TL: Hua
“Why is Young Master Xu sleeping on the table?” Wen Jing, who had just walked out of the room, was about to report to His Majesty about the progress of sorting the memorials when he saw Young Master Xu dozing on the table, while His Majesty sat quietly beside him, watching over him.
Yin Yanjun looked up at Wen Jing and said indifferently, “You don’t need to watch over him. Go back to your room and get some sleep first.”
At noon, Mu Yu and Qi Chen didn’t return. Aunt Li had made a bit too much food, so she separated some to send to the village chief’s family. When she came back, Aunt Li was carrying a small bamboo basket filled with steaming hot buns.
“The village chief’s family steamed buns today. When I went over, Ah Ning was carrying a basket and about to run over here. His parents couldn’t stop him, and finally, his grandma, fearing he’d drop all the buns, pulled him back.” Aunt Li couldn’t stop laughing. The village chief’s little grandson, with his chubby, tiger-like head, was indeed very endearing.
Xu Yanqing curled his lips: “Most children are very annoying when they get rowdy, but the chubby baby is quite well-behaved.” It was rare for him to say something complimentary about a child. Unfortunately, Ah Ning wasn’t there, otherwise the child would surely have jumped around happily.
A hint of suppressed laughter appeared in Yin Yanjun’s eyes. The young master usually spoke of hating children, but now it seemed he was soft-hearted and said one thing while meaning another.
In the morning, he was busy tinkering with that little cotton candy contraption. After lunch, the salted fish couldn’t muster any energy, so he simply threw off the quilt and lay directly on the bed.
Turning his head, Xu Yanqing saw the loosely tied hair ribbon on his head. He touched the knot in his hair; it showed no sign of coming undone. He couldn’t help but curl his lips, thinking, it seems the Taoist Master is not only a good blacksmith but also surprisingly good at styling hair.
The salted fish expressed his deep admiration for the Taoist Master with a cupped-hand salute. Having been in this world for so long, being able to learn one style of hair pinning was already considered a great effort for a salted fish.
Xu Yanqing was vaguely woken up by the chirping sounds in the courtyard and the voices of Aunt Li and Wen Jing moving and talking back and forth.
Sleeping under the quilt made him feel a bit stuffy and hot. Xu Yanqing lazily kicked the quilt away with one foot, then placed his bare feet on top of the quilt. This posture made him appear indolent, casual, and unkempt.
He continued to lie on the quilt for a long time, but the chirping sounds outside still didn’t stop. Xu Yanqing, having cooled down from the heat he’d built up, slowly and reluctantly got up from the bed and pushed open the door.
The scene outside was exceptionally messy. Xu Yanqing blinked, thinking the sight before him was an illusion caused by not being fully awake. But after closing and opening his eyes three or four times, the scene outside remained unchanged.
Seventeen or eighteen half-grown chicks ran wildly back and forth across the courtyard. Aunt Li and Wen Jing would catch one here, and another would run away there, looking very disheveled.
One chick ran to the salted fish’s room door, circling back and forth. It tried to dart into the room but was kicked away by the cold and ruthless salted fish.
The little chick felt deeply hurt and flapped its wings, bumping into Xu Yanqing. Then, a distinctly jointed hand directly pinched the chick’s back. The chick flapped its wings in protest, but it was completely useless.
“Taoist Master,” Xu Yanqing called out.
“Hmm.” Yin Yanjun looked up at the disheveled young master: “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” The lazy salted fish waved his hand indifferently, then looked down at the chicken in the Taoist Master’s hand, a hint of delight in his eyes: “It’s tired of living. Tonight, I’ll make fried chicken out of you.”
The meat of the chick is very tender; making fried chicken must be delicious.
Xu Yanqing drooled over the chick. Indeed, he was not a qualified salted fish but a salted fish with a strong desire for good food.
Seeing the group of chicks running away after catching one, Aunt Li ran next door and called several burly guards to come over and help catch the chickens.
Many hands make light work. After bustling about for most of the day, everyone finally caught all the chicks.
Aunt Li looked at the chicken coop in the yard with a worried expression. This place was originally a temporary chicken coop, and they hadn’t had time to properly repair it. Then it rained heavily for two or three days straight, which probably washed away the temporary chicken coop. Today, all the problems were exposed, which is why all the chicks ran out.
Xu Yanqing, like someone watching a show, moved closer to Aunt Li and stared at the temporarily quiet chicks inside: “This chicken coop needs to be rebuilt, right?”
“Exactly!” Aunt Li sighed, “Who knew a rainstorm would wash away this chicken coop?”
Xu Yanqing rubbed his chin, had the burly guards bring bricks and wooden planks, and then lazily lounged in a reclining chair, watching them build the chicken coop.
In ancient times, most houses were built with mud mixed with clay. Clay has good viscosity, but its strength is not as good as cement.
So, the recipe for making cement instantly popped into Xu Yanqing’s mind. The salted fish raised his hand and slapped himself on the forehead, intending to slap away all the messy thoughts in his mind.
Cement was excellent, but the salted fish didn’t have the energy to do research; lying flat was more appealing.
Seeing the young master suddenly slap himself on the head, Yin Yanjun didn’t even have time to stop him before he heard a loud “pa,” a rather resounding slap.
He rubbed the young master’s head with a wry smile: “Why did you suddenly act so foolish? You’re usually quite clever, aren’t you?”
No, a salted fish doesn’t need a clever mind. This slap might make his mind a bit duller. Xu Yanqing’s gaze fell on the chicks in the coop: “Taoist Master, do you remember which chicken bumped into me?”
Yin Yanjun: How should he, a monastic, answer this…
However, the young master seemed to have a very strong impression of that mischievous chick and didn’t need Taoist Master Xuanchen’s answer at all. He immediately spotted the chick that was looking for trouble among the group of chicks.
“Aunt Li, that chicken looks particularly plump and delicious. Why don’t we fry it tonight?”
The salted fish had eaten cotton candy and was now craving fried chicken.
Aunt Li: “The chick is too small. It’s not a good time to kill it, is it?” Why did the young master suddenly want to eat chicken?
“Mmm.” Xu Yanqing stared intently at the chick that still wanted to escape: “This size of chick is the most tender when fried, and it seems to agree with me.” The salted fish started talking nonsense again with a serious face.
Aunt Li replied with a chuckle, “No chicken would willingly seek death, but since the young master wants to eat it, then we’ll kill a chicken tonight.”
Yin Yanjun chuckled lightly. It seemed the young master’s health had truly improved greatly. At first, he couldn’t eat anything due to vomiting, but now he was actively ordering from the menu.
Thinking this, Yin Yanjun raised his hand again and rubbed the young master’s fluffy head.
Aunt Li went to catch a chicken. The guards, having mixed the clay, had already started stacking bricks on the ground.
They were very quick and soon built a brand-new chicken coop. After herding the chicks into their new home, the guards cleaned up the scattered mess on the ground before leaving the courtyard.
Seeing that Aunt Li had already started preparing to kill the chicken, Xu Yanqing contentedly pulled Taoist Master Xuanchen away. The salted fish, perhaps in a moment of conscience, even offered comfort to Taoist Master Xuanchen: “Taoist Master, don’t worry, you won’t feel bad if you don’t see the killing. Anyway, I’m the one who will eat the chicken in the end.”
Yin Yanjun chuckled and explained to the young master, “Actually, I’m not a proper Taoist. Living in the secular world, I’ve been tainted by all sorts of rights and wrongs. Why would I care about such a small matter?”
He wasn’t a true immortal who was untainted by the world and had a sage-like demeanor. The current peace in Daliang was, in fact, a situation achieved through his past iron-fisted methods.
He had killed countless people, so what was one chicken?
The salted fish blinked, suddenly remembering the other party’s true identity, and instantly understood the implied meaning in the Taoist Master’s words.
The courtyard, which had been messed up by a group of chicks, had been tidied up by Wen Jing. There were several paw prints on the table left by the chicks, so Wen Jing directly moved the table next to the water vat and rinsed it several times before returning it to its original position.
The newly built chicken coop was in the corner of the courtyard. Aunt Li killed the chicken at the original location of the chicken coop. After cleaning it, she put the chicken in a basin to marinate and also cleaned the old chicken coop area.
When Mu Yu and Qi Chen returned from town, they felt the entire courtyard seemed different. Mu Yu searched for a long time before finding the new chicken coop. Hearing Aunt Li’s explanation, he also chuckled for a while.
“But this is good too. When the chicks grow up, they chirp more and more loudly every morning. Moving them further away saves Young Master from being woken up in the morning,” Mu Yu said.
Qi Chen couldn’t help but click his tongue: “Young Master, once asleep, probably wouldn’t be woken by a thunderclap. These chicks are no match for him.”
Xu Yanqing didn’t care at all about Qi Chen’s mockery; after all, sleeping soundly was a special ability of a salted fish. Besides, the fried chicken smelled so good that he had no energy to listen to Qi Chen’s rambling.
Mu Yu had raised the chicks very well. Although the chick was a bit small, its meat was not inferior at all. This size of chick also wouldn’t be tough, and it smelled delicious!
Aunt Li, following the young master’s instructions, brushed the marinated chick with a layer of honey, then coated it with flour, and finally deep-fried the whole thing.
The flour on the surface of the chicken quickly turned into a crispy, golden crust. Then, it was continuously fried over low heat. The chicken’s meat was particularly tender, so it was also very easy to cook thoroughly.
After the time it takes to steep a cup of tea, Xu Yanqing was sitting in the courtyard with a basin, gnawing on fried chicken. The salted fish wasn’t protective of his food; he generously shared a large piece of meat with Qi Chen and Mu Yu, then tore off a chicken leg and handed it to Taoist Master Xuanchen.
Qi Chen: What kind of divine operation is this from the young master? Doesn’t he feel guilty forcing a monk to eat meat?
However, to Qi Chen’s astonishment, Yin Yanjun slowly raised his hand and took the crispy, tender chicken leg from the young master.
Yin Yanjun usually didn’t eat much meat, but that wasn’t because of his monastic status but rather due to some other internal reasons not to be disclosed to outsiders.
Wen Jing had been busy for a long time, hadn’t slept well, and then got up to clean the courtyard. He had already gone back to his room to rest. Xu Yanqing tore off a piece of meat and put it in a clean bowl for him.
One chick wasn’t very big to begin with, so after everyone had a share, there wasn’t much left. The salted fish tore off another chicken leg and gnawed on it with great pleasure.
The chicken skin was very crispy, and the pre-marinated meat inside was very tender. Coupled with Aunt Li’s perfect control of the heat, each bite offered a rich texture. In short, the salted fish enjoyed gnawing on the chicken immensely, even feeling a bit unsatisfied.
After dinner, Yin Yanjun helped the young master stroll around the courtyard. As expected, after not walking for long, the salted fish’s chubby face showed a half-dead expression again, strongly resisting continuing to walk.
But the mischievous Qi Chen added another lap for him. The salted fish didn’t even have the strength to grab the other person and beat him up.
“Can’t walk anymore; my legs say they’re really tired.” The young master relaxed all of a sudden; his hands and feet became limp.
Yin Yanjun, with a wry smile, raised his hand to support the young master’s waist. The young master had a lazy disposition, but his laziness was interesting; when he wanted to do something, he wouldn’t complain about being tired even after a whole day of work.
But when it came to things he didn’t want to do, if others insisted, the young master would be too lazy to argue. Instead, he would quickly turn pale, his limbs would become weak, and he would physically express his refusal and protest.
Yin Yanjun’s warm hand protected the young master’s side: “Just a little more; we’ll be done soon.”
The salted fish didn’t want to lift his feet, and he complained pitifully, “My legs hurt.” He didn’t want to walk at all; he just wanted to lie on his soft bed and have a good sleep.
Yin Yanjun lightened the pressure of his hand and gently massaged the young master’s waist: “After we finish walking, I’ll massage your legs so they won’t hurt anymore.”
Xu Yanqing’s tired eyes blinked gently, and then, under Taoist Master Xuanchen’s soft, comforting words, he weakly continued to walk forward. The lazy salted fish, who had worked up a sweat, was served by Mu Yu and helped into the bathtub. Originally, there was no bathtub in the courtyard, but Mu Yu had bought one when he went to town today.
The water in the bathtub was just enough to cover Xu Yanqing’s chest. He lazily leaned back, letting Mu Yu scrub his body.
The little bean in his belly started to become active again. Mu Yu curiously stared at his young master’s abdomen: “Young master, the little young master is getting more and more active now!”
“Hmm.” The salted fish responded weakly. He didn’t care about the little bean at all.
Xu Yanqing, dozing in the bathtub, was woken by Mu Yu. He stood up from the tub, water dripping from his body, revealing a pair of very beautiful dimples on his lower back, which, against his flawless white skin, were exceptionally alluring. Only his slightly protruding belly looked a bit unusual.
Curled up lazily by the bed, he let Mu Yu gently dry his hair with a cloth. When his hair was almost dry, the salted fish couldn’t sit still any longer. He raised his hand, pushed Mu Yu away, and lay down languidly. His chubby face, framed by his spread-out dark hair, resembled a finely carved jade artifact.
Just then, Yin Yanjun pushed the door open and walked in, holding a very exquisite medicine bottle. He looked up and saw the delicate and beautiful young master on the bed had already closed his eyes, preparing to sleep.
“Taoist Master Xuanchen?” Mu Yu looked up with some surprise, not expecting the other party to come looking for his young master at this hour. He could only lower his voice and explain, “Taoist Master, Young Master has already gone to sleep.”
“Hmm.” Yin Yanjun nodded, not paying much attention to that, but walked over lightly and smoothed a strand of dark hair that had fallen onto the young master’s face.
Mu Yu was a bit bewildered. Although his young master usually got along exceptionally well with Taoist Master Xuanchen, he hadn’t expected the other party to visit late at night and even touch his young master.
Could it be that Taoist Master Xuanchen had taken a liking to his young master? But aren’t monastics supposed to be free from worldly desires? Mu Yu scratched his head, unable to figure it out no matter how hard he tried.
“Taoist Master, you’re finally here.” The salted fish groggily opened his eyes. Seeing the medicine bottle in Yin Yanjun’s hand, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow and unceremoniously stretched his legs out from under the quilt.
Mu Yu was sent out by his young master and walked towards his own room, full of confusion. Just then, Qi Chen happened to open his door and walk out, and the two bumped squarely into each other.
“Hiss.” Qi Chen rubbed his forehead: “What are you thinking about? You’re so careless when you walk.”
Mu Yu winced in pain, wishing he could jump a few times on the spot. Hearing this, he rubbed his forehead while hesitantly speaking, “Taoist Master Xuanchen is in Young Master’s room.”
“Hmm.” Qi Chen nodded, putting on an expression that said, “I’m listening, continue.”
But Mu Yu patted his arm: “Young Doctor Qi, don’t you think it’s a bit strange? Although Young Master and Taoist Master Xuanchen usually have a very good relationship, as if they were old friends at first sight, in the middle of the night, Taoist Master Xuanchen isn’t sleeping and instead runs into Young Master’s room. I just feel like something isn’t right.”
The main reason was that Mu Yu was well aware of the fact that his young master liked men. Thinking this, he felt even more that something was off everywhere.
Qi Chen reluctantly frowned as he listened to Mu Yu’s rambling conjectures, then patted his shoulder with a look of disdain: “Mu Yu, come, come, let me take your pulse.”
Taoist Master Xuanchen had been staying in Xu Family Village for how long now? Why was Mu Yu, this idiot, so slow to react?
“Young Doctor Qi?” Mu Yu looked at Qi Chen in confusion: “I don’t think I’m sick.” So there was no need to take his pulse.
“No, I think you’re sick, and there’s something wrong with your head.” Qi Chen clicked his tongue: “I remember when Taoist Yuancheng first came to stay for those two days, you kept thinking he looked familiar. Do you remember where you’ve seen Taoist Yuancheng now?”
Qi Chen’s topic jumped too quickly. Mu Yu hadn’t had time to argue about him saying something wrong with your head when he followed Qi Chen’s words and recalled Taoist Yuancheng’s appearance. However, Taoist Yuancheng had been gone for so many days that he really couldn’t remember.
So Mu Yu shook his head foolishly: “I can’t remember.” He just felt very familiar.
“Sigh!” Qi Chen sighed. Marquis Wu’an was also an interesting one, arranging such a foolish and simple personal attendant for his youngest son. He truly was beyond saving: “Alright, don’t think too much. Anyway, although Young Master is a bit lazy, he’s a clear-headed person. He knows what he’s doing.”
Mu Yu thought for a moment, then nodded in strong agreement: “Young Doctor Qi is right.” Then he truly relaxed and went back to his room to rest.
Qi Chen, behind him, rubbed his forehead, which was still aching from the bump, and couldn’t help but sigh, “Indeed, he has a big heart. That’s a very good quality too.”
The salted fish curled up on the bed, lazily pulling the thin quilt over himself, leaving only his legs exposed. Then, with practiced ease, he closed his eyes and soon drifted off to sleep.
Yin Yanjun sat by the bed, gazing at the young master’s delicate face for a while before slowly raising his hand to roll up the young master’s trouser legs, revealing his fair and tender legs.
Due to the young master’s lazy disposition, his legs were fair and tender, and even the flesh on his calves was soft and plump, suggesting he probably didn’t have much strength in his legs.
He poured the medicated oil from the bottle into his palm, quickly rubbed it to warm it up, and when his palm started to feel a bit hot, Yin Yanjun finally placed his hands on the young master’s calves.
The young master’s skin was already fair and tender, and under the moistening of the medicated oil, it exuded a hint of lustrous sheen, becoming even fairer and purer, like soft mutton-fat jade, warm and smooth to the touch.
Yin Yanjun lowered his gaze, took a little more medicated oil with his broad, warm hands, and then completely enveloped the young master’s calves, gently massaging and kneading.
The young master, already deep in slumber, was massaged so comfortably that he mumbled twice and fell into an even deeper sleep.
After massaging both of the young master’s legs, Yin Yanjun cleaned his hands, slowly lowered the young master’s trouser legs, and then tucked them completely under the quilt.
As soon as his legs were tucked into the quilt, the young master turned over, rubbed his legs together twice, and then curled up slightly, looking incredibly well-behaved.
After pouring a cup of hot water and placing it on the stool beside the young master’s bed, Yin Yanjun leaned down and rubbed the young master’s cheek before getting up and leaving the room.
*
The weather lately has been strange, fluctuating between hot and cold without consistency. Xu Yanqing had caught a slight cold, so Mu Yu prevented him from continuing to sleep in the reclining chair in the courtyard. Thus, the salted fish obediently stayed in his room, continuing to tinker with his mechanical clock.
All the wooden parts for the mechanical clock were ready and had been polished during the time he dragged Taoist Master Xuanchen along as a laborer.
However, it couldn’t be formally assembled yet, as it was still missing some other important parts. So, Xu Yanqing turned his attention to the remaining wooden planks.
He planned to use those wooden planks to make a creative wooden calendar, which was very popular in later generations. However, ancient times didn’t record time as simply as later generations; it had to combine the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, which was slightly more complicated.
But that was naturally not a big deal for Xu Yanqing. When he wasn’t in a period of laziness, everything could be discussed.
The salted fish couldn’t lie around in the courtyard, so he could only stay in his room sawing wood. However, he had a bit of self-awareness: his drawing was decent, but his calligraphy was no match for Taoist Master Xuanchen’s.
So, Xu Yanqing very simply handed the task of writing the calendar to Taoist Master Xuanchen.
“Taoist Master, look, these wooden blocks all have six sides. You just need to write all the characters from the blueprint onto them in order,” Xu Yanqing leaned close to Taoist Master Xuanchen, his fair fingers resting on the blueprint before them.
Their proximity was very close; Yin Yanjun could feel the young master’s warm breath on his neck. His body froze for a moment.
“Taoist Master,” Xu Yanqing gently shook Taoist Master Xuanchen’s sleeve, blinking as he asked, “Do you understand?”
Having not been paying much attention to what the young master said, Yin Yanjun’s heart trembled. His hand had unconsciously reached out at some point, instinctively protecting the young master’s side: “…I didn’t quite understand. Could you explain it again, young master?”
At that moment, his calm heart seemed to have a slight ripple.
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