Wen Ning, “Then, are your parents still in good health?”
Lan SiZhui, “My parents passed away when I was at a very young age.”
One of the boys on the side tugged at his sleeve, “SiZhui, don’t say so much. Be careful.”
Wen Ning paused in surprise, “SiZhui? SiZhui is your courtesy name?”
Lan SiZhui, “That is right.”
Wen Ning, “Who gave it to you?”
Lan SiZhui, “HanGuang-Jun did.”
Wen Ning looked down, saying the word ‘SiZhui’ a couple of times in silence. Seeing that he seemed as if he realized something, Lan SiZhui spoke, “Gen-…” He was about to call him General, but he felt that something was weird about it. He changed his wording, “Mr. Wen? Is there anything about my name?”
“Oh,” Wen Ning looked up, gazing at his face, not answering the question, “Y-You really l-look like a distant relative of mine…”
These words really sounded like the things low-level cultivators and foreign disciples said when they wanted to become familiar with the inner disciples. The boys grew more and more confused as to what was going on. Lan SiZhui didn’t know what to respond with, either, “R-Really?”
Wen Ning, “Really!”
He tried as hard as he could to lift the muscles at the sides of his lips, as if he wanted to smile. For something, watching the ‘Ghost General’, a deeply sour sense of familiarity rose up amid Lan SiZhui, along with a blurry thought—he seemed to have seen this face some place, some time ago. It seemed that there was a name that almost broke through some sort of a barrier. If he said the name out loud, many other things would resurface as well, and he’d understand everything.
But at this point, Lan SiZhui saw Jin Ling, who stood at the side.
Jin Ling’s face was dark, extremely dark. Holding his sword hilt, his grip switched back and forth between tight and loose. The veins on the back of hi hand also appeared and disappeared. He finally remembered that the Ghost General Wen Ning, who looked so harmless right now, was the one who killed Jin Ling’s father.
Following his gaze, Wen Ning’s ‘smile’ disappeared as well. He slowly turned to Jin Ling, “Young Master Jin RuLan?”
Jin Ling’s voice was cold, “Who’s that?”
After some silence, Wen Ning changed his wording, “Young Master Jin Ling?”
Jin Ling stared at him dead in the eye, while the other boys stared at Jin Ling, scared that he’d do something out of impulse. Lan SiZhui, “Young Master Jin…”
Jin Ling, “Move to the side. It’s none of your business.”
But Lan SiZhui somehow felt that it definitely wouldn’t be none of his business. He went over and put himself between the two, “Jin Ling, put your sword away fir-”
Jin Ling was feeling tense anyway. His sight being blocked, he couldn’t help but shouted, “Don’t stop me!”
He reached out and pushed. Lan SiZhui was feeling seasick to begin with, his legs feeling wobbly. With the push, he bumped into the rail, almost toppling over and into the dark river. Good thing that Wen Ning got a grip on him and dragged him back. The boys immediately went over to help him, “SiZhui-xiong!”
“Young Master Lan, are you alright? Are you still dizzy?”
Wen Ning saw that Lan SiZhui’s complexion was pale. Anxious, he blurted, “Young Master Jin, come at me. Wen Ning will not resist. But A- Young Master Lan Yuan…”
Lan JingYi had a tolerant personality. He criticized, “Jin Ling, why are you like this?! What did SiZhui do to you!”
“SiZhui-xiong did it for your own good. Not only did you not appreciate it—why did you push him?”
Originally, Jin Ling also felt that he used too much force. He was shocked as well. But as he saw that all of the others went to help Lan SiZhui up, blaming him instead, the scene overlapped with the countless scenes from his past. In these years, because he had no parents, everyone said that he’d been spoiled with no-one to discipline him. He had a bad temper and he wasn’t easy to get along with. He had no close friends around the same age as him, no matter at Koi Tower or at Lotus Pier. His status was supposed to be respected, but he ended up in such an awkward position.
When he was young, no disciples liked to play with him; when he grew older, no disciples liked to follow him. The more he thought about it, the redder his eyes grew. He suddenly raised his voice, “Yes! It’s all my fault! I’m just such a terrible person! So what?!”
The other boys all shuddered, surprised by the roar. After a while of silence, one of the group muttered, “What do you mean? You were the one who started it anyways… Why are you the one scolding us now?”
Jin Ling spoke fiercely, “Are you telling me what to do?! Since when is it your turn to tell me what to do?!”
Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi were on a nearby boat. With the shout, Wei WuXian paused in surprise within the cabin. He hurried outside and looked over across the water. Seeing that Jin Ling held his sword toward others, he asked, “What’s going on?”
Seeing the two, Lan SiZhui felt that no matter what difficulties he faced, he could overcome them no matter what, beaming, “HanGuang-Jun! Senior Wei! Come over here!”
Chapter 84: Loyalty—Part Six
Translated by K of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Lan WangJi wrapped his right arm around Wei WuXian’s waist and took up Bichen. Mounting the sword, the two of them landed on the boat. Wei WuXian’s figure wavered slightly. He only spoke up after Lan WangJi steadied him, “What happened to Wen Ning? Didn’t you say you were only going to take a look?”
Wen Ning, “I’m sorry, Young Master. It was my fault. I couldn’t hold back from…”
Jin Ling turned the blade of the sword toward him and roared, “There’s no need for you to act so pretentious!”
Wei WuXian, “Jin Ling, just put down the sword first!”
Jin Ling, “I won’t!”
Wei WuXian was just about to speak again when Jin Ling suddenly broke into tears.
As he cried, all of the people had frozen solid. In confusion, Wei WuXian walked a step toward him, “What’s… What’s wrong?”
Even as tears streaked down his face, Jin Ling still shouted, sobbing, “This is my dad’s sword. I won’t put it down!”
What he hugged tightly in his arms was Jin ZiXuan’s sword, Suihua. This sword was the only thing that his parents had left him.
Right now, Jin Ling, who cried so loudly in front of the crowd, could almost make him see what Jiang YanLi looked like as she bawled her eyes out in such extreme despair. Among the boys at Jin Ling’s age, some had married already, and the older ones had already become fathers. To them, crying was quite the humiliating act. To cry before such a large crowd—just how frustrated did he feel?
For a while, Wei WuXian didn’t even know what to do. He looked at Lan WangJi as if he was asking for help, but it was even less likely for Lan WangJi to know what to do. At this point, a voice came from across the river, “A-Ling!”
Around half-a-dozen larger boats surrounded the fishing boat that they were on. Every one of those boats was filled with cultivators, with one sect leader standing at the foremost. The YunmengJiang Sect’s boat was at the right side of the fishing boat. It was the nearest, with no more than thirty metres between the two. The one who called was Jiang Cheng, who stood near the edge. Still teary-eyed, as soon as Jin Ling saw his uncle, he immediately wiped his face, sniffing. He looked here and there and finally made up his mind to fly over, landing at Jiang Cheng’s side.