Chapter 26

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Can’t remember

Du Zheng anxiously rushed back to the Thousand Opportunities Hall with that “life-saving” medicine.

He dashed into the bamboo grove’s small kitchen and poured three bowls of water into the medicine pot. The medicine slowly boiled until only one bowl of liquid remained. He hastily ladled some cool spring water and went upstairs. He wet a piece of cloth and helped Huo Linfeng wipe his sweat and cool down. It had only been a short while, yet he was burning much worse now.

Huo Linfeng was in a daze. His lips were dry to the point of cracking and his throat was swollen from pain. “Dimwit, water……” He rasped as he shrank into his brocade blanket.

Du Zheng quickly ran to get tea and slowly fed it to the other party. He comforted: “Young Master, go to sleep. Once the medicine is prepared, I’ll call you.” He pulled the covers up. As he did so, he found the gray ginkgo handkerchief in the folds of Huo Linfeng’s robes. Du Zheng fished it out, wet it, and placed it on Huo Linfeng’s forehead.

Huo Linfeng obediently went to sleep. About an hour later, the rich smell of medicine floated into the room.

Du Zheng carried up a bowl full of dark liquid. He blew at it to cool it down, feeling bewildered. From its scent, it can be smelled that it was very different from the medicine for colds in the Marquis Manor. He thought, perhaps this was where Jiangnan and Saibei are different.

Once the medicine cooled, he urged: “Young Master, quickly drink this.”

Huo Linfeng’s eyes were half-lidded. He rose a little from the bed to take a sip. “Ugh……” He only took one sip before he recoiled, “What kind of medicine did you make? It tastes so weird.”

Du Zheng said: “Rong Luoyun gave it. I believe he got it especially for you.”

Huo Linfeng listened. Rong Luoyun gave the medicine? Especially for him?

Seems like after sharing joys and sorrows in Han Prefecture, he started to grow on the other party. Huo Linfeng endured the smell and pinched his nose, drinking the medicine in one go.

After settling back in bed, he needs a good rest to recover from his cold.

Not even a shichen* later, Huo Linfeng’s body turned scalding hot. He slowly woke up from the pain. His vision was hazy. It was sunset at this time, but to him, it seemed like a large fire was burning in his eyes.

*shichen – two hour period

He was like a fish out of water and tumbled to the edge of the bed in search of a basin of water.

“Dimwit……” Huo Linfeng called out hoarsely, “Get some cold water……”

In the Nameless Abode, Rong Luoyun fed the fish and pigeons, accompanying the animals who had been left alone for a few days. He returned to his bedroom to freshen up and changed into a clean set of clothes. By the time he finished these trivial matters, the sun had already set and a disciple came to deliver dinner.

Dinner included elm leaf soup, soft rice, two vegetarian dishes, and two meat dishes. Rong Luoyun tried a piece of meat. After testing it, he verified that it was still fresh and was compatible for picky eaters.

He wanted to check on Huo Linfeng to see if he was okay and eat dinner with him. He can use this as a form of gratitude for the rabbit Huo Linfeng roasted back in the mountains. As he thought of this, he carried the food box and left the Nameless Abode in the darkness.

This was the second time he had come to the bamboo grove in the Thousand Opportunities Hall.

The first time was for Xu Zheng’s funeral arrangements. He had come personally to pack up Xu Zheng’s belongings.

After a whole year, the courtyard is bound to undergo changes. Rong Luoyun couldn’t help but look around curiously. He glanced around for a while before he finally entered the house. As the stairs creaked beneath him, he heard a groan. It seems that Huo Linfeng was awake.

When he reached the second floor, he walked to the bedroom door: “Du Zhong, I brought some food—”

Rong Luoyun choked when he saw the figure squirming behind the bed’s gauze curtains. Those groans seemed to be evolving into shouts. He snapped out of it and came to the bedside. Before he could lift the curtains, Huo Linfeng had already yanked them open with force.

“Du Zhong?” He brushed away the swaying gauze and watched at the other party’s complexion in worry, “Du Zhong, how are you feeling?”

His features were burning red, the color spreading from his ears to his neck and down to his chest, burning Huo Linfeng awake from his sleep. His eyes were scattered, his ears were buzzing, and his throat was painfully dry. He croaked: “So uncomfortable, it’s so hot……”

Rong Luoyun was alarmed. Was the medicine he gave too strong? He had no time to think and went to fetch a cool cloth to wipe the other party’s face, saying: “Everything will be okay. Once this is over, you will be energetic again.”

There was another round of creaking from the stairs. Du Zheng had gone to draw cold spring water after being given a fright. Not only did his Master not get better, he even got worse. When he walked through the doors and saw Rong Luoyun, he shouted: “What are you doing here!”

Rong Luoyun, who had never been shouted at like this before, stared blankly: “I, I came to see him.”

Du Zheng cursed: “You still have the face to come after giving that damned medicine?!”

Rong Luoyun wanted to answer, but Huo Linfeng let out a low hiss, seeming to be in great pain. He had just been murmuring about being hot, but Huo Linfeng was now shivering, pulling the covers around himself and rolling into a ball.

How can this be……Rong Luoyun stood and approached Huo Linfeng: “Du Zhong, Du Zhong?”

Huo Linfeng gazed dazedly at him, feeling cold, so cold.

When cold, it felt like he was pitted into an ice cave and frozen down to the bones. When hot, he felt like he was roasting in an oven, his flesh and skin burning off. Under this continuous torment of alternating between hot and cold, he was left in a weak state. He could only use his unfocused eyes to show his suffering.

Rong Luoyun’s heart trembled. That look was like a trapped beast, making people take pity, making him feel jittery. He reached out his hand to touch Huo Linfeng’s face. It was scalding. He drew back, his hands balling into fists, and immediately dashed out the door.

Rong Luoyun ran as fast as he could out of the Hall, from the small street onto the main, bumping into multiple disciples along the way. He shouted like his eyebrows were on fire: “Big Brother! Big Brother!” He finally reached Drunken Elegance Courtyard.

Duan Huaike heard the noise and emerged from the building: “What’s the matter?”

Rong Luoyun halted, gasping for air as he spoke: “Big Brother, Du Zhong is really ill. Quickly come with me to check on him.” He didn’t even wait for the person to respond and started to drag him forward like a troublemaking child.

By the time he tugged Duan Huaike into the bamboo grove, Huo Linfeng was in a bout of burning. His upper body was bare. No matter how much he writhed about like a wild beast, he couldn’t get rid of this searing heat.

Duan Huaike ordered: “You two, hold him down. I’ll check his pulse.”

How could they hold him down? General Huo had the strength to push back thousands. With one sweep of his arm, he sent Du Zheng flying to the wall. Rong Luoyun couldn’t use his martial arts at the moment. He came to try with all his strength, subduing and holding Huo Linfeng upright.

At that moment, Huo Linfeng suddenly heaved a sigh of relief and calmed down.

Rong Luoyun was stiff like a boulder. There was something hot at his neck. It was the other party’s lips. This was not enough, Huo Linfeng’s whole face was glued onto him, moving from the delicate neck to his ears. So hot, that heat seemed to spread out, torturing him as well.

Rong Luoyun was rigid as if his acupoint had been tapped. His hand that grasped the other party’s wrist tightened as if he wished to shatter it.

At this time, Duan Huaike said: “His pulse is in disorder. He was burning up from his cold, but now there’s another source of chaotic energy within him. Seeing that his cold had yet to dissipate while also having that strange flame-like energy invading his body, it is no wonder he’s in so much pain.”

Rong Luoyun gaped. How was it a cold? Wasn’t Huo Linfeng feeling weak?

Duan Huaike asked Du Zheng: “What did he consume after he caught a cold?”

Du Zheng was fuming: “He didn’t eat anything, but he drank the medicine the Second Palace Lord gave.”

Two pairs of eyes came his way. Rong Luoyun mumbled in admittance: “It was me, I messed up.” It didn’t matter if it was done with good intentions because, in the end, he did something bad. “I thought he was feeling weak and lacked energy, that he hurt his yang energy, so I asked Dusk-till-Dawn’s proprietress for some replenishing medicine……”

Duan Huaike raised a brow: “The things you worry about are quite vast.”

Du Zheng glared: “You’re crazy! My didi isn’t like you, fooling around everywhere! The virgin that is him doesn’t need you to worry over his yang energy!”

Rong Luoyun gaped again. Virgin?

He gazed down at Huo Linfeng, from his sweat-stained sideburns to the pulsing veins in his arms, from his smooth, powerful waist to his long, muscular legs……This man was a virgin?

“I love going to pleasure houses, the rain’s traces and the cloud’s tracks [1]. The love and tenderness there comfort me to have a good night……”

He still remembers this sentence the other party said. Was this a lie?

Then his sweetheart Bao Luo, was this also fake?

At this time, Duan Huaike prescribed the correct medication and ordered Du Zheng to go grab them in town. Before he left, he warned repeatedly: “There is no wonderous medicine in the world that works instantaneously. One night is not enough to recover, so make sure you take good care of him.”

Du Zheng gave his thanks and saw Duan Huaike out. When he turned back around, his face changed. “You, quickly leave, gogogo!” He was a gutless fellow, but his loyalty can move mountains and fill seas, “I don’t care if you’re a Palace Lord or an emperor. If you hurt my didi again, I will take you down with me!”

Rong Luoyun was in the wrong and could only stay silent. He leaned over and helped Huo Linfeng lay down flat. The other party’s head had just touched the pillow when Rong Luoyun was pulled into his arms like a sheep being swallowed by a hungry tiger. He stifled his groan as he was reined in so tightly it started to hurt. Huo Linfeng murmured beside his ear: “Don’t go…..don’t go……”

The more he struggled, the tighter the hold. This kind of snug embrace made him feel embarrassed, but he finally found a counterargument: “Your didi doesn’t want me to leave.”

Du Zheng sighed dejectedly and ran downstairs to fetch medicine.

The moonlight hung above the branches. The lantern lights flickered, reflecting its red glow on the green bamboo and the smooth brocade blanket. Rong Luoyun wriggled his shoes off and relaxed his body, letting Huo Linfeng hug him. He probably shouldn’t be acting like this, so he justified: “Count this as me repaying you for healing me.”

Huo Linfeng didn’t care about whatever this was supposed to be and continued to latch onto him, rub against him, pulling him onto the bed and grinding against him. Rong Luoyun shut his eyes tightly. Not an inch of his neck and exposed skin was spared from being probed and nibbled at by those lips and teeth until they turned red and moist.

Suddenly, Huo Linfeng felt cold. His hiss sounded like the lamenting cries of a wolf. He became more overbearing, like a coarse vine binding a delicate branch. He wrapped around Rong Luoyun tightly, as if he wished to swallow him whole.

Rong Luoyun felt his soul leave his body, silently begging in his head, lighter please.

Huo Linfeng whispered: “Little fox……don’t run……”

The candle flame flickered, illuminating the bed. The wind blew the bamboo window shut, blocking the peeping birds outside from this scene. This night passed with difficulty with his symptoms altering between hot and cold. His pain finally started to subside later in the night, but he never loosened his embrace even a tiny bit.

There was a fragrance lingering at his nose. Huo Linfeng took a deep breath of that gingery scent.

With a fire burning in his heart, he dreamt a romantic dream.

At the break of dawn, the disciples in Thousand Opportunities Hall rose one by one and went to morning practice. The noise outside wasn’t low, waking Rong Luoyun up. He sleepily looked around, stopping his gaze at the face beside him. He reached out to feel the other party’s forehead. It felt warm, but his sickness was nearly gone by now.

He quietly got off the bed and wore his shoe, preparing to leave.

He silently left the bedroom, holding the railing as he stepped down the creaky steps. It was only until he left the bamboo courtyard and arrived at the small street did he finally relax. As a Palace Lord, spending a night at a disciple’s place would seem odd. Not only that, they were even sharing a bed.

Rong Luoyun scrambled along the way to the Nameless Abode like a puff of smoke.

He bathed and changed clothes when he left, then bathed and changed clothes when he returned. After mingling skin to skin, he eagerly washed Huo Linfeng’s scent off his body. After cleaning up, he laid down on his couch, staring into space. He opened a book but couldn’t take in a single word.

“Second Brother,” Lu Zhun arrived with something in his hands, “Du Zhong wanted to give you this. I’m running this errand for him.”

A bamboo lantern and a swallow-shaped kite. Rong Luoyun asked: “Du Zhong wants to give these to me?”

Lu Zhun replied: “He said your lantern was broken, so he made you a new one. I guess the kite as well.” He recalled for a moment, “It was that day when you went to Han Prefecture. He saw you were absent and passed these to me.”

Rong Luoyun stared blankly at these unexpected and belated items.

He sat beneath the eaves and examined the lantern. It was elegant, with cloud patterns drawn on its handle. He couldn’t help but wonder if Huo Linfeng was thinking of him [2], so he drew clouds……or perhaps he was drawing clouds and it made him think of him……

The weather was getting warmer at the end of spring, making it easy for people to think of such foolish things.

He placed the lantern down and picked the kite up. It was unadorned, like a simple bird. He held the lantern in one hand and the kite with the other, walking out the door in a daze.

Rong Luoyun walked along the street, his steps becoming hastier. Before long, he was running like an unraveling silk string. His sleeves fluttered along with the kite as he went. The disciples along the road watched him in shock. The cook who went to get supplies nearly dropped the fruits in their arms. This person was hurrying along, disregarding everyone, and only stopped when he reached the Thousand Opportunities Hall.

He came to the outer walls near the bamboo grove and let out the string, letting the kite ride in the wind.

The kite rocked as it floated up, adding this white swallow to the ocean blue sky.

Inside the bamboo house, Huo Linfeng drank another bowl of medicine, trying to remember what happened last night but failed to. He weakly went to do something else, pulling out his copy of Mirrors of Retribution and started reading.

After being closed off for a night, the room was filled with the smell of bitter medicine.

“Dimwit?” He called for Du Zheng. That servant was downstairs boiling soup, so no one answered.

Huo Linfeng had no choice but to climb off the bed himself to open the window. He leaned against the window frame, bathing in the cool breeze. When he looked up, he saw a swallow kite dancing in the air. It was the one he made from bamboo and paper. He traced down the silk string to its origin and met with Rong Luoyun’s gaze.

The entanglement and intimacy. A bomb went off in Huo Linfeng’s head as the occurrences of last night all came crashing back to him.

He couldn’t resist beckoning to Rong Luoyun. Rong Luoyun saw this and retrieved the kite, clumsily yet eagerly. Then, like a swallow, he darted into the Thousand Opportunities Hall. Huo Linfeng sighed in his heart……

He had never felt such affection before, yet when he had a taste of it, his days seemed to become so much more beautiful.

If you enjoy reading Riling Up the Jianghu and would like to support the author (please do if you can!!), please consider purchasing the raws here (guide on JJWXC here). Thanks for reading!

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Notes

Click on the bolded words to locate it in the chapter.

Like this:Like Loading...