Chapter 26 (2/2)
Huai Yu asked, ”Have you given names to all of these pigeons?”
Ming ChangYan, ”Of course, if I only name one of them, the others are going to get jealous and won't properly deliver my letters.”
He paused, then suddenly pulled Huai Yu over, seemingly wanting to introduce the rest of the pigeons to him.
Ming ChangYan waved his hand, pointing and said, ”This is Little Eight's little brother, this is Little Eight's older brother, and that is Little Eight's Wife. Come come come, come over here, look at this one.”
He pointed as the pigeon coop beside it, ”This one is Little Eight's Concubine that we raise on the side. Little Eight got to know her last time he went to HengZhou to deliver a letter, so he brought this female pigeon back and demanded that I keep her. This ShaoXia can't just go around beating pigeons, but Little Eight's Wife was extremely ferocious, even I'm afraid of that fierce female pigeon, so I found another cage to put her in. She just couldn't live with them or else Little Eight's Wife would peck Little Eight's Concubine.”
Huai Yu, ”…..”
Ming ChangYan continued to chat eagerly, reciting all of Little Eight's ancestors and love affairs for Huai Yu to hear.
Huai Yu slightly bent down, pointing to one of them he asked, ”What's this one's name?”
”Hm?” Ming ChangYan said, ”Little Eight's little brother.”
Huai Yu said, ”I know. I'm asking for its name.”
Ming ChangYan replied, ”His name is Little Eight's little brother.”
Huai Yu pointed to another one, and just as expected, Ming ChangYan said, ”Little Eight's Wife,” he then added, ”That's its name.”
Ming ChangYan laughed out loud, ”This pigeon coop is called 'Little Eight's Happy Family', what do you think? Let me inform you beforehand that this name was come up after collecting the opinions of all those in the TianQing Sect, you aren't allowed to say they're bad!”
Huai Yu said, ”It's horrible.”
Ming ChangYan said, ”All right all right, if you say it's bad then it's bad, come on, let's not waste time, I'll take you somewhere nice!”
He winked his right eye, as Huai Yu tilted his head.
XiYue Mountain was a mountain range that extended eternally into the distance. TianQing Sect was just situated on its main peak. The two headed halfway down the mountain, pa.s.sed through a natural karst cave, walked a hundred li, and arrived at a wide clearing.
Huai Yu squinted slightly, feeling like his whole body was surrounded in curling tendrils of mist, as if he were standing in a fairyland. After they'd kept walking for another quarter of an hour, the full moon broke out through the clouds, and the clear, reflective surface of a great lake appeared in his field of vision.
Ming ChangYan said, ”We're here!”
Huai Yu asked, ”What is this place?”
Ming ChangYan found a piece of smooth rock, sat himself down on it, and cracked open the mud seal on one of the jars, letting the aroma of wine waft out.
”I found this place while taking a midnight walk a while back – still haven't thought of a name for it.”
”What were you doing taking a walk in the middle of the night?”
Ming ChangYan pa.s.sed a wine jar to him: ”Obviously because I was in a bad mood. Everyone's going to have times when their spirits are low; the older you get, the more unhappy moments there are.”
Huai Yu sniffed at the wine, then expressionlessly drank a bowl. Ming ChangYan was pleasantly surprised, ”You're a pretty good drinker for your age!”
”Aren't you drinking?”
Ming ChangYan smiled, ”I…of course I'm drinking.”
Huai Yu, ”I haven't seen you drink any.”
Ming ChangYan had yet to ever taste wine, but tonight he had the moon for company, and an immortal-like beauty by his side, making him feel particularly cheerful; so he decided to have a small cup.
He lifted his bowl, taking a sip as he said, ”My little sister is the most beautiful girl in my homeland. You could spend three days and three nights counting the number of warriors who want to marry her, and you wouldn't be able to finish. I won't agree to any of them though—there's not enough food over there, and the standard of living is too low; I want her to come live with me in the central plains.”
Huai Yu said, ”Where are you from?”
Ming ChangYan got half a bowl of wine in his stomach, wiped his mouth, and said, ”Tokhara.”
Huai Yu, ”Tokhara. What was the previous dynasty's Princess Han Zhu to you?”
Ming ChangYan was silent for a moment, not speaking, then suddenly stood up, Huai Yu standing along with him. The former stumbled once, then suddenly dropped down, hugging onto his waist like he was at the edge of imminent peril; it was only by this that he prevented himself from collapsing entirely onto the ground. Huai Yu was startled, saying, ”What are you doing?”
To his surprise, Ming ChangYan's hold on him only grew tighter, and as if not satisfied with this, he was now attempting to lean his entire body into Huai Yu.
Huai Yu grabbed his hand and tried to pull him off, only to discover that Ming ChangYan was holding on with a death grip. He scrunched his eyebrows, heart full of doubt, and called out, ”Ming ChangYan?”
Ming ChangYan didn't answer.
Huai Yu gave into a sudden temptation, and gently smoothed his hair a few times. At Ming ChangYan's continued lack of reaction, he confirmed it: This man was drunk.
Once Ming ChangYan got drunk, he didn't throw a drunken fit, nor did he speak nonsense—his only problem was that he couldn't stay standing, completely losing his sense of balance, and absolutely needed to hold onto something or else he'd be as wobbly as if the whole world was spinning around him. Huai Yu just had to move a little bit away from him and he'd stubbornly pull him back. Not talking, only acting, and if you pushed him too hard he'd even bite. In short, he was very hard to handle.
Huai Yu had never been faced with such a situation before. Ming ShaoXia was like a sugar cake, his arms and legs latching onto him, grabbing the ends of his hair, completely forcibly occupying the s.p.a.ce his body was in. Huai Yu was tangled to the point he couldn't move for a good while; the more he moved, the less his opponent was willing to let go.
Huai Yu had no alternative but to say, ”Ming ChangYan, let go of me.”
Ming ChangYan hugged his waist, face expressionless, and pretended not to hear.
”It's no good, I can't stand steady, I'm going to fall…help me!”
Huai Yu clicked his tongue and took a few steps forward, dragging Ming ChangYan along with him; droplets of water stuck to the edges of his clothes, still looking at the picture of a man who'd crashed into the south wall and still wouldn't bother to turn around*.
(TN:Don't hit the south wall and don't look back” is an idiom meaning to stubbornly insist on your own ideas, though in this case it's being taken literally; well-to-do homes in ancient China generally faced south, with a wall surrounding them, so once you headed out you'd need to turn if you didn't want to crash into the wall.)
Huai Yu humphed, ”If you want to hold onto me then go ahead, I'll do the walking myself.”
He began striding forward, pulling Ming ChangYan along for seven or eight steps. Ming ShaoXia firmly persevered, absolutely refusing to let go, inextricably intertwining himself with Huai Yu, who finally had no choice but to reach over and help support him. After some forceful pulling, he managed to get a good hold around Ming ChangYan's upper body, and walked another short distance.
Ming ChangYan said, ”I feel really dizzy.”
Huai Yu stopped, panting, ”Then walk on your own.”
At that, Ming ChangYan – not wanting to end up falling on the ground – firmly and quickly grabbed once more for Huai Yu. Huai Yu saw something was off and immediately backed away. Sadly, he was too late—Ming ShaoXia had once more used his old trick, and shamelessly latched onto his waist!
The two were thus deadlocked in this position.
After a long while, Ming ChangYan stirred. Huai Yu said, ”Now what are you doing?”
Ming ChangYan was drunk out of his mind, knowing nothing but that holding onto him would keep him from falling over, and so treated Huai Yu like his only hope for survival. His stirring now was just to change to a better position, making it easier to hold on securely.
Huai Yu was at a loss, ”Ming ChangYan, let go, I'll carry you back.”
”No good, I can't.” Ming ChangYan shook his head, paused, decided he hadn't emphasized hard enough, and shook his head again, ”I can't, I can't!”
Ming ChangYan insisted on walking back on his own two feet, moving forward while hugging onto Huai Yu, and so the two of them staggered along a few steps. Suddenly, Ming ChangYan's ankle twisted – he'd tripped right over a fallen branch. He promptly pushed himself onto Huai Yu, and they went spinning to the floor.
Huai Yu's back hit the ground, scratching against the rocks and causing him to gasp. Ming ShaoXia used him for a meat cus.h.i.+on and fell into his embrace, entirely uninjured and incredibly content. At this moment Huai Yu felt a fire light itself in his mind, his brows twitching as he decided he wanted to get even with Ming ShaoXia.
”Get off of me!”
Ming ChangYan didn't notice the great catastrophe about to befall him, feeling around his body with both hands as he mumbled, ”The ground sure is soft….”
This was the first time Huai Yu had ever met such rough treatment as being tackled to the ground, and he had seriously reached the limit of his patience; he was just about to grab Ming ChangYan's mischievous hands when the other suddenly straightened up slightly and, to his surprise, cupped his face in both hands. This time, Huai Yu was so startled even his anger disappeared.
Ming ShaoXia had an extremely attractive face, with long and narrow eyes that curved slightly upwards at the corners, a real standard pair of fox eyes. At the moment these eyes looked confused, hazy and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with moisture, as they stared straight at Huai Yu. Ming ChangYan had moved extremely close to him, their breaths mingling together, their lips so close they almost touched.
Huai Yu suddenly shut his eyes tight, his lashes straight and overly long, leaving a large, slightly-trembling shadow.
This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal our work I'm going to release Little Eight's Wife to peck you to death.
I'M SO TERRIBLY SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT!!! Please forgive me. It was all because of procrastination. The next chapter will come out after I finished editing it!
School will be starting soon, so isn't that just amazing.
I hope all of you had a good summer vacation! If you went on a vacation, do tell me about it! I'd love to hear them~
If you see any translation/grammatical errors, please inform me or comment down below! Your comments are like my stable food, I need them to survive.
Thank you for keeping up with me, and remember to drink water to stay hydrated (●´□`)♡
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