In the bedchamber, which should have been empty, a chilly air pervaded.
Qiu Jing fixed her gaze, and looked at the person lying on the small couch behind the screen.
No, that was not a person, it was just a corpse.
Throughout her life, the Master of Fengxing Pavilion had received many gifts delivered directly to her doorstep without following proper etiquette, among which some were well-intentioned, and some were malicious.
Yet under the current circumstances, she actually did not know whether the person who “presented the gift” belonged to the former, or the latter.
Because this corpse was her father.
The person who brought the corpse even thoughtfully used ice blocks, so as not to let the corpse rot too quickly. After all, it was not winter, and the night air in this season remained suffocatingly hot. The corpse could have become unrecognizable and foul-smelling within a single hour.
Thanks to the ice, at this moment Qiu Si just looked pale and greenish, not overly frightening.
The fatal wound was obvious at a glance, as an iron fragment had been inserted into his forehead. The bloodstains that had flowed out had been wiped away.
The iron fragment was not large. It seemed like a part dismantled from a hidden weapon, or as if someone had forcibly crushed a hidden weapon into pieces, then casually kneaded them into a single fragment.
The ice blocks were already slowly melting, and Qiu Jing felt water on her hand when she touched them. She herself felt utterly adrift, feeling neither shock nor anger, no joy either. Before she entered this room, she had still been planning how to deal with the faction in Fengxing Pavilion that leaned toward Qiu Si. She had not dared to underestimate Qiu Si.
That kind of fury, the pain of being betrayed by her only relative, which had once pressed heavily in the depths of her heart, now suddenly felt hollow.
Qiu Jing stood there blankly for quite a while, only then did her rationality slowly return.
To have silently brought a corpse, along with so many ice blocks, into Fengxing Pavilion was a feat of martial skill that only a few in the whole world possessed.
Qiu Jing did not fear if it was Meng Qi; she feared if it was not Meng Qi.
Ning Tai and Jiangnan truly could not withstand yet another rising power.
“Since you have come, please show yourself.”
Qiu Jing closed her eyes. As soon as she spoke, a figure descended right afterward.
Meng Qi sighed softly, feeling quite troubled.
Such a matter as delivering a corpse to someone’s door, if one did not know better, one would think it intended to start a feud! Yet Qiu Si’s corpse could not remain in that small courtyard. News of his death would have been exploited by schemers. As long as it was delayed by two days, everyone’s attention would be diverted by the Heavenly Bestowed King’s army, and if anyone wanted to stir trouble to seize territory, they would have to think twice.
Killing someone, then going to find their daughter to handle the aftermath—this was something even Meng Qi had never encountered.
Because it was too difficult, Meng Qi simply did not let Mo Li come.
Even though Qiu Jing had already fallen out with Qiu Si, she was not like Qiu Si, who had been a madman, caring for no one.
“This kind of death……was very quick, and would not have caused much pain.” Qiu Jing lowered her eyes to look at the corpse. Many disordered and chaotic images floated before her eyes, yet she could not immerse herself in them. She did not have the time to dissect whether Qiu Si had ever truly treated her with genuine fatherly affection in the past. She had once thought of questioning him face-to-face, or of becoming strangers ever after, but now all of it had lost its meaning.
“What did he say before he died?” Qiu Jing looked up at Meng Qi. “What I wanted to hear was not his last words. He would not have died so willingly. He must have done something.”
“……Afterwards, we discovered that the medicinal tonic he used had not been properly disposed of when he noticed something amiss and hastily withdrew.”
For an ordinary person, it would have been very hard to identify the medicinal dregs that had been dumped into a pile of charcoal ash.
Meng Qi spoke solemnly: “That should have been medicine given to an elderly person approaching the end of their life.”
Aging, in truth, was also a kind of illness.
As one’s internal organs gradually weakened, one slowly could no longer eat too much, nor sleep soundly. In the stillness of deep night, one could even feel one’s lifespan slipping away like the dripping water of a clepsydra. By dawn, it would have run its course.
Even if one invited a famous physician for treatment, it would have been useless, because there was no concrete illness, just old age. From the bones and internal organs to the brain, none could continue to function. At most, the physician could prescribe a new tonic, to struggle on, spending money to prolong life.
Those were all good medicines. Qiu Si’s symptoms had not been severe, at least he could still be nourished by the medicines. Thus, although he appeared thin, his vitality and spirit were still quite good.
“He, he had actually reached such a state?” Qiu Jing’s mind was thrown into turmoil. She clearly had not expected Qiu Si to be so close to death.
Qiu Jing wanted to say that his age was not that great. Among the aristocratic families of Ning Tai, there were plenty who were older than Qiu Si. Over these many years, Qiu Si had lived in comfort. It should not have come to this… Yet upon second thought, someone like Qiu Si, who not only schemed against others but also against himself, would have expended even more mental energy than others. Moreover, he had not practiced martial arts, so he likely would not have lived long.
While Qiu Jing was still in a daze, she heard Meng Qi say:
“This is not all speculation. Today, he also said something about what people would do if they knew their own time of death.”
Qiu Jing suddenly raised her head, but quickly came to her senses and regained her calm, as if her earlier agitation had never existed.
“He did not become like this because he was close to death. He had always been this way. The root cause of Feng Xing Pavilion’s division was not something that occurred overnight……”
Qiu Jing suppressed the surge of memories, forced down the endless bitterness. Even memories changed depending on one’s state of mind. If deceiving oneself could provide solace—after all, the man was already dead—even if she reimagined him as a loving father in her heart, she would no longer be used or betrayed.
But what meaning would that have?
Deceit could not free one from pain, it only made one weak.
Qiu Jing supported her forehead with one hand, and spoke softly: “We must find out when he discovered this. A person who would not resign himself to death, if given enough time to plan, I even suspected that he might have burned the entire city of Ning Tai to ashes.”
Meng Qi slowly shook his head and said: “No, a single Ning Tai would not have satisfied him. At the very least, it would have been the entire Jiang Nan.”
“……”
While Qiu Jing was still shocked, Meng Qi went on: “In fact, what he feared most should not have been death.”
It was aging.
Aging until he could no longer walk, aging until he could no longer recognize people, and his mind would become increasingly muddled.
Qiu Si was not afraid of death, but he was afraid that he would no longer be the ‘Mr. Qiu’ whom everyone feared.
He had raised too many wolf-like dogs, usually feeding them with rich meat so that they would fight and tear at each other. Once the master became old and useless, those beasts would not hesitate to pounce and turn on him.
Qiu Si had seized upon the greed of many people—tax collectors, minor officials, yamen runners, down-and-out men of the jianghu…all sorts of reasons made them gather together to form one unified force, yet their loyalty was nearly nonexistent.
Even Qiu Si’s attendants were the same. They pledged their allegiance to the omnipotent “Mr. Qiu,” obeying him from the depths of their hearts, believing all he said was right. But what about a “master” who had begun to grow old and even failed to remember things? Not to mention someone like Cheng Jingchuan, who had always waited for the chance to take Qiu Si’s place.
“……Ever since I met Qiu Si, I felt his behavior was out of the ordinary. He did not fear death, which in turn made people unable to make a move. At the time, I thought that killing him would have fulfilled his wish.”
Meng Qi recounted the events inside the royal palace that day, one by one, and many puzzling points were resolved once Mo Li found the medicinal dregs.
Merely looking at these medicines, most were still for nourishing qi and health. However, Mo Li had met Qiu Si before, and Qiu Si did not carry a heavy medicinal odor. If he had truly feared death and wished to preserve his life, when taking that prescription, it would have been best not to drink tea. Yet Qiu Si had not avoided it at all, clearly having decided long ago that he would “die at a suitable time.” As for what this suitable time was, one would have had to ask Qiu Si himself.
The more one considered oneself indispensable, the more one became obsessed with imagining the chaos that would arise around them “if they were missing.” And the deeper the obsession, the harder it became to resist adding fuel to the fire and acting recklessly.
Meng Qi said in a deep voice: “We needed to go see Cheng Jingchuan, and Qiu Si’s death must not be made public. The Heavenly Bestowed King’s army would soon invade Jingzhou and Yangzhou. He would not want to see Jiangnan truly fall into turmoil.”
This was another reason why he had to deliver the corpse here. He could not just say with empty words that Qiu Si was dead.
Cheng Jingchuan was only Qiu Si’s disciple, but Qiu Jing was Qiu Si’s daughter.
“Cheng Jingchuan might know part of the inside story. His understanding of Qiu Si……far surpassed yours.”
Qiu Jing remained silent for a while, then nodded with difficulty.
Before she had time to speak, anxious shouts came from outside: “Master, it’s not good! Something might have happened on Mr. Qiu’s side!”
Qiu Jing quickly stepped out of the room, and it was Han Shanhu who came to report. His face was full of anger as he said: “Those old guys deliberately held back the news and did not report it to the Master. If not for me, Han Shanhu, who had several connections in the city, all of whom treat me as their sworn brother, we would still be kept in the dark!”
He spoke in a rush, words popping out like firecrackers, rattling off in a long string, as if he did not need to pause for breath.
“I heard that more than a dozen people died over in Dongyun Alley, and I have already sent other brothers to inquire through the night……”
“All right, do not panic.” Qiu Jing raised her hand and said, “Acting rashly was unwise. Who knew whether it was a trap? Everyone stay put, and first thoroughly clean up inside and outside Feng Xing Pavilion.”
Han Shanhu froze for a moment, then hastily nodded in agreement.
***
That night, on a deserted slope outside the city.
There had once been a few patches of remote farmland here. As the villagers nearby could not afford the land tax and became tenant farmers, these barren lands were left to lie waste.
Wild foxes built nests, yellow wolves dug burrows, and owls cried in the night.
Under the sky’s arc hung a waning crescent moon, faintly bright, illuminating a swaying white banner.
Cheng Jingchuan halted his steps, looked at Meng Qi, who stood beneath a nearby tree, and then looked at Mo Li, who had brought him here.
“Ahead,” Meng Qi indicated.
Cheng Jingchuan had actually seen that thin coffin on the slope long ago, and he had also seen Qiu Jing standing before the coffin. Yet he still wished to hear a confirming reply from someone else.
——Qiu Si had truly died.
Unfortunately, neither Meng Qi nor Mo Li spoke.
Cheng Jingchuan could only move next to Qiu Jing. He composed himself and then reached out to touch the corpse’s face right in front of Qiu Jing.
Mo Li: “……”
How fearful was he that Qiu Si had faked his death?
Qiu Jing’s expression changed, and she wanted to get angry, but she soon held back.
“He……actually really died.” Cheng Jingchuan’s expression looked strange. It was not joy, nor was it the relief of letting out a breath, but a deep confusion.
“He had indeed been preparing for his final arrangements all along, but……”
It could have also been a feigned death, or another conspiracy.
Cheng Jingchuan did not dare to speculate about Qiu Si’s thoughts. Perhaps this was another test. He had grown accustomed, numb. He felt that if Qiu Si really wanted to die, he would have died long ago with careful preparation. This situation clearly did not fit that pattern.
The coffin was too thin, and the area too desolate. They had not even dug a grave, so there was no way to erect a tomb.
“This coffin was the only one I could find in haste,” Qiu Jing said, word by word. “At this moment, apart from the four of us, no one else knew of his death.”
Cheng Jingchuan understood. He frowned and said: “Although there was no living person seen nor a corpse found, eventually paper could not wrap fire. At most, I could only suppress the news for three days.”
“That’s enough.”
Qiu Jing slowly turned around, stared at Cheng Jingchuan, and continued, “There’s new information from Jingzhou. People of Pili Hall infiltrated Jingzhou and set an ambush on the path the King of Jing took to the barracks. Half of the King’s palace guards died, and one arm of the King of Jing got burned by fire……so the Heavenly Bestowed King’s army might arrive even faster than we imagined.”
“What?”
Jianghu people did not run faster than horses, but it was easier for them than for Ning Tai’s spies to leave Jingzhou, which was under strict lockdown and thorough inspections. Thus, Cheng Jingchuan had not yet received the news.
While he was still shocked, he heard Qiu Jing say, “I suspected that the Heavenly Bestowed King had received Qiu Si’s help. Yizhou’s development had been too rapid these last two years. Under Feng Xing Pavilion’s very nose in Jiangnan, it should not have been possible for so much cotton, hemp, and grain to flow into Yizhou. I found discrepancies in the ledgers at the main headquarters. Even if Qiu Si was dead, the troubles he left for us were far from over.”
Qiu Jing suddenly took out a flint and picked up a torch wrapped all around with oil-soaked cloth, lighting it.
Beside the coffin were several large stacks of spirit money, along with two jars of liquor.
Cheng Jingchuan had originally thought these were funeral offerings for the burial, but only now did he realize something was off.
Qiu Jing opened one of the jars, and the smell of strong liquor drifted out.
“You……”
Cheng Jingchuan was very surprised. Although he detested how aristocratic families occupied large tracts of prime land as ancestral graves, he did not oppose providing at least three feet of coffin and a piece of earth.
At this point, whether beggar or official, their thoughts on funerals did not differ much. To be buried in peace, the whole body intact—the act of burning was like grinding bones to dust and scattering the ashes, something done only out of profound hatred and enmity.
Jianghu people did not have such strict customs. If one died far from home, having someone to retrieve the body, collect the bones, and store the ashes was already good enough.
Qiu Jing poured the strong liquor on the coffin, pulled up wild grass and dead branches to pile beside it, and threw the torch in. Watching the thick smoke and flames rise together, after a while, she said: “In years past, he once said that ever since he left home, he never thought about returning to his roots and resting in the soil. He also said that bringing gold and jade into the earth was not as good as having countless people remember him……At that time, I never thought about today. Now I only felt that, whether kinship or hatred, I did not want to see snakes, rats, ants, and beasts gnaw him into white bones. Better to burn him. If in the coming years I happened to go first, General Cheng, State Preceptor Meng, Doctor Mo……I would trouble you all to send me off in this same way.”
