江湖路弯弯: Jianghu Road is Curved! Chapter 39

_{(translated by anniaxx)}

^{(edited by xia0xiao1mei)}

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

On the Icy Mountain Court

Pang Wan opens up her eyes, shining into her sight were purple gauze curtains hanging down from the sky, gorgeous and luxurious.

She looks down and sees that on the silk quilt, a pattern of verdantly lush pine trees and vividly pristine spring, a pair of embroidered red-crowned cranes comes to life, this truly is the cloud-silk that holds the reputation of “ice silkworm spins out phoenix-thin brocade”_{(This is the famous Nanjing Yun Jin silk)}.

She lifts up her eyes again to look at the bed’s roof, the wooden frame is carved into meticulous and intricate designs, the calm dark colour also maintains some gentle warm light, this is definitely the thousand-year-old golden-silk sandalwood.

No matter where her vision lands, not a single thing is not glamorous, not a single thing is not extravagant.

——could it be that I have returned to the land of Mary Sue?

She is really confused, don’t know which family she reincarnated into? Will she encounter a heartless jerk again this time?

Just when she is thinking by herself, the drapery curtain is suddenly opened, a pair of amber eyes quietly revealed.

“It’s you!” She screams and tries to sit up, yet finds almost no feeling in her lower limbs.

“Your leg joints were broken, they just got set, right now they are being treated with medicine, don’t move around.” That person frowns.

“Where is this?” Pang Wan recalls what has happened before she lost consciousness, couldn’t resist the emerging anxiousness in her heart, “How come you saved me?”

“This is the summit of the Solitary Palace, on the Icy Mountain Court.”

That person sees her shaking like a bird frightened by the sound of bow and arrow, his initial look of concern quietly fades.

——why would she take on such guarded behaviour against me? Why is her tone not showing gratitude, but more like doubting?

These questions are like fish bones stuck in his throat, causing his heart to gradually feel displeased.

“He Qing Lu! You deceiver! You are clearly one of the Solitary Palace’s people!”

Pang Wan finally realises she is still in the enemy’s territory; with her cheeks turning red, she immediately yells out.

Looking at her losing control of her emotions, He Qing Lu feels better at heart, he lifts his brows and argues back, “How did I deceive you? I really am not the Solitary Palace’s palace master, but this doesn’t mean I don’t have any relation to the Solitary Palace.”

“……who exactly are you?” Pang Wan widens her frightened eyes —— if he is not an important figure of the Solitary Palace, how can he live in this carefully-guarded and unreachable Icy Mountain Court?

He Qing Lu is not quick to respond, he just sounds a humph, and brings a bowl of decoction medicine^[1] to her.

“I will tell you after you drink this.” He lowers his long and thick eyelashes.

My readers, I’m very sorry, Mary Sue scenes like feeding her with his own hands or using lip-to-lip technique to get her to drink the medicine, will not happen here right now. We can only see Gentleman He seriously put a pillow under Pang Wan’s neck, then taking out a wheat straw and inserting it in the bowl, placing the other opened end near Pang Wan’s mouth.

“Suck.” A simple and clear order.

Pang Wan obediently sucks a mouthful, just feels a heavy bitter taste suddenly fills up her entire mouth, unable to hold it in, she wanted spit it out. Fortunately, He Qing Lu promptly gets a hold of her chin, with one lift and one block, that mouthful of medicine is directly forced down her throat.

“……so bitter, I would rather die.” Pang Wan is almost going to cry.

She is not afraid of wounds, not afraid of death, but just happens to be scared of bitterness to the extreme, Mary Sue’s female nobilities all grow up in honey jars, normally, they would not even touch bitter-melon, nevermind drinking Chinese medicine?

Seeing her miserable state, He Qing Lu’s initial mocking attitude somewhat fades.

“You don’t care about the person in prison anymore?” He emotionlessly scolds her.

Only then did Pang Wan realize Nan Yi is still in their hands, she hurriedly drags his sleeve, “Where is my senior brother? I don’t allow you all to hurt him!”

He Qing Lu gives her a glance, his voice is indifferent and disdaining, “A useless person paralyzed in bed, has what right to say ‘I don’t allow’?”

Pang Wan is made speechless, her big eyes quickly raise up foggy vapour.

Then she blinks her lashes twice, the next moment she lifts up the bowl and drinks it all.

He Qing Lu sees her face clearly twist from the bitterness yet she still clenches her teeth and does not say a word; not even half of the happiness he thought he would get taking revenge on her had been achieved, with a loss of interest he takes out an already prepared candy, and silently hands it over to her.

Pang Wan stares at the white candy near her mouth for a moment, then suddenly opens her mouth and fiercely bites down, also biting down on that finger.

“Is your zodiac sign a dog?!_{(describing someone who likes to bite)}” He Qing Lu is furious, rapidly takes back his hand as if he has touched electricity.

Pang Wan doesn’t say anything, only biting down on that candy hard, her cheeks highly protruding.

“You sure got some guts, daring to act against me several times!” He Qing Lu sneers and clutches her chin, planning to get that life-saving candy out of her mouth.

A burning bead of water drops onto his finger.

He Qing Lu freezes, he lifts his eyes and sees Pang Wan staring at him bitterly, the vapour-filled almond eyes does not even blink, two crystal tear rivers flow down on her jade-white cheeks.

She is this stubborn, like a wounded cub, the white of her eyes are bloodshot and her hair is in a mess, her tightly pressed lips are slightly shaking.

His anger suddenly all disappeared, in his heart, an ineffable and unexplainable complex feeling rises up.

“……too lazy to care about you!”

He Qing Lu fretfully throws his hand, pushing open the drapery and walks away in big and fast steps.

He left too fast, not at all noticing that the decoction bowl was overthrew to the ground by his sleeve, broken into several pieces.

Pang Wan stares at him leaving without looking back, then she lifts up her hands and wipes away her tears.

——don’t be mad, don’t be angry, definitely should not be angry at this late-stage Prince Disease^[2] patient.

She murmurs in her heart, at the same time trying hard to break the candy in her mouth, swallowing all of them down into her stomach.

*********

When she opens up her eyes again, it is already the all-silent deep night; looking through the bed curtains, she sees a huge, round full moon hanging by the window side, revealing a kind of quiet and strange beauty.

Pang Wan stares at it for a long time, then finally realizes something is not right —— when she first came here, it was a new moon that appeared in the sky!

“Anyone here! Anyone!” She shouts out anxiously, don’t know exactly how many days she had laid unconscious for?

“Everyone’s asleep, why are you shouting?” A slightly hoarse rebuke sounds up, showing a strong sense of impatience.

Pang Wan looks in the direction of the voice, and sees a tall shadow sitting by the desk; someone is gazing at the moon outside of the window, pondering; his ink-like long hair naturally falls on his shoulders, covering a big half of his face, making it hard to see his facial expression.

“Didn’t you say you are too lazy to care about me……” Pang Wan mutters in a low voice.

He Qing Lu raises his brows and presses his lips, refutes with a poker face, “Didn’t you also say you will never ever trouble me again?”

Pang Wan rolls her eyes in her heart, snappishly humphs, “Your room is this ostentatious, I won’t come next time even if you beg me.”

He Qing Lu does not respond to her verbal attack, only suddenly stands up, coming quickly toward her.

His slender figure blocks the cold light coming from the west; seeing this “Mountain Tai” will soon be towering over her^[3], Pang Wan gulps, “What do you want to do?” She snarls at him, attempting to make a show of her strength.

He Qing Lu stands by her bed and stares at her for a moment; a tiny flame is faintly burning in his eyes.

“The wound on your chest, how exactly did it happen?”

He quietly speaks, voice even colder than the moonlight, his face is close to being transparent.

When he went out this afternoon and ran into the physician, he suddenly had the interest to ask why is the patient being unconscious for this long. Only to hear that physician respectfully answer, “Lady’s wound are supposed to not be a big deal, but three months ago, her heart artery was severely hurt by someone, losing all her internal energy, now that many of her major joints are hurt as well, this is like freezing frost on top of snow, as long as she gives up martial arts in future, she will naturally recover.”

Bang!

In this sunny day, a thunderbolt suddenly explodes _{(unexpected things suddenly happened)}.

——heart artery severely hurt? Losing all internal energy? Freezing frost on top of snow? Give up martial arts?

——so she actually got hurt before she came here? So she was actually confronting Mei Ya Xiang with only her blood and flesh?

——how could she have this much courage? Why is she not treating her own life as something important?

——how can she? How dare she? How could she?

He grits his teeth as he stares at her, the flame in his pupils gradually burning to the very edge of his eyes.

“……it was, It was done by an evildoer.”

Shocked by He Qing Lu, whose body is seeping out air of danger everywhere, Pang Wan suddenly stammers.

She has never seen Gentleman He like this, his eyes are like ice beads dyed with black ink, emitting a coldness that can absorb people into them. Strange, isn’t this person always upholding the attitude of a gentle breeze and unclouded moon, such behaviours befitting of his nobility?

“Because of this wound, you have lost your internal energy?” He Qing Lu’s forehead deeply furrows, “Exactly what kind of wound is it? Let me see!” Without even finishing his sentence, he already reaches out his hands to pull her clothes, exhibiting a kind of determination like “won’t be satisfied till I see the yellow river”^[4].

“What are you doing?!” Pang Wan is startled and paled, desperately slapping on He Qing Lu’s hands, but she only has half the energy she had before, how can she win over a man who has never thought of what actions should be avoided between men and women? Only hearing two tearing sounds of fabric, her bright white chest is exposed, as well as the hideous wound.

Pang Wan feels hopeless to the extreme, she closes her eyes and resigns to her fate.

Before his eyes is a wave of blinding scarlet, He Qing Lu’s slender fingers start to shake, he pauses for a second, then covers her again with the quilt.

“I am sorry.”

After a long time, he sits by the bed and says, his voice as light as a feather.

Pang Wan assumes that he is apologizing for his impertinence, she weakly waves her hand, “Forget it, if you’ve seen it then you’ve seen it, I will not make Gentleman take responsibility for me, I know my situation well, I have hemiplegia and am a useless paralyzed person, how can I exist in Gentleman’s picky eyes?”

He Qing Lu gazes at her pale and helpless face, ferocious waves and undercurrent overturning in his heart.

——she did not need to have end up like this, if only I didn’t lay down that command.

——I clearly have seen her skills, then why was I standing there, leaving Mei Ya Xiang to attack her?

An upset emotion that he has never experienced before leaps into his heart; his eyes, ears, mouth and nose all start to feel bitter, his chest also suffers oppression.

“You rest well.”

After hurriedly throwing down these comforting words, he awkwardly left the room in a fluster.

Only after the sound of his footsteps disappear, does Pang Wan bury her face into the pillow.

Unending tears flow out from her eyes, silently wetting a big area of silk.

She has never desired power as much as she does right now, she wants to protect herself, she wants to give a loud slap to those people who have humiliated her.

——once my body has recovered, I will definitely learn martial arts again.

Having lived sixteen years in this life, this is her first time being clear and determined in her heart, for something other than love.

---

[1]Chinese decoction medicine is a liquid medicine condensed by boiling various herbal plants, known for its bitterness. I’m not even kidding, it is so effective but really really bitter.

[2]Prince Disease/王子病/wáng zǐ bìng: the behavior of guys acting spoiled, bossy and arrogant, like they are princes or something.

[3]”Mount Tai towering over“: Mount Tai is one of the most important mountains in China, famous for its height and size. Having Mount Tai towering over you means great pressure or big figure oppressing you.

[4]”Won’t be satisfied till I see the yellow river” is from a folk poem “Won’t shed tears till I see the coffin, won’t be satisfied till I go to the yellow river”/“不见棺材不掉泪，不到黄河不死心”. This saying comes from a folk love tale that takes place in Shan Xi province in the Ming Dynasty. A poor guy named 关财／Guān Cái (which sounds exactly the same as “coffin”in Chinese) fell in love with a rich girl named 黄河／Huáng Hé (which means the yellow river). They stubbornly loved each other despite of the gap between their social status. But the girl’s father, a local governor, does not approve of their love and sent people to beat Guan Cai up, then Guan Cai grew sicker and sicker. Huang He finally managed to escape from her father to go see Guan Cai, but he has already dead. She held his coffin and cried. Suddenly, the coffin split open. They finally got to see each other. Now days, this saying is used to describe stubborn determination that cannot be stopped.

---

Translator’s Note: He Qing Lu, omg, you stupid boy, you’d better learn how to treat a lady, and how to show your love!! So proud of Pang Wan. She finally woke up from her Mary Sue dream!    — Annie ^_^*