Here is my attempt at translating the Chinese passage into English:
Midsummer Day, when the plums ripen, after the rain on the pine corridor, the lotus flowers in full bloom.
In the shallow night, a carriage with a green canopy and white horses passes by the lotus pond in the East Palace. It goes through a forbidden garden forest full of jujube blossoms, and turns towards the bookshop in the alley under the Eastern Pavilion.
Moonlight spills into the carriage. Xie Wuyang holds a roll of documents, lowering his head slowly flipping through it. Occasionally his fingers turn a page, making a rustling sound in the carriage.
The girl next to him holds up a lantern to light up the words on the pages for him, leaning over to read along with him.
“The war reports have been increasingly delayed recently. I suspect someone is meddling behind the scenes. The voices in court opposing the use of troops have suddenly quieted these past few days, as if waiting for some news to come from Huaixi…”
“Lord Qinghe is imposing swift reforms on the Ministry of Revenue, releasing the stalled military provisions. The troops should be progressing smoothly,” Jiang Kui continues. Her brows furrow slightly, “But I haven’t received a letter from my father and brothers for a long time.”
He strokes her hair. “Hopefully there will be news soon.”
The carriage stops in the backyard of the bookshop. The black-clad boy driving the carriage jumps down and holds the curtain open for the two people in the carriage. Xie Wuyang puts down the documents and steps down from the carriage with Jiang Kui.
The side door of the bookshop creaks open. A little dust falls from the door, drifting quietly under the moonlight.
“After Lord Qinghe took office, he moved to a place near the secondary city. The bookshop has been neglected for two months and is quite dusty.” Xie Wuyang uses his wide sleeve to shield the girl from the falling dust. Then he strikes a match to light a candle stand on the table.
He picks up the candle stand and leads Jiang Kui into the inner room, talking as they walk, “We finally have time to come today to help him sort out the account books. The matters in the jianghu have been settled. After we finish tidying up the documents today, we won’t come here for a long time.”
He pushes open the door of the inner room and puts the candle stand on the counter, looking at the mountainous pile of account books and documents. His voice holds hints of nostalgia, “It’s been a long time, I kind of miss this place.”
“I don’t come to this room often,” the girl next to him leans against the counter, reminiscing, “I miss the elegant room upstairs. Back then, there were always troubles in the jianghu and we were very busy. I remember there was a period we met here continuously for a whole month.”
“I remember too,” he chuckles softly, hugging a pile of documents, “You were always late. It was boring waiting for you. I looked through the account books in this room…you owe me a lot of silver.”
“Why do you need so much silver?” she tilts her head looking at him, “You are the Crown Prince, it’s not like you lack money.”
“The East Palace’s expenses are all allocated by the Inner Palace, that’s not my money,” he pats the dusty account book. “The silver recorded in these accounts, every sum is earned by myself.”
“What do you earn it for?” she asks curiously.
“Most of it is for you,” he smiles gently, “At first when I knew my days were numbered, I wanted to leave an inheritance for you, enough for you to spend for the rest of your life.”
She lowers her eyes silently. Then hears him chuckle again, “I know you spend money like flowing water. The silver would be gone as soon as it reaches your hands. So I entrusted Lord Qinghe to help me. The money will be given to you in installments, until you turn into a granny.”
“I won’t turn into a granny,” she grumbles.
He leans over to kiss her, then lazily continues, “As for the other half…one part is for Miss Luo, for Little Chen’s medical treatment. One part is for Young Master Tie, I’m afraid he would starve if he gambles away everything. There’s some left as compensation for Lord Qinghe. Another part is for Luo Shiyi to get himself a wife.”
“Get Luo Shiyi a wife?” she laughs.
“Mm,” he also laughs. “Don’t you think he looks cold all the time? It would be hard for him to get a wife in the future. Young ladies need to be coaxed and he is terrible with words.”
He taps the counter and smiles towards the backyard, “Right, Luo Shiyi? I know you can hear me.”
In the backyard, the black-clad boy is feeding the horses. He stands there stiffly, face cold and aloof, pretending not to have heard a thing.
Xie Wuyang laughs loudly, shaking his head as he turns around. He casually leans against below the counter, stacking the account books around him and flipping through them one by one to sort out.
The girl beside him also laughs for a while. She sits hugging her knees next to him and randomly takes an account book from the stack, boredly flipping through a few pages. She tilts her head, blinking, “You really meant it when you said you wanted to buy a residence in Jiangnan?”
“Of course it’s true,” he lazily answers while tidying up the account books. “I asked my friends in the jianghu later and specially entrusted someone to find a nice residence for me.”
“It’s not a big residence, with a main hall and three chambers, with a kitchen and stable. Outside is a quiet side street. At night you can’t hear people, only occasionally the sound of wind blowing the grass. ”
He talks about it casually, clearly making things up as he goes, yet sounding as if he has seen it before.
“There is a well over a hundred feet deep in the yard. Birds always rest around it no matter the seasons. They would wake up the owner at dawn with their chirping. The yard is planted with lots of yujin snow, when they bloom in summer, white petals cover the entire yard like heavy snow.”
“When I bought the residence, I thought there wouldn’t be a chance for me to visit. At the time I wanted you to live there for a period, to see it on my behalf.”
She leans sideways into his arms. “We will go see it together. Go stay for a short period next year, alright?”
“Alright.” He hugs her lightly and kisses her cheek.
After a long while, half the candle on the table has burnt out and the light gradually dims.
Xie Wuyang gets up, one hand holding the tidy account books, the other pulling the girl beside him. “Alright, let’s go. We’re returning to the East Palace. Luo Shiyi must have finished packing up the documents to bring back too.”
The two of them duck into the carriage parked in the backyard. The boy driving whips the reins, trotting the white horses slowly away from the bookshop.
On a midsummer night, the moon round and bright. In the dead of the night, filled with the drone of cicadas, echoing on the stone-paved road. The clip-clop sound of hooves treads on the shimmering moonlight, going north along the path.
Moonlight spills into the carriage, shining on the people napping by the window. He leans on the shoulder of the girl beside him, slightly drowsy with eyes closed, breathing evenly and quietly. The girl next to him lights up a lantern and flips through a scroll under the candlelight.
On a summer night loud with cicadas, contrasting with the especially tranquil carriage where only the sound of pages turning can be heard.
In a silent gap, the sound of a bowstring being drawn comes from above.
The girl in the carriage suddenly lifts her head up.
The scroll of paper fluttering to the ground! She swiftly pulls out the sword at the side of the person next to her. Slim fingers grasping the hilt, stirring up a series of imposing sword auras in a flash.
Almost at the same time, arrows pour down on the carriage like torrential rain with a swishing sound!
Jiang Kui inside the carriage brandishes the sword to strike down the pouncing arrows. Luo Shiyi on the coachman’s seat reins the horses with one hand and shakes off arrows with his sword in the other. He turns back calling in low voice: “There are people lying in ambush on both sides of the roof!”
“How many?” Xie Wuyang asks in a low voice.
“At least a hundred…” Luo Shiyi’s tone urgent, “Possibly more!”
The clattering sound of striking off arrow clusters does not stop for a second.
With limited space to maneuver in the carriage, sooner or later the canopy will be pierced through by arrows. Jiang Kui and Xie Wuyang exchange a look before leaping out of the carriage onto the swaying roof. Jiang Kui waves the sword to parry the raining arrows, protecting the two behind swirling sword auras.
At the end of the road, a troop of soldiers in light armor suddenly turn around the corner. Branches of flames light up the pack of troops, reflecting flickering blades, standing mute and heavy blocking the path of the galloping carriage.
“The Imperial Guards of the Golden Fish… it seems they want to intercept and kill me here regardless of shouldering the crime of privately deploying troops,” Xie Wuyang observes the situation ahead, his voice cold.
“How do they know you are here? Without telling anyone, we secretly went out at night…” Jiang Kui asks in a low voice.
“There’s only one possibility,” Xie Wuyang answers. “They have been lying in ambush for over a month waiting for me to show up.”
“We can’t go forward,” he shouts lowly. “Luo Shiyi! Reverse direction, head back to the bookshop first!”
The black-clad boy tugs the reins and turns the white horses around. Arrows fall behind the galloping carriage.
At this moment, a few dark silhouettes flip down from the rooftops. Howling blades slash down!
Jiang Kui hands her sword to Xie Wuyang and tiptoes on the roof of the speeding carriage. In a quick spin midair, she lands on one of the dark silhouettes, snatching away a long saber from him.
“I didn’t bring my spear today, let me borrow your saber to use.” Her voice full of laughter. But her eyes are ice-cold, wielding the long saber to collide heavily with the oncoming blades.
“Clang!” The attackers continuously retreat a few steps barely stopping at the edge of the carriage roof.
The three people are the heads of the South Begging Sect. On top of the racing carriage with fluttering clothes in the wind, they surround Jiang Kui and Xie Wuyang at the center. Gleaming blades reflecting the cold moonlight.
In the next moment, howling gusts of blades and sword auras surge. Hunting winds tear through the night with flashing chilling light of blades!
A few people spar on the speeding carriage. The colliding sounds of sabers and sword echoing endlessly within the boundless gale. Below, Luo Shiyi drives the white horses sweeping down the wide street. Galloping hooves crash over the moonlight-bathed bluestones like thunder, crushing into bits the cast shimmering light, sweeping up countless fluttering petals.
“Your Highness!” Luo Shiyi suddenly bellows lowly.
Atop a black steed turning out from the street corner ahead, a figure in black robes stands tall, welcoming the galloping carriage on the wide street and brandishing up a heavy saber. Blades roaring like raging waves.
Luo Shiyi presses down on the arc blade on his waist, taking in a deep breath and preparing to meet the strike.
“Luo Shiyi, focus on driving,” Xie Wuyang utters lowly. “Head right towards him!”
Luo Shiyi lets go of his grip on the saber hilt. One hand tugs at the reins while the other snaps the horsewhip to run the white horse headlong with the momentum of the oncoming saber.
Xie Wuyang latches onto the sword hilt and summons an acute swords ray to restrain the three people on the carriage top. Beside him, Jiang Kui grips the saber with both hands and takes half a step back, thrusting out a strike towards the swooping saber.
It is clearly one slash, yet she pushes out the imposing aura of spearing through a city!
The two colliding gusts let out a thunderous boom, startling flocks of birds on roof eaves into flight. Within the turbulent currents, the white horse neighs pulling forward the carriage as it zips past the oncoming black one.
At the same time, the figure in black robes tosses away his heavy saber. Stepping atop the horse back while in midair swooping down a palm strike towards the girl below!
The palm force drenches like an abyss devouring innumerable air streams. Icy murderous intent surges close as if to engulf. The girl tightens her grip on the long saber. Edges pointing forward bracing to meet the palm strike head-on.
Suddenly someone grabs her hand and pushes her behind him.
“Steady me a bit,” he softly utters.
Amidst the chaotic winds, he lifts his arms up to meet that palm strike.
Gale sweeping open! The churning air currents flip up roof tiles in strips. Birds flutter away spreading their wings as countless trees and grasses rustle loudly. Wind and dust billowing, flying sandstones, at this moment the world spinning in flux.
Among the many sounds, she only hears a light cough.
That person staggers backwards almost falling off the carriage in the heaving winds, held steady by her clutching both shoulders.
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