Black Belly Wife

The Li princess was dressed in a colorful dress, a straw garland on her head. She also wore jade rings around her neck, wrists and ankles, truly colourful and lively. She was very beautiful, especially those two beautiful eyes, which were like a clear and bright set of limpid autumn waters[1]trad. description of a girl's beautiful eyes. At this moment, she was gazing at Chu Changge with deep affection. Her cherry pink lips wanted to say something but hesitated, as if she had thousands of words[2]Chinese idiom : having a lot of things to say but didn't know where to start.

Chu Changge didn't even look at her. He was sitting beside Murong Yunshu, who was concentrating on making tea, which he would drink one after another. When she made a cup, he would drink a cup. "Is it good?" Murong Yunshu asked with a smile as she poured out her first brew of tea.

"Not bad," answered Chu Changge.

Murong Yunshu looked at him with a slight smile, then she lowered her head and continued to make tea, ignoring the Li Clan Princess completely. Of course, it was no more than a superficial ignorance. With such a burning gaze that could even be felt by a blind man, let alone her, who had good ears and eyes[3]Chinese idiom : have a clear understanding (of a situation). She thought that this Li Clan Princess had either never seen a man before, or she had never seen one with full clothes on, as a result, when she met one, she acted this hungry and thirsty[4]fig. craving for love etc.

"Ah..." The Li Clan Princess suddenly opened her mouth. She just barely let out the word 'Ah' when she suddenly stopped. She closed her lips lightly, then told the maids behind her, "You wait outside."

"Yes, Princess." The four maids who received the order, walked out in line.

After the maids left, Murong Yunshu put down the teapot and waited for the Li Clan Princess to speak. Since all the personal maids had been sent away, what came next shouldn't be too boring.

However, Murong Yunshu never expected that the Li Clan Princess would open her mouth with those astonishing words, making her question her sense of hearing for the first time in her life. This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.

Chu Changge was also flabbergasted by the Li Clan Princess' opening remark that he went blank for a full minute before he started to mumble a question, as if he had just awoken from a dream, "What did you just call me?"

This was the first time Murong Yunshu had seen such a Chu Changge, as if he had lost his soul. This made her question her vision. But her always clear-headed mind had explicitly told her that this was all true. The Li Clan Princess did not fall in love with Chu Changge at first sight, but rather — there were old feelings that had never been forgotten.

This scene of Chu Changge's losing his soul, and dropping spirit[5]Chinese idiom : driven distraction manner and the Li Clan Princess's deep affection, made Murong Yunshu easily associate it with another person — Xi Yue. Could it be that the Li Clan Princess and Xi Yue were the same person? Impossible. Murong Yunshu quickly overturned her own thoughts. If they were the same person, Chu Changge would have recognized her from the start, rather than waiting for her to open her mouth and for him to be shocked up to this point.

"Ah Chang." The Li Clan Princess called out again. Instantly, her eyes turned misty, as tears welled up in her eyes.

Chu Changge looked at her in a daze and asked in disbelief, "Are you...Xi-er?"

Murong Yunshu felt something crumbling in her head, and a buzz rang in her ears, as the sounds around her became abnormally hollow. She frowned and gently shook her head, to get rid of this strange feeling. Then, she heard the answer she least wanted to hear——

"Yes, I am." The Li Clan Princess nodded repeatedly, while tears stream down her cheeks.

Chu Changge jerked forward, stopping one step away from the princess. He gripped her shoulders tightly and tried to confirmed it once more, "Are you really Xi-er?" How was this possible...he had obviously buried her with his own hands, and the Princess' appearance was totally different from Xi-er…

A Tibetan Mastiff with a China singer, Huang Guanzhong.

Image Credit | Huang Guanzhong's Weibo via 黎明佩朱幼麗 at Hong Kong 01 (藏獒只對熟人友善 天生獵犬 西藏人愛用作護衛, Aug 29th, 2016)

With tears in her eyes and a smile on her face, the Li Clan Princess grabbed his shoulder and jumped at him, as she nodded and said, "It's me, Ah Chang, how did you come here? Ah, no, we'll talk about this later. My little turtle, did you feed it? Also, my Tibetan Mastiff, you didn't dig a hole to bury him, did you? You hate dogs so much that you must bully him while I'm away, don't you? Has Whirlwind (a horse) grown up? We agreed to wait for it to grow up and then we would chase after life and roam the world together..."

Without waiting for her to finish, Chu Changge grabbed her into his arms and muttered, "It's really you, it's really you, Xi-er. I'm not dreaming, am I?"

"No, no." She shook her head hard, as her tears began to rush out again, and she spoke with a sob, "Ah Chang, I miss you so muc., I really miss you so much…" This noob translation was translated by a noob translator きつね. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.blogspot.com.

"I know."

"You don't know how much I want to leave this hellhole every day and go back to Black Wind Mountain, but this broken body, not only it never practices martial arts, but it's also weak and sick. I will pant when I walk a few more steps on the ground, let alone climbing over the mountains!" When the Li Clan Princess mentioned these words, she was furious, as she stamped her feet to vented her anger off. Unexpectedly, this excitement led to a dizziness and she limped over Chu Changge. She was unwilling when she said, "In the past, the martial art contest between us would always end up with a draw, and in the future, I will never win over you again."

Chu Changge was so distressed that he helped her sit down and said, "You can recuperate when you are weak, and for martial arts, you can train it slowly. But Xi-er, you just said that this body of yours is broken. What is actually going on?"

"I don't know what exactly had happened. Three years ago on Feng Dage[6]lit. eldest brother, but in this context, it's mean Elder Brother, a polite form of address for a man about one's own age's Mount Hua Tuo, after I had a very long sleep, I woke up here, with my face and body looked completely different from before, and I was honored as a princess. Only later did I learn that I somehow had made both yin and yang wrong[7]Chinese idiom : a strange combination of circumstances by entering the body of the Li Clan Princess.

Chu Changge suddenly understood that it must have been when the Soul Snatcher in her body was acting up, and someone just happened to alter the Soul Shifting Law, allowing her to regain her life. "Xi-er, it's great that you're still alive. Come, I'll introduce you to..." When Chu Changge turned back, he realised that Murong Yunshu had left sometime ago. He hurriedly rushed out and asked the soldiers guarding the door, "Did you see the lady who came with me go out?"

"She said she didn't want to disturb the princess and fuma[8]a princess' husband, so she went out for a walk around." He was answered by one of the princess's personal maids.

Chu Changge's eyebrows sank and he lifted his leg to chase after her, but the corner of his coat was suddenly tugged by someone behind him.