The Rise of Phoenixes Novel Translation #91

After convalescing for a few days, Zhi Wei is already diving back into work before she has fully recovered. War has started in Minnan and Ning Yi has arrived at the battlefront, she can’t afford to just lie around idly. Even though Ning Yi had taken care of a lot of big issues in South Sea but there is still a myriad of small things that require her personal attention. 

That night, she ended up talking to Gu Nan Yi about asking the physician to go treat Ning Yi’s eyes. After refusing to answer for a long while, Gu Nan Yi finally says “I can’t order him around.” 

Gu Nan Yi’s words made Zhi Wei’s heart skip a beat– what does he mean by that? His words seem to indicate that both of them belong to the same organization and are of the same rank so he can’t order the physician around? 

“Let me meet with him, I will talk to him myself.” Zhi Wei has a feeling that if she can meet the man perhaps many questions she has been harboring inside would finally be answered. However, Master Gu promptly rejects her idea and says “You have recovered that means he needs to rush back to the Capital. There might be things to take care of over there.” 

Unable to do anything more, Zhi Wei could only put the issue aside for now. The solution really lies with the ones who caused the problem so if they could find the assassins that would be the best. Since the assassins are from Minnan then Ning Yi would have a better chance of catching them on his side. 

• One of the first tasks Zhi Wei had to take care of was the matter of robbing the granary. Minister Zhou couldn’t do anything while Ning Yi was around and Zhi Wei was on her death’s bed but he finally has the chance now to nag at Zhi Wei for compensation. It’s one thing to open the granary without permission but out of the five officials who guarded the granary at Pingye (place name) four and half of them are now out recovering! Could you at least leave someone to guard the door?! Zhi Wei smilingly listened to Minister Zhou’s angry rant then promptly and sincerely brought out the two culprits. One of them is a prince from the wild grassland, the other is the son from a high status nobleman family that has a close association with himself–  what is he supposed to do? Mister Zhou could only stump away in a huff, defeated once again. 

• In a way, the granary fiasco actually ended up stabilizing the food prices. The only reason Minister Zhou is unhappy is because he had wanted to use the granary to build up goodwill for himself but it all ended up getting used to make Zhi Wei look good. 
• Still, Minister Zhou’s anger was quickly calmed once Zhi Wei suggested that they rally up the three noble families to punish the two remaining ones (for trying to form a coalition to oppose the government). This of course means then everyone (the three noble families, the province and local government) could split the spoils three ways. Minister Zhou not so sincerely offered that Official Wei should also have a share but Zhi Wei smilingly refuses, saying that she is only a royal envoy passing by and as long as South Sea is well then Wei Zhi is well. The only thing Zhi Wei asks is that since Yan clan leader is also in charge of constructing the maritime office then they could give him (the Yan clan) a slightly bigger portion so that some of the resources could be put towards the maritime office. 
• Minister Zhou readily agreed but of course what Minister Zhou, a scholar doesn’t understand is how vast these clans’ fortune could be, which means there is a lot of room for Yan Huai Shi to work his magic and make sure what falls in the maritime office’s pocket is the biggest share.  (I use the translation of nobleman here but these families are actually big clans who amass their fortune through business. True noblemen with pure scholarly backgrounds generally are seen as higher in status since merchants are considered to be a low profession that has to deal with filthy lucre.)
• There is something else Zhi Wei has figured into her calculation. Once the two noble families fall that would cause tens of thousands of fishermen to lose their livelihood. If all of those people were absorbed by the three remaining clans then it would help those three families to grow into formidable and uncontrollable entities. To make sure that doesn’t happen they might as well immediately create a sea surveillance department and choose the best men out of this group. All of these people are skilled seafaring men so they would quickly adapt to their new assignments. Once the situation in Minnan turns against Chang clan then they might very possibly make their escape by sea and stir up trouble with the pirates who have been working for them. At that time, this group of people (the fishermen who will end up in the new surveillance department) will be the ready army South Sea needs. 
• Yan Huai Shi moved quickly and the maritime office is near completion. Looking at Yan Huai Shi’s bright grinning face, Zhi Wei thought to herself: Oh, well, you deserve to be riding high after the hardship you’ve had…plus your wife is about to elope with me so we will just count this as a compensation to you. 
• Some subordinates reported to Zhi Wei that they had caught some men but the men died abruptly in a rather strange manner. Zhi Wei personally visits the prison to check out the dead men and indeed, they all died with their eyes wide open without a single wound on their body. Staring at their fearful yet blank expression on the dead men’s face, Zhi Wei can’t help but feel like the expression seems familiar. 

“The coroner has already done a thorough inspection. No wounds. Strange, how were these guys killed?” One of Zhi Wei’s men reports to her. 

Gu Nan Yi who had been silent the whole time suddenly steps forward and points at the few scratches on one of the dead men’s wrists. 

“These are just slight scratches, they could not have caused death…”

Before the man could finish his words, Zhi Wei who had been looking over those scratches carefully had already turned around and asked “Official Tao, where did you guys catch these men?” 

“At the backyard of an abandoned farmhouse.” 

“Take me there!”

Half of an hour later Zhi Wei stands in front of what indeed appears like an abandoned farmhouse. Looking around with Gu Nan Yi, Zhi Wei is feeling a bit disappointed to find the place empty when Gu Nan Yi suddenly points at the pig stalls. Zhi Wei slowly walks over to the forsaken pig stalls, the badly damaged gate creaking loudly in the wind, the ground is covered with dead grass and chunks of old pig manure. Zhi Wei’s foot stepped on a dry tree branch making a small cracking sound. 

*slash!* A rusted meat cleaver heads straight towards Zhi Wei’s head at a lightning speed! At the same time, Zhi Wei cries out “It’s you!”

The meat cleaver is coming right at her but Zhi Wei is just busy hollering at the face half covered by a mess of hair. In her voice, there is a mix of joy and confusion. 

*clank* In Master Gu’s hand the meat cleaver promptly snapped in half. The man lets out a loud howl before hurling himself into the air as if he was the meat cleaver itself. The second the man jumped into the air, two golden lights lurched out of his chest, screeching with their sharp claws aiming for Feng Zhi Wei’s face. Feng Zhi Wei immediately yells “It’s me!” The gold lights stop abruptly to reveal two monkeys the size of a person’s finger. The monkeys stare at Feng Zhi Wei with wide eyes before squealing in joy and forgetting the fact they are still in midair. Fortunately, both monkeys fell right into Zhi Wei’s waiting hands. On Gu Nan Yi’s side, he had simply reached out a hand and grabbed the man when he hurled himself through the air. The man’s large body struggled as he yelled loudly but could not move Gu Nan Yi a single step. Zhi Wei clutches the two small monkeys in her hands, stares at the puffy face half hidden among the man’s mess of hair, takes a deep breath before smiling through her tears “Chun Yu… you are still alive. I am so glad.” 

Zhi Wei who has been a bit sullen ever since they arrived in South Sea is finally showing some cheer in her countenance. Ever since they lost contact with Chun Yu at the cliff, she has been carrying the weight of his death in her heart. Whenever she is tossing and turning in bed late at night she will often think about that young man and the way he had strode toward her in the academy’s dining hall. In the last ten plus years, he is the first one to approach her without any ulterior motive, the one who gave her the special gift of sincerity. For the first time in her life Zhi Wei thanked the heavens above, it seems like the heavens will still do a good deed sometimes.

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