How To Survive as a Villain-Chapter 54: It Must be That This Gift, He Gave Him it the Wrong Way.
Wuning Wangye lowered his voice the most he could: “Hurry up and hide this on you Yan-huangzi. You can’t bear this humiliation any longer, this month is a good opportunity. You must also remember that you and I are on the same side, and if something goes wrong, no one will be able to run away. You must be very careful. ”
It seemed that Wuning Wangye wanted to say something else to him, but the door of the wing-room suddenly creaked, scaring him and making him retreat quickly to his previous position. Looking up, his expression was quite puzzled: “What happened? Your Majesty, why did you come out so early, could it be… that my gift didn’t satisface you?”
Xiao YuAn said: “I think the money will satisfy me more.”
Wuning Wangye turned pale with fright1.
It could be that……
Don’t tell me!!!
Could it be that the rumors about the Emperor being empty of desire, are actually true?!
Wuning Wangye coughed gently trying to cover up his embarrassment and quickly called for someone to bring the two hundred taels of gold. Xiao YuAn wasn’t interested in acting polite and quickly took the money: “I’ve troubled2 you.”
Wuning Wangye greeted them by cupping one hand in the other before his chest3. Xiao YuAn turned his head towards Yan HeQing and said to him: “Let’s go.”
Yan HeQing was soulless4: “Ah?… yes.”
Xiao YuAn glanced at him, but said nothing.
In fact, Xiao YuAn knew that by coming to Wuning Wangfu, Yan HeQing would get in contact with Wuning Wangye. But if he doesn’t trust Yan HeQing in this situation, he shouldn’t have rescued Yan HeQing from the prison in the first place, let alone protect him every time.
Although he had already transmigrated to this book for such a long time, Xiao YuAn always felt like an outsider from beginning to end. He acts indifferent to every character role and just stays there, like looking at a play, how they interpret their sorrows and joys5. The funniest part is that he already knows the end of many events and the fate of many people; he can even guess the thoughts of the people around him. But, in the end, he doesn’t know where he will go from now on. He doesn’t even understand what’s the position of the Northern Kingdom inside his heart, and what position has Yan HeQing in his heart either.
The two of them, with their own worries inside their heads, returned to the Jade Shop. Xiao YuAn finally bought the jade flute without any hesitation and they were cordially sent off by the Owner of the Shop.
The night hadn’t ended yet. The market streets were still very lively, the stars were accompanied by the lights and the laughter was accompanied by joy. Xiao YuAn was playing with the jade flute he just bought with quite a lot of money, and thought: I don’t know what will happen in the future, so I’ll just do what I want for now.
So Xiao YuAn turned around and handed the jade flute to Yan HeQing: “Here, this is a gift for you.”
In the eternal Guanghan Palace6 and the Qingxu Hall7, people can live a long life, sharing the beauty of the moon. Xiao YuAn’s bright smile shone right into Yan HeQing’s clear eyes, the light of the moon can’t reach the tenderness of his wam eyes, and the boat full of clear dreams can’t hold the crooked corners of his mouth.
If you see such a gentleman, will Yun Hu not feel happy?8
Yan HeQing fixedly looked at Xiao YuAn.
“What are you thinking about?” Xiao YuAn hands the jade flute to Yan HeQing once more.
Yan HeQing took the jade flute and clenched his grip on it for a long time, then, he murmured softly: “I…I…I don’t have anything to give you in return. I want to thank you for this.”
Xiao YuAn just wanted to wave his hand and say to him that it wasn’t necessary, when he suddenly saw what Yan HeQing had handed over to him, which almost scared him to death and made him take a big step back.
Yan HeQing’s palms were up, and on top of them, lying quietly in his hands, was a jade hairpin.
This is the relic of Yan Heqing’s Empress mother, and it’s also the love token that Yan HeQing gave Princess Yongning in the original book.
Ge!!!
Yan-ge!!! You can’t just give this to him as a gift, even if you give it to him as a thanks gift!!! Don’t you know what this is! Don’t you know what it means!!!
This object can’t be given away so casually, don’t be such a loser!!!
Xiao YuAn nervously smiled and waved his hand: “No… no, I don’t want a reciprocity for the gift.”
Yan HeQing insisted: “I want to give it to you.”
Don’t mind it! Don’t you have anything else!!
Xiao YuAn continued to wave his hand: “It’s too valuable for you.”
Yan HeQing kept himself in silence and stretched out his hand right in front of Xiao YuAn’s eyes, without any intention of taking it back.
Xiao YuAn took a deep breath and thought about it for a long time, finally, he decided to take the jade hairpin: “Thank you then, I’ll accept it.”
Forget it, he’ll take care of it for Yan HeQing.
Yan HeQing’s lips smiled lightly, his eyes were shining, they were very clear and bright.
Xiao YuAn, while holding the hairpin, was feeling a little bit uneasy, and because of that he said: “If someday you want me to return it to you, I will give it back.”
The smiling expression in Yan HeQing’s face suddenly banished, becoming a frown instead, he asked him: “Why would I want it back?”
“In any case…” Xiao YuAn coughed to cover up his embarrassment: “Hey, there’s juggling over there, let’s go and have a look.”
After finishing talking, Xiao YuAn took Yan HeQing and ran towards the lively place. Xiao YuAn was restless and ran as fast as he could. Suddenly, he crashed with someone and the both of them fell together, they rolled into a ball, sobbed in pain, and then, froze in place.
Because this voice was very familiar.
Xiao YuAn even forgot to rub where he felt pain, and looked at the person in front of him, he was stunned: “Ning-er?”
“Ah… Imperial…” Princess Yongning covered her mouth and whispered, “Gege?”
Both of them were still staring at each other, and out of nowhere, Princess Yongning was suddenly helped up by someone. Xiao PingYang’s tone was anxious, and her eyes were worried, like she was blaming herself: “Are you alright? Do you feel any pain?”
Xiao YuAn was completely dumbfounded.
The second female lead, Xiao PingYang???
Why is this plot line more and more magical!!!
Footnotes:
Footnotes
大惊失色 dà jīng shī sè; It’s a Chinese idiom, describes when someone gets so flustered that their face change, and is used as a predicate and a complement / Describes a subconscious expression. From 《汉书·霍光传》 (hàn shū huò guāng chuán), “History of The Former Han Dynasty: Huo Guangchuan” by (班固 bān gù), Ban Gu [32-92] an Eastern Han Dynasty historian.麻烦了 má fan; It has various meanings such as: “Trouble / Tedious”, “Bother / Disturb/ Asking someone to do something is equivalent to being tired”, “Accidents / Problems”. The origin of the word, according to the record of 《天工开物》(tiān gōng kāiwù), “Heaven, Work and the Inception of Things”, a technological encyclopedia written by (宋应星 sòng yīng xīng) Song Yingxing [1587-1666], says that when the ancients used such things as tree building to make paper, they had to go trough 72 processes; such as picking, drying, cooking etc. Because of these various processing procedures, the people started to often say “trouble” as in “I’ll have to trouble you with…”, “I’ll trouble you to do this…” and such.拱手 gǒng shǒu; Gongshou, also known as Zuoyi, is a greeting ceremony of the ancient Han Dynasty. During this salute, the hands are clasped to the chest. In modern times, the right hand is clenched in a fist while the left hand is in front of it; if it’s used in a funeral ceremony, it’s the opposite way. It’s said that the ancients saw the left hand as respectuous, because some people usually used their right hand while attacking others, so when they bowed their hands, their left hand was facing outside, showing their sincerity and respect.魂不守舍 hún bù shǒu shè; It’s a Chinese idiom which meaning is that the soul has left the house (house= a metaphor for the human body), either means that someone might die, or that someone is in a trance, that their spirit is not concentrated. From《三国志·管辂传》 (sān guó zhì guǎn lù chuán), “History of the Three Kingdoms: Guan Lu Chuan” by (陈寿 chén shòu) Chen Shou [233-297] a Western Jin Dynasty historian.悲欢离合 bēi huān lí hé; a Chinese idiom that refers to all the kinds of situations in life and all kinds of moods. It also means broken hearted. From 《水调歌头》(shuǐ diào gē tóu), “Water Melody” a poem by (苏轼 sū shì) Su Shi [1037-1101] a Northern Song Dynasty writer and calligrapher.广寒 guǎng hán; Guanghan is a Palace located on the moon in Chinese mythology and legends.清虚 qīng xū; It has many meanings, such as = Pure / Nihilism. High / Indiferent. The Qinxu Mansion or Qingxu Hall in the Moon Palace. Sky / Space. Wind / Dew. Clear / Void. In this case, it refers to the Qingxu Hall in the Moon Palace.既见君子，云胡不喜？jì jiàn jūnzǐ, yún hú bù xǐ?; It’s a Chinese vocabulary that means “Since I’ve seen the person I like(love), how can my heart not be happy?”. From the poem 《国风·郑风·风雨》 (guó fēng·zhèng fēng·fēng yǔ) “Guo Feng: Zheng Feng; Trials and Hardships”, from the《诗经》(shī jīng), “Book of Songs”, which is the earliest collection of Chinese poetry, with a total of 311 collected poems. The authors of these poems are not well known and most of them can no longer be verified.
