Your Ninth Royal Highness, Please Change Your Clothes

“In the Outer Island, there are Shu Jin Feng Xing and in the Inner Island, there are Yao Tan Jile City. That man is the second son of Fort Lord Yao, Yao Yanming.” It was the innkeeper who was talking. As he was born and raised on the Wuyue Island, he knew more about the island.

The Fort Lord Yao he was talking about was the last lord of the Hero Pavilion, Yao Mengping.

“The Yao family fortress is located in the west of the island and the Tan family clan is in the north of the island. Together with the Jile City in the center of the island, they form the three major powers of the Wuyue Island.”

Zhong Wenjin and Xie Zhaoxue, who were originally standing upstairs, also came down soon, and there were many people gathering in the lobby in a short while.

“But the people of the Tan family live in seclusion and rarely show any interest in the quarrels of the Wuyue Island. The whereabouts of our City Lord are uncertain and he stays in the city for less than a month in a year. So the people of the Yao family fortress in the Wuyue Island have been running amok and are very arrogant.”

“Don’t you have any authorities?” Wen Chan asked first.

“Of course there are. Although Wuyue Island is an independent island, it still belongs to the territory of Xi Liang. And the official government office is built not far from Jile City.” The innkeeper said, “It’s just that the Yao family always wants to be the family to wield all the power and have suppressed the officials many times. The last official could not stand the threat of the Yao family fortress. So he personally went to the capital to resign his post and it is said that a new official was sent down from above.”

“Really lawless1 ah.” Wen Chan sighed. Wuyue Island and the other parts of the country were disconnected and it could be regarded as an independent place. Even if it was carefully managed, it couldn’t be completely suppressed.

And with the existence of the City Lord in the Jile City, the role of the yamen was even more useless.

“Then do you know why the people of the Tang Sect clashed with the Yao family?” Liang Yanbei sat at the corner of the table with his legs casually resting on the stool. After taking out a packet of broad beans from his arms, he started to slowly eat it.

As one of the victims, Wen Chan had a good understanding of the violent temper of the girl from the Tang Sect. He sniffed his nose subconsciously, and there was still a dull pain.

“Yao Er is petty and he will seek revenge for the smallest grievance as staring. He will definitely bring someone to the inn to find the few people tomorrow.” The shopkeeper said quietly from the side, “I can’t afford to get this small place smashed a second time.”

Dan Ke thoroughly understood, “Don’t worry, shopkeeper. We will leave early tomorrow morning. If they come to the door asking for us, you can just tell them that you don’t know where we went.”

After getting together and chatting for a while, many said that it was late at night and they were going to rest. Dan Ke and Xie Zhaoxue, who hadn’t slept well, were the first ones to go back to their rooms.

Shu Hua did not want to change rooms with Zhong Wenjin anymore, and he insisted on guarding Wen Chan while he slept. However, Zhong Wenjin said that he was unwilling to go back to his original room, and yelled that he wanted the three of them to share a room.

Liang Yanbei gave a big yawn. He looked at Wen Chan who was between a rock and a hard place2, and said without thinking, “Wouldn’t it be better if Young Master Wen sleep with me in one room? I can sleep peacefully and will not disturb Young Master Wen.”

On hearing this, Wen Chan’s body stiffened and he glanced at him faintly, “We don’t wanna trouble Young Master Liang. Go back and rest quickly.”

Liang Yanbei was actually not that well-behaved when he slept. He loved to talk in his sleep, and he muttered a lot.

Although it was not noisy, Wen Can didn’t feel it to be annoying either.

He shrugged and didn’t insist anymore. And he said smiling, “Then Young Master Wen have a good sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Wen Chan squeezed out a sound through his nose in reply. And after following Liang Yanbei who went upstairs, with his eyes, he turned around to find that Zhong Wenjin was still arguing with Shu Hua. While the former had a reddened neck and was rude, the latter was well-behaved and etiquette. But from the beginning to the end, no one was unwilling to give in.

“All right. No more quarreling. Since you guys are insisting, the three of us can squeeze into one room. At worst, we need to add extra beds.” Wen Chan placed himself in between the two of them to calm down the confrontation between the two.

In fact, he also wanted Zhong Wenjin to sleep with him in one room. Because when he saw him untie the gauze on his chest before, although the wound had scabbed, there was still red flesh in it and the gauze was dirty. It just so happened that Situ Zhoulan gave him pain medicine. So changing the gauze and putting some medicine on him would be of some use to some extent.

Thinking about it, Wen Chan went to the shopkeeper to ask for some gauze and called both of them back to the room.

After returning to the room, Wen Chan tried his very best to persuade Zhong Wenjin to take off his clothes to change the gauze. When Shu Hua saw his injuries, he didn’t look surprised, and he even took the initiative to ask if they wanted his help.

After Wen Chan took off his coat and boots, Zhong Wenjin also put new gauze on his wound. And a layer of bedding was set up not far from that of Shu Hua’s, for him to sleep.

After the lights were turned off, Wen Chan soon fell asleep. It was unknown if it was because of the reason Liang Yanbei had gotten closer to him in the past few days, that he actually dreamed of him that night.

Liang Yanbei in his dream was older than he was now. He was with a straight posture; and a handsome and confident appearance.

When he came back from the battle, the emperor sent him to the Martial Arts Academy as the head instructor to teach the Young Master to learn martial arts.

Wen Chan’s inept kung fu skills were really poor at that time, and after being reprimanded by the emperor in a salty manner, he was forcibly sent to the Martial Arts Academy to learn.

Wen Chan’s only close friend was Liang Shuhong, and he had heard a lot of bad things about Liang Yanbei from him all day long. So naturally, he had some prejudice against him. And coincidentally on the day he went there, Liang Yanbei was punishing a young man who bullied the elderly by force.

He made the youngster do a horse stance3 while holding a large stone and standing under the hot sun. The heat was unbearable. The young man was so tired that his face was covered with sweat. His arms and legs were trembling, and he was crying while reciting the rules.

If he made any mistake with the reciting or if there were any changes with his posture, Liang Yanbei would whip him with a willow cane4 making a “snap” sound that Wen Chan was able to hear even if he stood far away.

He immediately felt a little timid and wanted to go back to the palace. But the emperor understood his temperament. So he had specially sent imperial bodyguards to supervise him, and they just escorted him to the Liang Yanbei.

At that time, Liang Yanbei had been trained on the battlefield. He was less like a Young Master and more like a general. When he saw Wen Chan, he smiled and said, “Your Ninth Highness, this servant has been waiting for you for a long time.”

That period of time was the worst time for Wen Chan since he met Liang Yanbei. He was not firm-willed from the beginning itself, he couldn’t stand the practice of the martial arts hall at all. And in addition to his aversion to Liang Yanbei, he often stopped practicing.

As he was the Ninth Royal Highness, the other head teachers in the martial arts school couldn’t do anything about him. They didn’t dare to beat or scold him and they turned a blind eye to him.

However, Liang Yanbei had just the way to deal with him. If he failed to meet the training standards, he would take away his meals and let him go hungry.

Feeling distressed for his master, Ah Fu would secretly run outside to buy food. But before he could enter the door, Liang Yanbei would snatch them all. He would either eat them all in front of Wen Chan or distribute them to others. Anyway, Wen Chan would be left to be hungry.

Wen Chan gritted his teeth in anger, and he beat up Liang Yanbei in his dreams at night. After a day and a half of starvation, Wen Chan quickly compromised.

He honestly completed all the training that Liang Yanbei asked him to do.  Since then, Wen Chan had to rely on his own efforts if he wanted to eat his fill.

After gradually getting used to the routine of the Martial Arts Academy, Wen Chan’s body became stronger day by day, and the originally flabby meat became firm and taut. His strength, with which it was strenuous to even take a knife, became able to lift stones with ease.

At the same time, Wen Chan also found that Liang Yanbei was not as arrogant, irritable, brash, and capricious as Liang Shuhong said him to be.

He seldom even got angry, at least not once with Wen Chan. He always had a smile on his face. Although he would be more serious when teaching martial arts, he would get together with those young boys to drink and play after class.

Sometimes he would also pull Wen Chan along with them and go to Yu Fu House together.

Liang Yanbei said that the practice of martial arts was to strengthen the body, and being strong is for protection; You must not bully women, children, or the elderly; Your kicks and punches must be aimed at supporting justice. Your sword must be aimed at protecting your home and country.

Wen Chan thought that he was a good friend, so he got closer and closer to him. It went from a friendship between gentlemen5 to drinking buddies6, and then to a confidant who lived and slept together7.

Liang Yanbei was both a teacher and a friend. He taught Wen Chan many things and later taught Wen Chan the Liang family footwork that he had created.

At that time, Wen Chan sincerely treated him as a friend. There wasn’t a bit of disloyalty. Usually, he didn’t feel anything even if they put their arms around each other’s shoulders. Unlike now, when he would feel upset just by looking at him.

On this night, Wen Chan had a sweet and sound sleep. Because Liang Yanbei had repeatedly warned others not to disturb him. Until it was late in the morning, everyone had already woken up and was waiting in the lobby downstairs for Wen Chan to wake up from his dreams.

Even though he didn’t want to wake up, his dreams came to an end. As soon as he felt conscious, he felt a pain in his nose and it instantly woke him up. He opened his eyes and was dazed for a while. He sat up and saw that the two people in his room were gone.

Wen Chan had a sore nose and didn’t dare to rub it. He had to get up slowly, put on his clothes carefully, put on his brocade boots, and tie his long sleeping hair into a ponytail before opening the door and going out.

Everyone in the lobby was awaiting him. As soon as they heard the sound of the door opening on the third floor, they all looked up at the same time. After a while, they saw His Ninth Royal Highness, who was still bleary-eyed, appear in front of the railing.

He looked down and saw that all the people were looking at him. He couldn’t help but be taken aback. He exclaimed in his heart: Why are they all sitting down there? Could they all be waiting for him?

Liang Yanbei was a beat slower. He took a sip of the congee before looking up. After seeing Wen Chan, a smile spread on his handsome face8, “Young Master Wen, you are up early!”

“Young Master, are you hungry? What do you want to eat? Ah Fu will go buy it for you!” Ah Fu stood up and called out to him: At this hour, the inn was no longer selling breakfast.

Wen Chan also wanted to pull out a smile to greet them. But just as the corners of his mouth curved, his nose hurt so badly that he was forced to put it down again. He nodded his head and said with a cold expression, “En.”

The answering voice was too low, and the people below didn’t hear it at all. Ah Fu wanted to ask again, but he saw that Wen Chan had already turned around and walked towards the stairs.

When Ah Fu saw Wen Chan’s expression, he thought he was in a bad mood. So he turned his head and asked Shu Hua, who was there by his side, “Did the two of you squeeze into the same room as the Young Master yesterday and upset him?”

Qin Qi also concurred, “Yes, how can three people squeeze into one room? What if you had disturbed Young Master’s rest?”

He didn’t have a good impression of Zhong Wenjin, and he was still thinking about the day Zhong Wenjin called Wen Chan a little bastard.

Zhong Wenjin on the side was too engrossed in eating meat buns and he thought, “I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you. I can’t hear anything.”

Shu Hua knew that he had done wrong and said in a low voice, “I didn’t think about it properly. I will ask the Young Master for punishment later9.”

“It’s okay. It’s just a small matter. I think Young Master Wen is magnanimous and should not care about this.” Xie Zhaoxue couldn’t listen to it any longer.

“But the Young Master didn’t smile just now. If he had a good rest, he would wake up early like every day with a smile on his face.” Ah Fu said.

“Maybe it’s because of a sore nose that he didn’t smile.” Liang Yanbei interjected from the side, thoughtfully, “I think it’s because the analgesic medicine has worn off10.”

As soon as these words came out, everyone put on a look that said they understood it: So that’s how it is.

At this time, Wen Chan also walked down to the first floor and walked to the table of Ah Fu and the others. Before he could speak, Situ Zhoulan, who was sitting at the table next to him, stretched out her hand and handed him a white pill. Wen Chan looked at it suspiciously.

Situ Zhoulan had a light smile on her face, “Young Master Wen, this pill is analgesic, and it is better than yesterday’s medicine. The nasal pain is connected to the head. You will feel better after eating this.”

Wen Chan didn’t even think about it. He subconsciously wanted to refuse her kindness. But Ah Fu took it over and said with a smile, “Miss Situ is really a bodhisattva. Thank you very much!”

After thanking her, he raised the treasure in front of Wen Chan, “Young Master, quickly eat it. Quickly eat it.”

Wen Chan, “……”

He hesitated for a moment, and all eyes seemed to be asking him why he wasn’t eating it. Wen Chan moved his lips, but in the end, he couldn’t say no. So he picked up the pill and stuffed it into his mouth.

The pill melted in his mouth with a hint of sweetness, and as Wen Chan swallowed it with a “gulp”, there was nothing left.

The medicine of the Situ family had been passed down for a hundred years, and the efficacy of the medicine had not been exaggerated at all. Soon after Wen Chan took it, the pain in his nose slowly faded away. Finally, he moved his mouth and finally said the first words after he woke up.

“I wanna eat noodles.”

1

regardless of the law and of natural morality (idiom); maverick / undisciplined and out of control

2

in a dilemma

345

insipid as water (idiom, from Zhuangzi 莊子｜庄子)

6

fig. fair-weather friend

7

fig. a close friendship

8

Shalalalalala~~

9

Why do you have an obsession with punishments?

10