Chapter 21: A Fallen Gentleman – Part 10
Translated by: Kestrel
Edited by: Ritpoppy
"Didn"t you say you"d never come looking for me again?"
The door to the Ninety-Ninth Temple had been kicked open; Huai Yu was in his pajamas, his hair uncombed, leaning against the bedside with one hand as he lazily looked at the intruder standing in the doorway.
Ming ChangYan played dumb as he stepped into the room, "Huh? I did? Did I say that? You must"ve misheard me!"
Huai Yu reminded him, "Well water doesn"t cross river water."
(TN: This is technically what they"ve been saying all this time in regards to "each minding our own business.)
This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal our work I"m going to make you visit King Yama for awhile.
Ming ChangYan laughed, "That"s because there"s no path between the two, all I have to do is dig one and they"ll cross just fine!"
Huai Yu let out a humph, walking back to the bed, "I"m going to sleep."
Seeing that the situation wasn"t going well, Ming ChangYan promptly jumped onto the bed before him, lying on it with his limbs spread out wide so as to forcefully occupy the entire s.p.a.ce as he fixed him with a stare, "Just this once."
Huai Yu said, "Get off."
Ming ChangYan put his palms together to beg, "It"s the last time."
Huai Yu lifted the blanket and lay down on the outer edge, "Do what you want."
His indifferent att.i.tude was surprising enough to make Ming ChangYan stare blankly for a moment, before sitting up to half-kneel on the bed, "What are you doing?"
Huai Yu had his back turned to him, and didn"t reply.
Ming ChangYan crawled forward a bit on his knees, pulling off his blanket, "Huai Yu, you really don"t cherish old friendships at all. I won"t talk about you not being as well-behaved as you were when you were little, but to think you won"t even offer me a tiny bit of help!"
Huai Yu acted as if he hadn"t heard.
Ming ChangYan was left with no choice but to put his all into begging, "Good Huai Yu, this is the last time, it was me who said the wrong thing that morning, it"s my fault. Huai Yu, little Huai Yu, Huai Yu ge-ge!"
Huai Yu clicked his tongue, "You"re really bothersome."
Ming ChangYan laughed at that, "If you do this for me, I won"t bother you anymore. Rejecting me just like that without even asking what I want, you"re really hurting my feelings."
Huai Yu said, "It"s nothing good regardless."
Ming ChangYan said, "Huai Yu ge-ge, if you help me out this once, I"ll call you Dge from now on. Just look at me, that much older than you, yet here I am fawning all over you! Dge, Ge-ge, Huai Yu ge-ge!"
Huai Yu was moved by this, feeling a little pleased with himself. After listening to Ming ChangYan recklessly call him "Dge" a few times, he was entirely satisfied. But all he did was listen, not speaking a word.
Ming ChangYan ignored his refusal, acting out a tearful display all by his lonesome, "You"re so cold-hearted, Huai Yu, you were never this cruel before, but now you aren"t willing even to do me the teensiest little favor. In any case we"re still old acquaintances, and as they say, there"s three parts of affection when meeting each other – though since it"s been so long since we last met, I guess I could count you as having two parts affection, you still shouldn"t ignore someone when they"re in trouble."
"If you help me, from now on this ShaoXia will obey your every word. Ai, you little brat, haven"t I moved you at all? The best fighter in the world is offering to be your little brother. From now on you"re my Dge, if Dge tells me to go east, I will never head west!"
Ming ChangYan watched him with an impatiently anxious look on his face.
Huai Yu sat up and looked back at him, "What are you going to do?"
Ming ChangYan immediately straightened back up, "It"s not what I"m going to do, it"s what you"re going to do." He thought a moment before continuing, hesitating out of embarra.s.sment, "The emperor wants me to serve him tonight."
Huai Yu stared blankly for a second
Ming ChangYan let out a couple awkward laughs, fanning himself with a hand, "It"s seriously unbelievable! It"s clear this ShaoXia"s still as good-looking as ever, nowadays even the emperor"s got his eyes on me. But you know, girls are fine and all but this, this man I, unfortunately, can"t really enjoy."
He threatened, "Huai Yu, you"ve gotta help me. If you don"t help me, then I"ll just have to drag you down with me."
Huai Yu frowned, doubtful, "Drag me down?"
Ming ChangYan said, "Of course. The emperor wants me to attend his bed, but I"m not going. I"ll lie right here on your bed tonight, not even a lightning strike can get me to leave, so when the emperor comes looking tomorrow morning and finds me here at your place, we"ll both end up behind bars."
Huai Yu stared at him for the s.p.a.ce of almost half an incense stick before finally getting out of bed and putting on a coat. Seeing him show a hint of softening, Ming ChangYan cupped his hands and said with a smile, "Many thanks, Huai Yu Dge! This little brother can"t thank you enough!"
"Stay here, don"t go running around."
Ming ChangYan immediately nodded his head, "I won"t run a step, I won"t move even if you try to drive me out!" He rubbed his arms, "I"m real cold, let me huddle under your blanket for a bit."
Huai Yu was gone for a quarter of an hour; it wasn"t until Ming ChangYan was about to fall asleep that he finally returned.
"How"d it go?" Ming ChangYan leapt out of bed, "What"d you say to the emperor? Does he still want me to attend him?"
Huai Yu shot him an indifferent glance, "Not anymore."
Ming ChangYan was bursting with joy at those words, and reached out to put an arm around Huai Yu"s shoulders in a moment of excitement. But his current height was really not the greatest; he couldn"t reach Huai Yu"s shoulders even standing on his tiptoes, and had to jump just to barely reach. Ming ChangYan resentfully gave up, pulling back his hands. But to his surprise, he"d only pulled back halfway when Huai Yu suddenly reacted, grabbing his wrist and frowning, "Your fingers?"
Ming ChangYan"s hand twitched slightly as he suddenly realized, "Oh, I accidentally cut them when peeling a pear today."
Huai Yu said, "You cut all ten fingers at once?"
Ming ChangYan pulled his hand back, but the other gripped it even harder, preventing him from doing so.
He said with a smile, "The knife was too sharp, it couldn"t be helped."
Huai Yu towered over him, giving him a measuring look as he said, "I don"t like being tricked; try redoing your explanation."
Ming ChangYan let out a laugh, "Alright, let me have some tea first. I"m thirsty, all this talking"s dried my throat."
Huai Yu said, "Get it yourself."
Ming ChangYan lifted his hand and shook it a bit, "Let go of my hand first, do you need to hold it so tight, I"m not going to run away."
Huai Yu let go his hand, and Ming ChangYan poured himself a bowl of tea, pulling a white mantou from his breast and taking a bite while he was at it. Huai Yu sat opposite him; after gnawing on it for a while, he started feeling embarra.s.sed, and so pulled another mantou out to offer to Huai Yu.
"These are fresh leftovers from today"s breakfast, they"re perfect for pulling out to eat when you get hungry at night."
Huai Yu took his mantou, single-mindedly focused on one question, "What happened to your hands."
Seeing that he was unable to avoid the topic, and considering that Huai Yu wasn"t a stranger, Ming ChangYan went ahead and gave him an honest explanation.
"Did you ever wonder how I fell into YanBo River, back when they purged me?"
Huai Yu snorted, "It"s because you"re clumsy."
Ming ChangYan furrowed his brows at that, but seeing as the other had helped him out of a jam, he consoled himself with the thought that a proper gentleman was magnanimous, and wouldn"t lower himself to a little girl"s level. Although Huai Yu wasn"t a little girl, he had a serious "spoiled little girl" temperament; Ming ShaoXia thus treated him as a child, and simply said, "Because I was poisoned."
Huai Yu said, "I know."
Ming ChangYan let out a laugh, "Why"d you ask me if you already know? I only have the vague impression I was poisoned. To make a long story short, I decided I couldn"t beat this crowd, so I might as well jump in the river, and maybe I"d still have a chance at living. The rest, I honestly can"t remember."
Having listened up to here, Huai Yu looked to be in a particularly bad mood, "Jumping down had a one-in-ten chance of survival, as well."
Ming ChangYan blinked, "And I got the one! I"ve got good luck, heaven always helps the worthy."
Huai Yu sucked in a breath, angrily saying, "That"s because-"
Ming ChangYan took another bite of mantou, casually asking, "Mm? Because what?"
"Hmph."
Ming ChangYan said in a pained voice, "Why do you always have to speak halfway before snorting at me? When you act like this I"ve got no choice but to stop and coax you into cheering up a bit, it seriously wastes time we could be using on serious talks."
He laughed, "Or are you acting childish on purpose, to trick me into praising you?"
Huai Yu scolded him, "Don"t make up false arguments." After a pause, he continued: "There"s some old scars on your hands, as well. This isn"t the first time you"ve injured yourself."
Ming ChangYan nodded, "You guessed right. The poison I"ve got is a real strong one; up "til now, I"ve yet to find a way to cure it. But I have a friend who once went traveling across the country, and picked up a type of poisonous insect in the Bashu region. It feeds on strong poisons, so with it inside my body, I just have to bleed myself every once in a while and it"ll postpone the poison acting up. I"ve been using it to keep myself alive."
Without batting an eyelid, Huai Yu asked, "Which friend?"
Ming ChangYan said, "What, you need to know that too?"
Huai Yu, "How long have you known each other?"
Ming ChangYan, "I made friends with him back when I first entered the country. I need to find him as soon as possible, so I can get the clear facts about what happened back then."
Huai Yu said, "If you rashly go looking for him, you"ll risk him recognizing you."
Ming ChangYan said with a smile, "I can trust him."
The minute he said this, Huai Yu turned his back on him and said, "Then go ask him for help!"
Ming ChangYan was struck speechless by this, thinking to himself: We were talking just fine a second ago, what"s got the brat all in a temper about now?
"Huai Yu, Huai Yu!" Ming ChangYan said, "What"s the problem this time, did I say something wrong? Alright, I"m sorry, don"t ignore me."
Ming ChangYan had just started to move when a terrible pain spread out from the pit of his stomach, and he sat back on the seat, going silent for a moment. The sudden silence led Huai Yu to turn his head back around, only to be shocked at the sight of Ming ChangYan in noticeable pain; he promptly picked him up by the waist to lay him down on the bed, reaching a hand out to check his pulse. Ming ChangYan"s body was plagued with as many different ailments as there were hairs on a cow, and yet he hadn"t put the slightest bit of effort into taking care of himself since entering the imperial palace, jumping at every chance he could, and recklessly running all over the place.
Unexpectedly, when he saw Huai Yu"s fl.u.s.tered appearance, Ming ChangYan actually burst out in laughter. It was only then that Huai Yu realized: he"d been tricked.
"You dare to trick me?" As he spoke, he pinched Ming ChangYan"s wrist with a little more force than before.
"Owowow, hey, you brat, I was just trying to liven up the mood! There"s no way I can beat you now, don"t go using your hot-blooded youth to bully the old and sick!"
"Hmph."
Huai Yu let go of Ming ChangYan"s wrist, turned around and walked away.
Ming ChangYan had been growing increasingly casual around Huai Yu ever since he revealed his ident.i.ty. After laying on the bed for a while, Ming ShaoXia started to kick up an unnecessary fuss, "Huai Yu, little Huai Yu, I"m really hungry, do you have anything to eat?"
The folding screen was pulled open, separating the two in the room.
Ming ChangYan called out again, "Huai Yu, I really am hungry, I haven"t had dinner."
The sounds of water could be heard from the other side of the screen. Ming ChangYan propped himself up, laughing, "Are you heating water to cook for me? There"s no need for that, I"m not all that particular!"
Huai Yu walked in from the outer room to see Ming ChangYan with one foot hanging over the edge of the bed, swaying incessantly. He was still chewing on a mantou, holding half of one in his hand; from the looks of it, he must have pulled out the remaining fake-breast mantou to eat. One entire mantou was not enough to stop his mouth, as Ming ChangYan said, "Just eating dry goods really makes me thirsty, pour me a cup of tea would you, I"m not feeling all that great so I can"t walk."
Huai Yu walked directly towards the bed, and Ming ChangYan said, "What about the tea?"
He was wearing a muslin dress at the moment, yet his att.i.tude was quite laid-back. He and Huai Yu stared at each other silently for a moment before the latter suddenly bent down, pulling open Ming ChangYan"s clothes.
The thin silk dresses young women wore in summertime was incredibly easy to remove, but Huai Yu didn"t understand how women"s clothes worked, and so had to spend a great deal of effort on it.
Ming ShaoXia was stupefied for a moment, beyond shocked; the mantou in his hand fell and rolled onto the floor.
More than half his outfit had already been pulled open.
This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal our work I"m going to make you visit King Yama for awhile.
My 4th favorite chapter in this entire novel. I have 4 of my favorite chapters in this novel, and when they come up, I"ll tell you guys. I honestly loved this one.
Huai Yu! What kind of audacious act are you committing now???!!
If you see any grammatical/translation errors, please comment or notify me! I read all your comments and they"re wonderful.
Side note: If anyone can read Chinese and needs a novel recommendation, I"m going to suggest The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (AKA二哈和他的白猫师尊) I"ve been reading some of its chapters these days and oof does it really punch you right in the gut. Be careful though, the novel is kind of for mature audiences so stay cautious.
I hope the weather"s nice outside for you guys! Do something nice for someone today v(*"-^*)ｂ