The two talismans, one white and one red, dangled from Xia Jian's hand all the way.
Passing through the main street of Jinling, Xia Jian called for the carriage driver to stop and got off.
"Does the young mistress wish to buy something?"
"Not exactly." Xia Jian turned her head around, and suddenly her gaze fixed on a spot as she headed straight toward it.
Shaoyao followed and saw the young mistress walk past the cosmetics and jewelry shops surrounded by young ladies without even a glance, heading directly toward a blacksmith's shop.
"Young mistress?"
Shaoyao noticed a group of burly men gathered in front of the blacksmith's shop—some there to forge mighty swords, others to swing heavy hammers. At her exclamation, the men in front of the shop all turned to look at the two of them.
Shaoyao shuddered, and the imposing air she had maintained all morning vanished.
Xia Jian seemed oblivious to the stares. She lifted the greasy curtain of the blacksmith's shop and called out to the blacksmith, who was sweating profusely as he hammered, "Master, I have a job for you!"
The stone-carved doll's face was covered in stubborn stains.
Pale fingers held a snow-white handkerchief, gently wiping the dirty face of the stone-carved doll, cleaning its crudely carved eyes and brows.
The handkerchief was used over and over. Pei Guanzhu shifted his position on the couch, and the golden ring on his right ankle, like a chain, clinked lightly against the bedpost. Bending over, he placed the stone-carved doll on the windowsill, facing the dim sunlight filtering through the window lattice. With empty, dark eyes, he examined it carefully.
"Why won't it come clean?"
His fingertips, gripping the handkerchief, turned white from the force as he scrubbed the doll's face, which looked terrifyingly ugly in the sunlight.
"Why won't it come clean?"
He muttered under his breath, his fingertips rapidly wiping the doll's face. Suddenly, a loud noise came from outside, and Pei Guanzhu's unfocused dark eyes gradually regained awareness as he turned his head.
"Young master! Young master!"
Someone pounded on the door, and after two knocks, the door creaked open.
Laixi poked his unusually large head inside. Pei Guanzhu's gaze fixed on Laixi's narrow eyes and triangular lips before he looked down at the large-headed stone-carved doll in his hand.
"How wonderful, Laixi. You look exactly like my doll."
Pei Guanzhu handed him the handkerchief. "Wipe your face."
Laixi chuckled foolishly twice, took the snow-white handkerchief, and wiped his face a couple of times. "Young master, there's a woman, she's this tall."
He gestured to his brow. "She, and a man, this tall."
He raised his hand again, stood on tiptoe, and gestured to the air above his head. "She and a man, that tall, came in, carrying something this big!"
Laixi turned his large head around, fetched a round wooden board from behind the wall, and said, "Carrying something this big, a huge iron block! They came and sealed up our well!"
Pei Guanzhu paused for a moment. "What did you say?"
Laixi repeated, "There's a woman, she's this tall—"
"The last sentence," Pei Guanzhu set down the stone-carved doll in his hand. "You said she sealed the well outside?"
Laixi took a long moment to process the question before nodding his unusually large head. "That's right."
An unexpected and significant event.
Yet Pei Guanzhu reacted calmly. He shifted his dark eyes, stepped barefoot onto the floor, and opened the door. Looking up, he saw the well outside, now sealed shut.
A massive iron slab lay over the well, and the culprit was rolling up the thin sleeves of her upper garment, revealing pale, slender arms as she reinforced the huge iron block with sealing strips.
Hearing the sound of the door opening, Xia Jian wiped the fine sweat from her forehead and turned around to see Pei Guanzhu standing barefoot, a smile on his face as he asked, "What is Miss Xia doing?"
Seeing him, Xia Jian immediately sped up her movements, not daring to delay for a moment, afraid he would rush over and obstruct her plan to seal the well. Her arms holding the sealing strips danced frantically over the well as she lowered her head and replied loudly, "Good afternoon, Young Master Pei! As you can see, I'm sealing the well!"
Pei Guanzhu watched Miss Xia's wrists flying about, as if she were speeding up out of fear that he would stop her, and couldn't help but chuckle. "Miss Xia, if you want to seal the well, seal it. I never said you couldn't. But you came without a word, carrying a huge iron slab to seal my well. Don't you think such an act is far too improper?"
Xia Jian thought to herself, What nonsense is propriety? In a situation like this, it's better to act first and apologize later—just seal it directly.
Thinking this, her hands didn't slow down. Frowning with a worried expression, she said, "I'm only concerned for you, Young Master Pei. I want to protect you. Having such an ominous well outside your room worries me deeply. It's better to take advantage of the midday hour, when yang energy is abundant, and seal it with my own hands!"
"Young Master Pei, rest assured! Since I'm the one sealing this well, any retribution will definitely not fall on you! If there's any, it'll come for me!"
After she finished speaking, there was no reply from Pei Guanzhu for quite some time. Xia Jian had reached the final step of sealing the well. She took a hammer, firmly nailed the iron spikes into the four corners, and only then was the sealing work completely finished.
Xia Jian let out a heavy sigh of relief, feeling as though a great weight had lifted from her heart with the successful sealing of the well. Turning around, she saw that Pei Guanzhu had dragged a chair from somewhere and was now sitting at the doorway, smiling deeply as he watched her. She had no idea how long he had been sitting there.
Perhaps it really was because of the midday hour, or maybe she had been influenced by her own claim about abundant yang energy at noon, but Xia Jian felt particularly confident. Raising the small hammer in her hand, she waved cheerfully at Pei Guanzhu and said, "Young Master Pei! I've finished sealing it!"
Pei Guanzhu let out a soft, derisive laugh.
The cold chuckle seemed like an illusion to Xia Jian. The young man opposite her narrowed his eyes and slowly clapped twice. "Well done, Miss Xia. You've done an excellent job."
Xia Jian exhaled and walked up to Pei Guanzhu.
The smile on Pei Guanzhu's face had deepened considerably compared to when they first met. Though it appeared calm on the surface, the look in his eyes as he gazed at her was as if he were looking at a dead person.
She knew that her actions had likely thoroughly offended the serial killer. Though he now wore a gentle facade, who knew what murderous plans he was secretly devising for her.
But Xia Jian didn't regret sealing the well in the slightest.
Ever since arriving at Pei Fu, she had been unable to sleep well, haunted by the thought of the original host in the novel being pushed into this well by an unknown murderer and discovered by the protagonist the next day, her body floating face down in a gruesome state.
Being affected by the shadow of Pei Guanzhu, the serial killer, was one thing, but was she really going to be tormented by a broken well as well?
"Young Master Pei," Xia Jian stood before the threshold, her eyes and brows curved in a smile as she deftly untied two talismans—one white and one red—hanging from her waist.
She bent slightly, her somewhat disheveled hair reflecting a lovely honey color under the midday sun. Fine beads of sweat trickled down her fair forehead, her large eyes curved into crescents as she extended the two thin strings of the peace amulet, twirling them around her fingertips.
"The white one is for Young Master Pei. I climbed ninety-nine steps at Qin'an Temple today to pray for this. One for each of us—this way, the punishment of sealing the well definitely won't fall upon the innocent Young Master Pei!"
Pei Guanzhu narrowed his eyes slightly, his pale face cast in half a shadow. His gaze shifted from Xia Jian's sweat-dampened temples to the two swaying peace amulets.
The white peace amulet was placed in front. It was unclear what was inside, but it looked rather plump, embroidered with a red thread forming the character for fortune.
Pei Guanzhu's lips curved into a faint smile as he suddenly raised his hand and forcefully tugged at the white peace amulet.
The thin strings of the amulet were wrapped around Xia Jian's fingers, and with his pull, a red mark immediately circled the snowy-white knuckles of the young girl.
"Ouch," Xia Jian frowned, quickly stepping over the threshold and crouching before Pei Guanzhu in response to his pull. "If you want it, just take it. Why did you have to tug so hard?"
"I don't want the white one," Pei Guanzhu said gently. "I want the red one."
"Fine, fine, red it is then," Xia Jian rubbed her fingers, tucking the white peace amulet back into her pocket. Afraid that Pei Guanzhu might tug again, she didn't hand it to him but instead tossed the red peace amulet onto his lap. "Here, satisfied now?"
Pei Guanzhu picked up the thin string of the peace amulet and held it before his eyes.
He clearly hadn't had time to tidy up today, dressed in snow-white robes with his hair unbound. The blood-jade earrings on his earlobes resembled two drops of fresh blood, and his dark, hollow pupils stared at the swaying red peace amulet in his hand. It was unclear what he was thinking, but the corners of his lips curled upward.
"Young Lady Xia is truly interesting," Pei Guanzhu shook the peace amulet. "So, giving me this—a piece of cloth stuffed with cotton—can ward off the demons and monsters you attract?"
"If this could ward them off, then those wandering Taoist priests wouldn't need to come to the mansion to dance every day."
"I think even a piece of cloth stuffed with cotton would be more effective than dancing wandering Taoist priests…" Xia Jian spoke sincerely. Ever since arriving at Pei Fu, she had seen wandering Taoist priests come to dance every day. After all these days, Madam Chen remained exactly as she was. "Anyway, the effectiveness of this thing depends on who gives it, right? If someone else gave it, it definitely wouldn't work, but if I give it, it might!"
"Because I genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, wish for Young Master Pei to live a long and peaceful life. I guarantee no one's heart is as sincere as mine."
Her gaze was firm as she met Pei Guanzhu's eyes, hesitantly raising her right hand and holding up three fingers in a gesture of swearing.
Pei Guanzhu furrowed his brow slightly, looking at Xia Jian as if she were a lunatic.
But after a moment, Pei Guanzhu seemed to remember something and suddenly laughed.
"So that's how it is," Pei Guanzhu slipped his index finger through the thin string, spinning the red peace amulet around his fingertip.
"Young Lady Xia must indeed be the person in the entire world who cares the most about whether I live or die."
Xia Jian was stunned as she watched Pei Guanzhu smile like a fox, his expression unusually bewitching. His ice-cold finger, wrapped with the red string, suddenly tapped the tip of Xia Jian's nose.
The swaying peace amulet hanging from his finger lightly brushed against Xia Jian's lips, carrying with it a cool, sandalwood fragrance from his snow-white sleeve.
Xia Jian suddenly felt that the scent wasn't so unbearable after all.
The young man's eyes gleamed with malicious amusement, his cool fingertips brushing against her skin before withdrawing.
"After all, if anything were to happen to me, Miss Xia would be left a widow, wouldn't she?"