Budong Manor.
Lou Tianshe huddled close to Lou Tianming’s side, looking at the pitch-black night outside, fearfully saying: “Second brother, I’m afraid to sleep alone. Do you think Father and elder brother’s ghosts will come find me while I’m sleeping?”
Lou Tianming looked at the deep dark night outside the bamboo cottage, stroking Lou Tianshe’s head: “They won’t. Even if there really are ghosts, Father and elder brother won’t come scare you. They’ll protect you.”
“Really?” Lou Tianshe hugged her second brother’s arm, beginning to drift into drowsiness. Half asleep and half awake, she was still murmuring: “I… actually want to see… them…” Lou Tianming looked at his sleeping sister, his purple pupils actually beginning to flicker.
After an unknown amount of time, Lou Tianshe in her sleep shed tears. The tears flowed down Lou Tianming’s arm all the way to his hand. Lou Tianming gently wiped away the tears when suddenly his entire body seemed to freeze—he couldn’t move.
Lou Tianshe, who had just been in deep sleep, slowly opened her eyes: “Second brother, I’m sorry.”
Lou Tianming looked at his younger sister, saying lightly: “Why?”
Lou Tianshe slowly caressed Lou Tianming’s cheek, finally stopping at his purple pupils: “Because you’re too intelligent. There isn’t a single thing in this world that can be hidden from you. I can only kill you to protect myself.”
“What have you done?” Lou Tianming asked softly.
“How could you not know?” Lou Tianshe revealed a coquettish smile, shaking her head: “You know—you know everything. You’ve been a child prodigy since you were very young. Father said you’re not an ordinary child. You can see through what everyone is thinking in their hearts, right? Second brother.”
Lou Tianshe suddenly smiled and asked: “Second brother, why don’t you guess why you can’t move right now?”
Lou Tianming’s gaze moved down from Lou Tianshe’s face, landing on his own hand: “It’s your tears.”
Lou Tianshe laughed again, laughing as beautifully as spring flowers: “Second brother, truly nothing can be hidden from you. That’s right. I put ‘Smokewood Powder’ in my eyes long ago. Once you’re contaminated by it, you’ll be completely weak and unable to move.”
“You planned to kill me long ago.” Lou Tianming’s purple pupils flickered like crystals.
Lou Tianshe slowly nodded: “Second brother, you’re already my only family in this world. It’s just that some secrets can only ever be known by one person, so you must die. However, I won’t make your death painful or ugly.” As Lou Tianshe spoke, she took out a small green bottle from her bosom, saying softly: “This is mandala flower juice. It will make you forget all pain. Once this flower juice meets the ‘Smokewood Powder’ that has seeped into your body, it will become deadly poison. Second brother, you don’t need to worry about anything. You’ll leave in a wonderful hallucination without any pain.”
Lou Tianshe slowly moved the small green bottle toward Lou Tianming’s mouth. Lou Tianming’s gaze reflected his younger sister’s image. He suddenly spoke: “Tianshe, I’m sorry.” As the words fell, someone suddenly appeared behind Lou Tianshe, grasping Lou Tianshe’s hands. Lou Tianshe looked back in terror—it was Li Si in his blue-green catcher’s uniform.
Li Si’s gaze burned as he said to Lou Tianshe: “Third Miss, it’s been a while. I, Li, have been waiting here for quite some time!”
Lou Tianshe smiled bitterly, turning her gaze back to look at Lou Tianming’s purple pupils: “You arranged this? You knew I was coming to kill you?”
Before Lou Tianming could speak, Li Si already said first: “Third Miss, you yourself were careless and left clues. You can’t blame anyone else.”
“Oh, what clues did I leave?” Lou Tianshe was forced to stand up, her hands still tightly gripped in Li Si’s palm.
Li Si smiled: “You forgot about this!” As Li Si spoke, he firmly held Lou Tianshe with one hand while taking out a yellow paper packet from his bosom with the other, slowly opening it. Inside the paper packet was a small dark-colored iron fragment. Li Si brought it before Lou Tianshe’s eyes, asking: “Third Miss, do you still remember what this is?”
Lou Tianshe’s expression changed. She stopped speaking. Li Si then said: “If you don’t remember, I can tell you. This is the tail piece of the iron needle you used for embroidery the other day! Moreover, this small section of iron fragment has been confirmed to be made from Dark Iron—invincible, the sharpest weapon in the world—Dark Iron! Also, it was found in Hero Lou’s shattered heart meridian. Third Miss, do you remember now?”
Lou Tianshe’s expression slowly calmed down. She smiled: “It seems I was indeed careless.”
“In fact, before your elder brother Lou Tianfan struck to kill your father Lou Ao, you had already struck one step ahead of him. At that time, our attention was all on the red-robed person in the courtyard, while you, without anyone knowing, used the Dark Iron needle to pierce through the Heavenly Silkworm Garment your father was wearing. Precisely because the Heavenly Silkworm Garment was already broken did your elder brother’s sharp arrow later manage to pierce into your father’s chest. When your elder brother confessed everything, you quietly retrieved the poison needle that had pierced your father’s chest, so you could completely eliminate all evidence, achieving murder without a trace while letting Lou Tianfan bear all the consequences. But even a hundred secrets have one oversight—due to the collision of two inner forces near the heart meridian, your Dark Iron needle broke off a small piece. And it’s precisely this small piece of needle tail that revealed everything you did.” Li Si stared at Lou Tianshe, pausing to ask: “However, I still have one question I don’t understand.”
Lou Tianshe smiled lightly: “I thought you knew everything—there’s actually something you don’t know?”
Li Si quietly turned over the Dark Iron needle fragment. On its back was actually a trace of pale green—only the time seemed long past, and the green trace had firmly imprinted on the needle fragment. Li Si pointed at the green trace: “Your father didn’t die under your elder brother’s sharp arrow, but under your poison needle! I want to know—where did you obtain the Heaven Insect Grass?”
“Died under the poison needle? So that means I killed him?” After hearing Li Si’s words, Lou Tianshe actually showed some excitement and joy: “I didn’t expect that elder brother painstakingly arranged everything, yet I picked up the advantage.”
“He was your father! Do you all truly want him dead so badly?” Li Si roared angrily.
“Father?” Lou Tianshe suddenly smiled: “Do you want to know why I killed him?”
Li Si was first stunned. Lou Tianshe, taking advantage of Li Si’s momentary daze, suddenly sprayed a green mist from her mouth. The green mist rushed toward Li Si. Li Si involuntarily retreated, but at the same time released his tight grip on Lou Tianshe’s body. Lou Tianshe brushed past Li Si and ran outside. Li Si pursued without hesitation.
For a moment, only Lou Tianming remained alone in the bamboo cottage. Lou Tianming, who had just been stiff as stone, suddenly stood up, facing the bamboo cottage doorway: “You already knew this outcome, didn’t you?”
“Even if I knew everything, I still couldn’t prevent it. Why should I want to know?” At the bamboo cottage entrance, Qingdie in plain dress stepped inside.
Lou Tianming walked toward the entrance, seeming also to want to chase after Lou Tianshe. Qingdie on the side spoke: “It’s useless—you know that.”
Lou Tianming stopped his steps, his purple pupils gazing at the night outside, murmuring: “I’ve already lost everything now, haven’t I?”
Qingdie came before Lou Tianming, staring at his purple pupils, saying lightly: “Sometimes, to gain something, you must first lose something.”
Li Si followed Lou Tianshe, making several circuits in Budong Manor’s rear garden. Then Lou Tianshe stopped before a dilapidated room in the manor’s deepest part, flashing inside the room.
Li Si paused slightly, gripping the long blade at his belt. Crouching down, he also entered the broken room.
A dim oil lamp burned in the broken room. Li Si observed the broken room—the entire room contained only one large bed that had nearly collapsed. At this moment, Lou Tianshe lay sideways on the bed, her back to Li Si, giggling. Li Si found this strange and asked: “Third Miss, what’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with me? Didn’t you want to know why I killed him?” Lou Tianshe kept giggling: “This is the reason!”
Lou Tianshe shifted her body aside. Inside the large bed actually lay a human skeleton, the entire skeleton presenting a shocking pale green color. Li Si was startled by the scene before him, unable to understand the meaning in Lou Tianshe’s words. He couldn’t help but ask: “The reason you mentioned is this—but who is it?”
Lou Tianshe pressed her face against the skeleton’s skull, tears flowing from her eyes, murmuring: “She… is my mother.”
“What!” Li Si stepped back in surprise: “She’s your mother? Didn’t your mother leave?”
“Hmph!” Lou Tianshe slightly sat up, her gaze filled with resentment, shaking her head: “It must have been my father who told you that. He killed my mother yet still had the face to tell such lies!”
“Lou Ao killed your mother?” Li Si thought of what Lou Ao had once told him, his heart in turmoil: “But… why would he kill your mother?”
Lou Tianshe laughed miserably: “It’s precisely because of the place where you’re standing now.”
Li Si was stunned, then blurted out: “You mean Budong Manor?”
Lou Tianshe lay back down beside the skeleton, extending both arms to tightly embrace it, murmuring with a smile to Li Si: “Catcher Li, do you know why I used the Dark Iron needle to kill my father?”
Li Si shook his head. Lou Tianshe gazed at the skeleton, slowly saying: “Because seven years ago, Father used that same Dark Iron needle to poison my mother to death. I saw everything. Father buried Mother’s corpse in the back mountain, and I dug Mother’s corpse back out, keeping it hidden here all along. For seven whole years, when I’m lonely, I come find Mother to keep me company. I hate Father—he was so cruel to kill someone he once loved. So I wanted revenge. I killed him, using the poison needle he used to kill my mother seven years ago.” Lou Tianshe said this, her smile becoming dreamlike: “Catcher Li, guess where that poison needle is now?”
Li Si looked at Lou Tianshe’s eyes, feeling somewhat uneasy in his heart. He asked: “Where is it?”
“Here!” Lou Tianshe slightly turned her body. A dark-colored iron needle instantly pierced into Lou Tianshe’s chest. Li Si rushed forward, supporting Lou Tianshe’s shoulder: “You… why must you do this?”
Lou Tianshe’s gaze instantly began to scatter, murmuring: “Father, Mother, and I, all died under this poison needle… is this… what they call fate?” Lou Tianshe’s voice slowly weakened, finally falling silent.
Li Si carried Lou Tianshe back to the bamboo cottage. In the bamboo cottage, Lou Tianming was playing a zither melody with slow, soothing rhythm. Li Si walked to Lou Tianming’s side: “I’m sorry, I couldn’t save her.”
Lou Tianming looked at Li Si, took his sister over and held her in his own embrace. One hand still lightly plucked at the zither, murmuring: “Tianshe was a good girl. When she was little, she always liked clinging to me and elder brother’s side, making us take her to play. Once she was left alone, she would cry, cry continuously. She didn’t like being alone—she was afraid of being alone. Once, I left her alone, and I hid in a corner watching her cry. She cried for a long time, never stopping. But then she suddenly stopped crying. I went out and asked her why she stopped crying. Tianshe told me it was because she had just seen her deceased birth mother. From then on, Tianshe never cried again. She quietly told me: Mother didn’t like her always crying. Mother wanted her to become strong, to live always smiling. But I could tell Tianshe’s smile suppressed much sadness. I once hoped she would cry heartily in my arms again, crying out all the grief and sadness she’d accumulated in her heart all these years. I didn’t want to see a sister who smiled on the surface while her heart wept.” Lou Tianming extended his other hand to gently stroke Lou Tianshe’s hair, smiling slightly: “I’m very happy today. Because after all these years, Tianshe cried in my arms again. No matter what her tears contained, I know those tears were real.”
Li Si quietly watched Lou Tianming’s flickering purple pupils, quietly listening to the silk zither sound flowing from beneath Lou Tianming’s fingers like night wind and stars. At this moment, he felt himself superfluous. The two people before him seemed to occupy everything. Li Si quietly withdrew from the bamboo cottage.