The Rise of Phoenixes Novel Translation #366

“Really?” Seemingly tempted by the idea of a little bird that could sing, Gu Zhi Xiao’s eyes moved, her dark pupils rolling with curiosity. 

Empress Dowager Dong looked into those eyes. Something flickered in her own gaze before she drew a deep breath and said with a smile, “If you don’t believe me, Nanny will show you.” 

She turned to look at Nanny Li. The old woman lowered her head and walked over with a smile. With a twist of her fingers on the lamp’s base, the wall surface parted, and a glass bird popped out, chirped a few times before retreating back again. 

Gu Zhi Xiao clapped her hands and giggled, “Fun!” 

“You try it too.” Empress Dowager Dong said, giving Gu Zhi Xiao a gentle and encouraging look. 

Feng Zhi Wei’s heart tightened. 

“How do I twist it?” Gu Zhi Xiao stood on the couch, holding her cage, and looked at the lamp. When she raised her hand, she was just tall enough to reach the base. 

A flicker of viciousness flickered across Empress Dowager Dong’s eyes even as she kept talking with a smile, “Dowanward. One twist and it will open.” 

Feng Zhi Wei’s heart jumped again as she took another step forward. She was already considering whether she should just stop caring about any sounds the floor might make and just rush forward. 

“How do I twist it?” Standing on the blankets on the couch, Gu Zhi Xiao tilted her head and asked as she looked up at the lamp. 

Nanny stepped forward to teach her, but Gu Zhi Xiao’s cage suddenly popped open. The owl flew out and bounded into the nanny’s arms. Startled, the nanny stepped back. Gu Zhi Xiao began to laugh and said, “Nanny, nanny, Little Seven is so naughty, help me catch it.” 

The owl hopped wildly on the floor, and Nanny Li had no choice but to go chasing after it. Gu Zhi Xiao, holding the cage, focused her attention back on the lamp. Growing anxious upon seeing the child is still seemingly at a loss of what to do, Empress Dowager stiffened her resolve, walked over to the couch, took the girl’s hand, and said, “Like this…”

“Hoo!”

Feng Zhi Wei, who had only made it halfway, threw all caution aside and dashed forward. 

*Click”

As soon as Empress Dowager Dong got close, Gu Zhi Xiao raised her hand, and the cage abruptly sprang open. The sharpened bamboo strips at the top shot out instantly, piercing Empress Dowager Dong’s face like lightning as she walked to her side!

Blood splattered everywhere!

With a series of splattering sounds, blood blotched the snow-white walls like plum blossoms on the four snow-white walls. 

Feng Zhi Wei stood there, stunned. 

Granny Li, who had caught the little owl, knelt on the ground, looking up at Gu Zhi Xiao with an expression as if she had just seen a ghost. 

Empress Dowager Dong wasn’t even able to let out a scream— Feng Zhi Wei, who reacted the fastest, rushed forward and covered her mouth. 

Countless blood holes were bubbling on Empress Dowager Dong’s face. The blood had an eerie dark green color, clearly from the poison on the bamboo. The poison was even personally made by Feng Zhi Wei when she had stayed up all night with Gu Zhi Xiao. 

Empress Dowager Dong’s hand flailed weakly in mid-air, grabbing Feng Zhi Wei’s sleeve, leaving countless dark green bloodstains. Her face was riddled with blood holes, her facial features no longer recognizable. Surprisingly, her eyes were completely unharmed, though the light in them was gradually dimming, she was still staring intently at Gu Zhi Xiao.

The child stood there staring blankly, holding her cage, seemingly stunned by the fact that one action from her had resulted in the death of a person. Feng Zhi Wei felt Empress Dowager Dong’s body slowly turning limp in her arms as a hoarse gurgling sound came out of her throat. Knowing that she was too far gone now to be saved, Feng Zhi Wei’s heart relaxed slightly and turned back to look at Gu Zhi Xiao with disbelief. 

This tiny three-year-old child actually killed the mother of the entire Xiliang empire with a raise of her hand? 

Who would have thought? 

Judging by the expression in her dying eyes, Empress Dowager Dong never in her wildest dreams thought she would die at the hands of a three-year-old child. 

Feng Zhi Wei suddenly remembered what she had said yesterday, “Important people can die very easily sometimes.” Now it seemed it not only could be easy, but also extremely unfair. (I translated the Chinese word here as “unfair”, but it doesn’t quite have the feel of injustice to it. The feeling is probably closer to ridiculous.) 

Who says children are harmless? 

Who knew that Gu Zhi Xiao’s cage was a world-class killing weapon? 

Who knew that ever since she entered the palace and learned of her father’s request, she had never allowed this cage to leave her side? 

Who knew that the young emperor of Xilian had already boasted to her about all the killing traps within this palace? 

To protect her father, she first had to protect herself. 

The little child stared back at the wide-eyed Empress Dowager Dong, whose eyes had been staring at her until the very end. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any emotion in the child’s eyes. Feng Zhi Wei wanted to cover her eyes, but suddenly felt that this action seemed pretentious and unnecessary for this particular child. However, looking at her expression, she was truly worried. 

Suddenly, Gu Zhi Xiao loosened her grip, and the cage fell. Feng Zhi Wei hurriedly tossed aside Empress Dowager Dong’s corpse and swiftly caught the cage with her hands— the cage mechanism had already been activated, and any further mishandling could cost Gu Zhi Xiao’s life. 

But from this action, she could finally tell that Gu Zhi Xiao had truly been frightened out of her mind. She kicked the still-shocked Granny Li unconscious, then pulled the small body into her arms, patted her back, and said gently, “Zhi Xiao, Zhi Xiao….”

The child buried her face in her shoulder and remained motionless for a long time. Feng Zhi Wei grew a little panicked, afraid that Zhi Xiao had underestimated the effect of the cage and now had been terrified into some deep trauma. She hurriedly lifted the child’s face and only then realized that, without her realizing it, Gu Zhi Xiao’s face was already covered with tears. 

She kept on crying but made no sound. Big teardrops flowed out like spring water, splashing onto Feng Zhi Wei’s face. 

Feng Zhi Wei’s eyes also reddened in an instant. 

Only she knew that this would not be the only nightmare in this child’s life that could slowly fade with time. This was merely the prelude, the most brutal beginning, to the blood-soaked life of the Empress of Xiliang. 

From this moment on, she would never again experience the joys of childhood and would forever be trapped in intrigue and conspiracy. 

Zhi Xiao is worthy to be this empress, but she should not have to bear such a fate. 

She herself had already endured long enough of such a fate, how could she let this small child’s fragile shoulder carry such eternal suffering? 

“Zhi Xiao…” She gently wiped the tears away from her face, “Auntie will take you away…”

Gu Zhi Xiao suddenly pushed her away. 

She didn’t look at Empress Dowager Dong’s corpse, didn’t look at Feng Zhi Wei, didn’t look at the killing cage, but looked at the hourglass on the wall. 

It’s seven-thirty. 

———————

Seven-thrity in the morning. 

The Regent’s carriage was traveling on South Market Street. 

He dozed off in the sedan, and in a hazy state of being half asleep, he seemed to see someone approaching with a faint smile. She bent down, gently brushed aside the hair at his temple, and said, “A-Shu, I am leaving, take care.”

In the dream, he tried hard to open his eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t see who she was. He could only grab her sleeve and ask, “Is it Xiao Ruan? Why have you come? Where are you going? To the Jianxi Palace?” 

Xiao Ruan smiled and said nothing. Her eyes were languid in the hazy dimness, distant as though separated by mist and clouds. Just like the expression on her face when he saw her behind the jeweled curtain in the main hall, the year she became his brother’s consort. 

He grew anxious and asked urgently, “Why are you still leaving? My brother is already dead…wait for me…soon, we will be together…” His fingers reach downward and brush against her fingertip, cold as ice.

The bone-chilling cold instantly woke him up. His eyes snapped open, and he realized that in the span of an extremely short amount of time, he had actually drifted into an extremely brief dream. In that dream, A-ruan seemed to be in it…Dong Ruan. 

He sat up and discovered that his back had, unbeknownst to him, become drenched in cold sweat.

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A reader commented on a previous post that our hero has been absent for a long time. Sigh, the honest truth is that this particular author’s novels are very focused on her heroines and she also has a tendency to send her heroines on epics adventures without the heroes. While this author’s heroes are usually all very memorable but they are more like secondary characters to show you how cool the heroine is. Which is honestly probably why the drama had to change the story so much since you don’t cast an A-lister actor as your hero and then leave him out for half of the drama. In this regard, the Rise of Phoenixes is quite different from your normal romance so while I am sure that’s disappointing in some ways for those of us who really like romance heavy plotlines, I hope you guys are still enjoying seeing Feng Zhi Wei’s growth and getting to know some truely very memorable secondary characters. I did seriously consider skipping large parts of the novel and only focus on plotlines that involved both our main leads….but I keep not doing it so I will probably just resign myself to keep going the way I have been doing it.