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Chapter 60.2: What Happened… to Us?
It was really the first time Xiaoqi had walked in Ruzhou’s streets. Thinking back, she hadn’t strolled the streets ever since she entered Song fu. It was truly rare! The moment Xiaoqi left Song fu, the conflicted struggle in her heart instantly calmed down a lot as she looked at the pure blue sky and the children noisily playing beneath an ancient, coarse, tree with a girth of an adult male’s arms.
Ruoshui held Xiaoqi’s hand and swung it as they walked along the street. After a couple turns, they soon arrived downtown. Ruoshui pointed towards the end of the street as she said, “Walk forward from here, then take one more turn and you’ll arrive at the government office. Right now, Zhuo gege’s probably there. Ss~~”
Ruoshui sucked the cool air, then stuck out her tongue and said, “Let’s go drink some herb tea. My tongue is hurting again.”
Xiaoqi looked at Ruoshui, then wrinkled her nose and covered her mouth as she laughed.
“Aiy, if you want to laugh then just laugh. What’re yah covering your mouth for? It’s not like you lack front teeth!” Ruoshui mumbled.
At first, when Xiaoqi moved her hand away, she smiled with her mouth closed, but as she looked at Ruoshui, the corners of her lips kept twitching. Xiaoqi’s smile slowly started to open, until the smile that only revealed two teeth at the start became a wide-mouthed hearty laugh. Ruoshui was stunned for a while from being laughed at, but in the end also laughed with her happily.
The two laughed ‘heeheehaha’ together for half the day, then suddenly stopped their laughter all at once. Ruoshui blinked her eyes and lowered her voice mysteriously, “Let’s have food at Liu Hengzhi’s place, it’ll be free.”
Xiaoqi blinked her eyes and pressed her head over, also lowering her voice, “Is there book-telling?”
“We’ll just have Liu Hengzhi tell stories, ss~~ The stories he tells are really fun.”
“I want to hear book-telling, and we just ate lunch so I’m not hungry.” Xiaoqi pulled Ruoshui along to look for a large teashop. Qiu Tong sighed in relief and hurriedly chased after them.
There were plenty of teashops, but none that had book-telling. Ruoshui and Xiaoqi walked into several shops in succession, but they all only had singers. In the end, they had to choose a random one to take a break in, and they sat down in seats near the entrance as they listened to the singing.
Xiaoqi’s eyes looked around as she pouted, “Why isn’t there any book-telling?”
Qiu Tong smiled and said, “The larger restaurants have special performances with famous Misters that tell historical tales. Qiu Tong heard Madam talk about it before, and even went with Madam to listen to them, but it seems like they aren’t hosted every day.”
The tea doctor* held a copper pot and carried teacups as he walked over. Then, as if performing a sideshow, he placed the cups on his arm–and before Xiaoqi could even open her mouth to stop him, he had already poured three times in succession.
The three stared at him dumbstruck with wide eyes, but the person just smiled and said, “Three ladies, please enjoy.”
Ruoshui was the first to react and she excitedly clapped her hands as she said, “Amazing, amazing! It’s even more amazing than book-telling.”
Xiaoqi let out a heavy breath, still feeling some lingering fear. She crinkled her face as she looked at his arm. Seeing that the sleeve was perfectly clean without a single drop of moisture, she sighed in sincere relief. “Truly amazing ah.”
The tea doctor smiled as he said, “Ladies wish to hear book-telling? There is a venue in a restaurant nearby, but it only takes place in the mornings. There’s also an old beggar on the street that’s an expert book-teller. His performances aren’t set: whenever he feels like it, he would give a performance. If Ladies don’t disdain it and have good luck, then perhaps you will be able to encounter a performance.”
After the tea doctor finished speaking, he lifted his long-sprouted copper pot and went to greet other customers, leaving the three ladies behind to stare with limitless admiration. Not far from them, there was a man next to a table, looking towards this side with astonishment and inwardly shaking his head.
Xiaoqi’s luck has always been good. After the three finished their tea, when they returned to the street, they immediately saw an old man with a gray beard sitting beneath an old scholar tree. The inner three circles were filled with children of all sizes sitting with crossed legs on the ground. The outer circle consisted of adults who were either squatting or standing.
Qiu Tong looked at the sky to check the time, then exhorted Xiaoqi and Ruoshui not to go anywhere while she went back to call for a horse carriage.
The story the old beggar was telling was one that everyone knew, the story of the Cowherd and Weaving MaidT/N. At present, he was eating a steamed stuffed bun that a listener had passed over, but he was still somehow able to ask with clear articulation, “Say, what do you guys think? Does that Cowherd count as someone of noble character?”
“He wasn’t someone of noble character from the start, he’s just a cowherd.”
Someone behind Xiaoqi spoke. The voice was quite familiar.
“Eh?” The old beggar stroked his beard as he glanced towards the person that spoke. After examining him for a moment, he said, “From the looks of it, this sir seems to be someone of riches and honor. Haha, please elaborate?”
Xiaoqi turned around. When her eyes met with that of the man’s, she was stunned for a moment. The man smiled at her, then said, “It’s very simple. Since ancient times, the term nobleman has only pointed to these few types: monarchs, people with outstanding talent and virtue, and men with wives. The cowherd was just a little nobody, with no virtue and no talents. Not to mention he even caused the Weaving Girl to be punished and exiled to the east of the Milky Way. How could he be called a nobleman?”
Xiaoqi blinked her eyes with surprise, then turned to look back towards the old beggar. The old beggar smiled as he finished off the steamed bun, then replied, “This gongzi, I also say that this cowherd isn’t a nobleman. If he was a nobleman, he would’ve known that it wasn’t easy for the Weaving Girl to weave the garments of the skies, and he should’ve known the consequences that the Weaving Girl’s abandonment of weaving would’ve brought about. This old beggar actually suspects that he was an all-take-and-no-give fellow that stole the Weaving Girl’s celestial garments to trade for wine money. Otherwise, as much as the two indulged in loving affection, the Weaving Girl still should’ve had the time to weave.”
The old beggar paused for a moment, then said, “Haa, human hearts are hard to fathom. If it was like that, the Celestial Emperor’s command actually served to save the Weaving Girl. At least it prevented her from being harmed for even longer.”
The old beggar seemed to have eaten his fill. Giving a satisfied belch, he got up, dusted off his butt, and swayed away.
Eh? Xiaoqi blinked her eyes. She hadn’t even listened to anything, and he’s already leaving?
The children happily ran off noisily. Xiaoqi found out from the children that the story the old beggar told earlier was about an ancient mythological animal. What a pity, Xiaoqi wrinkled her nose.
The people had pretty much all scattered, but Qiu Tong still hadn’t returned. Xiaoqi held Ruoshui’s hand as they stood waiting. The man also smiled mildly as he stood there.
Ruoshui glanced repeatedly at the man and asked Xiaoqi in a low voice, “Why is that guy here as well?”
Xiaoqi also aimed a glance at the man. Before she even retrieved her gaze, the man smiled and asked, “What brings Xiaoqi here to Ruzhou?”
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira, Proofread by Ocelot
[Chiyomira’s Corner]
T/N2 – The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl
As with all folk tales, there’s a lot of versions. It’s basically a love story between the weaver girl, symbolizing the star Vega and the cowherd, symbolizing the star Altair.
One version basically goes like this:
The cowherd was an orphan boy, his parents died and his uncle’s family treated him very poorly. His uncle had this very old ox, which the boy felt a closeness to and took care of very well. The Ox turned out to be a celestial and was about to leave his mortal body to return to heaven, but he wanted to repay the boy first, so the Ox came up with the idea for the boy to steal the garment of the Seventh Daughter of the Skies while the daughters of the skies were bathing. The boy did so, then used the garment as a bargaining chip to propose marriage, which most stories say the seventh daughter was somehow moved and accepted.
They got married and lived happily together, eventually having two children. The cowherd’s family prospered and stuff. Then the Heavenly Mother, or the Celestial Emperor in some stories, noticed that dawn was lacking red, the color of the Seventh Daughter’s robe. Took a while due to the reason that one year on Earth was one day in Heaven. So then she sent soldiers to get the daughter back. The Cowherd chased after her with the help of the Ox’s hide and told the Heavenly Mother that they were truly in love, bound together as husband and wife, and demanded that his wife be returned. The Heavenly Mother was so infuriated that she pulled a silver hairpin out of her hair at threw it, creating the Milky Way, which separated the Cowherd from the Weaving Maid. “But on the festival of the seventh of the seventh, even the hard heart of the queen of heaven relents” and the cowherd and his heavenly wife can meet for one day and night.
…in so many of the stories, the Weaving Maid’s reaction to getting her clothes stolen is so cringey. Like “the seventh daughter who was hiding behind the bush was furious – but in a way, she was impressed too by this brazen boy” or “the timid Weaver Girl nodded her head” in response to the proposal. Omg terrible, the cowherd must have a super pig-feet main lead aura to be able to inspire that reaction. And some stories say that the cowherd just returned the Weaving Maid’s clothes, but other stories say he hid the Weaving Maid’s clothes because the clothes were actually plumage and the Weaving Maid couldn’t fly away without them.
Thank you for the new chapter 😀
he is just waiting for GXQ’s action
reaction*
Thanks for the chapter and explanation of the story
i suspect that this man is chen gongzi the one who stole her clay red horse.
It’s like Jaka tarub and Nawang Wulan. I’m so sad for their child.