Chapter 82: People Have Thousand Plans 13: Qiqiao Festival
Xun Shu and Li Xuanhe chatted with Linghu Fei for half a day, leaving in the evening. Linghu Fei escorted them to the courtyard gate. Just as he was about to open it, something suddenly occurred to him: "Oh, by the way, there's news on that matter Brother Qin asked me to inquire about. Since you're here today, please pass on the news to Brother Qin so I don't have to make the trip."
What did his master want to ask him about? Li Xuanhe paused, also curious. "Of course. What is it?"
"A month ago, Brother Qin suddenly asked me to inquire about the disciples of the Sitian Pavilion. He said that the last Pavilion Master had accepted more than ten disciples before his death, and he wanted me to find their whereabouts. The Sitian Pavilion is really strange. After all the disciples leave the mountains and enter the secular world, they never return to the Sitian Pavilion. When they travel around the world, they never mention their identities as Sitian Pavilion disciples. It took me a lot of effort to find their whereabouts.
"Most of these disciples left the mountain and entered the secular world ten years ago. No trace of them has been found, and it's not even known whether they're still alive. However, there was one who left the mountain ten years before the fall of the Si Tian Pavilion and returned five years before, revealing some of his whereabouts. After leaving Chaozhou, he headed southwest. While drunk in a small border town, he revealed his identity as a Si Tian Pavilion disciple and mentioned that he was originally the youngest disciple. Unexpectedly, before he left the mountain, the master accepted three new disciples, one of whom was still a babe when he joined.
"At that time, the Si Tian Pavilion hadn't yet been destroyed, and it was still considered a sacred pavilion in the hearts of many people. People had only heard that the Si Tian Pavilion's members knew everything, but they had never seen a living Si Tian Pavilion disciple. Therefore, when they heard this, they thought he was bragging. When they asked him again after he sobered up, he suddenly panicked and left the border overnight, disappearing somewhere else, and was never heard from again."
Li Xuanhe glanced at Xun Shu beside him. Seeing her drooping lashes and unable to discern her expression, he felt a little uneasy. Sitian Pavilion had always been a forbidden place between him and Xun Shu. He couldn't mention it, and even if he did, she wouldn't say anything. She would even erect invisible walls around them, filled with vigilance.
He had been looking for the Sitian Pavilion because of the Changsheng Palace. What about Qin Yuan? What was he looking for? Why had he never mentioned it to him?
Li Xuanhe had something hidden in his heart, but pretended nothing happened on the surface. He agreed to Linghu Fei's request and said goodbye to him with a smile.
They walked out of the yard one after another and crossed the long and narrow alley. Xun Shu followed Li Xuanhe silently, without saying a word, and it was unknown what he was thinking.
The carriage was still parked where it came from.
The two of them boarded the carriage, and the atmosphere grew increasingly tense. Li Xuanhe was scratching his head, trying to think of a way to break the suffocating silence and explain that this matter had nothing to do with him, when Xun Shu suddenly spoke up, "Qin Yuan... is your master?"
Li Xuanhe breathed a sigh of relief, just like when he was in the dilapidated temple in Chaozhou, he wanted to pour out everything he could say, for fear that if he spoke too late, Xun Shu would not want to listen.
"Yes. My master and my mother were good friends, and he taught me martial arts since I was a child. When I was young, I often followed my master around, watching him solve cases. It was because of him that I became interested in investigating crimes, and later entered the Dali Temple. I don't know why he sought out disciples from the Sitian Pavilion, and he never told me about this. Ah Shu, you must believe me, I'm not hiding anything from you."
Xun Shu raised his eyes and asked slowly, "Is he a very important person to you?"
Li Xuanhe was stunned for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. Master is both a teacher and a friend to me. Now that I think about it, I've spent more time with him than with my father."
Xun Shu stopped talking.
She remembered the Dali Temple and Qin Yuan. She knew that Qin Yuan was now the Dali Temple Minister, but she didn't know that the master Li Xuanhe mentioned again and again was also Qin Yuan.
When her master died in the Sitian Pavilion and the Millennium Temple burned down, she heard the news in the coffin shop and disobeyed her master's orders, secretly returning to the Sitian Pavilion. However, before she could get close, she encountered the Dali Temple Shaoqing in the mountains, who was searching for something. If Jiang Zheng hadn't followed her and covered for her, her identity would have been discovered by Qin Yuan.
At that time, she didn't know Qin Yuan's name, but she heard people around him calling him Shaoqing.
Later, the case of Sitian Pavilion was closed unexpectedly, and she also learned that the Dali Temple Shaoqing she saw that day was named Qin Yuan.
After she left the mountain, her master was the only one left in the Sitian Pavilion. Her master could predict everything that would happen in the next few days with just a few calculations. How could he have died in an accident? Qin Yuan had been investigating the Sitian Pavilion for so long, yet he hadn't found a single clue. And in the end, he was going to call it an accident. Isn't that absurd?
This is all so strange, maybe there is some unspeakable secret.
She didn't know whether Qin Yuan was related to the Sitian Pavilion case, but she couldn't pretend that nothing had happened. She could only grasp this only straw. She had hated him for so many years without any specific reason.
Li Xuanhe sat beside her, looking at her cautiously. After a while, he asked tentatively, "Do you know my master?"
These words were like a door, and when it was opened, all that was revealed was the damp mud of that year.
The torrential rain that pierced the sky, the embarrassment of being expelled from the sect, the despair of walking with the displaced people but not knowing where to go... and the helplessness of standing at the foot of the mountain, with the Sitian Pavilion right in front of you, but unable to get any closer or go back.
Xun Shu didn't know how to answer him, so she simply kept silent, turned around, lifted the bamboo curtain on the window, and looked out. Li Xuanhe saw that she didn't want to answer, so he stopped asking and left the room in silence.
The carriage rolled along the bluestone streets of the market town, swaying slowly towards the bustling area under the setting sun. Bustling shops gradually appeared on both sides of the street, their signboards swaying in the wind. Peddlers walked the streets, their shouts piercing the bustling crowds and into the carriage, dispelling some of Xun Shu's annoyance. He finally let go of the matter for a moment, no longer dwelling on it.
By the time the carriage stopped at the market entrance, the crescent moon was already high in the sky. Xun Shu followed Li Xuanhe through the throng, looking at the dazzling array of goods lining the streets and the glittering lanterns on the shelves. He couldn't help but exclaim, "Why are there so many people today? And there are even lanterns?"
"Today is the Qiqiao Festival. I heard it's the busiest time of the day." Li Xuanhe held her in his arms, shielding her from the crowd. "A few days ago, I thought about bringing you here today, but I didn't expect something like what happened in the mansion yesterday. I could only bring you here secretly under the pretext of being out on a case."
"It's the Qiqiao Festival again... This year has flown by so quickly," Xun Shu sighed. "The capital city is truly prosperous, with so many beautiful lanterns. But since you said you came here secretly, what if you run into someone you know here?"
Li Xuanhe pondered for a moment, then glanced at the various masks displayed on a nearby stall. He pulled Xun Shu over to the stall, chose a raccoon cat mask for her, and said with a smile, "No one will be able to recognize us now. Ah Shu, choose one for me too."
Xun Shu's eyes swept across the masks spread out on the table in front of him, then looked at those hanging high on the side, and finally saw one he liked.
The mask was hung at the highest point. She stood on tiptoe to get it, but it was still a little short of the mark.
Li Xuanhe looked at the rabbit mask chosen by Xun Shu, staring at the two pink and tender ears for a long while, and said hesitantly, "Ah Shu, this is prepared for the young ladies. Maybe you can choose a different style? The heroic wolf demon mask is good. If not, the evil ghost one is also fine."
Xun Shu paused, turned his head and looked at Li Xuanhe: "You don't like the mask I chose?"
She was wearing a raccoon mask, and Li Xuanhe couldn't see her expression clearly. He could only see her blinking eyes and his smiling face reflected in her eyes through the two round holes in the mask.
It was as if he was all in her eyes and heart.
Li Xuanhe's heartbeat stopped for a moment, and his voice instantly fell silent. He resigned himself to his fate and said, "... Ah Shu chose it, so of course he likes it." He stretched out his arm and easily took off the mask. After handing it to Xun Shu, he bent down slightly, put his face in front of Xun Shu, and said with a smile, "There's no mirror here, I can't see. Since Ah Shu chose it for me, can Ah Shu help me put it on?"
The shopkeeper nearby quietly hid the bronze mirror under the table.
Xun Shu naturally didn't notice the shopkeeper's little trick, all her attention was focused on the face of the person in front of her.
Li Xuanhe's face was too close to her, so close that she could see every eyebrow and eyelash of his, so close that she could smell the lingering incense on his clothes, and hear the rapid beating of his heart in his chest, but she didn't know whether it was his or hers.
Amidst the bustling crowd and under the myriad lights, the young man's smile was so brilliant, brighter than the crescent moon in the sky, that it filled her entire world.
Fortunately, the mask covered his face, so no one could see Xun Shu's red cheeks. She lowered her head, straightened the straps of the mask, and carefully put the rabbit mask on his face.
Then slowly approached.
The distance between the masks continued to shrink, and finally a barely audible sound was emitted, but it was extremely clear in the bustling street, echoing in the hearts of the two people like the morning bell and evening drum.
The raccoon cat kissed the rabbit gently, and then, like a cat, jumped away immediately after the sneak attack, pretending that nothing had happened.
Li Xuanhe looked at the raccoon cat across from him. It was clearly an expressionless mask, but a faint smile could be seen through it. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms. His voice was a little muffled through the mask: "How could there be such a young lady as you? You kiss someone and don't take responsibility, and you want to run away right away?"
Xun Shu's arms were gripped by him, unable to break free. He could only blink and tug at the matter, "My dear, please don't talk nonsense. I saw a raccoon run by just now. Perhaps that's the person you're looking for?"
"I didn't know Ah Shu was so bold, wearing a mask and kissing people in public. If I had known this, I would have given you eight or ten masks, letting you wear a different one every day for a month." Li Xuanhe pinched her flaming earlobes and sighed, "I still think this rabbit mask suits you better. Look, your ears are even redder than the rabbit's."
Xun Shu covered his ears and laughed, "The lights must be too bright, you must have seen it wrong."
"Then go to the brightest place and look."
Li Xuanhe paid the bill and led Xun Shu through the crowd, as if they weren't just casually strolling around today, but were heading somewhere. Wearing the masks felt like armor, the two of them walked hand in hand through the streets, feeling even more relaxed and carefree than usual.
There were many steaming hot foods on the street, the aroma overflowing and mouth-watering, among them was the bubble cake. Perhaps thinking of his days in Chaozhou, Li Xuanhe clamored to buy freshly-made cakes and asked Xun Shu to wait for him there for a while.
Standing there was boring. Xun Shu used the mask to cover himself and looked at the people coming and going.
Unmarried young ladies traveled together, holding various kinds of lanterns in their hands, with the brightest smiles in their eyes and brows; the lovers held hands, full of love and affection, and just one look at them was like eating a piece of fine osmanthus candy... Then, Xun Shu's gaze swept across the endless stream of people and saw two familiar figures in the corner across the street.
Just like her and Li Xuanhe, these two, a man and a woman, also wore masks. Perhaps because it was a bit hot, the girl lifted her mask to breathe, revealing half of her pale face, allowing Xun Shu to see her true appearance.
Zhao Jingrong, daughter of Chaozhou County Magistrate Zhao.
She turned her gaze away from Zhao Jingrong's face and looked at the person who was accompanying her, who had never taken off his mask. She stared at the familiar figure for a long time, almost certain that this was the person she was thinking of.
How did they get here? What happened in Chaozhou?
Xun Shu's heart was full of doubts, and he couldn't suppress them no matter what he did. Seeing that the two people were about to leave, Xun Shu didn't care too much and struggled through the crowd. When he finally squeezed to the place where the two people had just stood, they had disappeared without a trace.
She lost the person.
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