Chapter 14 Green Chirp-Chirp Gui Banjing

　　After the two of them finished breakfast, Old Housekeeper Charlie appeared at just the “right” moment. The instant he came out, Wei Yin stiffened slightly. Major General Sain took Wei Yin’s hand and coaxed him. “Wei Yin, this is Charlie. You can trust him. Madam Morgan and the others have all left. They won’t come back.”
　　Wei Yin did not move. He warily maintained his wooden-puppet appearance. Charlie also kept a kindly smile on his face and looked at Wei Yin with some anticipation—clearly, he had not missed what happened in the dining room just now.
　　Major General Sain repeated himself several times. Only then did Wei Yin finally loosen up a little. He looked aggrievedly at Major General Sain, then reluctantly called, “Charlie.”
　　Old Housekeeper Charlie’s face immediately blossomed into a thousand-year chrysanthemum of a smile. “Madam, if there is anything you wish to eat, just tell me.”
　　Wei Yin’s aggrieved expression vanished instantly. He looked happy, though still not entirely convinced, and turned toward Major General Sain. Major General Sain laughed and nodded. “You can trust him.”
　　So Wei Yin tested it. “Meat?”
　　Charlie: “Of course. What kind of meat would you like?”
　　Wei Yin: “Chicken soup, spicy rabbit!”
　　Shangyang: “…” Stop sneaking in your private agenda.
　　Charlie: “All right. I’ll make chicken soup and spicy rabbit for Madam at lunch.”
　　Hearing that, Wei Yin immediately rewarded him with a huge smile. The smile stunned both Major General Sain and Charlie into silence. It was the first time either of them had seen Wei Yin smile like that.
　　After his surprise, Charlie felt a pang of sorrow. “Madam… has had a hard life too.”
　　Major General Sain said nothing. His gaze toward Wei Yin only grew gentler.
　　Later, Major General Sain brought Wei Yin to the spirit-plant garden again, but this time they went to the residential area. More than ten households lived on the estate, so the living district was fairly large.
　　“Major General, Madam.” Most of the people in the residential area who had not gone out to the fields were elderly people and children. When they saw the pair arrive, they greeted them happily.
　　The beastfolk children Wei Yin had met yesterday also came galloping over on all four feet.
　　“Major General~ Are you all right? Yesterday you locked yourself up ag—ow!”
　　The speaker was a little beast resembling both a dog and a wolf. Before it could finish, an old woman beside it smacked its backside with a cane. The old woman scolded, “Brat, you talk more than anyone. Go tell Mengmeng to prepare Major General Sain’s medicine and bring it over while you’re at it.”
　　“Got it. Stop hitting my butt all the time.” The little beast grumbled twice and ran off again.
　　“Oh my, so this is our Major General’s wife. What a pretty young man. How old are you?” An old grandfather with graying hair and most of his teeth missing walked over and smiled at Wei Yin.
　　Major General Sain smiled. “Twenty.”
　　The old man laughed again. “I would’ve guessed seventeen or eighteen. Ah, youth is wonderful.”
　　Major General Sain looked at Wei Yin and noticed that although Wei Yin had returned to his wooden-puppet state, his eyes kept secretly sliding toward the little beasts.
　　Major General Sain smiled, took Wei Yin’s hand, and crouched with him. Then he guided Wei Yin’s hand toward the head of the nearest little beast. It was a fat-headed white cat—or perhaps a tiger. It looked extremely cute and was not afraid of strangers. When Major General Sain reached out, it even stretched its head forward to meet his hand.
　　Wei Yin’s hand landed on the little beast’s head. It was even softer than he had imagined, warm and wonderfully pleasant to touch.
　　The little beast seemed happy to be petted and even hummed proudly. “I’m pretty, right~? When I grow up, I’m going to become a beautiful Shadow Beast like Amanda~” (①)
　　Another little beast immediately contradicted it. “Give it up. You’re obviously a War Beast. I think you’ll grow into a biiiiig brute just like your dad~”
　　“Awoo!” The little beast got angry, and the two immediately pounced on each other, biting and rolling into a ball.
　　Wei Yin blinked and said to Shangyang in surprise, “Amanda is a Shadow Beast?”
　　Shangyang was surprised too. “I’ve never seen her companion beast, but if they’re saying that, she probably is.”
　　Wei Yin: “Then Major General Sain has beastfolk blood too.”
　　Shangyang: “Mm. So?”
　　Wei Yin: “I’m not actually going to give birth to a monkey, am I?”
　　Shangyang: “…” So you’ve already accepted the reality that you may give birth and have now started worrying about your future child’s looks?
　　“Do you like it here?” Major General Sain helped Wei Yin stand and sat with him on a nearby bench.
　　Wei Yin did not answer. He simply stared at the pair of little beasts rolling around and could not look away. He was not worried about Hera-family spies outside. Since the Major General had brought him out and kept hoping for responses from him, it meant the Major General was confident about the security of his own estate.
　　Wei Yin simply felt that now that he had shown dependence on the Major General, he should slow down and not “recover” too quickly, which might invite suspicion for no reason.
　　Major General Sain did not rush him when he received no answer. He quietly explained various things around them. He seemed to know every miscellaneous detail and was also very patient with the beastfolk cubs.
　　Not long afterward, a young woman approached from the distance carrying two sealed little bottles. She walked directly to Major General Sain and handed them over, but her expression was unhappy. “Major General, you can’t continue like this.”
　　“Mm.” Major General Sain accepted the bottles and gave only that response, clearly unwilling to continue the subject. Instead he drew Wei Yin closer and introduced her with a smile. “This is Luo Mengmeng. She is the estate’s Planter and also a successor of the An Family School.”
　　Wei Yin knew about the An Family School. Before the Battle of Ten Thousand Beasts, Earl An had revived the An family’s glory as Planters and established a small school on the estate. He had only five true disciples, but all were said to have achieved a great deal. What became of them later, however, was unknown.
　　Naturally, Wei Yin gave no response and only stared blankly at Luo Mengmeng.
　　Luo Mengmeng looked at Wei Yin, then frowned slightly. “Major General, there’s something strange about Madam’s condition.”
　　Wei Yin immediately panicked. “Holy crap, Yangyang, did she see through me?”
　　Shangyang: “Calm down. Your Lanser is still here.”
　　Sure enough.
　　The moment Luo Mengmeng spoke, Major General Sain took over the conversation. “His health isn’t very good. Come up to the villa this afternoon.”
　　“I understand.” Luo Mengmeng grasped Major General Sain’s meaning and said no more.
　　“Then we’ll be going.” Major General Sain took Wei Yin’s hand and left.
　　When they returned to the villa, Charlie was already waiting at the entrance. Wei Yin noticed that everyone else on the estate—including the intelligent robots—had disappeared. This was probably Charlie’s arrangement, meant to keep Wei Yin from feeling uncomfortable in an environment with too many strangers.
　　Wei Yin did not want Major General Sain and Charlie’s thoughtfulness to go to waste. He behaved more relaxedly than before and even blinked at Charlie.
　　Charlie smiled and winked back before turning solemnly to Major General Sain. “Major General. The medicine from the Hera side has arrived. Mr. Tutt’s information has also come through.”
　　“Accept the medicine as usual. Send Damm’s information to my terminal.” Major General Sain took out the medicine bottle Luo Mengmeng had given him earlier, poured two pills into his mouth, and handed the rest to Charlie. “Divide these into individual doses.”
　　“Yes.” Charlie accepted the medicine.
　　Major General Sain looked back at Wei Yin and asked softly, “Are you tired? Do you want to exercise, or rest in the garden first?”
　　Wei Yin thought about it and looked toward the thick lawn in the courtyard.
　　Major General Sain smiled and turned to Charlie. “Bring a picnic blanket and some fruit.”
　　“Yes.” Charlie turned back toward the villa.
　　Major General Sain led Wei Yin toward the grass while Wei Yin gossiped with Shangyang inside his head. “Yangyang, what did the Major General mean just now? It sounded like he doesn’t plan to take the medicine that old bastard sent.”
　　Shangyang: “Mm, probably. Didn’t we say yesterday that the Major General is putting on an act for the Heras?”
　　Wei Yin: “But last night he really was… in pretty bad shape.”
　　Shangyang: “I’m not completely sure about that either. You’ll have to keep observing him yourself.”
　　Wei Yin sighed. “True.”
　　In the time it took them to exchange those few sentences, Charlie pushed out a little cart. He spread the picnic blanket, arranged pastries and fruit, and just like that they were ready to enjoy the spring sunshine. It was wonderful.
　　Wei Yin held a fruit and gnawed on it. Major General Sain did not go far. He sat beside Wei Yin and opened the information Damm had found.
　　Major General Sain did not hide it from Wei Yin, so Wei Yin openly turned his head to look. The projected light screen displayed information about him. Damm really was capable: he had somehow dug up various records from the original owner’s past physical examinations, information that should have been locked inside hospital systems. There was plenty of other data too, but it was marked as fabricated. If the “normal” data had been forged, then obviously the truth had been abnormal.
　　Seeing Wei Yin look over too, Major General Sain’s heart stirred. He asked, “Can you understand this?”
　　Wei Yin blinked, looked at Major General Sain, then looked at his terminal and frowned.
　　“What is it?” Major General Sain watched Wei Yin and patiently waited for his response.
　　After a long while, Wei Yin seemed to finally find the right word. Looking at the terminal, he said, “Lanser, mushroom.”
　　The mushroom was a character from the fairy tale Major General Sain had told him yesterday.
　　Major General Sain understood. He picked up a napkin, wiped the fruit juice from Wei Yin’s face, and smiled. “I’ll tell you another story in a little while, all right?”
　　Wei Yin blinked again. After taking a moment to digest what the sentence meant, he turned back and obediently resumed gnawing on his fruit with both hands.
　　Major General Sain laughed softly, then returned his gaze to the light screen. There was not much truly useful information, but what the records revealed was already enough to provoke deep thought. To understand the situation clearly, he would probably have to ask Wei Yin himself.
　　But Wei Yin’s current condition…
　　Major General Sain turned to look at Wei Yin, who was eating his fruit with complete concentration. After thinking for a moment, he called, “Wei Yin.”
　　Wei Yin turned toward Major General Sain, cheeks puffed full, red fruit juice still smeared on one side of his face. He looked like a greedy little hamster.
　　Major General Sain’s eyes flickered. He swallowed the words he had originally intended to say, reached out to wipe the fruit juice from Wei Yin’s face, and smiled. “I’ll tell you a story.”
　　Wei Yin’s eyes lit up, while inwardly he burst into tears. “Yangyang, I’ve been cooperating this hard. Why won’t he follow the script?”
　　Shangyang: “What script?”
　　Wei Yin: “The script where the Major General can’t find enough solid evidence to use against the An family, so he tries to get a breakthrough from me, only to push me into a breakdown where I lose control and scream out all the An family’s crimes, accidentally exposing the fact that I’ve ‘recovered,’ after which I team up with the Major General to turn the tables and conquer the world.”
　　Shangyang: “…That script is a little long.”
　　Wei Yin: “Sigh. And I’d already worked myself up with a tearjerking memory.”
　　Shangyang: “…”
　　Wei Yin: “Why aren’t you asking what memory?”
　　Shangyang: “Heh.”
　　Author’s Note:
　　————————
　　①: Beastfolk classifications.
　　War Beast: A beastfolk who can transform their own body into beast form. They generally possess extremely powerful physical strength and can fight in coordination with wild beasts.
　　Shadow Beast: A beastfolk born with a companion beast. (A companion beast can be understood as “a spirit form that cannot be withdrawn into the consciousness cloud.”)
　　**
　　Shadow Beasts can merge with their companion beasts in battle, and companion beasts can also fight independently, though their combat strength is not high. A Shadow Beast and their companion beast share life and death.
　　————————
　　I looked back at my older novels and compared them with how I write now. The biggest difference is:
　　Before, I would write, “that touch of scarlet cherry at his chest”; now it’s, “those two □□ points on his chest.”
　　Before, I would write, “that burning-hot thing”; now it’s, “Boss, give me one thick and long.”
　　Before, I wrote in the mode of “love and love, die and die”; now it’s “chat nonsense, crack jokes, and hand out daily sugar.”
　　…
　　In short, it’s a return to simplicity powered by an overflowing tide of filth. d(*￣▽￣)==b
　　(Does that count as progress?… It counts!)
　　But seriously, the bed scenes in my old novels were so, so, so numerous! Not only every kind of bedroom play, but phone-voice play too, and outdoors was basically nothing special… After skimming through them, my kidneys are now aching faintly.