Life Going Wild With Plug-ins

Chapter 44 - Bringing the small loyal dog for a stroll!


The sky was getting dark, and beyond the wall that separated us from the outside the sounds of drums and gongs could already be heard throughout the whole place, with the music of Qinqiang and Biandan operas mixing together. As we turned into an alley, the stream of people suddenly grew denser, brushing and bumping against our shoulders.

I lead Qiqi along and turned my head: “A-Tan, grab me, make sure we don’t get lost.”

Ye Tan is usually a little awkward, always following behind me at an arm’s length and not even an inch closer, with the distance being so precise that it seemed like he had measured it with a ruler, but today he unexpectedly did as I told him, obediently holding on to me. I couldn’t help but praise him with a smile.

Immediately afterwards, Ye Xiao said: “I’m also afraid of getting lost! I also want to hold on to boss!”

I: “People like you, when they get lost, they just get lost.”

Ye Xiao: “Tsk! Hey!”

I said again: “But by all means you should be keeping an eye on Ye Lan, if he wonders off he really won’t be able to find his way back.”

Ye Xiao wept endlessly as he grabbed Ye Lan.


There was a person blowing sugar figurines1 by hand, and people were crowding in and pushing to see the show. My constitution was weak so I couldn’t push to the front of the crowd and could only watch the backs of people’s heads, upon seeing this, Ye Tan lifted Qiqi and I to sit on top of a nearby wall, Ye Xiao carried Ye Lan and sat in the same place.

My field of view opened up, and the seat was very good, I was satisfied.

Our row of people watched the show for a while, alongside a few cats sitting on top of the wall, but Qiqi glanced around a little absent-mindedly.

“Are you looking for somebody?” I asked.

Qiqi hurriedly brought back her sight: “Oh..... I have a few sisters that I haven’t seen in a while. I don’t know if they could come today, maybe I could to run into them.”

I said: “Do you know where they live? Go look for them.”

“Can I?”

“Of course, we’re celebrating today. Didn’t we also have a lot of leftover dumplings? You can take some with you.”

Seeing me agree, Qiqi happily set off.


The sky above the lake was dotted with stars, and lotus flowers lanterns floated aimlessly about the lake, swaying in the water between the decorated boats2 and fishing boats that travelled back and forth.

Ye Xiao saw me staring out into the lake and asked: “Boss, do you want to make a wish and release some lanterns? I also happen to.....”

I: “No! I want to row a boat!”

Ye Xiao: “But we don’t have a boat....”

“Buy!” I resolutely turned towards Ye Tan and said, “Go!”

Ye Xiao: “......”


We went from the top of the wall to the lakeside, but maybe the boatmen for the small fishing boats and ferries had gone to celebrate because there was no one there. On the other hand, the few large decorated boats were brightly lit, and there were a few of them still moored by the shore, so I went and asked at each one.

Other person: “Where did this country bumpkin come from! Wanting to buy my grandfather’s boat! Get lost!”

There was no room for negotiation.

It seems like money is actually not all-powerful.


I fell into the great sorrow of not being able to get what I was looking for, and my ordinary desire to row a boat turned into a special desire to row under these kinds of opposing circumstances, so I crouched by the lakeside, worrying with a deep frown.

Ye Xiao: “Boss, are you really so sad? It’s not that complicated, I can just go snatch one up for you, how about it?”

Ye Tan didn’t make a sound, but he suddenly tightened the grip on his sword with interest.

I bitterly said: “Don’t break the law with any shady business.”

Ye Xiao was astonished: “How could those of us in the Jianghu have something like the law? How can there be someone as honest and law-abiding as you nowadays.”

Sigh, mere wicked people. How could they understand the reasoning behind this Creator God’s three outlooks from an advanced scientific civilisation?

I: “Ye Xiao, can you float in water?”

Ye Xiao: “Of course I can, how could a shadow guard not know how to swim. Boss, what do you want?”

I: “Since I can’t row a boat, I should just row you.”

Ye Xiao: “......”

For a time, the scene fell into an awkward deathly stillness.

Ye Lan suddenly interrupted: “I can also swim, you can row me.”

Ye Xiao sternly told him: “Ye Lan, if you don’t understand whether we’re joking or being serious, don’t just randomly interrupt.....”

I cut him off: “I wasn’t joking, I really want to row you. Of course, I don’t want to row Ye Lan.”

Ye Xiao hurriedly argued: “His swimming ability is better than mine! He is also taller than me! He’ll certainly be a lot more stable to row on! Right, Ye Lan?!”

Ye Xiao gave Ye Lan a meaningful look, Ye Lan seemed to tacitly understand his meaning and plunged into the water without hesitation.

I, already worried and angry, fiercely hit Ye Xiao on the head: “What the fuck! Look at you!! Hurry up!!”

Ye Xiao muttered to himself: “Fine, I’ll go see.” Then he flew on top of Ye Lan’s back, who was floating on the water.


Then the two of them sank.


I: “......”

Ye Tan: “......”


The only two words in my heart were ‘stupid idiot’ written in big letters.

It could be said that I was flustered and exasperated, when they crawled onto shore I grabbed the dripping wet Ye Xiao and ruthlessly beat him up, and I told him to hurry up and bring Ye Lan back home to change clothes.

It was winter, and he was soaked in icy water, what if Ye Lan caught a cold.

Ye Tan consoled me by saying: “After training with the Nightrunner’s for several years they’ve always had good endurance, Master doesn’t need to worry.”

Sigh, I’m physically and emotionally exhausted.

Ye Tan saw that I didn’t say anything, and spoke again: “Master, this subordinate is carrying sleeping drugs, it wouldn’t be difficult to get a boat without anyone finding out.”

I sighed: “No need. I won’t row today, but I will buy dozens of boats and hoard them in the future.... Yes, A-Tan, tomorrow you need to help me write a letter to Jun Luoshu telling him to buy many many boats, we’ll go rowing when we go back to the Sword Pavilion.”

Ye Tan: “Yes.”

Ye Tan gazed to the right at the second floor of a decorated boat ahead of us, his expression didn’t seem too relaxed, and he seemed to be thinking about something else.

“A-Tan, what’s wrong? I feel like you’ve been really nervous since we went out today.”

Ye Tan came back to his senses and looked away as he lowered his head: “There are too many people. Along the way there were also a lot of martial artists, I’m afraid something could happen.”

“A-Tan, you don’t like crowds?”

Ye Tan frowned: “They’re dangerous.”

I: “We came out here to have fun and relax for a bit, nothing is going to happen.....”

Ye Tan raised his hand and grabbed a filthy child that had just brushed past me, lifting him up in the air and displeasedly saying: “Hand over Master’s jade pendant.”

The beggar began to bawl and gave me back the jade pendant that was still warm from the palm of his hand: “I’m sorry, uncle, I won’t dare do it again!”

I: “.....the Jianghu is dangerous indeed.”


I had definitely brought him out to have fun, but instead it had turned into intense overtime work, and my conscience was uneasy.

I could only say: “We’ll find a place with less people.”

It seemed like in the future we shouldn’t randomly wonder about, and should only sincerely take shelter at the Sword Pavilion in Moling.

When I thought about Moling, my mood always improved, but I didn’t know if it was the same for Ye Tan, so I asked: “A-Tan, I haven’t asked you, do you like Moling? Do you like humid places, or do you like dry places? Do you like the north or the south?”

Ye Tan only said: “They’re all fine.” After giving this universal answer, he probably saw in my expression that I wanted to hit him, so he hurriedly added, “This subordinate has never gone to Moling, so I don’t have a clear impression of it.”

We walked a few steps along the road and came across a peddler selling river lanterns, I casually picked two and gave one to Ye Tan.

The peddler gave us two papers for letters, and said we could make a wish and put it into the lantern, and it would float towards the Qingquan temple and come true.

The letter paper had golden powder sprinkled on it, and it reflected the dazzling lights in a way that looked very nice. I sat on the stone steps by the side of the lake, and turned over that letter paper while I asked: “Then, of the places you’ve been to, which one was your favourite?”

Ye Tan took up a pen and grabbed the paper, he deeply thought for a moment, and said: “Tianshan.”

“Huh? You’ve been to Tianshan?”

“Young Master Qin Qi took this subordinate there. Or, it would be better to say Young Master Qin Qi bought this subordinate in order to go to Tianshan. Tianshan is extremely cold, no birds or beasts can live there, and someone without strong endurance and rich internal force would be unable to survive. Young Master Qin Qi took this subordinate to live in the mountains for a time to look for black iron used to cast swords. Since all the roads to Tianshan were closed due to a large snowfall, there were few traces of people, and I didn’t have to guard against someone coming to attack for a while. Those were this subordinate’s most relaxed days.”

He unexpectedly had this kind of past, I had never heard him bring it up, so I asked: “Did you find the black iron?”

Ye Tan: “We found it. The black iron was buried at the bottom of a sword-washing pond, it took a lot of effort just to come across it. But soon after we returned to the Central Plains, Young Master Qin Qi threw it away.”

I was shocked: “It took so much effort to find it, how could he just throw it away?”

Ye Tan shook his head: “This subordinate doesn’t know. Young Master Qin Qi and Yun Pizhi met for the first time, and when he came back he just said we didn’t need it, he found a cliff and threw it down from there, then sat by himself in the open air for an entire night, and wouldn’t let this subordinate approach.”

Oh, he really is a person with a story to tell.


I: “How do you know he sat by himself for an entire night, were you secretly watching him from the sidelines?”

Ye Tan: “.....??? Yes, that’s right...... He was my Master, even if he didn’t let me stay by his side, I should still protect him from a distance.”

I: “But you don’t even know why he threw it away.”

“Eh?” Ye Tan unconsciously slightly titled his head to the side, puzzled.

“He never told you anything he was doing, how can you still be so good to him?” I was extremely angry.

Ye Tan mumbled: “.....hey.....”

I angrily said: “You’re still like this! You have an expression on your face that says ‘I would stay in Tianshan forever if I could’!!”

Ye Tan was stunned: “This subordinate.... used to think like that. Since there were no outsiders, there was no need to keep hiding....”

I leapt up with a whoosh: “It’s just Tianshan! I can also take you there! Let’s go! We’ll go if you say so!”

Ye Tan hurriedly pulled me back and said: “We can’t, Tianshan is too cold, you’ll be affected by it.”

“You look down on me! I could stay there for ten years! Twenty years! Two hundred years! Longer than you, anyway! You spicy chicken, you dare look down on me!” I was so angry I had already lost my reason.

Ye Tan didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry as he tried to soothe me: “Okay, okay, okay, we’ll go when you get better.”

I coldly looked down on him and humphed, then sat back down: “Are you finished writing your wish? Do you want to release the lantern?”

“Writing this.....” Ye Tan saw that I had already tucked the letter paper back inside its sleeve, and asked, “You didn’t write anything?”

I: “I have nothing to wish for.”

I had this thought in my noble heart: I am the Creator God, what is there for me to wish for, I can easily get anything I want.

Ye Tan hummed, and began to stare at the blank space in the paper in a daze.

I waited for a while but he still didn’t move: “Are you also not writing down a wish?”

Ye Tan: “There are too many, I don’t know which one to write.”

In my heart I said, oh, his character design is breaking down, isn’t he supposed to be the ascetic type? Then I resolutely said: “What are your wishes? I’ll help you achieve all of them.”

“Oh..... I hope Master’s body can get better. Hope Master can avoid disasters and illnesses. Hope Master can live life safely and joyously, and I also hope Master can achieve great things..... but.....” Ye Tan bit the tip of the pen and turned to look at me, smiling lightly, “I think that this kind of state of not wishing for or wanting for anything might be better, so being able to stay like this is also good. I seem to be conflicted, and I don’t know which one to choose.”

.....that can’t be, don’t these all seem to be the same thing.

I pressed him: “You don’t want to go to Tianshan?”

Hearing this, Ye Tan said: “Oh, I want to go. I’ll add that.”

“......” I bared my teeth: “So, do you know how speak or not.”

Ye Tan: “?”

I sighed: “You shouldn’t foolishly worry about my affairs, your wish should have something to do with yourself.”

Ye Tan nodded, and this time he bent down to write without the slightest hesitation.


——“To have the present moment forever.”3


Ye Tan finished writing and swiftly stuffed it into the lantern, as if he was embarrassed, but I had clearly seen it.

I frustratedly said: “How can you make such an irrelevant wish, do you know what a big opportunity you just wasted?”

If Ye Tan had wished for a lot of money, I could have straightened up and said “I will grant it”, and then snapped my fingers and make it happen. Such a great opportunity to be pretentious, but I wasn’t able to do so.

Ye Tan said in a low voice: “I already feel as though I’m dreaming.”

 

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1 糖人 a person who makes figurines and shapes with melted sugar by blowing and sculpting them. Example pic. Top.

2 畫舫 lit. large painted boat. Like the name suggests, its a type of large boat with one or two stories that is often elaborately decorated. Example pic. Top.

3 歲歲有今朝 lit. every year have now. Part of the full phrase “年年有今日歲歲有今朝” which translates to roughly the same thing repeated twice. It’s usually said to people on their birthday, and can also be taken to mean something like “May you have today’s glory/happiness forever” in the sense that you’re wishing someone to always be as happy as they are now. Top.