On the long street, people gathered around the corpse of Sanshan Zhenren, not daring to approach.
The citizens of Qingzhou looked at each other in bewilderment. The incident had happened too suddenly. Just as they had learned of the evil deeds Sanshan Zhenren had committed, he fell from a high building and died.
When he fell, his head hit the ground first, blood spilling over the bluestone slabs, mixed with white brain matter. His death was gruesome, with the bones in his limbs breaking with a crisp sound, his body twisted, and his hands and feet askew.
They were filled with a mix of emotions.
Xie Wenqiao quickly descended from the teahouse, looking closely at Sanshan Zhenren’s body, finding it even more horrifying up close. He had died in front of the citizens of Qingzhou in a manner that was both tragic and disgraceful.
What exactly had Qi Buyan said to Sanshan Zhenren? Xie Wenqiao had no way of knowing.
He was an official, but not one who could abuse his power. Everyone had seen it; Sanshan Zhenren had jumped from the building on his own, with no involvement from others. Xie Wenqiao couldn’t interrogate Qi Buyan.
Xie Wenqiao turned and called the constables over to take care of Sanshan Zhenren’s body. This was Qingzhou’s main street, and they couldn’t leave his body in such a busy place, as it would not be appropriate.
Lady Duan stood in the crowd, watching the scene with indifferent eyes.
He was dead.
He died in front of the very people of Qingzhou he had once treated.
Ridiculous.
As Sanshan Zhenren… or rather, Zhao Wen. As Zhao Wen’s daughter, Lady Duan had hated him since she was young, resenting him for his obsession with medicine, abandoning the family without a second thought.
Her real name was Zhao Xuan, Zhao Wen’s only daughter. She had depended on her mother since childhood. Whether Zhao Wen was present or not made no difference, as he never cared for them, his heart solely occupied by his medical pursuits.
On the day her mother died, Zhao Xuan went to find Zhao Wen, who was busy making medicine to save lives.
He didn’t see her.
She cried all night, holding her mother’s body.
When Zhao Wen finished making the medicine and returned home three days later, Zhao Xuan was still holding her mother’s corpse. It was midsummer, and the body had already begun to rot and stink. Only then did he realize his wife had died.
Zhao Wen shed tears upon seeing his wife’s body, appearing grief-stricken. But Zhao Xuan knew him too well. In his heart, medicine and alchemy always came first, and they could only come after.
Zhao Xuan hated Zhao Wen.
If he loved medicine and alchemy so much, why did he marry and have a daughter? Why did he ruin her mother’s life, leaving all household matters to her mother? If he never married, he could have spent his life with those worn medical books and alchemy, couldn’t he?
Alchemy, alchemy, alchemy.
All he knew was alchemy.
Zhao Xuan wanted to smash all of Zhao Wen’s alchemy equipment, but was driven out of the house in a fit of rage by him, who saw alchemy as his life. He once said that if he couldn’t practice alchemy, he might as well die.
She had her pride too, and from that day on, she never took another step back into that house.
Zhao Xuan chose to become self-reliant.
As Master Sanshan’s reputation grew in Qingzhou, Zhao Xuan’s husband’s father, who was a devout follower of Xuanmiao Temple, increased their encounters, but she regarded him as a stranger.
After learning that Zhao Wen used living people to test his medicines, Zhao Xuan thought he had gone mad, completely abandoning the original intent of being a healer to produce good medicine.
Zhao Wen’s medicines did save the people of Qingzhou.
But he also harmed Hongye Village.
He even indirectly harmed her husband. Was his merit greater than his faults, or were his faults greater than his merit?
Zhao Xuan no longer wanted to discern.
Zhao Wen didn’t care about fame and fortune at first, but he wanted an environment where he could focus on his medical and alchemical research without any worries. This was the main reason he became Master Sanshan.
In the past, Zhao Wen’s family was poor, and most of the money for his alchemy came from her mother’s dowry.
After becoming Master Sanshan, he received rewards from the emperor, flattery from officials, and the faith of the people of Qingzhou. He could practice alchemy however he wanted, with funds and places for alchemy readily available.
This was the change that fame and fortune brought him, and to maintain his status, he had to retain his fame and fortune.
Master Sanshan enjoyed alchemy.
He was willing to pay any price for it.
He also enjoyed the process of successful alchemy, becoming obsessed and crazy about it. If someone told him there was a way to produce a rare and exceptional medicine, he would probably even be willing to die for it.
No matter what, Zhao Xuan’s hatred for Zhao Wen did not change. Seeing him dead, she felt no sorrow.
He chose his own path.
He should bear the consequences.
Zhao Xuan held the hand of Young Master Duan and left the street that still seemed to reek of blood.
Young Master Duan did not see the scene of Master Sanshan’s fall. She had timely covered his eyes, not wanting Master Sanshan’s corpse to taint his sight. Master Sanshan didn’t deserve that.
The servants followed closely behind them.
Young Master Duan’s mind was beyond cure: “I… I want to go to Xuanmiao Temple.”
Why did he want to go to Xuanmiao Temple?
Forgotten.
Second Young Master Duan’s peripheral vision caught a flash of red on the street. Trembling, he wanted to go to Xuanmiao Temple, perhaps to save those villagers.
Soon, his mind became chaotic again, forgetting the answer. The question returned to the beginning: what was he going to Xuanmiao Temple for? Second Young Master Duan drooped his head, muttering the three words “Xuanmiao Temple” repeatedly.
Zhao Xuan raised her hand.
Second Young Master Duan thought she was going to hit him again.
Instead, Zhao Xuan caressed his face, as if apologizing for the slap she gave him at the foot of Xuanmiao Temple’s mountain. “Husband, there will be no more Xuanmiao Temple in this world. I will always be by your side.”
*
When Zhong Liang saw Qi Buyan return unharmed, he hesitated to speak. He wanted to ask about Sanshan Zhenren and why he sought him out.
In the end, he didn’t ask. Zhong Liang decided to take them back to the village and then find someone to inquire about it. Sitting at the front of the ox cart, he skillfully swung the whip, urging the ox toward Hongye Village.
The ox cart jolted, making He Sui’an, already dizzy from illness, feel even more disoriented.
Holding two packs of medicine, she tried to close her eyes and get some sleep but forced herself to stay awake until they returned to Hongye Village.
As a result, He Sui’an would occasionally uncontrollably close her eyes for a moment and then open them for a few seconds to ease her desire to sleep. She was so sleepy that her pupils were unfocused when she looked at people.
The fever hadn’t entirely subsided.
He Sui’an’s face was still flushed.
Her red face and unfocused pupils made her look somewhat dazed.
The ox cart was open to the wind on all sides, causing He Sui’an’s hair to blow around messily, tickling her face and making her sneeze. Qi Buyan pressed down her long hair with his hand, playing with it in his palm.
Before they left the medical hall, the old doctor gave He Sui’an a small piece of medicine that looked like a wood chip to hold in her mouth, saying it would relieve the sore throat and dryness caused by the fever.
Though the medicine was small, its taste was strong.
He Sui’an felt like she was breathing in medicine with every breath.
She remembered that Qi Buyan didn’t like the smell of medicine and silently moved a bit farther from him. As she moved away, her long hair slipped from his palm.
Qi Buyan looked at her.
He Sui’an, unaware, leaned against the wooden plank that separated the front seat from the back of the ox cart.
The journey back to Hongye Village was constantly bumpy. Although He Sui’an felt uncomfortable, she unknowingly fell asleep amidst the jolting. Her nose was a bit congested, so she breathed through her mouth, lips slightly parted.
While Zhong Liang was driving, he got distracted, causing the ox cart’s wheel to drop into a pit, making the jolt more severe. He Sui’an’s head tilted to the side.
She leaned on Qi Buyan’s shoulder.
When the ox cart’s wheel came out of the pit, He Sui’an’s head tilted back again.
Qi Buyan pulled He Sui’an back, and she moved her slightly itchy nose without opening her eyes, eventually ending up sleeping on his lap. Over time, the medicinal smell on He Sui’an clung to him.
The medicine smell was still as unpleasant as ever, but Qi Buyan didn’t want to push her away.
He looked at He Sui’an.
Unconsciously, he traced her features with his gaze. Qi Buyan had always observed different kinds of poisonous insects in detail; he had never tried to observe a person so closely.
After tracing with his eyes, Qi Buyan’s hand landed on He Sui’an’s face, following the contours of her features, with his fingertips finally resting at the corner of her eye.
He preferred it when He Sui’an’s eyes were open.
When they were, she would look at him.
Qi Buyan lowered his hand, looked away, and recalled what had happened at the teahouse.
Sanshan Zhenren wanted to see Qi Buyan to ask how he had cured Zhong Liang’s father. After being captured, Sanshan Zhenren learned that Zhong Liang’s father’s illness wasn’t cured by his medicine.
Zhong Liang’s father was able to walk like a normal person thanks to Qi Buyan.
This was something Sanshan Zhenren heard from the villagers of Hongye Village while being taken down the mountain by the authorities. They said that if it weren’t for Qi Buyan, Zhong Liang’s father would have died some time ago.
Was it Qi Buyan who cured him?
From the pulse, it indeed seemed so.
Sanshan Zhenren was eager to know what medicine Zhong Liang’s father took to get better, what was wrong with his own prescription, and he envied Qi Buyan’s deep medical expertise at such a young age.
However, Qi Buyan told Sanshan Zhenren that he hadn’t cured Zhong Liang’s father and didn’t know how to treat illnesses. He had only used a life-extending Gu to prolong Zhong Liang’s father’s life by a month.
In other words, there was no prescription.
Sanshan Zhenren was somewhat disappointed. He was not interested in Gu, only in concocting medicine.
Qi Buyan took a sip of tea. “You tested medicine on the villagers of Hongye Village to find a cure for the illness afflicting the people of Yangzhou?”
Yangzhou and Qingzhou were not far apart.
News traveled between them.
What happened in Yangzhou was also widely discussed in Qingzhou.
Sanshan Zhenren, now without hands, naturally couldn’t drink tea. He sat there, having no intention of hiding anything at this point, and admitted it.
“Yes.”
Sanshan Zhenren said calmly, “I also want to ask why you, Young Master, have been targeting me. If you wish for my death, once I complete this medicine, I will gladly face death.”
Then he changed his tone. “I’ve heard that you like making deals with others. I wonder if you could make a deal with me?”
Qi Buyan’s profile was innocent.
It was unclear if he heard those words.
He said, “I never let go of anyone who has ever tried to kill me. Have you forgotten? Back then, you were worried that the matter on the mountain would be exposed, so you sent a young Taoist to sneak into my room and kill me.”
Zhenren Sanshan was surprised at Qi Buyan’s persistence in such matters.
He was a bit like someone Zhenren Sanshan had encountered before.
Realizing he had shot himself in the foot, Zhenren Sanshan chuckled self-deprecatingly, “If that’s the case, why didn’t you just kill me directly, young master? Why go to such lengths?”
Spending so much effort just to make him die? Zhenren Sanshan still couldn’t understand Qi Buyan’s thinking. If it were him, he would have simply killed the person he wanted dead to avoid further trouble.
“Because… I want you to suffer immensely,” the young man smiled gently.
Zhenren Sanshan was slightly stunned.
Qi Buyan slowly put down his teacup.
