Nightfall

Translator: TransN Editor: TransN

Ning Que decided to skip studying at the building for a day, and went to visit Her Highness the Princess with Sangsang, and take a life while he was here. Sangsang on the other hand wasn’t too impressed with this decision, not because she didn’t like killing people, since having grown up beside Ning Que she had witnessed Ning Que kill so many people that she was pretty much numb about it. It was really because she didn’t like the fact that Ning Que couldn’t take a good rest despite his poor physical conditions at the moment.

Despite not being in a good mood, the little handmaiden still gave her best when cooking the noddles with fried eggs in the evening. She skipped adding pepper and spring onions not as a form of punishment, but because Ning Que had been experiencing frequent nausea and vomiting in the night lately, and his fragile stomach could no longer bear such spicy condiments.

After they finished eating the noodles and soaked their feet in hot water, Ning Que lay comfortably in bed. Sangsang also washed her little feet with the leftover water and climbed up on the bed. She split her legs to ride on his waist to give him a soothing massage.

Once she made sure he was sound asleep, Sangsang sighed and wiped off the sweat that wasn’t really there. She moved to the other end of the bed and enjoyed her sleep, holding her beloved cosmetics box from Chenjinji Cosmetics Store.

Around midnight, she was woken up by Ning Que’s painful moaning and constant turning around. She quickly got herself out of her blanket and off the bed, swiftly drew out the bronze basin from underneath the bed and sat next to Ning Que, patting and rubbing his back up and down with her tiny hands.

Ning Que couldn’t stop vomiting into the bronze basin as he lay on his side, his face so pale, and his complexion twisted, showing great agony. The food he ate before had already been digested, and he could only throw up the hot tea he drank before going to bed, as well as stomach acid and bile.

Ever since he started reading at the Academy building, he suffered such agony several times each night. This not only weakened his body, but also made Sangsang exhausted in the daytime.

Each night as he fell sound asleep, the ink characters he had seen in the old library during daytime would transform into jet black monsters arising from the depths of his mind to engage in fierce battles and quickly become larger and larger, until they merged into a massive ship sailing across the imaginary ocean in his mind and causing havoc. The entire experience would make him extremely seasick and nauseous, and he could hardly contain the desire to vomit.

It felt like a nightmare but Ning Que knew very well that it wasn’t. Instead, he knew it was the enigmatic expression of the shock waves caused by the battle between the Fu created by the Divine Talisman Master of the Second Floor and his own spiritual world.

If only he could remember these ink characters at the cost of suffering such agony every night, it would at least be a consolation. Nevertheless, what’s truly frustrating and disappointing is that, while these ink characters played and teased freely in his mind, it was like he was suddenly dyslexic and was utterly unable of making out the meaning or even vaguely recognize any of them despite their clarity…they looked so familiar and yet there was no way he could bring himself to pronounce them.

Every day, he put himself through great pain and suffering in the old library. Every night, he underwent dizziness and nausea at the Old Brush Pen Shop, attempting to recognize characters that were simply unrecognizable. This went on not for one day, but many days. Anyone with slightly weaker will power would have given up already, but not Ning Que. For him, this unbearable and inhuman torture represented the best chance he could ever get in the sixteen years of his life. He would definitely not give up hope until the very last moment.

It was said that your enemy would often be the one who knows you the best. This was not a bad notion. Ning Que was indeed one of those people who knew the most about General Xiahou. But this notion is also incomplete, because after all, you would always know yourself the best. Ning Que knew himself very well, and therefore he was sure that he would never, ever give up until he came to face the ultimate dead end.

He wasn’t worried about his safety, as the female professor sat quietly by the east window. He knew that he would continue to climb up to the library and try to read so hard that he would throw up every day until he became weaker over the upcoming period. That was exactly why he urgently needed to cross out as many names from the list as possible.

The second name on the oilpaper was: Chen Zixian, former deputy general of the Xuanwei General.

…

…

As the favorite princess of the emperor, Lee Yu lived in the imperial court most of the time, though she also had a residence of her own in Chang’an. Her residence that was located in a quiet area of the Southern City was where Ning Que and Sangsang were taken to the next day.

Today she wore a red and black short robe over a skirt decorated with large exotic flower embroidery and a blouse with folded collar. The thickly layered skirt panels reached over her feet, looking luxurious and elegant.

“Where is Ning Que?”

Sangsang walked into the back court of the residence on her own.

Li Yu frowned slightly but as soon as she glanced at the little handmaiden brought in by the eunuch, she smiled and went up to Sangsang and held her cold little hands, speaking to her gently, “It’s been a while since I last saw you, how come you wouldn’t even come to visit me?”

Even though the Princess changed the subject, the eunuch dared not avoid her question and showing a grimace on his face he replied, “The little brat said it would dishonor Your Highness to be seen together in private and insisted in waiting outside. Mr. Peng is now talking with him in the duty room.

Sangsang let her hold her hand and explained softly, “My young master hasn’t been feeling too well lately.”

Lee Yu looked down slightly to hide the faint sense of disappointment and anger in her eyes, and she no longer spared any attention to the lazy lad. Instead, she held Sangsang’s hands and walked towards the couch and said mockingly, “I just don’t understand how your lazy young master can be so stubborn to go up the second floor of the Old Library every day! No wonder he’s not feeling well!”

“Your Highness, I think my young master is quite extraordinary!” Sangsang defended Ning Que wholeheartedly.

Li Yu shook her head and laughed lightly as she tapped Sangsang’s dark forehead jokingly, then she said, “All you ever talk about is your young master, but he doesn’t even act like a proper young master. It makes me so jealous that Ning Que could own such a hardworking handmaiden like you, I’m sure he must have been a saint in his past lives to be lucky enough to have found you!”

The two of them sat down on the couch as they talked.

It is quite interesting how people from different walks end up crossing their paths in life. Ever since the first time Li Yu met Sangsang in Wei City, she already took a liking to her, and she also felt pity for the way Ning Que bossed her around. On their way back from the grassland, she often sought her out to speak to her taking advantage of her maidservant cover at the time, and they built a pretty good rapport. On the other hand, having grown up next to Ning Que, Sangsang had a very faint sense of fear or respect for the classes or the nobility, and she was willing to befriend the Princess simply because she thought she was a nice person.

Lee Yu asked Sansang about their experience upon arriving to Chang’an, and Sangsang was pretty honest and talked about everything that happened including opening the book shop and the examinations. Quietly, Lee Yu was wondering about the relationship between Ning Que and Chao Xiaoshu, and she suddenly felt the coldness and roughness of Sangsang’s little hands. She looked up at her dark little face and couldn’t help but feel sympathy for the little girl. So she went on to say, “I could release you from your servitude, so that you no longer need to stay with Ning Que. You’re welcome to come to my residence and work as a steward, and I don’t need you to serve anyone, all that you’d need to do is to manage the affairs of my residence. What do you say?”

…

…

Outside the bodyguard duty room at the front court of the Princess residence, Peng Yutao frowned upon seeing the pale lad resting on the armchair. He said, “I still remember your bravery back at the Northern Mountain Road, and now, how did you manage to make yourself look so pale and weak? What happened to you? Did studying at The Academy turn you into a wimp?”

Ning Que smiled as he enjoyed the warmth of the sun and said, “Mr. Peng, you must have seen what happened the other day at the Old Library. It was all very mysterious and there is no need to say further at this point. Now, what happened to the grassland barbarians? And what are you doing serving the Princess Residence after all the merit you and your fellow bodyguards have achieved?”

The Grassland barbarians brought back by the Princess were recruited by His Majesty and joined the Yulin Royal Guards. As you know, it is customary of the Yulin guards to recruit other ethnic minorities, and as of us…” Peng Yutao smiled back and said, “We have fought for Her Highness all the way back from the grasslands, and we don’t really want to leave her side. This is also what the court wants, so even though I am still serving as Deputy Commander at the Valiant Cavalry Battalion, my main task is to serve Her Highness.”

Deputy Commander of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion is a genuinely essential position, so Ning Que didn’t hesitate to congratulate him. Then he suddenly remembered the battle the other night at Spring Breeze Pavilion and realized that the position probably became vacant with the demise of someone that very night.

Even though there was an implicit consensus about Peng Yutao serving Lee Yu the Princess, he still held the official title of deputy commander of the Valiant Cavalry Battalion, and he had been particularly busy lately due to the regular internal power-shift within his battalion recently. He spared himself a brief moment to speak to Ning Que before having to excuse himself to leave and handle other matters of great importance.

A number of bodyguards and barbarians who served the princess were recruited by the Yulin Royal Guards, while others returned to the imperial court. Most of the bodyguards who are currently in service at the Princess Residence didn’t know Ning Que, but as they saw how this young lad was treated with courtesy by their deputy commander, and knowing that he was especially summoned by Her Highness, they all showed him the due respect.

Ning Que knew exactly the source of such courtesy from the respectable deputy commander: he had saved everyone at the Northern Mountain Road. The Tangs show great respect and appreciation for a hero, and they had also established a good rapport during the journey as they fought shoulder by shoulder. Most importantly too, perhaps Peng Yutao already sensed the Princess’ intention to recruit Ning Que once again.

That was also precisely why Ning Que refused to go to the back court of the Princess Residence. All that he cared about was vengeance and the Academy, and he dared not get himself involved in the battles and conflicts of the upper classes. Moreover, based on the most frightening possibility that he kept deep down as a secret, he subconsciously tried to stay away from Her Highness as much as possible.

After fighting alongside Chao Xiaoshu on that rainy night, he was now part of the game regardless of his own will. Nevertheless, he knew very clearly that he was still insignificant as he had always been. He might be entitled to fight alongside Chao Xiaoshu for the imperial court in the dark night, but if he dared emerge from the darkness to bright daylight and confront the truly powerful ones, chances were he’d disappear from the face of earth without making a noise.

Just like the general’s residence that was slaughtered years go, or like Zhuo Er who breathed his last breath by the wall not long ago.