He Sui’an eyed Qi Buyan’s steaming bowl of botou and asked, “Is it good?”
“It’s alright,” he replied.
She glanced at it again, “Oh.”
Qi Buyan offered a spoonful of botou to He Sui’an, his gesture reminiscent of how he used to feed his Gu. Only now, the recipient was He Sui’an.
He Sui’an did want to try the botou, but she had already ordered a plate of fried pastries and a big bowl of porridge, and ordering another bowl of botou would be too much. So, she hadn’t planned on asking for it.
Since Qi Buyan was offering, she wanted to try it.
Just as she was about to open her mouth to eat the spoonful of botou, she sensed people at the next table looking at them. Was feeding someone in public that unusual?
He Sui’an quickly ate the botou, then buried her head in her own fried pastry and porridge.
Seeing that she didn’t want a second bite of botou, Qi Buyan retracted the spoon and ate the half piece left in the spoon.
It wasn’t He Sui’an’s imagination; people at the next table were indeed watching them.
The western market was bustling with people. Those who were there yesterday might be wandering elsewhere today, and today’s crowd was a new batch of merchants in Chang’an, unaware of the previous day’s events.
The three people at the next table were Hu merchants new to the market. They were looking at He Sui’an and Qi Buyan because of their beautiful silver jewelry, and of course, because of their attractive looks.
The boy had a delicate, refined appearance, wearing an indigo outfit with a bone flute hanging at his waist.
The girl had a delicate and charming face, wearing a pink high-waisted ruqun with the skirt reaching her chest. She had a shawl draped over her arm, and her long braid was tied with a pink silk ribbon, adorned with a silver tassel at the knot.
These three Hu merchants were businessmen.
Businessmen typically pursue profit, and these Hu merchants also dealt in reselling jewelry. Upon seeing the silver accessories on He Sui’an and Qi Buyan, their first thought was to source and resell them for a profit.
However, they quickly dismissed the idea.
They could tell that the silver accessories worn by He Sui’an and Qi Buyan were not ordinary items that could be easily purchased. The fine quality and craftsmanship indicated that they were custom-made and unique in the world.
Such unique silver accessories meant there was no way to source them, much to the merchants’ disappointment.
Suddenly, the Hu merchants’ attention was caught.
They noticed the jade pendant in Qi Buyan’s hand. One of the merchants wanted to buy it, so he quickly approached Qi Buyan: “Young master, may I ask where this jade pendant came from?”
He Sui’an, still chewing on a fried pastry, saw someone inquire about the pendant and quickly swallowed without fully chewing: “Why are you asking about that?”
The merchant smiled: “I just find this jade pendant very much to my liking.”
This wasn’t his first time doing business in Chang’an. He had heard of the five rare jade pendants in the city, which were now almost impossible to buy.
Seeing that Qi Buyan and He Sui’an were quite young, he hoped they might not recognize its value.
The merchant, with a hopeful mindset, didn’t mention the pendant’s rarity, hoping to offer a small amount of silver to persuade them to sell it to him.
He Sui’an wasn’t naive and could infer his intentions from his words but didn’t express it outright, simply saying: “I see.”
Qi Buyan continued to rub the jade pendant.
He smiled but said nothing.
The merchant held up a few fingers: “I genuinely like this jade pendant. Could you sell it to me for this amount?”
“How about it?” The merchant was worried other merchants in the western market might see it and compete with him, so he decided to be straightforward about his intention to buy the pendant.
He Sui’an stared blankly at the three fingers the merchant held up: “What’s this?”
The merchant intended to deceive them with an offer of thirty taels.
He said: “Three…”
Qi Buyan interrupted: “Not for sale.”
Just as the merchant was about to say thirty taels, he changed it to: “Three hundred taels.”
Few people would offer such a high price for a jade pendant unless they knew its rarity, which made it almost impossible to find another. He Sui’an asked: “Do you recognize this jade pendant?”
The merchant realized they likely knew that there were only five such pendants. He stopped pretending and said: “Anyone who frequently does business in Chang’an has heard of the Water Jade Pendant.”
These five jade pendants, known as the Water Jade Pendants, have a hue like water.
He Sui’an took the Water Jade Pendant from Qi Buyan’s hand and asked, “Have you ever heard who bought the five Water Jade Pendants?”
Though she knew it was unlikely the Hu merchant would know—after all, even Princess Luoyan had been investigating this for a long time—she still wanted to ask.
As expected, the Hu merchant shook his head.
He pondered for a moment and said, “That I do not know. Why are you asking about this, young lady?”
He Sui’an rested her chin on her hand, “Just curious about who bought them.”
The merchant’s eyes stayed fixed on the jade pendant, “Those who could afford to buy these five Water Jade Pendants must be wealthy or noble. If you really want to know, you could ask the son of the master who made them.”
“The son of the master who made the jade pendants is also dead,” He Sui’an replied.
“Dead?” The Hu merchant had not paid much attention to the Water Jade Pendants over the years. If not for seeing one today, he would have forgotten most of it. There were too many things happening in Chang’an to remember everything.
It was Princess Luoyan who had informed He Sui’an about the death of the master’s son.
The first thing Princess Luoyan did upon obtaining this Water Jade Pendant was to send someone to find the son of the master who made it, only to be told that after selling the five Water Jade Pendants, he had become rich and lived a life of indulgence.
Within a year of selling the five Water Jade Pendants, he had succumbed to excessive drinking, gambling, and other vices, ultimately dying of a severe illness.
Finding out who bought the Water Jade Pendants from him was no longer possible.
He Sui’an traced the patterns on the jade pendant.
She thought for a moment and asked, “How were the Water Jade Pendants sold?” Princess Luoyan hadn’t given them detailed information about this.
The Hu merchant recalled, “They were sold privately.”
In Chang’an, such transactions typically occurred in two ways: private sales, where only the seller’s identity was known and not the buyer’s, and public auctions, where the identities of both buyers and sellers were known.
He Sui’an understood.
The Hu merchant was still trying to persuade them, “Young master, young lady, are you sure you won’t sell it? I am sincere in my offer.” He extended another finger, “I can add a bit more.”
There was no way they would sell it since it wasn’t theirs to sell. He Sui’an politely declined, “Sorry, we really can’t sell this jade pendant.”
The Hu merchant left, disappointed.
He Sui’an also came up empty-handed.
Qi Buyan had come to Chang’an for the Millennium Red Jade, and his trading partner was Princess Luoyan. She must have the Millennium Red Jade he wanted; otherwise, Qi Buyan would not have chosen her for the transaction.
They had to find the person responsible for the deaths of Princess Luoyan’s brother and sister-in-law.
He Sui’an placed the jade pendant back into Qi Buyan’s hand, propping her face on her hands, her expression forlorn as she lamented the difficulty of their task, with all clues leading to dead ends.
Suddenly, Qi Buyan stood up, saying he had something to do, and asked He Sui’an to wait for him there.
“Alright, I’ll wait here for you,” she nodded vigorously.
As Qi Buyan left, He Sui’an picked up another fried pastry to eat while waiting for him. The red snake coiled on the stool beside her. After that night, she was not as afraid of the red snake anymore.
She could accept it being close to her.
But only just close, nothing more.
People passing by looked at her in shock, unable to believe that a teenage girl was keeping a snake, and a poisonous one at that. Concerned, they took detours to avoid her.
Meanwhile, in an alley in the western market, two figures stood facing each other.
One was in indigo.
The other in blue.
Qi Buyan looked calmly at Aunt Cui, whom he hadn’t seen in over a decade. She had appeared on the main street of the western market, wanting to meet him.
That night, the reverse control of Qi Buyan’s Gu worm with the xun left temporary reverse control marks on it—Aunt Cui’s flamboyant way of saying hello. Today, she had come to meet him.
Aunt Cui had to tilt her head slightly to look at Qi Buyan’s face; the boy had grown very tall.
Back then, he was just a little boy of a few years old.
In the blink of an eye, that little boy had become a teenager, and she had aged.
Qi Buyan’s features resembled Qi Shu’s, making Aunt Cui a bit dazed. She was pulled back by a sudden flute sound, which caused all the Gu worms she brought to burst, filling the alley with a foul stench of blood.
The flute sound was brief and quickly faded.
Aunt Cui smiled silently. How could she think he resembled Qi Shu? The vengeful, inherently cruel nature of Qi Buyan was nothing like Qi Shu.
She knew Qi Buyan had caused her Gu worms to self-destruct by reverse-controlling them.
She had only left temporary reverse control marks on his Gu worm, but he directly reversed-controlled hers to suicide as a way of returning the gesture. Aunt Cui didn’t mind; she could always cultivate more Gu worms.
Aunt Cui took out a silver necklace engraved with the character “Yan”: “This was made by your mother.”
Qi Buyan remained indifferent.
Back then, Aunt Cui had hurriedly left Miaojiang Tianshui Village and forgot to give Qi Shu’s handmade silver necklace to him. Over the years, she hadn’t returned to Miaojiang Tianshui Village, so she never had the chance to pass it on.
In Miaojiang Tianshui Village, it was customary for mothers to make silver necklaces for their children when they turned eighteen and give it to them as a birthday gift.
When Qi Buyan was a few years old, Qi Shu had secretly made the silver necklace for him, hiding it from Bian Yichen. It seemed she knew her life was short and made the necklace early. Aunt Cui, aware of these things, sometimes couldn’t understand what kind of feelings Qi Shu had for Qi Buyan.
“Returning this to its rightful owner, this is your mother’s early eighteenth birthday gift for you. She entrusted me to give it to you,” Aunt Cui said, placing the silver necklace in Qi Buyan’s hand.
He remained unmoved.
Having done what she came to do, Aunt Cui said no more and left without delay.
Qi Buyan also turned and left.
—
At the food stall in the western market, He Sui’an had finished eating her fried pastries while waiting for Qi Buyan to return.
She looked around idly.
A young man in black walked by in the distance. He Sui’an recognized his face; it was Shen Jianhe. She called out, “Senior Shen!”
Shen Jianhe turned his head at the sound.
“He Sui’an?” he said, pleasantly surprised.
Just as He Sui’an was about to walk over to him, a rare memory flashed through her mind.
Snow everywhere, continuous flute music, poisonous Gu worms all around, a red snake leaping up and biting Shen Jianhe’s neck, its venom killing him instantly.
Su Yang, in disarray, screamed heartbreakingly in the snow, “Shen Jianhe!”
The memory stopped there.
He Sui’an stood in the street of the western market, stunned, feeling a bit short of breath. Her steps toward Shen Jianhe slowed. Her gaze met that of the boy who had just returned.
The red snake that had been by He Sui’an’s side slithered over to Qi Buyan as soon as its master returned, climbing up his boot and onto his shoulder.
Qi Buyan looked at He Sui’an.
She looked back at him.
