Seeing Qi Buyan close his eyes, the words of explanation stuck in He Sui’an’s throat, neither up nor down.
Thinking of how Qi Buyan had saved her more than once, and now watching him wanting to experience this feeling, she wasn’t entirely repelled by the idea.
Finally, He Sui’an stood on tiptoe again and kissed his thin lips like a dragonfly skimming the water.
As their lips touched, Qi Buyan’s long eyelashes trembled slightly, his clear and clean fingers resting on the windowsill. The seven small bell chains on his wrist jingled, and the water dripping from his hair made a plopping sound.
A pleasant current of electricity climbed along his spine.
His heart rippled slightly, though not much, but for him, it was rare.
All along, Qi Buyan’s thoughts had been occupied only by raising Gu and killing. He felt a sense of accomplishment in raising highly toxic Gu that could harm people invisibly, and a destructive pleasure in killing, which exhilarated him.
Undoubtedly, this kind of thing was abnormal in the eyes of ordinary people, but for Qi Buyan, this was normal life.
On the lonely mountain of Tianshui Village, there were many strange poisonous Gu raised by Qi Buyan.
There were also various animal corpses.
They were the only creatures on the lonely mountain besides the Gu and Qi Buyan. Qi Buyan found animals intriguing, so he raised them, talked to them, and then… killed them.
Because the animals always tried to run down the mountain.
He then wondered what was so good about the foot of the mountain.
After killing them, Qi Buyan used the special method of preserving corpses from Tianshui Village to store the animals in transparent glass jars.
Their appearance remained unchanged, as if they were still alive. Soaked in the potion, they wouldn’t decay for a long time, their flesh and blood remaining as it was. Qi Buyan liked this very much, except that the animals wouldn’t move.
A bit of a pity.
But he didn’t really care.
Gradually, the lonely mountain, the wooden house, was filled with glass jars of various sizes.
The glass jars were regularly delivered by the people of Tianshui Village at the foot of the mountain. Qi Buyan was a rare teenage Gu cultivator in Tianshui Village in the past hundred years. They needed his Gu and sought his help.
He could have as many glass jars as he wanted.
At this moment, He Sui’an gave Qi Buyan a different feeling, one he had never experienced from collecting animal corpses, raising Gu, or killing. His fingertips tingled intensely, turning slightly pale.
He Sui’an had said that kissing represented a very intimate relationship between two people, used to express love and cherish someone.
Love and cherish.
Qi Buyan had heard these two words a few times from others. He didn’t quite understand their meaning but was certain that he felt no love or cherish for He Sui’an.
Kissing can feel like a comfortable thing.
Despite the mutual, sticky, and damp touches, it doesn’t evoke a sense of disgust.
The scent of the Gu poison entered Qi Buyan’s mouth through his lips and teeth. He swallowed it, feeling it infiltrate his body, and subconsciously wanted to kill the intruder.
Qi Buyan slowly clenched his fingers, feeling dizzy. His subconscious screamed louder to kill the intruder as this event spiraled out of control.
Not far away, a red snake seemed to sense its master’s emotional fluctuations, ready to strike.
Kill.
The red snake was about to leap.
Qi Buyan, originally leaning on the windowsill, lifted his hand, grabbed He Sui’an by the nape, bent down, and parted his thin lips, making what was a brief kiss even more sticky and damp.
The silver chain with a bell on Qi Buyan’s wrist brushed against He Sui’an’s neck, the coolness bringing a moment of clarity. The ends of Qi Buyan’s eyes had a faint red hue, as if he had been severely bullied.
He Sui’an widened her eyes.
She heard a faint, uncontrolled hum escape from Qi Buyan’s throat, like a low moan.
It was like watching a seemingly harmless and fragile hedgehog, full of deadly spikes, exposing its soft belly, revealing a side that might be real or fake, and could shatter at a touch.
The sky had just cleared after a rain, and the light was dim.
The window was still open.
The continuous wind blew in, tousling Qi Buyan’s hair that hung at his waist. The silver ornaments jingled. His waistline curved like a crescent moon, and, given He Sui’an’s height, their shadows overlapped.
A butterfly pattern briefly flickered on the side of Qi Buyan’s face, disappearing in a few breaths.
*
It was unclear how long the kiss lasted; it ended when Shen Jianhe came to find them.
He Sui’an woodenly went to open the door, as the development of events had somewhat exceeded her expectations. The kiss had lasted longer than she initially intended, as she had planned to keep it superficial.
He Sui’an didn’t really grasp what she felt. Her mind went blank at that moment, and all she could sense was Qi Buyan’s scent in her mouth, clean and fragrant.
Shen Jianhe didn’t react much upon seeing them in the same room.
In the world of martial arts, people don’t fuss over minor details.
Moreover, their relationship seemed unusual, though that was just his personal view. The reality of their relationship was unknown.
Shen Jianhe only cared about jewels and wealth.
Qi Buyan’s long hair was half-dry, half-wet as he sat on the windowsill, back facing the street, looking at them. He leaned back on his hands, his thin shoulders slightly hunched, like a ghost wrapped in a delicate skin.
He was as beautiful as a pretty girl.
In Shen Jianhe’s view, girls are the most beautiful. No matter how handsome a man is, he cannot compare to a beautiful girl. Qi Buyan shattered Shen Jianhe’s stereotype that had persisted for over twenty years.
From Shen Jianhe’s perspective, Qi Buyan resembled a seemingly perfect doll, meticulously crafted by someone. But a doll is still a doll, lacking the heart that a normal person would have.
Therefore, he preferred dealing with He Sui’an.
Qi Buyan’s legs dangled down, with several snakes somehow crawling up to his boots, barely hanging on.
Once bitten by a snake, one is afraid of even a rope for ten years.
Shen Jianhe hadn’t feared snakes much before, but after experiencing the snake attack in King Yan’s tomb, he now trembled at the sight of them.
He had come tonight to discuss something with them. Shen Jianhe wanted to explore King Yan’s tomb with them, saying they were capable people who wouldn’t hold him back, and they could split the treasures they found equally.
He Sui’an lay on the table, listening to Shen Jianhe. Her eyelids drooped, and she didn’t express any opinion.
Shen Jianhe called, “Little girl?”
She was thinking about something else. After hearing his words, she pursed her lips, their color as red as Qi Buyan’s: “I don’t have much strength.”
Shen Jianhe laughed heartily: “Little girl, don’t underestimate yourself.”
He Sui’an sat up and poured him a cup of tea, not letting him perform a one-man show, occasionally saying a few words: “Stop calling me little girl. My name is He Sui’an.”
“Thank you, little girl He Sui’an.” Shen Jianhe accepted the tea and drank it all in one gulp. “Your name is very auspicious.”
He Sui’an: “…”
She thought it might be better if he just called her little girl.
She turned her head helplessly, her gaze unintentionally falling on Qi Buyan’s lips, which were more vibrant than usual. She looked away and down at the wooden table, then drank two cups of tea herself to quench her thirst.
Qi Buyan stepped down from the windowsill.
He said, “Okay.”
Shen Jianhe thought he had misheard and stood up excitedly: “Really? When will you go back to King Yan’s tomb?”
Qi Buyan smiled: “In a few days.”
“Great!”
Shen Jianhe was very straightforward: “In the next few days, if you need anything, you can always find me. By the way, it’s nice to meet you. My name is Shen Jianhe, Jian as in ‘meet,’ and He as in ‘white crane.’”
He didn’t stay long and left after speaking.
He Sui’an also left Qi Buyan’s room with Shen Jianhe and closed the door.
Qi Buyan didn’t stop her, stepping on a snake that wanted to bite. His emotions had been unusually volatile today, causing the Gu poison he raised to become restless. He stepped on the snake and said gently, “Stay still.”
