Chapter 51 Ye Jianqing: I just need you to raise me.

The dry firewood crackled and popped in the stove, emitting a faint glow. Lu Buwen saw Zhou Yongyin's face flickering between light and shadow, his mouth opening and closing as if he were saying something, but he couldn't make out what he was saying.

Everything was like a distorted painting; the smooth, gentle lines had turned into a jumble of sharp, jagged stalks, trapping him inside. He kept colliding with them but couldn't find a way out.

"What...did you just say?"

Lu Buwen would rather have injured his ears at this moment than drag his two weak legs here listening to people talk about Ye Jianqing's death. Silence and confusion, helplessness became the last color in his heart at this moment.

"She... Uncle Zhou, are you joking? Is it that Jianqing doesn't want to see us, so she made you say these things? She's still alive and well, right?"

"Ah Su hasn't even spoken to her yet, this can't be true."

"Her grave is on the back hill. You can go and see it. She wrote the name on it herself."

The small square table was laden with food. Zhou Yongyin wasn't exaggerating; his cooking was indeed delicious and visually appealing. Jiang Yu hadn't eaten in a long time, so he specially chose a large bowl. He and Shen Jiuxu sat on one side of the table, and he also got a large bowl for Shen Jiuxu.

Lian Quesheng and Xi Chuang sat on the other side. Even he, who was usually picky, was surprised. The chicken was firm and tender, and the wild mushrooms picked from the mountain were small but stewed to perfection.

Lian Quesheng ate two bowls of rice before noticing that Lu Buwen, who was sitting next to him, looked unwell and hadn't touched his food for a long time.

"Dad, why aren't you eating?"

He picked up another clean pair of chopsticks from the table and put half a bowl of food in Lu Buwen's bowl. Just as he was about to put the bowl down, someone pressed his hand down. The hand was wide enough to cover Lian Quesheng's hand, and the wrinkles left by the years were clearly visible on it.

Lian Quesheng was a little shy when Lu Buwen held his hand down, and a large area behind his ears turned red. Even at his age, he was still a little uncomfortable with being touched by his parents, especially his father.

"You eat, I'm full."

Not wanting to waste the old man's good intentions, Lu Buwen pushed the bowl in front of Lian Quesheng. Seeing that everyone at the table was looking at him, he didn't want to affect other people's mood, so he made up an excuse to brush it off.

"I guess I'm a little disoriented from being on the boat for so long. My legs hurt, but they're all old injuries, so don't worry about me. You guys eat."

"Dad, did you bring your medicine? If you didn't, I'll go down the mountain and find a pharmacy to get you some. If Mom finds out I didn't take good care of you, I'll be the one who gets a beating." Lian Quesheng said hurriedly, his gaze moving from top to bottom to Lu Buwen's legs covered by a blanket.

"Father, Father—"

Lu Buwen seemed not to have heard him at all. He pushed the wheelchair to the back, where tall, dense trees enveloped him, casting a shadow that made him almost blend into the gray-clad man.

“Master, should I go down the mountain now and find a doctor to take a look?” Xi Chuang was also worried, so he offered. He was about to get up from the stool when he saw that Zhou Yongyin had already gotten up and waved to them, “No need, you guys are not familiar with this place. I have lived here for decades. I’ll go instead.”

"Besides, I know exactly what medicinal herbs are in these mountains, so don't worry."

“Grandfather lives alone most of the year and has learned some medical skills, so there’s no need to worry,” Jiang Yu comforted him. He was always observant, and Lu Buwen wasn’t the type to casually expose his injuries to them. He guessed that Lu Buwen and Zhou Yongyin were hiding something from them this time.

The wheels chug along, and Zhou Yongyin, pushing the person, had already disappeared from sight. They continued until they reached the back mountain, where large swathes of red maple trees were planted. Since it was not yet the season, the leaves were still green, and occasionally a few withered yellow leaves mixed with some bright red could be seen swaying and floating on the ground.

This is her grave.

It was a simple earthen mound about half a person's height, with a wooden plank stuck in front of it. It was far from being a grave.

"It was Miss Ye's own request."

Lu Buwen saw the small characters on the wooden board. They were simple and unadorned, with only three characters carved on it: Ye Jianqing.

How did she die?

"When Jiang Yu was born, he was weak and sickly, and he didn't even cry. Miss Ye and the man next to her asked me to find a doctor. The doctor said that he wouldn't live for more than a few days and that no medicine would help. He suggested that we just let him live for a few more days so that if he really died, we wouldn't be sad after a while."

Zhou Yongyin sighed. The birds in the forest were probably used to him coming here every day. Some of the birds, which were only a few months old, would fly to his shoulder when they saw him, pecking at his clothes with their tender red beaks.

He reached out, his rough fingertips stroking the fledgling's feathers with a tender expression, as if he remembered Jiang Yu, who was also soft and frail when he was a child, holding him in his arms. Jiang Yu's pale and thin face had a pair of bright black eyes looking at him, pitiful and endearing.

"But the two of them didn't believe me and entrusted the child to me to go out and find a way to save him."

"Uncle Zhou, please, Jianqing, take care of him for a few days. As soon as Liguang and I find the medicine, we will rush back as fast as we can." The woman was still weak from giving birth, and her pale yellow dress looked very large on her, with empty arms that could only be heard rustling in the wind.

The man next to him was handsome, but he kept coughing, and his face was as pale as paper. At that time, Zhou Yongyin even suspected that the whole family of three were sickly.

He softened, and even though he had never taken care of a child before, and the child was sick, Zhou Yongyin still agreed and took on this heavy responsibility.

During that period, Zhou Yongyin, who had no blood relation to the child, was constantly anxious and unable to sleep. He would wake up several times every night to carefully check the breathing of the baby wrapped tightly in blankets next to him.

Time passed second by second. Zhou Yongyin held Jiang Yu in his arms for several days. Seeing the young child's complexion getting worse and worse, he was filled with grief but was powerless to do anything. He began to hope day after day that the couple would return soon.

“They did come back. I don’t know what they used, but they definitely saved the child’s life.”

"And then, there was another man with Jianqing, but why have neither A-Su nor I ever heard her mention him?"

Lu Buwen didn't know how to express his current feelings. He met Ye Jianqing and Lian Chisu at an inn.

At the time, the group was young and impetuous, and their friendship could be described as one that blossomed from a fight. However, since his cultivation level was the lowest and his swordsmanship was a mess, he was naturally no match for Ye Jianqing and Lian Chisu.

In the years that followed, he tried to pester Lian Chisu all day long because he liked her, but Lu Buwen never saw any man who was very close to Ye Jianqing.

When he first saw Jiang Yu's face, he was shocked. He never imagined that Ye Jianqing would marry someone else behind his and Lian Chisu's backs.

"His name is Li Guang, and that's all I know."

"Li Guang?" Lu Buwen's expression changed drastically in an instant. He seemed to know who Li Guang was. Ye Jianqing was skilled with knives, especially heavy knives. The knife in the long-standing legend of "one knife, two swords, crescent hook" was the knife Ye Jianqing used, named Li Guang.

He had always thought that Ye Jianqing didn't have any men around her, but he never expected that... that was actually the case.

"And then what happened? How did Jianqing and that... He Liguang die?"

"It's a long story."

Seeing that he was in a daze, Lu Buwen wanted to say something but didn't know how to start. The two of them looked at each other in silence in the lush greenery.

"Father, Father, are you feeling better?"

Lian Quesheng's voice came from behind again, startling the bird on Zhou Yongyin's shoulder, which flapped its wings and flew back to the tree.

"It's all better now."

Lu Buwen could only respond with a sound of agreement. Lian Quesheng looked him up and down and, seeing that he was indeed alright, relaxed. "So how are we going to sleep tonight? How about we share a room with Xichuang?"

His arrangement was very appropriate, and even Que Sheng couldn't help but applaud himself. But before he could complain, Lu Buwen shook his head first, "I'll go down the mountain to sleep. I'm not used to sleeping with you."

Lian Quesheng felt very helpless about his words. Although he had done some bad things to Lu Buwen when he was young, causing him to lose face, decades had passed, and Lian Quesheng did not expect that his father would hold a grudge so deeply.

"Buwen, why don't you stay with me? We can chat for a while."

Zhou Yongyin suddenly spoke up, and that was how the matter was settled. Although Jiang Yu found it strange, he didn't say anything. He saw that everyone had returned to their rooms one after another, leaving only the quacking ducks and Shen Jiuxu and the other two in the courtyard.

"They're all asleep. Do you want to come out with me?"

Jiang Yu hadn't been back for a long time and was in high spirits. Since Shen Jiuxu had also lived here for a while, he decided to take him around.

"good."

Among the layers of mountains, there is a spring with a half-broken stone above it. Over time, people gave this place a name: "Broken Stone Spring".

The mountains were quiet and cold at night, and the spring water was also chilly. Jiang Yu pulled Shen Jiuxu to sit on the rocks on either side. Shen Jiuxu was afraid that he would be cold, as he had just recovered from a cold a few days ago. So he took off his outer coat and hugged him, and the warm clothes enveloped the two of them together.

Jiang Yuren buried his face under his clothes, and his voice became a little distorted, sounding like a murmur after just waking up. "When I was a child, because I had never met my parents, the children down the mountain thought I was different from them, so they liked to say all sorts of nonsense. But I didn't listen, so I picked up stones and threw them back."

As he spoke, he bent down and picked up a stone, playing with it in his palm. “This kind of stone is perfect for hitting people. It can be thrown very far. But I was still young then and couldn’t run fast. Some older kids liked to chase me. So I learned to climb trees and hide in the tallest tree. The leaves covered me so those kids couldn’t see me.”

With a "thud," the stone was thrown far away.

“Like this, they don’t know who threw it, so they can’t tell their parents. My grandfather favored me. Even when the other children came to complain, he would never scold me. He would even teach me swordsmanship to protect myself. When I first started practicing swordsmanship, I learned it from a book he bought at a bookstall down the mountain.”

Shen Jiuxu looked down at him, but could only see a furry head. Jiang Yu buried his head in his chest, like a fox hugging its own tail.

“Our Jiang Yu is exceptionally talented. He can easily win first place in the sect competition with just a little learning,” Shen Jiuxu said softly, stroking Jiang Yu’s smooth hair with one hand. “Teach me next time, okay? I’ll throw stones at them.”

A few flower buds nudged Shen Jiuxu's arm, and he calmly stuffed the stones they offered into Jiang Yu's hand, saying, "The flower buds are giving us two stones; we can't use them all."

Jiang Yu bit his lip and hugged Shen Jiuxu's waist tightly with both hands. The grievances he had suffered as a child seemed to be completely released at this moment. Those days when he hid alone in the tree had been hidden in his mind for a long time.

He tried his best to forget, but it still lingered in his memory. It wasn't until tonight, when he hid under Shen Jiuxu's clothes and was held in Shen Jiuxu's arms, that Jiang Yu finally spoke for the first time. The warmth of Shen Jiuxu's body felt like the swaddling clothes of his childhood, bringing him the ultimate sense of security.

“My grandfather never talked to me about my parents, but he often went to the back mountain and stared at the grave. Then one time, he got drunk and I asked him, and he finally admitted that my mother was in there.”

“I asked him what about my father, and my grandfather said he was in there too, but his name wasn’t on it.” Jiang Yu’s voice grew softer and softer, and Shen Jiuxu listened to him quietly. “Actually, I know that Uncle Lu and the others know my mother. He brought this up on his own initiative, probably to find my mother.”

"Although I have never met her, my grandfather said that I look so much like her, as if we were made from the same mold."

As Shen Jiuxu looked at the slightly upturned corners of his eyes, an image of a graceful woman appeared in his mind. A woman who could make the leader of Bailuzhou remember her for so many years must not be an ordinary person.

"Your mother will definitely like you very much."

Jiang Yu suddenly looked up and kissed Shen Jiuxu on the chin, meeting his slightly puzzled gaze. "Grandfather said that Mother loves flowers. There is a withered flower in her room, and she bows to it three times every day."

"If she were still here, and you turned back into a tree, she would definitely water you every day and make you grow lush and leafy."

"Your mother and father are together, so I only need you to support them." Shen Jiuxu slowly moved his hand up and placed it on the back of Jiang Yu's neck. He stared at Jiang Yu's rosy lips and kissed them.

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Author's note: If we were to give Shen Jiuxu and Jiang Yu a couple name, what would it be?

A tree branch and a little fox?

Tree branch and his flowers

Rule-abiding Guy and Narcissistic Guy

Pretending to be something you're not, and being both incompetent and playful (referring to sex) [inexperienced dog]

What do you think? Is there anything better?