Chapter 3: The Model Disciple Du Yu
Master was going on a long journey? Du Yu had been at the Boundless Sect for eight years and had never seen Ye Shuangyue travel far, nor had he heard of her having any friends or relatives. He had always assumed the three of them at the Boundless Sect were just invisible nobodies in the Jianghu. For some reason, a sense of melancholy loss rose in Du Yu’s heart. The thought of that rattan chair in the courtyard sitting empty made him feel as if he had lost something. He wasn’t lacking in self-awareness; he realized that perhaps he truly harbored feelings for his Master that shouldn’t exist.
“Master, you are going on a long journey?” As the model Head Disciple of the Boundless Sect, he should have just diligently obeyed orders. Proactively inquiring about Master’s affairs was a bit superfluous for a model disciple.
Ye Shuangyue had never been strict with him. She nodded gently. “Yes. I am going to pay respects to your Grandmaster. This year is a special year, so I must make the trip.”
Grandmaster? Did the Boundless Sect actually have a lineage? Du Yu had always thought the Boundless Sect was something Master had made up on a whim—calling it the Boundless Gang or Boundless Temple would have made no difference. Ordinary sects had inner disciples specializing in martial arts, outer disciples managing livelihood and assets, a sound system, and numerous personnel. Only then could it be considered a complete sect. What did the Boundless Sect have? An inner-sect Master who slept all day, a Head Disciple who read and wrote but couldn’t practice martial arts, a Junior Sister obsessed with novels and wild fantasies, and an outer-sect income entirely dependent on Lotus Seed Town’s sponsorship.
Though, you had to admit, this life was quite comfortable.
Seemingly afraid Du Yu might get the wrong idea, Ye Shuangyue explained further, “Once I bring your Grandmaster’s ashes back this year, I’ll have you formally acknowledge your ancestry.”
Master actually cared about whether he felt discriminated against. Du Yu felt a warmth in his heart and bowed to take his leave. Walking along the stone path in the courtyard, still pondering the matter of the Boundless Sect’s Grandmaster, he suddenly saw a white deer leisurely gnawing on fruit under a hawthorn tree. Du Yu walked up to the white deer and watched it eat with interest. The white deer gave him a very human-like glance, then disdainfully turned its head away.
It wasn’t the first day Du Yu had been despised by this guy.
This white deer was called Little White by Master. It was Master’s mount and the reason this mountain was called Mount Seeking Immortals. Legend had it that when a certain commandery princess passed through Luo County years ago, she got lost in the mountains due to her playfulness. She was guided to safety by a white deer in the mountains. That unlucky princess then decided there must be true immortals in these mountains and bestowed the name Mount Seeking Immortals upon it.
That white deer was naturally Little White. It had an elegant and upright figure, no antlers on its head, and a gentle temperament—gentle enough to everyone except Du Yu. Little White was extremely intelligent; Du Yu even suspected this guy could understand their human speech. He didn’t know what breed of deer it was.
Du Yu had provoked it seven years ago. Ignorant and curious, he wondered if Little White was a buck or a doe and foolishly tried to lift its tail to check. At the time, Du Yu didn’t realize Little White was so intelligent. He was immediately kicked to the ground by the white deer. If Master hadn’t come to the rescue, Little White probably would have butted him off the mountain. Since then, Little White had never been gentle with Du Yu again. Every time they met, if it didn’t butt him with its head, it meant Miss Deer was in a good mood that day.
“Little White, Master White.” Du Yu walked to the front of Little White again. Little White snorted a puff of hot air from its nose, turned around again, and ignored him completely.
“Master White, did you know the Boundless Sect has a Grandmaster?” Du Yu asked. In the entire Boundless Sect, Little White had probably been with Master the longest. As he spoke, he took out the leftover roasted chestnuts from yesterday from his pocket, peeled one, and held it to Little White’s mouth. Only then was Little White willing to look him in the eye.
Miss Deer smacked her lips as she finished the chestnut, then gave a slight nod to Du Yu.
So there really was a Grandmaster. The Boundless Sect wasn’t just some unranked, miscellaneous sect; it was at least a ninth-rate sect, on the same level as the neighboring Iron Palm Sect. Thinking of this, the model Head Disciple actually puffed out his chest with a bit of pride.
Du Yu had always been strict with himself. He believed he had received immense grace from Master and should diligently repay her. He had always demanded of himself to be a perfect disciple. Until this year, when he realized with some dismay that perhaps he wasn’t perfect enough…
Harboring a bellyful of thoughts, Du Yu arrived at the kitchen, only to see his youthful and lively Junior Sister, Gongsun Ruo, with her sleeves rolled up, stuffing dry straw into the earthen stove. The scene was a bit incongruous. The iron wok on the stove was probably bigger than Junior Sister herself, and several bright red roast geese were sizzling in the oil.
“Smells so good. Can we finish all this food today?”
“Ah, Fake Prude Senior Brother, hurry and help me watch the fire. I’m going to fetch some water.”
The two of them busied themselves for quite a while before finally completing today’s cooking task. They covered the pot to let the roast goose simmer and absorb the flavor, then sat outside the kitchen taking deep breaths of fresh air. Du Yu looked at Junior Sister’s pitiful, panting appearance and couldn’t help saying, “Next time, you don’t need to make such troublesome dishes. There are only three of us in the sect, and we aren’t picky about food. There’s no need to tire yourself out like this.”
Gongsun Ruo first gave a subconscious “Oh” to show obedience, then looked up at him and said, “Senior Brother, you and Master have given me a new lease on life. I don’t have anything good to repay you with, so I can only think about what delicious food to make every day.”
“We are all family; do we need to talk about repaying or not repaying?” Du Yu had been with Master for so many years that his thinking had been assimilated by her. Rather than a martial arts sect, the Boundless Sect was more like a small family formed by three people with no one else to rely on, depending on each other for survival.
Master’s origins were mysterious, and she never seemed to have any social interactions; he, Du Yu, had lost his memory in his youth, and although he had family, they were like strangers; Gongsun Ruo was obviously from a wealthy family, yet no one had ever come looking for her.
Looking at it this way, the three master and disciples in the Boundless Sect were quite pitiful.
“Family…” Gongsun Ruo was stunned when she heard these words. She cupped her face in her hands and looked at Du Yu’s profile.
In Senior Brother’s heart, what kind of “family” did this refer to? Was it family like siblings, or family like husband and wife?
When did she develop feelings for Senior Brother…? Actually, it was probably right when she first entered the sect. Ever since leaving that home, she had always… always liked clinging to Senior Brother, liked listening to his voice, liked his tone, liked the way he cared for her in every detail. From the very beginning, she must have liked Senior Brother. Back then, she was squatting by a rock, with the corpses of her guards just over ten steps away. She was too scared to move, not even knowing if the murderer had left. Just when she thought she was going to be trapped there to die, Senior Brother appeared. She still remembered the first thing Senior Brother said to her was, “Why are you crying?”
Master was right; boys mature late… Senior Brother Du Yu still hadn’t realized her feelings. Maybe because Senior Brother lived in the mountains all year round and hadn’t had contact with other girls, he didn’t understand women’s minds very well… This might not be a bad thing. At least this way, Senior Brother would always be her Senior Brother…
Du Yu could never have imagined that in the heart of Gongsun Ruo, who in his eyes was always lively and playful, there were so many twists and turns.
“Senior Brother, are you still thinking about being a model Head Disciple?”
“Mm, of course.”
“So silly.”
“What?”
“I said, Senior Brother, you act silly.”
Du Yu was a bit annoyed. He had a photographic memory when studying under Master; how could he be silly?
Seeing that he was really getting angry, Gongsun Ruo couldn’t help covering her mouth and laughing. She wouldn’t tell Senior Brother that teasing him, who always loved to be serious, was a very fun thing to do. “Senior Brother, you said before that we should pay attention to a woman’s reputation. Where did you learn that kind of thing…?”
“From books, of course. The Ya says, ‘Admire purity and love chastity, cultivate one’s name and repair one’s reputation.'”
Hearing Senior Brother’s reply, Gongsun Ruo giggled. She laughed more and more freely, until finally, she was clutching her stomach and leaning against the wall laughing.
***
T/N:
“Ya” (《雅》) refers to a classic Confucian text or a book of etiquette/moral conduct.
