"..."
Shang Ruyi’s lips moved slightly, hesitating several tis, but ultimately did not utter those words that had lingered in her heart for several days.
After all, she was not only Yu Wenye’s wife but also the daughter-in-law of Duke Sheng.
She could harbor unbearable suspicions in her heart, and she could tell Yu Wenye everything she had discovered, but she could not speak those words plainly. After all, they hailed from noble families and understood the necessity of discretion in words and actions. Her recent remarks had already been very risky; taking another step forward might lead to the suspicion of sowing discord between brothers.
Seeing her hesitant to speak, Yu Wenye’s eyes deepened as well.
He said solemnly: "You don’t need to say it, I understand."
Shang Ruyi felt relieved in her heart and looked at him, only to see Yu Wenye glance at the two incense bags in her hand, then silently drank the bowl of bitter dicinal decoction that had cooled sowhat.
His expression remained unchanged.
Clearly, for him, the bitterness of life was more than just this.
Shang Ruyi said nothing further, silently taking the empty bowl and placing it aside, then pouring a cup of hot tea for him to rinse his mouth. Yu Wenye took a sip and, looking at the slightly rippling tea, asked, "By the way, how many days did elder brother stay here?"
"A total of four or five days."
"What did he do during this ti?"
"... Nothing."
Yu Wenye raised an eyebrow slightly, his gaze moving from the sparkle of the tea to Shang Ruyi’s calm eyes: "He did nothing?"
Shang Ruyi nodded and laughed bitterly: "I thought, with elder brother coming as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, he would definitely participate in the current Fufeng campaign, so I kept waiting—but he did nothing."
"..."
"Just yesterday, before he left, he even reminded ."
"Reminded you of what?"
"He reminded that we would ultimately have a life and death battle with Xue Xian, but he knew you would win, so he went back to Daxing City early to prepare to claim credit for you."
"..."
Yu Wenye’s gaze deepened further.
Regarding this matter, he was evidently more perceptive than Shang Ruyi. During his coma, Yu Wenqian had not participated in any Fufeng campaign, and just as he was about to recover and regain consciousness, Yu Wenqian left Fufeng.
Thus, this battle had nothing to do with him, regardless of rits or faults.
So his journey here was solely to question Ma Xu as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, or was there a deeper, unseen purpose?
Yu Wenye pondered for a while but naturally could not fathom it. After all, he had never truly understood this elder brother since childhood, so he could only set it aside for the mont.
And just as he raised his head, he saw Shang Ruyi standing solemnly beside him, seemingly deep in thought as well.
Yu Wenye asked: "What are you thinking about?"
"..."
Shang Ruyi glanced at him and said: "I just suddenly rembered a story I heard as a child."
"A story? What story?"
"It’s about a Night Owl that was hungry for several days and finally caught a dead rat to fill its stomach. Just as it was about to eat the rat, a Phoenix flew overhead."
"... Phoenix?"
"The Night Owl feared the Phoenix would snatch the rat from its mouth, so it screeched at the Phoenix, trying to scare it away."
"..."
"But the Phoenix didn’t even glance at it and flew away."
This story was told to her in childhood by Shen Wuzheng, who, after finishing the tale, smiled and said to her: "The Phoenix doesn’t peck at grain, yet the Night Owl thinks the Phoenix wants to snatch the rat - how ridiculous."
Recalling this, Shang Ruyi’s face flushed with embarrassnt.
She thought of these days; she was cautious, fearing that Yu Wenye would indeed be reassigned from Fufeng, and worried that Yu Wenqian might do sothing in the Fufeng campaign to seize the fruits of victory Yu Wenye and others had won through bloody combat, so she tried to guard against him in every way possible.
But in the end, Yu Wenqian left on his own.
This action of his seed to tell her how ridiculous her persistence and caution were.
Shang Ruyi bitterly laughed at herself: "Sotis, I feel like that Night Owl."
After speaking, she sighed and shook her head, took the half-drunk teacup from Yu Wenye to add more water, returned, and was about to hand it to Yu Wenye when she lowered her head and saw him glaring at her.
Shang Ruyi was startled: "What’s wrong?"
Yu Wenye said: "Do you also think that Night Owl is ridiculous?"
"...?"
Shang Ruyi looked at him sowhat surprised: "Is it not?"
Yu Wenye sneered: "What’s so ridiculous about it?"
"..."
"Everyone has sothing they wish to cherish and protect; others’ disdain doesn’t an that its value is worthless."
"..."
"I even think that facing a powerful enemy, facing a situation destined for defeat, yet rising to resist, that Night Owl has much to comnd."
"...!"
Shang Ruyi opened her eyes wide, looking at him.
She didn’t expect that Yu Wenye would view the story this way.
Perhaps, in the eyes of the world, the Night Owl is laughable and even pathetic, but upon closer thought, without heaven’s favor, without brilliant multicolored feathers, it still earnestly strives to survive, not even fearing the high and mighty Phoenix. Isn’t this a shining quality of its own?
Shang Ruyi suddenly felt a sense of relief in her chest and laughed, "Indeed, it is."
Only then did Yu Wenye take the cup of tea from her hand.
After taking a sip, he seed a bit annoyed and said coldly, "Besides, who is the Phoenix? I am the Phoenix!"
"...?"
Shang Ruyi was taken aback again, then quickly ca to her senses.
Yes, he is the Phoenix.
When she had just arrived in Luoyang, during a gathering with him and their friends at the Tinghe Building, they talked about their nicknas. At that ti, he told her that his nickna was—Phoenix.
Shang Ruyi laughed, "Alright, I rember."
Just as they were speaking, they heard a light knock on the door from outside. Shang Ruyi went out to look and found it was Tushere, holding a neatly stacked pile of clothes in her hands, and she said softly, "Miss, the clothes that were washed earlier have all been collected. Since the master is awake, does he want a bath later? So I brought the clothes over to avoid losing them when needed."
Shang Ruyi nodded, "Give them to ; I’ll handle it myself."
"Ah... yes."
Usually, Tushere would never let the miss do such chores, but she knew that Shang Ruyi did not want others to disturb Yu Wenye’s rest in the room, nor did she want to interrupt their rare ti together. So, without saying much, she handed the clothes to Shang Ruyi and left.
Shang Ruyi took the clothes to a corner of the room and opened the chest to put them inside.
Yu Wenye suddenly asked, "What is that?"
"Hmm?"
Shang Ruyi turned to look at him, then glanced down and noticed that the top of the pile of clothes was a cotton mask with two ties.
Shang Ruyi said, "This was given to by my elder brother."
"..."
Yu Wenye’s brow lightly furrowed, "He gave it to you for what purpose?"
Shang Ruyi said, "Generally, doctors, when dealing with epidemics, wear cotton masks soaked in dicinal water to avoid infection. During the days you were ill, Wo Xue and I, and the old doctor He Wenzhu, we all wore such masks."
"What does that have to do with this?"
"When my elder brother ca, he gave this, saying it serves the sa function as those masks."
"... "
"I wore it for a few days, and it’s true."
"... "
Yu Wenye was silent for a mont and said, "Let see."
Shang Ruyi didn’t know why he was suddenly interested in this small piece of cotton but after putting down the clothes, she passed the mask to him. Yu Wenye, displeased, took it and examined it—he was not versed in dicine, so he couldn’t know this thing’s utility, looked at it for a long while, seeming more to criticize than to inspect.
After so ti, he asked, "Only gave it to you?"
Shang Ruyi shook her head, "He has one himself too."
"... "
Yu Wenye paused for a while, his face becoming even more sullen, and said, "This kind of thing, after using it, just throw it away. Why keep it?"
Shang Ruyi was startled and afraid that he would really throw it away, so she quickly took it back, "This can’t be thrown away. It’s more convenient than regular masks and doesn’t fall off easily."
"... "
"I thought of keeping it, maybe—it might co in handy in the future."
Saying that she paused herself.
Actually, she didn’t know why she felt this thing would be useful, but after Yu Wenye’s illness, her heart seed shadowed by a looming darkness that made her uneasy, but she couldn’t figure out where that shadow ca from.
In any case, it doesn’t take up space, so it’s not a bother to keep.
So she returned to the chest, put the mask inside, and then saw Yu Wenye’s clothes beneath. Knowing he had been lying still these days and they had been wiping his body for him, he might be uncomfortable, she intended to ask if he wanted a bath.
But when she turned back, her heart skipped a beat.
She saw Yu Wenye sitting heavily by the bed, likely exhausted after using so energy, both hands placed on his knees; although his face was pale, and his breath uneven, his deanor and the deep steadiness he exuded resembled a crouching black panther, startling one’s heart with awe.
What happened to him?
Why did he suddenly show this expression, as if, as if harboring deep hostility towards soone or sothing?
Upon further observation, his gaze was fixed on the mask placed atop the chest.
Just as Shang Ruyi was puzzled, Yu Wenye murmured as if grasping so thought, "A Phoenix indeed wouldn’t be interested in that dead mouse... perhaps, what he truly saw, is that Night Owl!"
"... Hmm?"
Shang Ruyi didn’t hear clearly, she walked over and looked at him, softly asked, "What did you say?"
Yu Wenye lifted his head and glared at her.
Then, he turned his face to one side, coldly, "Nothing."
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