Bian Yichen’s ankle looked seriously injured, visible even from where He Sui’an stood, the other’s ankle a shocking shade of red.
He Sui’an first estimated Bian Yichen’s build: tall, slender for a woman. It wasn’t surprising. She couldn’t carry him on her back, but supporting him was doable.
Yet, looking at this person, she inexplicably felt a chill run up from her feet, a bone-deep coldness.
The woman had appeared in a place where there were few people. He Sui’an was timid; she was afraid of encountering danger and didn’t dare approach. But ignoring it didn’t seem right either. In the world, it was normal to seek help when injured.
She might need help someday too.
Helping wasn’t impossible, but in this situation, He Sui’an wouldn’t go alone. She needed to find Qi Buyan.
Anyway, He Sui’an needed company to avoid danger.
“I’ll go get someone!”
She threw this line and ran off.
Seeing her run away, Bian Yichen slightly raised his eyebrows and lowered the hand holding the sickle.
This place was somewhere he had been with Qi Shu before. Today, on a whim, he came to see, and feeling the urge to kill, had already killed several people passing by Dengyun Mountain. Seeing someone else coming, he thought to kill one more.
He hadn’t expected to meet a girl who seemed kind but was so afraid of danger that she didn’t dare to even support an “injured woman.”
She was quite astute.
He had even used a stone to break his own ankle, hoping to use people’s so-called sympathy to lure them in for the kill. He was injured, but no one had come close, a rare failure for him.
Bian Yichen wasn’t bent on killing her; it was just a spur-of-the-moment thought.
Since she left, she left.
Consider her lucky.
Bian Yichen stepped on a corpse and looked at the scenery by the river, addressing the indigo dress he wore: “Ah Shu, do you remember this place? We came here right after we got married.”
He wanted to take Qi Shu through all the places they had visited before.
In their first year together, they had loved each other so much and visited countless places, but after Qi Shu learned of his penchant for killing, she despised him.
Bian Yichen didn’t understand. Qi Shu loved him, and he loved her, that should have been enough. He killed others, but he would never kill her. What was she afraid of? She even broke her butterfly silver chain.
However, she was still there.
She existed within him.
He was still wearing the clothes she often wore before her death; he was Qi Shu now.
Bian Yichen skillfully disposed of the corpses in a short time. Near the river, the remaining blood on the stones was easily washed away. After finishing all this, he left the place with Qi Shu.
He still wanted to take Qi Shu to more places.
He thought.
—
He Sui’an ran back to the village entrance.
Qi Buyan was still asleep; he, too, would be lethargic from blood loss, just like ordinary people. However, unlike in cold weather, he didn’t need to be in a warm place to wake up; he just fell asleep more easily and could be awakened by a call.
She held a leaf filled with water and ran to Qi Buyan. She tugged at his wrist guard and called out. In the next moment, Qi Buyan opened his eyes.
Some water spilled from the leaf.
His fingers were slightly wet.
He Sui’an told Qi Buyan about what she had just seen and asked if he was willing to go with her to check it out. With a bad feeling in her heart, she emphasized the “woman’s” attire.
Qi Buyan stood up and looked at the water in her leaf. “Is this for me?”
His focus was still different from ordinary people.
“It’s for you,” she said, trying to catch her breath.
He took the leaf and drank all the water, then used his hand to smooth her hair, which had been blown messy by the wind from running too fast. He only felt better when it looked more or less normal.
Qi Buyan didn’t want to see He Sui’an affected by other people or things, especially those that would disturb her mind or dirty her. He wanted to destroy such influences.
“Alright, I’ll go with you.”
He said.
Hearing this, He Sui’an led Qi Buyan to the riverbank, which was now empty.
According to what the woman said, she couldn’t move without help, so how could she have left the riverbank in such a short time? He Sui’an walked to the stone where the woman had been standing and noticed traces of water washing.
Qi Buyan squatted down, his fingertips brushing over the wet stones. He picked up a few small stones and sniffed them. Water could temporarily wash away blood but couldn’t immediately remove the lingering scent.
The smell of blood.
She also picked up a small stone and sniffed it, smelling the same blood scent.
It was strong.
He Sui’an smelled every part of the wet stones. She remembered that the woman’s ankle was injured, but it couldn’t have bled so much to cover such a large area.
There were two likely possibilities.
One, the woman was harmed and bled heavily after He Sui’an left.
Two, the blood wasn’t the woman’s; it belonged to someone else. If it belonged to someone else, the woman who disappeared might be a witness or even the perpetrator.
He Sui’an liked to hypothesize.
She recalled that the woman’s left hand, which was always behind her back and holding something unknown, and first hypothesized that the woman was the killer.
Why would the woman kill?
Was it before or after He Sui’an left? She guessed it was the former. Killing before He Sui’an left would allow the woman to clean up the traces by the river while He Sui’an was fetching Qi Buyan.
He Sui’an couldn’t see behind the large stone; the bodies might have been there.
If the woman had killed after He Sui’an left, it would take time to kill and even more time to clean up the traces by the river.
Typically, there wouldn’t be enough time.
The former was more likely.
Thinking of this, He Sui’an shivered. She wanted to share her guess with Qi Buyan but saw him squatting on the ground for a long time.
Qi Buyan picked up an old butterfly bell silver ornament from the ground. He Sui’an looked down and immediately knew it wasn’t his. She recognized almost all his silver ornaments by heart.
This must have fallen from the woman. The woman was wearing clothes similar to his, but wasn’t this supposed to be part of a seven-butterfly bell bracelet?
How did it fall off?
Only a broken butterfly silver chain could lose its ornaments. Otherwise, the seven butterfly bells wouldn’t fall off, as Qi Buyan had mentioned.
Could the woman by the river be dead?
She looked closely again.
The butterfly bell silver ornament had the character “Shu” engraved on it. He Sui’an had closely observed Qi Buyan’s butterfly silver chain on his wrist before; the seven butterfly bells on it were engraved with characters, his had “Yan” engraved on them.
All the silver chains in Tianshui Village had names.
Having recently heard the name Qi Shu, He Sui’an immediately thought of Qi Buyan’s mother, Qi Shu, when she saw the character “Shu.”
But his mother was dead.
In her memory, she was dead.
After verification, He Sui’an believed the memories in her mind were real. The woman by the river wearing the butterfly silver chain engraved with “Shu” couldn’t possibly be his mother.
If it wasn’t his mother, then who could it be?
There were traces of washed blood by the river, and Qi Buyan’s reaction to the butterfly bell ornament indicated recognition. This, combined with a memory that flashed by when He Sui’an hit her head earlier, gave her a very absurd thought.
Bian Yichen.
The person who liked to kill randomly.
Because those memories felt more like scenes imagined while reading a book, their names came to her subconscious when the memories appeared.
He Sui’an looked at Qi Buyan in confusion. If this lost butterfly bell was truly Qi Shu’s, with his observational and memory skills, he should have reached the same conclusion she did by now.
“Regardless, we should report this to the authorities.” She held Qi Buyan’s hand.
His hand was as warm as always.
Meaning he was indifferent.
Qi Buyan calmly said, “Hmm,” and handed the butterfly bell to He Sui’an, indifferent to the matter: “This matter doesn’t concern us, but if you want to report it, that’s fine.”
She unconsciously tightened her grip on his hand.
The young man bent down to look her in the eyes: “You’re afraid, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I’m afraid.” He Sui’an realized she was gripping his hand too tightly. She was an ordinary person who just wanted to live well. She would naturally fear encountering terrifying people or dangerous situations.
Moreover, she was inherently not strong.
In a world with the strong, there would be the weak.
In this unstable Jianghu, it was not easy for the weak to stay alive. He Sui’an had always been striving to survive.
Qi Buyan’s gaze slowly traced He Sui’an’s eyebrows, nose, and lips, as if trying to perceive her emotions through her expressions. Given his weak emotional responses, he sometimes struggled to accurately identify them.
“What are you afraid of?”
“I will kill him later.”
His voice was so light that He Sui’an thought she had misheard.
From that memory, she knew Bian Yichen was Qi Buyan’s father. But Bian Yichen was Bian Yichen, and Qi Buyan was Qi Buyan. What the parents did shouldn’t implicate the children.
Children can’t choose their parents, and He Sui’an wouldn’t view Qi Buyan differently because of what Bian Yichen did.
—
Regarding the incident by the river, they gave some silver to the Qingzhou villagers who had finished their prayers at Dengyun Mountain Xuanmiao Temple and were returning home, asking them to report it to the authorities. They also handed over the butterfly bell to the villagers.
They did not directly involve themselves.
He Sui’an didn’t want to be directly involved because she feared it might implicate Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan didn’t want to be directly involved because he didn’t care about matters unrelated to him. If it weren’t for He Sui’an wanting to report it, he wouldn’t have intervened even if he saw someone being killed.
The Qingzhou villagers didn’t suspect them. Few people who commit murder would actively seek out others to report it. Seeing their refined attire, the villagers probably thought they found reporting to the authorities a hassle and didn’t want to waste their own time, so they asked others to do it.
The Qingzhou villagers, having accepted the silver, faithfully reported the incident to the authorities without mentioning them. They relayed He Sui’an’s words verbatim to the officials.
By the afternoon, the Hongye Village’s sacrificial ceremony was over.
He Sui’an went straight back to the treehouse to rest. After the incident by the river, she wanted a small, quiet place to clear her thoughts.
Qi Buyan stood under the treehouse but didn’t go up. He had something to discuss with Zhong Liang.
Tomorrow, the life-extending Gu in Zhong Liang’s father would take full effect. Qi Buyan had given Zhong Liang what he wanted, so now it was time for Zhong Liang to give him what he wanted.
They spoke at a moderate volume, loud enough for He Sui’an, lying in the treehouse, to hear.
What Qi Buyan wanted Zhong Liang to do wasn’t difficult.
