YNRHPCYC Chapter 98

Wen Chan was taken aback by this sound and hurriedly turned his head to look around the hall. But he didn’t find a second person. He was puzzled when the voice sounded again.

“Ah Chan, do you know that Food is the God of the people? Even if you are the emperor, you should have three meals a day[footnote]People view food as the primary need. / Food first, ethical niceties second[/footnote]. Otherwise, your body wouldn’t be able to bear it……”

Wen Chan was shocked. Only then did he realize that these words were uttered from the beak of the bird in front of him. He stood up from the seat, frowning slightly, and walked around the birdcage, saying, “Who are you? Show your true form quickly you evil.”

The bird remained motionless.

How many people in the current world knew that Wen Chan had once been an emperor?

He had thought about many possibilities and even doubted whether Liang Yanbei was reborn like him. However, various signs showed that this was not the case. If Liang Yanbei had really been born again, he might have already been living comfortably at home with Situ Zhoulan in his arms.

Wen Chan had doubted many people, but he had never doubted a bird.

He stared at the bird in front of him and said in his heart: This must be a demonic bird. Speaking recklessly will be a bad thing. Why don’t I kill it now to avoid the consequences?

But he was also very confused as to why the bird said those words.

So Wen Chan planned to talk to the demonic bird. He sat down beside it again and said to the bird, “Don’t pretend. I know you are an evil spirit.”

The demonic bird spread its wings and stood firmly on the wooden pillar in the bird cage.

“Did you say those words to me just now?” Wen Chan asked again.

Originally, he wanted to threaten it with a few words. But then he thought, what if the demon bird had great magical powers and broke out of the cage after being angered by him? It was not worth it.

“Ah Chan, why didn’t you come to the morning court today? Are you sick?” The demonic bird spoke again, in the same tone as its previous two sentences, full of concern.

“What’s the matter with you? Let me ask you again, why are you continuing to say these things?” Wen Chan patted the birdcage and thought, could it be that I guessed wrong?

If this bird were in the same situation as him and came back from the future, then it was still a bird, and it couldn’t do anything except imitate speech.

In other words, the bird in front of him was still an ordinary bird?

Wen Chan suddenly felt a little stupid for talking to a bird. He laughed self-deprecatingly and said in a warning tone, “That’s enough. If you say anything anymore, I will pluck all your feathers and cook you. Don’t think just because you were sent by Liang Yanbei, I can’t bear to part with you.”

The bird jumped suddenly, and suddenly spread its wings, and fluttered. The little birdcage was shaken from side to side by its movements. Wen Chan was taken aback and hurriedly used his hands to support it by holding, “What are you doing? Are you angry after I said a few words to you? A bird has such a bad temper?”

“Ah Chan! Ah Chan!” The bird yelled frantically, with a stern voice. Wen Chan was so shocked that he took off his hands and went to look at the bird again. He was shocked to find that the bird’s original dark eyes were blood-red.

The color was very dark and a bit weird. Wen Chan retreated repeatedly. Just when he was about to open his mouth to call for help, his legs hit the soft chair behind him, and he fell into the fox fur. Then his eyes went black, and he couldn’t see anything.

The sound in his ears gradually became clearer. Instead of the shrill screams of birds, there was the rustling sound of wind blowing leaves. And together with it came a strong, piercing light. Wen Chan frowned and slowly opened his eyes.

The scene in front of him stunned him. He felt that he was hanging high. Then, when he looked down, he clearly saw the red wall and the yellow top.

Next to him was a tree with lush branches and leaves, with white pear blossoms clustered together[footnote][/footnote]. When the breeze blew, the petals floated in the air and slid past Wen Chan’s eyes.

Pear blossoms?

In the previous life, the favorite flowers of the father-son pair, Liang Yanbei and Liang Shaojing, were pear blossoms. The entire general’s mansion was almost full of pear blossom trees, so every time Wen Chan saw pear blossoms, the first one he would think about was him.

Taking another look at the pavilions and kiosks, the small bridges, and the stone creeks in the courtyard, it seems that it was indeed the general’s mansion. Although Wen Chan had not gone there frequently, he still remembered the scenery inside very clearly.

How did he come to the general’s mansion in the blink of an eye?

Could it be…… Wen Chan’s whole body shook, and a fierce fear surged into his heart. Could it be that he was back again?！

Back to decades later, back to the painful years?

No! Never! Wen Chan wanted to shout loudly, but he couldn’t make a sound, as if his throat was strangled. Then he realized that his body couldn’t move.

He wanted to struggle hard but found that there was nowhere for him to use his strength.

Just as he was anxious in his heart, suddenly there was a voice speaking again. He lowered his eyes and saw the steward of Liang Mansion coming over on his knees with a flattering smile on his face. Behind him was a man in a brocade robe. The man was looking at the scenery in the mansion.

Wen Chan only thought that this man in the brocade robe looked quite familiar.

When the two of them walked diagonally below Wen Chan, a cry suddenly sounded in his ears, “Wait!”

The next moment, he discovered that the cry was actually coming from his own throat, and he was immediately horrified.

He saw the man below raise his head when he heard the sound, and look straight up. At this time, Wen Chan was really frightened.

Because the man in the brocade robe standing below was actually himself!

He couldn’t be more familiar with his face. At such a close distance, Wen Chan could see clearly. This man was exactly the same as himself, but he was a little older and had some great changes on his face. Then those beautiful eyes suddenly lit up when he saw him.

He pointed to Wen Chan and said, “This bird is so fine!”

The steward hurriedly said, “This is bought by the general from out of town. He is very smart and can imitate speech!”

After speaking, he also said to Wen Chan, “Quickly say a few words for His Majesty to hear.”

“Come down! Come down quickly!” Wen Chan heard the little girl’s voice.

The steward laughed, “It must be that the young master always chased it and shouted those sentences so much that it learned to say that.”

The man looked happy, and his whole face lit up with a smile, “It is like a little girl.”

“The general spent a lot of effort to bring it back, just to please the lady. The whole general’s mansion treats it as a treasure!” The steward also smiled.

However, when the man heard this, his smile dimmed, and he said calmly, “Your general is thoughtful.”

Wen Chan suddenly remembered this scene. Liang Yanbei went to the battlefield to kill the enemy and did not return for several months. He took the opportunity to visit Liang’s mansion. That was the first time he saw the fiery red bird. He liked it very much at that time and kept thinking about it since then.

The scene that had gradually blurred in his memory appeared in front of him, and Wen Chan realized that he had turned into the fiery red bird, and the man he saw in his eyes was exactly himself back then.

He did not return to the place where he used to be but was just using a pair of bird’s eyes to see the scene of the past. Thinking of this, he slowly calmed down and was no longer panicked.

Whether it was a demonic method used by the bird or not, there was no danger now.

Then the steward took the emperor Wen Chan inside, and his eyes darkened again.

This time, the light was not as glaring as before, but it was a faint candlelight. What he could see then was very limited, but he could roughly see at a glance that he was in a room where wooden tables and reclining chairs were placed.

A low sigh came.

With a sudden turn of his gaze, Wen Chan looked through the cage and saw a person sitting at the table. Half of this person’s face was hidden in the dim light, which made his nose bridge taller and his eyebrows and eyes more handsome.

He choked on his breath and recognized that this was Liang Yanbei.

To be precise, he should be called Liang Heng at this time, the general of Xi Liang, the husband of Situ Zhoulan, and the father of Liang Shaojing.

There were obvious wrinkles on his face. Even if his face was handsome, it was left with indelible traces over the years. Wen Chan could tell from his appearance that this moment was years apart from the previous scene.

The young Liang Yanbei had always been spirited and wore a charming smile, but now his face was full of gloominess and helpless sorrow.

The moment he saw Liang Yanbei’s expression like this, Wen Chan felt uncomfortable in his heart, and wanted to open his mouth and ask him: Why this expression? Did something happen?

However, he was trapped in the bird’s body and couldn’t do this at all.

Liang Yanbei sighed again, and his tired voice came, “Ah Chan, I heard that you didn’t have breakfast today, and your stomach disease recurred. You are obviously sick. Why don’t you eat well?”

These words were like a sudden clap of thunder, hitting Wen Chan’s ears hard, and all his blood boiled from the shock, making him confused.

This tone was exactly the same as that when the bird talked just now, or was it that what the bird said was actually learned from Liang Yanbei?

This is impossible! Impossible!

How could Liang Yanbei say this to a bird for no reason? It was completely unexplainable!

“Why don’t you take good care of yourself? You are busy with state affairs every day. Sooner or later, you will be exhausted one day.” Liang Yanbei’s tone had both dissatisfaction and helplessness, “You, you……”

“I risked my life to secure the Xi Liang, not for it to wear out your body. If you keep going like this, if you keep going like this……”

Liang Yanbei was still muttering to himself, but Wen Chan could hear every word he said clearly. And the more he heard it, the more he felt his brain was congested.

Looking at this, Liang Yanbei was clearly worried about him, right? Worried about why he always skipped breakfast and worried about his hard work for state affairs.

However, Wen Chan in his previous life had no idea of these worries!

In front of Wen Chan, he always called him “Your Majesty”, showing great respect, but also seem distant. Even when Wen Chan was not the emperor, Liang Yanbei called him “Your Highness” and rarely called him “Ah Chan” as intimately as he did now.

And every call could make his heart tremble.

Liang Yanbei didn’t know how long he had been sitting at the table, nor how long he had been muttering to himself when suddenly the bird on the table interrupted him.

“Ah Chan! Ah Chan!” Perhaps because it had heard it so many times, the bird had learned to call like this.

Liang Yanbei turned his eyes when he heard this, was silent for a moment, and smiled slightly, “It seems that I really miss him too much, even you have heard it.”

The bird moved its head, “Ah Chan, Ah Chan.”

He opened the cage, gently touched the bird’s feathers, and smiled softly, “Ah Chan likes you the most. If he hears you call him, he will be very happy.”

In fact, he was not. Wen Chan was almost scared to death when he heard the bird calling him just now.

“You go.” Liang Yanbei picked up the birdcage and opened its window. The night was thick outside, and the general’s mansion was silent, “Leave the general’s mansion, leave the capital, and never come back.”

Wen Chan looked at the night scene and then looked at Liang Yanbei again. Looking at his face against the candlelight, he couldn’t see clearly. He only heard him say, “Go, go. Don’t call out that name in the future, and don’t say what you learned from me again. Be careful of being slaughtered.”

It let out a low cry, like an ordinary bird, and then Wen Chan saw himself rise into the air, flying out of the bird cage, and flying all the way to the sky above the general’s mansion. Now it was a brightly lit house. He circled around the mansion, and many people saw it, but they didn’t care.

Liang Yanbei looked up at him, then turned around and closed the window, without a trace of reluctance or nostalgia.

After the bird circled the Liang Mansion a few times, it suddenly spread its wings and flew straight up. It flew very high and disappeared into the vast clouds. The whole capital was in sight. Strangely, Wen Chan did not feel scared.

He felt that the bird was still going up. The thick clouds covered the moonlight, and the whole earth became dark. Wen Chan’s vision also dimmed, and the sound of the wind continued.

He knew that this fiery red bird had left Liang Mansion, and many people were amazed by it back then, because everyone knew that the bird in the general mansion recognized its home, and it was usually not caged.

But on such a peaceful night, it spread its wings and left.

Wen Chan had regretted this for a long time at that time, thinking that if he had known that the bird would run away, he should have sent someone to steal it.

As if he had passed through nine layers of clouds, there was light in front of him again, and the scenery in his sight began to become clear. He then kept going down from a height and finally slowed down. And he stopped on the branch of a tree.

This was still the Liang Mansion.

The branch was across the window, and he could easily see the scene inside the room. Liang Yanbei sat with his back to the window in the room. There were no servants around, and it was very quiet.

“Liang Heng! Are you crazy? You let Jin’er go to the war?!” A sharp and shrill voice suddenly came out, and Situ Zhoulan walked to the window like this, staring at Liang Yanbei with glaring eyes.

With just this sentence, Wen Chan guessed the current time. It should be the 22nd year of Shengyuan, the year when Liang Shaojing was 19 years old.

When the enemies invaded the border, Liang Heng fell ill. Wen Chan suppressed several petitions from him volunteering to go to the battlefield and strictly prohibited him from going to the battlefield with illness. Wen Chan was very much panicked at that time, fearing that he would be stubborn and go, and then never come back.

Later, Liang Yanbei really gave up, and then it was Liang Shaojing who asked to fight on his father’s behalf. Wen Chan suddenly felt as though his head could explode. He had just dealt with the father, and his son came up too.

Naturally, he refused, but Liang Shaojing was determined and even began to set up an expedition banquet at home, which was known all over the city. Finally, forced by helplessness, Wen Chan granted him military power and repeatedly told him to put his safety first.

He could accept defeat, but he could not accept that Liang Shaojing was injured as a result. Fortunately, Liang Shaojing returned triumphantly in the end.

Seeing the scene in front of him, Wen Chan just felt that he was kept in the dark.

Situ Zhoulan has always been cold and indifferent. Wen Chan had never seen her so hysterical as at this moment, with red eyes and a ferocious face.

“Do you want to kill Jin’er?!”

Liang Yanbei said solemnly, “Protecting the family and defending the country is what a man should do. If he wants to grow up, he must go through this stage.”

Situ Zhoulan laughed crazily, “You are too ridiculous, Liang Heng! You can deceive outsiders with this kind of high-sounding reason! But you also want to deceive me? You did it just for your own selfish desires. You want to protect Xi Liang! You want to protect that one surnamed Wen! Why do you want to drag our family to be buried with you?!”

“Enough!” Liang Yanbei shouted.

“Enough?” She gritted her teeth, “It’s not enough at all! You don’t want to hear it, but I want to say it! You have worked hard for the man surnamed Wen to build the kingdom of Xi Liang. If he can’t even defend this territory, it will prove that he is not worthy of being the emperor at all. It’s better to give up the throne early. His sons under him are waiting for him to die!”

Liang Yanbei suddenly got up and turned his head to look at Situ Zhoulan. That well-known face carried a sickly look and anger, “Situ Zhoulan, you know the bottom line of my tolerance.”

“So what? If you have the ability, you can kill me with a single slash!”

Liang Yanbei sneered, “Why should I kill you? Everything you said is right.”

On his face, there was an expression that Wen Chan had never seen before, sharp and ruthless, “As long as I am alive, I will guard Xi Liang and Wen Chan. As long as he needs me, I will always be there, even if I have to give up the entire Liang family.”

“Your life, Jin’er’s life, and including my life.”

Wen Chan was shocked all over, and his whole world began to turn upside down.

Situ Zhoulan shed tears and said bitterly, “We are your relatives, and Jin’er is your own son who is related to you by blood! You are so cruel! We have lived together for so many years, but I am still no match for Wen Chan?!”

“When did I acknowledge the family you made up by dirty means?” Liang Yanbei said, “If it weren’t for someone I love in the capital, I would have left here a long time ago and never come back.”

“The one you love?” Situ Zhoulan was overjoyed and said excitedly, “Is it Jin’er? You still have some feelings for him. Even if you hate me, Jin’er is innocent. He is indeed your flesh and blood, right?”

However, Liang Yanbei said coldly, “The one I love is in the palace, sitting on the dragon throne above thousands of people. There is no one else except him.”

After Wen Chan heard this, his whole body was sluggish, and his mind froze as if he couldn’t think about anything.

This was too straightforward and obvious.

He seemed to have been in a huge scam. What he had originally seen with his own eyes and the facts he had firmly believed in were all shattered like snow at this moment, and completely broken.

In his previous life, Liang Yanbei loved Situ Zhoulan so much that the entire capital was envious of the affection between the husband and wife. Then how come they are like enemies in this place where no one can see them?

And from Liang Yanbei’s words, we were able to know that they got married back then because Situ Zhoulan used some means to make Liang Yanbei give in, and he had always been unwilling in his heart.

But what could be used to coerce Liang Yanbei? It was no exaggeration to say that Wen Chan believed that no one in the world could make Liang Yanbei compromise, not even his parents.

The quarrel on the other side continued. Situ Zhoulan suddenly went crazy after hearing Liang Yanbei’s words. She rushed to the bookcase and swept all the books on it to the ground. They were piled up at her feet, and it was a mess in an instant.

She still didn’t care, crying, and pulled all the books on the bookcase, and stretched out her hand to pull out a secret compartment.

Liang Yanbei was anxious when he saw this, and hurriedly stepped forward to grab her, “Situ Zhoulan, don’t touch it!”

But it was still a step too late. She held the small wooden box in the dark compartment in her arms, stepped back, and moved her hands very quickly. She opened the small wooden box, took out something from it, and smashed the wooden box on the ground, shouting in hatred, “Don’t come over! Otherwise, I will smash it!”

Liang Yanbei stopped immediately, his face full of anger throughout. But he really didn’t dare to take a step further. He said, biting his cheek, “You put it down.”

Wen Chan was still wondering what could threaten Liang Yanbei? After a closer look, he found that the thing in Situ Zhoulan’s hand was not unfamiliar.

It was a flute. The whole body was dark red in color, with gold silk wrapped around the ends, and a bright yellow tassel hanging at the end. The tassel was made by Wen Chan himself.

This was the flute that he gave to Liang Yanbei the night before he got married. He had engraved all his thoughts and love into the flute, with a “Chan” character at the beginning and a “Bei” character at the end.

What he thought at that time was that even if there was no hope for the two of them in the future, at least on this flute, the two of them could be connected in some wonderful way.

It’s just that after this flute was given to Liang Yanbei, he never saw him take it out again. Even when Wen Chan was dying, Liang Yanbei mercifully played the flute for him once, and the flute he used was just an ordinary dark yellow flute.

What he really didn’t expect was that Liang Yanbei still kept this flute!

Situ Zhoulan held the flute in her hand and raised it high, tears kept flowing down her face. The hatred on her face gradually became a little bit resentful, “Liang Heng, look at yourself like this. You don’t know how ridiculous it is! You miss him so much, but what about him? Sitting on the dragon throne, enjoying the three thousand beauties in the harem, and having a bunch of sons and daughters. You obviously only have this one, but you still want to send him to his death! Is your heart made of iron?!”

Liang Yanbei stared closely at the flute, with red, bloodshot eyes. He took a deep breath to calm down a little and said in a slower tone, “Put the flute down, we will talk about it.”

“If I had known earlier, I should have poisoned Wen Chan directly when I met him, and completely cut off your thoughts! It would have also saved so much trouble!” Situ Zhoulan shouted in despair, the grip on his hands getting tighter and tighter, and the veins on the back of her fair and clear hands were exposed, “He was originally the son of a fallen country, a waste who survived the defeat of the entire royal family. Back then, you betrayed the entire Liang family who gave birth to you and raised you for him and almost angered your father to death. Now you are sending our only son to the battlefield for him. Do you still have any humanity?!”

Wen Chan suddenly felt a pain in his heart and felt that the ear-piercing words that Situ Zhoulan cursed him with were harsh.

Liang Yanbei was his beloved, and anyone who scolded him despised him or laughed at him would make Wen Chan hurt.

Of course, apart from in fighting, Wen Chan had never seen anyone who could beat Liang Yanbei.

When Liang Yanbei heard this, his eyes narrowed, and all his anger sank, turning into ice ballast in the cold winter and the twelfth lunar month, making people shiver, “Situ Zhoulan if you had touched him, you would definitely not have lived to this day, understand?”

Liang Yanbei’s words made her flinch, and her raised hand trembled, only to hear him say again, “You were able to live to this day, not only because of Jin’er but also for another very important reason — — You have never done anything to Ah Chan. If it weren’t for this, you would have already become a dead soul under my knife, and a piece of loess on this earth[footnote]Denoting a grave.[/footnote].”

His tone was very light, completely different from the previous rage, but it was even more terrifying.

Wen Chan only felt a warmth surging from the bottom of his heart, quickly overflowing in his body, and a taste sweeter than a candied fruit flooded his whole body.

Situ Zhoulan stared at Liang Yanbei in disbelief. It was unknown what she was thinking, but she swung his flute and slammed it to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, Liang Yanbei rushed forward, so fast that one could not see him, grabbed Situ Zhoulan’s wrist, successfully snatched the flute, and then slapped her in the face too.

A crisp sound echoed in the room. Situ Zhoulan screamed and was directly knocked to the ground by this force. When she looked up again, bright red blood slowly flowed from the corner of her mouth.

Liang Yanbei had hit Situ Zhoulan??

Wen Chan almost thought his eyes were broken. Could it be that he saw it wrong? He blinked hard, and the scene in front of him remained unchanged. He saw Liang Yanbei holding the flute and looking down at Situ Zhoulan condescendingly.

The look was so cold that even Wen Chan was frightened when he saw it.

He said, “From today on, stay away from me. Otherwise, I won’t be able to help but kill you at some point.”

The last scene of the sight was Situ Zhoulan’s desperate face, and then the familiar darkness and the scene switched again.

Translator’s corner

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