After Dawn - Chapter 4

Seeing the two coming out, Sui Feng, who was guarding outside, greeted them, “Master, Divine Doctor Feng Yue.”

“Feng Yue, what are you about to say?” Xuan Yuan Chao asked.

“That’s not something the Prince should ask me, he should ask Sui Feng,”

“Ask me what?” Sui Feng asked, pointing at himself, puzzled.

“When I went in earlier, Sui Feng was guarding the door, so I’m sure he heard all the conversation between me and the Princess.” Feng Yue said, “All you need is for Suifeng to convey what the Princess said earlier to you.”

He knew that the care he had just shown for Huo Qingran had already made Xuanyuan Chao suspicious, plus although he was highly skilled in medicine, he was still an outsider to Xuanyuan Chao, so what he said was naturally not as true as what Feng had told him.

Sui Feng repeated all of Qing Ran’s earlier words word by word to Xuan Yuan Chao, listening to him with a frown. Xuan Yuan Chao turned his head and looked at Feng Yue.

“Feng Yue’s real face is too prominent, walking in the Jianghu to avoid trouble to make a cover up, please forgive me, Wangye.” Feng Yue said, which was an indirect acknowledgement of Qing Ran’s words.

He has said so, Xuan Yuan Chao naturally can not afford to blame, the relationship between Feng Yue and him in itself is not a hierarchy of superiors and subordinates, but Feng Yue also knows that at this time it is meaningless to hide his true face.

When Feng Yue revealed his true face, Xuan Yuan Chao, being a man, could not help but have a momentary lapse of concentration. He was not a man who cared about physical appearance, nor did he like male beauty. If the three Xuan Yuan brothers were the darlings of the heavens, Feng Yue was the exiled immortal. The bit of vermilion on the centre of his forehead not only did not reduce his worldly aura by half, but also added a sense of sacredness and inviolability.

“No wonder ……” said Sui Feng to himself, “No wonder the Princess called the Divine Doctor Shénxiān Gege of the Bright Moon ……”

Hearing this, Xuanyuan Chao’s face was completely black. As expected, when the two of them entered the dark prison again, Qing Ran did not show the slightest abnormality when she saw Feng Yue, whose appearance had changed drastically. It was as if he had been born that way.

Now, what Qing Ran said had instant credibility.

“Shénxiān Gege, are you here to get me out?” Qing Ran asked, tilting her head, her little face still streaked with undried tears. She was already cute in her appearance, and even though she was now covered in wounds and her face was ruined, she was still appealing to the heart.

When Xuan Yuan Chao, who was walking behind, saw his nominal wife calling another man her Shénxiān Gege with hopeful eyes, a certain string in his heart seemed to be tugged, playing a sour and astringent tune.

“Huo Qingran!” Xuan Yuan Chao shouted with a frown, originally wanting to remind her not to forget her status as the Prince Consort, but seeing her scared look, the rest of the words could not be said.

“Prince, Qing Ran’s mind will degrade a little, so why do you need to be bothered with her?” Feng Yue’s voice was slightly cold as he said, but he walked to Qing Ran’s side and carefully checked the wounds on her body.

Xuan Yuan Chao hated her to the core because he had learned that she had hurt Huo Si Rong, so he gave her an extremely harsh flogging, and Qing Ran’s face was covered with several hideous whipping marks, and her body was overlaid with deep and shallow wounds.

Xuan Yuan Chao’s whips all carried concealed hooks, and in a few places the whips were so heavy that the concealed hooks inside were brought out, scraping Qing Ran’s delicate skin, the blood and flesh rolled out, and because they had not been treated in time, they had turned white and pus filled, looking extremely horrible.

“Sui Feng, fetch a basin of hot water.” Feng Yue ordered, he did not dare to say that he would take Qing Ran back, but he could still treat the wounds on her body so that she could be beautiful before she died.

Instead of listening to his command, Sui Feng looked at Xuan Yuan Chao.

Xuan Yuan Chao also knew that this matter was not as simple as he thought, and sighed a little heavily, he also did not expect that he would hit so hard at that time, “Take her out, I’ll go and inform Elder Brother Wang and the others.”

“Can I go out now?” Qing Ran asked cautiously.

“Hmm.”

Qing Ran’s face blossomed into a big smile, “I knew Shénxiān Gege would save me and get me out.”

Feng Yue felt a warmth in his heart at her undisguised trust and suddenly could not let such a pure and flawless smile disappear from this world.

The timing of Qing Ran’s arrival is very clever. In the story, Huo Qing Ran’s revelation  makes Xuan Yuan Chao, who learns the truth of all things, full of guilt for Huo Si Rong, whom he has let down, and his inner love deepens. Learning that she does not feel happy at all by his side, he painfully gives her up to Huo Si Rong’s other admirer – Xuan Yuan Chao’s fourth brother,  Xuan Yuan Cheng, the Idle King.

It happened to be a time of inner pain for Xuan Yuan Chao, before he had a letter of divorce to give to Huo Si Rong, who was his concubine, to go to Xuan Yuan Cheng’s side.

As for the Idle King, Xuan Yuan Cheng, although he admired Huo Si Rong’s character and ability, it was only after spending time together later that he really developed feelings for her.

As for the current emperor, Xuan Yuan’s elder brother, Xuan Yuan Zhi, he had only met Huo Si Rong in male disguise once on a trip, and although he was impressed by the rare sight of a woman who was so brave and resourceful and more talented than ordinary men, he was not impressed.

The three Xuan Yuan brothers were different from other royal families because they were all biological brothers from the same mother, and trusted each other very much, without many of the usual suspicions of the royal family. Without the presence of Huo Si Rong, Emperor Xuan Yuan Zhi would have been in charge of the government, King Xuan Yuan Cheng would have been in charge of the martial arts, and King Rui Yuan would have been in charge of the army, so it would have been extremely difficult for the Xuan Yuan Dynasty to become strong.

Xuan Yuan Cheng and Xuan Yuan Zhi came quickly.

By the time they arrived, Qing Ran’s wounds had been treated with medicine by Feng Yue and bandages had been wrapped all over her body, binding her like a mummy.

”Ugly as hell.”

As Xuan Yuan Chao stood in the doorway, he heard his Princess Consort whine at the other man as if she was being petulant.

“Seventh brother, what’s going on?” Xuan Yuan Zhi had also heard about Huo Qing Ran’s attack on Huo Si Rong, and now that the Prime Minister’s House had become weaker under the joint suppression of him and his other two brothers, he had implicitly agreed to Xuan Yuan Chao’s move against Huo Qing Ran, although he had not obviously expressed his approval.

Xuan Yuan Chao’s expression was a little complicated: “Come in and talk.”

When he pushed open the door, he saw Qing Ran sitting on the bed, smiling at Feng Yue at the side of the bed. When the three Xuan Yuan brothers pushed the door open, Qing Ran’s reaction was even faster than Feng Yue’s, almost rolling and crawling behind Feng Yue, pulling the brocade quilt covering her legs up to her head.

“Shénxiān Gege, there are three bad guys coming in!” She only showed a pair of dark, bright eyes over Feng Yue’s shoulder, looking warily at the three Xuan Yuan Chao.

“Big brother, Fourth brother, this is Feng Yue.” Xuan Yuan Chao made a brief introduction for Feng Yue and didn’t do much explaining, “Huo Qing Ran has been poisoned and her mind is gradually regressing, now I’m afraid she’s only a few years old.”

“Twelve years old!” Qing Ran blurted out at the top of her lungs and quickly retreated; it seemed that her mind was stuck at that age.

“You poisoned her?” Xuan Yuan Cheng asked with some disapproval, he had always been a flamboyant gentleman who preferred to give a hard time even to those who had committed the most serious crimes. The means of poisoning was the most disgraceful to him.

“It wasn’t Seventh Brother who poisoned him.” Xuan Yuan Zhi negated for Xuan Yuan Chao, “This poison is the Returning to Truth of the Healing God Valley, there are only two of them in the world, one has been used since the time of the previous emperor, the other is in the state treasury.”

“Xiao Dezi, go and check the collection in the Treasury.”

“aye aye!”

“Seventh brother, you summoned me and fourth brother to come overnight, I’m afraid it’s not just to see your poisoned royal concubine.” Xuan Yuan Zhi said, from Rui Wang’s residence to the palace, it would take two hours to come and go, the people Xuan Yuan Chao sent to the palace, it was already close to curfew, if not for the one hundred thousand emergency situation, Xuan Yuan Chao would not have been able to summon him out.

“Naturally not.” He then quickly explained the reason for calling the two over and spelled out his suspicions about Huo Qing Ran and Huo Si Rong.

“Huo Qing Ran is most likely able to see the spirits of people, and Huo Si Rong …… According to her, the real Huo Si Rong died when she was six years old, and what now resides inside Huo Si Rong’s body is a demonic creature.”

Xuan Yuan Zhi felt a dry itch in his throat. If a demon appears in a country, it is a prelude to its downfall.

He considered himself to be a wise ruler who was diligent in his duties, neither lustful for women nor cruel and tyrannical, and was naturally very wary of the existence of demonic creatures.

“Don’t be afraid Qing Ran, they are your elder brothers and won’t hurt you.” Feng Yue gently advised, Huo Qing Ran had married into the Rui Wang Mansion, although Xuan Yuan Chao did not like her as a Princess Consort, she was indeed listed in the Royal Family’s clan tree, and Feng Yue was not wrong to say so.

“They’re not my elder brothers, Shénxiān Gege  is my brother, they’re the bad guys.”

Feng Yue was a bit confused, if Huo Qing Ran called Xuan Yuan Chao a bad guy, it was because Huo Qing Ran was awakened by Xuan Yuan Chao today, which was still justifiable, but Xuan Yuan Zhi and Xuan Yuan Cheng, even if Huo Qing Ran had seen the two when she was young, there was absolutely no way they had ever hurt her.

“Look, Shénxiān Gege -” Qing Ran reached out and pointed towards the three Xuan Yuan brothers, “They have black energy wrapped around their bodies, and the little golden dragon wrapped around that bad guy is spitting blood from the black energy. “

It is none other than the present-day Son of Heaven, Xuan Yuan Zhi, of whom she speaks, who has a small golden dragon on his body.

“Shénxiān Gege has a golden light on his body, just like the Goddess of Mercy in the painting, so of course he is a good person.”

“They have the same dark aura about them as the demonic aura of the demons in the storybook, so of course they’re bad guys.”

“That one has the strongest dark aura on him!”

“He’s the worst!”

Qing Ran’s finger was pointing in the direction of Xuan Yuan Chao.

“Sui Feng, go and invite Great Master Ling Hui.”

“No, get the carriage ready and let’s go to the Anguo Temple.”

——–

Jianghu 江湖    : (in late imperial times) world of traveling merchants, itinerant doctors, fortune tellers etc / demimonde

Wangye 王爷    : prince / marquis / nobleman

Shénxiān 神仙 :Daoist immortal / supernatural entity

Gege  哥哥 : older brother

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

Big Brother   大哥 (dàgē) : eldest brother

Fourth brother 四哥 :

Storybook 话本 (huàběn) : Song and Yuan literary form based on vernacular folk stories

Anguo 安国 ; Anguo county level city in Baoding, Hebei

Temple 寺 (sì) : Buddhist temple / mosque / government office (old)