LWSL Chapter 98

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

Special thanks, also, to biki, Rina and Tulah for the tips on ko-fi!

Wu Ruo asked twice more, however, his mum still wasn’t willing to say anything. He recalled that his mum had once sworn a cursed oath, so he didn’t dare to continue pressing any further. If she accidentally violated the terms of the cursed oath, the consequences could be very severe.

He turned his attention over onto his dad, taking the chance when his mum went to the kitchen for pastries, he immediately let Wu Xi and Dandan study on their own, pulling Wu Qianqing aside to speak.

“Dad, do you know about Mum’s spiritual energy being sealed?”

When Wu Qianqing, who originally had a gentle smile on his face, heard these words, in an instance, his expression became abnormally stern: “Why do you suddenly ask about this?”

Wu Ruo pretended like he was only casually asking: “Mum mentioned it herself just now, but she just wouldn’t tell me how it can be unsealed.”

Wu Qianqing frowned: “Why does it need to be unsealed, aren’t things good just as they are?”

Wu Ruo was about to speak again when booming noises came from outside.

Wu Qianqing sighed: “The residents of the four Wu main estates are fighting again.”

Ever since the Wu estate’s residents moved out, other than not going out, the people of the four main estates would fight to a deathly standstill if they ever met each other when they did go outdoors. The common folk of Gaoling City were suffering miserably in silence. Now, there was no longer any way to return to the peace and calm of the past, and there was no one upholding the safety of Gaoling City. Even if Wu Bofang had the heart to manage these matters, he wasn’t capable doing it, so he left them to their devices.

Wu Ruo closed his eyes, hiding the cold apathy in his eyes: “Dad, since we’ve already moved out of the Wu estate, then we shouldn’t bother with their matters.”

His dad could only see the surface matters, that the four main estates were mutually fighting every day, yet he didn’t know that every main estate was also having vicious internal conflicts in private as well. Ever since Wu Ruo sent Hei Gan to harass the people of the four main estates, for the sake of staying together, everyone forked out silver to buy the houses nearby. Following that, the problems arose.

Although everyone could look out for each other, but no one got along with anyone else. Just like the situation with the Southern main estate. After moving out, Wu Xuanran was the most senior in the family. Naturally, he should’ve been the head of the family, but what could be done about his mediocre talents? Superficially, his children and descendants seemed to listen to him, but privately, they simply couldn’t tolerate him.

Afterwards, the issue of the brothers fighting for power cropped up. According to reason, it originally should’ve fallen to Wu Qianjing who was the oldest to be the decision maker but Wu Qianbin felt that his capabilities were stronger than his older brother in every aspect, and it should be survival of the fittest, and only in this way could they strengthen the Southern main estate. However, as the older brother, Wu Qianjing didn’t agree, so they gradually faced more and more conflicts.

Wu Xuanran wasn’t having a good time either. Ever since moving out, none of them would listen to him. His days were constantly filled with petty annoyances. On top of that, it was often said that three women made a good show, let alone the Southern main estate had more than just three women¹三个女人一台戏 (san ge nv ren yi tai xi) is a saying in Chinese that means when three women gather together, there will be a lot to say and discuss and a lot of drama happens, which makes for a good show. Basically, if you put many women together, they will gossip a lot and create a lot of drama.. Whenever the women of the Southern main estate gathered, there would be plenty of quarrels. Everyone secretly criticized the other party’s flaws, and as they kept criticizing, they were even found out by said other party. Therefore, the longer this went on, it created massive misunderstandings. Every day went by in a noisy ruckus, but they were also afraid of dying so they didn’t dare to separate from the family and move out. That was how they ended up spending their days squabbling and fighting, filled with scars every day. Everyone from the old to the young were constantly injured, such that they couldn’t go out to take on jobs to earn money even if they wanted to.

According to this development, sooner or later, it would cost someone their life²迟早会闹出人命 (chi zao hui nao chu ren ming): this is the phrase used in the title. I have shortened it in the title, but this is the most accurate translation I could think of..

Wu Ruo saw that Wu Qianqing’s thoughts and attention had already flown out of the residence³He means metaphorically. WQQ is so concerned with the matters of the Wu family, worrying and thinking about it, that he’s not even paying attention to what’s in front of him., so he brought Dandan back home to Hei Manor with him.

Currently, the main hall was still under reconstruction, so Wu Ruo headed straight back to his own rooms.

Hei Xuanyi and Hei Xuantang were sitting in the main room, and the expressions of both brothers were grave.

Wu Ruo had never seen them in such a state before: “What’s wrong with both of you? Why do both of you look so severe? Did something happen?”

Hei Xuantang glanced at Hei Xuanyi as he said: “Dasao, we just received news from our clan. When I left our clan, our sworn enemy who has always gone against us took the opportunity to sneak out from the clan, their motive is probably to attack us.”

“Sworn enemy?”

Wu Ruo couldn’t help but think back on his previous lifetime, had Hei Xuanyi’s enemies ever appeared before?

In Wu Ruo’s memories, other than going back to his clan to spend the New Year’s, on the average day, Hei Xuanyi had been just like an idler and very rarely left Hei Manor. On top of that, Hei Xin and Hei Gan always looked at him and Hei Xuanyi with worried expressions. Every time they saw that the relationship of the married couple was worse than that of strangers, they wouldn’t be able to help but shake their heads and sigh.

However, during the few days before he’d died, Hei Xuanyi had suddenly become extremely busy. Every day, he would leave early and return late. When he returned, his body would either be covered in dust or his yipao would be torn to shreds. Could it be that his enemy had shown up during that period of time?

So, it was because Hei Xuanyi had been hindered by someone else, that’s why he had been late to save Wu Ruo? In addition, in this lifetime, because Wu Ruo had been reborn and changed many things, it had caused this enemy to appear sooner?

Hei Xuantang showed a rare stern expression: “Yes, it’s someone that our sworn enemy sent out. As for who they sent, we really don’t know either. Dasao, in future, whenever you go out, you must be more careful. You should also warn your family⁴Hei Xuantang actually uses the phrase 亲家那边 (qin jia na bian). Qin jia refers to one’s in-laws, and na bian means ‘that side’. It’s actually very specific, but again, English doesn’t seem to have the vernacular for this (not that I know of), so I leave this footnote instead. as well.”

Wu Ruo nodded and asked: “Is the other party very formidable?”

“Anyone sent to come after my dage definitely won’t be just any ordinary person.”

Wu Ruo frowned. Before, he was already worried about his mum coming to harm if she didn’t recover her spiritual energy. Now that Hei Xuanyi’s enemies had shown up, then it was even more important to undo the seal on his mum.

“Let me ask both of you something. If someone’s spiritual energy and cultivation has been sealed, what should be done to undo the seal?”

Hei Xuantang asked curiously: “Dasao, who are you referring to?”

Wu Ruo didn’t reply to him.

Hei Xuanyi narrowed his eyes: “Depends on the seal. If like you, it’s been sealed inside a longevity plaque, then it must be destroyed to undo the seal.”

Wu Ruo felt that his mum wasn’t quite like him, because after he’d been sealed, it prevented anyone from detecting that he’d even had a spiritual field, so the people from the Wu family had always assumed he was a commoner. However, when he’d sent a thread of spiritual energy through his mum’s body just now, he could still see that her spiritual energy was perfect and whole.

“What about other types of seals?”

Hei Xuantang butted in: “The other type of seal requires the individual to have higher spiritual energy and cultivation than the one they wish to seal. To undo the seal, you need to find someone whose spiritual energy and cultivation is stronger than the person who created the seal.”

When Wu Ruo heard this, he was immediately sure that his mum was under the seal that Hei Xuantang described because, just now, when he heard his mum saying ‘a seal set by that person, no one can break it’, it meant that the person who had sealed his mum had extremely high spiritual energy and cultivation.

He couldn’t help but look at Hei Xuanyi: “How high is your spiritual energy and cultivation?”

Hei Xuantang answered with a look of pride: “My brother is extremely powerful…”

After that, he seemed to have thought of something and immediately asked: “Dasao, by asking this, you don’t mean to ask my dage to help undo a seal, do you? That’s impossible.”

Wu Ruo asked curiously: “Why not?”

“The spiritual energy of our clanspeople clashes with yours. We can’t undo seals, it will only harm the person.”

Wu Ruo: “…”

He was aware that Hei Xuanyi’s spiritual energy was quite pathogenic⁵邪气 (xie qi): this is often translated as ‘evil’ or ‘dark’. I have probably translated it as such in earlier chapters, but according to TCM, xie qi refers to the opposite of 正气 (zheng qi) which is the ‘proper’ chi that should be cycling through your body.

I have chosen to translate it as ‘pathogenic’ here because their spiritual energies are simply incompatible, rather than Hei Xuanyi being ‘evil’ or ‘dark’. As with choosing to use the pinyin for yao, mo, and other Chinese fantasy races rather than demon, ghost, etc., I’m trying to make translation choices that will share this story with you through a Chinese lens, or as much of a Chinese one as I can convey while being Chinese diaspora., and indeed clashed with the spiritual energy of those from Tianxing.

Hei Xuanyi asked: “Whose seal do you want to undo?”

Wu Ruo hesitated for a moment before saying: “It’s my mum’s.”

Hei Xuantang rapidly looked at his dage, and his gaze was filled with a few more degrees of significant overtones. However, Wu Ruo’s attention was all on his mum, he didn’t notice the exchange of eye contact between the two brothers.

At this moment, Shi Jiu entered: “Madam, Young Master Ruan would like to see you.”

Wu Ruo didn’t react: “Young Master Yuan⁶Not a typo. Wu Ruo actually mishears the name Shi Jiu reports to him.? Who?”

“Young Master Ruan Zhizheng.”

Wu Ruo’s expression immediately darkened.

This person was finally willing to come out.

Hei Xuanyi and Hei Xuantang immediately noticed that the atmosphere had dipped.

Hei Xuantang said: “If dasao has a guest, then I won’t hang around here to disturb you. I’ll go look for Hei Gan and have a spin around outside, I’m about to start growing mold from hanging around inside the manor every day.”

He stretched his lazy back and left the main room.

Hei Xuanyi said: “If you don’t want to, then don’t⁷The original Chinese is closer along the lines of ‘If don’t want to meet, then don’t meet’ which is Hei Xuanyi’s usual signature concise way of speech, but it doesn’t quite translate as concise in English. I have modified the meaning of the sentence to hopefully capture the nuance and Hei Xuanyi’s style of speech..”

Wu Ruo snorted coldly: “Even if I don’t want to meet this person, I still have to meet him.”

When Shi Jiu heard these words, he turned around to go usher Ruan Zhizheng into the manor.

When Ruan Zhizheng, Ruan Ying, and Ruan Sheng entered Hei Manor, they were discomfited by the gloomy and heavy atmosphere of the manor, especially when they saw the slow and sluggish movements of the corpse servants⁸If this sounds silly, remember that most people wouldn’t assume that Hei Manor is staffed by corpse servants and would be expecting living, breathing human servants. who looked like moving corpses walking about. In an instance, their goosebumps all stood up, and they didn’t dare to continue looking around.

Ruan Sheng rubbed his arms: “Young master, don’t you feel like this place is a little eerie?”

Ruan Ying piped up: “This Hei Manor really is quite strange.”

Ruan Zhizheng didn’t speak, trying his best to appear steady and calm, he didn’t want the servants of Hei Manor to look down on him and think that he was a cowardly person.

Entering the residential quarters, Shi Jiu looked toward the building ahead and said: “Madam’s residences are right ahead.”

The three of them immediately sighed a breath of relief and walked over with increased speed. Following that, they saw a young master with the most beautiful appearance, dressed in splendid clothes, walking out of the main room, directing a smile that was like cherry blossoms blooming towards them, welcoming them: “Zhizheng, you’re finally willing to come and meet me.”

When Ruan Zhizheng, Ruan Sheng and Ruan Ying heard the familiar voice, they stared with wide eyes in disbelief: “X-Xiao-Ruo!?”

Although Ruan Zhizheng had heard of Wu Ruo slimming down, and he’d also heard of Wu Ruo becoming very good-looking after slimming down, he’d never thought that it would be to such a shocking degree.

“Young Master Ruo? You’re Young Master Ruo?” Ruan Sheng looked at Wu Ruo with a face full of astonishment at his beauty. Heavens, Young Master Ruo was really, really so good-looking. He was even more beautiful than the top courtesan at brothels, especially when he smiled, it felt as though Ruan Sheng’s soul was about to be snatched⁹A common myth around beautiful women is that they’re soul snatching evil creatures, since they apparently make men lose all their senses..

Wu Ruo smiled lightly: “Why does everyone look like they don’t recognize me? Did I change a lot?”

After a good long while, Ruan Zhizheng finally came back to his senses: “Hn, the change is extremely big. If I didn’t recognize your voice, I really wouldn’t dare to acknowledge that it’s you.”

A brief flash of jealousy crossed his smiling eyes.

In the future, when the two of them stood together, everyone’s gazes wouldn’t fall onto him anymore. Luckily, Wu Ruo didn’t have spiritual energy, otherwise, this person would’ve stolen away all the attention.

“If it weren’t for you refusing to come meet me, would you end up not being able to recognize me?”

Ruan Sheng said: “Even if we came to see Young Master Ruo every day, we still wouldn’t be able to recognize you all the same. Young Master Ruo, your change is simply too great. You look really great after slimming down, you’re so pretty and charming that we all couldn’t recognize you.”

Wu Ruo smiled and said: “Look at your sweet mouth. The two of you can take a walk around by yourselves. I haven’t met Zhizheng in such a long time, I want to have a good long chat with him.”

If this were in the past, Ruan Ying and Ruan Sheng would’ve immediately run to the kitchens to look for food, but Hei Manor was filled with strange servants all over, so they didn’t dare to walk around as they wished and simply stood guard nearby.

Ruan Zhizheng kept staring at Wu Ruo without a word.

Wu Ruo kept a smile on his face and let Ruan Zhizheng stare as he liked, at the same time, he was also monitoring Ruan Zhizheng’s every little expression.

In his previous lifetime, Ruan Zhizheng had also stared at him like that without a word. At that time, he had only felt joy at Ruan Zhizheng coming to hang out with him, yet Wu Ruo hadn’t noticed the coldness in the depths of his eyes.

• 1
  三个女人一台戏 (san ge nv ren yi tai xi) is a saying in Chinese that means when three women gather together, there will be a lot to say and discuss and a lot of drama happens, which makes for a good show. Basically, if you put many women together, they will gossip a lot and create a lot of drama.
• 2
  迟早会闹出人命 (chi zao hui nao chu ren ming): this is the phrase used in the title. I have shortened it in the title, but this is the most accurate translation I could think of.
• 3
  He means metaphorically. WQQ is so concerned with the matters of the Wu family, worrying and thinking about it, that he’s not even paying attention to what’s in front of him.
• 4
  Hei Xuantang actually uses the phrase 亲家那边 (qin jia na bian). Qin jia refers to one’s in-laws, and na bian means ‘that side’. It’s actually very specific, but again, English doesn’t seem to have the vernacular for this (not that I know of), so I leave this footnote instead.
• 5
  邪气 (xie qi): this is often translated as ‘evil’ or ‘dark’. I have probably translated it as such in earlier chapters, but according to TCM, xie qi refers to the opposite of 正气 (zheng qi) which is the ‘proper’ chi that should be cycling through your body.
  
  I have chosen to translate it as ‘pathogenic’ here because their spiritual energies are simply incompatible, rather than Hei Xuanyi being ‘evil’ or ‘dark’. As with choosing to use the pinyin for yao, mo, and other Chinese fantasy races rather than demon, ghost, etc., I’m trying to make translation choices that will share this story with you through a Chinese lens, or as much of a Chinese one as I can convey while being Chinese diaspora.
• 6
  Not a typo. Wu Ruo actually mishears the name Shi Jiu reports to him.
• 7
  The original Chinese is closer along the lines of ‘If don’t want to meet, then don’t meet’ which is Hei Xuanyi’s usual signature concise way of speech, but it doesn’t quite translate as concise in English. I have modified the meaning of the sentence to hopefully capture the nuance and Hei Xuanyi’s style of speech.
• 8
  If this sounds silly, remember that most people wouldn’t assume that Hei Manor is staffed by corpse servants and would be expecting living, breathing human servants.
• 9
  A common myth around beautiful women is that they’re soul snatching evil creatures, since they apparently make men lose all their senses.