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Liu Family Second Young Master (1)
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Shen Lan Chi bowed towards Zhennan Wang. When getting up again, she discovered that wangye was carrying a big smile on his face. Zhennan Wang, as someone who was normally fierce and iron-blooded, because of this smile, actually became somewhat silly-looking.
Shen Lan Chi suddenly recalled how Lu Qi Yang always smiled frivolously in front of others, but in front of her, he would instead reveal a foolish yet honest smile. Turns out, this honest and silly nature of his that would inadvertently come out was even inherited.
“Shen family girl, what did you come here to this military camp for? There’s only a bunch of dirty old men here, a little girl like you afraid will disdain us.” Zhennan Wang said with a laugh.
“What….what dirty old men…..” Lu Qi Yang grumbled, “I’m very clean.”
Hearing this, Zhennan Wang angrily shot a glare at Lu Qi Yang, shouting, “You’re precisely dirty all over!” After saying this, he turned towards Shen Lan Chi again, his face changing like the stage tricks, blooming with a smile again, “Shen family girl, don’t mind!”
“I was thinking, the heir’s birthday is coming up, yet I’m unable to make up my mind, not knowing what present to give to the heir. That’s why, I thought of coming here to ask the heir. Don’t know what all he wants?” Shen Lan Chi pursed her lips and said in a soft voice.
She was indeed somewhat unable to figure out Lu Qi Yang.
She kept feeling that Lu Qi Yang was the same as her, also having been reborn. But every time she tries to test him, Lu Qi Yang would always be able to avoid her test. Although there were indications, she was always unable to verify them, very annoying.
“Present? He likes anything!” Zhennan Wang slapped Lu Qi Yang’s back, forcing his son forward a few steps, “Feel free to give, as long as it’s from you, he’ll like anything!”
Lu Qi Yang’s back felt a tremor from the slap, softly muttering, “Father, this is for my birthday, not for you. What are you randomly meddling for?”
Hearing Lu Qi Yang’s retort, Zhennan Wang suddenly flew in a rage. He raised his voice and shouted, “Little rascal, how are you speaking to your old man like that? ‘Randomly meddling’? What do you mean randomly meddling?!” At the end, he lowered his voice again and leaned in by Ly Qi Yang’s ear, quietly whispering, “What do you know, your old man, I, back then, was also like a jade tree in the wind, handsome and elegant, known as the number one noble young master of the Chu capital. That’s how I got your mother to marry in through the door!”
Lu Qi Yang slightly shook his shoulder, having a bit of chills.
Pausing for a moment, Zhennan Wang pulled along Song Yan De, directly heading out of the barracks, saying, “You two nicely chat. Yan De and I will go outside to….to….move the rations!”
Once the curtains of the barracks fell, Zhennan Wang’s figure disappeared.
Lu Qi Yang lightly exhaled a breath, softly grumbling, “Really difficult to deal with. What ‘number one noble young master of the Chu capital’, just know to paste gold on his own face.”
“I actually feel wangye is rather honest and frank.” Shen Lan Chi said.
“‘Honest and frank’? When beating me, sure don’t see him being ‘honest and frank’. I have this many old scars on my body, you won’t even feel sorry for me.” Lu Qi Yang said.
“I…I do feel bad for you.” Shen Lan Chi used her finger to curl the ends of her hair, saying, “But, if not for wangye being strict towards you, how can you learn all this martial art? You would’ve long been lost among the wastrels and really turn into an idle bum.”
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
After saying this, she went quiet for a while, then brought up the main topic again, “Heir, what birthday present do you want?”
The young heir secretly glanced at her and then quickly retracted his gaze. A while later, he secretly peeked at her again. With him secretly glancing back and forth like this several times, Shen Lan Chi started laughing and said, “Lu Qi Yang, if you have something you want, just tell your big sister Lan Chi directly, don’t be peeking at me over there like a little mouse.”
“Then, I’ll say it?” Lu Qi Yang straightened his collar and put on a serious look, “I’m just scared that the thing I want is too hard to obtain, so when you hear it, yet unable to find it, you’ll get irritated in the end and want to come beat me.”
“There’s even a treasure I can’t find in this world?” Shen Lan Chi raised her pretty brow, appearing rather unconvinced, “Aside from his Majesty’s hair, what other treasures are there that I can’t obtain? It can’t be that the birthday present you want is his Majesty’s hair, so that you can place into a lantern to burn.”
Hearing her mention the lie he told when he was young, Lu Qi Yang was a bit embarrassed.
“Then I’m going to say it.” He coughed, saying in seriousness, “The thing I want, between the heaven and earth, there’s only one in existence. Surveying across the Chu capital, there’s nothing comparable. It is a national heirloom passed down by Ji Hou[1], enough to make the noblemen among flowers be missing one, also floating full of Ji Kang’s algae[2]. Can you find it?”
Shen Lan Chi blanked.
What…….
What nonsense is this?
Hearing the name ‘national heirloom of Ji Hou’, she was already shocked. Lu Qi Yang normally likes to collect various past dynasty treasures. This, she knew. But, she thought, that was nothing more than what Lu Qi Yang used to put up an appearance as a wastrel. Who knew that he really wanted some ‘heirloom of Ji Hou’. Where will she go to find this?
‘The noblemen among flowers missing one’ was actually easy to figure out. That certainly must be related to plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum[3]. Her name was Lan(orchid), so perhaps this guy wants a pot of orchid to raise at home, so as to ‘see the object and think of the person’?
Seeing her stumped, Lu Qi Yang couldn’t stop laughing. After wobblingly laughing for a while, he said: “After you go back, carefully ponder over it. When my birthday comes, I just want this present and don’t want anything else. Even if you’re the one bringing it, I will also throw it out.”
Shen Lan Chi was helpless and could only respond with ‘fine’.
When walking out of the barracks, she noticed that Zhennan Wang was still pitifully guarding outside. The weather was freezing cold, the snow also heavy, but Zhennan Wang was like a stone standing in the snow, his shoulders and head all having accumulated a large pile of snow.
“Yo! Leaving already?” Seeing Shen Lan Chi come out, Zhennan Wang rubbed his hands, breathing out a puff of white air and saying with a smile, “Let the little rascal…..let my family’s Qi Yang send you. Just bringing along a few servant girls, what if you run into some lecher on the way?”
Zhennan Wang’s kind offer was hard to turn down. Shen Lan Chi could only comply.
Shen Lan Chi came riding in a horse carriage, so Lu Qi Yang led along his own horse and followed along beside her. Exiting the military camp, they saw an entire field of fluttering fine snow. In this bit of time, the earth was already covered in a shallow layer of white. If this snow were to continue for a whole night, then presumably, there will be a beautiful scene of winter tomorrow morning.
Shen Lan Chi lifted the window curtain and looked outside.
Inadvertently, she saw Lu Qi Yang’s side profile. He’d shed away his unserious look from earlier when joking around, his dark eyes filled with seriousness. The sword on his waist was also covered in snow, like fluttering willow catkins.
Noticing Shen Lan Chi staring at him, Lu Qi Yang turned his head, asking, “What are you looking at?”
“Looking at you.” She blossomed with a shallow smile, answering bluntly, “Don’t you know that this miss likes looking at beauties? Seeing that you’re this good-looking, I just glanced a few more times.”
“……Be careful of catching a cold.” Lu Qi Yang reached out and pulled down the curtain, covering up tightly, not letting her lift it again.
Shen Lan Chi clearly was unwilling to concede, wanting to open the window curtains again. With the two of them exerting strength from the inside and outside at the same time, they nearly ripped apart the curtain. Just, unfortunately, Shen Lan Chi’s strength was much weaker than Lu Qi Yang’s, so in the end, she could only let go.
Seeing that there was finally no more movement behind that window curtain, Lu Qi Yang relaxed a breath, the tip of his ears slightly turning red.
Entering the capital city, the surroundings became lively. The roads outside of the city still have snow, but for the roads in the city, even the tiniest bit of snow got melted by the people and horses walking around, very quickly becoming a black stain.
After walking for a while, Shen Lan Chi suddenly heard Lu Qi Yang’s voice sound outside, “Young master Shen? You’re…..on a date again?”
Suddenly hearing ‘young master Shen’ and ‘date’, Shen Lan Chi’s heart jolted, immediately having a bad premonition. She lifted the carriage curtain and stuck her head out. Sure enough, Shen Ting Yuan and Liu Ru Yan were currently sitting at the tea stall by the road.
However, Liu Ru Yan this time still obediently gave in to reality, using a veiled hat to cover her face.
Shen Ting Yuan was sitting upon the long bench. His two hands were originally helping Liu Ru Yan pour tea. Seeing Lu Qi Yang suddenly appear, Shen Ting Yuan immediately placed down the teapot, somewhat awkwardly lowering his head, having an uneasy look.
“Heir, I’m…..I’m merely….drinking tea…..” He softly said.
When lifting his head again, he even saw Shen Lan Chi sticking her head out of the horse carriage. Shen Ting Yuan was greatly shocked. He immediately changed from his stuttering appearance and stood up, saying, “Younger sister!? How come you’re together with the heir again? You’re still not engaged yet. If others were to see, how can that be good…….”
All of this was said in one breath, like flowing clouds and running water, not having the slightest obstruction.
When Lu Qi Yang heard, he clicked his tongue and said, “Big brother-in-law, you don’t feel the least bit guilty saying this?”
“What…..what ‘big brother-in-law’!” Shen Ting Yuan was flustered and said, “Heir, you haven’t even married my younger sister, how can you randomly say this? How is this the proper behavior of a gentleman!”
Just as the two of them were arguing, a young gentleman suddenly walked over from the other side of the street.
This gentleman had a jade crown and brocade belt, and also draped in a light fur cloak, his face elegant and handsome. Clearly, it was a snowy winter day, yet he insisted on holding a folding fan in hand, randomly waving from time to time, occasionally closing with a ‘whoosh’, and occasionally opening with a ‘whoosh’.
Shen Lan Chi recognized him. He was Liu Ru Yan’s di-related second older brother, called Liu Wen.
This Liu Wen wasn’t someone that was easy to deal with. If he were to see Shen Ting Yuan and Liu Ru Yan hanging around here together, then it will be troublesome.
“Stop, stop arguing!” Shen Lan Chi immediately pulled her older brother by the belt, having him pushed towards the horse carriage, “I see the Liu family second young master coming over. If you still want to leave Liu third miss some peace, then quickly go hide in the carriage!”
While they spoke, that Liu Wen sure enough saw Liu Ru Yan’s figure, blurting out, “How come this outfit is a bit familiar? Isn’t this our family’s little sis whose sights are higher than the skies? Who are you waiting for here?”
After saying this, he waved his folding fan and slowly stepped into the tea stall.
As soon as he glanced to the side, Liu Wen just saw Shen Lan Chi standing by the horse carriage. He narrowed his eyes, the folding fan in his hand pointing at Shen Lan Chi as he said, “Yo, Shen family girl. What’s wrong? Did you come to give my younger sister trouble?”
Liu Ru Yan had the veil lifted onto the hat, hurriedly saying, “Second brother thought wrong. Today, I just came out to drink tea with Shen second miss.”
“Ru Yan, you don’t need to hide it.” Liu Wen waved his fan, his tone penetrating with a trace of arrogance. He used the corner of his eye to look at Shen Lan Chi and said, “The people of the Shen family all aren’t good things. I heard Ru Hua and them mention before that this Shen Lan Chi is especially prickly, just knowing to give people trouble.”
Shen Lan Chi: ……
[1] 姬侯 （Ji Hou) – There’s actually very limited information about Ji Hou. He’s the fourth lord of the state of Cao during the Western Zhou dynasty (1046BC – 771BC), the first half of the Zhou dynasty. The Zhou dynasty, in its entirety, lasted around 789years (1046BC – 256BC). This period predates first emperor of China, which was established in the Qin dynasty after the fall of the Zhou dynasty. The Qin dynasty evolved from the state of Qin, which was originally a vassal state under Zhou.
During early history, the system for surnames and clans was also very different, back then only nobles and powerful families held surnames. For example, Ji Hou holds the Ji surname, but of the Cao clan because they ruled the state of Cao. This is also how a lot of new surnames are born. Ji Hou descended from the sixth di son of King Wen of Zhou, who was bestowed Cao as his fief. King Wen of Zhou, also known as Ji Chang, was posthumously honored as the founder of Zhou. He died before Zhou was officially established. His fourth son is someone who is frequently mentioned in novels, the Duke of Zhou, the one who wrote the Rites of Zhou, which is often used to refer to the bedroom rites.
[2] I wanted to note that this Ji Kang (嵇康), his surname is not the same Ji(嵇) as Ji(姬) Hou. Ji Kang, also referred to as Xi Kang, was a poet during the Three Kingdoms period, and one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. The riddle in this chapter will be explained in the next part, so I won’t go further into it, but the algae is referencing one of Ji Kang’s poem. Unfortunately for me, I will be translating it in the later part (;v;).
[3] These four plants are referred to as the four noblemen/gentlemen. They are very common subjects in chinese art and literature, due to them being symbols of virtue. Each of them also represent a different season. Plum blossom for winter, orchid for spring, bamboo for summer, and chrysanthemum for autumn.
T/N: The footnotes actually do have hints about the answer to the riddle. It’s one of those things where it becomes super obvious once you know the answer.
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I can feel the dread of translating ancient poetry radiating through the translator’s note …
thanks for all your hard work .. as for the solution to the riddle I think there are two options: LQY wants SLC herself or he is referring to the pot of wine she has already prepared and is giving her an hint that also he is reborn
My curiosity is eating me alive and so I found a pdf with some of the translated poems. The only ones that mention what you translated as “algae”, are poem IX from “Hexasyllabic verse, Ten Poems” which mentions “plucking duckweed”, and poem VIII from “Poems Presented to My Elder Brother the Cultivated Talent
on His Entry into the Army, Eighteen Poems” which mentions “reed” and sailing on it. Personally, I think Poem IX doesn’t fit here because the message just doesn’t make sense with the riddle. Poem VIII makes sense in the context of the novel and what we know will probably happen in the future, but it doesn’t fit the riddle. So unless the answer isn’t just SLC and has more nuance, I’m lost.
My original message was a bit longer but I somehow hit the comment word limit lol
I can link the .pdf file I found, if you want to cross reference the poem, but if not then ignore this sentence.
Have a nice day~
I think I know which pdf you’re referring to. The poem referenced is specifically Tetrasyllabic Verse, Eleven Poems III, the first line. However, what the author wrote was ‘藻泛兰池’, whereas the pdf text is ‘藻汜蘭沚’. What’s interesting is for ‘藻泛兰池’, majority of the chinese sources use this version of this line. As for ‘藻汜蘭沚’ in the translated pdf it is the only place I’ve found to have written that line that way, no other chinese sources I’ve found supports this version.
my condolences for the upcoming poetry translation 😔🙏 maybe I’m just very used to thinking about messy things, but I really can’t think of LQY asking for anything but SLC herself. but that also doesn’t make any sense to me, bc he’s had several chances to get engaged already and he’s turned it down due to it not being the right time yet. I don’t think the right time is suddenly on his birthday either, so I will wait for the answer to be spoonfed to me 😊