Chapter 166 Cold Serve Rabbit (i)

Translated by Gumihou

Edited by Gumihou

 

When Xiao Shu reached home, she was stopped by the Gatekeeper from entering the Shu Estate. However, nearby servants ran on swift feet to inform the Madam that the Eldest Young Miss has returned.

The Eldest Young Miss was someone the servants had seen grown up before their eyes and therefore very precious to them. Seeing the honourable Madam and Young Miss estranged like this really pinched their hearts, ah.

At the servants’ eager report, Madam Shi’s expression did not change. Aside from a single, “I see,” she said nothing else.

Because of this non-answer, no one dared to let Young Miss in, ah…

Not daring to do anything without their mistress’s expressed permission, the servants dithered and nearly hopped in place with anxiousness when Madam’s personal made came over to whisper, “Madam did not say you can’t let her in, ah.”

Oh.

Oh!

Seeing the light, the servants rushed to send word to the Gatekeeper to let Young Miss in.

[1] Madam Shi knew what her personal maid was doing, of course. However, she did not reprimand her maid for taking matters into her own hands or misusing her authority.

[1] Xiao Shu’s heart thumped with happiness when the Gatekeeper let her in. She ran to her mother’s courtyard and threw herself to her knees. “M-mother! Xiao Shu is wrong! Xiao Shu is stupid. Please forgive your foolish daughter…”

[1] She wept and pleaded, but Madam Shi maintained an indifferent expression through her crying. [2] Finally, Madam Shi stood up. Xiao Shu went silent, hopeful and anxious as she waited for her mother’s judgement. However, Madam Shi did not say anything. Instead, she stepped down from the raised dais where the chair of the mistress of the house was placed and disappeared into her room. [3] Madam Shi’s personal maid wavered a little but decided that she had overstepped her authority enough for the day and hurried after her mistress.

[2] The door to Madam Shi’s private rooms closed and Xiao Shu was left alone in the visiting hall of her mother’s private courtyard.

[2] She was not alone for long. Soon, the patter of running footsteps clattered through the room and Yun Duo, her personal maid, came rushing in. The moment Yun Duo heard that her mistress had returned, she had rushed over immediately, uncaring about propriety or anything else. She must see her little mistress with her own eyes, ah!

[5] The other servants did not stop her as she rushed into the Madam’s courtyard. One of the maids even guided her to the receiving hall where she found her mistress sitting alone in the middle of the floor.

[5] Letting out a soft moan, Yun Duo dropped to her knees and hugged her poor young mistress. Sobbing with relief, she did not forget to curse the so-called guest, who was still prancing about the Shi Estate as though she was the true owner of young miss’ personal courtyard. “It’s all the fault of that horrible white-eyed wolf young miss brought in. She must have whispered evil things to Madam and caused this trouble, ah, ah, ah! Woo, my poor mistress, if not for that vicious vixen, how could Madam throw you out, ah? Wuwu,”

Once Xiao Shu managed to get Yun Dou to stop crying and wailing, she demanded, “Who said that Xiao Yu was the one who hurt me?”

Yun Duo was aghast, “That, well, everyone! Everyone knew it, ah! The day when you were sent out of the house, everyone saw her leave Madam’s courtyard soon after. She stayed in your courtyard and calmly eat your food and enjoy herself after you were driven away! Isn’t that too strange?”

“You thought she was the culprit just because of this?” Xiao Shu stood up. She was about to explain what had really happened when she registered the stubborn set of Yun Dou’s mouth. [5] This maid will not let go of her stand no matter what. Feeling a little helpless, she finally said, “Don’t let me hear anything like that anymore. If anyone dares to bad mouth Shiyu, I shall personally drive them out!”

Once the words left her lips Xiao Shu was startled by her own fierce words. Was this what Mother felt when speaking to her? That the person opposite them was too stubborn and stupid to understand anything, therefore just issue a few rules and washed her hand of the matter?

As she stared down at her loyal but stubborn maid, the door to her heart, which had been tightly closed, opened slightly.

Well, no matter what, she’s home now. In the future, she vowed to have a proper talk with Mother. They were still mother and daughter, she will stick with the family till the end. Feeling better after making this decision, Xiao Shu made her way back to her courtyard.

Yun Duo opened the door to her residence and Xiao Shu stepped in to see… three youths lounging in the garden, the remains of a snack scattered on the table between them.

“… …” has she gone to the wrong courtyard?

Yun Duo’s slightly sullen voice said, “They are Miss Xiao Yu’s distant cousins. They just turned up one day.” The rest of whatever she wanted to say were all swallowed down to her stomach. She couldn’t say anything bad, but she could still glare at these youths, right?

Her poor mistress not only suffered in the hands of that vixen Xiao Yu. That woman even dared to bring young men into her mistress’s house, how could she not hate that bitch, ah?!

The three youths blinked at Xiao Shu. Finally, Bei Bei said, “Did you come to the wrong place?”

Yun Duo exploded, “This is our young lady’s personal residence! The people in the wrong place are you! Don’t you know men and women should not occupy the same space?! How dare you soil our lady’s place with your presence? Are you not ashamed at all?!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, who pissed off our little Miss Green?”

Shiyu calmly strolled in.

Yun Duo whirled around and snarled, “Who’s Miss Green?! Also, who belongs to you?! And my name is Yun Duo! Yun Duo!”

Shiyu covered her ears dramatically and [6] declared, “Aiyo, why is this maid so loud? Ah, that’s right, have you met with Madam?”

Xiao Shu blinked at her dramatic behaviour and guessed that Shiyu was just teasing Yun Duo. Nevertheless, she was still a little ashamed by her maid’s behaviour, “It’s my fault for being too letting her get too unbridled.”

“That little maid of yours is just angry because she thinks I’m the reason you got kicked out. I don’t care about it,” Shiyu waved her hand carelessly, dismissing Yun Duo’s fuming. “By the way, let me introduce you to my distant cousins.”

Xiao Shu nodded and warmly greeted Shiyu’s distant ‘cousins’. She had no reason to not believe Shiyu’s claims. Moreover, she was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to think too deeply about Shiyu’s relatives. She could not help but think about her mother, who did not seem to care about her affairs. It made Xiao Shu a little sad.

“You know, as an outsider, I think it’s fine if you like Shen Lingfei. Ignoring the quality of his character, which is a piece of shit if you ask me, it’s still fine if you’re into those types. However, you’re only allowed to ruin your own life and not disturb other people’s peace. Not to mention, do you really believe that your mother has no idea that you’re actually with that Shen Lingfei?”

Xiao Shu’s eyes widened slightly. It was something that she had never considered before. She had been so preoccupied with the fear that Mother would be too critical with her choice of lover that she never dared to bring it up.

“In the past, you paid for all of the expensive gifts to Shen Lingfei with your own money, which meant the only person you harmed through this relationship is yourself. Now, however-” Shiyu suddenly stopped speaking and looked upwards. [7] A figure had appeared over the Shi Estate and was rapidly weaving their way through the lanes and pathways between houses.

“Someone’s here!” Shiyu rapidly flashed away. The three cousins disappeared too.

[7] Xiao Shu’s Cultivation Stage was too low for her to keep up with them. She could only run out of her courtyard and tried to determine where they had gone through the ruckus made by the fleeing stranger. Speaking of which, she had no idea just what Xiao Yu’s Cultivation Stage was…

[8] The three pandas quickly overtook the stranger, blocking his way causing him to turn around and run. However, the intruder ended up facing Shiyu instead.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?”

[8] Stuck between three youths and a little girl, the stranger chose to aim his knife at Shiyu’s neck. However, before his weapon could make contact, the knife disappeared, so did his hand. Then, his arm and… then there was a desperate scream before his entire body was [9] [10] shaking and peeling… and finally he was nothing more than fertilizer for the nearby flower beds.

[8] The three youths, who had been waiting for Shiyu’s signal to act, gaped at the scene before them. To be honest, they were hoping they could gain some points for rescuing their mistress, but… but this was beyond what they had imagined, ah!

[8] This new mistress of theirs had just quickly and efficiently turned a person with a fairly high Cultivation Stage into ashes, that guy should at least be a Core Condensation Cultivator, right? [10] Also, he was burnt up, right? They had not imagined the invisible flame, right?!!?

[10] As Divine Transformation Cultivators, their senses were more developed than others. Though their eyes could not see the flames, they could still feel the heat, ah! Also, what else could turn something into ashes, ah?!

The three youths clutched each other fearfully.

No, no wonder Grandpa said that Ninth Realm’s humans are terrifying.

Just then, Xiao Shu and a few guards came running up.

“Xiao Yu! Are you alright? Where’s the stranger?”

“Stranger? What stranger? I don’t know, ah,” Shiyu waved a careless hand at the three quivering youths. “Did you see any strangers?”

“No! No!”

“Then, let’s go look somewhere else,” Xiao Shu said nervously.

 

Meanwhile, just outside of the Shi Estate.

[11] People had been monitoring the Shi Estate ever since they got wind of the Jade Spirit Essence. Everyone pretended not to see the others as they waited for an opportunity to snatch the precious item. After the two Deans of Dawn College was thrown out, nobody dared to openly challenge the Shi Estate.

Eventually, though, someone broke under the tension and snuck in.

[11] “Who was it? Did you see?” someone whispered.

“I think it’s Zhao Clan’s Patriarch. He’s a 5th Level Core Condensation Master. He’s probably aiming to snatch the item before anyone else could,” another hissed.

Having nothing better to do, the watchers strained their ears and eyes, hoping to see something exciting. However, after nearly an hour, the Shi Estate remained quiet.

Just what is going on?

What happened to that guy?

 

[Gumihou: I’m not sure what kind of joke Shiyu was making at the end. Was she being flippant? Edgy? Emo? Sarcastic? On a power trip? Probably on a power trip.]

 

Gumihou is keeping track so that you don’t have to ~

 

凝氣	Condensation Stage	Stage 1
化丹	Core Transformation	Stage 2
凝丹(46)	Core Condensation	Stage 3
化神(52)	Divine Transformation	Stage 4
成嬰	Nascent Formation	Stage 5
合體	Unification*	Stage 6
返墟	Revert Decay*	Stage 7
歸真	Original Purity*	Stage 8
成仙	Become Immortal*	Stage 9

 

 

[1] Added Detail for Dramatic Purpose: Split up the single paragraph where Madam’s thoughts and Xiao Shu’s wailing apologies are squashed into one boring narrative.

[2] Added Detail for Logistic Purpose: After Xiao Shu’s Miss Green came in to blame Shiyu for everything, Madam Shi was oddly silent till the end. So, had she… left? Turned into stone? Became mute?

Never mind, Madam Shi, please leave this hall with dignity while the youngsters wailed and howled among themselves.

[3] USMiC: Gave Madam Shi’s Personal Maid (no name) a little extra screen time.

[4] USMiC: Miss Green aka Yun Duo aka Xiao Shu’s personal maid, appears to be crucial for her character growth. So, please use her name. Especially since she has a personal name and was bestowed a nickname by Shiyu.

[5] Added Details for Logistic Purpose: Because this is an Estate and NOT a Bungalow. An estate has a lot of rules about who could come and go, especially for women. Read The Feast if you’re interested in the personal lives of women in such household for details.

Presumably, Yun Duo is either very favoured by her mistress, hence daring to be a little bitchy towards Shiyu, or just too stupid. Either way is fine, but it should be made clear in the narrative. Also, this is an opportunity to establish some kind of visual impact on Xiao Shu’s position and feelings, so why waste it?

[6] Changed Details for Logistic Purpose: Original text: Shiyu covered her ears when the maid scolded her, and then pointed at the maid

Kind of awkward? Unless you have three hands?

Also, what is this drama? Is this meant to be funny?

[7] Changed Details for Logistic Purpose: Original Text: Someone appeared over the Shi House

Author-san, again, is it a mansion or an estate?

If it’s an estate, there should be more than a few ‘Shi House’, Madam Shi’s house, Old Madam Shi’s house, Xiao Shu’s house, Uncle 1’s house, Uncle 2’s house, Daddy Shi’s house/study…

[8] Changed Detail for Logistic Purpose: Because after Naruto The Movie: Bonds, which had so many plot holes but one of the most STUPID being a civilian outrunning a bunch of professional ninjas that I stopped watching ALL Naruto movies.

Why did I bring up Naruto The Movie: Bonds?

Because Shiyu, the amazing 6th Level, Core Condensation Master (Chapter 143) could somehow outrun 3 Panda Beasts at Divine Transformations Stage (1 of them at 1st Level).

Shiyu stopped the person > stranger slash at Shiyu > stranger burnt up > the not slow Pandas who was behind Shiyu gaped at Shiyu’s deadliness

Bravo. Totally believable. Encore. Slow clap.

No.

[9] USMiC: Gave this poor guy a more morbid death description. Tsk, tsk.

[10] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: Just because you’re trying to describe an invisible fire doesn’t mean your description should be invisible to the reader’s eye.

[11] Added Details for Dramatic Purpose: People sneaking around outside of Shi Estate only has 3 (very) short paragraphs, added more details.

 

 

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