Chapter 490: Xiao Mo, When Will You Ever Wake Up? |
"Elder Sister Liu Shui is leaving?"
Tushan Jingci said in surprise.
"Mm." Liu Shui gave a small nod, a trace of resignation in her expression.
"My second uncle over in Iron Eagle City in the Liang Kingdom has set up quite a sizable business. He has been short of relatives he can trust lately, so he wrote to us about it. And Mother has made up her mind to go and see Second Uncle, saying she will help him no matter what. There is nothing I can do. I can only follow Mother and go with her."
It was true that Liu Shui's second uncle had done well for himself but Liu Shui knew in her heart that the reason her mother was so set on going to stay with him was not simply for the sake of a better life. The more important reason was that Second Uncle had mentioned in his letter that there were a few respectable families over there who had expressed interest in making a match for her.
The moment her mother heard that, her heart was moved, and she insisted on taking her daughter to have a look no matter what.
Liu Shui could not prevail against her mother but Liu Shui had quietly made up her own mind. Once she had declined those young men in person, if her mother still insisted on her marrying, then she would simply have to come out and tell her the truth about being a cultivator.
The reason she had never said anything before was that she did not want her mother to feel any distance from her.
Because in the hearts of most ordinary people, it seemed that the moment a person set foot on the path of cultivation, they became some lofty and untouchable immortal, as though a daughter was no longer quite a daughter, and a son no longer quite a son, and everything became different.
"Then Elder Sister Liu Shui, roughly when might you be coming back?" Tushan Jingci asked softly, her eyes full of reluctance.
"I truly do not know how long it will be." Liu Shui smiled gently. "Once everything has been sorted out there, I will come back to see the Young Miss."
"All right then."
Tushan Jingci lowered her eyes, her gaze carrying a disappointment she could not conceal.
She was quiet for a moment, then drew a small sachet from her sleeve and held it out to Liu Shui. "Elder Sister Liu Shui, there are some spirit stones and pills inside. They should be enough to cover your cultivation needs for a while."
"I cannot, I truly cannot!" Liu Shui immediately raised her hands in refusal, her expression a little flustered. "The Young Miss and Young Master Xiao have already shown me a kindness I could never repay. How could I dare take anything more from the Young Miss?"
"It is perfectly all right, Elder Sister Liu Shui, please take it. It is really nothing of much value." Tushan Jingci pressed the sachet into Liu Shui's arms without waiting for further argument, her tone carrying a touch of the gentle insistence particular to young girls. "If you will not take it, I shall truly be upset, and I will refuse to see Elder Sister Liu Shui ever again."
"But..." Looking at Tushan Jingci's stubborn expression, Liu Shui had the words of refusal ready at her lips, but in the end swallowed them back and could only accept the sachet. "One day I will repay the Young Miss properly."
"What is Elder Sister Liu Shui saying?" Tushan Jingci curved the corners of her mouth into a soft smile. "We are friends. There is no talk of repayment between friends. But Elder Sister Liu Shui must take good care on the road."
"Yes, Young Miss."
After exchanging a few last words with Tushan Jingci, Liu Shui gave a bow and turned to leave.
Tushan Jingci stood where she was and watched Liu Shui's retreating figure grow smaller and smaller in the distance.
Even after that silhouette had disappeared entirely from her sight, she still had not drawn her gaze away.
The young girl bit down lightly on her lip, and one small hand pressed of its own accord to her heart.
"Why is it..."
Her voice was very soft, little more than a murmur.
"Why is it that I am so reluctant to see Elder Sister Liu Shui go, and I do not want her to leave, and yet at the same time there is a faint worry stirring inside me that while Elder Sister Liu Shui is here, she might take away the thing I hold most dear?"
She lowered her head, and on that open, innocent face a look of complexity and inner conflict appeared for the first time.
"Why is it like that?"
"I feel as though something about me is very, very strange."
The scorching summer passed, and autumn had come.
The bamboo leaves in the grove gradually took on a yellowed hue, drifting down one by one in the gentle breeze like countless golden butterflies dancing through the air, coming to rest at last softly beside Xiao Mo.
Without quite noticing it, Xiao Mo had already been in seclusion for half a year.
Tushan Jingci came to the bamboo courtyard as she always did and helped sweep the fallen leaves from inside.
She bent at the waist, gathering the yellowed bamboo leaves one by one and sweeping them into a pile at the corner then, as though a playful idea had just come to her, Tushan Jingci crouched down and picked up a few leaves with pleasing shapes. Her nimble fingers moved swiftly, weaving them together into a small wreath of leaves.
She bit back a smile, walked quietly to Xiao Mo's side, and placed the little wreath gently on top of his head.
Looking at Xiao Mo dressed up in this fashion, with a lopsided little leaf wreath sitting on his head while he sat perfectly still and entirely unaware, the young girl could not help but burst out laughing but as she laughed, her eyes gradually dropped of their own accord, and a faint, quiet dejection crept into her expression.
"Xiao Mo, when will you ever wake up?"
Tushan Jingci sat down beside Xiao Mo, propped her chin in both hands, and looked at his still, peaceful face with slow, unhurried blinks.
Though simply being able to sit here and look at Xiao Mo each day had already felt like something to be grateful for.
Still, she wanted to talk with Xiao Mo more.
Even if it was only to hear him call her "Young Miss" once.
Even if it was only to see him give one of his quiet smiles.
That would be something too.
More months passed, and winter arrived without announcement.
The year's first snow came earlier than it had in years past.
White snow fell from the grey, leaden sky in soft, swirling flurries, and in less than half a day's time the whole bamboo grove had been transformed into an expanse of pure and quiet white.
A thin layer gathered on the bamboo leaves, and when the wind passed through, the tips of the bamboo bent their heads slightly, sending the accumulated snow sliding off in a rush, scattering into a pale white mist that dissolved silently into the air.
The paths through the grove had vanished, leaving only a few faint impressions winding deeper into the trees. Now and then a spirit bird burst up from a branch with a flutter of wings, shaking loose a small shower of snow crystals that fell in a fine spray over the surrounding bamboo, letting out the faintest whisper of a sound, soft as winter murmuring in one's ear.
The whole bamboo grove was like a goddess of winter had swept her brush across heaven and earth, scattering ink into a painting of breathtaking, flawless beauty.
In the courtyard, thick white snow had settled over Xiao Mo in a heavy layer.
He sat there without moving, covered from head to foot in snowflakes, so that from a distance he looked like a snow figure standing in stillness and Xian Xichun was still sitting on his stone just as he always had.
He had set up a small stand beside him, on which a jug of wine sat warming and two plump wild rabbits were roasting. He was reading a book with great absorption, his expression easy and unhurried, while the fragrance of warm wine and roasting rabbit drifted out beyond the courtyard gate.
Just as Xian Xichun was deeply absorbed in the Unity of Knowledge and Action, the sound of light, quick footsteps came through the bamboo grove.
The young woman who had just finished her lesson at the study hall came running.
She was wearing a red jacket, a red of the old-style vermilion, not harsh on the eyes, well-fitted, the satin surface carrying a faint sheen, with a border of black trim at the collar that lay close against her snow-white neck.
The jacket gathered in at the waist just so, making it clear that the waist beneath was slender enough to hold in one hand.
Even the generous cut of the jacket seemed unable to conceal the young woman's admirable figure.
Underneath the jacket was a dark green padded skirt that fell straight down, only hinting at the length of her legs when she moved.
The young woman's small feet left a trail of footprints in the white snow, deep and light in turns, and the hem of her skirt swept lightly across the snow as she walked, stirring a faint and fragrant breeze.
She ran into the courtyard, not even pausing to catch her breath, and reached out with both small hands, slightly reddened from the cold, patting steadily at Xiao Mo, brushing the accumulated snow from him clean and careful until not a flake remained.
"And really, teacher," Tushan Jingci said, brushing the snow from Xiao Mo as she turned her head to complain, "Xiao Mo has practically become a snow figure, and you cannot even lend a hand. All the teacher does is stand outside the courtyard and watch."
Xian Xichun smiled and took an unhurried sip of his warm wine. "He is not my man. I am only responsible for keeping him safe. Looking after him is not my concern."
"Hmph."
Tushan Jingci turned her head away and paid the teacher no further attention.
She quickly unwound the scarf from around her own neck, and with careful hands wound it around Xiao Mo, covering most of his cheeks, which had been chilled to a faint white.
She wanted to build a small fire around Xiao Mo to warm him, but the thought had barely formed before Xian Xichun stopped her.
The reason was that a fire would interfere with Xiao Mo's cultivation but looking at Xiao Mo sitting there frozen like an ice sculpture, Tushan Jingci could not bring herself to accept it.
In the end, she reached out her pale, soft hands and gently took hold of Xiao Mo's ice-cold hands, chilled to a deep red, wrapping his palms within her own. She lowered her head and breathed warm air over them again and again, trying with her own warmth to bring him some small measure of comfort.
"These two young ones," Xian Xichun observed the scene from outside the courtyard and could not help shaking his head with a smile. "I wonder if those old ones in the Tushan clan would be struck dead on the spot if they could see this."
But as he smiled, a thought suddenly struck him.
This fellow Xiao Mo was in seclusion, and yet he had someone like this to keep him company, to stand watch, to care for him with such tenderness.
While he himself, a living person standing guard for this young man, could only sit alone outside the courtyard drinking by himself.
Xian Xichun looked down at the wine jug in his hand and suddenly found that this wine seemed to have lost a little of its flavor.