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Chapter 39




Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.
In which there are multiple conversations.
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Ye You’s head was covered with bandages, so slight changes in expression were tightly hidden, leaving only his eyes open to peer into. Pavilion Master Ding had always thought he’d known countless people, but even so, he couldn’t read anything of note from these two eyes. He simply saw this youth lift up the corners of his mouth and then laughingly ask, “How did Pavilion Master Ding know that he could definitely see this young one?”
Pavilion Master Ding said, “I didn’t know. I was relying purely on luck.”
Ye You chose not to comment on that. “Then for what reason is Pavilion Master Ding looking for this young one?”
Pavilion Master Ding was even more direct in his words this time. “I wanted to ask you exactly how much you know so as to quickly resolve these matters. My mother’s birthday is almost here, so I have to hurry back to celebrate with her.”
Although Pavilion Master Ding was already over fifty, his mother was still around, and every year they’d spend her birthday together, sometimes big and sometimes small. If one counted the days, then it certainly was almost time. Seeing that he already had a cup of tea poured for him, Ye You took it and said, “I know the same things as everyone else.”
Pavilion Master Ding asked, “You don’t have any ideas?”
“If I say that I don’t, I’m afraid that the Pavilion Master won’t believe me,” Ye You said, “At this point in time, I have only some speculations, but as for who it is, I’m still not clear yet. First, let’s talk about the white piece. The white piece already has virtue and prestige, power and money, so he could clearly live quite well. But then why does he still need to create a herd of drugged people? His actions must have some kind of end goal.”
Pavilion Master Ding nodded.
Ye You said, “This usually has three possibilities, that he’s not satisfied with the current situation, that he has an enemy but can’t openly resolve the dispute with this enemy and so can use only dirty tricks, or that final possibility which is the most complicated kind.”
Pavilion Master Ding asked, “What is it?”
“The human heart,” Ye You said, “This is usually the hardest to guess. He could be doing it for the sake of a small issue, or he could be doing evil for the sake of evil, or even more extreme, he wants to create a Jianghu made entirely of drugged people.”
Seeing that this person wasn’t going to refute, he continued with, “But on this earth, every matter leaves behind traces that can be followed. Right now, nearly all of Jianghu’s prestigious and virtuous elders are here, and the Pavilion Master has been acquainted with them for many years and so can try and recall their past movements. Perhaps, you can find some clues in your memories, or you’ll be able to sense from some small issue that something isn’t right. What’s more, the Pavilion Master himself is of high-standing, so your way of looking at things is probably even more reliable…”
He paused slightly and then curiously asked, “If the Pavilion Master was this kind of person, would you ordinarily have some expectations or feel some discontent?”
“I would,” Pavilion Master Ding indifferently said, “One that everyone knows. I want to see a certain fatty out of luck.”
Ye You laughed.
The scarred man and the Shuangji Sect members behind him were all entirely speechless. Lingjian Pavilion and Fengxian Manor had already been at odds for many years, so the fatty that Pavilion Master Ding mentioned couldn’t be anyone else but Manor Lord Wei. This truly was something that everyone knew.
Pavilion Master Ding asked, “Regarding the black piece, what thoughts do you have?”
Ye You said, “Without exception, there are two kinds. First is a grudge. He spent many years seeping into the white piece’s sphere of influence and searching out the white piece’s movements. The second is just like I said before. It’s possible that the black piece is the white piece’s partner or trusted confidant. He could’ve felt a conflict in views arising between him and the white piece, or he’s doing it for the benefits he could obtain after getting rid of the white piece.
Pavilion Master Ding reminded, “But the words on the book were written many years ago.”
Ye You laughed and said, “Elder, the human heart is hard to fathom. Maybe he already had these kind of thoughts many years go, or maybe a conflict arose that led to him having an urge to destroy the white piece, and he decided to make the book at that time but waited until now to actually make a move.”
Pavilion Master Ding muttered to himself for a moment before saying, “But once the white piece’s matters are exposed, won’t the black piece also be implicated?”
“This, I don’t know,” Ye You said, “Perhaps he has a method of escape, perhaps he has a way to shut the white piece up before the other can implicate him, or perhaps he doesn’t care about himself since he’s alone, who can really say. At this moment, the one most worried about these things is the white piece. Right now, he’s successful in his endeavors and his family life is blissful, so if the black piece really manages to tear off his mask, all of these things would go up in smoke.”
Pavilion Master Ding made a sound in acknowledgement and changed the subject, “How’s your health?”
Ye You said, “Much better. The only thing is that I still can’t remember anything.”
Pavilion Master Ding said, “What did Miracle Doctor Ji say?”
Ye You said, “He said that even if I want to learn martial arts again in the future, it’ll be very difficult. He didn’t ask much about my lost memories, though he’s said previously that I probably hit my head.”
Pavilion Master Ding wasn’t a man of many words and, after saying a few more words with him, got up and left. After seeing the person out of the small pavilion, Ye You once again went back inside to sit. His slender fingers tapped on the lid of the cup, looking like he had no intentions of leaving.
The scarred man couldn’t see through his intentions and directly asked, “Not going back, Young Master Xiao?”
“Not going back.” Ye You considerately said, “Senior Brother is definitely still busy, so how could I go back and disturb him.”
The scarred man especially wanted to say that, no matter when you look for the Sect Master, the Sect Master will never be annoyed with you, but he didn’t have the guts, and could only stay nearby as a guard. It was only up until the cup of tea was almost completely cold did he see this person turn his head and look towards a group of young sirs walking close by, coming towards them.
He gave them a glance and said, “It’s the young sirs from the Alliance Leader and Pavilion Master Ding’s families. The others are all those who typically accompany them to play.”
Ye You said, “It seems I’ve never met them before. Did they just arrive?”
“Most likely.” The scarred man remembered his Sect Master’s usual patient air and added a few more sentences, “The Alliance Leader and Pavilion Master Ding aren’t like Manor Lord Wei with that many children; both of them have only one son. Because they’re too busy to pay sufficient attention to discipline, those two usually like going every which way to play around. Although they don’t go as far as to commit any real offenses, up until now, they still have yet to make any actual contributions.”
Ye You said, “Manor Lord Wei is also quite busy, but why isn’t Sir Wei like this?”
“It’s unclear, maybe it’s his innate disposition.” After making this conjecture, the scarred man said, “Since young, the second young master has always been no trouble, sparing people from worrying, and Manor Lord Wei has often flaunted this in front of Pavilion Master Ding. But even so, Fengxian Manor still has only this second young master, since the other young masters and young lady are…”
He suddenly realized that he had mentioned Wei Jiangrou and couldn’t help but stop talking.
Ye You amiably continued the conversation, “For instance, Lady Xiao-Rou?”
The scarred man didn’t know why he was trembling because of the words, “Lady Xiao-Rou,” but he could think only of Sect Master Ye’s style of handling matters in the past, and he didn’t think at all that this master would be able to swallow back the anger. And anyway, some missing memories wouldn’t cause one’s temperament to change, right?
His expression tensed as he made a sound in agreement, and he waited for Sir Xiao’s next words.
However, Ye You didn’t make any comments about the matter with Wei Jiangrou. Instead, as he saw those young sirs walking closer and closer, he stood up.
This “lantern” head of his was far too eye-catching, and he had only just stepped outside the small pavilion when he was immediately noticed by the young sirs.
They didn’t recognize him, but they recognized the scarred man behind him and were all collectively shocked. Their first reaction was, how did such an incredible Sect Master Wenren end up in this miserable state? In unison, they said, “Hello, Sect Master Wenren.”
The scarred man, “…”
Ye You said, all smiles, “My Senior Brother is still busy. I’ll help convey these words to him.”
“…” These people took a while to digest these words before asking, “Young sir, you are?”
Ye You said, “I’m his Junior Brother. Everyone can just call me Ah-Xiao.”
So it turned out that even Wenren Heng had a Junior Brother.
These people found this inconceivable but quickly changed their words, “Hello, Sir Ah-Xiao.”
Ye You nodded and then heard footsteps echoing behind him. When he turned around to look, he found that it was Wei Jiangyue and the other Junior Sect Masters who had come, probably because they had heard the news about these people’s arrival.
These young masters were all of the same generation, so ordinarily they were relatively friendly. Some of the Junior Sect Masters who enjoyed carousing had an even better relationship with the Junior Alliance Leader and Sir Ding than with Wei Jiangyue. When they got close enough, one of them said, with good-natured mocking, “Things have gotten this big, so why are you arriving only just now?”
Sir Ding tsked. “Even if we come, we wouldn’t be able to help at all. If we didn’t have our fathers, who in Jianghu would recognize us? Coming over now will just leave us running errands and filling up seats at mealtimes.”
Those Junior Sect Masters immediately felt distressed.
They really didn’t want to fill up seats either, especially when it was unclear who was the white piece so that, every time they ate, they saw their elders being polite and amiable on the surface while also mutually sounding each other out on the side, all of which was quite scary to witness.
They sighed and said, “That’s true. It’s only because of our fathers.”
“Exactly.” Sir Ding had on an ‘what I said wasn’t wrong‘ expression and loosened his shoulders.
“Actually all of you are still all right,” Ye You inserted himself into the conversation and said, “Seeing how everyone looks so talented, I think that when all of you inherit the family estate and take charge in the future, you’ll definitely have some accomplishments. But that’s not possible for me. I have such an incredible Senior Brother above me, so no matter what I do, I can’t win against my Senior Brother. Who in Jianghu would acknowledge me?”
The scarred man, “…”
Wei Jiangyue, “…”
The Junior Sect Masters, “…”
Quickly stop joking around! Just on that brain of yours alone, you definitely won’t remain obscure and unknown!
Sir Ding’s group had always known only how to play around, and now they weren’t even clear on the whole matter’s sequence of events, so they were even more unaware of Sir Xiao’s incredible feats on the way. Thus, after those words, they looked at him in sympathy and even said a few kind, comforting words about not getting discouraged. Sir Ding even patted his arm in encouragement and said, “Jianghu is so big, so as long as you work hard, your efforts will bear fruit one day.”
Wei Jiangyue’s crowd stood on the side, expressions all somewhat stiff.
Ye You said, “Yes, I will.”
Sir Ding then turned to the others and asked, “First, tell us about what’s happened recently, or else in a while that old man will blame me for not caring enough about the matters of Jianghu.”
These Junior Sect Masters agreed and entered the pavilion with them. Seeing Sir Xiao also following behind them, Wei Jiangyue slowed his steps to walk alongside the other and asked, “Are you thinking of doing something?”
Ye You asked, astonished, “What are you referring to?”
Wei Jiangyue said, “Those words just now.”
Ye You said, “I was simply speaking the truth… What’s with your expression? You don’t believe me? What was not right about what I said? If I go outside with Senior Brother, bystanders will definitely see my Senior Brother and say that this is Sect Master Wenren, while they’ll just say that this is Sect Master Wenren’s Junior Brother when they see me, isn’t that right?”
Wei Jiangyue thought for a while and ended up discovering that he had no way to refute.
And upon hearing this person sigh, even as he didn’t know if it was real or fake, he still said, “In the future, you definitely won’t remain obscure and unknown.”
Ye You said, “One can hope.”
As the two finished speaking, they stepped into the small pavilion. The Junior Sect Masters were currently relaying all the events in detail to Sir Ding’s group. And of course, for the sake of not undermining Sir Xiao, they played down a little of what this person had done.
Sir Ding’s party had never anticipated that this matter would get so big, and hearing about the black piece and the white piece’s game, they also felt somewhat alarmed and frightened. They asked, “Who is the white piece? Are there any clues right now?”
“The black piece sent people over with the flute player, so if we can get some useful information from her mouth, then perhaps we’ll be able to uncover the white piece. But that servant girl keeps crying out about being wronged, and it’s also not easy for the Abbot to punish her.” After the Junior Sect Masters finished speaking, they looked towards a certain person and humbly asked for advice, “Does Sir Xiao have any ideas?”
“I do have one, but I can’t do it. If you think you can, then you might as well try it out,” Ye You said, “That’s a young lady, and if any of you are good at dealing with young ladies, then you can try and talk her into revealing some of the truth.”
At these words, both the scarred man and Wei Jiangyue had a sudden flash of understanding.
They guessed that Sir Xiao suddenly deciding to chat with Sir Ding was most likely for this reason, and that his real motive was to have these young masters meet that young lady. Since the white piece has committed these crimes over numerous years, it’s possible that his son had met his subordinates before. When the flute player was sent over, all the Junior Sect Masters present had already seen her, and none of them had shown any strangeness in their expressions. Right now, the only ones who hadn’t seen her were these remaining people and the Junior Academy Master Ge who had hurried back to Suzhou with the Wang family head.
So Sir Xiao wants these people to go and take a look?
The two people internally speculated.
The Junior Sect Masters then said, “There’s no need for modesty, Sir Xiao. How can you not do this?”
Although this person’s face was injured, his intelligence was evident for all to see, and even just his eloquence was enough to leave all of them in his dust.
Sir Ding’s group looked in amazement at their good friends, thinking that this person was wrapped up like a zongzi[1]. Wasn’t asking such things purely making the other person look bad? Or could it be that they have some sort of conflict with him?
They couldn’t help but look at this young sir only to hear this person let out a faint sigh. “To tell the truth, I like men. Although that flute player is a woman dressed like a man, she’s still a woman, and I’m not good at dealing with women.”
Everyone fell silent. These Junior Sect Masters immediately thought of his ambiguous relationship with Sect Master Wenren.
Wei Jiangyue had recently been paying him a lot of attention and had not seen any indication that he and Wenren Heng had crossed the line in their relationship as disciple-brothers, so right now with these words, Wei Jiangyue’s first reaction wasn’t to wonder whether he and Wenren Heng had something between them but rather to think this strange thought, Since you actually like men, back at Suzhou City, why did you even visit Fengchun House that time?
Before these people could even voice their thoughts, they heard this person unhurriedly add some more words, “Even if it was a man, if he’s not as good-looking as my Senior Brother, then I still won’t be interested. I’m very picky with people. I’m only all right with those that, at the very least, look like my Senior Brother.”
Everyone, “…”
Quickly stop talking!
Ye You continued, as if he hadn’t finished expressing himself, “To tell the truth, I’ve always felt that it was a pity that my Senior Brother and I aren’t the same kind of people.”
Sir Ding’s group wordlessly looked in his direction, doing their utmost to convey their thoughts to him.
The rest were simply shocked.
Wait, Wenren Heng isn’t into men? Really isn’t? That must be a lie, right?
Not a sound could be heard. And then a gentle voice continued the conversation, “Oh, is that so?”
Ye You turned to look and saw that his Senior Brother was standing behind him, calmly looking in his direction.
He stared, blank, for a moment, pretending as if he just became aware of his Senior Brother’s presence. And as if he wasn’t the one who had just been talking about his Senior Brother, he stood up in surprise. “Senior Brother, when did you arrive?”
Wenren Heng said, “Since you said ‘even if it was a man’.”
“Don’t take it seriously. I was just joking around.” Ye You restrained his smile and said, deadly earnest, “We were actually discussing how to resolve this big Jianghu matter. Isn’t that right, everyone?”
Everyone silently nodded their heads.
They really did seem like they were talking proper business just now; no one knew how it became like this.
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[1] 粽子 Apparently they’re often translated as “sticky rice dumplings”?? But they are nothing like dumplings!! They’re like sticky rice balls wrapped in a (nonedible) leaf, usually with other stuff added to them. (There’s a difference between “sweet” zongzi, usually with red bean filling, and “salty” zongzi, which usually includes meat and nuts and stuff.) Usually had during the Dragon Boat Festival <del>but my aunt buys them in bulk and then stuffs them into our fridge so we have to eat them year-round</del>. Wiki has a page on them.
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Also, I didn’t realize some folks were actually afraid of Ye You and Wenren Heng not being into one another, so I’ll translate the remainder of the JJWXC summary that had been previously left out:
<blockquote>Reading guidelines:
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Main character is the shou. 1v1. CP already set.
The two are already secretly in love with one another, though… it won’t be easy to tell in the beginning.
Updates guaranteed, welcome everyone to join this pit~
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</blockquote>
So, yeah, author confirmed from the beginning that Wenren Heng and Ye You are mutually in love. <del>They’re just both idiots lmao.</del>
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