The Crown Prince of Chen
Five.
When Gui Yan woke up, he found that he was in an extremely familiar place- The Hundred Li Slope.
The only thing about it was that it was extremely different from what he had been familiar with in the past. There were weeds covering up the entire area that were so thick that people would practically drown in it.
He rubbed his shoulders and sat up. When he surveyed his surroundings, he found that someone else was even sleeping beside him. He seized that person up and excitedly shook her awake. “Little flowery flower wifey! How coincidental, how coincidental! You’re also sleeping here!”
Ren Dong immediately opened her eyes when Gui Yan touched her. Subconsciously, she grabbed onto Gui Yan’s arm and flipped in front of him, one hand on his throat, controlling all of his movements. Gui Yan began to incessantly wail in grief. “It’s me! Wifey, it’s your hubby, your hubby!”
When she heard this sound, Ren Dong loosened her grip and let go of him, only indifferently saying, “Sorry.” If this had happened in the past, she probably wouldn’t even be saying a word of apology.
Gui Yan rubbed his arm as he muttered about this and that. Ren Dong glanced at him a few times and asked, “Who are you really?”
“I’m your hubby,” He glowered.
Ren Dong looked at him for a while. “Did you know you were shot by an arrow just a little while ago?”
Gui Yan’s hands paused. “I didn’t know.” His voice was just as lively as in the past, “Because I can’t even feel any pain.”
Ren Dong didn’t speak further as she carefully appraised Gui Yan. When she jumped into the river with him the water had been spraying down on them the entire way. She originally thought that Gui Yan’s wound would become inflamed and fester, and even make him die, but after she climbed ashore, when she pulled the arrow out, no blood spewed out. She had seen his skin fuse together at a speed that no average human could possibly replicate.
“Who are you?” She asked again.
Gui Yan laughed and pulled up a few long strands of grass from beside him, beginning to toy with them in his hands. “This place used to be my home. A thousand years ago it was called ‘The Palace of the Chen Nation’.”
The ancient… Chen Nation.
Ren Dong was shocked.
“I am the emperor’s son. After I died, I was put in a coffin made of frigid jade. No one would have thought that the coffin had the power to resurrect someone, but it transformed me into a gyonshi.” He cut his fingers with the silvergrass in his hands, but no blood seeped out. The wound also immediately healed. He laughed as he said, “I can’t bleed, I heal at an astonishing rate, I can’t live, and I can’t die. It must be extremely disgusting to you.”
He looked up at Ren Dong, thinking that she would turn pale with fright and walk away in panic. To his surprise, she continued to watch him coldly, as she asked, “You still look about 20 years old now, so you must have died when you were 20 years old. How did you die as a nation’s crown prince?”
“I was poisoned.” He calmly replied, “While I was alive I stuttered. Some people felt I couldn’t become the emperor and gave me the Reborn Turtledoves poison.”
Ren Dong was startled.
“Yep, it’s the exact same poison that your Sect Leader has. But my luck wasn’t as good. I couldn’t live as long and eventually died. Everything happened so quickly, I didn’t even have any time to heal myself. I guess I consider coming with you on this trip a part of fulfilling my own desires.”
Ren Dong’s lips twitched. Gui Yan managed to see it, as he began to smile again, “But now, I want to ask your Sect Leader if I can have you for my wife.”
“Why… me?”
Gui Yan slowly folded the grass in his hand into a grasshopper. He gave it to Ren Dong and said, “Because even though I’ve died, I still act like someone who’s alive, while even though you are alive, you are even quieter than someone dead. My intentions are good. I want to help more people before I am reborn.”
“If I don’t do anything, it will be hard for me to while away a thousand years.” He stood up and stood next to a dead tree. As he touched it, he said, “This is a peach tree that I planted a thousand years ago. Later, it built up its own spirit and everyday it would mock me for being a stammering son of a local tyrant. I didn’t think that after so many years have passed, I no longer stammer but the original form of this demon has also died.”
In this moment, Ren Dong felt that the loneliness that she glimpsed in the figure of Gui Yan, who was standing under the sunlight, made her heart clench in an indescribable way.
He had passed a thousand years all by himself. Anyone could be a passing traveler of his life, but he could only be a passing traveler in someone else’s life.
How difficult must it be to dispel a thousand years of loneliness?
For some reason, Ren Dong stretched her hand out to grasp Gui Yan’s two fingers.
A warmth seemed to pass into his fingers, and GUi Yan was stunned, turning to look at Ren Dong. Ren Dong had also been shocked by her own actions. After a very long silence, she lifted the grasshopper in her hand and said, “The… weaving is pretty nice.”
Gui Yan laughed, “Without a doubt.”
Six.
Even after finding out Gui Yan’s identity, it did not impact the course of their travels. Ren Dong only harbored tacit approval for Gui Yan’s actions both in the past and in the present.
Ren Dong gradually began to realize that every time Gui Yan suddenly requested to change their route, the people chasing after her would appear on the paths that they were originally going to take. She thought, If not for Gui Yan who has been helping me in this way by changing our route, I would have been dead by now.
The farther they walked south, the less people chased after them. Ren Dong estimated that there were about three more days to go until they would reach the main camp of the Shaman Sect.
This morning, Gui Yan woke up Ren Dong early and said, “Let’s go look at the peach trees.”
Ren Dong had already gotten used to these types of actions from Gui Yan. She immediately packed their belongings, thinking that they would be hiding from the killers again. She didn’t think that this time, Gui Yan would really bring her along to look at the peach blossoms.
He brought Ren Dong along as they ambled along the bypath that was full of peach trees, as he contentedly smiled. He called Ren Dong over to stand underneath a tree. With a light touch, the tree’s pink petals seemed to sprinkle everywhere, as they all fluttered about and drifted onto Ren Dong’s body.
Rather unaccustomed to this, Ren Dong patted the flowers on her body off. She was used to blood coating her entire body, and she wasn’t used to such elegant things.
“Little flowery flower! Let me dance and sing for you.” Gui Yan stood three steps away and broke off a peach blossom branch. He held it in his hands as he danced while he sang, “Peaches, oh peaches, oh peaches, oh peaches, oh peaches, how gentle, oh gentle oh gentle oh gentle…” [1]
The out of place song coupled with the out of place dance made Ren Dong smile instinctively.
“Wifey, do you think I’m beautiful?” Gui Yan inserted the flower branch into his hair, and ran over eagerly to show it off. The springtime sunshine made the enchanting peach blossoms glitter, and it also enhanced Gui Yan’s smiling face. Ren Dong watched him with a small smile of her own, and helped him reorder his hair.
“Absolutely stunning.”
When these words were said, Gui Yan wasn’t the only one who blanked; even Ren Dong blanked. But while Ren Dong blanked, Gui Yan immediately presented a huge smile, “Ah hahaha! Of course this nobleman is the only one of my kind. I am very stunning!” As for Ren Dong, she continued to repeat two words in her head:
Oh no…
When faced with such beautiful things… slowly, she was unable to reject them.
In the evening, they stepped into Shaman Sect territory. The moment they stepped over the boundary, someone conveyed to Ren Dong that the Sect Leader was critically ill and told her to go at full speed over. She immediately began to rush back.
On the second day after they reached the Shaman Sect, there wasn’t any time to rest. The Sect Leader immediately called for Gui Yan and asked him to come to him.
In another bamboo building, Ren Dong watched the scene below her from a corner, unwilling to leave.
Only two days later did Gui Yan strut out, as he smiled, “There’s only this much to the Reborn Turtledoves poison.If my body had been stronger back then, I could hold out a little longer, and completely get rid of it.” He patted Ren Dong’s shoulder and said, “Wifey, from today on, you are mine. Come with me.” When he finished, he walked towards the Shaman Sect border with her.
Ren Dong followed behind him and walked a few steps. She hadn’t adapted to the situation yet, when she suddenly heard the voice of the Left Protector [2], “Divine doctor, please wait a moment.”
Gui Yan pulled Ren Dong’s hand towards him and did not let go. “Isn’t the poison gone? As long as you eat that medicine for two to three days afterwards, it will completely heal.”
“I am not speaking about that. Divine doctor, you must know that Ren Dong is someone of our Shaman Sect. She grew up in the Shaman Sect, and the Sect Leader has something to tell her.”
Gui Yan pouted, and unwillingly let go of Ren Dong’s hand. He watched as Ren Dong walked into that black bamboo building and suddenly loudly began to yell, “Little flowery flower wifey, don’t be afraid! If they do anything to you, I have the ability to poison the entire Shaman Sect!”
The face of the Left Protector, who had just stepped into the door, went black, and he angrily shot a glare at Ren Dong. Ren Dong looked down, and gazed fixedly at the ground as they walked up to the second floor. However, in her heart she was secretly laughing.
[1] This is partly a pun on Peach Demon because the characters for peach and gentleness are the same as the words for peach and demon respectively.
[2] A 护法神 is a protector deity that guards Buddha’s law. In ancient Chinese texts, the rhetoric phrase “左右护法” (Left, Right Protectors of the Law) appeared, and this gradually evolved into two different people: Left Protector and Right Protector who were given different jobs that they accomplished for their leaders. Most of the time they were bodyguards and probably enforcers of laws as can be seen by their title.
Translated by Geeky
Edited by Ely