NOVEL NEXT Book 2: Chapter 18: The Self-Discipline of Actors (1)
Carol ran to the middle of the street with a fiery fit, took a look around, and then fell on the ground.
Instead of standing up, she takes hold of her knee and begins to cry as if the gods had abandoned her.
Well, it seems that I have misread Carol, she’s actually very talented in acting. Her portrayal of a poor girl who accidentally fell and sprained her leg on the road and can now only cry helplessly in hopes of help was so vivid that even the fall and crying seemed so real.
“Wuwuwuwu, which ⓑⓐⓢⓣⓐⓡⓓ put this stone in the middle of the road, don’t they care about other people?”
“……”
Sometimes I feel like my enhanced hearing isn’t really a good thing, especially when I’m with Carol.
Rustle. The sound of approaching footsteps instantly put me on alert. They must have heard Carol’s cry because the footsteps have become louder and faster.
I take a scroll that can conceal my presence out of the storage ring, and whisper, “I like mama the most.”
The scroll emits a faint glow that surrounded me and completely masked my presence.
A dark shadow crept out of the darkness and stopped beside Carol.“Little girl, why are you out so late? Don’t you know it’s dangerous here at night?”
Here it comes, the textbook example of a child trafficker. First, he would exaggerate how dangerous the place is, then offer to take the child home and such.
“Would you like this uncle to take you home?”
As expected, this man must have been sent by the Auction house to round up new slaves.
I gently move a bit of Lifeblood Force, gathering it within my eyes to improve my vision and soon the figure became clear.
He had an ordinary face without any special features, a beard of stubble that seems to have been left alone for a long time, and dirty worker clothes…
What the ????, isn’t this the same uncle that gave me directions earlier?
How can this be? When I spoke to him earlier I didn’t smell anything off about him, all I saw was a middle-aged man who has suffered countless struggles in life.
Could it be that he’s the legendary normal-looking uncle who controls the underworld criminals? Maybe he fakes his appearance because it’s more convenient to find beautiful women that way?
Since he was so intimate with me during the day, does that mean he also took a fancy to me? He even deliberately revealed some information to gain my trust.
H- how scary, if I hadn’t secretly come with Carol this time and learned of his true identity, the next time he appeared in front of me, maybe I would really have been fooled by him!
When I think of it, I can’t help but feel a bitter cold. This guy is a genuine ruler of the shadows. With his acting skills, I don’t know how many innocent girls have been deceived. No wonder the auction house sends him out to do this kind of thing.
Carol ignored him, still crying while holding her leg.
Maybe he felt that his words failed to inspire trust due to the lack of light thereof, the evil middle-aged uncle took out a candle from his chest pocket. I didn’t see him light a fire or anything, but the wick was ignited with just a twitch of his fingers.
The uncle moved the candle a little forward, then he bent down and said in a gentle tone, “Uncle is not a bad person.”
Hehe, who would buy that? Only bad guys say they aren’t bad guys.
At this moment, the crying Carol suddenly shook, perhaps she just recalled her mission and figured out the true identity of the person in front of her, the crying gradually stopped.
Then Carol used her wide sleeves to cover the lower half of her face, revealing only a pair of red eyes and sighed, “Many thanks for your care, milord, this Lady Safflower1 is infallibly grateful.”
J- just what the hell is she trying to pull? Milord? Lady Safflower? Infallibly grateful? Do other worlds also have this classical culture?2 Did I perhaps arrive at some strange alien world?
And what is that Safflower, a stage name? It’s quite daring for her to pick such a vulgar stage name.
Carol’s responses were like surging thunder, a clap of thunder so loud that it briefly took off my attention.
The evil uncle was shocked and stood there stunned for a long time.
He then looked Carol up and down again using the candlelight and started to shake uncontrollably.
“Y- you pitiful child, how hard did you fall to become like this?3 Not only are your eyes swollen red, but your brain was broken as well.
Hearing someone was saying that she has a brain problem again, Carol almost flared up. Fortunately, she still knew the current situation and forced herself to remain calm.
“Hehe.” Carol slowly lowered her sleeves and said, “You are quite funny, milord. This lady didn’t fall, she was born like this.”
When I saw Carol’s action, I predicted the outcome. Just as expected, the uncle froze for a few seconds after seeing Carol’s appearance, and then his listless eyes widened instantly. He yelled while falling back in a panic as if he saw a ghost. Waving the candle wildly in front of him, he spoke incoherently, “M-m-m- monster! Where did you come from?”
“You …” Carol was about to have another fit of rage, but she managed to hold back after taking a few deep breaths. She covered her mouth and laughed stiffly. “Hehe, Milord is truly a jokester, how does this lady bear any resemblance to a monster? To tease the little lady like this, did you perhaps get charmed by this lady’s natural beauty?”
“Ugh…” The uncle and I both felt sick to our stomachs.
- A Chinese “pun?” that doesn’t translate well.
> This Wing is Grateful (这厢有礼)
In ancient times, rich people live in wings (of a traditional house). They are separated into North Wing and West Wing. Rich families often have three wives and four concubines, so they naturally have lots of children. The daughters are not allowed to go out and meet strangers before they get married, so when there is a guest, they’d say; this “side (wing)” is grateful.
This side (这厢) is the way they use to refer to themselves (they are identifying by the room they live in somehow) and 有礼 is the greetings
As the word has been passed down generation after generation, it has become an uncommon word that’s not being used anymore. Now, the “wing” refers to “this side”.
- See previous note
- This line is very important to what comes next. The word 摔 means fall down. Remember at the start of the chapter, she literally fell to the ground?