Ink Blade Chapter 68 (Part 2)
Translated by Sylver
Extra 1.2 Old Place (Part 1.2)
He ran a few steps before he slowly realized something was wrong. The thirst and hunger that had tormented him for a long time had disappeared, and his body felt much lighter–
Although he was still weak and sore, and obviously still had a fever, at least he had the strength to jump up, rather than lying on the ground writhing and moaning in discomfort.
That was enough, for them, these lowly servants, working while sick was almost a daily routine, he was used to hardship, this level of discomfort was completely within his tolerance.
Xiao Wu blinked in confusion, not understanding what was going on.
Could it be that a god had descended to earth?
No, no, it seemed that when he was suffering the most from the fever, thinking he was going to die, he dreamed of a daren in the Inner Hall, wearing a very exquisite black robe, with cool hands, and a cold voice…
He fed him water, and even touched his head. He seemed to have rubbed against the daren’s hand, leaning against him to sleep…
Later, the daren in the dream seemed to have fed him medicine, and fed him thick rice porridge.
Could it be…!?
Xiao Wu looked around incredulously, his heart pounding. Suddenly, he saw a white porcelain bowl in the corner, and his pupils contracted sharply.
The boy felt as if something had hit his head, and as if a huge bell was ringing in his ears. Where could these servants use such fragile porcelain bowls?
That was not a dream at all!!
My god, what has he done, what has he done!?
Xiao Wu was so scared that his eyes went blank, his body hair stood on end, and his whole body was shaking so much that his legs went soft. He ran towards the door, stumbled halfway and didn’t care, almost rolled and crawled out of the room.
When he pushed open the wooden door, the first thing he saw was the black robe from his dream.
The noble daren stood straight against the setting sun, his back to the woodshed, his soft black hair tied in a bundle at the back of his head with a black silk hair tie, simple and neat. The setting sun adorned his body with dazzling golden-red light waves, so dazzling that it seemed like an immortal that he could never reach.
Xiao Wu fell to the ground, then crazily kowtowed, “This servant knows his sin, this servant has offended Daren, this servant knows his sin, Daren spare me, spare me…”
Unexpectedly, before he could kowtow a few times, and before he could see any redness, the collar of his back was grabbed. Without seeing the daren exert any force, with just a light pull, he was flipped over, rolling half a circle on the ground, not too lightly or heavily.
Xiao Wu looked up with a face full of dust in surprise, before he had time to be shocked at the daren’s extraordinary martial arts, he saw the black robe in front of him sway, and the man actually walked over and squatted down in front of him, smiling lightly, “What did you call me? Daren?”
This was the first time Xiao Wu had seen the face of the black-robed nobleman.
The daren was so young, his face was somewhat pale, and his lips were also a bit bloodless, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.
But his eyebrows and eyes were the most handsome he had ever seen in his life, and they also carried a hint of cold pressure, which reminded Xiao Wu of the cold light on a blade.
And now, the daren’s deep black eyes were looking at him with a hint of a smile, squatting down and talking to him.
Xiao Wu had been humble since he was a child, and had never seen such a graceful person at such a close distance, his heart was beating like a drum, and he couldn’t speak a complete sentence, “This servant, this servant…”
Mo Ren looked at the boy, gently shaking his head and sighing.
These days, Chu Yan had begun to purge the remaining traitors and spies in the palace, along with those negligent parasites, and was making sweeping reforms to the Jiuzhong Palace.
These affairs, Guard Mo had always been able to share most of the burden for the palace master. However, he was injured in the Changqing battle and developed a fear of the cold. These days, it happened to be the spring cold, and Chu Yan was on tenterhooks, watching him like a thief every day, not daring to let him do anything, fearing that he would fall ill again before his body had fully recovered.
Guard Mo was given a strict order to rest and recuperate.
But he was not the kind of delicate life that could lie in bed for twelve hours a day. Seeing the palace master and everyone else busy, how could he lie down comfortably?
So last night, he secretly stayed up all night, lit a lamp, and checked most of the records of the Side Hall Outer Hall based on his memories from his previous life.
Actually, Mo Ren intended to take a quick look for one or two hours and then go to sleep, but he forgot about the time while he was working, and was caught red-handed this morning.
God knows how shocked and angry Chu Yan was when he saw the guard’s dark circles under his eyes and still insisted on holding the pen at the desk. He was so angry that he overturned the entire desk but didn’t dare to lay a hand on Mo Ren.
In the end, he could only throw down a sentence in anger. “Good, Guard Mo, you are getting better and better at disobeying orders, even ignoring this Master’s orders, hm!?”
“Then get out! Can’t sleep in this Master’s Zhongqian Hall, from now on, sleep wherever you want, don’t obstruct this Master’s eyes in the sleeping hall! Get out!”
So a bewildered Guard Mo was chased out by the furious palace master, and only then did he realize that he really didn’t have a place to sleep anymore–
He used to have a place to live, but then Chu Yan disliked that it was small and was in a cold and shady location, and ordered it to be demolished with a single word.
…How he ended up here after that, Mo Ren wasn’t sure.
Probably he wanted to find a place to make do for a few days, wait for the palace master to cool down, and then go and apologize, after all, he still had to live in the Zhongqian Hall.
To tell the truth, if it had been before, Chu Yan would have scared him into kneeling down and begging the palace master for punishment, and he wouldn’t dare to get up without receiving a few hundred lashes.
Now… now he didn’t feel anything, the palace master had completely become a paper tiger in front of him, ranting and raving like a big cat fluffing its fur.
Even this time, the palace master scolded him a bit harshly, but Guard Mo was secretly worried, wondering if the palace master would not be able to hold back before he had a chance to apologize, and then come over listlessly and say “Ah Ren, I didn’t mean that…”
So he was thinking wildly, walking aimlessly, and suddenly looked up in a daze, and had already arrived at a familiar place, so he walked in as if possessed.
Returning to the old place, he unexpectedly saved a silly child.
Speaking of which, he was not naturally compassionate, this time he didn’t know whether it was sentimentality or sympathy, he just couldn’t bear to see this little servant suffering like he did in his previous life, so he got some warm water nearby to feed him, then went to the side hall kitchen to get some porridge, and fed him all at once.
This young boy was still grabbing his clothes and rubbing against him when he was in a daze, but he was scared when he woke up…
Mo Ren was half helpless and half amused in his heart, and there was also some rare pity.
He rarely said in a gentle tone, “You don’t have to kneel to me, I won’t punish you. You also called me ‘daren’, it’s wrong, don’t you see which ‘daren’ would do this kind of work?”
At the end of the sentence, there was a hint of a smile, and also a hint of melancholy. Xiao Wu couldn’t hear it, he just looked up in a daze following Mo Ren’s words, and was immediately stunned.
–The big water tank in front of him, the water tank that could only be filled with ten buckets of water, was full. The water-carrying pole and buckets were lying on the side, obviously just moved. Xiao Wu looked up in horror and looked at the daren in front of him again, only to find that the exquisite black robe that had once amazed and envied him, had faint dark water stains on the shoulders.
Given this situation, even if Xiao Wu was stupid, he couldn’t possibly not know what had happened. His expression became even more stunned, his lips trembled for a long time, before he stuttered out a few words, “Daren, you–these…did you?”
“It’s me.” Mo Ren nodded in response, then glanced at the sky and turned to walk towards the back of the woodshed.
Soon, he bent down and picked up a blunt axe that was covered in mud, “It’s almost the hour of Youshi, if you don’t finish your work, you’re not allowed to eat, and you’ll get twenty lashes, aren’t you going to hurry up?”
(TL: Youshi-the period of the day from 5 pm to 7 pm)
