Even things that didn't require any thought were slipping her mind—An Jiu truly couldn't fathom what there was to be happy about.
But then another thought struck her. Mo Sigui was with the Crane Control Army, and Zhu Pianxian likely couldn't come and go there freely either. Chu Dingjiang wouldn't go out of his way to ask him for such a trivial matter. "Has Mo Sigui also left?"
"Yes! He returned to Plum Blossom Village. Didn't you know?" Zhu Pianxian replied.
An Jiu shook her head.
"Ten days ago, he suddenly resigned from his post, saying he wanted to return to Plum Blossom Village to focus on studying medicine. Who knows why. I went to see him once—he was buried in a pile of herbs and didn't even lift an eyelid." Zhu Pianxian sighed. She was surrounded by people like this, even Sheng Changying was the same.
Thinking of Sheng Changying, Zhu Pianxian felt a pang of heartache. "Others immerse themselves in their work because they're passionate, but Changying forces himself. If he doesn't accomplish many things in a day, he can't even sleep properly, terrified that falling behind will lead to hardship."
"You've already progressed to sleeping together?" An Jiu completely missed her point. After asking, she privately congratulated herself on her growing sophistication—she was even engaging in gossip, such a refined lifestyle. She mentally applauded herself.
"No!" Zhu Pianxian was, after all, a native of the Song Dynasty. No matter how open-minded she was, she wasn't that open. An Jiu's blunt question made her face flush like a steamed bun. To make matters worse, An Jiu stared at her unblinkingly, waiting for an answer with an earnest and devout expression, making her so embarrassed she wished she could bury An Jiu under a pile of silver.
Knowing that Sheng Changying couldn't sleep well, An Jiu didn't believe for a second that they hadn't slept together. After a moment of contemplation, she offered reassuringly, "Don't worry, my lips are sealed. Even psychological hypnosis wouldn't get a word out of me."
Zhu Pianxian was so furious she nearly ascended to heaven on the spot. Trembling, she pointed at the door, struggling to compose herself before finally managing to say, "Oh, for heaven's sake, just go see Miracle Doctor Mo. He's been very unhappy lately."
Hearing this, An Jiu's confidence suddenly soared. She felt certain she was adapting more and more to normal life. Nodding at Zhu Pianxian, she left in high spirits, her steps light and cheerful.
Zhu Pianxian clutched her chest, panting heavily. Once she finally calmed down, she hastily instructed her maid, "Next time you see her, tell her I'm out on business."
An Jiu dashed out of the city like the wind, not even needing a horse. Holding an umbrella, she ran on foot all the way to Plum Blossom Village.
Plum Blossom Village had been restored, its entrance no longer bearing the desolation left by the fire years ago.
An Jiu reasoned that Mo Sigui was the Crane Control Army's prized asset—they wouldn't let him leave alone. So she concealed her presence, using her mental strength to slip in unnoticed.
Plum Blossom Village was vast. An Jiu's intuition told her he'd be in his old thatched cottage. Sure enough, as she approached, she saw a dim light flickering through the open window.
Standing under her umbrella in the rain, An Jiu gazed at the cottage. The Shadow Guards assigned by the Crane Control Army quickly spotted her, but since Mo Sigui was unaware of their presence, they dared not intercept her openly. They remained on high alert, ready to intervene if she posed any threat to Mo Sigui.
As An Jiu pondered how to enter, a small tiger cub squeezed through the door crack and dashed through the rain to her feet.Then, the door creaked open, and Mo Sigui stood at the entrance with his hands hanging loosely. "If you're here, come in. What’s the point of standing in the rain like a wooden stake?"
An Jiu picked up Da Jiu and strode under the eaves, closing her umbrella. In the dim light, she studied Mo Sigui. He still wore that same carefree, unrestrained expression, as if Lou Mingyue’s incident had never happened. Yet, he had grown alarmingly thin.
An Jiu had just learned the skill of small talk from Zhu Pianxian, and now was the perfect time to put it to use. "I just saw Zhu Pianxian—she’s gained a lot of weight. If she could share some with you, you wouldn’t look so gaunt and awful."
Mo Sigui took a deep breath and turned to enter the house.
An Jiu followed him inside. Mo Sigui tilted his chin slightly, his mood visibly gloomy. "There’s tea on the table. Pour yourself a cup if you’re not afraid of being poisoned."
She set Da Jiu down and poured herself some water, thinking that perhaps Mo Sigui, like her, didn’t consider small talk important.
Mo Sigui leaned back on the couch, holding a long pipe as he exhaled smoke. "If you’re here to comfort me, don’t bother. I’m perfectly happy."
An Jiu wasn’t sure—was tobacco even a thing at this time? Was he smoking opium? Had he already fallen so low?
Mo Sigui didn’t speak. His face was obscured by the smoke, but his sharp cheekbones made his peach-blossom eyes stand out even more. On closer inspection, beneath his usual charm lay a deeper, more somber air. Though his face no longer carried the same effortless grace as before, it was somehow even more striking. Yet, An Jiu couldn’t see any trace of happiness in him.
As the smoke drifted over, An Jiu caught a strong medicinal scent and realized he wasn’t smoking tobacco or any narcotic.
Mo Sigui noticed her expression and said, "I’m not so weak that I’d numb myself with opium."
Pipes and opium had existed for a long time, said to have been introduced during the Tang Dynasty when envoys from all over the world came to pay tribute. A small number of people had been using it ever since, though whether it was still around now was unclear. Mo Sigui had taken an interest in it after reading records suggesting it could be used medicinally. He had even collected some poppy seeds, planning to plant them the following year.
As for the pipe, he had been suffering from insomnia lately. After enduring sleepless nights for over a week, he refused to let himself appear weak and had been relying on medicine to keep going. At least he hadn’t collapsed—that would have been too humiliating. But the consequence was severe insomnia. Even when his body was utterly exhausted, lying in bed with his eyes closed, his thoughts refused to settle.
Yet, some inexplicable stubbornness kept him from brewing a simple sleeping draught. Instead, he thought of inhaling smoke to treat his insomnia. At first, he burned the herbs in an incense burner, but the result was that everyone in the courtyard fell into a deep, heavy slumber—except him, who lay wide-eyed, tossing and turning in bed with bloodshot eyes. It wasn’t until he fiddled with the poppy seeds that he remembered the pipe. A flash of inspiration struck, and he used this method to inhale the smoke, finally solving his insomnia.
An Jiu asked curiously, "Can heartbreak be treated with medicine too?"
Mo Sigui narrowed his eyes, wisps of smoke escaping his lips as he spoke. "Would you lose a piece of flesh if you didn’t poke at people’s sore spots?"
"Sorry," An Jiu said.
The medicinal herbs burned out. Mo Sigui tapped the pipe against the table to clear the residue. "It’s fine. Maybe if you poke enough, it’ll just go numb and stop hurting."Saying one thing was him, saying another was also him—An Jiu simply shut her mouth.
“What brings you here in the middle of the night?” Mo Sigui yawned, his gaze slightly bleary as he looked at An Jiu.
Why did everyone assume there had to be a reason for meeting? An Jiu replied patiently, “I just suddenly wanted to come.”
Mo Sigui yawned again and held out his hand to her.
An Jiu obediently offered her wrist, and Mo Sigui’s cool fingers rested on it. After a while, he let go, but his hand didn’t drop—so An Jiu dutifully extended her other wrist as well.
After checking her pulse for a moment, he mumbled, “Not bad. How’s your Plum Fist training been lately?”
Was this small talk? An Jiu thought that perhaps everyone had their own way of doing things, so she answered earnestly, “I’ve been on missions most of the time, so I haven’t practiced much. No real progress yet.”
“No ambition. If you don’t take it seriously, all my Medicine might as well have been fed to a dog! I hate patients like you who don’t follow orders.” Mo Sigui leaned his head back against the chair, closing his heavy eyelids as he said slowly, “The Medicine you’re taking now contains Gu Jinghong’s Heart blood. He went all out—don’t you dare waste it…”
An Jiu’s chest tightened. She truly felt she’d been too careless, but Mo Sigui’s last words didn’t sound like his usual style at all.
Perhaps… he had gone all out too, but Lou Mingyue hadn’t stayed for it.
Clatter.
Mo Sigui’s pipe slipped from his hand. An Jiu froze for a moment before bending to pick it up. When she looked back at him, his breathing had evened out—he seemed to have fallen asleep.
The Medicine was indeed potent. Even An Jiu felt a little drowsy.
She stood and walked to the door, paused, then turned back to hoist Mo Sigui up and toss him onto the bed, haphazardly pulling the blanket over him.
Da Jiu, seeing An Jiu about to leave, clamped onto her pant leg and dug in, sliding along the ground as she took a step. Only after she vigorously ruffled his fur did he finally succumb to the Medicine’s effects and slowly drift off. By the bedside, Xiao Yue was already sprawled belly-up, dead to the world.
An Jiu placed Da Jiu beside Xiao Yue and was about to leave when she heard Mo Sigui murmur drowsily, “A-Jiu… I’m glad you came.” (To be continued…)
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