"The Dissolute Shop has sent out a large number of people to search for us but failed, so they set up bait to lure us out and rescue them." A Shui stomped her foot. "Have they already started killing?" Lin Bu shook his head. "No, they said if they don't capture the evil creature by the third watch tonight, they'll start killing." Upon hearing the news, he had already urged the family in the cellar to flee quickly to avoid the Dissolute Shop's brutality.
"How many people have they captured?" Tang Lici's gentle voice came through. A Shui and Lin Bu were startled, while Yu Tuan'er blurted out first, "Hey! Are you planning to rescue them? Your injuries haven't healed yet! They're trying to lure you out—if you go, you'll be walking right into their trap." Tang Lici held a book scroll and smiled faintly. "My wounds have improved a lot."
"Let us figure out a way to rescue them. You absolutely must not go." A Shui walked to the door and whispered, "They must have set up an inescapable net to capture you." Tang Lici flipped a page of the scroll without looking at her and said softly, "Are you trying to say you're willing to die in my place?" A Shui trembled slightly. "Young Master Tang bears great responsibilities in the martial world. If my death can ensure your safety, A Shui's life is of little consequence."
With a loud bang , a splash of water erupted in front of A Shui, and shards of porcelain flew out, leaving fine cuts on her face. Yu Tuan'er gasped in shock. "What are you doing?" Lin Bu was equally startled. Upon hearing A Shui's words—"my life is of little consequence"—Tang Lici suddenly hurled the book scroll away. The scroll, infused with fierce anger and true power, shattered the table with a crash. The teapot on the table flew up and exploded in front of A Shui, wounding her face.
"What are you doing? Why are you smashing things for no reason? What did A Shui-jie do to offend you?" Yu Tuan'er shielded A Shui behind her and glared furiously at Tang Lici. "She was thinking of your good! If it were me, I wouldn’t be willing to die for you! Why did you hurt her face?" Lin Bu tugged at Yu Tuan'er's sleeve. "Yu Guniang." Yu Tuan'er turned her head. "What?" Lin Bu tightened his grip and pulled her out of the room, closing the door behind them.
Feng Feng crawled out from under the blankets and watched the two of them.
Blood slowly seeped from the fine cuts on A Shui's cheeks. Tang Lici glanced at the scattered fragments of wood and porcelain on the floor, his eyes devoid of remorse. Coldly, he said, "One day, I will make you willingly die for me—sincerely and wholeheartedly." A Shui closed her eyes and shook her head, murmuring, "If I never become sincere, will you never let me go?"
"Even if I find someone more stubborn and difficult than you, I will never let you go." Tang Lici's voice was sinister. "I will never let you go!" A drop of blood from A Shui's wound slowly trailed down her cheek like a tear. "Making me... making me go mad for you, die for you sincerely—what would you gain from that? Watching me die for you... is it truly... truly so amusing, so worth anticipating?"
"It would make me happy." Tang Lici rose from the bed, bent down, and pinched A Shui's chin, tilting her head up slightly. "You are a rare treasure, born with innate charm that can seduce any man. You conquer all men, and I conquer you—isn't that perfect?" He spoke softly. "You could also imagine... this is because I am deeply drawn to you, a way of loving you.""You don't love me!" A Shui pushed him away abruptly, turning her head aside as her chest heaved. "Many people love me, many have gone mad for me, but I know you haven't!" Tang Lici smiled, helping her up slowly from the ground. His cheek brushed against hers, descending gradually until his warm lips reached the nape of her neck behind her ear, where he exhaled softly. A Shui trembled all over as she heard him whisper tenderly, "That's it. They go mad for you, die for you... while you go mad for me, die for me... That would make me very happy. Miss A Shui..." He kissed behind her ear, "You should feel honored."
A Shui collapsed into his arms. Tang Lici's kiss was undoubtedly more intoxicating than any man she had ever known, yet tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. "If I die for you, and you're happy after my death, I'd be utterly heartbroken in the afterlife... Have you never... cared about my sorrow?" Tang Lici studied the woman in his arms carefully and replied gently, "Of course, your sorrow is your own affair." A Shui murmured wistfully, "You once said you thought well of me, wished for me to live forever, to smile, to be happy."
"I did say that, under a pond full of moonlight, with lotus blossoms in full bloom." Tang Lici smiled, his voice growing even softer. "Amid the fragrance of flowers and the allure of wine, you were weary then, missing your child dearly." A Shui stared blankly at the ceiling with lifeless eyes and asked slowly, "Were those words... false?" Tang Lici lifted her up, kissing her forehead gently. "Those words were what you wanted to hear." A Shui spoke slowly, "I only wanted to raise Feng Feng alone, without knowing any Young Master Tang, Lord Hao, or Revered Master Liu... I don't need any man to love me. I can live well by myself."
"But that isn't happiness." Tang Lici wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her horizontally to face the winter sunlight. "You need someone to hold you tightly, to watch the sunrise and sunset with you; to hold you close when you're sad, when you dream, when you make mistakes; someone who never blames you, always finds you beautiful..." He kissed the delicate warmth of her neck, his breath mingling with his uniquely tender scent, "That is happiness."
Leaning against Tang Lici's chest, A Shui gazed at the sunlight with him and asked shakily, "Why don't you seek 'happiness,' but instead wish for someone to die for you?" For someone like him, how hard could it be to find a woman to love sincerely? Why wouldn't he? Why did he only desire someone to die for him wholeheartedly?
"Even 'happiness' may not leave something eternal." Tang Lici murmured gently, "But 'death' can."A Shui gazed dazedly at the sunlight before her. The man holding her... was he truly insane? Tears fell drop by drop. She didn’t know why she was crying—was it because she desperately wanted to understand this man, to know why he was so mad, to uncover what he deeply yearned for and lacked? She wanted to convince herself to pity him, to wish for his happiness, but—to open her heart and wait for Tang Lici to slowly invade her soul, to let her life crumble and abandon Feng Feng without a care... she couldn’t summon such courage. "I... could never love you... My heart belongs to someone else... My heart..." she murmured, "My heart..."
Tang Lici gently set her down and took a seat in the chair, smiling leisurely. "Who does your heart belong to?"
"Fu... Zhu Mei..." She staggered back two steps, leaning against the wall, her gaze distant and unfocused.
Tang Lici lifted his eyes to look at her. She slid down the wall to sit on the floor again. His expression was strange, terribly strange... The Tang Lici she saw through her blurred vision twisted and distorted, morphing into something indescribable. Softly, she heard him ask, "Why?"
Why? Staring at the ever-shifting demon before her, a faint smile curled at her lips as she answered dreamily, "Because Xiao Fu is good. He’s better than you." The white-clad waiter from the Silver Horn Tavern, who in spring would take his turtle for walks in the countryside to see if he could find a female turtle of the same size, and who would return with a willow branch in hand. That snow-white robe, the verdant willow... the azure sky and endless white clouds. Back then, she had followed behind, watching and watching, dreaming that one day he might notice her, that one day they could chase that turtle together into deeper valleys to find that female turtle...
Her dream was fleeting, small.
Dreams, after all, are nothing but absurd and baseless fantasies.
Fu Zhu Mei...
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