Title: The Crazy Adventures of Wu Gate
Chapter: 33.2 of 87
"If I don't get the antidote, I'll die from blood loss from vomiting up too much blood!" Qing Qiao slightly trembled and her face became increasingly deathly pale.
"… Don't blame me for giving you that poison. I… I wasn't doing it to be cruel." Looking at her trembling delicate form, Lu Zi Zheng couldn't help taking pity on her. "… That Duan Yu isn't an ordinary person. He's rather knowledgable about martial arts and tactics. A typical drug that fakes death wouldn't have fooled him. I could only use a real poison…"
" I don't blame you." Qing Qiao lightly smiled and interrupted him. Her expression drifted. "If you hadn't given me that poison as contingency, perhaps I would have already been beheaded right now."
"… Actually, I'm really happy." Her face was suddenly filled with a satisfaction as if she was dreaming. "I finally escaped, and I also met you and ate the antidote. It seems that the Heavens are treating me pretty well. At the very least, I can continue to live a good life."
She suddenly tilted her head and with a mischievous expression, she said, "Haven't I finally reached the end of this chess game and gotten the last laugh?"
A thought appeared in Lu Zi Zheng's mind, but he didn't reply and only hugged her tighter.
"… What are you planning on doing next?" He placed his chin on her soft hair.
"I…" Qing Qiao's voice was slightly hesitant.
"If you want to live a simple life, I'll arrange a place for you to stay. You won't have to worry about clothes or food. Your life will be smooth and steady. How about it?" His voice was hot. Hot enough for her ears to slowly turn red. The redness reached down to her neck as well.
"N-no need to treat me so well!" Qing Qiao returned to her sense. Flustered and confused, she pushed him away. She felt wrong-footed. "Although I saved you, you don't have to use this type of method to repay me."
Lu Zi Zheng's arms were empty. His eyes stared at the beauty in front of him and they slight narrowed.
"… Then, what exactly do you want to do next?" He quietly spoke. His complexion was as dim as leftover mist as his expression frosted over.
Qing Qiao thought for a while, then she raised her head and brightly smiled at him. "I'm going to Xi Ling."
Her eyes were exceptionally bright. Her smiling face was as splendid as the sun when it broke free from the clouds.
"Zi Zheng, I haven't forgotten my dream! I'm going to Xi Ling."
Early next morning, at Qi Residence.
Qi Residence was very beautiful. There was a friendly mist over the pond and a mass of luxurious and flourishing flowers. When Dong Xi had free time, she always liked to lean against the railing and look at the scenery.
At the current moment, Dong Xi was leaning against the railing and lost in thought. She suddenly heard the sound of footsteps behind her. When she turned her head to look, she saw a teenager wearing a yellow robe and limping over here. There was a vibrato from the jade on his belt with each step he took. It sounded as if it was weeping.
"Don't worry, your master will be released this evening." The teenager lightly smiled at her. "I can guarantee this."
Dong Xi hurriedly kneeled and kowtowed.
"It's just that… Will she feel wronged that I'm having her come here to be my court lady?" The teenager wasn't looking at Dong Xi. He was absorbed with looking at the jade in his hand and fiddling with it. He gently stroked it as if he was touching the dew on a flower petal.
Dong Xi didn't dare to reply. She subconsciously didn't like this capricious young master. After all, she still remembered all those times when he had made her miss suffer.
"Sir! Sir!" A servant suddenly came to residence. He comically staggered over here and repeatedly fell over and got up.
"Why are you so panic-stricken?" The teenager frowned. He seemed to greatly dislike people that didn't know proper etiquette.
But, this person didn't have time to care about being proper. He rushed forward and whispered into Shao Yi's ear for a long time.
Dong Xi saw this with her own eyes. The smile on Shao Yi's face disappeared bit by bit. His face slowly stretched taut as his happiness gradually changed into deep anger.
"How could this happen? Ninth imperial uncle is too treacherous!" He firmly grasped the railing. His face was completely red and his teeth were tightly clenched.
"Sir, you don't have to worry!" The new arrival comforted him with this sentence, then he continued whispering into Shao Yi's ear about such and such.
The anger on the teenager's face gradually faded away, only sorrow and resentment was left behind, as well as a faint trace of unwilling to accept the truth.
"… She left?"
He raised his face and looked at the faraway green hills. His beautiful eyes were bleak.
"She left just like that?"
He was silent for a while, then he suddenly turned around and mercilessly flung the jade in his hand onto ground.
The jade immediately broke into pieces. Some of the fragments became as sparkling and glimmering as fish scales when they flew upward and scattered all over the place.
Dong Xi hurriedly jumped away. The spy also quickly jumped to the side and didn't dare to say another word.
However, as the teenager looked at the remains of the ornamental thumb ring, he suddenly remembered something and his expression gradually eased.
"… It's okay. Everything is fine." He murmured. He seemed to be comforting himself. "I still have it!"
He pulled out a red string that was underneath his collar. At the bottom of the necklace, there was a sparkling, transparent, and perfectly round gem. Underneath the sunlight, the entire gem was exceptionally beautiful.
"Uncle has said that as long as I have this, she'd definitely return to come look for me."
The teenager lightly smiled and tightly grasped the gem as if he was a drowning man and the gem was his lifeline.
"She'll come back. She'll definitely come back…" He quietly said these words as if he was chanting a prayer. His thin red lips curved upwards.
The morning sun shined down on the teenager and illuminated his elegant and handsome face, as well as the splendid design on his collar. It was a dragon's claw stretching out from mist. It was holding a treasure in its claw and refusing to let go. The clouds were so red that they seemed as if they were an unending fire. There was a smile on the teenager's face. It made him appear increasingly isolated. His entire body seemed as if it was becoming transparent and turning into nothing. This beautiful sight had a feeling of horror and peculiarity.
Dong Xi had never seen a sight as strange as the one before her now.
She blankly stared at him and felt an unprecedented fear. Her entire body gradually started to shake.
(T/N: This chapter part starts at audiobook part 33 from 16:25 to 23:05. The audiobook's link is on the table of contents page.
The Crazy Adventures of Wu Gate is divided into three books and this is the end of book 1.
Umm… I lost interest in this novel. Sorry, I'm dropping this novel too. I really should have read the entire novel before I started translating*. I included the spoilery reason below in the comments. If anyone is interested in translating this novel, feel free to pick it up. I'll add it NUF's pickup thread if that helps.
*This is the first novel that I translated. When I first started translating, it seemed like a good idea to read the novel as I translate as a way to motivate me to translate faster. After Meow Meow Meow and ChongFei Manual, I realize this is a bad idea, at least for me. Translating a novel means I'm going to have to go through it four times at least (reading it in Chinese, figuring out how to phrase it in English, typing it, and proofreading it). Going forward, I won't start translating a novel before I finish reading it. For the newest novel that I'm translating, The Dreamer in the Spring Boudoir, I read the entire novel before I started translating to make sure that this wouldn't happen again.)