It was better to take the initiative.
So, Shen Jianhe immediately made up his mind and shouted, “I’m going too!”
He Sui’an was surprised but could understand why Shen Jianhe wanted to go with them. She looked at Qi Buyan. Since they were investigating the jade pendant because of him, she had to ask for his opinion.
Qi Buyan’s eyes still held a trace of redness for some unknown reason. His skin, illuminated by the direct sunlight, appeared transparent, and his long hair fell entirely behind him, with a silver chain wrapping around the ends.
He didn’t care if there was one more person.
Whether or not Shen Jianhe joined wouldn’t change Qi Buyan’s original plan.
The boy smiled. “Okay.”
The Gu insect guided Qi Buyan towards a direction outside Chang’an City, meaning they had to leave the city.
Not knowing how late they would return, He Sui’an went to buy some food while Qi Buyan stood nearby, spinning his bone flute, presenting a scene of indigo and intricate silver accessories.
His gaze unconsciously followed her.
He Sui’an wore a light apricot-colored silk dress with simple orchid embroidery on the hem, and small silver bells sewn onto the edges, making a faint sound as she walked. A pale yellow ribbon cinched her waist.
She wore her hair in a braid, which was convenient and saved the time of styling complex hairdos.
White silk ribbons with natural green tints wove through He Sui’an’s hair, blending seamlessly with her strands.
He Sui’an didn’t have the traditional oval face of a classic beauty. She retained a bit of baby fat that made her cheeks soft and full, giving her face a small yet plump appearance.
It made people want to measure her face with their hands.
Her skin was different from Qi Buyan’s pale complexion, having a healthy pink undertone. When she focused, her eyes were bright and clear, making direct eye contact with her particularly pleasant.
When He Sui’an was daydreaming or expressionless, she didn’t seem distant at all; instead, she had a slightly goofy charm, like a small animal lying on its back with a soft belly exposed, inviting a pat.
Before leaving, she applied some rouge.
“Bought it, so I might as well use it,” she had said, so her lips were redder than usual, looking very attractive.
Qi Buyan looked at her, slightly lost in thought.
Poisonous Gu worms liked to eat human corpses, and Qi Buyan would watch them devour, finding a twisted beauty in the layers of flesh and blood revealing similar skeletal structures underneath.
While he usually preferred admiring the beauty of skeletons over living human faces, he found himself fascinated by He Sui’an, wanting to observe her expressions.
After watching for a long time, Qi Buyan would unconsciously want to imitate He Sui’an’s expressions.
Why?
It seemed to be because he wanted to experience the emotions she had at that moment.
He wanted to know what expressions represented which emotions in her, but the blood running through Qi Buyan’s veins seemed to merge with an inherent lack of empathy and cruelty, leading to his cognitive difficulties in this area.
Qi Buyan was like a demon with only a beautiful exterior, enjoying the devouring of others’ emotions, yet unaware of what those emotions truly were, nor curious to explore them.
Until he met He Sui’an.
Now, he was curious and wanted to explore.
Yet, his cognitive limitations in this area made it almost impossible, more challenging than refining Gu insects.
Refining a highly poisonous Gu insect required a lot of effort, but as long as Qi Buyan was willing to put in the effort, he could usually succeed.
However, understanding human emotions wasn’t the same; it seemed to be an innate ability he never possessed.
In the past, he didn’t care.
Now, he wanted to feel.
Only by being able to sense emotions thoroughly could he completely understand He Sui’an’s feelings. Qi Buyan wanted to empathize with He Sui’an, a thought that had gradually developed recently.
The streets of Chang’an were noisy, filled with the sounds of hawking. The morning breeze blew, scattering the loose strands of hair pinned behind He Sui’an’s ear, which fell onto her cheek.
Qi Buyan tucked her stray hair back behind her ear.
He Sui’an was used to his touch and didn’t look up, her eyes focused on the stuffed buns the vendor was making. She swallowed hungrily, still holding a small bamboo tube of bayberry juice.
This scene unfolded on the street: they stood side by side, the young man tilting his head, lifting the girl’s stray hair, revealing the butterfly silver chain on his wrist, while the girl looked down at the stuffed buns.
A carriage passed by them.
The curtain inside was lifted.
Xie Wenqiao saw this scene. Inside the carriage was another person, a colleague of Xie Wenqiao from the officialdom.
Following Xie Wenqiao’s gaze, the colleague also saw the striking pair and asked curiously, “Ming Sheng, do you know them?”
Ming Sheng was Xie Wenqiao’s courtesy name.
“We’ve met a few times.”
Xie Wenqiao added, “But we don’t really know each other.”
The colleague, knowing Xie Wenqiao’s nature—friendly to everyone yet distant—said, “I wonder if Ming Sheng has recently heard about the auction of a jade pendant in Chang’an.”
Xie Wenqiao, busy with the Weicheng case, had no time to pay attention to such matters. He replied, “I haven’t.”
The colleague pointed to Shen Jianhe standing behind He Sui’an and Qi Buyan. “The man standing behind them is the one who took the jade pendant to the auction. It was bought by a wealthy merchant last night.”
The news of the jade pendant’s auction had spread a few days ago, but the actual auction took place last night. Information traveled quickly in Chang’an, becoming common knowledge overnight.
Xie Wenqiao paused at the mention of the jade pendant.
He had heard about the jade pendant before in Chang’an; there were only five pieces, and now they had one?
Xie Wenqiao didn’t believe the pendant’s owner was the black-clad youth following He Sui’an and Qi Buyan. His intuition told him the pendant belonged to the pair.
Regardless of who owned the jade pendant, as long as they didn’t break the laws of the Great Zhou, it had nothing to do with Xie Wenqiao. He lowered the curtain, ceasing to watch.
The colleague brought up the Prince of Nanliang. “The Prince of Nanliang is entering the palace today, and so is Princess Luoyan. Don’t you have any thoughts on this?”
Xie Wenqiao responded, “What does it have to do with me?”
The colleague was determined to tease him.
“How could it not? Everyone in Chang’an knows how Princess Luoyan used to chase after you. Now that she’s going to marry into Nanliang, you have no thoughts about it? I don’t believe it.”
Xie Wenqiao remained expressionless. “Whether you believe it or not is your business.”
The colleague raised an eyebrow. “Alright, we’re going to the palace later. Do you think we’ll run into Princess Luoyan and the Prince of Nanliang?”
Xie Wenqiao looked down at his documents, ignoring the colleague’s indiscreet chatter.
Bored, the colleague lifted the curtain again to look outside. On the street, He Sui’an took the stuffed bun the vendor handed her. “Thank you.”
She bought the small steamer basket as well.
Stuffed buns had a lot of broth inside and couldn’t be packed in a paper bag. Most people ate them at the stall, but He Sui’an wanted to eat while walking out of the city to save time.
Initially, Shen Jianhe wasn’t hungry, but He Sui’an offered him the small steamer basket.
“Senior Shen, would you like one?”
The stuffed buns smelled too good to resist. Shen Jianhe reached into the basket and took a warm stuffed bun.
He Sui’an then offered the basket to Qi Buyan. “You should eat too.”
His appetite was weak, so he didn’t take one.
“No need.”
He Sui’an brought a stuffed bun to Qi Buyan’s mouth, the aroma tantalizing. “Eat it, just try one. It’s really delicious. If it’s not, I’ll eat them all.”
Qi Buyan opened his mouth and bit into the bun she held. As he pierced the thin outer skin, the rich broth inside flowed out, filling his mouth. The meat filling was tender, rich but not greasy.
He Sui’an also ate one.
Stuffed buns were essentially soup dumplings. She vaguely remembered eating them before. Seeing them for sale in Chang’an, she thought she must like them.
It turned out she did. The buns were so delicious that she ate two in a row, stuffing one into her mouth and then offering another to Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan took the second bun from her hand, eating it.
For some reason, Shen Jianhe suddenly found his own stuffed bun less appealing. At over twenty, he was still single and had never been fed by anyone.
The three of them walked toward the city gate of Chang’an.
The Gu insect moved towards the west outside the city.
Shen Jianhe was astonished. He didn’t know they were using a Gu insect to find someone. He had thought they had somehow learned the location last night and were acting on it today.
It turned out they were using a Gu insect.
This changed Shen Jianhe’s perspective on Gu insects, realizing they had more uses. If he had any talent for refining Gu, he might have wanted to make some for himself to guide the way.
He Sui’an held onto Qi Buyan’s sleeve, following the Gu insect step by step.
The Gu insect stopped six li1The “li” (里) is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. Historically, its length has varied, but in modern usage, one li is standardized to be approximately 500 meters (0.5 kilometers or about 0.3 miles). Thus, six li would be about 3 kilometers or roughly 1.86 miles. outside Chang’an.
Six li outside the city was a river. The water’s surface was rippling, reflecting the sun and casting shimmering silver light. At the riverbank, there were over a dozen corpses.
The water occasionally lapped against the sandy shore. The bodies had lost the sheen of life, their faces pale, each with a fatal wound at the throat, all killed by a single sword thrust. Shen Jianhe went to investigate.
These were the people who had come to kill them last night but were silenced by the mastermind.
He Sui’an also approached the riverbank.
Judging by the stiffness of the corpses, they had died last night. Why did the mastermind kill them? Was it because they failed in their mission to kill last night, so they had to die?
Qi Buyan slowly bent down, observing the cuts on their throats. The sword strikes were precise, indicating the killer was a skilled swordsman.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew.
Throwing knives came flying. Qi Buyan blocked them with his bone flute.
Knives also flew towards Shen Jianhe. He agilely flipped backward, dodging them.
He Sui’an also narrowly avoided the attack. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a masked man submerge himself in the water. She suddenly opened her eyes wide, intending to swim up.
Yet she seemed to hear a sound by her ear.
Her movements slowed down.
“Haven’t you remembered yet?” The voice seemed to echo in her ear, yet it also felt like it was speaking in her mind. Slowly, He Sui’an lowered her hand, which had been trying to swim upward, and her body began to sink.
As her body continued to sink towards the riverbed, the feeling of suffocation gripped her heart tightly. Suddenly, many fragmented memories flashed through her mind.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and she closed her eyes.
