Peaceful Jianghu

Chapter 22

As Xiao Dao was looking around, there was a creak, and Xue Beifan from next door pushed open the door and came out. The two met face to face... Xiao Dao glanced sideways.

Xue Beifan couldn't help but laugh whenever he saw her, guessing that this petty girl was still upset about what happened last night, so he took the initiative to greet her, "Good morning, Aunt Xiaodao..."

Before he could even utter the word "mother," Xiao Dao snapped the window shut, and Xue Beifan awkwardly touched his neck.

At the courtyard gate, Chonghua walked in, counting on his fingers. When he saw him, he pointed and said, "Alas, today is very unlucky. Be careful of bloodshed."

"Pah!" Xue Beifan grinned. "You've already brought me bad luck the moment I got up!"

"Tsk." Chonghua said seriously, "You never listen when I'm telling you something serious."

Xue Beifan walked into the courtyard and sat down, asking him, "What are we doing today?"

Chonghua smiled slightly, "I'm going to take Xiaoyue shopping."

Xue Beifan curled his lip, "Lust makes one lose their mind!"

Chonghua raised an eyebrow. "Of course you should take the initiative in these kinds of things. You're already in bed with your boyfriend, and I haven't even held hands yet..."

Before he could finish speaking, the sound of a washbasin being smashed came from Xiaodao's room. Chonghua quickly lowered his voice, "Hey, try to coax him. He's your benefactor."

Xue Beifan glanced back at the closed window and smiled, "I want to go see Xianyun Mountain, do you want to come?"

Chonghua shrugged. "Spending time with Xiaoyue is more important."

Xue Beifan pointed his finger at his nose, "You value women more than friends!"

Chonghua shrugged in a very disloyal manner. "I had no choice. My mother ordered me to strike first!" Then, he reminded him again, "Remember this, there really is a bloody disaster."

"Stop cursing me, or all my misfortunes will be gone!" Xue Beifan shook his head and ran to the kitchen to find something to eat.

When the sun was high in the sky, Xiao Dao still hadn't left the house.

Xiaoyue thought Xiaodao was tired from making a fuss last night and was catching up on sleep, but seeing that it was almost lunchtime if she didn't get up, she went to knock on Xiaodao's door.

Three knocks rang out, followed by Xiao Dao's shout, "No one is allowed in except Xiao Yue!"

Xiaoyue smiled and gently pushed the door open to enter the room... She saw Xiaodao propping his chin up, legs crossed, a piece of cake in his mouth, lying on the bed looking at pictures.

"They're already up." Xiaoyue was about to open the window to let in some fresh air when Xiaodao quickly stopped her, "No, no!"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm too ashamed to face anyone. I'll take a couple of days off first."

Xiaoyue found it amusing, walked over to her bedside, sat down, and leaned closer to look at the drawings. She saw that Xiaodao had somehow produced several drawings, which were drawn in a mess.

"What is this?"

"The topographical map of Xianyun Mountain that the aunties and uncles in the kitchen drew for me," Xiaodao told Xiaoyue, holding half a piece of mung bean cake. "It's very strange."

"How strange?"

"Well, when the old lady was a child, she heard about Cai Lian's story. So it's been more than forty years since then, right?"

Xiaoyue nodded, not understanding what Xiaodao was trying to say.

"For over forty years, there have been rumors of the mountain spirit causing trouble. Why did Cai Bian only close the mountain recently?"

"Is it because there have been several murder cases recently?"

Xiao Dao shook his head with a pout, "Logically speaking, if you really believe that demons kill people, you should find a group of monks and Taoist priests to perform rituals to subdue the demons. What's the point of surrounding the mountain?"

Xiaoyue thought that made sense, and tilted her head to ask Xiaodao, "What did you find?"

Xiao Dao sat up, crossed her legs, and hugged the kitten that she had thoroughly "disciplined" last night. "Why these past few days? There was a murder case these past few days, and the mountain is going to be closed off these past few days... It seems like something is missing."

"Didn't the old lady mention it yesterday?"

Xiao Dao clasped his hands together and said, "Didn't the old man say that Buddha said it cannot be spoken of...?"

At this point, Xiao Dao suddenly stopped, pondering, "The Buddha said, 'It cannot be spoken of'? Could it be an allusion to a connection with the Buddhist shrine?"

Xiaoyue watched her from the side, smiled and reached out to pat her shoulder, "Xiaodao, you're the smartest. You always come up with an idea after thinking about it for a while."

Xiao Dao chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "Very clever, isn't she?"

"Yes!" Xiaoyue nodded seriously, "Xue Beifan is also very smart."

Xiao Dao immediately turned sour and pouted, "Don't praise that lecherous thief."

"But he was just outside asking the servants in the mansion if there were any Buddhist temples or shrines near Xianyun Mountain."

Xiao Dao immediately gaped open. "What did those servants answer?"

"It seems there is a Xianyun Temple, on the hillside of Xianyun Mountain."

Xiao Dao sprang up with a somersault, shouting, "This is it!"

Xiaoyue smiled and helped her fold the blanket.

At noon, Xiao Dao, with a meat bun in his mouth, packed a treasure bag around his waist, changed into light clothes, carried a small basket and a red paper umbrella, and quietly slipped out of the house from the backyard.

As soon as he stepped out the door, he saw a person smiling at him – it was none other than Xue Beifan. He was dressed in all black and carrying a black knife.

"So slow, I've been waiting for ages." Xue Beifan raised his knife and rested it on his shoulder, looking roguish.

Xiao Dao found him increasingly unpleasant, so she turned away, ignored him, and walked away.

"Hey!" Xue Beifan ran up and stopped him. "Don't be so stingy."

Xiao Dao slapped his hand away.

Seeing her expression, Xue Beifan wanted to laugh, but he held it back. He reached into his sleeve pocket, took something out, and held it out to her.

Xiao Dao glanced at it and saw it was a crystal-clear, pale purple crystal. He turned his face away, "Don't even think about bribing me."

"Take a closer look!"

Xiao Dao stared at the stone in his hand with disdain. "Just an ordinary stone."

Xue Beifan sighed helplessly, "Let's look outside through the stone."

Xiao Dao held the stone up to his eyes and was surprised to find that the alleyway looked completely different through it. The once dark alleyway suddenly came alive, with a dreamlike quality.

Xiao Dao found it strange, but not wanting Xue Beifan to notice, he pursed his lips. He took the stone to the alley entrance, glanced at the main road, but nothing had changed. Xiao Dao was puzzled.

"Silly girl." Xue Beifan walked to her side. "This Jinling Street is beautiful enough. Making it even more beautiful would be superfluous, like adding legs to a snake, or going too far."

Xiao Dao looked at him with a puzzled expression, holding the stone.

"This stone was given to me by my older brother when I was a child," Xue Beifan said quietly, arms crossed. "When we were kids, there was a period of time when we would hide in a dark place. Whenever I was unhappy, I would take out this stone and look at it, and my mood would immediately improve."

Xiao Dao tossed the stone aside and looked at him, "Why are you giving me this?"

"To cheer you up, don't be angry anymore, okay?"

Holding the stone, Xiao Dao thought, "Xue Beifan really knows how to coax people. Did he suffer with his older brother when he was little?" Xiao Dao remembered what his mother often said—"It's only natural for men to coax women. Sometimes, the line between coaxing and lying is very thin, and even men themselves can't tell the difference. But a foolish man coaxes a woman with money, a silly man coaxes a woman with affection, and a clever man coaxes a woman by playing the victim."

Xue Beifan pressed his advantage, "Are you hungry? I'll treat you to dinner."

Xiao Dao looked at him and said, "Then I want to eat something good."

"You can eat whatever you want, I'll treat you every day!" Xue Beifan said with a grin.

"Smooth-talking," Xiao Dao muttered, carrying his basket as he walked forward.

Xue Bei breathed a sigh of relief. Women are women after all; they have soft hearts and are easy to coax!

Xiao Dao, on the other hand, was too lazy to get angry. After all, a man is a man; he's heartless and just trying to appease people!

They continued walking forward, each lost in their own thoughts. After a while, Xue Beifan suddenly asked Xiao Dao in a low voice, "Have you noticed anything?"

Xiao Dao snorted, "Yeah, people started following us as soon as we left Chongfu."

Xue Beifan raised the corner of his mouth and asked her, "You wouldn't happen to have a marriage contract here too, would you?"

"Get lost!" Xiao Dao glared. "This is my first time in Jinling. As for you, I wonder if you've gotten yourself into some romantic entanglements here."

Xue Beifan grinned mischievously, "Jealous? Don't worry, you're the only woman in the world who has ever slept in my bed!"

"You still dare to talk?!" Xiao Dao got angry and kicked him.

Xue Beifan took off running, with Xiao Dao in pursuit. Both of them were skilled in light footwork, and with a few quick turns, they darted through alleys and across bridges, leaving their pursuers far behind.

Xue Beifan was feeling smug when he was caught off guard when Xiao Dao stepped forward and stomped on his foot hard.

"Ouch... We're just acting, why are you stepping on me?"

Xiao Dao pouted, "I can't swallow this!"

The two sensed something was amiss and, without even having lunch, hurried off to Xianyun Mountain.

There were three checkpoints set up at the intersection half a mile from Xianyun Mountain, making it heavily guarded. Xiao Dao and Xue Beifan did not approach directly, but hid in the small woods by the roadside.

Xue Beifan pointed to a temple on a distant mountain, "Xiao Dao, look."

Xiao Dao looked in the direction he was pointing, then realized something was wrong. She glanced back at him and said, "Stop calling me so affectionately."

Xue Beifan hadn't paid much attention at first, but he blurted it out. Now that he thought about it, he leaned forward and smiled, "Xiao Dao is a name that sounds quite pleasant."

Xiao Dao gave him a push, "Don't get so close!"

The movement was a little too loud, and then one of the guards in front shouted, "Who goes there?"

Xue Beifan quickly grabbed the knife and ran into the woods to hide.

The two ran, and the more they ran, the more trees appeared. Xiao Dao couldn't help but worry, "Hey! Stop running, what if we get lost?"

"It's just a small hill, not some deep forest, what's there to be afraid of?" Xue Beifan stopped and, seeing Xiao Dao looking around, asked with a smile, "Afraid of snakes and bugs? Shall I carry you?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Dao suddenly stared at Xue Beifan, looking extremely surprised.

Xue Beifan laughed, "Come here, let me hug you..."

"Who wants you to hug me?" Xiao Dao pushed him away. "Look over there!"

Xue Beifan turned around, but there was nothing behind him except trees. He touched his head.

"This!" Xiao Dao pointed to a tree behind him. Only then did Xue Beifan notice a bloody handprint on the tree.

The handprint looks neither too big nor too small; it should be the handprint of an adult woman.

"The blood hasn't dried yet..." Xue Beifan gently touched it with his fingers, subconsciously looked ahead, and pointed to a pile of dead leaves for Xiao Dao to see, "There are also two bloody footprints."

The footprints were quite strange; one was deep and the other shallow.

The two walked over and squatted down to examine it.