LWSL Chapter 20

Young Master Ruan? Ruan Zhizheng?!

Wu Ruo’s eyes turned red in an instant, the veins in his eyes all popped out one by one. He could no longer hold back all the immense hatred in the depths of his heart, bursting forth all at once, scattering recklessly and wildly within him, as if it would only come to rest after finding a release point.

“Y-young master,” the servant looked as though he’d seen a vicious ghost, he’d been frightened by his own young master’s blood-red eyes until he felt chills all over his body.

Guan Tong who was supporting Wu Ruo noticed that Wu Ruo had gone stiff and asked concernedly: “Xiao-Ruo, what’s wrong?”

Wu Ruo worried that he would scare his own mother and hurriedly closed his eyes.

He’d thought that since it’d been so many days since he’d reincarnated, he had already prepared himself to face that bastard Ruan Zhizheng¹Wu Ruo says 阮峙峥这个人, which literally translates as: Ruan Zhizheng, this person. However, it’s a really rude way of referring to someone, so I’ve translated it as “that bastard” instead to convey the appropriate amount of rudeness in English 😀. However, now, just hearing the servant mention ‘Young Master Ruan’, he already couldn’t control his bloodlust.

No, he couldn’t just kill Ruan Zhizheng.

Right now, he was still relying on Ruan Zhizheng to find that mysterious person, and it would be letting off Ruan Zhizheng too lightly if he killed him so easily.

Wu Ruo took a deep breath, and said as he opened his eyes: “Mum, I’m alright. You should go check on Dad and see if he needs any help, I’m worried that Dad might not be able to manage everything on his own.”

Guan Tong was still a little worried: “What about you?”

“Of course I’m going to go see Zhizheng.” The two characters ‘Zhizheng’ were practically squeezed out from the gaps between Wu Ruo’s teeth.

Guan Tong smiled as she said: “Both of you haven’t met in a long while, so have a good chat.”

“Hn.”

After Guan Tong left, Wu Ruo let Shi You and the rest help him to the main hall. From afar, he could already see Ruan Zhizheng’s four personal guards standing at the entranceway of the main hall. At once, the image of those four guards raping his mother flooded through his mind, as if he could hear that obscene laughter again.

Wu Ruo pursed his lips tightly, glaring at the four guards by the main hall entrance way as if he were staring at dead men²看死人似的: literally “as if looking at dead men”. I think it means he’s staring at them as if he’s marked them as targets he wants to kill. Not sure if I may have misinterpreted this, the context is not so clear for me..

Ruan Zhizheng couldn’t die yet, but the same couldn’t be said for these four guards.

Wu Ruo turned his head to face Shi You and the rest, asking: “Does anyone among the four of you know the divination arts³the divination arts mentioned here is 奇门遁甲 (qi men dun jia), which might be familiar to some of you who know about Chinese metaphysics. I’ve left a link to the Wikipedia page for anyone who wants to know more.?”

He felt that these couple of corpse servants sent by Hei Xuanyi wouldn’t be devoid of any merit. Even if they didn’t have spiritual energy, they would be well-versed in other skills.

The four of them shook their heads no.

Wu Ruo asked again: “Then did any of you learn how to put up an array?”

Shi Yi hesitated for a moment, and replied: “I once followed a tianshi⁴天师 (tian shi) is a title referring to the head of the Taoist religion, most likely the head of a temple rather than the entire religion itself. and learned a little bit.”

“That’s good enough.” Wu Ruo got them to help him to the nearest room, found a pen and paper, and drew an image for Shi Yi: “Just make the array according to what I’ve drawn.”

“Understood⁵I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned in the footnotes yet, but sometimes when I translate it as “understood” or something similar when the servants are accepting orders, it actually just says 是 or 是的 (shi, or shide). The general translation/meaning is “yes”, but sometimes I don’t translate it directly because it doesn’t sound as polite if I just leave it as a “yes”..”

“Right now, go prepare the things that I’ve written down on this paper first. For the other things, wait for nightfall to carry it out. Don’t let anyone notice.”

“Understood.”

Wu Ruo returned to the front gardens.

Ruan Zhizheng’s four guards saw him and immediately called out: “Young Master Ruo.”

Wu Ruo clenched his fists tightly within his sleeves, pushing down the killing intent in his heart, and replied with a slight smile: “The weather today is cold, all of you should go to the back kitchens and drink some alcohol to warm your bodies.”

“Our thanks to Young Master Ruo.” The four people happily thanked, then headed towards the back gardens with great familiarity.

A light laughter came from within the main hall: “Xiao-Ruo, my retainers have all been spoiled by you. Now, whenever they have a break, they immediately look for a place to drink alcohol.”

Following that, a man dressed in a deep blue doupeng walked out from the hall. He was a young man about twenty years of age, with a refined appearance, like the kind of scholar who knew nothing other than studying. However, the slanted corners of his eyes seemed to secretly carry a thread of evil intention⁶戾气 (li qi): “evil tendencies” or “antisocial behaviour”, but I’ve modified it to “evil intentions” to fit the flow of the English sentence..

Wu Ruo fixed a stare at him without speaking.

Ruan Zhizheng felt goosebumps because of his stare, and smiled a little uneasily: “We haven’t met in over half a month, how come it seems like you don’t recognise me anymore?”

• 1
  Wu Ruo says 阮峙峥这个人, which literally translates as: Ruan Zhizheng, this person. However, it’s a really rude way of referring to someone, so I’ve translated it as “that bastard” instead to convey the appropriate amount of rudeness in English 😀
• 2
  看死人似的: literally “as if looking at dead men”. I think it means he’s staring at them as if he’s marked them as targets he wants to kill. Not sure if I may have misinterpreted this, the context is not so clear for me.
• 3
  the divination arts mentioned here is 奇门遁甲 (qi men dun jia), which might be familiar to some of you who know about Chinese metaphysics. I’ve left a link to the Wikipedia page for anyone who wants to know more.
• 4
  天师 (tian shi) is a title referring to the head of the Taoist religion, most likely the head of a temple rather than the entire religion itself.
• 5
  I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned in the footnotes yet, but sometimes when I translate it as “understood” or something similar when the servants are accepting orders, it actually just says 是 or 是的 (shi, or shide). The general translation/meaning is “yes”, but sometimes I don’t translate it directly because it doesn’t sound as polite if I just leave it as a “yes”.
• 6
  戾气 (li qi): “evil tendencies” or “antisocial behaviour”, but I’ve modified it to “evil intentions” to fit the flow of the English sentence.