Chapter 26: Bewilderment (2)

"Ye Lang, stop playing around and come out." The Seventh Princess began searching the room, but no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't find him. "Could he be outside daydreaming? He does like to lose himself in thought... No, it’s still pouring rain out there."

"Your Highness, why hasn’t Young Master Ye Lang come in yet… What are you looking for?" A maid emerged from the inner chamber. She had come to call Ye Lang in for his bath, only to find the princess searching the room in a bit of a panic.

"Ye Lang, who knows where he’s hiding. Hurry and help me look for him. Who was with him just now?" the Seventh Princess asked anxiously.

"Your Highness, we were all attending to your bath; no one was with Young Master Ye Lang... Usually Taya is the one with him," the maid replied in a timid voice.

"Yes, Taya is always with him. We’re so used to it that we forgot to leave someone with him this time. Who knows where he’s run off to now. Search every room," the Seventh Princess said, frowning, as she set out to confirm a suspicion she didn’t want to admit. She walked toward the door.

"Have any of you seen that fool, Ye Lang?" she demanded as she pushed the door open and questioned the guards outside.

"We saw him leave not long ago. He went out alone," one of the guards replied. At that moment, he seemed to realize the gravity of the situation, his expression changing.

"What? He went out alone? And you just let him walk out by himself?" the Seventh Princess shouted in anger.

"We thought he was going home," the guard responded weakly. Usually, Young Master Ye Lang of the Ye family came and went as he pleased. The guards never stopped him, so his departure hadn’t seemed unusual.

But that was under normal circumstances. Normally, the tigress girl would always be by his side. This time, he left alone—therein lay the problem.

"Home? Do you really think he could make it home by himself? You know he’s not like everyone else. Would I let him go home alone? And it’s raining, thundering... Send people after him at once!" the Seventh Princess roared—an outburst uncharacteristic for her. No matter how serious things had gotten before, she had always kept her composure.

"No, I have to look for him myself!" The princess made to rush out, forgetting she was only dressed in her nightgown—a move that would have caused an uproar had she stepped outside.

Fortunately, a quick-witted maid grabbed her just in time. "Your Highness, you can’t go out like this. Let them find Young Master Ye Lang. The storm outside is fierce; you should wait here for news."

"Let go! You know how bad the weather is, and if he gets caught in the rain, he’ll get sick. I can’t understand him—he promised to stay here today, so why did he leave?" The Seventh Princess was at a loss, unable to comprehend why the thirteenth young master of the Ye family would want to leave.

If she had known the reason, she would almost certainly have fainted from anger, cursing him as a fool, an idiot, a complete and utter simpleton.

"I need to tell Tigress that I won’t be coming home tonight—I’m staying with my wife." That was the only thing the thirteenth young master said as he left.

In all these years, he had never been apart from Tigress—not even for a single day. No, to be more precise, never for more than an hour, let alone an entire night. But tonight, he was staying at the palace, while Tigress was at home.

He knew Tigress would worry about him. To ease her mind, he wanted to go back and tell her himself that he would be staying at the palace and that there was no need to worry.

Of course, if he could return home to inform her, he wouldn't need to stay at the palace at all. Would Tigress let him go back in this storm? This thought never crossed his mind. All he knew was he couldn’t let Tigress worry about him. Even though he was fully aware of the raging storm and thunder outside, he was determined to tell her himself.

And so, the thirteenth young master dashed through the rain and lightning within the palace grounds. No one stopped him; everyone knew who he was, and there was nowhere in the entire palace forbidden to him.

Just like that, he ran out of the palace toward the Ye residence. In truth, the Ye estate wasn’t far from the palace. The homes of the nobility were naturally situated close by—convenient for attending court and being neighbors with the emperor.

Of course, "not far" didn’t mean "very close." Even running, it would take him at least twenty minutes to reach home—if he could keep it up.

At that time, the thirteenth young master carried a parasol—an exceedingly fine one, made of cloth woven with golden threads, with a frame inlaid with gold. It was exactly the kind of extravagant umbrella a wastrel like him would possess, bought during one of his notorious spending sprees.

However, in a thunderstorm, carrying such an umbrella was practically inviting disaster—a perfect lightning rod on the move.

Sure enough, the gods of thunder and lightning seemed to take notice, and a dazzling bolt struck his umbrella.

A deafening crash.

A scream.

The thirteenth young master’s entire body sparked with electricity. With a pitiful cry, he collapsed in the flooded street. For a brief instant, bolts of electricity could be seen crackling through the air around him.

In that moment, the young master felt a surge of energy coursing through his body, stimulating his brain in a way that was not merely the result of lightning. Though it may have been brought on by the strike, it felt distinctly different—a strange and wondrous current, unlike anything he had ever known.

What was this? The thirteenth young master didn’t have time to ponder. He slipped into a deep coma.

...

"We’ve found him! Young Master Ye Lang is on the ground. Why does it smell burnt? Don’t tell me… don’t tell me that lightning just struck him?" A group of royal guards appeared in the street. The first thing they saw was the troublesome umbrella, followed by the thirteenth young master, who bore all the marks of having been struck by lightning.

His hair was frizzy and curled, his skin darkened with a faint burnt smell, his clothes ruined...

Is he still alive? Anyone witnessing the scene would think the chances of surviving a lightning strike were slim indeed.

But the royal guards all shared another thought almost instantly:

He must survive, or they’d be in deep trouble!

Indeed, if anything happened to the thirteenth young master of the Ye family, this whole group would be doomed. Perhaps not to death, but certainly to misfortune.

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Rising through the ranks—please vote for recommendations, brothers and sisters, if you can spare a vote...

[Book ID=116406, Book Name=Wind Sweeps Another World]