“Daughter, drink it, drink it all.” Peony lovingly holds Gu Zhi Xiao “Your brother doesn’t need it anyway.”
What brother? She is talking about Helian’s younger brother?
A bit speechless, Zhi Wei reminds her “Since you still have to feed your own baby, you should leave some.”
“No need.” Liu Mu Dan waves her arms “He won’t live.”
“Why not?”
“It has to be.” Liu Mu Dan replies “If Lucky’s brother survives then…”
She suddenly stops talking, a strange expression flashed across her face before she immediately changes the topic. Grinning, Liu Mu Dan says “We should get ready in a bit. When I was kidnapped, I left signs along the way. The royal army should be here soon, as well as the precession to greet Helian”
Zhi Wei turns thoughtful as she stares at the woman who is grinning ear to ear, seemingly without a care in the world– this Peony, she smiled when her husband was killed, she smiled when she was kidnaped, she smiled when her youngest might die, when she was forced to set a trap for her son to cross the river, she was also smiling.
She smiled as she faced the crumbling royal court left by the old King, she smiled as she flirted with Gold Roc’s leader to get them to loosen their watch on her, she smiled as she yelled at her son but was in actuality telling her son to run, she smilingly faced everything, never thinking of the risk to her own life.
During this period of time, the old king was killed, the crown prince is still away, all the tribes are at war with one another, yet the imperial army didn’t fall into chaos and was able to keep their order until Helian comes back— all because of whom?
Looking at Peony’s thick makeup and vulgar mannerism, Zhi Wei slowly smiled as she put a hand over Peony’s “Grand Queen, you’ve worked hard.”
Liu Mu Dan blinks with surprise, her grin froze for a moment then quickly relaxed. Putting the now full Gu Zhi Xiao to the side, Liu Mu Dan throws her arms wide open and laughs “My good daughter-in-law, only you know how hard I have worked!”
Holding out her own arms, Zhi Wei catches Mu Dan in an embrace.
The woman throws herself into her arms and buries her face against her shoulder. An overwhelming strong perfume attacked her sense of smell, making one’s nose itch, Zhi Wei scratches her nose–not because it itched but because it is stinging a bit. (Stinging from tearing up.)
The tent falls silent, all the chattering and laughter fading away, just two women tenderly holding each other, filled with compassion and understanding.
After only burying her face in Zhi Wei’s shoulder for a brief moment, Liu Mu Dan immediately raises her head, flashing her carefree smile.
Zhi Wei glances past her own shoulder in passing, there, is the slightest trace of a wet mark.
Outside the tent, from a long distance away, came the thundering sound of horse hoofs.
“Let’s go.” Zhi Wei picks up Peony’s hand, the two women exchange smiles.
Two very different personalities but equally extraordinary women, walked out of the tent into the golden sunlight to welcome the thundering warhorses of the Wildgrassland.
The wind of wildgrassland during February is still laced with the chill of the snow. As tens of thousands of warriors on horsebacks charging in against the wind, it feels like the whole land is shaking and vibrating. When Zhi Wei stepped out of the tent, the sight of Helian who was already waiting right outside made her eyes light up. Silver golden crown, black fur robe, seven-colored boots, gold silk long robe with black gold cufflinks, ruby studded belt to showcase his strong waist. A jade inlaid brass dagger hangs around his waist along with an amber snuff bottle, making a pleasant clinking sound as he walks. Compared to the usual green robe that he can’t even be bothered to button up properly, this particular ensemble accentuates his suave handsome feature, especially bringing out his dark purple irises that are as deep and swirling as a bottle of precious wine.
“So people really do have to wear clothes after all…” Zhi Wei mutters to herself.
Helian who had been happily waiting for her compliment promptly soured after hearing her words. What does she mean by that? Does he not wear clothes normally? Of course, he would be willing to show off his naked self to her, but would she allow it? (That last sentence is not a question but more a grumbling complaint from poor Helian)
Before Helian can finish with his silent grumblings, a smiling Zhi Wei is already putting her arms through his. The moment her arms tenderly linked through his, it was as if Helian’s little heart had been immersed in a warm bath and his stomach full of grumblings immediately disappeared.
Not about to be ignored, Peony attempts to grab her son’s other arm but was mercilessly kicked away “Get lost, cray woman!”
“You ungrateful jerk! Bad Lucky!” Muttering angrily, Peony goes to wack her son’s head.
There is a small hill in front of the tent which blocked the army’s sight. The mother and son’s chase went all the way to the small hill. However, the moment they turned the bend, Helian immediately put out a hand to steady his mother. In an instant, Liu Mu Dan lowers the hand that was about to beat down on Helian and freshens up her own appearance as she smoothes her hair.
By the time the three of them emerged out behind the hill, what the warriors saw were their dignified king and their graceful smiling old Queen. Just like they are used to seeing many times in the past, the gentle mother and attentive son come linking arms towards them. Oh, wait, there is one more person. Everyone secretly turns their gaze towards the Han woman whose arm is linked with their king’s.
Ah! Yellow face! Ah! So thin and fragile! Ah! Small hips! Ah! Narrow waist! Ah! None of their previous Queen’s proud majestic chest! Ah! Without enough milk, how are their next crown prince going to lead them soaring through the field? An expression of disappointment came upon the men of the wildgrassland. They can’t find a single thing they are satisfied with this Han woman!
(A quick explanation of the term “Han Woman”. The term Han is the name of the ethnicity that we would usually refer to as Chinese. In China, 92% of the population is made of Han Chinese and the remaining 8% are minorities. Of course that percentage will fluctuate throughout history. Now, the novel is set in a fictional world but the author had adopted some of the familiar characteristics (such as very colorful clothing and that they usually have more pronounced features- which by the way is considered to be a very desirable trait to the Han Chinese) of the minority ethnicities in China for her novel.)
The Eight Braves laughed silently as they watched from the sideline– look at these people’s expression, look at their dissatisfaction— a group of fools, you guys just wait. The stares from the wildgrassland men have always been direct and without restraint. Moreover, with a queen like Liu Mu Dan who actually glories in being stared at, the warriors are even more brazen as they focused their stares on Zhi Wei wolfishly. They stared and stared, waiting for the fragile looking Han woman to start crying– in the past, Tiansheng Emperor had given plenty of women to the old king and they had always followed the old queen’s signal to stare at the women until they ran away sobbing. So here they go, stare…stare…stare….
They were sorely disappointed. No matter how they stare, Zhi Wei was completely unfazed. Scanning over the ferocious menacing imperial army, Zhi Wei’s gaze was loving as if she was looking at beloved cats in her own yard…the kind that has been declawed waiting for her to pet. Standing beside their robust old Queen, this new Queen’s expression is serene and dignified. Despite the fact that this woman failed all of their requirements, the men have to admit she doesn’t seem to lack anything standing right next to their King. Helian had been silent all this time, smiling proudly as he watched Zhi Wei meeting his imperial army for the first time and promptly awing his men with her presence. Turning his head, Helian yells “Are you done staring!” Jerked out of their trance by the thunderous yell, the men turn to look at Helian blankly.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Always so enjoyable! Interesting to see that Liu Mu Dan is not just a crazy woman but a woman capable of holding an army together and manipulating the political arena. Is Helian very gifted politically? In the show, he really wasn’t displayed as being savy at all and I thought that was a good part of the reason why he and Wei Zei were not a good match; his intellect just wasn’t on the same level as hers. Is that different in the book?
Well…if we are talking intelligence then no one really matched our two leads in the story. However, it will become evident in the next two posts that Helian is no dummy either. Do let me know what you think of him after reading the next two posts.
These two ladies in their own way are so unyieldingly unflinchingly strong 刚强 despite their respective deceptive appearance. I love how the two women embraced and understood each other. The implicit understanding between Helian and the queen mother is also touching. In one chapter, it vacillates between quiet moments of connection to loud show to comedy at poor Helian’s expense to judgemental assessment by army then awe. You convey and translate all these so well, Ninja, thank you so much!
I love how the author capture the bond between the two woman. Very moving. In the drama I believe that they had a connection also. She is to be admired for her strong and and keeping things together for Helian. In the drama, we do not see Helian being of great strength, instead very lacking. Do we se admiration for Helian from ZW? And when are we going to see or hear from Ning Yi?
Zhi Wei definitely gets to see a different side of Helian on the wildgrassland but not so much because he has changed but he simply had to grow up overnight and be king for his people. The one thing that really bugged me about the drama is how Helian turned into a jerk after he and Zhi Wei were married. Thankfully, that was never the case in the novel.
As for Ning Yi… who is that? Oh, that’s the male lead the author is in the habit of ditching. 🙂 Ning Yi’s scenes ARE coming but it will be a bit though.
Peony and Zhi Wei are so heartwarming and impressive together!! How beautiful… and yet another glaring contrast to the TV show
This is probably my favourite scene so far. Mainly because after all the ones you’ve translated this one portrays really well in my opinion ZW personality. And I love how Helian waited knowing she wouldn’t be shamed or embarrassed by anyone but recognising ZW strength.
Love it thank you !
Simplesmente encantador esse HELIAN no drama juntamente com ZW formam um par forte diferente de tudo que vi. OBRIGADA mais uma vez