"In my previous life, I died for you?"
Dongfang Yuqing repeated the sentence, his expression a half-smile.
Hua Qian Gu nodded, saying no more. The details of her previous life were not something she could reveal yet; she needed to make Dongfang Yuqing believe her first, rather than scare him away with her story.
"How did you die?" Dongfang Yuqing asked, his tone as casual as if asking what he had eaten today.
"I took a knife for someone else," Hua Qian Gu said calmly.
Dongfang Yuqing stared at her for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed, "Interesting. I'm someone who fears death the most, yet I would die for you? It seems you were very important to me in your previous life."
"Whether you were important or not, you know that in your heart," Hua Qian Gu didn't pick up on his words. "What you need to know now is that I owe you a life. In this life, I don't want to owe you anymore."
"So you've come to help me extend my life?" Dongfang Yuqing raised an eyebrow.
"Mutual benefit," Hua Qian Gu said. "I need your intelligence network, and you need my foresight. A fair trade."
Dongfang Yuqing stood up and walked to the bookshelf, casually pulling out a bamboo slip and flipping through it. His movements were slow, as if he were contemplating something.
"You say you can predict the future," he asked without turning his head. "Then tell me, what will happen tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow, you will meet a guest, a woman dressed in red. She will come to you asking about her husband's whereabouts. Her husband died three years ago, but she doesn't know," Hua Qian Gu said. "You will tell her the truth, she will cry, and then you will charge her one thousand taels of silver."
Dongfang Yuqing's hand, which was flipping the bamboo slip, paused.
He turned around, his eyes changed. It wasn't because Hua Qian Gu was right—it was because she was too specific. That woman in red had indeed made an appointment to visit Yi Xiu Pavilion tomorrow. Only he and the steward knew about this; there was no way Hua Qian Gu could have heard it elsewhere.
"Continue," he put down the bamboo slip and sat back down.
"The day after tomorrow, Yi Xiu Pavilion will receive a letter from Chang Liu. Mo Yan wants to ask you to investigate something—about the whereabouts of the Power of the Demon God. You will reply that you don't know, but in reality, you do know, you just don't want to tell him."
Dongfang Yuqing's expression changed completely.
Mo Yan's inquiry about the Power of the Demon God was something he had only received a secret letter about last night; even the steward didn't know. There was no way Hua Qian Gu could have seen it.
"You really came back from the future," Dongfang Yuqing leaned back against his chair, exhaling a long breath. "I thought such things only existed in legends."
"Do you believe me now?" Hua Qian Gu asked.
"I believe you," Dongfang Yuqing nodded, his eyes becoming serious. "Then you should also know that rebirth is not allowed by the Heavenly Dao. The fact that you could return means that when you died in your previous life, your resentment was so great that even the Heavenly Dao couldn't suppress it."
Hua Qian Gu remained silent.
Resentment? Not entirely.
Her curse before she died—"immortal, unaging, unhurt, indestructible"—that was the key. That curse distorted the rules of the Heavenly Dao, giving her a chance to be reborn.
"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't," Dongfang Yuqing saw her avoiding the topic and didn't press further. "However, I have a condition."
"What condition?"
"Your ability to predict the future can only be told to me," Dongfang Yuqing lowered his voice. "If a third person finds out you've been reborn, the Heavenly Dao will immediately erase you. This isn't a threat, it's a rule."
Hua Qian Gu's heart tightened.
She vaguely knew this rule, but she hadn't experienced it firsthand in her previous life. Dongfang Yuqing, as the Pavilion Master of Yi Xiu Pavilion, understood the Heavenly Dao much better than she did. His words were trustworthy.
"Alright," Hua Qian Gu nodded. "Besides you, I won't tell anyone."
"Including Sha Qian Mo?" Dongfang Yuqing suddenly asked.
Hua Qian Gu was stunned for a moment. "How do you know Sha Qian Mo?"
"In the future events you just mentioned, the name of the Demon King was mentioned," Dongfang Yuqing's eyes were sharp. "Were you very familiar with him in your previous life?"
Hua Qian Gu was silent for a few seconds, then said, "In my previous life, he went mad for two hundred years to save me."
Dongfang Yuqing's eyebrows rose even higher.
"Just how many people did you provoke in your previous life?" he asked, half-jokingly.
"Many," Hua Qian Gu gave a wry smile. "So many that I can't even count them myself."
Dongfang Yuqing looked at her expression and didn't press further. He stood up, took out a wooden box from his desk drawer, opened it, and inside lay a palm-sized jade token.
"This is the guest token of Yi Xiu Pavilion," he handed the jade token to Hua Qian Gu. "With this, you can mobilize some of Yi Xiu Pavilion's resources. Intelligence, supplies, connections—as long as it doesn't cross my bottom line, you can use them freely."
Hua Qian Gu took the jade token. It was heavy and warm to the touch.
"Aren't you afraid I'll deceive you?" she asked.
Dongfang Yuqing smiled. "What could you deceive me with? Deceive my life? You just said you wanted to help me extend my life."
Hua Qian Gu also smiled.
This was the first time she had truly smiled with relief since her rebirth.
"Dongfang Yuqing," she called his name, saying earnestly, "Thank you."
"Don't thank me too soon," Dongfang Yuqing sat back in his chair, resuming his nonchalant demeanor. "I have conditions for helping you. You have to tell me the future you know, bit by bit. Starting now, the first question—"
He clasped his hands together, resting his chin on them, his amber eyes staring directly at her.
"Who do you want to deal with the most?"
Hua Qian Gu tightened her grip on the jade token and replied word by word, "No, who do I want to protect the most?"
Dongfang Yuqing was stunned for a moment, then slowly smiled.
"Interesting," he said. "Truly very interesting."
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