Chapter 1

  The azure sky is veiled by distant mountains, and a thin layer of snow accumulates on the forest trails. The air is slightly cold but refreshing, and as one walks through it, they will soon feel their body filled with the scent of pine branches and snow, cool and comfortable.

  Jian Yao got off the bus on the main road and turned onto a stone path, walking for over ten minutes before finally seeing in front of her a small European-style villa with a gray-green roof on the mountain slope.

  Since Jian Yao had memory, this villa has been standing on the mountain waist of the city suburbs. More than 20 years have passed, and even with today's aesthetic vision, this staggered building is not outdated at all. It's just that over the years, no one has lived here, and the small building has been sitting alone in the mountains, forever dark and deserted. When Jian Yao was a child, someone scared her by saying that this was a haunted house. Only when she grew up did she vaguely hear that this had once been the residence of a certain returned overseas intellectual, but after his wife died, he took his young son and went abroad again.

  But today, the lights of the villa are lit up again. The originally mottled exterior wall has been newly painted, with a full wall of green ivy. The moss and wild grass at the entrance have been cleaned up spotlessly at some point.

  Jian Yao is a senior in the English department. She came here today because her high school teacher introduced her to a part-time translation job. The pay is good, but it's said that the owner of this place is very picky and has rejected many people who were introduced before. So as soon as winter break started, her teacher found her again, his proud student.

  Jian Yao took off her woolen gloves and knocked on the door. The one who answered was a young man in his twenties, wearing a thin sweater and black trousers, tall and slender, with clear eyebrows and eyes. Seeing her, the man smiled: "Jian Yao?"

  Her cheeks were slightly red from the cold, and a breath of air was all white mist, making her eyes look moist: "Yes, I am Jian Yao. Hello."

  "Come in quickly." The man stepped aside and let her into the house.

  This is a completely European-style classical house. The layered dark purple and gold lined curtains, the arched back velvet sofa, the silver-painted armrests of the long chairs, and the roaring flames in the fireplace make it look old-fashioned and quiet. The wavy deep brown wooden staircase leads to the second floor, where it is quiet and still, as if no one is there. The only slightly out-of-place thing is that all the windows are equipped with bright metal railings, and the curtains are tightly closed, not a single ray of sunlight can get in.

  At this time, the man had already washed his hands at the sink, rolled up his sleeves, and poured a cup of hot tea for Jian Yao. He sat down in front of her, with a faint scent on him that was quite familiar, but Jian Yao couldn't think of where she had smelled it before.

  The man's smile was friendly: "Let me introduce myself, my name is Fu Ziyu, the host here is called Bao Jinyan, I am his friend. We are looking for a translator to translate some of his articles into Chinese."

  Jian Yao nodded slightly. This thin misty word, I don't know if it's related to the master back then or if everything has changed.

  Fu Ziyu pulled out a stack of paper and a pen from under the tea table and handed them to her: "Let's get started then. Frankly, we need to test whether you're up for this job. You have half an hour, please translate this English article."

  Jian Yao flipped through the materials and looked up to ask: "Is there a computer?"

  Fu Zi Yu shook his head and revealed a helpless smile: "Jing Yan likes handwritten things."

  "Okay." Jian Yao picked up her pen and paper, and began to translate with her head down. Fu Zi Yu got up to wash his hands, and then ignored her, leaning against the window drinking tea by himself.

  ——

  "The deceased was brutally murdered, with signs of binding on the hands and feet, multiple lacerations and tears in the lower body...". Jian Yao translated a few sentences, somewhat unexpectedly, looked up to see Fu Zi Yu's expression remained calm.

  Jian Yao wasn't too surprised since she had translated many obscure texts before. However, after a while, she came across unfamiliar phrases and upon scanning the entire text, found that there were quite a few rare words. So she asked: "Is there a specialized dictionary?"

  Fu Ziyu smiled and pointed to a nearby bookshelf: "Help yourself."

  Jian Yao quickly found a few dictionaries, her expression relaxed, and she began to look up translations.

  "Bootlegging, selling contraband; vivisection, dissecting a living being..."

  Finally finished translating the whole text, and after re-checking it once more, only twenty-five minutes had passed. Fu Ziyu seemed somewhat surprised at her speed, took a glance over it, said "Wait a minute, I'll take it to him to have a look." Then turned around and went upstairs.

  It turned out that Bo Yun was just upstairs.

  Jian Yao sat quietly on the sofa, waiting calmly.

  Fu Zi Yu quickly went downstairs again, washed his hands by the pool, took out a handkerchief to wipe them clean, and then sat down across from her: "He's still watching, it'll take some time."

  "Alright."

  The two chatted casually. Fu Ziyu smiled and asked: "Did you attend university in B City?"

  Jian Yao smiled and replied: "Yes, graduating next year."

  Fu Zi Yu nodded: "Not bad. After chatting for so long, you still don't know what I do." He paused, smiling at her: "Guess?"

  He was a few years older than Jian Yao, and very polite. Jian Yao had a good first impression of him, smiling in response: "Doctor?"

  Fu Zi Yu's smile in his eyes suddenly deepened: "How did you figure it out?"

  Jian Yao was quite pleased that she had guessed correctly, her gaze fell on his slender and pale fingers: "I'm also just taking a wild guess - I saw you washing your hands several times, you're very clean. There's still the smell of hospital disinfectant on you. And your fingers look...very much like a doctor's."

  "Thank you! I take that as a compliment," he said. Immediately, his ten fingers intertwined and fluttered rapidly, like two agile butterflies dancing, leaving Jian Yao's eyes dazzled.

  As a result, the two became more familiar with each other. After chatting for a while, the topic turned to Bó Jìngyán again, Fù Zǐyù sighed and said: "I'll be leaving here in a few days, I'm a bit worried about Jìngyán. To be honest, his personality is a bit lonely."

  She just smiled politely and didn't respond or ask further when she heard him comment on Mr. Bao, whom she had never met before.

  Fu Zi Yu glanced at her and said: "He's been back for so long, not a single friend has visited. I bet you don't even know when he came back."

  Jian Yao's smile remained unchanged, still not intending to continue the conversation. But Fu Ziyu seemed to be looking at her with great interest, waiting for her response. Such enthusiasm made Jian Yao feel a strange sensation flash through her mind quickly. However, she didn't have time to think deeply and followed his topic, answering: "He came back last year, right?"

  Fu Zi Yu: "How did you know?"

  "Last year when I was on vacation and passed by here, I didn't see any ivy. Just now when I came in, the ivy was already 4 or 5 meters high. The ivy at my home grows about this tall every year."

  Unconsciously, the two of them chatted for more than half an hour. Fu Ziyu lowered his head to glance at his watch and smiled slightly: "Alright, it's getting late. You go back first, I'll discuss with Jingyan a bit longer, and call you later."

  "I'm very grateful that you could come today. If he decides to use you, he will sign a work agreement with you. You need to work continuously for 20 days here, and all translation work must be completed on the spot. Documents cannot be brought in or taken out, and the content must be kept confidential. Also, he has been recuperating recently and does not like to be disturbed, so without permission, you are also not allowed to go upstairs. Other details will be discussed when signing the agreement."

  ——

  Jian Yao came out of the villa as it was approaching dusk, the sun finally showed its face from the clouds, and the golden sunlight spread across the mountains, with crystal clear leaves and falling snow everywhere in sight.

  Jian Yao felt confident about her translation skills and thought she had a good grasp of the job. Although the client was still a mystery, being quite secretive and somewhat strange, it was a job introduced by her teacher, so it should be reliable.

  She walked a few meters up the mountain slope and turned her head to take another look, slightly stunned - there was someone in front of the window on the second floor. The person wore a pure black suit, straight as a knife cut, with a tall and slender body that was very eye-catching. However, he was backlit, so his facial features couldn't be seen clearly.

  ——

  Jian Yao walked away, and Fu Zi Yu "thudded" up to the second floor. Compared to the warmth and elegance downstairs, this floor only had a narrow and deep corridor leading to several closed rooms. The plain white walls were devoid of any decorations, making it seem gloomy and cold.

  The door to the room was slightly ajar. Fu Zi Yu pushed it open and leaned against the door frame, completely unlike his elegant demeanor when facing Jian Yao, and instead let out a loud shout: "Fuck!"

  This loud shout was clear and smooth, causing the person who was originally reading a book by the window to raise an eyebrow and glance at him, then... continue to focus on reading.

  Fu Ziyu didn't mind, first picked up the stack of documents translated by Jian Yao from the table and threw them into the person's arms, saying: "The translation is accurate and the writing is beautiful!" Then he took out something from his pocket, it was a thin white smooth paper, on which several lines were written in bold black ink:

  Fu Zi Yu's occupation?

  How long have I been here?

  ……”

  It was during Fu Ziyu's casual conversation with Jian Yao that he let her "guess" some topics.

  He slapped the paper on the table: "Your questions, she has also fully analyzed correctly. This time this translation, are you satisfied?"

  That person had a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, but didn't say anything. Fu Ziyu was afraid he would pick on something else, so she said almost sternly: "If you're still not satisfied, translate it yourself. Besides, I'm not your assistant, and I'll be leaving for B city in a few days, don't expect me to run errands for you anymore."

  The man finally looked up from his book, gave him a very strange look and replied slowly: "My time is not used for such boring things."

  Fu Ziyu was speechless, and had nothing to say in return. He turned around and muttered: "You're an expert at killing people, she's just a small translator, why do you still need to test her observation skills and thinking ability? It's making me ask questions in circles, I reckon she thinks I'm a chatterbox..."

  The man gave him a particularly warm smile: "Obviously, I couldn't let someone as stupid as you translate my work - a person who is not sharp or meticulous in thinking can only translate the literal meaning, unable to understand the subtlety of details and the soul that is integrated with the text."

  Fu Zi Yu was speechless for a moment, but he got used to it and asked with a mix of anger and amusement: "Can this Jian Yao understand your soul?"

  That person suddenly came back to himself, lowered his head and continued reading: "No one can understand."