The Deer and The Cauldron

[tweety365]

So I have to admit, I freaked out yesterday when I couldn't get on the site. I almost starting trolling Jaynestars to see if anybody knew what happened to spcnet.

Then WXB came back at about 11 PM ~ whewwww!

Same here! I was so worried Spcnet shut down for good and was feeling so bummed out. Thank goodness the site is back.

[foxs]

Pannonian, what about 'governor general' like during colonial time? Certainly it is more 'western' than something Persian? Gubrak, you'll find out soon. Sky, you are welcome. Han, we know that. Please see KChill's previous post. Welcome back! I haven't seen your avatar for quite a long time. Athlon, Smurf, Tweety, it got me thinking: what happen if spcnet did indeed shut down forever or at least for an extended period of time? Do we have emergency procedure? I mean, how are we going to notify the members? As for the Deer and the Cauldron, if you don't have my email, pm me your email, I'll reply from my email account. Crazee, what do you mean 'it's not important'? It's your life! So you have two residences, one in Singapore, one in Malaysia. What about your immediate family (your wife and children)? Are they with you, or only you are traveling (commuting) back and forth? KChill, LOL ... it's election year ... I hope you won't be affected too much.

---

Suddenly he saw an officer rushed over and reported that the fire intensity had increased and that it seemed to be heading their way; it would be best if the Princess was to be awakened and alerted of the fire. Wu Yingxiong nodded.

Wei Xiaobao was standing on the side; he did not seem to be paying any attention, but actually he watched closely the guard’s expression and posture. He noticed that Wu Yingxiong was looking down toward the guard’s right thigh. Wei Xiaobao followed his gaze, and saw that the guard had the thumb and index finger of his right hand formed a circle, which he placed by his knee. Wei Xiaobao immediately understood, “Turns out two fingers make a circle means they have not found Hantiemo; they do not use any code word at all.”

“Wei Jueye,” Wu Yingxiong said, “The fire is heading this way, we’d better ask the Princess to move her sacred self. If the Princess is frightened, we are guilty and deserve ten thousand deaths.”

Wei Xiaobao knew that Ping Xi Wang Mansion guards had looked everywhere and did not find Hantiemo. In the Garden, the Princess’ bedroom was the only room they had not searched. Since they already started, they might as well continue to the end; hence they wanted to also search the Princess’ bedroom. Wei Xiaobao could not help but was enraged. In that instant, his childish behavior flared-out, he raised his right hand with thumb and index finger forming a circle, and waved it in front of Wu Yingxiong’s face several times.

As soon as he saw this signal, naturally Wu Yingxiong was shocked; the countenance of his subordinates the guards also changed greatly. “Wei … Wei Jueye,” he asked stammeringly, “This … what is the meaning of this?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Are you saying that you don’t understand the meaning of this signal?”

Wu Yingxiong composed himself and said, “This signal … this signal … um, I got it. That’s a copper coin. Wei Jueye is saying that you want silver and copper coins before the Princess can move her sacred self.”

Wei Xiaobao mused, “The little traitor’s brain actually can move very quickly.” Thereupon he laughed without saying anything.

Wu Yingxiong laughed and said, “About the silver and copper coins, we are brothers, naturally we can talk over everything.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Since Xiao Wangye is so generous, let me thank you on behalf of our brothers here. Xiao Wangye, about the moving of Princess’ sacred self, please handle it yourself.” After a chuckle, he continued, “You are husband and wife, you can talk over everything. In the middle of the night, it is inappropriate for Xiao Jiang to enter the Princess’ bedroom.” He continued in his heart, “So that you can see for yourself whether that Mongolian big beard is in the room or not.”

Wu Yingxiong hesitated slightly, and then he nodded, pushed the door open and entered the outer hall. He stopped in front of the bedroom door and spoke in a loud and clear voice, “Subject Wu Yingxiong is here to supervise and lead the fighting of the fire, and to protect the Princess. Currently the fire is spreading this way; would Princess please move, so that we can guarantee your complete safety?”

A moment later they heard a gentle and charming grunt from the inside, “Mm.”

Wu Yingxiong thought, “Although you and I have not officially married, I am the prince consort, it has been officially declared. Right now it is an emergency, by coming into your room, I cannot be considered overstepping my boundary. If I don’t investigate clearly this time, in the end it won’t be appropriate. Except me, other people should not enter your bedroom.” Thereupon he shoved the door open and entered.

Wei Xiaobao and a hundred or so Imperial Bodyguards, Valiant Cavalry officers and Ping Xi Wang Mansion guards were waiting outside the room. A long time passed, they did not hear anything from inside. After another while, they started to ‘you look at me, I look at you’, a smile started to appear on their eyes and on the corner of their mouths; everybody had the same thought, “This betrothed couple has never seen each other, suddenly they met inside the Princess’ lady chamber; it must be a romantic meeting. I wonder what they are talking about. Would Xiao Wangye embrace the Princess? Would he hold her in his arms? Would he kiss her?”

Wei Xiaobao was the only one consumed by jealousy; although he knew that Wu Yingxiong’s real intention was to look for Hantiemo, and it was unlikely that at this time he was in the mood to be intimate with the Princess, but he also knew that the Princess was a loose woman who could do anything. Whether she was intimate with Wu Yingxiong willingly or not, it would be very difficult to tell.

Suddenly they heard the Princess screamed, “You dare to be rude? You … you … stop! Get out, now!”

Outside, the people looked at each other, some giggled. They all thought, “Xiao Wangye cannot bear not to make his move.”

They heard the Princess screamed again, “You … you must not … must not take off my clothes. Get out! Aiyo! Help! Help! This man is raping me! He rapes me! Help! Help!”

Everybody could not help but was amused; they thought that Wu Yingxiong was overly anxious, he was also too brazen. Although the Princess would be his wife eventually, they had not yet married; how could he act rashly like that? Several military officers could not refrain from letting out an audible laugh. The Imperial Bodyguards looked at Wei Xiaobao, waiting for his signal, whether they should protect the Princess or not. They all thought, “This fellow Wu Yingxiong is raping the Princess. Although he is rude, in the end it is a private affair between them, husband and wife. If we as the servants rashly intervene, we will definitely invite trouble for ourselves.”

Wei Xiaobao’s heart was pounding madly, “This little traitor is so shrewd, how could he fool around like this? Could it be … could it be that he really wants to harm the Princess?” Thereupon he called loudly, “Xiao Wangye, please get out quickly; you must not offend the Princess.”

The Princess suddenly screamed, “Help!” Her voice was extremely sad and shrill.

Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he waved his hand and shouted, “Forgive my offense, this is an emergency.” And then he rushed into the room. Several Imperial Bodyguards and the Mansion guards followed behind him.

They saw the bedroom door was opened wide, the Princess curled in the corner of the bed, her body was covered in embroidered quilt, a pair of snow-white legs was exposed outside the quilt, her arms were bare, it was clear that she was naked. Wu Yingxiong’s naked body was lying on the floor, motionless. The lower part of his body was bloody; his hand was grasping a short blade. Seeing this scene, everybody was shocked and was momentarily at a loss. The Mansion guards hastily went over to Wu Yingxiong to see whether he was dead or still alive. They checked for breath, and found that he was still breathing, his heart was also still beating, he was merely fainted.

The Princess cried and said, “This man … this man is rude to me … Who is he? Wei Jueye, quickly arrest him and kill him.”

“He is the Prince Consort Wu Yingxiong,” Wei Xiaobao said.

“No, no, he is not,” the Princess cried out, “He tore off my clothes, then he took off his own clothes, he raped me … This bad guy, quickly kill him.”

The Imperial Bodyguards were angry, the Emperor sent them on a mission to protect the Princess. The Princess was the current imperial younger sister, her noble body was like golden branch, jade leaves, yet this fellow Wu Yingxiong had humiliated her like this. It could be said that they failed in their duty.

The Mansion guards looked awkward; deep in their hearts they were ashamed. There were several astute and competent men among them, these people thought that since things had come to this, if they could find Hantiemo inside the Princess’ room, perhaps they could make a false counter-charge against the Princess, or at least they could somehow deny the accusation or gain a little bit of leeway. Thereupon they busied themselves, pretending to administer first-aid to Wu Yingxiong, while actually they were looking everywhere, including underneath the bed, but how could they find any sign of Hantiemo’s?

Suddenly, one of the Mansion guards cried out, “Shizi … Shizi’s lower body … lower body …” Wu Yingxiong’s lower body was drenched with blood, everybody could see that, but at first they thought it was due to his rudeness toward the Princess. But now after they heard the man’s cry, they all looked at his lower body. They saw the blood was still gushing out, apparently he was injured. The Mansion guards panicked; those with metal cut medication in their possession busily tried to apply it on his wound.

Wei Xiaobao shouted harshly, “Wu Yingxiong is rude to the Princess, he committed grave offense by greatly disrespectful toward her. Arrest him first, we’ll present a memorial to the Emperor, let His Majesty decide on his punishment.” The Imperial Bodyguards complied at once, they rushed forward to pull Wu Yingxiong up.

The Mansion guards had heard with their own ears, and seen with their own eyes, that Wu Yingxiong was indeed being rude to the Princess; they simply could not deny it. Hearing Wei Xiaobao, they all groaned inwardly, “Bad, really bad!” Nobody had the heart to offer the slightest resistance. A Mansion guard bowed and said, “Wei Jueye, please show mercy. Shizi is injured, we are asking Wei Jueye to allow Shizi to return to the Mansion and have his wound treated. Our Wangye will be most grateful. Shizi is definitely guilty, but we ask the Princess to be magnanimous. Wei Jueye, please plead on his behalf.”

Maintaining a wooden expression Wei Xiaobao said, “This kind of grave offense, we do not dare to conceal it from His Majesty, who would dare to plead on his behalf? Let’s talk it over outside; we all gather inside the Princess’ bedroom like this, where are our manners? How can there be such thing?”

The Mansion guards repeatedly bowed in agreement, they carried Wu Yingxiong out. The Imperial Bodyguards also withdrew, leaving the Princess alone with Wei Xiaobao.

The Princess suddenly smiled, she beckoned Wei Xiaobao to come over. Wei Xiaobao came to the bed, the Princess wrapped her arms around his shoulder, and whispered in his ear, “I castrated him.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “You … you what?” he asked.

The Princess blew softly into his ear, she laughed in low voice and said, “I pointed the gun to him, forcing him to strip naked, and then using the gun handle I gave his head a knocking, so that he passed out, and then I cut his loathsome thing. From now on, he can only be my eunuch, he can’t be my husband.”

Wei Xiaobao found it amusing, but was also shocking. “You brazenly fooling around like that, the disaster you brought is not small.”

“What disaster?” the Princess said, “I did this wholeheartedly for your sake. If I marry him, our marriage would be a fake marriage. In short, I simply cannot let you wear a green cap and be a turtle [i.e. someone whose spouse was cheating].”

Wei Xiaobao’s mind was churning, but this matter was indeed too far beyond his expectation, he did not know how to deal with it.

The Princess continued, “The rape and the rude treatment are all fake, but when I screamed and yelled, you heard it from the outside, didn’t you?” Wei Xiaobao nodded. The Princess smiled and said, “And so, what are we afraid of? Even is Wu Sangui is angry, he only knew that his own son is no good.”

Wei Xiaobao heaved a deep sigh. “If he died because of your cut, then what should we do?” he asked.

“How could he die because of my cut?” the Princess said, “There are several thousand eunuchs in our Palace, which one died because of the cut?”

“Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You will stick to your statement: he was raping you, he took the knife to force you, in your desperate struggle to resist him, you reached out to push him. He had the knife in his hand, and he was stark-naked. One pushing the other wielding, he cut himself.”

The Princess buried his head inside the embroidered quilt to stifle her laughter. “That’s right,” she said in a low voice, “Let’s say it that way: he cut himself.”

Wei Xiaobao went out of the bedroom, and told the Imperial Bodyguards in low voice how with a knife in his hand Wu Yingxiong had threatened the Princess, how the Princess desperately fought to resist him, how in the struggle Wu Yingxiong had castrated himself. The Imperial Bodyguards were shocked and amused at the same time; they all said that Wu Yingxiong’s lust had reached the heavens, hence what happened to him was a retribution well-deserved. There were several of Wu Yingxiong’s guards still lingered around to find out what had happened; they stood on the side and eavesdropped, ashamed look appeared on all their faces.

With such a major event going on in the Anfu Garden, the Mansion guards quickly extinguished the fire, then they flew back to report to Wu Sangui, while at the same time summoning a physician to treat Wu Yingxiong’s injury. The Imperial Bodyguards immediately spread the news about the root cause of Wu Yingxiong’s injury, so that even all the Mansion guards also agreed unanimously that it was because their Heir Apparent was being rude to the Princess.

Inevitably they added some oil and soy paste to the story; some said that they heard it when the Heir Apparent ripped the Princess’ clothes, some described how the Heir Apparent coerced the Princess with the knife in his hand. As for how the Heir Apparent finally got castrated, each storyteller narrated it with ‘living spirit, living image’: how the Heir Apparent put the knife on the Princess’ neck, how the Princess struggled to fight him, how she pushed the Heir Apparent’s hand, how the knife slipped and what a bad luck for him. All kinds of circumstances were described as if they were witnessing it with their own eyes. They were telling the story with gusto, their spittle splattered everywhere, their hands and feet were flailing; the audiences were dumbfounded, and did not stop nodding their heads.

Less than an hour later, Wu Sangui obtained the urgent report; he jumped onto his horse and flew to the Garden, and immediately kowtowed in front of the Princess’ bedroom to beg for forgiveness. Flustered and exasperated, he repeatedly said, “The guilt deserves ten thousand deaths!”

[tweety365]

I always find this scene amusing, but quite shocking. The princess is truly very cruel. But WYX is up to no good, sneaking around like that. I would be fearful living such a woman like the princess

Thank you, foxs. I totally agree that we need an emergency procedure just in case Spcnet has problems in the future. Where do we go for the translation then? Do you still post at Wuxiasociety? Will pm you my email.

[athlonkmf]

foxs, as I've said in my PM to you, i'd recommend you to start a blog or something on blogspot.com or wordpress.com next to your updates in this forum.

Just in case this sites is offline you can have an archive on your personal blog AND readers can subscribe to that.

You could of course opt for a twitter-account or something too (which can also be linked to your blog).

I hope other translators would do this too...
The fact that spcnet suddenly went poof, and then comes back without any explanation at all is a kinda scary idea... I think I should start keeping an archive of the translations I haven't had time to read yet.

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Foxs I would really miss you if this site had stayed offline. I really appreciate your taking the time to translate almost every day

[Gubrak]

Ahh... the Princess really crazy ....
Thanks Foxs

[crydee]

OMG...That is just Brutal...!!
Deer and The Cauldron bring slander to a whole new level..wahaha

[crazee]

So you have two residences, one in Singapore, one in Malaysia.

I have a simple solution to that...heh heh heh...I stay in Malaysia and commute to Singapore like the tens of thousands of Malaysians daily....that's why I always dread the jam at the Causeway...anyway with the miserable pay, I will not be able to upkeep 2 residence ( Wish I could though...wife and mistress ??? ) anyway I'm a strictly 1 woman man...err cannot afford to be like our hero...7 wifes ???. 1 is enough headache....
The negative part is I spend about 3-4 hrs normally travelling to and from work ( 2 hrs each way ) if jammed up.....can be as long as another 2 hrs...sigh

Like I said...I'll never touch the crazy princess with a 10 ft pole....err with a telescope maybe.
Imagine being castrated...I'm sure Wu Sangui will know of the truth and will they be able to out move him ?

Interesting... the only heir....

Now how to PM my email ???....it's going to be interesting as the last I did that was when I was in HSDS Zhaomin's site....

Thanks Foxs....time flies...CNY hols is over and there will be no hols for us until Good Friday...and that's more than 2 months to go....awwww.....

[foxs]

Tweety, Gubrak, Crydee, she brought SM to a whole new level. Athlon, thanks for the suggestion. I did check two sites you recommended, and honestly, I am tempted. However, I am afraid I won't have time to maintain two sites. If I want to blog, then I am afraid I cannot post here. Thus I am reluctant to do that. FYI, I don't have any social networking account for the same reason: no time ... If any of you have a suggestion, let's hear it. Anh, what do you suggest? Crazee, best of luck to you. I commend you of working hard for your family.

To those of you who sent me your email, I am going to send you an email.

---

Wei Xiaobao stood by his side, showing concerns. “Wangye, please rise,” he said, “Let Xiao Jiang come in to probe the Princess’ mood.”

Wu Sangui took out emeralds, jade and pearls from his bosom, stuffed it into Wei Xiaobao’s hand, and said, “Wei Xiongdi, Xiao Wang was in a hurry, I did not have time to grab some banknotes; please kindly divide these jewels to the Imperial Bodyguard brothers. In front of the Princess, please urgently request an audience.”

Wei Xiaobao returned the jewels to him and said, “Wangye, please set your heart at ease. As long as it is within Xiao Jiang’s power, I will definitely do my best; for the time being I cannot accept Wangye’s gift. In all honesty, this matter is simply too big, I don’t know what it is that the Princess has in mind. Ay, this Princess is hot tempered and proud, she is ‘three-chaste nine-upright’ [i.e. exemplary in remaining faithful to one's husband until death], a virgin who is pampered and spoiled since childhood, that even the Empress Dowager and His Majesty also yielded to her thirty-percent of the time. Shizi is indeed … indeed a bit too daring.”

“Yes, yes,” Wu Sangui said, “Wei Xiongdi, please speak to the Princess, I must have an audience with her.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded, his expression was serious, he walked toward the Princess’ door and said in a loud and clear voice, “Reporting to the Princess: Ping Xi Wangye personally came to apologize for the offense, would Princess remember he is an old minister who has rendered great merit, and deal with him leniently.”

Wu Sangui said in a low voice, “Yes, yes! The old minister is kowtowing in here, would Princess deal with me leniently.”

After half a day, they still heard nothing from the Princess’ room. Wei Xiaobao repeated his words. Suddenly they heard crashing noise, sounded like a stool fell down to the floor. Wei Xiaobao and Wu Sangui looked at each other in bewilderment. They heard a palace maid screamed, “Princess, Princess, you must not commit suicide!”

Wu Sangui was so frightened that his face was drained of any color; he thought, “If the Princess really killed herself, although right now everything is not completely ready, I will have no choice but to deploy the troops to stage a rebellion immediately. How can I face the charge of hounding the Princess to death?”

He heard several palace maids were wailing inside. A palace maid came out hurriedly and said with a cry, “Wei … Wei Jueye, Her Highness the Princess hanged herself on the beam, you … you come quickly and help … help her …”

Wei Xiaobao hesitantly said, “The Princess’ bedroom, it is inappropriate for us as the servants to come in.”

Wu Sangui lightly pushed his back and said, “Act according to special circumstances, rescuing the Princess is more important.” Turning toward a Mansion guard, he said, “Quickly summon the physician.” Finished speaking, he gave another push on Wei Xiaobao’s back.

Wei Xiaobao scrambled inside. He saw the Princess was lying on the bed, surrounded by seven, eight palace maids who were weeping around her. Wei Xiaobao said, “I know internal energy, I can help resuscitate the Princess.”

The palace maids stepped aside. The Princess’ eyes were tightly closed, her breathing was weak, and there was really a strip of red mark on her neck. A piece of rope was hanging from the beam, the other half of the rope was lying by her head, and an overturned stool was lying on the floor. Wei Xiaobao laughed inwardly; he thought, “What a performance! This Princess who loves to fool-around blindly is actually not an idiot.” He rushed to the bed and stretched his finger to pinch the ‘renzhong’ [human center] acupoint on her upper lip heavily.

The Princess moaned and slowly opened her eyes. “I … I don’t want to live,” she said vehemently, but weakly.

“Princess,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You are a thousand-gold lady, you have to come to accept an unpleasant fact. Ping Xi Wang is kowtowing outside, begging for your forgiveness.”

The Princess cried and said, “You … you tell him to quickly kill that evil man.”

Blocking the palace maids’ eyes with his body, Wei Xiaobao put his hand inside the quilt and pinched the Princess’ waist a little. The Princess struggled hard not to laugh; she grabbed his arm and ferociously dug her fingernails in his flesh, as she wailed, “I don’t want to live, I … how am I going to conduct myself from now on?”

Outside the room, Wu Sangui heard the Princess’ cry faintly; learning that her attempt to kill herself was unsuccessful, he could not refrain from heaving a deep sigh. And then he heard her cry, ‘how am I going to conduct myself from now on’, he thought, “I can’t really blame her for getting angry. Young husband and wife fighting with each other using spear or saber is not a big deal, they might injure the other anywhere. It’s just a real bad luck that the knife happened to cut right there. Even if Yingxiong is healed in the future, the Princess will only be a living widow for the rest of her life. Presently we must strive to cover this matter up, and not let it be widely known.”

Half a day later, Wei Xiaobao came out of the room, he did not stop shaking his head. Wu Sangui hastily stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “What did the Princess say?”

“She is not going to die,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “But the Princess is unyielding, if she is determined to do something, she won’t listen to anybody’s advice, she would definitely try to kill herself again. I already instructed the palace maids to wait upon her well, and not to leave her side even for half a step. Wangye, I am afraid she would take poison.”

Wu Sangui’s countenance changed. He nodded and said, “Yes, yes. We must guard against that possibility.”

“Wangye,” Wei Xiaobao said in a low voice, “If by any chance the Princess met any unexpected misfortune,while Xiao Jiang was sent by the Emperor to protect the Princess, this little life of mine will be difficult to protect. If that ever happened, Wangye, you must arrange a way out for me.”

Wu Sangui shivered with fear. “What way out?” he asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “I can’t tell you anything right now, I only hope that the Princess will be safe and sound, everybody will be happy. But her life is her own, if she really wants to die, we may be able to prevent her for three, four days, but we can’t stop her for ten days of half a month. Xiao Jiang has a selfish intention: I only hope that the Princess would marry into your Mansion sooner, so that Xiao Jiang will be relieved of my responsibility for the most part.”

Wu Sangui was secretly delighted. “In that case, let us have the wedding immediately,” he said, “My son is creating the trouble, he was rushing and thus resulting in this disaster. Wei Xiongdi is doing your best to maintain order, Xiao Wang is deeply grateful, I won’t possibly add another burden on Wei Xiongdi’s shoulder.” Lowering his voice, he said, “I just don’t know if the Princess is still willing … willing to be married?” He was thinking, “My son has become a useless person, I just hope that the Princess’ age is young and her experience shallow, she does not understand the matter between men and women yet. The cutting just now, she might not necessarily understands where the knife landed. She will get married confused and ignorant, the timber has turned into a boat, she will have nothing to say. Who knows? Perhaps she still thinks that all men in the world are like that.”

Wei Xiaobao also lowered his voice, “The Princess is young, she does not understand this kind of matters. She is respectable person, she won’t say anything.”

Wu Sangui was greatly delighted; he mused, “Heroes usually agree [i.e. great minds think alike].” But then he immediately thought, “Damn it, what kind of hero is this kid anyway? How can he discuss things with me on equal terms?” He said, “Yes, yes, let’s do it. What happened just now, it’s not that we dare to conceal it from His Majesty, but the Lord of Ten-thousand Year has to deal with ten thousand different matters daily, he is taking care of the affairs of the nation, and is extremely busy. We, as the servants, are loyal to our master and love our country, we must not increase His Majesty’s concerns. The Empress Dowager and His Majesty treasure the Princess; if they hear this kind of matter, they might not be happy. Wei Xiongdi, being government officials, the secret of our success is to report only the good news, not the bad news.”

Wei Xiaobao patted his chest and flicked his own hat; he said magnanimously, “Hereafter Xiao Jiang will rely on Wangye to train me to get promotion. In this matter, I will stake my own little life in handling it according to Wangye’s instruction.” Wu Sangui repeatedly expressed his thanks. Wei Xiaobao said, “However, there are many people who witness this scandal tonight, if someone else reveals the secret, you can’t hold Xiao Jiang responsible.”

“Naturally,” Wu Sangui said. But in his heart he had already formulated a plan: he was going to dispatch his troops and horses, disguised as robbers, deep inside Guangxi to set an ambush. When Wei Xiaobao’s delegation returned to Beijing, he would have them all massacred. Guangxi was Sun Yanqing’s territory. His wife Kong Sizhen was the daughter of Kong Youde, the Ding Nan Wang [King who stabilized the South]. The Empress Dowager had taken her as her adoptive daughter, and bestowed her the title of Heshuo Gege [Hoxud or Xoshut Keke (princess, Manchu word)]; she was the darling of the Imperial Court. Let Kong Sizhen deal with the criminal charge of disturbance within her territory, robbers killing government officials within her jurisdiction.

Although Wei Xiaobao was quick-witted, he could not match Wu Sangui’s rigorous scheme and deep foresight. Seeing Wu Sangui was deep in thought, he still thought that Wu Sangui was worried over this matter might leak out; he laughed and said, “Wangye, don’t worry. Xiao Jiang will do my best to restrain my subordinates, I will order them not to speak thoughtlessly or make irresponsible remark.”

Wu Sangui said, “Today Wei Xiongdi has helped me with this major problem, it’s not enough to thank you with gold, silver and jewels. But the officers and men under Wei Xiongdi’s command is not a few, to close their mouths, you must let Xiao Wang do my best to send my regards. As soon as I am home, I will send someone to deliver it to you.”

“Let me thank you very much then,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I wonder how is Shizi’s condition; let us go take a look, I hope his injury is not so serious.” Wu Sangui and Wei Xiaobao went to visit Wu Yingxiong.

The physician knitted his brows. “Shizi’s life is not in danger,” he said, “It’s just that … it’s just that …”

Wu Sangui nodded and said, “His life is not in danger, that’s good.” Afraid that Wei Xiaobao might detain his son, he ordered the Mansion guards to immediately escort the Heir Apparent back to the Mansion to recuperate. He personally kept Wei Xiaobao busy, to prevent him from changing his mind. It was not before Wu Yingxiong finally left Anfu Garden did he take his leave.

Wei Xiaobao thought, “When the little traitor regains his consciousness, he will definitely tell what has really happened, but what’s the use? Who would believe a golden-branch-jade-leaves Princess would castrate her own husband for no reason at all? I would think that even the big traitor himself would not easily believe him, most likely he would give his son a severe scolding.” He also thought, “When the Princess is married, during our way back to Beijing, I must spend a lot of effort with Ah Ke.”

Returning to his quarter, Xu Tianchuan, Xuanzhen, and the others had already obtained the news, nobody did not clap their hands to express their delight. Wei Xiaobao did not wish to tell them the truth, he asked them how their visit to the brothel was. The warriors told them that everything went smoothly according to their plan. Wei Xiaobao thought that tonight an important matter had just happened, if they dispatched troops to return to the Capital right away, the big traitor would definitely suspect that they were going to report to the Emperor. Therefore, it would be best if they waited until things had calmed down before they sent the Mongolian big beard out.

After a flustered night, the warriors were about to withdraw, suddenly the Imperial Bodyguard Zhao Qixian rushed toward the door and said, “Reporting to Fu Zongguan [deputy chief]: Ping Xi Wang is attacked by an assassin!”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “Assassinated?” he busily asked, “Who is the assassin?” He did not want Zhao Qixian to see the Tian Di Hui warriors in his room very late at night, hence he went outside the door and asked again, “The big han[3] … big … did Ping Xi Wang die?”

“He did not,” Zhao Qixian said, “I heard he only suffered light injury. The assassin was arrested on the spot, turned out … turned out she is a palace maid serving the Princess.”

Wei Xiaobao was even more shocked. “Palace maid serving the Princess?” he asked, “Which one? Why would she want to assassinate Ping Xi Wang?”

“I don’t know the details,” Zhao Qixian replied, “As soon as subordinate obtained the news that Ping Xi Wang was attacked by the assassin, I rushed here to report.”

“Go quickly, investigate clearly and report back to me,” Wei Xiaobao said.

Zhao Qixian complied and left. He had just taken a few steps when Zhang Kangnian walked in in quick steps; he said, “Reporting to Fu Zongguan: the palace maid assassinated Ping Xi Wang is called Wang Ke’er.”

Wei Xiaobao’s head spun; he said with a trembling voice, “She … she … why did she do that?” Wang Ke’er was Ah Ke’s alias, it was the character ‘Ke’ [珂] divided into character ‘Wang’ [王] and character ‘Ke’ [可].

Zhang Kangnian said, “Ping Xi Wang has brought her back to the Mansion, saying that he would personally interrogate her: who was the mastermind behind the attack.”

As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard that his beloved was arrested, his mind was in chaos, he could not think anymore.

---

[3] ‘Han jian’ literally means ‘traitor to China (i.e. Han people)’, I usually just simplify it to ‘traitor’. Here Wei Xiaobao was going to say ‘da han jian’.

[aliderhamy]

Foxs you should have a tag line that you post up at the begining of every translation update

"Finnaly the ROCK has comback to ....”

[crazee]

Thanks Foxs....
Well I'm actually an old man with nothing much to look forward to.... I dread the day I have to retire...I suppose I'll be bored to death....a poor man. Work helps me to pass my time and of course put meals on my table....
I have all the sets of JY serials to rewatch....

I'm never good at blogging or web site things...so I suppose I cannot help on back ups.
It looks like I might have to do some backing up of all the previous posts.....as there don't seem to be an unabridged parallel.....
I'm sure in the event of SPC shutdown, Foxs can always get another host to continue....only the history will be at risk.

Yes, it's very nice of Foxs to think of us in case of emergency.
Until today I am in the dark as to why zhaomin stopped her translation suddenly...and when she had such a lively group of followers..... I only hope Foxs will see this to the end...( very selfish of me I know )

However I understand it's time consuming and difficult to do translating....and I suppose we should be thankful and contented with what we get... That I am...

[smurf120]

Thanks Foxs! There is actually SPCNet Facebook page but no one has updated for almost a year. It would be nice if site maintenance or notifications can be posted there pretty easily. I don't think separate blog or site would be required if we can utilize existing page on Facebook.

Princess is crazy but makes nice match to XB!

[wandering]

thanks fox.

i normally would just stored it on google docs
you can always share out a read only version

i save all my favorite translations that way.

afterward..i would just go thru and create my own epub version of the translation so that I can read the entire book on my ipad :-D

[crazee]

thanks fox.

i normally would just stored it on google docs
you can always share out a read only version

i save all my favorite translations that way.

afterward..i would just go thru and create my own epub version of the translation so that I can read the entire book on my ipad :-D

Hi Wandering....I'm just wondering how you do it...

BTW...anybody actually saved up a copy of this translations ?
I had a copy stored ...but it's not updated ( for sometime already ) maybe it's high time I update it.

[SkyWalker]

Thanks for all the updates foxs. Hope you had a great CNY.

BTW...anybody actually saved up a copy of this translations ?
I had a copy stored ...but it's not updated ( for sometime already ) maybe it's high time I update it.

Crazee, I have a copy of this translation too but I've been quite busy and haven't had time to update it. I'll probably try to update it this week.q

[wandering]

crazee,
I assume you are asking about epub creation.
i download this freeware program called stanza
and i use that to cut and paste the text of the translation in to create my own epub

epub is just basically a bunch of zip html/text/word document with .epub instead of .zip extension...basically a compress version of a website if you were looking for an analogy. if you actually change the extension of .epub to .zip file..you can actually extract out the file to see what the directory structure is like.

i normally do some formatting from stanza and add pictures etc to make my epub look good
then i email myself the copy or upload it up to google docs..and then i will download it to my ipad to read it in ibook or read it on my sony ereader.

to get chapters etc..i normally starts off from an existing base epub file...like the one I did for A Deadly Secret.

if you guys want I can start compiling up the current translation of this book into an epub and keep it up to date.
I don't mind..it's pretty easy. Probably only take me a few hours to do it.




For those with amazon kindle etc..you can use a freeware app called calibre to convert the epub to .mobi for your kindle to read it.

[wandering]

if you are talking about google docs
if you have a gmail account, you can log in with your gmail account and go to http://docs.google.com and create an account there.
There you can save any files you want as an upload or you can create whatever files you want.
There's also a share button that you can share out to your contact list or other emails that allow them to edit the document or just do a read only.

PM me if you want more details on google docs or epubs. I'll be more than happy to epxlain more.

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Foxs. I will send you my E-mail when I have a chance. I think they will keep this site running.

[athlonkmf]

I'm using Sygil to create Epubs (for my personal use).
It's a WYSIWYG program and easy to use.

I've added pictures to the chapters too. Here's an sample:

http://www.mediafire.com/?5vl68ogq07qu3la

(password is... foxs)

crazee,
I assume you are asking about epub creation.
i download this freeware program called stanza
and i use that to cut and paste the text of the translation in to create my own epub

epub is just basically a bunch of zip html/text/word document with .epub instead of .zip extension...basically a compress version of a website if you were looking for an analogy. if you actually change the extension of .epub to .zip file..you can actually extract out the file to see what the directory structure is like.

i normally do some formatting from stanza and add pictures etc to make my epub look good
then i email myself the copy or upload it up to google docs..and then i will download it to my ipad to read it in ibook or read it on my sony ereader.

to get chapters etc..i normally starts off from an existing base epub file...like the one I did for A Deadly Secret.

if you guys want I can start compiling up the current translation of this book into an epub and keep it up to date.
I don't mind..it's pretty easy. Probably only take me a few hours to do it.




For those with amazon kindle etc..you can use a freeware app called calibre to convert the epub to .mobi for your kindle to read it.

[wandering]

yeah i'm using sygil not stanza...bleah stanaza is a reader app i use on my iphone...
i should not be responding post when i'm half asleep...LOL