"Zheng—"
A sharp zither sound instantly shattered the previously harmonious atmosphere.
"Hisss—"
Liu Zhilin couldn't stand such noise the most, his brows slightly furrowed, and he snapped his fan shut with a "pa" sound.
It was hard to believe that such a grating sound was actually played by that aunt who had always been solitary and aloof.
"What's going on?"
He looked towards the pavilion with some concern.
The wind over the lake abruptly vanished, and the previously undulating gauze curtains once again fell to the ground, completely obscuring the people inside the pavilion.
Song Chenye stared in that direction without speaking, but his vigilance suddenly heightened internally.
Because he could feel that the person inside the pavilion was currently staring at him through the gauze curtain.
"Liu Zhilin, is this your friend?"
A cool, clear female voice sounded from behind the gauze curtain.
"Yes, his name is Zhufeng."
Liu Zhilin said with a smile, while respectfully cupping his hands in salute and saying seriously, "It's been a long time since I last saw you, Aunt. This disturbance is truly presumptuous, please forgive me."
Song Chenye also cupped his hands in salute, standing beside Liu Zhilin, and said calmly, "I am Zhufeng, greetings to you, Senior."
Following Song Chenye's words, the person behind the gauze curtain murmured softly, "Zhufeng?"
Then she suddenly gave a light laugh, her tone melodious and graceful, yet carrying a touch of chill.
"Chenye follows the wind away, carefree clouds share this life."
When he heard this line, Song Chenye's eyes instantly darkened.
"The Carefree Cloud Sword in your hand once shook the martial world, but I never, ever expected that the descendants of the Song family would now have fallen so low, like stray dogs, not even daring to openly tell others their real name?"
As her words fell, the gauze curtain parted, and a ball of white silk shot directly towards Song Chenye's face. Song Chenye, who had anticipated this, nimbly dodged sideways and raised his sword to block.
Sure enough, when that ball of silk obstructing his vision disappeared from before him, a beautiful woman with a cool, clear appearance, looking to be in her thirties, instantly appeared before him, raising her hand to chop horizontally at his neck.
The sword in Song Chenye's hand was still sheathed, yet it just happened to block the woman's attack.
But the next second, the other party grabbed the scabbard of the sword in Song Chenye's hand with a backhand grip, examining it closely. "Truly worthy of being the old thing's masterpiece. Even unsheathed, its chill already pierces to the bone. The Carefree Cloud Sword, famously known throughout the martial world, truly lives up to its name."
Before the woman finished speaking, she flipped the back of her hand, wanting to directly slap the hilt and use her energy to force the sword out of its sheath. But Song Chenye, with one hand steadying the hilt and the other grabbing the scabbard, directly twisted his body along with the sword, deftly breaking free from the opponent's restraint and swiftly retreating.
But before his heels could even settle firmly, silk ribbons had already wrapped around Song Chenye's feet, pulling him directly before the woman.
"Aunt!"
Liu Zhilin didn't know why these two suddenly started fighting, but seeing the other continuously wrapping white silk around Song Chenye's limbs, he couldn't help but call out a reminder. "Zhufeng is my good friend, please show mercy!"
"Hah, do you know he is a member of the Song family!"
The woman, who had previously maintained a somewhat dignified demeanor, now actually revealed a trace of venomous resentment. "I have nothing to say to the son of that bitch Li Rui—"
When she uttered these words, the Carefree Cloud Sword instantly left its sheath. The person who had previously only been pulling and not drawing the sword actually severed all her white silk in an instant. The next moment, his figure directly closed in on the woman—
The beautiful woman's expression froze. The silk ribbons in her hands continuously lashed out, wrapping around Song Chenye's right arm and the Carefree Cloud Sword in his hand with extreme speed, trying to slow his advance. She didn't expect that the person who had just been testing and not using his full strength earlier was now going all out. With a few agile flicks of his wrist, the precious sword sliced away all the silk she had just rewound.
"Zhufeng! Let's talk this out!"
Seeing the sword directly pressing towards the beautiful woman's face, Liu Zhilin finally couldn't stay seated.
He knew his aunt's strength, but he knew Song Chenye's strength even better. If this sword stabbed forward and he didn't intervene, bloodshed was inevitable—
"Zheng—"
Sure enough, the next moment, Liu Zhilin used the ribs of his fan to block Song Chenye's precious sword.
Song Chenye paused, his gaze sweeping over Liu Zhilin, then he leaped lightly backward, landing in the center of the bridge.
"Truly worthy of being her son—"
The beautiful woman coldly scrutinized Song Chenye, her eyes showing no joy of having narrowly escaped death, only the hatred and disgust of seeing an enemy.
She pushed Liu Zhilin, not showing any gratitude for his lifesaving intervention just now, and said, "Take him and get out. I don't want to see that familiar face here."
Liu Zhilin hadn't expected his aunt to react this way. His expression was somewhat awkward, but he still said tactfully, "Aunt, do you know Zhufeng's elders? There might be some misunderstanding here. Everyone can sit down and talk calmly."
"Hah? Hehe—"
The beautiful woman let out a laugh.
"You want to ask for my help? Then you've come to the wrong person. Back then, I was only too happy about what happened. How could I possibly tell you anything?"
Liu Zhilin looked towards Song Chenye.
Song Chenye stared at the beautiful woman, his expression indifferent, showing neither anger nor resentment. He just stared fixedly at the woman before him, finally revealing a faint, barely perceptible sneer. "I know you. My father mentioned you before his death—"
Before he could finish his words, the beautiful woman let out a sharp scream. "What did you say? Impossible! That person couldn't have mentioned me! Impossible!"
The next moment, countless silk ribbons flew out from both sides beneath the bridge, shooting towards Song Chenye as if to directly drown him—
Song Chenye merely curled the corner of his mouth, the precious sword in his hand swaying with an intimidating, cold gleam.
---------------------
This part of the plot mainly revolved around some emotional entanglements and grudges from Song Chenye's parents' generation.
It was probably a complicated story like she loved him, he loved her, and she also loved him, and so on.
Song Chenye wasn't sure if the massacre of his family back then was related to this complex web of feelings, so he could only investigate step by step, search for clues one by one, and then eliminate suspects... And obviously, this "aunt" of Liu Zhilin's was someone who had loved his father but couldn't have him back then.
After coming off the set, Xiao He went to the restroom to apply some injury spray.
Although Xiao He could be considered agile and light-footed, he was still far from the level of being able to fly using qinggong. After filming this entire fight scene, Xiao He had red, rope-burn bruises all over his body.
These injuries didn't look too painful now, but after sleeping and waking up, that's when the real soreness would kick in.
Only his assistant Xiao Chen was in the restroom. Xiao He didn't stand on ceremony, directly took off his clothes, then, wearing just shorts, asked him to help spray the injury medicine.
The cool spray made Xiao He suck in a sharp breath.
Xiao Chen didn't dare delay, quickly finished treating Xiao He in one go, then skillfully found a hairdryer to help Xiao He dry and warm the sprayed areas.
The hairdryer was quite loud. Neither of the two people in the room heard the knocking until Lao Qi pushed the door open, and they learned that the police were looking for Xiao He outside the set.
"Looking for me?"
Xiao He was momentarily bewildered.
And behind Lao Qi were the familiar Officer Zhang and Officer Xiao Li, along with a few unfamiliar officers. Judging by their uniforms, they seemed different from Officer Zhang and his team.
"What's going on this time?"
Xiao He gestured for Xiao Chen to turn off the hairdryer, then pulled on a short-sleeved shirt and invited the officers in to talk.
"It's like this, we've come to return your belongings."
Officer Zhang signaled for Officer Xiao Li to place Xiao He's previously hacked phone on the table.
"Thank you. You could have just told us, you didn't need to deliver it in person."
Xiao He was somewhat surprised.
"It's fine, we happened to be coming to inquire about some other matters as well."
Officer Zhang said with a chuckle.
"Did you just finish filming?"