A Rainy-Day Alley

The young man had no time to concern himself with what Ye Fu and Qin Sanyue had said to each other. His former composure and magnanimity were long gone. He was anxious: first, the person traveling with him was going to seize the handkerchief by force, risking death in the process; second, Qu Hongxiao was less than ten meters away. And with Qu Hongxiao here, the young man at the door gave him an even stronger impression of standing above the others. He could not help wondering whether the man was some unknown, formidable figure.

All these reasons together made it impossible for him to feel at ease.

He scrambled to his feet and rushed outside.

Qin Sanyue watched his retreating figure as he hurried away. She pressed her lips together and said nothing.

The young man rushed headlong into the rain. A cool voice sounded beside his ear, striking him like lightning and making him freeze.

"Stop."

Qu Hongxiao slowly turned around and looked at him. "I don't know why you're here, and I don't want to know," she said evenly. "But I need you to understand: stay away from this place."

The feeling of facing Qu Hongxiao from a position of weakness continued to ferment in his heart, turning into bitterness, helplessness, and submission. He knew the situation left him no room to say anything else.

He lowered his head and took a deep breath. "Yes."

He had said "yes," not "all right." It was the answer of an inferior.

Dejected and distraught, the young man left, his white hair soaked by the rain and clumped together. He gritted his teeth as he walked away.

He felt bitter and humiliated. Qu Hongxiao was of his generation, yet he now had to face her as an inferior. It was a heavy blow to his state of mind.

In truth, however, things were not as he imagined.

Qu Hongxiao bore him no ill will, nor did she need to bear him any in her current state. She had only wanted to warn him not to come near the Three Flavors Study in search of a fortuitous opportunity. It was dangerous here, because a colossus none of them had known about lived here.

That was her teacher.

She also did not want those who would stop at nothing for a fortuitous opportunity to disturb her teacher's peaceful life.

It was simply that Qu Hongxiao's inborn temperament and manner of speaking had led the young man to misunderstand her meaning.

The young man left.

Qu Hongxiao shut the courtyard gate and returned to the pear tree, where she closed her eyes and resumed her contemplation. In the main room on the left, Hu Lan was still giving serious thought to the problem Ye Fu had set her. Qin Sanyue stood beside Ye Fu like a child who had done something wrong, her head lowered as she rubbed her index fingers together.

"Teacher, please scold me," Qin Sanyue said softly, lowering her head, suddenly feeling a little aggrieved. "I feel bad about it."

Ye Fu chuckled. "You didn't do anything wrong. Why would I scold you?"

"But that person-"

Ye Fu cut her off. "That young man is that young man, and you are you. It's different. There's nothing wrong with being charitable and taking pleasure in helping others. If you really want me to say something, then from now on, when you help people, first make sure they actually need your help. Your kindness is precious. Not everyone is worthy of receiving it."

Qin Sanyue did not quite understand what Ye Fu meant by that last sentence, but she still let out a small breath and nodded. As long as Teacher Ye did not blame her, that was enough, she thought.

Ye Fu shook the piece of wood in his hand, and heaps of shavings rustled down, revealing a flat, smooth plank about a handspan wide and three feet long.

He examined the plank for a while, then looked up at Qin Sanyue. "Sanyue, go buy a carving knife and bring it back."

"A carving knife? The kind carpenters use?"

"Mm, something like that. I want to carve something."

Qin Sanyue nodded, went to her room to get some money, then took an umbrella and headed out.

Chapter 37: A Rainy-Day Alley

The shop assistants could not understand why the shopkeeper had told them to close so early today. Even with the rain, business was still quite good.

But the shopkeeper had said they would still receive their full day's wages, so they asked no more questions. They could spend the day at leisure and still get paid, which suited them just fine.

Zhong Suihua changed into casual clothes in a partitioned room where she rested temporarily at the Cloth Robe Workshop. Then she took an umbrella, left the workshop, and headed home.

In her eyes, Black Stone City was very unusual today. There were far too many people from out of town. And judging by their appearance, they did not seem to have come for a market. They looked more like they were searching for something.

She could not help recalling the conversation between the loose-haired woman and the white-haired young man. Together with some of her past experiences, it made her suspect that they might be the legendary Immortal cultivators.

There had also been rumors that the new city lord's son was an Immortal cultivator, but no one had ever seen any proof, so it had remained nothing more than a topic of after-dinner conversation.

But the white-haired young man and the loose-haired woman had given her a very unusual impression. It was not just that they seemed unlike ordinary people; there was also an inexplicable quality flowing through them.

Zhong Suihua had been in business for so long that she had some experience reading expressions and judging people by their appearance. If pressed, she would say the three people who had argued over a piece of gray cloth in her shop were not ordinary mortals.

That, combined with the young man's reaction to her handkerchief, had left her in no mood to continue doing business, so she had closed early.

On the way, Zhong Suihua took out the handkerchief Ye Fu had made her. Holding it in her hand gave her an inexplicable sense of reassurance. Not only was its workmanship beyond anything she could achieve, but it also seemed to calm her mind. Ever since she had acquired it, she had not suffered from insomnia again. She felt energetic every day, and when she looked in the mirror, her complexion seemed much better too.

Could there really be something magical about this handkerchief?

Zhong Suihua had always believed Ye Fu was no ordinary person, but she had never imagined that a handkerchief he made would have any extraordinary, magical qualities.

But today's encounter told her that the handkerchief really did have magical qualities.

She could not help treasuring the handkerchief even more and clutched it tightly in her hand. She quickened her pace, hoping to get home sooner. She did not know whether she was worrying that the sky might fall, but she kept feeling that nowhere in Black Stone City was safe now.