Chapter 106

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In which the Wang family head and Junior Academy Master Ge deal with some shocking truths.

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The Wang family head and Junior Academy Master Ge were completely stupefied.

The former poured a cup of tea for himself and silently guzzled it down. With trembling fingers, the latter also grabbed hold of the teapot and poured himself a cup. While lifting it up to drink, he finally couldn’t endure it, putting it down with a bang and asking in a taut voice, “Is… is there evidence?”

Ye You said, “No.”

These two people had felt as if an enormous mountain had landed on them, making them practically unable to catch a breath, and right as they were feeling that this was insurmountable, another enormous mountain from the side arrived, smashing straight into this mountain with a crash, startling them to the point that they were about to go into shock.

The two almost vomited up a mouthful of blood as they repeated, “No?”

Then how are the two of you so sure that there’s a problem with Pavilion Master Ding?

Ye You was able to guess their thoughts and laughed before standing up to wash his face without so much as a by-your-leave. After a time, he returned and sat down. Seeing that these two were still in the same positions, he said, “Whether it’s true or not, you two have already made the decision in your heart, isn’t that right?”

The Wang family head was about to say something on reflex when he heard a few knocks sounding from the door. Immediately, like a startled cat, he swiftly swiveled his head to look. When Wenren Heng went over to open the door, he discovered that it was the waiter and let the person inside.

Ye You had long been hungry, so when the waiter placed down the dishes and left, he grabbed a spoon and began unhurriedly drinking porridge.

You’re actually still able to eat in this kind of situation?

Junior Academy Master Ge stared, wide-eyed, feeling urgently unwell.

He only had to think about how, over these years, the entirety of Jianghu had been kept in the dark, and that even those massacres and qi deviating swordsmen were all intentionally plotted by Manor Lord Wei and Pavilion Master Ding, to feel his entire body chilled to the bone.

The Wang family head conversely more or less understood why they were able to be so calm. After all, this chessboard had been prepared for too long, and Wenren Heng and them had also already carried these secrets for too long, so much so that they’d definitely already long gotten over their own shock.

He thought for a moment before asking, “That year, there was another motive behind what happened to Elder Yu?”

Wenren Heng said, “Yes, the swordsman who killed my Master was drugged.”

He paused and, without waiting for the Wang family head to ask for specific details, gave a simple account of how the swordsman had left behind a slip of paper, telling them that Manor Lord Wei was the owner of that secret villa they discovered previously.

The Wang family head said, “Pavilion Master Ding wasn’t written on there?”

“No,” Ye You slowly swallowed the food in his mouth and interrupted with, “but I’m a child of the Yang family.”

The Wang family head and Junior Academy Master Ge practically felt as if they had walked into a fantasy and said in astonishment, “What?”

Ye You knew that they had heard him and so continued speaking, “Before my dad sent me away, he told me that the people who massacred those influential families were that monster and the two Wei and Ding. That year, my family was the last, and our turn came right on the second day after the news of the two families’ massacres had reached us. I’m not clear on where my dad managed to get this information from in such a short amount of time, and moreover, I don’t have evidence, but after all these years of observation, all sorts of signs clearly point to those two being partners.”

The Wang family head absolutely never imagined that Sir Xiao had another layer to his identity and said, thinking back, “So you mean that the Sir Yang right now is your younger brother? I remember that, when that happened to the Yang family that year, the family head’s eldest son didn’t happen to be around, and there was only one younger son. Not many days later, it came out that the older son had also been killed. That was false information?”

Ye You shook his head. “I’m precisely the younger son of the Yang family. Right now, this Sir Yang is the son of my family’s steward. If that hadn’t happened, he would have already become my boy attendant[1].”

The Wang family head didn’t understand. “Then how did he take the name of the Yang family’s child?”

Ye You said, “You two didn’t come with us to Shaolin, so you don’t know that Miracle Doctor Ji and them discovered a personal letter from the white piece’s miracle doctor. On it was written that, if they fed the drug to a small child and took the opportunity to instill in him another background, then they could confuse his memories. And as time passes, he would then come to believe that he truly was that person.”

The Wang family head inwardly drew in a breath. “Manor Lord Wei used the drug on him? They weren’t afraid that the drug would suddenly lose its efficacy one day?”

“Once he got on the tiger, it became difficult to get off[2]. Or else do you really believe that Wei Haide would be willing to save someone?” Ye You looked at him. “Even if he hadn’t managed to save anyone that year, he would’ve still found another excuse to issue the ‘Demon Slaughter order’. Saving the person was only an opportunity, because when they rushed over, they just so happened to dig out my boy attendant from that pile of corpses and discovered that he had just suffered some light injuries. With that many righteous faction members present, Wei Haide couldn’t possibly get rid of him and so could only take the person home. What’s more, my dad’s friends were many, and those people would definitely pay some attention, so Wei Haide wouldn’t dare to kill him.”

Junior Academy Master Ge couldn’t help but interrupt, “How do you know about these things?”

“I found out through later investigations,” Ye You said in a light voice, “I even know that he was wearing my clothes at the time. I’m guessing that the steward was probably planning to have him die in my place, so perhaps when he woke up, he also told Wei Haide that he was the son of the Yang family. But regardless of whether he actually said that or not, Wei Haide and them were all afraid that he had seen their faces that night, and so they drugged him.”

The Wang family head and Junior Academy Master Ge fell silent.

Due to an unexpected turn of events, Sir Yang hadn’t died and instead had been raised by Manor Lord Wei until he was an adult before the other was willing to let him go. And for the sake of a good name, Manor Lord Wei even went as far as to help him reestablish the Yang family. But although it looked good, there most likely weren’t any truly loyal servants within that Yang family, as all of them were sent by Manor Lord Wei to keep an eye on him.

Hey, wait… The Wang family head asked, “The whole matter with feeding children the drug was something that Miracle Doctor Ji and them found out only after reading that personal letter, but listening to you, it seems like you knew about this already?”

Ye You said, “Yes, I have a friend who was one of those who had fallen prey to the drug. During an unexpected incident, he was able to undo the drug’s efficacy, and so I also learned about it. Thus, after I finished investigating the matters of the Yang family, it became clear to me that my boy attendant had also been fed the drug.”

The Wang family head understood. “So it’s like that.”

Ye You said, “Do you still have anything else to ask?”

Those two didn’t open their mouths, feeling as if they needed to catch their breaths.

Ye You looked at them and then lowered his head to eat.

The Wang family head, “…”

Junior Academy Master Ge, “…”

Still eating? Your heart is truly large! Were the things we talked about just now something that happened to another person’s family, hey!

But Wenren Heng knew that when his Junior Brother had first managed to find out about this entire matter’s sequence of events, and learned that Wei Haide had used the Yang family as a glorious achievement for the sake of adding prestige, the other definitely hadn’t been calm like this. Even now, he was still wondering about what his Junior Brother’s mood had been when the other had just returned to the Central Plains and went alone to the outskirts of Huayang City, turning over that valley but unable to find a trace of Father Yang’s bones. Where exactly had he been at that time?

Over these years, while his Junior Brother had faced many, many shocking and ghastly hardships alone, where had he been?

He truly regretted that he hadn’t been a bit more unyielding back then so that he could’ve always stayed at his Junior Brother’s side, passing by all those hard-to-bear days and nights together.

Ye You perceived his gaze and gave him a look.

Wenren Heng regained his senses and helped the other pour more tea, squeezing the other’s hand a bit in passing. In his heart, he thought that I already can’t make up for the past, but at least in the future, I can always stay with him.

The Wang family head and Junior Academy Master Ge were still stuck on the enormous force that was the reality that “Manor Lord Wei, Pavilion Master Ding, and the Alliance Leader are all partners” and, from the start, hadn’t noticed the ambiguous atmosphere in front of them.

The Wang family head forced himself to calm, and recalling the matters over the past twenty years, he said, “I remember that the relationship between Fengxian Manor and Lingjian Pavilion turned harsh because Manor Lord Wei’s older sister passed away not even two years after marrying Pavilion Master Ding’s oldest brother, and later, Pavilion Master Ding’s oldest brother also quickly followed. But even now, the people aren’t clear what the precise reason was that led to these two families falling out. If this rift was an act, then none of this had anything to do with it from the beginning?”

Ye You originally wanted to speak, but upon glimpsing his Senior Brother handing over a steamed roll[3], he then obediently returned to eating, leaving the answering to his Senior Brother.

Wenren Heng said, “Did you two know that the day that the monster appeared, other than Manor Lord Wei, there was another person who also left?”

The Wang family head asked, “Who?”

Wenren Heng said, “Wei Jiangrou. She was taken away by the monster.”

The Wang family head was somewhat confused. “How is she related to this?”

Wenren Heng said, “She’s distantly related. Me and Ah-Xiao had never been clear on how Manor Lord Wei and Pavilion Master Ding could make that monster happily throw his life away for them. It was only until this happened that we managed to guess a possibility.”

Junior Academy Master Ge’s brain had already turned to mush, and he foolishly looked at them, waiting for their next words.

Although the Wang family head was startled, he still straightened out his thoughts, sorted through Wei Jiangrou’s age, and said, “Wei Jiangrou isn’t even twenty yet, so she’s definitely not the daughter of Manor Lord Wei’s older sister. She should be Manor Lord Wei’s actual blood daughter. Why did the monster take her away?”

Wenren Heng said, “That monster treats her very well.”

The Wang family head took a moment to react, but he quickly understood. “Could it be that Wei Jiangrou looks like her aunt? And previously, that monster helping those two families was also due to Manor Lord Wei’s older sister?”

Wenren Heng said, “Most likely, but as for how exactly she died, we still don’t know. We can only guess that, before she died, she had perhaps said to the monster that she hoped he would take care of these two family members of hers, and the monster agreed. Thus, the two Wei and Ding used this method to get to the top.”

The Wang family head was speechless.

Actually, even if Sir Xiao hadn’t mentioned the matter of the Yang family, just the matter of Manor Lord Wei and the Alliance Leader not making a move against Pavilion Master Ding over all these years would’ve already made people suspicious. Now that he’d finished hearing Wenren Heng talk about the matter with the monster, he felt even more that the two Wei and Ding were partners. After all, with that monster’s feelings towards Manor Lord Wei’s older sister this ambiguous, if the Wei family and the Ding family really did fall out because of the person’s older sister, there was no need for Manor Lord Wei and the Alliance Leader to make a move, that monster alone would be able to take care of Pavilion Master Ding. Why would there be a need to raise drugged men and make a vast conspiracy?

He steadied his spirits and returned to the current matter, asking, “Why didn’t you two go to Wuyun City?”

Wenren Heng said, “I accompanied Ah-Xiao for a trip to Huayang City and met them upon returning…”

He gave a simple explanation of the sequence of events.

Upon hearing that the two had kidnapped Wei Jiangrou and then used her to set a trap for the monster and the others by burying the group with gunpowder, the Wang family head and Junior Academy Master Ge were both immediately shocked. And when they heard that the Alliance Leader’s death had been caused by Wei Jiangrou, they both made a sound in exclamation. And then, upon hearing that Sir Xiao had been hit by a strike from the monster but still endured the pain in order to cut off one of Manor Lord Wei’s arms in one go, they fell silent for a moment before saying simultaneously, “You must be joking, right—-?!”

Ye You didn’t even lift his head when he said, “No, I still have my martial arts. When we reach Wuyun City, remember to help me keep this a secret.”

The Wang family head, “…”

Junior Academy Master Ge, “…”

The two unconsciously thought of the scene from last night, and internally thought well, it’s also not impossible.

So, right now, that monster was injured, the Alliance Leader was dead, and Manor Lord Wei had truly lost an arm? They looked at the two people in front of them and internally thought that just by barely grabbing onto an opportunity, these two were able to entrap people to this degree; these two disciple-brothers were truly terrifying!

“Wait.” The Wang family head suddenly realized and gravely looked at Sir Xiao. “The Lantern-Extinguishing Poison in your body was received from being hit by that monster’s Lantern-Extinguishing Skill?”

Ye You said, “Yes.”

The Wang family head said, “Wasn’t it said that one would quickly die, not even able to stay alive for a quarter of an hour?”

Ye You said, “At the last moment, I ate some medicine that dispelled poison made by Miracle Doctor Ji. Perhaps it was of some use.”

The Wang family head said, “Can it dispel all the poison?”

Ye You said, “It’s still unclear.”

The Wang family head said, “You don’t need to get Miracle Doctor Ji to examine you?”

Ye You said, “Let’s first wait and see. At this juncture, I can’t leave for too long.”

The Wang family head also knew that now was a crucial moment and so found it difficult to say anything in response.

He thus nodded and waited for Sir Xiao to finish eating before then leaving the inn together with them to hurry along to Wuyun City.

On the road, the black-clothed men appeared once more, but with the assassins that the Wang family head hired, none of them were able to take advantage and all retreated with their tails between their legs.

Meanwhile, Ye You was awake for half a day before once again falling unconscious.

This time, he slept for two hours, and he then maintained consciousness for a while before once again falling asleep. He thus woke and slept intermittently like this for three days before finally returning to normal, allowing all the people who had been holding back their cold sweat to let out a sigh of relief.

Wenren Heng sat in the carriage and assessed his Junior Brother. “You’re really all right?”

Ye You said, “I don’t really feel it anymore.”

Wenren Heng carefully gave him a few more looks and felt his pulse, finding it strong and robust, before more or less feeling a bit more at ease. “And we don’t know if it was the medicine that was useful or if it had something to do with the martial arts you’re practicing.”

“I think it has to do with my martial arts. After all, it’s the greatest martial arts book in Jianghu.” Ye You raised a brow and asked, “Want to learn it? I can write what I know from memory for you. Don’t worry, Senior Brother, when you lose your memories, even if you cry your lungs out, I’ll still forcibly tie you up and hit your death acupoint. I wouldn’t take the time while you’ve lost your memories to play around with you.”

Wenren Heng couldn’t help but recall his Junior Brother’s appearance back when the other had just lost those memories. He laughed. “You were quite cute at the time.”

Ye You said, “So you think that I’m not cute right now?”

Wenren Heng pulled the person into his arms, roguishly teasing him, before then leaning against the person’s ear to say in a low voice, “Mhm, right now you’re enticing.

Ye You’s ear itched, and he couldn’t help but duck out of the way.

Wenren Heng pulled back his chin. “You seem to be in quite a good mood these past two days?”

Ye You left a kiss on his lips and dodged out of the way when he was about to kiss back, saying with a smile, “With his many years of training, his internal energy really is higher than mine, but even those heights have limits. And my lightness skill is faster than his, so I can delay him for many moves. Senior Brother, you must know that he’s getting on in age, and in the end, he’s no match for a young person like me.”

Wenren Heng understood. “So the one to win in the end would be you.”

Ye You nodded. “Right now, I’m just worried that Cong Yun hasn’t died, or that Wei Haide has drugs in his hands.”

That truly would be terrible, Wenren Heng thought.

That monster’s strength was originally frightening, so if he then ate some drugs that increased his internal energy, how could they possibly fight him?

Ye You thought for only a short while before he stopped concerning himself with it. He pulled out the bandages and handed them over to his Senior Brother, indicating for the other to help him put it on.

Wenren Heng understood.

Now that Wei Haide already knew that his Junior Brother retained those martial arts and had been poisoned by the Lantern-Extinguishing Poison, the other would definitely send this information to Pavilion Master Ding. And at this time, if his Junior Brother appeared with his face full of bandages, not only looking unaffected by the Lantern Extinguishing Poison but also still walking with untroubled steps, with this kind of truth mixed in with lies, Pavilion Master Ding also wouldn’t know if this was the same person or not.

The group hurried on the road for a few days before finally reaching Wuyun City on a certain evening.

The elders had all already begun living at the Sheng family residence, and the Sheng Patriarch and family head had both already learned that the monster was not yet dead, instantly turning from bystanders to participants without another word. After all, the Hua family that was massacred twenty years ago had a blood relationship with them, so they naturally couldn’t simply sit on the sidelines.

The Sheng family head had heard that Wenren Heng and Sir Xiao were coming only after a few days and so had prepared them a room in advance. At this time, upon seeing that there were two more people, he invited the people inside on one hand and, on the other, gave his steward a meaningful look, indicating for the person to go prepare quickly.

At this time, those elders had also come out to welcome them.

Academy Master Ge exchanged a few words of greeting with the Wang family head and, upon seeing that his son seemed somewhat quiet, then turned to look at him.

Junior Academy Master Ge silently ruminated, deciding to wait until the dead of the night before telling his old man about certain important information, hoping that his old man could withstand the shock.

Academy Master Ge looked at his son’s expression, not understanding it in the least, and not feeling like inquiring over it, he turned to Sir Xiao. “How’s your health?”

“Much better,” Ye You said, as he walked and talked with the other, very quickly reaching the anteroom.

He was just about to ask if anything had happened recently when he saw a family servant running in to tell them that there was a person outside claiming to be Wei Jiangyue who wanted to see Sir Xiao and Sect Master Wenren.

Those elders immediately startled. “What?”

The Sheng family head quickly reacted and said, “Quickly let him in.”

The family servant said a word of ‘understood’ before turning around and running off.

Everyone stood in the anteroom, unmoving, collectively looking outside.

They waited for a time and, sure enough, saw one person walking in from the outside; it truly was Wei Jiangyue. But his situation didn’t appear to be very good. Although he still had the same appearance as before, his eyes were completely bloodshot, with even black bags visible underneath, looking as if he hadn’t slept for many days.

Pavilion Master Ding was the first to speak, asking indifferently, “Who kidnapped you? Where were you these past few days?”

“I took a trip home,” Wei Jiangyue said in a hoarse voice. He moved his gaze to Sir Xiao and walked over with slow steps, finally stopping when he was only three steps away.

Ye You said, “What?”

Wei Jiangyue closed his eyes, and then under everyone’s countless staring eyes, he pulled up the hem of his clothes and directly kneeled down in front of the other.

“Bam.”

A muffled sound resounded.

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[1] 書僮 lit. book servant. This is a specific position in ancient China where a servant boy of similar age will accompany his master to school and basically do chores for him (cooking, cleaning, etc.)

[2] 騎虎難下 Translated literally since I liked the image of Manor Lord Wei on a tiger lmao. It basically just means that once you commit to something, it becomes hard to stop. Like how I once ate half a cheesecake in one sitting and decided I could still eat the rest in one-go and regretted it for the rest of my life. That kind of thing.

[3] 銀絲卷 My favorite type of 麵食! It’s like a mantou but designed cooler. Here’s a picture, which I personally saved to show how great it is. (Note: the inside doesn’t actually taste different. It’s just an aesthetic.)

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So, uh, I don’t know if it’s obvious, but I actually… don’t really like Wei Jiangyue, haha. He’s probably my least favorite side character that’s not an obvious villain. I’m glad he finally seems to be getting a clue though.\n

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