Entangled Heartstrings Part 2

He gripped the umbrella absentmindedly, craning his neck in anticipation.

But half a moment later, what he had been hoping for turned out to be the mountain guardian disciple's ice-cold words: "You should go."

You Hongchen could not believe it. "My adoptive father... told me to go?"

The mountain guardian disciple's attitude had turned much colder. He looked at You Hongchen with suspicious eyes and snatched the unopened umbrella from his hands. "Senior Brother Boning said he doesn't know anyone named You Hongchen."

The thousands upon thousands of words You Hongchen had imagined saying after seeing his adoptive father, the thousands upon thousands of images he had hoped for of his adoptive father walking towards him with open arms, instantly shattered like a dream bubble.

He thought in a daze, was his adoptive father displeased that he had arrived too late?

Then he should apologize to his adoptive father...

You Hongchen's mind was in a frenzy. Heedless of others, he took a step forward, intending to enter the mountain gate of Fengling.

Seeing that the situation was taking a bad turn, the disciple immediately drew his sword.

You Hongchen did not even look at him. With a backhand, he sent out a finger strike, the sword intent like cold lightning, slashing through the sky together with the lightning on the horizon, instantly striking the disciple and sending him flying over thirty feet away!

Instantly, the mountain gate erupted into chaos.

After all, You Hongchen had no intention of hurting anyone. Moreover, over a dozen disciples sensed that his cultivation was extraordinary and did not dare to underestimate him. They immediately surrounded and attacked him. In less than a dozen exchanges, he was captured, half of his face pressed hard into the mud.

Heaven and earth were both still.

You Hongchen unconsciously grasped a clump of mud under his palm. One ear was submerged in the muddy water, temporarily deafened, while the other was drowned out by the sound of rain filling the sky.

He felt like he had been tied to a large rock and then thrown into the water, drifting aimlessly, only able to sink.

However, amidst this sound of water filling heaven and earth, he found a lifeline.

"...Senior Brother Boning!"

A glimmer of light appeared in You Hongchen's eyes.

Was it... his adoptive father?

His adoptive father was no longer angry and had come to get him?

The person who arrived responded. It was indeed the voice that had entered his dreams many times. "Tell Master that I'm going to look for the entrance to the Forgotten World."

"But Senior Brother Boning, your health—"

Chang Boning said, "Do as I say."

With that, he walked outward. When he approached, he realized that the atmosphere here was unusual. "What's going on?"

The mountain guardian disciple from earlier walked over, rubbing his chest. He pointed at You Hongchen on the ground and accused, "Senior Brother Chang, it's this boy who was causing trouble here, insisting on finding you! I couldn't talk any sense into him! You tell me, do you know this person called 'You Hongchen'?"

"I don't know him."

Chang Boning said it lightly and neatly, as if it were true.

For a moment, You Hongchen was dumbfounded, unable to comprehend what those three words meant.

Chang Boning was wearing a light fur coat, but his voice contained a trace of breathless panting, making his tone sound especially unfamiliar.

Was this person... truly his adoptive father?

Chang Boning had no time to consider You Hongchen's state of mind. He lifted his foot to leave.

The mountain guardian disciple still wanted a proper way to handle this. "This You Hongchen..."

"I already said, I don't know any You Hongchen!" Chang Boning's mind was in too much turmoil. Repeatedly disturbed by this irrelevant matter, he suddenly turned around, a layer of faint anger surfacing on his snow-white face. "My junior brother is in imminent danger. In my heart, there is only him. I don't know anyone else!"

Chang Boning rarely lost his temper. He only raised his voice for a moment, and everyone else lowered their heads in shock and shame. Only You Hongchen, with one eye above the muddy water, stared fixedly at him.

Chang Boning lowered his head to steady his thoughts. He threw out the Tangdi sword, riding the wind and rain, standing on the blade. He glanced down at the child in the muddy water, his voice tinged with a hint of helplessness: "He's just a child, why treat him like this? Just kindly ask him to leave the mountain."

...

You Hongchen walked down from Fengling as if in a dream.

The further he walked, the more pain he felt, a pain that left him powerless and unable to speak.

His adoptive father had shattered You Hongchen into two halves with just a few words.

His body descended the mountain, but his soul remained at Fengling.

The rain poured on his chest, as if drenching an empty shell.

You Hongchen could even hear the hollow sound coming from inside his body as the rain washed over him.

You Hongchen kept walking, until the rain stopped and night fell.

He watched as the clouds at the second watch, the moon at the third watch, and the sky at the fourth watch changed in turn, following a natural order.

Only he, in the vast earth and boundless sky, did not know the way home.

You Hongchen understood that his adoptive father was just busy and momentarily impatient.

He knew that the disciple named "Feng Rugu" was very important to his adoptive father. In the past, he would often mention him, his words full of undisguised pride and careful probing, as if afraid that You Hongchen would not like him.

Yes, his adoptive father was just in a bad mood, and he had happened to cause him trouble.

So, he could return to the place they had agreed upon and watch over his adoptive father from afar, waiting for as long as it took.

...As long as...as long as he would still come back.

You Hongchen returned to that inn, changed to a lower-class room, and ate vegetarian meals every day, hoping to wait one more day, then one more.

The fifty large characters he practiced daily became a hundred; the two hours of sword practice became four hours.

He did not want to spend time lost in wild thoughts, adding to his suffering.

However, soon, he no longer needed to indulge in wild thoughts.

In the daily waiting, little Hongchen faced a reality:

...His adoptive father truly did not want him anymore.

Gradually, You Hongchen came to hate a person he had never met.

Because he had taken away his adoptive father and shattered his courage to go and find him again.

Later, after his money ran out, he left the inn and wandered the streets. He met an old itinerant monk and followed him.

Later still, he buried his deep feelings in his heart, unwilling to easily show them to anyone.

But now, thousands of heartstrings broke through the barrier in his heart, climbing and twisting, suffocating him.

The word "love" was the root of desire.

True to his name, he could not escape the red dust of the mortal world, could not comprehend the Mahayana. These ten years had just been a tumultuous mess.

He bit down hard on the bedsheet beneath him, stretching it taut, a small patch dampened by warmth.

Ruyi futilely tried to numb himself with murmured scriptures: "The body is like a flame, born from thirst and love; the body is like an illusion, arising from delusion; the body is like a dream, a false perception..."

Vaguely, he heard someone calling him: "Ruyi - little Hongchen! What's wrong with you?"

...Since ten years ago, no one in the world had called him Hongchen.

Who was calling him?

Ruyi held on to his breath and forced his eyes open.

Seeing the person before him, a strange emotion surged in his chest, not quite disappointment, but not quite joy either.

Why him?

It was he who had taken his adoptive father away, making his adoptive father belong entirely to him.

Why, at this moment, was his heart boiling with love and hate, all because of him?

Ruyi stared at Feng Rugu who had burst through the door, dazedly reciting: "Outwardly detached from appearances is Chan, inwardly undisturbed is concentration, outward Chan and inward concentration, this is Chan concentration-"

Seeing this, Feng Rugu's heart was like a clear mirror. He reached out to undo the fastenings of his monk's robe: "Wait a moment, Hongchen, I'll make you feel better right away-"

Before he could finish, the person who had just been reciting the principles of Chan suddenly pulled him down, flipping them over, pressing him heavily underneath.

He continued to chant scriptures: "All the evil karma I have done in the past, stems from beginningless greed, anger, and ignorance, arises from body, speech, and mind, I now repent of it all..."

As he finished speaking, Feng Rugu's lips felt a gentle warmth enveloping them.

His heart was shocked, eyes wide open, dazed in his embrace for a moment. Just as he was about to resist, a pair of hands reached around to the small of his back.

--Those hands that lit green lamps, turned scripture pages, and swept pagodas, accurately found the red lotus heart on the small of his back and pressed down without fail.

Author has something to say:

Bullied my adoptive father! [Rubs hands]