Two quarters of an hour earlier, in the center of the first-floor cabin.
"Ugh, what is that stench?!"
Old Man Liu covered his nose and mouth, stumbling back a few steps. As soon as his fish-gutting knife left the lid of the copper chest, the gap snapped shut. The foul, fishy odor vanished instantly, leaving him wondering if it had been a mere hallucination.
The onlookers gathered around the stage were too far away to notice anything amiss. Seeing Old Man Liu’s reaction, they assumed he was just being cowardly and jumpy, and another round of jeering laughter broke out. However, amidst the noise, a voice speaking in refined, official Mandarin cut through.
"Handling unclaimed goods like this—aren't you afraid the authorities will hold you accountable once they find out?"
The bystanders, busy heckling, didn't bother to look at the speaker. One replied without turning his head, "You clearly don't know. A massive fire broke out in the city last night. The officials fought it all night and only barely got it under control this morning. Most of the constables in the city have been deployed for relief work; who has time to worry about us?"
Having shared the gossip, he waited for a response. When none came, he turned around and froze.
Standing behind him was a young man wearing a round-collared robe so filthy its original color was unrecognizable. His hair was a mess, and one of his boots was soaked through; he held it in his hand, standing on one leg like a water bird perched on a riverbank teeming with crabs after the tide had receded.
Strangely, despite his bedraggled appearance, the man’s face still carried an air that was entirely out of place in these surroundings.
It was the air of a pampered young master from a wealthy family.
The crowd instinctively pulled back, forming a circle. A few of the more timid ones quickly fled the ship, while those remaining watched the intruder with wary eyes. For a moment, no one spoke.
After a long silence, Old Man Liu on the stage summoned his courage and asked, "Are... are you one of the crew?"
Xu Qiuchi leisurely pulled out a tin of peppermint balm and rubbed some onto his temples. With his eyes half-closed, he said, "It doesn't matter who I am. But this ship is a gathering place for people of the martial world, and the origins of that chest are likely not simple. If it belongs to some official, that’s one thing, but I fear it was left by someone from the underworld. I’ve heard those people don't like to settle business with silver; they set their rules with life and death. If they find out their lost property has fallen into the hands of others, I wonder what they will think."
As soon as these words were spoken, most of the remaining onlookers scattered. Only Old Man Liu and two or three of his die-hard cronies remained, stubbornly holding their ground.
Xu Qiuchi’s gaze swept over them one by one. He then reached into his robes, pulled something out, and placed it on the stage.
"I have a hot spring villa in the city and happen to need some river delicacies for a banquet. You gentlemen are surely veterans of this wharf. If you head to the city via Lishui Pier now, you might still make it in time. These three taels of silver are a deposit. As for the remaining ten taels... naturally, they belong to whoever delivers first."
From the moment this young master with the wet shoe appeared until now, he had only spoken three times. The first sentence was a warning, the second was intimidation, and the third was a favor. Every word was perfectly calculated; not a single syllable was wasted.
Before his voice had even faded, Old Man Liu, who had been guarding the chest, snatched up the silver and bolted out of the cabin. His short legs moved like a blur as he vanished off the ship in the blink of an eye.
Seeing this, the remaining two or three realized they had been outmaneuvered and immediately gave chase.
The cabin, which had been noisy and crowded just moments ago, was suddenly empty and quiet. Xu Qiuchi lifted his foot, wiggling his toes inside his wet sock, before turning his gaze toward the copper chest.
The loss of the blade at Qionghu, the fire in the south of the city, and Xin'er’s failure to appear as agreed—was it truly a coincidence that this ship had appeared here?
Liu Caiwu’s words began to echo in his ears, and Xu Qiuchi’s eyelid started to twitch again.
He had, after all, overestimated himself. Without those capable women from the manor, he couldn't even manage a smooth boat ride. Seeing that he was late for his appointment, he had jumped off the boat before it even docked in his haste, soaking one foot. Yet, after struggling to reach the meeting point while clutching his robes, he found that the usually reliable woman had not shown up.
"Long Sleeves Good at Dancing" was his code name, but now he had "wet his shoes"—hardly a good omen.
He just didn't know if this omen was meant for him, or...
Carefully pulling up the cuff of his sock, Xu Qiuchi clutched his mud-stained boot and turned to walk toward the gangplank.
No matter what conspiracy was afoot on this ship, he was merely a wealthy, idle young master who lacked physical strength. He shouldn't meddle in such affairs, nor could he. At this moment, he only wanted to know why the woman in red had not arrived on time.
In the seven or eight years they had spent together, she had almost never made him wait; it was always she who waited for him. So, had something truly gone wrong on Liang Shi'an's end?
Previously, Liang Shi'an had been clamoring for him to fulfill the promise of a lake excursion. He had gone along with it, taking the man out onto the water to get him drunk and sending his attendants away, all to fish for more information. When they disembarked, Liang Shi'an had squeezed his shoulder with dissatisfaction, saying vaguely that he had been drunk the whole way and hadn't had his fill of fun. He insisted on a seat on a flower boat for a night tour before leaving Jiugao. At the time, Xu Qiuchi had been in a hurry to see someone off and hadn't taken it to heart.
Now, those words crawled out from the depths of his memory. Combined with the current situation, they led him to some very unpleasant possibilities.
Xu Qiuchi stopped in his tracks.
He wasn't afraid of Liang Shi'an using force, but he feared the man using underhanded tricks.
Those insidious schemes and inner-court tactics were more poisonous than the most unavoidable hidden weapons in the martial world. Although Jiang Xin'er had been by his side since leaving the manor, he had never let her step foot inside the private rooms of those taverns or music halls.
He didn't want her to see that side of him, nor did he want her to enter such places. But if someone had caught onto this and used it to hurt her, his regret would come too late.
Xu Qiuchi’s breathing grew rapid, and even the deck beneath his feet seemed to sway.
From the cabin to the rope ladder for disembarking, it was a total of thirty-seven steps. He had already walked thirty-six; only one step remained to leave this flower boat.
He stared at the gray river channel in the distance. Over a hundred fishing boats of various sizes were crowded together heading toward the city; no one could be seen coming out.
Xu Qiuchi paused for a moment, then finally turned around and hurried back toward the cabin.
At that time, he was blinded by anxiety, his only thought being to confirm if the person he sought was on this ship. He never considered that the worst-case scenario of "scooping for water with a wicker basket" wasn't coming up empty—it was scooping up something terrifying.
And as if one wasn't enough, another had to be delivered.
Xu Qiuchi stared at the boot he had been carrying all this way, suddenly feeling that his current situation was becoming increasingly dire. He was usually a man who knew how to judge the situation and would never let himself fall into such a predicament.
But in the next moment, before he could finish his self-reflection, the boot in his hand flew out.
The woman hiding under the altar indeed seized the opportunity to flee. Xu Qiuchi was quick, grabbing her and dragging her into the small compartment where he was hiding, swiftly pulling the door shut.
The woman, in a state of peril and desperate for self-preservation, assumed she had fallen into another trap. Her hand had already produced a handful of medicinal powder, ready to throw, when her nose caught a familiar scent of peppermint. Her movements froze.
Qin Jiuye slowly lowered her gaze and saw his left foot, clad only in a sock.
She finally knew where that boot had come from, and why she had seen only a single line of footprints on the wooden ladder.
As for the "monster" outside, it likely hadn't stepped on the stairs at all. It had used both hands and feet to brace against the walls of the ladder well and climbed straight up.
Outside the compartment, the monster’s angry roars after missing its target echoed through the empty cabin, sounding exceptionally piercing and terrifying before gradually subsiding.
The hand clamped over her mouth remained motionless, covering her from nose to chin. Qin Jiuye held her breath for as long as she could before she reached her limit. She raised her hand and pinched him hard on the waist.
Xu Qiuchi’s eyes widened, and a silent scream escaped his throat.
Qin Jiuye let go and reached up to close his exaggeratedly gaping jaw. After calming herself, she mouthed the question: "Why are you here?"
Xu Qiuchi rubbed the flesh on his waist, taking a while to steady his expression before silently retorting: "Why are *you* here?"
Qin Jiuye said nothing, and a silence fell between them.
Both had boarded the ship to confirm the safety and whereabouts of someone they cared about. The good news was: they could finally be certain that the victim on this ship was someone else. But the bad news was the same.
It wasn't that they didn't want to explain the situation to each other, but since their hurried parting on the island, both had experienced too much. It was a long story for each of them, and now was hardly the time to be playing charades in this cramped space.
The most urgent matter was how to escape this "pirate ship."
As the thought crossed Qin Jiuye’s mind, Xu Qiuchi caught her expression and knew what she was thinking. He stopped dwelling on the previous questions and gestured with two fingers toward his eyes, then pointed at the figure on the opposite walkway turning its head and looking around, before finally pointing at Qin Jiuye.
Qin Jiuye understood instantly why he had used a diversion to give her a chance but hadn't let her run for the exit, instead pulling her into this small room.
That "monster" not only had sharp hearing but also excellent eyesight. If she had bolted just now, she would have been pounced upon and torn to shreds before she even cleared the corridor.
This was very different from He Yuanzhou.
Her observations during the previous medical consultation had led her to assume that the so-called "Secret Formula" worked by consuming part of the human body to gain energy, thereby enhancing other parts. Those infected might have improved senses of smell and hearing, while their vision would decline, reacting only strongly to light and shadow. But she had overlooked the complexity of this strange disease.
This complex change was more like an evolution than a simple progression or regression, and it wasn't a process nurtured by nature. None of the pharmacology or pathology she had encountered before could explain the underlying cause. Having made a hasty judgment without seeing enough patients, she had nearly made a fatal error at a critical moment. Now that she was calm enough to think, she realized the variables went far beyond this.
According to the descriptions from the Su household, He Yuanzhou only began to show symptoms a month after taking the Secret Formula. Yet the sword-dancing youth had appeared normal on the flower boat. Even if he had taken the formula before being killed, why had he lost his mind and turned into a bloodthirsty monster in just two days?
Regardless of his origins or his current end, it seemed to foreshadow that the youth would eventually meet the same fate.
Qin Jiuye’s mind was in a mess. It took a while for her to steady her trembling fingertips and force herself to observe her surroundings for a way out.
The space was narrow, but a faint light and a breeze drifted in from behind her. She initially thought there was a window, but then realized it was coming through a fine mesh of woven bamboo.
She squinted at it for a while before finally remembering what this narrow space was used for.
This was the ship’s latrine. When she had been on the flower boat cleaning her clothes, she had peeked out through a similar bamboo mesh.
How sturdy could something woven from bamboo be? The medicine baskets at Guoran Residence wore out several times a month.
Qin Jiuye’s eyes lit up. She signaled to Xu Qiuchi, and after another round of frantic gesturing, they both carefully stood up. They gripped the edges of the bamboo mesh from both sides and pushed outward with all their might.
The veins on Xu Qiuchi’s temples bulged, and she used every ounce of strength she had, not daring to make too much noise. Yet the thin bamboo screen didn't budge, as if it were cast from iron and fused to the ship.
After two or three attempts, Qin Jiuye was fuming.
As a poor person on this rich man's ship, there was simply no justice. The roof of Guoran Residence leaked every few days, yet the finest craftsmanship on this ship had been wasted on the latrine.
After resting for a moment, they began a new round of attempts. After much grimacing and straining, they both collapsed onto the floor, using their eyes to reproach each other for their incompetence.
If only one of them carried a weapon, or if one of them had the strength of Li Qiao or Jiang Xin'er, they wouldn't be defeated by a thin layer of bamboo.
What kind of "lucky day" was this? In a life-or-death moment that required desperate struggle, these two "useless fools" had been thrown together. But there was no use complaining now. If they couldn't pass this hurdle, they would be "not sharing a quilt in life, but sharing a grave in death."
The mere thought was terrifying.
Qin Jiuye and Xu Qiuchi looked at each other and simultaneously looked away. The latter sat in a daze for a moment before fishing out a fire-starter from beneath some incense and finding some damp straw paper. He signaled to Qin Jiuye to cooperate in a grand performance of "signaling with smoke."
Qin Jiuye thought for a moment and slowly shook her head.
Using smoke to draw outside help wasn't impossible, but setting aside the fact that there were almost no officials stationed at Huangniwan Pier, even if someone reported a fire, anyone boarding the ship and opening the cabin doors without knowing the danger would likely just become the next victim. And that uncontrolled monster would surely break out of the ship.
The appearance of this flower boat at Huangniwan Pier was no accident. The copper chest and the melting ice used as a timer were designed to release the contents of the chest when the pier was at its busiest.
This place was only a dozen or so miles from East He Gate. Not only would the monster harm countless civilians entering and leaving the city if it escaped, but if someone were tainted by its blood and contracted the disease in the chaos, it would be impossible to track. The subsequent outbreaks would be a new round of disaster, and it wouldn't be long before Jiugao City fell into chaos.
Right now, this ship was a cage; the monster must not be allowed to leave it.
Back on the Su family’s boat, she had used a bell to attract He Yuanzhou’s attention, but she had no such bell now. However, if she and Xu Qiuchi had deduced correctly, perhaps besides sound, there was something else that could guide the "monster."
Qin Jiuye pulled out the copper mirror again and carefully wiped the surface with her sleeve. The polished surface caught the light filtering through the cracks in the hull, casting a faint spot of light on the walls.
Xu Qiuchi noticed her movement and immediately understood her intent. He pointed a finger toward the floor.
Qin Jiuye looked in the direction he pointed. Her expression became complicated, but she eventually held her breath and lifted the loose wooden board. A foul stench immediately hit her.
In the dim, silent cabin, a dancing spot of light appeared.
Accompanied by a clicking sound, a shadow emerged from the darkness. After a brief pause, it lunged straight for the spot of light.
The light moved nimbly across the walls, and the "monster" twisted its body in hot pursuit, leaving a winding trail of blood as it climbed. The screeching sound of nails clawing at wood, accompanied by heavy thuds, echoed through the ship, sounding heart-stoppingly terrifying.
In the next moment, the light darted into a half-open small door. An instant later, the pursuing "monster" crashed through the door. With a muffled *crack*, Qin Jiuye, who was braced against the wooden beams of the ceiling despite her aching body, hurriedly leaned down to look.
The "monster" had stepped through the rigged floorboard and fallen straight through the latrine opening, now struggling desperately in the fishing net below. The net had been installed to prevent drunken guests from accidentally falling through while relieving themselves; though the mesh was wide, it was incredibly strong. It wouldn't be breaking free anytime soon.
"We did it!"
Qin Jiuye shouted with joy, but in the next second, Xu Qiuchi’s anxious voice rang out behind her.
"Get down! Get down, quick!"
With a heavy *crack*, Qin Jiuye only had time to turn her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a shadow falling from above, about to land on her.
At the critical moment, someone tackled her to the ground. A heavy force pressed down on her back, knocking the wind out of her and slamming her hard onto the floor. It took her a long time to struggle up, coughing uncontrollably.
Light filtered into the dim cabin. Qin Jiuye blinked and managed to lift her head, only to see that a support beam in the latrine had been snapped in half by the "monster's" impact. Her gaze followed the fallen beam down, and she saw Xu Qiuchi’s unbooted leg. Sharp wooden splinters had pierced his expensive fine silk trousers, and a patch of blood was rapidly spreading.
Qin Jiuye froze for a moment before realizing that what was pressing down on her wasn't the beam, but the pampered Second Young Master of the Qiu family.
She struggled out and tried three times before she could move the heavy beam aside. The figure lying on the ground trembled and finally lifted his head.
"My leg..."
The injury wasn't as bad as she had imagined. After checking, Qin Jiuye breathed a small sigh of relief and quickly whispered comfortingly, "The leg is still there, don't worry."
This sentence clearly didn't comfort him. He was still in a state of shock, staring blankly at the hole in the ceiling above, murmuring to himself, "I still have to rely on this physical shell to travel around. I can't be without a leg..."
Qin Jiuye ignored him. She first tore off a strip of cloth, then picked out a piece of wood from the scattered debris to measure it. She snapped it to the appropriate length over her knee and, without a word, pressed it against the side of his broken leg.
Xu Qiuchi’s mournful whimpering stopped abruptly, replaced by a piercing scream.
His scream was so loud that even the "monster" trapped in the net started screaming in response. For a moment, the strange cries echoed back and forth, inside and out—quite a lively scene.
Qin Jiuye’s technique was both ruthless and swift. In a few moves, she had reset the bone, picked out the splinters from the abrasions, and secured the wooden splint with the cloth strips.
Xu Qiuchi grew tired of screaming, and his voice weakened.
Seeing that he seemed to have regained some of his senses, Qin Jiuye pulled him into a sitting position and asked softly, "If you were this scared, why did you try to be a hero just now?"
Xu Qiuchi panted as he lifted his head. Cold sweat dampened his brow, giving his phoenix eyes a peculiar sort of charm. However, the moment he spoke, that charm shattered instantly.
"Don't you think I regret it now?"
Qin Jiuye wasn't at all surprised by his answer. After a pause, she asked, "Then do you regret bolting the cabin door earlier?"
When she had entered the cabin, the bolt had been down. The "monster" could never have closed the door itself; it could only have been a decision made by someone in a moment of desperation to prevent the thing on the ship from escaping.
This Second Young Master of the Qiu family was more shrewd than most businessmen she had met, yet at times, one could still catch glimpses of the Qiu family spirit in him.
They looked at each other in silence. After a long while, Xu Qiuchi finally broke the silence with a trembling voice.
"My leg hurts so much. Could you... not look at me with that disgusting gaze?"
Qin Jiuye retracted her gaze and expressionlessly pulled him up from the floor, looking at the collapsed floor behind them and then at the large hole in the hull.
"If we jump from here..."
Before she could finish, Xu Qiuchi started shouting again. "I’ve already broken my leg! Do you want me to break my neck too?"
Breaking his neck was unlikely, but it would certainly be another ordeal.
People on the pier had already heard the commotion and were looking over curiously. It wouldn't be long before the ship was surrounded.
Qin Jiuye’s face was filled with anxiety, her eyes constantly darting toward the city gates. Xu Qiuchi immediately noticed her gaze and, wiping away cold sweat, said, "Your reinforcements won't be coming, and mine..."
Before he could finish, a cloud of dust rose on the dirt road before the pier, approaching rapidly. Soon, a figure on horseback burst through the dust, heading straight for the large ship.
Qin Jiuye held her breath for a moment. Once she confirmed the identity of the rider, the heart that had been in her throat finally settled.
"If you had said earlier that you invited Miss Jiang, why would we have needed to take such a risky gamble?"
Xu Qiuchi didn't speak, only clutching his injured leg as he struggled to sit up.
Seeing his expression, Qin Jiuye suddenly realized something and spoke with disbelief, "I was wondering why you would appear here. Could it be that, like me, you came looking for someone?"
Xu Qiuchi brushed the dust off his broken leg and said coolly, "You should be grateful I was on this ship, otherwise you would surely have met with disaster today."
As they spoke, Jiang Xin'er arrived on her horse.
She looked frantic, but before Qin Jiuye could speak, she spotted the two of them trapped in the "open-air latrine." She practically flew from her horse, landing before them in an instant.
"Young Master, Xin'er is late..."
The woman’s voice cut off abruptly. Her entire attention was fixed on the blood on Xu Qiuchi’s leg, and for a long time, she couldn't speak.
She silently led the two of them away from the large ship. Qin Jiuye, observing the situation, was about to say a few words to comfort the "patient's family," but Xu Qiuchi anticipated her intent and spoke first.
"I only broke a leg. You look so sorrowful, one would think I’d lost my head."
He intended to comfort her, but as soon as he spoke, Jiang Xin'er’s eyes turned red, and her voice took on an involuntary edge of murderous intent.
"Who did this?"
The two bedraggled wretches immediately pointed to the side and began talking over each other to describe the harrowing scene. As they spoke, the woman drew her blade. Seeing this, Qin Jiuye quickly stepped forward to stop her.
"Miss Jiang, do not be impulsive. This matter must be handled carefully, or there will be great trouble. The Second Young Master’s leg can be treated in the city. For now, I must trouble Miss Jiang to ride to the east of the city and report this situation to the Protector and the others. Please ask them to send people to deal with this ship as soon as possible..."
Before she could finish, Xu Qiuchi interrupted. "You’re dumping this mess on us, but where are you going?"
"The person the Second Young Master was looking for has been found, but I haven't found mine yet." By now, Qin Jiuye had no time for evasiveness. She turned to Jiang Xin'er. "May I ask, Miss Jiang, did you see Li Qiao on your way here?"
Jiang Xin'er was stunned, then looked a bit flustered, clearly not expecting her to suddenly mention the youth.
"I... I am not familiar with him. Why ask me?"
Qin Jiuye looked at her steadily. "If you were truly not familiar with him, Miss Jiang, why would you have met him at that Lotus Market?"
Even though she had been somewhat prepared, hearing the other woman say all this in such a calm tone still left Jiang Xin'er visibly shocked. She instinctively retorted, "Since you already know, why do you still..."
However, she stopped mid-sentence.
She stared at the overly calm face of the woman before her and suddenly felt afraid to keep asking.
She was afraid to hear the answer, because no matter what it was, it foreshadowed her own fate. They came from the same place and would likely head toward the same end.
Jiang Xin'er fell into a long silence. Qin Jiuye, having read something in that silence, spoke frankly, "There is a reason for my inquiry. Old Tang is dead, and he is a suspect. I must bring him back for questioning."
"Murder cases are for the authorities to decide. Shopkeeper Qin is assisting the Protector with the Secret Formula case; why create extra trouble and add to your own worries?"
Xu Qiuchi’s voice suddenly rang out. Qin Jiuye turned her head and said word for word, "Old Tang’s death may be inextricably linked to the Secret Formula case. He was also my friend. How can a friend’s matter be considered 'extra trouble'? And as for Li Qiao, he is one of my people at Guoran Residence. If he didn't do it, I will naturally clear his name."
Her voice was soft, yet it carried a stubborn strength.
Xu Qiuchi’s composure finally began to slip. He almost forgot his broken leg, his identity, and his stance. His vision narrowed sharply until only the woman’s unyielding eyes remained.
What a determined pair of eyes they were. Anyone who looked into them would be moved, and hope would be born within them.
Once, his mother had looked at him with such eyes to soothe him. But if it couldn't last, why give him hope in the first place?
"Shopkeeper Qin is intent on discerning right from wrong, but have you considered that perhaps none of this matters to him? Even if he didn't kill Tang Shenyan, what about the others he has killed? Are the lives of those you don't know not human lives? Everything you know about him is a facade; even the name 'Li Qiao' is fake. Only a life of drawing the blade is his sole truth. Are you still going to look for such a person? And what can you do once you find him?"
Qin Jiuye didn't speak immediately. She had never heard the man before her speak so many words in such an indignant tone. But strangely, she didn't feel angry at these questions. She merely fell into a thoughtful silence for a moment before saying, "The Second Young Master seems to think that people from the Greatest Manor under Heaven are not worth treating with sincerity. But if that’s true, why did you hurry all the way to this pier to find Miss Jiang?"
Xu Qiuchi was stunned. After a long while, he said irritably, "Which of your eyes saw me coming here for her? I clearly took a wrong turn and ended up here by chance..."
"Both my left and right eyes saw it," Qin Jiuye stated coldly. She turned to the silent Jiang Xin'er. "Don't mind what he says; just look at what he did. From Qionghu Island to Huangniwan Pier takes over an hour even with a following wind. This morning the wind and waves were high. If he didn't come for you, then he must have hit his head on Qionghu Island. Bring him to Guoran Residence in a few days; I’ll prescribe some medicine for him. We can discuss the payment then."
Hearing this, Jiang Xin'er finally lifted her head.
There was a carefully hidden disappointment in her eyes, but it vanished the moment she saw her young master’s bedraggled state, replaced only by endless regret.
"It is Xin'er’s fault. I was incompetent and missed the hour, causing the Young Master to suffer. Please punish me, Young Master."
Xu Qiuchi said nothing. He suddenly seemed much more subdued.
Seeing this, Qin Jiuye felt she wouldn't get an answer. She led the small white horse over and struggled to get her foot into the stirrup.
"If you two have your reasons, I won't force you. Fortunately, I know all the ferries and piers around Lixin Lake. If I search them one by one, I’ll eventually find a clue."
Just as she climbed onto the horse's back, Xu Qiuchi’s voice sounded behind her.
"When leaving the island, Manager Liu saw him board a boat from the Luosha Sect. The last time I saw it on the lake, the boat was heading toward the Stone Boat."
Qin Jiuye immediately turned the reins.
"Thank you."
The small white horse neighed. Its hooves rose high and fell, shattering the morning sunlight on the ground as it galloped forward without hesitation.
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
刘老爹 | Old Man Liu | A local scavenger/fisherman at the pier.
黎水码头 | Lishui Pier | A pier near Jiugao City.
黄泥湾码头 | Huangniwan Pier | The pier where the flower boat is docked.
柳裁梧 | Liu Caiwu | A character mentioned by Xu Qiuchi (likely a manager or associate).
长袖善舞 | Long Sleeves Good at Dancing | Xu Qiuchi's code name; also an idiom for being socially manipulative.
梁世安 | Liang Shi'an | A character Xu Qiuchi was dealing with (getting him drunk).
东阖门 | East He Gate | One of the gates of Jiugao City.
落砂门 | Luosha Sect | A martial arts sect mentioned as having a boat.
石舫 | Stone Boat | A specific location or landmark on the lake (Shifang).
草包 | Useless person / Fool | Literally "straw bag," used to describe someone incompetent.
