After hearing the sound of the cups and teapot breaking on the floor, Gao Qing was still hesitating but Jinxia, who was beside him, without caring anymore rushed in at once, she broke down the door, then frantically stopped her steps…
One of Lu Yi’s hands was gripping Shangguan Xi’s waist, their faces were very close, most importantly Shangguan Xi’s face looked shocked.
“This.. .Lu Daren, Shangguan Bangzhu is from an honorable family! You’re being inappropriate.” Jinxia frowned, her emotions tightened.
Gao Qing and YangYue couldn’t say anything but from their eyes it appeared that they had the same thought as Lu Yi, understanding that he intended to use his power to compel Shangguan Xi.
Lu Yi calmly let go of Shangguan Xi and furrowed his eyebrows: “I’m just exchanging moves with Shangguan Bangzhu, you guys broke down the door for such a small matter, for what? You, clean these items on the floor.” The order was given to Jinxia.
Shangguan Xi also stood up straight again, her demeanor returning to normal. “I’ve heard of Lu Jingli’s extraordinary skills. Witnessing it today, the rumour is indeed true. This ordinary woman claims defeat, I’m very impressed.
Was it really just ‘exchanging moves’?
Jinxia rolled her two eyeballs to look at them in disbelief but did not seem to find any clues.
“Still not cleaning? Clear this quickly!” Lu Yi looked at Jinxia, his tone of voice beginning to be displeased.
There was no other way, Jinxia could only collect the porcelain fragments, but there was no place to throw them away, therefore she collected them all and put them under her skirts, then they were thrown over the lake.
Hearing the sound of the porcelain fragments being thrown into the water, the top of Lu Yi’s lips raised, not caring anymore. After that, Lu Yi reached out to close the door, turned his body to Shangguan Xi, laughed a little and said: “That night, with his abilities, he was able to fight with me really well on the ship.”
Seeing that Shangguan Xi was not saying anything, he continued, “In the end, he’s indeed a loyal and caring person, even though he wasn’t able to save Sha Xiuzhu. He dared to break into the prison department and tried to help a prisoner escape, but then he also got himself trapped inside. I’m certain this problem is making your head hurt, right?”
Shangguan Xi raised her head to look at him, not confessing nor denying his affirmation. “If Lu Daren still wants to continue talking about this issue, how about we talk about the price instead?”
“Shangguan Bangzhu is used to dealing with rainstorms, your words are quite clear and blunt.”
Lu Yi praised her while laughing a little.
Wearing a spiky bamboo hat, Jinxia was bored of standing on the deck of the boat. She looked over at Wu’An Gang’s ship. At the stern of the ship, there was a young crew member wearing rain-proof clothing and a pointed bamboo hat; a sword was hanging on his waist. Become aware of Jinxia’s continuous examination of the ship, he turned and coldly glared at her.
Jinxia wasn’t scared and she glared at him back, not blinking at all. Without any fear or embarrassment, they kept glaring at each other.
He had never met anyone like this. Not too long after, the man, feeling uncomfortable, averted his eyes. Jinxia shook her head, still inspecting him from top to bottom, and then she was done.
“You know, you’re a fine lady, it’s easy to misunderstand when you look at people like that.” Gao Qin witnessed the previous scene. He couldn’t help but shake his head.
Jinxia turned and looked at him: “Why would they misunderstand?”
He could see the black and white of her eyes at a close distance, especially when she stared at people without blinking. Gao Qing felt his hair standing up straight and turned his body away: “What’s wrong with you, aren’t your eyes sore?”
“They are a bit sore.” Jinxia blinked a few times to relax her eyes, “The master said, being a constable requires a lot of energy. At least, when confronted face to face, you should never be a coward, or at the very least don’t lose… You, turn around, let’s try!”
“I don’t want to.”
Gao Qing refused with firmness.
YangYue supported him, “Don’t play this game with her, her ability can subdue an eagle.”
Submitting wild eagles is the first step to tame them. When the hawkers and the eagle look at each other, they must not avoid each other’s stare even for a moment. Being able to look at each other for one day is the basic step, but for three days is considered normal.
While they were talking, Shangguan Xi came out of the room; her expression was back to normal, she had only a slight frown between her eyebrows. She briefly smiled at YangYue and Jinxia but didn’t give Jinxia a chance to ask anything, then she jumped back on Wu’An Gang’s ship. As soon as the crew members received the orders, the ship departed, causing rippling waves on the water.
“You see that young man, his face is reddish, his neck muscle is not the same as ordinary people, it’s more open.” Jinxia poked YangYue, “He looks like an expert in using his fists, a *Neijia master. The sword on his waist is new, it seems just a decoration.”
*[Neijia = Or can be called Internal style, a type of kung fu that focuses on internal strength, TN]
“Neijia master…” YangYue chuckled, “Why are you still staring at him?”
“Just looking around doesn’t hurt us, don’t you dare to?” Jinxia leaned closer to his ear, “She brought a fists expert, that means she came here prepared beforehand. Why were we so worried?”
“Are you disappointed that you didn’t get to fight?” YangYue laughed.
“That’s not true, I just think that Lu Daren is disappointed for not being able to take advantage of her…” Jinxia smiled and shook her head but at the corner of her eyes she caught a glimpse of the beautiful embroidery of Lu Yi’s bottom skirt. She reacted quickly, adding other words without hesitation: “But Lu Daren is definitely not someone like that! That incident, I had carefully considered and reflected upon it, I shouldn’t have compared a gentleman’s nature to a villain, how rude of me!”
*[What she meant was that she shouldn’t have judged Lu Yi’s character and compared it to a commoner who would’ve taken advantage of Shangguan Xi, TN]
YangYue was surprised for a moment, but because they had been close for many years, he immediately understood the situation, hence he raised his voice on purpose in response to her: “It’s good that you understand. Next time, don’t raise suspicions and disrespect Lu Daren.”
Jinxia nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: “Yes, yes, you’re right. People like Lu Daren have great manners, they are beautiful like the color of flowers, even gods had to stand still and feel attached…*”
*[Basically this person is amazing, or beyond amazing, from his manners to his appearance, even god and deity had to stop to take a look, unable to move on. TN]
Gao Qing didn’t understand what they were babbling about but Lu Yi did. His hands folded in front of his chest, his head nodded and interrupting them he said, “The poem of the Nine Song by Yun Zhongjun. I didn’t think you would ever read this book.”
“Daren, why did you come out here?” Jinxia turned around, she looked at Lu Yi and pretended to be surprised.
Lu Yi ignored her acting, instead he asked, “What are the last two sentences in Yun Zhongjun’s poem?”
“Thinking about a husband…”
Just recalling it, Jinxia immediately sensed something was wrong and stopped reciting it. In fact the last two sentences were ‘Thinking about a husband and taking a deep breath, uneasiness in the heart breaks the peace’: these two lines were describing the long days of worrying about one’s husband, and the days of worry and uneasiness.
Lu Yi looked at her with a smile: “Do you admire me?”
Jinxia’s face stiffened. As of right now, she really wanted to bite her tongue. Praise him, praise him, why didn’t I just praise him? Why did I have to include beautiful words, and poetry? This was like throwing a rock at her own feet. Based on her temperament, at this time she would say without thinking ‘please dream on, indeed this master won’t like you!’ but YangYue pinched her arm just in time. It hurt so much that she choked on her words.
“Daren is still young and promising. In the Capital, there are many ladies that admire Daren, not just her.” YangYue laughed while helping her answer.
“Is that true?”
Lu Yi leaned slightly, still asking her.
Jinxia looked at him, she felt suffocated, enough to vomit blood: “Let’s just say the important thing is that you’re happy.”
Lu Yi pretended to ponder her answer. After a while, he sighed. “This only adds more worries, nothing to be happy about.”
He shook his head, turned around and went back to the cabin, leaving Jinxia with smoke coming out of her body [eyes, nose, ears and mouth].
The boat kept going slowly in the foggy and drizzling rain.
YangYue, wearing a rain-proof palm cloth, had his hand hanging on the boat’s canopy, his eyes were looking far ahead, and wondered: “Why is there no movement? Is Zhai Lanye’s family not interested in Lu Daren? That’s impossible… Master Xia, can we take a break? You’re a waster, if you keep pulling on the palm branches, this outfit will no longer be of any use.”
Jinxia, full of anger with nowhere to vent, she could only catch him, using her power to break off the palm branches on his clothes, scattering them everywhere on the boat.
“He was lucky to be reincarcerated in a good family and to have a good father. Based on what grounds do people have to respect him?” She said in a whisper.
“You can’t talk like that, calm down and be fair,” Seeing the palm branches on his clothes that were almost fully pulled, he dodged and moved away a few steps. “Without talking about Lu Daren’s background, his appearance and character are enough to mesmerize others. You didn’t hear what the people in our department said? Even if Wei Jie* was alive, he would still be no match for him.”
*[Wei Jie = One of the four most handsome people in Ancient China. He had the weirdest death out of the four. Because of having a handsome face, there were a lot of ladies following him around, peeking at him, making him feel tiresome, unable to eat properly. After a while, he got sick and died. TN]
Jinxia said with a mocking voice: “That Wei Jie died because of having too many people surrounding him. A man must either be good at poetry or good at fighting. What’s the point of having a handsome face? It’s of no use.”
“The problem is that he’s good both at poetry and martial arts.”
Jinxia could not say anything for a moment, then under her breath she hissed: “So what? This master is not bad either.”
A little at a time, a soft and faint melody was spreading on the lake, the sounds were blown away by the wind, sometimes the music got cut off, but certainly it could still be heard. Jinxia listened with attention for a while, in order to locate the correct direction, since there were eight to nine boats in the vicinity of their ship.
“Which boat is Zhai Lanye’s?” YangYue peeked from the ship.
Jinxia said slowly, “I have found out Ms. Zhai is very good at music and poetry, she is a virtuous zither player.”
Not long after, a tower ship was slowly coming out from the foggy rain: the carvings and paintings of the boat were extraordinary. From the inside came the peaceful and harmonious sound of a zither, it could be heard throughout the drizzling rain. Observing further, the lanterns hanging on the boat had ‘Zhai’ written on them: this was the right boat. Gao Qing hurried into the cabin and reported to Lu Yi; he received orders and came out, then he commanded the boat to be directed there.
Just as their watercraft approached, Gao Qing said in a clear voice: “My Daren just heard a beautiful and elegant zither sound, he was wondering if he could meet the player.”
A moment later, a round female maid leaned out. “My lady had been using the sound of zither to befriend others. If you want to meet, how about playing a song first?”
Not waiting for Gao Qing to answer, Jinxia quickly said while laughing: “Of course, of course, just wait a bit.”
She jumped into the cabin, completely forgetting what had happened before. She went up to Lu Yi and reported: “Daren, this Miss Zhai is really different from others, she wants to make friends using zither… You really should play a song for her.” While saying that, she placed the zither that was on the side in front of Lu Yi.
She had always heard Lu Yi’s martial arts were exceptional, but she’d never heard he was good at playing the zither. Jinxia guessed he certainly couldn’t and was determined in her heart to see him become a fool.
Maybe because she was young or had the temperament of a child, all her feelings and thoughts were written on her face; it was impossible to hide her intentions from others. Lu Yi glanced at her, who was smiling brightly. He could already guess what she wanted, but he ignored her. He looked down at the zither and, after a few moments, he still hadn’t raised his hands to play the instrument.
After hearing the sound of the cups and teapot breaking on the floor, Gao Qing was still hesitating but Jinxia, who was beside him, without caring anymore rushed in at once, she broke down the door, then frantically stopped her steps…
One of Lu Yi’s hands was gripping Shangguan Xi’s waist, their faces were very close, most importantly Shangguan Xi’s face looked shocked.
“This.. .Lu Daren, Shangguan Bangzhu is from an honorable family! You’re being inappropriate.” Jinxia frowned, her emotions tightened.
Gao Qing and YangYue couldn’t say anything but from their eyes it appeared that they had the same thought as Lu Yi, understanding that he intended to use his power to compel Shangguan Xi.
Lu Yi calmly let go of Shangguan Xi and furrowed his eyebrows: “I’m just exchanging moves with Shangguan Bangzhu, you guys broke down the door for such a small matter, for what? You, clean these items on the floor.” The order was given to Jinxia.
Shangguan Xi also stood up straight again, her demeanor returning to normal. “I’ve heard of Lu Jingli’s extraordinary skills. Witnessing it today, the rumour is indeed true. This ordinary woman claims defeat, I’m very impressed.
Was it really just ‘exchanging moves’?
Jinxia rolled her two eyeballs to look at them in disbelief but did not seem to find any clues.
“Still not cleaning? Clear this quickly!” Lu Yi looked at Jinxia, his tone of voice beginning to be displeased.
There was no other way, Jinxia could only collect the porcelain fragments, but there was no place to throw them away, therefore she collected them all and put them under her skirts, then they were thrown over the lake.
Hearing the sound of the porcelain fragments being thrown into the water, the top of Lu Yi’s lips raised, not caring anymore. After that, Lu Yi reached out to close the door, turned his body to Shangguan Xi, laughed a little and said: “That night, with his abilities, he was able to fight with me really well on the ship.”
Seeing that Shangguan Xi was not saying anything, he continued, “In the end, he’s indeed a loyal and caring person, even though he wasn’t able to save Sha Xiuzhu. He dared to break into the prison department and tried to help a prisoner escape, but then he also got himself trapped inside. I’m certain this problem is making your head hurt, right?”
Shangguan Xi raised her head to look at him, not confessing nor denying his affirmation. “If Lu Daren still wants to continue talking about this issue, how about we talk about the price instead?”
“Shangguan Bangzhu is used to dealing with rainstorms, your words are quite clear and blunt.”
Lu Yi praised her while laughing a little.
Wearing a spiky bamboo hat, Jinxia was bored of standing on the deck of the boat. She looked over at Wu’An Gang’s ship. At the stern of the ship, there was a young crew member wearing rain-proof clothing and a pointed bamboo hat; a sword was hanging on his waist. Become aware of Jinxia’s continuous examination of the ship, he turned and coldly glared at her.
Jinxia wasn’t scared and she glared at him back, not blinking at all. Without any fear or embarrassment, they kept glaring at each other.
He had never met anyone like this. Not too long after, the man, feeling uncomfortable, averted his eyes. Jinxia shook her head, still inspecting him from top to bottom, and then she was done.
“You know, you’re a fine lady, it’s easy to misunderstand when you look at people like that.” Gao Qin witnessed the previous scene. He couldn’t help but shake his head.
Jinxia turned and looked at him: “Why would they misunderstand?”
He could see the black and white of her eyes at a close distance, especially when she stared at people without blinking. Gao Qing felt his hair standing up straight and turned his body away: “What’s wrong with you, aren’t your eyes sore?”
“They are a bit sore.” Jinxia blinked a few times to relax her eyes, “The master said, being a constable requires a lot of energy. At least, when confronted face to face, you should never be a coward, or at the very least don’t lose… You, turn around, let’s try!”
“I don’t want to.”
Gao Qing refused with firmness.
YangYue supported him, “Don’t play this game with her, her ability can subdue an eagle.”
Submitting wild eagles is the first step to tame them. When the hawkers and the eagle look at each other, they must not avoid each other’s stare even for a moment. Being able to look at each other for one day is the basic step, but for three days is considered normal.
While they were talking, Shangguan Xi came out of the room; her expression was back to normal, she had only a slight frown between her eyebrows. She briefly smiled at YangYue and Jinxia but didn’t give Jinxia a chance to ask anything, then she jumped back on Wu’An Gang’s ship. As soon as the crew members received the orders, the ship departed, causing rippling waves on the water.
“You see that young man, his face is reddish, his neck muscle is not the same as ordinary people, it’s more open.” Jinxia poked YangYue, “He looks like an expert in using his fists, a *Neijia master. The sword on his waist is new, it seems just a decoration.”
*[Neijia = Or can be called Internal style, a type of kung fu that focuses on internal strength, TN]
“Neijia master…” YangYue chuckled, “Why are you still staring at him?”
“Just looking around doesn’t hurt us, don’t you dare to?” Jinxia leaned closer to his ear, “She brought a fists expert, that means she came here prepared beforehand. Why were we so worried?”
“Are you disappointed that you didn’t get to fight?” YangYue laughed.
“That’s not true, I just think that Lu Daren is disappointed for not being able to take advantage of her…” Jinxia smiled and shook her head but at the corner of her eyes she caught a glimpse of the beautiful embroidery of Lu Yi’s bottom skirt. She reacted quickly, adding other words without hesitation: “But Lu Daren is definitely not someone like that! That incident, I had carefully considered and reflected upon it, I shouldn’t have compared a gentleman’s nature to a villain, how rude of me!”
*[What she meant was that she shouldn’t have judged Lu Yi’s character and compared it to a commoner who would’ve taken advantage of Shangguan Xi, TN]
YangYue was surprised for a moment, but because they had been close for many years, he immediately understood the situation, hence he raised his voice on purpose in response to her: “It’s good that you understand. Next time, don’t raise suspicions and disrespect Lu Daren.”
Jinxia nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: “Yes, yes, you’re right. People like Lu Daren have great manners, they are beautiful like the color of flowers, even gods had to stand still and feel attached…*”
*[Basically this person is amazing, or beyond amazing, from his manners to his appearance, even god and deity had to stop to take a look, unable to move on. TN]
Gao Qing didn’t understand what they were babbling about but Lu Yi did. His hands folded in front of his chest, his head nodded and interrupting them he said, “The poem of the Nine Song by Yun Zhongjun. I didn’t think you would ever read this book.”
“Daren, why did you come out here?” Jinxia turned around, she looked at Lu Yi and pretended to be surprised.
Lu Yi ignored her acting, instead he asked, “What are the last two sentences in Yun Zhongjun’s poem?”
“Thinking about a husband…”
Just recalling it, Jinxia immediately sensed something was wrong and stopped reciting it. In fact the last two sentences were ‘Thinking about a husband and taking a deep breath, uneasiness in the heart breaks the peace’: these two lines were describing the long days of worrying about one’s husband, and the days of worry and uneasiness.
Lu Yi looked at her with a smile: “Do you admire me?”
Jinxia’s face stiffened. As of right now, she really wanted to bite her tongue. Praise him, praise him, why didn’t I just praise him? Why did I have to include beautiful words, and poetry? This was like throwing a rock at her own feet. Based on her temperament, at this time she would say without thinking ‘please dream on, indeed this master won’t like you!’ but YangYue pinched her arm just in time. It hurt so much that she choked on her words.
“Daren is still young and promising. In the Capital, there are many ladies that admire Daren, not just her.” YangYue laughed while helping her answer.
“Is that true?”
Lu Yi leaned slightly, still asking her.
Jinxia looked at him, she felt suffocated, enough to vomit blood: “Let’s just say the important thing is that you’re happy.”
Lu Yi pretended to ponder her answer. After a while, he sighed. “This only adds more worries, nothing to be happy about.”
He shook his head, turned around and went back to the cabin, leaving Jinxia with smoke coming out of her body [eyes, nose, ears and mouth].
The boat kept going slowly in the foggy and drizzling rain.
YangYue, wearing a rain-proof palm cloth, had his hand hanging on the boat’s canopy, his eyes were looking far ahead, and wondered: “Why is there no movement? Is Zhai Lanye’s family not interested in Lu Daren? That’s impossible… Master Xia, can we take a break? You’re a waster, if you keep pulling on the palm branches, this outfit will no longer be of any use.”
Jinxia, full of anger with nowhere to vent, she could only catch him, using her power to break off the palm branches on his clothes, scattering them everywhere on the boat.
“He was lucky to be reincarcerated in a good family and to have a good father. Based on what grounds do people have to respect him?” She said in a whisper.
“You can’t talk like that, calm down and be fair,” Seeing the palm branches on his clothes that were almost fully pulled, he dodged and moved away a few steps. “Without talking about Lu Daren’s background, his appearance and character are enough to mesmerize others. You didn’t hear what the people in our department said? Even if Wei Jie* was alive, he would still be no match for him.”
*[Wei Jie = One of the four most handsome people in Ancient China. He had the weirdest death out of the four. Because of having a handsome face, there were a lot of ladies following him around, peeking at him, making him feel tiresome, unable to eat properly. After a while, he got sick and died. TN]
Jinxia said with a mocking voice: “That Wei Jie died because of having too many people surrounding him. A man must either be good at poetry or good at fighting. What’s the point of having a handsome face? It’s of no use.”
“The problem is that he’s good both at poetry and martial arts.”
Jinxia could not say anything for a moment, then under her breath she hissed: “So what? This master is not bad either.”
A little at a time, a soft and faint melody was spreading on the lake, the sounds were blown away by the wind, sometimes the music got cut off, but certainly it could still be heard. Jinxia listened with attention for a while, in order to locate the correct direction, since there were eight to nine boats in the vicinity of their ship.
“Which boat is Zhai Lanye’s?” YangYue peeked from the ship.
Jinxia said slowly, “I have found out Ms. Zhai is very good at music and poetry, she is a virtuous zither player.”
Not long after, a tower ship was slowly coming out from the foggy rain: the carvings and paintings of the boat were extraordinary. From the inside came the peaceful and harmonious sound of a zither, it could be heard throughout the drizzling rain. Observing further, the lanterns hanging on the boat had ‘Zhai’ written on them: this was the right boat. Gao Qing hurried into the cabin and reported to Lu Yi; he received orders and came out, then he commanded the boat to be directed there.
Just as their watercraft approached, Gao Qing said in a clear voice: “My Daren just heard a beautiful and elegant zither sound, he was wondering if he could meet the player.”
A moment later, a round female maid leaned out. “My lady had been using the sound of zither to befriend others. If you want to meet, how about playing a song first?”
Not waiting for Gao Qing to answer, Jinxia quickly said while laughing: “Of course, of course, just wait a bit.”
She jumped into the cabin, completely forgetting what had happened before. She went up to Lu Yi and reported: “Daren, this Miss Zhai is really different from others, she wants to make friends using zither… You really should play a song for her.” While saying that, she placed the zither that was on the side in front of Lu Yi.
She had always heard Lu Yi’s martial arts were exceptional, but she’d never heard he was good at playing the zither. Jinxia guessed he certainly couldn’t and was determined in her heart to see him become a fool.
Maybe because she was young or had the temperament of a child, all her feelings and thoughts were written on her face; it was impossible to hide her intentions from others. Lu Yi glanced at her, who was smiling brightly. He could already guess what she wanted, but he ignored her. He looked down at the zither and, after a few moments, he still hadn’t raised his hands to play the instrument.
