Chapter 10: Qin Huai Banquet

After sending away Chu Baige, Shen Fu was about to go out when the shopkeeper called her.

“But Hero Shen?”

Shen Fu paused, “It’s me. What’s the matter?”

The shopkeeper took out a message from under the counter. “I have a letter for you. It just arrived.”

Curious about who would write to her, Shen Fu accepted it.

Envelopes were extremely common, but when she pulled out the flowered paper inside, she guessed who the letter was from. Sure enough, after opening it, she saw that Miss Ruyi had invited her to lunch.

Shen Fu glanced at the time; half an hour later was the time agreed upon in Ruyi’s letter. The place to eat was not far from where she lived, taking only a quarter of an hour to walk. It was a restaurant facing the Qinhuai River, and the location set by Ruyi happened to overlook most of the scenery along the river.

When she arrived at the restaurant and reported her name, the restaurant’s attendant was obviously excited. “Are you the guest that Miss Ruyi is inviting today? She has arrived and is in the private room on the third floor!”

When Shen Fu entered, she found that there was already someone sitting in the room.

A woman in a goose-yellow dress leaned against the window, her arms crossed, gazing out. The golden sunlight illuminated her face, revealing a captivating expression in her eyes.

“I thought you wouldn’t come!”

Hearing the footsteps, Ruyi turned her head and, upon seeing Shen Fu, a smile suddenly appeared on her face, her tone playful yet slightly reproachful.

“Miss Ruyi meets, even if there is a sea of swords and fires, I will come,” Shen Fu replied, arching her hands with a serious expression.

“You say such beautiful things to coax me…” Ruyi’s eyes held a hint of sadness as she sat up straight, raising her hand to signal Shen Fu to sit down. “Last time you came to Jinling, I promised to ask you to taste the local delicacies. The master craftsmanship of this Qinhuai Tower is exceptional, especially the first-rate salted duck and duck blood vermicelli soup, which are local specialties.”

“Then I will have to taste the delicacies recommended by Miss Ruyi.”

“You don’t know how many delicacies you’ve tasted, Hero Shen. I’m afraid the things I recommend won’t impress you.”

“As long as it is recommended by Miss Ruyi, it is the best thing in the world.”

Ruyi asked, “What about me?”

“Miss Ruyi is naturally the best girl in the world.”

“You’re lying to me.” Ruyi said, “The best girl in the world said she wanted to go with you, but you didn’t want to. If I were truly the best person in the world, how could I not keep your heart, Hero Shen?”

This was quite straightforward.

Shen Fu was momentarily taken aback, then curled her lips into a smile, waving a paper fan in front of her. “Of course, it’s because I’m ashamed in front of Miss Ruyi.”

She was pretending to be romantic, but her playful demeanor revealed a childlike innocence.

Ruyi smiled, “You speak well.”

Seeing Shen Fu avoid her topic again, disappointment flickered in her eyes. She quickly changed the subject. “You must be hungry. Let’s have Xiao Er serve the food, and we can talk while eating.”

Shen Fu was eager to start eating, preferring to eat more and talk less.

She didn’t know why, but after seeing Ruyi in Jinling this time, she felt something strange in many ways.

She felt relieved as she had suggested, and sighed inwardly, her eyes drooping slightly, concealing a dark glimmer.

After avoiding the topic of who would accompany whom, the conversation between the two remained pleasant. Although Shen Fu was not particularly good at talking, Ruyi was clever and could always provoke many topics, ensuring the conversation never cooled down, allowing both host and guest to enjoy their meal.

After eating, Ruyi asked Shen Fu about her plans again.

“Now that you have found your old friend, what are you going to do next?”

“It’s nothing more than wandering around. The Zhao Kingdom is a land of great rivers and mountains. I haven’t seen half of it yet. I want to take advantage of my youth and health to travel the country, so that when I grow old, I can share stories with others.”

A hint of envy flashed in Ruyi’s eyes. “You are so carefree.”

Shen Fu raised her glass and said, “Isn’t life just about being carefree?”

Ruyi laughed, her eyes crescent-shaped, looking genuinely happy. She raised her wine cup and poured wine for both herself and Shen Fu, saying, “Yes, cheers!”

In truth, Shen Fu’s tolerance for alcohol was average, and she usually relied on her martial arts to handle it. However, when drinking with close friends, she was too lazy to hold back.

Those familiar with her knew her limits and wouldn’t deliberately overindulge her. But under Ruyi’s influence, with each cup they shared, Shen Fu gradually felt dizzy, her vision becoming slightly blurred.

“No more, no more…”

Doubts flashed in her mind. What kind of wine was this, and how strong was it?

It felt as if there was no buffering process at all; she had transitioned from a waking state to this state in an instant.

Before she could figure it out, she tilted her head and fell onto the table.

Ruyi, with a flushed face as if she were already drunk, looked at the person lying on the table with her chin resting on her hand for a moment. Then she raised her hand and said, “Clear all of this away.”

“Yes.” The door to the private room opened, and the expressionless attendant entered, carrying away the unfinished dishes and wine cups, leaving only Ruyi and Shen Fu inside.

Looking at the peacefully sleeping girl, Ruyi suddenly chuckled softly.

“Afu, Afu…”

Why are you so naive and trusting?

She walked over, lowered her head, and looked at the quietly sleeping girl.

She stretched out her hand, trying to touch her eyebrows. However, as soon as her fingertips brushed against Shen Fu’s skin, she retracted her hand as if shocked, her heart racing. After taking a deep breath, Ruyi placed her hand on Shen Fu’s face.

This time, she was no longer timid but boldly placed her hand on her cheek.

The eyebrows that had appeared countless times in her dreams were finally touched by her carefully.

Shen Fu’s lips were red and as soft as she had imagined. When she pressed her lips lightly, her white teeth were exposed.

“Sister…”

Shen Fu whispered softly.

Ruyi was startled by her sudden noise, withdrawing her hand and carefully observing Shen Fu.

Seeing that she didn’t look like she was about to wake up, Ruyi breathed a sigh of relief.

Then she couldn’t help but laugh at her own behavior…

“Afu, what do you think I should do with you?”

“If you knew what I did, you would surely call me despicable and shameless?”

“I really want to build a golden cage for you and lock you up…”

In this way, A-Fu is just my A-Fu.

Thinking of this, she suddenly stood up and hugged Shen Fu.

It was hard to imagine that, seemingly weak, she could actually lift a woman taller than herself, a woman with martial arts skills and a sword on her back, and she was obviously more than capable of lifting heavy weights.

Shen Fu leaned against her arms, appearing a little docile, and Ruyi’s heart softened even more.

She walked to the wall, kicked gently at a hidden spot, and a secret door swung open.

Behind the door was a dark and confined space.

She walked in with Shen Fu, the secret door slowly closing behind them, and a bright light shone from the wall.

With a series of popping sounds, oil lamps were ignited one after another, illuminating the entire hidden room brighter than daylight. In the room, there was a large bed with red bedding embroidered with a pattern of mandarin ducks playing in the water.

Ruyi placed Shen Fu on the bed, turned back, and pressed the switch beside the secret door. A golden fence suddenly fell from the top, enclosing the bed in the middle.

She watched this scene almost obsessively—

Inside the golden cage, a quietly sleeping girl lay on the bed.

As if from now on, she could be in her own hands.

Ruyi’s heart surged with excitement.

“Afu…” She chuckled lightly, “My Afu…”

…

“Where did the host go?”

“You ask me, I ask who to go.”

“I have something important to report to the host!”

“You just have a big business, and you can’t find the host now… When the host doesn’t want to see us, it’s useless to find her. Um… Did you just kill someone? I advise you to wash up first if you want to see the host. Besides, the host does not like other people to kill.”

“Funny, I’m in the business of killing people in Shunxin Lou. Everyone is full of gold. What does it mean that the landlord doesn’t like killing people?”

“I reminded you, don’t blame me for being trained by the original poster.”

“Do you think the owner is getting more and more weird…”

“Weird? What’s weird? Why don’t I know?”

“I always feel that in the past two years, the owner seems to be less concerned about the business of Shunxin Lou.”

“Is there? Why don’t I know?”

“Zuo Hufa, I’m talking to you about business, please be more serious.”

“I didn’t tell you anything else, did I, right protector?”

In the room on the second floor of Ruyi Building, the man who was called the right guardian was an ordinary-looking man. He had flat eyebrows, flat eyes, and flat features. Nothing stood out or was different from ordinary people. Ordinarily, if you threw him in the crowd, you couldn’t find him.

Sitting across from him was a woman with a baby face. It was more appropriate to say that she was a woman than a girl; she looked only thirteen or fourteen years old. Not only was her face small, but she also looked like a cardamom girl. She wore a light shirt and talked to the man with a grin.

If they didn’t say anything, who could imagine that these two people were actually the first killer organization in the world, the right and left guardians of Shunxin Lou?

At this time, the original poster they were thinking of was sitting by the window of Qinhuai Tower, watching the sunset.

Shen Fu opened her eyes and saw this scene:

The woman was lying by the window, and the afterglow of the setting sun reflected her snowy skin with a crimson light.

Anyone who saw such a scene would probably be stunned, fearing they would startle the fairy in the painting.

When Shen Fu opened her eyes, the fairy turned her head accurately and smiled at her.

“Afu, are you awake?”

Shen Fu was still a little confused, unable to return to her senses. It took a long time for her to pick up the memories from before and associate them with the surrounding scenes. Even the naive Chu Baige thought of what had happened earlier and said with shame, “It’s because I didn’t drink well, which wasted the time for Miss Ruyi.”

Ruyi looked at her and chuckled, “No, don’t worry about it.”

—