Chapter 477 Night Owl and Phoenix
"..."
Shang Ruyi's lips twitched slightly. After hesitating several times, she ultimately did not utter the words that had been lingering in her heart for days.
After all, she was not only Yuwen Ye's wife, but also the daughter-in-law of the Duke of Sheng.
She could harbor unbearable suspicions in her heart, and she could tell Yuwen Ye everything she had discovered, but she couldn't say those things outright. After all, they both came from prestigious families and knew that one should always be mindful of their words and actions. What she had just said was already very risky; if she went any further—it would be seen as sowing discord between the brothers.
Seeing that she seemed to want to say something but ultimately didn't speak, Yuwen Ye's eyes deepened even more.
He said in a deep voice, "You don't need to say anything, I understand."
Shang Ruyi breathed a sigh of relief and looked at him again. She saw that Yuwen Ye glanced at the two sachets in her hand, then silently drank the bowl of bitter medicine that had cooled down in one gulp.
He remained unfazed.
Clearly, for him, the suffering in life was not limited to this.
Shang Ruyi didn't say anything more, but silently took the empty bowl and put it aside, then poured him a cup of hot tea to rinse his mouth. Yuwen Ye took a sip, looked at the slightly swirling tea, and asked, "By the way, how many days has Brother stayed here?"
"It will only take four or five days in total."
"So what did he do during his stay?"
"……nothing."
Yuwen Ye raised an eyebrow slightly, his gaze shifting from the shimmering tea to Shang Ruyi's calm eyes: "He didn't do anything?"
Shang Ruyi nodded, then gave a bitter smile and said, "I originally thought that since my elder brother came here as the Vice Minister of War, he would definitely participate in the battle of Fufeng, so I kept—but he did nothing."
"..."
"Just yesterday, when he left, he reminded me of that."
"What am I reminding you of?"
"He reminded me that we would eventually have a life-or-death battle with Xue Xian, but he knew you would win, so he returned to Daxing City ahead of time to prepare to recommend you for merit."
"..."
Yuwen Ye's gaze deepened.
He was clearly more astute than Shang Ruyi in this matter. During his coma, Yuwen Qian did not participate in any battles in Fufeng, and just as he was about to recover and regain consciousness, Yuwen Qian left Fufeng.
Therefore, regardless of merits or demerits, this battle has nothing to do with him.
So, did he really come here just to question Ma Xu in his capacity as Vice Minister of War, or did he have a deeper purpose that none of them could see through?
Yuwen Ye pondered for a while, but naturally couldn't come up with a solution. After all, he had almost never seen through his elder brother since childhood, so he could only give up for the time being.
But when he looked up, he saw Shang Ruyi standing to the side with a solemn expression, as if she was also thinking about something.
Yuwen Ye asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"..."
Shang Ruyi glanced at him and said, "That's right, I just suddenly remembered a story I heard when I was a child."
"A story? What story?"
"The story goes that an owl, having been hungry for several days, finally caught a dead mouse to fill its stomach. Just as it was about to eat the mouse, a phoenix flew overhead."
"...Phoenix?"
"The owl was worried that the phoenix would come and steal the mouse from its mouth, so it started yelling at the phoenix to scare it away."
"..."
"But the phoenix didn't even look at it before flying away."
This story was told to her by Shen Wuzheng when she was a child. After telling it, he smiled and said to her, "A phoenix will not peck at millet when it is hungry, but the owl thinks that the phoenix is going to steal the mouse in its mouth. How ridiculous is that?"
Recalling all this, Shang Ruyi's face flushed.
She thought about how she had been so careful these past few days, fearing that Yuwen Ye would really be transferred away from Fufeng, and even more so that Yuwen Qian would do something in the battle of Fufeng to seize the fruits of Yuwen Ye and others' bloody battles for his own use. So she tried every means to guard against him.
In the end, however, Yuwen Qian left on his own.
His action seemed to be telling her how ridiculous her persistence and caution were.
Shang Ruyi smiled wryly and said self-deprecatingly, "Sometimes, I feel like that night owl."
After saying that, she sighed and shook her head. She took the half-empty teacup from Yuwen Ye's hand, added some water, and walked back. Just as she was about to hand it to Yuwen Ye, she looked down and saw him glaring at her.
Shang Ruyi was taken aback: "What's wrong?"
Yuwen Ye said, "Don't you also think that night owl is ridiculous?"
"...?"
Shang Ruyi looked at him with some surprise: "Isn't that right?"
Yuwen Ye sneered and said, "Nothing to laugh about?"
"..."
"Everyone has things they want to cherish and protect. Just because others don't care about them doesn't mean that their cherishing and protection are worthless."
"..."
"I think that the owl has a lot to offer in terms of fighting back against a powerful enemy and in a situation where it is bound to lose."
"...!"
Shang Ruyi stared at him with wide eyes.
She hadn't expected Yuwen Ye to view the story this way.
Perhaps the owl is laughable or even pathetic in the eyes of the world, but upon closer reflection, it has no divine favor or bright, colorful feathers, yet it still strives to survive earnestly and is not even afraid of the phoenix high above. Isn't that what makes it so shining?
Shang Ruyi suddenly felt a surge of pleasure in her chest and laughed, "That's true."
Yuwen Ye then took the cup of tea from her hand.
He took a sip, then said coldly, seemingly annoyed, "Besides, who's the phoenix? I'm the phoenix!"
"...?"
Shang Ruyi was stunned for a moment, then quickly came to her senses.
Yes, he is the phoenix.
When she first arrived in Luoyang, she and a group of her friends gathered at Tinghelou. During the gathering, they talked about their nicknames, and he told her that his nickname was Phoenix.
Shang Ruyi smiled and said, "Okay, I'll remember."
Just then, there was a very soft knock on the door. Shang Ruyi went out and saw Tu She'er, who was holding a stack of neatly folded clothes. She said softly, "Miss, I've put away the clothes I washed earlier. Now that the young master is awake, will he also take a bath later? I've brought the clothes over so that he won't be unable to find them when he needs them."
Shang Ruyi nodded: "Give it to me, I'll handle it myself."
"Ah...yes."
Normally, Tu She'er would never let her young mistress work so hard, but at this moment she knew that Shang Ruyi didn't want anyone to disturb Yuwen Ye's rest in the room, and she herself didn't want to disturb the rare time the two of them spent together, so she didn't say anything more, gave the clothes to Shang Ruyi, and turned to leave.
Shang Ruyi took the clothes to a corner of the room and opened the box to put them inside.
Yuwen Ye suddenly asked, "What is that?"
"Um?"
Shang Ruyi looked back at him, then looked down at him again, and then noticed that on top of the pile of clothes was the cotton gauze mask with two drawstrings.
Shang Ruyi said, "This was given to me by my elder brother."
"..."
Yuwen Ye frowned slightly: "Why did he give it to you?"
Shang Ruyi said, "When doctors encounter diseases like the plague, they usually wear cotton gauze soaked in medicine when treating patients to avoid getting infected themselves. During the days you were sick, Wo Xue, the old doctor He Wenzhu, and I all wore those gauze."
"What does this have to do with it?"
"After my elder brother came, he gave me this, saying that it served the same purpose as those veils."
"..."
"I've been with them for a few days, and it really is like that."
"..."
Yuwen Ye paused for a moment, then said, "Let me see it."
Shang Ruyi didn't know why he suddenly became interested in this small piece of cotton gauze, but after putting down the clothes, she handed the gauze to him. Yuwen Ye took it and looked at it with displeasure. He was not knowledgeable in medicine, let alone know the benefits of this thing. He looked at it over and over for a long time. It was more like he was picking on it than looking at the thing.
After a long pause, he said, "You're the only one I gave it to?"
Shang Ruyi shook her head: "He has one too."
"..."
Yuwen Ye remained silent for a moment, his expression growing increasingly grim, before saying, "This kind of thing should be thrown away after use; why keep it?"
Shang Ruyi was startled when she heard this, fearing that he had really lost it. She quickly took it back and said, "You can't lose this. This thing is more convenient than the veil we usually use, and it's not easy for it to fall off."
"..."
"I'm thinking of keeping it; it might come in handy in the future."
She paused for a moment after saying this.
Actually, she didn't know why she felt this thing was useful, but after Yuwen Ye's illness, a shadow seemed to have fallen over her heart, making her uneasy, yet she couldn't figure out where that shadow came from.
In short, this thing doesn't take up much space and doesn't get in the way.
So, he went back to the box, put the veil inside, and saw Yuwen Ye's clothes underneath. Thinking that he had been lying still for days and they had been wiping his body, he was probably feeling a bit uncomfortable, so he decided to ask him if he wanted to take a bath.
But when I turned around, my heart skipped a beat.
Yuwen Ye sat heavily on the edge of the bed, his hands resting on his knees, probably because he had just exhausted himself. Although his face was pale and his breathing was uneven, his posture and the resolute and profound aura he exuded made him look like a lurking black panther, which made people's hearts tremble.
What's wrong with him?
Why did you suddenly show such an expression? It's as if you harbor deep hostility towards someone or something.
But looking at his gaze again, it was fixed on the veil placed on top of the box.
Just as Shang Ruyi was puzzled, Yuwen Ye murmured thoughtfully, "The phoenix certainly wouldn't be interested in that dead rat... What he really saw was probably that night owl!"
"……Um?"
Shang Ruyi didn't hear clearly, walked over to look at him, and whispered, "What did you say?"
Yuwen Ye looked up again and glared at her.
Then he turned his face to one side and said coldly, "It's nothing."
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