Yan Ling made quite a few “good geges” and played wildly all day.
After the acknowledgment ceremony ended, he could finally go home with Yan Hanque and Madam Zhao to their new house.
Since they’d be staying in Central State for about four years, Yan Hanque found a large residence. He spent three days moving urgently needed things from Yan Family Mountain, filling the empty estate.
When Yan Ling held Yan Hanque’s hand and came home for the first time, he looked around in surprise. He even ran around half a circle in delight, then returned panting to look up at Yan Hanque: “Father, is this our home from now on?”
Yan Hanque nodded.
“So big.” Yan Ling wiped his face, saying quietly: “How could you afford it?”
Yan Hanque was silent for a while, then reached out to smooth Yan Ling’s messy hair, saying flatly: “Yan Ling’er, Father isn’t so poor he can’t even afford a small house.”
Yan Ling went “Oh.” Confirming this was bought and not occupying someone else’s house, he immediately happily pulled Yan Yue to play everywhere.
The Thirteen States honored clans with Tianyan spirit veins. Though Yan Family Mountain was a small clan, spirit stones were still sufficiently abundant for ordinary small sects.
Usually, Central State was a “rare place” Yan Ling could only come to during holidays when Yan Hanque granted permission. Suddenly moving here, he surprisingly didn’t know where to play for a moment.
Yan Yue lay on a chair, his gaze following Yan Ling drifting back and forth. Puzzled, he said: “Shixiong, what are you going to do?”
“Find Sheng Jiao. He said there’s a place that’s especially fun.” Yan Ling changed into new clothes, spinning around to show Yan Yue: “Does this look good?”
Yan Yue unconditionally agreed with shixiong, clapping: “Looks good!”
Seeing this reaction, Yan Ling knew these clothes weren’t suitable. Skillfully taking off the clothes: “Then I won’t wear this.”
Yan Yue: “…”
Yan Yue wasn’t angry either, looking at him longingly: “Will Shixiong take me?”
Yan Ling said offhandedly: “Why take you out? What if bad people kidnap you?”
Yan Yue’s head immediately drooped.
Yan Ling busied himself selecting a set of small black clothes to wrap around himself—not that he liked black, but he’d been mischievous since childhood, constantly running around and rolling. Light-colored clothes weren’t dirt-resistant. Wearing black, you couldn’t tell he was a little mud monkey.
After dressing, he deliberately didn’t look at Yan Yue, strolling away.
Yan Yue listlessly lay on the chair back, looking like he wanted to cry but was forcibly holding it in to not trouble shixiong—so understanding.
Just then, a sound came from the doorway.
“Click.”
Yan Yue looked up to see Yan Ling had “returned.” Forcibly holding back laughter, he knocked on the carved door.
Yan Yue was immediately overjoyed, bouncing over to hug Yan Ling’s arm.
Yan Ling had just been hiding outside the door watching enough of Yan Yue’s aggrieved appearance. He laughed until he stumbled: “Fool, did you really think I wouldn’t take you?”
Yan Yue said obediently: “Whether Shixiong takes me or not is fine. Ayue is very good.”
“Then why were you crying?” Yan Ling grinned as he pulled Yan Yue’s small face. “Little crybaby, aren’t you ashamed?”
Yan Yue let him tease.
A moment later.
Yan Ling forcibly held back tears, sobbing: “…Father lied. Going to school doesn’t require sword practice at all.”
Yan Hanque said flatly: “Take back those tears.”
Yan Ling sniffled, forcibly holding the tears back.
Yan Yue: “…”
“Next year in deep autumn, you’ll enter the academy.” Yan Hanque threw a newly forged sword to Yan Ling, showing no mercy. “Starting tomorrow, wake at the third quarter of the Yin hour to practice swords.”
Yan Ling’s eyes widened: “Father! I wake at Chen hour!”
“That was before.” Yan Hanque said. “Not anymore from now on.”
Yan Ling: “…”
Yan Ling held the heavy sword, dumbstruck for a long time. Suddenly bursting into loud tears, he turned and ran to find Madam Zhao.
—Though protesting that he didn’t want to practice swords, Yan Ling still didn’t have the guts to throw away the new sword in front of Yan Hanque. Grunting and groaning, he carried the terribly heavy sword to Madam Zhao’s medicine garden.
“Mother! Mother—”
Madam Zhao stood up. Seeing Yan Ling crying like this, she knew what happened. Smiling, she extended her hand, letting Yan Ling throw himself into her arms.
“Don’t want to practice swords?”
Yan Ling nodded desperately: “Don’t want to hold a sword.”
Madam Zhao looked up at Yan Hanque walking over with a cold face, smiling helplessly: “Then what do you want to do?”
Yan Ling thought about it, hurriedly pointing at the surrounding medicine garden: “Want to learn medicine with Mother, plant flowers and grass.”
Madam Zhao said: “These are spirit medicines.”
Yan Ling corrected himself: “…Plant spirit grass and spirit medicines.”
Yan Ling had never liked practicing swords since childhood, nor cultivation. Single-mindedly only wanting to play, with minimal interest in other matters. He had to be forced and coaxed before he’d reluctantly move a little.
Madam Zhao and Yan Hanque exchanged a glance. She suddenly smiled and said: “Isn’t Ling’er going out to play with friends today?”
Yan Ling didn’t understand, but still obediently nodded: “Mm, to find Sheng Jiao gege.”
“I remember your Sheng Jiao gege’s swordsmanship is very good, right?” Madam Zhao said gently. “And that young master from the Xi family—at such a young age, just awakening his xiangwen, he can already use ‘Wheresoever I Roam’ masterfully. And your Jiu gege—his medical and poison arts are also formidable…”
Yan Ling’s small face wrinkled wildly as he listened.
Madam Zhao coaxed him: “They all have their strengths. What about our Ling’er?”
“I—I…” The usually eloquent Yan Ling suddenly choked.
Madam Zhao didn’t make him answer immediately. Instead, she pushed him: “Didn’t you make plans with Sheng Jiao to play? Hurry, don’t keep him waiting anxiously.”
Yan Ling held the sword, his baozi face about to wrinkle into eighteen folds.
Yan Yue didn’t quite understand such big matters. Still waiting to go play, seeing Yan Ling not moving, he asked puzzled: “Shixiong?”
Yan Ling shuddered, timidly looking at Yan Hanque.
Yan Hanque saw through Madam Zhao’s routine for coaxing children but didn’t expose it. Very cooperatively taking the sword from Yan Ling’s arms, he said flatly: “Go play first.”
Just now Yan Ling had been wailing and making a fuss about going out to play. Now that Yan Hanque was letting him go, he’d become cowardly instead.
Carefully observing Yan Hanque’s expression for a while, only then did Yan Ling grasp Yan Yue’s hand. Completely without his earlier jubilation, he left with heavy thoughts.
After the two small figures left, Yan Hanque said: “Don’t want him to enter the sword path?”
“Ling’er can’t endure hardship.” Madam Zhao sighed helplessly. “If he wants to learn the sword, he’ll practice with you. If he wants to be a medical cultivator, he’ll learn medicine with me. It’s all up to him.”
Yan Hanque frowned, looking like he didn’t quite agree.
Madam Zhao smiled: “We two are still here. Why force him to be outstanding and superior everywhere? As long as he lives happily, even if his talent isn’t high, it’s fine.”
Yan Ling didn’t need to work so hard to live a carefree life.
Yan Hanque didn’t speak, lowering his eyes to look at the spirit flowers Madam Zhao carefully cultivated in a small barrier.
Delicate, beautiful flowers—they didn’t know what wind and rain meant at all.
If the barrier was removed, they’d probably wither in less than three days. Yan Ling wasn’t a precious spirit flower.
As long as Yan Hanque and Madam Zhao were here, the barrier sheltering Yan Ling would never be removed, allowing him to suffer the hardships of wind and rain alone.
Being a carefree ordinary person—perhaps that wasn’t bad either.
***
Yan Ling dejectedly led Yan Yue toward the place he’d arranged to meet Sheng Jiao, his whole head full of gloomy energy.
Yan Yue didn’t understand what Yan Ling was troubled about: “Shixiong, didn’t you not want to practice swords? Now you don’t have to practice—isn’t that good?”
“Good.” Yan Ling said sullenly. “…Also not good.”
“Huh?”
“I feel I don’t have talent for sword practice.” Yan Ling muttered quietly. “Just now I couldn’t even lift that sword.”
Yan Yue didn’t understand: “I think Shixiong is very smart.”
Just a bit lazy.
Yan Ling’s brows were furrowed with worry. Before reaching the place he’d arranged to meet Sheng Jiao, he saw Sheng Jiao in the distance holding a candied hawthorn skewer, nibbling small bites.
Since he’d come out to play anyway, Yan Ling decided not to think about it. He hurried over: “Gege.”
Sheng Jiao’s eyes turned cold for a moment, but he still showed a gentle smile to Yan Ling: “Why are you so late?”
Yan Ling: “Something delayed me.”
Sheng Jiao went “Oh,” extending his hand to drape over Yan Ling’s shoulder. His gaze swept over the little brat Yan Yue following beside them, a flash of impatience in his eyes.
“Let’s go.” Sheng Jiao said. “I’ll take you… all to play at the City God Temple.”
Yan Ling was pushed forward in confusion: “City God Temple? But didn’t we say yesterday we’d go to Osmanthus Mountain Stream?”
“What’s fun about that ghost place?” Sheng Jiao blurted out. Noticing Yan Ling’s confusion, he hurriedly showed a gentle smile. “The City God Temple is more fun. Packed with people—don’t you like lively places?”
Yan Ling was pushed for half a street before sensing something wrong. He removed the ear cuff from his ear—a familiar voice whooshed into his ears.
Yan Ling’s small face immediately darkened. He fiercely shook off “Sheng Jiao’s” hand: “Xi Jue!”
“Sheng Jiao’s” face immediately split in two, shedding the disguise to reveal Xi Jue’s smug face. Having been exposed, he showed no apology or embarrassment. Instead, he grinned and hooked Yan Ling’s shoulder: “Osmanthus Mountain Stream is all mountains, waters, and piles of osmanthus trees. Right now the whole mountain’s osmanthus is blooming together—the fragrance is thick and smells awful. Why go there? Let me tell you, the City God Temple has a whole street of delicious food. Whatever you want to eat, gege will buy it for you. You can eat one and throw one away—no problem.”
Yan Ling was about to die of anger: “You! You actually lied to me?!”
“Yeah.” Xi Jue admitted without the slightest guilt, even feeling smug about it. “If I didn’t trick you, you’d definitely run off with Sheng Jiao to look at boring scenery. This is called strategic deception.”
Yan Ling: “…”
Yan Yue timidly tugged Yan Ling’s hand: “Shi—Shixiong.”
He was a bit afraid of this Xi Jue.
Yan Ling knew Xi Jue had been pampered and spoiled growing up—his thinking different from others. He could only forcibly suppress his anger, patiently saying: “I already made plans with Sheng Jiao. I can’t break the agreement. How about we go to the City God Temple tomorrow?”
Xi Jue suddenly reached out to grab little Yan Yue as a hostage, raising an eyebrow: “I don’t care—you have half a shichen to get to the City God Temple. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee what unconscionable things I might do to this little brat.”
With that, ‘Wheresoever I Roam’ violently activated. Xi Jue and Yan Yue instantly disappeared from the spot.
Yan Ling: “?”
Yan Ling was dumbfounded.
Though he knew Xi Jue, they’d only been together a few days. He didn’t really know his true nature. Hearing that sentence just now, he took it seriously. After standing dazed for a while, he hurriedly ran to the place he’d arranged with Sheng Jiao, quickly finding Sheng Jiao who’d been waiting a long time under Central State City’s largest osmanthus tree.
Sheng Jiao saw him, his eyes softening: “You finally…”
“Where’s the City God Temple?” Yan Ling ran panting, grabbing Sheng Jiao’s hand. Incoherent and sobbing, he said: “Ayue was kidnapped. They said—said if I don’t go to the City God Temple, they’ll—they’ll kill Ayue.”
Sheng Jiao paused, extending his hand to help him catch his breath, saying gently: “Don’t worry. Speak slowly.”
Yan Ling, afraid something would happen to Yan Yue, kept insisting on going to the City God Temple.
Sheng Jiao didn’t ask further. Seeing his spiritual power wasn’t high, he could only extend his hand to hold him, taking him and activating spiritual power. In less than a quarter shichen, they reached the City God Temple in the south of the city.
Yan Ling was anxious to death. As soon as he landed, he hurriedly removed the ear cuff, fearfully searching for the two in the noisy crowd.
But after listening carefully just a few times, a sound came to his ear—not from the xiangwen, but a real sound. It seemed to be Yan Yue’s.
Yan Yue’s mouth seemed to be stuffed with something. He could only make very pained “mmph mmph” sounds.
Yan Ling was extremely anxious. Hurriedly following the sound, sure enough, at the City God Temple’s most conspicuous spot, he saw those two familiar figures.
Yan Yue had his back to him, his body seeming to tremble slightly.
Yan Ling immediately rushed over, furiously: “Xi Jue!”
Just as his words fell, Yan Yue turned around. Both sides of his lips were dirty, something held in his mouth. Seeing Yan Ling approach, his eyes brightened. He said incoherently: “Shixiong! Mmph mmph mmph!”
Yan Ling: “?”
Xi Jue crossed his arms, looking at Yan Ling with a half-smile.
Yan Yue finally swallowed what was in his mouth. Holding a bamboo skewer in his hand with a half-eaten meat skewer, his eyes glowing, he said happily: “Shixiong! Shixiong, this is delicious! Let’s just play at the City God Temple!”
Yan Ling: “…”
Bought off with one meat skewer?!
**
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152