Chapter 16 Wang Shu is willing to be A Yu's sheath
Although the young master appeared confident, he was even more impatient than the second elder. Before the people outside arrived, he rushed forward, opened the door, and leaned against it, peering out.
With an indifferent expression, Hengbo entered the room led by a maid. After the maid left, the young master quickly helped her into a chair, poured her a cup of tea, and asked solicitously, "How are you? Are you injured?"
Seeing his eagerness, the Second Elder must have thought of something amusing, and couldn't help but shake his head and chuckle, though his ears certainly perked up.
Hengbo first took a sip of tea, then nodded and shook his head expressionlessly.
Second Elder: ? ? ?
The Second Elder was unaware that Hengbo couldn't speak, but he felt that most young geniuses were somewhat aloof, and Hengbo's unfathomable demeanor was quite reasonable.
But he really wanted to know what had happened, so he pushed the young master aside and put on the most friendly and amiable expression, flattering him, "Young lady, you are truly a promising young lady. But if I may be so bold as to ask, what is the current situation of that old thief?"
He thought that no matter how powerful Hengbo was, he was still a novice. It was already good enough that he could escape unscathed from the Third Elder. If he could injure him, it would be a sure win.
Therefore, when the young master assured him that he could completely eliminate the Third Elder, he did not believe him. He agreed to the young master's request only to cause some trouble for the Third Elder and vent his anger.
Hengbo looked at the bright, chrysanthemum-like smiling face that suddenly approached, and for a moment he found it hard to look directly at it.
Besides, although she disliked the Third Elder, she had to admit that he looked much younger than the person in front of her. Her delicate brows furrowed, and she simply laid out the bloodstained sword in front of the two of them and went to rest by herself.
The Second Elder stared at the divine weapon carefully, examining it closely, and finally couldn't help but ask, "What is the meaning of this?"
Having spent a lot of time with Hengbo, the young master had a slight understanding of her thought process. Pointing to the remaining bloodstains on the sword, he said, "She means that the Third Elder has already died here." He shrugged, "Anyway, she definitely doesn't mean for us to help her clean the sword."
Unexpectedly, the Second Elder seemed to have his meridians opened by him. He suddenly stood up from his seat, disregarded getting his hands dirty, picked up his sword and ran outside.
The young master was startled by his sudden action and didn't react until the second elder had already run out of the room. He chased after him to the door and asked, "Second Uncle, where are you going?"
The Second Elder didn't even bother to turn his head before an excited voice came from behind him: "I'm going to clean this hero's sword!"
Young Master: ……
He had never seen the usually composed and cunning Second Elder like this before, but considering that his great revenge had finally been avenged, he was not surprised.
After the Second Elder left, he walked up to Hengbo, who was standing idly in front of a water tank in an indoor room, poking at the small fish with his hand, and said sincerely, "Thank you so much this time."
Hengbo waved her hand, saying that she hadn't done it for him anyway, and besides, she had earned an extra 20,000 taels of silver from him.
"Now that I have taken the seal out, I will soon issue an obituary in the name of the new manor lord, inviting all the sects in the martial arts world to come and pay their respects, and take this opportunity to expose the conspiracy of the Third Elder's lineage."
His plan was well-arranged, but Hengbo kept his head down and remained silent.
The young master noticed her unusual mood and felt slightly uneasy, so he quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
Hengbo shook her head. She actually wanted to ask the young master how he planned to deal with the massacre of the Ruan family, but since Ruan Wangshu hadn't told him the truth, she figured he didn't want him to get involved, so she didn't bring it up again.
"Once these troubles subside, would you be willing to stay?" The young master was used to her silence and didn't mind it. Instead, he asked the question that had been lingering in his mind for a long time.
His hands gripped the tassels on his belt tightly, his gaze sincere and hopeful, as if you were the only person in his world, and that you could give him life or death.
Looking at him, Hengbo suddenly felt that the pampered young master was now like a stray dog wagging its tail at him on the roadside.
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but smile.
Looking at the slight smile she gave him, for some reason, the young master suddenly remembered the crabapple blossoms he had the good fortune to see when he traveled to the north that year. It was a splash of vibrant color on the cold, frozen earth, and it was also a sudden burst of spring light in his desolate heart at this moment.
"What are you laughing at?" The young master, who had just been strategizing, suddenly blushed and stammered, like a delicate flower that had just been played with, shy and hesitant to speak.
Hengbo was somewhat puzzled by his embarrassed and angry appearance. After all, she was only thinking about it in her mind. Could it be that the young master really had some kind of mind-reading ability and knew that she said he looked like a little mongrel?
Thinking of the 50,000 taels of silver she hadn't yet received, Hengbo suppressed her smile and put on a serious expression, afraid that she would anger him and cause him to refuse to pay.
Little did the young master know the turmoil in her heart; he only knew that if he stayed any longer, he feared he would burn to death.
"Anyway, think it over carefully and decide whether you want to stay or not." With these words, the young master ran out of the room without looking back, just as he brushed past the Second Elder who had returned after washing his sword.
The second elder looked bewildered. What was wrong with the child? Why was his face so red, as if he had drunk too much?
He went into the room and sniffed hard, but he couldn't smell any alcohol.
Never mind, none of that matters. He presented the sword to Hengbo with both hands, his eyes filled with affection and relief as he looked at her, almost as if he wanted to stroke her hand and say "good child."
Hengbo got goosebumps all over, took the sword and ran away quickly.
What happened next was no longer Hengbo's concern. While the young master was busy selecting guests, Hengbo was taken by Acai to the mountain where Ruan Wangshu had died.
At that time, the young master could only hastily bury Ruan Wangshu under a locust tree on the sunny side of the mountain. The coffin was thin and the tombstone was rough, extremely simple, yet extremely elegant.
Therefore, when the young master asked Hengbo if she wanted to move the coffin back to Biyun Mountain, Hengbo thought it over and over again, but in the end she still refused.
She thought that Ruan Wangshu must like this place. It was so close to her parents, to her past before she went into hiding, and to Chu Mingyue.
At the same time, she handed him the broken Jufeng sword and asked him to deliver it again. This time, she hoped that he could personally go to Biyun Mountain to choose a good place for Ruan Wangshu and build a cenotaph.
"Aren't you going back?" The young master, who had finally finished dealing with his business, took some time to find Hengbo and asked the same question he had once asked Ruan Wangshu on this mountain.
Hengbo was carving stroke by stroke on the stone tablet in front of Ruan Wangshu's tomb. Upon hearing this, she slowly and deliberately made the last cut before dusting off the stone chips on her body and standing up.
Amidst the rustling wind and trembling leaves, her calm gaze swept towards the Central Plains beyond the green hills and clear waters. "I want to go back there."
The young master, having never learned sign language, couldn't distinguish between "going" and "returning," and simply assumed Hengbo meant she was going to Zhongzhou. However, he knew he couldn't keep Hengbo, just as the picturesque Jiangnan region could never hold onto the crabapple blossoms of Xifu.
Despite the warm sunshine, he felt a chill, as if a piece of his heart was missing. The cold wind kept blowing in, freezing his thoughts, and he didn't even realize when she had left.
It wasn't until the sun had completely set behind the mountains and darkness was approaching that the young master snapped out of his reverie. He looked around blankly, but could no longer find Hengbo's figure. Just as he was about to head down the mountain in dejection, he suddenly noticed the tombstone in front of him.
He involuntarily took a step forward. The soil next to the tombstone had been turned over. He had heard from Ah Cai that Hengbo had bought a lot of honeysuckle seeds, which must have been planted here.
The rough stone tablet, which had been covered in a layer of dust for over a month, was cleaned up. The moss that had climbed on it was gradually removed, and a few clumsy characters were carved into the previously blank surface.
He had seen Hengbo's scrawled handwriting before, but now he found it hard to connect the two.
Although the characters on this stele are somewhat immature, every stroke, whether horizontal, vertical, left-falling, or right-falling, shows early signs of skill. It would be difficult to reach this level without long-term practice.
But he clearly saw Hengbo carving stroke by stroke on the stele, and the extent of the changes and the depth of his efforts were evident.
However, when he read a few words from the inscription as his gaze moved, all his thoughts of appreciation and contemplation vanished.
The Tomb of Ruan Wangshu
It turns out her name was Ruan Wangshu.
Ruan, Chu. Wangshu, the bright moon.
It turned out that Ruan Lin hadn't lied to him about this matter; she really was an old friend of the Ruan family, and his elder sister, Chu Mingyue, really had died because of him...
A surge of emotion welled up within him, and he coughed up blood. He quickly and frantically pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket to catch it, afraid of getting even a speck of blood on the spot. This place should be kept perfectly clean.
The young man, his eyes bloodshot, knelt before the monument, murmuring, "It was you, it really was you! But why did you come back after you left? Wouldn't it have been better to be Ruan Wangshu? Why..."
In truth, he knew perfectly well why she was doing this; she simply refused to accept this cruel joke of fate.
On another lush ancient tree, facing the locust tree in the distance, a slender figure leaned against a thick branch. Hengbo looked at the young man whose back was trembling uncontrollably in front of the tombstone, and for a moment he didn't know whether what he was doing was right or wrong.
She had already made up her mind to keep Ruan Wangshu's secret, but the mountain was too quiet. She was just worried that Ruan Wangshu would be too lonely here after she left.
Ten years ago, at Biyun Mountain.
After witnessing Hengbo's Jingchun Sword Technique, Qingxuzi was so troubled that he couldn't eat or sleep properly.
One day, he was stroking his beard, which had become quite unkempt recently.
Ruan Wangshu, who had grown into a young woman, asked in bewilderment, "Ayu's talent is clearly very good, so why is Master always unhappy?"
Upon hearing this, Qingxuzi sighed deeply again, filled with melancholy, and said, "Yu'er's sword is too murderous. I am worried that she might make a mistake and suffer eternal regret, and I am also afraid that she will make too many enemies and not have a good end."
The girl, whose face was as bright as the Mid-Autumn Moon, smiled when she heard him say that: "Master, you are overthinking it. Ayu is a smart and gentle child. She will be fine."
“Even if that day ever comes,” her gentle gaze swept over a lush ancient tree not far away, and when it landed on the small figure sleeping soundly on a thick trunk, a heavy power suddenly settled in, “Wang Shu is willing to be A Yu’s sheath.”
Ruan Wangshu never actually broke her promise; she simply became Chu Mingyue again at the final crossroads of her life.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Mini-theater:
Young Master: A delicate flower, shy and timid.JPG
Hengbo: My God, he looks like a little mongrel!
By the way, the character judgment for Ruan Wangshu has been updated in the synopsis; those who are interested can check it out.
Also, could you please give this author a like if you haven't already added it to your favorites? (GIF of a little dog wagging its tail)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
