qiubai

You were thinking of leaving the shop to me, weren't you?

You decided that with all your past misdeeds and grudges dying with you, I could keep living here peacefully.

If you don't like that idea, then be sure to give the key to someone who does.

When will your enemies arrive?

You may have laid aside your arms at your age, but I still have mine in hand.

Put that sword of yours away and sit with me awhile.

Very well.

I thank you for your kindness, both in letting me know about the bounty, and for trying to cover my escape.

There are many who hate me, and it's taken them this long to catch me. Should be enough for me to have a right laugh at them, no?

You took the initiative and sought them out.

Otherwise, they would have had no way to hunt you down in this great city.

It was my arrival that drew attention to this street, wasn't it?

An item two or three decades old will break at the slightest touch.

I'd say it wasn't you who broke the peace. If I hadn't helped you, I would have helped some other unfortunate swordsman or wandering child.

Either way, bloodstained as my hands are, isn't my death a good thing?

So you were trying to get me to kill you that day, or at least expose you...?

If I hadn't asked around, I'm afraid I would have believed the rumors about your evil past, and I would not have returned to see you.

Although the gang you were part of did many heinous deeds, you were not their ringleader, and you did not deserve to be hunted for so many years.

And besides, the gang was almost completely wiped out, with only you making it out alive... Were you perhaps a traitor, or maybe an undercover agent all along?

You've finally started to ask questions, I see.

Nobody else can give me the truth.

You're the only one I can ask.

I want to know... Do you really not care if your righteous deeds go unknown, if you can't explain your actions to the judge of the dead in the underworld?

What's to care about?

I wasn't an undercover agent for the imperial court, and I didn't steal from the rich to give to the poor.

Our group wandered the jianghu, and the best you could say is that we were a little bit nicer than other bandits. We bathed in blood. We were not righteous rebels, just hateful bastards.

And that's why I wanted to stop you.

Once you go into jianghu, you can never leave.

Has Lungmen ever encountered a snowstorm before, Loubaan?

Nothing so dramatic. It just snows from time to time. Why?

I... don't understand.

When I was young, my father taught me to repay hate with hate, while my mother taught me to repay kindness with kindness. This I know well.

But my father also taught me of the river's expanse, and how it could take me to many places.

I've wandered for so long, but only now when I look back do I realize this land is far greater than any river, and there are many places that do not know the touch of flowing water.

Like Lungmen, for example, this nomadic city that can evade Catastrophe.

The year that I was born, Jiangqi had just finished its spring sowing when a Catastrophe plunged it back into deepest winter. It snowed for the entirety of May.

I don't understand what exactly traps us, while the land is so vast. People say that they cannot leave the jianghu, but where do the raging rapids of the jiang start? Where is the far edge of the hu's still waters?

Haha, some very good questions.

If I don't make it to Yumen, I fear I will never understand.

I must meet that man...

I've just thought of something. Let's go for a walk. Together.

*cough* *cough*...

That's enough thinking out of you.

My enemies have been and gone. I drank my poisoned drink.

My time is near.

Oh...

You never did tell me whose grave this is, Loubaan.

If you still have regrets, I... can at least help you finish the marker.

Haha, no need...

The grave... is mine.

You've been ready for a long time.

Whether or not you have someone to send you off, sooner or later, it comes knocking at your door.

Regrets are for the living. The dead? Not so much.

The old woman's flagging gaze is fixed on Qiubai for a long while, before slowly turning towards the gravestone.

Say... This river of yours... Where does it flow to...?

Loubaan...

The old woman is no longer breathing.

Qiubai rests her body up against the gravestone, closing her eyes for her.

She looked at the marker in her final moments, the one without a name...

Maybe you really do care about what happens after you die?

You were a bandit, or maybe you were a hero.

Or maybe you were just a woman who managed to settle all her jianghu feuds. Lee, the rental shop loubaan.

You died over twenty years ago, on the day you settled down in Lungmen, or maybe you died today.

Maybe you didn't care... or maybe you've been trapped by this question your entire life.

This uncarved gravestone stands out in a public cemetery in Lungmen, as if it is waiting for an answer.

Qiubai draws her sword.

There's a lot of scrapped swords in the weapon shop. Go and sneak one out, nobody will notice. Then, I'll teach you how to use it.

Alright, look, here's how you chop, here's how you stab... Hey, hey, be careful with that!

Hey, are you alright? Scared the life outta me. If anything happened to you, he'd take my head...

Anyway, this sword's way too heavy for a little kid like you, so put it down. You can't let your sword fly out of your hands like that again!

...What's so funny?

Look at all the flowers I knocked loose! They're so pretty!

I want Father to see them...

Snow's not the only thing that's white.

Her sword slashes forth.

The only thing on its point is a single white flower.

Grudges are difficult to break, which is why men are unable to escape, unable to walk away.

But that is not a reason for me to lay down my sword.

Neither is it a reason for me to continue wielding it.

I've been to Yumen, Loubaan.

I think I've found my answer now.

Doje.

The white flower falls from her blade onto the plinth before the gravestone. Qiubai turns to leave.

The stone stands, still uncarved.