Chapter 11

Chapter 11

For several days on end, the battle between Xu Zhengtian and Tian Cheng circulated through the Xu family. Naturally, Xu Zhengtian was praised for his powerful cultivation base, and for suppressing Tian Cheng, while scolding Tian Cheng at the same time for his insolence and arrogance in the Xu family.

Xu Ziqing remained in Baicao Garden, but he heard a lot from people who came and went to take medicine.

Recently, Old Man He slowly entrusted him with some simple maintenance of the spiritual herbs, which was nothing more than sprinkling water, cultivating soil, and removing insects from fixed types of spiritual herbs, but it made Xu Ziqing very happy.

In the afternoon that day, Old Man He went to retire for the night and asked Xu Ziqing to see to the garden. Xu Ziqing, who didn’t have to recite the medicine book, went happily to patrol and inspect the garden.

Not long after, someone came into the garden with a spiritual tablet, a good few small and irregular noises coming from the distance.

“Ziluo-jiejie1, I heard you’ve already broken through the third layer of Qi Refinement! Won’t you be able to enter Feijiu Mountain soon? That’s really amazing!” A girl’s crisp voice came.

Xu Ziqing slightly tilted his head, feeling the voice sounded familiar but didn’t care too much. He just pulled out a kerchief and wiped the mud from his hands, so as to not be rude.

Another female voice came, “The elder in charge said that I’ll enter the ancestral hall in a few days. At that time, I’ll place my heart blood in the jade seal so when I go out in the future, I can get help from the clan at any time.” There was arrogance in her voice, “After I was introduced to Feijiu Mountain, I saw the pill resources were several times higher than those of the three courtyards. You are very attentive to me, so I will definitely not forget your share.”

The previous girl hurriedly said with joy: “Xiaomei2 thanks Ziluo-jiejie!”

The woman named Ziluo laughed a few times, seeming proud of herself.

Then the girl lowered her voice again and asked mysteriously, “Ziluo-jiejie, have you heard that the Patriarch of the Tian family confronted our Patriarch because of a marriage?” LaaTest novels on (n)ovelbi/n(.)com

Xu Ziluo’s voice raised a little higher, “Marriage? ”

The girl whispered, “Exactly. It’s said that the Patriarch of the Tian family proposed that his legitimate son3, Tian Liang, marry our Xu Zitang-jiejie on Feijiu Mountain. As a result, he was rebuffed by the Patrarich and flew into a rage.”

Hearing this Xu Ziluo seemed very displeased, “Even Young Master Tian dislikes it, what else does Xu Zitang want? What a pretense! A while ago, Young Master Tian accompanied her around and even gave her a magic tool, but she is so insatiable!”

The girl seemed a little frightened of Xu Ziluo’s fury, but after a pause, she smiled, “Ziluo-jiejie is right. The way Xiaomei sees it is that Young Master Tian is too good for Xu Zitang. The best match for Young Master Tian is still Ziluo-jiejie!”

Xu Ziluo seemed a bit pleased so her tone relaxed, “You could say.” She then sighed again, “But the Patriarch has torn faces with the Tian family because of Xu Zitang. I have no fate with Young Master Tian...”

When the girl heard Xu Ziluo’s words, she sighed a few times, then made a show of being indignant and said, “Xu Zitang just relied on her good brother. Ziluo-jiejie’s qualification is much higher than hers! Xiaomei believes that Ziluo-jiejie will soon be able to establish her foundation, then even the Patriarch can’t underestimate her! At that time, fate with Young Master Tian...”

Xu Ziqing grit his teeth, endured the pain very reluctantly, and did not answer. He was kind, but he would not allow people to bully and humiliate him. When Xu Ziluo spoke to this point, was it possible for him to yield and go along with it?!

Seeing that he was so unruly, Xu Ziluo’s fury burst out again, and she raised her palm to hit him again—at that moment, a man hurriedly rushed in from outside Baicao Garden and quickly blocked Xu Ziluo’s arm.

“Miss Ziluo, please don’t get angry.” The man’s appearance was not very outstanding, but his aura was peaceful, and he could make people feel at ease. He blocked Xu Ziluo’s attack this time, and continued to advise, “After all, this place is Baicao Garden, and the Patriarch also attaches great importance to it.”

Xu Ziluo was startled, then slowly put down her hand, and said, “I don’t need you to look after me.”

The man’s eyes dimmed, and he retracted his hand, then went to support Xu Ziqing, and injected a burst of spiritual power into his body. This time, it was to resolve the spiritual power that hurt him.

Xu Ziqing only felt a warm air current smooth out his meridians, causing the stabbing pain to disappear in an instant.

“...Thank you very much.” Taking a deep breath, Xu Ziqing smiled faintly at the man.

The man was taken aback for a moment, and then he also gave a light smile, with a somewhat honest look: “Don’t mention it, we were in the wrong originally. ”

Indeed in the wrong, not this man, but Xu Ziluo. Xu Ziqing’s heart was clear about that. But he could also see that the man was very concerned about Xu Ziluo, so he didn’t say much.

Xu Ziluo looked at the man’s actions with a trace of disdain in her eyes and did not look to Xu Ziqing to take any spiritual herbs, but instead turned and took Xu Zishu to leave. There was a smile on Xu Zishu’s lips. If there was an opportunity in the future, she would bring people around now and again to have another bout.

When the two women left, Xu Ziqing was supported by the man and stood firm. He dusted the dirt off his body and asked with a smile, “I’m Xu Ziqing, I don’t know your excellency’s4 name?”

When the man smiled, his ordinary appearance made people feel comfortable, “My name is Zhuang Wei. Ziqing-xiongdi5, nice to meet you.”

Footnotes

1, In this novel I’ll be using pinyin for certain terms of addresses, -jiejie, and -jie are the addresses for big sister; elder sister; older sister, and in some cases -dajie (meaning eldest big sister) will be used. A note to keep in mind is that addressing someone as sister, brother, uncle, aunt, etc., does not mean they are related. They can also be used for friends, neighbors, and even strangers. It’s possible that the speaker is just being polite or affectionate by using these terms.

Another off note is the usage of ‘Zi’ in many of these names. It is confusing sometimes if you don’t pay attention to the second character of the name because of this usage so far. First, I must make it clear that two different ‘Zi’s have been used. Xu Ziluo, Xu Zitang, and Xu Zifeng (Xu Zitang’s brother) ‘Zi’ character is ‘紫’ which stands for ‘purple’. Xu Ziqing (our MC) and Xu Zishu’s ‘Zi’ character is ‘子’ which stands for ‘son; child’. My assumption is the usage of generational names. A generational name is one of the characters in a traditional Chinese given name and is so-called because each member of a generation (i.e. siblings and paternal cousins of the same generation) share that character. To save another spiel, here is a LINK to more about generation names if you’re interested.

2, Xiaomei, again, is a term of address. -meimei, and -mei mean little sister; younger sister. In this case, Xiao is not her name, but another address that means ‘small/young’. It’s appended to a person’s given name to show familiarity & affection when calling them. Or in this case, is signifying that she is calling herself a ‘littlest little sister’, much like how -dajie is ‘eldest big sister’.

Second of all, yes, she is speaking in the third person. This is very common and you will continue to see it.

3, A legitimate son, the previous translator merely used its pinyin form ‘Di’. A Di son, is a son born of the first wife and is considered legitimate because of it. As for ‘Nie’ it means concubine-born son. A concubine-born son does not normally get the same privileges as a legitimate son. Instead of using, ‘Di’ and ‘Nie’ I will simply translate them as legitimate and concubine-born.

4, Your Excellency is the best way to translate it and is what the dictionary gave me. It’s also similar to saying ‘Your Lordship’. It’s basically just a respectful way to address someone.

5, -xiongdi, brother.