The Jade Pendant and the Old Crone

Night.

Qin Yi opened his eyes.

What met his gaze was the familiar wooden ceiling.

Feeling some weight on his body, he shifted his eyes slightly and watched the sleeping girl's profile for a moment before withdrawing his gaze.

Everything was normal.

Without disturbing his older sister, who had half her body draped over him, Qin Yi stared at the ceiling and silently sorted through the information he had obtained from the memory fragments.

First.

He had indeed been born into an aristocratic family somewhere in the Central Plains.

This did not come as much of a surprise. Whether it was the jade pendant his older sister kept safe or the old man who had been by his side when he first woke at the age of four, both spoke to that fact.

That old man was very powerful.

Otherwise, he could never have tamed Ruan Su.

When he had first found this older sister in the mountains, apart from looking like a little girl, her behavior had been no different from that of a demon calamity.

The only thing that had somewhat exceeded Qin Yi's expectations was probably the scale of his family.

At the very least, during the journey south with the tide of refugees, Qin Yi had never seen battles on the level of those in the memory fragments. Compared with those two, even the old man by his side when he woke up could only be considered an ordinary person.

Second,

From now on, he had better hide himself well.

Before he woke, after the burly man in black armor killed that scholar, Qin Yi had seen the look the man gave him with absolute clarity.

It was a helplessness so desperate it had become bewilderment.

If his Lineage were still flourishing, if it had merely suffered an assassination attempt and powerful reinforcements existed, a strong man like that should not have revealed such an expression.

After that,

There was Granny Meng.

Even counting from when he had first discovered her, Granny Meng had followed him for seven years. Throughout that time, she had never approached him, never helped him, and never shown the slightest hostility.

He had to figure out whether this old crone was friendly toward him or hostile.

Qin Yi did not believe that neutrality was an option in this world. Even if it was, it was only waiting for a good price.

Fortunately, Granny Meng's attitude now seemed to be gradually changing. The proactive intervention of her adopted daughter, Meng Peijiu, was the best proof. He could try to continue probing her.

He could only continue probing.

After witnessing the battle between the burly man in black armor and that scholar swordsman, Qin Yi did not think he could escape the other's surveillance.

Since he could not flee, he might as well face it head-on.

Qin Yi drew a steady breath and gazed through the small window at the night sky.

There was no moon tonight. Thick darkness coiled around the forests surrounding the little hut, and only a faint chill seeped in through the cracks.

That unknown family background, which had reentered his sight, did not make Qin Yi feel any relief. Instead, it gave him an unprecedented sense of urgency.

He had to immediately use every means at his disposal to increase the violence he wielded, and try to cure his brain ailment through his former employer's side.

And Ruan Su's cultivation had to be put on the agenda tomorrow. His older sister was currently the greatest violent support he possessed.

At that thought, Qin Yi hesitated, wondering whether he should simply wake Ruan Su and have his older sister begin cultivating tonight.

"Rustle..."

The light around him seemed to dim by a degree.

Qin Yi's gaze fixed on the small window. At the edge of his vision, he saw a human figure standing beside the bed, staring at him.

The girl's breathing beside his ear remained even, her warm body heat passing through their clothes. The night wind swept over the forest with a rustling like waves through wheat.

There was someone else in the room.

How long had they been inside? What about the traps in the yard? The concealed crossbow by the door? The tripwires indoors?

Those were all things Ruan Su checked before sleeping.

Should he wake Ruan Su now?

No. During the periods when he was unconscious, Ruan Su had always slept lightly. The slightest stir would wake her.

Should he play dead and pretend he had not seen anything?

No.

The fact that the other person had appeared here already said a great deal.

Qin Yi's black pupils slowly turned toward the bedside.

Mm, it was not an illusion.

There really was someone standing there.

Ruan Su slept on the inner side of the heated bed. Qin Yi lay flat, silently meeting the gaze of the person standing before the bed.

The shadows of the night were thick as ink. The person standing before the bed was shrouded in gloom, their outline seeming somewhat hunched.

It was Granny Meng.

The two stared at each other for a long time before Granny Meng slowly turned around and walked toward the wooden cabinet opposite the heated bed.

She made no sound as she walked, nor did she trigger any of the tripwire traps in the room, as though she had no physical form.

Qin Yi continued staring at her hunched, gaunt back.

After following him for seven years, this old crone knew his brain ailment was real.

But had it worked so easily?

The unlit hut was deathly silent, everything dim and indistinct. A broken square table leaned against the wall, while three chairs stood empty in the middle of the room.

The old crone's shifting shadow crouched before the cabinet, seemingly preparing to retrieve the belongings Ruan Su had hidden in its secret compartment.

If he could, Qin Yi truly wanted to remind the old crone that the thing made noise, so she should be careful not to wake Ruan Su.

Otherwise, things would become difficult on his end.

Yet the entire hut seemed to have fallen into some vacuum. The faint click of the secret mechanism being triggered did not sound as expected.

Under Qin Yi's watchful gaze, the old crone called Granny Meng took the jade pendant from a cloth bag, then stood motionless where she was.

What was she trying to do?

Why was she holding his jade pendant and staring blankly at it?

As he pondered, Qin Yi's vision suddenly blurred. He blinked and refocused, only to find a pair of utterly lifeless eyes directly before him. Granny Meng was already crouching beside the bed, with only her head exposed as she stared fixedly at him.

They stared at each other in silence.

Qin Yi's breathing remained steady, his heart pumping as usual.

But even in his crashed state, his body would instinctively react to such abrupt changes, so he slowly raised a hand toward the old crone's cheek.

"Ah... ah..."

As expected, his fingertips passed through emptiness. He grasped nothing.

Granny Meng's deathly eyes gave Qin Yi one final glance before she turned toward the side room kitchen, melting into the silent shadows like ink.

She still did not trigger a single tripwire.

At the same time,

Feeling the boy beside her move, the girl groggily opened her eyes and propped herself up, her tone somewhat displeased.

"Don't... mess around..."

"Ah... ah..."

"Sleep...!"

"Ah... ah..."

"..."

Thus passed a night.

When the first streak of dawn fell upon the world and drove the gloom from the hut,

Ruan Su sat by the bed looking as though life held no meaning. Kept awake all night by Xiao Yi's noise, she realized she probably would not be getting any sleep today.

Biting her lip, Ruan Su glanced at Qin Yi, who was lying in bed facing the wall and babbling "ah ah" at random. Suppressing the urge to punch him, she thought, I'll make a harsh entry in the diary about you later.

Fighting off her exhaustion, Ruan Su dressed herself, carefully removed the indoor tripwires and concealed crossbow traps, then jogged outside to the well. She planned to wash Xiao Yi up before taking him to town.

But when she returned carrying a bucket of water, Ruan Su saw that Qin Yi had already gotten out of bed and was dressing himself inside the room.

Thud—

The wooden bucket hit the floor, sending water splashing over the girl's trouser legs.

Hearing the sound, Qin Yi turned back, looking slightly surprised.

"Sis, what's wrong?"

Ruan Su's eyes flickered as she lightly pressed her lips together.

"You... woke... up?"

Qin Yi paused in the middle of dressing. Seeing the expression on the girl's face, he thought for a moment before asking hesitantly,

"How long was I unconscious this time?"

Disbelief filled Ruan Su's eyes. She sniffed hard and stared unblinkingly at the boy.

"Y... yesterday..."