( That smirk, he knew he was going to win )
Qiu Yue and Chun Hua play truth or dare, leaving a game of scissors paper stone to decide the winner. Qiu Yue won all three rounds, and even though Chun Hua chose ‘truth’, she couldn’t answer his first two questions of “How did you get amnesia?” and “Rumour has it that you ate the Longevity Fruit, what does it taste like?” so she had to change it to a dare. For the first dare, Qiu Yue dared her to give him a kiss on the cheek and the second was a kiss on the lips. When Chun Hua automatically leaned in for the third kiss after losing the game, Qiu Yue stopped her and asked his question, “Where did your name come from?” Chun Hua replied that she had made it up, reciting a poem that started with “春花秋月何时了” (When will Chun Hua Qiu Yue end?) and ending it with a flourish as she peeked at Qiu Yue with an expectant smile. Qiu Yue told her that the poem was nice but it wasn’t written by her, revealing that every August 15th, Hui will recite this poem before forcing him to kill Xiao Yuan. He then tells her (once again) that they won’t end up like that and that he’ll be good to her for his lifetime, adding that they have to live well and birth many tiny Chun Huas. Chun Hua replies that if he was really good to her, he should let her win once. When he did, Chun Hua’s question was “How many times have you lied to me before? If it’s more than three time I’ll leave right now.” To avoid answering the question, Qiu Yue feigns fainting, collapsing with a thud.
Chun Hua stays by his side, warming her hands before touching his forehead. Qiu Yue suddenly grabs her wrist, telling her that his wound hurt. Chun Hua wanted to bring him out of the Ice Gorge and seeing her reaction, Qiu Yue asked if she was worried for him. When Chun Hua retorted with a “Are you stupid? Of course I’m worried.”, Qiu Yue asked if she was speaking the truth and an annoyed Chun Hua replied that no, it was a dare.
That evening, the four youngsters gather for dinner at a restaurant. Seeing that the restaurant’s boss was a lady, Liu Feng compliments her and she reciprocates by being touchy with Liu Feng and Xiao Bai. This continues for a while and soon after their dishes were served, a frustrated Leng Ning stands to leave. Cai Cai chases after Leng Ning and Xiao Bai also leaves after Liu Feng signaled him with his eyes. When Liu Feng was left alone with the lady boss, he tells her that he wanted to meet Mr Shi and when she repeatedly denied any knowledge of what he was saying, he tells her that out of the families of the two puppets at the Longevity Fruit auction, she must be perplexed as to why she could only find and eliminate one family even after searching through the whole city. He reveals that it was because his father had brought the other family back to their home at Dong Shan Sect.
Back at Feng Ming Manor, Liu Feng explains to the rest about how he had tracked down the lady boss with just a description of “young and beautiful”. The family were refugees and hadn’t eaten in a long while so they had sold their child in return for some food. After further questioning, they had revealed that the lady they sold their child to had the fragrance of food on her, so Liu Feng went to the restaurant in search of her. Cai Cai then praised Liu Feng and Leng Ning adds that he had such experience with looking at woman because he was a womanizer. As Liu Feng grumbles about Leng Ning’s accusations, Cai Cai comments that Leng Ning would look way better than the lady boss if she wore female clothing.
With the rebellion under control, Ye Xing Zhu was sitting outside Qian Yue Pavilion (Qiu Yue’s room) when Qiu Yue came. After complimenting her new outfit, he asked for updates on the situation. She tells him that no one knew about the rebellion at Qian Yue Cave and that Xiao Bai’s group was at Ba Xian City to investigate the Medical Sage’s death and the Longevity Fruit. They had found the silver needle Mr Shi had used at the Longevity Fruit auction but had yet to uncover anything else. Mr Shi had then panicked and come to find her to ask for an extremely poisonous drug. Hearing this, Qiu Yue comments that Mr Shi had previously made use of Gu Xing Zhu to steal the Pu Gong Ying poison to give to Leng Ying who used it on Feng Qian Wei, adding that Mr Shi was now planning to repeat this same tactic. Qiu Yue then tells Ye Xing Zhu to spread news of the rebellion in Qian Yue Cave and to make it known that he had suffered serious injuries. He wanted to throw everyone into a state of disorder because Mr Shi wouldn’t dare to act recklessly without Qian Yue Cave’s protection. As for Xiao Bai, even though Qiu Yue found him laughable, he would rather Xiao Bai send his men to Qian Yue Cave after hearing the news than to have him die by Mr Shi’s hands because Xiao Bai was the leader of the good sects and it wouldn’t be good to bring about chaos in Jianghu.
Later, Qiu Yue returns to the Ice Gorge where he was snug in Chun Hua’s embrace. They then have a sweet conversation where Chun Hua later realises that the snake that had coiled around her the first time she met him was his doing. Qiu Yue feigns wonder at how such a deceitful and cunning Qiu Yue could exist, concluding that that must’ve been a fake, suggesting that he punished him on her behalf. He then kissed her, later explaining that it was a punishment because ‘he’ had almost been suffocated to death.
The next day, Mr Shi visits Qian Yue Cave again but because Liu Feng had just uncovered his personal subordinate’s identity, Mr Shi was paranoid and conceals himself with a cloak. When Mr Shi comments about not having met Qiu Yue for a long time, Ye Xing Zhu jumps at the opportunity to tell him about the rebellion and Qiu Yue’s injury, using it to explain why she couldn’t give him the poison he had asked for.
Back inside Qian Yue Cave, Chun Hua was walking along one of the many tunnels when she came across a skeleton, causing her to scream in fright. Qiu Yue appears at once, hugging her to his chest. A frightened Chun Hua asked whether he was the killer and Qiu Yue tells her that the person had tried to kill him first. Qiu Yue then turns to lead her away but something clicks in Chun Hua’s mind and she asks Qiu Yue how he had come to her side so quickly. It turns out that Qiu Yue’s injury had already healed three days ago and he explained that he only wanted to spend more time with her. Besides, it was more difficult to fabricate lies than to tell the truth and he had racked his brains for ideas. Chun Hua quickly forgives him.
As they walked through the tunnels, Chun Hua tells Qiu Yue that she wasn’t afraid when she was alone before but now that she was with him, she was more afraid instead. Qiu Yue then tells her that he would block everything for her and Chun Hua was thankful but questioned if he could stop killing people in the future because it was too dangerous. Qiu Yue instead asked her what she would do if he were to get injured and trapped again and she tells him that she would stay alive…to save him again. Chun Hua then finds out that Qiu Yue took on the position of leader of the evil sect so that everyone would fear him and he wouldn’t have to worry about someone trying to hurt him and his Chun Hua. She then tells him that what she wanted was peace, not safety. Qiu Yue gives her a small smile before wordlessly pulling her into his embrace.
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Love Better Than Immortality
FanfictionA woman from the future arrives at a fantasy-like universe to experience love for the first time. She goes by the name Chun Hua and falls into a complicated romance with two young men who are opposites like black and white.