Luzhou Moon - Chapter 16
"He is not my father." Tang Yanchu interrupted her before she could finish speaking.
Yue Ruzheng paused for a moment, but she had already anticipated that he must be at odds with his family, so she forced herself to say, "Alright, Xiao Tang, whether you admit it or not... I actually didn't want to ask about your family at all, but I'm afraid that... that Lian Haichao really will join forces with Mo Li to deal with our Yinxi Xiaozhu in order to get the Dragon Heart Grass."
Tang Yanchu turned his head to the side. The candlelight on the table in the room was stirred by the wind blowing in through the crack in the window, sometimes high and sometimes low, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, reflecting on his thin cheeks, making his eyes appear even darker and more watery.
Yue Ruzheng mustered her courage and looked at him, saying, "I really have no choice, and I can't go back now. When your older sister was here during the day, I begged her, but she told me to ask you..."
"Ask me?" Tang Yanchu stared at the ground, a faint smile playing on her lips. "What can I do? I'm sorry, I can't help you."
"Xiao Tang..." Yue Ruzheng knew he had something on his mind that he didn't want others to know, but she couldn't think of any other way to talk to him. She called out to him, but didn't know how to continue, so she could only lower her head, lean against the door, and stare at her toes.
Tang Yanchu took a deep breath, slowly raised her head, and looked at her slightly haggard face. She said, "I wanted to tell you this during the day. My eldest sister said I'm the young master of Seven Star Island, but I'm not as noble as she says. So far, I've only been there for less than four months… Yue Ruzheng, don't think of me as someone of high status… I'm nothing, I have nothing. So I can't help you. Really, it's not that I'm heartless this time."
Yue Ruzheng felt a bitter taste in her mouth and silently looked up at him. Tang Yanchu met her gaze for a moment, then looked away and said softly, "You must be tired standing like this. Would you like to sit down for a while?"
Yue Ruzheng shook her head silently and said softly, "I'm going back. You should rest." After saying that, she gently opened the door, only a little bit, and then disappeared into the shadows.
Yue Ruzheng returned to her room without lighting a lamp. She sat blankly on the bed, wrapped in the quilt, staring at the roof beams.
Actually, she had prepared a lot of things to say beforehand, analyzing and persuading him from various aspects, but as soon as she saw Tang Yanchu and met his eyes, all the words she had prepared beforehand went down the drain and disappeared.
Frustration, resentment, disappointment... a flood of emotions surged into her heart, making it feel like it was about to explode. She wrapped herself tightly in the quilt, then suddenly got up and reached for the Lonely Fragrance Sword on the cabinet.
The sword was drawn from its sheath, its light shimmering, and the pink tassels drooped silently.
She stared at the longsword in her hand in the shadows, then sheathed it again, remaining stunned for a long while.
That night, she fell asleep holding the Lonely Fragrance Sword.
The next morning, she took out the half-letter she had hidden, intending to slip it under Tang Yanchu's door. But as soon as she stepped out of the room, she saw Tang Yanchu sitting upright at the table in the main room. He faced the courtyard, his gaze seemingly fixed on the rose bushes on the bamboo fence.
The sky was still dark, and the air in the courtyard was damp and chilly. Yue Ruzheng hadn't expected him to be up so early. She involuntarily took a step back, leaning against the wall, and said, "When did you get up? I didn't know at all!"
Tang Yanchu turned her head to the side and glanced at her without saying a word, her slightly upturned eyes still looking like she was angry.
"Didn't you say you wouldn't leave me any more letters when you left?" he said emotionlessly.
Yue Ruzheng panicked and hurriedly stuffed the half-sheet of paper in her hand into her bosom, then moved her body back a little, but she couldn't hide the Lonely Fragrance Sword at her waist no matter what she did.
Tang Yanchu pursed her lips and stopped speaking or looking at her, only gazing at the pear tree outside the bamboo fence.
Yue Ruzheng gripped the Lonely Fragrance Sword and said in a low voice, "I didn't mean to sneak away, but I thought about it for a long time and decided I had no choice but to go down the mountain, find a horse, and rush back to Luzhou. Although my martial arts skills aren't high, I'm still a member of Yinxi Xiaozhu. I can't stay here forever under your protection and let others harm Yinxi Xiaozhu!"
"Do you think you can handle the combined forces of Seven Star Island and Bliss Valley?" Tang Yanchu asked calmly.
"I can't win," Yue Ruzheng said calmly. "As a member of the martial world, even if I die, I must die within my own sect; I cannot live a life of dishonor. This is a principle I've understood since I was a child."
Tang Yanchu closed her eyes briefly, then turned to look at her and said, "Yue Ruzheng, is the martial world really that important to you?"
Yue Ruzheng dared not meet his clear, unfathomable gaze, turning her face away and saying, "I had no choice, because I was adopted by my master when I was little."
Tang Yanchu lowered her head, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "Lian Haichao won't join forces with Mo Li anymore, so don't worry."
Yue Ruzheng stared blankly for a long time before widening her eyes and asking, "What did you say?"
Tang Yanchu stood up and said to her, "Please use your brain when you do things in the future. What's the use of always risking your life?" After saying that, she turned around and walked towards her room.
Yue Ruzheng snapped out of her daze and hurriedly caught up with him, grabbing his sleeve and saying, "Little Tang, how could you let Lian Haichao give up that alliance? You haven't even gone out..." As she spoke, she suddenly felt that his clothes were slightly damp, as if they were covered in dew.
She gasped and turned to face him, saying, "You didn't go out last night, did you?"
Tang Yanchu glanced at her, slumped her shoulders back, gently freeing herself from the woman's grasp, and said, "Who would be so foolish?"
Peach blossoms bloom in profusion, their fragrance carried on the breeze, sometimes drifting down in delicate petals. The pear tree before the bamboo fence stands gracefully, its branches swaying gently, casting dappled sunlight.
This time, Yue Ruzheng obediently focused on recovering from her injuries, no longer overthinking or acting impulsively. She also wisely refrained from asking Tang Yanchu how he resolved the matter. Sometimes, she even forgot everything that had happened that day, forgot Tang Yanchu's identity. In Yue Ruzheng's eyes, Tang Yanchu was still the same as before—quiet and indifferent, unchanged.
However, she still intentionally kept a close eye on his every move, until even the usually composed Tang Yanchu became intimidated by her gaze and turned around, saying unhappily, "Yue Ruzheng, please stop staring at me. It's not like this is the first time you've seen me like this."
Yue Ruzheng sat smiling on the threshold and said, "I'm not looking at you, I'm trying to figure out why I didn't realize you actually knew martial arts before."
Tang Yanchu knelt on the ground, unloaded the bamboo basket from his shoulder, and said, "First of all, my martial arts skills are hardly impressive. Secondly, you never imagined that someone like me could practice martial arts."
Yue Ruzheng said anxiously, "You've been hiding this from me all along, haven't you?"
Tang Yanchu raised an eyebrow and said, "I don't think there's anything to publicize."
Yue Ruzheng sighed and said, "Do you remember when I asked you at your master's grave what skills he taught you? You only said it was gathering herbs. Wasn't that deliberately hiding it from me?"
Tang Yanchu turned away helplessly and ignored her.
"But I've never seen you practice martial arts, which is really strange. Don't you need to practice? Or do you sneak out at night..." she muttered to herself.
Tang Yanchu discovered that Yue Ruzheng indeed couldn't be without worries. Whenever she had free time, she would torment herself in her mind and then verbally torment Tang Yanchu. Seeing that she could still walk a little further, he took her to that secluded valley.
"After you've seen this, stop thinking about practicing martial arts all the time." After saying this, he walked to the foot of the cliff next to him, facing the straight and steep rocks. Suddenly, he raised his right leg and pressed it tightly against the rock face. His right leg was completely straight with his body, extending above his head, while his left leg was as if nailed to the ground, not moving an inch.
He quickly bent backward, and without the support of his arms, he managed to bend his body until it was perpendicular to the ground. Then, he suddenly pushed off with his left leg, and his whole body flipped backward rapidly in mid-air. He kept flipping and leaping, his legs scissing, twisting, and straightening in the air, in various postures and directions, at a speed that dazzled Yue Ruzheng.
He flipped onto a rock, pushed off with both feet, and leaped into the air. Suddenly, he twisted his waist and slashed diagonally, kicking with his right leg. The kick struck a tree branch beside him with a "crack," and the branch, as thick as a strong man's arm, was snapped in two and flew several feet away.
Yue Ruzheng watched with bated breath as Tang Yanchu rolled over and gently landed in front of her, her expression normal, though her breathing was slightly rapid.
"I have nothing to do in the mountains every day, so I just practice like this."
A hint of worry appeared in Yue Ruzheng's eyes as she asked, "How old were you when you started practicing martial arts?"
Tang Yanchu's eyes narrowed slightly. "Six years old," he said. He thought for a moment, then added, "Back then I had hands; I didn't train like this."