Zhi Wei sighs, and sits down on the opposite side and pulls out another crystal cup. Quickly pouring the last of the wine into the cup, Zhi Wei hands it to top “Wine!”
Master Gu takes the cup and the next instant hands back the empty cup with a single walnut inside.
I want! (Remember from the last post, Walnut= code for I want!)
Zhi Wei replies sorrowfully “This is the only bottle.”
“Master Gu, I still have half of a cup of wine left here, do you want it?” Ning Yi’s expression had darkened when Zhi Wei had handed off the wine so his tone was quite cold right now.
Master Gu’s only answer was a wormy walnut.
Ning Yi silently asks Zhi Wei with a questioning look what Mr. Gu meant by it. After peering at the worm for a while, Zhi Wei replies “Maybe he wants to say–Bah!”
A speechless Ning Yi raises a hand and turns the wormy walnut into dust.
“I say, Your Highness, is it worth it to you to leave for something so small as the south sea shipping?” Zhi Wei quickly puts away the precious grape wine that has come from the far west and asks “You trust the Capital so much? And distrust me so much?”
“You think too highly of yourself.” Ning Yi laughs “I am like you, ordered by the Emperor to be in charge of the armies both on land and sea.”
“The Cheng Clan might revolt?” Zhi Wei promptly guessed.
“Just in case.” Ning Yi says “The Chan Clan has had many years to cultivate their own people in that area so no one knows for certain how many soldiers they really have. The officials we have sent over there can’t outrank him so without sending someone there with some actual authority we have no hope of managing the situation if something happens.”
“If you leave, then what about the Capital?” Zhi Wei can’t see this is a good time for Ning Yi to leave.
“Second Brother has been sent far away on some mission in the mountains, Seventh has been sent off by the Emperor to take over what Fifth didn’t finish last time. The only one by the Emperor’s side is Tenth.” Not looking worried, Ning Yi assures her “There won’t be a problem.”
No wonder Ning Yi would agree to leave the Capital. The Emperor has actually sent all of his grown sons away on different assignments. With his trusty people still at the helm watching over his interest, Ning Yi doesn’t have to worry about the Capital. Moreover, Tenth has been close to Ning Yi since he was young so there is no worry there either.
Still, Zhi Wei thought of another question and asks with amusement “The Emperor sure feels quite confident of his own health. Does he not worry if he gets sick at this age and something happens while his sons are all far away, what he is going to do?”
“Perhaps he actually feels that he could live longer without his sons around.” Not mincing words, Ning Yi replies with a coldness in his tone.
Zhi Wei smiles and is about to say something when her sleeve begins to jingle and two golden creatures come out of them.
“The golden monkeys?” Stunned, Ning Yi asks “They are not dead? Where did you get them from?”
“That night after Fifth Prince’s assassination attempt, I found them hiding underneath the hallway before I left.” Gently stroking the golden fur, Zhi Wei explains “These two little ones were hiding in the gap beneath the hallway outside of the royal library. They would sneak out at night to lick the ink stone and had actually gained some weight. I’ve always liked these sort of things and knew if I handed them over to the palace guard they would only be killed, so I sneaked them out.” (I used the word golden monkeys to describe the monkeys but the official name for them is “ink monkey”. They are about the size of a person’s thumb and supposedly likes to eat ink. According to the Chinese wiki, the nobles back in the days likes to raise them as pets because the monkeys can be trained to help to use the ink pad. This species has long become extinct but in South America, there are Marmosets which I believe are about the same size as the ink monkeys.)
The two golden monkeys leaped back and forth on Zhi Wei’s fingers, their golden fur brushing against her hand. Staring at the monkeys, Ning Yi started to reach out a hand to stop her but gives up halfway.
Observing the whole thing, Zhi Wei hides a small smile.
When she first brought back the golden monkeys, Gu Nan Yi would not allow her to touch them but took them away for a bit before returning them to her. By the time the monkeys were brought back, their fur was back to their shiny self like when she first saw them. Someone had indeed done something to the monkeys. She had wondered if it was really Fifth Prince like everyone thought or if it was Ning Yi. Judging by Ning Yi’s action, it was him after all.
Gu Nan Yi didn’t explain but she guessed that the paper used during the feast were specially treated to make the monkeys violent.
If Ning Yi is the one behind the whole thing, then why did he stop right after the Emperor was poisoned? Ning Yi is not someone who would stop once he started something so why didn’t he push ahead but had instead backed way off?
“Father wasn’t poisoned.” Reading the question in her eyes, Ning Yi says with a trace of bitterness “Whoever jumps in to make waves…will end up on the list to pay dearly later.”
Zhi Wei’s heart dropped and felt like her body was plunged into a bucket of ice water– the Emperor was really pretending to be poisoned!
Thinking back to what the Emperor had said “Ning Yi, go investigate”, cold sweat broke out on Zhi Wei– a person who was just poisoned, how could he have expressed himself so clearly? And how full of maliciousness was in that sentence of “Ning Yi, go investigate”! If Ning Yi had not guessed the Emperor was pretending to be poisoned and jumped on the authority his father’s word gave him to do everything possible…then, what would be waiting for him now?
Being in the royal family is like walking on the edge of a cliff, one miss step is the end.
Lost in her thought, Zhi Wei suddenly felt her fingers captured by someone as Ning Yi’s low throaty chuckle immediately sounded by her ear “Your hand is so cold, are you worried about me?”
Snapping out of her trance, Zhi Wei smiles and say “Yes, I worry that I won’t be able to collect the money for the grape wine.”
“Such a heartless woman…” Ning Yi chuckles again by her ear, his warm breath tickling her. Pressing forward when Zhi Wei tries to lean back, Ning Yi whispers “You are heartless, but I don’t dare to be the same. What I said before (when he said that she thought too highly of herself) was a lie, I really can’t stop worrying about you…”
Irritated, Zhi Wei wants to push him away but worry that the guy above might notice and the carriage would end up with holes plugged by walnuts. However, the carriage is way too small and there is no place to dodge so a certain someone refuses to move his head off her shoulder. Now that a certain someone is away from Capital, he seems to be much more relaxed…which makes Zhi Wei worry how she is supposed to deal with His Highness on this long trip.
He is a better fighter than her, he is higher in status so she can’t win in a yelling match, he is better than at her conspiring, he is more ruthless than her…
Her eyes darting around, Zhi Wei suddenly grins and grabs a bottle of wine “Is that so? Then I will use this wine to toast Your Highness for worrying about me.”
Leaning against her languidly, Ning Yi is quite satisfied with the carriage’s small space and waves his hand to signal to Zhi Wei that she has his permission to serve him. Giving Ning Yi a fake smile, Zhi Wei suddenly pinches Ning Yi’s nose to make him open his mouth by reflex before promptly dunking the whole bottle of wine into his mouth.
Zhi Wei was quite fast and since Ning Yi was not expecting a certain woman to be so ruthless before he realizes what had happened, he had already drunk the whole bottle of wine. Coughing until he was teary-eyed, a red tinge brightened Ning Yi’s porcelain skin until it glowed dazzlingly, a sight that would’ve made anyone who was lucky enough to see dizzy.
Unfortunately, Zhi Wei has never been the normal sort. She is not dizzy nor dazzled. Not sparing the drunken beauty a glance, a smiling Zhi Wei toss up the “Three Days Drunk” wine upward and calls out “Walnut Powder.” (Code= Do as you wish.)
Master Gu exit out of the top of the carriage carrying Prince Chu and to the stun silence of all those present, promptly chose the most shabby looking carriage that carries the dry goods to stuff His Highness in.
Shocked that Prince Chu had shown up and confused why he is being treated in this manner, the crowd watches as Zhi Wei pokes out half of her body yelling “Master Gu, that’s Prince Chu, you can’t be rude to His Highness…”
Waving and stumping her foot, Zhi Wei’s expression is full of anxiousness…until Master Gu felt she was overacting and shot a walnut her way.
Jumping back into the carriage promptly, Zhi Wei lays down to enjoy her wine.
Ah! Everyone finally realizes that Official Wei wasn’t the rude one but it was Master Gu’s doing. Of course that makes perfect sense given that Master Gu is someone who even dares to beat up the Crown Prince, who could really stop him? Several people rush forward to rescue Ning Yi but a very excited Helian shows up to shoo everyone away “I’ll do it, I’ll do it!” Grabbing the precious Prince Chu, Helian has the biggest grin on his face as he carries Ning Yi to the second horse carriage. However, Helian didn’t set Ning Yi on the seat but stuffed him with all his might UNDER the seat.
Completely wiped out in one single instant thanks to the super wine, poor Ning Yi only had time to raise a finger to point at Zhi Wei’s direction before passing out completely.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Ha!! I can just imagine the grin on Helian’s face as he stuffed him under the seat! Very enjoyable reading- thank you! There were really monkeys only as big as your thumb at one point?????
I thought they were fictional too, but after doing a bit of research online they seemed to have really exited in China at one point.
This is such an awesome scene. It goes from cute to hilarious pretty quick. I remember her doing the wine dunk thing in the drama, but this is way funnier.
Thank you for the update! Hahaha, Ning Yi can’t let his guard down around Zhi Wei even if he is a better fighter, has higher status, and has more experience with conspiracies. Zhi Wei is one of the smartest and most merciless heroines I’ve encountered and I am here for it! Although they have had “intimate” scenes, up until this point, it doesn’t seem like Zhi Wei has indicated that she reciprocates Ning Yi’s feelings, right?
Hi,
Yes, she seems indifferent towards Ning Yi at this point on the surface but I believe she’s starting to carry feelings. She’s always dissecting every little things he does. Even though she pretends she’s not interested, I’m guessing Ning Yi sees right through her front that’s why he keeps messing with her(total opposite from the drama).
I guess to survive this royal family one would indeed need to know the emperors thoughts, one wrong move and you’re done for. Ning Yi is so forthcoming with information as oppose to the drama, in the drama you can’t get anything from this guy. He thought he would beat her at her own game but she one up thus far, lol(poor Ning Yi).
Thanks for another hit.
Our heroine in the drama was a lot more forthcoming with her feelings towards Ning Yi than the Zhi Wei in the novel. If the drama Zhi Wei is more like a young girl falling in love for the first time, then the novel Zhi Wei is more like a very jaded girl who sees no point in starting anything with Ning Yi when she knows clear as day that there is no future for them. Keeping our heroine’s personality (in the novel) in mind, my personal view is that it is very obvious our heroine has come to cares for Ning Yi by this point. As we have established, anyone who knows our heroine well enough knows that she is not someone you want to cross. If Ning Yi wasn’t Ning Yi, then he would’ve died a thousand times by now just for the things (ie. took off her clothes, kissed her) he have done up to this point. As smart as our hero is, he of course is also aware of his “special status” in Zhi Wei’s heart or else he would not have acted as he did.
Hi, from the drama, I thought FZW died a virgin. Oh lala… Lol!!!
I see. I gotta admit, I am fan-girling over our tight-lipped, practical, no-nonsense, cold-blooded novel-Zhi Wei. Talk about a slow burn. It’s rather satisfying in a way that drama-Ning Yi’s stubbornness (denial of his feelings) was not. Of course I enjoyed the drama, but the greedy fan that I am wants the cast to film everything all over again using the novel-verse details. Can I handle an even flirtier Ning Yi played by Chen Kun? I’m willing to risk it. For science.
Thanks again.
This is scene is hilarious, I remember the scene from the drama, and I thought it was funny, but this is funnier. Poor Ning Yi, Prince Helian is really enjoying himself. I can wait to see out this turns out for everyone. The golden monkey how interesting, It’s really hard to picture them being so small. I hope that the scene in the novel is somewhat like the drama, with the fight scene and Ning Yi and ZW in the cave in the mountain. I can’t wait to read more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
Translations are sooooo appreciated. Did you translate the entire novel? 🙂
Hi Ninja, thank you for replying to my previous inquiry about the title of the music that was played on a flute. I do not know how to reply to your comment so I am hoping it is ok if I reply to you here instead. 🙂 You were asking in which episode. NY played the flute for FZW when she was imprisoned, then the same at FZW’s fake wedding to that ass of a prince, then again, in the last episode when it is her who is playing the flute to say goodbye to NY. God, I cannot believe how deeply this series has affected me. I cannot get over the end and cannot believe that the writers have decided to kill her for good instead of using this ending as a teaser for a Season 2. :-(((
So awesome Ninja! Thanks so much for keeping this going, amazing how different the novel is to the TV drama. Gahhh love this!
Thank you for the translation. I don’t recall those golden monkeys and also wish the drama had shown a more flirtatious Ning Yi and he is adorable here
When Ning Yi turned the wormy walnut into dust, didn’t anyone notice? Are they aware of Ning Yi’s special powers at this point?
That’s not a special power. The drama doesn’t portray this, but the novel is set in a world where people who are good fighters have internal energy. The internal energy is what Ning Yi used to turn the walnut into dust. I’ll try to write more about it in the next post.
Ok, thanks. I thought them being immortal makes them special(in the novel they’re immortal right? or its the other story? Bit confused on that aspect). So while Wei Zhi fighting skills increases so does her internal energy? Pretty cool. I’m assuming master Gu can do the same things Ning Yi is capable of.
The immortal stuff is in Fuyao. Both of our leads in Phoenixes are mortal. Yes, as Zhi Wei gets stronger so will her internal energy. (Her case is a little different because she is the bloodline of our two leads in Fuyao but we will get to that later.) Yes, Gu Nan Yi could do it too.
I understand now, thanks for the clarification. I’m gonna have to watch Fuyao, sounds interesting.