More Manly Than Before...

“Fan-Er! You better get back here!”

“No way!”

“Return my hairpin, or I will report you to Li Shijie!”

“Why not use the wintersweet sprig as a hairpin? Look how beautiful it is.”

“...You bastard!”

Xu Yunzhan slowly sipped his cup of hot tea and shifted his attention to the two people. One running ahead while the other pursued vigorously. They fled from treetop to treetop using their light movement skill, which brought a faint smile to his lips.

Gu Feidi, who was sitting opposite him, picked up the kettle from the small stove and poured tea into his cup. Smiling as well, he said, “In the past six months, Lingyun and Fan Xi have gotten really close.”

Xu Yunzhan added, “Lingyun still acts like a child with a bad temper. Although Fan Xi always provokes her, Li Shijie says that during serious times, he will always take care of Lingyun. I think she actually doesn’t really hate him. If she did, she wouldn't be fighting with him like this.”

Gu Feidi chuckled. “She loves to be in company. When you and I went into seclusion, she couldn’t find any playmates, and with Fan Xi living in the same courtyard, they would naturally become friends.”

Xu Yunzhan held his cup and swirled the tea inside slightly, asked with a smile, “You are not worried about Lingyun making friends with other men?”

Gu Feidi replied, “Although the Qinglian Sect behaves shadily, it’s only controversial really. But Fan Xi is not a bad person if he could enter the House of Jade. I have no worries about Lingyun making friends with him.”

Hearing this, Xu Yunzhan sighed and said, “My aunt and uncle passed away early, leaving Lingyun alone. At that time, my mother recommended sending Lingyun to the Tengyun Pavilion instead of staying in the Village of Mount Qianfeng. Other than considering that her physique was not suitable for our heavy weapon technique, there is another hidden agenda for her decision, which you probably have guessed already.”

Gu Feidi chuckled, “Yes, I have. But…I see her as a younger sister.”

Xu Yunzhan joined in his laughter. “From what I see, she only regards you as an older brother as well. She is at the age that becomes interested in love. If she was interested in you, she would look at you differently, but she does not. However, once she completes her apprenticeship here, her marriage will not be delayed. If Wulin Alliance Leader Gu has the same intention, I am afraid that he will also…”

Before he could finish, a yellow figure rushing in from outside the pavilion interrupted him.

“He pisses me off!”

Pu Lingyun chased Fan Xi for quite a while but ended up in the pavilion. She snatched Xu Yunzhan’s teacup and drank every drop, slammed the cup on the table, and sneered, “He took my hairpin, and my cousin and Xiao-Shixiong won’t help me!”

Xu Yunzhan said with a smile, “Both of you practiced light and nimble methods, both of your light movement skills are much better than my own. How could I help?”

Pu Lingyun turned her head angrily and looked at Gu Feidi to ask, “What about Xiao-Shixiong? You finished Path to Home completely, your light movement skill should be quicker than Fan-Er, why didn’t you help me?”

Gu Feidi faced Pu Lingyun and replied, “Using the wintersweet as a hairpin compliments your yellow outfit. It also has a pleasant floral fragrance. I say it is much better than a hairpin.”

She scolded, “I can’t believe it! Xiao-Shixiong is actually siding with that clown!”

Smiling, Gu Feidi added, “If you were really discontented with the replacement, you would have torn it into pieces. How would I not notice?”

Pu Lingyun opened her mouth but closed it soon after, as she could not refute him. She huffed up her cheeks and ignored Gu Feidi. 

Xu Yunzhan suddenly said in surprise, “Oh dear, some petals on your wintersweet were damaged.”

Startled, Pu Lingyun immediately raised her hand to caress it and blurted out, “What? But I used my internal energy to protect them…”

Seeing Xu Yunzhan’s mischievous face, she caught on and her cheeks flushed. She yelled in anger, “You are the worst cousin! The worst!”

With that, she stamped her feet, turned around, and ran out to who-knows-where out of the pavilion with her light movement skill.

The two young men in the pavilion looked at each other and laughed without restraint. 

Xu Yunzhan picked up their conversation, “Speaking of that, Su Yang has been in seclusion since our arrival here. I am surprised he didn’t come out for the Mid-Autumn Festival or the Double Ninth Festival. If this news were to spread, I bet no one would believe the Young Master, who is said to be the most wicked and arrogant in the Jianghu, could be this diligent.”

Gu Feidi was silent for a moment and hesitated, “He…I am afraid diligent is not the right word.”

Not understanding, Xu Yunzhan asked, “What made you say that?”

Gu Feidi’s eyes were downcast, staring at his teacup. After a moment he said. “I always feel that he is in a hurry, acting like he is racing against time. As if a disaster would happen if he doesn’t make a breakthrough within a few years. He has been practicing martial arts and resting for less than two time periodsFour hours. a day, without interruption for half a year.”

Xu Yunzhan frowned and wondered, “What is so valuable that it deserves for him to burn through his predestined length of life and fight against time?”

Not having answers to Xu Yunzhan’s questions, Gu Feidi shook his head. His gaze gradually became lax, his mind was obviously wandering.

The two men sat in silence when suddenly, a small green bird flew by from a distance. It was holding a red hair ribbon in its beak. 

The hair ribbon was long, and it was floating like a cloud. How the tiny bird flew so fast remained a mystery to everyone. 

The bird plunged straight into Gu Feidi’s arms, tossed the hair ribbon at him, flipped over, and flew away.

Gu Feidi picked up the hair ribbon that was dropped on him suspiciously. A thought crossed his mind as he tightened his fingers slightly.

In the distance, a running figure dressed in a dark-red, form-fitting garment, with disheveled hair appeared.

Although this person was missing his usual wide-sleeved robe, he still appeared fairy-like when he maneuvered the Cherish Flower Steps like a dance.

Su Yang watched the bird throw his hair ribbon at Gu Feidi and rolled his eyes surreptitiously.

He sneered internally, ‘You crafty Shizun, stop wasting your breath! I won’t laugh off all the vengeance between Gu Feidi and I from all of your dirty little tricks! I’m still waiting for him to send me back to reality with his sword!’

Being housemates in Lively Spring Garden, there was nothing he could do to stop crossing paths with Gu Feidi regularly. Now outside the wall, if he could ignore the younger man, he would do it as much as possible.

Seeing Su Yang enter the pavilion, Xu Yunzhan said, “Speak of the devil, we were just talking about you. I didn’t expect you to come out of seclusion.” 

Su Yang snatched his hair ribbon from Gu Feidi’s hand and chided with a deadpan, “How is it any of your business if I come out of seclusion!”

He turned around and walked away without bothering to tie his hair up.

“Since you are here, why don’t you have a cup of tea with us?” Xu Yunzhan asked.

“No way.” Playing the Young mMster’s persona, Su Yang curled his lips to create a look of disgust. “This Young Master can’t stomach anything else except for the Hidden Mist Peak’s white tea.”

After saying that, he left with light movement skill, showing no hesitation. 

Xu Yunzhan found this entire interaction frustrating yet laughable. “He sure is pampered and spoiled, prickly about the littlest things!”

Gu Feidi shared, “I have seen him drink from a jar of cold water straight from the ladle before.”

Xu Yunzhan said in astonishment, “Really?” Followed with, “So it was not the tea water he dislikes, but us!”

Gu Feidi replied, “Perhaps.” 

“You have been living with him for half a year, has he always acted this coldly toward you?” Xu Yunzhan asked.

“Pretty much.” Gu Feidi gently turned the teacup in his hand and answered, “He only agreed to say a few words to me at the beginning when I helped him with his mental skill manuals. Afterward, he became more familiar with reading, and I started studying Returning to the Nest. We started meeting less and less.”

“Tsk tsk, he obviously used you.” Xu Yunzhan shook his head and sighed, “And he threw you away after he was done with you. This guy has no concept of gratitude! The people of Evil Sect really act without any restriction.” 

Gu Feidi chuckled. “No matter, let’s stop talking about him.”

* * *

Su Yang tied his hair into a ponytail while walking.

He ran out after the mischievous little, green bird a while ago, but now this being his first time exploring the House of Jade’s peak, the environment was all foreign to him. Yesterday, it snowed a thin layer. Today, it was sunny again. Other than the residual snow on the grass field and shrubs, the stone steps on the mountain path were clear of snow. 

Su Yang went along the mountain path to a small rectangular pavilion. Seeing that it was deserted, he went inside.

This pavilion stood on the edge of a cliff, and a large body of water under the high cliff was visible from it. The size of the lake水潭 is a deep body of water. I had to choose between pond or lake, but because pond is shallower than lake, I picked lake. Because this body of water is deeper than the average depth of a pond, or 8 feet. was not small. Beside the lake stood jagged rocks, and above was a high-ceilinged cavern with a waterfall spitting out from it. However, during this coldest-wintry time of the year, the waterfall was completely frozen. The frozen waterfall was connected to the lake’s iced surface, making the entire scene look exquisite under the sunlight.

Su Yang sat on the edge of the pavilion and stared at the magnificent phenomenon in a daze.

—He really didn’t know what he should do.

Since he entered the House of Jade, he more or less went straight into seclusion. He practiced martial arts, his swordsmanship, and studied ancient literature; these became his whole life as well as his habit in a short period of half a year. As someone who had zero knowledge of how to read mental skill manuals, it took him only two months to comprehend the literature style by himself. Then there was the breakthrough on the first volume, then the second volume… 

Right then, he was ready to tackle the third volume.

Then he suddenly received a letter from the little green bird yesterday evening. 

Under Shizun’s order, Di Ling confiscated all of his manuals and forcefully returned his jade bell, stating she would not bring him food until the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar year. 

Well, there was nothing he could do. He only needed to last approximately one month before he could resume his previous work-life style and continue to practice.

But he really didn’t know what to do in the House of Jade, besides practicing martial arts.

For someone who passed the assessment by mistake, he of course had to minimize his existence so as not to affect the plot’s development. 

“Young Master—!”

A cry of exclamation sounded behind him. Before he could turn around, he was heavily thrown against the pavilion’s railing by the person who almost knocked out a mouthful of old blood from him.

Fan Xi laughed loudly and stretched out his hand to pull Su Yang up. He gushed, “You finally came out! I haven’t seen you for half a year! I missed you so much!!”

Su Yung rubbed his sore ribs, then turned back to say, “Hey! Pay more attention to your image! What sort of man are you, hugging me like this!”

Fan Xi snickered. “I see you also became overly conservative from living with Gu Feidi for half a year?”

As he was saying this, his expression suddenly shifted to frowning. “Why did you cut your hair?”

Su Yang’s long, silky hair used to reach to his waist, but now it’s tied up in a ponytail touching the back of his neck. His new hair is less than half its original length. 

When he first transmigrated, his assumption was that in ancient settings, people would not cut their hair carelessly. Later, he found out that was not the case. But hair length symbolizes one's life experience and could be used for fortune telling. Hair length was viewed more seriously than in modern times.

So he cheerfully looked for Di Ling one day to cut more than half of his burden of hair. 

“You look quite different from what you were before.”

Fen Xi took two steps back, crossed his arm, and studied Su Yang’s new appearance. 

After a moment, he said smiling. “Not bad, a fitting new look. You look more energetic and lively, even more manly than before too.”

Authors Corner

The author has something to say:

The transition chapter is hair-falling stressful _ (:з」∠)_

No matter how I write this part, I feel that the plot is too redundant. I finally decided to slip to the next step directly… The next plot points became in the next chapter QwQ

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1 Comment

  1. Pineapplw

    Aaaaaaaa nooooo I liked the long hair :((((
    Thanks for the translation

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