The carriage opposite Lu Qianqao was white and spotless as Feng Xiao Li gazed at him unyieldingly and silently.
Even after ten years, everything was still the same as ever.
Li Chaoyang's voice sounded empty, cold, and a little absent-minded from inside the car, "The Emperor of the State of Qiong[1] had sent you three Imperial Decrees inviting you to return to the court. Why didn't you respect them?"
Lu Qianqiao answered indifferently, "Now there is no war. There's no need to ask me to accept and go to fight with people in the Imperial Court."
"How can there be no war when the peasants are rioting, and there is constant chaos in the country? There are still three months before your transformation. Would you rather shrink your head like a turtle and die in the Imperial Mausoleum or be demoted as a general after your death? Do you think I will pity you and allow your willfulness? You have brought no glory to our people, nor shall you bring disgrace on them."
He barely smiled as he slightly mocked, "Isn't it more shameful to die by a peasant's knife?"
There was a moment of silence befell the inside of the carriage. Then the fine green bamboo curtain slowly rolled up, and the snow-like face of Li Chaoyang was reflected in his eyes.
Two almost identical faces with deep and soft outlines. Only his nose was too stiff and straight. He heard it was like his father's, the man who once held power over courts and was also an influential figure who became one of the monkeys when the tree fell[2].
Li Chaoyang's eyes looked at him and seemed to penetrate him, but she was looking at some unknown place. This had been the case since before. She had always been absent-minded and indifferent to him, just like how she treated everyone else.
"So your choice is to spend the last three months with a bunch of bedbugs like fairies and goblins? Where is the fairy that released the crow? How dare it peep into our clan's secrets? Are you with such people all day long?"
He didn't answer.
After ten years, he finally learned to face her without showing emotion or saying useless words.
She was still so indifferent that she only said, "Let it be. I have never expected anything from you, even in the past. Since you don't want to fight before your death, come back with me. At least don't die in disgrace."
Lu Qianqiao still did not answer.
Li Chaoyang's rambling eyes finally gathered on his face. "Do you want to disobey me?"
He nodded, calmly got up and wiped the mud off his clothes.
She became angry when her heavy-lidded red eyes accurately closed on his indifferent eyes. The bamboo curtain was slowly lowered, and her figure was once again hidden in the shadows.
"You are getting bolder."
The two war demons on each side of the carriage came towards him. They clasped their hands together and saluted as they said coldly, "Please make your move."
The one who should come will always come.
He closed his eyes and opened them a moment later. His deep and dark pupils became two, overlapping in one place. He was not a pure-blood war demon. His eyes were not red. Only these ferocious and dreadful overlapping pupils could prove the blood of the restless war demon was inside him.
With his hands put together, he returned the salute, "Please."
*
Although Xin Mei had not seen Qiu Yue in less than a month, she felt they had been separated for thirty autumns. Qiu Yue rubbed its head against her neck and flapped its wings. Occasionally, it would turn around and peck her head with its big beak, showing affection.
"Qiu Yue, Lu Qianqiao seems to have been found by his enemies, who had red beads of eyes. Two against one, plus the one in the carriage. He will be in a gang fight, won't he? Do you think he will die?"
Xin Mei felt uncomfortable when she remembered the eyes of the two men just now.
After being under house arrest for so long, you are finally free. Who cares what happened to him? Qiu Yue shook its head disapprovingly.
"You mean he won't die?" Xin Mei touched Qiu Yue's chin and tried to think. "The last time he killed the tiger demon, he was pretty impressive, but it seems a little different this time. He had facial paralysis after he killed the tiger demon, but he didn't have facial paralysis just now!"
Only you can come up with such strange reasons! Qiu Yue gave out a long cry.
"Yes, you agree with me." Xin Mei nodded solemnly. "Besides, he said he would send me my heavenly maiden, but he hasn't finished making it yet!"
You...what do you want? Qiu Yue stared at her warily.
Xin Mei happily smiled. "Do you mean we will stop here? All right, let's wait for an hour before we fly back. They should be done in a shichen[3], right?"
No! Qiu Yue's tears streamed down its cheeks. What with this kind of a donkey's lips did not match a horse mouth[4] communication? Who is going to save it in return?!
*
Blood slowly slipped down his face, and everything in sight seemed to turn red.
Lu Qianqiao stood on the spot with an air of arrogance. His body was like a rock, and he didn't stir even a finger. The two demons beside him had their white clothes stained with blood.
There was a flash of dazzling gleam right before his eyes. Do you still want to come again? Lu Qianqiao waved his whip, welcoming the piercing cold of the striking flash without showing a glimpse of weakness.
Through the green bamboo curtain, Li Chaoyang looked at Lu Qianqao's face, which was covered with blood. His eyes, hidden behind the blood, had never been so sharp. He seemed to tell everyone that even if he was hit to the bottom of hell, he would not flinch. As long as he could fight, he could fight once more.
Ten years ago, the young man with some beauty and childishness had been tempered into a famous knife over time. He gradually resembled his father when his mouth was tightly closed, as he showed his firmness all the time and his refusal to reveal any timidity in his eyes.
She suddenly felt a little nostalgic. She used to be crazy for men who have this kind of eyes. Unfortunately, he was a human and also, at that time, she was not as saddened by the decline of the War Demon Clan as she was now.
The wind whistled sharply and tore open the corner of the bamboo curtain. Li Chaoyang felt the pain from the wind rub her skin. She reached out and touched it gently. Lu Qianqiao, who had waved his long whip, was staring at her.
He was provoking her. He dared to infuriate her even with his last breath.
All of a sudden, she said, "All right."
The bloody two war demons stopped immediately and turned to stand beside the carriage as if their bleeding wounds were someone else's. Their red eyes were still cold, but now, when they looked at Lu Qianqao, their eyes showed a little more awe.
"Your temper is very similar to mine, which I appreciate very much. Although you have the pride of my family, half of you are human, after all. The change at 25 is no different than death for you...what a pity. Really a pity. "
Twice she said how pitiful he was till her voice finally softened down. After a while, she suddenly asked, "...do you still have the jade tablet I gave you when you were a child?"
Lu Qianqiao hung his head and took out the mottled jade tablet from his money bag. It was soaked with blood, making his name on the jade tablet bloody looking.
The mottled and poor-quality jade tablet was the most superficial and cruellest identification of the War Demon clan. He was mixed-race and even the most inferior because he did not inherit the red pupil. His skills may have shocked humans, but they were nothing to the war demons.
Now that he had grown up, he seemed stronger and could even match two war demons. However, only he knew whether it was actual skill or just pride.
Li Chaoyang held out a hand from behind the bamboo curtain. Its shape was beautiful, but the palm and five fingers were covered with thick calluses. The real war demons had been trained through a thousand tests. Whether they were men or women, it was never beautiful to be weak or incompetent.
"Give it to me."
He put the jade tablet in her hand.
"Today, you have made me look at you with new eyes. This jade tablet is no longer needed."
When the beautiful fingers closed and opened again, the jade tablet had been crushed into dust.
"Who was that little girl just now?"
Li Chaoyang's insipid words were like a boulder thrown into his heart. Liu Qianqiao suddenly looked up and looked at her, who was sitting behind the curtain.
"She looks good. Do you like her?" She asked very flatly.
"...no."
She didn't seem to hear his weak denial. Feng Xiao Li brayed softly, and the snow-white carriage drifted away. She confessed, "Now that I think about it, I haven't done anything for you that a mother should do. I will tell her to accompany you in the last three months of your life. When you die, I will ask her to accompany you forever."
Liu Qianqiao was surprised. Seeing Feng Xiao Li leapt into the clouds silently, he held down his painful chest with one hand and took Lie Yun Hua's reins with the other, trying to chase after it. However, a sudden burst of darkness filled his sight, and his body became heavier and heavier. It seemed that he was going to lose his strength.
Lie Yun Hua nestled beside him, holding his trembling upper body with its head. His blood streamed down, dying the whole piece of grass red. His strength seemed to be drained along with his blood, so he couldn't get on the horse's back smoothly.
*
"It should be a shichen[3] now, right?" Xin Mei cleaned up a mess of snacks in front of her, brushed off the crumbs of Osmanthus candy and pine nut candy off her clothes, and then stretched herself.
Qiu Yue remained on top of a tree as it lumped its body into a ball and pretended not to hear. It didn't want to go back there again!
Xin Mei climbed on Qiu Yue's back and was about to speak when the snow-white and delicate carriage came slowly by, stopped for a moment in front of her, and then flew away again.
They were Lu Qianqiao's enemies, right? Xin Mei looked at the carriage in front of her. Two very handsome and powerful horses, ridden by the two men with red eyes, were beside the carriage. While the men's white clothes were stained with blood.
Sensing that Qiu Yue was trembling slightly, Xin Mei touched its back, somewhat puzzled. "They look like defeated roosters, so why are you afraid?"
....will you stop being so tough all the time? Qiu Yue wiped away its bitter tears with its wings. This was what people called the fearlessness of the ignorant ah.....
"Look at their bodies that are full of blood stains. I reckon those were done by Lu Qianqao. Let's hurry back and have a look."
Xin Mei patted Qiu Yue's back, and it reluctantly spread its wings.
Lu Qianqiao led Lie Yun Hua slowly forward, step by step. He just felt that he could not stop. If he stopped, he might never walk again.
"Lu Qianqao!"
As if someone was calling him from a distance, which sounded like...Xin Mei's voice.
He tried with all his strength to turn around, and in his bloody field of vision, he saw Xin Mei jump down from Qiu Yue's back and run up to him, looking up and down in horror. Finally, she carefully poked him and asked, "You, are you dead?"
Not dead, but it will be hard to say if you kept on poking.
She turned to look at a large piece of forest that had been stripped away and sighed. "Did you just fight with a group of elephants?"
He wanted to laugh. His entire world was slowly letting loose.
"Who told you to come back..." His voice was shallow, a bit hoarse, and he was really laughing. "Not afraid that I will roast a pelican for you?"
Qiu Yue retaliated with a swat of its wing on his back, and the usually commanding general fell so softly as he had no strength left.
So weak! Xin Mei pouted. "You are still trying to act brave. Then, I will roast your horse if you roast Qiu Yue!"
Lie Yun Hua spurt its nose, ignoring her. Lu Qianqiao fell to the ground facing upwards. The last picture in his field of vision was her face bending down close to him. Then he fell into endless darkness.
Footnotes Full List
- fine jade country
- from Chinese idiom ‘When the tree falls, the monkey will scatter’: an opportunist abandons an unfavourable cause
- 2 hours
- Chinese idiom: inconsistent, incongruous
Noob Translator's Musing
Lol... Poor Qiu Yue!
Tags:
A Match Made In Heaven