Love from the Male Protagonist’s Harem - Chapter 31-2

Chapter 31- Doraemon Part 2

Translated by Snowfall77

Immediately tossing the trivial matter of liandan failure to the back of her mind, Xia Ge declared: “Ye Ze, my lesson is over.  Do you have an evening class?  If not, let’s go down the mountain for a drink……”

A clear, very cold voice interrupted: “Xia Wuyin, if I catch sight of you running off to drink again, you’ll be docked 3 months’ salary.”

Xia Ge: “……”

Ye Ze eyed Xia Ge like she was a godforsaken idiot: “……”

Xia Ge: “C’mon Ye Ze, let’s go and get something to drink……”

System: [……]  Host, seriously, just withdraw from Danfeng already.

Leaving Suxi Pavilion together, Ye Ze and Xia Ge walked down the mountain.  And, with Senior Sister was no longer breathing down her neck, Xia Ge felt far more at ease.

She lazily yawned, “Brother Ye, why were you looking for me?”

Coming to find me at Suxi Pavilion—what made you that impatient?

The shadows of the trees sprawled along the ground, and Xia Ge realized she’d been so busy trying to hurry and refine her dan that she hadn’t noticed that Ye Ze was wearing the red and white Danfeng clothes.

But now the setting sun highlighted the more refined outfit.  Yet Ye Ze’s countenance seemed apathetic and he did not answer Xia Ge’s question.

There was a slight hitch in Xia Ge’s movements.

……Ye Ze almost never wore his inner disciple Danfeng clothes, unless he had to go Siguo Pavilion or something like that.

Xia Ge’s footsteps halted.

The layered shadows of the forest rippled over a young man dressed in hemp, green ribbon in his hair, as he tilted his head and half-smiled: “Brother Ye—-”

Ye Ze also stopped walking.

“……can we still drink together?”

Why would Xia Wuyin ask such an irrelevant question?

The pupils of Ye Ze’s eyes contracted.

He took a long time to answer.

“……we can.”

“Ah.”

They both fell quiet, the atmosphere between them heavy and stagnant.

A minute ticked by and Xia Ge knew she had to break the silence.

Hugging her shoulders, Xia Ge leaned against a tree to contemplate the clouds made rosy by the setting sun: “Ai, Brother Ye, you look very good in those clothes.”

Ye Ze clenched his fists and pursed his lips, but said nothing.

“C’mon,” Xia Ge gave a little laugh, “What’s got my foul-mouthed brother in such a twist?”

The expected annoyance from Ye Ze didn’t come.  Instead, he just kept looking at her without saying a word.

Getting scrutinized head-to-toe until she got goosebumps, Xia Ge finally couldn’t take it anymore.  Rolling her eyes to the heavens, she exclaimed: “Enough!  Spit it out already.  What’s that look for?  Can’t you come out with it?!  If you’ve got something to say, say it, otherwise I’ll go get a drink by myself!”

“Senior Sister wants me to go to Jianfeng.”

Ye Ze’s voice was low and very calm: “Xia Wuyin, I’ll be leaving Danfeng.”

……as expected.

The fledgling was about to spread his wings.

Xia Ge cast Ye Ze a sidelong look: “Congratulations.”

Congratulations, you’re finally going to get stronger……

—-You became the sole male descendent of the Ye family in Gucheng,  and all the humiliation and sorrow you suffered then will become the cornerstone of your strength.  All the anger and hatred will lead to cunningly-wielded force.

Ye Ze accepted Xia Wuyin’s ‘congratulations’ with a smile.  But a second later, when he registered its shallow intonations, he suddenly felt extremely angry.

——-Did Xia Wuyin really not care in the slightest?!

“……don’t you understand what I just said?!”

Face flushing in unfortunate contrast with his refined red and white clothes, Ye Ze abruptly reached out and yanked violently at Xia Ge’s collar: “What makes you think you can just live free and leisurely in Danfeng?  Xia Wuyin, you don’t understand anything!!”

Do you truly not care at all?!
The setting sun crept like a bloodstain across the earth.

Xia Ge couldn’t help feeling a bit exasperated.

Oh, she understood.

She understood better than anyone.

The difference between an outer disciple and an inner disciple.

The difference wasn’t just between the hemp and the silk……it went deeper than that, a social chasm that couldn’t be crossed.

One was a master, the other was the master’s dog.

And dogs without masters got bullied.  Only if there was a master, would others hesitate to abuse.

After all, it depended on the master if the dog got beat or not.

Then, bending his neck, Ye Ze rested his forehead on Xia Ge’s shoulder, his tone now both exhausted and complicated: “Xia Wuyin, I……I won’t be able to take care of you anymore.”

Danfeng and Jianfeng were not the same.

After Ye Ze went to Jianfeng, he’d barely be able to protect himself, let alone……he’d no longer have the capacity to watch out for Xia Wuyin too.

Xia Ge’s smile slowly vanished from her face, and no words came out of her mouth.

A long moment passed.

Ye Ze heard his own voice saying—-

“Pass the Danfeng entrance examination, become a Danfeng inner disciple.”

“I know, I know you don’t want to do it.”

“I also know if you decide to do it, you can achieve it.
Xia Ge said nothing, noting how the sunset stained the horizon.  Suddenly the line ‘as the sun sets in the west, the broken-hearted are left at the ends of the earth’ seemed very apropos.

Apparently the ancient poems she’d been forced to learn as a child had stuck.  Great.

She always had demonstrated considerable ability thanks to her compulsory education.

“……I’ll wait to go to Jianfeng until you’ve passed the Danfeng entrance examination.”  Gradually loosening his hold on Xia Ge’s collar, Ye Ze closed his eyes for a second, then turned to leave.

For just a little longer, he could use the identity of Danfeng inner disciple to protect Xia Wuyin.

—–“Xia Wuyin, I can only help you this far.”

“Ye Ze.”

The young man behind Ye Ze finally spoke.

Ye Ze’s footsteps paused.

Nonchalantly leaning against a tree, Xia Ge’s eyes reflected the scarlet of the sky: “Don’t get bullied after you go to Jianfeng.”

Ye Ze: “……”

“I’m being serious.  If anyone bullies you, come and tell me, and I’ll help you beat the crap out of them.”

Ye Ze went ‘mmm’ and walked down the rest of the mountain by himself.

His back in the red and white Danfeng clothes held perfectly straight.

Stiff and proud.

“Instead of me, you should be worrying more about yourself.”

—–Don’t make me worry about you anymore, Xia Wuyin.

Ye Ze had departed and Xia Ge kept staring at the crepuscular skyline.

System: [……So?]

Xia Ge: “Well, I guess this day was going to come sooner or later……Do you want to pack up Guilongyu for him?”

System: [Why Should I Be The One To Do That?]

Sticking up her little finger where the silver ring shone, Xia Ge deliberately changed her intonation: “Because I’m just a delicate little girl.”

System: [……]  How about you shut the fuck up?

Xia Ge picked wild fruit off the mountain, and by the time she was done, stars covered the night sky.

Holding her fruit, Xia Ge contemplated the starry heavens, before suddenly affecting chagrin and saying: “Guilongyu……I knocked a corner off it, it’s a bit of a shame to give it away, looking ugly like that.”

System: [……]

……it’s truly hard for you, isn’t it?

Xia Ge: “Anyways, Doraemon, is there anything in the Points Mall that can restore items?”

System: [……]  Will you die from overwork if you just give Guilongyu to Ye Ze yourself?!  And what the hell is Doraemon?!!

Yuan Ma Zhiyuan’s “Tianjingsha Qiusi”: “When the sun sets in the west, the heartbroken people are in the end of the world.”

Translation 2   Posted on June 3, 2020 by EagleGrass16

Dusk, twilighting crows alight upon the wilted branches of old trees;

flowing water runs beneath the small bridge, alongside lived-in houses;

on an ancient pathway, a rawboned horse trudges against west winds.

The setting sun descends westward;

　　those anguished wander, stranded at the edges of the world.

2 Translations: Ma Zhiyuan’s “Tianjingsha – Autumnal Musings” 馬致遠〈天淨沙 · 秋思〉