Chapter 11: extra 11

 

[Zixu] «Pure Serenade1» 01 - The Eldest Young Master was once also controlled by a younger brother.


The Eldest Young Master of Zhongli Court felt that his life had been turned upside down, and it all began on the day when a seriously injured, bloodied man broke into his room in the middle of the night.


Before that, he was just a nobody, a small Young Master from an unknown place. He wasn’t a core figure by any means, but he also didn’t have to worry about food or clothing.

During their childhood, his Second Brother had been sent far away for some reason, and at that point it had already been six or seven years since he’d returned home. The first year his Second Brother came back, his father had gone to the mountain alone for some reason, saying he was retiring from the world. At first he visited often, but his father always spoke vaguely, later, he suddenly got angry, saying he was disturbing his peace until he closed the door and wouldn’t see him.

The Eldest Young Master ate a few closed doors2, until he gradually stopped going. It was only during New Years and other festivities that he would send a few seasonal delicacies but, without exception, it was like throwing a stone into the sea and watching it disappear, he never received a reply.


As for his Second Brother Zhongli Zixi, his temper had greatly changed since he came back, becoming gloomy and depressed, locking himself inside his room and refusing to see him. The Eldest Young Master anxiously waited outside of the door, hoping to see him, trying to talk to him, but the person inside was too miserly to even give him a response, so over time his heart also gradually became cold.

That tightly closed door never opened, but the air was always filled with the vague smell of medicine and blood, which could even be smelled from very far away. Rumours spread amongst the servants that the Second Young Master was possessed, that he tinkered with demonic methods from the crooked sects, and that one could hear shrill wails and howls from the rear court in the middle of the night.

Every time the Eldest Young Master bumped into this, he always firmly reprimanded the servants. But one night when he couldn’t sleep, he wandered unconsciously outside the courtyard where his younger brother Zixi resided, and really heard groans of pain. He was about to approach to confirm what it was, but he was seized by the collar by a young man wearing black clothes and carried away.

The young man in black clothes was wearing a mask which covered half of his face, so he couldn’t clearly see his appearance, he could only make out that his looks seemed gentle, like a just-tender peach. He admonished him in a soft voice, saying he must not come too close to the courtyard, then turned around and left.

Before when Zhongli Zixu often wanted to see his younger brother, he’d been stopped by him, so he knew he was the only person who was allowed to go into the secluded room. Zixu blankly watched as he alone went back inside his brother’s room, somewhat envious and unable to conceal his dejection.


Second Young Master Zhongli Zixi shut himself away for half a year, and finally stepped foot outside that confined, secluded room.

When the Eldest Young Master learned of this, he was exceptionally happy. He had not seen his younger brother for over ten years, he had endless things he wanted to tell him, and he also had countless questions he wanted him to answer, so he went bouncing happily to see him.

But the Second Young Master was completely different from that soft and sticky child that used to be glued to him when they were young, sitting coldly and cheerlessly at a distance of several zhang away from him. Every single time he stepped forward, he would be blocked by that young guard called Ye Jun.

The Eldest Young Master consoled himself, after then years of not seeing each other, his younger brother might feel a little estranged, so he tried not to mind as much as possible. But he had only been seated for a short moment when the Second Young Master spoke dispiritedly: “Brother, I’m a little tired.”

He was actually being chased away.

From start to finish he had not spoken more than three words, and done nothing other than sat down. He couldn’t think of any other reason for this apart from rejection and refusal.

The Eldest Young Master was stunned, and had no choice but to speak a few polite words as a compromise: “Then you go rest first, tomorrow I’ll…..”

But no one had the patience to wait for his pleasantries, he’d only spoken half of the words when Ye Jun had already moved as fast as lightning to support the Second Young Master, and then the two disappeared behind a heavy curtain.


It suddenly dawned on him that he had, for some inexplicable reason, become a solitary person, cut off from others.


Since then, he gave up on the idea of coming often to look for his younger brother. Naturally, he had no way of knowing that when Zhongli Zixi left the scene, he’d long since been trembling to the point of not being able to stand, and his spine had already been soaked in a cold sweat, so he completely had to rely on Ye Jun’s support to prevent him from collapsing.

As soon as they entered the room, Ye Jun simply picked him up into his arms. The Second Young Master gasped for breath as he tried to calm his heartbeat, and it was a long time before he was able to squeeze out a bit of strength to ask: “Just now, I….. didn’t show any flaws, did I?”

“En.” Ye Jun looked at his deathly pale face, and couldn’t help but say, “Young Master has just completely eradicated the gu poison today, so your strength has been greatly decreased. There’s still time to lie down and recuperate, no need to be in a hurry to force yourself to act the part of an unharmed person for a time.”

“My brother has been waiting for me for half a year. Last time he asked me in tears why I didn’t want to see him, you….. you don’t know how sad I felt.” He already didn’t even have the strength to open his eyes, and his voice dropped lower and lower, “Besides….. I missed him too.”

The Second Young Master’s breath became more and more weak, and it was unknown whether he had lost consciousness or not.


However, Ye Jun was well aware what a sensitive and frail thing the human heart was.

Despite how hard the Second Young Master tried, he would not be able to salvage a single bit of it.


Since then, the Eldest Young Master forced himself to deliberately ignore his younger brother, rarely visiting, and unless the Second Young Master took the initiative to host a banquet for guests, he would also resign himself to act politely and not disturb him.

And since the Second Young Master took charge of the house, the originally unknown Zhongli Court somehow rose straight up into the sky, growing it’s business in various industries, and becoming extremely revered by both those on the underworld and on the mainstream, gradually gaining momentum as the head family of the Central Plains.

Many years after this, the Eldest Young Master was solely focused on enjoying the beautiful scenery of Wenrou Town3, gradually becoming used to these days of fishing in troubled waters4.

He became more and more fond of roaming about the bustling downtown centre, he didn’t want to return to that house where he had neither relatives nor friends.


These kinds of days, although inevitably lonely, were still carefree and without worries, but they all came to an end after that seriously injured man broke in.

The man looked extremely ordinary, with the kind of appearance one simply wouldn’t remember at a glance, and the flesh exposed between his shabby clothes was completely covered in scars from heavy torture. He knelt in a pool of blood and begged softly in a withered, hoarse voice: “I beg Eldest Young Master to save my life.”

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The sounds of the people pursuing him could faintly be heard from outside the window, and the Eldest Young Master wondered: “Who are you?”

The man answered: “Ye Yin.”

The Eldest Young Master seemed to understand: “Ah, are you that Ye Yin the Mist Expert picked out by the Nighrunner four years ago?”

The man shook his head: “I’m not that person, he was put to death the year before last. The one who came after him according to his performance, was also executed last year. It was my turn, and I already was the third Ye Yin successor in the current cycle.”

The Eldest Young Master was a little shocked. He’d heard that both “Ye Jun the Imperial Servant” and “Ye Yin the Mist Expert” followed his Second Brother’s orders, but he didn’t know Ye Yin had already been replaced by three people.

The man continued: “Ye Yin is the person most adept at concealment in the world, he only follows the trail of information, and does not participate in fighting. Therefore, it is almost impossible to die in an enemy fight, only if his master suspects him will he be killed to keep him silent. Since this cycle’s Ye Yin was changed so frequently I was already worried something would happen before coming, so I’ve always been vigilant. Unexpectedly, even though I had been extremely careful, just because my last mission was delayed by half a day by a sudden torrential shower and I missed the appointed time, the Second Young Master suspected my loyalty, and he ordered my elimination.”

The Eldest Young Master had never been interested in these bloody disputes within the Jianghu, so he spoke indifferently: “Why should I save you.”

“I know some information you will certainly be interested in.” The man paused, then steadily said, “Young Lady Yu Chu and Young Lady Xiao Hai from Ke’an House, the Chu Yue and Qiu Yue sisters from Goulan Lane….. I know all the whereabouts of these people that suddenly disappeared.”

The Eldest Young Master was stunned: “I heard their sisters say that they had all been redeemed and taken for good…..”

“They all disappeared without a warning, and none of them left behind any traces, did you never have any suspicions?” Ye Yin sighed helplessly, kowtowing to the ground, “In the entire Zhongli Court, the Eldest Young Master’s place is the only one not monitored by the Second Young Master. Eldest Young Master only has to say that there is no one here, and the Second Young Master will not doubt it.”

The Eldest Young Master did not believe that his younger brother, who was more astute than anyone else, would he be fooled by his own clumsy lies.

But he only opened his door and spoke a few short words, and all the people hunting the man down really did leave without the slightest hesitation.


Ye Yin had to admit that he was extremely lucky. During this time, the Second Young Master’s trusted aides, including Ye Jun, were rushing about outside, completely unaware of this slip-up.

And the guards who where in charge of this disaster, fearing the Second Young Master would take his anger out on them, all coincidentally covered it up without consulting with one another.


From then on, the Eldest Young Master was forced to know all the things that a certain someone desperately did not want him to know.

He had been filled with earnest hope that those fairy sisters would find happiness, but what they actually got was one lonely, overgrown, unmarked grave after another.

He had originally thought they had all been naturally lucky to find a good home to end up in, he never thought that they had actually gone down the Huangquan one by one.

He had liked these Young Ladies, they came from poor backgrounds, experiencing all kinds of hardships, but they were neither overly humble nor overbearing, tenaciously growing up tall and straight amidst the sludge. The had originally been walking step by step into the sunshine, but had unknowingly been implicated by him, and were abruptly buried.


In addition, he knew his father had simply not retreated voluntarily, but rather had been forced into house arrest, living with each and every move under surveillance, with every one of his words and actions only being able to comply with the Second Young Master’s wishes.

Every holiday, when his father received the delicacies the Eldest Young Master sent him, he could only stare from a distance, not even daring to make a sound as he wept.


Sometime later, when he attended a banquet and dined with his younger brother again, the Eldest Young Master was finally able to understand the calm madness in his eyes.

The Eldest Young Master ate without tasting the food, as if sitting on pins and needles, remembering those lonely tombs in that abandoned village, and he could only shiver, even thought he wasn’t cold.


Gradually, he didn’t dare spend the night in the prostitute’s courtyard, only daring to go listen to music at Yue Lane.

For fear that the Second Young Master would find his sudden change strange, he made an excuse and said that he was whole-heartedly devoted to a musician, and that no other ordinary dressed-up woman could catch his eyes.

During that time, Yefang had a rising star called Yue Changsheng, whose song “Thrice Repeated Yangguan5” was famous everywhere. At that time, the Eldest Young Master was on the verge of falling apart, and didn’t bother to put too much thought into it, so he automatically put this excuse on the shoulders of this budding guqin player.

When rumours spread that Zhongli Court’s Eldest Young Master was infatuated with Yue Changsheng, actually, the Eldest Young Master didn’t even know what Yue Changsheng looked like.

 

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1 《清平乐》lit. pure peaceful joy/music. Could also be translated as ‘Clear Peaceful Music’ or ‘Serenade of Peaceful Joy’. It’s same name as a Tang Dynasty poem structure, and it’s the name of a historical period drama also called ‘Held in the Lonely Castle’ but I haven’t watched it so idk if it’s a reference or not. Top.

2 lit. eat closed door soup, when sb. closes the door on your face and refuses to see you. Top.

3 Euphemism for going to brothels. Top.

4 To take advantage of a crisis for personal gain. Top.

5 《陽關三疊》A real guqin piece, better translated as “A parting tune with a thrice repeated refrain” but I felt that was too long lol. Top.

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