Without any warning, a van charged towards Gan Qing at a very tricky angle. The front of the van was very flat—practically a level surface—unlike normal sedan cars that had a protruding "nose." This way, even if Gan Qing could react in time, there was no way she could push on the car hood to propel herself up. Her only choice was to run but a human could not outrun a motor vehicle being driven at an insane speed. Even Yan Hao could not do it, much less her, and she had also just walked to the middle of the road. There was nothing before and behind her, and it was impossible for her to reach the side of the road in two steps and look for cover.

Gan Qing felt as though she was the fisherman in the poem^[1], drowsing in blissful intoxication in the east wind, and suddenly, someone was splashing a bowl of cold water onto her face. Her mind hadn't yet realised what was happening but her body was already a step ahead and moving. In a split second, Gan Qing had taken a small, quick step forward. She had no time to think carefully, her hand reached out and—acting completely on instinct—she grabbed the van's side mirror. Both the mirror and her swung towards the van door; Gan Qing curled her body as small as it could possibly go and she just barely scraped past the madly charging van. One of her flip-flops fell off, the supermarket bag she was holding also flew somewhere, the ice-cream scattering all over the ground to be crushed under the wheels of the can, dying an untimely death on the road.

The side mirror could not support the weight of a human. It broke off with a snap and in that instant, Gan Qing grabbed onto the roof of the van with five fingers. She got a good look at the person in the van.

It was a stranger, male, in his forties. The bones on his face were protruding, the skin stretched thin and barely covering them. In his eyes, there was a red gleam that didn't seem human. On the other side of the window, he unexpectedly met Gan Qing's eyes. Then, his lips split in a smile and he gave the steering wheel a fierce twist. The van swung abruptly and was about to crash into the side of the road!

Gan Qing's entire body was like the hem of a skirt being lifted by the wind. Blood rushed into her fingers that were holding onto the roof until they flushed purple and her nails broke at once. It was impossible for the strength in the fingers of one hand to bear such a huge pressure. Gan Qing was thrown off. With unimaginable strength, her waist twisted in midair and in that rushed, chaotic instant, she at least managed to land on both feet.

Half-crouched on the ground, before she could stand, the van again crashed into the corner of the roadside shop like it was committing suicide, trying to pin her in the middle. There was nowhere she could dodge. Right then, an SUV suddenly charged over and collided with the back of the van. Hit on the back, the van bounced up, two wheels lifting off the ground, and crashed onto two large trees. The driver's head came into intimate contact with the left-side window and he was knocked unconscious.

Skid marks full of murderous aura marred the ground. It was only now that the customers in the shop whose windows and door had nearly been crashed into realised what had happened. The row seated near the window all stood up and ran deeper into the shop where they stood with their necks stretched out, resembling a row of inclined bars that were shocked senseless.

All at once, Gan Qing was entirely covered in cold sweat that soaked through her thin T-shirt. She lifted her head and looked towards the SUV that had saved her life. She saw a robust man with tattoos on his body and a cigarette dangling from his mouth push open the door and got down. He looked at the dented front bumper with a solemn face. It was none other than the boss of the pet store where Qiao-Qiao worked.

Qiao-Qiao had resigned and left. Other than Yan Hao, she didn't leave her contact information with anyone. The cats and dogs in the store had been listless for a few days now. The boss also couldn't hire anyone at short notice so he had no choice but to watch the shop himself every day, resulting in both humans and animals being "watched" until a gloomy cloud hung over them. The nearby pet owners who needed to be away for a short while and wanted to board their pets with the store, when they saw this man, they no longer dared to send their cats or dogs there.

The pet store boss made a phone call. He came forward and pulled the van door open and poked his head in for a look, then said to Gan Qing, "Hey, this kid is still breathing —"

Before he could finish speaking, the van driver suddenly snapped open his eyes. A cold glint struck at the pet store boss, followed by a soft sound. Gan Qing knocked away the dagger the van driver was holding with the back of her hand and elbowed the pet store boss out of the way. In the narrow space, the two of them fought at a speed that blurred the eyes. The driver suddenly let out a hoarse scream. The dagger fell with a clang. There were blood marks on the spot between his thumb and his second finger.

The pet store boss reacted pretty quickly, taking a step forward and kicking the dagger away. Without waiting for Gan Qing to react, his fist that was the size of a large bowl swung towards the van driver's face. The van driver's face already had protruding bones on both sides and a concave middle and the punch nearly gave him a meteorite crater. Two lines of blood trickled from his nose and he fell backwards, once again unmoving.

Gan Qing, "..."

The pet store boss shot Gan Qing a look. Without saying a word, he took out a bundle of rope from the trunk of his own car. He dragged the van driver out, tossed him on the ground and tied him up. When he was done, he kicked him with the tip of his foot and said to Gan Qing, "I called the police already. Do you know this man?"

Gan Qing didn't know the man but she recognised the technique in that one dagger strike. The glint of the blade was cold as frost and quick as lightning, lasting just an instant, striking up from the bottom—it was the fundamental skill of her own sect.

This man was from the Xu clan.

She was silent for a while and the pet store boss also didn't press for an answer. He squatted on the roadside and smoked his cigarette, going through his contact list to look for the auto repair and the insurance company. His voice was a little unclear when he spoke. "I don't know what you guys are doing but since you're not ordinary people, you shouldn't force yourself to live ordinary lives, should you? Otherwise, the bystanders around you will suffer misfortunes along with you."

Gan Qing followed the direction of his gaze and saw that from the shop whose only crime had been to be in the wrong place, the bystanders were coming out in a single file. But no one dared come near, they circled her far in the distance, taking photos with their phones.

She muttered softly, as though to herself, "But I… am just an ordinary person."

"Ordinary person?" The pet store boss looked at her hand. Her fingernail that was split into two left a trail of blood that was already congealing. The dried dark red clotted between her fingers, right where there was a bloodstained razor blade. "If you're an ordinary person, why do you carry blades with you?"

Gan Qing had nothing to say to that.

"Curve to the left… 'Xiao.'" The young girl held the pencil in an awkward grip, scribbling on the gridded writing practice book. "Shifu, this word is very hard. Why are there so many strokes… Aiyo."

"Even I am not complaining about the amount of strokes." Wei Xiao gave the back of her head a light smack. "That's your shifu's formal name."

The girl cocked her head and mulled over it for a while. "Aren't you called Wei Changsheng? Is Wei Changsheng your childhood name?"

Wei Xiao evaded her question, reaching a hand out to tap on her homework. "Have you finished writing and memorising? Don't get distracted."

The girl pouted. No longer racking her brains over her shifu's changing name, she sighed as she continued to do her homework. There seemed to be nails on her butt and it shook twice after every single stroke she wrote. Her eyes kept drifting towards the window.

"There are only a handful of characters in total. Finish writing before you go out to play. All you know is play!" Wei Xiao rebuked.

"Who wants to go out to play? Not me." The girl wrinkled her nose, pretending to be mature. "I want to go out and practise my knife skills. You said that when I'm eight, you will teach me Paoding Jieniu!"

Wei Xiao brushed her off and said, "You can't even reach the kitchen counter yet. There's no hurry."

"I didn't say I want to learn to cut ingredients!" the girl said. "I want to learn Paoding Jieniu, the one in the history of our sect. I even finished reading our sect's history by checking the dictionary! I want to carry on Wan Mu Chun's legacy in the future."

When Gan Qing was young, she had been thin and small-sized, and also mischievous. When outdoors, she wanted to touch everything and because of that, she was frequently sick. The reason why Wei Xiao taught her martial arts was so that she could strengthen her body and have a very strong foundation. He was a high-skilled expert, capable of grasping the entirety from just an example, and taught her everything except for Paoding Jieniu. Little Gan Qing's persistent nagging didn't work, so she hung around in the kitchen every day to watch him cut ingredients—supposedly, all of Wan Mu Chun's skills lay in the fingertips and would emerge when the knife was picked up, regardless of what was being cut—and then, fumble around and practise blindly on her own. She nearly sliced the veins on her own hands. Wei Xiao was afraid that she would destroy the results of her training by messing around like that so he had no other choice and could only give her a rough explanation, and instructed her not to use it and also not to bring up Wan Mu Chun when she was outside.

"Why can't I bring up Wan Mu Chun?"

"Because starting from your grand-master's generation, we have washed our hands clean of the past."

"So we can't bring up our name after that?"

"It will bring you trouble…"

"I'm not scared! When I'm older, I can beat them up until they have to crawl on the ground!"

Wei Xiao sighed as he looked at his little disciple who couldn't understand his serious words. "It's unlucky, my little disciple. The 'Chun' character refers to 'the silent rain,' existing everywhere and nowhere. You're a lively little girl, do you want to live in the shadow of a reputation? You shouldn't have anything to do with Wan Mu Chun."

The little disciple couldn't even understand his serious words, much less his serious and packed-with-hidden-meanings words. After listening, she only felt even more that her sect was so mysterious, so amazing. A small flame lit up in her chuuni soul and she began fanning it, obsessed.

Twenty years later, Gan Qing finally understood what her shifu had meant all those years ago.

She turned her head around to look towards the shaded street in front of No. 110 Courtyard. Just now, she had thought it refreshing and delightful, and it was only now that she was hearing the unceasing clamour of the cicadas in the undergrowth. In the gaps of the dense foliage, there seemed to be countless eyes staring at her; staring until she was again feeling as though there was the tip of a blade on her back before her cold sweat could dry off.

The police cars very quickly arrived and right on their heels was a call from Yu Lanchuan. "The grocer downstairs has ready-made sugar, you don't need to extract the cane juice yourself. Did you run off to the south to cut the canes? Hurry up and come back. I have an appointment in the afternoon with the person coming to change the windows."

"You guys eat first, I —"

A police officer ran over. "You still need to come with us and record a statement!"

On the other end of the call, Yu Lanchuan heard it. "What? What statement? Hello? Gan Qing, what did you do now? Gan Qing!"

The person who drove the van and crashed into her was a wanted criminal. His DNA and fingerprints were in the public security database. Apparently, he was a suspect in a past burglary and murder case and had been on the run the whole time. No one expected that this was where he would get caught. There were a lot of witnesses at the scene and on top of that, ever since she got to No. 110, she had been involved in so many matters that she was already a familiar face to the neighbourhood police. Hence, in just a few words, she finished explaining what happened and the police let her go back.

When she came out, she saw Yu Lanchuan and Yu Yan waiting on the other side of the street.

Yu Yan said, "My colleague told me already. These people have accomplices but don't worry, we will follow up on this. Be careful when you leave the house these few days. If there's any news, I will immediately inform you guys… If there's no other way, you can also request for protection."

Could they protect her for a lifetime?

Gan Qing smiled politely at him. She didn't reply.

Officer Xiao-Yu exhorted her a bit more before hurrying off to find out about the situation. Yu Lanchuan was left standing in silence on his own by the roadside.

"Didn't you say that you were getting your windows changed in the afternoon?" Gan Qing smiled at him as though nothing had happened. "Did you change the time?"

Yu Lanchuan didn't answer. He continued to stare at her without blinking.

Gan Qing walked over. She grabbed a hold of his hand and started to walk back.

From here to No. 110, there was a distance of two stops. During the peak of summer in Yanning, the high temperature and blazing sunshine lasted until around seven in the evening. Normally, Yu Lanchuan would definitely refuse to walk home, but today, he had a feeling that every step he took was one less step he had left to take, and he let her lead him as she wished.

Very quickly, their palms were covered in a layer of sweat, both sticking together. Yu Lanchuan walked slower and slower, finally coming to a stop. Gan Qing tugged forward and their hands slid apart amidst the sweat.

"My grand-master had the advantage of being in glory during his time, that's why he could take the opportunity to wash his hands of the old ways. My shifu changed his name and even the name on his grave is not his true name… But Wei Huan and I, we two unfilial disciples, when we were young, we had both thought ourselves very amazing and neither of us had listened to the advice of the old." After saying that, Gan Qing turned her head around. "After showing off our might, naturally there would be a price to pay."

Yu Lanchuan's teeth were clenched very tightly, his eyes slightly reddened. Wang Jiusheng had been arrested, Travellers' Sect had collapsed, Gan Qing had fulfilled her promise to return safe and sound. He thought that the crisis was over and that the thing he had been worrying about was just a baseless fear. Everything was returning to the right track.

But it turned out that there was no such thing as a lucky chance.

All he could do was to say, devoid of emotion, "Don't think too much now. I'll think of something…"

"The Xu clan's main camp is not even in Yanning. This bunch of people hide themselves in remote and desolate places. What can you come up with?" Gan Qing said.

"I don't care that they are in hiding. As long as they come to Yanning-"

Gan Qing let out a laugh and interrupted him. "One can be a thief for a thousand days, but not hide from a thief for a thousand days."

Yu Lanchuan could say nothing to that.

Since sixteen years ago, he had worked hard to break free of that sense of helplessness. He was disciplined, unyielding, calm and orderly. There was nothing he wanted that he could not get. Gradually, he had an illusion that there was nothing he could not do.

But it turned out that a person's life was like the dust floating in the air. A sense of helplessness was the exact thing that ran through their life from beginning to end. Growing up did not help, training to become an unparalleled swordsman did not help, getting promoted to the rank of domineering director also did not help.

"Then again, it makes sense that the Xu clan are afraid of me." Right then, Gan Qing suddenly turned around to look at him. "The rats hiding themselves here and there are all afraid of the spring wind that exists everywhere."

"What bullshit-"

"I won't hide like my shifu. There's no end to it if I do that," Gan Qing continued to say. "Since they have come to find me, of course I should also pay them a visit… Mm, of course, it will be via legal means. I won't put you in a bind… Will you wait for me?"

"How long should I wait?" Yu Lanchuan asked. "One year, two years? Five years, or will it be ten years?"

Two steps away, Gan Qing fixed her eyes on him. She didn't say anything, because a promise carried the weight of a thousand pounds. She could not break her word. The things she could not be sure of, she didn't dare promise.

If a woman wanted to leave because of some reason or other, a carefree person might wave and wish her luck for the future. Both parties would change partners and from then on, never cross paths again.

A person with deep feelings might be willing to lower their dignity, retreat 3,000 miles and beg the other person not to leave.

But Yu Lanchuan could do neither.

The last descendant of Wan Mu Chun could frighten Wang Jiusheng into heart failure just by shooting him a glance from far away. She was not someone who could remain within view of the crowd; by nature, she had to live out her life with a hood and a mask as company. She could not allow people to see her; if they did, she would become a live target in the shape of a human body.

Regardless of whether it was for the public good or for his own personal interest, Yu Lanchuan could not force her to stay and allow today's incident to happen again.

Then, was his only choice to wait?

If he waited… would he get what he wanted?

Gan Qing said that there would be no end to days spent in hiding, that was why she would rather fight it out with the Xu clan until the end. Yu Lanchuan believed that she knew her limits—she was no longer that hot-blooded girl who lacerated her own arm in a moment's impulse back then. Even when leaving a cut on Yang Ping's body, she could control the length of the cut accurately so that it would not count as a light injury. She might become a qualified "bounty hunter," living a wandering existence and getting rewards from public security bureaus everywhere… That was also a way to live.

But would there be an end to such days?

The Xu clan was everywhere. Just based on what they knew, there were those in the rural villages spreading their cult teachings, those instigating victims of domestic abuse to commit murder, those who swindle the elderly for their coffin money through any means… They came in all shapes and sizes, and were not limited to an isolated case. Even if she was skilled and courageous, and could take them down one by one without coming to any harm, they were like cockroaches that would not die. Destroy one nest and there would be a bunch who escaped the net. Throughout the process, she would also be forming new grudges without rest, falling deeper and deeper into the mess.

The sweat on Gan Qing's palm evaporated. She patted Yu Lanchuan. "Let's go back first and-"

Yu Lanchuan slapped her hand away.

Oh, he's angry, Gan Qing thought. She stared blankly, her fingers curling in a little. As though nothing had happened, she withdrew her hand and continued walking.

But all of a sudden, Yu Lanchuan caught up to her and wrapped her in a hug, his arms winding tightly around her waist. The smell of either her body wash or laundry detergent still remained on her, an indolent rose fragrance that melted into this tormenting summer's day. Her bones could be faintly felt on her back and her waist. When that thin body was in his arms, there was still so much extraneous space. He could not fill his arms, his heart; there was so much emptiness.

A drifting cloud suddenly stopped in its tracks, temporarily blocking out the sun. The corners of every building in Yanning City began to extend their shadows. The dancing reflections on the road resembling sparks of fire were extinguished at once. Yu Lanchuan suddenly felt as though he was holding a piece of paper, a painting, a beautiful illusion like flowers reflected in a mirror and moon in a lake; while his limbs were bound by an invisible string, his cumbersome body pressed to the ground by gravity. The moment he let go, she would drift far away.

Hence, all he could do was to tighten his arms desperately, binding her so tightly that her veins could be seen under her skin.

The things a person can not bear to part with is what keeps them imprisoned.

Gan Qing did not fight free. Her eyes followed the edge of the shadows, looking far into the distance. From the time she received the notification of Wei Xiao's death when she was in prison, her existence had been light as a feather, with nothing behind or ahead of her. It was Yu Lanchuan who had pulled her down into the dust of the mortal world, filling her ears and her mouth until she was on the verge of drowning in it.

Just a couple of days ago, she had even calculated her savings and acknowledged the fact that her ability to earn money was rather lacking. As the saying went, "One can't eat hot tofu with a hasty heart." Her only choice was to temper herself bit by bit and slowly save up. Director Yu supporting his family and paying off his mortgage was likely something she could not afford to interfere with. If she was lucky, when he finished paying off his mortgage, she might have saved up enough to buy a car and could throw it all away on a lavish purchase in exchange for a smile from him.

She didn't have much interest in studying. In the past, she had once studied assiduously for the sake of her family but her efforts had come to nothing. She also didn't place much importance in material possessions. She wanted to help Yu Lanchuan with life's little mundanities and necessities, but it would likely also come to nothing.

She was born with a fate where everything in her life would be unfinished.

Gan Qing thought, Can you not change your windows?

Once this thought appeared, quick as lightning, it travelled to the tip of her tongue and then was swallowed down by her.

Because these words sounded like making a fuss for no reason, and were also rather selfish.

That night, Gan Qing packed her bags. In this one year, she hadn't added much to her belongings. They filled a bag—there were even less things than when she moved in. She sent a very long message to Zhang Meizhen, explaining that she wouldn't be able to help her receive her delivery packages in the future. Then, she opened the window and looked out.

With the price that No. 110 commanded now, it probably wouldn't share the same fate as the original Mudpool Backlane which had been demolished until it was unrecognisable. But she still didn't feel reassured, she still felt that she had to engrave everything into her mind. Even if the sights remained unchanged, the saying "Things remain the same but the people have changed" held true.

When Elder Yang was no longer around in the future, Yang Yifan probably wouldn't continue staying in this courtyard. She was too ahead of her time and did not fit in at all with chattering old residents of the neighbourhood. When Little Friend Han Zhou graduated from primary school, Han Dongsheng and his family would no longer need to spend so much on rent and would definitely move back to their own house. Qiao-Qiao had left. Yan Hao, too, would probably only stay for a few more days. He was still young, he shouldn't spend the rest of his life minding a laundry shop. Yu Lanchuan's house would apparently be handed over to him at the end of the month…

At that time, he probably would leave too.

Director Yu's future prospects were boundless. He could look for any random forum for arranged dating, upload his resume, and there would be plenty of young, beautiful and highly-qualified women willing to be interviewed for the position of his wife.

The distance between every two balconies on the old building was barely two meters. Gan Qing heard a noise coming from the window next door. She didn't turn to see and only said, "When the time comes, I'll send my new contact details to you."

Next door, Yu Lanchuan didn't make a sound.

"I won't use the number to contact anyone else. 200 a year should be sufficient," Gan Qing continued. "When you're free, top up for me. If the day comes that you don't want to keep in contact anymore, then just stop topping up."

The moment the phone runs out of credit, I'll understand.

After she finished speaking, the person at the side still did not respond. Gan Qing finally couldn't resist turning her head to look. "Little Master Yu, say something…"

The window on the next balcony was open but there was no one inside.

Gan Qing stared blankly. Right then, someone pounded on the front door from outside. Half a beat late, she responded and the moment she opened the door, Yu Lanchuan grabbed her shoulder, pushed her back abruptly, and pulled 1003's door shut behind him.

"I won't wait for you." He pushed her shoulders, pressing her against the narrow wall of the entrance hall.

Yu Lanchuan was like a moving basin of cold water. He could wear the tightest fitting shirt and appear cool and relaxed, and he came with his own low-temperature atmosphere. But right now, his entire body seemed to be burning up, even his breaths were more heated than usual, nearly scalding as they brushed across her skin.

He blinked bloodshot eyes and stared at Gan Qing, saying through gritted teeth, "Like hell I'll wait for you."

Then, a kiss as heated as his breaths fell, rushed and pained, giving her an illusion that it was searing into her skin when it landed.

Gan Qing heard his words clearly. She stiffened for a few seconds; then, she slowly lifted a hand and put it on his back.

I guess this is fine too, she thought. Let's… leave a memory.

Treat it as downing the final cup of wine before taking to our separate ways.

The droning of the cicadas suddenly changed pitch. From beneath the earth, the heavy water vapour rose straight up to pool high in the clouds. From far came the low rumble of distant thunder, stretching out long and unbroken like the sound of waves. The rain poured down, smashing the drab and tranquil summer night into a kaleidoscope, a thousand vibrant worlds contained in a thousand mirrors. Light and shadow swayed, a thousand shades of red in chaos, dizzying and dazzling.

A night was like an entire lifetime, and a mortal's lifetime was nothing more than a dream in the first place.

The next day, Unit 1003 of No. 110 Courtyard on Rongxian Street turned vacant, like it had never been lively before.

Three days later, Yu Lanchuan received a text message from an unknown number and a WeChat friend request. The message said, "Annual fee 200."

Yu Lanchuan topped up 200 yuan of credit for the number, not a cent more, like a silent agreement.

Like hell I'll wait for you, he thought. Just you wait and see.

— END OF BOOK 5 —

T/N:

[1] 沉醉东风 (Drunk in the East Wind) is a verse by Bai Pu, a Yuan dynasty playwright.

In the web version, the epilogue consists of two chapters. In the print version, the first epilogue chapter is combined into the last chapter of Book 5. I have followed the split in the print version due to personal preference. So basically, there will be only one epilogue chapter in this translation before the main story closes.