Chapter 100

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1-0-0! Triple digits! What a milestone! Just twenty chapters left!

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Ye You didn’t sleep very steadily.

Perhaps because he had thought of too many things in the evening, he once again dreamed of what happened during his childhood, with voices continuously rising and falling, waxing and waning like the tides, bubbling forth to tear incessantly into his heart. The great flames behind him blotted out the sky, leaving nowhere untouched. He could only endure the piercing chill of the wind as he ran forward desperately into the long night.

After an unknown amount of time, the scene changed. He watched as Master was pierced through the chest with that swordsman’s sword, blood spilling out and covering the ground, and Senior Brother was running towards him, grabbing him by both shoulders and shouting his name unceasingly.

He foolishly stared at the person in front of him, not moving in the slightest.

The only one I have is you, he thought, the only one I have is just you.

Wenren Heng was still calling him, “Ah-You, Ah-You, wake up…”

Ye You abruptly opened his eyes.

Wenren Heng held his chin. “Had a nightmare?”

Ye You relaxed his breathing, feeling his soul returning to him little by little after having been submerged in that wintry night. His gaze calmed and cleared, and he leaned against his Senior Brother’s chest, making a sound in acknowledgment. Wenren Heng wiped away the sweat on his forehead and asked him what he had dreamed about. Ye You didn’t want to discuss it and said, “Nothing really.”

Wenren Heng saw this person staring at his neck and reached out a hand to hold the other tight. “Don’t look anymore. It’ll disappear after applying medicine for one more day.”

Ye You was silent.

Wenren Heng said, “Still unhappy?”

Ye You said, “No.”

Wenren Heng didn’t expose him, telling him to sleep again for a while. Ye You didn’t feel like sleeping at all, instead simply closing those eyes and leaning against him. Wenren Heng lowered his eyes to look at his Junior Brother, moving over to drop a kiss on the other’s forehead.

He was actually aware in his heart.

Since the moment they learned that the monster had reappeared, his Junior Brother had wanted to kill that person. Later, when his Junior Brother had proposed taking the initiative to find that monster, the person had also likely been scheming how to murder the enemy personally. If he hadn’t stopped the other last night, his Junior Brother most likely would have already rushed over.

He supported his Junior Brother’s revenge, but that monster had gone through twenty years of intensive study, with martial arts that might be even a level higher. Although his Junior Brother practiced Jianghu’s number one Pursued Until Scattered, no one could be sure how it would match up against that monster. So rather than recklessly taking risks, he was even more inclined to making some proper preparations before making a move.

“I know you want to kill him,” he said in a low voice, “We’ve already come this far. A few more days of waiting will make little difference.”

Ye You again made a sound in acknowledgment and, fearing that his Senior Brother would continue to placate him, added a few more words, “I know. It’s not because of this.”

Wenren Heng said, “Then what is it?”

Ye You opened his eyes to look at the other, not replying.

He didn’t want his Senior Brother to continue following him into danger, especially now that it was confirmed that the monster was still alive. There was no telling what things would happen next, and it was causing him to want to steal away his Senior Brother and lock the other somewhere, letting the person out only when matters were concluded.

Although he didn’t speak it out aloud, Wenren Heng was able to read his expression and was practically angered into laughter. Pressing him down, Wenren Heng said, “Don’t you even dare think about it. It’d be better if you get rid of all those unnecessary thoughts now.”

Ye You was helpless.

Neither of them wanted to continue sleeping and so they ended up getting intimate on the bed for a time.

Wenren Heng managed to take quite a bit of advantage as he pressed down his Junior Brother, teasing this person all the while. Only when he was certain that the other didn’t have a mind to think about other things did he reluctantly let the person go — because the sky had finally brightened.

 

On this night, the majority of people hadn’t been able to sleep well.

The elders had woken up even earlier and were now sitting in the dining hall, not speaking even after a long while. The grave mood seeming to take physical form to press them all down, practically not allowing anyone room to breathe.

Ding Xilai stopped there for only a few breaths before slipping away, deciding to enter the room only when it was time to eat.

He found a place to sit and thought about what had happened last night.

Last night, after Sir Xiao and Wenren Heng returned, because Sir Xiao was injured in spirit from contending with the monster, he first returned to his room to rest. Wenren Heng had remained behind and explained to them the entire course of events, including the identity of the black piece as well as the fact that the white piece was going to set a time and place in order to do a hostage exchange.

Ding Xilai couldn’t help but be deeply moved. “I never thought that Sir Xiao was actually the black piece. How incredible!”

Ren Shaotian and Wei Jin were behind him, both not speaking a word, speechless.

Now that it had turned out that the monster hadn’t died, and Manor Lord Wei was also very possibly the white piece, the black piece’s identity had become the least of their worries, and only their young master would care so much about it.

Ding Xilai didn’t know their thoughts. He silently went through this entire event, and upon remembering that this chessboard had been set up many years ago, his admiration for Sir Xiao immediately increased. He was also certain that there was no way another person like this could ever be found.

He felt anguished. “Ah, Shaotian…”

Ren Shaotian felt slightly alarmed by his tone of voice. “What is it, young master?”

Ding Xilai wanted to say a few words of comfort to him but was also afraid to invoke too much grief in him. After all, there was only one Sir Xiao, and this person already belonged to another, so Shaotian was doomed to suffer for a time; there was no need for Ding Xilai to force open the topic. Thus, this person could only say, “Nothing. I just felt like saying your name.”

Ren Shaotian saw the young master’s compassionate appearance and immediately decided not to ask.

Ding Xilai stretched out a hand to pat his arm and let out a long sigh. “Alas.”

Ren Shaotian, “…”

Wei Jin, “…”

When Wenren Heng pulled his Junior Brother over, he saw this scene, with these three people standing around looking at each other, the atmosphere somewhat strange. Thus, he ended up asking, “What are all of you doing?”

“Nothing, we’re just chatting about whatever…” As Ding Xilai spoke, he suddenly realized something and asked, “Wait, how’s Xiao-Zhong? He must be in your hands, right?”

The group, “…”

It took you until now to realize?

“Y-y-you…” Ding Xilai unconsciously wanted to throw himself over and grab Wenren Heng by the lapel to ask about Xiao-Zhong, but upon meeting that gentle face, he immediately became terrified.

“Don’t worry, your friend is fine,” Wenren Heng said before taking his Junior Brother to enter the dining hall.

At this moment, the meal hadn’t started, but all the elders were already present, and upon seeing the two enter, they all turned to look. Their appearances were all very calm, and they appeared not to be concerned at all that these two were the black piece, because right now they had an even thornier problem pressing down on them.

One was the monster, while the other was that, if Manor Lord Wei truly was the white piece, then Fengxian Manor’s position would definitely be over and the balance in Jianghu that had been maintained for over twenty years would also be broken. No one could say whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

The Fort Master, Xie Junming, and them had also entered the hall at this time and, lifting their heads, saw countless brows tightly furrowed, with only a few among them bearing the same expressions as before. The entire dining hall was so grave that it almost seemed like a funeral. The Fort Master asked, “Everyone… are you going to eat?”

The group raised their heads to look at him.

The Fort Master blinked his watery eyes and stared back at them.

“…” The group immediately turned away, unable to endure looking right at him.

Abbot Ciyuan placed both palms together and responded in everyone’s place. Only then was the Fort Master satisfied and instructed people to bring up the meal. The dishes were still made from two different pots, looking alike but tasting completely different.

The Fort Master politely said, “After you.”

The elders didn’t have much of an appetite, but they still took up their chopsticks.

The dining hall was very quiet the whole time, and after a while, Academy Master Ge became the first one unable to endure it.

After he put down his chopsticks, he couldn’t help saying, “I still can’t quite believe that Manor Lord Wei is the white piece. All of you think about what kind of position Fengxian Manor has in Jianghu. Does he have any reason to do these things? I’ll say something that might not be so pleasant to hear — even if he finds himself at a disadvantage in a fight against Pavilion Master Ding, he could simply let the monster take care of it, why would he need to dirty his own reputation?”

The rest of them nodded their heads one after the other before looking at Sir Xiao and Wenren Heng.

Ye You didn’t speak, his head lowered as he unhurriedly ate his meal.

Wenren Heng said, “I’ve already said everything that should be said last night. At that time, right before that adventurer died, he gave my Junior Brother a piece of paper that truly said that Manor Lord Wei was the owner of that secret villa.”

Sect Leader Xuanyang said, “What if there’s some other motive which led that adventurer to hold false information?”

Wenren Heng returned with the question, “Then why doesn’t Manor Lord Wei explain himself?”

Sect Leader Xuanyang startled. “This…”

Wenren Heng said, “Or is the Sect Leader’s meaning that there’s still another white piece among us, and that he and Manor Lord Wei are partners? And that for the sake of protecting him, Manor Lord Wei is willing to take responsibility for everything?”

This was practically even more terrible than the information that Manor Lord Wei was the white piece!

Everyone immediately fell silent.

Academy Master Ge looked at Pavilion Master Ding and asked, “What does Pavilion Master Ding think?”

Since he had exchanged blows with Manor Lord Wei yesterday, Pavilion Master Ding’s expression remained extremely cold the entire time. He said, “We can’t stay in the dark about this. We need to capture him and clearly ask him about it.”

Academy Master Ge sighed and said, “It seems like this is the only option. Let’s first eat then.”

The group then ate breakfast in a heavy mood before returning to discussions of official business, very quickly moving to the most recent predicament. They all wondered whether that monster would also follow along when that day came. Especially since the other party was the one choosing the meeting place, if the white piece set up traps in advance, then they would be relegated to an extremely passive position.

Academy Master Ge said, “What do we do? Does Sir Xiao have any ideas?”

Ye You shook his head. “We can only wait for their news first.”

Wenren Heng added, “Or we can turn this event into something big. The white piece shouldn’t have many people remaining that he can use. On that day, it’ll be more advantageous if the righteous faction had more people.”

Now that was an idea.

Everyone nodded. Upon hearing someone inquire about changing locations, they couldn’t help startling. “Changing locations?”

“Yes, this place is somewhat remote, so doing anything is very inconvenient. What’s more, we were originally planning on going to Wuyun City, and those we sent to probe for information would also be there, so we can reconvene with them.” That Sect Master looked outside. “Besides, it wouldn’t be good to continue intruding on this fort…”

Everyone noticed that he had continued staring out the doors from beginning to end and so also turned to look. They saw only that the Chenhong Fort’s Fort Master, who looked sixteen despite being actually thirty, was standing there, with a small, warm, yellow dress stuffed into his hands who-knew-when. He was currently biting his lips, tears at the corners of his eyes, mournfully pretending to be pitiful to the Xie Junming and Elder Mei in front of him. It was clear that those two people wanted him to wear that dress.

Those elders retracted their gazes and said in unison, “Let’s go to Wuyun City.”

The farther away we are from these vexing demonic faction rascals, the better!

In the end, the Fort Master surrendered under Xie Junming and Elder Mei’s tyranny and wore the dress, brushing his hair up into two cute buns, pinching the hem of his skirt the entire way as he followed the elders out.

Those elders fiercely closed their eyes.

One person turned back and courteously said, “There’s no need to see us out, Fort Master. The wind is strong outside, so you should hurry back.”

The Fort Master said, “I’m not going back. I want to go with all of you to Wuyun City, or else I’d be wearing this dress for nothing.”

That Sect Master asked, “…What does this have to do with the dress?”

The Fort Master said, “My big bro said that if I wore the dress for him, he’ll let me come along.”

“…” That Sect Master immediately shut up, speeding up his steps to catch up to the Abbot and the others, preparing to hurry as quickly as possible to the place where they had previously parked the carriages, thoroughly acting as if he wouldn’t be hurt by what he couldn’t see.

Ye You found this very funny and the corners of his mouth lifted as he slowly walked forward with his Senior Brother. At this time, he suddenly saw a few villagers burning paper money[1] at the side of the road and so gave this scene a few more glances.

Wenren Heng also saw it and said, “It’s time for the Winter Clothing Festival[2].”

Ye You slightly startled and said, in a soft voice, “Is that so.”

Weren Heng held his hand. “Do you want to go?”

Ye You knew where he was referring to and fell silent for a moment before saying, “Let’s go.”

Wenren Heng tightened his hold. “I’ll go with you.”

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[1] For some bizarre reason, us Chinese people believe that folks still need money up in the heavens, so we burn paper money for them to use up there. <del>Why in the world is heaven capitalist I have no idea.</del> Though, metaphorically, it’s also meant as a show of respect and a way to tell one’s late ancestors that they still have filial descendants remaining on earth.

[2] 寒衣節 One of the major Chinese festivals for commemorating the dead, along with the previously mentioned Qingming (grave-sweeping day) and the Ghost Festival. Takes place on the first day of the tenth month of the Lunar Calendar. <del>And now that I’ve translated a holiday, I might go back and translate qingming too for consistency asrjwlrwre.</del>

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Chapters are going to start getting medium-length again (~6k words), so updates might slow down. Work is winding up again too, so that’s going to cut into my time as well. :x

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