My Fair Gentleman Chapter 1

Oh oops I didn’t realize this was already picked up, if anyone’s interested in reading it you guys can head to https://poppyscanlations.video.blog/2018/11/06/a-seductive-gentleman-chapter-1/
I won’t be removing my release because many of my readers don’t know it’s currently being translated, so I could at least leave this here as a means of “oh yeah this is happening” yanno, I’ve already messaged the translator and received the ok

-Helli

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Ming Zhangyan had no name. He was a man of healthy skin, a handsome face, and inspiring talent.

His former name was a string of complex and incomprehensible words from Dayue, the country of the great moon, and was quite difficult to pronounce. When he reached the central plains, Zhongyuan, there were some who called him the fearless, young Ming Shaoxia; some who proclaimed him their brother, Ming Dage; and those who knew him as an unforgettable gentleman. As time went on, his former name had gradually been forgotten by him.

In Ming Zhangyan’s life—Murder, arson, rape, and plundering—were naturally things he had never done.

But he had gone through countless romantic affairs, and the strange, unique affairs that only he himself engaged were also countless.

It had been nearly ten years since Ming Shaoxia had received the decree of the common people. He had excellent talent and had already cultivated his martial skill beyond his breakthrough of the first realm. It was hard to find a match for him under the heavens; he was without a doubt, the very best.

Be it the Wulin practitioners of Zhongyuan, or the experts from the western region of Xiyu, all of them were fear-stricken at the presence of this gentleman. Dared not they commit any crimes under his watch. Thus the martial world of Jianghu remains peaceful, and no contentions were to be found amongst the Wulin.

Everybody lived too comfortable a life, and seeing how the young Ming Shaoxia had commanded the world at his tender age, they were extremely dissatisfied. Thus, they found a reason to cause trouble for this Ming Shaoxia.

On the day of May 29th, he was accused by the people of committing all sorts of evil. For absolutely no reason at all, he killed the respected hero Haojie; a man loved by all. Flowers bloomed at his passing, everyone knew him, and none did not admire this man. This misdeed had incurred the wrath of God and the anger of men. Regardless of how high his prestige or how strong his skill of the martial arts, nothing can eliminate the rage of Wulin.

Overnight, our greatest gentleman under the heavens, Ming Zhangyan, had become the unforgettable man of evil. And in that time, several sects had united together to deal with him at the mist-covered rivers of Yanbo.

To describe his skill: you could say he stood invincible.

To describe his mind: he carried the one chamber the martyred Bi Gan himself lacked, but what was left of this bright gentleman’s ten chambers of his capacity for emotion and rationale were nonpresent.

Therefore, Ming Shaoxia did not die in the hands of the united sects. Instead, he had been done ill by a vile person whose identity he knew not, and in the fumbling of his steps, fallen himself into the Yanbo River.

And so our most recently accused man of evil, Ming Zhangyan, lost his life in such a dramatic way.

A great wave that ran through the Yanbo River took his body away. The several heads of their respective sects faced each other, swapped glances, and could not figure out what had happened. With a great wave of their fist, they praised: Dead! He’s completely dead!

And Ming Zhangyan who died completely, crawled up to erect himself a marker for his grave.

After the Yanbo River had tormented him into his half-dead state of being, it was fortunate that Ming Shaoxia was a persevering man with great willpower. He braved the rapids, and after bobbing about the place, finally bobbed ashore, thus preventing the successful event of his death.

As soon as he landed ashore, everyone under the heavens were praising: Ming Zhangyan is dead! Ah! How could he have just died! How pitiful our renowned, righteous sect of the clear skies, Tianqing Sect was, to have raised such a demon!

Meanwhile, the demon Ming Zhangyan had choked on some water in the Yanbo River, and some of it had found its way into his head, causing him to forget about a half portion of that which happened in his past.

When he erected a marker for himself, he was left only to ponder in a heave and a sigh.

Ming Shaoxia could remember his great achievements, but not any of his nefarious deeds. And so it could only be seen that he was a hypocritical young pugilist.

But you only had to remember the good when you were to erect a headstone, so Ming Shaoxia slowly inscribed onto his tombstone: Ming Shaoxia, date of birth unknown, origins unknown, talented and handsome, just and awe-inspiring, date of entry to the Tianqing Sect unknown, but he held it up as the number one martial sect under the heavens, and on a certain date received the decree of the common people, leaving him to command the world of Wulin beneath the skies……

……

On a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, I had bodily relations with a tender-bodied beauty and brought her up to Tianqing……

Thus ends my inscription. A close female friend of Ming Shaoxia could stand this no longer, rebuking, “If you continue your inscription, not even ten tombstones would be enough for you.”

If instead of being a pugilist, Ming Shaoxia decided to pen a book, then he would definitely become the leading scribe of the Jianghu Dailies, and rapidly will he rise in fame, finally becoming an acclaimed poet whose name resounds across the lands.

His female friend is surnamed Hua, and her name given at her infancy was Yunshang. As for the name of her coming of age—It was something Ming Shaoxia had forgotten.

After crawling ashore, the first matter he put himself to was to seek out this good friend of his.

Ming Zhangyan had suffered a great plundering, and thus his martial skill had been thoroughly crippled once he awoke. With his meridians broken and himself a short step from death, his body was also in a state of corruption.

Therefore, Ming Shaoxia had one thought of himself: Extremely unlucky.

His martial skill was his own, now all gone after ten years of rigorous training. He was sad, hurt, and tears dropped down from his sorrow. Spending his entire day in his bemoaning, he wrung his wrists in grief and wrote a poem or two, comparing himself with the renown Lin Daiyu of Dream of the Red Chamber. Like a weak willow branch trembling in the wind, he fed himself three great bowls of white rice.

After eating, his stomach was full. Ming Shaoxia vacated his mind and mulled over how he had rolled down into the Yanbo River. Under the glare of the public eye, this illustrious man had rolled off towards his end.

The more he thought about it the more aggrieved he felt. He thought that such an unparalleled gentleman could not die in such a comical way.

And so, the gentleman opened his eyes. Before leaving time to wash his face clean with his tears, he had come to Hua Yunshang to discuss a way to restore his martial abilities.

Hua Yunshang had some skill in the medical arts, but she had never met such an unreasonable and hard to care for person such as Ming Shaoxia—How was a martial artist to restore his martial skill once his meridians were broken? Unless he could find some sort of divine pill or miraculous cure, it was impossible to reconnect his broken meridians like a dry tree sprouting its leaves once more in the coming of spring.

His close friend racked her brains for several days and finally recalled a certain medicinal herb.

This herb was named the grass of the immortals, and it was one of the tributes provided to Zhongyuan by the imperial family of Xiyu. Rumors say it could cure all diseases, raise the dead, beautify, and elongate one’s life.

Ming Shaoxia cared little about the last two, he did not require any beauty treatments with the natural beauty he was born with; as for elongating his life, those who could survive a catastrophe were bound to have good fortune, this was sound reasoning from the ancient times till today. Ming Shaoxia did not die, so there are presumably good blessings lying in wait for him.

For him to live a long life was just his fate, it was only reasonable.

Therefore, Ming Shaoxia listened only to the first two of its uses, and a thread connected in his mind. Thus, the two thought up a plan in their gaily-painted pleasure-boat and decided to plunder the goods from the imperial palace.

Only, he did not have as good an outlook as he did in the past; he could now be considered half a cripple. The most urgent matter they had on hand at this moment was how they were going to come and go from the imperial palace.

Ming Shaoxia pondered on it and thought of a brilliantly terrible idea: he decided he would disguise himself as a maiden to enter the imperial palace. Then, he would become the wife of the emperor.

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Notes:
Bi Gan – The man who we will come to know as the God of Wealth. Bi Gan is a man described to be very clever, and is 七窍玲珑, describing the seven openings or chambers of his heart to be clever (in the olden days people are sometimes described to think with their hearts). The line where he has one more chamber/opening than Bi Gan comes from Dream of the Red Chamber again, describing one of the female characters as smarter than Bi Gan. To have the rest of the 9 clogged or gone or whatever means he may be clever, but not rational, emotional, or something of that sort, the chambers describe a person’s ability to process information.

All Chinese names, titles, and etc will all be explained in-text only once(1), with all further mentions in pinyin. I hope everyone can get into the flow, otherwise, I can make a list in the future listing out the meanings of everything.

I think the decree of the common people(苍生令) gives him authority over the people, but I can’t remember what the word for that thing is called, not title not plate it’s just authority. But do correct me if I’m wrong.

There may be a pun with the part where he brought the girl to Tianqing as it sounds like he’s saying he brought her up to heaven lol