The two of them ate meat and drank wine until only bones were left of the horse leg in the pot, and the broth was nearly boiled dry. Wen Chaoshen was perfectly tipsy and told A Shui he wanted to hear her past stories, but A Shui refused.
"I don't want to talk about it, so don't ask."
Her slender fingertips clenched tightly, crushing the tile into powder.
Under the influence of strong liquor, painful memories surged like a flood. A Shui couldn't resist and grabbed the wine jar, drinking fiercely until her scarred white belly swelled, then finally stopped and tossed the empty jar aside.
Crack—
The shattered wine jar scattered across the ground.
She leaned against the statue's base, one hand on her knee, her desote gaze passing by Wen Chaoshen, looking out of the temple. The fmes of pain in her eyes couldn't be extinguished even by the white snow.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have asked, making you feel so bad."
Faced with Wen Chaoshen's apology, A Shui seemed to lose all her strength, remaining motionless except for the rise and fall of her chest.
Wen Chaoshen saw her fingers trembling.
Those terrifying memories A Shui couldn't face were slicing her soul piece by piece.
Taking a swig of wine, Wen Chaoshen changed the subject:
"A Shui, can you teach me how to cultivate?"
Hearing this, A Shui took a moment to come back to her senses, turned her head stiffly, a glimmer of light appearing in her eyes, but her words chilled Wen Chaoshen.
"I can't."
"What I practice, you can't."
Wen Chaoshen chuckled:
"How do you know?"
A Shui gazed at Wen Chaoshen for a while, her brows suddenly furrowing slightly, burping from the wine. Then she beckoned him closer with a finger, and Wen Chaoshen sat beside her. A Shui, disregarding the propriety between men and women, reached out and felt his shoulders, chest, waist, hips, and spine.
Seeing her so unabashed, Wen Chaoshen felt a bit uncomfortable.
Afterward, A Shui said:
"Indeed, you can't practice it."
"My skills are ordinary martial arts routines, which must be practiced from a young age. After fifteen or sixteen, a person's skeleton is mostly set, and the skeleton affects the meridians, which in turn affects the dantian."
"If you want to cultivate now, you can't practice ordinary martial arts. You can only take the path of cultivation holy nds, but those pces are hard to enter. Without connections, only those with exceptional talent can enter."
"Otherwise, you'd have to encounter some extraordinary hermit masters... You know, that requires fate."
"But from my observation, you're probably the unluckiest person I've ever met, so don't have any illusions about meeting a hermit master."
Wen Chaoshen looked at her with sadness and resentment.
"Thank you."
...
Kuhai County, Liu Manor.
Dressed in official robes, the portly Liu Jinshi hurried through the garden, with the steward bowing and following behind, continuously speaking.
There was a hint of excitement on Liu Jinshi's face, as if some great fortune was about to befall him.
Passing by the corner of a pavilion, he didn't mind the snow dirtying his new boots, climbed over a stone bench, and rushed toward the reception hall amidst the steward's repeated warnings of 'Be careful, County Lord.'
At the door, he suddenly turned and instructed the steward:
"Go back and prepare the meal. Don't come over without my message."
The steward gnced at the reception hall, bowed to Liu Jinshi, and quickly left.
Upon opening the door, a middle-aged man in a red brocade robe was already seated in the spacious reception hall, sipping tea.
Seeing this middle-aged man, the usually high-and-mighty Liu Jinshi lifted his robe and knelt before him, kowtowing.
"Mr. Lu, my apologies for the inadequate hospitality!"
"Please, don't take offense!"
The middle-aged man in the red brocade robe gnced at Liu Jinshi, smiled, stood up, and personally helped him up.
"Oh, what's the County Lord doing?"
"Come, sit."
Liu Jinshi sat on the chair beside him, gently rubbing his palms, feigning ignorance as he asked:
"I wonder what brings Mr. Lu here today?"
The middle-aged man smiled, took out an exquisite small box from his sleeve, and pced it in front of him.
"Regarding the st matter... the lord was very satisfied. This is a token of appreciation."
Liu Jinshi looked at the small box pushed in front of him, couldn't help but swallow, and was about to take it. But the middle-aged man suddenly retracted the box slightly, halting Liu Jinshi's motion and freezing his smile.
"Mr. Lu..."
He was puzzled and tentatively spoke.
The man in the red robe leaned in slightly, smiling as he whispered:
"Magistrate Liu, this matter is of great importance. If it gets out, no one can bear the consequences... You won't speak, will you?"
Liu Jinshi's face suddenly turned serious, raising three fingers to swear:
"I, Liu Jinshi, swear to the heavens, if I dare to leak any information detrimental to the lord, may I die a horrible death!"
The man in the red robe, seeing Liu Jinshi's unwavering gaze, finally showed a reassuring smile:
"Good!"
"Then I'm relieved."
He pced the brocade box into Liu Jinshi's hands and said:
"Open it and see."
Liu Jinshi caressed the brocade box, having imagined countless times the rare treasure inside, grinning widely. But when he tremblingly opened the box, he found it contained... a bottle of poison!
All the eagerness, all the greed, at this moment, turned into sheer horror on Liu Jinshi's face!
"Mr. Lu, this, this...!"
The man in the red robe pced a finger to his lips, lowering his voice:
"This is the lord's intention."
"Magistrate, you have a wife and children, right?"
"Once a person has a family, they can't always think only of themselves, don't you agree?"
With that, he gently patted the stunned Liu Jinshi on the shoulder and walked to the door.
As he pushed the door open, he turned back to look at the pale Liu Jinshi and said with a smile:
"Magistrate Liu... the new magistrate of Kuhai County is already on the way, expected to arrive in two or three days. Take care."
