The metal door opens, letting in the light from outside. Zhi Wei only had time to notice Ning Yi’s eyes seem a bit unfocused before his eyes closed and his body collapsed backward. Without time to think, Zhi Wei jumps forward to catch Ning Yi and felt with her hand his ice cold body with sweat that had soaked through his robe.
“Chun Yu, come carry His Highness.” Zhi Wei turns to call to Chun Yu. Ning Yi grabs Zhi Wei’s sleeve, sniffed then laughed “Such heavy smell of blood and smoke.”
Lowering her head, Zhi Wei too sniffed and grinned “And sweat and stink of monkeys.”
Ning Yi smiles again and asks “Yours or other people’s blood?”
A distracted Zhi Wei helps Chun Yu get Ning Yi onto his back before replying “Why don’t you just look for yourself.”
Ning Yi returns a faint smile, the iris in his eyes look especially dark against his sickly pale skin.
Zhi Wei’s attention is still on what might be waiting for them outside “Those men will know from the creature’s wounds that the assassination attempt has failed. We have to leave right now, those men might be back anytime.”
“Go where?” Chun Yu asks.
Thinking about Silly Gu (another nickname for Gu Nan Yi) who most likely got lost again…since he usually gets lost when he goes out by himself, Zhi Wei says “My side was attacked as well. I am afraid there won’t be enough surviving men to protect us so it would be better if we go back to find His Highness’ 3000 guards.”
“No.” Ning Yi suddenly interjects “There are spies.”
Zhi Wei belatedly realizes Ning Yi must be right. Ning Yi had made an impromptu decision to leave her group and he must’ve sent word ahead to his men to arrange a meeting place. The only way the assassins could be so certain Ning Yi is at this particular rest stop must mean there are spies among Ning Yi and her own group.
If they go back to their groups then it would be walking right back into a trap and putting the academy students into more danger.
After hesitating for a few moments, Zhi Wei says “Then let’s go to the local officials and ask them to send a team of escorts.”
“That won’t work as well.” Ning Yi rejects her idea right away “Have you forgotten the official in this area is married to a woman that is related to the Cheng Clan? I wouldn’t be surprised that by the time we get into town there will be wanted posters of us everywhere.”
“He wouldn’t dare!” Chun Yu says angrily. Zhi Wei remains silent…why wouldn’t he dare? People are willing to do a lot to satisfy their greed and who knows that Cheng Clan doesn’t have some incriminating evidence on the guy to force him to do what they want. After all, how hard is it to silently get rid of a few people and if things got exposed they can always push out a few scapegoats.
How else would you explain the attack and burning of a rest stop not rousing any attention from a single person? It’s not like this rest stop is that out of the way.
“That what do we do?”
“From here, we follow the Jiyang mountain until we can find the governor of Jiyang. Governor Peng is an upright and honest official, so there is no chance he would be in cohorts with the Cheng Clan.”
Zhi Wei silently thought a certain someone has certainly done all his homework before he came and has figured out all the complex relationships between all the area officials. Looks like after all those nights out drinking in the brothels, a certain someone still went home and worked through the night.
All three agreed on Ning Yi’s plan and begins to make their way out now that the fire has begun to die down. Walking past the bodies of men who are like brothers to him, Chun Yu cries silent tears. Pointing at a blackened body, Chun Yu sobbed “I told Lao Guo to escort His Highness into the cellar but he would not and pushed me in instead. He then leads the rest of the men and guarded here to protect the door from being discovered…”
“Rest assured, they will be avenged.” Ning Yi didn’t open his eyes nor cast a single glance towards the hundred plus dead bodies but his voice was clear and firm.
In contrast to the two men, Zhi Wei didn’t mourn over the dead bodies nor did she vow revenge… she is searching all around and picking up gold that has been burnt into various funky shapes.
Looking up to find Chun Yu who doesn’t know if he should laugh or cry when he realized what she is doing, Zhi Wei says shamelessly “Why are you looking at me? Do you have money? Does His Highness have money? We are about to hide our identity and go on a run, how are we suppose to hire a horse carriage and buy food without money?”
Staring at Zhi Wei blankly for a few moments, Chun Yu finally says “You look like the noblest of the nobleman but are more stingy than the poorest kid.”
Ning Yi turns towards Zhi Wei’s direction, looked at her and suddenly says “You are hurt?”
Zhi Wei frowns and silently thought: Did his brain got muddled from the fire? My body is covered with wounds from being hit, burned and scraped. Not to mention all the blood on me. Did he really just noticed it?
“Stop dithering around, let’s get out of here first.” Ducking into a small path, Zhi Wei makes a mark on a tree then says “If we are going into Jiyang mountain then we have to buy some food to take with us. There is a small village at the base of the mountain, we will go stay there for a night to rest up. Those men would not be expecting us to go into the mountain so it should be safe there.”
The mountain village looked like it should be just a short distance ahead of them but it still took the three of them a long time. Finally arriving before the sun sets, they knocked on a house that looks like it belongs to a hunter.
“Sir, us three brothers came out for a trip but my oldest brother hurt his leg. Can we trouble you to let us stay for a night?”
The old man who opened the door promptly laughs and says “Who doesn’t encounter some unexpected trouble, come in, come in.”
The house was rustic but warm. After an exhausting journey, all three felt a sense of relief as the old man served them a yellowish black tea. Chun Yu was dying of thirst and promptly drained his cup. Zhi Wei quickly pulls out a small gold nugget and hands it to the old man “My older brother fell into the water, can I please trouble you to find a change of clothes for my brother?”
“We don’t have nice clothes but I will go find a clean one for you.” All smiles, the old man accepts the gold nugget and leaves. Zhi Wei hands a cup to Ning Yi, but Ning Yi just closes his eyes “I am not drinking it.”
Bringing over a set of clothes, the old man laughingly says “Does the tea’s color look dirty? This is our Jiyang mountain’s specialty made with the red vine. It is very good for your body but it doesn’t have the best appearance.”
Staring at the smile on the old man’s face, Zhi Wei felt a chill creep up her spine. Forcing herself to smile and finish chatting with the old man, Zhi Wei calmly walks out before dashing back to the room.
Her hand trembles as she pushes open the door, afraid that she will be greeted by the sight of two bloody bodies.
The door opens, Ning Yi and Chun Yu are both still there. Chun Yu is passed out snoring while Ning Yi is still upright, tenses then immediately relaxed.
Zhi Wei lets out a sigh of relief. She knows the assassins are most likely still searching elsewhere and have not gathered yet. Rushing over to the bed, Zhi Wei shakes Chun Yu “Wake up, wake up!”
Chun Yu sleeps on.
A man who is a good fighter, in a dangerous environment, and still sleep like this? There is obviously a problem. Zhi Wei thought of the tea and silently regret that she is still not vigilant enough.
Ning Yi says nonchalantly “Leave him, let’s go.”
Zhi Wei’s head snaps around to stare at him.
“The moment he opened his mouth, I knew there is something wrong.” Short to the point, Ning Yi explains “The hunters in this area are mostly migrants from the northern territory due to feminine or war. Their speech would have a northern accent. When the old man spoke, it immediately exposed him. Moreover, he was too welcoming.”
He even knows this? Zhi Wei’s quickly goes to help Ning Yi up then shakes Chun Yu again. Seemingly sensing something is wrong as well, Chun Yu struggles to open his eyes and only manages to say “Go…” before falling asleep again.
Turning to look at Ning Yi, Zhi Wei suddenly asks “If you knew right from the beginning something was wrong then why didn’t you stop him?”
“Someone had to drink it or it would arouse suspicion and things would become more troublesome.” Still wearing the same expression and still not sparing a single glance her way, Ning Yi asks “You drink it? Or I drink it? So Chun Yu was the only choice.”
Zhi Wei stares at him. This person has the face of an angel but his heart is as cold as ice.
“You guys go….” Struggling to wake up, Chun Yu stabs himself with his sword to wake himself up “Go…I will stop them…”
Ning Yi turns and after giving Chun Yu a careful look, says right away “Alright.”
In a calm voice, Ning Yi gives his orders to Zhi Wei “Go towards the cliff. This cliff is not steep. We can climb down. If we go to the front we will end up getting caught.”
Silent for a moment, Zhi Wei pulls out the two golden monkeys, put them into Chun Yu’s lap then helps Ning Yi climb out of the back window without another word.
The cliff was slippery, made worse by the mountain wind. Zhi Wei grabs Ning Yi’s hand as she carefully climbs downward. His hand feels frozen to the bone to her while her hand feels searing hot to him.
The cliff is covered with slippery moss, neither of them dares to let go of the other’s hand. Their fingers intertwined tightly, Ning Yi and Zhi Wei crawl slowly, below them lays the half cliff.
Leaning over to look down into the cliff, Zhi Wei laments silently that if she wasn’t hurt this would not have been too bad…but it is a bit difficult right now.
From afar they suddenly heard an angry yell. It was Chun Yu’s voice.
Like a sharp knife that cut through the night, the voice shook the loose rocks and send them plunging into the bottom of the cliff.
The wind picked up, whipping their robe around until it smacks them in the face. Inside the wooden cabin, someone is using his life to fight and kill. Outside, the two crouched on the slippery mossy rock, silent and not moving an inch.
The icy cold wind cut at them…that person’s furious yell suddenly stops.
As abruptly as it started, it stopped just as abruptly.
Silence returns, suffocating so.
Ning Yi lowers his eyes, expressionless. After a moment, Ning Yi gives Zhi Wei a small push to signal that she should go down first.
Finding a protruding rock, Zhi Wei carefully lowers her body then helps Ning Yi to follow her slowly. Ning Yi’s foot almost reaches the protruding rock but his body suddenly sways to the side. In the last moment, Zhi Wei slams her knee into the cliff, replacing the rock to let Ning Yi use her knee as a foothold instead. Because of the excessive force she used, Zhi Wei’s knee instantly turned into a bloody mess.
Ning Yi trembled and unconsciously wants to pull his foot back.
Zhi Wei looks up, in the darkest night and the coldest wind, she asks:
“Ning Yi, are you blind?”
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Love it! Thanks for translating. I look forward to Mondays now for your posts!
A very riveting chapter; I completely felt the continuous suspense. Can’t wait for the next one
Nice…can’t wait till next week!
Is this the beginning of Ning Yi blindness? So much is happening around them. Is Chun Yu dead or is he just hurt like in the drama? Zhiwei always think so little of NingYi(lol, is this her personality throughout the novel? In a situation as such, what was he soppose to do, let her drink the tea. This was so good, thanks alot for translating.
I believe Chun Yu shows up later so I am assuming he is just hurt. In the show, Zhi Wei and Ning Yi’s romance had quite a bit of youthful innocence in the beginning. That’s never the case in the novel. Despite her young age, our heroine is extremely weary of Ning Yi…and that weariness just increases as their love grows. They are kinda like two beasts circling each other, unable to stop hurting each other but neither can they stop loving each other at the same time.
Just love it, can’t wait for the cave scene either. What made Ning Yi blind? It is not clear so far? Or is it just an expression she is using?
Go back to the underground post (after our heroine runs into the burning building to find Ning Yi) and re-read that part. The creature they were dealing with there is what made Ning Yi blind.
Oh, the suspense…..Thanks for the translation :).
😱😱😱😱😱❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ can’t wait for next week are we approaching the cave scenes😱😱😱😍😍😍
Yes cave scene, 🎉
I’ve read read the translations and I can’t thsnk you enough for doing this. I truly appreiciate you taking the time. The drama is fantastic in its own way, but the grey moral code in Zhwiei in the novel gives me life. Women characters are either led to be just pure or not at all. And I like that shes not one dimensional. I love that she’s versatile. The kill at first sight trope between them has me living. I find that trope my most favourite in stories just because you start out negative and you learn to trust each other through so many experiences. I know the novel has a satisfying ending so I’m curious to see how their bond strengthens and becomes firmer.