[Revised TL] 72 铜钱龛世 | Tong Qian Kan Shi | Copper Coins -- 木苏里 | Musuli -- 英语翻译 | English translation -- Chapter 72

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Chapter 72: Passerby (III)

The Taichang had a strict rule: they only knelt to the heavens. So whenever officials encountered the Guoshi, their greeting did not take the form of a kneel but rather a deep bow.

    

Hundreds of riders jumped off their horses. All dressed in white and wearing silver beast masks, they silently arranged themselves into neat rows and bowed deeply at the same time. The sight was a spectacular one, but it was also threaded with a sense of solemnity and reverence. If the group had been holding sticks of incense, they would look like they were performing a ritual to the heavens.

   

To most people in the world, this would be an intimidating and flattering scene. But this display was small fry to Xue Xian. The reason why he stood there, frozen, was because it was so incredibly unexpected. 

He had never paid much attention to imperial matters in the human realm, since none of it had anything to do with him. He had never bothered to learn about the ever-changing rota of ministers that served the emperor. So when he'd first seen those two characters, Taichang, the word had had no impact on him. Instead, what had given these officials away to Xue Xian was the group’s unique getup: he guessed that they were the emperor’s religious ministers; in other words, fortune-tellers.

Naturally, Xue Xian had been witness to many crowds such as these in his long life. He almost blurted out, The rain priests managed to track me down?

Before Xue Xian could speak, Xuanmin frowned and stepped forward, half-hiding Xue Xian behind him. With that ever-cold expression on his face, Xuanmin scanned the large crowd of newcomers and calmly asked, "How can I help you?" [a]

How can I help you?

How can I help you???

The Taibu and Taizhu, who were at the front of the group and had been about to speak, were shocked still.

Nevertheless, they had grown up in an imperial court, where they were trained to always maintain politeness no matter what unexpected events occurred. The two officials continued to bow deeply, but glanced at each other in shock and confusion.

Did they have the wrong man? Impossible!

That silhouette, that demeanor, even the way he walked –– everything pointed clearly to this man being the Guoshi. They didn't even need to get close to recognise him!

So what did he mean by How can I help you?

Had he done it on purpose? Was there some kind of threat that required him to disguise his identity?

The Taizhu and Taibu had entered the Taichang together as children, and might under secular circumstances have been rumored to be childhood sweethearts [b] –– meaning that, by now, they understood each other intuitively. The two only needed to meet eyes to come to the same conclusion.

But just as they came to that conclusion, there came a gentle hissing sound. The sound came from somewhere near their own hands.

Stunned, the two officials saw that a small flame had somehow appeared by the Taibu's finger. That flame soon disappeared, revealing a small piece of paper within its core.

They were very familiar with this phenomenon: this was how the Guoshi communicated with them.

But the dove that the Taibu had sent had only just flown out. There was no way it could have already reached Famen Si. The only reason they might receive a message now was if the Guoshi happened to be issuing them with new orders, but the timing was far too much of a coincidence...

The Taibu caught the slip of paper in her palm and discreetly glanced at the white shadow standing before her. Before she could even open the letter, there came the batting sound of a bird's wings behind her.

"A letter." The Taizhu turned to look, and reached up to retrieve a letter attached to a dove's leg.

The two officials looked at each other again, then hurried to read the messages.

"The letter is from a Deputy Minister. He reports a rumor from Huazhi County that some folks saw a dragon. The Guoshi gave orders, and now the entire Ministry, including the guards posted outside Tianji Courtyard, are all on their way. We're being told to wait here." The Taizhu made his voice as low as he could, but when he said the word dragon, he was so surprised that his voice couldn't help but raise a little. Panicked, he lowered his voice again and squeezed out the final sentence: "Also, the Deputy Minister says that the Guoshi has left isolation. He has to take care of something first, but in three days he will be joining us."

And as for the Guoshi's personal message, it was as concise as always.

The Taibu shoved the unfolded slip of paper under the Taizhu's eyes. There were only five words: Act as you see fit. And at the bottom, that red stamp that read Tongdeng.

The two letters had arrived one after the other. They were both brief, but the contents were equally difficult to parse. Someone in Huazhi County had seen a dragon, but why did that mean every official from the Taichang Si, including those stationed to Tianji Courtyard, all had to come out immediately? Such a thing had never happened before, and the scale of this action was highly unusual, which would make anyone suspicious.

But the part that bothered the Taibu and Taizhu the most was not that: it was the fact that the Guoshi had finally left isolation, but had other matters to tend to...

The two of them couldn't help but make a connection to the situation in which they currently found themselves. They felt that their previous conclusion had been correct: the Guoshi was pretending not to know who they were because he had other plans that were secret to his underlings. 

Well, then, as his underlings, of course they had to cooperate as best as they could. To break the Guoshi's cover –– did they have a death wish?

"Act as you see fit..." the Taizhu murmured. This was precisely a situation where they had to act as they saw fit! The two officials quickly rearranged their faces and raised their heads. They nodded respectfully at Xue Xian and Xuanmin and said, "It was a misunderstanding. I'm afraid we thought you were someone else."

"Someone else?" Xue Xian laughed as he dusted some nonexistent dirt off of his robe. "Do you think we'd believe that?"

Although the two parties stood quite far apart on the path, Xue Xian had still heard them say the word dragon. If these men in white had honestly and directly explained their true intentions, Xue Xian would not have minded, but now they were saying that it was all a ‘misunderstanding’. Now that was interesting.

What kind of people lied?

People with something to hide.

Normally, Xue Xian could never be bothered to try and guess mortals' complex thoughts. But that was before he fell upon misfortune. Now, whenever he came across people like these –– people with something to hide –– Xue Xian couldn't help but remember the man who had maimed him. As he chuckled, the mirth in his eyes was a cold mirth.

"It is all our fault,” said the Taizhu. “With the curves of the mountain road, we did not look too closely at your faces, but instead went entirely by the colors of your clothes. How funny!" The Taizhu didn’t even dare to glance at Xuanmin anymore. Instead, he only saluted Xue Xian. "Please forgive us. Since the two of you are clearly on your way somewhere, we shall not delay you further. Please––"

He made a gesture at the officials behind him.

In a great wave, the hundreds of people behind him rose from their bowing positions and shuffled until the group parted in half, creating a broad and orderly passageway for Xue Xian and Xuanmin.

Xue Xian scoffed, but he said nothing and began to walk on.

He and Xuanmin did not hesitate to walk through the bisected crowd. Neither of them were afraid of anything, so they did not even feel uneasy as they crossed those dozens of beast masks lined up in rows around them. Xue Xian and Xuanmin maintained calm expressions and took steady, confident steps.

Before Xuanmin could get too close, the Taibu and Taizhu lowered their gazes, just as they were used to when they ran into the Guoshi inside the Taichang Si. They did not dare to let their vision linger. Besides, they seemed to have accidentally thrown a wrench into the Guoshi's vast plan and almost ruined everything –– the situation was now rather awkward, and they definitely did not want to look up at his face.

But in the instant that Xuanmin walked past him, the Taibu's gaze moved slightly, and she caught sight of Xuanmin's right hand. Then, she quickly looked away again.

Apart from at the beginning, when they'd briefly faltered upon first meeting Xuanmin, the Taibu and Taizhu's behavior for the rest of the encounter had been perfectly appropriate and subtle –– they'd been polite, yet not overly deferential. At the same time, they could not help but keep an eye on Xue Xian, as though fearing that this intimidating-looking figure might discover some weakness within them.

That had been their mistake: normally, furtive glances at someone might not alert them, but Xue Xian's eyesight was far more sensitive than that of a human. He immediately noticed the two peering at him. In his view, they had basically written, We have something to hide! on a board to parade down the street. 

Xue Xian felt that something was amiss, but before any real idea could fully materialise in his mind, the black bird on Xuanmin's shoulder broke off his train of thought.

That bird really was fearless: it seemed not to be perturbed by this massive group of ‘mourning’ people at all. Instead, when Xue Xian happened to bump into it, it actually shook out a wing and slapped Xue Xian's shoulder.

Vermin! [c]

As Xue Xian stared daggers at the bird, he saw Xuanmin silently stick a talisman onto it.

This was probably some kind of freezing talisman. As soon as the bird was hit by it, it became stiff as a board. It stopped moving entirely, though its two beady eyes glared resentfully at Xuanmin.

For a moment, Xue Xian felt good about himself. He was so self-satisfied that he forgot to try and figure out what those carriage train people had to hide.

Meanwhile, the Taibu and Taizhu watched as the two men and one bird walked through the crowd of officials and headed toward a fork in the road ahead.

"Hu––" The Taizhu let go of the breath he'd been holding. He had a new idea to make sure they wouldn’t sabotage the Guoshi’s plans. After bidding farewell to the two, they now had to pretend to continue ahead, but then somehow find a way to make a U-turn. They could return and surreptitiously follow the Guoshi from a safe distance, ready to provide backup in case of an emergency.

But before he'd even fully let go of that breath, the Taizhu watched as the tall and skinny man dressed in black who had been at the Guoshi's side suddenly turned back and flashed them a smile.

It was an extremely handsome smile –– and an extremely evil smile, with a chilling coldness to the crook of the lips that startled the Taibu and Taizhu.

Next, the sky directly above the Taichang officials suddenly changed. An oncoming cluster of black storm clouds rumbled forth out of nowhere and instantly blocked out the dim morning light. Next, dozens of bolts of white lightning came down from the clouds and crashed into the ground, right next to their feet, with a series of earth-shattering booms.

Each bolt of lightning seemed to have a specific target. They all came down dangerously close to the officials’ feet, and struck a circle around the entire group, trapping them in a cage made of live lightning.

In all the years that the Taizhu and Taibu had been alive, they had never before been in such utter and complete defeat. All the men and horses in their carriage train were thrown into chaos. The angles of these bolts of lightning seemed to be carefully calculated. The bolts were careful not to actually hit anyone, yet struck close enough to make them jump and to make the men run in all directions to avoid it. Their only option was to cower away from the lightning. 

There seemed to be no end in sight to this storm. The officials’ powers were limited, and they knew it would be no easy task to break out of this cage.

So the Taizhu decided to peer past the lightning and the commotion to try and see where the two men had gone. But when he did, he found that they had long vanished without a trace –– and, because of all the distractions, he had not even been able to see which of the two roads they'd taken.

As the Taizhu began to seriously panic, the Taibu gripped his sleeve and calmly said, "It's fine. We'll find them."

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The author has something to say: 

My period seriously lowered my intellect, so the word count is lower today. 

Tomorrow, this act will end. Then we will be getting into the mystery-solving act! Will there be a ton of explanation? Yes. Will everything go to shit? Yes. Will there be developments on the emotional side? Yes. And after that we won’t be far from the ending, hahahahaha.

I will work hard to wrap everything up nicely, kiss =3=

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[a] Musuli uses 有何贵干 (you3 he2 gui4 gan4), a highly formal phrase that means “What noble errands brings you here?” aka “What do you need?”

[b] Musuli uses the chengyu 青梅竹马 (qing1 mei2 zhu2 ma3). This is used to describe a couple who grew up together; they knew each other in childhood and played together, then grew up to marry. The phrase’s literal meaning is “green plums, bamboo horse” and comes from Li Bai’s poem, 长干行. A recent translation is here with a blog post about the process here.

[c] Musuli uses 小畜牲 (xiao3 chu4 sheng) here which means “little beast” and is an insult.

This chapter was beta’d by Rogue!