Realms In The Firmament

“It seems they are here to look for some lucky profits.” Lan Lang-Lang sneered. He tried so hard to separate his two pupils. After spitting on the floor, he said, “In the past, we military forces were powerful. They never dared to raise their heads in front of us… Now our biggest support has just left, and they would show their defiance right away. Their useless fathers are all cowardly staying in the capital after all. Of course they felt good about it… Obviously, they are here to show us some authority.”

Zuo Wu-Ji coughed heavily and said, “Lang! Mind your words… What do you mean military forces…?”

Lan Lang-Lang rolled his eyes and realized that Zuo Wu-Ji was once on the other side. So he smiled and said, “Zuo Zuo, you are different. You left the dark side and came to our side. You have come to the bright side!”

Zuo Wu-Ji sighed speechlessly, [I left the group of a bunch of foppish lords and joined the ‘three lords in town’ - another bunch of foppish lords… Where is the ‘dark and bright’ part?

Is the ‘three lords in town’ a better title?

I am afraid it is even worse…

What do you mean come to the bright side?

I must be in the dark side at the moment. No… That is abusing myself right now!

Fine. I came to the bright side indeed!

Wait, that’s not cool either. I am still disgracing myself. Lan Lang-Lang, you prick. What were you talking about! I am abusing myself either way!]

Let’s skip Lord Zuo’s thoughts. Ye Xiao was staring at those guys.

He kept his eyes half-closed. He just felt a furious fire burning inside his heart at the moment.

He blinked and then found one guy that he was familiar with.

The son of the Chief Guard of the Crown Prince’s Palace, Wang Xiao-Nian.

At the moment, he was staring at Ye Xiao fiercely with his eyes full of anger.

He was hiding behind the group of foppish lads. It looked like these lads were the ones who were stirring things. Ye Xiao showed a strange smile after all.

[So… the wise Crown Prince truly doesn’t know anything about this, huh?]

He thought about the honorable king who had just stood on the wall earlier wearing a shiny yellow robe. And he looked at these fools who were wearing foppish stupid clothes with useless and coward faces…

He had smile filled with disdain.

“We need to be careful on this anyway… If we get into any serious problems, it will never be a good thing for any of us.” Zuo Wu-Ji reminded, “The army has just left after all. Even if we are forced to join the fight against them, it will bring a rather negative influence… Their fathers are all in the court. We are not a match to them at the moment. Let’s step back for some day. Things will get better.”

Ye Xiao smiled blandly and didn’t answer him.

He thought about the words Song Jue had said once, ‘Prince Hua-Yang is supporting all the families of the military side’!

He didn’t truly understand it until now.

Prince Hua-Yang had just left the city and those guys had already come to make trouble.

The military side and the political side were always against each other. They were always comparing with each other. One side was stronger while the other weaker, and then it switched after some time. Yet these fellas from the political side were really picking the wrong day. They were either lacking brains or their brains were filled with mushrooms!

Thinking about this, Ye Xiao turned around and looked at Song Jue.

He saw Song Jue holding his arms on the chest and sat on the carriage with his eyes looking at those fellas coldly. There was a killing intent inside his eyes though.

Obviously, Song Jue was even fiercer than Ye Xiao. He was already thinking about killing now!

Ye Xiao didn’t doubt that Song Jue would definitely attack with no mercy once things began.

He was still thinking, yet the fellas were so close to them now. There were also dozens of men following behind them. They were actually riding their horses and surrounded Ye Xiao and his group. They were threatening Ye Xiao’s group with numbers.

The horses kept ringing and howling. The horse steps were also annoying.

“Zuo Wu-Ji!” The grandson of the Right Prime Minister, Li Cheng-Ze, waved his hand and said, “You better move aside. We are not here for you today! Be a good boy and stay aside. We won’t beat you then!”

Zuo Wu-Ji sneered, “Beat me? You?”

Li Cheng-Ze was furious and spoke in a fierce tone, “Zuo Wu-Ji, I strongly suggest that you should listen to me resignedly! Do you really think we don’t dare to touch you just because your grandfather is the Zuo Prime Minister? If you dare to piss me, I will beat your ass up too! You will be the first one to fall!”

Zuo Wu-Ji wasn’t scared at all. He raised his head and said proudly, “You want to beat me? Do you need an additional gut to do that? Maybe I can lend you some!”

Li Cheng-Ze showed fierceness in his eyes and nodded slowly, “Zuo Wu-Ji, you better remember what you have said. Wait and see! Don’t cry later!”

And then he swung the horsewhip and pointed at Ye Xiao. He shouted, “Ye Xiao, get the hell over here. It is time for us to make things even now.”

The crowd behind him bursted into laughter. Some of them started to talk.

“I wonder how Brother Li will go even with him. Is he going to eat some ‘midnight snack’? It isn’t at night though… hahaha…”

“It is good to do it before the night comes, isn’t it? So that he can eat it a few more times…”

“That’s true. With plenty of time, we can eat it together. Eat the shit out of it!”

Their voices were filled with viciousness.

There were others staring at Su Ye-Yue with thirsty eyes while they were talking.

If Prince Hua-Yang was still in the capital, these guys would never dare to even look at Su Ye-Yue, because Prince Hua-Yang would get to their house and beat the shit out of them all.

Yet Prince Hua-Yang was gone for the battle now. He was not going to return in the coming future.

These fellas heard about how severe it was in the south. They knew that the situation wasn’t going well and Prince Hua-Yang might die in the battle.

They didn’t think deep about it. If Prince Hua-Yang failed and lost the battle in the south, the kingdom would be in great danger. None of them would survive the enemies’ arrival!

Yet they were just some foolish foppish fellas who didn’t have the ability to think deeper. They only saw that since Prince Hua-Yang left, they were free to do anything they wanted. They felt they could do something they had always wanted to do now.

Su Ye-Yue was too young, yet she was the first beauty in the capital. These fellas had always been eager for this pretty girl.

The reason why they kept messing up with Ye Xiao before was that eagerness. They didn’t put it on the table, yet everybody knew that they didn’t like Ye Xiao being titled of ‘the fiancé of the pretty princess’.

They would love to see Ye Xiao crippled…

Su Ye-Yue’s face turned red because of embarrassment. She stepped forward and stood in front of Ye Xiao shouting angrily, “What do you want?”

One of the fellas smiled, “Little princess, don’t be afraid. We are here to collect a debt from Ye Xiao. We will leave after it is done right away… Hahaha… We will not get to you.”

He said and kept looking up and down on Su Ye-Yue. His deltoid eyes were full of ardor.

“Jiang Tai-Sui!” Zuo Wu-Ji shouted furiously, “Behave yourself!”

This Jiang Tai-Sui was the son of the Revenue Minister. It was said that when he was born, it happened to be the time he conflicted the Tai Sui [1], so he named him Jiang Tai-Sui.

It meant something like ‘Tai Sui befalls; no evil appears’.

Maybe it truly worked. This fella, Jiang Tai-Sui had never encountered any difficulty since he was born. He was extremely full of lechery. He bullied guys and insulted girls. He was just onto anybody!

Jiang Tai-Sui laughed and then spoke pruriently, “Look who’s talking. Wow. I am so scared. It is the man whose pxnis doesn’t work, Lord Zuo! Ouch… You better keep your voice down, Lord Zuo. I am quite tremulous…”

Zuo Wu-Ji was pissed so bad that he couldn’t think of anything to say. His face turned red.

His natural-born disease wasn’t a secret, yet it was the first time somebody insulted him with it in front of everybody.

He hated this Jiang Tai-Sui so deep into his bones. He was shaking because of anger.

Lan Lang-Lang laughed and said, “Bravo! The son of the Revenue Minister! You are indeed the bastard of the most wealthy malfeasance in the kingdom. You talked so shamelessly just like your father! That’s admirable!”

Jiang Yu-Ming, the Revenue Minister, was the richest officer in the Kingdom of Chen. Somebody directly called him a living mammon. It didn’t refer to the truth that he was in charge of the national treasury; it referred to the truth that he himself had a huge amount of money.

He was a rat in the national treasury indeed. His personal wealth was not the most impressing thing about him; the most impressing thing was his financing capability.

He had been serving the king since the king was a child… That was why the king never got serious about him. The king just took something as an excuse to make Jiang Yu-Ming give out some money from time to time…

Jiang Yu-Ming was an important person in the court though. He was irreplaceable. He was in fact a secret ‘treasury’ of the king. Whenever there was a financial problem in the kingdom, everyone knew that it was time to fine Jiang Yu-Ming for some money…

Jiang Yu-Ming was an outstanding man really. Again and again, his properties would be taken as a fine, but again and again, he became rich again within half a year… He just never stopped making dirty money…

It was kind of a ‘miracle’ in the royal court of the Kingdom of Chen for dozens of years though.

…

————————

[1] Tai Sui (太岁), a Chinese term for the stars directly opposite Jupiter during its roughly 12-year orbital cycle. Personified as deities, they are important features of Chinese astrology, Feng Shui, and Taoism. The time when an individual conflicts Tai Sui means when he/she faces major obstacles in health, job and studies.

1st sponsored chapter of the week. Special thanks to Mr. Jose C. for sponsoring this chapter! For tomorrow, we would have 2 of the remaining 3 sponsored chapters. Thank you for reading!

Translated by: Rain

Edited by: Arch

From XianXiaWorld