The Rise of Phoenixes Novel Translation #71

Clueless of what Yan clan is preparing, the only thing Zhi Wei could feel is her stomach churning up and down. Leaning against the railing to put some pressure on her belly, Zhi Wei grins “Can you tell me now?”

Standing by the railing, Yan Huaishi replies in a low voice “I am the only son of my grandfather’s oldest son…but he is not my biological father. On the second year after my mother’s marriage, while father was away at sea, one night, my uncle barged into the room…and later…I was born…” 

Zhi Wei’s head snapped around. A child of incest? In this nation where the nobles hold blood purity as the utmost importance, what a tragic birth this would be! No wonder his family hates him, no wonder the other noble families call him a bastard! No wonder even after achieving such a great feat at the Capital his accomplishment would not be acknowledged. How much bullying and hostility must he have grown up with? 

Feeling a small ache in her heart, Zhi Wei bites her lips then says after a long moment “Huaishi, we can’t choose our birth but we can choose our future.” 

Yan Huaishi’s eyes had been staring at Zhi Wei nervously, fearful that he would see the familiar despise and disgust he sees on everyone else’s face…even though he is used to it after all these years and has prepared himself for it but deep in his heart he knows that if Wei Zhi also reacted in the same manner he would be more hurt than he was in the past. But there were none of that. Wei Zhi was shocked but after the shock it was just sadness, his gaze only had pain in them. Yan Huaish all the sudden feels like the anguish that has been piling up over the years is going to burst out of him and quickly averted his eyes, acting as if he was admiring the scenery.

“…..where is your mother now?” Zhi Wei asks gently. 

Yan Huaishi stiffens then answers after a bit “She is at…a Buddhist temple…grandfather said she has stained our family and would not allow her to stay in the clan anymore…” 

“How was this your mother’s fault? Your mother was a defenseless woman. To have something so horrible happen to her, Yan Clan didn’t take care of her but had instead exiled her?” Her eyes turned icy then sighed. It doesn’t matter that she sees it this way. What matters is that in this world, when things happen between a man and a woman, no matter who is the perpetrator, the fault will always fall on the woman. Perhaps she is the only one who thinks differently. Her mother came from a military family thus was raised to be both a lady and a fighter since she was young.

Her mother even became a female general later so mother never had the world view that men are better than women so of course that influenced her upbringing as well. However, her mother never taught her specifically these kinds of views, it was after she received that mysterious book she began to form a concrete view on a woman’s independence from that author’s confident and carefree manner of writing. 

Yan Huaishi looked at Zhi Wei in amazement. Everyone sees these sorts of things as the woman’s fault and that it brings shame to the whole family. Even himself, when he was young he had resented his mother for many years. Asking why she didn’t fight to death and why did she give birth to him? But when Wei Zhi heard of his story, his first reaction was anger for his mother’s behalf. 

• Yan Huaishi had worked so hard at the Capital because Yan clan had promised him that if he was successful then they would consider letting his mother out of the monastery. These are not the nice sort of monastery. They are more like prisons in the guise of monasteries for the rich nobles so Yan Huaishi was eager for a chance to free his mother from suffering in there. 　　
• Of course Yan clan reneged on their promise the moment Yan Huaishi actually accomplished the impossible. After his previous conversation with Zhi Wei and seeing how those people acted during the feast, Yan Huaishi admits to Zhi Wei he now knows Yan clan had never intended to keep their promise so the only person he can rely on is himself if he wants to help his mother. 

“If I can’t protect myself then how can I even talk about protecting my mother? Retreat is death, forward is danger, if I am going to die I might as well go down fighting.” 

“With me here, I will not watch you die.” Holding a hand to her head, Zhi Wei laughs “It’s late, we still have a tough fight ahead of us so go rest.” 

“I’ll escort you back to your room.”

“No need.” Pressing tightly against the railing, Zhi Wei waves her hand “Go, go.” 

The moment Yan Huaishi is gone Zhi Wei immediately climbs over the railing and starts throwing up. While she was throwing up Zhi Wei was silently lamenting that she had just totally contaminated a pristine little pound with those cursed seafood. After a harrowing bout of regurgitating everything in her stomach, Zhi Wei lays lazily on the railing and is stunned to realize, as one who can usually stay sober no matter how much she drinks, she seems to be drunk now. Her head spinning and her whole body feeling as feeble as if all her strength has been sapped out, Zhi Wei wonders if Ning Yi felt this terrible when she caused him to be drunk. Her conscience slightly pricked by the thought, Zhi Wei decides that she will just lay on the railing as a punishment for what she did to Ning Yi…in all honesty, she just doesn’t have the strength to crawl. It’s not like there is anyone around and the railing is wide enough, she can sleep here, puke whenever the urge arises, so convenient. Unfortunately, someone is not willing to allow her to laze around. Feeling her body suddenly going airborne, Zhi Wei yelps “Hey, don’t shake…don’t shake…” as her stomach churns and she quickly averted her face but it was too late. Closing her eyes in resignation as a certain someone’s pristine robe was splattered with a few specks of the content that had just exited her stomach, Zhi Wei waits for her body to make contact with the ground. 

Opening her eyes when what she was expecting didn’t happen, Zhi Wei is greeted by the sight of Master Gu peering closely at her. 

Grinning as she brushes aside the white veil that had fallen onto her face, Zhi Wei grins “Master Gu, I am drunk this time. The last time I was drunk I just slept but this time I am half drunk so I have no clue what I will do. You should just take me back to my room.” 

Master Gu doesn’t answer her but continues to peer closely at her. Holding her head with a hand, Zhi Wei mutters “Either carry me or let me down and let me walk by myself. I am getting dizzy hanging in the air…” Before she could finish, Zhi Wei suddenly felt something brush by the corner of her mouth. Glancing up, Zhi Wei belatedly realizes it was Master Gu’s nose, leaning close to her mouth, carefully sniffing the smell of alcohol seemingly trying to discern which wine it was. His lips were inches away, his skin brushing against hers, her whole being enveloped by his clean refreshing smell. Zhi Wei froze, completely forgetting what she had wanted to say. Master Gu was scared away by that fierce looking seafood thus had not drunk the wine tonight so he had simply wanted to smell the wine that is not familiar to him. However, as he leans close he suddenly senses that something soft and warm is behind the wine fragrance. It was an utterly new sensation to him, causing him to stop mid motion. That pause was long enough for Zhi Wei to come to her senses and pushed him away. Jerked awake by the push, Master Gu promptly lets go and Zhi falls down with a resounding plop. 

Zhi Wei slowly gets up and wonders sourly why she bothered to struggle earlier if she was destined to fall smack onto the ground? Turning around, Zhi Wei suddenly spots a small palanquin on a small path not too far away from her. Zhi Wei narrows her eyes. She may have drank too much, but not enough to addled her brain. This area is heavily guarded, who can at this late of the night just come right in on a palanquin? Judging by the direction the palanquin is heading, that is the same direction where she and Ning Yi’s rooms are. Then who is it trying to seek? 

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