“Dage, why are you here at this kind of timing? Did something serious happen?” Yan Tianhen was really surprised and immediately asked.
Lin Xuanzhi pulled a long face on purpose and said, “Of course something serious happened.”
“What happened? Is someone trying to cause trouble for Dage again?” The only important thing that Yan Tianhen could think of was this. To him, anything important probably had something to do with Lin Xuanzhi.
Lin Xuanzhi said in a secretive manner, “No one tried to cause trouble for me. But when I was about to sleep, I suddenly realised that my little heater had disappeared.”
Yan Tianhen was stunned. He immediately understood the implication of Lin Xuanzhi’s words and was instantly at a loss. He said, “Dage, when I slept with you before it was because those two naughty tiger cubs had peed on my bed everyday for some reason, and there were no other rooms in our small yard, so I had to disturb Dage. But now that we’ve moved to this big yard, plus Ah Bai and Hu Po have become so much more obedient, it won’t be right for me to go squeeze into Dage’s bed.”
Also, every morning when he woke up, he would discover that his hands and legs would be wrapped around Lin Xuanzhi which made him feel very embarra.s.sed.
When Lin Xuanzhi heard this, he looked at Yan Tianhen for awhile, then said in a profound tone, “Ah Hen, sometimes I really don’t understand if you’re really a fool, or you’re just acting like one.”
Yan Tianhen blurted out, “Of course I’m not a fool, Daddy always used to say that I’m a smart kid.”
Lin Xuanzhi smiled and said, “Looks like you really are a fool.”
Yan Tianhen was a bit annoyed. He didn’t know what he had done to make Lin Xuanzhi describe him in that way.
But, he must have done something wrong somewhere.
“Since Ah Hen thinks that way, you can just rest here tonight ba.” Lin Xuanzhi said, then turned around and left without another word.
Yan Tianhen scrunched up his little face and pondered for a bit, then suddenly had an epiphany: just now when Lin Xuanzhi said that his little heater had disappeared, he couldn’t have been talking about him ba?
So basically, Lin Xuanzhi had wanted him to go warm his bed?
But…his body is obviously always chilly, so comparatively, Lin Xuanzhi should seem more like a heater!
Yan Tianhen really wanted to go and find Lin Xuanzhi to ask him what he had meant, but after thinking about it, he thought that since Lin Xuanzhi had already asked him to sleep here, it would be too embarra.s.sing to go squeeze with Lin Xuanzhi in his bed now.
Forget it, he should just obediently sleep in his own room first ba.
Yan Tianhen’s sleep quality had always been very good, so the moment his head touched his pillow, he managed to fall into a deep slumber. Whatever Lin Xuanzhi or heater stuff had all been thrown to the back of his head.
After all, even though Yan Tianhen had always wors.h.i.+pped and respected Lin Xuanzhi, before Lin Xuanzhi was injured they had never lived together as one stayed at the Lin residence while the other was in Profound Sky Sect. And after Lin Xuanzhi returned to the Lin residence, he had always readily given Yan Tianhen the cold shoulder.
Although Lin Xuanzhi’s att.i.tude had undergone a 180 degree change recently, it was still not enough to eradicate Yan Tianhen’s cautiousness and his deep-rooted sense of distance from Lin Xuanzhi.
Lin Xuanzhi only had himself to blame for that.
And right now, Lin Xuanzhi was sitting cross-legged on his bed looking at his dark door while he thought about all these.
Lin Xuanzhi couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.
There’s probably still a long way to go if he wanted to obtain Yan Tianhen’s wholehearted trust.
In the middle of the night, one of the rooms in a certain courtyard was emitting a faint, light yellow light.
The illumination tools in this room were not candles nor luminous pearls, but fireflies that could emit light by absorbing heat.
This kind of firefly lives in cemeteries from birth, so even if they emit light, they were still definitely chilly Yin creatures.
Lin Zhantian held Lin Yuhan’s hand and whispered, “Yuhan, it’s already quite late, you should sleep.”
Lin Yuhan’s body was full of burn marks. Her face that was covered in scars revealed a bewildered expression.
“Gege, there have been many times when I would wonder: what’s the purpose of living like this?”
Lin Zhantian’s face stiffened, then he said gently, “Yuhan, don’t overthink so much.”
“I’m not overthinking.” Lin Yuhan said with difficulty, “Today, I heard Dad and Mother fight outside because of me.”
Lin Zhantian was stunned, then said, “What were they fighting about?”
Lin Yuhan looked at Lin Zhantian and said, “Dage, did you and Mother do something bad because of me?”
Lin Zhantian furrowed his brows and said, “Who said that?”
“Daddy scolded Mother. He said that our family shouldn’t have this kind of treacherous person. Even if it was for the sake of saving my life, we should never throw stones at someone while they’re down and engage in the kind of shady business that would provoke ridicule from others. He also said that as a person, we must be honest and upright; even if we may lose our lives, we can’t lose our dignity.”
Lin Yuhan said with tears in her eyes, “Gege, ever since I was born, Dad and Mother have had many disagreements and quarrels over my affairs. I don’t want to go on like this anymore, all of you should just leave me alone.”
“What kind of nonsense is that.” Lin Zhantian looked at how Lin Yuhan wanted to cry yet be unable to shed a single tear and his heart felt like it was being impaled by ten thousand gusts of Qi. He gritted his teeth, then said, “Yu Han, if Gege takes one drop of your heart blood right now and within three years you could either live like a normal person, or possibly die instead, would you be willing to take the risk?”
Lin Yuhan’s smiled weakly with a pale face and said, “Of course I would be willing. Even if there was just a glimmer of hope to live a normal life, I wouldn’t give it up. I’d rather die than live this life that’s no better than death,.”
If it wasn’t because she was born in the Lin family, or because her father was the law enforcement hall’s master and her mother was from an influential family and is an amazing alchemist herself, then, Lin Yuhan thought, she would have probably been burnt to ashes along with her soul the moment she was born by her Chiyang fire ba?
To be able to live for so many years, Lin Yuhan felt like it was already more than enough.
She has had enough of living this kind of life, and was tired of dragging her family down.
“Even if, after losing a drop of your heart blood, the Yang Qi in your body would torture you even more?” Lin Zhantian asked with a coa.r.s.e voice.
Lin Yuhan’s eyes suddenly widened. She anxiously grabbed Lin Zhantian’s hand and her breathing sped up as she asked, “Ge, do you really have some sort of way?”
Lin Zhantian nodded and said, “Your Xuanzhi Tangxiong, might have a way.”
Lin Yuhan immediately said, “I want to do it! Gege, putting aside how this is an opportunity for me, just the fact that you and mother had let him down is enough reason for me to give him a drop of my heart blood as compensation for free!”
“I’m worried about you…”
“Don’t worry about me, I can endure it!” Lin Xuanzhi anxiously said. She was terrified that Lin Zhantian wouldn’t agree, “I’m not afraid of pain, nor of burns, and even if I still die in the end, I’ll accept it! Gege, just let me gamble this once!”
Lin Zhantian looked at Lin Yuhan’s eyes that were full of longing, and finally resisted his heart-rending pain and gritted his teeth as he nodded, “Okay, I’ll look for Lin Xuanzhi tomorrow.”
Lin Yuhan’s face broke into a wide and happy smile.
The next morning, Lin Zhantian went to pay Lin Xuanzhi a visit.
Yan Tianhen was sitting by the stone table in their yard as he stuffed Lin Xuanzhi’s homemade meal into his mouth. When he saw Lin Zhantian, he waved his paws at him and said, “Dage’s waiting for you in his room, you can just go straight in.”
Lin Zhantian nodded and walked towards the room.
When he pa.s.sed by Yan Tianhen, Lin Zhantian’s eyes swept over the neatly arranged wine cups on the table.
Lin Zhantian paused, then said, “This wine cup, was made by Lin Xuanzhi himself?”
Yan Tianhen nodded and said, “Yeah, my brother crafted them in the middle of the night yesterday. They cost 250 gold each, do you want to bring one back with you?”
Lin Zhantian was immediately startled. He walked over to pick up one of the wine cups, took a look at it and said, “Isn’t 250 gold a bit too expensive?”
His monthly allowance was at most a hundred gold.
Yan Tianhen waved his hand and said, “It’s not it’s not, this is really good stuff you know. Just give it a try and you’ll understand.”
Lin Zhantian shook his head and said, “I can’t afford it for now.”
All his money had been spent on buying spiritual plants for Lin Yuhan.
Even though the Lin family would prepare spiritual plants for him, the Lin family isn’t a charitable organization after all. The amount of spiritual plants Lin Yuhan required was like a bottomless pit so it was practically impossible for them to give all the spiritual plants Lin Zhantian needed for free.
Lin Zhantian was already incredibly grateful to them just for finding those spiritual plants and providing a constant stream of supply of these plants,.
Yan Tianhen nodded and said, “If you can’t afford them then forget it. But you’re a pretty honest guy, at least you wouldn’t try to pretend to be someone you’re not.”
The corner of Lin Zhantian’s mouth twitched. He put down the wine cup that looked like a tool for cheating customers of their money, then walked towards the main room that was wide open.
Lin Xuanzhi was currently cleaning up the debris of his forged stones. When he heard the sound of footsteps, he said without raising his head, “Sit.”
Lin Zhantian didn’t sit down. Instead, he walked over to Lin Xuanzhi’s side and watched him sweep the forged stone debris that was scattered everywhere as he said, “I’ve considered it carefully, I’ll agree to give you a drop of my Meimei’s heart blood.”
Lin Xuanzhi appeared to have expected this response. He dug out a few pieces of forged stone that was inlaid in the table with a small scoop, then placed them on the tray that he was holding and said, “I’ll be making a trip soon. When I return, I’ll take the heart blood then.”
Lin Zhantian silently watched Lin Xuanzhi continue to clean up the debris and said, “Xuanzhi, I’m basically handing over my sister’s life to you.”
“Man proposes, but G.o.d disposes. I can only guarantee that I’ll try my very best to repair the Taiyan Cauldron, but I can’t guarantee you any more than that.”
No craftsman would dare to say that he would never fail.
Even an old hand like Lin Xuanzhi who had already been crafting with a soul body for close to a thousand years could fail. Because he couldn’t resolve the melancholy in his heart last night, he didn’t make full use of the spiritual Qi within his forged stones while he was crafting which resulted in the explosion of the forged stones he was using. As for the wine cups that he had crafted, even though it looked normal and could sort of be used, it was evidently only of a mid-grade quality.
In the process of crafting, anything unexpected could happen. And there was only one chance to repair the Taiyan cauldron; if he were to fail, the Taiyan Cauldron would most likely be completely destroyed.
Lin Xuanzhi didn’t exaggerate and frankly told Lin Zhantian the truth.
Lin Zhantian took a deep breath, then solemnly said, “Then I can only prepare for the worst.”
Lin Xuanzhi nodded and lightly said, “Submit to Heaven’s will, but do one’s level best.”
Lin Zhantian said, “Are you planning to leave for awhile to find the container that can hold the Chiyang blood?”
Lin Xuanzhi said, “Yes.”
Lin Zhantian didn’t ask anything else, and instead said, “After you leave, do you need me to do anything for you on my side?”
Lin Xuanzhi thought for a bit, then said, “Now that you mention it, I do need you to help me take note of some things.”
“What things?” Lin Zhantian really wished that he could help Lin Xuanzhi in any way right now. This way, he could dispel the guilt and self-reproach he felt and encourage Lin Xuanzhi to put in more effort into resolving Lin Yuhan’s problem.
Lin Xuanzhi said softly, “Madam Bai has been a window for many years and had devoted all her energies into cultivating. But for her to maintain such a stable position in the family, and to have held the position as the Lin family’s supervisor for so many years, there must be someone who’s supporting her from the shadows.”
Lin Zhantian furrowed his brows and said, “I had already thought of that possibility before. I’m afraid that that person should be one of the five elders. After all, only they have the right to decide who holds the supervisor position in the family, but I had never figured out who that person is.”
Lin Xuanzhi said with a profound tone, “A few days ago, someone had seen Madam Bai and Third elder walk out from a small forest in the desolate back mountains one after the other.” Then, Lin Xuanzhi stopped talking.
T/N: Still operating on v little sleep… TAT… pls pardon the grammatical mistakes…. I’ll proofread these two chapters again when I catch up on some sleep tmr(?) ;__;