The Flame's Daughter

Chapter 3 so that it"s easier for someone else to take over.

Volume 1 Chapter 3 (Part 2)

His voice was slightly low and deep. It carried a little nasal sound and was a little strange but was beautiful and pleasant to the ear.

If someone had pa.s.sed by and heard Lie Huo Manor"s Yu Zihan speak, they would have definitely be astonished until their jaws dropped to the ground. Yu Zihan had been deaf, mute and disabled since he was young. It was something everyone knew. Yet he could actually speak?

The pinkish-white flowers rustled among the branches and landed on Yu Zihan"s blue plain cotton gown.  

Ruge used her fingers to grasp a flower.

Her fingers were fair but not tender. Her knuckles were thin yet with strength.

She looked at the flower she twiddled with her fingers in vexation and grumbled, "You obviously know that I don"t wish to think about it."

"Everyone is worried about you."

Ever since she left, it was as if Lie Huo Manor lost its smile. Even the birds no longer sang.

Ruge raised her head and asked, "What about him? Is he worried about me? Does he miss me?" That young man beside the lotus pond who her heart yearns for. As the sunlight refracted from the dark blue gem on his right ear, his dark eyes flickered with a moving radiance that moved people more than the gem. In this period of time she had left, has he ever missed her?

Yu Zihan touched her head and did not speak.

The bottom of Ruge"s heart went cold. She squeezed out a smile. "I asked something silly again and made things difficult for Senior Brother Yu."

"Ge Er…"

"It"s really great that I can see Senior Brother Yu here. It"s like there"s the feeling of home. I even get to hear Senior Brother Yu"s voice. Senior Brother Yu"s voice is a treasure that only I get to have!" She rapidly uttered everything in one shot and give herself the slimmest chance to be sad.

Suddenly, she thought of something, "Senior Brother, you did not tell others that I"m here right?"

Yu Zihan shook his head.

Ruge smiled delightedly. "I know that Senior Brother Yu dotes on me the most and knows that I"m having a merry time playing here. Of course you won"t tell others!"

Yu Zihan"s fingers gently slid across her sparkling face that was smiling. He had not seen her smile this jubilantly for a very long time already. At Lie Huo Manor, she was becoming more and more unhappy. If she could forget about her frustrating matters at Pin Hua Building, then it would she could just stay here.

He would accompany her.

The night gradually became cold.

Ruge untied the bundle beside her hand and took out a thin blue satin quilt. She folded it a few times and covered it on Yu Zihan"s legs.

Yu Zihan said, "No need."

"Why don"t you need it?" Ruge glared at her. "That"s true too, it isn"t nice to see a big man being covered by a quilt but there aren"t even outsiders here, you don"t need to be scared that you"ll lose face. You see, for the color of the quilt, I even specially chose it as green. If you don"t notice, you can"t tell."

He smiled with his gaze as gentle as the moonlight. "Alright."

Only then was Ruge satisfied and nodded. "Your health hasn"t been good since you were young so you have to be more careful. Especially your legs, the veins tendons have been broken and the blood flow is not smooth. You have to be even more careful…"

His smile was warm. It was as if that quilt was covering his heart. "Alright."

Ruge touched his head and smiled. "It"s really great. This is Ge Er"s good senior brother."

Next, she pondered for a while before she crouched down and laid on Yu Zihan"s knees. "Senior Brother, don"t worry. I didn"t come to Pin Hua Building because I was escaping and I also won"t stay in Pin Hua Building forever to escape. I will go back. But I"m very interested in Young Lady Xue who is coming soon. Can you let me see her before I leave?"

*********

With the curtain of night, Pin Hua Building was magnificent and dignified.

Thousands of lanterns were all lit.

Ten thousands of fireworks were igniting.

The gorgeous and lively lantern light shone the eastern sky of Luo Yang City to be a patch of red light.

Outside Pin Hua Building, horse carriages with luxurious decorations and exquisitely beautiful palanquins congested the road until not even water could trickle through.

The pages were at the entrance of the building and checking the entry plates in customers" hands. Tonight, only those who hold the entry plates could enter but those people without entry plates were anxious and pacing around. Right now, even if they wanted to offer an even higher price, there was also n.o.body willing to pa.s.s it to them.

Inside Pin Hua Building.

The original thirty-six tables were already all filled. The newly added twenty tables in the building were also fully seated with people.

The table Yu Zihan reserved had an extremely good location. It was secluded but he could see the jade stage in the middle clearly. (This jade stage was originally built using green bamboos but for Xue"s appearance on stage, Pin Hua Building had specially changed it to jade.)   

Ruge looked around.

The table closely beside theirs belonged to Dao Wuxia and his sister. Dao Wuxia was exceptionally spirited today with his golden crown bundling his hair. He was dressed in a golden long gown that had a bottom silver layer and was embroidered with flowers and it set off the redness of his lips and his white teeth. He appeared casual and elegant. Beside him was Xiang Er who was as pitiful as a little deer. She shyly nestled against his chest. When she noticed that someone was looking at her, she raised her eyes in panic. When she saw it was Ge Er, she plastered a smile which seemed as if she was bashful and fearful. Dao Liexiang had already started to drink wine. Her cheeks were flushed red and her eyes were abnormally bright. They glanced at the jade stage every now and then as if they were full of worry.   

Ruge looked at the main hall again and in her heart, she faintly felt that something was not right. There were much more female customers in Pin Hua Building today. They were either dignified, charming and moving or n.o.ble and beautiful but they all carried a strange expression in their eyes like Dao Liexiang.

Just as Ruge was feeling that something was fishy, she suddenly widened her eyes. She saw someone who was not supposed to appear at all——

Youqin Hong!

Youqin Hong came out from the inner chamber and hugged a ruby guqin that had beautiful and intricate designs. He modestly walked up the jade stage and used a clean handkerchief to carefully tuned the sound. After he finished tuning, he respectfully stood beside the guqin as if he was waiting for the zither"s owner.   

Ruge muttered, "What is Mister Youqin doing here? It isn"t the first day or the fifteenth day of the month."

Feng Xixi looked at her surprised expression and could not help but smile. "The disciple helps when there is work to be done. Youqin Hong ought to appear."

"Disciple?!"

Ruge was stunned until she could not close her mouth. "You"re saying that Young Lady Xue is Mister Youqin"s mentor? Mister Youqin is Young Lady Xue"s disciple? Heavens, then isn"t Young Lady Xue Zither Sage?!"

She was lucky to have gained something! Not only could she see the charm of the world"s number one beauty, she could also listen to Zither Sage"s tunes. It was really too worth it! No wonder so many people wanted to jostle into Pin Hua Building even if they break their heads. The world"s number beauty…Zither Sage…what kind of an astounding person could she be that these two elements are concentrated into one person. Her blood boiled with excitement.

This time, it was Feng Xixi"s turn to be stunned. "Ge Er, why do you call Xue as Young Lady?"

"Young Lady…Xue…" Ruge was completely clueless. "What"s the matter? Is there anything wrong?"

Feng Xixi did not know whether to laugh or to cry. "Silly la.s.s, how is Xue a young lady? He is a bona fide man!"

Man?!

Ruge was choked by her breath and started to cough desperately!

Yu Zihan saw that her small face was flushed scarlet and hastily pat her back gently to help her steady her breath.

Ruge coughed for a while. She had just returned to normal when she immediately asked in surprise, "Xue is a man?"

"That"s right." Feng Xixi saw that Yu Zihan"s countenance which was like a clear jade was full of concern towards Ruge and her heart involuntarily felt slightly sour but she still smiled as she answered her doubt.

"Then why is he the world"s number one beauty?"

"Hey, is a man not a person?"

Ruge was so shocked until she could not speak.

Translator Corner:
h.e.l.lo, thank you if you are still reading and if you are reading on Michilun Translations. As I have mentioned when I started translating this series, I"ll only be doing this as a side project. Due to many other commitments and low view counts, I"m afraid that I"ll have to pause translating the side projects and focus on the main ones. I also understand that my translations have been quite horrible too, so hopefully, someone else can continue translating this novel, otherwise, I can"t say for certain if I will be able to continue this in the future even after I finish with the main projects. I"m sorry to those who enjoy reading this. >

On top of that, this is the only novel where there are even more views on aggregator sites. I understand that it is an inevitable problem every translator faces but it"s still pretty demoralizing when there are more views on the aggregator site than on the actual site. ?

If you"re still interested in the other novels, on this site, I"ll be posting an announcement regarding the future of translations on this site really soon so do check it out! I just thought that I"ll give you all a short notice first!

Thanks to those who have commented and for reading on the actual site!!

I"ll find time to translate one more part to finish Chapter 3 so that it"s easier for someone else to take over.