“Brother Cheng, Brother Cheng?”
“Hm?” Cheng Yu was abruptly called back to his senses by him. “What?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye lazily drew out his syllables, as though shouting at an old man who was hard of hearing. “I said—how are Xie You Lan’s injuries?”
“I’m not clear on the details, but from the looks of it, they don’t seem too serious.” Cheng Yu had withdrawn from the jianghu for several years and had long since washed his hands of schemes and tightrope-walking mind games, but the ability to read people’s hearts had already become an instinct carved into his bones and was not so easily forgotten. After considering his words, he said, “Since he dared to come alone, he should have confidence in his own abilities. Otherwise, if it were merely to investigate a deserted island, there would be no need for him to risk himself and test things with his own life.”
“Is that so?” Yu Gong Zhao Ye stroked his chin and muttered thoughtfully, “But Xie You Lan has always been mad… always acted however he pleased, doing whatever occurred to him on a whim. Perhaps he’s just bluffing us.”
That day at Yinhe Tower, not long after the two sides met, Xie You Lan had deliberately provoked Yingyue, goading him into drawing his sword, and then snapped Yingyue’s blade with a flick of his finger.
By seizing the initiative first, he had used that move to intimidate everyone present. As a result, no one had thought in the direction of him being injured, only assuming that this person was simply such a bastard by nature.
Now, looking back on it carefully, Xie You Lan’s awfulness had been so self-assured that it instead left people with the impression that “he wouldn’t lie”—a lunatic was capable of anything, so why would he need to trouble himself with making up excuses? Yu Gong Zhao Ye had already been fooled once, yet this time he had nearly been deceived again.
Cheng Yu understood as soon as he heard this. “Your Highness means that he deliberately pretended to be lively and perfectly fine in order to conceal that he had not yet recovered from serious injuries, using emptiness to buy reality, and instead making those who wanted his life afraid to act rashly.”
“When I first asked him why he didn’t use his own people for the job and instead wanted to find Yeguang, which had nothing to do with him, to accompany him, he told me to stop prying into Beizhu Palace’s family affairs.” Yu Gong Zhao Ye let out a cold laugh through his nose. “So it turns out his own backyard was on fire, nearly burning his eyebrows off, and he was still here putting on airs with me.”
Cheng Yu could tell that he did not care for Xie You Lan and asked, “Then how does Your Highness intend to handle things next?”
Xie You Lan had hidden it from everyone and was willing to risk danger to go to that island, so the purpose of this trip had to be related to his injuries or the recovery of his martial power. If Yu Gong Zhao Ye wanted to wash his hands of the matter now and turn around to kill him instead, it would be as easy as lifting a hand. It only depended on whether His Highness was willing.
Even if, for the sake of Kui Yue returning safely, or out of consideration for that “ancestor’s” face, Yu Gong Zhao Ye chose to accumulate virtue and do good deeds by not making a move, what if someone later jumped out wanting Xie You Lan’s life? Were they supposed to save him or not? Protect him with their lives, or only do their best?
“If I’d known, I would have put a sack over him and beaten him first. Now I still have to enshrine this muddy troublemaker.” A trace of displeasure swept across Yu Gong Zhao Ye’s face. “If Xie You Lan dies, Kui Yue won’t end up well either, and Ying Yue goes without saying. There’s also that troublesome younger brother of his… What about you? You went to such great lengths to save him. Can you really harden your heart and wash your hands of him?”
Cheng Yu nearly collapsed under the huge black pot that had fallen from the sky. “So this matter was mine to decide?”
“Otherwise?” Yu Gong Zhao Ye shifted the blame cleanly away from himself, and even toward someone who was not his subordinate, he still dared to put on the airs of a superior. “If you don’t care, go over and give him a blow. Knock him out and sink him into the lake. Once and for all, and everyone saves trouble.”
Half a li away from them, Xie You Lan sneezed violently. “Ah-choo!”
This time it was Cheng Yu’s turn to look Yu Gong Zhao Ye up and down suspiciously, keenly pulling the crucial thread out of that tangled mess of relationships. “Your Highness, that ‘ancestor’ you invited back—who exactly is he?”
Cheng Yu had known Yu Gong Zhao Ye very early on; to put it bluntly, he had watched him grow up, and therefore understood his temperament very well—he would not stand by and watch someone die, but he also did not like meddling in other people’s business. The only time he had capsized in a ditch was at the Ten Aspects Sect’s main altar, where, for the sake of saving an insignificant but innocent mute boy, he had gotten himself seriously injured and blinded and had nearly been left behind in the Chisong Mountains.
Afterward, Yu Gong Zhao Ye never mentioned that boy again. Cheng Yu did not know what had happened. He only remembered that one day Yu Gong Zhao Ye returned to the palace covered in wounds, refused to say anything when asked what had happened, shut himself away for several days, and when he emerged again, he seemed like nothing had happened, except that every month, he would offer a handwoven flower wreath before the shrine in Yeguang Hall.
Through all four seasons, he never stopped. Until Cheng Yu left Bihan City, that habit of his had never changed.
Back then, even if Yu Gong Zhao Ye said nothing, Cheng Yu could roughly guess from his condition that perhaps something had happened to that mute boy. In his impression, that was the person Yu Gong Zhao Ye cared about most.
Yet today, Yu Gong Zhao Ye had brought up Xie You Lan’s younger brother several times. Cheng Yu did not know whether Yu Gong Zhao Ye himself had noticed, but the closeness in his words far surpassed how he spoke of others, more obvious than footprints in the snow. Now that Cheng Yu could be considered someone who had eaten pork before, one glance was almost enough for him to conclude that there was a pig running here.
Yu Gong Zhao Ye choked on the wind and coughed dryly twice.
Cheng Yu understood. “Your Highness values that Assistant Chancellor very much, and because you love the house, you also love the crow, so you are willing to give Xie You Lan a little face… What was that minister’s name again?”
“Wei Fu, Wei Shuchen.” Yu Gong Zhao Ye knew he could not hide it from him and exhaled helplessly, admitting honestly, “You’ve met him. He was the one rescued back then at the Ten Aspects Sect’s main altar.”
“It really is him?” Cheng Yu raised his brows in surprise. “Wasn’t he—” He barely swallowed back the word “dead” and changed course in time. “Cough, wasn’t he mute?”
Wei Fu’s tragic life story was truly a long tale of a child without a mother. Yu Gong Zhao Ye explained the entire beginning and end to him as concisely as possible. Cheng Yu was deeply shocked and gave a very fair assessment. “If even one of those two had been a little normal, they could never have become brothers. What sort of family could raise such a matched pair of hidden dragons and crouching phoenixes?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye said, “Wei Fu is still a little better than his elder brother, isn’t he?”
Cheng Yu looked at him with an expression too complicated for words. After a long while, he sighed and echoed, “That is true.”
As they talked and laughed, they traveled for half a day. The group crossed the open wilderness and arrived at the ferry on the southern shore of Yun Lake.
The western shore was lined with continuous mountains and rivers, while the southern shore was flat wilderness. There were no trees along the bank to block the view. The ground was covered in fine sand pale as salt frost, and the surface of the lake stretched wide and open. Countless small islands were scattered like stars across the snow-white, milk-like water.
The uncanny craftsmanship of nature was dazzling and mesmerizing, and it also left Yu Gong Zhao Ye dumbfounded on the spot. “If we have to investigate this many islands one by one, we’ll be checking until the year of the monkey and the month of the horse. Brother Xie, you never said before that this was searching for a needle in the sea.”
Xie You Lan dismounted, loosened his shoulders and back, and walked toward the small boat that had long been waiting at the ferry. “The time the two of you spent chatting idly on the road would have been enough to finish checking three islands. If it were easy, would I still need to invite you here?” He turned and beckoned to Cheng Yu, speaking in a tone that was neither salty nor bland. “Guide Cheng, come over and lead the way.”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye clicked his tongue. “Is he yours to order around? Who was it earlier who called him heartless and fickle? Brother Cheng, be a heartless person. Don’t bother with him.”
“…”
The weather was clear, the wind light, and the sun warm. In the sunlight, Cheng Yu’s eyes held a hint of troubled laughter, like an innocent puppy looking left and right, not knowing who to follow. Xie You Lan’s heartstrings trembled violently. He strode back over, gripped Cheng Yu’s wrist, his movement forceful, while his voice lowered very softly. “You are not his person. Don’t listen to him. Come with me.”
Cheng Yu was gripped until it hurt a little. He moved, but could not break free, so he had no choice but to hold Xie You Lan’s hand in return and stand still. Half advising and half threatening, he said, “Forgive me for speaking frankly, but we are all people in the same boat right now. You two had better make up immediately, or I won’t dare board the boat. I’m afraid the two of you will fight until the boat springs a leak.”
As they were speaking, a half-grown youth suddenly jumped out of the grass, holding a rabbit in his hand, with several bouncing little brats following behind him. A whole crowd shouted unevenly, “Sect Master Cheng!” “Senior Xie!” and mixed in among them were a few cries of “Brother.”
Xie You Lan waved his hand perfunctorily, then lowered his head and complained softly to Cheng Yu, “Why did you bring these troublemakers too? Was tearing up the house at home not enough for them?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye heard this and raised the tip of his brow. “You all know each other?”
“They are disciples under my sect. They were raised freely in the mountains and fields and have no manners. I ask Your Highness not to take offense.” Cheng Yu smiled apologetically at him, then said to Xie You Lan, “It’s rare for us to take on a big job, so I brought them out to get some fresh air. They can also help feed the horses and cook along the way. Supporting a family is just like this—everyone has to work.”
Xie You Lan scoffed. “For a job no bigger than a fart, you still have to mobilize so many people. Am I supposed to give them New Year’s money during the holidays too?”
Yu Gong Zhao Ye thought to himself that if everyone was so worked up, wasn’t it all still because of that fart-sized matter of yours? But it would not be good to speak crudely in front of children, so he silently endured and handed the reins to a youth who had taken the initiative to step forward.
On the other side, Xie You Lan pulled Cheng Yu a few steps toward the unoccupied part of the ferry. Seeing that no one was around, he restrained his arrogant, lazy expression and said seriously, “Let them play a little, then send them back up the mountain. There are still remnants of the Beizhu Palace rebels. It’s hard to say when they might suddenly surface, so don’t drag them into this.”
“So this is why you would rather go to Longsha to move reinforcements than open your mouth to the Changchu Sect right beside Yun Lake?”
Cheng Yu’s tone was very mild, which already counted as a sign that he was not very happy. Xie You Lan froze, then said softly, “After I did that sort of thing to you… even if crooked and heretical ways don’t care about propriety, I’m still not thick-skinned enough to keep pestering you.”
Those drooping eyes widened in shock, but they were truly too round, so even his condemnation looked like a puppy acting spoiled. “Who was the one calling me heartless and fickle just now? And now you’re here pretending to be some saint of love!”
Xie You Lan said, “You were the one who said you came to see me! After we met, you were even colder than an outsider… Are you really that unwilling to have anything to do with me?”
Cheng Yu was practically going to be angered to death by this peerless king of arguing. “…Listen to yourself. Are those words even human?”
“No need. You just have to listen obediently.” When Xie You Lan discussed serious matters, he was like a tyrant, speaking in a tone that allowed no doubt. “In short, send the little brats away quickly. If they get caught in one sweep, you won’t even have anywhere to cry.”
“I know. Who would cry?” Cheng Yu shot him a sidelong glare. “Your Highness has already guessed your condition. You’d better pray for yourself.”
Xie You Lan stared at him in silence. A moment later, he suddenly reached out and lightly covered Cheng Yu’s eyes.
“You.”
That answer was as light as mountain wind, low, gentle, and hoarse as it brushed past Cheng Yu’s ear.
“I have always remembered.”
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