Xuanmin didn’t say anything either, but he grabbed the silver that Xue Xian had dug out, pressed his paper hand back down, and handed the silver to the boatman without further delay.
However, Xue Xian didn’t stop his troublemaking even after being shoved back inside the pouch. He patted Xuanmin’s hip. “It’s hard for me to pay when I look like this. But I won’t mooch off you, so don’t worry. I’ll pay you back twice the amount after.”
As a reply, Xuanmin treated him like he didn’t exist.
The boatman took the silver. Even without weighing it, he could tell it was no small amount. “I can’t take this much,” he said, a little embarrassed.
However, Xuanmin’s face was so cold, more chilling than the snow blowing around them, that the boatman saw that he had no intention of changing his mind. He reluctantly stepped off the boat, allowing Xuanmin’s group to board.
Before they left, he anxiously asked, “Do you really know how to steer a boat?”
Lu Nianqi shared the boatman’s concerns, but he was afraid that Xuanmin would change his mind if Lu Nianqi asked more questions. Quashing his doubts, he followed Xuanmin and Jiang Shining onto the boat, though his gaze was mistrustful.
Before boarding, Xuanmin snapped off a piece of reed. Lu Nianqi was busy puzzling over the purpose of the reed when Xuanmin pulled a folded talisman from his lapels. He slapped it onto the bow of the black-awning boat and declared “Set sail,” before lowering the reed into the water. The small boat began to move in response, slowly gliding through the water. Xuanmin shook the reed gently, and the boat changed direction, heading straight toward the cluster of islets in the center of the river.
Lu Nianqi stared at the familiar yellow talisman until he remembered that it was the same one Xuanmin had plastered to his forehead earlier.
Do you use the same spell for everything? Lu Nianqi thought, indignant. You one-trick pony!
Even with the talisman commanding the boat and the reed steering its direction, Xue Xian couldn’t shake his anxiety about Xuanmin. He discreetly peeked out from the pouch, his gaze fixed on the reed clutched in Xuanmin’s hand.
After watching for a while, Xue Xian asked, “What do you want with Lu Shijiu? Do you also want to track someone through an object?”
“Ah!” Lu Nianqi suddenly exclaimed before Xuanmin could respond.
What was he fussing over now? Xue Xian tracked the sound of the noise.
Lu Nianqi had been standing by the boat’s edge and watching the waters, but for some reason, he’d stumbled backward and fallen onto the deck, startled. He braced himself on the deck with his palm, only to cry out in pain and whip his hand away—but it was too late. A cut had opened on his right palm and was weeping blood.
“What happened?” Jiang Shining grabbed Lu Nianqi’s wrist and pressed his thumb above the wound. “What cut you?”
“I think it was a piece of metal.” Lu Nianqi shivered at Jiang Shining’s icy fingers and instinctively yanked his hand back.
There was indeed a piece of metal lodged in the deck’s wooden grain where he’d fallen, complete with a splash of blood. It was the culprit.
Jiang Shining glanced around, then picked up the wine jug that the boatman had left behind. “It’ll hurt a little, but just bear with it,” he said. He uncorked the jug and poured a generous amount of wine over Lu Nianqi’s palm.
“Are you trying to kill me?” Lu Nianqi was clearly unprepared, as he started screaming his lungs out. “Ow ow ow ow ow! It stings! Haaah! Ugh…”
“Stop whining. Deal with it.” Having grown up in a clinic, Jiang Shining was used to people wailing and remained remarkably calm.
It was freezing cold; the snow and fog had yet to recede. The alcohol quickly chilled against Lu Nianqi’s skin, stemming the flow of blood, though he continued to gasp with his palm outstretched. He frowned hard, his face twisted in an expression of agonized grievance.
Jiang Shining splashed some river water around the wound to wash away the blood, then shook the droplets from his own hand and stepped to the side.
With the blood gone, the lines on Lu Nianqi’s palm became clear. Xuanmin saw this and frowned a little. He walked over and grabbed Lu Nianqi’s wrist to inspect it.
Lu Nianqi couldn’t help scoffing. “Another guy who likes to stare at palm lines,” he said gruffly.
“What do you mean, another? Who else did this?” Xue Xian asked. He hadn’t been paying attention and thought Xuanmin was just examining the kid’s wound. A little interested, Xue Xian leaned over the pouch opening to scrutinize Lu Nianqi’s palm lines and was stunned.
“Pah, Lu Shijiu, of course.” Lu Nianqi had only called him “Shijiu” once in his panic earlier. Otherwise, he always referred to him using his full name.
“Stare…at palm lines?” Jiang Shining raised his head. From what Xue Xian had said, Lu Shijiu was blind, so what would he be staring at? He’d already found it odd that a blind person would venture alone to an island in the river so unceremoniously. What had he planned to do after getting there? Feel his way around?
Lu Nianqi understood the emphasis in his words. “It’s true he’s considered blind,” he said with a twist of his lips. “But he can get by on his own, just slowly. He can see things ordinary people can’t. ‘Qi’ and ‘form,’ to use his own words. It sounds like nonsense to me. I don’t understand any of it.”
To Xuanmin, Lu Nianqi asked, “What’s wrong with my palm lines? He always takes my hand to study it for a while, tracing the lines and muttering strange things under his breath. It’s so annoying. When I ask him what he means, he insists there’s nothing wrong—that my palm says I’ll live a long life but suffer a tumultuous youth, so he’s curious how bad things will get for me.”
Hearing that, Jiang Shining thought that Lu Nianqi’s older brother was truly something else. Did Lu Shijiu want Lu Nianqi to suffer?
A long life? Xue Xian stared at the palm lines. Had he misunderstood the definition of “long life” this entire time?
Lu Nianqi’s palm actually bore the omen of an early death. His palm had three major lines, and one of them, the life line, ended abruptly. Never mind living a long life, he would be lucky if he lived past fifteen.
Xue Xian silently glanced at Lu Nianqi’s face. He hadn’t paid much attention to it, but upon a closer look, he noticed Lu Nianqi’s sunken features, his lazy eye and listless gaze. Moles were also scattered between his brows—another sign of someone fated to live a short life. How had Lu Shijiu concluded that he’d be long-lived?
Although it was probably best not to reveal such a destiny to Lu Nianqi’s face.
Xue Xian turned to look at Xuanmin. This old bald donkey had an illustrious history of being terrible at human communication. If he were to bluntly say something shocking like “You won’t live long,” this unfortunate child might faint from fright.
To Xue Xian’s surprise, Xuanmin seemed to have gone through an epiphany. He knew to be careful.
“You turned fifteen this year?” he asked first.
“Mm.”
Xuanmin nodded. “It’s a calamitous year for you. Be careful when going out.”
Xue Xian silently looked up at the sky, wondering if the sun had risen in the west today—or had Xuanmin eaten something strange?
Lu Nianqi withdrew his hand. “I know, I know. Lu Shijiu said the same thing.”
“Oh, right! What were you shouting about earlier?” Xue Xian asked. Thanks to the distraction of Lu Nianqi’s bloodied palm, he’d almost forgotten what he wanted to know.
“N-nothing,” Lu Nianqi stammered. “I was standing by the edge of the boat and suddenly saw something black pass below us. I thought it was hair, but it was probably just river plants. If it were hair, the corpse would be floating on the river surface, not submerged underwater.”
“How do you know that? You’ve seen something like that before?”
“I have. I live by a river. Of course I’ve seen it before. We even have experts here who focus on retrieving corpses. There were a lot this year. I saw at least five just this autumn and winter.”