The Dragon

Tears Under the Moonlit Tree

Zhong Michu asked, “Gu Fuyou?”

Gu Fuyou suddenly stood up, belatedly realizing what had happened, and excitedly hugged her, “Ahhhh!!! We won!”

Zhong Michu stiffened for a moment but didn’t push her away. After a moment, she gently patted Gu Fuyou’s back and said, “Yes, we won.”

“Senior Sister Zhong, you’re a genius. You’re amazing! It’s all thanks to you…”

Zhong Michu helped her up and said, “No, Gu Fuyou. You’re the amazing one.”

Gu Fuyou was using her sleeve to wipe the blood from her chin when Zhong Michu took out a handkerchief and offered it to her.

Taking it, Gu Fuyou grinned, “Thank you, Senior Sister.”

After carelessly wiping the blood from her chin and ears, she laughed and said, “What’s so amazing about someone like me? I lost to Master Yu in just one move.”

“I’m useless, you know that. I’m pretty good at causing trouble though.” Gu Fuyou added. She was the type of person who acted proud when others looked down on her, but became shy when genuinely praised.

Zhong Michu shook her head and said seriously, “You were the one who spotted the flaw in the Ruizhu Palace’s formation. You were also the one who set up the formation to escape the inner layer of Xian Luo. And now in this duel, if I were to directly compete with that person, I might not have won. It was you who came up with a strategy to create a winning situation. Elder Liuhe said you have some cleverness and only some insight into formations, but I don’t think that’s the case. You’re very intelligent, and you shouldn’t underestimate yourself.”

They had been here for half a day, and now it was approaching dusk. The sunset was beautiful, with warm orange light streaming in from the west side of the courtyard, scattering golden fragments across the ground.

The light fell on Zhong Michu, casting a soft, warm glow that made her appear even more ethereal.

Zhong Michu said, “Gu Fuyou, you are a genius.”

Staring blankly at her, Gu Fuyou responded in disbelief, “What… what did you just say?”

Zhong Michu repeated, “You are a genius, we won because of you…”

She noticed Gu Fuyou’s fair neck, soft ears, and her pale face visibly turning bright red.

Gu Fuyou covered her face, stumbling slightly, and made indistinct sounds in her throat as if trying to suppress a shout.

After a while, Gu Fuyou peeked at Zhong Michu through her fingers and said very softly, “Say it again.”

Zhong Michu said, “You’re a genius?”

Gu Fuyou insisted, “Say it again.”

“You are a genius.”

“Say it again.”

“You’re a genius.”

Gu Fuyou absolutely loved Zhong Michu’s incredible patience.

Others might say that Zhong Michu’s emotions and voice were usually flat, that she was cold and distant, without warmth.

But at this moment, even though her voice was just as even as always, to Gu Fuyou, it was the warmest sound in the world, the kindest words ever spoken.

She didn’t care whether Zhong Michu liked it or not, she tightly hugged her arm and showed a contented smile, “Senior Sister Zhong, I like you so much.”

Zhong Michu didn’t understand the source of Gu Fuyou’s joy, but seeing the smile on her face, she couldn’t help but smile back.

The two returned to the gambling house and collected the raw stone.

On top of that, before entering the competition, Gu Fuyou had pawned her identity jade plaque for one million spirit stones and bet on herself. Now, having won the raw stone, she had also earned an extra ten million spirit stones.

When she tried to give Zhong Michu half, Zhong Michu said, “I’m not good with handling money; you should keep it.”

“Then you can ask me for it when you need to use it,” Gu Fuyou replied.

As they were talking, the woman in red approached and handed them two wooden plaques, saying, “Here are the additional rewards for the winners of the duel, the entry tokens for Canyon Racing.”

Gu Fuyou took them, overjoyed once again.

Zhong Michu asked, “What’s the Canyon Race?”

Gu Fuyou said, “Senior Zhong, have you heard of horse racing? It’s similar to that. You ride your own spirit beast to the finish line, and if you win, the rewards are substantial.”

In the past, when she visited with her eldest brother, he always received the entry pass, and she could only watch from the stands. Every time she watched, she longed to participate.

Gu Fuyou happily tucked away the passes and led Ah Fu and Zhong Michu downstairs.

Across the courtyard, on the other side of the stairs, someone suddenly stopped and looked over.

The person behind him also stopped and asked, “Young Master Zuo, what’s the matter?”

Zuo Tianlang said, “I think that person looks like Gu Fuyou. I thought the affairs in Xiaoyao City were busy this year, and Gu Shuangqing shouldn’t have been able to get away…”

As he spoke, he lifted his chin towards the person behind him, “She’s coming down from the gambling house. Beard Slave, go to the gambling house and ask around to see if that person is really Gu Fuyou.”

Beard Slave bowed his head in acknowledgment and bounded up the stairs like a gust of wind. He returned shortly after, saying, “It’s the third Miss Gu. The young city lord isn’t with her. She came with another person, a new face. They just won a bet in a duel against Yu Dongsheng from Wanyao Pavilion.”

“They won?” Zuo Tianlang raised an eyebrow. “That means she has an entry pass for the Canyon Race now.”

Zuo Tianlang pondered for a moment, his eyes glinting with an idea. “Zhong Yi, come here.”

A middle-aged man wearing a headband with a long beard stepped forward: “Young Master.”

Zuo Tianlang spun his folding fan, covered his mouth, and leaned in to say: “You do this…”

After giving his instructions, he said: “Go now.”

Zhong Yi bowed and said: “Yes.” He then took his leave to carry out the orders.

Meanwhile, by the time Gu Fuyou brought Zhong Michu back to Yinxue Pavilion, the sky had turned dark blue.

Because the Yinxue Pavilion was noisy and crowded, Zhu Ruo worried the girls wouldn’t be comfortable there. Hence, she arranged for them to stay in a quiet small courtyard behind the street.

When Gu Fuyou brought Zhong Michu over, Zhu Rou naturally had to welcome them. Only a few people had met Zhong Michu before, but after the girls in the house exaggerated Zhong Michu’s elegance, this time, people came to see her in droves, surrounding her completely.

They all came to see her as if she were some rare curiosity.

The girls pulled Zhong Michu into their fun for quite a while. Gu Fuyou had to use all her wits to finally rescue Zhong Michu and return to the small courtyard.

The courtyard was simple and elegant, far away from the crowd.

In the middle of the courtyard, there was a locust tree with lush branches and leaves, casting a dense shade.

Gu Fuyou and Zhong Michu’s rooms faced each other. They wished each other good night and retired to their respective rooms to rest.

With the moon shining bright, the distant noises faded, leaving only peace.

Gu Fuyou tossed and turned, unable to sleep until midnight.

She got up, wearing her robe with her hair loose, and sat staring at Ah Fu, who was curled up sleeping by the bed, for a while.

After a moment, she got out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and opened the door to a floor bathed in moonlight.

She walked out and sat down under the locust tree, her body hidden in the shadows.

She gazed at Zhong Michu’s door, her eyes welling up with tears. Before she knew it, tears were rolling down her cheeks.

With a creak, the door opposite opened. Zhong Michu, fully dressed, looked over and said, “Gu Fuyou?”

Zhong Michu hadn’t slept. She was in the middle of her meditation when she heard a noise and came out to check, only to see someone sitting in the dense darkness under the locust tree.

Zhong Michu approached, standing in the moonlight, “What’s wrong?”

Gu Fuyou had originally wanted to say, “Why did you come out? Did I disturb you?” to cover it up.

But she was too upset, her throat choked up, and she couldn’t speak. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would burst into uncontrollable sobs.

She didn’t want to cry in front of others. Crying alone was fine, but crying in front of others was too embarrassing.

Zhong Michu asked, “Is it the injury from the duel that hasn’t healed? Are you still in pain?”

“No…”

As soon as the word came out, she could no longer hold back and began to sob in front of Zhong Michu.

Tears streamed down, and she tried wiping them away, but the more she wiped, the more they flowed.

She tried suppressing her emotions, but it only made her feel worse.

Zhong Michu pressed again: “What’s wrong?”

Gu Fuyou was also asking herself what was wrong, saying it out loud was too ridiculous.

Feeling she had already embarrassed herself enough in front of Zhong Michu, she gave up trying to hold back and cried with tears and snot flowing freely.

While crying, she said: “I… it’s the first time, the first time someone has praised me like this…”

Gu Fuyou looked at Zhong Michu through tear-filled eyes, her voice catching as she sobbed, “Senior Zhong, it’s the first time someone has called me a genius.”

“I’m so happy, so, so happy…” she covered her face, her restrained sobs transforming into loud crying, as if she was trying to release everything pent up inside her.

From birth until now, the word she had heard most often was “regret.” How could Gu Wanpeng, a tiger of a father, have such an unremarkable daughter?

She thought that after all, she was part of the Gu family, and deep down, she was proud. Even knowing her aptitude was ordinary, she refused to remain mediocre.

She had rebelled before, cultivating desperately, using all kinds of spirit pills and elixirs. Her family gave her the best resources to improve her cultivation. She practiced day and night, cultivating, cultivating, and nothing but cultivating, forsaking food and sleep…

However, no matter what she did, her cultivation level only increased slowly. No matter how many spirit medicines were used, there was no noticeable improvement.

Years of hard work and the best resources couldn’t compare to her brother’s one night of meditation.

The outcome of hard work not being reciprocated is despair.

Maybe when she was alone, she could comfort herself that even a little progress, a little improvement, was still progress and improvement.

But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t keep lying to herself.

Beside her was a highly talented brother, worlds apart from her, constantly reminding her that it wasn’t that she wasn’t trying hard enough, but that she simply couldn’t do it.

She can endure a month, a year, two years, but she can’t bear ten years, twenty years.

She once had naive fantasies of being as brilliant as her brother. She also loved cultivation and hoped that one day she would achieve great mastery and leave her name in history.

In the end, reality left her with nothing but pain. Whenever she cultivated, she felt miserable.

For a while, to escape, she gave up cultivation entirely. She couldn’t bear to touch anything related to cultivation. She learned cooking from the family chef, thinking being a kitchen master wouldn’t be bad. She learned embroidery from seamstresses, tried carpentry, read medical books, wanting to become a healer.

Her father gradually thought she lacked focus, dabbling in everything but mastering nothing, abandoning cultivation and only loving to play around.

In the end, she still couldn’t resign herself to mediocrity.

In this unwillingness, she came into contact with formations. The first time she witnessed how the ancient formations could harness the power of heaven and earth, altering yin and yang, it was enough to amaze her for a lifetime.

She started to work tirelessly again. When she first researched and created a small, completely new formation on her own, she happily went to show Gu Wanpeng.

There’s a story in Xiaoyao City called “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

After Gu Fuyou had repeatedly abandoned important things for trivial matters, Gu Wanpeng no longer took her seriousness seriously, still treating it as if she was just playing around.

Gu Wanpeng only said, “Focusing on your cultivation would be better than anything else.”

This cold response was undoubtedly like pouring a bucket of cold water on Gu Fuyou’s passionate heart.

Gu Wanpeng didn’t understand Gu Fuyou’s love for formations, a love that could last a lifetime, so he wouldn’t know that Gu Fuyou was begging for his approval, hoping for his praise.

From the very beginning until now, Gu Fuyou had rarely heard praise from others. Even when she did, it was often just empty flattery from ordinary people who didn’t practice cultivation.

Cultivators value cultivation ability the most. Without cultivation, one can’t create powerful formations; without cultivation, life is limited to a hundred years, beauty fades in the blink of an eye, and there’s not enough time to accomplish anything.

Understanding how to set up formations with the right timing, location, yin and yang, and the five elements is considered useless without the necessary cultivation.

Gu Fuyou said, “Even if you’re just trying to comfort me…”

Zhong Michu crouched in front of her and said, “Gu Fuyou, I don’t lie. I called you a genius because I truly believe you are one.”

Gu Fuyou sobbed uncontrollably, shaking her head, “No, Senior Zhong. It’s not like that. I… I know that setting up formations, altering yin and yang and the five elements, using the forces of nature – these methods don’t require talent. As long as you work hard enough, memorize the conditions, characteristics, habits, uses, and origins of those formations, anyone can do what I do with enough effort. This isn’t genius…”

“I know I’m not a genius. I hate the so-called ‘talent’ so much. Why is it that without talent, no amount of effort is enough… But today, when you praised me, when you called me a genius, I was still so happy.”

Gu Fuyou clutched at her clothes, crying uncontrollably, “I’m still so happy.”

Gu Fuyou rubbed her eyes with one hand, her eyes already red and swollen. Zhong Michu took her hand away and said, “Gu Fuyou, don’t rub like that. You’ll hurt your eyes.”

Zhong Michu raised her own white sleeve and gently pressed it under Gu Fuyou’s eyes, absorbing the tears.

Gu Fuyou pinched Zhong Michu’s hanging sleeve and sobbed, “They all look down on me.”

Zhong Michu said, “You’re incredible.”

On hearing this, Gu Fuyou tried to suppress her tears, but they fell even harder.

Zhong Michu remained silent, offering her comfort.