Situ Jinbao looked left and right, and only after ensuring no one had spotted him did he sneak into the small kitchen in the back courtyard.
Because the number of people gathered at the Hall of Listening Winds had increased today, the food in the pot was clearly insufficient. They had to stew a few of Qin Sanyou’s radishes just to make up the bulk. Jinbao had used every bit of persuasion he possessed to beg an extra flatbread from Tang Shenyan, but now his stomach was once again gnawing with an unbearable emptiness.
He had long since set his sights on the pile of taro stacked in the corner of the kitchen. If the embers in the hearth hadn't completely cooled, he could toss a few in to roast; paired with some dried vegetables, it would make for a delightful meal.
The more he thought about it, the more he salivated. Jinbao felt his way to the stove in the dark. Just as he was about to bend down to check the fire, a voice suddenly rang out from the shadows.
"What did you say to Qin Sanyou just now?"
Jinbao jumped in fright. Turning his head, he discovered someone sitting on the woodpile in the corner, clutching a wood-chopping knife and staring at him fixedly.
It took a long while for Jinbao to recognize the face. The youth’s features were the same, yet his entire aura felt utterly foreign. Beads of cold sweat broke out on Jinbao’s forehead, though his voice remained defiant.
"Nothing. Just told him how things are." After a pause, he seemed to recall something and added righteously, "As an unrelated male, you shouldn't even be allowed in our courtyard by normal standards. She was kind enough to take you in; you ought to know your place."
Li Qiao stood up from the woodpile, dragging the chopping knife as he approached.
"Is your surname Situ, Brother Situ?"
Jinbao blinked, failing to react for a moment. "Of course."
Li Qiao’s eyes narrowed, the light within them turning chillingly cold.
"Since your surname is Situ, you aren't a member of the Qin family either. By 'normal standards,' you are also an unrelated male. Why is it that you can enter her courtyard, but I cannot?"
Situ Jinbao was stunned by this sudden interrogation. After a long silence, he feebly argued, "How could I be the same as you? I’ve known her since before I could walk. I was raised by her hand. Ours is a bond of sharing the same pot of rice, wearing the same pair of trousers, enduring hardships, and braving the same storm together. What do you know?!"
Whether it was his imagination or not, with every word he spoke, the cold glint in those light brown eyes intensified.
How could anyone have previously thought those eyes were gentle and harmless? Looking at them now, they were clearly the eyes of a wolf.
After a long time, just when Jinbao thought the other man was about to turn into a beast and tear him in two, the cold light finally receded. Li Qiao withdrew his gaze and resumed organizing the fresh firewood on the floor, speaking in a flat, indifferent tone.
"So what? Not everything in this world follows the rule of 'first come, first served.' She told me herself—we are grasshoppers tied to the same string. She protects me before the Governor now, and she will continue to do so. Do you think you can get me kicked out just by treading to Qin Sanyou with your complaints?"
Jinbao was incensed. He felt as though all the grievances accumulated back at Guoran Residence had finally erupted. He pointed a trembling finger in accusation.
"You’re grasshoppers on the same string? Then what am I?! I’ve known her for twenty years! What right does a person who appeared out of thin air have to stand here bossing me around and threatening me?"
"What are you? Let me think..." Li Qiao leaned closer to Jinbao’s blustering face, his voice laced with thirty percent mockery and seventy percent coldness. "You are, at best, a katydid she used to know. A fat katydid that won't stop chirping. If you keep chirping at the wrong time, I’ll have no choice but to chop off your tongue and use it as kindling."
He said all this in a low, gentle voice with a soft expression. If anyone were to look over, they might have mistaken them for a pair of loving, supportive brothers.
Terrified, Jinbao scrambled back until he hit the stove. His eyes darted toward the window, searching for Qin Jiuye’s figure. When he turned back, Li Qiao was already gone from the kitchen.
****** ****** ******
Stepping out of the guest room, Qin Jiuye stood in the dark courtyard for a moment to settle the last of her lingering irritation before slowly walking forward.
She had told Qin Sanyou she had things to do, but in truth, she couldn't focus on anything right now.
If she were still at Guoran Residence, she would have taken out lotus seeds and bitter ginseng seeds to peel one by one. Such repetitive labor always calmed her heart quickly. But the Hall of Listening Winds had no such things for her to peel, so she could only silently recite medical texts and pharmacopeias in her mind, letting the night breeze blow away her restless emotions.
After walking along the covered corridor for a while, she unconsciously found herself at the side of the main hall.
This stone hall often carried a ghostly chill even in summer. She had intended to turn back, but then she heard the intermittent sound of voices coming from within.
Only then did Qin Jiuye remember that Lu Zican had brought in two people today. Recalling the various ordeals at Two Waters Bank, her face instantly darkened. She strode to the hall entrance and saw that Du the Old Dog had sobered up at some point. He was currently sitting upright beneath the divine statue, lecturing Tang Shenyan with great solemnity.
"Brother Tang surely knows that since ancient times, temples have been places where Yin and Yang intersect. Wood carries the breath of life and is unsuitable, which is why they are built of stone. But stone is like the 'Earth of the City Wall'; it suppresses every drop of the 'Living Water' that brings wealth. Temples rely on incense and offerings to bolster their luck, so they do not fear it, but you here are suffering for nothing."
Qin Jiuye sneered inwardly, thinking this charlatan certainly wasn't shy—calling someone 'brother' upon their first meeting. Yet she saw that Tang Shenyan, blinded by the prospect of a few copper coins, was actually nodding along, eagerly pouring more tea for the man.
"Then, according to the Master’s words, how should I break this Earth formation to welcome wealth into my home?"
Du the Old Dog beckoned with his finger, and Tang Shenyan hurried closer. After a bout of whispering, Tang Shenyan’s face filled with doubt and wonder.
"Is that truly feasible?"
"Of course it is!" The man surnamed Du shook his head as he pulled a bundle of dogtail grass from the basket behind him, speaking with great gravity. "I lend these flowers; I do not sell them. I only guide those with whom I share a destiny. You need only accept these flowers first. If what I say comes true in the future, you can pay me then. Of course, to leave a testament for the future, you can give me a token first, such as..."
Du the Old Dog was just getting to the good part, the most crucial chapter yet to unfold, when he felt a dark shadow loom over him. A flash of golden light appeared, followed by a sharp pain in his head.
"You big fraud! It was bad enough you used the booze as an excuse to bark at me in the street, but now you’re a guest here and you still try to ruin a poor man! Even a rabbit knows not to eat the grass near its own burrow. I think I’ll do a righteous deed and deal with you today, lest you keep spouting nonsense and hounding me and my grandfather!"
The woman had produced a gleaming medicine shovel from somewhere and was waving it about. Her fierce, sharp demeanor looked more terrifying than the guardian deities in the temple.
Du the Old Dog was stunned and collapsed onto the floor.
Qin Jiuye had no intention of letting him off easily. She grabbed him by the collar and hauled him up.
"You’d better confess honestly. Did someone pay you to deliberately frame me time and again, trying to pin a capital crime on my family? Did you pick us because we have no power or influence, thinking we’d just have to swallow this grievance? Speak! Who exactly ordered you to do this?! Will you speak? Will you?!"
The frustrations of the past few days surged to her heart. Qin Jiuye’s anger transformed into a sudden burst of strength as she shook him ventingly, ignoring Tang Shenyan’s futile attempts to pull her away.
This Du the Old Dog was a frail man, shaken like a string of dried chili peppers. When he finally managed to break free, his face was ashen.
"I... I don't know anything! Don't force me, don't force me! Even if you force me, I won't say a word..."
He had already seemed mentally unstable, perhaps from too much alcohol rotting his brain. Now, under this stimulation, he began chanting those few words over and over while clutching his head and banging it against a nearby stone pillar, looking utterly persecuted and miserable.
Qin Jiuye froze, unable to tell for a moment if he was truly mad or just faking. The next moment, her gaze fell upon his hands buried in his messy hair, and she paused again.
They were a pair of hands with twisted, deformed knuckles. If one looked closely, one could see that the pinky finger on one hand didn't even have a nail.
Few people are born without fingernails. Unless someone had repeatedly pulled them out until the finger could no longer grow one.
Qin Jiuye’s expression became complicated. The ball of fury in her chest suddenly dissipated, and the medicine shovel in her hand slowly lowered.
What was she doing? She couldn't beat Prefect Fan, and she couldn't sway Governor Qiu, so she was bullying a beggar who was even worse off than she was? She wasn't one of those wealthy young ladies overflowing with misplaced sympathy who would buy into any sob story, but while a person’s words might be full of lies, their body could not lie.
This charlatan was also someone who had suffered. Previously, she couldn't be sure if Du the Old Dog was acting on orders, but seeing him now, could it be that he really had been traumatized by Lord Fan? Or perhaps even earlier...
As she was lost in thought, Li Qiao’s voice suddenly rang out not far behind her.
"You won't get anything out of him like this."
Qin Jiuye glanced at him. Recalling the ordeal with Qin Sanyou earlier, she felt a wave of irritation and didn't want to speak to him, but he took another step closer.
"If Sister finds it troublesome, I can ask him for you." The youth’s gaze fell upon the raving man nearby, carrying a strange chill. "I guarantee he will tell you everything he knows, down to the last detail."
Tang Shenyan was struggling to hold Du the Old Dog back. The latter, failing to crack his head on the pillar, had turned to pulling his own hair. It was a scene of utter chaos.
Qin Jiuye felt even more annoyed. She didn't pay much attention to Li Qiao’s tone and simply waved her hand wearily.
"Forget it, forget it. Why bother?"
With that, she turned and walked out.
Inside the main hall, the exhausted Old Tang finally managed to calm the charlatan. The two began whispering again. It was unclear if they were resuming their grand plan for "changing luck and striking it rich," or if they had found a new common language in privately complaining about the terrifying and stingy shopkeeper of Guoran Residence.
Of course, Qin Jiuye was no longer in the mood to care about such nonsense. Heavier matters were weighing on her heart.
She walked with her head down for a while before stopping by the courtyard's central lightwell to stare blankly.
In the small pond in the middle of the lightwell, a few white ducks had appeared at some point.
The ducks were somewhat shy; seeing a person approach, they quacked and swam away, leaving only one standing on a rock preening its feathers. Once the water settled, she noticed a reflection in the pool.
"Your grandfather... let me stay?"
Qin Jiuye nodded weakly. Thinking of Qin Sanyou’s behavior earlier, she felt another bout of inexplicable gloom.
But the youth behind her seemed quite relieved, his tone carrying a rare lightness.
"That’s good."
Having said that, he instinctively moved closer. However, as the shadow in the pond shifted, Qin Jiuye noticed immediately and quickly dodged away.
She turned her head. The light from the water in the lightwell reflected on his face like a veil woven of glass—bright, yet feminine and elusive.
After a long silence, Li Qiao finally asked in a heavy voice.
"Why is Sister avoiding me?"
Did he truly not know, or was he asking despite knowing the answer?
Qin Jiuye couldn't quite tell. Not knowing how to respond, she remained silent.
The youth looked unwilling to give up and pressed closer. His broad shoulders loomed over her like a mountain, suddenly creating a sense of pressure.
Qin Jiuye knew she couldn't let this continue. she quickly raised her hand to press against him, maintaining the last bit of distance between them. After a pause, she spoke with some helplessness.
"Has no one told you? This isn't how siblings interact."
He finally stopped, then slowly backed away, his face showing a trace of subtle confusion.
"Then how do they interact? Teach me, Sister."
Qin Jiuye was stumped.
To be honest, she didn't know either. She had no siblings. Jinbao was just there to earn a living and often had to watch her moods; most of the time, he was merely her apprentice and employee.
Having a close relative to live, play, and grow up with was an experience she lacked.
She cleared her throat to hide her lack of confidence and replied briefly, "In any case, not like this."
He refused to give up easily and countered, "Then like what?"
"Like before," she finally found the right words and said with certainty. "I remember we were doing quite well earlier, weren't we? Two months in the village and no one asked questions..."
"How about this?" He suddenly reached out his left hand and took her right hand. "When we went out before, didn't Sister always hold my hand like this?"
The youth’s left palm was very rough. His fingertips, the web of his thumb, and the mounds of his palm were all covered in a layer of calluses. When he gripped her hand, it felt as if two pieces of dry wood were sandwiching it.
For some reason, even though he was only holding her hand, it made her feel as though she couldn't open her mouth.
Qin Jiuye was momentarily speechless.
"If you don't speak, I’ll take it as a yes." He flashed a perfect smile, the dimple faintly appearing on his cheek, making him look quite like a younger brother. "The Governor is different from the villagers; we must be careful in all things. If there are outsiders present in the future, let us interact like this."
This last sentence was like a bucket of ice water poured over Qin Jiuye’s head in the dead of winter, instantly dissolving the strange, stifling feeling she had just felt.
He was merely maintaining his disguise, and she was nothing more than a prop he needed for that disguise.
Qin Jiuye gently withdrew her hand, returning to her previous state of weary distraction.
"How many 'futures' can there be? It won't stay like this forever." She turned her head to watch the duck preening its feathers in the lightwell, never looking back at his face. "It will all end. Once I’ve settled these troubles, everything will come to an end."
***
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 听风堂 | Hall of Listening Winds | The name of the hall where the characters are staying. |
| 果然居 | Guoran Residence | Qin Jiuye's home and clinic. |
| 药铲 | Medicine shovel | A small tool used by apothecaries/physicians. |
| 二水滨 | Two Waters Bank | The location of the crime scene. |
| 督护 | Governor | A high-ranking military/civil official (referring to Qiu Henian). |
| 郡守 | Prefect | A regional administrator (referring to Fan). |
| 天井 | Lightwell | An open space in the center of a traditional Chinese building to let in light and air. |
| 蝈蝈 | Katydid | Used as a metaphor for someone annoying or insignificant. |
| 蚂蚱 | Grasshopper | Used in the idiom "grasshoppers on the same string" (sharing the same fate). |
