After Dawn - Chapter 2. Concubine Born Girl Becomes An Imperial Concubine

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Feng Yue, as his name implies, was a man of light and grace. Compared to the three Xuan Yuan brothers, his appearance was undoubtedly much more mediocre, but he has a power that could calm people’s hearts, and perhaps this was why Huo Si Rong has repeatedly wanted to leave everything in the capital and returned to the Valley of the Healing God to live in seclusion with him.

He walked in like a fresh breeze into a dark cell that had not seen the light of day for years.

Hearing the sound of footsteps, Qing Ran, who was sitting in the corner hugging her knees, raised her head and saw the visitor through her messy hair and a gleam of amazement flashed in her eyes, “Shénxiān Gege ……”

Feng Yue’s expression was a little embarrassed, it was not that he had not met people who were flirtatious, but most of the time the object of those women’s flirtation was Xuan Yuan Zhao who was beside him, not him.

The door to the cell where Qing Ran was being held was opened by Sui Feng, allowing Feng Yue to enter. When Qing Ran saw Sui Feng following behind Feng Yue, her body couldn’t stop trembling and her eyes looked at Feng Yue as if pleading for help, “Shénxiān Gege, that one is a bastard ……”

Her voice trembled and it was evident that she was scared to death, her large feline eyes containing teardrops as she looked at Feng Yue.

“Shénxiān Gege, help me ……”

Despite the fact that the children Huo Qing Ran had given birth to were already six years old, there was no way to guess her age from her face and figure. At a glance, she sat there skinny and small, looking rather like a young girl of fifteen or sixteen.

Her voice was soft and tender, mixed with fearful emotions. Not to mention Feng Yue, even Sui Feng felt a flutter in his heart, as if the person in front of him could be forgiven even for all the wrong actions she had done.

“What happened before?” Feng Yue asked, Huo Qing Ran suddenly became like this, if she wasn’t pretending, there must be a reason for it.

“The Crown Princess had a fever the night she was taken in, woke up in the morning with chili water, was tortured and passed out again, and when the Master came in the afternoon, she was in her present state.”

Feng Yue could see that she was afraid of Feng Sui, so he whispered to Feng Sui to guard the outside of the dark cell first, he thought he was not a man with no power, no matter Huo Qing Ran was really crazy or not, he could not help her.

After Sui Feng walked out, Qing Ran’s mood was definitely much more stable. Although she was still dropping tears and hiccuping over and over again, at least her body was not shaking as much as before.

Feng Yue walked over to her and she shrank back towards the wall she was leaning against, not dodging it after all.

“Princess, please extend your right hand to me.”

She looked at him confusedly as if she hadn’t understood his words, ” Princess, what princess?”

Feng Yue willing to accept other people’s views changed his way of addressing: “Girl, please give me your right hand.”

Now Qing Ran understood and handed her right hand out with a smile. Her wrist still bore the ligature marks left by the binding, and as Feng Yue pressed her fingers onto it, he heard the sound of her drawing back a cold breath.

“It hurts?” He asked.

Qing Ran shook her head, her dirty little face with a pair of inky eyes but as bright as a night sky covered with stars, “It’s okay, I know that Shénxiān Gege is treating me.”

Feng Yue stopped talking and took her pulse carefully. As time passed, Qing Ran stared at him closely, anxiety appeared in her eyes, and the tears that were swirling in her eyes fell like broken pearls without asking for anything.

“Shénxiān Gege, is Qing Ran suffering from a terminal illness that can no longer be cured?”

The pulse he touched with his fingertips was extremely weak, a sign of dying, and if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed that someone with such a pulse could still talk like a normal person.

“The girl only has a slight wind chill, a few doses of medicine and she’ll be fine.” He lowered his eyes, not looking directly into those bright eyes, which would have shown him the darkness within himself.

How can a woman who is clearly so vicious have such clear, transparent eyes?

The unusual fragrance that lingered in the tip of his nose, Feng Yue had already given the answer, this was from a type of vermin researched by the previous generation of the Master of the Healing God Valley, the poisoned person’s mind would regress by one year for every hour that passed, and would eventually stay at a certain age until death.

More than six hours have passed since Huo Qingran was found to have a fever last night, which means that her mind has now regressed back to the time before she married Xuan Yuan Zhao.

“Shénxiān Gege, what’s your name?”

“My name is Feng Yue.” Facing a dying person, facing a young girl with a mind of a few years old, how could Feng Yue not have hardened his heart, except that he was curious, he knew himself to have a bland skin, but why did Huo Qing Ran call him Shénxiān Gege, “Why do you call me Shénxiān Gege?”

“Because Shénxiān Gege is very good looking.” Qing Ran replied without hesitation, and just as Feng Yue was laughing at Huo Qing Ran’s unusual aesthetics, he was shocked back by her next sentence, “And the vermillion mole in between Shénxiān Gege’s eyebrows is exactly the same as that of the Goddess of Mercy.“

Feng Yue drew in a breath of cold air and stroked the center of his forehead; it was bare and clean, and there was no such thing as a vermilion mole as Qing Ran had said, but he was not reassured and asked, “Where is there a vermilion mole?”

Feng Yue’s heart fluttered, “Come and tell Shénxiān Gege what you see of Shénxiān Gege?”

Qing Ran tilted her head, seemingly unsure of how she should answer, and thought for a long time before saying, “Shen Xian Gege’s skin is as white as the agar jade Mother gave me.” His exposed skin was not yellow by any stretch of the imagination, but it was definitely not white enough to rival agar jade.

“Shen Xian Gege’s eyebrows are very thick and long, like little swords.” He had purposely plucked off his originally thick sword eyebrows in order to be able to better match his current features.

She reached out to cup Feng Yue’s face and looked left and right, and while Feng Yue was startled, she looked as if she was surveying something, finally picking out a spot where she could clearly put it into words.

“There’s a cherry blossom behind Brother Divine’s ear.” It wasn’t really a cherry blossom, of course, but just a birthmark; in fact, like the vermilion mole on his brow, Feng Yue had disguised it, meaning that it was invisible to the naked eye alone, unless one removed what covered it.

But Huo Qing Ran was able to find them all, one by one. If she had not seen him in his original form, she might have been able to do something else.

Since leaving the Healing God Valley, this appearance had become his disguise, and he had not even seen Xuan Yuan Zhao. He also did not believe that Huo Qing Ran, a lady from a rich residence, would learn of his true appearance.

“What are you doing?!” An angry shout came from behind Feng Yue, and Qing Ran was startled, but instead of letting go of Feng Yue’s hand, she flung herself into his arms.

Feng Yue was sitting on his knees in order to be able to communicate with Qing Ran better. With this lunge, Qing Ran just happened to encircle his waist.

He had already made out that the visitor was Xuan Yuan Zhao and heard the anger in his voice. It was also true that no man would want to see his wife cuddling with another man. But feeling the body in his arms shivering, Feng Yue let out a soft sigh and instead of pushing the person away, he tenderly pushed her messy hair behind her ear.

“Qing Ran don’t be afraid, he is the Prince, he is your husband.” He counseled softly.

Qing Ran shook her head, still holding on for dear life to his waist and refusing to let go.

“Feng Yue-” Xuan Yuan Zhao called out Feng Yue’s name in a long drawn out tone, and the usual politeness was gone from his voice.

Feng Yue knew that Xuan Yuan Zhao was really angry, but now in this situation he had no way to force Qing Ran away, so he could only persuade in a low voice, “Qing Ran, can you get up first?”

“Huo Qingran, you need not pretend to be crazy over there!” Xuan Yuan Zhao spoke with a sneer, “Don’t think I’ll let you out just because you’re leaning on Feng Yue.”

” Prince.” Feng Yue turned his head and called out lightly, his expression was a little serious, Xuan Yuan Zhao froze, but he looked down and said softly to Qing Ran, “Qing Ran be good, I will go out and ask the Prince not to bully you, okay?”

“Don’t.” Qing Ran’s muffled voice came out, “The bad man will beat you.”

“He won’t, don’t worry.” Perhaps Feng Yue’s gentle voice gave her too much courage, Qing Ran backed out of his arms, still timidly glancing at Xuan Yuan Zhao before hugging her knees and curling up in the corner.

Feng Yue got up and patted the lawn clippings on his body, ” Prince, I think we should go out and talk.”

“You’re saying that this King poisoned her?” Xuan Yuan Zhao asked incredulously, and then snorted, “What kind of trick is this to her? Although she has hurt Rong’er many times and this King cannot wait to have her torn and skinned, but I, Xuan Yuan Chao, am not so underhanded as to poison a woman.”

“Is it by this so-called poison that she has sought to gain your trust? Feng Yue, I don’t believe that you are such a gullible person.”

“The poison she was poisoned with is called Return to Truth, taken from the meaning of returning to the basics, for every hour that passes, the poisoned person’s mind will regress by one year, and will eventually stay at a certain age until death.” Feng Yue said indifferently, “Huo Qing Ran only has less than twelve hours to live from now on.”

“Now she’s just a twelve or thirteen year old girl at heart, so why can’t I trust her?”

“Hmph, she was born in the Prime Minister’s House, she has lived in a complicated environment since she was young and has a malicious mind.” Xuan Yuan Zhao said, “I was only about ten years old when I met Rong’er, and by that time she was already taking pleasure in bullying her.”

“I don’t believe it.” Feng Yue shook his head, he didn’t believe that a girl with such flawless eyes would be someone who would strike out at a young age against her concubine sister with a ruthless heart, “What you’ve heard is only Huo Si Rong’s side of the story, how can you conclude that Huo Qing Ran is really such a person.”

“You mean Rong’er is making up lies to deceive me?” Xuan Yuan Zhao snorted, in his mind Huo Si Rong was the white lotus flower that was pure beyond comparison, in the Prime Minister’s residence  immaculate in the mud, “Never!” He did not believe Feng Yue’s words at all.

“In that case, why don’t we go and ask Huo Qing Ran?”

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Feng Yue 风月 : romance / beautiful scenery

Repeatedly 几次三番 (jǐcìsānfān) : lit. twice then three times (idiom); fig. repeatedly / over and over again

Shénxiān 神仙: Daoist immortal / supernatural entity

Gege 哥哥 : older brother

Princess 王妃 (wangfei) : it’s the wife of a prince with the title of king

Willing to accept other people’s views 从善如流 (cóngshànrúliú) : readily following good advice (idiom)

Goddess of Mercy 观音 (Guānyīn) : Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion or Goddess of Mercy (Sanskrit Avalokiteśvara)

 Er 儿    : child. Rong’er is an close way to refer to Qing Ran sister

Return to Truth 返璞归真 (fǎnpúguīzhēn) : to return to one’s true self / to regain the natural state

immaculate in the mud 出淤泥而不染 (chūyūní’érbùrǎn):  lit. to grow out of the mud unsullied (idiom) / fig. to be principled and incorruptible

T/N: For my mother’s sake, Qing Ran called the little doc Shénxiān Gege so much that i think i will sleep thinking about that