Chapter 47: If Xiaoshuang and I Fall in the Water, Who Do You Save

Chapter 47: If I and Xiaoshuang Fell into Water, Who Would You Save?

Ruan Ciyu's throat flooded with a sweet, coppery taste, but he could not spit it out, nor could he swallow the blood. His vision was a blur of overlapping shapes and colors.

There was no time to think about what had happened; he could only run.

Bursting out of the ritual chamber had already used up every ounce of strength he had. Now his limbs had gone back to their usual state, heavy as if filled with lead.

Ruan Ciyu shook his head and dragged his feet, continuing forward. He had to escape before the imperial guards flooded into the temple.

When Xiao Die and Wu Mang had carried him into the temple, Lan had taken him and written the character for "north" in his palm.

At the time, Ruan Ciyu had not understood its meaning, but now he could only treat it as his sole clue for survival—heading north.

Lan turned her head when she had a moment, intending to tell Ruan Ciyu not to look back and to run quickly northward, but found that there was already no one behind her. Relieved, she turned back and assumed a starting stance before the emperor.

"Young Daoist Ruan, this humble priest cannot allow you to harm that child today. Forgive my impertinence."

The emperor had already flashed forward, meeting Lan's palm with his own.

Lan's palm went numb, and she slid back half an inch, yet her expression remained unchanged.

The emperor said, "Lan Zhi, I am the Son of Heaven. By stopping me, you are the one defying heaven! I have heeded your words and spared this bastard child for twenty years. Now that his time is naturally drawing near, why can I not inherit his fate and protect Dazhao for a hundred years?"

Lan traded dozens of blows with the emperor. Her palm strikes were soft and flowing, her wrists nimble, deflecting the emperor's fierce punches and palm strikes with ease.

Lan said, "The foundation of Dazhao's reign cannot be built on slaughter. It is only because of your greed for immortality that plague runs rampant. On this point alone, you are unworthy of calling yourself the Son of Heaven."

"Heh," the emperor burst into loud laughter. "Hahahahaha!"

"Which dynasty was not built on mountains of corpses and seas of blood? Lan Huaizhi drank the blood of the Jiemo people to the dregs at the frontier—how is he a loyal minister? I test methods of immortality on my own subjects—how am I unworthy of being the Son of Heaven?"

As he spoke, he fully curled his palm into a fist. The force of his fist was fierce and mighty, as if the very air were being forcibly pushed aside.

Lan was forced to retreat step by step, unable to fully deflect the blow. She absorbed the emperor's punch head-on, and blood instantly seeped from the corner of her lips.

Twenty years ago, she could still suppress the new emperor who had just bloodied the palace, but now it was so difficult to completely stop him.

Lan swallowed the blood without betraying any sign, and sneered, "Emperor, you have lost your mind."

She gathered her breath once more, channeling all her inner strength into her legs, her gaze colder than it had ever been.

Then Lan raised her right leg high and brought it down hard onto the emperor's right shoulder.

As her leg struck his shoulder, Lan's expression grew even more ruthless. Just as she was about to press down and take him to the ground, a sharp pain shot through her ankle, and the bone was wrenched out of joint.

The emperor bent slightly and clamped his hand around Lan's ankle. Then he straightened his shoulders and back, hurling Lan toward the main hall.

Lan's head slammed into the beam, and blood gushed down the back of her neck. The main hall shook violently, dust and gravel showering down. The emperor stepped out of the ritual chamber, looking down at her.

"Lan Zhi, I can understand why you protect Ruan Ciyu—after all, you watched him be born. But today, the shrine is surrounded by imperial guards on three sides, and the civil and military officials stand on the main road. He won't escape today."

Lan wiped the blood from her lips. Stained red, they looked especially alluring.

Lan said, "That child has his own fate, but this humble priest is happy to lend him a hand."

The shrine was built into the mountainside, so three sides faced outward, while the north side pressed flush against the cliff of Mount Guo, with no gap at all.

From the rooftop to the mountain peak was still several zhang. But due to the terrain, this was the only place without imperial guards stationed. They had all been deployed to more critical positions to ensure the ritual went off without a hitch.

Standing on the rooftop, Ruan Ciyu swallowed hard.

If he got lucky and made it over the peak, he might be able to descend the other side of Mount Guo.

And Mount Guo lay outside Shengjing's city walls, meaning Ruan Ciyu could head west without passing through the gates.

As long as he reached Shilian Pass, he'd be in Xuanji Army territory, meaning he could easily find Lan Suzhou.

Ruan Ciyu clenched his fists, whittling his escape plan down to a simple three-step process.

Climb to the mountaintop, climb over it, and head west to find Lan Suzhou.

He'd used up all his luck in this life on marrying his wife; he wondered if any was left for today.

Ruan Ciyu wiped his sweaty hands on the hem of his robe, lifted it slightly to reveal his satin peacock shoes, and tentatively stepped onto the jutting rock wall.

A bit slippery. Not sure. Let me try again.

Figuring he had solid footing, Ruan Ciyu gripped the rock above, pushed off with his feet, and hauled himself up a step.

The flat-soled shoes had no grip. Ruan Ciyu wobbled for a moment, clinging to the rock to steady himself.

Cold sweat dripped into his eyes, stinging. Forced to stop, he closed his eyes.

Not bad—he was getting the hang of it pretty quickly.

He figured that if he'd been born without a heart condition and could train in martial arts normally, he might've reached the emperor's level.

But the emperor rarely went all out in front of him, so Ruan Ciyu couldn't gauge his true skill.

The best martial artist he'd ever seen was probably Lan Suzhou.

With that thought, Ruan Ciyu climbed another step.

Even in such a dangerous moment, he found himself wondering who'd win if the emperor, Lan, and Lan Suzhou fought.

It'd still be Lan Suzhou, because he had nothing to hold back in a fight. Besides, maybe they wouldn't even need to fight—the other two might just die of anger.

Ruan Ciyu was still wearing the long-trailing outer robe. The fabric was heavy, and with all the clothes and ornaments combined, it probably weighed half as much as he did.

He actually wanted to take it off, since it was like a rat's tail—if it got stepped on while he fled, he'd be stuck.

But Xiao Die had put this robe on him, and the way it was worn was very particular, with a special structure. Without removing the ornaments first, there was no way to take the outer robe off.

Besides, Ruan Ciyu secretly thought the white peacock on it was beautiful, even if it made him look like a pure white gecko from a distance.

"So unreliable."

Ruan Ciyu muttered quietly, finding it gave him some strength.

"Men are just unreliable... When I married in, he said all the right things, but after living together for a while, it's a whole different story."

Perhaps the emotion in those words was too heavy, for Ruan Ciyu's foot slipped again, forcing him back two steps to a more stable ledge.

The wounds on his palms had gone numb, and Ruan Ciyu mechanically repeated the climbing motion.

After climbing two more steps, Ruan Ciyu let out a soft sigh under the strain.

"I told you to leave, and you didn't even look back... Now I have to go all the way to Ganzhou to find you myself..."

A terrifying crash sounded in the distance. Ruan Ciyu whipped his head around. From his vantage point, he could just make out the main hall taking a massive hit—tiles and wooden carvings shook loose, sending up a cloud of dust.

Ruan Ciyu couldn't afford to waste any more time. He gritted his teeth and picked up the pace, scrambling up two more holds.

But no matter how frantic his thoughts were, his muscles had their limits. Even if there was such a thing as untapped potential, every ounce of it in Ruan Ciyu's body had long since been wrung dry.

The more he panicked, the more his arms and legs felt like jelly. Where he might have managed a few more steps earlier, now he couldn't budge an inch—just clinging to the rock face, shaking all over.

His breath came in ragged gasps, one barely after the next. This was the warning sign that his heart condition was about to flare up.

Ruan Ciyu had no choice but to stop and catch his breath right there.

And of course, under stress, his five senses had sharpened, becoming keener than usual.

He didn't even need to look back to hear the chaotic footsteps of the imperial guards and their shouts as they searched and confirmed their findings.

Ruan Ciyu remembered—today, the guards were carrying bows and arrows.

He glanced upward and saw that the summit was only half a zhang (about five feet) away, and diagonally above his right foot was a perfect foothold.

If the next few moves went smoothly, he still had a chance to escape.

Ruan Ciyu locked his eyes on that foothold, kicked off with all his might, and stretched his right hand up as far as it would go.

"Found him! He's over there!"

"Don't hit anything vital—just drive him down!"

Just as Ruan Ciyu was about to grab the rock at the summit, a heavy arrow flew from behind, slamming into the cliff face a split second before his hand could.

Tch.

Ruan Ciyu cursed under his breath, lunging desperately upward. His body came through—he caught hold of the arrow's fletching and, in one burst of effort, hauled himself to the very top.

He couldn't help but silently cheer, thumping his chest.

Once he got out of here, he was going to turn this into a tale and have the storytellers tell it every day. Anyone who dared call him a sickly weakling again would get this heroic tale shoved right down their throat.

At the thought, a small "Ha" slipped out.

The rocks at the summit were jagged and uneven, giving him little to grip. Almost immediately, his joy turned to despair—he tipped backward, unable to stop himself.

His view spun wildly. The last thing he saw was a sea of imperial guards below, with the emperor at the center, taking the heavy bow from Wu Mang and drawing the string.

The spire of the main hall vanished from view, and then all Ruan Ciyu could see was the sky and the blazing sun above.

He closed his eyes and let himself drop.

From a distance, he truly looked like a white peacock with fluttering tail feathers—body tilted back, neck arched in midair, curving into a fragile yet graceful arc.

Suddenly, something cinched around his waist.

Ruan Ciyu's eyes flew open. Then his waist was yanked upward, and his view shot skyward.

He felt himself hurled into the air—for an instant, the blue dome of the sky was impossibly close.

He'd felt this once before, back at the manor, when Lan Suzhou had pushed him on a swing, soaring to the peak of its arc.

The next moment, he came slamming back down.

His hair crown, already loose without its pin, was sent flying off entirely. His ink-black hair burst loose, whipping through the air.

Ruan Ciyu thought he was going to be smashed to death.

But no.

The emperor's heavy arrow whizzed past his cheek.

Then he saw the summit again—not the side he'd climbed, but the other side. The cliff blocked the sun, casting this side in shadow.

Ruan Ciyu's whole body jolted, his insides slamming back into place.

"Divine Lord..."

He kept his eyes shut for a long time, but the queasiness in his chest wouldn't go away.

He twisted away, desperate to throw up—afraid of getting it on himself.

Only then did he realize he'd landed in someone's arms, with a leather riding crop wrapped around his waist.

Ruan Ciyu's internal alarm bells went off instantly.

He had nothing left on him to use as a weapon, so he shoved at the person with his hands. When that didn't work, he switched to pounding with his fists.

Two hits and he was spent. The crop around his waist loosened by itself, and Ruan Ciyu decided to save his strength for a moment before figuring out his next move.

But the man only pulled him closer, leaning into Ruan Ciyu's ear, his warm breath burning his earlobe.

A familiar voice sounded beside him, dripping with barely hidden resentment and hurt: "Your Highness, am I really that disgusting?"

Then he spoke again.

"Your Highness, I've missed you so much."

Rumble—

That was the sound of the weight on Ruan Ciyu's heart crashing down.

But cautious as he was, even at his last gasp, he didn't let his guard down.

Ruan Ciyu: "Are you real or fake?"

After all, how could a real person suddenly show up at the summit of Mount Guo?

But Lan Suzhou's brain worked differently.

Lan: "Fake? When have you ever seen a fake use my face to fool you? What did they do to you?"

Ruan: "Never mind—you're this stupid, so you must be real."

Lan Suzhou cradled the battered white peacock in his arms. The peacock's robe was cumbersome, stained with dirt and blood, but still stunningly beautiful.

He couldn't bear to tear it, so he bundled it up and had Ruan Ciyu hold it himself, making it much easier to move.

He didn't argue, just murmured softly: "I know—you like them dumb."

"Mhm."

They hadn't even escaped yet, but Ruan Ciyu was already wrapped in an overwhelming sense of safety, feeling like he was already home.

"Let's go, you fool, take me home."

The wind in the valley and the occasional splashes of water brushed past Ruan Ciyu's temples, and he pressed his face deeper into Lan Suzhou's chest, finding that sure enough, most of the wind and sand was blocked by Lan Suzhou's broad shoulders.

He asked in a muffled voice, "Why'd you take so long to get here?"

Now that he'd calmed down and thought about it, when they were climbing the mountain, Wu Mang had tried to carry him on his back but kept getting bonked by pinecones, and Xiao Die thought it was ghosts.

Turns out it really was haunted—by a bratty ghost, a jealous ghost.

"See, younger partners just can't be relied on. I almost got skewered by the Emperor, and you almost never got to see me again."

Once he'd caught his breath a little, Ruan Ciyu couldn't help but start gabbing, as if saying it all out loud would help shake off the scare.

"My bad. I was too late."

Ruan Ciyu whined, "You always say that!"

He didn't actually blame Lan Suzhou, though. He just needed to blow off steam.

Ruan Ciyu squeezed Lan Suzhou's waist tighter and looked up, and sure enough, the red mole was the first thing he saw.

Yep, it was really him.

Just then, Lan Suzhou's eyes wandered down, and Ruan Ciyu ended up falling straight into Lan Suzhou's gaze.

All the feelings he hadn't managed to let out seemed to find an escape through that one look, spilling out all at once.

"Your Highness, don't cry now."

In the end, it was Lan Suzhou who sniffled first. Big teardrops the size of beans landed on Ruan Ciyu's face.

Ruan Ciyu froze in his arms, not knowing how to react for a second.

"...I hadn't even gotten around to crying yet."

Okay, his eyes had gotten a little hot a second ago, but Lan Suzhou's tears came pelting down on his face, basically knocking his own tears right back.

Ruan Ciyu asked, baffled, "The Emperor didn't stab you, so what are you crying for?"

"I just felt like crying."

Lan Suzhou pressed him into his shoulder.

When Ruan Ciyu had been pouring him tea earlier, his face had been fair and smooth, his lips still rosy with a touch of pink.

After this trip to Mount Guo, Ruan Ciyu's face was a total mess.

Forget the dirt—his chin was streaked with blood, clearly from trying to wipe away blood he'd coughed up, not being able to see, and smearing it all over.

And on his cheek, there were these super fine but super obvious scratches.

Lan Suzhou started off crying silently, but the more he thought about it, the more his chest ached, until he was full-on sobbing.

His prince was meant to hang up in the sky like the moon.

Ruan Ciyu felt like whenever Lan Suzhou cried, it started raining in his whole world. Those tears were bigger and saltier than rain, and they kept landing smack on his face.

He couldn't stand it anymore. "Stop crying, okay? Watch where you're going! I'm seriously scared that after all the trouble of getting down this mountain, we're gonna end up in a ditch."

Out of a sense of duty to his younger partner, Ruan Ciyu forced his eyes open a sliver, even though he was dead tired.

If Lan Suzhou was gonna crash into a tree because he couldn't see through his tears, at least he could give him a heads-up.

But the view on the back of the mountain was nothing like he'd imagined—it was basically a sheer cliff. The occasional exposed tree roots were so far apart you couldn't even call them footholds.

Lan Suzhou had jammed Xiaoshuang into the rock wall as a handhold and a brake.

The sharp blade sliced through dirt and rock as the two of them plummeted at full speed, and Lan Suzhou was holding him with one arm.

"Ah."

Ruan Ciyu let out a sharp gasp, wishing he could grow five more hands to latch onto Lan Suzhou.

"We're going down like this?!"

"Yeah!" Lan Suzhou said, his gaze firm. "If we took any other path, the Emperor would definitely catch us. We're already pretty far from the peak anyway. With the branches hiding us, they can't see us—they'll just think you slipped and fell. By the time they go around from the bottom, we'll be long gone."

His arm was throbbing with a dull ache as Lan Suzhou tightened his grip on the blade, thinking to himself that he didn't know if Xiaoshuang would still be usable after this. As long as it didn't snap mid-descent, he'd be willing to build a memorial for Xiaoshuang and make offerings to it every day.

"Aren't you skilled in lightness arts?" Not knowing was one thing, but now that he knew there was a bottomless abyss below, Ruan Ciyu was tense every second, afraid they'd fall to their deaths at any moment.

"Fly, Lan Suzhou!" he cried out in desperation. "Fly!"

"I wish I could!"

This stretch of cliff was rough and bumpy, and Lan Suzhou's voice was trembling. "Tell me, can a person transform into a bird? Like with the wasting disease—let me catch a bird disease."

"Catch a bird disease," Ruan Ciyu said weakly. "Since when is getting sick such a great thing?"

"But then I could fly! If Little Sesame's dad were here, he could carry you and fly!"

Ruan Ciyu thought of Little Sesame's adorable, clumsy appearance, and his heart tightened. He ventured, "Sesame's dad... is he gone?"

The wind was too strong, and Lan Suzhou could only catch seven or eight out of ten words. He responded, "He's not here! He's in Old Lan's tent eating meat. Old Lan feeds him snakes and rabbits every day—he's even had venison!"

Ruan Ciyu: "...I've never even had venison."

Thanks to Lan Suzhou's distraction, some of Ruan Ciyu's fear of the high fall dissipated. And when he thought about landing, the first thing that popped into his head was going to the northwest to eat venison.

Then he heard a "crack."

"Lan Suzhou, what's going on?" Ruan Ciyu was instantly tense. "Did you throw out your back? Or strain your arm?"

"It's nothing..."

That "nothing" sounded like it was squeezed through clenched teeth.

Lan Suzhou said, "I strained my blade..."

What?

Before Ruan Ciyu could ask what that meant, they suddenly lurched into freefall.

Xiaoshuang was ejected from the crack in the stone. The once razor-sharp treasured blade now had a blade riddled with notches of all sizes.

It wasn't even Ruan Ciyu's sword, yet he felt a pang of pain on Lan Suzhou's behalf.

Lan Suzhou cherished his blade like his own life, taking it out every night to oil and polish it repeatedly. Now... it was clearly beyond what oiling could save.

Maybe I should give him a new sword.

But Ruan Ciyu suddenly remembered that he had already demoted himself to a commoner and was now on his way to exile in the northwest.

Now, if he wanted anything, he would have to ask Lan Suzhou for it.

Reeling from the shock of their roles being flipped, Ruan Ciyu blurted out of nowhere:

"If Xiaoshuang and I both fell into the water, who would you save first?"

Lan Suzhou: "What?? Glub glub glub—"

A huge splash shot up into the air as the two, after falling through the air for what felt like ages, finally plunged into a deep pool.

All questions and answers were swallowed by the cold water. Ruan Ciyu hadn't been prepared, and even if he had been, his heart couldn't withstand prolonged suffocation.

The second he hit the water, his mouth flew open against his will. Cold water came flooding into his lungs, then got pushed down into his stomach as he swallowed.

Ruan Ciyu could feel his airways and esophagus rapidly being flushed to the same temperature.

This must be the Divine Lord's idea of a joke... all because he'd asked such a stupid question.

His consciousness slowly slipped into darkness...

Lan Suzhou had held his breath in advance, but the impact of both their weights still drove them three or four zhang (about thirty to forty feet) deep underwater.

Ruan Ciyu had let go the second they hit the water, and he tried with all his might but couldn't hold on.

Watching Ruan Ciyu sink at an almost unbelievable speed, and below that, there wasn't a single ray of light—finding him would be nearly impossible.

Lan Suzhou shifted his body, kicked hard, and dove down like a solid iron torpedo, charging toward the bottom.

Soon he spotted Ruan Ciyu—his white robes stood out underwater way more than expected, making his face look almost the same color as his robes, almost glowing.

Lan Suzhou grabbed his arm and shot upward, tumbling with Ruan Ciyu onto the shallows.

"Your Highness? Your Highness!"

Lan Suzhou didn't waste a second, propping Ruan Ciyu's upper body up a bit and pressing down on Ruan Ciyu's stomach, making water gush out of his mouth and nose in big spurts.

Soaked hair clung to Ruan Ciyu's cheeks, making him look like a water demon that crawled ashore to eat people.

Lan Suzhou squeezed his cheeks, forcing his mouth slightly open, made sure there was nothing stuck in his mouth, then stopped pressing and slammed his lips onto Ruan Ciyu's, forcing a breath into him.

Ruan Ciyu's eyes remained tightly shut, his body temperature rapidly dropping.

Lan Suzhou started to panic, remembering how the old folks said you had to call the soul back right away—if the soul ran off, there was no saving the person.

He had to give the soul a reason to stay in this world.

"Ruan Ciyu, Ruan Ciyu!" Lan Suzhou tried calling his name twice, but nothing happened, so he just started saying whatever popped into his head.

"I lost your tea-scented soap—the whole pack, and I have no idea where it went!"

"I also forgot to pack your calming incense. From now on, when you can't sleep and you're feeling restless, you'll just have to sniff me."

Ruan Ciyu's brow furrowed ever so slightly—or maybe it was just a twitch, but Lan Suzhou was dead set on believing it was working.

He pushed on in one breath: "Between Xiaoshuang and you, I'd pick you, no question! I don't even know where I lost Xiaoshuang..."

...

Lan Suzhou stared at Ruan Ciyu's eyelids, waiting, not missing a single twitch.

Ruan Ciyu, as if on cue, struggled to open his eyes.

Just as he was about to ask, he went "wah" and spat out another mouthful of pool water.

His heart ached and he was filled with regret. He stood there panting in short little breaths for a long time, but he still couldn't calm down—it felt like a giant rock was stuck in his chest.

Ruan Ciyu's voice shook as he asked Lan Suzhou to confirm: "You went and lost Xiaoshuang?"

"Author's Ramblings"

Lan Suzhou: The chapter title... does that even count as a question?!

Massive update drop on launch day! I'm so grateful to everyone who's read this far TT. The Young General was originally planned to end at 140,000 words, but it just kept getting longer and longer, right up until now. The Young General's world has moved from late summer into deep autumn, and the updates have run from late spring all the way to now. I'm so happy to have had you all by my side this summer TT. I'll keep typing away diligently!!