"Xiao Fang, who is this Shui Duopo you just mentioned?" Yu Tuan'er stared at Fang Pingzhai. "Can she really heal his face?" Fang Pingzhai laughed heartily, "Shui Duopo... Have you ever heard the verse, 'Graceful in leisure, elegance untold, A jade belt adorns golden splendor bold. Through blossoms and leaves she lightly strays, Under heaven's roof, her art displays'?" Yu Tuan'er shook her head. The only notable figure she knew was Liu Yan—even Tang Lici was someone she barely recognized. Fang Pingzhai waved his red fan, "She's someone I deeply admire, a true master of her craft." Yu Tuan'er looked at him in surprise, finding it odd that he didn’t launch into one of his usual rambles. What kind of person could earn Fang Pingzhai’s admiration and silence him? "Can she heal his face and legs?" Fang Pingzhai tapped her head with his red fan, "She could graft a sow’s head onto a human, turn radishes into cabbages and cabbages into sweet potatoes, raise roosters into plump geese and geese into swans—so if we can find her, maybe she really could." Yu Tuan'er felt her blood surge with excitement. "Do you know where she lives?" Fang Pingzhai tapped her head again with his fan, "Unfortunately, no. Most people in this world don’t. Shui Duopo has a close friend named Xue Xianzi, and Xue Xianzi has a close friend named Tang Lici. But alas—" He glanced sidelong at Liu Yan, "My dear shifu would rather throw himself into the sea to be bitten by fish, drowned by shrimp, or strangled by seaweed than be saved by the friend of Tang Lici’s friend. Besides—hiring Shui Duopo’s services costs over a hundred taels of gold. Even selling you three or four times over wouldn’t cover that sum. Since shifu himself doesn’t care, why should you fret over him? Haha."
"Just because he doesn’t care doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be healed!" Yu Tuan'er shot Fang Pingzhai a glare. "He’s so pitiful like this." Fang Pingzhai was left speechless and could only laugh awkwardly. No matter how silver-tongued he was—capable of turning demons into bodhisattvas or sows into fairies—he always ended up at a loss with Yu Tuan'er.
A Shui was in the kitchen boiling noodles, listening to the fragmented chatter in the main hall. For a while, her mind felt hollow. They all genuinely cared about Liu Yan. She knew all too well how rare it was to find people who truly cared for you. Perhaps because he bore sins that weren’t his to bear, he was still luckier than most? Scooping up the noodles, she divided them into three porcelain bowls, focusing intently on the simple meal while quietly listening for any sound from the guest room.
The guest room remained utterly silent, as if no one was there at all.
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