Chapter 230 (Part 1): Something Wrong with This Picture
Translated by Gumihou
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com
Gumihou:… lol, I’m sorry, but I sometimes look at Long Pingzhang’s name and accidentally read it as ‘long Pingzhang’, as in the opposite of short ‘long’. It should be pronounced as ‘loong’ as in ‘booth’. The phonetics symbol are as follows:
lɒŋ – long – the opposite of ‘short’
buːθ – booth
luːŋ – Long as in ‘dragon’
As Long Pingzhang spoke, he pulled Xiu’er up by the hand and began to hurry away. Duan Tingxuan grabbed his arm just before he was able to leave the table and said sternly, “What nonsense are you talking about? Pingzhang, do you know how sad uncle and aunt are when they heard that you’ve died? You’re their only son, the pride and joy of your entire clan. When they received the news of your death…”
“Aren’t I a dead man already?” Long Pingzhang shouted. He blinked, then shook Duan Tingxuan’s hand off his sleeve, “In… in fact, you’ve got the wrong person. I am not th-that Excellency Long or whatever, we were just… just trying to scam you for money. Just let me go. I am not that Long person.”
“Even lies need structure, you know?” Duan Tingxuan’s face was covered in black lines at this lame attempt to lie. It’s quite jarring after having experienced Lu Feng Yu’s flawless, sophisticated lie weaving. “Moreover, you were the one who called out my name.”
“I was confused, I am full of lies!” Long Pingzhang howled. Duan Tingxuan gritted his teeth, “Really? Is my name so common that any random person in the street could guess it?”
“At… at any rate, I am not that person.” Long Pingzhang was getting more and more agitated.
Su Nuan Nuan reached forward to grasp at Duan Tingxuan’s sleeves and urged “Don’t tell me you haven’t seen it yet? His Excellency Long really could not give up Miss Xiu’er. If you don’t let him stay together with Miss Xiu’er, he would not go back with you.”
“The only problem is… he might like her now, but that could be the result of him having lost his memories.” How could Duan Tingxuan just leave his good friend here and leave? He had no sensitivity towards feminine sentiments like Su Nuan Nuan, and could not bear the thought of leaving his friend stuck in a backward village like this for the sake of a mere village girl. The thought of his brilliant friend wasting his talents as a rising star politician and muddling through life with his face to the ground and back to the sky like a common farmer pained him badly.
“Brother A-Niu, you mustn’t… you mustn’t be like this. That young master said it already. You are actually a really important official, and your family sounds really wonderful. These past few months, will be like a fleeting dream once you go back.”
Tears rolled down Xiu’er’s cheeks as she squeezed Long Pingzhang’s hand tightly. Through her sobs, she said, “You go with this young master, alright? And go home, that’s where you belong to after all. If… if you still remember me. You can… you can come and visit father and- and me…”
“No… Xiu’er, I… I can’t just cast you away like this.” Long Pingzhang pulled Xiu’er towards him. Beside him, that Duan Tingxuan character was loudly ranting on and on about his parents again, about how sad they were and how wretched. Annoyed, he turned and snapped, “Those are the parents of a dead person, I… I have no memory of those people. What I have are all here. There’s only Xiu’er, so why are you forcing that terrible mess on me? Are you really that keen on forcing Xiu’er and I apart?”
“You scoundrel. What ‘dead person’? That dead person is you, and ‘those people’ are your own parents. You may have lost your memories, but you are still you. You are still Long Pingzhang, not someone who merely looked like him. You might have no memories of your parents now, and your heart is filled with nothing but Xiu’er, but what happens when your memory returns in the future?
What are you going to do then? Are you going to abandon her here and return home then? Or are you going to stay here and endure the guilt of having left your parents grieving for their son’s corpse-less death? What will happen to your ambition? Your ideals? The ten years you’ve spent studying for the imperial examinations? Are you really going to be happy abandoning all that for a farmer’s life? Could you actually take the backbreaking work of a farmer?”
“I… I…”
Long Pingzhang stuttered, but was unable to think of a good comeback. Xiu’er continued to cry, but still managed to speak through her tears, “Brother A-Niu, this young master is right. You don’t want to go home now because you’ve lost your memory. The only thing you know now are me and my father. If one day you have all your memories back, you might not be happy living the kind of life we live. Just go with this young master, ba. Don’t… don’t make trouble for me…”
“This young girl is really clear-headed.” Su Nuan Nuan was in shock. She was starting to suspect that this unusually clear-headed and courageous girl was actually a transmigrator. Normally when women realized that they managed to bag a super high grade Golden Tortoise [1] like Long Pingzhang, they’d immediately turned into an octopus and refused to let go, right? For her to so clearly understand her own status, and the kind of potential trouble she and Long Pingzhang might bring to each other regardless of which path they take, and still have the courage to cut her losses now despite her pain. That kind of mental fortitude is too rare, ah.
“No, Xiu’er, I… I really like you. Not just because you’ve saved my life, but really, truly like you.” Long Pingzhang tightened his hold on Xiu’er’s hand and refused to let go. However, because Duan Tingxuan was also tightly holding onto his sleeves, he was unable to move forward either.
It was almost symbolic the way he was stuck between a future that he could not bear to let go, and the past that refuses to let him go. Suddenly, he turned around and said sharply to Duan Tingxuan, “You say that you are my good friend? A very good friend, is it not?”
“Yes.” Though it was just a single word, it felt heavy on Duan Tingxuan’s tongue. He swallowed, feeling the hairs on his neck rising.
As expected, Long Pingzhang’s eyes brightened abnormally. Those eyes wobbled imploringly at Duan Tingxuan, “Then, you must help me. Help me stay together with Xiu’er, alright? I can see that you are no ordinary person, perhaps with you to back me up, my parents will also accept Xiu’er, won’t they? Didn’t you say that I am their only son? This son of theirs was rescued by Xiu’er, so there should be no reason why Xiu’er couldn’t be married in, right?”
“You are from a very influential family, a girl like Xiu’er might not be able to adapt into that life.” Duan Tingxuan did his best to gently dissuade his friend. The inner court politics alone could be bloody, ah!
However, it looked like Long Pingzhang had completely forgotten what life within a large house was like and continued to insist, “Why can’t she? I was able to adapt into their lifestyle. Also… Xiu’er is actually really clever, she’ll definitely be able to adapt.”
“Whatever, you just consider it as me having mistaken you for someone else. You should just go back and make preparations for your wedding with Xiu’er,” Duan Tingxuan threw up his hands. This friend of his was really giving him a headache. He really did not want to deal with this annoyance anymore!
[Gumihou: I really like this Xiu’er. She’s so sensible, she clearly has feelings for Long Pingzhang but still did her best to do the right thing.]
[1] Golden Tortoise – a rich man, a money tree, lol
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Translated by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.
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