Queen of No.11 Agent 11 Chapter 153 part1

Chapter 153: Sounding of Fireworks (Part 1)

Hello, new update!

If you read the Frozen Lake Scene post only up until this line: “Except in the end, he will never be able to see any of this again.”, then I suggest you go back to that post to read the last few paragraphs I added to conclude that scene. I hadn’t realized I missed a little chunk when I translated the scene because the Chinese website I was translating from cut the chapters funny. Thankfully, I found a nice Chinese website that has the chapters cut up correctly and with proper chapter titles so I went back and added it!

*****IMPORTANT: Original novel is set in some made-up dynasties in ancient China. However, I think China probably has some sort of rule where production teams can’t have historical dramas being set in non-existent dynasties (because it does not accurately represent Chinese history or something like that), so the production team changed it and adapted everything into the Wei/Liang dynastic era. The surname of Yuan was the actual last name of Wei rulers, and Yuwen was also the surname of a minister family during that time.

Please use the following as a key (some of these places have not yet shown up in my translations, but will soon show up):

Wei = Xia (for those who know Chinese history, this Xia does not seem to be the same Xia as the one in Chinese dynastic order)

Yanbei = Yanbei

Liang = Bian Tang

Yuan = Zhao (so instead of Yuan Chun/Yuan Song/Yuan Che it is now Zhao Chun/Zhao Song/Zhao Che)

Yuwen = Zhuge (so instead of Yuwen Yue it's Zhuge Yue)

Xiao Ce = Li Ce (Li Ce is the ruler of Bian Tang)

Qing Hai = new place in the book created by Zhuge Yue and later ruled together by Zhuge Yue and Chu Qiao

Huai Song = place in book, not in drama

NOTES (to help with your understanding of this chapter!):

Zhu Cheng is a Zhuge family housekeeper and one of Zhuge Yue's faithful followers. I don't think he's in the drama version. Jing Zi Su is one of the elder Jing family daughters. I don't think she's in the drama version either. In the book, Chu Qiao's name when she was a member of the Jing family was Jing Yue'er. They changed it to Jing Xiao Liu (小六–Xiao Liu meaning "Little Six" since she was the 6th child of the Jing family) for the drama. My guess for this change is because Chu Qiao's "Yue'er" (月儿) and Zhuge Yue's "Yue'er" (玥儿) would be too confusing since they are pronounced the same and it is much better for the names to be distinctive.

Chu Qiao was actually awake the entire time, but she just did not want to open her eyes. She knew that there were people moving around her, that there were people lightly calling out to her, that people were crying sorrowfully, that people were feeding her medicine and that someone was silently watching her but did not come close to her and did not speak either.

She knew all this, except she still did not want to wake up. She continued to sleep heavily. Her heart was like a frozen piece of withered dry-wood, completely shriveled and lacking nutrients. She kept on repeatedly having the same dream. It was freezing cold inside the dream as she floated in the dark waters of the frozen lake. Her surroundings were so cold. Pieces of broken ice lightly touched her skin, endlessly. Zhuge Yue was facing towards her, sinking downwards bit by bit. A very faint ray of brightness shone lightly beneath him. The light reflected onto his very pale face. Only that pair of eyes was still dark and bright like night stars. She couldn't tell if he was happy or angry, but those eyes continued to quietly gaze at her, quietly and slowly sink downwards.

For the first time in her life, did Chu Qiao feel this fragile. She was exhausted and simply wanted to just sleep away. There was nothing about life worth to recall with nostalgia. All those dreams and aspirations that she had previously persistently and madly strived for were crushed and disintegrated in an instant. She didn't want to think; she didn't have the energy to think. She didn't even have the courage to open her eyes to face all of reality. She wanted to escape; she cowardly thought that if she didn't open her eyes than basically nothing happened. Only until this point did she finally realize that she too was a woman, a woman who could be in pain, feel sadness, be hurt, and even more so, to be in despair. She refused to eat, refused to take medicine, and refused to even drink water.

Until one day, there was a very noisy sound outside her door; someone was loudly cursing at her. An endless amount of resentful and vulgar words flew at her; each and every sentence piercing the bottom of her heart. The voice was so familiar, that it prompted her to quickly open her eyes and climb out of bed, only to be met with an extremely injured Zhu Cheng.

The young housekeeper did not know any martial arts, and thus his entire body was plastered with injuries. His clothes were ripped and blotted with multiple blood stains; he looked just like a crazy madman. One of his forearms were already cut off, yet he was still madly trying to barge his way in. Fresh blood trickled onto the bluestone floor of the courtyard. His eyes were flushed red, and while cursing, he used his still-existing arm to attack the surrounding guards. The guards did not ruthlessly hurt him; they were only blocking him from nearing the room. They knocked him down again and again, and then indifferently looked on at his awkward attempts to get back up.

"You cruel, unscrupulous, and ungrateful woman!"

Zhu Cheng roared and hissed at her loudly. His entire body was full of sores and frostbite, pus oozing from many places. On look and she could tell that he these injuries were from staying in the snow and cold for too long.

Zi Su hugged her, and tried her best to use her hand to cover Chu Qiao's eyes. But Chu Qiao stood perfectly straight, like a sharp gun. She stood motionless, staring at Zhu Cheng being knocked down continuously and his endless attempts at getting back up to barge his way towards her again and again.

"Stop." Chu Qiao slowly whispered.

"Stop!"

She suddenly yelled in a loud voice, and staggeringly pushed away Jing Zi Su and ran outside. The wind outside was so cold, just like an ice-cold knife. She ran madly, and forcefully pushed away the guards that were blocking her way, loudly yelling: "Everyone stop!"

"I will kill you!"

Zhu Cheng roared at her, and then proceeded to clumsily brandish his knife as he charged towards her. Chu Qiao stupidly stood there. In this moment, she seemed to no longer be that skillful modern special agent. She just stood there, facing towards the incoming knife with no urge to avoid it, and simply watched the knife come towards her head.

However, the instant that sword punctured her clothes, a sharp arrow sped through the air, and accurately penetrated through Zhu Cheng's heart. Fresh blood sprayed from the young housekeeper's mouth and splattered all over Chu Qiao's cheeks. His body convulsed, his pupils dilated, his knees wobbled and he fell to his knees. Chu Qiao held him lightly as he fell, but she was met with a loathing and hateful look from Zhu Cheng. Using his last breath, he spat a mouthful of blood and mucus onto her face and coldly cursed at her:

"You slut!" [1]

Zhu Cheng collapsed to the floor loudly, causing specs of dust to fly upwards and land atop of Chu Qiao's blood-splattered cheeks. She slowly raised her head, only to see Yan Xun's cold and indifferent face.

Putting his bow down, Yan Xun walked over with a gloomy depression, and condescendingly looked down at her and told her in a deep voice: "I have declared to the world, that you created a trap to lure Zhuge Yue here and that you killed him. This person was one of Zhuge Yue's followers that came with him here to Yanbei, so he came very quickly. I reckon that in a few days, assassins sent from the Zhuge family will come here batch by batch. But I have already sent a large number of people to protect you, so you don't need to worry."

Chu Qiao looked at Yan Xun, but in her trance-like state of mind, she almost couldn't remember the surname or even first name of the person in front of her. She tried her best to think; she tried to open her eyes wide in order to look at him clearly, except all she felt was a crazy headache. The sun shined onto him, but it was too bright, making her unable to open her eyes fully.

The guards dragged Zhu Cheng's corpse away, but his fresh blood dripped along the way. That pair of hateful eyes were still wide open, loathingly glaring back at her, as if trying to swallow her whole.

Yan Xun quickly left with everyone else, leaving the courtyard to a calm silence. Servants brought buckets of water and poured the water onto the floor, silently scrubbing away the fresh blood. Chu Qiao continued to stand there motionless. No one dared to come forward towards her and bother her. Jing Zi Su carefully moved towards her, gently pulling onto the corner of Chu Qiao's clothes with trembling hands, and lightly called out: "Yue'er? Yue'er?"

Wind blew on Chu Qiao's back; her entire body was freezing cold. Zi Su gently shook her forearm, her voice gradually became tearful.

Outside, the sudden noise of a young man's angry curses sounded through the door. A'Jing cursed the guards that were blocking his way and then charged into the room with large steps. Seeing Chu Qiao's current state, A'Jing suddenly felt his nose sour. Disregarding the surrounding servants, he picked up Chu Qiao and carried her inside the room. Outside was so cold, and yet Chu Qiao was only wearing a simple white garment. Maidservants panickedly rushed forward to help Chu Qiao wipe her hands and face and hurriedly tried to warm her up. She simply sat there dumbfounded, as though she was already dead, allowing the maids to do whatever they wanted to her.

"Miss, please don't be like this."

With flushed eyes, A'Jing said: "Don't blame the King, all of this is because of the slander that the treacherous villain Cheng Yuan said. Miss, you have to be strong."

A'Jing's voice sounded as if it was very far away; his voice sounded as if it came from the distant sky. Chu Qiao turned her head slightly, and stared at him with a puzzled look. Moments passed until she slowly asked: "Where is He Xiao?"

Chu Qiao's voice sounded very hoarse, like a broken windbox. A'Jing was slightly surprised for a moment, as if he hadn't clearly understood what she had just said. He dumbly asked: "Uh? What?"

"Where is He Xiao? Where are the Xiu Li Army's soldiers?" How are they? Anything wrong?"

"All is well, no problems," A'Jing quickly answered. "There are no problems with them. They are currently at the Army Headquarters.[2] They want to come visit you, except you are still recuperating, so the King did not let anyone from outside come bother you."

"Oh." Chu Qiao silently nodded, looking very calm. She asked again: "Zhuge Yue's people, did they all die?"

"They all died, all of their corpses have already been salvaged from the frozen lake. Most of the corpses still exist, except some were too deep and were unable to salvage. But those are probably not alive."

"What about Zhuge Yue? Did they find him?"

A'Jing licked his lips slightly, and seeing that Chu Qiao's expression was still very calm, heavily replied: "We already found him; General Yue[3] brought his corpse back to Xia. Zhao Che came to pick it up in person. Because we sent back the entire corpse, the Zhuge family gave us one million dollars worth of ransom money in return."

Chu Qiao maintained expressionless, her eyes continued to stare straight forward. She simply nodded. A'Jing nervously continued: "Miss, don't worry, no one destroyed his corpse. When we sent it back it was still in one whole piece. The King even prepared the finest coffin……"

"What's the point of a coffin when the person's already dead."

[1] Zhu Cheng basically called Chu Qiao “贱人” but I don’t think there’s a direct translation of this word into English?? Most translators gave me “slut” as the answer although I think it doesn’t necessarily mean slut depending on the context “贱人” is used in. But this word definitely has a negative connotation.

[2] I translated “卫武所” as Army Headquarters. Basically, it’s supposed to be the place where all the armies and soldiers are situated. I wasn’t really sure how else to translate it. Any suggestions are welcome.

[3] This “Yue” (岳) has no correlation whatsoever to Chu Qiao's "Yue'er" (月儿) and Zhuge Yue's "Yue'er" (玥儿). This “Yue” (岳) is a Chinese surname.

WOW! I have never tried to translate this fast before. Just FYI, updates won’t always be this fast LOL but I’ll try my best to update in small parts so that there are more frequent updates. I apologize if there are any errors; I was trying to churn this all out in one sitting. Hope you all can enjoy this! Leave any comments/suggestions if you like; they are greatly appreciated.

—springbreeze

Chapter end