The Eastern Continent Swordsman
CH. 4 – Valuable Lessons

“True ‘kan, what did I say, grandfather instantly smiled! Is grandpa's grief gone?” zhou Fu's eyes twinkled to find Li Xian's grandfather who had been seen to be more cheerful.

“Yes, let's just say so. By the way, Grandpa feels like he's not feeling well today. Can you concoct potions for me?” Li Xian pretended to scowl his temple while Zhou Fu immediately got up from his seat to inspect his grandfather's head.

“Mana, where does it hurt, Cake? Please don't die just yet, I don't want to be alone here!”

Zhou Fu gave quite an exaggerated response to a pretense of Li Xian. Li Xian learned the meaning of death to Zhou Fu. Where, death is a big farewell that makes someone no longer able to be invited to chat. One of the causes of death is a disease.

“Maybe I will die soon, except…

“Except what, Kek? Say...”

“Unless you concoct a potion that can lengthen my age.”

“I'm ready! I'm willing to make it! What am I supposed to do?”

Li Xian smiled inwardly, he hoped his plan would go smoothly without a hitch.

“To make the potion, you have to look for several types of plants at once,” Li Xian sat Zhou Fu who was still standing while kneeling his head. Li Xian explained to Zhou Fu about some of the plant names that he should find following with the characteristics of the plant.

“Unfortunately, the plant is behind this mountain. I'm afraid you can't carry out this task.”

“I can!”

Zhou Fu, without saying goodbye, stood up and ran away leaving his grandfather alone. Before his back completely disappeared from the grandfather's sight, Zhou Fu turned his head and waved at his grandfather.

“Wait for my arrival! Watch out don't die first yaaa!”

Zhou Fu's voice echoed in the wind of the mountain slope. Li Xian smiled broadly at his innocent granddaughter who talked about death in an inappropriate way.

“Haha, do you really think people can choose to delay death?” Li Xian replied inwardly. However, he replied to Zhou Fu's message with a nod and a wave of his hand.

Li Xian threw himself under an old cyprus tree. Now, he could feel the loneliness that the lone cyprus tree might experience. Li Xian patted the roots of the cyprus tree as if empathizing on its solitude.

“Quiet, do not rush to miss the boy because maybe two or three more days he just returned.”

Li Xian consoled himself by pretending to entertain the cyprus tree. Yes, judging from the distant location Zhou Fu was assigned to, Li Xian guessed that at least two or three more days his grandson would arrive at that place again. Two or three days was the fastest estimate, if Zhou Fu's journey counted smoothly without a hitch. However, if Zhou Fu's journey was not smooth, he could be up to five or even six days from that day.

The area through which Zhou Fu passed was not a forest or grass decorated with beautiful plants but covered a valley flanked by two steep cliffs, a forest inhabited by several black bears, and a forest, and the rivers that have a fairly heavy flow of water that occasionally can even wash away a bear weighing 200 pounds.

“Although bod*h in terms of reading and writing, Zhou Fu is a smart adventurer. He can definitely get through all the obstacles in his always unexpected ways!”

Li Xian changed his position. Although he was quite certain that Zhou Fu would be fine, he could not block the worries that were pounding his heart and mind. Zhou Fu was just a boy. Never mind crossing a fast-moving suangai, normally a child his age might be kept away from a calm river by his mother. Never mind dealing with a herd of bears, being close to a baby bear alone may have made a mother lose consciousness so worried.

“No, Zhou Fu is different! And hence, I have to do this to convince my guess!” back, Li Xian changed his tambourine position.

***

The sun had already sunk five times since Zhou Fu's departure hunting some medicinal herbs. Meanwhile Li Xian spent his days pacing back and forth waiting for Zhou Fu who did not return immediately. It was the 5th day, and in the end Li Xian had to be patient again because on the fifth day of the night even Zhou Fu had not revealed his nose.

The next day, as the sun was just about to get ready to rise in the eastern horizon, Li Xian heard the sound of a screaming child. The sleepless Li Xian chose to recoil while returning to feign a headache.

“Grandpa!!! Grandpa!!! Grandpa... Don't die just yet! How's this?”

The sound of Zhou Fu's screams grew louder. It was no ordinary scream! It was the sound of screams mixed with the sound of sobs. Li Xian's hair stood up, he had to celebrate that day because it was the first time Zhou Fu cried. At first, Li Xian was worried that his grandson lacked empathy, as he educated Zhou Fu for the sake of a trust to create a kind and wonderful child. Meanwhile, empathy is quite needed as one of the capital of a person to have a good heart.

“Kakek... I've been going around all the places that grandfather mentioned, but…..

Zhou Fu ran over to his grandfather who was lying down, he hugged the old man while holding back the tightness in his chest.

“I didn't find one! None of all the plants that grandfather mentioned, how is this?”

Li Xian did not reply, he still stomped his forehead with his eyes closed and lips tightly closed.

“Grandfather, is grandfather dead? Is a dead man like this his shape and state?”

Zhou Fu wiped his tears for a while then flipped through his grandfather's body while occasionally shaking him. Unable to bear it, Li Xian finally opened his eyes, pretending to be trying to sit with difficulty. Zhou Fu helped his grandfather to lean into the cyprus tree.

“Where is my life-splitting plant?” Li Xian asked in a tight voice.

“Nothing! There's not one! I'm sure I'm not in the wrong place, everything is in accordance with grandfather's instructions, but.... but not a single plant that I managed to find.... how is this?”.

“Aduuuh... How about this... What if I die later during the day?” Li Xian shook his head with a parched face.

“Don't matiii…. Please don't die…. Huaaaa..”.

Zhou Fu tightly embraced his grandfather's body, “I want grandfather to live on and never die.”.

Li Xian tried to stretch Zhou Fu's embrace. He wiped some of Zhou Fu's tears for the first time. He looked at the face of his grandson whose eyes were red.

“Fu’er, the tightness in your chest that. That's called sadness,” Li Xian touched Zhou Fu's left chest that Zhou Fu felt was very tight and hot. Zhou Fu looked at his grandfather's palm affixed to his left chest.

“Try now close your eyes with both hands,” Li Xian gave the order and Zhou Fu according. A few seconds after the silence, Li Xian asked Zhou Fu,

“My grandchild, is your sadness gone? Has the tightness in your chest subsided?”

Zhou Fu shook his head while still being as unwilling as he could, he opened his eyes again and hugged his grandfather.

“That's how, sadness can't be eliminated with just us closing our eyes.”

“Then...”.

Li Xian gave a hug to his little grandson. He whispered right in Zhou Fu's ear,

“After a thought, it seems like I don't want to die yet. Later, let's hunt crocodile eggs!”

Instantly, the tightness in Zhou Fu's chest vanished!

Zhou Fu was happy even if he knew that his grandfather was only pretending. In fact, the various plants that his grandfather mentioned the other day, were all just nonsense. No wonder Zhou Fu failed to find it, it would be strange if he managed to find a plant that did not exist.

The rest, Zhou Fu felt it was the happiest day for him.