Chapter 8: The Night of Acquaintance at Xianchun Cottage "What's your name, young master?"
The quaint little courtyard is hidden in the mountains and forests, with green walls and green tiles, and is very simple and ancient. It appears even more quiet under the mist of impending rain. The wind chimes on the eaves sway gently in the breeze, making a crisp sound.
Wen Yu took Song Linsheng's arm off her shoulder. He was unwilling to let Wen Yu carry him just now, so Wen Yu had no choice but to put her arm around his shoulder and support him as they walked with difficulty. They finally arrived at this courtyard.
Wen Yu encountered this courtyard when she was traveling in Houchun Mountain after she transformed. It seemed that no one had lived in it for many years, but she had passed by it several times, and the house was always bright, spacious and spotless.
"...Chun Xiao..." Wen Yu looked at the words on the plaque, and only recognized two out of the four. She couldn't help but pouting, her cheeks puffed with anger. She thought about the countless books in the Spring Temple, and her master watched over her to study every day, but she was only thinking about playing around with Chi Huang. Now she had to show her cowardice in front of a mortal.
"Xianchun Cottage."
Song Linsheng looked up at the carved wooden plaque and softly pronounced its name, his expression a little nostalgic, as if he were meeting an old friend. He tilted his head and smiled at Wen Yu.
“It’s a good place indeed.”
Wen Yu felt a little embarrassed, so she could only put on a smile and waved to him to go in quickly, without noticing Song Linsheng's expression.
Wen Yu led Song Linsheng around the courtyard and into the main house. The furnishings in the house were clean and simple. All the utensils seemed to have been put away, leaving only some basic ornaments. It looked a little empty, which was different from what it looked like when Wen Yu came here before.
She looked around and found a soft cushion to support Song Linsheng's legs. After settling him down, she collected some firewood outside and planned to start a fire. This made Wen Yu very troubled.
She was a wood elf, and when she was training in the Temple of Spring, she was best at healing and rejuvenation. She was not proficient in fire magic, and it was difficult for her to control fire. Moreover, she could not use spells at will now, and she did not know how mortals made fire.
Wen Yu paced back and forth in the room, unable to come up with any good ideas. She had even forgotten to ask Song Linsheng if there was anything in his bookcases that could be used to start a fire. This was a bad start, and Wen Yu's pace quickened, turning in circles in anxiety.
Song Linsheng sat on a low stool with his injured left leg resting on a cushion. He followed Wen Yu's figure around twice with his eyes, and then his eyes lit up and he understood.
"Use this." He took out a fire starter from his sleeve, stretched out his hand to signal Wen Yu, and lit the fire in a few seconds, and asked Wen Yu to come and sit down.
Wen Yu saw the sparks gradually rising and the orange-yellow flames dancing. She couldn't help but blink and walked over happily. Fire is the hope of all things and can bring warmth to people. Although she is a wood elf, she is not afraid of fire.
"You're really good! Song Linsheng!" Wen Yu smiled and sat down happily. She saw Song Linsheng tilting his head, squinting his eyes, and looking at her with some confusion.
"I... I mean... I don't know what your name is, young master?"
I never thought she'd still be as talkative as she was in the Spring Temple, even in the mortal realm. Her mouth was moving ahead, her mind was chasing after her. If Song Linsheng had heard clearly, wouldn't he have discovered that he knew his name?
It's over. It's all over now.
Wen Yu felt as if she had a little rabbit in her arms, feeling very nervous. She could only pray in her heart that the sound she just made would be mixed in with the crackling sound of burning firewood so that he would not notice it.
He looked straight into Wen Yu's eyes, staring at her carefully, and was silent for a moment, without answering immediately.
Song Linsheng reached out and used a wooden stick to poke the fire to make it burn more vigorously. His deep eyelashes were lightly closed, and his emotions could not be seen in his eyes.
Wen Yu waited for a long moment without a reply. He thought, "That's right. First he got lost in the mountains, then he encountered a strange woman who fell from a tree, and then, as luck would have it, he got injured. This series of strange things happened one after another. Perhaps he was defensive and unwilling to speak. Or was it the pain in his wound? Wen Yu wondered, should she secretly use magic to relieve his pain first?
Just when Wen Yu thought he would not answer, Song Linsheng's clear voice sounded in her ears.
"My last name is Song, and my name is Song Linsheng."
"The Song family of Jiangyang is my ancestral home. I was demoted this time and came from Shangdu, where I was ordered to serve as the prefect of Jiangyang."
"I'm 20 years old and still unmarried."
Wen Yu's little head was spinning. She'd only asked for a name, but Song Linsheng hadn't expected her to reveal his entire family history like a confetti. She'd seen Song Linsheng's longevity branch at the Immortal Tree, and while it contained a poem describing his fate, it wasn't as detailed as this. Wen Yu was stunned, unsure how to respond.
"What about you? May I ask your name?"
"Ah? Me?" Wen Yu's mind was still working fast, thinking about how to prepare the speech, but his mouth started to make up stories uncontrollably.
"My name is Wenyu. I came from another place. I originally wanted to go to Jiangyang Prefecture to seek refuge with my brother. I heard that the gods of this mountain are very powerful, so I came to pay them a visit. However, I lost my way in the mountains and rested in a tree."
"Oh no, I was looking for the way down the mountain from the tree... No no no, I..."
Wen Yu's words were almost tangled up in a mess, and she couldn't make them out. The more she talked, the more confused she became. So she simply kept silent. If she continued, she was afraid that she would have to reveal all the stories of her roots and transformation into a spirit.
The two of them looked at each other for a moment, as if they both realized that there was something wrong with what they said. After looking at each other for a moment, they both laughed out loud.
"I'm sorry, I was rude to my wife." Song Linsheng smiled warmly, like the warm sunshine in March.
Wen Yu was also a little embarrassed. She held the braid behind her ear with one hand and played with it with her fingertips. Her eyes were fixed on the fire, and she didn't dare to look at Song Linsheng again.
No! Wen Yu suddenly had an idea. She remembered that Song Linsheng was born into a prestigious family, a family with a long history. His family had served in the imperial court for generations. His destiny was extremely precious. How could he be demoted? Could it be that the impact of that incident was really so great?
Wen Yu was full of doubts in her heart and couldn't figure it out. She raised her eyes quietly and saw that Song Linsheng looked calm and composed. He didn't look depressed or frustrated at all, nor did he look like he had been badly demoted. While her thoughts were changing, Wen Yu's mouth was not willing to lag behind, so she asked directly.
"Why were you demoted?"
Hiss, he just learned the name and then started asking about the other person's career and personal affairs. Wen Yu wished he could swallow this useless tongue.
"If it's inconvenient... you don't have to tell me..."
Song Linsheng's expression remained unchanged as he continued to watch over the fire. The flames were alluring, illuminating half of his face and making him look even more handsome.
"I wrote an essay 'Asking the Silkworms' at the Spring Silkworm Ceremony, which angered the Emperor, and therefore I was demoted." The Emperor and Empress personally attended the Spring Silkworm Ceremony to preside over the grand ceremony of sericulture and farming. At that time, the princes and nobles were categorized as scholars, farmers, merchants, and artisans, and they argued endlessly about who was nobler and who was humbler, and each had his own opinion.
Yet, how could those in the lap of luxury, the utterly wealthy, truly understand the distinctions between noble and humble? As the saying goes, "Those dressed in silk and satin are not silkworm farmers." Yet, at the Spring Silkworm Ceremony, they act condescendingly, looking down on everyone, categorizing others as noble and humble, and engaging in endless debate...
At that time, Song Linsheng had just passed the imperial examination with the highest rank, and his poetry and prose were so profound that the sage personally designated him as a learned man and bestowed upon him the position of Hanlin Editor. Furthermore, his father was the Prince's Grand Tutor, a high-ranking official, and his brother had long been admitted to the Hanlin Academy, a close minister to the emperor. With the protection of his ancestors, his career was undoubtedly bright.
But at the Spring Silkworm Ceremony, he realized for the first time that although he had longed to enter the officialdom and realize his ambitions when he was young, the reality at this moment was far from what he had imagined.
He wrote an article called "Asking about the Silkworms", which was actually about asking about the people. The real conditions of people's livelihood could not be understood by being an official in the capital.
He then angered the Emperor and was exiled to Jiangyang as the prefect of his newly acquired position as an editor in the Hanlin Academy before he could even warm up to it. The powerful officials in Shangdu sighed in regret that the Song Taishi, a man of such honor, had raised such an idealistic son.
Song Linsheng was not depressed by this. If the current political affairs could not be openly discussed by the subjects, but everyone was in panic and those who spoke out were guilty, then the poems and beautiful words about the prosperous times would be meaningless.
His demotion to Jiangyang Prefecture was also a turning point. In the past, how could he understand the true public opinion under the sky of Shangdu and through poetry and books?
"It's not a big deal." Song Linsheng's face was as calm as water, without any ripples.
Wen Yu followed Song Linsheng's gaze outside the house. The fog was heavy and the spring rain was about to fall, hidden subtly in the clouds.
"It seems that the rain today will not fall..."
Upon hearing this, Wen Yu mobilized his spiritual energy and cast a spell. Immediately, fine raindrops fell, rustling through the leaves. The birdsong in the mountains gradually faded, leaving only Song Linsheng's steady breathing.
"Look! It's raining! I didn't lie to you!" Wen Yu turned around excitedly, his tone cheerful.
What I saw was Song Linsheng's fair face. He was leaning against a pillar, his eyes closed, his breathing steady, and he had already fallen asleep.
Wen Yu tiptoed forward to check. The wound on his left leg was no longer bleeding. A pale blue light slowly emerged from his hand, surrounding Song Linsheng's wound. The blood scab fell off, new skin grew, and the wound gradually healed.
"It will be fine soon, Song Linsheng. I won't let you suffer for too long." Wen Yu lowered her voice, afraid of disturbing him.
After finishing the work, Wen Yu withdrew her spiritual power and stepped aside to watch the fire. As she stared at the flickering flames, the playfulness she had during the day vanished from her features, as if she had suddenly lost all her energy.
Could it be that Song Linsheng was demoted because of her?
Wen Yu's thoughts gradually drifted away. At that moment, she had just entered the Spring Temple...
East Heaven, Temple of Spring.
"The three realms of humans, gods and ghosts, the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire and earth. Each god is in charge of his own affairs, each in his own position, and each performs his own duties..." The classics of the Spring Temple recorded the affairs of the three realms and the gods of the five elements. The more Wen Yu read, the more confused she became. She only roughly knew that there was a Five Element Emperor in the east, west, south, north and center respectively. The East Heaven Court belonged to wood, and her master Ju Mang was the auxiliary god of the Wood Emperor. The rest of the twists and turns were not very clear to her.
Ah! Wen Yu lazily slumped over the desk. She had originally thought that after transforming, she would learn omnipotent techniques that would allow her to ascend to the heavens and descend to the earth. With diligent practice, she would quickly attain immortality. However, she hadn't expected her master's first task to be to thoroughly study the tome of the Spring Temple, which was taller than a mountain.
Wen Yu breathed a sigh of relief and really wanted to sneak out to play with Chi Huangjun!
"Moo!" A few calls came from the window. Wen Yu turned her head and saw Chi Huang leaning against the window frame with his horns, his ears flapping slightly, and the silver rings on them jingling. Wen Yu's eyes lit up and his face immediately brightened.
"Command Huang Jun!"
The author has something to say:
----------------------
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
