Meister der Mehrdeutigkeit

Kapitel 95

She was somewhat surprised and blushed unconsciously. She lowered her head and responded softly, "Mmm."

...

When the two left through the back door of the wine shop, the search in town had come to an end. By the time they returned to Xiufeng Village, it was already broad daylight.

Qi Xiu intended to steal from everyone in the village, so he bypassed the main gate and sneaked back through the back.

When Huai Ren returned to the room, Xiao Xiao was already awake. She was sitting upright on the bed, her eyes wide open, her little mouth tightly pursed. She looked wary. As soon as she saw him come in, she immediately smiled, lay down on the bed, and squirmed around.

Upon seeing this, he couldn't help but laugh.

He walked to the bedside, sat down, and reached out to touch her head. However, the moment his hand touched her forehead, she recoiled and pulled away. He was somewhat surprised, but then he understood. The January wind was chilly, and coupled with his lifelong cultivation of the Taiyin Flow internal energy, he was already inherently cold; his hands were now as cold as ice, no wonder the child wanted to avoid him. ...Even if they weren't cold, what difference would it make? His hands were covered in the bloodshed of countless killings; how could such deep-seated malevolence be eliminated?

He was lost in thought when his hand was suddenly grabbed.

Her little face was bright with a smile. She held his hand in her tiny hands, gently rubbing it, and murmured, "Warm your hands, warm your hands..."

He felt a warmth in his heart, and his slightly furrowed brows relaxed.

He withdrew his hand and gently tapped her nose.

The little girl giggled, fell onto his lap, and started babbling again.

He smiled too, and in that moment of relief, he remembered what Qi Xiu had said: "The Ghost Master has killed so many people, he probably can't even remember who's who... That's why it's the ones who remember who truly suffer..."

He pondered quietly for a moment, then picked up Xiaoxiao and walked to the table. On the table lay a stack of blank paper. He sat down, let Xiaoxiao sit on his lap, picked up a pen, and carefully began to write, stroke by stroke:

On the 13th day of the ninth month of the fourth year of Jianyan, the Yue Lan Sword Sect...

The fifth year of Jianyan...

...

He racked his brains, recalling almost everything in his life, and finally, he put pen to paper on the last line:

Xiufeng Village, on the twelfth day of the first month of the tenth year of Shaoxing...

...

... = = + ...

During the Lantern Festival, even this impoverished mountain village was filled with a festive atmosphere. Children made colorful lanterns and carried them around everywhere.

When Qi Xiu went to find Huai Ren to eat glutinous rice balls, she saw him writing characters very seriously.

She leaned closer and asked, "Wow, what are you writing?"

Huai Ren turned over the paper, put down his pen, and replied, "Keep it in the books."

"Keep accounts?" Qi Xiu laughed loudly. "Hero, are you kidding? Someone as poor as you..."

Before she could finish speaking, Huai Ren looked up at her.

"Hahaha, just pretend I'm talking to myself!" Qi Xiu immediately smiled ingratiatingly. She turned around and put on a sickeningly sweet voice, "Xiao Xiao, time to eat Yuanxiao!"

Xiao Xiao, who had been looking at erotic pictures, immediately snapped out of her daze, skipped over, and hugged Qi Xiu's leg.

"Wow, so good! Let's go!" Qi Xiu picked her up, giving Huai Ren a provocative look as they left.

Huai Ren frowned, stood up, and followed him. "Didn't I tell you to stay away from the child?"

"Huh? Why?" Qi Xiu looked innocent. "I'm not a bad person."

"Breaking into a house in the middle of the night, are you not a bad person?"

"Wow, hero, you're not being loyal! Didn't you say you wouldn't tell?"

"I don't remember."

"Huh?! Hey, don't tell everyone! What if I get arrested?"

"It would be strange if you hadn't been arrested. Such a large den of robbers, and no one suspected anything..."

"Haha, those people won't suspect me now. I'm a pitiful, weak woman! Hehe, that's why kneeling and begging for mercy has many benefits! Kneeling anytime can even strengthen your muscles and bones!" Qi Xiu said smugly.

He laughed after hearing that.

She looked at him and smiled, feeling a sense of accomplishment. The gentleness in that smile reminded her of snow melting on the mountains, pear blossoms blooming everywhere, and the boundless warmth of spring...

She was lost in thought when she heard someone calling her.

"Xiuxiu".

Looking up, I saw a man in his mid-twenties strolling over, smiling gently.

"Hey! It's you!!! Where's my money?!" Qi Xiu saw him, disregarding that she was holding a child, and ran over to him, shouting.

The man pulled out a money bag and said, "This is a dangerous situation. If you ask me to dispose of stolen goods, I'll die at your hands sooner or later!"

Qi Xiu took the money pouch, laughing heartily, "You're not that easy to kill!" She turned to Huai Ren and said, "His name is Helan Qifeng, the big boss of that wine shop we went to last time. Hehe, he's actually an informant. If you want to find out anything, just ask him." She turned back to Helan Qifeng and said, "This is my tutor here, Huai Ren!"

Helan Qifeng looked Huai Ren up and down, then clasped his hands in greeting and said, "I am Helan Qifeng, the owner of Qu Fang. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Huai Ren nodded slightly and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you." After he finished speaking, he took Xiao Xiao from Qi Xiu's arms and said, "Please continue your conversation, you two."

Seeing him leave, Qi Xiu complained softly, "...I didn't have anything to talk about with him..."

Helan Qifeng sighed and said, "Xiuxiu, you can't be that heartless, can you?"

Qi Xiu frowned and said, "I'm not the heartless one. You knew I had to pay the rent today, yet you only brought the money tonight. You're trying to kill me!"

“You’re not that easy to kill…” Helan Qifeng returned her words verbatim, then smiled and looked up at Huai Ren’s back. “You can even make a ghost master work as a teacher. You’re getting more and more amazing.”

Qi Xiu was startled. "You... what did you say? I didn't hear you clearly?"

Helan Qifeng sighed, "I'm telling you, your schoolteacher is none other than Han Qing, the former Left Army Advisor under Marshal Yue Fei, known for his cunning and unparalleled military strategies. Did you understand?"

Qi Xiu froze, her mind suddenly going blank. After a moment, she laughed, "You're kidding me, right? The Ghost Master is clearly eight feet tall, with arms three feet long, a face as black as ink, eyes like copper bells, and a voice as loud as a thunderclap..."

"Which is more reliable, the rumors circulating in the martial arts world or the news from my 'Qu Fang'?" Helan Qifeng narrowed his eyes and said, "I've been having people track the Ghost Master's movements, but I never expected him to be in your stronghold. Heh heh, you really have some skills. It seems your revival of Xiufeng is just around the corner... By the way, a few days ago, Aheng asked me to help him find his father's killer. Didn't you say your brother died of illness? When did it become a revenge killing?..."

She wouldn't listen to a word that followed. She turned abruptly and ran away.

Seeing this, Helan Qifeng smiled helplessly.

...

Everyone in the village gathered in the open space inside the cave. Children, holding lanterns, ran around joyfully.

Qi Xiu stopped, feeling a blur before her eyes, and could only see one person.

He held a bowl in his left hand and a lantern in his right. Little Xiao clung to his leg, giggling incessantly. Holding her like that, he could barely move. He tried to soothe her, both amused and exasperated, using the lantern and dumplings to distract her. But Little Xiao wouldn't give up, clinging to him relentlessly. Finally, he had no choice but to give up, walking with this burden of Little Xiao on his back.

She felt all her emotions tangled together, unable to distinguish between anger and sorrow. Watching the scene, she found herself involuntarily shedding tears.

"Why are you so late?" Qi Heng ran over and said with dissatisfaction, "All the dumplings are gone..."

He was about to complain a bit more when he saw tears welling up in her eyes. "Auntie, you..."

She looked down at Qi Heng, then laughed, "It's the Lantern Festival, and I can't even eat a glutinous rice ball. I have no choice but to cry..."

Qi Heng was stunned for a moment, "What's the big deal! Do you need to cry?!"

Qi Xiu wiped away her tears and said earnestly, "It's necessary..."

Before she could finish speaking, Xiaoxiao ran over, holding a bowl of glutinous rice balls high in the air.

She looked up and saw him being surrounded by a group of women who wanted him to sing and play an instrument. His embarrassment was written all over his face, and he quickly waved his hands in refusal. However, a moment later, even children joined in, clamoring to hear him sing. Reluctantly, he gave in, picked up his sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument), pondered for a moment, and began to sing softly:

The fragrance of plum blossoms lingers in the snow, pear blossoms are about to bloom after the rain, the east wind once again fills the Zhangtai Terrace, smiles abound, and we sing "Joyful Spring Comes"...

She listened, laughed, and shed tears...

...

As the days grew warmer, in March, the winter plum blossoms along the roadside gradually withered, and pear blossoms bloomed in their place.

One morning, Qi Xiu, as usual, pushed open Huai Ren's door carrying a large stack of papers. She found only Xiao Xiao inside, hunched over the table, flipping through erotic pictures.

"Wow, Xiaoxiao, don't do this. If your master sees this, he'll say I'm corrupting the child again." Qi Xiu smiled and walked over, picking her up.

Then she saw a large pile of thread-bound booklets on the table. She only remembered that for the past few months, he would start writing every night, but she couldn't understand what he was writing. When she asked him, he would just give her a perfunctory answer.

She picked up a book at random and flipped through it. Although she was illiterate, the elegant handwriting was pleasing to the eye.

"What is it that you wrote..." she said to herself with a smile.

Xiao Xiao stretched out a finger, pointed to the large characters on the book, and read: "Dao..." She looked at it, skipped a character, "...Jing".

"The Tao Te Ching?" Qi Xiu was somewhat surprised. She flipped through the booklets on the table, and every single one was the same. She roughly counted them; there were twenty-seven books, exactly the number of children in the village.

She looked at the booklet and smiled quietly.

Just then, she heard someone come in and turned around.

Huai Ren stood at the door and nodded slightly when he saw her. He walked over, took Xiao Xiao from her arms, and then took the sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument) and his luggage from the bed. He straightened up and said, "I've troubled you for many days; I should be going now."

Qi Xiu was surprised, "Why all of a sudden..."

“The children in the village can already read.” He walked to the table, looking at the booklets. “Give these to them; they can read or copy them. I’ve done what I needed to do.”

Qi Xiu looked at him and remained silent.

After a long while, she laughed, "I see... Well then, take care."

He nodded. Seeing the complex and unreadable look in her eyes, he lowered his eyelashes and said, "There's something else I need to tell you... Actually, I am..."

"Ah! I have to go tell Ah Heng this news!" Qi Xiu interrupted, turning and running out.

He paused for a moment, then smiled helplessly, "Never mind..."

He didn't wait, but carried the little one away.

When I arrived, wintersweet was in full bloom; now, pear blossoms are like snow. A warm breeze gently brushes my cheeks, carrying the fragrance of flowers—it's truly intoxicating.

He walked slowly, trying to clear his mind.

"etc!"

Suddenly, someone caught up and shouted.

He stopped, turned around, and saw Qi Heng rushing towards him.

"Why are you just leaving like that..." Qi Heng frowned. "Didn't you say you were going to teach me martial arts?"

"I have taught you all how to use the silver needles. All that's left is practice," he replied.

“But…” Qi Heng started to say something, but then swallowed it back. He frowned and pondered for a moment before hesitatingly saying, “I heard from He Lan that you are a Ghost Master. There is still so much you can teach me…”