The Rebirth Of The General Who Always Sees Himself As A Replacement

Chapter 55: Does Your Young Master Have Someone He Likes?

At night, due to the curfew, the streets of the Capital were completely empty. Tonight, the bright moonlight practically hid the stars, while the incessant and loud sound of cicadas disturbed the ears. On the roof of a business on East Street, completely hidden in the dark,  if you didn’t listen with strict attention, no one would even be able to perceive the sound of someone’s breathing.

But, in fact, this place had already been completely surrounded by the Guards of the Capital Prefecture.

Everyone was determined to arrest the thief this very night.

At that very moment, Wen Heyin and Pei Hantang were hiding together in a rather secluded alley. Since it was quite boring to wait for the thief to show up, Pei Hantang couldn’t restrain his curiosity anymore. As he lowered his voice as much as he could, Pei Hantang asked Wen Heyin: “Five years ago, that young man was really you, wasn’t it?”

Wen Heyin didn’t reply, and instead, asked back: “What are you going to do if you scare the thief by chatting?”

Pei Hantang replied nonchalantly: “It’s alright, don’t worry. Just a moment ago, my Xiongdi saw the thief break into the Residence of the Marquis of Xuanping, so we’re simply waiting to catch the turtle in the jar1.”

Wen Heyin asked doubtfully: “Why not just catch him as soon as you see him breaking into the Residence?”

Pei Hantang elaborated: “You don’t understand. When he comes out of the Marquis’ Residence, he will be packed with gold, silver and other treasures, meaning that his body will have an extra weight. Thus, he won’t be able to use the Qinggong with ease, and it will be easier for us to catch him.”

Wen Heyin: “Ohh, that’s quite clever.”

“Now, stop evading my question.” Pei Hantang refused to let the matter drop. “That young man five years ago, was that you or not?”

Wen Heyin pouted and refused to respond.

Pei Hantang pondered for a moment and asked again: “Tell me, why do you listen so much to the words of the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites, hm?”

Wen Heyin didn’t even think about it and directly replied: “I belong to my Young Master.”

Pei Hantang: “Cough-cough-cough!!!”

The Guards of the Capital Prefecture: “SHH!!”

Pei Hantang was outraged: “The world sure is deteriorating! People’s hearts aren’t the same as they used to be in former times! I really didn’t expect Mu Zhiming to be ‘this kind’ of person, sigh.”

‘Gu Yuyi, you’re so fucking blind! How can you be so blind as to fall in love with a person like this?!’

“What are you talking about? Who do you think you are, scolding my Young Master?” Wen Heyin was certainly not happy.

Pei Hantang crossed his arms and laughed coldly: “Humph, it is him who’s a presumptuous ‘gentleman’.”

Wen Heyin: “How exactly is my Young Master a ‘presumptuous’ gentleman?”

Pei Hantang angrily said: “He’s keeping you in his Residence as a male pet! How is that not bad enough?!”

Wen Heyin looked at Pei Hantang as if he was looking at a fool: “What ‘male pet’ are you talking about? Why is your mind so nasty?”

Pei Hantang exploded: “I am the one who’s nasty? You’re the one who said you were ‘his’!”

Wen Heyin grimaced: “What’s wrong with that? Don’t your Xiongdis of the Capital Prefecture also belong to you?”

The Guards of the Capital Prefecture: “…..”

‘The fuck you’re talking about?! Even if you can eat indiscriminately, it doesn’t mean that you can spout bullshit just like that!!’

Pei Hantang restrained himself, regained his temper, and asked, feeling somewhat confused: “Wait, when you say you ‘belong to him’, you actually mean that you’re ‘one of his people’, as in, his Bodyguard?”

Wen Heyin: “Of course, what else then?”

Pei Hantang: “…..”

Wen Heyin added to make things clear: “My Young Master is very kind to me, and he always puts himself in other people’s shoes. Of course I will always listen to him.”

Pei Hantang mused: “So this is why.…”

“By the way, my Young Master mentioned you to me today.” Wen Heyin remembered what Mu Zhiming told him, as Mu Zhiming hid the sandalwood box after taking out one of the small celadon jars.

“Mention me?” Pei Hantang was surprised. “Why would he talk about me?”

Wen Heyin: “He told me he learned a certain principle from you.”

Pei Hantang asked: “What? What kind of principle?”

‘Was it perhaps my elegant speaking style and noble personality that attracted the attention of the young son of the Duke of Yan? Ehehehehe.’

Wen Heyin earnestly replied: “My Young Master said; ‘Such as this man, you may need to behave shamelessly from time to time.’”

Pei Hantang: “….How am I shameless?!!”

Wen Heyin shrugged his shoulders to show that he didn’t know either.

After a brief moment of silence, Pei Hantang felt uneasy again. In the end, he leaned over to grab Wen Heyin by the shoulders to ask him: “Little one, you have been by your Young Master’s side since you were both little kids, correct?”

Wen Heyin nodded: “Yes.”

Pei Hantang: “Then you must know everything about your Young Master, right?”

Wen Heyin: “That’s right!”

A mischievous smile grew on Pei Hantang’s face as he said: “I will ask you a very important question, and you must answer me with absolute sincerity.”

“What kind of question?”

Pei Hantang asked: “Does your Young Master have someone he likes?”

As soon as Wen Heyin heard this question, he didn’t even think about it as he answered with complete certainty: “Of course!”

Footnotes

瓮中捉鳖 wèng zhōng zhuō biē; It’s a Chinese idiom, used as a metaphor to describe a person who’s in a difficult position and is unable to escape / The thing someone wants to catch is already within its grasp / Go after an easy prey. From《李逵负荆》by (康进之 kāng jìn zhī) Kang Jinzhi from the Yuan Dynasty [1279-1368].