Lan Ming Yue

Mostly, even dogs were unwilling to go to the mass grave within thirty miles outside the suburbs of the capital.

 

During the day, it seemed to be shrouded with a gloomy layer of fog, with the wind howling in the forest, as if countless wronged souls were wailing. At night, it was even quieter, so quiet that it didn’t seem like it belonged to the human world, and even ghosts dared not cry.

 

The tall branches swayed slightly, and the moonlight shone down, cutting out a handsome figure overhead, who was leaning against the tree with his knees bent and carrying wine, looking very happy.

 

Liang Ye counted the corpses around him. Not counting those considered rotten into the soil, there should be two hundred and twenty-one. There was also a child of eight or nine years old who was staring at him, speechless due to shock, looking above with two sticks of incense. The kid hesitatingly exhaled a breath.

 

The mass grave, where unwanted people were buried, when one died, they would only become a wandering soul and wild ghost.

 

Liang Ye swallowed the wine slowly and stared at the moon in the sky. The cold light made him squint his eyes slightly.

 

What is he doing here?

 

Cannot remember.

 

What was he doing before he came?

 

Cannot remember.

 

It was already summer, and the smell here was really disgusting, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave.

 

Since he’s already here, let’s just stay.

 

He counted the corpses here for several days and drank two jars of wine till it was empty. Before leaving, he had a sudden thought: the place is really stinky. He squatted on a branch, holding the wine jar with one hand and feeling inside his sleeve with the other, and found a flame fold.

 

And then a fire was set here.

 

The summer was dry, and the trees here were dense. The flames jumped up to the height of a person, and the entire mountain was caught off guard.

 

The nearby villagers beat gongs and drums and held buckets to put out the fire. After hearing the news, the officers and soldiers who rushed over quickly also cursed and put out the fire proficiently, as if they had rehearsed it many times.

 

Liang Ye, carrying an empty jar, walked down the mountain against the crowd, then he heard someone cursing, “Which fucking ancestor is it, coming to the mountain to set fire on this day every year? Deserving to die a thousand cuts!”

 

The ‘deserving to die a thousand cuts’ ancestor leisurely went down the mountain, and spent a few days circling for the most part, but still couldn’t remember what the hell he came out to do here.

 

It’s just that I don’t really want to go back.

 

He squatted in a small Taoist temple on the outskirts for another half month, finished nibbling on a dry pancake offered to the ancestral master, buckled half of the foot to the ancestral master’s golden body, and finally he waited for his master. (TL: ancestral master here is Buddha)

 

His master was benign and openhearted, and he wore a simple Taoist robe with an air of a wandering immortal. He had a whisk and a sword that were untouchable. His face was as cold and indifferent as ever, and even when he saw the foot on the ancestral master’s golden body being removed, he was only silent for a while.

 

Liang Ye walked around him, reached out and took out a cloth pouch from his sleeve, which contained three sesame seed meat pancakes. He very wisely took only one, and stuffed the remaining two back into his master’s hands. .

 

“All the people in Eastern Chen’s Piaoxue Mountain Village were massacred, you did it.” There was no doubt in Yue Jingming’s tone.

 

Liang Ye sat on the futon while chewing the sesame seed meat pancake and said casually. “Forgot.”

 

“You can’t even spare the dog and slap it to death.” Yue Jingming said calmly, “Too ruthless.”

 

“It bit me!” Liang Ye was not convinced, “I just gently patted its dog head.”

 

“You just said you forgot.”

 

“…I have an impression when you talk about dogs.”

 

“Why did you come back again?” Yue Jingming looked down at him.

 

“Forgot.” Liang Ye continued to eat the sesame seed meat pancake, “Master, please calculate for me.”

 

Yue Jingming ignored him, but from the look in his eyes he probably wanted to kick him out as an unscrupulous disciple.

 

“You won’t be able to leave when you come back this time.” Yue Jingming only gave him a faint glance, finally, with a hint of regret in his tone.

 

Liang Ye looked up at him and smiled, “Then I won’t leave.”

 

Yue Jingming looked at him with neither sadness nor happiness in his eyes. After all, the words said from the mouth were unbearable, “Three thousand mortal world paths, you choose the most bitter one.”

 

Liang Ye swallowed the last bite of the pancake and suddenly realized, “I remembered, I was going to take Chong Heng to find you and my martial uncle.”

 

Yue Jingming was silent for a moment, “Your martial uncle and I have been waiting for you for five months.”

 

“Halfway forgot.” Liang Ye didn’t feel any guilt at all. He smiled and tried to reach out to the two remaining sesame seed meat pancakes in his sleeves, but was swept away by the whisk.

 

The master and the disciple looked at each other in silence, and Liang Ye curled his lips, “What kind of wide variety of exquisite and luxurious foods does Zhen have not tasted before, don’t care about your two broken pancakes.”

 

Then he was beaten to the ground with a whisk.

 

When he raised his head again, Yue Jingming had disappeared, not even a single strand of the whisk was left behind.

 

Liang Ye boredly buckled his foot again on the ancestral master’s golden body, clapped his hands and whistled. A big red horse came in response, he jumped onto the horse and galloped towards the palace.

 

****

 

After not seeing Liang Ye for nearly a month, Wang Dian’s days couldn’t be more happy.

 

Except for Wei Wanlin, this stubborn man, who refused to go to the Eastern Palace Six Rates to help him train troops.

 

“This subject leads troops to fight, not to play with children.” Wei Wanlin knelt in front of the steps, stubbornly sticking to his position, while the beard on his face trembled with anger.

 

“Wanlin.” Wang Dian sat on the steps and discussed with him in a good voice, “Zhen values you. You’re not unaware of the situation in the court either. Zhen really doesn’t have anyone available on hand, otherwise, taking ten thousand steps back, even if Zhen agrees to let you go back to the northwest, you’ve already spent a year in the Capital, can you still get the military power back from the Cui family?”

 

Wei Wanlin was not ignorant of this truth, but relatively speaking, Wang Dian, the moody emperor, made him feel that there was no hope.

 

“You help Zhen train the troops, and Zhen will help you recapture the Northern Army.” Wang Dian was continuously being cold for a month, and finally gave him a smile, plus a temptation he couldn’t resist.

 

Wei Wanlin looked at him suspiciously, “There are so many generals staying in the Capital, why does Your Majesty only choose this subject?”

 

“Of course it’s because you are brave and skillful in battle and have outstanding abilities.” Wang Dian said with a smile.

 

As well as easy to deceive.

 

What followed was a series of rainbow farts and painted pancakes. (TL: means a series of exaggerated, insincere compliments or flattery, along with making big, unrealistic promises or exaggerations.)

 

As a former company president, no one was better at painting pancakes than Wang Dian. He painted a pancake that was round, big, and delicious to Wei Wanlin. Everything was perfect except that he couldn’t eat it now.

 

Wei Wanlin was fooled into a daze by him that he left the palace entrance with a silly smile on his face.

 

That day, he talked with Wen Zong again late at night. Although the pancake painting skills of the elderly and the young were different, they were almost the same. The conversation between the monarch and his subject was very pleasant, playing chess and chatting about one’s martial arts skills, while homes of two important ministers outside were ransacked, and silver flowed like flowing water into the national treasury.

 

“Zhen can’t help it either.” Wang Dian sighed, “mainly because Zhen is in a bad mood today.”

 

“Your Majesty, all the people in this world belong to you.” Wen Zong also sighed, “It is not the first time that everyone knows about your temper. It is reasonable to kill two ministers accidentally. Presumably the Grand Empress Dowager will not be too harsh.”

 

“What the Imperial Preceptor said is right.”

 

The two people looked at each other and said nothing.

 

It was already past midnight when Wang Dian took a rest. He couldn’t fall asleep while flipping through books. Yun Fu came in and lit the soothing incense twice, and asked him curiously, “Your Majesty, aren’t you sleepy?”

 

“Not sleepy.” Wang Dian felt that his deep-rooted biological clock was still stubbornly resisting. Even if he went to court every morning, he would have to endure those hours before he could close his eyes.

 

Yun Fu awkwardly retreated.

 

Just as he was about to doze off, he suddenly felt someone touching his face. Immediately, his spirit stirred and he quickly reached for the sleeve arrow under the pillow. It’s just that when he raised his hand, before he could fully open his eyes….

 

He saw a familiar face. He couldn’t tell for a moment whether his heart was pleasantly surprised or frightened. He stared at him with a complicated expression, “Liang Ye?”

 

Liang Ye raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a somewhat unfamiliar gaze, but with full of interest. He didn’t care about the poisoned arrow aimed at him and wanted to reach out and touch his face.

 

He touched the thin skin behind his ears with warm fingertips and rubbed it with some force. Then Wang Dian saw Liang Ye raise his eyebrows in surprise.

 

“It’s not a mask.” Wang Dian sighed and stuffed his sleeve arrow under the pillow again.

 

Liang Ye watched his movements with interest, stretched out his hand and pinched his Adam’s apple again. Wang Dian almost retched from the pinch. He slapped Liang Ye’s paw away angrily, “A man, not a disguise and not a girl from Southern Xinjiang.”

 

Liang Ye chuckled lightly and reached out to untie his belt. Wang Dian grabbed his hand and gritted his teeth and said, “That’s enough. If you forgot, just ask Chong Heng.”

 

Liang Ye squinted his eyes, held him down and clasped his wrist firmly, he then tore open his belt without hesitation and touched down, “Huh?”

 

“Hey, you fucker!” Wang Dian pushed him away angrily, straightened the messy clothes and pants, and looked at him completely, not sure if he still remembered him at present.

 

Apparently it looks like he forgot.

 

Wang Dian felt a sense of suffocation for no reason. Although there were no memories worth preserving between him and this lunatic, the feeling of being forgotten was always unpleasant.

 

Liang Ye sat astride his waist. The poisoned sleeve arrow fell into his hand at some point. He spun it around in a flexible and graceful manner and aimed it at his left eye.

 

Wang Dian subconsciously held his breath and stared at him warily and cautiously.

 

The poisoned arrow was only a finger away from his eye.

 

Liang Ye leaned down with a smile, lowered his head and sniffed his neck gently, then rubbed his chin affectionately with the tip of his nose, “Smells good.”

 

A strange feeling suddenly welled up in Wang Dian’s heart. He looked directly into Liang Ye’s eyes and asked, “Have you not forgotten?”

 

Liang Ye lowered his head and rubbed his cheek with the tip of his nose, but never put down the poisoned arrow aimed at him. Hearing this, he said, “Forgot what?”

 

Wang Dian’s cheeks itched when he rubbed him, and he subconsciously turned away, “Are you a dog that sniffs around?”

 

Liang Ye took the poisoned arrow and gently poked his exposed neck, and said with a swish, “Dare to move again, Zhen will pierce your neck.”

 

Wang Dian froze, his Adam’s apple rolled slightly, and frowned, “I have the Gu worm you planted on me. You can kill me without the poisoned arrow.”

 

Liang Ye clicked his tongue, threw the sleeve arrow on the ground, and touched his neck, “If you let Zhen bite you back, Zhen won’t kill you.”

 

Wang Dian turned his head abruptly and said, “You really haven’t forgotten.”

 

Liang Ye reached out and poked his face hard, “Zhen still likes your forbearing expression just now.”

 

“Scram!” Wang Dian became furious and wanted to kick him down.

 

Idiot! Lunatic!

 

Liang Ye sat on his stomach and burst into laughter. He stretched out his hand to clasp his fist he planned to hit, forcefully spread open his fingers and inserted his own fingers in, pressing it against the soft quilt and lowered his head to lick his wrist with tiny blue veins and said to himself, “It’s also quite fragrant here.”

 

Wang Dian’s scalp exploded by his licking. He struggled hard but couldn’t break free, “What’s wrong with you!”

 

Liang Ye raised his head and stared at him with a heavy gaze, “Zhen is hungry.”

 

Wang Dian was stunned, “What?”

 

Liang Ye clasped his hand in reverse, then took it and touched the scar on his neck where he was bitten. He lowered his head and gave him a demon-like smile, “Zhen is hungry, you take another bite.”