Realms In The Firmament

Ye Xiao had no other choice but to let Su Ye-Yue drag him to the backyard.

“Xiao Xiao, to be honest, your name is really weird. Ye Xiao. Ye Xiao. Hahahaha…” Su Ye-Yue opened her mouth, showing her clean white teeth. She laughed, “No matter how I resist, it sounds like ‘midnight snack [1]’ to me. Try saying it several times and you will agree with me.”

“Midnight snack?” Ye Xiao felt embarrassed.

He himself had chosen this name in his previous life. It meant that even a fallen leaf [2] with no roots could laugh at the entire firmament. ‘Ye’ meant that he was an orphan who had no family. And also he had been carrying a jade pendant with the word ‘Ye’ on it since he was a child. As for the ‘Xiao’, it was rather easy to understand.

People lived, people laughed [3]. People should live with joy.

[How did it become a midnight snack?]

In Ye Xiao’s whole previous life, no one had ever dared to call the Xiao Monarch ‘midnight snack’.

He looked at Su Ye-Yue and thought, [She must be a foodie deep in her heart…]

Thinking about how he got his name, he touched his chest and felt sad, [Now that my jade pendant was taken… by the woman in the Qing-Yun Realm. I wonder where she would keep it? And where she is now?

How is she doing?]

“That’s right. Midnight snack.” Su Ye-Yue was thrilled. Jumping and walking with her hands on the back, she said complacently, “Finally, I know how you got your name.”

Ye Xiao was embarrassed, “You do? Really?”

“Of course. It is obvious, isn’t it…” Su Ye-Yue laughed and said, “It is said that some day in the past when Uncle Ye was drinking with my father, they were both drunk and they talked about the derivation of your name. Uncle Ye laughed loudly and said… ‘Well the name actually means midnight snack.’”

Ye Xiao’s face was twisted and he spoke with his eyes wide opened, “It really means midnight snack?”

“Yes. My dad was surprised at that moment, so he asked ‘why’…” Su Ye-Yue spoke cheerfully, “And then Uncle Ye said that… when he had just married your mother, they were so deep in love with each other. That night… That night… Ahem…”

She might not be a sensible girl, but she stopped talking when speaking of that. Her extraordinarily beautiful face was blushing like the butt of a baboon, but it made her look even more gorgeous.

“That night what?” Ye Xiao didn’t want to stop. He wanted to know everything.

“Ahem… Anyway… It was…” Su Ye-Yue kept rolling her eyes and tried to find out the proper words to say. She blushed and spoke haltingly, “It was said that Uncle Ye wanted to have some midnight snack… So aunty went to cook some for him. Before she finished cooking, Uncle Ye was too hungry. He couldn’t hold it and… so he ‘ate’ aunty instead… Ahem… And then after some time, you were born. So Uncle Ye just gave you the name… Ye Xiao. Just as the name implies, you were born because of the midnight snack. So, ahem, hmm, you are midnight snack…”

She spoke with many pauses and her eyes were dodging Ye Xiao’s eyes.

Apparently, it would make the girl embarrassed if she had to explain this any more.

But Ye Xiao had a different feeling.

He nearly passed out. Deep in his heart, he really wanted to pass out.

[What the hell is that? How is this logical? What is the point?]

Even though he was always calm and used to be the world-shocking Xiao Monarch, at the moment, he truly felt dizzy. [My name… actually… comes… from that…

Wanted to have some midnight snack… Went to cook… Couldn’t hold it… Had another kind of… ‘midnight snack’? And got pregnant? And gave birth to a son… who was named ‘midnight snack’?

Er… No… Ye Xiao?

That is the whole process?

Oh my bloody heaven god…

Let me die.]

Suddenly, Ye Xiao felt a pain in his heart that nearly drove him to death.

[I would have never expected that the explanation of my name would be such… My god…]

“No. It doesn’t make sense.” Ye Xiao returned to his senses and looked at her, “You are younger than me. How did you know that? Even your father hasn’t met my mother. How could you know such a personal thing about my parents? It doesn’t make any sense… Is it… Did you just make it up?”

Ye Xiao looked at her, expecting her to change her story. [God bless me. Tell me that you are making it up…]

“You are a liar, not me!” Su Ye-Yue pouted, “My dad was drunk and telling jokes and stuff with your father.Your father himself told my dad about it. It wouldn’t be a lie, would it? Humph. They thought nobody was around but in fact, I was there listening secretly. It is true.”

Ye Xiao felt hopeless. He wanted to hang himself on a tree several times…

With sad eyes, he looked at Su Ye-Yue who was blabbering on and on because of the interesting topic she had just picked up. He felt like the world had become darker… [It turns out my name is midnight snack…

Damn it.

I must be the only one who had such a weird origin for his name…]

“Hey. Why are you so down? What’s wrong?” After walking for quite a distance, Su Ye-Yue finally felt less embarrassed about the topic, yet she found Ye Xiao hadn’t caught up with her, so she turned around and asked.

“I am thinking…” Ye Xiao sighed with sadness and said, “When I have a wife, would she ask for midnight snacks all the time…”

“Pah…” Su Ye-Yue blushed and reached out her hand to pinch him, “Do you really think you are that tasty… Come on. Let me teach you how to stop being a shameless guy. I will show you my Sword Art Of Feng-Hua…”

She had concentrated on cultivating these days and had shown shocking improvement. With the Sword Art Of Feng-Hua and the Spiritual Method Of Feng-Hua, her rate of improvement had become much faster than anyone else in the history of the Qing-Yun Realm.

So her confidence had shot up to the peak.

Ye Xiao fought clumsily. In contrast, Su Ye-Yue swung her sword like a stream of waterfall in a painting. She fought with natural and smooth moves, she was able to move however she wished. After beating Ye Xiao up for a while, she finally felt satisfied. She waved her hand and spoke like the king sparing a convict, “Off you go.”

Ye Xiao hurried off.

It was too hard for him to continue acting…

The girl’s improvement had been above his expectation, but…

No matter how good the Sword Art Of Feng-Hua was, it was modified by Ye Xiao himself. Considering Su Ye-Yue’s current capability, it would be as easy as flicking a finger for him to win the fight.

But Ye Xiao knew well what result would that bring to him. He would have been at least kept in there to practice with her for a ages…

So he chose to be beaten and then leave the place for good.

Su Ye-Yue humphed and looked at the retreating back of Ye Xiao. She murmured with a complex emotion in her eyes, “He didn’t want to stay, so he let me win… Humph. He must have something important to do. I won’t disturb him then.” She was unhappy. After a while, she was completely lost in thoughts, [He really is different now. In the past, when he was beaten up by me, he would only beg for me to stop with a full mouth of sweet words. Now he is so calm and he left like a light breeze… Was I not beating him heavily enough?”]

She was holding her sword and thinking. She waved her fist and murmured, “I am not strong enough. I have to continue cultivating. Next time I will beat him harder.”

On the other hand, Ye Xiao hurried home without stopping.

The first thing he saw after arriving was the steward who wore a strange look.

It was as if he was looking at a monster or his forefather.

It was a look filled with helplessness and disappointment.

“Uncle Song, what’s wrong?” Ye Xiao was confused.

[I just got home and you are looking at me like that? Do you know that I am not so comfortable with that?]

“My dearest forefather.” Song Jue sighed heavily, “You promised that you wouldn’t get into any trouble, did you not?”

“I didn’t get in any trouble. I did not…” Ye Xiao scratched his head innocently and showed confusion.

“You dare say you didn’t! Then explain, what do you expect trouble to be…” The steward sighed, sadness being shown in his eyes.

[My big brother, how come you only have one child?

People pay money for troubles they make.

Your son pays with lives for the troubles he makes. I wonder how many lives it would take.

All those troublemakers I have seen in my life together cannot compare to your son.]

“A mail has come to us from the Crown Prince’s Palace. The crown prince wants to meet with you.” The steward sighed, “And… I heard that you went to the west market, and three men died…”

The steward showed the whites of his eyes, “After some sort of clarification, it was revealed that those men were from the Crown Prince’s Palace, my dear young lord. If you have nothing to do with that… it must be some ghost who had shown up under the sun.”

Ye Xiao threw his hands up and said, “Uncle Song. To catch a thief, you need proof; to accuse someone of adultery, you catch them both. [4] To accuse me of murder, I don’t mind if there is no proof, but it should at least be reasonable, right? Why would I be involved? How strange, people from the Mu Clan died and I am under suspicion; people from the Crown Prince’s Palace died and I am under suspicion; am I to be under suspicion when anyone dies? Who on earth is messing with me now? So unbelievable. Is there any justice in the world?”

The steward showed the whites of his eyes and was speechless. He suppressed the eagerness in his heart to push Ye Xiao down and spank him on the ass.

[Wherever you are, people die there.

And people are all your enemies. Who would believe it even if you say you have nothing to do with them?

What proof do you want? What reason? Everyone can see through it.]

When thinking of that, the steward suddenly had doubts filling his mind. He raised his head and stared at his young master — his nephew.

[It doesn’t make sense…

Why… Why are all of them from our enemies?

And none of our men even got hurt?

Of course it is good that our men stay fine. It surely is. But… But… It doesn’t make sense.

Why? How?]

—————

[1] In Chinese, ‘Ye Xiao (叶笑)’ sounds almost the same as midnight snack (夜宵).

[2] Ye (叶) : means leaf in Chinese.

[3] Xiao (笑) : means smile or laugh in Chinese.

[4] To catch a thief, you need proof; to accuse someone of adultery, you catch them both(捉贼捉赃，捉奸捉双): means to confirm ones crime, proof is required and one can’t accuse people by using words alone.

1st guaranteed chapter of the week.

Translated by: Rain

Edited by: Alpha, Arch