8 - Floating Lanterns, Autumn Moon

Chapter 8: The book Floating Lanterns, Autumn Moon

Jumping to my feet, I stood stiffly with my hands together. A tall, young man dressed in a simple blue flowing robe stared at me from the doorway. His pale and clear skin illuminated a youthful glow, accentuated by a gentle smile on his face. If the second male lead in this story was already this good-looking, would the male protagonist have extraordinary visuals?

"Hua Ling, you may leave first." Jin Mu strode closer and stood in front of me. Suddenly, the air carried a distinct scent of medicinal herbs.

As he was towering over me, I had to lift up my head to look at him. Standing at 1.76m, Ji Kai was already considered tall to me, but Jin Mu was even taller. I took a few steps backwards to ease the strain in my neck.

Hua Ling gave a small curtsy and turned to leave but not before whispering "good luck to you" in my ear. I blinked as a wave of worried thoughts swept through my head. What was that supposed to mean?

Jin Mu faced me again.

Realising that I had been gaping, my face flushed as I quickly dropped my gaze to the jade pendant hanging from his waist. It was circular and orange in colour, with carvings of two pixius facing each other.

"I heard that you wanted to meet with me. Are you here on behalf of Ji Kai?"

"Yes. I heard that you can help to treat him. He has been affected with something called a Cold Poison and because I cannot directly take him to the hospital, I can only request that you follow me to meet with him."

"Cold Poison?" Jin Mu echoed with a tone of unfamiliarity which caused my trembling heart to beat faster.

"You have the antidote for it, right?" I inquired with insistence, suddenly feeling doubtful about what Han Dong and Pan Yi had said to assure me before I left the Garden.

He merely nodded with a soft hum and took a seat opposite me. Gesturing for me to sit down as well, his eyes narrowed as he seemed to be studying me—from my appearance, to my actions, and down to the minute changes in my expressions. "You're not that girl named Shen Yi—or was it Shen Qi—are you?"

"Qiqi?" I frowned. How did he know about Shen Qi? Unless... Ji Kai brought her up in his conversations with Jin Mu. I felt my heart suddenly chilled and my expression turned dark. "No, I'm not. Why would you think that?"

"I don't. You don't look like her from what I've seen in the photographs that Ji Kai has shown me of his friends in his world." Jin Mu shrugged and shook his head. "Her eyes are rounder and larger, and she looks tanner than you."

My considerably big and bright almond-shape eyes widened upon hearing the word 'photograph' being uttered by an ancient person as the inexplicable nagging discomfort in my chest swelled. So Qiqi, who has large and round peach blossom shaped eyes, was not just brought up casually in their conversations. She was actually a topic of their conversation.

"Trust Ji Kai not to consider me a friend," I muttered under my breath. He had shown Jin Mu images of his 'friends' but I was not included in those pictures.

"Pardon me?"

"Oh, I was saying that I doubt that Ji Kai shown you a photo of me since I must be unfamiliar to you."

"There were quite a few people that he had pointed out." After a brief pause, Jin Mu rubbed his chin and gave me a wry smile. "You don't look like that girl named Chen something something either. She's taller than Ji Kai while you're rather petite."

"Chen Yunyi?" A dry laugh escaped from my lips. Why was he using a method of elimination when he was barely getting the names right? Just how many of Ji Kai's friends did Jin Mu know?

Jin Mu's eyes lit up in recognition but he suddenly pulled his attention away. Smoothing his fingers over the orange jade pendant, the corner of his lips curved upwards. "Since you're not Shen-guniang, or Chen-guniang, then could you be—Fang-guniang?"

My right brow shot up upon hearing my surname. A strange combination of emotions flooded me all at once. There was a sense of relief yet my throbbing heart hinted at an unbidden feeling of excitement.

"Ah, I must be right this time. But I wasn't expecting that it would be Fang-guniang who would come.

My jaws clenched. "Why not?"

"Because Ji Kai said so. He said that you would be the last person he expects to appear if he ever needs help."

I crossed my hands in front of me, suddenly feeling conflicted. Was it because he disliked me so much that I was the last person he wanted to see? I felt my nose sour a little but I schooled my expression quickly into one of indifference.

"It's not because he thinks that you are unhelpful," Jin Mu quickly clarified, as if he noticed the effect of the ambiguity in his previous statement. "I think that he just has some misgivings about you. He probably thinks that you care too much about that Shen Yi or Shen Qi to care about him."

My eyes narrowed as my hands clenched into fists. "Misgivings about me? I have my misgivings about him! I think that he cares too much about Shen Qi to even bother about me."

Jin Mu inhaled sharply and said, "I think both of you have some misunderstandings towards each other. I believe that you genuinely want to be Ji Kai's friend, but he does not think so. When you have the chance, do have a good conversation with him. Be sure to grasp the opportunity when it comes your way—you don't want to regret it in the future."

His sympathetic gaze settled on me and I quickly dropped my eyes. Those melancholic eyes… could they be reflecting his regret of not expressing his love for the female protagonist earlier?

"You—Lanying—I mean," I stammered, my tongue suddenly tied as I found myself struggling to phrase my question. "You're still not over it?"

"Lanying?" Jin Mu blinked for a moment before bursting into a hearty laughter. "Goodness, that was so many years ago when we were still young, reckless and full of fighting spirit. Right now, I'm quite content with what I am doing and with what I have."

I thought about what he said and nodded. Being a doctor was something noble, and for Jin Mu to pursue the path of medicine than be a prince of high status was commendable. Of course, this would have been before the Kingdom of Chuyan fell to the Kingdom of Qi.

"But, what I'm curious about is whether—you know—whether you ended up with someone after you decided to travel about jianghu?"

"Ah—" said Jin Mu, shaking his head with a sigh. "Alas, I have yet to find the right one for me—but it can be said that I have not really been looking. The work here has been really busy, I do not have the time to immerse myself in matters of love." Without waiting for me to respond, he looked at me with a smile and switched the topic: "But I recall that you are not here to inquire about my love life?"

I sat upright, realising that I had indeed derailed from my purpose of coming here.

"I am willing to help you in exchange for some information—about you and Ji Kai," Jin Mu added, still with a bright smile plastered on his face. Our eyes met and I fought against his piercing gaze. A gleam in his eyes informed me that I was being hoodwinked by him, but I went along with it. Perhaps I had already fallen into his trap right from the start.

"What do you want to know?" I tried to control my tone to be as measured as possible.

Jin Mu waved his sleeve elaborately before propping his cheek with one hand, shifting into a comfortable position as he waited expectantly. "Everything."

His vague response was of no help as I racked my brains to summarise my friendship with Ji Kai into a brief answer. Where should I begin?

We had been schoolmates since elementary school and we went to the same middle school and later high school. On my part, I had been one-sidedly pursuing a friendship with him, but he had never really treated me as a close friend. It may be more accurate to state that he had not treated anyone except for Shen Qi as his close friend. From what she mentioned, it seemed as though he treated her as his confidante. Over the years I had attempted to get closer to him by striking up friendly conversations, but he always seemed to have his guard up against me. If he ever initiated a conversation with me, it would be when he wanted to exploit me. In summary, our friendship revolved around the existence of Shen Qi, and now that she would no longer be a constant presence in our lives, Ji Kai and I had less of a reason to speak to each other.

The tipping point of our fragile friendship was when Shen Qi emigrated to the United States last year. Before she flew off, she wanted to meet with Ji Kai to say her final farewell and to confess her feelings for him. However, for an unknown reason, Ji Kai stood her up and did not show up until the end. After hearing about this from Shen Qi, I went to confront Ji Kai about it but received an apathetic response.

"If you couldn't show up, you could have at least informed Qiqi in advance. Did you know that she waited a whole afternoon for you in front of the train station?" I stormed into the empty classroom and headed straight towards Ji Kai's seat. The orange glare from the evening sun shone in through the windows, setting the classroom ablaze like a roaring inferno.

He continued packing his bag without looking at me. Sensing that I was not going to leave him alone until I received an answer, he finally replied in a dry tone. "Why should I have gone? Something else cropped up that day."

"Well, didn't you agree to it?" I insisted strongly. What he had done to Shen Qi was outrightly rude.

Ji Kai zipped up his bag and turned to me with a frown. "Well, I wouldn't have agreed if I had known she would do that. Are you wishing that I had shown up and accepted her confession?"

"Huh? Why wouldn't you? Qiqi is such a nice girl. Even if she is going away, you could at least have one last date with her."

"But that wouldn't be beneficial for me!"

"Beneficial? Are you actually weighing your friendships?"

As if realising that he had misspoke, Ji Kai ruffled his hair and looked at the ground. "That's not what I mean—I—"

At that moment, Yunyi entered the classroom, interrupting what Ji Kai was about to say. "Kai, can we leave now?" She pushed past the desks standing in her way and came up beside him. "Oh hi Xiaoyu, please excuse us. I'm going to have to borrow him now for our date."

"Date?" I gasped and glowered at Ji Kai who was being dragged out of the room by Yunyi. "So that's why you—"

"Yuhan, it's not like that," he turned around to explain but disappeared around the corner. He allowed himself to be pulled away in the middle of our conversation. And there I was, always thinking that he had no intentions or the time to be involved in puppy love. I thought that studies would have been his priority. But he was the top student after all. He could do whatever he wanted and still qualify for a top tier university after high school.

A calm silence greeted me after I was done with my mini tirade. Jin Mu pursed his lips and contemplated for a long while. My stomach churned as I wondered if I had spoken too much. If Ji Kai met with Jin Mu, would whatever I have said today be repeated? I shuddered to think how Ji Kai would react.

Breaking the silence, I pleaded with a neutral tone. "You have to keep whatever I've said a secret."

"Yes," he started at long last, "you have my word that Ji Kai will never know of this. And all the same, I will not be able to tell you about what he said with regard to this matter."

"You know about this?"

"Ji Kai had told me about this story before. From his point of view, of course." Jin Mu said simply with a smile. "And it sounded like a different story. Maybe one day you could get him to tell it to you."

I scoffed. Different story? It must be one where he was the victim and I was the meddlesome villain.

Urgent footsteps resounded on the stone floor as Hua Ling bolted into the hall. Panting with her face flushed red, she came up in front of Jin Mu and apologised for her intrusion. "Master, Ye-guniang is here again to see you. She is making her way here right now."

"Ye-guniang?" Jin Mu and I said in unison. He threw a glance at the door, his face turning pale.

Hua Ling turned toward me with her hand held up to her cheeks and said in between shallow gasps, "Master's secret admirer. She's the magistrate's daughter and her goal is to marry into this residence."

"Oh, I see." I laughed delightedly at the thought of being able to watch a good dramatic scene unfold before me.

But Jin Mu was already scrambling to his feet and made his way behind the opaque cloth divider, which was in the background of the seat of honour. I quickly got to my feet and hurried after him, nearly tripping over my long skirt. It turned out that behind the screen was an exit showing us out into a small courtyard surrounded by buildings on three sides and a tall wooden gate on one.

"Where are you going?" I called after him.

"Packing up so that we can go save Ji Kai," Jin Mu answered without turning back. He dashed into a room and emerged seconds later with a cloth bundle carried on one shoulder.

I followed him out through the back exit and told him to lead me back to the riverside. We would have to take a sampan down the river, back to where Ji Kai's boatman was waiting for me.

We finally got onto the boat and I handed over the book Snowy Mountain with a Peach Blossom Tree to the boatman together with the compass. As Jin Mu and I settled down on the bench, we exchanged glances before bursting into laughter. I had never expected that a genteel second male lead would react this way towards a secret admirer. But my smile faded when I considered the possibility of something like this happening to me if I were in the shoes of Miss Ye. I shook my head—I would not want to be the one pursuing a man. If anything, it should be him courting me.

"Do you have to escape often like this?" I pointed at his bag with a raised brow. It seemed like he had packed in advance, anticipating such a situation.

Scratching his nose, Jin Mu said nothing but gave a sheepish smile. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask further about his secret admirer, but I suddenly felt something amiss. Adrenaline surged through me as blood rushed to my head.

"You packed the antidote for Ji Kai's poison, right? Or even if you did not, surely you have the items for the cure." I eyed him warily, a shaky voice escaping my lips.

Jin Mu looked at the bag and then at me, widening his eyes with a loud gasp. Then he casually replied, "I did not bring the antidote. Even if I did, I would not give it to Ji Kai."

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