Chapter 93

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In which Ren Shaotian and Ye You have a conversation.

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For an instant, the thought of silencing the other flashed through Ye You’s mind.

But, immediately following, he pushed down this vicious thought.

He knew that Ren Shaotian’s martial skill was high, and he wasn’t sure whether this person had heard the conversation between him and Elder Mei, or if the person had realized that there had been people here just a moment ago, so for now, he didn’t open his mouth.

Ren Shaotian examined him. “Sir Xiao, are you all right?”

Ye You said, “Yes.”

Ren Shaotian said, “The young master is very worried about you. Let’s go back.”

Ye You nodded and slowly walked over to his side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Looking at him, Ye You said, “You don’t have anything you want to ask?”

Ren Shaotian smiled a faint, indistinct smile.

Most likely because of his disposition, no matter what smile he bore, it carried a faint whiff of impropriety. He said, “Everyone more or less has some secrets. With Sir Xiao and the white piece that much at odds, your secrets must be all the greater. If you’re willing to speak, this one[1] would naturally listen respectfully. If you’re not willing, then we can simply forget it. This one also isn’t in any position to question you.”

Ye You didn’t reply instead asking, “Ever since the last time I returned, you’ve paid more attention to me. Why?”

Ren Shaotian said, “The young master values you very highly. He was extremely miserable while you were missing over those few days. This one was afraid that something else would happen to you and so would occasionally pay a bit more attention.”

Ye You said, “If you say so, then so be it.”

Ren Shaotian fell silent, walking with him for a while before suddenly asking, “Sir Xiao wants to return just like this?”

“Of course not,” Ye You said, smiling. According to his usual veneer, after he fell into the water, he would have to be unconscious for at least half a day in order to display his extremely delicate constitution. He said, “It looks like I have to trouble you to carry me.”

Ren Shaotian then squatted down, back to him, as if not in the least bit uneasy about the possibility of a sneak attack. Ye You gave this person a look. Pressing down on the myriad doubts in his mind, he climbed up, closed his eyes, and said, “Did you see Sir Yang?”

Ren Shaotian lifted him up and returned with a question, “Should I have seen him?”

Ye You laughed. “I sure do like speaking with intelligent people.”

The fact that he was able to swim so far while following the current, and that he was able to get to the depths of this forest in such a short period of time, must have made Ren Shaotian aware that there was something fishy going on. Even if the other hadn’t perceived that Elder Mei had been there, the person would still be able to guess that he had purposely fallen into the water. And when the fall happened, other than him, the only other one to fall was Sir Yang, so it’d be extremely easy to infer that his goal had been Sir Yang all along. This was why this person had replied with that question.

Ren Shaotian asked, “What do you want me to say?”

Ye You said, “Just say that you didn’t see him.”

Ren Shaotian said a ‘yes’ before then not speaking any further.

Ye You thought for a moment before saying honestly, “I ordered some people to send Sir Yang to Shaolin.”

Ren Shaotian was somewhat surprised, but he quickly found what the main issue was, “You suspect that he has drugs in his body?”

Ye You said, “Yes.”

Ren Shaotian narrowed his eyes. “Then, that’s to say, the white piece is…”

Ye You once again said a, “Yes,” and gave a simple account of what happened to his master. In a low voice, he said, “It was written on a slip of paper that the adventurer gave me that Manor Lord Wei was the owner of that villa and was capturing people to test drugs. I suspect that the swordsman who murdered my master at that time had been fed the drug and then silenced by the Manor Lord Wei who had hurriedly arrived afterwards. All this even ended up involving my master. Since Master had always raised me with such deep affection, I definitely have to take revenge for him.”

Ren Shaotian said, “Are you the black piece?”

Ye You said, “I am.”

Ren Shaotian couldn’t help but say, “You know who the white piece is, and with things having grown to this degree, if you simply say it directly…”

Ye You said, “Words alone are not evidence. I don’t have any proof, since I’ve already long destroyed that slip of paper.”

Ren Shaotian had also spoken only halfway before he realized that Manor Lord Wei’s position was too high and toppling that person would definitely not be an easy task.

Even now, with the white piece repeatedly suffering defeat, the righteous faction still had not found the least bit of evidence, which just went to show how cautious the white piece was. And Abbot Ciyuan, Sect Leader Xuanyang, and the others all had upright and plainspoken dispositions, and even his Pavilion Master who had always been at odds with Manor Lord Wei wouldn’t so easily accuse a purportedly good person. Without any evidence in his hands, those elders wouldn’t so easily listen to Sir Xiao’s one-sided account of the story.

He asked, “What have you decided to do next?”

Ye You said, “See if we’re able to find any evidence at the fishing village. If we still can’t, then I can only start thinking of other methods.”

Ren Shaotian said, “Why don’t you speak of these matters to our Pavilion Master?”

Ye You said, “He wouldn’t believe it.”

Ren Shaotian said, “But he understands Manor Lord Wei. Perhaps he’ll be able to find Manor Lord Wei’s weakness.”

Ye You said, “Hasn’t Pavilion Master Ding always hated these matters because they relied on tricks and deception? He had been disgusted by the black piece from the beginning, and then later, because of what happened, he had to delay celebrating Elder Madam Ding’s birthday. If I really spoke the truth, then he might actually reveal it directly and take people to search Fengxian Manor.”

Ren Shaotian laughed and said, “That’s very possible.”

Ye You said, “At that time, Fengxian Manor and Lingjian Pavilion might really start fighting.”

Ren Shaotian indicated that he agreed.

Ye You asked, “How did you get here so quickly?”

Ren Shaotian reminded, “People are coming over ahead.”

Ye You still had his eyes closed, and he said, “How does that stop you from answering?”

Ren Shaotian stilled for a moment before saying, “Right as you fell into the water, I jumped in. I knew that your health wasn’t good, so I simply followed the current to swim forward, as I wanted to cut you off from the front. My luck was also good, and I suddenly discovered traces of water near the shore, so I managed to follow that here.”

Ye You’s thoughts turned quickly while he said only a simple, “Mn,” not asking anything else. Ren Shaotian walked following the riverside and, after a moment, saw the people in front running over.

Wenren Heng was in the lead, and he asked, “How is he?”

Ren Shaotian was certain that since Sir Xiao had purposely fallen into the water, then Wenren Heng had also definitely been pretending to be no match for the drugged men on the boat previously in order to stumble purposely into Sir Xiao. But he still answered with, “He’s fallen unconscious, but there shouldn’t be anything serious.”

As Ren Shaotian spoke, Wenren Heng had moved to recover the person, pulling the other into an embrace. He then said a word of thanks to Ren Shaotian before beginning to carry his Junior Brother back. The people from “Heaven’s Firmament” who had been following after him conversely asked about Sir Yang’s whereabouts. Ren Shaotian was true to his words and told them that he hadn’t seen the person.

The people of “Heaven’s Firmament” turned grave and anxiously went to conduct a search.

Ren Shaotian said, “Where’s our young master?”

Wenren Heng said, “With Pavilion Master Ding.”

Ren Shaotian thereupon relaxed.

After a short time, Xie Junming and Elder Baili also hurried over with their own people.

Wenren Heng looked over before his gaze passed them to look at the many righteous faction members standing not faraway, with even the people of “Moon’s Shadow” and “Heaven’s Firmament” among the group. He then knew that today’s matter was almost over.

Xie Junming said, “He’s all right?”

Wenren Heng said, “Yes, I need to hurry and change his clothes.”

It was almost winter now, so the river water was piercingly cold, and with Sir Xiao’s weak body, without even any internal energy to bolster it, they naturally mustn’t be careless. After becoming aware of his situation, everyone hurriedly found a fairly good house in the village for them.

Wenren Heng instructed his subordinates to boil some sweet ginger water before then closing the door. Sitting down next to his Junior Brother on the bed, he began taking off those clothes and, upon seeing the other let out a faint smile, leaned over to drop down a kiss. He asked, “Did you send the person away?”

Ye You said, “Yes. Ren Shaotian also already knows that I’m the black piece.”

Wenren Heng said, “He accidentally saw all of you together?”

Ye You said, “I’m not sure if he actually saw it or not.”

He recounted the course of events and asked his Senior Brother about the other’s thoughts.

Wenren Heng grasped the most important point, “You said that he’s been paying more attention to you lately?”

Ye You said, “When I asked him, he didn’t deny it.”

Wenren Heng thought back for a moment, completely unable to pinpoint anything suspicious regarding Ren Shaotian. Internally, he thought that perhaps it had been too-well concealed, and only as sharp a person as his Junior Brother would be able to detect it. If it had been anyone else, then the person would probably never have been able to notice any issues.

He said, “Right as you fell into the water, he jumped in immediately afterwards.”

Ye You could hear the implications and said, smiling, “You’re not saying that he was that anxious because he likes me, right?”

Wenren Heng said, “That’s the most ordinary explanation.”

So-called “ordinary”. Because they knew nothing about matters regarding Ren Shaotian, and they didn’t know if he was also someone who carried secrets in his heart, the only thing they could do was make a guess based on an ordinary explanation. Ye You said in agreement, “Looks like we have to investigate him.”

Wenren Heng said, “Yes.”

Ye You changed the topic. “How are things now?”

Wenren Heng said, “I was focused solely on searching for you, so how could I have the mind to do anything else. You go to sleep first, and I’ll go out to look.”

As he spoke, he finished taking off his Junior Brother’s clothes completely. While taking off the other’s undergarments, he also gave a little teasing touch along the way. Upon hearing this disaster give a seductive moan, he helplessly smiled and kissed his Junior Brother on the lips before then finally getting up and going outside.

The village chief had been gravely injured by Elder Bai and was still unconscious even now.

Three of those flute players died, and two had been captured alive. Meanwhile, the drugged men had long already been knocked unconscious by the righteous faction and were currently lying in dense clusters upon the ground.

Regarding that troop of drugged men who had lost their rationality, there was one portion that had their attentions diverted by the proffered bait jumping from rooftop to rooftop and so had been tied up with iron chains by some elders who had seized the opportunity. Conversely, the other portion that had chased Ye You and the others to the riverside had mostly all jumped into the river itself, and the righteous faction members were currently organizing people to go fish them out. For now, of those who had been fished out already, two had already drowned, and the rest had long lost consciousness. The righteous faction members had thus chained these people up and carried them back.

In this battle, both sides had suffered casualties, and the ground was still littered with flesh that had been torn apart by the drugged men, looking extremely dreadful and wretched.

When Wenren Heng went outside, the righteous faction was currently at work busily cleaning up the battlefield while also searching the fishing village to see if there were any important letters or hiding places. Wei Jiangrou and them had also already returned to the fishing village. At this moment, upon seeing him, Wei Jiangrou hastily ran over, “Brother Heng, has Ah-Xiao woken up yet?”

Wenren Heng said, “No.”

Wei Jiangrou said, choked with sobs, “About when will he wake up? Nothing will happen to my brother, right?”

Her second brother had been kidnapped, and while they still had yet to learn about his life or death, misfortune had now also befallen Sir Yang. That person had grown up in her house, no different from an actual blood-related sibling, and had also always taken extremely good care of her. She was practically worried to no end.

Wenren Heng didn’t console her, simply saying, “Ah-Xiao’s body is weak. Falling into the river would’ve rendered him incapable of knowing anything. Even if you ask him, he won’t know Sir Yang’s whereabouts. Why don’t you go wait by the riverside? Aren’t they currently searching right now?”

Wei Jiangrou internally thought that’s true and asked, “Where are you going?”

Wenren Heng said, “I’m going to see if the ginger soup is ready yet.”

With reddened eyes, Wei Jiangrou watched him walk far away and, after a moment of deliberation, finally decided to run towards the riverside.

After having succeeded at taking care of the white piece’s drugged men, those elders decided to remain here for the next little while, intending to finish investigating this area before departing. The adventurers were also tired after having gone through a big battle and so, upon finishing up their business, they sat down to rest in twos and threes. At this time, they saw a baby-faced young boy in an embroidered robe walking in from the village entrance, and they couldn’t help but go on the alert, standing up to surround him.

They blocked off this person’s path. “Child, what did you come here to do?”

The young boy wasn’t very tall and had to raise his head to look at them. With an unbelievably adorable face, he said, “I came to find my older brother.”

The adventurers became even more vigilant. “Your brother is one of the people in this village?”

The young boy said, “No, my brother said that he might come here and wanted me to come find him.”

The adventurers guessed that he might be a relative of one of the families here and their tone of voice relaxed. “Who’s your brother?”

The young boy said, “He’s called Xie Junming.”

The adventurers, “…”

The scene turned deathly still in an instant.

Immediately following, those adventurers erupted, “Are you joking?! Does Xie Junming have a little brother?!”

The young boy said, “He does, I’m his little brother.”

As every single one of them had been involved with Xie Junming in one way or another, the righteous faction members then all moved to a respectful distance, at once no longer blocking his way, letting the person enter.

The young boy thereupon walked into the fishing village under thousands of staring eyes. From a distance, he saw Xie Junming talking with “Sect Master Ye” and immediately ran over in excitement. “Hey, big bro, I came to welcome[2] you!”

Xie Junming turned back to give him a look and, laughing, said, “Cut it out with the ‘big bro’. I definitely don’t have a little brother as big as you.”

The young boy didn’t dare to act too impudent to the other’s face and restrained himself a bit. Abbot Ciyuan and the others were all nearby and, upon seeing this, couldn’t help but look over. Xie Junming explained to them, “This is Chenhong Fort’s Fort Master.”

Everyone, “…”

Is this for real? Isn’t it said that Chenhong Fort’s Fort Master is almost thirty?

The “young boy” looked at them and first said a word of greeting before then explaining his reason for coming — to welcome them to come stay at the fort.

Those elders startled.

The Fort Master continued with, “If it wasn’t for Elder Mei coming to inform me this time, I would’ve been completely ignorant of the fact that there were problems with Beiyan Village. They’ve lived here for more than ten years so it’s likely that there’s a secret passage around here. If you decide to stay in their territory, will all of you be able to sleep steadily through the night?”

Then are you saying that we’d be able to sleep steadily in that demonic faction sect of yours?

Everyone was speechless.

But which was the lesser of two evils was still clearly obvious. Although those elders had never lived at a sect of the demonic faction before, after having tolerated and allowed the participation of the two vexing scoundrels Xie Junming and Ye You in their matters all this while, breaking decorum once more was of little matter. The most important part was that they had many who were injured, and there were doctors at the fort who would luckily be able to examine the wounded.

Abbot Ciyuan and Sect Leader Xuanyang looked at one another and sealed the decision with, “Then apologies for the intrusion.”

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[1] 在下 Ren Shaotian uses this humble third-person form to refer to himself throughout here. (Though he uses regular “you” rather than the polite form of that.)

[2] The word 接駕 here is the term used specifically to greet the emperor in ancient China, haha.

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I had to keep reminding myself that Xie Junming was twenty-five here, meaning he’s younger than this Fort Master, haha…\n

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