Chapter 28#

If You See SnowCh28 - I’m Really Going to Die#

CW: kidnapping and coercion

Su Ruhui carried the mulberries back to the stream, followed by Jiang Xueya and Zhou Xiaosu. Su Ruhui scrunched his face at them, “Didn’t you two say you weren’t going to play with us anymore? What are you doing following me?”

“We’re not here to play with you, we’re here to play with Yu’er.”

Zhou Xiaosu snorted and walked to the stream, but didn’t see Sang Chiyu. Only a wooden basin piled with Su Ruhui’s dirty socks lay on the ground. She asked in confusion, “Huh, where’s Yu’er?”

Su Ruhui was also puzzled, “He was just here a moment ago.”

Jiang Xueya peered into the stream. “Did Yu’er accidentally fall into the water and get swept away?”

“Pei pei pei, you crow’s mouth.” Su Ruhui, with his sharp eyes, spotted footprints on the ground. The footprints, one big and one small, stretched down the mountain. Su Ruhui frowned: “Someone came and took Yu’er away.”

Sang Chiyu followed Da Long down to  Zhuluo Town at the foot of the mountain. They walked along the high ridges of the fields, with terraced fields on both sides. Tofu-like mounds clung to the hillside, where farmers toiled with heads buried in the earth, their skin as dark as the soil. Sang Chiyu, dressed in pure white, stood out like a little fairy who had strayed into the mortal world. The villagers lived even worse lives than those in the city, their houses made of small stone huts. Da Long led Sang Chiyu to his doorstep, pushed open the fence, and let him into the courtyard. He pointed to the low stone house: “Su Ruhui is inside.”

“You’re lying to me, there’s no one inside.” Sang Chiyu tilted his ear to listen, but the room was extremely quiet, no voices at all.

Da Long’s expression didn’t change, “Maybe the village head took Su Ruhui away. I’ll go ask where Su Ruhui is. You go in and have some tea, wait for me a moment.”

Sang Chiyu said: “I’ll go with you.”

“You can’t!” Da Long refused too eagerly, causing Sang Chiyu to look at him. Looking into the clear and clear gaze of that little radish head made Da Long feel an involuntary pang of guilt. Su Ruhui hadn’t broken his leg at all. This was the first time he had ever deceived a child of a noble family, luring away a person worlds apart from himself. His heart pounded wildly as he changed the subject, “You’ve walked such a long way, aren’t you tired? Even a little bug would be half dead from exhaustion after walking a whole mountain path, how come you don’t even break a sweat? Are you sure you don’t want some tea and rest for a while?”

Sang Chiyu startled: “I’m tired, I want to drink tea.”

He kept Dantai Jing’s words in mind: he had to be like an ordinary person.

Da Long breathed a sigh of relief, opened the stone door, and forced himself to suppress his excitement as he watched Sang Chiyu step over the threshold into the pitch-black hut. The moment Sang Chiyu steadied himself inside, Da Long swiftly locked the door. Sang Chiyu turned around, his ink black pupils fixed on Da Long. In the dim light, meeting those eyes so closely, Da Long felt a sudden surge of doubt. He belatedly realized that from the stream to here, Sang Chiyu had never shown any joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness— like an emotionless porcelain doll. Da Long just assumed he was naturally slow-witted and didn’t think much of it. Excitement had already spread throughout his body; even his fingertips were trembling.

Better to be slow, he thought. Being slow means you won’t understand what’s about to happen.

He waved his hand, activating his secret arts. Water gushed out from the large vat in the corner, twisting into chains that tightly bound Sang Chiyu. Sang Chiyu looked down at the chains, his fine brows knitting together. Da Long comforted him in a soft voice, “Didi, don’t be scared. I’ll treat you well, even better than Su Ruhui. He made you wash his socks, but I won’t. There will be many, many servants to serve us in the future. As long as you behave and sleep naked with me, then get the whole town to see us, the Grandmaster will have to betroth you to me.”

Da Long rattled off a whole bunch of things, most of which Sang Chiyu didn’t understand. As usual, he remained silent when he encountered something he couldn’t comprehend.

Da Long drew closer to him. “Don’t worry, even though you can’t have children, your status is noble, and I won’t let you be a concubine. You are my lawful wife. Once I take a concubine and she bears children, those children will be yours to raise. You children from noble families have hoards of servants. Last time my parents took me to town to sell pork, I saw it—the young master of the Gao family had more slaves following him than the entire population of Zhuluo Town. Someday I’ll have that many servants too, and maybe even become the next grandmaster. The Grandmaster only has you as his one disciple. By marrying you, I will become the future grandmaster!”

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. With trembling hands, he reached out and removed Sang Chiyu’s white hood, unbuttoning the gold buttons on Sang Chiyu’s collar one by one. Sang Chiyu felt uneasy and frowned: “You lied to me. Ruhui gege isn’t here.”

“Ruhui gege, Ruhui gege, why are you always calling him Ruhui gege?” Da Long loathed this address. “You listen to me, you’re going to be my woman from now on. If you dare to call him Ruhui gege again, I’ll beat you like Uncle Zhong next door beats his wife.”

“I need to find Ruhui gege.” Sang Chiyu stood up, wanting to leave.

Enraged, Da Long shoved Sang Chiyu to the ground. Sang Chiyu’s forehead hit the ground, leaving a bloody mark the size of a copper coin.

“I told you not to call him Ruhui gege anymore! Why do you all like him? I also have secret arts, I’m the only one in the entire Zhuluo Town who has it! Why did I have to beg Ming Ruowu to take me as his disciple? I knelt on the ground crying and pleading with him, but he insisted that we weren’t fated! We’re both commoners, so why can Su Ruhui marry Jiang Xueya, Zhou Xiaosu, and you!” Da Long’s fury grew with every word. “If I were to become a disciple at Zhuluo Mountain, I would be ten thousand times stronger than him!”

Sang Chiyu freed one hand from the water chains and stubbornly crawled toward the door without saying a word.

“You dog-eyed aristocrats, disdaining others,” Da Long grabbed Sang Chiyu, choking him with his eyes red, “I get it now, You look down on me, think I’m lowly. Do you think I’m dirty, that I stink? That’s why you don’t want to marry me? You pretty boy, always dressed in white, do you think you’re some pure and innocent fairy? Today I’ll make you just as dirty, just as stinky as I am!”

Da Long held a death grip on Sang Chiyu, pressing his face against the ground. Da Long was so enraged that he didn’t notice his water chains had tightened further. Sang Chiyu couldn’t speak. His ribs snapped one by one like bamboo chopsticks. The air in his lungs decreased more and more. His dark eyes gradually lost their light, becoming empty.

Da Long gasped for breath as his rage gradually subsided, slowly regaining his senses. The child sprawled limply on the ground, as soft as a rag doll. He panicked and pulled Sang Chiyu up, but Sang Chiyu’s little face was deathly pale. He was already silent. Startled, he let go, and the child slumped limply back to the ground. He struggled to prop him upright, but without his support, he would collapse again. Da Long’s heart pounded faster and faster as he frantically shook Sang Chiyu, hoping to wake the child.

After a while, Da Long gradually realized that Sang Chiyu would never wake up again.

He had killed someone. Da Long thought in a panic, he had killed the Grandmaster’s personal disciple.

When his parents returned home, they nearly fainted upon seeing the child’s body on the ground. Da Long’s father gave him two slaps on the face, then took two puffs of his pipe, and made a terrible decision. The father and son carried Sang Chiyu to the back of the house and began digging a pit, shovel by shovel. Da Long’s mother, tears welling in her eyes, wrapped the child in a straw mat and picked up a shovel to help dig.

Bury the child, and no one will ever know Sang Chiyu died here.

Halfway through digging a pit, Da Long’s mother casually turned her head and discovered the straw mat was empty. All three turned pale with fright. Turning around, they saw the previously dead child standing expressionless to the side, filthy and covered in mud like a clay doll. Da Long lowered his shovel and muttered, “How…how is he alive?”

Da Long’s father said: “Perhaps he wasn’t quite dead yet.”

“Is anyone there!” The three heard someone shouting outside the fence.

Sang Chiyu turned to look in that direction, a glimmer of light appearing in his dark eyes. He called out hoarsely: “Ruhui gege.”

“We can’t let them find out this child is here!” Da Long’s father snapped to attention, lunging forward to cover Sang Chiyu’s mouth tightly, while simultaneously signaling to Da Long’s mother with his eyes. Da Long’s mother straightened her clothes, put on a smile, and went out to greet them. Outside the fence were three children. A girl looked eleven or twelve, and the two younger ones were perhaps only ten.

“Auntie, have you seen a child this tall? He’s wearing a white cloak, and very pretty.” The boy gestured to his chest.

“No,” Da Long’s mother rubbed her hands together, “Didn’t see one.”

Sang Chiyu listened to Su Ruhui’s voice, desperately trying to pry open Da Long’s father’s hand. Da Long’s father’s hand was too tight, like an iron plate welded to his mouth. Sang Chiyu couldn’t pry it open. Perhaps he could kill him with secret arts, but he remembered Dantai Jing’s words: he must never, ever, use Devour.

Once he uses his secret arts, they’ll discover he’s different from everyone else. At that point, will Ruhui gege still consider him his little brother, his wife?

Su Ruhui asked from outside, “Auntie, please think about it again. His footprints are heading towards town, but there are too many footprints in town. I don’t know which part he went to.”

Ruhui gege. Ruhui gege.

Sang Chiyu wanted to make a noise, wanted to run outside. He dug his fingers into Da Long’s father’s hand, leaving five deep bloody gashes.

“We really didn’t see him.” Da Long’s mother vehemently denied, “You should go look for him in other places, don’t let him get kidnapped by bad guys.”

“Okay,” Su Ruhui said impatiently, “then we’ll look elsewhere. If you see him, Auntie, remember to stop him and don’t let him wander off.”

“Of course of course, you should hurry and go find him.”

As Su Ruhui’s footsteps faded into the distance, Sang Chiyu’s eyes widened, tears streaming down his face. An unfamiliar emotion took root within him like a vine, a mixture of fear and sorrow. Was he going to die? Would he never see his Ruhui gege again? A flash of blue light surged through his meridians as spiritual energy erupted within his body. With strength he didn’t know he possessed, he forcefully pried open Da Long’s father’s hand.

Su Ruhui hadn’t yet gone far. Su Ruhui would surely hear him if he yelled. He opened his mouth, wanting to call out gege.

“Ge—”

Just as he was about to shout, a hand suddenly grabbed his hair from behind and slammed his head hard against a rock.

A large wound opened on his forehead, blood gushing out. Da Long, his eyes crimson with bloodshot, grabbed Sang Chiyu and slammed him against the rock, only stopping when blood was splattered all across it. The dirty child slid to the ground, his dark, lifeless pupils dyed red with blood.

“I didn’t mean it,” Da Long cried while saying, “I didn’t mean it, it’s your fault for not behaving, blame yourself.”

Da Long’s mother rushed back, urging him: “What are you standing around for, hurry up and bury him! If anyone important finds out, our whole family will be killed!”

Da Long’s father dripped with cold sweat, “Yesyesyes, he’s completely dead now. Bury him, bury him.”

Da Long’s mother knelt down to gather up Sang Chiyu’s body. She felt guilty, yet helpless. This child belonged to a noble family; if others found out that Da Long had abducted the child, their entire family would surely be torn apart limb from limb.

“Child, our whole family has wronged you. Rest in peace. May you be reborn into a good family in the next life and live a peaceful, safe life.”

As she muttered to herself, her fingers traced Sang Chiyu’s robes. This smooth silk was a fine fabric they peasants would never wear in a lifetime. Guilt sank away as greed took root in her heart. She could alter it and sew clothes for her grandson. He was dead anyway, keeping these clothes was pointless. Da Long’s mother stripped Sang Chiyu of his robes, leaving him half-naked on the straw mat.

Holding the garment, she lifted her head. Just as she was about to continue digging the pit, Da Long’s mother suddenly met a pair of emotionless eyes.

Sang Chiyu’s face was drenched in bright red blood, save for his eyes—an eerie, icy blue. Expressionless, he stared at the terrified, frozen-stiff mother. Da Long’s mother covered her mouth, desperately trying to stifle a scream. She watched helplessly as the child sat up on his own. Impossible. He was clearly dead, the wound on his head so severe, so much blood lost. How could he be alive? A faint glow, like fireflies, began to illuminate the child’s body. It seemed as though countless fireflies were hidden beneath his skin. His skin was unnaturally white, almost transparent.

“Alive again… alive again…” Da Long’s mother could barely form coherent words.

Sang Chiyu seemed to not hear her words, his gaze fixed on Da Long mother’s chest. That was the source of warm blood, the place where the human body’s vitality flowed most abundantly. His vision suddenly became strange. He saw the intricate network of meridians beneath her skin, complex and dense like a spider’s web. The aroma of flesh and blood drew him in, making his mouth go dry.

He furrowed his brow slightly and said: “I’m so hungry.”

He reached out a hand towards Da Long’s mother.

“Ahhhhhh—” A shrill scream pierced out from behind the stone house.

In the distance, Su Ruhui suddenly turned around.

He sprinted toward the source of the screams, with Jiang Xueya and Zhou Xiaosu chasing after him. He ran back to the house he had visited earlier, vaulted over the fence, and headed to the back of the house. There, he saw blood covering the ground, the bodies of a man and a woman lying horizontally on the floor. Sang Chiyu stood half-naked beside a pit, clutching the hair of a fourteen-year-old boy. The boy was half-dead, with a gaping hole in his chest. Sang Chiyu’s meridians glowed with an icy blue light. That light was still slowly circulating, as if the depths of his body hid a boundless sea of stars.

“Yu’er…” Su Ruhui called out to him in a daze.

Sang Chiyu slowly turned his head, ice blue eyes handing on Su Ruhui.

Su Ruhui had never seen such cold eyes before. Beneath Sang Chiyu’s gaze lay a frozen sea.

Is this a case of secret arts deviation? Su Ruhui quickly assessed the situation. Ming Ruowu specialized in treating complex ailments, and Su Ruhui had encountered numerous patients suffering from secret arts deviation. Those afflicted by it lost control over the secret arts within their bodies, descending into demonic madness, often ending in their bodies exploding to death.

Su Ruhui’s heart was filled with anxiety as he softly called out to Sang Chiyu: “Yu’er, do you still recognize me?”

“Recognize.” Sang Chiyu said.

Su Ruhui let out a sigh of relief. He could still recognize people; the situation wasn’t too bad. Su Ruhui slowly approached Sang Chiyu, trying to pacify his secret arts, “Yu’er, listen to me. Put him down. I’ll take you home. Come on, follow my breathing. Take a deep breath.”

Jiang Xueya and Zhou Xiaosu finally arrived, both panting heavily. Zhou Xiaosu saw the mess all around and started shrieking in horror. Jiang Xueya noticed Sang Chiyu’s unusual behavior and shouted: “A-Hui, don’t go over there!”

“It’s alright, Yu’er still recognizes me.”

As Su Ruhui spoke, he slowly approached Sang Chiyu, took his hand, and pried it open from the boy’s hair. Sang Chiyu’s hand was so cold, frozen, like it was dead. Su Ruhui vaguely sensed that something terrible had happened to Sang Chiyu. Su Ruhui thought: this was all his fault. He shouldn’t have left Yu’er all alone by the stream. Tears streaming down his face, he slipped off his outer robe and draped it over Sang Chiyu, buttoning it up for him one button at a time.

“Yu’er, it’s okay now. I’ll take you home.”

Jiang Xueya was sweating profusely with anxiety. She gritted her teeth: “Su Ruhui, you hurry up get back here! Don’t go near him, he’s completely lost himself! Let’s go find your master first!”

“You guys go,” Su Ruhui gently embraced Sang Chiyu. “I’ll stay here with Yu’er. This happened because I left Yu’er all by himself. I can’t leave again. Besides, Yu’er still recognizes me.”

“Recognize.”

Sang Chiyu tilted his head back. Within his field of vision, the spiritual energy coursing through Su Ruhui’s body was visible in every intricate detail, glowing in radiant splendor. He couldn’t see Su Ruhui’s face; he could only see Su Ruhui’s veins. The predatory desire within his bloodline was awakening, and the blood of his ancestors was boiling. Secret arts users tasted far sweeter than ordinary people. This truth came to him instinctively, without any teacher.

“You are food, and smell so good.” Sang Chiyu said softly.

Jiang Xueya and Zhou Xiaosu only saw Su Ruhui’s body stiffen, and then countless scarlet lines of blood emerged from his back. Something had pierced through Su Ruhui’s body, blood drip dropping down like beads onto the ground. Su Ruhui’s spiritual power surged towards Sang Chiyu. In less than ten breaths, Su Ruhui’s secret arts was completely destroyed.

“Shige—!” Zhou Xiaosu screamed in horror.

Su Ruhui nearly fainted from the pain. He looked down and saw numerous icy blue meridians extending from Sang Chiyu’s palm, slithering into his body like snakes. Su Ruhui dazedly thought, so this is Yu’er’s secret technique. It’s a bit terrifying. No wonder Yu’er never wanted to show it to them. Zhou Xiaosu was still shrilly screaming, almost shattering Su Ruhui’s eardrums. Hurry and go find Master ah, Su Ruhui thought this shimei of his was foolishly stupid beyond measure.

He embraced Sang Chiyu with his last bit of strength, lest Sang Chiyu kill him and then chase after Jiang Xueya and Zhou Xiaosu. Both of them were covered in blood, looking like two blood-soaked dolls.

“Yu’er, wake up quickly,” Su Ruhui’s voice grew softer and softer. “Or else I’m really going to die.”

His limbs grew colder and colder. Su Ruhui could barely stand anymore. Warm blood flowed from his body, and his spiritual energy dissipated rapidly. As the blood flow increased, Zhou Xiaosu ran off to call their master, leaving Jiang Xueya to watch over the two of them. More and more villagers gathered around, pointing and whispering. Sang Chiyu felt Su Ruhui’s warm blood seeping into his body, and a strange feeling reappeared, as if his heart had restarted after stopping. Sang Chiyu’s ice cold eyes regained their warmth once more, and in the very last second before he lost consciousness, Su Ruhui finally heard Sang Chiyu’s soft, trembling voice:

“Ruhui, gege.”