Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  “I know…… One must work hard to grasp the strength they seek.” If she worked hard, it was only a matter of time before she attained martial might of the Emperor level.

  The man glanced at Qin Shu. She appeared unruffled despite their swift journey up the mountain.

  Guiding her into his abode, he brought her to the inner courtyard.

  He would allow no one to disturb his and Ling’er’s peaceful life.

  Qin Shu could not perceive her Master’s thoughts. The most important thing on her mind was seeing her Master’s girlfriend, the woman whose appearance was similar to her mother.

  The path leading into the inner courtyard was not long. It was a much shorter trek than the one leading into Bright Garden’s inner courtyard. Yet, the road seemed to stretch onward without end for one reason or another. Qin Shu chalked it up to her frazzled nerves.

  When they reached the Moon Cave Door separating the inner from the outer courtyard, her Master stopped. Qin Shu followed suit. Her gaze traced her Master’s line of sight to a woman seated by a stone table, a book in her hand. Hanging over her was a trellis of grapes.

  The woman wore a serious expression, absorbed in the book she was reading.

  The resemblance was uncanny, and it left Qin Shu dumbstruck. No wonder Xiao Jiu said he had met his grandmother. Xiao Jiu had a good memory and had seen her mother’s likeness on many occasions. It was no wonder he would identify her Master’s girlfriend as his grandmother.

  That person, however, was much older than the portrait of her mother she carried. She may have looked young, but there was no deceiving her eyes.

  It made her think of her mother. Although her mother already had a daughter as old as her, she was still very young.

  When the man saw Ling’er reading again, he glanced at Qin Shu and happened to see the surprise that marked her features.

  After some time, he led Qin Shu away without giving her the chance to react.

  Once they were some distance from the inner courtyard, he released her.

  Qin Shu allowed her Master to lead her away without a fuss. Her mind was a mess, and doubts buzzed in her head like a swarm of locusts. That woman she had seen looked too much like her mother; it was as if she was a perfect reflection of her mother. The tilt of her head as she read, the expression she wore when in serious thought, they were the same as her mother – the memory of her that lived in her mind.

  Her mother had never mentioned she had a twin sister.

  She looked up at her Master and grabbed his sleeve. Doubt and hope warred in those expectant orbs of hers. She was not sure what to believe or what it was, exactly, she prayed. “Master, why does she look exactly like my mother?”


  Qin Shu’s reaction was within his expectations. Gently, he said, “It’s time to return.”


  Qin Shu stood still, her hands fisting into balls as she clung onto her Master’s sleeve. “Master, please. Please, tell me what’s going on. Why does she look exactly like my mother?”


  The man answered with a question. “What do you think?”


  “I-I think……” Qin Shu stared at her Master for a few seconds, hazarding a guess she hoped to be true yet prayed it was not. “My mother isn’t dead, is she? That woman…… She is my mother, isn’t she?”


  Qin Shu stared at her Master, fidgeting uncomfortably. On the one hand, she desperately hoped he would say ‘yes’, and on the other, that she had made a mistake.

  She clung onto the vague hope that her mother was still alive, that her Master had saved her by some stroke of providence.

  Her Master was so powerful. It would have been a piece of cake for him to save her mother from the car crash that had befallen her.

  If so, why did he save her and bring her back with him to Mount Qi?

  Why had not her mother looked for her?

  For years, she had dreamed of reuniting with her mother.

  How could she bear to leave her alone in Jiangcheng?

  The man’s face was cold, and there was no hint of emotion in it, let alone what he was thinking.

  “.…… Master?” She called out again.

  The longer the silence stretched, the more fearful Qin Shu became. It felt like judgment day was upon her.

  Eventually, the man broke the silence with one word. “Yes.”


  Qin Shu could barely contain her joy. “.…… She’s my mother. She’s my mother! My mother isn’t dead.”


  She wanted to rush to her mother’s side, but her Master stopped her. “You wish to acknowledge her?”


  Qin Shu replied without a trace of hesitation, “Of course! How could I not? She’s my mother – my mother whom I thought was dead for all these years. S-she need to know Xiao Jiu is her grandson. There are so many things I want to say to her……”


  “Have you forgotten what you promised me just now?” The man asked quietly.

  Qin Shu remembered. She promised her Master she would do nothing but stand by the side and watch. Biting her lip, she pleaded, feeling much aggrieved, “I didn’t know she was my mother before, but now that I do, how could you possibly prevent me from speaking or even hugging her?”


  “When I learned my mother had died in a car accident, my whole world collapsed. Do you know what it was like for me then? Do you know how I felt when I met the battered corpse at the hospital, which was supposed to be my mother? No words can describe how much pain I was in!”


  Qin Shu glared at the man through her stinging tears. “Master, do you know the pain of losing someone you love? The day I believed my mother was dead was the darkest and most painful day of my life.”


  The man suddenly pulled her into his arms. He did not know how to comfort people, but he tried nonetheless. “Xiao Bao.”


  At some point, tears slid down her fair cheeks. It tasted bitter, salty and sweet all at the same time.

  “I want to see my mother.”


  The man was silent for a while before saying, “You want your mother as she was in the past.”


  What did he mean?

  Qin Shu was not sure how to respond. She did not want her mother to relive her life with Qin Hai.

  She did not want her mother to give up everything for scum like him.

  Suddenly, it struck her. “Mother has amnesia?”


  “Yes.”


  Her mother had lost her memories: she did not remember her.

  Years had passed since the accident, yet, in all that time, not once had she gone looking for her.

  Only then did she understand her Master’s words. He did not want her mother to remember the life of suffering she had led.

  One thing led to another, and she finally realised why her Master had secluded himself on Mount Qi all these years. He had done so out of love for her mother.

  Her eyes widened comically upon arriving at this epiphany.

  The man saw through her thoughts and did not refute them. Instead, he said, “If you don’t want Ling’er to return to the past, then forget what you saw and heard today.”


  Qin Shu nearly collapsed where she stood. “Master…… You don’t mean…… You can’t…… No. You don’t want me to acknowledge mother for who she is?”


  The man nodded.

  He wanted her to forget about her mother.

  He knew her mother was not dead, yet he never told her. Now that she knew her mother was alive, he did not want her to acknowledge her mother and dredge up the past. What was she supposed to feel?

  To be so close to her mother but denied the right to talk or hug her…… It hurt her more than anything else had in a long time.

  The man knew that she was not feeling well, so he said, “I can help you recover some of your memories if you’d like.”


  Her Master had to be doing it on purpose, dangling hope and despair before her like a carrot and stick. Her emotions were in constant flux. Should she be pleased to recover some of her memories or pain because she could not even recognise her mother, who sat mere feet away from her?

  Qin Shu did not know how she arrived at the foot of the mountain or why tears flowed freely down her cheeks. She cried, cried, and cried; Fu Tingyu’s presence was her sole bulwark against the hysteria clawing its way out of her fragile form.

  “My mother isn’t dead, Baby Yu. My mother isn’t dead. She is on the mountain.”


  Fu Tingyu did not know what had happened on the mountain. He knew nothing…… His heart clenched at the sight of Qin Shu laughing with tears in her eyes.