c1 (1/2)
h.e.l.l King Sect Series/Yan w.a.n.g Sect Series 阎王门系列
Red Bean Lyrics 红豆词 Chapter 1
By: Jue Ming 决明
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
What does “drunken chaos” mean?
Well, he is a b.l.o.o.d.y good example of it.
First time getting drunk he beat up his sworn brothers to a pulp.
Second time getting drunk he completely demolished his own house.
But these recorded incidents weren’t really that big of a deal. That is until this most recent time, when he got drunk and laid his fingers on the one precious little treasure that he watched grow up in front of him!
*sigh* since the “rice” is “cooked” and the deed cannot be undone. He could only take it like a champ and face the “pedophilia” accusations.
Turning familial affection into romance, he’s pouring all his love into doting on and spoiling his little wife.
He thought he had a whole lifetime to spend with her in sweet embrace. But cruel fate stood in the way, waiting to tear lovers away from each other ….
Snow fell on Bianjing,[1] slowly yet unceasingly colouring the city streets with a shade of pure white. Looking outside, several playful children were having s...o...b..ll fights on the streets. Laughter and thin puffs of mist escaped their rosy lips as they rolled around in the snow, shouting and giggling.
Inside the tavern’s second floor private room, a tall, thin, and elegant figure sat near the window. His porcelain cheeks leaning idly against his right hand, and his thin upward tilted eyes were full of smile as he took in the scene of joy and harmony before him. Beneath his seemingly laid-back and cheerful appearance as he enjoys the winter scenery, hides his cold and ridiculing looks at human society.
He held out his left hand to catch the ever-falling snow, as soon as the pure white crystals touched his palm, they were reduced to a puddle of icy water by the warmth of his body.
“That tiny bit of water won’t wash the stench of blood off of you, Bai Yun.”[2] An icy cold voice of indifference callously broke the air of elegance the beautiful man tried hard to create.
The man being referred to as Bai Yun smirked, not angry because of the indifferent ridicule, but rather, self-deprecatingly said to the black-clad man who had just spoken, “Big Brother,[3] even Yang Gui Fei’s[4] Hua Qing Pool[5] won’t be able to cleanse me of this stench. But so what? In any case, I’m not even the stinkiest out of the four of us.”
And with that, his beautiful, shrewd eyes glanced over at the three other men seated at the table. The man with a full face of curly beard sniffed his armpits in all seriousness, then grinned and said, “It’s not me either.”
It’s not that bad, aside from the stench of sweat, it’s just his own unique s.h.i.+ Yan Guan[6] man musk. Bai Yun patted s.h.i.+ Yan Guan on the back teasingly, he always knew of s.h.i.+ Yan Guan’s careless inattentiveness, but never knew he’d be this slow.
“Number Four, the stench of blood can’t be sniffed out like that. Look.” He opened his hand and showed s.h.i.+ Yan Guan his palm.
The puzzled s.h.i.+ Yan Guan repeatedly studied the lines on his palm, then finally said after a long period of silence, “Number Two, I guess it’s true what they say, calamity lasts centuries ….”
“Who said I was asking you to read my palm?” Bai Yun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He pulled his hand away, then jokingly asked, “What do you see from my palms?”
“A pair of soft and delicate hands, even better than some women’s.”
s.h.i.+ Yan Guan answered half-mockingly. It’s not that he likes to make a big fuss about Bai Yun’s outer appearance, but it’s simply a sin for a man to have looks more beautiful than that of most women! Had he not seen Bai Yun naked before, he’d most definitely be suspicious of Bai Yun’s true gender.
Bai Yun’s eyes drooped slightly, he opened his hand and studied his palm, a cold, sneering grin slowly crept up his face.
“Soft and delicate?”
But what he himself saw was each and every life he’d ever taken, attaching themselves to his flesh as painful cries of irrefutable evidence, along with the obtrusive and mocking bright red blood stains.
No matter how quickly he cleansed his palms of the viscous crimson liquid, its sickening stench always stayed with him, lingering.
“That’s right, this pair of seemingly delicate hands showed no mercy when it’s holding a sword.” Out of the four of them, the one that looked the most like a simple and honest countryman, Number Three Niu Geng Jie[7] opened his mouth and spoke.
“Number Two, let’s have another match next time.” The outspoken s.h.i.+ Yan Guan has been quick to propose yet another duel. This is now his sixth time challenging Bai Yun to a fight, the previous five times all ended in crus.h.i.+ng defeats. Bai Yun did not immediately react to s.h.i.+ Yan Guan’s provocation, but simply turned his head towards the man dressed in black and suggested, “If Number Four fails again this time, then let’s demote him to h.e.l.l King Sect’s[8] errand boy.”
The black-clothed man’s expression remained unchanged, but the corner of his mouth raised ever so slightly, with an air of implied consent. “I feel bad for you Number Four.” Niu Geng Jie gave s.h.i.+ Yan Guan a look of pity, without trying the slightest to spare his feelings.
“Humph! Who said that I was gonna lose for sure?” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan ignored the fact that his sworn brothers had absolutely no confidence in him, he had just recently created another set of fist routine, and needed someone to try his moves out on.
The server’s brisk footsteps interrupted the conversation between the four men. The food is served!”
The server was quickly setting the table with wine cups for the guests, when a warmly smiling Bai Yun handed him back one of the wine cups, “Three is enough.”
“Number Two still can’t touch any alcohol.” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan shook his head and sighed. All of his sworn brothers could drink like a fish and hold their liquor, except for Number Two, who never touches a drop.
“It only takes a small sip to alter Number Two’s personality completely, it’s best that he doesn’t have any.” The hair on the back of Niu Geng Jie’s neck stands up whenever he thinks about “the incident” two years ago, when he and s.h.i.+ Yan Guan got Bai Yun drunk. So he hurried to gesture no with his hand.
“Don’t worry Number Three, I haven’t touched any alcohol for years, and I’ve almost forgotten all about ’the incident’. Go ahead and drink your wine.” Bai Yun smiled and stuffed a wine cup in his hand.
“Sir, if you won’t be drinking then shall I brew a pot of strong tea for you to warm up? Our specialty here is the flower scented tea.”[9] The server asked courteously.
“Isn’t today the Winter Solstice Festival?[10] Have you guys prepared any red bean tangyuan?”[11] Bai Yun asked. “Number Two, that stuff’s for the girlies!” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan blurted out, forgetting the fact that he himself also has quite the sweet tooth. “That’s fine, you can pretend that I am one of the girlies, you already make fun of me pretty often for it anyway. Server, bring up two bowls of red bean tangyuan.” Bai Yun explained with a grin.
“h.e.l.l King Sect’s ‘Civil Judge’[12] is referring to himself as one of the girlies …. Number One, you should go and give him a talking-to.” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan turned to complain to the man in black.
“You’re the ‘Martial Judge’[13] and you’re telling on me, is that any better?” Bai Yun bickered with s.h.i.+ Yan Guan as he poured wine for his other brothers, his eyes glancing astutely around the area.
Fortunately it wasn’t lunch hour, there were only a few scattered customers in the entire tavern, this allowed the quick-tongued Number Four to yell out the name of h.e.l.l King Sect without gaining too much attention.
h.e.l.l King Sect, an extremely well-known organization of a.s.sa.s.sins in the Jianghu Community, as long as the person employing their services can pay the bill, they will make the kill regardless of who the target is. Good or evil, they are all objects to be terminated.
With the h.e.l.l King as their leader, a.s.sisted by the Civil and Martial Judges, along with the Black and White Impermanence,[14] they lead various ghoulish underlings like the fearsome demons from the depth of h.e.l.l, striking fear into people’s hearts, reaping people of their souls. And often at the same time they slit the throats of their preys, they also arrogantly leave behind on the b.l.o.o.d.y corpse the h.e.l.l King’s Order. “If the h.e.l.l King wants you dead at the third watch, you won’t live to hear the fifth watch!”[15] Declaring the h.e.l.l King’s supremacy over all.
The most headache worthy thing for the officials was the fact that the h.e.l.l King Sect was not only efficient, but fast as well. Their lightning speed leaves no clues for the officials to find. While another reason that allows them to elude capture exists among the imperial court officials. Within their ranks are individuals that have relied on the h.e.l.l King Sect’s help to rid them of their enemies. That’s why if there were to be an actual investigation, there would be a long list of individuals involved, and the officials cannot afford to offend any members of the royal family. Therefore, it’s no wonder that the h.e.l.l King Sect’s influence is growing stronger and stronger.
But at the moment, no one could have guessed that the fearsome heads of the h.e.l.l King Sect are currently gathered in Bianjing’s most popular tavern, drinking and chatting in broad daylight.
“Quiet. Are you two afraid people wouldn’t know that the h.e.l.l King Sect’s ‘h.e.l.l King’, ‘Civil and Martial Judges’ and ‘Black Impermanence’ are sitting here eating sunflower seeds?” Niu Geng Jie whispered a quiet warning as the server approached them carrying two bowls of red bean tangyuan.
s.h.i.+ Yan Guan and Bai Yun stopped their bickering in a timely manner, the former did so realizing the rashness of his actions, while the latter stopped because his attention was drawn to a tiny white object outside the window, not far from where they were.
“Here comes your order! Piping hot red bean tangyuan is served!” The server gleefully declared. He placed the tangyuan in front of Bai Yun, then saw that Bai Yun was staring out into the distance absentmindedly, so he followed his gaze and saw what he was staring at.
A little girl about three or four years old was sitting by the corner of a column, a flimsy and tattered fur coat was wrapped around her thin and fragile frame. Her stiff and frozen fingers were placed in front of her tiny mouth, trying to warm her constantly shaking body with the puff of air she was exhaling. Her eyes were dull and blank, like an abandoned puppy, waiting for its owner to return.
A small, thin figure holding a stick of bright red candied haws[16] in the heavy snow was quite eye-catching. “Poor little girl, it’s already been two days now ….” The server shook his head and sighed.
“She’s been there for two days?” Bai Yun raised his eyebrows, the tiny figure before his eyes looked like she could be swallowed up by the snow at any moment.
“I think a young girl brought her there, but she never came back for her. She probably had the baby out of wedlock and simply abandoned the kid in the snow, leaving her to her own devices ….”
“How vicious! That little girl is only a few years old!” Even though s.h.i.+ Yan Guan was a burly man, it was still difficult to watch a helpless young child tottering in the snow, no matter how heartless a person is. “Number … uhh, I mean Big Brother, aren’t we still missing a ‘White Impermanence’? Why don’t we bring her back with us, perhaps she has talents.” Niu Geng Jie tried to seek out a chance at life for the abandoned child.
“Extremely talentless, don’t waste your efforts.” The man in black referred to as Big Brother is the Yan w.a.n.g[17] or “h.e.l.l King” of the h.e.l.l King Sect, he said the two sentences without an ounce of pity, then continued to sip his wine. In his mind, the law of the jungle is only natural, useless people have no need to survive.
“Say something Number Two, don’t just keep staring!” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan caught a glimpse of Bai Yun’s handsome, calm face and rushed to try and rope him in. Since the only person inside the h.e.l.l King Sect capable of convincing Yan w.a.n.g is the silver-tongued Civil Judge.
“Big Brother is right, the child is no martial arts material, even if we bring her back, she won’t escape the fate of being eliminated.” Bai Yun moved to stir the hot soup before him, but his gaze never left the little girl. For the weak, their initial and ultimate fate is always death.
The child’s feeble body shook slightly, her fingers lost control and loosened their grip on the sticky sweet candied haws. She nervously picked it up, her actions stiff, but her pale white lips showed a small smile. The tip of her pink tongue lightly licked the candied haws, it was as it the sweetness lifted her spirits, she returned to her previous position and continued to wait motionlessly.
“But,” Bai Yun paused slightly, secretly cheering for the little girl’s amazing willpower. “We don’t actually need someone who is extremely gifted in martial arts, what we need is—”
“A daughter!” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan quickly interjected.
Bai Yun raised a puzzled eyebrow, not expecting s.h.i.+ Yan Guan to come up with something so whimsical and absurd. He was originally going to say “maid”.
Yan w.a.n.g furrowed his broad and angular brows, his unhappy demeanour showed his disapproval.
“You want to adopt a ‘daughter’?!” Was he afraid that because we are a.s.sa.s.sins we won’t be able to have any children ourselves,[18] so he’s going to adopt one now to nail in the coffin and attend to them on their deathbeds?
“Having a ‘flower’ around the mansion is not too much to ask for.” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan grinned. And the h.e.l.l King Sect can be said to have “an overabundance of Yang and a deficiency of Yin”,[19] a total sausage fest, filled with smelly men.
“I disagree.” Yan w.a.n.g objected without thinking.
“Number One, it doesn’t really hurt us to have this girl around, so let’s take her in.” Niu Geng Jie stepped in to plead for the little girl as well. If he doesn’t lend a helping hand now, within moments, the little girl would die in the snow.
Currently, there are two proponents against one opponent, and this opponent just so happens to be the toughest to convince. s.h.i.+ Yan Guan and Niu Geng Jie put all their hopes on the undecided vote—one that belongs to Bai Yun. “Number Two!” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan impatiently grabbed away the spoon that Bai Yun was about to put into his mouth and said, “You agree with us, right?” His thick eyebrows arched high on his face, as if secretly threatening Bai Yun.
Bai Yun looked at two threatening yet hope-filled faces with amus.e.m.e.nt.
“So if I agree, does that mean Big Brother won’t object either?” Yan Guan and Geng Jie are being too naive, even if he raises both hands in agreement, a single word of reb.u.t.tal from Big Brother cancels out everything.
Yan w.a.n.g looked gropingly at Bai Yun for quite some time, before issuing a light grunt of approval.
“Number Four, give me back the spoon first, then go and bring the little girl over here.” He’s never been a soft-hearted person, but the little life before his eyes depended on his nod of approval, saving her simply meant another mouth to feed, so why not?
s.h.i.+ Yan Guan received his instructions, happily dropped the spoon and leapt out through the window.
“Server, please prepare some hot ginger soup for her, she will need it.” Niu Geng Jie carefully instructed, getting rid of the extra set of ears in the process.
“Your reason?” Yan w.a.n.g swept a cold glance over Bai Yun, his eerie and vaguely evil pine green eyes burned with imperceptible flames. He didn’t think that the thoughtful Civil Judge would not know that h.e.l.l King Sect never takes in a useless person.
“We’ve killed enough people with our hands, even countless children the same age as her. I’ve always wanted to know—which one is easier, killing or saving?” Bai Yun replied casually.
Having known him for more than a decade, how could he not know the question on Yan w.a.n.g’s mind? None of them are good-hearted people, and they’ve always steered away from charity work. If they really have to talk about “conscience”, then it’s probably long been devoured by the wild dogs on the roadside. Therefore it’s no wonder that Yan w.a.n.g couldn’t understand his sudden act of kindness.
An act of kindness? From a ruthless killer?
Bai Yun laughed inwardly to himself, lightly shaking off the sudden idea. “Big Brother, don’t worry, I’ll try not to increase the burden on the h.e.l.l King Sect.”
His guarantee earned a dismissive scoff of contempt from Yan w.a.n.g.
A smiling s.h.i.+ Yan Guan held a startled and crying girl in his arms as he jumped back into his seat. “She must be chilled to the marrow …. It’s okay, don’t cry, these uncles here aren’t bad people.” s.h.i.+ Yan Guan tried to comfort her.