DIHBSG chapter 30

Song Jian vaguely remembered that he had a fever last night. His body had been burning hot, and he felt extremely uncomfortable. He also vaguely remembered someone wiping his face for him many times.

When he was sick, his mind was foggy and he didn’t react. Now that he thought about it in the morning—Xiao Yinghuai really was such a caring, good boss!

Song Jian was very good at repaying kindness. Xiao Yinghuai took care of him, Xiao Yinghuai was good, so he was going to share pastries with Xiao Yinghuai!

That’s right, the reason Song Jian got up early to look for someone was to deliver pastries.

The pastries Xiao Yongning had brought him—he had eaten part of them himself, given some to other monks in the temple yesterday, and now there were a few left. He planned to give them all to Xiao Yinghuai.

Song Jian ran over holding an oil-paper package.

Wuwei smiled and said, “Benefactor Song, slow down.”

Song Jian: “Okay, okay.”

He had already reached the man’s side and “thud” handed over the oil-paper package.

“Your Majesty! You worked hard taking care of me last night! These are all for you to eat!”

Xiao Yinghuai didn’t take it.

Wuwei pretended not to hear and turned his head to admire the flowers and trees.

Xiao Yinghuai didn’t intend to let him pretend to be deaf.

“Master Wuwei, what are you looking at?”

Wuwei looked surprised. “Oh? Your Majesty, so you were calling Wuwei.”

Xiao Yinghuai sat cross-legged beside the low table. “Then tell me as well.”

Wuwei wore a compassionate Buddha-like smile and said slowly, “The name that can be named is not the eternal name. What one is looking at—how could Wuwei be the one to define it?”¹Wuwei is deliberately dodging Xiao Yinghuai’s question by quoting the opening line of the Tao Te Ching: “The name that can be named is not the eternal name.” He twists this famous philosophical quote into an excuse for not answering, pretending that what he’s looking at is too profound to be put into words.

Xiao Yinghuai knew this bald monk was doing it on purpose, but Song Jian didn’t, and was still clapping beside him.

“Your Majesty, Master Wuwei’s words are so reasonable.”

Xiao Yinghuai: “……”

He picked up the spoon to drink soup. Seeing this, Song Jian quickly squeezed over again.

He knelt on the lower step of the wooden platform, holding the oil-paper package.

“Your Majesty, this was specially made in Xiao Ba’s little kitchen. It’s very tasty. Please try it. Look, you’ve become thinner.”

Xiao Yinghuai drank soup, silent.

“Your Majesty, it’s really good, I swear!”

“Please try it!”

“Just try it!”

“If you don’t eat it… I’ll feel guilty, wuwuwu…”

Xiao Yinghuai snatched the oil-paper package and opened it.

“……”

“Are you trying to poison me?”

The remaining pastries inside had somehow gone damp and were actually moldy.

Song Jian froze in place for a moment.

“Wuu~”

These were the best ones! He hadn’t even wanted to eat them himself!!

He knelt there holding the pastries and cried.

Wuwei looked at the emperor’s dark expression and casually added, “To be willing to shed tears for pastries—Benefactor Song truly has a pure heart.”

Song Jian was devastated.

Xiao Yinghuai couldn’t take it anymore.

“You can just assume I’ve eaten them.”

Song Jian: “Waaaahhh~”

Xiao Yinghuai pushed a bowl to the side, gritting his teeth.

“I’ve received your kindness. Come drink soup.”

Song Jian immediately stopped crying.

“Oh.”

He wiped his tears and obediently sat beside the emperor, holding the bowl shyly.

“Your Majesty, one bowl please.”

Xiao Yinghuai, dark-faced, served him a bowl of soup.

Song Jian buried his head: “miamiamiamia~”

Wuwei continued looking at the scenery.

Ah, the scenery of Fuhui Temple really had become quite good lately.

After eating, Song Jian sat there in a food-coma haze.

A little monk came to clear the table. Without the obstruction, Song Jian was now sitting right between the emperor and Wuwei. The monk couldn’t help but cough lightly to remind him.

Song Jian didn’t notice at all, still resting his cheek on his hand and staring blankly into the distance.

Xiao Yinghuai sneered softly.

Some people simply weren’t worth commenting on.

Wuwei didn’t mind and asked cheerfully, “Benefactor Song, how old are you this year?”

Song Jian came back to his senses. “Nineteen.”

Wuwei: “Nineteen… still a child.”

Song Jian slowly blinked.

Then he suddenly jumped up and covered Xiao Yinghuai’s ears with his hands.

“Your Majesty, don’t listen—it’s malicious reviews!”

Xiao Yinghuai: “?”

Song Jian leaned close and whispered, “They’re saying you’re exploiting child labor.”

Xiao Yinghuai closed his eyes.

Wuwei shook his head and said, “If the mind does not move, one does not act recklessly. If one does not act, one is not harmed.”

……

After that, for a period of time, Xiao Yinghuai rarely went to Wuwei’s meditation chamber. Most of the time he stayed in the meditation room reading scriptures, copying scriptures, and sitting in meditation.

Thus Song Jian no longer had any chance to run outside. Every day when he opened his eyes, all he did was copy scriptures—from morning to night—until his soul felt empty.

By the tenth day of copying, Song Jian genuinely felt like he was about to ascend and become an immortal.

Heh. The weak complain about their circumstances; the strong adapt to them.

And he… was already dead stiff.

Finally, on the fifteenth day, Song Jian squatted at the entrance of Fuhui Temple.

“……”

“Five.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One.”

As the countdown ended, Song Jian heard Gong Defu’s wailing voice.

“Your Majesty—Your Majesty—you’ve suffered—!”

Gong Defu’s figure appeared on the mountain steps, running quickly ahead of the imperial procession, tears wiping his face.

Song Jian jumped up and ran forward.

“Aaaaaah——”

Gong Defu saw him. “Lord Song——”

Song Jian ran over, crying.

“I missed you so much——”

Gong Defu opened his arms emotionally, but the young man brushed past him and ran toward Long Ying behind him.

“Lord! Lord! The lychee milk pudding Chef Yan asked me to bring you!”

Song Jian swallowed it in two bites and waved his arms.

“I love Yan Lili.”

Gong Defu: “……”

Weak, pitiful, but a great eater.

At this time, Xiao Yinghuai was still playing the final chess game with Wuwei.

Wuwei: “After half a month of meditation, does Your Majesty have any new insights?”

Xiao Yinghuai calmly placed a piece.

Wuwei smiled slightly.

It seems Your Majesty already has the answer in his heart.

The imperial entourage waited outside Fuhui Temple, but the two inside the corridor remained unmoving.

Wuwei placed the final piece and glanced at the sky.

“Your Majesty, the time has come. You should return to the palace early.”

When they left, Wuwei stood in the light.

Gong Defu said to him, “Please stay here, Master Wuwei.”

Wuwei performed a Buddhist salute , then slowly said after straightening up, “I have never seen Your Majesty treat someone like this before.”

Gong Defu: “?”

This shiny bald monk—is he stealing my lines?

—

After returning to the palace, Song Jian’s first action was to go eat like crazy.

His table was filled with more than ten dishes.

As he ate, he said, “Yan Lili I love you! I’ll follow you for life!”

Chef Yan scratched his head and chuckled, “Then… when can you ask the Princess to lend me The Chronicles of Young Master Xiang?”

Song Jian: “Oh, I’ll ask her as soon as I see her!”

Those words had barely left his mouth before they came true. He had only just finished speaking when Xiao Yongning arrived at the Tiancha Division.

“Lord Song! Lord Song!”

Before Song Jian even stood up, Xiao Yongning flew into the dining hall.

“Go ask my imperial brother for leave tomorrow! Xiao Da invited a theater troupe, we’re going to his residence to watch a play!”

Song Jian looked confused, “Didn’t he just go back to Jiangnan last time?”

Xiao Yongning waved her hand, “Of course he came back again. It’s almost time for the Imperial Winter Hunt.”

Then she pinched Song Jian’s cheek, “You seem a bit fatter than before fasting.”

Song Jian: “……”

“So it seems my imperial brother hasn’t been too strict with you.”

Song Jian immediately stood up, “No!”

He leaned in and whispered, “He made me copy scriptures. A whole big book!”

Xiao Yongning: “Copying scriptures is nothing. I used to be locked up and made to copy scriptures too. Xiao Da even got hand strikes from my imperial brother before—it hurt a lot.”

Song Jian swallowed.

Then he remembered something. “By the way, Xiao Ba, in Fuhui Temple Your Majesty already knew the pastries were from you. Will he punish you?”

Xiao Yongning: “No no no. If my imperial brother really didn’t want you to bring pastries, you wouldn’t have been able to bring them in at all.”

Song Jian relaxed.

Xiao Yongning added, “But Gong Defu did come to me once and told me I must never sneak out again. Seems my imperial brother already knows, which is why I told you to ask for leave.”

Song Jian cried, “What if he doesn’t agree?”

Xiao Yongning: “Then I’ll go with you?”

Song Jian’s eyes lit up, “Okay okay okay!”

When they left the Tiancha Division, he didn’t forget to mention Chef Yan’s request. Xiao Yongning generously agreed to have Danluo deliver it, then accompanied him to the imperial study.

The two of them sneaked over. Before entering, they peeked inside.

Song Jian squatted below while Xiao Yongning stood above. The two of them both peeked inside.

Song Jian: “The person above, what do you think his mood is?”

Xiao Yongning frowned in thought, “Not sure. Let’s observe a bit more.”

Inside the imperial study:

After half a month of meditation, many matters had piled up. Xiao Yinghuai was processing memorials, summoning officials one by one—and scolding one by one.

“Do you want me to feed you too?!”

“Let the Ministry of Revenue handle it themselves!”

With a “crash”, a memorial flew out of the room.

The two outside looked at it together.

Gong Defu hurried out to retrieve it.

Song Jian: “The person above, your brother seems very angry.”

Xiao Yongning: “I think so too.”

Just then, Xiao Yinghuai’s voice came from inside:

“You two—come in!”

They looked at each other.

“…uh oh.”

They walked in together.

Song Jian lowered his head. “Your Majesty.”

Xiao Yongning lowered her head. “Imperial Brother.”

Xiao Yinghuai pressed his temple, suppressing anger, “What are you here for?”

Neither dared answer.

They both “thump” knelt down together.

Xiao Yinghuai looked up, “?”

Then he asked Gong Defu, “What did they do wrong?”

Gong Defu immediately knelt too, “I—I don’t know, Your Majesty!”

At this moment, Xiao Da entered. “Imperial Brother, I’ve come to see yo—”

He stopped mid-sentence.

Looking at the kneeling row of people, he widened his eyes in horror.

What… what is going on?!

Did his imperial brother find out about the theater troupe?!

He also immediately knelt, “Imperial Brother, I was wrong!!”

Xiao Yinghuai stared at the entire row in silence.

What exactly had these three done?

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  Wuwei is deliberately dodging Xiao Yinghuai’s question by quoting the opening line of the Tao Te Ching: “The name that can be named is not the eternal name.” He twists this famous philosophical quote into an excuse for not answering, pretending that what he’s looking at is too profound to be put into words.