CH 68

translator: baumkuchen

tw: animal death as expected of people living on a farm. the act itself isn’t really described when it happens but they do talk about how to go about it. no sentient animal death. 

After an afternoon nap, Lu Qingjiu felt like his fatigue had been entirely swept away. Upon seeing that it was getting late, only then did he force himself out of bed to make dinner.

Yin Xun came back really late. The expression on his face when he came back held a hidden bitterness. Lu Qingjiu thought that it was because he had to have an injection, and didn’t think too much about it. He had no idea what kind of death threats his pitiful little son had received.

After Jiang Buhuan left, they returned to their peaceful life of the past. There was no end to farm work in their household, and the two little pink pigs in their home had grown up. Those two little pink pigs had been bought along with Xiao Hei and Xiao Hua, but Xiao Hei and Xiao Hua still looked like little piglets, while the little pink pigs had already turned into full-grown pigs. In order to help them make it through the winter, Lu Qingjiu hadn’t forgotten to ask Yin Xun to burn them a basin of charcoal every day, and even heated up their food for them. In Yin Xun’s words, he had raised these two pigs up following them with a towel to wipe their asses every time they pooped or pissed. 

“So would you like to say something to them right now?” Lu Qingjiu asked Yin Xun. After raising these big pink pigs for a year, they were just about fully-grown. If they kept them any longer, their meat would become old, so they planned on finding an auspicious time to kill them for their meat.

“I’d like to say,” Yin Xun said, “I hope their meat will taste good.”

Lu Qingjiu, “……” He thought of the Xiao Hua who had tragically passed at a young age once again.

Since they’d decided that they were going to eat the pigs, the task of killing fell to them. This village was small and didn’t have anything like an abattoir. All the pigs raised by the villagers were killed by the villagers themselves. Even though Lu Qingjiu had slaughtered a chicken before, he’d never done anything like that to anything as big as a pig. Pathetically, after finding a neighbour and asking about the process, he became too afraid to do it.

“I think you need to tie the pig to the stool, then stab it.” Next to him, Yin Xun danced around with the knife they’d borrowed. “After a bit of blood splatter then you just take it down……”

Lu Qingjiu, “……Do you want to do it? I’ll help you hold it down?”

Yin Xun said in a small voice, “But I’ve never killed one before, and the pigs are heavier than I am.”

Lu Qingjiu, “……” 

The two stared at each other for a moment, then their gazes drifted off to the same place—— Bai Yuehu, sitting in the courtyard.

Lu Qingjiu, holding the knife, slowly walked over to Bai Yuehu, “Hu-er ah.”

Djl Tefte’r fsfr bqfcfv. “Bliilcu atf qlur?” Lf’v jigfjvs tfjgv atf akb’r mbcnfgrjalbc pera cbk.

Oe Hlcuple, “Yt…… fc.” 

Djl Tefte, “Cigluta.” Lf rja eq ogbw tlr gbmxlcu mtjlg jcv abbx atf xclof ogbw Oe Hlcuple. Coafg ufaalcu eq, tf rajgafv kjixlcu bnfg ab atf qluras. Vfflcu atlr, Oe Hlcuple tegglfvis ugjyyfv j yjrlc jcv obiibkfv yftlcv tlw. Ulu’r yibbv kjr gfjiis ubbv, la kjr ugfja obg wjxlcu yibbv rjerjuf.

Bai Yuehu, a cold expression on his face, arrived at the pigsty. He reached in and dragged a pig out. When others killed pigs, they would have to get several big men to hold the pig down. He didn’t need any of that. In his hands, a big, fat, several hundred jin pig was as powerless as a small animal. Following that, a clean knife went in and a red knife came out. That cold, determined expression on his face made Yin Xun, who was watching on from the side, felt an inexplicable chill on his neck. He couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

Bai Yuehu was a very competent pig butcher. After he was done, he didn’t even forget to divide up the meat. In his hands, the pork was quickly divided into several large pieces. Lu Qingjiu gave a pig leg to Li Xiaoyu’s family next door. For the rest, he planned to cook a huge meal of pork.

Unlike the pork bought in town, their home’s pork was of especially high quality, and was extremely delicious. Lu Qingjiu cut out the pork belly and fried up some twice-cooked pork. He then made a pot of pork leg soup, and even marinated all four pig trotters and pig ears. The meat from the pig’s head was paired with cold salad. To sum up, every part of the pig’s body was put to its best possible use. 

There was a lot less fat in meat from pigs fed with feed rather than grain, but it tasted better. The leftover bits of grease from cooking it could be made into another side dish by just sprinkling in some sugar.

After killing the pig, their home was as cheery as if they were celebrating the new year. Even Xiao Hei and Xiao Hua got their own big cooked pork bone, which they gnawed on with relish.

It was now April, and as the days began to get hotter, they began to wear less. At night, Lu Qingjiu brought the pig ears and pig trotters he’d marinated in the day to the courtyard, then got a few bottles of cold beer. The three of them chatted as they ate in the courtyard. After being marinated in brine, the pig feet and ears became soft and chewy. Those who liked spice could even dip them into chilli powder mixed with sesame and other spices.

The weather that day was very good, the moon was very round, and the atmosphere in the courtyard was very pleasant. Bai Yuehu didn’t really like drinking, but was still very interested in the marinated meat. Next to him, Yin Xun talked about some interesting things he had run into after becoming a mountain god, such as some parents not wanting their child anymore, purposely leading their child up a mountain and ditching them, and how he helped the child find the path and safely sent them down the mountain. 

Hearing this made Lu Qingjiu frown. Just as he was about to ask how there could be such irresponsible parents, a loud sound suddenly came from the sky. It sounded like a mountain was collapsing, making Lu Qingjiu’s ears buzz. Bai Yuehu, who had originally been sitting on the rocking chair with an indifferent expression on his face, suddenly had his expression change. He said, “Stay at home and don’t move around.”

“What happened?” Lu Qingjiu hurriedly asked.

Bai Yuehu shook his head and said, “I don’t know yet. I’ll go over and take a look.” As he stood up, a cloud of black fog formed around him. Then, he disappeared before Lu Qingjiu’s eyes.

Lu Qingjiu had never seen such a heavy expression on Bai Yuehu’s face before. He asked, “What in the world happened?” 

Yin Xun said, dazed, “The sky seems to have broken……”

Lu Qingjiu, “The sky’s broken??” He looked over in the direction Yin Xun was staring at and found that the sky really did seem to be broken. In the originally dark sky had appeared an extremely long red glow. That light pierced through the sky, leaving a dazzling trace in the air. Within the glow, however, seemed to be a gathering of dark clouds, as if there was something that was about to burst out of them. Looking at it made them feel uncomfortable.

Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun were both stunned by what they saw. Even though they didn’t know what that glow meant, clearly, this wasn’t anything good. Dark clouds poured non-stop out of the light, like the sky had sprung a leak.

As the unease in Yin Xun’s heart became stronger and stronger, he said, “Qingjiu, let’s go back into the house.” 

Lu Qingjiu said, “Alright.”

The two left the courtyard and returned to the house, shutting all the doors and windows.

The red glow was gradually expanding. Lu Qingjiu watched it from afar, waiting for more changes. Yin Xun was a little more sensitive than Lu Qingjiu. By this time, he already no longer dared to look outside, curling up in a corner of the house as his body trembled uncontrollably. Seeing how he looked, Lu Qingjiu asked, worried, “Are you okay, Yin Xun?”

“I’m…… I’m fine,” Yin Xun said in a trembling voice, “Qingjiu, do you…… do you know…… the year your parents died, such a glow also appeared in the sky.” 

Lu Qingjiu froze, shocked.

“After that was a continuous rain.” Yin Xun hung his head. “I couldn’t feel anything.” He was the mountain god of the mountains, for every blade of grass, every tree on the mountains, he would be able to sense even the slightest change, but the moment this glow appeared, his connection to the mountain seemed to be blocked by some strange force. He could see nothing with his spiritual senses.

Lu Qingjiu thought back to his parents death. All this time, he’d thought that his parents’ death had been an accident. Even though he’d become doubtful because of Old Tree’s words and came back to Shuifu village, he hadn’t found anything in particular. Only when his birthday came, and he opened the wooden box his grandmother left him, did he find out that his parents’ death, wasn’t actually an accident.

Beyond Shuifu, were other lands. What did those other lands refer to? Did they refer to that world Bai Yuehu had brought him to? Or did they refer to some other place. 

The sky should have been dark, but the piercing glow lit up half the sky. Under such a strange scene, the entire Shuifu village sank into utter silence. It seemed as if none of the villages were interested in the strange scene in the sky. All the houses had their doors shut tight, as deathly still as graves.

Even though he didn’t know what had happened, because of his instincts, Yin Xun was engulfed by an indescribable sense of horror. He was afraid of that glow, or to be more precise, he was afraid of what was about to spill out from that glow.

Lu Qingjiu was a little better off than Yin Xun. he sat by the window, staring unerringly at the glow. As the glow grew larger and larger, more and more dark clouds began to spill out of it. Then, it seemed as if something got close to the glow, blocking off the opening with its body.

Because it was backlit, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t quite see what it was, but from its outline, it seemed to be a dragon-like creature. 

Lu Qingjiu stared at the sky. He had a guess as to what that dragon-like creature was…… Obviously, it was his home’s lazy tenant, Bai Yuehu.

But what was he doing, and what did the glow mean? Unease surged in Lu Qingjiu’s heart. He knew that Bai Yuehu’s wounds hadn’t fully healed. If he had to get into another fight, would Bai Yuehu’s body be able to hold on? Lu Qingjiu was very worried, but he was only a mortal. The things he could do were truly too few. He even had to make Bai Yuehu distracted protecting him.

He didn’t know what Bai Yuehu did, but the glow in the sky began to dim. Slowly, the sky returned to its usual state.

Like Yin Xun had predicted, huge droplets of rain began to fall, pouring down, forming a huge curtain and covering the entire world. The rain was too heavy, so heavy that Lu Qingjiu couldn’t even hear Yin Xun’s low mutters or see what happened to the red glow behind the rainclouds. 

Yin Xun, who had been curled up in the corner, suddenly stood up. He said, “Bai Yuehu’s back.”

Surprise appeared on Lu Qingjiu’s face. He hadn’t thought that Bai Yuehu would return so quickly. When he looked back out, sure enough, in the curtain of rain, he saw Bai Yuehu’s figure.

Bai Yuehu stood outside the door, and waved gently towards Lu Qingjiu, as if signalling him to come out.

“Are you going to go out?” Yin Xun was a little uneasy. “Outside…… seems to be very dangerous.” 

“It’s alright,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Bai Yuehu’s there.”

Yin Xun started to speak, then stopped. In the end, he said nothing, letting Lu Qingjiu push open the door and go outside. What Lu Qingjiu said was actually rather reasonable. After all, if there really was someone who wanted to harm Lu Qingjiu, only Bai Yuehu would be able to protect him.

As for himself, he was nothing more than a weak mountain god.

As he watched Lu Qingjiu walk out the door, a hint of a bitter smile appeared on Yin Xun’s face. 

Lu Qingjiu walked into the courtyard. It was still raining from above, but when the rain fell onto Lu Qingjiu’s body, it was repelled by an invisible force. Bai Yuehu stood at the entrance to the courtyard. His dark eyes drowned in the night, making it a little hard for people to see them clearly. He watched as Lu Qingjiu stopped before him, then reached out a hand to Lu Qingjiu. “Come with me.”

Lu Qingjiu nodded, taking Bai Yuehu’s hand.

Then, a whirlwind swirled up around them. Lu Qingjiu felt his body start flying along with Bai Yuehu. When Bai Yuehu stopped once more, a familiar sight appeared before his eyes—— A gigantic pit.

This pit was the place Bai Yuehu had brought Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun too when they were exchanging horror stories. However, compared to back then, the pit in front of him had changed tremendously. 

At the edge of the pit, a huge hole had been made. The giant dragon that had been trapped within had also disappeared, leaving behind only a pool of stinking mud.

“He escaped,” Bai Yuehu said, “He might come find you.”

“Find me?” Lu Qingjiu was a little shocked. “What would he come find me for? Does he want to eat me too?” Even though Bai Yuehu had said that this dragon hadn’t eaten his parents, that was, after all, just Bai Yuehu’s word. Besides, if he didn’t do this, then why did he suffer such a cruel punishment without trying to explain himself?

It was still raining around them. The sound of the falling raindrops muffled Bai Yuehu’s voice. Lu Qingjiu didn’t know if it was just his misconception, but, from Bai Yuehu’s tone, he actually heard a trace of pity. “That’s just my guess…… After all……”

Lu Qingjiu asked, “After all what?”

Bai Yuehu said, “Nothing.”

Lu Qingjiu felt like Bai Yuehu was clearly hiding something from him. He said, “Yuehu, is there something you’re not telling me?”

Bai Yuehu looked back at Lu Qingjiu. He unexpectedly admitted frankly, “En.” He paused for a moment, then whispered, “I don’t know how to tell you.” 

Lu Qingjiu sighed. “This dragon very powerful?” He had been trapped in such a put, and even had his eyes dug out, but even so, he’d still been able to escape from the pit.

“Of course.” Bai Yuehu said, “Him being trapped here before, was just because he didn’t want to come out.”

Lu Qingjiu, “He didn’t want to?”

Bai Yuehu, “He felt like he’d done something wrong.” 

Lu Qingjiu, “Done something wrong? He was imprisoned because he ate my parents……” Upon speaking to this point, he became a little sad. “Why did he have to do that.” He thought of how he had to arrange his parents’ funeral back then. At that time, he was still in university, still just a half-grown child. It was his parents’ death that had forced him to mature rapidly. However, if he could choose, he wouldn’t have wanted to have grown up like this.

Bai Yuehu started to speak, then stopped. In the end, he said nothing, just reached out his hand and lightly placed it on Lu Qingjiu’s shoulder.

Lu Qingjiu said, “Does he want to eat me now?”

Bai Yuehu, “I don’t know.” 

Lu Qingjiu let out a bitter smile. “The light in the sky just now……” 

Bai Yuehu said, “The light was just to attract my attention, to give him the chance to escape.” He let out another sigh. “If he wanted to leave, he would always have a way to do so.”

Oe Hlcuple ibkfgfv tlr fsfr. “Qtja mjc P vb?”

Djl Tefte, “Gbc’a yf jogjlv, P’ii vfolclafis qgbafma sbe.” 

Oe Hlcuple ofia ogeragjafv. “Dea lrc’a la reqqbrfv ab yf wf qgbafmalcu sbe? Qtja fzjmais vbfr atlr xlcv bo uejgvlcu wfjc? P’w pera jc bgvlcjgs tewjc. P mjc’a fnfc tfiq sbe ktfc P rff sbe tega.”

“No.” Bai Yuehu’s voice softened. “You have power you don’t know about.”

Lu Qingjiu, “Power I don’t know about?”

Bai Yuehu said, “Yes.” But I hope that you’ll never have to know. As he looked into Lu Qingjiu’s sad eyes, he silently added on this line in his head. 

Lu Qingjiu just took Bai Yuehu’s words as perfunctory words of comfort. He forced a smile, then stopped speaking.

Bai Yuehu rarely spoke to humans. At this moment, watching as Lu Qingjiu forced himself to smile, even though he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, he didn’t know how to comfort him. In the end, he could only turn his head, and land a comforting kiss on the top of Lu Qingjiu’s head.

As Lu Qingjiu stared at the pit in front of him, he fell silent.

Bai Yuehu said, “Let’s go back.” 

Lu Qingjiu nodded.

So Bai Yuehu brought Lu Qingjiu back home once more. Lu Qingjiu’s thoughts were in a mess. After returning home, he didn’t greet Yin Xun, simply heading back alone to his room to rest.

Seeing Lu Qingjiu’s dejected appearance, Yin Xun gathered up his courage and asked Bai Yuehu what had happened.

“The imprisoned dragon escaped,” Bai Yuehu said calmly, “He might come and find Lu Qingjiu.” 

“What???” Disbelief appeared on Yin Xun’s face. “He escaped? How could he escape!” At the thought of his best friend’s life potentially being threatened by a member of the powerful dragon race, he instantly became panicked. “Qingjiu, Qingjiu isn’t in danger, is he!”

Bai Yuehu, “I’m here.”

Yin Xun said, “I know…… But……”

“There’s no but,” Bai Yuehu brusquely cut Yin Xun off, “As long as I’m still alive, I’ll protect Lu Qingjiu.” 

Yin Xun grit his teeth. “But can you guarantee that you’ll be able to stay by Lu Qingjiu’s side forever?”

Bai Yuehu said coldly, “Why can’t I?”

Yin Xun was struck silent. He naturally could tell, Bai Yuehu was serious.

“It’s late, you should go back and renew the incense.” Bai Yuehu put an end to their conversation. 

It was still raining heavily outside. Yin Xun chose to leave. He didn’t have an umbrella, nor did he have a way of repelling the rain, so he trudged back home, step by step, in a sorry state. The village was as silent as a tomb. Yin Xun pushed open the door to his house, and saw the incense, which was quickly about to go out, as well as countless tablets.

As Yin Xun stared at the tablets, a smile appeared on his face, but this smile, looked even uglier than crying.

It rained heavily for the entire night, like the heavens wanted to wash away the colour of the entire world.

Lu Qingjiu sat in his bedroom, staring at that black, scarred scale. This was probably from that giant dragon that had been imprisoned in the pit, so what kind of emotions had his grandmother been feeling as she decided to keep this scale? 

Could that grandfather who had never been brought up, actually be that dragon? But if that was so, then why did he have to devour his own child, and create this irreparable tragedy?

Lu Qingjiu couldn’t understand, and there was no one who could give him an answer.

He raised his head and looked out the window, and was only met with darkness covered by a curtain of rain. The heavy rain seemed to be endless, just like how it had been on the day of his parents’ death—— The huge mountain had collapsed. Within it, humans were so small that even finding their corpses became an extravagant hope.

Lu Qingjiu’s chest throbbed with intense pain. He placed the scale between the pages of the diary, and placed them into the drawer of his bedside table. The wooden box with the text lock had become locked once again. It could probably only be opened on his birthday. Fortunately, he had already taken out the things in the box. 

Only when it was at least past 3 in the morning did the sleepless Lu Qingjiu finally force himself to fall asleep. However, the quality of his sleep was absolutely terrible. He even dreamed of that imprisoned daragon.

The dragon’s horn had been broken off, but his eyes were still there, a pair of beautiful dark eyes. There was a sad look in those dark eyes as he stared at Lu Qingjiu, as if he was looking at someone else through him.

“Who are you?” In the dream, Lu Qingjiu couldn’t help but ask.

The black dragon opened his mouth, revealing that he was missing half his tongue. 

Lu Qingjiu said, “You…… you can’t speak?”

The black dragon nodded.

“Why am I dreaming about you? Do you want to tell me something?” The boundary between dream and reality began to blur, to the point that Lu Qingjiu couldn’t even quite tell if he was awake or still asleep.

The black dragon didn’t speak, and the sadness in his eyes grew. He used his broken horn to gently nudge Lu Qingjiu’s arm, his actions incredibly light, as if he was afraid of frightening Lu Qingjiu. 

Lu Qingjiu’s heart hurt. He didn’t know why, but he suddenly thought of Bai Yuehu. If he hadn’t guessed wrongly, Bai Yuehu’s original form should also be a black dragon like the one in front of him. If Bai Yuehu were to become like this, he couldn’t even bear to think about it. The moment he did, he felt an incredible pain in his chest.

Dragons, such proud creatures, how could anyone bear to let them reach this badly damaged state like the one before him? They should be beings of legend proudly flying in the sky. Even in death, they should be magnificent.

“I don’t understand what you want to say,” Lu Qingjiu said, “I……” He still had more to say, when everything before him was suddenly swept away. He woke up from his dream, and was met with Bai Yuehu’s worried expression.

“You had a nightmare,” Bai Yuehu said. 

Lu Qingjiu blinked. Only then did he realise he felt incredibly cold, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat. He said in a low voice, “I dreamed of a black dragon.”

Bai Yuehu watched Lu Qingjiu quietly. He didn’t interrupt him.

“HIs horn was broken, and his tongue was gone,” Lu Qingjiu said, “He looked utterly terrible.” He tried to use a smile to tell Bai Yuehu that he was fine.

But Bai Yuehu unexpectedly said, “Don’t smile.” 

Lu Qingjiu was stunned.

“If you don’t want to smile, don’t.” Bai Yuehu reached out and pulled Lu Qingjiu into a hug, his warm body gave the already stiff Lu Qingjiu a sense of warmth. “Make whatever expression you want, it’s alright.”

Lu Qingjiu let out the breath he’d been holding. He closed his eyes. “I’m a little tired.”

Bai Yuehu said, “If you’re tired, then sleep. I’m here.” 

The two slept on the same bed. The person next to him held him tightly, him feel as if he’d turned back into a baby, huddled in the warmth of the amniotic fluid. Lu Qingjiu closed his eyes once more, and quickly drifted off to sleep. This time, he didn’t dream again, nor did he see that black dragon with the sad eyes.

When he woke up the next morning, the rain outside had already stopped. The sun hung high in the blue sky, yet another warm scene of spring.

Bai Yuehu, who had been next to him, was gone. Maybe he’d already went off to the fields to farm.

It seemed to be such an ordinary morning that it couldn’t be any more ordinary. The heavy rain and strange scenes of yesterday, were all as if they had just been a fantastical dream. 

If only that had truly all been just a dream. Lu Qingjiu sat up, and saw Yin Xun sticking his head in from outside the door. Yin Xun grinned at him, revealing the adorable tiger tooth at the corner of his mouth, his smile as bright as a sunflower facing the sun. “Jiu-er, good morning.”

“Morning.” Lu Qingjiu also began to smile, infected by Yin Xun’s cheer. After sorting out his emotions, he quickly got up. “What do you want to eat?”

Yin Xun said, “Anything’s fine, but I do have a slight craving for beef noodles.”

“Then let’s eat noodles,” Lu Qingjiu said, “Go to the fields and pick some fresh vegetables.” 

“Alright,” Yin Xun smiled and agreed.

From an ordinary morning, an ordinary day began.