MMIH Chapter 46 : Four-year Reunion (2)

byきつね -November 28, 2019

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The furthest distance in the world is not between life and death, but when I am by your side and you do not know that I love you—

Lord Meishan couldn’t remember from what book did he read this very talented passage. At that time, he only felt like it hit him in the chest and his tears had wet his front clothes.

Last time, he had rushed to the Imperial Mausoleum with a rare kind of passion and wanted to elope with his beloved girl. However, he missed it again and completely lost his courage. He didn’t even want to deal with all kinds of new gossip right now. He just cried and drank inside the Meishan Residence all day long and he was always drunk.

It happened that Fu Jiuyun and Zhen Hongsheng had come together to visit him that day. The soul-spirit guarding the gate led them to the Lotus Pond. Pointing at a slovenly thin man frozen in the pond, as it said, “He has frozen himself in the pond for four or five days. Can you two please have a look at him?”

Zhen Hongsheng had to cover his mouth from laughing at the scene. While Fu Jiuyun broke a branch, and then, he squatted at the edge of the pool as he gently poked the nostrils of the person in the pool. He was startled. “He seems to be dead.”

‘Ka’, the thin ice cracked, and the long-haired Lord Meishan grabbed the branch weakly and without strength, “Leave me alone…I want Little Mei…Little Mei…”

“Little Mei?” Fu Jiuyun vaguely felt that he had heard the name somewhere before but he could not remember it for a while.

“That’s the little girl from Xinxie Manor.” Zhen Hongsheng kindly explained to him.

“Oh, that little beauty.” Fu Jiuyun suddenly enlightened, and gave a thumb up to Lord Meishan, “You have some vision. She is indeed very beautiful. Since you like her, why don’t you go after her?“

This question stabbed Lord Meishan’s dull pain and he let out an anguished sobs, as he dove to the bottom of the pool with a bunch of bubbles rolled up.

Zhen Hongsheng continued to explain kindly to Fu Jiuyun, “She has already gotten married—she married a war demon.”

Fu Jiuyun smiled as he clearly understood. Then, he put his hand into his sleeve, and said to the decadent figure in the pool, “Meishan, come up, I’ll give you a good thing.”

Lord Meishan poked out his face. His expressionless eyes looked like dead fish eyes, and he was currently observing him.

A piece of soft paper was taken out, unfolded and sent straight to his eyes—

His dead fish’s eyes suddenly shone with astonishing light!

“Little Mei!”

He suddenly threw himself at the paper, but because of the mud at the bottom of the pool, he slipped and tumbled like a dog fell into the water.

On that piece of spread out paper was an awesome painting of great beauty in lively colours brought forth fragrance. Her eyes were bright and full of confidence. She had a slender stature and elegant appearance. She was like an 18 to a 9-year-old version of Xin Mei.

Fu Jiuyun looked at him pitifully, and his voice was surprisingly gentle as he said, “Meishan, as a friend, I can help you, help you—by seeing the thing, think of the person. This little picture is for you.“

Lord Meishan jumped out of the Lotus Pond and Zheng Hongsheng immediately waved his long sleeve. The water and ice that stuck on Meishan’s body in an instant disappeared. At that time, Meishan was busy rolling and crawling to grab the little picture that had fallen. He couldn’t wait to rip his chest open and stuff it into his heart.

“Let just leave him by seeing the thing, think of the person, Fox, while we will have a drink. This time, I have brought a carriage full of good wines called, ‘As If Entranced’.”

Fu Jiuyun’s attire was elegant and graceful, as he cheerfully led Zhen Hongsheng into the room to drink. “Wait!” cried Meishan. “Me too! Fu Jiuyun! Dead fox! You mustn’t drink them alone!“

Zhen Hongsheng just smiled, “Aren’t you busy thinking of Little Mei?”

Lord Meishan carefully folded Xin Mei’s portrait and placed it close to his heart. “Having this is already enough to comfort me.”

It was much better than staring into the empty air every day.

It was already rare for the three of them to get together for a drink on normal days. Fu Jiuyun had brought over a carriage full of ‘As If Entranced’ wines. They drank till there were only a few jars left for him to drink in the morning.

At that time, while the three were talking, a soul spirit suddenly ran through the door while losing its head out of fear as it shouted, “Master! It is that War Demon General again…“

With the sound of ‘xiu’, Lord Meishan lost the grip of his glass and immediately put his head under the table. He didn’t want to die.

The soul-spirit ran up to him and looked at him with disdain, “…the War Demon General sent a letter.”

The immaculately dressed Lord Meishan emerged from under the table and gave out a dignified smile, “I’m just picking up the wine glass.”

The soul-spirit abandoned the letter, gave out a scoffing sound and escaped while picking its nose.

Lord Meishan opened the letter with a flushed face. This time Liu Qianqiao was not looking for a person, but a few rare herbs. As it happened, he knew where they grew, and immediately wrote back. He then asked a soul spirit to send it over.

Zhen Hongsheng unknowingly remembered something and he suddenly smiled, “When it comes to this War Demon General, I saw him once, the last two month. At that time, he looked like an evil spirit. I thought it was not going to be a good situation at that time. I had seen the palm of that girl from Xinxie Manor before, and it seemed like they had no fate together. I personally thought that the General would kill that girl after his transformation, but unexpectedly…that Immortal Yu Qing’s eyes have a poisonous influence. This girl’s husband jinx fate has stopped the life change of the War Demon General. Now he has eyes that are red and black, like a mixed-race cat.“

Lord Meishan only heard him say that their fate had been broken in the same sentence of transformation. He was very excited for a while and clutched at Zhen Hongsheng’s lapel, “Are you serious?! They’re not meant to be together?“

Zhen Hongsheng rolled his eyes and looked at him. “That’s not what I said...fate may not necessarily be something that can be entirely trusted…”

“You just said that they really don’t have fate together!” yelled Lord Meishan.

Zhen Hongsheng slightly smiled, “Yes, that was what I read from her palm at that time…Meishan, I think that girl may not necessarily dislike you, but somehow, you don’t want to let her know how you feel. You just hide here and cry. What are you thinking?”

“Good brother!” Lord Meishan was moved to tears that he patted him on the shoulder. “Thank you for your encouragement! I’ll go now!“

Fu Jiuyun looked up and saw Lord Meishan running to the door. Then, he saw him ride on Little Crane and flew away with his face glowed with health. He couldn’t help looking back at Zhen Hongsheng and blinked.

Zhen Hongsheng cheerfully took the last two jars of wine, one for each of them, while saying, “These are enough just for both of us to drink.”

Fu Jiuyun nodded and smiled, “You fox—really up to no good.”

*

In the morning, Lu Qianqiao sent someone to deliver a letter outside Mist Formation, saying that he would come back on the third day of the second lunar month and would stay for two days before he left again. Counting the days, the third day of the second lunar month would be tomorrow. Xin Mei rushed to write a list, which filled two sheets of paper and handed them to Silan, asking him to purchase them outside.

Before Xin Xiong went to sleep, he saw his daughter carrying a bucket of water, a rag, and a big broom. She then cleaned up everything on the east and did the same thing on the west. She had a spring breeze all over her face as she hummed a small song.

Xin Xiong’s eyes suddenly lit up, “Precious treasure, is son-in-law coming back?”

He had stayed in the Imperial Mausoleum for one month. The scenery here was really good and he had lived his days in leisure, moreover his daughter who cooked delicious food for him every day. He was much happier here compared to when he was in Xinxie Manor. He almost didn’t want to go back. His only regret was, his son-in-law was not at home, but when he thought about it, as a general, his son-in-law should have a lot of battles to fight. A man should aspire to travel far and make his mark. While he was an old man who lived in his son-in-law's home every day. Now that he was finally coming back, this father-in-law of his was very pleased.

“Dad, you can go amuse yourself as you please, I’ll clean up the house.”

Xin Mei pushed her father out of the door. Then, she noisily splashed a bucket of water on the floor and brushed it with a big broom.

Xin Xiong touched his beard and went out. After two steps, he saw Tao Guoguo and his younger brother noisily running around playfully. His younger brother had a pair of yellow chicken wings on his back. As soon as they saw him, his younger brother immediately withdrew it.

When Xin Xiong passed by the Lotus Pond, half of Miss Yinglian’s body had turned into a lotus and she was stretching herself in the water. As soon as he approached, she naturally leaned against the pond and sat with her legs crossed, as if the lotus was just an illusion.

He continued to walk past Zhao Guanren’s small cave. Zhao Guanren was standing at the entrance of the cave and looking up at the sky–it was said that he was waiting for the God of inspiration to honour him with his presence, while a thin tail of a mouse stuck out from his clothes. It looked like a crutch on the ground. Occasionally, it would scratch his hair and pick his nose.

At the sight of Xin Xiong coming over, the mouse tail instantly disappeared. Zhao Guanren patted his clothes and greeted him, “Boss Xin, you are early today.”

Xin Xiong smiled in return as he walked to the high platform. There, he leisurely lit a cigarette from a bag of cigarettes, smoked a mouthful, and he was as happy as a fairy.

For the sake of his son-in-law, the monsters had pretended very hard in front of him and he was embarrassed to expose them. Monsters had more love than people, which was quite unusual in this era.

When Silan returned, he brought along a man in addition to a large bag and a pile of things. Thay man was an Immortal.

When Xin Mei heard the noise, she looked over from the kitchen. She saw Lord Meishan making a big fuss while shedding bitter tears. Instead, she was very calm and even looked around with just a bit of old Mei-like aloofness. Her face looked determined to win and was immensely proud. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.

“Lord Meishan, are you coming here to play?” She greeted him with friendliness.

With joy on his face, he immediately ran forward and was about to open his mouth to talk, when he suddenly turned his head. Behind him was a group of little monsters pricking up their ears, trying to eavesdrop when they immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

“Little Mei, come here, I have something to say to you.”

For the first time, Lord Meishan boldly took her soft little hand, and as if he was in the cloud, he dragged her to the scenic tomb passage.

Cherry blossoms along the tomb passage had already shown a little light red colour and would bloom after a while. Warm spring would be coming soon.

Lord Meishan looked at Xin Mei’s beautifully white face and stammered, “Little, Little Mei, I, I, I, I, I, I am an Immortal who can live for a long time…and that, I don’t care about this world marriage…even if you, you, you are already married, I, I, I am not afraid…”

Xin Mei blankly looked at him, “Lord Meishan…”

His voice was so low as he stammered and jabbered. Only a ghost could hear him clearly.

“You, you, you and the War Demon General…there is no fate…so…”

“What fate?”

No more hesitation and cowardice, Meishan! Let’s talk about your state of mind and everything! Yes, there’s no shame in liking her! If you don’t say it, it will be a disgrace for you to act sticky towards her all day long!

Say it, say it!

Lord Meishan gazed at her with emotion and shouted, “Little Mei! I-I-I-I like you!“

……why didn’t she respond?

He tried to clean up his eyes, which were too excited and distracted, only to find that she was staring around him and focusing her eyes behind his back. Subconsciously he turned around, to a pair of expressionless black and red eyes.

Putong, kacha…seemed to be the sound of his little heart falling from higher ground.

Xin Mei suddenly jumped and quickly threw herself around him, heading straight into the man’s arms and shouted, “Why are you back today? Didn’t you say you will be back tomorrow? Your meal is not ready yet! I…“

Lu Qianqiao picked her up, patted her on the back and glanced at the ashen-faced Lord Meishan, while saying, “…it seems that it is the right time to come back.”

That look, that look…he would never guess wrong again! This time the General was definitely treating him like a rival! Absolutely!

Xin Mei held Lu Qianqiao’s head and kissed him hard a few times. Then she remembered that there was a gossip Immortal nearby. She casually beckoned at him, “Meishan daren, stay for dinner today.”

Lu Qianqiao looked down at him and said, “…you are definitely welcome.”

……he didn’t want to eat. Unexpectedly, he didn't want to eat anymore…he just wanted to turn into black ash, then dissipate in this miserable space between heaven and earth…

—The furthest distance in the world is not when I am by your side, but when you do not know that I love you. But…I’ve summoned up the courage to say I love you, but you and my rival treat me like air!