The Song Manor gets another unwelcome visitor…
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Ch. 8.2
Suddenly, the room door creaked open and a woman, clad in a foreign costume and looking very seductive, walked in. The two mounds of flesh on her chest were so bouncy that they caused Dandan to feel a little dizzy.
‘Y-y-you, stay there, don’t come any nearer. Who are you?’
‘Poor little rabbit, getting locked up in this tiny room every day. My owner sent me to rescue you.’ The woman sat down on the bed, the two bouncy mounds on her chest almost pressing down on his face.
‘Rescue me?’ Dandan averted his face slightly. The fragrance from her rouge and powder was so overwhelming it was making him dizzy.
‘My owner has taken a fancy to you. Why not leave with me instead of remaining here? My owner will treat you very well.’
Dandan gazed at her. ‘Wait a minute, who’s your owner?’
The woman laughed softly. ‘You’ve probably heard of him. He’s from one of the Five Great Houses, the Wanyans.’
‘Oh yeah, I have but they aren’t as illustrious as the House of Song so I’ll just stay put.’
‘…’ The woman’s expression changed slightly as if she couldn’t believe that he would be so unceremonious. ‘Second Master Song won’t make a pact with you. If you remain here, you’ll end up at the Exchange in the end and be bought by some boor of an itinerant Guardian. I’ve already spelt things out for you — what else is there to consider?’
‘I want to leave with you actually, but someone already told me not to anyhow accept sweets from strangers. Every child knows this and I’m no different. Please go back, Auntie.’
A tic appeared at the corner of the woman’s mouth. ‘Aun-tie?’ She lunged forward suddenly and grasped Dandan’s throat. ‘You’re coming with me today whether you want to or not!’
‘Damn it, Auntie, you’re being unreasonable! Ack ack!’
‘Shut up, don’t call me Auntie!’
Just then, Styx opened the door, saw this scene when he entered, frowned and then growled, ‘Let go of him.’
The woman turned round at the sound of his voice and let go the moment she saw that it was Styx. She sneered, ‘It’s been a long time, Your Excellency.’
A ball of black smoke slowly materialised in Styx’s palm as he stared silently at her.
The woman said, ‘Getting ready to summon a weapon? Are you planning to fight me within the manor? Whose fault will it be if the antiques are accidentally destroyed?’
‘You’ve already come all the way to my manor to snatch him away so of course it’s the fault of the Wanyans.’ The ball of smoke in Styx’s hand slowly took the shape of a staff.
‘Ha,’ the woman laughed disdainfully. ‘But are you sure you can beat me?’
‘Conceited woman,’ Styx said stonily. ‘Defeating you won’t even take half of my spiritual power.’
‘Oh really? Then give it your best shot.’ The woman beckoned seductively with a finger. ‘Are you coming to the bed, or shall I go over?’
Dandan said, ‘Wait a minute…’
Both of them turned round doubtfully: ??
‘Can you two take it outside? … I’m sleepy.’
The woman and Styx were silent for a while before saying angrily in unison, ‘Shut up!’
Suddenly, two arrows slipped through the door crack, brushed past either side of the woman and embedded themselves in the wall. Two strands of her hair were shaved off and floated down gently…
The woman turned rigid.
‘Xuanli Arrows…’ She looked blank for an instant, then turned her head stiffly towards the door. When she saw clearly who was there, her eyes widened, ‘Song… Lin…’
Song Lin was leaning against the door, the picture of calm composure¹. ‘Excuse me, but no one is allowed to take my man away.’
Dandan brushed a hand over his nose, feeling a little awkward at hearing the words ‘my man’.
¹ 好整以暇 hàozhěngyǐxiá. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
The woman cursed inwardly. She had no hope of beating Song Lin. At this moment, she spotted a half-open window at the side and tried to assume a slightly more imposing tone as she said, ‘Second Master Song doesn’t mind openly quarrelling with the House of Wanyan for the sake of a lousy rabbit? Is he worth it?’
Styx retorted, ‘What our Second Master wants to do is none of your business.’
‘Fine, fine, fine, I shan’t make it my business today then.’ After saying that, the woman disappeared like a flash of lightning² through the window.
‘Do we give chase?’ Styx asked.
‘No need. Let her go. After all, we’ll meet again at the Guardians’ Tournament.’
² 迅雷不及掩耳 xùnléi bùjí yǎn ěr. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
Dandan clutched at his blanket and heaved a sigh of relief before turning to face the two men in the doorway and adopting the posture of an aggrieved wife. ‘What took you so long?! I was almost snatched by that weird auntie!!’
Styx: ‘…’
Song Lin: ‘…’
‘Young Master, to be honest, I really feel like sewing his mouth shut at times.’
‘To be honest, I feel the same.’
‘Any idea who that auntie was?’ Dandan asked.
‘That was Kleidi, Wanyan Fu’s bonded spirit beast.’
‘What exactly is Wanyan Fu’s background?’
‘He’s the heir of the late Qing noble family, the Wanyans. He has an illustrious status in Ridge City.’
‘If that Wanyan Fu already has his own bonded spirit beast, why is he still out to catch me?’
‘Other than his fondness for collecting rare spirit beasts, the rumpus you kicked up in the beast colosseum the other day has made you a hot favourite³. Everyone wants a piece of you now,’ Styx said in disgust.
‘Eh?’ Dandan palmed his cheeks. ‘Am I really that popular?’
³ 香餑餑 xiāngbōbo: DIALECT. Please consider reading from theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com rather than from novelscraping sites.
Styx, who had reached the end of his patience, seized Dandan by the collar. ‘You had better remember this: those Guardians outside won’t clothe and feed you as well as Second Master is doing. You’ll never know what they can do to you once they get hold of you. To protect you, Second Master hasn’t scrupled to offend the House of Wanyan — you had better wake up to that fact.’
(Approx. 1007 words)
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Translated and edited by 12
hiding in plain sight 
‘Excuse me, but no one is allowed to take my man away.’ Normally this would be a heart-fluttering kind of line but this time I had to laugh. So Styx’s protectiveness of Song Lin has finally come to a boiling point. Thanks for the translation!
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