#snowfalltl

[ruanbaijie]

During the Republican Era, Shen Zhiheng, a member of the Tianjin gentry who happened to be a vampire, offended the Japanese and became the target of an assassination attempt. He was saved by a blind young lady, Mi Lan, and his best friend Situ Weilian. When he went to repay Mi Lan for saving him, he discovered the terrible family situation that Mi Lan was in, and so began to pay more attention to her. Meanwhile, Shen Zhiheng’s plan to take revenge on Li Yingliang, the mastermind behind his assassination, fell short of success thanks to Li Yingliang’s Japanese superior, raising suspicions about his identity. Since then, Li Yingliang and the Japanese were in hot pursuit of Shen Zhiheng, determined to dig out the truth about his secret.

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Li Yingliang walked through the main doors of the Development Committee. The second he entered the yard, it became quiet, and the people in the rooms could vaguely make out how poor his complexion was through the frosted window panes. Li Guisheng, who was still loafing around in the General Affairs Section, opened the door to welcome him, “Sir.”

Without even glancing at him, Li Yingliang only hooked a finger at him when he passed. Li Guisheng quickly followed him into the chairman's office. He took Li Yingliang’s coat from him and hung it on the clothes stand, and then picked up the teapot and walked towards the door, intending to boil a pot of tea for him.

However, Li Yingliang suddenly spoke, “Stay there.”

He immediately stood upright as he held the pot. “Sir, what orders do you have?”

Li Yingliang sat down behind his desk, the back of his head nestling against the back of his chair. “How do you get things done?”

Li Guisheng was startled. “What have I done?”

Li Yingliang’s face was devoid of any expression; all of his energy had gone to his mouth. One word at a time, his mouth spat out, “Shen Zhiheng is not dead!”

Li Guisheng placed the pot down on the desk, standing rigid with his hands by his side. He said with conviction, “Sir, I, Li Guisheng, swear to you here and now, if he didn’t die, I’ll twist my head off and give it to him to kick around like a ball. I cannot say that I’ve never lied to anyone, but I dare to say that I’ve never lied to you.”

Li Yingliang lowered his voice, yet it was still vicious, as if he wanted to spit the words angrily at Li Guisheng’s face, “Then why did someone say that they saw him at the French concession zone yesterday? Even Yokoyama Akira knows! This morning, Yokoyama called me over and pointed to my nose to question what was going on. I couldn’t give him a single fucking reply. What’s going on, what’s going on, you tell me now, what on earth is going on!”

Li Guisheng swallowed, somewhat nervous, but because he was still confident, he still dared to reply, “Sir, I’ll still say the same thing. I dare to use my own life to swear that if Shen Zhiheng didn’t die, then I will!” 

The office became quiet. Li Yingliang’s body slid down, nestled in his chair as he pondered. His eyeballs moved around, occasionally sweeping across Li Guisheng. Li Guisheng stiffened his neck and stood ramrod straight. Because he felt simply too wronged, he refused to submit, his spirit seeming so strong and invincible it was as if it could support both heaven and earth.

A good while later, Li Yingliang said, “I know. There’s no need for you to lie to me. But Yokoyama’s subordinate really saw Shen Zhiheng alive.”

Li Guisheng suddenly asked, “A body double?”

“Is there a need for that?”

“We think there isn’t, but what if that one surnamed Shen [1] has another identity? Think about it, if no one has his back, will he dare to openly scold the Japanese in the newspapers? Maybe, the people above him want to use his reputation to continue running the newspaper companies, so that they can continue clashing with the Japanese.”

Li Yingliang frowned, feeling that Li Guisheng was wrong. But, even so, it could not explain how Shen Zhiheng could have returned from the dead. Pursing his lips, he remained silent for a while. When he was done, he unpuckered his lips, and said, “Send someone to go and find Shen Zhiheng now.”

Li Guisheng agreed, picking up the teapot and leaving the room, before returning with a pot of hot tea. Li Yingliang was still nestled in his chair, seemingly still in a trance, when the phone rang. With his mind still wandering, he made no move to pick up the phone. So, Li Guisheng thought for a moment, and reached out to pick it up.

“Chairman Li’s office.”

After a few “mm”s, he covered the receiver, and said softly to Li Yingliang, “It’s Second Young Mistress Jin. She says she wants to speak to you at once.”

Li Yingliang froze, only reaching out for the phone after more than half a minute, “Hello? Second Young Mistress Jin? I’m Yingliang.”

After saying that, the corners of his lips pulled upwards as he subconsciously smiled. It was a forced, tired smile, as if he could perfunctorily brush this entire phone call off his shoulder by just smiling. 

“Oh… thank you for your kind intentions, Second Young Mistress, but I don’t think I’m suitable. I don’t know how to dance at all. Why not find a fellow male student to attend it together with? You might even find common topics to talk about… No, no, I don’t mean it that way, I don’t dare to. I can be your driver, just tell me the time and I will fetch you there, and then fetch you back… No, no, I really don’t mean it that way… Okay then, I will just listen to you then… Okay, okay, I know, wear a suit, understood, farewell, see you tonight.”

The smile was still on his face as he put the phone down, but the second the phone line got cut, the smile instantly disappeared. He returned back to nestling in his chair, his face impassive as his lips quivered, and silently cursed.

The one who had called was the second young mistress of the Jin family, a woman he could not afford to offend. Of course, a woman he could not afford to offend for now .

Li Yingliang’s parents had passed away early, and so too had his younger sister at a tender age. He could practically be considered an orphan, and an impoverished one at that. For a child who had been dealt with such a bitter hand of fate, logically speaking, it would be considered quite a success for him to have been able to survive and grow up. And the benefactor who had plucked him out of poverty to become a person, who had given him the chance to continue climbing, was Second Young Mistress Jin’s father, Division Commander Jin.

When Li Yingliang had first gotten to know Division Commander Jin, he was the young apprentice in a tailor shop, where he had spent his days getting bullied by his master and seniors. It was purely through his pure grit to endure the humiliation and stay alive, that he had managed to persist until the day the second wife of the Jin family visited their tailor shop. At that time, the second wife had been in favour and would frequently purchase new clothes, and had taken great care of the tailor shop’s business. As a good-looking young apprentice, Li Yingliang often had to follow his seniors to the Jin residence to collect materials and deliver clothes, and over time, the second wife had taken a liking to him and decided that he was a clever little child. Coincidentally, that day, when he had arrived at the Jin residence, he had bumped into a terribly drunk Division Commander Jin. Division Commander Jin had noticed that he was a spirited, handsome little boy, and had expressed with much emotion in his drunken stupor that it was really quite a pity that this child was doing odd jobs in a tailor shop.

Upon hearing this, the second wife had jokingly added, “Then adopt him as your godson and give him a chance to grow, then it wouldn’t be such a pity anymore.”

Division Commander Jin had burped and was just about to reply when he had suddenly heard a thud by his feet. Lowering his head to have a look, he had seen Li Yingliang kneeling and kowtowing to him. Division Commander Jin was shocked, but as he had already received someone else’s kowtows, it was too late for regret, and he had no choice but to accept this godson in confusion. Since then, Li Yingliang had a change in family status, leaving the bitter life at the tailor shop behind to run errands for the Jin residence. 

However, the Jin residence was no paradise. Division Commander Jin’s family had a whole string of children, and no matter their age, they all dared to bully him. He had gritted his teeth, in any case, he had already gotten used to it. Besides, the young masters of the Jin family were bratty and mischievous at worst, unlike the cruel jerks at the tailor shop. He had endured until he was in his teens, at which point he had started to run errands by Division Commander Jin’s side. Division Commander Jin also secretly had a lot of activities that could not see the light of day. For instance, he constantly collaborated with the Japanese, and also resold tobacco. Had these activities been exposed, Division Commander Jin would not have been able to escape being labelled as a Chinese traitor. Hence, he could not simply assign anyone to run these errands, and could only hand them to his godson Li Yingliang.   

Li Yingliang was very self-motivated, and besides his capabilities, he was willing to put in effort and get things done without a sound of protest. The more he did, the more he carved out a world for himself - the position of chairman was not something his godfather had bestowed upon him, but something he had fought for and gained by his own hands from Yokoyama Akira.

In recent years, Division Commander Jin had been overly cautious and indecisive, wanting to profit and afraid to be a Chinese traitor at the same time, and this indecisiveness had long already eroded the trust that the Japanese had once had in him. Neither did Li Yingliang have the patience to continue running personal errands for him. He did not care if he had to be a Chinese traitor, in order to stand out from the crowd, he did not mind recognising another person as his godfather. It was a pity that Yokoyama Akira was a little too young, if not, he would also kowtow a few times to him.

Although Division Commander Jin - now, people called him “General Jin” out of respect - was stationed with his army in the Recha area [2] and not physically with him, and although he now no longer needed to rely on the old man for money, their father-son relationship still remained. Whenever Second Young Mistress Jin came to disturb him every three days, ordering him around to do all sorts of things like a servant and annoying him to death, for the sake of his godfather, he made use of the strength he had honed over his childhood and “endured” it. 

In the afternoon, Li Yingliang left the Development Committee by the back door, cutting across the alleys to enter a small yard. This yard was quite clean, and had only four or five rooms. This was his house.

As a bachelor, he had no servants at home. Besides, the work he did was top secret, and he did not hire any servants. If he required any help, he would call a few people from the Development Committee over to help. Using hot water to clean his face, he combed his hair and changed into a fresh suit, tidying himself up cleanly as if he were fulfilling a duty. As a finishing touch, he tucked a purple handkerchief into his small breast pocket, and walked to the mirror to have a look.

He was emotionless as he looked at himself in the mirror, without any interest whatsoever in admiring himself. He had to accompany the second young mistress Jin to a dance party at night, and so he had to dress up. It was just like if he had to visit the army at night, and he had to change into his uniform - both necessitated that he dress up according to the rules.  

Another point, was that clothes make a man. Whenever he was in such bustling occasions of feasting and revelry, he could never quite hold his head proudly. If he did not dress up to the nines, like a soldier in his armour ready for battle, he would be even more ashamed. Second Young Mistress Jin’s words were like knives, they would definitely have no mercy on him.

After dressing himself up impeccably, Li Yingliang left, cutting across the alleys again to return to the Development Committee. From there, he continued across the yard to the car outside the Development Committee, and went straight to the Jin mansion.

All was silent outside the Jin mansion.

The car stopped outside the main gate, and Li Yingliang remained in it with no intention to alight. However, an attendant heard him and invited him into the house, informing him that Second Young Mistress Jin had invited Young Master Liang to wait in the parlour. Upon hearing the three words “Young Master Liang”, Li Yingliang expelled two streams of cold air from his nose at once, feeling like the victim of mockery. How could he be considered a young master? Who really respected him like a young master?

Alighting from the car, he entered the house with big strides and marched into the parlour in a breath. In the parlour stood only a maidservant. Composing himself, he tried to put on a good face in front of the maidservant, without much success.

“Where is Second Young Mistress?”

“She is upstairs,” the maidservant replied.

“Then call her down.”

The maidservant laughed. “Second Young Mistress is still freshening up. She said to let you wait a little while longer. You can wait here or upstairs.”

With an “mm”, Li Yingliang plonked his buttocks onto the sofa. This instruction of hers had raised his ire - she had a hobby of pretending to make things difficult for him, as if it was an addiction. Wait upstairs? He wouldn’t fall into her trap. If he really went upstairs, she would definitely pull out another basket of prattle and nonsense to beat him with, and would conveniently order him to pick her clothes and shoes for her. In any case, he knew that he had no other way of dealing with her, and no matter how she annoyed him, he would have to bear with it. Other than that, she would also frequently expose her pale thighs and feet to provoke a reaction out of him, as if he had never seen a woman before in his entire life and his heart would definitely be swayed by her. 

Li Yingliang never thought about the affairs between men and women. He busied himself only with gaining more influence and strength, and had no time or effort to think about it. In the occasional times that he did, it was from a pragmatic perspective. He wanted to climb high and marry a wealthy young lady. However, even so, he refused to even consider Second Young Mistress Jin. Since they were young, she loved to bully him, and one glance at her would make him angry.

  After sitting idly in the parlour for more than an hour, Second Young Mistress Jin finally descended the stairs.

Second Young Mistress Jin’s name was Jingxue [3] . She was not yet twenty years of age, was beautiful and fair, and could be said to have both money and looks. When she stepped into the parlour in her high heels, Li Yingliang stood up, his eyes sweeping over her. Yet, he did not sweep carefully, only noticing the large snowy white circle of fur around her shoulders, from which her long, equally snowy white neck extended. Her shoulders and collar bones were exposed, and her skin was powdered, shining and fragrant at the same time. 

“Second Young Mistress,” Li Yingliang bowed to her. “I haven’t seen you in a few weeks, I thought that you had gone home.”

Jin Jingxue tittered, “Liang-gege, even your mannerisms seem like the Japanese now, bowing first when you meet people.”

Li Yingliang lowered his head, looking at the ground, “Second Young Mistress, I’m only trying to eke out a living for myself. Please have a heart and stop teasing me with your words.”

Jin Jingxue’s eyebrows, in the shape of willow leaves, frowned. “Oh, you’re angry? Who did you learn to be this petty from? Could it be the Japanese?”

Li Yingliang snorted once in laughter. “You’re very funny.” Then, he took the lead and walked out of the parlour first. “It’s getting late, let’s go!”

“Slow down!” Jin Jingxue said.

Li Yingliang turned around. “What now?”

Jin Jingxue extended a hand towards him. “My heels are high. Come and support me.”

Li Yingliang cast his gaze down, only seeing now that Jin Jingxue was wearing a pair of glittery gold dancing shoes. Their heels were high and thin, and they were suitable to be worn only on spring flooring and to spin around in small circles. Walking in them would be to suffer.

So, as if he were waiting on Empress Dowager Cixi [4] , he wordlessly extended his arm and supported Jin Jingxue out of the door, all the way to the car, where he sneezed from the smell of her perfume. This sneeze came unexpectedly and he had no time to grab his handkerchief, and he ended up sneezing his saliva all over Jin Jingxue’s shoulder. After receiving a few rolled eyes from her, he wiped her shoulder with his handkerchief to shut her up. He turned his head to look out of the window, his eyes red with anger.

Secretary Ding of the committee drove the car, sending Li Yingliang and Jin Jingxue to Jinghua Hotel. Originally, Li Yingliang had thought that the hosts were Jin Jingxue’s good-for-nothing friends. However, it was only when he alighted at the entrance of the hotel when he realised that tonight’s occasion was a grand one. There was no end to the line of cars stopped along the road, among which were a few that bore the license plates of foreign consulates. Through the glass doors of the hotel, he could see that it was brightly lit on the side, and he even noticed General Mi.

He immediately became more spirited, as if he had spotted his quarry. Once he had gotten excited, even Jin Jingxue did not seem as irritating anymore. Pulling Jin Jingxue along with him, he entered the doors, the two of them separating at the gentlemen’s and ladies’ cloak rooms respectively to remove their coats and hats. In the ladies’ cloak room, Jin Jingxue conveniently looked at herself in the mirror, adjusted her hair, and spun around to leave. She discovered that Li Yingliang had long been waiting a distance ahead. In this bustling place adorned with splendour, all the guests were smiling and laughing, and only he was standing alone, concentrating on waiting with neither posture nor expression.

“Liang-gege!” she called out.

As if waking up from a dream, he turned his head, and sent her a fake smile. Jin Jingxue walked to him, holding her head high as she displayed her new gingko-coloured dress to him.

“Liang-gege, what do you think about my dress?”

Li Yingliang swept his gaze over her, again not sweeping carefully. He just thought that she was very shiny - her exposed chest, back, and shoulders were shiny, her gingko-coloured dress, embellished with pearls, was also shiny.

“Nice,” he replied.

“Just ‘nice’?”

Suddenly a little impatient, his way of resisting was to keep a straight face and reply with conviction, “Yes. Just ‘nice’.”

Jin Jingxue rolled her eyes at him, using her pointer to poke him repeatedly at his chest. “I know what you’re thinking, you pretend to obey me on the outside but are actually scolding me on the inside! But the skin of my face is thick [5] and I’m not afraid of getting scolded. The more you smile fakely at me, the more I want you to dance together with me for the whole night.”

Li Yingliang took a step back. “That won’t work, no, no, Second Young Mistress, please spare me. I really can’t dance.”

“Even if you can’t, it doesn’t matter, I’ll teach you. Whenever you step on me, I’ll pinch you. After getting pinched for the whole night, you’ll definitely learn how to dance.”

Li Yingliang smiled bitterly at her, while shaking his head with an imploring look on his face. Although this smile was bitter, it was a genuine one, and was more pleasing to the eye than his fake smiles. So, Jin Jingxue decided to spare him this one time, extending a hand to pull him to the grand hall on the first floor.

Jin Jingxue’s permanent residence was in Tianjin. She had no job other than to play around. She played around so much that she had friends from everywhere. The second she entered the grand hall, she was swarmed by a group of men and women. Li Yingliang made use of the opportunity to slip away from the crowd, intending to find General Mi and greet him. Because General Mi was famous for loving those of the opposite sex, Li Yingliang craned his neck, looking around particularly at groups of women. It was when he was looking around when there was a commotion at the entrance of the hall. Another distinguished guest had arrived. Li Yingliang turned around, and then froze on the spot.

He thought that he had seen Shen Zhiheng.

A small group of people had entered the hall, and in the centre of this group were two people. One of them had blond hair and blue eyes, dressed to the nines in a suit, this was the French director of the French Concession Zone Municipal Council, Fauré. The other was tall and thin, dressed in a deep blue changpao [6] with faint patterns. His short, crow black hair was styled with a significant amount of wax, enough to reflect the lights - if this was not Shen Zhiheng, who else could it be?

Li Yingliang absolutely trusted Li Guisheng, but he also absolutely trusted his own eyes. Besides, a pot-bellied man had already gone forth to welcome the two of them, “Mr. Fauré, Mr. Shen! Welcome, welcome!”

The Frenchman Mr. Fauré and the pot-bellied man shook hands, then, the latter turned towards Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng held half a cigar in one hand, and shook the pot-bellied man’s hand with his other. Li Yingliang recognised the pot-bellied man. He was the general manager of the Greater China Shipping Company. He also vaguely heard Shen Zhiheng’s voice - he had called the pot-bellied man “General Manager Wu”, followed by a string of unintelligible niceties.

Li Yingliang’s eyes recognised Shen Zhiheng’s appearance, and his ears also recognised Shen Zhiheng’s voice. His voice was deep and husky, a little unique; it was a good voice among men. And as Shen Zhiheng held General Manager Wu’s hand, he smiled and lifted his head at the same time, and without any warning, glanced at Li Yingliang who was in the middle of the crowd.

Li Yingliang was still looking at him in a daze. He wanted to hide, but it was too late. Shen Zhiheng was much thinner compared to before, and his complexion seemed dull. With a smile, he looked at Li Yingliang, and slowly blinked once. However, without waiting for Li Yingliang to understand the look in his eyes, he had already let go of General Manager Wu, turning his head to chat with the people beside him. Before long, this small group of people had turned around and left the hall, heading up to the second floor.

Li Yingliang stood unmoving, only two words echoing in his head in tandem with the beating of his heart, reverberating continuously, “Body double, body double, body double…”

Only the two words “body double” could explain everything. Otherwise, wasn’t it that he had just seen a ghost?

Li Yingliang did not believe in ghosts, and so he did not believe that he had seen a ghost. Since he had not seen a ghost, and since Li Guisheng would never be such a piece of rubbish to not know if he had managed to kill a person or not, then only one point made sense: this Shen Zhiheng was fake!

Li Yingliang needed to get closer to observe this fake product and find his weak point, or he would not be able to sleep tonight. The three floors of Jinghua Hotel had been booked, and all of them were bustling, full of partying people dressed to their nines. He had long abandoned Jin Jingxue, going up and down each of the floors, but still unable to find a single trace of Shen Zhiheng and his group.

His entire body was drenched with sweat. Just as he was starting to get anxious, music started playing from the nearby dance floor. As the music swelled, his anxiety multiplied. Adjusting the knot of his tie, he walked around randomly in panic, turning around the corner of a corridor on the second floor and into the washroom. As soon as he closed the door, his ears were finally treated with some peaceful quiet. He closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, composing himself.

Since he was here, he conveniently took a leak. Turning the large gold-plated tap, he washed his hands, and looked into the mirror. With a wet napkin, he patted his face, and exercised his jaw. It was fortunate that he had looked at his reflection in the mirror. If not, he would not have realised he was so nervous that he was grinding his teeth, his expression frightening. He was already unpopular enough, if he was any more frightening, it would be even more unthinkable.

Taking in a few deep breaths, he steeled himself to draw upon the spirit of a raging bull and search to the ends of earth; not finding Shen Zhiheng tonight was not an option. Pulling the door open, he strode out confidently, lifted his head, and saw Shen Zhiheng’s back.

One look was enough for him to recognise that back as Shen Zhiheng’s. The event that was being held tonight was a dancing one. Normally, guests would dress up in Western attire, and very few would wear a changpao. With his back to Li Yingliang, Shen Zhiheng was smoking his cigar while gazing absentmindedly at the people who were dancing on the dance floor.

Li Yingliang tiptoed towards him, the soles of his leather shoes sinking into the thick carpet, making not a single sound. The closer he got, the more he felt that this person really resembled Shen Zhiheng. With one hand behind his back and the other pinching a cigar, this posture was one that Shen Zhiheng frequently held. Just what important figure was Shen Zhiheng, that he had secretly kept a body double who resembled him so closely?

Unable to help himself, he got closer and closer, and just when he felt that he had gotten a little too close, Shen Zhiheng inhaled deeply through his cigar, and then turned around in one smooth move to face him.

Shen Zhiheng was taller than him by half a head, and naturally had to look down at him. With his mouth full of smoke, he exhaled, the smoke seemingly emerging from all seven orifices of his face [7] . Then, he opened his mouth, his tone relatively amiable, “Chairman Li.”

His face full of cigar smoke, Li Yingliang coughed, taking a step backwards - Shen Zhiheng had turned around without any warning, and if he did not take a step back, he would be plastered right against him.

He arranged a smile on his face, answering, “Mr. Shen.”

Then, he added, “We haven’t met in a while. It must be more than a month.”

Shen Zhiheng stared at him directly in the eye. “I had fallen ill.”

 “Oh,” he feigned surprise. “What illness? Was it serious?”

Shen Zhiheng sighed softly, “Very serious. I almost died.”

Then, he inhaled through his cigar again, nodding seriously at Li Yingliang, as if he wanted to emphasise the authenticity of what he had just said.

Behind the smoke, his eyes were dark. With his eyes as the centre, it seemed as if there was a pale black smoke spreading outwards. He truly had a sickly appearance; his face had thinned so much it was narrow. Yet, his red [8] lips were full of colour, and were now opening and closing in front of Li Yingliang, alternating between speaking and smoking his cigar.

Feeling that his lips were quite unpleasant to look at, he shifted his gaze to look at his eyes. “If I may ask, which hospital did Mr. Shen stay at? The doctor seems very skilled!”

“It’s not the doctor who was skilled,” Shen Zhiheng said, still amiably. “It’s me who was fortunate.”

“Those who survive catastrophe are bound for good fortune in the future. Could I have the honour of inviting Mr. Shen to have a meal with me, to celebrate Mr. Shen’s recovery?”

Shen Zhiheng nodded. “Sure.”

He had never spoken so much to Li Yingliang, let alone agreed to be his guest. Li Yingliang paused. He did not know why, but the hairs on his body were raised and his back was drenched in cold sweat. After two seconds, he finally showed his joy, though it was not exactly natural. It was almost as if he was so full of hate that he was in pain.

“Excellent! I’ve admired Mr. Shen for so long, and have long wanted to get to know you as a friend, but never had the chance to. This time, Mr. Shen has given me so much face [9] , I’m really extremely happy. Does tomorrow night work for you?”

Shen Zhiheng looked upwards in thought, and then replied, “I have other business to attend to tomorrow. Let’s make it the following day.”

“Good, good, the following day it is.” Li Yingliang seemed to have lost a little control of himself as he clapped his hands together loudly. “The following night, I will send someone in advance to give you an invitation.”

Shen Zhiheng nodded and smiled. “Good! See you the day after tomorrow.”

At this point, a curly-haired young man ran out from the dance hall, shouting loudly from a distance, “Shen-xiong!”

Shen Zhiheng turned to spare him a glance, then said to Li Yingliang, “Then, if you’ll excuse me first.”

Li Yingliang hurriedly extended a hand. “Sure, please do.”

Shen Zhiheng turned and walked towards Situ Weilian, wrapping his arm around his shoulders as he brought him back to the large dance hall. “What are the results of the battle?”

Situ Weilian originally had no status to attend this dance occasion. With a goal in mind, he had begged Shen Zhiheng to bring him. His goal was the one who had stolen the limelight tonight, the second young mistress Jin Jingxue. Ever since he had fortuitously gotten to know Jin Jingxue last year, the energetic and beautiful second young mistress Jin had become the goddess of Situ Weilian’s heart. Li Yingliang thought that Jin Jingxue was extremely annoying; if Division Commander Jin were to pass away that night, he would cut all the ties between him and her the next morning. But given how Li Yingliang was a strange person, his evaluation could not be counted. In the eyes of the normal youth, Jin Jingxue’s beauty and wealth were a given, even more adorable was her bright and candid demeanour. She loved to talk and laugh, almost like a chivalrous heroine, befitting of her status as a modern beauty of the new era.

Tonight, Situ Weilian bore a small glimmer of hope. At the very least, he could see Jin Jingxue from a distance. At the most, he could share a dance with her. Now, as he walked beside Shen Zhiheng, his face was red and sweaty.

He said softly, “I just exchanged quite a few words with Jingxue. She’s extremely courteous, and when she found out that I’m a doctor, she even praised me, saying that I’m smart.”

Shen Zhiheng turned his head slightly to look at him. “Jingxue?”

“Her name is Jingxue, is there anything wrong with me saying her name? It’s not like I said something over the top.”

Shen Zhiheng raised an eyebrow. “Neither did I say anything over the top.”

Situ Weilian was so shy that his face and ears were crimson. He was hardly shy, his face turning red only when Jin Jingxue was mentioned. “Shen-xiong, stop teasing me, okay? After tonight, I don’t know if I’ll have another chance to meet her again.”

Shen Zhiheng stopped. “Then go and find her again and invite her out for a meal or for a film! Unless you’re content with only bumping into her occasionally for the rest of your life?”

“Then will she reject me?”

“Don’t know, just go and try your luck.”

“I’m afraid that she’ll have a bad impression of me. What about this, Shen-xiong, you accompany me and help me speak to her. If she declines, then she’ll be declining the two of us. If not, I’ll be nervous.”

“I can go, but if she agrees, will your meal and film include me as well?”

“Stop fooling around, I know you won’t be bothered with this. Even if we include you, you wouldn’t go.”

“We?”

“Look at you picking on my words again!”

Shen Zhiheng clapped his back. “Fine, I’ll go with you. I’ll first chat idly with Miss Jin. We’ll talk about what good restaurants there are, and if there are any new films recently. Then, you’ll interject, and ask her if she is interested in going to a restaurant or in watching a film with you. As for whether she is willing to or not, it’s none of my business anymore. How’s that?”

Situ Weilian was so delighted he flashed a toothy grin, raking his hand through his head full of hair, trying to press his errant curls down.

Shen Zhiheng really went to see Jin Jingxue.

As a matter of fact, he looked like a young man, but for some reason, he did not seem to have anything in common with the other young people who were present. Perhaps, it was because all the young people who were present were young masters, and the people he frequently interacted with were these young masters’ fathers.

He always kept a distance from women, and it was rare for him to chat with young ladies. Jin Jingxue was a little puzzled, but also a little flattered. After politely exchanging some idle talk, Situ Weilian, who was sitting nearby with his ears peeled, jumped onto a good opportunity with much vigilance to ask Jin Jingxue out.

Without thinking much of it, Jin Jingxue readily agreed. Shen Zhiheng sat for a while, then stood up to leave. Jin Jingxue was a little flustered, when a head suddenly emerged from behind her shoulder.

“You know Shen Zhiheng?”

She turned, seeing Li Yingliang, who was standing behind her with his hands on his knees and his buttocks in the air, and with only his head extended towards her. Jin Jingxue looked at him, blinked her large eyes, and asked, “Where did you run off to? Why couldn’t I find you for so long?”

At once, she reached out to twist his ear, saying angrily, “Since you’ve surrendered yourself, you can’t blame me!”

Li Yingliang felt like he had fallen into the devil’s clutches.

He continuously danced seven or eight dances. Since he could not dance well, Jin Jingxue kept viciously pinching him, and the more she pinched, the messier his feet became. In the end, annoyed, he pushed away Jin Jingxue and turned around to leave, walking to the entrance of the hotel to get some fresh air. There was a steady stream of cars driving off at the entrance; there were already guests who had started to leave the venue. Standing at the steps before the entrance, he looked at the cars, thinking that among all of these cars, there was one waiting for him. It was hard to believe that he would have this day, when he had a car, had power, and could throw his weight around.

There were too many cars, and they had to queue up to slowly drive to the street. He lit a cigarette for himself, smoking while observing each car. At the end of the queue was a new, gleaming, crow black car. The curtains at the backseat were half drawn, and under the lights, he suddenly realised that hidden behind the curtains was half a face; this was precisely Shen Zhiheng.

Shen Zhiheng was staring at him the whole time, and he did not know how long he had been staring. Meeting his gaze, Shen Zhiheng waved slowly at him in farewell.

The car left Jinghua Hotel, first sending Situ Weilian home.

Situ Weilian sat beside Shen Zhiheng. He was in relatively good spirits, continuously whistling a little tune for the entire journey. He said to Shen Zhiheng, “Shen-xiong, I definitely won’t be able to sleep tonight.”

Shen Zhiheng was leaning his head against the window, not paying him much attention. “Then just sleep if you feel sleepy tomorrow.”

“How should I thank you?”

“There’s no need [10] .”

“Shen-xiong, you’re so good to me.”

“You saved my life, this is what I owe you.”

Situ Weilian suddenly moved towards him, looking at him closely, “Why are you so listless? Are you hungry?”

Shen Zhiheng gazed down at him, “I have something on my mind.”

------------------------------------------------------------

姓X的 (xìng X dè), with X being that person’s surname, is an impolite way of referring to someone, whether genuinely in a rude fashion (i.e. meaning it, as Li Guisheng does here), or jokingly or sarcastically (e.g. between friends).

热察 (rè chá). I’m not too sure about this, but this could be referring to the 热河 (rè hé) province, together with some other locality. This was a province that existed during the Republican Era, and in present day, is part of Hebei, Liaoning, and Inner Mongolia.

In the original novel, the characters for Jin Jingxue’s name are 金静雪, which differs from the 金靖雪 used in the drama. Both 静 and 靖 are pronounced as “jìng”. The former means “quiet”, while the latter means “peaceful” or “tranquil”. However, in certain scenes of the drama, Jin Jingxue’s name is still written as 金静雪, although the subtitles and drama marketing materials use 金靖雪.

Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) was a controversial empress dowager, but also one of the most influential women in Chinese history. More information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Dowager_Cixi.

I.e. no shame

长袍 (cháng páo) or 长衫 (cháng shān) is a traditional Chinese attire, originating from the Manchurians but later modified by the Han Chinese. It was commonly worn during the Qing Dynasty and Republican Era. This is also what Shen Zhiheng in the show frequently wears.

Two eyes, two nostrils, two ears, one mouth.

The exact word used here was 红彤 (hóng tóng), which refers to a red that has very slight yellow tones.

给面子 (gěi miàn zi), literally “give face”, is a very Chinese concept. It loosely means to respect someone and not humiliate them.

The phrase used here was 大恩不言谢, which literally means that someone had done you such a great favour that using words to thank them is not enough, instead, you would repay them back the favour in the future by helping them in turn.

[ruanbaijie]

During the Republican Era, Shen Zhiheng, a member of the Tianjin gentry who happened to be a vampire, offended the Japanese and became the target of an assassination attempt. He was saved by a blind young lady, Mi Lan, and his best friend Situ Weilian. When he went to repay Mi Lan for saving him, he discovered the terrible family situation that Mi Lan was in, and so began to pay more attention to her. Meanwhile, Shen Zhiheng’s plan to take revenge on Li Yingliang, the mastermind behind his assassination, fell short of success thanks to Li Yingliang’s Japanese superior, raising suspicions about his identity. Since then, Li Yingliang and the Japanese were in hot pursuit of Shen Zhiheng, determined to dig out the truth about his secret.

Please do not repost this anywhere else or retranslate it!

MAIN DIRECTORY ☾ READ ON AO3 ☾ PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Fate starts, fate ends [1].

These four words are a little mysterious, in that when they occur, they can do so silently, even without a trace.

We must begin telling our story the night Shen Zhiheng was attacked.

20 November 1936, night. Tianjin, English concession zone.

At a grand charity dinner party, Shen Zhiheng encountered an alcoholic, and decided to leave early. When he was not drinking, this alcoholic was also quite a decent, important figure. However, the moment he started drinking, he would become extremely clingy, and would keep bothering whomever he had caught, forcing others to keep drinking with him to the point of drunkenness. That night, he clung on to Shen Zhiheng, but Shen Zhiheng had discovered a few months ago that he could no longer drink alcohol.

Unwilling to vomit at the dinner party, he randomly cooked up an excuse to leave early. As he was afraid that the alcoholic would chase after him, he left in a hurry, and had even forgotten to wear his coat, and only realised how cold it was after he had gotten into his car.

He had always never panicked, but that night, he had been thrown off balance by that alcoholic, and when he thought back about it, it seemed like that had been a bad omen. But at that time, he could not think of anything, but to quickly start his car and return home to rest. His car was the year’s newest Cadillac model. He had just gotten it shipped over from the United States a month ago, and it was the only one of its kind in Tianjin. As such an extravagant newspaper tycoon, Shen Zhiheng himself was precisely a member of the modern literati who lived in luxury. And for the modern literati who happened to be rich, driving a luxury car to attract attention was naturally a fairly reasonable thing to do.

He drove his car past the street that marked the end of the English concession zone, heading straight for the Shen residence in the French concession zone. It was deep at night, and in addition to it being late autumn, when a gust of wind blew, it could be as chilly as a winter night. He drove past a well-lit Western-style mansion, which happened to be General Mi’s house. To be more precise, this was the house of General Mi’s legal wife, Mrs. Mi. General Mi was a gallant figure, and although he had retired ever since he had led his army up north to fight and had since then been idling away half the time, his promiscuous [2] nature remained, propagating everywhere and refusing to return home. 

And, when Shen Zhiheng drove past, there was a battle raging in the Mi mansion. Mrs. Mi, a grass widow, was taking out her anger on Young Mistress Mi. Young Mistress Mi was fifteen years old, but the paltry nutrients that she ate everyday had all been used for her to grow tall, and nothing had been left for puberty, so she still looked like a young girl.

Young Mistress Mi was also blind.

Twenty-four hours later, Young Mistress Mi would meet Shen Zhiheng, but at this point, she did not have an inkling of this meeting. Instead, she was gritting her teeth in pain, at the mercy of her mother who was pulling her hair and knocking her head against the wall. Her hair was sparse, with some parts of her scalp already exposed. They had all been pulled out by Mrs. Mi, because Young Mistress Mi was light in weight and small like a toy, Mrs. Mi found it very suitable to pull her hair and yank her here and there, and it had become so convenient it was as if she had grown addicted to it.

Grasping her walking cane in one hand, Young Mistress Mi knew that it was not possible for her to be knocked to death just by how her mother knocked her around. But she was also tired of living in constant anxiety and fear.

The car drove past the Mi mansion, leaving behind the suffering Young Mistress Mi. At the same time, at a not too distant corner of the city, Li Yingliang walked into his office and sat down behind his desk. Resting his elbows on the surface of the desk, he clasped his hands together and rested his chin on them, slightly tilting his head to look at the electric lamp as he waited for his subordinates to return with good news.

Tonight, Shen Zhiheng must die. If Shen Zhiheng didn’t die, there was no way he could report back to Yokoyama Akira. Besides, even if Yokoyama Akira had not given the order, even from his personal sentiments, he was very willing to kill Shen Zhiheng. This was because he had tried to approach Shen Zhiheng amicably multiple times, but Shen Zhiheng had always refused to pay him any attention. Fuck, he was the chairman of the North China Development Committee, and was accompanied by an air of power and multiple subordinates wherever he went, how could he be not worthy enough for Shen Zhiheng? 

So what if I do things for the Japanese? Aren’t you also taking advantage of the power of the English, Americans, and French to spout nonsense in the newspapers?

Li Yingliang was very sensitive and could not stop thinking about Shen Zhiheng. The more he thought, the angrier he got and the redder his eyes became. With his large, watery eyes and their uplifted corners, accompanied by a pair of long eyebrows and his pale skin, he looked quite beautiful, like a has-been opera actor.

The clock in a corner of the office chimed. Li Yingliang glanced up. It was already exactly one in the morning.

At exactly one in the morning, Shen Zhiheng stepped out of his car along the street.

There was something wrong with his car. No matter how many times he tried, it would not start. So, Shen Zhiheng decided to walk back home. The wind was getting stronger, seeming to almost blow up fine snow. Dressed in only a thin layer of evening attire, Shen Zhiheng, feeling the cold, thrust his hands into his pockets and lowered his head, hunching his shoulders and back as he walked against the wind.

After walking half the street, he turned at the corner, and continued walking half a mile, when he heard a car approaching behind him. Turning around, he was met with the shining headlights of a car that was speeding towards him.

Before he could react, he had already been hit and flung into the air. The car braked, and when he landed on the ground, it accelerated forward, its front and then rear tyres running over his lower back. Then, the car stopped. The two back doors opened, and two black-clad men jumped down, both holding pistols in their hands. The gun barrels were particularly long; they had been fitted with silencers. The two men walked in front of Shen Zhiheng.

“That’s Shen, right?” one of them asked in a low voice.  

The other one turned off the safety of his gun, loading bullets into it. “That’s right.”

The two of them raised their guns and pointed them at him, intending to fire some extra shots at him. Little did they know that before they could pull the trigger, Shen Zhiheng suddenly used his hands to brace himself against the ground, and stood up.

His short hair was messy, and his face and the front of his clothes were stained with large patches of dirt. However, his four limbs were whole, and he still looked like a complete person. He took a step towards the black-clad men, opening his mouth as if he wanted to say something. However, the black-clad men were well-trained, aiming at his head and pulling the trigger. The blast of the bullet snapped his head backwards, and a bloody hole instantly opened on his forehead, red and white bits splashing out together.

He stumbled a step, but still stood. He could even still speak.

“Who sent you?”

The black-clad men took a step back together. They were in the business of killing people, daring to kill live people; was there anything on earth that could scare them? Nothing, they had always been fearless, until this moment, when they met a living person who could not be killed. Again, they raised their guns and surrounded him, both aiming at Shen Zhiheng, both watching that sticky fluid trickle down Shen Zhiheng’s forehead, past his eyebrows, and to his eyes. He raised his hand to wipe it away, the sweet smell of blood permeating through the air. Then, the black-clad men watched as he raised his fingers and stuck them into his mouth.

His fingers were wet. As he sucked each of them one by one, his eyes swept across the two people in front of him.

The black-clad man who had fired the first shot decided to take the first shot again. With his gun aimed at the space between Shen Zhiheng’s eyebrows, he once again pulled the trigger. But now, his pointer that had been on the trigger pulled on nothing, as cold air blew across his fingers. He startled, realising that his gun was now in Shen Zhiheng’s hands. Shen Zhiheng pressed the mouth of the gun against the space between his eyebrows, and asked again, “Who sent you?”

His companion fired.  

His companion was standing beside Shen Zhiheng. In the fleeting moment before the gun fired, it was as if Shen Zhiheng had a premonition, suddenly raising his hand and hitting the gun barrel away. The gun pointed upwards and the bullet grazed across Shen Zhiheng’s hair. Immediately, he changed the direction of the gun in his hands and pulled the trigger at that person’s throat. After a muted sound went off, that person fell.

The gun turned back to the front, and he suddenly roared, “Who? Say or I’ll kill you!”

The black-clad man stared at him, watching his blood and brain juice flow down his temples together, watching how he still was not dead even after being injured to this extent. Not only was he not dead, he could still speak and kill people. The black-clad man had killed countless people up till that night, when he had encountered a living ghost.

He was terrified to the extent that he had forgotten there was still one reinforcement behind him.

The driver in the car stuck a light machine gun out of the window, firing in their direction. Without a silencer, the gunshot sounds rang out like a series of thunder. A tongue of fire swept across the black-clad man and Shen Zhiheng, and after both of them collapsed, the driver kept the gun and drove off. He turned the car around and drove over Shen Zhiheng’s corpse again, escaping into the night as patrol sirens echoed in the distance.

This once clean road was now flowing with rivers of blood.

Shen Zhiheng did not want to die, but if the patrol officers saw just how sorry a state he was now in, it would not be very appropriate if he were to not die. So, before the patrol officers could arrive, he rolled over a few times, rolling himself to the dirt beside the road. The dirt absorbed his fresh blood, and as he crawled forward a short distance, he ran out of blood to bleed.

He no longer left any evidence behind him.

As Shen Zhiheng was crawling with much difficulty, the two people he was fated to meet but had not yet met were currently busy with their own affairs.

Mi Lan [3] was sitting in her dark bedroom, clutching a waist belt in her hand. She wanted to die, but the Western-style house she lived in had smooth and sturdy walls, and had no beams from which she could hang herself. If she wanted to jump from a height, the house had only one level.

Li Yingliang was sitting in his well-lit office, making coffee for himself. He took a sip of the boiling hot coffee, yelping when it scalded him, his beautiful, dewy eyes turning red. Putting his cup down, he paced around the room, waiting for his subordinates to report back to him. They had planned this for so long, and Shen Zhiheng was just a member of the educated class, there was no reason they should fail. He suddenly stopped in front of the mirror to look at himself, but not to admire his handsome looks. He was barely aware of how handsome he was, in fact, he held barely any interest in his looks at all. He was checking to see if he had the air of an official, if he looked like someone who could rise rapidly through the ranks.

21 November 1936, day.

Li Guisheng knocked on the door and called out, “Sir, it’s Guisheng. I’ve returned.”

A voice replied from inside, “Enter.”

He pushed the door open and stepped in, not even daring to breathe. The room beyond the doors was spacious, furnished like an office of the highest quality. The furniture was all made of mahogany, and there was even a sofa and coffee table. Behind the Western-style writing desk sat an attractive young man, who was the one and only chairman of the North China Development Committee, Li Yingliang.

Li Guisheng had never determined exactly what type of government office this committee was, but he knew that it was supported by the Japanese and lacked neither power nor finances, which explained how Chairman Li could furnish an entire room with mahogany furniture. Li Yingliang was not that old, less than thirty years of age, and could be considered among the top two youngest and most promising people among the Chinese traitors [4] . Li Guisheng respected Li Yingliang, because he was no embroidered pillow [5] . Although he looked like a pretty freeloader, he actually had a fierce drive to keep pressing on indomitably. As long as the Japanese gave an order, Chairman Li would do it to the best of his abilities without a single moment of hesitation.

These past few years, Chairman Li had been forging ahead on his path regardless of whatever came his way, devoting himself entirely to this job. However, he was not exactly satisfied with his career, because he had too many competitors, and if he could work hard, so could they. And besides working hard, they still had more means and more connections than him, unlike him, who could only stubbornly persist. Actually, Li Guisheng did not know what weighed on Chairman Li’s heart. Li Yingliang wanted to be witty, smart, and slick, but he did not have the natural gifts for it, and had no choice but to accept the hand that fate had dealt him. After staying up the entire night in his office without sleeping a wink, his eyes had become as red as a rabbit’s.

“Why are you only back now?” he asked Li Guisheng.

“I went to take care of the car,” Li Guisheng replied. “One of the car lights had been broken, and I had to drive it to the car yard to be fixed. But the front of the car was splattered with… you know. It was too dirty, so I had to clean it first, before I dared to drive it to the car yard. Also, I’m the only one who returned.”

As soon as he saw Li Guisheng, Li Yingliang felt lighter. He lowered his head and arranged the few documents on his desk. “What about the other two?”

“They died.”

Li Yingliang paused and lifted his head. “Shen Zhiheng brought people with him?”

“No,” Li Guisheng replied. “The information we had gathered before was correct. Last night, he really went home by himself. That car of his also really broke down on his way back. Everything went according to plan, and when we caught up with him, he was walking on the street by himself.”

“Then how did two people die?”

Li Guisheng took a deep breath, as if he was about to give a long speech. However, in the end, he licked his lips, and could only sigh softly, “Sir, what happened last night, it felt evil in nature.”

Li Yingliang frowned. “Hmm?”

Li Guisheng bent down, describing the events of the previous night. Li Yingliang lowered his eyes and fixed them on the surface of the desk, listening with utmost concentration. When Li Guisheng finished, he raised his eyes, his gaze like fire.

“Did you see wrongly? If his brains were already spilling out, how could he still get up and kill people?”

Li Guisheng shivered in fear under his gaze. “This… when you put it this way, I can’t be certain. Maybe I’m the one who saw it wrongly?”  

Li Yingliang knocked his fingernail against the table, his gaze fixed on him as he spoke, “Put aside the details first. Let me ask you, in the end, in the end , did he definitely die?”

Li Guisheng immediately nodded. “Sir, he definitely died through and through. With the way that he died, it would be difficult to even collect a whole body.”

Li Yingliang leaned back. “Fine, as long as he’s dead. The worse he died, the better. It’ll let others know what will become of those who go against us. Don’t appear in public these two days, go home and rest. When this blows over, come back and run errands for me.”

Li Guisheng agreed, bowed, and left the room with his head lowered.

The Development Committee was housed in a large compound, but it actually did not have that many members. First, this was because Li Yingliang had fabricated the headcount in order to get more resources. Second, this Development Committee was actually not such a committee at all. From its members to the things that they did, all of it could not see the light of day. So, now, in the middle of the day, the compound was quite quiet, with only a little activity at the General Affairs Section.

Li Guisheng was a bachelor without any parents. It was pointless for him to return home, so he turned into the General Affairs Section to pass some time. When it was nearing noon, just when he wanted to leave, a certain Secretary Ding rushed in, and gave him a slap the second he saw him.

“You haven’t left? Good. Quick! The Chairman wants to see you!”

Perplexed, Li GUisheng, hurried back to the chairman’s office. Li Yingliang was seated behind the desk, a cup of steaming hot coffee in his hand. Seeing Li Guisheng enter, he did not say a word, waiting until Li Guisheng walked to him.

“We just got news that the corpse has disappeared,” he said.

Li Guisheng froze. “Who?”

“Who else? Shen.”

Li Guisheng looked at Li Yingliang. He was Li Yingliang’s most trusted subordinate, he had been with him for many years now, and the two of them were close, which explained why he dared to look him in the eye.

“What? That’s not possible. Did someone bury his corpse on purpose to hide that he is dead?”

“When you left, hadn’t the patrol already been alerted?”

“Yes, it felt like their whistles were just beside my ear. Besides, when we acted, we had already checked the surroundings. Let alone people, there was not even a wild cat or dog in the area!” His face changed at this point. “The French, it must be the French. Isn’t Shen Zhiheng in good relations with the French?”

Li Yingliang scoffed. There was the sound of laughter, but not a trace of laughter showed on his cold face. “Ridiculous! What does that have got to do with the French hiding his death? I’m in quite good relations with you as well; one day, when you die, should I also hide your body without letting anyone know? There’s no such reason!” He exhaled audibly. “Leave it like this for now! We’ll wait and see. I hope it was a wild dog that dragged him off and ate him.”

He leaned back, and knocked his fingernail against the table. “This Shen Zhiheng is so troublesome. When he was alive, he caused so much trouble for us. When he is dead, he’s still so disobedient. There’s no body if he’s dead, and no person if he’s alive. How can I report back to Yokoyama?”

Li Guisheng smiled, trying to placate him, “Sir, Shen Zhiheng is definitely dead. Just tell Commissioner Yokoyama that.”

Li Yingliang nodded slowly, waving for Li Guisheng to leave the room.

Li Guisheng was not one to spout nonsense, Li Yingliang knew.

Seated behind the desk, he spent much time calculating what move to make next, but did not manage to come to any conclusion. When the coffee had cooled down enough to not scald him to death, he lifted the cup and took a small sip from it, then steeled himself and swallowed it down. Objectively speaking, he felt that coffee was indeed a lot stronger than Chinese medicine. If he put himself to it, he could still drink it.

Coffee was a modern thing that the wealthy people all drank. Since he now had money, of course, he had to drink it too. As he finished the cup of coffee in sips, he suddenly remembered something: he had forgotten to add milk and sugar into his coffee.

Putting down the cup, he sighed, and called Secretary Ding into the room, “Xiao [6] Ding, do I have anything on tonight?”

Secretary Ding pulled a small booklet out of his pocket. He flipped it open and read, “Sir, General Mi has invited guests over tonight. You have to go to the Mi mansion.”

“Which Mi mansion?”

“The one at Victoria Street. His eighth wife lives there. General Mi is hosting tonight, because his eighth wife gave birth to a boy, who turns a month old today.”

Li Yingliang was silent for a moment. Yokoyama Akira was very interested in General Mi, and was thinking of winning him over. Although General Mi now had neither an army nor power, his reputation still remained, and that was precisely what Yokoyama Akira wanted.

When the commissioner gave an order, Li Yingliang would definitely take action, even attending these kinds of dinner parties scared him the most. He was afraid of getting lost in these situations where a lot of drinking was involved. All the guests knew how to converse and joke, apart from him. He had learned a few phrases of small talk, and he would recite each word and sentence aloud when he met people. However, his demeanour would be very serious, and when he recited till the end, it could be described as solemn and sombre. Anyone who heard it would feel that he was giving a eulogy, and would want to cry together with him.

Because of this banquet at the Mi mansion, Li Yingliang once again thought of Shen Zhiheng. He had seen Shen Zhiheng more than once, and it was always at various banquets. He had wanted to befriend him more than once, but Shen Zhiheng had always ignored him. It was fine if Shen Zhiheng did not want to be friends with him, he would take a step back, as long as Shen Zhiheng did not embarrass him and not continue exposing the reality of his Development Committee in the newspapers. Yokoyama Akira would also be willing to spend a little money to shut Shen Zhiheng up, yet, Shen Zhiheng smugly hid in the concession zone, refusing to pay him any attention.

Shen Zhiheng had his own power and influence. He had ties with the westerners, and also the secret societies. When people mentioned him, they would always call him “Mr. Shen”. Besides just ignoring him, there were a number of times when Mr. Shen looked at him with a strange look in his eyes, as if he were mocking him or pitying him. In any case, it felt like he was watching a small, trapped animal. At these banquets, when Li Yingliang, who was already ashamed and embarrassed, was subjected to such a gaze, he could not help but want to explode on the spot, and blast the motherfucker Shen Zhiheng to death.

So, when Li Guisheng had told him how messily Shen Zhiheng had died, Li Yingliang felt very satisfied.

Li Yingliang sent his people out, but even when they searched into the night, they still could not find Shen Zhiheng’s body.

As his subordinates continued to search, he sat in his car and headed to the dinner party at the Mi mansion. When the car entered the English concession zone, Li Yingliang pulled the window curtain aside and looked out. He saw a car parked at the side of the road. He recognised that car, it was the one and only one in the whole of Tianjin. It was Shen Zhiheng’s.

Staring at that car, he thought, “Where did he go to die?”

This question would continue to torture Li Yingliang for several days. But at this same time, two streets away, the young mistress Mi Lan was holding her walking cane and standing in the yard, thinking the exact same question, “Where do I go to die?”

21 November 1936, night.

Having gained a son, General Mi was extremely delighted. When he remembered that his legal wife had no sons of her own, he made a rare trip home to inform her of the good news, and also to encourage his legal wife and eighth wife to become one family. His eighth wife’s son would call her his mother, and when he grew up, he would also be filial to her.

He had no ill intentions, alas, Mrs. Mi was not on the same page as him. The more she listened, the more she thought that he wanted to bring his eighth wife home, and the two of them would have to fight with each other over him. It was already difficult enough for her as a grass widow, and now she could not even keep her status as his legal wife. What meaning did life have then?

So, she made a scene, where General Mi nearly beat her half to death, and she scratched him deep enough to draw blood. General Mi still had to entertain guests, and now that his face was injured, he was so angry he could have vomited blood. Before he left, he even threw harsh words at her, that he would divorce the bitch that she was.

Mrs. Mi collapsed onto the floor and wailed noisily, and as she did, she suddenly remembered that her daughter had been hiding in her room, pretending to be dead. She had not stepped out to defend her at all, and really resembled the Mi family’s temperament, a natural ungrateful brat.

Standing up, Mrs. Mi rushed into her daughter’s bedroom, pulling out Mi Lan who was hiding inside and beating her wildly in a fit of temper. The few old maids watched from a distance, too scared to even move. When Mrs. Mi vented all the anger boiling in her, she was far from finished. She pushed her daughter into the yard, saying that she no longer wanted her. Since she sided with her father in her heart, then she could get lost to her father’s side and attend her younger brother’s one month party!

Then, she ordered the old maids to lock the doors and not allow her to enter the house.

Mi Lan did not cry at all, not because she had astonishing perseverance, but because she had already reached the pit of despair. She knew that crying was useless, and so she was too lazy to even cry any more.

She sounded not a single cry or beg, dressed in only a grey Western-style. Her calves were wrapped in wool socks, her knees were still exposed. When a chilly gust of wind blew, she was frozen to her core. She sniffed, and smelled snow.

Besides being blind, her other senses were more sensitive than a usual person’s. With her walking cane in hand, she walked towards the exit. When one door shuts, another door opens. If living was really impossible, then there was always death. Now, she wanted to find a place with no one and hide there, waiting for the snow to come. It would definitely snow tonight. A night with wind and snow would be enough for her to freeze to death.

The sky was dark, and a number of street lamps were not working. She silently walked out, the soles of her leather shoes frozen solid. She heard the strong winds howling against the walls on both sides, and even heard the sound of cars and people in the distance. Suddenly, she moved to a side and pressed herself against the wall to hide. After standing ramrod straight for a while, two patrol officers finally rode past on bicycles.

The patrol did not see her. They rode their bicycles strenuously against the wind, passing her by. She remained unmoving, only taking a step when the two patrol officers turned a corner at the end of the street.

She had grown up in this area, and her memory was excellent. Although she usually did not leave the house often, she still recognised the neighbourhood. She had a destination in mind.

She walked to the end of the street, turned, and continued walking. Halfway through, there was a fork in the road. She turned in and continued walking. All along the way, she did not encounter even a single stumbling stone, not because there was some divine entity helping her, but because the heavens had not wanted to force her into a corner, and had given her this ability since birth. Finally, at the end of the forked road, she made another turn. The sound of the wind was louder here, as there were no longer any Western houses along the road. She had reached a desolate place.

The sound of the wind sweeping everything in its path and the sound of the wind spinning through ruined structures was very different to Mi Lan. Following the sound of the wind, she walked forward, off the road, and towards a heap of ruins. These were the ruins of an old house that had caught fire, leaving behind only a few crumbling walls. As the fire had burned a few people in this house, this area had an eerie atmosphere at night. Even on a hot summer night, no one dared to come here.

This was her destination. Her feet were already frozen solid, and given the stiff soles of her leather shoes, she limped as she walked. She vaguely felt that she had walked to the intersection point of two walls. She extended her walking cane, and it met with a wall. This was a good place. She could sit down, lean against the wall, and catch her breath. But her ears moved, and she suddenly held her breath, frozen on the spot.

With her walking cane pressed against the ruined wall, she spent a minute to make sure that it was the sound of breathing coming from behind the wall. And, it was human.

“Who’s there?” she asked.

“Stay away,” a reply came from behind the wall.

It was a man’s voice, deep and soft, and quite nice, but weak. Mi Lan ignored him. As she circled the crumbling wall towards him, she said, “It’s cold tonight. You will freeze to death here.”

That person evidently started to panic. He said “stay away” again, but seeing that Mi Lan had already come over, he softly sighed, “Since you’re disobedient, then I won’t be sorry.”

Mi Lan stopped in front of him, taking in a deep breath as she bent down. “You’re injured?”

He did not reply, and only a gust of wind with blood in its wake flitted by the tip of her nose. This was Shen Zhiheng raising a hand stained with dried blood, waving it in front of her.

“You can’t see?”

She stared at him with big, clear, and bright eyes, and nodded once.

Then, she heard a second sigh. Shen Zhiheng, with his head cracked open and his limbs twisted, put down his hand. This sigh was relaxed and full of disappointment. A single eyeball dangled from his socket and hung against his face, wobbling with his sigh. He did not need to kill her, and so he was relaxed. But because he did not need to kill her, he did not have something to eat, and so he was a little disappointed. With his remaining good eye, he looked at Mi Lan, and noticed that this was a baby-faced young lady with a head of long, messy hair. She looked weak and pale, and had a pair of extremely beautiful eyebrows.

“Whose child are you? Why are you here in the middle of the night?” he asked.

Mi Lan squatted down, inferring from the bloody wind, “Are you bleeding a lot?”

“Someone wants to kill me. I can’t go to the hospital. If you truly want to help, can you make a phone call to my friend? My friend will know how to save me.”

Mi Lan, with her face so cold it was nearly frozen stiff, was stunned. 

As a little ungrateful brat and unlucky jinx, in her own biological mother’s words, it was “excessive for her to live”. Who would put their life in her hands? When did she ever bear the responsibility of a matter of life and death? Suddenly, there was someone asking her to save their life, and she could not help but feel a little flattered. After a moment of surprise, she decided to have a little integrity: she would not die first, she would save him, and only after saving him, she would die.

She nodded in Shen Zhiheng’s direction. “Okay.”

“Do you know Keats Hospital?”

“No.”

“Any phone book will have the number to Keats Hospital. Call it and ask for a doctor named Situ Weilian [7] . Tell him to come and find me, and don’t alert anyone else.”

“Okay.”

“You must keep it a secret. If anyone finds me before Weilian does, I will die.”

Mi Lan continued nodding. “Okay.”

She kept saying “okay” without thinking twice, to the point that Shen Zhiheng simply could not figure out her background. “Whose family’s child are you?”

“My… my surname is Mi.”

“There aren’t many Mi families in this area. Could it be that you’re the young mistress of General Mi’s home?”

“You know my father?”

Shen Zhiheng smiled at her. “No wonder, like father, like daughter. But it’s the middle of the night, why are you all the way here by yourself?”

Mi Lan was silent for a moment, and nearly told the truth. But on second thought, she felt that those matters of hers were not worth mentioning. So, in the end, she replied without thinking, “I’m fine.”

“If you’re really fine, then hurry home.”

“What about you? Are you just going to lie here?”

“My leg is broken, I can’t walk. But don’t worry, I will be fine too.”

Mi Lan put down her walking cane. She lifted her hands to unbutton her buttons starting from her collar, shrugging off the little jacket that she wore. It was thin, and she spread it out to cover Shen Zhiheng’s body. Shen Zhiheng looked at her, noticing how her woolen vest and flannel blouse were exposed. The wind blew her messy hair around her face and shoulders. Her big, clear eyes stared straight ahead, her nose was small but high, and her thin lips were pressed into a straight line, causing her to look both child-like and aloof at the same time. Just as she lay the small jacket over him, it was blown up by the wind, and she pressed it down.

“I’m going home. I will definitely call your friend tomorrow.” She said to Shen Zhiheng’s face, “Don’t freeze to death!”

She spoke grimly, as if Shen Zhiheng would not freeze to death if he chose not to. Shen Zhiheng had never seen such a child before, and while he was a little touched, he also wanted to laugh. “Okay, I promise. I’ll wait for you to save me, I definitely won’t die.”

Mi Lan caught his hand and pressed it against the small jacket on his body. Then, she grabbed her walking cane, stood up, and walked out. Shen Zhiheng moved one eyeball, following her as she went. The strong winds blew her messy hair, and she walked up and down through the debris, occasionally even daring to jump off from high places. Shen Zhiheng had seen many blind people who were nimble before, but it was his first time seeing one who was nimble to this extent.

“Young Mistress Mi,” he pondered over these three words. The figure that had disappeared into the distance was quite interesting. Last night, after crawling here, because he was too cold and too hungry, he had not moved since. And neither could he move; no matter who saw him in his current condition, they would probably start conducting a funeral for him on the spot and pray for him to rest in peace. If he dared to protest, there was also a possibility that they would treat him like an evil spirit and burn him.

Reaching the road, Mi Lan grew more excited as she walked, and even completely did not want to die any more. Or, at least, she completely did not want to die for the time being.

She had nothing to her name, but after it all, she was still young and still hot-blooded. There was no one who could save her, but she could save someone else. Since she was here in the mortal world, she wanted to do something, and wanted to leave something behind. Was the person in the ruins good or bad? She did not know, and had not asked in time, but it did not matter. Even if he was not a human but a demon, she was also willing to save him.

Anyway, she had lived her life just like a lonely ghost. Since the rules and reasons of the human world had never protected her, she had no need to abide by them. The sound of a car came from behind her, and to her overly sensitive ears, it could be considered deafening. She subconsciously moved to the side of the road to hide, but the car stopped by her side. The door opened, and someone stuck their body out to ask, “Miss, who are you walking on the street by yourself? Are you lost?”

The voice belonged to a stranger. It was low and hoarse, without any warmth or feeling. Mi Lan knew she could not outrun a car, so she stopped and turned towards that person. “I am on my way home.”

“Where is your house? I can fetch you back.” That person’s voice paused, moving closer. “Miss, are your eyes inconvenienced?”

She did not detect any ill intention in his voice, and so she nodded.

A hand wrapped around her wrist, and then that voice said again, “Please get in. I am not a bad person. Where is your house? I’ll fetch you home.”

Helpless, Mi Lan let him guide her legs up the car. The hand wrapped around her wrist let go, reaching across her to close the car door. As no one normally treated her kindly, she was also cold towards people around her. Now that she had suddenly met a good person, she thought about it again and again, feeling that she should say a few more sentences. What should she say?

She suddenly remembered, “Thank you. Turn at the corner in front, then pass a street. There’s a building called Mi Mansion, that’s my house.”

That voice grew higher, “You’re General Mi’s family?”

Mi Lan hesitated, “He… He is my father.”

That voice suddenly moved to her front. “You are Young Mistress Mi?”

She subconsciously turned to the side to hide. “Yes.”

That voice immediately retreated back. “Excuse me, I was too surprised. I didn’t expect that I would bump into Young Mistress Mi here. My surname is Li, Li Yingliang. And to your father, I can be considered… a friend.”

Mi Lan moaned internally. The more she wanted to keep it a secret, the more she would bump into someone familiar. Normally, she stayed obediently at home, and there weren’t so many people who could recognise her as Young Mistress Mi. Now that she had run out of her house in the middle of the night for the first time in her life, she ended up finding out that her name was actually known far and wide. She nodded in Li Yingliang’s direction, murmuring, “Hello Li-shushu [8] .”

Li Yingliang measured her with his eye, noticing her dishevelled hair and leaking nose, which was so frozen that its tip was completely red. Even more so, she only had two thin layers of clothes on her, and her knees were completely exposed. She looked too miserable, to the extent that he thought of his own younger sister. He once had a younger sister, but as they were poor, they had no money to cure her aching stomach. She had been in so much pain that she would roll all over the brick bed, all the way up until she had died. When she had died, she had looked like this, with dishevelled hair and mucus and tears leaking from her face, her arms and wrists as thin and skinny as Young Mistress Mi’s. His younger sister had big eyes and a sharp chin. If she had lived to her teens, she would probably have looked very much like Young Mistress Mi.

He never did find out what illness his younger sister had died from, and had no way of finding out. So, he asked Mi Lan, “Young Mistress, why are you walking on the streets by yourself in the middle of the night?”

“My… mother beat me, I got nervous, so I ran out.”

He asked gently, “Why did your mother beat you? Did you do something wrong?”

“I didn’t, it was my mother who was angry, because my father had thrown a one month party for my younger brother.”

Li Yingliang nodded, recalling General Mi’s scratched face at that night’s dinner party. What this young lady said matched up with the scratches on his face, and was not a lie.

“Don’t run about like this in the future. It’s dangerous outside. What if you met some bad people who kidnapped you to be sold? Even if you don't meet bad people, the weather is so cold that you could fall sick.”

Mi Lan nodded. “Thank you, Uncle. I understand.”

Li Yingliang actually quite hoped that she would call him “gege” [9] , but she was the young mistress Mi after all, and he could not treat her disrespectfully. Furthermore, she was blind, not dumb. If she told someone that he had coaxed her into calling him “gege”, it would look like he had impure motives. In actuality, how was he such a person? He only ever had great ambitions, and his private life was pure to death.

At midnight, Li Yingliang fetched Mi Lan back to the Mi mansion.

After kicking her daughter out, Mrs. Mi had proceeded to drown her sorrows in alcohol. She had gotten herself thoroughly drunk, and was now sleeping so deeply that she was snoring away. Li Yingliang originally thought that fetching Young Mistress Mi home could win him a favour, and the Mi family would be grateful to him. Little did he know that when the gates of the Mi mansion opened, only a naggy old maid rushed out to fetch Mi Lan back in. Li Yingliang had not expected that Young Mistress Mi was worth so little. Besides being surprised, he had nothing else to say, and could only go back to his car and return home.

That night, Li Yingliang met Mi Lan for the first time, and Mi Lan met Shen Zhiheng for the first time. They met coincidentally through fate, and got to know one another.

This fate truly began without any warning at all.

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A literal translation of 缘起缘灭 (yuán qǐ yuán miè), which refers to the belief in Chinese Buddhism that the fate between two people is a kind of invisible connection, and the chance of two given people meeting is inevitable. Once the fate tying them together begins, the ties binding them together will increase, yet once it ends, these ties will lessen. This phrase is frequently used to describe how once close relationships between people can return to being distant with time, and often appears in literature and films to allude to the impermanence of worldly affairs.

The phrase “千古风流人物” was derived from lyrics by Su Dongpo (1037-1101), which refers to the many gallant and heroic figures of the past. However, 风流 (fēng liú) can also refer to philandering, promiscuous behaviour.

In the original novel, the characters for Mi Lan’s name are 米兰, which differs from the 米岚 used in the drama. Both 兰 and 岚 are pronounced as “lán”. However, while the former means “orchid”, the latter means “mountain mist”.

汉奸 (hàn jiān) literally means “traitor of the Hans”, this was used to refer to those who betrayed China and the Chinese citizens to submit to or collaborate with foreigners for their personal gain, particularly during the Republican Era and during the resistance to the Japanese.

绣花枕头 (xiù huā zhěn tóu) literally means “embroidered pillow”. It refers to someone who looks attractive on the outside but has no talent on the inside.

Saying 小 (xiǎo) in front of someone’s name is a form of diminutive. It literally means “little” or “small”.

In the original novel, the characters for Situ Weilian’s name are 司徒威廉, which differs from the 司徒威涟 used in the drama. Both 廉 and 涟 are pronounced as “lián”. The former means “incorruptible” or “honest”, and 威廉 are also the characters commonly used for the Chinese translation of the English name “William”. On the other hand, 涟 means “water ripple”.

叔叔 (shū shu) means “uncle”.

哥哥 (gē ge) means “older brother”.

[ruanbaijie]

During the Republican Era, Shen Zhiheng, a member of the Tianjin gentry who happened to be a vampire, offended the Japanese and became the target of an assassination attempt. He was saved by a blind young lady, Mi Lan, and his best friend Situ Weilian. When he went to repay Mi Lan for saving him, he discovered the terrible family situation that Mi Lan was in, and so began to pay more attention to her. Meanwhile, Shen Zhiheng’s plan to take revenge on Li Yingliang, the mastermind behind his assassination, fell short of success thanks to Li Yingliang’s Japanese superior, raising suspicions about his identity. Since then, Li Yingliang and the Japanese were in hot pursuit of Shen Zhiheng, determined to dig out the truth about his secret.

Binged Snowfall, fell absolutely in love with it, finished the novel, and decided to try my hand at my very first proper translation project 🥹

Please do not repost this anywhere else or retranslate it! For different sentences/ phrases, I’ve chosen to either translate close to the original Chinese phrase or to replace it with something that is more commonly understood in English, depending on the context. Retranslating this English translation to another language may further dilute the original Chinese meaning.

Translation footnotes will be available at the end of each chapter for any words/ phrases I feel need a more detailed explanation of nuances.

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Shen Zhiheng [1] could be considered a good person, in fact, a relatively decent one at that.

He was in his late twenties at least, or his early thirties at most, in any case, he was in the prime of his life. His looks were also of a decent calibre: he was tall, like a clothes rack, and was even more sophisticated in his dressing, always in a proper suit, as if he could stand behind a glass window at any time and pretend to be a mannequin.

Not only was his personal appearance already of such a level of perfection, his assets and wealth were also abundant. Although his origins were a bit of a mystery, within the Beiping [2] and Tianjin region, he had started by investing in newspaper companies to make a fortune. After that, with his shrewd acumen for finance, he had spread his investments everywhere, using money to make more money, and had rapidly become famous in Tianjin. Beyond his wealth, he also published poems and essays frequently in the newspapers. Although some said that those poems and essays were ghostwritten, but there was really no need to nitpick over such an issue. As long as everyone knew that he was both talented and rich, both handsome and wealthy, that was enough.

Now that he had both money and time, and that he was a major investor of several large newspapers, two of which were in the concession zones, he could rely on the support of his English, French, and American friends, and even on the gangs to have his back. The newspapers he supported had nothing to fear, daring to publish any piece of news, to scold any person, and had even offended the Japanese this year.

The Japanese themselves did not understand how far his resources reached, that he could actually dig up their political secrets, and after that, publish those secrets directly in the newspapers instead of making use of them to enter negotiations with the Japanese. This caused a societal uproar, and even a few student protests. And because they could not get a grasp on his social connections, the Japanese did not dare to fall out with him. Instead, they first tried to dangle carrots in front of him, trying to use benefits and sentiments to move him. Little did they know that Shen Zhiheng was a cold-hearted young gentleman with no lack of money, and who entirely could not be moved. This caused a certain Commissioner Yokoyama Akira [3] to be very annoyed, as if he were playing a game of unrequited love and had been met with complete ignorance, to his complete humiliation.

Annoyed, the commissioner wanted to have Shen Zhiheng killed. Actually, Shen Zhiheng also knew that there was a possibility that the commissioner wanted to have him killed. However, in recent years, his life had been smooth sailing, too smooth, that it caused him to be blindly positive, and not take this possibility seriously. It was to the extent that when the commissioner decided to make his move, Shen Zhiheng was still absentmindedly making public appearances. As he had in previous years, he organised a charity event, where he gave the local beggars a cotton-padded jacket and five cents each.

Everyone thought that Shen Zhiheng was a good person, and on this point, Shen Zhiheng agreed with them. He also thought that he was not bad, at least he could live up to the word “good”. The only unresolved question: he didn’t know if he could be considered a person [4] or not.

Fortunately, this was not too urgent a question. After all, compared to everyone else, he looked even more like a human, and at least for the time being, he wouldn’t go so far as to say that he would be treated as a demon and burned to death. Besides, this question was not necessarily unsolvable. For close to ten years, Shen Zhiheng had been pretending to be human and flourishing, and he believed that he could find the answer for himself.

Unfortunately, this night, while he was on his way home, the self-confident Shen Zhiheng accidentally had his head blasted, and then even ground to pulp by a car.

Mr. Shen wanted to cry yet simply had no tears left, and very nearly died from agony.

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In the original novel, the characters for Shen Zhiheng’s name are 沈之恒, which differs from the 沈之衡 used in the drama. Both 恒 and 衡 are pronounced as “héng”. However, while the former means “lasting” or “constant”, the latter means “to judge” or “to measure”, or to refer to something that is balanced. However, in certain scenes of the drama, Shen Zhiheng’s name is still written as 沈之恒, although the subtitles and drama marketing materials use 沈之衡.

What Beijing was called from 1928.

The Kanji characters of Yokoyama Akira are 横山 瑛, which in Mandarin Chinese pronunciation, is “héng shān yīng”, with “Hengshan” being his surname and “Ying” being his given name. In the show, as the Japanese people have been replaced with Chinese people instead, Yokoyama Akira is now Chi Shanying 池山英 “chí shān yīng”, with “Chi” being his surname and “Shanying” being his given name.

As in “human”. The Chinese character 人 (rén) can refer to both a person as an individual, or a human as in a human being.

[ruanbaijie]

During the Republican Era, Shen Zhiheng, a member of the Tianjin gentry who happened to be a vampire, offended the Japanese and became the target of an assassination attempt. He was saved by a blind young lady, Mi Lan, and his best friend Situ Weilian. When he went to repay Mi Lan for saving him, he discovered the terrible family situation that Mi Lan was in, and so began to pay more attention to her. Meanwhile, Shen Zhiheng’s plan to take revenge on Li Yingliang, the mastermind behind his assassination, fell short of success thanks to Li Yingliang’s Japanese superior, raising suspicions about his identity. Since then, Li Yingliang and the Japanese were in hot pursuit of Shen Zhiheng, determined to dig out the truth about his secret.

Please do not repost this anywhere else or retranslate it!

MAIN DIRECTORY ☾ READ ON AO3 ☾ PREVIOUS CHAPTER

Mi Lan returned to her room, all along the way being nagged at by the old maid who kept yawning. “Young Mistress, you really gave us such a scare. How could you run out all by yourself? Do you want to throw your life away? Thank goodness you met a good-hearted person who fetched you home. If not, you can’t see, and you don’t recognise your surroundings, what if you’d really gotten lost? I was just thinking about waiting until Mistress is fast asleep to go and bring you home, but you…”

Mi Lan entered her room silently. After dealing with Mrs. Mi for the whole day, the old maid had long since been exhausted. Now that the young mistress had also returned, she hurriedly went to rest. Mi Lan shivered in the middle of her room, walking over to the side of her bed to sit down, removing her shoes. Her shoes were made of leather, which had now frozen to the point they seemed like metal. She curled up her legs and hugged her knees, leaning against the head of her bed. Her heart was surging in her chest and she could not sleep. Only when it was in the wee hours of the morning did she finally fall asleep.

When she woke up again, her head was heavy and her legs were wobbly. While her hands were icy cold, her forehead was boiling hot. She knew that she had fallen ill, but she did not want to draw attention to herself. After sneakily washing up, she pushed the door open and walked out.

It was about nine in the morning. The entire Mi mansion was silent. Everyone from Mrs. Mi to the old maids were all still asleep. When she walked past the telephone in the corridor, she remembered the man she had encountered in the ruins just the night before. When he had begged her to give a call to Keats Hospital, he must have forgotten about her eyes.

She could not see the number of Keats Hospital in the phone book, and if she wanted to know it, she could only ask someone else to help her find it. But who could she ask? The old maids at home? Would they allow her to randomly give a call to a doctor she did not know?

However, she had other ways. While walking, she spread out the five fingers of her right hand, picking up her walking cane that was leaning against the wall in the corner of the corridor. She thrust her left hand into the small pocket of her Western-style coat, where she had stuffed two paper bills. She had never had the need for money, nor did anyone usually give her any, but she had secretly saved a few bills. What had she saved them for? She herself had never known, but today, she finally did. It was probably written in the stars that she had saved those few dollars just so that she could leave the house that very day.

She gently pushed the door of the building open and slipped out. Hurriedly, she crossed the yard, out of the main gate and into the street. She walked towards the end of the street, where she could hear the voices and laughter of the rickshaw pullers.

She sat herself onto a rickshaw, the palm of the hand that was holding her walking cane full of sweat. “Take me to Keats Hospital.”

She was worried that the rickshaw puller did not know where Keats Hospital was, but he happily replied, “Okay! Sit tight!”

Mi Lan did not know that Keats Hospital was closeby.

When the rickshaw pullers ran, the people sitting behind them would lean backwards. As she rarely left the house, and even so would usually do so in a motor car, this was her first time leaning back on the street while someone else was pulling her. She was full of sweat, constantly worrying that she would lean back too far and fall backwards onto the street. Fortunately, the rickshaw puller stopped after running not too far a distance.

“Miss, we’re here!”

The rickshaw stopped, and Mi Lan pitched forward. Fumbling around, she got off the rickshaw and onto the floor, retrieving a bill from her pocket and passing it to the rickshaw puller.

“Is this enough?”

“More than enough!” the rickshaw puller smiled. “This short distance does not need a dollar! You just need to give me twenty cents. Even if it’s more than that, I won’t dare to accept it. If your parents find out, they’ll definitely scold me for bullying children.”

Mi Lan did not have any spare change. Besides, be it twenty cents or a dollar, the difference was not big to her. In any case, she just wanted to get to Keats Hospital. Since she had reached, she had already checked off her first goal.

She shook her head at the rickshaw puller and said, “Then don’t go. I’m here at the hospital to find someone. I will leave after telling him something, and you can send me back home.”

The rickshaw puller agreed and pointed the way to her to enter the hospital. The full name of Keats Hospital was “Keats General Hospital”. It occupied quite a big yard, and had many medical specialisations, from haemorrhoidectomy to obstetrics and gynaecology. It had everything, and particularly specialised in the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. The head of the hospital treated all patients of sexually transmitted diseases equally, giving all of them arsphenamine shots and never mixing any fake medicine in it. After a few shots, the extreme pain that the patients suffered could really be alleviated. Besides treating ailments of the physical body, this hospital also provided an outlet for the poor. When the poor people in the neighbourhood were desperate, they could come here to sell their blood. At ten dollars for a pound, the price of blood was fair, and they would often round the number up for the poor people. So, the business of this hospital was always booming, and its entrance was always parked with cars.

The concierge happened to be standing in the yard when he suddenly saw a blind young girl enter, much to his confusion. This young girl was dressed in grey, and did not look like a wealthy young lady. However, when he looked again, her grey clothes were of good material, and she herself was extraordinarily smooth-skinned, and was definitely from a normal family. The concierge saw her standing in a daze. 

Mi Lan had already noticed his presence. She turned her head towards him and asked, “Hello, may I ask, is this Keats Hospital?”

“Yes, you’re right.”

“Then, may I ask if there is a Doctor Situ Weilian here?”

“Ah, yes! Are you looking for him?”

Mi Lan nodded once. “Yes. Could I trouble you to take me to see him? I have something very urgent for him.”

The concierge brought Mi Lan to the lounge, and went to find Doctor Situ. Sitting in the lounge, Mi Lan concentrated on distinguishing the different scents in the air. Suddenly, she lifted her head and looked towards the entrance. She could hear someone approaching with large strides.

Sure enough, the door opened, and Situ Weilian appeared.

The Situ family was originally an overseas Chinese family from Nanyang [1] , but had returned to China more than twenty years ago. Old Man Situ was obsessed with being an official, and given his considerable assets, he had held quite a number of important official titles in the northern regions around Jingdu [2] and Tianjin during the time of the Beiyang government [3] . Situ Weilian actually did not have anything to do with the Situ family; he was Old Man Situ’s adopted son. According to hearsay, he had lost both of his parents when he was around the age of seventeen or eighteen. Even though he was already a young man and could establish his own family and eke out a living for his own, it was as if Old Man Situ had some relationship with his family, and so had taken him in as his adopted son.

The Situ family had no lack of children, and the biological children already bickered among themselves quite often. Hence, Situ Weilian had never really set foot into the Situ home, and had always stayed on the school premises while studying. When he had finally graduated from medical school and gotten a job at Keats Hospital, he spent his own money and took advantage of the Situ family even less. The young ladies and young masters of the Situ family saw that he was not their rival when it came to splitting the family inheritance, and so they were quite friendly with him.

Situ Weilian’s parentage was complicated. He was born tall and fair, with a head of curly hair. When dressed in a white coat. He resembled a large jade plant. Hearing that a young lady had paid him a visit, Doctor Situ rushed over in high spirits, his white coat floating out behind him as if he were running against the wind. It was only until he entered the room and had a look did he become slightly disappointed. This lady was too ludicrously young. She was simply still a child.

“Hello,” he said. “I am Situ Weilian.”

Mi Lan stood up and bowed to him. Then, she straightened her waist and said, “I’m called Mi Lan. I have a secret to tell you, please close the door.”

Situ Weilian turned around and closed the room door tightly. Then, he walked to Mi Lan’s side and sat down. “A secret? Do you know me?”

Mi Lan turned towards Situ Weilian and said softly, “Your friend is injured, he wants you to go and save him.”

“My friend? Who?”

Mi Lan frowned. “I forgot to ask him for his name.”

“Sit down and tell me in detail. Which friend of mine is injured?”

Mi Lan followed his words, sitting down. Then, she related the entire story to him. The more he listened, the uneasier Situ Weilian became. When she finished, he said softly, “I understand! I’ll go and save him tonight!”

“Please try to go as early as you can. I’m afraid that he will freeze to death.”

“I know. Don’t worry, I know what to do. Xiao Meimei [4] , thank you. When he is better, we will visit you to thank you.”

Mi Lan hurriedly waved her hands. “Don’t, my mother doesn’t know that I left the house at night. If she does, she will beat me. I don’t want your thanks either. Just make sure that he lives well.”

After that, she stood up. “I’ll go home now.”

Situ Weilian followed her to the door. “I’ll call a rickshaw to fetch you home.”

At the door, Mi Lan suddenly turned around. She could not see, and Situ Weilian knew that she could not see, but she stared at him with a pair of icy cold eyes, and said in a low voice, “You will really go and save him, right?”

Situ Weilian smiled, “Of course. He’s my best friend.”

Mi Lan lowered her eyelids, remembering Situ Weilian’s voice and scent. If Situ Weilian lied to her and let the man in the ruins die from pain or the cold, then unless she died herself, she would definitely return to question him as long as she had the chance.

Mi Lan left the hospital and got onto the rickshaw. The moment she returned to her house, she could not last any longer.

Her body was boiling hot, but her face was as pale as marble. Were the people at home awake? Did they know that she had left the house sneakily? She did not bother to check, scrambling to her room. Her body felt like it was floating as she lay on her mattress. She was drowsy, but her senses were incomparably sharp. Sound waves from near and afar howled as they reached her, as if she could hear the boundless universe. This universe had neither colours nor faces, but other than that, it had everything.

In the afternoon, the old maids discovered that Mi Lan had a high fever, and hurriedly went to inform Mrs. Mi. Still simmering in anger, Mrs. Mi rushed to Mi Lan’s bedside upon hearing this, pointing at her and scolding, “I only said a few things to you last night, and you’re pretending to be sick today? What? Are you trying to blackmail me? I’m telling you, you’d better stop acting! Your father ruined my life, and now you want to join in the fun and climb all over me? Let me tell you directly, no way! If you’re so capable, then get lost and leave this home forever! So many people are mothers but I must be the one who committed a sin and had a blind child like you! I can’t marry you off and I can’t kick you out, you have to rely on me for my entire life! Until when must I endure this till the end?!” 

After saying that, Mrs. Mi wanted to cry and continue scolding at the same time. But since it was difficult to do both at the same time, she moved to beat Mi Lan in anger. The old maid, seeing Mi Lan lying on the bed, as thin as a “sheet” of person and truly unable to bear Mrs. Mi’s fists and kicks any longer, begged and coaxed Mrs. Mi until she left the room.

Mi Lan lay on her bed with her eyes closed, unmoving.

As the head of Keats Hospital was Situ Weilian’s elder cousin, Situ Weilian easily managed to borrow a hospital car. He even left early that late afternoon, going home first to make some preparations.

He was so nervous that he could not eat his dinner, anxiously looking outside the window as he waited for the sky to turn dark. Simply turning dark was not enough, it had to be dark to the point where everything was silent, where not even a single stray dog could be found on the street.

At midnight, he left.

The young girl who had come to see him that morning, the one called Mi Lan, did not know a single road name besides the one where her house was. He finally managed to get the route right only after much effort. As for the identity of the person who had asked for help, there was no need to mention it. It was definitely Shen Zhiheng. Besides Shen Zhiheng, who else would think so highly of him and dare to be so hell-bent on waiting for him to save his life?

As he drove along the street, he opened his eyes wide and kept them peeled on the road. On the passenger seat was a canvas satchel, in which two glass bottles kept clinking against one another. Nothing must go wrong. If he got stopped, without even mentioning anything else, just those two bottles were sufficient to put him in a pickle. The street lamps along the two sides of the road grew fewer in number. Now that he had passed the bustling neighbourhood that was akin to a forest of Western-style houses, he softly sighed in relief, turning the steering wheel into a small dark alley and stopping the car along the side of the road.

Pushing open the car door, he jumped out, sneezing as the cold wind blew across him. He wrapped his coat tighter around him. It was a windy, moonless night, and he could only vaguely discern the silhouettes of the ruins before him.

Fumbling around, he took a step forward with his waist slightly bent. As he walked, he gently called out, “Shen-xiong [5] , I’m here. Where are you?”

A moan came from behind a ruined wall.

Situ Weilian hurriedly ran over. Just at this moment, the clouds in the sky parted, revealing the moon. Under the moonlight, he looked down and jumped in shock.

“Aiyo, my goodness!” He took a step closer, bending down to take a closer look. “Shen-xiong, who made such a mess out of you? Can you still live?”

Shen Zhiheng’s voice rang out. Although it was feeble, it was still relatively stable, “That depends on whether you want me to live or not.”

Situ Weilian stretched out his hands, wanting to hug him, yet he did not know where to start. “Of course I want you to live. If not, why would I come here?”

Shen Zhiheng sighed softly, “Then just get about to saving me.”

Situ Weilian stood up and turned in a circle. As if a stroke of luck had befallen him, he suddenly got a brainwave, peeling his coat off him and messily rolling Shen Zhiheng up in it. When he had wrapped up approximately all of the the tiny bits and pieces of his body [6] , he hoisted up this roll with the strength of both his arms, then rushed to the street and sent the roll into the backseat.

Panting, he sat on the driver’s seat, started the engine, and drove home.

In the little apartment where he lived alone, Situ Weilian busied himself until dawn broke.

With his hands on his hips, he stood beside the bed and looked at his work of art. This work of art was a human shape that was tied tightly with bandages and splits, a little like a mummy, with only half a face, that was still in a relatively good condition, revealed. A blanket was pulled up to the mummy’s chest. Having just fallen asleep, Shen Zhiheng’s eyes were closed.

Although Situ Weilian had just graduated from medical school, he could not even be considered a charlatan doctor, and always just dawdled around in the surgical department of Keats Hospital. Just now, he had put in a lot of effort and buckets of sweat, before he finally managed to stuff Shen Zhiheng’s overflowing organs back into his torso, and his dangling eyeball back into his eye socket. As for the large hole on his forehead, half a head’s worth of his brain juice that had now disappeared to lands unknown, and his shattered joints, Situ Weilian could do nothing for these, and he could only wrap Shen Zhiheng into something that resembled the shape of a person.

He had three hot water bottles at home. He filled all of them up and put them beside Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng had lain in the ruins for two days and two nights, and his body temperature was cold like a snake’s. If not for how he might have dissolved into a whole tub of minced meat in a bathtub, Situ Weilian really wanted to give him a hot bath so that he could quickly regain a normal body temperature.

Never mind how he could not freeze to death.

“Shen-xiong?” he asked.

Shen Zhiheng had no response.

Rubbing his hands, he lowered his body and moved to Shen Zhiheng’s ear, calling again, “Shen-xiong?”

Shen Zhiheng still had no response.

He licked his lips, held his breath, and extended his hands, lifting Shen Zhiheng’s lip. Tilting his head, he closed one eye, attempting to peer at the latter’s oral cavity. Then, with his fingertip, he nudged his tooth. Shen Zhiheng’s teeth were neat and firm. Risking an injury to his fingertip, he applied pressure as he pressed his canine. As expected, a sharp little tooth, almost like a thorn, suddenly pushed out from his gums, extending down from behind his canine.

He snickered, and immediately saw that Shen Zhiheng had opened his eyes. Shen Zhiheng’s eyes were large and deep, staring coldly at Situ Weilian. 

“Stop fooling around.”

Then, he closed his eyes and continued to sleep, all the way until noon.

For him, this was already considered a rare long sleep. Situ Weilian lay at the foot of the bed, reading a novel as he raised it in the air. Suddenly hearing movement, he sat up and asked, “You’re up?”

Shen Zhiheng yawned. “I’m hungry. Is there anything to eat?”

Situ Weilian became spirited. “If you want to eat something, that’s possible. Let’s make a deal–”

Shen Zhiheng suddenly shut his eyes tight, his expression equal parts agonised and frightening. “Fuck off! I’m about to starve to death!”

Holding back his tongue, Situ Weilian jumped off the bed and without even wearing his slippers, went straight to his canvas satchel beside the door to retrieve the two dark red glass bottles from it.

Dark red, because their contents were full of blood.

Removing the rubber stopper at the mouth of the bottles, he found a straw from a drawer and stuck it into one of the bottles. With both his hands, he held the bottle to the side of the pillow, and Shen Zhiheng turned his head and held the straw in his mouth, sucking desperately. He finished one bottle of blood in a breath, and Situ Weilian hurriedly continued with the second. When Shen Zhiheng had also sucked the second bottle dry, he spat out the straw, and let out a long breath. 

His eyeballs trembled as they rolled up into their sockets, and his eyelids suddenly pressed shut together. As if he were dizzy, he sank into the mattress, slightly parting his lips and breathing softly. Situ Weilian stood beside the bed, not daring to make a sound or move, staring at him with large eyes.

Ten minutes later, Shen Zhiheng slowly came back to his senses. Turning his head to look at Situ Weilian, he slowly said, his voice gentle, “Weilian, I’m sorry. I scared you.”

Situ Weilian turned and put the bottles on the table, pulling a towel from the washbasin stand. He walked over and wiped the blood stains from the corners of Shen Zhiheng’s lips. “Aiya, I saved you, and you still roared at me.”

“When I’m better, I’ll definitely reward you handsomely, okay?”

Situ Weilian’s temper was like that of a child’s. He resentfully walked to the bathroom to wash the two bottles, and to wash the flecks of blood on his hands with soap. By the time he returned to the room, his aggrievement had already subsided.

He excitedly sat by the bed and asked Shen Zhiheng, “Tell me, who attacked you so viciously?”

“Don’t bother about this. I know who it is.”

“Fine, I won’t bother. Anyway, those newspapers of yours are always full of gossip, daring to expose anyone’s secrets. There must definitely be a lot of people who hate you. But, Shen-xiong, you must be really fortunate. Even by lying down without moving, you can wait for a young lady to be your messenger. It was in the middle of the night, what do you think she had gone all the way there for?”

“I don’t know. The next time I see her, I’ll ask her.”

“Anyway, she really is quite brave. She actually came all the way to our hospital by herself, and she can’t see.”

“She went to the hospital personally?”

“Yeah,” Situ Weilian poked him. “Now that I think about it, she even said that she didn’t want us to go to her house to thank her. She said that she had done all of this secretly. If her mother found out, her mother would definitely beat her.”

“Mm,” Shen Zhiheng responded noncommittally.

In the afternoon, Situ Weilian left the house to go to work. He had a grand total of two tasks at work: the first was to return the car, the second was to sit at the surgery department. If there was something to do, he would do it, if there was nothing, he would mimic a Western doctor and sit at the entrance of the surgery department like an exhibit, letting the patients see him and to show that the hospital had influences from both China and the West, and was full of Western influence.

Situ Weilian sat for half a day, until his buttocks were nearly flattened. Then, in the evening, like a thief, he pilfered two large bottles of blood and returned home. There was an endless flow of poor people who came to Keats Hospital to sell their blood, and the hospital simply could not keep that many. If the hospital did not want it, then he wanted it. When others asked, he said that he was selling it to Shen Zhiheng, who had a strange quirk of using human blood to water his plants, in particular, orchids.

This quirk was scary enough. If a normal person used human blood to water their plants everyday, even if their family members did not bother, their neighbours would send him off to the psychiatric hospital. But Shen Zhiheng was a famous tycoon, and people were always particularly tolerant of people like that, just like how it was natural for a talented scholar to divorce his wife with bound feet at home, all the while dating his female students. Lording over the concession zone in his Western-style mansion, even if Shen Zhiheng secretly ate live people, as long as the patrol did not bother, no one could do anything to him, let alone if he watered his plants with human blood. 

Situ Weilian actually had long wanted to leave Keats Hospital and stop loafing around, because it was too boring and it felt like he was wasting his time. But, in order to feed that Shen-xiong, it was not yet convenient for him to resign. He had known his Shen-xiong for a little more than three years. It was not a long time, but when they had first met, it was as if they were old friends, and their relationship was deep. When they had first met, it was also at night. After getting off a night shift, as he was about to leave the hospital, he had bumped into an unconscious Shen Zhiheng at the hospital entrance. He had pulled Shen Zhiheng into the hospital, and just when he had wanted to find out what ailment he was suffering from, in the blink of an eye, this comatose old brother had rushed into the yard, and taken a bite out of the hospital’s large watch-wolfdog [7] .

After filling his stomach with dog blood, Shen Zhiheng had calmed down and had turned around to look at Situ Weilian. He was waiting for Situ Weilian to start yelling wildly, however, Situ Weilian was silent, and had only said, “Your teeth are not bad!”

And then, “You have to pay for our dog. That’s the hospital’s dog.”

The two people got to know each other then. On a spiritual level, it could be said that the two of them had very different ways of thinking, yet they could get along very well - not something that was faked, but actually genuine.

As for what exactly this Shen-xiong was, Situ Weilian had known him for three years and had conducted research on him for two and a half years, but till date, he still could not figure out what kind of creature he was. If he did not take it too seriously, Weilian thought that this old brother could be considered a type of demon or monster.

Shen Zhiheng lay in Situ Weilian’s house for a month.

On the night of the thirtieth day, Situ Weilian removed the bandages and splits on Shen Zhiheng’s body. He lay naked on the bed, his skeleton whole and perfect, his joints agile, his skin colour even. He had no scars, and had only become shockingly thin. His four limbs seemed strangely long, and his entire body was covered with the smell of blood, as if he had just crawled out from an ocean of blood.

After taking a hot bath in Situ Weilian’s bathtub, he emerged from the water and sat on the wooden stool beside the bathtub, lowering his head and letting Situ Weilian cut his hair. With a pair of scissors in one hand and a wooden comb in the other, Situ Weilian meticulously cut his hair.

He cut and muttered at the same time, “The blood is twenty a bottle, you drank a total of more than fifty bottles, let’s count it as sixty. Two times six is twelve, a total of a thousand and two hundred. I also waited on you for a month, and slept on the floor for you for a month. Today, I’m even cutting your hair. So, tomorrow, you must give me two thousand.”

Shen Zhiheng said, “You good-for-nothing, after calculating here and there, it’s only two thousand?” Then, he suddenly remembered a new question. “You’ve been bringing back so much blood recently, will anyone in the hospital get suspicious?”

Situ Weilian immediately smiled. “I have my ways, you don’t have to bother about it. You just said that two thousand is too little, why don’t you add a little and let me prosper?”

“I’ll write you a cheque tomorrow.”

“How much?”

“I’m not sure. It depends on my mood.”

Situ Weilian used the scissors to knock Shen Zhiheng’s head. “Anyway, I know that you won’t mistreat me. Just you wait, I’ll cut you a pretty new hairstyle.”

Shen Zhiheng lifted his head, somewhat alarmed, “What new hairstyle? Just cut it short for me. Don’t fool around with my head.”

“A hairstyle like mine, how’s that?”

“A popcorn head? No thanks.”

“You don’t understand, this hairstyle of mine is this year’s latest style in Paris. I just didn’t comb it well, once I put a bit of wax, it wouldn’t look like popcorn anymore.”

“No, no, I must go out and meet people tomorrow.”

“Hmph!” Situ Weilian snapped the scissors shut. “It’s not up to you.”

Situ Weilian got what he wished, cutting the hair on Shen Zhiheng’s temples until he turned pale, letting him bathe in a modern gust of wind from Paris.

Then, he stuffed a bottle of blood into his canvas satchel, intending to secretly send Shen Zhiheng back to the Shen mansion. He walked to the door and turned around, and when he did not see Shen Zhiheng, he hurriedly carried his back and returned to the bathroom. Shen Zhihen was looking at himself in the mirror, applying hair tonic to his head.

“Shen-xiong, must you really?” He didn’t know if he should laugh or cry. “It’s the middle of the night, who will see you?”

Shen Zhiheng parted his hair, then combed it all towards the back. Without any stray hairs concealing his face, it was obvious how thin his face was. His large eyes were sunken below his thick, black eyebrows, his nose bridge was high, his lips thin, and even his chin seemed to be sharper. He raised his hand to adjust the knot of his tie, looked at the mirror, and sighed. 

He turned to face Situ Weilian, “The thing that people like me are the most scared of is to reveal any flaws. Especially this time, all the more should I not let anyone be able to tell that I have just escaped from death.”

“So what if they can tell? Anyway, you didn’t really die.”

“Escaping from death is ultimately something dire. It’s best if I remain dignified to the end.”

Upon saying this, he pulled the hem of his suit, turned around, and walked out of the narrow bathroom. When he passed Situ Weilian, he saw this young man still holding his pocket in a daze.

He said softly, “Keep up, send me home.”

Situ Weilian came to his senses, hurriedly chasing him out of the door.

------------------------------------------------------------

Southeast Asia.

京都 (jīng dū) literally means “capital city”, and was what Beijing was called from 1918 to 1928 under the Beiyang government.

The internationally recognised government of China from 1912 to 1928.

妹妹 (mèi mei) means “little sister”, and 小 (xiǎo) means “small” or “little”. When put together, it essentially means “little sister”.

兄 (xiōng) means “older brother”.

The exact phrase used here was “七零八碎的玩意儿”, which literally means the “seven and eight bits of playthings” - which I laughed at because it just describes what a crappy condition Shen Zhiheng was in with his body literally falling to pieces hahahahahaha (the drama version was ten times more sanitised).

A watchdog that happens to be of a wolfdog breed.

[ruanbaijie]

During the Republican Era, Shen Zhiheng, a member of the Tianjin gentry who happened to be a vampire, offended the Japanese and became the target of an assassination attempt. He was saved by a blind young lady, Mi Lan, and his best friend Situ Weilian. When he went to repay Mi Lan for saving him, he discovered the terrible family situation that Mi Lan was in, and so began to pay more attention to her. Meanwhile, Shen Zhiheng’s plan to take revenge on Li Yingliang, the mastermind behind his assassination, fell short of success thanks to Li Yingliang’s Japanese superior, raising suspicions about his identity. Since then, Li Yingliang and the Japanese were in hot pursuit of Shen Zhiheng, determined to dig out the truth about his secret.

Please do not repost this anywhere else or retranslate it!

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After seeing General Mi at the dance party, Shen Zhiheng had a brainwave, and came up with an idea.

The young mistress of the Mi family had saved his life, and her saving his life was different from Situ Weilian saving his life. She was a young blind girl, and the two of them were strangers. Moreover, according to his observations, she had really kept the secret to herself, and had yet to reveal a single hint about what had happened that night.

Although he did not mention it, Shen Zhiheng could not stop thinking about this young lady. When he thought about how she had gone behind the backs of her parents and fumbled her way to Keats Hospital by herself, he felt a pang of guilt. That night, wracked with pain, cold, and hunger, he had been a little light-headed. He had forgotten that this young lady was blind, and had still thought that she could easily look up a phone number by herself, like a normal person. 

The Mi mansion was easy to find, but he remembered that Mrs. Mi was a shrew. Besides, the young lady had also specifically left word to not visit her to thank her. After mulling over this matter for several days, fortunately, this night, General Mi gave him an idea.

After sending Situ Weilian back to his apartment, he returned home to take a shower and change his clothes, before climbing onto his bed to sleep. Before sleeping, he wanted to drink a little alcohol out of habit, but when he held a mouthful of whiskey in his mouth, he violently vomited it out.

His senses were being stripped away by his bizarre fate. Now, he could still maintain the appearance of a dignified person, and had a dignified identity and position in human society. But, he knew that in the end, even all of these would be stripped away from him. In the end, what he would be left with, what he would become - these were things that he did not know. Death was the best outcome, but even living or dying was not a choice that he could make.

Closing his eyes, he lay straight on his back while his mind remained in flux. Even sleep had been stripped away from him. Even with his eyes closed, he could feel it when the sky brightened.

At dawn, he opened his eyes, his tongue feeling around in his mouth. Very good, his teeth were still firm and neat, and no fangs had sprouted.

Getting up, he once again took a shower and changed out of his clothes, washing off the sweet scent on his body that seemed to be there one second but gone the next. The Shen residence and the Li residence had quite a lot of similarities, for instance, he did not hire live-in servants either, and the only few servants he hired always came in the morning and left at night. When he went down the stairs, there was already a little activity in the mansion. He did not need breakfast, so the servants would prepare a pot of hot water and a roll of newspaper in the dining room for him every morning, as per his instructions. As for what he ate for lunch and dinner, in any case, he was not at home during the day and the servants did not see nor care for what he did. When he came home at night, the servants would have already left work for the day.

Entering the dining room, he sat down, drank some hot water, read the paper, and pondered over his investments and profits. He needed wealth and power, this was what he had learned after the past few years of bitter experiences: as long as he lived in a castle or palace, he could adamantly insist on keeping his air of mystery.

In the afternoon, he got into his car, heading towards the Mi mansion with several boxes of gifts, big and small alike.

He had already prepared what he wanted to say. When he reached the Mi mansion, he would say that he had fallen ill previously and had missed the one month party that General Mi had thrown for his son, and was now here personally as a courtesy. Although that son was not Mrs. Mi’s, he felt that there was nothing wrong with this reason, and would not be chased out by Mrs. Mi.

Once he entered the Mi mansion, he would find a way to meet Young Mistress Mi. After all, there was her portion in these presents. Even if he did not get to meet her, he would let her know that he had already fully recovered, and this would be a form of comfort to her. However, Shen Zhiheng did not expect that the thing that welcomed him to the Mi mansion would be Mrs. Mi’s howls.

On a normal day, Mrs. Mi did not give any face at all to her daughter. She simply could not wait for her to die, beating her all day long as if she were her enemy. However, a month ago, perhaps it was because she had pushed this child out into the cold to freeze, Mi Lan had caught a cold and fallen ill with a high fever the next night. She had not brushed it off her shoulder and had still rushed to her bed, pointing at her nose and screaming at her to die. Once she died, everything could be taken care of, she would be free, and she could cut all her ties with the Mi family, pack her belongings, and return to her ancestral home in Jiangnan [1]. Mi Lan had closed her eyes, expressionless as usual, even without any reaction. After scolding her for two days, she had realised that her daughter’s high fever was still not receding, and had finally admitted that the child had really fallen ill, and she had instructed the old maids to find some Western medicine for her to eat.

After eating the medicine, Mi Lan’s temperature fluctuated, the fever still not receding. Finally, after enduring till a week before, when she looked like she was about to take her last breath, she was brought to the hospital, where the doctors discovered that her pneumonia had already become very serious.

Mrs. Mi always told her daughter to go and die, and now that her daughter was really about to die, she could not stop crying, feeling that she could not part from her only child. She made a ruckus at the hospital and had a very “timely” fall, nearly twisting her ankle. General Mi’s whereabouts could not be determined and no hopes could be pinned on him. The old maids brought Mrs. Mi home, and although she missed her daughter, Mrs. Mi could neither walk nor leave the house. And so, in panic, her hot tears and howls were what welcomed guests to her house.

Seeing the situation that Mrs. Mi was in, Shen Zhiheng was startled at first. After hearing the old maids’ laments, he immediately succinctly explained why he had come, and said, “Mrs. Mi, don’t worry. Let me know which hospital your daughter is in. I happen to be free this afternoon, I will go over and take care of her in your stead. If there are any developments there, I will immediately make a phone call to inform you.”

Mrs. Mi had heard of Shen Zhiheng before, and so she believed him, replying with tears and snot trickling down her face, “Vi, Vi, Vi…”

   The old maid by her side finished for her, “Victoria Hospital. When you reach, tell them that you’re looking for Miss Mi Lan, and the nurse will bring you in.”

Mrs. Mi started to cry again, “My Lan… If anything happens to her, I won’t have anyone by my side…”

Shen Zhiheng left the Mi mansion, slightly on edge. When he reached Victoria Hospital, he entered and immediately approached a doctor. Sure enough, the doctor pointed him in the right direction. He searched around on the third floor, where the premium single rooms were. Most of the rooms were empty, and the corridor was silent. Pushing open the door of the room at the end of the corridor, he saw that there was a single bed in the room, and on it lay a girl. Other than that, there was no one else.

He did not walk in. Instead, he turned around to find the doctor, asking about Mi Lan’s condition, before returning to the room. Removing his coat and gently hanging it, he walked to the front of the bed and sat himself down on a chair. He turned his head to look at Mi Lan. This was his first time taking a proper look at her.

He realised that she was a little similar to him - not the face shape, but the eyebrows. He suddenly lowered his body to get closer to her, scrutinising her hair, her face, her neck, as well as her arms at the side of the bed.

He discovered traces of abuse on her body.

Her long hair was dirty. It was not a normal kind of sparse; he could see the remnants of scabs on her scalp. Her eyebrows hid faint scars, and below her ear sat a red scar. It was startlingly red; a new wound that had just healed not too long ago. Her wrists, as thin as reed stems, extended out from the loose sleeves of the hospital gown. Her palms were thin and her skin was delicate and pale. Though clean, her fingernails were long.

From her soft and tender hands, it was evident that she was the young mistress of a wealthy family, her hands never having seen a day’s hard work. However, from the bruises on her soft and tender hands, it was also evident that the everyday norm for this young mistress of a wealthy family was to get beaten. Before Shen Zhiheng came to see her, he had wondered a lot about Young Mistress Mi’s background, but he had never imagined that these were the kind of days that she lived. Reaching up to adjust the knot of his tie, he suddenly felt a flare of anger, even a little out of breath. He grasped one of her hands, unknowingly using force. This child was about to die, now, was it his turn to save her?

Right at that moment, Mi Lan suddenly opened her eyes.

Shen Zhiheng hurriedly asked, “Are you awake? It’s me. Do you still remember my voice?”

Mi Lan stared up blankly, her two eyes cold and crystal clear, as if in them bloomed her entire soul. The long period of sleep had made her somewhat sluggish. When Shen Zhiheng’s voice drifted into her ears, she gradually awakened, and also gradually remembered this voice.

Finally, she rasped, “Are you well?”

From the darkness came his voice, “I’m well, I’m completely well. Thank you, you saved my life.”

Mi Lan moved her fingers. Her palm was wrapped by a large, warm hand, and in this large hand, she felt how small and weak she was. Slowly pulling her hand out, she traced his sleeve and moved upwards, feeling a long arm. Shen Zhiheng lowered his body, and she continued tracing up his shoulder, and up to his face. He had a full forehead, deep eye sockets, a straight nose bridge, and below his soft and smooth skin, she could feel the hardness of his bones. His physique was also tall and large. 

How nice, she thought.

This was the person she had saved. He looked good and was living well, and she felt honoured by association. Pulling back her hand to the tip of her nose, she sniffed softly, smelling the mixture of hair tonic and cologne. Below this fragrance seemed to be another smell that was masked, but that smell was too foreign to her, that she could neither categorise nor describe it.

She let her hand drop down, feeling quite satisfied that she had saved him. She was also very satisfied with this person she had saved. Blinking slowly, she smiled, “Take care of yourself.”

Shen Zhiheng held her hand once again, “Of course, I know to take care of myself. But what about you? Who beat you and left those wounds on your body? Your mother? Or did someone else bully you?”

“My mother beat me,” Mi Lan said. “She’s not happy with her life, and takes her anger out on me.”

“Does no one at home stop her? What about your father General Mi?”

“My father does not come home.”

She said this so calmly and indifferently, as if she were describing a piece of old news from far away, that had nothing to do with her. Shen Zhiheng first thought that Mrs. Mi had abused her to the point where she had become dumb, but nearly at once, realised that a dumb child would not have the ability and courage to fumble her way to Keats Hospital by herself. 

So, he asked again, “That night, why did you go to such a desolate place alone?”

Mi Lan lay in the darkness, and the man’s voice sounded like it was coming from somewhere outside this world. She had already made preparations to die in this dark world, so she answered accordingly, without defending or hiding anything from that bustling, bright world. 

“I wanted to find a place with nobody around to freeze to death. I heard that just before someone dies of the cold, they wouldn’t feel cold, and wouldn’t feel pain.”

Shen Zhiheng extended a hand to stroke her long hair, lowering his eyes to stare at hers. He was silent for a long period, before he finally said, “Mi Lan, don’t die, okay?”

Mi Lan frowned slightly, finally looking a little like a child. “Living is too bitter.”

Shen Zhiheng said, “But now, you have me. I need to repay your favour!” He lowered his head beside her ear, and whispered, “My surname is Shen, Shen Zhiheng. The same ‘zhiheng’ as ‘constant like the moon’ [2]. Do you remember that? I have a lot of money and power, and in this world, as long as you have money and power, there’s nothing you can’t do, right? If you don’t believe me, you can ask around when you’re discharged from the hospital. I’m somewhat famous in Tianjin.”

What he just said sounded like he was trying to coax her, but also like he was boasting. Mi Lan smiled, “Then why were your enemies still trying to kill you?”

“I was careless then. To tell you the truth, I’m here today to see you, and tomorrow, I will go and seek my revenge.” He patted Mi Lan’s head, his voice going lower, “You must still keep it a secret!”

Mi Lan smiled slightly, feeling like he was both a young father and an old friend. The door opened, and the nurse stuck her head in, reminding Shen Zhiheng to not stay for too long as talking too much would tax the patient’s energy. Shen Zhiheng was very obedient, only saying to Mi Lan, “wait for me”, before leaving the hospital room.

Two hours later, he returned, bringing with him fresh flowers and dinner.

Mi Lan had already spent two days without eating much. Shen Zhiheng helped her to lean against her pillow such that she was half lying and half seated, and personally fed her congee. She had no appetite and did not want to eat, but because this was Shen Zhiheng, she decided that she had to eat no matter what.

“I’ve asked someone to send a letter to your house,” while feeding, he said in a low voice, “I told your mother to rest well at home these few days, and not worry about the situation here. I will take care of you. Your mother agreed, and even thanked me for my troubles. So, at least for these few days, you are safe. You must live well these few days and spend your days comfortably.”

What he said made complete sense, and Mi Lan was utterly convinced. When she was apathetic, her words were terse and to the point. But now that she was just slightly happy, on the contrary, she had nothing to say, and only smiled softly. But perhaps it was because her future was uncertain, and so her smile was still very reserved, and her eyes were still cold and vacant.

Shen Zhiheng had not interacted with children for a long time. In his eyes, fifteen-year-old Mi Lan was just a young child.

Fortunately, this young child was different from others. She lacked life, let alone childishness. Shen Zhiheng spent several hours with her, and it went relatively easily. Mi Lan understood what he said, as did he with her meanings. Other than that, it was nearly as if Mi Lan had a third eye. When they were in the same room together, it always felt like she knew his every move like the back of her hand. Wherever he stood, whatever he was doing, she knew it all.

At night, he returned home, and saw Situ Weilian the second he entered. Situ Weilian was sitting on the sofa and reading a novel, and upon seeing that he had returned, he immediately glanced at the coffee table. There was a bulging canvas satchel on the coffee table; he had brought Shen Zhiheng his dinner.

The servants had already left. Shen Zhiheng sat on the sofa, taking the glass bottles out from the bag.

“I went to see Mi Lan today. Young Mistress Mi.”

Situ Weilan immediately turned his head to look at him, “Didn’t she say to not visit her?”

“Of course, I have my ways.” He pulled the rubber stopper out from the mouth of the bottle, and the smell of blood instantly wafted through the parlour. With the bottle pressed against his mouth, he tilted his head backwards and told a large gulp, then said, “It turns out that she is quite a poor child. Mrs. Mi isn’t human, beating her until she has scars all over her body. She even fell sick with pneumonia and had to stay in the hospital, with not a single person by her side.”

Situ Weilian stared at his blood-coated lips, somewhat with interest, “Shen-xiong, actually, it would be good if that lady were just a few years older. You could marry her and bring her home, then she would be able to escape from her mother’s clutches.”

“Nonsense, are you afraid that she has a long life ahead of her and want her to be scared to death by me as soon as possible?”

“She won’t necessarily be scared to death. Look at me, I’m living quite well, aren’t I?”

Shen Zhiheng looked at him, suddenly feeling that Situ Weilian and Young Mistress Mi were quite similar. Both of them were inexplicably eccentric, or that is to say, they were both missing something human. Situ Weilian was good-looking and lively, but as far as Shen Zhiheng knew, besides himself, he did not seem to have any other good friends; he seemed to be naturally a little unloveable.

Glancing away from Situ Weilian’s face, he said, “Who would be as crazy as you?”

Situ Weilian suddenly squeezed himself in front of him. “Shen-xiong, I’ve been reading a lot recently, and have conducted another ambitious round of research and inference about your origin. Now, I suspect that you are a vampire–”

“Don’t say anymore, I don’t like to hear that word. What do you mean by ghost [3], I look even more human than you!”

“Alright then, let me put it another way. In the west, you would be considered as part of the blood race, do you know about that? They specialise in drinking blood to live, and are absolutely not mosquito spirits.”

“Get lost! Do I look like a Westerner to you? All the generations of my family have been Chinese! We’ve never even been to Nanyang [4], let alone the West!”

“You rebut every sentence that I say, do you still want me to speak?”

“You’ve researched me for three years and none of the results are good. Today, you say that I’m a demon, tomorrow, you say that I’m a ghost. I’ve gotten sick of it!”

Situ Weilian turned his face away, his lip curling. Then, he exhaled a long breath and turned back again. “Then let me say this, according to my research, you are probably a great, respectable person. Do you like to hear this then?”

Shen Zhiheng took another large mouthful, nodding at Situ Weilian with round cheeks. He swallowed the blood with a large gulp. “Very good, continue researching in this direction. I can even provide you with some funds.”

Situ Weilian extended a hand to him, “Then give it to me now, as long as the funds are sufficient, I can conduct research on you until you are the descendant of true dragons.”

Shen Zhiheng put down the glass bottle, ignoring him as he went straight out of the parlour and up the stairs. A short while later, he came back down, throwing a cheque at Situ Weilian, “Take it to spend.”

Situ Weilian grabbed the cheque, standing up gleefully, “Shen-xiong, you’re so good. I’ll take this money and invite Second Young Mistress Jin out. Drink slowly, I won’t disturb you. I’m off!”

Not five minutes after he had left, Situ Weilian ran back again, telling Shen Zhiheng, “Shen-xiong, there are two men outside your house. They keep loitering suspiciously around the street without leaving. Could it be that your enemies are here again?”

Shen Zhiheng waved his hand, “Mind your own business, don’t worry about me.”

Full and content, Shen Zhiheng went to bed. The next morning, he received the invitation from Li Yingliang, and in the afternoon, brought lunch and fresh flowers and went to visit Mi Lan. After accompanying Mi Lan for half the afternoon, he left the hospital, and went home to make some preparations. In the evening, he drove his own car and headed to the Grand Pacific Hotel in the Japanese concession zone for his dinner appointment. 

The Grand Pacific Hotel was a building with two floors, and Li Yingliang had long reached the private room on the second floor to wait. When Shen Zhiheng alighted from his car, Li Yingliang’s subordinates were already at the entrance to usher him up. From the window on the second floor, Li Yingliang extended his head and looked down. Why was it that Shen Zhiheng always attended these events alone, without a single bodyguard by his side? His heart fluttered, thinking, Could it be that after being dealt with harshly, he now knows to submit?

If Shen Zhiheng was willing to face the facts of the situation and submit, Li Yingliang was actually willing to give him another chance. Pulling his head back, he shut the window, shuddering for no reason. When he lifted his head again, the door opened, and his subordinate ushered Shen Zhiheng into the room.

They had not seen each other for only a day, but Li Yingliang realised that most of Shen Zhiheng’s sickly pallor had faded. Together with his trim Western suit, he looked somewhat full of energy. At once, Li Yingliang pushed a large smile onto his face, extending both hands as he circled the table and went to shake Shen Zhiheng’s hand, “Mr. Shen, I’m truly happy that you are willing to grace me with your presence.”

Shen Zhiheng shook his hand, “Chairman Li, you’re too polite.”

“Don’t call me chairman,” Li Yingliang held up a finger to him, correcting him as he widened his eyes, “I did not invite you as a chairman. Actually, I’m more willing to get to know you as a friend. You should know as well, I have admired you for a long time, and have long wanted to get to know you. It’s just that we were never fated to, and I never had this opportunity to get to know someone as esteemed as you.” 

Shen Zhiheng laughed once, “I don’t deserve Chairman Li’s words.”

Speaking till this point, Li Yingliang’s brain suddenly short-circuited. What should he say next? In any case, he could not directly ask him if he was willing to cooperate with the Japanese. Shen Zhiheng was watching him with a piercing gaze, and his smile seemed to be one harbouring ill intentions. So, Li Yingliang thought, if he had come here all alone to die, what right did he have to smirk at him?

At this moment, perhaps because Shen Zhiheng had been standing for a long time, and because Li Yingliang kept staring at him, like a machine that had suffered a power outage, Shen Zhiheng could only take the initiative to pull out a chair, extending a hand at the head of the table, “Chairman Li, have a seat.”

Li Yingliang came to his senses then, turning around and taking the seat nearest to him. The second he sat down, he lifted his head, and realised that there was something off about where he was sitting. The round table was large and there were seats everywhere, but he just had to sit so close to Shen Zhiheng. The two of them sat shoulder-to-shoulder, facing the round table. At first, they sat stunned, and almost at once, they both turned their heads at the same time to look at the other. Shen Zhiheng’s breath blew all over his forehead.

Li Yingliang immediately wanted to go on a killing spree, to kill Shen Zhiheng to silence him.

With much embarrassment, he got up and moved another seat down, but when he sat down, he still felt that something was off. He could not keep turning his head to talk to Shen Zhiheng. So, he shifted another seat down, and still felt that it was wrong.

His face reddening, he continued with his impetuous shifting. Shen Zhiheng watched him with much curiosity, wondering until where he would shift. Fortunately, Li Yingliang did not shift himself out of the door. When he was opposite Shen Zhiheng, he finally sat comfortably, lifting his head as he tried to explain, “The table… is a little big!”

Shen Zhiheng leaned back, sitting quite comfortably indeed, “As I said, Chairman Li is too polite. It’s alright if we just have a casual meal, why do you have to go to such lengths to host me? It’s too extravagant.”

“It’s something I should do, if not, I wouldn’t be able to sufficiently express my feelings.” He snapped his fingers at the door, “Serve the food!”

The waiters filed into the room with the dishes. Shen Zhiheng asked for a cigar, smoking it slowly. When the dishes were all served, Li Yingliang instructed his subordinates to close the door. He then personally poured a glass of wine for him, passing it to him with both his hands from across the table. However, the table was honestly too big, and he was nearly flat on the table. It was a good thing that his physique was good and his waist was strong, and so he could still hold himself steadily. Just as the wine glass touched the surface of the table, Li Yingliang suddenly noticed Shen Zhiheng extending a hand towards him.

His heart stuttered for a second and he froze. Shen Zhiheng opened his mouth and said two words, “Your tie.”

He lowered his head to look, and only now realised that his tie had slipped out of his suit and was almost dangling in a bowl of fish soup. Shen Zhiheng took his tie and tucked it back into his suit, then pulled his hand back.

“Be careful.”

Li Yingliang sat back down. “Thank you.”

Shen Zhiheng said, “I have a stomach disease, I can’t drink alcohol.”

“Drink less.”

With the cigar dangling from his lips, Shen Zhiheng shook his head. “After suffering from a serious illness, I nearly lost my life, and only managed to escape from death with much effort. I cannot afford to not be more careful.”

Holding his wine glass, Li Yingliang’s lips suddenly lifted up in a smile, “You aren’t worried that I put poison in the wine, are you?”

“No,” Shen Zhiheng looked at him through the cigar smoke. “There’s no need for you to do that.”

Li Yingliang laughed hollowly. Shen Zhiheng’s words always mixed truth and lies, and he always stared at him with such a meaningful look in his eyes. His mind was simply about to crumble; this type of gaze, the one that Shen Zhiheng always gave him, was the one he hated the most.

Judging by how he dared to look at him like that, perhaps the one surnamed Shen was not here as a display of friendship. However, the inside and outside of the hotel were full of his people, and Shen Zhiheng was all by himself, just what mess could he make?

Giving in to him, Li Yingliang picked up his chopsticks and said, “Mr. Shen, please, let’s skip the pleasantries.”

Shen Zhiheng smiled slightly at him and went “mm”. Yet, he did not touch his chopsticks. Li Yingliang grabbed a handful of stir-fried shredded pork with his chopsticks and ate it, finding that it did not taste that bad. While chewing, he lifted his eyes to look in front of him. Hanging low above the round table was a lamp, its light shining on Shen Zhiheng. He saw Shen Zhiheng smiling yet not smiling at the same time, as he gently bit his cigar with his teeth. At the same time, his Adam’s apple moved, as he swallowed a mouthful of saliva while facing him.

At first, he had thought that Shen Zhiheng was hungry, but was afraid that he had poisoned the food, and so was willing to stay hungry and not eat. However, his hairs were, for some strange reason, standing, and he felt that Shen Zhiheng was not just hungry, but rapacious, so rapacious that his mouth was watering.

And the target of that rapacious greed, seemed to be him.

Li Yingliang started to fidget, deciding to no longer beat around the bush with Shen Zhiheng. Tonight, this person was making him incredibly uncomfortable. He could not bear with it any longer, and decided to jump straight to the topic.

“Mr. Shen,” he said, “We had a small misunderstanding in the past. I originally thought that we had different stances and opinions, and had no opportunity to sit together to speak. Little did I know that we have the chance today to sit together in a room, eating and talking at the same time. I do not dare to speculate your intentions, but for me, I am truly deeply honoured.” 

Shen Zhiheng nodded his head, smiling, “Mm.”

“With Mr. Shen’s intellect, I am certain you can understand my predicament. Although my job has some connections to the Japanese, I myself have not done anything to harm our country or fellow citizens. Besides, the Japanese don’t know anything when they are in China, if there aren’t people like us to mediate, they will follow their own rules and behave recklessly, and wouldn’t our citizens still suffer?”

Shen Zhiheng blinked slowly, “Mm.”

“You agree with my line of thought? Then that’s great. Then may I be so bold as to take this a step further. If Mr. Shen could show a little understanding towards me, when you’re publishing news about the Japanese, especially news related to our North China Development Committee, could you please let me know in advance? I definitely will not interfere in your journalistic freedom, it’s just that it’s better to discuss things first. If you make things easier for others, others will make things easier for you, isn’t it? I definitely wouldn’t let Mr. Shen help me for nothing either. There will definitely be a generous gift, to show my appreciation.”

Shen Zhiheng asked with much interest, “A generous gift? How generous?”

“Name your price. Whatever you want, I’ll do my utmost to make sure you’re satisfied.” 

Shen Zhiheng started laughing. It was quite a hearty laughter, it seemed a little stupid. After listening to it for a while, Li Yingliang could no longer restrain himself, and laughed along with him. Yet, when he laughed, Shen Zhiheng stopped laughing. He tilted his head, examining Li Yingliang, and used his cigar to point at him, “I want your life.”

Li Yingliang froze. “What?”

Shen Zhiheng lowered his voice, enunciating each word individually, “I want you to pay with your life.”  

Li Yingliang did not understand this sentence, but he did not care about understanding it. Purely based on intuition, he reached his hand underneath his jacket, pulling out his gun and aiming it at Shen Zhiheng.

“You–”

Before he could complete his sentence, he felt his hand slipping. Shen Zhiheng had already grabbed his gun out of his hands, and the mouth of the gun was now pointed straight at the space between his eyebrows. Shen Zhiheng raised a finger to his lips.

“Shhh.”

He sat ramrod straight, his eyes large and round as they stared at him, not even daring to breathe. As fast as his subordinates were, they were not as fast as the time it took for Shen Zhiheng to pull the trigger. He watched as Shen Zhiheng stood up and walked to his front, only daring to follow him with his eyeballs.

With the mouth of the gun pressed against his head, Shen Zhiheng used his other hand to pull out his tie. He rolled the tie into a ball, then lowered his head to look at Li Yingliang.

“Open your mouth.”

Li Yingliang’s voice quavered, “I’ll give you money. I, I…”

Shen Zhiheng caught the right moment just as he was stuttering, shoving the balled up tie into his mouth. With the gun pressed against his head and the tie pressed against his throat, he raised his head backwards to hide, but Shen Zhiheng’s slim fingers suddenly slid into his mouth, viciously poking the balled up tie deeper into his throat. His head jerked backwards as he retched - but no real sound came out, as the tie was pressing against his larynx. No matter sound or breath, it suppressed them all firmly. 

He grew nervous as he asphyxiated, one hand furtively extending to the back of his waist. Mired in pain due to the lack of oxygen, he desperately pulled out his second pistol, pulling the trigger at Shen Zhiheng.

A sharp crack replaced the gunshot. A scream of excruciating pain stuck in his throat, the pistol was still hooked on his finger, but his forearm was already twisted at an angle. He had not seen Shen Zhiheng’s movements clearly; he only knew that Shen Zhiheng had broken his bone - just like snapping a tree branch, Shen Zhiheng had broken the bone of his arm. 

Eyes red with pain, he dropped the pistol to the floor. Shen Zhiheng placed the pistol in his own hands in front of Li Yingliang, then pulled a chair out and sat down beside him.

“I usually don’t take revenge this way, it’s against my principles of being human. But you have really gone too far. You didn’t even let me die with a whole body, causing me unimaginable misery last month. I really suffered a lot.”

Until here, he laughed bitterly and shook his head, “It hurts to even think back about it!”

Blood red vessels rapidly filled Li Yingliang’s eyes. He fixed his eyes on the pistol on the table. He did not dare to move, knowing that just one movement was enough for Shen Zhiheng to instantaneously break his other forearm. However, not moving meant he had no way to live. He was about to be suffocated to death! Suddenly, his eyes closed and he jerked upwards. When he opened his eyes and looked down, he saw a chopstick sticking straight into his thigh.

As if he was made of tofu, Shen Zhiheng took the second chopstick, and stabbed it into his other thigh.

He was in so much pain that he was trembling, yet his cries were stuck deep in his throat.

Shen Zhiheng watched as Li Yingliang approached death, extending his hand and using it to cover the artery at the side of his neck. He had not tasted fresh, warm blood in a long time. It turns out, that wanting to eat could also cause one to burn with desire. He should have killed Li Yingliang directly to avoid any complications, and yet…

And yet, as saliva flooded his mouth, his breathing became erratic. He could not help but move closer towards Li Yingliang’s neck. But just as his teeth were about to touch his skin, at that very moment, the doors of the private room opened.

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The geographic region in China that refers to the lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It includes the cities of Shanghai, Suzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Wuxi.

如月之恒 (rú yuè zhī héng) is part of a longer phrase that literally means “like the just risen sun, and like the half moon growing round and full”. It is used to describe a flourishing or prosperous period, or when someone is of strong vitality (as in life spirit). 如月 is also the title of this novel and the original title of the live drama adaptation before it was changed to 冰雪谣.

The Chinese word for vampire is 吸血鬼 (xī xuè guǐ), which literally means “blood-sucking ghost”.

This appeared in an earlier chapter, but as a reminder, refers to Southeast Asia. The reason why he’s bringing it up now is because Nanyang 南洋 (nán yáng) literally means “south ocean”, while 西洋 (xī yáng i.e. the west) literally means “west ocean”.