Cherry Blossoms Upon a Wintry Sword

Chapter 51: Truth No. 2

Lin Rufei saw that Fu Shui was close to a breakdown so he let him go. He got up and found a wooden chair opposite him. He sat down, crossed his legs, and found a comfortable position: “Say it.”

Fu Shui was lying on the ground, his voice was a little low: “Fu Yu, Fu Yu is my elder brother ……”

Lin Rufei said: “Louder.”

Fu Shui had a bitter face but did not dare to refute Lin Rufei. He could only nod and raise his voice, “Fu Yu is my elder brother, my name …… is Fu Shui.”

Fu Yu was Fu Shui’s elder brother. His nature was better than Fu Shui’s and his talent was also better than Fu Shui. They were born in the salt and alkaline land of the Fu Family Village and in order to survive, they followed a martial arts school swordmaster to learn crude sword art. That swordmaster had cultivated for more than fifty years, but his cultivation level was still on the third level. If he was placed in Jianghu, he wasn’t even worth being a shrimp stuck in between its teeth. But in a place like the Fu Family Village, it was enough.

Fu Yu was born to practice the sword. Although he and Fu Shui practiced the same sword style, his cultivation was rapidly progressing. Soon, he caught up with their master. The swordmaster had no more things to teach to Fu Yu and Fu Yu then gave birth to the idea of wandering the world. 

“We have been so poor for generations in the Fu Family Village, it is always necessary to think of some way.” Fu Yu sharpened his sword as he said this to his brother.

“What can we think of?” Fu Shui did not think so, “Everywhere is saline land. Once the seeds are planted, they can’t even sprout…….”

“There will always be a way.” Fu Yu stubbornly said.

Fu Shui only took these words as his brother’s delusions of grandeur. If there was a way, then they would have had it a long time ago, and then the Fu Family Village wouldn’t have been poor for a hundred years. It wasn’t like they hadn’t thought of moving away from here, but there was no suitable village and land nearby to accept them. So generation after generation, they had to just make do with what they had.

Fu Yu left the house when he was fourteen years old. In the first few years, he still stayed in contact with his family but then a few years later, there was no more news. Jianghu was treacherous, just when everyone thought Fu Yu had died, he suddenly came back in style with his cultivation at the sixth level. 

As Fu Shui said this, he raised his hand and heavily rubbed his semi-red eyes: “I really don’t understand. Someone like my brother, how can he have such good luck and encounter such a good thing!” 

Lin Rufei said, “Are you jealous?”

“Who isn’t jealous!” Fu Shui said with hatred, “If it were you, watching your brother who grew up with you become so powerful and you can’t do anything yourself, wouldn’t you be jealous?!”

Lin Rufei thought about it seriously and found that his situation and Fu Shui’s were indeed similar. But in the past twenty years, he had never felt a trace of jealousy towards his brothers or sister. It wasn’t a big deal if he couldn’t lift a sword. Although there were some regrets, it wasn’t so much as to give rise to malice. This may be the difference between people. He could not understand Fu Shu and Fu Shui could not understand him.

Since he couldn’t explain it clearly, he didn’t bother to speak at all. Lin Rufei revealed a bored look and waved his hand to indicate that Fu Shui continued. Fu Shui took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and continued, “After he came back, I thought he would take us out of this Fu Family Village, but who knew, he refused to ……”

A sword cultivator with a level six cultivation was enough for his family to live a rich life no matter where they are. As long as they leave this dead land where not an inch of grass grows ……

However, Fu Yu actually refused Fu Shui’s offer. He actually did not want to leave this place.

“Xiao Shui, I don’t want to leave.” Faced with his brother’s censure, Fu Yu looked very calm, “The people in the Fu Family Village are too bitter, I have been thinking of ways to change this place before, and now there is finally a way.”

“What is it?” Fu Shui asked.

“I learned a lot of formations with that senior. One of the formations is called the spirit gathering formation, with this formation, you can make crops grow on the saline land.” Fu Yu smiled and gently stroked his brother’s head, just as he had done when he was young, “Aren’t you looking forward to it?”

Fu Shui froze and he questioned, “Really?”

Fu Yu nodded, “Naturally.”

When Fu Shui heard this, he also showed a happy look. After all, who wouldn’t like to see their hometown become rich. He and Fu Yu both grew up here. When they were young, their family was so poor that their father went out to work and their mother took the two brothers to beg on the roadside. They had suffered enough hardships. Later, when the two brothers got a little older, they were able to work at the martial arts school and the family’s life was finally a bit better.  But even so, they were full one day and starved for another. At ten years old, it was Fu Shui’s first time tasting malt candy.

Fu Yu was the one that bought the malt candy for him. It was only a thumb-sized piece and Fu Yu did not eat it. However, he carefully divided the candy in two, one for him, one for Fu Xi.

To this day, Fu Shui still remembered the sweet taste.

Fu Yu had always kept true to his promise. After a while, a strange stranger came to their home and began to help Fu Yu set up the formation. 

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Fu Shui was also very happy, until one day, Fu Yu suddenly found him and said he might have to leave for a while.

“Leave? Go where?” Fu Shui looked at his twin brother blankly, “Didn’t you say you were going to set up a formation to plant crops? Has the formation been set up? Can the crops be planted?”

Fu Yu said: “Almost done, only the most important formation eye remains” 

Fu Shui: “The formation eye?”

Fu Yu smiled and said: “Yes, the formation eye.”

If it were some other person then perhaps they would have been fooled by Fu Yu. However, they were born as twins, naturally, they were the people who knew each other best in the world. Fu Shui said in a strained voice, “You are lying to me, right? Brother, where are you going?”

Fu Yu frowned slightly.

Fu Shui: “Is there something wrong with that formation?”

Fu Yu did not answer and instead asked: “Do you not want to see our family’s fields produce crops?”

How could Fu Shui not want to? With crops, their family would no longer have to starve. This was their own land, they could grow a lot of food and could live on this for generations. They no longer had to beg and look at other people’s faces to live. This was Fu Shui and Fu Yu’s biggest dream since childhood. However, at this time, Fu Yu swore that this dream would soon come true. Fu Shui felt that this was an unreal illusion.

“But brother, you are already a sixth-level sword cultivator.” Fu Shui said, “You obviously can leave here …… you obviously don’t have to care about them ……”

Fu Yu did not speak. He simply patted Fu Shui’s head again. The action was very gentle, but firm enough, “Xiao Shui, you do not understand.”

Fu Shui looked at Fu Yu with bewilderment. He indeed did not understand, did not understand why Fu Yu made such a decision. The stubborn Fu Yu in his eyes was just like a fool. But how could a fool learn that powerful sword technique?

Fu Yu did not open his mouth to explain again.

Although the two were twins and were born from the same ovum, they had different dreams. 

What happened after that continued on logically. The formation was successfully laid, but Fu Yu needed to leave by himself. Before he left, he found Fu Shui and handed him the sword in his hand. He bothered him to safe keep it for a while. 

“Why did you hand over such an important thing to me?” Fu Shui said, “Aren’t you going to come back?”

Fu Yu said, “I will come back. When next year’s crop is plentiful, I will come back.”

Fu Shui stared dumbfoundedly at Fu Yu, “Really?”

“Naturally.” Those hands fell on his head again. The person in front of him smiled gently and the tone of his voice was also soothing as if it was still the same childhood brother who comforted his crying self because of hunger, “Xiao Shui, wait for me to come back, okay?”

“Brother, I’ll wait for you.” Fu Shui said, “You must remember to …… come back.” He held Fu Yu’s sword. He bewilderedly thought that if a swordsman, who was going to travel far away, didn’t even bring his sword …… would he really come back?

Fu Yu had left, he left in a clear-cut manner. Before leaving, he urged the Fu family to remember to buy more seeds and to plant them in the coming Spring. When the time came, they would be able to harvest bountiful crops.

If it only ended here, then this was probably a touching story. However, unfortunately, as the story developed to this point, it was also mixed with something else.

The man who set up the formation with Fu Yu found the elders of the Fu family and after some private discussions with the elders, he suddenly lent the Fu family a large sum of money.

“Where did you get so much money?” Fu Shui asked his father, not understanding what he was going to do, “So much money, what are you doing with it?”

Father said, “The man asked us to buy all the land around here.”

Fu Shui Shui: “Buy?”

Father said: “I guess so. Didn’t Fu Yu say he wanted to lay a formation and that after the formation is laid, the ground could also produce crops? And then after that, wouldn’t the land be worth more?” He rubbed his hands and discussed with his youngest son, “Don’t you think that’s what they mean?”  

Fu Shui looked at the eagerness on his father’s face and for a moment he felt that he could not answer the question. He was not as noble as Fu Yu and the most important thing on his mind was how to keep himself fed.

“And that man also lent us such a large amount of money.” Father said, “With this money, it should be enough to buy the surrounding land ……”

Fu Shui heard his voice carrying some hesitation. But yes, he did say so and he said, “Then buy it.”

Buy it, buy all the land around here. Anyway, it was also his brother who laid the formation so their family should deserve it, that was what Fu Shui told himself.

Although the farmers were a bit surprised that the Fu family had to spend a lot of money to buy so much land. The saline land was of little value and could not be sold. Now that someone wanted to buy it, it was naturally a good thing. 

That Winter, the land deeds fell into the hands of the Fu family one after another.

“Later, when Spring arrived, I personally went to drop the seeds.” Fu Shui looked at Lin Rufei’s expression gradually with some uncertainty as if he was caught in an inextricable memory, “I have never farmed before so I didn’t know if I even planted the seeds correctly. But it didn’t seem to matter because only after a few days, the ground sprouted bright green new buds …… the saline land …… grew crops.”

“It’s beautiful, I’ve never seen such beautiful scenery. It only took about a few dozen days before the ground was covered in an emerald green. When the wind blows, the wheat fields scatter open……and those cornfields that grew taller than a person, if one were to lie under the sun all day in the field they wouldn’t get bored of it. ” As Fu Shui said this, his voice gradually grew cold. “Unfortunately, despite the beauty of such scenery, it was very easy to get bored.”

Lin Rufei said, “Are you bored of it?”

“It’s only natural to be bored of it, right?” Fu Shui snorted, “Having seen the days of the rich, who would still be interested in the scenery of the crop fields.” He raised his hand and pointed to the door to those shivering servants and concubines standing at the door who did not dare to come in, “Look, they are all from the Fu family, they are all my minions. If I want them to live then they can live, if I want them to die, they will immediately go die—” As he said this, his emotions also followed, “And this village, this courtyard, isn’t it beautiful?! That crop field is nothing compared to these!”

Lin Rufei looked at Fu Shui strangely and said in a slow voice: “I didn’t refute you either, why are you so excited.”

Fu Shui heaved.

Lin Rufei said: “Or do you also feel that something is not quite right?”

Fu Shui tilted his head, unwilling to meet Lin Rufei’s eyes again.

“Keep talking.” Lin Rufei said, “Who is Mo Mo, and what does he have to do with you?”

“Mo Mo is the child that person brought, saying that it is my elder brother’s seed.” Fu Shui said coldly, “It’s just that his dumb look is really tiresome to look at …… Besides, besides ……”

Lin Rufei: “Besides what?”

Fu Shui hissed: “Besides, my big brother is also a liar. He said he would come back in the coming Autumn and Winter, but has he come back? No! I know he will not like what the Fu family has done, but in the end, he is also a Fu family member—why should he look down on us, why should he not want to come back!”

Lin Rufei propped up his chin and looked at Fu Shui like he was a monster, “You are really strange.”

Fu Shui was gasping for air and his eyes were red.

“Do you want him to come back or do you not want him to come back?” Lin Rufei said, “Do you like him, or do you hate him to death? Is it enjoying everything he brings, or is it hatred and even fear  ……”

Fu Shui couldn’t answer. 

People were originally complex animals, there was no such thing as a simple preference for good and evil. Fu Yu was different, he was a pure person. Only such a person can be a matchless swordsman. However, such people are too few and far between and if one looked at the entire Jianghu, there were only a few.

Instead, in Jianghu, there were more commoners like Fu Shui. 

Fu Shui said: “Although I do not like Mo Mo, I didn’t mean to abuse him. But the family servants do not care about him so he was accidentally lost ……”

Lin Rufei said, “Lost?”

Fu Shui said, “Lost.”

Lin Rufei said, “This is your brother’s only seedling and he was lost just like that? You didn’t even look for him?” 

Fu Shui was silent, he seemed unable to answer Lin Rufei’s question.

“Just like that and you still expect your brother to come back?” Lin Rufei said, “Taking his sword and using powerful connections to intimidate people and bully them. In reality, you don’t want him to come back either.” 

“Shut up!!!” Those words were like a poke in Fu Shui’s lungs. He roared and almost wanted to lunge towards Lin Rufei again to make him stop, “He is my brother, why don’t I want him to come back—”

“Let me guess?” Lin Rufei looked at Fu Shui and actually felt some pity for him, “Maybe when he comes back, everything you have will disappear? Preying on the people and roaming the countryside …… you and your brother are two completely different people.”

Fu Shui could not refute and his lips squirmed uncontrollably.

“You are jealous to death, right.” Lin Rufei said, “Someone like Fu Yu, even if he does not practice sword, you will not be able to reach him in your life ……”

Fu Shui said, “Stop it.”

Lin Rufei said lightly, “You don’t deserve to touch his sword.”

Fu Shui said: “Stop it!!! You don’t know anything—you don’t know anything. Fu Shui is a loser, but as long as he doesn’t come back, I’m Fu Yu!! I’m Fu Yu!” As he spoke, he started to cry out in pain. He was lying on the ground like a long, boneless snake.

Lin Rufei was also tired of listening. His hand gently nudged the side of his face. After waiting for a while as Fu Shui cried, his emotions barely eased over and he said thoughtfully: “Have you seen the man who set up the formation with Fu Yu?”

Fu Shui: “Seen. I’ve seen him a few times.”

Lin Rufei said, “What does he look like?”

Fu Shui said, “I couldn’t see his appearance.” He dried the tears on his face and showed his tiredness, “He had a white cloth wrapped around his face, showing only a pair of eyes, but ……”

Lin Rufei said, “But?”

“But he had a black snake in his hand.” Fu Shui said, “That snake was very scary, it was just coiled on his body.”

Lin Rufei immediately became interested and asked a few more detailed questions. But unfortunately, Fu Shui did not know the man, and only said that he had seen the man a few times. It was also the man who had sent back Mo Mo. At that time, Mo Mo was very thin and muddled like a fool. The reason why Fu Shui didn’t like Mo Mo was because he felt weak when he looked at him and he always felt that he could see his brother’s shadow in this child. This feeling was very bad. So much so that involuntarily, he began to deliberately treat this child coldly. And when Mo Mo was lost, he was relieved instead.

It was Mo Mo that got lost on its own, it was not his fault, Fu Shui told himself so.

Lin Rufei remembered Mo Mo’s appearance when he was begging for food on the roadside. He listened with a frown and felt that the malice in human nature could not be thought about carefully. Otherwise, the more one thought the more disgusting one felt.  

Fu Shui was tired from speaking and couldn’t stop licking his lips. When he saw Lin Rufei in deep thought, he reluctantly smiled: “Lin gongzi, I want to …… have a cup of tea.”

Lin Rufei squinted at him: “Drink tea?”

“I’m …… a little tired from talking.” Fu Shui said embarrassingly.

Lin Rufei said, “Tired just like that?” He let out a faint smile, “When I saw that you wanted to jump over and beat me up a while ago, I didn’t think you were tired, ah.”

Fu Shui knew that Lin Rufei would not give him face. He wanted to say something, but swallowed it back, and continued to sit on the ground in a daze.

The matters that should be known were known. This Fu Shui was also no longer valuable. Although Mo Mo’s matter made Lin Rufei look at him in disgust, it wasn’t to the point of taking his life. In addition, it seems that the Fu family was not so capable of scheming against Fu Yu, at most, they just collected more money and squeezed[1] the people around them.

Lin Rufei waved his hand, signaling for him to go down. When Fu Shui saw the situation, he was very happy. He was frantically trying to run towards the outside, however, halfway there, he was stopped by Lin Rufei and he froze still with fear. 

“Lin, Lin gongzi?” Fu Shui asked stiffly.

“Why is there not a single flower or plant in the Fu Family Village?” Lin Rufei asked.

“This, this I don’t know.” Fu Shui shook his head, “Maybe because there were no seeds for grasses and trees left behind?” 

Lin Rufei saw that he didn’t know and signaled that he could go. There was not a single grass or tree in the Fu Family Village so there must be another reason, otherwise, they would be able to see at least some weeds. Lin Rufei fell into a daze and did not notice Gu Xuandu standing beside him with a restless look. Something seemed to have emotionally provoked him.

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Because of the fight just now, the room was a mess, but no one dared to come in to clean up.

When Lin Rufei finally left, everyone in the Fu family breathed a sigh of relief. A servant came over with a stiff upper lip and asked, “Lin, Lin gongzi, are you leaving tomorrow? Our carriage is ready for you, what do you……”

Lin Rufei gave him a sidelong glance, so he hurriedly silenced his voice and whispered embarrassingly, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, the master sent me to ask.”

If before the Fu family only treated Lin Rufei as a noble guest who cannot be provoked, then at this moment Lin Rufei, in their eyes, became a King of Hell who can kill people. After all, not many people in the Fu family knew about this matter of Fu Shui. In their opinion, Lin Rufei didn’t even need to draw his sword and was able to slap a level six cultivator Fu Yu half dead. It was simply too scary.   

Lin Rufei did not explain, he looked at these people’s trembling appearance and only felt amused. He said slowly and carefully: “Is the carriage ready?”

“Ready, ready.” The servant replied hurriedly.

“Oh, then you have prepared it for naught.” Lin Rufei smiled lightly, “I’m not leaving.”

Subordinates: “……”

“This eldest young master of the Fu family has only just returned, and I haven’t finished seeing the scenery in the manor, wouldn’t it be a pity to leave like this.” Lin Rufei righteously asked the subordinate to tell Fu Shui, “You tell your eldest youngest master, say that Lin gongzi was enchanted by the scenery and wishes to stay here for a year and a half before leaving.”

The servant smiled bitterly at his words but did not dare to show it. He simply turned around and left.

Lin Rufei saw his sad face and couldn’t help but laugh. He said to Gu Xuandu who was at his side, “This is the first time I’ve been such an unwelcome guest.”

Gu Xuandu: “Look at you scaring people.” Despite his words, he was laughing along with Lin Rufei.

After laughing, Lin Rufei said with a straight face, “Since we are sure about Fu Yu’s current situation, can we first bring him out from there, and in addition …… Can there be any method to recall his divine soul?”

Gu Xuandu said, “There is a method, but we still need to see the specific situation before we can start.”

Lin Rufei knew Gu Xuandu must have a way, he thought about it and asked, “Give an example?”

Gu Xuandu said, “For example, what if his soul doesn’t want to come back.”

Lin Rufei said curiously, “It wouldn’t want to come back?”

Gu Xuandu shook his head and stopped talking.

Lin Rufei felt that he saw something and said: “Did you notice some clues?”

Gu Xuandu blinked: “No.”

Lin Rufei: “Senior ……”

Gu Xuandu: “I really didn’t.”

Lin Rufei said with a straight face, “If you tell me, then I won’t use a shield next time.” 

Gu Xuandu’s expression lifted and immediately said, “Are you sure?”

Lin Rufei nodded his head.

Gu Xuandu said, “Alright …… actually, that Mo Mo, I may have misjudged him.” 

“What makes you say that?” Lin Rufei frowned.

“He must be related to Fu Yu.” Gu Xuandu said.

Lin Rufei said, “Isn’t he Fu Yu’s son?”

Gu Xuandu shook his head: “It’s more than that.”

When Lin Rufei heard that he thought carefully for a moment. He revealed a dazed look and then felt that his guess was too absurd: “This is also …… too ……”

Gu Xuandu said, “Right?”

This so-called truth, it was better not to know it.

********

The author has something to say:

Gu Xuandu: In order for me to get Xiao Jiu not to use the shield, I really went through a lot of trouble. 

Lin Rufei: Isn’t a sword person using a shield[2] pretty good? 

Gu Xuandu: ………….Baby, I was wrong.

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[1] Squeezing the money/worth from them. 

[2] So remember how the word for “sword people/person” 剑人 sounded like a curse word (b*tchh)? This part here is, 剑人持盾. The direct translation is “sword people using swords,” but the word 持盾 also sounds like 迟钝 (same pinyin and tonation) which can mean “ret**ded/slow.” So the phrase kind of sounds like, “ret**ded b***h.” Bad GXD