Remnants of Filth Chapter 6: Gu Mang's Whereabouts

Warnings for dubious consent and graphic violence

As if in a dream, he turned his head and saw a familiar figure.

In the moonlight, under the Tung blossoms of Feiyao Terrace. Quietly looking at him.

But that man was not Gu Mang --- Naturally, it could not be Gu Mang. When he returned to his senses, he scoffed at himself, what was he thinking?

The speaker was a gentle-looking man. He was seated in a wooden wheelchair, dressed in plain winter attire, and his crippled legs were covered with a thin, pale pink blanket.

Mo Xi was slightly surprised, "Elder Qing Xu?"

Elder Qing Xu, Jiang Yexue. He was the elder brother of Yue Chenqing.

He was different from the carefree, silly guy that Yue Chengqing was. Jiang Yexue's life was tragic. His mother died early, and he was later kicked out from the Yue family because he insisted on marrying the daughter of a convicted official.

At that time, they had no money or possessions. Their marriage ceremony was very simple. Due to duress from the Yue Clan, only a few people, including Mo Xi and Gu Mang, insisted on attending the ceremony.

Mo Xi gifted them a small courtyard. Gu Mang was speechless when he saw the title deed. Later on, he told Jiang Yexue, buddy, I'm poor, I can't afford to send you this. The audience laughed, and amidst the laughter, and with his cheeks bulging, he blew them a tune of 'Feng Qiu Huang'[1] with his suona[2].

However, the good times did not last. Jiang Yexue joined the military with his wife. The war was merciless. First, it took away his wife. Then, it deprived him of his legs.

Mo Xi did not know how this man got through it all. The good thing was that Jiang Yexue was gentle on the outside and tough on the inside. At last, he picked himself up and found a position as an elder in the Cultivation Academy, teaching the ways of weapon refinement. But this move unexpectedly angered his biological father. The Yue Clan was the number one weapon refinery in Chonghua, and so Yue Juntian demanded the Cultivation Academy to remove Jiang Yexue from his teaching post.

"This rebellious son has been expelled from the Yue Clan and doesn't even take on our family name now. He still dares to rely on the expertise of the Yue Clan to make a living?!"

The academy master could not dissuade Yue Juntian, and thus he could only tactfully dismiss Jiang Yexue.

Mo Xi took in everything with his eyes and decided to make a position for him in his own Military Affairs Office. Who knew that he had yet to ask Jiang Yexue when the Cultivation Academy master went and beseeched him to return the very next day. This time, no matter what the Yue Clan said, it was all in vain. The academy master would only say that it was "upon the exhortations of a dear old friend."

As for who that unknown dear old friend was, it remained a secret in Chonghua even to this day.

Jiang Yexue was aware that he and the Yue Clan both detested each other, thus he never attended this kind of large-scale banquet. That was why Mo Xi was so surprised to see him here.

"Why are you here?"

"I......" Jiang Yexue said, "I'm here to see Chengqing."

"......"

When Jiang Yexue left, Yue Chenqing was still young and could not clearly remember much of what happened in the past. But as an older brother, he could not help but constantly worry about his younger brother.

Although Yue Chenqing did not acknowledge him as his brother, he did not make things difficult for him as the rest of the Yue Clan did.

"And I also wanted to meet you." Jiang Yexue paused, then smiled and said. "I didn't see you around, and I figured you couldn't stand the din inside, so I came out to find you. I was right. You are really out here enjoying the breeze."

"If you want to look for me, just send someone to pass a message. There's no need to come in person. You shouldn't let the cold come into contact with the injuries on your legs. I'll take you back."

"It's fine. It hasn't hurt for a long time." Jiang Yexue said, "I came to thank you. Chenqing is still immature. Thank you for taking care of him these two years."

Mo Xi was silent for a moment and said, "Your brother is still young and being a little playful isn't that big of an issue. Besides, he has improved a lot during his two years away."

Jiang Yexue smiled softly and said, "Really? He didn't give you trouble?"

"......Just a little, but he was a lot more help."

Jiang Yexue sighed and nodded his head, "Good, that's good."

There was a moment of silence. The tassels on Feiyao Terrace swayed gently in the breeze.

Jiang Yexue suddenly spoke up, "Xi Hejun, you have been away for a long time. There must have been many situations in the Imperial City which you are still unclear about."

He had always been intelligent, perceptive, and considerate.

"It's too noisy inside, and I have no wish to go back for the moment. If there is anything Xi Hejun wants to know, feel free to ask me."

"......There's really nothing I know to know in particular." Mo Xi turned his head to look at the moon above the Imperial City, the lights from ten thousands of households looked as if they were from falling stars. "I have no family in the city."

Jiang Yexue knew Mo Xi was just being awkward, and he simply looked at him and nodded his head without pushing him on.

After a moment, Mo Xi coughed lightly and asked, "How have you been these few years?"　　

Jiang Yexue smiled and said, "I'm still good."

"How about Junshang?"

"Everything is going smoothly for him."　

"Princess Mengze?"

"Safe and sound."

Mo Xi, "......Then it's all good."

There was a glint in Jiang Yexue's eyes, "Is there anything else you would like to know?"

"Nope."

But after a while, as Mo Xi drank the last of the wine in his cup and looked up at the glorious night scenery, he could not help but ask.

"How about Gu Mang? ......How is he?"

The way Jiang Yexue looked at him was as if he was sighing, "Sigh, after going around in circles, you finally mentioned him." He said, "Naturally, not so good."

"......" Mo Xi was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly. His throat felt dry, "I guess that's expected."

"If you are willing, pay him a visit. After living in that kind of oppressive place for so long, he...... has changed a lot."

Mo Xi was momentarily startled and did not react for a while. He then frowned and asked, "What place?"　　

Jiang Yexue did not expect this kind of response from him and was stunned too. His eyes widened as he asked, "Don't you know?"

"What should I know?"

Jiang Yexue, "......"

Neither of them spoke again. Suddenly, a burst of lively laughter broke out in the hall. The shadows of drunken men and women, with their figures overlapping in a jumble, were projected onto the screen between the window grilles.

It abruptly hit Mo Xi, and he widened his eyes and said, "He couldn't have been sent to---"

"......He has been at the Fallen Blossom Court for two years......" Jiang Yexue could never imagine that Yue Chenqing had not disclosed such an important matter to Mo Xi. As a result, he had to be the one to break the news; he could not help but feel uneasy.

Mo Xi's face turned pale in an instant.

Fallen Blossom Court......

What place is that? A brothel!

It was a place where those who were sold there would be abused and starved. In just a short amount of time, a person with a mild temperament would be only a shadow of his or her former self, whereas a strong-willed person would be utterly broken and reduced to nothingness.

They actually sent him to that place?

They actually sent him...... sent him......

Mo Xi's adam apple bobbed. The first time, he could not speak. The second time, he managed to say with some difficulty, "......This was arranged by Wangshu Jun?"

Jiang Yexue hesitated, then sighed and nodded his head, "As you know, Wangshu Jun hates him."

Mo Xi went silent and turned his head away. Looking at the vast night sky in front of him, he said nothing more.

——

Ever since Gu Mang was taken back to Chonghua two years ago, he had imagined a lot about Gu Mang's downfall.

At that time, he did not know what punishment awaited Gu Mang. He thought that if Gu Mang was confined in prison, he might pay him a visit and make a sarcastic remark or two. If Gu Mang became a cripple or an invalid, he would still not sympathize with him. Perhaps he would even trip him up.

Even if there had been tender feelings between them previously, after so many years, the hatred had grown too deep for any reconciliation to be possible.

The only situation Mo Xi could think of where he would be able to drink a jar of wine calmly with him was in the graveyard, where Gu Mang would be lying in the soil, and he would be standing above the ground. Perhaps then, he would speak to him in the way he always did, as he set a bouquet of red peonies formed with spiritual power down in front of the bluestone tombstone.

At the very least, it could be considered their last farewell, one finally not marred by a quarrel.

But from a long time ago, Gu Mang had been pretty good at springing all kind of surprises on Mo Xi. Mo Xi did not expect that it would be the same this time ---

Fallen Blossom Court.

Mo Xi turned these words over and over in his mind and tried to get a tiny wee bit sense of satisfaction out of those words.

In the end, he realized that it was all a futile attempt on his part. He had not been able to derive any pleasure from it; on the contrary, he felt sick and furious.

He did not know where this disgust and fury came from. Shouldn't it be gratifying to see Gu Mang get the comeuppance he deserved?

"......" Mo Xi's elbow was propped up against the engraved railings. He wanted to bend his fingers, but they were numbed. He turned his head to look at Jiang Yexue's face and found his facial features inarticulately fuzzy.

He felt dizzy, and the insides of his stomach spasmed.

Gu Mang had been sent to Fallen Blossom Court.

For two years.

Mo Xi felt that he should burst out into laughter at this moment. This was the right reaction; it would fit with what others saw and knew of the deep hatred between them. So he twisted his lips and tried to pry out a laugh of delight.

But in the end, only a feeble scoff flitted out from between his clenched teeth.

An image seemed to flash before his eyes. It was the first time he saw that delicate and pretty face under the sunlight, with smiling black eyes looking at him, "Hello, Mo Shidi."

Another image of Gu Mang in all his splendid glory after joining the army also seemed to flash by. Gu Mang was in the middle of a boisterous pack of buddies, and he turned his head back to wink at Mo Xi. The tails of his eyes were long and tapered off in a slightly upwards direction. And then, they curved into gentle arches as he gave Mo Xi an earnest smile.

He also remembered Gu Mang's words when he became the commander of the military---

There was the time he grinned and said in a glib tone, "Come, guys, enlist for the Bastard Army today, and next year you will move up the ladder and prosper."

There was also the time he bellowed amidst a corpse-ridden battlefield, "Come on, let's go. Those who haven't kicked the bucket you'd better buck up and get the hell up! I'll take you home!"

And the time he insisted on kneeling in front of Jin Luan Dian[3] pleading with Junshang not to bury his soldiers en masse and in haste, "I'd like to ask the apothecary to identify those corpses. I beg of you. This is not a fool's errand. Every single one of those warriors' tombstones should have a name. Junshang, I don't want any of my buddies to be unable to return home even at the end."

"They saw me as their Chief Commander. Whether as humans or ghosts, I want to bring them all back. I promised."

"They do not ask for posthumous honor, just the name they originally should have."

And finally, the tearful, furious outburst in front of the Hall as he reached the end of his forbearance --

"Do they deserve to die because they are slaves? Just because they are slaves, they don't deserve a burial?"

"Just like others, they shed their blood, and they lost their lives! They already have no parents, and in the end, they don't even have a proper status. Why is it that when a member of the Yue, Mo and Murong clan die, they are revered as heroes? But my brothers are accorded only one mass burial pit?! Why!!"

That was the first time Gu Mang cried in front of the Hall.

He did not cry on his knees. He cried as he stooped, hunched over, and crouched into a ball.

He had just returned from a battle, and the bloodstains on him had yet to be cleaned. His entire face was smudged with visible traces of flames and smoke, and his tears left behind mottled marks in their trails.

He had always been seen as a God of War who represented hope on the battlefield, and now, outside the Golden Hall, he had been brought to his knees and reduced to his lowly origins, like a nameless corpse.

The entire hall had been full of ministers and generals, all prim and proper in their official attire. Many of them looked on at this pauper general in disapproval and ostracism; his clothes were tattered, filthy and stank to high heaven.

He choked with sobs and howled mournfully, like a beast on the brink of death.

"I said I’d bring them back......"

"Please just do an act of kindness, and let me keep my promise......"

But he probably knew it was futile.

In the end, he stopped pleading and crying.

He had only reiterated the same words over and over in a mumble, his gaze slack, as if murmuring to wandering souls, "I'm sorry, it's my fault. I don't deserve to be your Chief Commander."

"I'm just a slave too......"

As Mo Xi recalled these words, he felt as if his head was splitting. He could not help but prop his hand up against his forehead and hide his face in the shadow of his hand, under the patch of chilliness.

His heart was cold.

Jiang Yexue said, "Xi Hejun...... Are you fine?"

No one answered. It was a long time before an emotionless, neutral voice drifted out of the shadows, "Fine. Why wouldn't I be fine? "

Jiang Yexue looked at him and sighed, "How many years have we known each other?

There's no need for you to put up a strong front in front of me."

Mo Xi, "......"

The copper bells on the eaves jingled, and the slender, bright yellow tassels fluttered in the wind.

"Your name and Gu Mang's have always been mentioned together. You cultivated together in Cultivation Academy, went to battle together, and were even conferred a title together." Jiang Yexue said, "Today, you are still at your peak, but he has already fallen into the dust. After so many years of being equal, you are now the only one left of the Chonghua's Twin Jades that people speak of. I doubt you will be happy."

He paused and turned his head to look at Mo Xi.

"Besides, he was your best friend."

Mo Xi lowered his long, thick eyelashes, and answered after a moment, "......I was blind when I was young."

"But after he sold out the country, you still believed that he had difficulties. You believed that for a very long time."　

"I was blind as a bat." Mo Xi said as he looked at the cup in his hand. There was still some wine left over in the cup, suffused with the colors of dawn. He had no more wish to continue this dialogue.

"The wind is starting up again. Elder Qingxu, let's return to the main hall."

For several days after learning about Gu Mang's whereabouts, Mo Xi felt agitated.

He originally wanted to suppress this emotion, which he should not be feeling, but as time passed, his irritability only increased.

Mo Xi knew he was suffering from a malady of the heart.

And the only antidote was in Fallen Blossom Court.

At last, one particular night, as dusk deepened, a carriage drove slowly towards the north of the Imperial Capital under the veil of darkness.

Mo Xi sat in the carriage with his eyes closed. Even though the interior of the carriage was draped with curtains and he was the only one inside, he still sat with his back straight. His handsome, almost extravagant face was expressionless and frosty to the point of forbidding.

"Zhushang, we are here."

Instead of getting straight off the carriage, Mo Xi lifted the curtain and looked out from within the shadows.

This was the busiest time in the night market. There were two rows of grandiose winter plum lamps, lit with spiritual energy, outside the courtyard on the other side of the street. Reflected among the lights was a bright red plaque ---

Fallen Blossom Court

"Pure frost in the morning breeze, falls as mere dirt in the mud."

It was different from the usual bordellos. A large number of the people inside were prisoners of war who have had their spiritual cores disabled. From then on, they became Chonghua's captives and kept men.

"Zhushang, are you going in?"

Mo Xi swept a glance across and saw several acquaintances, all of whom were the kind of frivolous young masters he usually disliked. He frowned and said, "Enter through the back door."

And so the carriage stopped at the back entrance of Fallen Blossom Court.

"You may go. There's no need to wait here."

After giving the command to his residence's coachman, he stood and looked at the terrain several times. Then he tiptoed and flipped atop the eaves, and crept quietly into the night.

Before he came, he had seen the layout plan of Fallen Blossom Court, so it was not hard for him to find the quarters of the ladies and gentlemen. Soon, he came to the Flower Pavilion in a side courtyard. He put on his cape and went in through the main entrance of the Flower Pavilion like a regular patron, walking through the rows of rooms with closed, red painted doors.

"Wan Ku's Holy Maiden of Fire, Sha Xuerou"

"Wan Ku's Maidservant of Fire, Qin Feng"

"Liao's Army of the Left Deputy General, Tang Zhen."

"Xue Yu's Army of the Left Female Officer, Lin Huarong."

A small wooden sign was hung beside each door, detailing the person's former state, official position, and name. Everything was clearly stated to make it convenient for patrons with grievances or enmity against an enemy state to seek out the most suitable target for them to vent on.

If there were a patron seeking pleasure in a room, the name on the sign would turn red; if there were no patron inside, then the words on the sign would be black.

In Fallen Blossom Court, the nobles were king. As long as it pleases them, they could do anything they wanted.　　

The smiles, adulation, bodies, and even the lives of these men and women were all up for the nobles' taking.

Mo Xi swept his glance across, and the hem of his clothes fluttered as he walked through rows of corridors. The sound insulation was not really good; the sound of men and women in the throes of passion was extremely vivid. His sharp brows knitted even more and his heartbeat sped up --- Where was Gu Mang? After walking past dozens of rooms, he had yet to see that piece of wooden sign.

He went up to the second floor and searched again.

Finally, in a remote corner, Mo Xi stopped.

A dark wooden sign. Slender handwriting.

"Chonghua Traitor, Gu Mang"

The only sign with the characters 'Chonghua' in the entire court.

It was as if there was a weight in Mo Xi's eyes; his gaze was heavy as it fell on the small sign. At that moment, something in his black eyes seemed to have been ignited as it burned dimly, but that light was soon extinguished.

He raised his hand, but stopped when his knuckles were still an inch away from the door.

He had suddenly realized that the characters on Gu Mang's sign were red.　　

There was a patron inside.

Bonus Scenario:

Mo Xi: Might as well not see him if I have to meet him in this kind of place.

Mang Mang: Shut up! I want to make my appearance!!! I want!!! To make my appearance!!! I want---!!

Mo Xi: ......That's enough. Whatever you want, I'll give you. Hush.

Footnotes:

[1] 凤求凰 Feng Qiu Huang, literally (male) phoenix courting (female) phoenix. It's a Guqin (kind of Chinese zither) melody in Chinese history and tells the love story of Zhuo Wenjun and Sima Xiangru in the Western Han Dynasty.

[2] 唢呐 suona. Also called laba, it is a Chinese double-reed woodwind instrument.

[3] 金銮殿 Jin Luan Dian, the Emperor's audience hall or throne hall.

Dante's Notes:

Double release today! Whoo!

Chapter translated by Lianyin! <3 <3 <3

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