Chapter 5: Pig Teammate
Description: This development doesn’t make sense!
Creak — Creak —
When the old wooden doors were opened, the friction created unpleasant noises. Yu Zhen’s heart jumped into his throat. His hands reach into his pockets and brought out the cracked protective bead.
A cold wind blew in through the half-open door and pushed the door open fully.
Yu Zhen’s brain which had started turning due to the peach blossom congee, once again stopped working. The coldness made a comeback more extreme than he had previously felt. He couldn’t control his shivering and his vision suddenly turned dark. Before he could see the appearance of the person behind the door, Yu Zhen’s body fell uncontrollably towards the ground.
Boom!
The sound of the wooden door slamming into the wall could be heard and the two sets of hurried footsteps drew near. Yu Zhen’s falling body was caught. A warm breath which could cover the sky and hide the earth [1] encircled him.
In the chaos, the protective bead from Yu Zhen’s pocket fell towards the ground. The bead suddenly became very fragile and shattered at the moment of impact, turning into a few ordinary brown stones.
It was warm.
As Yu Zhen gradually returned to a normal state, he didn’t have the strength to take notice of the precious bead passed down by his ancestors. Instinctively, Yu Zhen reached out to the source of warmth in front of him and greedily breathed in the refreshing scent on that body. He breathed in the comforting scent eagerly as if he was addicted.
“Sorry, I’ve come late.”
Yin Yan held him and looked down at his haggard face. There was a trace of emotion in Yin Yan’s usually indifferent eyes. He firmly pressed the person leaning on him further into his embrace. Even in the absence of wind,Yu Zhen’s hair swayed and a strange energy circulated around his body[2] .
Creak — Boom.
After many decades of wind and rain, the wooden door couldn’t withstand the harsh push it was given. When the two people were embracing, the door twisted off its hinge and collapsed.
“Oh god[3] …”
Yin Le arrived a step later and stood behind Weng Xiping who was blocking the entrance. Looking inside the courtyard, Yin Le saw the two people who were “deeply emotional and embracing deeply[4] ” and reached for the clothes of Weng Xiping.
“Uncle Weng, pinch me. I – I feel that I am dreaming.”
Weng Xiping was pulled back to reality. He glanced at the door. Due to his shock, Weng Xiping’s mind came up with a question which was not an important issue at that moment.
“Young Master, the Da Young Master[5] tore down half of someone’s door. When we return, how will we explain this to the Madame?”
Yin Le heard the words and looked down at the door, numbly he followed Weng YiPing’s thoughts. Abruptly, he recalled that now was not the time to be concerned about this matter. Grabbing Weng YiPing’s sleeve, he lowered his voice and said, “This isn’t the point! Look at brother, he – he’s actually embracing a man!”
“Didn’t Da Young Master want to marry? It’s normal to get an embrace.” Weng XiPing had been so shocked, he had completely lost the ability to think normally.
Yin Le, about to collapse, continued to say, “But the two of them have only seen each other once! Once! This is only their second time meeting, and they’re skipping directly to embracing!”
The two embraced as if they had already loved each other for a very long time!
His older brother had already chosen his saviour as his marriage partner, but didn’t the normal procedure involve getting to know each other first before beginning physical contact? Why did older brother get an embrace as soon as he arrived?
This development doesn’t make sense!
“The Young Madam didn’t object. It’s good if they hug more, it’s beneficial for developing their affections for each other.”
Weng Xiping continued to support a steady and calm face. He spoke unreasonable words while automatically assigning a new form of address for Yu Zhen.
“…”
Yin Le finally found out what a pig teammate looked like. He indignantly threw away Weng XiPing’s sleeves and squeezed forward by a step. He wanted remind the two people of propriety, but forgetting that the threshold of old buildings were high, Yin Le did not lift his leg high enough and his toes were caught on the threshold. His body became unbalanced and his two arms flailed about. He grabbed the remaining half of the door.
Creak – Boom!
“Ah!”
“Careful Xiao Young Master!” [5]
The Taoist temple’s doors were too old. After Yin Yan unwittingly tore down the right half of the door, Yin Le tore down the remaining left half of the door.
Yu Zhen, who was gradually warming up, was shocked back to reality by the noise. After staring blankly for a moment, he realised he was holding onto a person. Alarmed, Yu Zhen pushed the person away. His line of sight moved passed the person and over to the door.
Huh? The north wind blew in from the empty door frame. The cold wind thoroughly woke him up from his warm and muddled head.
Yin Le sat on the dilapidated door’s panel, his down jacket was covered with dust. Seeing Yu Zhen look over, he idiotically raised his hand and waved. With a dry mouth, he greeted, “This is our first time meeting…Um, it’s nice to meet you sister-in-law.”
Yu Zhen: “???”
He seemed to have heard some unbelievable words?
But that wasn’t the most important thing.
He walked two steps to the front door and looked at the damaged door on the floor. After staring blankly for a few seconds, he suddenly turned and took large strides into the temple.
“Um…”
After not receiving a response, Yin Le lowered his raised hand. He fiddled with his hair and saw his brother turn around once Yu Zhen had left. With a guilty conscience, he stood up while trying to explain, “I – I was a bit careless……”
Yin Yan ignored his explanation. He unbuttoned and removed his suit jacket. Then, he threw his clothes into Yin Le’s arms, gestured to a corner by the entrance and said, “Stand over there.”
Yin Le immediately strode over. Then he realised that Yin Yan had taken off his jacket and was only wearing a shirt and a sweater while standing by the door. He quickly shook open the jacket, stepped forward and said: “Brother, your body hasn’t completely recovered. You can’t be cold.”
Yin Yan gently blocked his hand and shook his head. Kneeling down, he lifted one side of the door from the ground, and then walked to the door frame. Looking up, he saw a part of the doorframe had broken apart due to rot. As Yu Zhen returned with a toolbox in his hand, Yin Yan stretched out his hand and spoke.
“Hammer.”
Yu Zhen stopped, looked up, and saw the man’s appearance.
He was pale, but handsome. With a light shining down, Yu Zhen had the impression that he was gazed upon by someone from high up in the clouds.
He wasn’t a ghost. A ghost wouldn’t look like this.
“The worn wooden wedge[6] will be removed first. Hammer.”
Yin Yan reached forward and his eyes looked straight ahead. His look was very calm and collected, but after looking for a moment, he seemed to have a slightly gentle and loving attitude.
Weng Xiping looked between the two people. He reach his hand out to Yin Le who wanted to give Yin Yan his jacket again, and dragged Yin Le over to a corner. Then he stealthily took out a mobile phone. He opened up WeSing and made a video call.
“Still cold?”
When he didn’t receive a response, Yin Yan lifted his hand up and naturally moved it towards Yu Zhen’s face.
Yu Zhen’s senses finally returned to reality, and he quickly avoided Yin Yan’s hand. Unsure of why he suddenly felt embarrassed, Yu Zhen covered up his feeling by crouching and putting the toolbox down on the ground. He opened up the toolbox and made jangling noises as he searched the toolbox until he found a dual use hammer.
“Here.” He spoke. His voice was much quieter than expected. It was almost like he was only exhaling.
Realizing that fact, he felt even more embarrassed and withdrew his hand holding the hammer. He hesitated over whether if he should repeat the word. The shadow covering him moved aside and Yin Yan set the door down on one side. He squatted down. Facing the door frame, he pried off a wedge of damaged wood from the bottom of the doorframe.
“My name’s Yin Yan, your name is?”
“Ah?”
“Your name.”
He clearly had a pair of princely hands, but he was nimble and skilled at carpentry. His fingers moved with a sense of leisurely ease, causing people to want to stare longer.
Yu Zhen felt that his head seemed to be muddled by something again. His thinking was a bit slow. His eyes were fixed on the moving hands, and obediently replied, “Yu – Yu Zhen. My name is Yu Zhen.”
“En.”
Yin Yan responded with a low voice while removing the wooden wedge that was pried up. He reached out his hand again.
“Wh – what?”
Yu Zhen felt that his reaction was very embarrassing, but he couldn’t control it.
His thinking was slow.
“Nail.”
“Ah… Oh, oh. Nails, nails.”
Yu Zhen immersed himself in rummaging again, finding two long and pointed long nails in his hands. Carefully, he adjusted the position of the nails before gently moving them to the palm in front of him.
In a hotel in the provincial capital, Qiu Feiqian and Yin Hexiang’s heads were close together as they looked down at the screen of a mobile phone. They first noticed the thin clothing of their oldest son, then they looked at the Yu Zhen shown by the camera lens.
His clothes were very simple, his skin was very pale, he was slightly shorter than their son, and his hair was a little messy. But he was a man, it was understandable that he didn’t care about his appearance too much.
Qiu Feiqian reached out to turn off the microphone and seriously commented, “You can only see his side profile, but his appearance is not bad. Although his clothing is simple, it’s very neat, and it’s very warm. Unlike that Han Ya, wearing barely anything in the middle of winter and flashing her legs. She’s not afraid of getting sore legs when she’s older!”
Due to her good upbringing, Qui Feiqian did not say more unpleasant words, but her dislike was clearly conveyed.
Yin Hexiang pretended not to hear the wife’s words. He looked at the two people in the screen separated by a toolbox. He said happily, “Xiao Yan seems to like this child very much. He’s speaking more than usual.”
“It’s good he’s willing to talk.” Qiu Feiqian heard the words and looked back at the screen of the mobile phone. Her line of sight fell on Yin Yan, who was facing away from the camera. She reached out and touched his back which as a lot thinner than before. She suddenly reached out and ended the video call.
Unable to stop the action, Yin Hexiang asked, “Why close the video?”
“The two of them are trying to foster good feelings. You, the dad, are spying on them. It’s improper! Go, get me my bag, Xiao Yan has lost quite a bit of weight. His previous clothes won’t fit. Let’s change all his clothes to new ones, let’s go to the mall!”
“Change everything?” Yin Hexiang couldn’t keep up with his wife’s intentions.
“Yes, everything!” Qiu Feiqian stood up. Thinking of something, there was suddenly a twisted cold light in her eyes. With a dissatisfied voice, she said, “Xiao Yan has just managed to climb out form a quagmire and his clothes from before have been tainted by the smelly quagmire. The smell could suffocate people. This is perfect, let’s get rid of all his tainted clothes and in the future, we can go to a flower garden instead!”
“…”
Yin Hexiang opened his mouth and looked at his wife. She looked convinced that their son had already broken away from the past and had welcomed in a new beginning. He didn’t want to splash cold water on her.
The mud pit was indeed gone now, but whether that flower field could be moved into their house, wasn’t it currently an unsettled issue?
The author has something to say:
Yu Wei: Grandpa’s precious Taoist doors T^T
[Translator’s Notes]
[1] Idiom 铺天盖地(pu1 tian1 gai4 di4)
[2] Strangely ambiguous here. I can’t tell if its YY or YZ or both that are experiencing the wind movements and energy circulation. Will come back and correct this if I think it’s not talking about YZ.
[3] Said天呐. Means more along the lines of Oh heavens.. but no one says ‘Oh heavens’ so…Oh god it is.
[4] 深情相拥 (shen1 qing2 xiang1 yong1). As translated. The author had this phrase in inverted commas. It might have some deeper meaning.
[5] I’m still undecided about which way is the best way to translate these common phrases. Let me know if you guys like or dislike the use of ‘Da Young Master’ and ‘Xiao Young Master’. I’d like your opinions so this chapter and future chapters will read well.
Young Master = 少爷 (shao4 ye2). Refers to the sons of rich households. Usually used by people with a lower status to address the rich kids. In the case of this story, the driver is an employee so he is of a lower status. If there is more than one son in a household, a prefix is added to identify the specific young master being referenced. There are only two young masters in the Yin family, so the words ‘da'(meaning ‘big’) and ‘xiao'(meaning ‘small’) are used to differentiate between the two sons.
Da Young Master = 大少爷 (da4 shao4 ye2). Refers to the older of the two sons.
Xiao Young Master = 小少爷(xiao3 shao4 ye2). Refers to the younger of the two sons.
[6] Wooden wedge. Did an incorrect translation earlier as just ‘wood’. I never knew wedges were used when making old style door frames O.O. I found some pictures to help with the visualisation.