If Li Ruoshui were to be given another chance, she never would’ve read and clicked on that novel. She never would’ve been transmigrated into this world by the System, and she would certainly not be facing this predicament right now.
No—if she had truly known she was going to transmigrate into this novel, she would have seriously taken notes, analyzed the entire book, scan through pages thoroughly from every sort of angle.
In the book, the Female Lead, Lu Feiyue, was a Female Constable in the Case Inspection Bureau. The Male Lead, Jiang Nian, was the #1 most wanted fugitive she had been chasing for a long time. How the story goes is that these two eventually joined forces to solve cases and, over time, developed affection for one another. However, neither truly confessed their feelings.
Thus, the author arranged a one male supporting character to push their relationship forward. And that person was Lu Zhiyao.
To emphasize that the male and female leads were such a perfect match, the author very much intentionally designed the male lead and the male supporting character as the complete opposites of each other.
Jiang Nian is skilled in qinggong [1], while Lu Zhiyao is at the pinnacle of martial prowess. Jiang Nian is unrestrained and unruly, while Lu Zhiyao is gentle and disciplined. Jiang Nian is hesitant and faltering in expressing his feelings, while Lu Zhiyao is straightforward and candid.
If this logic were followed further—since Jiang Nian grew up in a harmonious family, then Lu Zhiyao must have an unfortunate tragic family history. And since Jiang Nian was cold on the outside but warm on the inside and cared for others, then Lu Zhiyao must be cold-hearted and indifferent to the lives of others…
Li Ruoshui glanced at the sharp tip of his sword pointing at her neck, the cold steel gleaming under the torch light. Then she looked up at his warm, spring-breeze-like smile. She couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat, countless made up excuses popping into her mind.
“Have you thought of one yet? Your interesting reason.”
Lu Zhiyao crouched down. The trickle of blood slowly crept onto the hem of his robe, blooming into patches of red.
Li Ruoshui stared intently at his expression.
She paused.
“It’s all because I had a dream.”
Lu Zhiyao nodded, propping his chin in his hands, but his expression didn’t show much surprise. “Go on.”
“In the dream, I was captured, but through a strange twist of fate, you saved me…”
“You think that’s interesting enough?”
He stood up with a helpless cackle, casually flicking his sword. Droplets of blood scattered, tracing an arc through the air.
“A-And also! After you saved me, I didn’t know your name. But later, as we spent more time together, our affection from one another grew and [2]… we ended up together. That’s when you told me your name was Lu Zhiyao, given to you by your Master.”
Beads of cold-sweat slid down from her forehead as Li Ruoshui finished speaking in a rush and patted her chest to catch her breath.
Then she watched as Lu Zhiyao’s smile slowly shifted from its initial softness. It was hard to describe the smile—but he was incredulously disgusted.
Although he has a face of a genteel, the smile is extremely off-putting to look at.
Li Ruoshui pondered for a moment, then spoke just as he began to raise his sword.
“And! later on, the two of us worked together with another couple to solve cases. I know their names too. One is Lu Feiyue, a female constable from the Case Inspection Bureau. The other is Jiang Nian, the #1 most wanted fugitive.”
“If you don’t believe me, let’s make a bet!”
Lu Zhiyao lowered his sword and crouched down again, sat face to face with her. “A bet? On your dream?”
Li Ruoshui breathed a sigh of relief. Her thin dress, soaked with cold sweat, felt even icier. The wind blowing through the cracks in the wall made her shiver.
“Yes. A bet. I bet that everything in my dream will happen in the future.”
Lu Zhiyao smiled. “You want to play that game with me?”
“Yes.”
Li Ruoshui studied his expression closely, she didn’t dare miss a single detail unless she wanted her head-off from her body.
The beginning of any relationship between two people must originate from curiosity about the other.
Whether Lu Zhiyao’s nature was gentle or not-so-gentle, starting from this lie couldn’t be wrong. A lie shouldn’t also be completely false. A mix of truth and falsehood was the most convincing.
As long as she could prove the premise that “her dream is real” was correct, then even the lies she mixed in would be taken as truth.
For example, the part about her and Lu Zhiyao developing affection over time. Even if he didn’t believe it in his heart, if the dream was real, it would plant a seed, waiting only to sprout and grow.
Lu Zhiyao became interested, lightly twisting the prayer beads on his wrist. “And what is your wager?”
“If I lose, you won’t even need to lift a single finger. I’ll swallow your sword whole.”
“Hmm”
After making this bold declaration[3], Li Ruoshui stood up and took a long step to the side, putting about two steps of distance between them.
Lu Zhiyao chuckled softly. “If I lose…”
“No need.”
Li Ruoshui stopped him with great confidence.
“You’re definitely going to lose. You can owe me for now, and we’ll settle it later.”
How else do you build a connection using the System’s forced, contrived situations?
Of course, until they’re inextricably entangled, the two of them have to build up debts and favors in these contrived scenarios.
All that being said, Li Ruoshui couldn’t help but give herself a mental pat on the back for her cleverness, while taking another subtle step away from him.
In the original story, he did solve a case with the male and female leads. Now, the only outlier factor is her. She’s the unknown variable.
If this gamble failed, there’s still another element in the bet that could buy her more time—the ‘growing affection over time’ part.
Whether these feelings actually developed wasn’t important; what was important was the ‘long time’ spent together.
“Then let us pray we truly encounter these two. As for the ‘growing affection over time,’ there’s no need to include that in the bet—” Lu Zhiyao sheathed his sword, a smile playing on his lips. “What would I know of love and affection?”
Li Ruoshui: “…”
According to the famous “True Fragrance” law [4], once someone says something so absolute, the only possible outcome is them eating their words later.
The torches in the dungeon had completely gone out at this point, but light still came from the entrance.
Li Ruoshui shook out her stiff limbs and looked at the other weakened young women in the dungeon. She searched the fallen men in black for an antidote, gave it to them, and the group slowly made their way out of the dungeon.
“Could you help me find my cane?”
Lu Zhiyao called out to Li Ruoshui, his expression gentle and natural, as if he wasn’t about to raise his sword to kill her just moments before.
Li Ruoshui picked up his cane from the corner. It was made of redwood, not very heavy. The top of the cane was neatly carved with three wavy lines.
She looked closer. They seemed casually drawn, yet perfectly precise, the spacing between the three lines is flawlessly even.
Lu Zhiyao took the cane from her offered hand, his smile like a spring breeze. “Thank you.”
Li Ruoshui said “you’re welcome” out loud, but inwardly she was screaming: ‘If you really want to thank me, let’s at least just get along peacefully. Stop thinking about harming me!’
The book didn’t mention much about Lu Zhiyao’s background. Only a single line—”abandoned by his mother in childhood. Witnessed his Master’s tragic death in his youth.”—summarized his origins. The rest of the descriptions were all about his role as the male supporting character.
This was just ridiculous. What use was knowing the plot? She knew almost nothing about him. Her understanding of Lu Zhiyao was entirely from the female lead’s perspective.
People have many facets. Who knew what his attitude was towards people outside of the main characters? For example, the gentle, devoted persona she knew might not be wrong, but that persona certainly wasn’t directed to her.
Li Ruoshui walked a few steps behind him and subconsciously sighed. The road ahead is going to be a long and fraught with difficulties [5].
The women walking ahead of them let out short, sharp screams. Li Ruoshui rushed forward past Lu Zhiyao and exited the dungeon first. Seeing the scene before her, she too couldn’t help yelp in shock.
Numerous men clad in black lay on the ground. There was no blood at the scene, but without exception, their necks were twisted at severe, unnatural angles. Their horrifying deaths had frightened the other young women.
Lu Zhiyao, emerging from the dungeon, seemed not to understand everyone’s shock. He nonchalantly tossed aside his bloodstained outer robe.
“Let’s go.”
He offered a smile, tapped his cane, and walked towards the courtyard gate.
If not for the courtyard full of corpses, he might have still been that ‘pure as fresh snow’ Li Ruoshui thought. The dichotomy of his image and actions was jarring.
She stepped over the bodies of dead men and hurried to catch up to him.
“Your method of killing is… quite unique.”
Lu Zhiyao lowered his head as he chuckled softly. As if discussing how breakfast had tasted. “I suppose I was a bit too eager to meet you, so I rushed.”
If not for his near sword-strike earlier, Li Ruoshui might have thought differently of the meaning behind his words.
In the book, Lu Zhiyao was said to have reached the pinnacle of combat prowess. He was able to kill anything with a single sword stroke, and sometimes he was prone to… getting too excited.
Li Ruoshui had previously attributed that excitement to a hatred for evil, never considering that his excitement might be just that—pure thrill, untinged by any other emotion.
Like all the things people do when drunk, without any particular purpose, simply because they’re intoxicated. Except… others get drunk on wine. He gets drunk on killing.
Most of the captured women were locals of Yun City. Once they entered the city, they tearfully returned home. Because of her wager with Lu Zhiyao, Li Ruoshui checked into an inn with him to await the arrival of the female constable and the fugitive. They should arrive in 2 days.
As for the other women not home to Yun City, they had no money and could only report to the local authorities to eventually be sent home via official channels.
Knowing they were going to the authorities, Li Ruoshui hurried over to them and whispered, “I discovered a secret passage in the dungeon earlier. Remember to tell them that. If they want to use the passage, they can come find me anytime.”
She’d rather be safe than sorry [6]. What if her involvement caused a butterfly effect and the male lead, female lead, and male supporting character didn’t meet in this case?
Then she would lose their bet, have to swallow a sword on the spot, her mission would fail, and she would never return home.
And the original female lead, Lu Feiyue, was definitely at the Bureau discussing strategy at the moment. As long as Lu Feiyue appeared, she could prove that her dream wasn’t false.
The sky had already turned completely dark. Li Ruoshui, holding the thicker clothes she had just bought, was on her way back to her room when she stopped outside Lu Zhiyao’s door.
The door was ajar. Peering inside from the doorway, she saw his figure sitting by the window, his back to her. He looked a bit slender with his back straight. His ink-black hair twirled and spun in the night breeze. It felt like the night was trying to drag him away. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
“What do you want?”
He turned his head. Moonlight spilled over his closed eyes, outlining his clear, refined profile, making him appear even more like jade, like an immortal. It was even more accentuated by his ink-black hair framing his face. (¬_¬ )
However, all Li Ruoshui could feel was that beneath that serene facade, a turbulent current surged. His emotions at this moment were not as gentle as he tried to show; instead, they carried an indescribable madness.
She had a feeling that if she took one more step inside, she might lose her head.
…
Was this the legendary… time of the month that men supposedly have? [7]
The thought weighed in her mind for only a second. Li Ruoshui took a step back and spoke in clarity that seemed to cut through the night like a bell.
“I thought… Since you threw away your outer robes today, I’d asked the attendant to bring you a new one. It’ll be delivered tomorrow morning… The weather is quite cold. It’s better not to sit in the wind. See you tomorrow.”
Hearing the sound of Li Ruoshui running back to her room, Lu Zhiyao suddenly let out a low laugh. However, it was as if he couldn’t stop himself and he ended up laughing for a long time.
Finally, he stopped and murmured a few words that echoed in the night, the hints of his merriment still faintly carrying at the end.
“How very insightful of you.”
Chapter Notes:
[1] Basically it’s kung fu that lets him move like gravity doesn’t affect him.
[2] The term “日久生情” (rìjiǔshēngqíng) literally means “affection grows with time.” It’s a common idiom describing how feelings of love or deep fondness can develop between people after spending a long time together.
[3] Li Ruoshui “当场立了个flag” (dāngchǎng lìle gè flag). “立flag” is internet slang derived from the English word “flag.” It means to make a bold statement or declaration that often foreshadows something in the future.
[4] “真香定律” (Zhēnxiāng Dìnglǜ), or “Schadenfreude Law,” is a popular internet meme. It’s basically the irony of someone who stubbornly refuses something initially, only to embrace it later on, thus “eating their words.” The term “真香” (zhēn xiāng) literally means “really fragrant,” originating from a reality show where a participant refused to eat a meal but later was seen eating it while saying “真香.”
[5] “道阻且长” (dào zǔ qiě cháng) is a phrase from the Chinese classic Book of Songs. It literally means the road is hazardous and long. Basically it just means the journey will be difficult.
[6] “不怕一万就怕万一” (bù pà yīwàn jiù pà wànyī) is a common Chinese idiom. It literally means “not afraid of ten thousand, just afraid of the one-in-ten-thousand chance.” It’s essentially better safe than sorry.
[7] Editor’s Note: idk why but this is just funny.