WMSG Chapter 29

Chapter 29: How Can a Player See the Board Clearly?

Ye Yueshen had a fever when he fell asleep last night, but he wasn’t aware of it himself. He just thought he was dreaming of a volcano and imagined being thirsty.

Today, sitting in the elegant room of Yousufang, he was beautiful but weak, with a kind of withering appearance after the flowers bloomed in full bloom. Although he was limp, his color didn’t diminish, but instead, he was even more lovable.

Fourth Prince Gong Xuyin had been admiring him enough behind the screen before he came out to meet him: “Cousin Yueshen.”

Ye Yueshen didn’t stand on ceremony with him either: “Your Highness the Fourth Prince.”

“Very good indeed.” Gong Xuyin sat down next to him: “I couldn’t be happier that Cousin has a sense of closeness.”

Ye Yueshen had gained a certain understanding of their verbal habits. The higher their position and power, the more cloying their way of expressing friendliness was. They seemed to be using “enthusiasm” to erase the inherent malice that came with power.

The word “closeness” was only to show approachability, not within the scope of “ambiguity.” Ye Yueshen had heard many elders like to say this, so he didn’t take Gong Xuyin’s words to heart.

Gong Xunwu consuming him had, to some extent, undermined his social distance, blurring the boundaries of normal interaction. Ye Yueshen didn’t realize that Gong Xuyin was sitting very close to him.

Especially close, so close that Ye Yueshen’s brain didn’t consciously realize it, but his body had already instinctively leaned forward, placing his hand on the table to pick up the fragrant bergamot to play with, creating a little distance between himself and Gong Xuyin.

“Try the rose cake.” Gong Xuyin picked up a piece and brought it to Ye Yueshen’s lips: “It’s filled with fermented rice wine, the same as the one I had at my residence last time. I remember you liked it.”

Ye Yueshen’s dizzy brain cleared up a little. He stood up and walked to the wooden couch by the window, reaching out and pushing it open.

Gong Xuyin hadn’t closed the door when he came in. The breeze blew the stray hairs around Ye Yueshen’s cheeks, and the sunlight shone on his fair face, making him look very touchable.

“So, the owner of Yousufang is actually Your Highness the Fourth Prince.” Ye Yueshen said, “Yueshen is surprised.”

Gong Xuyin put down the rose cake in his hand. He wasn’t a man of few desires. Usually, feeding people something to eat was just a whim, like feeding a parrot or a cat or dog.

But Ye Yueshen didn’t eat it. He wasn’t angry in his heart, but instead even more delighted. Because Ye Yueshen wasn’t his cat or dog, and that was even better. He was tired of raising “cats and dogs” and wanted to try “young masters” from good backgrounds, probably as a kind of conquest.

“I thought Cousin Yueshen already knew.” Gong Xuyin wiped his hands: “Otherwise, why would you send me a painting of ‘A Fox Borrowing a Tiger’s Might’?”

Ye Yueshen pretended to be ignorant: “I didn’t send it to you. Didn’t I send it to the waiter who wouldn’t let me in?”

Gong Xuyin just smiled, self-deprecatingly and nonchalantly: “So it was sent to the waiter. I thought it was sent to me, this lackey of the Crown Prince.”

Ye Yueshen lowered his eyes, he wasn’t very skilled at the submissive attitude: “How dare Yueshen.”

“Stop putting on airs, we’re relatives. You don’t have to call me ‘older cousin,’ and you don’t always have to be so humble. Besides, you’re just pretending anyway.” Gong Xuyin smiled and stood up: “Who knows, you might be cursing me in your heart, right? Let’s go, Zhe Rong, let’s go for a walk.”

Ye Yueshen got up and followed him. The two strolled around the spacious courtyard.

The North Building basically wasn’t open to outsiders, not because of a rigid rule like the West Building, but because the North Building housed the actors and waiters. Leaving the bright reds and purples of the front courtyard, the North Building was like the rotting core of a blooming, gorgeous crabapple flower.

During the day, many actors had nothing to do, wearing wrinkled undergarments, sitting cross-legged in the small hall on the first floor, gnawing on peaches, without any beauty to speak of, but at least with some free and comfortable leisure.

As soon as they saw Gong Xuyin, they hurriedly got up and tidied their clothes, greeting him with forced smiles.

Ye Yueshen saw that the actor was standing in an odd posture, his nether regions red and swollen. He couldn’t help but ask, “Isn’t the ground cold?”

The boy prostitute shyly shrank back, not knowing if it was because he moved too fast or if he had touched himself painfully, he almost fell, but Ye Yueshen quickly stepped forward and grabbed his hand.

The disgust on Gong Xuyin’s brow turned into genuine surprise. He had seen many arrogant and picky faces, but he had never seen a young master who could approach the boy prostitutes here without any qualms.

The boy prostitute was also a little uneasy. Ye Yueshen helped him sit down, but how could he dare to sit down in front of the owner, especially since the owner was the Fourth Prince.

He repeatedly refused, but Ye Yueshen put his hand on his shoulder, gently pressed him down, and his voice had a magical power, bewitching him: “Sit down, it doesn’t matter.”

The boy prostitute sat down, looking at Ye Yueshen with a complex expression, thinking that he might be a new boy prostitute who had been specially selected to learn opera. The look of amazement in his eyes just now instantly turned into competitive jealousy.

Ye Yueshen pretended not to notice. Gong Xuyin had someone fetch the swelling-reducing ointment for the boy prostitute, and then the two went to stroll elsewhere.

Seeing the house full of beauties, Ye Yueshen felt a resentment towards Gong Xuyin, as if he were a slave owner. Ye Yueshen was very silent, following Gong Xuyin’s suggestion to go fishing by the lake in the courtyard.

Gong Xuyin didn’t get angry because he was being neglected, but just said, “Cousin Yueshen really has a cold and detached temperament.”

It wasn’t clear if he was being sincere, or just trying to justify being snubbed.

The two spent most of the day together. Ye Yueshen pretended to be unintentional and guided him to talk about many things that had happened in the palace that day. The two had noticed each other because of that incident, so it wasn’t abrupt to talk about it.

Whether it was from his expression or his logic, Gong Xuyin didn’t seem strange, but Ye Yueshen didn’t dare to rule out his suspicion, after all, he was originally a person without any flaws.

The atmosphere was hard to describe as harmonious and like a long-awaited reunion, it was barely considered that they didn’t have any awkward silences. In fact, if Ye Yueshen wanted to, he could pretend to be very congenial with Gong Xuyin, but he didn’t want to.

Every time he wanted to smile, he would think of the boy prostitutes in the North Building, and their rather strange foot injuries.

But Gong Xuyin seemed to think highly of him and even invited him to go hunting together.

Without the emperor and ministers, only a few of them princes, first, to come out and see the scenery, and second, to show the emperor and courtiers a scene of brotherly harmony.

This was a good opportunity to get close to the princes, and Ye Yueshen agreed.

In the afternoon, as the sun was setting, Gong Shengyin appeared at Yousufang.

He was carrying large and small bags of things, which was a bit out of character. Naturally, there were palace personnel to do the shopping, Gong Shengyin didn’t seem like a prince, but more like a country bumpkin who had come to the city to buy things.

Gong Shengyin sat down in the South Building, without revealing his identity. Ye Yueshen was originally about to leave, but he was stopped. Both of them looked surprised.

Gong Xuyin didn’t show up. He originally wanted to send Ye Yueshen off, but Ye Yueshen said that he just happened to want to buy some pastries to take back, and it was inconvenient for him, the behind-the-scenes owner, to be seen, so he didn’t come over.

Ye Yueshen looked at Gong Shengyin, outwardly saying “what a coincidence,” but in his heart, he knew that there was no such thing as a coincidence.

The original book didn’t say that Gong Shengyin already knew that Yousufang was Fourth Prince’s territory. Now it seemed that Gong Shengyin’s spies had already infiltrated it.

Knowing what kind of person he was, Ye Yueshen had to pretend not to be familiar with him, and politely watched him exchange greetings.

Gong Shengyin invited him to sit down, quickly poured him a cup of tea, and didn’t leave any gaps in the conversation, as if afraid that Ye Yueshen would have a chance to say goodbye.

“I’m just an idle person, so naturally, I have time to come out.” This sentence was in response to Ye Yueshen’s casual question of why he was alone outside the palace. The next words were slightly more purposeful: “Unlike my brothers, who all have beautiful wives and concubines, enjoying themselves in their boudoirs.”

Ignoring the coldness between Ye Yueshen’s eyebrows, Gong Shengyin forced himself to say, “The Crown Prince was the first to marry. With the Crown Princess, the Crown Prince’s Consort, and all the concubines, the Eastern Palace is always lively. Although Third Brother hasn’t married a proper wife, he already has two consorts. Even Fourth Brother, the concubines in Fourth Prince’s residence, handsome men and beautiful women, are all so fragrant and alluring. My brothers are all stronger than me.”

Ye Yueshen was recalling which of his words had led to so much from him.

Seeing that he didn’t say anything, a hint of gloom flashed in Gong Shengyin’s eyes, but he quickly smiled again: “Father did have people send me a list and ask me about it, but I refused them all. How can I delay other people’s daughters?”

Ye Yueshen understood, so he was subtly revealing his bottom line to him here.

“Fifth Prince doesn’t need to envy Fourth Prince. Young Master Liu naturally has benefits that handsome men and beautiful women don’t have.” Ye Yueshen sincerely hoped that the main couple would get together as soon as possible, so that whether he lived or died would have no impact on the romance.

“Zhe Rong, you misunderstand me.” Gong Shengyin’s expression changed.

Ye Yueshen gave him a cold smile: “There are so many moments in life like ‘I searched for her in the crowd a thousand times, then suddenly turned my head, and there she was, where the lanterns were dimly lit.’ How can a player see the board clearly?”

Gong Shengyin almost reached out to grab him, but Ye Yueshen got up and pulled away, so he said bluntly: “Your Highness, Yueshen also hopes that he has misunderstood. Yueshen respects Your Highness, and even thinks that Your Highness is definitely not something trapped in a pond. If I can do my humble best on Your Highness’s road to success, I will also rise to heaven along with you one day.”

Gong Shengyin was silent for a moment. Both of them had nothing to say, so they said goodbye to each other. In this kind of atmosphere, there was really no need to chat idly. Gong Shengyin wanted to stop him, but there was no reason, he was only afraid that the scene would be even more embarrassing.

The main character’s character may not meet the highest definition, but as the biggest winner in the secular sense when everything settles down, he can’t be ignorant.

At the door, when they bowed to each other for the last time to say goodbye, Ye Yueshen felt extremely powerless.

His past poverty and hardship would at most increase his ability to endure, but would not give him insight and knowledge.

He had not gained any effective experience from his difficult life to deal with these heavenly nobles who were full of conspiracies. He had only developed a sensitive self-esteem and a sense of worthiness close to zero.

Gong Shengyin’s favor would only make him feel annoyed, and he himself didn’t even realize that he felt some unease.

And Gong Xunwu’s entanglement made him very confused. He didn’t think this was love, he only felt that he wasn’t beautiful enough to make the Qi Wang use any means.

Apart from a face he was born with, Ye Yueshen didn’t think he had anything worth loving.

He nestled himself in the corner of the sedan, opened the pastry box, first politely gave Xue Dong a piece, then leaned over and handed another piece to the coachman outside.

Then he went back to sit down, quietly eating his piece, chewing and swallowing it listlessly, mechanically filling his stomach.

He had hardly eaten or drunk anything all day in Yousufang, and he didn’t dare to eat anything there, fearing that he would be poisoned to death.

“Why are you looking at me?” Ye Yueshen asked Xue Dong, who had a shy expression, in confusion.

Xue Dong pouted, threw the pastry into his mouth, and turned his head away, pleased and proud, while chewing and saying vaguely, “This servant thinks Third Master is really good, kind-hearted, and good to this servant.”

Ye Yueshen was stunned for a moment. The sudden praise made him feel a little uncomfortable, but he didn’t show it on his face, and naturally changed the subject: “I want to eat soft and glutinous pastries, this powdery one is too dry.”

Xue Dong said again: “By the way, His Royal Highness Qi Wang came today and gave the Junzhu ginseng and bird’s nest, so I think the Junzhu will enter the palace to see the Empress Dowager tomorrow.”

Ye Yueshen’s eyes changed slightly. He couldn’t bear to hear a single word about Gong Xunwu now.

“His Royal Highness Qi Wang is very fond of you.” Xue Dong didn’t know his troubles and said again: “His Royal Highness Qi Wang also brought you red bean glutinous rice cake.”

Ye Yueshen’s face completely changed: “I don’t want to eat it anymore.”