I crawled out of a pile of corpses to find you.
(I) A subject's duty
Several hours earlier.
Ji Hanchu brought nothing but the Star Pendant and the gold leaves and went straight to There Is an Inn.
He was not completely certain Red Adornment was still there, but he wanted to try.
Ji Hanchu had no experience fleeing, but he needed no one to teach him that money could take him anywhere. He had tucked the bag of gold leaves safely away. After some thought, he decided not to give it to Red Adornment for now.
Red Adornment seemed to have a destructive streak. With the way she stabbed tables as though chopping firewood, giving her the gold leaves would only embolden her. She might pay the whole lot out in damages within a couple of days.
Liu Xinlü and an attendant were keeping watch in the lobby. The attendant was sleeping soundly, while Liu Xinlü counted money by candlelight.
Just as she was smiling smugly, she turned and saw Ji Hanchu at the door. She looked as though she had seen a ghost. "Young Master Ji, why are you back?"
Ji Hanchu walked in. "Why can't I come back?"
Liu Xinlü gathered the money into a pouch and came over to him. "Red Adornment told me you two had split up. She doesn't want you anymore and is planning to go home alone."
Those words were like a knife plunging into Ji Hanchu's heart, but he keenly caught the word "planning." With no time to nurse the pain, he asked, "Where is Red Adornment?"
Liu Xinlü pointed upstairs.
Ji Hanchu started toward the stairs.
Seeing this, Liu Xinlü hurriedly pulled him aside. It was not that she liked meddling, but some things had to be said.
She had kept this inn for decades. A woman running an inn needed a fierce streak and an eye for people. During this pair's stay, she had come to understand them: they were not on the same path at all. Red Adornment was thoroughly wicked, while Young Master Ji was upright through and through. They ought to have been as incompatible as fire and water. Unfortunately, most men could never get past a woman.
But Red Adornment was wicked enough and wild enough that Young Master Ji's fall was understandable.
She tugged his sleeve and asked, "How did you upset her?"
Ji Hanchu said, "I didn't upset her."
Liu Xinlü said, "Then why would she stop wanting you for no reason?"
Those words plunged another knife into Ji Hanchu's heart. He thought it over. It seemed to have been because she had asked whether he wanted to go back with her to see the stars. He had been a little torn then and had not answered. She might have taken that as a refusal and become angry.
Ji Hanchu said, "She thought I didn't want her anymore, so she stopped wanting me first."
Liu Xinlü's mouth fell wide open. She was stunned by the fragile heart beneath Red Adornment's formidable exterior.
"Then you'd better coax her. Women are all like that. They need coaxing." Liu Xinlü lifted her head. "But Young Master Ji, let me offer you some advice. If you haven't made up your mind, you'd better let it go."
Although one glance told her the man loved the woman more, judging by Red Adornment's manner, she was not entirely indifferent either. Ji Hanchu had hurt her too.
Ji Hanchu said solemnly, "I've made up my mind."
Liu Xinlü nodded. "Good, then."
With that, she patted his back and pushed him toward the stairs. "Go on up. She's been sitting in her room looking lost ever since she came back. Don't keep her waiting too long, or if she really runs off, it'll be too late for regrets."
That slap nearly knocked the breath out of Ji Hanchu. The wounds across his shoulders and back hurt as though countless needles were pricking them, but he paid no heed. He took the stairs to the second floor in a few hurried strides, truly afraid Red Adornment would grow tired of waiting and run off.
The little wretch had no conscience. Unless he kept her tethered by his side, she would slip away.
But this time, he was not afraid. He had nothing left but himself. Even if she ran to the ends of the earth, he could chase after her.
When he pushed open the door, Red Adornment was sitting upright at the table, staring blankly at the candlestick.
Hearing the sound, she turned and saw him. She showed little surprise, her expression unchanged. "Why are you here?" Then she lowered her head and said softly, "Surely you haven't come to kill me."
Ji Hanchu sat down opposite her. "I'm not as heartless as you."
Red Adornment straightened. "How am I heartless?"
Ji Hanchu said, "I nearly lost half my life for you, and you're just sitting here waiting to laugh at me. If that isn't heartless, what is?"
Red Adornment sneered. "Did I beg you to kill those people? You chose to do it yourself. Don't blame everything on me when something goes wrong."
Ji Hanchu said, "You didn't ask me. I did it willingly."
With him putting it that way, Red Adornment had nothing to say.
After a long while, she asked, "What did you come for?"
Ji Hanchu held out his hand to her. "Didn't you say you would take me back to see the stars? I'm here now."
Red Adornment looked at his hand. His fingers were long and beautiful. It was truly difficult to imagine how he killed people with those hands.
"I've changed my mind." She did not even look at him. "I'm planning to go back alone now."
Ji Hanchu asked quietly, "You don't want me anymore?"
Red Adornment gazed at the candlestick with some regret, but what she said was, "I don't."
"Then what am I to do?" Ji Hanchu's lips curved. "I've already endured eighty-two lashes, betrayed my clan, and abandoned my path. Even if you don't want me, all I can do is cling to you and refuse to let go."
Red Adornment turned in disbelief. "What did you say?"
Ji Hanchu let her look at him and smiled faintly, extending his hand toward her. "I have nothing left, only myself. Do you want me?"
Red Adornment felt he was simply fooling around. She had been the one to ask him to leave with her, yet she was also the one who had regretted it. She had never imagined Ji Hanchu would take things this far.
Her eyes reddened, and for a moment she was dazed. "Just because you tell me to take you, I have to? Why should I?"
Ji Hanchu readily obliged. "Then what would you like?"
Red Adornment blinked hard and choked out, "Beg me."
Ji Hanchu smiled. "I beg you."
Red Adornment could no longer hold herself together. In truth, she had lost that ability long ago. She had come back after killing those people despite knowing how dangerous it was here. In the end, she had harbored that hope too, wanting to wait for him a little.
She had thought he would not come. Yet he had come, and not only that, he had brought her this "surprise."
People said the first to fall in love fell deeper. She did not know how much of what she felt for him was genuine affection, or even whether she was worth it. But he had given her no chance, coming to her after cutting off every route of retreat.
The bloody lesson was still before her eyes, but Red Adornment felt she might do something utterly rebellious too-she could no longer be Yaoguang.
If her senior sister knew, perhaps she too would feel helpless.
But there's nothing I can do, Senior Sister. Do you know? When he puts it like that, it's too tempting. I really don't think I can refuse.
Ji Hanchu came to her side and held her tight. His warm fingertips wiped away her tears, and he pressed a kiss to her fingertips.
"I place my life in your hands, my lady. Sorry for the trouble of looking after it."
(II) An offering to a fleeting life
Red Adornment packed her things. There was not much, really, just a few weapons and a string of Buddhist prayer beads. That was how she had come; when she left, she had an additional Ji Hanchu in tow.
Before leaving, she specifically had Ji Hanchu wipe down everything on him to make certain none of it carried tracking incense.
While he was wiping them down, she slipped out to find Liu Xinlü.
After hearing her description, Liu Xinlü looked rather strange. "That isn't how it's done..." This was far too hasty.
Red Adornment said, "What's it to you? Just give it to me. Name your price."
Liu Xinlü thought for a moment, then thumped upstairs and rummaged through her room, finding a red bridal veil and handing it to Red Adornment.
"I used this when I got married. I've kept it all this time." Liu Xinlü passed her the red veil, then took a bottle of wine from the cabinet and gave her that too. "They're yours. No charge."
Red Adornment glanced at the red veil, then at her.
Liu Xinlü said irritably, "Really, no charge." After a pause, her curiosity stirred again. "Why have you suddenly decided to take Young Master Ji along after all? Didn't you say you didn't want him?"
Red Adornment did not answer. She swayed the cloth in her hand. The veil was a little old but had been preserved perfectly, light and airy, lending her expression a touch of tenderness.
Liu Xinlü asked, "Neither of you will ever come back?"
Red Adornment folded the red cloth and slowly headed upstairs. "When have you ever seen people elope and come back to revisit old haunts?"
"..."
True enough.
Red Adornment opened the door and walked over to Ji Hanchu as though nothing were unusual, resting her chin on her hand as she watched him.
He had cleaned everything once over. Pinching the tip of her nose, he said, "Everything's fine now. Let's go."
Red Adornment clung to him and kissed his chin. "Wait."
She unfolded the red veil and draped it over her head. In the dim yellow candlelight, a rare trace of shyness appeared on her face.
"I heard this is how the ceremonies of the Central Plains work." Red Adornment lifted his hand and tucked a corner of the veil into it, urging him to pull it down.
Ji Hanchu stiffened, his hand motionless.
Red Adornment held his hand and asked, "Why aren't you moving?"
Ji Hanchu did not know what to say. He felt that even betraying his clan was no childish game, yet this wedding, so simple as to be rudimentary, seemed just like children playing. His voice low and hoarse, he said, "For a man and woman to join in a lifelong union, they must bow to heaven and earth, then to their parents, with three matchmakers and six betrothal rites..."
Red Adornment bit him, her tone flippant. "Neither of us has a father or mother anyway, so we'll skip the parents and bow straight to heaven and earth. As for the three matchmakers and six betrothal rites, we can make those up later."
Without waiting for his response, she tugged his hand and pulled the veil off her head. She moved so quickly that her hair fell into disarray.
Red Adornment wrapped her arms around his neck. "There, my young husband. From now on, we have a proper title and standing."
Ji Hanchu remained silent, reaching out to smooth her hair, then brushing out the creases in her clothes.
Red Adornment hugged him tightly. "Can you still hold on? Let's go."
Ji Hanchu nodded gently and whispered in her ear, "I'll be good to you from now on."
-I'll be good to you from now on.
But would they still have a future?
A person's life was a cycle of sin and love. Love, hate, anger, and obsession would ultimately become a handful of ashes, scattered between heaven and earth, nowhere to be found.
But the countless miles traveled and debts owed to one's conscience would remain in the world forever, life after life, never ending, never resting.
At the Gusu Ji Family estate, wind filled the tower before the mountain storm.
Ji Zhiyuan turned his head, his gaze drifting toward a corner of roof ridge visible in a distant courtyard, malice gathering in his eyes.
That was Ji Hanchu's residence.
He stared silently at the divine beast on the roof ridge, his fingers gripping the armrests of his wheelchair so hard his knuckles seemed about to break. His whole body trembled from the effort of restraint. His heart seemed to have become a pot of water about to boil, every emotion pressed beneath its surface, bubbling and churning upward, on the verge of erupting completely.
"Ji. Han. Chu." He narrowed his blood-red eyes, as though they were weeping blood.
"Too much selfishness" and "I have no regrets" surfaced in his mind again, over and over, like a soul-hounding curse lingering in his heart, tormenting him until he nearly went mad.
Yin Fangchuan was dead.
His Aunt Fang was dead.
She had died horribly, just like Yin Yuanya, bleeding from all seven orifices, her eyes unclosed in death. Even at the end, she had not lived to see the return of her daughter, who had been missing for days.
He summoned a young disciple nearby and asked, "Where is A-Jin?"
The young disciple answered, "The young lady fainted from crying. Madam and Branch Master Qi are both keeping watch in the room."
Ji Zhiyuan nodded and instructed, "Tell him to take good care of Little Yan'er."
The young disciple acknowledged the order and withdrew.
He summoned another disciple and asked, "Where did my father go?"
The disciple answered, "The sect master went out this morning. He headed west."
"How long has he been gone?"
"He only just left."
Ji Zhiyuan stared coldly into the distance.
Ji Hanchu had betrayed the clan. There was no way Xie Liyou did not know.
Although Ji Chengxuan usually seemed to care for nothing but his saber, anyone who had spent long in the Ji family knew that the person he valued most was actually his nephew. Ji Zhiyuan knew perfectly well that his mother had schemed against his father back then, becoming pregnant out of wedlock to force him into marriage. Added to that, his father had always suspected all these years that the Yin Clan had caused the disappearance of the woman he loved. Thus, Ji Chengxuan had no liking for the Yin Clan whatsoever, and that dislike extended to him.
Yet his father was outrageously partial to Ji Hanchu, letting him become gate master, letting him become family head, even helping him with murder and arson!
Now Ji Hanchu had gone so far as to betray the clan. He wanted to see how Ji Chengxuan would help him this time.
Ji Zhiyuan smiled indifferently and summoned another disciple. "Go gather all the death warriors of the Fourth Gate and Fifth Gate."
The disciple acknowledged the order.
Ji Zhiyuan considered, then added, "Bring the eagle crossbows."
The wind rose.
He lifted his head and gazed at the sun obscured by dark clouds, thinking of his childhood, when Yin Fangchuan had bathed and fed him, taught him to read and write, and Yin Yuanya had struggled to lift him with one arm so he could pick fruit from the trees...
Perhaps they had committed countless evils. Perhaps their crimes were beyond forgiveness. But they were his family, his closest kin, who had cherished him as he grew and given him endless care.
But now they were all dead.
No one would pick fruit for him again, and no one would search far and wide for renowned physicians, sparing no effort to ease the pain of his injured legs...
Never again.
So some people had to die.
Red Adornment felt as though she had dreamed a very long dream, her entire life condensed within it.
At first, she had babbled as she learned to speak. Her parents disliked her somewhat for being a girl, but she had at least grown up without worry.
Then came the great famine, in a time when everything lay in ruins awaiting renewal. People became beasts, and the human world became hell. Someone bit her, tearing off a piece of skin. She was thrown into a pot, then scooped out, and heard someone cry shrilly, "No! You can't eat her!"
She was saved. The woman's hands were ice-cold, but her embrace was warm. She said to her, "Would you like to come home with me and become Yaoguang?"
She said she would.
And so her life changed.
After that, time passed quickly. Tianshu frightened her with insects until she shrieked. Tianxuan threatened to drag her off for "bone-setting" if she did not practice her whip properly. Yaoguang gently stroked her head and taught her the uses of all kinds of poisons. She said a girl's life was fragile, and she had to know how to protect herself.
And on Lunar New Year's Eve, she lay with her head on her senior sister's lap while the little mute spun on the frozen river, hanging colored balls in the trees. Snow fell for three days and nights. When the balls turned white, he hung new ones.
Yaoguang simmered hot soup indoors, and Tianshu shamelessly crowded beside her to help. Her senior sister combed her long hair, telling her that she was a year older in the new year and could no longer wheedle and slack off during martial practice...
She had gained a new life from a pile of corpses, only to end her brief life in another.
But as time turned and flowed backward, as the dream retraced itself, she could still see that person. The young man was as radiant as ever, just as he had been when they first met.
He said, "I am Ji Hanchu of Gusu."
His back was soaked crimson with blood. The wounds from eighty-two lashes were worse than she had imagined. Two arrows still jutted from his ribs, and a longsword pierced his shoulder. His brows were drawn so tightly, his lips pale and bloodless. He lay in a pool of blood, as still as though already dead.
Red Adornment remembered how, only a short while ago, he had dragged his gravely wounded body to find her, placed his life in her hands, and said he had betrayed the Ji clan and wanted to go back with her to see the stars.
He had always been so clean, as though he had come from heaven, his expression softening as he said, "I beg you." Now, for her sake, he was filthy, covered in wounds, his life hanging in the balance.
That fool. With injuries this severe, what gave him the confidence to think he could fight dozens, even a hundred death warriors?
He wanted her to leave? Leave, her ass.
A buzzing droned ceaselessly in Red Adornment's mind. She flung out her Buddhist prayer beads, and venomous creatures ran rampant. Someone was screaming, someone was cursing, and someone seized her collar and roared, "Tell me where she is! Tell me, is she still alive?"
She could no longer make out the words. Soon she would hear nothing at all.
Everything before her eyes was wet and sticky, black and red. The sharp arrow in her chest brought bone-piercing pain. Blood flowed without cease, spreading across the ground, and heaven and earth were steeped in red along with it.
How could a person have so much blood?
She had killed so many people, so many... So this was what it felt like before death.
The man in the wheelchair received a vicious slap. His head turned aside, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but he merely wiped it away, then began to laugh without a care.
Ji Chengxuan thundered, "You wretch!"
Ji Zhiyuan burst out laughing. "I'm an accursed wretch? Yes, half the blood in my veins is Yin blood. Who in the Yin Clan isn't an accursed wretch to you?"
Ji Chengxuan stood up and roared at the archers beside him, "Stop!"
No one listened to him.
In the twilight, Ji Zhiyuan's face twisted like a madman's.
"You think everyone in the Gusu Ji Clan has to obey you, don't you?" Ji Zhiyuan stared fixedly at Ji Chengxuan, throwing back his head and laughing through tears. "They're my death warriors. They only obey my orders! I want them dead! All dead! All dead-"
Mad. They had all gone mad.
Ji Chengxuan stepped over the corpses littering the ground and scooped Red Adornment up, pressing his hand over her heart. Blood flowed between his fingers. His voice trembled as he asked, "Are you really... are you..." My daughter.
Red Adornment smiled, thick blood spilling from her mouth, her hair covering her eyes. She narrowed her eyes, a finality in her words. "I won't tell you."
Spend the rest of your life slowly guessing whether I am.
Your own son killed your "own daughter" with his own hands. That must feel wonderful.
Ji Chengxuan looked both crazed and pitiful. Holding Red Adornment, he sank into an obsession. "Where is she? Tell me where she is! She's in the Southern Frontier, isn't she? Tell me!"
The sunset cast light and shadow over the cliff's edge, and time seemed to stretch.
Red Adornment said softly, "You'll never find her. Never."
Her voice gradually faded.
Ji Chengxuan shook his head. "You can't die. You can't just die with everything still so unclear..."
Red Adornment rested her head on his shoulder. She truly had no strength left, and she was far too tired. She could not accept it, could not accept dying like this. Her story with Ji Hanchu had only just begun, but she could not hold on any longer.
She spat out more blood and struggled to speak. "Do you know? The only thing I'm glad about is that I killed them all... before I died..."
Red Adornment turned her head and raised her hand, blood on her fingertips, straining to look at Ji Hanchu.
The sunset stretched Ji Hanchu's shadow long. He seemed to have woken, reaching out to feel around on the ground, leaving blood everywhere his hand passed.
Many years ago, her senior sister had lain draped over the ice coffin just like this, silently feeling around herself, so unwilling to give up, so desperate.
The figure in her memories overlapped with the one before her. She felt a little dazed, as though she could not understand how she could be dying.
Red Adornment looked up at Ji Chengxuan for a while, then suddenly smiled. "Do you know why I killed, killed so many people, but never did anything to you?"
Ji Chengxuan held her down and said hoarsely, "No."
Red Adornment said faintly, "I actually wanted to kill you so badly, so badly... but, but she couldn't bear to hurt you... So foolish, wasn't she?"
Ji Chengxuan's arm supporting her shook violently.
A terribly deep wound gaped across her waist and abdomen. Red Adornment knew she could not hold on.
But she had lived her whole life defiantly, and she truly could not accept dying surrounded by attackers like this. She looked at Ji Zhiyuan, and Ji Zhiyuan looked back, his lips pulling into a stiff, deranged smile as he raised the crossbow in his hand at her.
"I told you I would outlive you."
The Fourth Gate oversaw weapons. This eagle crossbow was so powerful that no one could withstand a single bolt.
A fresh bloody hole opened in Red Adornment's body, and she fell backward. Ji Chengxuan grasped feebly at empty air, catching nothing. He watched in disbelief as Red Adornment fell into the deep ravine.
Fierce wind roared in her ears. Red Adornment closed her eyes, and as she plummeted, she thought of Ji Hanchu again-
"Miss, what's your name?"
"Don't kill anyone else."
"Red Adornment, go back to the Southern Frontier. Never come back."
"In this world, so many feelings end without ever coming to fruition."
If I die, that little stick-in-the-mud will be terribly sad, won't he?
He will.
(III) Song of Parting
The Ji family's dungeon reeked of decay accumulated over the years.
Down twenty-eight steps, along a passage, and through three barred gates lay the iron cell at the far end.
This had always been where the Gusu Ji Clan imprisoned the most vicious of people. Now it held the Ji family's second young master.
Qi Jin opened the door, unwinding seven turns of chain forged from refined iron before removing it. He walked inside. The cell was empty, with only a little window at his own height, roughly the size of two palms, providing its sole source of light.
Where the light could not reach, a thin figure sat in a wheelchair, dressed in thin clothing. Both hands were chained, the ends passing through the wall and winding around the iron door, locking him firmly in place.
Qi Jin simply watched him for a long while before walking behind him and saying softly, "Second Young Master."
Ji Zhiyuan did not move. Hidden in the darkness, he gazed quietly at the little window. There had originally been no window in the iron cell. Ji Chengxuan had ordered it made the day he imprisoned him. The window was not high, and an ordinary person could certainly have reached it, but he could not. Sitting in his wheelchair, his outstretched hand still fell about two finger-widths short of the sill.
Ji Chengxuan had done it deliberately, placing light before him while making it impossible for him to touch. This was his punishment.
Qi Jin watched him. Even without an expression on his face, he knew what Ji Zhiyuan was thinking. "The clan leader has left. He went to the Southern Frontier."
Ji Zhiyuan's left fingertips stirred slightly, and he spoke slowly. "Has he?" Then he slowly lowered his head again, looking at his dangling right hand. "A year. He finally brought himself to leave."
No wonder Qi Jin had come to see him. Ji Chengxuan had given strict orders forbidding any visitors. He intended to imprison him for life.
Qi Jin murmured an assent, then said, "The physician said the third young master's condition has stabilized. He should wake in a while. Only then did the clan leader leave."
Back then, Ji Hanchu had first endured eighty-two lashes, then taken two Eagle Crossbow bolts. A death warrior had even driven a longsword through his shoulder blade, choosing a vicious spot just a little short of his heart, intent on killing him. With injuries so severe, no one had expected him to survive.
"He really is impressive." Ji Zhiyuan sneered. "Now that he's gone, who's managing the Ji Clan?"
Qi Jin said, "Xie Liyou is in charge, with Gate Master Ji assisting."
Qi Jin and Ji Zhiyuan were on the same side. Although he had not openly participated in the slaughter a year earlier and had escaped its repercussions, Ji Chengxuan did not trust him and would never place him in charge.
Ji Zhiyuan leaned forward slightly, resting his left hand on the wheelchair's armrest. The tendons in his right hand had been severed, cut by his own father with Wind Chaser, for a murderer suspected of being his daughter and the nephew he favored.
He asked Qi Jin, "Did they find the body?"
Qi Jin shook his head. Ji Chengxuan had immediately sent men to search the foot of the cliff. They had searched for ten days and nights and found nothing.
Ji Zhiyuan narrowed his eyes and pondered. "A-Jin, do you think someone could survive a fall from that high?"
Before Qi Jin could answer, he shook his head in denial.
"Impossible," he said. "She can't still be alive."
Even without the fall from the cliff, Red Adornment had been struck by two Eagle Crossbow bolts. There was already no chance of survival.
Ji Zhiyuan did not turn around. Facing the cell wall, he fell silent for an instant, then asked, "How is my mother?"
Qi Jin hesitated and said nothing.
Knowing his temperament, Ji Zhiyuan's heart lurched, and his expression darkened. "What happened to her?"
Qi Jin walked forward until he stood before the wheelchair, his back to the light, blocking everything within Ji Zhiyuan's sight. Great swaths of darkness filled his vision, blackness spreading endlessly, and every word Qi Jin spoke seemed to drag him deeper into it.
"A year ago, the clan leader sent Madam back to the Yin Clan, saying he would have nothing more to do with them. Second Master Yin and the eldest madam had just passed away then, and you had been... Madam was overcome with grief and threw herself into the lake that night.
"Fortunately, the servants discovered her and pulled her out in time. Her life wasn't in danger, but her mind became confused. Sometimes she recognized people, and sometimes she was muddled. Too many people in the Yin Clan had died, and Clan Leader Yin couldn't be everywhere at once or spare the attention to care for her, so he had no choice but to keep her shut in her room.
"Sometimes the young lady visits her. When Madam is lucid, she asks the young lady how you are. When she isn't, she keeps repeating your name and refuses to sleep or eat."
Ji Zhiyuan could listen no longer. He wanted to laugh and wanted to cry, but in the end, he let out a heart-rending howl.
The chains clanged with his movements. Only one of his hands could move, and the refined iron scraped his wrist, sending blood dripping onto the floor. His cries echoed throughout the iron cell, like a vengeful ghost in purgatory.
Qi Jin waited for Ji Zhiyuan to calm down, then tore his clothing into a strip and crouched to wrap it around Ji Zhiyuan's left wrist.
A hand suddenly seized him. Qi Jin looked up into blood-red eyes, dry of tears and webbed with blood vessels, filled with profound hatred.
"Tell me what you came here for."
Everyone seemed to have received their retribution, and this upheaval seemed to have subsided. But Ji Zhiyuan was too clever. He knew it was impossible, that things would never end so simply.
Vengeance bred vengeance. When could the grudges of the jianghu ever be settled?
Ji Zhiyuan tightened his grip, his face twisted and ferocious. He knew Qi Jin would not come without a reason. "What exactly did you come to me for?"
Qi Jin looked at that wrist, then raised his head after a moment and said softly, "The young lady likes the third young master."
Ji Zhiyuan said, "And?"
Yin Qingyan's feelings for Ji Hanchu were no secret. Earlier, Yin Qiqi had even swallowed her pride and begged Ji Chengxuan to ask Ji Hanchu what he thought. But Ji Hanchu had refused outright. It was also that day that Ji Zhiyuan learned from Yin Qiqi that, in his father's mind, he had always been someone who "is crippled and can't become the family head."
In his eyes, his father had been towering and honorable. But in his father's eyes, he was merely a useless cripple.
Qi Jin resumed bandaging Ji Zhiyuan's wound. "The young lady wants to marry him."
Ji Zhiyuan froze in disbelief. "Has she gone mad?"
The moment Ji Hanchu betrayed the clan, everyone had known he and Red Adornment were together. Even without evidence linking him to Yin Fangchuan's death, he had sheltered her first and fled afterward. He could not escape involvement no matter what.
Did Yin Qingyan think too few members of the Yin Clan had died? Had her love for Ji Hanchu muddled her head, or did all those lives combined mean less to her than one Ji Hanchu?
Qi Jin answered him. "The young lady doesn't know about those things. She thinks Red Adornment did everything and that the third young master knew nothing."
Yin Qingyan did not know the Yin Clan had sent assassins whom Ji Hanchu intercepted, nor did she know that Ji Hanchu had betrayed his clan for Red Adornment. She only knew that Red Adornment had repeatedly declared she would kill Yin Fangchuan, and that Yin Fangchuan had indeed died at her hands.
As for Ji Hanchu and Red Adornment's intimate behavior, he must have been bewitched. He must have been afflicted with gu.
Deep down, she refused to believe her third elder cousin could be that demoness's accomplice.
Ji Zhiyuan cursed, "Idiot!"
He looked up at Qi Jin and frowned. "Can't you tell her the truth?"
Qi Jin said calmly, "What is the truth? The truth is that Red Adornment did kill Second Master Yin and the eldest madam. The third young master never lifted a hand. She's dead, so their vengeance is settled."
Ji Zhiyuan said coldly, "Since when have you been so eager to help him?"
Qi Jin took out a key and held it before Ji Zhiyuan. "This is the truth the young lady wants. Whatever she wants, I'll give her."
Ji Zhiyuan raised his head and met his eyes. "What do you mean?"
Qi Jin looked at him and held the key out before him. "Second Young Master, only you can help the young lady now. Help her, and I'll help you."
Qi Jin liked Yin Qingyan very much, so much that he could even forget himself. If Yin Qingyan wanted her third elder cousin to be innocent, then innocent he was. If she wanted to marry Ji Hanchu, he would do everything he could to make Ji Hanchu marry her.
But with Xie Liyou and Ji Jingsheng running the household now, that was almost impossible.
Ji Zhiyuan stared at the key, unable to understand why such a fool existed in this world. He actually knew Qi Jin had joined him only because he was Yin Qingyan's cousin, so he had used that connection to bring both the Fourth Gate and Fifth Gate under his command. But he did not think Qi Jin held any genuine loyalty toward him.
Oh, right. He did not. Qi Jin's sincerity had been for Yin Qingyan in the beginning, and it was still for Yin Qingyan now.
Ji Zhiyuan leaned back a little. He liked transactions like this, with payment and goods exchanged cleanly. Interests were always sturdier than feelings. But he still had to ask, "Have you considered that when my father returns and sees you've released me, neither of us will survive?"
Qi Jin had considered that long ago. Holding the key, he said, "You'll find a way. As long as you can get out, you'll certainly find a way."
Ji Zhiyuan curled his lips. He did indeed have a way.
"Second Young Master." Qi Jin looked at him earnestly. "I know you've spent a long time preparing for this day. You won't just let things rest. With the clan leader traveling so far to the Southern Frontier, this is our best opportunity."
Ji Zhiyuan wore a half-smile. "You certainly have faith in me."
He raised a hand, beckoning Qi Jin closer, and asked, "Where is the eagle crossbow?"
Qi Jin said, "In the Fourth Gate's armory."
Ji Zhiyuan sneered. "There's a prayer bead in the eagle crossbow's hidden compartment. Go find it."
Qi Jin nodded. "Then what?"
Then what?
Ji Zhiyuan lowered his eyes, smiling without quite smiling. "Then find an opportunity to make Xie Liyou consume what's inside."
Qi Jin instinctively refused. Although he and Xie Liyou were not close, they had known each other for years. He could not bring himself to take Xie Liyou's life.
Ji Zhiyuan said, "If you won't do it, you can turn around and leave right now."
Qi Jin remained silent for a long while.
Ji Zhiyuan waited quietly.
After a long while, Qi Jin spoke. "Gate Master Ji is beside him. I can't touch him."
"How clever can a madman be? Just send him away. As for the other gates' subordinates, the information broker, the little medical immortal? What could they possibly amount to? Besides..." Ji Zhiyuan curled his lips in a smile and looked at Qi Jin. "Money can sway even the gods."
Qi Jin fell silent. After quite a while, he asked, "What else?"
Ji Zhiyuan rubbed his unfeeling right hand and smiled mockingly. "Doesn't Little Yan'er like Ji Hanchu? Then give Ji Hanchu to her."
Qi Jin's eyes darkened almost imperceptibly, and he pressed his lips together.
Ji Zhiyuan released his grip, took the key from him, and inserted it into the lock. With a gentle turn, the chains opened.
"Some things shouldn't be remembered if they can be forgotten." Ji Zhiyuan dropped the chains with a dull clatter. "They aren't pleasant memories anyway, wouldn't you say?"
Qi Jin said, "As for Gate Master Ji..."
Ji Zhiyuan said, "I already told you, he's nothing but a madman. What is there to worry about?"
The chains scraped along the floor. Dust danced in the sunlight, and amid that dust, Ji Zhiyuan's gaze grew colder and more ruthless.
"Wasn't he terribly fond of that woman back then, too? He didn't even care about his own life when it came to keeping her safe. And what happened in the end? One bowl of medicine, and didn't he forget just as he was made to? That madman with nothing but woodcarving in his head probably still hasn't remembered how she went missing, even after all these years, even though the medicine's effects have weakened considerably. This time is no different. Since we're forgetting, everyone might as well forget together."
Ji Zhiyuan smiled without any warmth. "After all, he's nothing but a madman."
(IV) The Old Hometown
Had anyone in this world ever told you that he would entrust his entire life to you, and even if he died, he would never allow anyone to harm a hair on your head?
Hongxiu had once had such a person, and so had Red Adornment.
To find Hongxiu, Ji Chengxuan set aside the Ji family and traveled a thousand miles to the Southern Frontier. When he could not find her, he doubled back and searched again. To find Ji Hanchu, Red Adornment gritted her teeth and turned back despite her unhealed injuries, unwilling to give up or let things rest.
Unfortunately, no one had expected these two to cross paths along the way.
Red Adornment's initial encounter with Ji Chengxuan had been a complete accident. Heaven showed her no pity. Dragging her battered body along, she had barely traveled from the Southern Frontier to the outskirts of Gusu when she encountered Ji Chengxuan, who was darting about like a headless fly. She had been too impatient as well, coming before her body had recovered, and he captured her in only a few moves.
Ji Chengxuan did not care why she was still alive. He hauled her back to an inn and grabbed a physician along the way.
Under his man-eating stare, the physician trembled as he took her pulse, finally reaching a conclusion-her heart pulse was so weak it was almost nonexistent, and she had severe internal injuries.
Red Adornment propped herself up against her leg and smiled indifferently. "If you want to kill me, do it. I won't tell you what you want to know anyway."
Ji Chengxuan did not get angry at the sight of her like this. He sent the physician away and returned shortly with a bowl of medicinal brew, a large bowl of brown liquid giving off a strong medicinal smell, the kind that could kill you with bitterness from a single sniff.
He walked to the table, set the medicine down, and called to her stiffly, "Come take your medicine."
Red Adornment was utterly disgusted. "Don't think you can poison me with medicine."
Ji Chengxuan said, "This isn't poison. It's a prescription to strengthen your body."
Red Adornment was even more disgusted. What was there to strengthen? Wouldn't everything she swallowed just be absorbed by the gu insects? Any nourishment would be wasted.
Ji Chengxuan carried the bowl over and sat opposite her, placing it beside her hand. Then he raised his eyes slightly, looking somewhat embarrassed, and asked awkwardly and stiffly, "Are you in pain?"
Red Adornment looked at the bowl of medicine, unsure what he meant.
Ji Chengxuan took a small oilpaper packet from his robe and opened it. Inside lay a piece of white malt sugar. Its edges had melted a little from being kept against his body.
He said, "This medicine is a little bitter. I bought you some malt sugar."
"Just say what you want." Red Adornment frowned.
Ji Chengxuan placed the sugar beside the medicine, hesitated for a while, then asked, "Your mother, is... is she well?"
Red Adornment understood.
She did not look at the things on the table. She did not care how much sincerity and remorse Ji Chengxuan had hidden in them. He had misunderstood, so she would give him a thorough awakening.
Malice stirred in Red Adornment. She had always been a vicious woman, one who particularly enjoyed doing cruel things, who liked driving a knife into the softest part of someone's heart.
"Sect Master Ji." She smiled with ill intent.
Ji Chengxuan raised his head, hope in his eyes.
Red Adornment heaved a long sigh, affected and insincere.
She said, "I really am not your daughter. I'm only her junior martial sister."
Ji Chengxuan said, "Then..."
"Your daughter died long ago. Someone buried her alive on a snowy mountain." As she spoke, she watched Ji Chengxuan, seeing his face turn deathly pale in an instant and his hands tremble violently.
As though that were not enough, Red Adornment added, "I've seen the body. Senior Sister made her an ice-jade coffin. She's very well preserved."
Clatter!
Wind Chaser fell to the ground, sending dust flying.
Red Adornment whistled and sneered. "How pitiful."
So pitiful. But who wasn't?
Red Adornment lay back on the bed, staring at the canopy, her lower legs raised as she lost herself in thought.
She recalled waking from her deep sleep. It had been as quiet then as it was now. She could not distinguish sunrise from sunset or the turning of the seasons. Time had stood still.
Senior Sister and Master told her that everything was over. All she needed to do was wait-wait for time to pass, wait to "come back to life."
Tianshu had brought her back to Seven Stars Valley and placed her in an ice-jade coffin. Red Adornment's entire body had been shattered, and two great holes had been torn through her chest and abdomen. For nearly a year, she had been unable to move. Tianshu had treated her like the most fragile wooden doll, carefully joining her bones back together, piece by piece.
The day she emerged from the ice-jade coffin, Red Adornment asked Hongxiu, "Am I already dead?"
She knew her injuries all too well. She could not possibly have survived. Since she had still been able to wake, perhaps this body was no longer that of a "living person."
Hongxiu stroked her long hair and gently shook her head.
Hongxiu knew what had happened to Red Adornment. She knew she had fallen in love with the Ji family's third young master, and she knew Second Ji had shot an arrow through her heart. Love wrought no small amount of harm. Her own heart had once fluttered too; she understood how it felt.
When Tianshu asked, Hongxiu had made the choice for Red Adornment. She felt certain Red Adornment still had regrets. Ji San had never betrayed Red Adornment; Red Adornment would surely return to Jiangnan.
So...
"It's the Twin Gu," Red Adornment said.
She raised her head and looked at Ji Hanchu, her posture rather casual as she explained, "The male and female insects live together, sustaining each other. The one inside me is the female. It protects my heart meridians."
Ji Hanchu sat at the table beside the bed, listening to her speak about the gu insects. His face betrayed little, but a closer look revealed that his eyes were far from calm.
He had heard of the Twin Gu too. Rumor had it that, like the Living Dead Gu, it could bring the dead to life and grow flesh over bare bones. Only...
He asked, "Where is the male?"
Compared with the Living Dead Gu, the Twin Gu could revive someone without leaving them any different from an ordinary person, but it was also more fragile and brought many complications. If the male died, the female gu would perish with it.
Back then, Tianshu had frozen Yaoguang's male insect beneath the glacier, preserving her life but also leaving her unable to leave the Southern Frontier ever again.
But Red Adornment was here. Her male insect could not be beneath the glacier.
Red Adornment pressed her lips together, her expression turning unpleasant.
Ji Hanchu's question had struck straight to the heart.
She said dully, "Inside Senior Sister."
No one would willingly tie their life and freedom to another person, unless she loved you enough.
Tianshu had once considered implanting the male insect beneath the glacier in himself, but Yaoguang had refused. She said she had lived too long already, that it was utterly dull, and she did not want any more fuss.
Hongxiu was different. She understood Red Adornment's heart too well. Red Adornment still had a love awaiting her in Jiangnan. She could not be left trapped in Seven Stars Valley until she died.
Ji Hanchu saw the profound sorrow on her face, and it felt as though a blunt knife were slicing through his heart. The sensation was unfamiliar, yet it came with overwhelming force. In all his years, this seemed to be the first time he had felt it.
He deeply sympathized with Red Adornment's plight, but that was a separate matter from being willing to be kidnapped.
"Miss Red Adornment."
Red Adornment lifted her eyes.
For some reason, Ji Hanchu suddenly could not quite bear it. His brows drew together, and he hardly dared look into her eyes. He could only turn away and say softly, "I have a fiancée. My cousin Qingyan. You..." Why force this?
But after that "you," he could not get the rest out, no matter what.
Unexpectedly, Red Adornment remained very composed. She gave a casual "Mm," sat up, caught his sleeve, and pulled him to the head of the bed.
She rose onto her knees on the bed and caught his chin between her fingers, her warm breath brushing his face. Forced to bend down, Ji Hanchu met her gaze. He could see his own reflection in her bright eyes.
"I understand." Red Adornment's voice came from deep in her throat, lingering and low. Her pale fingers stroked Ji Hanchu's chin. Their breaths mingled so closely that, a little nearer, their lips would touch.
"You can go."
Ji Hanchu froze for a moment, clearly not expecting that.
Red Adornment released him and sat lazily on the bed, gesturing toward the door for him to leave.
"Didn't you want to go? Go on."
As she spoke, her two fair, delicate feet dangled over the bedside, swinging without pause, her toes slightly reddened by the cold.
Ji Hanchu frowned and scolded her. "What are you doing? You're still injured."
Red Adornment scoffed and clapped her hands. "What the hell does it matter to you whether I live or die?"
Ji Hanchu reached for the quilt and wrapped her up snugly. But Red Adornment was willful enough to kick it straight off. Dressed in only a thin inner robe, she leaned against the wall and looked at him defiantly.
Only last night, her injuries had left her unable to finish a sentence. She had barely improved this morning, yet she already had the strength to kick up such a lively fuss.
Ji Hanchu was a physician and could not bear to see someone mistreat herself. He picked up a corner of the quilt to cover her again, only for the little tyrant to unleash a flurry of kicks at his waist and legs. Her feet were so icy that even he shivered.
The girl had not lied. She had come to Jiangnan before her grave injuries had healed, then taken another palm strike from Third Uncle. Her injuries were probably worse now than they appeared.
Helpless, Ji Hanchu said, "You're injured. Can't you just rest quietly?"
Red Adornment panted. "Weren't you leaving? Go on! Go find that fiancée of yours. Hurry up and leave!"
Ji Hanchu set the quilt down and sat beside the bed. He watched her eyes redden and her nose twitch as she pouted, stubbornly refusing to speak.
Seeing her so aggrieved, he could not help reaching out to pat the top of her head, then quickly withdrawing his hand. "Stop making a fuss. Wherever you want to go, I'll go with you."
Red Adornment slowly turned her head. "You're not going to find your fiancée anymore?"
Ji Hanchu said, "Give me the antidote to the Bone-Softening Powder, and I'll go with you."
Red Adornment answered without thinking. "No."
What if he ran straight off as soon as he recovered his martial arts?
Ji Hanchu said, "Since I've given you my word, I will keep it."
His reasoning was actually very simple. Red Adornment was in such poor condition, and his internal energy had been sealed. They had a long journey ahead. If they encountered danger on the road, he worried he might be unable to protect her.
He felt that Red Adornment was like a child who needed protection. Unless watched closely, she would mistreat herself without restraint. Her kidnapping and molesting him were merely like a child crying and wheedling after losing her most beloved toy.
Ji Hanchu did not notice that he had already begun yielding to Red Adornment. Once there was a first time, there would be a second and a third.
As for his so-called fiancée, Ji Hanchu felt it was not such an urgent matter. They had known each other for so many years. Why must they spend every moment together?
Then why did he have to stay with Red Adornment?
He did not know.
Perhaps he did not want to know either.
(V) No escape
Red Adornment took something from inside her robe and handed it to Ji Hanchu. "Here."
Ji Hanchu frowned.
Red Adornment smiled faintly. "Forget it if you don't want it."
Ji Hanchu stopped looking at the porcelain bottle. "I want the antidote."
Red Adornment said, "This is the antidote."
In his usual gentle tone, Ji Hanchu said, "This isn't the antidote. The Bone-Softening Powder you gave me before was specially made. This is another poison you made to strengthen the effects of that Bone-Softening Powder."
Red Adornment propped her head on her hand, watching him openly and adoringly. Luckily, the Yin Clan had not lost every shred of conscience and turned her little stick-in-the-mud into a fool. He was still so clever.
Ji Hanchu could not withstand such an undisguised gaze. He turned aside awkwardly, unwilling to let her look.
But how could Red Adornment let him escape? She crouched beside him, her head turning whichever way he turned. Eventually, she simply got on her hands and knees and nestled against his chest, tilting her face up sideways to look into his eyes.
Ji Hanchu could not cope with such intimacy. His heart beat faster still, and he shifted backward, saying quietly, "Don't look at me like that."
Red Adornment's smiling eyes curved into crescents. "Ji San, you're so adorable."
Ji Hanchu dodged aside. "Give me the antidote."
Red Adornment brought her face close, her voice sweet and soft. "Why don't you just take this? Really, I promise you'll be fine."
Ji Hanchu did not know whether to laugh or cry. "It's poison. Who would be that foolish?"
Red Adornment said softly, "You."
You're that foolish.
You knew I was poison, yet you swallowed me anyway.
Red Adornment scratched his chin, placed the antidote in his hand, and caught him off guard with a kiss on the back of it.
The warm, soft touch vanished as soon as it landed. Though it had been light as a feather, Ji Hanchu felt as though he had been scratched. He snatched his hand back, stood, and retreated several large steps, his ears visibly reddening.
Red Adornment clutched her stomach and laughed until tears came.
Another half month passed like this. That evening, night fell, and the voices in the inn gradually subsided.
Over the past half month, Red Adornment had drunk more medicine than she had in most of her life. It had nearly made her sick, and she finally understood what it meant to be a "medicine jar." Yet Ji Hanchu insisted on pouring more down her throat. If she was unhappy, naturally she had to make someone else unhappy too.
So she got out of bed, draped on her clothes, and headed out, intending to make trouble for Ji Hanchu.
She opened the door and followed the corridor to Ji Hanchu's room. Candlelight still glowed inside. He had not gone to sleep.
Red Adornment hammered on the door. "Little stick-in-the-mud, open up."
The door opened, and she promptly toppled into his arms. A cool medicinal fragrance greeted her, and she closed her eyes longingly.
Ji Hanchu took a step back, bracing her uninjured shoulder and keeping her firmly confined to the doorway.
Red Adornment caught his wrist. "What are you doing?"
Ji Hanchu steadied her upright. Seeing that she would not let go, he curled his hand into a fist and lowered his eyes. "This is improper."
Again.
Here he went again.
Red Adornment looked up at him. Night had fallen, and he stood facing her with one hand on her shoulder, his face all righteousness and propriety.
Below them lay the inn's main hall. There were few people, scattered in twos and threes at several tables, chatting quietly.
Holding his arm, Red Adornment tried to pry his fingers open. When she could not, she simply caught his fist and pressed it over her heart.
Startled, Ji Hanchu tried to pull his hand free, but Red Adornment held it down hard. He gritted his teeth slightly and spoke, annoyance coloring his voice. "What are you trying to do now?"
Red Adornment freed one hand, caught her collar, and abruptly tugged it down, baring her fair, rounded shoulder. The dark, livid palm print upon it was terrifying. It had not faded after half a month and looked alarming at first glance. Yet in such circumstances, the white was a woman's allure and the black a wounding palm strike. Black and white intertwined, stirring unbidden fancies.
Before he could react, Red Adornment began calling in a lingering, lilting voice, "Little doctor, it hurts. It hurts so much-dear doctor, hurry and take a look for me. What's wrong with this wound-"
Those who knew would understand she was crying out in pain. Those who did not might think some couple was deliberately inviting people to eavesdrop on their bedchamber.
The inn fell silent for an instant.
In the dim candlelight, Ji Hanchu's face reddened, bit by bit, before blazing scarlet.
Ji Hanchu had never met a woman like Red Adornment.
Every woman from a distinguished family he had met was like his cousin Qingyan: gentle and refined, educated and sensible, every inch a well-bred lady. Even knowing in her heart that they were effectively betrothed, she never overstepped the bounds.
Red Adornment was an accident in his life. This beautiful kidnapper teased him and deceived him. He should have abandoned her and returned to the Ji family the moment his martial arts recovered, but he had not.
Perhaps his heart had already melted into a helpless puddle when he heard her crying out in pain.
The people in the inn gradually turned their gazes toward them.
Ji Hanchu looked awkwardly at Red Adornment. He wanted to pull her clothes up for her, but the rules of propriety held him back from acting rashly. All he could do was lean forward to shield her. "What are you doing? Hurry and put... that on!"
Red Adornment covered the palm print, looking ready to weep. "It hurts so much. I can't walk. Carry me inside."
Ji Hanchu pressed his lips together and did not move.
Her shoulder was injured, not her legs.
Red Adornment burrowed into his arms, grasping his arm as she asked, "Ji San, didn't you say you had a fiancée? Have you never held a woman?"
Ji Hanchu turned his head uncomfortably, but did not push her away again. "Men and women must observe strict boundaries. Qingyan and I have always kept to them."
Red Adornment smiled. "You're a physician. What, your patient is in this much pain, and where is your duty as a healer?"
Ji Hanchu's voice softened. "Your legs aren't injured."
Red Adornment simply wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head in the hollow of his neck, a woman's fragrance washing over him as she shamelessly insisted, "I don't care. If you won't carry me inside, I'll find some other man to do it."
She peeked out. The people in the hall had more or less returned to normal, but now and then someone cast a few glances toward their corner. Among those looks were appraisal and admiration, and even ill intent.
Among those who roamed the jianghu, some possessed righteousness that towered to the clouds; naturally, there were also frivolous men without virtue. They merely scraped out a living beneath blades and swords. Violating another man's wife was a grave crime, but if it really came to blows and you could not win, you could not win. What could you do?
Red Adornment had seen plenty of men practically drooling over her. Her beauty was written plainly on her face. A fox-spirit-like woman of the jianghu most easily lodged in people's thoughts, but she was poisonous, so no one had ever taken advantage of her. That did not stop men from admiring her and secretly coveting her.
Some gazes were so blunt and naked that they seemed intent on stripping her bare. Red Adornment noticed them, and naturally, so did Ji Hanchu.
He had no choice, because he knew Red Adornment really would do it. She was simply bullying him, certain of his compassionate heart.
Ji Hanchu supported her, drawing her exposed shoulder into his embrace, then slipped a hand beneath her knees and lifted her easily. He kept his body well away, his fingers curled against her arm, rigorously maintaining his distance and refusing to touch her any more than necessary.
Red Adornment said nothing. She leaned against him, perfectly content.
Once inside the room, Ji Hanchu immediately set her down and turned to close the door, shutting out all the varied gazes outside.
Red Adornment walked over barefoot, came up behind him, and wrapped her arms around him, pressing her whole body against his back.
Ji Hanchu tugged at her hands. "Miss Red Adornment, please conduct yourself with dignity."
Red Adornment held him tighter. "But I missed you." As she spoke, a sob actually crept into her voice. "Ji San, I missed you. I missed you so much."
Ji Hanchu could no longer put any strength into his grip on her hands. He was not sure whether Red Adornment was deceiving him. He could not see behind him and did not know her expression, but he knew this woman was practiced at lying. He should not believe her.
But she was crying, and she sounded heartbroken. Her fingers were icy, and her body was cold too. The gu insect implanted inside her had not yet adjusted to her, nor she to it. Its torment left her miserable, her hands and feet never able to warm.
Red Adornment clung to him and rubbed against his back. There were no tears in her eyes, but they were frighteningly red. "Will you listen to me too? You know I come from Seven Stars Valley, but did you know that its rules forbid every generation's stars from marrying or having children? My senior sister cultivated a dead body. She couldn't succeed as Yaoguang, so she adopted me and wanted me to become Yaoguang.
"I was willing. Senior Sister's kindness to me was as weighty as a mountain. Whatever she wanted me to do, I was willing. Her hatred was too deep to quell, so I volunteered to go to the Central Plains and take revenge for her. As long as she was happy, I would be happy too.
"I had it all planned out. Once I took revenge, I would go back and become Yaoguang. But then I met you. You were so good. You had been living perfectly well in heaven, yet you descended into hell for me. You killed for me, betrayed your clan, defied every teaching and convention, and cast everything aside to elope with me. That was when I knew I was going to be an unfilial disciple. I would take you back to the Southern Frontier and tell Master I wouldn't be Yaoguang anymore. I was going to marry you...
"But our luck was so terrible. They caught up with us before we even reached Yinzhou. So many assassins, so many spies. Ji Zhiyuan was determined to kill us... Yet even then, you still protected me. The sins of slaughter I committed fell to you to atone for...
"Ji San, I was so badly hurt because I fell off a cliff, shattering every bone in my body... Do you know how it feels to have your bones joined back together, piece by piece? Back then, I felt like a wooden puppet. I thought I surely couldn't survive... But in the end, I did. I endured the pain of having my body shattered, crawled out of a heap of corpses, and came to Jiangnan to find you.
"But how could you forget me?"
By the end, Red Adornment truly felt wronged.
She rarely said so much in one breath, and she rarely truly wept over anything. She had been raised to be domineering and unrestrained, wild and untamable. But Ji Hanchu's memory loss had dealt her too great a blow, leaving her pitiful beyond measure.
Holding her hands, Ji Hanchu slowly turned around. Red Adornment loosened her embrace a little and watched as, from very close to her, he reached out to wipe away her tears.
He said, "Don't cry."
Red Adornment asked, "Do you believe me?"
Ji Hanchu hesitated, then answered honestly, "I don't know."
The traces of a person's existence were hard to erase. Whether it was Liu Xinlü, the whip scars crisscrossing his back, or the two years of memories he had inexplicably lost, everything seemed to tell him that things really did fit what she had said.
But he still had his reason. However uncontrollably Red Adornment cried, she was only a strange woman in his eyes. Even if his heart softened a little, he could not believe her completely.
Red Adornment glanced at his expression and immediately guessed his thoughts. Gripping him, she said, "You said Yin Qingyan is your fiancée. Then tell me, how did she become your fiancée?"
Ji Hanchu thought for a moment. "When I first woke from my coma, I discovered I was missing two years of memories. My elder brother told me I'd been injured in a conflict, and that Qingyan had been poisoned trying to save me. He said that she and I had pledged ourselves to each other during those two years, and that we'd... we'd..."
At this, he faltered, a little too embarrassed to go on.
Red Adornment said, "That you might even have consummated the relationship?"
Ji Hanchu's ears turned fiercely red. Avoiding her gaze, he nodded lightly.
Red Adornment's heart trembled. Through gritted teeth, she asked, "Have you done that with her since you woke up?"
Ji Hanchu shook his head.
Only then did Red Adornment breathe a sigh of relief.
Smiling, she hooked her arms around his neck. "He lied to you. I was the one who poisoned Yin Qingyan, and it wasn't anything potent. It was only meant to frighten her. You and she were never a couple. Don't believe Ji Zhiyuan's bullshit."
Ji Hanchu turned his face aside. "I didn't." But he did not entirely believe her, either.
Red Adornment took his hand and rubbed it against her cheek, her smile unrestrained. "Young Master Ji San has only ever been involved with one woman—me. I'm your wife. You believed everything I said and indulged everything I did. You said you'd come home with me, that you'd give up the righteous path and your reputation, just to be with me... We agreed that I would stop being Yaoguang, and you would stop being Young Master Ji San. Right or wrong, gratitude or grudges, we wouldn't concern ourselves with any of it. Ji Hanchu, you're the best person in the world, yet somehow you fell under my spell."
Her words stirred the pool of spring water in Ji Hanchu's heart.
He closed his eyes, his thoughts tangled like hemp. At last, he drew a deep breath and said, "You're lying."
Red Adornment gripped his shoulders and forced him to face her. "I'm not lying. You did all of this yourself. How heartless Young Master Ji San is. You said those things, and now you've turned your back and refuse to acknowledge me. Or have you always been like this, finding amusement in tormenting others?"
The scenes taking shape in Ji Hanchu's mind flustered him. Even when Ji Zhiyuan had hinted that he and Qingyan might have consummated their relationship, he had been able to deny it unwaveringly. Yet when Red Adornment told him these things, not only could he not deny them, an image appeared before his eyes-a woman lifting her red bridal veil, her smile blooming like a flower beneath the lamplight, all tenderness and heartfelt devotion, saying, "My young husband, now we can be considered properly wed."
And him? Had he said anything?
It seemed he had.
"When a man and woman pledge a hundred years together, they bow first to heaven and earth, then to their parents, with three matchmakers and six betrothal gifts..."
Ji Hanchu said nothing. His eyes were lowered, and there was no telling what he was thinking. Watching him, Red Adornment wanted to push a little harder, to force him to remember, even if it was only a little.
She shook his arm. When he did not react, she leaned forward with smiling, narrowed eyes to meet his gaze. He still looked bewildered.
He looked so much like his old self this way.
For a moment, Red Adornment fell into a daze, under the illusion that he did not seem to have lost his memories, that this Ji Hanchu was still the Ji Hanchu she knew, the Ji Hanchu who loved her.
Her grip tightened on his sleeve. She raised her other hand to his cheek and tried to rise onto her toes to kiss his face.
Ji Hanchu snapped back to his senses and reached out in a panic, instinctively trying to stop her.
But he had forgotten that his internal energy had already recovered. His movement seemed light, yet it carried several times his usual strength.
His long, broad hand seized her slender, pale wrist. It was only an inadvertent movement, but a faint, sharp crack came from the bones of her wrist, startling Ji Hanchu.
When he came to himself and looked, Red Adornment was already cradling her wrist, her body slightly curled in on itself, her face full of pain and frighteningly pale in the candlelight.
He had forgotten not only that his internal energy had recovered, but also Red Adornment's internal injuries.
Her failing body could no longer bear the pain his unintentional use of strength had caused.
(VI) Bone-deep fragrance
Red Adornment supported her hand, her brows tightly knitted.
Knowing he had used too much force, Ji Hanchu let go of her, looking a little anxious. "Did I hurt you?"
Red Adornment remained silent.
Ji Hanchu reached for her. "Let me see."
Red Adornment stepped back, avoiding him.
That movement unexpectedly let Ji Hanchu see that she was standing barefoot on the floor. Now he frowned too, unable to stop himself from scolding her. "Why are you running around barefoot? Don't you know what condition your body's in?"
Red Adornment turned her head aside and said coldly, "Ji San, you're the last person entitled to say that to me."
Ji Hanchu did not know what to say. With a long sigh, he reached for her hand again, only for her to slap his hand away hard.
There was a sharp smack, and a large patch on the back of his hand turned red.
Ji Hanchu looked at his reddened hand, pressed his lips together, and reached for her again.
Another smack rang out, louder than the last, leaving his hand even redder.
Her eyes red, Red Adornment said, "Don't touch me."
She was truly furious now.
Ji Hanchu leaned down and bent to scoop her up. Caught off guard, she gave a soft cry and grabbed his collar in alarm.
Ji Hanchu set Red Adornment on the bed and covered her lower legs with the quilt. She was so small, and the quilt so thick and heavy, that she looked as though she might be swallowed beneath its layers of cotton.
Red Adornment continued to sulk, refusing to let him near. Propping up her chin, she turned her back on him without so much as lifting her eyes.
Ji Hanchu sat down behind her, held her elbow in his palm, and asked gently, "Does it still hurt?"
Red Adornment said petulantly, "My injuries are my business. I don't need you meddling."
Ji Hanchu really had spoiled her into becoming a little willful. In the past, he would not have said a word even if she ascended to heaven or burrowed into the earth. And now look-he had actually started laying hands on her.
So once someone lost their memories, none of it counted anymore.
Ji Hanchu held his hand before Red Adornment's eyes and tilted his head to look at her. "If you're still angry, hit me a few more times."
Red Adornment said, "Do you think I enjoy hitting you?"
Ji Hanchu said, "If you're angry, take it out on me. Just don't bottle it up and damage your health." Then he drew her wrist toward him again. "Let me look at your hand."
His fingertips were slightly cool, his pressure perfectly measured, lending a gentle feeling to the way he massaged her wrist. Red Adornment glanced over and saw his lowered head, his downcast brows and eyes indescribably lovely. It clearly was not much of an injury, yet he treated it so carefully, even cradling her hand and blowing little breaths over the reddened spot. As the warm air brushed the back of her hand, she could not help softening.
He was just that kind. No wonder so many people liked him.
Red Adornment had not been in much pain to begin with, but she liked Ji Hanchu taking her seriously. She deliberately sucked in a hissing breath, her fingers trembling slightly as well.
Sure enough, Ji Hanchu looked up and asked anxiously, "Does it still hurt a lot?"
Red Adornment leaned against him, her voice very coy. "It hurts terribly."
Ji Hanchu grew even more careful with his touch. "I'll be gentler."
Red Adornment pressed closer and closer, her voice carrying an alluring note, just like a seductive demoness. "Brother Ji San, rubbing it like this won't help."
She had thrown Ji Hanchu's heart into confusion. He asked, "Then what should I do?"
Red Adornment nestled into his arms and reached around his waist. With a tug, she eagerly settled onto his lap.
When Ji Hanchu tried to push her away, she cried out in pain again.
Their bodies held together, her slender lower legs emerged from beneath her skirt. Her toes curled, rubbing shallow indentations into the bedding.
The woman's waist was slender as a willow branch, as though a single hand could snap it. She really was so small, so thin it made his heart ache.
Ji Hanchu let her move as she pleased. Her petite body blocked the candlelight, casting a swath of shadow. His reason told him he ought to push her away, but her earlier words intruded into his mind at this untimely moment: she had had her body shattered and bones crushed, had crawled out of a heap of corpses to find him...
If, if that was true. If there really was a chance it was true.
Then how much had she suffered?
It must have hurt terribly.
Red Adornment wound both arms around Ji Hanchu's neck. She shifted her body, slowly moving a finger over his lips, its dry pad brushing their softness. Leaning close, she whispered, "Let me kiss you, and it won't hurt anymore."
Ji Hanchu said nothing.
They were far too close, so close that he would kiss her red lips the moment he opened his mouth.
Red Adornment smiled triumphantly. She leaned a little closer, nestled against Ji Hanchu's chest, bewitching and seductive.
Lifting his chin with a finger, she let her eyes drift shut and touched her lips to his, parting from him at once. After hearing his faint intake of breath, she pressed her moist, soft lips to his again, as though coaxing him, brushing over them, gently gathering and slowly teasing.
Gradually, their breathing grew ragged, and their hearts began to race.
Neither knew who had embraced whom first. By the time they parted again, both Ji Hanchu's hands were around Red Adornment's waist, while her arms were wrapped around his shoulders and back. Her mouth was slightly open as she suppressed the sounds about to escape.
Ji Hanchu's blood boiled. Holding Red Adornment, he did not know why a sudden, fierce strength rose within him, making him want to hold her tighter, then tighter still, as though afraid she might suddenly vanish from his arms... But he could not. It would not be proper. He could not do it...
Unaware of his inner struggle, Red Adornment squeezed his neck and leaned in to kiss him again.
This time, Ji Hanchu did not turn away.
Delighted, she nestled into his embrace, content as a well-fed cat. Tugging his sleeve, she whispered in his ear, "See? You remember me."