Nirvana In Fire Chapter 90

The call came so abruptly that everyone was taken aback.  The owner of the voice came forward clasping his hands in a bow of the Da Liang custom, smiling apologetically, “I am sorry for startling everyone….”

“Your Highness Prince Ling, what is it you want this time?”  Xie Yu’s impatience was palpable, his temper nearly fraying.

Yuwen Xuan glanced at him, but did not reply, turning instead to Yue Xiuze and saying quietly, “Uncle Yue, I have kept my promise and allowed you to have your challenge, now it should be time for me to make my move, should it not?”

“Hey,” Zhuo Qingyao sounded furious.  “My dad has just been injured, are you trying to take advantage of his weakness?  If you want a fight, fight me!”

“Aiya, misunderstanding, misunderstanding,” Yuwen Xuan waved his hands.  “I was not speaking of a martial compet.i.tion, who among those present could I possibly defeat?  I only meant, it would be better for Chief Zhuo to stay for the next part of the evening.”

Xie Yu scoffed coldly.  “What nonsense, Brother Zhuo, don’t mind him, your health is most important.”

Mei Changsu said suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, “Jingrui, give your dad one of the heart-protection pills I gave you.”

“Ah?”  Xiao Jingrui stared blankly.  It was an external injury of the wrist, what good would heart-protection pills do?

Mei Changsu met Zhuo Dingfeng’s gaze and sighed, “The pain of losing of an art honed over a lifetime is felt in the heart, not in the hand.  Chief Zhuo must be feeling this loss, and it must be having an ill effect on his health.  The night is not over, Chief Zhuo must take care.”

The first sentence was barely out before Xiao Jingrui was rushing towards the table holding his gifts to retrieve the pills, and so he did not hear the second half, as he busied himself handing over medicine and water to his father.

Yuwen Xuan stood to one side, watching quietly until the the fuss was over before he pulled at someone standing beside him, steering her forward with a hand on her back and saying gently, “Nie Nie, didn’t you come just for him?  Go, don’t worry, I’ll be here.”

From the beginning, Nie Nie had clung to Yuwen Xuan’s side silently, dressed in a Chu style long robe and wearing a lady’s muslin cap.  Now, as she was pushed before Xiao Jingrui, the girl was still silent, but from the angle of her head, it was evident that this Miss Nie Nie was staring at Xiao Jingrui.

The atmosphere suddenly grew still and solemn, and even the fun-loving Yan Yujin felt his heart speed up for some reason, and didn’t dare say anything to try to lighten the mood.

Xiao Jingrui was exceedingly uncomfortable under her gaze, and he racked his brain but couldn’t think of any connection between himself and this Miss Nie Nie aside from the fight two days ago.  He waited for a long time, but she did not speak, and so finally he cleared his throat and asked, “Miss……Nie Nie, do you……have something to say to me?”

Nie Nie did not reply, but she slowly lifted a hand and undid the ribbons under her chin that were tying her cap to her head.  Her fingers trembled, and it took a long time.

Mei Changsu closed his eyes and turned his head away, as if he couldn’t bear to watch.

The cap was finally untied, and dropped lightly to the ground.  The candlelight in the room illuminated the features of the young girl, and it felt suddenly as if the air was sucked out of the room, although no one made a sound.

One glance, only a single glance, and Xiao Jingrui felt as if his heart had been struck by a thick peg, stopping all blood flow.  His face was pale as parchment, and he stood as if frozen in place.

The two stood like this, staring at one another.  To everyone looking on, it was as if two copies had been made of the same face, one sharper and more heroic, given to the boy, and one sweeter and gentler, given to the girl.

But the brows, the eyes, the arch of the nose, they were all identical……of course, there were many people in this world without familial relations who had similar features, but Yuwen Xuan’s next words broke the silence and shattered any remaining doubts.

“This is your sister, the Refined¹ Princess Yuwen Nie, the daughter of my uncle Prince Sheng Yuwen Lin….”

There was a m.u.f.fled crash from the direction of the main seats, and when everyone turned to look, Grand Princess Liyang had fainted, her eyes shut and her complexion waxen, her serving girl crying as she held onto her.

Yuwen Xuan’s voice continued cruelly, as if there had been no interruption.  “Twenty years ago, when my uncle was held hostage in your esteemed country, he was under the care of the Grand Princess, and so my sister² is here today to pay thanks to the Grand Princess on behalf of her father.  Nie Nie, go and bow to the Grand Princess.”

Yuwen Nie’s eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with tears as she stepped forward slowly, knelt down before the Grand Princess and touched her head to the ground three times.  When she was finished, she stood and turned back towards Xiao Jingrui, her gaze filled with hope and expectation.

But at this moment, Xiao Jingrui’s vision was only a blur.  He could not see her, and could not see his family of more than twenty years standing in the hall.  He could not see anything, and it was as if he floated alone in a dark void, feeling nothing except soul-wrenching pain and a crippling sense of loss.

When he was young, he had once wanted very much to know whether he was the child of the Zhuo family or the child of the Xie family.  But later, as he grew older, he had gradually begun to accept that he was both a child of the Zhuo family and a child of the Xie family.  His two sets of parents and his brothers and sisters were the most important family to him, and he loved them, and was loved by them, and so not even in his worst nightmares could he have imagined that one day, the heavens would coldly inform him that everything he had called his own for the past twenty years would turn out to be nothing but dust and ashes….

Grand Princess Liyang woke slowly, her brow soaked in cold sweat, her hair falling down around her face, her cheeks pale as snow, looking as if she had suddenly aged ten years.  Her serving girl lifted a cup of hot tea to her lips but she pushed it aside and sat up, visibly shaking, and stretched out a hand as she cried out in a hoa.r.s.e voice, “Rui’er, Rui’er, come here to Mother, come here….”

Xiao Jingrui turned towards her slowly, his eyes dazed as he took in her wan complexion, but it was as if his feet had been nailed to the ground.

“Rui’er!  Rui’er!”  Grand Princess Liyang’s voice was desperate, and she fought to stand, but her knees would not support her, and so she could only crawl in starts and fits, supported by her serving girl and her momo³, towards the dais, murmuring as she went, “Don’t be afraid, there is still Mother, Mother is here….”

The first to recover was Zhuo Dingfeng.  Over the past twenty years, he had been prepared for the possibility that Jingrui was not his flesh-and-blood son, and the part of the revelation that was most shocking and difficult to accept lay with Xiao Jingrui and Xie Yu, and so, in contrast, he was actually able to gain control over his emotions more quickly than the others.

And so, it was he who was the first to take Xiao Jingrui by the shoulder and gently steer him towards Grand Princess Liyang.

Mei Changsu glanced at Gong Yu out of the corner of his eye.  This glance was a message, and an order.  Of course, in the stunned silence of the hall, no one noticed this glance of ice-cold determination and iron-hard resolve.

Except Gong Yu.

Gong Yu carefully set down the zither in her arms, took a few steps forward into the candlelight and lifted her head, suddenly letting out a laugh as clear as bells.

The sound of her laughter was like someone drawing a knife across a tightly-pulled bowstring.  Everyone jumped, turning their astonished gazes onto her.

“Miss Gong Yu, you….”  Yan Yujin stared at her, shocked into stillness.

This was because the Gong Yu before him was no longer the sweet, gentle lady he had come to know.  Although her slim figure and snowy complexion were the same, the fierceness and fury radiating off her were entirely unfamiliar, a sort of murderous rage that might be harboured by a demon of revenge,  and which made one tremble to look upon her.

“Marquis Xie,” Gong Yu’s icy gaze pierced straight through the master of this residence.  Her every word was crisp when she spoke again.  “I now finally understand why you had to kill my father.  It was because my late father was remiss in his a.s.signment, he had received orders to kill the illegitimate child of your own wife, but killed instead the child of the Zhuo family, and so failed to complete the mission you gave to him….”

Her words fell like a ton of explosives, rippling through everyone in the hall.  Xie Yu’s face turned red and then white, and with a furious shout, he grabbed the Tianquan sword which had been dropped to the ground and charged straight at Gong Yu.

Xie Yu was a martial arts master as well, and he came charging towards her like clap of thunder, but the delicate Gong Yu only twisted slightly, like an ethereal spirit hovering in the air, and neatly dodged the attack.

Xia Dong’s voice was hoa.r.s.e as she asked, “The killer who came that night, the night of the storm……who was he to you?”

“That was my late father.”  Before Gong Yu had even finished replying, Xie Yu was shouting in a fury, “Guards!”

Following this command, a figure came spinning out of the darkness towards Gong Yu.  He sent three daggers flying at her as he drew out a thin bone-handled blade, its edge gleaming with the shine of poison, and barreled towards her.

Gong Yu took the attack in stride, deflecting the daggers, and was preparing to intercept the poisoned blade when an arm out flew in front of her, sending the blade flying, and its owner dropped stoically in front of her, guarding her against further attacks.  It was Mistress Zhuo.

“Go on, keep talking, who killed my child?”  Mistress Zhuo’s eyes were almost glowing red, and her voice was fierce, with none of her usual gentle elegance.

“Wife, please calm down,” Zhuo Dingfeng said soothingly as he turned to face Xie Yu.  “Brother Xie, please allow Miss Gong to finish, if she is speaking nonsense, I will be the first to condemn her!”

“If you want to know whether I am speaking nonsense or not, you have only to look at Master Xiao’s face.”  Gong Yu’s words seemed to pierce right to the heart.  “Can anyone here deny that Marquis Xie had the motivation to kill that infant?  At the time, the infant died without a wound or scar on his body, only a little redness between his eyebrows, am I correct?  Marquis Xie was young at the time, and was not as thorough as he is now, so the leader of that a.s.sa.s.sin group still lives, and if Chief Zhuo were to meet him, I fear he would be able to learn yet more details of the event.  Or perhaps……we can ask Her Highness the Grand Princess.  Your Highness knew from the beginning that your husband was planning to murder your son, but you could not confront him directly, and the turmoil you faced must have been great indeed.  But fortunately, although the sisters you confided in were no longer around, you at least had your devoted momo by your side….”

Grand Princess Liyang felt as if her heart had been pierced by a sword, and she moaned as she covered her face, finally collapsing under the weight of this onslaught, this terrible storm that had arisen so abruptly.  Her momo was standing beside her, her face wet with tears.

“What a stream of nonsense!”  Xie Yu’s brows were trembling with rage as he lifted a hand and shouted, “Guards!  Take this woman and kill her on the spot!”

At his command, the guards of the Xie manor immediately surged forward towards Gong Yu.  Zhou Dingfeng stood in a dazed stupor, and it was Mistress Zhuo who gritted her teeth and cried out, “Yao’er!  Yi’er!”

Zhuo Qingyi bolted straight for her mother, but Zhuo Qingyao hesitated, and carefully carried his stunned wife to a pillar in a corner of the hall before flying back to his parents’ side.  Yan Yujin looked at Gong Yu, and then took Xiao Jingrui by the arm and dragged his unmoving friend to Mei Changsu’s side before taking up his own position in front of Gong Yu.

Xie Yu’s face was thunderous, his gaze murderous as he looked down at the crowd.

From his perspective, there was no choice but to kill Gong Yu, and an irrevocable split between the Zhuo and Xie families seemed unavoidable as well.  Even if Zhuo Dingfeng didn’t immediately turn against him, the hostility borne of a murdered child was no small matter.  Even with the bond of marriage between their children, Xie Yu was not confident he could hold the loyalty of Zhuo Dingfeng.  And Zhou Dingfeng had worked for him in his position as a master of jianghu for too many years, taking care of court business in ways that he could not, and so he simply knew too much.  If he let him go now, he might as well send him tied and wrapped in ribbon to Prince Yu’s doorstep.  Xie Yu knew he could not control his allegiance any longer, and so this was not a risk he could afford to take.  Besides, after tonight, Prince Yu would certainly do his best to take him into his protection, and it would be difficult to dispose of him in the future if the need arose.  On the other hand, if he took care of things in his own manor tonight, and burned these bridges as ruthlessly as he could, clearing away the muddied water for fresh, untainted springs, then there might yet be hope.

As he made his decision, his heart was a piece of solid, unyielding iron.

“Flying Eagle Squadron, surround them!  Call in the archers!”

As soon as she heard the word ‘archers’, Xie Qi cried out loudly, “Father!” and was about to rush for him, but Xie Yu waved a hand and guards came forward to restrain her.  By this time, Xie Bi was almost out of his mind with shock, and his mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

“Brother Xie,” Zhuo Dingfeng’s voice trembled, its coldness seeming to drive into the very bone.  “What are you doing?”

“This woman is lying and delusional, and must die here according to law.  If you protect her, I will not be responsible for any harm that comes to you!”

Zhuo Dingfeng had only intended to let Gong Yu finish, and to make a decision after he had investigated what had really happened all those years ago, and had not been intending to protect her at all.  But when he heard Xie Yu’s response, he realized the malicious intent behind his words, and he was so angry he began shaking in fury.  Xia Dong, who had been observing from the side, finally had to speak up.  “Marquis Xie, did you forget about me and Commander Meng?  Outright murder such as this is a little on the lawless side, wouldn’t you say?”

Xie Yu gritted his teeth.  He knew it was foolish to kill Zhuo Dingfeng in front of Xia Dong and Meng Zhi, but if he didn’t kill him now, he knew Zhuo Dingfeng would be taken into Prince Yu’s protection as soon as he left the doors of this manor, and there would be no second chance.  The arrow had been strung, and it must be fired.  There was no good solution, but a decision still had to be made.

“Our nation has a law, those who meddle in witchcraft must die immediately.  This woman has bewitched an audience within my manor and deluded and deceived them.  Officer Xia, pray do not get involved.”  Xie Yu turned away coldly and gestured for his men to fan out, blocking the exit from the hall.

But he knew very well in his heart that none of those present would be easy to deal with, especially Xia Dong and Meng Zhi, who posed a particular difficulty.  Firstly, it might not be possible to kill off these two, and secondly, even if he did manage to kill them, it would not be easy explaining the deaths of these two persons in his own manor, and so Xie Yu was fully prepared for the possibility of these two escaping.  There was no better plan to be had in the moment, and the best option was to shut as many mouths as he could now, and then when it came to his word against Xia Dong’s and Meng Zhi’s before the Emperor, then it was only a matter of seeing whom the Emperor would believe.  And if that person came back as well, and spoke on his behalf, perhaps there could still be a way out.

“Marquis Xie, if you have something to say, let us use our words, why must we resort to bloodshed?”  Meng Zhi saw that Xie Yu truly harboured murderous intentions, and couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.  “Neither I nor Officer Xia could possibly stand by and let today’s events pa.s.s unnoticed, so please, I beg you to reconsider.”

Xie Yu laughed coldly.  “This is my manor, what are you waiting for?  If you mean to report this to His Majesty, feel free.  But as for that woman and those she has bewitched, I fear you will not be able to save them.”

Meng Zhi’s brow furrowed, and he knew these were no empty words.  A first-ranked military official’s manor contained 800 troops, and of those, 500 were armed, and so would be difficult to handle.  Not to mention, once the archers arrived and began firing down at them from all sides, it didn’t matter how good his own martial ability was, he would still be hard-pressed to protect himself, much less guard the Zhuo family and the others as well.  He turned and looked at Mei Changsu.

But Mei Changsu was looking at Grand Princess Liyang.

Grand Princess Liyang was clearly dazed, but she was walking determinedly towards Xiao Jingrui, obviously wanting nothing more than to be by his side.

“Liyang,” Xie Yu turned to her as well, his voice gentle.  “Don’t pay any attention, I will not hurt Jingrui, if I wanted to kill him, I would already have done so long ago, so do not worry.  Everything I do is for you, you must not forget that….”

Grand Princess Liyang looked at her husband of more than twenty years and felt a shattering pain in her heart.  She fell to the ground, sobbing silently.

Xie Yu’s gaze turned to Yuwen Xuan, who shrugged and said, “If you do not hurt those Nie Nie cares about, then I will not wade into these muddy waters.  After all, in the end, what does it have to do with me?”

Xie Yu laughed coldly.  “Alright, I will certainly accept this favour from His Highness Prince Ling.”  His gaze swept over the hall once more, and halted over Mei Changsu, as if he was making up his mind to take care of this troublesome enemy strategist while he had the chance.

Meng Zhi, worried, took up a position in front of Mei Changsu and turned his head to ask, “Where’s Fei Liu?”

Mei Changsu’s eyes gleamed and he laughed out loud.  “Finally, someone remembers Fei Liu.  Actually, I have been waiting for Marquis Xie to ask this all along, but unfortunately, you seem to have forgotten that I brought along a little friend.”

Xie Yu’s heart sank just as a soldier came running over to report, “Marquis, it’s not good, all the archers’ bowstrings have been cut….”

“Useless!”  Xie Yu kicked him over.  “What about the backup bows?”

“Also……also…..”

There was practically steam rising from Xie Yu’s head, but Mei Changsu’s voice was gentle as he called, “Fei Liu, you’re back, was it fun?”

“Fun!”  The youth who had entered Rain-Shower Hall somehow at some point in time completely unnoticed now appeared beside his Su gege, his eyes wide as he took in the swords all around him.

Xie Yu had gotten his fury under control, and now he lifted his face to the sky as he laughed.  “Su Zhe, you think I cannot deal with you all just because I have been deprived of my archers?  I fear the qilin prodigy has underestimated the power of the Marquis of Ning.”

“Perhaps,” Mei Changsu said quietly.  “The Marquis is determined to spill blood this night, so how can I stop him?  But everything that bears fruit was once planted, and tonight, the Marquis is only reaping what he sowed.  And no matter how you resist, this fruit you must eat in the end.”

Xie Yu put his hands behind his back, his voice proud.  “Don’t make empty threats.  I do not believe in divine decree, and I have weathered greater storms than this.  Do you think the events of this night can topple me?”

“I know they can.”  Mei Changsu inclined his head.  “The Marquis does not believe in divine law, and does not know the meaning of righteousness or benevolence, and so naturally, there is nothing you would not dare.  But I am not like the Marquis, I have always been a coward, fearful and wary, and so before I dared to enter the Marquis’ door tonight, I made some preparations.  His Highness Prince Yu is standing outside your gate at this very moment with his army, and if I do not come out, then I fear he will not hesitate to force his way in for a rescue….”

Xie Yu peered at him in disbelief.  “Did you really think I would believe that?  For you, a mere strategist, Prince Yu would dare to break into the residence of a first-ranked Marquis?”

Mei Changsu’s smile was cheerful and his tone light as he replied, “Certainly he would not take the risk just for me.  But for an opportunity to ruin you, then, Marquis, what do you think?”

¹here used as part of her t.i.tle, like the ‘n.o.ble’ of n.o.ble Consort Yue

²she’s technically his cousin (daughter of his uncle) but the term used is something like my “residence-sister”, like someone you grew up with; and also Chinese terms for sister/brother are generally loose anyway

³a momo is a kind of elderly servant that goes with a girl to her husband’s family after she’s married, like a wet nurse

Translator’s Notes

(As I was translating this, my parents were ten feet away watching That Scene of Episode 12.  If you want to relive it, my new favourite thing is .)

(I have no words for this chapter except that Troll Xia Dong is not done.)