The Godlike Jade Rabbit Chapter 55

‘By lover, do you mean… what I think you mean?’

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Ch. 55 | Styx’s dilemma

 
‘Song… Lin… are you not… awake yet?’ Dandan finally managed to ask after a long time.

‘I’m awake,’ Song Lin replied calmly.

‘T-then, did you… suffer some head injury in that fight with Bai Yini?’

‘My head has not been injured.’

‘… Since everything is normal, why would you say something like that?’ Dandan tugged at his own ears. ‘By lover, do you mean… what I think you mean?’

‘What do you think it means?’ Song Lin asked.

‘It’s…’ Dandan seemed to have thought of something for he blushed and said in a very small voice, ‘It’s… that meaning.’

Song Lin cocked his head to one side and said, ‘Sorry, but if you don’t make yourself clear, I don’t really understand what you mean.’

‘Anyway!’ Dandan flung his head back vigorously, trying very hard to digest this bombshell thrown out by Song Lin. ‘No matter how you look at it, I’m not exactly the ideal choice for a lover! Wait a minute, did Troy’s death upset you too much?’

Seeing such a wonderful series of expressions parading across his face, Song Lin felt that a little explanation was in order and said, ‘If you really want to know the details, Troy is a small part of the reason.’

‘Why?’

‘Compared with a spirit beast, a Guardian has a far shorter lifespan. After I finally die, I don’t want you to have fewer memories of me as compared with Yu Huan.’

Dandan listened very seriously to every word he was saying but when the whole thing was put together, it didn’t make any sense to him. ‘… Surely it doesn’t really matter whether I have more memories of Yu Huan or of you…’

Song Lin said in a very low voice, ‘It matters a lot.’

‘…’ Dandan’s head drooped. ‘How exactly does it matter?’

Seeing his reaction, Song Lin could not help asking doubtfully, ‘Am I being too abrupt in bringing this up?’

‘Rather!!’

‘In that case, think it over and give me your answer after the Guardians’ Tournament is over.’

‘Hey… I say… can something like this be answered in such a short time? …’

Before Dandan could finish his sentence, Song Lin was already pointing out: ‘The Bai clan has forfeited its right to compete, so our next opponent will either be the House of Ye or House of Wanyan and that will be the final contest. It won’t be very long so I’ll wait for your answer.’ He patted Dandan lightly on the head and then walked away first.

‘…’ Leaving Dandan standing there alone with a deeply wretched¹ expression.

What on earth just happened? Am I dreaming?

_{¹ 苦大仇深. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.}

It was evening and Styx was presently in his own bedroom writing a letter to Song Fuyan. A table lamp, a cup of hot tea, an inkstone and a faint smell of ink, an incomparable quiet. Although Young Master had provided him with fountain pens, he was still more used to an ink brush.

Just then, he heard a sudden knocking on the door. He put down his ink brush and went to open the door only to see Dandan there and hear him mutter, ‘Ol’ Fish Eyes…’

Seeing that he was about to come in, Styx deftly and decisively slammed the door shut.

‘Ouch!’ Dandan’s face banged right into the door and was almost flattened by the impact.

‘Open the door, Ol’ Fish Eyes!’ The rabbit yelled crossly.

Styx ignored him and walked back to his table and resumed writing his letter seriously — Hmm, where did I stop just now? Oh, right, the Crone…

‘Ol’ Fish Eyes…’ As soon as he wasn’t looking, Dandan had climbed in through the window and was now resting his head on the table’s edge, gazing at him with big, mournful eyes.

Styx massaged the space between his brows and asked, ‘What is it?’

‘I want to tell you something…’ Seeing that he had Styx’s attention, Dandan dragged a chair over and sat down beside him. ‘That Second Master of yours might have some brain damage.’ He tapped his own head with a very grave expression.

‘…’ Hearing such a description, Styx really wanted to say ‘how dare you’ since very few people could talk like that about Young Master. Then he took a look at the fellow in front of him and decided to hold his tongue because this fellow was currently the one being indulged by Second Master. If he scolded Dandan, Second Master might not be pleased.

‘Why do you say that?’ Head resting on one hand, he drank some tea.

‘That Second Master of yours said today that he wants me to become his lover.’

‘Puuuuu —!!’ Styx was entirely unprepared for this and spat out a mouthful of hot tea onto Dandan’s face. ‘What did you say?!’

Dandan wordlessly wiped the tea off his face then said, ‘You see, I was just as shocked as you are. That’s the reaction a normal person should have but Song Lin couldn’t be calmer. It was as if he were saying something as ordinary as “let’s have dinner together today”.’

Styx was secretly in a sweat. To be honest, he was already mentally prepared for everything that had happened so far. As the person constantly by Second Master’s side, he saw things most clearly and had suspected that a budding relationship was most likely to happen. But still he hadn’t been expecting Second Master to come right out and say it so quickly… Scary, but typical of Second Master to act so vigorously and speedily, very like Old Master’s way of doing things in the past.

He gave a light cough and asked, ‘Why did Second Master suddenly talk about this?’

‘He said that Troy’s death today had moved him so much that he had to express his feelings².’

‘What has that got to do with the other?’

‘Well, he said that Guardians have shorter lifespans and he’s afraid that I’ll forget him after he dies. Something along those lines…’ The day’s events had come as such a huge shock that Dandan’s mind was still confused and he only remembered the gist of it.

_{² 有感而發. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.}

Styx raised his eyebrows in faint astonishment. ‘Young Master really said that?’

‘Yes.’

‘…’ Styx was silent for a while before saying, ‘Then you had best think it over carefully.’

‘Come on Styx, don’t joke around. Have you gone insane like Song Lin?’

‘Use that head of yours to figure it out.’ Styx pressed his head down on the table.

‘Oof… ouch…’

‘You can go now.’

‘I still have one last question!’ Dandan struggled to raise a hand. ‘Have you seen spirit beasts and Guardians having… that type of relationship?’

Styx said coolly, ‘I have seen a few before where the spirit beasts and Guardians were lovers but they were very rare because it’s very troublesome.’

‘Troublesome?’

‘The bond is actually very pure but once unnecessary feelings enter the equation, there will be a lot of problems.’ Styx gave him a rather unfriendly look. ‘Now that you’ve finished asking, you can go.’

‘… Fine, what an indifferent fellow you are…’ Dandan gave a wave of his hand and left.

After seeing him close the door, Styx picked up his ink brush to resume his letter to Song Fuyan — Hmm, I was just writing about the Crone?
Wait! There was now an even thornier problem than the Crone! He pressed down on his temples, feeling his right eye twitching…
If Eldest Master ever found about this matter… he shuddered to think what would happen.
Forget it, I’m not going to say anything for now.
Not going to say anything for now.
Would like a few more days of peace.
Our all-powerful steward now had something new to worry about.

The next day was Chen Yang’s funeral and his body was carried in a stately coffin into the League’s cemetery. As it passed along the very long Fuyin Street, scores of Ridge City’s citizens turned up to watch the procession. As this street was very near the Exchange, it was a lively place to begin with. Coupled with the large contingent from the League which made up the funeral procession, with all of Chen Yang’s men present in uniform and lined up in neat rows, it made for an eye-catching sight, hence the entire street was lined with impenetrable crowds.

Dandan and Song Lin stood in the crowd, watching as Chen Yang’s coffin slowly made its way past them.

Dandan asked suddenly, ‘Why did the Crone kill Chen Yang?’

‘Perhaps she felt that he was no longer of any use,’ Song Lin replied.

Dandan’s eyes followed the contingent and he muttered, ‘Are relationships between humans so fragile?’

‘As long as they no longer have mutual interests, allies can become enemies in an instant.’

‘Then why did Chen Yang want to help the Crone in the first place?’

‘The entire League is not as harmonious as it looks on the surface.’ Song Lin narrowed his eyes and continued, ‘Besides retaining his own power base, he still had to find a way to keep climbing his way up, perhaps the Crone was able to give him what he needed.’

At this moment, a young lady wearing a pink Western-style skirt was pushed by the crowd and lost her balance, stumbling forward. Song Lin, who was standing close by, caught hold of her.
‘Are you all right?’ He had just asked this when he stared in surprise for the girl’s eyes were puffy from crying.
So upset?
Song Lin frowned — she knew Chen Yang?

‘Thank you,’ the young lady said very quietly before straightening up and fixing her gaze intently on the contingent.

Song Lin had the feeling that he had seen her somewhere before.

‘Missy!’ A servant girl squeezed her way through and tugged at the young lady, asking, ‘What are you doing here?’

The servant girl was still carrying a basket of rouge and there was a picture of a ship printed on the basket. After seeing the picture, Song Lin remembered: she was the eldest daughter of the family which owned Dijiang Shipyard. Once, she had sat with Chen Yang at one of the League’s victory banquets and they had appeared to be the golden couple³ envied by everyone.

_{³ 金童玉女. Please consider reading from hiding in plain sight rather than from novelscraping sites.}

‘I came to see him.’ Presumably, by ‘him’ this Eldest Missy was referring to the one lying in the coffin.

The servant girl did not know how to comfort her and merely said, ‘Missy, he’s already gone… no matter how much you cry, it’s not going to bring him back. Besides, Old Master never approved of your being with him…’

‘He said he would come back and marry me,’ said Eldest Missy, her eyes reddening and squeezing a longevity knot between her hands, the grief in her voice barely concealed.
‘I waited for so long but this is how he came back…’

When Dandan heard this, he slipped his hand into Song Lin’s and said, ‘I want to go home.’

Song Lin turned his head to look at him and after a good while, nodded and said, ‘All right.’ He held Dandan’s hand all the way back, holding it very tightly.

Given the times they were living in, tragic endings were more common than happy ones.
No one could change that, they could only learn to accept it.
Perhaps Chen Yang’s incessant scheming to climb to the League’s top position was so he could have had something to show a certain rich and influential family?
…
Who knew?

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_{(Approx. 1907 words)}

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Translated and edited by 12

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