Book 1: Winds Begin to Blow in Tai Yuan
Chapter 41 – Discussing Chest Size In Front of the Crowd
“I’ve come to kill!”
The sound of a huge yell shook the heavens and earth, trembling the guns of all of the soldiers in front. That person’s hand shook and a large handful of rocks scattered out showering the skies like rain. Powerful gusts sounded with xiu xiu sounds, yet they weren’t directed at people. The soldiers were shocked when they saw spinning, whistling pebbles shoot over like black lightning and plug their gun barrels with cha sounds, completely blocking up their muskets. Some rocks that had penetrated deeper had directly caused explosions, with booming noises bursting open the shoulders of the guards and making minced flesh and blood scatter out.
The person didn’t even look after flinging out the rocks. With a flip of his body a black-colored cloak swept out in an arc along the ground, and the guards of Prince Qi behind Yuan Zhaoxu quickly tumbled away while wailing.
Yuan Zhaoxu shouted in a deep voice. “From where did this guest come!” Welcoming the newcomer with a raised fist, the two people’s fists collided against each other. Yuan Zhaoxu seemed to have come out slightly worse in that confrontation, and consecutively stumbled back several steps with deng deng deng sounds. The guards behind him, because many of their brothers had died when that newcomer first appeared, and also because they saw Yuan Zhaoxu be at a disadvantage, were all frozen in place and hesitating for a time whether to charge up.
That person laughed loudly, only now answering. “A guest of murder, I come when I please!” With a turn of his body he had already arrived in front of Meng Fuyao. Stretching out a palm to press down the Meng Fuyao who was struggling to get up, he brandished his fingers then softly chuckled saying, “Woman, sorry, I’ll return your true qi back to you.”
That person’s voice was as deep and thick as his chest, containing a fresh clear aura characteristic of pines in the mountain wilderness. The moment Meng Fuyao heard it she knew that Zhan Bei Ye had arrived. In actuality, even if she wasn’t pulled into his embrace she still would’ve known it was him – besides him, who else could speak so freely?
At the same time her whole body loosened, and that kind of faint binding and suppressing feeling vanished. That familiar true qi that belonged to her once again began to surge inside her dantian, swiftly flowing in that universe. Meng Fuyao’s heart relaxed, but after her extreme joy came another kind of extreme rage. She couldn’t help but twist around, using her fist to pummel Zhan Bei Ye’s nose with a thudding sound.
How could Zhan Bei Ye have expected this girl would turn against her old friend? With this punch blood gushed out of his nose, and he immediately turned into a painted opera face[1]. Seeing his sorry state, Meng Fuyao was unable to restrain a loud laugh. Yet right after she laughed she collected herself again, turning her eyes to look at Yun Hen whose body was half-covered in blood, then looking at the Yuan Zhaoxu behind them. Her expression darkened.
Yuan Zhaoxu raised his eyes to smile at her, then turned around to face the Yan Lie who had chased over with a harsh countenance. He suddenly leaned over, as if his strength was used up from that clash of fists earlier, and he tipped towards Yan Lie’s direction.
Yan Lie had no choice but to go and support him. His hand had just stretched out, when the other suddenly smiled faintly.
In his smile contained a resplendent l.u.s.ter, as if the entire horizon’s moonlight and star’s glow were swaying, oscillating out a sky of dream-like illusions. Inside the mirage was spring gra.s.s like smoke and sandy river banks; the rippling glow from the brook’s water reflecting sunlight, flas.h.i.+ng with thousands of silvery glimmers.
That kind of swaying that dazzled the eye with ten thousand zhang of rich colors. As Yan Lie saw this kind of smile, he only felt his mind’s consciousness also starting to sway and undulate layer by layer, undulating into soft clouds and faint mist, undulating until he drowned inside.
He suddenly fell down.
The guards ran over to support him. Yuan Zhaoxu lightly stepped over his body, faintly smiling and saying, “Ai, unfortunate, looks like the Duke was poisoned by that guest of murder just now.” ——–
Zhan Bei Ye protected Meng Fuyao and Yun Hen as they charged forwards, while his gaze landed on Meng Fuyao’s shoulder. That wound, because of all the rus.h.i.+ng around on the journey, had split open yet again with blackish-red blood traces.
His gaze then lowered to Fuyao’s skirts, where drips of blood marks pierced the eyes. Zhan Bei Ye furrowed his brows, and a strand of remorse and anger flashed through his eyes. After thinking a bit, he scooped out a exquisite jade bottle from his robes, then extended his hand to tear the clothes on Meng Fuyao’s shoulder.
Meng Fuyao immediately yelled loudly with a fierce voice. “What are you doing!”
Zhan Bei Ye’s hand that held the bottle froze. With a turn of her eyes Fuyao saw that thing in his hands, and her hand darted out to grab it over. Then with an even more angry and fierce tone she said, “Look at the situation right now, and you still want to help me wrap my wounds? This stuff I’ll take, it’ll count as me receiving your apology.”
Zhan Bei Ye stared open-eyed as she impolitely stuffed that bottle of Nemesis royalty tribute, best quality knife wound medicine that most princes would be hard-pressed to get, into her robes. A little helpless, he rubbed his nose, and with that rub his hand became covered in blood. Zhan Bei Ye stared dazedly at his b.l.o.o.d.y hand, and suddenly thought that he seemed to have become a little detestable.
Ai, ever since he had met this woman, everything had become a mess. Matters no longer mattered, and him Zhan Bei Ye was also no longer Zhan Bei Ye anymore.
Seeing that Meng Fuyao had still not stopped looking back, Zhan Bei Ye said without any positive feelings, “What are you looking at?”
Fuyao immediately responded. “None of your business.”
Zhan Bei Ye drew back the corners of his mouth. The fresh blood on his nose had clotted, and he looked particularly comical as he bitterly said, “You don’t need to look anymore, I’ll admit he and I were putting on a two-man act.”
Meng Fuyao curled her lips and said, “I just knew that you weren’t that amazing.” She saw that Yuan Zhaoxu had already turned his back away. Yet, the hand behind his back gave her a wave with an unknown meaning.
Fuyao’s heart turned sour as she thought, this person truly was unfathomable. All of everyone’s movements seemed to be within his calculations, how scary …
This thought had not yet finished before the three people had already charged to the second palace gate, their arrival hurried. Long bows had already lost their effectiveness. General Pei’s hand gestured, and the blades and spears of the soldiers neatly stacked while metal clas.h.i.+ng noises sounded. Pei Yuan piercingly laughed. “What use is charging over here? Are the five hundred guards here not enough to send you packing? Plus there is still General Fang’s great army —-”
Talking to here she suddenly stopped. Father and daughter looked at each other, only then realizing that when their entire attention was focused on the male and female pair sprinting over murderously, they had actually not discovered that Fang Minghe’s large army was unexpectedly not continuing through the gates.
Immediately turning her head, Pei Yuan looked out through the opened gap of the gate and vaguely saw a commotion in the great army. The originally already opened first palace gate was suddenly closed again, however it wasn’t clear at first glance what had happened.
In this period of distraction from looking over, the figure of the Zhan Bei Ye behind her suddenly flickered and rushed towards General Pei. Shocked, Pei Yuan hurriedly went to help. However, Zhan Bei Ye was actually making a feint. With a twist of his body and a sweep of his robes he had already changed positions, and conversely it turned into Pei Yuan herself charging into his hands.
Wildly laughing as he latched onto Pei Yuan’s throat with a grab, Zhan Bei Ye said, “Hey, you woman, how come every time you get dumber and dumber?”
General Pei made a wrong judgment of the situation which led to his beloved daughter being captured, causing him to be so angry that his eyebrows flew up. Just when he was about to shout commands to the soldiers to save her, a black shadow flashed by his side like a ghost – Meng Fuyao’s whip had already shot over with air-sc.r.a.ping sounds. She didn’t close in either, staying far away while whipping left and right. The dark whip gusts melded into innumerable whip shadows, making one unable to discern which were fake and which were real. He could only desperately dodge without rest, being forced by Meng Fuyao to jump farther and farther away from Pei Yuan.
Yun Hen then guarded them in front, his long sword dancing so that not even a drop of water could enter, forcefully stopping the soldiers that were flocking over.
Zhan Bei Ye’s dark brows soared like a sword unsheathing, and his loud laughter could be heard several li out. As he clutched Pei Yuan’s throat and abruptly dragged her with him, he said, “How unlucky! This Prince truly doesn’t want to touch this wench of yours!”
Pei Yuan was so furious her face paled as if she was going to faint. She pleadingly looked at General Pei, but to no avail. Meng Fuyao’s upward leaping and downward flicking whip swept out with cracking sounds, and General Pei tried several times to rush closer without success.
As Fuyao commanded the whip she shouted happily, “Open the gates! Open the gates more! Otherwise the chest of your family’s Pei Princess, is going to be squeezed flat!”
Those two men looked at each other as their faces immediately showed helpless expressions, thinking that this woman Meng Fuyao not only talked without any inhibitions, she also was quite vicious. In front of the Tai Yuan palace gate, in the midst of thousands of soldiers, she rampantly discussed the yet-to-be married Pei Princess’ chest. How was the other party supposed to conduct herself as a human being in the future?[2]
Although the two men didn’t care how Pei Yuan was going to conduct herself, and also didn’t consider her as a human being, they still felt that Meng Fuyao was utterly shameless.
Fuyao’s clear ringing laughter traveled across several gates. The hand-clasped and turning Yuan Zhaoxu suddenly paused, then faintly smiled. His long eyelashes drooped down, covering over his profound, changing eyes like mist.
In his bosom, Master Yuanbao suddenly poked its head out to glance back. As it made zhi zhi noises, its eyes were full of extreme disdain. With a lowered look Yuan Zhaoxu instantly knew what Master Yuanbao was thinking inside its heart right now.
In complete agreement he nodded his head, thoughtfully saying, “You are right, honestly her chest is also quite flat …”
Footnotes
1. Chinese opera masks are face paint decorations that accompany traditional forms of Chinese opera. Some masks are painted all red, so with blood flowing everywhere Zhan Bei Ye looks like one of those masks.
They are in ancient times, so talking about this stuff is a big taboo in public, and a big blow to Pei Yuan’s dignity.