Doppelganger:
As days went by, the two souls competing for dominance resulted in making the flesh weaker.
They were afraid that when Shaoqing
appeared she would hurt the body, so when she did appear, Qin Yaotang would make
her faint, preventing her from causing a scene. But this could not go on for
long, because Du Miaofu emerged less and less. They became afraid that when she
fell asleep it would be the last time. So they dare not let her sleep easily.
She tried to be strong and not fall asleep, but Yaotang could not stand it, he
pressed an acupuncture point and he made her sleep.
When she woke up again, ‘Don’t do the
acupoint…’ she begged weakly. She was cradled in his arms. Her spirits were low
and her eyes were sunken and bloodshot, the flesh of her cheeks were sunken.
She was reaching her limit. Everytime she woke up she felt so tired. Everytime
she closed her eyes she wanted to sleep peacefully.
But she wanted to hold on, she
didn’t want to disappear, but she could not bear it.
‘Talk to me.’ She said to Yaotang,
her voice almost inaudible.
Yaotang picked up her frail hand in
distress, only two weeks had passed and she had lost so much weight. He was
angry. He and Jiang Chuwei had tried everything they could but they could not
get rid of the spectre of Pei Shaoqing - she clung to the body stubbornly.
They knew it was Pei Shaoqing’s
body and she wanted to return, but people were selfish; in their hearts, Miaofu
was more important than Shaoqing. They wanted Miaofu to live, and Shaoqing to
die.
‘Damn it! Is there no way?’ Chuwei
shouted angrily, Jiang Haocheng was frightened.
‘Jiejie, don’t be so agitated, be careful
about your belly.’
‘Be careful of the fart!’ Chuwei
retorted, ‘Everytime I see Shaoqing’s madness, I get angry enough to have an
abortion.’
She knew Miaofu could not keep
going, when Shaoqing appeared, she laughed and laughed. That face made her so
angry she wanted to beat her up. If it weren’t that it was Miaomiao’s body,
yes she decided Miaomiao owned the body. Shaoqing had died when she fell off the
horse. Why does a dead person want to reincarnate? (Zuben: Aren't you a dead person yourself?)
‘Chuwei, don’t be mad…’ Miaofu
whispered softly seeing her friend’s anxiety.
‘You tell me why I should not be
angry…Damn!’ Miaofu’s appearance made Chuwei unable to continue, she tried to
hold back her tears and take a deep breath.
In the end, the culprit is this
surnamed Qin. She turned to him wanting to vent her anger on him, but looking
at the man’s appearance, she could not fight with him. Miaomiao was haggard
and so was he. His handsome face was now sallow, and his brows wrinkled. When
Miaomiao slept, he stayed by her side, not eating or drinking. It had just
been a few days but he looked like he had aged a few years.
She thought that if Miaomiao
should pass, this man would also go with her. (Zuben: That might be an
exaggeration) Turns out, people who seem indifferent and ruthless were not
always cold.
Chuwei sighed and continued
gnashing her teeth, ‘Where is that damn Xiahou? Isn’t he coming? I going to kill
him!’
‘I’m here, I’ve arrived!’ From far
off, he had heard his wife's cursing. Xiahou Yin the Emperor was helpless.
As soon as she saw him, she rushed
up to him and grabbed his clothes, ‘How? Have you found a way?’ she asked
frantically. She had sent a letter to him a few days ago, asking him to find a
way to deal with the situation. If the Emperor could not find someone, he
should simply put himself to death!
His wife’s movement speed was so
fast, Xiahou’s heart leapt. He hugged her quickly, ‘Weiwei, be careful of your
belly.’
‘Don’t fuss about my stomach,’ she
said dismissively, ‘What about the person? Did you find them?’
‘This…’ He hesitated, but his wife
began to give him a contemptuous look, he nodded reluctantly, ‘They have come
with me.’
Chuwei did not accept it and
roared, ‘Where are they then? Where? There is no one! Who is it?’
Xiahou was about to reply, but
another voice spoke before him.
‘The soul is fading.’
A short man stood before Du
Miaofu’s bed touching his chin thoughtfully.
Qin Yaotang looked at him coldly,
but the man looked at him innocently.
‘I am telling the truth.’
‘Who are you?’ Chuwei asked. Where
did this green bud emerge from? (Zuben: The god of this universe, dear)
But the seer smiled, he looked
ordinary, forgettable. He was dressed in rags. But his dark eyes were clear
with no impurities.
‘I am who he found.’ The man
replied pointing to Xiahou.
Xiahou touched his nose and said,
‘I posted a bill, asking for someone who could solve Miaomiao’s issue, and he
appeared.’
‘Can you save our Miaomiao?’
Yaotang asked, his eyes bright with hope.
‘Possibly…’ the man bent over and
looked at Miaofu, Miaofu smiled at him.
Seeing her smile, the man could not
help but be surprised, ‘Aren’t you afraid?’
‘I am very afraid.’ She replied
gently, each word she uttered spent a lot of energy, ‘But they…are more afraid
than I am.’ (Zuben: So noble...)
She looked at Yaotang with love in
her eyes, ‘So I can’t be afraid.’
‘Interesting.’ He said with a
smile, ‘You’re strong, so you have been able to hold on for a while.’ (Zuben:
Because I am ...the wonderful girl)
Miaofu turned to look at him with
hope in her eyes, ‘Can you help me?’
He did not answer, just continued
to watch her and then asked, ‘Have you been seriously injured?’
‘Yes.’ She replied.
The man snapped his finger, ‘That
is the reason.’
‘What do you mean?’ Yaotang asked.
‘The original owner of this body
has long since died. This is only a shadow of her remaining.’ He replied. But
his audience did look like they understood.
‘A human has three souls and seven
spirits. After death, the souls depart. But if the owner of the body has great
resentment, a shadow remains in the body. Originally, this shadow should have
no effect, it will fade away after a long time. But it happened that Du
Miaofu got injured; when a person is injured seriously, their soul is also
injured. At this time, their soul is most vulnerable giving the shadow a chance
to take control.’
He turned back to Miaofu and asked,
‘Did you begin to have nightmares after the injury?'
Miaofu nodded, surprised, ‘But I
never remember the dreams,’ just got awoken by them.
The man smiled and stroked his
chin, ‘The dreams the shadow causing trouble, invading your mind day and night,
to make you fearful. The key to her rousing was…’ he paused at Yaotang.
Yaotang frowned.
‘Was she obsessed with you, Gōngzǐ?
‘Deeply.’ Chuwei replied with a
mirthless grin. She glared at Yaotang; she had known that he was the cause of
all this!
Yaotang ignored Chuwei’s contempt
and asked the seer, ‘As you say, a person has three souls and seven spirits,
why isn’t that Miaofu hasn’t been able to compete with Shaoqing?’ (Zuben: She’s
milksop, that’s why)
‘Hey!’ The man stood up to Yaotang
and shook his finger at him, ‘Do not look down on a person’s deep resentment.
Once a person leaves unsettled anger or grievance, that emotion can become a
demon. So the soul of resentment cannot be provoked. And…’ he turned to Miaofu,
‘Girl, if you want to live, you cannot be kind.’
Miaofu looked startled, before
dropping her eyes.
‘You may be kind, but the other
person is heartless. If you are not ruthless, you will be devoured.’ He paused,
and asked her earnestly, ‘Girl, let me ask you, do you want to live?’
Miaofu bowed her head, Yaotang
clung to her hand, she looked at his eyes, they were quiet like water but she
could see his obsession and attachment to her.
Her chest burned as she returned
his hold, her lips rising. For him, for those who cared about her, she wanted
to live, ‘Yes, I want to go on living.’ (Zuben: Not for yourself?)
‘Very good.’ The seer said, nodding
in satisfaction. With a wave of his hand, seven lotus lanterns appeared in a
circle on the ground.
‘Enter the circle. This is a
battle, if you win, you will wake. If you lose, you will vanish.’
‘What?! How is that good?’ Chuwei
asked agitated, if Xiahou had not been holding her, she would have cursed.
The others who had been watching
were amazed, there was such a magical thing in their world.
Jiang Haocheng did not understand it at
all.
Qin Yaotang calmly picked up Miaofu
and put her in the lotus lamp circle, he caressed her face.
‘I will be waiting for you.
Remember, don't to sleep for too long.’
‘Yes.’ She nodded; she gave
everyone a smile and closed her eyes.
Yaotang sat by her side holding her
hand, waiting for her to wake up…
Darkness.
A familiar darkness…
Miaofu stood in the darkness, a
familiar fear crept up on her.
Every night in her dress, she was chased by the darkness. There was a
ghoulish voice ringing in her ears,
‘Return it to me! Give it back to
me!’
It was coming.
She closed her eyes and
subconsciously wanted to run. She lifted her foot and paused.
No! She couldn’t run!
She steeled herself, clenched her
fists, opened her eyes and looked around calmly. If she should run away, she
would be conceding.
She will not be afraid. She was not
afraid. There is nothing to be afraid of. This was her dream. In her dream she
was the greatest-
‘Ah!’ she shouted as her feet was
suddenly caught by a hand that came out of the ground. Miaofu screamed as she
was pulled down. Miaofu kicked off the hand,
‘Fuck off! Pei Shaoqing, come out!
Don’t play tricks!’
She would not be afraid of her. Not
afraid at all!
The shadow giggled. The crazed
laughter echoed in the darkness. A figure appeared and mean eyes stared at her.
The two of them stood opposite to each other like two sides of a mirror. The
same look, but opposite temperament.
‘You thief!’ the shadow shouted,
‘Return my body to me!’
‘You’re dead.’ Miaofu said coldly,
refusing to be soft, refusing to be weak, ‘the person who needs to leave is
you!’
Shaoqing roared. She grabbed Miaofu
by the neck and squeezed hard, ‘What did you do? Why did you get him? This body
is mine! I should be the one with him! He’s mine!’ (Zuben: I’m sorry that you
seem to be confused, he belongs to me, the boy is mine♪)
‘Oh!’ Miaofu was suffocating, her
face became red. Shaoqing’s strength was too great. She could not pull her hand
off at all.
No, she should not be defeated. She
could not lose.
Miaofu thrust her knee up into
Shaoqing’s abdomen. Shaoqing released her and grabbed her abdomen in pain,
Miaofu kicked her hard. Shaoqing shouted, she hadn’t expected Miaofu to fight
back.
Miaofu coughed and gasped, she
looked at Shaoqing without sympathy
‘Qin Yaotang is a person with
feelings. He is not an object. You can’t get him. He can only fall in love.’
She raised her head, ‘person he loves is me, he did not fall in love with your
body, he fell in love with my soul, Du Miaofu!’
‘You!’ Shaoqing’s eyes glowed red.
She could see the murderous intent in them, the desire to kill her and tear
Miaofu into pieces.
‘Damn you!’ Shaoqing roared, ‘As
long as you disappear he will be mine!’ She lunged at Miaofu, but Miaofu dodged
and began to run forward.
Ahead of her she could see a
glimmer, subtle, small, if she hadn’t been looking carefully, she would not
have seen it. Her subconscious told her that glimmer was the exit.
‘Don’t even think about running
out!’ Shaoqing said also noticing the light. She chased Miaofu and caught her
by her hair.
Miaofu screamed, turned and bit
Shaoqing’s hand. Shaoqing let go and continued to run forward.
She couldn’t lose. She could not
lose!
She wanted to live!
In truth, she was not kind at all.
She was very selfish, but she had always been afraid that he selfishness would
be annoying, so she pretended to be kind. But Yaotang had told her, her
selfishness did not matter. He would not hate her for it. He wanted her to
live.
Maybe, she had been waiting for him
to say that. She wanted to know he would accept the imperfect her. She was not
so good, she also had selfishness (Zuben: ¬.¬)
Tears flooded her eyes as she ran,
hard. The light in front of her grew brighter and brighter.
She…wanted to be with him.
He did not belong to Pei Shaoqing.
He was hers, because he loved her.
And she wanted to be with him
because she loved him.
She stepped into the light and
turned to Shaoqing in the darkness. She smiled and raised her chin proudly.
‘You should die!’ she said. She
reached out and saw a door.
‘No!’ Shaoqing wanted to catch
Miaofu, but there was now an invisible wall blocking her. She slammed against
the wall with force, her red eyes roared at Miaofu.
‘No! You can’t! This body is mine!’
Yes this body was hers,
but…Miaofu’s eyes had a glint of firmness and ruthlessness; she was selfish,
she wanted to live. She wanted to be with Jiang Chuwei, and stay with Qin
Yaotang forever, she wanted her happiness.
And so…without hesitation, Miaofu
slammed the door, shutting out Shaoqing’s screams.
When she opened her eyes, she was
held tightly in his arms. He could always recognise her easily. She smiled and
held on to Yaotang.
‘I was waiting for you.’ He said
his voice was thick with emotion.
‘Yes, I have returned.’ She laughed
and sobbed lightly, ‘Won’t leave again?’
‘No.’
‘Will stay with me all the time?’
‘Yes.’
‘A lifetime?’ he asked.
‘A lifetime.’ She promised.
Their hands were clenched over
their vow; a lifetime.
Coming Home:
Qin Yaotang took Du Miaofu back
home.
When Old Master Pei saw Du Miaofu,
he was astonished. She looked like the missing Shaoqing but she was obviously a
woman. Miaofu and Yaotang looked at each other and told a good story. They
told the Master; Miaofu was Shaoqing who had been injured and lost last year.
She lost her memory, was rescued by the Empress, and was accepted as a sister
by the Emperor.
As for the fact that she was a
woman, the First Lady had concealed her true gender from birth. Miaofu’s memory
is still incompete, she would be a bit strange facing father and second mother.
The story surprised the two elders.
The disappearance of the son a year ago had made Master Pei worry, but he had
not expected that he would come back as a daughter. (Zuben: with a new name no
less) But anyway, it was good that she had come back safely. The fact that he
had nearly lost a daughter made Master Pei feel a little more guilty, decided
to compensate her greatly.
In the next moment, Yaotang
informed the elders he wanted to marry Miaofu, the two elders were horrified. But
there was more astonishment to come.
The emperor issued an edict marrying
the Furong Princess to the Pei family, he sent tens of thousands of liang as
dowry, the other gifts that came made a caravan a mile long and a banquet was
held in the Kingdom for three days. (Zuben: Party hard!)
On the night of the wedding
festivities (Zuben: Which one?), the bride sat on the happy wedding bed with
her hands on her knees waiting for her groom to raise the red veil. After what
felt like ages, the groom stepped into the room. He received the red envelope
from Xi Niang who was accompanied by her maid. They were blushing as Xi Niang
told them a few auspicious words and then the left with a smile. (Zuben: You’d
really be blushing if you knew what your son likes in bed)
Yaotang picked up the wedding scale
and took off the veil. His bride was bashful and embarrassed, but her lightly
made-up face was beautiful. He helped her take off the pearl phoenix crown and
led her by the hand to the table.
Miaofu lowered her head, she smiled
and her eyes flashed darkly for a moment then restored its brightness. (Zuben:
Like a rebooting computer. But seriously, how do these characters do all this
shit. I can’t make my eyes flash in the mirror. Can you?)
Yaotang stilled and his dark eyes
turned cold. (Zuben: Dun dun dun!)
She approached him and softly
snuggled into his arms, ‘Dear Husband,’ she said with a gentle greasy voice. It
made one want to dissolve in her.
Yaotang was still, just looked down
at her and whispered in her ear, he said, ‘It seems I owe you a lesson.’
The bride’s body stiffened, ‘Ah!’
she exclaimed as she got thrown into bed.
Miaofu rolled around and blinked
innocently, smiling flatteringly at him, ‘It was just a joke,’ she said, ‘Why
don’t you have a sense of humour at all?’
‘Joking…?’ He said with a smile. A
smile that made Miaofu’s scalp go cold. He picked up the white jade jug and
brought it to bed. An evil smile crossed his handsome face,
‘You haven’t had a drink yet…’ He said
looming over her, and frowned, ‘Do you want to drink from the mouth above or the
mouth below?’
Miaofu shivered.
‘No answer? Then both mouths
drink.’
‘No! Don’t…’ Miaofu shouted but she
could not rival the evil of her man.
The bridal chamber was lit all
night, the bride was eaten thoroughly, no matter how much she begged for mercy.
She really did not like him…
Afterwards, Miaofu could not get out of bed for
three days and three nights, she wept with grief and happiness.
Ahhhh.... Its over....
ReplyDeleteGotta say, chuwei is such a cute angry pregnant woman xD
Thank you for the hard work TL! Happy holidays!
Thank you for all the hard work !!! I love this story.
ReplyDeleteI somehow pity Pei Shaoqing ; u ;
ReplyDeleteShe was pitiful. But she never tried to be a good person.
DeleteBut tho no one really taught her how to be a good person😔
DeleteDoes doing good have to be taught? I don't think that simple kindness needs to be told for one to know anout it.
DeleteI really love the snippets of translator-sama! 🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteThank you^^
DeleteMe too
DeleteThank you for the novel. I enjoyed reading it.
ReplyDeleteOh jeez If she's happy I guess, with that type of man.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the novel! I enjoyed the smut honestly. Plot wasn't so bad, atleast he didn't go apeshit and lock her up.
That is certainly true, unlike those Japanese yanderes.
Deleteits just that her taste is a bit heavy.. LOL
DeleteThank you for your hard work! The S & M in this novel is more explicit than fifty shades of grey. Despite the lacking of the plot story wise, i still enjoyed reading this. thank you again!
ReplyDeleteps. translator's side comments made me giggle .
Truly an m. Hahahaha, well that's a good ending
ReplyDeleteLol i dunno Miow miow is kinda M. Lol. But Chu wei lol so cute.Even an angry pregnant lady. Thank you for translating. I kinda waiting for the brother story. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteThank you Zuben! I too like your comments. Sometimes, it's effect is like, bang!
ReplyDeleteYour comment on how some modern people don't like to bathe made me guffaw! Hahaha! An unexpected surprise.
Thanks for the wonderful work.
More power and best regards to you.
I donno what made me start reading a story like this, but i know what made me continue it.
ReplyDeleteI really loved your comments and humor, more than the story. lol. thank you for the effort
Wow Du Miaofu and Qin Yaotang's relationship progression is probably the most uncomfortable one of the 3 books. But eh *shrugs* I came here for the smuts and Zuben's running commentary. 🤣🤣🤣
ReplyDeleteThx for translating but this book had sooooo many issues. The "romance" was rape/Stockholm Syndrome. And they made the original girl the villain when in fact she was the most pitiful character. She was born to a mother who couldn't get her fathers love so she turned to greed. While forced into playing the role of a boy to seek her fathers approval something she didn't get either way and instead he gave his love to another man's child treating him better than his own. Then her mom who forced her into the life of a male for her own selfish purposes dies and she trapped as a boy. She falls in love with the guy she's been taught to hate but can't express this love cause everyone thinks she's a boy and then she dies. It's no wonder she went crazy. I just wish the book didn't treat her like she's the bad guy and it's her fault.
ReplyDeleteWell, she didn't sit crying pitifully in a corner like a good heroine should; that's what you get. jk
Delete