Chapter 69

[*insert 69 joke here because I’m 12*

Remember to read on chichilations and nowhere else. Reposts are not allowed by anyone for any reason.]

My family’s clubhouse had an indoor swimming pool on the ground floor. Whether winter or summer, so long as I had time, after I got out of bed I’d go swim a few laps, then take a shower and drive to work.

However, having the heavy burden of dragging another person up while swimming is another matter.

Jinfeng’s eyes are shut tight having already passed out, his complexion pallid under the moonlight, and I don’t dare to neglect him. Just before, in order to free up my hands to save Jinfeng, I had to hold Han Zheng between my teeth and subsequently become unable to shout for Jinzi anymore. I was forced to use gestures to coax Hearth over, and then used all the strength I had to secure Jinfeng face-down on the horse’s back.

My poor Hearth, having to carry this little punk. All the hair on its body is wet, the ends floating scattered in the river, yet its eyes are rather excited, wading here and there not too far away from me as if it liked the water. Was this guy a golden retriever in a past life?

My heart alight with worry, I didn’t feel like having a water fight with it. Making sure than Jinfeng was hanging steadily onto Hearth’s back, I once again dove down to look every which way, only coming up for air when my lungs were about to explode. When I rose to the surface, I saw Hearth and Jinfeng were far in the distance, and promptly swam after them. I had lost my position from going back and forth several times, not even able to see the broken planks from the sunken ship in the river.

My paddling in the water is gradually slowing down, my clothes in the water like ropes binding my limbs down, being unbearably heavy.

I understand that I’m not going to find Jinzi. If I keep doing this, Jinfeng and I are going to die here.

I thereupon decide to go ashore first and go back to it later.

The river is quite wide and my physical strength is now of no use; if it wasn’t for being pulled by Hearth’s tail, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to swim to shore. Adding to that, I collapse as soon as I’m out of the river.

Hearth shakes its hair like a dog, beads of water splashing everywhere. Jinfeng, having still not returned to his senses, slowly started sliding off the horse’s back. I quickly drag my 1000-catty-weighing legs to stand up, then drag him off and into my hold. Checking his mouth and nose, he seemingly still has a faint breath, which calms my heart down some.

Thinking about it, I wipe my footprints from the river’s shore with my feet and go a few paces east, then switch direction to the west in an area with hard soil and squeeze into the shrubbery. I place Jinfeng face-down on my lap and hit him hard on the diaphragm. The little brat coughed choked, spitting up a few mouthfuls of water.

I am NOT giving him mouth-to-mouth.

Jinfeng coughs and coughs and slowly opens his eyes. Relieved, I settle him down in the bushes, saying, “You wait here, don’t run off. I still need to go save your brother.”

Jinfeng tensed up as he heard that. “What happened to him?”

I unhappily said, “The ship sank and I can’t find him. All I saved was a punk like you!

“Who wants someone like you to save them?!” He says angrily.

I shoot him a contemptuous glance, sneering, “That doesn’t make any sense. Tch, you really are a little kid!”

Jinfeng’s face flushed as he looked at me indignantly.

I didn’t want to waste time on him, so I turned to go back to the shore, only to hear some kind of noise in the distance. I startle, bending my body into a crouch, and whatever Jinfeng wanted to say was stopped by me pulling him over and covering his mouth.

It’s really not my imagination. The noise gets closer and closer and a figure following the riverbank slowly emerges from the darkness, a vague outline able to be seen under the moonlight.

“Sir Zhang, where are you? Come out now, my dear… Qinglian, baby, come out… I know you’re hiding…”

Yuan Qingyun is dripping water from head to toe as he searches for me, the intonation of his voice and those disgusting pet names causing me goosebumps. I withdraw my neck to hide even more securely.

He’s still using that velvety, drawn-out cadence to call for me, as strongly as if he were calling for his soul. This guy really lingers around.

What a joke. What would I come out for?

This jerk, Jinfeng, bites on my hand covering his mouth, which hurts! Bad! At this time, any little movement could be spotted, so I have to do everything I can to endure it.

Yuan Qingyun sees Hearth and makes a noise of surprise. After observing it, he sighs. “Just a horse?” he says, then keeps moving forward.

I breathe in relief, shoulders drooping. Jinfeng ruthlessly throws off my hand, saying, “Isn’t that enough?” He moves to stand up. My heart jumps and I quickly pull at him. “Don’t move! Wait!”

Sure enough, less than a moment later, Yuan Qingyun suddenly doubled back. I secretly thank my lucky stars.

The bloke looked all around, sighing again. “So I really was just a horse.”

Jinfeng and I hold our breaths.

Yuan Qingyun walked up to take Hearth’s reins. “Since your owner’s missing, I’ll take you to go find him.”

What’s Hearth’s personality like? Where would it obediently let him lead it along? It bade its time at first, and when he came close, abruptly stuck out a hoof to trample him with. Yuan Qingyun was caught off guard and jumped in fright, body floating a bit. “Good beast!” He said with a scorning cheer.

Yuan Qingyun accordingly slapped Hearth’s nose. Hearth whinnied loudly, kicking and stamping, but he still flipped over onto its back. It bucked, then ran, then jumped, then stood on its hind legs like a person, wanting to throw him off, but only got several palm strikes from Yuan Qingyun.

Those slaps probably had stored-up true qi in them and were serious blows. Hearth’s continuous mournful cries ringing in my ear, my heart is aching and seething with rage: bloody Yuan Qingyun! Not satisfied with abusing me, he dares to abuse my horse!

Hearth gives another tiger-leap, and this unexpectedly throws Yuan Qingyun off. He falls to the ground, not getting up for a long time after.

I patiently wait for the time it’d take to brew a cup of tea. Yuan Qingyun is still fallen on the ground, and Hearth has since slowly calmed down, now at peace.

This is really weird. Don’t tell me he’s trying to play dead to lure me out? Isn’t that way too stupid?

Beyond bewildered, it was difficult for me to make a decision. Jinfeng gave a cold laugh all of a sudden, saying, “Looks like this guy got hit my brother’s soul-parting strike, ‘Delayed Reaction’.” [1]

“Ha?” I turn around to look at him in astonishment.

Jinfeng is immensely proud of himself. “This move of my brother’s uses internal force in a really odd way. The strike doesn’t feel that serious at the beginning, but the internal injuries will get more and more heavy, until it suddenly flares up and they can’t exercise their movements for half a month. It’s one of his finishing blows.”

So that’s how it is.

I wait a moment more, but as I remember Jinzi’s safety, I come out. Approaching carefully, I stop a few meters away from him. “Hey. Still alive?” I have Han Zhang and my hidden weapon in my hands, facing him.

There was no response for a while. I assumed he’d fainted when I heard a weak yet still-jolly little voice, “You… really were here…”

I huff. Now thinking about how if he’d been playing dead I’d have uncovered it when I came over, . I stride over and place the tip of a blade at his neck, and if he truly was injured I’d have nothing to fear from him, so why should I cringe back from this laughingstock of a person? I stride forward and place the tip of a sword at his neck, seeing Yuan Qingyun’s abnormally beautiful face was dismal as joss paper under the faint white moonlight.

“You all bored a hole in our boat? For what?” I say coldly. “And Jinzi? Did you all capture him?”

Yuan Qingyun is still grinning at me now, his smile somewhat glittering. “What do you mean, ‘you all’? I’ve always been a lone wolf… I… found out by accident… that your hull was broken, and I… gave a passing warning to revive an old dream… didn’t think you’d be so ungrateful…”

Jinfeng had come up to my side since them, and upon hearing this, curled up his lip in disdain. “So you actually fooled around with him. Dirty old man!”

Dirty old man? That moniker is actually being used on me? I’m struck dumb with annoyance, shouting, “Shut it! What does a kid know?”

Yuan Qingyun laughed out loud, aggravated his wounds doing so, and sucked in a breath of cold air from the pain.

I pierced the tip of the blade into his neck a bit, blood oozing out. “Who’d believe you?” I jeer. “Don’t talk nonsense! Did you see Jinzi or not?”

Yuan Qingyun was calmly unafraid. “I came to find you, what would I be doing finding him?

Huffing, I go to hit an acupoint first. My finger hadn’t yet hit when he unexpectedly gave a big shout of fright, making me jump. “What are you doing?” I ask.

Yuan Qingyun pants, forcing a smile, “That’s not the paralyzing point, it’s… three parts to the left. The point you have is… a killing point… you hit that and I’m not going to be able to live…”

It’s all because Jinzi didn’t teach me well that I’m losing face today.

I give a sort of embarrassed look at Jinfeng, earning an even more disdainful gaze. “You can’t even recognize acupoints! I’m coming.”

Jinfeng hit a few of Yuan Qingyun’s acupoints in succession. As his skills were shallow and he was still weak from being just barely saved from the water by me, I’m ill at ease. I took of Yuan Qingyun’s outer robe, tore it into strips, and tied him up like a zongzi. He predictably can’t go without teasing me with disgraceful words like “don’t rush, take it off slowly”, which I turn a deaf ear to.

I walk to the waterside, take a deep breath, and leap into the river, once again diving down to search, floating to the surface only when I’m genuinely unable to hold my breath anymore. The water’s flow is rapid, very nearly sweeping me away several times – fortunately, I have my internal force. Only when my hands and feet are completely numb and there’s not a bit of strength to be squeezed out of my whole body do I swim back, and Jinfeng still has to pull me up as I’m too weak to do so.

I gasp for air on the river shore, unable to sit up, my body frighteningly heavy. Jinfeng asks incessantly, “How’d it go? Did you find him?” I helplessly shake my head. He anxiously paces back and forth.

The zongzi-like Yuan Qingyun sighed. “Why bother? You know that if he’s still underwater, he’d be long dead by now. What are you still looking for?”

Hearing that, tears can’t help but rush out the corners of my eyes.

I struggle to get up, walking over in front of Yuan Qingyun, observing him unfeelingly. I slap him eighteen times on the face using palm strikes, and, unsatisfied with that, kicked him several times on his wounded ribs.

Yuan Qingyun’s handsome face is quickly swelling up into a pig’s head, traces of blood seeping out from the corners of his mouth and a cold sweat on his forehead from the pain. Yet he still smiled with great difficulty. “So unreasonable, you… taking your anger out… on me… Sir- Sir Zhang, why do you seem like you’re acting like young women do?”

The outcome of that was me kicking him a few more times. The pain made his whole face pale, yet he endured it with no shouts or groans. I fall down, unable to do more.

He stares me in the eye. Quite a while later, he suddenly said softly, “Really, how could that stupid kid die that easy? The river isn’t that wide. If Jindiao could randomly drown in it, he wouldn’t be such a headache of a person.”

I don’t actually believe that Jinzi would die, his martial arts being as good as they are. Even if he held his breath and walked all the way to the shore from the riverbed, it wouldn’t be a problem; besides, if he’d really had an accident, I definitely would have known of it by now. Despite all this, I’m still terrified, my body and mind trembling in fear.

Jinfeng urges me to go back under to look, and down I go again, but how long I am is shorter this time. I know I’ve already exhausted my energy.

Back and forth, to and fro, the sky’s already gotten bright. I made the decision that I would go with Jinfeng and the captive to the disaster area.

If everyone came out alive, the place were they came ashore is probably different. If we can’t find each other, then they’ll certainly think of going to convene at the disaster area.

You can’t die, Jinzi, we have 91 chapters left! The fuck are we gonna do for all those if you’re fish food!!!!

[1] 离魂掌的『初解相思』 = Roughly means “beginning dissolution, later forgotten”, with the last two words being a reference made in a lot of poems. Not really worth getting into here IMO.