Chapter 241 It's him. I feel like I've seen you somewhere before.
"Let's go!" Lu Xiaojun shouted at the top of her lungs, flinging off the reins.
As she turned around, Guan Ye seemed to see Mu Chenbi. Yes, it was Mu Chenbi. He was hiding in the corner, the place where they were waiting for Xiao Ma. He had also come to see everyone off.
The morning mist clung to Mu Chenbi's phoenix-feather eyelashes. When he saw Guan Ye looking at him, a joyful smile appeared on his face. He waved his arms vigorously at Guan Ye, then suddenly remembered something, took the twin-dimpled swords from his waist, raised them high, and pointed to his heart.
Guan Ye chuckled, staring at Mu Chenbi's increasingly smaller figure until she could no longer see him clearly.
"What are you looking at?" Ajiu put her arm around Guan Ye's waist and followed her gaze. "Even after he has ascended the throne and become emperor, he still managed to sneak out to give it to you. Mu Chenbi's deep affection for you seems to be genuine."
“Of course it’s not fake,” Guan Ye said urgently. “His pure heart is as clear as the sun and moon; he is a rare good person.”
Ah Jiu sneered, "If you can't be a good person, you should be like me and be a bad person."
“You’re not a bad person.” Guan Ye pressed down on A Jiu’s hand. “You never have been.”
"You really think so?" Ajiu cupped Guan Ye's face in her hands. "Then when will we finish what we didn't do?"
Guan Ye blushed, pushed away A Jiu's hand, and stopped talking. The sea breeze was cold, so A Jiu took off her cloak and draped it over Guan Ye. Sensing someone behind her, A Jiu already guessed who it was and gently touched Guan Ye's arm. "She's here."
Guan Ye turned around and saw Wu Shuang walking towards her with a sword box in her arms. A Jiu and Wu Shuang nodded slightly and walked to the side with their swords on their backs. Ever since Wu Shuang boarded the ship, she had never let go of the sword box. Guan Ye knew that the box contained her most precious treasure.
“Your uncle is a master sailor,” Guan Ye exclaimed. “Judging by the wind, it won’t take ten days, only seven or eight.”
Wushuang carefully wiped the sword case, "I want the ship to sail faster, yet I also hope it will never reach its end. Guan Ye, do you understand how I feel?"
Guan Ye shook her head. "I know you can't wait to fly back to the island. Ever since you left, you've been thinking about going back every single moment. Wushuang, you're getting closer and closer to him."
"The closer I get, the more scared I become." Wushuang took a deep breath of the sea breeze. "Guan Ye, I lost my mind for a moment, but I remember what you said. I still have to ask you one question: those words... were you deliberately lying to me because you were afraid I would do something rash?"
Guan Ye was surprised. "You are incredibly intelligent and perceptive. If I were lying to you, you wouldn't have believed me back then, and you would have already slit your own throat. You clearly had a feeling in your heart, and what I said only confirmed your guess."
“It’s just a guess,” Wushuang interrupted. “It’s all just a guess. If the guess is false… how am I supposed to face the young master? I shouldn’t have gone back at all.”
Guan Ye grabbed Wushuang's hand. "Whether it's a guess or the truth, we'll find out in a few days. Are you unwilling to wait even a few days? Or... are you cowardly and afraid?"
Seeing Wushuang remain silent, Guan Ye hurriedly added, "You're not even afraid of death, you dare to point your sword at Mu You, so why are you afraid to face the young master?"
Wushuang looked down at the sword box in her arms, a deep sorrow shrouding her jade-like face. "I'm afraid he'll hate me for the rest of his life. I didn't bring back the person he truly wanted to see. Perhaps... we should never see each other again."
As Wushuang was about to hand over the sword case, Guan Ye pushed it away and turned his back to her, no longer looking at her. "You took it away, so take it back to him yourself."
Guan Ye spoke and strode away. Wu Shuang froze, her eyes blinking, and tears dripped into the ancient patterns on the sword box.
Guan Ye thought the waterway would be completed in seven or eight days, but Lu Xiaojun took a full ten days. Guan Ye vaguely felt that he did it on purpose. The sky was clear for ten days, and the weather was favorable for a smooth journey. Why did it take ten days? Several times, she was about to ask the question when Lu Xiaojun's eyes shut her down. His eyes seemed to say: If you can do it, then you do it.
During their time on the ship, the usually talkative Lu Xiaojun was mostly silent. In his spare time, he would often lean against the mast, gazing narrowly at the people on the deck, though it seemed he was only looking at Guan Ye. His deep eyes held a thousand unspoken words; he had so much to say to Guan Ye, but… he didn’t know how to say it.
"Lu Xiaojun," Guan Ye finally couldn't help but say, "Why are you staring at me like that? Is there something dirty on me?"
Lu Xiaojun snorted, "I was looking at the sky and the ground, but not at you. How did you know you saw me staring at you?"
“I saw it with both eyes.” Guan Ye retorted without backing down. “You’re my senior brother, so it’s okay for you to glance at me a few times, but it’s unacceptable to deny it when you’ve clearly seen it.”
Lu Xiaojun was both amused and annoyed. She played with the sword beside her and stopped talking. Guan Ye took a few steps closer and held out her hand, saying, "Let me see my father's sword. I haven't had a proper look at it yet."
Lu Xiaojun watched as Guan Ye drew her sword, glancing sideways at the shadow of her old friend on Guan Ye's body, and sighed deeply in her heart.
Guan Ye turned the knife over and examined it carefully before handing it back to Lu Xiaojun. "What a fine knife! No wonder it's my father's work."
"Do you want to take it back?" Lu Xiaojun asked as if she were possessed.
"I don't want it." Guan Ye blocked his hand. "You are the best at wielding this sword. You are Father's apprentice. He will feel gratified if the sword is in your hands."
“If…” Lu Xiaojun’s heart clenched, “If I told you that your father is…”
“My father is the greatest blacksmith in the world, I know that.” Guan Ye shoved the sword back to Lu Xiaojun, looked up at the sky and said, “Do you need to tell me?”
Lu Xiaojun gripped the knife hilt in a daze, swallowing back the words that were on the tip of her tongue. Guan Ye tilted her head to look at him, "I forgot to ask you, what are your plans for the future?"
"Plans?" Lu Xiaojun was taken aback by the question. "I think..."
Guan Ye straightened her back, her eyes shining. "Stay in Rongdu with me. I want to open a new workshop. You are a descendant of Tianhu Workshop and have so many connections with Tieying. Why don't we work together?"
"With you? Together?" Lu Xiaojun repeated, "Are you crazy?"
Guan Ye, seeing that Lu Xiaojun was unwilling to submit to her, hurriedly explained, "You are the young master of Tianhu Workshop. You're not going to be my employee. Let's be partners, on equal footing, how about that?" Seeing that Lu Xiaojun didn't react, Guan Ye pondered for a moment, "It's fine if you become the big boss. After all, you're my senior brother, and senior brother is the most important."
"Guan Ye," Lu Xiaojun sat up straight, "Listen carefully. I am no longer the young master of Tianhu Workshop. There is no more Tianhu Workshop, and no young master. I am Lu Xiaojun. I don't know how to forge swords; I only know how to sail boats. In this life, I only intend to be a boatman, and that is all I will ever be."
"A boatman?" Guan Ye exclaimed in surprise. "How could a descendant of Tianhu Workshop become a boatman?"
Lu Xiaojun's face hardened. "Are you deaf or stupid? I can't forge swords, I can only sail boats. I'm just a boatman!"
Guan Ye had never been afraid of him. She glared at him and said, "Wushuang wants to stay on Canglang Island, and you want to be the boatman. Will the Tianhu skills still be passed down? Will the forging techniques still be promoted? Aren't you afraid your ancestors will crawl out from the ground and strangle you? Lu Xiaojun, I won't allow you to just be a boatman. I need you to help me."
Lu Xiaojun suppressed her fierceness, and a look of pity suddenly appeared in her narrow eyes. The words, which were clearly silly, sounded like a command coming from the girl's mouth.
"Did you hear that?" Guan Ye was about to punch him to wake him up.
Lu Xiaojun opened his hand and enveloped Guan Ye's fist. He could easily push this girl far away with just a little force, but he couldn't bear to. Guan Ye opened her fist and pressed it against his hand, feeling the sweat seeping deeper into Lu Xiaojun's palm. She looked at Lu Xiaojun's familiar yet unfamiliar face with great interest, only to realize that Lu Xiaojun was also handsome without his Western Region disguise. He was the young master of Tianhu, Lu Chaoge's younger brother, so how could he be ugly?
Seeing Guan Ye staring at her without blinking, Lu Xiaoyun withdrew her hand as if touched by a needle, and turned to look at the deep sea.
“I suddenly feel…” Guan Ye suddenly felt a little dazed, “I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before.”
"Silly." Lu Xiaojun was too lazy to reply. "We've met so many times already. Is it because I'm a new face that you're not used to me?" The words had barely left her lips when Lu Xiaojun was instantly startled. Guan Ye's words implied…
Guan Ye turned to look at Lu Xiaoyun's face again, gesturing with her hands, "Not only Wan Qixi, you also look a lot like... a lot like someone I know, his name is..."
"Who else do you know behind my back?" Ajiu had approached the two of them without them noticing.
"You've come at the perfect time." Guan Ye jumped up, pointing at Lu Xiaoyun's face, "Doesn't he look like... Hu..."
“Young Master Lu and you are old friends, so naturally you see his shadow in everyone you see.” Ajiu said deliberately. “Guan Ye, you’ve been very happy ever since you got a senior brother. If you keep clinging to him, I will be unhappy.”
Guan Ye blushed, pointed to the mast and said, "It's not just the people, look at this ship, doesn't it look just like the one we sailed on back then? Hu Xian, Hu Xian's ship."
Before Lu Xiaojun could speak, Ajiu pressed Guan Ye's hand down. "All the ships at the dock are like this. I wonder where that scoundrel Hu Xian is doing business. Would he really suffer at Young Master Lu's hands? Guan Ye, you've been on the ship for too long and your head is spinning." As she spoke, she rubbed Guan Ye's temples and whispered in her ear, "Shall I rub them for you?"
Guan Ye thought it made some sense, but she still couldn't help but look at Lu Xiaojun. The sea breeze ruffled Lu Xiaojun's gray-black hair, and her half-closed, narrow eyes were dark and mysterious, like a whirlpool that was hard to see through.
"Master, Master!" Pei Bi cried out from the stern. "Master, what's wrong? No…"
Guan Ye didn't have time to argue with Lu Xiaojun. She and Ajiu rushed to the stern of the boat. Watching Guan Ye's fiery figure disappear into the distance, Lu Xiaojun seemed to see the ragged girl from years ago again, eating her steamed bun with gusto.
——"The owner of the shop."
As dusk fell, Pei Yuan climbed onto the edge of the boat. The waves rose and fell, and Pei Yuan's aged body rose and fell with them. He bent down to try to splash the seawater, but just as he was about to touch it, he was lifted up by the waves and almost fell into the sea.
"Why did the shop owner come out?" Guan Ye asked.
Pei Bi shook his head helplessly, "The past few days have been alright, but I don't know what's wrong with him. The closer we get to Canglang Island, the more anxious the shopkeeper becomes. He even talks nonsense in his dreams, saying that he made a bet with someone and that he must not go back to Canglang Island, because if he goes back, he will lose."
It was Pei Chu. Guan Ye realized that Pei Chu had made a bet with his father, betting that Pei Yuan would definitely return to Canglang Island and Xingguofang would definitely return. Pei Yuan had gone mad, but he still remembered this bet, and he wouldn't let himself lose.
"Master, come down quickly!" Pei Bi tentatively tried to pull Pei Yuan down. "It's too dangerous, please come down quickly."
"I won't go back, I can't go back." Pei Yuan, straddling the edge of the boat, rubbed his red hair. It had only been a little over a month since he was imprisoned, but Pei Yuan's red hair had already turned gray. This made him lose his former dignity and become an ordinary old man. He shouted and made a fuss, no longer the master of Xingguo Ward who could command a hundred responses, but a pitiful person who evoked pity.
“The waves are coming.” Lu Xiaojun followed. “If you fall into the sea, you’ll drown when the waves come. Hurry up and pull us back.”
Pei Bi rushed forward to pull Pei Yuan away, but Pei Yuan swung his arm to block him, tumbling sideways and falling into the sea. "Master!" Pei Bi lunged forward and grabbed his sleeve. "Master!"
Guan Ye and the others rushed forward. Seeing the curious faces of the crowd, Pei Yuan let out a wild laugh, "I won't go back, I'd rather die than go back, I'd rather die than go back!" Pei Yuan roared and pressed his body down. With a tearing sound, his sleeve snapped, and Pei Yuan plunged into the deep sea, carried away by the rolling waves to who knows where.
"Master!" Pei Bi was about to leap down.
Lu Xiaojun grabbed his body and held him down firmly, saying, "Falling into the sea means certain death. Do you want to die with him? Since he doesn't want to go back even if he dies, let him be. Pei Yuan has gone mad. Rather than being trapped on the island as a living dead, it would be better to die a quick death."
As they spoke, Pei Yuan had already disappeared into the deep sea and could no longer be found. The waves surged, leaving only the dark blue seawater in the night. Recalling Pei Yuan's lifelong obsession that ended in such a way, Guan Ye also felt a little sad. Just as she was about to turn and leave, she pondered Lu Xiaojun's words and suddenly froze in place—"Since he is unwilling to go back even if it means death, we might as well let him be."
"Quickly turn the boat around and rescue Song Mian!"
"Everyone has their own ambitions. If he doesn't want to follow the crowd and wants to feed the fish, then let him be."
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