Chapter 190: The Master in Retreat Again

After this day, Chu Wanning and Mo Ran had no more private meetings for the time being.

In the Middle Shu Area, it was raining heavily and it looked like a demon, and there were a lot of dead fish and shrimps in the rivers outside the White Emperor City. One went to the Three Gorges, and the other to Yizhou.

The School of Confucianism has been in existence for a hundred years, and the Jingu Tower has held countless demonic beasts in its custody.

In addition to the Middle Shu Area, the peaceful areas of Yangzhou, Leizhou and Xuzhou, which were originally part of the Upper Fairy World, were also plagued by tragic cases of demonic beasts eating people and killing civilians, which took away a lot of manpower and energy from the sects and slowed down the search for Xu Shuanglin.

When he returned to the summit of death and life, he heard that Chu Wanning had returned and was delighted to find him at the red lotus watering hole.

The door to the water pavilion was closed, and when asked, Xue Zhengyong wondered, "I'm in seclusion, didn't Yu Heng tell you?"

"Another retreat" Mo Ran was taken aback, "Is the Master injured?"

"What injury, did not you say that the reason for the heart method is that he has to close down every seven years, the last time he closed down, you also went to look after him, how can you forget."

When Xue Zhengyong said this, Mo Ran suddenly remembered that there was indeed such an incident when he had just taken Chu Wanning as his teacher, and only half a year later, Chu Wanning said that when he was young, he was impetuous in his spiritual training and had an old illness.

For ten days, Master Chu's cultivation is so weak that he is almost mortal and needs to meditate in order to recover. During this period, he can only recover his consciousness for one hour a day, take in some water and eat a little, but the rest of the day he must not be disturbed, and he must not be injured, so Chu Wanning has placed the strongest boundary around the red lotus water pavilion, allowing only Xue Zhengyong, Xue Meng, Shi Mei and Mo Ran to enter in order to survive the disaster. The four of them are allowed to enter the red lotus water pavilion to survive the disaster.

Not long before his last retreat, he had just come into conflict with Chu Wanning over the 'flower-picking' issue. He had been chastised by Chu Wanning and had become somewhat discouraged, so he did not accompany his master during his ten-day retreat, but went to help his uncle tidy up the Cangshu Library.

Mo Ran was disturbed by the thought of that year and immediately said, "I'll go and see him."

"You don't have to go, he said before he entered, just like last time, to keep Xue Meng for the first three days, Shi Mei for the middle three days, and then you can go over for the last four days to keep him company."

"I just wanted to go and see him."

"There is nothing to see here." Xue Zhengyong laughed. Xue Zhengyong laughed, "The last time we crossed this pass, Xue Meng Shi Mei was with us, so what do you have to worry about?

Mo Ran thought about it, so she agreed not to go, but she didn't sleep that night, thinking that Xue Meng was alone with Chu Wanning in the red lotus water salon, and felt a sour feeling in her heart.

He knew, of course, that Xue Meng was pure and clear and had no interest in men, but he was so uncomfortable and uncomfortable that he tossed and turned most of the night and only managed to sleep for an hour or two at dawn.

When he woke up, Mo Ran thought no.

He couldn't resist, he wanted to see Chu Wanning, if only from a distance.

The gate of the red lotus pavilion is closed and bounded, but Mo Ran is Chu Wanning's disciple, so the boundaries do not stop him, and the bamboo pavilion is no more than a decoration. Every time Chu Wanning meditated, he used to do so in a bamboo pavilion deep in the lotus pond, and this time it should be the same.

As expected, from afar, we saw the elegant bamboo pavilion on the smoky pond with the lotus leaves, the veil moving on all sides, Chu Wanning sitting on the ground, his white clothes spreading out on the ground.

Xue Meng stood next to him, probably feeling the sun shining outside, and tied up the snow veil on one side so that his master could also get some warmth from the sun. The winter morning sun streamed into the pavilion, shining on Chu Wanning's slightly pale face, and it was probably the warmth he felt during his meditation that gradually brought some blood to his face.

After a while, Chu Wanning's forehead was gradually covered in sweat due to the circulation of the heaven and earth, so Xue Meng took a white handkerchief and wiped it for him.

Mo Ran is not a stare, it's a stare.

He looks calm, but in fact his heart is in a frenzy.

He felt that Xue Meng had been holding the handkerchief for a longer time and wiping the corner of Chu Wanning's forehead, that he was closer, that his eyes were more ambiguous, and that all sorts of trumped-up charges had been thrown at Xue Meng.

After a few days of agitation, Mo Ran couldn't stand the thought of staying here any longer and decided to leave.

Xue Meng immediately threw out a shiny plum blossom dart filled with spiritual power and shouted sternly, "Who?"

But when he shouted, Mo Ran's heart was in his throat, so he swept out of the bamboo forest, swept across the lotus pond, and leapt gently into the bamboo pavilion.

Xue Meng's eyes widened in consternation, "How did you"

"Softly." Mo Ran immediately covered his mouth and lowered her voice to say, "Why are you shouting so loudly?"

"Xue Meng struggled for half a day, then snapped out of Mo Ran's grasp, her face turning red as she huffed and stroked a handful of loose hair, saying angrily, "You're still talking about me? What are you hiding in the bushes like a little thief to watch?"

"I was afraid you'd be yelling as much as you are now."

"I'm shouting and the master can't hear me" Xue Meng said, annoyed, "The muffling spell, can't you see that the master has cast the muffling spell on himself? Unless you break the spell, he can't even hear what you're saying if you shout into his ear"

He ranted, and Mo Ran froze, "What did uncle say about the Mendicant Curse, that he was afraid I would come over and disturb you?"

"My father must have thought you were too tired after coming back from Yizhou and wanted to let you rest first." Xue Meng said speechlessly, "You believe in his words, you don't know how to think first, when did the master not cast this and that spell on himself first, so that we can be more comfortable next to him, you don't even use your brain, really stupid."

Mo Ran :""

When Mo Ran was about to sit down in the pavilion, Xue Meng went to pull him away: "Hey, what are you doing?"

Mo Ran said, "In that case, I'll keep it too."

Xue Meng said, "Who wants you to keep it? I was supposed to keep it for the first three days, but you're trying to be nice to your master again, go away, don't steal my work."

"Can you look after him on your own?"

"How can I not take care of it, it's not the first time I've taken care of the Master in retreat."

After a moment's hesitation, he was about to leave when he saw a tea on the table with broad, dark leaves and a faintly harmonious aroma.

"Huh? How did you know that?"

""How could he not know that this tea was Xue Meng's own favourite, and that Xue Meng was always willing to offer his beloved things to his master, but had not thought carefully about whether they were suitable for Chu Wanning or whether he liked them.

"Snowy cold incense is cold in nature, Master is originally cold in nature, can he be comfortable if you give him this tea again"

Xue Meng froze for a moment and blushed a little, explaining in embarrassment, "I didn't think about it that much either, I just knew the cold fragrance of snow was good tea and I"

"Go and change some moon tea, add two spoons of honey, and then brew it for him when he wakes up. I'll go and make some snacks to keep on hand and bring them to you later."

Xue Meng wanted to save face and said, "I can't eat the snacks, I have to be clean for ten days."

"I know, but uncle said it's still okay to eat a little." Mo Ran said, waving his hand and heading out of the bamboo pavilion and towards the outside of the water pavilion, "See you later."

Xue Meng stares at his back, transfixed, lost in thought for a moment.

When Mo Ran had gone farther away, he lowered his head and could not help but look at the faint bruise on the side of his master's neck that he had unwittingly glimpsed yesterday.

In the sunlight, it was even clearer, not like a mosquito bite or a wound. Xue Meng is no longer fourteen or fifteen years old, and just because he has not experienced something does not mean he is ignorant of it. This little mark on Chu Wanning's neck makes him uneasy.

He thought of all the small details, especially the commotion he had heard that day in the back of the hill.

He kept telling himself that it was the sound of the wind, the wind.

But the vague haze in my heart seems to have returned, and beneath a thousand wisps of smoke there seems to be something light and strange that is gradually revealing its original form.

In the warm sunshine, Xue Meng suddenly felt uncomfortable for some reason, shivering and frowning.

Because of this unrest, on the sixth day of Chu Wanning's retreat, Xue Meng made a decision

He intends to follow Mo Ran covertly to see what happens.

It was Shi Mei's last day in Chu Wanning's service and her shift was supposed to end at midnight, but Mo Ran had an early dinner at Mengpo Court, took a box of snacks and went straight to the red lotus water pavilion. Xue Meng didn't expect him to go and replace Shi Mei at this hour, so he stopped eating the rest of his meal and followed him on his haunches until he reached the red lotus water pavilion, where Mo Ran went through the front door.

At this time the sun has not set, the moon has come out, the dome of the sky removed the overflow of colorful makeup, the only thing left at the end of the eyes a residual red has not been wiped, that magnificent evening sun is faded lead, powder up greasy, swallowed by the dark night, stars like water.

Mo Ran, carrying his food box, sees Shi Mei from a distance, his back turned, walking into the bamboo pavilion. He doesn't seem to hear Mo Ran's approach and stops in front of Chu Wanning.

Mo Ran smiled and was about to greet him when he saw a cold light flickering from Shi Mei's hand, pointing at Chu Wanning who was meditating.

" Shi Mei "

Chills ran down my spine and sweat stood on end.

In his two lifetimes, he had seen so many lives and deaths that today, the slightest movement of the wind could cause him to become a man of war. As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, always afraid of the well, this red lotus once held Chu Wanning's body for two years, until the day he died.

He didn't really like it here, and when he stepped into the water pavilion, he could always think of the last years of his last life, when Chu Wanning lay among the lotus flowers, his eyes closed forever, no longer alive.

So subconsciously, he felt that the red lotus water salon was a place of calamity, with a deep, bottomless throat that would swallow up the last of the fires of the world.

Shi Mei turned back and he dropped his hand so that the silver light was hidden in his sleeve: " Mo Ran, what brings you here?"

"I"

Mo Ran's heart was beating wildly, he couldn't catch his breath, he didn't care about anything, his black eyebrows knitted together and he said, "In your hand"

"In the hand"

Shi Mei was stunned for a moment and then raised his hand again, only to see that he was holding a comb, cast in pure silver, with broken spirit stones set into the back of the tail to soothe the meridians.

Mo Ran was a bit speechless and said, "You're brushing the Master's hair."

"Well, what is it?" Shi Mei looked him up and down before frowning slightly, "You look so pale, is there something going on outside?"

"No, I just."

Halfway through the sentence, she couldn't continue, but her face went from pale to slightly red, but fortunately the night was too dark to see. After a moment's pause, Mo Ran tilted her face slightly and coughed softly, "It's nothing."

Shi Mei still looked at him in silence, and then seemed to understand something, looked slightly stunned, and hesitantly spoke: "Did you think"

Mo Ran was busy saying, "I didn't."

After all, Shi Mei was the one who treated him so well, the one he treated like family, and Mo Ran was shocked by his momentary misunderstanding.

Shi Mei did not speak for a long time before saying, " Mo Ran ."

"Hmm."

"I haven't even said the second half of the sentence." Shi Mei sighed softly, "And why are you so eager to deny it."

With these words, it was clear to Shi Mei that for a moment, Mo Ran had mistaken the silver comb in his hand for a murderous blade.

Although the fear was caused by Chu Wanning's death in two lives, whoever was standing with his back to Mo Ran, Xue Meng or Xue Zhengyong, would probably have felt that momentary shudder. But in the face of Shi Mei, Mo Ran's heart was still hard when he calmed down.

He lowered his eyes and said, "I'm sorry."

As far as I can remember, Shi Mei was always gentle and generous with others, rarely cold or blaming them. But this evening, by the lotus pond, Shi Mei looked at Mo Ran and did not say anything for a long time.

The wind is picking up and the pools of lotus leaves are tumbling and the red lotus is dancing.

Shi Mei said, "It's not as bad as the old days, but Mo Ran, we've known each other for almost 10 years, why am I so bad in your heart?"

His voice was soft and calm, not too much sabre-rattling anger or half-hearted cries of grievance. Mo Ran looked into his eyes, two springs of clear water, as if he had seen everything, but did not want to countenance anything, did not want to say anything more.

Shi Mei handed the silvery comb to Mo Ran and said indifferently, "Before he closed his eyes in meditation, the master asked me to braid his hair afterwards, so since you are here, I will give it to you."

" Shi Mei "

But the long, beautiful man had already passed him by, his footsteps flattened, without looking back, and left the leafy red lotus watering hole alone.