Li Qiao stood before the medicine hut, his disguise as Xiao Sa discarded to reveal a rather grim expression.
However tender the atmosphere in the side courtyard had been this morning, the wind blowing past the medicine hut now felt equally desolate.
"So, the reason Sister did not return all night was to see him?"
For whom had she stayed up all night? How was he the one blaming her now? Before Qin Jiuye could defend herself, Teng Hu spoke first, his voice sounding as if it were squeezed through the gaps of his teeth.
"This is the helper you brought?"
Qin Jiuye was prepared. She dragged the woman who had been hiding nearby, refusing to come out, to the front.
"One isn't enough? Here is another."
Jiang Xin’er’s resentful gaze shifted from Li Qiao to Teng Hu, finally landing on Qin Jiuye.
"I agreed to come and help, but I didn't agree to suffer this kind of indignity."
Qin Jiuye lowered her voice to remind her, "What did you say to me this morning?"
Jiang Xin’er remained silent, her lips pressed thin.
An hour ago, in the secluded courtyard. The young lovers beneath the tree had been "inseparable" in their embrace, while the woman in the tree watched with a cold, mocking sneer.
"I’ve only been gone for how long? You two are already stuck together. If I had come back any later, I’m afraid I’d be seeing a child."
Qin Jiuye had looked up at the treetop in a daze, only to be greeted by a face full of dry leaves.
The blade-wielding figure landed and stood firm. Li Qiao still had his head half-buried in the crook of Qin Jiuye's neck; he had sensed the person in the tree long ago but only chose to acknowledge her now. The sidelong glance he threw her way was full of provocation, like a wicked calico cat monopolizing its master.
Qin Jiuye finally snapped out of it, pushed the man in her arms away, and leaned in with disbelief. It took her a long moment to recognize that dirty face.
"I... I thought you had eloped with Xu Qiuchi."
Though the grime on her face hadn't been washed away, Jiang Xin’er’s complexion visibly changed—from pale to red, then red to black, finally blending in with the mud.
"The things you wanted."
A dirty burlap sack was tossed before her. It was the *Gusuibu* she had requested earlier—leaves, roots, and all. It was a full bag, a generous amount, though it looked like it would yield half a basin of mud when washed.
Qin Jiuye carefully picked through the mud and stray leaves while stealing glances at Jiang Xin’er’s expression.
"Where did you run off to for a day and a night? Did you truly go to see Xu Qiuchi?"
Jiang Xin’er remained standing there with her back turned, as solid as an iron tower. Upon hearing this, she shouted decisively, "No."
It seemed she had seen him.
And not only had she seen him, but the conversation had likely been unpleasant.
Qin Jiuye glanced toward Li Qiao but did not expose the truth in front of him. Nor did she offer any emotional guidance or weightless comfort. Instead, she tossed the dirty burlap sack back.
"Good timing on your return. The medicine hut needs manual labor."
Before Jiang Xin’er could speak, Li Qiao took a step forward.
"What does Sister need done? I am in no way inferior to her."
"What bold words." Jiang Xin’er gave a contemptuous smile and stepped forward to pick up the bag of herbs. "Move aside. Looking at your sickly, staggering state, you’ll surely be a drag on me."
Li Qiao lowered his head slightly, smoothing the hair at his forehead.
"If I do not move, does Miss Jiang intend to stab me again?"
The moment a disagreement arose, he immediately filed a complaint. Caught off guard, Jiang Xin’er’s face flushed instantly, and she began to stammer.
"You—you’re talking nonsense! Clearly, you ran into it yourself..."
Qin Jiuye watched the two of them expressionlessly, her head throbbing from the all-nighter.
With Li Qiao by her side, at least he wouldn't take medicine recklessly; if anything happened, she could take immediate action. Moreover, given the current situation, unless she needles him unconscious or drugs him, he would find a way to follow her regardless of her consent. As for Jiang Xin’er, she had clearly suffered some grievance from Xu Qiuchi; leaving her alone would only lead to overthinking. It was better for her to work alongside a "tiresome village girl" like herself to forget that dandy.
"Then come together. More people means more hands." Qin Jiuye made her decision. Yawning, she stingily fished out two dark, round pills from her person. "But before we go, you must take these poison-warding elixirs."
Why did they need poison-warding elixirs to go to a medicine hut?
Seeing the situation and Teng Hu’s posture, Jiang Xin’er finally began to feel regret. Meanwhile, Teng Hu stood at the door with his arms crossed, his expression uncharacteristically grim.
"What do you think this medicine hut is? Bringing one person from the World's Number One Villa wasn't enough, you had to bring a pair?"
Qin Jiuye ignored him entirely, pushing the others into the courtyard without a word.
"Isn't this just making use of local resources? Li Qiao worked at the Guoran Restaurant for three months; in any other pharmacy, he’d be more than qualified as a second manager. Miss Jiang is my primary assistant now, and her contribution to the exploration of Juchao cannot be overlooked."
She boasted with a thick skin, but Teng Hu only stared at the two newcomers—whose gazes were equally unfriendly—and laid down the law.
"I don't care about Di Mo. Once you cross this threshold, you must listen to—"
Before he could finish, the man and woman walked right past him into the medicine hut, never giving him a second glance from start to finish.
Qin Jiuye felt an indescribable surge of satisfaction, though she maintained a pained expression on the surface, signaling Teng Hu not to mind these two "crude martial artists."
Teng Hu said nothing, intending to follow them in to "establish order," when the woman suddenly stepped in front of him.
"Brother Teng, wait a moment."
Teng Hu raised his sanpaku eyes, his expression already impatient. "What is it?"
Qin Jiuye extended a hand, smiling without warmth. "Though you’ve 'looked after' the patients in this courtyard well enough, there’s no guarantee you don't hold a personal grudge against one or two of them. To be safe, I’ll ask Mister Teng Hu to hand over that insect cage where you keep the Ink Midges."
Hearing this, the other man immediately stepped back and barked, "This is something my master left for me! Who are you to touch it?!"
That Zuo Ci was truly omnipresent; Teng Hu likely spent his free time gilding his master's memory in his heart. Qin Jiuye didn't want a direct confrontation, so she took a roundabout approach.
"I am considering this for your sake, Brother Teng. There is more than one patient in this courtyard. If you accidentally provoke those madmen, it will cause chaos, and we’ll waste time killing people and burying bodies."
She tried to think from his perspective, projecting the "trouble of killing and burying," but he clearly wasn't buying it.
"If you’re worried I’ll do something to him, then keep your eyes wide open and watch—don't fall asleep. Let's see how long you can last."
Having said his piece, he ignored her and vanished into the hut like a gust of wind. Qin Jiuye knew she couldn't force him, so she kept the matter in her heart for now and followed him into the hut with a heavy heart.
As a physician, she was still a nobody. But as a shopkeeper, she could be considered quite experienced.
How many shopkeepers in this world dared to hire assassins? Not just one, but two? Was she running some kind of black-hearted business?
The "black-hearted shopkeeper" Qin Jiuye felt that after working diligently in Dingweng Village under that false reputation for so many years, she had finally solidified the title today.
What of the World's Number One Villa? What was the difference? Didn't they have hands and feet? If Jin Bao could do the work, so could they. Even swords and blades weren't originally meant only for killing. They were used for chopping wood, slicing vegetables, and cutting cloth. She wasn't doing anything strange; she was simply making the best use of everything.
The people of Chuanliu Courtyard who came to work in the medicine hut were all incredibly curious, stealing glances. Auntie Xiong even took a moment to whisper praise in her ear, saying she had great skill to be able to drive three tigers single-handedly. Qin Jiuye’s smile looked more like a sob.
How was she driving tigers? It was more like those three ancestors were driving her.
Because of Li Qiao, she had initially been wary of Teng Hu, constantly splitting her attention to watch him. But seeing that he truly made no further moves, she gradually settled down. Moreover, there was so much to do that she truly had no leisure to fret over such trifles.
Zuo Ci had left behind many medical notes and books that were never made public. Half had vanished with his death, and most of the rest were kept in Teng Hu’s "fox den." A few were carried with him, and Qin Jiuye managed to coax them into her hands. Only then did she understand why he had spent all these years studying them.
Half of the journal was interspersed with the ancient dialect of the Quzhou region. Many words and phrases differed from modern usage, and combined with the owner's characteristically obscure rhetoric and talisman-like annotations, it was dizzying to read. This wasn't intentional on Zuo Ci's part; rather, ancient texts and secret records were inherently complex. Groping through obscure characters was like seeking a needle in a vast sea or a specific leaf in a thousand forests. Though Teng Hu had only deciphered a short passage, reading it was enough to shake one to the core, as if catching a glimpse of heavenly secrets.
Zuo Ci believed that the mysterious, untraceable existence within the ancient city of Juchao was related to a very old ritual for worshipping gods.
In those times, people believed they could communicate with gods and gain power through certain rituals. This divine gift was described as a transcendent power that could turn a mortal's flesh and blood into an immortal body, and the substances used in the ritual were related to the current Secret Formula. During the era when shamanic divination flourished, this ritual had once been the foundation of power and the cornerstone of nations, but it had eventually vanished into the sea of time along with those ancient kingdoms. Now, not even a fraction of it could be glimpsed.
If she hadn't known of Teng Hu’s near-fanatical reverence for Zuo Ci, Qin Jiuye would have suspected she was reading the nonsense of a fox immortal who had accidentally eaten poisonous mushrooms. However, Zuo Ci was a physician, not a ghost-and-god theorist; he must have weighed his thoughts deeply before writing. Teng Hu’s years of deliberation and deciphering added an indescribable sense of reality to these notes. It was all so heavy that one dared not think too deeply on it.
If everything Zuo Ci said was not empty air, the hidden meaning behind it perhaps coincided with her previous deduction: the current Secret Formula was already the result of something in decline.
Assuming Gongzi Yan was the first patient after the Secret Formula reappeared, he was likely the one who had lasted the longest. She had initially thought this was due to his profound martial arts foundation, but after seeing Teng Hu’s clinical records, she found that this did not seem to be the case. And this result was likely known to Di Mo as well.
Imagine that after starting the cruel experiments on Gongzi Yan, Di Mo used the entire affair to win Di Mo's trust, stepping out from the bottom of the tower and climbing to the heights, beginning to try and create more samples. But he soon discovered that patients infected through Gongzi Yan’s blood did not gain power as great as the original host. This decay was like pouring wine from a pot; there was only so much wine in the pot from the start. The more people who took a share, the thinner the aroma became.
When Li Qiao first obtained the Secret Formula, his wounds had indeed healed rapidly, and his body became far beyond that of an ordinary person. He He had also overcome her illness and regained vitality after taking it, and even Yuan Qi seemed to have gained a new life. But these were far from equal to the "divine power" Zuo Ci spoke of. In fact, as more patients appeared, the pain brought by the backlash of the Secret Formula far exceeded the benefits they gained. This indicated that the substance was changing with the passage of time. Even if it had once been an existence mortals could not investigate, it would one day return to dust.
Qin Jiuye hadn't expected that the words she spoke on the Black Lake to comfort Jiang Xin’er would accidentally hit upon the truth. She then remembered what Gongzi Yan had said that night: if no one had brought the Secret Formula out of those deep mountains, would it have gradually diminished in that black water, eventually vanishing into nothingness? Yet, things were not so. That thing had entered the mortal world like a tiger or rhinoceros escaping its cage. What they had to do now was turn those ethereal divine miracles and curses into mere entries in medical texts.
Zuo Ci hadn't been able to do it back then, so now it was handed to them. If they couldn't do it, someone else eventually would. Future generations, upon hearing the words "Secret Formula," would only remember the victory over a terrible disease, rather than attributing everything to fate or the whims of gods.
Aside from the investigation into the Secret Formula's past, the rest of the journal consisted mostly of simple records.
Zuo Ci had foreign blood; he was obsessed with the "Way of Heaven" (*Tianzhi*) but did not understand "Human Morality" (*Minyi*). Though he became famous at a young age, he lived in seclusion and traveled widely, which was how he became associated with the Black Moon. The so-called *Tianzhi* was the Way of Heaven—the laws of nature. He created his own system of human meridians and incorporated the art of stargazing into it; his medicinal solutions were mostly derived from this. For a creature to survive in heaven and earth, there must be something that gives it life and something that overcomes it. This was why the antidote for some poisonous plants and insects was often found not far from where they lived. Zuo Ci applied this rule to many past cases and maintained it as a principle while trying to crack the mystery of the Secret Formula.
From the Glazed Flower produced in the far north to the Red-Throat Pearl found only in the depths of the Southern Sea, all had appeared in Zuo Ci's records of attempted medicinal catalysts. These records were written succinctly, wasting no space on sentiment or lamentation. Those imaginative and courageous attempts that spanned thousands of miles were now reduced to a few tiny characters, yet one could still feel the hardship and rarity within, leading to a deep sense of admiration.
Compared to the attempts Zuo Ci had made, what Teng Hu was doing now was not even a fraction. But the reason he had become who he was today was likely forged by Zuo Ci. After his master's death, he had continued to follow his master's wishes, trying to find the right poisonous catalyst. On the long road of searching for the world's rarest poisons, he had gradually grown into the "White Ghost Umbrella" that struck terror into the hearts of the martial world.
Thinking about it now, Teng Hu had been lurking around Yuan Qi at the Baoshen Building to pursue this thing, and on the second day of the Sword Appreciation Assembly, he had been testing the lake's edge for any martial artists infected by the Secret Formula. In comparison, she was indeed an uninvited guest who had appeared halfway through. Given his personality, it was understandable that he looked down on her.
Only... Qin Jiuye stared at the thing mentioned repeatedly at the end of the clinical records, which had never been verified. She looked up amidst the rising steam of the medicine.
"The Wild Fragrance Seed in my hand was obtained at the Baoshen Building. You were there at the time; why didn't you act? Is that Bai Xun your grandfather or something? Did you intentionally let him have it?"
She spoke bluntly and rudely. Teng Hu’s pale face flushed crimson, and after a long while, he choked out a sentence.
"The Wild Fragrance Seed was never my first choice."
He didn't continue, but Qin Jiuye understood.
Zuo Ci’s attempt to use the Wild Fragrance Seed as medicine had failed, and Teng Hu only knew of it because of Zuo Ci. Though he was unwilling to admit it, the fact that his master had died trapped in a secret room on Qionghu Island made Teng Hu subconsciously feel that Zuo Ci had chosen the wrong path and walked into a dead end. Thus, the Wild Fragrance Seed became something he intentionally avoided—until the repeated failures in the shipyard exhausted all other options, and he finally thought to try the possibility he had excluded from the start.
The previously avoided question resurfaced, and Qin Jiuye asked persistently, "Where are the patients you treated with the Wild Fragrance Seed?"
"Dead," the other man spat coldly. He didn't forget to add a line to disgust her: "Of course, if you want to examine their corpses, I can lead the way."
Even after several rounds of verbal sparring with him, Qin Jiuye couldn't help but be infuriated.
"Is killing patients something to brag about? Why are you always so self-righteous?"
"What else? They couldn't hold on themselves; what does it have to do with me?"
They had already had a massive argument about this at the shipyard, and Qin Jiuye had no desire to fight now. She looked at him, thinking this was her punishment from the heavens.
What should she do when her only ally in a desperate situation was a prick whose every pore oozed poison and who lacked any human decency?
What could she do? She could only grit her teeth and try to turn rot into magic, to turn a prick into a stabilizing force.
She took a deep breath and asked the crucial question.
"Do you know who spreads the virtuous name of a physician?"
Teng Hu narrowed his eyes in thought for a moment and said with certainty, "Naturally, it is the sage families and the great Confucian medical officials."
Qin Jiuye gave a light scoff, making no effort to hide the mockery in her tone. "How can ordinary people hold medical texts and history books in their hands to check every day?"
"Then who?"
"The patients. Only a patient can spread the virtuous name of a physician. And you, even if you solve the mystery of the Secret Formula, are destined never to have a reputation equal to your master's, because your patients can no longer open their mouths to speak for you."
Her words hung in the air for a long time, and Teng Hu did not speak.
He only stared at her with bloodshot eyes, his gaze nearly covered in red veins—the eyes of someone who hadn't slept for several nights. When he looked at her, there was a terrifying, deathly aura.
Qin Jiuye steadied herself and looked back. She knew her own eyes weren't much better; looking at someone like this was likely quite frightening.
After an unknown amount of time, Teng Hu finally spoke slowly.
"Not all reputations are passed on by the living. I don't need a good reputation. Making people afraid is also a kind of reputation."
Qin Jiuye felt a wave of helplessness. Before she could think of a rebuttal, Li Qiao, who had been working silently, suddenly spoke.
"If that is truly the case, what is the difference between you and Di Mo?" He paused, then added with a smile, "Oh, there is some difference. When it comes to a reputation that makes people afraid, you are far inferior to him."
The White Ghost Umbrella, who had been bossing everyone around in the medicine hut for days, was rendered speechless by a few words. Qin Jiuye suppressed her laughter until her limbs cramped. Jiang Xin’er in the corner still didn't speak, but her movements became much more cheerful.
Di Mo was far away and out of reach, so Teng Hu turned his anger toward the person in front of him.
"As you can see, most of the herbs you obtained in Juchao were already listed by my master. I advise you to stop wasting time on useless efforts and focus entirely on assisting me."
"Your previous prescriptions were too much for ordinary people to bear. Several of the ingredients are expensive and hard to find; they cannot be considered good prescriptions."
Qin Jiuye’s considerations were clearly problems Teng Hu had never thought of. The latter said dismissively, "Being overcautious and fussing over gold and silver—how can one achieve great things?"
This time, Qin Jiuye ignored his arrogance and buried her head in her work.
She didn't want to voice any anxiety-inducing prophecies now, but those hypotheses lingered in her heart constantly. Currently, all the patients in Chuanliu Courtyard relied on Teng Hu’s prescriptions to survive. His medicine was seventy percent poison; though it worked quickly, it also consumed one's essence, and many of the ingredients were not easily obtained. The current situation was only sustainable because of the backing of Chuanliu Courtyard.
But what if, one day in the future, the world outside became another Chuanliu Courtyard? Once the number of sick people increased, hard-to-get herbs would be in short supply. Moreover, the physical condition of ordinary people was far inferior to that of martial artists; she feared that before the medicine could take effect, the person would be gone.
The process of curing the Secret Formula could not be delayed, but the method for alleviating the condition also had to be refined. This was a thought that became firmer after she read Zuo Ci’s notes today. What awaited them in the future was likely a difficult and long-lasting battle. If they couldn't cure the disease in a short time, then finding a way to extend the patients' lives was equally important.
No matter the time, a large bowl of cheap herbal tea might not be the best, but it was certainly the fastest way to quench thirst.
Qin Jiuye studied each of the nineteen prescriptions Teng Hu had tried since taking over the medicine hut. She compared them to the poison formulas and catalysts he had left at the shipyard, listing and comparing the current medicinal logic. Combined with the prescriptions she had previously written for Li Qiao, she made adjustments.
Teng Hu’s approach was bold yet meticulous; his grasp of subtle details had a seasoned sharpness that exceeded his age, clearly reflecting Zuo Ci’s style. Her own use of medicine was plain yet unconventional, often diving into the bizarre—this was the legacy of her own master. The fusion of the two was like the combination of an otherworldly medical ghost and a common traveling doctor, gradually taking shape amidst their arguments and debates. Li Qiao and Jiang Xin’er also hit their stride, taking turns sending the adjusted prescriptions to the decoction room, where Auntie Xiong had already prepared a new cauldron and was working briskly.
When one is busy, there is no time for stray thoughts. By the time Qin Jiuye looked out the window again, the sun was about to sink into the sea of bamboo.
The time appointed by Gongzi Yan was approaching, and she had no more time for deliberation.
After giving a brief explanation to the other three, Qin Jiuye hurried out of the medicine hut and followed her memory deep into the eastern bamboo forest.
The forest paths shifted between light and shadow in the twilight, appearing blurred yet always drawing one in, as if the host had specifically lit a guiding lamp in the darkness to invite her. After walking for a while, Qin Jiuye suddenly stopped. The familiar scenery around her made her realize something: this seemed to be the very place where she and Jiang Xin’er had stopped last time, and that mysterious courtyard she had glimpsed was not far away.
Gongzi Yan had invited her to meet here, clearly having perceived her and Jiang Xin’er’s intent to explore. This made her suspect that their discovery of the courtyard might not have been a coincidence either. She felt that from the moment she entered Chuanliu Courtyard, everything—the patients, Li Qiao’s appearance, and even that night talk in the bamboo building—had been within his calculations.
The sounds of children playing drifted faintly from the direction of the courtyard. Qin Jiuye froze, almost thinking her ears were playing tricks on her. She hesitated for a moment before stepping closer.
The courtyard gate, made of bundled thin bamboo, had several high and low notches carved into it. Each notch had a name or two next to it. Looking at the positions of those notches, the highest was only near her neck; they seemed to be marks left from measuring heights.
Qin Jiuye was lost in thought when she heard the sound of wind rushing toward her. Her forehead was struck with a sudden pain, and her balance shifted, sending her sitting on the ground.
Of all the courtyards she had entered, this was the first time she had been "disciplined." Dizzy, she looked down, only to be stunned again.
A leather ball rolled and stopped by her feet, soon picked up by a pair of small hands.
"Sorry, are you hurt?" a crisp voice rang out. It was a child of six or seven. Seeing that she seemed fine, he turned to look at the figure in the center of the courtyard. "Teacher is so stupid, he can't even hook the ball!"
Qin Jiuye rubbed her forehead and followed the child's gaze to the center of the courtyard.
About a dozen half-grown children were gathered around playing with the ball. In the center was a small bamboo desk, behind which sat a middle-aged man in plain cloth with disheveled hair. In this chaotic courtyard, he stubbornly held up a book, trying to subdue the group of "monsters and demons." Because he was so engrossed in reading, he didn't notice when he stepped on his own hem while standing up, nearly tripping himself. After stumbling, he didn't care about his soiled hem, only carefully shielding the book in his arms. Children of seven or eight were at their most mischievous and restless; while he swayed his head and recited pedantically in front, the little brats were making faces and playing tricks behind his back—one moment pinning a straw in his hair, the next using ink to draw a turtle on his back.
Who was this? A teacher in Chuanliu Courtyard? He looked rather dim-witted; could he truly teach? Gongzi Yan had gone to such great lengths, setting up a layout and hiding this courtyard in the deepest part of Chuanliu Courtyard, guarding it so strictly, only to keep a fool inside?
Qin Jiuye watched with bewilderment for a while. Just as she was about to look away, the "fool" seemed to sense something and turned his head.
The moment she saw that face, Qin Jiuye’s eyes widened.
The other man also saw her at once. He froze for a moment before walking over with stumbling steps.
"Shopkeeper Qin?"
She gave a dazed response. The man reached up, plucked the straw from his hair and tossed it aside, then fished out a tattered piece of paper used for fortune-telling from somewhere. Instantly, he transformed back into that wandering charlatan and South City beggar from Jiugao City, his mouth splitting into a grin.
"Day and night, I have asked the starry sky through divination when a benefactor would come to my aid. I saw the stars falling like chess pieces, black and white forming a game—it is the day the stars shift and the cycle returns, the day an old friend comes home! The heavens truly do not deceive me!"
Finally seeing an old friend whose fate had been unknown, Qin Jiuye felt joy, but she was not Du Laogou after all; her emotions were instantly occupied by complex doubts.
"How did you end up here? Did Gongzi Yan kidnap you? What happened at the Listening Wind Hall back then..."
In her haste, she couldn't help but ask those few words. Though she stopped herself in time, it caused the man before her to fall into an instant stupor.
"Listening Wind Hall... Old Tang... right, Old Tang wanted me to buy pickled vegetables. But I didn't get the vegetables, and the copper coins are gone. The coins, my copper coins..."
Du Laogou muttered to himself, then plopped down on the ground, his hands fumbling in the dirt. No matter how she tried to stop him, his dull eyes gave no reaction.
In the span of just a few questions, the surroundings suddenly grew quiet. Qin Jiuye snapped out of it and turned to look. The courtyard full of little monkeys had, at some point, stood up properly and was bowing toward the courtyard gate in a disciplined manner.
"We agreed this would be the last day, to let you say goodbye to your teacher, not to let you run wild."
Gongzi Yan’s voice drifted over, more gentle than ever before.
Upon hearing this, the children lowered their heads and admitted their mistakes with sincere attitudes, yet their eyes still stole glances toward Du Laogou—three parts playful, seven parts reluctant.
"The boat is already waiting at the ferry. Hurry along."
The person at the gate spoke again. Though the children were somewhat unwilling, they clearly held great respect for this sickly young master. Hearing his words, they composed themselves and respectfully bowed to Du Laogou one by one in farewell. Then, led by Tang Wu, they lined up and left the courtyard.
Qin Jiuye watched all of this in a daze until the last child had disappeared into the bamboo forest. Only then did she look toward the sickly young master in the wooden wheelchair. The latter seemed to sense her gaze and spoke naturally.
"I didn't want you to see this messy scene, but the children were playful and delayed things. I’ve made a fool of myself."
The words sounded normal, but coming from his mouth, they felt indescribably strange.
In the World's Number One Villa, only one who had killed a thousand people could be called a "Gongzi." From the founding of the villa until now, there had only been three such masters. Moreover, holding the position of Shadow Envoy, it was likely half the entries in the King of Hell's ledger were thanks to this man.
A gust of autumn wind blew through the half-open gate. Qin Jiuye shrunk her neck, suddenly feeling a surge of killing intent.
Even though the person before her was just a sickly patient sitting in a wheelchair, she couldn't help but grow tense. She took a step forward, standing in front of Du Laogou. After composing herself, she spoke.
"What do you mean by 'the last day'? What are you going to do to him? Use him to test medicine?"
Gongzi Yan didn't speak, only quietly listening to her movements, as if trying to discern something from her subtle actions.
Seeing his silence, Qin Jiuye gave a cold laugh.
"It's one thing to use martial artists for your experiments, but he is just a poor man with a clouded mind and cursed with ill luck. You won't even let him go? You insist on bullying a fool?"
Gongzi Yan finally spoke softly, clearly not taking her interrogation to heart.
"If I said that every person in this courtyard cannot escape this tribulation, what would you do?"
Currently, she had at least formed an alliance with Teng Hu; they could be called the "Black and White Twin Terrors" of this courtyard. Not to mention being responsible for suppressing the patients, she also bore the important duty of saving their only master from his misery. She ought to have some weight.
Besides, having seen so many who treated human life like grass, Qin Jiuye felt her "iron gall" was nearly forged.
"I am his friend. Whatever happens to him happens to me."
These words should have carried great momentum, but unfortunately, she lacked the breath, and with Du Laogou squirming on the ground behind her, the scene was momentarily very awkward.
However, Gongzi Yan did not press closer. He only quietly savored the tone of her words. The cold aura surrounding him seemed to dissipate in an instant, leaving only a slight autumn breeze swirling around them.
"This is the final lesson of the school in Chuanliu Courtyard. After today, there will be no more children here, and naturally, no teacher. They were master and students for a time; after this parting, they may never meet again in this life. Naturally, they should say a proper goodbye."
Qin Jiuye froze. It took her a long moment to process the meaning behind his words, but she couldn't ignore the most pressing question.
"Why exactly is he in your courtyard?"
The master in the wheelchair did not answer. He only signaled Tang Yue behind him to push him forward. Then, he leaned down and used his withered hand to pick up a mud-stained shoe that had fallen in the corner.
Not far away, Du Laogou was focused only on digging in the dirt with his hands, truly acting like a wild dog. He didn't notice any other movement in the courtyard, nor did he look up at the figure in the wheelchair.
Gongzi Yan’s hand holding the shoe dropped dejectedly. He finally spoke.
"Take him down. Change him into cleaner clothes, trim his nails, and don't let him hurt himself."
Tang Yue, who had been standing silently behind, finally stepped forward. He carefully helped Du Laogou up from the ground. Qin Jiuye watched warily from the side, and only after confirming that the man truly meant no harm did she step back.
Only after the two had left the courtyard did Gongzi Yan’s voice ring out again.
"Miss Qin, would you be willing to accompany me to sit in this schoolhouse for a while?"
***
**Glossary**
