He took off his shoes and boarded the carriage.
The carriage interior was not luxurious by any means, but it was exceedingly comfortable. There were no traditional seats; instead, soft mattresses were spread across the floor, an incense burner was embedded beside the window lattice, releasing wisps of aloeswood fragrance. In the corner, cotton quilts and pillows were neatly folded and stacked, while a small rosewood table divided the carriage's space in two, with documents and scrolls scattered haphazardly across its surface.
Nie Junyue knelt upright behind the low table, his eyes lowered as he reviewed a dossier spread flat before him, seemingly oblivious to the newcomer's arrival.
Qin Yi walked over in silence and knelt before the table. His tattered garments clashed with the surroundings, yet his demeanor was as composed as any young master from a great clan.
The carriage began to move, soundless.
Nie Junyue neither raised his eyes nor spoke, instead handling Immortal Guest Lodge's affairs with a suffocating calm.
Silence was a manifestation of pressure.
Especially in a situation like this.
The old master was clearly well-versed in this tactic, attempting to use this wordlessness to pressure the boy across from him into speaking first.
But Qin Yi simply knelt there quietly, facing him.He did not buckle under pressure.
Time trickled away in the deathly stillness, broken only by the rustling of wheels over mountain paths and the whisper of turning pages.
Just as they were about to reach Yellow Bamboo Town, Nie Junyue suddenly raised his hand, adorned with a jade thumb ring. With a sharp *smack* that pierced the silence, the window lattice shut, sealing off the sounds from outside.
The carriage interior was plunged into even deeper gloom.
Nie Junyue finally spoke, his voice warm and refined:
"Don't take Liuyi's hostility toward Ruan Su to heart. She actually has a good personality. It's just that she just returned to Yellow Bamboo Town, and some rumors have given her the wrong impression."
This sudden and inexplicable explanation did not cause the slightest change in Qin Yi's expression. Nie Junyue studied him as he continued in a low voice:
"You don't seem surprised."
Qin Yi shook his head, his voice youthful:
"I hadn't thought about it that way. I just assumed she might have had some past grievance with my sister. I truly didn't expect it to be jealousy born of romantic affection."
A hint of surprised amusement curved Nie Junyue's lips:
"You're quite clever. She does harbor some unrealistic feelings toward me, but I have no such intentions toward her. Over time, things became what they are."
Qin Yi nodded, remaining quiet for a moment, then suddenly asked out of nowhere:
"Why are you telling me this?"
"What do you think?"
"Hmm... because you want to kill her?"
"........"
Nie Junyue's heart trembled slightly. He chuckled:
"Little one, making wild guesses is not a good habit."
"Is it not true?"
"......"
Nie Junyue deliberated for a moment, then countered:
"Why would you think that?"
"Luo Liuyi's status should not be low, yet the information she received was rumors, and you made no move to correct it."
Qin Yi thought for a moment, then continued:
"The position of Immortal Guest Lodge's mistress has been vacant for ten years now. It cannot remain vacant forever. When the time comes, she will stand out glaringly for her lack of capability."
Nie Junyue let out a soft laugh, as if amused by the boy's naivety:
"If Liuyi lacked capability, I would not have sent her to the Central Plains."
"It is precisely because she went to the Central Plains that you discovered her lack of capability. She spent three years there, yet I have not seen a single person like my sister appear by your side."
"What do you mean?"
"You expended vast amounts of manpower and resources trying to establish a foothold in the Central Plains. Wasn't that precisely for this purpose?"
"........"
Nie Junyue stared at the boy's handsome features for several breaths, maintaining the steady rhythm of his breathing, but his heartbeat unconsciously quickened.
He knew the other party was probing him.
But this level of precision sent a chill down his spine.
Where the hell was this brat getting his intelligence?
Ruan Su?
But Ruan Su was merely a martial guest. She had no access to the Central Plains expansion at all...
"Old master."
Qin Yi broke through the increasingly heavy atmosphere, explaining:
"My sister and I originally fled here all the way from Great Qin. In the Central Plains, I encountered many 'inhuman' existences. However, they are much rarer here in ancient Shu. In four years, I've only come across two. Coupled with the importance you've placed on my sister, I deduced that your sending Aunt Liuyi to the Central Plains for three years must have been for this very purpose."
After hearing this, Nie Junyue suddenly asked:
"How do you know Liuyi went to the Central Plains three years ago? Although Ruan Su had seen her before, they had no interactions. Would she really tell you something so trivial?"
Qin Yi shook his head:
"No, she wouldn't. But three years ago, I saw her escorting your carriage through the market."
Nie Junyue couldn't help but let out a light chuckle:
"Are you saying that one glance was enough for you to remember it for three years?"
Qin Yi stared at him without speaking.
The amusement died along with the silence in the air.
Nie Junyue pondered for a moment, then turned to another piece of information in Qin Yi's words, speaking unhurriedly:
"Then let's say I take that as true. But you just said you've encountered two others in Yellow Bamboo Town similar to your sister. Who are they?"
"You've met them both as well."
"?"
"Qin Ke, and the half-girl you saw this morning."
"......"
A moment of silence fell.
Nie Junyue truly hadn't expected the other to mention two dead people, but he was nonetheless intrigued and followed along with the topic:
"Let's set aside the girl for now. I've had dealings with your younger brother. I won't deny that he was indeed very clever, but I never discovered any inhuman traits in him."
Qin Yi considered how to answer. Even if he stated the facts, a man of this one's cunning would never trust his bare words.
After a moment,
Qin Yi chose to answer with a question instead:
"I found Qin Ke three years ago. Do you think it's ordinary for a six or seven-year-old child to survive on Nianci Mountain?"
Nie Junyue's expression froze, then gradually knitted into a frown.
Seeing this, Qin Yi continued in a low voice:
"Old master, if you want to find people like my sister, you should look to the tide of refugees. Children who can survive alone in a place that vicious generally possess some 'inhuman' traits."
Nie Junyue's seated posture gradually grew more serious as he said:
"You should know that Yellow Bamboo Town has been continuously taking in refugees."
"That's because you need population to solidify the foundation for Immortal Guest Lodge's future external expansion. Your starting point is already flawed, so naturally, you won't find what you're looking for."
Qin Yi directly dismissed the other's point, paused, then continued:
"Besides, don't you think the distance from the Central Plains to ancient Shu is far too great? No matter how inhuman a child is, they are still a child in the end. And in the tide of refugees, they have to constantly face those people who have been driven to desperation by hunger. How high do you think their survival rate really is?"
Nie Junyue's brow furrowed slightly as he asked slowly:
"Are you suggesting I send people into the refugee tides in the Central Plains to search?"
Qin Yi gave a slight nod, his words careful and earnest:
"And the candidates must be able to set aside their pride, measuring their involvement in years, completely blending into the refugee tide, rather than maintaining an aloof posture and occasionally dispensing charity from on high.
"Old master, children who survive the refugee tide understand disguise better than adults, understand self-preservation better. They will never proactively expose their abnormalities, nor will they approach anyone who seems threatening to them."
At this point,
Qin Yi raised his hand in a slightly presumptuous gesture, his fingertip tapping the table with a soft *tock tock*:
"I wonder, is this greeting gift to your satisfaction?"
"......."
Nie Junyue said nothing, staring at the boy across from him. A terrifying sense of 'déjà vu' rose from the depths of his heart. Suppressing that emotion, he acknowledged the other and asked again:
"A very good gift. But why did you conclude earlier that I wanted to kill Luo Liuyi?"
Qin Yi thought seriously for a moment, then said in a low voice:
"Because I've had similar feelings before."
Nie Junyue smiled gently:
"You should only be around ten years old. Where would such feelings come from?"
Unbothered by the other's teasing, Qin Yi slowly uttered a single name:
"Qin Ke."
Hearing that name again, Nie Junyue was somewhat surprised:
"Your missing younger brother? Did you kill him?"
"No, he truly disappeared on his own, just as you know."
Qin Yi carefully chose his words, lowering his gaze as he murmured: "But I did have thoughts of killing him, because he was gradually spiraling out of control."
Nie Junyue said nothing, listening quietly.
Qin Yi's youthful voice carried a hint of a sigh:
"He mistakenly fixed his dependency on Ruan Su, but Ruan Su's eyes only ever held me. Naturally, he came to see me as an object of jealousy, even a burden. Keeping such a person close would only be a risk. Shouldn't he have been eliminated?"
The stable environment prevented Qin Yi from quickly establishing authority through crises as he could in the refugee tide, and all the visible pillars of the household came from Ruan Su, his sister.
Playing with hearts and minds was a game where the slightest misstep led to a thousand-mile error.
Nie Junyue's heartbeat unconsciously accelerated. That sense of 'déjà vu' grew stronger. Gazing at this monster wrapped in the skin of a little boy, he chuckled:
"He saw you as a burden? As I said, I've had dealings with him. Compared to you, he was far too inferior..."
"Brain Disease."
Qin Yi cut him off, voluntarily exposing his own weakness, smiling as he said:
"Old master, my Brain Disease is real, and it has never been cured. Most of the time, I am a genuine fool. Only occasionally can I act as I am right now."
"......"
A deathly silence descended abruptly.
The incense burner beside the window lattice continued its unhurried wisp of smoke. The carriage's swaying over the rugged mountain road was proof that time had not stopped.
The implications behind the boy's words caused Nie Junyue's pupils to instantly contract to pinpricks. A certain fear, long buried in the depths of his mind, something he never wished to recall, began to fully resurface.
It was a little girl.
The same age.
The same palpitation.
The same monster wrapped in a child's skin.
Tinnitus struck sharply and abruptly.
The handsome, pale face of the boy before him began to flicker incessantly in his vision, interweaving repeatedly with that terrifyingly beautiful face from his memories...
Just before the two completely overlapped, just before Nie Junyue's hallucination fully replaced Qin Yi with that horrifying girl...
"Old master."
Buzz—
The tinnitus vanished. The voice pulled him back to reality.
Nie Junyue suddenly realized he was panting heavily, and his hands had instinctively gripped the low table before him to steady himself.
The youthful voice came again, gentle and soothing:
"...Are you alright, sir?"
Qin Yi's tone was so soft it was almost relaxing.
Nie Junyue followed the sound with his gaze, only to see the other still seated in the same posture, yet no longer evoking the fear from moments ago.
After a few breaths of silence,
Releasing his grip on the low table, Nie Junyue made no explanation for his earlier lapse. His voice was somewhat hoarse:
"...Proof."
This time, Qin Yi did not try to seize control of the conversation. He lowered his shoulders, arched his back slightly, adjusted his expression, and became submissive:
"Proof... of what?"
His previous words, or rather the demeanor he had just displayed, must have triggered some kind of post-traumatic stress in the old master.
Nie Junyue took a deep breath: "Proof of your Brain Disease."
Qin Yi did not answer immediately. He was waiting for the other to calm himself down, and casually offered an excuse for him to refute:
"The expenses my sister paid for physicians should be traceable on your end."
Nie Junyue quickly recomposed himself. If he were the type to retreat in fear, he would never have come this far:
"That's a reason, but not enough. I can't dig through four years of old accounts."
Qin Yi fell silent for a moment, watching the other's gradually steadying expression, then said directly:
"If I didn't have the Brain Disease, I wouldn't be staying in Yellow Bamboo Town. And if I had chosen to stay, I wouldn't have spent four years doing nothing."
Silence.
Nie Junyue tacitly accepted this reasoning.
When the tide of destiny rises, monsters are born into the world.
Just like the girl he had encountered ten years ago on the road of Immortal Guest Lodge's rise, geniuses like Qin Yi didn't need to be confined to this remote borderland to ascend to the heavens.
Once again, reluctantly recalling and confronting the girl in the depths of his memory, Nie Junyue's hand beneath the low table unconsciously clenched, hard. But this time, he did not lose his composure.
Looking at Qin Yi, Nie Junyue asked flatly:
"So direct. Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
The other's ability to recalibrate his mindset was faster than Qin Yi had anticipated. His tone remained concessive:
"Of course I'm afraid."
"Then give me a reason not to kill you. A dead genius is nothing but rotten meat."
The moment the words left his mouth, Nie Junyue realized he had still let that fear affect his emotions, and had taken it out on this boy who possessed the same 'qualities.'
Qin Yi didn't mind, or rather, he had already anticipated this question. However, what he had seen and heard since entering the carriage had made him revise his prepared answer on the spot.
Pretending to think hard for a long time, Qin Yi suddenly pointed at the densely written documents on the table and said:
"These things, old master, you shouldn't be handling personally."
Nie Junyue hadn't expected the other to suddenly steer the conversation toward the documents. He said:
"What do you mean?"
Qin Yi considered his words carefully, then said:
"I... heard Ruan Su talk to me about Immortal Guest Lodge's current structure. It was barely sufficient for a faction in its founding stage, but now it seems a bit crude."
Qin Yi began pretending to count on his fingers as he spoke:
"Just now, I snuck a glance at the contents of the official documents you were handling. Business accounts that don't add up require your intervention, internal retainers get into verbal spats or even duels that need your judgment, the Iron Guard captain goes to borrow from the merchant house and you only find out afterward, and even disputes between two groups of roaming bandits at the brothel under Immortal Guest Lodge's banner have to be reported all the way up to you."
At this point,
Qin Yi suddenly raised his eyes:
"You can manage all these affairs right now, but what if Immortal Guest Lodge advances further?"
"......."
Nie Junyue had never imagined this brat would come at him from this angle. After a moment of silence:
"So what can you offer me?"
Qin Yi chose his words with care:
"I can design and improve an organizational structure for you."
"Heh... I thought you were going to say something impressive."
Nie Junyue quietly gathered up those documents, took out a tea set and kettle from a drawer beside him, and began preparing tea unhurriedly, shaking his head.
Designing an organizational structure required not just ability, but life experience. For a child around ten years old to bring this up to him, the greatest respect he could show was restraining himself from laughing.
"I may come from humble origins, but after all these years, building Immortal Guest Lodge step by step from a single inn to its current scale, do you think I haven't considered this? If even I can't solve it, you're telling me now that you, a child of about ten, can?"
Qin Yi listened carefully.
First the expression, then the tone, and only last the content.
Due to the old master's sudden onset of PTSD, Qin Yi needed to first confirm Nie Junyue's attitude toward him.
If the old master's stance had completely turned hostile, then even if he immediately presented a viable plan, it would be rejected outright.
A person who has already taken a position cannot be persuaded.
Even if you slapped the evidence in their face.
But fortunately, this old master seemed to be merely unconvinced.
After carefully considering his words, Qin Yi did not answer directly, but instead continued to introduce a new concept through a redirected question:
"I wonder, does the old master and your Immortal Guest Lodge possess a righteous cause?"
Nie Junyue, as expected, couldn't follow the turn:
"What do you mean?"
Qin Yi explained in a way the other could understand:
"You can think of it as the reason your followers would choose to follow you, or the ultimate goal you wish to achieve. It could be peace under heaven, it could be enfeoffment as a lord, or it could be something like slaying demons and eliminating evil for the nation and its people.
"Implant it into your Immortal Guest Lodge. Even an ordinary tavern waiter or a farmer toiling in the fields can understand why they labor. This will be the foundation that sets you apart from other factions."
Nie Junyue was quick on the uptake and roughly grasped the other's meaning. He shook his head:
"This seems rather unnecessary. As long as I can fill their stomachs..."
"Filling people's stomachs can also be a righteous cause."
The youthful voice was calm, carrying no aggression whatsoever:
"In fact, this righteous cause is more practical than the grand visions I listed just now, and more appealing to people. But you don't seem to have attached much importance to it. Otherwise, given the turbulent state of the world today, Immortal Guest Lodge's scale should be far greater than it is now."
"........"
Nie Junyue seemed to finally understand something. His brow furrowed, and he had already forgotten that the person before him was merely a child of around ten:
"Are you... inciting me to rebel?"
Qin Yi smiled and shook his head. Instead of following that thread, he smoothly pulled the conversation back:
"No, I'm merely trying to explain the use of a righteous cause to you. And it seems you understand now."
"........"
The carriage fell into silence.
Nie Junyue sank into deep, silent thought, his expression shifting between light and shadow. After a long while, only when he finally grasped the principle within did he raise his eyes to look at the boy.
He didn't know where the other had studied such knowledge, but that didn't stop his heart from pumping faster, didn't stop the desire to win this one over from taking root, and didn't stop something called possessiveness from rising in the depths of his heart.
He was now,
completely different from ten years ago when he had encountered that girl.
He already possessed a vast organization and could hold the other's life and death in his hands.
If he could control this boy.
Then,
this one's future was far more tantalizing than his sister's!