I wonder whether that compassion of yours would be willing to save me.
(I) Unable to let go
Ji Hanchu's gentle features turned cold, his face flushing red and pale by turns. His dark, bright eyes stayed fixed on Red Adornment's eyes, as though letting his gaze stray even half an inch lower would kill him.
Look at him. Just look at that gentlemanly air. If she stood still, would he really stare at her all night?
Red Adornment smiled slyly and moved closer to him, stopping at her leisure only when she could get no closer.
She looked at Ji Hanchu's hand gripping the Star Pendant. His knuckles had gone white with the force of it, yet he had not moved it an inch.
With that expression, he looked ready to cough up blood.
"Ji San." Red Adornment leaned into his arms, winding his waist sash around her slender, pale fingertips. She lifted her beautiful, soul-stealing face.
"I simply adore that sanctimonious look of yours. So proper on the surface, when deep down you're dying to take the sky for your quilt and the earth for your bed and have your pleasure with me. Aren't you?"
Ji Hanchu was silent for a moment. "No."
Red Adornment curved her lips, her breath fragrant as orchids. "Then go on. Make your move."
She wore only an inner robe, with neither concealed weapons nor other weapons on her. If Ji Hanchu could set aside his scruples, he might actually capture her.
Such a perfect opportunity to strike. Even she would regret it for him if he let it slip.
A long moment passed.
"Really not going to do anything?" Red Adornment arched an eyebrow, writhing like a snake in his arms. "If you don't make your move, I really will think you can't bear to part with me."
Ji Hanchu held his hands behind his back, his arms tightening. The nerves in his head throbbed painfully, his whole body burned, and heat surged through his lower abdomen, threatening to consume him.
Red Adornment put on an even greater show. "Oh dear, now that you've seen me like this, how am I ever supposed to marry? Oh, that's right. According to Central Plains customs, since you've seen my feet, doesn't that already make me your woman, Young Master Ji San?"
Seeing that she was thoroughly enjoying herself, Ji Hanchu simply stopped answering and used all his strength to suppress the desire surging through him.
Red Adornment said pitifully, "I'm already your woman, yet you still want to take me back to answer for my crimes. How can you bear it?"
At that, Ji Hanchu went rigid all over.
She was right. She already counted as his.
When she had leaped out of the water, however quickly he had averted his gaze, that one glance had already taken in every inch of the view, especially her bare feet. And now she was pressed so close that he was even afraid he would lose control, lose control and...
Ji Hanchu held his breath and solemnly promised, "I'll take responsibility."
"Oh? Let's hear it. How?"
Ji Hanchu said, "I'll marry you, then share every punishment with you."
Red Adornment raised an eyebrow. "I've killed quite a few people. This won't end with mere punishment. The rule of the jianghu is blood for blood. I won't escape death."
Ji Hanchu did not take her words to heart. He repeated, "I said I would share every punishment."
Every punishment, including death.
Red Adornment scoffed. "The Ji Family and the Yin Clan are related by marriage, and you're the Ji Family's third young master. They won't take your life. I'll still be the one who dies, won't I? Once I go back and receive my death sentence, you can live as freely and happily as you like. I won't know anyway."
"I won't," Ji Hanchu answered at once. "Whatever happens, I swear never to marry again. I'll honor your spirit tablet for the rest of my life."
While his father was still alive, he had taught him their family precept: "Purify your heart and understand propriety; restrain yourself and uphold discipline." He had always engraved those words upon his heart, never daring to forget.
Even if her name was infamous and she killed people like cutting hemp, he would still honor her.
Honor her as his one and only wife.
"Really?" Red Adornment rose onto her toes and pinched his earlobe, her shining eyes full of dancing flames.
Ji Hanchu said, "I never lie."
Then he went still. There was something familiar about those words, uncannily familiar.
Red Adornment looked at him in amusement and imitated him. "I believe you."
Beneath the moonlight, the radiant girl's smile bloomed like a flower.
That smile dazzled Ji Hanchu's muddled mind into a moment of clarity before confusion overtook it again.
No, this wasn't right! Something was wrong!
Ji Hanchu's breath caught as he belatedly realized.
He took a small medicine pouch from his robes and held it beneath his nose. Its delicate fragrance entered his nostrils, barely steadying his disordered mind.
At some point, Red Adornment had quietly withdrawn to the large rock and put on her outer robe, covering the body the night breeze had chilled.
Swinging the Bone-Setting Whip in her hand, she called from a distance, "Only now realizing you've been drugged? Aren't you a little too unguarded, Young Master Ji San?"
Ji Hanchu restrained himself, ashamed and furious, feeling that tide of desire grow ever more turbulent until his fingertips trembled.
"You, you-" He gritted his teeth, hating himself for letting down his guard.
His father had raised him on medicines since childhood, giving him a constitution immune to all poisons. Red Adornment had scattered knockout drugs all around the riverbank earlier, but they had done nothing to him. He had been too confident, and so he had fallen into her trap.
But that was not the only reason for his anger.
She had lied to him again. Deceived him again.
Was he really that easy to fool?
Red Adornment strolled over leisurely. His handsome face was scarlet as he struggled to restrain his desire, sweat covering his forehead, running down his cheeks and dripping into his collar.
She whistled cheerfully, extended a finger, and poked Ji Hanchu straight to the ground as he struggled to endure it. Then she promptly swung a leg over him and sat firmly astride his waist and abdomen.
Unable to control his pounding heart, Ji Hanchu spoke with a rare harshness. "You girl, you have no shame-"
Whistling, the little demoness bent down until their noses touched. Her warm breath surrounded his lips; just a little closer and they would kiss...
Then something soft touched his lips. A woman's unfamiliar, sweet scent filled his nose, mingled with cool moisture, and he could not help panting faintly.
When the kiss ended, her face was flushed too, her eyes filled with the wicked delight of successful amusement.
Ji Hanchu stared blankly at the girl atop him. She was stroking his cheek while tilting her face toward the moon, sighing, "To die beneath a peony blossom-even as a ghost, one would still be a romantic."
Ji Hanchu said, "You..."
Red Adornment kissed him again. "I have no shame, do I?"
She patted his chest. "How am I the shameless one? I didn't make this aphrodisiac. It was that dear aunt of yours, Yin Qiqi, who sought it out. It's terribly potent. No matter how profound your martial arts or how immune to poisons your body is, neither can help you. I'm merely letting you experience it too."
Although Yin Qiqi was his aunt, Ji Hanchu's mother had died young, and his second uncle had never married, making her the household's only mistress.
Ji Hanchu was not particularly close to her, but in his memory, this aunt was a very kindly person. She spoke gently to everyone and was especially tolerant of his third uncle. She did not seem at all like someone who would do something so outrageous.
Thus, he did not quite believe Red Adornment's words.
Seeing his disbelief, Red Adornment scoffed. "Your aunt drugged your third uncle with this very thing back then. That's how she conceived your two older cousins. Believe it or not."
As she spoke, her hands never stopped moving. Her small hand slid down his cheek and lingered over his prominent collarbone, stroking it twice.
Wow. Such delicate skin.
The men she had seen in the Southern Frontier were either her six martial uncles or Yaoguang's servant, Little Mute. She did not dare touch her martial uncles, and Little Mute looked so rough that she could not be bothered. This was her first time touching a man.
A hand closed around her wrist. She looked up into eyes like black jade.
Ji Hanchu's expression was earnest and pained. "Stop killing people, all right?"
Desire was gnawing at him this badly, yet he still had the leisure to concern himself with that.
Red Adornment found it amusing, so she merely smiled, neither agreeing nor refusing.
She wanted to keep touching him, but suddenly his grip tightened around her wrist and he flung her backward. Fortunately, she reacted in time, pushed off with her toes, and spun through the air to land beside the river.
Once she steadied herself, she looked back. The disheveled man sprang up and swept past her. With a splash, he plunged completely into the river.
The current was gentle, and after that splash, the surface soon fell still, without even a single bubble.
Oh?
Red Adornment shook her head, plucked a blade of grass to play with, and waited calmly on the bank.
She waited so long that she began wondering whether Ji Hanchu had drowned. Then the surface broke with a splash, and his upper body emerged.
Ji Hanchu's face was red as he gulped down air. His long hair clung to his face, and he was soaked through, looking as bedraggled as could be.
Red Adornment tossed away the grass. "This drug is fierce. Even drowning yourself won't help."
At her words, Ji Hanchu turned and gave her a long look, his face expressionless. Then he lowered his head and plunged back beneath the water.
"Honestly, what a little stick-in-the-mud," Red Adornment muttered.
A short while later, Ji Hanchu could no longer hold his breath and surfaced.
Red Adornment seized the moment, weighed the object she had just fished out in her hand, and flicked it through the air toward him.
She even supplied a sound effect. "Whoosh-"
Ji Hanchu caught it and looked closely. She had thrown him a small, dark-brown pill.
He turned toward the bank. The girl was sitting on a rock higher than her knees, leisurely kicking the water.
Her feet were very small and very white. Farther up, her calves, half submerged in the river, were just as slender, pale, and tender.
Ji Hanchu hastily turned away without a word.
Red Adornment misunderstood. She smiled sweetly. "Take it. It really is the antidote. You may be perfectly willing to give me up, determined to make me answer for my crimes, but for now, I can't bear to let you die."
Lifting her hem, she landed lightly on the grass. Her figure flashed, carrying her another ten feet or so away. Her voice drifted back on the wind, infused with internal energy, as though she were right beside him.
"Little stick-in-the-mud, you really are good, but I don't want to die yet.
"Those people are people I must kill, so I can't go back with you.
"...And I can't be your wife either."
(II) Atoning for her sins
Red Adornment tilted her head back and looked at the moon in the sky.
The moon changed and changed until it became Ji Hanchu's face. She gazed at it in a daze, managing to gaze herself into a trace of melancholy resentment.
"Demoness!" An angry shout suddenly exploded beside her ear.
The voice was so loud it rang throughout the secluded Fishing Slumber Cottage. Fortunately, this courtyard belonged to a member of the Yin Clan's most distant branch and saw few visitors. Apart from a few birds, it disturbed no one.
Red Adornment picked up some pebbles and aimed at the birds. Before one could see how she flicked her fingers, the birds darting through the night flapped their wings a few times and fell soundlessly to the ground.
At the sight, the disciple holding his sword across himself warily retreated several more steps.
"Enough." Red Adornment walked up to him, turning her wrist and idly twirling Crescent Moon. "Spare me the nonsense. Have you decided?"
The disciple's eyes were bloodshot. Holding his sword before him, he let out a beastlike growl from his chest.
"I'll fight you to the death today!"
"Tsk." Red Adornment frowned. "Have I been too softhearted lately? Every last one of you climbs right up my nose onto my face! I'll ask you one last time. How do you want to die? Hurry up and choose while you can. I won't be so accommodating later."
"You're courting death!" The disciple was thoroughly enraged.
He swung his sword and attacked Red Adornment with the force of thunder.
He put all his strength into that strike. Veins bulged in his neck, his eyes filled with blood, and the force in his arm seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.
The sword wind stabbed toward her, but Red Adornment neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, she curled her lips into a chilling smile. The disciple never even saw her use the curved blade she had been toying with. She merely raised a lazy hand and effortlessly caught his blade between two fingers. With a shake, cracks appeared in the sword, spreading swiftly across it beneath his disbelieving gaze until it broke apart inch by inch.
With a clatter, the sword fell to the ground in a heap of scrap iron.
"So you chose a sword through the throat." She twirled Crescent Moon. "Unfortunately, my swordsmanship isn't very good. I'm afraid one stroke wouldn't finish your throat. Why don't we choose another way to die?"
The disciple fell sitting to the ground and backed away in terror. When he could retreat no farther, the red-clad girl before him bent slightly to meet him face-to-face.
Her red robes and skirt obscured most of the moon behind her. Silhouetted against its light, her skirts fluttered, and her smile froze the heart and lungs.
"I gave you a choice. You were the one who failed to treasure it."
A faint fragrance reached his nose. The disciple hesitated for an instant, then a thousandfold prickling itch surged through his body, like ten thousand ants crawling over him. It was so unbearable that he nearly scratched through his flesh.
"Ah-ah-"
The disciple screamed in pain.
Red Adornment laughed triumphantly, her clear laughter echoing through Fishing Slumber Cottage.
She watched his miserable state happily and kindly explained, "This poison is called Non-Action. Its victims feel an unbearable itch all over, until they wish they could strip off their skin and flesh. The stronger the smell of blood, the worse it itches, until they scratch themselves into a bloody mess and finally stop breathing."
How could the disciple hear her now? He had scratched bloody marks into the flesh all over his body, including his face. His eyes were filled with venomous hatred, wishing he could kill this demoness and drink her blood.
Red Adornment stepped lightly backward and turned her wrist to put away her blade. Just as she was about to leave using her lightness skill, she suddenly heard a ding beside her ear, as though two hard objects had struck together.
Glancing aside, she saw a fan with black-jade ribs lying beside the disciple's hand.
The disciple's original features were no longer recognizable. Trembling, he was trying to pick up a fragment of the sword from the ground and end it all.
At the sight of the fan, Red Adornment could not be bothered with the disciple anymore. She lifted her head and called happily in the direction the Star Pendant had come from, "Ji Hanchu!"
"Red Adornment." Ji Hanchu emerged from concealment and reached the disciple's side in an instant. "I told you not to kill people."
Red Adornment stamped her foot in vexation. "What rotten timing. Why do you catch me every time I kill someone?"
Ji Hanchu crouched, picked up the Star Pendant, and swiftly sealed several of the disciple's major acupoints. Then he took out the medicine pouch he carried, tipped out three medicinal herbs, crushed them, and made the disciple swallow them.
The disciple's whimpers gradually faded, and his breathing steadied.
Red Adornment exclaimed in surprise, "Oh my, you've neutralized it again?"
She pattered over and crouched on the disciple's other side, propping her small face in both hands, the picture of innocence.
Ji Hanchu had already begun applying needles, but she kept watching him like that.
His needle hand hesitated. "What are you looking at?" he asked gravely.
Red Adornment said, "Watching you neutralize the poison. I have to watch to learn how it's done, so I won't leave you another chance next time."
"..."
Red Adornment grinned. "Little stick-in-the-mud, I lose this round. But I'm curious. Surely you aren't planning to follow me around every day, saving whoever I try to kill, over and over again?"
Ji Hanchu was silent for a long while.
Red Adornment's shadow seemed to grow somewhat silent too in the cold moonlight.
Ji Hanchu applied the needles swiftly, his features upright and refined, his gaze firm. He was the Ji Family's Little Medical Immortal, revered by the world.
Red Adornment curved her lips, but the smile did not reach her eyes. She said softly, "Ji San, don't tell me you're atoning for my sins."
Ji Hanchu's hands abruptly froze as he put away his medicine pouch.
Red Adornment stood and looked down at him quietly. "Ji Hanchu, I won't stop. And you should stop wasting your efforts. I told you, these are people I must kill."
Ji Hanchu said, "Why must you kill them?"
Red Adornment said coldly, "Because they must die."
"Why must they die?"
Red Adornment stopped answering.
She smiled mockingly and put a hand behind her back, lightly curling her fingers twice. A tiny black insect quietly crawled out of the Buddha prayer beads around her wrist, swiftly dropped to the ground, and approached the disciple without a sound.
Only after watching it crawl into the disciple's bloodstained sleeve did Red Adornment lower her hand. "Ji boy, why must you insist on opposing me?"
Ji Hanchu looked at her and repeated his question. "Why must they die?"
Red Adornment spread her hands. "The rule of the jianghu. Blood for blood."
"You have a feud with the Yin Clan?"
Red Adornment tilted her head. "A blood feud as deep as the sea."
Those who walked the jianghu, righteous and evil alike, observed one rule: a tooth for a tooth, a blood debt repaid in blood.
Heroes and villains of every stripe had to abide by this rule. If anyone truly committed an act that violated righteousness, they deserved to have vengeance sought against them. Most others would stand by with their hands tucked into their sleeves rather than intervene.
Otherwise, meddling would only let someone else drag their reputation through the mud.
Ji Hanchu's expression shifted slightly, and his voice softened without his realizing it. "What happened before?"
Before-how long ago was that?
So long ago that the very beginning of her memories was the misery of people eating people, of plants stripped of their roots, of gnawing human bones raw.
So long ago that a woman had held her in her arms and comforted her softly, and she had thought she had met a living Buddha, Guanyin herself.
Her senior sister was her Guanshiyin.
Hongxiu would tell her that when she rescued her from the famine, she had been gnawing on a bare tree root, beside the bodies of her parents, who had been dead for days and were slowly beginning to stink.
Hongxiu carried her back to Seven Stars Valley and begged Yaoguang to take her in. From then on, her name became "Red Adornment," and she became the youngest disciple of Yaoguang, the "Big Dipper Star."
Yaoguang taught her that kindness was kindness and grievance was grievance; the two must be kept distinct, and one must live worthy of heaven and earth.
Hongxiu taught her to live well, know contentment, understand her limits, and follow her heart. To be free as the wind was the greatest happiness.
Red Adornment lay half-sprawled on her little bed, pitifully rubbing her bottom, where a large bug had just bitten her, leaving it red and swollen.
She grimaced. "My greatest happiness would be if Martial Uncle Tianshu never came again."
Hongxiu rubbed her little head. "Don't let your martial uncle hear that. Careful, or he'll set another bug on you next time."
"Wah..."
Her senior sister was so gentle. If only the hand stroking her weren't so cold.
It made her shiver every time, but she was too embarrassed to say anything.
Only much, much later did Red Adornment learn that her senior sister was actually a "dead person." She had died along with that child on the snowy mountain that year.
She was a "living" dead woman, a female puppet sustained by the very bugs she had feared most back then.
How could the dead deserve warmth?
It was also then that Red Adornment's hatred for the Yin Clan became thoroughly, irrevocably entrenched.
Tianshu was most passionate about making gu, and his particular specialty was the "Living Dead Gu," which everyone in the world abhorred. Once the gu insect was implanted in someone's body, they would become an unconscious puppet who obeyed his commands, the most formidable weapon in his hands.
In recent years, Tianshu had reworked the gu insects. Implanted in the bodies of the dead, they could preserve the person's consciousness and "bring them back to life," granting them a lifespan no different from an ordinary person's. Only their bodily shell remained no different from a corpse.
Her senior sister was the first successful test subject of the Living Dead Gu.
"It can't be implanted. It's no use!" Tianshu frowned. "That child wasn't even full-term. When I dug it out, it was frozen solid. It couldn't possibly withstand the gu insect. Besides, even if I implanted it, the child would never grow again. It would remain an infant for its entire life. What would be the point?"
Yaoguang said bitterly, "Can't you think of something else?"
"I can't. I've tried everything there is to try. Give up."
Yaoguang said, "You can do nothing about the Twin Gu inside me, and you can't use the Living Dead Gu either. What use are you!"
Yaoguang had suffered severe internal injuries in her youth and nearly lost her life, so Tianshu had taken the desperate risk of implanting the Twin Gu in her.
The female insect lived inside her, while the male was kept beneath a glacial river. Everything was no different from an ordinary person's life, except that the two insects could not be separated by too great a distance, and the male could not leave the glacial river. Thus, Yaoguang could only remain trapped in Seven Stars Valley forever.
Hearing their argument, Hongxiu stared blankly for a while before saying haltingly, "Master, Martial Uncle has done his best. It's all right."
Tianshu looked over at her words. He leaned against the window, his eyes slightly narrowed, a tiny insect still wriggling in his hand.
He chuckled, but his smile was mocking. Softly, he said, "Hongxiu, there's a question your master has always wanted to ask, but she hasn't had the heart. I might as well ask it for her."
He flicked his sleeve, stepped forward, and said to her, "I remember that not long after you went to the Central Plains, you told your master you no longer wanted to be 'Yaoguang,' because no 'Yaoguang' in any generation could marry or have children... Now your martial arts are completely ruined, most of your foundation is destroyed, and you've even taken on a dead body. You truly can never be 'Yaoguang' again. Hongxiu, tell me, having come to this state, have you gotten what you wished for?"
Hongxiu's hands at her sides slowly clenched. Her lips gradually turned white, and her body began to tremble. She covered her eyes, which were bloodshot, yet not a single tear could fall.
The dead could not weep.
Yaoguang gave Tianshu a reproachful look, then stepped forward and gently embraced Hongxiu, letting her lean against her shoulder as she stroked her back like a mother.
"It's all right, good girl. It's all right..."
Hongxiu's lips trembled ceaselessly. She clutched Yaoguang's sleeve in a death grip, her voice hoarse, torn and weeping blood.
"He told me he was sincere, that he would take me back to the Ji Family... He said he would break off his engagement to Second Miss Yin and have his eldest brother officiate our wedding. I was so happy... He loved sabers, so I gave him Wind Chaser, thinking that afterward... afterward..."
Unable to bear it, Yaoguang turned her head aside and soothed her. "Good child, it wasn't your fault."
Tianshu folded his arms and said flatly, "All love is a sinful bond; none escape its wrongs."
Hongxiu sobbed, her fingertips digging into her flesh. She felt no physical pain at all, yet the anguish was as though a piece of flesh had been gouged from her heart, a hundred times worse than bodily pain.
"Master, I hate them to the marrow."
(III) Yin Qingyan
But Red Adornment would not tell Ji Hanchu any of this.
The bright moon in the night sky spilled a radiance like scattered gold. Red Adornment tipped her head back and said softly, "I'm leaving."
Ji Hanchu remained silent for a long time before saying, "Come back with me."
Red Adornment laughed. "You still haven't given up? I told you, I won't-"
"I'm not taking you back to answer for your crimes." Ji Hanchu abruptly interrupted her.
"Then what for?"
Ji Hanchu said solemnly, "To the Yin Clan, to make everything clear."
"And then?"
Beneath the moonlight, there was a different sort of earnestness in Ji Hanchu's eyes. "Avenge hatred, repay grievances."
Red Adornment froze for a moment, but soon she laughed again.
"No," she repeated. "I'm not going."
Ji Hanchu said nothing for a long time.
She did not know how he felt upon hearing her refusal. That someone like the Little Medical Immortal could say "avenge hatred, repay grievances" had already genuinely surprised her.
He believed that she truly had a blood feud as deep as the sea with the Yin Clan, but she still could not go with him.
She did not want justice. She wanted only repayment in blood.
The bright moon hung high in the sky. Ji Hanchu stood beside the waterside pavilion before the entrance, the Star Pendant in his hand coated in the flowing sheen unique to jade. He still held the medicine pouch in his other hand. His grip on the Star Pendant was so tight that Red Adornment thought he was about to attack, but he merely shifted his jaw and said, "Come back with me."
Red Adornment said helplessly, "Ji San, do you not understand human speech?"
Ji Hanchu's lips moved.
Red Adornment could not be bothered to keep wrangling with him. His persistence was simply irritating, especially that "come back with me," which she had heard so often her ears were growing calluses.
She lashed out with the Bone-Setting Whip. The long whip whipped up a fierce wind, murderous force rushing straight at him.
Red Adornment said coldly, "Then let our abilities decide. If you really can capture me and take me back, I'll grant that you're impressive."
A crow cried, and dark clouds veiled the moon. A gale suddenly rose over the quiet pavilions and waterside terraces. As the moonlight hid behind the clouds, only the red-clad girl's indifferent face and foxlike, seductive eyes, mingled with terrifying ruthlessness, could be seen in the half-light.
The wind lifted a corner of Ji Hanchu's robe. The Star Pendant, which had never had a chance to open before Red Adornment, finally unleashed the power a weapon ought to possess.
Battle hung on a hair trigger.
The Star Pendant's fan leaf was black as well. Its jade ribs abruptly shot out from beneath it, revealing several sharp, long spikes, while the edge of the fan itself gleamed with a keen, cold light, more than a match for Crescent Moon.
On the surface, a jade-ribbed fan; in truth, a blade hidden up the sleeve.
Red Adornment swung her long whip and struck fiercely at Ji Hanchu, aiming straight for his heart.
In a flash, Ji Hanchu turned his fan to block, only to find the whip's force astonishingly powerful. The impact jolted the web between his thumb and forefinger, numbing half his arm.
Ji Hanchu retreated a little. Before he could steady his breathing, the next lash came at him with crushing force.
The disciple had breathed his last, but neither of them noticed.
Ji Hanchu's breathing grew faster, his heart pounding ever more fiercely. He controlled the Star Pendant with all his strength, narrowly evading a strike, then spun the fan in his hand and wound it tightly around the oncoming whip.
He said nothing, merely gripping the whip tightly, but Red Adornment distinctly felt the oppressive internal force coming from the other end, making her spine shiver.
"Ji San, you're better than I thought." Excitement shone in her eyes, the joy of meeting an evenly matched opponent.
She said, "But why aren't you fighting back? I told you, let our abilities decide."
Ji Hanchu lowered his head slightly, released the whip in his hand, and tossed it back toward her. His hoarse voice was as soft as could be, yet it reached Red Adornment's ears clearly.
"Making me unwilling to fight back counts as your ability too."
Red Adornment narrowed her eyes and stared at him without moving.
He turned his head away rather than look at her. His averted cheek melted into the cool remnants of the night's glow, and a thousand words were scattered by the wind.
The dark clouds dispersed, and moonlight returned to heaven and earth.
Red Adornment said, "Ji Hanchu, don't tell me you..."
Before she could finish, Ji Hanchu suddenly turned his head sharply and put a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.
He said under his breath, "Someone's coming."
Red Adornment listened closely. Sure enough, someone was quietly approaching. They had been so engrossed in their fight that she had failed to hear the footsteps.
The steps were light; it seemed to be a woman.
"Third Cousin, is that you?"
Her voice arrived before she did.
Ji Hanchu stepped over and signaled for Red Adornment to leave first.
With her hands behind her back, Red Adornment glanced over, immensely interested, and asked softly, "Who is it?"
Ji Hanchu said quietly, "It's Qingyan, the only daughter of my aunt's elder sister..."
Finding the relationship somewhat tangled, he hesitated, then settled on a direct explanation. "She's my cousin."
So it was her.
Yin Yuanya had two daughters, Yin Fangchuan and Yin Qiqi, one strong and one gentle. The former had taken a husband into the family, while the latter had married Clan Leader Ji.
The newcomer was Yin Fangchuan's only daughter, Yin Qingyan.
"Fishing Slumber Cottage is so remote. What's she doing coming here?"
Ji Hanchu said, "I didn't avoid anyone when I came tonight. She probably heard the news and hurried over."
Red Adornment gave him a sidelong glance and said meaningfully, "She came scampering after you the moment she heard you were here. Young Master Ji San really is popular."
Ji Hanchu blocked her with his body, glanced toward the dead disciple, and warned in a low voice, "Go. Quickly."
"Why should I? Call her over, and you can take me to the Yin Clan together. It'll even save you some effort."
Ji Hanchu's head ached. "I won't capture you today. Just hurry up and go."
"No." Red Adornment stepped out brazenly. "It's Yin Fangchuan's daughter coming. How could I leave? As it happens, Yin Fangchuan and I cannot live beneath the same sky either."
"Red Adornment... you..."
Yin Qingyan was the Yin Clan's eldest young lady, and the family had always doted on her. They ordinarily assigned many guards specifically to protect her. Though she was alone right now, the Yin Clan's people would arrive in no more than a few moments, and then the situation would be difficult to control.
Yet this heartless woman knew only how to treat the world as a game. She was infuriating.
Amid their pushing and pulling, Yin Qingyan had reached the waterside pavilion.
She wore a blue-green tunic and white robe that matched Ji Hanchu's attire exceptionally well. Her face was fresh and lovely, her brows and eyes especially delicate.
At the sight of Ji Hanchu, those features immediately blossomed into a flowerlike smile, shy and charming.
"Cousin, you really are here? When the servants reported it just now, I didn't believe them..."
Before she could finish those few sentences, she noticed Red Adornment hidden behind Ji Hanchu, and the mangled corpse behind Red Adornment. She stopped short.
Her face changed dramatically in shock, her fingers trembling. "You, you two, Cousin... she..."
Her gaze met Red Adornment's across the distance. The woman gave her an utterly wild smile, her eyes suddenly deepening, then drew the curved saber from her sleeve and rushed toward her with the intent to kill. She was so fast that Yin Qingyan had no time to dodge!
In an instant, the Crescent Moon saber was at Yin Qingyan's neck. Its blade was icy against the blood vessels in her neck, as though it could take her life in the blink of an eye and split her head open.
Yin Qingyan turned cold all over, goosebumps rising across her skin.
Ji Hanchu roared, "Red Adornment!"
Crescent Moon moved from her neck to her cheek. The precious blade, which could slice through iron like mud, was a hair's breadth from Yin Qingyan's snowy cheek. A lock of black hair fell silently away, spiraling down onto her trembling hand.
Red Adornment patted Yin Qingyan's cheek with the back of the blade and asked with a smile, "Is he your lover?"
At those words, not only Ji Hanchu but Yin Qingyan froze as well.
In the silence, two pairs of eyes turned wordlessly toward Ji Hanchu a short distance away.
Yin Qingyan bit her lip, her cheeks flushing. She lowered her head and twisted her hem, a faint expectation showing in her eyes.
Red Adornment was floored. "Hey! There's still a blade at your neck. What are you getting shy for now!" Then she turned to Ji Hanchu. "I'm asking you. Is she your lover?"
Looking at the smile on Red Adornment's face, Ji Hanchu gave a long sigh. "No."
"Oh-" Red Adornment drew out the sound, leaned close to Yin Qingyan's ear, and whispered, "Then I'll kill you."
Yin Qingyan's face instantly went deathly pale.
Holding her hostage, Red Adornment faced off against Ji Hanchu from a distance.
Ji Hanchu gritted his teeth. "Let her go."
Red Adornment gave a mocking laugh and abruptly raised her curved saber, its keen edge fully exposed, its bloodthirsty aura impossible to conceal.
Yin Qingyan screamed.
Just then, a shout suddenly rang out. "Spare her beneath your blade!"
Red Adornment said impatiently, "No!"
"No, you must! You must spare her!"
A round yet nimble figure darted out of the bushes and zipped to Ji Hanchu's side, panting heavily. "Third, the Yin Clan's people are coming. They'll be here any, any moment."
Red Adornment asked, "And who are you?"
The fat man braced himself upright and wiped the sweat from his forehead, revealing an endearing, kindly smile like Maitreya Buddha's. He cupped his hands toward Red Adornment and said, "Xie Liyou, master of the Gusu Ji Clan's second branch. You must be that Beauty Rakshasa whose martial prowess is unfathomable?"
Beauty? Rakshasa?
Red Adornment freed one hand and swept back her hair with a flourish. "An empty reputation."
Xie Liyou said, "Your ability merits it, miss. It's no empty reputation."
Red Adornment nodded. "You flatter me."
Xie Liyou smiled. "Not at all. My compliments are always sincere, without a single false word."
Red Adornment said, "You're an interesting fat man."
Xie Liyou cupped his hands. "Thank you for the compliment, miss. To win Ji San's affection, then heartlessly forget him in the blink of an eye-I sincerely think you're a remarkable talent too."
Red Adornment raised an eyebrow and glanced at Ji Hanchu.
Ji Hanchu frowned and said somewhat awkwardly, "Red Adornment, let Qingyan go."
Only then did Xie Liyou slap his thigh. "That's right! Heroine, there's no need for this. Let the young lady go quickly, or the Yin Clan's people will be here. Then you won't be able to escape even if you want to!"
"Don't rush." Red Adornment tightened her hold. Seeing Yin Qingyan turn several shades paler, she said with satisfaction, "I'll ask you a question. Answer me honestly, and I'll let you go."
Yin Qingyan hesitantly nodded.
Red Adornment raised her chin, pointing toward Ji Hanchu and Xie Liyou.
"You like him?"
Xie Liyou hugged his corpulent body, feigning alarm. "Th-this... surely not."
Red Adornment frowned. "Shut up."
Xie Liyou shut his mouth, just as he had wished.
"I'm asking you!"
Yin Qingyan had been raised in her aunt's home since childhood. Though she had dealt with people of the jianghu, she was accustomed to living in seclusion. When had she ever heard anything so blunt? Her pale face flushed red, and she stammered for a long while without managing a word.
Trembling, she helplessly appealed to Ji Hanchu. "Cousin, save me."
Red Adornment clamped a hand around her neck and smiled. "Save you? Shall I tell you that your darling third cousin is already mine?"
"..."
Xie Liyou's eyes silently swiveled from straight ahead far over to the right. He coughed and muttered, "Third Ji, what does she mean?"
No answer.
Xie Liyou asked, "You really lost your virtue?"
Silence, and more silence.
An indescribable fury climbed from Yin Qingyan's heart to the crown of her head. Shaking with anger, she protested, "You witch! Stop spouting nonsense!"
"If it's nonsense, why not ask your cousin? He said he would marry me, and even swore he would die with me."
Xie Liyou said, "Surely not..."
Ji Hanchu said, "Red Adornment, let Qingyan go."
Xie Liyou said, "..."
Third Ji hadn't denied it!
Xie Liyou's scalp went numb, his head felt swollen, and the crown of his skull throbbed.
Well, well, Third Ji! After all those years growing up together! You used the wrong medicine when you were eight and nearly poisoned this fat lord to death. Qi Jin had already worked out the cost of a coffin, but I pulled through on my own, and I never held it against you! Now you've found such luck with women, and you didn't even invite me!
Red Adornment answered with a grin, "No! Not only will I not let her go, I'll turn her into a puppet-the kind that can hear and see but can only obey me. Once I've had my fun, I'll give her to my martial uncle Tianshu to raise his bugs. Such fine flesh mustn't go to waste."
That lovely face spoke words of utter viciousness in the most ordinary tone.
Yet anyone could tell that she could not have been more serious.
Xie Liyou touched his throat and swallowed.
Forget it, forget it.
This woman was poison from head to toe. However beautiful she was, he wouldn't dare touch her.
Third Ji could enjoy this luck with women all by himself.
(IV) Affection and love
Ji Hanchu put away the Star Pendant and said gravely, "Red Adornment, as long as you release Qingyan, I guarantee you'll leave the Yin Clan safely tonight."
Red Adornment lazily twirled a lock of hair. "You care that much about this cousin of yours?"
So much that even she felt a little jealous.
"The more you care about her, the more I want to kill her."
A fraction closer, an inch of spurting blood, a patch of plum blossoms stained red.
Yin Qingyan squeezed her eyes shut. Her breathing grew increasingly rapid with fear, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. Her nails dug deep into her flesh, and blood slowly seeped between her fingers.
Alarm surged through Ji Hanchu. With no time to consider anything else, he poured internal energy into the Star Pendant and hurled it at Red Adornment!
Red Adornment reacted with lightning speed, twisting aside and flicking her whip to hook the Star Pendant into her arms.
The instant her grip slackened as she dodged, Ji Hanchu darted forward, hooked an arm around her slender waist, and pulled hard, drawing her several feet away from Yin Qingyan.
Xie Liyou immediately stepped forward to shield Yin Qingyan, who had fainted from fright.
Red Adornment leaned against Ji Hanchu's chest with a smile, looking not at all surprised. She even had time to raise her hand and toss Xie Liyou a small celadon porcelain bottle.
Xie Liyou caught it and looked at her.
"It's medicine that causes temporary memory loss," she explained. "Feed it to her, and it'll save a great deal of trouble."
Holding the bottle, Xie Liyou wore a troubled expression full of hesitation and suspicion.
"Let's not, Miss Red Adornment. Could we avoid helping the tiger devour its prey?"
"No." Red Adornment covered her lips and laughed. "Otherwise, you'll die."
"..."
Red Adornment snorted, looped her arms around Ji Hanchu's neck, and planted a light kiss on his cheek. "Dear brother, tell him whether I gave him poison."
Ji Hanchu held her with one arm and extended his other hand toward Xie Liyou, palm open. His hand clamped tightly around her waist, as though she would vanish the moment he let go.
Head lowered, Xie Liyou brought him the bottle. Only after confirming that it truly was medicine that erased short-term memories did he retreat in tiny steps.
Then he stopped looking at the embracing pair altogether. See no impropriety, hear no impropriety.
"Hey-" Red Adornment called after him. "Ji San is dying to take me back to answer for my crimes. Don't you want to?"
Xie Liyou turned toward her with his eyes covered, chanting, "Don't meddle in others' affairs. Others' affairs are not to be meddled in. If it's none of your business, wisely preserve yourself."
Red Adornment covered her mouth and laughed, then looked up at Ji Hanchu. "Your friend is so amusing."
Ji Hanchu held her restless waist still and said in a low voice, "Red Adornment, don't tease him."
Red Adornment rose onto her toes, looking into his eyes. She hooked a finger under his chin and stroked downward, passing over the rise in his throat and lingering there. The man and woman were pressed so close that each could feel the differences between them. Her distinctive fragrance enveloped him; within that fragrance, she seemed boneless, soft enough to melt into water. The hand at his throat moved up to his shoulder, replaced by lips and tongue, with the occasional gentle nip, stirring an unrestrained tingling that recalled the long kiss she had bent down to leave on his lips beside the grassy riverbank that night.
That kiss had tasted of green grass.
Her pale arms hooked around his neck as she clung to him and teased him without restraint. When she lifted her eyes, they brimmed with the vigor of wild growth, moving and soul-stealing.
"I won't tease him. I'll only tease you. Are you satisfied now?"
Satisfied?
What was there to be satisfied about?
Ji Hanchu thought with a bitter smile that, after all, she only regarded him as an amusing diversion.
Who cared whether a diversion was satisfied? She only asked because she wanted to find herself another new amusement.
Hearing voices nearby, Ji Hanchu tightened his arm around Red Adornment's waist and told her, "Don't make a sound. I'll take you away from here."
Red Adornment nestled against him, tracing circles on his chest with a finger as though wheedling. "Then you'd better hurry. If I'm caught, no one will come play with you anymore."
The voices drew nearer. Ji Hanchu signaled to Xie Liyou, then pushed off lightly and leaped onto the wall with her.
He held her with one arm. Though he bore another person's weight, he still moved easily through the night. After a few bounds over the rooftops, they reached the Yin Clan's front courtyard.
The front courtyard blazed with lights and was surrounded so tightly that not even water could pass through.
The Yin Clan were no fools. First the second master had been poisoned, then their young lady had been attacked, with so many disciples dying along the way. If they still couldn't see that someone was deliberately targeting them, they truly would have been fools beyond measure.
Ji Hanchu and Red Adornment lay flat on the roof, concealed by the darkness.
"We can't get out," Ji Hanchu said. "The Yin Clan is surrounded. They must be conducting a thorough search. Going out now would be walking straight into their net."
"What do we do, then?" Red Adornment remained quite calm.
She did not care at all. Forcing her way out would merely take a little more effort, but she enjoyed watching Ji Hanchu exert himself for her.
After a moment's thought, Ji Hanchu took her wrist. "To the side gate. Xie Liyou's carriage is parked there. We'll go inside it."
Red Adornment asked, "Why did he come by carriage?"
Ji Hanchu held her as he sped through the night wind. "He dislikes moving. If he can ride in a carriage, he won't walk."
Red Adornment raised her brows.
Ji Hanchu added, "Liyou will certainly be called in for questioning. We'll wait in the carriage for now."
Hanging onto him, Red Adornment laughed. "If we go to the carriage and happen to encounter a search, and someone sees you mixed up with a witch like me, Young Master Ji San's reputation really will be ruined."
Ji Hanchu gazed into the night. "The Yin Clan wouldn't dare touch a Ji Family carriage."
The carriage parked inside the side gate was exquisite without lacking luxury. A silver bell hung from one corner, its surface covered in surging, crashing waves, with the character "Ji" deeply engraved at the top.
The carriage stood behind a cluster of artificial rocks, attracting little attention.
Ji Hanchu led Red Adornment this way and that, and when no one was looking, they quickly boarded the carriage.
Once they were inside the cramped compartment, Ji Hanchu turned to close the door. Red Adornment immediately turned and half-knelt toward him, pinning him against it.
The compartment was truly narrow. With both of them inside, there was barely enough room to move their limbs.
Thus, pinned beneath her, Ji Hanchu had much of his body occupied by her, and he dared not push her away for fear of making a noise.
Red Adornment adored the way he let himself be captured without resistance. Meeting his gaze, she said softly, "Brother Ji San, how can you be so good?"
Ji Hanchu watched her for a moment before pulling her hand away.
"Oh, angry?" Red Adornment couldn't help laughing. "I hurt your sweetheart, so now you're sulking at me?"
Ji Hanchu sat on the carriage's cushioned seat, closing his eyes and ignoring her.
Red Adornment's voice cooled. "I hurt her, but I never meant to kill her. You even hit me with the Star Pendant, and I didn't get angry. How can you have the nerve to be angry with me first?"
Every word overflowed with grievance, a perfect display of turning the accusation back on the accuser.
Ji Hanchu opened his eyes. "You've claimed every scrap of reason for yourself."
"Because I'm right." The more Red Adornment thought about it, the more wronged she felt, and the less she could bear it. "You actually hit me for her!"
Ji Hanchu turned his head. "You never intended to harm Qingyan in the first place?"
Red Adornment answered offhandedly, "I was only fooling you. She's a frail young lady who knows nothing. What vengeance would I seek from her?"
Then why did you insist on hurting her, stirring up such a commotion that we can neither get out nor leave?
But, just like Red Adornment's grudge, these were words Ji Hanchu would not voice.
He merely closed his eyes again and asked softly, "Am I easy to fool?"
Red Adornment played with the unfolded Star Pendant, fanning herself lazily. In her hands, a renowned weapon of the finest quality had truly become a fan.
"Ji San, don't resent me, and stop thinking about taking me back. Talk to me, and watch the moon with me too, all right?"
Ji Hanchu asked, "Talk about what?"
Red Adornment thought for a moment. "Who taught you?"
Ji Hanchu replied, "My father when I was young. After he passed away, I learned from my second uncle."
"Ji Jingsheng?"
Ji Hanchu nodded.
Red Adornment pondered this. No wonder this little stick-in-the-mud had such strange, unpredictable saber techniques and such domineering internal energy. That mad genius of the Ji Family had taught him personally.
She said, "I hardly ever saw you fight before. I thought you didn't know martial arts at all. Speaking of which, your saber skills are no worse than your second uncle's. Why haven't you made a name for yourself in the jianghu?"
Steady as a rock, Ji Hanchu said with utmost earnestness, "My father taught me that martial arts should be learned to save the world, not to contend vainly for empty fame."
His expression was exceedingly serious as he spoke. Even his seated posture was straight and proper. In his blue outer robe and white clothes, he resembled the cold moon on the horizon.
Watching him, Red Adornment felt a trace of curiosity about the Ji Family's eldest son, who had died young, for the first time. What an elegant, upright man he must have been, with what unparalleled grace and strength of character, to have raised a child whose heart held such vast mountains, rivers, sun, and moon.
Red Adornment folded her hands behind her head and leaned back comfortably. "Your father was right, but learning martial arts isn't only about saving the world. It's also about protecting yourself and others. Otherwise, if someone really bullies you, you won't even have anywhere to seek justice."
Ji Hanchu lowered his eyes, looking helpless. "Who could possibly bully someone like you?"
"Exactly, Ji San." Red Adornment gladly accepted this. Remembering what Kaiyang often said, she added proudly, "In this life, a single defeat is hard to find. Utterly lonely."
Ji Hanchu said, "..."
Red Adornment hugged his arm again, half nestling into his embrace as she sought his eyes. "Ji San, let me ask you something else. Who's prettier, me or that young lady of the Yin Clan?"
Ji Hanchu caught her hand in his. She was so close that he could clearly see her bright, watery eyes beneath her long lashes. She had the face of a peach-blossom demon and a pair of eyes that could speak. The female demons in storybooks probably all looked like her.
Ji Hanchu looked awkwardly away. "You."
A deep smile filled Red Adornment's shimmering eyes. "That's right. Otherwise, I'd gouge your eyes out."
Ji Hanchu felt another headache coming on. "You really are-"
Suddenly, several overlapping sets of footsteps sounded outside, accompanied by the noise of sword scabbards passing by.
"There's a carriage over there. Go take a look!"
Red Adornment and Ji Hanchu exchanged a glance and reacted immediately.
This carriage looked good but was impractical. It had a small door at the front and a window larger than the door along one side. The window stretched from front to back; once opened, it would expose most of the interior.
The Yin Clan would not dare force the door, but if they politely asked for a window to be opened, there would be no way to refuse.
Red Adornment promptly lay down on the floor, pressing herself tightly against the half-wall beneath the window. Ji Hanchu sat upright, and sure enough, someone outside knocked on the window.
"Who's inside? Please oblige us."
Partly shielding Red Adornment, Ji Hanchu raised a hand to open the window. "What is it?"
At the sight of him, the man exclaimed in surprise, "Young Master Ji San! Why are you here?"
"I came with Liyou. He said he had something to discuss with Sect Leader Yin, so I'm waiting here for him."
The man asked, "You came to see the eldest young lady, didn't you?"
Ji Hanchu hesitated, then nodded in assent.
The man looked somewhat troubled. He had presumably been ordered to keep things secret and could only say, "What unfortunate timing. The young lady is unwell today and likely cannot receive visitors."
Ji Hanchu smiled. "No matter. I'll come another time."
Lying inside the carriage and listening, Red Adornment felt like laughing.
When the Little Medical Immortal lied, he was every bit the equal of a witch like her. He neither blushed nor missed a breath.
Impressive. Truly impressive.
It suddenly gave her some outrageous, audacious ideas.
The man continued, "Sect Leader Xie has likely been kept behind for questioning by our sect leader. Please wait a little longer, Young Master Ji San. Also, may I ask whether you've seen anyone suspicious passing nearby... Young Master Ji San? Young Master Ji San!"
The man could hardly be blamed for his confusion. This unfailingly refined, gentle young master had suddenly flushed, the redness spreading down his neck. He was breathing slightly hard, and his eyes were moist, filled with shock and anger...
What else could explain it? Naturally, that "suspicious person" was right inside the carriage, beside his legs, committing every manner of mischief.
Red Adornment lifted Ji Hanchu's hand aside and reached over, stroking his waist and back through his clothes.
She hadn't touched that delicate flesh enough the other day. Today, she would collect both principal and interest. Though it wasn't entirely satisfying, it was better than nothing.
Entirely unreasonable, she sprawled beside him with her head pillowed on his thigh. Meeting his lowered gaze, she even blinked merrily at him.
Those hands were like snakes, slipping behind his waist and slowly teasing along his back. It hurt; presumably, she had left several red marks...
Ji Hanchu's breathing grew heavier. Suppressing it with all his strength, he forced a weighted answer from his throat. "I haven't."
The man asked with concern, "Young Master Ji San, are you all right?"
He meant nothing but kindness, yet unwittingly prolonged the ordeal. How could he have imagined that this young master, like an immortal descended to earth, was currently enveloped in sensations like ants and insects gnawing over his body, both unbearable and impossible to endure?
(V) No salvation for ghosts
On that summer night, the heat inside the carriage was searing.
A small hand, soft as though boneless, pressed against firm muscle through his clothes, making mischief on Ji Hanchu's body. Like the brush of a butterfly, it stirred a dense tingling itch, stroke by stroke, once, twice...
Red Adornment admired the blush slowly rising to his cheeks, his increasingly rapid breaths, the look of utter loathing and helplessness on his face. He looked better than ever.
The woman withdrew her hand and slowly clasped his fingers, interlacing all ten. She could not hide the wicked amusement in her eyes.
She had told him before: she liked this sanctimonious look of his best.
She would strip away his disguise layer by layer, destroy his refined grace bit by bit.
He had his righteous path, and she would not let him keep to it.
She wanted to see whether, in the end, this man as pure as a clear breeze and a bright moon would still maintain his self-restraint and self-examination, whether he would denounce and berate her from on high with righteous indignation, or simply become desire's running dog, submitting beneath her skirts for her amusement.
That little hand lingered around his knuckles for a while before warm lips took its place. Red Adornment gently kissed the fine skin on the back of Ji Hanchu's hand, and in that instant, she felt the man before her stiffen.
Scared?
Red Adornment smiled soundlessly. This man truly lived up to his upbringing in Jiangnan's watery towns; he was even more exquisitely delicate than a woman.
She became addicted, just as she had as a child, licking the malt candy her senior sister made for her.
The candy was sweet, and so was he.
"Young master, are you truly all right?"
The visitor looked utterly puzzled, not understanding why, in the middle of a perfectly ordinary conversation, Young Master Ji San had suddenly flushed, tilting his chin slightly upward, his exposed Adam's apple bobbing as though he were enduring tremendous pain.
Ji Hanchu's eyes were dark and fathomless. One hand held the window open while the other pressed fiercely against Red Adornment below him. "I'm fine," he said indistinctly.
The visitor misunderstood, however, assuming that his loss of composure came from hearing that the eldest young lady was unwell. His thoughts turned, and with a clever notion of currying favor, he said with an air of mystery, "There's something you don't know, young master. Our young lady isn't actually ill today. She was attacked."
"At...tacked?" Ji Hanchu said.
"Exactly, and this wasn't the first mishap lately, either. You know about what happened to Second Master last time. If you ask me, our household must have offended someone, and this time it happened to be the young lady's turn. Fortunately, she's blessed with good fortune and a strong fate. She wasn't hurt, only frightened, and a little muddled..."
Red Adornment's kisses had thrown Ji Hanchu's mind into disarray. The tickling sensations below wound around him, and it took tremendous effort not to snap at her, yet this guard kept prattling on...
Ji Hanchu exerted fierce strength with his free hand, locking it around Red Adornment's jaw so firmly she could not move. He lowered his head, his eyes no longer clear, threaded through with agitation and laden with warning.
But someone did not know what was good for her.
Red Adornment used both hands to pry his hand away. Emboldened by the knowledge that he dared not use force, she nestled her palm in his, feeling its warmth. Then, under his sharp gaze, she cradled his fingers and raised her brows with a soft smile, seductive and brazen, her eyes shimmering.
With that smile, her eyes curved into crescent moons as she looked at him provocatively.
-What are you afraid of? Push me away.
-The Yin Clan's people are right there. Everyone is looking for me. Aren't you the one who wants to catch me most? Push me out.
-Do you dare?
Ji Hanchu's lashes trembled. He looked down at Red Adornment. The woman lay beside his legs, such a little thing, tormenting and adorable.
He had heard before of beautiful female ghosts in storybooks who ate human hearts, with bewitching faces and an innate seductive grace, their every glance flowing with rippling allure.
He had never understood before. He had only thought those beautiful ghosts of the deep mountains, described in ink, were stiffly drawn and utterly without beauty. If a living being became a ghost, why would it remain confined to such mundane, superficial things leaping off the page?
Yet at this moment, that beautiful ghost revealed her true form. It was her face, her eyes and brows, her every frown and smile.
She enticed him to fall into her tender embrace, wanting him to willingly let her dig out his heart.
She said, "Ji San, hell is too lonely. Will you come keep me company?"
Ji Hanchu looked away and squeezed his eyes shut. His chest rose and fell several times before he finally turned, opened his eyes, and told the visitor, "I understand. When I have some free time another day, I'll come visit your young lady."
Crouched below, Red Adornment nearly laughed aloud.
Ji Hanchu, I really ought to find you a mirror so you can take a good look at yourself.
You're done for.
The guard hesitated, still suspicious. Young Master Ji San was behaving far too strangely today. He asked again, "Young master, are you certain you haven't seen anyone suspicious pass by?"
Ji Hanchu answered firmly, "No."
Red Adornment could not get up, or she would really have liked to kiss his lips and lavish him with praise.
The guard still looked doubtful.
Seeing that they still would not leave, Red Adornment shifted slightly, pressing her head against Ji Hanchu's firm thigh through layers of clothing, her expression perfectly at ease.
Ji Hanchu's brows knitted tightly, his expression growing ever gloomier.
Seeing that he could get nothing out of him, and unwilling to offend the Ji Family, the guard glanced into the carriage twice, forcibly suppressed his suspicions, and cupped his fists. "Sorry to have disturbed you, young master. I'll take my leave."
"It's no trouble," Ji Hanchu said hoarsely.
The guard finally left.
Ji Hanchu lowered the window and looked down, his gaze meeting Red Adornment's in the silence.
He looked at her wordlessly, his eyes growing heavier. After a long while, he spoke. "Was that fun?"
Red Adornment smiled sweetly. "Not bad."
When she smiled, her eyes held glittering galaxies and the lights of the mortal world, as though endless shimmering waves had gathered there and stars leaped out of them.
So adorable, so hateful.
Ji Hanchu suddenly gripped her wrist and flung her viciously aside.
He used all his strength. Caught off guard, Red Adornment was hurled hard against the carriage wall, and half her back instantly went numb.
To call Ji Hanchu's expression ugly no longer did it justice.
The charged, erotic atmosphere vanished like smoke and clouds. Their eyes met, one mortified, the other in pain.
Red Adornment reached behind to rub her back. Watching him straighten his clothes, close his eyes, and move far away from her, she was just about to speak when he said, "If there's a next time, I won't spare you."
Was he threatening her?
Red Adornment stopped rubbing her back and sat down beside him, hooking her arm around his and pressing her lips to his earlobe. "A next time for what? Hurting your cousin, or..."
She left the implication hanging.
Ji Hanchu closed his eyes, unmoving as a mountain.
But shutting out the sight could not block feeling. His heart pounded fiercely. The moment Red Adornment came near, the desire he had finally managed to quell showed faint signs of rekindling.
And so he did not answer, devoting himself entirely to enduring the torment.
Red Adornment could no longer hold back. She turned and sat astride his lap, facing him, her fingers stroking his slightly dry lips. Sensing his sensitivity, she took the soft flesh of his earlobe into her mouth. "Ji San, I like you this way. More than at any other time."
Ji Hanchu opened his eyes and said slowly, "Let go."
"No." She softened her voice, deliberately lowering it to wheedle. "Ji San, have you ever kissed another woman?"
Ji Hanchu did not answer.
"Have you ever said you would marry another woman?"
He still did not answer.
"Has anyone ever kissed you like this? Have you..."
Before she could finish, the world spun.
Ji Hanchu had pushed her off.
Red Adornment looked back and saw that he had closed his eyes again, determined to ignore her. But his unsettled expression plainly showed how tormented and agitated he was.
Propping her chin on her hand, Red Adornment sat back down, meek and obedient, a triumphant smile curling at her lips.
She reached out and pressed her hand over his heart.
He did not stop her.
Red Adornment could feel his heartbeat, strong and alive.
She quietly lowered her head, feeling that after being surrounded by that faint medicinal fragrance for so long, she seemed to have picked up some of it herself.
She asked with a smile, "Ji San, you're a good man, with compassion in your heart. I wonder whether that compassion of yours would be willing to save me?"
His heartbeat hammered fiercely beneath her palm.
Thump.
Thump, thump.
Thump, thump, thump.
Was it a heartbeat, or the sound of the southern wall cracking under the impact?
At some point, Ji Hanchu had opened his eyes, his gaze light, his expression unreadable.
He took her hand away from his chest, his eyes cold, his very air cold too.
He said in a low voice, "Compassion does not save ghosts."
Red Adornment froze. She instinctively looked at her hand, feeling as though her heart had been seized and squeezed.
Compassion does not save ghosts.
But his heartbeat had already betrayed him.
The little deer in his heart had long since crashed into the southern wall.
It lay in the ruins, helpless.