by A Sick Frog
The bunch of them reached the KTV noisily with Qin Ke Xuan following them.
The bunch of them filled up the space, barely able to squeeze everyone into the room. Qin Ke Xuan chose a spot closest to the corner and sat down, observing their actions and behaviours.
Since everyone was playing around noisily, their seats were not fixed, so after a short while, a girl had sat down beside Qin Ke Xuan, along with another girl by her side.
Qin Ke Xuan’s gaze slowly turned towards her. She swept her a glance, after appraising her as those cleavage-revealing kinds, she turned her gaze away.
The other girl jostled the cleavage girl before the cleavage girl started awkwardly: “Hello, I’m Meng Xiao Jing, what’s your name?”
Qin Ke Xuan kept quiet.
Meng Xiao Jing asked carefully: “You’re really Yin Xu Dong’s younger sister? Cousin (female)?” According to what she had known about Yin Xu Dong, he was the only child in his family, he did not have any brothers or sisters.
Qin Ke Xuan continued keeping quiet. It had always been her sounding people out; those who had wanted to get any information out of her were all no longer alive.
Meng Xiao Jing was fine, but the girl beside her could not hold in her anger, so she said angrily: “Hey! What’s with your attitude?! We’re talking to you nicely but you’re actually ignoring us?!”
Meng Xiao Jing pulled the girl, her expression falling, “Since she’s unwilling to talk, then forget it, let’s not make a fuss out of it, okay?”
That girl glared at Qin Ke Xuan fiercely and pulled Meng Xiao Jing to sit beside Yin Xu Dong. Even with all the song-singing, chatting and noise, Yi Xu Dong noticed the problem, and asked Meng Xiao Jing: “What happened?”
“Nothing, we just talked a little.”
Meng Xiao Jing did not want to spoil the atmosphere, but the girl beside her did not like keeping the peace, and commented loudly: “All thanks to your sister, Xiao Jing talked to her, but she just completely ignored her, what’s her deal?!”
Yin Xu Dong glanced at Qin Ke Xuan instinctively and saw Qin Ke Xuan standing up and heading for the door, it couldn’t be that she got angry, could it? He stood up too, catching up to her, “Xuan Xuan? Don’t blame them, they just… didn’t understand you…” If they did, it would probably be even worse.
Qin Ke Xuan looked at the Yin Xu Dong blocking her way strangely, “It’s noisy here, I want to go back.” Seeing how she had already learnt how they were utilising the strange object to singing the so-called K—in other words, karaoke, she felt that there was no need for her to continue staying in this noisy little dark room.
“Don’t!” Yin Xu Dong convinced that Qin Ke Xuan was angry and was leaving, and seeing how everyone in the room had paused to sneak glances at the two of them, decided to pull Qin Ke Xuan out to talk.
Qin Ke Xuan swatted away his hand, saying coldly: “Say your stuff, don’t touch me.”
Yi Xu Dong massaged his hurt hand, and opened the door quickly, “Okay, okay, let’s talk outside.”
The moment Qin Ke Xuan stepped out, Yin Xu Dong closed the door, separating them from the pairs of eyes curious and thirsty for gossip.
“Xuan Xuan~ don’t be angry okay? They’re my friends, if they did anything to offend you, I apologise in their stead. Xuan Xuan, can you save me some face?” One side being his friends, and the other side being the “sister” who can offer him a chance to change his life, he did not want to upset either parties.
Qn Ke Xuan completely did not take the two girls seriously. She wanted to leave, but could not help but sweep her eyes over him, asking: “Why should I save your face?” She usually left those who she gave face to alive and in one piece.
Yin Xu Dong was speechless.
“Xuan Xuan~ my ancestor! I’m begging you okay? What about this, after this, I’ll go back and teach you how to use the computer!”
“What can you do with a computer?”
“Everything! Chatting, watching videos, looking up information, pretty much anything you want to do…”
“Fine, I’ll give you face.” Qin Ke Xuan immediately changed her decision, and giving him some face and leaving him in one piece was not that hard for a thing to do.
Yin Xu Dong happily brought Qin Ke Xuan back into the room. Qin Ke Xuan, once again, sat down at her isolated corner.
Meng Xiao Jing looked fixedly at Yin Xu Dong, while the girl beside her harrumphed coldly.
Yin Xu Dong glared at the girl fiercely, then turning to beam brightly at Qin Ke Xuan.
Shortly after, the strangest of scene unfolded before the masses. The insufferably arrogant and remote and aloof Yin Xu Dong was actually kissing up to Qin Ke Xuan by attending to her every need, almost enough to kneel down beside her to massage her leg.
“Xuan Xuan~ this fruit tastes pretty good, try some.”
“Mmh.”
“Xuan Xuan~ this salad with dressing also tastes pretty good, come try some.”
“Put it down.”
“Xuan Xuan~ these songs sound nice, do you want to sing some of them?”
“No.”
“Okay, actually I think it sounds terrible too, who selected it? What a crappy song!”
The bunch of people in the room rolled their eyes; wasn’t he the one who had chosen the song!
Ah Lang appeared beside the Yin Xu Dong who had finally sat down, “Bro, I was too blind to see that you’re actually a sis-con! My apologies my apologies!”
The people around them proceeded to burst into laughter.
Yin Xu Dong, while red-faced, was all determined to sort out the problem. Why did he take on such an arduous task? Was it not in efforts to harmonise and reconcile the dispute between the two parties! Though the main purpose of doing this was to suck up to Qin Ke Xuan seeing how he would be able to benefit from the Xiao Li Flying Dagger and Sunflower Dian Xue Hand he could learn from her.
“Sis-con my ass! You’re the sis-con! You entire family’s sis-con!”
Meng Xiao Jing looked at the flushed Yin Xu Dong making a ruckus with the boys in the room while not forgetting to sneak occasional glances between Qin Ke Xuan and him, and felt a tinge of aching helplessness in her chest.
Yin Xu Dong, seeing how no matter how much the rest of them teased their relationship Qin Ke Xuan did not reveal any expression of discontent (even though she was probably discontented), sighed with relief.
After leaving the KTV, it was already past noon, so the bunch of them headed to a restaurant to have lunch.
During that period of them, Yin Xu Dong was once again subjected to the burning gazes of the masses while taking food for Qin Ke Xuan in a hardworking manner. Finally, no matter how much he protested, the title of being a sis-con became secured to his head.
After lunch, Qin Ke Xuan’s patience has already reached its limits. She could tell that they were just a bunch of hedonistic sons with rich parents congregating to eat and have fun. Fortunately for Yin Xu Dong’s clear view of things, he bid his farewell and the two of them headed back on their own before Qin Ke Xuan exploded.
“Xuan Xuan, I’ll teach you how to use the computer, and you teach me Qing Gong after, deal?” After careful deliberations, Yin Xu Dong decided to place his priorities on learning Qing Gong.
“No deal.” Qin Ke Xuan fiddled with the computer. Turns out she had a computer in her room, but it was somewhat different to that of Yin Xu Dong’s. She also realised the television-like device she used to watch Conan the other day was the so-called computer.
“Why?!” Yin Xu Dong protested.
The sides of Qin Ke Xuan’s lips twitched suspiciously, “You don’t have Inner Force, there’s no way for you to learn Qing Gong.”
“Aye? Then let’s start with learning Inner Force then.”
“…”
“Aye? You can’t possibly not want to teach me anymore just because I farted?!”
“According to the verses*, were you able to feel where your Dan Tian is located at?”
(T/N: Qi
n Ke Xuan is referring to The Ways of the Inner Gong verses she recited, chapter 9)
“… Actually, Xuan Xuan, I don’t even think I can sense the so-called Qi…”
“…”
Yin Xu Dong scratched his head apologetically, and asked carefully: “If there any martial arts moves that do not require Inner Force?”
“Yes.”
“What is it? What is it?” Yin Xu Dong’s eyes lit up.
Qin Ke Xuan said calmly: “Killing, you don’t need to have Inner Force to kill someone.”
Yin Xu Dong paused for a moment, before saying in disdain: “Pshh! If I had an AK47 in my hand, do I still need to learn martial arts? Problem is that I don’t have one.”
Qin Ke Xuan immediately applied what she had learned. She entered “AK47” into the web page and clicked “Bai Du“*, and a lot of information regarding AK47 popped up, the computer was sure a convenient device. Qin Ke Xuan had also learnt, at the same time, that pinyin was not all that useless for they were necessary for typing words.
(T/N: “百度” = “Bai Du”; think Google/Bing/Yahoo, except it’s a Chinese search engine)
“If you’re thinking of solely relying on good weapons to succeed, you will find yourself failing more often than not. I recommend you give up on such sentiments.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Translator’s Note:
Regarding the Inner Gong/Force and Qing Gong terms I’ll summarise what I’ve gathered so far, please do correct me if I’m wrong, I haven’t read this book very far either:
You need to cultivate Inner Gong in order to gain Inner Force, which can be done by reciting the verse for The Ways of the Inner Gong while cultivating.
And the prerequisite to learning Qing Gong is that you need to have Inner Force.
Chapter 12 - Kidnap
One month away from mid-year examinations, Qin Ke Xuan was currently facing her first ever examinations. Only having finished her primary school level textbooks, Qin Ke Xuan sat her at seat, bored out of her mind, as she surveyed the classroom filled with students scribbling away at a tremendous speed. She wanted to find some book to read to pass the time, but she only had an exam script in her hands, her textbooks were all placed away at the teacher’s table.
Qin Ke Xuan decided to just submit her script and leave, except that her phone started ringing, attracting the attention of the students and the teacher. The teacher in front immediately started shouting: “Qin Ke Xuan?! Are you thinking of cheating? Didn’t I say that phones are not allowed into the examination venues?!”
Qin Ke Xuan fished out her phone expressionlessly, “Who are you?”
“Xuan Xuan, it’s me your father, father’s got something to say, listen carefully.”
“Speak.”
“Tonight, don’t come home, can you see if you can stay over at a friend’s place for the night?”
“Reason.”
“Uh… the, there’s some problems at home, it’s better for you not to come back, be good, stay over at a friend’s for tonight first.”
“Then when it is okay to go back?”
“It depends on the situation when it’s all okay, I’ll give you a call.”
“Mmh.” Qin Ke Xuan hung up, wrote her name on the blank script, and walked towards the furious teacher whose hands were still shaking from anger as she pointed at Qin Ke Xuan in ridicule. Qin Ke Xuan placed the script on the teacher’s table and turned to leave.
After seeing the script completely blank save for a name, that teacher was furious enough to faint.
Qin Shu Hua, completely disoriented from all the things he was trying to settle, upon seeing Qin Ke Xuan coming back from school froze, unable to react for a moment, “Xuan Xuan, why are you back?”
Qin Ke Xuan surveyed the people in the room, asking instead of replying: “Why are they here?” If she had not remembered wrongly, the people wearing such clothes in Conan were known as the police, and they specialised in catching killers, similar to detectives back in her time. Unless someone really died the other time? And that these policemen were here to catch her? Qin Ke Xuan frowned faintly, surveying the surroundings quickly. If she was not able to finish off these people instantly, then she would have to look for the best escape route.
One of the policemen walked towards Qin Ke Xuan, stopping in front of her, and asked Qin Shu Hua: “This is…”
“My daughter.”
While Qin Ke Xuan was still deliberating if she should gain the initiative by striking first, the policeman started: “Hm, under such situations, we would first protect the children, we’ll have two policemen stationed along with your daughter. I’ll explain to her the current situation so as to seek her cooperation.” After saying his piece, he turned to start arranging.
Were they not here to apprehend her? Qin Ke Xuan then turned to look at Jiang Hui Lin sobbing at the sofa, and asked Qin Shu Hua: “What happened?”
Qin Shu Hua frowned in worry, suddenly appearing older than his age, said dejectedly: “Your brother got kidnapped, and the kidnapper is currently threatening us. Xuan Xuan, you must be good and listen to the police uncle, don’t go running around anyhow okay?”
Qin Ke Xian nodded and returned to her room. The two policemen standing beside her, “glaring” at her as though she would disappear any moment, dashed her original training plans. If she were to have them leave, they would reject her with the “cannot allow any hindrance to the execution of official business” reason.
Qin Ke Xuan could not help it except to grudgingly switch on her computer to search information up.
The two policemen, however, started chatting, “This girl’s too, you know, I mean she still has the mood to go online when her little brother’s kidnapped?”
“Aye, you don’t know how serious computer addiction is among high school kids nowadays. It’s so bad to the extent that they become dismissive of their parents, so it’s not that strange!”
“Her parents were beside themselves with worry when I was downstairs just now. She didn’t even react though, it’s as though the entire thing’s completely unrelated to her.”
“Don’t you know, I head that that woman’s not her biological mother, her brother’s actually the son of her stepmother and father. Tsk tsk, no wonder she’s so cold-blooded about it.”
“…”
The two of them kept on murmuring as though Qin Ke Xuan could not hear them.
Until their captain, the policemen who had been talking with Qin Shu Hua initially, walked in and glared at them did they slowly shut their traps. Officer Song walked towards Qin Ke Xuan, asking: “Did you offend anyone recently?”
Qin Ke Xuan looked at him fixedly, neither talking nor adorning any expression, as though a puppet doll. Her eyes, however, revealed the glaring astuteness that spared none the ability to overlook her presence.
No matter how Officer Song looked, she appeared to very normal, albeit slightly skinner than a high school student. She did not seem to have any reason to seek such a huge trouble unless that was the kidnappers’ scheme?
He coughed lightly, continuing: “Or meet any peculiar people?”
“Just say what you want to express straightforwardly.” Be it the policemen here, or the detectives back in her days, they were all so ridiculously slow.
Officer Song rubbed away his non-existent cold sweat discreetly, “Actually, you needn’t be involved in this, however, if we don’t ask you, we will miss out a large piece of the events that happened, and we won’t be able to help you locate your brother…”
Qin Ke Xuan: “Don’t beat around the bush, what’s your point.”
Officer Song choked. He was labelled as long-winded by a kid.
“It’s like this, the kidnappers called, demanding that in order to release your brother, we need to send you to them…”
Qin Ke Xuan cut him off, “Then how are you handling it?” If they had really decided to have her exchange herself for that little brat
, she would consider giving them a piece of her mind, by force.
“Of course we cannot accept the kidnappers’ conditions! You don’t need to worry about this, we will settle the matters, all you have to do is wait for our instructions.” Officer Song patted his chest, giving his word that he would safeguard the citizens’ security.
Qin Ke Xuan spared him a sideward glance, “So you’re here to waste my time just to tell me you’re doing what you’re supposed to do?”
Officer Song choked on his breath, “Cough cough cough…”
“If you have the time to do that, why don’t you spend it on locating where the kidnappers are. If there’s nothing else, you may leave.” What Qin Ke Xuan had very unambiguously hinted at was: don’t stay here and be an eyesore, please do get lost.
Officer Song returned to his post, comforting his fragile glass heart.
As for the other two policemen, they gave each other a look and very unanimously decided to halt their discuss on Qin Ke Xuan. Who knows if they would encounter a similarly bitter treatment as their captain had.
Qin Ke Xuan continued searching up information online regarding information about rising from the dead. The majority of the stuff she found, however, were fictional works. They were all time-traveling stuff when she briefly swept through them, talking about dying in this world and being reincarnated in another, some even being reincarnated as kids, some as servants, all sorts of personas basically. This seemed to be somewhat similar to her situation, but the different part was that they went back in time, while she came forward in time…
She did not seem to be able to find a way to go back. The stuff she read though seemed a little too much, to actually be able to time travel even while their sleeping or drinking water? Looked like she still had to dig deeper to look for the information, there was no way she would believe such absurdities.
Yin Xu Dong after ending school headed straight over to Qin Ke Xuan’s place via the balcony. He was, however, immediately subjected to face-planting the ground by the two shadows pouncing at him the moment he dropped down in her balcony.
“Bah! Who that?! Which asshole dares to plot against me?!” Yin Xu Dong sprawled on the ground was still struggling.
