"The youngest son is still a soldier in Zhili. Although the 'not speaking of Jianghu affairs' policy was included in the new emperor's initial amnesty, he missed the opportunity to resign. The Great Wei's civil service examination is held every three years, and the most recent one was at the end of last year." Fu Xian's long fingers stopped under the table, and he looked at him with indifferent eyes. "So, Shangguan Yi, you should know why I was angry when I received the letter that the youngest son was safe and sound, accompanying you directly to Jinling instead of staying in the capital. He missed the end of last year, so we have to wait another three years. I don't care how you and Ji Junze fight, as long as you don't involve my youngest son."
Shangguan's eyelids twitched.
“The cabinet issued an order in the middle of the month to transfer the troops of Shuntian Prefecture to Yingtian Prefecture in the Southern Zhili region, responsible for maintaining order in the area and dealing with the maritime troubles in the southeast. ‘One Night Spring’ is just a small pawn. The one who has left my youngest son in a dilemma is none other than you, Young Master Shangguan.”
His dark eyes, deep and boundless, gradually melted into the night of the Great Wei Dynasty.
That night was a wedding banquet.
That night, boundless hatred filled me.
That night, after the music ended and the party was over, in a private house in Wuyi Lane in the south of the city, only the whispers of two unpredictable siblings could be heard.
"Did Ziyu really believe it?"
"You still don't believe in my abilities, brother? Shangguan Yi boasts about his intelligence, but he doesn't even realize that Ji Junze never knew you were a soldier from Zhili. Even if he did, he would have assumed there was an irreconcilable feud between you. The 'female silver demon forcibly abducting Shangguan Yi' story was just a rumor he made up. So how can you say that Ji Junze used you to blackmail him? I think he's lost his mind. How could he have passed the imperial examination with such a reputation?"
"..." Would you call this a personal attack? Sixth Brother's obsession really runs deep.
Suddenly, the elder brother changed the subject, his earlier ecstatic demeanor vanishing. "Your transfer to the Southern Zhili military was accidental, but various dangers still exist. This time, I've granted your wish, allowing you to risk your life alone to lure and capture 'One Night Spring.' From now on, you are not allowed to interfere in the Southeast coastal troubles. Do you understand?"
"..."
"The youngest?"
"Senior brother, look out the window."
"Don't beat around the bush."
"...Senior brother, you really came in second place in that year's imperial examination?"
"Hmph, how could I, your brother, lose to Shangguan Yi? The truth is this..."
That night, apricot blossoms fell like rain, and her beautiful eyes, clear and shallow, were devoid of moonlight.
Chapter Seven
Many years later, when he recalled waking up in terror that night, he firmly believed that it was divine intervention, and that his long-deceased father, the crown prince, had secretly helped him.
The disturbing sound of string and wind instruments drifted from afar, and Eleven sluggishly opened his eyes, only realizing after a moment that it was the Shangguan family's celebratory music. He'd only had one cup at the banquet, yet he was already tipsy and had to be carried back to his rented residence. How embarrassing! Unlike his tenth senior brother…
He turned his head in annoyance, only to find the other bed next to him empty, without a trace of anyone having slept there.
"Damn it, they're giving us special treatment again." It wasn't that he was being cynical; as a child, he had seen his senior brothers drinking and eating meat with their junior brothers behind his back more than once when he got up at night. At first, when he wanted to join, his tenth brother coaxed him, saying it was a brotherhood for adult men, and that children should go to bed early. If he persisted, his eighth and ninth brothers would gang up on him and give him a merciless beating…
The past is too painful to recall. He barely survived his miserable adolescence and only had three years left until he turned twenty. Why couldn't he join the men's all-night revelry?
Eleven jumped out of bed, not even bothering to put on his outer robe, and rushed outside in his shoes.
The rented residence was named Xingyuan, originally the mansion of a high-ranking official from the previous dynasty. After the family's decline, it was sublet to traveling merchants. When they first arrived in Jinling, Sixth Brother took a liking to this small garden, saying it had courtyards at the front and back, with a boudoir in the middle—a truly excellent location, easy to defend and difficult to attack. At first, he didn't understand the meaning of "easy to defend and difficult to attack," but later, as they were stationed around Xingyuan like stars surrounding the moon, leaving only his junior brother to live in the fortress-like building in the center of the garden, he finally understood who Sixth Brother was guarding against.
"A former top scholar? Hmph, you can see him, but you can't have him. I'll make you drool with envy!"
Thinking of the sinister expression on Sixth Brother's face when he said those words, Eleven couldn't help but shudder, only then realizing that she had wandered around to the boudoir of the bunker.
"Ziyu really believed it?" An excited voice drifted on the wind.
He looked in the direction of the fluttering spring apricot blossoms and saw his junior brother and... his sixth brother?
"You still don't believe in my abilities, brother? Shangguan Yi boasts about his intelligence, but he doesn't even realize that Ji Junze never knew you were a soldier from Zhili. Even if he did, he would have assumed there was an irreconcilable feud between you. The 'female silver demon forcibly abducting Shangguan Yi' story was just a rumor he made up. So how can you say that Ji Junze used you to blackmail him? I think he's lost his mind. How could he have passed the imperial examination with such a reputation?"
Innocent eyes are shattered.
Even his former junior brother, who was also "discriminated against" in the past, has found Sixth Brother as an ally. Is he the only one left who is all alone and lonely?
Is this what they call being ostracized? For him, clinging to his master's coattails is the only way out?
He swayed and clutched his chest.
No, he's still young. Only old men do things like reminiscing about the past and counting money in the middle of the night. He made up his mind, only to see his junior brother looking in his direction, his eyes curved like the moon, cold and aloof. He didn't know if he was looking at him or at the apricot blossoms falling like rain.
Of all the apricot trees in the garden, only the one where he was hiding was experiencing a flurry of falling petals. Could it be that even the heavens were taking pity on him? If they were, perhaps they would bless him so that he could join the brotherhood of his tenth brother and the others!
Before he could kneel and pray to Heaven, his junior brother said, "Senior brother, look out the window."
Oh no, he'd been discovered! He absolutely didn't want to join the treacherous siblings and confront that equally cunning Young Master Shangguan. No, he absolutely didn't want to. He moved cautiously, then boldly took off running. Fortunately, the falling petals were even more abundant now, obscuring most of his figure—truly a benevolent tree! Wiping away a bitter tear, he ran for his life.
In the front yard, the room where Xun Ba and Wei Jiu lived was brightly lit, and the rich aroma of wine and meat flowed in the wind along the slightly open window.
With his eyes closed, Eleven sniffed for a long time, almost moved to tears. This is the fraternity, the scent a man should have, the scent he should have!
"It seems that this time, Lao Liu is not planning to let Shangguan Yi off the hook." Luo Shi sighed.
The sprint had left him almost exhausted. Eleven clung to a pillar and moved to the window. He heard Rong Qi take a sip of wine, his voice slightly humid: "He's been at a disadvantage for over ten years. Now that he's finally got a chance, how could he let it go? Back then, when you were still in Lingnan, you didn't know that Sixth Brother even drank that kind of wine to drag Shangguan down with him. If Eighth Brother hadn't carried him to find Hua Niang, would he still be alive?"
"Damn it, Lao Liu is too much trouble. Even in that state, he still acts like a chaste woman. In the end, Lao Jiu and I had to strip him naked and carry him to bed."
"Cough cough."
"Hey Ninth Brother, what are you coughing for? Are you still a virgin?"
With a loud crack, the table split.
"Stop hitting me, stop hitting me, let's talk this out. If we're talking about virginity, I'm a virgin too, I am too."
"Tenth Brother, don't pull them, let them go." Two figures appeared on the window. Rong Qi raised his cup to the moon, finally using the elegance he had practiced many times. "It was definitely the right decision to leave you behind when we ran away from home back then. Tenth Brother, you have lived up to expectations. I toast you with this cup."
"Waaah, Seventh Brother, you have no idea how much I've suffered these past years. I've been living in constant fear, afraid that before I could even reach eleven and become an adult, my master would force me to marry the youngest brother."
What is the relationship between him and his junior brother? Eleven was pressed against the wall.
"We've made it through, haven't we? Now we're not afraid even if the youngest doesn't get married. If Master tries to matchmake us again, we'll kick the eleventh one out."
*Snap*, a pure-hearted young man's heart shattered. So this was the truth behind Tenth Brother's stay in the sect—keeping him like a breeding pig?
"But what if Eleven refuses?"
The dying man jumped up and down. Yes, he could refuse, he could resist!
"Refuse?" Rong Qi's elegant laughter carried a hint of cunning. The shadow on the window turned around and said to the two men fighting, "Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth are asking what to do if Eleventh refuses to marry the youngest."
Suddenly, the fighting stopped. He was counting his heartbeats by the window when he heard the myna bird roar, "He dares!"
"Dare to do it? We'll beat you to death," Ninth Brother added.
The moon pierced through the clouds, casting faint shadows on the ground. A figure stumbled out of a small door by the river, as if chased by a ghost. He ran against the wind, and all that could be heard was a courtesan singing on the Qinhuai River: "Deep in the courtyard, the night is not yet over, a lone lamp casts a lonely shadow on whose bed? My soulmate's string is broken, my heart is filled with sorrow, a thousand sorrows turn into grief, and who cares for me?"
Was this song deliberately sung for him? Hasn't he suffered enough already? No one is more cunning than Sixth Brother, and no one is more vicious than the Brotherhood. Who else in this world can one rely on?
Could it be my master?
The image of a sleazy old man counting money under the lamp flashed into his mind. No, the greedy old man was not to be trusted. As long as Seventh Brother waved the silver notes, Master would soften his words and actions and harden his heart towards him.
Or perhaps, junior brother?
He suddenly remembered that when his junior brother was still a "junior brother," during a martial arts demonstration on the fifteenth of the lunar month, she had easily slapped the myna bird into the wall with a single palm strike...
"No one is as treacherous and vicious as my junior brother, no one is as treacherous and vicious as my junior brother." He muttered to himself, staggering as he lay down on the ground.
The crescent moon hung in the sky, and countless catkins drifted in the wind. With nowhere to confide his sorrowful feelings, he broke off a piece of reed and choked on the hollow reed, saying with a glimmer of hope, "Reed, oh reed, actually, junior brother really is 'junior brother,' right?"
The reeds swayed.
“Reed, oh Reed, let the senior brothers marry junior brothers who are not ‘junior brothers’.”
The reeds swayed again.
Her innocent eyes began to tremble: "No way, am I really the unlucky one?"
The reeds swayed again.
"Then...who is it?" he asked cautiously again.
Reeds sway in the wind, like snow drifting along the shore. In the distance, a grand mansion stands, red lanterns hang high, joy and laughter fill the air, and a banquet stretches along the long street, determined to last until dawn.
"Shangguan Mansion... Ah, Shangguan Mansion!"
...
On this beautiful spring day, the restaurants along the street were packed with customers, and the curtains that shielded them from the wind were all hung up, revealing the bored faces of the crowd.
"If you find it boring, why not go somewhere else to have some fun?" the stranger asked curiously.
The waiter, beaming, said, "Sir, you may not know this, but they won't leave until they see the beauty."
"She's just a pretty face," the outsider remarked, losing interest.
"Sir, haven't you heard of 'Wei Jie killed by looking at her'? People from Jinling are extremely fond of beautiful women, especially since this woman is not only a beauty, but also the famous Yu Moumou."
"Yu Moumou?"
"Sir, you haven't heard of Mr. Yu?"
The waiter's expression was as if he had seen a sow fly into the sky. The outsider was both ashamed and annoyed: "Please enlighten me, waiter."
"Yu Moumou is... oh, she's here!"
The waiter was speaking when he saw that the windows along the street were packed with people, their eyes wide open, wishing they were Erlang Shen (a deity in Chinese mythology) and could open another eye on their heads.
"It's not that exaggerated." Feeling looked down upon, the outsider stood up and looked disdainfully through the gaps between people.
"Damn it..." he cursed under his breath.
"Oh, what did you say, sir?" the waiter asked.
"What a fucking beauty!"
"Of course, the people of Jinling have the best taste in the world." The waiter smiled smugly. "Red dress, today Yu is wearing a peony-themed dress! This time, Jushantang has won all the bets again."
The outsider was dumbfounded. "You're actually betting on this?"
The waiter rolled his eyes at him: "The business of beauties, do you understand? Yu Moumou wears Rong's ready-made clothes, eats at Zhaoye Restaurant, stays at Wuyi Xingyuan, and travels on Jinling Avenue!"
"In terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, she truly is a beauty renowned throughout Jinling." The outsider sighed, then felt something was amiss. "Why is no one showing affection? 'Give a papaya, receive a precious jade in return.' In the past, when the people of Jinling admired Wei Jie, didn't they shower him with fruit, practically killing him with their gaze? Why haven't you made a move?" As he spoke, he even made a gesture as if throwing a sachet.
People around him turned around and stared at him blankly.
"Is this not fashionable anymore?" The stranger, sweating profusely, looked pleadingly at the waiter.
"No, you can give it a try, sir."
Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up. "Please try, please try!"
Everyone was very supportive and enthusiastic, and some even offered him sachets, making it impossible for him to refuse.