Cherry Blossoms Upon a Wintry Sword

Chapter 3: High Fever and Chills

Although Lin Rufei had never practiced with swords, he had read many books.

He knew that currently, there were four continents on the Divine Land, namely: North Xuandu, South Bu’e, West Qionglong, and East Yaoguang—separated by sea and were ten thousand miles away from each other. Three of the continents were occupied by humans, but the most southern continent, Bu’e, was occupied by a powerful demon race.

This group of demons was strong and brutal. If it weren’t for the fact that they were only a few in numbers, it would have become a big problem for the humans. The most terrifying thing about the demons was their extremely powerful primordial spirit. Even if they are separated from the **[1], they can still preserve most of their strength. Because of this, the demons have a technique that is difficult to learn—possession.

If the ** is damaged, it will be replaced with a new one. Even if it floats across the sea for millions of miles, the primordial spirit can still easily attach itself to an ordinary human body, and only when the human’s primordial spirit is sucked out, will it find another master.

Lin Rufei has read many records in regards to the demon race, and they all emphasize that the demon race is very ferocious and cunning. They like to confuse humans with their appearance, and some of the paragraphs even describe their lasciviousness and savage ways. It can be seen that people are both curious and fearful of this different race. 

What happened in the room just now was too weird. Lin Rufei’s first reaction was that he was possessed by the demon race, so he hurriedly asked Fu Hua to call Lin Bianyu over.

But now when Lin Rufei stood in front of the mirror again, he found that the trace of cherry blossom in his right eye was gradually fading before finally disappearing completely in his light-colored eyes. …… What exactly is this, Lin Rufei thought with some bewilderment.

Fu Hua had gone to call Lin Bianyu so Lin Rufei took the opportunity to go back to his bedroom. He sat at the table and picked up a book. Casually, he opened the book, propped up his chin, and started to absentmindedly breeze through it.

Fu Hua came back quite a while later. Lin Rufei originally thought that she did not find Lin Bianyu, but who knew, she actually came back together with Lin Bianyu.

“Young master, young master.” Fu Hua knocked gently on the door with some gasping sound. It seems she had rushed home, “Second young master is here.”

“Rufei.” Lin Bianyu’s voice also came from outside.

“Brother, come in.” Lin Rufei said.

Lin Bianyu pushed the door open and entered. After seeing Lin Rufei’s appearance, his eyebrows furrowed, and he turned around to leave. When he came back in again, he had a thick towel in his hand. He sighed and walked behind Lin Rufei and took the wet black hair that rested on his shoulders. He gently dried his hair: “You are weak, and you don’t know how to take care of yourself when it’s cold in Spring.”

Lin Rufei only smiled at his words: “I am not that weak.”

Lin Bianyu raised his eyebrows. He decided to give some face to his frail brother and did not continue, but instead said, “What happened that made you call me here in such a hurry?”

Lin Rufei hesitated for a moment before he started, “I just had a dream when I was bathing.”

Lin Bianyu said, “A dream?”

“Yes.” Lin Rufei considered his words carefully, “I dreamed of a cherry blossom forest and there was a red-clad figure. I couldn’t see the appearance clearly, but …… they were very beautiful.”

Lin Rufei originally thought that when his second brother heard his words, he would also be nervous. But instead, Lin Bianyu’s expression became a little strange. His eyes hid a smile, but soon that smile also melted away, rather, it melted into a smile on his lips: “Well …… little brother has grown up. “

Lin Rufei said: “Ah?”

Lin Bianyu said: “Is there a woman in your heart?”

Lin Rufei’s expression froze, and only then did he understand why Lin Bianyu looked so strange. It turned out that he actually took this as a Spring dream. Lin Rufei cried and laughed: “Second brother, I didn’t mean that—” and then he pointed to his right eye. “Then I saw a cherry blossom in my right eye.”

Lin Bianyu’s expression froze: “What?”

When Lin Bianyu heard his words, he moved closer to Lin Rufei and carefully observed his eyes. The more he looked, the tighter his brows wrinkled. When Lin Rufei saw this, he also became anxious that he even held in his breath.

“Tell me the whole thing in detail.” Lin Bianyu said.

Lin Rufei then told Lin Bianyu about the incident when he saw the petal falling from the cherry blossom tree in the courtyard. He was bathing and when he saw the scene, reached out to catch the falling petal. But instead of catching it, it blew into his eye. After listening to this, Lin Bianyu pondered for a long time.

Lin Rufei whispered: “Second brother, is this related to the demon tribe?”

Lin Bianyu looked up and made a gesture of silence at him: “You can say those words to me, but never mention the demon race in front of outsiders. The cherry blossom was planted under my watch, there is no trace of demonic aura on it, so it should have nothing to do with the demon race, just ……”

Lin Rufei said: “Just what?”

Lin Bianyu said: “I’ll ask elder brother to take a closer look for you tomorrow.”

Lin Rufei felt that Lin Bianyu’s expression was not quite right: “Second brother, what did you see, is it very serious?”

“I don’t see anything.” Lin Bianyu sighed and looked at his brother with some sadness in his eyes, “If I can’t even see what is going on, then I think this thing is definitely not ordinary. You rest well tonight, don’t think too much. Ah, it doesn’t matter, I’m not going back today, let Fu Hua prepare a room, I’ll rest here for the night.”

Lin Rufei opened his mouth but did not know what to say. He didn’t know anything about the path of cultivation. Thus, when he encountered such strange things, he was even more at a loss.

Lin Bianyu did not say anything more, and after drying Lin Rufei’s hair with sword Qi, he urged him to rest. Lying on the bed, Lin Rufei did not sleep. He looked at himself in the mirror, not a trace of cherry blossom on his face. Could it be that everything that he experienced during the day was just a weird dream? But how can a dream be so real? Lin Rufei tossed and turned and stayed awake all night.

The next day, Yu Rui, who woke up early, was planning to prepare breakfast as usual. However, when she passed by her young master’s room, she heard an intermittent coughing sound coming from inside. The owner of the cough tried to deliberately suppress the itch in his throat but failed.

As soon as Yu Rui heard this sound, she knew it was going to be bad. She hurriedly went to the kitchen and called Fu Hua: “Sister Fu Hua, sister Fu Hua, young master is coughing in his room.”

When Fu Hua heard this, her expression changed slightly: “Coughing?”

Yu Rui said, “Yes, I heard it from outside, the coughing is very strong.”

Fu Hua put down what she was doing. Together with Yu Rui, the two went to Lin Rufei’s room. They knocked on the door for a while before a faint “come in” resounded.

“Young master—” The maid’s worried voice seemed to be shrouded in a thick layer of fog, and couldn’t be heard really clearly. Lin Rufei’s eyes were half-open, his pale face was floating with a sickly red color from the high fever. He moved his lips with difficulty and spat out the word “water”.

Fu Hua hurriedly helped him up and pushed some warm water towards his lip.

“Why am I sick again?” Lin Rufei muttered with some childlike exasperation “It was just rain, cough cough cough, don’t tell my second brother, cough cough ……”

Fu Hua had a solemn look on her face and said: “Second young master went out early in the morning, he will not know.” Even if he knew, he would certainly not blame Lin Rufei, but rather blame them, the maids, for not taking proper care of him.

Yesterday, for the sake of viewing flowers, Lin Rufei was soaked in the rain. After he came back, he planned to take a bath to get rid of the cold. However, halfway through the bath, he suddenly met with an accident and suffered a scare for nothing. That night, Lin Rufei tossed and turned and could not sleep, and at dawn, he felt unwell. Not only was his forehead hot, but also the itch in his throat could not be suppressed, and finally was heard by the passing Yu Rui.

It is said that people who are used to being sick should have gotten used to bitter medicine, but no matter how many times Lin Rufei smelled the bitter medicine, he wrinkled his face. Finally, he sighed and swallowed the mouthful of black medicine under the watchful eyes of his maids.

All the medicine that Lin Rufei consumed was always the best. However, his foundation was poor. For ordinary people, the medicine was considered an amazing panacea, but if Lin Rufei consumed it, it had no effect.

Today is no exception, Lin Rufei finished drinking the medicine and his mouth was stuffed with a piece of sweet and sour plum by the sulking Yu Rui. The bitterness in his mouth gradually faded. 

“This medicine is too bitter.” Lin Rufei said. If he had not coughed while saying this, perhaps it would have been more convincing, “Anyway, even if I drink it, or if I don’t drink it, it’s the same result. Even without drinking, I can get better……”

Fu Hua chided her young master, and Lin Rufei looked embarrassed. He sighed and compromised, “Okay, okay, didn’t I already obediently finish the medicine? “

Yu Rui grunted: “Isn’t that because we kept our eyes on you? Young master, if you continue to water the flowers and plants outside with medicine, I’m afraid they will become Jing[2].”

Fu Hua patted Yu Rui’s head: “Alright, the young master is sick, if you have time for sarcastic remarks, why don’t you go stew the pears.”

Yu Rui pouted and ran away in a huff. Fu Hua brought a warm towel to wipe away the sweat on Lin Rufei’s cheeks, and then replaced it with a clean one to cover his forehead.

Lin Rufei is lying listlessly on the bed. At this time he didn’t have the mood to think about cherry blossoms and whatnot. He only prays that his illness can be healed quickly, otherwise when the cherry blossoms at the foot of the mountain all thanked[3], he was afraid he would not be able to see it again. 

Fu Hua looked at her young master’s sad face, and could not help but reveal a smile. She softly said: “Young master, just focus on recuperating. Cherry blossoms and whatnot, they will bloom every year.”

Lin Rufei mercilessly pointed out the maid’s lies: “You said the same thing last year.”

Fu Hua was speechless.

Lin Rufei said, “The year before that too!”

Fu Hua coughed dryly and was also a bit helpless: “Who told young master to be sick every Springtime?”

Lin Rufei immediately wilted like a frosted eggplant, unable to say anything to refute.

Because of Lin Rufei’s weak physique, even though the outside world knows that the Kunlun Sword Sect leader had a total of four children, most people do not know the name Lin Rufei. He was like a black stone in a pile of jade, and no one’s eyes would fall on him.

Lin Rufei was initially worried that if his coughing appearance was seen by his brothers, the maids would be blamed again, but soon he found that he did not have the energy to worry about such things. The fever and coughing quickly took away his strength, and he could only lie on the bed, heaving his chest with difficulty. His consciousness gradually blurred.

Fu Hua kept watch beside him. Lin Rufei’s appearance made her very worried, but she did everything she could do and could only pray in her heart.

Lin Bianyu came back soon with Lin Minzhi in tow. Seeing Lin Rufei’s appearance, both of their facial expressions were not very good, but luckily they did not blame Fu Hua, and just simply asked her to leave.

Lin Minzhi sat on the edge of the bed, took Lin Rufei’s pulse, and examined it carefully. Lin Bianyu looked grave beside him, until Lin Minzhi’s movements slowed down. He asked in a deep voice: “How is it?”

“Xiao Jiu really said that?” Lin Minzhi asked.

“Naturally he did.” Lin Bianyu replied.

Lin Minzhi shook his head: “I did not find anything different, even if it is a big demon that took over, in such a short period of time it will certainly leave some flaws. He went to the cherry blossom grove in the morning, maybe he encountered something that scared his mind? “

Lin Bianyu pondered and did not say anything.

Lin Rufei made another series of violent coughing sounds, his consciousness was a bit blurry, and it took him a while to realize that his big brother and second brother were beside him. He opened his mouth with great difficulty and called out a “brother.”

Lin Minzhi saw this and let out a sigh: “Let Xiao Jiu rest first. Wan Yao will come out of seclusion in a few days, then I will let him come to give Xiao Jiu a diagnosis. These days, let Fu Hua keep a close watch, if there are any differences, immediately report.”

Wan Yao is the most exquisite medicine master in Kunlun Sect. All the illnesses Lin Rufei had before were all seen by him. But he has been in seclusion for half a year in order to break through to the next level. Counting the days, he should be coming out of seclusion soon.

Lin Bianyu sighed, knowing that this is the only way for now. Lin Rufei’s current physical condition cannot withstand any torment. Lin Rufei was inherently inadequate, and his deficiency was not compensated. If a normal person’s body is a bucket, as long as you add water to it, it will slowly get better, then Lin Rufei’s body is a sieve with a lot of holes, no matter how much water is poured into it, it will all leak out.

However, after Lin Minzhi confirmed that Lin Rufei’s body is not related to the demon race, Lin Bianyu was slightly relieved. After all, the demons that can hide their movements on Kunlun Mountain were most likely different than the usual demons.

The two people were afraid that they would affect Lin Rufei’s rest. After making sure he didn’t have any other problems, they left. They warned Fu Hua and Yu Rui to pay special attention to Lin Rufei’s clothing, food, and shelter in the following days. And to not neglect him for even half a minute. 

Fu Hua and Yu Rui nodded yes. 

Lin Rufei was sick for three days, and it was only on the afternoon of the third day that his fever gradually subsided. He still was barely able to sit up on the edge of his bed.

These days he hardly eats and has only relied on the medicinal soup to barely hang onto his life. Listening to Fu Hua’s warm voice ask him if he wanted to eat something, he just shook his head. He didn’t have any appetite. 

Fu Hua knew that Lin Rufei must have felt very unwell, so she did not ask more questions and left the room quietly. Lin Rufei sat on the edge of the bed, looking at the rosy Spring colors outside the window.

The weather has cleared up. After a Spring rain, the flowers on the treetops have also fallen quite a lot. Being washed away by the rain, they all turned into Spring mud. Although Lin Rufei’s fever had subsided, he still had a cough, and because he coughed so hard, his chest hurt vaguely.

When Fu Hua came back, she had a bowl of soup in her hand, which had been de-frothed and sprinkled with a layer of green onions. It smelled very fresh and delicious. It was just that Lin Rufei drank too much medicine which left his mouth bland and tasteless. Even looking at the delicious soup, he still had no appetite. 

Fu Hua also did not try to persuade him, she simply put the soup down and sat next to him. She started to peel the fresh lotus seeds picked from the lake on the mountain.

Lin Rufei felt that the room was a little too quiet. He suddenly remembered something and asked, “Where is Yu Rui?”

Fu Hua slowly said: “Yu Rui ah, she was clumsy. Told her to boil some soup and she burned her hand. She is now crying and went to find Dr. Lu to get medicine for burns.”

Fu Hua and Yu Rui have been trained. Thus ordinary fire would not be able to harm them. They probably wanted to make this special soup just for Lin Rufei so they used spiritual fire instead. Most likely, they had poor control over it and that’s how she got burned. Lin Rufei smelled the soup and sighed: “Bring it.”

The corner of Fu Hua’s mouth hooked up into a dark smile. She looked at Lin Rufei, who had a face full of disgust, but still swallowed the soup in one mouthful. Her expression became more gentle. Fu Hua knows that her young master and others are different. He could have been arrogant, could have been violent, could have had no qualms about venting his anger, but he did not.

The taste of the soup was not as bad as he expected, Lin Rufei finished it and felt a warmth well up in his body. It washed away the discomfort in his throat, and the coughing ** faded a lot.

“The weather outside is good, does young master want to go out for a walk?” Fu Hua saw that it was a nice day outside and asked tentatively.

Lin Rufei indeed felt frustrated at having to lie down for so long, but his body has little strength.  He was afraid that he couldn’t even walk a few steps, so he shook his head.

How could Fu Hua not see what Lin Rufei was thinking at that moment. She got up and left the room, and a few moments later, she came back in with an intricate wheelchair.

“Young master, Fu Hua will push you out.” Fu Hua said in a warm voice, “The house is stuffy, let’s just go around a bit.”

This wheelchair was personally made by Lin Bianyu and the materials were very special. The wheels were also engraved with special talismans, even without someone pushing, just a little force and it can easily climb over the mountain path.

“Good.” Lin Rufei has been lying in bed for three days. It’s good to go out and get some fresh air.

Seeing that Lin Rufei had agreed, Fu Hua smiled happily and helped Lin Rufei into the wheelchair. She took the white fox fur and wrapped Lin Rufei up tightly before the two of them slowly left the room.

Lin Rufei’s face was already bad beforehand, now it was as pale as paper, and even his lips were so pale that they seemed to be transparent. If ordinary people become sick like that, naturally they wouldn’t look good. But it just so happens that Lin Rufei was born with very good looks, even though he was sick, he was still beautiful albeit more haggard. The people who have seen this could not help but feel more compassionate.

Lin Rufei lives in a place where disciples of Kunlun Sword Sect were generally not allowed, so it is very secluded, only the birds and flowers. Therefore there was not a single trace of another living soul. 

Lin Rufei drank the medicinal soup, and he was already looking better than before. Sitting in a wheelchair that was pushed by Fu Hua, his mood was also more relaxed. 

“That day after I had a fever, did big brother and second brother say anything to you?” Lin Rufei suddenly remembered the dream he had three days ago and the cherry blossom. These days he was so ill that his consciousness was all blurred, he had almost forgotten about it, and only remembered when he saw the plants and trees in the courtyard.

“He just told Fu Hua to take good care of young master and didn’t say anything else.” Fu Hua did not understand what Lin Rufei wanted to ask.

When Lin Rufei saw that she didn’t know the situation, his eyes turned to the garden and landed on the cherry blossom tree in the corner. It was blocked by the other trees and flowers so he could only see a small corner of it, which was not very clear. Fu Hua saw the situation and pushed Lin Rufei towards the place, and finally stopped at the small, withered cherry blossom tree.

Perhaps because of the Spring rain a few days ago, the only bud left on the cherry blossom tree has also disappeared. The tree has not yet drawn leaves. The bare appearance was like a thin child being bullied—making it very pitiful.

Lin Rufei looked at its appearance. He was confused for a while, the fallen petal a few days ago, was that a dream or not?

Fu Hua saw the stunned look on Lin Rufei’s face and thought he was sad about that one bud so she quickly changed the subject: “Young master, I heard that second young master is going to have a sword competition today, do you want to go and see?”

Lin Rufei heard this news and asked curiously, “Which family?”

“It’s the Yunan Gu family that came a few days ago.” Fu Hua said.

“The Gu family?” Lin Rufei pondered, “I haven’t heard of his family in this generation, what kind of powerful figures do they have, ah.”

Fu Hua laughed: “Yes, some years ago, probably not. However, in recent years I heard that the Gu family recognized a gifted, illegitimate son somewhere. In just a few years, he is much stronger than his brothers and sisters.” Fu Hua, in the end, is a girl who likes to hear some interesting gossip. So in regards to matters such as this, she was very clear about the situation.

Then Fu Hua, in great interest, shared with Lin Rufei the matters of the Gu family. Like how the Gu family’s head had married a pair of women who had really good relationships. He was expecting to enjoy his life and the blessings of the people. But the result was that when he came home one day, he saw his wife and concubine rolling in bed[4]. This wasn’t even the most exciting part. The most exciting part was that the Gu family head didn’t even have the chance to use their family law to punish his women when he found out that his wife and concubine were from a united family[5]. They put the Gu family head under house arrest and stripped him of all the power in his hands.

“That wife said to him, ‘if you behave, I will keep you, there will be good food and drinks waiting for you. If you do not behave, I will poison you silly and turn you into a useless puppet until our son grows up—’” Fu Hua vividly described the secrets of the family in great excitement. “The head of the family had no choice but to hold his nose and admit defeat! That wife is really not a simple character, I heard that the illegitimate son who is competing with the second young master today is the one she insisted on admitting back to the family.”

Lin Rufei, who listened to Fu Hua’s narrative, also revealed a smile. But compared to gossip and secret news, he was more interested in the sword competition. 

Now that Lin Bianyu’s cultivation has reached the eighth level, the chances of seeing his sword skills are becoming less and less. Although if Lin Rufei really wanted to see it, Lin Bianyu would definitely show it to him. But a sword with an opponent and a sword without an opponent is completely different.

“Let’s go take a look.” Lin Rufei tightened the fox fur covering his body and coughed lowly, “Since second brother returned from his travels, I haven’t seen him compete with anyone in a long time.”

“Yes, yes.” Fu Hua was naturally happy to do so, but on second thought, she worriedly said, “But the competition field is a little crowded, young master you just got better …… to go to a crowded place, what if your sickness acts up …… ” She was so focused on changing the subject that she forgot about this.

Lin Rufei smiled, light-colored eyes dropped halfway, revealing a slightly sad look, and said in a low voice: “You’re right …… you’d better send me back to lie down, lest I get sick again and have to make you guys work hard to take care of me.”

Fu Hua couldn’t stand this pitiful appearance of Lin Rufei, it pained her greatly. “It doesn’t seem too serious, alright. Let’s go and say hello in advance and let them empty out a viewing loft on the stands. We’ll just watch it from the inside and not go out.”

“We really can?” Lin Rufei’s eyelashes trembled lightly and cautiously confirmed.

“Yes, naturally we can, there’s nothing wrong with that.” Fu Hua comforted, “Even if young master wants the stars in the sky, Fu Hua will also pick them for you!”

At her words, Lin Rufei smiled. He looked at Fu Hua with joy, but she did not notice. In the moment when her young master had his head down, the corners of the eyes showed a little deviousness. It was just a flash, and soon any traces of it faded away.

********

The author has something to say:

Gong (seme): Squeezed out a flower with all his strength

Lin Rufei: It’s time to go down the mountain to enjoy the flowers.

Gong (seme): ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

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[1] I didn’t bleep this, it was how it is in the raws

[2] I didn’t really know how to translate this term, it’s a term that can be used for plants/animals that cultivate into human beings. 

[3] Finish blooming

[4] I’m not entirely sure if this sentence was indicating that the 2 girls were in bed together, or if the two were in someone else’s bed together…自家的一妻一妾滚上了一张床 @[email protected]

[5] Honestly, I’m not too sure about this phrase, but I did my best. Here is the original text: 那一妻一妾竟是联合母族