Song Huaiyan’s heart skipped a beat, and his eyelashes fluttered along with it, like a fallen leaf stirred by the wind.
Suppressing his indescribable emotions, he said lightly and casually, “I am right here, safe and sound.”
“But Senior Brother is dead.” Shen Yu looked at him, his gaze unblinking. “Who are you?”
His expression showed no abnormality, yet Song Huaiyan felt that his condition wasn’t right. It was still daytime; could he be having another episode? Or had he spent too much time in the Saha Realm, causing his soul to be affected?
Song Huaiyan was just about to check on Shen Yu’s condition when he heard a faint sound coming from the courtyard. Shen Yu reacted extremely quickly, stepping past him toward the outside. Huaiyan hurried to follow, only to see a person clinging to the courtyard wall, both hands clawing at the bricks while one foot was groping inward.
Just as Shen Yu was about to make a move, Song Huaiyan hastily grabbed his hand to stop him, while simultaneously shouting lowly toward the wall: “Songaiguo!”
At those words, the person gave a start and tumbled down with a loud thud, eating dirt face-first.
He struggled to climb back up, rubbing his bruised and aching chin as he cursed and muttered, “I told you not to call me by that name!”
“What are you doing sneaking around climbing the wall?” Song Huaiyan was speechless.
“I saw that you locked both the front and back doors, so I came to look for you! Who told you to lock both ends up!” The one called “Songaiguo” was a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old youth. He wasn’t exceptionally tall, and his facial features were delicate rather than weak. A pair of slightly drooping puppy-like eyes carried that natural, pure foolishness characteristic of youths his age.
Only then did Song Huaiyan remember that, in order to resolve Zhao Bin’s obsession, he had locked both the front and back doors of the Hall of All Matters and placed seals on them.
“Besides, don’t you usually climb the wall yourself all the time?” The youth brushed the dust off his body, looking extremely aggrieved. When he raised his head and caught sight of the person standing behind Song Huaiyan, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
“Brother! He… he… who is he? Why is he here?”
Realizing he was still holding onto Shen Yu, Song Huaiyan hurriedly let go and shifted sideways slightly to shield the other person behind him.
“He’s my distant junior brother from a senior lineage. He used to cultivate on the mountain and is now descending the mountain for experiential training. He’ll be staying at our home for a period of time.” He rattled off the fabricated backstory he had concocted earlier.
“Junior brother? A Daoist priest?” Songaiguo looked Shen Yu up and down. “Why did you never mention him to me?”
Song Huaiyan: “There are plenty of things I haven’t told you.”
Songaiguo: “…”
“Just where on earth did you pick up this bargain junior brother?” Songaiguo rubbed his chin. “He doesn’t look like an upright, proper person.”
Song Huaiyan: “?”
How did he not look proper? His junior brother looked like an immortal of pure breezes and bright moonlight, transcendent and peerless, no matter how you looked at him!
Songaiguo pulled Song Huaiyan closer and whispered into his ear: “Brother, he isn’t actually human, is he?”
Even though he made the motion of whispering into his ear, he didn’t lower his voice at all.
Song Huaiyan covered his mouth: “You’re the one who isn’t human, you brat!”
Songaiguo wailed muffledly: “Brother, wake up! Don’t let him hook your soul away!”
Whereupon he was dragged off to a corner by his older brother, who pressed down his head and subjected him to a round of “loving education,” trading blows in an affectionate display of sibling harmony.
A moment later, Song Huaiyan hauled the quail-like Songaiguo over to stand before Shen Yu: “Call him Brother Shen.”
Songaiguo: “?”
Shen Yu: “…”
The two of them each turned their heads away in opposite directions.
Song Huaiyan introduced him to Shen Yu: “This is my younger brother, Songaiguo.”
“Don’t call me that name!” Songaiguo shrieked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
“You can call him Xiao Ai.” Song Huaiyan pressed down and ruffled the hair that had just been mussed up from their scuffle.
It was as if Songaiguo had been smoothed down the right way. He lowered his head and obediently called out, “Brother Shen.”
On the other side, Shen Yu still remained entirely silent. Song Huaiyan had no choice but to smooth things over: “It’s getting late. Let’s head back to Liangbuyi for dinner first.”
Shen Yu had been somewhat abnormal earlier, and Song Huaiyan couldn’t quite gauge his current state. However, because Xiao Ai was present, he didn’t dare to probe rashly, so he could only wait and see how things developed.
He patted Xiao Ai’s head and pushed him toward the doorway. “Didn’t you say your school had matters to attend to for the past two weeks and you wouldn’t be coming home? Why did you suddenly return?”
“Hmph, a dog biting Lü Dongbin!” Xiao Ai puffed out his cheeks in indignation. “Isn’t it because I was worried about you?”
“Hm?”
“At such a young age, you already suffer from rheumatic joints and old leg aches. With the Qingming Festival coming up soon, you have so much work to do by yourself—can you even manage?”
“Well, well! A brat who goes off to university really is different now! Learning to care about your older brother?” Song Huaiyan hooked his arm around his shoulders with a smile in the corners of his eyes. “Given your clumsy skills, I’d rather pray to the Buddha for five hundred years that you don’t come back and create a mess for me!”
“Song Huaiyan! With a mouth as stinky as that, you’ll never find a wife!” Songaiguo shouted angrily.
The two of them walked all the way with arms draped over each other’s shoulders, bickering and scuffling. Shen Yu walked not too far behind them, the look in his eyes ambiguous and unclear.
The refrigerator was stocked with ingredients for two people. On the way back, Song Huaiyan had specifically stopped by the vegetable market to buy a bunch of chicken, duck, fish, and pork, and he was now busy bustling about in the kitchen.
Shen Yu and Songaiguo, neither of whom lifted a finger or knew how to work for their food, sat facing each other across the dining table.
After half an hour of silence, Songaiguo finally couldn’t help speaking up: “Brother Shen, which mountain peak did you cultivate on before?”
Without lifting his eyelids, Shen Yu replied indifferently, “Lochun Mountain.”
Songaiguo wracked his brains trying to think. “Is there such a mountain? How come I’ve never heard of it?”
Shen Yu didn’t take up the conversation, so Songaiguo continued asking: “Then was my brother at this so-called Lochun Mountain before too? Is he also a Daoist priest? When did the two of you meet? Can my brother also perform Daoist magic? What do you guys do when you cultivate—catch ghosts or catch demons?”
He rattled off a string of questions, but seeing that Shen Yu kept a cold face the whole time, he found it uninteresting and hummed unhappily, “I bet you guys just tell fortunes to swindle money, right?”
“I know a bit of fist and foot combat too,” Shen Yu suddenly answered leisurely.
Songaiguo: “?”
“What kind of fist and foot combat?” Song Huaiyan walked out carrying a plate of sweet and sour pork ribs and a plate of shredded potatoes. “You two are chatting quite nicely, huh?”
Given Shen Yu’s personality and his current amnesiac state, Huaiyan had initially assumed he wouldn’t bother much with anyone else.
“Brother Shen is visiting our home as a guest, so of course I have to entertain him properly!”
“Oh? Is that with this mouth of yours that only knows how to eat?”
“Brother! In front of an outsider, can’t you leave me some face?!” Songaiguo glared at him.
Thinking this punk was exceptionally annoying today, Song Huaiyan glanced at his white T-shirt—which was wrinkled and stained from climbing the wall along with a small tear scraped open at the elbow, and said, “Go disinfect your wound and change into a clean shirt before coming back down for dinner!”
“Oh.” Songaiguo pinched a piece of pork ribs with his fingers and stuffed it into his mouth, bolting upstairs at top speed before he could be scolded again.
“Xiao Ai has always been boisterous since he was a kid, don’t take it to heart,” Song Huaiyan said, observing Shen Yu’s expression.
Shen Yu’s habitually cold face showed no abnormality at the moment, but Song Huaiyan sensed that he seemed somewhat displeased, or perhaps hiding some emotion.
Having spent so many years in Cangxuan Sect, Huaiyan knew that his junior brother wasn’t cold and unfeeling; he simply didn’t quite understand ordinary human emotions, nor was he skilled at expressing his feelings, which always led to many misunderstandings.
“Is he… your younger brother?” Shen Yu suddenly spoke up.
“Mm,” Song Huaiyan nodded. “Not by blood, though. His parents passed away, and I raised him. When he was little, he treated me like a father and was very attached to me. I spoiled him rotten, so he’s a bit lacking in manners.”
Shen Yu lifted his gaze as if wanting to say something. At that moment, a heaven-shaking sound of heavy footsteps came from the wooden floorboards upstairs, and Songaiguo rushed to the top of the stairs, shouting down toward the lower floor: “Who slept in my bed?!”
Song Huaiyan didn’t even raise his head: “Me.”
Songaiguo’s gaze shifted back and forth between him and Shen Yu, looking unconvinced: “Then where is he sleeping?”
“My bed, obviously,” Song Huaiyan said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Then where am I supposed to sleep?”
“With me, in my bed.” Song Huaiyan stated it as a matter of course.
Songaiguo stared at him in utter shock, his eyes reddening at the edges as if he had suffered the greatest grievance in the world.
“What about that brand-new, unworn, super cute bunny pajama set of mine?” He pouted.
“…Well, I’ll buy you a new one later.”
Song Huaiyan finally realized that his little cub’s sour demeanor looked suspiciously like “jealousy.”
“Alright, alright. You’re a university student now, stop acting like such a child. Hurry up and change your clothes so you can come down for dinner. Stewed chicken with mushrooms and fish-flavored eggplant they’re all your favorites.”
Remembering what he had said to Shen Yu earlier in the Saha Realm, Huaiyan turned to him with a somewhat apologetic look: “We won’t be able to have barbecue and fried chicken today. Let’s go another day instead, alright?”
Shen Yu gave a faint assent, his face devoid of much expression.
Songaiguo turned his head away, stood there with lowered eyes for a moment, and then went back to his room without a sound.
Song Huaiyan had always considered himself quite good at coaxing children, but today, facing a sulking younger brother at home and a junior brother with unfathomable emotions, he felt like he was caught in the middle and failing everyone.
Plaim and back of the hand were both flesh; had he struck a single blow that hurt both palms?
“This kid used to always crawl into my bedding in the middle of the night. Now that he’s in university and cares about saving face, he’s too shy to sleep with me,” Song Huaiyan shrugged helplessly. “Junior Brother, don’t mind what he said. He’s simple-minded and kind at heart; it’s just that he doesn’t know you yet, and there’s never been anyone else in our home, so he doesn’t know how to get along with you for the time being.”
After saying this, seeing that Shen Yu still showed no reaction, Huaiyan turned and went back to the kitchen. By the time he carried out the stewed chicken with mushrooms, Xiao Ai had already changed his clothes and come down.
“Come, come, come, dinner is served!” He dished out a bowl of chicken soup for both of them, not forgetting to tease Songaiguo: “Auntie Liu knew you were back and specially sent over a free-range chicken. Your little round face has thinned down by a circle from hunger; it broke her heart!”
Songaiguo chugged down a bowl of chicken soup glug glug glug, his face and the corners of his eyes flushed red. Although he kept his eyes lowered and didn’t look at Song Huaiyan, he very consciously picked up a bowl and started dishing out rice for the three of them.
Song Huaiyan placed the other bowl of chicken soup in front of Shen Yu: “Junior Brother, eat a bit more too. This is sweet and sour pork ribs, you should like it.”
It was supposed to be a sweet flavor, though the vinegar might have been a bit heavy today.
Shen Yu picked up the bowl of chicken soup and took a small sip. Seeing Songaiguo aggressively slam his bowl of rice down in front of him, Shen Yu didn’t mind at all; he picked up his chopsticks, picked up a piece of pork ribs, and began to eat slowly.
Song Huaiyan felt that Shen Yu’s complexion didn’t look too good, though he couldn’t tell whether it was physical or psychological.
The atmosphere during dinner was reasonably harmonious. Under Song Huaiyan’s teasing, Songaiguo bounced back to his noisy, bickering self, talking about many things from school, and even helped wash the dishes and clean up after dinner.
Only Shen Yu remained sitting there like a grand deity, without budging an inch.
“Xiao Ai, go upstairs first. You must be in bed by nine o’clock,” Song Huaiyan said, untying his apron after finishing the kitchen cleanup.
Songaiguo lingered nearby for a moment, then trudged upstairs, turning back to look every few steps.
“What is it?” Song Huaiyan sat down beside Shen Yu. “Is somewhere uncomfortable?”
Fearing that his madness would flare up again after nightfall, he had deliberately sent Xiao Ai away first.
Shen Yu shook his head, his face buried in the shadows cast by the lamp and stray strands of hair, making his expression unreadable.
“Nothing you want to ask me?” Song Huaiyan continued to probe.
“No.” Shen Yu stood up, turned his back to him, and asked, “Where am I sleeping?”
Song Huaiyan paused for a moment before answering, “The same place as before…”
Shen Yu walked straight upstairs. Not knowing which room he should head to now, Huaiyan could only sit idly downstairs for an hour until the lights upstairs were all turned off for sleep, whereupon he went to wash up while yawning.
He quietly placed calming incense inside Shen Yu’s room before sneaking back to his small bedroom. The youth was curled up against the wall, leaving the greater part of the bed open for him. Huaiyan carefully crept onto the bed to sleep. In his slumber, Songaiguo tossed and turned a few times before curling up under his arm again, propping one leg across his thigh.
Song Huaiyan rubbed the boy’s head, deeply envious of this ability to fall asleep the moment one’s head hit the pillow, even if the sky were falling. In the past, when he suffered from insomnia through the night, having this child sleep beside him could often be infectious, allowing him to sleep peacefully for a short while.
He couldn’t help yawning again, feeling that he was truly somewhat exhausted today. As he gently patted Xiao Ai’s back with his palm, he drifted off to sleep shortly after.
He dreamed of that trial on Beilang Mountain.
They were trapped within the illusion array for seven days and seven nights, despair nearly swallowing up the last shred of their willpower.
He saw Shen Yu covered in wounds, curled up inside a dark cave, yet refusing to accept his treatment.
“Get out!” He knocked the medicinal pills spilling onto the ground, roaring like a wounded beast. “You make me feel sick!”
He saw himself clutching his sword, words halting on his lips, before ultimately saying nothing and walking alone into the toxic miasma.
“Don’t go!” he shouted at the top of his lungs. “Shen Yu, come back…”
The red toxic miasma roared as it swallowed everything up.
Song Huaiyan woke up with a start, his palms slick with cold sweat. The ring finger of his left hand twitched slightly, the red thread upon it flickering in and out of view.
Hurriedly getting out of bed, he stumbled out, ran over, and pushed open the door to his own room.
The clouds had parted and the mist had cleared. Moonlight shone in through the open window, spilling a patch of cold white across the floor.
Yet Shen Yu was gone.