A few days passed since Tao Hua and Fang Jian had been given Wan Mie's blessing to continue their friendship.
Where Fang Jian found the good in that and took full advantage, dropping by daily while Tao Hua focused on research, Tao Hua was different. He couldn't explain it, but something about the exchange that day threw him off, and afterwards, he spent most of his free time trying to solve it.
Sat in the chair of the library's study, Tao Hua stared at a sheet of paper ahead of him. On it were scribbled notes, organized in both a chaotic and neat manner, meshing together to make a hurried mess of black ink.
All notes varied in size, and the most notable were four locations written in large, thick characters.
The top of the paper read an aggressively circled "Jianlai" and under it "Chuhen Palace," paired with a few "???" and the word "destroyed."
To the left of the paper was "Siyue Town." It was attached to an arrow that dragged toward the right, connecting it to the symbols that spelled out, "Imperial Capital."
And as for the Imperial Capital, it had another arrow stretched up, bringing it back to Jianlai and toward the middle with the words for "White Eyes."
In the middle of that paper sat the most underlined of them all: "Shendi."
Tao Hua pressed a hand to his wrinkled forehead and stared frustratingly down at the messy sheet of paper. In his other hand, he held a brush, and each time he had a thought, he'd splat it on the paper to write.
Meanwhile, Fang Jian accompanied him during his research. She rummaged through the room, talking Qian Jue's ear off without even a moment to breathe.
Though Tao Hua found her slightly distracting, there was also a refuge found in her company. Rather, she was an extremely welcome distraction, often overstaying her welcome more than Suo Han ever would.
This was fine. It only meant less time for Tao Hua to ruminate in his thoughts.
It also helped that he was growing fond of her, when not trying to dress him up. She'd routinely stop by with snacks, and the two would engage in conversation as a small break from Tao Hua's ongoing hard work and research.
To make things even better, Fang Jian also wasn't afraid of any topics, nor of the honesty that circulated in her mind.
If she felt it, she stated it, and Tao Hua heavily appreciated that.
On the other hand, however, it was actually rather useful. Tao Hua struggled to grasp that fact, trying to convince himself that coaxing her into these conversations was a necessary evil.
Even if guilt swallowed him whole at the stroke of midnight, he still did it for Shan Si and kept reminding himself of that fact.
So, he'd swallow down his guilt and maneuver the conversation toward his questions like he was the protagonist of his own story. Though subtle, Tao Hua tried his hardest to extract more information out of Fang Jian without concerning Qian Jue.
From directing conversation about makeup to the peculiar colour of her eyes, Tao Hua was rather crafty—something Shan Si would have been proud to witness.
And during this silent interrogation, he mostly found out that Fang Jian was just as lost as Tao Hua in why they were that colour. Thus, failure. All his attempts did was to lead her down the road of another rant, droning on and on about how pretty her old eyes were compared to the current, boring colour.
Then, the conversations would devolve into her past, and her time assigned as Shan Si's concubine.
In the end, all his attempts were fruitless. It was evident Fang Jian wasn't aware of her background any, if not at all. Tao Hua was more aware than she was.
But why?
Tao Hua pressed his fingers into the skin of his forehead, tapping the brush a few times over the words "Jianlai."
Under Jianlai were the many names of the palace, and at the top read Fang Jian and Weng Jing, next to an arrow that connected them to "two hundred years old" and "Shan Si."
Roughly rubbing the tips of his fingers across his skin, he intently stared at those two connecting words.
If Fang Jian is over two hundred years old, how are she and Shan Si connected? She mentioned they had known each other since childhood… Tao Hua's brows furrowed. Nothing about immortality or the sorts made sense to him, but also someone like Fang Jian studying Daoism? It felt unlikely.
Either she's become an immortal at an extremely young age, forcefully, or Shan Si is also as old. I guess, given his cultivation, that would make sense.
He wasn't surprised by that at all, so next to Shan Si, he wrote "two hundred years old???" But for some reason, that led him to write down more names. "Qian Jue," who had served Shan Si since a young age, "Wan Mie," who was his uncle, and then "Suo Han," who was his half-brother.
All of these people didn't have a background in cultivation, while Wan Mie's core was destroyed. So how was immortality possible?
He glanced up at Qian Jue, who had her eyes intently focused on Fang Jian, somewhat stressed out. He thought back to her statement a few days prior.
'I would never wish immortality on my worst enemy.'
That couldn't have been a coincidence. So, he promptly wrote it down as quickly as his hand could move. He stared down at that sentence before turning his eyes toward "Suo Han."
If…if Shan Si is two hundred years old, and his father had many concubines to birth plenty of siblings, then that means—
"It's boring, Auntie Jue."
As Fang Jian jumped around the room, being told not to touch plenty of different books by Qian Jue, she slumped and sulked.
Qian Jue shooed her back to the desk. "This servant asks Consort Fang to understand that the Young Master is busy with an important task. Please be mindful."
Tao Hua glanced over and offered Fang Jian an apologetic smile, to which she only huffed before laying her chin against the desk.
"Well…can we at least take a break? Snacks and tea, please!" She asked, as though she were the one hard at work and not dallying. This made Tao Hua's eyes slightly fall with the look of someone inwardly laughing.
"A…break doesn't sound so bad," he replied, setting down the brush. All of his thinking, spanning the last few days, had brought on a headache he couldn't stand. But also, if he were to enact his next plan, he needed Qian Jue out of the room momentarily—which had been a rarity in the past days.
Tao Hua glanced up at her with a faint smile and asked, "If it's fine with Elder Sister Jue, could we have something to eat? I don't think I've eaten yet…"
Hesitating slightly, Qian Jue glanced between the two pairs of eyes staring up at her before letting out a small sigh. "Very well."
It seemed she was weak to these two particular people.
Fang Jian immediately shot up, sitting straight. "Mooncakes! How Auntie Jue used to make them! Oh, and strong tea—I don't want to leave too early today, Huahua. Nodding off all the time! That's not healthy!"
Guilty, all Tao Hua could do was smile apologetically at her, shrugging his shoulders.
Qian Jue bowed before heading out of the room, promising that she'd only be a moment too long, reassuring Tao Hua. However, Tao Hua immediately jumped into action the moment the door clicked shut.
He turned toward Fang Jian, who was now messing with the small chest left on the desk, holding it up and cocking her head.
"Jiji," he started, causing her eyes to jump away from the box and toward Tao Hua.
"Hm?! Yes, Huahua?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course!" She happily exclaimed, bringing the box closer to her chest. "Huahua can ask Jiji anything!"
He offered her an appreciative, small smile before reaching for the brush and paper. "Do you remember when you mentioned that you and Shan Si grew up together? Was that recently? As in…the last twenty years recent?"
Placing her attention back on the box, she tried to flip it open, her thumb slipping repeatedly on the golden latch. "Nope! Lord Shan Si and Jiji are old, but you won't see that on our faces."
Tao Hua drew a definitive line under "two hundred years old" marking out the "???"
"I see…" For some reason Tao Hua's stomach started to churn, weakening the smile on his lips. He wrote down "Immortality caused by the Curse of Shendi," before asking, "So…why do you all address Shan Si as lord?"
Fang Jian made a confused noise, an eyebrow ticking up. She whipped her head in Tao Hua's direction, one eye bigger than the other.
"Because he's our lord?"
"Ah—I understand. Sorry. I meant to ask how he earned that title." Tao Hua sunk back a bit, his cheeks a light flush of pink.
"Oh!" The realization hit Fang Jian, and she turned back to the chest as if the question was a typical, everyday Tuesday. "That's because he was born as Emperor Xingcai's firstborn son! Which also means he's the crowned prince of this rotten place. And since Emperor Xingcai is dead—thank GOD—he's now our Lord. Ta-da! Like father, like son."
Tao Hua's heart fell straight to the floor, and his smile disappeared entirely. While Fang Jian began to bang her fist against the top of the chest, Tao Hua could only stare at her, stuck between hurt and confusion.
Perhaps the will to stop researching.
A single quote resounded in his mind, said by the steaming waters of a medicinal bath, just as Tao Hua stared at the word "Destroyed" on the paper.
'It was his son who caused the death of Zhuan and put all of Jianlai into ruin.'
Chapter end.