Silent Crown

Chapter 181 So Many Love the Joyful Times of Your Youth

When Ye Qingxuan walked out of the old mansion the next day and felt the sun, he had the urge to cry. "It’s so nice to be alive" he said.

For the past two days, he had been tortured by that crazy woman Lola in so many ways. When he was awake, she would use excuses to order him around. When he was asleep, he would have different nightmares. He could not live nor die.

It would be okay if it was just consumption of physical and mental strength. After all, Lola’s food was pretty good. She would use different ways to nourish him. It could basically make up for his exhaustion.

At first, Ye Qingxuan had been touched, but when he finished, Lola held down his neck and revealed two small canines to start ‘eating.’ Ye Qingxuan realized her ulterior motive!

"That crazy woman completely turned me into a personal blood bank!" Ye Qingxuan rubbed the two small holes on his neck and felt his heart hurt. There was no trust between people. Now, he just wanted to get home quickly, sleep, and go to the library tomorrow to read everything on Lola’s book list.

Thinking of how he had been busy every day for the past few months, and was about to become even busier, Ye Qingxuan was depressed. Life was so hard and the days were impossible.

-

After his long wait on the side of the road, bells finally chimed in the distance. It was the public horse carriage returning to uptown. Ye Qingxuan pulled himself together. He did not need to walk anymore.

"Stop, stop!" He blocked the carriage in the front and flashed his academy badge. "Give me a ride."

"Concertmaster Ye?" came a shocked voice within.

Hearing this, Ye Qingxuan looked up and quickly reacted. "Wow, what a coincidence. What school are you all from? All of you ditching together?"

"…"

The extended carriage was filled with at least a dozen boys and girls wearing school uniforms. They were all from the academy. Hearing his words, they became speechless. Someone muttered, "Concertmaster Ye, today’s the returning day."

Ye Qingxuan was confused but then he remembered that every ten days, the Academy would have a three-day break. Coincidentally, today was the day break ended and everyone returned to school. But Ye Qingxuan had ditched too many classes and did not have this concept in his mind.

"Sorry, forgot about that." He chuckled awkwardly and went past the seats to the very back. He quickly closed his eyes and began sleeping. Along the way, students entered the carriage constantly. They were stunned when they saw him, but they would all come forward and politely greet "Concertmaster Ye."

After all, the only ones who would use the public carriage to return were commoners who did not have money or their own carriages. As for Ye Qingxuan’s concertmaster position, there was widespread recognition and respect. But for some reason, they all looked at him strangely today.

In his drowsiness, he vaguely heard the whispers in the carriage.

"Look at him…"

"Seems real?"

"Yes, it’s him."

"If it’s me…"

"He’s the concertmaster. Stop the delusions."

The voices caused Ye Qingxuan to furrow his brows. He opened his eyes to look over, but everyone avoided his gaze and pretended that nothing happened. The weird atmosphere persisted until the carriage stopped at the academy’s entrance. The students got off one by one, but Ye Qingxuan still did not know what had happened. He randomly grabbed a student. "What were you all saying?"

"Uh, you still don’t know…" the student replied. But when he turned and saw the white hair, his eyes widened and his tongue tied as if he had seen a ghost. "N-nothing." He shook his head forcefully. He was too scared to run but showed that, no matter what, he would not tell. Helpless, Ye Qingxuan let go and told him to scram.

"Are they all crazy?"

Enduring the strange glances his entire way back to the history department, he felt a giant burden lift after he closed the door. This was the best place. He could relax entirely after coming back.

"Hey, Cousin, you finally decided to come back." Bai Xi, who was sitting on the sofa looking at pictures, looked up. Her gaze had a strange distance and she complimented him, "Seems that you’re pretty fit. You can last two days."

"What are you talking about?" Ye Qingxuan felt that something was wrong again.

"Oh, Yezi’s back?" Abraham walked out of the library. When he saw Ye Qingxuan, he thought of something and stopped talking, his expression turning awkward. "The age gap isn’t much and you’re at that age, but…" He paused and advised with concern, "Yezi, you’re a student, after all. You must control yourself."

"Huh?!" Ye Qingxuan was confused again. "Wait, Professor, what’s going on?"

Abraham shook his head, smiling bitterly. "I won’t involve myself in young people’s matters." With that, he patted Ye Qingxuan on the shoulder and left.

Ye Qingxuan felt all his strength leave. "Who can tell me what happened?"

"You still don’t know?" On the sofa, Bai Xi hooked her finger. "Come here and I’ll tell you secretly."

Seeing her mysteriousness, Ye Qingxuan hesitated. But he still placed his ear close to her. And then he felt Bai Xi open her mouth and…let out an evil burp!

"Bai Xi!" Ye Qingxuan roared as he cracked his knuckles. "You feeling antsy? I’ll fix you up!"

"Wait!" Bai Xi raised a hand and gazed at him suspiciously. "Cousin, did you really not hear? What you did has spread through the entire academy! Everyone knows the details except you?"

"I wouldn’t be asking if I knew!"

"Okay, then I’ll let you know your crime." Bai Xi cackled and slammed down on the table, fury written in her expression. "Ye Qingxuan, stop pretending! Everyone knows about you and Professor Lola!"

"…" Ye Qingxuan blanched. "What?!"

"Are you still pretending?" Bai Xi scoffed. "The entire academy said that you sold yourself and became that woman’s pet! These past two days, you’ve been living the happy life of doing it three or four times per day! And you still say you don’t know?" Here, she shook her head and sighed in awe. "I can’t believe you’re so powerful. You’ve mesmerized Professor Lola in these short few days. I thought you were a righteous man, but I can’t believe you’re the reserve for the crane-control supervisor!"

"I don’t know what ‘crane-control supervisor’ means, but I bet you’re insulting me, right?" Ye Qingxuan tried to explain, "You’ve all misunderstood. I’m such a clean person. How could I do that with a teacher? Those are all vicious rumors trying to hurt me! I just went to find Professor Lola about some questions."

"You still won’t confess?" Bai Xi sneered. "Charles, show the evidence."

Suddenly, there was a whoosh and a figure appeared out of nowhere behind Bai Xi’s voice. There was a giddy smile on his face as he offered a crystal prism. "Here is the evidence!"

Ye Qingxuan eyed him. What the f*ck was this?

Charles shrugged. His pitiful eyes seemed to say, "Junior, you really did it this time. I can’t save you either."

In Charles’s hand, the prism flashed and then projected an image. The image was blurry but one could make out that it was in the courtyard of an elegant and peaceful mansion. Ye Qingxuan was wearing a black housekeeper uniform and kneeling on one knee, his hands to his heart. His eyes gazed enthusiastically at the lovely woman before him. He recited a love poem with a sweetness that even traveling poets would blush at.

"Ah, so many people love the joyful times of your youth. They love your beauty, which may be real or in pretense, but only one loves your pilgrim’s soul…"

Ye Qingxuan felt his scalp go numb. "Where did you get this from?"

"Junior, you started a trend! This thing is everywhere now. It’s fifty dollars for one but demand is higher than supply!" Charles said excitedly. "You don’t know how many girls had their hearts broken after seeing this! Some people bought it and changed the girl inside to themselves. They have to watch a few times every night, or else they can’t fall asleep."

"…Senior, how do you know so much?"

"Because I’m the one who’s selling the most! I even have a Concertmaster Ye’s Confession platinum commemoration version. The price has doubled but people still want it!" Charles exclaimed spiritedly. "Junior, how could you not include me in this great money-making chance? If it wasn’t for my quick reaction speed, I would’ve lost this opportunity and missed out on all this money!"

"Senior, you just want to kill me, right?" Ye Qingxuan thought. He felt he was going to break down. He wanted to spit out three liters of blood and yell "Lola ruined me!" and then fall down, face to the sky.

He finally understood Lola’s strange smile after refusing to become Lola’s student. This was waiting for him here! But even if there was no other way, she did not have to explain their relationship like this, right? He wanted to cry but had no tears.

"Let me explain. It’s not how it seems."

"I know, I know. It must be even more incredible and low, right?" Charles patted his shoulders and exclaimed, "Look at you. Your face is pale, steps are feeble, and the two dark eye bags…It’s obvious you had too much fun! I can’t believe Professor Lola is that powerful. Should I buy some medicine to nourish you?"

This comment made Ye Qingxuan want to cry tears of blood. He finally understood the pain of not being able to explain himself. How did he suddenly have a relationship with that crazy Lola? But it really was him in the prism’s video. He could not explain at all. His reputation was ruined!

"Hey, tell the truth. What did you do these past days with her?" Bai Xi slammed a fist onto the table. "How did she seduce you? When, where, how long, what position, report everything!"

"Uh, don’t ask about the position." Charles grabbed a pen and paper and said softly, "It’s more important to ask how they flirted. The elite girls love this stuff!"

Just as Ye Qingxuan was about to die of embarrassment and find something to strangle himself with, the sound of a savior came from the sky outside.

"Hello, testing…testing…"