YNRHPCYC Chapter 34

Who could harm Zhong Wenjin in this place? Shu Hua had always been present, and if there had been any sounds of fighting, he would have definitely heard it.

Wen Chan turned his head and looked at Shu Hua with doubt in his eyes. But Shu Hua shook his head lightly.

Zhong Wenjin actually didn’t care about it at all. He whispered, appearing dispirited and downcast, “No one injured me. I picked at the black scab on my own.”

Holding the water basin in his arms, he opened the door and walked into the room. The atmosphere around him was very gloomy.

Wen Chan followed up and then instructed Shu Hua to close the door. Even after thinking about it a hundred times, he was still perplexed, “What are you doing by picking at that black scab? Clearly, it has nearly recovered. You are welcome to come to me if you are extremely bored.”

Speaking of which, he remembered, “Didn’t you say that you were coming to see me after lunch today?”

“It was not from boredom.” With his eyes lowered, Zhong Wenjin wet a cotton towel and wiped the blood from the pit of his stomach. His actions were anything but gentle and were even a little rough. Yet he wore a blank expression throughout as if he felt no pain.

Wen Chan could not bear to see this and stepped up to snatch the cloth towel away and sighed, “Why are you doing this? It’s you who suffers from injuring your own body.”

Zhong Wenjin didn’t fight back but sat down with his head bowed. The blood was still seeping out of the pit of his stomach. He looked at it and said in a calm tone, “The pain outside is better than the pain inside.”

??

When had this young master, whose only thoughts were of eating, drinking, and bullying, become able to say such philosophical things?

“What you have to do is make it stop hurting from the both inside and the outside.” Wen Chan tossed the cloth towel back into the water basin.

He had been so cheerful during lunch, but after not seeing him for an afternoon, Zhong Wenjin had turned so depressed. Wen Chan thought he was uncomfortable because he thought about the matter with his parents. So he advised him solemnly, “There is no such thing as a hurdle you can’t get over.”

“Rather than inflicting pain on yourself, you should inflict pain on those who have caused you pain.”

“And what if the people who caused me pain are the ones whom I can’t bear to hurt?” Zhong Wenjin asked quietly.

“Then you……” Wen Chan couldn’t find an answer to that question either. Just like in the case of Liang Yanbei, from whom the majority of the agony in his heart had come in his previous life, Wen Chan never had the heart to retaliate against the pain in any way.

To put it frankly, this question that Zhong Wenjin was asking at the moment was the same one that had been probing Wen Chan’s innermost feelings this whole time.

“Even then, you can’t hurt yourself like this.” Wen Chan changed the topic under discussion, thinking that in any case, it was right to advise him and that there was no need to inform Zhong Wenjin of any big issues.

Zhong Wenjin touched the wound on the pit of his stomach and said, “I thought, if my flesh hurts a bit more, then maybe my heart won’t hurt so much.”

“So what was the result? Do you still feel pain in your heart now?”

“It didn’t work.” Zhong Wenjin shook his head slightly, “Nothing can cover the pain in your heart.”

He generally acted like a small beast, baring his teeth and brandishing his claws. But now, somehow, he was hanging his head dispiritedly and making people feel pity for no cause.

Wen Chan patted him on the shoulder, “Don’t be like this later on. Are you stupid?”

He was so depressed and silent that he could see how decadent his mood was.

Wen Chan urged as though he was coaxing a child, “Come, come, let Young Master Wen give you medicine. After you finish the medicine, we can go have some fun.”

“What kind of fun?” When he heard about having fun, Zhong Wenjin finally started to become interested and looked up at him.

“Weren’t we all pitched into going to the bandit’s den by that Tang Yixiao before?” Wen Chan rubbed the cloth towel in water and wrung it out before saying, “He thought he could write off the matter with an apology? We must teach him a little lesson.”

These words seemed to strike a chord in Zhong Wenjin’s heart. His eyes instantly lit up and they were not as dim as they had just been, “You’re thinking the same thing as me. I wanted to see you this afternoon just for this matter.”

Zhong Wenjin was particularly interested in this type of thing. It wasn’t that he was narrow-minded and he would seek revenge for even the smallest grievance, but that Tang Yixiao had really made him suffer too much. For several days, he toiled as a coolie in the bandit’s den, eating steamed buns¹. It was perhaps the most terrible few days of his life up to that point.

It was extremely difficult for him to let go of it without teaching Tang Yixiao a lesson.

“Let’s go and ask Young Lady Situ for some medicine later.” Wen Chan handed the cloth towel to Shu Hua so that he could clean Zhong Wenjin’s wounds and wipe the blood from his body.

“No one is here.” Zhong Wenjin said, “But I have already gone and asked Young Lady Situ for medicine.”

Wen Chan was a little surprised, “None of them are here? Where have they all gone?”

“All sects and factions of the Jianghu people pay particular attention to the customs. Dan Ke and Young Lady Situ went to greet the Jianghu people. Liang Yanbei took your little eunuch and said he was going to go shopping. Xie Zhaoxue and Miss Qiao also went out, but I don’t know what they went to do.”

“Why is it that whenever I take a nap, people would be gone.” Wen Chan muttered to himself in depression before asking him, “And what is the effect of the medicine given by Young Lady Situ?”

“It is in powder form, and it can be sprinkled or mixed into water. She said that if it is mixed into the water before being poured on a person, the skin that comes into contact with the water will itch for three days and nights, and there is no medicine to cure it.” Zhong Wenjin fished a small porcelain bottle from under his pillow and swayed in front of him proudly.

“That’s a good thing.” Wen Chan listened and thought that it was really enough. It couldn’t be more fitting, as it would not hurt anyone’s life and would teach a lesson at the same time.

“Then, when you’ve finished bandaging your wounds, let’s go next door together and see if we can run into that Tang woman from before and give her some too.” Wen Chan explained.

The only two idlers left in the small courtyard began plotting vengeance, fully disregarding Dan Ke’s previous warnings.

The “dark-sleeved Yama” had no deterrent impact in the eyes of the Ninth Royal Highness and Young Master Zhong.

Zhong Wenjin put on his clothes after Shu Hua had expertly bandaged him up. And he put the white powder from the porcelain vase into the freshly drawn water, which instantly dissolved, leaving nothing to be seen.

Zhong Wenjin grew even more ecstatic. He was beaming as he went to carry the water basin. But Wen Chan stopped him by pointing out to him that he had a wound in the pit of his stomach. So he allowed Shu Hua to carry it and the trio sneaked up to the next door.

The courtyards were incredibly silent in the pitch-black, windy night, with no discernible sounds. And the Tang Clan next door didn’t even put up a few lights, so it was much darker than where Wen Chan and the others lived.

Walking to the entrance, the three stood under the tree that connected the two courtyards, and Zhong Wenjin said, “Why don’t we just break into his room and throw it at him? He definitely will not be able to dodge it.”

“No, no, no. That is not possible. What if no one is around next door? Besides, it’s Tang Yixiao who has offended us. It’s not a good idea to involve others.”

Wen Chan vetoed his simple and crude strategy and came up with a brilliant suggestion, “Let’s stand on this wall and yell at him. If we get him to come out, we’ll pour water on him. If he doesn’t come out, we’ll wait for another chance.”

“This will work.” Zhong Wenjin praised him repeatedly, “It’s still you, Young Master Wen, who is clever.”

He kicked his legs and easily jumped up to the top of the wall as he spoke.

Shu Hua followed suit, holding the water without spilling it, and leaped steadily up the wall.

Qinggong²Qinggong (ching-kung) is a training technique for jumping off vertical surfaces from the Chinese martial arts.[1] One way of training is to run up a slightly inclined ramp, gradually increasing the steepness of the incline until it is vertical.[2] relied on internal strength. Wen Chan originally had no internal strength at all in his young body. But since he was reborn, although he had not trained much, he still had some internal strength at least.

But getting up the wall with his Qinggong was still a challenge.

With the help of a little Qinggong, he grabbed the tree branch with both hands and feet and climbed up. The action startled Zhong Wenjin, who saw Wen Chan panting with exhaustion and reached out to pull the man up the wall.

“Young Master Wen, aren’t you a bit too bad at Qinggong?” Zhong Wenjin asked in a low voice.

Wen Chan sighed, “I’ll practice properly when I get back.”

The Xi Liang royal bloodline was forbidden to practice internal strength, although it was true that internal strength was much more powerful than martial arts.

However, internal power originated from qi, which travels through the body, and many martial artists had gone off the rails because they did not practise internal power properly.

There was once a prince who became obsessed with practicing internal energy and almost slaughtered his siblings with a sword. Since then, the royal family had explicitly prohibited the emperor’s heirs from cultivating internal energy and only allowed them to practise martial arts.

In his previous life, Wen Chan was forced to learn internal energy techniques from Liang Yanbei.

Wen Chan wiped the sweat off his brow, cleared his throat, and shouted, “Young Master Tang — —”

“Ain’t there several of them with the surname Tang? What if you yell like this and call everyone out?” Zhong Wenjin questioned him from the sidelines.

“That’s true.” Wen Chan nodded and then said instead, “Young Master Tang Yixiao — —”

Before the voice of the second word could fall, the sound of the door getting opened, rang. And before long, Tang Yixiao, dressed in black, appeared with a yellow lantern.

Tang Yixiao looked quite radiantly attractive, and there was always a hint of laziness between his smiles.

He lacked a bit of the wild enthusiasm when compared with Liang Yanbei, otherwise, he was a complete beauty.

He looked in surprise at Wen Chan and Zhong Wenjin, who were painstakingly stretching out their necks on the wall, and went slowly towards the tree, “What are you guys doing here?”

When the two saw that Tang Yixiao was really there, they felt secretly pleased, and Zhong Wenjin said, “Young Master Tang, we have something to ask you.”

“What is it?” It was unclear whether this was intentional or if he was simply not defensive at all, but he walked closer and closer until he reached the tree and tilted his head high to gaze at them.

Not expecting the plan to go so well, Zhong Wenjin excitedly touched Shu Hua with his elbow, signaling him to pour the water.

The loyal guard hiding in the foliage was very adept at it and immediately turned over the basin of water, pouring it out with a loud clatter, and showered Tang Yixiao with the water.

The water even extinguished the lantern in Tang Yixiao’s hand and drenched him thoroughly.

Zhong Wenjin saw that the ruse had worked and burst out laughing, “Serves you right! Who told you to show us the wrong way? Now you’ll have to suffer as well!”

Wen Chan chuckled along with him, happy that he had, in any case, avenged the tiny revenge of being pointed in the wrong direction and straying into the bandit’s nest a few days before.

However, Tang Yixiao, who was suddenly soaked all over, did not get angry at all. He raised his hand to shake off his sleeve, looked up, and said with a calm smile, “This can be considered as an atonement for what I did to you two before. I wonder if you two are still angry?”

“It’s not over yet. We won’t stop feeling angry until three days later.” Zhong Wenjin said feeling very proud and arrogant, “Tang Yixiao, just enjoy it slowly.”

As far as being a bully is concerned, Zhong Wenjin was more experienced and suitable.

Wen Chan was busy nodding along, “After three days, we’ll be even.”

“Then in three days, I’ll ask again.” He waved his hand unconcernedly and turned round and went back with the water-filled lantern.

Zhong Wenjin hummed twice, feeling utterly free of any any worries, and the slight depression in his heart from earlier also dissipated like smoke in thin air.

Wen Chan saw Tang Yixiao leave and did not stay at the wall any longer. As soon as he got off the ground, he heard Zhong Wenjin, who was still up there, sneeze loudly.

“What a joke. I am fit and healthy. How can I catch a cold because of this cold water? Someone must be secretly thinking about me.” Zhong Wenjin jumped down, pulling at the wound on his chest and grimacing in pain.

He grinned and giggled, “Once Tang Yixiao’s revenge is avenged, let’s find another opportunity to punish that girl from the Tang Sect.”

Wen Chan listened and said, “We need to think long and hard about this. That girl is vicious and merciless and will certainly not be as good-tempered as Tang Yixiao.”

“That’s right, that’s right.” He nodded repeatedly, “We can’t do it today.”

“Now that our business here is done, let’s go and find something to eat. We can’t wait for them to come back to eat.” Wen Chan thought that it was still early and there was no one else in the courtyard. So if Zhong Wenjin went back to his room, he might do something crazy on his own.

“There’s a street to the east of this mansion which is full of food vendors. How about we go take a stroll there?” Zhong Wenjin was so excited that he reached into his pocket and found a broken piece of silver after fumbling in it for a long time. He glanced at Wen Chan, “Do you have any money with you?”

Wen Chan was shocked by his poverty, but then he realised that Zhong Wenjin had fled in such a hurry that he must not have brought much money and the like with him. And again he had gone around the bandits’ den. So it was normal for him to be penniless now.

He took out a small purse from his sleeve, which was filled with gold beans that were to him given by Liang Yanbei.

Once Zhong Wenjin saw that he had money, he put the small broken piece of silver away behind his back, “Let’s go, let’s go. Just treat it as if I, Zhong Wenjin, borrowed it from you, and I’ll pay it back later.”

“OK, but let me tell you first……”

Zhong Wenjin waited for a while, but did not hear the rest. So he looked sideways and wondered, “Tell me what first?”

He saw Wen Chan looking distractedly before slightly parting his lips, taking two breaths, and sneezing loudly. He then rubbed his nose and said, “Let me tell you first, if you borrow my money, the interest will be increased.”

“So be it. Would I care about this small amount of money?” Zhong Wenjin curled his lips indifferently and was just about to shout at them to leave when he suddenly felt a tickle in his nose and a sneeze came out of his nose unexpectedly.

Wen Chan originally wanted to tease him. But before he could say anything he felt that something was wrong. Then he covered his nose and sneezed three times in a row, his eyes pooling with watery liquid.

Shocked, he asked, “What’s going on?”

Translator’s corner

Thank you so much for reading the chapter. If you liked my translation and wanna support me, you can comment down your thoughts or send me a Kofi.

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  Qinggong (ching-kung) is a training technique for jumping off vertical surfaces from the Chinese martial arts.[1] One way of training is to run up a slightly inclined ramp, gradually increasing the steepness of the incline until it is vertical.[2]