This feeling was unfamiliar to He Sui’an. When she slightly propped herself up, it was as if a fine and dense electric current struck her directly at her crown, dragging her whole being out of a deep dream forcefully.
It was like being caught by an invisible hand, trapping her, and then turning into a tangible object that appeared inside her body, both stimulating and horrifying, like waking up to find oneself standing on the edge of a cliff.
He Sui’an, feeling somewhat agitated, tried to stand up but found her legs weak and fell back down again.
Her body plunged into the water.
Water splashed everywhere.
He Sui’an quickly climbed out again, her eyes and nose slightly red. She leaned over the edge of the bucket, her long hair dripping wet. She opened her mouth to breathe, thinking to herself how close she was to drowning.
Qi Buyan was already standing beside her, his wrist guard removed and casually hung on the edge of the screen. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing a butterfly bracelet on his wrist, adorned with water droplets.
After all, the butterfly bracelet had just been in the water.
“What’s wrong with you?”
His eyes clearly reflected her image, as if he was seeing through her soul.
However, Qi Buyan couldn’t actually see through He Sui’an’s thoughts, or he would have known how turbulent and regretful her inner world was at this moment, to the point where she wished she could faint on the spot.
He Sui’an glanced at Qi Buyan from the corner of her eye, then lowered her gaze to the water-splashed floor, feeling extremely conflicted: “I…”
Qi Buyan waited for her to continue.
But He Sui’an really couldn’t go on. She covered her face with both hands, peeking at him through her fingers, and forced herself to say, “Nothing, nothing’s wrong. I’m fine. You… you can go back to your room.”
“This is my room,” he said.
It seemed to be true.
Although their rooms were both superior rooms, the decorations and layouts were not exactly the same.
He Sui’an felt like a headless fly, unable to find her bearings: “Then could you wait outside for a bit? I’m fine now, and I’ll be out in a moment.”
“Fine?”
Qi Buyan didn’t quite believe it.
Whether she was fine or not, He Sui’an would certainly say she was. She pretended to be calm and put her hands down, nodding vigorously: “Yes, fine.”
The young man rubbed his fingertips together, the slippery sensation still there. He unconsciously brought his fingers to his nose and sniffed, finding the smell somewhat unusual: “It seems you’re not clean. It’s actually getting more…”
“Let me do it myself!”
He Sui’an interrupted him, and it was the first time she spoke to Qi Buyan so loudly.
He didn’t mind either.
“Alright,” Qi Buyan said, taking down his wrist guard from the screen and turning to leave. The sounds of the door opening and closing followed one another, echoing the ups and downs of He Sui’an’s emotions from the events of the night.
A moment later.
The door opened again, and He Sui’an came out of Qi Buyan’s room. Her skin, possibly steamed for too long, was flushed from her face down to her neck. Her hair, still wet, dripped behind her.
She had come out without drying her hair.
Her old dress was too dirty, covered in dust and small stones, so He Sui’an wore a new dress that had been left in Qi Buyan’s room earlier.
Her wet hair slightly dampened the new dress, but she didn’t care.
Qi Buyan reached out to touch the water droplets falling from He Sui’an’s hair tips. The droplets landed on his fingertips, then slid off, a simple action that reminded He Sui’an of an absurd scene.
He watched the droplets fall onto the floor.
“Are you going back to your room to rest?” Qi Buyan shifted his gaze to her only after seeing the droplets soak into the floorboards.
He Sui’an, having finished her bath, did not ask Qi Buyan to enter but came out herself, indicating that she didn’t intend to stay in his room tonight as she had in the past few days. She was going back to her own room.
But why so suddenly?
His smile slightly faded, and he seemed to be in a worse mood.
“Yes,” He Sui’an swallowed, finding an excuse. “I don’t sleep well. If I go back to my room to sleep, I won’t disturb you.” It was true; she didn’t sleep peacefully.
But Qi Buyan said, “But I’m used to sleeping with you now.”
She was stunned.
He was used to it? He Sui’an thought hard, trying to hint to him indirectly, “Have you ever heard of ‘men and women should not touch hands when giving or receiving things’?”
The young man tugged at the slightly askew butterfly bracelet on his wrist, not worried about it breaking.
“What is ‘men and women should not touch hands when giving or receiving things’?”
He Sui’an choked, trying to explain in her own words, “It means that men and women who are not married shouldn’t be too close, like sleeping together. It’s written in books.”
Qi Buyan leaned against the door, his long hair untied, softly falling over his shoulders. “Since I learned to read, I’ve only read books about refining Gu.”
Now she was at a loss for words.
He Sui’an hung her head, seemingly troubled by something.
A finger pressed lightly against her forehead, and He Sui’an looked up to see Qi Buyan. His good looks, inherited from his mother, and his loose hair made him look androgynous.
Qi Buyan smiled and asked, “So, according to what you said, if we get married, we can be close?”
It seemed to make sense.
But that wasn’t the point she wanted to make!
He Sui’an, unknowingly led into his logic, felt a sense of absurdity and discord hearing the words “marriage” from Qi Buyan’s mouth.
He lowered his hand and said something shocking: “So, do you want to marry me?”
She was speechless.
How could that be possible!
To avoid further discussing this topic with Qi Buyan, He Sui’an went into the room—his room. After all, they had shared a bed before, so why be concerned about tonight’s incident?
Anyway, Qi Buyan didn’t understand the real implications of those things. As long as she pretended nothing happened, their relationship wouldn’t change. Qi Buyan wouldn’t speak about it to others.
He Sui’an dried her hair, blew out the lamp, and skillfully lay down on the bed.
She slept on the side against the wall.
Qi Buyan lay on the outer side.
The night was generally cool, and He Sui’an needed a thin blanket to cover herself. Tonight, she took an extra one from the cabinet, so there were two blankets, one for each of them. Qi Buyan didn’t mind.
“Didn’t you say that men and women shouldn’t touch and need to be married to do this?” He lay on his side, able to see accurately in the dark.
“The martial world doesn’t seem to care much about that,” she silently tried to cover for herself.
Qi Buyan also seemed to feel sleepy, slowly closing his eyes. “Alright then.”
He Sui’an couldn’t sleep tonight. After hearing the sound of even breathing beside her, she opened her eyes and turned to look at Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan wasn’t using a blanket.
His wrists and ankles were exposed to the air.
His pale skin stood out starkly in the darkness, and the seven butterfly bell chains reflected silver light. Qi Buyan’s ankle casually rested on the thin blanket, not worried about the chains breaking.
He Sui’an hadn’t forgotten Qi Buyan telling her that if the seven butterfly bell chains of the people of Tianshui Village broke, they would lose their lives.
What was the principle behind that?
Qi Buyan hadn’t explained, and she couldn’t figure it out.
He Sui’an pulled the thin blanket, covering Qi Buyan’s exposed ankle.
*
The sky began to lighten with the dawn, the weather looking promising.
He Hua got up early as usual, moving books to the courtyard to air them out. The Jingsi Bookstore had many books, and those that hadn’t been read for a long time could become moldy and have a strange smell, so it was necessary to regularly take a batch out to sun.
Actually, this task of sunning books could be assigned to the men and women working at the bookstore, but He Hua sometimes preferred to do it herself.
The workers were happy to have a break.
Today, the books to be sunned were about King Yan, Yan Wuheng. He Hua was even more unwilling to delegate this task.
She hoped these books would be passed down for thousands of years.
However, she had lived for hundreds of years and had never seen anyone care about these books. Many people who came to the bookstore would casually pick them up, but almost all would put them back after flipping through a few pages, choosing to borrow or buy other books instead.
They had never heard of Yan Wuheng.
So, they thought he was a fictional character. These books seemed like storybooks but weren’t as lively, humorous, or interesting as storybooks. Moreover, the content had no value for the imperial examinations, so they wouldn’t read much.
He Hua felt a bit disappointed but understood them. Everyone has their own purpose in life, and she couldn’t force them to be like her.
After sunning the books today, she took a rest.
The bookstore workers hadn’t come yet?
He Hua gently wiped the fine sweat from her forehead with a handkerchief, pondering why the men and women hadn’t come today. Perhaps something had held them up.
She had long realized they harbored ill intentions toward her and had thought of ways to deal with them. Though her nature was gentle and delicate, she was not one to repay grievances with virtue or allow herself to be bullied.
Still, she hadn’t expected them to suddenly stop coming to the bookstore. This had never happened before.
He Hua personally went to open the bookstore’s door.
It was time to open for business.
The bookstore’s business was not good, even quite poor. There might only be a few customers in a day, but aside from a few fixed days off each month, He Hua would open the store every day.
Having lived for centuries, He Hua’s accumulated wealth was enough for her to squander. Opening the bookstore wasn’t about making money but about leaving something behind.
After opening the door, He Hua sat at a table near the entrance of the bookstore to read.
Two people dressed as scholars walked in.
They were discussing something.
He Hua closed her book, dipped her brush in ink, and wrote on paper to ask them what they needed. She could help them find it, and it would only take a moment.
One of the scholars mentioned the name of a book. He Hua remembered the bookstore had it, smiled, nodded, and turned to find the book for them.
The scholar in plain clothes said, “Did you see?”
The scholar in purple nodded.
He said, “I saw it. Those two were found stark naked, dead in the bushes—one man and one woman. This news spread through Fengling Town early this morning. Everyone is talking about it in the streets and alleys.”
“Why would the killer murder them?” the scholar in plain clothes asked, puzzled.
“Probably a revenge killing or a crime of passion.”
The scholar in purple added, “I’ve seen them before. They were dirt poor, so the killer definitely wasn’t after money. It must have been revenge or a crime of passion. Heh, I bet it was a crime of passion.”
“These days, human life is as worthless as grass.”
He Hua, listening in confusion, handed them the book.
As a mute, she couldn’t ask immediately. By the time He Hua thought to write her question, the two scholars had taken the book, paid, and left.
In the end, she had to go outside to find out more.
Indeed, it was them.
When He Hua heard the scholars discussing the matter, she immediately thought of the two workers at the bookstore, suspecting they might have been the victims. Her guess was correct; it was them.
He Hua returned to the bookstore, her expression dazed.
Once again, whenever danger approached He Hua, it would disappear without her needing to act. She didn’t know who was behind it, but it seemed someone was always secretly protecting her.
