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A frosty reunion…
Translation partially revised and republished in Oct 2018 following the new chaptering. First six paragraphs are new translations for this blog.
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Joy (1) | Ch. 11.1
That night, there was no lull in the sound of gunfire as the battle raged all night. Too frightened to sleep, Eldest Mistress asked her, ‘Why is there gunfire outside the residence? Has the Coalition Army fought their way in? What should we do then? What if Er Di loses? What on earth do we do?’
Qin Sang kept comforting her. Both women stayed up until it was almost dawn. The sky had just brightened when the firing ceased. The artillery fire had stopped much earlier and now that the shooting was also over, the silence all around was almost surprising. Eldest Mistress was once again kneeling in front of the window, murmuring to herself. This time, Qin Sang let her be. When one had been living on one’s nerves, a little faith might offer some psychological comfort.
When the room door was opened, Qin Sang pulled Eldest Mistress behind her while swiftly picking up a pair of scissors. This pair of scissors had been used to cut out a robe earlier and was still placed on the table. Qin Sang thought that if it were rebel soldiers instead of the Coalition Army, or if Yi Lianshen had changed his mind and intended to drag all the womenfolk to the grave with him, then they would have to put up a fight. What she didn’t expect was several people walking in, led by Pan Jianchi, almost unrecognisable in a military uniform. His figure was blurred because of the sun shining behind him. She recalled that when she had first seen him many years ago, he had been talking to a few boys on the sports field. The sunshine back then had been golden-bright; when he had turned back to smile at her, even the tips of his eyebrows had seemed to be filled with the gentle warmth of the sunshine.
She nearly called out, ‘Wangping.’
After all this time, things had remained the same, but people had changed¹. Fate was so funny and yet so cruel at the same time.
Pan Jianchi bowed and said, ‘Young Madam, Master sent me to fetch you.’
¹ 物是人非 wùshì-rénfēi. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
Yi Liankai himself did not return to the Yi residence because there had been fierce fighting between the Coalition Army and Yi Lianshen’s forces. The walls, the gate and the stone steps were all covered in blood. Bodies were strewn all over the ground: some had not yet stiffened; some had died with their eyes open; others had missing limbs or, having been hit by shells from the cannons, were too appalling to look at. Qin Sang, surrounded and supported by the guards Pan Jianchi had brought with him, felt wave after wave of dizziness as she was escorted past this scene.
So many had died.
She was driven directly to the city defence headquarters and installed in a room there. Shortly after, Zhu Ma and some other servant girls entered the room. She had not seen any of them since her imprisonment at the Yi residence. Zhu Ma came up to hug her and sobbed, ‘My dearest Missy, I didn’t think I would ever see you again.’
Qin Sang felt as though she had been dreaming: when she awoke, the fighting was already over and life had returned to normal; everything was just as it had been before.
She did not know what the situation was like back at the Yi residence since Pan Jianchi had left after escorting her to this place. The corridor was quiet and two sentries were standing guard outside the room so she asked Zhu Ma to call one of them in. The guard was extremely respectful as he informed her, ‘Madam, there’s still the risk of stray bullets in the streets so for safety’s sake, the entire city has been placed under martial law.’
Qin Sang knew that it was useless to become anxious since everything would have to wait until Yi Liankai made his appearance. Zhu Ma was still grumbling incessantly because all their clothes were still at the Yi residence. ‘Not a single outfit to change into and we don’t know if we can even go back to the family home tonight.’
Qin Sang thought of the bodies she had seen on her way out of the residence and felt another wave of fear in her heart. She thought that if she were Yi Liankai, she would likely never want to return to the family home ever again.
After dinner that night, they heard the sound of someone walking in leather boots along the corridor and the sound of gun bolts being pushed back in salute. Soon after, the door was pushed open and Yi Liankai entered. Qin Sang had never seen him in uniform before and felt it to be an entirely foreign sight. Thinner than before and tanned, he seemed almost a stranger. Zhu Ma still bore a grudge against him over the incident on the train and looked unsmilingly at him. Yi Liankai took off his hat and handed it to Pan Jianchi, then glanced at Qin Sang with a smile and remarked, ‘You’re looking quite well.’
After Pan Jianchi and Zhu Ma had left, Qin Sang said tonelessly, ‘Hello, Chief Commander.’
Yi Liankai removed his tall leather boots and slipped into a pair of slippers, saying laughingly, ‘All right, all right, don’t freeze me to death. I know you hate me. I’ll apologise, will that do?’
‘What have you done to Er Ge?’
‘What can I possibly do to him?’ Yi Liankai turned her around by the shoulders and pulled her into a firm hug saying, ‘Why don’t you ask me how I’ve been? You haven’t seen me for some time. Didn’t you miss me at all?’
Qin Sang pushed him away. ‘What was there to miss? Wasn’t that one kick enough for me?’
Yi Liankai did not appear angry. In fact, he was all smiles as he said, ‘Well, there was a good reason for that and I had no choice. I’ll apologise to you now or how about you hit me in return? Will that do?’ Usually he was impossibly arrogant, domineering and had scant patience with her such that they were perennially at loggerheads² and quarrelled frequently. Yet today, he was humbling himself which was so rare and unusual that Qin Sang felt he had become someone else entirely — very different from his old self, although she could not really say what the change was.
² 針尖對麥芒 zhēnjiān duìmàimáng. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
Not being in the mood to argue with him, she asked instead, ‘How is Father’s condition exactly? I want to go back and see him, as well as Da Sao and Er Sao who aren’t well. No one is looking after them now and I don’t know how they are.’
‘Father is still unconscious and can’t be moved. There’s a pack of physicians attending to him.’ He added casually, ‘It won’t be too late even if you visit him tomorrow.’
Qin Sang queried, ‘Why are you so indifferent? You didn’t even go back to see how anyone in the family, old or young, is faring and only sent for me alone. If outsiders were to hear of it, what would they think?’
Yi Liankai replied with a curl of his lip, ‘Since when has anyone in that family, old or young, treated me as human? I’ve had enough of such treatment and they only have themselves to blame³ for how things are today. Let’s see who dares to say anything about it.’
³ 咎由自取 jiùyóuzìqǔ. Please consider reading from hiding in plain sight rather than from novelscraping sites.
Qin Sang was so angry she turned her head away but he only laughed and chucked her under the chin playfully, saying, ‘Still angry? What a bad temper you have! That slap was a show put on for bystanders, don’t you know? But if you’re really angry, why not I let you slap me in return?’
Qin Sang said, ‘Who cares about slapping you?’
Yi Liankai replied teasingly, ‘You may not care about me, but I most certainly care about you!’
Yi Liankai still refused to let Qin Sang return to the Yi residence the next morning so she had no choice but to send Zhu Ma instead to visit Eldest Mistress. She never expected Zhu Ma to return with news that was a bolt from the blue.
Second Mistress was dead.
Qin Sang could not speak for some time and when she finally did, she asked, ‘What about Er Ge then?’
Yi Lianshen had escaped after all. Apparently he had done so under cover of darkness on that night of fierce fighting. The city had been in chaos but his men had risked life and limb to ensure his escape. However, Yi Lianshen had not taken his legally wedded wife with him whilst fleeing and early the next morning, Second Mistress had committed suicide by drinking cologne. As soon as Qin Sang heard this, she rushed out of the headquarters and back to the Yi residence, heedless of the guards’ attempts to stop her. The Yi family home had already been cleaned: the bodies had vanished and all traces of blood had been washed clean. Second Mistress was already lying in a coffin and her funeral was being held in the quarters she had lived in. When Qin Sang got there, it was Eldest Mistress who clutched her and cried, ‘Why did Er Mei take it so hard? Even if she didn’t want to live, she should have considered her baby… Two lives lost just like that is such a pity… .’
But had it really been depression? Most likely she had been forced to do it. Almost calmly, Qin Sang recalled how Yi Lianshen had entrusted his wife to her care. Most probably he had suspected that something like this would happen, except he had still been too careless to assume that Yi Liankai would not be so ruthless towards a mere woman, much less one who was his own sister-in-law — but Yi Liankai had been bent on complete elimination after all.
(Approx. 1660 words)
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Translated and edited by 12
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