"It's a very long story ChengLing, we'll tell you later. How do you feel?" asked Zi Shu as he leaned towards his disciple and put his hand on his forehead, checking his temperature.

"Fine Master, especially now that I know you're both alive!"

"Your fever is falling... ChengLing what were you doing in the snow in the middle of the night?" my soul mate asked our stubborn shidi .

I was a little angry at the young fool for disturbing our awakening, but at the same time I was happy to see him again. And then I wondered how A-Xu had known that our reckless disciple was in danger and especially how he had managed to find him in the night with such precision while he was buried under the snow ???? It was a mystery that I would have to solve, but for the moment, although I adored this child, I found him to be "cumbersome" to say the least. He was monopolizing A-Xu's attention and I think, to be honest, I was a little bit, but only a little bit... jealous! Not only had he woken up at the wrong time, but he was also occupying "our" bed!

I moved closer to A-Xu. ChengLing was staring at me.

"Shishu, your hair, why is it gray-white?"

"Didn't your Master tell you that we would explain later? It seems to me that he asked you a question! What were you doing in the snow in the middle of the night?"

The incriminator took on a guilty look. He wasn't supposed to be here with the consent of... of whom, by the way? Who had taken charge of this young scatterbrain after our "disappearance"? A-Xu elbowed me in the ribs

"Ouch! It hurts! What did I do? "I said with an annoyed look.

"Not what you did but what you said! Let's give him some air. He still has a fever. He needs to rest. He'll answer our questions later..."

"No, no Master, I feel fine. I will tell you everything. "

He took a moment to think, leaned against the headboard and began his story.

"After the avalanche, Prince Qi, the great shaman and I came to the heavenly mountain. We asked the people in the surrounding villages if there were any survivors. But we were told that the Heavenly Mountain never forgave when one dared to disrespect it, and that is what the men of the Scorpion and the Heavenly Windows did in wanting to seize its secrets that belonged only to the Immortals and the Gods."

A-Xu glanced in my direction when ChengLing spoke of Immortal.

Did this young idot suspect something?

"We wanted to mount an expedition to see if there were any survivors, but the people we met all discouraged us because it was early winter and the avalanche had made all the mountain paths unusable. They advised us to wait for spring. They added that anyway the Celestial Mountain was not forgiving and never left any survivor... Prince Qi and I still wanted to do something, but the great shaman talked us out of it. So we moved to the bottom of the mountain to wait for spring. Prince Qi contacted Uncle Chen Chen because he could not stay all winter because of his business. When Uncle arrived, he was accompanied by the disciples of the Four Seasons Manor. Prince Qi assured me that he would return and he left me the mansion he had bought at the foot of the mountain and said that I could use it as I pleased to recreate your clan Master ."

I saw a nostalgic smile on the lips of my soul mate. Just like ChengLing, his friend Prince Qi, did not think he was dead either! They knew each other well, and I envied BeiYuan for having lived with him, for having been his friend, and for having shared a part of his life that I too would have liked to belong to. As I listened to ChengLing talk about the Four Seasons Manor, I could see the spirit of my soul mate leaving me. I knew that the destruction of his childhood cradle had hurt him deeply. When the fire had consumed the walls that had seen so many generations of disciples, something had broken inside him. The arrival of the members of the Windows of Heaven who had remained faithful to him and the acceptance I had made on his behalf to integrate them among the disciples of his clan had restored a semblance of hope in his heart. Today ChengLing was rekindling the flame of that hope, just like when he had come into her life two years ago. At that time A-Xu was waiting for death as a punishment for his evil deeds. ChengLing gave him the strength to fight against his destiny, thanks to his youth, his stubbornness and also to some of my advice. After accepting him as a disciple, he intended to make him his heir, and now it was done. This young fool had begun to rebuild what Prince Jing's selfish vision had destroyed.

"A few days ago, the village headman came to us and said that the warmer weather of early spring had made the mountain paths accessible, but he warned us that halfway up, the snow was still there. As for the summit, it was there forever! I managed to convince Uncle Chen Chen to mount an expedition to try to find you, because I was always convinced that you were not dead! Shishu is too cunning to have let himself be surprised. I knew you would get into the armory... Master, this is where we are ... in the armory? "

ChengLing looked all around him. His eager eyes looked at every detail of our room. The sparse furniture, the trunks along the wall, the work table against the wall of the cave, the one with the books, the large door that sat in front of the bed...He suddenly frowned, looking skeptical...

"Master, is this your room or Shishu's? "A-Xu looked embarrassed. I decided to divert the attention of our young shidi.

"ChengLing, how did you end up alone, buried in the snow, if you and your Uncle Chen Chen had set up an expedition? Weren't there just two of you? You had to be accompanied, right?"

Once again, our young disciple looked embarrassed.

What had he done?

"Well?" I insisted. His gaze became evasive

"Well, when we got halfway up, we took shelter in a cave because a snowstorm suddenly came up... Uncle wanted us to turn back, but I convinced him to wait until the storm subsided and I waited until everyone was asleep to ...run away with them" He finished his sentence in a barely audible breath. He didn't dare look us in the face... He knew that he had acted rashly...

"ChengLing, you must learn to think before you act and listen to your elders!" said A-Xu, getting angry. It was the first time I saw him behave like this towards his disciple. He was not totally wrong, his behavior reminded me of the behavior he had towards me after my "false death". I could still feel his hand on my cheek ....

"I promise to be more careful and to pay attention to the advice of my elders... Master... now, why did Shishu's hair turn white?"

When this child had an idea in his head , it was hard to get it out!

I put my hand on A-Xu's and squeezed it gently. The folds of her dress hid this sign of affection from our young disciple's eyes. 

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)