Adorning Flowers by Night - Chapter 17
Chapter 17
The sound lasted for less than a breath.
With a clang, a cold light flashed as the blade was unsheathed. Pei Yu drew the longsword from the bed and stood with it held horizontally before Lu Ruzhuo.
Pei Yu stared warily at the window, which remained perfectly still.
"Aunt." She took two steps back, her waist bumping against the edge of the bathtub. Her eyes still fixed on the window, she asked, "What happened?"
Lu Ruzhuo's calm voice came from behind her.
"I just saw a figure pass by. It's nothing to worry about; we weren't the target. Put your sword away."
"Yes, Aunt."
Pei Yu turned and walked toward the edge of the bed.
She had taken only a single step when she froze, as if struck by lightning.
She had forgotten...
When she had rushed in just now, Lu Ruzhuo was still bathing.
When circumstances allowed for refinement, Lu Ruzhuo never hesitated to indulge. She had even asked the inn attendant to deliver some flower petals, which she scattered in the tub, filling the air with a pleasant fragrance.
Pink petals floated on the water's surface, clustering around the beauty's snow-white, jade-like shoulders.
The beauty's face, wreathed in swirling steam, was like a crabapple blossom beaded with dew.
Clang.
The sound of the longsword hitting the floor startled Pei Yu back to her senses.
Pei Yu picked up Spring Terrace from the floor, bit the tip of her tongue, and stammered a flustered, "Forgive my rudeness," before lowering her head and rushing out.
No further sound came from inside.
Pei Yu sat at the table in the outer room, her longsword placed to one side, her mind buzzing incessantly.
Lu Ruzhuo, sitting in the center of the tub, was like a bright crabapple blossom in full bloom.
Her fragrant shoulders half-exposed.
No, that was her aunt. She couldn't think such things.
Droplets of condensed steam traced a captivating path down her brow bone, clinging to her eyelashes in a way that would inspire pity and affection in any who saw.
Pei Yu closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her wildly beating heart.
Sister, dote on me some more...
The soft words from that day at the Qianjin Pavilion surfaced in her mind again.
Pei Yu's heart was pounding uncontrollably. She grabbed the pot of cool tea and drank straight from the spout, pouring it down her throat.
If only her aunt could dote on her the way the woman in the pale yellow shirt had cherished the woman in the crabapple-red skirt...
Pei Yu slammed the teapot down with a thud, her face flushing crimson.
"Aunt, I'm stepping out!"
Without waiting for a response from Lu Ruzhuo, Pei Yu had already grabbed her sword and bolted. She ran for about a mile without stopping, wanting to find a secluded place to practice her sword forms and release the heat churning within her.
The night was deep, the wind cold.
As Pei Yu ran, the burning heat in her cheeks subsided. Her mind calmed, her senses sharpened, and she heard some unusual sounds.
Pei Yu followed the sounds through the darkness.
Just as she rounded a corner, a masked person in black rushed toward her. From their build, it was a man.
They met on a narrow path.
"Halt!" Pei Yu commanded.
It would have been better if she hadn't spoken. The moment she did, the man immediately turned to flee.
Pei Yu gave chase.
The man spun around and threw a handful of hidden weapons, forcing Pei Yu to dodge. The brief delay allowed him to put several dozen feet between them.
"Jinyi..." Pei Yu started to say, but swallowed the rest of the word.
This wasn't the capital, and she wasn't here on official business.
Pei Yu gritted her teeth, employed her lightness skill, and leaped in pursuit.
Her martial arts had been taught to her personally by Lu Ruzhuo. For as long as she could remember, Lu Ruzhuo had remained deep within the Imperial Court, rarely setting foot in the Jianghu. Pei Yu didn't know the true extent of Lu Ruzhuo's skills, but from the few times she had seen her truly make a move, she guessed that few in the world could be her match.
Having received Lu Ruzhuo's true teachings, Pei Yu was naturally very confident.
As expected, not only could the man not shake Pei Yu, but the distance between them was steadily closing.
He stopped, turned to face Pei Yu, and slowly drew a Magistrate's Brush from his sleeve.
Pei Yu's brow twitched.
Magistrate's Brush, Living Yama.
A title surfaced in Pei Yu's mind.
She stared at the Magistrate's Brush in his hand, her expression more focused and composed than ever before.
Suddenly, the light of her sword flared.
Spring Terrace left its sheath. Pei Yu had already darted forward, seizing the initiative.
The man twirled his Magistrate's Brush and engaged Pei Yu.
After only a few exchanges, Pei Yu concluded that this man was not the Jade Magistrate. If the Jade Magistrate's skills were this mediocre, then the so-called martial arts masters would be a complete joke.
The man, however, was horrified. He had investigated carefully before coming and hadn't heard of any disciples from prominent families staying in Yiyong.
"What is your school? Why are you making things difficult for me?!" Forced back several steps by her sword, the man felt the blood roil in his chest.
"I have no name and no school."
With a flick of her sword, Pei Yu sent the Magistrate's Brush flying from his hand. He was about to raise his hand to counterattack, but her sword was already at his throat.
"Won't you surrender now?" Pei Yu said coldly.
Resigned to his fate, the man opened his hands. The hidden weapons he held fell to the ground with a crisp clatter.
In the moonlight, Pei Yu glanced down. They appeared to be Plum Blossom Darts.
In the blink of an eye, she heard a sound by her ear, and a thick white fog suddenly erupted before her.
Pei Yu immediately thrust her sword forward and, as expected, met only empty air.
Her opponent seized the opportunity to escape.
When the thick fog dissipated, there was no one left.
Pei Yu picked up the Plum Blossom Darts from the ground and tucked them away.
She narrowed her eyes and walked back in the direction the man had come from.
On the long street in the long night, Pei Yu smelled the pungent stench of blood.
The courtyard gate of a household stood wide open. Inside was a scene of human tragedy.
Pei Yu returned to the inn.
Lu Ruzhuo had finished bathing and was combing her hair before the mirror.
After what had happened outside, Pei Yu no longer had a single romantic notion in her head. She closed the door and recounted the entire incident to Lu Ruzhuo in great detail.
When she spoke of how the masked man had cunningly escaped, she couldn't help but feel annoyed.
"You have little experience in the Jianghu. Setbacks are inevitable. Learn from it and grow wiser." Lu Ruzhuo gently patted the back of her hand to comfort her.
The woman's palm was finely lined, the pads of her fingers slightly calloused. The sensation was distinct.
Pei Yu slowly withdrew her hand and poured a cup of tea, feigning casualness.
Lu Ruzhuo glanced down at her.
Pei Yu placed the teacup in front of Lu Ruzhuo and continued, "I went back in the direction he came from and found a family that had been massacred. I investigated the scene. There were four dead: two men, two women, and two of them were young children. Judging by the signs of struggle, none of them knew martial arts."
"If I had known, I would have killed him with a single strike!" Pei Yu said hatefully.
Lu Ruzhuo had taught her from a young age that one learns martial arts not to bully the weak, but for the weak to overcome the strong. The first priority was to protect oneself; the second was to protect others, on the foundation of being able to protect oneself.
"Did you get a clear look at his face?"
"The moonlight was too dim, and he was masked. He was about seven feet tall, and from his voice, I'd guess he's in his thirties. He used a Magistrate's Brush with a vermilion tip." Pei Yu took the Plum Blossom Darts from her robes and placed them on the table. "Right, he also left these. Can you tell their origin, Aunt?"
Lu Ruzhuo examined them under the lamplight for a moment before shaking her head. "Useless. This is the most common style of Plum Blossom Dart. Nine out of ten people use them."
Pei Yu was a little dejected.
Lu Ruzhuo put away the darts and said lightly, "Go to sleep. We have to travel tomorrow."
There were too many injustices in the world. Pei Yu had seen few of them, hence her anger.
Seeing her sitting silently at the table, Lu Ruzhuo went to the bed first, smoothed out the quilt, then took another pillow from the cabinet and placed the two side-by-side at the head of the bed.
"Pei Yu, come here."
"Aunt, are we just going to let it go? Just let him escape like that?" Pei Yu's thoughts were still on the incident, filled with indignation. It wasn't that she considered herself a paragon of justice who liked to meddle, but this had happened right under her nose. Those two children were only four or five years old, covered in blood.
And she had personally let the murderer go.
She couldn't rest easy.
Lu Ruzhuo gave her a lazy glance. "Then don't sleep. Go report it to the authorities now."
Pei Yu: "..."
Lu Ruzhuo said, "What happens here is for the local magistrate to handle. The government office will open a case tomorrow morning when they learn of it."
Pei Yu said, "But..."
But the killer was from the Jianghu. When someone from the Jianghu commits a crime against a commoner and simply leaves, how could a mere county yamen possibly catch the culprit? Not to mention the man came and went like a shadow. Since ancient times, the Imperial Court's attitude toward the martial world has always been to let the Jianghu handle its own affairs. The court generally doesn't interfere, only stepping in to clean up the mess when things get out of hand. The lives of a few commoners were not worth the trouble of dispatching the Jinyiwei.
Lu Ruzhuo asked, "Are you going to sleep or not?"
Pei Yu was silent for a moment, then said, "...I'll sleep."
She walked to the wardrobe, opened it, and took out a set of bedding, spreading it on the floor by Lu Ruzhuo's feet.
Lu Ruzhuo: "..."
Pei Yu then tossed a pillow and a quilt down from the bed and knelt on the floor to make her pallet.
Lu Ruzhuo took off her shoes and socks, stepped onto the bedding, and planted a foot on the hem of Pei Yu's skirt.
"What are you doing?" the woman asked, her voice slightly cold.
"Sleeping," Pei Yu said, looking up at her.
"Didn't you always sleep in the same bed with me at the manor?"
"I'm a restless sleeper. I'm afraid I'll disturb you, Aunt."
"Were you a good sleeper before? Why weren't you afraid of disturbing me then?"
"Your daughter was ignorant before. I'm correcting my ways now."
The pressure from Lu Ruzhuo's foot on her skirt increased, and her foot even seemed poised to lift higher. Pei Yu quickly clutched the collar of her robes, afraid she would tear them.
"If that's the case, then do as you please." Lu Ruzhuo removed her foot and said coldly.
She gave a cold snort, strode to the bed in a few steps, lay down, and waved her hand.
All the lit candles went out, and the room was plunged into sudden darkness.
Pei Yu gave a bitter smile.
She understood Lu Ruzhuo's displeasure at her sudden 'distance.' It wasn't that she wanted to be estranged from Lu Ruzhuo. But if they didn't start sleeping separately, sooner or later she wouldn't be able to restrain herself and would do what the woman in the crabapple-red skirt had done to the woman in the pale yellow shirt at the Qianjin Pavilion. At that point, her aunt would probably find her disgusting.
Not only would they fail to be a perfect couple, but she would also be driven out.
Her aunt doted on her, so she must cherish her aunt in return. She absolutely could not let her discover the rebellious thoughts she harbored.
Pei Yu finished making her bed in the dark and gradually fell asleep amidst her chaotic thoughts.
The night was a chaotic battlefield.
Pei Yu clutched the corners of the quilt, her elegant brows furrowed in her sleep. She kept shaking her head and muttering something.
Lu Ruzhuo sat beside her, gazing at the girl's face in the faint moonlight.
She leaned close to Pei Yu's lips.
"Aunt, don't..."
"Aunt, don't abandon me..."
"Aunt..."
The girl's murmurs faded as a pair of hands gently smoothed her brow.
The pads of those fingers were slightly calloused, the palm soft and delicate. The sensation was exceptionally clear.
Pei Yu knelt before Lu Ruzhuo, confessing her immoral heart in anguish. Lu Ruzhuo stood before her, and the slap that should have struck her face became a gentle caress.
Tears streamed from Pei Yu's eyes. She gripped the hand tightly and let out a choked sob.
"Aunt, I'm sorry..."
Lu Ruzhuo looked with surprise at her hand, which had suddenly been seized. The girl's tears were scalding hot.
Lu Ruzhuo sighed softly and lay down beside Pei Yu.
She reached out, gathered Pei Yu into her arms, and gently patted her back.
"There, there."
"Aunt won't abandon you."
"Aunt will always be with you."
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