At Secretary Yang’s roar, the entire office trembled for a bit, and not a single voice was heard for a few moments; the first person to react was, surprisingly, Li Shuyun, who hurriedly pushed aside the people before her, and with rapid steps came up to Secretary Yang, and said, “You must be the leader—I want to make a report about the problem of your company’s Jiang Xichu; she doesn’t care about familial feelings, and mistreats her own mother; shouldn’t you attend to such a severe issue?” Li Shuyun’s words carried to the secretaries’ office without a single one getting lost; young Secretary Zhou’s brows furrowed, and she hurried towards the door, turning the automated doors into a keycard opened door; once she finished switching it, she even let out a phrase of ridicule. “Truly outrageous!” Among everyone there, the most unperturbed was, in fact, Jiang Xichu; she understood Li Shuyun the most, and knew that if she couldn’t create a result through her disturbance today, she wouldn’t le...

By the time they returned to A Luo’s residence, it was just noon; Tu Laoyao brought out soft, chewy, salted and fragrant stewed trotters, accompanying the appetisers that Wu Qian had made, as well as a pot of aged Shaoxing yellow wine, and the group of people ate and drank in the courtyard. The pig trotters had been soaked to a deep, red-brown colour, the skin melting in the mouth, not even a bit greasy, the chewy tendons pulling at the lean meat adhered to the bone, prompting one to lick the meat stock in the cracks of the bones clean. The more the group ate, the more aromatic they became, and the more Song Shijiu suffered, covering up her nose and struggling to eat; in the end it was Tu Laoyao who came up with a solution, twisting up a few strips of paper to plug her nose with, and only then did she sit down and begin to use her chopsticks. Having eaten and drunk to his heart’s content, Tu Laoyao sat on a rattan chair and rubbed his stomach, belching; Wu Qian gathered up the bowls an...

Jiu-daren? Song Shijiu’s eyes darted about. Unexpectedly, Li Shiyi didn’t have a notable reaction; she took the jade dizi that Wu Qian offered, and, on the way, knocked it against the soft, velvety back of Song Shijiu’s hand, and went with her to go look for a mountain god temple. Tu Laoyao, thinking about the pig trotters stewing back home, also hastily bid farewell, and after a bit of bustling, once again, the two of them, A Yin and A Luo, remained. A Luo washed her hands and watered the flowers; A Yin sat by the table and flipped through books, and then propped both hands on the table, her high heels unsteadily hanging off the ends of her feet, striking the legs of the table in alternating light and heavy knocks. She cast a glance askance at the person before her, gracefully supporting her waist— delicate, loose shoulders; even her lips were inhuman and indifferent, only tainted by a pathetic amount of cosmetics, as if having, just before, been marked carelessly. If it had been the...

Translator's note: I apologise for the delay in this update; I've had a rather hectic week. The next two chapters will be up over the next two days as usual. - A half shichen later, the originally bright, sunny day had turned to a drizzle, the wet droplets trying to get in through the window lattices, causing the occasional lovers to disperse. A Luo was still dressed in a crow-dark gown, her long hair combed to one side, and she walked to the table, reaching out a searching hand to hold the purple Yixing clay pot, which had long since been penetrated by the cold, and gently covered it with her hands; the water within sent up fine bubbles, white steam pouring out of the pot. As she sat at the table, A Yin fastened up the clasps at her collar, the practised movements like that of a theatre, at the end of a play, being shuttered. A few strands of hair stuck to the moist nape of her neck, and, with her large, round eyes and plump, rosy cheeks, it was like the scattering of cracked ...

The sound of the watchmen’s clappers sounded ten or so times, yet Li Shiyi wasn’t drowsy in the slightest; she’d just been about to take out a jar of soothing Lu’an melon seed tea when she heard a series of three knocks on the wooden door. Li Shiyi called out an invitation to enter, and saw Song Shijiu closing the door and entering. Visiting in the depths of night; Li Shiyi set down the jar, and asked, “Is there something the matter?” Song Shijiu stood neatly with one foot at the front, one foot behind, and pondering with her head bowed, and only then said, “I’ve felt from the start that there’s something odd about that Mulan.” Li Shiyi drew a pensive breath, and nodded. “Mulan was a general with brilliantly outstanding military service, and entered Hun’ce Army; but when I fought hand to hand with her, it seemed like her martial skills weren’t that impressive.” This wasn’t even impressive? It was very impressive; clearly it was that you were more impressive, then. Song Shijiu gathere...

Starting in the morning, Jiang Xichu’s phone had begun to ring continuously; it would ring once and Jiang Xichu would hang up on it once; until the third time it rang, she furrowed her brows as she looked at the phone, and didn’t hang up again, and in fact put her phone on silent mode. Chen Man didn’t understand. “Who is it, then?” Jiang Xichu’s mood wasn’t good; it seemed that she was rather fed up with the person calling, and she said, “It’s nobody, just a disturbance. Have you finished eating? If you’ve finished, then let’s go.” Leaving at eight and dallying a bit, they arrived at the office at eight twenty; other offices’ starting hour was nine, but of these two, one was the General Manager, and the other was the General Manager’s Head Secretary; arriving a bit early also set a good example. Arriving at the office, Jiang Xichu began to bustle about, busy for more than an hour; overall, the most important duties were completed, and she could rest for a bit; as a result, that caller ...

The three indistinct characters dispersed in the tomb chamber; the amorous scent of sweet basil was incredibly improper on the ice-cold yellow loess and stones; Li Shiyi picked the smoking pipe up, and considered it carefully, and then felt the ground faintly vibrate, the sound of swift, uneven, hoofbeat-like footsteps rushed, approaching from the distance with the force of a hot knife through butter. Tu Laoyao’s body trembled violently, and the fat on either side shook as if struck over and over by Lei Gong; [1] the group gazed at him, bewildered, and saw that he’d fished the Hun’ce Command out from his pocket with some difficulty, pinched between numb fingers, and he said, stammeringly, “F…fuck, it’s shaking!” Li Shiyi thought to herself this wasn’t good; she held the smoking pipe horizontally across her chest, just having fallen into a defensive stance when she heard a burst of ghostly breeze attack, coming icily behind her head. She pressed her mouth firmly shut, the veins on her ...