Changling had always known that her eldest brother was dead, and she was the only one left of the Yue family.
All the way from Yan Kingdom, she had heard from many people the legendary stories of First Young Master Yue and Second Young Master Yue. In a daze, she began to get used to the fact that things which to her felt very recent had actually happened long, long ago.
The number eleven years was like a phrase glossed over in a storyteller’s mouth. The unreachable past—better not to think or dwell on it. Just focus single-mindedly on moving forward and doing her utmost to seek revenge.
But at this moment, she suddenly recalled some trivial past events—eldest brother always liked to practice calligraphy and compose in the military tent. She would mock that scholars were useless, while eldest brother would always speak lofty words about conquering the world through military might and governing it through culture. She would laugh at him, “If you’re so capable, try conquering the world first.” Eldest brother would then say in a serious manner, “If I really can’t manage it, if my little sister could marry someone capable, I’d be happy to be a national uncle and live carefree.” Every time he teased, he was sure to get beaten by Changling. But more often, Changsheng was always exhausting himself worrying about his brothers, worrying about the common people, viewing foreign enemies as foes. He always had endless matters to attend to, and aside from helping him fight on the battlefield and charging into battle, she seemed unable to help with much more.
Once she asked eldest brother: What do you seek in this life? How did Changsheng answer? Ah yes, he said… he only sought to have a clear conscience.
Suddenly, Changling truly realized that those battlefields of charging with swords on horseback, that unwavering ambition, those momentary legends—all had turned into a lonely moon, a handful of yellow earth.
No one would care about those unverifiable truths, just as the Yue Family Army could never reappear, just as she stood before this tombstone—how far was the distance between life and death? The mountains didn’t know, the night wind didn’t know. Only she knew.
Changling’s footsteps were very heavy, almost laboriously making her way to the grave. She had no time to consider what Ye Qi beside her might think and was about to kneel down. He suddenly reached out to support her arm, barely steadying her form.
She was confused. Ye Qi had brought her here, yet stopped her from paying respects. What was the reason?
“Look over there,” Ye Qi pointed to another tomb mound several zhang away. “That’s Second Young Master Yue’s mausoleum. Do you think what lies in that coffin is truly Second Young Master Yue?”
Changling couldn’t answer. She also didn’t comprehend the meaning behind Ye Qi asking this.
“I know it’s not, and you know it’s not. But this morning I still sent people to pry open Second Young Master Yue’s grave…” Ye Qi’s voice was gentle and slow. “Lying in the coffin is a man’s skeletal remains—a lie Shen Yao buried to deceive the world.”
Changling’s entire body shook. Her voice hoarse, she said: “You’re… saying…”
“You said you have… connections with the Yue family.” Ye Qi took a deep breath. “If First Young Master Yue’s remains were placed before you, could you recognize them?”
This sentence contained too much deep meaning. An inexplicable tremor shot from her waist up her spine to her scalp, numbing her until her face was completely colorless. She wanted to speak but for a long time couldn’t make a sound.
Ye Qi’s other hand also gripped her arm: “Don’t think about anything. Just answer me—can you recognize them?”
Whether because her body was too cold or his hands were warm, a warmth penetrated through the thin garment to her skin. Changling came back to herself and met the light in his pupils: “Yes.”
“Good.”
Ye Qi released Changling’s arms, turned and whistled. In no time, several people emerged through the dense forest. All carried tools like shovels and spades. One person Changling recognized—it was the steward from the He residence called Seventh Uncle.
“Seventh Uncle used to be a coroner and also robbed graves,” Ye Qi said to Changling. “They’re all trusted old retainers of my He family.”
Changling said nothing, only nodded lightly.
After all, he had professionally robbed graves. Seventh Uncle held the torch himself without doing manual work, directing left and right for a short while. Soon they opened a half-person-high opening in the tomb mound built of stone—barely even disturbing much earth.
Below was a hollow burial chamber. Seventh Uncle crawled in briefly, and when he emerged, he nodded to Ye Qi.
The tomb chamber wasn’t deep. Through the narrow entrance, one could see the scene inside at a glance—various vermillion pottery and bronze castings placed in numerous alcoves on the stone walls. The coffin was buried underground with only a dragon-carved lid showing. A stone beast stood before and behind. One could imagine that when buried, proper ceremonies were performed and burial goods were adequately provided.
Seventh Uncle and two others worked together to lift the coffin out. Dust flew wildly. The air filled with the smell of long-sealed earth and grass. Ye Qi said to Seventh Uncle: “You all go out first. I’ll call you if needed.”
Changling walked to the coffin. Several times she tried to exert force, but somehow, that strength of hers that could shake heaven and earth couldn’t be mustered at all at this moment. She quickly and shallowly changed breaths twice. A pair of hands reached around from behind her, settling beside her hands: “I’ll help you.”
She didn’t know where this young marquis, who couldn’t carry loads on his shoulders or lift with his hands, got such strength to slowly push open the lid as heavy as a thousand jun. Just as it was pushed open a bit, Changling suddenly turned her head away: “You do it.”
Ye Qi shifted to the side, saying softly: “Alright, I will.”
The rustling friction sound continued incessantly. When she finally heard the coffin lid fall to the ground with a thud, Changling’s heart couldn’t help but tremble. Her gaze couldn’t dare sweep into the coffin at all.
“Changting,” Ye Qi said, “turn around and take a look.”
This sentence seemed to give her a bit of courage out of nowhere. She slowly turned her head, as if using up all the strength of her lifetime. Her gaze fell into the coffin, seeing skeletal remains lying inside.
Changling walked forward, slowly bent down to look, from the skull to the foot bones. Her knuckles resting on the coffin edge were frighteningly white.
“This person’s skeleton is intact. In life, they shouldn’t have suffered serious injuries. I…” Before Ye Qi finished speaking, he saw Changling suddenly reach her hand into the coffin, covering those remains. His body leaned, instinctively grasping her wrist. Her palm stopped an inch above the hand bones of the skeleton.
Changling’s vision suddenly blurred.
Many years ago, Changsheng had mocked her: “Do you know where you least resemble a man when pretending to be one?”
“Adam’s apple?”
“No, your hands.” Changsheng said: “Those hands of yours, upon close inspection, don’t look like a man’s hands at all.”
“My hands aren’t small,” she opened her palm and made a striking motion. “One palm is enough to slap a cow to death.”
Changsheng provocatively extended his own hand, comparing it before Changling’s—longer than hers by a finger and a half joint: “Little-handed sister?”
She scoffed: “Big-handed ghost.”
A drop of warm water fell on Ye Qi’s hand. He was stunned, turned his head, and saw something suddenly fall from Changling’s reddened eyes, sliding down her fair cheek, leaving a winding trail.
Ye Qi suddenly remembered a poem.
Though your eyes hold no wine, I am drunk gazing upon them.
He saw her pupils brighten, gripping his hand in return. Her voice trembled uncontrollably: “This isn’t eldest brother. Eldest brother’s hands are much longer than mine. This person’s hands are about the same as mine…”
Seeing hope in endless darkness and abyss, even if just a tiny bit, how could it not stir a hundred emotions? At this moment, Changling even forgot to conceal her true identity. She gazed at Ye Qi, unable to wait for his affirmation.
Ye Qi nodded solemnly: “When the First Young Master was in the North Ming Peak cave, his ribs were already broken. But these remains are intact, proving this isn’t the First Young Master. It should only be a substitute that Shen Yao and the others found back then to cover up.”
“Why?” Changling’s lips were frighteningly pale. “Didn’t Mo Daoyun say that Shen Yao and the others found eldest brother? If eldest brother was in their hands, why would they use someone else’s body…”
“Because the First Young Master wasn’t in their hands.” Ye Qi enunciated each word: “He escaped eleven years ago.”
Changling stared blankly at Ye Qi.
“What did you say?”
“It’s a long story.” Dust flew in the tomb chamber. Ye Qi coughed twice from choking. “Why don’t we go outside to talk.”
At the mountain heights, the vast Milky Way hung before their eyes, within reach.
The evening wind disheveled Changling’s hair. She finally regained a bit of rationality from the chaos: “Did you learn something? So you brought me here tonight…”
Ye Qi nodded: “Do you know Fang Kai?”
Changling thought for a moment: “Before, I brought bandits from a mountain stronghold into the Yue Family Army. One person seemed to be called Fang Kai.”
“I received news that when the First Young Master passed away, that Fang Kai also died of sudden illness on the same day. But during this time, someone just discovered this person in Huai Prefecture. The man is insane, but there’s one phrase he repeats over and over, very strange. He says, ‘Not the young master.’ I vaguely had a suspicion in my heart. Feeling this matter was of great importance, I rushed to Creek Town to see this person.” Ye Qi seemed to have somewhat sore legs and found a smooth rock to sit on. “Before seeing this person, I had Seventh Uncle disguise me to look like the First Young Master. As soon as I entered…”
That night, as soon as Ye Qi stepped into the room, Fang Kai saw him and was frightened out of his wits, screaming: “First Young Master, you’re the First Young Master! You, you truly didn’t die!”
Ye Qi’s expression turned stern: “How could I die?”
“I knew it, I knew it…” Fang Kai’s eyes filled with tears as he knelt on the ground, crawling forward on his knees a few steps. “Alliance Leader Shen said you died, General Jing also said you died. They all said you died… But I, I didn’t believe it. I secretly, secretly went to look. Although the person on that bed looked very much like you, you taught me martial arts. I could tell at one glance it wasn’t you… I told our chief, told him you didn’t die, told him that wasn’t the First Young Master. But the chief didn’t believe me and insisted on driving me away… I told the truth…”
Ye Qi crouched down, asking in a deep voice: “After you left the military camp, where did you go?”
“Where did I go?” Fang Kai’s eyes were confused. “I don’t know either. I only know I kept walking and walking. Walking and walking, I walked back again. I wanted to find the chief and the others. I wanted to explain clearly. But when I went back, the chief and the others were all dead… lying on that wild slope… blood everywhere… I looked at them one by one, one by one. But they were all dead… I saw people still killing ahead. I was very afraid. I didn’t dare move, didn’t dare move at all… I only heard them say… say…”
Ye Qi: “Say what?”
“One person said, ‘He was already a dying man. Now the person who took him away was also hit by the Ten Thousand Poisons Dart. Surely won’t survive.’ Another person said, ‘Alive we must see the person, dead we must see the corpse’…”
Hearing this, Changling couldn’t help but urgently ask: “The ‘him’ that Fang Kai mentioned, is…”
“It’s the First Young Master.” Ye Qi stood up again and walked before her. “Perhaps it was in the North Ming Mountain cave, or perhaps after they brought the First Young Master to the military camp—someone rescued him. But Shen Yao and the others didn’t want this matter known, so they hastily found a corpse to disguise as the First Young Master to cover up. They didn’t expect Fang Kai would see through it. I think at the time, Fang Kai’s stronghold brothers also noticed something. They deliberately said he had sudden illness to let Fang Kai leave. But this still made Shen Yao suspicious, so he killed them to silence them…”
Her pupils brightened. In the endless darkness and abyss, she saw hope. Even if just a tiny bit, how could it not stir a hundred emotions?
But soon, her expression fell again: “But if…”
“If the First Young Master is still alive, why hasn’t he appeared all these years? Why could he watch the Yue Family Army fall into the Shen family’s hands?” Ye Qi, just by looking at Changling’s eyes, seemed to know what she was thinking. “Yes, perhaps the First Young Master is no longer in this world. But that’s only perhaps. Another perhaps is that he’s still alive, isn’t it?”
Changling’s heart shook: “Another perhaps?”
“Yes, just like you.” Ye Qi’s eyes were slightly red, but the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “Everyone said you died, but I just didn’t believe it. If I couldn’t find you in one year, I’d continue searching the second year. If I couldn’t find you in three years, I’d spend another five years searching. By the time I thought I myself wouldn’t survive, didn’t you appear?”
Changling’s eyes rippled slightly: “Aren’t you… afraid of just wasting time, ending up waiting for nothing?”
“The extra time I have—wasn’t it all given by you?” Ye Qi smiled. “Changling, are you afraid of disappointment?”
Changling’s breath suddenly caught. She didn’t answer.
“I was afraid before. But what if?” Ye Qi looked deeply at her. “What if the First Young Master is still alive, in whatever form—just temporarily unable to appear before the world? Maybe he’s also waiting for you. Maybe we can find him? Even if we search to the end and it’s still futile, so what? At most, accept the worst outcome and return to the starting point. As long as we’re not swallowed by despair, why should we give up hope for fear of disappointment?”
“Accept the worst outcome?”
“Right. Anyway, you’re alone now. As long as you take good care of your body, besides that, is there anything else you’re afraid of losing?”
Changling lowered her eyes. After a long while, she gently shook her head: “Yes.”
Ye Qi was slightly puzzled: “What is it?”
“You.”