I had never considered this question because there was no need.
Liu Songyu’s dilemma didn’t exist for me. Without a second thought, I said, “When Liu Zhen returns, I’ll leave. After all, I’m just occupying someone else’s place.”
“What if you fall in love with Fifth Brother?”
“Impossible,” I declared firmly. “I won’t allow myself to fall in love with Liu Xuanyi.”
Liu Songyu scoffed, “I don’t believe it! Fifth Brother is so handsome and powerful. Any girl who spends day and night with him would fall for him.”
“But I know my place,” I said, counting on my fingers as I analyzed. “First, Liu Xuanyi almost achieved ascension a hundred years ago. He’s cultivating to become an immortal. When he ascends to the celestial court with a flick of his sleeves, even if I grew wings, I couldn’t catch up. Second, even if he doesn’t ascend, he has cultivation to sustain him and can live for thousands or tens of thousands of years. As for me, I only have a few decades of life. I don’t have the confidence to leave a profound mark in his heart that he’ll remember for the rest of his life. Third, I’ll grow old. When wrinkles and crow’s feet appear, are you sure Liu Xuanyi won’t dislike me? Fourth…”
“Alright, alright, stop. Huai Yan, you’re truly awake in the mortal world. I’m convinced.”
Liu Songyu took my hand and comforted me, “It’s okay. Even if you grow so old that all your teeth fall out, I won’t laugh at you.”
I was speechless. “Well, thank you for that.”
We laughed and joked until Liu Songyu looked up and exclaimed, “Hey, Fifth Brother, when did you get back?”
I turned to see Liu Xuanyi standing tall in the doorway, unsure how long he had been there.
Liu Songyu went up to ask about his injuries. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he sent her away.
I smiled at him too. “You look like you’ve recovered well. Your wounds must be almost healed, right?”
Liu Xuanyi strode forward, reached out to pinch my chin, and looked down at me with a dangerous glint in his amber vertical pupils.
I desperately tried to recall every word I had just said, wondering which one had offended this formidable figure.
Before I could figure it out, Liu Xuanyi spoke, “Do you understand the hardships of cultivation?”
“Huh?” How did the topic shift to cultivation again?
Before I could answer, he continued, “Your grandmother must have told you that your bone weight is extremely light.”
I held up one finger and whispered, “Only one qian.”
Grandmother had said my mother gave birth to me under the large locust tree beside the old house. My bone weight was only one qian, as light as smoke or mist. I couldn’t bear even slightly heavy characters, so they named me Huai Yan.
“Pure Yin Fate, bone weight of one qian. Someone like you, if you cultivate, is extremely prone to becoming a demon. You also carry… a curse,” Liu Xuanyi said with unprecedented gravity. “Huai Yan, if you want to cultivate, the first thing you must do is reverse your fate and undergo a complete transformation.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “Reverse my fate? Wouldn’t that be defying the heavens?”
Liu Xuanyi nodded. “Your very birth was an act of defying the heavens.”
“What?” I was utterly confused. “If I’m not mistaken, you mean I shouldn’t have been born into this world, right?”
Instead of answering, Liu Xuanyi asked, “Do you want to cultivate?”
My fingers twisted together, anxiously rubbing against each other. It took me a long while before I finally said, “Defying fate to change destiny invites heavenly retribution. I value my life too much; just surviving is good enough for me.”
Liu Xuanyi didn’t speak again, just sat there watching me, making me feel utterly uncomfortable.
That night, he didn’t stay in the courtyard either, leaving me feeling as if I’d done something wrong. I tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
My phone vibrated. I picked it up and saw a WeChat message from Sun Mingyue.
I opened it, and the first thing that caught my eye was a photo.
The background of the photo was dark, showing a transparent crystal coffin. Inside lay a woman dressed in bright red wedding attire, her abdomen swollen high.
As I was looking, another photo came through. It was still the woman in the crystal coffin, but her wedding dress had been lifted, revealing a Plum Blossom Coffin Nail clearly driven two inches below her navel.
Seeing that Plum Blossom Coffin Nail, my whole body tensed.
Sun Mingyue’s messages kept coming:
[Huai Yan, did you see the Plum Blossom Coffin Nail? Is it exactly the same as yours?]
[I’m still in the lab right now, so I can’t call you. Please reply as soon as you’ve seen this.]
[This is Professor Zhang’s latest research project. They say if it succeeds, it could secure an exceptional recommendation for graduate studies.]
[Reply quickly! Quickly!]
The field of ancient artifact restoration and preservation was already quite niche, and our university was a national leader in this area. Sun Mingyue had previously tried to get into Professor Zhang’s graduate program but failed.
Now that this opportunity had arisen, how could she let it slip away?
And for me, every Plum Blossom Coffin Nail resembling ‘Shen’ held extraordinary significance.
I quickly replied:
[Are there more photos? Can you confirm it’s not just an ordinary Plum Blossom Coffin Nail?]
[Yes, but I couldn’t sneak any more pictures. Professor Zhang has them all. But I heard from his assistant that it’s made of bronze, engraved with ritual symbols, used for sacrificial purposes.]
My hands were trembling. After much thought, I told her not to say anything for now and to gather as much information as possible.
Now I really couldn’t sleep. I kept flipping through those two photos, and the more I looked at that Plum Blossom Coffin Nail, the more familiar it seemed.
Early the next morning, just as I got up, Sun Mingyue called.
“Huai Yan, are you free today? Professor Zhang said he wants to talk to you in person.”
My heart sank. “Did you tell him everything about me?”
“No, no,” Sun Mingyue apologized. “Huai Yan, this opportunity is too rare to miss. So I just told Professor Zhang that you’d once seen an identical Plum Blossom Coffin Nail. Then he asked me to arrange a meeting with you.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. After hesitating for a moment, I said, “Alright, I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
After breakfast, I told Shen Li I was heading out and left.
Sun Mingyue was already waiting at the school gate. As soon as we met, she contacted Professor Zhang, and we arranged to meet at the lab.
In the lab, a few senior students were organizing materials, while Professor Zhang was in his private office inside.
As soon as we met, he took out a stack of photos and spread them out for me to examine carefully.
The photos had been developed just a few days earlier, capturing the crystal coffin, the female corpse, and the Plum Blossom Coffin Nail from various angles.
“We originally wanted to extract the Plum Blossom Coffin Nail and bring it back for detailed study, but it was impossible to remove. Based on the patterns and inscriptions on the nail head, we can confirm that the female corpse was a sacrificial offering.”
He spoke as he picked up one of the photos taken directly facing the nail head, pointing at it and saying, “Look, this character.”
Following his guidance, I finally noticed that the indented pattern on the nail head was actually a small seal script character.
With just a glance, I recognized it: “It’s the small seal script character for ‘jade’.”