Chapter 106.5 – Second Pup, I’m sure we’ll meet again someday (5)

Translator: Xena

Three years later, Prince Zhan came back from overseas. There was a handsome young man with black half-mask on his face. His name was Hei Min. His origin was unknown and he was very skilled. He was the prince’s right-hand man and was deeply trusted.

A woman in pink ran out of the palace, bells jingling in her hands.

Hei Min greeted him in a low voice, “Princess.”

“Mn.” The princess circled Prince Zhan’s arm and said happily, “Third brother, you have been away for a long time this time.”

While she was speaking, her eyes were glued to the young man next to Prince Zhan.

Prince Zhan rubbed his sister’s hair and said, “I’ve finished my work and I’m free for the time being.”

The princess said ‘that’s good’. “Third brother can spend some quality time with third sister-in-law.”

From the corner of her eye, she accidentally glanced at the young man’s left hand which was hanging down. When she saw a blood stain on the young man’s little finger, she immediately shouted nervously, “Hei Min, your hand is injured!”

Hei Min looked down, a bit of surprise in his eyes as if he had just realized it. “I must have scratched it somewhere on the way here. It’s not in the way.”

The princess frowned. “How can that be okay? It’s bleeding, so you still need to apply medicine, right, Third Brother?”

Prince Zhan said, “Treat it.”

Hei Min responded, “Yes.”

It was not so strange for the princess to stay in the prince’s mansion and not return to the palace. The servants in the prince’s mansion discovered that as long as the prince came back, the princess would definitely stay for the night. This spread to the palace and among the people, which meant that the royal brother and sister had a deep relationship.

The way Prince Zhan and Hei Min got along puzzled the servants. They say they were friends, but they didn’t look like it. But if they were not, how can they allow each other to eat at the same table?

This strange phenomenon slowly spread out in the prince’s mansion and was slowly buried. No one thought that they would live long enough to go to the prince to find out.

After the meal, the princess lay on the railing of the garden pavilion and watched the moonlight. There was something hooked on her finger. She deliberately sent away the two maids, as if she was planning something.

It was unknown how long it took, but she heard footsteps approaching from far away.

When the princess saw the person coming, she smiled and said, “Hei Min, what did you say to my Third Brother? How did it take so long?”

As she spoke, her fingers were swaying, causing the thing on her fingers to sway along with it.

Hei Min looked at the swaying thing, which was a piece of jade. He inexplicably asked, “Princess, can this subordinate take a look at this thing?”

The princess gave it to him.

Hei Min reached out and picked it up. He held the piece of jade in his hand.

There was an indescribable feeling in his heart. Gradually, he understood that it was a feeling of familiarity.

He went to recall, but he had no memory of this jade.

Was it a mistake? Hei Min thought.

The princess propped up her chin and said, “I sneaked this out of my third brother’s study. I have to put it back quickly.”

Hei Min gripped the jade, indifferent.

The princess shouted twice in succession, “Hei Min?”

Hei Min raised his eyes and returned the jade in his hand to the princess. “It’s a good jade.”

Later that night, a dark shadow flashed across the study room.

Three years passed, and it was time for the princess to get married. Instead of following the marriage arrangement set by the Empress Dowager, she sneaked out of the palace to meet her beloved. “I like you.”

Hei Min became absent-minded. Who was it that breathed into his ear and said I like you with a smile?

The princess lowered her head shyly, waiting for the other party’s response, but she didn’t wait for a long time. She looked up and was speechless in shock.

The young man’s face was full of sadness. It was unknown if he was remembering something or someone.

The princess felt sour in her heart, but she still mustered up the courage to say, “Hei Min, do you like me?”

Hei Min pursed his lips and said, “Sorry.”

The princess shed tears, “You have someone you like, right?”

Hei Min inwardly said that he didn’t, but when he opened his mouth, he strangely couldn’t say those two words.

The princess was so brokenhearted that she ran away crying.

Prince Zhan came over from behind. “During the past few years, that girl has never stopped thinking about you. She really likes you.”

Hei Min said in a low voice, “Prince, this subordinate doesn’t even know who he is. He is a disabled person and is not worthy of a princess.”

Prince Zhan patted him on the shoulder. “You don’t need to explain. This Prince has also fallen in love passionately in the past. You can’t force emotional matters. If it’s just one-sided, there’s no point in it.”

Hei Min looked at a loss. Why did he feel like he had heard these words somewhere…

Prince Zhan suddenly remembered the piece of jade that was lost in the study. He didn’t know what year it happened. He had kept it hidden and never took it out, so he discovered it just recently. “Hei Min, go to the border town with this Prince.”

Hei Min agreed. This would last for twenty years.

The border town was close to the border. There were more frequent wars in the first few years that Hei Min arrived. After the suppression and subjugation, he lived very leisurely in the city.

On weekdays, he practiced swordsmanship and went to wine shops to drink. His days passed like this.

One time, Hei Min saw a dog dead on the roadside on his way back from a wine shop. He didn’t know what happened to him, but he unexpectedly went to bury the dog and squatted there for a long time.

Prince Zhan was getting very old. One day, he said something vague. “Hei Min, if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have you as my confidant.”

Hei Min’s brows moved slightly. “Prince, he is…”

Prince Zhan suddenly sobered up at that moment. “A deceased friend.”

Knowing that he would gain nothing by asking, Hei Min said no more.

The prince had been keeping a secret from him for a long time, and it was related to his loss of memory. Although he knew about it, he never found the answer or the past.

Hei Min returned to the capital. After the prince died of illness, he took off his mask and entered the city as a commoner. He came back this time because he finally found out the details regarding the jade.

After finding out who the jade fell into in its early years, Hei Min checked them one by one. Most of them were no longer alive. Finally, he found Jiang City, a water city in the south of the Yangtze River far away from the capital.

As he walked into the city while looking at the shops on both sides, he felt an inexplicable emotion lingering around him that never went away.

A strange middle-aged man stepped forward and looked at Hei Min for a long time. “Chen Mo? You must be Chen Mo.”

Hei Min frowned.

He heard the middle-aged man ask, “Where’s Brother Liao? Why didn’t he come back with you? How has he been all these years?”

Hei Min said, “You have recognized the wrong person.”

The middle-aged man’s expression immediately changed, and he grabbed the other’s lapels in the heat of the moment. “I am Young Master Hu, don’t you remember? Chen Mo, you are more than ten years younger than me. I haven’t forgotten it yet, but you have already forgotten. Who are you kidding? Did you do anything to Brother Liao?”

Hei Min swept a glance at him and grabbed his hand, “I don’t know a Young Master Hu, nor do I know a Brother Liao.”

“You don’t know?” Master Hu laughed loudly. “Chen Mo, do you think I’m a child who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, huh? Back then in the capital, I saw you and Brother Liao hugging each other. Only then did I realize that the person in his heart was you.”

“Now you’re telling me you don’t know Brother Liao?” His eyes were full of jealousy. “Liao Qingfeng, do you remember?”

Hei Min paused slightly, Liao Qingfeng… This name, who was it?

His head suddenly hurt a little, and some fragmentary things seemed to flash through his mind. He began to piece it together bit by bit. “Let go.”

Young Master Hu refused to let go. “Tell me, what happened to Brother Liao? Is he… is he no longer alive?”

Hei Min pushed the person away.

Master Hu was caught off guard and fell to the ground.

Two youngsters ran over in a panic and asked ‘Dad, is everything okay?’

Young Master Hu waved his hand, still stubbornly wanting to know the news about that person. But when he looked up, Chen Mo had disappeared.

A few days later, someone in the west of the city saw a man in black standing motionless in front of a grave.

It was raining heavily. The man was kind-hearted, so he stepped forward to persuade, “No one can escape birth, old age, illness, and death. You should be more open-minded and show your condolences.”

The man let out a suppressed sob. “Yes, no one can escape it indeed, you thought so too, so when it was time for you to leave, you could be so calm and even think about me before leaving.”

“But have you ever asked me if I was willing?”

His voice was washed away by the sound of rain, and his whole person was as if he would disappear in the next moment. “I was not willing…”

“I hated you before, then I loved you, and now, you made me hate you again.”

When the person saw the man talking to the grave, his face was as pale as a dead man’s. His scalp went numb, and he left without staying any longer.

It wasn’t known when it started but people around Bieyuan would hear someone crying at night. It was a man.

The sound of weeping came from Bieyuan. They discussed it spiritedly and thought Bieyuan was haunted.

One day, those people made an appointment to go to Bieyuan together to see if it was a human or a ghost. However, they found that Bieyuan was overgrown with weeds and covered with spider webs, and no one lived there at all.

Cold air seeped out from the door, causing everyone to look at each other and ran away.

Gradually, there were no more signs of human habitation left around the Bieyuan.

Many years later, several outsiders came in to take shelter from the rain. They marveled at the furnishings inside. Presumably, someone of high rank must have lived here.

The few people walked inside and saw an eerie white skeleton on the ground. They all turned pale with fright, yelled “ghost”, and ran away without looking back.

In the room, the bones lay alone with the head facing the door, as if gazing at something, waiting for someone to appear and come pick it up.

******

Y City, the Sheng family’s mansion. In a room on the north side of the third floor, Chen You was lying on a bed.

He had not forgotten those mission worlds and still remembered them.

The System stated, “A new function has been developed above, which can clear all the memory data of the host’s completed mission worlds with one click. Only three spots are currently available, I signed you up for the application and you took one with your outstanding performance. Congratulations.

Chen You was stunned, “What? Did you ask for my opinion? Who told you to apply for me?”

Damn it, it turns out that this is what it means by not being able to remember.

The System said, “This is a benefit that other hosts fight for but cannot win. Once the memory is cleared, completing missions will be more efficient without being troubled by other factors.”

Chen You fell back on the bed. Other factors, what do you mean, feelings? Was that a mistake? He was a human being.

“Then why do I still remember?”

The System said, “The beta will officially start tomorrow.”

Chen You covered his eyes with his arms. “You are so poisonous.”

The System said, “I applied for you because I love you.”

Bah, so you still love me, huh? I’m not touched at all, not at all! Chen You chuckled, “I can’t bear your love, so take it away quickly. Thank you.”

The System, “….”

Chen You lay down and sorted out the memory of this body. The original owner’s name, how to put it? It was pretty good to read, but it didn’t sound very nice when called.

Sheng Xia, sheng xia¹盛夏，剩下: Another homonym. The fist Sheng Xia means Midsummer or the height of summer. The second means left over XD., ai.

The Sheng family was a modern version of the Xuanwu Gate Incident²Xuanwu gate coup d’état of June 626 in Early Tang in which Li Shimin killed his brothers and seized the throne from his father as Emperor Taizong. The youngest, Sheng Qing, killed his two brothers and became the head of the Sheng family. Many people died at that time. The original body’s owner’s father was Sheng Qing’s capable subordinate, and he died through and through.

In consideration of brotherly love, Sheng Qing took the original owner into the Sheng family and took care of him.

But he was very busy and couldn’t possibly go back to the ancestral home of the Sheng family every year. Even itf he occasionally remembered and asked, everyone would still agree.

Sheng Xia was threatened and did not dare to say anything.

After Sheng Qing adopted two children, he became even busier. The little free time he had was divided between his two adopted children, leaving him no time to care about the original owner of the body.

Sheng Xia wasn’t even an adopted son. His status in the Sheng family was almost the same as that of a servant. It was common for him to be bullied and ignored. Although he was still in school, his homework was a mess of poor quality. He basically does nothing but eat, drink and defecate.

Chen You compiled the memories of the original owner up to there. “So this world is a counterattack of the good-for-nothing young master?”

The System said, “The good-for-nothing young master is true. As for the counterattack, I don’t think there will be one.”

Chen You, “…….”

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  盛夏，剩下: Another homonym. The fist Sheng Xia means Midsummer or the height of summer. The second means left over XD. ↩︎
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  Xuanwu gate coup d’état of June 626 in Early Tang in which Li Shimin killed his brothers and seized the throne from his father as Emperor Taizong ↩︎