WJ Chapter 15

Making Plans (4)

As dusk was falling, Wen Feng stood at the entrance of Yangxin Hall.

He was looking for Sect Leader Yun. The Sect Leader had clearly said that morning he would take that little medicine person to the Medicine Gate, but he hadn’t been seen for most of the day. When Wen Feng went to the Medicine Gate to find him, they said the Sect Leader had already returned long ago——

Returned? But the question was, where was he?

He couldn’t find him anywhere!

Where on earth had the Sect Leader gone back to——

Don’t tell me he got lost in his own sect…!?

Wen Feng felt his young heart was about to break from worry.

He had personally attended to Yun Changliu since childhood, and he knew better than anyone that this Sect Leader who appeared to be an untouchable flower on a high peak actually had a whole heap of problems. For instance, he didn’t like to talk. For instance, he had no sense of direction.

Clutching onto a slim hope, Wen Feng knocked twice before pushing open the doors of Yangxin Hall, hoping to see the Sect Leader had already obediently returned, so that he wouldn’t have to carry a lantern around late at night searching for his master.

Inside Yangxin Hall, it was extremely quiet.

The sunset at the horizon, on the verge of collapse, had ignited the crimson clouds, and the light of those clouds flowed across the carved window lattices, the shadows they cast passing through the thin gauze curtains with flowing tassels hanging by the bed, reflecting on the few strands of black hair scattered among the bedding.

Wen Feng at the doorway nearly slipped and fell to his knees.

——That person sleeping in the Sect Leader’s bed—wasn’t that the Protector!?

Afraid he had seen wrong, he hurried over in quick strides and lifted the curtain.

Guan Wujue lay on his side on the bed, eyes peacefully closed, half his face buried in the layers of overlapping pillows and quilts. His hair crown had been removed, his ink-black hair spread across his jade-porcelain-like face. His delicate features had shed some of their sharpness, his long lashes casting a faint shadow at the bottom of his eyes, making him appear quiet and soft.

Half of Wen Feng’s face went stiff, barely able to maintain his usual graceful composure.

The hand holding the gauze curtain loosened, and the curtain fell with a whoosh.

As if disturbed by the sound, Guan Wujue’s eyelids trembled slightly. He slowly opened them a crack, his dark, profound eyes carrying the confusion of just being awakened, gazing lazily at Wen Feng and humming through his nose, “……Mm?”

Wen Feng’s expression grew even more peculiar. He lowered his voice and waved his hands repeatedly. “You keep sleeping, keep sleeping! I’ll leave right now……”

Guan Wujue stared at him with half-closed eyes for a few breaths before finally stirring among the pile of bedding, unhurriedly propping himself up. The quilt slid down from his lean back as he moved, revealing the somewhat wrinkled snow-white inner robe underneath, his beautiful collarbone appearing and disappearing.

Wen Feng had the urge to cover his eyes: This was clearly a completely normal scene, but happening in the Sect Leader’s bed made it seem strangely intimate……

He asked, “Protector Guan, how did you end up here?”

Guan Wujue still had that drowsy look as he leaned against the headboard, one hand clutching the corner of the quilt, not making a sound. Wen Feng couldn’t help but hold his head and sigh deeply, “My good Protector, are you awake yet? Do you know where you are!”

“……I know, Yangxin Hall.” Guan Wujue rubbed his brow with moderate pressure, using one hand to tuck his loose long hair behind his ear, his gaze gradually clearing. “Where’s the Sect Leader?”

Wen Feng said, “That’s what I want to ask you!”

Guan Wujue said, “How would I know.”

Wen Feng was exasperated. “Then how are you in the Sect Leader’s Yangxin Hall!?”

Guan Wujue shrugged very innocently. “I had nowhere to sleep, so the Sect Leader found me a place. You know the Sect Leader’s temperament—I couldn’t win against him, and I was really too tired to argue with him……so I let him have his way.”

Wen Feng: “The Sect Leader let you sleep in Yangxin Hall, so where did he go?”

Guan Wujue: “You just said I was sleeping, and you’re still asking me?”

“……”

Wen Feng shut his mouth. He felt that in front of the Four Directions Protector, he seemed like a fool. Or rather, the Four Directions Protector just had this ability to turn everyone who conversed with him into a fool……except for the Sect Leader, of course.

Just as he was about to give up conversing with this fellow and prepare to admit defeat and continue searching, he suddenly heard light, steady footsteps coming from the doorway behind him.

The white-robed attendant turned to look, not knowing whether to cry or laugh——who else could be entering but the very Sect Leader Yun he had been searching for all along?

Yun Changliu’s expression was placid, holding a sandalwood tray in one hand with a bowl of medicine on it. The Sect Leader glanced indifferently at the Protector on the bed, and as he walked past Wen Feng, he blandly reproached his attendant. “What did you wake him for?”

Wen Feng instantly felt extremely wronged. “Sect Leader, I……”

Yun Changliu walked straight up to Guan Wujue and held out the medicine bowl in his hand. “Drink your medicine.”

Wen Feng: “……”

Guan Wujue shrank back. He didn’t want to drink medicine. Taking medicine just for coughing up some blood—for people like them who lived in bloody rain and reeking winds of the jianghu, this was really making too much of a small matter. The Sect Leader should clearly understand this reasoning too.

So he pushed the medicine bowl back as respectfully as possible. “Thank you, Sect Leader, but this medicine isn’t necessary. The Old Sect Leader intended only a warning and didn’t truly injure this subordinate. Moreover……”

Yun Changliu insisted, “Drink your medicine.”

“……Moreover,” Guan Wujue was also insisting. He tried to remind the Sect Leader of his identity as the divine physician’s adopted son and personal disciple, “if there were serious injuries, Wujue would know it himself.”

Yun Changliu: “Are you drinking it or not?”

The glow of the sunset by the window tangled their shadows together as both sides persisted in confrontation.

Unfortunately, this confrontation lasted less than a few breaths before one side rapidly crumbled in defeat. Guan Wujue pushed the quilt aside, sat up properly, and accepted the medicine bowl with both hands. “……Yes.”

Only then did Yun Changliu withdraw his hand with satisfaction.

The medicine was somewhat hot. Guan Wujue lowered his head and drank in small sips. Whether from internal injuries or exhaustion, his lips lacked some color. Now with his hair loose and wearing only a thin robe, his bare feet pressed against the cold floor—looking at him like this really did show a few traces of a patient’s pale frailty.

Somehow, Yun Changliu couldn’t bear to see Guan Wujue like this. With a cold expression, he reached out and pulled the quilt over, wrapping it around his shoulders. Before Guan Wujue could react, he turned around with his hands behind his back. As for what that person’s actual reaction was, he simply went with “out of sight, out of mind,” inadvertently mastering the art of self-deception.

Wen Feng on the side simply couldn’t bear to watch.

——Sect Leader, didn’t you have a falling out with the Protector!

Could it be that for you, not looking at the Protector while covering him with a quilt counts as having a falling out!

Or perhaps, not giving him a piece of candy along with delivering medicine counts as having a falling out!

Under Wen Feng’s indescribable gaze, Guan Wujue finished drinking the medicine. The moment his bowl left his lips, Yun Changliu, as if he had eyes in the back of his head, turned around and retrieved the empty bowl, then turned and left through the door. Wen Feng glared at Guan Wujue before hurriedly chasing after the Sect Leader.

Guan Wujue knew that Yun Changliu’s heart was still conflicted and he was unwilling to speak much with him. He sighed softly, tied up his own hair, put on his clothes piece by piece, then took the two swords hanging by the bed, intending to leave Yangxin Hall.

Unexpectedly, after walking just two steps toward the door, he saw two exquisitely dressed maidservants entering gracefully. The girls held food boxes in their hands and curtsied to Guan Wujue. “Protector, please stay. The Sect Leader has ordered that the Protector use his evening meal before leaving.”

Having said this, the two maidservants didn’t give Guan Wujue a chance to refuse. Quickly and orderly, they used the cloth draped over the food boxes to wipe the table clean, lifted the lids of the food boxes, and fragrant aromas and steaming white mist spread together.

“You all……never mind.”

Seeing the maidservants’ determined manner of arranging the exquisite dishes and delicacies one by one on the table, Guan Wujue knew he wouldn’t be leaving again. He could only hang his swords back up, resignedly sit down and pick up jade chopsticks, asking, “The Sect Leader told me to take my meal in Yangxin Hall—what about himself?”

These two maidservants weren’t very old—they were biological sisters. The older one was called Jin Lin, the younger one Yin Lang. Both had been trained under Wen Feng and had been specifically attending to the Sect Leader for four or five years. They were quite familiar with the Four Directions Protector as well.

The younger sister Yin Lang had a more lively temperament. Hearing this, she smiled, showing two dimples. “This servant heard the Sect Leader tell Attendant Wen that he was going to the Medicine Gate to pick up that green-robed young master. But just before leaving, he took his qin, so presumably tonight he’s going to Yanyun Palace to see the Old Sect Leader.”

“That is indeed a good thing.” Guan Wujue muttered to himself. He seemed thoughtful, then suddenly tapped the jade chopsticks in his hand on the dazzling array of food and dishes before him, lifting his head to give the two sisters a slight smile. “Mm, since the Sect Leader isn’t here, there’s no need for too many formalities. Why don’t you two sit down and eat together?”

Jin Lin and Yin Lang were startled and repeatedly declined, saying it wasn’t proper. Guan Wujue said unconcernedly, “What’s there to fear? I can’t finish all this anyway. Not to mention it would be a waste of food, but when the Sect Leader returns and sees it, he’ll probably scold me. Just consider it helping me out.”

The Protector spoke so earnestly that the younger Yin Lang began to swallow with hunger first, constantly signaling her sister with her eyes.

The meal they had delivered this time was all of the standard used by the Sect Leader—something ordinary people might not get to enjoy even once in a lifetime. And although Yun Changliu wasn’t harsh toward servants, with his temperament of not liking to be close to people, inviting maidservants to dine together was absolutely impossible, even though the two sisters had followed the Sect Leader for a long time.

So Jin Lin also began to waver under her sister’s hopeful gaze, thinking that given Protector Guan’s character, he surely wouldn’t make fun of two maidservants. Since he had spoken like this, he probably wouldn’t blame them afterward. Finally, she nodded hesitantly.

Soon two more pairs of chopsticks were added to the table. The two sisters ultimately didn’t have the courage to sit at the same table with the Four Directions Protector, so holding their bowls, they carefully stood and ate some, though they ate with great relish.

One table of food and dishes was quickly mostly consumed by the three people.

Guan Wujue calculated that it was time, so he gently set down his jade chopsticks and, in a gently coaxing tone, said, “Good, you’ve eaten what you should. Now……this Protector will ask you—how has the Sect Leader spent this past year?”

Jin Lin and Yin Lang simultaneously blinked their eyes in alarm, looking toward the composed Four Directions Protector.

An ominous premonition rose in the sisters’ hearts.

Guan Wujue asked with a gentle smile:

“What about Miss? What about Madam Lin?”

“Has anything major happened in the sect?”

“Young Master Danjing’s former subordinates……has the Sect Leader dealt with them?”

“Have any important guests come to Xifeng City, or has the Sect Leader personally received anyone?”

“No rush, you two think slowly, speak slowly.”

Yin Lang dumbly swallowed.

With tears in her eyes but unable to cry, she swallowed the last bite of sweet golden date paste cake in her mouth, feeling the happiness of fullness in her stomach, while two phrases suddenly floated into her mind.

The first phrase was: “Offering flowers borrowed from another to the Buddha.”

The second phrase: “When you’ve taken someone’s favor, your hands are tied; when you’ve eaten their food, your tongue grows soft”!

TL/N:

借花獻佛 (to offer flowers borrowed from another to the Buddha) → means to present something to someone as if it were your own gift, though it actually came from someone else; also implies borrowing another’s kindness to express one’s own goodwill.

拿人手短，吃人嘴軟 → literally “If you take someone’s hand, yours becomes short; if you eat someone’s food, your mouth grows soft.”

Figuratively, it means once you’ve accepted someone’s help or favor, it becomes hard to criticize or refuse them — a warning about losing one’s independence after accepting favors.