Chapter 33: Fake can't become real, fake is also very good

Chapter 33: Fake cannot become real

It was almost dawn when we left. The morning dew had not yet formed, and the sun was reflected in the sky. The only things left in the night were the desolate setting moon and the occasional breeze.

She didn't dare look back, for fear that if she looked any longer she would be unable to escape.

But the outline of the inn had long been hidden in the hazy mist, and only the deafening sound of my heartbeat remained in my chest - thump, thump, as if it was trying to escape from between my ribs.

She had managed to escape from Young Master Jin Sheng unscathed, saving more than just her arms. It was like a complete escape from Hades. At this moment, she felt incredibly lucky.

My inner garment, soaked with cold sweat, stuck to my back, and when the wind blew, it was freezing cold.

He is the craziest chess player in the world and the calmest gambler in the world.

She had never dreamed of convincing Chen Juansheng to explain the situation to her.

Secrecy is key to success, and disclosure is key to failure. There was no way the mastermind of Tianji would reveal the so-called truth to her. Shen Jiansheng was a man whose very being was filled with lies.

It's none of her business, it's not her responsibility.

Qing Guiyu hugged herself tightly. Her tears had stopped flowing, dried by the night breeze, forming two cold streaks on her cheeks. But those who had died were like the dying stars in the sky, never to shine again.

Even the Yellow Emperor's acupuncture couldn't cure his obsession. That third life-saving injection might have precipitated his paranoid emotions, but those calculations and schemes were practically innate to Young Master Jin Sheng.

*

Seven years ago, on that night in the medicine house, Qing Guiyu brought out some books alone. In the courtyard of the medicine house, on a bamboo couch entwined with honeysuckle vines, he found a comfortable spot, lit a lamp, and began to search.

Because the young man was suffering from a cold, the icy film on his eyes made it difficult for him to look at the firelight for too long, so she had to quietly move all the books out to avoid tiring his eyes. Now, by the light of the lamp and the moonlight in the sky, he was flipping through the books in his hand, biting the pen in his mouth.

Suddenly, she caught sight of a figure from the corner of her eye, which startled her. Qing Guiyu looked carefully and saw that the young man had walked out of the medicine house at some point and was leaning against the door, staring at her intently.

The young man's body, which had been ill for a long time due to cold poison, was covered with a layer of bluish-white mist, like a glass vessel formed by condensed dew.

"Why don't you come in?"

After a long pause, the young man finally spoke. His once clear voice seemed soaked with damp night dew, his tone thick with difficulty, and he looked distressed.

"Miss Qing." He called her silently and in a low voice, as if these few words could rescue someone from the abyss of hardship.

Qing Guiyu felt sorry for him, and every time he showed signs of unease, she couldn't help but feel a little panicked. She had been alone for a while, and while she'd seen many dead people, how could she have ever cared for such a meticulous living person?

But she was not very good at lying at this time, so she was honest.

"Your eyes," she pointed at the lamp, then at his icy pupils, "can't stand the light."

"You don't have to take care of me like this," the boy's lips curved slightly, and this curve made him look a lot more lively, like a trace of spring cracking on the surface of a frozen lake.

He paused.

"I'd rather you come in."

The boy was suffering from a severe cold, so his body was also a little cold, and the moths and insects in the summer night were unwilling to get close to him.

Qing Guiyu watched helplessly as a firefly flew past him, circled around, leaving a trail of light, and then disappeared into the grass.

How can I say that mosquitoes are so easy to scare away?

Although it’s not nice to say this, but oh my god, only at this moment, what an enviable physique.

Qing Guiyu looked at him, then looked at herself, who was red and swollen from mosquito bites in the middle of the night.

So I thickened my skin, rubbed my face, cheered myself up, and waved to him.

The young man felt a little embarrassed. He twisted a piece of his belt between his pale and slender fingers, nodded, and walked towards her.

Several moths and fireflies moved out of his way, leaving trembling arcs of fluorescent blue light beside him.

Qing Guiyu pushed aside the pile of books across from him and brushed away some tangled honeysuckle vines.

Who knew that the boy hesitated for a moment, his black hair hanging down beside her, and finally he did not sit opposite her, but just sat close to her.

Qing Guiyu glanced at him. They had become more familiar with each other over the past few days, so she didn't think he was being rude.

Suddenly, an idea struck me, and I thought he wouldn't mind, so I reached out and grabbed his hand, and placed it on the back of my own hand.

She had just had a large welt on the back of her hand from a bug bite, and now with his cool hand covering it, she felt really comfortable.

It really works. It's much better than the camphor and borneol she used.

As expected, the young man didn't think she was being abrupt. She only felt the cold fingers covering the back of her hand clenching against him. He lowered his head and let her do whatever she wanted. His knuckles were as cold as jade carvings.

You see, curing illnesses and saving lives is not a loss, right?

Qing Guiyu's mood brightened, and she continued to read her medicine scroll by the firelight, chatting with him. She herself was straightforward, and she also wanted to teach him to be more cheerful.

“Well, Mr. Shen, you see, this also has its advantages. You are very suitable to go to the southern border full of poisonous insects.”

Qing Guiyu twisted the pen in her other hand, facing the candlelight, and smiled at him,

"But if we go to Southern Xinjiang, seeing how beautiful your face is, I'm afraid the girls in the Gu Village will put a love Gu on you."

The wheal on her hand subsided a little, and she pulled her hand out from under his and casually flipped through the medicine scroll.

The oil lamp had been burning for a long time, and the wick had burst into a small spark, casting a flickering spot of light on the tip of her nose. The light was a little dim, and she never reached out to pick it up.

"By then, I'm afraid I'll just have to stay there and be someone else's concubine."

The boy's face flushed suddenly, and she thought he was going to get angry again, so she prepared to apologize skillfully. However, she found that he didn't hide this time, but continued to stare at her motionlessly.

"I won't be someone else's husband." He just said.

Seeing that he was still very calm, Qing Guiyu breathed a sigh of relief, but did not show it on her face. She turned her gaze to the scroll in her hand, her fingertips unconsciously curling the ends of her hair.

"Miss Qing, do you know?" The tip of the boy's ears turned slightly red, and his eyes moved slightly. When he spoke, the ending tone was so light that it almost disappeared in the wind. He asked her slowly,

"Is it useful?"

He lowered his head, gathered a few strands of black hair in his hands, twisted them around his fingers, and continued in a somewhat flustered tone,

"Love Gu."

Qing Guiyu was startled by his question, then thought about it, pondered for a moment, and shook his head.

"Poisonous heresy. Although I have never seen it myself."

But she was a person who was not willing to admit defeat, and she wanted to appear more powerful, so she raised her head from the medicine scroll.

"That's a secret mind-control technique from Southern Xinjiang. It's incredibly dangerous no matter how you think about it. Even if it has some effect, it's only temporary."

She said this, but then she thought about the Huangdi Kanluan Needle technique she was about to learn. While it could save lives, it also required altering a person's emotions. In that case, wasn't it also a technique for controlling the mind?

So, how could the Yellow Emperor's Three Wonders Needle be considered unorthodox? She felt guilty at this point, unable to convince herself otherwise. She scratched her chin with her pen again and came up with another excuse.

"They say that Southern Xinjiang witchcraft can steal love, but fake is fake, and fake can't be made real."

"Some things look similar, but they are very different," she said. Suddenly, an idea flashed in her mind. She lowered her head and took out two herbs from the medicine basket beside her. She smiled and said, "Take a look."

She laid out two pieces of herbs and pointed at one with her finger, "This one is Atractylodes lancea," and then pointed to the other side, "This one is Atractylodes macrocephala."

Then she raised her head and looked at him, and continued,

"From the flowers to the leaves, if these two herbs were prepared separately, they would be very similar."

Qing Guiyu flipped through a few pages and pushed the scroll in her hand toward the young man, showing him the words copied on it:

The Atractylodes lancea is white when cut open, with an orange-red color. It is covered with white crystals, as pure as frost and snow.

When the white atractylodes is cut into brown pieces, its color is still bright yellow. Dotted in the dark room, it looks like golden sand.

"They look similar, but the actual effects are completely different." She showed off a bit, feeling quite proud. "If a quack doctor were to confuse the two, it would be fatal."

"Fake is fake, but it's hard to tell." Qing Guiyu took the scroll back and told him seriously, "You have to remember it carefully like I did, so you don't mistake it for a fake."

"Is it fake?" Unexpectedly, the young man carefully examined the medicinal material, then turned to look at her, and for the first time in his life, he refuted her.

"But I think fake ones are pretty good too."

He lowered his eyelashes and picked up a honeysuckle leaf beside him. Under these leaves outside the medicine hut, it seemed as if scattered thoughts were floating.

"It's better than nothing."

It was these words that made Qing Guiyu sad for a long time.

She truly believed the young man was truly pitiful, so even though it rained heavily that day, she held an umbrella and waited for a long time. Even though she didn't get wet, the moisture still seeped through half her clothes, but she kept waiting and didn't leave.

When the tall figure finally pierced through the rain and fog, she saw him returning to the gate of Yaowang Valley. She jumped down from the stone near the gate.

In the rain and fog, Lu Guiyan suddenly saw a figure rushing out. He frowned and held the Wuwang sword horizontally until he could see clearly that it was the figure of a girl.

The Wuwang sword returned to its sheath with a clang, splashing a string of crystal-clear water in the rain.

"Junior sister." The young man, who had just reached the age of twenty, let go of his guard and smiled at her gently.

"Junior Brother," Qing Guiyu came forward and tilted her umbrella towards him in a flattering manner. Raindrops flowed along the edge of the umbrella, some getting into the back of her neck, and some falling on her shoulders. "Can you do me a small favor?"

She looked at him, her eyes, which were always full of smiles, were now wet and sparkling. Fearing that he would not agree, she quickly added,

"This is really a business of curing illnesses and saving lives, really."