Chapter 131: Shizun Does Some Reading

That night, Chu Wanning lay in his bed in the Red Lotus Pavillion, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

He was contemplating how Mo Ran had ended up growing into the man that he was now. Mo-zongshi, Mo Weiyu; all he could see when he closed his eyes were that man's handsome features, and those bright, steady eyes that held determination and tenderness both.

Chu Wanning cursed under his breath and vehemently kicked the quilt off the bed, then proceeded to starfish in bed while staring up at the roof beams with a tormented gaze.

He tried all that he could to get out from the ocean of lust, to cut off the threads of desire, tried until he was exhausted.

"Mo Weiyu, you bastard," he mumbled.

He turned his head away, but couldn't escape the thoughts. It was almost as if that hot, firm body from Miaoyin Springs was right in front of him still—he could see the broad shoulders, the defined contours of his back, and the way the water had slid slowly down along his v-cut abs when he'd turned around…

He jolted up from the bed, face ashen, and dared not finish that thought.

He grabbed the first book his hand came into contact with like it was a lifeline.

How unfortunate for Chu Wanning, to have led such a respectable life only to now be reduced to having to resort to books to distract from his inner demons.

He didn't even know which book he had grabbed out of all the ones that Xue Meng had bought, but the pages were covered in densely-packed rows of tiny writing. Chu Wanning's eyes glazed over the words without really taking anything in at first, and it wasn't until a while later that he suddenly realized just what it was he was reading.

On that thin paper was written a very neat line of words:

"Size Ranking of the Cultivation World's Young Heroes" Chu Wanning knew the words individually, but they didn't make very much sense together.

Young Heroes…Size…Ranking?

What size?

Height?

Reading further, there was a side note in small writing: This observational ranking is not a comprehensive listing due to the fact that some of the young heroes never bathe outside or visit the pleasure districts. The following individuals are missing from the ranking: Nangong Si and Xu Shuanglin of Rufeng Sect, Jiang Xi of Guyue'ye, Xue Meng, Xie Fengya, and Chu Wanning of Sisheng Peak…

"...?" Chu Wanning blinked.

What was that supposed to mean? Surely their heights were pretty obvious even without bathing outside or going to the pleasure districts?

And there was even a passing mention of himself...

He furrowed his brows and put his finger on the list to keep track as he read on, only to choke at the very first name on the list.

Mo Weiyu.

Status: Gongzi of Sisheng Peak, Mo-zongshi Chu Wanning thought briefly about Mo Ran's figure. To be fair, he had gotten quite tall, but surely not so tall as to rank number one?

Reading on, it said: "Seen when bathing at Deyu Hall; an absolute unit, truly awe-inspiring." "..." Bathing at Deyu Hall…

Absolute unit…?

Something felt vaguely off to Chu Wanning, but he was really just too pure of mind, and couldn't figure out why exactly it felt off even after dwelling on it for quite a while, so he could only keep reading.

The person ranked second was a wandering cultivator he'd never heard of before, and written to the side was: "Seen when bathing in the forest; mighty."   "What even is this gibberish." Chu Wanning was a little put-off. "It's true that shoes and hairpieces could add to a person's height, but it wouldn't really be much of a difference, why go so far as to peek at people bathing? Why would this kind of trashy book would be so popular…" Then he saw the third name—— Mei Hanxue Status: Direct disciple of the Kunlun Taxue Palace sect leader The text to the side was different this time; instead of "seen when bathing", it was: "Measured by one of Chunying Pavilion's girls and corroborated by a number of women from the cultivation world; Mei-gongzi's endowment could leave a lady so pliant that her body would be as water and her bones as mud,

and could also readily do ten people a night." Chu Wanning: "......" A long moment passed in dead silence, then Yuheng Elder's head exploded into a droning buzz. Face red-hot and gaze flickering, he flung the booklet across the room with great vigor like it was a hot potato, beyond incensed.

What did he just read?

What size?! Even if he was dense, he wasn't that dense. What other size could it even be?! Filthy! Shameless! Indecent! Disgraceful!!!!!!!

Still mad even after sitting in bed stiffly for a long while, Chu Wanning got out of bed and picked up the booklet just to explode it into a million tiny pieces with a pulse of spiritual energy from his fingertips…

But, like a glowing-hot branding iron, the words "absolute unit, truly aweinspiring" had already been seared into his heart with a hiss, leaving his face flushed and his heart thundering.

He was a very proper, very upright person. Earlier at the Miaoyin Springs, he had very consciously kept his gaze up, without so much as a glance in the general direction of any place he wasn't supposed to look at, and besides, all that steam made everything so fuzzy that he wouldn't really have been able to see anything even if he had looked, anyway. But now this filthy book had managed to, in just a few words, paint the very image right in front of his eyes.

And more than that, words often lent themselves even better to the vivid imaginations of the mind than pictures did.

Absolute unit…

Chu Wanning dragged his hands down his face, and then, after a long pause, grabbed the quilt and pulled it over his head.

It was only his first day out of seclusion, and he had already had the misfortune of suffering all that…Chu Wanning thought bitterly——the times sure had changed, he'd almost rather lie back down and go back to being dead!

But still, Yuheng Elder had always held himself to high standards, and so even though he barely got any sleep all night, and despite how aghast and unsettled he felt inside, he still got up on time the next day, got washed and neatly dressed, and then drifted gracefully down from the southern summit of Sisheng Peak with an expression that was nothing short of dignified and restrained.

Today was the day for the sect's monthly assessment. The Platform of Sin and Virtue glinted with flickering light reflected off the light armor worn by the thousands of disciples going through their martial arts drills under the appraising gaze of the elders sitting at the high platforms above.

Though he had been gone for five whole years, Chu Wanning's seat was still right where it used to be, next to Xue Zhengyong, to the left.

He walked up the bluestone steps wearing white robes that dragged on the ground and a weary expression, took the empty seat with a sweep of those broad sleeves and then leisurely poured himself a cup of tea to sip on while watching.

Noting his sullen expression, Xue Zhengyong thought that Chu Wanning was mad over Mo Ran missing the banquet last night, so he leaned over and coaxed in a low voice, "Yuheng, Ran-er's back." But contrary to expectation, all that earned him was a scowl twitching between Chu Wanning's brows and an even more sullen expression. "I know, I already saw him." "Ah? Already saw him?" Xue Zhengyong nodded after a pause. "Great! So what do you think? He's changed quite a lot, eh?" "Mn…" Chu Wanning didn't exactly want to talk about Mo Ran, considering the fact that he had been cursed with the words "absolute unit, truly awe-inspiring" being repeated over and over and over in his head since yesterday, nor did he plan to look for Mo Ran in the sea of people below, so he looked down at the table.

"That's a lot of fruits and pastries." Xue Zhengyong grinned. "You haven't had breakfast yet have you? Go ahead and eat up."   Not even bothering to hold back for decorum's sake, Chu Wanning picked up a lotus crisp[3] to eat with his warm tea. The lotus crisp had a nice pink gradient from the base of the petals to the tips, with a filling of red bean paste inside the crisp, flaky layers that carried the refreshing sweetness of osmanthus flowers.

"These taste like the work of Lin'an's Breeze Bakery…" Chu Wanning murmured, then turned to Xue Zhengyong to ask, "They weren't made by Mengpo Hall?" "Nope, Ran-er brought these back just for you," Xue Zhengyong replied with a grin. "See, the other elders didn't get any." "..." Only then did Chu Wanning finally realize that the wooden table in front of himself was the only one that was laden with all sorts of fruits and snacks, from pastries to sugared desserts. There was even a small porcelain bowl the color of jade that, when he lifted the lid, turned out to be holding exactly three sweet tangyuan[4].

Rather than the usual kind made with white glutinous rice, these tangyuan skins were mixed with the lotus root powder, a Lin'an specialty, so that they were clear and translucent, and the color of jade.

"Oh yeah, Ran-er borrowed the kitchen at Mengpo Hall this morning to make those. The red one's filling is rose and red bean paste, the yellow one is peanut sesame, and the green one's apparently got some fancy tea-based skin made with powdered Longjing tea. Interesting new things, these, too bad there isn't more…" Xue Zhengyong mumbled, "They're real fancy and all, but he spent all morning and only made the three."

Chu Wanning: "..." "Yuheng, is that enough for you to eat?"   "Mn." Chu Wanning was quiet for a moment before nodding.

Actually, every time he ate tangyuan, he only ever ate three. The first was sweet, the second had a nice aftertaste, the third was enough, and a fourth would be too much.

It was a lucky coincidence that Mo Ran had just so happened to make exactly three, no more and no less, just the way he liked it.

Scooping up one of the adorably round lotus powder tangyuan in the porcelain spoon and holding it by his lips, Chu Wanning felt like it was just the right size too, perfect for eating in one bite, unlike the ones Mengpo Hall made for the Lantern Festival, which were so big that they stuck to his mouth and took quite some effort to chew.

The person who had made the tangyuan seemed to know exactly how much his mouth could hold, the exact size the food needed to be in order to fit comfortably in his mouth, and even the gooey filling seemed to be mixed with untold intimacy.

The thought made Chu Wanning's heart flutter for some reason, right before it got squashed by shame and swept under a semblance of cool composure.

"He's a pretty good chef."   "Too bad he only made them for you, no one else gets any, not even this uncle of his." Xue Zhengyong sighed ruefully.

Chu Wanning said nothing, only pressed his lips lightly together as he listened, stirring idly at the soup in the bowl with the spoon. The tangyuan were all gone by now, the perfect amount of sweetness spreading out slowly in his heart.

Once done with the food, Chu Wanning paid no mind to the spirited drills down below, opting instead to pick up a book from the table to read about the recent happenings at Sisheng Peak over the last five years.

These things were all managed by Xue Zhengyong, so they were simple and straight to the point, and Chu Wanning finished reading through it all in no time.

He went to close the book, but then noticed another book under that one.

"What's this…" He picked up the thread-bound book; it was very, very thick.

Xue Zhengyong glanced over and said with a grin, "Another present from Raner. He was too embarrassed to give it to you personally 'cause he accidentally got some blood on it while taking care of some fiends last night on his way home, and some pages got ripped too, so he asked me to put it on your table this morning." Chu Wanning nodded and flipped open the book, slender fingers trailing along the cover. On it was written, in a neat, straight script:

Dear Shizun.

His eyes opened fractionally wider in surprise.

Letters written to himself?

His heart suddenly felt like it had been singed by fire, hot and painful. He lifted his eyes to look for Mo Ran in the sea of people below, but saw only endless rows of glistening armor like light reflected off the scales of leaping fish.

Unable to find him, Chu Wanning could only turn back to the letters.

Mo Ran had missed his shizun for every single day of his seclusion. He had lots of things he wanted to say and worried that he wouldn't be able to remember it all, so he had a sturdy book made, a thick one with one thousand eight hundred and twenty five pages in total. For each day of the five years, he would write Shizun a letter about whatever happened, big or small, from the particularly gross-tasting leaf-wrapped sticky rice cake he had the misfortune of eating, to the insights he had gained from cultivation training that day, he wrote it all down.

He had originally planned it to have exactly one thousand eight hundred and twenty five pages, no more and no less, so that the day he finished writing the last page would be the day Shizun came out of seclusion.

But sometimes he couldn't stop writing, the words pouring out ardently in tiny handwriting squeezed onto the page, like it wanted nothing more than to show Chu Wanning the sea-buckthorn flowers of Outer Mongolia and the hazy fog surrounding Changbai Mountain as well, like it wanted nothing more than to tuck the delicious sweets tasted that day between the pages to share with Chu Wanning when he woke up.

The pages were lined with rows upon rows of the tiny writing. There was nothing too sentimental, nor did he include anything sad or upsetting, putting in writing only the happy, brilliant moments of the five years, setting down only the good to share with him.

And so the originally planned one page per day ran out, and he had to attach a thick stack of letters to the back of the book...

Chu Wanning flipped slowly through the book, his eyes a little wet.

He watched Mo Ran's handwriting go from childish to neat to elegant.

The ink on the most recent letter had not yet dried, while the earliest page had already turned yellow.

And on every letter, the words "Dear Shizun" were a little different. Slowly,

gradually...from light and brisk to sure and steadfast.

Until, toward the end, it flowed like a painting yet could cut through metal,

each confident stroke an art unto itself.

Flipping to the last page, Chu Wanning touched the words on the cover again.

Dear Shizun, Dear Shizun.

Looking at that neat handwriting, it was almost as if he could see the tip of Mo Ran's writing brush lifting from the paper, could see him setting it down before lifting his head, no longer the youth of the past.

From the first letter to the last, it was almost as if he could see Mo Ran growing up, from sixteen to twenty two, his figure becoming taller, his features growing defined.

And, every day without fail, he would sit down at the table and write a letter addressed to him.

"Shizun!!!" Without him realizing, the drills had ended and there was someone calling for him. Chu Wanning looked up to see Xue Meng waving excitedly at him from the very front of the Platform of Sin and Virtue.

And next to Xue Meng, a tall man with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and a pair of long legs stood quietly, his face flushed from the drills and a sheen of sweat covering his forehead, sleek as a panther's coat under the sun.

Seeing that Chu Wanning was staring at him, Mo Ran paused and then broke into a smile. In the golden light of morning, his smile was bright and mesmerizing, like the gentle swaying of sun-bathed cypress. His eyes were filled with warmth, his lashes were dipped in gentleness, and that strong, spirited face seemed a little bashful, so vibrant and fiery as to steal one's breath away.

How very handsome he was.

Keeping his expression carefully neutral, Chu Wanning crossed his arms where he was sitting on the high platform as he looked loftily down toward him.

To anyone looking, he would appear cool and collected as usual, but little did they know that in truth, his thoughts were actually in utter chaos, his insides tied into a million knots of flustered panic.

Grinning amidst the crowd, Mo Ran suddenly lifted a hand and pointed at his own clothes, then at Chu Wanning.

"..." Not understanding, Chu Wanning narrowed his phoenix eyes and looked back at him in confusion.

Mo Ran grinned even wider, before cupping his hands around his lips and wordlessly mouthing something at him.

Chu Wanning: "?" The morning breeze danced through gently rustling leaves. Mo Ran stifled an exasperated smile and shook his head, then tapped at the front of his own robes with a finger.

Chu Wanning looked down. A beat later, his ears suddenly turned red.

"..." Under the guidance of his disciple, the esteemed and dignified Yuheng Elder finally realized that, this morning, in his hurry to get ready, and due to the mess of clothing heaped together at the Red Lotus Pavilion, he had unwittingly put on the robes he had accidentally "borrowed" from Mo Ran last night.

...No wonder it felt like there was something dragging on the ground behind him as he walked today! It was the hem of the robe!!!

Mo Weiyu, the nerve of you. Chu Wanning turned his face away in a huff.

You tactless bastard, why do you only ever say exactly what you shouldn't!

Author's Notes:

Mini-theatre: The Contents of Dog's Letter   If we speak of the ancients composing letters, "Letter to Yuanwei" alone is considered very grossly sentimental. I can't help but applaud Sir Bai Juyi and Sir Yuan Zhen's friendship, hahahaha.

 Dog's letter isn't as sophisticated, and he won't know how to be as eloquent as Bai Juyi upon opening a scroll, like the sappy "Weizhi, Weizhi", or "our hearts as intimate as if they were bound together by glue". So what did Dog write?   "Selections from Dog's Letter" The almond candy of Linyi is yummy but a little pricey half a kilogram costs forty copper coins but it is yummy yummy.

 Pork stew with potatoes is very filling after one meal I won't get hungry during the night it is yummy yummy.

Accidentally mistook the honey in my qiankun pouch for oil and brushed it onto roasted chicken wings it is yummy yummy.

The fish grown in Quanzhou is really yummy, it is yummy yummy.

 When Shizun wakes, let's eat these together!

[3] Lotus crisp

[4] Tangyuan are glutinous rice balls with sweet filling inside, eaten during the Lantern Festival