Following their first intimate encounter, Liqin saw the world through a completely new lens. Her once-colorless life had blossomed into a field of vibrant wildflowers. She was no longer the shy woman she used to be; instead, she began to dress more elegantly and wear makeup. The long days that Chen Fa spent locked inside his medicine room were now the happiest days of her life, for she knew that soon she would be embraced by the man she loved.
On a quiet night, in a secluded wooden shed a good distance from the main house, Cao Fengge held Liqin tightly in his arms on a single blanket.
"Liqin," he whispered, his voice a low promise. "After I report to Eunuch Sun in the capital, I'll come back for you. We'll run away and start a new life together."
Liqin kissed Cao Fengge in return. "Cao gege," she said, a promise in her voice. "I will wait for you." She reached for her robe, and as she did, a small bamboo tube fell to the ground. She picked it up and held it out to him. "This is what you want," she said simply.
Cao Fengge took the tube, his expression turning serious. "This is the last job I have to do for Eunuch Sun. Once I give this to him, I'll be a free man, and I'll no longer owe him anything."
"When will you come back for me?" Liqin asked, her voice a fragile whisper.
Cao Fengge pulled her into a tight embrace. "I'll be back in three months," he promised. "I'll return with a six-horse carriage, and we'll leave this place forever, just the two of us, to travel the world."
He pulled back slightly to look into her eyes. "And when we're tired of traveling, we'll return to my home in Tianshan." He paused, his gaze soft. "My love, have you ever been to Tianshan?"
Liqin shook her head, a silent mix of disbelief and longing on her face.
Cao Fengge leaned in and whispered softly beside her ear. "In Tianshan, there is a temple, perched high on a mountain. They say that if you hold your lover's hand and climb the three hundred steps to the top, then write your names on a piece of wood and tie it inside the temple, your love will last until death do you part."
He gave her a gentle smile, his gaze full of false sincerity. "My love," he whispered, "will you climb those three hundred steps with me?"
Liqin fell into Cao Fengge's embrace and buried her face in his chest. "Cao gege," she whispered, her voice full of surrender, "I am willing."
He gently stroked her hair. "Then obediently wait for me," he said, his voice a calm, final command.
When Cao Fengge left, Liqin's heart went with him. She counted the days, waiting at the door every day from dawn until dusk. After two and a half months of living in seclusion, Chen Fa had finally succeeded in making his corpse powder and emerged from his medicine room.
Liqin didn't care about Chen Fa's success. He walked out of his room, humming and dancing with joy, but she remained motionless at the front gate, her gaze fixed on the road.
That night, she cooked dinner for him. She placed the plate on the table and sat down in silence, staring blankly ahead. She did not even glance at him as he sat across from her.
Oblivious to her emotional distance, Chen Fa picked up a piece of chicken and placed it in her bowl. "I'm so happy," he said, beaming. "I successfully invented the corpse preservation powder. From now on, we will be rich." He placed a small wooden box on the table between them and smiled at her, waiting for her to share in his joy.
With a sigh, she finally looked up at him. "Congratulations, Fa ge," she said, her voice a hollow shell of emotion. "You've accomplished your goal."
Chen Fa beamed at her, happily continuing his meal. "From now on, you'll be the richest woman in Chen Village," he declared. "No one will ever look down on you."
Liqin shifted her gaze away from him, her eyes settling on the dark opening of the door. Cao ge... I miss you so much... she murmured silently in her heart. Although her eyes shed no tears, her heart was drowning in them.
One day, Chen Fa came home with his arms full of baskets of food. He joyfully unwrapped the dishes and arranged them neatly on plates. Once the meal was set, he went looking for Liqin, finding her standing by the front gate, her gaze fixed on the road.
"Liqin!" his voice bloomed with joy.
She sighed deeply, not wanting to hear whatever he was about to say. Instead of answering, she simply turned her back on him completely, her body facing the empty road ahead.
Chen Fa reached out and took Liqin's hand. "Come, let's go eat," he said, his voice brimming with excitement. "I have big news to share with you." Without waiting for her to respond, he gently pulled her into the house and sat her down at the table.
He placed a piece of chicken in her bowl and beamed. "Liqin, today I successfully became a business partner with Lord Fong!"
Liqin simply pulled her bowl away, her face utterly devoid of emotion. "I don't feel like eating chicken," she said flatly.
Chen Fa smiled at her. "How about a little pork?" he asked, trying to tempt her.
She looked at the plate of food, a sudden wave of nausea washing over her. She turned away from the table, a hand flying to her mouth, and vomited onto the ground.
In an instant, Chen Fa's cheerful demeanor vanished. He seized her right wrist, his breath coming in short, angry gasps. "Who is the child's father?" he demanded.
"Does it matter to you?" she spat back, a bitter sneer on her face.
"Of course it does! You are my wife!" he shouted, his voice cracking with rage.
Liqin scoffed, her voice cold and cutting. "I didn't know I was your wife. I thought you married me so you could have a free maid to cook and clean for you and your mother."
Chen Fa's hand shot out and slapped her across the face. "Who is it?" he roared, his chest heaving. He paused for a moment, his eyes narrowing with dawning horror. "Cao Fengge?" He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her violently. "Is the bastard child you're carrying his?"
Liqin pulled free of his grip, her head held high. "Yes, it is!" she shouted, her voice thick with defiance. "And the only bastard I see is the one standing in front of me!"
His face contorted with rage. "You are my wife! You should have been faithful to me!" he bellowed, raising his hand and slapping her again.
Liqin screamed, her voice breaking with anger and sorrow. "I never knew I was your wife! When I married you, I gave you my whole heart, but all of your devotion was for your plants!"
She burst into tears, her voice a pained whisper. "It's my fault that I committed adultery. I knew it was wrong when I did it, but I was willing!" She pointed at herself, a gesture of desperate honesty. "I'm just an ordinary woman who needs love, attention, and companionship. I'm a married woman, but when I worked in the rice fields like other women, my husband wasn't by my side. I'm a married woman, but when I walked through the market like other women, my husband wasn't there."
She took a step toward him, her voice full of a final, powerful fury. "I'm a married woman, but my husband didn't even lie next to me at night like other women's husbands do!"
Chen Fa flinched, stumbling backward. He backed into a chair and collapsed into it.
"I was wrong," Liqin continued, her voice now a low, dangerous growl. "But you were wrong, too. You're the one who pushed me into another man's arms. If you love your plants so much, why didn't you marry them? Why did you keep me here, knowing you could never be a husband to me?"
"Shut your mouth!" Chen Fa screamed, but the words were hollow. He sat there, utterly defeated, at a loss for words.
He stood up, grabbing Liqin by the front of her collar. "Why?" he demanded, his voice a broken plea. "Why?!"
Liqin scoffed, her voice now cold and devoid of emotion. "Because he saw me for who I am. With him, I am a person, not a thing. He makes me feel special. He pays attention to me. He loves me. He is different from you."
She pushed him away from her. "You love your plants and your herbs," she said, her voice a final, bitter accusation. "To you, they are your precious ones."
Angrily, Liqin ran out of the room and into Chen Fa's medicine shed. She snatched the small wooden box containing the corpse-preserving powder. From the kitchen, she grabbed a pot of oil and a piece of burning firewood from the stove.
She threw the pot of oil at the shed, and then she threw the flaming stick. The small structure ignited at once, burning swiftly and without hesitation. She grabbed the bag she had packed the night before and ran out the front door just as the fire began to spread to the entire house. By the time the villagers emerged to investigate the blaze, Liqin had already fled the scene.
The past began to fade as the story of the last decade came to an end. Yan Zhanjin finished his tale, his voice now a hollow echo. "My shifu never saw her again," he said.
"Later, rumors circulated that she was dead." A heavy silence fell before he continued, "He spent many years perfecting that corpse preservation powder. He ruined his marriage for it, but in the end, he got nothing. He went mad and left Chen Village forever."
"What a pitiful story," Bazar Batu said flatly. "I'm not sorry for your shifu. He got what he deserved." He turned to Kuo Lok. "Lok gege, is your strength back yet?"
"About eighty percent," Kuo Lok replied.
"Can you walk?" Bazar Batu asked.
"Yan-xiong," Kuo Lok said, his voice firm. "Batu and I are ready to go. Will you two be leaving with us, or do you want to stay here for the night?"
"We'll go with you two," Yan Zhanjin replied. "We've been on that cliff so long we don't know where to go."
"Alright," Kuo Lok agreed. "We'll head back to Sword Village. I want to see if my sisters have gone home yet." He reached out and took Bazar Batu's hand.
"What are you doing?" Bazar Batu asked, his voice full of surprise.
"I'm going to carry you on my back," Kuo Lok said, his voice firm and unwavering.
Bazar Batu smiled, a soft, genuine expression spreading across his face. "Lok gege, I'm fine now. I can walk."
With that, the four friends set off, walking together along the winding mountain road toward the village.