“Please.” He cut her off before she could say anything more, his voice low and pleading as he looked at her. “Please… If even you can’t save him, then Mo’er is doomed. It’s been eight years, we’re so close to success!”
She gripped the pearl tightly, releasing a silent sigh from her chest.
As if defeated, she sat down at the medical table and began to write out the prescription. Huo Zhan Bai, watching from the side, forced a smile. “Once you’ve cured Mo’er’s illness, I’ll slowly pay back the medical fees I owe you… I always keep my word. You haven’t been to the central plains, so you wouldn’t know, but the Seventh Master of Dingjian Pavilion, aside from being handsome and skilled with the sword, is also known far and wide for his integrity.”
As she wrote, her brow furrowed slightly. Whether she heard him or not, it was hard to tell.
“But still, even though you’re fierce and money-hungry, your medical skills are truly exceptional…” Huo Zhan Bai started to flatter her.
She paused, set down her pen, thought for a moment, then tore up the prescription she had just written and began drafting a second one.
“I know you charge high fees to support everyone in the valley—they’re all children abandoned by their parents or orphans, right?” he continued, now speaking earnestly, with no hint of jest in his eyes. “I also know that while you charge the martial world elites ten thousand taels for treatment, you quietly provide medicine and care to the people in the nearby villages—don’t be fooled by how fierce you seem. Deep down, you…”
Her pen stopped mid-stroke, and she raised her eyes to look at him under the lamplight, surprised.
—How does he know all this?
“Focus on healing,” she finally said, gently pressing his shoulder. “I’ll figure something out.”
Huo Zhan Bai exhaled a long breath of relief, collapsing back into the bed.
His injuries had been so severe that now, with the tension in his heart released, he felt as though he could no longer hold himself together. Lying there, his entire body ached, trembling from the pain, yet he still managed to flash a lazy grin. “Ah, I also know that you’re so picky about your patients’ appearances because… your lover must’ve been incredibly handsome too… Ah!”
A silver needle landed precisely on his acupoint, gently vibrating where it pierced his skin, instantly putting him to sleep.
“Even if it’s a compliment,” Xue Zi Ye’s expression remained icy, her voice cold, “talking too much can still get you in trouble.”
Huo Zhan Bai opened his mouth, stunned, as if wanting to say something, but his eyelids grew impossibly heavy, and soon, they fell shut.
“Sigh…” Watching him fall into a deep sleep, she finally let out a clear, audible sigh, leaning over to pull the blanket up over him. She murmured softly, “Eight years, fighting so desperately… but is it worth it?”
From the moment, eight years ago, when he and that woman had come to the Medicine Master’s Valley carrying a child, she had noticed something:
That woman actually hated him.
Was it worth it? She had always wanted to ask him that question, but he always deflected with lazy banter, making it impossible to get a straight answer. Such a smart person—perhaps he had known the answer all along.
－
By the time Xue Zi Ye left the Winter Pavilion, the sandglass indicated it was already the fourth watch of the night.
She had sent Lü-er and the others to the Autumn Courtyard, and the rest of the servants in the pavilion were already asleep. Not wanting to disturb anyone, she took a single lantern and walked slowly along the cold spring by herself.
The Mohe region in the far north was cold year-round. However, the Medicine Master’s Valley had hot springs, which was why her ancestors had chosen to live in seclusion here. The valley had four pavilions—Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter—designed based on the varying ground temperatures, where they cultivated rare medicinal herbs. Yet, despite the hot springs, the Winter Pavilion near the valley’s entrance was still quite cold, so she rarely came here unless necessary.
A gust of wind blew in from Mohe, causing her to shiver slightly.
The cold moon hung overhead, illuminating the snow-covered valley, with a faint scent of white plum blossoms floating in the air.
Unknowingly, she had followed the cold spring to the edge of Still Water Lake. The lake was a meeting point between the cold and hot springs, so half of its surface was covered in rising steam, while the other half was thick with ice.
That overwhelming sense of longing surged through her again, and she could no longer hold back. Gripping the lantern tightly, she hurried onto the lake. Stepping onto the ice, she reached the center of the lake and placed the lantern aside. Trembling, she bent down, leaning close to the ice, and stared deep beneath its surface.
There, beneath the ice, that person still slept silently—calm and pale, unchanged for over a decade.
Xue Huai… Xue Huai… do you know? Today, someone mentioned you.
He said you must have been incredibly handsome.
If you were still alive today, you’d surely be the most handsome man in the world, wouldn’t you?
But it’s a shame… you’ve been asleep beneath this ice for so long, no matter how many times I call for you, you never answer. I’ve learned so many healing techniques, saved so many lives, yet I can’t wake you.
She murmured to the frozen lake, tears finally spilling uncontrollably from her eyes.
Even though her master had tried to calm and comfort her, and the most traumatic memories had faded over time, she still remembered the despair of being forced to flee into the water when the Mohe Tribe was slaughtered overnight.
The waters of the Mohe River in December were cold enough to kill.
The pursuers, wearing grimacing masks and holding blood-soaked swords, had chased them from behind. Xue Huai held her hand as they ran blindly across the frozen river. Suddenly, the ice cracked with a loud snap, and a dark, gaping maw swallowed them whole! As they fell, he had embraced her tightly, letting the undercurrent carry them beneath the ice.
His heartbeat had been the only warmth in the freezing water.
It had been twelve years now, and she still felt that bone-chilling cold deep inside. Every snowy night, she would awaken with a start, running barefoot out into the snow in a frenzy, desperately trying to return to that remote village, seeking the warmth she had felt that night.
But after that bloody massacre, nothing remained. Not even Xue Huai.
Beneath the ice, he lay still, his face unchanged from that fateful night.
The boy, only sixteen or seventeen at the time, lay curled up slightly, his hands gently folded in front of him, floating quietly in the icy water, forever asleep. She bent down, speaking softly to the sleeping figure beneath the ice:
Xue Huai, Xue Huai… when will you wake up? If you don’t wake soon, I’ll grow old…
Not far away lay the Summer Pavilion.
The night watch maid lifted the curtain and saw the woman lying on the ice at the center of the lake, staring down. She sighed to her companion behind her, "Xiao Jing, look… The valley master is talking to the person under the ice again."
They were all orphans brought back by the mistress from the nearby villages—either abandoned by their parents due to incurable diseases or poverty. Ever since they arrived, the figure beneath the ice had been there. Granny Ning had told them: that person had been floating down the frozen river with the mistress twelve years ago.
Back then, the previous valley master, Liao Qingran, had saved the girl, whose heart still had a faint warmth, but the young man had already stiffened in death. For all these years, the valley master had always believed that if her medical skills advanced just a little more, she could revive him from beneath the ice.
"That person… he’s actually very handsome," Xiao Jing murmured dreamily, gazing at the shadow on the ice.
But her companion didn’t respond, her attention drawn to the west side of the lake. Suddenly, she exclaimed in surprise, "Look! What's happening… The Autumn Courtyard is in chaos! There's a fight! Hurry, go call Sister Shuang Hong!"
* * *
Inside the Autumn Courtyard, the furniture was overturned, the room littered with signs of a fierce struggle.
Lü-er panted heavily. Is this person really injured? After six or seven strikes, she hadn't even touched his clothes. She stood in a daze, unsure of what to do.
The figure barely moved, swiftly shifting to the other side of the room, holding a silver knife against Xiao Cheng's throat. "Go fetch that woman, or I’ll kill her."
Lü-er stomped her foot, fury rising inside her.
I told the mistress we shouldn’t have brought this frozen snake back! Now look—he’s biting back the moment he opens his eyes!
0 Comments