Chapter 116: Translation

Chapter 116: Translation

I have been meaning to finish and post this chapter, but it has been very busy with midterm season Workload has been pretty crazy, especially with everything being online. Here is the next chapter, thank you for your patience!

Continuous snowfall was suddenly interrupted on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. The skies cleared, and a sun that seemed especially golden and warm rose in the sky. However, after a night of clear skies in the capital city, it became more dry and cold, with foggy condensation following every breath taken. The piercing cold seemed as if it was about to freeze all internal organs, flowing into the body through the lungs.

Due to the bitter cold and that there were only two more days until the new year, naturally, everyone stayed at home as much as possible, enjoying the comfort of the toasty fireplace and warm drinks and meals. At this same time, those who were traveling outside out of necessity appeared to be more toilsome and lonely.

Early in the morning, the Capital Patrols followed their regular schedule and opened the four city gates promptly. The four patrols covering the first shift of the day each stood next to the entry of the gate, monitoring the people entering and leaving the city. Under Xie Yu, the Capital Patrol was already well-disciplined, and with Prince Jing setting up even stricter regulations, no one dared to neglect their duties, and the soldiers were even more attentive. After standing for only a short time, their feet began to feel as if the cold was biting into them, yet not one of them walked around or stomped their feet in an attempt to stay warm.

There are not many people out and about on winter mornings, especially near the west city gate leading to smoky, deserted territoryother than a few leaving the city, not a single one came in. Once the sun rose to be around three poles high*, it gradually became more lively, and the vendors set up their stalls near the city gates, mindlessly calling out to the sparse group of people to buy their goods. After another hour, outside the city gates, a dark group of shadows emerged faintly near the horizon, heading towards the city.

Is that a merchant caravan? A guard stretched his neck and looked around for a moment, continuing, It is rare to ever see such a large caravan.

Youre new here, so you dont know about it, said the veteran soldier standing next to him, immediately answering, That is the merchant caravan transporting medicinal herbs. Except for two or three provinces, the majority of the western region of Da Liang is either frigid plateaus, alpine regions, or smoky, deserted territory. However, it is in these types of areas that precious medicinal herbs are found. My uncle owns a pharmacy, and he said the best medicine is transported from the western regions, so there are often merchant caravans that come in through the west city gate. But the day after tomorrow will be new years eve, and the merchant caravan has only just now arrived. They are so hardworking

As the two spoke, the caravan coming from afar was slowly getting closer and closer, and the horse-drawn carriages and attire of the people gradually came into view.

How I come I think It doesnt look like a merchant caravan The new soldier stood for a long time, and finally, couldnt help euphemistically expressing his opinion, A merchant caravan, wouldnt be escorted by city soldiers, right?

At this time, the veteran soldier noticed the difference as well, and after some indistinct mumbling, said in a surprised tone, It really isnt a merchant caravan The carriage in the middle of the group doesnt seem to be holding medicinal herbs, it looks like like Its a prisoner carriage!

By the time he made a conclusion with certainty, the other guards had already seen it clearly as well. Coming towards the city gate on the winding path, was a prisoner convoy. What was different from usual, is that the number of guards escorting the carriage totaled to be around 300, yet there was only a single prisoner carriage.

Exactly how important of a prisoner needed to be so heavily guarded and required the mobilization of so many troops to be escorted into the capital city? As if there would be someone who dared to try and intercept the entry of the prisoner carriage?

Under the curious stares of the west city gate guards, the long convoy finally reached the city walls. Unlike the heavily armored military escorts, the man at the forefront of the convoy wore only a plain, day-to-day outfit made of soft material. He was riding a gray horse, had a slender, nimble, and well-proportioned figure and a tall, straight posture. Although his hair was gathered into a knot, a few loose wisps of hair rested down to his shoulders. On both sides, he had strands of silver hairs that were smoothed into the knot and held together by a jade ring. When looking at his smile, you could tell that he was quite handsome, and though there were a few wrinkles on his face, it was difficult to determine his age. There was a sense of feminine elegance in his masculine qualities, and his arched eyebrows and sharp eyes occasionally had an evil, chilling look.

However, there was still a disparity between the numbers and strength of the two sides, and although some escaped, the head of the convoy also captured three or four people, ordering his subordinates to send them to the prison. He knew that the martial art skills of the person in crimson were too high, and it would be a futile attempt to try to catch up to him, and thus simply ordered everyone to ignore him, focusing on tailing the commander of the ambush who had fled into an alleyway instead.

The roads and alleyways in the city of Jinling were not particularly complicated, and other than in the central region of the city nearby the river, most paths were straight, intersecting others in a perpendicular manner. On several occasions, by following the trail of blood, the head of the convoy could almost see the silhouette of the fugitive, yet after flipping over a wall, the trail of blood suddenly disappeared. It was likely that the opponent realized that he was bleeding, and cleaned up the wound. At this time, there were only two similar-looking paths in front of him, each leading to different neighborhoods, and after quietly taking a moment to make a judgment, the head of the convoy smiled coldly, speeding off to the left. After navigating through a small path with walls at both sides, he rushed out onto the main road. To ones surprise, at this exact second, a carriage came flying towards him from the right, and with the speed at which they both were traveling at, almost collided together. The reaction time of the head of the convoy was extraordinarily fast, and he immediately twisted to one side, leaping onto the other side of the road while the coachman pulled back on the reins of the horse, bringing the carriage to an abrupt stop.

Whats the matter? The person sitting in the carriage had probably fallen over due to the sudden stop, and angrily protruded his head out from the carriage, complaining, Its near new years, who is being so rampant and reckless? As he finished his sentence, his eyes had fallen onto the head of the convoy, and he suddenly froze, involuntarily crying out, Xia Dong jiejie, when did you come back?

The head of the convoy shrugged his shoulders, glancing over at him.

Umm The person in the car scratched his head, scrunched his eyebrows, and carefully called out, Xia Qiu gege?

The glance turned into a glare, yet the one being glared let out a sigh of relief, complaining, Why didnt you say anything earlier? Qiu-xiong, this is such a bad problem, why do you have to dress up to look exactly like Xia Dong jiejie? Its quite scary, dont you know?

Well, Ill say, xiao-Jin, Im not dressing up, I just look like this, okay? Xia Qiu walked over and smacked Yan Yujin on the shoulder, saying, I havent seen you in more than a year, youve grown stronger.

Its not wrong that you were born with this face, but what about your hair? Did you purposely dye these two strands here white? It was evident that Yan Yujin and Xia Qiu had a close relationship, and he was not even the slightest afraid, loudly saying, How did you get this white? I tried all sorts of dyes, and none of them worked.

Lets not talk about this now, Xia Qiu smiled sinisterly, and suddenly leaned closely in front of Yan Yujin, staring him right in the eye, saying, Tell me, did you see someone with an injury pass you nearby just now?

*A type of measurement in ancient China that refers to late morning, when the sun has risen to be around three poles high.

Translators notes:

We finally get into one of my least but also most favorite parts of the novel. I wont spoil it just in case there are readers who dont come from watching the drama (I doubt there are any?), but this part is still oddly stressful every time I read it

I think it is interesting how the author uses head of the convoy, commander of the ambush, and person dressed in crimson, to make us feel as if we dont know who is who, making it seem more like we are a bystander watching the ambush. This is another relatively narration-heavy chapter, but the descriptions of the battle help detail a lot of the happenings that werent played out in the drama. For example, I didnt realize that the majority of the group didnt survive the ambush, even though it was briefly mentioned in the drama. This entire description makes the situation feel more desperate and saddening at the same time.

Excited to translate the action to come