Your Ninth Royal Highness, Please Change Your Clothes

“Yo, are you eating?” The voice suddenly came from the entrance of the small courtyard, causing everyone to look.

There stood a man in green robes with slightly dark skin and a majestic appearance — It was Yao Yanming, who had been punched on the nose by Liang Yanbei last day.

It was unknown whether it was because of the nose injury, but the corners of his mouth were slightly hooked, revealing a grim look, and his eyes swept over the crowd, inexplicably contemptuous, “We stay really close to each other.”

A few of the people present had explosive tempers. They had been brought up in a pampered manner and had never been treated in such a grim way before, so they couldn’t hold back at the moment.

To some extent, Zhong Wenjin was very similar to Yao Yanming. They were both complete bullies, except that one ran amok in the capital and the other tyrannised in Wuyue Island.

When he saw Yao Yanming, he snorted and slapped his chopsticks on the table in disgust, saying, “Why are you everywhere? Obviously, you saw that we were eating and still came here. How can I eat the rest of my meal?”

Dan Ke followed suit, “You are indeed a bit disgusting.”

The others didn’t join the talk but behaved differently.

Yao Yanming, who had obviously been cursed at often, didn’t take offence at this comment and sneered, “Very well! You all are in good spirits.”

Liang Yanbei sighed slightly, and calmly ate the food, “Everything is fine in this residence, but there are too many wild things. Rats could be seen everywhere, chattering and simply noisy.”

“It’s better to put up with it till we are out.” Dan Ke put on an act of consoling him.

The two echoed one another, exasperating Yao Yanming to the point of panting through both nostrils. Seeing that both Zhong Wenjin and Liang Yanbei were strangers and didn’t know his identity, he picked Dan Ke to scold, “The one from the Dan family! This is not your Jin Ling. Here, you people from Baixiao Sect are nothing! And you are going as far as to challenge Lao Tzu1!”

“What are you again?!” Dan Ke yelled back without showing any weakness.

“On this Wuyue island, this Lao Tzu surnamed Yao is the emperor! If you offend me, you won’t be able to get out!” The blue veins on his neck burst out, his eyes stared at Dan Ke viciously, and then pointed at Liang Yanbei, “Especially you!”

Liang Yanbei smiled lightly, as if he hadn’t heard it, and continued to put the food in his mouth.

However, Zhong Wenjin and Xie Zhaoxue, the official’s children who grew up in the capital, were not used to hearing this. Zhong Wenjin sneered, “Wuyue Island is still in the Xi Liang territory. And your Yao family dare to dominate alone? There are indeed a lot of tortoises in shallow water2.”

Wen Chan couldn’t help laughing and felt that this description was very appropriate. It seemed that since he left the capital and came into contact with the Jianghu, he had discovered that there were many famous people and sects among the folks, especially in Wuyue Island, where the heroes gathered. It was true that “the eldest brothers are all over the place3.”

“Do you still think it’s the same here as outside? When you enter this island, we have the final say.” Yao Yanming tried his best to emphasize the power and status of the Yao family on Wuyue Island. It was a lot like the attitude of letting the sheep know how sharp the knife is before slaughtering the sheep.

However, he was wrong. Among the group of people he faced, none of them were soft sheep.

“Zhong Wenjin, don’t talk too much to this frog at the bottom of the well4.” Xie Zhaoxue said coldly.

Xie Zhaoxue was born into a family of scholars. Although his father joined the army and served in the Ministry of Justice, his was a family with a deep background in the end. Xie Zhaoxue had a good upbringing and never quarreled with others.

The others also looked like they were ignoring him. The only one who reacted was Qiao Yanci, who glared at him from time to time. Yao Yanming suddenly felt that he was being looked down upon.

“I’m talking to you all!” He couldn’t help but emphasize it loudly.

“So what?” Wen Chan thought this person was very interesting. Could it be that he came to scold them?

His rhetorical question stumped Yao Yanming. He stared blankly and he didn’t know how to answer.

“Young Master Yao, may I offer a bit of advice. If you are really idle and have nothing to do, you can lie down and take a good rest. From always tossing about like this……” Wen Chan stretched out his index finger and tapped his nose, “Doesn’t your nose hurt?”

Wen Chan questioned from the bottom of his heart.

It was also an injury to the nose. While Yao Yanming didn’t seem to feel anything at all, he had to rely on Situ Zhoulan’s medicine to speak normally.

The other people on the table also turned their eyes to Yao Yanming, as if they were curious about his answer.

Yao Yanming couldn’t help trembling with anger, pointed at everyone, and said several good things5in a row, “Let’s read the account book on donkey back! We’ll see!6”

After speaking, he shook his sleeves and left angrily.

Wen Chan felt that this Yao Yanming had really had enough. He had to come to find anger for no reason, which also affected their mood. A meal that was originally going well was disturbed
by him like that and Wen Chan’s interest diminished by a lot too.

The two girls at the table clearly expressed their disgust with Yao Yanming with their actions. They immediately put down their chopsticks and stopped eating. And they returned to their room after saying goodbye to the few people.

Wen Chan also only sat for a while. He swallowed the last mouthful, and said, “I’m full. Everyone, please help yourself.”

Everyone responded politely, but only Zhong Wenjin winked at him, “Young Master Wen, I’ll find you later. Don’t wander around.”

Wen Chan paused before turning around, and asked, “What time?”

He didn’t seem to have thought about this question himself, and then replied after a while, “Anyway, it will be later. It shouldn’t take long.”

Thinking that he had nothing else to do and that it was a bit hot, Wen Chan didn’t want to run out. So he nodded slightly and replied, “I’ll wait for you then.”

In this way, the two reached an agreement in the full view of the public.

After Wen Chan left and went back to his room, Liang Yanbei chewed the food in his mouth thoughtfully, and whispered to Xie Zhaoxue beside him, “Believe it or not, if it was me the one who said that he was going to find Young Master Wen, then he would have definitely found a reason to refuse on the spot, and would have stayed out of the room until nightfall.”

Xie Zhaoxue glanced at him strangely, “Strange. Why do I think that there is a trace of grievance in your tone?”

Dan Ke on the side sneered, “Isn’t that right?”

Liang Yanbei turned his head when he heard the words, raised his eyebrows and smiled lightly, “I didn’t expect my cousin to know me so well.”

Dan Ke grew up following Liang Yanbei since he was a child. He couldn’t be more familiar with him. Now seeing him smiling brightly, the secret message that it was giving was not so good. So he immediately followed with a smile and said, “Cousin, you think too much. Young Master Wen has a good temperament. He will definitely not refuse you.”

These words seemed to poke Liang Yanbei’s sore spot, he snorted softly, “Then you didn’t see the way he looked when he rejected me in the capital. He was cold as one can be.”

“You are the one who is weird.” Zhong Wenjin said while sipping the soup.

Liang Yanbei wondered, “Why am I weird?”

“I’ve inquired about it. Young Master Wen usually looks the most slack and gentle. In fact, he is not easy to get close to. He is estranged and indifferent to everyone. He only has your cousin as a companion, and they are not close.” Zhong Wenjin said slowly.

“And the first time you met with him, you invited him to join you to have fun. He would definitely refuse ah. On the contrary, every time you see Young Master Wen, you seem to want to pounce on him. Who wouldn’t be scared?”

“Is it so obvious?” Liang Yanbei asked himself if he had been behaving so exaggeratedly.

Xie Zhaoxue also said at this time, “Brother Yanbei, this is indeed the case. Although we have not met Young Master Wen many times in the capital, you want to go to Young Master Wen every time you meet. Remember the night of the Lantern Festival, we clearly……”

“Ahem.” Liang Yanbei interrupted him with a sudden cough, “Okay, I admit it. But I just want to make friends with Young Master Wen, and I have no other intentions.”

“But there are so many people in the capital. Why do you want to make friends with him and he has no intention of making friends with you at all.” Zhong Wenjin muttered in a low voice.

Liang Yanbei thought seriously for a while when he heard the words, and then said after a while, “Don’t you think it’s cute that he rejects me with a cold face every time?”

Now the dinner table was completely quiet, and even Zhong Wenjin could not find the right words to answer. So he simply buried his head and continued to eat.

Dan Ke was a little shocked. When they said that Liang Yanbei had been rejected repeatedly, he still didn’t believe it, but now it seemed that what they said was true.

Others didn’t know, but Dan Ke knew very well that Liang Yanbei’s reputation in Jin Ling was not ordinary at all. As soon as he went out to play on the streets, he would definitely meet a large number of younger members from influential families who would request to travel with him, and even some women took the initiative to ask the matchmaker to visit and act as a matchmaker.

He never thought that Liang Yanbei, a piece of sweet pastry, would become a soggy bun in front of the Ninth Royal Highness of the capital.

He suddenly felt that his cousin had been wronged in the capital, and secretly said that he should poke his sore spots less in the next few days.

The few people at the dining table had different thoughts and were silent at the same time.

After Wen Chan went back, he thought that he hadn’t cleaned his body well for several days and he planned to let Qin Qi and Shu Hua boil hot water. Fortunately, there was a well in the yard, and his big house also had its own bathroom, which was also very convenient.

Hurriedly going in and out, they boiled a few buckets of hot water before Wen Chan washed his body clean, and his handsome face turned pale for no reason.

He put on the new clothes that were bought by Liang Yanbei, sat by the threshold, and wiped the water from his long hair.

The weather was hot at this time. The water dripped to the ground and dried in no time. Wen Chan spread out his long hair and the warm breeze blew on it for a few moments before the outer layer was half dry.

When the hair was all dry, the three subordinates also received their lunch and sat in a row at the door to eat. Wen Chan watched for a while, thinking that he had nothing to do, so he went back to his room to take a nap.

Before going to bed, he especially told the three of them that if Zhong Wenjin came to find him, they would enter the room and wake him up.

He passed the waiting time by napping.

He thought Zhong Wenjin would come to him soon, but he waited until night fell.

Wen Chan went out in wonder but found that there was only Shu Hua outside the door. He asked, “Where are Ah Fu and Qin Qi?”

“They went to buy some snacks for Young Master.” Shu Hua responded.

He didn’t ask any more questions. With Qin Qi by Ah Fu’s side, there would be no trouble. But it was Zhong Wenjin’s side, that he had to go and find out.

Wen Chan didn’t say anything. When he left the door, he went in the direction of Zhong Wenjin’s room. At this time, the courtyard was hung with yellow lanterns. Because of the density, the light was very abundant.

The rooms of the two of them were not far away, and he reached after walking just a few dozen steps. Wen Chan was about to knock on the door when he saw Zhong Wenjin appear from the side.

He was holding a basin of water in his arms, with a white cloth towel on the side of the basin. His upper body was naked, revealing strong muscles, but the wound at the pit of the stomach, which was originally covered with a black scab, was now spilling out a column of blood, spreading downwards in a blinding manner.

Wen Chan frowned at the red colour of the blood and he blurted out, “Who hurt you?!”

1

father / daddy / “I, your father” (in anger, or out of contempt) / I (used arrogantly or jocularly)

2

Which means “There are comparatively more bad people in a small community”

3

The whole thing is “There are a lot of tortoises in shallow water and the eldest brothers are all over the place.”

4

fig. a person of limited outlook and experience

5

sarcastically

6

This whole thing just means “We’ll see”. He also made a mistake while saying it cause it was supposed to be “Let’s read the opera libretto on donkey back! We’ll see!”. The word combination which gives the meaning opera libretto is ‘chang ben’ while the word combination which gives the meaning account book is ‘zhang ben’