Ah, you are my master.
The gentle breeze of late spring, carrying apricot blossom rain, falls on the stone steps of Qingmei Mountain, splashing up a fine mist of petals.
Yin Li carried the food box, her steps light as if she were walking on clouds—the food box contained osmanthus cakes she had made at dawn, the honey-soaked osmanthus flowers were specially dried last autumn, the flour was the best refined white wheat flour from the outskirts of Beijing, and even the steaming time was just right, all to fulfill her promise to Master Mu Han that year to "send the most delicious osmanthus cakes".
Since the Yin family's wrongful conviction was overturned and she officially took over as the head of the Yin family, she finally had some free time. The wild grass on both sides of the Qingmei Mountain road sprouted tender green shoots, and unknown wildflowers bloomed in scattered spots. She would stop every few steps to brush the petals from her hair, and she couldn't hide the smile on her lips—she would soon see her master and tell him the good news about the Yin family, that she had found Yin Li's whereabouts (although they were separated by death), and that she had met He Mo, the person who had always accompanied her in investigating the case.
The closer she got to Qingxu Temple at the top of the mountain, the clearer the images in her memory became. Her master had brought her here once when she was a child. The old apricot tree in front of the temple was only as thick as a bowl back then, but now it has grown into a lush tree with pink and white apricot blossoms covering the branches. When the wind blows, they fall down like a flower carpet on the ground.
Yin Li pushed open the half-closed temple gate. The wooden hinges creaked softly, just like the sound in her memory. "Master!" she was about to call out when she suddenly stopped—in the courtyard, a figure in black stood with his back to her, holding a bamboo broom and gently sweeping the apricot blossoms on the ground.
The figure was tall and slender, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist. Even just seeing his back made her heart skip a beat. Was it He Mo? What was he doing here?
Yin Li stopped instinctively, her gaze falling on his waist—besides the cloud-patterned token he always wore, there was also a worn wooden hairpin. The hairpin was dark brown, clearly used for many years, with simple intertwined branches carved on the shaft, and a small begonia flower at the tip. The curve of the petals and the depth of the carving were exactly the same as the "peace hairpin" she had secretly carved for her master when she was ten years old!
Back then, she learned carving from the carpenter in the mansion. She ruined seven or eight pieces of wood before she could make this not-so-exquisite wooden hairpin.
When she gave it to her master, she blushed and said, "Master, if you wear it, you will be safe and sound." Her master smiled and patted her head, saying, "It was made by Asu. Master wears it every day."
After her master left the Silver Prince's Mansion, she thought the hairpin had been lost long ago, but she never expected to see it on He Mo. "He Mo? What are you doing here?"
Yin Li's voice carried a hint of doubt, and a trace of nervousness she herself was unaware of. Hearing the voice, He Mo paused, his hand holding the broom pausing, and slowly turned around.
Sunlight fell on his face, outlining his clear jawline. A hint of panic flashed in his eyes, like a child caught red-handed, but he quickly concealed it and forced a gentle smile: "I heard that Uncle Mu Han is cultivating here, and since I had some free time today, I came to see him."
"You're here to see your martial uncle too?" He said, about to step forward, but Yin Li's gaze seemed fixed on the wooden hairpin, her voice turning colder: "Where did you get that wooden hairpin from?"
He Mo unconsciously gripped the broom handle, his fingertips turning white, his eyes darting around: "It was...it was given to me by my uncle. He said it was a gift from an old friend of his, and asked me to keep it safe for him."
"An old friend?" Yin Li's heart clenched as if gripped by something. Countless fragments flooded her mind in an instant—when her master taught her to write the character "Su" as a child, he held her hand and taught her stroke by stroke, the warmth of his fingertips still lingering in her memory; that time at Qinglang Mountain, when he shielded her from the purple-clad man's sword, the "A-Su" he mumbled while unconscious, the urgency in his voice was genuine; when he took out the jade pendant with the character "Mu" before, he said it was given to him by his martial uncle, but the patina on the jade pendant, like the cloud-patterned token at his waist, showed signs of years of wearing;
And the way he looked at her was sometimes so gentle, unlike that of a peer, more like... more like a junior he had watched grow up.
All the doubts, like scattered beads, were strung together into a complete line by this wooden hairpin. Yin Li stepped forward, her eyes slightly red, her tone full of anger and disappointment: "You are not Master Mu Han's nephew at all, you are Master Mu Han! He Mo, you have been lying to me all along!"
Her voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet courtyard, startling a few more apricot blossoms from the branches. "From the time you helped me retrieve my kite in Apricot Blossom Village, to the time you protected me when I was injured on Qinglang Mountain, and then to the time you stayed by my side while investigating the Yin family case, you never told me the truth!"
He Mo's face turned pale instantly. He put down the broom, strode to Yin Li, his lips moved, but he only managed to utter one sentence: "Yin Li, I didn't mean to lie to you." "Didn't mean to? Then what?"
Yin Li slammed the food box on the stone table. The lid popped open with a "snap," and several pieces of osmanthus cake rolled onto the petal-covered ground. The delicate cakes were covered in dirt and instantly lost their shape.
"Do you know how many years I've been searching for my master! When the Yin family was in trouble, I hid in a dilapidated temple, thinking every day if my master would come to save me;
Later, when I encountered danger while investigating cases, I would think, "If only my mentor were here!"
Her voice grew increasingly choked, and tears streamed down her face like broken beads, splashing onto the stone table.
"I thought you were my partner in investigating the case, someone I could trust, but you've been keeping it from me all this time! You watched me make wild guesses about the name 'A Su,' watched me doubt your identity, watched me make so many fools of myself, but you never called me out on it! What do you take me for? Are you just playing with me?"
I remembered that I had previously rummaged through He Mo's study and mistaken the crooked-faced rabbit plush toy for a "love rival's token";
I remember squatting in the kitchen and questioning Chef Zhang, only to find out that He Mo treasured the osmanthus cake she made;
Thinking back to how she suspected he was the mysterious man from Qinglang Mountain and even secretly wrote it down in a notebook... these things, which seem silly and funny now, troubled her for a long time at the time, while the culprit stood right in front of her, watching her mess around without saying a word.
Looking at her reddened eyes and the osmanthus cake she had dropped on the ground, He Mo felt a sharp pain in his heart, as if he were being pricked by needles.
He reached out to wipe her tears, but Yin Li shoved him away forcefully, a soft thud echoing on the back of his hand. "Don't touch me! I don't want to see you right now!" She turned her face away, her shoulders trembling slightly, her voice filled with resistance.
"Yinli, let me explain. It's not what you think." He Mo's voice deepened, losing its usual gentleness and becoming more urgent and serious. He stepped forward, blocking Yinli's path, his gaze fixed on her eyes. "Back then, when I left the Silver Prince's Mansion, I didn't intentionally abandon you."
At that time, the He family suffered a great upheaval. My father was framed and imprisoned, and my mother fell ill from worry. I had to return to the capital immediately to take charge of the situation, and I didn't even have time to say goodbye to you." His voice was a little hoarse, as if he were recalling those difficult days: "After I returned to the capital, I dealt with the mess of the He family while sending people to inquire about the Yin family."
Not long after, news came that the Yin family had been framed by Wei An and executed.
"I frantically sent people to look for you, searching every dilapidated temple and village around the capital, only to find half of the 'Li' character jade pendant that you dropped at the entrance of a dilapidated temple on the outskirts of the city." He Mo took out a small brocade pouch from his bosom, opened it, and inside was half of a worn jade pendant—the other half of the 'Li' character jade pendant that Yin Li had broken when she and Yin Li separated.
“I searched for this half of the jade pendant for three years until last year when I saw you disguised as a man and following the clues of the man in purple near Qinglang Mountain. Only then did I dare to confirm that it was you.”
He paused, then took out a cloth bag from his pocket. The edges of the bag were worn white. Inside were several yellowed pieces of paper—drawings that Yin Li had made when she was a child.
One painting shows her chasing butterflies, with a large mud print on her skirt; another shows her flying a kite with Yin Li, the kite string drawn crookedly.
There is another painting with "Master and Asu" written at the top. In the painting, the master is wearing a blue cloth shirt and holding a book in his hand. Asu has two small braids and is holding a piece of osmanthus cake in her hand. The two are standing under a crabapple tree, their eyes crinkling with smiles.
"Over the years, I have always carried these with me, keeping them in my inner pocket, and I look at them every day."
He Mo's fingertips gently brushed across the blurred lines on the drawing paper, his voice filled with tenderness.
“I dare not tell you the truth. First, I am afraid that my identity will bring you danger—at that time, Wei An was still secretly keeping an eye on the remnants of the Yin family. Knowing that you are connected with the He family will only be more detrimental to you. Second, I am afraid that you will resent my ‘departure without saying goodbye’ back then, and that you will think that all my kindness in approaching you under the name ‘He Mo’ was for a purpose.”
He looked at Yin Li's reddened eyes, his tone full of helplessness: "I want to wait until the Yin family's wrongful case is investigated, until Wei An's remaining associates are eliminated, and until everything settles down before I slowly tell you the truth."
I thought I could keep it a secret until then, but I never expected... you still found out.
As Yinli looked at the paintings and the half-jade pendant, her tears fell even more fiercely.
But as she cried, she suddenly remembered something, abruptly raised her head, and cried out in a sobbing voice, "But you're an old man!" These words startled He Mo, and even the originally heavy atmosphere eased a bit.
Yin Li sniffed, wiped away her tears, and said with a tone of aggrieved frustration, "The master I remember had fine lines around his eyes, spoke slowly, always drank strong tea when teaching me to read, and even walked with the steadiness of an elder. How could you be like this... so young?"
She looked He Mo up and down, her eyes full of confusion: "You look only a few years older than me, with sharp eyes and a youthful smile. Last time you practiced your sword in the courtyard, your movements were so fast I couldn't even see them. How could you possibly be the master I thought was 'very old' back then!"
When she was little, Master Mu Han was the epitome of "elder" in her eyes. Once she asked her master, "How old are you?" Master Mu Han smiled and said, "Older than your second uncle." She really thought that her master was almost forty years old, just like her second uncle.
In addition, her master always wore a plain blue cloth shirt, spoke and acted slowly, and even deliberately drew fine lines at the corners of his eyes, which made her believe him even more.
He Mo looked at her, both angry and confused, her eyes red-rimmed yet still frowning and serious, and couldn't help but laugh out loud. He reached out and ruffled her hair, tucking the stray hairs from her forehead behind her ear: "Who told you that your master is an old man?"
He shook his head helplessly, his tone tinged with a hint of teasing: "When I taught you to read, I was only seventeen years old, not much older than you are now."
"But back then, everyone in the Silver Prince's Mansion was an elder. If I appeared too young, your second uncle might not have trusted me to teach you. Besides, you were very mischievous back then, always thinking about skipping school. If I didn't act more composed and authoritative, how could I control this little girl?"
As He Mo spoke, he gestured with his hand: "Think about it, back when you fell into a mud puddle in the garden and cried your heart out, didn't I pick you up quickly? If you were really an old man, how could you have such strength?"
"And then there was the time you skipped school to pick crabapple blossoms. I chased you all over the corridors of the entire palace, finally carrying you down from the crabapple tree. Could an old man run that fast and climb that high?" He then recalled another incident and couldn't help but laugh: "Once you secretly smeared ink on my face and said, 'Master has grown a beard.' If I were really an old man, how could I let you fool around like that, and even laugh as I carried you to wash your hands?"
Yin Li stood there, stunned, as childhood scenes flashed through her mind like a movie—her master could indeed easily lift her over his head so she could reach the highest blossom on the crabapple tree; he could indeed chase her across several corridors without even breaking a sweat.
Once, when she had a fever, her master stayed up all night by her bedside, applying a cold towel to her forehead. At that time, her master's hands were very steady, and the warmth of his palms was very youthful, not at all the roughness that an old person should have. How come she hadn't noticed before? Just because her master said, "Older than your second uncle," just because of the fine lines he drew, she really treated the seventeen-year-old girl as an "old man," and foolishly relied on him for so long and missed him for so long.
"You...you actually lied to me for so long!" Yin Li's anger subsided considerably, but she still puffed out her cheeks and gently punched He Mo's chest. "I thought Master was a kind elder, and I would be as filial to you as I was to my second uncle. But you're just a liar pretending to be old!"
Even her age is deceiving me! He Mo grabbed her hand, gently pulled her into his arms.
His arms were strong, holding her tightly in his embrace. The cool fragrance of pine needles mixed with the sweet scent of apricot blossoms lingered around her nose. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have kept it from you for so long, and I shouldn't have lied about my age." His voice was close to the top of her head, so gentle it could melt your heart. "But whether I am Mu Han or He Mo, my feelings for you have never changed."
He lowered his head and whispered in her ear, "From helping you retrieve your kite in Xinghua Village, to teaching you to read at the Silver Prince's Mansion, and later accompanying you to investigate the Yin family's case and protecting you, the one I've always wanted to protect is you."
"It was true before, it is true now, and it will be true in the future." Yin Li leaned against him, listening to his steady heartbeat and feeling the warmth of his palm. The grievances and anger in her heart gradually dissipated, leaving only sweetness and a touch of shyness.
She recalled the funny things she had done before—suspecting "A-Su" was a rival in love, mistaking her master for her junior apprentice, and even thinking her master was an "old man," and couldn't help but burst into laughter in his arms, her shoulders trembling slightly.
"Then you're not allowed to lie to me anymore! Whether it's about your identity, your age, or even small things, you have to tell me the truth!" She looked up, her eyes still wet with tears, yet shining brightly. "Okay, I won't lie to you anymore."
He Mo lowered his head and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes with his fingertips. Then he gently kissed her forehead, his movements tender and precious. "Come on, let's get the osmanthus cake again. This time I'll steam it with you, just like you promised back then. Let's eat the most delicious osmanthus cake together."
He took Yinli's hand and led her towards the kitchen inside the temple. Apricot blossoms were still falling softly in the courtyard, landing on their hair and shoulders, like a gentle blessing. Yinli looked at the person beside her, both familiar and unfamiliar—he was Master Mu Han, who taught her to read and protected her as she grew up; he was also He Mo, who accompanied her in investigating cases and was injured for her sake.
It turns out that from the very beginning, the person who protected her had always been by her side, just with a different name and a different identity, but with the same sincerity, accompanying her.
Yin Li gently squeezed He Mo's hand, her smile growing wider—from now on, she would never need to look for a "master" again, because her master had always been there.
"Hey, does that mean you'll keep looking for me if I disappear?" He Mo teased. "......"
"Then why didn't you come to see me today?"
"Haven't you always been by my side?" she whispered, her voice barely audible.
"That's true, then I'll stay by your side every day, so you won't need to look for me." "......"
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