PeachCh2 - The Fairy

“BLARRGHHH—”

Chang Jiabao got a whole mouthful of raw chicken guts, and the bloody, gamey smell filled his mouth and nostrils at once. The mushy, sticky sensation made him retch immediately. cUs7B2

“AHHH!” screeched the aunt in shock. She had not thought that Chang Qi would react this way. She quickly pulled her son over and slapped his back.

“Spit it out, quick!”

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Chang Qi’s mother heard the commotion and ran out in a hurry. She only had enough time to shove her toes into her shoes, and her heels pressed the back of the shoes flat as she half-stumbled out of the residence in her haste. She wore a luoqun of coarse cloth, and an unadorned wooden hairpin held up her hair in a simple bun. Her face was pale and her steps unsteady, but none of this detracted from her natural beauty.

Chang E’s beauty had been the very reason why Chang Qi’s maternal grandmother had insisted on giving her the name “Chang E”, saying that her daughter was more beautiful even than her namesake, the fairy on the moon. Chang Qi personally had always thought that his mother was really a fairy descended from heaven. yK9VMI

“What’s all this?” Chang E asked, pulling Chang Qi towards her protectively just as his aunt was about to push him. “What trouble have you gotten into this time?”

The last question was addressed to Chang Qi.

“Cousin wanted to eat the chicken I bought, so I was just giving him a taste,” Chang Qi said innocently.

“You little monster, how could you stuff chicken guts into your cousin’s mouth?! That stuff is so dirty, he’ll get chicken plague!” the aunt said. She had earlier picked up a gourd ladle and scooped some water for her son to rinse his mouth. Now that her son was more or less settled, she was able to focus her attention on castigating Chang Qi. She picked up the chicken guts that Chang Jiabao spat out earlier and moved to feed them to Chang Qi.

“Now it’s your turn! Try it for yourself!” the aunt said angrily.

Chang E’s brows furrowed as she took a step back, simultaneously pulling Chang Qi back with her.

“Tsk, this woman is so shameless. She gave birth to a little bastard son and lets him bully her elder brother’s son! Who does she think her son is?” Mrs Zhang, the next-door neighbour, said critically, tutting in disapproval.

“Exactly. If it were me, I’d have strangled the little bastard, and then jumped into a river myself,” Mrs Zhang’s mother-in-law said with a sneer. XOqI5W

“BLARGHHH—” Chang Jiabao’s stomach had actually stopped heaving earlier, but when he saw his mother pick out the chicken intestines from the heap of vomit, he couldn’t help but start vomiting again.

Chang E grit her teeth, raised her hand, and spanked Chang Qi hard on his buttocks.

“See what happens when you’re not obedient! We don’t even know when your noble father is going to come bring us with him! How are you going to live to see your dad if you keep making trouble like this? I’ve told you so many times, give way to your little cousin! Why don’t you listen?”

Chang E continued to hit Chang Qi as she shouted this, and the loud thwacks made by Chang E’s palm hitting Chang Qi’s clothes resonated in the courtyard. Chang E’s voice was already the carrying sort to begin with, and when she raised her voice, the neighbours could all hear her loud and clear. hdJPZB

The Zhang family’s necks shrank back a little. They had heard that Chang Qi’s father was a member of the high nobility before, but they’d all conveniently forgotten about it because Chang E had not mentioned this recently.

When Chang E’s palm came into contact with Chang Qi’s body, he froze for a moment, then cried out piteously.

“Wahhhh!”

The sound was so heart-rending that even his aunt got a shock. P8UfmK

Upon seeing Chang Qi cry so pitifully, the neighbours also started to find the scene rather unbearable to watch. Mrs Qiu, the neighbour who lived opposite the Changs, came out and tried to persuade Chang E to stop.

“Madam Chang, do stop – your child is so young, he can’t stand this kind of beating!”

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Chang E was as beautiful as a fairy from heaven, but her brother was the exact opposite, with coarse and unrefined features. One might even call him ugly. There was no family resemblance between Chang E and her brother at all.

“Chang Sheng, you’re finally home! Quick, stop your sister – she’s going to injure the kid if she goes on like this! And your wife – she refuses to give in at all!” Mrs Qiu said in a huff. She was quite angry now.

Mrs Qiu was Old Uncle Qiu’s wife. Old Uncle Qiu held a high position in the farmlands, and everyone treated Mrs Qiu with respect.

“Mom, I’m sorry… boohoohoo…” Chang Qi persisted with his piteous wailing, and there wasn’t a single person who could set eyes on him without feeling sorry for him. tJ5uvL

Chang Sheng looked at his pitiful little nephew, then at his domineering wife. It was obvious who the aggressor and the victim looked to be here. The neighbours were all pointing and whispering, and he felt like he was rapidly losing face.

“Alright, alright, stop messing around!” he said, pulling his sister away before turning to scold his wife. “You make trouble for me every day! Don’t you think you’re running out of face to lose?”

Chang E did not say anything after this. She led the still sniffling Chang Qi back to their house and closed the door. Tears were still flowing dramatically down Chang Qi’s cheeks. Chang E couldn’t stop herself from rolling her eyes and poking her son’s forehead with her index finger.

“Alright, that will do, you little bratty bastard,” she said. “You can stop pretending now!”* ltJqXS

Chang Qi blinked innocently, eyeballed the closed door, then wiped his face with a dirty hand. The dust and dirt on his hand mixed with his tears and streaked his face with grey, making him look even more miserable. There wasn’t even a hint of sorrow on his face, however; he smiled brightly as he held out the half-chicken he’d managed to protect to his mother.

“Let’s boil some chicken soup!” he said.

“Is eating all you think about?” Chang E said, glaring at him. Her fierce response belay her motherly actions; she picked up a cloth, wet it, and started wiping the grey streaks off his face roughly, as if his face were a table she was cleaning.

Chang Qi raised his face and allowed his mother to wipe his face clean. w9ediL

“You’re not well, so you should eat some nourishing food…” Chang Qi said into the cloth that was busily wiping his face, his voice muffled. His mother didn’t say anything in response, so he added a cavalier little joiner. “When I’ve grown up a bit more, let’s leave.”

Chang E stopped wiping his face and flicked his forehead with a finger.

“Leave? Where would we go to? If you’re not skilled in martial arts, it’s hard to do anything in this world. You don’t even learn martial arts from your uncle properly like I told you to.”

Chang Qi pursed his lips. His uncle only knew some low-level external martial arts. Even if he reached the pinnacle of cultivation of that type of martial art, he’d still rank as a hard labourer in the grand scheme of things. YdE0Xe

“I will definitely become the most famous warrior and hero in the world! And when I do, I will own a thousand-acre chicken farm, and have chicken to eat at every meal!” he said exuberantly.

At this time, Chang E had the chicken in hand and was preparing to cook it.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

“Alright, I await the day when the Chicken Farm Warrior shakes the foundations of the martial arts world,” she said, chuckling.

Chang Qi jumped to sit proudly on the table, and dangled his legs under it, swinging them back and forth playfully. gZ7UIn

The pot of chicken soup was soon ready. Chang E scooped out the chicken leg and placed it in a bowl. After removing the chicken leg, there was practically no meat left on the half-chicken. She turned to look at her skinny little son, frowned, then put the chicken leg back into the pot, scooping out a chicken wing to put into the bowl instead.

“You eat first. I’ll go give some to your uncle,” she said, pouring the rest of the contents of the pot into a large soup tureen. She set the tureen down on the dining table. Food did not keep well in the summer heat and had to be finished in one sitting. Chang E and Chang Qi weren’t very particular about dining etiquette and were quite happy to just eat out of the serving bowl.

Chang Qi looked at the coarse earthen bowl in his mother’s hand that was filled with chicken soup and a wing. He knew it was meant for Chang Jiabao. He pushed himself off the table, landing on the floor firmly.

“Let’s eat first. I’ll send the soup over after we’re done,” he said. Chang Qi’s reasoning was that he and his mother should eat their fill first, in case something unexpected cropped up in between and robbed them of their meal. Y4MGUH

He and Chang E polished off all the chicken. All that was left was the wing in the earthen bowl that was meant for Chang Jiabao and a chicken backside. Chang Qi wrapped the chicken in oilcloth and put it carefully into the front folds of his clothes. He picked up the earthen bowl, then headed off to the forecourt.

Chang Qi fished out the yellow packet he bought from the rat poison seller in town earlier. He bit his lip in thought, but eventually didn’t put any of the yellow packet’s contents into the soup, settling for spitting into the soup instead.

“Uncle, Mother said to bring this for Cousin Jiabao,” Chang Qi said to Chang Sheng. He had a pair of peach blossom eyes, and the corners of his eyes had a natural, pale pink blush. This blush was even more pronounced now because he had cried earlier. He deferentially raised the earthen bowl above his head with both hands, and cast his large, slightly reddened eyes at his Uncle, looking as good as gold.

At this sight, Chang Sheng couldn’t help but feel his heart ache for Chang Qi. os9ahP

“Xiao Qi, why don’t you eat this yourself? Jiabao has already eaten.”

Chang Qi said nothing, maintaining his position with the bowl in his hands above his head.

In this situation, Uncle Chang Sheng could only extend a hand to accept the bowl of chicken soup. He fished around in the front folds of his clothes, brought out two pieces of sweetcake that he had bought in town earlier, and gave them to Chang Qi.

“Thank you, Uncle,” Chang Qi said, accepting the two sweetcakes before turning to leave. Upon leaving the forecourt, he headed toward the plum orchard that was east of the chicken farm. rxb8WH

Because the wife of the Jingang Sect Leader loved to eat plums, the farmlands here had lots of plum orchards. It was plum season now, and the enticing smell of sweet plums filled the air for miles around.

There were many children in the farmlands, but not a single one dared to steal the plums. The reason for this was a strange, gnarled old man who guarded the plum orchard. No one knew his name, so they just called him Old Man Plum.

“Old Man Plum, Old Man Plum!” Chang Qi shouted. He had squeezed through a gap in the fence and was standing under a plum tree.

“What? Why are you making such a noise!” a hoarse old voice said, the sound coming from a dilapidated little hut. Before long, a rickety figure that was blind in one eye shambled out from the hut. hSOFCG

Chang Qi ran over and presented him with the oilcloth-wrapped chicken backside and the two sweetcakes. “Here, this is for you,” he said.

“You brat, why is there only a chicken backside?” Old Man Plum looked around for a tree root to sit on, picking up the oilcloth packet for a sniff as he did so.

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“It was really hard to come by even a bit of chicken, and my Aunt took it all. There were only some bones and this chicken backside left. I took the bones to make soup for my mother, and saved the chicken backside for you,” Chang Qi lied glibly, pursing his lips as if affronted.

“Hmph. Fine, I accept,” Old Man Plum said, eating the chicken backside with gusto. He pulled out a battered book from a snarl of tree roots and tossed it to Chang Qi, soil and all. “I’ll teach you the 18th sentence today. Remember it well.” 52dfJZ

The battered book was very old, and its pages were tattered and torn. On its cover were the words “Tianyan Wanxiang Gong”. The first time Chang Qi saw this book, he thought he had obtained a rare secret book, and was so excited that he couldn’t sleep the entire night. Subsequently, he found out from the ruffians in town that the Tianyan stances were just basic exercises for beginners that all practitioners of Qi martial arts had to learn, regardless of their sect.

Even though these were just basic exercises, in the whole of the farmlands, only Old Man Plum had any knowledge of it at all. Chang Qi took his lessons with Old Man Plum seriously. In the very least, he could learn how to read.

“Gather the qi of heaven and earth at the Shaoyang meridian…” Old Man Plum said, reading from the book with his mouth full of chicken.

“How do you read this word?” Chang Qi asked, pointing at a character. ugYE V

“That’s ‘gang’, the same ‘gang’ that’s used in ‘tian gang di sha’… Hey, you little brat, you’re reading stuff at the back!”

The page Chang Qi pointed at was one of the last few pages, and Old Man Plum suddenly realised that Chang Qi had nearly read the whole book.

“I’m just trying to learn how to read,” Chang Qi said, smiling sweetly as he returned the book to Old Man Plum. He dusted off his buttocks, stood up, grabbed a few plums, and fled like the wind.

“Stop there! You’re stealing plums again!” Old Man Qi shouted, getting up to chase Chang Qi. He was too late; Chang Qi was long gone. xOVB71

On the way back, he passed by the Zhang family’s house. There was a small ruckus happening inside, with Mrs Zhang scolding her son loudly.

“You are not to play with Chang Qi in future, you hear me? His mother is a shameless woman…”

At dawn the next day, when the sky was just beginning to brighten with the first rays of the sun, Chang Qi crawled out of bed, rubbed his eyes, picked up the cold teapot and drank a few gulps of icy water from the spout. He picked up a straw basket at the door and headed to the chicken farm. The earlier he got to the chicken farm, the more eggs he would be able to collect.

“Xiao Qi always picks the most,” Old Mr Qiu said, smiling as he distributed the reward for their efforts: one chicken egg. They could ask for a boiled egg or a raw egg. As the child who collected the most eggs, he was rewarded with two eggs, one raw and one boiled. VGX1fH

He kept the raw egg in his clothes and peeled the boiled egg to eat, to the envy of the other children.

The Zhang family’s son and Chang Jiabao huddled together, whispering to each other, whilst the other children were all gathered around Chang Qi.

“Chang Qi, your mom said yesterday that your dad is some high noble – what kind of noble is he?” one of the children asked curiously.

“If I told you, you’d all be scared to death!” Chang Qi grinned. “But I’ll tell you something. My mom is a divine fairy who enjoys heaven’s protection. If you say anything bad about her, you’ll get sores on your mouth and tongue, and the soles of your feet will be filled with pus!” BP1fW0

“Really?” some of the children said dubiously.

“He’s for real,” the Qiu family’s grandson said, remembering something. He imitated his granny’s mannerisms, slapping his thigh before continuing dramatically. “This morning, I saw Aunty Zhang, and her mouth was covered in huge sores!”

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Author’s note: Mini-theatre

“Prophecies are usually only half fulfilled” zjM4Kb

Qiqi: My mum is a fairy, whoever talks bad about her will get sores in their mouth

Neighbour: Aiya! The Zhang family have all got huge sores on their mouths!

Qiqi: My dad is a nobleman, one day he will give me wealth and riches

Emperor: You’re absolutely right, why don’t you drop by and offer up your body? aI9sP7

Qiqi: The one I love is a great hero, one day he will ride on clouds to come get me

Birdie Gong: Tweet?

Qiqi: … …

Translator: I don’t know if non-Chinese will get this, but the interaction between Chang Qi and his mother in these paragraphs above actually indicates that they are really close and have great teamwork. 😀 t60 WR