NEBM Chapter 21: Waking Up Again

“Hot, thinly sliced beef and a flask of wine, coming!”

“One plate of meat-stuffed steam buns! One plate of sweet cake! Coming up, one bowl of beef noodle soup!!

“Little brother, may I trouble you with one bowl of plum blossom soup…?”

All kinds of voices interlaced. It was a frigid winter morning and the wind blew cold and chilly. When people talk, the cold coagulated their warm breaths into white mists, so thick that it practically blurred out each person’s face.

A five to six-year-old boy was curled up on a street corner. He was wearing a thin, ragged shirt, a pair of dirty shoes so worn out that, when stepping on the snow, they did not warm his feet at all.

His trousers were already too small for his body, exposing half of his lower legs, which were frozen red by the cold. The little boy didn’t seem to care. He merely opened his eyes to peek around.

His face was filthy, and only his pair of penetratingly dark eyes were clear and bright.

A middle-aged man bought three big steamed buns and a bowl of noodle soup. After a while, he could not eat anymore and left behind half a steamed bun and a bite of soup.

The little boy stared as if he’d found a treasure. When the middle-aged man left, he quickly rushed out of the corner. One hand skillfully grabbed the steamed bun while the other took hold of the bowl and brought it up to his mouth.

His actions were very quick but others still saw and were disgusted by him. Just as his mouth touched the cold bowl, but before he could even drink down the contents, a severe slap fell down, overturning the bowl.

The soup spilled on him, and the chilly wind immediately plastered the cold, wet shirt against his body.

“Where did this filthy thing come from?! Get away!”

The strong, muscular man scolded him with a grin, and the malice and disgust in his voice took substance, piercing the boy like a knife.

The boy clutched the remaining half of the steamed bun in silence. He squeezed his little hands into fists and turned away silently.

The brawny man blinked, saw the steamed bun, and angrily rebuked, “Dirty thing, what do you have in your hand?! A big steamed bun costs a copper. You dare get it for nothing?”

There was obviously only a tiny piece left.

The boy pumped his legs, intent on escaping. But, when the man saw that he was running away, he immediately took big strides to catch up and pulled on the boy’s collar. He’d been having some troubles lately, and he’d long wanted to bully someone to let out steam.

The boy was already emaciated, and his body was frozen stiff. Within two steps, he was caught and fell to the ground.

When that dark and ferocious hand was about to drag the boy back by his collar, a fair hand stretched out gracefully, fingers wrapping around the man’s thick wrist.

The slender fingers that easily gripped the man’s wrist looked weak but the man felt as if his wrist was being pinched by iron tongs. He could not move at all.

As the most difficult man to deal with on this street, the man had never been offended so boldly before.

He flushed with anger and turned his head to see which daring and ignorant child had dared pluck a hair from the tiger’s head. As a result, when he turned his head, he caught sight of a noble-looking young man dressed in a long, white robe. The young man smiled and casually flung the man’s wrist away from the boy.

The man’s entire hand immediately became numb, such that he could no longer lift it. His face twisted, knowing that he’d encountered a ruthless character. He gnashed his teeth and purposefully caused a spectacle, shouting, “Who are you?! Report your name!”

The young man in white glanced at the man lazily. His temper was quite good and so his smile had not diminished. He replied with one sentence, “It’s not known in the Jianghu and not worth mentioning.”

The man still wanted to argue back, but in the next moment, he felt his entire body go numb. One moment he was standing and, in the next, he’d fallen with a thump onto the ground. His tongue began to swell so that his mouth could only make unintelligible noises.

Although there were two to three people eating nearby, none helped him. This man was famous for acting unruly on the street, and no one wanted to mess with him.

The young man in white ignored the man. He turned around and reached the little boy in a few steps. Reaching out to him, he said, “Can you stand?”

The little boy looked down at his dirty hands and said nothing.

The young man in white laughed. It was unclear how he did it but, with a shake of his wrists, he suddenly held a light gray cloak with a soft and fluffy collar.

He stretched out his hand and wrapped the cloak around the little boy.

The fluff around the neck covered most of the boy’s face but he still heard someone whispered, “Ah, it’s an immortal cultivator.”

An immortal cultivator.

What was that?

As he chewed blankly on those strange words, he realized that his body was suddenly lifted into the air. He began to subconsciously struggle, until his back was patted lightly and a soft and gentle voice sounded in his ear. “Don’t move.”

The young man in white held the boy’s malnourished body with one hand and found that he weighed as light as a feather, as if the body underneath the cloak was all bones and barely any meat.

The little boy stiffened, his lips pressed tightly together without uttering a single word.

This pose brought him very close to the young man. When he raised his eyes, he saw the young man’s exquisite profile and jade-like earlobe. His skin was fair and tender. One glance was enough to tell that he was a noble used to living like a prince.

The boy’s stomach suddenly growled. After such a long time without food, his stomach was beginning to protest. For a split second, he held his breath, so ashamed he wanted to dig a hole and climb in.

The young man in white also heard this sound. Feeling that the boy was too pitiful, he quickly carried the boy to a breakfast shop, selected a seat away from the wind, and neatly sat down to order a pile of food.

It’ll take time for the food to be delivered. In the meantime, the young man unexpectedly pulled out a white handkerchief and asked the shop owner for a bowl of hot water. Then, he soaked the handkerchief in the water and gently and meticulously wiped the small face clean.

After cleaning the boy’s face and hands, the young man snapped his fingers and applied a little trick. An ordinary person couldn’t use spiritual force, but he had no choice but to use spiritual force to condense a small, white cloud-like ball for the boy to hold and keep his hands warm.

The food was quickly brought in. Thick, meaty rice porridge, a plate of small meat buns just out of the basket, white steamed buns, and a plate of stir-fried vegetables and pork.

They were all very common food, which the boy had seen countless times and had lingered over day by day.

The steam that rose from the hot food drifted in front of the boy, and he asked quietly, “What’s your name?”

…….

“Zhixian? Zhixian!” His roommate’s bright and cheerful voice suddenly sounded, seeming very excited. “Your dubbing won an award! The business person wanted to know which name you wanted to use. Do you want to use your real name?”

“Ah?” The just awakened Shen Zhixian opened his eyes in bewilderment, still half asleep. It took him a while to react to his roommate’s question. “What name?”

The roommate hated iron for not becoming steel. “The dubbing you submitted won first prize. The organizer wanted to announce the winning information and asked if you want him to put your real name or use a stage name?”

Shen Zhixian yawned and finally remembered what was going on.

Still tired, he turned his head and completely buried himself under the comforter. He turned off the Bluetooth headset that had been playing all night and slid it from his neck. Before he turned it off completely, the last sentence of the single that had been playing on loop was:

“….The third wish is for us to be like a pair of swallows resting on a beam, together year after year.”

Slow and charming.

A muffled voice came from the rolled up comforter, “My stage name. Just call it Sui Xian, okay? Year after year, meeting after meeting—Give them a reply for me. I still need to sleep some more…”

…..

Such messy things, these chaotic, fragmented memories.

At the end of the dream, there was an endlessly deep and dark sea. He was swallowed up in it, unable to move, barely able to breathe.

When Shen Zhixian woke up, for a moment, he couldn’t tell where he was. His eyes were bewildered and his vision hazy.

Every breath brought a sharp pain in his chest. His whole body ached, as if it had been dismantled and reorganized. He gasped slightly, enduring the pain, as he slowly focused his gaze on the figure in front of him.

It was Fourth Elder.

“Fourth Martial Uncle…” Speaking was painful. Even his voice sounded hoarse and unpleasant, like two pieces of sandpaper rubbing against each other.

The taste of rust bubbled up his throat. His face paled, and he tried to endure but, in the end, couldn’t help but cough. The cough affected his chest, which made his heart hurt once again, as if someone had hollowed out his heart.

Fourth Elder was very distressed. He helped Shen Zhixian sit up and patted his back. Then, without turning his head, he told the person standing next to him, “Go and get the elixir.”

A glass of warm liquid was quickly brought over. Fourth Elder took it and carefully fed it to Shen Zhixian.

The elixir slid down Shen Zhixian’s throat. The abundant spiritual qi washed over the heart veins that had been battered with mottled scars. He took a long breath and finally felt that he was alive.

Seeing that the difficulty had passed, Fourth Elder was relieved and couldn’t help chiding, “Why did you suddenly get sick again? When Yan Jin came to me with a white face, he scared me half to death…I already told this child to refuse the request. Why did you have to go and try Shilian Mountain yourself?”

Shen Zhixian heard Yan Jin’s name and raised his eyes slightly. He saw Yan Jin standing like a stone statue behind Fourth Elder, his eyes red-rimmed and his face exhausted, as if he hadn’t slept for a long time.

His clothes were crumpled and dirty, the collar still disheveled; it was clear that he still hadn’t changed his clothes yet. A pair of dark eyes gazed intently at Shen Zhixian, and when Shen Zhixian turned to look at him, his eyes noticeably brightened.

He unexpectedly cut quite a sorry figure.

An idea struck and Shen Zhixian turned it over in his mind.

He slowly retracted his gaze, having no intention of talking to Yan Jin and pretending not to see Yan Jin’s eyes dimming. He slowly sighed, before giving Fourth Elder a soothing smile. He quietly said, “It’s alright. Lately, I’ve been a lazy slacker. Besides, I’m afraid Song Ming might get angry.”

Fourth Elder said unhappily, “If he’s angry then he can go himself. He hasn’t been angry in a while. Anger will be beneficial for his health.” Then, he returned to the original subject, not allowing Shen Zhixian to change the topic. “What’s going on? How did the heart attack happen?”

Fourth Elder glanced at Yan Jin and joked, “Did this kid here make you angry?”

In the past few years, Fourth Elder have had frequent interactions with Fifth Peak and would often witness the interactions between Shen Zhixian and Yan Jin. Seeing that the relationship between them was very good, he’d even mentioned to Third Elder that he was glad Shen Zhixian had at least one good disciple to rely on.

He knew that Shen Zhixian tightly guarded his disciple. Wanting to add a little levity to Shen Zhixian’s situation, he’d joked about Yan Jin to provoke Shen Zhixian into righteously refuting it. But, who knew that Shen Zhixian would be momentarily silent before saying in a quiet voice, “No.”

Fourth Elder immediately noticed that something was wrong. He wanted to ask again, but Shen Zhixian rubbed his eyebrows and put on a tired expression. “It’s my problem and doesn’t concern A’Jin. I’ve troubled Fourth Martial Uncle again and made you ran all this way…”

With this, he made it clear that he didn’t want to say any more about the subject. Fourth Elder turned to look at Yan Jin, but this child was also uncommunicative.

Fourth Elder frowned, knowing that something must have happened between the two. However, he was not the type of elders who enjoyed meddling in other people’s business. He hesitated for a moment. In the end, he took Shen Zhixian’s pulse, ensured that he was no longer in danger, and pressed down the worry in his heart. “Rest more and take your medicine on time.”

Shen Zhixian was grateful. He nodded at him and thanked him again. Fourth Elder patted the back of his hand and said, “Why are you being so polite? If you’re uncomfortable, immediately send someone to find your martial uncle.”

After saying this to Shen Zhixian, he turned his head toward Yan Jin and instructed, “Your Master has a hard time taking medicine. You’ll have to watch him. Don’t let him sneak it away.”

Yan Jin nodded, without his usual calmness. Seeing that Fourth Elder was about to leave, he hesitated for a moment before chasing after him a few steps. He whispered, “Fourth Elder, Master, he….”

Fourth Elder’s hand was resting on the door panel, just about to leave. After hearing Yan Jin’s words, he turned to look at the young man and, seeing that his face was genuinely worried, told him, “Your master is now like a porcelain doll. You have to coax him and take care not to make him angry.”

Yan Jin murmured an indistinct yes and stood there lost in thought until Fourth Elders suddenly pushed the door open, allowing a gust of wind inside. It was only after the door had closed that he suddenly regained his senses. He took two to three large strides back to the bedside.