At the infirmary, Qiu Yunru was prodded, poked, and examined until the healer declared that nothing was wrong with him.
"A little waterlogged. He's inhaled some water, but it's all come up now, so the lungs are clear. No signs of spiritual damage. Mild shock."
He Yongliang then sent Li Chenyuan, who had been pacing for the last twenty minutes, out of the room. He clearly wasn't happy about it, glaring at Cai Mingzhu as he stalked out, but he didn't argue. Even he, someone so favored by their shizun, wouldn't dare speak back.
At last, Qiu Yunru was left alone in the room with He Yongliang and Cai Mingzhu.
He Yongliang sat down on a chair by the bed, neatly clasping his hands over his fan in his lap with a calm expression. Qiu Yunru swore that the corner of his eye ticked.
Meanwhile, Cai Mingzhu leaned lazily against a pillar, picking her teeth with a stick.
"Cai-jie," He Yongliang said, gesturing politely. "May I introduce you to Yunru?"
"Why make it difficult?" Cai Mingzhu grinned, flicking the pick away. "I'll introduce myself."
What a rude attitude! It wasn't anything new, but...really, in such a serious situation...?! She was so careless that it was almost admirable!
Also, Qiu Yunru was incredibly confused.
"Introduce...? Did I miss something...?" Qiu Yunru said weakly. "I know who you are..."
"You do," Cai Mingzhu said, shrugging. "But there's a little more. My mortal name is Cai Mingzhu, and my immortal name is Li Hua. This is my mountain."
Qiu Yunru stared. Cai Mingzhu's face...it was completely serious! In fact, he'd never seen her with such a serious expression!
Cai Mingzhu went on casually: "As the goddess of this mountain, it's my right to live here and oversee mortal activities. I've stayed with the Jade Clouds Sect in many staff positions. Lately, I've been wanting to know what it's like to be a cook."
"..." All Qiu Yunru could do was let out a bewildered breath of air.
"You must be surprised," She sighed, pulling yet another pick out of her apron and beginning to pick at her teeth once more. "Or perhaps you're not. In any case, I pushed you into the lake, and you must be wondering why."
"We are all wondering why," He Yongliang said politely.
"Didi," Cai Mingzhu said with a smirk, drawing the word out and patting He Yongliang on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll talk more about it later. I wanted this kid to see A-Hui. That's the buff blacksmith," She said aside to Qiu Yunru with a wink.
She wasn't wrong...he had been enormous.
"You know him...?" Qiu Yunru mumbled. "Are you...his 'associate'?"
Cai Mingzhu scoffed. "Is he still calling me that? I'll have to send someone to tell him to stop. What an asshole! But if he mentioned one, that's me. We go way back." Cai Mingzhu laughed a little, as if remembering something endearing. "I told him about my concerns, and I figured he could convince you a little better than me. After all, I'm just a good-for-nothing, smoking, lazy cook right now--isn't that right?"
He Yongliang cleared his throat. "Cai-jie, I was under the impression that we had an agreement that you would inform me if there was significant danger on this mountain. Why is it that I haven't heard of these concerns before now?"
Cai Mingzhu's face suddenly grew very serioius. "I was saving your feelings, didi. I'm concerned about Li Chenyuan."
He Yongliang froze. His hands tightened around his fan until his knuckles were white. It was a moment before he spoke again. His voice was careful and quiet:
"Why is that?"
"You know why." Cai Mingzhu's voice was suddenly cold. Qiu Yunru flinched at the sound of it. "A-Hui has seen what will happen if he's allowed to live."
He Yongliang's dark eyes flashed. Qiu Yunru flinched again, feeling rather jumpy after so many shocks of knowledge. He had never seen such a cold look on his shizun's face.
"Stop," He Yongliang snapped. "We'll talk about this more later. You've crossed a line. There was no reason for you to involve my disciples in such concerns that are mine to take responsibility for." He looked to Qiu Yunru, then sighed, seeming to steady himself. With a small smile, he said: "For now, I believe Yunru knows all he should. Cai-jie is indeed the patron goddess of this mountain, and it seems she thought sending you to meet Senior Blacksmith would help convince you of...something." The last word was bitterly pointed.
"Come," He said to Cai Mingzhu, standing with a sweep of his sleeves. "Let us go and discuss this elsewhere. For now, Yunru should rest."
With that, He Yongliang coldly ushered a disgruntled Cai Mingzhu out the door.
Qiu Yunru sat there for a moment, dazed.
There was so much new information of all types pushing around in his brain--terrifying, confusing, shocking--that he wanted to just roll over and fall asleep. Hopefully, when he woke up, it would be the day before the ceremony, and this would all have been a strange nightmare!
Moments later, Li Chenyuan swept into the room, his face pale.
"Qiu-ge...?" He stood in the doorway for a moment, shuffling his feet. At his tall height and strong stature, he looked rather silly shuffling his feet like that, like a puppy unsure of whether to step over the threshold.
Qiu Yunru swallowed down the fear he felt rising upon hearing that voice and seeing that face.
This wasn't that Li Chenyuan. At least, not yet.
"Li-shidi," He croaked. "Come in."
Li Chenyuan didn't come in. He held the doorframe, eyes darting over Qiu Yunru's form anxiously.
"Is it really okay for me to come close...?"
"Why wouldn't it be?"
Li Chenyuan looked down at his feet. In that moment, his face was so pitifully endearing that Qiu Yunru's heart hurt a little. Even with the same face, he couldn't imagine this person ever committing any kind of senseless violence.
"Earlier, Qiu-ge seemed...afraid of me."
Qiu Yunru swallowed down his guilt. Listen--was it really his fault that he had gotten scared at first? He'd just experienced his own death! But even so...it hadn't really happened.
What's more, considering the strangeness of this entire situation, who knew if that vision was even a true vision of the future?
He sighed and beckoned to Li Chenyuan with a smile. "It was probably because I was confused. I inhaled a lot of water. Anyways, I'm feeling better now. You can come and sit."