An old tree beaten down by snow and frost, as the eastern breeze brushed through its branches involuntarily bloomed… would aptly describe me.
Putting it simply, this immortal lord was bursting with joy.
In the instant I felt in full bloom, the time that I stared at the man opposite me was a touch too long, the unguarded smile I had on seemed a touch too delighted. Li Siyuan behind me 'coughed' a couple of times and I suddenly came to my senses. My hand was already out to grasp his hands as I would in the past, except that I heard Li Siyuan's increasingly fiercer 'cough cough cough'.
Dongjun w.a.n.g's expression showed a bit of concern. "Yuan'er, you're coughing non-stop, did you catch a cold?"
"It's nothing, may be mucus irritating my throat……" Li Siyuan followed with a laugh. "Third brother appear to admire the young lord Zhao very much, to not even know how to greet him, haha….."
It was then that I paused and snapped out of it. I cupped my hands in greeting, "I've longed wished to meet with you, this one is Li Siming. Young lord Zhao doesn't need to be formal."
Already spent millennia fooling around up in heaven but still had to pose politeness in front of others, how amusing.
Dongjun w.a.n.g said, "Your father requested young lord Zhao for days until he finally agreed to serve as the counselor of our house. You three must treat the young lord with respect and courtesy, in the future you may only address him as teacher Zhao."
Requested for days? He must've laid down his plans early and waited for your appeal. My att.i.tude on the surface was carried through completely but inside I was dying to drill into his brain.
'Teacher Zhao' smiled in standard courtesy. "w.a.n.gye is truly courteous, Zhao Heng cannot afford it."
Dongjun w.a.n.g replied straight away, "You flatter me." He then ordered for teacher Zhao's room to be tidied and the man attended to his bath and change of clothes. Afterwards wine and dinner will be arranged to welcome this guest from afar.
Teacher Zhao had servants circling around him so this immortal lord had to return to Han courtyard, had to sit on pins and needles and had to talk with that human pillar Tian Shu. You can see it as me talking to him, you can also consider it as me talking to myself, it's quite laborious.
"….After Jiang Ziya reached the Xi-qi……" Yuan s.h.i.+ Tianzun once spoke to me of his disciple's feats though I can't recall it at this juncture. "Cough—— As Mount Hua was split open by the poplar's force, heaven and earth changed in color and the stars were shaken. The Black Bear Spirit hopped out from within the mountain, he said: 'This daoist Zhang, I am here to cultivate and haven't injured a single human, why do you insist to take my life!'"
"Young lord Li." Mu Ruoyan took the initiative to talk with me for the first time, I couldn't adapt immediately and let a moment pa.s.s in a blank.
"Do you not like me talking a lot? Am I bothersome? Then I'll take a turn around the courtyard, you should rest."
"No matter." Mu Rouyan had that small fleeting smile on again. This smile of his was akin to the splendid sun's brilliance breaking into water surface. "Guan Gong against Qin Qiong is a good book. Great Duke Jiang, Lord G.o.d Erlang, along with Daoist Zhang and Two Heroes battling the Black Bear are all curious stories."1
I embarra.s.sedly coughed, "Today you got cold in the water, you should lie down warmly first. I—cough—this lord will order ginger soup made for you."
I strolled in all directions in the garden and stalled until nightfall. At the welcoming feast I exchanged few sentences to be polite and we each return to our rooms when it ended. This immortal lord washed my face, took a bath, and finally lied down with Mu Ruoyan. In the quiet midnight I heard a soft laughter above my head. "Song Yao, could you be addicted to sleeping with Tian Shu Xingjun and started to hallucinate?"
I was stuck in Li Siming's mortal body, unable to reply as he mocked me. I moved to open the blanket and get up but the voice above me said, "What are you doing getting up? Too late at night to move in a rush. It's no good to alarm Tian Shu, lie back and I'll release you."
My mind's awake now as my limbs all loosened. I shed away the body of Li Siming, my eyes raised to look all around me and I pa.s.sed through the door and out. He was standing under the moonlight, "Fortunately there's an immortal cloaking technique, if people see us in this setting it'll certainly produce some nonsense."
This immortal lord has endured for half a day, I finally can rush up to him. "Heng Wen!"
Heng Wen Qingjun swayed that worn out fan of his. "I saw the way you intimately embraced Tian Shu Xingjun up in heaven and can't help but go down to have a look. Looking from far away is never as clear as watching nearby."
Don't tell me my hard time on earth was seen by the all of my fellow immortal up on clouds as an attraction? My face turned stern, I asked, "How did you see it?"
"Days up in heaven are leisurely, it's hard to escape the quiet. Ming Ge has the Guan Chen mirror that oversees the world's matter and he took me to watch together from time to time"
Old man Ming Ge actually still had this kind of thing up on his sleeves. Who knows who else he took to watch the mirror apart from Heng Wen. Thinking of the many eyes in heavenly fixed on me who was embracing Tian Shu when giving breath or feeding medicine, this immortal's old face can't help but heat up.
"You saw it in the mirror, you should know how my days are after descending; What about you, were you sent down by Jade Emperor or did you come down privately?"
This immortal lord and Heng had been friends for millennia, I had long grasped his temperament. Despite his mean words, I was convinced he saw my too miserable state in human world, and so deliberately went down to help me.
Heng Wen unhurriedly said, "Ming Ge Xingjun has so many small matters, he has no time to attend to this one. In this life Nan Ming Dijun is a formidable man, so Jade Emperor was afraid because you have no G.o.dly powers you won't be his match and would need a.s.sistance. After considering it he found amongst the immortals I have some free time and we are familiar with each other compared to another, hence he sent me down."
Heng Wen came down and firstly found an excuse to have a chance encounter with Dongjun w.a.n.g and Li Sixian on their road back to Shang Chuan after suppressing the border. He had stopped with these two at a tea shed, the three exchanged small talks, military strategies and the state of the affairs. Who was Heng Wen Qingjun? He was the high lord up in heaven who supervised the world's knowledge. Long story short with only few sentences Heng Wen had intimidated Dongjun w.a.n.g until he was seeing stars, he called Heng Wen a saintly expert, and later repeatedly invited the respected expert to please enter his residence.
Is this considered swindling or not swindling, hm?
Jade Emperor.
In the past few days I had quite a lot of grievances towards the Jade Emperor. Indeed I was wrong. Though occasionally the Jade Emperor was lacking in morals, His immortal virtue was still as majestic, as brilliant, as benevolent as ever. Sending Heng Wen to me was as though giving hot ginseng soup to a man in the middle of snowfall, awfully benevolent; As though bestowing a pair of wings to one fierce tiger, awfully brilliant.
I stood by the side of the lotus pond with Heng Wen, letting him look at me up and down. I felt happy from the bottom of my heart. Heng Wen gazed at me with a smile, "I went down this time using the name you gave me in the past, Zhao Heng."
I quietly laughed a bit before recalling some things, "Where is the room arranged for you? Take me to have a look so I'll know the way."
Heng Wen readily led the way in front of me. It turns out it was the side room right on the left after exiting Han courtyard. I looked around the room in the dim night lighting, unable to make out anything. I felt my way to the bedside and sat down. I couldn't stop my sigh, "As soon as I see bed I get sleepy. These few days I haven't had a good sleep."
Heng Wen replied, "If you're sleepy just lie down, Li Siming is still on the bed with Tian Shu anyway. I'll carry you back in before dawn."
I didn't act polite with him. These days I was tossed around during the day and had to keep thinking of Tian Shu by my side during the night too. I had to control my pressure when I turn in bed and even as I slept I was suppressing my throat so that my snoring won't startle him. Being continuously led on and hanged, I wasn't allowed to be at ease. I turned in bed, laid on my side and beat out a yawn drowsily.
Heng Wen lied down next to me. I told him, "You might as well lift me up every night. Just let Li Siming sleep with Tian Shu, I will look for a bed to lie in myself. "
Heng Wen's reply was drawn out: "What are you saying? You get to sleep together with Tian Shu Xingjun nightly but still picking faults, not afraid the heaven will smite you. From up in heaven you seemed quite taken with hugging, giving medicine, and giving breath to Tian Shu, why put on a show in front of me."
His head moved closer to my ear and he said in a low voice, "Getting Tian Shu Xingjun's divine favor moved your heart, didn't it."
My hand reached out to hold Heng Wen, half supporting my body, I smiled wide, "Although Tian Shu is a delicate beauty, how can he compare to lord Heng Wen Qingjun's number one splendor in heaven and his unmatched grace? With Qingjun by my side, how may Song Yao's eyes hold any other? All these thousands of years Song Yao only has one selfish wish, that is, to spend an evening with Qingjun on Mountain Wu. If Qingjun would agree……."
Heng Wen said lowly, "I agree, how about it."
I put away my wide smile and said with a deadpan expression, "Once you say yes, the heaven will plummet and we will be captured. Jade Emperor may be favorable to Qingjun, he may stop at sealing or demoting you — at most demoted down to my rank, Yuanjun — but it'll be easy to execute this Song Yao, chop, chop, chopping again until I was completely obliterated and fall from heaven."
Heng Wen lifted his hand and made me thud back against the pillow. "You know how serious this is. In that case, remember propriety when facing Tian Shu. Instead of setting up trials you joined in the trials, what do you want to get out of it when it's done? Come that time even I may not be able to defend you."
So he was actually afraid that while giving Tian Shu mouth-to-mouth several times I grow to have feelings for him. I yawned, "Rest a.s.sured, I got my fortune told as a human, I was born under the lone Phoenix. I won't get a wife in hundred lifetimes nor catch anyone's fancy in hundred reincarnations. Have I told you before I ascen…… "2
Heng Wen's tone was ambiguous as he said: "Mm. You've told me numerous times……." He turned his body and fell completely silent.
I frowned. "You haven't heard to the end, how would you know what I want to say. After I've told it, and you've listened, then you can say I had told it a lot." He doesn't give his brother a face at all.
Heng Wen neither agree nor disagree. This situation, it looked like——
He had fallen asleep.
I helplessly heaved a sigh, then turned to face the wall.
Perhaps I really did, really had told him about that matter before.
Those years of experience as human before I soared up to heaven, I might have told Heng Wen one time in a long rambling or told it to him repeatedly, however, I felt that that matter still needs to be told once through to truly make sense of it.
Translator: Padam Chinese checker: h.e.l.liotn English checker: Strwbrrytruffles Betas: Asmi and Kitt
(Unedited chapter)
[1] I'm actually lazy to explain each of the stories, I don't think it has much to do with the actual story. I'll link it someday but you can also search for it yourself: "……姜子牙到了西岐后……"元始天尊曾将他徒儿的功绩与本仙君说过数次，偏在此时想不起来了。"咳~~杨戬力劈华山之时，天地变色，星斗颠簸。那黑熊精从山中跳出来道，'你这个张道士，吾在此处修炼，未伤过人命，你为何非要取吾性命！'" "无妨。"慕若言又浮了那么一点笑出来，他一笑，就如熙熙日光照入水面。"关公战秦琼是本好书，姜太公二郎神君与张道士三英战黑熊，亦是一段奇话。" ↑
[2] Lone Luan, Luan is mythical bird similar to phoenix. I'll quote h.e.l.li here: […in the case of divination, it is usually referred to as the “tragedy of the lonesome phoenix” On another note, it is common to see phoenixes paired with a dragon or two phoenixes, also another symbol in divination called the red luan for wedding festivities, so for them to be alone is just absolutely tragic.] Sometimes I ask myself where would I be without h.e.l.li, aiyo.. ↑