妖女不妖 : The Demoness Is Not Evil Chapter Seven (Part 1)

CHAPTER SEVEN (PART 1)

In the Jiang Hu, waves always come after storms. Since the ‘elimination of evil’ bounty hunt announcement at Mount Zhong Yi Manor, not even a month had passed, and now Qi Shi Er Lian Huan Wu has engaged in a dispute with Nan Hai San Shi Liu Dao _{(Southern Sea’s Thirty Six Islands)}, with both sides physically confronting each other. Once gentleman Xiao Yao received the news, he immediately rushes to Qi Shi Er Lian Huan Wu to mediate the matter.

At the same time, the rapist has shown up in the Jiang Hu, consecutively laying hands on the females of the Jiang Hu. His target did not differentiate between righteous sects and evil cults, as long as these girls are not weak in martial arts, then they may very well become his next target. In this moment, the females amongst the Jiang Hu have all fallen into a state of anxiousness. The people of the Jiang Hu, because of the bounty rewards from Mount Zhong Yi Manor, has also been on the search for the rapist’s whereabouts.

Sitting by the window of the ‘listening to the rain’ veranda^[1], watching the bustling pedestrians downstairs, is Qu Qing Yin dressed in a simple attire, decorating her hair is only one hairpin that does not particularly match her outfit, with a full body of gold, topped with an emerald coloured jade.

Turning the cup in her hand, she was feeling a little distracted.

“Qu Qing Yin!”

A tender voice denounces, causing Qu Qing Yin to put her thoughts away and look over. She purses her lips, resting her cheek in one hand, “Missy Shui, came to drink tea?”

Leading a dozen guards was Shui Su Yun, who arrogantly sits opposite her, she looks her up and down, and loudly laughs, “If you have no money then don’t act wealthy. You think by sticking in a golden hairpin, you can confirm that you’re not poor?”

Qu Qing Yin turns the cup in her hand, calmly speaking, “This is a gift from an elder, it has nothing to do with me being rich or not.”

“Heng. Who knows if it’s a fake good that you found from some random place.”

“I really find it strange, why has missy Shui not stayed behind at Mount Zhong Yi Manor, are you not afraid of the rapist?”

“With the prowess of our Fei Ying Bao, you think he still dares to come?” Shui Su Yun’s words were spoken fast, but her eyes reveals a trace of wavering.

Qu Qing Yin can tell with one glance that she was not speaking the truth, but this has nothing to do with her.

Since the matters do not concern her, she shall just stand aloof. Qu Qing Yin continues to play around with her cup.

“Hey, Qu Qing Yin, where’s Hero Liu?”

Qu Qing Yin raises her brows at her, “Why ask me? Am I supposed to know?”

“Didn’t you leave Mount Zhong Yi Manor with him?”

“Does leaving together mean that we wouldn’t be going our separate ways later on?”

“Then say, is Hero Liu still at Qi Shi Er Lian Huan Wu right now?” Shui Su Yun persistently asks on.

Qu Qing Yin shakes her head.

“How could you not know anything?” The Shui missy is not pleased.

“It is not like I have heavenly knowledge of all things, how am I supposed to know?”

“Words going around the Jiang Hu are all saying that you are his soulmate^[2], how could you not know of his whereabouts.”

Qu Qing Yin laughs, “Not like being his soulmate makes me his wife. Even if I was his wife, it is still possible to not know of my husband’s whereabouts, so me not knowing, what’s so strange about that?”

“Such words are extremely true.” Someone interrupts, laughing.

With the flash of a shadow, an additional radiantly handsome, chic man sits at the table.

Qu Qing Yin knits her brows, “Ji Chui Yu!”

Ji Chui Yu takes the teapot from the table and pours himself a cup of tea, taking a few sips, then rests his hands on the windowsill, his body leaning back on it. Smiling but not really smiling, he looks at the person in front, “Don’t look at me like that, I’ll pay for the tea.”

Once Shui Su Yun hear those words, she immediately looks at Qu Qing Yin contemptuously, she really is a pauper.

Qu Qing Yin honestly speaks without holding back: “Of course you are paying, I have not even finished drinking one cup, yet you already drank cup after cup.”

“Lady Qu, you do not need to have such views of me. In respect towards Brother Liu Feng, you should at least treat me with a little bit more respect, is that not right?”

Ji Chui Yu could only laugh as he shakes his head.

Shui Su Yun smiles as she speaks to him: “Hero Ji, did you come to find me?”

Ji Chui Yu was surprised, “Find you?”

“Yeah.” She looks as though this is but a matter of fact, “Could it be, it was not my father who told you to find me?”

“I did not see Master Shui, but I have heard that you insisted on not staying at Mount Zhong Yi Manor and ran out here by yourself. Lady Shui, right now it is really dangerous outside, it is better for you to quickly return to Fei Ying Bao.”

Hearing such words, Shui Su Yun points to the person beside her, saying: “What about her? Is it not dangerous for her to be outside?”

Ji Chui Yu curls up his hand by his mouth and lets out a cough, “This, lady Shui need not worry about. Lady Qu is no famed figure, the rapist would probably have no interest in her.”

Shui Su Yun sends a prideful glance towards Qu Qing Yin.

Qu Qing Yin secretly holds back her laugh. Could it be, having the rapist take interest in you is something to be proud of? Is this Shui missy okay in the head?

Ji Chui Yu also turns his head slightly to sneak in a laugh, this Shui missy really has been spoilt to the head by Guild Master Shui. To show such ignorant attitude to the severity of the situation, someday if she by chance suffers a premature death, it is only to be expected.

“Missy Shui, we are not familiar, can I trouble you to sit at another table? You are not scared of the rapist, but I, this Jiang Hu amateur is very afraid.”

Shui Su Yun storms up from her seat, huffing with anger: “You think I am willing to sit here? Being near you is no different from breathing in dirty air.”

“Ok then go, I won’t be sending you off.”

Ji Chui Yu lies on the window to watch Shui Su Yun and her pack leave the streets, and then turns his head to look at Qu Qing Yin.

“What’ve you come finding me for?” She asks without a care.

Ji Chui Yu taps his fingers on the table, and jokingly says: “How do you know I came all the way here just to find you?”

“We are not familiar,” Qu Qing Yin coldly says: “Missy Shui does not seem to have any relation to you, and it does not seem like you are here to play hero rescuing the beauty.”

“I am indeed here to rescue the beauty, but I am not rescuing missy Shui, rather, I am rescuing you.”

Qu Qing Yin sighs, “He sent you here?”

“Other than him, who else would have the face to?”

“Nonsense.” She places down the cup in her hand.

“Right now, he is tied to a spot over there, yet he still cannot stop worrying about you. So he could only ask for me, this Jiang Hu idler, for a favour.”

“Asking for a favour from a Jiang Hu womaniser to look after me, only he would think of that.”

“Lady Qu, I may be dissolute but I am not obscene. Moreover, the wife of a friend cannot be toyed with, this principle I still understand.”

“I heard others say otherwise.”

“Say what?”

“A friend’s wife, don’t hold back.”

“Pu.” The tea in Ji Chui Yu’s mouth suddenly sprays out, causing him to continuously choke, it wasn’t easy for him to calm his breathing. “You……” You really can’t hold back your tongue to such extent?

Qu Qing Yin calmly turns the cup in her hand, not even batting an eyelid, “Please leave, I do not need anyone’s protection.”

“You should at least consider his feelings.”

“Then he too should consider others’ feelings.”

“The rapist has gone on rampant lately, it seems like he is haunting this neighbourhood.”

“I know.”

Ji Chui Yu sits up straight, eyeing her carefully, “Did you come here because of the rapist’s appearance?”

“En.” Qu Qing Yin does not deny it.

He strokes his forehead, “Looks like Little Feng really guessed correctly, your target was always him.”

She actually continues to speak like it is nothing: “His current pricing is worth two hundred thousand taels of silver. A poor person like me would certainly target him.”

Ji Chui Yu says with complete certainty: “You are not lacking in money.”

Qu Qing Yin’s eyebrows twitches.

Ji Chui Yu looks her up and down, laughing as he speaks: “Only those who do not have a good eye would think lady you are someone who lacks wealth.”

Qu Qing Yin did not argue with him regarding this issue, only continuing to turn the cup in her hand.

Ji Chui Yu sighs, “Even if you say nothing, I can figure out myself that there is an inside story to this. Little Feng is afraid that you are being overly swayed by your personal feelings, that is why he urgently sent for me.”

“He really has meddled into too many matters to the point it became a habitual illness.” She concludes.

Ji Chui Yu laughs, clicking his fingers, “Such words are well said. I agree.”

Qu Qing Yin throws away the cup in hand, getting up to leave. Ji Chui Yu also follows her in getting up, quickly throwing some money on the table and chases after her.

******

The night is deep and thick, on this particular night, the wind carries the faint sound of fighting.

“Rapist. This time with us He Yang San Xiong _{(three heroes of the river and sun)} here, we shall see where you can still run off to.”

“Haha! Such big talk, are you not afraid the wind will slice your tongue.”

The rapist has once again stirred trouble. Some people of the Jiang Hu had caught him directly abducting a woman, and immediately chased after him. Amongst them, Ji Chui Yu and Qu Qing Yin were of no exception.

Although Ji Chui Yu has always considered his own qinggong _{(light foot martial arts)}^[3], not necessarily Wu Lin’s number one, but at least in the top five, yet he actually discovers today that there is someone whose qinggong is far above his, but her name is not widely known.

From the fight scene, Qu Qing Yin stops at a place, quite a distance away. Seems like she has no intention to move any closer.

Ji Chui Yu stops besides her, standing side by side.

“I thought you would have charged in.”

“To let those people deplete his energy first, it would make it easier to relentlessly beat the dog in the water^[4].”

He swallows the lump in his throat, “And he still thinks you will be swayed by personal feelings, he really is overly concerned.”

“Shi Fu once said, for a girl walking the Jiang Hu, safety is priority.”

He nods his head in agreement, “Such words are absolutely right.”

Qu Qing Yin looks over the scene, letting out a long sigh, “Also, I do not think that these people can defend against him, I’m afraid it will get chaotic.”

Ji Chui Yu looks at her.

“His skills seems to have improved again. This is problematic.”

Qu Qing Yin’s voice was so quiet, it could barely be heard, but Ji Chui Yu still caught onto her words. Deep inside, he could not help but to form many questions. Looking at this, she seems to have great understanding of the rapist.

“You go snatch back the person in his hands. There should be no problem with that right?”

Facing the look in her eyes, Ji Chui Yu felt like a suspect being interrogated, he immediately hits his own chest in assurance, “No problem.”

“Then quickly go. Any later and it will be too late.”

“What about you?” He could not help but ask.

Qu Qing Yin coldly locks her hands behind her back, “Right now, it is still not time for us to meet yet, but, I believe that day shall come very soon.”

Ji Chui Yu nods, and then flies over to release the lady captured by the rapist.

In the end, the rapist had indeed managed to flee the scene. He too, only ditches the lady with the group of people and returns.

“Guess who it is?”

Qu Qing Yin calmly speaks, “It wouldn’t be missy Shui right?”

“You guessed right, it is indeed her.”

“That missy really does not care to listen to others.” She already does not wish to say anymore.

“You yourself don’t listen to the words of a certain person either.”

“I have self-knowledge and awareness, and know how to use my brain to think things through.” Saying that, she turns and leaves.

Ji Chui Yu rubs his nose, unamused, and also follows after her, “Why did you only tell me to snatch the person back, and not grab hold of the rapist?”

Qu Qing Yin casually asks him back, “You certain you can grab hold of him?”

Ji Chui Yu is silenced, he indeed had no certainty, before when he had crossed path with him, he knew it would be difficult to win against the rapist.

Qu Qing Yin continues to speak: “Looking across the Jiang Hu, right now, I am afraid there are less than a few who have the ability to hold up against him. If we continue to let him accumulate both yin and yang energy, I am afraid he will soon become Wu Lin’s number one.”

“Accumulate yin and yang energy?” Ji Chui Yu’s steps slows.

Qu Qing Yin stops in her track, turning to look at him, “Could it be, you lot have not considered, what is the reason for him to specifically target females who are skilled in martial arts?”

“He is just a lewd demon, is he not?”

“But his targets are confined to females within the Jiang Hu only.”

Ji Chui Yu was startled, “Thinking about it now, that truly seems to be the case, but how can you be so sure?”

“Spent a little more time analysing it, that is why I know.”

“Such news need to be spread out quickly. Since it is an all-round spiritually developed martial arts, then we need to take measure from henceforth. First we must make it so that he cannot get hold of the women.”

“You’re not bad.” Qu Qing Yun does not hold back her praises.

“The important thing is, lady is smart enough.”

Qu Qing Yin continues to walk forward.

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[1] The listening to the rain pavilion or tīng yǔ xuān / 听雨轩 refers to a pavilion or teahouse where one can admire the rainy scene, listening to and watching the rain. [Additional note: In modern day Chinese terms, these words can be used to refer to the ladies toilets. Which is quite the downgrade if you think about the original poetic connotation it had]

[2] The terms used here is hóng yán zhī jǐ / 红颜知己 can mean soulmate or a female confidante – a beautiful female confidante (红颜 means beauty), so although it can be suggested, it does not necessarily mean lovers. For those who watched Bu Bu Jing Xin (and I’m guessing all you XD), if you remember how Lu Wu was first introduced as the 红颜知己 of the thirteenth prince. And if you think about it, at the beginning she was just a great friend he could confide in, they were not lovers at this point.

[3] Qīnggōng / 轻功 – Those of you who are familiar with Wu Xia novels and/or dramas would probably already know this, but qing gong is a high level martial arts skill. It can be translated as light foot or just lightness skill as it refers to a skill that makes users to feel light weighted, allowing them to move swiftly, jumping to great heights, and flying, it’s basically a skill that helps users defy gravity.

[4] To relentlessly beat the dog in the water or tòng dǎ luò shuǐ gǒu / 痛打落水狗 means to be merciless with bad people, even when they are drowning.

I just love the little banter between Chui Yu and Qing Yin here so much! God these two are awesome together…not in a romantic way obviously haha. I translated this as accurately as possibly, but it’s just a shame that some of the humour is lost through translation. Both Chui Yu and Qing Yin’s little exchange at the teahouse was much more nice and snappy. They’re both just so chic! It’s the way they play on with the tones in Chinese words that makes their banter sound so fabulously sassy. Literally, the way their speech follows on from one another is like a short battle of sass.

I’m going to try to share this with you guys using a bit of pinyin, but I feel like I’m just making a futile attempt lmao. But anyways…starting from when Qing Yin asks Chui Yu why he came finding her……

“Right now, he’s tied to a spot over there, yet he still can’t stop worrying about you. So he could only ask for me, this Jiang Hu idler, for a favour.”

“Asking for a favour from a Jiang Hu womaniser to look after me, only he would think of that.”

“Lady Qu, I may be dissolute but I am not obscene…

Zài xià fēng liú dàn bù xià liú / 在下风流但不下流 – feng liu means dissolute whilst xia liu means obscene, both words ends with the same character. The evenly balanced phrasing of this sentence flows in such a chic way but also carries a firm tone.

…Moreover, the wife of a friend cannot be toyed with, this principle I still understand.”

“I heard others say otherwise.”

“Say what?”

“A friend’s wife, don’t hold back.”

Péng yǒu qī, bù kè qì / 朋友妻, 不客气 – I really do think that the even balance of phrasing in the sentences when spoken in Chinese really adds a nice punch to it. When translating, I have kept the use of six words/syllables, but what adds that touch of sass to Qing Yin’s words is the way the third and sixth characters (qī / 妻 and qì / 气 ) sounds similar but both characters are spoken in different tones. qì / 气  in particular, is spoken a lot faster which makes it sound more snappy, just like the perfect full stop that wraps up their banter, and that is of course when Chui Yu spits out his tea XD

……well I tried…I really hope you guys were able to follow on haha, I just wanted you all to get the full taste of this very short battle of sass between the two characters without being limited to the less than adequate translation of mine. But, if it just sounded like a load of babbling to you then I am very sorry for wasting your time, please just ignore my random bit of rambling haha