"It's nothing," Xue Liulan said, taking Murong Jin's hand with a reassuring smile.
She looked at him, suspicious, then struggled to kneel on the bed. "Let me see."
As she reached for him, he took a quick step back. "There's nothing to see."
"Xue Liulan, now that I know you can fight, are you going to use it to bully me?" she asked, feigning anger.
"A serious accusation," he said, pouting. He stepped forward and pulled her kneeling form into his arms. "I really don't know what to do with you."
She let out a small laugh. "Let me see where you're hurt." She slipped from his embrace and carefully pushed aside his robes. Her expression changed.
On his chest was a three-inch gash, slanting upwards. Parts of it had scabbed over, but in other places, the raw, red flesh was still visible.
"How long ago?" she whispered, her fingertips tracing the skin around the wound.
"A while," he said with a careless laugh, toying with a lock of her hair. "It'll be fine once it scabs over."
She ignored him, her brow still furrowed as she stared at the wound. Tears began to fall silently down her cheeks.
"What's wrong?" he asked, surprised. He cupped her face, his thumbs gently wiping away the hot tears. "I'm not dead, am I? What are you crying for?"
"Xue Liulan, don't ever protect me like that again," she said, her own tears coming faster now.
"You knew?" His eyes, shaped like peach petals, widened in disbelief.
She nodded. "I don't know who the assassin was, but the wound, and the cut on that tree branch… the force, the angle… they came from the same person." She sniffled. "Xue Liulan, how could you be so foolish? To leave Jindu and come to this desolate battlefield, only to get yourself hurt."
"Ah?" He looked at her fierce, tear-streaked face and couldn't help but laugh. He gently rested her head on his shoulder. "Once he had the intent to kill you, his fate was sealed. Whether it was Three Feet of Blood or the Yin-Yang Harmony."
She leaned against him, and a soft smile touched her lips, the ice from a moment ago melting away.
After a moment, she remembered something. She sat up. "Speaking of them, did you let them go?"
"I did." He settled her back against the headboard and retrieved the bowl of medicine. "It's getting cold."
She took the bowl and drained it in one go, as if it were water. The sight of it made his own mouth taste bitter.
"I got used to it, from all the injuries on the frontier," she said, setting the bowl down. "What about the woman in violet? Your… junior sister. Is she still alive?"
"Why are you so interested in A'Ning?" he asked, bringing her a cup of water.
"She's devoted to you. What's wrong with a little concern?" she shot back, taking the cup.
"Nothing," he said, rubbing his nose. "Are you sizing up the competition?"
"What competition?" She ran her fingers through her hair. "Even without sizing her up, I've already won."
"Oh?"
"Here," she said, her finger tapping his chest. "Haven't I?"
He looked at the sly, playful light in her eyes, and a wave of pure joy washed over him.
The next few days were peaceful. The owner of the cabin, hearing she was unwell, left them alone, only bringing by fresh game from his daily hunts. Xue Liulan, in turn, gave the hunter and his wife all the silver he had.
Half a month passed. Murong Jin, dressed in the hunter's wife's clothes, stood in the courtyard, testing her arm. She picked up a branch and moved through a few forms. The wound hadn't damaged the muscle.
"It's cold out. Why are you out here?" Xue Liulan asked, walking into the courtyard with a bundle of firewood on his back. He found her mid-lunge, the tip of the branch pointed at a large rock.
She turned. He was dressed as a hunter, but the simple clothes couldn't hide the heroic air about him. He looked less like a woodsman and more like a master in seclusion.
"I'm all better." She moved to help him, but he dodged.
"You rest. I've got it."
She smiled and looked around. The cabin was on the edge of a cliff, backed by a dense forest. It was a secluded spot. How did he ever find this place?
"Here, let me see." He set down the wood and walked to her, cupping her face. "Your color has returned. A few more days, and we can leave."
"How did you find this place?"
"A man has his secrets." He grinned, and she rolled her eyes.
"Someone told you, didn't they?" she mused. "Was it A'Ning?"
"Hm? Why her?"
"She's lived in this area for a long time. It's not strange that she would know of a place like this. And since you spared her life, it's only right that she repay you."
A slow smile spread across his face. "It was Sui who told me. The big fellow."
"Him? Why would he help you?"
"To repay the favor for A'Ning," he said. "They grew up together. He's always been good to her. When she betrayed our sect, he followed her without a second thought, even though he knew it was a road of no return."
"A fool for love," she sighed.
Suddenly, her brow furrowed. She tilted her head, listening. The sound was faint, the footsteps of someone who moved on air, landing without a sound.
"Who's there?" she snapped, her hand on her sword.
"This is for you." A figure landed at the courtyard gate and walked toward them, robes of violet fluttering in the wind.
Xue Liulan took Murong Jin's hand and stepped forward, taking a stack of letters from A'Ning's outstretched hand. She just stared at him, her eyes as pure and empty as if he were a complete stranger.
"Thank you. And thank Sui for me as well," he said, bowing his head.
"Sui said you gave him a new life. This was the least we could do. Now that my task is done, I will take my leave." Her crisp voice hung in the air, then was gone with the wind.
She vanished in a few leaps. Murong Jin stared after her, then looked at Xue Liulan, stunned.
"What is it?"
"She… she has no memory of you at all. It's like she's never met you."
He was already reading the letters. "I gave her Danxi."
"Danxi?" The name was a legend—a medicine that could make one forget a devastating heartbreak. "So it's real."
"'To meet with a smile, to forget overnight.' I got it from the Physician Saint, Chong Hua. I never thought it would actually work." He looked up from the letters, impressed.
"What do you mean?"
"It was a new formula, based on an ancient recipe. Untested. I just took a few to play with." He shrugged. "They make excellent projectiles for acupoint strikes, though."
She just stared at him, then leaned in. "What did you have Sui get for you?"
"Proof."
"That someone in the dynasty is colluding with the Yanyun?"
He nodded. "To teach them the Heavenly Tomb formation, to give them the Yin-Yang Harmony… Deng Qinyao got quite a lot in return for his troubles."
"Deng Qinyao? You're saying he's the traitor?" She had thought it would be Guo Shangzhong.
"Surprising, isn't it?"
"It is. I would have thought that for Xue Feiyan's sake, he would have focused on internal matters before turning to foreign enemies."
"In the face of wealth and power, few can keep a clear head."
"What did he get in return?"
Xue Liulan put the letters away. "It's cold out. Let's go inside." He wrapped an arm around her, not noticing the flash of violet robes that vanished from a nearby treetop, reappearing a moment later on Sui's broad shoulder.
"Are we leaving?" Sui asked, his voice dull.
"Yes," A'Ning answered gently. She sat on his shoulder and smoothed his messy hair, a single, silent tear falling into it, unseen by anyone.
Xue Liulan, with this, we are even.
Senior Brother, I wish you both happiness.