The usually mild-mannered young marquis was trying to suppress a certain shocked and angry emotion, wanting the two of them to calm down and talk things through properly. Who knew that Second Young Master Yue would seal his acupoint with one finger in order to seize the medicine jar—how could he tolerate this? A burst of fury shot straight to his head.
“Your brain…” The enraged Ye Qi still couldn’t bring himself to be harsh with Changling. He forcibly swallowed back the four words “has been flooded with water” and asked, “What are you doing?”
Without hesitation, Changling used her internal energy to probe his pulse—after sensing a stark cold qi, she released her hand and said, “Fu Yanyang promised me that in exchange for the folding fan, he’d let me come to you for the medicine.”
“You actually believe what Second Fu says?” Ye Qi said, “The Fu family are all one clan. To save his brother’s life, what method wouldn’t he think of… What if…”
Changling interrupted him, “What if he’s deceiving me? At most I’ll give his brother another sword strike. That’s not difficult.”
Ye Qi choked, unable to keep up with her shift in conversation. “What if things aren’t as simple as you think…”
“But sometimes if you think too much, the opportunity passes,” Changling said quickly. “I’ll go and come back quickly. Whatever it is, we’ll talk when I return.”
Having said this, ignoring Ye Qi’s protests, she stuffed the medicine jar into a cloth pouch, and in a flash, she was gone without a trace.
Changling had experienced Ye Qi’s silver tongue. If he knew her actions were to save his life, nine times out of ten he would praise his Myriad Flower Treasure Mirror to the heavens and earth to dispel her concerns—yet to this day, even though he could turn the tide for her in various dangers, hadn’t he always concealed or acted relaxed and fearless about his own condition?
It wasn’t that she was unwilling to trust the young marquis, but that she couldn’t afford to gamble on that one chance.
When she brought the medicine, dusk had fallen. Inside the Fu residence, there was an atmosphere of nervous tension. Changling didn’t want to attract attention, so she directly climbed in through the back door. Fu Yanyang had clearly been pacing in place for a long time. Just as he was feeling disheartened and hopeless, he heard someone behind him say, “Is your brother dead?”
When Fu Yanyang turned around and saw his master, his eyes lit up entirely. He almost rushed forward, “The medicine… you got it?”
Changling tapped the pouch tied at her waist. “Where’s the fan?”
Without another word, Fu Yanyang pulled out half a folding fan from his bosom. “Master, take a look. Is this the fan you want?”
Changling was startled. Although she didn’t hesitate to assume the worst about human nature, she had originally thought that Second Young Master Fu would definitely require her to give the medicine first, only handing over the fan after confirming it could save Fu Yangui. Unexpectedly, Fu Yanyang had no suspicion of her intentions at all, not even afraid she would snatch the fan and leave. He just handed over the item to be exchanged like this.
She took the folding fan and opened it. The fan paper was old, and the poetry inscribed on it, the calligraphy, and the painting style were all identical to the half she had found in Yanling Village. Most importantly—holding the fan up to the setting sun, she could see the lines drawn with blue ink.
Changling closed the fan. She hadn’t expected to obtain this half of the fan so easily. For a moment, it didn’t feel real. “This… where did you find it?”
“This fan has always been kept on my elder brother’s person,” Fu Yanyang said. “For him, important things must be hidden on his own body.”
She was even more surprised. Before she could think it through carefully, Fu Yanyang rubbed his hands together. “So…”
Changling tossed the pouch and jar into Fu Yanyang’s arms. “The medicine should be correct, but I can’t guarantee whether it can save your elder brother’s life.”
“Thank you.” Fu Yanyang, rushing to save someone, ran off urgently as soon as he got the medicine. Changling opened the folding fan once more on the spot. After confirming it was correct, not caring whether Fu Yangui could survive, she left.
Just now at the He residence, she had been afraid Ye Qi would interfere and didn’t want him to follow. Now, however, she wished she could immediately fly to him and have him verify the authenticity of this folding fan.
The sky had just darkened. The firmament overhead still glowed with blue light. She could hear the hawking calls of vendors walking the streets outside. She led her horse out of the alley and was just about to mount when her steps suddenly paused—
At the street ahead, a familiar figure quickly turned away, just ten or so steps away from her.
The lanterns at the street corners had already lit up, illuminating his snow-white splendid garments, as if to bury his entire person in a halo of light.
She didn’t know when he had unsealed his acupoint, nor when he had arrived.
In this lifetime, Changling had seen many dashing and elegant figures, but there seemed to be no one who made her feel more pleasing to the eye than this white silhouette before her.
In truth, Ye Qi had quietly followed from the very beginning. The Myriad Flower Treasure Mirror was most skilled at shifting acupoints. Changling’s strike had been quite light. The moment she stepped out of the residence, he had unsealed the acupoint.
Heaven knows whether this medicine-for-fan exchange was yet another of Fu Yangui’s devious schemes. Ye Qi, full of anger and worry, had followed her all the way. Only when he confirmed she had safely emerged from the Fu residence did his suspended heart finally settle. Seeing her leading her horse out, he hurriedly stepped back, wanting to pretend he had never come.
Yet somehow, just as he was about to dash out of the street, he inexplicably slowed his pace.
Given her personality, after returning, she would definitely gloss over this afternoon’s incident lightly, perhaps not even noticing that he was angry.
But he couldn’t very well lose his temper at her again—he neither dared to nor had the heart to.
Ye Qi cautiously glanced toward the alley entrance. When he saw her looking over, his heart jumped chaotically for no reason, and he hurriedly turned around, slowly walking forward.
Never mind. He’d wait for her to run up on her own initiative, pat his shoulder, and then he could gracefully climb down from his position.
Ye Qi pretended to walk forward unhurriedly, calculating in his mind that Changling’s long strides should have brought her close by now. However, after walking half a street without experiencing the imagined “shoulder pat,” he was inexplicably puzzled—surely she couldn’t have failed to see him?
When he turned the street corner, he tilted his head and glanced back, seeing her leading her horse behind him, still ten steps away, just following him without any intention of approaching to speak. Ye Qi quickly turned his head back, feeling somewhat disappointed. Thinking that she had followed for an entire street without approaching, she probably didn’t want to accommodate his temperament and was waiting for him to coax her.
As lanterns were just being lit, a graceful figure in blue robes led a small red horse, quietly walking behind the white-robed man ahead, her pace quickening and slowing with his steps.
All along this bustling road, there were people in sedan chairs, people riding, people driving carts to deliver goods, and vendors soliciting business.
Yet among the endless stream of pedestrians on the street, she only had eyes for one person.
Changling thought Ye Qi was deliberately avoiding her. Since she assumed he didn’t want to be seen by her, she would just follow him like this.
She had always gone her own way, doing as she pleased in her own world. She didn’t know when it started, but whenever she was tired or weary, when she looked back, she could always see him.
Now, she wanted to become that kind of existence too.
The kind of existence that when he stopped and turned around, he would see.
Changling’s thoughts drifted far away. When she came back to her senses, Ye Qi had stopped at some point. Not paying attention, she had walked several more steps, instantly halving the distance between them. Just as she was hesitating whether to stop, she saw him turn around, look at her, his face showing no surprise, maintaining a stern expression without speaking, as if he had suffered some grievance.
Changling thought something was wrong with him, so she stepped forward and asked curiously, “Why did you stop?”
The young marquis was rather displeased. “If I hadn’t stopped, would you have kept that distance and followed me for as long as I walked?”
Changling said matter-of-factly, “Otherwise?”
“Don’t you…” Ye Qi looked at her clear eyes, and his voice immediately lowered. “Don’t you know how to coax me…”
“Coax you?” She asked in bewilderment, “Coax you about what?”
Originally, Ye Qi had already begun to feel that this behavior was truly childish after just a few steps, regretting that he hadn’t approached her to talk from the beginning. But having started this, he didn’t know how to stop. The two of them had walked through streets and alleys like this for quite a while, getting farther and farther from the He residence. Thinking about how on this cold day he had made a young lady accompany him hungry to drink the northwest wind, it really wasn’t right. So he could only create a way out for himself—waiting for her. Who knew that as soon as she approached, her first words were “Why did you stop?” It was practically demanding he dig himself three feet into the ground.
“You, you didn’t even notice I was angry?”
“Huh?” Changling was truly confused now. “What are you angry about?”
“What do you think? You wanted to exchange for the fan—you could have discussed it with me. But you can’t deceive me for the medicine by cutting your own hand, sealing my acupoint, and also… not listening to me finish speaking before running off like that, making me worry and fear.” The childish young marquis simply gave up completely, casting off the last layer of face he had. “Just now I walked for so long, always waiting for you… waiting for you to acknowledge me, but you insisted on ignoring me.”
Hearing this, Changling belatedly understood Ye Qi’s “point of anger.” She couldn’t help but lower her head and smile. Seeing her smile, Ye Qi became even more embarrassed. “You’re still laughing?”
She pressed her lips together, making her smile appear fainter. “I thought you wanted to avoid me, so I didn’t approach you.”
Ye Qi: “…”
“So are you still angry now?”
The young marquis, who was actually no longer angry, said stubbornly, “…Mm.”
“I didn’t discuss it with you because time waits for no one. If Fu Yangui died, and Second Fu destroyed the fan in a fit of anger, what then?” Changling said, “If the fan can’t be found and the Spirit Snake’s gallbladder doesn’t arrive either, in the future, where would you go to wait for me, and where would I go to find you?”
Ye Qi was suddenly startled. The phrase “where would I go to find you” was like a vine silently wrapping around his heart, constricting him until he was at a loss—initially, he had wholeheartedly helped her search for the folding fan so she could become a more powerful existence in this world, so that even if he were gone, no one could harm her. Yet he didn’t know that her bitter search for Wu Run’s secret texts was to save him.
Changling had never mentioned that Wu Run had also suffered from meridian stagnation, only because she knew that if he learned the truth, he would never be willing to let her risk herself for him—unless everything she showed was for herself. Then naturally, he would advance and retreat with her without reservation.
But at this moment, with both halves of the fan already in hand, she finally no longer needed to worry and didn’t want to hide anything from him anymore.
“Divine Physician Ji said that Senior Wu Run once also suffered from this condition, but he was able to live to over one hundred fifty years old,” Changling said. “I guessed that in the texts he left behind, there must be a method to counter this condition, so…”
“So that’s why you went to Yanling Mountain with me?” Ye Qi’s throat tightened. “Why have you never told me?”
“Aren’t I telling you now…” Changling raised her head to look at him. “So are you still angry?”
“I…” She was clearly speaking to him gently and ingratiatingly, but the more he listened, the more blocked his heart felt. Not only did he not feel comforted, he felt even sadder. “How can I not be angry?”
Ye Qi turned away. For that brief moment, he truly wanted to split himself in two and beat himself up severely. However, he merely closed his eyes, then turned to look at her and said, “You weren’t like this before. You always did as you pleased, acted on impulse. But now… you always have to consider me… I… I originally wanted to help you. I should have helped you. But now instead you have to… even save your own enemy for my sake… How can I not be angry?”
Changling reached out her hand and gently covered his clenched fist. “You’re wrong, Ye Qi. You’ve thought it all wrong.”
Ye Qi froze for a moment, hearing her say, “I do as I please and act unbridled because I don’t fear death, never thinking about how to live well… But being carefree and unrestrained means having no place to dwell, having no home to return to. Being without ties means having nothing to be tied to. I don’t suffer easily, nor have I ever had joy…”
His hand unconsciously loosened. She intertwined her fingers with his palm, looking at the people coming and going around them. “Look at them—father and son, husband and wife, siblings, sisters. Who can live in this world without any bonds? Who can say these bonds are shackles or burdens to them? Do you think I am…”
Ye Qi blurted out, “Of course you’re not…”
“Of course. I’m not, and neither are you.” Changling shook his arm. “So are you still angry now?”
Ye Qi was left speechless by her circuitous logic and substitution of concepts. The trembling of his entire heart quivered in his eyes. His seven-chambered exquisite heart was blocked by her until only one chamber remained—hooked away by those soul-capturing eyes of hers.
Changling saw him in a daze for quite a while and thought she hadn’t coaxed him properly. The next instant, she stood on tiptoe and lightly kissed him, then separated by a hair’s breadth, asking, “Like this, are you still angry?”