Chapter 10 (1/2)
Chapter 10: A n.o.ble Gentleman – Part 2
Translated by: Ritpoppy
Unedited (cause my sister's sick and asleep right now. I'll come back to edit this later)
Lin'an's Flower Viewing Festival is organized by rich, local merchants that have great fame and prestige. It's held during the middle third of April where numerous individuals from out of town come to take part in the action. It's one of the many marvels of this area.
Below XianYue Mountain and out the main gate was a lively town, bustling with excitement, with an endless stream of horses and carriages. If one were to journey eastward along the Yunqi Bamboo Corridors, the east market will begin to appear before their eyes.
LiMin-Jun took out a pouch, with a clang, he gave everyone a few ingots of money. Qin YuBao waited to receive the goods before he dispersed, lost in the crowd. A right hand forcefully thrust its way in front of him. Ming ChangYan smiled, ”What about my money?”
LiMin-Jun fished out a few ingots from his pouch, slapping them into the palm of his hand. Ming ChangYan opened one of his eyes, saying, ”Not enough, not enough. Give me some more.”
LiMin-Jun replied, ”What do you mean 'Not enough', what do you want to eat! Previous years, this much is enough for you to play a whole round of games.”
Ming ChangYan pointed at Huai Yu, ”There's also Huai Yu's portion. He's a guest, don't tell me you want him to pay.”
LiMin-Jun hatefully scooped up a few more ingots from his pouch, ”Scram, scram, scram. We'll meet up as usual by the small mountain stream.”
Ming ChangYan took the money, taking a fox mask from a rack on the right and putting it on his face. Glancing from left to right, he was very pleased with himself. He stood in front of the vendor stall muttering to himself as he selected a particularly adorable black, gla.s.s lens. After paying for the goods, Ming ChangYan patted Huai Yu's shoulder, the receiving party didn't react, his eyes covered in a layer of black fog.
”Isn't it unique? These are small playthings that were s.h.i.+pped from the west. Lin'an is located near the ocean and has many seaports so we have a lot of this kind of stuff.”
Huai Yu pushed the gla.s.s lenses away, callously saying, ”What's the point of me wearing this.”
Ming ChangYan let out a laugh, ”Naturally it's because you look handsome. If you don't wear this, what am I supposed to do if, along the way, you get led away by some young lady? I have to take responsibility.”
He strolled around with one of his hands clasped behind his back as one incense stick of time pa.s.sed. During this period of time, Ming ChangYan bought a colored lantern, carrying it in his hands. Along the way, an aroma drifted from the lantern, hovering itself on the tip of Huai Yu's nose.
After a short moment of time pa.s.sed, Ming ChangYan became tired from walking, finding a congee shop to drink some congee. Two bowls of fragrant and rich black glutinous rice were brought forth, Huai Yu drank a mouthful, the sweetness making his toothache. Ming ChangYan had already finished half a bowl when he saw that the other hand only has taken a bite, asking, ”Do you not like to drink sweet things?”
Huai Yu replied, ”My teeth hurt.”
Ming ChangYan cheerfully beckoned forth a waiter, asking for a bowl without sugar in it. This bowl wasn't wasted either. He reached out and brought the bowl in front of him, using a spoon to scoop up a portion.
Huai Yu grunted, saying, ”I've already drunk it.”
Ming ChangYan objected, ”If you've already drunk this before, what are you scared of? It's not like you poisoned it. I've had my fair share of leftovers before, what I hate most is when people waste food. Don't look at me, look at the congee, if you can't finish it, bring it with you.”
Finis.h.i.+ng his talk, he suddenly heard an outburst of loud sound. A table was kicked over by a person's foot, followed by a male wearing a bamboo hat with a black veil saying, ”Bring me two pounds of beef!”
A waiter responded, ”What are you kicking the tables for? Can't you see that this is a congee shop? How would a congee shop have beef!”
The man suddenly broke out into a cough: *Ke! Ke, Ke!*
Beside him, there was also a small-eyed attendant. Echoing the other, he scolded, ”You stupid idiot! Do you even know who our young master is?”
The waiter raised his head to take a look. Huai Yu followed the other's actions, feeling that this arrogant and despotic young master's clothing looked extremely familiar. He raised his eyebrows, ”Covering up his face so tightly, who's supposed to know who this moron is.”
Ming ChangYan picked up his chopsticks, tapping his bowl, he lowered his voice, scooching closer to Huai Yu, mysteriously saying, ”I know who he is.”
Huai Yu squinted his eyes and gave him a glance.
Ming ChangYan replied in unison with the attendant.
”The n.o.ble Gentleman, Ming ChangYan.”
”My family's young master is the world's most honorable cultivator! The n.o.ble Gentleman, Ming ChangYan!”
Ming ChangYan let out a cheery laugh, supporting his chin, his eyes were filled with glittering tears as he looked at Huai Yu, ”Wasn't I right?”
The waiter flung the cleaning rag over his shoulder, rolling his eyes, ”Here comes another one.”
The attendant had settled his hands on his waist and had been waiting for the waiter to be scared, kneeling and hitting his head on the ground. Yet all he received was a roll of the eyes, he raged, ”Hey! Do you not value your life! Knowing that my family's young master is the n.o.ble Gentleman, you still dare to act all high-and-mighty!”
The waiter bolstered the table back up, pointing at the YuanHe shop next door, ”The number of n.o.ble Gentleman's that ate in YuanHe shop without paying yesterday in total was fifteen. Eight of them had their legs broken. No one has been beaten up today yet, do you want to become the first?”
The attendant's face changed, cursing, ”F*ck! Our family's young master is the real n.o.ble Gentleman! All the others are fake!”
The waiter replied, ”Go, go, go. Don't hold up my business, so annoying! If you still don't leave, then I'm going to close the door and let the dogs out!”
'The n.o.ble Gentleman' felt indignant, after swearing together with his attendant proclaiming that he was going to find his fellow disciples from TianQing sect to come and take revenge later, escaping with his tail between his legs.
Ming ChangYan, having seen his portion of the drama, once again turned his head to face Huai Yu's untouched congee.
This was translated by any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my translations…boi ノಠ_ಠノ
Huai Yu's clothing was exquisite and beautiful, giving him a sumptuous style. Ming ChangYan had guessed that he was some n.o.ble family's young master that had secretly snuck out to have some fun, and wasn't accustomed to eating these kinds of street foods.
Huai Yu said, ”Why do they pretend to be you?”
Ming ChangYan smiled, ”Of course it's because this shaoxia is handsome! Come, don't bother with these things, it's not like I don't have enough people in Lin'an pretending to be me. Look, the townspeople have already grown accustomed to it, what are you marveling over? Besides, the person himself is right beside you, what's with your fake bickering. Let me bring you to see something cool.”
He picked up his colored lantern, walking in large strides on to the street. Huai Yu hurriedly stirred his bowl of congee twice, in the end choosing not to take a bite, and willingly followed behind him.
Ming ChangYan introduced, ”This brook is called the Flowing Mountain Stream, if you walk along this Guanyin alley, you'd be able to reach the Tan River. Even though the Tan River is called a river, it's, in fact, a big lake. Back when the emperor of the Central Plains came down to Jiangnan for a visit, he wrote a wrote a few characters on the Immortal Wooden Bridge located above the Flowing Mountain Stream. Oh right, after a while let's go to the building outside and eat their brown sugared sticky rice lotus, you've definitely never tried it before. Little kids all love to eat these kinds of things.”
Huai Yu softly grunted, ”I'm not a little kid.”
Ming ChangYan didn't argue, ”Yes, yes, yes, you're a manly man.”
Huai Yu pointed at the curb, asking, ”What are they doing?”
Ming ChangYan s.h.i.+fted his gaze over and saw two young ladies holding up a flower blossoming lantern, stepping on a stool as they hung the lantern on a tree.
”This is one of the traditions here, called lighting colored lanterns. After lighting the lanterns, you must hang it up as high as possible. The higher you hang it, the more happiness and longevity one has. But there's another meaning when a maiden hangs the colored lantern.”
Huai Yu tilted his head and glanced at him, his face was small so he the gla.s.s lenses didn't fit properly. Ming ChangYan pushed it up for him, ”The higher you hang it, a better husband you'll marry.”
Ming ChangYan saw him unable to take his eyes off the two ladies, grinning, he said, ”What's so astonis.h.i.+ng about this, there's an even bigger event happening tonight!”
After saying this, a vendor booth located on his right caught his eye. The booth had a horde of people, Ming ChangYan loved to join in on the fun the most, thus he brushed the people away and tiptoed to look inside. Looking, there was a large open s.p.a.ce in front of him with large fences built around it. Above hanged a countless number of densely packed flower b.a.l.l.s. On the vendor's booth, a man wearing a hemp garment coaxed, ”Is there anyone else that wants to come up to challenge?!”
Ming ChangYan quickly asked, ”Challenge? What are we challenging?”