I, The Substitute, Am With The Main Character Chapter 42

Last night he had stubbed his foot, and today he fell on his backside. Xueya was in so much pain that tears welled up in his eyes when he heard a man’s voice.

“Are you okay?”

It was Yi Yefeng’s voice—cold and devoid of any comforting tone.

Clenching his teeth, Xueya looked up, glaring at the culprit who knocked him down. But he found that the culprit didn’t show the slightest hint of guilt and was even staring at him. This made Xueya even more unhappy, so he lowered his head, not wanting the man to keep staring at his face.

After painfully pulling himself up, Xueya dusted off his backside.

Suddenly, his hand felt something strange.

He paused and started to feel around more carefully.

It seemed like he had torn his clothes.

Yi Yefeng noticed Xueya’s actions. He moved behind him and, with a single glance, said, “Your backside’s ripped.”

“Yours is ripped!” Xueya retorted furiously. He had only just gotten to wear men’s clothing for once, and after such a short time, it was already torn. Now Yi Yefeng had the nerve to say his backside was ripped?

Telling a courtesan their backside was ripped was as offensive as telling a maiden she had remarried.

“Your backside really is torn,” Yi Yefeng repeated, expressionless. His words made Xueya burst into tears again.

Xueya wiped away his tears with his hand, forgetting that his hand had just touched the ground. After a few wipes, his once snow-white face was now smudged with dirt. As he wiped, he muttered, feeling wronged, “This is my new outfit.”

Yi Yefeng watched as Xueya dirtied his face but didn’t bother to point it out. Instead, he said, “You can just sew it up.”

“That’s easy for you to say! Can you sew?” Xueya glared at him.

“I can. Give me your pants, and I’ll sew them for you,” Yi Yefeng replied.

Xueya was stunned for a moment and took a step back when Yi Yefeng stepped forward. Just then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a familiar figure. He quickly muttered, “No thanks,” and without any hesitation, ran toward that person.

“Liang Mu!” Xueya ran to Liang Mu’s side, one hand covering the tear in his pants. “Can you sew? My pants are ripped.”

Liang Mu was of noble birth, unlike Yi Yefeng, who had spent years on the battlefield. Soldiers often had to repair their own clothes when they tore, as there were no women in the camps to do it for them.

Hearing Xueya’s plea, Liang Mu looked a bit troubled. “I can’t.” Then, noticing Xueya’s tear-streaked, dirty face, he asked urgently, “Who bullied you?”

Xueya wasn’t one to miss an opportunity to complain. He glanced toward Yi Yefeng and, seeing him still watching, quickly turned back and softly said, “No one bullied me. I was just clumsy. General Yi definitely didn’t mean to.”

Liang Mu followed Xueya’s gaze toward Yi Yefeng and furrowed his brow slightly. He then took Xueya’s hand and led him out of Yi Yefeng’s sight. “Xueya, you shouldn’t get too close to him. He’s…”

“What about him?” Xueya, suddenly intrigued by the idea of hearing a secret about Yi Yefeng, stopped crying.

Liang Mu shook his head. “Nothing.”

“If you don’t tell me the truth, I won’t speak to you anymore.” Xueya turned his head away.

“Fine, I’ll tell you. Just don’t get upset,” Liang Mu sighed. He then explained, “General Yi was an orphan, later adopted by the old General Yi as his foster son. He’s been fighting alongside the Yi family on the battlefield ever since. Five years ago, at the Battle of Gongpan City, the old General Yi suffered a crushing defeat. It was a brutal battle, and all our soldiers were killed, including the old general and the three young generals of the Yi family—except for one.”

“Yi Yefeng survived. He didn’t return to the capital until three months later. The enemy had besieged the battlefield for a month to ensure no survivors. There was no food on the battlefield, only corpses. No one knows how Yi Yefeng survived. If anyone asks, he gets furious.”

Liang Mu’s face darkened as he continued. “It’s said that General Yi once tore a man in half with his bare hands on the battlefield. Once, the Minister of War asked him about the Battle of Gongpan while drunk, and if it hadn’t been for others stopping him, the minister might have been torn in half too.”

Xueya’s face grew pale as he stammered, “Then… with him being so violent, doesn’t the emperor punish him?”

“The late emperor did punish him, but since Yi Yefeng is the last surviving male of the Yi family, he was only docked pay and confined for reflection. Even though he’s only a foster son, he’s been added to the Yi family genealogy, and the remaining women and elderly of the family rely on him,” Liang Mu explained.

From Liang Mu’s words, Xueya gathered one clear message: Yi Yefeng was someone not to be trifled with. He almost tore a high-ranking official in half and was only given a minor punishment. If he tore Xueya apart, he might not even get scolded.

Xueya thought about how he had made Yi Yefeng wash fruit with his foot bath water yesterday, then taunted him at night, and had just scolded him again. A chill ran through him, and without a word, he turned and ran off, ignoring Liang Mu’s calls asking where he was going.

He ran all the way to the entrance of He Xulan’s tent. Two young eunuchs, apprentices of Huang Gonggong, were guarding the entrance. Seeing Xueya, they were surprised but quickly lifted the curtain for him. “The Empress Dowager is resting inside.”

Xueya nodded and entered, finding that He Xulan was indeed resting.

He Xulan had just bathed, his hair still slightly damp. He laid reclining on a chaise, eyes closed, his long black hair cascading over his shoulders. Xueya knelt beside the chaise and stared at him for a while.

After some time, seeing that He Xulan still hadn’t opened his eyes, Xueya couldn’t help but call out, “Your Majesty.”

He Xulan’s long eyelashes fluttered slightly, but he didn’t open his eyes. “Mmm?”

“I accidentally bumped into General Yi earlier. Do you think he’ll tear me in half?” Xueya asked, his voice full of worry.

He Xulan slowly opened his eyes, frowning when he saw Xueya’s dirt-covered face. “Why is your face so filthy?” he asked.

Xueya let out a sound of surprise and reached up to touch his face, but the more he touched, the dirtier it got. He Xulan sat up and grabbed Xueya’s dirty hand. “Someone, bring a basin of clean water.”

Only when He Xulan held his hand did Xueya realize his hands were filthy. His face flushed red as he remembered all the people he had just spoken to with his dirty face. He wished he could dig a hole and bury himself.

While He Xulan helped clean his face, Xueya didn’t dare speak. It was He Xulan who eventually brought up the matter of Yi Yefeng.

“You bumped into Yi Yefeng earlier?”

Xueya nodded quickly and added, “I really didn’t mean to! I wore my new clothes to show my brother, but as soon as I stepped out, I ran into General Yi. And… my pants ripped, so I was a little upset and spoke to him in a rude tone.” He looked at He Xulan pitifully. “Brother Lingduan, will General Yi tear me in half?”

He Xulan replied calmly, “He’s not one to be petty.”

“But… what if, just if, I accidentally made him wash fruit in my foot bath water? And he even took a bite of it,” Xueya added cautiously.

He Xulan paused in his movements. “When did this happen?”

“Yester… yesterday at noon.” Xueya could sense He Xulan’s mood worsening. Though He Xulan’s expression and tone didn’t change, Xueya could feel it. He immediately hugged He Xulan. “Brother, I didn’t mean to keep it from you. I was afraid you’d scold me, so I didn’t say anything. Brother, don’t be mad.”

When Xueya noticed He Xulan trying to push him away, he tightened his grip. Right now, He Xulan was the only person he could rely on; he couldn’t count on Cui Lingjing since he hadn’t seen him recently. “Brother, don’t push me away. I know I was wrong. Please, save me—I don’t want to be torn in half!”

He Xulan closed his eyes briefly, then grabbed Xueya’s hand, which was still around his waist, and said in a restrained tone, “No one’s going to tear you in half. And your hands are still dirty.”

Xueya froze, slowly releasing He Xulan, then peeked over He Xulan’s shoulder.

Hmm…

Sure enough, there were two black handprints on He Xulan’s clothes.

After changing into a fresh set of clothes and tying up his long hair with a simple ribbon, He Xulan walked over to Xueya, who was obediently standing by. “Your clothes are ripped?”

Xueya quickly nodded, turning to show the hole in his pants, then looked back at He Xulan. “Huang Gonggong only prepared one hunting outfit for me.”

He looked utterly pitiful.

He Xulan stared at the hole in Xueya’s pants for a moment. “Take them off.”

Xueya blinked in surprise.

He Xulan’s gaze moved upward, meeting Xueya’s eyes. “I’ll sew them for you.”

“Oh,” Xueya responded, his mind immediately wondering which maid might help him. “Among the maids who came along, Yuexiang and Xingwei are pretty good at sewing. Brother, which one are you calling to help me?”

He Xulan’s expression shifted slightly. “I’ll do it.”

“What?” Xueya’s face instantly crumpled.

Could He Xulan even sew?

His doubt ran deep, so while He Xulan began mending his pants, Xueya watched his every move, tense and worried that He Xulan might ruin his clothes.

He Xulan sewed slowly—so slowly that Xueya’s eyes started to glaze over. Unable to bear it any longer, he got up to pour himself a cup of water, figuring that since He Xulan was working so slowly, it wouldn’t make a difference if he sat back down later.

After he leisurely finished his drink and returned, he found that He Xulan had nearly finished mending the pants. Xueya was stunned when he saw a rabbit design on the patched area, with the rabbit’s tail conveniently placed right where the hole had been.

He Xulan finished up, set aside the needle and thread, and handed the pants to Xueya. “Try them on.”

Xueya obediently put them on, but once they were on, his expression fell. His shirt hung just right to cover the rabbit’s body, leaving only the short, white tail exposed. At a glance, it looked like he had grown a little rabbit tail himself.

“You don’t like it?” He Xulan asked from behind, watching Xueya’s reaction in the mirror.

Xueya reached out and touched the rabbit tail. “Brother, can’t this tail be hidden? It looks weird.”

He Xulan reached over and touched the tail as well. “Weird?”

Feeling He Xulan’s hand on the rabbit tail too, Xueya’s earlobes flushed red.

He pulled away slightly. “Don’t touch it.”

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