Chapter 1 (1/2)
Well the first chapter is unexpectedly long, and so are the translation notes.
Takes place earlier than di w.a.n.g gong lue, but it's in the same world.
Judging by the length I don't think I can update this weekly, it will be updated whenever I finish a chapter.
Take note that this novel is quite different from di w.a.n.g gong lue in terms of tone.
At 22 years of age, Shen Qian Ling won his first Best Male Lead award.
Afterwards just as he, holding the award, was moved to tears, a piece of the ceiling fell down loudly, and accurately hit his head without mistake.
And afterwards he just.....traveled through time!
Qin Shao Yu: If Ling-er is willing, Zhui Ying sect can have the wedding anytime.
Shen Qian Ling: To be honest, I am extremely reluctant about this.
Read first: there's a word play about h.o.m.ophones later on, so I'm clarifying it now to not break the flow.
Gong Zhu: 宫主, 公主 - both are p.r.o.nounced gong zhu, but 宫主 is the leader of a 宫观 (gong guan), a general term for taoist buildings where pract.i.tioners live, train, hold events etc. I will be translating it as 'sect leader', just like the rest of the martial art pract.i.tioner groups.
公主 is princess. To leave the wordplay intact, I will use 'gong zhu' in conversations but their respective english terms in internal thoughts.
[Chapter 1 - Dramatically travelled through time] A very handsome fiancé
The pleasant spring of March; mist-like rain falls on Jiang Nan.
On Qin Huai river, the sounds of qin comes from all directions; the peach blossoms on the banks are in full bloom. This should be a good time to travel around, but something serious happened in Jiang Hu. (1)
Ri Yue Sect's Shen Qian Ling fell from a tree, and lost his memories.
This news is truly out of the ordinary.
The heroes all say, although martial art sects are in trend now, the ones who truly have power are but four sects. In the northeast, Wu Xue Men; in the northwest, Duan Qing Gu; in the southwest, Tang Fortress, and last but not least in Jiang Nan, Ri Yue Sect. (2)
And as for this unlucky Shen Qian Ling, he's the most treasured, youngest son of the leader of Ri Yue sect, Shen Feng; there isn't anyone who doesn't know he is elegance defined.
”My poor Ling-er!” In the splendid courtyard, a beautiful middle-aged lady is currently crying; rouge is spread all over her face.
”Mother.” A frail, beautiful youth appeared at the window, ”Why haven't you gone back.” They have already said their goodbyes seven, eight minutes ago; if she continues crying like this, he himself will get a misplaced ”instead of losing my memory, I have already died or else why would mother cry until like this” kind of feeling.
”Mother can't bear to leave you.” The middle-aged lady wiped her tears with her handkerchief, ”All can be blamed on your jerk of a father; to not even let us mother and son spend more than two hours together; his heart is like stone.”
This is why he's my biological father, right? Shen Qian Ling lamented strongly in his heart; or else after seeing her toss and turn and hearing her cry and complain, he will collapse; there's even a chance of him vomiting blood and fainting again.
Just the thought of it is scary.
After sending away his mother with much difficulty, Shen Qian Ling sat on the bed again, and casually grabbed a pastry to eat, continuing to listen to a servant boy talk about past times; his mood so severe that he can't look directly at him.
Because three days ago, he was still the best newcomer at the movie awards; who knew that while he was holding on to the award, and moved to tears, a piece of ceiling hit his head before he could say anything; after waking up his name didn't change, his looks didn't change, but his ident.i.ty has changed to that of the young master of Ri Yue Sect.
Young! Master! When he heard this phrase, Shen Qian Ling instantly turned to stone. He indeed did wish to show off in front of a bunch of sycophants (3) but that is just a wish, how can it just come true just because he said so; also getting knocked to the point of traveling through time when he just got his award; this entire situation is simply too pitiful.
”Don't worry Ling-er, even if I have to dig three feet(4), father will find out who's the mastermind behind this!” As he just woke up, the sect leader held his hands with overflowing feelings, and stared at him and said, ”When the time comes, whether it's to flay, flagellate, braise or fry them, it's all up to you.”
A s.h.i.+ver went down Shen Qian Ling's back, flay and flagellate?
”Despicable, to actually target Ling-er, if this revenge is not fulfilled, how can I still be his older brother!” (5) A youth, wearing exquisite clothes, also couldn't restrain his anger. He even drew out his sword and chopped the redwood table into two; he's very furious.
Under the crisp sound of china hitting the ground and breaking, Shen Qian Ling is instantly tearful. A glance at this family and it's obvious they are violent people; if they know that this person in front of them has been secretly switched, it's not unexpected for them to immediately a.s.semble a bunch of wood and burn him as a demon. No matter what, self-preservation comes first; losing one's integrity is better than becoming a roast duck.
And he held the sect leader's hand, and whimpered, ”Father, I think I lost my memories.” There's truly a professional actor's feel.
Once he finished his sentence, the world around him immediately quieted down.
Shen Qian Ling looked at the others innocently; his heart uneasy. It can't be they don't believe it, if he's discovered he will die; at this kind of moment, one must be calm.
”Lost your memories?” The sect leader repeated skeptically.
Shen Qian Ling exerted his acting muscles; aggrieved eyes full of tears, a stunned and lost expression, ”Yes, I can't remember the past.”
”What kind of fate is this......” The sect leader's wife said, and promptly fainted.
Shen Qian Ling: ”......”
”Can't remember anything at all?” The sect leader can barely hide his worry.
Letting an elder worry over him, Shen Qian Ling feels a bit guilty; but even if he's guilty, he's not so stupid as to admit to everything. Moreover, no matter what it's still better than directly telling him ”I think your son has already died”, and so he nodded.
The sect leader sighed, ”Probably b.u.mped your head when you fell off the tree.”
Just as he finished his sentence, the aforementioned youth with exquisite clothes drew out his sword again, and angrily split a chair in half.
Shen Qian Ling looked at him with a complicated expression.
Do you have a vendetta with the carpenter.
”Don't worry Ling-er, older brother will find you all the famous physicians in the world!” The youth vowed.
”...... Uh, it will be hard on you.”(6) Saying more means slipping up more; Shen Qian Ling decides to be a man of few words.
Luckily no one called the situation into question; Shen Qian Ling successfully pa.s.sed the first level, and even gained a servant boy, a standard of time-travel - he's reportedly his servant that has accompanied him since childhood. And so in these few days, Shen Qian Ling frequently pulled him over to ask all sorts of things; no matter how the future will be, it can't be wrong to know more about this world.
”You losing your memories is truly extraordinary.” the servant boy said while helping him to ma.s.sage his thighs(7), ”Jiang Hu is in an uproar after hearing the news.”
”Why?” Shen Qian Ling said, surprised, ”Could it be that he.....I was previously a famous figure in Jiang Hu?”
”Of course!” the servant boy said delightedly, ”In today's martial arts world, who doesn't know about young master Shen of Ri Yue sect.”
”How am I famous?” Shen Qian Ling becomes interested; could it be that he's a highly skilled user? If that's the case, it's still a bit refres.h.i.+ng.
”Because young master is good looking!” the servant boy begin to talk without end, ”When you were appreciating the scenery at Xi Hu (8), a lot of young ladies ended up fighting in a bid to get a glance at you; some even lost their embroidered shoes!”
Shen Qian Ling almost choked on his saliva.
”The second head of the northwest's Duan Qing Gu even personally brought pearls and jade here to propose, hoping to tie the knot with young master.” the servant boy, delighted, continued, ”I'm not boasting here, from three hundred years ago to three hundred years in the future, someone with the looks like young master is the rarest of the rare; it's as if a deity has descended, how can an normal person have such good looks?”
”Are you just flattering me?” Shen Qian Ling asked.
”Of course not!” The servant boy seems to be greatly insulted, ”Although my status is low, I still have my own principles, why would I be such a bootlicker?”
”Oh right, I haven't asked for your name.” Shen Qian Ling is a bit apologetic; from the time he woke up, he just saw him busy bringing tea and water; the family members just say he's called Ah Dou (9), and did not say much else.
”I'm called Qi Bao Dou Fu!” (10) The servant boy stuck out his chest proudly.
Shen Qian Ling laughed out loud, ”Why do you have the name of a dish?”
”I was named by you, young master.” The servant boy muttered.
Shen Qian Fan, fascinated, ”I named you this kind of funny name?”
”How is this name funny!” The servant boy protested, ”Clearly, it's nice to look at and good to eat, young master even told me a literary quotation at that time; it was so touching.”
”Still, we should change your name.” Shen Qian Ling thought for a bit, ”Why don't we call you Bao Dou?” (11) It's nice to hear, simple, short and explosive; it suits his boisterous personality.
”Bao Dou?” The servant boy thought for a bit, and felt that it's not bad and so he happily accepted it, ”Good! I will be called Bao Dou!”
”Then let's continue talking about the past.” Shen Qian Ling said, ”I know quite a bit about the sect matters already, is there anything else? Such as....between me and second brother, whose martial arts is stronger?” Since the second master can split a redwood table, chair with one sword swing, so he's not weak, but Shen Qian Ling later found out that he has the weakest martial arts skill among all the young masters.
”Since second brother has the weakest martial art skills among all of father's sons, then I should be pretty decent, right?” Shen Qian Ling is full of antic.i.p.ation.
”Young master, you think too much.” The servant boy said gravely, ”The reason why the second young master's martial art skill is considered the weakest, it's because they have never taken you into account in the first place.”
And then Shen Qian Ling calmly accepted this?
Absolutely not.
In fact, the whites of his eyes immediately appeared, and he fainted.
Reality is cruel.
”Young master!” The servant, frightened, quickly shouted for the physician.
How can he just faint like this.
Half an hour later, Shen Qian Ling's bedside is surrounded by ten physicians, and outside the bedroom, the sect leader Shen Feng is in distress.
”My Ling-er!” The middle-age lady begin to cry to the heavens while hitting the floor.
The servant boy kneeled on the ground, trembling with fear, ”I don't know what happened too, we were chatting pleasantly, and after I said he doesn't know martial arts, young master promptly fainted on the bed.”
Sect leader Shen sighed deeply, ”When he was asked to practice last time, he cried and screamed and resolutely didn't want to train; why did he faint because of this now?”
”If something happens to Ling-er, I don't want to live either!” The middle-aged lady is still tearfully wiping her eyes; the scene is certainly very moving.
Sect leader Shen is beginning to have a splitting headache.
After being seen by the physicians, no diagnosis can be found; they can only conjecture that since he hurt his head previously, and got a shock just now, and hence he fainted. After an hour, all the people in the sect received verbal instructions from the sec leader — from now on no matter how the young master asks, everyone must say that he is a highly skilled martial arts user. It's just that he was targeted by someone, and lost his internal energy temporarily.
However this situation is a series of misunderstandings; after getting his head hit, Shen Qian Ling still hasn't fully recovered, and so he may faint without warning; it's simply a coincidence this time.
He is truly wronged this time.