The moment she ran into the house she realized how foolish she was. No one could survive in such a furious fire.
Her soaked clothes almost instantly baked dry. Her eyes red and teary from the smoke, Zhi Wei jumped around the burning furniture and dragged out one body after another. Her heart sinking with each dead body she finds but immediately feels a sense of relief to see it is not who she sought. The beam above is crackling, threatening to fall even as sparks of fire is falling on top of her.
Zhi Wei looks around in hopelessness– Ning Yi, where are you?
A lick from the fire by the side of her face promptly made it blister. Stepping back in a daze, Zhi Wei’s foot touches another body she had checked before but as she looked again she noticed something strange. All the dead bodies in this house were gathered in this particular area, why? This area is not the main lobby but looks more like a kitchen. By the wall, there is a stove and there is a dry storage room next to it. Looking around, Zhi Wei can’t see anything special about the room so why did all the people die here. All the dead bodies are facing outward in the same direction…like they are trying to protect something.
While putting out the little fires on her body, Zhi Wei’s eyes made another round around the room.
That stove…
Wait.
Zhi Wei’s eye brightens as she abruptly squats down and pulls back a small metal door on the stove.
With a squeak, the door opens and a light shoots out from the darkness.
Squatting in front of the door with her back to the sea of fire, Zhi Wei slams the metal door shut in the next second.
“Bang!” A spear barely misses Zhi Wei’s head by an inch as the arrow head pokes out of the thick metal door.
If her reaction time was just a tad bit slower, the spear would’ve killed her.
If her body had made the wrong choice, then the spear would’ve forced her into the sea of fire.
Her heart thumping from the close call, Zhi Wei’s eyes focus on the design of the spear and her heart jumps with hope.
This is a spear specially made for the royal guards!
“Chun Yu!” Zhi Wei yells with a hoarse voice “I am Wei…”
The metal door suddenly flung open and a hand shot out to drag her inside.
The hand actually didn’t use that much force but Zhi Wei didn’t struggle at all now that she is certain it’s not a foe.
Sensing vaguely something had shot passed her when she was dragged inside, Zhi Wei doesn’t have time to see what it was.
The metal door behind her is still very hot, but compares to the fierce sea of fire outside, the air inside is filled with an eerie coldness. Her eyes finally adjusting to the darkness after blinking for a few moments, Zhi Wei finally can see Chun Yu clearly. A green light suddenly flashes from somewhere and using that light, Zhi Wei could see Ning Yi is sitting not far too away, with his back to her.
Overjoyed, Zhi Wei instinctively wants to run towards Ning Yi but Chun Yu grabs her. Belatedly realizing something that sounds like running water is under her foot, a confused Zhi Wei says “This…”
Before she could get her question out, her mouth was already covered by Chun Yu’s hand. Zhi Wei watches as Chun Yu fiercely covering her mouth with one hand while his other hand slowly pulls his spear out of the metal door. His movement was extremely gentle, seemingly afraid of of making a single sound. Zhi Wei’s inside gives a lurch—Why no sound? Why can’t he make a sound?
Why haven’t Ning Yi turned around?
The green light flashes again and Zhi Wei’s eyes widen in shock.
She finally saw clearly, the green light didn’t come from some lamp but it was something’s eyes.
She could only make out the creature is about the size of a baby rabbit. Squatting across from Ning Yi, it’s claw pointing towards his direction. The creature is small but somehow gives off the aura of a king.
It’s eyes open and close. Each time it opens the green light would flash. The green light is not eerie but pure and beautiful, like a tranquil lake or a precious jade.
Her gaze involuntarily drawn by the mesmerizing light, Zhi Wei’s eyes are suddenly covered by Chun Yu’s hand and in the next instant, Zhi Wei felt a stab of pain as tears begin to flow from her eyes.
Busy covering Zhi Wei’s mouth and eyes, Chun Yu silently writes in her palm: His Highness has forbid us from making sounds and we are not allowed to look at that thing either.
Zhi Wei looks towards Ning Yi and sees that he is still sitting completely still, like a rock. Puzzled, Zhi Wei wonders if that creature is the “king” the assassins spoke of and why would it point its claw at Ning Yi but not do anything else?
Taking a closer look, Zhi Wei discovers the creature’s claw is actually not pointing directly at Ning Yi but moving around slowly and shooting out something grey when it hears a noise.
So the creature is blind… such beautiful eyes but cannot be used by itself. However, its sensory seems extremely sharp which explains why Ning Yi is not moving and had forbid them to make a sound.
Chun Yu continues to write on Zhi Wei’s palm “That’s Minnan Eyes, you must not look at it.”
Zhi Wei writes back “Understood.” Minnan is an area that has many big forest mountains. In those mountains, there are many clans who are very skilled in poisoned insects and such. Cheng clan has ruled the Minnan area for a long time so it is not strange that they would be able to find strange creatures like this.
Chun Yu writes again “This is a basement ice storage. Yesterday there was a group that was transporting ice and stored the ice here so that’s how we can hide here right now.”
That’s how there is water, it was ice that has been melted. Zhi Wei nods but her mind is racing with worry. How can they get out of this? If that thing doesn’t leave, are they all stuck here?
She now knows why the assassins had left without hesitation and made no attempt to find the “king”. They were obviously very confident in their “king’s” abilities.
Zhi Wei writes in Chun Yu’s palm “Did you look at that Minnan Eye?”
Chun Yu replies “His Highness stopped me from looking at it.”
Zhi Wei nods, pondering silently how to get rid of the “king”. They can’t look at it which means it is hard to figure out exactly where it is. The creature is also small so if their strike misses it then how are they supposed to defend against the “king’s” attack?
All those reasons are probably why Ning Yi has stayed still all this time.
Zhi Wei silently applauds Ning Yi’s self-control. She just dashed in from the fiery furnace but even so she can begin to feel the freezing cold seeping into her bones. Heaven only knows how Ning Yi who up until yesterday was still completely limp from being drunk has managed to sit still up until now.
Just when Zhi Wei is unsure what to do the two golden monkeys suddenly climbed out of her sleeve. Staring at the two monkeys who are quite displeased to find themselves in the cold, Zhi Wei belatedly remembers that during the fire they had stayed calm and quiet seemingly unafraid of the fire.
It is rare to find creatures who are unafraid of fire. These golden monkeys came from a mysterious background…would they perhaps have some unexpected abilities?
Zhi Wei stealthy turns her arm to a different direction until the monkeys see the Minnan Eyes.
Letting out a screech the moment they spot the creature’s beautiful eyes, the golden monkeys ignores the Minnan Eyes’s threatening call and charge towards it. The “king’s” claws wave wildly sending out small grey flying insect-like attackers but the moment those tiny bee sounding creatures met the monkeys they darted off, seemingly afraid of the golden duo.
Not bothering to stay and fight, Minnan Eyes jumped off the table it was on and hopped away in the next instant in a frog-like manner. The golden monkeys yelped as it gave chase but only until Minnan Eyes was out of the underground cellar then they promptly dashed back into Zhi Wei’s hand.
Judging by what just happened, the gold monkeys and the Minnan Eyes are both wary of each other, but this result is already an unexpected boon for Zhi Wei. She had released the golden monkeys on a last ditch of hope but who would’ve thought it worked so well!
Letting out a yell of joy, Chun Yu laughs “Where did you get something so awesome?” Without waiting for Zhi Wei’s answer, Chun Yu quickly goes to open the metal door. Only now did Ning Yi slowly turns around and say “You are here?”
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Bravo! I loved that scene. Thank you for the translation.
Love it as well, can’t wait to see what happens next. Keep it coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Chen Yu is he is Ning Yi trusted guard from the drama? But I remembered that he stayed back in the first to guard the resident so that him?
Someone else will have to pipe in to answer. Other than the major characters, I really didn’t pay close attention enough to figure out who is who in the drama vs the novel.
I was wondering the same thing. I think he’s Chunyu Meng, one of the students. In the drama he was the only one with Ning Yi when Zhiwei found him, he’s was also loyal to Prince of Chu throughout the drama.
This was good! Thanks. Waiting next week to see if Ning Yi is going to say.
The determination of a woman in love…Zhiwei’s persistent attitude towards finding Ning Yi no matter what is impressive. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure (the golden monkey). Thanks for another great post.
The Minnan Eyes Rabbit, was this portrayed as the cute injured bunny that kept the couple warm in the Drama? I rather like this King Rabbit with the eerie eyes better
The description is that the creature is rabbit sized but I don’t think it actually looks like a rabbit.
The novel contains elements of fantasy. It is very distinguishing novel and film!
I found out that writer Lu Jing (Tianxia Guiyuan) was a co-author of the series. Do you know anything about a writer? I did not find anything ((
At least find out if Lu Jing is a woman or a man?
•••••
And also, when I read the novel via Google translator from Chinese, I thought that I could not make out what kind of beast was in the refrigerator. I thought maybe it was a lion or a leopard. Hahaha! Now I understand that this is a fantastic animal! I am always grateful for your work!
The author (天下归元) is a woman. If you google search her you should be able to find her picture and a list of her works.
I’m afraid to be intrusive, but I have absolutely no one else to ask except you. 🙏🙏🙏
Please help me deal with the nickname Zhiwei. In the series without translation, the prince calls her:
小狸猫 (Xiǎo límāo) –
Little Civet/Маленькая циветта.
We translate to us so:
“raccoon, little raccoon” (In the series with the translation Zhiwey called raccoon)
—
In the article
( https://cfen.si/2018/08/15/mini-recap-the-rise-of-phoenixes-episodes-1-2/#more-59746 )
written following:
“The next day, Ning Yi is preparing a banquet for his brothers, and Feng Zhiwei, wanting to meet her husband-to-be, sneaks into the manor as a courtesan. She accidentally runs into the ‘weaver’ Ning Yi, and pleads with him to arrange a meeting between her and the Prince of Chu. Ning Yi is aware of the Qiu family’s tricks, and knows that Feng Zhiwei is in fact a substitute (hence the nickname ‘Little Civet Cat‘).”
And then give a link to Wikipedia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bao_Zheng#Famous_cases )
Wikipedia says so:
“Civet Cat Exchanged for Crown Prince (狸貓換太子): Bao Zheng met a woman claiming to be the mother of the reigning Emperor Renzong. Dozens of years prior, she had been Consort Li, an imperial concubine of Emperor Zhenzong’s, before falling out of favour for supposedly giving birth to a bloody (and dead) civet cat. In reality, the jealous Consort Liu had plotted with eunuch Guo Huai (郭槐) to secretly swap Li’s infant with a skinned civet cat minutes after the birth and ordered palace maid Kou Zhu to kill the baby. However, Kou gave the baby to chief eunuch Chen Lin (陳琳), who secretly brought the child to the Eighth Prince, a younger brother of Emperor Zhenzong. Kou was later tortured to death by Guo when Consort Liu began to suspect that the infant had survived. The child was raised by the Eighth Prince as his own son and was subsequently selected to succeed Emperor Zhenzong, who had died heirless. Due to the passage of time, gathering evidence was a challenge. With the help of a woman dressed as Kou’s ghost, Bao dressed himself as Yama, lord of Hell, to play on both Guo’s fear of the supernatural and guilt, thereby extracting his confession. When the verdict was out, the emperor was reluctant to accept Consort Li. Bao then admonished the emperor and ordered that he be beaten for lack of filial piety. The emperor’s Dragon Robe was beaten instead. Emperor Renzong eventually accepted his mother and elevated her as the new empress dowager”?
I do not quite understand. So, when Ning Cheng and Nin Yi first named Zhiwei 小狸猫 (Xiǎo límāo), did they put into this the sense that she was a “substitute”? That is not a real bride.
❓It turns out that in the film people (the heir, the eunuch of the emperor, that dude from Minhai) thought that the Prince of Chu had a pet of Civet, and not a raccoon? Right?
❓Chinese viewers watched the original. They understood the historical implication of the nickname Zhivey 小狸猫 (Xiǎo límāo)?
What do you think?
I am answering your questions from my personal understanding when I watched the show so I obviously can’t say if what I thought was really what the writer or director meant for the viewers to think. I am going to answer your second questions first. The whole wiki “Civet Cat Exchanged for Crown Prince” is indeed a famous and well-known reference most Chinese would know. However, my personal opinion is that our hero’s nicknamed Zhi Wei “Leopard Cat” more as a teasing reference to her sharp claws. At this point, in our hero’s eyes, Zhi Wei is a young girl who despite being rather powerless both in her fighting ability or family background is nonetheless stubborn and ready to scratch if she is cornered. In a lot of C-novel and dramas, referring to women as cats are common. Of course, whether the reference is seen by the readers and the heroine as a term of endearment or insult all depends on if the one saying it is our handsome hero or sleazy villain.
With my first answer in mind, then it makes sense when Ning Yi was talking about his “unruly little kitten” everyone assumed he was referring to a pet. I am not sure why they translated the nickname into a raccoon but that obviously wouldn’t be as cute and romantic as a kitten.
What an interesting scene. Thanks for the translation!