Oct. 18th, 2022 at 10:16 AM
Early in the morning of the next day, as they were about to mobilise forces to call Zhao Tong into account, they saw Yang Su leaving with luggage on his back.
[Ye Tan] hurriedly stepped in front of him to block him: “Where are you going?! Didn’t you agree to go back to Yangxi with us yesterday?”
The new Yang Su spoke flatly: “And you two are? I wasn’t the one in this body yesterday. I still have things to do, so I’ll be taking my leave.”
The corner of [Ye Tan]’s mouth twitched when he saw that the medal on Yang Su’s chest had the words “Wu Yue” written on it, suddenly understanding the words Yang Qingzhou had said: I know where he is, but I don’t know which one he is.
It seemed that, although Yang Su’s body was in the village, they didn’t know whose body he was really in, or what they needed to do to change it back.
They were left without any better option than to go look for Zhao Tong in the vast sea of people.
The two went together to find Zhao Tong, [Ye Tan] walking ahead, and [Jun Xuanheng] behind, and [Ye Tan] would turn back from time to time and stop to wait for him. After walking along the street for a while, [Ye Tan] finally couldn’t help but ask: “Why are you walking so slowly?”
Hearing this, [Jun Xuanheng] sped up his pace: “I’m sorry.”
[Ye Tan] hurriedly said: “Don’t be, I don’t blame you. Did I also walk so slowly before?”
[Jun Xuanheng] said: “Master’s health is rather poor, it’s hard to avoid being a little slower than an ordinary person.”
[Ye Tan] sighed: “A-Tan, you’re really so patient.”
[Jun Xuanheng]: “?”
He wasn’t aware of it before, but now that he had gone into Ye Tan’s body he realised that [Jun Xuanheng] seemed to move slowly no matter what he did. Ye Tan could whoosh to the other end of this 100-step-long alley in a moment, but it would take Jun Xuanheng a long time to walk. But when they went out together, Ye Tan was never impatient at all, and when Jun Xuanheng thought of this his heart felt both sweet and sour.
[Ye Tan] didn’t speak any more and focused on walking again. [Jun Xuanheng] suddenly felt the sky spinning and his feet stepping on air, and it turned out [Ye Tan] had suddenly reached out and picked him up into his arms.
[Jun Xuanheng] spoke in surprise: “What are you doing?”
“Nothing, I just suddenly wanted to hug you.” [Ye Tan] spoke matter-of-factly, then easily threw [Jun Xuanheng] up into the air as if he was juggling and spun him around a few times, “Hahahaha, A-Tan is so strong, I’m so light ah.”
[Jun Xuanheng] was tossed up and down into the sky, and just as he wanted to shout for him to stop throwing him, he suddenly fell head-first into the ground.
“Fuck! Your hands are too strong how did I throw so far?!! I couldn’t catch you!!” [Ye Tan] dug him out from the ground in a fright, “Are you alright? Does it hurt? Where did you fall on?”
[Jun Xuanheng] looked up with half a bloody face and sniffled as his nose began to bleed: “This subordinate is fine.”
“Whoa you’re bleeding!! My body is so fragile I’ll die!!” [Ye Tan] pulled his sleeve in a panic, grabbed his face, and fiercely wiped at it.
[Jun Xuanheng] felt ashamed as he said: “This subordinate is incompetent and couldn’t properly take care of Master’s body.”
[Ye Tan] had a fiercely guilty conscience: “No no no you’re really good you were very good, I’m the one at fault, it’s my fault.”
[Ye Tan] didn’t dare be careless and took him to get some medicine, fortunately the neighbours were really cordial and quickly brought them to find a doctor.
After washing and bandaging the wound, [Ye Tan] guiltily squatted by the railing and wrung his hands as he stared at him. [Jun Xuanheng] sat back against the pillar, resting quietly for a while, and after what seemed like careful deliberation, he cautiously spoke up:
“It hurts a bit.”
Ye Tan had such endurance before that he didn’t even say a word when he was stabbed into a sieve, and [Ye Tan] regretted it so much he wished he could take it back as he knelt in the ground with a thump: “I’m sorry I was wrong please stop saying it I won’t throw you around again.”
“That’s not what I meant…..” [Jun Xuanheng] waved his hands, “It hurts a little more than this subordinate’s own body. Before, when this subordinate got scratched or bruised, it didn’t hurt so much.”
According to this, it seemed like the human body’s endurance for pain could also be trained. Ye Tan’s body had been forged in fire and he was used to pain, but Jun Xuanheng had always been treated like a prince and been very well protected, so even a little pain felt unbearable.
[Ye Tan] carelessly replied: “Yeah?”
[Jun Xuanheng] suddenly spoke: “You asked this subordinate before if it was very painful to have my internal power drawn out.”
[Ye Tan]: “It seems like I did ask.”
[Jun Xuanheng] was enlightened: “Now that I think about it, it should have been more painful for you.” Although Jun Xuanheng hadn’t been injured many times, each one had been an extreme torture. How on earth did this delicate body bear it? He suddenly lifted his head, and in a rare move took the initiative to reach out and hold [Ye Tan]’s hand, revealing a faint smile, “It is Master who is too strong.”
[Ye Tan] felt a slightly warm touch on his palm, and just then realised that [Jun Xuanheng]’s hand was actually so soft, so delicate, as though carved out of eggshells, and like snow melting in the spring. It seemed like it would break just by lightly holding it, and he actually became nervous.
“It’s you two? What a coincidence!” Next to them, a girl wearing a light green garment walked past carrying a medicine box, and greeted them light-heartedly when she saw the two of them.
[Jun Xuanheng] quickly took his hand back, questioning: “Does the young lady know us?”
“I’m Zhao Tong.” That girl said.
[Ye Tan] was amazed: “Huh?! You can actually switch into a girl’s body?!”
Zhao Tong curved her large round eyes into a smile: “Here in this village, our people will inevitably be men for half of the time, and women for the other half, so gender doesn’t matter. Some people like embroidery and papercutting, some like planting rice and farming, and they will do those things regardless of whether they’re in a man’s body or in a woman’s body.”
[Ye Tan]: “This is also…..”
Zhao Tong asked again: “Did you two find who you were looking for?”
[Jun Xuanheng] said: “We were just about to trouble you with this matter. Does brother Zhao know if there are any rules to this body switching? Or how to undo it?”
Zhao Tong was at a loss: “I’m not too clear on this, and I’ve also never paid attention to it. I only know that we change bodies every night around midnight. Every person in the village swaps, there aren’t any rules.”
[Jun Xuanheng] asked again: “If you leave the valley, will you change back?”
Zhao Tong shook her head: “No. We sometimes have to go to other villages to buy things, and we come back in the same body we went out in, regardless of which one it was.”
[Jun Xuanheng] nodded and asked a few more questions, but he wasn’t able to get any useful information, so they parted ways.
[Ye Tan] didn’t have a clue either, he was baffled and didn’t know what to do.
But [Jun Xuanheng] didn’t seem to be in a hurry, only saying: “Don’t worry, we’ll see the result tonight.”
He found a peach blossom tree by the lakeside and carved a symbol into it, telling [Ye Tan]: “If we switch into somebody else’s body and get lost tonight, we’ll meet up at this tree tomorrow.”
[Ye Tan] agreed, memorising the position, and strolled around for the rest of the day before going to rest nearby.
