Li Yuanyuan clapped his hands, patted his back, and turned to go back to work. Those hands followed him again like a shadow.
This happened three or four times before the owner of the hand finally spoke.
"I have a favor to ask of you, please grant me your request."
Li Yuanyuan didn't even raise his eyelids, still bending over to clear the dirt and rocks that were pressing on the chicken coop.
Seeing this, Xiao Nanhui took a few steps back, knelt on one knee and bowed deeply.
"I have a favor to ask of you, please grant me your request."
Li Yuanyuan did not stop moving, but still spoke.
"If I don't agree, what will you do?"
What could she do? She could only kneel here until she felt dizzy and heartbroken. But if the other party was determined, what could she do?
Xiao Nanhui thought about it over and over again in his mind, and suddenly spoke.
"Don't you want your plum tree anymore, Senior?"
Li Yuanyuan turned around as expected, and the corners of his drooping mouth were pursed like a scimitar.
"You dare to threaten me?"
"I wouldn't dare." She had finally learned the art of being thick-skinned and treacherous, of using heretical theories. "I'm just speaking the truth. If you don't help me this time, I'll most likely be hacked to death because I'm unarmed. By then, I won't be around anymore, and naturally I won't be able to fulfill my promise to take care of the tree."
It was a long time since she finished speaking, but there was no response from the other party. She knew that she might have made a mistake, so she had to get up.
Xiao Nan turned around and left, but came back after a while with a few gray balls in his arms.
She squatted down and put down the things in her arms. The lost hens finally found their way home and ran towards Li Yuanyuan.
The old sword master's stern face, covered in blood and dust, finally showed a little smile, but it turned cold again when he glanced at Xiao Nanhui.
"Take it." Li Yuanyuan counted the few surviving chickens and drove them into the makeshift chicken pen. "I know you fell in love with it at first sight."
Xiao Nanhui was stunned, almost unable to believe his ears.
"You know... what I'm asking for?"
Li Yuanyuan snorted coldly.
"I, an old woman, have been trapped in this remote and desolate place. All I have is my martial arts skills, and that scrap of metal. Or perhaps you've taken a fancy to these frightened chickens?"
Xiao Nanhui waved her hands repeatedly and was about to say something else, but Li Yuanyuan had already walked towards the messy back mountain with his hands behind his back, so she had no choice but to follow him.
The forest that was full of lush grass and singing birds yesterday is now a scorched earth. Li Yuanyuan walked along, stepping on the sparks in the embers with his feet, his expression becoming increasingly cold and hard.
Without the cover of bushes and trees, the sword tomb now appears more prominent and looks like a solitary grave at first glance.
"Wood represents benevolence and can blunt the sharpness of a sword's blade. I have hidden it in this forest for many years, but now a great fire will force it to flee."
Xiao Nan glanced back at Li Yuanyuan's silent profile and said with an intention to comfort her.
"A madman once told me: Wood becomes charcoal, charcoal becomes mud, mud becomes forest. Everything in the world is just this cycle."
"It's gone, it's gone. How can you believe a madman's words?" Li Yuanyuan kicked aside the half-burned wood and stood in front of the sword tomb with his arms folded. "Most sword practitioners are solitary. This sword is even worse. From the day it was forged, it has been driven by solitary courage. They say a soldier is like his warrior. Have you really thought about it?"
Xiao Nanhui didn't say anything. She just took a few steps forward and gently grasped the hilt of the sword, which had become a little blackened by the wind and rain.
The hilt of the sword was thin and narrow, and felt cold to the touch. Just as Li Yuanyuan had said, it carried a sense of desperate determination.
It was said that there was some kind of intangible connection between warriors and their weapons. The moment she grasped the sword, she seemed to hear a silent cry and vibration within it.
She drew her sword.
******************
It is a good time in Quecheng in August and September when the wind is high and the clouds are light.
Xiao Nanhui looked out of the carriage window. Dingyu Road was bustling and noisy in the evening. The vendors selling hot fish soup opened their pots and white steam ran to the center of the street. The red lanterns hung under the eaves like bunches of ripe persimmons, making everyone's face warm.
Spring passes, autumn comes, and their days remain like this. Time here both flows and stagnates.
If she could, she wanted to jump off the carriage, grab two jugs of wine and rush to Wangchen Tower, returning to such leisurely days. But she knew that this time, she would not stay here for too long.
The carriage slowly moved along for another half an incense stick of time before finally stopping in the alley in front of the West Drum Tower. A crescent moon had already appeared on the turret in the southwest corner of the Imperial Palace. As the curtains of the carriage were drawn, the cool night air slowly settled in.
Xiao Nanhui had some idea where she was going.
"Miss Xiao, you'd better wear your hat."
Xiao Nanhui paused for a moment before reacting.
Lu Songping had prepared a hooded cloak for her early in the morning. She initially thought it was for protection against the cold during deep dew, but now she understood that it was actually for covering her face.
It seems that Quecheng at this moment is not as peaceful and tranquil as it looked on Dingyu Road.
The emperor's whereabouts were unknown. Had the court heard the news? While he was away, had someone else been plotting something unsettling? If something truly happened to him, would the entire city of Que be plunged into a bloodbath?
Her heartbeat seemed even more chaotic in the quiet night, and she spoke after a while.
"Now that we've arrived, can you tell me why you summoned me back to the city?"
Half of Lu Songping's shoulder was faintly visible outside the car door, and his voice was deep.
"I summoned Miss Xiao back to the city for two reasons. One is that there's something I need to deliver, and the other is that there's someone I need to meet. Would you like to pick up the item first, or meet the person first?"
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