Jiang Hu’s Road is Curved Chapter 23

On a beautiful sunny day with a gentle breeze, Pang Wan’s fluttering figure sits on the swing, her face raised in thorough satisfaction, its bright and smooth state restored.

The refres.h.i.+ng breeze kisses her eyelashes, brus.h.i.+ng back the locks of hair by her temples, black hair dancing like flowing clothes, long and slender brows with a straight nose, and her dimples slightly revealed.

This should originally be a charmingly captivating scene of a beauty on the swings.

“Legs stretched out!”

“Toes hooked up!”

“Chin raised high!”

“Lips relaxed, pucker up! Only pucker up a little!”

Several number of hidden weapons shua-shua-shua comes. .h.i.tting her four body parts, and it just so happens, that the final one is pasted between her lips.

Standing by the principle of no wasting, Pang Wan sticks out her tongue, licking that hidden weapon, with one hook, she pulls it into her mouth and eats it —— the hidden weapons being top grade Xiang Fei[1] raisins.

“That little act sure is a fitting addition.” A delicately charming sneer sounds, Jin Bu Yao sits under the confederate rose pergola, leisurely nibbling at some seeds, her skin fairer than snow, vivid beauty equal to none, “Just that licking flowers is considerably fine, but you’d best pa.s.s on licking such dark coloured things like raisin.”

Pang Wan sighs, and jumps down from the swing.

She has been maintaining this posture that is not compatible with the engineering of the human body for far too long, and is feeling somewhat stiff.

“Tired?” Jin Bu Yao casts her a glance, raising her brows in disapproval, “Do you think a pretty looking bearing can be casually put on? You must practice more, persist on practicing, and the plum blossom fragrance shall naturally come along with the bitter cold.”

Pang Wan does not speak, only taking a piece of sweet cake and stuffs it into her mouth in anguish.

Within a short number of days, Jin Bu Yao had already pa.s.sed on many lessons of cla.s.sic peerless beauty style tips, such as “begonia flower spring sleep”, “herbaceous peony drunken nap”, “light and gentle lotus steps” etcetera, etcetera, and each little seemingly simple action, is actually filled with endless efforts: s.p.a.cing between each step, the angle of a head turn, even the frequency of batting eyelashes, must be adjusted depending on differing occasions and differing subjects. What you may think of as a casual movement, may very well be a conclusive operation that has been precisely devised thirty-six thousand times in the person’s mind —— seduction, is a type of imperceptible basic instinct.

“To be a successful peerless beauty of a generation sure is difficult!” Pang Wan swallows the sweet cake into her belly, and bitterly sighs.

“Since you wish to receive the liking of others, naturally, you would need to cater to their pleasure.” Jin Bu Yao also picks up a bright green grape and plops it into her mouth, her gesture graceful, “What I’m teaching you right now, is still only just the very tip of the iceberg.”

Pang Wan purses her lips and does not speak, indeed, it is not easy to be a stunningly beautiful female lead, just seeing Sang Chan display those three special styles in front of Gu Xi Ju alone, says it all.

“Speaking of which, you are still at a very young age, why are you committed to practice the art of seduction?” Seeing her bow her head in a daze, Jin Bu Yao could not help wondering, “Could it be the one you love can only be yearned but cannot be reached?”

Pang Wan shakes her head —— no, not one, but many many! All of which are peerless male leads!

Jin Bu Yao grows increasingly surprised: “Could it be you are burdened with a deeply imprinted blood feud, requiring this art of seduction to seduce and exact revenge on the enemy?”

Pang Wan feels a chill run through her, thinking to herself, could this Beauty Jin also be from the land of Mary Sue? The scenarios she is coming up with are all cla.s.sics.

Jin Bu Yao seeing her not say anything, could only smile to herself: “Don’t you worry, as long as you go through a few years of Nanny Jin’s guidance and teaching, no matter what kind of a person the opposition is, in the end, he will definitely be enticed.” Clearly of slender waist, black hair and fair skin, yet she still insists on calling herself nanny.

“Is Nanny capable of easily capturing the hearts of all men?” Pang Wan with her cheeks resting in her hands, looks at Jin Bu Yao in fascination, “Whoever you wish will fall in love with you, shall definitely fall in love with you, is that right?”

The smile on Jin Bu Yao’s face instantly stiffens.

“……there are still the rare few, that are very, very difficult.” She gazes at Pang Wan, onion-white fingertips swiping over her ink coloured brows, the bright white of her eyes s.h.i.+ning, “Dealing with this type of men, requires special patience.”

Pang Wan nods with seeming understanding.

“How about Nanny put you to a test?” Jin Bu Yao hooks up the corners of her lips, as though she has thought of something extremely interesting, “Have you taken a look at our family’s young master? What kind of a person do you think he is?”

Pang Wan immediately thinks of He Qing Lu’s highly prideful look of cold indifference, and angrily spits out: “No-nonsense, ruthless, narrow-minded!”

Jin Bu Yao chuckles.

“You’re right.” She looks at Pang Wan with infinite affection, “Our family’s young master, is precisely such an extremely difficult subject to conquer.”

“Nanny! You can’t possibly be meaning……” Pang Wan’s eyes widens, her tongue knotted and jaw drops —— she would never have expected that Jin Bu Yao would strike up such an idea upon her own master, this is truly an insanely audacious thing to do!

“Rest a.s.sured, you need only treat Young Master as your training target.” Jin Bu Yao smiles like a blooming flower, with not the slightest trace of timidity nor guilt, “He’s someone whose eyes are set high up in the skies anyway, allowing absolutely no one to enter his spiritual eye[2].”

Pang Wan upon seeing her eyes filled with splendid brilliance, senses the surging of a sort of bad feeling like that of asking a tiger for its skin.

“Nothing will happen between you and the young master.” Jin Bu Yao sweetly smiles, “The He family does not grow seeds of romance, they are born with a piece lacking in their heart, the seven emotions and six sensory pleasures blocked off.”

——turns out He Qing Lu is only a decoration that can only be admired but cannot be eaten!

Pang Wan was a little shocked, although the favourable impression she had of this n.o.ble gentleman had long been washed away, crystal clear, upon thinking that such a figure of extraordinary grace has set foot on the lonely monk road, she really cannot help but sigh.

Occasionally, in the land of Mary Sue there will also be handsome men who would put on the skin of other-worldly masters, an existence belonging to that of the ‘can be admired but cannot be eaten’ species.

“Should you be able to have Young Master’s heart be even half a point affected by you, then you shall be considered to have officially surpa.s.sed your master.” Jin Bu Yao gently taps the between of her brows.

“That simple?” Pang Wan rapidly widens her eyes —— for his heart to be affected, it may not necessarily mean likeable feelings, it may also very well be that of annoyance, such matter of causing He Qing Lu to lose his temper, she has already lost count of how many times she accomplished this.

Jin Bu Yao does not answer her, only turning her face to the side, her skin luminous like beautiful jade. “I would also like to see, will there be a day the rock warms up?” She softly sounds a sigh, deep within her eyes, a sense of loss that one cannot touch upon sweeps past.

–

This day, He Qing Lu is currently studying up on mechanisms inside the room, when the sound of playful laughter like that of silver bells suddenly rings from beyond the windows.

His thin lips presses together, brows deeply furrowed —— everyone throughout the entire estate is aware that he has always enjoyed the quiet, how could there be such an impudent and thoughtless maid around?

Strongly pus.h.i.+ng open the windows, he sees that between the sparkling emerald waves of the lotus pond, a little boat leisurely makes its way over, paddling the boat at the other end is a young girl in white, from her lips, sounds the singing of a little tune, the golden belt by her waist waving in the wind. “Nanny, shall I pick this flower?” That young girl turns to look towards the sh.o.r.e, both cheeks happily harmonious as they contain a seeming smile, a pair of sparkling almond eyes practically about to drip water.

The woman at the sh.o.r.e makes a gesture, and the young girl bends her waist to reach for the white lotus closest to her, her figure gentle and graceful, a pair of fine hands reflected on the emerald waves, skin like white jade, practically looking transparent.

He Qing Lu watches this scene, then glances at the woman at the sh.o.r.e, silently scoffing from his nose, and slams the window shut.

After a few days, He Qing Lu is out on a trip for hunting.

On a road he must pa.s.s by to return home, a spotted deer suddenly sprang out, that little deer had a delicately slim figure, eyes looking intelligent and alert, right before his eyes, it makes an extremely swift leap into the trees and shrubs.

Eyes darkening, He Qing Lu motioned the horse and followed in pursuit.

Chasing after that deer for a while, he was just about to pull back the arrow and shoot, but sees the fleeting trace of a snow white figure floating down from above the trees. In his little trance, his aim moved off target, and the black feather arrow shot directly into the spotted deer’s hind leg. The spotted deer struck with pain, falls to the ground with a ‘pu-tong’.

“Meng Meng! What’s wrong, Meng Meng!”

A young girl in white runs over looking alarmed, both cheeks flushed red, dark and sparkling big eyes filled with intelligent alertness, with extreme resemblance to that of a mountain spirit.

“You meanie! You actually harmed my Meng Meng?!”

The young girl mercilessly casts a glare at the culprit, her entire face showing heartache as she hugs the little deer, pained and vexed to the extreme.

He Qing Lu’s eyes instantly turns cold, siting on horseback without a word.

Only seeing that young girl bend down to caress the spotted deer’s wound, beautiful black hair running down her back like a waterfall, that pair of eyes, looking as bright as the stars in the sky.

“Meng Meng, stand up!”

“Meng Meng, stand up!”

She stubbornly insists on encouraging the deer with a babyish voice.

He Qing Lu pulls the horse’ head away and rides off, not even turning his head back.

Intentional or not, just before he left, he had even kicked up an entire ground of dust, leaving the young girl and deer with grey hair and soiled face, such miserable state.

Yet another few days pa.s.ses, when He Qing Lu goes to the greenhouse to gather some dyes.

He leisurely makes his way into the greenhouse, but just as he was about to enter the doors, he unexpectedly detects a trace of extremely light, extremely fine breathing.

Frowning as he brushes aside some flowers, he finds that under the confederate rose frame, a particular young girl is quietly lying on her side, dressed in a silk white s.h.i.+rt, and silk white skirt, her brows curved, her little nose with a slight flick at the end, face like white jade, coloured like the morning glow.

The young girl sleeps soundly, bright red flower petals laid out under her body, her entire person looking just like a celestial spirit amongst the flowers.

Occasionally she would mumble in her sleep, like a lazy cat, not at all detecting the arrival of an uninvited guest.

He Qing Lu indifferently looks at her, standing like a jade tree against the wind.

After a good long while, the corners of his lips rises into a trace of a deeply meaningful smile.

Only seeing his hand reach out to pull off a huge rotten banana leaf, splatting it onto the young girl’s face, before cooly turning to leave.

“Hu-hu, Nanny! How is he just an emotionless person, he is clearly a lunatic!” Pang Wan with an entire face of red spots, comes leaping towards the beauty with tears flying.

“Young Master really is too naughty, how could he apply poison on the banana leaves?” Jin Bu Yao sees Pang Wan looking completely out of her mind, wanting to laugh but dares not to, and could only feign heartache as she caresses her face.

“Your family’s young master is simply a devil!” Pang Wan fiercely clenches her fist, “He was already well aware of my purpose, hence making it impossible fool him!” As she says this, she turns to plead Jin Bu Yao, “Nanny, let us change the training target!” Should she practice the art of seduction on He Qing Lu any longer, afraid that the person won’t be seduced, instead, she will be the one to lose her precious life first!

Jin Bu Yao was stunned, covering her mouth as she bursts out laughing.

“Does Lady Wan Wan really not like our family’s young master?” She takes out a box of ointment and applies it on Pang Wan’s face, bringing to her a cooling sensation.

Pang Wan feels every hair on her body rise: “Don’t like! Don’t like!” Such type of character that is not deeply affectionate, is not deeply infatuated, does not treat the soon-to-be female lead with sharp attentiveness, she definitely does not like!

“Our family’s young master is very rich, very talented, also……” Jin Bu Yao inches closer as she looks at her, long eyelashes practically about to p.r.i.c.k Pang Wan’s face, “Extremely good looking, is that not right?”

“Nanny, please have some mercy on me!” Pang Wan’s face bitterly scrunches up, “Such outstanding figure that is your family’s young master, I truly don’t have such great fortune to enjoy!” All sorts of cla.s.sic scenes of beauties displaying their charms have been faithfully re-enacted already, yet this person still wasn’t moved in the slightest, either he is far too iron-hearted, or —— he truly dislikes her as a person.

Jin Bu Yao’s laughter further flourishes, like pearls falling into a jade plate, clear and pleasant as it rings in the ears.

“You sure are pretty smart.” A finger like white jade stops at the corner of her eye, she looks at Pang Wan, and sounds a lonely sigh, “Back then, should I have snapped myself out of it as early as you did, how great that would have been?”

Pang Wan’s eyes widens, was just about to ask about it, when Jin Bu Yao’s finger had already moved to her lips.

She silently shakes her head, mischievously smiling.

[1] Xiāng fēi / 香妃 – the fragrant concubine, also known as Iparhan, an Uyghur woman from the eighteenth century. It is unknown if Xiang Fei is a real historical figure or whether she is only a legend. According to the myth, Xiang Fei is said to be so beautiful and fragrant that Emperor Qianlong brought her to Beijing. There are different variations of the story, some say that Xiang Fei was either abducted or given as a gift and did everything she could to resist the emperor’s advances until she was poisoned to death, whilst some told the myth as a great romance between the emperor and Xiang Fei. But nowadays, the name Xiang Fei itself has become a huge brand name for perfumes, raisins, etc.

[2] The term used here is actually called dharma eye rather than spiritual eye, and is obviously used to mock He Qing Lu’s high and lofty att.i.tude to everyone and everything around him.

But if you wish to understand what the Buddhist term of ‘dharma eye’actually is, you will have to understand the meaning of dharma, as well as the concept of five eyes in Buddhism, all these Buddhist terms are fromhttp://www.sutrasmantras.info/glossary.html

Dharma (fǎ / 法). (1) The teachings of a Buddha (the word dharma in this meaning is capitalized in English); (2) law; (3) anything (mental, physical, event); (4) a mental object of consciousness, such as a thought.

Five eyes (wǔ yǎn / 五眼). These are (1) the physical eye, which a sentient being is born with; (2) the G.o.d eye, which can see anything anywhere; (3) the wisdom eye, which can see the emptiness of dharmas; (4) the dharma eye, which can discriminate all dharmas; and (5) the Buddha eye of omniscience, which includes the preceding four at the highest level

Dharma eye (fǎ yǎn / 法眼). The spiritual eye that not only penetrates the true reality of all things but also discriminates all things. Bodhisattvas who have realized that dharmas have no birth ascend to the first ground and acquire the pure dharma eye, with which they continue to help sentient beings according to their natures and preferences