Chapter 20 (1/2)
Chapter 20: A Fallen Gentleman – Part 9
Translated and Edited by: Ritpoppy
(Note: This chapter starts off with a flashback)
The window was knocked three times, a nightingale chirped three times, suddenly, a bedroom window was pushed open from the outside.
A pair of a young maiden's hands, which were as pale as jade, emerged from the darkness. The chirps of the nightingale that was perched by a big laurel tree got louder, she listened for a while, and hesitantly shouted, ”Brother?”
All of a sudden, from atop a tree hanged a young man dressed in black, he was pale and grave, with his hands crossed, wearing a smiling expression.
This person, was precisely Ming ChangYan. He said, ”Yi Yue, are you hungry?”
”Brother!” Yi Yue's red-ish brown eyes lit up, extending her arms, wanting to give him a hug. Ming ChangYan was afraid that she was going to fall from her room, promptly turning over and jumped down from the laurel tree.
He entered the room from the window, Yi Yue ignited a lamp, in a split second the room was brightly lit.
Ming ChangYan hadn't seen her in a year, thus he took a few steps back, trying to get a good look at her. Yi Yue was wearing a muslin dress distinct to Tokhara, her long black hair was rolled up into a bun, she had the picturesque of a delicate maiden; she was beautiful in appearance, like a fairy, charming and romantic.
Yi Yue sat in front of the table, and poured a bowl of sheep's milk, ”Is brother thirsty?”
Ming ChangYan sat down, smiling, ”You've gotten a bit fatter.”
Yi Yue said, ”Wait till I grow even fatter, then brother will be able to see what he'd look like if he was fat.”
Ming ChangYan drained the goat milk down in one gulp, flipping over the bundle and dropping a large amount of rouge and cosmetic powders that he had bought in the Central Plains. These little things could be found everywhere in Lin'an, and couldn't be counted as anything rare, but Yi Yue has never taken a single step outside of Tokhara, no matter what Ming ChangYan would bring her, she would always regard it as something precious.
Yi Yue unscrewed the lid, scooped up some of the rouge, and wiped it on her lips, ”The ones that brother brought me last year have all been used up. Do you apply it like this? What about this black paint, is it used on the lips?”
Ming ChangYan said, ”This is used on the eyebrows. Come over here, I'll teach you how to apply it.”
Yi Yue said, ”You know how to apply them? These are stuff used by young women from the Central Plains.”
Ming ChangYan c.o.c.ked his eyebrow, ”Don't underestimate your brother, is there anything that he can't do!”
The two changed positions, Yi Yue sat in front of the mirror, while Ming ChangYan held the black dye that was in a sh.e.l.l, and began to lightly apply it on her eyebrow. Within the mirror, the two's appearance was identical, both naturally beautiful, they were a pair of twins that were so close that it was difficult to tell the two apart.
When he was finished with the makeup, Yi Yue said, ”Brother draws the ugliest eyebrows.”
Ming ChangYan flicked her forehead, ”So picky, next time you demand me to draw them for you, I'm not doing it.”
Yi Yue stood up and twirled in front of the mirror, the four bells around her hands and feet jingled.
”Brother, when are you going to bring me to the Central Plains? You said it last year, and the year before that, you always lie to me.”
Ming ChangYan felt injustice, ”You've wronged me.” He said, ”Just wait one more year and I'll be able to bring you to the Central Plains. If I recall, the Moon-Chasing Festival is about to begin, have you mastered the dance yet? If by any chance you dance like when we were little, forgetting the steps halfway through, Ba* will tie you up and beat you.”
(TN: Ba means father but in a dialect. Similarly, Niang will mean mother)
This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work I will slap you with my miniature fan.
Yi Yue giggled, ”The one being tied up and beat by Ba is brother, you're confusing right and wrong.”
Ming ChangYan smiled as well, ”Wasn't me getting hit all because I wanted to help you, you little ingrate. If it weren't for you coming to me crying that you couldn't dance well, why would I go up there and dance pretending to be you?”
Yi Yue said, ”You and I look exactly the same, who would be able to tell us apart.” She thought for a moment, and said, ”Only Niang could tell us apart.”
Ming ChangYan ate two pastries, ”Niang has already been gone for years, there is no purpose for us to remain at Tokhara. When this year's Moon-Chasing Festival is over, I'll bring you to the Central Plains.”
Yi Yue looked towards the jade pendant hanging by his waist, and asked, ”What is this, it's quite pretty.”
Ming ChangYan replied, ”Ah, something that my younger disciples gave me. What, do you like it? Then I'll give it to you.”
Immediately, he went to untie it. Yi Yue shook her head, ”I don't want it, when I go to the Central Plains, brother can buy me a new one.”
Ming ChangYan said, ”Of course, I'll buy as much as you want. Right, there's also this.” Ming ChangYan took out two small wooden combs, beautiful and exquisitely crafted, ”Give this to Little Bell, and this to Little Dice. I promised last year that I'd bring something for them, give it to them when they attend to you tomorrow morning. Don't tell them that I came.”
Yi Yue pushed one of the combs back at Ming ChangYan, ”One is enough. Little Dice was killed by Ba.”
Ming ChangYan froze.
”I don't like Ba. His temper is getting worse and worse, he keeps on killing people. Please bring me with you, Brother, can we leave this year? And bring Little Bell together with us, when Ba killed Little Dice, she was really frightened.”
Ming Changyan was brought back to reality, rubbing his hands through her hair, and exclaimed, ”Not this year. My foundation in the Central Plains isn't stable yet, I still need one more year to have the ability to quietly take you away. If I bring you this year, I wouldn't be able to guarantee your safety. Wait one more year, next year I'll be able to contend against Ba.”
Although Ming ChangYan said this, he knew in his heart, it was because TianQing's situation in the Central Plains was more serious than he'd explained. His intuition is telling him right now isn't the best time to bring Yi Yue to the Central Plains.
Yi Yue leaned on the table, using her hand to fiddle with the teacup, ”I don't like the moon, it's too big, too boring.”
Ming ChangYan saw that her spirits were low, so he changed the topic, and said, ”Guess who I met when I came back from the Wu'an Tribe today? The warriors from Wu'an were hunting in the forest, the one that had the most kills….”
He was deliberately mystifying his words, and sure enough, when Yi Yue heard the 3 words Wu'an Tribe, she impatiently looked towards his direction.”
Ming ChangYan continued, ”Do you wanna guess who it was?”
Yi Yue said, ”Was it Bu Feng?”
Ming ChangYan teased, ”It was my brother-in-law.”
Yi Yue's face was red, muttering, ”You're making fun of me.”
Ming ChangYan said, ”I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. I really did run into Bu Feng, he had hunted a small deer, and said that he wanted to make the antlers into jewelry and gift them to you. Ah, there's also this.”
He took out a quill pen from his bosom, ”Bu Feng trusted me to give this to you. Your pen broke, right? He said that you haven't written him a letter in a while.”
Yi Yue put the pen away, and said, ”Brother always teases me. But you've stayed in the Central Plains for so long, why haven't you found me a sister-in-law yet?”
Ming ChangYan raised his foot and placed it on the table, laughing, ”I didn't find you a sister-in-law, but I do have a bunch of little children.”
Yi Yue's voice had traces of yearning in them, ”When I finally arrive at TianQing sect, I also want to study martial arts. Dancing is boring, it's always the same dance. Dancing year after year, after dancing for so long, my legs are going to break.”
Ming ChangYan said, ”The Moon-Chasing Festival happens once a year, it cannot be helped that you have to dance. However, when you come to the Central Plains in the future, I'll teach you martial arts.”
Yi Yue picked up an ancient book from her bed, on it read《The G.o.ddess's Big Book of Songs》, in it were tunes that were to be sung at the Moon-Chasing Festival. When Ming ChangYan saw this book, he felt exceptionally familiar to it. He studied this book together with Yi Yue when they were younger, because he was a man, the shamans only required him to recite every page of the book from memory, but Yi Yue had to learn the dances as well.
Ming ChangYan still wanted to tell Yi Yue some of his incidents from the Central Plains, but the tip of his nose twitched, and he smelled a m.u.f.fled fragrance.
”Yi Yue, what did you light in your room, why is there an aroma?”
Yi Yue didn't reply, Ming ChangYan raised his head, but all he saw were blurs. He yelled, ”Yi Yue?”
Ming ChangYan rubbed his eyes and woke up.
Fu Ling was twisting a handkerchief and was flabbergasted, ”Shaos.h.i.+ woke up!”
Ming ChangYan sat up, his hair was leisurely scattered down his back. The fragrance was even stronger, he asked, ”Was Huai Yu here?”
Fu Ling handed him the handkerchief, ”The Young Prime Minister just left.”
Ming ChangYan let out a sigh, ”No wonder.”