Translated by Novice Translations

Arc 1: Escaped Woman x Escaped from Marriage – 07

Day…Reward

Only like women?

Shi Jian only felt that her worldview had been reconstructed. Was it true that women can also like women?

She didn’t reside in the deep palace like Dong Ge nor has she ever heard of such romance in history. Although her parents greatly doted her and she was well-versed in the four arts1 Four arts – zither, go, calligraphy, painting (accomplishments of a well-educated person) and easily danced with guns,2 Dance with guns (idiom) – using various weapons in martial arts. but her capability was the expectation and the norm.

If it hadn’t been for Lin Wentian to suddenly escaped from marriage, she would have been married off as a woman. Even if her heart was unwilling, but she had never thought it was possible to like women in the past because she didn’t know there was such a thing.

Shi Jian’s heart turned a thousand times, she digested this sentence repeatedly. After confirming she understood the meaning, she suddenly saw Ke Li’s body in her mind.

She uncomfortably shook her fist and said in her heart that she was still here. How could she think about what she has and what she doesn’t have?

What if I like women?

It’s true that Ke Li deceived and concealed the truth from her.

Moreover, she always thought that Ke Li was only a weak woman, and protected her many times, but didn’t expect that the other party was a general’s daughter, her martial arts skill was certainly not bad.

Shi Jian suddenly remembered the day she first met her. Ke Li was wearing a red dress and was riding very fast. When she came towards her, she suddenly fell. At that moment, she was tense, but didn’t expect Ke Li would fall off the horse and caught her subconsciously.

Now that she thinks about it, Ke Li is very suspicious and obviously intended to get close to her.

After Ke Li finished her plausible remark, Shi Jian didn’t respond for half a day. She almost doubted her own acting skills then sadly said, “Sister Shi Jian, you don’t believe me?”

She spoke as if Shi Jian was the guilty person and she was a pure and pleasant little white lotus.

However, Shi Jian didn’t believe Ke Li right away. Despite that she likes women, she still deceived her in the end.

The ice in her eyes melted a lot but her voice was still cold. She said, “Who you like, what does it have to do with me?”

Although the voice was emotionless, Ke Li could hear that her tone had obviously improved, and naturally answered, “Why wouldn’t it matter? I don’t like that Lin Wentian at all. I didn’t mean to approach sister deliberately. Sister must believe me.”

She spoke sincerely as if it were true.

She listened to Ke Li’s words and felt less depressed, but she was vengeful and would not forgive the smallest slight, and replied, “If you didn’t deliberately get close to me, how did you happened to fall off your horse in front of me?”

She thought that Ke Li and herself were both general daughters, Shi Jian felt sullen. Maybe her martial arts in front of Ke Li was merely displaying her small skill before an expert.

Although Shi Jian stayed in her home, she knew that the two countries had good relations, and there had been no war for a long time, but she’s aware of the strength of both sides. It’s rumored that General Jiang Guoda is brave and good at war, and that his children were both well-verse in civil and military matters. So, Ke Li’s martial art skills were not bad, but she had been playing the role of a pig eating a tiger.

Ke Li listened, Shi Jian suddenly asked this question and she pondered. After thinking about it, she said, “At that time, I was in a hurry to go to the city, but I had no ulterior motives. I could only go with sister.”

”So, why don’t you leave here? Do you think I am a refuge?” Shi Jian questioned coldly.

However, her tone unconsciously was lighter, and her left hand unconsciously was resting on Ke Li’s back.

Ke Li felt that she has finally seen the light. She shook her head coquettishly and said, “Sister treated me well. I was thinking of staying to repay your kindness.”

Repay my kindness?

At that time, Shi Jian thought of “to devote one’s life to”3 以身相許 – has two meanings, the other meaning is “to give one’s heart to” but decided not to use that since it sounded too intense in that context. and shook her head violently. She thought it must be because Ke Li directly said she liked women, otherwise she wouldn’t have thought of it.

When Shi Jian heard that she was bent, her coldness dissipated greatly. Ke Li looked up at her with her palm-sized face and pitifully asked, “Shi Jian sister, are you still going to kill me?”

She timidly asked, as if she had suffered much grievances.

Shi Jian stared at Ke Li in dismay, she was almost deceived by that innocent face again. When she looked again, she said with a straight face, “You deceived me first.”

”…” Ke Li didn’t expect that the female lord she had created would be so vengeful, let alone that she didn’t ask what Ke Li words meant earlier.

She had just said those words and Shi Jian was left in a daydream for a while, but Shi Jian avoided talking about it, otherwise can she…

Use this opportunity to confess?

When the word “confess” came out, Ke Li suddenly felt uncertain whether she was right or not. Shi Jian hated being deceived, but what she was doing now was simply deceiving, but deceiving with purpose.

If her gender was different, she felt it would be considered sexual harassment and especially shameless.4 For my slower readers – she’s basically saying that since she’s a woman its okay to deceive Shi Jian even with purpose. But if she was a man, it would be considered sexual harassment and she would have considered herself shameless.

Ke Li suddenly lost some of her strength, could she be bent straight? Could her sexual preferences be changed?

If not, why would her mother encourage it?

The image of the male god in her mind was somewhat blurred. On the contrary, she spent more time with the female lord day and night, in the big bed in her home. The accessories changed several times, but she was reluctant to change the desktop.5 Brilliant analogy – author describing her sexuality as a computer…her “computer” accessories has slowly been “switched” aka bent, but she was still reluctant to upgrade her entire desktop to become bent.

Now she doesn’t want to complete the task at all. She just wants to go back and write and continue to be single, but this was temporarily unachievable.

Ke Li was a little agitated and asked, “Doudou, what’s the affection at now?”

[The affection fluctuates near the finish line. It seems that the female host is not joking this time.]

”Didn’t I explain it clearly?”

[If it’s useful to explain clearly, what else would the police uncle6 Doudou referring himself as police uncle aka the police uncle of LOVE… do? The heart that has been deceived needs to be stitch with love.] Doudou is a master of love. If she didn’t know its bottom,7 Double meaning – if Doudou had no bottom, it would be so shameless that its bottomless. The other meaning – Ke Li knows that it’s a “new” system that needs romance points, so she wonders how much “affection” points it gained previously to become such a master of love. Ke Li wondered how much feelings it had gained.

”…” Ke Li’s restless heart was somewhat amused by the system. She consoled the system by saying, “Now that we are here, we should try our best to accomplish the task and go back to other things.”

After a moment of silence, she said uncomfortably, “Sister Shi Jian, my letter…”

Shi Jian’s hand still held the crumpled letter, she listened to Ke Li’s question. She hid her hand behind her and quietly and sadly said, “I accidentally crumpled it, so you can write another one.”

After she said that, she retreated from Ke Li’s arms and went straight to the small heater, and without hesitation threw the paper in and burned it, as if this would cover up the fact that she had just peeked at the letter.

Ke Li: “…”

Ke Li had to rewrite the letter. She didn’t like to use a brush, and she didn’t like to write traditional characters. As a result, she had spent a lot of effort to write a letter that felt good to her. She didn’t expect it to be burnt in an instant, and she didn’t know how to express herself. But since Shi Jian initiated to turn the page,8 When you’re writing in a notebook, and turn the page, its blank and new. So, this means, she turned the page to be blank so she’s no longer angry at Ke Li. So Ke Li forgives her for trampling over her hard work. this was also good.

Shi Jian stood quietly beside Ke Li without looking at the contents of the letter, she seemed to be thinking about something. Gradually, a small hill gathered between her eyebrows and asked in a light tone, “When will you go back?”

Ke Li’s pen writing hand left a pile of ink on the letter that couldn’t be ignored. The newly organized character seemed to be stuck between the pen and the paper.9 The pile of ink is her incomplete Chinese character she was in the middle of writing. So, she paused dramatically like she was struck by her question since she didn’t finish writing her Chinese character. As if that question made her stuck between the pen (Shi Jian) and the paper (home) [This analogy I made is my understanding of the passage FYI]. Since she’s writing a letter home. It’s hard not to appreciate the author’s writing style!! Basically, Ke Li is a great actress for being subtly dramatic!!

”I don’t know.”

If there was not such a play, she might have been able to finish her task shortly without having to consider returning home. But now that the relationship is suddenly estranged, and the tone of the female host makes it difficult to call her Sister Shi Jian in a subtle way without her feeling awkward and uncomfortable.

”Mmm.” Shi Jian didn’t get a definite answer, her heart was lost, but she felt somewhat grateful. Although the return date was uncertain, but at least she would not immediately leave.

In fact, she didn’t know what she was thinking when she asked.

Ke Li is the daughter of a great general. Naturally, she can’t expect her to stay at her house for long, and she can’t let people stay because of her own selfish desire. Besides, if Ke Li really has ulterior motives…Or maybe her father, mother and emperor took Ke Li as a masterpiece,10 Fancy word substitute for deeply ingrained spy. the consequences are unimaginable.

For a moment, both of them were silent. Ke Li suspected that she shouldn’t have told her that she was bent. Although she didn’t bend, she had to tell more lies in order to explain that Ke Li didn’t liked Lin Wentian. She didn’t want to deceive Shi Jian anymore, but all her actions were deceitful.

Doudou has appeared from the shadow once there was a sudden drop in affection and busily comforted her, [Host don’t be discouraged, even I’m not afraid.]11 Doudou saying don’t be afraid of bending host, because it isn’t.

Ke Li said silently, “What are you afraid of? Did your department also arrange you a blind date? If you fail your mission, would you have to marry an ugly wife?”

[……]

Doudou grunted discontentedly: [Of course, it affects my performance.]

”Oh.” Ke Li is not interested in anything right now.

When she finished writing the letter, she was ready to send it. Shi Jian didn’t say a word during the entire process. When her identity was clear, it was suddenly difficult to talk with Ke Li as carelessly as before. After all, the other party wasn’t the weak woman that she was trying to protect.

At the time when Ke Li left to find someone to send the letter, she was ready to go out and digest what she heard today. As a result, when she went out, she encountered Shi Yao again.

Thinking that he was angry with Ke Li and was looking for trouble, Shi Jian said, “Brother, what is wrong with you?”

He didn’t answer but instead asked, “Where is Ke Si Qu?”

It’s not convenient for Shi Jian to say that Ke Li likes women, let alone whether she really likes women or not.

She vaguely said: “Brother, I will decide this matter myself, you should not interfere, let alone tell our parents.”

The more she acted this way, the more certain Shi Yao was that there was a relationship between them. Suddenly, it’s not worth talking about it. “It’s not that, it’s her fiancé who came to see her.”

Shi Jian is particularly disgusted with the word, “fiancé” and asked, “Where is he now?”

“He’s talking to father in the front hall, but soon will look for someone. Hey, you can figure it out yourself.” The meaning of Shi Yao’s words was obvious. It’s clear that the owner of this mess was Ke Li.

Because Lin Wentian fled marriage, she was already disgusted with people who fled marriage, coupled with Ke Li who was now her sister and turned out to have such an identity, it was difficult to not get angry.

”I’ll go and see first.”

Shi Jian was absent-minded along the way, thinking of the words she had promised her, “I’ll drive all the people who come for you away.” Now in this case, shouldn’t she drive them away? But how to drive them away?

Or let Jiang Guo Shizi’s son take Ke Li away?

Shi Jian was uncertain, she thought hard for a while and finally decided to part with Ke Li. After all, Ke Li was still short on her repayment of kindness for her adoption.12 Shi Jian basically adopted her since she’s raising her with her money and in her home.

Author’s Notes:

Ke Li: Repay kindness in the future.

System: Day reward…later?!!

Four arts – zither, go, calligraphy, painting (accomplishments of a well-educated person)

Dance with guns (idiom) – using various weapons in martial arts.

以身相許 – has two meanings, the other meaning is “to give one’s heart to” but decided not to use that since it sounded too intense in that context.

For my slower readers – she’s basically saying that since she’s a woman its okay to deceive Shi Jian even with purpose. But if she was a man, it would be considered sexual harassment and she would have considered herself shameless.

Brilliant analogy – author describing her sexuality as a computer…her “computer” accessories has slowly been “switched” aka bent, but she was still reluctant to upgrade her entire desktop to become bent.

Doudou referring himself as police uncle aka the police uncle of LOVE…

Double meaning – if Doudou had no bottom, it would be so shameless that its bottomless. The other meaning – Ke Li knows that it’s a “new” system that needs romance points, so she wonders how much “affection” points it gained previously to become such a master of love.

When you’re writing in a notebook, and turn the page, its blank and new. So, this means, she turned the page to be blank so she’s no longer angry at Ke Li. So Ke Li forgives her for trampling over her hard work.

The pile of ink is her incomplete Chinese character she was in the middle of writing. So, she paused dramatically like she was struck by her question since she didn’t finish writing her Chinese character. As if that question made her stuck between the pen (Shi Jian) and the paper (home) [This analogy I made is my understanding of the passage FYI]. Since she’s writing a letter home. It’s hard not to appreciate the author’s writing style!! Basically, Ke Li is a great actress for being subtly dramatic!!

Fancy word substitute for deeply ingrained spy.

Doudou saying don’t be afraid of bending host, because it isn’t.

Shi Jian basically adopted her since she’s raising her with her money and in her home.

Note: The title Day Reward is focus on the theme of repaying back kindness, aka Ke Li should be a day reward to Shi Jian….that’s why the author ended her chapter with her notes.

What do you guys think about my translations? My site has only been opened for officially one month; WAHAHAH I am proud to say that I did 90+ chapter releases during that time.

Just added some user-friendly widgets on the bottom of the site for better navigation. Also, I announced that I”ll be taking a break from Seeking Good Temptation so I can focus on power plowing to Chapter 20 on this novel!!

Debating if I should do Chapter 20…what you guys think? Its the first chapter of a new arc and I think it’s better if whoever picks it up does it so they can get their bearing on the names, etc.