Black Belly Wife Ch 20.3 - The Inn By The Cliff

The guest rooms were very simple, with the exception of a wooden bed, a table, four chairs, tea pots and cups, there were no other decorations. Murong Yun Shu tightened her lips and frowned. If they didn't run into the bandits, they would be in their vacation home in Qing Yuan. She opened the window, what she saw was thick smoke blocking her view. She was startled, she looked around and realized that this inn was built on the edge of a cliff. In addition, the room that she was in was on the cliff side.

Luckily Lu'er got the room across from her, otherwise she'd be screaming right about now. Just when she was feeling lucky about that, she heard a loud shriek coming from next door. What's more odd was it ended abruptly midway; peace was restored, like nothing had happened at all.

"Feng Ling disappeared!" Nie Qing busted through the door, there was worry in his usually cold eyes.

Lu'er rushed over as well, "Miss, I just went downstairs to order dinner. When I returned, our luggage was gone!"

The look on Murong Yun Shu's frown deepened, as if talking to herself, "Back in the days, I fasted for three days after seeing just one snake, how do you still have appetite...."

Lu'er was shocked beyond words, she patiently emphasized her point, "Miss, our luggage disappeared."

"It's just luggage, they don't worth much. As for money, we can withdraw some from the bank when we arrive at the next town."

What Lu'er really wanted to say was that there were several thousands of taels in their luggage, but she didn't think miss will think that's a big deal, so she gave up.

"Feng Ling disappeared," Nie Qing emphasized his point again. Although he was quite curious about how the snakes appeared and disappeared so suddenly, and wholeheartedly agreed with her about the fasting part, but, that's not the important point right now.

Murong Yun Shu glanced over at him, "And?"

Nie Qing was taken aback, "And we go look for her!"

"You want me to go with you?

Nie Qing frowned, "What are you trying to say?" Did she really need to be so cryptic in everything that she said?

Murong Yun Shu looked at him again, then, in a very merciful way, as though she was helping out the poor or someone who had fallen to bad luck, she said to him, "You want me to accompany you, you will have to follow my lead."

Nie Qing realized now that Murong Yun Shu was a very controlling person, whether it's regarding the "silver dollars" or when it came to matters with Feng Ling. But he's a macho man, why did he have to follow her lead? Sure, she ranked higher than him when it comes to official title, but this was a private and not official matter.

Lu'er could tell that Nie Qing wasn't going to buck, so she quickly moved to his side and whispered tohi, "Master Nie, the Murong family has always been very hierarchical. One person is the leader, the rest just follow orders; that's why all members of the Murong family are very self-centered, specially a single child like miss. She had always been more of a stubborn dictator than her dad ever since she was a child..." She paused and took a secret side glance at Murong Yun Shu and found no signs of displeasure. Feeling encouraged, she continued, "If you want her to accompany you, you have no choice but to follow her head. Besides, from my personal experience, it's always a good idea to listen to her."

After listening to Lu'er, Nie Qing suddenly remembered Murong Yun Shu's "it's my way or the highway^1" when they were negotiating about the bank warehouse, leaving him with no choice at all. Back then, he was under order by the emperor and had no choice but work cooperate with her. But now, he had the option to go solo, but he found himself reluctantly decided to follow her lead. It was as though there was a voice inside of himself telling him that, "Whenever she's around, things just became easier."

Nie Qing struggled long and hard over it before he gave in, "Okay, what's the plan?"

"We sit tight," said Murong Yun Shu as she closed the windows. Her motion was relaxed and her demeanor indifferent. Nie Qing was completed baffled, wasn't sitting tight the same as no plans? Did he just misplace his trust..... while he was doubting his own decision, Lu'er whispered to him again, "Don't worry, look at how calm miss is. She's already got plans."

Nie Qing snickered, what he really wanted to say was, your miss acted indifferently all the time, who could tell whether she was pretending to be profound or truly a strategist? But he finally decided against it.


***
Next scheduled update: Tuesday, Oct 2 - Ch 21.1 - Debt and Injustice.

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Black Belly Wife Ch 20.2 - The Inn By The Cliff

Earlier evening, two horse-drawn carriage arrived at an inn off the side of an official road. One was posh and luxurious, the other one old and shabby. They were quite the contrast of each other.

"Patrons, c'mon inside. Dinner or staying overnight?"

As soon as Murong Yun Shu stepped out of the carriage, the server of the inn greeted her obsequiously. "Overnight, two deluxe suites."

"Four," said Nie Qing coldly, his face still pale, looking feeble.

Murong Yun Shu paused for a bit, then silently walked on. She was about to head upstairs when Nie Qing suddenly asked, "Aren't you going to register?"

"You need four rooms for yourself?" She turned around.

Nie Qing was dumbstruck, when did he say he needed four rooms for himself?

"Since you asked for four rooms for everyone, why do I need to go register?" said Murong Yun Shu  matter-of-factly, then walked on without stopped again.

What kind of logic is that? Nie Qing couldn't figure that out.

Lu'er felt bad for him, so she translated, "Master Nie, what my mistress means is, you are responsible for the bill."

"What the hell?" She was the filthily rich one.....

"You were the one who asked for four rooms!" Lu'er suggested "nobody forced you to do so" with her look.

"She said two herself."

"Right, but I belong to the House of Murong, it was only right that she pays for me. But you and Miss Feng are not, that's why mistress only asked for two rooms."

"..... is it really necessary to be so petty?" Gigolo face turned into Judge Bao face¹.

"Of course!" Lu'er nodded, then looked at him curiously, "Master Nie, you don't want to have a complicated relationship with my mistress, do you?"

Nie Qing gave her a cold stare, "I'm not crazy."

Lu'er looked enlightened, "That's true. Mistress's husband is the leader of mojiao. You wouldn't dare."

Nie Qing's eyes flickered and begrudgingly went to registered at the front desk. He thought to himself, there are more and more crazies lately.

At the same time, all the diners at one table put their chopsticks and bowls down at the same time, and quietly grabbed their weapons.

It so happened that Feng Ling caught sight of this, she looked at them suspiciously and thought to herself, "These people looked so familiar....." but she couldn't recall where she had seem them before, so she shook her head and skipped upstairs.

***

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***

1. Direct translation of the original term 小白脸 is "little white face", refers to pretty men that are usually kept by wealthy women. I loosely translated into gigolo. Judge Bao was a history figure in the Sung dynasty that was known for being an extremely fair judge. For unknown reasons, in historical drama he was depicted as an individual with much darker skin and a new moon shape scar on his forehead. There was word play here is also from "white" to "black" instantly. :)

Black Belly Wife Ch 20.1 - The Inn By The Cliff

The one who looked to be the leader of the bandit looked over Nie Qing with disdain, then waved at him to make himself scarce, "Your cloths are worse than ours, robbing you will ruin our reputation. Go away and stop meddling, nobody is going to rob you."

Nie Qing seemed offended by the bandit's words, he gave Murong Yun Shu a stern look.

Murong Yun Shu was baffled, wasn't my fault that you dressed dowdily, what you staring at me for?

I wouldn't seem as dowdy if it wasn't for you! Nie Qing gave her another stare in displeasure. Did you really have to adorn your carriage with silver and gold? Even the silk curtain that was more expensive than his entire outfit was fitting with gold trimmings. It was as though she wanted to attract the bandits purposefully!

That was true that Murong Yun Shu was trying to draw out the bandits purposefully, but that was a month ago. She "disguised" her carriage that way for the sole purpose of luring out bandits Feng Ling and her brother at Mount Hua Tuo. Then she figured she had already spent all the money in decorating it, there was no reason for such a luxurious carriage to go to waste, so she rode it all over town flaunting and drawing attention everywhere she went...

Alright, so she was fully responsible for their running into the bandit today.  Murong Yun Shu seemed to mindlessly reached up and touched her aquamarine Chinese zither-shaped earring on her right ear. She felt the stretched strings on the Chinese zither model flickered and lowered her hand. Calmly and with a hint of overbearing attitude of a rich person,Thshe said "Go ahead, name your price."

The bandits thought they had ran into some sort of freak, but a pretty one at that. They took some time to discuss among themselves before the head of the lead bandit raised one hand and said "Five thousand taels."

Before Murong Yun Shu could respond, Feng Ling already exclaimed, "What the hell? Five thousand taels? This is robbery!"

Murong Yun Shu cast her a weak stare, "This is robbery."

Oh oops. Feng Ling stuck her tongue out in embarrassment and quietly moved to the side. It was the fault of Murong Yun Shu's elegant, business-like mannerism, it made her thought they really were in the middle of negotiating a business deal.

"Five thousand taels is a bit much. All you've done was chopped down a true, and paved a portion of a road. Throwing in labor, a hundred at most."

The bandits were shocked beyond words, did she really think this was a business negotiation?

"Yeah! One hundred taels, take it or leave it!" Feng Ling chimed in.

"Oh yeah? Let's see about that! We never claimed we are good guys!" All the bandits draw their weapons and prepared to strike.

Feng Ling immediately jumped and hid behind Murong Yun Shu, shivering she whispered into her ear, "Murong, just give them the five thousand taels. It's not like you don't own a bank."

Murong Yun Shu was irritated, "Hey! I thought you know kung fun, why are you hiding?"

Feng Ling blushed and stammered, "My brother advised me that if there's trouble in the way, I should go around it. My kung fu is only good enough for the like of Nie Qing...."

Nie Qing was just about to defend her "look at her petite size, she can't fight these roughnecks sizes of bear and tigers." But decided against it after hearing her "only good enough for the like of Nie Qing" comment.

Murong Yun Shu rubbed between her brows, she thought Feng Ling, being the only member of jianhu on the team, would be of some help. She didn't expect her to be a half ass. Then again, she should have known better. Judging by how much Feng Ling loved to stick her nose where it didn't belong, she would have meddled way sooner if she had any real abilities....

It looked at those one side would have to go down before they could strike a deal. With no other options, Murong Yun Shu signed and reluctantly raised her hand and grabbed the Chinese zither earring.

"Miss...." Lu'er stepped summoned up enough courage to step forward to remind Murong Yun Shu that now's not the time to be calm.

Murong Yun Shu ignored her. She seemed awfully relaxed whens he closed her eyes and rubbed her earring.

Her calmness perplexed the bandits and made them hesitate. Did she know some sort of magic trick that would allow her to summon some sort of spirits?

Nie Qing and Feng Ling turned and looked at Lu'er at the same time, was your mistress alright?

Lu'er was just as confused as everyone else. Her mistress was never normal, but never this abnormal...

While everyone was still puzzling over what was going on, rustling and hissing noises surrounded them. Then, a piercing scream, "SNACK!" Feng Ling jumped up and down in fear, screaming at the same time, as though snakes were climbing up her body.

"What snaked....." Nie Qing didn't finish he words. He was scared speechless, his face pale, and he started puking uncontrollably.

"Nie Qing!" Feng Ling rushed over to help out the still vomiting Nie Qing.

The bandits were just about to make fun of how cowardly the rich were, scared by merely some snakes before they realized the snaked continced to come out of the grass, cracks between rocks, and the trees. They were scared shitless.

"Snakes, all kind of snakes, so many snakes...." the bandits were in tears as they ran away.

As their screams got farther and farther away, Murong Yun Shu finally opened her eyes. Coincidentally, the snakes had all returned to their burrows.

"Let's go," said Murong Yun Shu apathetically. She didn't even looked at the other frightful people as she turned and got back into the carriage.

 The crowd exchanged looks, was she going to explain to them what had just happened?

***

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Black Belly Wife Ch 19.2 - Running Into The Real Bandits

Somehow Nie Qing was able to convinced the emperor to agree to building the bank warehouse in Shang Yang, and the printing process had also commenced. As soon as the warehouse was done, the reform could be pushed out.

Once the negotiation was done, Murong Yun Shu immediately began her return trip to Jinling. Nie Qing was now her right hand man, so he was travelling with her. Feng Ling volunteered to be the second Lu'er, joining the party and helping out with errands and serving the others. Naturally, everybody knew what her real intention was. Chef Gao went to Sholin Temple, bringing with him Murong Yun Shu's "thank you note" to Chu Changge.

Sitting inside the spacious horse-drawn carriage, Murong Yun Shu fished out the hair clasp she bought the day she arrived at the capital for Chu Changge. She stared at it for a long time with an intricate look. Finally, she lifted the curtains and tossed it out. When she found out all the extreme behaviors he had in the past for a woman, she realized they were not meant to be. Their relationship would never go beyond friendship.

Luckily, so far she had only viewed Chu Changge as someone who's nice to have around to chitchat with when she's board. She couldn't care less whether he was with her or not.

The carriage was spacious, large enough for a tall person to lie down. And for someone who's of average height like Murong Yun Shu, she could totally lie down as though she was in her own bed and move around however she wanted. So she laid down and closed her eyes. She figured they'd arrive at Jinling when she woke up.

Nonetheless, some people were never meant to have a smooth sailing life and Murong Yun Shu certainly was one of them.

Murong Yun Shu was woken up by the abrupt stop of the carriage, her body flew forward, almost tossing her off. Luckily she had quick reflexed and was about to reached out to steady herself between the interior walls of the carriage. 

"What happened?" She lifted and curtain and looked outside. There she saw about seven or eight roughnecks blocking the path of the carriage. They were all dressed in grayish hemp garments with their hairs sloppily tied up with hemp strings, making them look awfully like bandits. However, what made them appeared to be even more like bandits were their cliche saying:

"We planted the trees, we paved the road; you want to pass, you must pay us!"

Murong Yun Shu simply pretended that she didn't hear them. She did not appear to be frightened at all. She exited the carriage in a leisurely manner, scrutinizing the bandits with her gaze, "How much do you want? I don't have too much on me today. If I don't have enough, just put it on my tab."

The bandits were caught off guard that not only was she not frightened, angered, or worried, but rather open to negotiation. They didn't know how to respond.

Nie Qing snickered. Nobody knew whether that was directed toward Murong Yun Shu or the bandits. Murong Yun Shu watched on as Nie Qing wanted to the "front line". She figured he had some plans up his sleeves, instead he let out a very grandeur bureaucratic jargon of "Robbing under the broad daylight? Do you know there are laws in our country?"

Murong Yun Shu busted out laughing, that was very pedantic of a top scorer in the imperial examination. If bandits would observe the law, they wouldn't become bandits in the first place. 

***
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Patreon Site Is Up

Dear readers. I finished setting up my Patreon site today. I don't have much in terms of advance chapter [parts] just yet but still am able to offer a 1-advance-chapter and a 3-advance-chapter tiers.

The new release schedule will be 3 times a week on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.

Even though I know it is inevitable that translations posted online will be stolen onto aggregate sites, when it actually happened to me, and so soon (I thought it will at least be a few months after I started), it truly felt like a slap to the face. As much as I enjoy translating, it wasn't easy doing it on the side of a demanding full time job. So it was that much more disheartening to find other sites just straight up copy paste every words that I translated, footnotes and all, onto theirs as thought they were their own work.

Many great individuals before me have tried to combat these sites and failed, and I am not sure there is a way to do it without compromising user experience, so, just to make myself feel better, should there be an edited versions and any post with footnotes, those will only be included behind the paywall of Patreon. Other than that, I will continue to post the chapter parts on my website here basing on the schedule listed above.