Chapter 52

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In which Wenren Heng and Ye You manage to have an honest conversation with their clothes on!

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The scarred man personally went to the kitchen to make their food, and when he carried it into the Sect Master’s room, he saw a certain person who had been hurt lying on the bed, back to them. He couldn’t help but advise, “Young Master Xiao, you should eat something.”

Ye You didn’t say a word, and if it wasn’t for the faint up-and-down movements of his chest, he looked as if he was practically dead. The scarred man thought of Sect Master Ye’s former elegant bearing, and then once again looked at this appearance of his, deeply thinking that this word “emotion” really inflicts people with much suffering, before finally looking beseechingly at the Sect Master.

Wenren Heng said, “Just put everything down. I’ll soothe him.”

The scarred man nodded, put down the things, and left, though he shot another glance at the Sect Master on his way out.

Not knowing whether it was a misperception, he felt that the Sect Master’s breathing seemed somewhat unsteady just now when the other spoke. He thought that with Young Master Xiao turned into this, the Sect Master was probably also enduring an enormous amount of pain.

He immediately felt aggrieved, inwardly thinking that it’d be good if only these two people could be together.

Upon hearing the soft sound of the door, Ye You quickly turned around.

Since he no longer had to control his breathing, he urgently gasped out a breath — right before the meals had been delivered, that Senior Brother of his had been pressing down on him, teasing him until his whole body went soft. If his bandages were unraveled, it would definitely show that his entire face, all the way up to his ears, was red.

The main offender then unhurriedly stood up and walked over to sit in front of him.

Ye You said, “I’m going to eat.”

Wenren Heng placed both hands on either side of him, trapping the person against the headboard, and asked, “The person was very likely kidnapped by Xie Junming. Besides this, is there anything else you want to explain?”

Ye You saw him coming closer and closer and decided to take the initiative to kiss him, saying with an ambiguous air right at the corner of his mouth, “Senior Brother, if you want to take advantage of me, just say so directly. You don’t need to use this kind of method.”

Wenren Heng felt his eyes turn dark and pressed this disaster on the bed, fiercely kissing him, before finally letting him go reluctantly, pulling him up and accompanying him to eat. Wenren Heng asked, once again, “You really don’t have anything else to say?”

Ye You let out a soft sigh. “Over these years, I’ve done so many things. If you want me to talk, I won’t be able to say everything in one go.”

Wenren Heng asked, “Since Xie Junming wasn’t at Shaolin, who was your accomplice while you were here?”

Ye You hesitated for a moment, before thinking that if he didn’t speak now, it’d end up far worse in the future, and said, “Qin Yuemian.”

Wenren Heng silently looked at him, looking extremely gentle.

Ye You didn’t look up at all, gazing fixedly downward as he ate, and said, “Today’s food isn’t bad. Shaolin changed their chef?”

Wenren Heng tried a bite and told the other it was made by his subordinate. After sorting through what had happened after Qin Yuemian picked up his Junior Brother, he said, “Ah-Mian originally suspected that you were sent to hurt me, and he didn’t appear to be pretending. How could he be your accomplice?”

Ye You then told the other about the matters with Xunliu Manor.

Three years ago, his foundation was already stable, and he had been preparing the board on one side while keeping track of the white piece’s movements on the other. At that time, the wind was blowing in a strong direction for Xunliu Manor, and the Elder Manor Lord’s ambitions were big. He felt that the white piece was going to make a move, so he had vaguely reminded the Elder Manor Lord to be more cautious and to win over a dependable ally. But unfortunately the person hadn’t thought much of the warning and only believed it right before dying.

He asked, “Didn’t you think that Xunliu Manor declined a little too fast after Qin Yuemian took the position?”

Wenren Heng said, “I didn’t think so.”

For their group of people, playing was playing, but they weren’t quite the same type of people as Ding Xilai and Sir Zhong. From Qin Yuemian to the unbecoming Prince Li, all of them were experienced with the ways of the world. It was only that they had originally thought that Xunliu Manor had provoked some unknown enemy, so for the sake of lying low, Qin Yuemian decided to withdraw, but now it seemed that there was another ulterior motive.

He said, “Continue.”

“After the Elder Manor Lord died, I observed Qin Yuemian and Xunliu Manor for a period of time and guessed that, before dying, the Manor Lord probably said something to Qin Yuemian, so I tried getting into contact with him, but he didn’t know who I was.” Ye You explained matters very simply, telling him that Qin Yuemian had only recently learned his identity, and then, with a clear view of things, also told him about the other accomplice who had been in contact with Qin Yuemian these last few times.

Wenren Heng was very surprised. “It turned out to be him?”

Ye You made a sound in acknowledgement, then explained the entirety of how this accomplice came to be and, thinking about it, also told him another name, saying, “Actually, this person is also mine.”

Wenren Heng was helpless for a while before asking, “Are there any more? Lady Tao isn’t one of your people?”

“No, I haven’t told her about any of these things.” Ye You paused. “But I’ve asked her before if she could use the sound-killing technique to mess with or block something like a snake charmer’s flute. She said she hadn’t tried before.”

Wenren Heng said, “With your disposition, you’d probably try it out.”

The hand that Ye You was using to hold his chopsticks stopped for a moment. And then, as if nothing had ever happened, he grabbed a stalk of cabbage and put it in his mouth and slowly finished eating it under his Senior Brother’s gaze before finally saying, “At that time, we really did try it, but it was of no use.”

Wenren Heng used a tone that was full of certainty. “Right now, her sound-killing is able to be effective against the flute because she learned it for your sake.”

“…” Ye You refuted, “No, it’s that she felt that she herself was lacking in this area.”

Wenren Heng used a tone that was even more full of certainty. “She learned it for your sake.”

Ye You pondered over these words thrice over, not hearing any anger in his Senior Brother’s tone, and so shot the other a glance. From the start, Wenren Heng hadn’t expected his Junior Brother to admit to it, so he directly asked the other’s relationship with Lady Tao. Ye You sincerely said, “We’re only friends.”

Wenren Heng asked, voice mild, “Would friends do as you did and reserve an entire space to accompany her to watch the rain?”

Ye You immediately gave a meaningful laugh and, raising a brow, asked, “Senior Brother, are you jealous? In the past, you must have been quite jealous as well, right?”

Wenren Heng smiled in a way that looked nothing like a smile and helped him ladle a bowl of porridge, putting it in front of him. Ye You joyfully drank two mouthfuls of porridge and honestly told the other that he had also helped with that Suoxin House matter before. Wenren Heng recalled it and said, “This was the matter with a disciple falling in love with someone else?”

“Yes, that day I was coincidentally living in the same inn as them, and I heard Lady Tao and her older sister arguing over this matter. I also thought that there was nothing wrong with liking someone and couldn’t help but insert myself into the conversation…” Ye You explained in a simple way, saying that he had helped out and that, at the end, Suoxin House’s House Master was willing take a step back, so Lady Tao had thought she owed him a good turn.

“Senior Brother, you know that, in those years, in the demonic faction, although Wuwang Temple’s strength was great, it still wasn’t enough to make the white piece fear any consequences, but if we were also added in there, it’d be hard to say.” He said, “The white piece had drugged men so shifting the blame on someone else would’ve been far too easy. I needed to do some things to let them see, in case they put me under the knife too early.”

Wenren Heng thought back to the rumors circulating about his Junior Brother these last few years — loves to play, loves beauties, loves fine liquor and to be free and unrestrained, appearing as if he was incredibly unambitious. He let out a soft sound in response and said, “So the matter with you and Lady Tao was all planned beforehand?”

Ye You said, “Yes. At the time, there were some prodigal sons who kept sticking to her, so I found her and asked her if she needed any help, while also telling her that I wanted to make my reputation more well-known. She actually could tell that I had some other goal, but she didn’t expose me. Dyeing the falling flowers was my idea, while watching the rain was hers.”

As he spoke, he thought back to the matter of Lady Tao learning the qin, inwardly hoping that she truly didn’t learn it because of him. He didn’t want to have unintentionally incited an emotional debt, since after all this emotional debt would be difficult to pay.

Wenren Heng gave his Junior Brother some more vegetables while his heart let out a long sigh of relief. Only the heavens knew how angry he was enough to kill when he first heard the rumors about his Junior Brother and Lady Tao.

Perhaps because they now had a tacit understanding of their feelings, right when Wenren Heng had finished thinking this thought, Ye You lifted up the corners of his mouth and asked him what he had felt at the time. Wenren Heng naturally refused to answer and earnestly told the other to eat the meal obediently. Seeing this disaster once again trying to provoke him so fearlessly in the face of death, he grabbed the other’s outstretched hand and softly kissed the other’s fingertips. He said, “It’s fine now. Hurry and eat.”

Ye You had been played so that his heart was itchy, but in the end, he restrained himself.

The two didn’t discuss anything regarding the current situation any further, directly finishing their meal. Only then did Wenren Heng once again turn the attention back to the matter of the Junior Alliance Leader’s kidnapping, thinking that if the kidnapper was truly Xie Junming, then that person was almost here.

Ye You approved. “Probably in less than two days.”

Wenren Heng asked, “How much does Xie Junming know about this situation?”

Ye You said, “At least when I left the mountain, he knew absolutely nothing. He knew only that I was going out to do something.”

Wenren Heng connected the matter with the Elder Bai who had been seen today and guessed that Xie Junming was probably coming to find his Junior Brother.

Such a big matter happened within the righteous factions, so the demonic factions were definitely also paying attention. Xie Junming probably went to the Demonic Sect and found that Junior Brother wasn’t around and so incited Elder Bai to leave the mountain together.

But this matter was somewhat strange. Although Xie Junming’s conduct was unbridled, he also wasn’t impulsive, and he definitely wouldn’t rashly kidnap someone without being certain of the situation. After all, the Alliance Leader’s position in Jianghu was quite high, so a single mistake could lead to retaliation from the righteous faction. Then why exactly would he kidnap someone?

Wenren Heng looked at his Junior Brother, and seeing the other smiling in a clearly good mood, he asked, “Are there any things you should say but you haven’t yet said to me?”

Ye You laughed and asked, “Senior Brother, there were so many Junior Sect Masters in that tavern, and every one of them had a high position, not to mention there was even Wei Jiangyue and Ding Xilai. Why did Xie Junming kidnap only the Alliance Leader’s young master? And after the kidnapping even specially drew a mark?”

Wenren Heng’s heart skipped a beat. “Is it possible that this mark was drawn for you to see?”

“I think it is,” Ye You said, “About two years ago, he saw that I was being all secretive and mysterious and asked me what exactly I wanted to do. I told him that if he was able to find out the Alliance Leader’s background in detail, then I’d tell him. Later, he knew that I wanted to go and do something and so asked once again what I wanted to do, and I still told him that he needed to first have the Alliance Leader’s background in exchange. At that time, he said that he almost had all the major details.”

Wenren Heng nodded, not finding it strange at all that his Junior Brother would want to investigate the Alliance Leader.

This was just like the matter with Bodhi Prison. His Junior Brother would chase every thread that was related to the white piece back to its source. Over these years, the Alliance Leader had participated in many Jianghu disputes, so naturally his Junior Brother would’ve kept an eye on the other.

He asked, “Xie Junming drew that mark because he wanted to tell you that the Alliance Leader was related to that monster?”

Ye You cheerfully said, “It’s possible. I don’t know to what step he’s investigated, but at least the Alliance Leader must have some kind of problem, or else he wouldn’t have performed the kidnapping like this, without any misgivings whatsoever, isn’t that right?”

Wenren Heng finally understood why the other was this happy.

According to his Junior Brother’s temperament, the other had definitely investigated the Alliance Leader before and, in the end, had probably not found anything useful and so had thrown it to Xie Junming. But his Junior Brother had probably always somewhat suspected the Alliance Leader deep down and those words at Dehui Hall just now had probably truly been spoken with some intent to sow discord.

Ye You asked, all smiles, “The Alliance Leader is working for the white piece. Now that his son has been kidnapped, do you think that he’ll think that the white piece wants to turn him into a throwaway piece and so kidnapped his son in order to force him out to take the blame?”

Wenren Heng said, “It’s possible.”

“At this time, we definitely cannot allow the white piece and the Alliance Leader to be alone together to explain themselves, or else the matter will really be placed on my head.” Ye You thought for a bit and said, smiling, “Senior Brother, I’m going out for a bit to find that crowd of Junior Sect Masters to have a heart-to-heart.”

The moment Wenren Heng heard this, he knew immediately what the other wanted to do, inwardly thinking that you sure have a bellyful of rotten tricks. Upon seeing the other stand up, he reached out and grabbed onto a hand.

Ye You turned back to look at him.

Wenren Heng said, “When you have time, you should do a little thinking to make sure that you truly don’t have any other important things that you’re concealing from me.”

Ye You said, “Right now, whatever you’re asking, I’m answering, and you still think that I’m not being honest enough?”

In his heart, Wenren Heng thought that it was precisely because his Junior Brother was being too honest that he contrarily felt uneasy.

His Junior Brother had stifled all these matters for this many years, and now the other had suddenly loosened his lips, making it so that he felt somewhat in disbelief. He was truly afraid that his Junior Brother was being cooperative on the surface but was secretly plotting some dangerous matter deep down.

Ye You looked at him and asked, “Why don’t you give me some suggestions? And I’ll think long and hard about whether I still have things that I need to tell you.”

Wenren Heng let go of his hand. “Wait until I’ve thought of it and then tell me. You can go.”

Ye You gave him another glance before opening the door and leaving.

Ding Xilai’s party had not yet gone out to play, and they were currently sitting in a hallway near the small courtyard. Upon seeing him, they all whooshed to their feet.

Ye You put on a melancholy appearance as he walked over, but before he could even open his mouth, he heard an echoing cry from nearby, “Wuwang Temple’s people have come!”

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I… wasn’t planning on a double update… But this chapter featured my favorite thing: honest and sincere conversation!! Yes, folks, that’s it! That’s all I want in my stories! Two people to sit down and talk honestly about things!! I don’t ask for much!!

Anyway, now that the Alliance Leader is out of contention, place your bets folks, who do you think is the white piece? Manor Lord Wei or Pavilion Master Ding? <del>I snuck some peeks at the ending chapters so my votes are invalid.</del>

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