Chapter 225: “…just live happily with your friends”
“I want Big Brother to comfort me,” Yu Yin repeated softly.
Yu Guang wasn’t oblivious to the way Yu Yin’s hand roamed over his shoulder and back. He thought to himself how this younger brother of his seemed to grow more childish with each passing year, clinging to him like a needy child.
It was a stark contrast to a few years ago when Yu Guang had first brought him back. At the time, Yu Yin had been all cold indifference, his expression perpetually distant and frosty.
Unable to speak and unwilling to engage, his most frequent reaction to anything was a cold sneer.
He’d only grudgingly allowed Yu Guang to carry or hold him, not out of affection but because he knew he couldn’t win against him and chose to bide his time.
Back then, Yu Yin had been like a dangerous creature accustomed to living in dark, damp caverns, lurking in Yu Guang’s shadow, observing and waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
This “observation” phase had lasted for years until Yu Yin seemed to finally accept Yu Guang. But instead of finding balance, he’d swung to the other extreme.
From outright rejection to complete possessiveness and endless demands.
There was still much to teach this youngest sibling of his, Yu Guang mused.
Holding Yu Yin’s arm steady, Yu Guang finished treating his wound. “Alright, tell me—how should Big Brother comfort you?”
He was already contemplating what kind of gift might cheer up his brother. Kids liked presents, didn’t they?
But his “fake child” of a younger brother had little interest in anything. Figuring out what would suit him wasn’t going to be easy.
Yu Yin lifted his bandaged arm and wrapped it around his big brother’s neck. Just as his brother tilted his head with a questioning look, Yu Yin suddenly changed his mind.
He had originally planned to ask his brother to kiss him first. But looking at that face, which had been taken advantage of countless times yet remained stoic and upright, he reconsidered.
If he asked his brother to kiss him, his brother would likely do so without hesitation, giving it no second thought.
A dark thought stirred within Yu Yin’s heart, and he smiled. In his brother’s mind, he said, “I want us to get married.”
“…”
Yu Guang tilted his head in confusion, pinched his ear, and asked, “What?”
Smiling, Yu Yin rested his forehead on his brother’s shoulder. Using the grey-eyed cat nearby to peek at his brother’s expression, he repeated in his brother’s mind: “I want us to get married.”
So he hadn’t misheard earlier. Yu Guang, still baffled, confirmed, “You’re saying… you want to marry me?”
Yu Yin, in an exceptionally good mood, nodded lightly, his chin brushing against his brother’s shoulder.
“Clang!”
Behind the two brothers, a wooden basin clattered to the ground from Ban Ying’s hands.
Her expression was one of shock, but Wu Jin’s reaction was even more exaggerated. His eyes bulged like copper bells as he exclaimed, “What! Yu Yin wants to marry Big Brother?”
His voice was so loud that it echoed far into the night. Not only could those in the front hall hear him clearly, but even the nearby households were likely aware by now.
The sheer drama of their accidental eavesdropping momentarily stunned the two witnesses. Strangely, it helped Yu Guang regain his composure.
He raised his foot to stop the basin from rolling around, glanced at a few curious heads poking out from behind the curtain, and gave an order: “Finish your hangover soup and go to bed.”
Then, he stood up and dragged his talkative younger brother back to their room.
“You haven’t said if you’ll agree or not,” Yu Yin pressed.
“How could I possibly agree?” Yu Guang retorted.
“Why won’t you agree? It’s not a bad thing—it’s a joyous occasion, isn’t it?”
Yu Guang pressed the youngest onto the edge of the bed to sit down, then dragged a chair over to sit across from him. He spoke with great seriousness, “Youngest, I know why you want to marry Big Brother.”
“Oh, you know?” Yu Yin didn’t believe him, but he was curious to hear what “reasonable” excuse his brother’s iron-clad mind would come up with this time.
“You feel uneasy because you heard that I have a few other younger brothers,” Yu Guang began.
“After seeing Lu Sanchun and Lu Guixue get married today, you thought, once two people are married, they become closer family. If you marry me, you’ll be closer to me than the other brothers. Isn’t that it?”
Yu Guang reasoned that, at its core, it was just a childish, immature idea.
Yu Yin, however, found his brother’s explanation surprisingly convincing.
What had been a fleeting whim moments ago now seemed utterly non-negotiable thanks to Yu Guang’s “analysis.”
Yu Yin leaned forward, his gaze filled with tenderness, and said, “Big Brother, have you never considered that it’s because of the love and desire I have for you that I want to marry you?”
His brows and eyes, as picturesque as a painting, overflowed with affection.
Yu Yin was naturally adept at beguiling others, though he had never before met someone he wanted to charm. Now that he had, this person remained utterly unmoved by his appearance.
Yu Guang met his younger brother’s dark, misty gaze for a moment, his own sharp eyes seemingly cutting through the haze.
Finally, he said with certainty, “Impossible. You want to devour me to gain my power.”
Yu Yin’s alluring smile froze. He blinked in confusion.
“What? Wanting to possess you, even to the point of devouring you—how is that not love?”
In both his past and present lives, he had never felt such a powerful longing for anyone.
Whether it was wanting his brother to treat him as someone special, or even the impulse to devour him—how could that not be love? For their kind, monsters and spirits alike, wasn’t that precisely how they loved?
Yu Guang shook his head and, with a warm yet firm hand, ruffled Yu Yin’s hair gently. “Youngest, you don’t even understand what love really is yet.”
Still, compared to before, this was progress for the youngest sibling.
Yu Guang didn’t take Yu Yin’s ramblings seriously. That night, he slept soundly as usual, waking up refreshed the next morning to begin his daily exercises and cultivation.
The others, however, clearly hadn’t slept well. Each person’s face was marked by dark circles, their exhaustion impossible to hide.
As they sat in the main hall eating breakfast, Yu Guang noticed their sluggish demeanor and reminded them, “Next time, don’t drink so much. Waking up hungover leaves you all without energy.”
In his mind, he resolved to drag them all to the nearby mountain for training later.
But everyone exchanged complicated glances at their unfazed big brother.
Their sorry state wasn’t from a hangover—it was because of Wu Jin’s loud proclamation last night. The shocking revelation had kept them tossing and turning in bed, their minds racing until dawn!
Yet, with Yu Guang sitting right there, no one dared to bring it up directly.
After a long, awkward silence, Pei Wenjue finally spoke hesitantly, “Big Brother… isn’t the youngest up yet?”
Yu Guang replied casually, “No. He lost a lot of blood yesterday, so I let him rest today.”
Pei Wenjue almost blurted out, “Was it just blood loss in the arm?” but Ban Ying jabbed him sharply in the ribs to keep him quiet.
As soon as Yu Guang finished his breakfast and left, the group exploded into discussion.
“Is it true? Big Brother and the youngest are getting married? I know they’re not real brothers, but still—this is too sudden!”
“Didn’t Big Brother ask the youngest himself? What’s going on, Wu Jin? Why don’t you explain clearly?”
“I don’t even know! Big Brother took him back to the room to talk after that!”
“If this is really what Big Brother wants, then there’s nothing more to say. I’ll definitely support him no matter what!”
“Does that mean we can’t call Yu Yin ‘little brother’ anymore? Should we call him ‘big sister-in-law’ instead?”
Everyone gasped, startled, and nervously bit into their biscuits to calm themselves down.
A woman sitting beside Ban Ying suddenly said, “Actually, it’s not such a bad thing. Yu Yin has always been with us, and we’re all familiar with each other. It’s better than having a stranger, right?”
A simple-looking man chuckled and added, “A few years ago, back when we were still at the Academy, we joked that Big Brother was always carrying Yu Yin around, like he had a little wife on his back.”
Someone cleared their throat and quietly muttered, “I’ve always thought the youngest looks even more beautiful than a woman.”
The group quickly reached a consensus: as long as it was Big Brother’s wish, there was nothing wrong with it!
The conversation soon turned lighter, with everyone eagerly discussing what preparations would be needed if Big Brother were to get married.
The wedding had to be grand, and Big Brother had to be the most splendid groom!
“I just married Guixue, so I’m familiar with the process. We’ll bring over our shopping list as a reference.”
Lu Sanchun and Lu Guixue, who had just married the day before, came running over early in the morning to join in the excitement.
After a while, Lu Guixue suddenly noticed a strange child sitting by the nearby stone cypress and asked curiously, “Where did this child come from? Why is he still tied up with a rope?”
At the reminder, everyone turned to look at the boy sitting next to the stone cypress, finally remembering his presence.
Mu Yi, who was absentmindedly nibbling on a biscuit, simply stared blankly.
Last night, after he had injured that vile demon Silk Nest, he had been tied up, and then, everyone had completely forgotten about him.
Still, it was Shi Bai who, helplessly, had to carry the unconscious Mu Yi back to the room after he had passed out from the hangover remedy and squeezed into bed with him for the night.
This morning, still shaken by the news of Big Brother and Yu Yin’s upcoming marriage, no one remembered him.
Worried that Mu Yi might go crazy again, Shi Bai kept his hands tied.
Not wanting to let him starve, Shi Bai also brought him to breakfast.
So, once again, Mu Yi found himself inexplicably sitting with a group of people for breakfast, forced to listen to discussions about the marriage of his enemy.
Today, Mu Yi was calmer than yesterday—or perhaps, more confused than ever.
All he could hear were whispers about the demon Silk Nest planning to marry their Big Brother, Yu Guang. His teacher, Wu Jin, strongly supported the union, and his companion, Chu Shi, might even have to play the role of the groom’s attendant.
…What in the world was going on?!
That demon Silk Nest—it wasn’t even human! How could it possibly marry someone, let alone a man?!
Mu Yi seemed to calmly nibble on his biscuit with both hands, but in reality, he had lost his sanity some time ago.
“Right, this kid is still here. What should we do with him?”
“Let Big Brother handle it.”
Just then, two people walked in. The first was Ming Yu, dressed in martial arts attire, his handsome features framed by a sword hanging at his waist. He was a teacher at the Academy.
He entered and immediately asked, “I heard Big Brother is marrying Yu Yin—when is this happening? I didn’t miss it, did I?”
“It hasn’t been set yet. I didn’t expect you’d hear about it so quickly,” Ban Ying replied with a laugh, glancing at the young girl following Ming Yu.
“Xi Xi is here too.”
Ban Xi, twelve years old, had just entered the Academy this year and was under Ming Yu’s tutelage.
She, too, was carrying a wooden sword in a somewhat proper manner, her ponytail swaying as she cheerfully ran to her sister’s side and asked, “Sister, is it true? Is Big Brother really going to marry Brother Yu Yin?”
Mu Yi froze when he saw Ming Yu and Ban Xi enter. Two tears instantly streamed down his face.
In his previous life, he hadn’t cried when he saw them die, but now he couldn’t hold it back.
In the past life, as an orphan, he and his companion Du Renchuan had been brought from Chazhou to Zhuzhou by their teacher Ming Yu. It was also Ming Yu who had made an exception and allowed him, at thirteen years old, to enter the Divine Academy.
It was Teacher Ming Yu who had changed his fate. The strict and serious Ming Yu had died more tragically than even his teacher Wu Jin.
And Ban Xi… Mu Yi’s gaze locked onto Ban Xi, who looked even livelier and happier than he remembered. His heart was filled with a tangled mix of emotions—gratitude, sorrow.
He and Ban Xi had once clung to each other’s hands in the face of danger, yet neither of them had ever confessed their feelings.
Before she died, Ban Xi had kissed him softly, leaving a trail of blood on her lips, and responded to his feelings.
She had said, “If there’s a next life, Mu Yi, I will marry you.”
And now, she was holding her sister’s hand and, with a face full of regret, said, “Brother Yu Yin is so handsome, I still wanted to wait until I grew up to marry him.”
Mu Yi: “…” The pain was unbearable, and the tears kept flowing.
He fiercely wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.
Beside him, Shi Bai watched his face change from one expression to another—crying and gritting his teeth—and felt that something was definitely wrong with his mind.
Ban Xi, after joking with her sister, suddenly made eye contact with the unfamiliar young boy. She was startled by the tears in his eyes and his strange expression.
“Ah! Who is this?” she whispered to her sister.
At that moment, Yu Guang returned to the main hall and remembered Mu Yi, who had been forgotten the day before.
“Mu Yi, come over here. I want to talk to you.”
Mu Yi followed Yu Guang outside, rubbing his wrists, which had been bound tightly and were now red.
The two sat down in the courtyard, and Mu Yi stared at the Big Brother, who was loved and admired by everyone.
He hadn’t thought about who Yu Guang really was the entire night. In his previous life, Yu Guang hadn’t appeared.
“Mu Yi, I know you.”
Yu Guang noticed the wariness and curiosity in his gaze. He gently pressed on his thin shoulder and said, “There’s no need to be nervous. Those things won’t happen again.”
“With me here, this time, just live happily with your friends.”
