Black Belly Wife

"How dare you threaten me!" Halji flew into rage.

"He's the one who threatened you, I'm just reminding you." Murong Yunshu immediately stated her innocence clearly.

"Yeah, I'm the one who threatened you. It has nothing to do with her." Chu Changge also stepped forward in a dignified manner. A man must bear the consequences of his own acts.

Halji sneered, "What a fox sings in harmony with an owl[1]Chinese metaphor : bad guys colluding with each other! You two are just jackals of the same tribe[2]Chinese fig : they are all just as bad as each other.. "

Murong Yunshu raised her black eyebrows disapprovingly. In fact, she felt that her ability was like helping tyrant Zhou in his oppression[3]Chinese idiom : to take the side of the evil-doer. When a certain someone was setting winds blowing and wave rolling[4]Chinese idiom : stir up trouble, she was at most could be regarded as a small footman, where her level was limited, and she really didn't dare to sit as equals at the same table[5]Chinese idiom : to be on an equal footing with the expert.

Chu Changge, on the other hand, lightly shook his folding fan and smiled, "Actually, if your daughter really can't find someone to marry, I can help matchmaking. As for marrying me, you'd better give up the idea, as I'm not a good person." When he said the last sentence, he intentionally or unintentionally looked sideways at Murong Yunshu.

Murong Yunshu was such a smart person. How could she not hear the meaning of the last sentence. He was not a good man, which she already knew, so she had given up the idea of marrying a good man long time ago. In this life, if he was willing to marry her, she would be on the same page as him, and if he was unwilling, she would just live her life accompanied by the blue lamp[6]a lonely, pitiful life. It was not because she had deep feelings towards him, nor did she have any idea of him. It was merely because after meeting him, there was no man in the world who could even enter her eyes.

This person tended to trifle without respect[7]Chinese idiom : frivolous. Sometimes he would detest the world and its ways

[8]Chinese idiom : be cynical, and sometimes he would become so self-centred, while other times he would become very awkward and such a childish man. Although he didn't take root in her heart, he had stayed between her eyes for a long time. This made whoever she looked at, feel eclipsed by him and only mediocre compared to him. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.

Although he was not interested in her, and she would never allow herself to be emotional towards him, they could still get along happily. Just like in the past days, when they were peaceful, they would be peaceful together. When they laughed and played, they would laugh and play together, as they let time slip away unconsciously. When they looked back, they would already have gray-haired and in their advanced years. At that time, he would still disrespectfully protect her like he did now, and she, just like in the past, would watch him tyrannised and laugh at him for being completely unreasonable. In this way, it was already enough for her.

At the same time, Chu Changge's heart had changed a thousand times. He was an ominous man, as he had already been in dispute with God long time ago, thus he was doomed to be unhappy. When she was with him, only his misfortune and disasters would come to her, and her current experience was the best evidence. However, he didn't want to let go of her. He didn't want this woman, who could be cool and collected[9]Chinese idiom : showing no sign of nerves in whatever she faced, became just a passer-by in his life. She was the second woman who smiled calmly and suffered silently in the face of misfortune that he had brought upon her. However, the first one had her fragrance diminished and the jade perished[10]Chinese idiom : a beauty passed away, and the second one…..he was not that confident that he could protect her from countless sunsets and sunrises in the future.

 

In the past, he thought that he was not strong enough that he had made Xi-er die a violent death. Therefore, he constantly strengthened himself and made the whole world lose its gall when its heard the wind[11]Chinese idiom : terror-stricken at the news while being as silent as a cicada in cold weather[12]Chinese idiom : keep quiet out of fear. But now he realised that when a person wanted to protect another person with his life, he would never be strong enough.

The closer he followed her, the worse she would get hurt. After all, he was the source of the misfortune. No matter how much he tried to keep her unharmed, it would just be a clash of spears and shields[13]a conflict, resulting in a lose-lose situation for both of them.

Chu Changge knew that by standing far away, and just watching her smile, was the best choice. But time and again, he watched as he chose the most difficult one. When he learned that there was a cure for the Soul Snatcher, he understood that this path, filled with thorns and joys, was coming to an end. Once her poison was removed, he would withdraw from the marriage, and return to his jianghu[14]lit. rivers and lakes—people wandering from place to place and living by their wits, e.g. fortune-tellers, quack doctors, itinerant entertainers, etc. , considered as a social group. From then on, their world would be apart and no longer involved with each other.

Unlike Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge's chaotic thoughts, Halji's heart was on fire, as she banged the table and gave out a big shout, "What a guy to refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit[15]fig. to submit to sb.'s pressure after first turning down his request! How dare he say my Princess can't find someone to marry! Men, arrest them and put them in the dungeon!"

The feather-headed leader general who brought them to meet the Clan Elder even tried to dissuade her, "Clan Elder, calm down. Now that You Chi's whereabouts is still unknown, the only clue we have is the poison of the Soul Snatcher that this young lady has been poisoned with, and this subordinate thought that we should be courteous." You Chi was the one who left the Li Clan three years ago to pursue the stolen Soul Snatcher.

He spoke in a grandiose manner, but Murong Yunshu knew that it was only because he was afraid of Chu Changge. He was seemingly speaking for them, but in reality it was to protect the Li Clan. It was because he had seen Chu Changge's power, so he believed that Chu Changge's threat was not only make a show of his strength[16]Chinese idiom : bluff and bluster. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.

When Halji heard this, she frowned and nodded, while reluctantly said, "Then put them under house arrest." Afterwards, she said to Chu Changge, "As long as you are willing to marry the Princess, I will immediately give your sister the antidote and send her away. Of course, if she wants to stay and live in the Li Clan, she can do so, and I will also give her the title of Yuezhu[17]Master of the Moon and help find a good marriage for her." In the Li Clan, only Qinwang[18]Prince of the First Rank's direct descendants were eligible for the title of Yuezhu[17]Master of the Moon, so it was evident that Halji still valued Murong Yunshu highly.

Before Chu Changge could answer, Murong Yunshu took the lead and said, "Thanks Clan Elder."

Halji pursed her lips and didn't make any comment, apparently still angry that the two had contradicted her before.

Chu Changge, on the other hand, tilted his head sideways in confusion at Murong Yunshu and asked in a low voice, "Trying to sell your husband for your personal prosperity?"

 

"Just begging for my life." Murong Yunshu returned a warm spring smile at him and faintly said, "As the saying goes, every man for himself, and the Devil take the hindmost[1][9]Chinese saying : when men stop looking out for themselves that will be the end of the world. What's more, you have a beauty like flower that I'm fond of and since I have one more life, this business will definitely make a profit for us."

Chu Changge became speechless. How did the saying go, businessmen value profit over affection…..

*

As soon as the two were led away by the soldiers, Halji summoned Huberg, the chief sorcerer of the Li Clan.

As soon as Huberg entered, he inquired, "Clan Elder, I just saw a pair of foreign couples on my way here. Who are they?"

Halji said, "I called you here actually to talk about them. Now that you have seen them, I will no longer need to tell you. So what do you think of the man?"

Huberg said, "It's the monarch's destiny to have auspicious clouds and flying dragon entrenched overhead."

"Well said!" Halji said with great joy, "I really didn't read it wrong. He is the right candidate for the next Head of the Li Clan."

Huberg frowned at the news, "You are going to marry the Princess to him?"

"En." Halji smiled and nodded, "I've tested him just now. This man is a man who can talk and laugh in the midst of my full wrath, and is not afraid of life or death. Trusting the Li Clan to him, I am at ease." It turned out that Halji's anger just now was all an act, just in order to test Chu Changge. But she didn't know that the reason Chu Changge was that calm actually because he was confident that she couldn't do anything to him.

"But…"

"No but. Didn't you also predict that the Princess' husband was outside the Li Clan, and the prosperity of the Li Clan was controlled by that foreign man? He is the only man who broke into the Li Clan in the past three years, and his age is similar to that of the Princess. He must be the man in the prophecy."

Huberg wanted to say that the Princess' husband that he had prophesied to be outside of the Li Clan, was merely entrusted by the Princess herself who wanted to escape from being given in marriage indiscriminately, it was not a destiny. Also, regarding the prophecy about the fate of the Li tribe, it was true, but he was talking about the rise and fall of the Li tribe, not its prosperity. That foreign man just now, had an imperial fate, but he was not someone who the Li Clan could keep, not to mention that the woman beside him was no ordinary person.

But, after all, Huberg said nothing. For one thing, he couldn't lift a rock only to drop it on his own feet[20]Chinese idiom : hurt oneself by one's own doing by unraveling the lies told by the Princess; and for another, the Clan Elder had evidently made up her mind. It would be futile for him to say anything else.