A Seductive Gentleman Chapter 45

Chapter 45: From the Flower Reflects a Picture – Part 2

No matter how fast Huai Yu's reflexes were, they couldn't compare to Ming ChangYan's eyes. He only took a quick glance but he was able to catch sight of Huai Yu's collarbone that adorned faint white veins.

It's a pity that Huai Yu didn't allow him to take another glance, putting on his clothes, he asked, "What are you doing running all the way here?"

Ming ChangYan smiled, "Can't I come here even if I don't have anything? I'm here to invite you to the Flower Viewing Festival!"

Huai Yu replied, "No time."

Ming ChangYan immediately felt discontent hearing his reply, walking from the doorway onto the bedside to prevent Huai Yu from going to sleep, "How do you not have time? From the looks of it, you're not doing anything all day, why not accompany me on a walk."

Huai Yu's expression changed, "Get off of the bed!"

Ming ChangYan thought: What's he so nervous for?

Just as he finished that thought, his hand moved and he knocked over a jar of plum candy. Ming ChangYan was startled then looked beside him, there was even a plate placed on the headboard filled with all kinds of snacks.

He said, "Young Prime Minister, you're not sincere."

Huai Yu humphed and brought the plate of snacks towards the table, reclining back, he appeared as if he was about to go to sleep.

Ming ChangYan didn't allow him to sleep, coaxing and pestering on the bed, insisting that he go to the Flower Viewing Festival with him.

"You've already recovered half of your cultivation, it's no longer difficult for you to go in and out of the palace, so why are you here entangled with me?"

Ming ChangYan complained, "I do it because I like you, when have you seen me entangled with somebody else?"

Huai Yu paused, then said, "Don't say such words in the future."

Ming ChangYan raised his eyebrow, "You, I can't say I like you, would you rather me say I dislike you?"

Huai Yu didn't reply. Ming ChangYan stopped teasing him, firmly saying, "Alright, I didn't come here just because of this. Let me ask you something, Huai Yu, you have to honestly answer me."

Huai Yu gazed at him.

Ming ChangYan asked, "Do you have the Immortal Grass?"

"Why do you ask?"

"If you don't have it, how did I recover so fast?"

Huai Yu said, "Of course it's because I'm skilled in the art of medicine."

Ming ChangYan clearly didn't believe him, rubbing his nose he said, "In this whole world, if not for the Immortal Grass, what kind of miracle medicine would have this sort of effect?"

Huai Yu stood up and changed the subject, "I'll go to the Flower Viewing Festival. You can leave now."

Ming ChangYan was choked up by him, feeling an unwillingness to leave. The Listening Lotus Building really was so boring that even a bird wouldn't go out of their way to look for him. Besides being good at work, Fu Ling and Peony really didn't know how to do anything else. It would be fine if he was just passing his time, but Ming ChangYan was excessively anxious. He regained half his cultivation after much difficulty, it's only natural that he goes to Huai Yu to get the truth out of him.

In fact, these things that he's asking Huai Yu about, he didn't completely understand either. It's just that during that time after Ming ChangYan was under a dire situation, he's become accustomed to depending on the other. All he knew was that if he ever was in an unfair situation, just find Huai Yu. Over time, he's acquired it as a very bad habit. For instance, right now, he finally came back to his senses. The problem was his own, he couldn't just bring it upon Huai Yu and inconvenience him.

Huai Yu noticed that he hadn't spoken in a long time and thought that his own tone was a bit harsh, unnaturally blinking his eyes, he said, "If you don't leave…"

Ming ChangYan quickly pounced up, "I'll leave! I'll leave immediately!" He said, "I actually came here to say goodbye."

The words 'then do as you wish' remained lodged in Huai Yu's throat.

Ming ChangYan continued, "You helped me when I was in a dire situation, I'll remember this kindness for the rest of my life. Now that I've regained half of my cultivation, there's no need for me to remain in the palace."

Huai Yu looked distracted before he said, "You've only recovered half of your cultivation."

Ming ChangYan grinned, full of self-confidence, "It's enough. If you want to see me, then come to the Flower Viewing Festival. If not, then I'll say goodbye to you in Jianghu. I'm sure we'll meet again someday."

In the end, he added another verse, "Right, if you're not coming to the Flower Viewing Festival, then place an umbrella under the willow by the Jade Brook. When I see it, I'll naturally come to find you."

After he finished talking, he took advantage of Huai Yu's distracted state, curling his thumb with his finger, he flicked the other's forehead.

The next moment, he patted his sleeves and walked away.

After Ming ChangYan left, he didn't come back.

He held onto those two steamed buns and left the palace through it's Yang gate. Passing through a bustling market, Ming ChangYan turned around a corner and walked into a large courtyard.

In the courtyard, a woman was currently feeding chickens.

Ming ChangYan leaned against the doorway, smiling, "How did you get back into this sort of hobby?"

She turned around, her appearance becoming clearer by the second. It was Hua YunChang.

"Did the medicine lose its effects?"

Ming ChangYan stepped into the courtyard, "Yup, the emperor found out that I suddenly turned into a 6-foot tall man, so he drove me away. I now have nowhere to go, I can only rely on you."

Hua YunChang took a handful of chicken feed and scattered it within the fence.

Ming ChangYan said, "I'm so hungry!"

Hua YunChang said, "You shout you're hungry the moment you arrive, where am I supposed to go find food for you. Why don't you go stand at the entrance of the courtyard, open your mouth and wait till night? When the northwest wind blows over, take a few mouthfuls and you'll be full."

Ming ChangYan sat down on the table, "The most poisonous female heart. Whatever, give me two of your chickens to eat."

Hua YunChang said, "The chicken is my best friend."

Ming ChangYan said, "Aren't I your best friend?"

Hua YunChang laughed, "You're just a troublemaker."

After Ming ChangYan joked around with her, he finally couldn't help but ask, "Yi Yue…where is she buried?"

Hua YunChang's hands paused, her expression turning bleak, "She's the princess of Tokhara, where else could she have been buried, of course, she was brought back to Tokhara."

Ming ChangYan said, "I can't remember much from what happened those two years ago. Why didn't you tell me that Yi Yue had already died?"

Hua YunChang lowered her eyes, "How was I supposed to tell you. I just brought you back from the Gates of Hell, did you want me to send you back."

At this moment, Xiao Chai came in holding a basket full of vegetables. She was surprised when she saw Ming ChangYan, the basket of vegetables suddenly fell to the ground. Her eyes slowly widened, "He, ghost, I….."

Ming ChangYan hastily said, "I'm not a ghost, Xiao Chai, I haven't died yet!"

Xiao Chai ferociously blinked a few times, bending down to pick up the fallen vegetables before standing back up. Ming ChangYan leaned down and picked up the carrot that had rolled beside his foot. He didn't care whether it was washed or not, promptly taking a bite out of it.

Xiao Chai exclaimed, "I thought you died two years ago!"

Ming ChangYan grinned, the crisp sound of the carrot echoing through the air. Hua YunChang softly hit him, "Stop chewing."

She turned around to look at Xiao Chai, commanding, "Stop standing in the courtyard in a daze, tidy up the house, we have to offer shelter to this little beggar here."

The little beggar Ming ChangYan didn't have the consciousness of a beggar after he finished his carrot, he was still hungry. He simply waited to be served a meal while chatting with Hua YunChang.

Hua YunChang asked, "I noticed that your health's gotten better and you've gained back almost half your cultivation, it looks like you've already found the Immortal Grass?"

Ming ChangYan answered, "I didn't." After he said this, one by one, he told her his affairs in the palace.

Hua YunChang was doubtful, "You didn't? I wasn't certain at first either, since the Immortal Grass was merely a miracle medicine of legend. But these experiences that you've gone through are another level of weird. If not for the Immortal Grass, how do you explain your health."

The two were well aware that, back then when Ming ChangYan crawled out of the Yanbo River, it was a narrow escape with his life hanging by a thin thread. Even if he self-cultivated for two years, he was already half disabled when he woke up.

In a mere year since he's entered the palace, he's already recovered to his current state. If it wasn't because of the Immortal Grass, then it would be extremely difficult to explain.

Ming ChangYan said, "It's a long story. When I arrived at the palace, I bumped into an acquaintance and I suspected that the Immortal Grass was on him. But when I asked him, he refused to admit it."

Hua YunChang smiled, "He refused to admit it, and then?"

Ming ChangYan said, "There is no and then."

Hua YunChang, "This isn't your style."

Ming ChangYan, "Then what is my style?"

Hua YunChang, "Of course it's hanging them up and interrogate them with torture. If that doesn't work then you'd bring the person back, I will always have ways of making them talk."

When he heard this, Ming ChangYan ruefully sighed, "How would I dare, instead of bringing him back I'd rather just burn three large sticks of incense and confess to Buddha. Let me tell you, this person isn't just a regular who's difficult to deal with, you shouldn't group him together with everyone else."

Hua YunChang asked, "Why not?"

Her question stumped Ming ChangYan.

Xiao Chai exclaimed, "Lady Hua, it's time to eat."

Hua YunChang stood up, "Let's go, you should stop thinking about it."

Ming ChangYan touched the tips of his hair, getting on the table, he picked up a pair of chopsticks and pointed at the plate of chicken in the middle, "That was still your best friend this afternoon."

Hua YunChang faintly smiled, "I have a lot of best friends, those that talk the most die the fastest. Do you also want to be served on the table?"

Ming ChangYan promptly shut his mouth, picked up a piece of chicken meat and began to fiercely chew on it.

At the end of the meal, when the moon climbed on the tips of the willow*, Hua YunChang pushed open the bedroom door. Within the courtyard, Ming ChangYan was drinking together with the moon.

(TN: I liked this idiom too much so I kept it in. It's referencing a poem written by Ou YangXiu that it describes a pair of lovers embracing beneath the branches of willow under the moonlight. It expresses the beautiful and sad emotions of lovers who are only able to meet at dusk.)

He didn't turn around, asking, "It's late, why aren't you asleep yet?"

Hua YunChang said, "That's what I should be asking you, not sleeping in the middle of the night, such a refined interest."

Ming ChangYan poured two cups of tea, Hua YunChang took one. When the tea met her lips, they were ice cold.

"What's the current situation at TianQing?"

Hua YunChang sat down, "Why don't you go take a look yourself. It's okay, there's no need for you to explain, I know. Everything's still as they were in the past, there's no need for you to worry. What's most important right now is for you to quickly gain back your cultivation. During these two years you were gone, the martial circles in the Central Plains have been a hideous mess. The Great FengShan* Feast is being held at the end of the year, when that time comes, skilled cultivators from all parts of the country will be coming to the Central Plains. If you don't want to see your Common People's Order fall into another's hands, then you should worry about your body for once."

(TN: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Shan )

Ming ChangYan smiled, "Everyone in this world wants this sword yet I don't want it. In the days that I had this sword in my hands, there was never once that XiaoHan Temple let me off. Within the martial circles, how many people admire me, how many people want to throw stones at the me who's fallen to the ground? Were there any less of those provocative rumors arguing whether I was right or wrong?"

Hua YunChang, "There's a lot of things, it's not whether you did them or not, but rather if others think if you're capable of doing them. The Common People's Order is a threat to the world, you and I both know that it isn't anything good but has this interfered with the desire people have to obtain it? If you don't hold onto it, then don't me you plan to have XiaoHan Temple snatch it away? You're already aware of XiaoHan Temple's way of doing things, if the Common People's Order landed in their grasps, forget everyone else, there will only be a disaster left behind for all those kids in TianQing."

"You can't say for sure! There could be a second person in this world who'd be able to pull it out!"

Hua YunChang smiled, "If they were able to pull it out, then you'd become number two in the world."

Ming ChangYan said, "What's so bad about being number two in the world, I'm tired of being number one, you gotta give others an opportunity."

Hua YunChang confiscated his teapot, "The weather isn't warm yet so you should stop drinking such cold tea." She smiled, "After you took a trip to the palace, your personality's changed a lot. Back then, if I wanted to hear you say the words 'number two is still good', I'm afraid that it would've been harder than reaching the sky."

Ming ChangYan didn't understand her words, diverging the subject, "Empty out a section of the courtyard for me, it doesn't have to be too big. I haven't moved my muscles in a while, I'm out of practice."

Hua YunChang said, "No problem."

On the second day, a southwest portion of the courtyard was emptied out as a training ground.

Ming ChangYan exercised for a few days, he didn't enjoy staying idle so he began to go out. Every time he left through the door, he would inevitably come back with a fish.

Hua YunChang saw him run out several days in recession, finally, she couldn't keep it in any longer and asked, "Why are you running to the Jade Brook every day? Granted, no matter how much you like to eat fish, there's no need for you to bring them to your room every day. Are you not tired of the taste?"

Ming ChangYan was rambling incoherently, refusing to give her a direct answer, merely saying, "I just thought the ones there looked tasty so I brought some back for you guys to have a taste."

After Hua YunChang asked once, she didn't ask again.

After Ming ChangYan repeated this action for seven days in a row, he finally grew frustrated. Before he left the palace, he went all the way to the Ninety-Ninth Temple and arranged a secret signal with Huai Yu, yet in the end, it seemed like the other party didn't seem to keep him in his heart. Himself, on the other hand, was worried all day long about missing the umbrella or someone stealing the umbrella. Every day he'd run to the Jade Brook, only to diligently run into a fish seller standing by the shore.

After running over there so many times, the boatmen of the Jade Brook had already become familiar with him. As soon as Ming ChangYan stopped, the boatmen said, "Young Master, you're here again! Do you want to buy some fish this time!"

Ming ChangYan groped the two copper coins in his chest and proceeded to reply, "Not buying not buying, I don't have any more money!"

After he said this, he resentfully thought in his heart: It's not like this fish is that other fish*, I'm about to die from anger!

(TN: The "yu" in Huai Yu is a homophone for "鱼" yu; meaning fish)

Ming ChangYan stood at the crossing, his gaze fell on the spot below the willow tree. It was completely empty, don't even mention an umbrella, there wasn't even a single blade of grass.

The early spring rain steadily drizzled down as he stood there overcome with boredom until he finally got up to leave. Just as he was ready to leave, he heard someone's voice. Their voice was clear and slightly aloof.

"This Young Master is so refined."

Ming ChangYan was surprised for a bit, turning around, a woman adorned in while was looking at him with a faint smile on her lips.

"Maiden Li Li?"

Li Li delicately sat up, "Does this Young Master still recognize me?"

Ming ChangYan replied, "How would I not recognize the most beautiful woman in the world."

Li Li said, "Are you going on the ferry? If this Young Master isn't, then is it possible to let me through?"

Ming ChangYan looked around, it turned out that he was blocking the other from getting on the boat, which was why she came up and reminded him. He casually smiled, moving to stand on the upper side of the area. Li Li was graceful in posture and a morbid beauty, her body nimbly got onto the boat. After a bit, she took out an umbrella.

"The spring rain is cold and unkind, the young master mustn't soak in the rain to avoid catching a cold."

Ming ChangYan answered, "Thanks for your concern but I'm about to leave soon, I don't need an umbrella."

Li Li acknowledged, "Is it not needing an umbrella or not daring to take my umbrella."

Ming ChangYan said, "Why do you say that?"

Li LI slightly raised her head, her gaze landing behind him, "That little master there has been staring at you for quite a while."

Ming ChangYan suddenly felt a discouraging feeling in his heart. He quickly looked back, and sure enough, in the misty rain, Huai Yu was holding up an umbrella, slowly and tensely watching him.

This was translated by , any repost of this is stolen and if you steal my work I'm going to force you to buy my expired fish.

Sorry this took like the entire month, I was extremely busy (and also tired) I'm like a millimeter away from passing out on my computer right now from exhaustion.

Yeah, Ming ChangYan, stay with Huai Yu!! Don't you dare think about leaving my Fish-xiong alone and heartbroken!!!

I'm extremely tired right now so this is about all I have the energy to muster up right now. Sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, I'll fix them in the morning I'm like so sleepy right now.

Okay, have a great day~~

Chapter end