Chapter 13
"Yang Yuan, come down quickly! There are so many fish here!"
The caravan members said that the desert was plagued by severe sandstorms, but fish fry were released and raised near water sources. Ye Min, who had never fished in the river before, watched the caravan haul in their nets and collect the fish, then rolled up his sleeves and trousers and went into the water to try and catch some.
Yang Yuan came out of the room and heard Ye Min calling her from afar. Intrigued, she quickly followed and watched how they caught fish.
Ye Min stared at the rippling water, frowning. He had already put both hands into the water. Seeing the blue-backed, black-scaled carp still in the water, he suddenly lunged at it. However, he slipped on a pebble and the fish swam away with the current, leaving him to plunge headfirst into the water, splashing water everywhere.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Oh dear, oh dear, be careful!"
The young men and women who had just finished their harvest looked at the disheveled young master and simultaneously stopped and burst into laughter.
Yang Yuan watched Ye Min splashing around and laughed, but before she knew it, he splashed water all over her.
"Laugh, laugh, laugh! Get your two front teeth tanned!"
Ye Min stood up, his hair sticky to his face. He brushed his hair aside, looked at Yang Yuan, who was soaking wet, and burst into laughter.
The little girl paused for a second, then pouted and bent down to scoop up the water and splash it over.
Xue Hua stood at the door of the room, watching the two people having a great time, and couldn't help but smile.
Alu Lingyi walked out of the door wearing a white robe, pulling the shawl over his body to cover the bandage marks on his skin.
Smelling the bitter scent of herbs in the wind, Xue Hua's expression gradually faded. The two, one in black and one in white, stood two feet apart in front of the railing.
After a long while, a breeze picked up, and Ah Lu spoke:
"You are from Lingyan Pavilion."
Xue Hua frowned, but didn't say anything. He just gripped the long sword in his hand tighter.
Clutching her shawl, A-Lu watched Yang Yuan playing with Ye Min and continued:
“I knew you when I saw you in the Dragon Gate Desert. The Cangyun Army is stationed at Yanmen Pass, and only a few people come to escort goods every year or three years. But you were a stranger. After inquiring, I found out that you were just doing your job because you were closer to Taiyuan. You once delivered a letter to Yang Yifei, the leader of the Changge Sect. The envelope was addressed to Yang Yifei. But inside was actually a note with only four words.”
Ah Lu smiled and took out the letter from her bosom. The paper rustled in the wind, and four characters were written on it in a vigorous and powerful style.
The zither has been taken away.
"You are the most suitable person to deliver this letter. Although you are a soldier of the Cangyun Army, you often travel to Taiyuan and are close to Ye Min, a disciple of Cangjian Villa, so you know a lot about the affairs of the martial world. Therefore, when you deliver this letter, people will just think that you are going to see an old friend, and there will be no trouble."
"Swish—" A long, black knife was held across A-Lu's neck, the blade close to his neck, and a thin line of blood appeared on his neck.
Xue Hua stared at him, a murderous glint gradually appearing in his eyes.
Ah Lu didn't care about his actions. She continued:
"Because Lingyan Pavilion always keeps its actions secret."
The blade drew closer and closer to his flesh, slowly piercing in.
"Xue Hua, that zither is the Dongxian Yin of Yang Yin'an, the former sect leader of Changge Sect. Now, it is in Yang Yuan's hands."
The blade suddenly stopped, halting its stabbing motion.
A-Lu turned to look at him and smiled faintly:
"Want to know these things? I can tell you everything."
Xue Hua turned and glanced at the riverbank before going into the house with A Lu.
He closed the door and sat down at the table. A-Lu sat opposite him, picked up a bandage from the medicine box, and applied medicine to herself.
“I was entrusted to bring Yang Yuan here. That’s right, I kidnapped her from Chengdu. My original mission was simply to hand her over to the person who came to pick her up, and that would be considered a completed task for my senior sister and me. I’ve been following you ever since you arrived in Chengdu. But ever since I brought Yang Yuan here, there have been night thieves coming to assassinate us every night. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a caravan being robbed on Ming Cult territory.”
After applying the medicine, A-Lu tidied up the blood-stained cotton on the table.
"These people are tight-lipped and won't say anything. So I went to Changge Sect to inquire about things. The girls were overjoyed when I gave them flowers, and that's how I learned some things."
A-Lu picked up the tea that Yang Yuan had brewed that morning, poured it into a cup, and handed it to Xue Hua.
"Yang Yuan was originally supposed to be a disciple of Feng Xiyan, but an inner court disciple volunteered to hand Yang Yuan over to her for instruction. This person is called Jiang Lixue."
"This person is exceptionally skilled in martial arts and is one of Yang Yifei's disciples. He also had a disciple who mysteriously disappeared in Luoyang five years ago. Although Jiang Lixue claimed that she had been searching for him, the matter was actually long forgotten."
Xue Hua took a sip of tea; its aroma filled the air and soothed his soul. Reluctantly, he put down his teacup and continued listening to A Lu speak.
“I’ve looked into Jiang Lixue’s background. She had some connection with the Ye family’s Hidden Sword Manor. I went to Hidden Sword Manor along the official road and asked many disciples along the way. I learned that Jiang Lixue had come here looking for someone from the manor, so I inquired about her residence and prepared to go find her.”
"But the trail ends here. This person has been gone from Hidden Sword Manor for many years. In fact, I've heard that he disappeared without a trace after the Battle of Maple Valley."
Xue Hua was taken aback and gripped the teacup tighter.
“And when you brought that Cave Immortal Guide here, I knew that things were getting more and more complicated.”
After Ah Lu finished speaking, she took a sip of the cooled tea.
"And the two people from Tian Ce Mansion and Qi Xiu Fang that you met in Chengdu are also related to the people from Cang Jian Manor."
Xue Hua pondered for a moment, glanced at the golden seven-stringed zither on the table, and then looked at A Lu.
“I took her back to Yanmen Pass.”
Ah Lu smiled. "You think you'll be safe once you leave here?"
Xue Hua's gaze was fixed on his face as he said, "If she weren't alright, I would have torn you to pieces and still not be satisfied."
Ah Lu smiled and said, "If you kill me, you won't be able to take her away."
Xue Hua frowned. "What do you mean?"
“You like her.” A-Lu stared at him too.
Xue Hua was stunned.
"But so what? You're not just a soldier of Cangyun, you're also a member of Lingyan Pavilion. Do you think you can stay together forever in this chaotic world?"
Xue Hua looked away, staring blankly at the cup in her hand.
A-Lu clasped her hands together, rested her chin on the back of her hands, looked at Xue Hua, and smiled.
Xue Hua raised her eyebrows and looked at him.
Why are you willing to tell me these things?
“Because I don’t want her to be unhappy,” Ah Lu said. “Since everyone has their own needs, consider this a favor you owe me to achieve your goal.”
Xue Hua glanced at him and put the teacup back.
"In that case, I thank you." Xue Hua stood up, walked to the door, and stopped. "You have done Yang Yuan a favor, and I thank you on her behalf. But since you know so much, you must have been doing it for someone else. Now that you've told me, aren't you worried that it might bring about your death?"
Ah Lu lowered her eyes, looking at the bandaged wound on her hand, and said casually:
You're wrong.
“I’m helping you not for any other reason than that I should have lost my life long ago, but after seeing Yang Yuan, I feel that it’s worth living for a couple more years.”
“I won’t give her to you,” Xue Hua said.
"Who she goes with is her own decision. Do you Central Plains people only know how to arrange marriages?" A-Lu picked up her teacup.
Xue Hua pushed open the door and went out.
"Xue Hua! Look at this little girl Yang Yuan! I just changed into these clothes, you have to pay me back!" Ye Min grabbed his collar and twisted it, and river water dripped down.
"You, a young master of Cangjian Manor, are asking others to pay you back?" Xue Hua looked at Yang Yuan as she walked over, holding up a silk scarf he had brought from his room.
Yang Yuan took the towel, wiped her face, and asked, "Where's A-Lu? Is he feeling better?"
"Hey, I just changed his dressing, what are you worried about?" Ye Min walked over to Xue Hua and pulled up his sleeve to wipe his face.
"I'll go boil some water. You guys go take a shower and change your clothes. We'll eat later." After saying that, Xue Hua went downstairs.
Yang Yuan and Ye Min looked at each other, wondering what had happened.
A large pot of water was bubbling and steaming. Xue Hua carried the pots to Yang Yuan one by one, poured the water, and waited for Yang Yuan to return to her room. She saw the bathtub behind the screen, and the clean dress she had worn when she arrived was on the shelf next to it.
next door.
"Xue Hua, you son of a bitch!!"
Ye Min had just taken off his clothes and was about to enjoy the hot bath prepared by Xue Hua when he was startled by the icy water as soon as he put one foot in, nearly hitting his head.
Xue Hua walked in, kicking open the door. Even from a distance, the steam from the large basin of water was palpable. A-Lu flinched away. Xue Hua went behind the screen and poured himself into the bathtub. Ye Min, wrapped in a sheet handed to him by A-Lu and shirtless, glared at Xue Hua as he hugged himself.
Ah Lu, wearing a cloak, sat at the table, looked at Ye Min who was shivering, poured him a cup of hot tea, and handed it to him.
Ye Min reached out with trembling hands to scoop up the cup and drank it all in one gulp.
"I...I'll go to hell!...Achoo!!"
A loud sneeze came straight at Xue Hua, so he simply raised the basin to block it and then put it aside.
A-Lu looked up and saw a conspicuous wound on Ye Min's chest as he stood up.
A-Lu glanced at it a few times. It seemed the scar had been there for some time; it looked like a sharp blade had pierced his chest. Although new flesh had grown, the scar was still very obvious. The person who did it had considerable strength, as if they wanted to pierce his body.
"Ye Min, turn around," A Lu said.
Ye Min was taken aback. "What are you doing?"
"Just turn around."
He did as he was told and turned around.
Sure enough, there was a small, identical scar on his back as well.
Ye Min realized what A Lu was looking at and smiled.
"I've had this wound since I was twelve years old. My master said that I was naughty and ran to the sword furnace, where I was accidentally stabbed by a short sword that was still being forged. At that time, we asked several young men and women from Wanhua Valley to come and see me, which saved my life."
Xue Hua raised his teacup, took a sip, and ignored Ye Min, who was cursing and swearing behind him as he soaked in the basin.
"What else do you know?" Xue Hua asked.
"If my senior sister saw him so full of energy, her mouth would be splitting open with a wide grin."
“It’s a pity,” A-Lu said, looking out the door. “You never see snow in the desert.”
“A-Lu, I… want to go to the Central Plains.” Yita stood beside fifteen-year-old A-Lu, the two sitting under the Three Lives Tree. A-Lu looked at the handkerchief her senior sister was holding, embroidered with a ginkgo leaf.
"Ah Lu, do you think it snows in the Central Plains?"
Senior sister, it will snow in the Central Plains, and it will snow heavily, but not as thickly as the ice fields of Kunlun.
The people there are like that too, their moods are unpredictable, you never know when it will thunder and rain, or when it will snow and be sunny.
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