Love on the Turquoise Land

Yan Tuo was no less shocked than Nie Jiuluo.

He stared at Gou Ya for a long moment before asking, "What happened to your eye?"

Gou Ya stammered, "I accidentally poked it last night. You're making me... dizzy..."

With such a severe injury, the pain on his face couldn't be faked. Yan Tuo loosened his grip. "How did you poke it?"

Gou Ya, like a feeble patient, slowly curled back into the suitcase, slurring his words. "Just an accident... my head hurts..."

Yan Tuo said, "Bullshit."

The room fell silent for a few seconds after those words. Gou Ya stopped whimpering, and the faucet dripped slowly in the background.

Yan Tuo finally spoke again. "There are no dangerous objects in a hotel room. If you really got hurt here, you'd have been screaming your head off. You wouldn't have stayed quiet. Did you go out last night?"

Gou Ya panicked. "N-no, I didn't. It was an accident. A toothbrush... the toothbrush poked me..."

Before he could finish, the world spun around him. Then came a loud thud as he crashed onto the floor, stars bursting in his vision—Yan Tuo had flipped the suitcase over with one hand.

Before Nie Jiuluo could react, Yan Tuo had already planted a foot on Gou Ya's back, putting his full weight on it, pressing down so hard Gou Ya nearly suffocated. But that wasn't all—Yan Tuo pulled a gun from his waist and pressed the barrel hard against the back of Gou Ya's skull, forcing his ugly face flat against the floor.

"Lying to me? Think I'm stupid? Aunt Lin said if you behave, I'm here to pick you up. If not, I'm here to collect a corpse."

Gou Ya turned into a sniveling coward, his voice shrill and trembling, on the verge of tears. "Okay, okay! Last night, you called me useless, said that woman next to Sun Zhou saw me and drew me for the cops. I got mad... wanted to... settle the score with her..."

Yan Tuo froze, his grip loosening slightly as he glanced at Nie Jiuluo without thinking.

Nie Jiuluo kept an innocent expression while cursing inwardly.

"I climbed out the window, but I didn’t know where I was. Slipped, and there was this wire... it went straight into my eye... I was scared you’d find out, so I didn’t say anything."

Nie Jiuluo’s heart pounded, but she quickly assessed the situation.

—These two were definitely working together.

—Yan Tuo had authority over Gou Ya, but Gou Ya clearly had his own agenda and was hiding things from Yan Tuo.

—Above both of them was someone called "Aunt Lin."

The room fell silent again for a few seconds. Yan Tuo lifted his foot from Gou Ya’s back. Gou Ya let out a long, relieved groan and scrambled back into the suitcase, jostling it like a small boat tossed by waves.

After a moment, he finally managed to squeeze himself back in and even reached to pull the lid shut—though not completely, leaving a gap about a finger’s width.

His single eye peered warily through the crack, taking in Yan Tuo’s boots, the cold bronze glint of the rivets, and the woman sitting bound in the corner by the pipes, also wearing boots with clearly defined treads.

He didn’t recognize Nie Jiuluo—he’d never seen her in the light, only collided with her in the dark when she drove a pencil into his eye. The tip had been so sharp he hadn’t even felt the pain at first.

"Everything I just explained—clear now?""Just now's instructions?" Gou Ya froze for a moment before realizing, "Got it. You said you're going out and told me to keep an eye on Sun Zhou and this woman."

"Just watch them. Don't lay a finger on them."

Gou Ya quickly agreed.

The scene was too eerie. Nie Jiuluo felt her scalp tingle: Why didn't Yan Tuo or Gou Ya mention bandaging the wound? It's a gouged-out eye!

Everything that needed to be said had been said, but Yan Tuo still felt uneasy. He scanned the bathroom for a while, trying to spot any oversights or potential dangers.

Finally, his gaze landed on Nie Jiuluo.

She was it—the biggest risk.

He grabbed a roll of wide tape, tore off a long strip with a ripping sound as he approached Nie Jiuluo, then crouched down.

Nie Jiuluo instinctively turned her head away. "I won't scream. This inn has no guests, and you've left someone here to watch me. I'm not that stupid."

Yan Tuo wasn’t buying it. "Miss Nie, you’re quite the talker. Gou Ya isn’t sharp enough to handle your sweet talk. Better to seal it shut."

Nie Jiuluo cursed him inwardly for being blind: He thought Gou Ya was some innocent bird, afraid she’d trick him? He was the one who’d been fooled by Gou Ya.

But she held back. Evil people would be dealt with by worse—she was happy to play dumb and watch them tear each other apart.

She tried another angle. "Then can you at least let me eat something first?"

At noon, she was busy inspecting the temple and didn’t eat. At night, she was tied up and had no chance to eat. She’d already missed two meals—if someone else were in her shoes, they might lose their appetite, but not her. She needed to eat to have the energy to deal with these villains.

Yan Tuo acted as if he hadn’t heard her. He pressed the packing tape over her mouth and, to ensure it stayed, pressed firmly along the edges with his palm.

Nie Jiuluo had delicate skin. The pressure and sudden release left her face flushed pink as blood rushed back.

Before leaving, Yan Tuo finally answered her.

He said, "You look like you can handle hunger. Skipping a few meals won’t kill you."

Once the car left the inn, Yan Tuo turned on the navigation and headed straight for Banya Village.

He couldn’t let himself be schemed against without knowing why. He had to get to the bottom of it.

...

He didn’t dare drive into the village, parking far away instead and proceeding on foot, every step cautious to avoid detection.

Passing through the small woods from earlier, he spotted a figure approaching under the moonlight and quickly ducked into the trees.

The person, oblivious, continued walking leisurely, their voice drifting ahead of them.

"The Eight-Nation Alliance has reached the village entrance. They’ve taken all the pigs. I really don’t think we can count on the Empress Dowager anymore."

It was Ma Hanzi, holding a soup spoon as if making a "phone call," reporting to an imaginary superior: "Division Commander, we’ve deployed extra patrols day and night. We absolutely cannot let those foreign devils break into Banya."

Yan Tuo was speechless.

After the earlier incident, he was certain Ma Hanzi was indeed a fool—and a busy one at that, fighting Japanese invaders by day and Westerners by night.

Ma Hanzi continued, passing by Yan Tuo with a worried tone. "Yes, yes, I’ll contact the Boxers as soon as possible..."

Yan Tuo waited until he was gone before emerging from the woods and hurrying into the village.

At night, the lights made it easier to see: Only one house in the entire village was lit.The lit area was familiar—it was the bungalow at the east end of the village. Both the inner and outer rooms were brightly lit, with the windows half-open. Before Yan Tuo even got close, he could hear the clattering sounds of mahjong tiles being shuffled.

He crouched low, first approaching the inner room and peering inside through the window.

It was the woman who had tricked him into moving the pickle jar earlier that day. She was lighting a stick of incense with a lighter when a shout came from the outer room: "Hua Saozi, hurry up! We're waiting for you to start!"

The woman was evidently Hua Saozi. She set down the lighter, blew on the incense to make it glow, and said, "Coming, coming! Let me offer this stick to Lord Rain first."

As she spoke, she turned toward a small shrine on the side.

Yan Tuo also looked at the shrine. To be honest, he had heard of gods like Guan Yu and Guanyin, but never any "Lord Rain" or "Lord Wind." When he got a clearer look, he was even more baffled.

Inside the shrine was a bronze tripod, about the size of a kettle. Judging by its appearance, it was obviously fake—probably from the Yiwu small commodities market.

Hua Saozi bowed three times with the incense, murmuring, "Lord Rain, bless us. Keep everything peaceful inside and out, let the green fields bear fruit, and the blossoms yield harvest."

Once done, clearly eager to join the mahjong game, she hastily stuck the incense into the holder and hurried out to the outer room in quick strides.

Yan Tuo moved quietly to the window of the outer room. At a glance, his heart skipped a beat—most of the people inside were "familiar faces."

In view was a mahjong table, with three players waiting for Hua Saozi to complete the quartet. Behind the table was a simple plank bed, its straw mat still laid out.

Sitting on the bed was Shan Qiang, cross-legged against the wall, his head wrapped in bandages so thick it resembled the turban of a Sikh. His face was expressionless, silent and motionless. If not for his small eyes occasionally darting toward the mahjong table, Yan Tuo would have thought he had been knocked senseless by the crippled old man's cane.

Of the three at the mahjong table, two were familiar. One was the crippled old man with a cane, which now rested across his lap. His arm, injured by the car door, was slung in a bandage, leaving him to shuffle the tiles with just one hand. The other was the big-headed man, who truly loved cucumber dipped in sauce—a plate of sliced cucumbers sat beside him, topped with a generous dollop of spicy paste.

The third...

Yan Tuo stared at the remaining woman. She was the only one in the room he had never encountered before.

She was a woman in her thirties, with voluminous wavy hair, voluptuous and stunning—or perhaps bordering on seductive. She wore a nostalgic apricot-yellow matte silk dress with a deep V-neck, the opening revealing skin as fair as snow, practically inviting endless fantasies. Her features were exquisitely painted, her eyes shimmering as if they could spill into one's heart at any moment, reaching out to tickle you.

As she arranged her tiles, she called out to Hua Saozi without looking up, "Hurry up, we're waiting for you."

Hua Saozi scurried to her seat, habitually wiping her hands on her clothes before hesitating as she reached for the tiles. "Are we... just going to play like this?"

The woman shot her a sidelong glance. "If not like this, then how? Should we hire a band for you?"

"No, I mean..." Hua Saozi nervously glanced toward the half-open window. "What if that person... comes back for revenge?"

Yan Tuo's heart tightened—Hua Saozi's "that person" was almost certainly referring to him.

The woman replied nonchalantly, "It'd be best if he came. I’d be afraid he wouldn’t. I was late today and missed him."After a pause, he added, "You guys are really useless. Four people, and you couldn't stop one."

Da Tou shot him a sidelong glance. "Who are you talking about?"

As he spoke, he picked up a piece of cucumber, dipped it in sauce, and angrily crunched down on it.

The crippled old man stacked the mahjong tiles into a wall with one hand, clearly irritated, the tiles clattering loudly. "Que Cha, stop talking nonsense. Even if you were there, you wouldn’t have stopped him either."

Que Cha snorted, her lips curling in disdain.

Shan Qiang weakly tried to mediate. "Alright, stop fighting among ourselves. The more I think about it, the more I feel this isn’t simple. Tea-jie, maybe you should tell Jiang Shu?"

"Old Jiang is busy with important matters outside. Is this little thing worth bothering him?"

"Little thing?" Shan Qiang got so worked up he forgot he was supposed to be weak, his voice rising an octave. "Tea-jie, think carefully. Is this really a little thing? What did Jiang Shu go out there for?"

Hearing this, Que Cha seemed uncertain. She held the dice in her hand, not rushing to reveal the tiles. After a moment, she turned to the big-headed man. "Da Tou, are you sure it was really that smell?"

Hua Saozi chimed in from the side. "Maybe the sauce smell was too strong, and you got it wrong?"

Da Tou sneered. "That car reeked. How could I mistake it?"

He tapped his greasy nose with a finger. "Even if you don’t believe me, you should trust this dog’s nose."

A car reeking?

Yan Tuo was utterly confused. He had excellent hygiene habits; his car was clean and definitely odor-free.

Que Cha rolled the dice, checked the number, and drew her tiles. "That is strange. Did anyone get the license plate number?"

Shan Qiang weakly replied, "I did at first, but after Crippled Father hit me, the order... I can’t remember clearly now."

Da Tou said mockingly, "What’s the use of getting the plate? We’re short-handed as it is, barely enough to guard the place. How are we supposed to chase him down?"

Que Cha shot him a glance. "What’s the rush? Check the plate, track his family. He’s not going to fly away. When Old Jiang gets back, we’ll corner him and settle the score."

Hua Saozi still couldn’t relax. "But... what if before Old Jiang returns, that guy comes back for revenge in the next couple of days?"

Que Cha gave her a disdainful look. "Then we’ll talk to him. Is there anything in this world that can’t be settled with a chat? He came with goods—maybe he wants to join us."

From their tones and attitudes, Yan Tuo guessed that this woman, Que Cha, was some kind of minor authority figure.

Perhaps because everyone was uneasy, the mahjong game didn’t go well, and they disbanded just past ten. Except for Hua Saozi, everyone went their separate ways.

Banya Village had no streetlights. Walking at night relied on flashlights or phone lights. Four people, four directions—the faint beams of their lights were like slender fish swimming into an endless sea of darkness.

Yan Tuo, like a shadow, followed behind Que Cha.

The mountain village at night was eerily quiet. Que Cha walked gracefully in her apricot-colored high heels, the clicks of her heels echoing on the ground.

But women are naturally sensitive. Suddenly, she stopped, shining her flashlight behind her and shouting, "Who’s there?"

Yan Tuo had already slipped into a dark corner, watching her intently.After a pause and seeing no movement around, Que Cha dismissed it as paranoia, letting out a long sigh of relief before muttering, "This damn place, I'm never coming back again."