LWSL Chapter 97

Big thanks and a shout-out to biki for sending me a laptop so that I can translate LWSL more conveniently!

Important T/N: Chapter 97 of the novel no longer exists on the original site that LWSL was posted on. I’m assuming that it’s been deleted or censored by the website, most likely the latter¹I’m making this assumption because this chapter explicitly says ‘a man liking another man’. Due to China’s crack down on queer content, in 2022, a lot of media has been affected.. Translations for this chapter are based off of the version of Chapter 97 uploaded onto webnovel pirating websites.

Please be assured that all other chapters will be translated based off of the original novel upload. This is a rare anomaly because the original chapter 97 can no longer be accessed.

Wu Ruo asked: “If I said I saw it in a dream, would both of you believe it?”

He himself also felt that it was incredibly bizarre. It was enough that he’d dreamt of Hei Yin, Hei Yang and himself turning into gui, but he actually managed to, accurately and without mistakes, dream about the people and things that the two gui liked. This was too strange, wasn’t it? Along this thread of thought, ever since he’d been reborn, he kept having a few strange dreams. He also wasn’t sure if these dreams were simply just dreams, or if these dreams were premonitions of certain events, but he hoped that they wouldn’t happen.

Hei Xuanyi, Hei Yang, Hei Yin: “…”

It was obvious that the three of them didn’t believe what he’d said, but they also couldn’t figure out how he could’ve known about these things.

Suddenly, Hei Yang shouted in shock, and pointed at Hei Yin disbelievingly as he said: “Y-y-y-you like me?”

Hei Yin turned away in embarrassment, he figured that since the other party had already found out, he decided that he wouldn’t hide it anymore, he gritted his teeth and said: “That’s right, I do like you, I’ve liked you for a very long time, even if you don’t accept my feelings, I will still keep liking you all the same.”

If it weren’t for Master marrying²娶 (qu): quick note here that the word used is for when men marry a woman into their own families. a man, he wouldn’t have realized that the person he liked was Hei Yang, because a man liking another man was simply too earthshaking³惊世骇俗 (jing shi hai su): more literally translates as ‘shocking the world and offending society’. It seems like Hei Xuanyi and Wu Ruo are pioneers of gay marriage in the story setting., so, he never dared to say it aloud, afraid that Hei Yang would hate him.

Hei Yang stared with wide eyes, shaken with surprise, he didn’t know how to respond to Hei Yin, with a turn of his body, he disappeared from the room.

Hei Yin closed his eyes, disappointed, internally, he was a little envious of the couple⁴夫夫 (fu fu): this phrase is actually 夫妇 (fu fu) where it translates to something along of the lines of ‘a man and his madam’, or simply put ‘a couple’. The second fu here is the same fu in the term ‘married woman’. In this case, it has been changed to two of the fu that refer to men. I have left it translated as ‘couple’ because that’s essentially what JYB is trying to convey here. on the bed.

Wu Ruo said: “One day, he’ll accept you.”

The Hei Yang in his dreams had indeed accepted Hei Yin.

Hei Yin’s gaze brightened.

“On the premise that you don’t give up.”

“I won’t give up!” Hei Yin hurriedly went to chase after Hei Yang.

At this moment, someone knocked on the room door: “Daddy, daddy!”

“It’s Dandan.” Wu Ruo and Hei Xuanyi met each other’s eyes, right now, it wasn’t even yinshi⁵寅时 (yin shi): 3am to 4:59am., why had this child run over here, even sounding like he was crying?

Hei Xuanyi got up to open the door.

When the door opened, Dandan ran into the room while crying: “Daddy, daddy!”

“What’s wrong?” Wu Ruo picked Dandan up, his heart aching, he took off Dandan’s little shoes, seating Dandan on his own legs, and he covered Dandan with blankets.

Hei Xin, who had followed from behind, said: “Little Young Master had a nightmare, he made a fuss about wanting to sleep with Madam. Right now, it’s not even yinshi, this old one won’t stay here to bother Madam and Master’s rest.”

Hei Xuanyi closed the room’s door and sat back onto the bed.

Wu Ruo saw that his child was sobbing so miserably, so he asked out of curiosity: “Dandan, what did you dream of?”

“I d-dreamt that Daddy b-became a gui and disappeared.” Dandan cried and hiccuped as he spoke.

Wu Ruo: “!!!”

His child had actually had the same dream as he had…

Hei Xuanyi saw that his child was sobbing so miserably, and frowned slightly: “Just a dream.”

“It’s not just a dream!” One adult and one child both said in unison.

Hei Xuanyi: “…”

Wu Ruo knitted his eyebrows together.

But if it wasn’t just a dream, then what could it be?

Wu Ruo couldn’t understand it himself, so he could only change his tune and comfort Dandan: “It was only just a dream, look at me, aren’t I well and fine here right now?”

Dandan had been frightened by his dream, when he thought of his daddy disappearing, he was extremely anguished, he held onto Wu Ruo and couldn’t stop crying, only after the duration of a joss stick did his cries gradually lessen, and he slowly fell asleep.

Wu Ruo cautiously tucked his child inside the blankets, then laid sideways next to him, gently patting his child on the back, allowing Dandan to sleep a little more securely.

The man behind him leaned closer, hugging him around his waist.

Wu Ruo looked at Dandan, who had tears in his eyelashes, and laughed softly: “We haven’t slept together with our child before.”

It felt quite new and fresh, with his child lying in his arms, and his husband hugging him from behind. Properly sleeping together as a family was something that he had never thought of before in his previous lifetime.

“Hn.” Hei Xuanyi kissed Wu Ruo’s neck.

Wu Ruo closed his eyes, feeling at ease.

After Dandan woke up, it was as if he had forgotten about last night’s dream, and was back to being a little simple-minded rascal. The moment he woke up, he kicked a fuss about wanting to look for Xixi and Jiujiu to play.

Wu Ruo was dragged by Hei Xuanyi to the gardens to practice the most basic stance.⁶This is referring to that position martial artists stand in with their legs shoulder width apart, their hands by their waist and they’re doing a squat..

Hei Xuanyi corrected Wu Ruo’s pose as he said sternly: “From today, wake up at yinshi, practice this stance for two shichen. Swordsmanship classes after breakfast⁷Again, I hope this doesn’t come off as Hei Xuanyi not knowing how to speak. He literally just always uses the least words to convey his messages..”

“Alright.” Wu Ruo couldn’t wait for Hei Xuanyi to train him to death⁸Not a typo. Wu Ruo really does want Hei Xuanyi to train him even more harshly., but, considering the current state of his body, it wouldn’t be able to tolerate it yet. Not even half an hour later, his legs were already trembling uncontrollably.

Hei Xuanyi wasn’t the least bit soft-hearted. He lit two large joss sticks⁹The regular sized joss stick that’s commonly referred to lasts about 15 minutes. A large joss stick can last for several hours, depending on its size and the materials it’s made with. I’ve seen large joss sticks that last for 6-8 hours. underneath Wu Ruo’s body. If Wu Ruo faltered even in the slightest, his butt would be scalded by the joss sticks.

Wu Ruo gritted his teeth and forced his trembling legs to steady themselves.

Hei Xuanyi raised an eyebrow, seeing that Wu Ruo could endure quite well, abruptly, he reached out and tickled Wu Ruo’s sides.

Wu Ruo was ticklish, so his legs trembled dramatically and he couldn’t maintain his position anymore. His butt dipped downward and in that moment, it touched the joss sticks beneath his body. He let out a loud shout at the surprising scald and he jumped up violently. After that, he hurriedly resumed his stance.

Wu Ruo angrily glared at him: “Hei. Xuan. Yi.”

The corners of Hei Xuanyi’s mouth curled up, he lifted his jian and in the empty space in front of Wu Ruo, he started practicing sets of jian forms¹⁰Some of you might understand better if I say he’s doing sword katas. It’s a set of positions and movements that are repeatedly practiced by martial artists, usually by themselves and not with other people, to improve their art. In Chinese, it’s referred to as a ‘dance’. I refrained from using the word kata because it’s Japanese in origin and this is a Chinese webnovel after all..

Wu Ruo’s gaze unconsciously followed the movement of Hei Xuanyi’s silhouette. The silver jian was like a white snake spitting out its tongue, hissing as it tore through the wind, yet it was also like a winding dragon twisting back and forth. As it walked through the four bodies¹¹四身 (si shen): According to Baidu and a quick search in English, it refers to the concept of the ‘four bodies’ in Buddhism. However, there were more mentions of the ‘three bodies’ in English and the Chinese terms were very confusing to me. In short, it seems to refer to the ‘physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional’ bodies., at times, it was light as a sparrow, rising with every stab. At times, it gathered like lightning, scattering the falling leaves. At times, it was an irresistible force, strong enough to break through bamboo, icy, stern and threatening, every move birthed a breeze, its momentum like a rainbow. As Wu Ruo watched, he couldn’t bear to turn his gaze away, he’d already forgotten that he was practicing a stance.

When Hei Xuanyi sheathed his jian, it was right at the two shichen mark. He turned his body and picked Wu Ruo up, returning to their room to change Wu Ruo out of the pants that had a hole burnt into them by the joss sticks.

Wu Ruo said, shocked: “It’s already been two shichen?”

Just now, when he was watching someone else practice jian forms, he’d forgotten all about the time. Now that he’d come back to his senses, his legs felt as if they weren’t his anymore, they ached and hurt, it was so painful that he felt like dying.

For the next four days, every time he finished his basic stance, he almost couldn’t get off of the bed. Going from his own rooms to the main hall outside for a meal, he was practically dragging his own legs.

Hei Xuanyi didn’t allow him to apply any medicine, wanting him to slowly acclimatize to the muscle memory of holding the basic stance.

On the fifth day, Wu Ruo’s legs finally felt a lot better, however, someone else wasn’t feeling as good.

Wu Bofang had ordered the residents of the Wu estate to source for houses and move out within five days, and the mindsets of the Eastern, Western and Northern main estates were all like that of Wu Xuanran. After moving out of the Wu estate, everyone from each respective main estate would still live together, so that they could look out for each other.

However, no one knew what had happened but it was as if every big residence in Gaoling City had already made arrangements beforehand. A short while earlier, they had all already been rented out, and it would take a year before they would be emptied. Alas, how could the people from the Wu estate wait for a year? So, they could only look for other smaller residences, but the remaining empty residences could only house one household of people. At most, they could only fit five to six people, as for the building to house their servants, they could only look for it separately. On top of that, a huge distance separated every empty residence, in the event that anything happened, even if the bodyguards wanted to rush over, they wouldn’t be able to make it in time. It was simply driving everyone crazy with anxiety.

At last, after discussions, everyone still could only live apart from each other.

When Wu Ruo heard this news, he snorted coldly. After he had received the letter sent from the imperial city, he had rented all of the large residences. So, it was basically impossible for the people of the Wu estate who wanted to look out for each other to do so. He also wouldn’t let them spend their days peacefully.

On the night that the people from the Wu estates would be moving into their new houses, Wu Ruo got Hei Gan to arrange for people to harass those from the Wu estate who were moving. On top of that, they were continuously harassed for five to six days, causing those from the Wu estate to be very panicked. Everyone from each main estate couldn’t help but be forced to squeeze into a cramped and tiny small residence¹²If it wasn’t clear, it’s not that every single person from the Wu estate squeezed into one house. It means that every main estate squeezed into one house, so the Eastern main estate is in one house, the Western main estate is in one house, etc. It’s still forcing a lot of people to overcrowd one house though, I think there’s over 20 people alone in the Southern main estate, excluding the Shuqing Garden residents., with a huge group of bodyguards watching over them.

After Wu Ruo had obtained his objective, he didn’t bother with them anymore. After all, with more people, the more unnecessary issues would crop up. He would let them duke it out among themselves, while he focused on learning the jian from Hei Xuanyi, and afterwards, in the afternoons, he would bring Dandan to visit his dad and mum.

Sometimes, when he arrived at Qing Manor, Wu Qianqing would be in the midst of teaching Wu Xi magic. Wu Ruo would let Dandan learn alongside them, and he would wait by the side, watching them, with Guan Tong.

Guan Tong smiled gently as she watched Dandan: “Dandan is really clever, he picks things up with one go.”

“Mum, don’t you know whose son he is?” Wu Ruo smiled proudly, following that, his gaze fixed itself on Guan Tong: “Mum, you really can’t recover your spiritual energy anymore?”

As he spoke, he held onto Guan Tong’s hand. He took the opportunity to check her pulse, and even discreetly injected spiritual energy into Guan Tong’s body. As a result, he discovered that Guan Tong’s spiritual field was perfect and undamaged, which was to say that his mum’s body still had spiritual energy.

A flash of disbelief crossed Wu Ruo’s gaze.

However, why couldn’t he sense his mum’s spiritual energy?

Guan Tong was stunned, then she smiled bitterly and shook her head no: “It’s already been so many years, I’m already used to being a common person.”

“Mum, have you ever thought about it? A common person’s lifespan is shorter than that of a magic practitioner, they also age much quicker than magic practitioners. Don’t tell me you don’t want to grow old together with Dad?”

Guan Tong smiled as she patted the back of his hand, assuring him: “You don’t have to worry about this, I will live well. If you look at my appearances, you should know that I’m the same as magic practitioners, I won’t age so easily like common people do.”

“But…”

Guan Tong cut him off: “Xiao-Ruo, I know you mean well, that you don’t want your grandfather and grandmother to look down on me, but, I really cannot use magic anymore.”

Wu Ruo frowned: “We’ve already left the Wu family, I couldn’t care less about how grandfather and grandmother view you. I’m just worried about your safety, if you had spiritual energy and could use magic, then you would have the ability to protect yourself, and I wouldn’t be so afraid of you getting bullied either.”

When he thought about his previous lifetime, when his mum couldn’t even fight off the bodyguards by Ruan Zhizheng’s side, and in the end, was even…

Guan Tong smiled and said: “With your dad, who would dare to bully me?”

“No one knows for sure when it comes to these matters.” Wu Ruo tightened his fist, his expression darkening: “Mum, I won’t hide from you either. I just secretly injected some spiritual energy within your body and discovered that your spiritual field is in perfect condition, which means your spiritual energy and cultivation is still there.”

If this was the case, in his previous lifetime, why would his mum rather be sexually assaulted than to use spiritual energy to resist?

Guan Tong was struck dumb, then she sighed: “You’re not wrong. My spiritual energy and cultivation is still there, but my body has been sealed internally. There’s basically no way to use magic. Your father also knows about this matter. As for everything else, don’t ask anymore.”

Wu Ruo hastily asked: “Is there really no way to break the seal?”

Guan Tong looked into the distance and murmured: “A seal set by that person, no one can break it.”

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• 1
  I’m making this assumption because this chapter explicitly says ‘a man liking another man’. Due to China’s crack down on queer content, in 2022, a lot of media has been affected.
• 2
  娶 (qu): quick note here that the word used is for when men marry a woman into their own families.
• 3
  惊世骇俗 (jing shi hai su): more literally translates as ‘shocking the world and offending society’. It seems like Hei Xuanyi and Wu Ruo are pioneers of gay marriage in the story setting.
• 4
  夫夫 (fu fu): this phrase is actually 夫妇 (fu fu) where it translates to something along of the lines of ‘a man and his madam’, or simply put ‘a couple’. The second fu here is the same fu in the term ‘married woman’. In this case, it has been changed to two of the fu that refer to men. I have left it translated as ‘couple’ because that’s essentially what JYB is trying to convey here.
• 5
  寅时 (yin shi): 3am to 4:59am.
• 6
  This is referring to that position martial artists stand in with their legs shoulder width apart, their hands by their waist and they’re doing a squat.
• 7
  Again, I hope this doesn’t come off as Hei Xuanyi not knowing how to speak. He literally just always uses the least words to convey his messages.
• 8
  Not a typo. Wu Ruo really does want Hei Xuanyi to train him even more harshly.
• 9
  The regular sized joss stick that’s commonly referred to lasts about 15 minutes. A large joss stick can last for several hours, depending on its size and the materials it’s made with. I’ve seen large joss sticks that last for 6-8 hours.
• 10
  Some of you might understand better if I say he’s doing sword katas. It’s a set of positions and movements that are repeatedly practiced by martial artists, usually by themselves and not with other people, to improve their art. In Chinese, it’s referred to as a ‘dance’. I refrained from using the word kata because it’s Japanese in origin and this is a Chinese webnovel after all.
• 11
  四身 (si shen): According to Baidu and a quick search in English, it refers to the concept of the ‘four bodies’ in Buddhism. However, there were more mentions of the ‘three bodies’ in English and the Chinese terms were very confusing to me. In short, it seems to refer to the ‘physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional’ bodies.
• 12
  If it wasn’t clear, it’s not that every single person from the Wu estate squeezed into one house. It means that every main estate squeezed into one house, so the Eastern main estate is in one house, the Western main estate is in one house, etc. It’s still forcing a lot of people to overcrowd one house though, I think there’s over 20 people alone in the Southern main estate, excluding the Shuqing Garden residents.