17 The Heritage of The Boy (3)

Three youths laughed as they ran along the river bank, following the wind to the path of wilderness. Ripples accompanied their footfalls, the clear surface of the river reflected many colors of revival. Their laughter rang loud, bearing a resemblance to the chirping of birds and the sound of leaves in the breeze.

"Slow down! I can't keep up with you!"

"I'm not slowing down! Try catch me if you can!" Replied one of the youths, his black forehead ribbon fluttered as he spun around once before sprinting as fast as he could.

[Yue-gege! Don't run too fast!] A dark skinned young girl 'shouted', falling far behind the two boys. Her breathing was ragged and her legs sore.

The other boy, with longer hair that was tied into a ponytail, stopped on his track and ran back to the girl, saying, "You wait here. I'm going to drag that kid back here."

The girl nodded. Without anymore words to say, that boy immediately drew a seal on the air and chased the boy far in front of them. In less than a minute time, he managed to keep up with the fast-runner and brought him back to where the girl was by pulling his collar.

"The wind," YueChen said as he was being dragged back, "it's like calling us…"

"Cut the nonsense talk, and how do you even run that fast?" Yuan Ji released him and promptly sat on the ground.

Yang YueChen frowned, and said doubtfully, "I am always a fast-runner?"

The water deity pointed from the spot they were settling on to where he grabbed YueChen's collar. "That's roughly almost half a kilometre. Not to mention that we started running from the village. You ran more than a kilometre in ten minutes."

"Really?" YueChen stood up and looked into the distance where Yuan Ji's finger was pointed at, and then at the place he was caught. He rested his chin on his hand, in a manner of thinking. "I didn't notice."

[Yue-gege, did you eat sugar or what? You lately have too much energy.]

Too much energy that he tried to waste by running around and doing push ups, the same energy that plagued him over and over again. Simply worded, Yang YueChen was tireless.

Too tireless.

"I don't eat sugar. And I don't think it's a flood of energy." He frowned as he lowered his body to do another set of push-ups.

Yuan Ji placed a finger on his back and pressed him down. "No, you do. Now stop doing silly things and sit properly."

"Give me a good reason why?" The other teen huffed, fighting the urge to roll his eyes and continue doing whatever the water deity had banned him from.

He shifted a little, with one finger pressing down on the other's back, he poked at his vessel's cheek. "Because I say so."

"Fine." YueChen turned his head sideways, attempted to shy away from the poking finger. He ceased the force on his arms and slumped down, facing downwards.

[…Should I scram? And let you two geges enjoy your date…?]

"Date, what date... I'm trying to kill YueChen, not dating him." Yuan Ji muttered as he grabbed the boy's collar and tossed him to the river bank.

Yang YueChen was half shocked, half expecting this. He grabbed on the water deity's sleeve before he fell into the water and kicked the stone underneath his feet, pulling out a handful of grasses as he climbed up the slippery slope.

A-Die, face pale and expression bewildered, promptly pushed Yuan Ji. Yet the water deity maintained his position regardless of how much force was exerted by the dark skinned girl. Only after she was shot a glare did she stop pushing the deity.

[Do you really want to kill him?!]

"Do you really want me to kill him?" Yuan Ji easily said, ignoring the other boy as he rolled further from them.

A-Die was rendered speechless at his words. She only stared at him wordlessly, trembling with anger.

"Do you all really want to kill me.." asked the boy in question with an exasperated sigh. Seeing that both the deity and the girl didn't relent, as stubborn personality was the only thing they shared, he continued. "You two chill a little. It's me at fault."

"It's not yours. It's mine."

[It's not your fault Yue-Ge, it's mine.]

Yuan Ji glanced at A-Die and said, "I agree with Xiao Die."

[Can I take back my words?]

The deity responded with a no immediately, sparing no time for thinking.

•

"A-Ji, what are you doing?"

The blue robes fluttered in the breeze, drops of rains fell on the lonely figure in the rice field as though pinning him down. That person only stared blankly at the darkening sky.

"The drought is coming next month." His words were drowned by the rain. "The harvest is near, I can't let them fail again."

YueChen hesitated for a while before crossing over the rain and draped the deity with his outer robe. Yuan Ji blinked once, and lifted his head to meet his eyes.

The water deity's eyes were somewhat lonely and puzzled. His skin was almost blue because of the cold and his lips were turning pale.

All the god could hear before the other left was, "Get inside after you finished, and don't push yourself too hard."

"The God has blessed us with his grace!" Cheered the villagers days after. Some of them thought of making a small shrine to worship said god, and had gone to do so once the harvest ended bountifully.

Of course, the god is none other than the Hui Le Shen.

Hearing that a shrine would be built for him, Yang YueChen rushed out from the hut and tried to talk about the matter.

"We're nothing but humble mortals, and Hui Le Shen had blessed us with a generosity harvest. Hui Le Shen's kindness should at least be repaid with a shrine." The chief explained, bowing before Yang YueChen. Behind him, a dozen of maidens and men also bowed to him.

In this situation, the boy felt dizzy. The surnamed Yang was certainly not a god, and these people are thinking about making him a shrine! Wouldn't it be an insult to real gods?

He tried to convince them to throw away that intent. Yet they stubbornly refused, making the poor boy overwhelmed. At the very last, he insisted that there should be another gods worshipped along with him and there should never be any pressure to offer harvest to him.

After making sure that the folks listened to him, Yang YueChen fled to the cherry blossoms forest just behind the village.

His footsteps are light, yet certain, following the wind that guided him deeper into the sea of red and pink. Leaves seemingly danced around him in an almost playful manner. And flower petals traced his skin, reminding him of the soft warm touches on his face.

The scenery was so peaceful, it felt like Yang YueChen had accidentally intruded the realm of fairies.

He let the nature guide him to wherever his heart was called from, only to stop before a sturdy oak tree. He didn't know why, but he extended both his arms as though waiting for something to fall. Half a second later, something did fall on to his arms. Something big and heavy, even… slightly bigger than himself.

The first thing he saw was a shocked face. A familiar face.

It was the tsundere water deity's face.

YueChen blinked, before bursting into laughter. "A-Ji, or should I call you Dong Shi Shui Shen, what were you doing up there, oh great deity?"

"You shut up and put me down right now." Yuan Ji gritted his teeth, the color red crept up to his face.

Instead of doing what the god asked, YueChen held him tighter and spun around, laughing as he said, "If I don't want to?"

"Then I'll kill you!"

"As if you'll ever dare to do that."

Waltzing around among the sea of pink where the golden rays of sunset penetrated through the thick forest canopy, it seemed like a moment when time stood still just for them. When the world was on their side.

A scent of flower wafted from the dark aisle, intoxicating people who walked past it. Including a certain boy. Soft murmurs, a high pitched voice at that, lured him into that aisle.

There were a few men, merchants of what they may seem to be, and a woman. At first look, the men were unfamiliar, but the woman…

Coquette voice, red rogue powder thick on her cheeks, carrying flowers, long hair tied in half ponytail… Ah, right. She was the lady who asked for a blessing days ago.

These men kept pestering her, demanding things and flirted with her. That lady was certainly not a smart person to begin with. One of the merchants had his hand around her slim waist.

Seeing that made YueChen's blood boil.

He approached them with wide struts and laid a punch on that man's face. That man, although bigger than him, was knocked down with a single hit. He was thrown hard on the sacks behind him.

And that was how Yang YueChen got into another fight, again.

When he came back to the hut, he still had the smiling face as though nothing happened. A fake smile, Yuan Ji instantly saw through it. The blood on his knuckles gave him away.

"Picking another fight, weren't you?"

The boy refused to speak, yet he couldn't maintain a calm face. Everything was about to crumble right at this moment, he realized.

Dirt on his face, a few bruises on his skin, but other than those, YueChen appeared unharmed. With one look, Yuan Ji could tell he won the fight.

A-Die and Xian Jian Zhe stared at them, two boys silent but ready to quarrel.

YueChen gave up trying to pretend that he wasn't furious and stormed out of the hut the second he said, "I need a little air."

They didn't follow him or anything. Perhaps it was Yuan Ji who told them it's something not unusual.

The only thing the boy wanted now was to vent all his anger. He failed to notice a person tailing him until said person stepped on a fallen branch.

The cracking sound was loud, and if that person thought YueChen wouldn't be able to hear that, they were certainly a fool.

YueChen kept walking further and further, taking twists and turns to all sides. That person was still following him, and lost track of him once he took the eleventh turn. As they looked around in panic, a clear, demanding voice spoke, "Why are you following me?"

It was the lady from before.

"Hui Le Shen, this humble me wanted to thank Your Grace for helping me back then." She bowed before him, as she managed to not stutter under the other's deadly glare.

Yang YueChen was a little taken aback. "You don't have to thank me. I didn't do anything."

He turned to the river bank and settled down to wash his bloodied hands. The maiden sat next to him and watched the fishes swim in the water.

"Do you always..." YueChen started, a little awkward as he said the words.

"Often, not always."

"Since when?"

"A few years ago? I don't remember."

"Do you find it annoying?"

The maiden lowered her head, and mumbled, "I like the way males paid attention to me, but I notice that my relationships are too short."

YueChen didn't know what to say and only stared at the distance, opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.

"I'm not the best person for this."

The maiden replied without missing a beat, "You're a god."

Yang YueChen instantly felt guilty. "I—I was never a god. I'm no more than an impersonator."

She hesitated for a moment, muttering softly to him, "What differentiated a god and a human, is just power and lifespan. People with good heart can ascend, and live as a god. I think you're a good person, even if you aren't aware of it."

The boy thought about it for awhile. Yet no matter how he tried to convince himself he did a good thing, he could never let himself being considered a good person just because one act.

"What's your name?"

"Xiao Si."

YueChen took a deep breath, "Xiao Si, all I can say for you is that a woman doesn't need a man to define herself. Live your life as a decent lady, a good man will one day find you."

Yang YueChen was never a god, but he might as well be one yet to ascend.