Hua Hua You Long - Volume 1 - Chapter 3.1

Chapter 3- The Sound of Bamboo Flute Through the Rainy Night

The noisiness of Tong’an’s mornings was not second to that of Hangzhou’s. Because the inn that he had selected was situated right by the street, Lu Cang, woken up from his dreams in early morning, became at once deeply-acquainted with the prosperity of this Datong imperial city.    

Rubbing his tired eyes, Lu Cang draped some garments over his shoulder and went to stand at a window overlooking the street. Below was a food market, the streets filled tightly with wives who woke up early to purchase groceries and grocers setting down baskets of vegetables, hollering out to buyers with the northern dialect[1] hat Lu Cang only roughly understood. Wave after wave of breakfast foods’ heavy fragrances floated to his nose from the stalls across the street

But this scene of a sunny, happy, everyday life was, nevertheless, unable to lift the spirits of a Lu Cang whose chest was filled to the top with gloom.

Yesterday, in a small house in this strange city, a type of bodily contact that could be described as cruel occurred once again between he and that super male beauty whom he didn’t even know the full name of—in a more crude manner of speaking, Lu Cang, for the second time, was brutally and forcibly xxx[2]-ed by the same man...

    Unbelievably, things like this were occurring again and again t him, an outlaws’ overlord who could be said to be renowned in all of southern wulin[3]. It was no wonder that Lu Cang, who had always had quite a high opinion of himself, was, from the very bottom of his heart, having a difficult time accepting this.

       But despite his inability to wrap his mind around everything, he was still not brave enough to leave for the thousand-mile distant Hangzhou on a spontaneous burst of heroism without ensuring first that the drug that freakish man used on him was a fluke.

        Reaching into the folds of his clothes, his hand came into contact with the fancily-adorned box containing the pill Maybe it’s best to go try out the drug...

nbsp;          What if it’s fake...?

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that the possibility was greater. Lu Cang seemed to already see a spark of hope rising into a flame before his eyes. After contemplating the behaviour of that freakish male beauty for a moment, it seemed perfectly possible that man had found some strange, random pill to use as a trick.

The thought of the fact that he was trembling from the effects of a sex drug while that shameless man was hiding somewhere, secretly laughing, made a blast of rage swiftly dominate the entirety of Lu Cang’s mind.

Calm down...calm down.. he told himself obsessively as he made a silent decision:

It’s better to just quickly find some dog and try out the drug. If it’s fake then it’s better for me; I could quickly escape this self-deprecating place and return to the mountain.

After making his decision, he no longer hesitated. He hurriedly finished his morning routine then left the inn to find the ideal “drug trial subject.”

Only when leisurely turning through Tong’an’s alleyways did Lu Cang find that his flawless plan seemed to have some holes. Despite Tong’an’s magnificent size, there were rarely any dogs that appeared on the streets. Even the occasional two dogs were led around on a leash by servants. Though he had full confidence that he could deal with these commoners who knew no martial arts, but robbing “commoners’ dogs” under the sun was really something that Lu Cang’s pride could not swallow.     

fter going in a few more circles with no avail, he finally gave in to impatience. He pulled over a random old man strolling by.

“Old sir, can you tell me why, though Tong’an is so large, I see no cats or dogs and the like?”

The old man asked, scrutinising Lu Cang, “Sir, you are not from here are you?”

“I just arrived from Hangzhou yesterday.”

“Then no wonder...last month, the emperor issued a decree. For the sake of Tong’an’s sanitation, families without servants specifically dedicated to taking care of dogs are not allowed to raise them...” Judging from the old man’s expression, he seemed to be in full agreement with Emperor Jing Zong’s decree.

“What?” Lu Cang cried, unable to control himself. His poor soul, which he considered fragile at this point, was nearly unable to withstand these continuous attacks.

fter bidding the old man farewell, he walked back towards the inn, hopelessly hanging his head, sighing at his recent ill fortune from the innermost vicinity of his heart.

As he cut through a narrow valley, his eye was suddenly caught by a ball of something brownish-cinnamon in colour...

That...that...isn’t that what he had been searching for the entire morning without finding the slightest trace of...a dog?! And it had a fine appearance, too; its hide was smooth and shiny like water, clearly not a typical wild hound. But the most miraculous part was that it had no servant following it around. A flame lit up Lu Cang’s eyes in an instant, joy leaping to his face.

It was too perfect!!

Lu Cang, in a wild burst of delight, upfront tackled the dog. Though this dog could be considered as exceptionally menacing, how could it possibly defend against Lu Cang’s kung-fu skills? Only with two or three moves, it was tamed, suspending from Lu Cang’s hand as it was brought towards the inn.

Lu Cang only cared to be pleased with himself, but completely overlooked the fact that, on the head of the door near the extremely long walls fencing in the yard of the house from which he had just “picked up” the dog hung a grand banner with gold bronzing, on it written four large words “Tongxin Ducal Manor[4].”

That’s right, this beloved dog Fuqi just so happened to belong to the resident of this manor, the rich and powerful man “under one and above all others[5],” the royal younger brother of the current emperor himself. Relying on the fact that no one had the nerve to touch Tongxin’s family dog, the servant in charge of it had allowed the dog to freely roam about. However, it was merrily “picked up” and taken home by Lu Cang, who had not only just arrived but also mistook it for an offhanded blessing from heaven...

Naturally, the nearby commoners recognised Tongxin’s royal dog. So, seeing Lu Cang swaggering through the streets with Fuqi in his hands, there were obviously busybodies who ran pell-mell to the ducal manor for some reward.

Not knowing any of this, Lu Cang continued on his way back to the inn with the “blessing” hanging in his hand, as he headed straight for his own room and closed the door.

Lu Cang strapped the dog messily on the desk, then stuffed a piece of cloth in the mouth of the canine, which was barking like mad. Watching the dog struggling like crazy, he clapped his hands together in satisfaction. “Ah, doggie, doggie, it’s not that I want to do this to you. Blame that whatever freak Jing Xi...”

Taking out the jade-green pill from within his clothes, Lu Cang scooted closer to the dog...

The dog also seemed to know he meant harm, unexpectedly displaying an expression of fear. By now, Lu Cang seriously had no heart left to sympathise with the dog. He sucked in a deep breath and began shoving the pill into the dog’ that lace...

There was great resistance from the very beginning. The narrowness of the dog’s “channel” wasn’t something that Lu Cang’s human hand could easily enter. But since Lu Cang had already come this far, it was too late to turn back, and could only depend on that one bold inhale of air as he pushed his finger further in.

Lu Cang felt the dog’s body trembling under his hold. If its mouth hadn’t been sealed, it would probably be barking so chaotically the sky would collapse. Lu Cang also felt as if he ate a pile of rotten mud—uncomfortable as hell.

“Wretched man, go die! I hate you to death—going as far as forcing me to do this!” Not only were the dog’s big, watery eyes filled with tears caused by extreme agony, but even Lu Cang himself was almost on the verge of crying.

hy[6]...why...In Lu Cang’s twenty-one years on the road of life, he had only ever heard the laudatory cheers of heroism. From the time when he was seventeen and committed the biggest robbery in all of Jiangnan, he had always been the icon of “the outlaw hero[7]” in the eyes of the public. Why is it that in spite of all this, he was here, doin this f thing to dog?!

His throat full of anger from his own uselessness in this situation, Lu Cang, powered by his rage, pushed his finger in a huge length. Feeling the pill melting, he hurriedly began to pull his finger out What a freakish drug, just like its owner—melts just as it hits the spot!

But in the next moment, Lu Cang’s face was drained of all colour: the finger he had shoved inside with great difficulty...was stuck.

The channel, strained to its absolute limit, expanded and contracted tensely, tightly binding onto Lu Cang’s finger. Though he could pull his finger out using brute force, but if he did that, then the dog would surely die. Then wouldn’t a whole morning’s efforts be for naught?

Thinking of this, he tried his best to cleverly slide his hand out, but no matter how many attempts he made, the hand remained tightly stuck in an awkward position, unable to go in or come out.

Noisy shouting rose from outside the door, as if there was a large troop of people coming upstairs They wouldn’t be here for me, would they?

Though the thought flew through his head, he was still frantically trying to quickly pull out the finger. But the more panicked he was the more disastrous it became; it was completely impossible to move a single inch.

The saying goes that “when you’re unfortunate, even cold water gets stuck in your teeth.”Right now, Lu Cang was definitely in that kind of situation. And what’s more, the irritating but undying noise stopped right outside his door. Then, with a “clang!” as the door was knocked over, the people outside abruptly came face to face with the man inside...

Instantaneously, all voices froze. For the first time in his life, Lu Cang had the desire to evaporate into thin air. At that moment, his face was unquestionably uglier than a dead person’s. Judging from the expression of the young man wearing luxurious clothing in the lead, Lu Cang could be sure that the scene before the young man’s eyes had scared him.

“You...What’re you doing...” The young man finally spoke after what seemed like ten thousand years, his voice wavering disbelievingly.

“Ah...ah...I was just...just...” Lu Cang seemed to have contracted a horrible stammer, and was unable to muster a single intelligible sentence no matter what

“Damned freak! How dare you steal mi’lord’s beloved dog?!” A servant jumped out from behind the young man in a flash, and, seizing Lu Cang’s hand, tried to pull it out. “Pull out your dirty hand!”

So, it was the dog’s owner that had arrived...Judging from the man’s upright, dignified figure and aristocratic aura, he was probably some sort of royalty or nobleman...The servant seemed to have called him “lord...”

The servant attempted to coercively yank out the hand, but with what little strength he had, how could he have succeeded? Seeing the situation as it was, the young man’s brows knitted tightly into a frown. “Quickly tie him up and bring him back to the manor! We can take our time there. Don’t embarrass me out here...”

ldquo;Aiya, what’re you doing? I’m just...just...” Glancing at the crowd of people large enough to drown him flowing into the room, Lu Cang struggled desperately for his life. However, two fists could never trump four hands, not to mention he was up against around ten highly-trained Imperial Guards[8].  No need to say, he ended up getting tied up like a solid dumpling.  

“Put him in the palanquin[9]! Don’t let anyone on the streets see him!” the young man ordered as he turned to go downstairs. Lu Cang was pushed and shoved into following.

Stuffed in the palanquin and carried along the bumpy road all the way to the ducal manor, Lu Cang was dragged out the moment the palanquin was set on the ground, then tied to a pillar, hands and feet and all. A sorry state indeed.

“Mi’lord, how should he be punished?” The guard asked after tying up the unfortunate prisoner.

Zheng frowned as he scrutinised the man reduced to a muddle in front of him. The man’s eyes and brows were handsome, and his figure well-proportioned...not much like the appearance of a villain...

But when Zheng glimpsed the hand sank deeply inside his beloved dog, he decided to take back that previous statement.

“Mi’lord, mi’lord!”A guard suddenly rushed and tumbled into the room, and reported a few whispered words to Duke Tongxin[10]. Tongxin’s expression made an instantaneous and dramatic change.

“Keep a good eye on him,” he hurriedly ordered, then sped out the auxiliary hall.

  Sprinting towards the inner chamber, Tongxin began calling out from a good distance away, “Big Brother[11], Big Brother!"

Barging into the room excitedly, he finally laid eyes on the unparalleled beauty that sat upright before the long desk. And who but the big brother he had missed and yearned for in the past few months?

“Big Brother, you’re back?” Affectionately leaning forward, Tongxin’s whole face glowed with love and admiration.

Jing smiled. His younger twin had always loved and relied on him ever since they were little, and as of today, though they were both past twenty, nothing had really changed.

Putting his arm around the shoulders that leaned towards him for an embrace, Jing asked, “I heard you just nobly captured a dog thief?”

"How did Big Brother know?” Zheng peaked out from Jing’s embrace, then continued angrily, “That thief is such a freak! He actually put his hand into the place where Fuqi does his business and then couldn’t get it out! It’s a pity for his tolerable looks!”

“Really?” An inkling of a smile leapt across Jing’s face. “Let me go see him.”

“Why would Big Brother want to see a freak like him...?” But, before he could finish his sentence, Zheng, receiving a stern look from Jing, quickly corrected himself, “I tied him up in the auxiliary hall. I’ll bring you there.”

......

Following behind Zheng in the long hallway[12] eading to the auxiliary hall, Jing spotted a helpless silhouette faraway...It was really him! A single undetectable trace of a smile flashed across the corner of his mouth. “Give that man to Big Brother, alright?” he asked of his twin gently, in return receiving an I-have-no-idea-what-you’re-thinking[13] tare from Zheng.  

“Big Brother, why would you need someone like this...” Seeing Jing’s frown reappear, Zheng immediately shut his mouth.

“Tell all the guards to leave, and don’t come in yourself either,” Jing commanded, watching in satisfaction as Zheng, though still wearing a puzzled expression, wave away the guards stationed outside the auxiliary hall.

Jing abruptly leapt away, his voice already suspended in midair, resounding, “I owe you one. Tomorrow morning, write me a petition[14]. You can ask for anything...”

Tracing his brother’s elegant figure traipsing towards the auxiliary hall, Zheng felt infinite disappointment and resentment rise from the pit of his stomach. Big Brother knew exactly what he wanted....but cruelly pretends to be oblivious...

As expected from the coldblooded, heartless, genius emperor material since childhood!

As Jing leapt gracefully into the auxiliary hall from the window, Lu Cang was vigorously contemplating a plan of escape. The sound of wind breaking in caught his ear, and he raised his head just in time to see Jing jump over the edge.

“You—!!!” His eyes widening in disbelief, Lu Cang was dumbstruck.  

Fixing his eyes on the place where Lu Cang’s fingers and the dog connected, Jing couldn’t help the laughter that escaped his lips. Lu Cang immediately felt as if his blood had suddenly reversed its direction of flow. His recent luck was even worse than being drenched in black dog’s blood[15].  Being seen by Jing in such a horrendous state, Lu Cang really had the notion of giving up on such a miserable existence...

However, Jing smilingly approached, put a hand upon the dog, searched its belly for a short while, and held down on a pressure point—miraculously, that tightly-contracted channel magically loosened.

“Pull your hand out!” Jing ordered. Lu Cang did as was told, and the finger that had been struggling for an entire morning actually came out!

“Heavens!” Staring at his own hand in disbelief, Lu Cang didn’t even have time to bother with the nasty odour it emitted.

“We’ll do the same if I put it in and couldn’t get it out next time...” Jing was, once again, saying with a straight face, perverted things that Lu Cang couldn’t stand.

Noticing the rage flash across Lu Cang’s eyes, Jing quickly changed to a more serious tone of voice, “Hey, you owe me a favour...”

u Cang, whose sorriest state had been exposed to Jing, was no longer able to stay in his high chair. He could only hang his head and respond helplessly, “Thanks...I’ll definitely return your favour.”

“Then...” Leaning his lips near Lu Cang’s ear, Jing whispered, “Better earlier than later. Wait for me at that house at sunset...”

All of Lu Cang’s nerves abruptly tightened. He knew from the beginning that this evil demon couldn’t have had any good intentions...Lu Cang turned to toss him a loath-filled glare, but found that, just like how he disappeared every time after they di that, Jing was standing next to the window, ready to leave.

Then, as if remembering something, he suddenly turned his head and smiled lightly, “You can just leave like this. No one will stop you. Remember, wait for me in that house...”

nbsp;    Once again, Lu Cang was stunned by his otherworldly beauty. Lu Cang looked down, and when he raised his head again, Jing was gone without a trace.

Struggling to his feet, Lu Cang was just about to leave when a sudden thought struck him, and he picked up the unconscious Fuqi on the floor Hmph!! Damned dog, making me go through all that hell! Just you wait! I’ll take real good care of you when we get back...and find another male dog to fuck you to death!

Just as that freak had said, it was still as death all the way to the door: there wasn’t a single man around. Lu Cang escaped the Tongxin Ducal Manor very smoothly. And now he perched at a street intersection, hesitating, for a moment, on where to go.

After letting people see him like that, there was no way he could return to the inn. But if he went to wait in that house like that freak wanted, what awaited him was definitel that ort of revolting thing...

But they often say “even bandits have virtue[16].” Keeping the honourable word[17] as the most important to a man, after all.

Lu Cang felt his head beginning to hurt as a mental battle commenced. After all the pushing and pulling, it was the deeply-rooted idea of preserving reputation that won.

Godammit!! It’s just getting my arsehole poked a few times, not like I would die! It’s better than ruining my honourable credibility.

Poor Lu Cang, under the impression that it was all for the heroic doctrine of adhering to the code of honour even if you bleed, began to take the dauntless steps of no return[18] owards the house.

[1][1] hinese dialects- unless you’re Chinese, you probably don’t know this, but there are countless dialects, which makes communication quite difficult between people from different parts of China. For instance, Lu Cang is from Hangzhou, which is like upper-south and far east. I’ve been there, and their dialect is...alright. Tong’an is the same as Chang’an, which is nowadays known as Xi’an, and their dialect is, at least for me, a bit more daunting.

[2] xx- once again, the x’s aren’t my censorship. They were in the original, which could either be the Chinese government’s censorship or the author’s own censorship.  

[3] ulin- see chapter 1 and 2 footnotes (synonymous with jianghu).

[4] ongxin Ducal Manor (同心王府)- I know I translated it as Duke Tongxin Manor in the manga/manhua, but it’s actually more accurate as “ducal manor.”

[5] nder one and above all others (一人之下，万人之上)- phrase often used to refer to a seat of power in the government who was above all others except for the emperor himself.

[6] hy- it would be more accurately translated as “whereby” but that sounds quite Shakespearian and purple patchy so I just went with “why” like I did in the manga/manhua….

[7] he outlaw hero- a loose Chinese concept, sort of like Robinhood, of people from jianghu aka kung-fu people/martial artists who rob the rich and are kind to the poor. Lu Cang does exactly this, so no, he is not a purely “bad” person.

[8] he Imperial Guard- the Imperial Guards are royal bodyguard troops that eventually developed into a paramilitary protection squad that were also involved in things like capturing S class criminals, etc, etc. Basically, they do whatever the emperor/people in charge wants them to do within the spectrum of the capital

[9] alanquin (轿子)- It’s a type of four-man, box-shaped litter (a type of vehicle carried by people).

[10] ongxin- I know this is confusing how the author uses it, but Zheng and Tongxin are the same person. Tongxin is his title. If you read some old British literature, you’d often see stuff like Duke of York or Earl of Salisbury, which are all their titles. But in the case of Chinese nobility, their titles aren’t always named after their piece of land, since, like in this case, not all Chinese nobility are designated a fief.

[11] ig brother (皇兄)- a more accurate translation would be “imperial big brother,” sinc 皇 eans “imperial” wherea 兄 is“older brother.” But putting that in would be awkward.

[12] hinese hallways- note, all Chinese hallways are outside (there’s a roof and railings and everything. It’s like a super-extended gazebo).

[13] -have-no-idea-what-you’re-thinking- I took advantage of the common “using hyphens to connecting everything as a comedic adjective” approach, but the original description used here is “丈二和尚摸不着头脑,” which roughly translates to “one zhang two monk whose head is unreachable” (that makes very little sense to you right now, just bear with me). So in ancient China, the average person’s height is about 8 chi (1 chi=1/3 of a metre) and if the average man were to raise their arm straight up, they’d reach to about 1 zhang (1 zhang=3 1/3 metres) tall. However, for some reason, the average height of monks was around 1 zhang and 2 chi (be a monk=be taller?), so the average person would not be able to reach the top of a monk’s head. After going through all that explanation, the implied meaning of this silly idiom is that you aren’t able to understand what the other person is thinking.

[14]奏折 zou zhe: Petition/report)- It’s the main way officials report to the emperor, give advice, request stuff, etc. A major portion of the emperor’s job (like, the most headache-inducing part) is to go through all the zou zhe that all the officials hand in each morning (it’s basically like a huge pile each day. *shivers in fear* No wonder Jing is so pissed off and runs away all the time xD).

[15] urse of black dog’s blood- According to Chinese superstitions, it’s believed that you can curse someone by pouring dog’s blood (black because it’s cursed) on them.

[16] ven bandits have virtue (盗亦有道)- Chinese saying that means exactly what it sounds like, but here it’s used as a half-joke, since Lu Cang is ACTUALLY a bandit. xDDD  

[17] eeping your word- for people of Jianghu, keeping your word is one of the near-sacred virtues of the unspoken Jianghu code of chivalry. Lu Cang is a stereotypical adherer to Jianghu code of chivalry (okay, so his fellow brothers kidnap women. Admittedly, that is not very chivalrous, but the Jianghu code applies to both “good” and “bad” people so nowhere in it does it say you have to be nice to girls. Since this isn’t a kung-fu novel, I won’t go into specifics about the Jianghu code of honour)

[18] auntless steps of no return- the original description used here is “易水寒壮士不返”, which is a slightly inaccurate and altered reference to the famous line “风萧萧兮 易水寒，壮士一去兮 不复还,”which is the first line of a two-line son 《易水寒》composed in the Warring States era. The song is written in honour of a failed assassination of the King of Qin (later Qin Shihuangd 秦始皇帝 irst emperor of China). The line laments the death of the assassin, who is a fallen hero to his country. A rough translation of this famous line is “the wind cools the waters of Yi, the warrior leaves and never returns.” And yes, Lu Cang is being overdramatic.