Confrontation

Take off your shoes before getting in.

The carriage's interior was not luxurious, but it was exceptionally comfortable. There were no seats in the traditional sense; soft mattresses covered the floor, and an incense burner was set beside the window lattice, releasing curling trails of agarwood fragrance. Quilts and pillows were neatly folded in one corner, while a low rosewood table divided the carriage into two halves. Several documents lay stacked haphazardly upon it.

Nie Junyue sat kneeling behind the low table, his eyes lowered as he browsed through a dossier spread before him, as though he had not noticed the newcomer.

Without a word, Qin Yi walked over and sat kneeling in front of the table. His ragged clothes clashed sharply with his surroundings, yet his expression was as natural as that of a young nobleman.

The carriage began to move, silently.

Nie Junyue did not raise his eyes, nor did he speak. He merely handled Immortal Guest House's affairs with a suffocating calm.

Silence was the embodiment of pressure.

Especially in a situation like this.

The old proprietor clearly understood this well. He intended to use that wordlessness to force the boy opposite him into speaking first.

Yet Qin Yi simply sat quietly across from him.

Pressure did not faze him.

Time trickled by, second by second, amid deathly silence. Only the wheels grinding over the mountain road and the soft rustle of turning pages flowed through the carriage.

As they were about to arrive at Yellow Bamboo Town, Nie Junyue suddenly raised the hand adorned with a jade thumb ring. With a sharp snap that pierced the silence, the window lattice shut, blocking out the sounds beyond.

The carriage immediately sank into an even darker silence.

Nie Junyue finally spoke, his voice gentle and refined:

"Don't take Liuyi's hostility toward Ruan Su to heart. Her personality is actually quite good. She has merely just returned to Yellow Bamboo Town, and certain rumors have caused her to misunderstand."

This sudden, seemingly nonsensical explanation did not change Qin Yi's expression in the slightest. Nie Junyue studied him as he continued softly:

"You do not seem surprised."

Qin Yi shook his head and replied in a childish voice:

"I did not think of it that way. I only thought that she might have had some past conflict with my sister. I truly did not expect it to be jealousy over romantic affection."

A trace of surprise curved Nie Junyue's lips.

"You are quite clever. She does indeed harbor some unrealistic feelings for me, but I have no such intentions toward her. Over time, things became this way."

Qin Yi nodded. After a brief silence, he suddenly asked:

"Why are you telling me this?"

"What do you think?"

"Mm... because you want to kill her?"

"..."

Nie Junyue's heart trembled faintly. He smiled.

"Little fellow, making wild guesses is not a good habit."

"Is that not the case?"

"..."

Nie Junyue considered for a moment before asking in return:

"Why would you think that?"

"Luo Liuyi's status should not be low, yet the information she received was only rumor, and you had no intention of correcting her."

Qin Yi thought for a moment, then continued:

"The position of Immortal Guest House's mistress has been vacant for ten years. It cannot remain vacant forever. When that time comes, someone as incapable as her will stand out like a sore thumb."

Nie Junyue chuckled softly, as though laughing at the boy's ignorance.

"If Liuyi were incapable, I would not have sent her to the Central Plains."

"It was precisely because she went to the Central Plains that you discovered she was not capable enough. In the three years she spent there, I did not see anyone like my sister appear by your side."

"What do you mean?"

"You expended a great deal of manpower and resources to gain a foothold in the Central Plains. Was it not for this?"

"..."

Nie Junyue stared at the boy's handsome face for several breaths, maintaining the steadiness of his breathing, though his heartbeat unconsciously quickened.

He knew the other party was probing him.

But that degree of precision sent a chill down his spine.

Where had this brat gotten such intelligence?

Ruan Su?

But Ruan Su was merely a martial wanderer. She had no contact whatsoever with the matter of expansion into the Central Plains...

"Proprietor."

Qin Yi broke the increasingly grave atmosphere and explained:

"My sister and I fled all the way here from Great Qin. Over in the Central Plains, I saw many 'inhuman' beings. There were far fewer in Ancient Shu, though. Over four years, I only encountered two. Combined with how highly you regard my sister, I inferred that sending Aunt Liuyi to the Central Plains for three years was likely for this reason."

After hearing this, Nie Junyue abruptly asked:

"How do you know Liuyi went to the Central Plains three years ago? Although Ruan Su met her before, they had no dealings with each other. Would she even tell you such trivial matters?"

Qin Yi shook his head.

"She would not. But three years ago, I saw her escorting your carriage through the market."

Nie Junyue could not help but chuckle.

"You mean to say that after one glance, you could remember her for three years?"

Qin Yi stared at him without speaking.

The smile fell silent along with the air.

After pondering briefly, Nie Junyue turned to another piece of information in Qin Yi's words and said unhurriedly:

"Then I will assume that is true. But you just said that you had seen two other people in Yellow Bamboo Town similar to your sister. Who are they?"

"You have met them both as well."

"?"

"Qin Ke, and the half-girl you saw this morning."

"..."

For a moment, silence reigned.

Nie Junyue truly had not expected him to name two dead people, but he followed the subject with interest.

"Let us put that girl aside for now. I have encountered your younger brother. There is no denying that he was indeed clever, but I did not discover any inhuman traits in him."

Qin Yi considered how to answer. Even if he told the truth, someone as shrewd as the other party could not possibly trust his bare words.

After a moment,

Qin Yi chose to answer with a misplaced question.

"When I found Qin Ke, it was three years ago. Do you think it is an ordinary thing for a child of six or seven to survive on Compassion Mountain?"

Nie Junyue's expression froze, and his brows gradually drew together.

Seeing this, Qin Yi continued softly:

"Proprietor, if you wish to find people like my sister, you can look among the refugee tide. Children who can survive alone in a place so vicious and savage generally possess certain 'inhuman' traits."

Nie Junyue's upright posture slowly became more solemn.

"You should know that Yellow Bamboo Town has always taken in refugees."

"You need population. You are strengthening the foundation for Immortal Guest House's future outward expansion. Your starting point was wrong, so naturally you could not find them."

Qin Yi directly rejected his premise. After a pause, he continued:

"Besides, do you not think the distance from the Central Plains to Ancient Shu is simply too great? No matter how inhuman a child may be, they are still a child in the end. Within the refugee tide, they must face those people starved into ghosts at every moment. How high could their chances of survival be?"

Nie Junyue's brows tightened slightly as he asked slowly:

"You mean that I should send people into the refugee tide in the Central Plains to search?"

Qin Yi nodded lightly, his words careful and earnest.

"And the candidates must be able to lower themselves, to spend years completely integrating into the refugee tide, rather than offering charity now and then from the posture of a superior."

"Proprietor, children who survive in the refugee tide understand disguise and how to avoid harm for gain better than adults do. They will never willingly expose their abnormalities, much less approach people who appear threatening to them."

At this point,

Qin Yi raised a hand in a somewhat presumptuous gesture and tapped his fingertips against the table. Tap, tap.

"I wonder whether you are satisfied with this meeting gift?"

"..."

Nie Junyue did not speak. As he stared at the boy opposite him, a terrifying sense of déjà vu rose in his heart. He suppressed it, acknowledged the other party, and asked:

"It is a very fine gift. But why did you conclude earlier that I wished to kill Luo Liuyi?"

Qin Yi thought seriously for a moment, then said quietly:

"Because I have felt something similar before."

Nie Junyue smiled gently.

"You should only be around ten years old this year. Where could such a feeling have come from?"

Qin Yi did not care about his teasing and slowly uttered a name.

"Qin Ke."

Hearing that name again, Nie Junyue was somewhat surprised.

"Your missing younger brother? Did you kill him?"

"No. He truly disappeared on his own, just as you know."

Qin Yi weighed his words slightly, lowered his gaze, and murmured, "But I did indeed think of killing him, because he was gradually losing control."

Nie Junyue did not speak. He listened quietly.

A note of sighing entered Qin Yi's childish voice.

"He mistakenly placed his dependence upon Ruan Su, while Ruan Su had only me in her eyes. Naturally, he saw me as an object of jealousy, even as a burden. Someone like that would only be a risk if kept at one's side. Should he not have been removed?"

The stable environment made it impossible for Qin Yi to establish authority as quickly amid danger as he had within the refugee tide, while every visible pillar of the household rested upon his sister, Ruan Su.

When playing with hearts, a difference of a hair could lead to an error of a thousand miles.

Nie Junyue's heartbeat quickened unconsciously, and that sense of déjà vu intensified again. Looking at the monster wearing the skin of a little boy, he chuckled.

"He saw you as a burden? I told you before, I have met him. Compared to you, he fell far short..."

"Brain illness."

Qin Yi interrupted him, voluntarily exposing his weakness as he said with a smile:

"Proprietor, my brain illness is real, and it has not been cured. Most of the time, I am a genuine fool. Only occasionally can I function as I am now."

"..."

A dead silence abruptly descended.

The incense burner beside the window lattice still released its faint sounds at an unhurried pace. The carriage's swaying over the rugged mountain road proved that time had not stopped.

What lay behind the boy's words caused Nie Junyue's pupils to contract into pinpoints. A fear long buried deep in his mind, one he had been unwilling to recall, began to awaken completely.

It was a little girl.

The same age,

The same palpitations,

The same monster wearing a child's skin.

A sudden, piercing ringing erupted in his ears.

The boy's handsome, pale face began flashing endlessly before his eyes, repeatedly interweaving and changing with the terrifying beauty in his memory...

Before the two completely overlapped, before Nie Junyue completely mistook Qin Yi for that terrifying girl...

"Proprietor."

Buzz—

The ringing vanished, and the voice pulled him back to reality.

Nie Junyue suddenly realized that he was already gasping for breath, his hand unconsciously clutching the low table before him just to steady himself.

The childish voice came again, gentle and soothing.

"...Is something wrong with your health?"

Qin Yi's voice was soft enough to put one at ease.

Nie Junyue looked toward the voice, only to find that the other party's posture remained unchanged. Yet the terror from before was no longer there.

After several breaths of silence,

Nie Junyue withdrew the hand gripping the low table. He did not explain his earlier abnormality, and his voice was slightly hoarse.

"...Evidence."

This time, Qin Yi did not seize control of the conversation again. He lowered his shoulders, bent his back slightly, adjusted his expression, and became obedient.

"What... evidence?"

His earlier words—or rather, the bearing he had displayed—should have triggered some kind of post-traumatic reaction in the old proprietor.

Nie Junyue took a deep breath. "Evidence that you have brain illness."

Qin Yi did not answer immediately. He waited for the other party to calm himself, casually offering an excuse for him to refute.

"You should be able to investigate the money my sister spent seeking physicians."

Nie Junyue quickly adjusted his state. If he were the sort to retreat when seized by fear, he could never have come this far.

"It is a reason, but not enough. I cannot sort through accounts from four years ago."

Qin Yi fell silent briefly. Seeing the other party's expression gradually settle, he spoke directly.

"If I did not have brain illness, I would not have stayed in Yellow Bamboo Town. And if I had chosen to remain, I would not have done nothing for four years."

Silence.

Nie Junyue tacitly accepted this explanation.

Great currents were about to rise; monsters were descending into the world.

Just like the girl he had encountered ten years ago during Immortal Guest House's rise, geniuses like Qin Yi had no need to confine themselves to this borderland if they wished to ascend to the heavens.

Thinking of and facing that girl buried deep in his memories once more after so long, Nie Junyue's hand beneath the low table still clenched unconsciously, tightly. But this time, he did not lose his composure.

Looking at Qin Yi, Nie Junyue asked faintly:

"Being this direct, aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"

The other party recovered his composure faster than Qin Yi had expected, his words still yielding:

"Of course I am."

"Then give me a reason not to kill you. A dead genius is nothing but a pile of rotten flesh."

The moment the words left his mouth, Nie Junyue realized that he still seemed to be affected by that fear, venting it upon the boy before him who possessed the same "trait."

Qin Yi did not mind. Or rather, he had long expected that the other man might ask such a question. Yet what he had seen and heard after entering this carriage made him revise his prepared answer on the spot.

Pretending to think seriously for a long while, Qin Yi suddenly pointed at the documents densely covered in writing on the desk and said:

"These things, boss, shouldn't be handled personally by you."

Nie Junyue had not expected him to suddenly steer the conversation toward those documents.

"What do you mean?"

Qin Yi considered his wording.

"I... heard Ruan Su mention Immortal Guest House's current structure. For a force in its fledgling stage, it was barely sufficient, but now it seems somewhat crude."

Qin Yi began counting on his fingers for show as he spoke.

"Just now, I took a peek at the official documents you were handling. Discrepancies in the trading house's accounts require your attention; disputes, even duels, among the house retainers require your judgment; the head of the Iron Guards borrowed money from the trading house, and you only learned of it afterward. Even clashes between two bands of wandering bandits at a brothel under Immortal Guest House have to be reported to you."

At this point,

Qin Yi suddenly raised his eyes.

"You can indeed manage these matters now, but what if Immortal Guest House takes another step forward?"

"..."

Nie Junyue had never expected this little brat to enter from such an angle. After a moment of silence, he said:

"So what can you offer me?"

Qin Yi weighed his words.

"I can design and improve a set of organizational structures for you."

"Heh... I wondered what you were going to say."

Nie Junyue silently put away those documents, took out a tea set and kettle from a drawer beside him, and began preparing tea at an unhurried pace, shaking his head.

Designing an organizational structure required not only ability, but experience. For a child of around ten to bring this up to him, holding back his laughter was already the greatest respect he could offer.

"Though I came from humble beginnings, I've walked this road for many years. I built Immortal Guest House up step by step, from a single inn to its present scale. Do you think I never considered this? Something even I can't solve, and you're telling me a child of about ten can solve it?"

Qin Yi listened closely.

First came his expression, then his tone, and only lastly the content itself.

Because of the other man's sudden PTSD episode, Qin Yi first had to determine Nie Junyue's attitude toward him.

If the boss's attitude had already completely turned hostile, then even if Qin Yi immediately produced a workable plan, it would be rejected.

A man who had already set his stance could not be persuaded.

Not even if you slapped the evidence right in his face.

Fortunately, this boss merely seemed unconvinced.

After weighing his words slightly, Qin Yi did not answer. Instead, he introduced a new concept from a different angle and asked:

"May I ask whether you and your Immortal Guest House possess a great cause?"

Nie Junyue indeed failed to turn the corner.

"What do you mean?"

Qin Yi explained in terms the other man could understand:

"You may regard it as the reason followers would follow you, or the ultimate goal you wish to achieve. It could be peace under heaven, carving out territory and becoming a lord, or slaying demons and eliminating evil for the country and its people.

"Plant it within Immortal Guest House, and even ordinary tavern attendants or farmers toiling in the fields will understand why they labor. This will be the foundation that sets you apart from other factions."

Nie Junyue reacted quickly. Having roughly understood what he meant, he shook his head.

"That doesn't seem necessary. As long as I can ensure they have enough to eat..."

"Letting people eat their fill can also be a great cause."

The childish voice was calm, without the slightest trace of aggression.

"Indeed, this great cause is more tangible and more attractive than the grand visions I listed earlier. Yet you seem not to have attached importance to it. Otherwise, given the present turmoil beneath heaven, Immortal Guest House's scale should be far beyond what it is now."

"..."

Nie Junyue finally seemed to understand something. Frowning, he had already forgotten that the person before him was merely a child of around ten.

"You are... inciting me to rebel?"

Qin Yi smiled and shook his head. Rather than follow that subject further, he drew the thread of the conversation back at the right moment.

"No. I merely wished to explain the purpose of a great cause to you, and you seem to understand it now."

"..."

Silence fell over the carriage.

Nie Junyue sank into wordless, agonized thought, his expression flickering between light and shadow. Only after a long time, when he finally grasped the principle behind it, did he raise his eyes toward the boy.

He did not know where the other party had learned such knowledge, but that did not stop his heartbeat from quickening, did not stop the thought of subduing him from taking root, nor did it stop something called possessiveness from rising within his heart.

The man he was now

was utterly different from the man he had been ten years ago, when he encountered that girl.

He already possessed a vast force, enough to hold the other's life and death in his grasp.

If he could control this boy,

then,

the boy's future would surely be even more desirable than his sister's!