Sept nuits de neige

Chapitre 13

I finally managed to enter a dream, dreaming of Tian Shu, dreaming of Tian Xiu, and dreaming of my deceased master. Then I dreamed of a little girl in red carrying a black knife, who would sometimes smile and call him a useless old man, and other times tearfully call him a liar.

Perhaps too much time had passed, because he did not dream of that person.

The person he once cared deeply for, the one whose feelings had been swayed by Xu Ziqing's feelings for Tang Shijiu.

The sunlight streamed obliquely into the room. It wasn't hot in the morning; instead, I felt a warm comfort from head to toe. From the moment I opened the door and saw her smile, my heart softened. I felt incredibly relaxed, yet also incredibly cautious.

A long-lost feeling welled up from the bottom of my heart, and it felt very comforting.

Seeing his dark circles under his eyes, Nineteen said, "Why don't you sleep a little longer?"

Yun Tan rubbed his eyes: "No need, it was you who beat him up anyway."

"If you keep nagging, I'll make it a real bruise!" She glared at him. "Hurry up and go. Stop dawdling. You're a useless scholar, clearly not someone from the martial arts world."

Yun Tan raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at this man from the martial world: "I need to change my clothes, so are you going to watch me take them off?" As he spoke, he actually began to remove his outer garment. Nineteen spat and hurriedly left the room, suddenly saying before closing the door: "Ice Cube is gone. It left a long time ago."

As he had expected, he simply said "Oh," but somehow, another unexpected sentence slipped out in a low voice: "As long as you don't leave."

Nineteen, possessing considerable inner strength, finally heard it, but said nothing. Her face flushed red as she pretended not to hear and walked downstairs with her head down.

There was a man sitting in the inn.

Nineteen had never seen such a flamboyant man.

Upon seeing this person, only one word came to mind: "monster".

This person is truly a monster!

A wide, flowing robe embroidered with large red peonies hung loosely on his body, the lapel slightly open, revealing a collarbone and skin so white it would make even Nineteen envious. The peonies were exceptionally vibrant, their colors distinct, embroidered from shoulder to waist. On anyone else, such attire would appear incongruous, but the man before him seemed born to wear it. His face, hidden beneath a white bamboo hat, slowly lifted, revealing a pair of long, narrow, almond-shaped eyes, alluring and captivating, filled with a tender, mesmerizing gaze that held one breathless.

Nineteen paused, somewhat uncertain: "Tian...Tian Shu?"

His high, straight nose and thick, dark eyebrows were exactly the same as Tian Shu's. However, his eyes, his expression, his movements, and his charm were completely different from Tian Shu's, making him almost unrecognizable.

Even if Tang Shijiu were killed, it would be unimaginable that the aloof and noble Tian Shu could display such an expression or wear such clothes.

"Tian Shu" smiled gently: "I am not Tian Shu, young lady has mistaken me for someone else."

In a flash, Tang Shijiu's mind cleared up.

"Tianxiu! You're Tianxiu!" she exclaimed, covering her mouth. "You're that wicked bastard Tianxiu who deserves to go to the eighteenth level of hell!"

She cursed him so directly to his face, but Tianxiu was not annoyed. She smiled slightly, a charming smile: "It is indeed me. I am that wicked, despicable bastard Tianxiu who deserves to go to the eighteenth level of hell."

Even he himself said that, and Nineteen found it funny: "I didn't say you were a bastard or a grandson of a turtle."

Tianxiu's eyes sparkled with tenderness: "The young lady didn't say it, but I gave her this impression, so my sins must be compounded." He looked at the black-backed sword on Shijiu's back, "Black bone black-backed sword, red dress and a face that could topple kingdoms, the young lady must be the famous Tang Shijiu, Miss Tang."

Tang Shijiu was both surprised and delighted: "You know my name?"

Tianxiu blinked: "You crippled my Black Vulture Demon and killed three of my subordinates. If I still didn't know you, wouldn't I be a rather useless leader of the Sangmen Sect?"

Thinking of Tian Shu's unparalleled martial arts skills, Nineteen's hand slowly moved to the hilt of his sword: "I don't know who Black Vulture Demon is? Although I didn't kill those three, it was close. What do you want now? To settle scores with me?"

Tianxiu chuckled softly, a gentle breeze rippling through the air, a sound that soothed the ears: "I originally intended to cause trouble, but upon seeing your face, that thought vanished." She deliberately looked Nineteen up and down, "How could I cause trouble for such a beauty? It would shorten my lifespan."

What he said wasn't sincere, and was even a bit frivolous, but somehow it sounded strangely pleasant, making it hard to refuse.

Nineteen slowly moved his hand away from the hilt of the knife, his voice possessing a seductive quality that made people involuntarily relax.

"A beauty as lovely as a flower, how can she wear such simple jewelry?" He slowly stood up, lazily walked closer to Nineteen, took out an enamel hairpin with auspicious cloud patterns from his pocket, and steadily placed it in her hair. He tilted his head to look at it, "Hmm, much better than that tattered piece. Only a hairpin like this is worthy of such a beauty."

Nineteen seemed to be in a dream, gently smoothing her hair with her hand. The two hairpins inserted in her hair felt somewhat heavy. Tianxiu produced a bronze mirror from somewhere and showed it to her. The blue enamel made her skin look like jade, and the auspicious cloud patterns were delicate and extremely beautiful. In comparison, Yun Tan's rough silver hairpin looked much more shabby.

"Am I really that beautiful?" Nineteen asked incredulously as he kept praising her looks.

Although she asked this question all the time, she never dared to truly believe she was beautiful. Her fellow disciples on the mountain were all terrified of her; how could they dare reveal even a hint of admiration? They were afraid that if they uttered even the slightest flirtatious remark, she would chase them down with her broadsword. On a whim, she would grab Xu Ziqing and ask him, but seeing his hesitant expression, she couldn't tell if he was telling the truth.

Tianxiu chuckled: "What do you think?"

Nineteen looked in the mirror and smiled, "Now that you mention it, I think I'm beautiful too!"

Tianxiu originally thought she would definitely make some excuses, feigning or genuine modesty, or perhaps praising other women as more beautiful. Who would have thought this girl would be so direct, or rather, so... shameless. She brazenly declared her own beauty without even blushing.

Suddenly, someone came down from upstairs and pulled Tang Shijiu away. Tang Shijiu was startled by the pull and was even more shocked to find that it was Yun Tan. When did this good-for-nothing become so strong?

Yun Tan glanced nervously at her, then at Tian Xiu.

Tianxiu smiled, seemingly without any malice.

Nineteen felt the atmosphere was a bit oppressive and couldn't help but break the awkward silence: "This is... amazing."

“I know!” Yun Tan’s tone had never been so stern before.

"He doesn't seem to have any ill intentions."

He showed no intention of moving aside, standing between the two, his eyes fixed on Tianxiu, but he said to Nineteen, "You judged him to be a good person at first sight? That's a rather cheap way to describe a 'good person.'"

Tianxiu laughed heartily, not minding his malice: "Yun Tan still loves to joke. But Yun Tan is too stingy. How can such a beauty wear such crude jewelry?"

Shen Yuntan slowly turned around, and his face turned pale when he saw the enamel hairpin on the nineteenth hairpin.

“I didn’t poison it, it was just an ordinary hairpin,” Tianxiu said, watching his expression change, her smile becoming even more alluring. “I couldn’t bear to hurt such a beautiful girl.”

The 19th Party Congress member smiled generously at him, shamelessly saying, "I also think you wouldn't bear to hurt me."

Yun Tan said in a deep voice, "You are not welcome here."