Song of Adolescence

Chapter 277 Entranced in a Drunken Stupor

Baili Dongjun pointed a finger and hooked it gently.

The last bit of Meng Po soup that spilled out converged into a stream and flowed towards his fingertips.

"That’s Burgeoning Ocean." Tang Lian raised his head. All their hopes were now pinned on Baili Dongjun, the only one who still had the power to fight. Except they didn’t understand why, at such a critical moment, his master was using such an average skill.

"I am the first and only Wine Immortal in this world. When I’m drunk, I can ascend to the Ninth Heaven of the azure sky. I do not ask the goddesses of the Ninth Heaven to dance in the wind. I only wish to see a drunk immortal." Baili Dongjun coaxed the stream of liquid towards Mo Yi.

"Immortal? Actually, what is an immortal? Am I an immortal?" Mo Yi slowly landed onto the ground, muttering to himself, "Who was that man just now? Why did he call himself an immortal? Why did he call himself Mo Yi."

"Dare I ask this immortal, have you courage to drink this cup." Baili Dongjun flicked his two fingers, and the liquid swept towards Mo Yi.

Mo Yi raised his head, sniffed, and murmured, "Meng Po soup?"

"This mundane world is too dull. Might as well enter a trance of drunken stupor and enjoy the freedom." Baili Dongjun waved his palms again.

"I won’t drink it," Mo Yi replied faintly, and with a light wave of his hand, he knocked away the stream of liquid.

Baili Dongjun raised his hand lightly. "Rise."

All the liquid turned into mist instantly and Mo Yi was immediately surrounded by that mist.

An extremely heady fragrance of wine permeated the air, and even the plants around them slowly fell over. Xiao Se, Sikong Qianluo, and Tang Lian stood where they were, and the moment they smelled the fragrance of wine, they tottered on their feet, almost falling over.

Baili Dongjun was nearest to the wine, and he retreated hurriedly even as he inhaled the fragrance of the wine greedily. "Smells wonderful, smells wonderful. After this, there will never be another fragrance as peerless as this in the world."

This was Meng Po wine, the ultimate wine in the world that was recorded in the 《Wine Scripture》. Just one cup and you could fall into a grand dream for ten years, everything you had forgotten in the past could be remembered again, and you could once again meet the people you lost. After waking up from the dream, everything would be forgotten.

Finally, the mist around Mo Yi gradually dissipated. Everyone looked over nervously, and they saw Mo Yi sitting there with his eyes tightly closed, looking as if he had fallen asleep.

"It worked." Xiao Se clutched his chest and fell to the ground on his knees.

Sikong Qianluo hurriedly went to help him. "Let\'s use this chance to leave now."

Baili Dongjun retreated to their side and said anxiously, "Run now, while you still can. There’s a boat docked below. You just need to keep rowing and go westward. The formula to go back is the same as the one you used to come here. Remember, don\'t look back. "

"What about you, shifu?" Tang Lian asked.

Baili Dongjun shook his head. "I’ll bring up the rear. If he wakes up, I can still buy you guys some time."

"But." Sikong Qianluo was holding up Xiao Se and she asked anxiously, "Xiao Se can’t hold on much longer."

Baili Dongjun glanced at Xiao Se and sighed. "The last bit of Meng Po soup that could have saved your life has been used up. Not even I can save you now."

"I\'m okay, I still have some medicine that Hua Jin left for me." Xiao Se shook his head lightly. "Let’s hurry and meet up with Mu Chunfeng."

"Shifu, are you really not leaving?" Tang Lian said anxiously.

"Don\'t worry. Although I can\'t beat him, I can still escape. What\'s more, I don\'t really want to go back to Beili right now." Baili Dongjun shook his head.

"Okay." Tang Lian nodded, got up and swept to the top of the pavilion. He picked up Ye Ruoyi who was still unconscious, and then picked up Lei Wujie who had fainted earlier. Together with Sikong Qianluo who carried Xiao Se on her back, they ran towards the shoreline.

Baili Dongjun turned around and looked at Mo Yi who was stuck in a dream.

In an extremely dilapidated temple.

There were two children who had cuddled up to each other. The older one seemed to be the elder brother. He was patting his younger sister gently on her shoulder. "Don\'t cry, don\'t cry. Daddy went out to find Mummy, and they’ll be back soon."

The younger sister continued to sob softly. "Gege, you’re lying to me. Daddy is not coming back."

"No, Daddy will come back once he finds Mummy."

"Mummy is dead, gege."

The elder brother let go of his sister, and after looking at his sister’s eyes for a long time, he finally nodded. "Yes, Daddy is dead, and Mummy is also dead. They will never come back. From now on, it’s just the two of us. We’ll live together and I’ll look after you."

In the ruined temple, they lived like this for a long time.

Until the famine came, and everyone became refugees, and everyone became the same as the two of them. They had lost their homes and lost their families.

"Gege, you can sell me. Then we’ll both be able to survive." His sister was close to passing out from hunger, and she only had a thin thread of breath left.

"I won\'t sell you. I said I’ll look after you." The brother\'s eyes were very bright.

"But you’ll starve to death, gege," his sister spoke faintly.

"We’ll both survive this. We’ll survive this together and live." The brother stood up. "I\'ll go outside to find some food. You wait for me here."

The brother ran all over the place for a whole afternoon, begging anyone he could, but even those neighbors who would have cherished an old affection for the children had either left or had closed their doors tight. No matter how hard he knocked, they wouldn’t open the door.

"Please give me a steamed bun. When I grow up, I will do everything I can to repay you."

"Can you give me some gruel? My sister is dying. I can work for you without pay for a month. Please, can you give me a bowl of gruel now?"

"It was my daddy who saved you back then! If it wasn’t for my daddy, you would already be dead now, uncle! Why would you turn your back on us today!"

From the very beginning when he was seriously begging for food, until he started grovelling and finally, he was in extreme despair, but he did not get a grain of rice. In the end, he dragged his exhausted body back to the temple.

Maybe he could pick up some discarded leftover food on the way back.

But when he walked into the temple, his hands were empty.

We must get out of here. He thought silently in his heart.

"Gege, you\'re back." His sister smiled and greeted him when she saw that her brother was back. She no longer had that look of utter exhaustion when he left, and in fact, his little sister looked very energetic.

"What happened?" The brother asked.

His sister took out a large and warm pancake from her clothes. "Gege, a kind master was passing by and he gave me two pancakes. I’ve already eaten one, and I left the other one for you."

The brother was stunned for a moment, and then he ran over like he’d gone crazy, grabbed the pancake, and started biting it in large mouthfuls. Within moments, he’d finished the large pancake and not even a single crumb was left. His sister simply sat beside him and watched him with a smile.

That night, the brother held his sister and looked through the hole in the roof of the ruined temple to see the stars in the sky. He whispered to her, "Tomorrow, we’ll leave this place. If we stay any longer, we’ll both starve to death."

His little sister didn’t speak as she lay in his arms. She panted in small breaths, and her breaths grew softer and shorter until she became completely silent.

"Little Lü\'er[5]! Little Lü\'er!" The brother suddenly realised something wasn’t right and he shook his little sister in his arms.

But there was no longer a voice responding to him again.

Mo Yi’s cheeks were streaming with tears as he watched the scene before his eyes. He used his hand to gesture lightly.

He saw that ruined temple, and a little girl in green clothes prostrating herself before a monk they’d never met before. The monk sighed and left behind a pancake.

Just one. There was only one pancake.

"Little Lü\'er! Little Lü\'er!" The brother\'s heart-piercing screams tore the image apart.

The little girl who had died in his arms woke up and she raised her skinny right hand to touch her brother’s cheek. "Gege, don\'t think about me anymore. The reason I died was to give you a happier life.

"Little Lü\'er will always be with you."