Chapter 21 - The small loyal dog is unhappy, but is unwilling to say anything(←_←
Being in a state of half-asleep and half-awake, I fall back into a nightmare where I’m in the middle of drowning, neither sinking nor floating. Ever since my body’s strength was depleted, my cerebellum often became unbalanced, and I can’t tell what’s what. After swaying and drifting around for a short while, there was a cool feeling on my wrists, and I instantly came back to my senses.
This felt familiar to me, and I knew it was Ye Tan secretly helping me by passing on some internal energy. I had originally reprimanded him, saying that the most important thing he should focus on was building back up and accumulating his internal energy, not recklessly using it up. On the surface he obediently agreed, but when I turned my back he would secretly go back and sneak around, so every time I woke up, I would casually pretend to look around.
The awkwardness of my acting was really awe-inspiring. But I couldn’t bear to expose him.
Another person was stuffed into the inside of the carriage, he was wearing shabby clothes, and he was battered and exhausted; it was Qin Chenyuan. Yun Jiangli called for the driver to advance, then turned around and pulled out the cotton cloth from Qin Chenyuan’s mouth, pulled out a concealed dagger from his leg and carefully cut the ropes, and put it back when he was finished.
I wasn’t sleepy any more, so Ye Tan helped me sit up and I comfortably reclined into his arms as usual. He then pulled up a blanket and wrapped me up in it, tucking all the corners in place, and lastly began peeling half a tangerine and feeding the pieces to me one by one.
Now there were four people stuffed inside the carriage, so there wasn’t that much space. Yun Jiangli was sitting in front of me, so he couldn’t avoid seeing this scene, and his expression became more and more complicated.
“What’s wrong?” I thought he might have an update for the plot, so I gathered myself and asked.
“You two....” Yun Jiangli deliberated for a moment, then spoke, “are different to other master and servant pairs I’ve met before.”
“Oh, this.” I was disappointed, but still kindly explained, “Right now I can’t rely on my own strength to sit up, I just keep sliding down. In the past A-Tan has had to pull me up several times, which was really troublesome, so I might as well just lean on him and forget about it.”
Yun Jiangli profoundly said: “Oh.”
Nobody spoke for a while. We travelled on the carriage through day and night without a destination.
What’s the moonlight like tonight?
This thought suddenly jumped into my mind, and for some reason I suddenly missed Ye Tan, it was a feeling of loss like we had been separated for a long time, and my heart panicked, so I couldn’t help but tightly grasp his hand through the blanket. I was confused by this sudden, inexplicable thought. I was definitely leaning against his chest, and the two of us were within reach, so I couldn’t understand what on earth was missing.
Qin Chenyuan, who was lying flat on the ground, moved as he slowly started to come to.
Seeing him wake up, Yun Jiangli changed position, kneeling down on one knee next to him, and said: “Xiao Qin?”
Qin Chenyuan still could not see clearly, but he recognised this voice, and with a trembling voice he said: “Big brother Yun?”
Yun Jiangli answered him as he helped him sit up, but he only managed to lift him up half-way when Qin Chenyuan threw himself into his arms and cried: “I knew Big brother Yun would come to save me!!”
Yun Jiangli comforted him, then pushed him away and scolded him: “How could you be so careless as to get caught by Helan Terrace?”
Hearing this, my eyes flashed: Here it is, the new plot line.
“I have big news!!” Qin Chenyuan turned his head and saw me and Ye Tan, and stopped, “I’ll tell you in private!!”
“These two also put their lives in danger to save you, you can rest assured.” Yun Jiangli explained, “They are also Zhongli Court’s people.”
Qin Chenyuan’s nature was like that of a newborn baby, so he didn’t doubt him and simply spoke: “I found out where Seventh Brother’s bones are!”
Ye Tan’s body gave an almost imperceptible shudder.
“I just found out, and after counting the days I knew you would be rushing about in Helan during these days, so I came here!”
“But you clearly know that Helan and Zhongli Court are against each other, how did you still fall for that clumsy trick?” Yun Jiangli angrily said.
Qin Chenyuan stared blankly, then howled: “Because I knew that the agile, smart, heroic and unparalleled Big brother Yun would come save me!!”
“How can you speak so much.....” Yun Jiangli had an incessant headache, and sighed: “Forget it, I don’t blame you.”
Qin Chenyuan immediately stopped speaking, and took out a thin piece of paper from his breast pocket: “My investigation led to this road, it’s right here. There’s no time to lose, we need to go now!” He spread out a map and explained it to Yun Jiangli in detail, then absent-mindedly muttered, “Three years... god hasn’t failed me1 . I can finally bring Seventh Brother back home.....”
His voice got smaller and smaller until it couldn’t be heard. Yun Jiangli knew these past events stirred up his emotions, so he sighed softly.
I stared curiously at the map from a distance, then turned when Ye Tan suddenly asked from behind me: “Can you let me take a look?”
His breath surged, and his knuckles turned white, I suddenly realised something wasn’t right: “A-Tan, you can’t be thinking about stopping this, are you?”
Ye Tan was silent for a moment, then unexpectedly responded calmly: “Yes.”
Hearing him say this, Qin Chenyuan immediately stood on guard, protecting the map, his hand naturally going to rest on the hilt Yun Jiangli’s sword.
I tried to talk it over: “Can you not stop this? We may not really find anything....”
Ye Tan spoke: “This subordinate accepts your orders.”
He agreed so easily, it really annoyed me. I’ve always felt that Ye Tan is a bit of a “whatever you say goes, but can I still ask for a tip?” kind of scoundrel.
After saying this, he didn’t open his mouth again, and I was inevitably torn, wondering whether or not he was angry. But he normally doesn’t speak much, so this also didn’t seem unnatural, and it could just be me being overly suspicious.
I was silently cursing at myself while Qin Chenyuan stared for a long time, then suddenly asked:
“Can’t you two sit properly?”
I explained: “My body is injured, and my muscles are damaged, so I can’t sit up straight.”
Qin Chenyuan stared at us, then stared at Yun Jiangli and resentfully said: “Big brother Yun! I’m also injured!”
Yun Jiangli turned pale, pointed at me and Ye Tan and said: “You....you shouldn’t....do you also want to....do you? Ah?”
Qin Chenyuan angrily flicked his sleeves and turned around: “Then forget it! Anyway it won’t be the first time I have to sleep on the floor.” Yun Jiangli saw him sulking and hurriedly went to coax him, but Qin Chenyuan refused, so the two of them got into a back and forth scuffle for a long time before gradually stopping.
Seeing them finally calm down, Ye Tan spoke in a soft voice: “Master, whatever orders you give are this subordinate’s duty to execute to you satisfaction, so you don’t need to worry.”
I said: “I can’t bully you just because you’re obedient.”
Ye Tan pursed his lips, and let out a complicated sigh. He tightened the hand that was wrapped around me, and lightly rubbed against the top of my head.
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1 皇不負有心人 lit. god lives up to people with aspirations. A metaphor to mean that god will not disappoint those people who have ambitions for something, and that things will come to pass for those who persevere.Top.