Chapter 117 Extra Chapter: Wu Liu (Part 1) It's when you can't express your liking that you truly feel...
To my two junior sisters:
Greetings.
The sect is doing well lately, though the Immortal Venerables are quite busy, and I've also been assigned tasks. However, none of them are major; a few days of work are nothing compared to the hard work my master and the others have put in.
How was your journey? Junior Sister Lin is with me and asked me to write down her recent activities. She's been studying array techniques with Aunt Chi, and their relationship has improved rapidly recently. The other day, Aunt Chi invited her to stay at her temple, and Junior Sister Lin was so happy that she ran around on Guyu Peak for five weeks, then plunged into the river, startling all the fish that Master was raising.
Furthermore, she learned Qiao's methods, but some disapproved. She would issue a challenge and beat them mercilessly on the arena. Now, the male disciples in the sect avoid her, but the other disciples have gradually come to like her. Isn't that interesting? Junior Sister Lin has become a big celebrity!
There is one more thing I think I must tell you…
-
like.
Lu Changqing didn't really understand this kind of feeling.
Everyone around her treated her well, and she naturally liked them and wanted to express it. She always had a smile on her face, and her mother had said that such people were likable. Being liked by others meant she wasn't lonely when she was alone; wherever she went, people would recognize her and smile gently at her.
With more people around, Lu Changqing's previously empty heart began to feel slightly filled. But liking is different from loving. Liking is what she could say without restraint when she was seven years old, nestled in her mother's arms; it's the warmth she felt when she opened the window at twelve and saw swallows returning home in the morning after taking on heavy responsibilities; and it's the feeling she could never have for another person after leaving home at fifteen.
She lacked a childhood, had no playmates, and never experienced the stirrings of first love. She was consumed by waiting until she was fifteen, when she was finally freed, completely freed.
Liking and fondness are different.
What exactly are the differences?
The autumn air was crisp and clear. The young girl walked briskly along the path strewn with fallen maple leaves. Several fellow disciples greeted her with smiles, their eyes filled with affection for the child, and offered her several persimmons from their fruit baskets. Lu Changqing accepted the persimmons, smiling sweetly, her voice clear and melodious: "Thank you, senior sisters!"
This is liking.
The senior female students left, and the young man wandered around, eventually ending up in a grove he frequented.
There's a lake there, full of vitality; it's very comfortable to sit beside it, a great place to relax. There are also many flat pebbles, enough to skip several stones across the water.
Lu Changqing carefully selected a few pebbles for a long time before finally picking them up and placing them in his palm. He aimed at the water's surface and flicked his wrist. A beautiful spray of water rose, accompanied by a clear, melodious sound.
She was about to throw another one when she heard someone call out behind her: "Lu Changqing."
Surprise appeared on his face, but he suppressed it as he turned around, his eyes crinkling with a smile: "Little Five."
She generously gave up her spot on the stone for Wu Zhuyue, but Wu Zhuyue, who was always oblivious to her kindness, found a tree stump to sit on instead.
The girl tossed the pebbles aside, as if they weren't something she had spent time looking for, but rather something she had just grabbed at random.
"What made you suddenly decide to look for me?" Lu Changqing noticed her hands were tucked behind her back. "What are you hiding? It's not some snack, is it?"
Wu Zhuyue did not answer, but simply shrank her arms, as if hiding herself even more deeply.
She chuckled and leaned closer. "I'm not your mother, I won't interfere with your snacks."
Xiao Wu has always been very interesting.
The moment Lu Changqing saw Wu Zhuyue, she sensed an aura that kept strangers at bay, and she became very wary. Having a distinguished past, most of the people she'd met were smooth and diplomatic; even children were polite and approachable, speaking with tact and humility. Over time, she'd grown tired of them.
But Wu Zhuyue possessed a naiveté that was completely different from these people. She would coldly refuse Lu Changqing, telling her to get lost or not to bother her, as if she were covered in thorns, which would stand up whenever Lu Changqing got close.
So she wanted to see if Wu Zhuyue would change if she got closer. What would she be like if she wasn't so indifferent?
So after much thought, Lu Changqing finally confessed his feelings to her. Those two precious words touched the young man's heart, and he broke through the ice layer by layer to see the warm lake water below, and her trembling pupils and her blushing face.
But Lu Changqing also knew that his feelings for Wu Zhuyue probably didn't even qualify as liking, let alone love. Because she would still feel lonely, would still miss home at night, would toss and turn reading letters from home, and find it hard to sleep.
My mother once said that if you have someone you love by your side, you won't feel lonely.
So even with Wu Zhuyue right in front of her, her sorrow remained unresolved. The young man was like his fellow disciples, except he had a few more sharp edges that made one want to smooth them out.
At this moment, she softened, and Lu Changqing felt a loss of interest. However, her aloof eyebrows and eyes were still beautiful, like brushstrokes drawn with light ink, still growing. Who knows what she will look like in a few years?
Wu Zhuyue dawdled for a while, and when Lu Changqing peeked out, she quickly dodged, making sure Lu Changqing couldn't see what she was hiding behind her. After a few rounds, the boy got tired of playing and stopped in place.
She didn't have the energy to act cute or charming today, and just said softly, "Little Five, I was just punished by Master and confined, and you're teasing me like this, you cold-hearted bastard."
Wu Zhuyue finally shook her head as if she had mentally prepared herself, "I wasn't teasing you."
She took a deep breath, took out the things behind her, fiddled with them for a bit, and presented them to Lu Changqing.
A kite that wasn't particularly well-made, but was perfectly symmetrical. It could only be folded up at that moment, seemingly because some mechanism had been added to make it foldable.
Wu Zhuyue said, "Since you entered the sect, you have taken great care of me. This is a token of my gratitude."
She didn't give Lu Changqing the right to refuse, and directly shoved it into his hand. Before he could say anything, Wu Zhuyue raised her hand and rubbed her ears, trying to hide her bright red earlobes.
It was just a gift, yet it seemed as if she were revealing some unspeakable secret. Lu Changqing was much more composed in this regard; he probably didn't feel the slightest bit awkward when he was breaking off the flower branch and placing the jade pendant that night.
Lu Changqing took the kite, examined it for a long time, and finally asked, "What is this?"
Wu Zhuyue was taken aback: "A kite, or do you usually call it a paper kite? Is it because I made it so badly that you can't recognize it?"
“No,” Lu Changqing pinched the wing of the kite, “I’ve never played with one before.”
"Doesn't your mother take you kite flying?" Wu Zhuyue blinked, never expecting that someone so old would not even know what a kite was. In her brief childhood memories, her mother would take her out to fly kites on sunny and windy days.
I learned kite-making skills from my mother, but I was still rusty, so I secretly asked Senior Sister Lin to help me correct them once.
Lu Changqing countered with a question: "Will Aunt Yi bring tea with her?"
Wu Zhuyue understood the meaning behind her words and shook her head helplessly. She didn't understand Lu Changqing's pastimes either. While she was catching crickets and grasshoppers, eating malt candy and flying kites, Lu Changqing was learning tea ceremony, calligraphy and painting and playing the zither. They were always in different worlds, but in the end, they still met here.
“However,” Lu Changqing suddenly smiled, recalling the group of boys his mother had taken in a long time ago, “I’ve also seen people playing similar things.”
They had also discussed a child who hadn't come with them and wondered if she was safe. Now, with the finest dyes and fabrics, they could make even more beautiful and sturdy kites, but the people who knew how to make kites were nowhere to be found.
Xiao Wu, could that person be you?
If that's the case, then we probably already knew each other.
However, the Nine Realms are so vast that those who know how to make kites are not few and far between. Lu Changqing dismissed this absurd idea and handed the kite back.
"Teach me how to put it."
"Okay." Wu Zhuyue agreed readily this time, tied the string, and let her hold the other end in her hand. "There are too many trees here, it's easy for it to get caught on the branches, let's put it somewhere else."
Logically speaking, Lu Changqing should have said something.
For example, "Xiao Wu is so nice, I like you so much"; or "After teasing him a bit, I whisper in his ear, 'I like you very much.'"
But she couldn't speak at that moment. She just smiled, nodded, and said, "Okay, let's go to Guyu Peak."
"Didn't Aunt Ruan just punish you by forbidding you from leaving the sect?" Wu Zhuyue raised her eyes. "You're still hanging around in front of her. Is that alright?"
She had heard that Lu Changqing had made several mistakes in identifying medicine a few days ago, and Ruan Luoying punished him by confining him for several days. He was only recently released, but he was not allowed to leave the sect, so that he could learn his lesson.
It wasn't a serious mistake, but the reason for being so ruthless was twofold. Firstly, although True Lord Cangling was easy to talk to, he was extremely strict with his students, as evidenced by Tang Huairou's meticulous approach to everything. Secondly, young students naturally needed stricter punishments to leave a deeper impression and set a good example.
"Don't bring up things you shouldn't talk about. Master is punishing me, but he doesn't hate me. Why would he not even want to see me?" Lu Changqing seemed to remember something and teased, "You don't think that being punished means Master is cold-hearted, do you? That would be too hard. Wouldn't you always feel like you're walking on thin ice?"
Wu Zhuyue remained silent for a long while before sighing, "Yes, I was overthinking it."
They rode their flying mounts to Guyu Peak and stopped on a wide-open meadow. Wu Zhuyue told Lu Changqing to put down the kite, then grabbed her hand and suddenly started running.
Lu Changqing was somewhat bewildered, but he still followed her, holding the string in one hand and being led by the other, running faster and faster.
The wind howled, and everything around disappeared. Everything was changing. Only Wu Zhuyue held his hand like a piece of driftwood, her grip so tight that it made Lu Changqing feel at ease. The calluses on the inside of his hand made Lu Changqing's fingertips itch slightly.
Her tied-up hair swayed at that moment, like the tail of a galloping pony. Lu Changqing felt the thread in her hand bobbing up and down, sometimes rising, sometimes falling, just like the pounding heart in her chest, tightly taut.
Wu Zhuyue glanced back and whispered, "It's flying."
Lu Changqing watched as well. The kite floated low in the air, swaying back and forth, as if struggling, unable to rise any higher and reach the vast sky.
"It's good to have some wind," Wu Zhuyue said, pulling her along and stopping in her tracks. "It's good to have some wind! Come on, let some wind blow!"
As she spoke the second half of the sentence, she raised her voice, not with regret, but as if making a request of the heavens, wishing for everything around her to borrow a gust of wind from autumn.
Sweat glistened, and so did Wu Zhuyue's eyes. Lu Changqing felt that if she were the will of Heaven, she too would be reluctant to disappoint this young man—for she was usually so sullen, always frowning, which made her seem amusing when teased, but nothing compared to this, spontaneously blossoming, spontaneously vibrant. At this moment, Wu Zhuyue, without any effort, already had a radiant smile on her face, more precious and more captivating than a shimmering lake or the most perfectly flat pebble on its shore.
So, Lu Changqing silently prayed in his heart, "Let's borrow a gust of wind."
Don't go against her wishes. Whether it's a kite or autumn, it doesn't matter. If Wu Zhuyue feels happy right now, then she seems to be starting to feel the joy of flying a kite as well.
...Or perhaps, it is indeed interesting.
As if responding to the children's wishes, the leaves rustled, the grass swayed, and a gentle breeze swept in, powerfully lifting the kite. Lu Changqing held the string, watching it fly higher and higher... until it became a bird, truly soaring in the sky.
She was momentarily distracted and didn't hear the soft snap; the string broke. The kite spun and flew off in another direction, quickly disappearing from sight.
"Ah!" Lu Changqing belatedly realized what was happening and hurriedly tried to fly back on his sword. "I'll find it..."
A hand reached out and stopped her, and the boy's slightly panting voice rang in her ear.
"Are you happy, Lu Changqing?" Wu Zhuyue asked earnestly.
Lu Changqing paused for a moment, then pressed his hand to his flushed and burning face, nodded vigorously, and said with a smile, "It's very happy. Flying a kite...it's very happy."
I should say, I'm very happy to fly a kite with you. But what's the difference?
Wu Zhuyue laughed too, "I didn't hear you say anything about liking me again, I thought I was just amusing myself."
She raised her hand and gently placed it on Lu Changqing's shoulder.
"As long as you're happy. I can make many more kites in the future. I'll make as many as you want, so it's okay if you lose it. Don't worry about it. It's just a rough thing. It's worth it as long as it makes you smile."
Lu Changqing wanted to shake his head and say no, it wasn't something crude, but the words caught in his throat. Wu Zhuyue smiled beautifully; it seemed to be the first time she had ever seen the boy smile like that—pure and sincere, not like any flower or any painting, but a genuine smile blooming with joy right before her eyes. Any words she had ever learned paled in comparison. Wu Zhuyue was smiling because of herself.
She said, "Lu Changqing, you are my first friend. I hope we can always be friends..."
Lu Changqing pursed his lips and suddenly interrupted her.
"Xiao Wu".
Wu Zhuyue didn't even frown, but replied with some doubt, "Hmm?"
Then, she saw a faint glimmer of light slide down Lu Changqing's cheek.
"I want to go home," Lu Changqing bit her lip. "I miss my mother. Will you come home with me?"
Wu Zhuyue reached out to wipe away her tears, but was avoided. The boy seemed to know that she was somewhat at a loss when it came to tears, so he stubbornly turned his head away, not letting her erase the only handle she had left.
She sighed and said, "The ban will be lifted in a few days. Let's wait a few more days, okay?" It was impossible to plead with Ruan Luoying, because the punishment was already very light, and it would seem unreasonable to plead again.
Two young children naturally fear their elders. For them, breaking the rules undetected is better than seeking leniency.
Lu Changqing shook his head firmly and said, "I'm going now. Will you come with me?"
Wu Zhuyue hesitated, unsure how to answer, but seeing Lu Changqing immediately turn to step onto the sword, she could only anxiously call out:
"Okay, okay... I'll go with you!"
-----------------------
Author's Note: I'm currently organizing the main storyline, so I'll be writing some short side stories first.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com