l eat it after I finish drinking.”

But Linghu Chong didn’t eat the bowl of rice after all. The next day when Lu Dayou brought food up again, he found the bowl of rice sitting on the rock untouched and Linghu Chong sleeping on the floor. Lu Dayou noticed some redness on Linghu Chong’s cheeks, so he reached out and felt Linghu Chong’s forehead with his hand. It was burning hot. Linghu Chong must be running a high fever. He became very worried.

“Big apprentice brother, are you feeling sick?” he asked gently.

“Wine, wine! Give me wine!” Linghu Chong mumbled.

Although Lu Dayou brought some wine with him, he didn’t give it to him. Instead, he poured a bowl of water and sent it next to Linghu Chong’s lips.

Linghu Chong sat up and drank the big bowl of water in one swallow. “Good wine, great wine!” he yelled, and then fell down on his back heavily, still mumbling, “Good wine! Great Wine!”

Knowing that Linghu Chong’s illness was quite serious, Lu Dayou was very concerned, but it happened that Master and Master-Wife had some business to take care of and had left Mount Huashan early in the morning. So he ran down the cliff and told Lao Denuo and the other senior apprentice brothers.

Yue Buqun had set up a strict rule that other than the once a day task of bringing food up the cliff, no one would be allowed to go up the cliff to see Linghu Chong. But now since he was seriously ill, to go up the cliff to check on him probably wouldn’t be counted as a violation. Yet the bunch of apprentices still dared not to go up the cliff all at once and decided to go up the cliff to check on Linghu Chong in groups and in different days. Lao Denuo and Liang Fa were the first two to go up.

Lu Dayou then went and told Yue Lingshan about it. Yue Lingshan was still quite angry at Linghu Chong, so she said coldly, “Come on, big apprentice brother has excellent inner energy, how could he become ill? You can’t fool me.”

The illness of Linghu Chong broke with such a tremendous force. For four days and four nights, Linghu Chong stayed in a coma. Lu Dayou begged Yue Lingshan to go up the cliff to pay a visit. He almost knelt down in front of her when she finally realized he was speaking the truth and also got greatly worried. She went up the cliff together with Lu Dayou, only finding a Linghu Chong with deeply sank cheeks and disheveled beard all over his face, nothing even close to the unrestrained and unconventional one he used to be.

With remorse in her heart, Yue Lingshan walked by his side and said gently, “Big apprentice brother, I’ve come to see you. Don’t be mad at me any more, alright?”

Linghu Chong’s face looked indifferent. His eyes wide open, he stared at her with a confused look, as if he didn’t know who she was at all.

“Big apprentice brother, it’s me. Why don’t you answer me?” Yue Lingshan said.

Linghu Chong kept staring at her blankly. After a while, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Till Lu Dayou and Yue Lingshan had left, he still did not wake up.

Only after well over a month, Linghu Chong finally started to recover. During the one month, Yue Lingshan had come to visit him a total of three times. The second time she came, Linghu Chong had already regained his consciousness and was very happy to see her. The third time she came, Linghu Chong had already been able to sit up to eat a couple of the cookies she brought with her. But after that visit, she stopped coming. After Linghu Chong was able to stand up and walk around, he would be waiting by the edge of the cliff most of the day for little apprentice sister’s pretty figure to show up, but every time all he could see was either the quiet and empty valley, or the sight of Lu Dayou bending his back to climb up the cliff in a hurry.

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[1] A pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves (normally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival).

[2] The town of Dragon-Spring in Zhejiang Province is well known for making quality blades.

[3] Shanxi Province, where Mount Huashan is. It’s at the northwest part of China.

[4] Reminder: Fujian province is the Province Lin Pingzhi came from. The Fortune Prestige Escort House Headquarters was located at Fuzhou, which is the capital of Fujian Province.