Chapter 265: Distress

Author: White Pear Flower

Raws: https://book.qidian.com/info/2386994/

Translated by Gumihou

Proofread by Pill Bug

Gumihou: This is a difficult chapter filled with gaping holes. Will do my best. Haaahh…

 

“Honoured Mother, I will study hard! No, I will practice martial arts! Brother can study books. That way, we brothers will cover both martial and civil arts and no one can ever bully us!” shouted Jin Zhenyi.

“Will you now?”

Although the death of the kittens was tragic, at least the children banded together well. It’s just… who knows what kind of lasting impact the death of these kittens would have on poor Jin Zhenxuan and Jin Xiuzhen? Not to mention, Jiang Wanying’s relationship with them…

“Second Brother and Second Sister will be very sad, right?” said Jin Changjiao. After some hesitation, she said, “I can share my kitty with Xiuzhen, but I won’t give her up.”

“That’s very kind of you,” said Fu Qiuning, feeling a little proud of her little girl. Jiao’er had always been a little more rebellious compared to Feng’er, but now that she had Jin Xiunan to balance her out, she had matured a little.

Jin Zhenyi still had that mulish look on his face, but at that point, being confrontative was mostly a reflex, so she did not pay much attention to it.

As for the death of the kittens, while the children reeled from its impact, it fell below the more serious matter of the impending Eastern Barbarian attack. While Fu Qiuning set the maids to prepare a little funeral for the kittens on behalf of the children, she spent more time placating anxious wives who kept coming over to ask for the latest news concerning the battle against the Eastern Barbarians.

Fu Qiuning had a sneaking suspicion that they were mostly there because they were bored and in want of gossip. After all, there was nothing for vaguely privileged women to do during the long days of the summer months, other than to visit each other and exchange gossip.

After the poisoning issue, Jiang Wanying made herself scarce and Fu Qiuning was left alone to entertain the women. With no piercing-eyed Jiang Wanying around, the ladies stuck around until the sky turned dark as ink and lamps were lit. As expected. Jiang Wanying had better attend the next gossip session, otherwise she would have no way of driving these women away.

Perhaps feeling her restlessness, Bai-Zhang’shi took pity on her. The woman smiled and said, “I believe that we have inevitably overstayed our welcome. With fewer people at home and a long night to look forward to, we could not help but look forward to chatting together throughout the night. Even so, it is time for us to bid our farewells. Otherwise, I fear that we sisters may have to worship the moon at this point.”

Seeing the women getting up, Fu Qiuning was quick to stand up as well. She smiled and said, “Oh no, it is a pleasure to have you here to chat with me. Still, as you say, it is getting late. Do come for a sit-down and chat the next time you are free.”

The ladies all happily said their farewells and promised to visit again.

Fu Qiuning saw them off. Only stopping to briefly ask Bai-Zhang’shi about her son. Fortunately, it looked like he was recovering well. It was at this moment that the sound of hurried footsteps was heard and the ladies all stopped walking. A messenger so late at night? Surely this had to be important news!!

In fact, this person was in such a hurry that he almost bumped into all the women still loitering in the courtyard.

“Who is it?” said Fu Qiuning. [1]

“It’s Shi Hai!” [1] Wang’shi yelled out. “What are you doing here? Do you have news for us?!”

“You know this person?” said Fu Qiuning to Wang’shi.

[1a] “Of course! He’s one of the runners for the yamen. Do you have news? Tell us immediately!” Madam Wang shrieked, looking larger and more menacing by the minute.

[1a] “Hold it, why are you here? Where are the gatekeepers?” asked Fu Qiuning. Even if this fellow was a worker for the yamen, men were not supposed to easily enter the inner court, no matter what.

The person Madam Wang called ‘Shi Hai’ squirmed for a moment before throwing himself to the floor, banging his head and said, “No, no, that is… Madams, please hurry home. It is possible that Eastern Barbarians have entered the city. The city guards are conducting strict searches even now. Please stay in your houses and not leave.”

“Eastern Barbarians have entered the city??!!!” Madam Wang screamed. [1b]

[1b] This immediately caused the entire courtyard of ladies to panic. Some of the angrier ones even grabbed their skirts to harass this Shi Hai for more information. As for Fu Qiuning, she had already estimated that something like this would happen. After all, according to the principle of Chekhov’s gun [2], every element in a story must be necessary. Since ‘Japanese pirates’ had been introduced into the narrative, there is no way the Japanese pirates would not make an appearance at least once.

Still, out of morbid curiosity, she asked this Shi Hai person, “So, how did the Eastern Barbarians breach the city walls?”

While sweating profusely, Shi Hai said, “There was a skilled fellow in the group who dug a hole by the city wall. Fortunately, the patrolling soldiers discovered this hole. The hole was very small, so we estimate that only a small group of the Barbarians had entered the city. So long as everyone stays in their houses and takes every precaution, nothing will happen. The entire Quanzhou City is under martial law. The Barbarians will be found sooner or later.”

“… …” Fu Qiuning had a sneaking suspicion that she would probably encounter one of these ‘Eastern Barbarians’ inside the yamen.

As for the rest of the ladies, half of them looked like they were about to peck Shi Hai to death, the other half looked like they wanted to rush home and make sure their families were safe.

Fu Qiuning’s musings were interrupted by a scream.

“Wh- who are you? Help, ah…”

“… …”

It was soon followed by more childish screams. Fu Qiuning turned around to glare at Jian Feng, “Just what are the guards doing? First, they let an unknown man into the courtyard. And now, not a single guard has appeared even after all that screaming.”

“Madam… this…”

“Go and grab any male servants you can find and some weapons. Those guards must be either dead or incapacitated. In fact, those useless wretches had better all be dead! [1a] Madam Wang, are you sure you recognise this Shi Hai person? No, he cannot be trusted. Tie him up now. Who knows whether his news that Eastern Barbarians have broken through is even true.”

“No, wait- Madam!”

It was too late, Madam Wang had already attacked this unknown Shi Hai person. Fu Qiuning left them to it as she strode to the area where the children resided, pausing only to grab a random broom on the way.

Bai-Zhang’shi trotted hastily after her, “I- I shall accompany Madam.” She tilted her chin up, “I know some martial arts. My home is protected by my brother who also knows martial arts…”

“Good, let’s go.”

More screams came from the direction they were heading. However, the screams were now distinctly bestial. The two women stepped around to see two ‘Eastern Barbarians’ standing menacingly in front of the four children that Fu Qiuning had taken in, the men had short curved swords in their hands

Funnily enough, standing right between the children and the enemies was the large cat, its black and brown fur bristling as it yowled and hissed.

[4] “Mother! Mother!” Jin Zhenyi and Jin Changjiao shouted.

[4] Predictably, Jin Zhenyi had a broken piece of chair in his hand, ready to beat someone up. Less predictably, the twins were also similarly armed. Jin Xiunan stayed in the back like the only sensible person in the group.

[4] “Come here,” Fu Qiuning ordered since the children were closer to her. Jin Xiunan ran over first. Jin Changfeng grabbed Jiao’er and Jin Zhenyi by their collars and dragged them away after throwing his weapon at the Eastern Barbarian who knocked it easily out of the air.

[4] Fortunately, enemies did not follow as the children ran over. It looked like they had broken into the yamen for a specific reason and killing children was not it.

[4a] The moment the children reached her, Fu Qiuning allowed herself to look around and asked out loud, “Where are the maids and servants? Don’t tell me they have all been killed?”

[4a] “We don’t know, Mother,” said Jin Changfeng. “It’s all too strange. We were all alone with Mister Cat and then suddenly, those two appeared.”

[4a] Fu Qiuning gave the two men a look. They were currently conferring with each other and not looking at them. She would have to make a decision on whether to flee with the children or-

Suddenly, the two pirates charged.

“Flee!”

[4] She grabbed Jin Zhenyi and turned to run. Jin Changfeng will grab his sister and she could trust Jin Xiunan to be sensible.

She had only gone a few steps when a high-pitched, bestial scream filled the air [4b], followed by an obvious male howl. Despite herself, Fu Qiuning turned to look, and saw that one pirate had a cat stuck to his face while the other one…

The other one was reeling back from an attack by Bai-Zhang’shi, who had kicked his weapon away and was now kicking him on the floor.

“… …”

Qiu Yu cried out, “How amazing! Look at that cat! Or is it a tiger?!”

Fu Qiunin turned to her. [1c] “Have you been here all this time?”

[1c] “Ah, this…”

[1c] “If you’re here, make yourself useful. Find out where all the children’s servants are. Why is there not a single servant here? What of the soldiers, gatekeepers and other servants I have dispatched Jian Feng to bring? Why should I keep any of you useless lot by my side when a single cat can take down an Eastern Barbarian? I should fire all those guards and raise cats instead!”

[1c] Somehow, more maids had resurfaced now that the danger had disappeared. Fu Qiuning glared at them even as they lowered their heads in shame.

Meanwhile, Jin Changjiao and Jin Zhenyi were cheering the cat on.

“Yes! Scratch him to bits!”

“Yeah! We’ll reward you with fish later!”

[5] Fu Qiuning watched as the children cheered. A sense of satisfaction suffused her as the cat returned proudly, its paws dripping with blood. She smiled and thought: There is no way Jin Fengju would ever get between us, my love.

“Madam!”

“Madam!”

The useless guards were finally here. Fu Qiuning let Jian Feng take over the situation as she led the children away. Jin Zhenyi and Jin Changjiao were right, Mister Cat should be rewarded with fish.

 

[Gumihou: I proposed for Mister Cat to be the new ML]

 

[1] Shi Hai – who is this Shi Hai dude and why is Fu Qiuning speaking to him as though we had at least 5 chapters of interaction already?

[1a] Realistic fix to Note 1 issue

It turned out, the reason why this ‘Shi Hai’ appeared was: bla bla bla etc …Jiang Wanying anxiously asked, “Is something wrong with the Young Marquis?”

Gumihou: … …

Fu Qiuning: … …

Jiang Wanying: … I’m embarrassed… You know what? I’m not here. I’m in my room, sulking.

[1b] Realistic reaction to ‘horrid news’ that is not ‘uwaa… oh noes…’

[1c] Where did you come from again?

[2] Might as well add this, since Fu Qiuning is classically trained, she may or may not have some training in Western style drama. It’s not as out of this world as say… volunteering in a random clinic and helping a random dying old man with his fever to explain her ‘fever reduction’ golden finger.

[3] Deleted: “I wasn’t just being polite earlier. Go back quickly.” Fu Qingning realized that Bai Zhangshi had been following her the whole time when they were about to reach the back door. But Bai Zhangshi firmly said, “My brother is at our house. He knows some martial arts. With him taking care of the children, nothing will happen. Although I’m not as skilled as my brother, I still know a few moves. If… if the young ladies and young masters are really in danger, maybe I can help.”

Gumihou: This patch is like sticking a plaster over a sucking wound, sure, it covered the wound, but it’s still a gaping, bloody sucking wound.

[4] Realistic reaction that is not tailored to make a certain someone look good.

[4a] Realistic reaction to being attacked. I should know, I’d been attacked before, and my reaction was flee!

[4b] High-pitched bestial scream to replace ‘meow meow meow’ when attacking. This should be especially true since the cat was ‘not a cat(?)’. Also, I know it’s unfortunate, but I deleted a 150 word description of the cat attacking him. Fine, it’s here:

The pirate desperately swung his knife, but the large tabby cat’s movements were incredibly agile. It used the arc of the pirate’s swing to effortlessly dodge and move…Suddenly, the pirate let out a miserable scream, clutching his eye with one hand. Blood flowed through his fingers without ceasing…the cat gouged out one of his eyeballs. 

[5] Replaced FQN poking Jiao’er in the head for being unruly with plans to keep the cat.

“Quiet down a bit. You’re all grown up now, but still not serious. If you’re so capable, who was it that was scared and hiding behind the brothers when the pirates were here?” Fu Qingning pointed her finger at Jin Zangjiao and gave her a poke. But she saw her daughter stick out her tongue, giggling and not saying anything. Then, there was a commotion of footsteps behind them, indicating that the guards had arrived. Fu Qingning felt even more relieved.

Isn’t it too late to make this gruesome scene appear light-hearted?

Also, you should be suspicious of the late coming guards.

 

 

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