Life Going Wild With Plug-ins

Chapter 68 - The small loyal dog reasons things out o((≥▽≤o)


Soon after, a few guards stepped forward to drag the Second Young Master, who had nothing left to live for, and the tied-up Ye Jun away to be locked up. Ye Tan’s line of sight fell on Ye Jun, and he watched as he was dragged away a few steps.

I remembered his tone had been a little fond that last time when I heard Ye Tan talking about Ye Jun, so I said: “Wait, leave Ye Jun behind.”

Hearing this, the guards let go, and only took the Second Young Master away. Ye Tan didn’t understand why I had said that, so he looked at me in confusion.

“Ye Jun, if you agree to not cause trouble, I won’t have you tied up.” I thought about it, “A-Tan really missed you, can you accompany him for a chat?”

The two people were stunned at this, and Ye Tan hurriedly said: “When did this subordinate ever say something like that?”

I said: “You two are old friends, it’s been several years since you last saw each other and there’s free time today. It’s human nature to reminisce about the past, what’s there to refuse.”

Ye Jun also awkwardly said: “My Master is locked up in prison, suffering hardships, but I am waited upon as a valued guest, that’s not too good.”

“You can just treat it as us holding you Master’s life to threaten you, you’re being forced by your loyalty, so you have no choice.” I discussed with him with good intentions.

Ye Jun looked at Ye Tan with an expression of slight wonder: “Yaksha, this new Master of yours is simply unusual1 .”

I nodded proudly: “How polite, it’s no problem, no problem.”


After so many years, I finally had the opportunity to have a peaceful meal, Ye Tan had gone out to arrange the matters of rescuing the people from Henglian as well as the concrete procedure for dismantling Zhongli Court, so he was temporarily unable to get away. I waited anxiously, staring at the delicacies and fine wine arranged on the table, I couldn’t eat a single bite since I had my hands pitifully wrapped up like zongzi2 today.

Ye Jun had also not moved his chopsticks, he sat quietly with his eyes closed. I asked: “Why aren’t you eating?”

Ye Jun answered: “There is the order of social ranking, what reason would I have to eat first?”

“It’s fine, just eat, you don’t need to wait.” I gazed at the sweet and sour pork chops in front of me and drooled, “I can’t use chopsticks right now, so I’m waiting for A-Tan to come back and feed me.”

“Oh——” Ye Jun leaned back on the chair and propped his head with one hand, then he tilted his head as he looked at me and smiled, “I can also feed you.”

My eyes shone: “Ok ok ok quick quick quick, hey this pork chop, gimme gimme.”

“……” The smile in Ye Jun’s eyes disappeared, and he sighed, “Do you know what you’re doing?”

I: “Pork chop pork chop pork chop pork chop pork chop pork chop.”

Ye Jun solemnly straightened out in his seat: “We’d better wait for Yaksha to get back.”

I: “???”


I slumped on the table with a gloomy cloud over my head, waiting until the sky turned dark, and only then heard someone pushing the door open and coming in.

Ye Jun shook his head as he complained: “Yaksha, why did you just come back, you’re too slow, do you know that something awful almost happened just now?”

Ye Tan stared at him blankly.

Ye Jun grieved and lamented: “Your Master actually wanted me to feed him.”

Ye Tan saw that nothing on the table had been touched, and asked: “Why didn’t you feed him?”

“……” Ye Jun sighed again, “Forget it, I was overthinking, you two are actually a perfect match.”

Ye Tan saw that I was almost fainting due to hunger, so he hurriedly pulled me into his arms and remorsefully said: “This subordinate was careless, I apologise.”

I was hanging on by a thread: “Pork chop pork chop.”

Ye Tan: “Alright.”

I could finally fulfil my wish of eating meat, and I was so moved my eyes were brimming with tears. Ye Tan was still the most obedient.


After that, I was engrossed with eating, so I didn’t talk for a while, and I ate until I wasn’t so hungry any more and I finally restored a bit of my reason, it was then that I was able to come back to my senses and asses the situation. Ye Tan had been feeding me all this time, occasionally holding two pairs of chopsticks, so he also hadn’t said a single word. Ye Jun had also not taken the initiative to speak, so the atmosphere was a little cold.

I looked at them, very worried: “A-Tan, quickly talk, don’t be shy.”

Ye Jun laughed: “Yaksha spoke very little before, don’t force him.”

Ye Tan looked at him grudgingly.

I wondered: “Then, how did you two interact before?”

Ye Jun: “It was basically me talking to myself….. haha, so I thought Yaksha didn’t really like me.”

I hurriedly explained Ye Tan’s feelings: “Why? Last time he told me he regarded you as a friend, but he didn’t know if you remembered him or not and he seemed disappointed. Of the friends he recognised, you were certainly the only one.”

“Master!” The tips of Ye Tan’s ears were very red, and the chopsticks he was holding snapped.

Ye Jun laughed: “Oh? I was actually so important, I’m flattered.”

I grabbed a new pair of chopsticks and stuffed it into his hands, placating him: “We’re all by ourselves, don’t be shy.”

Ye Tan didn’t know what he was angry about, but he indignantly pounded on the bowl of rice and didn’t speak. Sigh, this unlucky child, he’s mastered the act of being childish.

I asked again: “Ye Jun, ten years ago, did you originally want to take the title of Yaksha?”

Ye Jun said: “How could that be? Am I insane? I wouldn’t have been able to live a happy life if I insisted on carrying that accursed title that gets scolded everywhere.”

I was startled: “…..You were aware of this ten years ago, you really are clever, I admire you.”

Ye Jun smiled proudly: “You flatter me, you flatter me, how polite.”

I: “Then, at that time, why did you want A-Tan to lose to you?”

“Because he said he wanted the title of Ye Jun…..” Ye Jun unobtrusively glanced at him, and said with regret, “In my opinion, there is no one more loyal than him. It’s just a pity that the Will of Heaven tricks people.” Ye Jun gave a shallow laugh. He clearly came from a background of shadow guards that had never seen the light of day, but his temperament was even more gentle than that of rich young masters, and he looked at me with a smile that seemed lost in thought, “Over the years I’ve become more and more convinced that, being selected as Ye Jun, is probably only being picked as a pretty face3 that will amuse their Master, that’s all.”

“…..Master.” Ye Tan finally couldn’t bear it any more and interrupted in a small voice, “These old affairs shouldn’t be brought up again. Can we….. change the topic?”

“Fine fine fine, whatever you say.” I looked at his expression that seemed like he was so embarrassed he wished he could squeeze himself into a crack in the ground, and couldn’t help but stroke his head, “A-Tan, what do you want to talk about?”

“Your internal power….. again…..” Ye Tan whispered.

“Ah, the Second Young Master abolished it again when I was captured.” Even though my internal power was drawn out twice, my body didn’t get any worse, and I was able to move about as normal after some simple rest. It was probably due to that medicine Jun Wuwang gave me, “But it’s not a big deal now, when I was imprisoned someone fed me some sort of magical medicine…..”

“Who?” Ye Tan sensitively caught on to that person that subtly entered the scene.

I: “It was Jun Wuwang, that man with the fox mask.”

Ye Tan frowned as he heard this, biting the tip of his chopsticks in annoyance and saying: “This subordinate was less useful to Master than an unknown passer-by.”

I couldn’t help but laugh: “Are you eating vinegar4 ?”

Ye Tan: “…..ah?”

I was satisfied after eating and drinking, so I patted his shoulder: “Since you’re so shy, I won’t disturb your reminiscing. You two have a chat by yourselves, I’ll go back first and lie down.”

Ye Tan anxiously defended himself again: “This subordinate has never been shy!”

Ye Jun went with the flow and interrupted: “Young Master Jun is indeed good at understanding others, thank you.”


After eating, I went back and slept comfortably, however, I didn’t expect that my peaceful days would be over.

From the evening of that day, some outsiders would come to visit from time to time, with all the coming and going making the front hall seem as busy as a marketplace momentarily bustling with activity. Some came to express their gratitude after being saved, some came to request help in finding their relatives or friends, some who had been attacking Zonglian for a long time came to negotiate borrowing troops, and some came to wail and shout themselves hoarse wanting to settle their revenge against the Second Young Master.

Ye Tan felt that these people were too noisy, and that everyone should die for disturbing my recovery. He wanted to order all of them to be beaten and thrown out, and I had to try my utmost to stop him.

After this battle, the image of One Sword Tomb was somewhat remedied in the eyes of the people with great difficulty, so we couldn’t mess anything up at this critical juncture.

Discussions came and went, until at last an agreement was reached with Henglian, and they sent a few high-level people in charge to come and discuss the follow-up arrangements, while all other miscellaneous people were intercepted and blocked outside.

However, of the prestigious seniors that were in charge of Henglian originally, many were lost after being taken prisoner, and nowadays was a time of chaos. Because of this, although the number of people that came suddenly decreased, there were still a lot of them.


After Ye Jun finished eating the meal with us that day, he sincerely went back to the prison to accompany his master.

The people from Henglian couldn’t wait to kill the Second Young Master, and news of their indignation spread. Naturally, this information also reached the prison.

The Second Young Master turned a deaf ear to this controversy like someone who was indifferent to life or death, and lay motionless on the floor.

His leg and hand had been crushed by Jun Wuwang and, having gone without treatment, now they were already completely destroyed, and there was no possibility of curing them again.

I knew he didn’t have any fighting spirit left in this life, so I discussed the possibility of only abolishing his wugong and sparing his life.

Half of the people didn’t quite agree, so Ye Tan went out and reasoned things out with them. I don’t know what he said, but when he came back after the negotiation, they all obediently agreed.


Scary.

Turns out Ye Tan was very capable of reasoning things out.


Ye Jun was grateful and thanked me.

I said: “The Second Young Master crippled me and Ye Tan once, now I’m returning it to him, so we can be considered even.”


This day, a dozen or so grandiose people came to report on the recent developments with Zhongli Court and Zonglian.

In Zhongli Court, there were not many people that were truly loyal to the Second Young Master, most were pressured and coerced, especially those being controlled with poisonous gu5 . Nowadays, after weighing the pros and cons, they have thrown away their helmets and discarded their armour one by one.

Zonglian was even more interesting, the majority of the people simply didn’t know they were obeying orders from Zhongli Court’s Second Young Master, so when they found out the truth they immediately flew into a rage, fighting amongst each other.

However, when all was said and done there were still a few twisted roots and intertwined joints6 that were very hard to kill, and it couldn’t be resolved in one day, so we still had to spend some time until everything was cleared out.


After the report was finished, they exchanged a few pleasantries with Yang Qingzhou, expressing good wishes for his health and so on. Everyone chatted slowly for half a day, until at last they were shooed out by Ye Tan.

At that time, the Eldest Young Master of Zhongli Court was still sitting by the doorway, waiting for news, so he was met with them face-to-face.

All the Henglian Seniors called out and saluted the Eldest Young Master politely, then happily left.


The Eldest Young Master, who was idly waiting outside, was very confused, and couldn’t bear it any more as he rushed in and asked me: “Why has nobody dealt with me yet?”

I: “Why would we want to deal with you?”

The Eldest Young Master: “I’m also from Zhongli Court, ah, I’m still the older brother of your most hated enemy. Even if you’re not going to take your anger out on me, you’re not going to go as far as treating me like a valued guest, right?! Just now, you didn’t see how the old man from Qiu Manor was all smiles as he praised me, I was terrified.”

Yang Qingzhou smiled: “Most of us have received the Eldest Young Master’s favour, how could we bite the hand that feeds us?”

The Eldest Young Master doubted: “…..When did I do so many good deeds?”

Yang Qingzhou spoke: “A few years ago there was a great drought in Yanguan, you sent food…..”

The Eldest Young Master was startled: “A drought in Yanguan? When did that happen?”

I: “?”

Yang Qingzhou spoke again: “The granddaughter of Qiu Manor’s Old Qiu got lost, you sent someone to bring her back…..”

The Eldest Young Master was startled again: “Old man Qiu has a granddaughter? Why didn’t I know?”

I: “??”

Yang Qingzhou continued: “Last year, Su’er and I were met with bandits while transporting goods in Weixian, you sent people to save us…..”

The Eldest Young Master was greatly alarmed: “Where is Weixian? I’ve never heard any of this?”

I: “???”

Yang Qingzhou: “……”


Yang Qingzhou recounted more than a dozen events, but the Eldest Young Master didn’t know about a single one of them.

Oh no.

If these things were not done by him, then, could it be that the person that did them was…..


The Eldest Young Master was stunned: “No wonder….. everywhere I’ve been to for these past two years, I always felt like people were becoming nicer towards me. And every time I went back to Zhongli Court, he would always find a way to send me out, and wouldn’t let me get involved in the war against Henglian….. turns out he planned this in advance.”

On the surface, the Second Young Master Zhongli Zixi had pushed the Eldest Young Master aside, but it turned out he was protecting him in the case that he fell from power one day, so the Eldest Young Master wouldn’t be implicated with him.

Now that he had been defeated, the Eldest Young Master should definitely have been unable to avoid being in the centre of the storm, but it was unexpectedly the Second Young Master’s arrangements that allowed him to escape unscathed.


Since the Second Young Master could prepare for this situation, it shouldn’t be impossible for him to have made preparations for himself.

But, from start to finish, he only prepared a way out for the Eldest Young Master alone.


I let out a sigh: “The Second Young Master will leave in a few days. Do….. you want to go see him? He’s been brilliant all his life, so he is probably finding it hard to have ended up like this today.”

The Eldest Young Master was also at a loss, no longer having that simple disgust and hatred he originally did when the Second Young Master was brought up. He lowered his head and thought for a moment, still shaking his head: “No….. if the two of us come in contact with each other, it won’t be good for anyone. It would be better to separate from now on….. I just hope he can learn from his failure7 .”

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1 He used the word ‘奇 qí’ which can mean both strange/weird but also surprising/wonderful. I went with the more neutral translation of ‘unusual’ because I have a feeling that JY meant the former and JXH understood the latter. Top.

2 Glutinous rice dumplings wrapped with leaves. Pic. Top.

3 He used the word 花瓶 lit. flower vase. It can also be used to mean something that is just for show, or someone who is employed only for their appearance and not their skills. Top.

4 To be jealous. I kept the literal translation as a play on the chopstick thing. Top.

5 If you’re not familiar with this concept, a gu is a type magical poisonous/venomous bug made by putting a bunch of poisonous bugs in a jar and having them fight until only one remains. In cultivation novels, different kinds of gu do different kinds of things, and can even be used to control people. Top.

6 Idiom that means difficulties that are complicated and deeply-rooted. Top.

7 破而後立 lit. break and then stand. Means to learn from failures before being able to succeed, to start over after having failed and learning from experience. Top.