Ch36 - Return trip

Gallant Outlaw was touched. “You even thanked me. Idol, you’re really the prime minister who can punt a boat in his stomach, ah.”

Those readers have pits in their brains big enough to be sinkholes, Xie Zhiwei thought. But he couldn’t understand why they were all girls.

“Count me unlucky for falling into the pit, but…” Xie Zhiwei turned expressionless as he changed the subject. “don’t think you’re off just because I’m not making a fuss.”

Gallant Outlaw immediately understood. “Idol, feel free to tell me any requests you have. Besides changing your role or forcibly changing the plot, anything else is fine.”

Not changing roles was part of Gallant Outlaw’s principles because he had an unimaginable obsession with casting He Zheng as the hero and Xie Zhi as Xie Zhiwei. But Xie Zhiwei didn’t understand why they couldn’t change the plot. That was his original request.

“Why can’t we change the story? Is it so hard to have Tantai Meng fall out of the sky and pair up with the hero? Don’t make me question your orientation again, okay?”

Gallant Outlaw was quite straightforward despite Xie Zhiwei’s aggressive questioning. “Idol, this has nothing to do with my orientation, ah. Truthfully speaking, I almost thought of killing myself when little Mengmeng went offline. But I can only operate the System, not change the plot. Otherwise there’d be no point to the System’s existence. If viewers didn’t like a drama you filmed that was already airing, would you agree to reshoot the scenes?”

“Doesn’t matter to me, but the production crew would definitely disagree. Who has that much time or money to fool around?” Xie Zhiwei thought back to his old experiences filming dramas and sighed with emotion. “It’s not easy, ah. But it is possible to change the endings of dramas based on audience feedback if they’re filmed and broadcast concurrently.”

Gallant Outlaw slapped his thigh. “Exactly, so this is the only way we can salvage the heroine’s scenes for later.”

“What kind of salvage? Do you mean…” Xie Zhiwei’s heart thrilled, “the heroine might appear again?”

“Idol’s smart! Although her character thread isn’t lit up, it hasn’t been completely destroyed. It’s just not connected to the main plot right now. I can’t guarantee when she’ll show up again, so Idol…”

Xie Zhiwei massaged his temples. “Fine, fine, I know what you mean. Doesn’t it all depend on me pulling her character thread back on track? I’ll see what I can do. But using fanfiction to flesh out the sidestory was too awful. You have to compensate me! If you can’t change the plot, can’t you give me one chance to let loose and act cool?”

“Of course. Idol, you’ve even gotten four stars now.”

Xie Zhiwei nodded, pleased until he suddenly sensed something wrong. “Wait, those four stars all came from my own efforts. It’s not like you awarded them to me on a discount.”

Gallant Outlaw lamented in his heart. Truly, those who stayed long in the entertainment circles were all sharp-witted. He laughed dryly and said, “Then think over it slowly, Idol. We can negotiate.”

Xie Zhiwei stopped talking, leaving the System space silent.

“Idol has something on his mind?”

Xie Zhiwei cleared his throat and said, slowly, “Nothing, I just feel that something’s a bit strange.”

“Strange where? Besides the heroine going offline, everything else has been pretty normal.”

Annoyed, Xie Zhiwei dismissed it. “Forget it forget it, progressing the plot’s more important. I’ll tell you my request once I’ve thought it over.”

After Xie Zhiwei ended the conversation and finished sleeping, the hero had already wrapped up the rest of the loose ends. The progress bar reached 100% and Xie Zhiwei left his rooms feeling refreshed. He saw in the corridor a group of people walking his way with Du Sheng and Mu He in the lead. It looked like they two of them had already established a rapport.

Du Sheng was counting prayer beads in his hands as he spoke. The others followed suit, either with righteous indignation or regret. When Mu He saw Xie Zhiwei standing at the end of the hall by the corner of the bamboo grove, his grin widened and he quickly walked ahead to bow. “Shizun.”

Then he added softly, “Disciple already said that shizun was resting, but these seniors who were rescued insisted on waiting outside the bamboo grove to thank shizun face-to-face.”

“I understand.”

While they were speaking, the crowd had caught up. Du Shen  heshi'd  to Xie Zhiwei with a bow. “Shanzai, today we all relied on Xie zhenren and your senior disciple to rescue us. Our gratitude is boundless.”

The people behind him expressed their thanks. Xie Zhiwei smiled and said some perfunctory things but didn’t see Lu Zhanyun amongst them. “Why is Young Lord Lu not present?” he asked.

Someone replied, “His cultivation was too shallow. He actually lost his mind after the incident and could only babble nonsense. When he saw Xie zhenren’s senior disciple, he called him ‘grandpa,’ such a shame.” This would have been a humorous description, but the present party were too high-class and well-bred to laugh.

Du Sheng painfully reassured Xie Zhiwei, “Your sect’s City Lord Bai and Young Lord Lu are close, but Xie zhenren doesn’t need to feel too saddened.”

It took Xie Zhiwei some effort to grasp what he meant: Bai Jianzhu and Xie Zhiwei were sect siblings—the kind that looked very close to outsiders. Lu Zhanyun was Bai Jianzhu’s relative, so he would naturally be intimate with Xie Zhiwei as well. Thus, if Lu Zhanyun went crazy, Xie Zhiwei should also feel very sad and guilty.

What kind of reasoning is this?

I can’t wait to laugh now that the cheeky brat’s gone nuts, all right?

Xie Zhiwei forced himself to look down and heave a regretful sigh while sneaking a glance at Mu He. The teen had the exact same expression as him, also faking a sigh. But the upward lilt of his lips didn’t slip past Xie Zhiwei’s gaze.

Impressive. He’s the hero all right, avenging even the smallest of slights. Looks like Lu Zhanyun’s been turned into a useless waste.

After all courtesies were exchanged, Xie Zhiwei took out something from his sleeve. “Though matters turned perilous this time, this poor daoist is still honored to meet with Great Master Du Sheng. The day before I copied down half of the Diamond Sutra and hope that the Great Master won’t disdain this offering.”

Xie Zhiwei had been in the entertainment circle for a long time and had a certain level of sophistication. As a poor daoist, he didn’t have much money to exchange gifts, so he had to use hard work instead. Though he planned to get close to Shen You with his calligraphy, who knew the man was long dead? Now he gave Du Sheng half of the Diamond Sutra he wrote yesterday to assuage his own misgivings. There would be lots of people at the Buddhist-Daoist Conference, so he wanted to sound out Du Sheng’s opinions ahead of time.

Just in case anyone tried to sabotage the hero meeting his father.

For someone as lowkey as Xie Zhiwei, seeking Du Sheng outright would only attract attention. But gifting him calligraphy was a fine excuse. As expected, Du Sheng was delighted with the present as he flipped through the sheets. “I’ve only heard of Xie zhenren’s attainments in cultivation, but it seems your calligraphy skills are excellent as well. This poor monk admires your skills. I must trouble Xie zhenren to finish the rest so this poor monk can hang it atop our Mahavira Hall one day.”

The others also praised the work, saying things like “good calligraphy,” “the brushwork is like flowing clouds,” and so on.

Xie Zhiwei remained humble and said, “You praise overmuch.” This is how you downplay yourself into invisibility.

Mu He had no interests in the four arts of qin, Go, calligraphy, or drawing, nor did he get to see the sheet of writing that Xie Zhiwei had given to Ming Kong which was all torn up. This time he finally got a peek and couldn’t move his eyes away.

They all said that a person was like his handwriting. Xie Zhiwei’s words had backbone and style, the ink written with force to penetrate the paper. Each brush and stroke was elegant and vigorous, the turn of the characters rounded like swaying bamboo that bent without breaking in the wind. Mu He felt that he was starting to develop an aesthetic sense of calligraphy.

Besides music, shizun seemed to be good at everything. When would he reach his master’s realm of skills?

—

Xie Zhiwei tried not to interfere with the hero’s actions and naturally followed the canon plot. But unexpectedly, the hero did the opposite of what was described in the novel. He didn’t destroy Ashen Cloud Sword Sect like the original story, nor did he set fire to its mountains, much less follow Xie Zhiwei’s expectations to sleep with a girl or two. The two of them left the peak at pre-dawn in silence, much like the way they arrived.

The only thing that matched the original novel was the hero never looking back as they walked away.

Not that there was anything to look at, anyways. Expressionlessly, Xie Zhiwei thought, Maybe…the hero’s walked out of a fanfiction too.

By the time they rushed back home, it was daybreak. Yujing Sect was much warmer than Ashen Cloud Sword Sect. Rain had just fallen and the ground was damp, while the distant clouds were wreathed by a rainbow. Mid-flight they passed over the pink buds of Earthly Moon City’s lotuses in their pond as well as the green thorny bamboo grove surrounding Summit City on all sides.

Mu He said little on the way back and didn’t even look at the scenery. He seemed to be preoccupied with his thoughts. Xie Zhiwei only assumed he needed time to adapt to both Black and White Lotus. If someone had been starving for ages and was suddenly fed braised pigs’ feet, they’d need time to digest it slowly, right?

The daoist apprentices cooked them a meal of stir-fried bamboo and vegetables with tofu, bland to the extreme. Xie Zhiwei might have eaten nothing but vegetarian dishes at Ashen Cloud Sword Sect the last few days, but there were plenty of oil and flavorings. Now he was unused to such simple fare. He picked at his bowl and eventually gave up. It wasn’t like he needed to eat with inedia anyways. Mu He didn’t seem to have an appetite either. He ate his rice grain by grain and Xie Zhiwei only made him finish half his bowl after giving him pointed looks. Then he chased the teen off to rest.

Mu He stopped at the door to turn back, as if wanting to ask a question. In the end he just bowed and scurried off. Xie Zhiwei finally guessed what he was thinking about, but a soy sauce character like him in the book had no right to ask probing questions.

Mu He might not know Du Sheng, but he had been reborn. He should know what that entailed now that he was back. The Buddhist-Daoist Conference would be in one month and they would definitely attend. Then the hero would reclaim what was his, so it was no surprise he was nervous.

“Second senior brother, you’re finally back.” A grumbling voice trailed through the door. Xie Zhiwei didn’t have to look up to guess the speaker, but still put on a smile and lifted his head.

“Youngest junior brother is so early. I haven’t been back for long.”

Chu Zhishi cupped his fist before his chest and got straight to the point. “Second senior brother, hurry and take that Dog of yours. He’s causing utter pandemonium at Heavenly Sun City.”

“Isn’t he shut up in a cage?” Xie Zhiwei asked. “Did you let him out?”

Chu Zhiwei looked aggrieved. “How is that possible? I thought it was annoying to hear him yelp and bang at the cage all day, so I placed him in a rear mountain courtyard where we store miscellaneous things. But that beast is so strong! One of my disciples went to toss him some fish and he broke through the cage to pounce on him. I was afraid he’d kill my disciple, so I sealed off the entire courtyard within a boundary field.”

“Something like that happened?” Xie Zhiwei wondered.

“Isn’t that so? Seems like second senior brother hasn’t treated him very well. Otherwise, why would he get so excited just to eat some fish?”

Xie Zhiwei silently picked at his rice and bland tofu with no oil. What can I do, I also feel hopeless about my meals, ah…

—

The author has something to say: Next up I’ll debut some new characters before master and disciple go off to catch a cat~~~

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