Chapter 42#

From now on, he’s under my charge#

Sang Baobao hid in the gap between the cupboard and the mud wall and wouldn’t come out. Su Ruhui tried his best to reach in, but his arm wasn’t long enough, and he couldn’t reach him no matter what. Sang Baobao was curled up deep inside, almost forming a tiny ball of fur, acting as if he would rather die than come out.

Su Ruhui gave up and turned to look at the shattered glass on the floor. The star array was broken, and the spirit stones were scattered on the red carpet, like broken stars. Su Ruhui felt as if his heart had a hole in it, and cold wind was whistling through. He was naturally big-hearted and rarely unhappy. He wasn’t very sad when Sang Chiyu left, because he felt he had a way to win him back. As long as he retrieved the extracted memories and applied the right remedy, he would surely get him back.

Now the glazed vessel was broken, the star array was shattered, and he was helpless. He stood frozen, for the first time like a headless fly, lost and bewildered.

Was it fate? Those who are meant to leave will eventually leave. Many years ago, when his father said he was leaving, he made himself sick by taking a cold shower, broke his leg by jumping from a tree, and finally knelt on the ground begging his father not to go. That heartless man let go of his hand, walked away step by step, disappeared, and never returned.

Being alone is truly lonely. Su Ruhui squatted down and picked up the shards one by one. He never wanted to relive the desolate years he spent alone on Zhuluo Mountain since he was fourteen. So he always ran to crowded places, with groups of friends, feeling at ease only when people were around.

He recalled the time he was confined in the Mystic Sect. His uncle feared he would be rescued by people from the Black Street, so he isolated him in the Immortal’s Cave. Every day, he saw no one but Sang Chiyu. But Sang Chiyu was wary of him, staying in the bamboo forest outside the cave all day and refusing to enter. He lay in bed for days, watching the sun rise and set, feeling his internal organs wither one by one. Sometimes, when he couldn’t bear it anymore, he would get up and lure Sang Chiyu into the cave to accompany him, but that guy was stone-hearted and rarely paid him any mind.

He couldn’t help but wonder, he was already so pitiful, why didn’t Sang Chiyu feel sorry for him? Was he really that annoying?

Su Ruhui’s eyes stung, and he felt an urge to cry.

His pant leg was nudged twice, Su Ruhui looked down and saw Sang Baobao had crawled out at some point, squatting by his feet, lapping water from a bowl with a “pat-pat” sound, his big tail sweeping against his pant leg. Su Ruhui was annoyed and muttered, “Fine, if he wants to go, let him go. I won’t look for him anymore. What’s the point? Just asking for trouble. Baobao, am I right?”

Sang Baobao stopped lapping water and looked up at Su Ruhui.

Su Ruhui went to make breakfast for Sang Baobao. He cooked a large chicken leg, tore the chicken meat into shreds, and placed it in a bowl. He poured out the chicken broth to cool, then put it in a bowl for Sang Baobao to drink. Carrying the plate back to his room, he pushed the door open with his foot and saw Sang Baobao lying listlessly in the bedding, looking even more spiritless than a withered foxtail flower. He had been so lively just now, scurrying around to avoid his beating, so why was he so weak now?

Su Ruhui held it by the bowl, urging it to eat, but it remained indifferent, still looking dejected.

“Eat quickly, you’ll be happy once you eat.” Su Ruhui picked up a shred of chicken and fed it to him.

It gazed at the shred of chicken for a long time, finally opening its mouth and taking the chicken from Su Ruhui’s hand. Such a pampered cat, Su Ruhui thought, it only eats when someone feeds it.

A bowl of shredded chicken was completely eaten, Sang Baobao lowered his head and began to lap up the chicken broth. He ate and drank very gracefully, carefully licking with his small pink tongue, without spilling a drop of soup outside the bowl. For some reason, Su Ruhui saw a hint of a proper gentleman’s demeanor in this little cat.

Just like that heartless Sang Chiyu, he also ate like that, small bites, chewing slowly.

He was young and ignorant back then, so playing house didn’t count. The time Su Ruhui and Sang Chiyu truly got to know each other should be considered during their time in the Reclamation Guard. There was a gap of seven full years between their two encounters, and those seven years happened to be the most depressing period in Su Ruhui’s life. First, his father abandoned him, and then his master passed away. After he wore mourning clothes and sent off his master, Zhou Xiaosu was taken back to her family by the Zhou family of Yuzhou, and Jiang Xueya returned to Yunzhou. The once lively Zhuluo Mountain was left with only Su Ruhui.

A half-grown boy of fourteen or fifteen, solitary and wandering the mountains like a wild dog, Su Ruhui lived up to expectations and went astray. He became a notorious second-generation rich kid, doing every bad thing a noble son could do, besides whoring. At seventeen, he moved to Biandu, gathered a group of unruly youths, and engaged in mischief all day long. He was their leader, and everyone respectfully called him “Big Brother.” Su Ruhui was young then, loyal, and full of thoughts of sacrificing himself for his brothers. One of his younger brothers fell in love with the top courtesan of Biandu, determined to live a harmonious life with her. However, the courtesan was fancied by the young master of the Bai family. Su Ruhui, without a word, led his brothers to strip the young master’s clothes and forced him to hand over the young lady.

The young lady, with tears in her eyes, immediately offered herself to Su Ruhui. Su Ruhui told her to marry his younger brother, but the young lady refused to the death, insisting on him. This became awkward; Su Ruhui and his younger brother became enemies and never reconciled until Su Ruhui died in the Immortal’s Cave that year. This is a later story, so let’s not dwell on it. In short, Su Ruhui was reported to the Beichen Hall by the Bai family, and Dantai Jing was furious, throwing him into a prisoner cart and sending him to the Reclamation Guard.

To be honest, going to the Reclamation Guard was exactly what Su Ruhui wanted. Because Jiang Xueya was there, Jiang Xueya had gone two years before Su Ruhui. This sister was even more unruly than him. Others only knew that Jiang Xueya was exiled because she offended her eldest brother, but they didn’t know what specific trashy things Jiang Xueya had done. Su Ruhui knew that Jiang Xueya had flirted with her brother’s male concubine.

Birds of a feather flock together. Su Ruhui and Jiang Xueya were good friends mainly because they were both scoundrels. Jiang Xueya had gone two years earlier and had already carved out a territory in the Reclamation Guard. It was said that as soon as she arrived in the Snow Realm, she stood on the drill ground and beat up the disciples of the aristocratic camp one by one. In this way, this fellow, with her unparalleled unruly style, won over all the unruly youths and became the leader of the aristocratic camp in the Reclamation Guard.

The frosty wind blew, and Su Ruhui shivered, shrinking his neck. Jiang Xueya came to pick him up with her people. After two years, Jiang Xueya had grown taller, and the cold wind had sharpened her edge; her features were so beautiful that one dared not look directly at her. Jiang Xueya’s beauty was a fierce beauty, like the flowing light of a sword, the shadows of the scorching sun. She wore a red round-collared, short-sleeved robe, her raven-black hair making her skin appear snow-white, like a steel rose in the wind and snow.

Her beauty was too aggressive; men always involuntarily fell for her, willing to be her subjects crawling at her feet, provided they didn’t know her as well as Su Ruhui did, knowing her inside and out.

“Welcome!” Jiang Xueya smiled and bumped fists with him. “You came at just the right time; I need a helper.”

“I can’t do anything, what do you want me for?”

“Don’t pretend with me. Those puppet gadgets of yours look good. The Volcanic Fire Rat you sent me last time was very much to my liking. We need it for blasting mountains and opening roads. Get me more. The mountains here are too hard; the spirit stone mines have been exploited for so many years, and they’re getting deeper and deeper. The snowy season is almost here, and if we don’t hurry these few months, we won’t be able to complete the task from above.”

“Anyway, the blame won’t fall on your head,” Su Ruhui shrugged. “This matter should be handled by the Reclamation Guard Commander, right? Who is the Commander? I heard his name is Xia Jing.”

“Sending charcoal in the snow is better than adding flowers to the brocade. Every bit of help counts,” Jiang Xueya asked, “How is your uncle these days?”

“Same old,” Su Ruhui felt puzzled, “Why do you ask him?”

Jiang Xueya didn’t answer, a mischievous smile playing on her crimson lips. “I have other things to do, so I’ll leave first. Remember to come to the tower tonight; I’ve arranged a welcome feast for you, so the brothers can get to know you.”

“Got it.” Su Ruhui waved his hand indifferently.

It seemed there was a gaze behind him all along. Su Ruhui looked back, but amidst the coming and going, the bustling crowd, Su Ruhui saw nothing.

If he had known the welcome feast that night would be like that, Su Ruhui would never have gone. His main purpose in coming to the Snow Realm was to relax, but who knew he would still have to socialize and deal with assassins. When the little dancing girl climbed onto his lap, he knew something was wrong. Women who wholeheartedly wished to marry noble sons wouldn’t have such rough hands; they always nurtured every inch of their skin to be as smooth as silk with marmot oil and pig pancreas.

Indeed, the moment she leaned down, a sharp glint flashed from her right hand. Just as the golden hairpin was about to reach Su Ruhui’s neck, he grabbed her right hand, and his other hand pressed against her lips.

“Miss, this is not a good time to kill me here,” Su Ruhui whispered with a smile.

The dancing girl swallowed the wine and goldfish in her mouth, and tried to exert force with her hand, but the man held her wrist firmly, and she couldn’t get an inch closer.

“If you leave now, I’ll ask my senior sister to let you go. I’m a man who cherishes beauty and can’t bring myself to harm women. Next time, tell your young master Bai to send a man,” Su Ruhui said.

The dancing girl glanced out of the corner of her eye at Jiang Xueya, who was sitting not far away. That unrestrained woman was embracing a charming young man, smiling and staring at her. Her gaze met Jiang Xueya’s, and Jiang Xueya toasted her from afar.

“Covered by a woman, your bones are truly soft,” she mocked him.

Su Ruhui merely smiled, “To be honest, my life’s ambition is to be a kept man. If you can support me, I’d even marry you.”

The dancing girl withdrew her golden hairpin and straightened up. Due to the angle, to outsiders, they had just finished a deep kiss, and the crowd cheered again. Su Ruhui thought that if this matter reached Beichen Hall tomorrow, his uncle would send someone to scold him again. He drank his wine, and suddenly saw a man with black hair and black eyes standing silently in the boiling crowd.

He tilted his head, and the system’s mischievous voice sounded: [Sang Chiyu, a young master of swordsmanship, a secret technique user. Because his secret technique is quite complex, he is a rare secret technique user without a defined realm. Oh, and his most hated things are dogs and Su Ruhui.]

Su Ruhui smiled. Another assassin. According to the system, his swordsmanship was very strong, so he seemed difficult to deal with.

The crowd was too dense, and the man seemed unable to move forward. He lowered his eyelids, then suddenly raised his saber. The blade slid an inch out of its sheath, like a ripple of autumn water. The wave-like gleam of the saber flashed across the faces of the disciples beside him, and people finally noticed this man who had been out of place from the beginning.

The crowd instantly quieted down a lot, parting like a tide to make way for him.

Su Ruhui saw fear in the eyes of the disciples. He realized he had guessed wrong; this was not an assassin, because an assassin wouldn’t be as arrogant as him. At this time, Su Ruhui didn’t know why they were afraid, until the next day when he learned the reason from Jiang Xueya. Few people dared to block Sang Chiyu’s path, because his reputation was truly terrible. Su Ruhui was famous for being a rogue, while Sang Chiyu was a brute.

When Sang Chiyu first came to the Reclamation Guard, he was not yet famous. There were countless noble sons here, many of whose family histories exceeded five hundred years. The identity of Sang’s orphan and the Grand Sect Master’s disciple was not enough to make him stand out. He became famous during a raid. He was ordered to attack the Black Street’s Seven Kill Mine with the soldiers of the Yin Camp and capture the three leaders of the mine alive.

The soldiers camped on a snowy slope less than a hundred feet from the mine to discuss their battle plan. Sang Chiyu, with his saber on his back, entered the wind and snow alone. The soldiers thought he went to scout, but he was gone for an hour. An hour later, he returned to the snowy slope covered in blood, dragging three disfigured human-pigs. These three poor souls were the three leaders of the Seven Kill Mine. The soldiers entered the mine and found that it was already a river of blood; all fifty-odd Black Street rebels were dead, and the three cripples were the last survivors. They fearfully sent the captives back to the military camp, and the commander looked at the three dying men in silence.

“Why did you cut off their hands and feet?” the commander asked.

“To prevent sneak attacks,” Sang Chiyu said.

“I wanted them alive,” the commander said.

Sang Chiyu said, “They are still alive.”

“But they are not far from death!” The commander’s forehead throbbed with veins.

Sang Chiyu’s principle of doing things was to do whatever was convenient. The three leaders would rather die than surrender, and they repeatedly tried to sneak attack Sang Chiyu from behind, so Sang Chiyu cut off their hands and feet. Since there was no order to keep other people alive, he destroyed the mine to avoid further complications. He was not good at enduring trouble; he was better at solving it. He preferred to act alone rather than cooperate with soldiers, because those soldiers always procrastinated and argued about tactics. He stood by, holding his saber, listening. After a long time without a result, he simply left. When he returned to the camp with the human-pig leaders, their argument had not yet ended.

However, in the eyes of the soldiers, he was brutal, bloodthirsty, and extremely unsociable. He would often disappear midway and reappear an hour or two later with a sack of heads, throwing them to the soldiers as war trophies. The soldiers did not thank him for his kindness, only thinking he was arrogant and looked down on his comrades.

There were rumors that the Grand Sect Master intended for him and Su Ruhui to be candidates for the next successor of the Mystic Sect. No one supported Sang Chiyu; the officials in the court even preferred Su Ruhui. They would rather the Grand Sect Master of the Mystic Sect be a debauched ruler obsessed with beauty than a tyrannical, murderous madman.

Sang Chiyu reached the end of the crowd and stood before Su Ruhui. The dancing girl on Su Ruhui’s lap looked up, saw Sang Chiyu, and immediately showed a terrified expression, quickly grabbing her cloak and running away. Sang Chiyu’s reputation as a killing god instilled fear in everyone; he came here, no one would guess he was here for pleasure.

Su Ruhui smiled and raised his cup, “Brother Sang.”

The man said nothing, his gaze fixed on Su Ruhui, cold as snow water.

Su Ruhui’s arm grew tired, so he simply put it down. “Brother, why do you dislike me? Did we know each other before?”

The man said expressionlessly, “The Grand Sect Master has ordered that you come with me.”

Su Ruhui sighed, looking up at the sky, “Good heavens, why am I still having so many troubles even after coming to the Snow Realm? Let’s make a deal, it’s far from the emperor here, can’t you just turn a blind eye?”

“Military precepts: no drinking, no debauchery, no singing or dancing, no killing without approval,” the man said indifferently, “You have broken three rules.”

“Do you know?” Su Ruhui smiled lazily, “My mother died young, and my father disappeared, which is pretty much like being an orphan. The good thing about being an orphan is that no matter how many bad things I do, no one will drag me home by the ear. Who knew someone would be so blind as to rush to be my father. Brother, I treat you as a brother, but you want to be my father. That’s not very kind.”

Su Ruhui stood up, raised his wine cup, shook it at him, and then drank it all in front of him. Su Ruhui was very arrogant, “I’m breaking the first three precepts now. If you don’t leave, I’ll break the fourth.”

The man lowered his eyes and looked at the empty wine cup. Su Ruhui didn’t know what he was thinking; his eyes were dark and deep, showing no emotion other than indifference.

“Hey…”

Before Su Ruhui could finish his sentence, the man struck, punching Su Ruhui in the abdomen. They were too close, and the man’s speed was too fast for Su Ruhui to dodge. A sharp pain spread throughout his chest and abdomen. Su Ruhui arched his back, vomiting all the wine and small goldfish he had drunk. The man took out a bundle of chains from behind his waist, bound Su Ruhui’s hands, and held the other end of the chains in his palm.

He held Su Ruhui’s nape with one hand and pulled the chains with the other, looking up at Jiang Xueya.

All the disciples in the hall were stunned. The music stopped, and the tower fell silent.

“From now on, he’s under my charge,” Sang Chiyu asked, “Do you have any objections?”

His expression clearly said, “If you dare to object, I’ll cut you down.”

“Sang Chiyu,” Jiang Xueya said, “Give me some face, he’s my brother. You remember, don’t you? The three of us had a connection when we were kids. Don’t be so heartless to an old friend.”

Connection? Su Ruhui thought, What connection do I have with this guy? This guy is even more arrogant than me. Do I know anyone this arrogant?

“I remember,” Sang Chiyu’s tone was cold, “That’s why I asked you before leaving, do you have any objections?”

Su Ruhui finally finished coughing and asked, “The three of us have a connection?”

“I’d feel guilty hitting a friend,” Jiang Xueya sighed, waving her hand, “Go.”

As soon as her voice fell, countless men in the hall rose with a shake of their sleeves, and saber glints flashed fiercely from beneath them. From all directions, they roared and charged forward. Sang Chiyu kicked Su Ruhui away, shifting the chains to his left hand. The refined iron chains rattled and stretched, and Su Ruhui tumbled down the stone steps, falling face first. Countless feet passed by him. The man in the center of the crowd drew his saber from his belt, carving a moon-like arc.

He didn’t draw his saber from its sheath; the black iron scabbard wielded in his hand was like a dark shadow. He swung his saber with incredible speed, and the sounds of breaking bones and screams rose and fell. Su Ruhui sat up, covering his head, and saw Sang Chiyu strike a half-naked man who was lunging at him with his knee. The man screamed and flew backward. Someone attacked from behind, and Sang Chiyu quickly spun around, his sleeves fluttering like butterfly wings. His black iron scabbard scraped against the opponent’s blade, creating a series of dazzling sparks.

Yet another person was sent flying, and he flew in Su Ruhui’s direction. This fellow was full of fat, and Su Ruhui’s slender frame couldn’t bear such weight. Su Ruhui was about to roll away, but the chains suddenly tightened, and he was pulled back by Sang Chiyu, narrowly missing the flying man above his head. The chains pulled him toward Sang Chiyu, and his chin hit Sang Chiyu’s shoulder, feeling like it hit an iron plate, painfully. Sang Chiyu caught him with one hand, and with the other, took out a crossbow from under his armpit, firing three arrows that struck the last resisting disciple. Everyone in the hall fell to the ground, rolling and wailing.

Su Ruhui raised his face, meeting Sang Chiyu’s eyes. In the instant their gazes met, Su Ruhui matched this guy with the person hidden in his memories. Time surged around them, flowing back like a tide to seven years ago, by the gurgling stream of Zhuluo Mountain, where Su Ruhui had playfully called him “wife.” Su Ruhui never imagined that the obedient little wife who used to wash his socks would grow into this cold and indifferent young man, and one who was so ruthless!

Only three people remained unharmed: Su Ruhui, Sang Chiyu, and Jiang Xueya, who was sitting not far away.

Jiang Xueya rubbed her forehead, “Little brother, I tried my best. Have a good journey.”

Su Ruhui’s eyes curved into a smile, “Ah, I remember who you are.”

Sang Chiyu’s body stiffened.

“You’re my wife,” Su Ruhui whispered with a chuckle in his ear, “You’re Yu’er.”

Sang Chiyu said nothing, pushed him away, and pulled him along with the chains.

Su Ruhui laughed loudly, “Fine, being managed by my wife, I accept it.”