He Sui’an was originally holding a teacup with both hands. Now, she freed one hand to take out a cloth from her waist and handed it to Qi Buyan. “I was just asking casually… Do you want to dry your hair?”
His long hair was still dripping with water.
Qi Buyan didn’t take the cloth, merely looking at her.
Her hand remained suspended in mid-air, her clear eyes looking at him earnestly. “Someone once told me that leaving your hair wet for too long is bad for your health. If it stays wet too long, it can cause headaches.”
“Someone?” Qi Buyan smiled and finally accepted the cloth. “Who told you that? Didn’t you say you couldn’t remember the past?”
This question left He Sui’an momentarily stunned.
Right, she had forgotten everything, hadn’t she?
But while talking to Qi Buyan just now, a vague voice had surfaced in her mind, carrying a tone of helplessness mixed with affection.
It seemed to say, “Remember to dry your hair quickly after washing it, or you’ll get headaches. When that happens, Mom won’t be able to help you.”
Mom.
Hearing this word, He Sui’an inexplicably felt her heart soften.
As for anything else, she couldn’t recall. She pursed her lips, seemingly a bit annoyed. “I’m not sure either. I suddenly thought of this sentence, so I told you.”
Qi Buyan responded with a simple “Hmm.”
He didn’t seem interested in the matter. While he slowly wiped his hair with the cloth, he told her to go back to her room and rest, saying that they would be going out in the evening and might not return all night.
He Sui’an didn’t immediately go back to her room but instead asked curiously what they needed to do that would take all night. She looked up at Qi Buyan, hoping to read the answer from his expression.
Qi Buyan: “Don’t you want to go?”
“No,” she said.
He Sui’an added, “I want to go. Wherever you go, I’ll follow.” In this unfamiliar place, he was the only person she knew.
Of course, wherever he went, she would go too.
Whether Qi Buyan believed her or not, his eyes curved, but his expression remained neutral, as if hiding an unempathetic monster within. “What if I were going to die?”
Die.
He Sui’an instinctively took a step back.
Qi Buyan continued leisurely drying his wet hair. He Sui’an suddenly realized and asked, “Are you joking with me?”
He nodded slightly and put away the cloth that had been dampened by his long hair. “Of course, I’m joking. Life is so good, why would I want to die? If anyone has to die, it should be someone else. I don’t want to die.”
He Sui’an nodded repeatedly in agreement.
She believed that nothing was more important than being alive; only by living could she do what she wanted.
Not getting a clear answer from Qi Buyan about where they were going tonight, He Sui’an returned to her room with a sense of unease. She thought about the fact that he had a Gu insect with him, so even if they encountered danger, he would find a way to resolve it. This gradually put her mind at ease.
She lay down on the bed, trying to sleep, but she couldn’t fall asleep. He Sui’an got up and moved around for a bit, hoping to tire herself out. After a quarter of an hour, she lay back down and finally fell asleep.
Although the temperature had noticeably changed with the arrival of spring, it was still quite cold at night.
He Sui’an woke up from the cold.
She sneezed, her nose red.
Remembering that they were going out tonight, He Sui’an didn’t delay. She sat up, put on her silk socks and embroidered shoes, and, feeling around in the dark, found a cloak that was relatively thick. She fastened it at the collar to keep the wind out.
By the time He Sui’an was ready, the night watchman on the street had struck the drum a few times, and the inn was very quiet. She estimated that it must be around the hour of Hai (9-11 PM).
Qi Buyan would be waiting by the back door tonight.
She left her room and quietly closed the door behind her.
There was hardly anyone on the first floor of the inn. Only a drowsy attendant was sitting at the front desk by the main door, occasionally glancing up to see if anyone needed a room for the night.
When the attendant looked outside, He Sui’an carefully lifted her skirt and made her way to the back door.
Qi Buyan stood by the back door, gazing at the night sky, not just looking but seemingly trying to use a star to find a direction.
The night wind blew in her face, and she quickened her pace, shrinking her neck against the cold as she reached Qi Buyan’s side. Afraid of disturbing others, she didn’t speak but silently tugged on his sleeve to say, “I’m here.”
Qi Buyan started walking.
He Sui’an followed closely behind.
They walked for about half an hour until Qi Buyan entered an abandoned house in Fengling Town, a place known to the locals as a haunted house, avoided by everyone.
Unaware that this house was considered haunted, He Sui’an only felt a chill in the air, mixed with a sense of decay.
The wind howled like a human wailing, and several broken doors creaked in the breeze.
Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw the edge of a red garment.
He Sui’an stopped.
Qi Buyan, walking in front, also stopped. In the moonlight, his pale hand, almost transparent, held a candle taken from the inn. “Why did you stop?”
He Sui’an swallowed hard. “I think I saw someone just now.”
His eyes lifted slightly.
“Where?”
She pointed to a door about three steps away. “There, just a flash of red clothing. It disappeared as soon as I looked.”
Qi Buyan walked towards the door, but He Sui’an hurriedly grabbed him, her face genuinely worried. Qi Buyan found her concern curious; it was the first time someone had looked at him with such a worried expression.
But it was only curiosity.
He wasn’t particularly moved.
He Sui’an, glancing nervously at the door, felt her palm grow sweaty and cool in the breeze. She anxiously thought, “What if she’s hiding behind the door?”
As soon as she spoke, Qi Buyan took a long stride and pushed the door open. It was empty, not a soul in sight.
“No one.”
He held up the candle and scanned the room.
He Sui’an, bewildered, muttered, “Ah, maybe I was mistaken. I’m sorry.”
Qi Buyan walked out slowly, the silver bells on his clothing making faint sounds, as he had chains with seven small bells on his hands and feet. The candlelight flickered.
Half of his face was cast in shadow.
In the shadow, Qi Buyan seemed to smile, his features exquisitely beautiful. “With your small courage, how will you accompany me to the ancient tomb?”
He Sui’an grasped onto the keyword “tomb,” her eyes wide with surprise. No wonder they came at night and avoided others.
But tombs are dangerous.
She asked, “Why go to a tomb?”
Qi Buyan unhurriedly unfolded a map on parchment, with simple markings. “Because there is something I want there, so we must go to the tomb. The entrance is in this house.”
This parchment map was obtained from a deal with General Jiang’s wife, Madam Shen. Qi Buyan cast a Gu on General Li for Madam Shen, and she gave him the family map.
He Sui’an hesitated. “What is so important that it’s worth the risk?”
He suddenly reached out to her.
The timid He Sui’an immediately took his hand, and Qi Buyan, with a tone of half-truths, said, “Something that can save my life. He Sui’an, do you think such a thing is important?”
If it concerns life, it’s certainly important.
Going to the tomb wasn’t out of the question anymore.
After all, Qi Buyan had saved her from a dire situation in Weicheng where she almost turned cannibal.
Now that Qi Buyan needed something, she should do her best to help him. He Sui’an thought seriously and decided to follow him deeper into the house, determined to help him find it and not hold him back.
She mustered the courage to tightly grasp Qi Buyan’s hand. “You’re a good person.”
“Everything will be fine.”
He Sui’an repeated these two sentences.
Qi Buyan seemed amused by her, first chuckling softly, then laughing so uncontrollably that his thin chest quivered slightly. “So, in your eyes, I’m a good person?”
He Sui’an, confused, said nothing.
He bent down closer to her.
Too close, she could feel his breath, and He Sui’an froze. Qi Buyan’s fingertips played with the ribbon that hung by her temple, wrapping and unwrapping it like a child finding something amusing.
He tilted his head and asked her, “He Sui’an, what do you think is the difference between good and bad?”
He Sui’an was momentarily silent, contemplating the question.
The difference between good and bad?
She didn’t really know how to answer, so she spoke from the heart. “I don’t know, maybe it’s just based on one’s feelings? Everyone’s feelings are different, and their understanding varies too. Sometimes, it’s okay not to care too much.”
Qi Buyan withdrew his hand, the ribbon slipping from his fingers. Her words seemed to please him, as he smiled warmly but then changed the subject. “We need to go; it’s getting late.”
“Mm.”
*
The entrance to the tomb was in the backyard of the house, in an ancient well.
The well was so deep that the bottom couldn’t be seen, dark and eerie. The rope scattered on the ground was broken. He Sui’an bent down to pick up the broken rope, looking around helplessly, trying to find something else to use in place of the rope.
Qi Buyan observed the well for a long time, his fingers idly brushing the moss on the edge of the well, not caring about getting his hand dirty.
He Sui’an dropped the broken rope.
Then she peered into the well.
A bug, shaped like a fly but unable to fly, with eighteen legs, crawled out along the well wall. Its head was a mix of red and green, its surface covered in some sticky liquid of unknown origin, ugly and disgusting.
Terrified of bugs and snakes, she reflexively backed away, pressing her hand against a sharp, inconspicuous stone on the well wall, cutting her hand and bleeding a little.
He Sui’an let go.
The next moment, she heard a strange sound from the well, and a copper cage, large enough to hold two people, rose from below. Inside the cage stood a yellowed skeleton, covered in growing vines and flowers.
It could move.
The skeleton creaked as it moved, raising a hand to open the copper cage door.
He Sui’an never believed in ghosts or spirits, but seeing a skeleton move like a living person made her dizzy. “This…”
Qi Buyan reached into the skull atop the skeleton, his long fingers extracting a wriggling black puppet Gu. Once the puppet Gu left the skull, the entire skeleton went motionless.
He placed the puppet Gu back in, and the skeleton moved again.
He Sui’an was dumbfounded.
The skeleton was merely a tool for transporting people to the tomb, harmless. Qi Buyan stepped into the copper cage. “There are no ghosts or spirits in this world. The skeleton moves because it is controlled by the puppet Gu.”
“Oh,” she blinked.
“Aren’t you coming in?” He noticed He Sui’an still standing there in a daze.
She lifted her leg and stepped in.
Testing the floor, she found it quite sturdy.
However, soon after they entered, the copper cage began to plummet uncontrollably. Bugs from the well walls started falling onto her, making He Sui’an’s scalp tingle. She jumped up and clung to Qi Buyan.
Her arms were tightly wrapped around his neck, her legs hooked around his waist. Besides her slightly chubby cheeks, He Sui’an was small and now hung onto Qi Buyan like an ornament, soft and delicate. This was Qi Buyan’s only impression.
At that moment, a red shadow flashed by the well’s opening.
The copper cage seemed to get stuck and stopped descending. He Sui’an, coming back to her senses, felt embarrassed and tried to get off Qi Buyan. Before she could, a massive hole appeared beneath the copper cage.
The ground they were standing on gave way, and they fell through.
“Ah!”
He Sui’an screamed.
Falling straight to the bottom of the well from such a height, she didn’t die? Realizing she was still alive, she quickly opened her eyes to find the bottom of the well filled with scattered white bones. A skeleton lay right next to her.
Panicking, she pushed the skeleton away and rubbed her aching shoulder as she stood up, calling out for Qi Buyan. There was no response. Instead, she heard the sudden sound of bones shifting beside her.
The skeletons were moving.
Each skull contained a puppet Gu.
