The Rise of Phoenixes Novel Translation #137

• The crowning ceremony proceeds without Zhi Wei but Helian suddenly collapses, the ashen color of his face making it obvious that he has been poisoned. 
• Kelie finally shows up and suggests that Zhi Wei is the only one who could get close enough to Helian to poison him.  

“Impossible!” Helian’s Eight Braves shake their heads in unison, “How is it possible that the Grand Queen would harm the King? Don’t make false accusations.” 

“False accusation or not, we need to investigate first. Since the grand queen is innocent then she would certainly not mind.” Kelie replied calmly. 

One of the clan leaders nods and says “Invite the grand queen to come!”

Even though the word “invite” was used but it was obvious from the fact that they ordered a thousand royal guards to do the inviting that things were going to turn ugly. 

“An invitation is not necessary, I am here.” 

A woman’s mild voice came. It wasn’t loud but everyone heard her clearly.

The crowd parted, someone slowly came through. 

A tall and thin woman, wearing a black skirt with silver trim. In contrast to the flashy and ostentatious surroundings, her plain and modest outfit somehow appears noble instead of plain. Staring at her elegant posture and gliding steps in the sparkling sun, the crowd falls into a trance, momentarily forgetting the woman’s yellow face and droopy brows. 

Feng Zhi Wei is here. 

Watching her coming towards them, all of the tribe leaders had a hint of regret in their expression. This sort of woman, could’ve been an exceptional grand queen of the grassland. What a shame…

“The she wolf who came to the grassland!” In the silence, someone in the crowd suddenly yelled angrily “Saint Da Ma was right! Every single one of your hair carries deadly poison with them!” 

“Saint Da Ma had already foretold that you are the king’s trap and misfortune. But the king was bewitched by you and would not listen!” 

“Get out of the grassland! Our tribe needs peace and calm, we don’t need the blood and war you bring with you!” 

Everyone there is well aware of Saint Da Ma’s prophecy. They also saw with their own eyes of how Helian went against the Saint because of her and then voluntarily took a whipping. So now, no matter what the truth is, their anger is all aimed at Feng Zhi Wei. 

Someone threw out a meat bone and promptly caused more people to throw out whatever they had in their hands. 

Gu Nan Yi who was following behind Zhi Wei waved his hand slightly.  

All the things flying through the air, seemingly hit an invisible wall and dropped to the ground about three feet away from Zhi Wei. The crowd had never seen such mind blowing martial arts and stood with their mouths open in shock. Some might’ve even been tempted to yell “Ghosts!” 

“Don’t litter.” In the dead silence, Zhi Wei cocks her head and smiles sweetly “Be careful I don’t make you all eat what you threw out.” 

Her tone was light but the expression in her eyes made it obvious to everyone that she wasn’t joking. The crowd took a collective step back. 

• Kelie publicly accuses Zhi Wei of poisoning Helian. Showing everyone a letter that Zhi Wei had supposedly written to a governor saying the grassland will not be needing half of their usual grain supply, Kelie uses it as evidence that Zhi Wei must be plotting to get rid of Helian so she can take control of the throne (as Helian’s queen since his brother is still young and his child has not been born yet) and eventually give the grassland to the Emperor. Remember the conversation Zhi Wei had with Peony back in translation post #132 where Zhi Wei told Peony she would write to the governor of Yun province? Kelie had managed to get hold of the letter and changed a few wordings on it to make it correspond with his accusations. He had even convinced the man Zhi Wei had sent to deliver the letter to testify against her. 
• Things become even more tense when someone pushes against Zhi Wei from behind and in the chaos Zhi Wei’s belt was ripped open, releasing something into the air that immediately turned the grass yellow when it fell to the ground.  Kelie, who had pulled the people around Zhi Wei out of the way just in time, yells angrily that Zhi Wei must’ve hidden the poison she used on Helian in her belt. 

The royal soldiers rushed forward to completely surround Zhi Wei on all sides. 

“We are taking care of spies, everyone else needs to back away…” Kelie’s hollering was heard loud and clear. 

A team captain of the royal army charges forward, his hand shaking open a leather rope. 

Kelie watched with interest as Gu Nan Yi’s fingers twitched. A small faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips. If only one person dies by Gu Nan Yi’s hand then the situation will spin out of control. 

The rope whips through the air, heading towards Zhi Wei’s direction. 

Feng Zhi Wei suddenly took a step forward. 

Blinking in surprise to see Feng Zhi Wei stepping forward instead of backing away, the captain hears Feng Zhi Wei’s voice “We are dealing with spies right now, those without business here need to back away.” 

With a wave of her hand, the very confused captain immediately stumbled back a few steps. A commotion abruptly stirred the crowd again as a few people made their way through it. 

In the lead is a smiling Hua Qing with her big belly, her hand holding another big belly person– Nata. 

After them were Zhong Chen and Chun Yu who were tugging Mei Duo behind him. 

• Zhi Wei presents her own evidence that based on the expected birth date of Nata’s baby, it is impossible Helian could be the father of the baby. Remember a few posts ago where Hua Qing tricked Nata into believing she had obtained a charm from Saint Da Ma for her baby? They were then able to trick Nata into writing down her baby’s real expected birth month. 
• Nata tried to protest otherwise but when the evidence was too strong to deny she suddenly collapsed and died. After personally checking Nata’s pulse to confirm she had indeed died, Kelie laughed coldly and declared “She killed herself out of guilt? Well, that’s good then.” Turning his attention back to Zhi Wei, Kelie demands to know how Nata’s deception has anything to do with Zhi Wei’s attempt to kill Helian. 

“Anything to do with one another? There is.” Zhi Wei smilingly looks at Kelie, “Many troubles originate from bad apples within. Family matters could very possibly become world matters…I say, clan leader Kelie, there is something I can’t understand. Could I inquire of you?” 

Kelie looks back at her but doesn’t reply. Everyone else could sense by this point that something is amiss and the noise from the crowd slowly dies down. 

Not really expecting an answer from Kelie anyway, Zhi Wei laughs “I just can’t figure out, on the grassland that puts so much importance on posterity, why would you allow your first son to call someone else father?” 

The listening crowd stirred restlessly in shock while Kelie sneers “This is what’s called a baseless wild accusation! Nata has already killed herself so now you can put that baby on anyone you want.” 

“Kelie!”

A scream came. A “dead” Nata suddenly gets up from the floor and throws herself right at Kelie “You wolf who kills his own wife and son!” 

• Turns out, Nata’s baby is indeed Kelie’s. After convincing Nata to make the claim that Helian is her baby’s father, Kelie decided to be extra safe and planted a witch poison inside Nata’s body so he can kill her whenever he wants. 

So a bit of explanation about the “witch poison” here. In Chinese Wuxia novels, there are people often called witches who can manipulate bugs to create potions or poisons that allow them to control people. Kelie was apparently quite versed in the art of witchery and that was how he was confident he could kill Nata whenever he wanted. The author didn’t go into detail here, but in most novels, the witch would plant a “son” bug in their victim and keep the “mother” bug with them. If the “mother” bug dies then the “son” bug would die, killing their host at the same time. The author also didn’t explain how Zhi Wei was able to cut off Kelie’s control over Nata but it would be safe to assume that Zong Chen was the one who ended up taking control and even managed to get Nata to fall into a temporary state of death to fool Kelie. 

• After taking care of Kelie, Zhi Wei explains to the tribe leaders that she had actually sent TWO messengers to the governor, the other messenger being Chun Yu. Reading the governor’s letter with the official seal that Chun Yu brought back with him, the tribe leaders could see Zhi Wei was not plotting anything sinister. 

“I see now.” The clan leader of the Green Birds is the first person to immediately change his attitude. Giving the letter back, the man apologizes “We almost wronged the Grand Queen. Grand Queen, please forgive us.”

“I am fine, just make sure the person who plotted this whole thing will not get off.” Zhi Wei looks over at Kelie with a half smile. 

Kelie raised an eyebrow. With an expression of regret, Kelie looks over at Nata before shaking his head with a sigh. “Women…why are some so smart, and some are so foolish…” His expression makes it obvious that he is quite regretful that Nata didn’t die. 

“Kelie– you good for nothing beast– you will die a horrible death!” Her hair wild and eyes shot with blood, Nata struggles against Zong Chen’s grip, trying to launch herself at Kelie. Her screams were so piercing that it seemed like the whole grassland would be stabbed through by them.   

 “I think so too.” Zhi Wei smiles, “Not only him, but you…”

She abruptly turns and points at Saint Da Ma!

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