by Qing Lu
Translated by Grenn
Chapter 9 : First Confrontation (part two)
Lou Xiyan kept quiet. The hundred villagers didn’t know how to react, so, they kept their mouth shut and stayed silent. It was an odd situation that made the overall atmosphere awkward. Zhuo Qing glanced at Lou Xiyan. He was already smiling. His long and narrow eyes slightly upturned. His incomparable “empathic and concerned” gaze set on Zhuo Qing. However, who was Zhuo Qing? She didn’t felt the warmth of the gaze. On the contrary, her whole body felt tense.
‘He is the legendary gentle prime minister with peerless character. He shouldn’t be petty.’ Pulling on the brim of her hat, Zhuo Qing quietly retreated. A gentleman does not endangered himself standing under the wall. [1] As soon as she moved back her foot, who knew that thunder would clap and dazzling lightnings would suddenly strike down. A moment ago, there was still a gentle spring breeze. Now, it blew so violently that even the trees and the plants swirled into the air. Zhuo Qing jumped in fright. She raised her head and looked at the sky. The dark sky was raging like a storm. Zhuo Qing was flabbergasted. “It’s not my fault!” How could there be so much lightning flashing with thunder rumbling and the gale blowing in support? She didn’t say anything disgraceful that Heaven and Earth couldn’t tolerate.
After several claps of thunder, rain poured down.
“Ah! It’s raining.” Everyone felt the mistake was not as bad. The sudden rainstorm caused the situation to become chaotic.
Zhuo Qing hurriedly took advantage of the chaos to retreat. Suddenly, her hand felt painful. Her wrist was grab by a clean, slender and big hand. She lifted her eyes and saw it was Lou Xiyan! In the rainstorm, everybody had a sorry figure, except for him. He still appeared free and unconstrained. Even though his appearance was hazy in the rain’s fog, Zhuo Qing could still perceived the gaze of those delicate eyes on her.
The rain grew more and more big. Wu Si shouted in a loud voice, “Lord Chancellor, please come this way. Let’s avoid the rain in the ancestral hall!”
Lou Xiyan smiled and nodded. He walked to the entrance on the side of the ancestral hall while pulling Zhuo Qing with him.
Zhuo Qing struggled with all her strength only to give up afterward. Despite his thin and weak scholarly appearance, Lou Xiyan unexpectedly had great arm’s strength. If it wasn’t for his hand grabbing her wrist, she would have already run away.
Lou Xiyan turned his head and saw Zhuo Qing, who still looked like a youngster to him, struggled for a moment before quietly following him. The corner of his mouth slightly rose without him knowing.
The so-called ancestral hall was a house made of clay with a few tables for offerings and some already burned joss sticks. The dilapidated four walls was on the verge of collapsing. From time to time, the rain’s water would drip down from the cracks between the worn out roof tiles. It was already not a big place. The place appeared to be extremely crowded with the arrival of a group of person. Fortunately, Lou Xiyan’s two Imperial bodyguards stood near him like “Hei Bai and Wu Chang”. [2]
Zhuo Qing was not very used to have her hand grabbed by a man all this time. Unable to endure it, she shook her arm. She impatiently said, “Lord Chancellor, can you let go of my hand?”
Originally, Lou Xiyan was just about to let go of her hand when he heard her voice. He ignored it and did the opposite by adding more strength. He gripped more tightly the wrist of the youngster.
‘Ouch! That’s hurt!!’
‘This man is extremely sinister!’ Zhuo Qing’s hand was about to break! She stubbornly clenched her teeth tightly and didn’t uttered a single sound or word.
Feeling Zhuo Qing’s palm constantly trembling, Lou Xi Yan retracted the strength in his hand. ‘This youngster’s hand is very delicate.’ If he wasn’t careful while holding it, he could break the youngster’s hand. As he released her hand, Lou Xi Yan indifferently asked, “What’s your name?”
The cold and low voice sounded out like a low bass. Zhuo Qing lightly raised her head to face Lou Xiyan. At a closer look, his five senses [3] were even more handsome without a smile. His unsmiling expression emphasized his long and narrow eyes, his slightly raised thin lips and a faint trace of a devilish unbridled charm. Zhuo Qing was spellbound. Suddenly, she saw a trace of surprise flashed across his eyes.
Her face! Zhuo Qing hurriedly lowered her head. However, Lou Xiyan grabbed her chin and used it to slowly turn her face. A lightning timely flashed through the sky. Under the white light, two shockingly deep scars covering the simple and neat cheek was revealed. The lighting made it hard to clearly see the whole face of a person.
A meaningful glance flitted across Lou Xiyan’s eyes. ‘Who could have such a ruthless hand and left this kind of sinister mark on this youngster’s face?’
Zhuo Qing couldn’t lower her head. She only have the damaged hat on her head that was still in a good enough condition to cover most of her face. She lifted her foot and ruthlessly stomped on Lou Xiyan’s foot. “Urgh! ” He made a groan. In a flash, Zhuo Qing took advantage of the opportunity to slap away his hand and retreated several steps.
The feeling of oppression she had was smaller after she distanced herself from him. She grabbed her hat and made sure it was covering her face. Zhuo Qing pretended to be surprise and said, “Did I step on you? I’m so sorry Lord Chancellor. It’s very dark and I didn’t see.” At this moment, she was reminiscing about her seven centimeters high-heeled shoes.
‘Didn’t see?! He can’t even fake a bit!’
When Lou Xiyan thoughted about the injury on this youngster’s face, his extended arm stopped. Finally, he let down his arm to his side.
Lou Xiyan no longer came toward Zhuo Qing. She finally let out a breath of relief. At that moment, she heard Qi Tianyu interrogated Wu Si. “You want to meet with the Prime Minister. Now that he already came, you should give back the kidnapped little beauty!”
Wu Si scratched his head. he didn’t know what to do. Miss Zhuo Qing said he can’t tell them. ‘Right now, What should I do?’
“Where’s the person?!” While observing and checking on Wu Si’s well-behaved temperament, Qi Tianyu interrogate him. “Did you killed her?”
Wu Si continuously shook his head and hurriedly said, “N-n-no! We absolutely did not!!”
“Did you sell her?”
Wu Si loudly shouted, “How can it be possible?!”
“Then, where is that person?”
‘That person…’
Once again, the villagers in the ancestral hall sought that figure.
“Shit!” Zhuo Qing cursed under her breath. “Here we go again!”
Bang!
Zhuo Qing ruthlessly slapped on the table of offerings making the already rotten table sway left to right several times. Unable to withstand the impact, the table unexpectedly collapsed in a loud noise. All the villagers stared at Zhuo Qing in alarm. Lou Xiyan lightly raised his eyebrows. ‘He wants to play the same trick again?’
‘Very good!’ Now, everyone was looking at her. ‘Lou Xiyan shouldn’t have discover me.’ Just a moment ago, the person these idiot villagers had try to find was her! However…this is killing her hand.
Slowly withdrawing her hand, she hid her hand behind her back. Zhuo Qing took a deep breath and said with a clear voice, “She’s alive and very well. Lord Chancellor can rest assured. On your behalf, we will attended her with great care. After the public hearing of the case, naturally, Prime Minister will be able to see her.”
“You mean that we cannot see the little beauty until this unfair case is reopened for investigation?!” Qi Tianyu’s gaze sweep the ground and over the scattered pieces of the broken table. He clicked his tongue and laughed with a rogue look as he said, “Lord Chancellor, somebody is threatening you.”
‘Who is this man who wish for the whole world to be in chaos?!’ Zhuo Qing inwardly grinded her teeth. She coldly said, “This nobleman is wrongly accusing me. I never dare to threaten you with this kind of ineffective threat. ”
‘Good! Great speech!’ Qi Tianyu whistled. ‘This youngster sure is interesting.’
He shook his head. Pretending to be in dismay, he loudly shouted, “Since you’re not threatening us, then, what do you call a threat? To order a court official is a very heavy crime!”
“You!” Zhuo Qing got angry.
Suddenly, Lou Xiyan began to laugh. In a deep voice, he said, “Tomorrow, between 11am to 1pm, at the Heavenly Government office, there will be a review of this files case. For the details on the inquiry, ten villagers of the Niu Jia village will be grant special access to visit the office. This is not a re-investigation of the current case. After the re-examination of the files, we will meet with the convict and then, we will make a decision about the re-investigation.”
“Many thanks to you, Lord Chancellor!” When the villagers heard the good news, they all kneeled down to thank the Prime Minister. There was only Zhuo Qing who thoughted to observe Lou Xiyan. ‘The way this man handled the matter, it can make anyone felt at loss.’
Seeing that the rain was lighter, Lou Xiyan was no longer talkative and prepared to leave. Qi Tianyu went to Lou Xiyan and asked with a frown, “You really didn’t want to meet the little beauty?”
His gaze sweep over Zhuo Qing, Lou Xiyan indifferently smiled. “For now, let him take care of her on my behalf.”
Zhuo Qing couldn’t help feeling all tense. ‘His smile always contained something that made a person feel absolutely horrified!’
As he walked out of the ancestral hall, Lou Xiyan suddenly stopped. He turned his head towards Zhuo Qing and said, “Tomorrow, you have to be there.”
“Why?” What he wants to involve her?
“If you don’t show up, they also don’t need to come.” After throwing that sentence, Lou Xiyan quickly disappeared in the fine rain.
“Hey!”
Zhuo Qing was speechless. ‘This! Who is threatening who?!’
[1]It’s an expression that means not getting yourself in a disadvantageous situation without a way out.
[2] They are guardians deities who escorted spirits under Yama.
[3] 五官 (wǔ guān) or five senses referred to the nose, the eyes, the lips, the tongue and the ears. As for the five senses of taste, touch, hearing, sight and smell, the characters are 感觉器官 (gǎn jué qì guān).
Rotten Translations 
Thank you for your work! This novel sure is good
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