Chapter 24
Unstable Chinese Republic (Arc 2.8)
"Your Cheng family restaurant"s wine is different from this taste, it"s not as good as this." After he had come to Li cheng, he had tried out every restaurant"s wine once, but when compared to this, they were all much worse. "Why are you not selling this in your restaurants?”
Jing Yang swirled his winegla.s.s, saying with a smile that was not yet a smile, "Right now I might not even be able to keep the Cheng family restaurants, if I really went to sell this wine there, it would only quicken their destruction.”
Yang w.a.n.gkun immediately understood his meaning and promised, "It won"t be too long, you will soon be able to openly sell this wine.”
"I know, I"m waiting for it." Jing Yang had drunk a bit much, his head had started becoming a little faint, he could no longer pay too much attention to Yang w.a.n.gkun this guest. He stood up and wanted to go lie down on the nearby chaise.
Because he had gotten up abruptly, his body swayed a bit, and Yang w.a.n.gkun reached out a hand to steady him. He pushed aside his hand and walked with somewhat steady steps to the chaise and laid down.
Yang w.a.n.gkun walked over to his side and lowered his head to look at the Jing Yang who had somewhat blurred eyes. "You"re drunk?”
"No, I just feel a little faint." Jing Yang was really not drunk, his mind was still clear, but the aftereffects of this wine was too much, making him somewhat dizzy.
If he had known earlier that Yang w.a.n.gkun would have come, he would not have drunk so much earlier, he still wanted to probe him out some more. Even if he didn"t have the memories of the previous world, there was still a chance that he might be his lover, because the feeling that he gave him was too similar to that of Zhao Bocheng.
Jing Yang became more and more faint, he had already almost fallen asleep, and had no way to continue conversing with Yang w.a.n.gkun. Just when he was preparing to open his mouth to send him out, Yang w.a.n.gkun sat down next to him, the two people were very close to each other, their thighs were stuck together.
Jing Yang"s sight was a little fuzzy, but he was still able to see whatever he needed to. When Yang w.a.n.gkun leaned over, the distance between the two people shortened, they were basically face to face. He didn"t know what he wanted to do, but he didn"t block him or push him away, just continuing to look at him like this, he wanted to see what he wanted to do.
Yang w.a.n.gkun lifted his chin, closely gazing at his eyes. "Your eyes are very good looking.”
The split second the two people"s gazes met, Jing Yang"s heart again trembled, he again felt that kind of familiar feeling. Jing Yang was not clear, him having this kind of feeling, was it because the other person"s eyes were too much like those of Zhao Bocheng, or was it because his soul was really Zhao Bocheng. This made him very perplexed.
"In the future don"t go perform opera again, you also don"t need to get closer to Wei Tianxiong. Whatever you want, I can help you get them all." Yang w.a.n.gkun"s tone was like a warning, and was also like an order, in any case it was very serious.
Jing Yang"s mind was already somewhat unable to think too clearly, he had to think for a while before figuring out the main point. Then he suddenly smiled, "Do you know what it is that I want?”
"What you want to get from Wei Tianxiong, no matter what it is, I will always be able to give it to you. In any case, you shouldn"t get close to him, otherwise…”
What Yang w.a.n.gkun said afterward, Jing Yang didn"t hear, because he had already fallen asleep. Before he had fallen asleep he had still been thinking, his wine brewing recipe still needed to be changed, he had only wanted to drink some wine to vent his depressed mood, and didn"t actually want to drink himself into a stupor. This wine was a little too strong, its aftereffects were strong enough that even he couldn"t stand them, how could he dare sell it to other people.
When he opened his eyes again, it was already night, and he was lying on his own bed. Remembering the words that Yang w.a.n.gkun had said to him that morning, it seemed like he was telling him to not get close to Wei Tianxiong, what he wanted he could all give him, and so on.
Jing Yang felt that this was a little funny, what did he think that he wanted? Money? Or those Cheng family properties that had been seized? But that also wasn"t wrong, those were all things that Cheng Junxi wanted, he needed to help him get them back. But what he himself wanted, was actually not these, what he wanted…, whether or not Yang w.a.n.gkun could give it to him, it was still unclear.
He had slept too long during the day, so he was no longer able to sleep at night. Jing Yang sat down on the bed and raised his head to look at the moon. He laughed self-deprecatingly, when had he become so unnatural and restrained. Love this thing, was really the thing most able to wear down someone"s willpower, making someone indecisive.
Unfortunately fate this thing, was something that could not be completely controlled. When he was able to control it, he worked hard to strive for it, and when he was unable to control it, he could only let nature take its course, demands wouldn"t work, and confusion was also useless.
If Yang w.a.n.gkun was really Zhao Bocheng, if his soul had chased him over, and it was just that he didn"t have all of his memories like himself, then he would be able to strive for their two people"s love. But if he wasn"t, no matter whether or not they were both in love with each other, he would still find a way to keep away from him.
He also couldn"t quite understand, for over a thousand worlds he had always been someone who had chosen to follow a solitary path, why did he have to have fallen in love in the previous world. Loving someone already wounded his spirit enough, he didn"t want to bring the memories of mutual love with someone to go be with someone else. He wouldn"t be able to endure that hole in his heart, he would rather prefer to always be alone like this.
But in the future he would no longer become tangled for this reason, if he was then he was, if he wasn"t then he wasn"t, if they could meet then they would meet, if they couldn"t meet then they wouldn"t, he was still the original free and unconstrained himself.
~
The morning of the second day, Wei Tianxiong"s aide came to the Cheng residence, he said that Wei commander had invited the young master to attend a soiree that night at his residence. The aide wasn"t able to see Jing Yang, and left after pa.s.sing along the words to the housekeeper.
The aide was very clear about Wei Tianxiong"s mind toward Jing Yang. This time when he came to the Cheng residence again, his att.i.tude was much better than before, he didn"t dare to offend Jing Yang at this time, and also didn"t dare to demand that he had to see him. In any case he had already pa.s.sed along the invitation.
Jing Yang considered it for a moment, since Wei Tianxiong kept on sending opportunities to his door, he didn"t have a reason not to go. As for Yang w.a.n.gkun"s words, he didn"t really put them in his heart, if he helped him dispose of Wei Tianxiong, wouldn"t he have saved him a lot of trouble?
At night he was going to go to a party at the commander"s residence, Jing Yang had prepared everything he needed to prepare. This time there shouldn"t appear any hindrances or accidents, he should be able to smoothly poison Wei Tianxiong. The dosage of the slow-acting poison was very difficult to grasp, Jing Yang used ingredients that he could find in Li cheng, and mixed up the poison himself. He needed to give him three doses, after the third dose, after only one month of time, he would die suddenly from the poison.
Wei Tianxiong saw that Jing Yang had come over and was very happy about his tactfulness. He pampered him with a very good att.i.tude, "I also didn"t know what you like to eat, I first let the chef casually make some, if you have something that you want to eat then let me know, I will immediately let the chef make it for you.”
This was a feast only for the two of them, Jing Yang saw the table filled with all sorts of delicacies but had not a bit of appet.i.te. He wanted to skip this step, directly going to the main subject. "Commander invited me over, it wouldn"t be that you just wanted to eat a meal with me?”
"Of course we"re not just having a meal." Wei Tianxiong smiled and clapped his hands, the aide brought over a wooden box, opened it and placed it on the table. "These are all your Cheng family"s things, now we will return all of them to their rightful owner.”
Jing Yang took out the things in the box and flipped through them, they were all the things that he had previously seized from Cheng Junxi, plus it seemed like it wasn"t lacking any of them. It should be that everything that had been taken away by Cheng Jiaming and the aide were also all in here.
"Many thanks to Commander." Jing Yang casually put away the things, in any case these had originally belonged to the Cheng family.
"Just some verbal thanks? There"s no other method?" Wei Tianxiong"s eyes contained undisguised desire, as if he wanted to strip Jing Yang down on the spot.
"How does Commander want me to express it?" Jing Yang asked with an indifferent expression.
Wei Tianxiong extended his hand, wanting to hold the hand that Jing Yang had placed on the table, but Jing Yang retracted his hand before he could be touched by him. He glanced at the servants and bodyguards on the sides. "I have already eaten at home, now, I would like to and Commander alone…, toast two cups, I don"t know if that"s possible?”
Jing Yang"s hint was already very obvious, Wei Tianxiong was naturally very satisfied, raising an eyebrow. "How could it not be possible?”
The two people moved from the dining hall into a room, this room had an outer room and an inner room, the inner room was a bedroom. They were both well aware, they knew what was going to happen afterwards.
Jing Yang took the initiative to pour wine into two cups, his technique for adding poison was even faster than the best magician. No matter how close Wei Tianxiong was to him, he would still not be able to see any mistake. He needed to first give Wei Tianxiong a hallucinogen, and then it would be easier to give him some poison.
"I will salute Commander a cup." Jing Yang first drank a cup and showed the empty gla.s.s to Wei Tianxiong, waiting for him to also drink.
Wei Tianxiong smiled and lifted his cup, just when he had sent the wine to his mouth, they suddenly heard some gunshots. He immediately placed the winegla.s.s down heavily, suddenly standing up and walking out. "What"s the matter?”
Jing Yang took a look at the wine that had been half spilled, it seemed like this time the opportunity for poisoning him had been missed again. This Wei Tianxiong"s luck was really too good, he had actually escaped again.
The remaining wine was poured in a corner, he once again poured in half a cup into the gla.s.s. Then Jing Yang also went outside to see what had happened.
"Co, commander!" The aide hastily ran in.
"What happened?" Wei Tianxiong scowled.
"Yang, Yang commander-in-chief, brought his troops and rushed in!”
The aide"s words had just fallen, Yang w.a.n.gkun had already walked in with his soldiers. Wei Tianxiong"s soldiers were also retreating while holding guns pointed at them.
"Yang commander-in-chief? What are you doing?" Wei Tianxiong had no way to maintain any good face toward Yang w.a.n.gkun, he actually brought his soldiers to directly rush in, did he want to formally declare war with him?
"Tonight, my residence happened upon a thief, something very important was stolen. My soldiers chased them out, and coincidentally happened to see the thief run into the commander"s residence, so I brought my soldiers in to search." Yang w.a.n.gkun"s expression was cold and indifferent, giving him an explanation that was full of loopholes.
"You ran to my residence to chase a thief? Do you think a thief would be able to run into my residence?" Wei Tianxiong obviously wouldn"t believe this reason, glaring at him. "Yang w.a.n.gkun, you shouldn"t take us as a fool!”
"I don"t want to dispute with you, I only want to take back the thing that the thief had stolen, I am only thinking for the safety of the Commander"s residence." Yang w.a.n.gkun placed his hands behind his back. "If Wei commander doesn"t mind, I would like to search around a bit.”
"Impossible!" Wei Tianxiong roared.
"My soldiers have already surrounded the entire commander"s residence, Wei commander you should consider it carefully. If I can"t catch the thief today, I won"t leave.”
Wei Tianxiong glared at Yang w.a.n.gkun with scorching anger, if he really let Yang w.a.n.gkun search the commander"s residence today, he would have lost too much face. Then in the future how could he still preserve his prestige in this Li cheng?
"Then let"s do this." Yang w.a.n.gkun said. "Since Wei commander is unwilling to let me search, then let"s just both retreat a step. We"ll just call out everyone in the commander"s residence and search their bodies, if we can find the thing that I lost, I will take that person away for interrogation…”
"And if you can"t find it?" Wei Tianxiong scowled.
"If we can"t find it, I will offer an apology to the commander, and accept any punishment from Wei commander." Yang w.a.n.gkun said.
"Good! Then you better acknowledge the debt." Wei Tianxiong lifted his hand and commanded, "Call everyone in the residence over.”
Every male and female, young or old, in the commander"s residence convened in the hall. The soldiers started searching through their bodies, starting from the males.
Jing Yang was just standing in a corner watching the fun, he had still not been able to understand what play Yang w.a.n.gkun was performing, he actually brought soldiers to surround the commander"s residence to chase a thief. Could it be that he had actually lost some especially important thing?
Feeling Yang w.a.n.gkun"s eyes knife over to himself, Jing Yang couldn"t resist trembling a bit. This gaze, was really sharp enough, sc.r.a.ping and jolting his mind.
"You!" Yang w.a.n.gkun pointed at Jing Yang. "Come over.”
"Me?" Jing Yang pointed at himself and then walked over, not knowing the reason.
Translator Notes:
[1] drink himself into a stupor – 醉生梦死, idiom, literally means as if drunk or entranced
[2] someone who had chosen to follow a solitary path – 孤家寡人, idiom, means someone who is cut off from others
[3] pamper – 嘘寒问暖, idiom, literally means to enquire solicitously about his well-being
Random Notes:
Another chapter done, took 1.5 hours: 6:30 pm – 8 pm, for 3.5k characters to 2.6k words. We’re building up to the action guys. The next chapter is definitely going to be a controversial one, lots of ups and downs. Honestly I wasn’t quite sure who I wanted to win for most of it, though the ending was good. And after that chapter all is well.
Edit: Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Buildup to a controversial chapter as a gift for the holidays ? Also in preparation for the next arc and side project, I went through all 20-something chapters and put in links to TOC and the adjacent chapters at the bottom…it’s going to be complicated from now on… I’m on my holiday break so I’ll be slowly starting to translate again after about another month of not doing any translating.