After Faking My Death, I Became the Male Lead's White Moonlight - Chapter 4

“Senior Brother Song, what is the meaning of this?” the disciple asked indignantly.

“That’s right, what is the meaning of this?” Ye Xisheng narrowed his eyes slightly.

Caught under the gaze of two pairs of eyes, Song Lianzhou was somewhat at a loss for words.

Was he supposed to say that drinking this medicine would make you explode and die from excess energy? He couldn’t very well explain how he knew that Ye Xisheng’s medicine had been wrongfully swapped in the first place…

Anyway, what was done was done. Maintaining the airs of a high-and-mighty peak-dwelling flower, Song Lianzhou put on his usual cold, superior posture of not wanting to bother explaining himself to mere mortals, and stated, “This medicine cannot be drunk.”

“Senior Brother Song, aren’t you being a bit too arrogant? You arrived and smashed Brother Ye’s medicinal soup without even offering a single word of explanation! Have you given any thought to what Brother Ye is supposed to do about his injuries?”

The disciple was extremely furious, actually pointing at Song Lianzhou and scolding him with righteous indignation.

“I truly never expected you to be such a maliciously minded person!”

Ye Xisheng suddenly chuckled, lunging forward the next instant to clamp his hand around that disciple’s neck!

“I am asking you.”

Exerting force with his hand, Ye Xisheng abruptly hoisted the struggling disciple right in front of him. “Planting poison inside my medicine—pray tell, what is the meaning of this?”

Poison?!

Before Song Lianzhou could even react, a fiery-red whip suddenly lashed out from outside the door, accompanying a swift, tearing sound through the air as it fiercely flung the disciple against the wall.

“You have quite some nerve to speak insolently to my senior brother.”

“Clack, clack.” Someone pushed open the door and walked inside, a flood of crimson robes fluttering behind her like a brilliant, blazing fire.

“Take him down for me.”

Instantly, people stepped forward, grabbing the medicine-delivery disciple by either side to pin him in place. By this time, Ye Xisheng was already standing meekly to the side with lowered brows, bowing to the newcomer: “Senior Sister Feiyi.”

Apothecary master Feiyi, who practiced both medicine and poisons with exceptional natural talent, was also Gu Qingci’s third personal disciple.

Waves of white smoke drifted from the medicinal soup spilled across the floor, and a few drops that had accidentally splashed onto the potted plant Ye Xisheng kept in the corner of the wall were already causing it to wither and die completely.

Song Lianzhou turned his gaze back abruptly: “You actually dared to harm a fellow disciple!”

The disciple spat out a large mouthful of blood, still shaking his head in panic: “I, I don’t know anything.”

“Senior brother, this person is not a disciple of our Cangling Sect.” Feiyi stepped forward, grabbed the man’s chin to lift his face up, and yanked the identification badge off his waist with one hand, holding it up before her eyes to examine it closely for a couple of moments. “This identification badge is fake.”

“Who instigated you to come here?”

Knowing that his plot had been exposed, the man gradually stopped struggling, staring at Feiyi’s face before abruptly breaking into a smile.

“Oh no!” Feiyi’s expression changed drastically as she hurriedly clamped a tight grip on the man’s chin to force his mouth open, forcefully ramming a few pills down his throat.

However, it was already too late. Black blood seeped from the corners of the man’s mouth, and he breathed his last breath an instant later.

“Tch, what a pain; he’s a suicide squad member.” Feiyi tossed the man aside in disgust, patted her hands, and spun around to land beside Song Lianzhou. “Fortunately, Senior Brother, you arrived in time. This poison has a ferocious potency if he had actually drunk it, his chances of survival would have been slim.”

Song Lianzhou asked, “What on earth happened?”

“Today, when I was patrolling the apothecary, I discovered that several spiritual medicines in the storehouse had been replaced with poisons, and a portion of them had already been taken and used. I traced the inquiry all the way here and found out that no one recognized the person who claimed the medicine, so I knew something was wrong,” Feiyi scoffed coldly. “The mastermind behind the scenes covered their tracks quite covertly, simply failing to anticipate that I would go personally and spot the abnormality at a single glance.”

“Yet no one knew the whereabouts of this disciple, so I could only search room by room, nearly arriving a step too late. Fortunately, Senior Brother was here.”

“However, Senior Brother, why did you come to the outer sect today?”

Feiyi glanced sideways at the meek and submissive Ye Xisheng standing nearby, curling her lips. “You didn’t come specifically to see him, did you?”

Oh? Song Lianzhou looked over in surprise: Good junior sister, she even helped him think of an excuse.

“Indeed. Today in the back mountain, I saw him being surrounded and harassed, so I stepped in to help. After seeing Master just now, I thought about it over and over, worrying that he might have suffered some hidden injuries, so I came to check on him—who would have thought I’d run right into that fellow delivering poisoned medicine.” Song Lianzhou spoke with absolute conviction.

With Feiyi present and since their fellow disciples all understood a bit of pharmacology as well his ability to recognize that the medicine was poisoned didn’t seem out of place at all.

“So Senior Brother Song came specifically to see me today after all,” Ye Xisheng replied with a smiling, beaming expression.

Song Lianzhou: “…”

That seemed to be the exact meaning of his words, but hearing it come out of Ye Xisheng’s mouth always felt a bit strange…

“Cough.” Song Lianzhou gave a light cough, steering the conversation away. “Regarding the person who tried to harm you, do you have any clues? Have you ever formed any enemies with anyone?”

“I rarely ever leave the sect on ordinary days, let alone have the opportunity to make enemies with anyone. I have no idea who would want to harm me,” Ye Xisheng blinked his eyes innocently.

Song Lianzhou mused, “Could it be a newly arrived outer sect disciple, then?”

Feiyi countered, “That’s not entirely out of the question. I haven’t verified his identity yet; I only know that none of the disciples in the apothecary recognized him. I’ll go have someone look into it right now”

“There’s no need,” Ye Xisheng said. “This person is probably not an outer sect disciple.”

Song Lianzhou and Feiyi looked toward him simultaneously, and Song Lianzhou asked, “Why are you so certain?”

“Although there are many outer sect disciples, there are a few individuals like Wang Yue who carry a lot of weight when they speak. I come from a humble background with mediocre aptitude, so naturally I get looked down upon by them, and by extension, all the outer sect disciples look down on me,” Ye Xisheng smiled faintly. “Therefore, very few people are ever that friendly to me calling me ‘Brother Ye’ just like this person did.”

To think it was because of that reason. Song Lianzhou paused, instinctively apologizing, “I’m sorry.”

“Why is Senior Brother apologizing to me?” Ye Xisheng chuckled softly.

“Exactly,” Feiyi muttered from the side. “Senior Brother, you didn’t do anything wrong, and even if you had, you wouldn’t need to apologize. What status do you have and what status does he… wait, wait, wait, Senior Brother, why are you pulling me?”

Song Lianzhou dragged Feiyi behind his back, saying awkwardly, “My junior sister is young; don’t take it to heart.”

The system had warned that the fates of those who bullied the male lead in the original text were one more miserable than the last. He couldn’t control what others wanted to do in their quest for death, but as for his fellow junior sister, he still needed to keep her in check.

Yet Ye Xisheng merely remarked, “What does it matter? Senior Sister Feiyi is right.”

Gazing at him, a sudden wave of heartache washed over Song Lianzhou: “How are your injuries?”

Injuries? The timeline was far too distant; Ye Xisheng couldn’t even remember why he had sustained injuries in the first place, forcing him to reply vaguely, “They are already of no consequence.”

“The mastermind behind the scenes hasn’t been caught yet, and since their attempt failed, they will likely try to harm you again,” Song Lianzhou said. “Why don’t you come stay at my quarters for these next couple of days? I have several empty rooms in my courtyard.”

He felt a deep sense of guilt in his heart as well. If not for him, Ye Xisheng ought to have awakened his supreme-grade spiritual root by now…

“Senior Brother, how can this be?!” Feiyi was the first to object.

[Host, how can this be?!] The system followed closely as the second objector.

“Many thanks for Senior Brother’s kind intentions, but I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

Lowering his head, Ye Xisheng arranged his profile into the most vulnerable arc possible: “Besides, I don’t have anyone in this world to worry about anyway; it doesn’t matter if something happens to me.”

Feiyi: “…”

The system was utterly dumbfounded: [Such a high-tier green tea flower!]

Frowning, Song Lianzhou stated with unquestionable authority, “No, you are coming with me.”

His objective achieved, Ye Xisheng bowed with a gentle smile: “Then I must trouble Senior Brother.”

[Host! How could you]

[System, don’t panic for now.] Song Lianzhou soothed: [Now that I’ve placed Ye Xisheng right under my own nose, won’t I be able to keep an eye on his movements at all times?]

The small sprite remained frozen in place, its eyeballs rolling around before it finally defumed, caving in to sit back down on Song Lianzhou’s shoulder: [That’s true, too.]

Since Song Lianzhou had put it that way, Feiyi naturally found it difficult to voice any further objections. She retracted her whip, crossed her arms to appraise Ye Xisheng up and down once more, and then turned around to say, “Hmph, as for you—though I don’t know why my senior brother likes you so much, since he’s willing to trust you, you may as well settle down in the inner sect.”

Song Lianzhou addressed her: “Junior Sister, you are well-versed in pharmacology, so there is still one more matter I need to trouble you with…”

Feiyi replied, “Fine, fine. You just go to the apothecary tomorrow and find me, whatever-your-name-is.”

Ye Xisheng hadn’t expected Song Lianzhou to still remember this matter, leaving him with no choice but to accept with a wry smile: “Many thanks, Senior Sister.”

Feiyi waved her hand, skipping and hopping as she tugged at Song Lianzhou’s sleeve to pull him outward: “Senior Brother, since you’ve just come out of seclusion, Second Senior Brother said he’s going to cook lots of delicious food, so let’s hurry up and go see. Oh right, Little Junior Brother is also coming back today, which is just in time to welcome him home and wash away the dust of travel!”

A group gathering? Song Lianzhou grew nervous: Was he finally about to meet the entire relationship network of the original host all at once?

Ye Xisheng spoke up abruptly: “May I ask, Senior Sister Feiyi, is the Little Junior Brother you mentioned the master’s fifth personal disciple, Mei Zaijue?”

“That’s right, what about it?”

Feiyi suddenly seemed to recall something: “Oh, you’re that good friend A-Jue mentioned, right? What was your name again… Ye Xisheng?”

“We can hardly be considered good friends.” Ye Xisheng merely smiled, looking somewhat resigned. “We can only be counted as old acquaintances.”

At least for now, they weren’t particularly familiar yet.

Song Lianzhou thought this name sounded exceptionally pleasant, musing silently to himself that, as expected of someone connected to the protagonist, even their name carried an inherent poetic atmosphere.

[What, Mei Zaijue?] The system suddenly burst into a piercing shriek within his sea of consciousness: [Isn’t this Ye Xisheng’s best friend in the original text?!]