The moon hangs in the corridor, a crescent moon

Chapter 7

The young prince fled towards the backyard, encountering only chaos and flashing swords wherever he went, with more assassins in black clashing with his guards. Pale with fear, he stumbled towards a less crowded area, bumping into someone without thinking. He heard a soft gasp, but the next moment, he screamed even louder than the person—

"Who! Who is it!?"

"Young Prince!? Please, Young Prince, forgive me—"

He looked closely and saw it was the dancer from the banquet earlier. He blurted out, "What are you doing here?!"

"Your Highness, please forgive me. It was Your Highness who ordered my servants to bring me to the back courtyard. I was unaware that I had frightened Your Highness—"

"Yes, yes, it's you—"

The young prince finally remembered, and, seemingly in a panic, grabbed Queyue, shouting, "Quick, quick, take me to hide!"

At this moment, it all seemed absurd to anyone. Not to mention that Queyue was just a powerless dancer, she was also an outsider. It was her first time here, so how was she supposed to hide the young prince? Therefore, Queyue showed a slight sense of confusion and panic, at a loss for what to do.

At that moment, a black-clad assassin appeared from behind the young prince. Queyue screamed and stumbled backward—the same reaction any normal, ordinary woman would have made. The young prince sensed something was wrong the moment she cried out. Seeing the assassin behind him, his knife about to fall—he suddenly whirled around and kicked. The assassin's knife slipped from his grasp, and his hand was already around the assassin's throat. A cracking sound of bones breaking was heard, and the assassin collapsed to the ground. All of this happened in an instant; the young prince who had just been frantically fleeing was now a completely different person.

Queyue took two steps back in alarm, and the young prince turned around, a flash of murderous intent in his eyes.

Many wanted to kill him, but none could actually do it; it wasn't just luck or his guards. Even if he feigned cowardice, his gait couldn't fool Queyue's eyes. Therefore, even though it was just the two of them, she chose to continue her disguise. If she wanted to, her disguise would be flawless.

He glanced at Queyue, then instantly withdrew his murderous intent. "Come here." He knew martial arts, but not profound enough to allow him to break out of this place. He didn't want to reveal his martial arts and still needed to hide; keeping this woman around might be useful. He grabbed Queyue and, with a quick grab, felt her body was weak and powerless; she indeed had no internal energy.

He pulled Queyue into the room and warned, "Listen, if you do as I say, you can save your life. If you're clever enough, you can stay by my side and live a life of comfort. Otherwise, you'll end up like that assassin!"

"Yes...yes, I understand..."

He coldly shook off Queyue, leaned against the window, and peered out. Just as he was about to turn back to give his instructions, he suddenly stopped, looked down in shock, and saw a short dagger accurately plunged into his heart between his ribs… His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the delicate woman before him, who was gripping the hilt of the dagger tightly and twisting it sharply—

A spray of blood splattered across the ground as the dagger was pulled out; his eyes remained open until his death.

Queyue wiped the blood splattered on her cheek, opened the door, and limped out.

.

On that day, assassins launched a surprise attack. The young prince's guards fought valiantly to quell the attack, capturing almost all of them, but the assassins committed suicide. The Jade Flute Prince, who had conspired with the assassins, escaped but failed to succeed. However, the young prince was found dead in his room, the murderer unknown.

.

My legs hurt—

Every muscle and bone in her body ached. She couldn't remember when the medicine wore off, and she felt as if she had no strength left to take another step. But Queyue knew that Adi was waiting for her. They had made a promise.

"Halt! Who goes there!?"

A guard blocked her path, and she hastily put on a look of panic and helplessness, "Sir, I'm just a dancer invited to today's banquet, I'm not a suspicious person, sir..."

"A geisha?! Everyone at today's banquet will be interrogated! Come with me!"

She didn't want anything more to happen... She didn't have the strength or stamina to deal with it anymore. Seeing the guard reach out to grab her, she didn't want to cause any trouble for Adi... She came only to help him, not to be a burden.

If she were to act rashly and make the situation worse, that would not be something she should do. She suddenly raised her hand and sent out the signal smoke that Adi had given her earlier—no matter where she was, as long as Adi saw the signal smoke, he would definitely come as fast as possible—but at the same time, a large number of guards who saw the signal smoke would also swarm over.

If he hadn't come, he would surely have escaped safely by now and wouldn't have to face the current crisis—if only. But he would come. Queyue knew he would come. Even if she didn't send a signal smoke now, allowing him to escape alone while she remained trapped, he would still come back to rescue her later, and that would inevitably be more troublesome. Therefore, even knowing the danger of sending a signal smoke now, she still had to do it.

Is it possible to have such trust in someone you've only known for a few months?

The waning moon will appear.

She had lived in the Cangming Water Pavilion since childhood, receiving the most rigorous training. However, there was one thing that set the Water Pavilion apart from other places: trust in her fellow disciples and companions. She could indulge in this trust, even when alone, relying entirely on her self-confidence and never harboring any illusions about depending on others. But when she had companions by her side, facing difficulties with the others in April, she could completely entrust her back to that person.

This has allowed her to weather so many storms over the years, becoming accustomed to introversion and detachment, yet never losing trust or losing her humanity.

Upon seeing Queyue emit a signal smoke, the guard knew she was no good and was coming to capture him. Queyue waved her hand, and a cloud of white powder instantly blinded the guard. The guard screamed, covering his eyes, while wildly slashing with his other hand. Queyue struggled to retreat, when suddenly she felt something solid behind her as a hand reached out from behind, blocking the wildly swinging knife.

Behind her are still people she can trust.

More guards rushed over from the side. Adi scooped up Queyue in his arms, told her, "Hold on tight," and quickly flew over the courtyard wall...

Adi carried her at breakneck speed for a long time before stopping. In the woods behind the manor, he had already prepared horses and even all the necessary packing for their escape. He lifted Queyue onto the horse and said, "Let's take advantage of the chaos now, with the Dark Pavilion members trapped by the guards, and hurry up. Although we missed the best opportunity to kill the young prince, fortunately, I got them to pay half of the 100,000 taels reward upfront. Earning 50,000 taels on this trip isn't a loss. We can give up the other half; who cares whether we can kill the young prince or not..." He had already made up his mind. If they could kill him, great; if not, he would just take the deposit and run. His and Queyue's safe escape was the most important thing.

"The young prince is dead." Queyue suddenly spoke calmly. Adi was taken aback and stared at Queyue. "Dead?"

"Yes, he's dead."

Adi looked at her for a long time, "...Then I can't just leave like this, otherwise I'll lose out. It's fifty thousand taels of silver, I can't let them get away with it so easily."

“Adi…” Queyue didn’t think it was worth the risk of taking 50,000 taels, but Adi just gave her a gentle and confident smile. “Don’t worry, I arranged with them to deliver the remaining half of the payment at the agreed location tomorrow. They won’t break their promise and offend me for 50,000 taels. As long as they are in the open and I am in the dark, I am confident that I can secretly take the money out. You don’t need to worry.”

Since he said that, Queyue didn't say anything more and nodded gently.

"Zhijin, how good are your disguise skills?"

"It's acceptable..."

"That's good. Once you're properly disguised, go to... the nearest inn near Shui Mei Ju. Book a room there and wait for me. The Dark Pavilion will definitely search everywhere if they can't find me, but they might not expect us to be hiding somewhere. Shui Mei Ju is a safe bet. Use an alias when you book the room..."

"—Duan Jin."

Adi looked at her. "Alright, by tomorrow evening at the latest, I will go to find you by this name. Be careful in everything." After he finished speaking, he patted the horse's rump, and the horse began to run with Crescent Moon on its back.

Queyue looked back and still saw Adi standing in the distance, watching her go and waving to her with a smile.

Only when the horse was completely out of Adi's sight, and he was sure he could no longer see it, did Queyue collapse weakly, gritting her teeth and hugging the horse's neck tightly. The pain throughout her body made her unable to support herself any longer...

Chapter Fourteen

Adi's words were not meant as comfort. He could indeed do it. As long as he wasn't constantly monitored and in a situation where the enemy was in the dark while he was in the light, and as long as he had the opportunity to make the Dark Pavilion lose track of his whereabouts and put them in a position where the enemy was in the light while he was in the dark, then given his understanding of the Dark Pavilion's operations, it wouldn't be difficult for him to take his reward right under their noses.

Therefore, when the next day at noon, the people in the secret chamber who were ordered to wait at the agreed location with the silver notes estimated that it was almost time and were about to check the silver notes again, they found that all the silver notes had disappeared!

After the assassination of the young prince and the disappearance of Adi, the Iron Pavilion Master had already vaguely anticipated this, and was not too surprised when he heard the report. However, another piece of news surprised him.

"Master, regarding that woman dressed as a geisha..."

"What's wrong with that woman?"

“Someone in the pavilion recognized her; she… seemed to be Queyue from Cangming Water Pavilion.”

"What? How could Queyue be with him? Can you be sure?"

"No, it cannot be completely confirmed yet... Of the four months in Cangming, only Han Shuiyue and Feng Canyue frequently appear in the martial world, while the appearances of Xinyue and Queyue are not known to the general public and few people have seen them. However, since Ange and Cangming have fought several times, some people have seen Queyue and pointed out that the woman is extremely similar to Queyue."

The Iron Pavilion Master frowned. How did this get involved with the Cangming Water Pavilion? "Has this matter been reported to the Master?"

"Not yet confirmed, and not yet reported to the Lord."

"Well, let's not alarm the master for now. We'll report back once we've reached a conclusion."

"yes."

What exactly is going on...? The Lord has already grown to despise the Cangming Water Pavilion. You... must not disappoint the Lord.

.

It was just past noon, and the number of people on the streets had noticeably decreased, with lingering traces of cooking smoke still present in each street. An unassuming, ordinary mountain dweller, dressed in a khaki short jacket and carrying a straw hat, walked into an inn.

"Shopkeeper, is there a customer here who complained last night, surnamed Duan?"

"The one surnamed Duan? Yes, there is one, you..." Although he was just an inconspicuous mountain man, he had a handsome face and a gentle and kind smile, which made people feel naturally friendly.

"Excuse me, innkeeper, that's my friend. We agreed to meet here. Could you please show me the way?"

"Well... okay, please come this way."

The innkeeper led Adi upstairs and knocked on the door of a guest room. "Young Master Duan, a friend of yours is here to see you."

"Young Master Duan?" Adi was taken aback when the door opened. He looked at the scholarly "young master" in white robes inside with slight surprise. He was refined and handsome, with a calm expression. His features clearly resembled those of a crescent moon, but with slight changes, he lost all traces of feminine gentleness and was clearly a handsome man.

"Thank you, innkeeper." Duan Jin politely thanked Adi on her behalf and stepped aside to let her into the house. Closing the door, Adi looked at her with slight surprise. If he hadn't known beforehand that it was Queyue in disguise, he would have truly thought the person standing there was Queyue's twin brother. Although he had seen many masters of disguise, most of them wore a thin, specially made mask and applied makeup. He never imagined that using only his own features could transform him into someone else.

"How did you manage to weave this brocade?"

Queyue smiled faintly, her demeanor refined and gentle. She reached for a teacup to pour tea for Adi, saying, "If I can be a dancer, why can't I be a man?"

Adi silently accepted the tea, her eyes still fixed on Queyue—yes, when Queyue disguised herself as a dancer, she didn't even need to change her appearance; just a touch of makeup and a change in her expression and speech completely transformed her demeanor, making her seem like a completely different person. Every word, every action, every smile was that of a courtesan. But now, having changed her clothes and slightly altered her appearance, she had transformed into a handsome young man.

Seeing his reaction, Queyue didn't keep him in suspense any longer and smiled lightly, "There's nothing special about it. This makeup technique was originally created by one of my..." She paused slightly, wondering what to call her. Friend? No, she didn't quite understand that term... Friend was too distant for her. And that spirited and unrestrained woman... "It was created by one of my sisters, and we studied and improved it together."

Sisters. Only this word can describe them now... It turns out that during those long days in the waterside pavilion, although they didn't talk much, they lived and ate together in the same environment, and she had already come to regard her as a sister.

She brought up the past so casually, and Adi gave her a meaningful look. "When it's just the two of us, do you still have to pretend like this?"

Queyue just smiled faintly, "I'm used to it. It's not easy to be perfect, so as long as I dress like this, even when I'm sleeping, I won't forget to treat myself as someone else... So it's become a habit, and it's hard to change it."

Even if it's just a habit...Adi isn't used to it at all, it's like being with a complete stranger...

The history of brocade weaving is quite complicated.

"Is everything going smoothly?"

"Fortunately, although they gave us silver notes, they will definitely send people to inform various places. Once they discover that we went to exchange them, they will immediately notify the Dark Pavilion and expose our whereabouts."

"It seems you already have a plan."

Adi twirled the teacup in his hand. "That's easy. We just need to take the silver notes to buy the gold, buy it and leave immediately. Later, we can melt the gold down little by little and exchange it for silver. By the time the seller goes to exchange the silver notes, we'll already be gone."

Where do we go next?

"Of course we can go wherever we want. After we've traveled around and had our fill of fun, we can find a place to settle down... By then, things here will probably have calmed down, and it wouldn't be bad for us to come back."

Ah Di thought to herself that it was indeed good to have a fellow traveler; thankfully, she had picked up the brocade back then.

It's like a dream in a brothel.

Chapters 15-16

Before dusk was the busiest time for people to leave the city gates. Ah Di's habit was quite strange; although he was clearly avoiding the secret society, he insisted on not traveling at night. He seemed to hate such sneaky, thieving behavior. So the two of them left the inn before dusk and mingled with the crowd to leave the city.

A handsome young man in white and a gentle, kind-hearted young scholar in blue left the city, leisurely and carefree as if they were just going out for a stroll.

Cangzhou comprises thirteen cities of varying sizes, with countless subordinate towns, counties, and villages. Its hills are verdant and its scenery boundless.

Among them, Adi's favorite is Shuiyue City, which is known as the "Water Town of Music and Recreation".

They had promised each other that one day they would once again sail on the lake, enjoying the scenery and playing celestial music together. Here, there is water, there is beauty, there is music…

A boat floats on the lake, and on it sits a man. A handsome young man in white robes holds a pipa, and the light, lively music soars from his jade-like fingers, his soft voice, like that of a young boy or a young girl, softly sings…

Birds either fly in pairs or separate in the sky.

A glass of wine, and we're all from different parts of the world.