Un cœur pur dans un pot de jade

Chapitre 20

I felt a tightness in my chest and was about to step forward when the savage beat me to it. He gestured and led the little girl to the table, then spread paper and ground ink on the table. After a while, he began to write in front of the little girl.

I was standing far away and couldn't see what the savage was writing, but the little girl's attitude towards the savage made me extremely unhappy. She clearly disliked me, yet she obeyed the savage's every word. She didn't even think it was wrong for the savage to take their paper and ink without asking; on the contrary, she thought it was perfectly normal.

I always felt that the way this little girl looked at the savage was wrong. From the very first sentence she said to the savage, "I remember you," I felt that there was something fishy going on between the two of them.

Perhaps I was overthinking it. I didn't have time to think any further. The savage came back from the table, and the little girl followed him. She looked at me with a reluctant expression, and then said to me, "I'll take you to see your godfather."

...

Standing in front of Uncle Xu Yi's house, my heart pounded. Jin Wan told me some of Uncle Xu Yi's long-standing and unpleasant past, with the aim of making me feel ashamed and even self-pitying, just like now.

When Jinwan first met the uncle, she was eight years old and not yet called Jinwan. At that time, she was called Jinwan and was the real granddaughter of the legendary doctor who cherished his life like gold.

Uncle Xu was found by the miracle doctor at the foot of the cliff where he built his hut. At that time, Uncle Xu was on the verge of death and was seriously injured.

Despite his deep concern for his life, Dr. Jin went to great lengths to pull the uncle back from the brink of death. In the end, he only saved the uncle's life, but not his health, leaving him with a host of ailments and a frail, emaciated body.

Later, the uncle sought medical help from the divine doctor to take care of his health. To his surprise, the uncle turned out to be an unparalleled medical genius. The divine doctor was so pleased that he imparted all his best skills to the doctor.

After a year of apprenticeship, the uncle had mastered eighty percent of the skills of a divine healer and was eager to return to Chengdu, as his home was there.

Just then, the legendary doctor reached the end of his life and entrusted his granddaughter, whose parents had died young, to Uncle Xu's care. Not wanting his medical skills to go to waste, he devised a way to spread his last words, which are now known to everyone: "If you need anything, go to Chengdu, and find Xu Yi in Chengdu."

At this point, the uncle isn't in such a bad situation, because at the very beginning, he hadn't yet turned over a new leaf.

However, when he arrived at Qingcheng (Dujiangyan) in Chengdu, the man discovered that his family had been destroyed and his people had died.

At that time, the government had just quelled a large-scale peasant uprising in Sichuan Province. The uncle's family was caught in the crossfire. His parents, relatives, and young son were all killed. The only survivor was his wife, who had been defiled by countless traitors, government soldiers, and others. She was the aunt in the wheelchair that I saw by Dujiangyan that day.

When the aunt saw the returning uncle, she immediately attempted suicide. The uncle tried everything, from wearing a mask and disfiguring himself, to cross-dressing, making himself neither human nor ghost. Eventually, he couldn't recognize himself, and the aunt couldn't recognize him either.

Others say that Xu Yi disappears every day because he has to take care of his aunt who is suffering from a hidden illness. The day I met him by chance on the cliff was also because he was going to the highlands to find cordyceps to cure his aunt's illness.

Doctor Xu Yi disliked treating people because many people sought his medical expertise without realizing that many ailments didn't require him to come to Xu Yi; any itinerant doctor he picked up on the street could cure them.

Xu Yi was only one person, and he could not take care of everyone in the world. Moreover, his own health was not good. He would get a low-grade fever and shortness of breath if he was even slightly overworked, which made him worse than an ordinary patient.

Then, just a few days ago, the aunt, whose health was already beyond cure, recognized the uncle's identity, and in a fit of excitement, she died.

I saw what happened then. The uncle was ready to die with the aunt, but Xiao Chenchen was there, as was the second young master of the Nangong family who had received his favor, and various martial arts masters who were begging him to treat their illnesses. How could they let the uncle die so easily?

Jin Wan said that after the uncle returned home, he became silent and refused to eat or drink. For four days and three nights, he ignored everyone who spoke to him and did not close his eyes to sleep. He looked like he was about to die.

Jinwan also said that the uncle has been like this more than once or twice. He is two different people in front of others and in private. He wears a mask in front of others, but in private he is absent-minded, rarely speaks, and stares blankly at the portrait of the aunt when she was young for a whole day.

Jin Wan said something else... but I understood what she meant. The gist of it was that the old man was pitiful, and in comparison, I was so wicked that I deserved to be torn to pieces and executed by slow slicing.

However, although I believed most of what Jinwan said, I'm not stupid. Would an uncle really do that just to avoid an aunt? Even a fool would believe that, but I wouldn't.

Moreover, who was the uncle before he was seriously injured, and why did he know Xiao Chenchen, a peerless beauty whom others could only dream of? Of course, the uncle was also a celebrity, so it can be understood that the uncle had once treated Xiao Chenchen's illness, thus gaining a precious opportunity to get close to the beauty.

However, Xiao Chenchen didn't just see the uncle as a doctor. Anyone with eyes could see that Xiao Chenchen's feelings for the uncle were no longer just fondness, admiration, or longing—but rather a burning love! If a beautiful woman encounters the second young master of the Nangong family and doesn't even give him a proper look, but instead chases after an androgynous, weird uncle, shedding tears and getting angry, then this problem cannot be explained in a sentence or two.

I pushed open the uncle's door, tiptoed inside, then suddenly turned my head away and bit my lip hard.

The old man sat on the bed, his head resting against the edge, staring at the portrait opposite him. His appearance instantly reminded me of a completely unrelated savage. The first time I saw a savage in the valley, he was filled with ecstasy and despair, but at least every emotion he felt was intense, so intense that I almost felt it myself. Unlike the old man's current state, where exhaling more than inhaling was negligible, it was the look in his eyes, half-closed and fixed on a certain spot in the painting, that made me feel that he had never truly come back to life. There was always a dark aura surrounding him, condensed into a physical form, unable to dissipate.

Xu Yi, the sorcerer, whose elaborate hairstyles were always perfectly combed, now had his hair disheveled. In just a few days, half of his hair had turned white. The makeup on his face had been removed, and in reality, he was just an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with fine lines and crow's feet. His complexion was unnaturally pale, his lips were bloodless, his cheeks were sunken, and he had dark circles under his eyes. There was a very conspicuous scar on his forehead and on both sides of his cheeks, but the one on his forehead was more terrifying.

That must have been a fatal wound, and it's been there for years.

The uncle didn't react at all to my presence. I stood in front of his bed with my head down, feeling a bit like a child who had made a mistake, knowing in my heart that I was wrong, with an extremely sincere face and an extremely ashamed attitude, wishing I could have another chance to start over. However, my sincerity often resulted in my mother slapping me across the face—"Does anyone only get sixteen points on a test? Even if you choose C for all the multiple-choice questions, you still get more than sixteen points!!"

“Uncle…” I whispered, “I’m sorry, that day, I… I didn’t expect things to turn out like this. Although an apology is useless, I know I was wrong and I will repent for the rest of my life. I don’t ask for your forgiveness, I just want to apologize to you.”

After I finished speaking, the uncle seemed not to have heard me at all. He didn't blink or look at me, and his breathing didn't even change. This can't go on. I suddenly realized that this was actually a typical symptom of depression. The uncle was waiting to die, but who knows, he might reach out and strangle himself at any moment.

However, none of that concerns me, and I have no right to interfere.

...

When I was in a bad mood, the wild man took me to the Laughing Teahouse. The window seats there practically became our private spot.

A couple of days ago I was short on cash and only dared to order a pot of local tea. Now that the uncle has given me two coins, although I feel ashamed to accept them, since I've already accepted them, I ordered a whole table full of things: chestnuts, walnuts, hawthorn strips, Sichuan lactose, sea buckthorn with jujubes, pear strips, jujubes, persimmon paste...

The savage didn't encourage my extravagant habits, but he didn't restrict me either. Instead, he calmly peeled the shells off various hard fruits for me so that I could pick them up and eat them without having to put in any effort.

But the savage only peeled the shells; he didn't eat them himself, because he would vomit if he did.

I lay on the table, looking at the savage's fingers. Three of his fingers were strangely shaped. His finger bones had been broken before, and although I forcibly bound them for several months to allow them to heal, their shape was no longer right. I didn't know if they would hurt or if they could exert any force.

A ray of sunlight shone on his hands through the window. I felt a warm feeling in this scene; someone was peeling fruit for me, and someone was feeding it to me.

"Marry me." I don't know if I had a brain fart, but in that instant, those four words came to my mouth.

The savage paused, stopped peeling the ginkgo nuts, and turned to look at me.

"If you marry me, I'll marry you." I mustered the greatest courage of my life, thinking that this was supposed to be the ultimate event in my life plan, which would happen ten years from now. I felt that I was really wrong before. What's wrong with finding a man to marry? It's such a wonderful thing to be pampered and loved. Why did I never realize this before?

Maybe it's because my mom never let me date with marriage in mind. She spoiled me and made me feel like I had plenty of time to squander.

But now when I hear people commenting on Jinwan, saying that she is already sixteen years old and will never get married if she doesn't get married soon, I feel my sense of crisis rising rapidly.

The savage stopped peeling the shells and looked at me intently. The steam from the tea rose slowly around his face. He opened his mouth and mouthed, "Okay," he said slowly, "as long as you marry me, I will marry you."

"You said that?"

He nodded. "I said it."

Plan changes

What do you mean by "plans can't keep up with changes"? Yesterday, I discussed with my savage how to disregard our parents and matchmakers, drink eighteen jars of strong liquor, kiss her twice, touch her bottom twice, and that would be our wedding day—

However, today, I was taken hostage.

"Hijacking" is not quite the right word; perhaps "kidnapping" would be a better term.

The man who kidnapped me was masked and had a young voice. He verbally abused me the whole way, saying he would sell me to a brothel one minute and chop me into thirty-six pieces to feed to the dogs the next. When I asked him why he hated me so much, he hummed and said that I was happy because I seduced men all over the streets and made them fall head over heels for me.

“Then you’re wrong.” I shook my head vigorously. “You’ve definitely kidnapped the wrong person.”

"Wrong person kidnapped?!" the kidnapper retorted indignantly. "You think I'd mistake you?! I'd recognize you even if you were ashes. Don't even think about escaping. Once we're alone, I'll kill you with one stab—and you dare open your mouth?! Shut up, or I'll rip your tongue out!!"

The kidnapper was indeed vicious, but there were deserted places everywhere along the way, yet he only dared to threaten verbally. I suspect he was all show and no substance, and that he only knew how to bully me from beginning to end because I was in his hands and dared not put up a fight against him.

After thinking about it that way, I wasn't afraid anymore. I did something pretty stupid though: I was afraid the savages would worry about me, so I used the excuse of needing to use the restroom to escape. And then...

I almost succeeded, but the masked kidnapper suddenly pounced on me from the bushes a dozen meters behind me like a flying man, relentlessly chasing and attacking me. In my panic, I lost my footing, tumbled down the hillside, and hurt my head.

As I lay dying, I thought, "I hope I don't get a concussion; miracle doctors are really rare these days."

...

A headache is more torturous than a toothache...

I opened my eyes and saw a strangely dressed person with a large oval face.

"Who are you..." I rubbed my head and slowly sat up. For some reason, the back of my head was throbbing with pain.

"You don't recognize me?" The young man in front of me, dressed in outlandish clothes and sporting a retro hairstyle, exclaimed in surprise, then looked astonished. "You really don't recognize me?"

I was rubbing my head when he asked that question. I opened my eyes wide, looked around, and gazed at the sky and the ground. Something's not right. How did I end up in the wild? The moon was bright, the stars were few, and the insects were chirping. It was a beautiful night, but I wasn't on the border between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. Where was I?

Then I became alert and looked at the man in front of me again. He wasn't dressed strangely; he was just dressed in a style that suited the times, just like I was dressed in a style that suited the times. I looked down at myself and then crossed my arms—oh my god, who changed my pajamas?!

"Little...little...little brother?" I was having a headache from this form of address, but I didn't expect this rather handsome man to ask first. "Think about it," he asked, "we met by the Dujiangyan Irrigation System a few days ago. I wanted to kill Xu Yi, and I even broke my sword. You really don't remember me? You even called me that back then. I'm not so lacking in facial features, am I?"

"Just kidding..." I chuckled and replied, "How could I not know you? Right? I know you, I know you..." Actually, I really had never met him. What Xu Yi, what Dujiangyan? Help! Am I dreaming, or am I time-traveling?

"Something doesn't seem right to me," a glamorous man with gleaming eyes scanned my face from side to side, then exclaimed "Ah!" and pointed at me—"You still don't recognize me, do you?" He made his judgment with absolute certainty, "You must have damaged your brain, right? You've become stupid!!"

I glared at him, and he yelled even louder than I could, "Mingming—Mingming—stop pretending to be a shadow and get down! This person's been knocked silly!"

"You're the idiot!" I rolled my eyes, and as my gaze moved upwards, I suddenly saw a figure flash across the night sky. The figure was like a high-tech movie special effect, flashing continuously in the moonlit night with irregular spatial locations. I was stunned. The figure disappeared immediately, without a word, as if it had popped up from underground, and landed next to me with a thud.

Actually, it wasn't as serious as the loud "bang." That heavy "bang" was just the sound of my heartbeat.

My heart skipped a beat, and then I dared not let it jump anymore.

By the moonlight, I observed the newly appeared man. Unsurprisingly, he was young, with a delicate face and a pointed chin. Overall, he seemed quite upright, with upright eyes and a straight nose. Even his elegant, stiff kneeling posture exuded uprightness. When he reached my side, he lowered his head, faced the oval-faced man opposite me, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and called out in a steady voice, "Young Master."

"Mingming!" After calling out "Young Master," the young master pulled him to his side. The young master was very happy and pointed to Mingming, introducing him to me: "Look, this is Xu Xiaoming, a young master from Liangshan Village in Liangshanbo. He has been in the martial arts world for a long time and has even earned a nickname, 'Wuhen' (meaning 'Traceless')."

"Hmm." I nodded. "That's good." I've caught up with the heroes of Liangshan.

Then Xu Xiaoming became very polite. After being introduced, he immediately leaned down, cupped his hands in greeting, and said in a deep voice, "Greetings, Miss."

"Mingming!" But in return, the flamboyant young master gave him a hard shove. "You, you, you—why are you so clueless! How many times have I taught you? 'Miss' is a term used to address girls in brothels. When you meet a girl from a respectable family, you should call her 'little sister-in-law'!"

"Cough..." I coughed out suddenly, "Cough cough cough..."

The flamboyant young man quickly stepped forward, "Is your sister-in-law alright?"

"Cough... It's nothing, it's nothing..." I pushed the man's hand away, and Xu Xiaoming bowed deeply to me again, saying, "Greetings, little sister-in-law!"

"Mingming..." I also started slurring my words. Xu Xiaoming looked up when I called him, his face full of surprise and doubt. His face was fair and clean in the moonlight, and he looked like a very kind person who was also easy to bully.

“My name is Yan Chaohong.” The young master didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with it, and only said, “Yan Tuliu, the chief of Liangshan Village, is my father, but you must not confuse him with me. I don’t want to take advantage of his fame.”

"Young Master," Xu Xiaoming, who was standing to the side, felt displeased and kindly advised, "If the Chief heard you say that, he would be unhappy."

"So what!" Yan Chaohong scoffed. "When has he ever been happy to listen to me? This time he still wants to break my legs, doesn't he? All I did was issue him an 'Apricot Yellow Flag Order.' Did I make a mistake? If it weren't for that damned Xu Yi sorcerer, would Fourth Uncle, Ninth Uncle, Second Uncle, and your godfather be dead?! In my opinion, that damned sorcerer, killing him wouldn't be enough to vent my anger, and he even asked me to protect him. I..." Yan Chaohong stared, unable to find the words to describe herself.

Who exactly is Xu Yi? This Yan Chaohong has repeated this name to me more than once, which makes me very curious, especially because I heard the qualifier after that name—"demon."

In my imagination, a demon should be a wicked person with a graceful figure, a charming smile, a belly full of evil, who makes people love him, hate him, and go crazy for him, and no matter what, they can't help but be a villain.

I really want to meet this freak!

However, Xu Xiaoming's calm and unhurried tone shattered my first beautiful dream after traveling through time. "Young Master has indeed gone too far this time," Mingming said seriously. "Xu Yi is now on the verge of death, his life in danger at any moment. How is this any different from killing him yourself?"

"How can you blame me?" Yan Chaohong protested. "I've already come to retrieve the Apricot Yellow Banner Token. How many times have I shielded him from death? That day, he walked right into my clutches. Besides, he ordered me to kill that woman, and I didn't. I even broke my own sword with my internal energy. Do you think it was easy for me?! And now, it's all my fault. If anyone's to blame, it's not me. If anyone's to blame, it's—" Yan Chaohong thought for a moment, "It's Xiao Chenchen's fault. If she hadn't blocked him, I would have pulled Xu Yi out of the crowd long ago. And that little brat—what are you looking at?" Yan Chaohong shouted, "I'm talking to you!!"

As she finished speaking, she pointed a delicate finger forward, pointing at—me?!

I was startled and quickly stepped forward to cover Yan Chaohong's slender little finger with both hands. "You can't just point at people like that. Look at us, we've only just met..."

"It's over." Before I could finish speaking, Yan Chaohong turned to Xu Xiaoming and said, "This sister-in-law is really mentally impaired from the fall. Should we hand her over to Xu Yi?"

Xu Xiaoming thought about it seriously for a moment and shook his head, "Xu Yi is already in dire straits."

"What should we do then? Ah!" Yan Chaohong exclaimed in surprise again. "I remember there was a mute person with her... Where is that mute person?" Yan Chaohong turned around and asked me.

"What mute?" I waved my hand. "No such person found."

Midnight Chat

On the roof of Xu Yi's house, Yan Chaohong told me some of the man's glorious past.