Translator’s Note: This is a special translation of a chapter from PGC’s sequel, in which Su Xiaoyu finally finds out the identity of her long lost sister many years later. You are most likely here after reading Chapter 1076 in Poison Genius Consort. If not, go back and read that first. This page WILL contain SPOILERS FOR PGC’s SEQUEL (mainly, which major supporting character survived to tell the tale) so proceed to caution. No regrets allowed!
(Excerpt from Chapter 686 of PGC’s sequel)
…but inside the room, Ning Cheng was doing something completely unexpected. He was convincing Lady Su(1) to go meet her prospective marriage partner.
Actually, this wasn’t Ning Cheng’s first time coaxing her, but nobody else knew of this matter besides Lady Shangguan. Ning Cheng was a man of few words, but he’d already spoken for a while. Lady Su refilled his tea before asking coldly, “Great Manager Cheng, you didn’t come all this way just for this, right? Heheh, you’ll make me very uneasy this way.”
By contrast, Ning Cheng seemed stern as he explained, “I originally came for the Yu Clan’s(2) matters, but that’s about done. So I dropped by to bring this up in passing. The person in question is a good friend I made during my second year at the Mysterious Continent,(3) but we’ve known each other for almost 20 years now. He’s taken a fancy to you for more than simply a few days–I’ve just never brought it up. It so happens that he’ll be around Tianyu(4) these days, so there’s no harm in meeting him. You–”
“Your ladyship has just found my family and learned of my parent’s early passing, my elder brother’s death, and my elder sister’s unaccounted whereabouts,” Lady Su cut him off abruptly. “I am filled with grief and have no mood to speak of weddings. Manager Cheng, if there’s nothing else, please leave! I still need to investigate into matters of the past and figure out how to find my older sister!”
After a long period of silence, Ning Cheng finally remarked, “So you know you’re supposed to be grieving too.”
Hearing this, Lady Su froze. But she quickly turned her back on Ning Cheng and said, “It’s the middle of the night and inconvenient for men and women to meet. Manager Cheng, please leave!”
Although Ning Cheng had come to urge marriage, his goal was actually to console Lady Su. However, this was a provoking form of comfort. After all these years, he had witnessed Lady Su’s hair turn from black to white overnight, then her personality turn more and more acerbic and sarcastic on purpose. However, he’d never witnessed her years. Perhaps I should take this time to have her face her inner heart and cry a little. The purest water had no way to cleanse a person’s heart, but tears could!
Manager Cheng grew serious. “If you know you’re supposed to be grieving, why be stubborn and endure it all? You don’t need to look for your older sister anymore. It’ll just be a futile effort.”
Lady Su looked back with knitted brows!
(Continued in Chapter 687: Her waiting, her searching)
Hearing his words, Lady Su instantly sensed something amiss. Her tone grew surly as she asked, “What do you mean?”
Ning Cheng sighed, but didn’t hesitate to speak. “Over twenty years ago, your sister had already…left this world.”
Lady Su was stunned. She sprang to her feet and demanded, “How do you know? You…did you all hide something from me?”
But the next second, she found another problem. “That’s wrong! It wasn’t you all, but just you! You yourself! Did you…did you hide something from me?”
The old madam of the Yu Clan only said her older sister had gone missing in her youth just like herself, but never said she was dead. In other words, there were things than Du Feiyan and the rest(5) didn’t know that Ning Cheng did. Moreover, Ning Cheng knew ages ago. That meant Ning Cheng also knew about her origins long ago and had even met her sister!
Before Ning Cheng could reply, Lady Su suddenly rushed forward and clutched him by the collar. Her temper was a frightening thing that, when combined with her white hair, made her seem wild and insane. She demanded, “How long have you been hiding this from me? Why didn’t you tell me? Who’s my older sister?!”
Since childhood, she had been trained as a spy. Later on, she submitted and pledged her allegiance to Great Qin’s empress and served her with devoted sincerity until the present. Although she never exposed it, her heart hungered for the affections of family. Though she long knew about the Yu Clan’s old madam’s conduct, she kept hoping they could reconcile one day even if the old woman had sinister motives and didn’t treat them as family. In fact, she had even pinned those secret hopes on her long lost missing sister, but…
Seeing Ning Cheng remain silent, Lady Su grew agitated. “Speak! Who’s my older sister?! Hurry up and say it!”
Pain crept into Ning Cheng’s eyes as he said, “She was Bai Yuqiao.”
Bai Yuqiao?!
Over twenty years ago, she had been imprisoned with Tang Jing’s mother Ning Jing and Qian Duoduo’s mother Mu Linger by Bai Yuqiao’s master. They were supposed to be blackmail against the Great Qin Empress–in fact, Tang Jing was born right in their prison. For the sake of saving them, Bai Yuqiao had betrayed her master and was reduced to a puddle of blood with no bones or flesh left to her body.
Su Xiaoyu had been the last to leave the scene that day. Bai Yuqiao’s final moments were spent clutching desperately to her master’s legs to win them some time to escape. Just like her, Bai Yuqiao had a pair of bright and lively eyes. She would never forget the complicated emotions in those eyes before Bai Yuqiao died. As the years passed, she would frequently think back to them, but could never figure out the meaning of the helpless sorrow and reluctance in those pupils. After entering the Mysterious Continent, she even took “Yuqiao” as her name and became Su Yuqiao.
So it was her!
But…but why is it her?
Lady Su froze as her grip unconsciously slackened. She fell back against the table, unmoving, her position awkward and tragic.
“Bai Yuqiao…Bai Yuqiao…” she muttered to herself, then burst into laughter. “Manager Ning, what kind of joke are you playing? How could it be…how could it be her?! Haha, you have to be kidding, right?”
Ning Cheng wished he was joking too, but the reality was just that cruel. Back then, everyone thought he had subdued Bai Yuqiao, but it was Bai Yuqiao who saw the ruyi birthmark on Su Xiaoyu’s back and realized she was her younger sister. That was when she chose to help them. Bai Yuqiao knew this would only lead to death, but she didn’t want Su Xiaoyu to bear the burden and begged Ning Cheng to keep the whole thing a secret forever.
Back then, Ning Cheng only knew that the two girls were sisters, not that they hailed from the Yu Clan. Later he retired from public life and changed his name to travel with a slave trader named “Le Zheng.” From his hands, Ning Cheng obtained an extremely secret name list of kidnapped slaves and discovered the origins of the two sisters. If Du Feiyan and the rest hadn’t collided with the Yu Clan in Tianyu, who were then implicated in the Nine Li Clan and Mermaid Clan’s secrets, he would have kept his mouth shut forever.
After his explanation was done, Su Xiaoyu had no words to say. She sprawled across the table and stared blankly at the floorboards as if bereft of all strength. With effort, she tried to recall her older sister’s features, but couldn’t remember anything beyond those eyes and that expression.
Ning Cheng said nothing and looked away. Outside, Du Feiyan and the girls were also a quiet trio, their eyes rimmed red with tears. Tang Jing was almost on the verge of crying. Although she’d never met Bai Yuqiao in person, she heard her mother mention multiple times how the girl had given her the chance to live and grow up.
After a long period of silence, Su Xiaoyu finally spoke. Her voice was extremely cold and a little hoarse. “Ning Cheng, since she told you to keep it a secret, why did you tell me?!”
If she didn’t know a thing, her heart wouldn’t be hurting so much. She could still hold out hope and keep searching, even if it was for a lifetime!
Ning Cheng turned around and tried to speak, but stopped. Su Xiaoyu suddenly stood up and demanded, “Why?! Why did you go back on your word!?”
At last, Ning Cheng stood up as well. “Little Yu’er, so many years have passed. It’s about time you woke up. There’s no need for you to look for your sister anymore, much less wait for your master. You know better than anyone else about the rules of the Death Knot World. Your master’s not coming back, so stop fooling yourself.”
Su Xiaoyu slammed the table after his words, her face filled with fury. She jabbed her finger towards him and glared, not saying a word. Her breathing quickened until she was beside herself with rage to even speak.
Since Ning Cheng had come, he wasn’t going to be cowed by Su Xiaoyu’s temper. He continued, “Your master left words for you to stop waiting. Your older sister used her life to save you so you could live a good life. If I hadn’t told you the truth, would you spend your life just waiting and searching? For a master who’ll never come back and a sister who’ll never be found?”
Su Xiaoyu’s hand began to tremble at his words–not from anger, but from grief. An indescribable sorrow rushed up and made her eyes wet. She slowly dropped her arm and turned away, but didn’t have time to cover her eyes as tears poured down. Now she simply stood as her body began to shake, sobbing in grief.
“Master, little Yu’er misses you very much….Bai Yuqiao, I, I….I miss you very much too!”
Finally, she crouched into a ball on the ground and hugged herself while bursting into tears.
Master Cheng watched on silently, a mixture of feelings stirring through his heart. Still, he felt no regrets. He wanted Su Xiaoyu to have a good cry and accept the truth. The tears she’d held back for a full ten years could finally flow out. Seeing her shaking so badly, Manager Cheng wanted to approach her, but in the end he turned and left her alone. This is probably for the best.
However, he’d hardly opened the door when he spotted Du Feiyan, Tang Jing, and Qian Duoduo standing outside. The three girls had long cried their eyes red and ran past Ning Cheng’s stunned form to get in the rooms first. Tang Li gave Su Xiaoyu a tight hug while Du Feiyan and Qian Duoduo circled around them.
Du Feiyan said, “Big sister Yu, you still have us! We’re all your family!”
Qian Duoduo said, “Big sister Yu, I’ll give you all of my gold so don’t be sad, okay?”
Ning Cheng turned back, hesitant. In the end he didn’t stop them, but silently shut the door. Then he saw that Jun Jiuchen and Cheng Yifei were standing nearby outside as well…
Glossary:
(1) Lady Su is Su Xiaoyu’s official title, 苏夫人. Could also be translated as “Madam Su.”
(2) The Yu Clan referred to here has the same character as the yu in “Su Xiaoyu.” Its meaning in Chinese is “jade” (玉).
(3) Mysterious Continent (玄空) – name given to the continent north of Cloud Realm. It has yet to make an appearance in PGC as of current chapter release.
(4) Tianyu (天钰) – name of a city. Tian is “sky, heavenly, celestial,” Yu is “treasure.”
(5) Don’t worry about these people, they’re only relevant in the sequel mwahaha.
『書櫃』 