Author: moondancer (page 6 of 13)

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2937 Galactic calendar, Phobos Starship Base.

The captains with the rank of rear admiral set up a table to play the ever-popular party game ‘Undercover’.¹谁是卧底: lit. who is undercover; a game to be played in a group of 3+ people, everyone is given a word (e.g. finger) except for one person who gets a different word (e.g. toe) and takes turns describing their word, the goal is to find out who has the different word (‘is undercover’); every round they vote someone out until either the undercover person is voted out or is the last one standing. I’d describe it as a cross between werewolf/mafia and charades. This was a regular activity at their gatherings which Chu Xiang could survive to the end almost every time, but not every captain was so good at it. The one who lost most miserably was always Chu Xiang’s friend Han Yi, captain of the mothership Youlan.

Captain Han was very troubled by this, because…

“I don’t understand why I have to write a review just because I can’t play this game!” Han Yi bit his pen. This was the rule set down by Fleet Commander Ye — whoever lost Undercover had to write a review, so a perfectly good game was played with killing intent emanating from all players. And in order to prevent the captains from cheating by making their AIs help write it, every review had to be handwritten. This was the 28th century, making them write it by hand was no different from torture.

Han Yi and Chu Xiang had both come from the special forces and had known each other for a long time. Chu Xiang knew that this person’s individual combat ability was off the charts, but he had one problem —

“Han Yi, every time you perform a mission, you rush in like crazy. Can’t you reflect on how brutish your methods are?”

“…I’m trying my best,” Han Yi said innocently.

“…Trying your best doesn’t mean making your killing posture more elegant or your stabbing stance more beautiful, but to make your methods more refined!” Chu Xiang rubbed his forehead. “An excellent commander needs good acting skills, acting! Last time General Ye went to negotiate with the pirate’s representatives in Sector Delta, he pretended to be a civilian with no combat capabilities and took advantage of their surprise to take down their leader. But if it were you…”

Han Yi nodded very seriously. “I would charge in from their front door straight to the control room, blood would flow like rivers and the floor would be covered in bodies.”

“Get it right, I’m not complimenting you.”

* * *

Maybe it was because he had a fever that Chu Xiang dreamed about the 28th century again.

This body’s condition was much too shabby — just turning over made him feel uncomfortable all over, he wanted to beat his chest out of frustration. There was a thick bandage wrapped around his neck, because although it was just a minor injury, his physical fitness was no longer that of a captain capable of walking sideways in the interstellar world, not to mention that the sanitary conditions of this place couldn’t compare to a sterile medical ward.

Fortunately I was enthusiastic enough and didn’t hesitate to kneel and kowtow when I acknowledged my new master, Chu Xiang thought, praising his own acting skills. He was much better than his coworkers who could only charge violently.

But in truth, excluding all this, Lan Jue was indeed a leader worth following.

Without even considering anything else, just based on his simple, somewhat silly vision… This wasn’t the peaceful society of the 28th century, it was impossible for him to have attended the philosophy classes provided by Starfleet Academy in this backwards and feudal society which was fully worthy of being labelled the Dark Ages. Lan Jue’s thoughts could almost be considered revolutionary beyond reason.

And why did he look so good? He was prettier than any starlet!

Chu Xiang was so muddled from the fever that he muttered to himself, turned over, and huddled beneath the covers.
Longque’s captain had also been famous throughout the fleet, not for his combat ability but for his lifestyle habits — he controlled his appearance very tightly and not one of his soldiers aboard Longque dared to be slovenly. Their logistics department assembled a group of female soldiers from those who graduated from the arts department specifically to deal with the issue of ‘substandard appearance’, and their people had been trained to the point that they could maintain their hairstyles even if they had to fight through a bloodbath.

Lan Jue was too good-looking, Chu Xiang thought that he could eat an extra bowl of rice at dinner if he took a few more glances!

As he daydreamed, the door creaked open.

…It can’t be an assassin anyways, he thought. Now that he was part of Lan Jue’s entourage, he had moved into the post house which was specifically to host visiting dignitaries, and thus was heavily guarded. Not even the Grand Princess’ Iron-Clad Guards could get to him here. He was too lazy to open his eyes, and besides, with the high fever his vision was too blurry and it made him dizzy.

A hand stretched out to touch his forehead and cheeks, then examined the wound on his neck.

The hand was very cool and very comfortable, Chu Xiang couldn’t resist pressing against it.

“Mnn… Don’t go…” he muttered as he dazedly moved closer, not allowing the owner of the hand to take it back.

But the hand still heartlessly left, and not only did it leave, it also forcefully pulled the quilt off him. Chu Xiang hummed in dissatisfaction and hugged it tighter, so that person instead had to turn to untangling his limbs, and spent quite a while at it until they could finally cover Chu Xiang properly.

“Drink your medicine,” they said.

A stomach-churning smell penetrated Chu Xiang’s nose. He opened his eyes a sliver and found a bowl of thick liquid, it looked like… well, he had been greeted with something that looked like sewage. He scowled in disgust and ducked away.

The same voice said angrily, “Don’t mess around!”

“Disgusting!” Chu Xiang categorically refused. Due to the fever, his eyes were red as he stared at the medicine, and his voice trembled slightly.

“You drink it properly for me!”

“No!”

Then…

Then a hand reached out, pinched his chin, forced his mouth open, and poured a large bowl of bitter medicine down his throat.

Afterwards, that same hand also covered his mouth to prevent him from spitting it back out.

“Mmmphh!!!”

Who was so brave! Who dared to touch a captain, were they tired of living?! Too disrespectful! Drag him out for extra training, extra extra training!

Chu Xiang’s arms and legs were weak, he could only struggle feebly for a short time before his entire, overly warm body hung on Lan Jue’s shoulder, while Lan Jue… Lan Jue had already stiffened into a stone sculpture. He knew that Chu Xiang didn’t have the healthiest body. When the girl said he had a fever, he thought that he was partly responsible for causing him to be exposed to rain, so he personally came to see him, but who knew that when he walked through the door what he saw would no longer be a majestic young man, and instead…

The confused Chu Xiang unexpectedly glanced at him with bent eyes, leaned his weight against his shoulder, hooked his chin, blew out a warm breath, and said in a soft and sticky voice, “Hey, beautiful~”

Lan Jue was stunned.

He had been on the battlefield, killed outlanders, fought bandits, and smothered the borders’ chaos, but never had someone–

“It’s so bitter… You’re definitely sweet, beautiful, give me a kiss?”

Of course this sentence was a joke. Talking nonsense was very common between comrades who fought through life and death together, which not even a general like Chu Xiang was exempt from. By living together on the same mothership for long periods of time, as they floated through the vast empty space, everyone from the highest commanding officers to the lowest privates became as close as family.

However, Lan Jue only felt an oncoming wave of heat which instantly burned him until his head filled with smoke.

This person is confused by his fever…

He knew this, so he wouldn’t argue with someone who wasn’t in their right mind.

But… His hands shook for a moment, he should have thrown him away and scolded him for being impertinent, or at least left him for Yang Feng to deal with, yet, as if possessed, he instead froze in place.

He looked at Chu Xiang, who — in the midst of his high fever — looked extremely docile, no longer so awe-inspiringly proud.

This person was unique. He seemed to be incompatible with the mortal world, with a temperament that prevented him from ever disappearing into a crowd. Even if he merely stood still, he shone like a fallen star. Lan Jue admired such a soul, but two days ago in the pouring rain, this man looked at him and chose to surrender. In the moment when he humbly knelt at his feet, Lan Jue’s heart had skipped a beat.

The feverish man hugged Lan Jue, whose body temperature was lower than his own, and sighed comfortably.

This sound broke Lan Jue out of his stupor and he subconsciously pushed him back onto the bed.

Chu Xiang fell back and did not get up again. He lay there on his back, looking into the void with disorientated eyes.

Lan Jue hurriedly stood and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, he heard a soft voice from behind him, and his feet immediately stopped their escape.

That person seemed to have thought of something, or perhaps the fever had cooked his brain, because he was crying. His body sank into the soft bedding even as his thoughts drifted far away.

“Don’t go… I’m so scared,” he murmured quietly.

* * *

2953 Galactic calendar, Sector Delta. The last cruiser broke away from their mothership Longque and flew towards the gravitational waves’ periphery.

The gravity well of the black hole bomb was so great that spaceships couldn’t escape even if they turned on warp speed. The Galactic Federation’s faster than light technology was very advanced, far stronger than anything the alien pirates in Sector Delta had, therefore their ships could still struggle to leave while their enemies had already been rolled up into the black hole.

Space distorted like a broken display screen, or like an old TV with bad signal, as objects deformed due to excessive gravity.

There were no longer any busy dispatchers or soldiers manning Longque’s main bridge, only a single figure remained.

Chu Xiang pressed his hand on the console and the central AI read his biometrics for permission to order the power core to self-destruct.

“Do you wish to activate self-destruction of the power core? Please confirm,” said the AI’s even voice.

“Confirmed.”

“Please repeat your authorisation.”

“Commanding officer Rear Admiral Chu Xiang, service number CH0103, Captain of Longque, is performing this action and confirms that it is correct.”

“Ignition of the warp power core has begun, thirty seconds countdown to detonation.”

He did it, he used his body as a barrier, both ship and captain.

“I’m sorry, destroying your core is my only choice, we’re going to die together,” he said to Longque’s AI.

The central AI replied calmly, “It does not matter, Captain, I am with you.”

A sharp siren sounded throughout the bridge, so piercing that it seemed as if it was hurrying people to their deaths, which made both their hearts and minds messy. “Can you turn off that alarm?” he requested impatiently.

“Yes.”

The surroundings immediately fell into silence, as if the battleship didn’t exist and what they faced was only the vacuum of space.

“You… What happens when an AI dies?”

“I do not know, Captain. Death is as mysterious as the center of black holes, only when you go there yourself will you know what happens.”

“But I know that once humans die, there’s nothing left,” Chu Xiang abruptly said. “I’m scared, I really am… very scared.”

“…Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen…”

“If it’s like that, then Captain, I finally beat you for once. I can turn off the emotion module for fear, so I’m not afraid,” the AI replied briskly.

Chu Xiang chuckled even as a single tear slid down his cheek. “Okay okay, you win. I’m really jealous that you can just turn it off.”

“Captain, it was my honour to have flown with you.”

“…Four, three, two…”

“I as well.”

“…One, zero.”

* * *

After saying that, the feverish man fell asleep, but crystal tears still dripped from his closed eyes. For an unknown reason, Lan Jue couldn’t help reaching out and wiping them away with the tips of his fingers.

The hot tears quickly cooled and evaporated. He touched Chu Xiang’s forehead, his body temperature steadily dropped.

Lan Jue’s thoughts turned to his poem, and how he wasn’t afraid to say everyone would freeze to death right in front of the banquet host. His earlier line alluding to their clothing really wasn’t subtle at all.

The young man had a beautiful smile; although his poem was exceedingly offensive, his smile truly was beautiful. The young reed-thin girl bought from the brothel also kept calling him her brother. Unlike people at the border, those who lived in the capital were deep-rooted and placed great emphasis on bloodlines, but he said — she was his sister now.

A strange emotion swept through his body.

“An interesting person,” Lan Jue commented quietly.

Author:
Chu Xiang turns on the flirting mode in overdrive!
Lan Jue: You’re seducing me!
Chu Xiang: I didn’t, I’m not.jpg
Lan Jue: You’ve seduced me, so let’s do something pleasurable!
Chu Xiang: I didn’t… Come on then! Beauty!
……
I’m still me, the dedicated dog food manufacturer!!! Please line up to receive your dog food in an orderly manner, don’t push, there’s still a lot!

Translator:
Updates will be twice a week from now on, Tuesday and Friday.

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• 1
  谁是卧底: lit. who is undercover; a game to be played in a group of 3+ people, everyone is given a word (e.g. finger) except for one person who gets a different word (e.g. toe) and takes turns describing their word, the goal is to find out who has the different word (‘is undercover’); every round they vote someone out until either the undercover person is voted out or is the last one standing. I’d describe it as a cross between werewolf/mafia and charades.

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Tianyan, evening, in pouring rain.

The sun actually had not yet set, but the sky was so gloomy that evening looked more like midnight. Heavy rain slapped the ground with a dense drumming noise. In weather like this, the street vendors had long ago packed up and gone home, and even the guards who should have been patrolling were holed up in taverns.

Despite the heavy rain, there was quite the commotion in front of the post house, since nobles from all walks of life would still come and go from mansion to manor as long as the socialising season wasn’t yet over. In short, they didn’t need to worry about the rain. If the soles of their shoes got even the slightest bit wet, someone would be punished for it.

Lan Jue, standing at the door to the post house, refused Yang Feng’s umbrella.

An old man selling shoes limped by the post house’s door and was chased away by several aristocratic boys.

“My Lord, it’s raining, why do you stand here?” Yang Feng asked.

“Waiting for someone,” Lan Jue replied.

Yang Feng lowered his head, then said quietly, “My Lord, there was a group of Iron-Clad Guards last night. Although we did our best, two slipped through the net.” In other words, the person you’re waiting for is probably already cold…

But before Yang Feng could say this, a figure appeared on the street. The young man was dressed in pure white today, and he walked against the flow of horses and carriages on their way to spring banquets. On this dark and rainy night, he, like the Lord of Western Tang, did not hold an umbrella. He was soaked from head to toe and his long hair plastered against his face, yet his eyes shone like stars.

He didn’t seem surprised to see Lan Jue at all. When Lan Jue turned and walked away, the young man followed him without a word.

They walked through the streets in silence. Occasionally they would pass a flower-seller girl huddling in a corner, whimpering sadly as her flowers were washed away by the rain. A delirious old woman lay in an alley, while nearby, a handsome young man on the roadside tried to stop every passing carriage in an effort to promote himself.

They walked through the city, they walked through the rain.

When they passed the brothel, Chu Xiang suddenly said, “Thank you for standing up for my sister. You even paid for her with your own money and didn’t ask for repayment.”

“Your sister?” Lan Jue’s lips curled up with interest.

“Yes.”

By some unknown coincidence, they stopped at Qianli Lake, where Chu Xiang had once departed and later returned.

Qianli Lake, Chu Xiang thought, unable to stop his smile, it’s practically my personal launch pad.

Rainwater dripped from their brows as they stood in the open, causing their vision to become somewhat blurred. Yang Feng, who stood nearby with an umbrella, looked at his strange master and his strange guest, not knowing whether he should go hold up an umbrella for them. 

Chu Xiang still remembered this world’s etiquette and had tried to mobilise his best acting skills, but neither party seemed to care all that much about it.

“You do not seem surprised to see me,” he said.

“No, I’m a little surprised,” Lan Jue replied. “The Grand Princess’ Iron-Clad Guards want to kill you, but you could still escape. Why did you look for me?”

“The house leaks and it will rain all night, I need a roof to shelter me from the wind.”

“Then why should I take you in, what can you give me?”

Chu Xiang smiled. “What do you want?”

Lan Jue’s subordinates in the capital had already investigated Chu Xiang since it was impossible for them to allow an unknown person to approach their lord, but it was this investigation that made Lan Jue even more interested — this person’s identity was very simple and had nothing unusual in his past. He was once amazingly popular and attended many banquets, and the things he wrote in this time could, in Lan Jue’s eyes, be bound into a standard ‘anthology of obscene words and erotic songs’. The reason why the Grand Princess disliked him was also very simple: the man insisted on his status as a luminary and refused to be a guest of the Grand Princess.

His looks weren’t bad either, but that was all.

It wasn’t until the Spring Banquet and his unique poem, when he showed his edge, that Lan Jue’s attention was well and truly caught. At that moment, he had been even more eye-catching than when he was killing people.

He was someone unfit for irrelevance.¹非池中物: someone with great ambition is destined for great things, the opposite of being a frog in a well

Lan Jue knew that apart from the literati in the capital, there were also many who wanted to assist a nobleman as counsellors. He instinctively disliked these people — refugees were everywhere, but these people only thought of how to steal territory, rob power, and strengthen themselves in order to continue indulging in food and drink.

But he held a glimmer of hope, he thought that Chu Xiang might be more than that.

So he deliberately let people spread that poem around.

“I want a lot, but how are you going to help me?” he asked.

They went in a circle and returned to the original question, and the rain was starting to make him shiver, so he couldn’t be bothered to keep probing. “Don’t you want more power?” he asked directly.

Lan Jue: “Should I?”

“Then what you suffered at the Spring Banquet wasn’t enough?” Chu Xiang smiled.

At the Spring Banquet, even the attendants dared to sigh at Lan Jue’s background behind his back, and not a single noble family was willing to marry into Western Tang.

Lan Jue’s expression slowly turned cold and murderous as rain slid down his cheekbones.

Chu Xiang seemed unable to detect it.

“Power is a good thing,” he sneered. “You see, everyone wants this thing, because only when you have it is your life worth anything. If that young man on the road had power, why would he need to sell himself? It’s raining so heavily but that flower girl has to protect some flowers a noble would just throw away and might be sold to a brothel at any time. They’re just ants, so the city’s dignitaries can step on them as they please. The guards can openly kill people on the street without consequence because no one notices whether the child begging on the street corner would still be there the next morning… This is power. On a cold winter night, an infant and its mother turn into ice sculptures overnight, but nobles can sit in their greenhouses and listen to elegant music until dawn, and they might even order the windows be opened because it’s too hot inside. This is also power.”

“Yes, once you have power, you can prey on the people and treat the world as a plaything. Just like the consul and chief justice — in order to eat more new dishes, they would happily watch people starve to death in the wild and make themselves vomit,” Lan Jue agreed solemnly.

As they looked at each other, Lan Jue suddenly pulled a dagger from his waist and pressed its tip against Chu Xiang’s throat. Tiny beads of blood welled up which were instantly washed away by the pouring rain.

“And you, what do you want? I know that everyone thinks the Lord of Western Tang’s position is awkward, he’s obviously the lord of a principality but people despise him wherever he goes. Do you think you can persuade me, help me improve my standing, then enjoy the glory as well? What is power in your eyes?”

The dagger moved a bit deeper and more blood was washed away by the rain with some staining Chu Xiang’s collar. However, this white-clothed young man only stared at the dagger and didn’t move another inch.

“It’s a delicious yet poisonous wine that one would fight to swallow even when you know it would pierce your intestines and make your stomach rot. Those with absolute power could naturally dominate the world and treat everyone like grass, but before winter comes, lighting will strike on rotten trees and the wildfire it sparks will scorch heaven and earth,” he replied.

Lan Jue lightened his hold. Chu Xiang used two fingers to push the blade away and took half a step forward.

“My Lord, do you want to be a rich and powerful ruler, or a blazing wildfire?”

Yang Feng let out a startled sound, then hurriedly covered his mouth.

Turn into fire, then burn away all the rotten wood in the world? Then wouldn’t that be–

Lan Jue suddenly smiled, pinched Chu Xiang’s chin, and said slowly, word by word, “You want to instigate me to rebel?”

Chu Xiang still seemed as if he couldn’t feel pain. “I don’t dare, but My Lord, have you ever truly submitted?” he asked rhetorically with a smile.

Did he ever truly submit?

The year when Lan Jue’s father was banished by the previous emperor, he was also exiled to beyond the Great Wall at a young age. Outside the walls, there was a city that never slept, where fish and dragons mingled,²A messy power structure, somewhere both weak and strong people coexist and suffered occasional raids by foreigners. His father transformed that place into a paradise on earth.

He had felt inferior due to his status as a criminal, until one day he discovered that his father had never done anything wrong. The Lord of Tang had used gold intended for the emperor to purchase food, provide relief for victims, and rescue citizens displaced by locust plagues. As a result, the refugees survived, but their lord could never return.

“My Lord, there is no reason to accept it.”

“You’re right.” Lan Jue put away the dagger, but it was Yang Feng not too far away who was so scared that he almost fainted.

The heavy rain covered up all the surrounding sound, leaving only two men facing each other, both drenched, but they seemed to be holding swords in their hands which sparked as they collided.

“But why do you think that you can incite me? I’m already the lord of a principality, at most I’ll just think of a way to take back Eastern Tang, but you want me to… directly usurp the throne?” A strange light flashed in Lan Jue’s eyes. He seemed to find it very funny, but also found himself unable to laugh. “You think I desire greater power?”

“You must,” Chu Xiang replied.

“Aren’t you afraid that I’m loyal to the emperor?”

As if hearing a joke, Chu Xiang burst into laughter. “The emperor? What’s loyalty to him worth in a time like this?” he shouted sharply.

He advanced another step but Lan Jue did not back down.

“Today, even as we speak, King Qin’s forces have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, so many lords’ flags have appeared in his camp, but everyone knows that power is the real rallying banner. King Qin hasn’t even put forward his own name for the throne, all his government affairs are left to his sister; his sister does have the ambition, but she has no ability to lead; as for the emperor, he’s busy sleeping with a few more beauties in his harem before the world changes hands. My Lord, everyone knows that King Qin is raising an army to seize power. All anyone in the world wants is a jade seal and a dragon chair, but this is a meat grinder. Once you get involved, it’s either tearing others apart or being torn apart yourself. You want Eastern Tang, does the Lord of Eastern Tang not want Western Tang? Once this war begins, no one can escape.”

“So what do you want, to be able to say that you assisted the dragon to his throne?”

Chu Xiang paused for a moment, then sighed in frustration. “Why do you care what I do? It doesn’t matter what I want.”

Lan Jue cleverly avoided this topic to ask instead, “Aren’t you worried that our goals will differ on this long journey?”

“Will they?” he smiled again. “If one day you have absolute power, kings and nobles will prostrate at your feet, no one will dare call you a barbarian behind your back. All the rude attendants who laughed at you will be forced to become military prostitutes, the ministers who rejected your marriage proposals today will kneel in front of the palace steps and beg you to allow their daughters to be your personal maids, the scholars who laughed at your handwriting will have their hands cut off and their tongues pulled out, civil servants and military officials will all kneel before your throne. Everyone will worship you, your descendants will be true dragons who rule the world, destiny returns to its rightful path.”

“Ha,” Lan Jue sneered, “then what’s the difference between me and those powerful people now? I don’t know their books, I don’t care about their women, a woman who quarrels over the patterns on her clothing can never be my queen. As for descendants, I have an adopted son who’s ten this year and he already makes me angry enough, if I have any more I’ll lose at least a decade off my life.”

“But you are not without desires, otherwise you would not have put down your pride and wasted time on the extravagant spring banquets here.”

Lan Jue was silent.

“Everyone longs for power, but they forget where power comes from, and forget to think about why they want this sugar-coated poison,” Chu Xiang said. “You just walked through the city, didn’t you see the consequences of having no power in today’s world? You keep asking me what I want. What I want is very simple, you can give it to me, but the important thing is what you want.”

Lan Jue watched Chu Xiang, who was so agitated that he didn’t care about his wound even as more blood flowed down his neck to be washed away by rain, and as he did so he suddenly felt very stupid. There was nothing to probe here, this man could present his autumn and frost poem at the Spring Banquet, wield a blade without hesitation, and meet him alone on a rainy night. This was enough proof.

So Lan Jue spoke to him.

“I want the children as old as my son to not lose their parents, I want girls of sixteen to marry good men, I want every old woman the same age as my granny to be able to sit in bed with a warm bowl of congee. I don’t like fighting for power, but as you said, I have to have it in my hands for my words to be heard and obeyed. So, if anyone blocks my way, I will lead my cavalry to trample them into the mud.”

Hearing Lan Jue’s words, an unconcealable smile crept onto Chu Xiang’s lips, and he took two steps back.

Even if he lost his mothership, how could the captain of Longque drift with the tide and be lost among the quagmire of the world? Maybe travelling through time gave him amazing luck, Chu Xiang never thought that things would go so smoothly — the Lan Jue in front of him was a ready-made wise ruler.

On the day his mothership first launched, the captain once pointed to its power core and swore that as long as both ship and captain were present, he would use his body to defend his homeland, protect the river of stars, and never be afraid of death.

As the saying went, even if you left home for half your life, you would become a youth upon return.

Chu Xiang lifted the hem of his robe and knelt without hesitation.

“Your Majesty has the ambition of a dragon, it is only a matter of time until you soar; I am willing to pledge myself. On the day the true dragon ascends, clouds will spread and rain will fall, dry land will once again become fertile.” Chu Xiang looked at him, then suddenly knocked his head to the ground, splashing water everywhere.

Lan Jue stood quietly, receiving this bow.

“I entrust my body to you. I ask for nothing, save that you remember your vow today and never give it up.”

Author:
I’m telling you, Lan Jue’s heart moved first!!! And Captain Chu’s acting skills deserve a little gold man!³An Oscars/Academy Award, since the award statuette looks like a gold human figure. Basically all c-novels I’ve read use ‘little gold man’ to refer to the top acting award instead of its name, regardless of if it’s actually the Oscars in-universe. In fact this is why I set it as a round trip time travel, because I really don’t think a modern person can avoid self-destructing if they transmigrate, so if someone has already lived there a while they can do it, right? Hahahaha
……
Attention, look here, Lan Jue is only 24! You all know I like young ROs, he’s really not that old hahaha, his son is only ten years younger than him because he’s an adopted son!

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• 1
  非池中物: someone with great ambition is destined for great things, the opposite of being a frog in a well
• 2
  A messy power structure, somewhere both weak and strong people coexist
• 3
  An Oscars/Academy Award, since the award statuette looks like a gold human figure. Basically all c-novels I’ve read use ‘little gold man’ to refer to the top acting award instead of its name, regardless of if it’s actually the Oscars in-universe.

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2931 Galactic calendar, Tianque Space Port.

Among the many rivers of stars in the sky.

On Tianque Space Port’s upper platform, ground crews were spray-painting a logo onto the outer shell of the docked mothership — it was a one-winged black phoenix flying high, representing Longque. Tomorrow, this mothership’s central control would be activated, the main engine would go online, and there would be a grand launch ceremony. And after that, her first destination was somewhere thousands of light-years away.

Through a glass porthole, the young captain faced the stars with one hand on his heart and the other on the mothership’s power core, as if he could feel Longque’s heartbeat.

“What do you think, Commander?”

Chu Xiang turned and saluted on the spot. The person behind him had been his direct superior when he was in the special operations team — Shao Yun, a female warrior with a classically oriental face and half her body replaced by machines. She could happily chat about idol dramas with the enemy then turn against them in an instant and mercilessly crush their heart.

“What do you think?” she repeated, grinning.

Chu Xiang was very honest. “Couldn’t sleep, too excited.”

Shao Yun: “I was also very nervous the first day I took office.”

“I’m not nervous.”

“Oh?”

“I think I should feel nervous, but I just can’t. I just feel… excited,” Chu Xiang said.

Shao Yun smiled at this. “I understand. Fleet Commander Ye once said something about you, he said that you’re like a dust mote in the starry sky, the meaning of your existence is to one day burn up into stardust.

“Chu Xiang, I wish you good fortune, that your wings can spread far and wide, that your seas be broad and your skies be high.”

Then, Longque’s light would cover the sun and sky; under her wings, all would be clear and cloudless.

* * *

Chu Xiang, abruptly awakened, blocked a gleaming dagger in front of him, pinched his opponent’s tendons, and twisted it. His opponent didn’t expect this move and suddenly found himself missing his weapon.

There were no artificial lights in ancient times, so Chu Xiang could only barely see that there were two figures sneaking around his room.

The next second, another dagger pierced into the mattress. Chu Xiang separated his legs just in time and the dagger fell onto the bed frame. At this moment, Chu Hexing woke up — the girl was a light sleeper because when she slept on the streets, she had to avoid the patrolling night guards. She rushed into the room and, without a word, picked up a chair and smashed it toward the intruders.

The two killers were so shocked — not expecting that this skinny little girl would fight with such desperation — that they were hit by the chair and blood began pouring from their heads.

At the same time, Chu Xiang took advantage of Chu Hexing’s chair throw to jump out of bed, then accurately stabbed the first man in the liver. The man fainted from extreme pain without a sound. Before the second man could understand what happened, Chu Xiang pivoted and plunged the dagger into his heart. He was fast, accurate, and had not one iota of doubt. His single stab separated the killer’s heart into two halves.

Then…

Then the dagger got stuck against the man’s ribs and he didn’t have the strength to pull it out. Instead, Chu Xiang himself stumbled backwards and sat heavily on the edge of the bed, helplessly watching stars fly in his vision.

He woke up suddenly and moved too fast, the stars hadn’t appeared yet during the stabbing, and now he couldn’t move after the stabbing.

“Evil Star!”

“…There’s no evil star here,” Chu Xiang panted. He figured it out, this girl was clearly teasing him!

“You–”

He wanted to ask if she was scared, but Chu Hexing jumped over and, patting his head, asked, “Were you scared? What are these two here for, burglary?”

“…” Child, I should be asking you that. Can’t you act a bit frightened and let me experience comforting you?

This wasn’t an accident, but a real assassination attempt. If Chu Xiang and Chu Hexing hadn’t surprised them, if they had expected a frail scholar to put up a fight, they might have slept through it and never awoken again.

It took a long while before the stars in Chu Xiang’s eyes disappeared.

The corpses of the two killers lay on the floor, filling the room with the smell of blood. After Chu Xiang recovered, he immediately searched the bodies — upon untying their collars, as expected, he found tattoos identifying them as part of the Iron-Clad Guards.

This time, they were definitely the Grand Princess’ people.

He couldn’t remember how he had offended her, but since this was already a fact, then he might as well offend her completely. He knew that the royal family was weak, and the reason why scholars could gain so much fame was because there was no such thing as a literary inquisition.¹Also known as speech crime, this was the official persecution of intellectuals for their writings, whether the writing was directly causal or only used as a justification for conviction. It took place in basically every dynasty but the Ming dynasty (1300s-1600s) was particularly notorious for this. See Wikipedia. She wouldn’t dare to openly arrest him for a mocking poem, but she would definitely send more assassins.

A sneer arose on Chu Xiang’s lips — it wasn’t so easy to kill a battle-hardened captain. Moreover, captains weren’t useless without their battleships and mechas; Longque was originally his codename during his time in the special forces, it was only after he became a captain that the name was shared with his mothership. Even if the mothership was no longer with him, it was absolutely impossible for him to suddenly be helpless on a chopping board. The consciousness and instincts he trained through battles in the interstellar era weren’t something people who only used cold weapons could keep up with.

None of the generals commanding spaceships were escorted by guards, because they could fight off an entire platoon of guards by themselves.

* * *

That poem soon spread throughout the capital, and children playing in the streets began exchanging lines from the poem.

It was a poem that lacked literary grace, was troublesome to say, and shouldn’t have received any attention at all.

Chu Hexing, who had sneaked outside early one morning to inquire about news, quickly learned it and came back to recite it to Chu Xiang word by word.

“It’s amazing! Especially ‘all freeze bar none’, it’s so exciting! I’ve always hated those fatties!”

Chu Xiang held his forehead. How is it exciting? Child, your education level urgently needs to be improved.

On the starnet’s virtual mecha battle platform, a skilled player could spit out a dozen lines of this rubbish trash talk in a single match! In the Galactic Federation’s Chinese district there was someone who became famous online for his trash talk, and later he was confirmed to be a colleague, an ace pilot from the Beidou Fleet. This made his commanders furious and he was punished to write a thirty thousand word self-reflection essay. Thinking of the past, Chu Xiang couldn’t help but remember that this person wasn’t only good at trash talk — once, when their army confronted another, he wrote a scathing condemnation of the other side, but because he didn’t know their alien language, it could only be studied internally as an essay model.

“Gege, do you want me to drag these two out and bury them?” Chu Hexing said menacingly, having pulled out a shovel from nowhere and was now advancing towards the two bodies with ‘I’m a professional at killing and robbing’ written all over her face.

“Forget it, we can’t live here anymore anyways, why bury them? Let the guards have this headache.”

Chu Hexing nodded obediently, but spat on a corpse as she passed by.

“You… Aren’t you scared?”

Chu Hexing shook her head. “I’ve seen people who died much more miserably than this, last winter, next door’s Granny Zhang froze to death in her home and I was the one who found her when spring started. Stray dogs had eaten most of her body. Granny Zhang was very good, I really wanted to kill the dogs to take revenge for her, but then I thought, it wasn’t the dogs’ fault, dogs don’t understand human things, and besides, they’re starving in winter too.”

When Chu Xiang heard this, he didn’t know how to respond.

Then Chu Hexing said, “Gege, you’re the evil star, did you come down from the sky to deal with that bunch of bastards? Those big lords are super afraid of evil stars!”

“Which bastards?” Chu Xiang asked subconsciously.

“It’s those officials who made coal so expensive last year, the tax collectors who would beat us if we couldn’t give them money, and… and the guards who would randomly kill people on the street! If the guards hadn’t played Granny Zhang’s grandson to death last winter, she wouldn’t have frozen to death without anyone finding out.”

“…” Chu Xiang fell into silence, and Chu Hexing happily took his silence as acquiescence.

“I know fate isn’t something you can talk about, I won’t tell anyone, not even my favourite carp! That was the first fish I ever caught, it was super big. I thought that it wasn’t easy for it to grow so big, so I let it go, then later it killed a smaller fish and gave it to me!”

She seemed to believe from the bottom of her heart that Chu Xiang was the evil star who came from the sky to, to… to overthrow this depraved world, but what about after that? The girl who grew up in the slums had never thought of what would happen in the future, she only thought that if all the bad people she met died, life might be a bit better.

But Chu Xiang knew that the various lords were all restless, and the drama of a chaotic world was about to unfold. King Qin’s army had already raised a rebel flag, and although they hadn’t yet gained any significance, who knew who was truly standing under that banner. The heroes fought for nothing more than fame and fortune, while the lords were divided and didn’t dare to covet the highest throne but wanted, at the very least, power and wealth.

No one would ever give girls like Chu Hexing a stable, peaceful world.

Unless.

It was the evil star.

Strange happenings begat strange responses. In the eyes of the royal family and nobles, Yinghuo’s rise would lead the world into chaos, terror, and endless killing, but in the eyes of the common people who lived hand to mouth, it was a sign of salvation.

But it’s a pity, Chu Xiang thought as he gently shook his head. “Little girl, I’m really not the evil star.”

Chu Hexing looked at him quietly with her big eyes, and for a moment, Chu Xiang felt like he was looking at a million galaxies shining through Longque’s porthole.

“But I didn’t lie to you, I did come from the sky,” he said.

From among distant stars and brilliant galaxies.

“Where I’m from, girls like you can grow up without any worries. She can have the most beautiful pink lace dress and the latest spaceship model launched that year, and when she grows up, although there won’t be an owl to bring her an acceptance letter from a school for magic, there might be a drone flying in from the space port to her neighbourhood which uses holographic projections to play an admission invitation video for Starfleet Academy. In a few more years, she can walk in space and fly above the sky, and wherever she goes, the sun will always shine on her family.”

Chu Hexing couldn’t understand the terminology used in the future, but her eyes still lit up.

Taking her small hand, Chu Xiang said, “I hope you can fly too.”

…If someone wants to break your wings, I’ll kill him for you. If someone wants to lock you in a cage, I’ll help you get rid of him. If it is this world that limits you, I’m willing to try, I’ll be the Evil Star you speak of. I don’t have my main cannon anymore, but I can still destroy everything.

“Gege.” Chu Hexing suddenly forgot the gender segregation in this era — like a child who truly did grow up innocently among the stars, she held her brother’s hand and said, “I know it, you’re a lord from the stars, you must be Yinghuo-xingjun,²Xingjun, meaning lord in the same way you might see Zhenjun in xianxia stories.  you can’t lie to me.”

“That’s not quite right,” Chu Xiang said. “I’m Longque.”

Author:
In fact it’s Lan Jue who profits from this, today he gives a little sister, tomorrow he gets the kingdom and a beauty…

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• 1
  Also known as speech crime, this was the official persecution of intellectuals for their writings, whether the writing was directly causal or only used as a justification for conviction. It took place in basically every dynasty but the Ming dynasty (1300s-1600s) was particularly notorious for this. See Wikipedia.
• 2
  Xingjun, meaning lord in the same way you might see Zhenjun in xianxia stories. 

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“Your name isn’t good either, calling you that is too disrespectful,” Chu Xiang said. “Why don’t you use Chu for your surname like me from now on, as for your name… Hm…”

He met this little girl by the water where she saved his life, and she was convinced that he was the ‘evil star’, so why not–

“Chu Hexing, I’ll call you Little Xing, okay?”¹Hexing, made up of the characters for river (河) and star (星), her nickname is little star. How cute.

Chu Xiang turned around and found the girl standing three metres away with a pair of big eyes shining brightly out from her excessively skinny face.

“What’s wrong with you, you’re standing there like ET,” he joked.

Chu Hexing blinked and a crystalline drop rolled down her face. Tilting her head, she asked, “Yeti? What’s that?”

…He accidentally told a joke from the future, of course an ancient person wouldn’t understand. Instead of answering, Chu Xiang smiled and took hold of the little girl’s hand. “Well, they’re people who live on stars, they… look very beautiful, their eyes shine like stars.”

Chu Hexing pondered for a while. “You… you bought me, do you want me to be your bed servant²A type of concubine, the ranking goes wife > consort > concubine > bed servant. Bed servants would often be selected from among maids. today?”

“Bed…” Chu Xiang was stunned for a moment, before slapping the back of her head. “No way, I don’t have that type of hobby.”

Ideas from two separate worlds clashed together for the first time. “I’m fourteen, I can do it!” the girl protested.

She was only fourteen… Chu Xiang gently touched the top of her head. “You’re my little sister now. What, do you think I’m such a beast?”

“Little… sister?” Chu Hexing said dumbly.

“Yes, little sister.”

Chu Hexing: “Then… Then I need to–”

Chu Xiang cut her off. “I need you to grow up safely.”

* * *

The inns had too many people, so Chu Xiang took his new sister to find a nice courtyard to rent.

It was impossible to allow Chu Hexing to keep fishing in Qianli Lake, so Chu Xiang would have to think on how they should survive in the future. In particular, the girl had a strong sense of empathy — she had watched the beggar children on the street sadly for a long time.

“Evil Star, can’t you buy them as well?”

“…I can’t possibly buy everyone,” Chu Xiang said helplessly.

Chu Hexing naturally knew this as well. She pursed her lips and forced herself not to look at her fellow children who huddled by the roadside and were driven away by guards everywhere. “It’d be great if everyone can eat,” she finally said.

* * *

The socialising season had not yet passed. Although the imperial family suffered theft, the spring banquets weren’t delayed. The Longque that they lost had the legend of being the emperor’s sword, so they dared not publicise it — if the people knew, wouldn’t they say that this dynasty’s fate was exhausted?

Chu Xiang still had to harden himself and attend those useless poetry gatherings, but he really couldn’t write a single line of poetry, perhaps he should copy some poems from the other world’s historical figures? No, forget it, this approach in ancient time-travelling stories was very… dumb, and unsuitable.

This place was called Linghe Pool while the Grand Princess was titled Qinghe, it was enough to show how much she loved lotus flowers.³Linghe and Qinghe share the 荷 (he) character, meaning lotus. This season, her pond was filled with blooming lotuses of all kinds, who knew how many gardeners she went through to cultivate this many varieties. Chu Xiang stood alone next to the lotus pond, avoiding the lively banquet in the main hall.

“Amidst warm jade and fragrant spring scenery…”⁴Jade is an euphemism for women, and spring (specifically ‘spring scenes’) is an euphemism for… sex.

Poetry verses were heard from afar, but Chu Xiang could only think of Little Xing’s sunken cheeks.

Then came the sound of music, dancing, and crisp ringing from bells on the dancers’ ankles, mixed with lines from ambiguous poems. Chu Xiang, alone by the lotus pond, couldn’t help but hum.

“Dirty words and erotic music,” he concluded.

As the young master in green clothes stood quietly by the pond, all the pink blooming lotuses within became his foil. Indeed, killing him would be too profane.

But there was no other way. The new arrival quietly came up behind him, being extremely careful to use the loud music to cover his footsteps. The young nobleman only looked at the lotuses and seemed to have no intention of paying any attention behind him.

I’m sorry, he thought.

He stretched out his hand, then–

In an instant, the young master who was about to be killed suddenly turned sideways, grabbed his wrist with one hand, and gently pulled him forward. Due to his momentum, the assailant had no time to brake, and so he fell head first into the pond himself.

“It’s not advisable to do the same thing more than thrice,”⁵事不过三: an idiom that comes from Journey to the West, meaning that you shouldn’t do the same thing more than three times because your fortune will turn and things will eventually develop in an unexpected direction Chu Xiang said as he stood there and apathetically watched the person splashing around in the water. “You’re… Zhao… Zhao something?”

The man in the water choked on a large mouthful of water and bubbles popped up around him. He was obviously a landlubber, so Chu Xiang reached over and barely dragged him to the edge of the pond where he collapsed. It was impossible to bring him any further; Chu Xiang rotated his wrist, thinking, I’m no longer that legendary captain who can fight one against a hundred, so weak.

As his dusty memories were uncovered bit by bit, Chu Xiang said hesitantly, “Zhao Linzhi, right?”

This drenched person wasn’t a killer, but a scholar attending the Spring Banquet, and he seemed to be one of the Four Young Masters or something.

“That’s weird, why would you kill me?” Chu Xiang asked.

“You don’t know?” Zhao Linzhi asked in reply.

Chu Xiang: “What should I know?”

“Then you think by yourself, when did you offend the Grand Princess.”

Chu Xiang became solemn. He truly couldn’t remember these things, however, from Zhao Linzhi’s reaction and the previous two attempts on his life, it was a fact that the Grand Princess wanted to kill him — the Grand Princess was the only one who wasn’t afraid of the Iron-Clad Guards on the streets. But she didn’t mobilise the Iron-Clad Guards and neither did she use any official forces, instead she found some miscellaneous people to take action. This meant that he did not commit a crime but offended her in a private capacity.

‘Offended her privately’? Chu Xiang frowned.

“I… I didn’t want to kill anyone either,” Zhao Linzhi struggled to say as he lay at the water’s edge, “We’re classmates, we know each other. I can only say, you can’t stay in Tianyan, just run.”

Chu Xiang nodded. “Thank you.”

Then he kicked him back into the water.

Back when he led his team to fight their way through the pirate-infested expanse, it wasn’t forgiveness that they relied upon.

* * *

When Chu Xiang returned to the main hall, his was not the only discordant voice.

A game was currently being played, more specifically, it was a fancy way of playing meandering drinks.⁶A drinking game found in many historical Chinese novels. My impression of the rules: the players sit around a flowing stream of water and a musician plays nearby. Something is sent floating down the stream, usually a cup of wine. When the music stops, whoever is closest to the cup picks it up and has to compose a poem according to the theme; if they can’t, they drink. A normal game used water, this one… used a beauty made of water.

The dancing girl poured wine everywhere as she spun in a brisk, exotic dance. With a golden wine jug on her head, she danced flamboyantly all over the place; whenever she paused next to someone, she would pour them wine, then asked them to take a bright flower from her head, whereupon they would stand and make an impromptu composition.

Among these nobles, Lord of Western Tang Lan Jue stood out, even Chu Xiang couldn’t resist giving him a couple more glances.

The young lord sat at his table, paying attention to neither singing nor dancing nor eating, he only stared at the empty cup by his hand. The dancing girl hesitated for a while, but the lords sitting above signalled to her, so she went over and charmingly filled up Lan Jue’s cup.

Then things became quiet.

Western Tang’s Lan family. Because the previous lord had offended the late emperor, he had been banished from the court and deprived of his fief; later, when the current emperor ascended to the throne, he granted amnesty to the world, but the old lord had already died in a foreign land. The new emperor felt pity for him, so he redistributed half of the confiscated Tang fiefdom to the Lan family’s youngest son, who was today’s Lord of Western Tang, Lan Jue.

Lan Jue slowly stood with his cup of wine as everyone watched, although most of them were laughing. Everyone knew that as a boy, the Lord of Western Tang grew up in a place of exile — there were no teachers of poetry, literature, etiquette, or music there, only barbarians from the plains and exotic beasts. Famously, at ten years old, the Lord of Western Tang led a team to kill the leader of the Snake Tribe. Equally as famously, this man was illiterate.

Most of the nobles present thought that Lan Jue wouldn’t even be able to write his own name. As for poetry, it could only be a joke.

Poetry?

Lan Jue did not have any unexpected talent in this area. “I don’t know how to write poems,” he admitted frankly.

Laughter came from all corners.

Up on the main seat, the Grand Princess was not present. Her consort was just a civil servant dependent on her for everything. “If you can’t compose a poem, you have to drink wine as a penalty,” he politely reminded him.

Seeming to be completely unable to understand the prince consort’s olive branch, Lan Jue continued, “I didn’t come to the capital to write poems either.”

The hall once again fell into silence.

“Western Tang is located within Jinzhou, where locust plagues have ravaged the population for many years, and one can see refugees everywhere you look. But now I see that your mansions in the capital are still full of singing and dancing! Yesterday, Consul Qin⁷More specifically, he’s an officer in charge of diplomacy and relations with barbarians/border tribes/ethnic minorities and Chief Justice Zhang⁸The highest ranking judicial officer in the court jointly hosted a feast, I even saw many aristocrats purposefully inducing vomiting to eat more pastries, did you know that–”

“Lord Lan, today is the grand Spring Banquet, the timing is perfect, isn’t it a bit depressing to say that?” someone suddenly said.

“It isn’t as if anyone will blame you for not being able to compose poems, so don’t blame everyone around you.”

“That’s right…”

The one who spoke first was a nobleman so fat that his eyes weren’t visible, dressed in luxurious yellow clothing, and exactly the Consul Qin that Lan Jue had mentioned. The other person who spoke up was an energetic old man who held a jade cane which was topped with an exquisitely carved jade hibiscus; unfortunately, this was Chief Justice Zhang.

In fact, Lan Jue had expected to get this result from the moment he entered the capital, maybe he was just delusional to hope that there was a chance.

While soldiers starved and waited for resupply, the capital’s noblemen caroused nightly, as if the world’s turmoil was a mere passing fancy.

He slowly drank the wine in his hand, tasting little of the alcohol but much of blood.

“Since Lord Lan can’t compose anything and doesn’t want to take the penalty, might I take his place?”

A voice suddenly came from the side, from a young man in green with a smile on his lips and his brows arched into crescents. With his elegant appearance, he seemed like a stalk of green bamboo among the pathetic nobles.

“Isn’t this Chu Xiang? I haven’t seen you for a long time, I heard you’ve been sick?” From their probing, any lords from the countryside would rather throw away their faces than write poetry, so he probably really didn’t know how to do it. Thus, the prince consort sitting on the main seat began to smile. “Since you’ve recovered, I have no objection to you writing for him, after all, Sir Chu’s poems are enough to be passed down through the ages.”

Passed through the ages? Chu Xiang’s smile gradually widened into a grin. That would be good.

Lan Jue recognised this man as the weak young man who took action against the assassins back then, and also as the one who bought that girl on the street. He guessed that the man might be trying to save him so he silently stood aside, but he still couldn’t help but feel frustrated because he knew that it was impossible to succeed. Just as he was thinking on what he should do, he heard the young man say softly:

“Orioles sing of spring, jade dew heralds hibiscus blooms.”

This had already reached Chu Xiang’s limit. Meanwhile, the noblemen frowned to themselves, wondering why someone from Tianyan’s eminent Four Young Masters, with a name spread far and wide, couldn’t even make a poem which rhymed. Only the yellow-clothed consul was stunned for a moment as he caught sight of Chief Justice Zhang’s hibiscus cane beside him.

Lan Jue raised his eyebrows; looking at the young man’s brazen gaze, he seemed to have guessed something.

Immediately following this, the young man’s voice became clearer and colder, though he still smiled as he said:

“Autumn brings winter’s frost, all freeze bar none.”

The hall was filled with a deathly silence.

Then, Lan Jue’s solitary applause floated out, like snow in autumn.

Author:
Chu Xiang: My games are scolding people!

Translator:
Just those three (unrelated! Unrhyming!) lines of poetry killed me, so much respect to people who do this regularly.

< Previous | Table of Contents | Next >

• 1
  Hexing, made up of the characters for river (河) and star (星), her nickname is little star. How cute.
• 2
  A type of concubine, the ranking goes wife > consort > concubine > bed servant. Bed servants would often be selected from among maids.
• 3
  Linghe and Qinghe share the 荷 (he) character, meaning lotus.
• 4
  Jade is an euphemism for women, and spring (specifically ‘spring scenes’) is an euphemism for… sex.
• 5
  事不过三: an idiom that comes from Journey to the West, meaning that you shouldn’t do the same thing more than three times because your fortune will turn and things will eventually develop in an unexpected direction
• 6
  A drinking game found in many historical Chinese novels. My impression of the rules: the players sit around a flowing stream of water and a musician plays nearby. Something is sent floating down the stream, usually a cup of wine. When the music stops, whoever is closest to the cup picks it up and has to compose a poem according to the theme; if they can’t, they drink.
• 7
  More specifically, he’s an officer in charge of diplomacy and relations with barbarians/border tribes/ethnic minorities
• 8
  The highest ranking judicial officer in the court

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Martial law was imposed upon the capital. Every street and alley was filled with guards, while specialised elite palace guards were stationed at each city gate. Wanted posters for the assassins were plastered all over the walls — however, no one knew what the assassin who stole the sword Longque looked like. All the assassins had died on the spot, not because they didn’t want to keep a few alive, but because they all committed suicide. For expert assassins such as them, there were countless ways for them to kill others and themselves.

Meanwhile, the ordinary people of the city were indifferent to this, because this wasn’t the first time assassins operated within the capital and it had always been a matter for noblemen.

Chu Xiang stayed at the inn after sneaking away from the Spring Banquet. It was fortunate that something happened at the banquet that day, otherwise, he would’ve had to compose poetry and he really couldn’t do it.

In troubled times, elegance was no more than pretentiousness.

The atmosphere outside the window was the same as before with street vendors hawking their goods, one could hardly see any tension due to the situation. Chu Xiang sat at the table in silence, experiencing a rare moment of peace — the fleet usually spent a long time in space between each time they anchored on a planet, so it was very rare for him to see the real blue sky. In addition, even when he was on vacation, his communicator was always nearby and ready to receive orders. Now that he had nothing to do, he truly felt a little disconcerted.

As a captain, it was impossible for him to become a ‘luminary’ who clung to the powerful and wrote vulgar poems, and it was extremely unlikely for him to transmigrate back. The universe contained countless opportunities, but the ability to turn back time only belonged to higher dimensions — if there were any higher dimensional beings.

He finished his tea. Space only had nutrient solution, so the crude tea tasted quite good to him. Chu Xiang wanted to go downstairs to ask for another pot. This was the trouble caused by insufficient technology, there was no method of wireless communication.

Upon opening the door, he was surprised to find a waiter standing outside.

“Hey, I thought you’d be running out of tea by now, so I brought some more,” the waiter smiled honestly.

Service in ancient inns were so good, comparable to five-star hotels?

Chu Xiang calmly received the teapot and poured it into a cup. Shaking the slightly turbid crude tea, he smiled indifferently.

“You–”

Before the waiter could finish, Chu Xiang tossed the cup’s contents in his face, threw away the teapot, then turned and rushed downstairs.

Not two steps away, he heard pained howls behind him — there was so much poison in the tea, it couldn’t have been comfortable to be splashed in the eyes with it. Chu Xiang cursed in his heart, What kind of era is this, can’t they be a bit more careful with their poisons? They couldn’t even make it odourless or tasteless, yet they still dared to use so much in a single dose.

This disturbance hadn’t been quiet in the least. Halfway through Chu Xiang’s sprint downstairs, he realised that the many guests eating and drinking down there couldn’t be innocent — several ‘diners’ had their chopsticks raised but didn’t pick anything up for a long time, no matter how he looked at it, they seemed to be part of the assassins.

Chu Xiang felt a little exasperated. He saw through these crappy third-rate assassins so easily that he knew at a glance they were no match for the elites who were at the Spring Banquet, but then he thought that it was good that they weren’t elites, otherwise, with his physique that wheezed for breath after running just two steps…

He couldn’t go downstairs. When he checked in, Chu Xiang had taken the time to scout the entire inn — without an AI to scan it, he had to do it himself manually. This was one of his professional habits, as before he became a spaceship captain, Chu Xiang was part of the special forces and frequently performed stealth missions. Thus at this critical moment, he quickly determined that he couldn’t go through the front hall, and it wasn’t impossible for there to be someone guarding the back door, so he might as well… He climbed out of a window located between the first and second floors and barely managed to land, unscathed, on a pile of sacks.

Panting a few times, Chu Xiang couldn’t help but feel aggrieved. Who was it who wanted to kill him even at a tense time like this?

The window faced the street, where there were Iron-Clad Guards.

At the Spring Banquet, Chu Xiang had heard the story of him ‘jumping into the lake’ because he lost to someone called Han Feng in a poetry contest. In matters of life and death, Chu Xiang would never despise life; moreover, he clearly remembered whether he had been thrown or jumped himself, he would never get this wrong.

He had been targeted for a long time. And it wasn’t as if there was no reason to target him: the Grand Princess had personally appointed Tianyan’s Four Young Masters. These four young celebrities, not even mentioning their status, would receive a stipend from the Grand Princess’ estate every month. Besides, what did people want fame for? Wasn’t it just to have a good career, glory, and wealth?

Among the Four Young Masters– Chu Xiang sneered at the vulgar name which was just like something you’d find in a TV drama, like various combinations of Four Major XX, Six Big XX, or Eight Greatest XX and so on. Thankfully his 28th century colleagues would never know this period of his black history! He knew that among these four people, he was the easiest to dispose of. The other three all had some reputation within the capital, only he came from elsewhere.

Then the question became, who wanted to get rid of him.

Was it Han Feng who competed with him?

He should wait and see. It might be, but if it was him, wouldn’t it be a bit too stupid? If he replaced him immediately after the murder, even fools would know he did it, so it was very likely that Han Feng was also a pawn.

In troubled times, the only things more chaotic than the world were human hearts.

The entire bustling capital city Tianyan was filled with killers hired by different forces. Each force hid its own agents, because everyone wanted a piece of the delicious cake that was about to be served. In the eyes of those with power, this was the prize for playing the game.

The Iron-Clad Guards were still pursuing the assassins, but gradually, more were dispatched to hunt down civil servants. Some ambitious people had long been dissatisfied with the government and intended to start an uprising, however they had been unable to do anything due to the steel blades held by the Iron-Clad Guards.

Chu Xiang deliberately chose a route with Iron-Clad Guards for his flight from the inn. Although there were fewer assassination methods now compared to during the 28th century, he didn’t have many options for defence either, so it would be better to let the assassins and Iron-Clad Guards consume each other.

The assassins inside the inn probably didn’t expect that a weak scholar would suddenly develop such strong battle instincts. They hadn’t deployed any manpower on the street, letting Chu Xiang easily escape the predicament.

As he walked aimlessly, he heard a commotion in front of him. Chu Xiang originally wanted to avoid it, but then he found that he recognised the person at the center of the commotion.

It was a brothel, where a tall, strongly built¹五大三粗: lit. five big and three thick, the five big being big hands, big feet, big ears, broad shoulders, fat hips; and the three thick being thick waist, thick legs, thick neck. woman was dragging a skinny girl inside. Passing guards only looked coldly on as the girl screamed without pause.

The thin yet stubborn little girl was Erni. 

“You damned little brat, I’ve birthed you and raised you but now you don’t want to repay me, can’t you think about your brother or I your mother more?” the woman roared.

Erni’s feet were stuck to the ground like nails as she shook her head and shouted crazily, “Not going, I’m not going! Why don’t you sell yourself!”

“Little bitch, you’re looking for a beating!”

The brothel owner also stood aside, chatting and laughing at this farce. “This girl ran away five times in three days, if you hadn’t found her and brought her back, I would’ve thought you wanted to run with our money!”

“No no,” the woman smiled sincerely, “definitely not.”

At this moment, someone shouted, “Stop!”

Just as the brothel owner was about to tell them to mind their own business, they saw two people walk out from the crowd. The first one was very eye-catching, with a face even prettier than the flowers in the brothel.

The people on the street didn’t recognise him, but the Iron-Clad Guards all understood his identity very well. Although the Lord of Western Tang Lan Jue wasn’t a nobleman of the capital, it was impossible for them to be unable to recognise important figures, so a guard who had previously done nothing but watch hurriedly greeted him. “Lord Tang, please don’t mind it, it’s just a small thing, just a brothel catching an escaped prostitute.”

“It seems the girl herself isn’t willing,” Yang Feng commented.

“My good sir,” the brothel madam said flatteringly, “this is the girl’s fate, her family has already taken my money, how can it be her turn to decide? It’d be terrible if an untrained wild girl ruins your mood, why don’t you two come in–”

Lan Jue didn’t even give her a glance while Yang Feng glared at her, and the madam retreated.

The madam could take out the deed of sale, so even the Lord of Western Tang couldn’t deny the contractual agreement. The old madam might be a bit scared if it were a nobleman from the capital standing in front of her, but this was the lord of a foreign fief, he would be out of the capital and unable to reach her in just a few days. She had nothing to be afraid of.

Lan Jue looked at the mess of a girl. “Can I buy her?” Then he asked Erni, “Are you willing to come with me?”

The girl looked warily at the crowd of people, like a little wolf confronting hunters.

“This… This might…” the old madam stuttered.

“You can’t be afraid that My Lord doesn’t have the money?”

“No no no…” she reluctantly smiled. “If she joins our pavilion, she would be prosperous and wealthy in the future, she might not be willing to–”

The madam’s words were cut off yet again. This time, it was a relatively frail young scholar who walked out from the crowd, but the difference was that as soon as the wolf-like girl saw him, she immediately became a smug little kitten with its tail raised.

Erni made a sound of recognition and suppressed the words ‘Evil Star’ back into her throat, without shouting it out in front of everyone.

“I like this child too, and I know her, she would definitely be willing to come with me. So, can you allow me?” Chu Xiang asked.

He completely skipped the madam to ask Lan Jue, as the madam also knew that the girl couldn’t be kept.

Before Lan Jue could say anything, Erni had already scrambled behind Chu Xiang to clutch at his sleeves tightly, as if refusing to let go even if she died.

Seeing this scene, Lan Jue nodded. “Yes.”

Human life had never been valuable in the capital city. A girl of flowering age was sold for only fifteen jade coins, even cheaper than the clothes Chu Xiang wore. When Lan Jue saw that he decisively took the girl, he threw out the money first and walked away. Chu Xiang wanted to call out to him, but he walked too quickly and neither did the Iron-Clad Guards intervene, leaving only the sighing madam.

A moment of impulse bought him a girl. Chu Xiang led her a few streets away, and only began to feel uncomfortable when he was buying clothes for her.

“Why were you sold to somewhere like that?” he asked.

Erni, carefully holding her new clothes, said nonchalantly, “My parents want my brother to get married, the brothel people came to our door and convinced them.”

The brothel people went to her family? Chu Xiang took a look at Erni. This girl wasn’t ugly, but… she wasn’t so beautiful that people would trample their doorway for her hand in marriage…

“Evil Star! Will I go with you from now on?”

Chu Xiang wanted to say, You’re free, you can go anywhere, but looking at her hopeful expression, he changed it to a nod.

Chu Xiang: “How old are you?”

“Fourteen!”

Fourteen, but judging from her stature, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she told him she was a malnourished ten year old. Chu Xiang couldn’t help but rub her head — fourteen, what a good age, at this age, for girls of the 28th century, their biggest worry was that their homework was a little hard.

But for people in troubled times, life wasn’t for oneself to decide.

“Why didn’t you go with that person who’s obviously a noble?”

Erni blinked. “No one who’s got any money are good things, no way I’d believe he saved me out of the goodness of his heart, who knows if he wants to do something! They heat their houses so much that they open their windows in winter, but down in the lower city we don’t even have the money to buy coal, so many people freeze to death… oh, Evil Star, I’m not talking about you, you’re an exception, you’re the Evil Star!”

“Don’t,” Chu Xiang chuckled, “Why do you keep calling me Evil Star? If you want to follow me in the future, you’ll have to change what you call me.”

The girl thought seriously for a long time. “People say that when the evil star is up in the sky, it’s a star called Yinghuo. Should I call you Yinghuo?”²An archaic term for the planet Mars

Chu Xiang thought helplessly, I’m not Mars! Although I was stationed at the Mars base for a while…

“Call me brother,” he said.

Author:
The Grand Princess is the imperial sister! The combination is the unreliable emperor who does nothing and his idiot little sister who keeps a harem!!!
…
By the way, like Lan Jue says: Other people’s love tokens are all vulgar, but I’m different, I gave a little sister!

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• 1
  五大三粗: lit. five big and three thick, the five big being big hands, big feet, big ears, broad shoulders, fat hips; and the three thick being thick waist, thick legs, thick neck.
• 2
  An archaic term for the planet Mars

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Walking on Tianyan’s streets felt like being in a different world — a literal different world.

The literati hosted by the nobles had a small jade plate to prove their status. Earlier, Chu Xiang had almost given this plate to the girl to sell.

The female attendant guarding the door looked at his plate then at his face with a somewhat surprised expression. Although this attendant was very professional and didn’t reveal much, Chu Xiang was used to the rhythm of interstellar battles where every second counted, so his observational skills were easily keen enough to catch it.

It can’t be that the words ‘evil star’ are floating above my head, right? Chu Xiang joked to himself. 

Then he realised that he was a ‘luminary’, so maybe news of his death had already spread.

So fast…

Thus, he didn’t rush to join the main group but instead walked around the outer corridors and hid in the shadows, trying to observe quietly.

Even if he hadn’t transmigrated into another person, he had been away for too long. His language, culture, pronunciation, and living habits had all changed. On Longque, he had an adjutant who loved reading novels and once mentioned a tragic transmigration story to him — after waking up in the new world, the poor main character discovered that he couldn’t understand what they were saying so he had to learn a new language entirely from scratch.

Fortunately, Chu Xiang thought happily, I still know how to read.

He stood beneath the eaves, aimlessly watching the bustling crowd, yet still being careful not to reveal himself too early. It was, in theory, very simple to reduce his sense of existence so he didn’t look out of place — it wasn’t even something you needed to go to the academy to learn, you just needed to watch the Fleet Commander get angry a few times to naturally pick up how to avoid the gun muzzle.

However, not everyone was so easily deceived; after all, Chu Xiang was no longer a battle-hardened captain.

In fact, when someone first approached him, he subconsciously wanted to ask Longque’s central AI through the chip implanted in his brain why it didn’t remind him, before he remembered that right now, of Longque, only he remained.

At the banquet, Yang Feng discretely palmed the dagger hidden in his sleeve. “My Lord, there’s someone sneaking around over there, it might be an assassin,” he said.

No weapons were allowed in Linghe Pool save for the ceremonial swords carried by the lords, not even the bodyguards could carry weapons, so Yang Feng was a little nervous. Lan Jue glanced that way over his cup, then replied, “Probably not.”

The man was very strange to Lan Jue’s eyes. He had a strong killing intent which could not be concealed, completely incompatible with the fragrant spring banquet around him, yet the same killing intent wasn’t directed towards anyone.

Then Lan Jue frowned. “Don’t you think that if he’s an assassin, he won’t even be able to run away after killing people?”

Yang Feng was shocked. “That’s true…”

Without AI support, without a mecha or powered exoskeleton, the Chu Xiang of this world was much different from the standards of a 28th century special forces soldier.

“Hey, isn’t this Sir Chu, I heard you…” Several young men in rich brocade clothing gathered around with concerned faces. The person of interest could see the changes in their expressions; although they covered it up very well, even better than the attendant at the door, most people looked as if they saw a ghost. Chu Xiang soon realised —

Who were these people? He should know them, but he forgot!

How embarrassing.

However, Chu Xiang merely changed to a more comfortable posture and smiled at them slightly, as if he couldn’t be more familiar with them.

“Sir Chu is a man of extraordinary talent, composing poetry is too easy for him. I said already Lu-xiong, Wang-xiong, your news was spread by scoundrels, how could you believe them!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. But Chu-xiong will definitely dominate today, then won’t the rumours be self-defeating…”

Just as Chu Xiang was considering how to respond, everyone fell silent at the sight of a group of people filing out of the inner hall.

A group of white-clad young men surrounded a woman in a lavish dress. Her face was covered with a luxurious veil, and as they stepped barefoot on the fallen flowers, flower juice and dew stained their slender toes, giving a touch of beauty to the greenery. The woman walked to the main seat and sat down, while the youths settled around her like a group of white cats clinging to their owner.

“It’s finally a bit more lively here today,” she said. It was obvious that she was approaching her twilight years, but she still retained her grace and a well-maintained figure, and the low-cut collar of her gorgeous palace dress revealed ample curves.

This was the younger twin sister of the current emperor, Grand Princess Qinghe.

As if a switch was flipped, the various lords fought to praise the Grand Princess and the literati they brought all began composing poems boasting of her beauty ‘which astonished man and heaven’.

Lan Jue huddled in his seat and silently picked up the cup of wine which he had just discarded.

“My Lord, don’t you hate the wine here…”

“I want to vomit,” Lan Jue stated very rudely. Anyway, the Grand Princess’ ears were full of compliments, she had no desire to pay attention to him. And even if she did, it would only add ‘rude’ to the pile of his already stinking reputation. 

After the Grand Princess came out, Lan Jue who sat in the last row and Chu Xiang who had taken advantage of the opportunity to quietly retreat inevitably moved closer to each other, so Chu Xiang easily heard his comment.

Captain Chu sincerely agreed, he also wanted to vomit, and he even wanted to blast them with a main cannon, but unfortunately Longque wasn’t there.

After a period of commotion, the Grand Princess raised her hand and the scene once again quieted.

“Recently, our valiant troops have seized a treasure from the south.” She gently caressed the young man lying on her knees as some of the others carried out a gilded box from behind her. “Imperial Brother specially instructed me to take it out at the Spring Banquet, to let everyone see something new.”

Everyone craned their necks to see, and a man with a rather round figure couldn’t resist shouting, “Your Highness, please stop teasing, quickly let us see it!”

“Such a big box, is it fresh seafood?”

“How is seafood a treasure, could they have caught a mermaid?”

“Living things can’t survive in this type of box,” the Grand Princess giggled, “but it’s not just any ordinary thing either. Everyone, have you heard, there is a sword that contains divine power and if you obtain it, you can unify the world?”

The fat man was the first to stand up to express his views, and as he slammed his hand on the table, he almost broke the jade ring on his finger. “What divine power, it’s the demon sword those unscrupulous people are talking about!”

Everything was silent for a moment, then the Grand Princess clapped her hands and laughed, so the previously unresponsive lords also laughed, as if they had heard a hysterical joke.

“Duke Heng doesn’t need to be so hasty.” She gestured for the box to be opened. “In the hands of others, it is a demon sword, but in the hands of a righteous monarch, it is, of course, an imperial sword.”

Duke Heng immediately bowed and saluted. “Grand Princess’ words are true!”

The wooden box opened, and inside was a long, narrow gilded box wrapped in silk. The Grand Princess stood and personally opened this smaller box; within lay a single-edged sword in a black scabbard.

“Everyone, have you heard of Longque?”

Amid the uproar, Chu Xiang sucked in a sharp breath.

It was one thing to hold that word in his memories, but another thing entirely for someone else to say it out loud. The captain’s chest hurt from the strength of his own heartbeat. Like a mythical bird responding to the call of its true name, his blood instinctively rose to meet that voice.

His first reaction was to wonder how they recognised him, did ancient people know anything about space travel? His second reaction was to refute this thought, because Longque had already turned into cosmic garbage. Even if it ‘transmigrated’ together with him, it would be nothing more than scrap metal.

Then he heard —

“Longque, with trailing flames and feathers as black as pitch, its voice sounds like the wind, its wingtips resemble fire-forged blades, the sword carries the power of divine birds. Obtain Longque, and you obtain world peace,” the Grand Princess said as she brushed away the non-existent dust on the scabbard. “My friends, this is the imperial sword, Longque.”

As soon as the name Longque came out, the entire place was in a furor. Everyone had their own calculations — even Yang Feng, who kept himself at the back, felt his heart thump wildly.

“My Lord, that sword–”

Lan Jue shot him a look. “Its blade isn’t bad, not useless.”

“My Lord, that’s the legendary Longque, it’s the sword of emperors! Why aren’t you–”

“Do you intend to steal it from the Grand Princess’ hands?” He waved the cup towards him as if to splash wine on his face, scaring Yang Feng so much that he jumped back. When he realised what happened, he lowered his head in shame.

“Besides,” Lan Jue added, “I don’t think you can become a wise monarch just because you got your hands on a crappy sword.”

“Shh… please don’t say that, My Lord. You really dare to say anything when you came to the capital this time, you’re not even afraid if anyone hears…”

Lan Jue suddenly raised a hand to stop him.

A female attendant for Linghe Pool had just emerged from a corridor. She wore her hair in a high bun, and was covered in the uniform’s precious gold jewellery. Although she was only an attendant, the combined value of everything she wore could feed a dozen families in the lower city. Lan Jue’s eyes followed her footsteps —

She walked on the balls of her feet.

Apart from the postures used in some exotic dances, the only for this was —

Lan Jue abruptly stood and threw his cup straight at her. “Assassin!” he shouted.

The attendant moved at the same time.

She unexpectedly pulled a dagger from within her bun — it was shaped like a hair stick, and the part which was exposed outside the bun perfectly imitated decorative jewellery. The woman looked soft and dignified, but at this moment she was more like a rearing viper. Sunlight glinted off the dagger as she pounced on the Grand Princess who was still on her throne.

Lan Jue had thrown his cup but the female assassin moved so fast that she dodged it.

In her desperation, the Grand Princess pushed out the youth in her arms to meet the assassin’s sharp blade. Warm blood splashed onto the nobles in the first row, and they started shouting one after another.

“Quick, quick, catch the assassin!”

“Guards, guards!”

The young men cried, but they couldn’t not stand in front of the Grand Princess. The assassin had missed her target and pulled out her dagger, but in the next second, she was pulled backwards by her hair.

The dignified Lord of Western Tang wasn’t one to show decorum in critical moments. Pulling on her hair, he threw her to the ground where she impacted with a thud. Around them, more female attendants pulled out daggers.

They turned, half went to deal with Lan Jue while the other half rushed around to create chaos as the nobles scrambled from their seats like panicked ducks.

“My Lord–” Yang Feng reached towards his waist, only for Lan Jue to glare at him until he stopped trying to pull out his weapon. He forgot, he had handed in his sword at the door earlier. If he pulled out his hidden weapons now, he might just be taken as an accomplice to the assassins.

The assassins used underhanded methods completely different from Lan Jue’s battle-tested martial arts, and moved as if they were floating. In addition, the nobles on the scene were in a chaotic panic, so all his movements were restrained.

The grounds were a mess, the walls were splattered with blood. The young men around the Grand Princess had suffered heavy casualties. Everyone present were all noblemen, so in order to reduce any disturbance to them, the guards were all patrolling outside.

Who knew which link had failed to allow so many assassins inside disguised as attendants. The assassins were also extremely skilled, there was no time to dispatch anyone here; the only one on the scene with any fighting power was Lan Jue, but he was facing a dozen expert assassins on his own and there was a Grand Princess behind him making trouble. It was inevitable for him to be at a disadvantage.

One assassin jumped onto a chair behind Lan Jue and raised her blade high. Then, in the midst of the chaos, Chu Xiang charged out from the corner where he was hidden and kicked the chair out just in time. The assassin, originally in a very graceful posture, suddenly collapsed into a heap.

Lan Jue turned around and broke the assassin’s spine with a stomp, though his gaze drifted towards the side — the person who took action was a weak young man, but it had been timed perfectly. Except for Lan Jue himself whose life was the one at risk, perhaps no one else had noticed that he was the one who jumped out and kicked the chair away.

When did the capital have someone as interesting as this?

Some assassins in the crowd leapt at Chu Xiang, pulling forcefully at his sleeve. A captain, unable to beat a dancer? Chu Xiang smiled bitterly. A blade flashed past his cheek to cut off a lock of his hair, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

His dodges were quite awkward — he could still predict the assassins’ movements and discern their weaknesses, but… his body couldn’t keep up. The assassins gritted their teeth and split off two of their number to deal with Chu Xiang who was making trouble. Although this couldn’t compare with the dozens that Lan Jue faced, it was still two expert assassins facing a weakling…

Then something whistled through the air and a long dagger snatched from an assassin’s hand pierced through the neck of one of the assassins in front of him. Not far away, although Lan Jue had his back to him, he had thrown the dagger behind him blindly — in the 28th century’s gaming circles, this would be called ‘using cheats’.

Chu Xiang rushed up, pulled out the dagger, and flicked it without hesitation. Using inertia, he pressed his entire weight against the other assassin, then stabbed her through her left shoulder and ripped her open to her lower right ribs. Crimson blood gushed out, staining his sleeves bright red.

Guards finally arrived to surround the assassins. The Iron-Clad Guards were slightly better, they were at least faster than them. When the imperial family’s elite guards arrived, they immediately took over from Lan Jue and engaged the assassins in close combat.

Seeing that things were going poorly, the assassins began to take their own lives.

“Catch them alive!” the guard-captain shouted.

Lan Jue’s brows jumped slightly, he quickly weighed his options and came to a decision. As such, his outstretched hand was a step too slow to prevent the last assassin from committing suicide, and a corpse fell at his feet with a thump.

He smiled coldly at the guard-captain.

Since the capital’s nobles refuse to save my people, then…

The guard-captain was visibly livid, but he could say nothing to the Lord of Western Tang.

It took a long while for the chaos to subside. The Grand Princess resumed her elegant sitting posture, while the Iron-Clad Guards carried away the dead young man beside her.

Then she stroked the box, whereupon her expression changed drastically.

“Longque, where is Longque?”

The gorgeous box was empty.

Author:
In fact, I’ve always wanted to complain about one thing — there’s been this setting for a long time that getting a super weapon can conquer the world. So the question is, how can a weapon help you conquer the world, especially in non-cultivation settings? In cultivation/xianxia we can excuse it by saying there’s a super strong spirit inside the weapon, the type that can upgrade, but how does it work in a normal world???
…
The Grand Princess is based on some women from the Tang dynasty.

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Evil star.

People liked to hear and tell stories. When they spoke of it, they might not even know themselves what an evil star was; people shouted that the evil star was coming when a big meteorite fell in the south a month ago, and today this girl also called him an evil star.

The Iron-Clad Guards, who were under the emperor’s direct control, set out from their outpost, went through all four districts of the capital’s lower city, and took away dozens of men and women, children and elderly. Amidst their howling protests, the guard-captain drew his sabre, laid it against an old man’s wrinkled neck, and announced loudly, “His Majesty is about to preside over the Spring Festival, yet you talk of evil omens to confuse the public with wicked words. You should be punished according to the law!”

The blade rose, light flashed, and blood far more red than the frostbitten spring peaches outside the city splashed out. The crowd of onlookers shrank away, leaving only the victim’s relatives to let out silent cries as they crawled on the ground.

These were the emperor’s Iron-Clad Guards. They had the power to kill people in the streets and no one dared to stop them.

A trial? Was a pariah worthy of mobilising the justice department?

The fourth month was a time when the nobles held flower viewings in celebration of the Spring Festival. The flowers bloomed around this time and the weather typically wasn’t too hot to bear, therefore the current emperor, since ascending the throne a decade ago, took the lead in hosting flower viewings, banquets, and the like, and it had long since become a tradition. Thus did the nobles default to using the fourth month as a time for socialising — aristocratic young men played elegant games while drinking and composing poetry or went on spring hunts, while aristocratic young ladies wore their new clothes, admired each other’s embroidery, collected some of the many blossoms which fell to the ground, and went on leisurely outings on lakes.

From this came countless marriages among the nobles.

Not long afterwards, the street was once again spotless.

The premier spring banquet, exceedingly popular among nobles, was held at Linghe Pool which was also the residence of the Grand Princess. Princess Qinghe was the emperor’s younger twin sister, and everyone knew that she handled most of the government affairs while the emperor spent all his time in the inner palace.¹The imperial harem  As a result, at every spring banquet season, so many noble guests in their gorgeous scented carriages lined up outside her door that they resembled long dragons winding through the streets.

Among these people were two outliers who rode tall, black horses. It wasn’t that the horses weren’t noble enough, but that when compared with everyone else who were all in their luxurious carriages, just riding a horse made them look very humble indeed.

Although one of the two sitting atop the horse wore a magnificent robe in aristocratic style, he frowned often and seemed to feel uncomfortable. People who passed by them also frowned, and even the servants of the nobles whispered to each other.

“They’re really…” they said hesitantly, then, “What a pity that they’re barbarians.”²蛮夷, specifically meaning ethnic minorities not living in the central Chinese plains

The handsome man on horseback turned a deaf ear, however his attendant glared at the gossiping servants and whispered to his lord, “My Lord, this is the first Spring Banquet held since the mourning period for the empress dowager ended and the emperor ordered all the princes to return to the capital. I said earlier that you would definitely get targeted if you come just like this…”

The man whom he called lord gave him a sideways glance. “In their eyes, I, Lan Jue, am only a representative for country bumpkin barbarians even if I come covered head to toe in gold. Didn’t you know this from the start?” he said casually.

Even though he was the king’s personal bodyguard, Yang Feng was still struck by this glance which made his heart beat wildly. When they first entered the capital, it was this look which attracted the obsession of countless young ladies, but unfortunately, as soon as they learned of his identity, they all dispersed.

Just as they were talking, a rather fat old man disembarked from his carriage and spoke to another middle-aged man. “I heard that several princes of marriageable age have come this year, do you have any suitable candidates?”

“In short, it’s fine as long as it’s not the Lord of Western Tang. It’s such a pity too, I heard that the boy is very handsome and has quite the elegant name, but he’s descended from a guilty minister and his fiefdom is so far away…”

Halfway through his words, he saw the person in question riding past with reins in his hands and looking at them with a bright grin.

Lan Jue, Lord of Western Tang. Originally, the entire Tang territory belonged to the Lan family, but due to a variety of reasons it was divided into two. This Lord of Western Tang didn’t have a good life. All kinds of bandits and foreigners wandered around his land’s borders and skirmishes constantly broke out, so as soon as the teenage Lan Jue could ride a warhorse, he began leading troops into battle. When he stood next to the other nobles, there was no way to hide his bloody aura; no matter how harmless he looked, the nobles all felt that his smiles hid knives.

And the outrageous thing was — he had only one servant following him? Wasn’t that for easier eavesdropping!

The female attendant in charge of welcoming guests to Linghe Pool secretly glanced over, and her heart rate accelerated sharply upon catching sight of Lan Jue’s smile. However, after she recognised the jade plate³Technically more accurate to call it a jade plaque, but plaque makes me think of dental plaque on his waist, she also clicked her tongue in disappointment.

Talking behind someone’s back was one thing, talking about them to their face was quite another. Although the two were nobles, their titles couldn’t match the lord of a principality,⁴国主: lit. master or owner of the country so they hurriedly backed away and let Lan Jue’s duo go first.

Yang Feng, angrily following his lord, couldn’t help saying, “Wars and refugees are everywhere yet the emperor is holding a banquet, is it just for these rice buckets to wag their tongues! Their daughters aren’t worthy of you!”

Lan Jue glanced there indifferently, then turned back. “If it weren’t for the famine and us truly needing food relief, do you think I would really be willing to travel thousands of miles to bring an unfamiliar woman home?”

This path was a last resort for Lan Jue, but unfortunately the current situation was that any daughters of the nobles who would be able to help him probably… really did look down on the position of his wife.

* * *

The banquet didn’t have to announce its start. After the guests arrived, the female attendants brought out cakes and fruits. A maid stood behind each noble to serve them their drinks, but Lan Jue waved her away.

Alcohol in the capital was too weak, Lan Jue put it down after a single sip.

After a while, some young men in plain clothes came out and began reciting poetry.

Lan Jue glanced at them, then called over an attendant and asked, “What’s going on over there?”

The attendant was stunned for a moment at his choice of words before she realised that he was talking about the people who were reciting poems. “Those are guests of various families,” she answered, “My Lord isn’t usually in the capital, you probably don’t know that recently there’s a trend for noble families to host a few luminaries, even the imperial family’s Donglang Pavilion and Cardinal Academy also have a few literati staying as guests. You weren’t present for the Spring Banquet last year, the literary debate then was particularly exciting and the Grand Princess personally selected four of them and called them the capital’s Four Young Masters.”

After listening silently for a while, Lan Jue commented, “Obscene words and lyrics.”

The attendant who was explaining to him was surprised again, then quietly retreated. No wonder everyone said the Lord of Western Tang only appeared as elegant as the moon, but was actually a bumpkin coming into the city.

Yang Feng was even more direct. “Not one of them can fight,” he said.

“Have you heard? Last night Chu Xiang had a poetry competition with that newly promoted Han Feng at Qianli Lake and lost, then he jumped into the lake!”

“Young Master Chu, from the Four Young Masters?”

“Yes, so now, who will the Grand Princess choose to replace him?”

As Lan Jue listened to the scholars, the corners of his mouth twitched and revealed an indifferent smile.

“Villagers in the countryside do everything to live another day, but nobles in the city jump into a lake just because they wrote a bad poem,” he chuckled under his breath. “How elegant, how boring.”

* * *

However, Chu Xiang, who had ‘jumped into the lake’, was currently wrapped in a white sheet at an inn and thinking about life.

The girl called herself Erni. She was a girl born into a poor family, so it was already pretty good that she wasn’t simply called ‘Er’.⁵‘Er’ as in two (二), ‘ni’ as in maid (妮). People were pretty shit to girls back then.  Chu Xiang gave her a jade button and asked her to help him pawn it, then buy him some new clothes and medicine to prevent colds, and she could then keep whatever was left as a reward. The girl burst into joy on the spot, and the evil star became a good omen to her.

Chu Xiang sat by the window. The street outside was very lively, with an ‘even if the world ends tomorrow we still have to live today’ kind of energy, it was completely different from the boundless universe he saw outside his Captain’s Quarters.

He carefully recalled his memories. He had spent so long in the 28th century that he forgot most things from this world, who knew if it was still the same as when he ‘died’ — right, how did he die again?

He couldn’t reach Longque’s control panel, he couldn’t hear the central AI in his ears, it truly did make him feel very lonely. Chu Xiang flipped through the memories which had only been gathering dust for many years and vaguely remembered…

It seemed that he attended some kind of banquet, drank too much, and then someone threw him off a bridge into a lake?

The Chu Xiang of this world was born in the snowy plains of the north, so naturally he had no swimming skills. A frail scholar was thrown into a lake while drunk — if the magical time travel hadn’t happened, he would be a corpse floating in the lake right now.

Longque… Chu Xiang’s hand shook slightly. Oh Longque, I’m afraid you’ve already turned into stardust.

It wasn’t too bad. In this way, when his old comrades mentioned Chu Xiang’s name, they would think of his glorious closing ceremony, go to his grave in the Martyrs’ Cemetery to pay homage, raise their glasses to him, and say, “Congratulations, you died a brilliant death.”

And when millions of years passed, his stardust would create a new star.

Thinking of this, a smile crept into his eyes.

So the question came: the Chu Xiang of this world hadn’t yet reached adulthood, what should he do next?

He vaguely remembered that this place was similar but not identical to China in the 28th century. There had already been signs before he had travelled through time that the world was going to be turbulent. The vassal states were growing stronger, each raising troops and buying horses, while the emperor was a figurehead who indulged himself with his harem. Perhaps he also knew that his days as emperor were numbered, so he just enjoyed himself in the time he had left. Meanwhile, nobles in the capital held banquets and dances, living their luxurious lives with no thought of the future.

Literati gathered in Tianyan, the imperial capital, because elegant music and poetry were popular among the nobles there; even someone from a commoner’s background could become a celebrity overnight if they wrote a popular verse.

Sighing, Chu Xiang reflected that if it weren’t for his rebirth, he would also be like that.

…Now, without a spaceship, he felt too uncomfortable!

Moreover, he had no clue who targeted him! But he couldn’t just forget it either — although Chu Xiang didn’t necessarily want to retaliate, what if they tried again? Chu Xiang really couldn’t remember these grudges from over a decade ago, but he was still worried, so he needed to investigate a bit.

After waiting for more than four hours, when Chu Xiang was starting to suspect that Erni ran with the money, the little girl finally came back.

“Why did you take so long?” He handed her a cup of tea which the sweaty little girl drank in a single gulp.

“There were so many nobles and the streets were filled with guards, I heard that it’s because a big lord is hosting a banquet.” Erni didn’t mention that she had almost been beaten out of the city because they mistook her for a refugee. She handed him a bag of clothes, and said, “No one was at the apothecary, I bought a piece of ginger. I can make ginger syrup, you should be fine after drinking it.”

Chu Xiang thanked her, then found that the girl’s aesthetics were quite good. He held a light blue robe embellished with silver embroidery thread, which were more in line with his current tastes than the white mourning-style clothes ‘he’ originally wore.

It’s just that he wasn’t used to wearing long robes with long sleeves.

“Here, your money!”

“Don’t, I said that it’s for you, you go buy yourself a few pretty dresses,” Chu Xiang smiled.

Erni shook her head. “No way, if I’m too pretty, I’d have to marry someone as their concubine.”

Chu Xiang was speechless for a moment. Erni persistently stuffed the money to him, saying that she had already bought a bag of candy to eat and that was enough.

After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke. “Evil Star, aren’t you going to the big lord’s banquet?”

Chu Xiang chuckled in surprise, wondering why he was suddenly stuck with the label of evil star.

However, when the girl brought up the banquet, Chu Xiang’s faded memories did offer something — the Chu Xiang of the past did often attend banquets, and seemed to have been called something fourth young master by the Grand Princess… Right, if he remembered correctly, today was the Spring Banquet held at the Grand Princess’ residence!

!!!

Chu Xiang abruptly jumped up. Although time travel was an extraordinary thing, since he had travelled back and got a new life, it would be too much of a pity to be dragged out and executed the next day just for not attending the Spring Banquet. Since the Grand Princes pointed him out, he should at least show his face there — this was a world where lese-majesty was a punishable crime.

However, just as he reached the door, Captain Chu suddenly had a headache when he realised that poetry and songs were all out of his reach now, because if he opened his mouth the only thing to come out would be 4D space-time battle tactics.

Translator:
It’s a headache and a half to work out how to translate 国 (guó, kingdom) when it’s referring to a territory under the overall rule of an emperor, since kingdom implies a king as its sole monarch. I’ve given up and gone for principality — usually used for a state with a monarch using the title of prince or princess, e.g. Liechtenstein — but if anyone has a better idea please comment.

< Previous | Table of Contents | Next >

• 1
  The imperial harem 
• 2
  蛮夷, specifically meaning ethnic minorities not living in the central Chinese plains
• 3
  Technically more accurate to call it a jade plaque, but plaque makes me think of dental plaque
• 4
  国主: lit. master or owner of the country
• 5
  ‘Er’ as in two (二), ‘ni’ as in maid (妮). People were pretty shit to girls back then.