by Spring Trees
Thus, he only casually uttered, “Can’t remember.” His paste-like brain had currently lost its ability to process anything completely…
“I heard that it was a demon with the tail of a fish.” Mo Shu had a great desire to converse. He reached his leg out to poke Nan Ge Er a little. “Is that how it goes?”
“Ah, yes.” Nan Ge Er forced himself to rouse up, giving a half-hearted and hazy answer.
“It was fond of a crown prince.” Mo Shu continued.
“Ah, yes.”
“That demon still died.” Mo Shu continued, while persistently poking Nan Ge Er’s armpit with his foot.
“…” Nan Ge Er was extremely speechless, and sighed, “If you had such a clear idea, what do you still want me to tell?”
Why don’t YOU tell it to me, Mo Shu-xiansheng!
“Because I didn’t hear to the end, so I wanted Nan Ge Er to tell me again—ma.” Mo Shu laughed.
… Can you not add that modal particle?
“ma”…
Who are you being coquettish to, old man?
Nan Ge Er was completely awake from Mo Shu’s pokes—alright, a small part of the reason was actually due to…him being woken by embarrassment from Mo Shu’s words.
How outrageous must humans be, to get to that fellow’s level?
“Up to where exactly did you listen?” Nan Ge Er knew that if he didn’t satisfy Mo Shu wishes, he probably couldn’t even hope to sleep tonight. Nan Ge Er had no way out—this was a custom; before sleeping at night, he still had to retell stories to the little kiddie Mo Shu…
“The demon looking for a sorcerer to request human legs.” Mo Shu replied. He even criticized after that, “This demon must have not cultivated enough, to need someone else’s help for that.”
Nan Ge Er twitched his lips—poor little mermaid, being analyzed into a mere utensil by this fellow!
“After that, that princess from the demon tribe became a human, leaving her tribe behind, to find that crown prince in the capital city.” Actually, in the beginning, Nan Ge Er told it in a narrative that respected the original version a little more, but after being twisted by Mo Shu, it became a pirated version of the New Legend of Madame White Snake…
“Thinking about it, the demon’s perspective is rather puzzling.” Instead of just listening silently, Mo Shu liked to comment his thoughts occasionally, “Since she knew that the prince was of a different species from her, she should have just caged him up when she rescued him, because if the crown prince returned to his city, he could enjoy being with countless of beauties, and could even marry someone from an important official’s family in the end, gaining support from his retainers, and obtaining the whole world. And the crown prince, who knew of her existence, may even send out troops to attack her land, killing the demon spawns, to gain a good reputation.” He spouted out treacherous sentences calmly, continuously belittling the little mermaid, “When she saved the prince, she should have submerged him, why did she let him go?”
Nan Ge Er widened his mouth—once again, he lost the de-si-re to finish the story for Mo Shu.
That’s right, Mo Shu-xiansheng always had such shockingly dark comments, clearly analysing the irrational parts of every story.
However, Mo Shu had some opinions yet again when Nan Ge Er stopped speaking, “Why aren’t you continuing?”
What the heck can I add, when you comment on the story this way?
“… Daren, it is just a story.” He really wanted to just shut his mouth after that, pretending that he was already asleep. However, as his previous attempts at faking sleep had always ended in failure, he had no choice but to gloomily explain to Mo Shu, “You can’t just analyze every legend clearly. It isn’t a case, you don’t have to treat them seriously.”
“How uninteresting.” Mo Shu murmured, “But we should chat a bit at least.”
“You should sleep instead of talking at night,” Nan Ge Er spoke as he scrunched his face up.
“Then let’s sleep on the same side,” Mo Shu requested.
Are we best friends? Sleeping on the same side… Are you intending to share some secrets with me, Da ge1 …?
Nan Ge Er didn’t even have the strength to reply to Mo Shu’s suggestion.
However, Mo Shu was always a person with great awareness; noting that Nan Ge Er didn’t move, Mo Shu assumed that he consented, thus getting up at once.
“Lie there and don’t move.” As soon as Nan Ge Er heard the rustling noise in the darkness, he immediately stopped Mo Shu, “I made sweet pancakes today – unless you don’t want to have them tomorrow.”
Mo Shu immediately lay back down.
What a pitiful man, controlled entirely by instincts.
“Jun Yao Country is going to be levying troops tomorrow, some people from the district may be going.” After quite a long time, when Nan Ge Er was almost slipping into his dreams, Mo Shu suddenly informed.
Although his thoughts were jumbled up from his sleepiness, Nan Ge Er still instinctively detected the meaning behind Mo Shu’s words—he said that Jun Yao Country was going to be levying troops.
… How strange.
‘Isn’t Guang Tian within Jun Yao’s territory?’ He puzzled in his heart.
However, as he was too sleepy, his nerves had lost their agility as well, he only found it weird, and didn’t feel nervous or shocked.
“Some of them— might never be able to come back.” Mo Shu continued coolly, “Are you going to take a look?”
… What a strange way of speaking.
‘Why can’t they come back, is there danger outside of the district? Uh, it indeed is dangerous being in the army, but the world is currently at peace, there don’t really seem to be any wars of a large scale, right?’ Nan Ge Er mumbled in his heart.
“… Not fun at all.” Mo Shu muttered, “Hmph, great righteousness is all a pile of dog shit.”
Woah. It seemed like Mo Shu had said some terrible words.
“Will Nan Ge Er be going— tomorrow?” Mo Shu asked again.
He felt that if he said he wasn’t going, Mo Shu would probably be disappointed in him—Nan Ge Er didn’t wish for that to happen.
Though that guy was clueless and infuriating, driving Nan Ge Er mad every time, Nan Ge Er could still discern good from bad.
The people in the district treated him warmly and leniently, and Mo Shu’s treatment towards him was even more indisputable.
Precisely due to that, he didn’t want to disappoint anyone.
Furthermore, Nan Ge Er had also found out how wilful Mo Shu-xiansheng was—if he didn’t give him a satisfying answer, Mo Shu would keep on pestering him.
Simply depressing.
Hence, he gave him a befuddled, “Mn,” as an answer.
“What a lovable child.” Nan Ge Er had seemingly heard Mo Shu laugh as he spoke.
However, Nan Ge Er was kindly called upon by his fatigue and he swiftly abandoned Mo Shu to play with Zhou Jia Dage2.
The person on the other side of the bed was breathing rhythmically, already rushing into a deep sleep.
After confirming Nan Ge Er was indeed asleep, Mo Shu got up, carefully pressed on the blankets to prevent wind from getting in, before crawling to the side where Nan Ge Er was sleeping. He lifted the blankets up, and made his way in.
The slight coldness of Mo Shu’s body annoyed Nan Ge Er. He smacked his lips in his dreams, trying to avoid him.
However, Mo Shu would never be that easy to avoid; he reached his hands out, placing Nan Ge Er in his embrace.
Though Nan Ge Er was in his dreams, he probably still realized Mo Shu would never let go. After pushing away for a bit, he had his entire body pulled into Mo Shu’s embrace, as if lazily thinking it was too much trouble—through the use of internal force, Mo Shu’s embrace became warmer.
Mo Shu lifted his lips into a smile and reached his hands out to pat Nan Ge Er’s back.
Actually, he didn’t plan on squeezing in, but that child’s attitude elated him since it was hopeless
ly lovable.
So astute, yet adorable.
* * *
1 Da ge: similar to ‘ge’ in chp 5’s T/N, it is a suffix used to address one’s elder brother, or an older male. For this instance, Nan Ge Er is trying to emphasize Mo Shu’s (old) age.
2 Zhou Jia Dage:Nan Ge Er was affectionately referring to the God of Dreams. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Zhou#God_of_Dreams
Chapter 20
* * *
“Daren, after this journey, it is uncertain when we will be able to meet again.” The one speaking was a young child. On his tenderly youthful face was a gravely serious expression at the moment.
Moreover, Nan Ge Er noticed that, at this point in time, every child would address Mo Shu as Daren.
Mo Shu was sitting in the hall, looking at the crowd of young children, and not a single word was uttered.
“Please take care of your health.” Another girl, whose age wasn’t too far from the previous young boy, spoke as well. “You are our hope and support.”
Although Nan Ge Er, who was sitting beside Mo Shu, wanted to criticize how ‘supporting’ Mo Shu could be, the atmosphere was overly heavy and he only appeared calm on the surface.
“And also, we will be leaving Daren to you.” Another child directed this to Nan Ge Er, while kowtowing.
Nan Ge Er maintained his composure on the surface, but in actuality, in his heart, he was totally speechless—what did this entrusting tone mean?
Why is he left to me?!
In the morning, every child in the district who was of thirteen years old gathered in the government office’s hall. Their family and elders didn’t enter, they only silently looked in from the outside. The ones talking to Mo Shu now were the young children.
Even though Nan Ge Er tried to ignore the numerous eccentricities of Guang Tian, he still understood, that, at least, it was impossible for the levying of troops in other places to be as solemn as it was in Guang Tian.
In this world, the people in the levied troops were usually young adults who had no choice but to be drafted into the army due to their inability to find a suitable job. They were just trying to have a job by doing so, it was just that the job’s title was ‘soldier’.
Although some did make a name for themselves, such as becoming heroes in battlefields, those were still in the minority; typical soldiers usually muddled along until they reached a certain age, they then received money given by the country, before returning home to farm, or do other types of jobs.
This was all on the premise that they were able to survive in the army.
To conclude, drafting to the army was just a choice for those in a tight spot, but in Guang Tian, it was almost bestowed as some kind of solemnly tragic duty and responsibility.
All those who were able to attend stood silently outside the hall. The doors of the government office were opened wide and a huge crowd of people stood quietly outside watching the children speak in quite a sophisticated manner to Mo Shu.
When Nan Ge Er was buying groceries in the morning, he did realise the uncommonly silent atmosphere in the district as well.
Sitting there, he felt that he probably knew the reason now.
Was this because the children would be leaving Guang Tian to join Jun Yao country’s army?
Mo Shu kept quiet, only silently looking at those children who were speaking.
After all, they weren’t adults. So after speaking for a bit, they began choking back their words. Some weren’t even able to speak up, only able to have tears streaming down their faces.
However, there wasn’t a single child who would utter their refusal to join the army, they only spoke about missing their parents, friends, teachers, neighbors, and the dogs and cats at their neighbors’ houses…
Facing an enormous group of sobbing children, Mo Shu still didn’t speak a word. On the contrary, the crowd outside began chatting in whispers, while wiping their tears away too.
Nan Ge Er watched at the side, not knowing what exactly Mo Shu was thinking, or perhaps, he didn’t understand this custom of Guang Tian.
After a long while, Mo Shu finally raised his head, gazing at the bright sky, as he faintly commented, “What great weather.”
Though Mo Shu’s words weren’t loud, they hushed everyone.
Hearing this, Nan Ge Er turned his head to the skies outside as well.
The sky in the early spring was a little pale, cold still lingering in the air, but it still made onlookers feel particularly energetic.
It was the kind of feeling that everything was just beginning; packed with power and hope.
“It is fitting to do something, in such a weather.” Mo Shu continued, smiling after that, “Didn’t you guys decide to go out because you wanted to carve out a career for yourselves?”
Truth be told, although Mo Shu didn’t give any inciting speech, the atmosphere at the moment was indescribably stirring.
“Your families, brothers, all of them are able to do it, so you can do it too,” Mo Shu calmly stated. He didn’t show a vehement expression, nor did he raise his tone, instead only spoke serenely. The lull made it as if the words spoken were the truth.
Outside the hall one could hear a pin-drop.
Everyone listened attentively to Mo Shu, even Nan Ge Er, who didn’t feel any sense of immersion, couldn’t help but turn his head to Mo Shu, listening to him.
“Do something outside,” Mo Shu stated, “Don’t forget your identities.” Mo Shu’s expression seemed especially cold when he said his last sentence.
It wasn’t a coldness in temperature, instead it was some kind of numbed, undaunted heartlessness.
Nan Ge Er was awakened by the ‘chill’ in Mo Shu’s expression. He glanced at Mo Shu, perplexed—he still had quite a confidence in his intuition. He believed that there weren’t any errors from his gut feeling currently.
Furthermore, the silence from those in his surroundings confirmed that his intuition wasn’t overly sensitive.
Just then, Mo Shu indeed displayed an exceedingly cold side of him.
“And,” Mo Shu suddenly cracked a warm and gentle smile again, “Remember that no one can ever hurt you, except for me, and yourselves. When you get tired, you can come back anytime. No matter what you’ve become, we will always welcome you here. This place is your home. Well. I’ve finished my speech, get ready to move out. You guys are our pride as well.”
“Yes!” Filled with pride and aspiration, the slightly childish voices from every child rang out within the hall.
Nan Ge Er glanced at Mo Shu, a little astonished, yet unsurprised—how should he say this; he wasn’t surprised at the children’s excited emotions, and he wasn’t shocked about Mo Shu saying those words, but he just felt that Mo Shu, who was able to say such things, was weird on his own.
…
However, he slightly understood why the townspeople would regard Mo Shu so highly.
He only spoke a few simple words with his usual calming voice, but still succeeded in getting everyone emotional.
Nan Ge Er was very familiar with such auras; he had seen them in kings before.
The only difference was that Mo Shu seemed more befitting of a king, as opposed to the kings he had met previously. Gentle, cold, sharp, and blunt. No king could do it better than him.
At that moment, Nan Ge Er truly thought so.
‘… I think— I briefly saw a bit of the truth of Guang Tian.’ He felt that way in his heart.
Was it good or bad?
Mo Shu, why did he want me to see that?
Did he want to share something with me, or wanted to use me to do something…
Or, just innocently wanted me to know?
As he thought of that, Nan Ge Er was a little puzzled as he looked at Mo Shu.
Mo Shu seemed to notice Nan Ge Er’s gaze, he turned his head to him, blinking, and lip-synced: ‘Cook honeyed beans later,’ revealing a pair of anticipating eyes while he did so.
Yet again, Nan Ge Er returned to
his usual expression when facing Mo Shu, almost on the verge of raging.
I firmly believe, sooner or later, I will lose control of my emotion, and eradicate Mo Shu!
He may really be an extraordinary fellow, but the prerequisite was that he definitely was an idiot.
Even if he is extraordinary, he is still just an extraordinary, idiotic sweet-food-con, and food junkie!
Chapter 21
* * *
After sending off the young little soldiers, the days in Guang Tian returned to their normal tranquillity and bustle.
Nan Ge Er lived a troubling life every day as usual.
During spring, his tea stall opened once again. Though it wasn’t doing as well as in the summer season, Nan Ge Er did have a trump card in hand—storytelling.
Plus, the location of the tea stall was rather great. If described in modern terms, it was in the most bustling and prosperous area, with people coming and going, and numerous carts passing by. Sometimes, an occasional passersby would listen in to a part of the story, have a cup of tea and rest while gossiping a bit.
Of course, currently in Guang Tian, one additional topic had been added into the gossips—Nan Ge Er and Mo Shu’s story which everyone couldn’t help gossiping about.
Various absurd rumors were flying around; some residents even specially went over to the main star of the gossip, Nan Ge Er, to inquire the truth of the rumors.
As a person from the hot topic of discussion, Nan Ge Er was agonised. Nonetheless, he still had to open his tea stall everyday—there was no choice for him; if he didn’t have a side business, the cost needed for the household would not be enough. Even if the cost needed for the household wasn’t enough, he couldn’t just stop going out and buying groceries, so…
It is unavoidable!
However, the weird part of the situation was, although Nan Ge Er was in utter bitterness, Mo Shu, as the victim of the gossip, didn’t seem to be troubled by it at all. He’d still wake up early every day, and come back late every night.