards them again.

This time, how could Hei Xuanyi let the other party succeed again? In the split second that the other party crashed towards them, he rapidly avoided the other party knocking into them.

Wu Ruo realized the ones colliding against them were Wu Sheng’s younger brother’s friends; his gaze hardened. When the other party crashed towards them again, he stabbed his ski poles into the bottom of their sled. In that moment, the sleds of the people colliding with them flipped, and they crashed heavily out of their sleds.

Dandan whooped: “Daddy, good job!”

Wu Ruo’s lips curled upward.

Very quickly, they caught up with Wu Sheng and his group.

As Wu Ruo passed Wu Sheng and his group, he beamed broadly: “Sheng-ge, thanks for letting us win⁴承认 (cheng rang): this is typically said after winning any kind of match, as a polite expression, to thank the other person for ‘allowing’ you to win. If you have watched any guzhuang drama, whoever comes out tops will say this after a spar. If I’m not wrong, this is still used in current Chinese language too (e.g: in esports dramas, you might hear them saying this to each other too).

The phrase can be read as ‘to be indebted to another’s kindness for giving in to oneself’; like, I’m indebted to your kindness for giving in to me in this match between us. It’s meant to be a humble way of acknowledging your win without putting the other person down, but as we can see, Wu Ruo is being insufferably smug about it to Wu Sheng..”

Wu Sheng and Wu Xia, who were being held back by Hei Xuanyi’s people, saw that Wu Ruo was sitting on his sled, enjoying himself like a great lord, and were immediately so angered that their eyes turned red.

Dandan excitedly yelled: “Father, quick! Let’s shake them off quick!”

With a burst of momentum from Hei Xuanyi, the sled was like a sharp arrow that had just been loosed from its bow. With a rustle, it shot forth. In a split second, they left Wu Sheng and the others far behind themselves, leaving Wu Sheng and the others with only the sounds of a child’s joyful ‘gege’ laughter.

After half a joss stick’s time, the father-son trio successfully reached the river’s opposite shore, plucking up the three flags.

When Wu Sheng and the others finally caught up, Wu Ruo and the other two had already collected their prizes.

Wu Ruo said: “Sheng-ge, we won.”

Wu Sheng, Wu Xia, and Wu Xia’s friends were all so angry that their faces had turned black, but they didn’t seem to have any intentions of paying up.

Wu Ruo said again: “If you’re willing to bet, you must accept your loss.”

Wu Xia felt that he clearly could’ve had a solid win, yet now he had lost. In his mind, he was naturally unable to concede. He swept a look across the trio of Wu Ruo, Hei Xuanyi, and Dandan. His gaze suddenly flashed with brightness, and he angrily said: “It doesn’t count.”

Wu Ruo narrowed his eyes: “It doesn’t count?”

“We all sat one person to a sled, but the three of you sat in one sled. It doesn’t count.”

Wu Ruo said: “Before competing, you never said anything about not allowing three people on one sled. The competition rules also didn’t mention anything about only allowing one person per sled.”

Wu Sheng said: “We were all one person to a sled, who would think that the three of you would sit in one sled? This manner of competing isn’t fair.”

Wu Ruo’s gaze turned cold, he stabbed the ski poles in his hands towards the ground, and he said coldly: “Does. It. Really. Not. Count? Hn?”

The people of Hei Manor promptly surrounded them. There were thirty of them in total, yet Wu Sheng and his group only had ten over people. No matter how one looked at it, they were clearly on the losing end.

Wu Sheng’s expression darkened: “Wu Ruo, you want to use brute strength to force us to acknowledge losing?”

“You are the ones who want to go back on your word, forcing us to take action.” Wu Ruo glanced at the twenty over commoners beside them: “Sheng-ge, everyone is watching. You wouldn’t want your Eastern main estate’s people to also earn a bad reputation for having poor character like our Southern main estate, would you?”

The expressions on the faces of the people from the Wu estate changed one after the other.

Wu Sheng thought of how due to the poor reputation and character of the Southern main estate, no one was willing to hire them for work. And so, he took out the 10,000 tael silver draft that Hei Xin had previously given to him, as well as the 100 gold taels that they had lost, and gave them to Wu Ruo.

Wu Ruo took a look at the gold inside of the money purse: “Sheng-ge, so many of you lost to us, shouldn’t it be 100 taels of gold per person?”

Wu Xia was incensed: “Wu Ruo, don’t reach for a yard after getting an inch.”

Wu Ruo’s gaze hardened: “Wu Xia, I didn’t hear what you just called me clearly. Say it again, so that I can hear it.”

Wu Xia shot a death glare at Wu Ruo, thinking about how he was still younger than Wu Ruo, and how his people were around them. Then, he unwillingly addressed in a quiet tone of voice: “Ruo-ge.”

“Next time, don’t get it wrong again.” Wu Ruo swept a glance at them: “This time, on account of the fact that we didn’t clarify the rules of the competition, I’ll only take 100 taels of gold from you. Xuanyi, let’s go.”

“Hn.” Hei Xuanyi helped Wu Ruo back onto the sled, then stabbed at the surface of the ice with his ski poles, pushing backward. With a rustle, the sled glided away.

The people of Hei Manor left one after another, following behind them.

Wu Xia watched the backs of their leaving figures and glared till his eyes turned red: “Wu Ruo, one day, I’ll get back at you⁵要你好看 (yao ni hao kan): more literally “want you humiliated/embarrassed”. Fun fact, the phrase for humiliated/embarrassed here is hao kan, which can also be translated as ‘good-looking/nice to look at’.

I just find it funny because I know Wu Xia means ‘I’ll get back at you’, but in my head, I’m also thinking, Wu Xia wants Wu Ruo to be good-looking. Don’t worry, little Xia, you’ll get what you want. Maybe just not the way you meant it..”

Chen Hou said: “That’s right. I just don’t believe that this little shit will have someone to protect him every time.”

Wu Sheng took a look at the commoners beside them: “If there’s anything, we can talk about it after we go back.”

The people of the Wu estate and Wu Xia’s friends all nodded their heads, getting onto their sleds in succession and making their way back.

They had just skated for 30 metres, when suddenly, ‘kala kala’ noises came from beneath their feet.

Wu Sheng frowned: “What’s that sound?”

Wu Xia looked towards the surface of the river, and his expression changed dramatically: “Shit, the ice is cracking. Everyone, hurry back!”

“What?” Everyone looked beneath their feet, one after the other, and only saw cracks like a spider’s web beneath their feet, stretching in all four directions at the speed of electricity.

Without waiting for them to react, with a loud ‘peng!’ noise, the ice layer of the entire river exploded apart. In a flash, the thick ice surface had become fragments. It was as if the whole ground had sunk into the vast ocean. The scene was extremely magnificent. The commoners who were still on the shore watched with faces of shock as Wu Xia and the others fell into the river, one after another, becoming a bunch of wet mutts.

The commoners then looked at Wu Ruo and the others who had already gone far ahead. Originally, the commoners had thought that they would also have fallen into the water. But the commoners never expected that they would see Wu Ru’s sled soaring into the skies instead, flying back in the direction of Gaoling City.

Wu Xia swam back ashore. When the cold winds blew past, it chilled him so badly that his teeth couldn’t stop chattering. All the water on his entire body froze into shards of ice in a flash.

He looked at Wu Ruo, who was far away, and glared with reddened eyes, gritting his teeth as he said: “Wu Ruo, you and I cannot exist side by side⁶誓不两立 (shi bu liang li): more literally ‘swear not to (be able to have) two (different) points of view’. Wu Xia is very dramatically saying ‘neither can live, while the other survives’. He is extremely melodramatic.

In any case, it is usually used to describe when people have ‘irreconcilable differences’.

.”

It was a pity. Wu Ruo couldn’t hear the words that he said at all. Even if he did hear it, he also wouldn’t take it to heart because right now, all of his attention was on Hei Xuanyi.

Wu Ruo looked at the flowing waters beneath them, then turned to face Hei Xuanyi and asked: “You did this, didn’t you?”

Among everyone present here, only Hei Xuanyi was capable of shattering the entire river.

Hei Xuanyi didn’t deny it.

Dandan clapped and shouted: “Father, you’re so amazing!”

Wu Ruo laughed softly and turned his gaze towards the sun that was setting behind the mountains. The gentle rays of the sun reflected on the surface of the river. The river water turned into a river of gold, twinkling with brilliantly gold rays of light.

He exclaimed: “Absolutely gorgeous.”

As Wu Ruo kept watching, his gaze absently fell onto Hei Gan and the bodyguards. Under the rays of the setting sun, their expressionless faces became much gentler and no longer seemed to appear cold and frosty; no longer giving one the feeling that they were stern and unmoving.

However, the Wu Ruo of the previous lifetime had contrarily felt that these people looked repulsive. Every time Wu Ruo had seen them, he would be moody. Yet in this lifetime, when he saw these people, he realized instead that they too had a tender side, and were not as unreasonable as he had thought them to be.

Notes: I’ve finally figured out how to anchor the footnotes back and forth, so it should be easier to access now while you’re reading! I will… probably eventually go back and retrospectively edit them into the previously published chapters.

Footnotes have been edited in!

• 1
  金叶子 (jin ye zi): literally a leaf-shaped piece of gold. I suppose it’s meant to be some form of currency? Jin Yuanbao/JYB is not very consistent about how money works ?
• 2
  冰车 (bing che) vs. 雪橇 (xue qiao): okay, pardon me here because I’m not from a country that gets snow, so even in English, these terms are all very unfamiliar to me. Bing che literally means ‘snow car’, I think this refers to the more elaborate sort of ‘sled’. Whereas xue qiao refers to probably just a piece of wood that you can grab a hold of and glide over ice/snow.
  
  If anyone has a better explanation for these, please feel free to leave it in the comments. I have never done either sledding or tobogganing, so I am completely lost about how any of this actually works.
• 3
  倾巢而出 (qing chao er chu): an idiom meaning ‘to come out in full force’. Literally: ‘coming out of the nest (because the nest is overflowing or collapsed)’.
• 4
  承认 (cheng rang): this is typically said after winning any kind of match, as a polite expression, to thank the other person for ‘allowing’ you to win. If you have watched any guzhuang drama, whoever comes out tops will say this after a spar. If I’m not wrong, this is still used in current Chinese language too (e.g: in esports dramas, you might hear them saying this to each other too).
  
  The phrase can be read as ‘to be indebted to another’s kindness for giving in to oneself’; like, I’m indebted to your kindness for giving in to me in this match between us. It’s meant to be a humble way of acknowledging your win without putting the other person down, but as we can see, Wu Ruo is being insufferably smug about it to Wu Sheng.
• 5
  要你好看 (yao ni hao kan): more literally “want you humiliated/embarrassed”. Fun fact, the phrase for humiliated/embarrassed here is hao kan, which can also be translated as ‘good-looking/nice to look at’.
  
  I just find it funny because I know Wu Xia means ‘I’ll get back at you’, but in my head, I’m also thinking, Wu Xia wants Wu Ruo to be good-looking. Don’t worry, little Xia, you’ll get what you want. Maybe just not the way you meant it.
• 6
  誓不两立 (shi bu liang li): more literally ‘swear not to (be able to have) two (different) points of view’. Wu Xia is very dramatically saying ‘neither can live, while the other survives’. He is extremely melodramatic.
  
  In any case, it is usually used to describe when people have ‘irreconcilable differences’.