CH 26

Since Wen Chan left the capital, he rarely ate till he was satisfied and had a good sleep.

When he woke up and went out, he saw the three subordinates who had disappeared earlier, standing in the courtyard after changing into clean clothes. When they heard him pushing the door to come out, the three of them came over at the same time and Ah Fu took the lead in asking, “Young Master, how was your rest?”

He stretched his body and his voice was stained with laziness, “It’s rare to sleep so comfortably. Where did the three of you go earlier?”

“Young Master, don’t blame us. Earlier, you were sleeping in the carriage and Young Master Liang didn’t let us wake you up. He said that we had to hurry after lunch and asked us to go clean up, change our clothes and have a good rest.” Ah Fu explained earnestly, “Originally we were reluctant. But Young Master Liang said he would look after you and find food for you when you wake up. So we didn’t have to worry. Plus, last night Qin Qi and Shu Hua did not sleep all night. They really needed to rest……”

“This subordinate didn’t fulfill his obligations. Your Highness, please give me the punishment!” Before he finished speaking, Shu Hua lifted his gown and knelt down while stretching his neck like he was waiting for it to be chopped off.

On seeing Shu Hua kneel down, Ah Fu and Qin Qi, who still hadn’t finished speaking, also knelt together and neatly kneeled in a row in front of Wen Chan.

“Okay. You all get up. I’m not blaming you all. I just asked the question out of curiosity,” Wen Chan was exasperated. He gave a big yawn and took two steps toward the noodles shop, abandoning the three people.

Once Ah Fu saw that Wen Chan was leaving, he quickly climbed up to catch up with him. But when he looked back, he saw that Shu Hua was still kneeling. So he directly pulled Shu Hua’s arm and said in a low voice, “Get up. This is not the imperial palace. There are not so many rules. Later, you do not have to call him Your Highness. You must remember to call him Young Master. In case the identity of Young Master gets exposed……”

“I know,” Shu Hua pursed up his lips lightly as if he had been taught.

Wen Chan walked up to several tables arranged outside of the noodles shop and sit down. It was evening already. So the sunshine fell by the side of one’s feet and there was no burning hotness as in the daytime. He sat down in the warm breeze and poured himself a cup of herbal tea comfortably.

The carriage was still tethered under the tree. But a few horses were missing along with Liang Yanbei and the others. Wen Chan gulped two mouthfuls of herbal tea down his belly. His consciousness became clear and he was about to ask if those people had left first. But he saw a group of people and horses coming this way.

They were headed by a young man of about twenty-four or twenty-five; with red lips, white teeth, and an elegant appearance, and he was followed by several imperial bodyguards dressed in the same clothes.

The man first squinted his eyes and looked at the horizon. After that, he drove the horse not far in front of Wen Chan, turned over, and dismounted from the horse clumsily while supporting his hat. He took a few steps up to Wen Chan and his eyes were narrowed into a slit with a smile. But before he could draw any close, he was obstructed by the extremely vigilant Shu Hua.

But he was neither in a hurry nor angry. Instead, he took back two steps and asked Wen Chan, “This young man, can you tell me the way to go to the inner island?”

Wen Chan glanced at him twice, raised his hand, and pointed, “Go east. Just keep walking and you will arrive there.”

The man got the answer and gladly cupped his hands to thank him. He then mounted the horse at an exasperatingly slow pace and went toward the east on the avenue along with the few guards1.

Only after the man had gone far away did Ah Fu ask in a low voice, “Young Master, isn’t that the road to the mountain bandit’s den?”

“Yes,” He replied indifferently.

“Then why……”

Wen Chan thought for a while and said, “What? Only others are allowed to show us the wrong way. Am I not allowed to show others the wrong way?”

Ah Fu, “……” Of course, you can. Whatever you say, Your Highness.

“How come I don’t see Young Master Xie and the others? Where did they all go?” Wen Chan pretended to ask inadvertently.

“They went to Bafang City to buy things. Young Master, your clothes and silver notes were all left behind in the mountain bandit’s nest. Young Master Liang said that he was going to buy you some things.”

“Those many people? Did they all go?”

“Young Master Zhong didn’t go. He is still sleeping now.” After Ah Fu finished answering, he continued to say, “If we don’t wake him up now, we may have to rush later.”

On hearing this, Wen Chan stopped drinking tea and looked at Ah Fu, feeling unexpected, “You are very courageous. Do you still want to provoke Zhong Wenjin? Let him sleep. Wait till Xie Zhaoxue come back. He will call him.”

This person, Zhong Wenjin, had a very bad temper, and Wen Chan was fully aware of that. Originally it was just scolding and swearing at people. But after Xie Zhaoxue died, he often went crazy, almost beating people to death with his hands. And he was not soft on his own brothers as well.

When the Zhong family rebelled in his previous life, he [XZ] rose up to lead the fight against his father. No one in the army camp dared to provoke him. There was only Liang Yanbei who could control him. Every time he went crazy, Liang Yanbei beat him up with his fist and beat him till blood overflew from his nose. This would let him calm down for several days.

Although Zhong Wenjin was still young at this time, he still could not regard him as a normal person.

Thinking about it, Wen Chan couldn’t help but sigh.

Just after sitting at the door for a while, Liang Yanbei and the others returned with the things that they had bought. After seeing him, Wen Chan wanted to stand up and take two steps to go meet them. But in a flash, he caught sight of Situ Zhoulan who was there beside him, and all of sudden, his ass seemed to stick to the stool.

Ah Fu was very clever, and he promptly ran to the front in small steps. It just so happened that Liang Yanbei dismounted from his horse and stroked the horse’s head in passing. He glanced at Wen Chan, who was sitting upright at the table, and asked, “When did Your Highness wake up?”

“He just woke up not long ago and he just put effort for two cups of herbal tea.” Ah Fu replied happily as if his whole mouth had cracked with a smile once he saw Liang Yanbei.

“Did he say that he wanted to eat anything?” Liang Yanbei asked again.

“No.”

“En,” He answered and beckoned the bodyguards at the back to bring the several packages to Ah Fu, “The blue package contains the clothes that were bought for you guys. The yellow one contains the ones that were bought for His Highness. If you need anything else, just tell me without any hesitation.”

There were three blue ones and three yellow ones. Ah Fu simply couldn’t carry them by himself and he was about to turn around and pass a look of request for help to Qin Qi and Shu Hua. But Liang Yanbei said to the guard, “Carry the things to the carriage.”

The carriage of the Dan family was commandeered by Wen Chan.

No one objected to this matter. Dan Ke, the only one who had some rattle was educated by Liang Yanbei in a not salty and not pale manner2 which successfully shut his refuting mouth and made him pick a horse for himself.

After the big troop stopped, everyone acted on their own.

Xie Zhaoxue heard that Zhong Wenjin was still sleeping. So he went ahead alone to the guesthouse at the back to call out for the person.

Qiao Yanci also returned to her room and handed over the things that had been packed in the morning to the guards who were in charge of taking the luggage.

Dan Ke also grew up with Situ Zhoulan. The two of them had a good relationship and were standing under a tree and chatting.

Wen Chan sat for a while, overcome with boredom. When he saw Liang Yanbei say a few words to Ah Fu, and then order the guards to put the packages on the carriage, he couldn’t help but wonder. When Ah Fu came back, he asked, “Did Liang Yanbei buy all those packages for us?”

“Yes. Young Master Liang must have been very thoughtful in buying them. The things he bought for you alone are packed in three big packages.” Ah Fu replied.

“The Dan family’s carriage actually even let me sit in it?” Wen Chan was surprised. He originally thought that Dan Ke would lose his temper if he used his carriage without him knowing it. After all, the Jianghu Sect were not court officials and did not have that much loyalty to the royal family. But he didn’t expect that Dan Ke would still be willing to let him use the carriage.

“What did the Young Master say? According to the Young Master’s identity, if you ride a horse, then those people can only walk on the ground. Isn’t it natural3 for you to take a carriage?” Ah Fu said in a low voice.

That was true. But this was not in the capital.

Wen Chan inwardly disagreed. His eyes made a quick glance towards Situ Zhoulan and his face changed, suddenly remembering something, “That girl from the Situ family wouldn’t want to ride in the carriage with me, right?”

If that were the case, then he would rather ride a horse.

Ah Fu felt strange, “You don’t worry. Young Master Liang said that the carriage can only be ridden by you alone before it enters the inner island.”

Wen Chan’s heart skipped, and then a strange emotion spread, “Liang Yanbei said that?”

“Yes. He said that when the Young Master was sleeping.” He looked as it should be by rights4, and agreed with Liang Yanbei’s actions in his heart.

After Wen Chan finished asking, he felt that his breathing was chaotic again. So he stopped talking and stared at the coarse teacup in his hand, lost in thought.

After Xie Zhaoxue called out the listless Zhong Wenjin, the procession officially set off. Before getting on the carriage, Dan Ke still came over all smiles and called Wen Chan to a halt.

“Young Master Wen, can I discuss something with you?”

Wen Chan had put just one leg on the carriage steps, and he put it down after hearing the words. He asked him, “What is it? Young Master Dan, just feel free to say it.”

“You see, aren’t we going to be on the road overnight? Of course, we men will be fine. But they, girls must not be able to stand it. Especially Xiao Lan, who has been weak since she was a child……”

When Dan Ke said this, Wen Chan immediately understood what he meant. He thought that he also wanted to take the carriage. After all, he was sitting on someone else’s carriage. Naturally, Wen Chan would not really carry the arrogance of a prince. But when he heard “Situ Zhoulan”, his heart sank, and he already began to consider giving up the carriage.

“Dan Ke,” Right at this moment, a voice came in obliquely, and the two of them looked over at the same time to see Liang Yanbei with both his hands crossed over the other and smiling brightly, “What are you talking about? Will you let me hear it too?”

Dan Ke’s expression changed, and he immediately smiled while showing his white teeth, “What can we talk about? I was just talking to Young Master Wen about trivial matters. Nothing more.” He turned his head to Wen Chan and continued, “Xiao Lan’s body is weak. So it can’t stand the night wind constantly. I want to remind you that when you sleep in the carriage at night, you must put something on your body. Your honourable body must not catch a cold.”

The wind turned too fast5 that Wen Chan didn’t react for a while, but Dan Ke urged, “All right. Young Master Wen, quickly get on the carriage. We are ready to set off.”

Wen Chan got into the carriage, distracted. While Dan Ke cautiously glanced at Liang Yanbei and then turned around to escape in stealth. But Liang Yanbei grabbed him by his collar and took him aside, “What did I tell you before? I didn’t keep watch on you for a moment and you became free to look for trouble?”

“Aiya —” Dan Ke struggled to get away, “Cousin, I don’t care about myself. But Xiao Lan and I came all the way from Jinling and have never been exposed to the wind and sun. Now you are making her ride a horse on road overnight. How can she put up with it? I just wanted the Ninth Highness to give up a little bit of seat and that’s it……”

“It’s not a question of how much seat,” Liang Yanbei said, “If you put away all those little thoughts of yours and speed up the journey a bit, we will be able to reach the inner island by tomorrow, and you can let her rest well at that time.”

Dan Ke secretly pouted, “Cousin, you are really heartless. How long have you been in the capital that you can’t turn your elbows back6?”

Liang Yanbei frowned on hearing this and struck a posture of wanting to beat him up. So he [DK] became really scared that he quickly slipped away.

What Dan Ke said wasn’t wrong. As long as they were a normal person, they would feel puzzled. Liang Yanbei and Wen Chan clearly didn’t have that much friendship and the words that they said to each other were also very few. But he shielded Wen Chan in every way possible.

Actually, there was one thing that Liang Yanbei didn’t tell anyone. He once had a dream after he came to the capital. In that dream, the fire of war smoked and the color of blood swirled in the air. Wen Chan buried his head into his arms and the tepid tears penetrated through layers upon layers of his clothing to dampen his chest. By his ear was the loud howling voice of Wen Chan as he cried, “Liang Yanbei. Wen Clan is gone. My home is gone.”

What did he do? The Liang Yanbei in the dream closely hugged Wen Chan and softly comforted him, “It’s okay. Don’t be afraid. Everything’s gonna be fine.”

The dream was so real and scary that Liang Yanbei’s heart could still feel the pain even now when he recalled it. So every time he saw Wen Chan, he always wanted to get closer to him.

Liang Yanbei glanced deeply at the carriage. He then gave a faint smile, turned, and climbed onto his horse.

After starting to hasten on with the journey, Wen Chan sat alone in the carriage and soon felt very bored. He looked at the several large packages that were heaped up in the carriage and reached out to take a yellow one. As soon as it was unwrapped, there were several large silver ingots and a small scarlet pouch7 placed on the top.

Wen Chan opened the small pouch, which contained many small golden leaves and small golden beans and it felt heavy in his hands. He closed the pouch and put it aside. He then picked up the clothes inside and he found that the inner clothes were all folded together. It was hot in summer and there were not many layers of clothes.

The one that Wen Chen held in his hand was the favorite style of clothing among the common folks. The lining was snow-white and the outer coat was azure. It was divided into two pieces: an upper outer garment and a pair of pants. Both were of brocade fabrics. They were cool and very light, especially the sleeves of the upper outer garment that were only half-length. It was not as hot and stuffy as full-length sleeves. There was also a light blue long coat of light gauze outside, which looked quite pleasing to the eye.

It was unknown whether Liang Yanbei had bought it himself or if he asked his subordinates to buy it. But Wen Chan caressed the items of clothing with his hands for a while before packing everything up happily and sitting in the carriage while humming a little song unconsciously.

When the carriage drove till midnight, Ah Fu got permission from Wen Chan to enter the carriage to rest. As soon as he came in, he took the initiative in rummaging through the package given by Liang Yanbei.

He picked a blue package at random and opened it. A few shiny big silver ingots were placed on the top of this one as well. But there was no pouch with golden peas. Ah Fu picked up a piece of silver and smiled until his eyes disappeared, “Young Master Liang is indeed both handsome and good-hearted. He is like a reincarnation of Bodhisattva.”

“Didn’t he just give you a few silver coins? Do you have to as far as being this happy?” Wen Chan watched him from the side, and couldn’t help but feel amused. Thinking that this little eunuch did not know when he had been bought over so completely by Liang Yanbei.

“Your Highness, you don’t know ah.” Ah Fu whispered, “Today when you were asleep in the carriage, Young Master Dan came back in a rage and was about to settle scores with Young Master Liang. But Young Master Liang was afraid that his loud voice would wake you up. So he covered Young Master Dan’s mouth and dragged him to the back before he dared to let go.”

The corners of Wen Chan’s mouth couldn’t help but curve, “Is that so?”

“Yes ah. Young Master Liang had even instructed the few small children over there, one by one not to make any loud noises. Also today, Young Master Zhong was so angry that he almost flipped the table in the noodles shop, saying that the shopkeeper did not give him extra meat. He gave several copper coins, but they were all returned in the end.”

“Why is that?”

“The shopkeeper said there was not much meat left, and all the meat was added up to the two noodles bowls of Young Master Liang. So even if Young Master Zhong gave more money, he would not be able to make meat. Later, when this humble one inquired, it was said that both the two noodles bowls of Young Master Liang were given to you.”

To be precise, only one bowl was eaten and another bowl was thrown up. Wen Chan recalled the small mountain of meat that was piled up in his bowl. At that time, he also had a few doubts. How could there be so much meat in a bowl of noodles? He thought that it must be because of the reason that the common people of Wuyue Island are sincere and honest, right? It turned out that Liang Yanbei bought it with money.……

Thinking of this, the thick-faced Wen Chen blushed. But he didn’t expect Liang Yanbei to take special care of him.

“There’s more.” Ah Fu was the best at reading people’s emotions, and when he saw the sudden change in Wen Chan’s mood, he started to talk non-stop.

“When Young Master Liang first told Young Master Dan that the carriage was only for your use, Young Master Dan was not happy and said that he should at least let the Young Lady Situ also ride on the carriage. But Young Master Liang firmly refused. He insisted on not allowing anyone else to ride on the carriage. Young Master Dan finally had no alternative but to give up. This humble one heard that the Young Lady Situ also lives in Jinling. I’m afraid she is an old acquaintance with Young Master Liang.”

He had to say that Ah Fu really knew to prescribe the right medicine for an illness8. Saying these words was like pouring honey into Wen Chan’s heart. It was fragrant, sweet, and unctuous. He was so happy that his beautiful eyes were dyed with a smile.

Ah Fu took out a yellow paper bag from his sleeve. He slowly opened it, and said, “This was given to this humble one by Young Master Liang when I came in just now. He said that you slept a lot during the day, and you might not feel sleepy at night. He was afraid that you would feel hungry, so he let this humble one bring this to you to eat. He also said that even if you are not hungry, you can eat this to pass the time.”

In the end, Ah Fu sighed and said, “Young Master Liang is really thoughtful.”

Fried broad beans9 were wrapped in the butter paper, and the shells were fried black and yellow. As soon as they were opened, a smell that assailed the nostrils came through. Wen Chan reached out and took the yellow paper bag. He took one from it and put it in his mouth. It was crispy on munching and the aroma wrapped around his lips and teeth, spreading to the bottom of his heart.

“Your Highness, is it delicious?” Ah Fu asked from the side.

Wen Chan nodded. And instead of saying anything, he stuffed another one into his mouth.

Ah Fu said with a smile, “It’s nice that Your Highness thinks that it’s delicious. Young Master Liang said that he still has it there. If Your Highness still wants to eat it after finishing this, you can ask this humble one to go to him.”

There was no way Wen Chan would go ask him for more after eating this. It was just that he hated to finish eating this bag.

The last time Liang Yanbei bought something for him was more than ten years ago!

At this time, on this side, Wen Chan was eating happily in the carriage, while on the other side, Liang Yanbei drove his horse to Situ Zhoulan’s side, “Zhoulan, can you still hold on?”

Situ Zhoulan nodded, “Brother Yanbei, you don’t have to worry about me.”

She took out a small porcelain bottle from her sleeve and handed it to him, “There are red pellets to refresh your energy, inside this. If anyone is feeling tired, you can give them one to eat.”

Liang Yanbei took the porcelain bottle and said, “Don’t force it if you are tired. We can stop to take a rest.”

She perked up a faint smile and agreed.

Then Liang Yanbei distributed the red pills in the porcelain bottle to those who felt tired and gave two pills to Zhong Wenjin alone. It was unknown what happened to him. He had obviously slept during the day, but now he couldn’t hold on anymore. He was so sleepy that he swayed and almost fell off the horse.

After eating the pills, he was much more energetic. And even when everyone rested upon reaching the inner island, he still kept his big eyes wide open and couldn’t fall asleep for a long time.

Why am I having a feeling that this guy would appear again?

Say something unemotionally, neutrally, or drily.

lit. heaven’s law and earth’s principle (idiom); fig. right and proper / right and unalterable / a matter of course

proper and to be expected as a matter, of course, / inevitable and right

It means a sudden change.

It is from the idiom: one’s elbow turns to the wrong side, (fig.) to side with the outsiders instead of one’s own people

fig. to study a problem to find the right way to solve it / to take appropriate steps