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Heir’s Birthday (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!
The fine snow slowly fluttered down, stopping, then falling. Lu Qi Yang’s birthday came.
Logically speaking, the noble and esteemed heir of a wang manor certainly will hold a grand celebration for his birthday. But, Zhennan Wang was strict, so the pitiful Lu Qi Yang was unable to freely enjoy his birthday. At best, he could only eat a bowl of noodles in the army camp with others. Fortunately, those friends and brothers of his knew that his days were pitiful, so specially went to Flying Immortal Alley to hold a birthday banquet for him, wanting to let the heir have fun.
Lu Qi Yang happily agreed, and at night, he just headed over in the snow. When he arrived at Flying Immortal Alley and entered the private room, he saw those noble young masters that his father called ‘useless wastrel friends of his’ already drinking together, the entire room filled with the fragrance of wine.
The one in the lead was Lu Jing Hua. He was Shanyin Wang family’s second son and normally loves to follow behind him calling out ‘brother Qi Yang’. Next to him, respectively, were Gao Zheng and Zhao Lu, who were both aristocratic young masters that he met in gambling houses and auction houses. They never do anything serious all day and love to be idle the most.
On the far right was someone called Wu Zheng Mo. He came from the upper class Wu family. That Wu family also had connections with the Shen family. Their household once produced several high officials and nobles. Shen Rui’s madam, Wu-shi, precisely came from this Wu family. Just, at present, this Wu family has somewhat declined, needing to let the various in-law families help out in order to gain a foothold in the Chu capital.
Wu Zheng Mo was the Wu family’s di young master, so somewhat arrogant since birth. This time, coming to celebrate Lu Qi Yang’s birthday, he actually brought along his shu younger brother, Wu Xiu Ding. Before Lu Qi Yang came, taking advantage of his drunken state, Wu Zheng Mo already had Wu Xiu Ding ruthless ridiculed and messed with for fun.
“Did you see? Later, when the heir comes in, you will act like a dog and crawl from here to all the way over there, so as to entertain the heir.” Wu Zheng Mo drunkenly said as he used his finger to gesture, “This is my present to the heir!”
Wu Xiu Ding clenched his teeth and didn’t speak, just sitting in his seat with his head down.
“Did you hear me?” Wu Zheng Mo was unhappy, having the wine cup heavily slammed on the table, shouting, “Someone as esteemed as the heir, you normally wouldn’t even be able to see. If not for entertaining the heir, I absolutely wouldn’t have brought you along!”
To the side, Gao Zheng and Zhao Lu also started jeering and cheering.
“Rather than imitating a dog, it’s better to imitate a horse. Let him make some horse sounds, perhaps it will amuse the heir!”
“Imitate what horse? Crawling around like a dog is naturally more fun!”
They all laughed as they staggered around. However, to the side, Lu Jing Hua quietly interrupted, “Forget it, don’t give young master Wu a hard time. Brother Qi Yang certainly won’t like you all doing this kind of thing.”
“What young master? How can Wu Xiu Ding be considered as a legitimate young master!” Wu Zheng Mo hollered.
Right at this time, the door opened. Lu Qi Yang entered half covered in snow. He removed his cloak as he said in surprise, “I just heard something like ‘imitating a dog’, ‘imitating a horse’, and whatnot while outside, which one of you is going to imitate for me? Zhao Lu or Gao Zheng?”
Wu Zheng Mo laughed out loud, “It’s this shu-born from my family! Don’t look at how his appearance doesn’t stand out, his learning is still pretty good. Father even said that he can become a Flower Snatcher (2nd place), or Eyes of Notice (3rd place). Let the future Eyes of Notice imitate a dog for us, won’t that be fun?”
Hearing this, Zhao Lu and Gao Zheng both burst into laughter.
Wu Xiu Ding gripped his fingers, sitting in his seat as his face turned green and red. Amidst the laughter, Lu Jing Hua softly urged, “Forget it, forget it, how can one let a person bark like a dog?”
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
But Gao Zheng and Zhao Lu pretended to not hear, continuing to jeer.
“Wu family young master, hurry up and crawl!”
“The heir has already come, if you don’t crawl, what if you anger the heir?”
Just jeering wasn’t enough for them either, even going to push Wu Xiu Ding. As they pushed and shoved, they had Wu Xiu Ding pushed onto the ground. He wasn’t able to steady his stance, so instantly fell on his two knees. Seeing this scene, the three of them burst into laughter again.
“He’s kneeled! He’s kneeled!”
“This is wanting to imitate a dog or a horse?”
Seeing Wu Xiu Ding still unwilling to move, Wu Zheng Mo pulled a long face and said, “Wu Xiu Ding, you still have a young sister. Whether that younger sister will live well or not in the future, whether it’s getting sold off or properly marrying, will depend on your performance right now.”
Wu Xiu Ding’s face turned red, sternly saying in a low voice, “Young master, my younger sister is also your younger sister!”
This line made just made Wu Zheng Mo somewhat displeased, “Raised by a concubine, also worthy of being this young master’s younger sister? To not have her taken into my room is already an enormous honor. How about, after tonight, I’ll just have her taken in as a tongfang? Just need to change her name. As long as she doesn’t have the Wu surname, then no one will discover!”
Upon hearing this, Wu Xiu Ding was both angry and anxious, having a look of humiliation on his face. In the end, he obediently knelt down, intending to crawl towards Lu Qi Yang’s direction.
Right at this time, Wu Xiu Ding heard a voice.
“Hey, forget it.” Lu Qi Yang who was standing at the door lightly gestured at him to get up, saying, “Wu Xiu Ding is a person. A person can’t be a dog. Unwilling to imitate a dog, that is also having a backbone, a good thing. Switched with someone else, if knowing that barking like a dog can please Wu eldest young master, then afraid would’ve long started barking on the ground happily.”
Wu Xiu Ding lifted his head, just happening to see the heir have his cloak thrown to the servant, and then walking a few steps to the table. This was his first time meeting the heir of the Zhennan Wang Manor, just feeling that his appearance was as beautiful as jade, greatly different from the rumors.
“You’re Wu Xiu Ding?” Lu Qi Yang sat down and turned around, using the wine jug to point at Wu Xiu Ding who was still on the ground, cheerfully saying, “Why don’t you get up, and nicely have some wine and food. If Wu Zheng Mo, this bastard, bullies you again, just come and look for me. I’ll help back you.”
Wu Zheng Mo got amused by the line ‘barking on the ground happily’ from Lu Qi Yang, no longer paying attention to Wu Xiu Ding. Besides, Lu Qi Yang has already opened his mouth. He had no room to refute him, so just laughed, “Yoo, this dog of mine is rather lucky, able to obtain the heir’s favor.”
Lu Qi Yang poured himself a cup of wine, shallowly taking a sip and saying, “Truth be told, I’m the same as your father, feeling that this shu younger brother of yours has great potential. In the future, perhaps he won’t just stop at second place or third place. He might even be the top scorer roaming the streets of the capital on a tall horse.”
Hearing this, those few started laughing again.
“Top, top scorer!” Wu Zheng Mo couldn’t catch his breath from laughing, “Afraid will need him to change to learn martial arts and wait another fifty years before taking the exam!”
Amidst the laughter, Wu Xiu Ding complexion darkened, quietly sitting down. As he lifted his eyes, he saw the heir raising the wine cup towards him, wanting to toast him a cup. Between his brows, there wasn’t the contempt and mockery like with Gao Zheng and them, just quietly smiling.
The group drank a few cups and start chatting about the matters in Chu. Someone said that there was seemingly a plague spreading in the army up north again, don’t know if it was real or not. Someone else said that there’s rumors that Lu Zi Xiang already secretly got engaged, yet unable to guess which family’s young lady it was.
As they chatted, the private room’s door got knocked against.
“Yo, who came this time?” Wu Zhang Mo currently had his leg propped up, letting the servant go open the door. When the door opened, they saw someone standing outside. Although in men’s clothes, her hair tied up in a tall crown, that figure was still a woman’s figure. Carefully looking again, this girl’s appearance was soft and stunning, practically lighting up the room.
Wu Zhang Mo’s eyes lit up, immediately recognizing her and shouting, “Isn’t, isn’t this the An Duke Manor’s Miss Lan Chi?! Come, come, come, come and sit!”
Seeing this many people inside, Shen Lan Chi was also astonished.
In the past life, during Lu Qi Yang’s birthday, she was already engaged. For the sake of avoiding suspicion, she didn’t attend Lu Qi Yang’s birthday banquet, and also didn’t get to drink that jar of fine wine that she’d prepared. This time, she wanted to come to Flying Immortal Alley to personally celebrate Lu Qi Yang’s birthday. Who would’ve expected that when the door opened, there would be this many men inside.
“Come, come, come!” Zhao Lu also immediately got excited, coming up to greet her, “Miss Shen also came to celebrate the heir’s birthday? Our heir is just good-looking, no wonder liked by the girls of the Chu capital!”
Seeing how Zhao Lu was about to touch Shen Lan Chi, Lu Qi Yang blocked him and shouted, “Tugging and pulling with a young lady, how is it proper! As a true gentleman, who would go pull a girl’s hand?”
Getting shouted at by him, Zhao Lu pitifully retracted his hand, inwardly complaining: ‘Could it be that kissing a girl, holding a girl’s hand, one isn’t a proper person? He didn’t believe that the heir has never kissed a girl’s mouth before!’
“What did you come here for?” Lu Qi Yang stood up and walked to the door, tightly blocking before her, like a wall, having the burning gazes behind him cleanly blocked out, “As you can see, there’s only a bunch of wastrel here, don’t come.”
“I…I came to deliver wine for you.” Shen Lan Chi retreated a step, ordering Bi Yu behind her to have that jar of wine offered up, “Hope that heir can marry a beautiful wife soon.” After saying this, she quietly grumbled, “I still want to try a sip myself, who knew that you want to force me to leave.”
“If not forcing you to leave, what else can I do?” Lu Qi Yang glanced at the excited group behind him and pushed her, “With this many people staring at you, how can I relax? So can only harden my heart and force you to leave.”
After saying this, he just had Shen Lan Chi pushed three steps back and then swiftly closed the door to the private room.
Seeing the door close, Wu Zheng Mo dully said, “How come heir let off such a good opportunity?”
Lu Jing Hua blanked, his gaze glued on the that door.
A long time later, he seamlessly lowered his eyes, not saying anything, as if he didn’t hear anything.
Lu Qi Yang didn’t answer, cheerfully returning to the banquet and continuing to drink wine. Everyone drank cup after cup, also asking for the young female musicians to come. For a while, the room filled with the lively sound of the strings and the fragrance of wine. Once Wu Zheng Mo and the others collapsed from drinking, this banquet finally ended.
Wu Zheng Mo was very drunk, riding on his shu younger brother Wu Xiu Ding and saying to his servant boy, “Today, today, I, want this dog to have me carried back home! You all…..all not allowed to help!”
After saying this, he muttered something like “how come the heir’s drinking capacity is this shockingly good” as he wobbingly went out.
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