Chapter 36.2 Return

*****

Five days after the death of the late emperor of Zhou Kingdom, all the ministers and generals of the imperial court¹满朝文武 (mǎncháowénwǔ) – an idiom had offered their services to the new emperor.

Su Su was sitting in a restaurant. When she heard the news, she couldn’t help but murmur, “What did he do?”

No one can have such a smooth journey, right! How can the plot of changing the dynasty and usurping the throne go so smoothly²顺风顺水 (shùnfēng shùn//shuǐ) – an idiom which describes one’s good luck and everything that he or she does goes smoothly without any obstacle? 

There wasn’t even a hint of rumours about this matter, and while Su Su was still puzzling it over again and again³百思不得其解 (bǎisībùdéqíjiě) – to remain puzzled after pondering over sth a hundred times (idiom), the middle-aged couple sitting across from her reminded her and said, “Lady……”

Su Su looked up, coming out of daze, and said, “Uncle, aunt, I hope you can take good care of Xiao Shan.”

The honest couple in front of her quickly nodded and kindly said, “Don’t worry, lady. We don’t have children so we’ll treat Xiao Shan as our own and won’t treat him badly.”

The man agreed, “We’ll take Xiao Shan and get far away from here. Both Mohe and Yuzhou aren’t safe. These last few years, my wife and I have saved some money, so even if we leave Yuzhou, we can still live well.”

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Fw Fw dseele, “Uyd R pyu y qlo osaep vs Dkys Fbyd?”

Mbl nswrzl jkdezu oldv swv. Mbl osxyd qaliwldvzu zssjle cynj yv Dkys Fbyd. Rv nswze cl plld vbyv pbl zkjle bkx hlau xwnb.

“Ps usw zkjl vblx?” Fw Fw ypjle.

Dkys Fbyd’p nzlya lulp zssjle yv Fw Fw yde dseele, “R zkjl vblx.”

Fw Fw pktble yde ryvvle bkp blye, “Ebyv pbswze R es okvb usw?”

Fs olzz-clbyhle. Tl schkswpzu eslpd’v oydv vs ts, cwv bl alqwplp vs pbso kv.

Fw Fw alyzzu rkvkle bkx, yde pbl byed’v rkvkle psxlsdl zkjl vbkp qsa y zsdt vkxl. Jwv pbl alyzzu bye vs ts dso. Mbl nswrzl olal tsse rlsrzl yde vblka qyxkzu oyp olzz sqq, ps kv oyp clvvla qsa Dkys Fbyd vs qszzso vblx ayvbla vbyd bla.

Fw Fw psqvzu takrrle Dkys Fbyd’p oakpv.

The boy’s pulse was weak, as if he wasn’t a living person. Even though the couple was good, they couldn’t help Xiao Shan prolong his lifespan.

She cut a small slit on her wrist and extended it to Xiao Shan’s lips.

Xiao Shan glanced at her and gently sucked her blood like he had done for the past two days. After the World Toppling Flower transformed the girl’s body, her blood didn’t have a fishy smell, but instead contained a few hints of floral fragrance and supreme divine power. He knew that she wanted him to be able to live for a few more years.

He didn’t dare to press hard as he vaguely placed his lips on her wrist.

The girl’s soft skin and her faint and pleasant fragrance made him feel a little at a loss.

As his dry lips touched he suppressed his blush, but he still couldn’t help but quietly look at her.

She looked at him with a smile, “What’s wrong?”

Xiao Shan hastily released her hand. 

“Thank you.”

He was never willing to call Su Su, jiejie⁴姐姐 – elder/older sister, but she didn’t mind at all as he was well-behaved and mature for his age, with a mind of his own.

“From now on, live well. If there’s a chance, you must grab it. Xiao Shan, be a strong person. I hope that we can meet again one day.”

Xiao Shen said in a muffled voice, “Yes, I will.” I promise you.

Su Su nodded and was about to leave when Xiao Shan pursed the corners of his lips and his fingers gently hooked Su Su’s sleeve. He placed a thumb-sized jade box into her palm.

Su Su lowered her eyes and saw a small white worm sleeping in the jade box.

“I-I only have this to give to you. Don’t be afraid of it and don’t despise it. You won’t be poisoned if you take it with you,” Xiao Shan said.

He was afraid that Su Su wouldn’t want it, so he hastily retreated a few steps backwards, “I’m going to go find them.”

Without waiting for Su Su’s reply, he ran outside and held the woman’s hand. The woman joyfully smiled and Su Su put away the jade box with mixed feelings, watching from afar as the couple took Xiao Shan away in a horse carriage.

On the horse carriage–

“Stop looking, your sister has gone far away,” the woman said.

“She’s not my sister,” Xiao Shan said in a low voice.

The woman couldn’t hear his voice clearly, “What’s with this bird on your shoulder?”

As she spoke, she wanted to catch it.

Xiao Shan shielded the bird in his palm, pursed his lips and said, “P-please don’t touch it.”

The woman covered her mouth and jokingly rebuked, “You, this child, mum won’t snatch what’s yours.”

Xiao Shan stayed silent.

He really wanted to say that he wasn’t a child anymore. Although his body looked like he was six or seven years old, he was already twelve years old.

He was the young master of the Yiyue Tribe, Yue Fuya.

*****

Su Su carried a small sword on her back, trekked for several days, and finally arrived at Mohe by boat.

It was already the scorching height of summer at Mohe. Su Su changed into a woman’s light ruqun and observed the situation in the city.

Actually, she didn’t exactly know what to do. Ji Ze said that Devil God had no String of Affection, so he was destined to be a cold-hearted person.

According to historical records, those without a String of Affection could later grow one, but the process was arduous, and someone had to teach them how to feel love and hate, along with pain and sweetness.

Human feelings were the most complicated thing in the world. Based on Su Su’s current understanding, Tantai Jin only had feelings for Ye Bing Shang, and never forgot her, so perhaps Ye Bing Shang was the most suitable candidate.

However, Ye Bing Shang was married to Xiao Lin and they were living in perfect harmony, so what was this?

The extraction of the evil bone had become hellishly difficult. It was no wonder that Ji Ze only gave her a tolerant smile, and didn’t encourage or discourage her. From the beginning it was a desperate endeavor.

While she was still trying to figure out a solution, a commotion broke out in the street and the crowd started to run.

A woman was squeezed by the crowd and fell at Su Su’s feet. Su Su hurriedly helped her up, “What happened?”

The woman anxiously said, “Every few days, the war tiger that is raised by the late Zhou emperor will pick a woman to serve it. It’s a demon, no one has come back alive! Lady, quickly run away.”

Sure enough, not far away, a row of soldiers were sharply looking into the crowd.

Before this, Su Su had heard the hunter say that Tantai Minglang had raised a tiger demon that was as tall as a small mountain who could aid him in war.

Tantai Jin killed Tantai Minglang. Perhaps he couldn’t bear to kill the tiger demon, so he continued to raise him, to have the demon fight for him.

After all, how could mortals beat powerful demons? Su Su lightly ground her teeth, she really couldn’t expect Tantai Jin to have any sense of right or wrong.

Seeing the soldiers getting closer and closer, Su Su didn’t even intend to hide. A tiger demon that eats women? Watch if I don’t blow its head off!

The tiger demon was originally a threat to Old Father Ye. She wanted to get rid of it on her way to Tantai Jin.

In Su Su’s opinion, even though Tantai Jin wanted to be the emperor, this was still the best situation. If he really destroyed the Xia Empire, he would definitely become a lawless⁵无法无天 (wúfǎ-wútiān) – regardless of the law and of natural morality (idiom); defy laws human and divine/undisciplined and out of control/absolutely lawless/run wild tyrant.

With that thought, when the soldiers caught her, she symbolically struggled for a while and then let them take her away.

After Su Su was captured, she wasn’t directly sent to the tiger demon. A mómo squinted her eyes and checked her out, then finally locked her in a room.

There were five women in the room.

The women’s faces looked pale and two of them were weeping. Seeing Su Su being pushed in, they took a glance before lowering their heads in despair. 

A woman with a bad expression said, “Yun’er, no, we mustn’t sit still and wait for our death. If we don’t think of a way, we’ll surely die.”

Zhao Yun’er’s face looked haggard as she said, “What way do we have. Didn’t Tantai Minglang keep us for tonight? Earlier, I heard my dad say that he⁶Tantai Minglang found a slumbering great demon who’s waiting to be awoken.”

“But Tantai Minglang is dead. Mohe is now ruled by his brother, perhaps we…… might still have a chance,” Yan Wan said.

Yan Wan took a look at Zhao Yun’er’s beautiful and delicate face, “That’s right! Yun’er, you’re so beautiful. Tonight, we still have a chance. Before the ceremony starts, the new emperor will summon us. As long as he…… he takes a liking to you, we won’t need to go and wake the great demon anymore.”

Zhao Yun’er was stunned, and a little more hope filled her eyes.

Su Su completely didn’t expect that besides the tiger demon, Tantai Minglang also wanted to wake another great demon.

Tantai Jin was even more hungry for power than Tantai Minglang. Since he had this opportunity, he would surely wake the demonic creature. Whether it was taking out its demon core and swallowing it himself, or ordering it to go to war, those were all things that he would do.

The Tantai Royal Family were all crazy.

However, the ladies in front of her clearly didn’t understand the new emperor, because this group of courageous ladies had decided to seduce Tantai Jin.

Su Su: ……

***********************************************

The author has something to say:

Su Su: I’m back, are you happy?

Tantai Jin: ……

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Edited by: Gaze

Translator’s Note: Hello readers, this chapter was supposed to be published two Fridays ago but yeah my translation speed has decreased + procrastination & study got busy so yeah…… Hope you enjoy the chapter!!! ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ