A Man in the Snow: Starting with a Sword Challenge to the Northern Liang Prince's Palace

Five days after the war, a merchant ship arrived.

It's not the ship of the Great Wall of Swords.

It came from the Vast World, a small cargo ship, its hull covered with sword marks and arrow holes, several burn holes in the canvas, and one of the masts broken, barely held together with rope.

When the ship docked, there weren't many people on the pier. Most of the sword cultivators were still guarding the city walls, and those who disembarked were the wounded and those who came to make purchases.

The cargo ship unloaded medicines, grain, and several letters.

The messenger was a young man with a round face and a憨憨 (simple and honest) smile. After unloading the goods, he didn't leave immediately. He wandered around the dock for a while and asked for directions: "Excuse me, how do I get to the Forget-Me-Not Tavern?"

Someone gave him directions.

When he arrived at the tavern, Ye Yun was brewing wine in the backyard.

He was supposed to be brewing wine, but he was really just spacing out. The wine vats were set up, the yeast was placed in, and the glutinous rice was steamed, but he stood in front of the vats for a long time without moving, holding a wooden stick to stir the wine, staring at the water in the vats, lost in thought.

After Dong died, he did this every day.

During the day, he slays demons on the city walls, and at night he sits in the tavern, occasionally brewing wine, but he's always distracted.

"Excuse me, is Mr. Ye here?" The waiter stood at the door and peeked inside.

Ye Yun snapped out of his daze, put down the wooden stick, and wiped his hands: "That's me."

The waiter pulled a letter from his pocket and handed it to him: "It's from Haoran Tianxia. Someone asked me to bring it to you."

Ye Yun took the letter and glanced at the words on the envelope. The handwriting was crooked and messy, like a child's, but each stroke was written with great care.

The envelope was unsigned, with only four characters written on it: "To be opened by Ye Yun".

He opened the letter; inside was only a single sheet of paper with a few lines of writing on it:

"Boss Ye, this is Chen Ping'an. I've become a martial artist and am on my way to the Sword Qi Great Wall to deliver a sword to Ning Yao. When I arrive, I'd like to have a drink with you. It's been ten years; I still remember the taste of that pot of Forget-Worry. Chen Ping'an."

The handwriting was ugly, but you could tell he had put a lot of effort into it. Some words were written incorrectly and then erased and rewritten, leaving several ink blots on the paper. Ye Yun looked at those ink blots, and the corners of his mouth twitched, it was hard to tell whether he was smiling or something else.

He folded the letter and put it in his pocket.

"What else did he say?" Ye Yun asked.

The waiter thought for a moment and said, "Young Master Chen said not to worry about him. Although he's a martial artist, he's tough and won't die. He also said you should brew more wine, because he has a high tolerance for alcohol; one pot won't be enough for him."

Ye Yun nodded, took out a piece of loose silver from behind the counter, and handed it to the shop assistant.

The waiter waved his hand: "Young Master Chen has already paid the fare."

"Here's money for your drinks." Ye Yun took a jug of wine from the shelf and handed it to the waiter. "Take it home and drink it on your way."

The waiter took the wine, thanked him with a smile, and ran off.

Ye Yun stood behind the counter, tapping her fingers on the tabletop repeatedly.

Ning Yao came down from the building. She had been guarding the city wall for five days and was resting today after her shift was over. Her face was very pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes. When she walked, her left shoulder slumped slightly, where she had been scratched by a demon, and the wound had not yet fully healed.

"Whose letter?" she asked.

"Chen Ping'an," Ye Yun said.

Ning Yao paused, then stopped in her tracks.

"He's coming to the Sword Qi Great Wall," Ye Yun said, "to deliver a sword to you."

Ning Yao didn't speak. She walked to the counter and sat down, her fingers tracing a scratch on the table. The scratch was from a long time ago. Someone had used the tip of a sword to carve the character "Yao" on the table. It was crooked and only half of it was still legible.

"He became a warrior," Ning Yao said. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Ye Yun nodded: "It's what the letter said."

Ning Yao was silent for a moment, then softly hummed in agreement, stood up, and went upstairs. Halfway down the stairs, she paused, turned back, and said, "Let me know when he arrives."

Ye Yun: "Okay."

Ning Yao went upstairs. Ye Yun sat alone behind the counter, her fingers still tapping on the table, tap, tap, tap, like a heartbeat.

That night, Ye Yun went up to the city wall alone.

A strong wind blew across the city wall, causing his clothes to flutter loudly. In the distance, the camps of the demon army dotted the landscape like mushrooms sprouting from the ground. The demons hadn't launched a large-scale attack in the past few days, but small-scale harassment had been constant, and people were dying every night.

He found a secluded spot on the rampart, sat down, and faced the vast expanse of the world.

There was no moon in the sky, and very few stars; it was all pitch black. He looked for a long time, but saw nothing.

He took out the flask of wine that he had been reluctant to drink from his pocket.

Ye Yun uncorked the bottle and took a sip.

The wine was indeed bitter, brewed from plums. Dong Bude said that Mei Ruoxue loved drinking this the most. The old man had been brewing it his whole life, making one jar every year and burying it under the plum tree in the yard, never opening it. Only after Ye Yun arrived did Dong Bude dig out the wine, and the two of them drank a jar. It was so bitter that Ye Yun frowned.

Dong burst into laughter and said, "Bitterness is the right thing to do; what's the point of longing if it's not bitter?"

Ye Yun took another sip, the bitterness spreading in her mouth, astringent and sour.

He looked in the direction of Haoran Tianxia and recalled what happened ten years ago.

The names of the wines all seem to be names that Dong couldn't possibly come up with.

Ye Yun wiped them one by one, and when he got to "Forget-Worry", he paused for a moment.

This is what Chen Ping'an wants to drink.

He took the wine jar down, shook it, and found that more than half of the wine was still inside. He uncorked it and smelled it; the aroma was wonderful, but it also had a faint bitter taste.

As Dong Bude once said, the bitterness of "Forget-Me-Not" wine only appears at the very end. It tastes sweet at first, spicy after swallowing, and bitter in the aftertaste.

After drinking it all, what should be forgotten can't be forgotten, and what should be remembered is remembered even more clearly.

That's why it's called "Forget-Worries"—meaning one can't forget their sorrows.

Ye Yun put the stopper back in and returned the wine jar to its original position.

He stood behind the counter, looking at the empty tavern.

Dong Bude's chair was empty, leaning against the corner of the wall. The old man used to sit there and doze off, his feet propped up on the stool, snoring loudly.

Nobody snores anymore.

Ye Yun walked over and sat on the chair for a while. The chair was a bit low and uncomfortable to sit on, but after sitting on it for sixty years, a dent had worn into the surface, which was just right for his buttocks.

He sat for a while, then stood up and blew out the oil lamp.

In the darkness, he walked to the door, pushed it open, and glanced at the night sky above the Great Wall of Swords.

Torches flickered on the distant city walls, people were shouting, and people were running. It was another small-scale disturbance.

In the distance, towards the direction of Haoran Tianxia, ​​the ferry was no longer visible.

But it will come.

Ye Yun closed the door, returned behind the counter, leaned against the wall, and closed her eyes.

Chen Ping'an is coming to the Sword Qi Great Wall.

It's been ten years.

He should settle some things as well.