If You See Snow

On the second day, Su Ru Hui’s provisions in his bag were about to run out, so he had to go out to look for food. It was freezing cold that day and all the animals were hibernating, so he had to think of a way to find food. As he walked for about half a mile, he suddenly heard three screams ahead of him. Su Ru Hui immediately turned and went in the opposite direction, away from the battlefield. However, the person behind him was running fast, and soon the sound of footsteps approached urgently. Su Ru Hui had no choice but to find a thick piece of grass and lie down in it.

A big man was being chased by two spiritual power users. One of them, wearing purple, leaped over the heads of the two big men like a swallow and blocked their way. The other one, wearing yellow, held a bloody arm in his hand and slowly walked forward, biting off a piece of meat fiercely. The big man was shocked to see this.

Su Ru Hui sighed with emotion. “The Cannibalistic Buddha of the Great Compassion Temple. It’s always disgusting to see him every time.”

“You are crazy!” the big man cried out in indignation. “If you want to kill us, just do it. Why do you have to insult our bodies?”

The yellow-clothed spiritual power user laughed viciously. “I didn’t bring any food with me. I’ll eat a few bites of you and let you be reborn in my stomach. It’s your blessing.”

The voice of the big man was quite familiar, and Su Ru Hui remembered him. He was the one who was looking for trouble with Su Ru Hui before – the big Han man.

Just as he was thinking about this, he heard a rustling sound in his ear. Someone was beside him! Su Ru Hui was startled and peeled off the grass next to him, meeting a pair of bright eyes. The system marked the words “Mysterious Youth” in shining letters above his head. The youth wore black clothes, with dried blood stains on his sleeves and a white cloth stretched tightly around his face. This kid must have been lying here waiting for the two sides to be exhausted, so he could take advantage of the situation. He stared at Su Ru Hui without blinking, as if he was on guard against him.

Su Ru Hui reached into his waist pouch and pulled out a handful of watermelon seeds, holding them up in front of him with a smile. The youth grabbed his collar suddenly and dragged him out of the bushes. Watermelon seeds spilled onto the ground and several sharp arrows pierced the grass where they had been hiding.

“Two nosy rats,” said the purple-clothed spiritual power user, putting down his crossbow. “We’ve had a good harvest today. We won’t go hungry for the next two days.”

They must have been discovered by someone using the Heavenly Eye technique. The person in yellow clothes seemed to be a user of the Telekinesis technique, as Su Ru Hui could see many floating bone knives swirling around him.

“Brother Jiang, it’s you!” exclaimed the big man next to them with surprise, but then he immediately became worried. “Brother, you don’t have any spiritual powers. Run away quickly, I’ll hold them off!”

He charged towards the one in yellow clothes, but the two bone knives turned around and stabbed into his hands, pinning him to a white birch tree. The big man screamed in agony.

Ah, there aren’t many people left in this world who are both loyal and foolish. Su Ru Hui had originally planned to run away, but now he stopped in his tracks.

The yellow-clothed person’s special power was an attacking type, so it was easier to deal with than supporting types. He was about to take action when the youth next to him moved faster than he did, pulling out a frosty white sword from his sleeve and sending it flying like an arrow. It was as if a ferocious hawk had plunged into the wind, and the boy’s blade enveloped the purple-clothed man’s face with a chilling aura.

The monks of the Great Compassion Temple did not recognize Sang Chi Yu because he had used a disguise. He couldn’t use spiritual powers because of Mu Tuo Yan’s Heavenly Eye. He knew that the Great Compassion Temple did not fully trust him, so Hei Guan Yin did not inform him of the names of other undercover agents. He also did not trust the Great Compassion Temple, so he did not inform them of Mu Tuo Yan’s existence, which complicated things for them. With such a large-scale conscription, it was impossible for Dan Tai Jing to not know that the Black Street would send people to infiltrate, and the Heavenly Eye of the Secret Sect must have covered this area. Sang Chi Yu needed someone to expose their identity to divert the Secret Sect’s attention, so that he could hide.

The young man drew his sword resolutely, and his sword energy rose like a mountain.

At the moment of the sword’s contact, the blade of the purple-clothed man shattered, and fine cracks spread across the blade. The young man held the sword in both hands and pressed the blade down expressionlessly. The purple-clothed man showed a look of horror. He didn’t expect a young man of fifteen or sixteen to have such great strength. Behind the young man, three bone knives rapidly approached. The man who wore a yellow robe saw that his friend’s swordsmanship was inadequate and wanted to force the young man to retract his sword.

However, Su Ru Hui abruptly intervened in the battle.

“Xiao Huang (1), your opponent is me.” Su Ru Hui smiled.

The yellow-clothed was puzzled. Who was Xiao Huang? He looked down and saw his own yellow shirt, and suddenly became very angry.

“You’re asking for death.”

Three bone knives stabbed towards Su Ru Hui. Su Ru Hui activated the talisman Pure Land, and all unspecified spiritual powers became invalid… However, the bone knives were not affected in the slightest and continued to fly!

What’s going on?!

As the flying knives rushed towards him, Su Ru Hui immediately activated a Teleportation talisman. In the moment he disappeared, the bone knife pierced through the area where he originally was. Su Ru Hui was in danger, and seeing this, Sang Chi Yu withdrew his knife. The purple-clothed man barely managed to block the youth’s attack and let out a sigh of relief when he withdrew his force. However, at that moment, he felt a chill behind him, and a short knife was sent into his back.

Su Ru Hui appeared behind him, and sticky blood splattered all over his hands.

He never thought that in that critical moment, Su Ru Hui not only managed to dodge the bone knife but also thought to use Teleportation to sneak up on him from behind.

The purple-clothed figure fell, leaving only the yellow-clothed one stunned.

Now it was two against one. One of them was an expert swordsman, and the other seemed to own a good number of talismans. The yellow-clothed figure quickly made a decision and retrieved his bone knife before turning to run away.

The two didn’t chase after him and instead released the big Han man from the tree.

“Hmm, why didn’t my Pure Land talisman work?” Su Ru Hui touched the remnants of the talisman.

The man gasped for air and said, “That person didn’t use spiritual powers; he used talismans. His bone knife was imbued with talismans.”

No wonder Pure Land didn’t work. It restricted the spiritual power users, not the talismans.

Su Ru Hui felt heartbroken. He had wasted a good talisman.

“Brother Jiang, and this young man, thank you both for saving my life.” The big man kowtowed.

“This place is not suitable for staying for long. Let me take you to my hiding place for treatment.” Su Ru Hui said, “Young man, I think you have your own hiding place, so let’s part ways here.”

Su Ru Hui helped the big man up, and the two walked a few steps away. The young man stood still, watching them leave. He stood alone, like a discarded little mushroom, with a pitiful feeling.

Su Ru Hui didn’t invite the young man for some reason. The big man hesitated for a moment and whispered to Su Ru Hui, “Brother Jiang, why not take this young man with us, so we can watch out for each other.”

Their murmuring voices were very low, but Sang Chi Yu had merged with the heart core, and his hearing had greatly improved. The big man’s words fell into his ears word by word. Sang Chi Yu’s foot that was about to lift was stuck, and he remained in place as if by magic.

“Forget it,” he heard Su Ru Hui say.

“Why?” The big man didn’t understand.

“Because he looks like Sang Chi Yu,” Su Ru Hui said.

Sang Chi Yu: “… “

The youth stood still, a lonely shadow. He had a blank expression, but the big man somehow sensed a hint of loneliness in him. The man and Su Ru Hui walked far away, leaving the youth standing there watching their cold-hearted backs. The man felt guilty and struggled with his conscience, and reluctantly proposed to take the boy in. Su Ru Hui, however, had no compassion and repeatedly refused, but eventually gave in to the man’s reproachful gaze and took in the poor boy.

Su Ru Hui only had five steamed buns left. One of them was injured, the other was a growing youth, and only Su Ru Hui was healthy and strong. In this situation, Su Ru Hui felt ashamed to take the largest portion, so he decided to give two buns to each of them, and he would eat one alone. But the man was a kind and righteous person who would not let anyone go hungry. Su Ru Hui gave two buns to the boy first, then handed two to the man and insincerely said, “Big brother, you can have one more. I’m not hungry.”

Su Ru Hui thought the man would push the bun back to him, and he would politely accept it. But unexpectedly, the man, with tears in his eyes, took both buns and said, “Brother Jiang, I haven’t eaten all day. If I hadn’t met you, I would have been killed or starved to death.”

Saying that, the man wolfed down both buns.

“By the way, my name is He Sheng. Brother Jiang, from now on, you can call me Brother He.”

The cold bun lay in Su Ru Hui’s hand, and he shed tears in his heart.

A large pork bun was handed to Su Ru Hui. He looked up and met the boy’s eyes. Firelight danced in the child’s eyes, which reflected Su Ru Hui’s face.

“You can eat it,” the boy said.

“You’re still young, you eat it,” Su Ru Hui didn’t want to compete with a child for food. “It’s okay if I eat less for a meal.”

The boy said nothing and didn’t move. The bun still lay in front of Su Ru Hui.

This scene reminded Su Ru Hui of Sang Chi Yu. That guy also acted like this when he handed over the divorce letter. He wouldn’t let Su Ru Hui go until he accepted it.

Su Ru Hui broke the bun in half and placed it in the young boy’s palm.

“One for each of us,” Su Ru Hui said with a smile.

The young boy slowly withdrew his hand and muttered, “Think more about yourself in the future.”

Don’t always be so kind-hearted.

His words held a deeper meaning, but Su Ru Hui didn’t pay attention and started rambling again. “Ah, what can I do? I’m just a kind person. I do good deeds every day. If I don’t do good deeds, I won’t feel at ease. If I see an old lady, I have to help her cross the street. Sometimes I help her and only then realize that she doesn’t even want to cross the street.” He turned his head and smiled at the boy. “May I ask for the little brother’s name?”

“Su Yu,” he replied succinctly.

“So you’re Little Brother Su,” He Sheng said, bowing. “The three of us are fated to meet. How about we become sworn brothers here? Brother Jiang married Sang Chi Yu, and everyone knows their age. They’re both just seventeen this year. I’m twenty-three this year, so I’ll be your older brother. Little Brother Su, how old are you? You look a bit younger than Brother Jiang.”

“Fifteen,” Sang Chi Yu casually said a number.

“Well, that’s great.” Su Ru Hui rubbed his head. “Good boy, call me Gege.”

Sang Chi Yu pursed his thin lips and didn’t respond.

He noticed that Su Ru Hui had a habit of wanting others to call him Gege. When they were young and lived together at the temple, Su Ru Hui would coax him to call him Gege. Later, when Su Ru Hui went to the Black Street, Han Ye also called him Gege. Perhaps in places he didn’t know, many people were gathered around Su Ru Hui, chattering and calling him Gege.

He remembered five years ago when the Secret Sect’s doctor couldn’t cure the poison in Su Ru Hui’s body. The poison from his heart core was wreaking havoc on his organs. The doctor had no choice but to take a risk and open Su Ru Hui’s chest to remove his heart core. Su Ru Hui was bleeding profusely and hanging on the edge of death. Even in his final moments, he maintained his nonchalant demeanor, holding Sang Chi Yu’s hand and saying, “I’m going to die soon. Before I go, grant me a wish.”

Sang Chi Yu trembled and tightly held his bloody hand. His voice was weak like a thread, “Call me… Ge…”

Before he could finish speaking, Su Ru Hui’s hand lost its strength. Although he didn’t finish his sentence, Sang Chi Yu knew that he wanted to hear him call him Gege. Facing death, he had such a trivial wish.

Su Ru Hui was really boring. Why did he like to adopt siblings everywhere? Sang Chi Yu wondered.

He was silent for a while, then spoke softly to the firelight, “Gege.”

Su Ru Hui didn’t reply. The young man thought he didn’t hear him and shouted again, “Gege!”

Su Ru Hui chuckled, embraced his neck, and said, “Okay, I’ll protect you after you call me Gege. From now on, I’ll take care of you.”

He Sheng wanted to say something, but felt it was not appropriate to speak at this time. Su Yu didn’t say anything after calling Su Ru Hui Gege, as if he couldn’t believe what he himself had just said. He Sheng suddenly realized that he seemed a bit redundant among these sworn brothers.

Footnotes

1. Xiao Huang – “Huang” means “yellow.” It’s like calling someone Blue just because they’re wearing a blue shirt.