Chapter 13#

Hua Jinian’s face was a little confused and slightly red. After hearing these words, he still couldn’t bear to take his eyes off Hua Qianjue. All his intelligence had vanished without a trace. Because of this, he curled up his body, held Hua Qianjue’s neck, and tilted his head for a long time before understanding the boy’s meaning. Once he understood, his hands began to tremble. He felt that in that person’s eyes, he had become like the filthy rags and withered leaves on the ground. In the deepest part of his heart… the secret he was most afraid of people knowing was known by his most hated enemy. All dignity and pride ceased to exist. He was like a fledgling beaten back to its original form, burying his head deeply in Hua Qianjue’s chest. His heart was in chaos, and he choked out: “Father, Father, kill him—”

The green-robed boy covered his wound which had gradually stopped bleeding, staggered to Qiuyi’s side, helped her up, protected her in his arms, and comforted softly: “It’s okay, Qiuyi, don’t be afraid. I caused the trouble, I will bear it myself. I… will definitely let you see Brother Pinzhen safely.”

As he spoke, he took a deep breath, looked at Hua Qianjue, and suddenly revealed a bright smile: “Fortress Master, since parting at Mid-Autumn, I have missed you dearly.”

Hua Jinian was greatly shocked upon hearing this. In just an instant, he understood what idea he was actually planning. His face turned pale, and his hands hugged Hua Qianjue’s neck tightly. Hearing these words, the man looked at his face silently, seeming to remember something.

The green-robed boy hugged Qiuyi tightly. At this life-and-death juncture, he seemed to smile charmingly as if putting all his eggs in one basket: “Does the Fortress Master not remember? On the beautiful Mid-Autumn Festival, I had a brief romance with the Fortress Master. If the Fortress Master felt that my performance that night was satisfactory, I am willing to return to the fortress with the Fortress Master and apologize properly to the Fortress Master. I only beg the Fortress Master to spare this little girl’s life.”

Hua Jinian’s mind went blank. In a trance, he hugged Hua Qianjue’s neck, his head leaning tightly against the man’s head, begging repeatedly: “Father, kill him, please, kill him…”

The man looked at Hua Jinian’s distracted appearance, and unexpectedly, there was a rare faint warmth in his eyes. He reached out to check Hua Jinian’s pulse. Seeing that his sea of qi was empty, he knew that his internal force was greatly consumed. Then he reached out to roll up the boy’s sleeves and saw that Hua Jinian’s body was covered with bruises, and there were large abrasions on his face and elbows, but no muscles or bones were injured. So he stretched his long arm, put him back on the ground, and sneered: “If you don’t want me to take him back, if you find him an eyesore, then go and compete with him again to see who is better. I said before, if you want to kill someone, no matter which favorite concubine or favored minister, as long as you can kill them, just go ahead and kill them. What’s the use of begging me?”

As soon as these words came out, the others were all shocked. Hua Qianjue scolded word by word: “You shouldn’t have forgotten that what I hate most is my own son behaving like a little girl! Think about whose blood flows in you, who taught you your martial arts. You… should show your ability, don’t embarrass me.”

The green-robed boy looked at Hua Qianjue with a bitter smile and said: “Truly worthy of being the Fortress Master… Seeing that I possess martial arts, how could you not know that I had ulterior motives from the beginning? Your method of teaching your son is really unique. Although the words are unpleasant, in fact… as long as it can temper the Young Master’s ability, no matter favorite ministers or concubines, they can be discarded like worn-out shoes. Truly, truly deep love for the calf.”

Hua Jinian closed his eyes abruptly and opened them again, seeming to have woken up from the brief trance. He answered faintly: “Jinian knows his mistake.” Hearing this sentence, the corner of Hua Qianjue’s mouth raised an evil arc. He patted his head rarely, and unexpectedly didn’t glance at the green-robed boy again.

The green-robed boy’s eyes were cold and ruthless, but his face became more humble: “It really is a destined calamity. Before seeing the Fortress Master’s martial arts, I didn’t know the Fortress Master’s profound internal strength. After seeing the Fortress Master’s martial arts, I know even less about the depth of the Fortress Master’s internal strength…”

Hua Jinian interrupted faintly: “When did you become so long-winded? Let’s compete again…”

The green-robed boy looked at him for a while and suddenly said: “Today’s grievances, if I burn my boats, it will be nothing more than mutual destruction. I will take three palms from you. If I don’t die, please forgive when possible, Young Master.”

Qiuyi struggled and whimpered in his arms, but was pushed away by the boy and protected by his side. Hua Jinian was about to refuse with a sneer, but found the green-robed boy making a gesture to him. So he hesitated and stepped forward a few steps, only to hear the boy chuckle: “If you don’t even agree to this, I will tell your father the truth. Tell him who borrowed my face that night…”

Hua Jinian’s face turned livid upon hearing this. Finally, he stopped thinking too much and sneered: “You are seeking death yourself. I will respectfully obey.” As he spoke, he forced himself to raise his internal force, spat out qi quickly, and printed three palms on his chest continuously. Every time Hua Jinian stepped forward to strike a palm, the boy took a step back. When the last move of Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain was finished, the boy had retreated about a zhang away. The wound on his chest burst open, and he vomited blood incessantly from his mouth, swaying, but struggling to stand straight all the time.

He panted and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth hard, looked at Hua Jinian and smiled: “You’d better remember, my name is Ruan Xiyu… If I am lucky enough not to die, you and I will…” Qiuyi rushed over from the side, helped Ruan Xiyu up, took a deep look at Hua Jinian, and then staggered into the depths of the woods. Hua Jinian stared at them walking away, suddenly clutched his chest hard, and coughed violently. The jade on his neck was scorching hot as if it wanted to burn people.

Hua Qianjue watched from the side and said faintly: “That person is ruthless enough and smart enough. He saw that your internal force was exhausted, so he risked half his life to force you to use your internal force again…” Watching Hua Jinian coughing harder and harder, he finally reached out to help him up and asked: “How old are you? What kind of grievances are worth you using moves that perish together in every strike?”

Hua Jinian coughed until his body arched up, and smiled bitterly: “There is hatred. But getting to the bottom of it… it’s still because we find each other an eyesore. No one will like someone whose appearance, conversation, temperament, and intelligence are similar to their own, right?”

There seemed to be some disdain in Hua Qianjue’s eyes. He turned around, clapped his hands, and shouted: “Cui’er, send him back.”

Following his shout, a woman in palace attire walked out slowly from behind a giant tree. Her long skirt dragged on the ground, her head was full of pearls and emeralds, and her bun was high, setting off her long black eyebrows, adding a bit of charm stained with wind and frost. Hua Jinian supported himself on the man’s arm, slowly straightened his body, smiled gently at the woman, and said: “Thank you for finding someone to save me.”

Hua Qianjue waved his hand: “Cui’er, his internal force is leaking. Take him back to the fortress and ask Wu Qiuping to take a look. I still have to deal with the aftermath…” As he spoke, he looked up at the still gloomy sky. His long black hair was messed up by the wind under the dark sky curtain.

The woman bowed slightly and smiled charmingly: “Yes.” After speaking, she supported Hua Jinian, and the two walked silently towards Futu Fortress. When they reached the main gate of Futu Fortress on the top of the mountain, they suddenly heard a long and clear whistle. The low part was like water falling and stones appearing, the melodious part was like wind passing through a bamboo forest, the sorrowful part was like the setting sun’s residual shine, and the high-pitched part was like a crane soaring into the sky. Hua Jinian looked panicked. He looked back, his scattered long hair rolled up by the strong wind. He saw the birds all over the sky urged by this whistle, flying into the air one after another. For a time, sparrows and birds soared all over the mountain. The sound of flapping wings was as loud as thunder. And the whistle was still like a grand bell, deafening, piercing through the haze cast by the flock of birds passing by, making tigers and lions all over the mountain roar in harmony.

Hua Jinian stared at the flock of birds that took several incense sticks of time to fly past, murmuring again, his face looking both happy and worried. He felt the woman beside him suddenly tighten her grip on his hand. Only then did he look back at her, smiling as if he didn’t care, and asked softly: “Tianxiang, why did he call you Cui’er? Why did he agree to come… when you begged him?”

The woman’s body trembled slightly, as if some hidden secret had been discovered. But in the end, she let out a low laugh: “Cui’er was the name when I served Madam Red Clothes before. Probably the Fortress Master got used to calling it before. As for other things, just as the Little Young Master thought, among the Fortress Master’s thirty-six female attendants, which one hasn’t been favored by the Fortress Master? His concubines, his women, begging him for something, what is inappropriate about that?”

As Tianxiang spoke, she laughed loudly: “Do you feel disgusted? So… as long as the Little Young Master is in this fortress for a day, there is no need to worry about being disgusted for a day. Nothing makes people feel more disgusted than the admiration and romance in Futu Fortress.”

Hua Jinian looked at her for a while, reached out and slapped her hard, making that piercing laughter suddenly quiet down. Hua Jinian looked at her, took out a clean white handkerchief from his bosom, wiped his hands, and threw it on the ground casually. “Get out.” He said to the woman.

He saw the woman stiffen there, as if she hadn’t seen it, still laughing low: “So you are not Sister Tianxiang. You are my mother’s maid, you are my father’s concubine, and you said you liked me…” He suddenly roared: “Is it really interesting to lie to me? Get out!”

—“These fourteen years of never leaving or abandoning, in my heart, are deeper than blood relations.”

The setting sun shone with residual light, tired birds returned to their nests.

The green-robed boy was held in someone’s arms, pulling that person’s light yellow brocade robe, galloping on a white horse. He tried hard to open his eyelashes stuck by blood, but was covered by a gentle hand. He smiled and pulled that person’s sleeve: “Brother Pinzhen?”

That person responded, clamped the horse’s belly hard, and said softly: “Qiuyi left a message for me. Fortunately, I made it in time. Someone has simply treated your wound for you. Who that person is, I will definitely go to thank him personally another day… Ah, be good, don’t move. We are going back to Bizhou. I will ask my father for the Huanzhen Pill.”

—Who treated your wound? Hearing this sentence, the boy giggled. He had never thought before that just preparing a birthday gift for that person privately, a peerless martial art, wanting to secretly put it in the treasure pavilion, would encounter such a world-destroying variable. A crescent-shaped silver ring appeared on the little finger of the boy’s right hand. Just in that deep forest just now, the boy met the leader of the Cold Moon Sect. He gained favor because of a fight. Just because he needed that leader to save him, needed to continue living, he had no choice but to wear this ring symbolizing a certain status. Only by living can he continue to lean in this warm embrace.

Hua Jinian lay in bed for more than half a month because of this injury. What he saw every day was either Wu Qiuping sitting by the bed, turning two goose-egg-sized Vajra beads with his right hand non-stop, or Su Meiniang shaking a feather fan lightly by the bed. He could be considered ill-fated.

At this time, Hua Jinian was supporting his forehead with one hand and reading “Gongyang Chunqiu” with the other. Wu Qiuping was boiling Polygonum multiflorum and dried tangerine peel beside him, complaining repeatedly: “Little Young Master, this poor Daoist hasn’t seen the fragrance of cosmetics for a full half month this time.”

The boy looked up at him and said faintly: “Sorry to trouble Uncle Wu. If you want any girl in the fortress, just go find her yourself. But don’t do it in Chaohua Pavilion. I feel disgusted when I see women.”

Wu Qiuping was stunned for a moment and almost laughed loudly: “Could it be that the Little Young Master is impotent? Red fragrance and green thinness, thousands of enchantments, are all in this cosmetic powder.”

Hua Jinian sneered and threw the book casually, saying: “Uncle Wu is full of cosmetic fragrance and powder fragrance, love between men and women. As a hall master, how can you indulge in the clouds and rain of Wushan?”

Wu Qiuping was stunned, thinking that Hua Jinian’s sore spot had been hit by someone, and at this time he was taking his anger out on him for pointing out his ‘impotence’. Instead, he said kindly: “It was this poor Daoist who misspoke. This poor Daoist apologizes to the Young Master. However, this poor Daoist is unique in taking medicine, treating diseases, and refining pills. If the Little Young Master really has this stubborn disease, I will also take some tiger bone and tiger penis, and put them into the medicine, guaranteeing…”

Hua Jinian’s handsome face turned slightly red, and he raised his voice slightly and shouted: “Hall Master Wu!” Seeing Wu Qiuping’s surprised face, he also knew that he indeed had no malice, and he had watched him grow up since childhood. In the next sentence, he softened his tone again, tilted his head and forced a smile: “Uncle worries too much. Jinian feels that a woman’s heart is like a needle in the sea. Who in the world can understand what they are hiding? Once they hide it, it’s for more than ten years… It’s really killing people.”

Wu Qiuping looked at him and smiled: “Which maid would be willing to hide from the Little Young Master? This poor Daoist has also traveled among mountains and rivers. The graceful people in the righteous path of the world may not be like the Little Young Master.”

Hua Jinian shook his head and smiled bitterly: “Uncle Wu, Jinian is serious.” As he spoke, he raised his eyes. Wu Qiuping saw that the contours of his eyes were gentle, and the corners of his eyes were born with a faint blush. The eyes were full of sorrowful stars, vast waves rising a thousand feet. His heart suddenly felt sour with him. It took a lot of effort to force a smile: “Little Young Master, one must enjoy oneself to the fullest when one is proud in life… By the way, with your interruption, this poor Daoist almost forgot the good news I brought to the Little Young Master today.”

As he spoke, he pointed out the window and saw that the big trees in Chaohua Pavilion were wrapped with layers of red gauze. Hua Jinian felt that the red gauze burned and scratched his eyes, and blinked subconsciously. Wu Qiuping still said happily: “Look, everywhere outside the fortress is decorated with lanterns and festoons. The Little Young Master has been lingering on the sickbed recently, so he must not know that the Fortress Master is getting married.”