When Ita came and pulled Fang Ke out of bed and into the back garden, it was just past the first quarter of zi hour. Half-asleep and dizzy, unsteady on his feet, irritable and restless — yet the moment he laid eyes on the dozen-odd black-clad figures sprawled haphazardly all over the back garden, he came to life in an instant. “How many died? How do we examine them? Have they all been opened up yet?”

That single shout sent the few who had just barely regained consciousness plunging right back out of it.

“Brother Fang, don’t be in such a hurry — let’s think this through. Come sit over here.” Lin Sui’an beckoned.

Fang Ke sat down at the stone table and noticed that beside Jin Ruo had appeared a middle-aged man of around forty — broad-bearded, seated on the ground, dressed in black, bound hands and feet, both eyes thoroughly blackened with bruises, his expression deeply aggrieved.

“So what you’re saying is — the Eastern Capital doesn’t recognize your status as acting Young Gate Master of the Pure Gate at all?” Lin Sui’an folded her arms and looked at Jin Ruo.

Jin Ruo scratched his head and said nothing.

Hua Yitang snickered. “A dragon at home, a worm abroad.”

Fang Ke had only joined the group a few days ago. Aside from the well-known Hua Yitang, he wasn’t familiar with the backgrounds of the others. Now, hearing the full story, he realized this “Jin Ruo” was apparently the young master of a jianghu sect, and was rather surprised. “What is the Pure Gate?”

Ita raised a hand. “A sect with a lot of gossip.”

Mu Xia: “The jianghu’s information broker.”

Fang Ke: “Hm?”

“Nonsense!” Elder Ding Kun, the Tenth Elder, barked furiously. “Our Pure Gate has long been known throughout the jianghu as ‘Ears That Hear a Thousand Ages, Eyes That Reach to Heaven’ — revered by all jianghu circles as ‘the foremost eyes and ears under heaven.’ The Eastern Capital’s Pure Gate branch holds the highest prestige of all. Do not lump us in with those worthless dregs of the Yangdu Pure Gate!”

Mu Xia and Ita: “Wow!”

Hua Yitang: “My, it sounds like the Eastern Capital’s Pure Gate is far more impressive than the Yangdu branch.”

Jin Ruo let out a cold snort. “The Pure Gate’s code states that wherever Qian Jing resides, that is where the true orthodox Pure Gate lies. No matter how grandly you describe yourselves, it counts for nothing.”

Ding Kun laughed coldly. “Qian Jing isn’t in your hands either, you little greenhorn — you’re hardly orthodox yourself.” With that, his gaze shifted to Lin Sui’an. “Lin Niangzi, if you are willing to gift Qian Jing to the Eastern Capital’s Pure Gate, our Pure Gate would honor Lin Niangzi as a permanent guest of honor. From that day forward, any information Lin Niangzi wishes to obtain will be provided entirely free of charge.”

At those words, Jin Ruo’s face went dark. Hua Yitang’s and Lin Sui’an’s eyes lit up, and they exchanged a glance.

Hua Yitang raised a brow: Sounds rather more generous than Jin Ruo’s offer.

Lin Sui’an probed her back teeth with her tongue: Free is always the most expensive.

Hua Yitang raised his fan to cover his mouth and gave a faint, deliberate cough.

Lin Sui’an put on a warm and affable smile. “It does sound like a favorable deal — quite a good arrangement.”

Jin Ruo’s face promptly turned the color of a pot bottom. He leapt to his feet — only for Lin Sui’an to grab his wrist and yank him back down onto the seat, hard enough to leave his backside stinging.

Ding Kun was somewhat suspicious. He had made inquiries into Lin Sui’an and Hua Yitang’s characters: Lin Sui’an’s martial prowess was extraordinary, and her methods were ruthless; Hua Yitang’s wealth was boundless, and his mind sharp as a needle. Neither of them was an easy mark — could they really have taken his words at face value so readily?

“Elder Ding may not be aware,” Hua Yitang said, gently fanning himself as he let out a long, plaintive sigh, “but back in Yangdu, the Hua Family was thoroughly swindled by the Yangdu Pure Gate. In the space of a single month, they extorted seven hundred and thirty-eight gold pieces plus seventy strings of coin from us. The Hua Family may be wealthy, but we have absolutely no desire to be anyone’s fool!”

“There’s no way it was that mu— ow ow ow!” Jin Ruo’s face crumpled in agony as Lin Sui’an dug her fingers into him.

“Shall I tally it up for you item by item?” Hua Yitang asked with a serene smile.

For some reason, the moment Jin Ruo saw Hua Yitang’s smiling face, he felt a pang of inexplicable guilt.

“Even I, when purchasing information, could only get a fifty percent discount at best — it was truly —” Lin Sui’an also let out a long, melancholy sigh. “Heartbreaking to hear about —”

Hua Yitang: “Tearful for those who witness it.”

“Utterly disheartening.”

“Maddening beyond words.”

“A bond that has clearly run its course.”

“No need to force what was never meant to be.”

Jin Ruo’s face went green.

Ding Kun quietly cross-referenced in his mind the prices he knew the Pure Gate charged against Hua Yitang’s quoted figures — and discovered a discrepancy of four hundred and thirty-eight gold pieces plus seventy strings of coin. He was deeply shocked: the money had indeed been pocketed by Jin Ruo! The look he gave Jin Ruo turned rather contemptuous. For an acting young master of the Pure Gate to have sunk to such a state — the Yangdu Pure Gate was clearly every bit as decrepit as rumor had it, truly not worth a mention.

“Elder Ding, your earlier promise — that the Pure Gate would henceforth provide all information to the Hua Family entirely free of charge — was that genuine?” Hua Yitang asked.

Ding Kun: “Every word of it!”

“Would you be willing to formalize it in a written contract with the Hua Family?”

“This…” Ding Kun hesitated a moment, then clenched his jaw. “Fine!”

“Qian Jing is an ancient and priceless artifact,” Lin Sui’an said. “Simply handing it over as a gift — isn’t that a bit improper?”

Ding Kun kept right on gritting his teeth. “We are willing to purchase it for five hundred gold pieces!”

“One thousand gold pieces!”

Ding Kun’s back molars ached. “Agreed!”

“Splendid!” Lin Sui’an settled it with finality. “That’s decided then.”

Ding Kun quietly exhaled with relief.

He had still harbored some doubts about these two earlier, but now, seeing them insisting on a written contract and asking for such a large sum, he believed them a bit more.

“However — the transfer of Qian Jing is a matter of great importance to the Pure Gate. We can’t simply handle it carelessly,” Lin Sui’an said. “Surely there should be a proper venue, a ceremony of some kind?”

Ding Kun: “Lin Niangzi makes a fair point.”

“How many elders does the Eastern Capital’s Pure Gate currently have? Who is the primary person in charge? Might it be possible to meet and discuss this in detail?” Lin Sui’an asked. “I am only an outer-sect disciple and don’t fully understand all the protocols involved — I would need the elders’ guidance.”

“But of course.” Ding Kun nodded readily several times. “Allow me to return and consult with the other elders, then make contact with Lin Niangzi again on another day — how does that sound?”

Lin Sui’an: “Very well.”

Hua Yitang fanned himself and glanced at Mu Xia. Mu Xia immediately took the cue and untied Ding Kun’s bindings. Ding Kun rolled his wrists and stood up, took a glance at his brethren lying strewn around him, and the relief that had just spread across his face clouded over again.

Lin Sui’an quickly spoke up: “As a gesture of good faith, every brother injured today will be given a healing remedy — free of charge.” She looked toward Fang Ke. “Brother Fang, I’ll leave it to you.”

Fang Ke had been dragged out here with no prior explanation, and had spent the whole time listening in complete bewilderment. Now he was even more at a loss: when had he ever prepared any kind of wound medicine?

Hua Yitang: “I know Brother Fang will be reluctant to part with it, but this matter is of great importance to the cooperation between the Hua Family and the Pure Gate. I hope Brother Fang will be willing to make a sacrifice.”

Fang Ke: ???

Hua Yitang rapidly flicked his little fan, his eyebrows going up and down in unmistakable suggestion: “It’s the remedy you and Ita spent three hours brewing last night, using dozens of rare medicinal ingredients —”

Fang Ke understood at once: that concoction — it was nothing of the sort. It was Ita’s failed attempt at tea. Even he himself found it difficult to swallow. These two really were ruthless.

“Fine, let them have it.” Fang Ke sighed with great reluctance.

Ita was even more reluctant — she pulled a long face, poured what remained of the old tea from the tea vessel into small jars and handed them over. Ding Kun was initially skeptical — after all, this “sacred remedy” smelled rather dubious — but then he watched one unconscious brother take a single small sip, and a man who should have remained out for over two hours suddenly jolted upright right on the spot, his consciousness completely restored. Ding Kun was overjoyed. He thought: truly worthy of Hua Family Fourth Young Master — with wealth like that, of course he’d have miraculous remedies on hand. He eagerly helped Ita and Fang Ke administer the brew to each injured man. In less than the time it took to finish a cup of tea, everyone had come around.

And that Doctor Fang had even kindly advised them on dosage timing and things to watch out for — thorough and meticulous, a true physician’s benevolence.

Ding Kun led his brothers away with repeated thanks, and they departed in haste.

Ita sat off to one side, clutching the remaining tea vessel with a sulky look on her face. Jin Ruo stared at Fang Ke in shock — actually, from the moment Lin Sui’an had pulled him back down, he had already understood. Lin Sui’an was likely employing the strategy of “building false roads while secretly taking a different route” — first stabilizing Ding Kun, then planning their next move carefully. What truly astonished him was something else: he had been with Lin Sui’an and Hua Yitang for this long, and even he often couldn’t immediately grasp what the two of them were thinking — yet this Fang Ke had only known them for a few days. How was it that with just a single word and a single glance, he could coordinate with them so perfectly and without a hitch?

Was this what Lin Sui’an called “crushing intellectual dominance”?

“Jin Ruo, you little brat!”

Lin Sui’an brought her palm down on the back of Jin Ruo’s head — not hard, but it still left Jin Ruo mildly dazed. He let out an “Ah?”

“What exactly did you come to the Eastern Capital for?!” Lin Sui’an’s eyes and voice were both sharp and stern. “Tell me the truth!”

Jin Ruo hunched his neck, feeling himself deflate. “The Pure Gate’s sacred object, Qian Jing, and the secret swordsmanship manual, the ‘Ten Purities Collection,’ have been lost for many years. The Pure Gate’s main headquarters has lost much of its authority — branch sects scattered across the land have all started pursuing their own agendas. The hearts of the people are long gone… especially the Eastern Capital’s Pure Gate branch. Located right at the foot of the emperor, they have every advantage of timing and position, and in recent years their momentum has been powerful — they have every intention of supplanting the Yangdu headquarters…”

“So you came to the Eastern Capital with us because you wanted to use Lin Sui’an’s abilities to bring the Eastern Capital’s Pure Gate to heel?” Hua Yitang gave Jin Ruo a sideways look.

Jin Ruo’s voice was muffled. “I didn’t expect them to be so brazen — coming directly to attack us before I even went to find them.” He clenched his fists. “Lin Sui’an, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have used you and Qian Jing. This matter — this matter, leave it to me, I have my own way of handling it —”

Lin Sui’an: “It was Elder Zhang’s idea, wasn’t it?”

Jin Ruo looked up sharply: “How did you —”

Hua Yitang: “Did you really think that walnut-sized brain of yours could cook up something this foolish on its own?”

“Who — who has a walnut-sized brain —”

“I can help you.” Lin Sui’an said. “But I have one condition.”

Jin Ruo’s eyes lit up. “I can make a promise too — from now on, whatever information you want, the Pure Gate will provide it all for free, and I can sign a contract for that too!”

“Oh, please.” Hua Yitang scoffed. “Does the Hua Family lack that kind of small change?”

Jin Ruo: “Hm?”

“My condition,” Lin Sui’an said with a cheerful smile, “is that you become my disciple.”

Jin Ruo was stunned speechless. Hua Yitang’s fan fell.

Lin Sui’an rested her cheek on her hand, studying with considerable amusement the face before her in the moonlight — that beauty, or rather, that puffer fish.

Hua Yitang fanned himself with agitated vigor, puffing out his cheeks, drawing in a long breath, blowing it out, drawing in, blowing out — all the while murmuring under his breath. “Why can he become your disciple?”

Lin Sui’an took a sip of plain water. “He hasn’t agreed yet.”

Hua Yitang grew even more agitated. “On what grounds should he not agree?!”

“So do you want him to become my disciple, or do you not want him to?”

“I don’t get a say in it either way,” Hua Yitang grumbled. “You have your own reasons, and I don’t know the full story…”

Lin Sui’an couldn’t help but smile: there was something distinctly sour about those words.

“Actually, I want to take Jin Ruo as my disciple for a reason.” Lin Sui’an pulled out the “Ten Purities Collection” and slid it toward Hua Yitang. “This is the Pure Gate’s secret swordsmanship manual — the ‘Ten Purities Collection.'”

Hua Yitang was taken aback. “This — this this this, something this closely guarded — you — you’re really willing to let me — me look at it?”

Lin Sui’an: “Yes.”

Hua Yitang was so excited his face turned red. He set down his fan, carefully wiped his fingers with a silk handkerchief, untied the scroll’s binding ribbons with great deliberation, and looked. Then his face fell.

Lin Sui’an suppressed a laugh.

“Your martial arts were truly trained from this thing?” Hua Yitang was stunned.

Lin Sui’an nodded.

Hua Yitang looked at Lin Sui’an as though he were beholding something from another world entirely. After a long moment, he rendered his verdict: “Lin Sui’an, you are truly extraordinarily gifted — a rare genius in this world… no — a matchless, one-of-a-kind genius!”

“You flatter me.”

“But what does this have to do with taking Jin Ruo as your disciple?”

Lin Sui’an was quiet for a moment. “Jin Ruo does not trust me.”

Hua Yitang’s eyes went wide.

“Today’s matter with the Eastern Capital Pure Gate alone is enough to show that. He has always kept his guard up around me — or rather, the Yangdu Pure Gate has always been withholding things from me,” Lin Sui’an said. “Especially — when I fought the Eastern Capital Pure Gate’s people just now, I noticed that the techniques they used bore traces of the ‘Ten Purities Collection.’ Which means —”

Hua Yitang caught on immediately: “You suspect the Eastern Capital’s Pure Gate also has a surviving fragment of the ‘Ten Purities Collection’?”

Lin Sui’an: “Very likely.”

“You think Jin Ruo already knew about this?”

Lin Sui’an wasn’t certain. She shook her head and changed her angle. “Given your breadth of learning — what unusual things can you observe from this ‘Ten Purities Collection’?”

Hua Yitang’s expression grew rather pained, and even his fan-waving lost its confidence. “This humble one currently has no research to speak of regarding swordsmanship —”

“My martial arts have a fatal flaw.” Lin Sui’an said. “You’ve known about it for a while, haven’t you?”

Hua Yitang’s fan stilled. He pressed his lips together, looking at Lin Sui’an with something to say and yet unable to say it.

Lin Sui’an opened her palm, then closed it, feeling the pulse of her heart and blood — and within them, the terrifying killing intent buried deep in this body. She couldn’t feel that horrifying force right now, but she knew with perfect clarity that it could lose control at any moment. She could not guarantee that she would always come back to herself in time — if she were ever to accidentally kill someone — Lin Sui’an closed her eyes. Even the mere imagining of it seemed to fill her nose with an overwhelming smell of blood. Perhaps, in that moment, she would never wake up again.

“My martial arts came from the ‘Ten Purities Collection,’ so the means to repair its flaw must also be found within the ‘Ten Purities Collection.’ I don’t know how many surviving fragments of this manual still exist in the world — but I do know that only the Pure Gate has the ability to find them for me,” Lin Sui’an said steadily. “Only if Jin Ruo trusts me completely will he tell me the Pure Gate’s most closely guarded secrets. And for one person to truly trust another, there must be an unbreakable bond forged between them. I’ve given it much thought — if we swore blood oaths and became sworn siblings, Jin Ruo is eighteen this year, a year older than me, and I would end up having to call him elder brother — hm!”

The mere thought of that was enough to make Lin Sui’an want to start throwing punches.

Hua Yitang nodded with complete understanding: “A master-disciple relationship is much better — one whole generation above him. It would also give us grounds to deal with that little brat as we see fit.”

Lin Sui’an raised a brow. “I am the master — correcting him is my prerogative. What standing do you have in this?”

“Naturally I would be the — ahem!” Hua Yitang straightened his expression with great dignity. “I am your partner, so naturally I count as half a master.”

Lin Sui’an narrowed her eyes.

“Then it’s settled.” Hua Yitang stood up and smoothed his sleeves. “I’ll have Mu Xia pick an auspicious day and arrange a proper, celebratory discipleship ceremony — ahem, the hour is late, I should go rest first —”

“The business isn’t finished yet. What are you rushing off for?”

Hua Yitang froze. “What business —”

Before the words were out of his mouth, Hua Yitang felt the world shift before his eyes. Lin Sui’an had materialized directly in front of him in the blink of an eye, barely half a step away from him. She was a full head shorter than he was. At this proximity, looking up at him — from Hua Yitang’s vantage point, the girl’s eyes were angled upward at their corners, her gaze bright and clear, utterly bewitching.

Hua Yitang swallowed — loudly. The tips of his ears blazed. His fingers involuntarily tightened around his fan. He thought: the outfit he had chosen tonight truly was excellent. “Willow Shadows on the Moonlit Eaves Gown,” “Moonlit Tryst Graceful Fan,” “A Thousand Springs at Dawn Lotus Fragrance” — and paired with —

Lin Sui’an leaned in another three fen closer, and smiled.

Hua Yitang’s heart skipped half a beat. He caught the scent that was Lin Sui’an’s — like a lone moon reflected in an ice-cold spring, cool and clear, sinking straight into his chest.

Then suddenly the world spun. When Hua Yitang came back to himself, he was parallel with the night sky, his back flat on the ground — Lin Sui’an had thrown him, clean and solid, right over her shoulder and onto the earth.

“If anyone ever tries to take advantage of you, throw them just like this — nice and hard. Have you got that?” Lin Sui’an’s triumphant face flashed before Hua Yitang’s eyes and was gone. The sound of her footsteps pattered away.

Hua Yitang lay quietly on the ground, gazing for a long while at the vast and open night sky. Then he laughed.

“I have it.”

The first time I met you — you threw me exactly the same way, clean and unrelenting.

Side Story 1

Lin Sui’an: Trying to take advantage of me? You’re a few thousand years too early, kid.

Side Story 2

Fang Ke sat on the edge of his bed and made a meticulous note: Overtime worked past midnight — half an hour.

He finished writing, then frowned slightly, puzzled: his presence tonight hadn’t really made any difference. Why had they insisted on calling him out?

Side Story 3

Mu Xia: Fourth Young Master’s Quotable Sayings, Volume One Thousand Eight Hundred and Eighty-Eight.

“Once you’re on the Hua Family’s ship, you’re all grasshoppers on the same rope — no one gets away. This is the power of team-building!”

Side Story 4

Jin Ruo’s carrier pigeon correspondence records:

Elder Zhang, upon receiving this letter:

I am furious. The Eastern Capital Pure Gate — what a bunch of idiots. I hadn’t even gone to find them yet, and they had the nerve to come pick a fight on our doorstep! A pity they had absolutely no idea how terrifying Lin Sui’an is. They got thoroughly thrashed, every last one of them knocked out, and then got played by that scheming Hua Yitang to boot. Quite pitiful.

Now, there is good news, and there is not-so-good news.

The good news is that Lin Sui’an says she can help us reclaim the Eastern Capital Pure Gate’s territory.

The not-so-good news is — Lin Sui’an says she wants to take me as her disciple?!

She said it with a smile that looked exactly like a weasel who’d just found a chicken. The more I looked at it, the more unsettling it was. I didn’t dare agree. Something about it feels like a trap.

After much deliberation, I humbly ask Elder Zhang to discuss this carefully with the other elders.

Please reply at your earliest convenience.

Urgently, urgently, urgently!

Bonus Ni You Qian Wo You Dao – Chapter (Hua Yitang’s Perspective — Their First Meeting)

Those few days, Hua Yitang was dreadfully bored.

Feng Yuyi and his crowd seemed to have caught some kind of plague or fallen ill — they had gone three days straight without coming to cause trouble for the Hua Family, leaving him with no one to curse at and no fights to pick. He was so idle he thought he might start growing moss.

Mu Xia had stacked a pile of light reading on the table. He randomly flipped through a few volumes and found them all dreadfully dull — all outlandish story pamphlets, either maudlin inner-chamber laments or wildly fabricated ghost-and-demon tales, far less intricate in plot than the real cases he had encountered over the years.

Hua Yitang propped his chin on his hand and fanned himself, gaze drifting out the window to a spent sprig of osmanthus, sighing with boundless melancholy. “Ahhh —”

“Fourth Young Master, First Team Leader Mu Zhong has sent a letter,” Mu Xia said, walking in with an envelope. “He says he came across a murder case in Nanpu County.”

Hua Yitang sat bolt upright. “A murder case? Prepare the carriage at once — to Nanpu County —”

“It shouldn’t be necessary,” Mu Xia said, reading further through the letter. “Mu Zhong says a young woman solved the case entirely on her own. He also writes at the end that in his opinion, this young woman’s talent for solving cases is no less than Fourth Young Master’s.”

Hua Yitang: “What young woman? Let me see that letter.”

Mu Xia presented it. Hua Yitang scanned through it at a glance, his eyes growing wider and wider, his posture progressively straighter, until at the very end, he stood straight up and began pacing the room. “Locked-room murder — wrongly accused of being the suspect — solving the case as though guided by divine insight —” He suddenly looked up, his eyes bright and piercing. “Mu Xia — do you think there exists in this world another person just like me?”

Mu Xia’s eyelid twitched. “Then that person would be dreadfully unlucky.”

Hua Yitang read through the letter in his hand several more times at speed, his small fan whirring rapidly. “Mu Zhong says she has immense strength and her martial arts and swordsmanship are extraordinarily fierce — like a god possessed her body — able to hold her own against a hundred opponents. Mu Xia… could the person back then have been her —”

Mu Xia: “Fourth Young Master, that was ten years ago. And at the time, it was a middle-aged man.”

Hua Yitang fanned himself two more times, eyes blazing. “I must meet this person!”

Mu Xia sighed in resignation and pulled out a second letter. “Mu Zhong also says that the merchant caravan has already set off back to Yangdu. That young woman is traveling with them. She should arrive in approximately ten days.”

“Excellent!” Hua Yitang brightened as though lit from within. “Quickly help me pick out a few outfits and accessories — no, no, I’ll go out and buy several new sets myself!”

With that, he was already dashing out the door.

Mu Xia sighed with even greater resignation, reading through both letters once more. He noticed that neither of them mentioned the young woman’s name or surname, only a peculiar remark appended to the end of the first letter —

[In Mu’s estimation, only Fourth Young Master in all the world is so uniquely extraordinary. Yet ten years later, I have encountered a young woman who is entirely, identically the same. The world’s wonders are truly beyond what ordinary mortals like us can fathom…]

Just how similar could they be? Mu Xia thought: could it be that she also runs the same kind of terrible luck? Wherever she goes, someone ends up dead?

Ten days later.

Hua Yitang had been groomed and dressed since early morning. Mu Zhong’s carrier pigeon had brought word that the caravan would enter the city before noon, and barring any accidents, the caravan hands and that young woman would be resting at the Hibiscus Tower.

“Fourth Young Master, about what Pei the Seventh Young Master said the other day — regarding the Feng Family’s crooked poem — how do you wish to handle it?” Mu Xia asked as he helped Hua Yitang fasten his fragrance pouch.

“Have them all meet at the Hibiscus Tower.” Hua Yitang spun around in a full circle and struck a pose. “How do I look?”

“Fourth Young Master is naturally radiant, dashing and elegant,” Mu Xia said, then noticed Hua Yitang also picking up a veiled hat whose gauze hung all the way to his ankles, and couldn’t help but be quite puzzled. “Fourth Young Master, why are you wearing that?”

“When meeting a young woman for the first time, naturally one must preserve a degree of mystery — so as to leave a lasting impression.”

Once they were in the carriage, Mu Xia thought it over and felt he really should give a word of caution. “Fourth Young Master has never laid eyes on this young woman. Her appearance, height, family background — you know none of it. To already be this eager — isn’t it a little…”

Putting in effort that would go unreciprocated?

Hua Yitang: “You’ve followed me all these years. When has my instinct ever been wrong?”

Mu Xia: “…Fourth Young Master speaks wisely.”

Hua Yitang glanced up at the cloudless sky. “I have a feeling — she and I will hit it off at first meeting.”

“Hua Family Fourth Young Master! Hua Family Fourth Young Master!”

“So beautiful!”

“He truly is Hua Family Fourth Young Master — young as jade, without equal in the world. A single view of his back is enough to bewitch the soul.”

“Heavens above, if Hua Family Fourth Young Master could cast a single glance upon me, I would die without regret!”

Hua Family Fourth Young Master stood with one hand on his hip and the other raising his fan in a pose he had rehearsed hundreds of times. His gaze passed through the gauze of his veiled hat, sweeping over the dense sea of heads crowded below the bridge along the riverside. His heart beat a little fast.

Having made such a grand entrance like this, surely that young woman had noticed him by now.

Thinking thus, he struck two more poses. Once the cheering had crested and subsided three times over, he sauntered down from the bridge with great swagger, scanning his surroundings as he walked — Mu Zhong had said she was fifteen or sixteen years old, neither particularly tall nor short, a two-chi horizontal blade at her waist —

“Hua Yitang — your life ends here!” A shout exploded at his ear. Hua Yitang’s whole body jolted back to alertness. Only now did he notice that Bai Shun had somehow charged toward him wielding a large club. He cursed under his breath — he was dressed too extravagantly today, really not suited for fighting. He had no choice but to fall back first. He picked a direction at random and bolted — only to have the surrounding crowd of onlookers suddenly erupt into chaos, surging toward him from all sides. Caught completely off guard, Hua Yitang was driven into a desperate scramble. His veiled hat was knocked off, his clothing pulled askew. Thanks to years of experience fleeing his elder brother’s pursuit, his running was still fairly effective — but just as he burst clear of the crowd, he caught the flash of a blade-light ahead and to his left. Hua Yitang was alarmed — could there be an ambush set up ahead too — Ah yaaa?!

His entire person suddenly went airborne. Blue sky, clear river water, and a dense crush of heads spun before his eyes in a kaleidoscope. Only when he hit the ground did he understand — someone had grabbed him by his waistband and flung him clean through the air.

All around went completely silent. Hua Yitang didn’t dare look up. Didn’t dare move. He could tell his current position was probably not a flattering one.

Light, unhurried footsteps approached from a distance and drew near. Hua Yitang heard someone crouch down beside him and ask softly: “Are you… all right?”

The voice was clear and bright. It resonated through Hua Yitang’s chest, leaving a lingering vibration.

Hua Yitang clenched his fists at once. He rolled over and sat up in a fluid motion, composing himself into a poised and elegant seated posture, and put on his most genuine smile. “This one is Hua Yitang — I thank you for saving my life!”

The person before him was backlit, her features unclear — or perhaps he had been thrown hard enough to be genuinely dizzy and couldn’t see clearly. Her straight, upright silhouette was gilded by the sunlight into a rim of gold, like a golden-cast warrior enshrined in a sacred niche — just like that person who had saved his life ten years ago.

Hua Yitang still remembered what that person said to him last:

[Partners — through life and death, never parting. One day, you will surely find someone like that.]

He had found her.

What people call love at first sight — is in truth a long and carefully laid-awaited scheme. Ha ha ha ha!

Tomorrow is my regular rest day — I need to catch up on my drafts. Wiping sweat.