Lian Bi
The first time Gan Yuan saw those eyes was at the north gate of Zhaoyang City.
There are two giant bronze statues standing at the gate of the city. One is holding a sword, and the other is raising an arm. The ten-foot-tall body overlooks the flow of people entering the city. At the top of the hour, warm white light flows from the eye sockets, sweeping over everyone's face, unhurriedly, like a pair of eyes that are sleeping but always alert. People who fled into the city lined up in a long queue. Some said it was the Mohist magic, and some said it was the Immortal trick. Gan Yuan did not say anything, but just tightened his grip on the jade ring that was wrapped with strips of cloth deep in his lapel.
She grew up on a farm in Gannan. Grandma never told her life experience when she was alive. Only on the last night, she lifted the stone slab in the cellar and revealed an iron box with a slightly dented fingerprint on the surface. A-niang pressed her hand up, and the iron box opened silently. There was a jade ring inside, with a line of small seal characters engraved on the wall that she couldn't read.
"You were raised in Yuanshui, Gannan," Aniang said, touching her head, "but you are not from here."
She didn't understand then.
Later, when the Xiongnu invaded the south, the farm was gone, and so was my mother-in-law. Gan Yuan climbed out of the pile of corpses with blood on his face, wrapped the jade ring back around him, and followed the fleeing crowd into Zhaoyang City. She didn't cry. She just remembered one word——
"Not from here."
After entering the city, she found a job at the Huanyi Bureau. She was dressed in coarse linen and soaked in soapy water all day long, listening to the gossips of the customers: all the beacons in the north went out overnight, the Young Master was looking for "people who are not in the register", and the Tian family was about to cast a new iron guard. The words "not in the register" fell on her ears, and the movement of her hands paused.
She is indeed not on the register. When entering the city, the guard casually wrote "Refugee Gan" and let her in, and no one asked her about it again.
That evening, as she walked through Anyuanfang carrying the laundry, a very light "click" came from deep in the alley. She subconsciously turned around and saw a man in black clothes squatting on the ground, with a collection of subway parts scattered around his hand. The man's fingers were flying between the metal components, twisting, connecting, buckling and closing them with fast and accurate movements.
Gan Yuan wanted to retreat quietly, but a piece of tile was crushed under his feet.
The man turned his head sharply.
A pair of eyes, as cold as the mountain springs in Gannan in winter. There was blood on the corner of her mouth, and she was holding a thumb-sized spar in her hand. The spar exuded a faint blue light and reflected in her pupils.
"You saw it." She stood up, her voice was low, her movements were faster, and she had already grabbed Gan Yuan's wrist in the blink of an eye. "Who are you?"
"Huanyi's just passing by." Gan Yuan struggled a bit but didn't move away.
The man's eyes moved from her face to her chest - when she pulled away, the cloth loosened and a corner of the jade ring was exposed.
Her pupils shrank suddenly. Let go of Gan Yuan's hand, take a half step back, and stare at the jade ring.
"What's your name?"
"Ganyuan."
"Are you from Gannan?"
"... Yes."
The man took a breath, as if confirming something. At the end of the alley, there was the sound of the orderly footsteps of the iron guards patrolling the street. She grabbed Gan Yuan and ducked into the secret door next to her. The moment the door panel closed, her blue eyes glanced at the entrance of the alley, paused, and then moved forward.
Behind the secret door is a passage that can only be passed sideways, and rust and tung oil float in the air. After walking for an unknown amount of time, a semi-underground secret room suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor. The walls were piled with parts, drawings, and broken Iron Guard limbs. There was a roll of bamboo slips spread out on the table in the center. Gan Yuan took a closer look and saw that the small seal script was exactly the same as the one on the jade ring wall.
"My name is Nan Su." The man sat down next to the desk and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, "Former craftsman of the Shaofu Supervisory Railway and Security Department."
She raised her eyes and landed on the jade ring on Gan Yuan's chest.
"Three months ago, I consulted the construction catalog of Zhaoyang City. This city was not built by Great Qin. It was built on everything that had been erased earlier."
She paused.
"And you are a descendant of that empire."
The lights of Zhaoyang City outside the window lit up one after another. The lights were too even and long-lasting to look like candlelight. Gan Yuan looked down at the jade ring. It was trembling faintly against his heart, like a heart that had been sleeping for a long time.
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