Chapter 47
Murong Yunshu didn't expect that he would suddenly mention about the 'stripping of his clothes', which made her face turn red and so did her ears. Fortunately, the inside of the hole was so dark that he wouldn't notice her face. Otherwise, she didn't know how many times he would have teased her. "Is your Excellency in the same class as the fowls?" She retorted back while busy suppressing her feeling of embarrassment.
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This one question blocked Chu Changge's future response and turned him rigid. He couldn't even nod, or even shake his head. If he nodded, it was the same as him agreeing that he was no different than a poultry. And yet, if he shook his head, it would contradict his previous words, which seemed really unfair to him.
He wanted to tease her for a bit, but he didn't predict that when he tried to steal a chicken, he ended up losing the rice¹try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off instead, which he personally had gotten himself into.
"Good, good, good." Chu Changge repeated the word 'good' three times in a row, while nodding his head and laughed. "Madam truly has an exquisite mind. Really made this husband feels very proud."
With a deadpan look, Murong Yunshu pursed up her lips, as if she was turning a deaf ear to his praise, though the corner of her mouth slightly went up. Her heart was rather pleased with herself, and she felt somewhat happy.
As they both entered through the stone gate, they followed along the passageway inside, and their journey was somewhat uneventful. Most secret passages were generally layered severely with trap mechanisms, but it wasn't for this section of passageway, which was somewhat weird. When Murong Yunshu started to find it to be very strange, she heard a whooshing sound, as cold air suddenly appeared and dashed, charging straight at their faces. It didn't give any time for the startled Murong Yunshu to take any action, when her body was unexpectedly yanked to the left, avoiding the incoming cold air. Then, followed by the sound of 'zheng zheng', like some metal had clashed against the stone wall.
That was close. Murong Yunshu breathed out a few huge sighs of relief, and she was about to thank him for saving her life, when she quickly realised that she was still in his arms. Her heart abruptly missed a beat, and her whole body instantly became stiff, with each of her nerves in a state of high tension.
Chu Changge also found that there was something wrong with the current atmosphere, and he would have immediately let her go. However, all of sudden, he noticed that the person in his arms was being extremely tense. In an instant, his natural mischievous trait came out to make mischief again. He hugged her more tightly in his arms, as a smile hooked up from the corner of his mouth with him then said, "This feels really good." This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.
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His words were simply like thunders poking onto Murong Yunshu's taut nerves. However, someone's deliberate teasing had also woken up the dozed off treacherous nature inside her because of her recent feeling of embarrassment. She purposefully said after closing her lips for a while, "This indeed feels really good." Although she didn't have much desire to identify how her hand felt yesterday.....
Chu Changge was dumbfounded, but soon after, he let out a hearty laugh. "Madam is truly an unordinary person." When he heard a gentle and refined lady speak about such a thing was the same as meeting a Shaolin abbot in a brothel, which was actually a sensational matter but yet, it gave out a very comical feeling.
Murong Yunshu rightly took his mocking as a compliment and she just shut up, didn't want to continue talking with him. Silence was the best option when one didn't know how to retort back.
When Chu Changge saw that she didn't say anything else, he said, "I'll ask you a question, and if you answer it to my satisfaction, I'll let you go."
Murong Yunshu's dark brows raised. "Then, ask."
Chu Changge gently smiled as he whispered his question in her ear, "When you took off my clothes yesterday, were your eyes closed or opened?" There was a strong trace of smile in his low, sexy voice.
Murong Yunshu felt a tingling sensation in her ears, with a strange feeling ran through her body, but they were merely fleeting. She collected her mind and began to think calmly about how to answer. After thinking about it for a while, she faintly said, "In that case, I have to trouble Leader to please take me through this secret passageway."
Chu Changge laughed at these words and praised, "Madam is truly a talent!"
Murong Yunshu silently lowered her eyes. He asked that question to only remind her that — 'you have molested me'. Regardless of whether she answered that she opened her eyes or closed them, it would only serve his purpose, so she chose to keep her mouth shut. Besides, the passageway was heavily equipped with severe trap mechanisms. There was always the possibility of another hidden arrow coming out from hiding, hence it would be much safer to just let him hold her. Taking a thousand steps back, this wasn't the first time for him being flirtatious with her. Since her lady reputation had already ruined, so there was no need for her to care on how many times it had been ruined.....
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Chu Changge originally just wanted to tease her. Whether she answered that she had opened or closed her eyes, he would still let go of her. For her to actually push the boat with the current²Chinese idiom : to take advantage of the situation for one's own benefit by making him act as 'her ride', was clearly......making him have no time to deal with it³Chinese idiom : caught unprepared.
After Chu Changge lifted Murong Yunshu on his back, his heart suddenly felt very anxious. This was not the first time he held her like this. He also carried her like this once when they were at Hua Tuo Mountain. There were only a few months difference between now and then, but somehow, the feelings on both times were completely different. He currently had a guilty conscience somehow. He had never been a gentleman, but he didn't dare to act blindly without thinking⁴Chinese idiom : act rashly right now. It seemed like, even a small move from him would be treated as a 'sneak attack'.
Neither of them spoke. It was a surprisingly quiet atmosphere, that they could even hear each other's heartbeats. This made both of them feel even more inexplicably nervous.
"You….."
"I….."
Even with different mouths, they spoke in the same voice⁵Chinese idiom : speak in unison.
"You should say it first."
"You should say it first."
They spoke in the same voice once more despite having different mouths⁵Chinese idiom : speak in unison.
Murong Yunshu simply hung down her beautiful head and closed her mouth, waiting for him to speak first. Chu Changge, on the other hand, muffled a few laughs as he said, "Madam has grown some flesh."
She realised now that no ivory would ever come out from a dog's mouth⁶Chinese idiom : no good words are to be expected from a scoundrel! After Murong Yunshu silently cursed a certain someone in her mind, she then stated, "The mechanism that triggered the secret arrow should be on the ground."
An Eight Trigrams with Five Elements or known as Post-Heaven Bagua (Eight Trigrams).
Usually used by feng shui practitioners and in Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Image Credit
Modern Wushu Wiki
As soon as Chu Changge heard that she was talking about something serious, he also put away his mischievous mentality and looked down to the ground, only to see the secret passageway had been paved with ash-coloured marbles, shaped into circles. Each piece of marble was carved with all kinds of plants and animals, as well as some landscape patterns. While on the wall, with every step they made, they could see written words, with unorganized pictures, and baffling characters. They might looked quite messy, but those who understood the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams could easily discern and obtain the profound secrets behind them.
Each character on the wall was one of the Eight Trigrams, and each trigram had its own corresponding pattern situated underfoot. If they stepped on the pattern according to the character, the trap mechanism would not be triggered.
Once Chu Changge had a clear view on how to move inside the passageway, he made use of his qinggong⁷"the art of lightness". The body is trained to be "light as feather", so that a person can run at great speed, leap high and drop down softly on the tip of the toe to quickly walk towards the end of the secret passage. Then he saw on his left side, a narrow winding mountain road that led to the top.
"It seems that someone has already cut the steps up the mountain," said Chu Changge with a bit of self-mockery mixed with a bit of relief tones. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.
Murong Yunshu also smiled, as she gazed up at the winding mountain steps that its end couldn't even be seen, and learned to use his tone to say, "It seems that I will have to ask for the sedan bearers to lift me up the mountain."
A sedan bearer
Upon hearing these words, Chu Changge shook his head in amusement and stated, "You are really such a precious lady who refuses to even take one step forward by yourself."
Murong Yunshu's dark eyebrows raised, declined to give any comment. If she couldn't enjoy it, why did she need to earn so much money in the first place?
In the end, Murong Yunshu didn't pay for the sedan bearers, but the 'sedan chair' that she sat on still took care of it. Like the mountain itself, its top was also bare, but there were several wolf corpses lying on the ground. Such lifeless hilltops didn't even have vegetarian food, let alone meat. What did these wolves live on before?
Murong Yunshu continued to observe the terrain in wonder when she suddenly found a small hole in front of her. Thus she squatted down at the mouth of the hole and asked, "Did you fall down from this hole?"
Chu Changge didn't answer, which could be considered a tacit agreement to her question. Murong Yunshu stretched her neck to look down from the hole, and after a long while, she suddenly said while sighing with emotion, "Fortunately you're not fat. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be able to drop down."
The corner of Chu Changge's mouth trembled. Considering that he had worked so hard to carry her up the mountain, how could she be talking about how ' it was unfortunate that he was not fat'?