Madam Li's posture as she held the teacup stiffened for a moment, then she forced a smile and said, "I have never met that old poisoner, how could I hate him?"
"Thanks to Madam Li's iron nails, I was reminded that my master once told me that 'Miraculous Hands' Li Wuxin had spent some time in the imperial army. There was a cruel and unknown form of torture in the army. If someone betrayed the army, in order to prevent the morale of the troops from collapsing, they would drive iron nails into his nose. That person would die instantly. Most importantly, the person's eyes would be wide open in anger, and the cause of death could not be found at all."
"What does this have to do with my master?"
“Madam Li, there’s no need to pretend anymore. Li Wuxin is you. You are the ‘Miracle Hand’ Li Wuxin who disguised herself as a man back then.”
8
silent.
Madam Li stood not far from me, glaring at me with sharp eyes. She lowered her voice and said, "Your imagination is a bit too vivid, isn't it? Tell me, where is Shangguan Qing'er? I've searched the entire inn but can't find her. Where is that guqin? Tell me quickly."
I shook my head and smiled: "Madam Li, Shangguan Qing'er is dead. I am not her daughter. My name is Liu Ruyan. I only started learning martial arts from my master when I was eight years old."
"How could that be? Are you saying all of that is a lie?"
"If I didn't say it this way, how would you believe that Shangguan Qing'er is not dead, and how would I find the person who wanted to kill Shangguan Qing'er?"
"You little rascal, you are indeed cunning. But you can save these petty tricks for the underworld." Li Wuxin had already gripped the poisoned hidden weapon in his hand, and I closed my eyes.
Open your eyes.
Li Wuxin lay on the ground like a bundle of tattered clothes. Her eyes were wide open, staring in disbelief at her hands, which were completely powerless.
I got out of bed and patted the wrinkles off my clothes.
"You're not poisoned?"
“I never eat fish, and my master would never instruct anyone to cook fish for me. Cartilage powder is colorless and tasteless, so putting it in tea is the best way to prepare it.”
Li Wuxin sighed deeply and shed tears: "I never thought that I, Li Wuxin, who have been so clever all my life, would be defeated by a child like you."
Thirty years ago, Li Wuxin had already adapted to dressing as a man in the military camp, and traveling the martial arts world was much easier than dressing as a woman. She met four highly renowned figures in the martial arts world, among whom the dashing "Poisonless Gentleman" Shen Tianqi captivated her, and her girlish heart blossomed like a flower. Together, they stole back an ancient zither from a chaotic era and stayed at the Dragon and Phoenix Inn to study the mysteries of the zither.
One evening, she passed by Shen Tianqi's room and heard a heated argument coming from inside.
Wuwang said, "We worked hard to steal the zither. Everyone has a share, so how can we give it to the Moon Fairy alone?"
Shen Tianqi laughed heartily: "A fine sword for a hero, a zither for a beautiful woman, what's wrong with that?"
"I know you have feelings for Shangguan Qing'er, but the person she loves is Tian Canghai."
"nonsense."
"How could this be false? I heard it from Shangguan Qing'er herself."
"Even if I have to steal her, I'll get her back."
The girl's heart shattered like falling petals. In that instant, a wicked thought crossed her mind: destroy her, and he would never look at her again. Li Wuxin, nicknamed "Master Hands," could easily slip the sleeping potion into Shangguan Qing'er and Wuwang's teacups. The next day, Shangguan Qing'er found herself lying naked on Wuwang's bed.
Overwhelmed with shame and indignation, she rushed towards the cliff.
The group chased her to the edge of the cliff, but the beautiful woman's soul had already departed this world.
Another day passed, and the ancient zither disappeared amidst the chaos.
They all suspected each other and turned against each other. Shen Tianqi and Tian Canghai only knew that Shangguan Qing'er's death was caused by hopeless humiliation, but neither of them knew that the real culprit was Li Wuxin, who was blinded by love.
9
The door opened.
Master, Shen Tianqi, Shen Ruosu, and Gu Duliang walked in. They had been lying in ambush outside the door for a long time. This was the plan that Master and I had discussed last night. Madam Li wrote a secret letter in Shangguan Qing'er's voice. Master and the others used this as a pretext, so they pretended to leave in order to come back and see how Madam Li would deal with me.
"Wuxin, why are you doing this to yourself?" Shen Tianqi sighed.
A girlish shyness appeared on Li Wuxin's face, which was etched with the marks of time: "I have remained unmarried for thirty years, only for the truth to come out today. I ask you one more time: if I had appeared before you as a woman back then, would you have given me a fair chance to compete with Shangguan Qing'er?"
“If I said it could make up for all the years you’ve been missing, I would say yes.”
“That’s enough.” Li Wuxin smiled weakly. “For thirty years, I have never given up searching for the guqin. It has been my only solace in life. More than thirty years after Tian Canghai retired from the martial world, I finally found him in a temple. He was accompanied by a woman who looked like she had flown to the moon. I thought we had all been deceived. I thought that Shangguan Qing’er was not dead. She had stolen the guqin and retired from the martial world with the man she loved. So I sent you a secret letter and arranged to meet at the Dragon and Phoenix Inn.”
The fragrance of peach blossoms wafted in, making one feel slightly tipsy.
"Then who took that guqin?"
"Could it be hopelessness?" Shen Tianqi said, turning around, but there was no sign of hopelessness; he hadn't followed at all.
Sudden.
I was startled to hear celestial music drifting in my ears, the melody exceptionally clear as if it were right beside me. My emotions were in turmoil. The peach blossoms outside the window seemed to be startled and fell to the ground one after another, flying away without wind, like a grand funeral.
The sound was coming from the hopeless room number 3.
He lay on the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices.
Beside him stood a woman in white. She was described as a woman because her skin was as smooth and delicate as a young girl's, though the weariness in her eyes and the vicissitudes of life at her temples were undeniable. She held an ancient zither in her arms, and intuitively, I knew that this was a time of chaos.
"Shangguan Qing'er?"
She smiled sweetly, settled down, and began to play the zither with both hands: "How are you all?"
"So you didn't die after all?"
"I was supposed to be dead, but I came back to life." Shangguan Qing'er smiled, without a hint of murderous intent. "That day, when I jumped off the cliff, I heard someone calling from behind. It was Tian Canghai. Although I loved this man, I was no longer worthy to be with him. Shouldn't those who caused my tragic end be punished? So my extraordinary lightness skill saved my life. I returned to the inn, stole the zither, and turned you against each other. Then I bought this secluded inn and lived a peaceful life."
The master twirled his prayer beads and said, "Amitabha, form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Everything in the world is emptiness. Why are you so attached to it, benefactor?"
"Thirty years have passed in the blink of an eye. The hatred of my youth has long been worn down and smoothed out. So I sincerely hope to spend my life guarding this zither and save the martial world from disaster. I just didn't expect you to come here and search for the zither again. Well, I thought everything in the world would fade away with time, but unexpectedly, the answer has come by chance. This is also the will of heaven."
"Then why did you kill my master?" Dugu Liang asked, tears streaming down his face.
"Wangxi atoned for his sins with his death. He spent the rest of his life in torment. Fairy Benyue gave him a chance to atone for his sins, which can be considered as helping him realize his lingering wish in this life." Shen Tianqi laughed wildly and turned to leave.
No one knew where he was going.
10
Shen Ruosu bid me farewell as she left.
I asked curiously, "Where has my brother-in-law been these past few days?"
“It was Master Canghai who instructed me to leave. He said there must be some mystery behind this.”
"I see."
"Ruyan, you've found a good master."
I looked back at my master; he and Shangguan Qing'er were drinking tea in the hall, nestled among peach blossoms. His expression remained as calm as ever. He hadn't spoken a word the entire time, but I had relentlessly pursued him.
He said, "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form; everything in the world is emptiness. Why are you so attached to it, benefactor?"
He is the true sage.
In the chaos of war, the ancient zither finally found peace in the hands of a woman.
Peach Blossoms in a Chaotic World.
calm.
(II) Qingqiu Festival
1
When the people of Qingfeng Town have nothing to do, they like to gather together and talk about interesting things that happen in town. Recently, the Liu family has become a popular topic of conversation.
The third young lady of the Liu family, who is as beautiful as a fairy, is about to get married.
This is something every girl has to go through, but it's different for me. They say the groom is the seventh young master of the Dugu family, a perfect match made in heaven. I've never met Dugu Leng before, and they don't even know if this legendary seventh young master is round or flat.
Now that it's autumn and the weather is clear and crisp, according to our local custom, a girl who is about to get married has to go to a Guanyin temple dozens of miles away for seven days to pray for blessings, asking the Bodhisattva to bless her with peace and prosperity year after year and a large family.
The steward had already prepared a carriage, and none of the maids or servants were allowed to come along. My father said that Ruyan was going to pray for blessings, not to enjoy them. Even the Bodhisattva was only served by golden boys and jade maids. How could the Bodhisattva see Ruyan's sincerity if she brought maids? Of course, I was happy to be free. I packed a few simple changes of clothes and some pastries and set off.
The stable boy was a young man of sixteen or seventeen who had recently joined the Liu family. He had been begging for food as a child, having wandered from the south. The steward, taking pity on him, took him in. He knew many strange things I didn't, such as how a certain place in the south suffered from annual floods. A Taoist priest said it was because the river god couldn't find a beautiful wife and was angry, so he flooded their crops, causing them to have no harvest. Every year, the people there would throw the most beautiful girl in the village into the river to be the river god's wife.
"So, does that place still flood every year?"
"How did Miss Third know?"
"If there weren't floods, they wouldn't throw girls into the river every year."
"Yes, why is the river god still angry even after he has married a wife?"
Seeing the young coachman's bewildered expression, I couldn't help but sigh. He didn't know that there were no demons or monsters in the world, nor did he know that those girls had lost their lives because of the Taoist priest's nonsense. My master said that there are no strange or bizarre events, only people who create them. Between heaven and earth, what isn't described by people? Heaven can be called earth, and earth can be called heaven; it's just a label. But the truth itself is only one.
The carriage bumped along for dozens of miles before finally reaching the foot of the mountain, the one the young coachman had described, covered in osmanthus blossoms. At the foot of the mountain, three large characters were carved into a huge rock: Guanyin Mountain. This Guanyin Mountain wasn't originally called Guanyin Mountain; it was just an ordinary mountain, frequented by villagers from the surrounding villages who liked to gather firewood and hunt. Once, a bride, unhappy with her parents' arranged marriage to a dark-skinned, rude man, ran away on her wedding night while using the outhouse. In the darkness, a frail woman stumbled up the mountain and found a crooked old tree to hang herself. When the bride's family couldn't find her, the entire village searched for her. Suddenly, they saw a seven-colored glow on the mountaintop not far from the village, and a kind-faced woman holding a treasure vase, seated on a lotus flower, vanished in an instant. At dawn, the villagers found the bride's body, thinking that the merciful Bodhisattva must have been angered by this arranged marriage. From then on, people from dozens of miles around donated money to build a temple, sculpted a golden statue for the Bodhisattva, and named the mountain Guanyin Mountain.
Arranged marriages have disappeared from the nearby villages. Those who come to the mountain to pray for blessings are all women who are about to get married; their marriages are all considered auspicious, and they are expected to grow old together.
A legend is something that gets passed around and told from one person to a hundred. Whether it's true or false, it's just a legend.
I got off the carriage, and the driver took the same route back to Qingshui Town. He should arrive before dark.
At the foot of the mountain, there was an old woman selling incense. When she saw me, she asked, "Young lady, are you coming up the mountain to pray for blessings?"
"Exactly."
"Would you like to buy some incense, young lady?"
I took out a silver ingot and gave it to her: "I'll buy all of these. It's damp at the foot of the mountain, so Grandma should go home early."
The old woman selling incense sighed, shook her head, and didn't seem happy: "The girl is pretty and kind-hearted, which makes her prone to attracting evil spirits. It's good that you buy all these incense sticks and burn them all for the Bodhisattva to protect the girl."
The old woman's words were quite strange, but I didn't think much of it. I took the incense and headed up the mountain, the air filled with the intoxicating fragrance of osmanthus. The wild osmanthus in these mountains was different from the ones in town; its fragrance was alluring and captivating. My master loved the wine made from this kind of osmanthus.
2
It was called a temple, but it was actually a nunnery. A thin-faced woman was sweeping fallen leaves at the entrance. I stepped forward and bowed: "Little nun, I have come from Qingshui Town, dozens of miles away, to pray for blessings on the mountain."
"Please follow me, benefactor." The young nun was a kind woman who immediately led me to the guest room in the east wing. The room was very clean and had a faint sandalwood scent. She helped me with my luggage and said, "My Dharma name is Mingyue, and my master's Dharma name is Huiqing. It is getting late today, so I will go and get you some vegetarian food so you can rest early. Tomorrow, my master will be in the Buddhist hall to pray for you."
I thanked Master Mingyue and went to rest early after the vegetarian meal.
Perhaps it was because of the unfamiliar surroundings, but I slept extremely restlessly that night. I vaguely heard what sounded like a young woman crying, but upon closer listening, I realized it was birds chirping outside the window. The next day, just as dawn was breaking, I changed into my white martial arts attire and found a quiet place to practice my sword. Behind the west wing was a small garden, filled with vibrant chrysanthemums in full bloom. The masters responsible for cleaning the courtyard hadn't gotten up yet. I twirled my sword in mid-air, stretched my limbs, and then began my practice.
The woman came into my view. She exclaimed in surprise, "Ah!" and dropped the teapot on the cobblestone path with a "splat," splashing water everywhere. My sword was just an inch away from her throat. Seeing this, I sheathed my sword and said, "I'm so sorry, I startled you, young lady." The woman hurriedly squatted down to pick up the broken pieces of the teapot, saying, "It's not your fault, young lady. I was too impetuous and spoiled your enjoyment." As she finished picking up the pieces and looked up, I saw that her bright eyes were red and swollen, and upon closer inspection, I could see tears welling up in them.