Quite a few days has passed since the wine episode, but Zhi Wei is not getting a single bit of satisfaction from it right now– instead, she is tasting the bitter consequence of it. As it turns out, Ning Yi’s tolerance for alcohol is not high at all. His max tolerance is one cup of alcohol, one single drop beyond that will lay him out for the whole night. So obviously with Zhi Wei chugging down a whole bottle into him…the result was not good.
Precisely because of his low tolerance for alcohol, most of the time in the Capital, Ning Yi’s wine cups always contain water. Zhi Wei finally understood why during the palace feast Ning Yi was able to drink one cup after another when he was still ill. Those of the royal family never dare to expose their weakness because any weakness can become the weapon for your advisory.
Letting out a small sigh, a resigned Zhi Wei dipped a hand towel in the river so she can help a certain someone to cool down his still drunken feverish body. Speaking of a certain someone, how is it that he can be completely drunk but still manages to recognize only her. Weak and drunk in the carriage, Ning Yi would wave his hand to tell everyone who attempts to take care of him to go away. Only when she comes, would Ning Yi lay there obediently, acting like he is willing to let her do whatever she wants to him.
Zhi Wei tells herself- I am a good girl, I am a good girl, I am a good girl, I am blind to any tempting view, I am not going to see anything, I am not going to see anything…
Silently chanting to herself for about ten times, Zhi Wei carries a basin of water into the carriage and begins to undress Ning Yi with her eyes closed. Her hand jerked and almost ripped off the button when Nng Yi suddenly open his eyes and says lazily “Don’t be too rough…” Closing his eyes again, he adds “Be gentle with me…”
Giving Ning Yi a sweet smile, Zhi Wei asks “Dizzy?”
“Dizzy…”
Zhi Wei carefully undresses Ning Yi and asks again “Comfortable?”
His eyes half closed, Ning Yi replies “Comfortable…massage my left shoulder.”
Underneath her hand, the man is half awake, his smooth skin giving off a reddish glow, his muscle taut with the strength hidden in them. His perpetual minty breath is laced with a faint sweet smell of wine, making his presence seemingly inescapable in the small narrow carriage.
Put aside the cold hand towel, Zhi Wei rubbed her fingers until they are warm and smilingly massage his left shoulder all the while chatting on in a gentle voice.
“What does it feel like to be drunk?”
“…..lights everywhere….”
“I’ll drink with you next time…”
“Hmm….”
Ning Yi’s eyelids begin to droop again, his answer getting more and more half hearted.
Keeping her eyes on him, Zhi Wei slowly and gingerly buttons up his shirt.
Her tone soft and mesmerizing, one question after another, as hypnotizing as a glorious sunset.
“….Feng Zhi Wei is quite troublesome…”
“Yes, she is….”
Ning Yi’s eyes abruptly snapped open.
The haze in his eyes gone, replaced by total clarity.
Zhi Wei’s heart trembled when she meets his burning gaze.
The two of them sitting in the narrow carriage, one laying down the other one sitting up, face to face in the dead silence. The noise of birds flying back to their nest at dusk can be heard.
After a long moment, Ning Yi averted his eyes and says “Leave.”
Without saying anything, Zhi Wei picks up her basin and walks out of the carriage. After a few moments, Yan Huai Shui was summoned to the outside of Ning Yi’s carriage. Coming over to Zhi Wei with an expression full of surprise, Yan Huai Shui says “His Highness says he wants to return back to his own traveling group and we are to transport him back.”
“Go ahead.” Her hands at her back, Zhi Wei looks up at the clouds in the sky and says calmly “Pick the best 200 guards out of the 300 and send them along. His Highness is not feeling well recently thus is without the ability to protect himself, tell them to be extra cautious.”
“Is it alright to send so many? What if something happens on our side?” Feeling a bit uneasy, Yan Huai Shi asks.
“It is just a short ship to send His Highness safely off. They will be back in no time, what’s there to worry.” Zhi Wei smiles “If something really does happen, then no matter how many of these kinds of guards we have, it wouldn’t help.”
In no time, Ning Yi’s carriage left with two hundred guards. Ning Yi never showed his face. Standing under the diminishing light of the sunset, Zhi Wei silently thought Ning Yi must’ve believed she had purposefully gotten him drunk to ask him questions. The truth is, it had never occurred to her he couldn’t drink…and the truth is, what happened just now was really an impromptu idea.
With a forlorn smile, Zhi Wei thought: Oh, well. He can think what he wants. The trust between them was pitiful small to begin with so even if they are back to square one now, it is just something that was bound to happen sooner or later anyway.
Feeling unsettled the more she stared at the fiery red sunset, Zhi Wei orders the rest of the carriage team to find a place to settle down for the night earlier than they had intended.
Pulling into a modest but clean motel in a small town, Zhi Wei was a bit surprised to see all the motel’s bedding are brand new. With a big smile, the motel owner explains “We had a group of VIP guests here a while ago. They were displeased with the bedding so they gave us money to buy brand new ones.”
Her mind still occupied, Zhi Wei was listening with half of an ear as the motel owner pulls out a gold nugget to show it off “It was my first time seeing such a big gold nugget!”
Her eyes glancing over the gold in the owner’s hand, Zhi Wei waves her hand to dismiss him until something suddenly flashed across her mind and she abruptly turns around to call out “Can I see that gold nugget for a moment?”
Gold nugget in hand, Zhi Wei turns it over to reveal the word “Xiping” carved on the bottom. Sniffing the gold, Zhi Wei could tell that it has a faint fishy smell.
Most places are not allowed to have their own currencies, expect one place–
- Skipping over a whole bunch of place names and clues, long story short, Zhi Wei figures out that the gold nugget belongs to the Cheng clan.
Zhi Wei’s hand holding the gold nugget instantly turns ice cold.
Who is Cheng clan’s target right now?
Is it her, whose assignment to open a shipping factory would cut off their profits?
Or is it Ning Yi who is about to force them to return their military authority?
Ning Yi!
Two hundred guards, still weak and completely drunk… he is in danger!
Zhi Wei stood up abruptly, runs out of the door, jumped on a horse and rode into the dark uncertain night!
*I will be traveling for the next three weeks…but no fear, I worked extra hard the last bit so while my other posts will be affected the Phoenixes translation won’t be!
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Love me some monday translations!!!
Thanks for this week’s translation and have happy travels!! 🙂
Their thoughts are so similar, she sounds just like he did when he saved the emperor before her. Zhi Wei to rescue, so glad you’ll continue your post for TROP. Have a feeling the next couple updates are going to be lit. Thanks for the post and safe travels, have fun in whatever you do.
Thank you so much!!
Thanks so much for this week’s translation. Thanks for the extra effort in the upcoming weeks as you are traveling. We really appreciate it! One question–why did he ask for Yan Huai Shi (who’s more like ZW’s sidekick) instead of his own people after he kicked ZW out of the carriage? I didn’t think NY and Yan Huai Shi were friends/acquaintances.
For some strange reason, Ning Yi didn’t seem to have any of his people with him when he sneaked into our heroine’s carriage team. It doesn’t seem plausible…wait, actually it is. Even if Ning Yi had people with him, he would’ve sent them away so that our heroine would be the ONLY one left to take care of him after he got drunk. Anyhow, he asked Haui Shi because he was too hurt/mad to talk to Zhi Wei at that moment.
Ahhh my drug every Monday!
Thanks so much for this translation and happy travels. So glad to hear that we will still have our Monday fix. The scene is quite different from the drama. Can’t wait to see what happens next………..
Thank you so much! Have fun with your travel.. ^^
Thank you, so much!
I look forward to each Monday morning now because of your wonderful translations. Thank you so much for your dedication! Safe travels!
Thanks for the extra effort on the translations. Safe travels to you.
Thank goodness I watched the series before checking out the book. While I LOVE the series, I love the book even more. Thank you so much for your translations. I just bought the whole book series and started translating the final chapter just to see how differently it would end. I would have missed all the great details at the beginning if I hadn’t found your posts. Thank you & you’re doing an AMAZING job. Looking forward to your future posts.
It is too bad they left out all those lovey dovey scenes between our leads in the series. It would have made the ending in it much more devastating.
Thank you very much! Happy trip!
Question
Do I understand correctly. Both Fenhao and Zhiwei are both Dacheng heirs. Prince and Princess. Mama Feng made the decision which of the two to leave alive and whom to sacrifice. This is true? She herself decided that?
Questions arise after some reflection. Therefore, I ask not immediately after reading a certain chapter.
I will wait as long as you want to answer.
(Your constant reader)
The answer is in my translation post of the novel ending but I won’t make you go back to dig through it. Fenhao is NOT Dacheng royalty. Fenhao has been raised by Mama Feng as a decoy for Zhi Wei since everyone would naturally assume Bloody Pagoda would’ve saved a prince instead of a princess. Mama Feng was carrying out her husband’s wish.
Thank you for answering, apparently, I missed something in that chapter, I will definitely come back and read it. In the series, Feng Hao is the son of Feng.
But in the novel, it turns out he is the adopted son?