"There is someone who can definitely make him start anew."

"Who?"

"Bai Pingting."

The old man laughed, "And where is Bai Pingting now?"

The disciple was surprised. He lowered her head, "She is dead."

"Correct, she is a dead." The old man stroked his long gray beard and softly sighed.

The disciple still refused to give up. "If Chu Beijie could start anew for a Bai Pingting, why can't he do so for others?"

The old man's gentle gaze rested on the face of his disciple. In the depths of his eyes, its corners were yellowed with age, but the light flickering was the fire of wisdom.

"Have you ever heard of Bai Pingting's qin?"

"I haven't."

"Have you ever met Bai Pingting?"

"I haven't."

"Have you ever seen the letter Bai Pingting haded to the Princess of Yun Chang to pass onto Chu Beijie on the battlefield?"

"I haven't." The disciple had his head lowered as he replied, "I have only heard of her name, as well as what she has done.

Bai Pingting, Bai Pingting of the Jing-An Ducal Residence.

Her name had spread through the world.

And her story was yet finished.

To understand a man, perhaps a whole lifetime was needed.

But some men, perhaps not even a whole lifetime was enough, was what Zuiju though.

Fanlu was that kind of hateful guy. He seemed even more watery than girls, by having no fixed state. If you studied him, sometimes his sharp eyes flashed with kind light. The next moment he'd become vicious, like a demon king who was about to eat humans. After a while, a playful smile would suddenly float out again.

That man was wicked man.

He leisurely held his light crossbow as he cornered Zuiju to an edge. Then, for some weird wacky reason, he snatched her away from the sharp teeth and claws of the wolf pack, saving her.

Although he had saved Zuiju's life, he didn't return her freedom.

"If you want to run, I'll hunt you back like a rabbit." When saying this, an evil smile played on the corners of Fanlu's mouth.

Zuiju had glared fiercely at him, secretly vowing to never let him catch her.

This vow was unfulfilled. For the whole year, she didn't even have the chance to run away.

Fanlu was an expert at imprisoning people. He could always see through Zuiju's long-planned escape plans, chuckling at how easy it was to break her beautiful dream.

"Why?" Zuiju asked, unsatisfied.

"You're not a person of the army. You never learned unarmed combat or how to imprison a captive properly. You haven't learned how to track down enemies in rural places either." Fanlu then answered with another question, "How could you possibly escape from my hands?"

"Why are you imprisoning me? Isn't it better to kill me? I don't want to live anyway."

Fanlu replied with another question, "Do you really not want to live?"

Zuiju was stunned.

When she woke from her coma, thinking about Pingting's situation, she really didn't want to live any longer.

But now?

If her death goes unnoticed, what would her Teacher do?

She could only lower her yells and coldly harrumph, "Whether I want to die or not, it's none of your business is it?"

Fanlu was briefly surprised and coldly harrumphed back, "When I decide my answer to that question, maybe living won't be an option anymore."

With the privileges as the guard of Qierou City, the prison was more ironclad in many ways, yet Zuiju still persevered in finding ways to escape.

Fanlu finally had enough this time. He grabbed onto her wrists, fiercely pushing her into the wall. "You want to return to Dong Lin this much?"

"Who said I wanted to go to Dong Lin."

"Then to the Songsen Mountains?"

"It's none of your business!"

"As expected..." Fanlu held her so that she couldn't move at all, like usual, but the corners of his mouth lifted this time. A deceptive look surfaced on his face. He slowly drawled, "Bai Pingting was on the Songsen Mountains after all."

Zuiju was shocked. She sucked her lips tightly and turned away.

Pingting, if Pingting were still on the Songsen Mountains, then maybe...

"You took the luminous jade hairpin to look for helpers right?" Fanlu forcefully twisted her back by the chin, staring deeply into the wobbling light in her eyes. He studied them for a long time and lowered his voice, "It seems that if Bai Pingting didn't die of cold, then she has died of hunger."

"Liar! You liar! Liar, liar!" Zuiju immediately screeched at Fanlu, crying, "She must've been saved by someone, or maybe she had enough energy and walked down by herself. Maybe she..."

She suddenly stopped talking, shocked as she found herself in Fanlu's arms. In her who lifetime, apart from her Teacher, she had never been so close to a man. She felt she was being engulfed by fire as Fanlu hugged her.

Zuiju screamed, abruptly pushing Fanlu away. "Don't touch me!"

She summoned all of her energy for that one push. Fanlu took two steps back and steadied himself. His expression changed a few times. He turned to leave. Zuiju finally released her held breath, gasping for large gulps of air to enter her lungs.

Fanlu returned later in the evening. He carried Zuiju's dinner, having one pot of alcohol for himself. Zuiju had her head lowered as she ate. He sat in front of her, not using cups, just pouring the alcohol straight into his mouth. Once all of the alcohol entered his throat, his gaze rested on Zuiju.

His gaze was cold and harsh, his black eyes hiding all sorts of evil intentions. It made everything in the prison seem like a taut string, as if the slightest trigger would induce a terrible incident.

The food seemed to be stuck to Zuiju's backbone as it went down. She felt like she was facing a wild beast, and when she put down her plate, she quickly retreated to the furthest corner of the bed. However, even if the prison was ten times larger, it was still not enough for her to escape his murderous and savage eyes.

Zuiju didn't say anything that night. It made him seem even more like an irrational lurking wild beast.

Zuiju had always thought that she encountered the worst already. Now she finally realised that there were even worse things than waiting.

Fanlu's vicious evil, at first, was nasty and hateful, but the Fanlu now could only make her feel fearful.

Fanlu didn't say a word that night and had almost driven Zuiju crazy with his gaze until he stood up to leave again.

Zuiju watched his back disappear and felt she had survived the impossible. She touched her forehead, drenched in sweat.