He Sui’an instinctively closed her eyes.
The black snake slithered down her arm and thigh, returning to Qi Buyan’s body.
The old lady emerged from behind He Sui’an, looking at her with hesitation. She had forgotten to tell He Sui’an that a young man, whom she had taken in the previous day, was also staying upstairs and had not expected him to be a master of driving Gu.
Qi Buyan threw the corpses from the inn outside and sat alone at the counter, his long legs hanging loosely, the silver decorations on his black boots swaying slightly.
The young man’s clothing was adorned with many silver bells that chimed with his every move, their sound almost bewitching.
He exchanged a few words with the old lady.
He Sui’an couldn’t hear what they were saying; her attention was completely drawn to the insects and snakes surrounding Qi Buyan. The sensation of the black snake crawling over her skin and licking her fingertips seemed to linger.
It gave her the illusion that she was about to be bitten to death by the snake, even though it had already crawled away. The lingering shadow it left behind was not so easily dispelled.
He Sui’an didn’t want to look at Qi Buyan.
But she was afraid that the insects and snakes around him would crawl onto her if she wasn’t careful, so she could only steal glances in his direction. A large bird-eating spider, bigger than a typical spider, lay in wait on his shoulder.
He Sui’an, who was afraid of even small spiders, felt her legs weaken at the sight of the bird-eating spider.
Her scalp tingled with fear.
She quietly moved away from him, shrinking next to the brazier, wishing she could be invisible. How could this person have so many strange and dangerous creatures on him? If her guess was correct, all of them were capable of killing.
Late at night, the cold wind howled.
The pure white, clean snow coexisted with the long night. Weicheng remained lifeless, deathly silent.
Only the inn’s dim light flickered.
He Sui’an began to doze off, but the old lady told her to go to a room on the second floor to rest. He Sui’an refused; she didn’t want to be alone tonight.
The old lady didn’t press He Sui’an further. Perhaps it was indeed the best choice for the three of them to rest in the inn’s main hall. There wasn’t much charcoal, just one brazier, which couldn’t be moved to a room if it was kept in the main hall.
The charcoal fire crackled and burned.
The main hall was relatively quiet. He Sui’an’s eyelids drooped, her head tilted to one side, and she almost fell asleep.
She rubbed her eyes and looked up.
Opposite her was the young man with the appearance of a good woman, seemingly asleep, his long eyelashes closed. The insects and snakes refined into Gu had hidden away somewhere.
Looking at him like this, he wasn’t so terrifying. He Sui’an couldn’t help but take a few more glances.
The old lady sat to the left of the brazier, leaning against a wooden pillar, her face kind and gentle. She dreamed of the times she spent with her son in the past, a smile curling at her lips.
He Sui’an tiptoed up.
A quarter of an hour later, she found a patched-up blanket and covered the old lady with it.
Cold wind still seeped in. He Sui’an looked at the closed doors and windows for a while before finding the real cause—the paper on the inn’s door was torn.
If the hole wasn’t patched up, they would be chilled by the cold wind all night and easily get sick. He Sui’an found some materials to paste over the torn door paper, hoping to let the old lady, who had kindly taken her in, sleep soundly.
Some of the holes in the door paper were quite large.
Cold air seeped in bit by bit.
He Sui’an bent down slightly, looking at the hole, and murmured to herself, “No wonder it’s still so cold even with the charcoal burning.”
She raised her hand to paste the paper with rice glue, but suddenly saw an eye at the hole, staring straight in.
“Ah!”
He Sui’an couldn’t help but scream.
Quickly, she covered her mouth in time, swallowing the rest of her scream.
Qi Buyan opened his eyes.
The old lady still seemed to be in a deep sleep, leaning against the wooden pillar, undisturbed by He Sui’an’s interrupted scream.
“Open the door.”
Qi Buyan said as he got down from the inn’s counter, his long legs easily reaching the ground. If He Sui’an were sitting on the counter, she would have had to jump down, as her feet wouldn’t reach the floor.
Seeing Qi Buyan awake too, He Sui’an felt slightly reassured. “Then you have to protect me.”
Hearing such words for the first time, he looked up.
“Protect you?”
Protect, what a novel concept.
Since Qi Buyan asked her to open the door, he should protect her, He Sui’an thought, though still lacking confidence, she murmured like a mosquito, “Otherwise, you do it.”
Qi Buyan suddenly smiled. “Alright, I’ll protect you.”
She was half-doubtful. “Really?”
“Really, I’ll protect you.”
Like a whisper between lovers close at hand, it was impossible not to believe.
He Sui’an took a deep breath and summoned the courage to open the door. The owner of that eye stood barefoot in the snow, hair disheveled, clothes tattered, emaciated, with frostbitten hands.
This person was about the same age as He Sui’an, anxiously rubbing their hands and avoiding eye contact.
They didn’t seem to have any intention of harming them.
The unfamiliar girl suddenly moved, timidly stepping forward and tentatively tugging on the hem of He Sui’an’s orange skirt with her dirty fingers.
Two black fingerprints were left on the orange skirt.
He Sui’an paused her movement to avoid her, feeling bewildered and at a loss, while Qi Buyan had somehow moved to stand behind her, a faint fragrance wafting in the air.
The girl, startled, released He Sui’an’s skirt, stumbling back into the snow. The wind and snow blew through her disheveled and dirty long hair and tattered clothes, her bare feet covered in wounds.
A bit scared of the unfamiliar young man,
But the young man was so beautiful that her fear gradually faded, replaced by a hint of curiosity.
He Sui’an, realizing the girl had no harmful intentions, bravely reached out her hand.
The girl’s eyes widened like a startled deer, watching He Sui’an step out of the warm inn. The hand extending from her sleeve was clean and slender.
“Don’t be afraid.” He Sui’an said.
Qi Buyan smiled without any real emotion as he watched the two standing in the snow. Telling others not to be afraid, yet she herself was clearly scared like a quail, wanting to curl up in the inn.
Snowflakes fell, landing on them, covering them in a layer of silver.
The girl looked at He Sui’an’s gentle and harmless face, hesitated, and then held her hand, looking down at the snow like a child.
He Sui’an noticed a jade pendant hanging from her waist, with just two small characters inscribed on it: Xuewan.
He Sui’an asked, “Is your name Xuewan?”
Jiang Xuewan nodded woodenly. He Sui’an was about to lead her into the inn; it was too cold outside, not a good place to talk.
However, Qi Buyan glanced at her.
No wonder, she had been poisoned with Gu.
Before they could step into the inn, a handsome young man quickly walked over from the other end of the snowy field, grabbing Jiang Xuewan. His expression wasn’t good: “Why did you run off?”
He had been searching for her for an entire day.
He Sui’an looked at the young man in confusion.
Jiang Xuewan immediately hugged the young man’s arm, foolishly calling him, “Third Uncle.”
He Sui’an looked at Jiang Songwei and Jiang Xuewan, who seemed only a few years apart in age, and hesitantly asked her, “Is he your third uncle?”
They could easily be mistaken for siblings.
Jiang Xuewan stopped speaking as soon as she found Jiang Songwei, clinging to him. It was Jiang Songwei who spoke up to answer, “That’s right, I’m Xuewan’s third uncle. Sorry to bother you, but we’ll be leaving now.”
They needed to leave Weicheng.
Jiang Songwei wanted to find someone to help Xuewan remove the Gu poison.
More importantly, Weicheng was too dangerous. They had been hiding for several days and needed to leave as soon as possible.
If the old lady were still awake, she would have recognized Xuewan as the daughter of General Jiang, the city’s defender, and Jiang Songwei as the general’s younger brother by over ten years.
He Sui’an didn’t know this, but their behavior indeed showed a close relationship, which couldn’t be faked. Xuewan depended on Songwei, so she didn’t stop them.
Watching them leave, He Sui’an felt a wave of emptiness and envy.
No matter where you are or what you face, having family by your side is truly wonderful.
“Aren’t you going to close the door?”
Qi Buyan noticed the envy in He Sui’an’s eyes and didn’t quite understand why she felt that way.
But he didn’t care.
He Sui’an silently closed the door, then patched up the holes in the door paper. As she re-entered the inn’s main hall, she sensed something was wrong and ran to the old lady, calling out to her with a trembling voice, “Nanny?”
With all the noise they had been making, there was no way the old lady hadn’t noticed.
“Nanny.”
She realized something and sniffled.
The old lady’s smile was frozen on her face, and her body showed signs of stiffness. She had been dead for at least half an hour, having passed away peacefully in her dream after Weicheng was breached and her son died.
He Sui’an sobbed, tears welling up in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.
The old lady was the first person to help her when she woke up with no memory. He Sui’an forgot that someone else was standing nearby and threw herself onto the old lady’s body, crying loudly.
Qi Buyan remained indifferent, waiting for her to finish crying.
She gradually calmed down.
He asked, “Are you done crying?”
He Sui’an’s eyes and nose were red. She looked up at him, “Can you help me find a place to bury Nanny?”
“Why should I help you?”
The young man seemed to find her request amusing, tilting his head slightly, the silver decorations in his hair swaying.
“I-I can’t carry Nanny.” He Sui’an could have dragged the old lady to bury her, but that would damage her body.
Thinking of this, her sobbing became uncontrollable. “Please, I’m begging you.”
Qi Buyan suddenly brushed his hand over the corner of her eye, feeling the warm heat of her tears.
He Sui’an shivered.
“Alright, I’ll help you,” he said, bending down to look at her tear-streaked face. “But what can you give me in return? I never help people for nothing. If you want something, you must give something in return.”
He Sui’an said, “I have no money.”
Her bundle only contained a few changes of clothes.
Qi Buyan released the black snake. “Let my black snake bite you once as payment.”
In the end, they buried the old lady in the land near General Jiang’s head in Weicheng.
He Sui’an knelt in the snow and bowed three times.
As she bowed, her sleeve slipped to her elbow, revealing a slender wrist with two small red marks—the bite of the black snake.
Unlike the red snake, the black snake was not venomous.
So she was still alive.
Although she had cried again when the snake bit her in the inn, she was just grateful to be alive.
Qi Buyan watched He Sui’an bow three times, feeling bored and estimating the time in his mind. He was about to turn and leave when he felt a tug on his clothes. Turning back, he saw it was her.
“I want to go with you.”
He Sui’an asked timidly.
“Can I?”
Snowflakes swirled around them, blown by the wind, covering everything in a blanket of white. He Sui’an’s orange dress unknowingly brushed against Qi Buyan’s dark blue clothing.
The silver decorations on his clothes swayed in the wind.
The bells rang, piercing through the snow.
