Two more days pa.s.sed. In these two days, the system popped outthree notices in total. The first was when theZhen Guo house declared that An Chengjie hasn"t died but merely missing, the system notified me that An Chengsheng and Protagonist"s love probability had fallen to5%. The second time, when news spread that An Chengjie wasthe Treasure Pavilion"s boss behind the scenes and An Chengsheng and Protagonist"s love probability became zero, pulling outthe first soul flag. The third time, when the newsthat An Chengjie escaped tothe northwest spread and Lei Baofei and Protagonist"s love probability had fallen to10%.
YeZhizhou jabbed atthe light screen and flipped over the data in boredom. He wasthinking why hadn"t Yan Mingyong come whilealso fretting aboutthe lack of movements onthe seventh prince"s side. On the slip of paper hegave tohim were names of the seventh prince"s secret aides; hehad mentioned that hehad something good topresenttohim and included a vague device schemeas well as clues pointing tohim. It made no sense thatthere was no response up until now. Could it be the seventh prince couldn"t understand the scheme? But didn"tthe protagonist piqued seventh prince"s interest using a device scheme like that in the original plot?
There were basically no possible way of An Chengjie tomeet seventh prince now so normally, the love probability should also drop, b.u.t.the reality isthat d.a.m.ned love probability didn"t budge one bit — firmly staying at 100%. This is completely irrational! Wasthere still a possibility of seventh prince meeting An Chengjie? If there is one, that"ll be the Autumn Hunt more than a month away…..
He took a glance of the weather outside while histhoughts were racing. Isn"tthis so-called "autumnhunt" of Great Yan abit deceiving? It hadn"t even been days since they entered summer. One month after this is when the weather starttoheat up, right? How is it Autumn Hunt? Shouldn"t it be "summer hunt"…..?
The day was spent with his mind running wild. While leaning onthe railings of a winding corridor, his eyes were set onthe country house"s gateand sighing. Just what isthat brat doing? When doeshe plan ongetting me? He felt unsettled now thatthe protagonist went missing.
Because his mind was plagued by thishis sleep at night was not very deep. In thishalf-awake state hefelt a pressure onhis body. He wriggled onreflex and woke up whenhe couldn"t break free. This feeling of something wrapping around his body was familiar and also aggravating. He relied onhis instinctstoflip over the body onthe bed so that he"s ontop of him, and whenhe could see the small beautiful face hejeered, "Oh? His Highness Eighth Prince finally thought of his subject? Aren"t all royalties terribly busy?"
Yan Mingyong raised hishand tocaresshis face, the face that washidden in the shadows was unclear toYeZhizhou. His voice cracked alittle, unlike his smooth and pleasanttothe ear voice in the past. "You"reangry? Don"t be, I got you a present."
He quickly noticed something abit wrong with his lover and opened the bed curtain abit. He looked at his face in the moonlight and felt his body top tobottom, frowning in the end, "What happened toyou? Something"s wrong." Though his body didn"t seem tohavea problem heseemed too calm and collected, unlike his bratty behaviour before, even resembled him of the previoustwo worlds. t h i s i s a n i n c o m p l e t e v e r s i o n read on p a d a m t l , w o r d p r e s s, c o m
"I"m only….. abittired." Yan Mingyong stiffened under histouch. With reddening earshe pulled down the curtain then wrapped up around YeZhizhuo again and changed the topic, "Le"er, I ateall my medicine. Recently my chest would hurt again."
And his attention really was diverted — Heangrily rubbed him up and down and then pinched his face. "You brat! Didn"t I give De"an your medicine? He didn"t give them toyou?"
Yan Mingyong didn"ttalk anymore, helowered hishead and rubbed against his neck just likealittle puppy sticking toa person.
This was like the personhimself changed; not only washe not bratty, he"s also being cuteand lovable! YeZhizhou was caught between feeling angry and not angry, while holding him, hepatted onhis back and also pinched his face. He wanted tosay something else but hefound the other boy had already asleep inhis embrace.
How vexing…… He stewed for a while b.u.t.then took the person beside him inhistight embrace. Now that aload wastaken off his chest, hepoked the system inhis mind. "Tongtian, give him a scan again. There"s really no problem with the soul?"
Half a minute later the screen popped out: [Data of the soul shows no anomaly.]
He let out along sigh. He hesitated abit before helowered hishead tothe one sticking close tohim and divided a tiny fraction of his spiritual force intoYan Mingyong"s brain. He explored inside but didn"t venture deep, only exploring lightly around the outer layer. There was no trace of spiritual force like heexpected. He felt hishearttighten ashe withdrew, it really saddened him tolook atthis small pallid face.
What should hedo? This world"s mission will soon be completed, if his lover wantstofollow him tothe next world…….
The next day hewas listless whenhe got up from bed and stared blankly atthe elaborate meal onthe table.
Yan Mingyong frowned, reached outtohold hishand and leaned in, "No appet.i.te? Or do you not like eating these?"
Seeing thatthe other boy"s gaze was full of concernshe put down the urge tosigh and gripped hishand back, hesitating asheasked back, "Mingyong, hypothetically.. If we havea next life, you…"
"You are mine." Not waiting for him tofinish talking Yan Mingyong interrupted. His grip tightened, the calm and well-behaved mask onhis face quickly broke, histone both stubborn and frantic, "Don"tthink you can escape in the next life, you can only be mine!"
…….So that brattiness is still here. The well-behaved att.i.tude yesterday was only an illusion!
YeZhizhou glared at him, not knowing whattodo, ashe vexed over how tohandle this "brattiness" of his lover his vision unthinkingly swept over the qin rack atthe corner of the room. His eyes brightened and heexcitedly said, "Mingyong, why don"t I play you a tune!"
Yan Mingyong, who was dishing out a play of "binding shackles pursuit", speedily put away his fierce expression. Recalling the content of several folktaleshe hurriedly a.s.sumed an obedient appearance his face was full of antic.i.p.ation ashe nodded, "Okay, but you need toeat first."
YeZhizhou gulfed downhis meal and then pushed Yan Mingyong tothe small garden, setting him down insidea pavilion. He lightly shook his sleevestocover up taking outthe harmonica (bought inhis previous life torelieve boredom) from his s.p.a.ceand shook it. "I told De"an tomovea small couch here, you should read for now, if you get sleepy later you can rest directly."
Though Yan Mingyong was very curious of the thing inhishands, hepressed downhis question whenhe saw his eagerness and picked up abook ashe wastold todo. In any case, Le"er is free todo anything as long ashe is by his side.
Over the course of two lifetimes YeZhizhou"s harmonica skill went from dreadful tobarely pa.s.sable. When the first note sounded Yan Mingyong hand paused in the middle of flipping a page. He glanced at him with a stiff expression before quickly dipping hishead back and continued with flipping the pages. He knew that Le"er"s gentlemanly six arts are not up topar but heonly faintly grasped it now….. It"s nothing, later hewould teach him slowly.
The music started rockily b.u.t.then became smoother as it picked up. YeZhizhou sat againstthe pavilion"s railing, carefully releasing his spiritual force totwine with the tune that carried ittoYan Mingyong.
Yan Mingyong feltthe more you listen the more you will be drawn in by this odd song. His nerves unconsciously relaxed and the hand flipping pages slowed down, a quarter of anhour later hewas fell asleep onhis wheelchair. De"an who was guarding outside the pavilion quietly walked in and summoned theZijin guards who put down the small couch, hearranged the blanket, pillow and such then retreated back out of the pavilion and continued tokeep watch outside.
The sound of music paused and stopped. YeZhizhou put downhisharmonica and carried Yan Mingyong tolay him down onthe couch. He stroked hishair, covered him with the blanketthen leaned back onthe railings and continued playing. In order toprevent his lover exhausting his soul tofollow him tothe next world, starting from today hewill do his besttohelp gather and nourish his lover"s spiritual force.
The sweet gentle mood between the two led YeZhizhou tothink — since Yan Mingyong is feeling well they must beable toreturn tothe capital soon — b.u.t.then reality smacked him in the face!
"You wanttostay here? Until theautumnhunt arrives?"
"Mm." Yan Mingyong slowly turned over a page, hishead didn"t lift, "I had sought my imperial father"s consent beforehand."
"DukeZhen Guo knows where weareand can visit whenhe misses you."
upd ate s o n pad amtl wo r d pr ess co m_ th i s is an inco mplete ver sio n_
Yan Mingyong stopped turning the page, hishead raised and helightly sized YeZhizhou up, then lowered his eyes and kneaded hishand. He softly replied, "Waittill theautumnhunt."
"But……"
"I know you"re concerned about how An Chengjie is doing now." Yan Mingyong put his book tothe sideand wheeled his chair toface him. "I know that heaccused you of bullying him just after heentered theZhen Guo household and smeared your reputation toraise his own standing outside. I also know hesowed discord between you and your family, tothe point of testing the Elder Lady An and discrediting your mother…… You don"t have toworry, hewon"t have it easy. But you needn"t dirty your hands with these, I"ll do it for you, hm?"
YeZhizhou went blank hearing these words from him, "You were watching meand him all along?"
"No, I was looking out for you." Yan Mingyong"shand raised tostroke his cheek, his eyes deepened, "As for him, heis not worth fearing for." Even if hedevelops a few terrible objectsthere"s nothing tobe scared of.
YeZhizhou compromised after hewas sure hecouldn"t leave. He threw the mission tothe back of his mind and concentrated onnourishing his lover"s spiritual force. One month later the remaining poison in Yan Mingyong"s body was cleanly flushed out and his weak body also mostly restored and hefinally looked likea regular teenaged youth.
They had just finished lunch and YeZhizhou was mulling over playing a tune in theafternoon so hewas alittle unresponsiveand puzzled. "Go back?"
"Mm." Yan Mingyong now gradually didn"t need his wheelchair toget around, after this reply hesteadily walked up topull onhishand and lead him outside. "Last night, Chuan Yue suddenly caught onfire. The fire spread too quickly, they couldn"t put it out before it burned through half of the street. Three people burned todeath and eleven injured. We need togo back tograsp the situation clearly."1
This alarmed YeZhizhou, heinstinctively rejected it, "How can that be!" Before opening the restaurant hedid his besttotake measurestoguard against fire. After all, all theancient buildings are made of wood, so they must pay attention tothis. In additionhe had carefully instructed the servers, shopkeeper, and the kitchen staffstokeep the big water jars in the backyard full at all time so they can put out fire ontime!
Atthat momentthe two had already reached the gate. Yan Mingyong helped him up intothe carriageand said a name without an expression onhis face: "An Chengjie."
YeZhizhou mouth slightly opened, then hefell silent andhis eyebrows furrowed deeply.
All the way tothe restaurant YeZhizhou was completely quiet. Yan Mingyong sat by him, holding hishand and silently comforting him. When the horse carriagearrived atthe southern street YeZhizhou finally snapped out of it. He gripped Yan Mingyong"shand that washolding his, "No hurry togo tothe restaurant. Whereare the wounded? I wanttogo see them first."
Yan Mingyong nodded, helped him down the carriageand gave his instructionstothe coachman. He then pulled YeZhizhou towalk towards a pharmacy not far from Chuan Yue. YeZhizhou looked atthe burned wood frames of houses from acrossthe street and hishands slowly tensed. The protagonist wastransmigrated, there"s no way hedidn"t know what danger fire posed in theancienttimes.
He turned hishead atthe sudden loud whinny from the horse,, and the horse carrying the carriage they were onwas startled and started running towardsthe burned down Chuan Yue!
"This is bad! The driver is still riding it!" The building"s wood frames are onthe verge of collapsing after the fire, if it receives such a powerful blow that driver will be in danger!
Atthe crucial moment Yan Mingyong pulled out a small whistle from his sleeves and blew it. One second later a figure rushed out of the shadowstothe front of the carriage, dragged the coachman by his collar, threw him off the carriage then quickly left and completely blended in with the shadows once more.
YeZhizhou let out a relieved sigh, hethen thoughttocheck the coachman"s situation b.u.t.the next second an earth-shaking explosion washeard. He raised hishead in shock, hecould feel the sensation of imbalance from the ground shifting under his feet, filling hisheart with disbelief. This is……. an explosion? The protagonist already made explosives?
"Be careful!" Thinking it was an earthquake, Yan Mingyong leapttoshield him under his body.
He lied onthe ground with hishead raised; hesaw smokeand dust left by the explosion and the mess of people running outtothe street, heheard panicked voices of patients and physicians in the pharmacy, and hetruly felt angry for the firsttime. He indignantly pounded onthe ground.
Setting fire, planting bombs, has An Chengjie gone mad?!
Translator: Padam
[1] Chuan Yue, 川越, beyond the river, isthe name of An Chengle (YeZhizhou)"s restaurant. Sounds similar totransmigrate 穿越. ↑