Chapter 45

Impatiently wanting to look for even more treasure, Yin Xiaoxiao stood in front of the middle stone door,but suddenly hesitated. Yin Xiaoxiao began to look for the mechanism to open the stone door. As it had happened in the past, Yin Xiaoxiao naturally went to the usual place to look for the mechanism. Eh? Not there? Yin Xiaoxiao stared blankly for a while. He’d thought that the mechanism here would be the same as before, but it turned out that the middle one was actually different. Not giving up, Yin Xiaoxiao continued to look for the mechanism to open this stone door.

Half an hour later, Yin Xiaoxiao still had nothing. Yin Xiaoxiao was gloomy. Could it be that the mechanism of the stone door was not at the bottom? But he also couldn’t get to the top of the stone door to check. What should he do now? But it didn’t take very long for Yin Xiaoxiao to come up with a solution. He could take the gold, silver and whatnot that he’d seen just a moment ago and pile it up in front of the stone door. Then he should be able to climb to the top of the stone door, right? But was he strong enough to move those stones? And even if he could move those stones, could he stack them up?

Worried, Yin Xiaoxiao rubbed his head with his tail. What should he do?

“Ha….”

Huh? Just now, had there been “a man” laughing? Yin Xiaoxiao’s tail returned to lay behind his body. He got up and strained to listen. Unfortunately, although he listened for half a day ¹ , he didn’t hear anything. Yin Xiaoxiao was left to angrily return to the ground.

Huh? When did that small hole appear? Once more lying on his stomach, Yin Xiaoxiao looked and saw that a small hole had finally appeared in the stone door. Although it hadn’t existed a moment ago, Yin Xiaoxiao forwent doubt. Anyway, these small holes first appeared without a trace and then left without a trace. As long as he entered, the small hole would disappear. Very decisively, Yin Xiaoxiao entered. Now was not the time to be feeling contrary.

What was this paradise on earth? Yin Xiaoxiao had never seen anything like it before. What tomb of the first emperor ² ? What Ming tombs ³ ? Compared to the grave room before Yin Xiaoxiao, nothing could compare.

All the walls of the room were enveloped in white gauze, blue-green shining through from the walls. As a result of Yin Xiaoxiao’s good eyesight, he could tell that there must be something behind the gauze, i.e. in the walls. The whole room was unusually large, no smaller in size than two football ⁴ fields put together. Even with Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyesight, he could barely see along half the length of a football field. Painted on the ceiling of the room were the sun and clouds. He didn’t know what the sun had been painted with, but it shone with a dazzling brilliance without heat, illuminating the half of the grave room that Yin Xiaoxiao could see. Even white clouds shone a faint white.

Then he looked first at the extremely large and gorgeous bed, which was also draped with gauze. However, behind the gauze, Yin Xiaoxiao could make out the silhouette of a figure reclining. It appeared to be the occupant of the tomb. Although Yin Xiaoxiao coveted that bed, the deceased was a bigger concern, and Yin Xiaoxiao very quickly looked away. What? Why did he want that bed? It was only natural that he wanted that bed! That bed was carved from precious jade! Wasn’t it gorgeous? Hey, he really wanted to go and look at it!

In front of the bed to the left was a lake. Naturally, it was an artificial lake, and Yin Xiaoxiao was surprised that the lake was supplied with water. Not only did it not stink, but the water was so clear that the bottom could be seen. From just a quick glance, there appeared to be running water, but he didn’t know how the ancient artisans had been able to construct it within a tomb. Scattered along the bottom of the lack were pebbles, no! Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened and he wanted to go and plunge himself into the water. Those absolutely were not pebbles! They were jade stones! hey were Hetian jade of the highest quality which had been polished and turned into pebbles! Yin Xiaoxiao felt his teeth itch. What a blow! To actually use Heitian jade as pebbles! Yin Xiaoxiao felt indescribable grief and indignation! Just as Yin Xiaoxiao was about to go and use his tail to fish up some “pebbles”, Yin Xiaoxiao again heard the light laughter that he’d previously heard outside the stone door.

Yin Xiaoxiao couldn’t move. This time, the light laughter sounded even more clearly than before, to the point that Yin Xiaoxiao felt that, if he turned around, he would be able to see what had produced the light laughter! But Yin Xiaoxiao didn’t dare to! It wouldn’t have been strange if it had happened outside, but this was inside an ancient tomb! In a millennium old tomb! How could there be anything alive in here? Could it be a millennium old zongzi ⁵ ?! But…would millennium old zongzi laugh?

Just when Yin Xiaoxiao believed that he had misheard and began to relax, the sound rang out again. Not only that, but it was no longer simply laughter.

“You want the jade pebbles at the bottom of the river?”

It was a very pleasant-sounding very gentle voice. If Yin Xiaoxiao had heard this voice in a normal setting, he would have liked it and would have hoped that he and the speaker would become friends. But right now they were in an old tomb! They were still in the main grave room! Using the last of his reason, he could say that this absolutely wasn’t a living organism, right?! And so, poor Yin Xiaoxiao already had tears in his eyes. Who was provoking him? Even if he was reborn as a snake, why was he still trapped in this old tomb being bullied by some unknown entity?!

“Why aren’t you speaking?”

The next time, the voice was even closer to Yin Xiaoxiao. The tears in Yin Xiaoxiao’s eyes fell. Hey, was it possible not to scare the snake so much?!  When black hair appeared in Yin Xiaoxiao’s line of sight, Yin Xiaoxiao’s fright peaked. With a great scream, he fled with a “whoosh”. He was, without a doubt, trapped. Without any better option, he shrank back into a corner and then…wailed, crying while shouting, “Heitan, save me…there’s a monster…Heitan…boohoohoohoo…”

The thing — let’s call it a thing for now — left Yin Xiaoxiao alone by the side of the artificial lake. It tilted its head, not sure what to think, then laughed, “Does black charcoal ⁶ refer to that black snake outside? It can’t enter.”

Yin Xiaoxiao: “…” then cried even more loudly.

The thing was clearly at a bit of a loss and also very clearly sounded distressed ⁷ . “Why are you crying I won’t ⁸ hurt you. I even saved you a moment ago in the room below.”

Yin Xiaoxiao’s weeping lessened a little, becoming intermittent sobs. ‘Saved me? Below the grave room? Could it be that this thing made that small hole appear?’

“You mean that small hole?”

“Yes, that’s right. So don’t you cry. I really won’t ⁹ hurt you.”

After that, Yin Xiaoxiao did not cry and even became unusually indignant. Impulsively, he turned around and asked, “Then you’re the one who got me into this tomb, right? You didn’t even get my consent before taking….huh? You seem very familiar.”

Yin Xiaoxiao was not afraid of this thing, no, it should be said that he wasn’t afraid of this man. After all, no one could be afraid of a man with a good-looking face and a smiling expression! Yin Xiaoxiao was a man in his previous incarnation, of course he was not afraid of people!

That person still had a smile on his face and didn’t speak. Yin Xiaoxiao thought for half a day ¹⁰ and finally recalled why the person in front of him seemed familiar. “You’re that delicate and pretty youngster from the reliefs!” After responding like this, Yin Xiaoxiao again withdrew into the corner. Since this man was that delicate and pretty youngster in the reliefs, then he surely wasn’t a real person! Yin Xiaoxiao unconsciously looked at that man’s feet. Unfortunately the bottom hem was very long and very thick, so the man’s feet were not visible.

“Ah, that one you speak of is indeed I.” Suddenly, the man realized what Yin Xiaoxiao had said. “I was really bored so I went to take a look. Oh, the engravings’ resemblance is outstanding.”

Yin Xiaoxiao: “…” Yin Xiaoxiao abruptly felt that this person in front of him, whether a man or a ghost, was unlikely to harm him. Besides, Yin Xiaoxiao also held a very favorable impression of the delicate and pretty youngster from the reliefs.

“You are very strange,” the delicate and pretty youngster abruptly stated. “Your soul is undoubtedly human in appearance, but your body is a snake.”

Yin Xiaoxiao was very flabbergasted. The delicate and pretty youngster could actually see that he had originally been a human? However, Yin Xiaoxiao’s train of thought again derailed. His soul was human, could it be that, when he spent all that time slithering, his soul was crawling on the ground? Yin Xiaoxiao was full of dark threads ¹¹ , denoting that he couldn’t accept this phenomenon.

The delicate and pretty youngster seemed to see through Yin Xiaoxiao’s thoughts. The smile on his face became even more strong, but he clearly didn’t want to dispel Yin Xiaoxiao’s doubts. Instead, he said, “After so many years I only found one human, you, outside the tomb. Oh, I mean your soul, so I let you come in.”

Yin Xiaoxiao returned to his senses. “Didn’t vipers see that stone door?”

“Ah, perhaps. Snakes came here for many years, but there was no response in front of the stone door. It seemed as though they couldn’t see that stone door you mentioned.”

At this point in the delicate and pretty youngster’s words, a trace of yearning appeared in his eyes. Yin Xiaoxiao saw this. “You can’t leave?”

The delicate and pretty youngster shook his head. “I can’t leave this tomb.”

“Then won’t you stay in this tomb for a very long time?” Yin Xiaoxiao was stunned. This tomb had been around for at least one or two millenia, right? No matter how large this tomb was, wandering it for one or two millennia would be unbearable! Thinking of this, Yin Xiaoxiao felt incomparable pity and sympathy for the delicate and pretty youngster. Moreover, this delicate and pretty youngster’s temper was also very steady. In spite of being restrained for one or two millennia he actually hadn’t turned into a restless ghost…

“It’s been a very long time, but I don’t remember much. For me now it doesn’t matter how much time has passed.” The delicate and pretty youngster changed subjects, “Now, I don’t know what to call you.”

Yin Xiaoxiao hesitated. All of a sudden he didn’t know whether to call himself Yin Xiaoxiao or Lu Hao (Everyone still remembers that Yin Xiaoxiao was called Lu Hao when he had been a man, right….?). Finally he said, “I’m called Yin Xiaoxiao.”

“Yin Xiaoxiao? Yes, a very pleasant-sounding name.” The delicate and pretty youngster added,  “I am called Ji Kang.”

“Ji Kang? Your family name is Ji?” As for the Ji family name, even if he didn’t know that the king of the Zhou Dynasty’s family name was Ji, after reading the Investiture of the Gods ¹² he feared that no one wouldn’t know. Without mentioning specific names, Yin Xiaoxiao knew the names of several Zhou kings. Unfortunately, he hadn’t heard of a Ji Kang, even though Ji Kang was clearly a Zhou King. Perhaps Ji Kang’s posthumous name and title ¹³ might have left more of an impression. Thinking of this, Yin Xiaoxiao asked.

“Posthumous name and title?” Ji Kang frowned, thinking. “My posthumous name and title was Zhou Zhuang King ¹⁴ .”

Yin Xiaoxia froze. Yin Xiaoxiao knew of Zhou Zhuang King. He had been the Eastern Zhou’s third sovereign king, named Ji Tuo. He had reigned for 15 years, but, during his reign, his younger brother, Prince Ke, tried to seize the throne and was unsuccessful. History called it “The Revolt of Prince Ke”. Zhou Zhuang King matched, but there were very large discrepancies.  First, Zhou Zhuang King’s name was Ji Tuo and not Ji Kang. Second, if the treacherous youngster was Ji Kang’s brother that would make sense but “The Revolt of Prince Ke” didn’t end with the treacherous youngster’s ascension to the throne. Additionally, Yin Xiaoxiao felt that Ji Kang’s death and the treacherous youngster weren’t related.

And such, Yin Xiaoxiao asked, “Then your father is?”

“Is Zhou Cheng King.”

Yin Xiaoxiao was even more confused. Yin Xiaoxiao knew of Zhou Cheng King. Zhou Cheng King’s name was Ji Song, the son of Zhou Wu King, whose personal name was Ji Fa, was Western Zhou’s second monarch. In history the very famous Duke of Zhou ¹⁵ assisted the young master, the young master who was Zhou Cheng King, Ji Song! But Yin Xiaoxiao clearly remembered that, after the death of Zhou Cheng King, Ji Zhou, the son of Zhou Cheng King, succeeded to the throne. The Records of the Grand Historian ¹⁶ said, “During the time of Cheng Kang ¹⁷ , peace prevailed in the whole country and punitive measures had not been applied for over forty years ¹⁸ .”

Yin Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but ask, “Then who is the other youngster in the reliefs?”

This time Ji Kang clearly hesitated for a moment then said, “Naturally my younger brother, Ji Zhao.”

With the crackling of a boom, Yin Xiaoxiao at long last figured out Ji Kang’s identity. Historical accounts wrote of Zhou Cheng King Ji Song then Zhou Kang King Ji Zhao, yet in fact, in between Cheng King and Kang King was another — Zhou Zhuang King Ji Kang.

What? You’re asking why this wasn’t in the histories? You’re asking me how I know?! Anyway, this place he was in might be a parallel world, or maybe his world had Zhou Zhuang King Ji Kang! Anyway it was still a little suspicious. Zhou Zhuang King Ji Kang’s personal name had ‘Kang’ in it. It was reasonable to say that Zhou Kang King Ji Zhao’s posthumous name and title ought to have avoided having this character in it, yet Ji Zhao’s posthumous name and title actually had the character ‘Kang’ in it, which was very strange. Only, perhaps this world’s Ji Zhao’s posthumous name and title was not Zhou Kang King.

T/N: Let me know if the name formatting here is hard to follow and/or if it would be more easily readable if the title King was placed in front of the names.

Footnotes

<ol>a very long time 秦始皇陵: tomb of Qin Shihuang, the first ruler to refer to himself as emperor 明十三陵: mausoleums of the Ming emperors US: soccer 粽子: What tomb robbers used the word “dumpling” to refer to different types of human remain s 黑炭: Heitan is YXX’s nickname for MLD since he looks like a large stick of black charcoal 苦恼: can mean either vexed or distressed 不会: can mean either won’t or cannot 不会: can mean either won’t or cannot idiom meaning for a while those dark lines used in anime to depict negative emotions 封神榜: a novel written in the Ming Dynasty that was loosely based on King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty 谥号: refers to the title and name awarded to high-ranking officials and royalty that serves as a kind of shorthand for their obituary. It started in the Zhou dynasty when it was often a single character added to the title and use name ; here’s an explanation in English, towards the bottom of the page .  They got progressively longer and more ridiculous with later dynasties until they began to fall out of common use the title 王 or ‘king’ is placed at the end 周公旦: acted as regent in Zhou Cheng King’s stead until he was an adult 史记: refers to a series of volumes written by a later historian and that covered 2500 years of history refers to the rules of Zhou Cheng King and Zhou Kang King direct translation taken from page 268 from The Tradition and Modern Transition of Chinese Law by Jinfan Zhang</ol>