Бессмертие, Бессмертие - Глава 2
"Playing cards?" Bi Qiuhan was extremely dissatisfied with his casual "touching" of people. She had already been barely tolerating him, but when she suddenly heard him say "Do you know how to play cards?", she was stunned on the spot. After a while, she replied with an extremely ugly expression, "No."
“That’s a pity. I made an appointment to play cards with the two Zhang brothers, and we’re one short.” Sheng Xiang glanced at Bi Qiuhan. “How can a man not know how to play cards? Really…” He shook his head, as if he had seen some unbelievable monster. “Now I’m going to sleep. As for you—” He thought for a moment, “Come with me.”
Before Bi Qiuhan could finish saying "No need," Sheng Xiang impatiently interrupted him: "Don't make a fuss! Since you're a bodyguard, you have to listen to me. Do whatever I tell you to do."
You… Bi Qiuhan’s eyes flashed with anger, but Shengxiang turned her head away and didn’t see it.
“Let’s go.” Shengxiang grabbed his hand. “Here.”
His hand was warm and soft, and Bi Qiuhan was caught off guard as he was suddenly pulled away. He was slightly surprised; this young master was quick. The grip on his hand wasn't particularly strong, and a faint scent of rose-flavored poria cake wafted from him. Bi Qiuhan's expression darkened slightly. How could this young master, who lived a life of luxury, sleeping and playing cards, know how many people in the outside world couldn't even afford rice their entire lives?
"This is my room." With a face full of anger, Shengxiang had already pulled him to a door.
The plaque reads "Do not furrow your brows".
Shengxiang noticed that he glanced at the plaque, yawned and waved his sleeve, "That was given to me by a poor slacker. Don't think that I like writing this kind of thing. I'm just bored."
Bi Qiuhan frowned; he had never imagined that the plaque was written by Shengxiang herself.
"This is my room, you can sleep there." Shengxiang casually pointed to the room next door that was exactly the same as his, opened the door with a "creak" and then closed it with a "bang". "Haha - let's all take a nap, see you this afternoon."
Bi Qiuhan was assigned to the next room by Shengxiang. Pushing open the door, she found the room neatly arranged with a couch and a small table. On the wall hung a long scroll of calligraphy, written with a very dignified style, the same hand as the "Do not furrow your brows" inscription on Shengxiang's door. As for what was written, reading was not Bi Qiuhan's forte, and she had little interest in it.
The room was decorated with calligraphy and paintings by Shengxiang's friend, and the bed and furnishings were made of fine cypress wood, clearly indicating that it was not a servant's room but a guest room. This young master really didn't know what precautions were; he calmly sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the bed, closed his eyes to calm his mind, and slowly began to circulate his internal energy.
He was always cautious, and this was the first time he had ever sat down so calmly to meditate and practice his internal energy next to someone. After ten days of traveling, even someone as skilled in martial arts as him was inevitably tired. If he were in an inn, he would always be on guard and would never have been able to enter a meditative state so easily.
His trip to Bianjing was not primarily to visit Bi Jiuyi, but to find someone in the capital.
A woman
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An unknown woman, yet she is implicated in the truth behind a sniping incident nearly thirty years ago, and also in the disappearance of several famous figures in the martial arts world. I heard she is a very beautiful woman.
A single, enchanting smile can topple kingdoms, turn heroes into cowards, render misers penniless, and distort right and wrong, blurring the lines between truth and falsehood. The older generation called her "The Smiling Lady," for her smile could terrify even heroes.
The last place she appeared was the capital city, and then she mysteriously disappeared from there.
After her disappearance, many martial arts masters associated with her were assassinated by unidentified individuals, resulting in numerous deaths. He was entrusted by the descendants of the deceased to investigate the matter, and although he came with a heavy responsibility, he inexplicably became the bodyguard of the Prime Minister's son in the Zhao residence, a truly absurd situation.
As I pondered, I gradually calmed down and entered a meditative state.
When he woke up from his nap, it was already evening. He had just opened his eyes when a little maid knocked on the door. "Young Master Bi, are you up? The young master would like to invite you to have some snacks."
"What a coincidence, I just woke up." Bi Qiuhan smiled slightly, straightened her clothes, and stood up.
"It's not a coincidence. Young Master said that he would probably get up around this time, and asked Xiaoyun to come and invite you." The little girl was quite pretty despite her young age, and her cheerful and lively manner made her very adorable.
"Saint Incense?" Bi Qiuhan frowned slightly. The deeper one's skill, the longer one can remain in meditation. Could it be that Saint Incense knew the depth of his skill? Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to predict the duration of his meditation. But recalling that playboy who kept nagging, "How can a man not know how to play cards?", it was truly hard to imagine that he had such an ability. "I'll go right away."
As Xiaoyun walked around several pavilions, a refined and elegant pavilion came into view. Shengxiang was sitting in the pavilion, but he wasn't eating cakes or drinking tea.
He was feeding the rabbits.
There was a big, fat, gray rabbit on the wooden table in the pavilion. Shengxiang was nose to nose with it, feeding it pancakes with great interest.
Is this what they call "Young Master invites you to have some snacks"? Bi Qiuhan tried his best not to show his extreme surprise and coughed.
"Xiao Bi," Sheng Xiang waved to him without even looking, "Come see my rabbit." After feeding it the pancake, he smiled and pinched the scruff of the big, fat rabbit's neck. "This rabbit weighs thirteen pounds, isn't it fun?"
Xiaoyun smiled innocently, "Little Grey is so cute. It not only eats pancakes, but also meat bones, just like a dog." She leaned down affectionately and kissed the grey rabbit on its back. The rabbit turned around and lazily glanced at her with an air of indifference—the fattest rabbit in the world is none other than me.
"It ate vegetables today," Shengxiang announced, waving the remains of a pancake in her hand. "Chive pancakes."
"Really?" Xiaoyun said worriedly, "It hasn't eaten a single vegetable for eleven days. I've been worried that rabbits, which love meat, won't be able to survive. Young Master is so clever; he asked Master to make chive pancakes." She laughed and clapped her hands, saying, "How about making carrot pancakes tomorrow?"
"Oh no, I'm going to make it eat garlic pancakes tomorrow." Shengxiang teased the gray rabbit's nose with a blade of grass she had picked from the yard, but the rabbit ignored her at first. Later, Shengxiang secretly stuffed the grass into its nostrils, and the rabbit got angry and bit down on the grass, leaving two teeth marks.
Bi Qiuhan watched as the two children became completely absorbed in the rabbit, and his initial agitation and anger gradually subsided. He sighed inwardly and chuckled to himself. Why was he getting angry with these two children who knew nothing of the hardships of the world? Xiaoyun was still a child, and Shengxiang was even more of a child among children. While other children grew up, he seemed destined never to grow up. Watching these two children grumbling and arguing about the rabbit, he thought, "Hey, they really do have an innocence completely different from the outside world."
"Oh, right, Xiaoyun, I said I'd treat Xiaobi to some snacks." Shengxiang finished playing with the rabbit, put it on the ground, and let it walk away on its own. "Let's go to Master Hu's house and steal the lychee sago cakes he's been hoarding. We'll eat them together."
"Master Hu will be furious if he finds out." Xiaoyun stuck out her tongue and went off with a grin.
Xiaoyun went out, and Shengxiang leaned on her sleeve, rested her chin on her hand, and stood on the wooden table, gazing at the garden. Then she sighed.
"Are you unhappy?" Bi Qiuhan asked calmly.
"Hmm..." Shengxiang remained noncommittal and sighed again.
"Thinking about someone?" Bi Qiuhan asked calmly.
Sheng Xiang was slightly startled, then smiled and blinked. "How do you know I'm thinking about someone?" He suddenly got up from the table and looked at Bi Qiuhan with a smile.
Bi Qiuhan glanced at him twice, smiled faintly, but did not answer. He had completed his apprenticeship at seventeen and had been wandering the martial world for eleven years. If he couldn't even see through this little bit of insight, wouldn't he have wasted all those years of his life?
"I'm so mad at some heartless bastards who abandoned me all in the capital while they and their wives ran off to some godforsaken place to have a good time. One like that, two like that, seven in a row... It's making me so bored spending Mid-Autumn Festival alone this year. Eight people at two tables of mahjong would have been just right..." Shengxiang muttered to himself, seemingly cursing something, when suddenly he asked, "Little Bi, which sect are you from?"
Caught off guard, Bi Qiuhan blurted out, "Biluo Palace..." Although he reacted quickly and stopped speaking immediately, he couldn't hold back the words that had already left his mouth. For eleven years, he had wandered the martial world, his origins remaining a mystery. "Biluo Palace" and "Bingzhu Temple" were considered the two most mysterious places in the martial world, with Biluo Palace even rumored to be a treasure trove of martial arts. If Bi Qiuhan were to reveal that he came from Biluo Palace, it would surely attract countless troubles. Therefore, he had always kept his origins a closely guarded secret, but unexpectedly, Shengxiang had suddenly asked him about it.
“The Azure Palace—” Shengxiang drawled out her admiring “Ah!” “What an amazing place. Little Bi, your martial arts must be quite impressive, I’ve heard…”
Before he could finish saying "I heard," Bi Qiuhan interrupted him: "Shengxiang, could you promise me that you won't reveal my lineage to anyone?"
He spoke seriously, and Shengxiang looked at him in surprise, tilting her head. "I won't agree."
Bi Qiuhan's expression changed slightly. He had never heard anyone answer "I don't agree" so seriously when someone said such a thing. "This matter is very important to me."