WMSG Chapter 7
by VolareHelpless, Ye Lingshen and Gong Xunwu had no choice but to continue putting out the fire. The stream was not far away, but a thicket of bushes would obstruct Ye Yueshen’s view.
He sat on the grass pile, wondering if he should help, but then thought better of it. His head still hurt a lot, and he might die soon anyway, so he might as well shamelessly enjoy a little leisure and watch the trouble from the sidelines.
Before long, the fire was extinguished, and the distant horizon began to turn a fish-belly white.
Ye Lingshen dropped the bucket and came over to find him, heavily plopping himself down on the grass pile, hugging him and lying down together, tiredly saying, “Come on, let your brother hold you to sleep.”
Ye Yueshen was a little speechless, “The house is burned down.”
“Even if the house is gone, we still have to sleep.” Ye Lingshen held down his struggling body, carelessly closing his eyes first.
Although his brother’s embrace was very comfortable, and being confined together with both arms felt very safe, he wasn’t sleepy, and Ye Lingshen’s command had no hypnotic effect.
He tilted his head slightly, and Gong Xunwu, standing there, was looking at him with an unreadable expression.
However, Ye Yueshen guessed that Gong Xunwu must also be speechless at Ye Lingshen’s neglect. Not only was he His Highness Prince Qi, but even if they disregarded his princely title, he was still their elder.
What’s more, not long ago, Ye Lingshen was personally caught by Gong Xunwu for stealing tribute items, yet he didn’t seem to care at all. Instead, Ye Yueshen felt embarrassed for him.
Gong Xunwu said nothing and turned to walk into the misty forest.
Ye Yueshen was convinced that he would return. Not only did he not even say goodbye, but he also left the horse behind.
After dawn, Ye Lingshen had slept enough. He woke up squinting in the morning light, patted his younger brother in his arms, and asked, “Didn’t you sleep?”
“I’m scared.” Ye Yueshen’s tone was very bad.
Ye Lingshen stood up and stretched, “Are you afraid of the dark?”
Ye Yueshen let out a sigh, his tone resentful, “I’m afraid that someone will kill me while I’m asleep.”
He patted the clothes that had been squeezed into many wrinkles by Ye Lingshen’s embrace for half the night.
“Are you angry?” Ye Lingshen didn’t take his words seriously at all. A young master of a Marquis’s house, even if there was a family feud, it should be aimed at the eldest brother, Ye Yuanshen.
Last night, their second and third sons came out for the night, while the eldest brother was still at home. If you look at it that way, it seems like Ye Yuanshen would kill him, but it still wouldn’t be the turn of Ye Yueshen, who hadn’t even reached adulthood and was still the stinky brat who provoked Marquis Ye’s anger and family law.
Ye Yueshen pushed his hand away, “I want to go back.” From yesterday until now, he had been tossed around a bit chaotically, and this bit of embarrassment added a touch of approachability to his beauty.
Ye Lingshen felt that at this moment, his younger brother was very cute, unlike the day he had just returned from Nanzhao, when the alienated aura emanating from his younger brother made him very unhappy.
“Okay, okay.” Ye Lingshen agreed, “We’ll go back now.”
The horse tied to the tree next to them finished eating the grass and snorted.
Ye Lingshen looked over, his eyes lighting up, “His Highness Prince Qi left us a horse. I didn’t call him ‘Little Uncle’ for nothing when I was a kid.”
He led the horse over and pulled Ye Yueshen over to get on the horse, but Ye Yueshen stood beside him with a straight face, not moving.
“Still throwing a tantrum?” Ye Lingshen coaxed him, “Don’t say anything about taking without asking being stealing. His Highness left the horse, doesn’t that mean he’s giving us the horse to ride? Come on, your second brother is coaxing you.”
Ye Yueshen closed his eyes for a moment, then calmly said, “I’m not riding.”
“I know you have principles. You get on first, and we’ll talk about integrity when we get home.”
Ye Yueshen endured for a while, then calmly said, “I’m injured, I can’t ride a horse.”
“Oh dear.” The smile in Ye Lingshen’s eyes deepened, and he nimbly jumped onto the horse, saying with particular joy, “Your brother forgot that you made a mistake and got spanked. The most troublesome one in our entire Ye family is you. Besides you, who else has ever made a mistake that requires a spanking? Then I can only reluctantly ride the horse.”
Ye Yueshen pursed his lips into a line to prevent himself from cursing. He had nothing to argue with someone who didn’t mention that he stole the tribute items but recounted his spanking as if it were a treasured possession.
Moreover, Ye Yueshen reasonably suspected that in the past, only Ye Er was regarded as a troublemaker in the Ye family. As for the original Ye Yueshen, who followed the sages’ teachings, the mistakes he could make were not worth mentioning at all. That’s why Ye Er repeatedly mentioned his spanking.
Ye Lingshen was too happy. He rode the horse out, and after a while, he turned back and circled around Ye Yueshen, who was walking slowly.
Ye Yueshen couldn’t help but shatter his happiness, “Laughing at me for getting spanked, will that make you forget that you were dismissed by the Emperor and thrown to Nanzhao, and that you finally had an excuse to escort tribute items back to the capital, but you can’t be reinstated because of stealing jade?”
Ye Lingshen indeed fell silent. He touched his chin, then tugged the reins and ran away.
They walked for half an hour, and Ye Lingshen would occasionally ride back and circle around him, the farthest distance never exceeding half a kilometer, always maintained within a distance where he could see him when he looked back.
Ye Lingshen bought a sedan chair at a village with an inn ahead, tethered it, and coaxed Ye Yueshen into the sedan.
From childhood to adulthood, the feeling that Ye Yueshen cared about the most was “safety.” When no one paid attention to him, he felt very safe. When someone noticed him, he felt unsafe and very uneasy, because attention often meant that he had become a thorn in someone’s side, being disliked and hated.
After transmigrating into this world, these two opposite feelings of his became even more distinct. As long as he realized that he was in the process of being murdered, he would feel a chill down his spine.
Just now, Ye Lingshen was riding the horse in front, and because he was too nervous, he vaguely felt that there were other footsteps besides his own, only their frequency overlapped.
He wanted to call Ye Lingshen to wait for him, but according to his understanding of this second brother, he would definitely coerce him into lowering his stance and begging him. This type of person took pleasure in teasing others.
So he endured it, and only now, hiding in the sedan, with Ye Lingshen driving in front not far away, did he feel that this narrow space was safe.
After entering the city, Ye Lingshen discussed with him, telling him not to tell their parents about what happened last night, and guaranteeing that he would not take him out privately and put him in danger again.
Only then did Ye Yueshen realize that Ye Lingshen had always thought that it was the enemies he had attracted who had implicated him.
After a moment of silence, Ye Yueshen half-stood up in the low sedan, but Ye Lingshen was still blocking the door.
Ye Yueshen had no choice but to agree with complicated feelings. He didn’t have the extra energy to argue now, to make Ye Lingshen believe that the fire was because of him.
Just as he got out of the sedan and walked towards the side gate, many people suddenly rushed out of the gatehouse. Ye Daijin, holding a fire poker covered in ash, arrived in front of them with his sleeves rolled up in a rather undignified manner.
Ye Daijin first glared at Ye Yueshen, then coldly ordered, “Kneel!”
Ye Yueshen was stunned. Seeing that the Junzhu and Ye Yuanshen behind him had no intention of pleading for mercy, the Junzhu’s eyes were full of heartache but she restrained herself and looked away, while Ye Yuanshen had a serious face, clearly standing on Ye Daijin’s side.
So Ye Yueshen supported himself against the wall next to him and slowly knelt down.
Ye Daijin looked at Ye Lingshen and reprimanded, “I told you to reflect on your mistakes, but you secretly took your third brother out to mess around behind my and your mother’s backs. You told the estate manager that you were going to have lunch, but you turned around and disappeared without a trace. Your brother is still injured. I told your mother at the time that I would skin you alive when you came back. Do you know how many people in the entire estate were looking for you? Do you know how many people the family sent out to search the mountains for your bones? About you stealing tribute items…”
Ye Lingshen retorted very quickly, “Isn’t the matter of stealing jade already over? Every time there’s a small matter, you have to recount all the past events in detail. My ears are about to…”
Ye Yueshen, kneeling on the ground, gradually turned pale, even wanting to stop Ye Lingshen from continuing. He didn’t dare to think about the consequences of angering his father, even his limbs lost strength, making him unable to move.
“Shut up! You dare to argue back!” Ye Daijin trembled with anger, unable to bear it any longer, and raised the fire poker, hitting Ye Lingshen again and again.
The sound of the stick hitting flesh through the fabric filled the alley. Ye Lingshen was not the type to obediently take a beating, continuing to argue and dodge.
The Junzhu and Ye Yuanshen were silent, as if they had expected this result.
Only Ye Yueshen stared in horror, his entire face, including his lips, pale, his body shaking violently.
The scene in front of him evoked memories of being beaten as a child, and he had a stress reaction.
Before he fell straight backward, Ye Yuanshen finally noticed his unusual reaction, just in time to step forward and catch his brother who had lost his balance.
“Don’t…don’t hit…” he choked out a plea.
Ye Daijin dropped the fire poker, and everyone gathered around, calling his nickname.
Ye Lingshen grabbed his arm and carried him on his back, taking him to the nearest small hall, placing him on the soft couch. The Junzhu held one of his hands and massaged it, anxiously comforting him in a low voice.
Ye Yuanshen busied himself with going to invite the Imperial Physician, while Ye Daijin stood aside with a worried expression.
After a while, the frequency of Ye Yueshen’s shaking decreased. His eyes darted around and finally landed on Ye Lingshen.
He reached out to Ye Lingshen, and Ye Lingshen quickly leaned over for him to grab onto. After waiting for a while, he didn’t hear Ye Yueshen say anything, but instead buried his face in his arms. After a moment, he felt a wetness on the skin of his neck. Ye Yueshen was crying.
Ye Lingshen was a little dazed, not understanding the current situation. From what point did this very opinionated younger brother become so close to him that he would feel sorry for him getting beaten to the point of trembling and crying?
For a moment, he wondered if he should also hug him and cry, but he resisted this thought, as that kind of thing was a bit too much for him.
He stiffly patted his younger brother’s back, thought for a moment, and then rubbed his cheek against his younger brother’s hair, comforting him, “It didn’t hurt, really.”
Ye Yueshen cried without being able to make a sound. He wanted to say, ‘Don’t be sentimental, my trembling and fainting is because I’m reminded of bad memories, those memories turn me back into a child of a few years old.’
Only a small part of my sadness is because you were beaten, more of it is because of excitement.
Ye Yueshen was excited that there was actually someone who cared about him, that the whole family was worried about him losing contact, and even angrily waited at the door.
He cried for a while, and when he had calmed down, the others began to speak softly.
Ye Yuanshen patted Ye Lingshen’s other shoulder, “His Highness Prince Qi sent someone to send a message, saying that you had just gone around the back of the mountain and would be home soon.”