WMSG Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Incense

Gong Xunwu’s expression was calm and composed, not feeling the slightest bit shameless or that his words were anything to be ashamed of. When Ye Yueshen negotiated terms, he would feel a faint lack of confidence, but Gong Xunwu wouldn’t. He had a kind of cold arrogance about his proposals, as if he were doing the other party a great kindness.

It wasn’t like a negotiation, more like patiently waiting for the other party to make the most rational choice, because it was the best choice he could give, and anything other than cooperation would only lead to a dead end.

Ye Yueshen had long recognized Gong Xunwu’s absolute self-centeredness and arrogance, but he was still provoked by his arrogance to rebel, giving rise to a spiteful mentality of resisting even if it meant self-destruction.

He wasn’t sure if he could always calm down in time after each stab and make rational choices.

“After all, the cause of Du Ruxiang’s death is still inconclusive.” Gong Xunwu’s bland tone still made him seem superior, but in reality, he was a little unsure whether he could still control the person in front of him, so it was necessary to offer a slight reminder.

He was attracted by an uncertainty, but now he hated uncertainty instead.

For a moment, he had the idea of turning around and leaving, taking away his person, his bargaining chip, and forgetting that the Junzhu had a son as beautiful as a celestial being but full of thorns.

Ye Yueshen’s face was a little pale. He knew he had no room to refuse, but he needed to make Gong Xunwu recognize the fact that he was being hated. His voice was a little hoarse as he refused, “Some other day, I’m annoyed today.”

“It’s today.” Gong Xunwu took a step forward, their chests continuing to press against each other. Ye Yueshen subconsciously leaned his head back, creating a little distance that was better than nothing, which instead made it easier for Gong Xunwu to lower his head and lightly peck his lips.

The relaxation he had briefly found in Gong Xunwu’s arms, as an escape, had disappeared without a trace. Ye Yueshen couldn’t even recall a single fragment of the feeling. His aversion surged up instantly.

Seeing him silent, Gong Xunwu said again, “When I approached those corpses just now, I seemed to recognize the incense on their bodies.”

Ye Yueshen knew he had no choice. Gong Xunwu’s words piqued his interest, but in a way, it was also giving him a way out.

A way out to protect his little remaining self-respect.

So Ye Yueshen “willingly” went back to the Qi Wang Manor with him. The corpses were temporarily stored in the cellar. Soon after Ye Yueshen and Gong Xunwu left, Yan Kui had people pull a cartload of jade unicorns, cornels, and peach trees into the Ye Manor.

They busied themselves around the cellar all day. The Junzhu had the housekeeper bring some servants to help, but they were enthusiastically chased away, politely saying that their own people were enough.

In the evening, Yan Kui left with his men, also pushing away a cartload of replaced flowers and plants.

Ye Yuanshen “happened” to be seeing someone out to buy something at the side gate. He glanced at it seemingly unintentionally, then nodded politely and greeted Yan Kui, “Did Your Highness summon Brother Yan back?”

Yan Kui hurriedly said, “I wouldn’t dare, I can’t possibly be called ‘brother’ by you, sir. Yes, His Highness told me to return to my duties. Autumn is approaching, and there are things to do on the estate.”

Ye Yuanshen scanned their group’s burly figures and the murderous look in their eyes even when they smiled, and tentatively “believed” that they were estate workers.

“These are the replaced flowers and plants?” Ye Yuanshen glanced at the seemingly heavy cart of flowers and plants, and said naturally, “Thank the Qi Wang on my behalf. Xiao Yue doesn’t understand social niceties, and dares to trouble the Wang Manor with arranging flowers.”

Yan Kui exchanged a few more polite words before pushing the cart away.

He had people push the cart away while he returned to the Qi Wang Manor to report.

Gong Xunwu and Ye Yueshen, however, were delayed on the road for a while. They hadn’t been out long when Yuan Bianyin rode up on horseback.

Yuan Bianyin didn’t dismount, nor did Ye Yueshen get out of the carriage. He lifted the small curtain of the carriage window. From his perspective, he could only slightly look up. Yuan Bianyin was riding on horseback, his height giving him a natural advantage of heroic bearing.

Ye Yueshen was somewhat envious of his riding skills, and Yuan Bianyin was also envious of him, or rather, jealous.

“Where are you going again?” Yuan Bianyin frowned slightly, and lectured, “Are you even going to study anymore?”

Ye Yueshen was pulled back by a force from inside. From the narrow carriage window, he could only see himself falling to one side, and the source of the force was self-evident.

Yuan Bianyin stared blankly and disappointedly at that spot, then a hand reached over and lowered the curtain. The anger in Gong Xunwu’s voice was very haughty, “Return to the manor.”

Ye Yueshen straightened his clothes and sat up straight. Gong Xunwu said dissatisfiedly, “You are a proper noble of a Marquis household. Others call you Gongzi Yue, which is different from those Zhang Gongzis and Li Gongzis on the street with surnames in front. I don’t know what kind of temperament you have, that you must listen respectfully to everyone’s reprimands?”

“It’s all trivial matters.” Ye Yueshen replied casually.

“All trivial matters?” Gong Xunwu sneered, “If you were consistently gentle, it would be fine, but why do you always refute and mock me?”

Ye Yueshen looked at him with eyes full of incomprehension, “Do you really need to know the answer?”

Gong Xunwu turned his head away without replying. He didn’t want to know an obviously unpleasant answer.

Silence filled the carriage, broken only by the sound of the wheels rolling over the road. After a while, Ye Yueshen asked him, “You said you found the scent on their bodies familiar, can you say a bit more about it?”

Gong Xunwu heard his question, but didn’t respond immediately, instead pondering something.

Ye Yueshen thought he was waiting for him to soften, so he took the initiative to lean closer and raised his head to kiss Gong Xunwu’s cheek.

Gong Xunwu casually put his arm around his waist, so Ye Yueshen thought his understanding was correct, and moved closer to kiss his lips.

However, Gong Xunwu leaned back slightly, leaving Ye Yueshen somewhat puzzled.

Gong Xunwu said, “The scent on their bodies is a bit special. If I remember correctly, it should be a type of incense specially made by the Imperial Palace’s Incense Bureau for the concubines. It shouldn’t be available outside the palace.”

“‘Should’ means you’re not sure?” Ye Yueshen asked very meticulously.

Gong Xunwu thought for a moment, then told the coachman to turn around and go to the largest spice shop in the capital.

Ye Yueshen didn’t have much hope for this trip. After all, a spice shop sounded like a place where many kinds of scents were piled on top of each other. Staying in such a place for too long would probably make one feel dizzy.

But when they arrived, he realized that the smell of the spice shop was very faint. It wasn’t like a street stall with spices all over the place. Instead, there were several large cabinets against the wall, and each small drawer was sealed very tightly.

Someone patiently asked them what kind of incense they wanted. Gong Xunwu thought for a moment, “I’m looking for an incense, where the most obvious scent is ylang-ylang.”

The person nodded and skillfully found more than a dozen boxes of incense, saying, “Incense with ylang-ylang, famous or not, as long as it’s available in the capital, it’s all here.”

Ye Yueshen suddenly felt hopeful. He looked at Gong Xunwu expectantly. Gong Xunwu picked up a box of incense, and Ye Yueshen, like an attentive little follower, proactively fanned the fragrance for him with his four fingers together.

Gong Xunwu glanced at him, then put the incense down. Ye Yueshen thought he didn’t like him meddling, so he took a step back, not daring to disturb him at all.

But Gong Xunwu picked up another box while constantly looking at him. Seeing that he didn’t react, he asked, “Why aren’t you fanning it?”

So Ye Yueshen picked up a folding fan from who knows where and fanned it for him.

In this way, they smelled all of them once. In the middle, Ye Yueshen even suggested that he take a break and smell some fresh air outside to avoid being disturbed by the previous scents.

Besides, Ye Yueshen felt that smelling too many scents at once would reduce the sensitivity of his sense of smell in the short term.

Gong Xunwu said there was no need. After smelling them, he casually bought a box. Ye Yueshen thought there was hope and took the initiative to pay the shopkeeper.

After coming out, Gong Xunwu told him, “The incense on the assassins’ bodies isn’t here.”

The hope that Ye Yueshen had ignited was instantly extinguished.

Gong Xunwu chuckled and asked him, “Once I’m useless, you’ll definitely turn around and leave, never looking at me again, right?”

“You don’t have to make me sound so heartless.” Ye Yueshen retorted, “It was clearly you who took the initiative to provoke me, you who took the initiative to help me clean up the mess, and then you who blackmailed me. How have I become an ingrate in your mouth? I hate you hypocrites who confuse black and white the most.”

Gong Xunwu silently looked at him. In his ambiguous gaze, he found another way to break the deadlock for himself, then he tiptoed and kissed Gong Xunwu’s cheek, immediately taking a step back to create distance, his face full of the message: a transaction, I gave to you, so you must give to me as well.

Gong Xunwu seemed to see his own complete defeat. It seemed that Ye Yueshen was being forced into a corner by him, but in reality, in their game, he was the one who was helpless.

Knowing that he was going back to the Qi Wang Manor with him today, Ye Yueshen wasn’t in a good mood. Gong Xunwu didn’t want to offend him further, so he said, “If it’s not here, doesn’t that confirm that it’s only available in the Imperial Palace? What’s your rush?”

Ye Yueshen was appeased by his words, and then, without needing to be blackmailed again, he got into the carriage himself. Seeing him standing outside without moving, he even lifted the carriage curtain and asked him, “Are you coming or not?”

Gong Xunwu felt that sometimes Ye Yueshen was quite easy to coax.

By the time they returned to the manor, it was already dusk. They had dinner together. Ye Yueshen ate very little. A kitten was curled up on the threshold, yawning. When Gong Xunwu looked over, it got up and ran away.

Ye Yueshen gave Gong Xunwu a strange look. Gong Xunwu innocently explained, “Are you going to blame me for this too?”

Ye Yueshen didn’t speak, and lowered his head to drink some soup. He had actually been thinking just now, even cats hate you. But then he remembered that cats also hated him, so he was too embarrassed to mock him.

“You’re taking me into the palace tomorrow,” Ye Yueshen said.

Gong Xunwu had been secretly shocked all day by Ye Yueshen’s words and actions.

Now Ye Yueshen was giving him orders with such confidence. He had never met someone like Ye Yueshen in his previous twenty-seven years.

Gong Xunwu felt that he must have been too indulgent with him.

But Ye Yueshen wasn’t taking his favor for granted. He just thought that this was another thing that needed him to “kiss” to please him.

“Can’t I?” Ye Yueshen pressed.

Gong Xunwu thought for a moment and didn’t find a reason to refuse, so he nodded.

“Okay, we’ll go tomorrow.” Ye Yueshen confirmed with him again, “We’ll go tomorrow after breakfast.”

Gong Xunwu glared at him, “When have I ever promised you something and not done it?”

Ye Yueshen couldn’t remember for a moment, but he felt in his heart that there were times, and more than once.

Sha Ou came in to say that Yan Kui had come once. Gong Xunwu saw that Ye Yueshen was almost finished eating, so he had Sha Ou call Yan Kui over.

Yan Kui’s main purpose was to report that he had properly dealt with “Zhang San” from the Ye Manor, as well as the Li Si and Wang Ermazi that “Zhang San” had attracted.

Just as he was about to leave, Yan Kui suddenly remembered that he had met Ye Yuanshen when he left, so he mentioned it as well.

Gong Xunwu didn’t react much, but Ye Yueshen suddenly stood up, “How did my eldest brother know? I haven’t told my family that you are people from the Wang Manor.”

Yan Kui quickly clarified, “I haven’t said anything either. Only the steward of your manor interacts with me regarding food, clothing, housing, and transportation. I haven’t been gossiping.”

Gong Xunwu drank some tea nonchalantly, “Your brother is very smart. He’ll know sooner or later.”

Ye Yueshen felt that he was implying something and frowned to ask him, “Know what?”

“Know that Yan Kui and the others are people from the Qi Wang Manor.” Gong Xunwu looked at him calmly, “Know that you are my person.”