Luzhou Moon - Chapter 97
The room was dark, bathed in soft moonlight. She knelt by the bed, gently held Jun Chu's ankle, and swayed it, saying, "Little Chu, you're so beautiful."
He looked at her in surprise, and finally said, "You're lying to me, I look terribly ugly."
"Who said that?" She raised her eyebrows.
Lian Junchu lowered her head in silence.
Not long after this silence, the incident that made Jun Chu want to die occurred.
No one could blame Lian Junxin, the instigator. Even her father only scolded her, but she took the opportunity to cry and shout.
However, Jun Chu was completely devastated by her. Only after Jun Qiu learned that Jun Chu's silence and humility were largely due to the humiliation she felt in Jun Xin.
To save Jun Chu's life, her father invited his old friend, the Old Man of Nine Netherworlds, a man well-versed in medicine but with an eccentric temperament who was reluctant to save people easily. Strangely enough, such a man had a close relationship with her father. Lian Junqiu watched helplessly as the servants carried Jun Chu onto the small boat, and the Old Man of Nine Netherworlds, without even saying goodbye, took Jun Chu away from Seven Star Island.
Lian Junqiu had asked her father to let her go to Nan Yandang for a few days, but Lian Haichao said, "Junchu doesn't want to see anyone from Qixing Island right now. What's the point of you going?"
She retreated helplessly, and could only sit on the lonely beach, watching the waves come and go.
More than a month later, her father finally granted her request and allowed her to go to Nan Yandang.
Deep in the mountains of Nan Yandang, there was a small courtyard, the hermitage of the Old Man of the Nine Netherworlds. When Lian Junqiu arrived, the old man merely glanced at her, pointed inside, and said, "He's already able to get out of bed."
Lian Junqiu was startled, then walked into the house with unease. Lian Junchu was sitting on the floor with her back to her, her long sleeves hanging down, bending over and doing something.
She walked up to him, and only then did he look up. There was a pile of pebbles on the ground, round and pointed, all sorts of shapes, divided into two heaps. Lian Junchu, barefoot, was trying to pick up the pebbles with her feet. Sometimes she couldn't succeed on the first try, so she had to try a second, a third…
"Xiao Chu." Lian Junqiu patted his head as usual.
He pursed his lips, looked at the pebbles on the ground, picked them up with force, held them in mid-air, and smiled at her.
"I can use my feet to pick things up now, sister."
After staying in Nan Yandang for several days, Lian Junqiu accompanied him as he practiced picking things up with his feet. He could sit on the ground all day, constantly trying to pick up pebbles. His toes were swollen, and Lian Junqiu told him with concern to stop practicing, but he earnestly replied, "I need to learn to eat by myself within a month."
"Why?" She couldn't bear to look into his innocent yet mature eyes.
"Otherwise, there will be no food to eat..." He glanced cautiously outside; the Old Man of Nine Netherworlds had gone out to gather herbs and had not yet returned.
Lian Junqiu was stunned for a moment, then became angry: "Did that old man force you?"
"No..." Lian Junchu awkwardly sat back a little, shifting her legs, "I have to learn eventually. I don't like being fed..."
"You can't torture yourself like this!" Lian Junqiu rummaged through drawers and cabinets, just about to find some medicine to apply to him, when she suddenly heard a cough outside the door. She quickly turned around and saw that Old Man Jiuyou had returned at some point and was standing at the door.
Lian Junqiu mustered her courage and said, "Senior, my younger brother is still young, please give him more time..."
"He's almost ten years old, and he still needs to be fed? Are you going to feed him for the rest of his life?" The old man said coldly, placing the herbs he was carrying heavily in the corner of the wall, and then turned and walked towards another room.
Lian Junchu lowered his head uneasily, then continued to try and pick up pebbles with his swollen, red feet. Lian Junqiu, fighting back tears, pressed his foot down, "Stop practicing!"
Lian Junchu bent down with difficulty, bracing her shoulder against her arm, and said, "Sister, I can learn it."
Lian Junqiu pursed her lips and remained silent. Just then, she heard footsteps behind her. Before she could turn around, a cloth bag flew down and landed beside her.
"You, as the older sister, are far too soft-hearted," the Old Man of Nine Nether said coldly, turning and leaving without even entering the door.
Lian Junqiu opened the cloth bag in a daze; inside was a medicinal powder for clearing heat and reducing swelling.
In the following years, Lian Junqiu frequently traveled between Qixing Island and Nan Yandang. Her father rarely inquired about Lian Junchu's situation, but when Lian Junqiu reported to him, he would stop what he was doing and listen silently.
Before winter arrived that year, Lian Junchu learned to feed herself. Lian Junqiu happily told Lian Haichao about it, but he simply nodded and said, "Shouldn't everyone be able to do that?"
"Oh, right, I also saw him practicing martial arts with the old master." Lian Junqiu recalled the scene and couldn't help but feel worried again. "He's still not very steady on his feet, and the old master made him lift his legs very high..."
Lian Haichao smiled faintly, "Besides his exceptional medical skills, Elder Jiuyou is also one of the best in the martial arts world when it comes to leg techniques. You don't need to worry too much."
The following spring, Lian Junchu turned ten. When Lian Junqiu went to see him, he was wearing a plain white short-sleeved shirt, carrying a large bamboo basket, and following behind the Old Man Jiuyou, swaying as he went up the mountain to collect herbs.
As dusk approached, the old man and the child returned to the courtyard. Seeing Lian Junqiu standing in front of the courtyard for a long time, Junchu walked a little faster, his empty sleeves fluttering in the wind, but he seemed to have gradually gotten used to it, with an indifferent smile on his face.
"Sister! I picked your favorite mushrooms!" He called out to her from a distance, standing in the night.
He always remembered what I liked to eat.
Lian Junqiu felt a warmth in her heart; this simple sentence had accompanied her for several years.
So she fought her way through the martial world, devoting unimaginable effort to the future of Seven Star Island. She had no time to cherish her most precious youth, throwing herself entirely into the struggles against various sects. In the quiet of the night, she would think of a little boy growing up in the mountains not far away.
When Lian Junchu was fourteen, the Old Man of the Nine Netherworlds passed away. This stern-faced old man never smiled, not even at his only disciple's death. Yet, Junchu knelt before the grave, weeping bitterly, a sight that even Lian Junqiu, standing to the side, found unbearable.
Jun Chu was no longer a child; though not very tall, he was about the same height as Lian Junqiu. Lian Junqiu hesitated for a moment, then reached out and placed her hand on his shoulder, wiping away his tears, and whispered, "Little Chu, you're all alone here. Come back with me."
Lian Junchu tried her best to hold back her tears and shook her head.
Lian Junqiu sighed, "You're growing up now, and Lian Junxin can't bully you like she used to. Don't worry."
"I'm not afraid of her," Lian Junchu said firmly. "I'm staying here."
"Why?" Lian Junqiu looked at the impoverished house and asked worriedly, "You used to have a master to take care of you, but now you're all alone..."
Lian Junchu raised her shoulders, turned her face to wipe away her tears, and stubbornly stood up, saying, "I don't need anyone to take care of me anymore."
"Don't be stubborn!" She stood up too, pulling him closer. "I'm worried!"
"What are you worried about?" Lian Junchu took a step back, lowered her head, and gazed at her master's grave. "I really just want to live here. I'll take good care of myself, eldest sister."
His stubbornness was beyond anyone's comprehension; even Lian Junqiu could only reluctantly leave in the end.