Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
In the winter of the second year of Zhenguan, which was the beginning of the year 69 AD, it was once again the Lantern Festival.
The streets of Chang'an were noticeably livelier than in the previous two years. This was the fourth year since Li Shimin ascended to the throne, with clear politics, stable public sentiment, and a booming economy.
Dragon dances had already begun to appear in the market, with men and women crowding together to watch, blocking the streets completely. Over there, they performed "Two Dragons Playing with a Pearl," with dragons adorned with lanterns, their eyes and bodies shimmering brightly, creating a magnificent sight under the illuminated night. The two dragon heads bobbed up and down, lively as if they were alive, their bodies twisting and turning gracefully, coiling and soaring like real creatures.
I stood at the back of the crowd, unable to see the dragon dance clearly and too lazy to squeeze in with them. So I silently leaped onto the top of a pavilion, looking down at the lights below. No one noticed me; the vibrant colors and joyful sounds of the market flowed past my eyes like a stream.
There is a saying that resonates well in modern times: The excitement belongs to them; I have nothing.
Suddenly, there was a commotion below as a group of Constables struggled to push through the crowd.
"Make way! Make way! We're chasing a fugitive!" The leader, unable to get through, turned red in the face from anxiety. However, they did not kick or shove people aside like in movies; they simply fought their way forward through the throng.
"Damn Night Phantom! I’ve got you now; I’ll make sure you suffer a thousand cuts!"
"What a wonderful Lantern Festival night, ruined by this bastard! Damn his ancestors!"
"……%￥%…… ！！" (Inappropriate language has been censored)
The Constables squeezed through the crowd, panting heavily and sweating profusely while cursing incessantly.
From my elevated position, I coldly watched them and inwardly cursed, "You old bastard!"
The leader among them was Bai Qianfan from Yongzhou Prefecture, someone I knew well. How dare those little brats insult my idol?! They truly must be tired of living!
I flicked my wrist, and a jade the size of a pigeon egg shot out with a whoosh, striking him squarely on the forehead with a loud thud.
The leading Constable let out a howl and collapsed to the ground, a large purple bump quickly forming on his forehead. He slapped the ground with his hand and began to curse loudly. But three seconds later, when he looked down and saw the "hidden weapon" lying on the ground, his curses abruptly ceased.
"This... this... this isn't the ancestral treasure Jadeite that the Wu Family lost, is it?!"
In an instant, all eyes turned toward my hiding spot above.
How could I be foolish enough to stay here and wait for them to discover me? I had already leaped lightly from the top of the archway to the roof of the tavern across the street. Finding an empty backyard, I gracefully landed silently on the ground.
Now dressed as a woman, I lifted my skirt and slipped out from the deserted courtyard, blending seamlessly into the bustling crowd of the marketplace.
Did this scene feel a bit out of place? Heh, you got that right.
No matter how much pain and struggle one’s heart may endure, time relentlessly marches forward. That moment—the night my beloved fell from the cliffs of Baiyun Mountain—felt both infinitely near and infinitely far away. Yet, it had been a full year and a half since that day.
During this time, I deeply understood what it meant to "live each day like a year."
What? You ask who Night Phantom is? Heh, do you think I've found him? How could that be? If he were truly my Autumn, why would he take on the guise of Night Phantom and not return to my side?
So, that wasn't him; it was me.
In this year and a half, so many things have happened, yet none of it mattered. My Autumn did not return, and everything in this world became irrelevant to me.
My Autumn has not come back since then.
I once tried to follow the advice in a book: if I could go a day without crying, I would mark a line on the wall and reward myself. However, I soon gave up because I never managed to carve that line. I have not gone a single night without tears, and even now, I still haven't.
So, I decided to accept everything my body brought me, just as the Yoga Instructors taught. When you can embrace that inner pain, it becomes just a habit.
Yet, I kept telling myself firmly that he was not dead; he was merely trapped for some reason. Eventually, we would find each other again, we would embrace and cry together, and from then on, we would never part. This was the sole reason I fought to survive in the Tang Dynasty.
I filled my time to the brim, surrounded by people who helped me keep busy. In the first six months, Luo Dachun took me back to the mountains and placed me at Snowfall Villa, where he taught me martial arts. Snowfall Villa was an excellent place for training—cold, quiet, equipped with the best tools and instructors.
So I practiced martial arts with reckless abandon. Initially, I thought that the eight years spent coming to the Tang Dynasty were quite intense, but now it seemed like a joke. I worked so hard that I scared the instructors at Snowfall Villa to the point where they often had to knock me unconscious just to make me stop. But they didn’t understand; only when the body is in enough pain can one forget about the wounds of the soul.
The endless self-destructive practice resulted in my skills advancing rapidly.
I was astonished to discover that at some point, I had become adept at circulating my energy smoothly through my body, able to run along rooftops as if walking on flat ground, and with a light lift of my hand, I could send a burly bandit sprawling with a single slap.
Using the methods taught by my autumn instructor, I practiced the Star Absorption Technique day after day as if he had assigned me a challenging homework task. When I completed it perfectly, my instructor would come in smiling and present me with a red flower. That was how I imagined it.
However, despite my impressive progress on the assignment, my instructor still did not appear.
Luo Dachun returned to his original self—the one I first knew—staying by my side day after day, sharing stories, telling jokes, and bringing me delicious food. After six months of this routine, he finally took me back to Chang'an after much contemplation.
I don’t know how he negotiated with the emperor; in any case, he replaced Nie Qiuyuan and temporarily took over as Deputy Minister of the Dali Temple. He brought me back to the Dali Temple and laid out a pile of complicated old case files before me. Without hesitation, I dove right in.
The emperor took great care of me; at the Dali Temple, I could do pretty much as I pleased. However, I didn’t cause him any trouble; after all, I had broken down in front of him once before. His demeanor made me feel that serving him was worthwhile.
Just days after Nie Qiuyuan's disappearance over the cliff, the emperor personally visited Luoyang and specifically came to see his brother-in-arms' "widow." Upon seeing him, anger surged within me. I pulled out the imperial Jade Pendant from my luggage and rushed forward to shout at him.
Regarding this Jade Pendant, you probably don't remember what happened, and I can barely recall it myself. It was when we first encountered Young Master Mu at Wanzi Mountain. He had thrown that Jade Pendant onto the bed of a corpse, and later, before leaving, he bestowed it upon me. It was something that could be used by someone in the palace.
But what use do I have for it? So I had just left it there and forgotten about it. Yet at that moment, I remembered it; I wanted to use it to tell the Emperor that he still owed me a promise. My husband went missing because of him. Yet he even harmed him!
"Nie Qiuyuan is not dead, nor will he die!" I shouted at the Emperor while holding the Jade Pendant. "He has never done anything against you; don't take this opportunity to strike him down! There is poison in his body that you put there. Don't let your suspicions lead you to harm him!"
At that moment, I didn't care about life or death at all. Without seeing autumn, I simply didn't want to live.
However, Li Shimin quietly listened to my outburst without blaming me for confronting him. Instead, he sincerely said to me, "What I did back then was to reassure him and also to reassure myself. I have never had the intention to harm Qiu Yuan; he is my sworn brother, and I would never do such a thing. I also believe Qiu Yuan is alive, so I have already instructed the poison master to dispel the poison."
In my heart, I cursed—what sworn brother? You haven't even spared your own brother! But since he had dispelled the poison, surely the Emperor wouldn't lie to me? This eased 1% of my worries.
So six months later, when I returned to the Dali Temple, it was like a starving person pouncing on bread; I threw myself into solving cases with fervor. My investigation style was swift and ruthless, my methods brutal and terrifying, my attitude unreasonable and overbearing, and my relentless pursuit of cases led to an astonishingly high solve rate. My reputation quickly spread throughout the ancient Public Security System. In the field of Detective Work, mentioning Ye Liuhui from Dali Temple made everyone turn pale with fear and avoid me like the plague, respectfully referring to me as the Peach Blossom Death God.
But no matter how exhausted I was, the Peach Blossom Death God still suffered from insomnia. When sleeplessness struck, I would lean against the window counting stars and singing; sometimes tears would flow as I sang. Perhaps my modern pop songs were so beautiful that they reached ears outside the window, keeping these songs popular in town—most famously those by Hsin Hsiao-Chi that I sang most often.
Hmph, how could people from ancient times understand why "I miss your smile, miss your coat, miss your white socks, and the scent on you"? How could they comprehend what it feels like when "longing is a pain that breathes; it rolls back and forth in my blood"?
Because in the past, when I listened to music, I never understood such visceral pain.
It turns out that longing can truly hurt; just like in ancient times—thinking of one’s beloved makes one grow old.
Today is Lantern Festival, so Luo Dachun, Melan, Lin Jiu, and those working overtime at Dali Temple gathered together for a reunion dinner. After all this time—one and a half years—my mental state was generally normal aside from my usual unpredictable moods; communication was entirely possible. However, today Han Meilan did something utterly unreasonable that instantly infuriated me.
She actually set an extra set of utensils beside me and filled a bowl with rice!
"This is for Brother Nie. Everyone should reunite today!"
At that moment, I slammed my hand on the table, grabbed the bowl of rice, and smashed it to the ground with a loud crash, scattering grains everywhere.
"What are you doing?!" I shouted. "Do you think he's up there? He's somewhere, enjoying his meal right now. Do you really think he can eat this huge bowl of rice?!"
You all must think in your hearts that my Qiu is already dead! You must secretly pity me!
Han Meilan was on the verge of tears, her lips pursed as she pitifully called out, "Liuying..."
I couldn't stand her whimpering any longer and didn't want them to see the tears welling up in my eyes.
So I leaped onto the roof, disappearing into the night after a few agile jumps.
Outside was too lively; the sounds of laughter and joy filled me with resentment. So I decisively carried out the theft I had just planned, sending out a notice under the name Night Phantom to steal the priceless ancestral treasure of the Wu Family in Chang'an that I had long set my sights on—the Jadeite.
Alright, I admit my mindset is quite dark. At this moment, I simply couldn't bear to see others enjoying their harmonious reunions during this Lantern Festival, couples in love, and lives filled with happiness and peace. (To be continued)
Comment 0 Comment Count