Chapter 179
As soon as Ji Wanshu left, the hall fell silent. Yin Qiu silently picked up her chopsticks, and Man Jiangxue, watching her pick up rice grain by grain, asked, "Can't you eat anymore?"
Yin Qiu said, "...I'm full."
Man Jiangxue then called her disciples to clear away the bowls and chopsticks, and asked how the hot water in the bathhouse was heating up. The two of them digested their food for a while before taking their change of clothes and going to the bathhouse together.
Along the way, they encountered many disciples returning to their rooms to rest. Yin Qiu followed behind Man Jiangxue, pretending to be calm on the surface, but feeling somewhat embarrassed inside. After entering the bathhouse, Yin Qiu peeked out the door, looking left and right to make sure no one was passing by before closing the door. As she turned around, she let out a long sigh of relief.
Ever since the day Man Jiangxue carried her back to Chenxing Palace and showed her to the disciples, Yin Qiu noticed that their gazes towards her were different. No matter where she went, there were always pairs of bright eyes behind her, full of smiles and curiosity. And when she and Man Jiangxue were alone in their bedroom, more and more people came to the window to eavesdrop.
Everyone seemed to know something, yet they were also unsure whether what they knew was actually true.
The room was filled with white mist, and the steaming hot spring pool resembled a vast, misty lake. Man Jiangxue draped her clothes over the screen, taking in all of Yin Qiu's actions. She asked with a smile, "Why are you acting like a thief?"
Yin Qiu was still blushing and her heart was pounding because of Ji Wanshu's little incident earlier. She walked to the edge of the pool to test the water temperature, and after thinking for a moment, she said, "Judging from what Senior Sister Ji said, it seems that Uncle Wen was not punished by Nangong Min when she returned to Ziwei Sect this time. She even bought a house in Shangyuan City. It seems that Nangong Min has let her go?"
Man Jiangxue arranged the bathing utensils such as bath beans and towels, and said, "Perhaps, Nangong Min has always treated her differently, and this time he might let her off the hook again."
Yin Qiu said, "Since they've settled down in the city, does that mean Aunt Wen has left the Ziwei Sect? If she wants to return to the palace, will the sect leader agree?"
Man Jiangxue thought for a moment and replied, "I'm afraid it's impossible. Putting aside whether all the elders and disciples of each peak would agree, once this precedent is set, the rules of the palace will be rendered meaningless. Even if the sect leader can put aside past grievances and let go of her prejudice against Wen Chaoyu, she cannot break the rules left by our ancestors. Wen Chaoyu can come to the palace as a guest, but she absolutely cannot become a member of Yunhua Palace again."
Yin Qiu said, "That makes sense... But whether she goes back to the palace or not isn't a big deal. Now she and Senior Sister Ji can see each other often, which is much better than her continuing to stay in the Ziwei Sect."
“Actually, before I went to Weicheng to ask her who the flute player was, I was thinking of arranging a place for her and Wanshu in the city,” Man Jiangxue said. “She is safe in Shangyuan City. People from the Ziwei Sect do not dare to trespass. Now that she has taken care of everything herself, I don’t need to do anything else.”
Yin Qiu couldn't help but sigh, "Uncle Wen and Senior Sister Ji have really had a tough time. After all these years, it's fortunate that they still came together and didn't go astray because of all the outside world's interference. I'm really happy for them."
“When I have time, I’ll take you down the mountain,” Man Jiangxue said, helping Yin Qiu take off her outer robe. “Since you’re already in Shangyuan City, and she helped with Zhilan’s matter, we should go and pay her a visit.”
Yin Qiu nodded and said, "Senior Sister Ji's enthronement ceremony is coming soon, and Uncle Wen should be here too, right?"
Man Jiangxue said, "I don't know about that. The Ji family elders will be there too. Even if Wen Chaoyu shows up, she probably won't appear openly—why are you taking off my clothes?"
Yin Qiu was so engrossed in talking that she didn't notice that her hand had already pulled Man Jiangxue's outer robe off her shoulder. She was startled and quickly withdrew her hand, saying, "I... I didn't mean to."
Man Jiangxue smiled, put Yin Qiu's clothes into the wooden basin, went around behind the screen, and said, "Don't let them get cold, wash them quickly."
Yin Qiu said "Oh," took off her undergarments, and entered the hot spring. Looking at her reflection on the screen, she pondered for a moment and asked, "Uncle-Master...would you like to bathe with me?"
Man Jiangxue sat on a low stool and casually submerged Yin Qiu's discarded clothes in the water, saying, "Are you sure?"
She doesn't mind, but some shy people might get embarrassed.
Bathing with Man Jiangxue was a memory from many years ago. Back then, Yin Qiu was still a sickly little bean sprout. Since she grew up, although Man Jiangxue would accompany her to the bathhouse, she would always sit behind the screen and wait for Yin Qiu to finish before bathing herself. Yin Qiu's invitation to bathe together at the Xifeng Mountain residence wasn't a joke. Although she felt embarrassed, such a large bathhouse could easily accommodate two people bathing together; why insist on separating? Wasting time and hot water, wasn't it?
Yin Qiu could tell from the sound of water that Man Jiangxue was washing her clothes. Over the years, she had taken care of Man Jiangxue's daily life at Jingyue Peak, and Man Jiangxue had hardly ever done any rough work herself. But she didn't know when it started, but it was as if the two of them had switched places. Now Man Jiangxue was taking care of her daily life. She didn't have to wash her clothes, make her bed, or even cook. Such treatment was something that Yin Qiu, who was still very young when she first entered Yunhua Palace, had never experienced.
A sense of joy filled her heart. Yin Qiu leaned over the edge of the pool and tried to keep her tone calm as she said, "The water won't be warm by the time I finish washing. Uncle, put your clothes aside for a bit. I'll wash them later. Come over here quickly."
Man Jiangxue leaned back slightly, revealing a stunning profile against the edge of the screen, and asked, "Are you sure?"
Yin Qiu looked back at her as calmly as possible: "What's there to be sure about... If you don't come over soon, I might change my mind."
Man Jiangxue glanced at her, then stood up as well: "Alright then."
Seeing Man Jiangxue begin to undress inside, Yin Qiu felt both delighted and apprehensive. In the blink of an eye, she almost regretted it! Just as Man Jiangxue's figure was about to come into view, Yin Qiu quickly turned away, raising her hands to cover her eyes. Soon, feeling the water ripple slightly, as if Man Jiangxue had already entered the hot spring, Yin Qiu opened her fingers a little wider and glanced back at her.
Separated by a lingering white mist, the two shared the same pool, yet each occupied their own space. Man Jiangxue's neck was still wrapped in bandages, giving her an indescribable beauty. Her exposed skin was as white as snow, and her hair was as black as ink. Even though Yin Qiu was already familiar with her unforgettable face, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly—his martial aunt was truly too beautiful.
How can there be such a good-looking person in the world?
Noticing that Yin Qiu was staring intently at her, Man Jiangxue gathered her long hair, being careful not to get her wound wet, and waved to Yin Qiu: "Want to come over here?"
Yin Qiu hesitated for a moment, then lowered her body, leaving only her eyes on the water's surface, and slowly swam to Man Jiangxue's side while holding her breath.
The closer she got, the faster Yin Qiu's heart pounded. She longed to examine Man Jiangxue completely, without restraint, like admiring a beautiful landscape or appreciating a painting. However, the current situation was that even a single glance at Man Jiangxue made it difficult to breathe. Any gaze that fell upon Man Jiangxue—any that was direct, undisguised, or even brazen—was, in Yin Qiu's mind, disrespectful, even blasphemous.
Even if that gaze came from Yin Qiu herself, it wouldn't be acceptable.
"My uncle must be someone who is being observed from afar," Yin Qiu thought to herself. "Even if the bright moon in the sky falls into the water, it is still the bright moon. No one can have any illusions about it."
Even if she obtains this bright moon as she wishes, she must cherish it, respect it, and treat it with utmost care, and never treat it lightly or disrespectfully.
Perhaps one day in the future she will make this reserved love more and more flamboyant, but the pure and ethereal image of this person that has remained in her heart for a long time is something that can never be erased or replaced.
She wants to love someone with complete respect.
“Uncle-Master is still injured and it’s inconvenient for him to wash his hair right now,” Yin Qiu said with a smile, taking a handkerchief, wetting it, and “then I’ll wipe your back for you.”
Man Jiangxue smiled back at her, then turned around and said, "Okay, thank you for your hard work."
·
On the way back, I didn't encounter anyone. The candles in all the disciples' rooms had been extinguished. The long corridor was quiet, and the lanterns swayed. The spring night was still chilly, as the weather hadn't warmed up after the New Year.
The shadows of maple leaves were cast on the ground from afar, like elongated little fans. Yin Qiu lifted her skirt and stepped on the shadows with one foot, her steps as light as a dragonfly dancing among the green lotus leaves.
"Uncle-Master, please carry me back. I don't want to walk anymore." Yin Qiu suddenly stopped. The light from the corridor enveloped her, clearly conveying the smile in her eyes and brows to Man Jiangxue.
"Weren't you having a lot of fun?" Man Jiangxue draped a coat over Yin Qiu's shoulders. "Are you tired?"
"I'm not tired," Yin Qiu snuggled closer to Man Jiangxue, "I just wanted you to hold me."
Man Jiangxue responded with an "okay," then picked Yin Qiu up and carried her slowly through the corridor, kissing each other in the gentle evening breeze. Yin Qiu longed to stay overnight at Chenxing Palace, but considering that Gongzi Fan might send someone to contact her, she could only suppress her longing and return to her small room. Man Jiangxue laid her down on the bed, personally took off her shoes, and kissed her for a while before softly saying, "Go to sleep early. If you need anything, just call me, and I'll be right there."
Yin Qiu hugged her neck tightly and said, "But I can't bear to part with you."
Man Jiangxue said, "I can't bear to part with you either."
“Then why don’t you just stay here, Uncle-Master?” Yin Qiu said. “You’ve never slept here before. My bed is a bit small, but I can sleep right next to you, Uncle-Master, without feeling cramped.”
Man Jiangxue scooped the person up and placed them on her lap, saying, "With me here, who dares to knock on your little window?"
Yin Qiu immediately whispered, "We'll do it secretly, without letting anyone know."
Man Jiangxue said, "What if someone comes looking for you tonight?"
Yin Qiu continued in a whisper, "Then my martial uncle will sleep inside. I'll block you, so no one can see you."
Seeing how clingy she was, Man Jiangxue couldn't bring herself to refuse, no matter how hard she tried. She shook her head and chuckled, "Your room really is a place where anyone can come. Fine, I'll stay and sleep with you for one night."
Yin Qiu was overjoyed and immediately let out a soft cheer. Man Jiangxue raised her hand to extinguish the lamp, embraced Yin Qiu, and fell down. The two whispered to each other in the darkness for a while before falling into a deep sleep, sleeping soundly until dawn the next day.
Hearing the sounds of disciples practicing their morning exercises outside, Yin Qiu lingered in bed for a while, still half asleep. Suddenly, he sprang up, leaped over the snow-covered river, and ran straight to the window in his wooden clogs.
Her noise woke up Man Jiangxue as well. Yin Qiu opened the window and saw that the bamboo branches hanging outside were gone!
"Oh no, oh no..." Yin Qiu's drowsiness vanished instantly. "Someone really did come last night!"
Man Jiangxue, who had already sat up, lay back down upon hearing this.
"Uncle-Master!" Yin Qiu rushed to her side. "You were right!"
“Hmm…” Man Jiangxue said, “I heard you.”
Yin Qiu was filled with regret, and said with a bitter face, "I should have known better than to pester my uncle to sleep with me. I've messed up something important. What am I going to do now?"
Man Jiangxue was still asleep when she heard this. She patted Yin Qiu's head and said, "We'll come again. Go back to sleep."
"I can't sleep," Yin Qiu nudged her. "Uncle, get up quickly."
The river is covered in snow, yet it remains motionless.
Yin Qiu urged her several times, but Man Jiangxue didn't respond. Yin Qiu had no choice but to lift the blanket and rub against her chest, shouting, "Uncle-Master, get up quickly!"
Man Jiangxue said helplessly, "Everyone's gone, what's the point of getting up now?"
“If I get up, you have to get up too,” Yin Qiu said. “No sleeping in.”
Man Jiangxue said, "I suffer from spring drowsiness every year and can't get up."
Yin Qiu ruthlessly exposed her: "You're always sleepy all year round. Stop making excuses. Let's go see Uncle Wen while it's still early."
Man Jiangxue laughed.
Yin Qiu asked, "What are you laughing at?"
Man Jiangxue said, "Believe it or not, even if we go down the mountain now, Wen Chaoyu will definitely not be up yet, and you will have to wake her up when you get there."
Yin Qiu was bored for a while, then ignored her and ran to the yard to break off another bamboo branch and hang it outside the window. Seeing that she was not in a good mood, Man Jiangxue did not stay in bed any longer. After getting up, she accompanied Yin Qiu to wash up and eat, and then moved a rattan chair to the yard to sunbathe. Not long after, she fell asleep again.
Having learned her lesson, Yin Qiu dared not pester Man Jiangxue again. That night, she obediently returned to her room alone, blew out the candle early, and went to sleep. Around midnight, just as Man Jiangxue had said, two soft, crisp sounds came from the windowsill, and the person came again.
Fearing she might miss it again, Yin Qiu had been keeping herself in a light sleep. Hearing the sound, she quickly put on her clothes and sat up, not forgetting to hold Zhu Bing in her hand. When she opened the window, she saw a strange young man in black standing outside. There were no lights in the corridor, only the faint moonlight, and he seemed to blend into the darkness. If one's eyesight wasn't good enough, one wouldn't be able to see him clearly at all.
“Miss Yin,” the young man nodded as soon as the two looked at each other, “I am the young master of Fanxin Valley, and I have come here to request an audience on the orders of my master.”
Yin Qiu looked around, then turned aside, and the young man climbed in through the window. Yin Qiu hurriedly asked, "How is Godfather? Is he alright?"
The young man sighed, "It's a mixed blessing. My godfather used all his life's strength to save you this time. He already had a chronic illness, and if you hadn't taken the Cold Fragrance Pill beforehand, you two would probably have been in serious trouble... Do you know what the Cold Fragrance Pill is, young lady?"
Yin Qiu paused for a moment, then said with a sore voice, "I know." She had heard Meng Jing mention this medicine before.
“Since you know, I won’t say more,” the young man said. “In short, after we left Yunhua Mountain that day, my godfather was quickly attacked by the backlash. He vomited a lot of blood and was unconscious for a long time. It was only because the younger brothers and sisters in the valley worked together to transfer their energy to him that his heart meridian was protected. Now my godfather has returned to Fanxin Valley and is in seclusion to recuperate. He knows that you must be worried about him, so he asked me to pass on a message to reassure you.”
Yin Qiu's feelings were complicated. After a moment of silence, she said, "In other words, his life is not in danger at the moment, but he has lost his power. In the future..."
"From now on, my godfather will be just an ordinary person who doesn't know kung fu," the young man said. "It would take countless years to regain his skills. Miss Yin, if I may be so bold, may I ask what your relationship is with my master?"
Yin Qiu smiled bitterly: "That's exactly what I wanted to ask you. I only knew that he had always loved my mother deeply, but I never expected that he would go to such lengths to save me."
The young man said solemnly, "If you don't know, then we certainly don't know either. Perhaps our godfather really did love the house because of the crow."
Yin Qiu asked, "Where is the Brahma Valley? I'd like to visit my godfather once his condition has improved."
"It's in a desolate mountain in Cangzhou," the young man said. "Not many people in the martial arts world know about it, so please don't spread the word."
"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret," Yin Qiu said, taking out a medicine bottle she carried with her. "This is the antidote for the Gu poison. Please take it back to my godfather. If the Gu poison isn't cured, a person can only live for a year at most. You need to give him the antidote as soon as possible."
The young man looked at her, then at the medicine bottle, but waved his hand and said, "No need, young lady, please keep it for now. My godfather told me before I left that if you develop an antidote here, don't rush to give it to him."
Yin Qiu asked in surprise, "Why is that?"
The young man explained, "Because my godfather knows that the girl must have become suspicious of him, in order to maintain the hard-won trust between you, he decided to temporarily withhold the antidote, just to put the girl's mind at ease."
Yin Qiu was slightly taken aback. After a moment, she lowered her hand and sighed, "My godfather really can predict everything. I do have some doubts about his background and motives now."
"Then what is it that you suspect, young lady?" the young man asked. "Now that I'm here, I can answer some of your questions."
Yin Qiu sorted out her thoughts and said, "You killed Senior Sister Ye, didn't you?"
The young man did not deny it, and stated plainly, "That's right, she was killed by my adoptive father. Actually, after my adoptive father met you the last time, he was originally going to Weicheng, but after hearing you talk about the spy and the flute player, he was uneasy. So he ordered us to keep watch on Yunhua Mountain to protect you in secret. We happened to see Ye Zhilan kidnap you, so we not only knew that she had chosen Fengkou River in advance and left herself an escape route on the mountainside plank road, but we also heard everything she talked to you that night. So my adoptive father told us to prepare the corresponding countermeasures in advance. The reason you didn't get hurt after falling from such a high cliff is because we caught you with a rope net. Otherwise, even if the Duan family's cargo ship had passed by at that time, you would have certainly died if you fell into the river."
So that's how it is! They really guessed right! Gongzi Fan was indeed fully aware of Ye Zhilan's actions from the very beginning.
"Then why did your godfather kill her?" Yin Qiu asked. "Was it because they had a grudge against each other, or was there some kind of threat that Senior Sister Ye posed to your godfather?"
The young man smiled and said, "If you ask me that, I know what you're doubting." He then walked to the window and turned his head slightly. "There's one thing you need to understand: the sword wound on Ye Zhilan's body was inflicted by her adoptive father, but the arrow that shot her had nothing to do with our Brahma Valley."
Author's Note: I'm back!
Thank you everyone for your concern. I'm much better now. I was even touched that a little angel messaged me privately to ask how I was doing. During this special time, I hope everyone tries to avoid catching a cold; going to the hospital can be a real hassle.
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