Chapter 16
(A fine moment and a beautiful scene, a spring night for a time.)
Yang Ye looked at him and thought in his heart— En, does he think that two people sleeping on the same bed isn’t convenient?
However, who could have expected that Gu Liang would swiftly toss this question at Yang Ye: “Are you sleeping on the inside or outside?”
“Ah?” Yang Ye stiffened before he replied, “You can take the bed. I’ll make a bed on the floor.”
Gu Liang could not comprehend his suggestion. “We’re both men, what are you being particular about exactly?”
“This… This is called being particular? Isn’t this out of the fear you—”
Isn’t this out of the fear that you’ll think that I’m bullying you, and taking advantage of you?
Gu Liang ignored him. He went to the courtyard to get some water from the water vat, making do with the cold water to wash his face and rinse his mouth. Once he was done, he returned back to the room to sleep.
“You have to get out of bed before mao s.h.i.+. You should sleep outside.” Gu Liang pulled off his wig and took off his long skirt, leaving only his inner and unlined garment as he climbed into bed directly. Although it was just a prop costume, it was still manufactured superbly, and it was not as complicated as the real, ancient-styled female clothing.
And because he had been wearing the wig for the entire day, Gu Liang’s short hair was slightly akin to exploded fur; dishevelled looking, but also soft and loose. When the sight fell in Yang Ye’s eyes, he had a specific urge to reach for his hair and tug on it.
But as he was about to stretch his hand out, Yang Ye suppressed himself.
He could not let Gu Liang really believe that he was a pervert.
However, did the possibility that he might be bent not cross his mind at all?
No way, that would make him too much of an iron and steel straight man.
Shaking his head, Yang Ye carried a basin to fetch water from the outside as well. Then, he asked Gu Liang: “How did you use this ancient toothpaste powder?”
“Just smear it on randomly and make do with it. In any case, it’s a grinded powder made out of Chinese honey locust and medicinal materials like raw ginger and glutinous rehmannia.”
“You’re quite knowledgeable.”
“Mn. Move faster, I want to sleep.”
“I’ll be there soon, just look at how anxious you are.”
“?”
“Aren’t you here to find me for a lovers’ rendezvous? It’s a fine moment and there’s a beautiful scene, a spring night for a time—”
“Shut up!”
Under the a.s.sumption that he had taken the joke too far and Gu Liang was now angry, Yang Ye stopped speaking.
Who could have thought that Gu Liang – who was succ.u.mbing to his sleepiness – would be completely oblivious to the fact that Yang Ye was trying to start the car. He only said: “I’m really very tired, please stop talking. Let me sleep.”
“……”
That night, Yang Ye slept on the outer periphery of the bed while he was still clad in his cotton Buddhist robes, and Gu Liang slept on his side with his back facing towards him.
With the utmost caution, Yang Ye s.h.i.+fted himself towards the bedside, trying his best to maintain two fists’ worth of safety distance between him and Gu Liang.
But the distance between them was still too close.
It was to the extent where if Yang Ye were to s.h.i.+ft his eyes, he could see that head of dishevelled short hair, a section of that fair nape, and the exceedingly pretty b.u.t.terfly bones that appeared indistinctly beneath his red, unlined inner garment.
Everything in his surroundings were too real. It gave Yang Ye the illusion that he genuinely was a monk and Gu Liang was the male demon who came to seduce him in the middle of the night.
As he listened to Gu Liang’s breathing and smelled the faint fragrance of a similar body jell diffusing out from his body, Yang Ye felt his body heat up and even his breathing became heavier. He shut his eyes, forcing himself to go to sleep but the scent and light breathing by his side became more intense instead.
In the end, he completely gave up resisting. Turning his body to the side, he silently looked at Gu Liang’s back figure like this.
Yang Ye forced himself to contemplate something else. For instance, that scar on Gu Liang’s hand, or perhaps, what he could have experienced previously.
After becoming more familiar with Gu Liang, Yang Ye discovered that he was not as unapproachable to strangers as he appeared to be in the beginning, nor was he someone who was especially particular about things. Take this instance for example; he did not mind sharing a bed with a stranger he was not very familiar with.
This indicated that his original personality was completely different from what it was right now. One might even go as far as to say that he used to be quite vivacious and optimistic.
It was unknown what he had gone through, but it had caused him to change. He drew a line, like the river between Chu and Han, between him and everyone else— no one was allowed to truly get close to the inner workings of his heart and understand his past.
With a heart like a capering monkey and a mind like a galloping horse, all flighty and impetuous, Yang Ye did not know what time he fell asleep that night.
He only felt that he barely managed to catch some sleep before he was awoken by the vibrations of the card he had placed on his person.
Yang Ye took out the card to have a look. The card was reminding him that it was about time he left the room.
According to the script’s settings, Master Hui woke up early every day, and he would make his way towards the Buddha wors.h.i.+pping hall in Xiaoyao Sect to chant sutras before mao s.h.i.+ arrived.
After receiving the reminder from the card, Yang Ye got out of bed punctually, did a simple wash up before he followed the map and headed for the Buddha wors.h.i.+pping hall.
During this period of time, Gu Liang also woke up because of Yang Ye. When Yang Ye finally left, he flipped his body, hugged the blankets and continued to sleep. However, his card also started trembling not long after.
Shut eyed, Gu Liang did not want to acknowledge it but the card’s vibrating became stronger instead.
Following closely, the system broadcast rang out: “The following is a report about an unexpected incident, Beauty Yi is about to violate the rules—”
Gu Liang had no choice but to sit up. After wearing his red skirt with due haste, he followed the method written in the script timeline. He retrieved a hexagonal mirror from his bosom, poured a cup of water and dipped his finger into the water. Then, keeping to the symbols on the card, he drew strokes upon strokes of water marks on the mirror surface, before finis.h.i.+ng it off with Perennial w.a.n.g’s name and Eight Characters with the same water.
When he was done drawing the talisman and writing the characters with water, it happened to be mao s.h.i.+ exactly. Thus, Gu Liang technically accomplished the task of killing Perennial w.a.n.g with the ‘Draw a Circle to Curse You’ on time.
By the time the water marks evaporated albeit slowly, not a slightest trace of the talisman would be left behind apart from some water stains.
Mao s.h.i.+, when translated to its modern time equivalent was 5AM at the break of dawn. To Gu Liang, a person who habitually woke up at 10AM, it was frankly too early. Thus, once he was done with everything, he chose to lie back down again to sleep.
Three-quarters of an hour later, Yang Ye came back.
When Yang Ye saw that Gu Liang was still sleeping, he went up to nudge him. “Hey, stop sleeping. I just brought some vegetarian food from the Buddha wors.h.i.+pping hall. Do you want to get up and eat some, we have to solve the case in a bit.”
“Mn. Soon.” Despite expressing that with his mouth, it was apparent that Gu Liang had no intention to get up.
Yang Ye found his reaction hilarious. He examined his surroundings briefly. Apart from the additional, worded front-facing mirror in Gu Liang’s hands, there seemed to be no other changes.
Yang Ye asked him: “Hey, what did you do during the time I left the room? Does it have anything to do with the mirror?”
“Check it yourself.” Gu Liang mumbled indolently.
At this moment, light and rustling footsteps sounded from the courtyard.
The footsteps halted soon after and knocks sounded at the door. Then, a delicate and pretty voice travelled over from outside the door. “Is Master Hui in?”
“Who is it?” Yang Ye asked.
“Master Hui, according to the script… I’m your childhood sweetheart. I’m called Doctor Yu. I arrived at Xiaoyao Sect half a month ago to help treat Perennial w.a.n.g’s illness. When I was pa.s.sing by the flower garden yesterday, I saw you, and I became aware that you were actually my… bamboo horse.”
When he heard Doctor Yu’s words, Yang Ye stilled, and for some inexplicable reason, he gave Gu Liang a subconscious look first.
Gu Liang opened his eyes lazily and happened to meet Yang Ye’s gaze. “What are you looking at me for? Your real little lover is outside.”
“What little lover, don’t speak nonsense.” Yang Ye chided.
Gu Liang ignored him. He yawned and went back to sleep.
Left without a choice, Yang Ye strode up to open the door.
The individual acting as a doctor stood outside the door. She was clad in a male costume but she did not have an Adam’s apple, which made the fact that she was a lady obvious.
Yang Ye asked her: “Did you draw a male character role, or is it something else?”
Doctor Yu shook her head. “Neither. My character design is that of a female pretending to be a male doctor. It’s more convenient to wander the rivers and lakes like this.”
Initially, this lady had some fears. However, by virtue of Yang Ye’s attractive facial features, he looked like he was quite easy to become intimate with. After giving him a few appraising looks in a timid manner, she took a few steps towards him consciously.
“How many scenarios have you played? You seem rather accustomed to this?” Yang Ye asked as he invited her into the room.
“It’s my fourth. But… I’m still afraid.” Doctor Yu walked into the room and sat down on the wooden bench, and it was only at that moment where she noticed that someone was lying on the bed. Although her whole head was buried in the covers, a section of her red skirt peeked out of the corner, distinguis.h.i.+ng her as a lady as well.
“That is…” Doctor Yu questioned.
Handing her a cup of water, Yang Ye said: “That’s Beauty Yi, and also my current lover.”
Eyebrows scrunching together, Gu Liang retorted, “Can you not immerse yourself so deeply?” Then, he sat up and put on his wig again.
Caught off guard by the male-sounding voice, Doctor Yu jumped in shock.
However, she returned to her senses quickly. He was a man who drew a female character role.
Yang Ye shot Gu Liang a smiling look before he told Doctor Yu: “So, did the system instruct you to come and find me at this timing for the sake of acting out a dog blooded theatre? The former green plum meeting the current lover by accident; the arrangement of this Asura field is quite exciting.”
Gu Liang: “……”
Doctor Yu: “……”
Doctor Yu coughed lightly and stretched her hand out slowly to receive the cup of water Yang Ye was holding. She took a sip. “Many thanks.”
At that moment, Gu Liang noticed the back of her hand was a huge bruise of pink and that the colour was not evenly distributed. In fact, it looked like rouge.
As she placed down her teacup, Doctor Yu continued to speak: “According to my script, I only wanted to persuade you to become my alibi.”
“Oh? I’d like to hear the details.” Yang Ye expressed an abrupt interest in the topic.
“During mao s.h.i.+, I woke up to deal with some matters, and I came to find you promptly after. Furthermore, I wanted you to tell others that we were together during mao s.h.i.+ on the account that we used to be childhood sweethearts.”
Having spoken to this point, the delicate and pretty Doctor Yu could not help but spew some insults: “It’s a script that renders you speechless, isn’t it? Yes, you are my childhood sweetheart in the script. But we’re only acting out these characters right now, and everyone has to find the murderer, why should you be my alibi? I, this… this feels like I’m detonating myself. But I have to follow the script and find you to bring up this request.”
Yang Ye laughed after he heard her speech. He gave her a word of consolation: “You’re allowed to say what you were dealing with during mao s.h.i.+. Since you’re already being so candid, I won’t hold my guard against you. I’ll even tell you my timeline strictly by the facts.”
When Doctor Yu heard his words, her eyes brightened immediately.
Yang Ye was tall and handsome, that was not an understatement. And now that he was speaking with such gentleness and amicability, the appreciative gaze that the lady regarded Yang Ye with had some wors.h.i.+p, and within that wors.h.i.+p were dashes of dependency and admiration.
As Gu Liang took in the whole scene at once, his eyebrows raised slightly but he did not intercede for the time being.
Like she was genuinely enthralled by Yang Ye for a moment, Doctor Yu opened her mouth, on the verge of offering her entire story plot to him.
In the end, her intelligence returned and she resisted.
She shook her head, only saying: “Forget it, I still don’t know if I’m the real murderer or not. I can’t tell you just yet.”
Ah, it seems like the honeytrap plan has failed.
Gu Liang glanced over at Doctor Yu. After scrutinising her discreetly for a brief moment, he opened his mouth and said: “The pink on the back of your hand, was it left behind by rouge?”
“En… Yes.” Doctor Yu raised her left hand and kneaded at the back of it. “I might be a woman crossdressing as a man, but I’m still a girl after all, there are occasions where I want to try using rouge…”
It’s in the middle of the night, try what rouge?
Gu Liang did not expose her lie directly and only continued to ask: “You’re left-handed, right?”
“You… How did you know?” Doctor Yu was surprised.
Gu Liang replied simply: “You used your left hand when you were receiving the cup just now. Not to mention, your rouge is on the back of your right hand, which indicates you used your left hand to dip into the rouge and wrote something on your right hand.”
“On what basis do you say that?”
“That rouge stain is essentially covering the entire back of your hand, the colour is not well-distributed, the pigmentation is quite faint, and your robes also has water stains. The only explanation is that after you wrote something with the rouge, you tried to smear it to prevent others from discovering what the exact contents were, and then you washed it with some water. Due to the script’s regulations, you had to rush to Master Hui’s room immediately, and because your schedule was tight, you didn’t have the time to wash it off completely, which is why you left behind faint traces of the uneven rouge on the back of your right hand. Furthermore, the water stains are mostly gathered on the right side of your robes, and you probably got it wet on accident as you were shaking your hands dry after you were done was.h.i.+ng them.”
Doctor Yu went stock-still.
Her response was unnecessary, for her expression had already proven everything— all of Gu Liang’s deductions were correct.
Gu Liang asked his next question: “The thing you drew on the back of your hand, was it [Draw a Circle to Curse You]?”
After faltering for a long time, Doctor Yu eventually nodded her head. She sat back down on the wooden bench, loss apparent in her gaze. “How did you… why do you know about everything.”
Calmly, Gu Liang stated: “The reason why I can guess everything is very simple. It’s because I used the same curse, and yes, it was at mao s.h.i.+ too. The only difference is that I drew the talisman on a mirror with water.”
Apart from the melodramatic love triangle, Yang Ye’s detective script did not have any other clues.
Hence, he was understandably dumbfounded in the moment.
After recollecting himself and internalising the meaning behind Gu Liang’s words, he sat down and looked at him. “Which means to say, both of you used the same curse at the exact same time to kill Perennial w.a.n.g?”
“Not just Doctor Yu and me. All the murder suspects might have and are capable of using this method.”