The guard was completely dumbfounded. Madam Huang suddenly turned her head around, glared at the guard captain, and said loudly, “What are you staring at a married couple’s bedroom pleasure for?”
Official Huang was shouting angrily from below, “You shrew! Get down! Get down!”
The guard promptly lowered the carriage curtain, covered his mouth, and went running back. Immediately, there came a burst of low laughter from the waiting team of guards.
“….bedroom pleasure? Or horse carriage pleasure?”
“The pleasure of the shouting lioness?”
“Ha ha….”
Official Huang, who was being straddled down in the carriage kept on shouting angrily, “Let go! Let go! You shameless woman!” While holding onto “his Madam Huang’s” hand all the while.
He continued shouting angrily, “Get down! Get down! You shrew!” as he held on tightly to “his Madam Huang’s” waist.
Inside the carriage, Madam Huang unsuccessfully attempted to extract her hand and to get down several times, causing the carriage to shake even harder in the struggle, leading to the snickering from all sides to become louder.
“Madam Huang is so fierce…”
“Poor Official Huang with his scrawny figure….”
“Wonder if the nightly bedroom fun is also done in this position…”
Inside the carriage, “Madam Huang” couldn’t tolerate the Liar Huang anymore and pinched the soft flesh of his waist hard.
Ning Yi let out a loud “Ouch!” from underneath. The sound was heard outside of the carriage and was met by another round of understanding laughter from outside.
But at least he finally let go of her. Feng Zhi Wei grumpily adjusted her clothes, knowing this guy did it purposefully, and had even included all of her possible reactions in his calculations.
“They have all seen your fierceness now.” Ning Yi chuckled by her ear, “We passed the first test.”
Feng Zhi Wei rolled her eyes at him and pushed him away none too gently.
The carriage curtain was suddenly flung back again.
Feng Zhi Wei pushed away Ning Yi’s hand, immediately wrapped her arms around Ning Yi’s neck, and said weakly, “Husband, help me down.”
Ning Yi coughed, thinking inwardly that this woman’s voice is sure seductive but unfortunately the location is all wrong.
The Guard Captain stood dumbfounded once again at the carriage door, staring at the lioness who had abruptly turned into a fragile flower, thinking inwardly, rumor has it that Madam Huang came from a colorful background, looks like the rumor is indeed true.
Official Huang cleared his throat, raised his head, and solemnly helped his wife out of the carriage. Greeted by the strange smiles from all around, Official Huang tried to puff his chest up with dignity but was unable to stop his face from turning red with embarrassment.
Madam Huang on the other hand was a picture of natural ease as she tried to imitate the mannerism of the noble women of the Capital as she was helped out of the carriage by her husband.
The man and woman who had never learned acting but is in possession of excellent acting skills, got out of the carriage and was received by Shuyu Villa’s housekeeper. With his hands clasped behind his back, Official Huang looked at the villa’s tall gate and said loudly with all the scholarly air he could muster up, (Omitting a big long paragraph of Chinese poetry praising the scenery that is supposedly tied to how the villa’s name came about.) “Good name! Good name!”
Using the pool of still water next to the gate to check her reflection, Madam Huang smiled with satisfaction, “This water is really clear, it makes me look quite beautiful.”
“………”
=====================
Entering from the side door of the villa, there were strangely no halls or pavilions waiting for them. There were yet more mountain walls behind the villa’s tall gate filled with thick vines.
The housekeeper smiled and bowed to the two, “Official Huang and Madam Huang, the entrance of the villa is quite special. Ordinary carriages won’t be able to enter after this point. The villa has prepared sedans for the guests’ convenience, which we will ask you to transfer to at this point.”
He clapped his hands and two covered sedan chairs were immediately brought over. They called it a sedan chair but it was quite small, carried only by two people. The sedan only had enough room for one person, even then, it would be difficult for the person to turn their body around in it.
Several of the guards have already lifted up a portion of the vine. Behind the vine wall was a dark cave opening. The cave opening was carved into a moon-shaped door. The inside of the cave was dark and twisty, impenetrable by light, with a comfortable cooling breeze that carried slight water droplets coming through.
This is indeed an ingenious design, but one that requires building right through the mountain. Second Prince has certainly spared no expense.
Most importantly, this way, the two of them will be separated in the winding and dark tunnel.
Ning Yi and Feng Zhi Wei exchanged a glance before quickly looking away.
Ning Yi helped Feng Zhi Wei to the front of the sedan chair, personally sat her down and lowered the light green satin curtain, “This sedan chair is slippery. Madam, be careful, don’t fall down.”
“Official Huang and your wife are sure affectionate.” The housekeeper smiled and said, “Please rest assured that we will take good care of Madam.”
After they each got into their own sedan chair, the sedan carriers slowly lifted them up and proceeded forward. The housekeeper and the guards didn’t follow behind but stood watching with a smile.
Watching the two small sedan chairs disappearing into the cave, one of the guards asked with a smile, “Housekeeper Jin, why bother being so careful? There was obviously another path to take?”
“What do you know?” Housekeeper Jin snickered coldly, “It has been an eventful time lately with lots of critters sneaking about. His Highness has said, that anyone who is not part of the villa and is coming to tonight’s feast will all have to enter through the hallucination cave. If they don’t have ulterior motives, then they will simply enjoy more scenery, but if not…”
He sneered and his voice suddenly turned ferocious.
“It will be a journey of no return!”
=================
The small sedan chair slowly travelled in the deep twisty cave.
This cave was a natural formation of the mountain that was subsequently turned into a man-made entrance to welcome the villa guests. Strange rock formations dotted the top of the cave while water trickled through on the ground. The wet rocky wall under the greenish lantern lights looked like jade.
The lanterns were embedded in the wall cracks at various corners, illuminating the front and back of the path, casting a cloud-like appearance in the air.
After just a few steps, Ning Yi’s sedan chair ahead could no longer be seen. The cave had a lot of twists and turns. Feng Zhi Wei suspects that there are more than one path inside.
“Madam, are you cold?” One of the sedan carriers suddenly asked her. Without waiting for an answer from her, he said with a smile, “This servant almost forgot that this cove is a bit cold and wet. The villa had prepared covers and blankets for guests. Please wait and I will bring them for madam.”
Without waiting for a response from Feng Zhi Wei, the two men actually put the sedan chair down.
A cold sneer appeared on the corner of Feng Zhi Wei’s mouth but what came out of her mouth instead was, “Ah, don’t go, I am not cold. If you guys leave, I am…I am… a bit afraid.”
The two sedan carriers ignored her and disappeared around the corner.
Feng Zhi Wei’s outstretched hand stopped in mid-air. Slowly pulling back her hand, she looked around a bit timidly and shrank her shoulders before tightening her cloak around her.
The light from the lantern ahead had changed at some point, basking the surrounding area in a pale chilling green.
In the eerie silence, a small pool under the light suddenly began to bubble. The sound of the gurgling water seemed hollow and dull. The pungent smell enveloping one’s senses from all sides brings to mind of strange objects being boiled.
Feng Zhi Wei looked over at the water in horror, pulling her cloak even tighter as her teeth started to make a chattering sound.
The sedan under her suddenly started to sway. Even though no one was around, the sedan was still rocking back and forth on its own. Feng Zhi Wei let out a yelp of fear, ran out of the sedan, and pressed herself against the rock wall.
In front of her is the strange self-swaying sedan chair and off to the side is the inexplicable boiling pool. Feng Zhi Wei is caught right in the middle. She desperately wanted to keep her eyes close to not look but the natural human tendency to be curious of danger caused her to crack open her eyelids in the slightest. However, what greeted her was the sight of something round struggling in the bubbling gurgling water, seemingly ready to surface.
“Ah!”
She gave a very reasonable and fitting scream. Her body tried to shrink back but there was nowhere to go. A crisp crackling sound followed when she pushed her body hard against the wall, a flash of lightning-like light came descending down. Out of nowhere, two swords came slashing down towards her head!
The bright lights reflected a pair of extremely frightened eyes. Her eyes were wide open, Feng Zhi Wei pressed herself tightly against the rock wall, like all non-fighters, not only did they not dare to move, but they couldn’t even let out a scream.
*KANG!*
The reflected sword lights crossed above her head, leaving behind two white arcs of light before disappearing into the pool of water.
Feng Zhi Wei stared blankly at the pool of water, utterly unable to understand what had happened just now. She didn’t seem to realize that the two sword lights were not real swords at all but were illuminated by the formation in the cave using the small hole in the mountain wall. The bright lights were just “phantom swords.”
People who practice martial arts have intuitive reactions to danger that is beyond their control. In such a tense and terrifying environment, when faced with a sudden and fierce sword, a fighter will instinctively either fight or escape.
Madam Huang, on the other hand, does not know martial arts.
Feng Zhi Wei covered her face and slowly squatted down against the rock wall as if she was so frightened that her strength had given out. Her eyes hidden behind her hands shone coldly– just a test like this? Aren’t they underestimating her?
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
..I wish we had 10 chapters per week 😔😭…a sort of cliff hanger suspense..
Thank you Ninja for all your hard work ..
⚖️⚖️
Devastated that the series has been removed from Netflix but I am so grateful to continue reading with you here. Thank you so much and can’t wait til Mondays.