Cherry Blossoms Upon a Wintry Sword

Chapter 91: The Little Him

This little man looked about seventy or eighty percent similar to Gu Xuandu, but his features were much more tender. Clearly, he was just a smaller version of Gu Xuandu. When Lin Rufei noted down his appearance, he could not help but reach out his hand and gently poke him. The little man wasn’t able to stand still from the impact and directly fell to the ground from Lin Rufei’s poke. Looking up, he gave Lin Rufei an aggrieved expression and in the next moment, he started howling and crying.

Lin Rufei immediately panicked when he saw him crying and then quickly picked him up carefully with his fingers, calling out, “No more crying, no more crying. No more crying, Xuandu, ah.”

The smaller version of Gu Xuandu hugged Lin Rufei’s finger and with an aggrieved look, he gave Lin Rufei’s finger a bite. However, because he was small, there wasn’t actually much strength and it just felt like he was being scratched. Lin Rufei was amused by him and mumbled: “How did you become like this?…..” As he finished saying these words, he felt his heart ache a little. In the end, it was probably because there was still an impact when the soul had separated from the physical body. However, this situation was much better than that of the Heavenly Ruler because that ordinary-looking cherry blossom tree outside in the courtyard was Gu Xuandu’s lifeline and it could nurture Gu Xuandu’s soul.

This little thing was so small that Lin Rufei felt a little overwhelmed after holding him in his hand. However, when Fu Hua and Yu Rui heard the sound, they came in to look. And at a glance, they noticed the thumb-sized little man shyly hiding in Lin Rufei’s hair. Seeing them come in, he poked out his head to look in their way. 

“Yo, what’s this?” Yu Rui asked in amazement.

“Could it be that the cherry blossom has become a spirit?” Fu Hua immediately noticed the blooming bud lying on the table.

“It’s……a friend of mine.” Lin Rufei laughed, “His physical body was injured, only the soul was left and for some reason, he became this way.”

“This is also……way too cute.” Yu Rui looked at the tiny little doll and pink stars immediately emerged in her eyes. It was like she had desperately wanted to go over and give him a big hug. 

Just, Gu Xuandu was extremely afraid of strangers and quickly leaned towards Lin Rufei. Lin Rufei then smoothly swept him into his bosom and said: “He is timid, do not scare him.”

That being said, Fu Hua and Yu Rui were still very happy to see the little man’s bare arms and hands and immediately volunteered to pull out the needle and thread to sew him some small clothes. These two girls probably were just treating Gu Xuandu like he was a doll.

After putting on the clothes, Gu Xuandu slipped out of Lin Rufei’s hair and he didn’t seem to be as scared as he had been when he had first woken up. Instead, he was quite curious about everything around him. Looking left and looking right, he would play and play until he suddenly started sobbing. It must be said that this was the first time Lin Rufei had seen such a fragile Gu Xuandu, and while he was heartbroken, he found him extraordinarily cute. He touched his tiny face and asked, “Why are you crying?”

Gu Xuandu touched his belly and looked at Lin Rufei with an aggrieved look.

Lin Rufei then immediately understood. He quickly told Fu Hua and Yu Rui to prepare some food. Because he didn’t know what Gu Xuandu wanted to eat, he asked them to prepare a little bit of everything and then anxiously brought it to Gu Xuandu, letting him choose. Gu Xuandu crawled to the top of the rice with difficulty. He cupped a small ball of rice with his small hands, ate a few bites, and then burped, feeling quite full. He then rubbed his eyes, revealing a sleepy look. When Lin Rufei saw this, he carefully carried him down and put him back into the cherry blossom. The moment Gu Xuandu entered the cherry blossom, the petals closed again and wrapped Gu Xuandu in it.

Lin Rufei knew that it would take some time to raise Gu Xuandu’s soul, but he was not in a hurry. After having the memory of the Heavenly Ruler, he also had a method to deal with the majestic sword intent in his body, so at least he did not have to worry about it hurting himself again. As long as he took time, he would soon break through the level.

With this little doll, Lin Rufei, who originally didn’t like heading out, had now completely disappeared. Lin Bianyu and the others didn’t know what was going on until they realized they hadn’t seen Lin Rufei for a few days. Thus, they came over to take a look, but before they could enter the house, they heard the sound of a child laughing. Lin Weirui’s eyes were wide open and she was excited, saying, ‘is it possible that my Xiao Jiu has grown up and tricked a girl from somewhere? I mean, after all, he is already twenty-something, it is the age to get married…..’

Lin Bianyu glared at his unreliable sister, ignored her, and pushed the door open.

But who knew that after heading in, they did indeed notice a child. However, this child was a little bit different from the ordinary child and was only the size of a thumb. He was now standing on Lin Rufei’s hand, holding a fruit larger than his head and nibbling on it. Seeing them come in, he revealed a wary look and immediately shrunk himself back into Lin Rufei’s sleeve.

If you aren’t reading this on acupofhalfmoon.wordpress.com, then it has been reposted without permission. Please don’t give ad revenue to them and come join us for tea. I promise we don’t bite.

“Wow, what is this?” Lin Weirui’s eyes lit up, “Xiao Jiu, where did you get such a cute doll?”

Lin Rufei laughed bitterly and then had to tell Lin Weirui and Lin Bianyu again what he had said to Fu Hua and Yu Rui. However, the two of them had strange expressions donning their faces after hearing this and Lin Weirui asked, “So what do you need to nurture this senior’s soul?”

Lin Rufei replied, “It is best to nurture with soul-nurturing wood, but it seems that there is no such thing in the Kunlun Sect.”

“What do you mean there isn’t?!” Lin Weirui exclaimed with a smile, “You’re lucky, a few days ago, the Shen family happened to come over to deliver the betrothal gift and there just so happened to be a piece of soul-nurturing wood in it. I just don’t know if it’s the kind you want, why don’t you come over with me to take a look?”

Lin Rufei’s eyes lit up: “Such a coincidence?”

Lin Weirui responded, “Yes, it is indeed a coincidence.” The Shen family’s betrothal gift was very sincere and there were countless treasures inside. Lin Weirui had taken a general look at it and coincidentally saw a piece of soul-nurturing wood. This thing was very rare, but it also typically wouldn’t be used, therefore, Lin Weirui remembered it very well. She just didn’t expect it to come in handy for Lin Rufei.  

Lin Rufei nodded and placed the little man back into the flower bud, telling him that he and Lin Weirui were going out and would be back soon. He then instructed his second brother to keep an eye on him and told him not to let the little one fall to the ground.

Lin Bianyu’s expression was still unpredictable, but he still smiled and nodded, “Okay.”

After Lin Rufei and Lin Weirui left, Lin Bianyu narrowed his eyes and gazed at the little thing in front of him. He knew that there had been something by Lin Rufei’s side before, but he didn’t know exactly what it was. Now, after finally solving this long confusion, he believed that it was this little thing in front of him that had deliberately tripped him with a cherry blossom branch that year. 

“Who would’ve expected that you’ll end up like this one day too.” When Lin Bianyu noticed the little man with his bottom stuck out and struggling to chew on the fruit, he snickered and gently nudged him with his finger. Although he didn’t use any strength, the little man was delicate and was pushed directly onto the ground. The fruit also rolled to the edge of the table. The little man was confused for a moment and then he reacted, turning his head to look at him, his eyes began to quickly gather tears as he opened his mouth and wailed: “Uwaaaaaaaa——”

Lin Bianyu was startled by the sound of the little man crying and panicked, “Why are you crying, I didn’t hit you.” The little man looked at him, ignored him, and continued to cry.

Lin Bianyu uttered, “Hey, did you do that on purpose?”

The little man hmphed and continued to cry: “Wuwuwuwuwuwuwu——”

Lin Bianyu finally understood his intention and clenched his teeth: “You are doing this on purpose, right?”

The little man simply ignored Lin Bianyu and continued to cry on his own. Although Lin Bianyu knew he was doing it on purpose, he could not do anything about it. He was such a small thing and it wasn’t plausible for him to simply beat him up. Furthermore, this was still his brother’s precious treasure, if Lin Rufei came back and saw this scene——Lin Bianyu immediately felt an oncoming headache. 

Lin Rufei and Lin Weirui came back after picking up the soul-nurturing wood. When they entered, they saw Gu Xuandu, who was bawling his eyes out, and Lin Bianyu, who was sitting next to him with his hands crossed against his chest and a gloomy look on his face. When Lin Rufei saw Gu Xuandu crying so sadly, he hurriedly went forward to take him into his arms and asked in a warm voice, “Why are you crying?”

Gu Xuandu rubbed his eyes while pointing at Lin Bianyu.

“It has nothing to do with me!” Lin Bianyu defended, “I just touched him!”

Gu Xuandu then pointed to his cheek, which was indeed red. He looked at Lin Rufei with an aggrieved expression, as if he had just been bullied. Lin Rufei suddenly cried and laughed. He knew Lin Bianyu’s nature very well; he was very proud, so he definitely wouldn’t deliberately bully such a small little doll. He was probably just curious like he(LRF) had been and reached out to give him a little poke. However, he didn’t know that the little man was delicate and weak and that even a simple poke would make him cry. But although Lin Rufei was clear in his heart, he didn’t say so with his mouth. In the end, he kindly soothed the little one, coaxing him until he finally stopped crying.

When Lin Rufei was coaxing the little man, Lin Bianyu was staring sorrowfully at the side causing Lin Weirui to laugh and ask, “Second brother, what’s with your expression?”

Lin Bianyu gave a disgusted tsk: “It’s not something good.”

Lin Weirui simply laughed out loud.

With the soul-nurturing wood, Gu Xuandu’s soul state was much more stable. Lin Rufei found that his body began to gradually grow larger with the stability of the soul. At first, he was only the size of a thumb but now he was as big as a palm. Fu Hua and Yu Rui were quite idle on a daily basis so they would often always make clothes for Gu Xuandu to wear. Looking at their appearances, they probably were treating Gu Xuandu like a doll.

But what made Lin Rufei more worried was that Gu Xuandu still didn’t seem to remember the old days. His consciousness was still in a daze and originally, he was worried that this state of mind would last forever. However, who knew that when he had been woken up by Gu Xuandu one day, Gu Xuandu suddenly grasped his finger and hummed childishly: “Xiao Jiu…… “

Lin Rufei was surprised: “Xuandu?” Being able to call out his name, then he must have remembered something. 

However, Gu Xuandu only knew these two words: “Xiao Jiu……”

Lin Rufei was not in a hurry though. Patting him on his head, he asked if he was hungry and Gu Xuandu nodded. From this day on, Gu Xuandu’s state began to gradually improve, not only did he remember his own name, but he also recovered some other memories. However, these memories were still a bit confusing and messy. Probably because a long time had passed, but the good memories and bad memories were currently now mixed up together. 

When he remembered the good things, Gu Xuandu would be happy and call out to Xiao Jiu, telling him how the candy paintings sold in that town were really delicious and that he wanted to eat another one. And when he remembered the bad things, he would whimper and cry, crying out to not leave him again. That he was really afraid to wait another few hundred years. That cherry blossom forest was really big and it was extra cold when it rained. He couldn’t do anything but wait and wait, as if waiting for a cherry blossom that would never bloom in the Winter.

When Lin Rufei listened, his heart ached very badly. He took him into his arms and carefully soothed him. Gu Xuandu cried and cried until he finally fell asleep but his long eyelashes were still stained with teardrops. Lin Rufei gently stroked his hair and whispered, “Don’t cry, I will never leave you alone again.”

In the blink of an eye, June had arrived and it was the day Lin Weirui was to be married. Kunlun, and the ten miles surrounding it, were donned in bright red.  

Lin Bianyu watched as the two crossed the fire bowl[1] and performed their marriage ceremonies. Since his father had not yet come out of seclusion, his elder brother had to be the one sitting in the elder’s seat, drinking the few cups of tea handed to him by the couple.

After being sent to the bridal chamber, there was then a lively banquet.

Although this was a good thing, as Lin Weirui’s maiden family, Lin Rufei was still a bit heartbroken. He casually ate something, then left the banquet and found a quiet place to rest. Gu Xuandu crawled out from his sleeves, looking like he had just woken up. Rubbing his eyes, he then vaguely asked why Xiao Jiu was unhappy.

“How can I be unhappy when I see my sister getting married?” Lin Rufei muttered.

“But Xiao Jiu is unhappy.” Gu Xuandu cocked his head and whispered, “I know Xiao Jiu is unhappy.”

“It’s not unhappy, just feel like sighing.” and Lin Rufei sighed, “Sister is now going to the Shen family and I do not know how long it will take for her to come back and visit……Xuandu, are you hungry?”

Gu Xuandu asked, “Xuandu?”

Lin Rufei: “Hmm?”

Gu Xuandu asked, “Why doesn’t Xiao Jiu call me senior anymore?” He grunted and pouted, “I want to hear Xiao Jiu call me senior!” Such a small thing using such a childish tone to say unreasonable words was really a bit overwhelming. Lin Rufei cried and laughed, reached out, and gently pinched his cheeks, “Look at your appearance and you still expect me to call you senior?”

“But that’s what Xiao Jiu used to call me.” Gu Xuandu was still unconvinced and argued vaguely, “Xiao Jiu has changed and doesn’t like me anymore!” 

Lin Rufei said, “Wait until you grow up.”

Gu Xuandu held in his sobs as giant tears rolled down his cheeks. He was very well aware of his current appearance, but the most heartbreaking was that if he asked something of Fu Hua and Yu Rui, they would always agree to his requests. However, Lin Rufei had long been used to it, after smiling and pinching his nose, he said, ‘okay, okay, don’t cry anymore. You’re already a grownup, why are you still crying? Don’t you find it shameful?’ 

“Not shameful.” Gu Xuandu sullenly hummed, “As long as Xiao Jiu does not dislike me, I will not be ashamed.” After saying that, he looked at Lin Rufei once again, “Does Xiao Jiu dislike me?”

“Little ancestor, how could I dare to dislike you?” Lin Rufei laughed, “Come on, let’s go back.”

He picked up Gu Xuandu and the two of them then headed back to the banquet together.

Lin Bianyu was currently making Shen Wucui drink, however, Lin Minzhi did not join in on the liveliness. He simply sat on the side drinking alone. His aura and appearance made the other people hesitate to come forward and join in on the fun. Only Lin Rufei, his younger brother, would smile as he sat down next to him saying, ‘Big brother, take it easy. Don’t drink too much.’ 

“I won’t drink too much.” When Lin Minzhi noticed Lin Rufei, his expression gradually softened, “I’m just happy today, so I ended up drinking a few more cups.”

Although he said he was happy, there was no noticeable joy on his face.

If you aren’t reading this on acupofhalfmoon.wordpress.com, then it has been reposted without permission. Please don’t give ad revenue to them and come join us for tea. I promise we don’t bite.

It was expected, after all, when a daughter gets married, it was the mother’s side of that family that felt sad. Although Lin Bianyu was smiling, he didn’t hold back at all in coercing Shen Wucui to drink. Poor Shen Wucui was already red in the face and kept shaking his head in refusal, but Lin Bianyu wrapped his arms around his neck and poured another cup down his throat. Finally, it was Lin Minzhi who spoke up and told Lin Bianyu that it was enough. Weirui was still waiting and if he sent a drunkard in, Weirui might not exactly be happy.

Lin Bianyu deeply thought about his words and although he believed that she would be quite amused and happy at this sight, he stilled stopped himself and patted Shen Wucui on the shoulder, saying, ‘go ahead, go ahead, I’m not going to play with you anymore, I’ll find someone else to drink with.’ Saying this, he carried the wine jug and left, looking for another unlucky egg to continue drinking with.

People like Lin Bianyu, who were at the eighth level of cultivation, wanting to get completely drunk was simply impossible. Lin Rufei also drank a few cups but he then remembered the jug of turquoise wine that Gu Xuandu had given him to drink. Even after a long time, Lin Rufei still remembered the taste of that jug. But unfortunately, although the wine was good, drunkenness was also quite amazing, and simply after a few cups, Lin Rufei already felt somewhat confused. After having drunk such an amazing wine and then drinking other kinds of wine, it really felt like he was drinking water. Later, when he regained the Heavenly Ruler’s memories, Lin Rufei realized that this wine was made by the Heavenly Ruler especially for Gu Xuandu, using many rare herbs and now it was difficult to reconstitute it.

Lin Rufei stroked the wine cup and many thoughts passed through his mind.

When Gu Xuandu’s soul was almost ready, he would leave Kunlun again to look for materials in order to construct his body and then send out the remaining invitations along the way……

Thinking about it, Lin Rufei also ended up drinking a little too much. His pale cheeks reddened and his eyes began to drift. When Lin Minzhi noticed this, he summoned his subordinates to send Lin Rufei back to his courtyard.

The weather was good today and after the sky darkened, a sky full of brightly lit stars was visible. Lin Rufei was helped into the house by Fu Hua and Yu Rui, but he refused to rest and sleep. Slipping into the courtyard, he gazed at the lonely cherry blossom tree and his mouth kept on chattering. He did not know what he was reciting, but it seemed that he had a lot of things he had wanted to say to Gu Xuandu and now he was saying it all in one go.

Tired of talking, he turned back and laid down on the chair in the courtyard in order to take a nap. In a trance, someone from behind him gently pressed against him, murmuring close to his ear: “How did I not know before, that Xiao Jiu is so good at talking about love……”

Lin Rufei wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids were glued shut so he wasn’t able to re-open them. After struggling for a while, he then gave up and hummed twice in acknowledgment.

A low chuckle then came, accompanied by some helpless doting. Someone then layered an outerwear on top of his body to expel the night’s chill.

The next morning, Lin Rufei woke up in the room. After the hangover, he had a pretty bad headache and was currently sitting on the bed, grunting, as he summoned Fu Hua and Yu Rui.

“Young master drank a lot yesterday.” Fu Hua carried the hangover soup and seemed like she had long prepared for this, “Now you must have a terrible headache. Quick, drink the hangover soup.”

Lin Rufei let out a sound and asked, “Where is he?”

“Little doll?” Fu Hua knew what Lin Rufei was asking, “Yu Rui just steamed some fresh date cake[2], so she brought him over to eat a little.”

Lin Rufei: “Oh……”

Fu Hua asked, “Young master, what’s wrong?”

Lin Rufei questioned, “Who sent me in last night?”

Fu Hua replied, “It was me and Yu Rui. We saw young master sleeping outside, so we helped him in.”

Lin Rufei nodded. His memory of last night was not very clear but he still had some vague impressions. However, these impressions were very fuzzy. He seemed to have remembered hearing someone whispering something in his ear, but after careful recollection, he could not remember much, as if everything that he had experienced was just a dream.

Lin Rufei drank the hangover soup and finally felt that the headache was relieved. After getting up and doing a simple wash, he headed outside and noticed that Gu Xuandu was holding a piece of date cake and feasting on it happily. Although under the nourishment of the soul-nurturing wood, he was still only palm-sized despite Gu Xuandu’s body growing a lot. However, it was better than before when he was only the size of a thumb. After all, now he didn’t have to worry about accidentally injuring him.

Fu Hua and Yu Rui stood next to each other. They were looking at Gu Xuandu with kind eyes, as if they were a mother gazing warmly at her beloved son, which made Lin Rufei want to laugh and cry.

The date cake was freshly baked and tasted very good. Gu Xuandu also liked to eat this kind of pastry, but he was not big in size so his meal size was also small. After eating half a piece, he suddenly put down the date cake and covered his stomach, crying that it hurt.

Lin Rufei was taken aback and hastily picked him up, asking him where he was uncomfortable.

“My stomach hurts.” Gu Xuandu complained, pointing to his belly.

Lin Rufei lifted his clothes to take a look, only to find that this little one ate until his belly was round and his tone became a bit helpless: “How much has he eaten?”

“Half a piece.” Yu Rui replied at the side, “I kept an eye on him and didn’t dare to let him eat more.”

“Half a piece?” Fu Hua asked, “Didn’t he just eat half a piece?”

Yu Rui: “Huh?”

The two stared at each other. Gu Xuandu was huffing and puffing and it was obvious that he had eaten too much and was bloating. Lin Rufei had no choice but to let the two bring over some digestion medicine and then carefully rubbed Gu Xuandu’s belly. Gu Xuandu was already small in size, so with his round belly look, he was quite cute and ridiculous. Lin Rufei adjusted his strength and only after rubbing his belly for a while did he not hurt anymore. Rubbing his eyes, he began to mumble that he was sleepy.

Lin Rufei fetched another soul-nurturing wood, letting him sleep next to it. He then covered him with a blanket before he finally breathed a sigh of relief. The previous doubts about Gu Xuandu were also left behind, thinking that although his(GXD) memory was gradually recovering, his(GXD) body would certainly not recover that fast, and what had happened that night was probably a hallucination caused by his own drunkenness.

After Lin Weirui’s marriage, Kunlun had become much more lonely, but luckily, Lin Rufei had long been accustomed to it and most of the time, he would just stay in the courtyard. But occasionally, when the weather was nice, he would still find time to go down to the mountain to see the cherry blossom forest.

With the additional support from the formation, this cherry blossom forest also grew very quickly. In just a few months of work, it had already opened bright green branches and leaves. But even so, if it wanted to bloom, it would probably still have to wait a few more rounds of Spring and Autumn. Lin Rufei took Gu Xuandu to the cherry blossom forest and although he really liked the forest, Gu Xuandu was very averse to this place. Once inside, he started crying and fussing that Lin Rufei had to come out immediately.

“No more crying, no more crying.” Lin Rufei comforted his little one, “We won’t go in anymore, ah. No more crying.”

“Wuwuwuwuwuwu.” The little one had tears rolling down his cheeks as he clung to Lin Rufei’s hand. He looked wrong to death as his mouth continued to chant that Xiao Jiu was bad, Xiao Jiu was bad.

“How is Xiao Jiu bad?” Lin Rufei was helpless.

“Xiao Jiu left me here.” Gu Xuandu choked, “So I waited and waited and waited and waited……I thought I would never see him again.”

Lin Rufei’s heart clenched at those words and blamed himself for not thinking about this. He did not expect that his favorite cherry blossom forest, would be Gu Xuandu’s sadness. He kissed the top of his head and continued to whisper comforting words, telling Xuandu not to cry anymore and that they would never come here again. 

“I won’t cry if you call me senior.” Who knew that he actually still remembered this stubbornly and looked impatiently at Lin Rufei.

Lin Rufei laughed: “Want me to call you senior? Then grow up quickly.” He then trailed off, “When you grow up, I will call you senior properly, as many times as you want.”

Little Gu Xuandu puffed up his little fist.

(t/n: I can’t guys, this chapter was too cute!!! (*≧︶≦))

********

The author has something to say:

Lin Rufei: This is my friend, you guys can call him…….Dudu?

Gu Xuandu: ? ? ? ? 

─────────────────────────────────────────────────

[1] A wedding custom, the idea is to keep away bad luck and bring in prosperity. 

[2] Date cake: