Sword Snow Stride Book 1 Chapter 16

Book 1 – White Horse Out of Liangzhou
Chapter 16 – The Best, Really Good

Sitting on his steed, Xu Fengnian saw the sneaky familiar figure hiding at the corner of Yu Qing Gong, sticking his head out. As soon as the man saw Shizi Dianxia, he shrank back. Xu Fengnian raised his whip and shouted angrily, “Bull rider! If you keep hiding, Laozi will lead my men to stamp Tai Qing Gong flat, and throw you, along the Gui Tuo Bei off the Xiao Lian Hua Feng!” [See last chapter for all these names.] _{Translated by foxs}

The young Taoist priest, whom for the last hundred years Wudang Mountain placed their greatest hope on, appeared timidly in everybody’s field of view. He stopped a long way away from the Northern Liang Armored Cavalry, bowed in respect and said with a spring breeze on his face, “Xiao Dao [little Taoist] pays his respect to Shizi Dianxia.”

This Shishuzu saluted Xu Fengnian politely, but all along his eyes were on the white-haired and black-robed Lao Kui. Wudang Mountain was known as the place where half of the world’s inner power was out of the jade pillar [produced]. Other than Wudang swordsmanship was extremely rich and its fame resounding, they paid attention to the cultivation of inner power even more, so they were the paragon of inner and outer, double cultivations.

On the Big Lotus Peak, the Taoist priest had met many Shixiong [martial (older) brothers] of the same generation, he has had a taste of what it was like to have inner power that has reached the state of transformation. The old man in front of him had a strange way of wielding the saber, obviously he was also like that, the flow of his qi was endless; as soon as he saw him, his assessment was spot on.

The Wudang Mountain Shishuzu, who has not yet reached the age of thirty, subconsciously took two steps back, as he cast a you know, I know, but the heaven and earth did not know – look toward Shizi Dianxia, who had enough momentum to stamp Wudang Mountain flat. Xu Fengnian cast another look in return, the Shishuzu returned the look again; this happened repeatedly, so that the onlookers were confused as to what kind of medicine the two of them were selling in their gourds.

In the end, in the eyes of the Taoist priests of Yu Qing Gong, there was no doubt that their Shishuzu was victorious. He was definitely a svelte grandmaster respected for learning and integrity who could conquer the enemy without fighting. Everyone saw that their Shishuzu turned around and walked forward with confidence and at ease, from head to toe was filled with endless coming-out-of-the-dust air, while the Shizi Dianxia with repulsive countenance was merely following up the stairs to Wudang Mountain with the white-haired old man in tow. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

The Taoist priests who offered a libation were as if they were relieved from a burden. Shishuzu was indeed a Shishuzu, without saying a word, he reached a compromise with the white silk pants surnamed Xu. Only the Taoist priests did not know that the three men were heading toward a secluded place.

The Shishuzu, whose position in their minds was second only to their Zhangjiao, the immortal who with one finger cut off the Canglan River – was beaten and kicked by Xu Fengnian, who rolled up his sleeves, for the entire time needed to burn an incense stick. Only Shishuzu’s pleading voice was heard, “Beating people don’t beat the face, kicking people don’t kick the bird [penis].”

Finished beating, he stopped, doing that circulating the qi over the dantian [pubic region/point two inches below the navel where one’s qi resides] thing. Xu Fengnian finally felt full of vitality. Throwing down a forbidden erotic book, he swaggered off, but instead of going down the mountain, he took Lao Kui away and jumped to the limestone-paved path as twisty as sheep’s intestine that was carved into the overhanging cliff, and climbed to the Jing Le Gong [clean cheery temple] hanging on the cliff. _{Translated by foxs}

The most extraordinary thing of this temple hall was an altar for praying for rain built on the overhanging cliff, imitating the seven stars of the Big Dipper [constellation]. According to Taoist ancient records, Ziyun Zhenren [lit. violet cloud, zhenren (real person) is Taoist spiritual master] of Wudang Mountain once soared to the rose-tinted sky [at sunrise or sunset] from here. Usually the Jing Le Gong was not open to the public, some literati and elegant scholars seeking the hidden away and exploring the out-of-the-way could only return without any achievement outside the temple, but being entrusted with Da Zhu Guo Ol’ Dad’s good fortune, Xu Fengnian was able to bring Lao Kui strutting toward the Seven-Star Altar.

The mountain wind was intense, cold and raw. Lao Kui was sitting cross-legged, the sleeves of his robe rustling, he squinted his eyes, looking at the distant peaks and sea of clouds. The light-footed Xu Fengnian stood behind the saber-wielding Lao Kui, only then did he manage to stand steadily. But he could hardly open his eyes and had to sit down, hiding behind Lao Kui’s figure.

Even shouting required some effort; Xu Fengnian said, “Lao Yeye, how is that little Taoist priest’s skill?” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Lao Kui seemed to be a bit puzzled, he said, “His martial art skill is actually so-so, he seems to be of the same way as you, a cheeky goods, too bad his Die and Niang gave him a top-notch set of bones. As for his Taoist method, there is no way to test it. I don’t know, it can’t be too lacking bad I suppose, but it can’t be too good either. Most of the difficult things in the world can’t be escaped by the like of rowing a boat upstream, if you stop moving forward you fall back [idiom] – approach. Unwilling to bear hardship, how could one become a person who is worthy of respect? The strange thing is, how did Wudang Shan pick this piece of material? Could it be just like the jungle of descendants in Chanzong [Zen Buddhism]? I don’t get it.”

Xu Fengnian was even more puzzled, he asked, “This Taoist method and mysterious technique, can they become rice to eat? Or it can kill people?”

Lao Kui pondered for a moment, he laughed and said, “Kid [in this instance, it’s xiaozi, not baby (wawa)], you asked the wrong person.”

“It can’t kill people.”

The young Taoist priest of the same generation as the Zhangjiao of Wudang Mountain had his hands inside his sleeves, he stood at the edge of the altar, but refused to step on the seven stars, he laughed as an answer. Looking at his figure, he was not like Lao Kui who was as motionless as a mountain, nor was he like Xu Fengnian who staggered in a sorry state, he was simply swaying with the wind. Swaying back and forth like a pendulum, the angle was neither too big nor too small, just when the wind moved, I moved, unexpectedly there was some mysterious overtone of the unity of heaven and man.

Xu Fengnian’s eyes were clumsy, he could not see the doorway, he merely turned around and fixed his gaze at the bull-riding Taoist priest who in the past made his Jiejie regret for leaving Beiliang. He asked in gloomy and heavy voice, “Hong Xixiang, why are you not willing to go down the mountain and walk past that Xuanwu Dangxing memorial archway?!” _{Translated by foxs}

The youngest Zushiye [master founder/ancestor] in the thousand-year history of Wudang Daojiao [Tao religion] grinned, without any shame expression on his face, he said, “At the age of five I went up the mountain. At the age of eight I studied a little bit on how to do divination [combination of mystical Confucian philosophy]. Shifu bade me – once a day a small divination reading, once a month a medium divination reading, once a year a big divination reading, to figure out when is the right time to go down the mountain, and when it is necessary to go into seclusion up the mountain, since then not a single day have I not needed to go into seclusion.”

How could Xu Fengnian take it seriously? He sneered and said, “Reportedly, before your Shifu was about to advance to the special gate [one foot in the grave], he specially gave the rule just for you that if you don’t become the number one in the world, you can’t go down the mountain? Then it seems that you don’t need to go down the mountain in this life.”

The Taoist priest with an out-of-the-dust name still had his hands inside his sleeves, eight winds could not move him. He chuckled and said, “The number one in the world part is not fake; in eating the most and reading the most, and many other things, must be the number one. Shifu did not say number one in martial art. There will come a day when I come down from the mountain.”

Xu Fengnian struggled to stand up, he looked towards Jiangnan, and spoke softly, “But at that time, everyone would be old. When we meet again, white hair will meet white hair, what good would that bring?”

Hong Xixiang closed his eyes, he said nothing. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Xu Fengnian breathed out slowly, he snorted coldly, and walked away from the altar. When he brushed past the Taoist priest, he halted his step slightly and asked, “What do you think of my Jie?”

The Taoist priest who has been inside the colored glass world holding Huang Ting [the only reference I can find is about a book written by Taoist Huang Ting], riding the bull to watch the rolling clouds leisurely since he could remember said softly, “She’s the best.”

Without any emotion showing on his face, Xu Fengnian walked out of the Jing Le Gong, followed by the intrepid blade Lao Kui looking pensive.

Zhao Xixiang [sic. It was Hong Xixiang above] waited Shizi Dianxia has gone far before squatting in an inelegant posture, supporting his cheeks with both hands, staring blankly in daze, and muttered to himself, “Red beans grow in the southern country. When spring comes, branches will appear, winter comes it withers. Yearning is better than not yearning.”

Above the Taoist priest’s head, dozens of red-crowned cranes full of spiritual energy circled and cried in the sky, making him look just like a celestial immortal.

He suddenly grabbed his belly and said with a miserable expression, “I’m hungry again.” _{Translated by foxs}

… When they went down the mountain, Lao Kui suddenly clicked his tongue and said, “Interesting, that little ox-nose Taoist priest have some real skill [acquired through religious practice].”

Xu Fengnian was not very interested, he asked perfunctorily, “Why did you say that?”

With uncertainty in his voice, Lao Kui said, “That kid [wa’er, baby] is cultivating the Supreme Way of Heaven.”

Hearing that, Xu Fengnian muttered, ‘Ah, what a dog fart,’ his head ached. Frowning, he said, “Mysterious thing has mysterious emptiness and things that is empty will have people going up to penetrate into a bull’s horn [idiom: to waste time on an insoluble or insignificant problem]? I am afraid in the end they will only realize that they are using a bamboo basket to draw water?”

Lao Kui laughed loudly and said, “I don’t like these playthings that I can’t make any sense of it either.”

When Xu Fengnian reached the memorial arch at the foot of the mountain, he ignored the bowing and bending their knees Taoist priests who offered a libation, he raised his head and looked back at the mountain, and cursed, “What a hiding-and-not-coming-out-of-its-shell turtle!”

Seeing Shizi Dianxia, the two hundred valiant riders standing respectfully at the bottom of the steps remounted their horses. Their movements orderly and efficient, nothing superfluous at all. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Northern Liang’s armored horses were equipped with uniformly vigorous horses and bright-colored armor. Moreover, every year they were taken by Da Zhu Guo to the border for actual combat training. In addition, the character of Liang territory people was strong and fierce, many girls were good at equestrian archery. This was their most original superiority.

For example, Xu Fengnian’s Jiejie Xu Zhihu was skilled in riding and shooting since she was a child, his Er Jie Xu Weixiong need not be mentioned even more. Not only her equestrian skills outstanding, her swordsmanship was also first-class. She could move better than apes and monkeys, she had the good reputation of being like an antelope with big antlers. At the age of thirteen she picked up a sword to kill a man, to this day, the sword in her hand has cut off nearly a hundred heads. Liang people were warlike, it has been like that since ancient times, therefore, in the eyes of experts, the Northern Liang armored horses far surpassed the troops and horses under Yan La Wang and Jiao Dong Wang [lit. slashing swallow king and gluing-the-east king, respectively] in term of battle power, fully deserving, without any reservations hundred-battles-male-lion reputation.

Lao Kui waited until Xu Fengnian mounted his horse, he laughed and said, “Kid, I’m not coming back to the Wangfu. Without Huang Lao Jiu, it would be extremely boring.”

Xu Fengnian blinked, he persuaded, “Why don’t you wait for my capping ceremony first? If it weren’t for Lao Yeye, Fengnian would have died at the bottom of the lake early on. There is about half a year left, I will prepare more good-to-eat, good-to-drink things for Lao Yeye’s great kindness in saving my life. However much I can repay, I will repay, all right?” _{Translated by foxs}

Lao Kui thought for a moment and finally nodded in agreement.

It appeared that this mighty kui [see chapter 8] among the sabers actually did not have antipathy toward the biggest Gaoliang disciple [children of wealthy people who are used to living a hedonistic life] in Northern Liang before his eyes.

They galloped back to the king’s mansion the same way they came. They had just entered the city, goose feather snow [idiom: big heavy snow fall] came floating down from the sky for no reason, it simply rained down like crazy. Xu Fengnian shivered violently from the cold. When he arrived at the door of his house, the anxiously awaiting gatekeeper tactfully handed over a top-quality fox fur coat with both hands, cautiously and solemnly draped it over Shizi Dianxia’s shoulders, even more eagerly attentive than serving his biological parents.

Xu Fengnian kept muttering whether Lao Huang had brought enough clothes or not.

After saying goodbye to Lao Kui, he walked straight to Yu Youwei’s courtyard by himself. The beautiful woman was left alone, like a lone flower admiring itself all day long, too much waste of natural resources, not good, it was not in line with Xu Fengnian’s character of growing flowers requiring watering.

Along the way, he passed by Jiang Ni’s impoverished residence that couldn’t even be called a courtyard. He saw the thinly dressed princess of the vanquished nation half squatting down to build a snowman. The snowman was half as tall as a human. After successfully accomplishing her project, she did not look at the snowman with delight, rather, with hatred on her face, she stared blankly at the snowman, and then took out the Shen Fu, which she relied upon for survival. The dagger sliced down, it chopped off the snowman’s head. Watching this Xu Fengnian’s hair stood on its end, did this crazy yatou regard this snowman as him? _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Xu Fengnian coughed a few times and walked over. Jiang Ni was originally in a panic, but when she saw that it was Shizi Dianxia, she was relieved from a heavy burden, and slowly put away the inauspicious weapon. When Xu Fengnian came closer, he saw that her hands were very red, they were covered all over with irksome frostbites, looking very much like the poor slave girls who was bullied and humiliated by others at the public laundry. Xu Fengnian sighed, he knelt down and put the snowman’s head back again. In Jiang Ni’s eyes, naturally he appeared to be calmly putting on an attitude, a disgusting appearance.

Xu Fengnian clapped his hands and stood up before asking gently, “Do you want me to buy you some warm clothes?”

With cold face, cold voice Jiang Ni replied, “Too dirty.”

Xu Fengnian laughed aloud and said, “I just speaking without thinking the matter through. In any case, I am trying to be a good person. Whether you appreciate it or not is none of my business. I like you just the way you are. You always let me off lightly, doing business with you is the most profitable.”

Before leaving, Xu Fengnian stung the little servant girl with words, “No matter how shabbily you are dressed, don’t you still belong to me? If you have the skill, take it off, then I will consider you a nu xia [female chivalrous knight].” _{Translated by foxs}

Jiang Ni pretended to hear but not react; bickering against Xu Fengnian, a rogue and thick-skinned person, she always lost more, won less. Upon careful thought, there was not a single time where she occupied the upper hand.

In a good mood, Xu Fengnian felt even better after seeing Yu Youwei. His Niang once said that pretty girls, whether they have Bodhisattva nature or snake and scorpion’s belly and intestines, should be loved dearly a bit more. For nearly the twenty years of his life, Xu Fengnian has never done the shady business of ruthlessly destroying flowers, on the contrary, he directly or indirectly saved more than a dozen to twenty lowly-like-dust yahuan’s [maids] lives.

Yu Youwei languidly lay down in her warm-like-spring bedroom, playing with plump, with hair as white as snow Wu Meiniang. Every time it snowed, Xu Fengnian wanted to throw Wu Meiniang into the snow to see whether the cat was as innocent as the white snow or not. All along he restrained himself from this kind of wicked delight, thinking that when Yu Youwei and Wu Meiniang separated, he must give it a try.

Xu Fengnian took off his boots and lay next to Yu Youwei, leaning against her warm jade tender graceful figure. Closing his eyes to rest, he spoke softly, “Went for a trip to Wudang Shan to give a Taoist priest of the same seniority as the Zhangjiao a good beating. Don’t you think it’s formidable?”

Yu Youwei laughed lightly and said “It’s Da Zhu Guo who is the most formidable.”

Xu Fengnian opened his eyes, he turned her around and gave her peach-shaped rounded buttocks a fierce slap; he lectured “Ye [master, in master/slave relation] will personally teach you how to pat the horse’s butts!” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Yu Youwei’s pretty face blushed lightly, Xu Fengnian was about to take advantage of the victory to pursue and attack when the light voice of Lu Yi, the second-class yatou of Wutong Yuan, came from the courtyard, saying that a letter from Longhu Mountain had arrived. Xu Fengnian could not attend to take advantage of Yu Youwei, he carelessly put on his boots, ran out of the room, took the letter, and saw Lu Yi’s slender shoulders covered with snowflakes. He laughed and brushed the snowflakes away for her, and then they walked together.

Arriving at his own Wutong Yuan, this [cluster of adjacent dwellings] compound’s Dilong [terrestrial dragon] layout was most auspicious, going barefooted here was not a problem, not scalding hot, not freezing cold, even Xu Xiao’s room could not compare. Xu Fengnian enjoyed the da yatou Hong Shu’s ministration kneading his shoulders while taking out the letter. Oy, that Longhu Shan Old Taoist surnamed Zhao had a good handwriting.

He read attentively: Didi’s cultivation on Longhu Shan could be called ‘forging ahead vigorously, bold and powerful, covering a thousand li with each passing day’. This kind of overflowing-with-beauty words, to Xu Fengnian, who has heard too much official talk, even if half of the moisture content [fig. overstatement] was cut off, it was still very impressive. It may be assumed that Huang Man’er‘s visit was not in vain. At the end of the letter, he carefully mentioned that Xu Longxiang was homesick, so the old Taoist beseeched Shizi Dianxia to write a letter from home so that his disciple could study with peace of mind. After Xu Fengnian put down the letter, he waved his hand and said, “Grind the ink.” _{Translated by foxs}

The room was immediately buzzing with activities, white hand grinding the ink, red sleeves adding the fragrance. After picking up the brush, Xu Fengnian began to hesitate, momentarily he did not know what to write. Nearly tweaking his ears and scratching his cheeks, just to respond to the letter, when it came to practical application, he regretted that he had read too little and did not know how difficult things were without personal experience.

Xu Fengnian simply put down the brush. He rubbed his head against the ample breasts of the da yatou whose whole body was fragrant, and asked, “Has that rouge-eater from the Lin family seen Xu Xiao?”

Hong Shu spoke tenderly, “He had, but he has not been willing to leave.”

Xu Fengnian snickered and said, “Could it be that this licentious kid still wants to eat your [plural] rouge?”

Her face full of disdain, Lu Yi said, “That tattered embroidered pillow, definitely not worthy in Jiemei’s [sisters] eyes.”

Rolling his eyes, Xu Fengnian said, “Am I not an embroidered pillow?”

Hong Shu gently wrapped her arms around Shizi Dianxia, her firm and upright breasts were squeezed to an astonishing curve. She spoke naturally and charmingly, “Shizi Dianxia is not a pillow, nubi [slave servant] is.”

Xu Fengnian laughed and said, “This little mouth is so cute.” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Lu Yi was sitting a little further away, she was picking up chess pieces and putting them down again, bored to death. Xu Fengnian sat upright and looked outside the room. As expected, Qing Niao, the yatou with a strange personality, was staring blankly again. Wutong Yuan was just a small sparrow, but its five viscera [of traditional Chinese medicine: heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys] were every variety under the sun; in addition to the four-class servant girls and female maids, there were also all kinds of people doing odd jobs. Because of Shizi Dianxia, in Beiliang Wangfu, their status appeared to be very special.

Forget about the da yatou who enjoyed special favor from Xu Fengnian, even the second-class maids and housekeepers and gatekeepers in general, all would be greeted by him with smiles. Among these maids, Hong Shu, whose original name was Hong She [Red Musk] was soft-tempered, and was easy to talk to anyone, while Qing Niao was the complete opposite. She treated Xu Fengnian respectfully and intimately, but she did not obey him blindly. Xu Fengnian has been naughty and troublesome since he was a child. He got into trouble many times, but it was Qing Niao, whose temperament was like a red-maned fierce horse, who cleaned up his mess.

Speaking of Qing Niao, when Xu Fengnian grew beyond the naivete of childhood, he felt that she was by his side, it was Wangfei [king’s wife] who personally led her to him. She was not like a yatou, but more like half a Jiejie. In Wutong Yuan, she was not as friendly as the other servant girls, she was naturally cold-faced, cold-hearted. Every year there would be several periods of time she was away from the king’s mansion, but every time she came back, she always brought Shizi Dianxia some well-thought small object. After a small incident that happened in his youth, Xu Fengnian always kept the gifts. _{Translated by foxs}

Generally speaking, there were no figures in Wutong Yuan with big stories. They were pleasant to eat, but after savoring and chewing them, they become bland and tasteless. It may be assumed that it was all because Da Zhu Guo could not get sand into his eyes.

Xu Fengnian spared no effort in emptying out all the ink before he managed, albeit with difficulty, to write a response letter about his family. He rambled on about trivial matters [orig. sesame seed and mung bean], as far as the south from the north to his original intention. In the end, he had to console himself. If the writing was too profound, Huang Man’er wouldn’t be able to understand it anyway, so speaking frankly would be best.

Finished writing the letter, Xu Fengnian stretched out his limbs and went outside the room. As expected, he saw Qing Niao standing in the winding corridor of the courtyard, lost in thought. Looking at the sky, he saw that the heavy snow had stopped for a while, which was perfect for a night walk in brocade clothes. He took Qing Niao along to leave Wutong Yuan, planning to go to Feng Yi Guan to tease the sick like Xishi [(c. 450 BC), famous Chinese beauty, foremost of the four legendary beauties] provoking mankind’s pity Fan Meimei.

As for Lin Tanhua, Xu Fengnian felt that he was very much to Li Hanlin’s liking. On the way, Xu Fengnian remembered that today seemed to be his day to let the dogs out, so he laughed and asked, “Is there any sign of activity in the mansion?”

Qing Niao’s reply was as concise and clear as ever, “There is.” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Xu Fengnian’s spirit was aroused, he laughed and said, “Is it toward Ting Chao Ting, or toward Xu Xiao?”

Qing Niao shook her head and said, “Don’t know.”

His face full of regret, Xu Fengnian lamented, “Nowadays, there are fewer and fewer people taking the bait.”

These past few years, Shizi Dianxia was idle without anything to do, so he deliberately let the Beiliang Wangfu, which was heavily guarded all year round, to relax for a certain period of time, but inside was still very tight; it was called by the glorified name ‘fishing’, specifically to lure those Jianghu heroes [hao han, strong and courageous person] who were drooling over the pinnacle secret manuals in the armory, or the hot-blooded enemy assassins.

Four or five years ago, there was a day where they laid out their card on the table, they lured the highest number of four groups, big and small – of uninvited guests. After shutting the door and beating the dogs [idiom: seal off the enemy’s avenue of retreat, then strike hard], reportedly, the next day they dragged out 26 dead bodies and chopped them up to feed the dogs.

After returning from the trip, he lay the cards two more times, but got no results. Presumably those knights-errant of the wilderness must have recovered their spirit and regained their senses, rarely there were a few fish and shrimps who fell into the trap, only today’s result was still unknown. Xu Fengnian’s extreme boredom was evident for all to see. _{Translated by foxs}

Qing Niao suddenly halted her steps and looked back in Wutong Yuan’s direction.

Xu Fengnian asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”

She spoke softly, “Nothing.”

Xu Fengnian suppressed the doubts in his heart. Arriving at the Feng Yi Guan, they entered the building, seeing Fan Meimei was chatting with the guy surnamed Lin.

Seeing Xu Fengnian, Fan Xiaojie seemed to be stunned for a moment, while Lin Tanhua looked like he was mourning for his deceased mother. After seeing and hearing everything in the mansion, they finally knew that the fellow before their eyes who claimed to be Dianxia’s companion was the replacement-guaranteed-if-not-genuine Heir Apparent of the King of Liang. Standing up nervously, they bowed low with cupped fists, and spoke in trembling voice, “We pay our respect to Shizi Dianxia.”

Before Xu Fengnian could say anything, the clamor of king’s mansion’s warriors in armor and their weapons could be heard outside the door. The Lin Family’s Gongzi was baffled, but that Fan Meimei let out a sweet and piteous smile, as she looked at Xu Fengnian with a complicated expression. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

In full armor, Yuan Zuozong, who ranked second only to Chen Zhibao among Da Zhu Guo’s adopted sons, walked into the building, holding a portrait in his hand. The number one general in destroying the enemy’s disposition of troops within the Northern Liang narrowed his good-looking red phoenix eyes. He greeted Shizi Dianxia first, and then turned to look at the couple of young guests. The expression showing in his eyes turned cold in an instant, he laughed coldly and said, “Fan Xiaochai, Lin Yu, come with me.” [Just so you know, ‘Xiaochai’ means ‘little hairpin’, ‘Yu’ means ‘jade’.]

Lin Tanhua was stunned. Without knowing the inside story, he met some premeditated disaster. Immediately his legs turned soft, he slumped down on the chair.

Before being taken away, the frail Fan Xiaojie spat at Xu Fengnian, she was extremely strong-willed. However, she was slapped out of the building by Yuan Zuozong and fell face down like a lump of soft mud on the snow.

In all these, Xu Fengnian did not make a word or movement, he took the portrait from Yuan Zuozong’s hand. It was of himself, only sixty-, seventy-percent similar in appearance, but 120% similar in expression and spirit.

It could clearly be seen that in that Fan Meimei’s eyes, he did not quite make the grade, even looking directly into his eyes, she was unwilling to look more than necessary. In her heart, his character was even more contemptible. Xu Fengnian sat down with the portrait; he smiled ruefully. The two assassins with unusual identity and with inside connection were taken away by Yuan Zuozong, Xu Fengnian looked up and asked, “Qing Niao, how’s the situation in Wutong Yuan over there?”

She said calmly, “No problem.” _{Translated by foxs}

Xu Fengnian laughed at himself, he said, “One time I had a drink with Lu Qiu’er [lit. a ball with official salary], and I got him drunk. The damn fatty said that there are two groups of people willing to sacrifice their lives to guard me. One group of four had only four code names, A, B, C, and D [lit. jia yi bing ting, the first four of ten Heavenly Stems]. The other group, he didn’t even know clearly. Tell me, how many are there in Wutong Yuan? Are they yahuan [maids] or other servants?”

She shut her mouth, not saying anything.

Fixing his gaze on Qing Niao, Xu Fengnian asked, “Are you?”

Qing Niao remained silent.

Xu Fengnian heaved a sigh, he looked down and stared at the portrait, “If it is safe here, you may retreat first.”

She left lightly, without any word or movement.

Coming to Wutong Yuan, she stared at the plump da yatou Hong Shu sitting on the pole of the railings of the winding corridor, holding a small bronze mirror. Both hands were covered with rouge like blood, which she applied to her lips bit by bit.

Qing Niao’s eyes were full of disgust. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

This da yahuan [chief servant girl], who was publicly known by everybody, from top to bottom, in the king’s mansion as being as weak as a koi carp and needing alms from her master [as in owner] to survive, did not look at Qing Niao either. She merely tilted her head, beaming as she looked at her own reflection in the mirror and said, “Aren’t I beautiful?”

Qing Niao let out a light sneer.

In the dead silent night, it sounded extremely ear-piercing.

Hong Shu pursed her lips. Under the reflection of the snow on the ground in the moonlit night, her face appeared to be absolutely pretty and flirtatious, and touching. She said coquettishly, “Prettier than you is good.”

Qing Niao turned around and left, leaving behind an indifferent remark, “You age quickly.”

Hong Shu did not refute, her coquettish glances turned hazy, she muttered to herself, “Not being alive until that day where I am old and faded, it’s really good.”