Blood Bonds And Golden Ties

Chapter 41: The Fight

[Shi Han Jun]

Han Jun was awaken by a snore by his ear. Opening his eyes to find himself in a bright room, he slowly sat up and surveyed his surroundings. He was in a small room with a stream of sunlight coming down in front of him. A wooden door that was open. Beside the door was a cabinet with many labels. He smelled the sweet fragrance mingled with leaves. To his right was a short stubbly legged table with small stools that accompanied it and a pile of dirty clothing lay on it. Han Jun wrinkled his nose and glanced behind him. Xiao Zhao was next to him, just inches away.

"You're awake?"

Han Jun was startled by Gu Shi Fu's voice. The pile of dirty clothing moved and hair seemed to pop out. Gu Shi Fu's face slowly emerged from it.

"Gu Shi Fu."

"Ai, surprised to see me here? Well, me too."

"Wh-what happened yesterday night?"

"You tell me! I'd like to know the answer too!"

"Gu Shi Fu... I don't remember anything. Could you tell me what happened?"

Gu Shi Fu sighed. "As expected, you did forget a lot of what happened. To ask you to explain would be so pointless and useless. See when I was your age I would remember everything. I had a good memory too and everyone would say—"

"Gu Shi Fu, just tell me what happened."

"Fire, you were in a fire."

"What? How is that possible?"

"Like I said, I don't know. If you had the memory like me then—"

"I want to go see the remains of the library," Han Jun threw aside his blankets. Standing up from the bed, he slid into his shoes.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gu Shi Fu asked sternly as he too stood up.

"Like I said, to the library."

"You can't go."

Han Jun strode to the doorway but was intercepted by Gu Shi Fu. "Why can't I go?"

"You have just been through a beating, a fight, and a fire. If you keep going like this, one day you will lose your life. You need to rest."

"Hai! I don't need rest. See? I'm doing perfectly fine!" He held up his arm and bent it. No muscles.

"Well, you were in lots of bandages, you need to take care of yourself. Besides, you spat blood out the other day. You need to take it easy."

"See, the bandages were just used for minor injuries so that teachers could be more easy going on me. As for the blood...a bit of cleaning out the bad blood from my system can't be that bad. I'm doing fine. Really."

"I said no. If I said no, you must listen."

"I want to talk to Jiang Shi Fu."

"I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Why? Did he too die in the fire?"

"No, but why would you say something like that? Do you wish ill of Jiang Shi Fu?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should not have spoken that way," Han Jun quickly brought his hands up and bowed.

"Knowing you're wrong and changing is a good first step." Gu Shi Fu helped Han Jun straighten. He sighed. "Speaking of Jiang Shi Fu, it is rather strange. It seems that he has just disappeared into thin air."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when the fire first broke out, students tried to summon Jiang Shi Fu from his room but he was naught to be found. Until this morning, he still hasn't showed up. I wonder what happened to him..."