Chapter 15 (1/2)
Chapter 15: A n.o.ble Gentleman – Part 7
Translated by: Kestrel
Edited by: Ritpoppy
XiaoHe Market, GuiLin Inn.
Ming ChangYan had been softly and quietly placed on the bed. Huai Yu sat at his bedside, taking the opportunity to press on his right wrist; after a moment, he gave his verdict, ”He's been poisoned.”
Yan YuNan and the others turned pale–but before any of them could speak, Ming ChangYan suddenly sat up in bed, ”I'm poisoned!?”
Everyone jumped up in fright.
Ming ChangYan promptly rolled up his sleeve, checking the wound, ”I was wondering why it was hurting more and more, I can't believe they actually put poison on that dart.”
Zhong YuLou was speechless for a moment, before he said in an aggrieved voice, ”Da s.h.i.+-xiong, I thought you were unconscious…”
Ming ChangYan said, ”I was tricking them!”
Zhong YuLou said, ”You had me scared to death.”
Earlier, when Ming ChangYan suddenly fell on the ground, out cold, everyone at the scene went into great disarray as TianQing drew their swords for a fight. The person from Mimi Valley who used poison darts was frightened out of his wits, not daring to believe that he could have actually injured the n.o.ble Gentleman. Wan QianQiu tried to mediate with both sides, though it was incredibly difficult to properly conduct himself when trapped in the middle. The Zhaoyao House shaoxia knew that Ming ChangYan had great ambition but a nasty, naughty personality, and loved more than anything to tease the courageous fighters of the martial circles; with how much stock he put in his pride, there was no way he'd let everyone here get away with putting him at a disadvantage like this.
The Zhaoyao House shaoxia promptly yelled out, ”Whose concealed weapon was that!”
The others were luckily quick-witted, immediately evading responsibility as they answered, ”Mimi Valley's!”
The Zhaoyao House shaoxia scolded, ”You have the cheek to ignore what's right or wrong and actually hurt Ming ShaoXia! Unbelievable! Mimi Valley, you guys better give a good explanation for this!”
Everyone from Mimi Valley knew perfectly well that the n.o.ble Gentleman was not to be trifled with; immediately a few pairs of eyes turned to look at the dart-user. The Immortal Miracle Doctor thought to himself: Sorry, if anyone's going to take a beating, the alternative is the whole sect gets taken apart. DongQi Temple just happened to use needles like the n.o.ble Gentleman, and he totally wrecked their place. He's clearly the kind of person who'd get revenge just for you looking at him wrong, not a nice guy at all. You'll just have to take one for the team, brother!
He turned his head, and felt obliged to yell out, ”Who said you were allowed to attack him! You deserve a beating! Brothers, Mimi Valley will take care of its own sect, and beat him!”
Not until they'd beat up the helpless disciple, did Zhong YuLou and the others sheathe their swords. Wan QianQiu managed to calm everyone down after some careful meditation, and led them to XiaoHe Market.
Ming ChangYan had purposely taken the hit from that dart in order to calm down the chaos at the scene, but hadn't expected the dart to be coated with poison. He straightened up, turning his head to speak to Huai Yu, ”I was injured, and got poisoned too.”
In the blink of an eye, he'd dumped it all on his head, and was trying to make him take responsibility.
Huai Yu said, ”You ran into it on your own.”
Ming Changyan, ”Where's your conscience, brat, do you know who I got hurt for!”
Huai Yu stood up, sat himself down at the table, pulled out brush and paper and wrote out a prescription, which he handed over to Yan YuNan, ”Get the ingredients on this list, and have him drink the medicine once it's done boiling.”
Yan YuNan looked over at Ming ChangYan, who waved a hand at him, ”Go on.”
Huai Yu folded his arms and leaned against the window. The window was open and faced XiaoHe Market.
XiaoHe Market had gained its name from being situated by a famously run-down river. And GuiLin Inn was the most famous restaurant in XiaoHe Market. Below it one could see crystalline water, horses, carts, and boats all moving back and forth, making for a very lively scene.
Ming ChangYan asked, ”How are Wan ShaoXia and the others?”
Zhong YuLou was resting his chin on both hands, listening to a storyteller weaving stories downstairs, and took the time to say, ”They're all resting downstairs. Wan ShaoXia said once Da s.h.i.+-xiong is awake to go find him. I don't want to look for him, they're all super annoying.”
Just then, a knock sounded at the door.
”Honored guest, would you be interested in hearing the national daily news!”
Hua YuLing slid off his stool, ”I do, I do!”
He opened the door, and a man dressed like a Confucian scholar pulled a newspaper from his book basket. Hua Yuling paid him two copper coins, closed the door, and said as he looked over the paper, ”The whole thing at BanPo Village only happened yesterday, and it's already in today's news. Egret Academy sure gets their news fast, even LingLong Pavilion can't keep up.”
Huai Yu poured a cup of tea, saying, ”Egret Academy is a government-controlled intelligence network, their financial and physical resources aren't anything a common school can hope to reach.”
Ming Changyan half-leaned against the bedside, lazily saying, ”What does it say, read it out loud for me.”
Hua YuLing flipped through it front-to-back, then said, ”There's nothing important, they just exaggerated what happened at BanPo Village by a little bit. The writer was Lord Qin Yue, he always loves writing exaggerated stuff like this. Last time he wrote that thing about heartless playboy Tong XiaoYu making private transactions and getting chased for many miles by an angry LingLong Pavilion. How come he still hasn't fixed that bad behavior of his?”
Ming ChangYan burst into loud laughter, accidentally pulling his injury, and sucked in his breath with a hiss.
Hua YuLing said, ”Another ma.s.sacre happened over in YinZhou – the number of dead isn't as many as the last few incidents this time around, but how they died is scary as ever.”
Yan YuNan said, ”Is it still like that, where everyone was killed with needles? There's a lot of people in the country who use needles, but there's only so many who use them well. The methods they used for these ma.s.sacres were really merciless. They might also use needles, but their tricks aren't like Da s.h.i.+-xiong's…but that difference is so small that n.o.body can tell.”
Hua YuLing pointed at the paper, ”Look, they mentioned TianQing Sect again.”
Ming ChangYan could tell what was written on that paper without even needing to look. Ever since he'd taken control of the Common People's Order, TianQing Sect's reputation had taken a serious and devastating dive. During that time, more and more ma.s.sacres emerged that used needles like him, clearly aiming to place the blame on his shoulders. He didn't want to be the sucker getting taken advantage of here, but there were always people who refused to let him off easy. Everyone l.u.s.ted after the Common People's Order, there was no way he could hold it in his hands and still maintain his personal integrity.
Yan YuNan grabbed the newspaper, quickly folded it up, and shoved it into his sleeve, ”I'll throw it out later.”
Ming ChangYan said, ”Do you care that much? Us upright men don't fear gossip. As for what's on the paper, aside from the national paper, is LingLong Pavilion's paper out yet?”
Hua YuLing said, ”I didn't see any scholars selling LingLong's on the road.”
Ming ChangYan said, ”If Xiu LingLong found out about this incident, it'd probably have spread all over the country by now. Once YuNan comes back, have him write a note to pa.s.s to her.”
Zhong YuLou said, ”Why do we need to write to her?”
Ming Changyan said, ”I've got my own plans, children shouldn't ask too many questions.”
Zhong YuLou wasn't angry at having gotten brushed off so easily, continuing to listen with rapt attention to the storyteller in the lobby. Hearing the strike of a magistrate's block, Ming ChangYan turned his head and noticed that Huai Yu was also listening very seriously.
The person telling stories in GuiLin Inn was Lin'an's widely renowned 'Poison Mouth' Old Qin. This man had a sharp personality, a penetrating voice, an absolutely beautiful way with words, the tales he told all endlessly interesting. He was incredibly down-to-earth when telling his stories, not bothering to speak like some pedantic scholar, and in fact, had a vocabulary overflowing with obscenities. His performances were enjoyed by scholars and lay-people alike and were beloved by the common people.
The story he was telling now, was that of HuaTing county's Zhuang family ma.s.sacre of eight years before.
This was translated by , and repost of this is stolen work and if you steal my work, I'm going to make you drink bitter medicine.
Ming ChangYan said, ”HuaYing's Zhuang family? Is that one of the three big influential families? How come I've never heard of them?”
Hua YuLing liked reading about other places, so when he heard Ming ChangYan speak up, was quick to answer, ”The Zhuang family disappeared years ago. Da s.h.i.+-xiong, back then you hadn't come to the central plains yet, there used to be four big families. The Zhuang family was pretty famous back then, but in the end, they were burned clean away. Now the only ones left are Lin'an's Zhao clan, YingTian prefecture's Qin clan, and CangWu's Liu clan.”
Old Qin pinched his beard, his mouth emulating the burning sounds of a huge fire, his detailed depiction almost seeming to bring the scene to life; the vividness of it made his listeners' hair stand on end, as if they themselves had been placed at the scene of the fire, unable to run away. He said, ”…The great fire burned for a day and a night. After it died out, HuaTing's government office sent around a hundred men to go collect bodies from within the house. They found a total of one hundred and forty-one people: close family, distant relatives, anyone with a name and surname, all had died in the conflagration. Except for one!”
Zhong YuLou was totally engrossed in the story, and leaned out the window to yell, ”Who was it! Were there still survivors!”
Old Qin said, ”Survivors? None. This person wasn't really alive and wasn't really dead either. They disappeared!”
Cold air seemed to blow across the audience, all of them thinking: Did they turn into a ghost?
Zhong YuLou repeated, ”Disappeared? How'd they disappear? Don't tell me they burned so hard there wasn't anything left!”
Having just reached the climax of his story, Old Qin paused a moment, then cupped his hands and said, ”If you want to know what happens next – please listen in next time for the resolution!”
Just then, Yan YuNan pushed open the door, having returned with the medicine.
Zhong YuLou automatically volunteered to go boil it, and asked GuiLin Inn to let him borrow a small back garden. As he headed down the stairs, the boys of Mimi Valley came looking for Ming ChangYan's room, handed him an antidote, and gave him an apology.
Ming ChangYan quickly put on his hat, as Wan QianQiu entered and said, ”Young Master Changyan, are you feeling any better?”
Ming ChangYan said, ”Perfectly fine, I'm still alive and kicking!”