Thanks everyone for the well-wishes for my health and the story! I do hope you will enjoy the start of Yue and Hsiao's adventure!
Chapter 2: In which Hope is
Born
Little Moon/Yue Er
(i)
After giving me a skeptical look for a
moment, Hsiao gave a whistle and shortly, a magnificent black horse galloped
over. I gave a small gasp as Hsiao patted the horse’s back and called it, Black
Beauty. Indeed, it was a black beauty, with a white star on its forehead.
Hsiao got on his horse and looked at me. I was about to say
I will meet him at Zi Town since I only needed to call for a traveling cloud,
when I realized that such a mode of transport would probably seem
inappropriate. I gave him a sweet smile, “I’m afraid my horse ran away. Maybe
we can ride together to Zi Town and I will get another horse then.”
Hsiao reached out his hand and pulled me up his horse. And,
thus we galloped off.
Unfortunately, horses are much slower than traveling
clouds so as the sun set and the night descended upon us, we were still at
least a day’s journey away from Zi Town.
I gave an inward sigh, if only I could tell Prince Sun to delay the
setting of the sun, with our current speed, I do hope we will reach Zi Town in
time.
We managed to find a simple wooden house and decided to see
if we could stop here for a night.
Hsiao helped me off the horse and we knocked on the
door. A pleasant round-faced woman opened the door. It was then I realized that
she was heavily pregnant.
“Evening good lady, we were traveling to Zi Town when night
fell, we are wondering if we could rent a room for the night before we continued
our journey tomorrow,” I smiled at her.
The woman reached out to stroke my cheek, “You have such a
nice rosy complexion, Miss.”
Hsiao and I were momentarily stunned. I chuckled
nervously and adjusted the collar of my robes, “I’m afraid you are mistaken,
good lady, for I am male.”
The woman blushed and laughed heartily, “Oh, but you look so
much like a girl if not for your Adam’s apple. Come in, come in. My husband is
out hunting for dinner. We have a small spare room if neither of you mind.”
So, we entered this small but cosy wooden house. The woman
insisted on serving us tea, even though we offered to help ourselves upon
seeing her extremely bulbous state.
“We don’t often get any visitors in these parts of the
woods,” The woman said cheerily, “You can call me Mrs Xi.”
The kettle whistled at this point, but before Mrs Xi could reach the kettle, she gave a cry, her hands reached her stomach
and she started to crouch downwards. I immediately went to her side and noticed
that her water bag had broken.
Oh god of birth! Help us! I thought.
Without breaking a sweat, Hsiao went over, carried Mrs Xi
up and headed to the rooms, “Get ready a pail of hot water and lots of towels.”
(ii)
A few hours later, Mrs Xi and I were both incredibly
sweaty, but a beautiful baby boy was safely born. Surprisingly, except for a
few strands of hair astray on Hsiao’s forehead, he remained calm.
It made me think, who was supposed to be the god and who was
supposed to be the human here. Why am I sweating but not him?
It was a huge relief when Mr Xi returned. He was a sturdy
looking man with an honest face. He broke into a huge grin when the baby boy
was placed in his arms. But, what I was looking at was the strong pinkish-red
thread that linked the hearts of Mr and Mrs Xi.
In that thread, I could see that their marriage has been
arranged, but through the years of companionship and affection, they have
forged a strong understanding and quiet love for each other. What a lovely
thread.
“I could never thank both of you enough,” Mr Wu said, his
voice choked with emotion as he swayed the baby in his arms.
Mr Xi turned to us with big earnest eyes, “Please name our
son for us, our benefactors.”
Now this is how you look at someone who just saved your
life, I thought, as I gave Hsiao a look.
But clearly it went over his head as Hsiao gave me a smile,
“What does Yue think?”
What do I think? “Hmm… how about Wang?”
Hsiao chuckled, “Yes, Xi Wang meaning hope. An auspicious
name.”
Mr Xi nodded happily, “Yes, he will be called Wang.”
(iii)
It was later that night, when Hsiao and I sat at the
wooden bench outside the house, with a small bottle of wine Mr Xi had brought
us to celebrate Wang’s birth. Hsiao and I sipped the wine quietly under the
glow of the full moon.
In the eyes of other people, it may appear that these were
two solitary figures enjoying the moonlight. But in my eyes, I felt that my uncle was chaperoning me.
I quietly observed Hsiao. At first, and admittedly a
large part of my motivation in re-connecting Hsiao with the three other women
so he becomes Yan Kingdom’s next Emperor was to prevent karmic retribution on
myself. However, after watching how Hsiao dealt steadily and efficiently with
Mrs Xi’s sudden birth, I couldn’t help but think that Hsiao had the makings of
a good emperor. He appeared kind and decisive, although there were times, like
now, when one couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
I looked at the three red dots in my right palm. I will
make you the Emperor, I thought firmly, I
will fix all our fates.
(iv)
Zi Town was incredibly bustling and crowded when
we arrived. It appeared that the whole world, or at least all its men, had came for a chance to marry the beautiful Mei Yun (美云 - Beautiful Cloud), daughter of Qian Yun (钱云 - Money Cloud), the
richest merchant in the Yan Kingdom.
I had read about their previous fates quickly before I came
to the mortal realms, but I remembered that it was Hsiao’s marriage with Mei
Yun and her family’s deep riches that contributed to the expansion of the Yan
Kingdom.
I looked at Hsiao, who appeared oblivious to his
competition.
There was a long queue in front of Cloud Manor as men were
signing up for a chance to vie for her hand. Apparently, there would be three
rounds and the winner of the three rounds would become Qian Yun’s son-in-law.
It was being called the “Great Marriage Competition”.
I grabbed Hsiao’s hand and quickly joined the queue.
Hsiao looked at me, “You don’t find it strange at all that
Qian Yun is having a competition to give away his daughter’s hand in marriage?”
I shook my head, “One can never understand how humans think
anyway.”
Hsiao chuckled and seemed to shrug almost helplessly at my
answer. But after an hour of queuing and my persistent pestering, Hsiao signed up for the Great Marriage Competition under my earnest beady eyes.
(v)
Hsiao
A part of me did not understand why I was queuing up with
Yue, who was not only of suspicious background but also had suspicious gender.
At first I followed Yue out of amusement and curiosity to see whether he was
related to or sent by my Big Brother, but nothing about Yue made sense.
“Why are you so interested in me marrying Mei Yun?” I asked
finally after we had signed up and Yue practically gave a yell of joy.
“She’s vital in your road to becoming an Emperor,” Yue said
looking at me as if I was a child and he was just explaining the weather.
“I don’t have any interest in becoming an Emperor,” I said,
and I added to test Yue, “And in case you have not noticed, I’m just an
ordinary wanderer.”
Yue smiled, “That’s why you need to marry Mei Yun!”
I almost rolled my eyes when Yue clutched my hand tightly,
“Our fates are tied already. Your success is my success, your failure is my
failure. But, I promise you, I will fix your fate, and you will become the
Emperor.”
Yue suddenly waved one of her hands and a white bird flew
towards us, “I need to go, I plan to find out what the three rounds are so you
will definitely win. You can use this white bird to send me any messages if
needed.”
Yue paused for a moment, “I recall that Mei Yun likes
poetry, maybe you can brush up on your poetry before the competition.”
With that, Yue gave me a pat on my shoulder and ran off.
I did not know whether to laugh or cry. Yue asked me to
brush up on my poetry! Did he know who I was? If he didn’t, why did he think I
had a chance to become the Emperor? If he did, why would he ask me to brush up
on my poetry?
Yue, you don’t seem to know my past, but yet you claim to
know my future.
I stood there in the middle of the bustling streets, voices
and noises mingled all around me, but I only watched Yue’s disappearing back
and could only hear Yue’s voice ringing in my ears, Our fates are tied
together. Your success is my success, your failure is my failure.
awh. Yue er is so adorable haha.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'm on the wrong ship since it's clearly doomed to sink, but the two of them are killing me with their banter. It's always the jiangshan meiren question /cries.
I can totally see some of your writing style from here in your translations, it always manages to make every character so endearing, though of course half the credit goes to the authors who make them that way.
I can't wait for Hsiao to find out she's a girl, but I'm guessing it won't happen till at least midway through. aah.
By the way, I don't know if I missed it, but you said you purposefully used the different romanization system (Wade Giles?) for Hsiao's name? Is this important to the plot, or for some other reason?
Hello Karma,
DeleteHaha, yes I love the jiangshan meiren dilemma, though I thought it would be really funny to make a reluctant Emperor instead of the ambitious and scheming men that characterise most angsty novels. Haha.
Thank you! I do think translations are quite subjective due to the translator's word choices, subtexts and sentence structures. Haha. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Oh, 逍 's hanyi pinyin should be Xiao instead of Hsiao, but I decided to use Hsiao at Hui'er's suggestion as it looked nicer. Because Xiao always has the connotation of small to me, and Hsiao doesn't have that connotation when I read it! :)
"Our fates are tied together. Your success is my success, your failure is my failure." - I also like this quote very much. Their fate is like bound by a red thread.
ReplyDeleteI won't be jumping amy unstable ship just yet!
Thank you for the chapter decembi hope you have a speedy recovery ♡
Sutekii,
DeleteThank you always for your support <3. Your comments really brighten up my day. :) And, you like my favourite quote! Haha.
I like ur story. I'm already on the hsiao-yue ship. I hope it's not a harem ending T-T. did moonblossom get a copy of the next chapters? perhaps I could ask her for spoilers to avoid a sinking ship. thanks for sharing your writing. I like your story about red threads or threaded fate. it feels refreshing.
ReplyDeleteHello macopaleaf,
DeleteThank you!!! :) Your comments and feedback makes me happy.
Moonblossom is quite busy so I only managed to send her the prologue. Haha. But, if you are interested in knowing the right ship to follow, just look at the spoiler below. My story is a lighthearted fluffy one, so I have no qualms indicating the final ship.
BEWARE OF SPOILER
*SPOILER* It's going to be a Hsiao-Yue happy ending *END SPOILER*
Ming Yue Ting Feng philosophy? *squeal* happy to know we r on board a nice happy ship! Lovely pic btw.
DeleteThank you Moonblossom! <3. Yes, my greatest influence is probably Ming Yue Ting Feng, who writes with some humour and warmth, though I didn't like her fantasy genre, I totally follow her HAPPY FLUFF principles. Haha.
Deleteoh in here the spoiler hahaha , i seldom read all comments :)
DeleteTeehee <3
Deleteooooohhhhh ~~~ new chapter ~~
ReplyDeleteI am already shipping the two already (since first chapter) - hahaha...and Im happy it is a HE :) ... but I am worried about the "sacrifice(s)" that Yue may need to make to make it happens :| - she is a Xian, after all.
Aww so happy to hear that people are shipping already <3
DeleteYou are very sharp, fangorn. Hahaha. I shan't spoil but it's a happy ending at least! :)
Decembi, thank you for this, but please put your health as first priority :)
ReplyDeletewow, I never read a novel where the male lead help a woman give birth. hahaaha
i'm curious about the 3 girls. So, the first girl has money. It's interesting. i can't wait for the other girls to show up.
Thank you for your hard work decembi :)
Thank you Redhazel! Don't worry, my husband has been policing me strictly. No translation work can be done till I recovered. Hence, I have been updating my original fiction which I have about 9 chapters already stored up? Haha.
DeleteI might update chapter 3 tonight so the background and foundation is settled. :)
what a fast update! n you posted it at midnight!? do you often sleep that late unni? no wonder you're not in a good health.
ReplyDeleteoh! please don't get me wrong. i call u older sister not because you sounds old.but to show my respect unni. you can call it habit or culture. i always call someone that i meet for the first time older brother/older sister.even though they might be younger than me.
good luck for your big case n thank you for the wonderful story...
Kiyo
Hello kiyo,
DeleteOh no, I don't. Haha, blogger has a "schedule" function so you can set the time and date for your posts to be published. I usually schedule the posts to be published and don't actually update myself hahaha.
I'm still working on my case. But thanks!!! :)
Oh my~ You're a talented writer. I am really impressed with your story. It has an exciting plot. You made me wonder about what their fate are. I'm soory if I haven't commented in your prologue and 1st chapter. Hehe. Thank you for your update. This is really amazing. I really wanna know who the 3 girls are now and what will happen with Yue if they show up. Were they villains or good-girls-but-still-not-likeable-for-shipping ???? Hihihi. Sorry! I'm juat really excited. I hope you'll gain popularity with this story of yours and this will turn into a drama or movie!!! Am I too futuristic??? :))) I am just really so excited for the next chapters to come.... Have a nice day and I hope that you'll get well soon. ♡♡♡
ReplyDeleteThank you GalaxyAngel007, your comment really means a lot and encourages me! <3 I wanted to ride a fun story where people will root for the lead characters :). I've updated chapter 3, and you get a peak at the first girl, Mei Yun.
DeleteHahaha, wow that's really futuristic! I really doubt fantasy novels will get drama adaptations in this era, but just sharing these stories with fellow readers makes my heart happier than it could hold. Thank you so much!
Oh, one day fantasy drama or movie will become a trend genre. XD hahahaha okay, gotta go. I'm going to Chapter 3 and read it now. Have a nice day. ♡♡♡
DeleteThank you so much. I think this will be a fun read. You are an amazing person.
ReplyDeleteThank you ginny! :) Aww, this makes me happy!
Deletedecembi thanks .... i like this storyyyyyyy:)
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm so happy :)
Deletedecembi thanks... i like this story very much :)
ReplyDeleteHeehee glad for your support!
Deletedecembi sorry i write 2 times lol ,i was thinking the first one error so sent new hihi , eh now get 2 :)
DeleteI was rereading the story and in (ii) there is a Mr Wu, is that a error or did I miss out some other character?
ReplyDeleteYou are right! It's an error. Should be Mr Xi. Thanks! Will go edit it
DeleteWelcome!:)
DeleteGod, I can't read this while sitting across from my mother. Every tiny part of their interaction from their dialogue to Hsiao's helpless shrugs at her antics is just so devastatingly hilarious and cute and sweet. It's so adorable I can't help but grin at every other line. Now my mom just thinks I'm weird and being unproductive. This is all your fault Decembi: death by cuteness overload.
ReplyDeleteAwwwwww! Dear Unknown, i get happiest from reader feedback of my own fiction and it's so nice to hear about your adorable reactions to Little Moon. I hope you will enjoy this story ♡♡♡ hope to hear from you again
DeleteWow this is so dreamy for me.. not only do you translate well, you could also write a fiction of your own! i'm hooked after reading prologue + 1.. * i'm also marvelling at your detailed imagination about the various type of red threads, ahem!* Awesome stuff Decembi :)
ReplyDeleteDear Jo,
DeleteThanks so much for reading my story. It always means a lot to me when readers read my own fiction and leave a comment.
I hope you really enjoy Little Moon! It was my first <3