“I’ve endured you for a long time, now…” (The you here is plural, so she meant Peng Pei and those he is working with and for)
She flashed a grin, showing her pearly white teeth.
“It’s my turn.”
Her voice was calm, yet every word escaped through gritted teeth, the murderous aurora in them was unmistakable.
Peng Pei was so stunned by her voice and the expression in her eyes that he forgot to react, and took another unconscious step backward. The step took him to the edge of the fence. Belatedly remembering that Hua Qing is behind the fence, Peng Pei didn’t dare to go back anymore and quickly stopped himself.
The moment he stopped moving, Hua Qing who was behind him suddenly reached out with a lightning move to strike away his official minister hat, grabbed the hair on the back of his head, and choked him against the fence!
At the same moment, Feng Zhi Wei raised the chain in her hand and used it to strike him over the head hard!
“The first strike! For fabricating crimes, creating fake witnesses, attempting to frame an innocent official of this empire!”
*PA!*
Like a bloody blooming flower, blood came bursting out of Peng Pei’s pale forehead before flowing down to cover his whole face, hiding his frightened and disbelieving eyes.
Feng Zhi Wei didn’t pause to pay him any heed but whipped the chain back and struck him again.
“The second strike! For abusing your power by employing severe torture methods, conspiring to extort a confession, and intending to kill a meritorious official in the dungeon!”
*PA!*
Another bloody flower bloomed on the other side of Peng Pei’s face. Finally feeling the heart-piercing pain once he is jerked out of his stunned disbelief, Peng Pei struggled and screamed but could not escape from Hua Qing’s chokehold as his hands waved wildly in the air, arching his neck as his eyes rolled back.
Equally stunned by the sudden viciousness of the two people, everyone else in the hall was frozen in their seats like wood carvings until Peng Pei’s screams finally brought them out of their stupor. They had never imagined Wei Zhi who had appeared so calm this whole time would suddenly jump up right in court to beat someone so fiercely. Second prince jumped up as he slammed his hand against the table and angrily shouted, “Wei Zhi, you dare! Someone—-”
The third strike, accompanied by a cold sneer from Feng Zhi Wei, had also arrived.
“The third strike! For your greed, for coveting fame while trying to fatten your own pocket at the same time. You had planned to sell official spots during the spring exam but all those plans went down the drain when I showed up suddenly and blocked your wealth. You then colluded with others, deceived His Majesty, play with the law to your own benefit, attempting to commit an innocent person into a crime worthy of capital punishment!” (Sell official spots = either help them achieve high scores on the spring exam or switch their names with some unfortunate souls. Those who test well will then be given government jobs as officials.)
*PA!*
A bloody gash appeared on Peng Pei’s left cheek, the flesh exposed, opening and closing like a mouth that is screaming!
The second prince’s angry shout got stuck in his throat.
That last strike, Wei Zhi’s words, had clearly pointed out that he already knew everything. That sentence about colluding with others to deceive His Majesty was the most chilling warning.
Making a move on Wei Zhi, wasn’t just because their flow of money was disrupted by him. However, since Wei Zhi had only said that one reason, it showed that he didn’t intend to make a big deal of this matter. If he insists on punishing Wei Zhi with a crime, then judging by the kid’s furious and murderous attitude, Wei Zhi might very well toss caution to the wind and drag everything out into the open.
While he was thinking and hesitating for a moment, Feng Zhi Wei’s fourth strike had fallen again without any hesitation!
*PA!*
Blood came bursting out again. A matching bloody wound showed up on Peng Pei’s right cheek, the wound was deep enough to see bone.
Peng Pei’s body twitched, unable to scream anymore.
Everyone stared intently, waiting for Feng Zhi Wei’s fourth charge but she said nothing and just sneered.
Hua Qing laughed and said, “That felt great!” then let go with disgust, throwing the bloody bag like Peng Pei to the ground.
Feng Zhi Wei stepped forward, leaned down, and coldly examined the four bloody gashes on Peg Pei’s face. A cold and fierce expression flashed across her eyes as she whispered in his ear, “The fourth strike, for daring to treat Nan Yi like that!”
“Wei Zhi!” The one yelling angrily now is Scholar Hu, “Have you gone crazy! As a criminal, to beat the lead investigator in court!”
The guards rushed up in unison, shaking their chains, and getting ready to attack. Standing there coldly, Feng Zhi Wei snapped, “Scram!”
Intimidated, the flustered guards stood looking at each other in confusion, not daring to move. Turning around, Feng Zhi Wei looked straight up and said sternly, “I have gone crazy! But some people are even crazier than me!”
She gave the chain in her hand a shake. She walked forward with her head held up high, accompanied not only by the metal clattering sound but by the circle of vigilant guards with swords in hand, backing up in unison as she slowly walked forward.
“I am crazy!” Feng Zhi Wei said gravely, “I dared to raise my hand in Longxi to kill a second-ranking imperial official and personally sent three hundred and thirty-six heads to the execution ground! I dared in South Sea, to raise havoc in Chang Clan’s ancestral land right on their own turf. He bombed me so I bombed his clan right back! I dared to lead seven second-ranking officials of South Sea on a rope and parade them on the street! Zhou Xizhong might be the overlord of South Sea but no matter how stiff his neck was, he still needed to bend it!
I dared to fight pirates with cannons as we blasted right at each other until the vibration send our imperial ship down the sea for ten miles! I dared to ambush Da Yue’s army with ten thousand troops constantly until they couldn’t eat or sleep peacefully! I dared to lead a night ambush on the Baitou Cliff, and cut off eleven heads even as I was covered with wounds! I was trapped by the enemy, survived cruel torture but did not hesitate to jump the city wall to escape, I dare —” She turned around abruptly, pointed at Peng Pei who was covering his bloody face and trembling on the ground, “For His Majesty, slay this heartless scum who had no regard for His Majesty’s kindness, and the trust of the people!”
Her words flashed and thundered without a pause. All who were listening felt as if they were hit by a wave of thunderous lightning, piercing right into their hearts. Shocked and awed by her majestic mannerism, they were lost for words.
“Some people were crazier than me!” Feng Zhi Wei didn’t give people the time to think and digest her words at all. She can either suppress it or let it explode but once she explodes then she will have full control of the situation, and everyone has to follow her way of thinking, “Some people dare to deceive our saintly Majesty and has no regard at all for His Majesty’s holy wisdom. They think they have full control of everything, but they are nothing but clowns! Some people dare to torture court officials who have not been convicted of crimes yet with thousand snake punishments, and glacial iron chains to inflict harm! Some people refuse to repent even after they have been exposed by contradicting and ludicrous testimonies. Instead of admitting fault, they brazenly list all those false testimonies as accusations. They dared to either intimidate or bribe those lowly immoral people to aid them. In a place that upheld our imperial law, in front of the representatives of the three law divisions, four princes and a representative for His Majesty, this person regarded everyone in this world as fools and attempted to fabricate a shocking case for all to see! — Who will be deceived by you (plural form, ditto for the rest of the yous)! Who will you frame and pushed to death? Whose empire will descend into darkness? Who gave you such courage to do this? Who had fed and fatted your maggot-filled (a symbol of corruption) and rotten bodies? Who encouraged your greedy sinful selfish hearts? Who gave you the permission to perverse the truth, and trample underfoot the law that every citizen of this empire holds so dear?!”
Her words came like a tidal wave with stunning momentum, robbing everyone in the hall of the ability to speak, not noticing at all that the mood outside was a bit strange and that a lot of people had gathered, standing outside of the gate, listening with sparkling eyes.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
A comment on last week got me thinking about Zhi Wei’s love for Gu Nan Yi. I personally think Gu Nan Yi is someone Zhi Wei could love with her whole heart without reserve because he is innocent, pure, without guile, and someone who would never betray her. However, I also think that’s precisely the reason that love is not a romantic one. Gu Nan Yi is everything our heroine is not, and everything she wishes she could be…but can’t be. We have seen quite a few times our heroine is actually quite torn about the changes (which most people would see as good) in Gu Nan Yi. The author has never come right out and said it, but I always get the feeling that our heroine feels like she is …polluting Gu Nan Yi. My personal opinion is that while our heroine can love Gu Nan Yi without fear and reservation, there is also always a hint of apology and a feeling of being unworthy on her side.
It’s kinda interesting that Ning Yi pointed out that he should’ve lived a life where he had no weakness, only ruthless ambition. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he met Feng Zhi Wei and that’s that. I think the same could be said for our heroine. I think our heroine could’ve had the peaceful life she wanted with either second male lead since I really see her as someone who could be happy anyway without romantic love, but she met Ning Yi…and he is not someone who is willing to let her go riding off into the sunset and forget him if he is destined to pine for her for the rest of his life. Which honestly, is my biggest beef with the drama’s ending. The show obviously didn’t get Ning Yi’s true character at all. This is certainly not a guy who would just suffer in silence for the rest of his life while being a dutiful ruler. If Feng Zhi Wei had really died, in that manner too (which again, totally against our heroine’s character), then our hero probably would take the whole world down with him while he suffered.
Thank you for the translation, it was an awaited moment !
I really enjoyed your commentary at the end, as always.
I also feel this culpability on Zhi Wei side because she will pull him along into places that will hurt him but she also … simply needs him. I have the impression that many of the best writing moments of this novel are the ones were the writer is talking about Gu Nan Yi.
However I could never envision a lover relationship between them. Feng Zhi Wei is a dragon – for someone to have her interest, he must ignite fire towards her. Gu Nan Yi is like a far away mountain … where she can safely rest and lay herself bare.
Ninja,
Thanks for this brilliant translation, and your analysis at the end of the relationship between these two characters. Very insightful. I think we could also add in a bit of possessiveness: while Nan Yi is locked up in his ‘disorder’, he belongs completely to her. He just doesn’t communicate with others. But as he comes out of his shell, he could begin to relate to others, and see something else. Maybe he would belong to himself….
Another exciting week! Thanks for the insight at the end too, I agree with how you compare Nan Yi and Ning Yi.
Can’t wait to read more 🙂
Thank you, Ninja! Completely agree with your analysis of Zhiwei and Nanyi and how she feels unworthy of his love because of how pure he is. In your translation on previous chapters, they did mentioned how she feels she is tainting him in a way. In addition, I wholeheartedly agree that the producers did not understand Ninyi’s character at all. No way in hell would he be ok with her death. He would have definitely ripped the world apart.
Thank you, Ninja. This was truly a great read. Your analysis of the main characters is spot on. While I enjoy reading about Gu Nan Yi. I cannot stomach any romantic discussions between him and Feng Zhi We. They can only remain as friends and nothing else. With that said, we are now at translation 225 and our heroine is still too smart to let love cloud her judgment. It would be good to see her pine for Ningyi just once. Are we nearing the boat scene ?
I don’t think we are too close. By the way, I just want to warn you all again…if memory serves me right, the boat scene is literally like two sentences long…the author left it ALL to the readers’ imagination.
Thank you for translating this chapter.Powerful one.
FZW loves Gu as a friend, not as a lover.