CH 29.2

translator: baumkuchen  editor: ellabells

The wenyao had a pair of pure white, bird-like wings on its back. Probably because he was worried about frightening Lu Qingjiu, the last time Bai Yuehu had brought them back, he had specially cut off their wings. No wonder Lu Qingjiu had seen two large wounds down each fish’s back. 

“Come.” Bai Yuehu sat down on the platform and threw the grass in his hands into the sea of clouds.

Lu Qingjiu copied his movements and also threw the grass in his hands in as well.

The scenery here was truly too beautiful. Looking up, one was met with an endless sky. The layer of clouds rolled and surged, like an ocean blown gently by a light wind. The wenyao fish travelled through the clouds, and amongst them, Lu Qingjiu could even see some other animals. It was just that the appearances of those animals were too strange. Even after a long while, he still couldn’t recognise what they were. Bai Yuehu, sitting next to him, was even more of a picturesque sight. The gentle sunlight scattered across his cheeks, his long, long eyelashes drooped over half-lidded eyes, casting a slight shadow across his eyes. His dark eyes were currently staring into the abyss covered by the sea of clouds. As Lu Qingjiu watched him, he began to drift off, until he felt the grass in his hand begin to tremble. He exclaimed, “It’s biting!”

“Reel it in,” Bai Yuehu reminded in a soft voice from next to him.

Lu Qingjiu asked, “How?!”

“Just pulling upwards will work,” Bai Yuehu replied.

Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu hurriedly began to pull up his grass. When he pulled it all the way up, sure enough, he saw a wenyao hanging from the end. Its wings were still fluttering nonstop. Lu Qingjiu grabbed hold of it and asked, a little at a loss, “Did we bring anything to keep it in?”

Bai Yuehu pulled a sack out of nowhere and said, “Put it in here.” 

Lu Qingjiu stretched out his hand, and stuffed the fish inside.

“Can we make sashimi with this fish?” The cook, having caught a fish, began to think of how to prepare it. “It’s lived in the clouds since it was born?”

“En,” Bai Yuehu nodded.

“Then do parasites exist in the world of you spirits?” Lu Qingjiu asked. 

“They shouldn’t,” Bai Yuehu said, “We all eat raw meat, and I’ve never heard about anything like that.”

Inwardly, Lu Qingjiu thought, this is really great. Since it was like this, he would just bring the fresh wenyao back and make sashimi with it. And also, were those wings edible? If they were, he could make a New Orleans style chicken wing to feed the kids at home.

Wenyao fish really were great. Not only did the fish meat taste good, it also didn’t have bones. Lu Qingjiu let out a satisfied smile.

One after another, the fish began biting. Soon, the sack was full. Lu Qingjiu asked, a little curious, “Is there anything underneath this sea of clouds?” 

“Do you want to go see it?” Bai Yuehu asked.

“Can I?” Lu Qingjiu, seeing him ask so seriously, laughed, “Aren’t you a fox? You can even fly?”

Bai Yuehu said, “I can. It’s just that it’s the full moon, the sea of clouds is unstable. When the moon wanes, I can bring you down there to have a look around.” The seriousness with which he spoke made it clear that it wasn’t a joke.

“Okay,” Lu Qingjiu said, “If there’s ever an opportunity, let’s go have a look.” 

Bai Yuehu nodded, then said, “Let’s go back. It’s going to rain.”

Lu Qingjiu looked up at the sky. He thought that it was still very clear, he didn’t understand why Bai Yuehu would suddenly say it was going to rain. However, since Bai Yuehu said it was going to rain, it would.

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At first glance, the black beast looked like a cow without its horns. Its skin was black, and more unusually, it only had one hoof as it galloped along in the sky. Seemingly having noticed Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu walking along the mountain path beneath it, it let out an earthshaking roar from its mouth. The sound was like an earthquake, making Lu Qingjiu’s ears go numb. 

Upon hearing this sound, Bai Yuehu raised his head, a little unhappy, and said to the monster, “Shut up.”

The monster cow, “…”

Lu Qingjiu clearly saw, the moment Bai Yuehu said that, the monster cow instantly shut its mouth.

“Annoying as hell,” Bai Yuehu said, “He just has a big voice.” 

Lu Qingjiu began to laugh quietly.

The monster cow flew off towards the mountain peak, while Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu continued on their way back home. Heavy rain poured practically right on their heels after they first passed the threshold of their door, drenching the dry dirt outside.

Amongst the curtain of rain, Lu Qingjiu dazedly heard another thunderous roar. But when he listened closer, he found it was just his misconception. 

Having reached home, Bai Yuehu brought the fish to the kitchen, took out some ice from the fridge and made Lu Qingjiu a platter of sashimi. 

His knife skills were still as beautiful as ever. The slices of sashimi were as thin as cicada wings, almost invisible atop the ice. Lu Qingjiu sat in the house and watched the heavy rain pour down outside. This rain washed away the unpleasant heat of the last few days, and the air also began to fill with the fresh scent of earth.

Bai Yuehu came out of the kitchen, and laid down the sashimi before Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu smiled and said, “You’ve worked hard.”

Bai Yuehu shook his head, “Eat.” 

Lu Qingjiu picked up his chopsticks and picked up a slice. Upon placing it into his mouth, he let out a surprised expression. The fish was too delicious, it didn’t even have a slight fishy smell, was tender and supple, and even had a hint of sour and sweetness, completely devoid of the fattiness of salmon. Lu Qingjiu originally wasn’t very interested in sashimi, but this fish tasted far too good, he couldn’t help but eat a little more.

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“You’re not eating?” Only when Lu Qingjiu was about done eating did he notice that Bai Yuehu hadn’t touched his chopsticks.

“No,” Bai Yuehu said, “I’m already tired of it.”

Lu Qingjiu laughed, “Tired of it? How many years have you been eating it for?” 

Bai Yuehu propped up his chin, his gaze fell on the curtain of pouring rain. He said, “Many, many years.”

A delicacy other people would never get the chance to taste in all their years, in Bai Yuehu’s mouth, it became an object of dislike. Of course, no matter how delicious something was, if one kept eating it, they would get tired of it sooner or later.

Eating the fish relieved the pent-up feeling in his stomach. Lu Qingjiu ate half of the fish before becoming full. Since summer began, this was the most satisfying meal he’d had.

“Yuehu, thank you,” Lu Qingjiu said as he smiled. 

Bai Yuehu gazed at Lu Qingjiu for a moment, then spoke slowly, “No, it should be me thanking you.” He didn’t really understand what he meant by those words, but Bai Yuehu didn’t have any intention of explaining, simply getting up and leaving. As Lu Qingjiu watched him leave, he fell into a brief period of contemplation.

Summer rain always made people feel comfortable. It was violent, fast, and washed away the blistering heat in the air.

After eating his fill, Lu Qingjiu returned to his bedroom. Before he slept, he flipped through the book The Classic of Mountains and Seas he’d ordered online and quickly found the huge beast he saw in the evening sky just now. The huge beast was called kui, its appearance was somewhat similar to that of a cow. Legends said that it every time it entered the ocean, brilliant lights and heavy storms would occur. Huangdi had even previously made a drum from its skin. It was said that that kind of drum sounded incredibly clear, to the point that the sound of the drum could travel to five hundred metres away.

A very interesting legend. As Lu Qingjiu flipped through the book, sleepiness descended upon him. After falling onto the pillow, he quickly entered the world of dreams. This time, he slept very deeply, sleeping all the way till daybreak without being disturbed by dreams. 

The next day, Lu Qingjiu made the remaining wenyao into fish with pickled vegetables, and even used their wings to make a platter of roasted chicken wings. Yin Xun had no idea whatsoever where these wings had come from. After he finished eating, he even praised the wings for the tenderness of their meat and their fresh taste.

Lu Qingjiu also didn’t explain, just watching with a smile as he polished off most of the wings.

After the meal, Lu Qingjiu gave a simple explanation of how to manage the house after he left, especially on what to eat for lunch every day. Because he was going to be away for a good few days, Lu Qingjiu had simply fried up a large pot of crispy fried meat. This crispy meat was made up of lean meat that was covered in egg and flour and then fried. When eaten, it was especially fragrant. It was also very suitable for making soup with. He told Yin Xun to make a bowl of crispy meat soup for tonight, for tomorrow, take out the red braised beef he’d already braised from the fridge and heat it up, and for the day after that…

“There’s even a day after?” Yin Xun stared at Lu Qingjiu, his eyes wide and pitiful, trying to make himself look wretched. 

Lu Qingjiu said very helplessly, “I plan on coming back within two days, but if my plans don’t work out and I end up delaying for another day, could it be that you expect me to just let you two starve to death?”

Yin Xun, “…We won’t starve, I could still cook.”

Inwardly, Lu Qingjiu thought, right, if Yin Xun cooked, even if they didn’t starve to death they’d die of food poisoning.

After explaining these things, he put the little fox kit in Yin Xun’s hands, telling him to take good care of it. Yin Xun put a hand to his chest and assured him that he wouldn’t let the fox kit lose even a single strand of fur. 

The fox kit was sitting next to them, watching them as it listened. Upon hearing Yin Xun’s words, it suddenly sneezed, and after that, fur flew everywhere — it couldn’t be helped, every furry pet would shed everywhere in the summer.

Yin Xun’s nose was irritated, making him sneeze. He pulled out a strand of fur from his mouth, and said, pained, “Nevermind, just take it as I never said that.”

Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, Lu Qingjiu gave him a friendly slap.

For this trip back, in the end, Lu Qingjiu listened to Bai Yuehu and would be driving the pickup truck. It was just that the pickup truck had changed shape yesterday, originally becoming a very fashionable supercar, but Lu Qingjiu hadn’t wanted to stand out too much, and made it change into another type of car. 

“This license plate doesn’t have any problems, right?” Lu Qingjiu was a little worried about that.

“No problem,” Bai Yuehu said lazily, “It’s all been prepared.”

“Then that’s good.” He’d better not find out that this was an unlicensed car after getting on the road and get pulled over before even reaching the city. The worst part was that if that did happen, Lu Qingjiu still didn’t know how he was going to explain…

“Then I’ll be going now.” After putting his luggage in the trunk of the car, Lu Qingjiu sat down in the driver’s seat and waved goodbye to Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun. 

“Go quickly, return quickly!” Yin Xun waved exaggeratedly at Lu Qingjiu.

Bai Yuehu just stood silently in place, neither saying goodbye nor waving, as if Lu Qingjiu was just taking a trip to town and would be back in two hours.

Lu Qingjiu started the car and disappeared off into the mountain road.

Shuifu village was in a very remote area. If he wanted to take the train, it would take more than ten hours, but if he was driving on the highway, it would be faster because there were very few cars around and one needed to bypass other cities in the meantime. But even though it was slightly faster, driving on the highway for more than ten hours was rather exhausting, especially with just one person driving without any one to talk to, like he was. 

However, with the pickup truck, there was no need to worry about such things. After all, once he got tired he could just let the pickup truck drive itself. As long as his hands didn’t leave the steering wheel, he wouldn’t be punished.

Lu Qingjiu gave Zhu Miaomiao a call, letting her know he’d be there today, then went on his way.

Returning to this familiar city after several months, Lu Qingjiu was inevitably a little emotional. But since he’d made the choice to leave, he would not regret it.

The author has something to say:

Bai Yuehu: Holding your hand, leading you along~

Lu Qingjiu: Like… like leading a dog?

Bai Yuehu: ……