Chapter 17 Green Chirp-Chirp Gui Banjing

　　Shangyang speaking aloud did not frighten only Wei Yin.
　　“It—it can actually make a sound!” Luo Mengmeng shouted outright. After shouting, she burst into wild delight. “Oh my god! It can actually make a sound! Major General, Major General, did you hear that? It can make a sound! Oh my god, besides Taowu there really is another spirit form that can vocalize! Major General, Madam is an S-rank Guide! You found your Guide!”
　　Luo Mengmeng practically went insane, jumping up and down where she stood; Old Housekeeper Charlie burst into tears, his lips trembling too hard for him to speak; Major General Sain looked as though someone had cast a freezing spell on him and did not move at all.
　　Wei Yin felt that his family’s spirit form might just have caused one hell of a disaster.
　　A little anxious, Wei Yin asked, “Yangyang, what’s going on? Why does being able to talk make it S-rank? Don’t all spirit forms make sounds?”
　　Shangyang was stunned by Wei Yin’s ignorance. “How did you pass your basic Sentinel-Guide theory class?”
　　Wei Yin felt terribly wronged. “I never took one.”
　　Shangyang: “…” Right. Forgot this guy is basically an undocumented resident.
　　Wei Yin: “So an S-rank Guide or Sentinel just gets an extra voice function for their spirit form?”
　　Shangyang slammed the table and launched into an impassioned speech. “A spirit form being able to speak—is that merely ‘speaking’? That is the power of the inner world affecting the outer world! It is the manifestation of self-awareness, the realization of the replication and differentiation of the soul! Ordinary spirit forms cannot vocalize at all. The only ones they can communicate with are the host who shares their consciousness cloud and the host’s partner whose consciousness cloud has a high resonance rate. A spirit form capable of vocalizing can be said to have already surpassed humanity’s definition of what a spirit form is!” (①)
　　Wei Yin did not understand, but it sounded impressive.
　　Wei Yin: “But does our situation really fit ordinary rules?”
　　Shangyang: “…” Honestly, it really wasn’t sure.
　　Wei Yin: “Then here’s the question. If they discover later that I can’t cure the Major General, am I going to get beaten to death?”
　　Shangyang: “No. But if your Lanser’s madness can’t be cured, you’ll get fucked to death.”
　　Wei Yin paused, then said, “Shouldn’t that be fucked into bliss?”
　　Shangyang: “…You should just get beaten to death.”
　　Wei Yin had only just finished receiving Shangyang’s crash course when Major General Sain finally moved too.
　　Major General Sain had lost some of his usual composure. His expression was dazed, his gaze extremely complicated—this, Wei Yin could understand.
　　If he put himself in Major General Sain’s shoes: suppose Wei Yin’s own family carried a hereditary madness, a “curse” that meant no one lived past fifty. Then, right in the prime of his life, when he ought to be full of ambition and power, he suddenly developed the madness too; next came uncontrollable bouts of insanity, watching the power in his hands be stripped away, watching other people use the Sain family as a stepping stone. Not only would he be unable to restore his family, he would even have to temporarily bow to those despicable little people because he depended on their medicine.
　　Anyone would find that unbearable, much less a “God of War family.”
　　After living like that for more than ten years, just when he was nearly resigned to his fate, one day the “miracle medicine” was suddenly delivered right in front of him—he could keep living, he could be cured, and everything he had lost could be taken back with his own hands!
　　How could he not be excited? How could he not be happy? Impossible.
　　Wei Yin thought that if he were Major General Sain, he would probably spin and leap in a hundred circles.
　　Fortunately, he was not.
　　Major General Sain was much more restrained. He seemed to finally digest the reality before him. Then he squeezed his eyes shut hard, and his emotions quickly settled.
　　“Absolutely no word of this may leak out!” Major General Sain said sharply.
　　Although Luo Mengmeng and Charlie were still excited, they reacted quickly at once and answered, “Yes.”
　　Charlie was still worried. “Major General, Kalida knows Madam’s condition has changed. I’m afraid she may take some action.”
　　Major General Sain: “Keep an eye on her. If she hasn’t noticed the problem and only reports something vague, we can use the opportunity to see how the Hera side reacts. But if she’s too clever…”
　　“Yes, I understand.” Charlie grasped what Major General Sain had left unsaid. A cold light flashed through his eyes.
　　Luo Mengmeng’s attention, however, was completely on Wei Yin. Her voice was still a little hoarse, and even her words came out breathy. “Major General, let me examine Madam.”
　　But Major General Sain shook his head when he heard that. “He strongly rejects those things. Don’t agitate him for now. First analyze the medicine Kalida gave us. They claim Wei Yin has a drug addiction. I don’t believe it. So I want to stop his medication for a few days. But just in case, from now on someone must remain on duty at the plantation. If anything is needed here, I’ll contact you at any time.”
　　“Yes. Then I’ll go to the plantation first.” Luo Mengmeng tightened her grip on the medicine box. After saluting Major General Sain, she ran off in a hurry.
　　Charlie’s face once again filled with a smile. He looked at Wei Yin as though looking at some priceless treasure. “Major General, I’ll go make some snacks. Madam should be hungry.”
　　“Mm.”
　　Charlie left, and Major General Sain’s attention returned to Wei Yin.
　　Wei Yin’s eyes met Major General Sain’s, and he immediately froze in astonishment—Major General Sain’s eyes were full of gratitude.
　　“Thank you, Wei Yin. Thank you for coming to my side.” Major General Sain hugged Wei Yin tightly, turned his head, and gently kissed Wei Yin’s cheek.
　　Wei Yin froze for a moment. Then he broke into a huge smile, puckered his lips, and stamped Major General Sain’s cheek with a kiss in return.
　　Shangyang: “…”
　　Wei Yin: “~~~”
　　Shangyang: “…” I can’t believe I actually understood his tildes.
　　After riding that wave, Wei Yin became serious for once. He said to Shangyang, “Yangyang, I want to cure the Major General.”
　　In his previous life, Wei Yin had had no family and no lover. The only person he had been somewhat close to was his class monitor, and even that person he had not seen in many years. So when he came back from the dead and found himself in an environment like the An family, he had not felt that his situation was especially miserable.
　　Then he came to the Sain family and met Major General Sain. For the first time, Wei Yin learned what it felt like to be treated gently and protected. Only after experiencing both human warmth and coldness could one understand how precious kindness from a stranger truly was.
　　Wei Yin cherished Major General Sain—of course, the fact that he was his idol was one reason too. Before this, Wei Yin had never imagined himself doing anything great. He had only wanted to avoid causing trouble for Major General Sain.
　　But now he knew where his own potential lay, so he wanted to try.
　　Shangyang was gratified by Wei Yin’s newfound determination and said, “Having that resolve is enough. Like I told you before, the Sain estate is a giant treasure vault. It contains stores of knowledge that countless Sentinels and Guides would dream of seeing. And now, even if you do nothing, they’ll guide you into studying the relevant knowledge themselves. All the internal and external conditions are in place, and judging from their attitude, they won’t suspect you at all. So from here on, hurry up the pace of your ‘recovery.’”
　　“Mm.” Wei Yin answered, turned his head to look at Major General Sain, then showed him a huge smile.
　　Major General Sain was infected by his smile, and the curve of his own lips widened unconsciously. “What are you so happy about?”
　　Wei Yin said nothing. He only grinned foolishly—the curse that had kept every generation of the Sain family from living past fifty? He refused to believe it could not be broken.
　　Major General Sain did not press him further. The smile at his lips did not disappear either.
　　Charlie soon brought snacks over. He had cut them into bite-sized pieces and arranged them in the shape of a baby chick; in the glass bowl of fruit salad beside them, the top was decorated with a baby chick carved from watermelon; even the decorations on the handles of the fruit forks were childish little chick shapes.
　　Wei Yin: “…”
　　Charlie did not feel there was anything wrong with this at all. His whole body radiated the doting aura of an overindulgent parent. He looked at Wei Yin expectantly, practically wishing he could feed the food straight into Wei Yin’s mouth himself.
　　Wei Yin: “…” This truckload of affection came barreling in fast.
　　Charlie’s truck of affection apparently had the accelerator pressed all the way down, with no intention of ever letting up.
　　In the few hours from afternoon until evening, he asked Wei Yin at least twenty times whether he was thirsty, hungry, tired, cold, or hot; he rapidly installed infant-and-toddler corner guards throughout the entire house; and whenever Wei Yin went to the bathroom, he immediately appeared, practically wanting to hold Wei Yin over the toilet himself—when Wei Yin had still been pretending to be a wooden puppet, the intelligent housekeeper would simply lead him into the bathroom and Wei Yin would handle things himself.
　　In the end, even Major General Sain could not stand watching anymore and waved Charlie away.
　　Wei Yin finally breathed a sigh of relief. But he also used the opportunity to speed up his own “recovery.”
　　And so that evening, when Major General Sain escorted Wei Yin to the door of his bedroom—the bedroom was not the marital room, but one Major General Sain had specially prepared for him—Wei Yin tearfully clung to Major General Sain and refused to let him leave, stubbornly insisting until the two of them ended up sleeping in the same room.
　　After washing up, Major General Sain returned to his own room to change into pajamas. He estimated that the injuries on his body had already healed, so he removed the bandages and washed off the medicinal ointment. Only after making himself look less frightening did he change into sleepwear and go to Wei Yin’s room.
　　When Wei Yin saw Major General Sain’s skin looking smooth and completely renewed, he thought the spirit medicine from the plantation had to be expensive.
　　After changing into pajamas, the two lay down on the bed. Major General Sain fully adopted the posture of a parent, tucking Wei Yin’s blanket securely around him, then casually ruffling the fur of Shangyang, who was crouched beside the pillow.
　　Wei Yin lay there with his eyes open, looking at Major General Sain.
　　Major General Sain smiled. “Want to hear a story?”
　　Wei Yin immediately brightened and nodded. “Mm.”
　　Major General Sain then lay on his side beside Wei Yin and slid the light screen of his terminal toward himself so Wei Yin could not see it—otherwise, seeing the pictures would only make him even less willing to sleep.
　　“Once upon a time…” Major General Sain softened his voice and drew out the cadence.
　　Wei Yin’s eyelids blinked more and more slowly. Each time they opened, the gap grew smaller, until at last they slowly closed.
　　Major General Sain had been telling the story for less than five minutes when Wei Yin fell dead asleep. Shangyang, crouched beside his head, closed its eyes too. It buried its head into its ball-like body and actually began to snore softly. The sound of its snoring was quite novel—“chirp-coo~ coo-chirp~.”
　　Major General Sain could not help laughing when he heard it. He shook his head and turned off the terminal, then straightened Wei Yin’s blanket again.
　　After thinking for a moment, Major General Sain suddenly leaned down and placed a goodnight kiss on Wei Yin’s forehead. In a low voice, he said once more, “Thank you, Wei Yin. Good night.”
　　Author’s Note:
　　————————
　　①:
　　A: Consciousness-cloud resonance = degree of consciousness-cloud bonding.
　　Easy enough to understand, right?
　　B: Communication between spirit forms.
　　Spirit forms can, of course, “communicate” with one another. But this kind of communication is more like “if I don’t like the look of you, I’ll pick a fight,” rather than being able to mutually understand clear and specific meanings.