Waves/6【Edit】

Sanqi's eyes were not as calm as they were during the day. Perhaps it was because of the darkness that she looked nervous and anxious.

She frowned, but her eyes were full of worry.

After signaling Ye Xuanling to be silent, she cast her gaze towards the room beneath the rubble, which cast a dim, warm yellow glow. It was a somewhat cluttered space, resembling a study. A scroll lay crookedly on the desk, and a candlelight dripped two drops of wax along the wall, quickly and quietly condensing on the desk in the cold, twelfth-month weather.

The room was not occupied, but the fire was still on, so we couldn't go down there just yet.

The two of them lay on the rooftop, and Ye Xuanling didn't dare to make a sound. The building of the government office faced south and north, with the main hall from front to back. The secretariat should be nearby.

"Master Zhang, why did you give Li Si to..." The study door was pushed open with a creaking sound.

Hearing this, Ye Xuanling lowered her eyes and carefully observed the faces of the people below, avoiding making any sparse noises. They tacitly remained silent. She had no time to observe Sanqi's expression, and now she didn't care how Sanqi knew she was here.

The man under the roof was wearing a dark green gown with a cloud pattern and gold trim. He had a fat head, big ears, and a pair of cunning and shrewd eyes. He supported himself and sat down on the chair. The man who spoke was still cupping his hands and bending over. "Sir?"

Ye Xuanling had never seen the man called "Sir," and Ye Qing had only mentioned him a few times. Her guess was correct; Li Si had indeed died in vain. For some reason, the image of Li Si's bloody body surfaced in her mind again.

Zhang Xian snorted coldly, his lips curled up for a moment. "Isn't Li Si also from Anping County? If he hadn't taken leave these past few days and I hadn't noticed, he would have died long ago."

Zhang Xian sat upright on the table. After saying this, he seemed to be resting with his eyes closed. The officer who had just spoken said in a gentle voice, "Sir, take a rest."

Zhang Xian nodded and walked out the door. Seeing this, the official in the room extinguished the candle.

There weren't many soldiers patrolling at night, but why was the governor still in the yamen? It felt a little strange. Li Si had to die simply because he was from Anping. Was the murder in the county also caused by Zhang Xian?

The mastermind? But what explanation did Liu Dakou give?

Sanqi patted her shoulder gently, shook her head, and said in a low voice: "Don't think too much, find something first."

The document Ye Xuanling was looking for was in the clerk's office, but she really wanted to go down to the prefect's study. Sanqi led her to the next room, her steps so light that they made almost no sound.

The night watchmen had few lights, only torches in the hands of the officers and on the paths. The side rooms and clerks' quarters were completely dark, and only a few shapes could be vaguely seen. Crouching there, Ye Xuanling's heart pounded wildly, and her breathing was slightly labored because of her excessive caution.

There was no bright moon or stars, no pervasive snow and wind. The chilly wind blew directly at her, making the sweat on her hands stickier. She casually moved a few pieces of rubble aside and peered inside. The two exchanged a nod, and she charged in, Sanqi following without further delay.

"Here." Sanqi handed a tinder to her.

"Thank you very much."

By the dim light of the tinder, the environment they were in was not much different from the study they had just been in, except that there were too many bookshelves here, and they didn't know how long it would take to finish flipping through them.

"Miss Ye, what's the title of the document?" Sanqi looked at her with sincere and bright eyes, and the jumping flame of the tinderbox was reflected in his pupils.

With the important matter at hand, Ye Xuanling didn't care why he appeared here. She just said lightly, "Anping Ulcer Case."

Both of them spoke in low voices, fearing to alert the police.

But Ye Xuanling was not sure about this name, because Li Si had never told her the name of the document. However, based on her understanding of the incident, she could guess a little.

Just write Anping or Zheyang and that should be it.

The office wasn't large, but the bookshelves were wide and the path narrow, forcing them to walk carefully. The documents were neatly arranged, but the bottom shelf was a mess, scattered and collapsed. Crouching, she brought the tinder closer. The document was clearly inscribed with the words "Anping Zheyang Case" in large letters.

"Who's in there!?" A rough voice sounded outside the door, and the next moment, the wooden door was pushed open without hesitation.

The dim firelight illuminated the entire office. A group of officials, about a dozen in number, arrived. Their faces were grim, their brows furious, their gazes sharp and fierce. They swarmed inside. Ignoring everything else, Ye Xuanling gripped the documents tightly and slammed the smoke charge from her pocket onto the ground!

"Walk!"

"Let's go!" Almost at the same time, the two shouted this sentence, and lowered their voices tacitly. Sanqi put his arms around her waist and jumped up.

The officer saw that something was wrong and quickly took the bow and arrow from the person next to him, drew his bow and shot the arrow.

"Swish!" A sharp arrow pierced the roof, hurtling straight towards the two of them. Sanqi spun around, positioning Ye Xuanling out of the way. The gray, goose-feathered arrow streaked through the night sky, passing through it like a meteorite, glowing red from its rapid flight.

She gritted her teeth, took out a dart and rushed towards the officer. The dart followed the trajectory of the arrow and flew forward at high speed, but just happened to scratch the flesh of the officer's shoulder.

The officer screamed in pain, blood oozing from his shoulder, and he quickly covered the bright red wound.

"Report to Lord Zhang, someone broke into the study late at night and stole documents!" The leader angrily dropped the bow and arrow in his hand, staring at the place on the roof where the rubble was missing with wide eyes.

Ye Xuanling helped Sanqi back to her room, deeply concerned about her injuries. As soon as she got back to her room, she dug out her medical kit and applied medicine to prevent infection. It was late at night, and everyone had gone to bed, so their movements were much quieter. Not only for this reason, but she was also afraid of hurting Sanqi's wound.

Her wound wasn't deep, but it hurt nonetheless. The white powder was sprinkled unevenly on her wound, and Sanqi let out a soft hiss.

After a simple treatment, Ye Xuanling bandaged her with gauze before she had time to sit down.

Opening the document, Ye Xuanling carefully examined everything recorded inside. This volume should be the one Li Si copied.

[Disease: Broken ulcer. Magistrate: Liu Lü. In the autumn of the sixteenth year of the Qingyuan reign, an epidemic spread to the city, infecting everyone, young and old. County Magistrate Liu Lü led his men to take charge of the city. Nine out of ten people in the city were sick. The entire Liu family died. By the beginning of the twelfth month of that year, no one was around. The city remained as it was, except for the wind blowing through the streets, a sound like weeping and complaining.]

The events in Anping were briefly described in just a few sentences, and the wooden pages at the back only recorded some of these symptoms.

Putting down the documents, Ye Xuanling sat down opposite Sanqi.

"Miss Ye, is there anything wrong?" She smiled faintly and responded to Ye Xuanling's gaze, as if she didn't care about the injuries on her body at all.

"Will Sanqi tell the truth?" Ye Xuanling poured a cup of tea, raised it, and tilted it to observe the cup. "Sanqi, do you think this teacup can know what kind of tea it is?"

There is a shallow crack on the teacup, which should have been left during firing.

"You'll know what this tea is like only after you drink it." Sanqi looked at the teacup in her hand and the tea that was about to spill out.

"Oh? You'll know after you drink it, is that so?" Ye Xuanling placed the teacup to her lips, then pulled it back. "Then do you think I'll know if I don't drink it?"

Sanqi's smile faltered for a moment, but then recovered in an instant. Ye Xuanling's aura was no less impressive than Sanqi's. She left the window open, letting in the evening breeze. The cool breeze blew the locks of hair across her forehead. Ye Xuanling lowered her eyes, her pupils shifting.

Sanqi: "That depends on who it is."

Ye Xuanling drank up the cup of tea, picked up another cup and poured it in. She looked at the tea flowing out of the teapot and wondered why.

He put the teapot down, touched the teacup with his fingers, then retreated, then grabbed the cup and pushed it towards Sanqi. Because the wooden table was rough and uneven, the cup fell on it and spilled some water.

Sanqi blocked the teacup's path, stopping it, but it didn't stop. She spun the cup around, steady and without spilling anything, and pushed it toward Ye Xuanling. "Miss Ye, there's no need to beat around the bush. Sanqi will answer to the best of her ability."

"Okay!" Ye Xuanling was delighted, but she was a little surprised she could say that. She glanced at the teacup, but she wasn't in a hurry to stop it. "How did Sanqi know I was there?"

"Miss Ye, you're worrying too much. I told you that as your teacher, I would protect you. Of course, no matter where you go or if there's any danger, I'll protect you like I would a child." Sanqi took off her veil. "I overstepped my bounds tonight, but I didn't do anything wrong."

After a while, the teacup came towards him again. Sanqi's fingers felt slightly cold, but he finally took it, took a sip, and ended this "teacup war".

"Bang!" Ye Xuanling stood up by supporting herself on the table. She really wanted to get closer to look into her eyes. It was said that people's eyes never lie, but she gave up in the end and sat down dejectedly again.

"Do you know Anping?"

"I don't know."

"You knew me before?"

“I don’t know.”

"Are you Sanqi?"

"Miss Ye, what are you talking about? If I'm not Sanqi, who am I?" Sanqi smiled and tucked her hair away from her ears, revealing her entire face to Ye Xuanling. It was as if she was saying, look at my face, could I be anyone else?

"Who came up with the name Sanqi?"

Sanqi stopped answering.

"One last question." Ye Xuanling smiled and poured herself another cup of tea. The rippling water reflected her determined expression. But her eyes remained, curved like a crescent moon, her eyes bright and her teeth white, her eyes like clear water. "Miss Sanqi, do you know Ji Yan?"