Chapter 27

The Scent of Osmanthus Sugar

The movement was instinctive. Nan Yi quickly hid the city defense map back among the scrolls, then casually turned around. Her heart was pounding in her throat, but she still managed to force a smile.  

“Young Master, you’re back. I’ve been waiting for you.”  

“Is that so?”  

The room was dark, with no candles lit, only the soft moonlight casting faint shadows on the ground.  

Xie Queshan walked slowly toward Nan Yi, and the smell of alcohol filled the air. She watched him nervously, and in the darkness, his face was hard to make out. However, she could still sense that his aura remained calm, with no hint of suspicion.  

When he was just a step away, he didn’t stop. He took another step forward. Nan Yi instinctively retreated, her back pressing against the edge of the table—she had nowhere to go.  

He lowered his gaze, studying her face, taking in both her composure and her fear. Then, without warning, he pinched her mouth and, with his right hand hidden in his sleeve, unwrapped a piece of oil paper and popped a small item into her mouth.  

Nan Yi immediately tried to spit it out, but he moved faster, grabbing her chin to keep it in place.  

She was forced to taste the sweet flavor of the item in her mouth—osmanthus and rock candy, the sweetness spreading across her taste buds—it was candy!  

He withdrew his hand and asked her seriously, “Is it good?”  

Nan Yi, still stunned, replied, “…It’s good.”  

Rock candy was a delicacy reserved for the wealthy, a rare luxury that could sell for several taels of silver a piece in these times of soaring prices.  

Nan Yi remembered when she was young, seeing a noble girl drop half a piece of rock candy onto the street, where it picked up some dust. The girl refused to eat it, and after she left, Nan Yi picked it up and tasted it. The sweet taste, rare and unachievable for her, lingered in her memory.  

This was the first time she had eaten a whole piece of rock candy. She could feel its crystal-clear texture, wrapping her taste buds with an unprecedented sensation, filling her with sweetness and confusion.  

Xie Queshan smiled faintly. “It’s osmanthus rock candy from the Huazhao Pavilion.”  

Nan Yi was slightly confused—he had gone to the Huazhao Pavilion for a banquet, and in the midst of his drunken stupor, he had hidden a piece of candy in his sleeve to bring back to her? What was the meaning behind this action?  

But not everything had to have a deeper meaning.  

Today, Xie Queshan had attended a reception banquet at the Huazhao Pavilion hosted by Wan Yan Jun. It was a night filled with clinking cups and empty pleasantries, which were enough to make anyone weary. The banquet was filled with extravagant delicacies, and a plate of osmanthus rock candy hardly seemed extraordinary.  

He had drunk a bit more than usual, absentmindedly picked up a piece of candy to taste, and unexpectedly remembered how Nan Yi had looked at the spread of fine dishes at the Huazhao Pavilion, swallowing her saliva. It suddenly struck him that Nan Yi would likely enjoy the candy, so he had hidden a piece to bring back to her.  

He was a little drunk when he did this, but the intent was simple. He didn’t intend to explain this to her—let her guess the reason for herself.  

Xie Queshan still blocked Nan Yi’s way, leaning over to light the candle on the table. The room brightened as the flame flickered, clearing his mind a little. His gaze swept across the pile of scrolls on the table and then returned to her face.  

“What are you waiting for here?”  

Nan Yi feigned calmness. “Young Master, I want to ask you to teach me how to read. Lady Lu asked me to copy Buddhist scriptures for the Grand Madam, and I’m worried I might make a mistake since I can’t read many characters.”  

“You climbed in through the window just to ask me to teach you how to read?”

“I was afraid others would see me and criticize my relationship with the Young Master, so I secretly came in to wait,” Nan Yi said, her voice a little shaky.

“Then why are you nervous?”

Xie Queshan looked at her coldly.

“I’m not nervous,” Nan Yi tried to argue.

Xie Queshan grabbed her wrist, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest, her nervousness and guilt exposed in an instant.

Nan Yi almost wanted to cry—she couldn’t deceive him at all!

Strangely, though, Xie Queshan didn’t continue pressing on this matter. Instead, he said, “I can teach you to read.”

“…Really?”

“However, ‘what is learned from books is shallow,’“ he replied.

“What do you mean?” Nan Yi asked, confused.

“It means that simply reading books isn’t enough to truly learn.”

“Then…?”

“Come with me to a place.”

Nan Yi didn’t dare question Xie Queshan’s words and obediently followed him out of Jingfeng Residence. She noticed the guards outside were gone, but instead of taking the main road, he grabbed her by her clothes and led her up to the roof.

“Keep up.”

With a simple instruction, Xie Queshan lightly jumped ahead, as if he were floating. Luckily, Nan Yi had a little skill in lightness kung fu, so she could just barely keep up with him.

The two of them jumped across rooftops and walls until they exited Wangxue Wu, landing in a remote alley.

Xie Queshan’s overly friendly demeanor made Nan Yi lower her guard slightly. But when they stopped, she saw five or six masked men in black standing in the alley, their eyes glinting with malice. It was clear that their intentions were not good.

Nan Yi, already feeling guilty, was so frightened that her tongue faltered. “You can’t be serious... What do you want with all these people?”

Xie Queshan turned around to look at her, a shadow crossing his face. His voice was cold, like that of a demon. “You dare to steal from me? Have you forgotten your lesson?”

Nan Yi’s heart sank. He must have figured out her plan to steal the city defense map the moment he entered. Now, on this dark, windy night, she was dragged out of Wangxue Wu, and it seemed like he might be planning to kill her.

She collapsed to her knees with a thud, tears streaming down her face. “I won’t do it again, Young Master! Please don’t kill me.”

“Killing you would be too merciful,” Xie Queshan said, looking down at her. “That would be too easy for you.”

Nan Yi was stunned and trembling. “W-what about my body? Will you leave it intact?”

“If there’s a next time, there won’t be anything left,” he replied coldly.

A next time? What about this time…?

Just as Nan Yi began to feel some relief, Xie Queshan uttered a single word, devoid of any emotion.

“Beat.”

The black-clad men immediately lunged toward Nan Yi.

...

This was truly the literal meaning of “give a piece of candy and then give a slap.”

Nan Yi endured several punches, barely managing to dodge a few more through sheer instinct. She still had a faint glimmer of hope, looking to Xie Queshan for help, but he stood at the edge of the crowd, his expression frozen and cold.

“Beat her until she’s dead.”

With those words, Nan Yi had no more hope. She immediately turned and fled. Driven by a powerful instinct to survive, she skillfully dodged past several of the attackers, finding a gap to escape the alley.

The sounds of pursuit echoed in the streets, and it was already the middle of the night. Most houses in the city were quiet, and there were no pedestrians in sight.

Nan Yi didn’t dare to run on the main road. She squeezed into narrow alleys, afraid of encountering the patrolling soldiers. With the Qi army having entered the city, a curfew had been imposed. If the soldiers caught her, there would be no explanation.

Despite her best efforts to shake off the pursuers, they always seemed to catch up, keeping a certain distance, almost as if they were toying with her, pushing her into various corners.

Nan Yi was exhausted, but her mind was racing. Xie Queshan must have led her out of Wangxue Wu to kill her, meaning he had some concerns. Wangxue Wu was the safest place!

She had to figure out a way to get back home.

With this thought in mind, she found a higher building nearby, aiming to cross to the other side of Wangxue Wu via the rooftops. But before she could move, she was blocked by the black-clad men rushing toward her.

She had no choice but to leap back into the alley and continue evading her pursuers.

...

At the first light of dawn, Nan Yi, completely exhausted, finally managed to return to Wangxue Wu.

Covered in sweat and stink, she didn’t dare to wake the maids. She boiled some hot water, washed herself, and ended up falling asleep in the bath.

By midday, the water in the bath had cooled, and Nan Yi groggily felt the chill under her body. She slowly woke up. As she tried to get up, her eyes shot open when she saw Xie Queshan standing in front of the bath.

She quickly hid herself again, fearfully watching him.

Xie Queshan’s tone was calm yet menacing. “How dare you come back?”

Nan Yi wanted to argue, but before she could, Xie Queshan drew a dagger from his sleeve.

“Do you think I won’t kill you?”

A flash of cold light passed, and the dagger grazed her neck. Nan Yi opened her mouth to speak, but her words caught in her throat, and she couldn’t say anything. The bath water turned bright red with her blood…