Chu Wanning's heart beat fast, and he was so mad his face was a bit flushed.
He could see, out of the corner of his eyes, that the man was still standing there in the same spot, seemingly frozen. Chu Wanning did not look directly at him, but he could feel the man's stare on himself, open and blatant, like a sword just raised from the forging pool, hissing still with an overwhelming heat and vaporizing the curtain of water as it pierced right through the waterfall straight for him.
Chu Wanning felt absolutely scandalised for some reason. Expression growing even more sour, he bit down on his lip and moved to hide even deeper into the waterfall.
But the guy was an idiot, as it turned out. Chu Wanning scooted in to hide,
and like a puppet on strings, he took a step forward too.
"..." Chu Wanning was furious. There were always a couple of perverts at Sisheng Peak; there had even once been a woman who, instead of going to sleep at night like a normal person, had gone crawling up the roof at Red Lotus Pavilion to peek at him bathing. Just thinking about it made his scalp go numb,
and goosebumps rose all along the arm that had gotten grabbed by that guy.
Luckily, after a while of him hiding in the waterfall as deep as he could go— inadvertently swallowing more than a few droplets of the water in the process— the guy finally decided to let him be, going back to the streaming water to continue rinsing, though he kept looking back as he walked away.
Holding down his anger the best he could, Chu Wanning was in no mood to soak in the baths anymore, thinking only to finish up and get out of there as soon as possible.
He reached for the towel draped over his shoulder, only to find that the towel,
together with the soapberry[17] and fragrance bar wrapped inside, had fallen into the water during his great tumble earlier.
They were probably dissolved by now…
Should he get out of the water to fetch another one?
But he was naked, and that would involve walking past that guy.
Chu Wanning's face had gone from red to blue. He pressed his thin lips tightly together, mortified.
He was not going.
So he remained standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and his back against the rock like an idiot, letting the water wash over him in the deepest part of the streaming waterfall.
Chu Wanning: "..." The man: "..." Suddenly, in the distance, that guy raised his voice and asked hesitantly, "Do you want a soapberry?" "..." "And fragrance bars?" "..." "Surely you're not going to just wash like that?" Closing his eyes and staying right where he was, Chu Wanning replied coldly, "Toss it over." But the guy didn't toss it over, as if thinking that it would be rude to do that with a stranger. After waiting a while under the waterfall, Chu Wanning saw a peach leaf enchanted with spiritual power drift slowly toward him, bearing a soapberry and two fragrance bars.
Chu Wanning picked up the items, but then paused upon taking a closer look.
The soapberry was whatever, since everyone used basically the same thing,
but that person had picked out a plum blossom scented fragrance bar and a haitang scented one, his favorite scents.
He glanced over at the tall figure in the distance through the sparkling,
translucent curtain of water despite himself.
The man asked, "Those two scents okay?" Chu Wanning replied, "Fine." The man said no more, and the two of them continued washing in silence from where they stood far apart, each occupied with his own thoughts. Chu Wanning felt a little more at ease as he washed, and so cautiously stepped back out from the depths of the waterfall, since the water stream where he was standing was actually a bit too strong for comfort.
But the man looked over again as soon as he came back out. It would've been one thing if he was just looking over, but there was always something weird in his stare, and Chu Wanning got the distinct impression that he wanted to say something to him but kept stopping himself, and kept wavering between coming closer or not, making Chu Wanning's skin prickle all over.
Chu Wanning washed for a bit, but then couldn't take it anymore and decided to leave first.
But he had left his clothes at the entrance, and he'd have to go back that way to get dressed. Having no other option, Chu Wanning could only brace himself and, with his face sullen and his teeth gritted, walked toward where the man was standing.
But unexpectedly, as he was walking past in front of the man, not all that close from him but also not far enough, that guy suddenly started moving too, putting his long hair up and shaking the water from his fringe to follow Chu Wanning out of the bath.
The vein at Chu Wanning's temple throbbed. He started walking faster, but that guy was astoundingly shameless, and started walking faster as well.
Chu Wanning: "..." The tips of his fingers had already begun to glow with the golden light of Tianwen, but he held back from summoning his weapon for the time being, not out of any concern about injuring someone, but solely because he felt that he should get dressed before beating anyone up.
So he picked up his speed even more.
This time, the man stopped instead of continuing to tail him.
Chu Wanning sighed in relief, but only managed to let out half his breath before he heard the man say from behind him, "There are… soap bubbles on your hair still." "..." "Aren't you gonna wash it off?" The man approached slowly just as Chu Wanning was burning with anger,
not stopping until he was very close, standing right behind him where his voice could be clearly heard.
If Chu Wanning hadn't been so furious right now, he would've been able to tell that the voice was somewhat familiar, despite the way it had changed.
Unfortunately, he was currently engulfed by the flames of rage.
"You…" The man seemed to still have something else to say.
But Chu Wanning had reached the limits of his forbearance. He whipped around, golden light flashing to life in his hand as he lashed out toward the other with an audible whoosh, a dangerous glint in his eyes. Chu Wanning was so enraged that he almost wanted to just kill the guy and be done with it. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tianwen cleaved through the hazy steam, snapping directly toward that person's chest.
For an instant, the golden glow lit up the man's face.
Chu Wanning saw a pair of eyes—clear, gentle, sheepish eyes that seemed to hold flowing rivers of stars within, like so many glimmering fireflies on the wind, yet were also tranquil as still waters running deep, veiling things bygone beneath.
…Mo Ran?!
He tried to pull back, but it was already too late, and the willow vine hissed as it struck Mo Ran's firm, smooth chest. Mo Ran let out only a stifled grunt, then lowered his head for a bit, and when he looked back up, there wasn't the slightest trace of anger or resentment in his eyes, but those eyes were a little wet, as if from the first rains of Lin'an.
Chu Wanning quickly recalled Tianwen and then stood there frozen in place.
A long while went by before he managed to say in a hoarse voice, "…Why didn't you dodge?" Mo Ran replied, "Sh-Shizun…" Chu Wanning was stunned. He had thought so many times about how the two of them might meet again, but never did he think it would be at Miaoyin Springs, in the hot spring pond. "What're you doing here? When did you get back?"
"Just now," Mo Ran replied softly. "I got too dirty and unpresentable from rushing to get back, so I came here to take a bath before going to see Shizun, I didn't expect…" "..." Chu Wanning was speechless.
Neither of them had expected something like this to happen.
They had both wanted their reunion to be proper and dignified.
Mo Ran had probably wanted to appear before Chu Wanning clean and welldressed.
But in the end?
Not only was it not proper, it was straight-up laughable.
Not only was it not dignified, it was absolutely ridiculous.
Not only were they not well-dressed, they were completely naked.
They were clean though.
So clean they didn't even have a single thread of clothing on.
"Shizun, it's really…it's really you…" Mo Ran, for his part, didn't care much about these things. For five years, Chu Wanning had slept, and he had been awake; what was only the span of a dream to Chu Wanning had been more than a thousand torturous days to him.
His frame of mind was far more complicated than Chu Wanning's. Forcing down his overwhelming emotions, the rims of his eyes were a little red as he said, "It's been so long that I, just now…I didn't dare believe my eyes. I thought I might've had the wrong person, I thought…" "..." Head ringing, Chu Wanning was at a loss for words. It was a long moment before he said, "...Why didn't you just ask me if you weren't sure?
Instead of creeping after me silently like that." "I did want to ask," Mo Ran said softly, "but it's been five years…and then to suddenly…see Shizun right in front of me, I thought…I thought I was dreaming…" The more nervous as I get closer to home, I dare not ask even the passersby.[18] What he felt, when he first saw his silhouette, was probably something like that.
He had already had such dreams too many times in the past five years; he was afraid that it was more of the same madness again, that he would wake up with tear stains on his pillow to find that the reunion was just another joyous delusion.
Chu Wanning forced a calm exterior, but his insides were a frantic mess. It was hard work, really, to speak with such stiff dryness though his heart felt all soft and gooey. "…What kind of dream would be this absurd." Mo Ran paused for a beat at Chu Wanning's response, as if remembering something. He pressed his lips together as a light flickered in his eyes. He wasn't originally going to bring this up as soon as they met again, but after a bit of hesitation, he decided that if he didn't say it now, while Chu Wanning hadn't yet had a chance to build up his walls, he probably wouldn't get another chance later on.
So he spoke after a pause, "…Does Shizun not remember?" "Remember what?"
Mo Ran's eyes were deep and dark. "What you said to me before, that the most wonderful dreams are rarely ever real." "That was because…" Chu Wanning caught himself mid-sentence, suddenly realizing that those were the words he had spoken to Mo Ran at Jincheng Lake as he was saving him. He had said something so melancholic because of how miserable he'd felt back then, and he was a little surprised that Mo Ran could still remember it so easily even after this long.
But how did Mo Ran know that it had actually been him at Jincheng Lake?
Had Shi Mei told him?
Chu Wanning lifted his eyes to look at him, only to see Mo Ran looking back at himself. Only then did he realize that Mo Ran didn't actually know the truth,
and was only saying that to see his reaction.
Mo Ran said softly, "So it really was Shizun, then." Chu Wanning: "..." Mo Ran lifted his hand. His chest had been slashed open, and blood seeped from the wound. He smiled wryly. "I did a lot of thinking about the past during these last couple of years. I wanted to know just what Shizun had done for me. I thought about a lot of things that happened, including the illusion at Jincheng Lake——Shi Mei never calls me by name." He paused before continuing. "Those memories tormented me the more I thought about them; there were a lot of things I wanted to ask Shizun about once you're awake." "..." "But the thing I wanted to ask about the most was…Shizun, the one who saved me at the bottom of the lake back then, it was you, wasn't it?" Mo Ran walked closer as he spoke. Chu Wanning wanted to back away.
Because he suddenly noticed just how tall Mo Ran was, tall like a mountain,
a powerful strength latent in every inch of his body. He suddenly noticed just how bright Mo Ran's eyes were, like the very sun had fallen into those twin pools, all the colors of the sunrise splashing across those gleaming waters.
Chu Wanning found himself flustered for no reason whatsoever. He said, "It wasn't me." Mo Ran didn't buy it at all.
Chu Wanning scrambled to change the subject in a panic, grasping desperately at straws; but he was so startled, so nervous, and so discomfited,
that he completely forgot that he had already asked the question just now, and Mo Ran had already answered it as well.
Looking at this person whose chest bore a gash inflicted by he himself, he said once more, "Why didn't you dodge when I hurt you earlier?" Mo Ran stilled for a second, then dropped his thick curtain of lashes with a smile.
"You said that dreams that were too good to be true probably weren't." And so he answered once more as well, pausing before continuing in a murmur, "I wanted to see if it would hurt. If it hurts, then it's not a dream." He had walked over and now stood right in front of Chu Wanning.
Maybe it was because of how sudden the reunion had been, but the joy and fondness in his heart, the tenderness and the heartbreak overtook all else, but Mo Ran thought of nothing else, no flights of fancy. He even forgot to maintain a proper distance from Chu Wanning, a distance of propriety between a disciple and his master.
But he didn't.
Whenever his emotions ran deep, he'd always think of the person before him as Wanning rather than Shizun.
Mo Ran's eyes grew even more red and watery. He lifted an arm with a grin —"I think some water got in my eyes just now"—and wiped his face, along with his eyes.
Chu Wanning stared up at him in a daze. He'd been waiting for Mo Ran to come back this whole time, so he was a little more clear headed than Mo Ran right now, but the bit of clarity also afforded him enough presence of mind to notice the condition that the two of them were currently in——talking face to face while standing there buck-naked. And not only that, but Mo Ran was so close to him that, if he were to come just a little bit closer, he'd be able to wrap his arms around him the way he had back in the Underworld.
He didn't want to continue looking up at Mo Ran's unfairly handsome face,
but when he dropped his gaze a couple inches lower, the sight that greeted him was that of broad shoulders and firm chest, the blood from Tianwen's strikes spreading slowly, and droplets of water that trembled minutely with every breath that Mo Ran drew. Chu Wanning couldn't even tell which was hotter, this sculpted chest or the heated water of the hot springs.
All he knew was that he was surrounded by Mo Ran's scent, and that it was going to steal his soul away.
"Shizun, I…" I what?
But before Mo Ran could even really say anything yet, Chu Wanning abruptly turned around and took off running.
"..." Mo Ran was flabbergasted.
He was quite literally running.
It was the first time he'd ever seen Chu Wanning flee in such a hurry, running away like there was something behind him that was gonna eat him alive and chew up his soul.
"I've really missed you so much." Mo Ran finished lamely where he stood, then pursed his lips.
What had he run away for…
Mo Ran felt a little wronged.
When he got out of the pond and saw Chu Wanning, whose face was alternating between red and blue as he scrambled frantically to get dressed, he felt even more wronged.
"Shizun," he mumbled.
Chu Wanning ignored him.
"Shizun…" Chu Wanning continued to ignore him while wrapping the belt sash around his waist.
"Shizunnnn…" "WHAT!" Dressed at long last, Chu Wanning could finally let out a breath, feeling his dignity and composure return to his body now that it was covered.
His sword-straight brows slanted in anger, and his stern phoenix eyes glared fiercely at that traitorous disciple of his who dared to be taller than him.
"What's so important that you can't wait til we're outside to say it!? Talking to me naked like that, have you no shame!"
A little chagrined, Mo Ran raised a fist to his lips and cleared his throat. "…
It's not like I want to be naked." "Then why aren't you getting dressed!" "…" Mo Ran paused, looking away to stare at a peach tree on the side as he began, "…So, it's like this…" He took a deep breath, and finally steeled himself to say:
"Shizun, those are my clothes you're wearing." Done with that, a faint blush spread across Mo Ran's cheeks as he stared fixedly at a branch of peach blossoms swaying gently in the breeze.
Author's Notes:
Mini-theatre:
Many anonymous comments appeared on the Sisheng Peak chat forum today.
Anonymous user: Accidentally wore my disciple's clothes, what should I do?
Urgent, I don't want to strip in front of him. Staying online to await replies.
Anonymous user A: Sent a pile of gifts, but they were all rejected by my male god, though he did accept my handicrafts. I want to know if it's because he treats me as an outsider, or if it's because he can't bear to see me spend money. I'm actually not poor, although my name isn't in the rankings, I can still afford the limited edition jujube pills produced by Hanlin Shengshou...why? Why does he not accept my gifts? I'm so troubled.
Anonymous user B: Ai, my emotions are somewhat complicated, he's returned.
Anonymous user C: Did the top stop spinning in the end? Is this real life or is this just a dream, which level of my dream is this? Don't mind me, I just wanted somewhere secure to vent.
[17] 皂角 Chinese honey locust soapberry [18] Excerpt from poem "Crossing the Han River" by Tang Dynasty poet Song Zhiwen aka Li Pin, about being away from home without news, and the anxiety one experiences upon returning (due to not knowing if the family has been well, etc.):
From beyond the mountains I've had news and letters neither, thus has winter gone and spring come.
The more nervous as I get closer to home, I dare not ask even the passersby.