RMACAUH Chapter 9

Chapter 9: He didn’t come willingly, how can you just keep him…?

Chapter 9: He didn’t come willingly, how can you just keep him…?

Wei Xinhe, nostrils flaring, breathed heavily, the veins on his hand bulged as he forcefully swung the thorny branch. Seeing Wei Xiaofeng crying with tears and snot all over his face, looking utterly useless and incompetent, his eyes were filled with even more disdain.

“If you won’t marry, then go stay in the self-combing hall, and think it over properly yourself!”

“Father, I won’t go to the self-combing hall, I was wrong, please don’t send me there… there, it’s in the remote wilderness, how can I, how can I stay there?” Wei Xiaofeng choked out.

“Butler, pack Fifth Brother’s things, and send him over there today!”

The butler stepped forward and pulled Wei Xiaofeng out from under the table, kindly comforting him, “Fifth Brother, just be obedient, don’t make the master angry again. When the master’s anger subsides, he will bring you back.”

“No, no, I won’t go!” Wei Xiaofeng cried and sobbed, being forced into it. Only when he was in the carriage did he accept reality. He had no choice but to go to the self-combing hall today.

Wan Lingxiu, hearing the news, rushed over, still carrying a bundle in her arms, begging the butler, “Butler Song, please let me go with him, he can’t manage alone!”

Wei Xiaofeng caught his breath, suddenly hiccuped, and stopped crying, “Mother?”

Butler Song curled his lip, helplessly saying, “Madam Wan, that won’t do. That place is the self-combing hall, full of unmarried elder brothers. It’s improper for you to go there. Besides, Fifth Brother is going there to reflect on himself, what hardship will he suffer? Just set your mind at ease!”

Wan Lingxiu was helpless, and the mother and son cried in each other’s arms for a long time. Seeing that the sky was getting darker and darker, the butler kept urging them to leave.

“Take these silver notes.” Wan Lingxiu wiped away her tears, her eyes full of heartache.

Fortunately, Wei Xiaofeng was just a little simple-minded, but not stupid. He didn’t take the silver notes, “Mother, it’s a remote wilderness with a few dilapidated temples. What would I do with these silver notes? Before I even get used to the bed, they’d probably be robbed clean.”

“Ah, yes, yes… you can’t bring this, what should we do?”

“Tsk!” Wei Xiaofeng wiped away his tears, smiled at Wan Lingxiu, “I’ve eaten too much meat these past few days, I’ll just take it as going there to eat vegetarian food for a few days to get rid of the greasiness. When Father’s anger subsides, he’ll bring me home.”

“Can you bear it?”

“I’m in good shape, how could I not bear it? Don’t you all think I’m fat? Coming back as only half a Wei Xiaofeng is better than Zhu Yi.”

The mother and son looked at each other without a word, bitterness spreading in their hearts.

“Mother, don’t worry,” Wei Xiaofeng said, then neatly put down the carriage curtain, urging the butler, “Hurry up and go, we should at least make it in time for dinner, right?”

“Madam Wan, then I’ll take Fifth Brother away.”

Wan Lingxiu hesitated in place, until the carriage disappeared into the dim evening glow. Once he was gone, she didn’t know when he would be back.

From a young age, Wei Xiaofeng had heard of the self-combing hall. It was an isolated temple in the mountains, built jointly by a group of brothers who would never marry, secluded from the world.

Once a vow was made upon entering the self-combing hall, one would have to stay in the self-combing hall for life, never to enter this mortal world again.

If anyone violated the vow, according to the rules of the hall, they would have to walk through a mountain of knives and a sea of fire. The mountain of knives was really made of blades hanging densely from the beams, and the sea of fire was a path paved with red-hot charcoal. Those who could survive walking through the mountain of knives and sea of fire would have no further connection with the self-combing hall.

The mountain road was rugged, and Wei Xiaofeng bumped along the way, his bones feeling as if they were about to fall apart. He lifted the curtain and looked outside, fireflies flying up and down in the silent mountains, a sight he had never seen in the capital. He widened his eyes in surprise for a moment.

“How beautiful!”

He reached out his soft, white hand to catch them, clenched his fist, brought it to his eyes to look at the bit of light in his palm, smiled innocently, then opened his palm again, letting it fly back into the night sky.

This bit of novelty was diluted by his hunger.

The butler sent him to the entrance, spoke a few words with the manager of the hall, gave him a bag of money, and then left him there.

Wei Xiaofeng was focused on eating, and he followed the brother inside the temple with one step forward and three steps back, rubbing his belly and asking softly, “I didn’t make it for dinner, I’m still hungry, do you have anything to eat?”

This elder brother looked unkind, and when asked for something to eat, he said with a cold face, “The self-combing hall has meals at Shen Shi (3-5 pm), if you miss it, there’s nothing to eat. Now that you’ve come here, no matter what you were before, whatever your status, you must abide by the rules of the self-combing hall.”

“I can’t make an exception for the first day?”

“No.”

“When did Butler Song say I could go home?”

That elder brother seemed to have heard the biggest joke, “Now that you’ve come here, you’re still thinking about going back?”

Wei Xiaofeng didn’t understand, “Then, then what else? I can’t stay here for the rest of my life, can I?”

“What’s wrong with staying for the rest of your life? A lifetime isn’t long, just endure it and it’ll pass.”

Only then did Wei Xiaofeng realize he was afraid. This place was darker and damper than he had imagined. He didn’t come willingly, what reason was there to keep him from leaving?

“My name is Luo Yushu, you can just call me Manager Luo from now on. There are five managers here, one main hall master, and one deputy hall master. Behave yourself on weekdays, don’t do unnecessary things, do you understand?”

“Oh…”

“Go into the house and make your bed yourself, be quiet, don’t disturb the others.”

Wei Xiaofeng received the rough bedding, walked to the farthest corner of the bunk bed, stood at the head of the bed for a long time, and didn’t move.

The bed board was so hard, not even padded with straw, just a thin layer of sheets and bedding, how could anyone sleep on this?

He haphazardly spread the sheets and bedding on the bed board, a wrinkled mess, and was extremely sleepy. He just took off his shoes and curled up to lie down.

He was clearly very sleepy, but as soon as he closed his eyes, all sorts of random thoughts flooded his mind.

If he had known he would be thrown into this place, he wouldn’t have been so playful, and would have taken the admission letter to the brother’s school.

Alas, where in this world is there regret medicine to eat?

Or perhaps like other brothers, he should have found a decent gentleman to marry early on. If that gentleman was a good person, he might even be able to take his mother’s dowry with him.

Oh right, there was hardly any of his mother’s dowry left.

In the end, it was because he was too hopeless. If he had half the qualities of Su Qingzhi, if he were even more handsome, and smarter, maybe his father would have liked him.

There are so many outstandingly talented people in this world, what would it matter if there was one more of him? Why was he born so ordinary?

If he was someone like Su Qingzhi, he could barely be a match for Guangling Prince.

He really deserved to come to this self-combing hall and be an old brother.

He didn’t like those he met, and he couldn’t match those he liked.

Thinking about it, Wei Xiaofeng’s eyes heated up, and he pulled the blanket over his head and sobbed softly.

It’s okay, maybe he’s not used to it, he’ll get used to it here.

“Wei Xiaofeng, don’t cry, boo hoo hoo… I want to go home…”

*

These days, the emperor often summoned Feng Yue into the palace to discuss military deployments and training with him in the imperial study.

Feng Yue was a military genius that was rare to see in a hundred years. He took out the military map, arranged chess pieces to deploy troops, and explained the military situation in recent years in detail to the emperor.

“One year, the climate on the border was extreme, and no grain could be grown. The city was short of food, and the supplies from the reinforcements were delayed. The army was unable to sustain the war. I, the Duke of Zhenguo, and several generals discussed it for a night and came up with a countermeasure. We decided to borrow some grain from the enemy.”

“Oh? How did you borrow it?” The emperor listened with great interest.

“This is the enemy’s garrison position, and this is Qingyang City, which we guarded. We divided our troops into two groups and attacked from the east and west. We had the new recruits feign an attack on the east side of the enemy’s granary to lure away the enemy soldiers guarding the night. I led a team of elite soldiers to climb up the cliff on the west side and seize their granary on the west side, using cloud ladders and sliding ropes to transport the grain down the cliff. By the time they discovered it, they had moved almost all of the grain from the west side. What they couldn’t move, they set on fire.”

The emperor stroked his beard and smiled triumphantly, “It sounds easy when I hear it, but if you were to actually carry it out, I’m afraid there would be all kinds of difficulties and obstacles!”

“The right time, the right place, and the right people, none of which are dispensable. It was either success or death.”

He clearly remembered that operation. None of the two hundred-plus new recruits came back. Although the grain was retrieved, the soldiers were depressed for many days.

But this had already minimized the losses. It was not easy to train a veteran, so they could only choose to sacrifice the new recruits. Moreover, this operation was inherently a one in ten chance of survival.

The emperor kept Feng Yue in the palace to dine with him, and in the evening, he reviewed memorials, occasionally asking him for some thoughts and opinions. Feng Yue was also candid, saying he didn’t know if he didn’t know.

It was too late at night, so he stayed overnight in the Hefeng Hall.

The eunuch Yuan served him until he went to bed, and then went to Fengxia Palace to report.

Empress Chen, looking tired, leaned against the soft couch, half-asleep.

“Your Majesty…”

Hearing the soft call, Empress Chen immediately woke up, “Is it over?”

“It’s been over for a while. This old servant served the Prince to wash up before coming over.”

Empress Chen breathed a sigh of relief, “What did they talk about?”

Eunuch Yuan replied truthfully, “It was all about the Prince’s affairs in the army. The Emperor listened with great interest, and after finishing dinner, he was called to the Imperial Study to review memorials.”

Empress Chen: “Eunuch Yuan, do you think the Emperor intends to make Yue’er the Crown Prince?”

Eunuch Yuan thoughtfully nodded, “The Third Prince was the first among the princes to be granted the title of Prince, and he has also made great military achievements. It is only natural to make the Third Prince the Crown Prince.”

Empress Chen was very thoughtful and waved her head, “It’s not that simple? There is still an eldest prince who is the son of the Empress above him. The eldest prince’s mother’s family has many supporters. He is the eldest son of the Emperor! Isn’t it even more natural than Yue’er?”

“Your Majesty, don’t think so much, it’s getting late, rest early.”

“Eunuch Yuan, go to rest early too. I will have to trouble you more with Yue’er’s affairs in the future.”

“It is this old servant’s duty.”

At three quarters of Chen Shi (7:45 AM) the next day, news came from outside the palace that the Second Prince, Feng Xiao, had been assassinated and seriously injured. Imperial physicians had been summoned overnight, and it was not yet known what the situation was.

Feng Yue was having breakfast with Empress Chen when he received the news.

Empress Chen was so shocked that she couldn’t even hold her bowl steady, and porridge spilled all over her. The maidservant advised her to go back to her room to change her clothes first, but Empress Chen was in no mood to do so.

Although Feng Xiao was not her own son, she had raised him by her side for more than ten years, and their relationship was deep, no different from that of blood relatives.

“Quickly, quickly prepare the carriage, this palace is going to visit the Second Prince.”

Feng Yue remained unmoved, sitting on the stool and continuing to eat, calmly advising, “Mother, don’t worry, Second Brother will be fine, and the imperial physicians have already gone there overnight, so he will surely be fine.”

Empress Chen’s heart skipped a beat. Before, she had felt that the two brothers’ relationship had become much weaker. In the days since Feng Yue had returned, he had not visited his elder brother, which was very different from before.

She had thought she was overthinking things, but now she saw that it was not her imagination, but that Yue’er harbored grievances against Xiao’er that she did not know about.

“Yue’er, aren’t you going with mother?”

“Yes, of course I’m going.” Feng Yue smiled without showing any emotion, “Mother, go and change your clothes first, and we’ll leave after breakfast. It’s about time I went to see my Second Brother after being back for so long.”

Empress Chen nodded slightly uneasily, and had the maidservant help her back to the room to choose a regular dress for leaving the palace.