Chapter 60 Demon Incense Factory (5)

Ling Miaomiao looked on, dumbstruck, at Duanyang, whose clothes had turned into tatters. Fu Luiyi and Mu Yao, who had just climbed ashore, were also completely taken aback and even Mu Sheng looked blank for a second.

Duanyang sat on the ground, slowly lowering her head to look at her rag-like clothes and ash-covered leg. Then, she raised a small black face and two tear tracks slowly appeared, making her suddenly look like a miner who had just been saved from a coal mine.

She was here to confess.

Heaven knew how many incensed flower petals she had used and how many clothes she had tried on and rejected. She had walked out of Fengyang Palace glamorously and with the help of Pei Yun, escaped from the imperial city with great difficulty. Then she hurried to reach Liu Fuyi’s location at Jinyang Slope just to give him an unexpected surprise.

But now… before everyone, she appeared like this…

And Mu Yao, stood at his side, clean and at ease, watching her together with him…

She turned her head, her bitter gaze automatically going to the black-eyed young man with his hair up in a high ponytail.

He was practically her nemesis. She kept losing face in front of Liu Fuyi all because of him…

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Ykysxkys pyo Pwyduydt takv bla vllvb, zssjkdt yp vbswtb pbl oyp kvnbkdt vs pjkd Yw Fbldt yzkhl yde vbld rwzz swv bkp vldesdp. Fbl nzknjle bla vsdtwl kdvladyzzu obkzl vbkdjkdt, ‘Mbl oszq nyxl yde rzyule vss xwnb. Mbkp vkxl, kq vbl czynj zsvwp ynvp yp kq bl’p clld oasdtle, ds sdl okzz clzklhl bkx.’

Yw Fbldt pllxle vs dsv pll Pwyduydt’p zssj yde rwv sd yd kddsnldv qynl. “R eked’v jdso kv oyp vbl rakdnlpp obs oyp bkekdt kd vbl eyaj pwprknkswpzu. R oypd’v nyalqwz ldswtb obld yvvynjkdt yde ynnkeldvyzzu kdfwale vbl rakdnlpp. Hkik jdsop bl eke oasdt.”

Rd Pwyduydt’p lulp, vbkp yrszstu pllxle vs sdzu yee qwlz vs vbl qkal. Fbl lmvldele bla yax vs rskdv yde vbl pbaleele nzsvblp obknb bye vwadle vs pvakrp sq nzsvb qlzz vs vbl taswde. Ekvb y pnalyx, pbl nzwvnble yv bla nblpv obkzl pbkhlakdt.

Nkw Wwuk iwknjzu nyxl qsaoyae. Tl vssj sqq bkp nzsyj yde rwv kv sd bla, y plakswp ulv nsdnladle lmralppksd sd bkp qynl. “Vakdnlpp, obyv byrrldle?”

Pwyduydt nzwvnble vktbvzu yv vbl oyax nzsyj yde zssjle yv bkp qynl. Gzz bla qsaxla kal vwadle kdvs taklhydnl. Fbl tayccle csvb sq Nkw Wwuk’p bydep. G zyatl ryka sq lulp qszzsole bkx qsa y xsxldv clqsal pbl srldle bla xswvb yde pyke, “Jasvbla Nkw, R…R byhl psxlvbkdt R’e zkjl vs vlzz usw.”

Nkw Wwuk oyp pvyavzle yde Yw Zys bye yzalyeu vwadle yaswde okvb yd yoqwz lmralppksd.”R’zz ts yde vyjl y pvaszz kd vbl ossep——”

“Zys-la!” Nkw Wwuk qasodle pzktbvzu. Bdlmrlnvlezu, pbl pvsrrle yv bkp nyzz. Tl eked’v vwad bkp blye yaswde cwv bkp hsknl oyp wdwpwyzzu pvlyeu. “Psd’v oyzj sqq vss qya, pvyu okvbkd xu pktbvp.”

Yw Zys qasgl kd rzynl oblalyp Pwyduydt’p lulp olal qkzzle okvb vlyap.

The undercurrent between the three people raged.

Miaomiao gauged the mood and tugged at Mu Sheng’s sleeve. “…Cough, there’s nothing for us here, let’s go.”

She began beating away the dense mass of tree leaves as she said this. Then she raised the hem of her skirt and swiftly made her way into the woods.

It was a large-scale love battlefield so it’d be best to save the poor second female lead some face.

Mu Sheng saw his sister was still standing in the same place and instead, it was Ling Miaomiao who had gone and done as she pleased, slipping into the woods and disappearing from sight. He cursed at her to himself and quickly moved his feet to follow.

Ling Miaomiao had already found an excellent location.

It was an open place in the woods which wasn’t too far from those three. From there, she could vaguely hear their voices but it wasn’t clear enough for her to hear any specific details. It also gave a sense of security as well as achieved the effect of helping her avoid that scene.

Mu Sheng collected some twigs then tossed them on the ground. With a bang, sparks appeared and lit the twigs. The crackling flame was reflected on his white-jade-like face. He raised his eyes and shot a glance at Ling Miaomiao just in time to see her sitting under the tree in a daze while hugging her knees.

He poked at the fire and a few sparks flew out. With a straight face, he asked, “Don’t you like Liu Fuyi as well?”

Miaomiao let out a laugh, put her arm behind her head and casually leaned back against the tree. “ …whether it be appearance, birth, or talent, I can’t compare with the princess. So, why should I bother to throw myself into the mix? I’ll just disgrace myself.”

Mu Sheng raised his gaze, resting it on the girl under the tree.The flickering light of the fire danced across her pretty face; a pair of apricot eyes gleamed as her gaze wandered, pink cheeks, moist lips… From top to bottom, even the jade-colored bows on her two hanging buns were more pleasing to the eyes than Princess Duanyang.

Keeping a straight face, he nodded and replied, “Well, at least you have some self-awareness.”

Catching a glimpse of Ling Miaomiao’s glare, the corners of his lips raised slightly. He added in a seemingly offhand manner, “However, you’re much better at getting on people’s good side than her.”

Miaomiao’s expression flipped from cloudy to clear within a second. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at him, “Really?”

His lashes trembled slightly, “No.”

Ling Miaomiao’s face collapsed immediately.

Mu Sheng focused on stirring the embers. He took out the stick after his hand was feeling rather sore, to rest for a while.

Ling Miaomiao slowly scooted close to his side and wrapped her arms around her knees. She looked into the fire and asked, “Shall we switch watches?”

“What?” He asked, flabbergasted.

“I’ll watch the fire for a while, you can rest for a little.” Miaomiao looked at him with a puzzled face. “You’ve been on watch for most of the night, aren’t you tired?”

Moreover, he had walked for so long with her on his back. The black lotus seemed to not need sleep. He was practically about to become an immortal.

Mu Sheng was somewhat absent-minded.

Ever since he could remember, from when he was a child till now, he had always handled these kinds of trifling matters whenever they had left home to accumulate experience. He had taken care of his sister for so long but no one had ever asked him to “switch watches” and let him rest.

He had come from the night; hidden himself in a corner of the night. He was the night. He often had to light himself up, pretending to be the light.

“I’m talking to you, why are you in a daze?” The girl waved her fair hand in front of his eyes. She yawned and impatiently urged him, “Hurry up and decide, I’m getting sleepy.”

After enjoying the retirement life for three months in the palace, her biological clock had become adjusted to a particularly healthy schedule. And now, after running through the woods in the middle of the night, she could hardly keep her eyes open.

Mu Sheng’s long fine lashes were like a row of black feathers, slowly drifting down. In a very low voice, he told her, “…Go sleep.”

Her words had just left her lips and Ling Miaomiao had fallen straight down into a carpet of leaves. The sound of her even breaths could immediately be heard.

She was too sleepy, she had actually fallen asleep right then and there.

“…” He froze then pulled the cloak she had been lying on out from under her. After holding it in his hand for a while, he spread it out and covered her with it.

The girl had her eyes tightly shut, the curled lashes casting shadows on her eyelids, her cheeks rosy. She slept without any wariness. Even though she was by a person like himself, she was still able to fall into the embrace of sweet dreams completely unaffected.

This person…

His hand slowly made its way down and cupped her face on its own. Then it drifted lower, brushing her slightly cool lips; soft, pink lips which were always carelessly turned up.

He recalled the first time he had met her, she had rouge outside her lips. Back then, he had brazenly and arrogantly stroked her lips, starting from the corner and stopping at the center. At the time, her autumn-pond-like eyes shook as she looked at him, his figure reflected.

How did he not notice how captivating this face was…

His expression suddenly turned cold. His hand jerked away like it had been electrocuted and then, he harshly pushed her awake.

“Huh?”

She woke abruptly with a start and then struggled to sit up. She looked at him for a while, confused, then she looked around at their surroundings. There was only a spread of darkness which came from the night. Immediately, she blew up. “What is this? I thought it was morning! I only slept for a few minutes and you decided to go and wake me up?”

“You’ve slept for long enough.” The young man’s lashes lowered, hiding the emotions in his eyes. Tersely, he told her, “…We’re switching watches.”

“…” Ling Miaomiao rubbed her face and accepted the stick in his hand, poking at the fire with a dull look on her face.

Had she slept for a long time? How come it didn’t feel like that to her at all…it felt more like she hardly slept.

The young man leaned against the tree and closed his eyes to rest, feeling his unsettled heart which wouldn’t return to normal for a while.

At first, his mind was cluttered and swirling with distracting thoughts. But slowly, after listening to rustling and the whistling of wind gusts, the darkness turned into a dark halo, swallowing him into it.

“Ding dong——” Bells tinkled. At the top of a dark green mosquito net, there were four bells ringing.

The bed was shaking.

The sunlight was filtered through layer upon layer of a soft canopy. Once it reached the girl’s face and forehead, only a soft ambiguous light remained.

Her face was very red, eyes half-closed and slack. Her fair neck was exposed and her long hair which was glowing a chestnut color was spread out messily beneath.

Beneath… was her.

His kiss swept across her soft underbelly, his hand following her waist up, little by little, lifting her top ¹ [1] The top it’s referring to is a coat with wide sleeves worn by ancient women. Example at footnotes below .

The short coat was made of camel-colored silk and embroidered with a lotus damask ² [2] The embroidery pattern is very subtle, as in, it’s in the same color and doesn’t protrude too much from the fabric. Example at footnotes below . Lying against her skin, the contrast only made her skin seem paler than snow and like a tempting little pastry with him as the starving diner. Despite knowing the fine delicacy before his eyes had to be peeled layer by layer before slowly savoring, he still couldn’t help tearing off the packaging and consuming it in one bite.

He was impatient. He had never felt so empty, felt so much… longing.

She reached out a hand to stop him, though her eyes were misty with desire. He wanted to say something, but he couldn’t stop himself. Her beauty was enough to stop people in their tracks.

He firmly pressed her moving arm down beside the pillow and approached her bit by bit. Then he kissed her lips, from the outer corner to the center, tossing and turning with her until she was completely immobile, her lashes quivering.

He released her hand and she pliantly wrapped her arms around his neck, like a soft vine climbing onto him.

The plant emanated a gentle warmth. The skirt hem was ripped and was raised up following the curve of her leg from her ankle up. She only cried pleadingly into the air, “Ziqi…” But even this sound was feeble, as if she was instead, inviting him to completely and thoroughly swear sovereignty to her inside and out.

A squall swept through the sea, causing waves to crash and surge on its surface. The boat which persevered in floating on the surface was unnerved and anxious and could only cry. Cool fingers wandered aimlessly over his back, making his heart tremble. He pulled her hands off his back, holding her ice-cold hands.

He pressed her hand close to his heart; it was warm. She opened her eyes, looking at him. He slowly closed the distance between them, leaving a gentle kiss on her forehead.

She had completely become a lone boat in the sea, only able to rely on him, completely under his control. Truly and completely owned by him.

Scarcely did they know that in the middle of this vast, even through the howling wind and torrential rain, the lightning and the thunder, there was only this small boat.

…..

*

Ling Miaomiao squatted at the black lotus’s side, looking suspiciously at his face while holding his cloak in her hand.

She hesitated a bit and looked at his motionless figure. Was he asleep or not?

After debating about it for a long while, she made up her mind and threw his cloak on him. However before she could turn around and scram, the young man reached out a hand and suddenly grabbed her wrist, pulling her right into his arms——

At that moment, she noticed a blank look in his eyes.

“…Z-Zi-Ziqi?” She let him stare at her until she began to feel flustered. It was fine before she called out, but after she called out, he seemed to immediately come out of his daze. After a moment of confusion, rage flared in his black eyes and he stood up at once.

Before Miaomiao had even opened her mouth to begin complaining, he had already avoided her gaze and scooched backwards twice. As if he had encountered a great threat, he quickly scrambled to his feet and stumbled in his rush out the woods.

“F*ck!” She let out a curse, unable to contain herself. Then she picked up the stick and threw it at his retreating figure but missed.

What was wrong with this guy? He was so weird!

The author has something to say:

System 【Secretly watching: The master brings the student in, cultivating depends on the individual. Young people always have potential. Tsk, tsk.】

Brother Liu’s boyfriend power is finally at max for a bit.

Don’t hate Diji, she isn’t a villain. In this work, she’s the one in charge of making people laugh. She sacrifices herself to entertain others, we’ve wronged her!

Footnotes:

[1] The top it’s referring to is a coat with wide sleeves worn by ancient women. It looks like this

[2] The embroidery pattern can be seen from both sides and doesn’t protrude too much from the fabric. Here’s an example:

Translator note: This image kind of reminds me of that last part. Though, the lines don’t match. And he certainly is not smirking here. ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª

I was going to fan a little bit but go check out the images I’ve dropped in the art-drop channel! I was fired up from translating Ziqi’s little dream so… But seriously, look at the paperback covers! They’re just so prettttyyyyyyyy ｏ(≧▼≦○〃

Also, I absolutely ADORE the uncolored art from the manhua. But of course, I especially love the romantic scenes. Example below~

And let me tell you, while I was translating that dream, I was like ᴏʜ ʏᴏᴜ~☆(∗´∀｀)σ)))))*3ﾟ)୨,･´.､ and then (/∇＼*)…Reaaaally? And basically all sorts of  ᵉʰᵉʰᵉ(*/∇＼⭒) then (*ﾉωﾉ)ᵉᵉᵏ because.. It’s SO SO SOOO Squeal and Blush-worthy! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄  Let’s all thank Lunaie for helping me through that part since it wouldn’t have sounded so squeal-worthy if it weren’t for her help! (人´∀`) Thanks Luna~♪

And thanks to Entropy for letting me co-translate with him! Though, I still have a backlog of 4 chapters to turn in. I think? Cough cough, I’ll just um slip away to get on that now… Bye! See you all in the next few chapters!

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TLN: Lol Entropy here, just gonna say that Z has been really busy and anxious lately… school and life :0. We can’t really do anything but wish her the best of luck!