There was an instant silence as everyone looked at the brownish yellow face of Zhi Wei then turns to gaze at the porcelain like countenance of Ning Yi, all the while turning over the phrase “Prince Chu is more beautiful than women” in their mind as their own faces contorts from the effort to suppress the laughter that threatens to bubble out.
Ning Yi of course is already passed the stage of being angered by Zhi Wei. Sitting languidly under the crowd’s speculating gaze, Ning Yi somehow manages to exudes a matter of fact air of– well, at least you admit my good point, being prettier than you is better than being dummer than you.
Judging by what he knows of Zhi Wei, if it wasn’t because of where they are right now, she could’ve totally come with something even more harsh than what she wrote.
The Emperor was about to give out his reward but Miss Hua suddenly steps forward and with anger in her voice demands “Your Majesty, this question doesn’t demonstrate knowledge at all nor does it have depth. This is a royal feast. If a question such as this one takes first place then how would people laugh at our country? ”
“It was all for entertainment.” The Emperor laughs “It was simply a game between you young ladies so why take it so seriously?”
Everyone was puzzled at the Emperor’s abrupt change of attitude.
Zhi Wei taps her fingers on the table while wearing the slightest smile. She has figured out the Emperor’s thought process by this point. The Emperor had originally been set on Miss Hua and was planning to use this feast as an opportunity to make her Ning Yi’s fiancée but things didn’t work when Miss Hua fell for Ning Yi’s trap. There was no way the Emperor could’ve given Miss Hua the first place with the question she wrote. As for Miss Hu, her family is supportive of Ning Yi (to become the next emperor) so she is out. Royal Consort Chang’s niece wouldn’t do either (too powerful of a family). Fortunately, she showed up. As “Prince Helian’s fiancée” she is the perfect choice so that’s how she got the first place and give the Emperor the perfect excuse to glaze over this whole thing as a joke. The marriage match during royal feast has always been something understood but not officially announced anyway, so now that the Emperor wants to pretend it never happened then everyone could only choose to go along with it. Ning Yi never intended to choose a wife today but he certainly planned on using the opportunity to get himself out of a bind.
“Yes.” Ning Yi laughs as he casually takes back his jade pendant to replace it with an ordinary pendant instead “It was just a game to entertain everyone.”
Belatedly realizing where the Emperor and Ning Yi is going with their talks of “just a game”, everyone turns to look at Miss Hua with pity.
“Still, a reward is in order.” Ning Yi beckons at Zhi Wei with the pendent in hand.
Seeing no way out of this, Zhi Wei thank Ning Yi and puts out her hand for the pendent. While handing over the pendent, Ning Yi uses the opportunity to pinch her fingers and asks with a small sly smile “Do you really dislike it that I am more beautiful than you?”
Giving Ning Yi a fake smile, Zhi Wei laughs “How could I!” Why is the pendent not moving? Zhi Wei forcefully tugs on the pendent but Ning Yi refuses to let go.
“I can become ugly for you, just so I can be worthy to stand next to you.” The pendent firmly in his grasp, Ning Yi’s smile is dazzling…just like his words, making it difficult to discern the truth of it.
Keeping her fake smile firmly in place, Zhi Wei repeats “How could I!” as she tugs forcefully at the pendent again.
“You keep not trusting me.” Ning Yi complains through his smile. The pendent refuses to budge.
“How could I!” Losing her patience, Zhi Wei pulls on the pendent with her all her might.
Ning Yi suddenly lets go.
Losing her balance, poor Zhi Wei falls backward.
Helian runs forward to catch her but he wasn’t faster than Ning Yi whose hand has already grabbed Zhi Wei’s wrist as he chides with a laugh “Miss Feng, don’t get carried away by your happiness.”
Ning Yi’s fingers briefly touches Zhi Wei’s wrist then promptly lets go as a faint smile appears on his face.
Surprised at first, Zhi Wei quickly figures out that Ning Yi was worried about the affects of the fruit he had given her and had created this opportunity to check on her. (In Chinese medicine, physicians’ method of making a diagnosis is by placing their fingers on the patient’s pulse, so that’s what Ning Yi was doing.)
Feeling a faint blush creeping up her face, Zhi Wei averts her eyes to disguise it.
Since they both had their backs to the crowd no one saw the little exchange but Miss Hua who had been standing there all along. Anger flashed across Miss Hua’s eyes, she marches up to Zhi Wei and demands “Since this is a game anyway, I would like to play another round with Miss Feng. Miss Feng, dare to accept my challenge?”
Zhi Wei slowly turns around, making Miss Hua stiffen when she meets Zhi Wei’s steady gaze.
“I don’t dare.” comes Zhi Wei’s nonchalant replay.
Surprised by the unexpected reply, Miss Hua’s lips twist into a jeering smile and is about to say something when Zhi Wei walks past her and grins “I am afraid that you will lose again, become too embarrassed and tries to take me out.”
Zhi Wei eventually agrees to have a poetry contest with Miss Hua where each of them takes turn coming up with a poem on the spot. Certain that Zhi Wei is just some ugly girl with no scholarly abilities at all, poor Miss Hua finds out the hard way that our heroine can beat her in the very thing she is most proud of.
Skipping over the back and forth tit for tat poetry contest until the very last bit where Zhi Wei finishes Miss Hua off with her final brilliant poem.
Ning Yi rests his chin on his palm as his twinkling gaze never moved an inch from Zhi Wei’s smiling face.
“To plead for ten blissful perfections. Nine, to forget the dangerous game. Eight, to look seemingly dazzling on the surface. Seven, in reality completely at a loss. Sixth, to forget one’s family. Five, to be so tortured that your very organs are twisted. Four, to be exhausted of all your strength. Three, to lose the desire to even eat a single meal. Two, to end with only being able to yarn for your love from afar. One, so why not toss away your foolish heart!”
Zhi Wei’s number poem stunned the crowd into silence by its sheer brilliance. Miss Hua stumbles back a few steps, lost in her own thought for a long moment before droplets of tears begin to trickle down her face.
(The numbers are incorporated right into the poem so in Chinese the poem flows brilliantly. I was only able to give you guys a general gist of the meaning but the poem would’ve made Miss Hua feel like it was describing all her suffering and sacrifices due to her one sided crush on Ning Yi. Which then makes the last part “Toss away your foolish heart” a direct advice to Miss Hua that it’s meaningless to put herself through so much pain for a man.)
Playing with the wine cup in hand, Ning Yi’s smile thinned. Why not toss away your foolish heart. Why not toss away your foolish heart
That wily devious woman is using this method to reject him.
But then, the rejection also allowed him a peek into her shrouded heart…letting him a glimpse into what she wants to hide from him.
There are women who are like the lone flower growing high on the mountain top. If one wants to get close, one would have to pass through the layers of fog first.
However, no matter what obstacles are in the way, he just needs to make certain that he is always at the highest mountain point so why should he be worried about the layers of fog in the way?
Holding up his cup towards Zhi Wei’s direction, Ning Yi smiles his acknowledgment.
Rising an eyebrow, Zhi Wei returns a slight bow then walks back to her seat without another word.
The crowd’s gaze followed Zhi Wei the whole way, amazed how this seemingly ordinary Miss Feng is actually a pearl whose brilliance has been hidden until now. Belatedly remembering Qiu Ming Ying, Feng Zhi Wei’s mother who is beleaguered by rumors, the crowd recalls now how famously talented she was before she became the revered female general. Her fame on the battlefield was so great it caused people to forget her previous fame in the scholarly area. There is no question now that Miss Feng must have learned everything from her talented mother who tutored her carefully since she was young.
“You are indeed worthy of being the daughter of the Fire and Wind General.” (That’s Qiu Ming Ying’s title as the female general) After a long moment, the Emperor finally says slowly “Well learned and truly talented, deserving of her fame.”
Her eyes bright as something threatens to burst from her heart, Zhi Wei is suddenly overwhelmed with the craving for another cup of wine but her wine cup has already been tossed away by her to add to the dramatic effect of her poem.
A cup with wine filled to the brim unexpectedly appeared in front of her as Helian says with a chuckle “Hey, it’s just a cup of wine. You don’t have to be moved to tears.”
The trace of glistening tear gone by the time she turns around, Zhi Wei flashes Helian a smile “Thanks.”
Momentarily taken aback by the smile, Helian quickly reverts back to his usual carefree manner. Thumping his hand on his chest, Helian declares “Auntie is my heart and my most precious so this cup of wine is nothing, even if you want me to not marry the nine other wives I would do as you say.”
What nine wives? Catching Helian’s meaning after a moment, Zhi Wei rolls her eyes and grins “Don’t worry. Since auntie is your heart and your most precious I will surely make sure my precious nephew has all ten wives, without missing a single one.”
Helian returns her smile without saying anything more as he pours himself another cup of wine…but the cup lingers by the side of his mouth…untouched.
I know it doesn’t seem like it, but Helian is actually NOT the second male lead, Gu Nan Yi is but he is such an awesome character that I think it is really difficult to not fall for him.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Thank you so much! I would love to see some of the really good scenes with Gu Nan Yi too ( I know we have already asked for the moon but the stars are so lovely as well)
Ha, good thing you guys said something. I wasn’t sure if people were interested in Gu Nan Yi’s scenes so I was about to skip over a particularly sizzling scene.
Don’t skip any sizzling please! My life lacks any so I am all for finding it in words.😊❤
Thank you for three longer translation. The book nicely gives you insight into the characters thoughts which is a bonus. Your explanation of the poem and the use of numbers was helpful. Can’t wait for more next week
Thanks a lot for your weekly thread of this fantastic drama, I’m pretty envious that you are able to read the original!
Sadly there is no English (or other Language) translation, so my hope’s are lying all in your hands! Hope you will not run out of fun with this ! 🤩
Whoooop! This makes Monday mayne!! Kept checking my emails this morning for next translation 😅. Will we get some Gu Nan Yi interaction??. Sigh why am I not fluent in Chinese? really want to read this novel. Thanks so much for this, we get to at least have these awesome translations.
Thanks for another great translation! Although we now learn that the game was just a game, since ZW now has his pendant that is normally symbolic of marriage, does that carry any significance in this scene?
Ning Yi switched out THAT pendant with an ordinary pendant in front of everyone when he agreed that it was just a game. So the one he gave to our heroine is not the marriage pendant.
I wish I could read Chinese! This is one Novel that I know I would have enjoyed and savored immensely. The poem is really a good one and you did a great job conveying the message. Love your translations!
Yes ZW is brilliant, I can’t believe that she is only 15 years old or so, as eluded to in another text. Love the translation. My question is the emperor knows about ZW mother being the general at this point? ZW true identity is not revealed as of yet, right in the novel? Also, does Gu NaN Yi has any romantic feelings for ZW, something you said earlier made me ask this. I love the cat and mouse game the leads are playing.
So very different from the drama, in the novel ZW mother is well known as the female general and as we learned from this feast, was also famous for her scholarly knowledge in the past, which is why the Emperor said like mother like daughter (not in those exact words but same meaning). We will go into ZW’s mother’s background a bit more in the next post. Gu Nan Yi is Ning Yi’s biggest competition so yes, he will develop romantic feelings for our heroine but his situation is a bit different…which we will get into in the next post as well.
My Thoughts are, ZW married Helian why? I would like a better understanding or is the novel understanding the same. I hope I am not jumping ahead too far? Guy Nani Yi is so aloof I just wonder about that.
Both in the drama and in the novel, marrying Helian was the best way for Zhi Wei to save herself at that point. We will get into all the details later though. As for Gu Nan Yi, next post will reveal more about his personality.
Oh my gosh….the whole time I read this chapter I was picturing Chen Kun acting out everything😭 why couldn’t they have added this scene in the drama! It’s so good!
Would love to read the Gu Nan Yi scene! Thanks for today’s installment!
Dear Ninja
Thank you for this long translation! You are very talented in translation and I you are making Monday an awaited day! I am reading the scenes visualizing Chen Kun and Ni Ni at it.
Is it just me, or is Helian avoiding the wine on purpose? He keeps giving ZW the wine.
Helian IS trying to get our heroine drunk… but that wasn’t why he didn’t drink the wine in the last scene. While Helian often comes off carefree and a bit dense but he IS a prince with MANY brothers so that means he is nowhere nearly as simple as he comes off or else he would’ve never lived to adulthood. By this point, Helian is starting to fall in love with Zhi Wei so a lot of his joking words are a way to confess his feelings…but of course our heroine never takes him seriously…which is her way of rejecting him without hurting his feelings.
Thank you for this week’s translation. Love it!
Gu Nan Yi is the 2nd male lead? Does that mean he has feelings for ZW? Watching the drama, I always felt that GNY should have felt more towards ZW. That added tension would have been a great addition to the drama.
I’ll explain a bit more about Gu Nan Yi in the next post!
I agree with you about GNY because the only time I saw any emotion was when he cried in the drama after ZW visited her mother. My other feelings about him are where was he when she jumps off the cliff in the drama? He always said wherever ZW goes he is alw ays there, so where was he? Just saying that’s all this is about the drama, not the novel.
Yes, I agree that it didn’t make sense Gu Nan Yi wasn’t with Zhi Wei at the cliff (in the drama) especially since he WAS with her in the novel when she jumped.
To save myself the truth of the drama ending, I decided because Gu Nan Yi wasn’t with her, the whole ‘jump’ is a ruse and she only needed everyone to believe she’s dead, Ning Hi included. Only GNY knows she isn’t dead but he can never see her again so that her secret is safe – which is why he looked so sad at the end. Yes, unlikely but that scenario made more sense to Zhi Wei’s character. 😁
😍😍😍 this makes my week, every time i read your translations i am happy!
Thank you so very much for your hard work ! I have read all your posts at once !
I loved watching the series but the book, i think I will be even more addicted to it… thx thx thx for letting us discover it !
it is so unfair it’s only in Chinese, I hope one day it will be edited in English (or even in French !)
Thank you so very much for your hard work ! I have read all your posts at once !
I loved watching the series but the book, i think I will be even more addicted to it… thx thx thx for letting us discover it !
it is so unfair it’s only in Chinese, I hope one day it will be edited in English (or even in French !)