A Figure on Jade Steps in the Wind and Snow 70

Chapter 70: Friend

“Jump into a lake?”

“Mm,” Shen Zhishu replied casually. “She has always been careless in her actions and only follows her own heart. After she had learned lightness skill for a long time, she told me one day that she had mastered it and wanted to perform a move called ‘walking on water.’ I followed her to the lakeside with great enthusiasm, wanting to see her walk on water, but she fell in after two steps.”

“And then?”

“And then I hurriedly pulled her out and took her to take a bath in a panic. But her constitution was strong, and she didn’t even get sick…”

Shen Zhishu chattered on, but Jiang Yu’s attention seemed to be a little off, “You two were so familiar with each other in the dream, but the General still doesn’t know what she looks like?”

Shen Zhishu thought hard for a while and sighed, “I really don’t know. Perhaps her face was always covered with a layer of clear mist, or perhaps I saw it in my dream but forgot after I woke up.”

Jiang Yu let out a low “Oh.”

At this moment, she was slightly raising her head and staring at Shen Zhishu. She suddenly raised her thigh and put it on Shen Zhishu’s body.

Her waist suddenly sank, and the physical contact was sudden. Shen Zhishu was a little at a loss for a moment and let out a dry laugh twice, “What, does Your Highness want to crush me to death?”

Jiang Yu did not answer, but with a burst of force, she turned halfway, pressed on Shen Zhishu’s shoulders, and lay on Shen Zhishu’s body.

Her strength was quite great, and it did not match her figure. She lay there quietly, her head resting on Shen Zhishu’s chest, like a koala.

The warmth that seeped through the two layers of inner clothes made Shen Zhishu take a breath impassively. She was quiet for a moment, and as if nothing had happened, she wrapped her arms around Jiang Yu’s waist and muttered in a low voice, “It seems Your Highness really wants to crush me to death.”

This time, Jiang Yu reacted, “Am I very heavy?”

“Very light.”

“Then I can’t crush the General to death.”

“You can,” Shen Zhishu said seriously. “If Your Highness moves up a little, to my neck, and then uses a burst of force, I will die. A person’s neck is still too fragile.”

Jiang Yu listened quietly and suddenly answered irrelevantly, “When you speak, your chest and stomach will rise and fall, and I will also rise and fall with them, like I’m on a boat.”

Shen Zhishu said with a serious air, “Then Your Highness has to pay me some boat fare.”

“I have no money.”

“No money, then is Your Highness taking a free ride?” Shen Zhishu smiled. “If you have no money, you can pay with something else.”

“But I have nothing, and I have nothing to give to the General.”

“Then what should we do?” Shen Zhishu said with a feigned headache. “Then I’ll have to ask Your Highness to get off the boat.”

Jiang Yu shook her head, her face rubbing against Shen Zhishu’s chest. She said firmly, “I’m not getting off.”

Shen Zhishu asked casually, “Your Highness is so old, why are you still going back on your word?”

Jiang Yu asked in return, “We have such a relationship, you can’t even let me take a boat?”

Shen Zhishu raised an eyebrow upon hearing this and asked knowingly, “What relationship?”

“The relationship of having had rain and clouds twice,” Jiang Yu was eager to try. “If the General wants to, we can have a third time tonight.”

“…” Shen Zhishu was a little amused. “Didn’t I say before? Being too frequent will be detrimental to Your Highness’s health. We have to talk about this matter after five days.”

“Then it’s a friendly relationship,” Jiang Yu said. “Friends have to pay for a boat ride, isn’t the General being a little too heartless?”

Shen Zhishu said seriously, “One thing is one thing. Even close sisters have to settle their accounts.”

“So I can’t take this boat?”

“Why not? Just pay.”

Jiang Yu raised her head and glanced at her, her expression a half-smile. Before Shen Zhishu could figure out what this look meant, Jiang Yu suddenly straightened her upper body, and then suddenly stretched out her hand, covering the… soft spot on Shen Zhishu’s chest with her palm.

Shen Zhishu: ?!!

She suddenly grabbed Jiang Yu’s waist, lifted that person off her, and then turned over and sat up, asking in some astonishment, “What is Your Highness doing?!”

Jiang Yu said with a blank expression, “It feels quite good.”

Jiang Yu often spoke outrageously, and she had gotten used to it, but her sudden action just now—

Forget it, let’s not argue about it anymore. It was probably because she was a little unhappy about the previous refusal, so she wanted to get something back from her, Shen Zhishu thought.

Jiang Yu had always been a little clueless in this aspect—perhaps in her eyes, all of this was just normal horseplay between friends…?

She had to correct this misconception, but it should not be now. Firstly, correcting a misconception required her brain to work fast, and she was a little lazy to move at this moment; secondly…

It was just that the atmosphere at the moment was too mysterious, or perhaps the dark night always gave people a strange and absurd emotion, so much so that she always felt that if she were to forcefully refuse Jiang Yu’s ignorant intimacy at this moment, the two of them would probably fall into an unpleasant stalemate again tonight.

Shen Zhishu stared at Jiang Yu with wide eyes for a few seconds, was defeated, and let out a slightly helpless laugh, “The boatman was attacked and the boat overturned, so this boat can’t be taken anymore.”

As she spoke, she lifted the blanket and lay back down, stretching out her inner arm to the side and looking up at Jiang Yu, “Your Highness can lie here. I’ll let Your Highness use my arm as a pillow.”

When the muscles on her upper arm were relaxed, they would be a little softer. Jiang Yu stared at it without blinking for a while and poked it with her hand.

Shen Zhishu was a little itchy.

“This is also quite soft,” Jiang Yu said softly.

“Then will Your Highness lie on it?”

Jiang Yu nimbly got into the bed and lay down with a thud.

Shen Zhishu was afraid that something else would happen, so she closed her eyes and began to complain of being sleepy, “This subordinate is so sleepy that I could probably pass out if I don’t sleep now.”

Jiang Yu replied and said, “Then let’s sleep.”

As she spoke, she also closed her eyes.

Shen Zhishu lay motionless for two joss stick’s time. She did not hear any movement from beside her for a long time and thought that Jiang Yu had already fallen asleep, so she wanted to pull her slightly numb arm out from under Jiang Yu’s neck.

She moved carefully, and the next moment, Jiang Yu opened her eyes.

Shen Zhishu: …

Shen Zhishu let out a dry laugh and made small talk, “Your Highness is not asleep yet.”

Jiang Yu said succinctly, “I can’t sleep.”

“Then…” Shen Zhishu thought for a moment. “Shall I tell you another story to lull you to sleep, Your Highness?”

Jiang Yu nodded and suddenly raised her head, moving down a little.

Shen Zhishu’s arm was suddenly empty. She turned her head to the side in some surprise and looked at Jiang Yu, who had shrunk into the blanket, “Is Your Highness not using it as a pillow anymore?”

Jiang Yu said, “Mm.”

“Why?” Shen Zhishu smiled.

“I’m afraid the General’s hand will get numb.”

Shen Zhishu withdrew her arm, secretly rubbed it twice, and still had to say a few stubborn words, “It won’t get numb. Your Highness is so light, and my arm is so strong.”

Jiang Yu blinked, “Then let me use it as a pillow for a while longer.”

“…” Shen Zhishu changed the subject stiffly, “What story does Your Highness want to hear?”

Jiang Yu thought for a while, and as if she had remembered something, she wrapped her arms around Shen Zhishu’s waist and asked softly, “Has the General heard some rumors? For example, the State Preceptor has lived for several hundred years.”

Shen Zhishu said, “I have.”

“Then does the General believe it?”

“I have no choice but to believe it. The State Preceptor has assisted several dynasties, hasn’t she?” Shen Zhishu said with emotion. “I can only say that there are many strange people and strange things in the world. The more fake they sound, the more real they are.”

“She has lived for so many years, enough for others to be reincarnated several times,” Jiang Yu said in a faint voice. “Speaking of reincarnation… does the General believe that a person has several lifetimes?”

Shen Zhishu hissed, “I originally didn’t believe it. I only thought that these were just the comfort and sustenance of the world, but I suddenly thought of the State Preceptor… forget it, I’d rather believe it.”

Jiang Yu continued to ask, “Then does the General think that the feelings of a previous life can be brought to this life? For example, if two people are reincarnated together, and they were a couple in their previous life, can they continue their fate in this life?”

“If they can continue their fate, it would be a good story. But if they really can’t, there’s no need to force it,” Shen Zhishu said with a smile. “Reincarnation is already a liberation, and one should forget the past. Otherwise, what is the use of Meng Po’s soup? Besides, after reincarnation, a person’s living environment will inevitably be very different from their previous life, and their appearance and personality may also be very different. In fact, they can’t be considered the same person.”

The arm on her waist rubbed twice, and Jiang Yu replied with a low “Mm,” and then said, “What does the General think you were like in your previous life?”

“I don’t know,” Shen Zhishu said seriously. “But I hope that in my previous life, I didn’t have such a heavy burden and could grow old with my loved one.”

“Now that the General has retired from the army, you can actually live such a life.”

“Forget it for this life,” Shen Zhishu smiled. “I’m just not fated to enjoy a peaceful life. By the way, what about Your Highness? What kind of life does Your Highness hope to live?”

Jiang Yu’s clear and light voice sounded in her chest, “The same as the General.”

“A couple for a lifetime?”

“Mm.”

Shen Zhishu was about to say something else, but Jiang Yu spoke first, “I’m sleepy.”

Shen Zhishu was a little surprised, “You’re sleepy now? So suddenly?”

But there was no response for a long time.

She lowered her head and, listening to Jiang Yu’s steady breathing, she called out very lightly, “Your Highness.”

Jiang Yu still did not respond.

Did she fall asleep so quickly? Shen Zhishu thought.

The room was dim and dark, and the moonlight was gone. Shen Zhishu looked at the thick black top of Jiang Yu’s head, paused, raised her hand and stroked it, and then let out a low laugh.

“It’s always like this,” she said helplessly. “She wakes me up, but she falls asleep herself.”

Shen Zhishu had originally thought that she would toss and turn for a long time, but unexpectedly, she also lost consciousness not long after. The moment before she fell into a dream, she thought to herself, Jiang Yu was right—

You just have to get used to the scent.

**

Shen Zhishu was woken up by a nightmare. In the dream, she had lost an arm, and when she woke up, she found that she could not feel her left arm.

When she first woke up, she was always a little dazed. After a cup of tea’s time, she finally realized belatedly that her arm had been pressed numb by Jiang Yu.

It was so numb that she wanted to pull her arm out from under Jiang Yu’s head, but she couldn’t use any force.

She couldn’t remember when her arm had ended up under the person beside her’s head. She stared at the ceiling through the bed curtains for a long time, and the dream of the night suddenly rushed into her memory.

It was an autumn day, and the sky was high and far, with no clouds in sight.

She was practicing qi in the pine forest with a horse stance.

The friend she had known for a long time came from a distance, holding a flower basket woven from willow branches, with yellow and white chrysanthemums stuck in it haphazardly.

Shen Zhishu asked, “Did you weave it?”

The friend said, “Mm.”

Shen Zhishu stood up, patted the non-existent dust on her body, took the flower basket and examined it carefully, and praised, “It’s quite beautiful.”

“It took a long time to weave,” the friend said.

Shen Zhishu looked left and right, and she was really a little reluctant to put it down. She said casually, “I heard that the elders in the sect are having a banquet today. Aren’t you with them?”

The friend shook her head, “It’s not an important banquet, so I’m not going.”

Shen Zhishu nodded, “By the way, there’s something I’ve always been a little curious about… why do they call you ‘benefactor’? If it’s not convenient to tell me, you don’t have to.”

The friend said, “It’s not a secret. It’s the friendship between the Rebirth Sect and you. Five hundred years ago, the Cold Cloud Palace was about to be destroyed, but was saved by the master of the Rebirth Sect. From then on, every ten years, the Rebirth Sect would send a person to your mountain sect, and this time, it was me.”

Her voice was clear and nimble, like jade stones and flowing water colliding in the mountains, very pleasant to listen to.

Shen Zhishu nodded and said with emotion, “So that’s how it is. I’ve never heard anyone mention it.”

“It’s all in the past, no need to mention it,” the friend said.

Shen Zhishu became curious, “You don’t know lightness skill. Doesn’t the Rebirth Sect teach martial arts?”

“The Rebirth Sect… connects yin and yang,” the friend said. “Rebirth, rebirth, as the name suggests, is to send souls to rebirth. Apart from this, we don’t learn any other skills.”

“Don’t souls go to rebirth on their own after they die? Do they need to be sent?”

“Natural birth, old age, sickness, and death don’t need us to send them. But if it’s an unnatural and wrongful death that causes deep resentment and unwillingness to go, then we have to go and pick them up personally.”

Shen Zhishu nodded as if she understood, and then asked, “Then how many people have you sent?”

“Three hundred and eighty-one.”

“So many?”

“Not many, an average of one or two a month.”

Shen Zhishu counted and smiled, “Then I’m about the same age as you.”

The friend blinked, “I’m twenty-seven. And you?”

“Twenty-eight.”

The friend nodded, “Then I should call you older sister.”

Shen Zhishu waved her hands repeatedly, “I can’t bear it, I can’t bear it. The elders all call you ‘benefactor.’ If you call me older sister, wouldn’t that be a mistake in seniority?”

“Then how should I address you?”

“Just as you did before,” Shen Zhishu smiled. “Haven’t you always called me ‘Zhishu’?”

The friend thought for a moment, shook her head, and the stray hairs by her temples swayed along with it, “Everyone else calls you Zhishu, so I’ll call you something else.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m leaving the Cold Cloud Palace next month to go back to the Rebirth Sect, and I was thinking of leaving some blessings for you. The wishes of the Rebirth Sect are the most effective. I wish for heaven to bless Zhishu, so I’ll call you Youshu, alright?”

“It’s quite novel, no one has ever called me that,” Shen Zhishu smiled. “It sounds nice, and the meaning is good. You’re a genius.”

“You’re exaggerating, Youshu. I’m just an ordinary person. I didn’t even know lightness skill three months ago.”

“You’re belittling yourself. How can an ordinary person learn lightness skill in three months? I can’t even catch up with your learning speed. It took me several years to learn lightness skill back then.”

Recalling this, Shen Zhishu was suddenly stunned.

Youshu…

She raked the stray hairs on her forehead back and thought to herself, It’s probably because I heard a certain person call me that too many times before I went to sleep, so I brought this name into my dream.

But… the dreams these past few days were so detailed and logical, so coherent that they were almost real, as if a long, long time ago, there really was a Cold Cloud Palace and a Rebirth Sect, and there really was a friend who called her “Youshu.”

Thinking of the late-night chat with Jiang Yu last night… that’s right, even the State Preceptor could live for several hundred years. What strange things were there in the world?

Could it be that this was really her previous life?

She got out of bed lightly, turned her head and glanced at the person who was sleeping quietly on the bed, and suddenly realized something—

If it was really a previous life, then this friend in her dream who called her “Youshu”…

Who was it?