NOVEL WEB Chapter 10 - I failed to reveal the secret and was caught on the spot (1)
Chapter 10: I failed to reveal the secret and was caught on the spot (1)
Translator: Xu Kun
Proofread by Zhu Yuan
Bai Qingqing was indeed a famous chatterbox in heaven. For days, she stayed in my Yueluo Yard and never returned. I had learnt all kinds of gossips in the celestial world from her. However, to my surprise, Bai Qingqing was not a superficial disseminator of hearsay. She also excelled at commenting on these gossips and putting forward her own unique opinions.
For example, Queen Mother made the Cowherd and Weaving Maid meet once a year, and according to Bai Qingqing, it fully protected their freedom, and avoided the mutual dislike that would occur if they stayed together for too long. The annual date also created a delightful and sweet atmosphere, which would move the beloved couples in the mortal world, and at the same time show heaven’s tolerance towards free love.
Another example was that she thought the Seventh Fairy were attracted by Dong Yong because she was tired of those excellent young men around her. In heaven, there were everywhere handsome male immortals who were out of touch with the worldly affairs. Every one of them was more outstanding than Dong Yong. The only reason that Dong Yong won over the favor of the fairy was that he was an ordinary man and satisfied her curiosity.
There were so many other examples…
However, after Bai Qingqing said so much, the only thing that interested me was that there was a drawing of a beautiful woman in the bedroom of Emperor of Donghua. Emperor of Donghua was always quiet and calm, and even for gossipmongers like Bai Qingqing, he had nothing suspectable. Bai Qingqing determined to dig some gossips from Emperor of Donghua, so she risked her life to break into his bedroom during the month when he came to the moral world to find me, and then she discovered that picture.
However, Bai Qingqing also knew that she should never gossip about Emperor of Donghua. Zifu State was full of crazy fans of Emperor of Donghua, and if she said something she shouldn’t have, she would hardly live another day. However, the secret had been kept for too long, so she accidentally blurted it out.
Therefore, she tried to force me to keep this secret.
“My sister, I’m so kind to you, and we are relatives. You must not betray me!” She tried to be gentle and considerate to me and then persuade me to keep the secret.
“My little sister, I’ve always been very accommodating. Since I’m here, nobody dares to bully you. But if you let out anything vital to me, don’t blame me to be merciless.” And then, Bai Qingqing coerced me.
“Take it easy! My memory always fails to serve me. What did you say just now? I cannot remember anything…”I blinked and replied to her naturally.
Bai Qingqing immediately turned her worries into happiness and gave me a big hug. She said with an embarrassing voice: “My dearest sister, I love you so much!”
I rolled my eyes and whispered in her ear: “When will you take me to see the picture?”
After asking, I obviously felt that Bai Qingqing squeezed her arms suddenly. When I looked up, I saw the raging anger in her eyes, and she was staring at me.
I gave a short laugh and then smiled at her obsequiously: “My sister, don’t get me wrong. I’m just as interested in the Emperor’s secret as you.” Then I asked her with a somewhat doubtful look: “Is everything you said just now fake? There is no such thing as a drawing of beauty?”
“Nonsense! I’ve seen it myself. How can it be fake?” Bai Qingqing was really angry. She grabbed my hand and dragged me out: “I’ll prove it to you, and you’ll know that what I said is true!”
Bai Qingqing dragged me anxiously to the Donghua Hall of Emperor of Donghua. Fortunately, on that day, Emperor of Donghua was going to Donghua Altar to oversee the ascetics who were practicing in the mortal world. Other immortals would also stay in their own rooms. So Bai Qingqing and I, the two naughty foxes, were able to break into Donghua Hall without any hindrance.
“The emperor won’t come back until evening. You can enter his room now. The portrait is placed in the porcelain bottle in the first cabinet at the end of his bed. I’ll watch out for you from the outside and cough twice when someone comes. Do you understand?” Bai Qingqing showed out a guilty face and looked in all directions. She said a lot of things with an extremely fast speed, which made them difficult to understand. Finally, I waved at her and said that I knew what she just explained to me. In this way, I entered Emperor of Donghua’s bedroom.
I knew that there was no one inside, but I still treated myself as a “thief”. Creeping for a while, I arrived at the cabinet mentioned by Bai Qingqing. I had to say that the bedroom was very simple. It seemed that he was used to following the principle of thrift.
But I was shocked the moment I opened the cabinet. Bai Qingqing said so much, but she didn’t tell me there would be so many porcelain vases in the cabinet. In the first case alone, there were more than a dozen of vases of various shapes. I touched my chin and found that Emperor of Donghua had the habit of collecting porcelain vases. All these vases were like medicine bottles, which were too small to hold a portrait.
I looked at these vases for a long time, but I was unable to see through them at a glance, so I had to check them one by one. I opened the bottle nearest to me, and a faint fragrance came to me. It was like the fragrance of flower or the scent of medicine, but it would not be the smell of a beauty anyway, so it was obvious that I needed to keep searching. Therefore, I reached out for the second bottle.
At that moment, suddenly there was a clatter of footsteps outside. I shuddered, shut the cabinet, changed to be the fox, and hid underneath the bed. I listened to the movements outside while holding my breath.