Joy of Life

The sky was turning white, and the early winds of morning began to blow and skirt through the yard. The light was still dim. The person standing near the fake mountain was garbed in thick, rugged clothing. A steel pike was affixed to his waist, and a black cloth masked his face. The sight of him seemed as if he was a part of some motionless artpiece of a serene yard. Not a single sound could be heard, and his being there was almost ethereal. If a servant were to walk by, it’d be surprising if they took notice of the figure.

Fan Xian, now seeing this family member before him, someone he had known for 16 years, thought about how long it had been since they last saw each other. His heart was clutched by an unfamiliar feeling. He wanted to strike this person down, but he knew doing such a thing would be impossible, and he wouldn’t have the talent to beat him. He also wondered if he wanted to run into his arms and cry. But this Wu Zhu was not a person of sentiments.

Fan Xian simply shook his head and strained to subdue any feelings of happiness he was feeling. He walked towards the man and noticed that Wu Zhu’s hand clutched a small knife. He was carving something. As he walked closer, he noticed it was wood that he was carving.

“Luckily, it is not the statue of a woman. Otherwise, I’d be keen to believe you had become Mang Tanhua, that villainous character Li Xunhuan.” The yard was quiet. Fan Xian suppressed his desire to laugh and said, “I would throw up!”

Wu Zhu nodded in surprise. He responded, “Li Xunhuan; that person truly is obscene.”

Now, Fan Xian was the one who was surprised. A while of silence elapsed between them, but then he said, “You know Li Xunhuan?”

Wu Zhu placed the wooden figure into a pocket with the knife and coldly replied, “The lady used to tell me this tale, and she always hated that character.”

Fan Xian laughed and said, “It seems like I really am my mother’s son.”

...

...

After a while, they both retreated to the most hidden of the three study rooms. There was nothing particularly intriguing about the place, which would spark curious snoopers to go poke about there, but everyone knew not to get close unless they had been summoned by Fan Xian. Even Minister Fan abided by this rule.

“Let’s talk. In this past half year, what have you been up to you?” Without a doubt, Fan Xian was overwhelmed with curiosity over what Wu Zhu had been up to since his disappearance and what he had been doing over the course of that time. Although he confirmed his suspicion when he caught sight of the wooden chip he was carving, shocking news such as this should come from the horse’s mouth. It would be an exciting tale to hear of, for sure. At this time, it seemed as if he forgot the zhenqi that was running around his body like a bunch of blind, terrified rats. It also seemed as if he had forgotten to ask what he could do to stay alive with this rampant zhenqi. He stared into Wu Zhu’s eyes.

Fan Xian poured himself some more leftover tea from the night before. He did not offer a cup to Wu Zhu because he did not drink tea.

“I have been up north.” Wu Zhu stopped to think about it, almost as if he had to recall the places he had been. “And then I went to the south.”

Fan Xian had long gotten used to his uncle’s abnormal mind and mannerisms. Therefore, this vague and lame answer did not bother him too much. Patiently, he asked for a little more detail by saying, “What were you doing up north? And what were you doing down south?”

“I went to the north in order to find Ku Hei.” Wu Zhu said this quietly, as if he sought to evade unfriendly ears. He thought that if this news spread, it would shock a lot of people. “I fought him and then went down south to find someone else.”

Fan Xian started laughing. He acknowledged that it must have been his blind uncle who injured the grandmaster. He then thought of a question to ask. He furrowed his eyebrows with concern and caringly asked, “Are you okay?”

Wu Zhu looked at his left shoulder and said, “I was injured there. The wound has healed now, though.”

What he said came as no surprise, but Fan Xian felt a certain tone of gravity to what was spoken. He had fought Haitang before, so he could imagine what sort of power one of the four legendary grandmasters possessed. Although Wu Zhu sounded slightly arrogant about the affair, particularly due to the fact he had managed to injure his opponent, he knew that a price would have had to have been paid for the opportunity. He did pay a price with the injury he incurred, but as long as he was fine now, everything was okay.

“Why did you do this?” Fan Xian frowned.

Wu Zhu responded, “If he was in the Northern Qi Kingdom. I thought he may have posed a hindrance to you.” Fan Xian nodded to these words. If Ku Hei was still in the capital when Fan Xian was there, gauging from his power, it would have been impossible for him to bring down the power of the Northern Qi Kingdom and gather as much useful information as he did before Xiao En died.

Wu Zhu continued by saying, “I think I used to know Ku Hei quite a bit. So I also went to visit him in the hope I could catch up on what occurred back in the day.”

Fan Xian all of a sudden raised his head. He looked at his uncle with a profound look of shock. His mind quickly flashed back to the memory of when Xiao En was telling him about the Temple of the Eternal Night, before his death. He furrowed his eyebrows once more and quietly said to himself, Maybe my uncle really does know Ku Hei? Or at least he did back when they were younger.

Fan Xian then told Wu Zhu about everything that happened with him and Xiao En back in that cave, hoping to trigger the recollection of certain important memories his uncle may have lost. In particular, the connection between Wu Zhu and the Holy Temple. When Fan Xian was young, he heard Wu Zhu say that he and his mother managed to escape from the house. Was the house... in fact the Holy Temple?

Wu Zhu then returned to silence and remained that way for some time. He did not hold his head in a meditative fashion like a novel would usually describe. He looked to be in pain, and he scratched his head, looking as if he could not remember anything. After a while, all he could say was, “I do not remember.”

...

...

Now it was Fan Xian’s turn to scratch his head. He lowered his head and mumbled, “What is this called?” He shook his head and forcefully removed the feelings of disappointment in his heart and asked, “Why did you not return to the capital following your injury? If you were already injured, why did you continue on down south in search of someone else? Is Ye Liuyun down south?”

Wu Zhu coldly shook his head and said, “There are problems in the south. After I made sure Ku Hei knew about me, I went south to try and look for that person who has problems. But I could not find him.”

Fan Xian felt even more perplexed. For the past half a year, Fan Xian had been busy in the north and south, unaware that his uncle had been just as busy and not resting as he should have been. He had gone to the Northern Qi Kingdom to fight a grandmaster in hopes of triggering his wiped memories. He had also traversed across the south in search of a family member. But if Ku Hei knew Wu Zhu... Xiao En once said what Ku Hei has today must bear a connection to his trip to the Holy Temple. Back then, Ku Hei knew Fan Xian’s mother. But at that time, his mother was with Wu Zhu.

That “person with a problem” in the south? Who could that be? Fan Xian’s mind was spinning, a hurricane of thoughts on who this enigmatic character might be. He recalled a certain case that he received whilst in Fanjing. To the south of the Qing Kingdom, there were reports of a cold-blooded serial killer, and it was something that Yan Bingyun took seriously. He was even prepared to request the assistance of numerous Tiger Guards from the Emperor to join him in a hunt for the murderer. But if this was the person Wu Zhu was also after, a person who he failed to find, he could only assume Yan Bingyun’s own search would be just as fruitless.

He took a deep breath and put aside his thoughts and musings of topics that could not affect him at this moment. He then proceeded to tell Wu Zhu of what he had been up to for the past half a year. He even disclosed to Wu Zhu the secret agreement he made with Haitang, but was disheartened by his lack of response to this.

Fan Xian also knew, ever since he was young, that Wu Zhu was not one to give compliments. But so many things had happened, from the death of Xiao En to the ruin of the second prince; shouldn’t he have at least give some sort of reaction?

Wu Zhu seemed to acknowledge Fan Xian was a little demoralized by his lack of response, and decided to say something. He said, “These are but small matters.”

He was right. The fight with the second prince was little more than a schoolground quarrel when compared to the affairs of Wu Zhu and the Emperor, and that is how they saw it. But in regards to the secret agreement, it may have been something that would have interested the Emperor, but it meant nothing to Wu Zhu. Fan Xian understood this eventually, and he began to laugh in self-mockery. He reached out his right hand and said, “Recently, my right hand has been shaking like mad. I need you to take a look at it.”

Wu Zhu already knew that the zhenqi inside Fan Xian was raging fiercely, but despite the threat this posed, his calm composure was not disrupted. He then said, “I haven’t learnt about an issue such as this before; I don’t know what to do.”

This was a matter of life and death for Fan Xian, and this reaction finally tipped him over the edge. He was made mad and with a deepened voice, he told Wu Zhu, “This problem of mine has is anything but safe. I was a newborn when you made me learn it. What if this kills me?”

“The lady said that this would be for the best.” Wu Zhu continued coldly, “And someone had successfully learnt it before.”

“That means someone failed, as well!” Fan Xian picked up the sentence Wu Zhu had conveniently dropped. But Wu Zhu was not one to mask his words.

Wu Zhu did not deceive with his speech, saying plainly, “It is no big deal. The worst case scenario will result in you losing all your zhenqi; if this comes to pass, you will just become a commoner. Unless you are stupid enough to hold onto this zhenqi, of course... right up until the end.”

Fan Xian was incredibly angry. In his heart he thought, You are a monster! Of course you don’t know how important zhenqi is to a normal fighter. If I lose the zhenqi inside my body, how will I deal with the numerous amounts of people that hate me in this world? These people could come and kill me any second. It’s not as if I want it just so I can fool around with Haitang.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” He raised his right hand that was trembling as if in protest. With an annoyed look, he wailed, “Do I have to keep letting it shake like so, and end up learning Wu Wei Da? Right now, it’s only my hand that is shaking; but if this goes on long enough, I can only suspect that it will be my ass shaking next.”

Wu Zhu raised his head. The black cloth over his eyes looked as if it was mocking Fan Xian. He said, “If you stop training, then the zhenqi will cease to accumulate, and there will be no more problems

...

...

A word to wake up a dreamer.

Fan Xian was used to meditating and training twice a day. The thought of reducing the time he spent doing this never crossed his mind. Only now did he realise that before he found a solution to his current plight, he would have to stop adhering to this routine and improving the powerful zhenqi of the nameless skill. Although his zhenqi would improve during a fight, its ascension in power would at least lessen by cutting down the training.

He nodded, sighed and said, “That will have to do. I can let the big boom come a little later.”

Wu Zhu all of a sudden said, “Fei Jie left you some pills, didn’t he?”

Fan Xian froze, surprised that he would remember something from so long ago in his youth. He explained, “But this medicine is so powerful. I am afraid that if I take these pills my zenqqi will extinguish.”

Wu Zhu lowered his head as if he was trying to remember something. All of sudden he said, “That must come in useful; although it is only temporary.”

At this time, Fan Xian wasn’t ready to completely place faith in the words his uncle spoke. After all, this deadly nameless skill was pinned upon Fan Xian by him. He gave a wry smile and said, “Let us talk about these matters in the future. For now, let’s discuss you. In the future, if you plan on going missing again, could you at least inform me of where you will be going?”

“Is that really necessary?” Wu Zhu asked with a serious tone.

“Yes.” Fan Xian nodded. “When I was ambassador to the Northern Qi Kingdom, I thought you were beside me the entire time. And that box was with me; so I was brave enough to go and bully Haitang. I did not expect that you weren’t there at all. If this happens again, someone might die.”

Wu Zhu gave a delayed response. “Oh. Understood.”

Fan Xian felt a sense of relief. He was used to Wu Zhu always being by his side, such as being in the carriage, in the grocery store or even on a cliffside. After he entered the capital, however, the time he had spent with Wu Zhu had lessened. Although Fan Xian’s power had reached a point where he could protect himself from most combatants, he knew that if he continued on his path to develop this world further, then he would only face greater challenges and fiercer foes. To have an uncle such as his protecting him, he thought no matter what challenge the world posed, he was safe by his side.

“I was planning to move out.” Fan Xian slightly coughed. “Living behind the residence lacks convenience. There are too many people, though, so you cannot live with us.”

Wu Zhu slanted his head, wondering why if he was to move in, Fan Xian had to move out.

“Wan’er still hasn’t seen you yet.” Fan Xian said with a serious tone. “You are the dearest person to me in this world, so you should come and meet my wife.”

Wu Zhu slowly said, “I saw her.”

“But she hasn’t seen you yet.” Fan Xian had a wry smile, and he continued by saying, “And you were always alone outside the house; I don’t know where you are going to live. What do you usually get up to? These thoughts make me uncomfortable.”

Wu Zhu slanted his head once more, but it seemed as if he now understood what Fan Xian was trying to imply. He raised the corners of his lips, but it was not a smile. He slowly spoke and said, “You go and handle it. But I don’t want anyone else besides your wife to know that I am around you.”

Fan Xian nodded gladly, but then he thought of something. He felt awkward to ask this, but he did so anyway. “Not even Ruoruo? I always wanted her to see you, as well.”

“No.” Wu Zhu coldly declined. “This is it. You go and do your things and do what you always do. Pretend that we never had this conversation and that you never saw me.”

Fan Xian sighed. Hearing the people outside the study room start waking up, he held his wrist and walked out.

Inside the study room, the motionless face that appeared to be deprived of expression and emotion changed to smile. This was something that had not happened in 500 years. And this smile looked as if it was at the behest of a joke, as if he were amused by the fact Fan Xian did not not know something.

Inside the yard, in the autumn, the grass glittered with the morning dew; warmed by the early sun. Fan Xian was covered by a thin cotton blanket as he lay on a sofa in the yard, resting. He coughed every now and then, but it was far better than what it was like the night before. Inside the yard, there was a swing. A few brave maids played on it merrily. The light-color dresses they wore looked like flowers upon the wooden seat that swung at the command of the rope’s momentum. Near the swing, Sisi and Siqi watched them with faces that appeared envious. But due to their elegant identity, they were not willing to play on them.

Fan Xian squinted his eyes at the scene he observed. Seeing the dress of a maid inflate like the blooming of a flower with each swing, he compared it to a parachute from his past life. The cream-colored pants beneath her skirt were showing sometimes, and that reminded him of a movie called “Peacock”.

A hand reached out to feed him part of a prune. It was light and had been cut delicately, suiting his taste perfectly. He was chewing, so the words came out in a mumble. “Ah, you aren’t there to treat your father? Why have you come all the way over here for me?”

Wan’er and Ruoruo sat beside him, serving their patient. Ruoruo smiled and responded, “I am stuck in the room at all times with him; so it gets quite boring. But you? You are sick and still have the motivation to watch the maids play on the swing?”

Wan’er looked humiliated and clarified to Ruoruo by saying, “He is not here to watch the swing itself. He is here to merely watch the women who ride it!”

Fan Xian did not bother to explain, and so he laughed and said, “A view is always made prettier when it is occupied by others.” Then he loudly shouted, “Sisi, don’t be a snowflake. If you want to play on it, hop on!”

The words he yelled were said to propagate ambiguity. After he said these words, though, he was the first to freeze. Fortunately, the ladies did not hear what he said. It was only him awkwardly laughing, and so he quickly changed it to a fake cough in an attempt to conceal his failed gag. He then thought of something and turned to ask Wan’er. “The autumn is getting colder and colder. Look, the chrysanthemums in the yard are getting shrivelled. The palace said the flower event was supposed to take place soon, so when is it going to happen? If we wait much longer, the snow might come and freeze them all. If that occurs, won’t the people be disappointed?”

Wan’er rolled her eyes and laughed. She said, “It is indeed later than usual, but the latest word says that we will most likely go to the floating temple to observe the gold chrysanthemums. Those chrysanthemums can withstand any cold, so there is nothing to fear.”

Fan Xian could not help but shake his head. He knew that the flower observation event was delayed due to the recent turmoil within the capital. In the past two days, the capital had been relatively calm, however. Although a lot of people thought that Fan Xian should keep up his sick image to keep the second prince suppressed, in his heart, he understood that the Overwatch Council was able to do their job and that he did not have to worry too much. All the plans had been settled, and Yan Bingyun was there watching with his all-seeing eye. Everything was under control, so there needn’t be any problems.

His body was indeed recovering, but he still kept up his facade of grievous illness. This excused him from visiting court, the First Bureau or staying in the council. He was only hiding in his backyard, being a patient of much pandering as he watched the second prince sweat under his mounting pressure. He thought it was like watching a movie.

“Higher! Higher!”

Fan Xian was lying on the sofa, being served upon by his wife and sister. He watched Sisi bravely ride the swing, going higher and higher. It looked as if she was preparing to launch out from the manor and over the highwall to look down from the skies and observe the capital. He could not help but giggle to himself.