Pregnant Salted Fish Chapter 4

TL: Hua

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Yin Yanjun’s usually serene face held a hint of absentmindedness as he gazed at the ink-stained flower petal.

“My lord, the second young master has arrived,” Wen Jing announced, stepping into the small courtyard.

Yin Yanjun set down his brush and calmly said, “Let him come in.”

Wen Jing acknowledged and turned, quickly ushering in a young gentleman. The young man was very respectful towards Yin Yanjun. He bowed: “My lord, I heard you were attacked at the Taoist temple a while ago?”

Yin Yanjun remained silently indifferent. He stretched out his distinctly jointed hand, picked up the teacup from the desk, poured himself half a cup of tea, and then poured another for the young man: “Sit down. Take your time to speak.”

A youthful smile appeared on Yin Yuancheng’s face as he sat beside Yin Yanjun: “Upon hearing the news of your attack, my lord, I intended to rush here immediately, but Yuanshuang, that girl, delayed me a bit.”

“They were just a few petty thieves,” Yin Yanjun lowered his eyes, sipping his tea, inadvertently revealing a still-faded scar on his neck.

“My lord, is your neck injured?” Yin Yuancheng was startled. He knew his lord’s capabilities, but the wound on his neck was real, momentarily flustering him so much that he didn’t examine the wound closely.

Yin Yanjun sat upright and proper, his demeanor consistently cool, noble, and somewhat otherworldly. Yet, at the moment Yin Yuancheng asked this question, a subtle awkwardness arose within him. He simply said, “Has anything major happened in the capital recently?”

“No, not really,” Yin Yuancheng shook his head, his gaze still unintentionally falling on Yin Yanjun’s neck.

“This courtyard should be under Yuancheng’s name, correct?” The sunlight was bright, and a gentle breeze picked up a few pink and white peach blossoms, landing on Yin Yanjun’s hair. Yin Yanjun looked up at the courtyard separated by a wall.

“Yes, it is,” Yin Yuancheng nodded. He remembered that he had originally intended to buy this secluded and scenic place to give to his lord, but someone had interfered at the last minute. He only managed to buy this one, and the adjacent courtyard was taken by someone else.

Yin Yanjun gently nodded. He seemed to want to ask something, but their conversation stopped there and didn’t continue.

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Xu Yanqing finally emerged from his room after seven days of continuous sleep, forcefully pulled out by the audacious Mu Yu to sunbathe.

Mu Yu believed his young master was utterly heartbroken by his cousin, which was why he had gone from enjoying strolls to spending entire days cooped up in his room, sleeping.

For his young master’s health, he bravely dragged the sleep-addicted Xu Yanqing out of bed.

For the past few days, Su Hanfeng was probably secretly investigating the identity of the person who spent that spring night with Xu Yanqing, so he naturally had no time to bother him. Xu Yanqing was happy to have peace and quiet.

Pulled out of bed by Mu Yu, Xu Yanqing simply hugged his soft blanket and went into the courtyard, sealing himself in a reclining chair to sunbathe.

Although it was already early spring, it wasn’t yet warm enough for thin clothes. Plus, Xu Yanqing’s current body seemed particularly sensitive to cold, so having a blanket was just right.

“This courtyard is bare; it doesn’t compare to our previous one at all. I imagine the peach blossoms in that courtyard have already bloomed by now, and you used to love the peach blossom especially wine the cook brewed,” Mu Yu said, moving a small stool to sit beside Xu Yanqing, resting his chin in his hands.

Xu Yanqing swayed contentedly in the reclining chair. Hearing Mu Yu mention peach blossom wine, he became a bit interested. Besides eating, only drinking could pique a salted fish’s interest.

Minors were prohibited from drinking, so Xu Yanqing, a model student who only focused on studying and exams in his previous life, didn’t even know what fruit beer tasted like. Now that he had a new body, he had developed a slight interest in alcohol.

“Let someone block the door between the two courtyards without disturbing the neighbor,” Xu Yanqing lazily narrowed his eyes. His body, softened by sleep, felt extremely languid. He figured if the person next door were truly angry and humiliated, he would have come looking for him by now. Since he hadn’t, it meant he didn’t intend to hold him responsible.

Thinking this, Xu Yanqing raised a hand to rub the back of his neck. They were both men, so there was no need to dwell on who should be responsible for whom. His peach blossom wine was more important. At worst, he would just stay inside, never leaving the house, and surely wouldn’t provoke the other party.

For a sip of wine, Xu Yanqing decisively decided this was no big deal.

As he pondered, Xu Yanqing’s hand, resting on the back of his neck, habitually scratched at the patch of skin that had an abnormal heat.

For some reason, that area on his neck had felt tingly and swollen for the past few days, and it felt slightly hot to the touch, not improving even with medicine.

At first, this swelling was accompanied by an itchy pain, like an allergic reaction, almost making him scratch his neck raw. Seeing this, Mu Yu specially invited a doctor, but the doctor couldn’t diagnose anything, only leaving a tube of ointment.

Later, whether it was the ointment working or not, the itchy pain slowly subsided. Now, only the tingling, swelling, and burning sensation remained.

Xu Yanqing found applying medicine troublesome and simply neglected it. However, for the past two days, he kept dreaming about what happened that night. The radiant, otherworldly Taoist priest’s hands tightly clasped his wrists.

What were once nightmares filled with pain had, with the passage of time, become increasingly inappropriate. Every morning, Xu Yanqing would wake up with a blush on his face, too embarrassed to mention it.

He had concluded that the other party was someone he couldn’t afford to offend, yet he spent night after night having erotic dreams about the Taoist priest. It was utterly scandalous and infuriatingly sinful.

After a short session of self-condemnation, Xu Yanqing turned to drink his porridge. The original owner was probably also a glutton. Although there was no peach blossom wine in this courtyard, the cook’s skills were excellent.

Xu Yanqing had been addicted to porridge for many days, especially the tremella and shredded chicken porridge, which was the cook’s specialty. Xu Yanqing felt he could easily eat two large bowls every day.

“Mu Yu said you’ve been eating and sleeping all day lately. Aren’t you afraid of getting a big belly eating so much and so early in the morning?” Xu Xianzhi, despite his elegant-sounding name, was actually a blunt martial artist who wasn’t good with words. He had always doted on his younger brother, the original owner, but unfortunately, the original owner, blessed but unaware of his blessings, even complained that his elder brother meddled too much.

Mu Yu, standing nearby, wore a bitter expression. He had merely been delivering letters to the manor and casually mentioned that his young master had been feeling lethargic due to spring drowsiness lately, though his appetite was a bit better than before. Little did he know that the prince was adept at exaggerating.

Xu Yanqing blinked obediently: “Brother, do you want some porridge?”

Xu Xianzhi shook his head dismissively. A moment later, however, he sat down with his beloved brother, happily munching on a large flatbread: “Flatbread with meat is so energizing!”

Xu Yanqing’s dark, bright eyes curved slightly: “Brother, didn’t you eat enough at home?”

His beloved brother was behaving more obediently than ever, filling Xu Xianzhi with joy. He took a big gulp of porridge and said, “With you not home, Father’s overflowing paternal love had nowhere to go, so he insisted on testing my studies. How could I eat? I finally found an excuse to come see you, and that’s how I escaped from Father.”

Marquis Wu’an was originally a military general, once an invincible commander on the battlefield. Later, he was granted the title of Marquis Wu’an by the emperor for his meritorious service in saving the emperor.

Due to that rescue, Marquis Wu’an could no longer go to the battlefield and had to recuperate in the capital. This recuperation lasted over a decade, and at some point, he developed a bad habit of showing off his literary talent.

It was precisely because of Su Hanfeng’s brilliant literary talent that he gained favor with Marquis Wu’an. Otherwise, with Su Hanfeng’s distant relation to Marquis Wu’an’s wife, how could he come and go freely in Marquis Wu’an’s manor?

“I heard you coldly ridiculed Su Hanfeng and made him angry last time?” Xu Xianzhi didn’t hear this from Mu Yu; he naturally had his own methods and channels.

Xu Yanqing finally slowly finished his bowl of porridge, leaning lazily back in his chair. Hearing the question, he didn’t even lift his eyes: “Brother, you don’t need to beat around the bush with me. Just ask what you want to ask!”

The servants deftly cleared the table. At this moment, a gentle breeze stirred in the courtyard. Tender buds from the branches of a nearby tree swayed and fell onto Xu Yanqing’s shoulder, then were casually plucked away by Xu Xianzhi.

His beloved younger brother now looked incredibly well-behaved and pleasing to the eye. Xu Xianzhi couldn’t help but say, “You used to be so thoughtful towards Su Hanfeng, even better than to your own brother. What did he do to make you so unhappy?”

Although Xu Xianzhi had placed informants around his brother, he was more worried about his brother encountering unsolvable dangers, so he didn’t go as far as having those people monitor Xu Yanqing’s every move.

The question his brother asked was too complex to answer, and Xu Yanqing, now full and content, was starting to feel lazy. He had no time to discuss such unpleasant matters with Xu Xianzhi, so he stated directly, “Brother, you don’t need to worry about him deceiving me. If I liked him, I could indulge his petty schemes, but if I don’t, his tricks are not enough to impress me.”

Xu Xianzhi couldn’t help but laugh upon hearing this. It seemed his brother had truly seen through Su Hanfeng’s deceitful facade; otherwise, he wouldn’t act this way.

“Then you should be careful. As the saying goes, a gentleman is easy to guard against, but a petty person is difficult to deal with. A hypocritical and pretentious person like Su Hanfeng might not be easy to handle.” Xu Xianzhi was a hundred, even a thousand, times more worried about his usually carefree younger brother. But there was nothing he could do; his brother showed no intention of letting him interfere.

Xu Yanqing raised a hand to cover his yawn. His long eyelashes were damp with physiological tears. Spring inherently brought drowsiness and fatigue, and coupled with his naturally indolent nature, he simply waved his hand at Xu Xianzhi, dismissing him.

Xu Xianzhi, unable to laugh or cry, rubbed his little brother’s head like a small animal before leaving the yard satisfied.

At Marquis Wu’an’s manor, Xu Xianzhi had just stepped into his own courtyard when he saw his robust, mountain-like father.

Xu Xianzhi couldn’t help but twitch his mouth: “Father, why are you in my courtyard?”

 

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