Chapter 4#
Junior Brother#
Over the next ten days or so, Li Guanghan’s body gradually recovered, and his complexion became better and better.
Yin Yuheng’s feelings were complicated, and Xiao Bai had gone from being startled to being numb.
Xiao Bai read the plot to Yin Yuheng: “The book mentioned a sentence, Li Guanghan was born in Penglai and had already cultivated an immortal body, immune to all poisons. But this sentence only appeared once, and we didn’t notice it before…”
Yin Yuheng looked at Li Guanghan on the ground with a complicated look: “Not bad, impressive.”
Xiao Bai thought to itself, you’re being modest, you’re also impressive. From now on, I’ll address you as Heng-ge with respect.
On the twentieth day, Yin Yuheng brought ginseng and old duck soup and Spirit Marrow Pills to see Li Guanghan, and this time there was no poison.
After Li Guanghan finished the soup and medicine, he couldn’t help but grab Yin Yuheng’s sleeve.
He still couldn’t see the appearance of the person in front of him clearly, and asked intermittently: “Can you tell me, what is your name?”
Yin Yuheng looked back and smiled brightly: “My name is…”
In the next moment, Li Guanghan’s old injury suddenly flared up, and he fainted again.
Yin Yuheng sighed silently, looked at Li Guanghan for a while, and only smiled after a long time.
“It seems that the ill-fated relationship between the two of us is destined to be entangled.”
Through a series of coincidences, the two parted in a hurry and ultimately did not exchange names.
*
After Xiao Bai recalled the past, its heart was actually very calm.
It felt that after experiencing great storms over the years, no matter what kind of trouble Yin Yuheng caused again, it could face it calmly.
The carriage moved further and further away from the Imperial Advisor’s Mansion, and drove into the palace gate all the way. The smile on Yin Yuheng’s face became a bit more sincere.
There were already people waiting in the palace.
The palace servants gathered around attentively, lifting the carriage curtain, putting down the footstool, and handing over the hand warmer for Yin Yuheng. It was quite a lively scene.
Yin Yuheng got out of the carriage, tightened his fox fur, and put on a well-behaved smile: “Imperial Brother!”
The Eldest Prince, Yin Shaozhuo, stood on the steps, with a stern face, and grabbed Yin Yuheng’s wrist without saying a word.
Yin Yuheng let him do as he pleased.
After a while, Yin Shaozhuo’s face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
“Your qi and blood are so weak, what’s going on? You’re such a big person, and you still don’t know how to take care of yourself. You just went out once and made yourself like this! Imperial Father is currently in seclusion. When he comes out and sees you like this, how worried he must be!”
Yin Yuheng didn’t dare to say it was because of the Yellow Spring Flower. He folded his hands and begged for mercy repeatedly: “I was wrong, I was wrong. It’s not like you don’t know I’m weak. I just came back, big brother, please spare me!”
Yin Shaozhuo had nowhere to vent his anger, and he couldn’t bear to punish his younger brother who had finally returned home. He hummed awkwardly: “You know how to call me brother when you’re acting spoiled? Why are you standing outside? Aren’t you cold? Go in and talk!”
The hall was paved with warm stones, and the cold wind couldn’t penetrate it.
Yin Yuheng thought to himself, isn’t this warmer than Zhu Anning’s courtyard? Who doesn’t know how to pave warm stones? How many places in the world can be more luxurious than the imperial palace?
Yin Yuheng took off his fox fur and smiled nonchalantly: “Big brother, don’t worry, I won’t die.”
At least not yet, Yin Yuheng thought.
“What do you mean by ‘won’t die’? Don’t say such unlucky things.” Yin Shaozhuo wanted to pat his younger brother, but thought that his mission to the Demon Realm must have been hard, so he finally softened his heart and rubbed his head: “How was… your journey?”
Yin Yuheng strolled around the hall leisurely for two laps, and finally slumped onto the chair comfortably, squinting his eyes contentedly: “Very good, it’s just that it was boring on the way, so I read storybooks all the way.”
“Storybooks?”
“I love him, but he doesn’t love me, and he both uses and tortures me, and in the end, I die miserably.” Yin Yuheng picked up a piece of pastry from the table and found it was his favorite almond crisp. “Emotional dramas that abuse the body and heart, I’ve read about five or six of them.”
Yin Shaozhuo’s expression was strange: “…When did you fall in love with this?”
“Heh.” Yin Yuheng mumbled while biting the pastry, “To learn a bit, maybe I’ll encounter it in the future!”
“You’re the noble Crown Prince of the Li Dynasty, who would dare to treat you like that?” Yin Shaozhuo didn’t care, “If anyone dares to treat you like that, I’ll break his legs.”
Yin Yuheng was moved: “Brother, you’re so good.”
But there are many of them, so don’t go.
*
After organizing and reporting the results of his mission to the Demon Realm, Yin Yuheng finally had some free time. Under the pretext of being weak, he lay comfortably in bed for several days, listening to Xiao Bai tell him storybooks. Li Guanghan and Lu Yan were all thrown to the back of his mind.
On this day, Yin Yuheng suddenly felt the urge to go out for a stroll.
He sat in a private room of a teahouse, leisurely eating small dishes and watching pedestrians come and go outside the window. Yin Yuheng was different from ordinary immortal cultivators. He liked the variety of the human world and the bustling world, and had no interest in quiet cultivation and transcending the mundane world.
Suddenly, a loud noise came from downstairs. Yin Yuheng looked over and raised his eyebrows with a bit of surprise.
They’re all acquaintances.
Yin Yuheng watched for a while and suddenly called out: “Xiao Bai.”
Xiao Bai immediately understood what he wanted to ask: “There is no such plot in the original text.”
According to its understanding of Yin Yuheng, for the plots in the book, Heng-ge always did them reluctantly and insisted on causing some trouble; but for plots not in the book, he was very enthusiastic.
*
“I saw this spiritual pill first, are you worthy of competing with me?”
The young master in brocade sneered, with seventeen or eighteen servants following behind him, looking aggressive.
Opposite him was only a thin young man, his face full of anger and humiliation: “I was clearly the first one here, you…”
“Who can prove you were the first one here?” a servant behind the young master in brocade said disdainfully, “How dare you compete for things with our Master An? You really don’t know the height of the heavens and the depth of the earth. What kind of blind thing are you?”
A touch of ferocity was suppressed in the young man’s eyes: “I am a disciple of the Imperial Advisor…”
Master An seemed to have heard some joke and sneered: “Who doesn’t know that the Imperial Advisor has only one disciple, the Crown Prince? How dare you call yourself a disciple of the Imperial Advisor? This is a crime of great disrespect!”
Zhu Anning gritted his teeth slightly. He was born handsome, with eyebrows like distant mountains and lips like vermilion, and had a gorgeous beauty. Now that he was angry, his handsome face became even more radiant.
Master An looked him over and suddenly curled his lips: “Your appearance is not bad. If you’re willing to come back to the mansion with me, I’ll let this matter slide…”
“Shameless!” Zhu Anning threw a palm, but his wrist was caught by Master An.
“With this level of cultivation, you dare to attack me?” Master An sneered, “Whether you go with me or not is not up to you.”
Master An brought a spirit-trapping rope and forcibly wrapped it around Zhu Anning’s wrist.
With his spiritual power sealed, Zhu Anning’s eyes showed fear, and ferocity surged in his heart.
He had just been taken as a disciple by Li Guanghan, and had just gained a bright future, and hadn’t had time to take revenge…
Who would help him?
When he was in despair, he suddenly heard a stern voice: “Stop!”
Zhu Anning raised his head in a daze and saw a young man standing not far away, with a golden belt tying his hair and wearing white brocade clothes, looking very stern.
The wind blew his clothes, and he looked as upright as a jade tree.
Zhu Anning trembled and suddenly felt relieved. His eyes were a bit red, and he couldn’t help but call out: “Senior Brother…”
The long street was silent.
Master An looked at the person not far away in disbelief, and his hand holding Zhu Anning’s loosened involuntarily.
The person who came was clearly the current Crown Prince, Yin Yuheng!
As a child of a noble family, Master An had naturally seen Yin Yuheng. His face changed slightly, his heart surged, and he hurriedly bowed: “Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Yin Yuheng walked slowly, his always smiling face now full of coldness.
Master An swallowed and said hesitantly: “Your Highness, this little thief just stole something of mine, and I was about to take him back for punishment…”
“I didn’t!” Zhu Anning said angrily, his wrist wrapped in the spirit-trapping rope trembling slightly.
Yin Yuheng walked to Master An and stopped: “He stole your thing?”
Master An only felt a pressing pressure coming down on him, making it difficult for him to stand steadily, and he almost knelt down. He hurriedly nodded: “Yes.”
Before he finished speaking, Yin Yuheng sneered.
“Oh? What did my junior brother steal from you?”
“He stole…” Master An suddenly opened his eyes in shock.
Junior brother? Was this young man really a disciple of the Imperial Advisor?
Master An looked up in horror and met Yin Yuheng’s eyes, which were full of anger.
“The An family is also a noble family in Chaoge. As the direct son, you bully the weak on the street, turn black into white, and forcibly take commoners,” Yin Yuheng said coldly, “Aren’t you afraid of losing the face of your An family?!”
The spiritual pressure weighed down, and Master An could no longer hold on. His legs softened and he knelt on the ground. His face was pale, and he said anxiously: “I know my crime, I beg Your Highness’s forgiveness!”
In the next moment, Master An only felt a pain in his wrist and couldn’t help but scream.
Yin Yuheng looked down at him and said coldly: “Breaking one of your hands today is a warning. I will tell your father and let him discipline his own son and nephew well. If I hear of such a thing again…”
“I won’t dare anymore.” Master An was dizzy with pain, but didn’t dare to go against Yin Yuheng’s wishes. He was supported away by his trembling servants with a pale face.
Zhu Anning stood aside, staring at Yin Yuheng in a daze.
He had seen his senior brother smiling gently in the snow, but had never seen his senior brother so stern. Stripping away his usual gentleness, he seemed to have turned from the warm spring water of early March into the lone moon of the nightmare winter sky, noble and clear, untainted by a speck of dust, and difficult to approach.
His senior brother was so angry for him.
While Zhu Anning was in a daze, he saw Yin Yuheng turn to look at him, and his gaze softened again.
“Senior Brother…” Zhu Anning murmured.
Yin Yuheng smiled at him, and instantly the spring breeze returned.
Yin Yuheng took his hand, and Zhu Anning suddenly regained his senses, his whole body stiffening.
Yin Yuheng didn’t notice his junior brother’s reaction. His slender and handsome fingers rested on Zhu Anning’s wrist, and with a slight force, the spirit-trapping rope shattered and fell to the ground. Yin Yuheng carefully held Zhu Anning’s hand and checked it twice before he was relieved.
His wrist felt itchy, and Zhu Anning’s fingertips couldn’t help but move. His gaze swept over Yin Yuheng’s fingers, and he couldn’t help but think, Senior Brother’s hands are really handsome.
“Thank you, Senior Brother.” Zhu Anning suppressed the inexplicable emotions in his heart and said hoarsely.
Yin Yuheng sighed and looked at him gently and helplessly: “I gave you the Flame-Dispelling Warm Jade, why didn’t you wear it? It not only nourishes your spiritual meridians, but also hides a trace of my sword qi inside, which can protect you in times of danger.”
Zhu Anning was stunned, remembering the pendant he had casually thrown into a corner. He always felt that Yin Yuheng gave him this thing to mock him, and felt it was an eyesore whenever he saw it.
So Yin Yuheng’s sword qi was hidden in that pendant? Did Senior Brother really… want to be good to him?
Was he really too sensitive and misunderstood his senior brother?
Seeing Zhu Anning standing there blankly without speaking, Yin Yuheng was a bit helpless: “Forget it, it’s normal for children to like beautiful things. Then I’ll give you something else instead.”
Zhu Anning instinctively wanted to refute that I’m not much younger than you, but in the next moment his whole body stiffened and he couldn’t speak.
Yin Yuheng suddenly approached him, his hands going behind his head, gathering his hair.
This posture was too close, as if he were being hugged.
“Your hair is all loose.” Yin Yuheng gently tied his hair for him, and finally took out a jade hairpin and inserted it into the boy’s hair.
Yin Yuheng’s sleeves brought wisps of wind, wrapping Zhu Anning in them. Senior Brother’s loose hair swept across his neck, and the heat of his breath fell on his ears, making Zhu Anning’s heart surge and making it difficult for him to think.
“This is a hairpin made of Nine-Polar Cold Jade. It’s extremely hard and can break metal and stone. It can be used as a weapon.” Yin Yuheng looked at his junior brother with concern, “My sword intent is hidden inside. When triggered in danger, I will sense it.”
Zhu Anning was a bit dazed. When he looked up, he met Yin Yuheng’s concerned and gentle gaze.