CH 22

“Fan Er! You stop right now!”

“I won’t!”

“Return my hairpin, otherwise, I will go to Li shijie to settle this!”

“Wintersweet flowers are so beautiful, why can’t they be used to adorn your hair?”

“ —You’re horrible!”

Xu Yunzhan took a slow sip of hot tea, turned his head and looked up with a faint smile at the two people chasing each other using light footwork on the treetops outside the pavilion.

Gu Feidi who was sitting across from him, picked up the kettle from atop the small stove, poured tea into his cup and laughed: “In the past six months, Lingyun and Fan Xi have become more familiar with each other.”

Xu Yunzhan said: “Lingyun is still like a child. Her temper isn’t good. Although Fan Xi always provokes and gets her angry, Li shijie said that when it’s time to be serious, he would always take care of Lingyun. In fact, Lingyun… if she really hates him, she probably wouldn’t be quarreling with him like this.”

Gu Feidi said: “She loves excitement and being lively. When you and I go into seclusion a lot, she can’t find any playmates, so when she and Fan Xi are in the courtyard with Li shijie, they’ll naturally become friendlier.”

Xu Yunzhan paused with the cup in his hand and smiled: “You’re not worried about Lingyun being friendly with that guy?”

Gu Feidi said, “Although the Qinglian Sect is both righteous and evil, Fan Xi is not a villain if he can enter Lesser Jade House. If Lingyun is friendly with him, there’s nothing for me to worry about.”

Xu Yunzhan sighed when he heard the words: “My aunt and uncle passed away too soon, leaving Lingyun alone. At the beginning, my mother advocated sending Lingyun to Tengyun Pavilion instead of staying in Qianfeng Villa. Bearing in mind that her physique is not suitable for practicing heavy swords, shouldn’t you be able to more or less guess what the other motive is?”

Gu Feidi smiled: “If I can guess it, then I can guess it, but… I only see and treat her as my younger sister.”

Xu Yunzhan also smiled: “I believe Lingyun also treats you as an older brother. She is at the age of having her first experience of love. If she likes you, she would look at you differently. However… after leaving Lesser Jade House, Lingyun’s marriage cannot be delayed. If Leader Gu has that intention, I am afraid he will also advocate for her…”

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a figure in a goose-yellow outfit rushing in from outside the pavilion.

“It’s infuriating me to death!”

Pu Lingyun had been chasing Fan Xi for a long while without success. She landed in the pavilion, grabbed the teacup in front of Xu Yunzhan, gulped it down and slammed the cup onto the table: “He snatched away my hairpin but biao ge and xiao shixiong won’t help me either!”

Xu Yunzhan smiled: “You both practice nimble and dexterous techniques and your light footwork skills are much better compared to mine. How am I supposed to help you?”

Pu Lingyun turned her head angrily and looked at Gu Feidi, “What about xiao shixiong? Xiao shixiong has achieved great success in cultivating Restoration Scripture and your light footwork is much better than Fan Er’s. Why won’t you help me either!”

Gu Feidi glanced at Pu Lingyun and said, “Wintersweet flower, as a hair accessory is better than a hairpin. It complements your yellow outfit very well and also emits a delicate floral fragrance.”

Pu Lingyun raged: “Xiao shixiong, you’re actually speaking on that guy’s behalf!”

Gu Feidi laughed, “If you’re really dissatisfied with the spray of flowers, then take it off. How am I not supposed to know?”

Pu Lingyun opened her mouth but was unable to refute, so she sulked angrily and ignored Gu Feidi.

Xu Yunzhan was suddenly surprised: “Ah, how come some of the flowers on the sprig have fallen off?”

Pu Lingyun was shocked and immediately raised her hand anxiously to feel it: “What? I’ve purposely used internal force to protect—”

Seeing Xu Yunzhan’s mischievous face, her face immediately turned bright red: “Biao ge, you! You’re completely annoying!”

After that, she turned around and used light footwork to flee the pavilion to who-knows-where.

The two youngsters in the pavilion looked at each other helplessly and laughed.

Xu Yunzhan said: “Speaking of which, Su Yang has been in seclusion since entering the House. It is really surprising not to see him during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Double Ninth Festival. If word gets out, no one would probably believe that the reckless, impetuous and violent Devil Sect’s Young Saint could be so diligent.”

Gu Feidi was silent for a moment and hesitated: “He’s… probably not diligent.”

Xu Yunzhan was puzzled: “What makes you say that?”

Gu Feidi lowered his eyelashes, stared at the cup of tea and only spoke after a while: “I always feel that he seems to be very anxious, as if he is fighting against time. It’s almost like, if he cannot achieve a breakthrough within a few years, something bad might happen. He trains in martial arts and techniques and only rests for less than four hours a day. It has been like this for the past six months.”

Xu Yunzhan frowned: “What is so important that he has to work himself to the ground and wrestle against time?”

Gu Feidi shook his head without answering, but his eyes gradually dimmed and he was obviously a little distracted.

Both of them remained quiet when suddenly, an emerald-green bird flew in from a distance with a fiery red hairband still in its beak.

The hairband trailed along, gliding like a wisp of cloud. It was a wonder how the dainty little bird managed to fly so fast while carrying it in its beak.

The little bird dived towards Gu Feidi’s arms, dropped the hairband, flipped over, flapped its wings and flew away again.

Gu Feidi bewilderedly picked up the hairband that had fallen, suddenly remembered something and his fingers tightened slightly.

In the distance, a figure dressed in a dark red outfit with disheveled hair rushed forward.

Even without the wide-sleeved robes of the Devil Sect attire, the movements of Prized Flower Steps were light, lively and still resembled an immortal’s.

Su Yang witnessed the emerald green bird flick his hairband to Gu Feidi and couldn’t help discreetly rolling his eyes.

He murmured in his heart: Miserable Shizun, save it! No way I’m going to forgo my destiny with Gu Feidi just because of your petty actions! I’m still waiting for him to stab me with his sword and send me back to reality!

It was practically impossible to miss seeing him while living together in Zhichun Garden, but now when he encountered him outside, it would be better to ignore him as much as possible.

Xu Yunzhan watched Su Yang walk into the pavilion: “We were just talking about you, but we didn’t expect that you had actually come out from seclusion.”

Su Yang kept a straight face, grabbed his hairband from Gu Feidi’s hands and snorted coldly: “What business is it of yours whether I’ve come out from seclusion or not!”

He turned around and left without tying his hair.

“Since you’re already here, why don’t you sit down and have a cup of tea?” said Xu Yunzhan.

“No thanks.” Su Yang put on his airs, curled his mouth and made a repulsive look, “This Young Saint doesn’t drink anything except Wuyinfeng white tea.”

After he finished speaking, he really didn’t want to hang around, so he left using his light footwork.

Xu Yunzhan was miffed but still found it laughable: “As expected, he’s been spoiled and pampered! All etiquette and protocols.”

Gu Feidi cut in: “I’ve seen him scoop up cold water from the vat in Zhichun Garden and drink it directly.”

Xu Yunzhan was surprised: “Really?” 

He spoke again, “Then he was shunning us and not the tea!”

Gu Feidi replied, “Perhaps.”

“You’ve spent half a year with him in Zhichun Garden, has he been treating you so coldly all this while?” Xu Yunzhan asked.

“More or less.” Gu Feidi gently turned the teacup in his hand, “Only at the very beginning, when I helped him read aloud the mental cultivation methodology scriptures, he was willing to say a few more words to me. Later, when he became familiar with the ancient records and I started to practice Return To The Nest volume, we rarely saw each other.”

“Tsk, tsk, you’ve clearly been used by him.” Xu Yunzhan shook his head and sighed, “And he casts you aside after using you, with no gratitude in his heart! Those from the Devil Sect really act arbitrarily.”

Gu Feidi gave a light laugh: “All right, let’s not speak of him.”

.…..

Su Yang casually tied a ponytail with the hairband as he walked on the road.

He’d been chasing the mischievous little green bird, but it was actually the first time he walked around on the peak of Lesser Jade House. There were unfamiliar sceneries everywhere. A thin layer of snow had fallen yesterday and it was a clear day again today. There was still some residual snow left on the grass and bushes but it had already melted away from all the stone steps on the mountain road.

Su Yang followed the mountain path to a platform where a small four-corner pavilion had been built. Seeing that there was no one in the pavilion, he walked in.

This pavilion stood on the edge of a cliff and one could see a pond below the high mountain cliff. The pond was rather sizable and the rocks on its edges were jagged. There was a waterfall gushing out of the high caves which had since been completely frozen during these nine cold winters. The ice waterfall was connected to the ice surface of the pond and in the sunlight, it looked like it had been exquisitely carved.

Su Yang sat on the edge of the pavilion staring at the ice waterfall in a daze.

——He doesn’t know what he should do.

Since entering Lesser Jade House, he almost immediately began seclusion, practicing martial arts, training swordsmanship and studying ancient Chinese. In just six months, he had cultivated these habits and this all had become his life, It only took him two months from the time he could not understand the mental cultivation methodology to him being able to study Nine Cold Surging Shoots technique by himself. Soon afterwards, he had broken through the first and second cold levels of the technique.

As of now, he was ready to start the third volume of that set of books.

Then yesterday evening, he had suddenly received a letter from the emerald green bird.

Di Ling followed the order, confiscated his book and forced the jade bell back into his hand, saying that she would not bring him food until after the fifteenth of the first lunar month.

Su Yang made some calculations in his head. Currently it was only the middle of the twelfth lunar month and it would be another month before he could resume his previous routine and continue practicing.

But he really didn’t know what else he could do in Lesser Jade House besides practicing martial arts.

He had entered Lesser Jade House by mistake. Of course, he had to minimize his existence, in the hope that it might not affect the development of the plot.

“Young Saint—!”

An exclamation sounded from behind him. Before Su Yang could turn his head, someone had plowed into him and he was knocked heavily onto the railing of the pavilion. It almost made him throw up blood.

Fan Xi laughed loudly and extended his hand to pull him up, “You’re finally willing to come out from seclusion! I haven’t seen you in half a year and missed you to death!”

Su Yang rubbed the sore ribs, turned his head and said with a stern face: “Hey! Take note, how’s this gonna look; you hugging and cuddling!”

Fan Xi snorted and said, “You and Gu Feidi have been living together for half a year and you’ve become an old fogey?”

As he was talking, his expression suddenly changed and he frowned, “Why did you cut your hair?”

Su Yang’s long hair was originally hanging down to his waist and hips, but now with his ponytail, it barely touched his neck.

When he’d first transmigrated, he’d thought because it was a historical setting, not everyone would be willing to ruin their hair and skin. But later, he discovered that it was not the case. However, they were very particular and placed importance on selecting proper auspicious dates for haircuts; more so than during modern times.

So he happily sought out Di Ling, chose a date and cut the burden short.

“With your new look, it’s quite a big difference from what you looked like originally.”

Fan Xi took two steps back and eyed Su Yang with his arms folded.

A moment later, he smiled: “This look is good too, full of vigor, more spirited and manlier than before.”