After the Stand-in Hugged the White Moonlight's Thigh Tightly - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: “Your relationship as Senior and Junior Brothers is also…”

“This child said he was going to cultivate to become an immortal, and he cultivated himself into this state!” Aunt Man sighed with emotion.

Aunt Man should be Ruan Mingyu’s wet nurse in the book, the person in the entire Ruan family who treats him the best.

Ruan Mingyu had no idea how long he had been asleep. He could hear people talking around him, but he couldn’t open his eyes.

“Ruan Mingyu diligently practices on the mountain, not even sleeping every day for the sake of cultivation. Given time, he is bound to achieve great things.” This was Song Chenxi’s voice. Was he praising him? He couldn’t believe such words would come out of his mouth.

Aunt Man was pleased to hear the praise: “Is the immortal master who took Ruan Mingyu up the mountain still well? I must thank him for giving the child an opportunity.”

“He died,” Song Chenxi lied with a straight face. “Ruan Mingyu is following me now.”

“That is truly a pity.”

“Not a pity, he deserved to die.”

“Xiao Yu has been asleep for so long, why hasn’t he woken up yet?”

“Soon. The time I calculated won’t take much longer.”

Aunt Man paced back and forth in the room. Song Chenxi said, “You should go down. I will take care of him.”

Aunt Man: “How can I impose like that? Thank you, sir.”

“I am his Senior Brother, it’s my duty.”

Song Chenxi lowered his head and wiped Ruan Mingyu’s face. He really did miss when Ruan Mingyu was lively and hopping around. “I’ve brought you home. Why aren’t you waking up?”

“If you don’t wake up, I’ll kiss you.” Even though Ruan Mingyu was unconscious, Song Chenxi still didn’t intend to let him off and wanted to tease him.

Ruan Mingyu’s eyelashes trembled.

Seeing this, Song Chenxi continued to provoke him: “If you don’t wake up, I’ll become your Dao Companion. Then, when Shen Yanyuan comes out of seclusion, I think his expression will be very interesting.”

By all accounts, Ruan Mingyu should have slept for another two or three days, but to refute Song Chenxi’s words, he was shockingly stimulated into waking up. He suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.

As soon as he woke up, he heard Song Chenxi’s wicked smile. He said, “When did you fall for me? Hearing that I want to become your Dao Companion made you get up so impatiently?”

He really was sick, and it was a serious illness.

Ruan Mingyu pretended not to hear and asked him, “How long did I sleep?”

Song Chenxi: “Not long, just sixteen days. Why didn’t you sleep longer?”

He was talking sarcastically again, Ruan Mingyu didn’t know what he had done to provoke him.

Ruan Mingyu’s clothes had been changed to an azure-blue brocade robe with dark patterns, still carrying a familiar scent of soapberry. It was likely Song Chenxi’s clothing again. Ruan Mingyu had never seen him wear such colors; perhaps he found the color too youthful and rarely wore them.

Song Chenxi held a sachet in his hand, which he had taken from Ruan Mingyu’s discarded clothes: “Did your Senior Brother give you this?” He kept calling him Shen Yanyuan, Ruan Mingyu almost forgot Shen Yanyuan was his Senior Brother.

When Ruan Mingyu first arrived, he was so worried he couldn’t sleep all day. Smelling the calming incense inside the sachet gave him a little peace of mind, and he gradually got used to wearing it.

Ruan Mingyu nodded.

Song Chenxi’s eyes darkened, and he burned the sachet in his hand to ashes.

“The scent of this one is not pleasant. I will give you a new one.”

He took out a light blue sachet and tied it around Ruan Mingyu’s waist.

Ruan Mingyu sniffed it. There was no big difference from the previous one.

Forget it, it wasn’t worth arguing with him over such a small matter.

Lying down for a long time made his whole body uncomfortable. Ruan Mingyu lifted the quilt and tried to get out of bed to walk a few steps. However, as soon as he moved, his body immediately went soft, and he almost fell off the bed. This movement strained the wound on his shoulder blade, making him gasp in pain, and tears involuntarily hung on his eyelashes.

Luckily, Song Chenxi was quick, embracing him and pulling him back onto the bed, otherwise, he would have taken a nasty fall.

Song Chenxi held Ruan Mingyu in his arms. From his perspective, the baby fat on Ruan Mingyu’s cheeks was gone. He was much thinner now, and his chin was pointy.

Ruan Mingyu looked around and asked, “Where is this place?”

Song Chenxi greedily wrapped his arm secretly around his waist: “Didn’t you want to go home? I brought you home.”

Ruan Mingyu was filled with emotions. He could never return to his true home, and a slightly melancholy smile appeared on his face.

“Yes, home. It’s really good to be home.”

…

Ruan Mingyu rested for a few more days and finally recovered significantly, though his face remained pale.

The arrow that struck him was highly poisoned, and he was almost beyond saving. It was already quite a feat for Ruan Mingyu to wake up.

Song Chenxi told him, “We will return to the sect in a few more days and let your master examine you, just in case there are any lingering issues.”

This was not his home. Ruan Mingyu said, “No need to wait any longer, let’s go back today.”

Song Chenxi was surprised but didn’t say much: “Since you’ve decided, let’s go.”

Just as Ruan Mingyu finished tidying up and putting on his clothes, a man walked in. He looked shrewd and shared some features with Ruan Mingyu: “Xiao Yu, you’ve just returned after so long, and you’re already leaving? And this Immortal Master, please stay and attend my daughter’s full moon celebration before you go.”

He remembered this person should be his cousin, Ruan Liquan.

Song Chenxi looked at Ruan Mingyu, his eyes questioning his decision.

His cousin grabbed Ruan Mingyu’s hand: “It’s not easy for our Little Ruan to come home. Let’s catch up for a while first, cousin.”

“You’re so young, and you already have a child?”

“Oh, you’ve changed since you started cultivating! It wouldn’t be surprising if I had a child ten years ago. Yun Niang and I have been childhood sweethearts and together for so long. It’s only surprising that we’re just having a child now.”

Ruan Mingyu smiled without speaking.

As the two chatted casually, Song Chenxi squeezed over and said with a smile to the cousin, “My Junior Brother just woke up and isn’t feeling well. Please come back tomorrow to talk.”

Ruan Liquan reluctantly excused himself.

Song Chenxi wasn’t necessarily afraid of Ruan Mingyu having visitors; he just didn’t want him chatting with others for too long. He sat by the bed and pulled out a pill for Ruan Mingyu: “Here, candy pill, still want to eat one?”

Ruan Mingyu was about to answer when Aunt Man came in again. She gave Song Chenxi a meaningful look. Song Chenxi nodded: “Fine, I’ll go, you two talk.” Then he left, slamming the door shut in obvious displeasure.

Aunt Man pulled Ruan Mingyu aside: “I heard you were leaving and rushed over right away.”

Ruan Mingyu: “I told my cousin I’d attend his daughter’s full moon celebration before leaving.”

Aunt Man looked around to ensure they were alone before speaking: “I was going to wait until you left to say this, but since there’s time now, I’ll tell you. Child, I advised you many times not to follow that man, but you just wouldn’t listen.” Tears streamed down her face. “He said he would take care of you, but he abandoned you and now you’ve returned with such severe injuries.”

Ruan Mingyu comforted her: “Aunt Man, I’m doing well. My current Senior Brother treats me… very kindly.”

Aunt Man looked around again to make sure no one was near: “Although your current Senior Brother seems easy to get along with, based on my years of experience in reading people, I don’t think he’s simple. You need to be careful and guard against him.”

Aunt Man was quite accurate in her judgment. Ruan Mingyu nodded: “Don’t worry about me. I can protect myself.”

Aunt Man wiped a tear: “Since you’re cultivating, don’t keep running back home.”

Ruan Mingyu ‘mm’-ed softly. The home he truly wanted to return to was forever lost.

…

In the middle of the night, Ruan Mingyu sat in meditation on his bed. During the years in the cave, he had come to understand some principles. He could now cultivate and mobilize the spiritual energy around him, sensing the fluctuations of qi in the air, much like an entry-level cultivator.

He was bored, so he let his spiritual sense wander freely through the Ruan Residence. He did this simply because he was too bored. After sleeping for over half a month, he truly couldn’t fall asleep, no matter how much he loved to sleep.

His spiritual sense wandered aimlessly and slipped into a certain room. The surroundings were hazy with steam. Ruan Mingyu continued to explore, and as soon as he saw clearly, he realized it was Song Chenxi undressing to take a bath.

He must be sick in the head, bathing in the middle of the night! Ruan Mingyu quickly retracted his spiritual sense.

The moment he entered, Song Chenxi sensed him. A smile played on his lips: “Ruan Mingyu, if you want to watch, you can open the door and come in person. What’s the point of sneaking in with your spiritual sense?”

Ruan Mingyu quickly fled.

His spiritual sense continued to wander. After looking around for a while, he didn’t find anything interesting. Suddenly, he heard a baby crying. It must be his cousin’s newborn.

Ruan Mingyu guided his spiritual sense to see what the baby looked like. The baby was cradled and cooed by its mother and finally stopped crying.

Ruan Mingyu hadn’t found anything interesting and was about to withdraw his spiritual sense back into his body.

But he still felt something was off about the woman holding the baby.

His spiritual sense lingered for a moment, and he finally pinpointed the source of the unease.

The woman holding the baby had absolutely no aura of a living person; she was clearly a ghost!

Ruan Mingyu abruptly opened his eyes.

Song Chenxi, who had finished his bath next door, didn’t sleep in his own bed. He pushed open Ruan Mingyu’s door and walked in.

Ruan Mingyu stared at him with wide eyes.

“Did you see a ghost? You look like this…” Song Chenxi cupped his chin. “Could it be that you are guarding against me?”

It seemed Song Chenxi had heard everything he and Aunt Man had talked about earlier in the day.

But Ruan Mingyu really did see a ghost.

“Can ghosts have children?” Ruan Mingyu asked out of the blue.

“Why not?” Song Chenxi glanced at him. “If you are willing, you can have one too.”

Ruan Mingyu: “…”

“I’m not joking, I really saw a ghost,” Ruan Mingyu said.

Song Chenxi had actually known since the moment he first stepped here, but Ruan Mingyu had been unconscious all these days, and he hadn’t had the energy to concern himself with other people’s matters.

Since Ruan Mingyu was awake, he suddenly became interested and said to him, “Want to go ghost-hunting?”

Ruan Mingyu: “Ghost-hunting? Let’s go.”

The two secretly slipped into the courtyard from earlier. The baby must have just been cooed to sleep; there was no sound in the courtyard.

The sound of the man’s snoring came from the house. The serving maids and servants were also sound asleep and couldn’t be woken up. As for the cousin’s wife, or perhaps he should call her cousin-in-law, she was sitting alone in the courtyard, absorbing the essence of the world under the moonlight.

The bright moon hung in the sky but didn’t cast her shadow. Other than that, she was indistinguishable from a human.

Ruan Mingyu was lying on the roof: “This is the first time I’ve seen a ghost.”

Song Chenxi rummaged in his bag of tricks for a while and finally pulled out a suitable magical artifact, preparing to jump down. Ruan Mingyu grabbed him: “What are you doing?”

“Ghost-hunting, of course. Besides cultivating, we cultivators also catch ghosts, subdue demons, and uphold justice.”

Ruan Mingyu thought: You cultivate demonic arts, and you still have the audacity to say that.

Song Chenxi seemed to read his mind: “Did you think I didn’t know what you were thinking? You can report me, you know, have me arrested. Oh, I forgot. You made an oath and will turn into a little sparrow if you tell anyone.”

“…” His mouth was truly hateful.

Ruan Mingyu was still unconvinced and held onto him: “I don’t think she has any intention of harming anyone.”

Song Chenxi: “I don’t have any intention of harming anyone either. Let’s go, little sparrow. Today, I’ll give you a lesson.”

He leaped off the eaves. Ruan Mingyu had never moved up and down like this before and nervously trod on the tiles under his feet, terrified of falling.

Song Chenxi jumped down himself and saw Ruan Mingyu still slowly inching along, wondering how long it would take him to get down.

He simply flew back up, picked him up horizontally. Ruan Mingyu was startled by his sudden movement, hooking his arms around his neck and letting out a gasp. Before he could think, he was already on the ground.

“Still spacing out? You’re down.”

Ruan Mingyu gave a wry smile and leaned on Song Chenxi to steady himself.

The woman, who had become a ghost, looked very flustered when she saw them intrude into the courtyard: “Why do you two intrude?” Seeing that one of them was Ruan Mingyu, she added, “Little Ruan, why are you coming to my courtyard in the middle of the night? By all rights, I should visit you two, but I’m indisposed, so I can’t leave. May I ask why you two have come today?”

Song Chenxi didn’t beat around the bush and smiled gently: “We’re here to catch a ghost.”

Yun Niang’s expression changed, and she hastily tried to flee.

Song Chenxi tossed a rope to Ruan Mingyu, commanding: “Little sparrow, go!”

Ruan Mingyu’s hand moved faster than his brain. He threw the rope, and the female ghost was immediately bound.

Her cultivation wasn’t high, so she was likely not a malevolent spirit.

Since things had come to this, she immediately knelt down and begged for mercy: “My child is still young and cannot be without a mother to raise him. Once he is a little older, I will naturally enter reincarnation and no longer linger in the mortal world. Please, I beg you two immortal masters, let me go this one time.”

Yun Niang recounted her tragic experience. It was indeed tragic. Not long after marrying her cousin, she accidentally fell into a pond along with her carriage while returning to her maiden home and died instantly.

Song Chenxi: “Oh my, don’t cry and beg me. The last person who cried and begged me became my Junior Brother.”

Ruan Mingyu: “…”

He turned to Ruan Mingyu: “Mingyu, what do you think we should do with her?” Song Chenxi had the highest cultivation here, so how to deal with her was ultimately up to him. What did he mean by suddenly asking Ruan Mingyu?

Since he was letting him decide, Ruan Mingyu said, “It’s best to let sleeping dogs lie. I think we should let her go.”

“What if I’m not willing?” Song Chenxi asked.

“Senior Brother is magnanimous, kind-hearted, a living Buddha. He would never make trouble for a female ghost, especially one with such low cultivation.”

Song Chenxi smiled: “Mingyu understands me best.”

Ruan Mingyu didn’t care whether he was willing or not. He stepped forward and cut the rope.

Yun Niang cried and thanked them.

Ruan Mingyu quickly pulled Song Chenxi away, afraid he would frighten the person. It was a strange world indeed, where a person was afraid of frightening a ghost!

After returning, Ruan Mingyu thought of a question: “What will my cousin do if he finds out his wife has become a ghost?”

Song Chenxi looked unconcerned: “The person involved doesn’t care. Why are you surprised?”

Ruan Mingyu: “My cousin knows?”

Song Chenxi countered: “Isn’t it easy to tell the difference between a human and a ghost?”

Two days later, Ruan Liquan’s child’s full moon celebration finally began.

According to the local custom, every guest would be given a red-dyed egg.

Ruan Mingyu and Song Chenxi sat together. Ruan Mingyu peeled the egg, ate it, and stained his hands with red dye. Song Chenxi gave his egg to Ruan Mingyu.

Ruan Mingyu chewed with his cheeks puffed out, telling Song Chenxi, “This is to share the good fortune. You eat yours.” He didn’t take it. Song Chenxi just played with the red-dyed egg.

In the center of the banquet, everyone fawned over the baby, placing many items for the “Zhuazhou” (a tradition where the baby grabs an item to predict their future profession). There were account books, the Four Books and Five Classics, embroidery, calligraphy, and paintings, among other things. Surprisingly, Song Chenxi also sent a gift—a tiny wooden sword, which was placed with the rest for the baby to grab.

The baby cooed and giggled.

The Ruan family all hoped she would pick the account book to help manage the family’s affairs later.

However, the little baby immediately grabbed the small wooden sword that Song Chenxi had given her.

Someone in the crowd cheered: “Wonderful! She’ll become a famous female knight-errant in the cultivation world one day. Our Ruan family is indeed full of talent!”

Ruan Mingyu finished his meal with satisfaction, wiped his mouth, and whispered to Song Chenxi next to him.

Ruan Mingyu: “We’re leaving in a bit.”

Song Chenxi: “You’re just going to leave like this? Why not stay and play for a couple more days? You were crying and making a fuss to go home when I carried you on my back.”

Ruan Mingyu: “We have to go back sooner or later.”

His cousin asked Yun Niang to bring their daughter over for Ruan Mingyu and the others to see. He said to Song Chenxi, “Immortal Master, please give our daughter a name.” Since Song Chenxi gave the wooden sword, he naturally wanted his daughter to form a bond with him.

Song Chenxi didn’t speak, only smiled, then pushed Ruan Mingyu forward: “Go on, Immortal Master, you name her.”

Clearly, Song Chenxi didn’t want to be involved in this karma. Since Ruan Mingyu was now a cultivator, it was most appropriate for him to name the child.

His cousin handed the baby to Ruan Mingyu. Holding the tiny infant, Ruan Mingyu was filled with emotion. A tender life was held in his hands.

Ruan Mingyu thought for a moment and said, “Let’s call her ‘Yusheng’ (愉生 – Joyful Life). May she be happy her whole life, always cheerful.”

Yun Niang wore a felt hat, avoiding the sunlight. Although both Ruan Mingyu and Song Chenxi already knew she was a ghost, they still helped conceal it.

Yun Niang held the baby’s tiny hand and smiled: “A beautiful name. Are you happy to have a name, my little Yu’er?”

She poured a cup of wine and toasted them: “Thank you both!”

Her cousin quickly took her wine: “I’ll drink this cup for Yun Niang.”

Ruan Mingyu said, “Your relationship is truly wonderful.”

Yun Niang replied, “My husband and I have known each other since childhood. We’ve just been together for a long time.”

Song Chenxi interjected: “That’s still being childhood sweethearts, a beautiful story.”

Yun Niang smiled: “Your relationship as Senior and Junior Brothers is also excellent.”

Hearing this, Song Chenxi smiled brightly: “Naturally.”

He raised a cup of wine: “Come, let’s toast. To my dear Junior Brother Mingyu, with whom I have such an excellent relationship.”

He drained the wine in his cup.

The wine was aged, specially reserved for entertaining guests from afar.

As soon as he drank it, he flushed, and half his face turned red.

Song Chenxi filled Ruan Mingyu’s cup, and Ruan Mingyu drank it heartily as well.

Before long, Song Chenxi was slumped at the edge of the table. Ruan Mingyu leaned closer, observing his drunken state, and poked his forehead with his finger: “So you’re not good at everything after all, are you? You can’t even hold your liquor better than me.”