Compared to Episode 1
When Shen Li woke up again it was already the morning of the second day. In the morning light, she happened to see the man lying by the edge of the pond, pinching pieces of a steamed bun to feed the fish. He seemed to like the fish in that particular pond very much since he did not even notice that his sleeves were soaked in the water. The side profile of his face in the backlight looked indescribably sacred.
Sacred? A mortal?
The memories of being tormented by him came rushing back. Shen Li blinked hard, shaking off the confusion in her eyes and replacing them with wariness.
Perhaps her gaze was too focused and scorching, Xingyun turned, glanced at her, and said casually, “My name is Xingyun.” Shen Li was taken aback but Xingyun was already flicking his robe as he stood up and tapped his numb legs while muttering, “Ah, it’s time to drink medicine.” He went off limping into the house, his posture awkward and a bit funny looking.
Shen Li felt there must have been something wrong with her eyesight before. Where did she see sacredness, he is obviously…very ordinary.
Too lazy to continue sparing more thoughts on a mortal, Shen Li moved her head and tried to stand up. She thought for sure after yesterday’s injuries, she would be unable to stand up but much to her surprise, after all those harrowing experiences her strength is actually recovering faster than usual!
Shen Li didn’t give it too much thought and immediately directed her internal energy inward. She sighed with disappointment, as expected, her magic power could not be restored so quickly…But then that’s good. Those from the Demon Realm won’t be able to detect her energy. But with the Demon Emperor’s thunderous methods, it would only be a matter of time before she was found. If she has not recovered her magic power by then…
“Ge ge da, come.” (ge ge da= not a Chinese word, but more of a clucking noise.”
Hearing the call, Shen Li turned her head angrily only to see the man sitting on the stone steps handing her a white steamed bun “Time to eat.” (Steamed buns at this time period would usually be made of coarse grain so they would not be white in color and difficult to swallow for those who are not used to eating coarse grain. If the steamed bun is pure white that would mean it was made of white flour which is usually very expensive to make. It would be a really strange thing for someone to “waste” white steamed buns on animals.)
Shen Li snorted coldly inwardly and turned her head away…until she remembered all the suffering she went through yesterday was all caused by “refusing to eat.” Her body stiffened, and after thinking for a bit, she gritted her teeth, held her neck high, and reluctantly walked in very proud steps to the man.
Smelling the faint medicinal fragrance on his body, Shen Li took a closer look at Xingyun and saw his lips as well as the bottom of his eyes were slightly dark, all indications that he would have a short life.
Very good! Shen Li thought to herself. This mortal has seen many of her worst moments but fortunately, his life is short. He will forget everything after he dies and goes through reincarnation. She would then still be the spotless glorious King Bicang. Feeling relieved by the thought, she stretched her neck and took a peck of the steamed bun. The soft and fluffy bun instantly lit up Shen Li’s eyes, this bun…is abnormally good!
Before the man could even react, Shan Li opened his mouth and took the bun from him. Setting the bun on the stone step, Shan Li immediately started eating furiously.
The demon race is not like the gods in the heavenly realms who neither need to eat nor drink to survive. Like the human, they too need food but Shen Li has always just eaten meat and refused any other sort of food. Therefore, it is truly an accomplishment to get her to eat a steamed bun.
Finishing even the last bit of the steamed bun crumbs, Shen Li finally raised her head to look at Xing Yun only to see him with his chin resting on his hands, eyes soft, and staring at her with half of a smile. This was actually a very normal expression one would have when staring at a pet but Shen Li was caught off guard and her heart skipped a beat causing her to look away awkwardly.
In the Demon Realms, the court officials are afraid of her, the generals are respectful of her, and all other men start to tremble when they are three steps away from her, who would dare to look at her like this man. But even that heart skip was only for an instant. Shen Li is a general who has been through plenty of storms after all so she quickly yanked out the small sprout in her heart and destroyed it completely. She then used her featherless chicken wing to pat Xing Yun’s knee none too gently before pecking at the stone step where the steamed bun was before.
“Hm? Want another one?” Xinyun smiled, “No more. I only made this many today.”
He stood up and returned to the house. Shan Li was taken aback and hurried after him into the house. He dares he think that he can get rid of her by just giving her one steamed bun! He needs to at the very least give her two!
She followed after Xingyun
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I also loved the hilarious exchange between our hero and the neighbor girl. The drama stayed pretty faithful to the book here but I still like how the scene was worded in the novel.
Neighbor girl: “Ah…uh.., sorry. I just wanted to leave you something before I leave (apologizing for almost cooking the featherless chicken. It made more sense in the novel because Shan Li was featherless so the girl assumed our hero had already plucked her clean to cook her so she figured she would just help him finish cooking the chicken.)” The girl’s fingers twisted together in the back, her eyes slightly red, “I will be leaving with my dad to the south to do business…perhaps…perhaps, I will never come back again and won’t see Brother Xinyun ever again…”
“Oh, I haven’t seen you around much anyway.” Xinyun voice was flat and casual. There were tears gathering in the girl’s eyes, and her face was red like her eyes, “No! I can see you every day! I see you every day, secretly…” her voice was shaking, so much so that even Shanlin didn’t have the heart to be angry at her, she is just a foolish girl in love.
“Ah, that’s terrible. I have not seen you before. Aye, not even once.”
Shan Li’s mouth fell open in shock, completely dumbfounded. Is that what a man should be saying at such a moment? And to emphasize yet again, what sort of grudge must you have against her?
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In Chinese, the word for ginseng has the same sound as body, which is why when Xinyun said “I am going to sell “ginseng””, our heroine made the mistake of thinking he said he was going to sell his body.
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