Still slightly disoriented after just waking up, Ning Yi stares at Zhi Wei blanketly feeling too warm and too lazy to think about moving as he watches her nimbly dry his clothes over the fire: Outer robe, inner robe, pants, undergarments…
Undergarments….
Undergarments?
Jerking up the blanket in a hurry, Ning Yi glances down before immediately pulling the blanket back down.
Ignoring Ning Yi who seems to be in a daze after his little discovery, Zhi Wei nonchalantly raise up the undergarments to check for wet spots.
Apparently jolted out of his daze by Zhi Wei’s behavior, Ning Yi barked angrily “Put it down!”
Turning around to give Ning Yi an innocent look, Zhi Wei lets out a sigh. Seriously, why is he acting so awkward? Am I not trying to make him comfortable? If not, then what do I care if your undergarments are dry or not? I just need to make sure your outer robes are dry enough that others can’t tell it was wet.
Gathering up the dry clothes, a very considerate Zhi Wei even have them all folded up in a pile…with the silky undergarments resting on the very top.
Almost choking on a gasp when he sees what is on top of the clothes pile, Ning Yi couldn’t help but glance up at Zhi Wei. The woman’s expression is completely innocent. There is even a hint of shyness in her expression…but he just feels certain that she did it on purpose.
Still, embarrassment aside, Ning Yi could feel the sorrow pressing on his heart dissipating. Letting out a sigh, Ning Yi checks over his own condition and discovers that despite his old ailments acting up, his health hasn’t worsened and he didn’t catch a cold in that torrent rain. All this was thanks to her.
His clothes in a neat pile beside him, Ning Yi stares up at the woman in front of him blankly. The storm rain had washed away the disguise on her petite face and messed up her hair as well so she had simply let her hair down. Feeling the silk like hair falling on the back of his hand as she bends down, something soft seems to wiggled itself deep into his heart. Yelping in surprise when Ning Yi unexpectedly presses down on her hair with a flip of his hand, Zhi Wei pulls out her hair and chides “Stop messing around.”
Her voice was gentle with a hint of laughter in it. The gentleness in her voice is her trademark but this time, there was also a rare hint of indulgence and attentiveness in it…lighting a small candle in the corner of Ning Yi’s frigid heart.
After quickly putting on his clothes underneath the blanket, Ning Yi frowns when he finally get a good look at his surrounding “Where did you get the things to start a fire? You used her stuff?”
“I just know you needed them.” With her back to him, Zhi Wei voice doesn’t give any hint that she has picked up the displeasure in his question “No matter how valuable something is, nothing compares to staying alive.”
Falling silent, Ning Yi looks around again and finally mutters after a long moment “Nothing has changed…”
Too busy sneezing, thanks to the wind that swept in from the window, Zhi Wei didn’t pay any attention to Ning Yi’s forlorn reminiscence.
Pressing a hand to his chest, Ning Yi pulls out a pill from his robe pocket and throws it into his mouth. His attention caught by Zhi Wei’s continuous sneezes, Ning Yi says after hesitating a moment “You can take down the bed veils and burn them as well.”
“You are willing now?” Amusement in her eyes, Zhi Wei looks back at Ning Yi.
“I just don’t want you to draw suspicion by sneezing up a storm during tonight’s feast.” Sitting up in bed with the blanket around him, Ning Yi replies with an aloof expression.
Not about to pay any mind to a certain someone who is forever unwilling to simply admit what he is thinking, Zhi Wei turns her attention back to the fire only to hear Ning Yi demands “Pull that over to the bed.”
Do you really think I am your maid?? Despite her silent mutterings, Zhi Wei who is too used to always showing her good-natured side still ended up pulling the fire basin over to the bed with a smile.
“Come over here for a moment.” Ning Yi commands again.
Walking over, Zhi Wei sits down by the edge of the bed.
The man pulls back the blanket and commands yet again in his impassive voice “Get in, I will share half of it with you.”
Jumping up in an instant, Zhi Wei says “My hair is messed up, I am going to go brush it.”
A hand suddenly shoots out, grabs her by the waist. The hand didn’t exert much force but somehow Zhi Wei felt her body immediately going limp as she is pulled into a warm bed.
Her heart pounding hard, Zhi Wei doesn’t dare to move as she gives Ning Yi a friendly smile “Your Highness, this is not proper.”
“What are you thinking?” The man replies as his ever minty cool fragrance mixed with the faint smell of medicine envelops Zhi Wei. The hand on her waist ignores her resistance and pulls her deeper into the bed inch by inch “Did you think you are so beautiful that I wouldn’t be able to control myself?”
Her hand grabbing onto the edge of the bed, Zhi Wei thought for a moment and replies “I think I am.”
Choking on a cough, the hand finally just pushes on a pressure point to incapacitate her, pushes her all the way into the bed then demands angrily “How are you suppose to get dry when you are still wearing wet clothes?! What are you grumbling about when I should be the one worrying about getting the bed wet?”
“I am grumbling?!” Finally unable to keep on her calm fascade anymore, Zhi Wei glares at the man in front of her “Is this how you repay the one who saved you? How am I suppose to get married later if you do this?”
“Marry?” All the anger on his face dissolving into something much more complex, Ning Yi asks with a dangerous smile “I guess you really were dreaming of becoming Helian’s bride.”
Returning an equally fake smile, Zhi Wei retorts “At least not yours.”
Glaring at Zhi Wei for a long moment, Ning Yi abruptly breaks into a laugh then ignores her completely as he begins to undress her.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Thanks for the translation! As usual the novel’s scene is much better than the drama’s
Que escena tan fascinante, si asi hubiera sido en la serie, seria candente. Gracias por la traduccion Ninja.
OMG! You’re stopping at the best part! it was starting to get to the juicy part! LOL! Can’t wait for next weeK! Thank you.
Have to agree with the other comments, the novel is superior in providing details like “the flip of Ning Yi’s hand on her hair”. I do however think that the series was excellent in providing screen shots which provided details as a capture. Thank you for making my Monday’s better.
I’m curious, this scene happens and our MC’s feelings are still rather ambiguous to each other. In the televised series by this time I thought it was fairly obvious their interest in each other. Does the novel provide more clarity into their attraction for each other? Furthermore, it seemed that NY’s character was more worldly in the series but the novel gives the character a certain “innocence” (ex. NY being a virgin until ZW “jumped” him, or his embarrassed response to his folded underwear)
Yes, our two leads’ romance was much faster in the drama…at least it seems that way to me as well. One thing that I felt the drama left out of our two leads’ relationship in the drama is their instant wariness of each other. Instead of instant attraction, our two leads’ first reaction to each other in the novel was a deep sense of danger and a premonition they have met their match- not a match made in heaven but as in a deadly nemesis. Which is why our hero keeps trying to find excuses to NOT kill our heroine when his gut tells him to kill her. (To be fair, our heroine would’ve killed him too if she could’ve but she was too powerless against him when they first met.) So the whole ruthless survival is a part of our two leads’ relationship that I feel they left out in the drama so what we got was more sweet romantic development instead of two fierce beasts circling each other…it’s kinda hard to be all lovey-dovey when both parties are still trying to figure out if they should just slit the other’s throat.
As for our heroine being more worldly in the series…I actually think our heroine is much more worldly in the novel and the heroine in the drama is more innocent and idealistic. In the novel, our heroine is not a real young girl. She is a soul who has lived two lives so she is a lot more guarded when it comes to her heart. As for being virgins…well, I think that’s an assumption in the drama as well but just something not explained out loud. In the novel, the author makes it pretty clear that while Ning Yi has the reputation of going to brothels and such but in truth, the prostitutes knows better than to touch him. (Which is why the last one dared to ended up getting tossed into the lake.)
Ninja, just can’t thank you enough for doing all these translations … you’re the BEST !
So did ZW make herself looked ugly like in the drama in order not to go with Helian ? and was it also NY that prevented WZ from having to accompany Princess Shaoning to the Emperor’s BD party?
Actually, by this point in the novel Helian already knows Zhi Wei’s identity, so our heroine’s “disguise” was actually more to throw off everyone else in court.
I love the novel translation, I wish that they had put more of the novel scene, rather than cut short or change up the scene in the drama. Love the interaction, can’t wait to read the translation. Are we leading up to the part, soon where she is revealed as ZW.
Both of our male leads already knows her identity but the emperor won’t find out for a long time…actually, I can’t remember if he ever found out.
Does that mean that the part in drama where ZW end up in prison for disguising as WZ did not happened in the novel ?Also did she go to Minhai as WZ or ZW in the novel ? Sorry so many questions …. oh well afraid have to wait till we got to that part of your translations eh …
The prison part is definitely in the novel but I can’t remember if it was because of her identity got exposed. I will for sure cover that scene in the translation though…
As for Minhai, our heroine went there as Zhi Wei.
Thanks very much for your work on this project 😘
Thank you so much for translating the novel. I’m a newbie here, so glad i found your blog, because like others who can’t move on after finishing the drama, I simply just need this. <3 Thank you, sincerely from the bottom of my heart.
Thanks Ninja for such a mesmerizing scene! I guess we’ll have to wait till next week to find out what happens next!
In the drama, I found it so frustrating that while Ning Yi is so calculating and bold in political matters, he was so painfully cautious with Zhi Wei (they barely even hugged).
I often wondered if that was Chen Kun’s preference as he rarely does kiss/love scenes in his movies. Your thoughts?
You could be right but then having very little steamy scenes seem to be quite common in other historical dramas as well. To go along with your theory, I do think the “bigger” a star is the more control they have over what scenes they will or will not do. Both of our leads in this drama would be considered as top stars so maybe they both have a say in no steamy scenes? Then again, they did cut out a lot of scenes so maybe we all got gypped. *sob*
I recall reading that Chen Kun is a co-producer on The Rise of Phoenixes so he probably does have quite a bit of control; I just wonder why they decided to deviate so much from Ning Yi’s bold personality in the novel.
For the record, it’s not the actual love scenes that I regret not seeing, it’s more that I feel it’s a missed opportunity in the series. They could have easily played up the sexual attraction between the characters with a couple of chaste kisses. I also feel sad that Ning Yi has to live out the rest of his life with just memories of a few embraces.
….but that’s just my thoughts. I’ll survive, lol.
Maybe they were extra chaste because they figured we were all fanning ourselves already just from having Chen Kun on the screen? 🙂
The show did soften our two leads’ personality a lot. In fact, I think instead of Ning Yi, Zhi Wei’s character was the one that was changed the most. I mean, can you imagine the Zhi Wei in the drama having her way with our hero? Well, the Zhi Wei in the novel totally would’ve and did exactly that.
Wow, Novel Zhi Wei is my kind of gal 😜. I sure hope they translate the novel into English one day.
In the drama, there’s a very questionable scene towards the end, at episode 70.
The couple is in the bedroom, talking, ok, Ning Yi is acting like a weirdo (total failure of director and scriptwriters to my opinion-a man cant change so much in a couple of days-months after taking a throne, he seems like he’s lost his mind a bit, like he’s living in a foggy dream). So they re in the bedroom but there’s a very cold, dark and sad atmosphere, we only see them sitting on the bed close to each other and talk.
Seems nothing more happened that night (epic fail after 70 episodes).
In the novel, that scene is also weird, rushed and no action?
a propos, Ninja, you ve got a great place here! So much great work! I thank you too for your translations and your efforts!
Don’t quote me on this, but I don’t think that scene is in the novel. They will of course have a big confrontation after Ning Yi becomes the next Emperor but that’s the part where Zhi Wei tries to “poison” him. One good thing about the novel is the both of our leads stayed true to their character from beginning to the very end so you guys won’t find the same abrupt change as it was in the drama.
Actually, Chen Kun has already done plenty of kissing scenes, and some really steamy scenes in a previous movie of his, the “Painted Skin” movie. I think that the drama had no actual kissing scenes or hugs cause of the channel’s restrictions, and some other ones in China, concerning the historical dramas (if someone knows better, pls correct me if im wrong, i just guessed that from what i’ ve read so far here and there).
But for sure, it ‘s not due to actors/actresses decision.
for example, in Princess Wei Young, the fem/male leads were already a couple in real life, but they only had one kissing scene (if you can call it a kiss), and some hugs here and there, typical and a bit cold.
What I’ve noticed is that while Chen Kun did do “steamy scenes” earlier in his career, his recent productions have been very chaste. Even in Painted Skin 1 & 2, he doesn’t actually kiss anyone on the lips, just lots of sensual motions (which is completely fine, lol).
Granted, I haven’t seen all of his movies and shows and I’m probably overthinking this anyways. I just thought Rise of Phoenixes could have benefited greatly from a bit more sexual tension between the leads, regardless of whether they actually physically kissed (there’s other ways to create tension).
And I have agree that the bedroom scene in episode 70 was a complete disaster.
thank god, i thought i was the only one who found that last bedroom scene so weird and disastrous!
Hi Ninja, I liked your clarification about the initial feeling of “instant wariness” instead of romance that the two leads felt for each other. However, from your later translations, it seems that NY maintains more of that wariness, while ZW doesn’t try to fight back (ie, she didn’t fight back multiple times like when NY had access to her deadly pressure point, or had a blade that could have easily killed her). Did she give in because she somewhow knew that NY wouldn’t kill her (since he had previous chances to do so but didn’t), or whether she was too mesmerized by his icy breath and looks and she didn’t mind dying?
So when they first met, Zhi Wei would be considered a decent fighter but she really stood no chance against someone like Gu Nan Yi or Ning Yi. Now, as we saw in their fight in the academy when Zhi Wei saw Ning Yi with the army, Zhi Wei held off our hero by using what she learned in the mysterious book and her surroundings to her advantage (the Emperor). However, if the Emperor wasn’t there and they were in some wilderness then there was no question that Ning Yi would be able to kill Zhi Wei pretty easily. So, to answer you question why I think Zhi Wei didn’t fight back? She didn’t fight back because she knew in those instances there was no way to kill Ning Yi before he kills her (in fact, he would just kill her faster if he was provoked) but her only chance of survival was to use her brain. I can’t remember which post it was in, but in one of them our heroine explains that she had tried pretty hard to appear harmless to Ning Yi. From the very beginning, both leads saw each other’s true nature. Zhi Wei saw Ning Yi’s real side and not some playboy prince without a care in the world. Ning Yi saw the real Zhi Wei and not the useless and easily bullied young girl everyone else sees her as. Zhi Wei knows who the real Ning Yi is, Ning Yi knows what she knows= Ning Yi should really just kill her…and our heroine knows it too= Zhi Wei tries to appear VERY harmless and tried very hard to convince our hero that she would never stand against him. She of course disappoints him again and again…but by this time he is too far gone to care if she will be the death of him.
In the drama, towards the end of the series, we get to see Ning Yi and ZW wariness towards each other. The drama flips the characters interactions towards the end. There are mistrust, resentment and almost feelings of revenge. It was almost strange to see them act this they towards each other, but you have a better understanding of the characters with your translation in the novel. I can wait for the next translation, thank you.
What a place to stop the translation! It’s a cliff hanger, if I’ve ever seen one. Good thing I was too busy to read it until today. Now I only have to wait a day instead of a week. Keep rocking these translations please.
Thank you so much for taking the time to translate this novel!!😍😍😍😍 i wish they would release an english translation to this novel, does any one know why they havent???💔💔