The mist of Lixin Lake carried a familiar scent.
Or perhaps the scent of all the rivers, seas, and lakes in the world was much the same—not overpowering, yet lingering and inescapable.
Li Qiao opened his eyes to find himself standing amidst an ashen, chaotic void. The familiar, fishy smell of water filled his nostrils. As he looked ahead, the gray-white haze split into two layers before him, vaguely revealing a surface of water shrouded in fog.
The water was pitch black, the mist a deathly pale; the two intertwined, stretching boundlessly into an unseen horizon.
He instinctively backed away. In the next moment, a white shadow emerged from the mist—it was the youth named Yuxiao.
The boy looked at him with a half-smile. Suddenly, the mole beneath his eye twitched, stretching from a dot into a line, transforming into a wriggling maggot that burrowed beneath his skin. That fair, delicate face gradually widened and lengthened, shifting into the features of a middle-aged man.
The man stood by the water’s edge, watching silently. No matter how Li Qiao retreated or turned to run, that face seemed impossible to shake, drawing closer and closer behind him.
He sprinted along an endless wooden boardwalk. To his left and right were ten thousand acres of lotus ponds hidden in the fog. Giant lotus buds thrust out of the water, blooming silently at a speed visible to the naked eye.
He did not dare look at the blossoming flowers, but suddenly felt his footing vanish. The previously infinite boardwalk disappeared into thin air. Unprepared, he plunged into the lotus pond, and the bottomless black lake water submerged him in an instant.
He saw the sun, moon, and stars cut off by the water, relegated to another world. The light gradually receded from him. No matter how he struggled, thrashing his arms and legs, his body slowly sank toward the dark heart of the lake.
Then, the familiar sound of croaking frogs echoed in the darkness, like an evil army blowing the horn for an assault. Countless fragmented shadows poked their heads out of the dark, turning into long, slender insects that crawled into his body through his ears, nostrils, eyes, and mouth. He fought to expel those suffocating shadows, but the more he struggled, the deeper they coiled, nearly carving themselves into his bones.
Finally, he gave up resistance, allowing the shadows to swallow him from the outside in. Every inch of his flesh and soul would belong to those shapeless demons until death severed their final connection.
Suddenly, something light landed on his face.
A hole was torn through the airtight darkness, and a speck of white drifted down.
It seemed to be a feather.
Then, a giant white bird descended from the sky, diving into the bottomless lake. It assumed a posture of flying low with folded wings, its pinions churning the lake water, its beak wide as if letting out a piercing cry...
"Li Qiao! Li Qiao..."
Li Qiao opened his eyes. Qin Jiuye’s face was suspended directly above his head, her hair partially loose and veiling her features, looking strangely eerie.
She was urgently slapping his face, the hanging tips of her hair brushing against his skin—soft, yet slightly itchy.
"You were having a nightmare."
The youth blinked, his unfocused pupils gradually returning to normal as he shook off the lingering chaos of the dream.
When he was out in the world, he never slept this deeply, let alone falling into a nightmare so profound he could barely wake. For him, this was not a good omen.
He was lying on a "bed" made of reed leaves and fine grass. Within his sight was the calm, waveless surface of the lake. The sky had not yet fully brightened; the entirety of Lixin Lake was shrouded in the murky gloom of the pre-dawn hours.
Perhaps because there was no wind tonight, the lake was still. Qin Jiuye’s sampan, which had nearly been "bisected" by Chuiyun, had not drifted far. It had been dragged back to shore by its owner and was now precariously tied to a half-submerged piece of deadwood in the reeds. On the other end of the wood hung an oil lamp, its wick supporting a flame the size of a bean—seemingly the only light in the entire world.
The woman’s silhouette flickered before the lamp. Seeing him awake, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
A sound of boiling water came from the direction of the sampan. She cursed under her breath and hurried back to tend to the medicine pot over the firewood. The bow of the boat was narrow and half-missing, yet she had managed to set up a small stove there. Her thin frame moved nimbly around it. Finally, she frowned and sniffed the dark substance in the pot, seemingly dissatisfied.
Li Qiao pursed his lips, wanting to wipe the cold sweat from the back of his neck. As he raised his hand, he realized the two fingers on his right hand had been re-medicated and splinted with bamboo strips, wrapped tightly. He stared at his fingers for a moment before speaking.
"I just slept a bit heavily. Perhaps there is something wrong with Sister’s medicine."
Hearing this, Qin Jiuye set down the pot and, without a word, grabbed his left wrist to check his pulse.
Her hand had just touched the boiling pot, and her skin felt searingly hot against his. Yet, he found himself craving that warmth, feeling the nausea brought by the nightmare dissipate instantly.
After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, she withdrew her fingers and said with certainty, "I’ve diagnosed you carefully. The poison in your body is nearly gone. There is nothing wrong with my antidote."
In the nearby shallows, the frog croaks that had briefly ceased began to echo again. The youth shrank back into his spot, pulling a tattered straw mat over most of his head, leaving only the crown exposed.
"Then perhaps the mosquitoes were being noisy and irritating."
She didn't speak again. Just as he thought she had left, the grass beneath him rustled, and he heard her hurried footsteps jumping onto the half-sampan.
Li Qiao remained curled under the mat with his eyes open until the footsteps returned.
The mat was lifted, and her voice sounded behind him.
"It’s too hot during the day, and I’ve used up the mint balm I brought. I could only pick some leaves to make do. Here, this will guarantee no mosquitoes bother you. You’ll definitely sleep well."
Before she had even finished speaking, a mess of green juice was smeared behind his ears. The pungent scent, accompanied by a cool breeze, drifted into his nose, driving away the last vestige of sleepiness.
Li Qiao flipped over and sat up.
The woman, who had returned to the lamp, looked over at the sound, her face questioning.
"Not sleeping anymore?"
She looked as though she had been awake for a while, flipping through some tattered ledgers under the broken oil lamp. To save on oil, she had used a sewing needle to split the wick into a thin thread; from a distance, it looked dimmer than a firefly in the grass.
She truly was different from ordinary people.
She was so frail, yet she seemed to possess infinite energy. After a full day of toil and terror, she could still muster the spirit to wake early and work.
"Why isn't Sister sleeping?"
"I'm used to waking early. It's better for getting things done," she said, dabbing the remaining mint juice onto her temples. "If you were as diligent as I am, your head would hit the mat at dark and you'd sleep so soundly you wouldn't hear a mosquito hum."
She didn't ask what he had dreamed about, nor did she pat his back with useless comforts. Just as she hadn't pressed him on what had happened between him and Zhu Fuxue, or who that Yuxiao was.
He said it was mosquitoes, and she believed him.
And yet, this was a person who was normally so shrewd she could spot a discrepancy of a single copper in a "fly's account," a person who could tell from a distance that her apprentice was sneaking hawthorn pills just by the way he fidgeted with his fingers.
He couldn't understand her. He hadn't before, and he understood her even less now.
After a silence, he picked a small piece of crushed mint leaf from his neck.
"Sister seems to like mint very much."
Qin Jiuye popped the remaining mint leaves into her mouth, her hands continuing to flip through the ledgers.
"I wouldn't say I like it, it just suits my needs. Mint refreshes the mind and repels insects, and it's easy to keep alive. You see it everywhere; it's not picky about where it grows. Plant one small sprig, and after a summer, it'll sprout into a whole patch. It's perfect for doing business that requires no capital..."
He had only asked in passing, but she rambled on. After a while, she finished speaking, and the surroundings fell silent again.
He stared at the stubborn tuft of hair standing up on the crown of her head for a moment before finally speaking in a low voice.
"During the day, I scouted several ferries near the lakeshore. I was also looking for news of that Yuan Qi."
Hearing this, she finally put down her things and looked up.
"What did you find out?"
The memory of that brief glimpse in the lotus market flashed through his mind. Li Qiao summarized briefly, "Many people want his life, but so far, no one has succeeded."
Sometimes, the way of the world was simply illogical. Those who looked lively and healthy didn't necessarily last until the end, while a sickly person might cling to life for a long time.
"That must be the work of the Master of the Preeminent Villa. I heard he came in person this time; surely it wasn't just to bolster Yuan Qi's reputation?" Halfway through, Qin Jiuye remembered something and clicked her tongue. "Come to think of it, isn't that 'Compassionate Raiment Needle' hiding in the Su Manor also from the Preeminent Villa? Looking at it this way, isn't that Villa Master highly suspicious? How is it that every matter is connected to him..."
She continued talking idly, not noticing the youth's expression behind her becoming strained.
"What kind of person does Sister think that Villa Master is?"
Qin Jiuye’s voice paused as she seemed to consider the question seriously. After a long while, she spoke slowly.
"I've heard this person usually lives in seclusion. Whenever he goes out, he must wear a mask. Even sect leaders of high seniority have never seen his true face. Old Tang always says this is to avoid karmic debts and enemies, but I feel that whether his appearance is recognized or not might not be important to a person like that."
"Then what is important?"
"What's important is how to sustain his authority, or rather, the authority of the Villa. If he himself is not highly skilled in martial arts, or is even plagued by illness and destined to pass away sooner or later, they could simply swap someone else into his position, and outsiders wouldn't even suspect. What they yield to is the masked Master of the Preeminent Villa. As for who is actually behind the mask, it might not matter at all. If you don't believe me, look at the divine statues along Mingde Avenue—they all have roughly the same face, yet no one ever questions them..."
She was immersed in her own analysis, her voice relaxed, as if she were casually chatting about the trivial affairs of chickens and ducks in Dingweng Village.
But if a member of the martial world heard these words, it would stir a tempest in their heart.
She was so perceptive that she could dissect a person she had never met to this extent. He didn't know if this was a good or bad thing.
In the next moment, Li Qiao’s voice rang out abruptly.
"Sister, promise me. If you see him in the distance in the future, you must hide immediately."
Qin Jiuye’s voice stopped abruptly. She slowly looked at him after a long pause.
"Why?"
Because... because...
The youth was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Because didn't Yuan Qi seek him out? He might investigate the matters of the Qingping Way."
"Speaking of which, you stayed at the Temple of the Outer View for a while back then; you must have seen that Yuan Qi, right?" After a pause, Qin Jiuye continued, "So, regarding him, is there anything you want to tell me?"
What she wanted to ask about, of course, was not Yuan Qi. She wanted to ask about the affairs of the Qingping Way.
She didn't believe he couldn't hear the subtext.
After a while, a brief answer came from behind her.
"I am not familiar with him."
Qin Jiuye stopped talking.
The world fell into silence once more. But when she didn't speak, it was his turn to feel uneasy.
"Is Sister not going to continue asking me?"
He asked this without context, and she answered him just as vaguely.
"If I ask, will you tell me?"
He wouldn't.
He wanted to tell her everything, but he couldn't. He didn't know how she would react to those answers, and he could not bear the consequences.
He could not yet tell her everything about himself. Not now, and perhaps not ever...
As he thought this, the woman spoke again as if she knew his heart.
"If you don't want to speak, then don't open your mouth. If what comes out is a lie, I would rather you say nothing at all. My grandfather said that lies are like festering scabs; covering them up only makes them rot faster. One day, when they can no longer be hidden, they will be seen eventually."
Li Qiao’s silhouette trembled uncontrollably.
This emotion was somewhat foreign to him. It took him a long time to realize that he was afraid.
Even when facing Zhu Fuxue, who had threatened to break all ten of his fingers, he hadn't been afraid. But now, her light words made his heart race and his palms sweat.
For a moment, he almost felt that she actually knew everything.
From the Qingping Way to Guoran Residence, from Baoshen Pavilion to the Su family, and everything that followed... if it were her, it wouldn't be surprising if she had noticed something long ago.
The sweat on his palms was dried by the wind, but his heart beat even faster.
Li Qiao stole a quick glance at Qin Jiuye’s back and asked in a low voice, "What kind of person does Sister think I am?"
Qin Jiuye’s movements finally stopped. She still didn't turn her head to look at him, but she knew she didn't need to turn around to trace his silhouette and appearance in her mind.
He was good-looking, the kind of good-looking that was just right. Although she had known this before, she had confirmed it even more after seeing Yuxiao recently.
He was quiet, a kind of quiet that didn't quite match his age. He knew when to speak and when to remain silent—things she had taught Jinbao many times, yet the latter still couldn't learn.
He was fierce, the kind of fierce that could push instinct to its limit. When he wielded that instinct, he was a different person entirely, or perhaps that was his true self.
Before meeting him, she had never imagined that one day she would be shuttling through the waters of the martial world in a boat, peddling "Tiger-Slaying Pills" to masters who could kill ten of her with a single palm strike, watching seventy-year-old sect leaders brawl, then flying onto walls to maneuver around the dangerous Zhu Fuxue, and finally treating a "martial arts friend" she barely knew to cakes late into the night.
He was so vivid yet so inconspicuous, drawing people close yet inspiring trepidation.
Perhaps most dangerous things in this world were like that.
She had already found the word to describe him, but for some reason, she couldn't say it.
Because she was unwilling to admit, yet had to admit: she was precisely attracted to the danger in him, and a love for dangerous things was one of her core traits.
From the moment she picked up the fruit of the mountain lily when she first joined her master, her master had seen through her nature. And she hadn't realized until last night why she repeatedly fell into trouble—why, despite sensing his danger, she hadn't pushed him away at the first opportunity.
Perhaps, to some extent, "grasshoppers on the same string" was just an excuse she had found for herself.
Qin Jiuye remained silent in her thoughts, but Li Qiao suddenly spoke.
"Forget it, you don't have to answer."
Qin Jiuye almost sighed in relief.
If he didn't want an answer, she wouldn't give one, saving her from a difficult position.
Qin Jiuye didn't take the aimless chat to heart; she was still worried about the undiscovered truth.
"When it gets light, I'm going to the South Bank to check out Xuanyu Shoal. I won't be able to look after things here."
He immediately replied briefly, "Okay."
"The few accounts I just sorted out are debts owed by people from several villages outside the east city. I've placed them at the stern. If you have time, go and collect them."
"Okay."
He nodded, accepting it all.
"Also, there are a few items. If you pass by Dried Fish Lane in the east of the city, you can check the goods for me. Just look and ask the price; don't spend money needlessly. Especially for saltpeter and sulfur—Guoran Residence actually has some in stock, but the quality isn't great. Sigh, if I'd known, I would have accepted Old Fang's price at Qingyang Market that day. You were there too; it wasn't that I was stingy with a few coppers, it's just that he was hiking up the price, it was truly dishonest. If I'd agreed this year, he'd surely try to manipulate me again next year. Unfortunately, he's the only one with stock for some things; this is the harm of a monopoly..."
The woman held a tattered medical book in one hand and pounded her shoulder and neck with the other. Though only in her twenties, she already had the air of an old physician living in a mountain hut.
The expression on her face was faint, almost devoid of emotion; she was always like this when she worked. But as he looked at her profile, he felt an indescribable sensation in his heart. It was a slight itch, a softness, a pleasant feeling, like wind brushing through reeds by the lake, or a water bird preening its feathers.
Her voice wasn't exactly melodious, and when she spoke quickly, she could even sound a bit noisy. Yet, it was this very voice that possessed a magical power. It seemed that as long as she spoke, the frog croaks coiling deep in his soul would be suppressed, falling silent and never sounding again.
After a while, she seemed to grow tired of talking, her voice gradually fading until she finally stopped making excuses for her stinginess.
The youth moved his body imperceptibly behind her, carefully leaning closer to her. He finally stopped very near her, reaching out to pick up the half-sorted herbs and silently began to peel and process them.
The scent of mint lingered around them. The sound of lake water lapping against the shore mixed with the chirping of small insects, making the world before dawn feel unprecedentedly tranquil.
Li Qiao looked at the woman’s silhouette so close at hand, and a strong, inexpressible emotion suddenly surged in his heart.
If only it could always be like this.
If only he could just stay by her side, quietly, forever.
She would never ask him that unanswerable question, and he would never have to lie to her. They would just exist together in silence, standing firmly by each other, doing trivial and repetitive things day after day, leaving and returning to the same humble dwelling day after day, just like before.
If it could just be like before, he would be perfectly content.
But he knew that such time was running out for him.
He didn't know how much time had passed before the first ray of the summer sun finally broke over the horizon, illuminating the surroundings in a bright shimmer in just a few moments.
The boat rocked slightly with the waves. The smoke from the burning firewood drifted from the bow, mixing with the woman’s out-of-tune humming as it wafted deep into the reed beds.
