Sword Snow Stride Book 1 Chapter 8

Book 1 – White Horse Out of Liangzhou
Chapter 8 – Eastern Queen[1]

The wealthy white silk pants in Lingzhou City sincerely gasped with admiration on Shizi Dianxia’s domineering class, which was indeed at the apex of the sky. After three years of living in seclusion, he had only returned to Lingzhou a few days and already he defiled Yu Huakui. _{Translated by foxs}

Xu Fengnian carried the lousy assassin whose real name was Yu Xuanji on his shoulder back to the king’s mansion, followed by Li Hanlin whose clothes were still in disarray. Yan Chiji did not like to visit prostitutes, just now he was just sitting upright and still, having light intellectual conversation and small talk with the popular courtesan of the lou [building] whose words were simple yet elegant. Seeing Feng Ge’er staying for a short period of time in the Japanese banana courtyard and then coming out carrying Yu Huakui, he secretly praised, ‘Formidable!’.

Arriving at the mansion, judging the hour and sizing up the situation, Li Hanlin pulled Yan Chiji out to stroll to Bai Long Zhai [hundred-dragon building; ‘zhai’ is also used to describe vegetarian meal, or monastery.]

Xu Fengnian threw Yu Youwei onto the big bed in the inner room, he took a handful of silk fabric to tie her hands and feet. Still not feeling at ease, he tied her up one more layer. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Overturning trunks and boxes [idiom: thorough search], he searched for the Yu Ni San [jade mud powdered medicine] that Li Hanlin had tested a hundred times without failing in crisscrossing the field of flower. It was of higher grade to the knockout drug, softening bones powdered medicine essential to common flower-picking-thieves [rapist] wandering the Jianghu. When a woman took it, her state of mind would still be clear, but her body went limp, her physique went soft like a pool of warm jade, difficult to bite her own tongue to kill herself, but it did not prevent her from moaning in mellow voice.

After putting it into a cup of wine to dissolve it, he pried Yu Youwei’s mouth open, and pour it in. Finished hurrying around, Xu Fengnian slapped his palm down, leaving a bright red five-fingerprint on the tender cheek, but it did not wake her up. Xu Fengnian slapped her twice more, and finally Yu Huakui was slapped awake.

Yu Xuanji opened her eyes, she did not struggle, she did not resist. Closing her eyes again, she softly and weakly said something that nearly made Xu Fengnian stamp with fury, “Shizi Dianxia, move a bit faster, I will treat it as if I was bitten by a beast.”

Xu Fengnian leaned over to gently caress and stroke her red-from-the-slap-and-cold-and-cheerless face, and said with tenderness like he was speaking to a beloved lover, “Does it hurt?” _{Translated by foxs}

Yu Xuanji remained motionless, thus Xu Fengnian stopped pretending. He picked up a book of erotic pictures that had been prepared on the bed. They were drawn on silk, with captions of erotic words and intimate sentences. The pictures were remarkably true to life. He opened a page, which described how to play with the slender feet. Xu Fengnian took off Yu Xuanji’s socks, his hands did not stop moving, his mouth was saying, “The slenderness is just right, the length is perfect; cannot lack one, must not have two extras, only then it can be called divine quality. Youwei, your jade feet are so nice to touch. The depth of winter is about to arrive, from now on you can help me warm my bed. These feet, according to the erotic pictures – combined with pretty and curved eyebrows, fingertips, mellow and full tits, red lips, as well as hidden private parts, are the best features. You think I should play for half a sichen, or for one full sichen [one of the 12 two-hour periods of the day]?”

Yu Xuanji has a pair of beautiful feet that could be rated as divine grade. In the five years since she entered the business, she never needed to do manual labor, every day she soaked them in fragrant baths, she took good and thorough care of every cun of her body. Due to Xu Fengnian’s sexual play, she was instinctively nervous, the insteps of her feet were curved like an arcing moon.

Xu Fengnian proved himself that his promise worth a thousand [catties] in gold, he said he would tease her sexually for a sichen, he indeed played for the whole sichen. Particularly when he stretched out a finger to caress the space between Yu Huakui’s  two jade bead-like toes, he could clearly sense the shudder that she tried to suppress.

Next, he climbed up and lay down alongside her, and ran his fingers along her pair of legs through the last layer of Yu Xuanji’s close-fitting velvet underpants. Her legs were slender, white and tender, so graceful and spirited when she brandished the sword. Her beautiful legs did not disappoint, they were brimming with elasticity. After tormenting her for another half a sichen, the next step was not to tear off her dudou [see Chapter 5], ‘opening the door and see the mountain’ [fig. to get right to the point], but took off his own clothes, lay on his side by Yu Xuanji’s side, and nibbled on her earlobe. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

The beauty’s fragrant sweats were already dripping like crazy, her eyes were hazy with tears, she bit her lips tightly so that wisps of blood were seeping out.

Xu Fengnian whispered in her ear, “’Wang Cheng Tou’ [looking at the top of the city wall], Sword Dance, Shangyin Academy, if you follow the vine to get to the melon [tracking by following clues], I don’t believe that with Beiliang Wangfu’s power, I wouldn’t be able to firmly grab and pull out your background and secret history. By then, I will destroy everything you care about: those who are alive, I will kill, if they are dead, I will also dig up their graves. I will play with you, and when I get tired, I will sink your dead body to the bottom of the lake, and invite the old Taoist from Wudang Mountain to perform a ritual ceremony for you, so that you will become wandering soul, a ghost of one who died unjustly, and won’t reincarnate again. You are setting yourself against me, this is what you will get.”

Yu Xuanji’s cheeks were filled with tears.

Xu Fengnian suddenly spread his fingers to grab her breasts, completely without any former tenderness. Yu Xuanji felt a burst of bone-piercing pain. Xu Fengnian showed a malevolent grin and said:

“I have a good heart, I will sell you the medicine for regret this one time. As long as you are willing to serve me, until the day you are old and faded [orig. the person old, the pearl turns yellow], I promise that you will still be Yu Youwei. I don’t care whether you are the orphan of the Xi Chu’s [Western Chu] former minister, or whether you are a Jianghu rebel that was trampled and crushed by Beiliang Tieqi [northern Liang’s iron cavalry], I will not investigate. Everything is nice and proper, you can become my canary. Is there a more gorgeous cage on earth than Beiliang Wangfu?” _{Translated by foxs}

Yu Xuanji choked with emotion, she sobbed spasmodically.

Xu Fengnian suddenly slammed down the medicine, he said, “I remember, there is also that Wu Meiniang, what a cute little thing. Poor thing, too bad it will soon become wild dogs’ snack. I’ll get up right now, go to the Bajiao Yuan [Japanese Banana Courtyard] to pick her up, and chop her in your presence and throw it to hungry wild dogs.”

Yu Xuanji fainted.

Xu Fengnian was speechless, she fainted from fright? There were still even more violent and ferocious medicines in his plan that he had not shaken out yet, he still had not fully expressed himself.

Xu Fengnian cupped the two rouge and powder [fig. the fair sex] jade pigeon to satisfy his craving, but Yu Huakui was as stiff as a corpse. After fondling few times, Xu Fengnian lost interest. Merely beautiful tender body, Xu Fengnian only needed to wave his hand and one would come, wave his hand again and one would go, however many he wanted, he would get that many. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

He sat up, put on his clothes, and looked down at the sleeping Yu Youwei’s like raindrops on a pear blossom [idiom: tear-stained face of a beauty] face. The resentment in Xu Fengnian’s breast and the grim ruthless and tyrannical expression in his eyes faded somewhat. She was just a foolish girl, nothing strange about it, wasn’t there one Princess Taiping in the Mansion?

Xu Fengnian put her head on the crimson golden-money patterned python skin pillow, and covered her with a quilt. Shizi Dianxia had a strong standard of measurement toward worldly women’s beauty, one hundred wen [classifier for coins] equals one tael of silver was the ultimate, sixty wen was middle-class person’s beauty, only eighty wen and above would be worthy in Xu Fengnian’s eyes.

In his opinion, the arctic fox face, regardless of his identity as a man, could score ninety-five wen. Originally he wanted to give him one tael of silver, but he felt it was inappropriate, he had to leave a bit of margin for himself; Jiang Ni was ninety wen, but in the future she could still grow to be a bit more beautiful.

Yu Youwei before his eyes was eighty-six wen, almost the same as his Dajie [eldest sister]. In the mansion, splendid women, beautiful maids who were over seventy wen were not many, but not a few either. It’s just that eating this kind of grass that grow by the nest that would come as soon as he crooked his finger to beckon, in Shizi Dianxia’s technical term, was ‘to err, technically it was not alive’. Xu Fengnian did not train martial arts, he did not dare to indulge in excessive sexual desires, he made very careful selection, preferring to have nothing than accepting shoddy option; in one word, ‘elegant’. _{Translated by foxs}

Xu Fengnian was busy for two sichen. After eating some warm pastries in an elaborately decorated food box, his strength was restored. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he slapped Yu Huakui awake again. He said coldly, “Do you want to eat steam buns made with Wu Meiniang’s meat?”

Yu Xuanji finally cried hoarsely.

Rolling his eyes, Xu Fengnian said, “I lied to you; there’s no harm in telling you the truth. If I want to vent my anger, at most I will make things difficult for you and your family and clan. When I throw you into the lake, I will help you raise Wu Meiniang, I guarantee she will be white and fat.”

She stared blankly at Xu Fengnian.

Xu Fengnian laughed coldly and said, “Under the bed, when have I ever lied to you?”

Aggrieved, she said, “This moment you are sitting on the bed.”

Ashamed, Xu Fengnian became angry, he stood up abruptly and said, “Donkey grass, woman who remembers the beating but don’t remember the good, laozi is going to chop up Wu Meiniang into minced meat sauce right away!”

He barely got up, he heard Yu Youwei spoke softly, “I will be your slave. From now on, I am just Yu Youwei.”

Xu Fengnian turned around and fixed his gaze on the deathly-still expression on Yu Huakui’s face, he asked, “Can I trust you?” _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

She closed her eyes and spoke in grief, “Then kill me first, and then kill Wu Meiniang.”

Xu Fengnian hesitated for a moment, he loosened the bind on her hands and feet, and then stepping far away, he said, “Today you sleep here first, tomorrow I will arrange a courtyard for you, just consider it you becoming my warm-room concubine. Don’t have excessive expectations on your status; without my permission, don’t move about everywhere.”

She spoke serenely, “I miss Wu Meiniang.”

That very night, Shizi Dianxia sent someone to Zijin Lou to redeem Yu Youwei. From the Bajiao Yuanzi, except for the white cat, nothing was brought back to Beiliang Wangfu.

… under the bright moon and sparse stars, two persons slowly walked onto Ting Chao Ting’s stone platform [stylobate (architecture)]. This pair was a strange combination: the Da Zhu Guo Xu Xiao, and the arctic fox face, who was provoked to come by Xu Fengnian.

Because during her life the late Wangfei [wife of the king, princess] believed in Buddhism, there was a square pagoda under the magnificent platform with an eight-petal plum blossom Sumeru seat[2]. The body of the pagoda was in the shape of a overturned bowl [monk’s alms bowl], in the middle was a boat-shaped shrine. Inside was a carved Buddha sitting cross-legged in lotus position on the lotus platform, its appearance dignified. The shrine’s foundation had stone carvings of eight JinGang [vajra, guardian deity in Buddhist iconography] supporting the body of the shrine.

This structure was undoubtedly the Feng Shui [lit. wind and water, geomancy] location of Lingzhou City. Due to water shortage in Lingzhou, the King of Beiliang Xu Xiao used manpower to expand the lake into a sea, its metaphorical meaning was ‘Water [writing] Brush’. Ting Chao Ting towered majestically, it was built facing the water [favored location according to Feng Shui], gathering the aura and energy [spiritual influence] of heaven and earth and absorbing the essence of the sun and moon. _{Translated by foxs}

Under the eaves of the first floor of the main pavilion, there were three horizontal tablets, exactly to the east was the ‘Kuiwei Xiong Jue’ [lit. tall and big (same ‘kui’ character of the chapter title) imposing (or powerful) absolute] nine-dragon plaque bestowed by the emperor.

Before entering the pavilion, Da Zhu Guo chuckled and said, “Saving Fengnian’s life in exchange for NanGong Xiansheng [mister] entering the pavilion, no matter how you see it, I am the one making a profit.”

The arctic fox face’s expression did not change, he did not answer.

Pushing the main door open, a huge white marble relief sculpture ‘Dun Huang Fei Xian’ [Flying Immortal Dun Huang] came into view inside the main lobby. The fluttering sleeve of the flying immortal’s clothes on the relief sculpture was as tall as real people, even the experienced and knowledgeable arctic fox face momentarily stopped in his tracks, mesmerized by it.

The slightly hunched Beiliang Wang Xu Xiao chuckled, he gave a presentation:

“In the west hall of this floor, there are 30,000 volumes of introductory martial arts study under the heavens, all are items that cannot be measured with money. I collected them merely to fill the place. I also added 10,000 volumes of books with impressive literary reputation from my family’s collection.

The second floor is a closed floor. In addition to the four thousand unique copies of Yin Yang Xue [study of yin and yang], Zong Heng Xue [study of vertical and horizontal, crisscross], there are also forty-nine qibing [lit. wonder troops; troops appearing suddenly (in a raid or ambush)] sharp weapons in the world, my second daughter’s favorite place to stay.

The third floor has 20,000 volumes of profound treasury [book of treasured wisdom] and secret book [or collection of books]. The fourth floor is a closed floor containing a collection of rare and valuable items, some rare stones and antiques. Fengnian always scolded them for having very strong copper stench. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

The fifth and sixth floors are paintings and other items that those Jianghu heroes did not hesitate to take risks to sneak into the Wangfu. Going up higher, I believe ordinary martial art masters will not be able to understand.

As for the top floor, it’s empty with nothing in it. NanGong Xiansheng, if you want to climb up and gaze into the distance, you can go to the Bai He Lou [White Crane Floor] on the hilltop to take in the scenery.”

The arctic fox face could hear the implied meaning behind Da Zhu Guo’s words, he nodded.

His eyes narrowed, Xu Xiao laughed and said, “Shall we go straight to the fifth floor then?”

The arctic fox face shook his head, he finally opened his mouth, “After I go up there, I may no longer be interested in reading the 60,000 volumes on the lower floors.”

Xu Xiao was not surprised at all, he laughed aloud, walked up the stairs alone, and disappeared into the shadows.

With the two sabers Xiudong and Chunlei hanging on his waist, the arctic fox face stood in front of the jade and stone screen, in glowing spirits.

When Da Zhu Guo reached the eighth floor, bamboo slips [used for writing on in ancient times] and ancient texts were scattered everywhere. There was a long red sandalwood low table with a dim flickering yellow candle lamp, on the corner of the table was a green gourd that was used as a wine container. A piece of red rope was tied to the mouth of the gourd, as well as on a man’s withered skinny arm.

The man was sitting on the floor, his loose hair draped over his shoulders, his face was as pale as snow, with a touch of pink on the space between his eyebrows, looking closely, it looked like a vertical red phoenix eye [outer corners of the eyes incline upwards]. He was wearing hemp garment, barefooted and cross-legged, the brush in his hand was like flying. _{Translated by foxs}

Da Zhu Guo Xu Xiao picked up more than a dozen bamboo slips and put them away neatly, only then did he have a space to sit down. Apologizing, he said, “I was in a hurry, I forgot to bring wine. When I am back, I will have Fengnian to make it up.”

Apparently, Xu Xiao was accustomed to the strange person’s silence, thinking out loud, he said:

“Without any real super first-grade grandmaster keeping watch in Wangfu, I can’t sleep peacefully. I hope this NanGong Puye will not disappoint me. Thinking about it, I feel strange; our covert investigators have been making inquiries for half a year, but they have not been able to dig out this person’s background. It seems that he could only be someone from Bei Han [Northern Han, Han of the Five Dynasties (951-979)]. Yishan, what level of power do you think he currently has?”

The withered-like-a-ghost man spoke, his voice was like the sound of grinding metal and stone, “From the one-Pin rank [first rate]. After ten years of cultivation inside the pavilion, he could have all living things below, and none above.”

Clicking his tongue, Da Zhu Guo said, “Fengnian indeed picked up a treasure.”

The man sick with tuberculosis picked up the gourd and poured it down, but there was no more wine, immediately he lost all interest, his brushed stopped moving, his eyes turned dull. _{foxswuxia.wordpress.com}

Xu Xiao stood up, he looked up at the ‘Di Xian Tu’ [Picture of Earthly Immortals] hanging on the south wall. His hands behind his back, his eyebrows knitted, he said, “Yishan, soon Fengnian will reach the age to have the capping ceremony [see Chapter 1], why don’t you give him a ‘Biao Zi’[3]?”

The man thought for a moment, he said, “Xu Fengnian’s name [see footnote] is Tianlang [lit. celestial wolf].”

Da Zhu Guo Xu Xiao suddenly roared in laughter to his heart’s content, he was quite proud.

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[1] Chapter Title: ‘Eastern Queen’ is literal translation, orig. Dong Kui. All google results are about Dong Kui berry (fruit). The character ‘Dong’ (east), also means ‘host’. In Chinese, ‘east’ is the first position, for example, in the game of Mahjong, ‘East’ always plays first. ‘Kui’ as in Huakui (queen of flowers) ­– the character translated as ‘queen’ actually means more than just ‘head’ or ‘chief’, it has the meaning of being the leader of leaders, or being the first of the firsts. The English word ‘Supreme’ came to mind, but one of my readers in the past commented that ‘Supreme’ reminded him/her of certain pizza …

[2] Sumeru seat (Xumi zuo) is the base of traditional East Asian architecture and sculpture, evolving from the Buddha’s seat and is generally used in high-end buildings, such as the main hall of palaces and temples, towers, base of stone lions, door piers, etc. It originated from Indian Buddhism and symbolizes Mount Sumeru , the center of the Buddhist world. It means solemnity and stability. Therefore, the Xumizuo is often carved with Buddha statues and Buddhist stories. (Source: zh.wikipedia.org) Example of Xumi zuo of the bowl-shaped pagoda:

[3] Literary name, courtesy name traditionally given to males aged 20 in dynastic China.