Chapter 76 Radish & Pork Bone Soup (b)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

To be fair, if he could harden his heart against Meng Li’s plight now, he would not have entangled himself with the girl ‘as friends’ after they have both their breakup.

Nevertheless, he did not come forward himself. Instead, he appealed to Lin Fan indirectly, “I remember you seem to have a fairly good relationship with Second Young Miss Xue. Could you do me a favour, this once?”

Looked like he had decided to ask Lin Fan to help him out.

Lin Fan was rather unwilling to involve himself in the female spat, as it looked like things could quickly become very troublesome. However, now that Feng Luo had spoken, he found it difficult to refuse someone he considered a good person and good friend. With a nod, he headed over to the girls.

With Lin Fan there, Xue Qingruo immediately softened up. Moreover, in addition to ‘giving face’ to someone she considered worthy, the accusations being thrown at her from all sides were getting rather uncomfortable. She was more than happy to step down with this incentive.

Nevertheless, she still managed to throw in one last cheeky scheme, “Lin Fan, in return I must treat you to a meal. My sister will be there too so you mustn’t refuse.” With that final throw down, Xue Qingruo flounced off, quite certain that her ‘invitation’ had been accepted.

To a certain extent, the two young ladies of the Xue Family were rather similar.

As soon as Xue Qingruo left, people began coming over to help Meng Li up. Suddenly, Mo Yin popped up from nowhere and began patting Meng Li’s clothes down, exclaiming, “That woman is too hateful. If not for her sister, who would even bother with her?”

Xue Qingge had just turned 18 and her Cultivation stage was already at Level 9 of Core Transformation Stage [1]. At the last End of Term Competition, she won First Placing for her grade and was considered a great talent. Coupled with her reputation as the number one beauty of the college, she was one of the most famous people in the College.

Having a great sister like this meant that not many people dared to provoke Xue Qingruo.

Meng Li lowered her head. A flash of contempt glittered in her eye: [2] Mo Yin, you only appear now and scold people once they leave. You did not come when I was being bullied, only showed up to show your concern once the tigress had left. If you’re really not afraid of Xue Qingruo, why didn’t you appear much earlier?

However, when she lifted her head, the hard glitter in her eyes had softened to a shine of gratitude, “Don’t be angry, Little Yin. She’s the daughter of the mighty Xue Clan after all, it’s normal for her to be a little harsh. I just didn’t like her talking down the Feng Clan and quarrelled with her. It’s my own fault for not being strong enough to hold my ground.”

Mo Yin’s eyes widened at the mention of Feng Clan.

Feng Clan. The Feng Clan, ah! The Feng Clan was completely different now, how could she miss this opportunity to make an impression? They had been friends once, surely they could be friends again?

Her eyes flashed around the cafeteria. When she caught sight of Feng Luo she immediately pulled Meng Li over.

Feng Luo looked a little surprise to see them when they stopped right before him, but he said nothing. Only looking warily at a stubborn Mo Yin and a slightly dishevelled and blushing Meng Li.

Mo Yin spoke first, “Feng Luo, now that your Feng Clan is on the rise, you no longer care about your old friends, is it? How could you just sit there when Meng Li was being bullied just now? If you have any conscience in your heart, you should have stopped Second Young Miss Xue! Don’t you know that Meng Li is being bullied because of you?!”

Meng Li had vaguely alluded that the Feng Clan was the reason why she was slapped, but Mo Yin took it for granted that it was all Feng Luo’s fault.

Feng Luo frowned. He had been minding his own business here, so why was he being dragged into this now? “Because of me?”

“No, no, Little Yin is just angry on my behalf,” Meng Li quickly waved her hands as she looked to the side and said guiltily, “what happened just now had nothing to do with you or the Feng Clan. I was just careless. Little Yin, let’s just leave…

Mo Yin refused to leave. However, she did soften her tone as she said, “Feng Luo, you weren’t around so you can’t know how much Meng Li secretly cried herself to sleep every night. I know you would never abandon her just like that, right? How about we all forget about all this unpleasantness and go back to how we used to be? We were such good friends before, right? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

The knife in Shiyu’s hand actually shook and she had to stifle a laugh. Wei! What kind of drama are you making, ah? Do you really think other people are idiots desperate to be your friend? That you can solve anything as long as you thicken your face and let shameless roll out of your mouth like oil slick?

A quick glance at Feng Luo showed that he was barely keeping his temper in. One eye was twitching, looks like he was too shocked to react properly to this shamelessness.

“Hey!” Shiyu thumped the handle of Supreme Indifferent against the chopping board, causing the others to turn their attention to her. “There’s something I forgot to tell you guys. Feng Luo’s future wife has already been decided. He’s staying with Lin Fan and I because we’re his chaperones. It’s our job to make sure no other girls aside from myself is loiters around him. You ladies had better not try and stick yourself shamelessly onto our charge just because his family had gained power. Aren’t your manners too poor? As for you, Meng Li. Just the other day I saw you and Liu Yi nearly kissing. Don’t tell me you’re trying to… two-time these guys?”

Silence.

Mo Yin screeched, “I, sticking shamelessly? Feng Luo and Meng Li are already a couple before this. As for the kissing…” her voice fell, her brain finally processed what she had actually heard. The person Meng Li has been accused of kissing was not Feng Luo but Liu Yi. “Mother f*cker, is this true? Meng Li!?”

“No!” Meng Li cried. “She is just speaking nonsense…”

“Who’s speaking nonsense? Hidden behind a clump of reeds beside the Little Mirror Lake, the time… hmm, just before noon I think. If you believe that am just spouting nonsense, you can find out from the people around here whether anyone had seen these two lovebirds hanging around the weeds beside a certain lake at a certain time,” Shiyu said brazenly. In fact, she was never at the lake, but gossipy San Pang was the one who had regaled her with all the scandalous things he saw around the College. [3] One morning, after eating the Stir-fried Clams, San Pang became very diligent about trying to spot nice things to eat around lakes. He had been investigating the edges of the Little Mirror Lake in the College to see if there were anything good there when he spotted these scandalous pair.

Shiyu had listened, of course, but with only half an ear because she was not one to really care what consenting adults do with their lives. She only took note of it because Meng Li was once Feng Luo’s love interest. To think that this woman would dare to come and perform such drama before her friend, how ugly, ah.

Mo Yin must have had some inkling of her lover’s straying eyes. Because right after Shiyu brought it up, she already half believe that it was true. Even when Meng Li pleaded pitifully at her, Mo Yin’s reaction was to backhand the delicate-looking girl.

“!”

Without another word, Mo Yin stomped off, presumably to look for Liu Yi for an explanation.

With both sides of her face red from slaps, Meng Li looked very pitiful indeed as she sprawled weakly on the floor, “I didn’t…” she murmured. “I- it was Liu Yi who pursued me…”

At the sight of her, a question suddenly flashed within Feng Luo’s heart. Just what had he seen in such a weak and scheming girl in the first place?

He tried to recall the first time the attraction bloom and, oh, it was the time when he and Meng Li were both at the Treasure Pavilion and they both needed a specific type of medicinal herb. In the end, Meng Li had smiled and let him have it. Though he could have bought the medicinal herb outside the College, her smile had seemed so lovely and refreshing that day, that it captivated his heart. Later, he had Uncle Feng track down the same medicinal herb and gift it to her.

In return, she gave him some small token and as they continued to trade tokens and greetings, the two people eventually got to know each other. Slowly, he began to fall for this frail and gentle seeming girl. Any time he saw something good, he would gift it to her as soon as possible, just to see that little flush of joy on her cheeks. Seeing tears in her eyes pained his heart and he’d do his best to find ways to make her happy. Even after the whole Shiyu incident, he still felt that as a friend, he should care about her on a friend’s standpoint and not hurt her but…

But now, even though she was more beautiful than ever, with a higher Cultivation base and prettier clothes. In his heart, she was never as beautiful as the time when he had first met her.

Had she changed?

Or was human nature just inherently terrible?

 

[Gumihou: Your girlfriend and friends are just terrible people. You need a new girlfriend]

 

[1] Core Transformation Stage – Same stage as Shiyu now. Shiyu at Level 0, Meng Li Level 2 and Xue Qingge Level 9 as of this chapter.

[2] Structural Change: Change from a second-person view to the first-person stream of consciousness type for a more immediate impression.

[3] Detail Adjustment re Logistical Issue: I’m fairly sure they had Stir-fried Clams in the afternoon. San Pang was supposed to have spotted the lovers in the morning, but Shiyu mentally informed readers that San Pang went to the lake after eating Stir-fried Clams. This… poses an interesting logistical issue. Gumihou solved it via ‘one morning after eating Stir-fried Clams’.

 

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