CH 8

Flying Dust [Fei Chen]

Chapter 8

Those senior martial brothers could not help but be happy as they looked at his expression, “Come on! You, this bold and naughty monkey! ”

He Yunfeng’s reputation in Wu Lin was outstanding. Because of his ‘return to life after death’, Kun Yun Mountain Manor was inevitably bound to create a storm in Wu Lin once again. As the disciples of Kun Yun Shanzhuang, their back up were stronger than before so they were naturally happier.

Mo Fei Chen was carrying a little mountain of thatch on his back, when he arrived at the cliff path, several woods had been piled up there and He Yunfeng was cutting off the unnecessary branches and leaves with a sword.

His cuffs were rolled up, revealing his small arms that were not as muscular as the martial artist’s, nothing aesthetic, but also not as white and weak as those scholar’s.

“What are you looking at? Put down the thatch.”

“He he, Shi Fu… you have only just woken up for a day, yet you are already working so hard! This disciple is wondering if I should ask the kitchen staff to make you some tonic soup or something like that?”

He Yunfeng’s laugh voice gave ‘the clouds were pale and the light breeze was blowing’ feeling in it, “You’re the one who wants to gain the profit, ba! Why do you use my name?

“He he, Shi Fu is really a Shi Fu ah!”

“You always come to the cave, complain to me and keep talking on and on. Can I not know what tricks you have in your mind?” He Yunfeng leaned halfway against the fence, letting the mountain breeze in the valley blow against his face, “You go and bring more thatch here! Then I’ll let you use my name to ask for some delicious food.”

Mo Fei Chen’s eyes instantly curved into crescent moons, before he turned around and ran off to the kitchen.When he returned to the cliff path again, he saw that the basic structure of a hut had already been formed. He Yunfeng was nailing the wooden walls right now.

“God’s speed, really marvelously quick!”

“Otherwise, do I have to count on you, this lazy bone?”

Mo Fei Chen touched his head, “Then I’ll help you nail the boards.”

The hut was finished by sunset. Mo Fei Chen brought all the bedding and other things prepared by his fellow Shi Xiong. He also asked his two little Shi Di to bring in one tea table, two chairs and a wooden bed.

The two youngsters put their heads on the door and wanted to see what He Yunfeng looked like. Mo Fei Chen saw how curious they were so he deliberately asked them to enter the room and drink some tea.

“Shi Fu, these are my two Shi Di. They are tired from carrying the tables and chairs, so can they rest here and drink a cup of tea?”

He Yunfeng nodded his head. He just sat on the bedside, weaving a curtain made from dried grass.

Mo Fei Chen admired him. He had seen peasant women knitting these things but it didn’t look like He Yunfeng’s. How can I say it, hmm, he’s like an artist. 

When the night fell, He Yunfeng hung the straw curtain on the window to stop the mosquitoes from coming in but not to the point that it didn’t let the air in.

Mo Fei Chen laid out the quilt for him, bowed to him and said, “Shi Fu, then this disciple will leave now.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“This disciple is going back to sleep.”

“Didn’t we agree that if you stayed here and accompanied me, I wouldn’t ask them to remind you to get up early and to practice your sword?” He Yunfeng smiled as he said this, extending his arm to carry Mo Fei Chen to him.

“I … thought you were saying that I should come and keep you company during the day and go back to sleep in my own room at night.” Mo Fei Chen watched as He Yunfeng’s long and slender fingers slowly returned to the edge of the bed from the top of his head, tapping lightly, each tap seeming to strike at his heart.

“Now you know I want you to live with me.” With a tug, He Yunfeng pulled Mo Fei Chen into bed, before then pulled the covers over him, “I have slept for 120 years. I’ve only been awake one day and you want me to sleep again. How can I sleep? If not, why don’t you stay with me and talk to me?”

He Yunfeng’s body smelled pure and fresh, like the tender leaves in the forest where the dust had been washed away after the rain.

“Shi Fu… I have said all that I can say to you.” Mo Fei Chen swallowed his saliva, He Yunfeng was lying beside him with his head facing his side, which had quite a special lasting charm.

“Yeah, that’s right! You spat a lot of things at me.”

“I thought you couldn’t hear anything.”

“What you can’t not hear when you want to hear it?” He YunFeng’s eyes were half-lidded, “Why don’t you tell me about your Shi Xiong, Yu Jin?! You miss him so much, is he your beloved (lover) ?”

Mo Fei Chen was dumbfounded, “Shi Fu…Yu Shi Xiong is a man…I miss him because I was basically raised by him.”

He Yunfeng laughed out loud, “You don’t want him to venture out into Jiang Hu. Is it really just because you think Jiang Hu is just that’s all to it?”

“That’s right, either you are a chivalrous man or a bully, or the one who is trying to protect his image as the righteous martial artist in Wu Lin. In reality, they’re no different from the cult or evil one, or probably he is just a fool who insists on being the number one in the world ….”

“Hn.” He Yunfeng looked at him, “But Fei Chen, if you don’t enter Jiang Hu, you will never know what Jiang Hu is. When you stand outside Jiang Hu, you see Jiang Hu, however, when you enter Jiang Hu, you can’t see Jiang Hu.”

“Now you are already retired from Jiang Hu, then Shi Fu, what did you see?”

He Yunfeng was stunned and touched the tip of his nose with his finger, “I saw you.”

Mo Fei Chen subconsciously grabbed the tip of He Yunfeng’s finger. That was cold yet some warmth faintly leaked out from there.

The next morning, the sound of the disciples practising their swords was heard among the mountains. Mo Fei Chen smacked his lips when he woke up but He Yunfeng who was supposedly beside him had already long disappeared.

He opened the door and saw He Yunfeng standing in front of the fence, staring at the thick fog, holding a cloth bag in his hand.

Mo Fei Chen knew that should be something that Luo Lianyun had left for him.

“Shi Fu, are you hungry?”

He Yunfeng put the cloth bag back, turned around and said, “What would you like to eat?”

Mo Fei Chen laughed ‘he he!’ as he ran back to the kitchen, took out some corn and firewood and a small jar of chilli sauce. Before he went back to the hut, he was puffing and blowing when he moved a stone with a dent in the middle of it, made a fire and roasted the corn.

At first, He Yunfeng just watched him from one side. He looked on until Mo Fei Chen looked up at him with a blackened face. He naturally laughed out loud and came over to him, helping him spin the corn on sticks with him and smearing it with chilli sauce. The two of them sat by the fire and ate.

Mo Fei Chen nibbled on the corn as he straightforwardly peeked at He Yunfeng. Shi Fu is really a Shi Fu, even the way he is eating the corn unhurriedly.

“Why are you looking at me?”

“Shi Fu, can you eat faster? This disciple is embarrassed to eat faster than you….”

He Yunfeng shook his head in amusement, “You’ve never had any rules in front of me, so what are you pretending to be now?”

Mo Fei Chen was happy, smacking his lips, “Shi Fu, I heard from some Shi Di who were in charge of the kitchen that there were many heroes from Wu Lin coming to the Manor to see your face. They were all stopped by Shi Fu… I mean the Manor Leader Shi Fu.”

“He did a good job.”

“But, Shi Fu, do you really don’t want to meet the people from Mu Yun Mountain Manor?”

“What’s the point of meeting them? Since Lianyun already passed away many years ago, the Mu Yun Shanzhuang without Lianyun, would it still be the same Mu Yun Shanzhuang in my heart?” He Yunfeng put the corn down, seemingly not wanting to eat it anymore, “I wonder if she ever hesitated, when she was at Nai He Bridge1[奈何橋: Bridge of Hopelessness or the Irreparable Bridge. It’s the entrance and exit to the underground world in Taoism and traditional Chinese belief. The spirits of the dead must cross the bridge before they can be reincarnated.].”

“Crossing the NaiHe Bridge alone, three lives2[Three lives represents present life, previous life, and next life.  Additional info : on a huge rock called SanShengShi 三生石, the Rock of Three lives along the Naihe river, you can find everything about your last life, this life and the next life written on this rock.] and Meng Po soup 3[MengPoTang (孟婆汤) : soup of forgetfulness. After drinking the soup, we would forget everything that happened and everyone we knew in our past life and be ready to be reincarnated. MengPo means old Lady Meng, she is the goddess of forgetfulness in Chinese mythology, who serves Meng Po Soup on the Bridge of Forgetfulness or Naihe Bridge (奈何桥). This soup wipes the memory of the person so they can reincarnate into the next life without the burdens of the previous life. She awaits the dead souls at the entrance of the 9th round (Fengdu).]…”

“I’m afraid that on the stone of three lives, what she wanted to carve was not even my name.” He Yunfeng’s palm stroked the dilapidated railing of the cliff path bridge lightly and turned his head, only to see Mo Fei Chen suddenly stretching a grasshopper made of grass in front of him.

“Shi Fu, let’s make some butterflies and grasshoppers to hang on the window! It will look good when the wind blows.”

He Yunfeng looked into Mo Fei Chen’s eyes. He seemed to be interested in it, so the two of them sat in front of the bonfire where they roasted the corn before and wove something made from the grass.

Mo Fei Chen was afraid that he would think of Luo Lianyun. Whenever He Yun Feng showed a sad and melancholy expression, he would also feel upset in his heart. Therefore, Mo Fei Chen tried to divert He Yunfeng’s attention in many different ways.

For example, playing ‘five in a row’ chess, He Yunfeng was very interested in this Gobang. Mo Fei Chen won against him after two or three games. After he figured out how to play the game, he beat Mo Fei Chen until his head and face were covered with dust. 4[灰头土脸: dejected; despondent; depressed]

Gobang/Gomoku/ Five in a row:

He Yunfeng still didn’t lose interest yet Mo Fei Chen directly lay down on the floor and unreasonably said that he didn’t want to play anymore.

“How about this, I’ll be counted as winning, if only my six pieces form a line but you’ll win with five pieces only. How’s that?”

Mo Fei Chen’s eyes brightened, “Deal then, whoever wins can ask the loser to do one thing, no matter how hard it is, you can’t shirk it.”

“Okay, it’s more interesting with the bet.”

In the end, Mo Fei Chen still lost, he cried out and pressed both of his hands on his knees, “Lost again… Shi Fu, what do you want me to do?”

“Sing a song, ba! It’s the song you sang in the cave when you thought of that Shi Xiong of yours.”

You mean ‘A thousand miles away’? [千里之外 (qiān lǐ zhī wài) : the song title] Mo Fei Chen blinked, “It’s fine if you want me to sing it, but Shi Fu, you also can’t think about Luo Lianyun anymore.”

“You, this kid,” He Yunfeng raised his eyebrows and that movement made Mo Fei Chen’s heart skip a beat, “Fine, but you also can’t think about that Shi Xiong of yours anymore.”

“Okay.” Mo Fei Chen cleared his throat and sang the song. The part where he couldn’t remember what the lyrics was, he continued it with ‘la la la la la’. The tune also didn’t always sound the same as the original one, but the young man’s voice echoed through the valley, the longing and cherished memory suppressed his sorrows.

Mo Fei Chen suddenly felt a little heavy on his shoulders, when he turned his face to the side, he realised that it was He Yunfeng who was pillowed on the space between his neck.

“Fei Chen, you make me feel that I am really alive.”

The warm and soft breath of his nose touched the skin of Mo Fei-Chen’s back neck, making him feel hot on his face so he reached out to keep his hands on the fence, “Ugh!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s fine… got stabbed by a wooden thorn…,” Mo Fei Chen retracted his hand, just when he was going to suck it out, suddenly his hand was held by He Yunfeng.

“Let me see!” He Yunfeng squeezed out the wooden thorn. The bright red blood came out from the wound. Mo Fei Chen was shocked in his heart, ‘Shi Fu, don’t so melodramatically keep my fingertip in your mouth. That kind of sight is really too shocking!’

“It’s done. Go wash your wounds!” He Yunfeng led Mo Fei Chen down from a high place and came to the side of the pool.

Inside the mist, Mo Fei Chen could not see anything else, except the side of He Yunfeng’s face. His own wrist was in his hand, Mo Feichen felt as if his blood flowed much faster.

“Shi Fu, so there are fish in the pool?”

“What’s the matter with it?”

“If only I could catch it, I could tell the cook to make ‘fish in sweet and sour sauce’…. He he, Shi Fu, you don’t know that we need at least five wens if you want to buy the fish at the foot of the hill. Moreover, it’s the kind of fish that has been dead for a long time…” As Mo Fei Chen said this, he already swallowed his saliva.

He Yunfeng smiled as he flicked his finger, the water splashed slightly and a fish turned his belly over and floated up.

“Finger…Finger Flicking Skill5[Finger Flicking Skill (彈指神通; tánzhǐ shéntōng) – a technique of channeling a great amount of power into a single finger and releasing it with a precise amount of control. It can be used to propel objects with both force and accuracy. Yang Kuo, the protagonist of the wuxia novel ‘The Return of the Condor Heroes’ by Jin Yong is one of the swordsman who mastered this skill. ]!”Mo Fei Chen exclaimed in surprise.

Translator’s corner:

The way he kept paying attention to the other party’s body, smell or slender hand, etc? So gay, fufufu~

At first, I didn’t like He Yunfeng but I changed my mind. He he he

Of course, He Yunfeng already knew Yu Jin was a man, since he said Shi Xiong. It’s so obvious. Besides that, Kun Yun Shanzhuang seemed to only have male disciples, so no female disciples there.

XiuShui Palace* [mentioned in second chapter and the previous chapter where it talked about Jing Shui Sect that Yu Jin entered] seems like the opposite though, since the majority is female disciples and only have some male disciples.