Chu Yue woke up within a coffin. The sight that greeted his eyes was an elderly, white-haired Daoist priest holding a candle holder and shaking it back and forth right above him. The priest’s gaze was shifty, and the corner of his mouth twitched into a smile that looked utterly bizarre!
He wanted to reach out and push away the blinding candle holder in the Daoist priest’s hand, but the moment he exerted force, pain racked his bones as if they were shattering. Even though Chu Yue was already accustomed to the large and small injuries on his body, without any psychological preparation, the sudden wave of pain made Chu Yue want to cry out at the top of his lungs to alleviate the agony. Unexpectedly, the swelling sensation in his throat felt like a hundred ants gnawing at his bones, and the feeling of thousands of needles piercing him quickly spread across his entire body. On the surface, however, he remained calm and tranquil; apart from his two eyes widening like copper bells, his limbs seemed paralyzed and completely unable to move.
The terror in Chu Yue’s heart quickly overwhelmed the pain in his body.
Was he paralyzed in bed? Had he become a cripple? There was no need to be this miserable! Just as he was agonizing over this, a blood-curdling scream suddenly rang out from above, startling Chu Yue so badly that he gave a jolt, and the tears he had been desperately holding back instantly spilled from the corners of his eyes and slid down.
The Daoist priest vanished from sight in the blink of an eye. Chu Yue took a moment to compose himself and swept his eyeballs around in a circle. This! Is this a coffin?
Chu Yue’s last memory was to protect his younger brother Chu Yi, he had desperately held back that assassin in black. Chu Yi was taken away by Liu Shisan, and because his left-hand swordsmanship was not refined enough, after a life-or-death struggle, he still ended up dying at the hands of that assassin in black. In the end, he had clearly been pierced right through the heart with a sword! How could he possibly still be alive?
And who was collecting his corpse?
Was it Xing Li?
Filled with confusion, Chu Yue felt the sensation of being alive grow increasingly intense as the pain on his body gradually worsened. After thinking about it for a moment, Chu Yue let out a long sigh in his heart. How fortunate! That Daoist priest didn’t leave the candle holder behind when he fled, otherwise a single fire would have sent me straight back to King Yama! No matter what, it’s better to live a wretched life than to die a good death. I still have unfinished business, and my younger brother hasn’t grown up yet. I have to stay alive to see all of that.
Just as he finished comforting himself, another head poked out from above the coffin. That face couldn’t have been more familiar; it was none other than his teacher, Mei Huaixian.
Immediately following that was another earth-shattering, deity-frightening cry from Mei Huaixian. Chu Yue was so agitated that the pain caused him to black out.
One Month Later
Chu Yue had been confined to his bed for a full month. During this time, through the words of Madam Mei, he finally figured out roughly what had happened: he had been reborn! He had been reborn into the body of Mei Lingze, the seventh young master of the Mei residence. Such a bizarre event was simply impossible to explain.
Madam Mei did not dare provoke her son into emotional agitation, so she kept coaxing him with gentle words. From Madam Mei’s speech, Chu Yue analyzed a few key points:
First, Mei Lingze was a youth who detested studying and preferred brandishing weapons and practicing martial arts. One could understand this simply by looking at this massive room filled with every conceivable variety of weapon. Master Mei had exercised overly strict discipline over Mei Lingze, and was especially dissatisfied that he had neglected his studies to play with these cold, lifeless weapons.
Second, Mei Lingze had been accidentally beaten to death by someone during a martial arts tournament.
Third, Madam Mei had mentioned in casual conversation that Emperor Hongxuan’s sixtieth birthday was coming up in a period of time. Therefore, five years had already passed since Chu Yue’s final memory; in other words, Chu Yue had been dead for five years. For reasons unknown, King Yama must have lost his mind to actually grant him a resurrection.
During the month he was bedridden, Master Mei had declined visits from all close friends and political strategists in the imperial court. To allow his son to recuperate in peace, only Madam Mei and two maidservants attended to him personally. Every day after returning from morning court, the first thing Master Mei would do was bathe and change his clothes before entering Mei Lingze’s private courtyard to check on him, terrified of passing any bad illness Qi from the outside onto his son.
Today, the physician finally permitted him to engage in physical activity. Taking advantage of the time when Madam Mei and the maidservant went out to brew medicine, Chu Yue could no longer restrain himself. He pushed back the quilt, supported the edge of the bed with both hands, stood up while gritting his teeth, and moved step by painful step toward the display of weapons in the room. Chu Yue’s hands had been itching for days; before his death, he was someone obsessed with swordsmanship, but unfortunately, his right hand had later been crippled, reducing decades of martial arts mastery to nothing in an instant!
Over the past few days, Chu Yue had continuously rotated his right wrist in private. The sensation of flexibility was simply refreshing to the core, and once his mood improved, his body recovered at an exceptionally rapid pace.
With a swoosh, Chu Yue drew a treasured sword from before him, and a flash of cold light immediately burst forth. The blade reflected Mei Lingze’s handsome and refined features. Chu Yue’s heart skipped a beat; this unfamiliar face almost drove him out of his wits. The shock vanished in a flash, replaced by a complex expression.
Chu Yue stared deeply at the unfamiliar face mirrored in the blade, an unstoppable sense of loss washing over him. At this moment, he truly and tangibly realized that Chu Yue, the Heir of Prince Cheng’an, was dead! The one who was alive was Mei Lingze, the young master of the Mei residence.
Amidst his trance, the door creaked open. Chu Yue slowly turned his head in response to the sound. Sunlight from outside poured in, and Chu Yue instinctively raised a hand to block it.
Madam Mei’s expression altered drastically as she held a bowl of medicine. “Lingze! Why did you get up?!”
“Oh, oh! I was just lying in bed for too long! I was simply so bored.”
Chu Yue turned his face away to avoid the dazzling glare. Madam Mei hurried to place the medicine on the round table in front of them, closed the distance in a few strides, took the sword from Chu Yue’s hand, and tossed it aside. “Your wounds haven’t fully healed yet. Why are you touching these cold things again? What would you do if you hurt yourself?!”
Chu Yue glanced at the sword on the floor and smiled faintly, “It’s almost completely healed. Besides, how could these weapons hurt me?”
“You still shouldn’t touch them, just in case!” Madam Mei supported Chu Yue, while the nearby maidservant tacitly pulled out a stool from the edge of the round table and set it in place.
“Son, since the physician said you can walk around a bit, then walk around. Just don’t go touching those weapons before you’re fully mended. If you get hurt again, your old dad and mom won’t be able to go on living!”
After Chu Yue sat down, Madam Mei picked up the medicine from the table, blew on it with a spoon, and prepared to feed Chu Yue.
Chu Yue hurriedly blocked her with both hands and said politely, “I’ll do it myself.” Following that, he snatched the medicine bowl and drank it down in one gulp.
Faced with his son’s alienation, a trace of surprise flashed across the depths of Madam Mei’s eyes. She then switched to a warm and amiable expression. “Why are you still being so polite with your mother? Are you angry with me?”
“No!” Chu Yue quickly explained, “I just feel that drinking it sip by sip is too bitter. A quick pain is better than a long one!”
Chu Yue figured that ever since he woke up, he had remained quiet and subdued. His response to the affection of Master Mei and his wife was mostly a feeling of unworthiness. Perhaps he was simply too cold and distant, and after all this time he still couldn’t bring himself to call them Father and Mother, which must have broken Madam Mei’s heart.
Madam Mei cupped Chu Yue’s hand in the palms of both her hands, her eyes welling up with tears. “Child! You really frightened your mother this time!”
At the end of her words, she choked up and lost her voice. Chu Yue could only call out movingly, “Mother, don’t cry!”
Chu Yue truly felt unworthy of the tender affection shown by the Mei couple! He was not Mei Lingze, yet he couldn’t explain the truth. How could he possibly bring himself to say who he really was? He feared that the moment he stated his true identity, he would be treated as a madman or a fool.
From now on, let him live on under the identity of Mei Lingze.
“Ah!” Madam Mei wept tears of joy.
Chu Yue raised his head to look out into the courtyard. Two sturdy osmanthus trees stood on either side of the courtyard gate, clusters of golden osmanthus blossoms piled heavily upon the branches. No wonder the fragrance of osmanthus had constantly wafted inside the room, autumn had already arrived.
By the time Chu Yue had almost fully recovered, it was already early winter.
Sometime earlier, his close friend from life and also the youngest son of the Marquis of Changxin’s estate, Zhao Jun, had come to visit Chu Yue. Of course, the person he was visiting was Mei Lingze.
This unscholarly, pugnacious young dandy who loved nothing more than cockfighting and dog-walking had now managed to land an idle official post as a clerk in the Imperial Academy. In plain terms, his daily duties consisted of managing the grain funds, financial expenditures, and textbook distribution for the Imperial Academy.
Chu Yue was secretly practicing his swordsmanship in the courtyard at the time when he heard footsteps approaching from afar. He sprinted into the room at lightning speed, put away the treasured sword, picked up the handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead, and nonchalantly picked up a book, lying down on the courtyard swing to pretend he was studying bitterly.
Barely had he settled into his act when Mei Huaixian strode in with his hands clasped behind his back, closely followed by a sheepish, cowering Zhao Jun.
Seeing Chu Yue engrossed in his studies, Mei Huaixian’s good mood surged multifold, and he said in a resonant voice, “Lingze, even when reading books, one must balance work and rest. Your health has just recovered significantly, so you shouldn’t push yourself too hard, lest you injure your body.”
Hearing the voice, Chu Yue lowered the copy of the Book of Rites: The Doctrine of the Mean he was holding and sat up from the swing, asking in surprise, “Why is Brother Zhao here?”
The moment those words slipped out, Chu Yue immediately realized his slip of the tongue. This body of his was only seventeen or eighteen years old, whereas Zhao Jun was two years older than him and already twenty-seven or twenty-eight. Calling him Brother Zhao sounded as though he were addressing a peer of his own age, which was thoroughly inappropriate.
Sure enough, Mei Huaixian’s expression turned cold. “I just praised you, and here you go again, acting so lacking in manners.”
Mei Huaixian’s stern reprimand didn’t frighten Chu Yue, but it scared the wits out of Zhao Jun. After receiving his reprimand, Chu Yue stood up with composure and saw Zhao Jun standing behind Mei Huaixian, head lowered and shoulders hunched in silence. He couldn’t help wanting to laugh inside. This guy, even after all these years, is still just as terrified of the teacher.
After a spell of awkward silence, Mei Huaixian seemed disinclined to drag out the gloomy atmosphere, and his tone softened slightly. “The weather is fine today, so Zhao Jun has come to keep you company and help you relax. You can rest today; there is no need to study painstakingly.”
Chu Yue lowered his head and said, “Yes, Father.” When he raised his head again, he saw that Mei Huaixian had resumed his man-eating expression.
Chu Yue was baffled. Why had this old man become so temperamental over the past few years? The Mei Huaixian he knew was a great Confucian scholar, well-versed in ancient and modern history, and extremely stable in temperament.
Could it be that he was only like this toward him?
Mei Huaixian flicked his long sleeves, let out a hmph, and turned to leave.
Leaving Chu Yue and Zhao Jun staring at each other with wide eyes in the courtyard. The moment Mei Huaixian vanished from the courtyard, Zhao Jun stepped forward and hooked his arm around Chu Yue’s neck from behind. “Everyone outside says that after your resurrection you became silent and reticent. All the way here, I was worried I had lost another soulmate, but looking at it now, I worried for nothing! You’re still my good buddy!”
Whether as Chu Yue or Mei Lingze, he was considerably taller than Zhao Jun. With his neck locked in such a hold, Chu Yue couldn’t help bending his back, yet this familiar feeling was truly wonderful.
Chu Yue smiled and said, “Of course I’m your good buddy.”
Zhao Jun withdrew his hand and squeezed his palms, they were drenched in sweat. Then, seeing that Mei Lingze’s back was already damp with perspiration, he said, “No wonder Old Man Mei was angry. You were practicing martial arts again.”
Chu Yue immediately frowned and said, “Dad, why did you come back?”
Zhao Jun turned pale as a sheet, spun around, closed his eyes, and nearly folded his body double to the ground. “I’m sorry, Teacher, I… I wasn’t talking about you! I was talking about… about…”
“Hahahahaha,” Chu Yue burst out laughing, “I was just messing with you!”
“Well, if it isn’t Mei Lingze! No matter what, I’m your senior, and I usually treat you like a brother, yet you actually dare to tease me!”
In high dudgeon, Zhao Jun raised his fist to strike Chu Yue. The punch landed as if hitting a cotton ball, Chu Yue had already caught it effortlessly with the palm of his hand.
Zhao Jun smiled and said, “Looks like you really have recovered. With this striking good looks, you can go back to school.”
“Did you come here today to urge me to go back to school?”
When Chu Yue heard Mei Huaixian address him as a clerk when entering the door, he figured that given Zhao Jun’s birth, casually landing an official post was a piece of cake.
Zhao Jun retracted his hand. “As a mere clerk of the Imperial Academy, I have no say over whether students attend school or not. A sesame-sized official position, just muddling through the days.”
“Today I’m here to take you out to play,” Zhao Jun cast a flirtatious glance, “How about I take you to listen to some music? I heard the Red Sleeve Mansion just selected a new courtesan. That skill on the pipa is enough to make a man’s bones turn soft!”
Chu Yue marveled: How on earth had Mei Huaixian let him in? Given Master Mei’s overbearing desire for his son to succeed in these days, how could he possibly allow Mei Lingze to mix with Zhao Jun? Judging by this tone, their relationship was quite deep; most likely, Mei Lingze had been a rebellious and disobedient child.
Zhao Jun vividly described the courtesan’s peerless skills and beauty. Turning back to see Chu Yue eyeing him appraisingly, Zhao Jun said with a look of disappointment, “Fine! I know you’re not interested in these things, so how about I take you to see Xing Li instead?”
Chu Yue felt as if his entire body had been struck by lightning, a massive explosion echoing in his brain. “What did you say?”
How could Zhao Jun possibly know Xing Li? Xing Li was the head of the Shadow Manor, that was the emperor’s secret, sharp sword. No one had ever heard the names of the people in the Shadow Manor, let alone known them personally. Could it be a case of the same name, and not the same person?
Zhao Jun wasn’t surprised by Chu Yue’s reaction; instead, he bantered, “As expected of a martial arts fanatic, the moment you hear the name Xing Li, you get more excited than if you heard about a peerless beauty. Anyone who knows would think you admire him, and anyone who doesn’t would think you fancy him!”
“What nonsense are you spouting!” Although Chu Yue didn’t speak with biting severity, it was hard to conceal his panic-stricken exasperation in his eyes. “Is there a difference between admiring and fancying? Using that to describe the reverence of one man toward another is hardly appropriate!”
“Aww! It means the exact same thing!” Zhao Jun couldn’t be bothered to understand what difference there might be, and grabbing Chu Yue by the arm, he urged him out the door.
“The world outside is wonderful. You missed quite a lot of excitement during the time you were recovering, but I’ll slowly tell you all about it on the way.”