Welcome, this the first chapter of our first project. Before proceeding, please read the pinned post by clicking here. There, we talk about our schedule, who we are, how we are going to proceed about translating and posting this series and about how you can support us.
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A bitch sentenced to death by drowning.[1]
“Bitch, get the hell in!”
An angry voice echoed through the night, Yu Qingluo lost her footing as the matron of the Yu[2] Household forcibly shoved her into the firewood shed and locked the door shut with a “BAM”.
Yu Qingluo protected her own belly, with a hand hurriedly pushing against the closed door and pupils contracting as she cried out in a sickly voice: “Mother…” “Shut up! Do not call me mother. You immoral woman, to have an affair with another man and even harbouring his bastard child[3]. That is simply exhausting all of our Yu Household’s face[4]. You are going to wait here for the old master to come back tomorrow so we can drown you to death.”
Outside the door, Madam Yu had an ashen complexion as she spoke coldly and without a shred of compassion inside of her. It almost seemed as if she were more impatient to put to death Yu Qingluo, that Erxifu[5] of hers, so that she wouldn’t hinder her eyes anymore.
Drowning in the pond? Yu Qingluo went pale in a second, her face became transparent as if it were completely void of blood. She was unexpectedly married into the Yu Household half a year ago. And it was widely known that she was the kind that knew her own place and never strived for anything, normally acting as if she were a transparent person as much as possible. However, it seems that she was still seen as a stone in the path of other people as she was framed several times until she ended up being sentenced to death by drowning.
“Mother, don’t try to reason with such a woman that doesn’t even know shame. It is enough to just leave this matter to your son to handle. It is late, you better go to bed soon.” At this moment, a gloomy male voice sounded outside the door.
Yu Qingluo, from inside the firewood room, raised her head, she naturally recognized who the owner of that voice was. Wasn’t that her own husband, Yu Zuolin, who abandoned her on the day of their marriage just so he could elope with another woman? His return was very timely after he had stayed away for half a year without even sending any news. He just came back and immediately snatched away Yu Qingluo position as his wife upon examining the news of her pregnancy.
Yu Qingluo inwardly clenched her teeth. This whole matter was weird, especially Yu Zuolin’s action of taking away the position of main wife from her. It clearly felt as if the news from her pregnancy were divulged with malicious intent.
The rustling sounds outside of the door gradually disappeared into the distance. Yu Qingluo’s heart skipped as she heard Yu Zuolin raise his voice again: ” Yu Qingluo, I have warned you before, so that you do not try to needlessly marry into Yu Household, but you didn’t listen. And now, this is your end.”
His voice was slow and deep, his words were like a notice plastered into the door. In Yu Qingluo’s ears, they were like a thread of cold air digging into her body, giving her some unexplainable chills.
“Originally, I only wanted to let the doctor to confirm your purity, but the results really exceeded all my expectations.”
Suddenly, Yu Qingluo’s eyes went wide as she stared at him, a sudden realization flashed her mind. The next second she exhaled, unwilling to believe, as she let out her voice: “It’s you… that night was your own plan, that man, it was you who brought him, you…”
“You better enjoy this evening; your pregnancy is already a fact and the reason behind it is no longer important. Tomorrow you’ll be sentenced to drown. You cannot escape this. Ha, hahaha.” Yu Zuolin laughed darkly before proceeding towards the woman that stood waiting for him on the sidelines. His pupils rose upwards to meet hers before turning around and leaving together.
Yu Qingluo stared straight; both her hands were tightly clenching on her sleeves. Only to feel as if the sky had come crashing down on her, she lost her footing on the ground beneath.
Sentenced to drown, to drown… so that was her ending – unexpectedly, she will be drowned.
This is the kind of ending that Yu Qingluo couldn’t even imagine, not even in a million years. She didn’t think that Yu Zuolin would be so ruthless. He did not hesitate to ruin her reputation in order to take away the role of Yu’s Household young madam from her and dispose of her life. This type of man, where the hell did he look in the least like the young general[6] he was supposed to be? He is no different from a bandit.
Yu Qingluo panted in large gasps, anticipating her death sentence as her heart, cold and desolate, sank.
However, no one could have anticipated that the soon-to-happen punishment that was in everyone’s minds would never be realized. Because in that same evening, a thunder descended from the sky, striking and destroying the roof of the firewood room Yu Qingluo was locked in. The flames instantly ignited the dry firewood contained within, growing intense fast, and soon illuminating the sky above the Yu Household.
As Yu Zuolin’s chambers were nearby, he heard the clamour of people outside. He calmed the woman resting beside him and threw some clothes over as he ran outside of the room.
The surroundings of the firewood shed were already in chaos, the butler was directing other people in order to extinguish the fire. However, the intensity of the fire was too strong, how could they extinguish it in a short period of time? Luckily, the fire limited itself to the firewood shed and didn’t show signs of spreading toward the other buildings of the Yu household.
Seeing Yu Zuolin coming closer, the butler hurriedly wiped his sweat and ran towards him with his forehead frowned. “Young Master, the young madam is still inside, should we first…” Without waiting for him to conclude his speech, Yu Zuolin already gave him a cold glare “Who is the young madam? That’s only a whore.”
“Y -Yes, a whore, that whore is still inside. Should we first let her out…”
“Let her out? ” Yu Zuolin coldly snorted, raising his head to look towards the sky he found that although the whole sky was covered in thunder, a single drop of rain was yet to be found. His eyes squinted with pupils like a deep pond, and the corners of his mouth gradually morphed into a smile: “This is heavenly judgement, her being alive was a disgrace, so the thunder split open the shed. Since things are such, it is better that we leave it to fate, so as the other people in the house won’t suffer a calamity.”
After speaking, his line of sight moved towards the firewood shed. At this exact moment, the locked door was being pushed hard by Yu Qingluo who was still inside. Her strength wasn’t that weak, as it could be seen by how much the door trembled every time she hit it, making it seem like the door would soon burst open.
Yu Zuolin’s brows frowned tightly, lifting his hands slightly he spoke to the butler: “You calm those people trying to extinguish the fire for a bit, just don’t let it spread towards other places. As for the firewood shed, it is already impossible to save it.”
The butler lowered his head with a “Yes”.
Yu Zuolin recalled his earlier plan and ordered: “Take two reliable people and seal shut the door of the firewood shed.”
The butler seemed distracted, nevertheless, there wasn’t a single objection as he turned to leave.
Only at this time, Yu Zuolin let out a low cackle, his deep complexion overshadowed by the light of the nearby fire looked exceptionally eerie and grim. It looked like that dying person’s life inside the firewood shed was as small as an ant’s, soon to be extinguished.
At this moment, inside of the burning shed, Yu Qingluo was still holding onto a thread of hope seen that the fire still hadn’t spread nearby the door. She used all her strength trying to push open the firewood shed’s door.
Seeing that the door was becoming looser, her face gave birth to a smile. Until she started hearing a “bang bang bang” sound coming from the outside.
Yu Qingluo’s face once again went wane, understanding immediately what had just transpired. Her body went limp as the door would not move a single inch anymore.
The fire grew bigger and bigger, the thick smoke was choking Yu Qingluo as her mind became fuzzy and her eyes grew hazy. There was no time, her consciousness was growing more and more blurry. Her sallow and thin cheeks were slowly tinged black.
It was still noisy outside the sealed shut door, however, she gradually lost consciousness as she was suffocated by the thick smoke. Her eyes were flickering incapable of supporting themselves open anymore.
The rats and cockroaches inside the room scurried about, frightened by the fire. Jumping past her and disappearing without a trace.
Yu Qingluo thought that both, being drowned or burned, were the same in the end. Blaming herself for not coming across people virtuous enough, that maliciously conspired against her…
Translated by C, The Apostle of Coffee
Edited by NoveLeo, Life is a Drama
Translator’s Notes
[1] – 沉塘 (Chén táng) – Means something along the lines of ‘submerge in a pound (til’ death)’ – it is a sentence given to men and women (mostly women) that were found to have an affair. It’s a type of punishment implemented according to the laws of a household and so it didn’t go through the government’s trial by law, but it was decided within the household by its own laws. The punished ones would be put into a pig cage or a bamboo cage and sunk into a lake. It’s a death sentence.
[2] – Yu Qingluo’s surname Yu is the one as in “Jade” （玉）, different from Yu Zuolin`s Yu, which is （于）like in the chinese particle. They are from completely different families, they just sound alike when translated.
[3] – “Bastard child” as in 野种 (Yě zhǒng) – Literally meaning ‘wild seed’, it’s the term used to describe a ‘child with unclear origins’ or that is not acknowledged by the family. We will be translating it as ‘bastard child’.
[4] – 脸（面子）(liǎn (miànzi)) – The concept of ‘face’ in chinese is widely spread. Mainly it is used as a symbol of integrity, pride and honour. In chinese ‘to give face’ is to give your respect to others or recognize their value in a situation, while ‘losing face’ is to be shamed by something. We’ll leave this term as it is in the translations to come.
[5] – 儿媳妇 (Érxífù) – it means ‘daughter-in-law’. You’ll see that most of the terminology related to family or social standing and ileisms will be explained so the original wording will be kept.
[6] – Yu Zuolin’s position/job is that of a General (but the details and ranking will be revealed later on)
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