The weather was growing colder. Although the rebellion in Gusu City had been suppressed promptly, many people had still lost their lives.
Su Zhenzhen navigated through the mountain forest. She had already lost track of how many days she had been in the woods. If she had a camera, she could practically star in a wilderness survival show, and perhaps even make a name for herself as an internet celebrity.
Squatting on the ground, Su Zhenzhen dug for wild yams. Hearing a rustling sound behind her, she turned around warily and saw a farmer holding a large sickle appearing at her back.
Su Zhenzhen tightly gripped the small sickle in her own hand.
This person's face seemed somewhat familiar.
"It's you, Junior Sister," the farmer stared at her and spoke slowly.
It was actually the farmer she had encountered behind the Gusu post house last time.
Su Zhenzhen was dressed in men's clothing and had smeared dirt on her face. Even so, she was recognized at a single glance.
It seemed she had made the right choice to hide in sparsely populated areas.
The farmer's sickle and body were covered in blood. There was no one else around him; he was the only one left.
"Damn it, those Embroidered Uniform Guards kill like maniacs."
The farmer obviously hadn't expected this uprising to turn out so tragically.
In the face of death, his inner convictions suddenly collapsed. He began to doubt whether the Venerable Changchun he believed in truly possessed divine power.
"Dead, damn it, they're all dead..."
The farmer swung his sickle wildly, and Su Zhenzhen stepped back, holding Sushan in her arms.
"Junior Sister, we can't survive. None of us can survive. The Embroidered Uniform Guards are everywhere outside now. They kill anyone they see with the Changchun flower mark..." Pausing, the farmer's gaze fell on Su Zhenzhen's face. "Junior Sister, where is your Changchun flower mark?"
Su Zhenzhen stared at the farmer. She looked down at his arm. "You're injured. I'm a doctor, let me treat your wound."
The farmer looked down and saw his bleeding arm.
"Treat the wound, yes, must treat the wound, or I'll die... I will die..." the farmer muttered to himself.
Su Zhenzhen put down Sushan, stepped forward, took out some medicinal powder, and poured it onto his wound.
"What is this?"
"It stops the bleeding."
As the powder settled on the wound, the farmer's eyes darted around Su Zhenzhen's face again.
After treating his wound, Su Zhenzhen walked to the side to dig for something.
"What are you digging for?"
The farmer stared at her.
"Digging for wild yams to eat. Are you hungry?"
Su Zhenzhen dug out a yam, snapped it in half to reveal the sticky, stringy flesh inside, and took a bite directly.
Standing behind Su Zhenzhen, the farmer swallowed hard.
Su Zhenzhen stood up and walked to another spot to continue digging.
She dug out a very large yam, scraped off the dirt, and handed it to the farmer.
The farmer reached out and took it. He glanced at the yam in Su Zhenzhen's hand, then at his own; they looked exactly the same.
Starving, he immediately stuffed it into his mouth.
Having been chased by the Embroidered Uniform Guards for several days, the farmer hadn't eaten anything for a long time.
Even as he ate, he kept a grip on his sickle, his eyes fixed on Su Zhenzhen.
"Junior Sister, where is your Changchun flower mark?"
After finishing the yam in his hand, the farmer spoke again.
Su Zhenzhen stared at him, then slowly backed away while holding Sushan.
The farmer, gripping his sickle, took a step forward. "Where is your Changchun flower!" He raised the sickle toward Su Zhenzhen.
But before the sickle could fall, the farmer suddenly felt his body go numb, as if being pricked by countless fine needles.
His arm trembled, unable to hold the sickle. His limbs went weak, as if stepping on cotton.
The sickle fell to the ground. The farmer clutched his chest with one hand, his vision going dark, unable to see clearly. His breathing became shallower and slower, a suffocating sensation wrapping around his neck. No matter how wide he opened his mouth to breathe, he couldn't take in any fresh air, only emitting a raspy, wheezing sound.
Su Zhenzhen stood there.
The profession of a doctor is but a thought away from being a god, and a thought away from being a demon.
Su Zhenzhen had always warned herself never to cross this bottom line.
But now, she had no time to think about this.
Keeping herself alive was more important than anything else.
The farmer fell to the ground. He wasn't dead yet, just completely numb. His eyes stared fixedly at her, and he struggled to speak, but due to the poison, he couldn't make a sound.
Save me.
He wasn't far from death if no one saved him.
And in a mountain forest like this, it was very hard to run into anyone. Even if he did, it would be the Embroidered Uniform Guards hunting him down.
What Su Zhenzhen had given the farmer to eat just now wasn't a yam, but highly toxic aconite.
What she had eaten herself was the actual yam.
Su Zhenzhen hugged Sushan and turned to leave.
She ran for a distance, the wind in the woods whistling past her ears, and her mind gradually calmed down.
It was her first time killing someone. Even though the man didn't die directly in front of her, Su Zhenzhen's fingertips still trembled uncontrollably.
So cold.
She hugged herself tightly, burying her head to calm down for a moment.
Then she stood up and continued on her way.
It was about to get dark. It got dark faster in the woods than outside.
Looking disheveled and dirty, Su Zhenzhen passed by a river. Seeing the blood-tinged water drifting over the surface, she fell silent for a moment and decided to wait and drink from a cleaner mountain spring in the woods later.
She stood up with Sushan in her arms and saw a corpse floating down the river.
It was the corpse of a woman whose figure looked very similar to hers.
Su Zhenzhen stared at it for a while, put down Sushan, found a thick, sturdy stick in the woods, and, suppressing her fear, hooked the corpse over.
So heavy.
Covering her nose with one hand, Su Zhenzhen saw that the corpse's face was bloated and unrecognizable from soaking in the water.
She took off her small bundle, haphazardly packed some useless medicine bottles into it, and took out that token.
She had cut off some gold from the edges of the token to use as survival funds.
Su Zhenzhen held the token and rubbed it for a moment, then stuffed it into the small bundle along with the bottles and tied it to the dead woman's body.
She used the wooden stick to push the woman's body further away, then brought over many thick branches to block the corpse from floating further downstream.
This should be about right, shouldn't it?
It would be discovered very soon.
After finishing her task, Su Zhenzhen continued on her way.
The sky was almost completely dark, turning a deep, somber blue.
Following a small path deeper into the mountains, she finally found a nunnery.
The nunnery was hidden deep in the mountains, looking somewhat desolate amidst the falling autumn leaves.
Cixin Nunnery.
Su Zhenzhen read the name of the nunnery aloud, then looked down and saw a cluster of roses growing by the wall near the entrance.
She reached out, plucked a pink rose, and held it in her hand to tease Sushan.
Sushan nestled in Su Zhenzhen's arms, reaching out its paws and batting wildly, knocking off a few petals.
The pink petals fell like rosy clouds, returning to the dust.
After playing with the flower for a while, Su Zhenzhen stood up and walked up the steps with the rose in hand.
The nunnery door was half-open. Holding Sushan in her arms, Su Zhenzhen knocked gently.
After a short wait, someone came over.
It was a middle-aged nun wearing gray robes, holding a bamboo broom in her hand.
"Excuse me, could I lodge here for the night?"
The nun looked Su Zhenzhen up and down, recognizing her as a woman.
The followers of the Qingxu Taixuan Society were rising up in rebellion everywhere, throwing the entire Great Zhou Dynasty into chaos.
However, because the uprising in the Gusu region was suppressed in a timely manner, the area was not overly affected, and the lives of the common people remained relatively normal.
"Come in."
The nun was quite accommodating, stepping aside to let Su Zhenzhen enter.
Su Zhenzhen walked in, holding Sushan in her arms.
The nunnery was very old. Likely due to being in the mountains, it was rather damp, with mottled moss growing on the walls. In the courtyard stood a pomegranate tree, laden with fruit.
In the middle of the courtyard was an incense cauldron, covered by a simple shed to keep the rain off.
Along the side were waist-high candle stands, stretching all the way down the base of the wall.
Further ahead was the main hall. Stepping over the wooden threshold, one could see a statue of Guanyin enshrined inside. Due to years of disrepair, the gold paint was peeling, yet in the dim candlelight, it exuded a warm, antique charm.
Three sticks of incense were burning in the censer, curling with blue smoke. Su Zhenzhen knelt on a futon to pay her respects.
Sushan, held in her arms, had its head pressed down to bow three times as well.
"May I ask how to address you, Master?"
"This poor nun is Liaochen."
"Master Liaochen." Su Zhenzhen pressed her palms together.
Liaochen returned the greeting and then said, "The nunnery is small; there are only two rooms." Liaochen's gaze fell on the kitten in Su Zhenzhen's arms, and she immediately frowned. "If it makes a mess anywhere, I will throw it out."
Su Zhenzhen quickly replied, "It won't. It knows how to go outside to do its business."
Sushan was very well-behaved and never made a mess indoors.
"There are steamed buns in the kitchen." After saying this, Liaochen left.
Su Zhenzhen got up and went to the kitchen to take a look. There were two cold steamed buns left in the steamer.
She took one out to eat, but it was so awful that she spat it out.
It wasn't that Su Zhenzhen didn't cherish food, but she had never eaten such a terrible steamed bun in her life.
Su Zhenzhen stood in the kitchen with her mouth open, the strange taste still lingering on her tongue.
Liaochen had appeared behind her at some point. "What's wrong?"
Su Zhenzhen turned around. "Nothing."
Liaochen left.
Su Zhenzhen looked down and broke off a small piece of the bun for Sushan.
Sushan, who usually ate anything, lowered its head to sniff it and then made a motion like it was burying poop.
Normally, a kitten would bury delicious food to save for later.
Abnormally speaking, it thought this was poop.
Su Zhenzhen took out some dried fish from her bundle and fed it to the cat.
Sushan squatted on the ground, eating the dried fish.
Su Zhenzhen reached out and poked its little head.
The kitten knew nothing of sorrow.
If I had left you with him, you would have been chopped into mincemeat by now.
The weather was too cold, and Su Zhenzhen hadn't eaten anything warm in a long time.
She walked out of the small kitchen and saw Liaochen meditating in front of the Guanyin statue in the main hall. She walked over and asked softly, "Can I cook the vegetables in the kitchen? I can pay for them."
"Mhm." Liaochen tapped the wooden fish, giving a low response.
Having received permission, Su Zhenzhen returned to the kitchen.
She looked around the kitchen and found a few radishes and some eggs.
She made braised radishes and steamed a bowl of eggs.
Su Zhenzhen was not very used to using an earthen stove, as she had always used small stoves before. However, her grandmother's house in the countryside had an earthen stove, and Su Zhenzhen used to visit often when she was little, helping her grandmother tend the fire. Therefore, she wasn't completely inexperienced.
It was hard to control the heat of an earthen stove, so the rice turned out a bit burnt at the bottom, but it was just right to eat as crispy rice crust.
After putting out the fire in the earthen stove, Su Zhenzhen threw in a few sweet potatoes and covered them with plant ash.
The food was ready quickly. There was a wooden table in the small kitchen that looked very old, covered with scratches and knife marks.
Su Zhenzhen placed the food on the table and went to call Liaochen to eat.
Seeing Su Zhenzhen coming out of the small kitchen, Liaochen immediately retracted her neck, which had been craning out for miles.
"Master, it's time to eat."
Liaochen put down the wooden fish in her hand, stood up, and nodded.
The nunnery was not large, and the aroma of cooking from the small kitchen had long drifted everywhere.
Su Zhenzhen hadn't made a large portion, afraid they wouldn't finish it.
She had just eaten half a bowl of rice, while Liaochen had already finished three bowls.
Su Zhenzhen: ...
The room Su Zhenzhen stayed in was probably used for storing sundries. It had a small cot. Liaochen brought her a quilt and told her there was a charcoal basin in the small kitchen; if she was cold, she could start a fire herself.
Su Zhenzhen went to the small kitchen to fetch the charcoal basin and saw Liaochen standing in front of the stove with her back to her. "Master, there are still a few sweet potatoes in the stove."
Liaochen didn't turn around, simply nodding.
Su Zhenzhen left carrying the charcoal basin. After walking out of the small kitchen, she remembered she hadn't taken a fire striker, so she returned. Then she saw Liaochen holding a roasted sweet potato, eating it with a mouth completely smeared in black soot.
Su Zhenzhen: ...
Liaochen: ...
Su Zhenzhen lowered her head, picked up the fire striker from the table, and turned to leave.
Winter was too cold, and Sushan's fur puffed up all over. Every day after waking up, it had to spend a long time licking itself. Later, perhaps getting tired of licking, it just gave up, sitting there looking like a neglected concubine in the cold palace.
When Su Zhenzhen had free time, she would comb its fur. She didn't dare trim it, afraid the cat would get cold.
After wiping Sushan's body, Su Zhenzhen held it and lay down under the quilt.
The kitten lay warmly in her arms, letting out comfortable purring sounds.
The small room wasn't large, and with the charcoal basin, the temperature slowly rose.
Lying there, Su Zhenzhen gradually felt sleepy.
Halfway through her sleep, Su Zhenzhen heard rustling sounds in the room.
She woke up immediately.
Ever since leaving the Gusu post house, Su Zhenzhen had become a very light sleeper; the slightest noise would instantly wake her.
The storage room was small, and because a charcoal basin was burning inside, some windows had to be left open.
The moonlight was excellent tonight. Even without a lamp lit in the room, she could clearly see that there was another person inside.
It was a slender young girl dressed entirely in black. When she tilted her head to look at her, she revealed a youthful, doll-like face.
Su Zhenzhen noticed her purplish lips, and as her gaze shifted down, she saw the girl's injured arm.
Before the girl could raise the dagger in her hand, Su Zhenzhen spoke up first, "Do you need help? I'm a doctor."
A dim oil lamp was lit in the room.
The girl forced herself to sit up, while Su Zhenzhen took medicine from her bundle and explained, "I'm just staying here for the night."
Sushan was awakened and squatted on the cot, watching the two of them.
It wasn't afraid, merely stretching out a paw to lick its fur.
Su Zhenzhen walked over, placed the medicine bottle in her hand on the table, and reached out her hand to the girl. "Let me check your pulse."
The girl stared at her for a moment before slowly extending her own hand.
Su Zhenzhen placed two fingers on her pulse. "It's poison."
The girl was already feeling dizzy. "The blade was poisoned..."
Oh?
"You should have said so earlier." Su Zhenzhen took off her sash and used the cloth strip to tie tightly around the girl's arm, closer to her heart, to restrict the blood flow.
"Wait for me a moment."
Su Zhenzhen left the room and soon returned from the small kitchen with a basin of plant ash water.
"Bear with it."
Su Zhenzhen held the girl's arm, tore open the clothing around the wound, and poured the plant ash water over it to disinfect it.
The girl bit her lip, her face turning deathly pale from the pain.
After finishing the disinfection, Su Zhenzhen calmly and carefully examined the wound. She took out a small knife, sterilized it over a fire, and gently made a small incision at the edge of the wound. Then, using a cupping glass, she sucked out all the poisoned blood.
Seeing the blood seeping from the wound turn a normal red, Su Zhenzhen finally stopped. She then went to fetch some dried herbs, casually grabbed two bowls from the small kitchen to mash them up, and applied the poultice to the wound on the girl's arm.
With everything taken care of, Su Zhenzhen breathed a sigh of relief.
"Actually, I specialized in internal medicine."
The young girl: ...
The girl looked no older than fifteen or sixteen, but her eyes were rather cold.
Even after Su Zhenzhen bandaged her wound, the expression on her face didn't change much, except for a subconscious glance at her own wound when she heard Su Zhenzhen say she studied internal medicine.
The temperature of the charcoal basin in the room was slowly dropping, so Su Zhenzhen added a few pieces of charcoal to keep it from going out.
It was getting very late, and Su Zhenzhen was truly exhausted.
"Do you need anything else? If not, I'm going to sleep."
After staring at Su Zhenzhen for a moment, the girl pulled a piece of paper from her clothes.
Slightly curious, Su Zhenzhen tilted her head to take a look, then immediately froze.
Drawn on the paper was a portrait of her.
"I got this from the Brocade Guards. I heard them say they want to capture you alive."
She knew it! People just shouldn't do good deeds!
"But since you saved me, I won't turn you in."
She knew it, people still ought to do some good deeds.
"I'm an assassin. A top-tier one."
Su Zhenzhen glanced down at the girl's arm.
The girl felt a bit stifled. "That was because they ambushed me."
"Oh." Su Zhenzhen nodded, yawning as she went to bed.
Seeing that she wasn't anxious at all, the girl asked curiously, "Aren't you afraid?"
"I am afraid." Su Zhenzhen hugged Sushan and collapsed into the blankets. "But even if I'm afraid, I still have to sleep. People will die if they don't sleep..."
Su Zhenzhen's voice gradually faded. She had been on the run all this time and hadn't had a full night's sleep. Now that she finally had a place to sleep and a warm charcoal basin, she naturally wanted to rest well.
The woman fell asleep.
A'yuan stared at her for a while before turning and leaving.
The room grew quiet, with only the charcoal basin emitting a faint, warm glow.
It started raining outside at some point. The nunnery had long been in disrepair, and Su Zhenzhen felt something pawing at her.
She opened her eyes and saw Sushan crouching by her pillow, staring at the ceiling.
Su Zhenzhen followed its gaze and realized the roof was leaking.
Drops of water were falling from above, landing on her blanket.
Su Zhenzhen was simply too sleepy.
She casually grabbed the basin that had previously held the plant ash water, placed it on top of her blanket to catch the drips, and fell right back asleep.
The next day, the autumn rain that had fallen all night finally stopped.
Su Zhenzhen slowly opened her eyes and saw that the water basin she had rested on her body now held a thin layer of accumulated water.
She reached out, took the basin down, placed it on the floor, and then hugged Sushan to catch a little more sleep.
Su Zhenzhen was awakened by the sound of sweeping in the courtyard.
Her extra sleep had been very comfortable. She sat up, went out of the room to wash up, and saw Master Liaochen coughing.
The weather was too cold, making it easy to catch a chill.
Since Su Zhenzhen was staying here, she naturally couldn't do so for free.
"Master, I know a bit of medicine. Would you like me to take a look at you?"
Liaochen gave her a look and nodded reservedly.
The two sat down in the courtyard.
Su Zhenzhen placed one hand on Liaochen's pulse. "Master, where do you feel unwell?"
Master Liaochen's gaze drifted far away. "Back when I was born, my family's conditions were poor..."
Su Zhenzhen: ...
She was used to it.
Su Zhenzhen had encountered this sort of thing before when treating elderly patients.
You have to understand my life to know my illness.
But hadn't her first impression of this Master Liaochen been that she was a quiet, taciturn person?
-
The uprising in Gusu City was suppressed very quickly, which meant Lu Hexu soon freed up his hands to have the Brocade Guards conduct a carpet search for Su Zhenzhen's whereabouts.
"Your Majesty, all the captured female believers are here."
After cupping his hands in a salute, Han Shuo pushed open the door behind him.
Inside, dozens of female believers were locked up. Hearing the door open, they looked toward the entrance with terrified expressions.
A slender young man with a gloomy yet beautiful face appeared at the door.
He stood there, his expression cold and dark, his deep eyes sweeping over each of the women's faces.
"She is not here," he said with a dark face. "Kill them."
"Yes."
-
The Brocade Guards searched continuously within Gusu City for several days, but found nothing.
They expanded their scope, heading into the nearby mountains and forests.
It had been rainy lately, and it was raining outside again.
In the dim room of a small courtyard, Lu Hexu lay on the floor, the handheld glazed lantern placed beside him.
Wei Heng stood at the door, pacing back and forth.
"Get in here."
The door was half ajar, and a teacup was thrown out from inside.
Clearly, Wei Heng's footsteps were too loud.
Wei Heng dodged the shattered teacup on the ground and carefully pushed the door open.
The room was dim, with only the glazed lantern emitting a soft, warm light.
Wei Heng shifted his gaze upward and saw a half-worn gauze lantern hanging from the roof beam.
Painted on the gauze lantern were two little dogs, swaying unsteadily in the autumn wind.
Having not slept for many days, the young man's eyes were bloodshot, and his gaze was gloomy as he looked over.
Wei Heng stood there with a respectful expression. "Your Majesty, we found her."
Lu Hexu's figure on the floor twitched, and his pitch-black pupils suddenly contracted.
The young man sat up from the floor. "Where?"
-
The body was found by the river.
Because it had been soaking in the water for some time, the facial features were no longer discernible.
The Brocade Guards had fished the body out of the river, wrapped it in a straw mat, placed it by the riverbank, and covered it with a white cloth. Before they could even send it to the Gusu relay station, someone had already arrived.
A wind lantern hung in front of a low-profile blue silk carriage, illuminating the gloomy sky.
Before the carriage had even come to a complete stop, a figure jumped down from the cabin.
Lu Hexu appeared here with his long hair uncombed and disheveled. He took large strides toward the body lying on the ground.
Although he tried his best to suppress it, the young man's rapid breathing could still be felt.
When Lu Hexu reached the body, his breathing did not slow down; instead, it became even more chaotic.
With a cold and gloomy face, he reached out his hand. His fingertips touched the white cloth covering the body, but he did not lift it for a long time.
"Your Majesty, these are the items found on the body."
Han Shuo stepped forward and spread all the water-soaked items in his hands onto the ground.
Lu Hexu's gaze swept over the familiar bottles and jars, finally landing on that familiar token.
He suddenly gripped the white cloth in his hand and yanked it off.
"The body has been soaking in the water for a while, the face is unrecognizable..."
"It's not her."
Lu Hexu stood up, his breathing suddenly steadying.
His gaze fell on the scattered bundle. He bent down, picked it up with one hand, and then entered the carriage cabin.
Han Shuo's gaze met the late-arriving Wei Heng's.
"Who exactly is His Majesty looking for?"
"A woman."
"A woman?" Han Shuo thought for a moment. "How exactly did this woman offend His Majesty?"
Wei Heng fell silent for a moment, thinking for a long time. "She broke His Majesty's heart."
Han Shuo: ???
Han Shuo suspected he was already experiencing auditory hallucinations at such a young age.
"You mean it?" he asked in confusion.
"I mean it," Wei Heng confirmed.
-
She lied to him.
Lu Hexu gripped the soaking wet bundle and hurled it violently against the wall of the carriage.
With a loud crash, half of the white porcelain bottles inside shattered.
Hearing the commotion behind him, the Brocade Guard driving the carriage paused for a moment. He immediately fixed his eyes straight ahead, minding his own business as he continued to drive the horses.
The carriage traveled along the narrow dirt path, yet it remained incredibly steady.
Lu Hexu sat inside with his head lowered. The light from outside filtered in intermittently, casting his figure in shifting patterns of light and shadow.
The young man's fingertips had been cut by the broken porcelain shards, and bright red blood dripped down.
His gaze swept across the messy floor, settling on a white porcelain bottle that had rolled right to his feet.
The young man reached out with a bloodstained hand and picked it up.
The white porcelain bottle was sealed perfectly, its opening coated in wax. Because of this, even after soaking in the river for so long, no water had seeped inside.
Lu Hexu pried the seal open with his fingertips and caught a whiff of a sweet scent from within.
The scent of honey mint candies.
She lied to him, yet she still tried to coax him.
Or rather, he was just coaxing himself~
