4 The Knock on the Door

"Fang Fang?" Bai Yun quickly regained her composure and asked.

"Mmm… Meng Fangfang." Tan Baohai said sheepishly, leaning into Bai Yun's shoulder.

Hearing this, Bai Yun's hands moved closer to his neck. The pale fingers carefully stroking the major arteries that ran through his neck. There was a slight pulsation that ran through the arteries on his neck the blood flowing with a slight struggle. Perhaps it was the wine that hardened the walls of those arteries, making them brittle.

Tan Baohai did not seem to notice, as he nestled closer to her, practically sleeping on her body.

"Tan Daren, can I ask you a question." Bai Yun's voice said in a soft dreamlike voice, as though fearful he would somehow regain consciousness.

"Shoot away." He mumbled.

"Was Meng Fangfang beautiful?"

"Yes, she was like a fairy who descended to the mortal realm." As Tan Baohai spoke. He seemed to be trying to remember the beautiful face of that woman. "A pity she married that brute of a general though." Tan Baohai changed his tone, and the drunken expression he had on his face turned malevolent.

"Did you like her?" Bai Yun asked

"Ah… she was beautiful, but all that beauty disappeared when she was beneath me. I found that she was no different from other women."

A silent thumping and silence drowned the room. The silent sounds of a man struggling, and panting sounded in the room, but that was all. A glass of wine spilled over in the struggle, dousing the room in a light scent of fermentation. Bai Yun loathed the smell, while Tan Baohai seemed oblivious.

Red eyes filling with rage silently looked upon the gasping man. There was a trickle of blood pouring from her arm, having been injured in the struggle, but she came out victorious none the less.

"Are you… Fang Fang? You've come back for revenge, haven't you?" Even as he laid gasping, he still could not help but look at the woman in front of him with mockery.

"I am Bai Yun." The girl said clearly. Every word had been clear as water.

"Oh… You're still alive." The mockery that was in his voice could be clearly heard. Even as he drew his last breath, the mocking smile still remained on his face, as though a curse upon the living who still suffered in the bustling world.

It would not be long before his body would stiffen. Yet before it did, Bai Yun had already wrapped up the body in sheets and tying heavy ornaments that had natural weight to them, before pushing it into the river. Bai Yun watched as the wrapped sheets sank into darkness before leaving to Su Wan's room.

Bai Yun pushed on the door and entered. Her actions were quite crude, her actions did not resemble that of a maid that was well trained by the Blue Mountain Pavilion. Her actions did not seem to startle Su Wan who had already removed her make up to reveal a tender and slim jade-like face, with willow eyebrows and peach blossom eyes. Her lips were pale, and uneasy to look at after having gotten used to seeing her wearing the lip paint for some time. She wore a thin robe with her hair draping over her shoulders.

The windows were opened as always, allowing a breeze of mid-winter air to fill the room.

"Miss, do you need me to help you?" Bai Yun asked after seeing that Su Wan's hair was resting upon her shoulders, she took up a wooden hairpin and offered to help her put it up.

"Mm." Su Wan nodded her head and allowed Bai Yun to comb her hair.

She grabbed the comb to help Su Wan comb her hair. As she was doing so, Su Wan sniffed the air. Smelling the discernable scent, she looked up at Bai Yun's reflection in the mirror, who was focused on the task at hand, eagerly doing her hair. "You smell like blood." She said to the reflection.

Bai Yun nodded without a word and immediately started to twist her silk strands into a bun before smoothly sliding the hairpin into place.

"All done." Bai Yun said, not addressing Su Wan's statement and turned around.

"Did you get hurt?" Su Wan was still looking into the mirror, she saw Bai Yun's reflection look around on her shelves, until she finally found it, pulling it out and placing it on the table, Su Wan could see that it was the medicine box that she always kept in her room.

Sure enough, this little girl always took where she placed her things into heart.

Wordlessly she got up to see the wound that was on Bai Yun's arm. After rolling up the sleeves, she found a deep gash that might have been caused by a jagged edge. Bai Yun wordlessly looked on at the wound, unflinchingly. She did not seem to care much about the long wound that had been left on her body.

Su Wan carelessly dropped a porcelain cup on the floor. The porcelain immediately shattering into pieces. Even then, Bai Yun did not seem to notice, her focused was completely on her arm.

"Hisss… " She flinched as the porcelain shard was run over her skin, right on the area of her wound.

"Miss, what are you doing?" The girl cried out in fear as she looked at the porcelain shard that had been tinted red in her blood. Drops of blood dabbled on the table, making it seem as though a scene of some unspeakable crime had occurred there.

Su Wan wordlessly swept up the porcelain shards, tying it into a cotton handkerchief, and placed it on a shelf, out of sight, out of mind.

She pulled Bai Yun's wounded arm closer and began cleaning the wound in distilled liquor, before wrapping up the wound up in cotton bandages.

Once done, she looked up at Bai Yun who furrower her eyebrows in pain. She patted the little girl on her head.

The dusted bottles of medicine that were so common they could be purchased on a vendor in the streets were carelessly swept up, and placed into the medicine box and put away once again. The box had rarely seen the light of day, and no one remembered when the last time it came into use was, but one could be certain that it was long ago.

After putting them away, she looked towards the girl who had her head down, her arms wrapped around her body, she was silent.

A knock at the door sounded.