Gritting her teeth, Hong Jiu spat out each word, “Then you tell me, where on earth are we supposed to find him?”
Yao Wu shrank back, his mind racing as he came up with a terribly rotten idea.
“What if we go door-to-door and knock on every single room?”
Wow, a brute-force method. How wonderful. Thud— Yao Wu's head ultimately shared a kiss of the century with the floorboards. The sound wasn't loud, but it was solid enough to make the door shake. Hong Jiu retracted her foot, her expression unchanged.
Splayed out on the floor, Yao Wu reached up to feel the back of his head. There was a massive bump. He pulled a small wooden box from his shirt and opened the lid. Inside lay a furry, black-and-yellow bee. It was quite large, sitting lazily at the bottom of the box, barely moving except for the occasional twitch of its wings. Hong Jiu's lips twitched, and she let out a frustrated laugh. “You had a Tracking Bee this whole time and didn't bring it out? You were going to make me knock on every single door?”
Yao Wu patted the dust off his clothes with a pitiful look, complaining, “It was just a joke! Who knew you'd hit me without warning?”
Hong Jiu snorted, staying silent as she kicked Yao Wu in the butt, telling him to hurry up and lead the way.
Grimacing, Yao Wu conjured a tiny drop of honey on his fingertip. He then pulled out the jade token Lu Yan had given him and held it close to the Tracking Bee to let it sniff. The bee sniffed a few times, its antennae twitching, before its wings suddenly buzzed to life. It flew off down the corridor. The bitter look on Yao Wu's face finally faded, replaced by a slight smile. “Found him!”
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Jiang Ci had woken up long ago. The inn's bed was far more comfortable than the hard wooden board covered in straw back on the mountain, yet she couldn't sleep soundly. She would manage to drift off, only to wake up suddenly an hour or half an hour later. The last time she opened her eyes was during the Hour of the Tiger, when it was still pitch black outside without a single ray of light. She rolled over, pulled the blanket closer, and closed her eyes. Then she opened them again. She still couldn't sleep. It wasn't just because she wasn't tired—it was because even when she closed her eyes, she didn't see the person she wanted to see.
After waking up, she stared blankly at the bed canopy. She couldn't really understand what was embroidered on it—a colorful mess of birds and flowers with dense stitching. She stared at it for a long time without making any sense of it. She didn't know when it officially counted as morning. He hadn't arrived yet. Jiang Ci turned her head to glance out the window. The pitch-black darkness from earlier had now given way to a faint white light. Did this count as morning? Was he here? Was he downstairs? Was he on his way? She murmured in her heart, “He hasn't come yet, so it doesn't count as morning.” The sky didn't decide; only when he arrived would her sun truly rise. He wouldn't lie to her... surely.
So, when Lu Yan pushed the door open, he was met with a fully dressed and ready Jiang Ci. Her robes were neatly tied, her hair was gathered, and she sat properly on the edge of the bed. Looking at Lu Yan, who was carrying a food container, she tilted her head slightly, her lips curving into a gentle arc. “Good morning.”
Lu Yan paused at the doorway. “Good morning. Have you eaten? I had a bowl of wontons downstairs, and they were quite good, so I brought you a bowl. Do you want to try some? Or should we change your dressings first?”
Jiang Ci thought about it. “Let's change the dressings first.” Yesterday's medicine had dried and stuck to her skin, making it feel uncomfortably tight. She wanted to apply the fresh medicine before eating.
Lu Yan nodded. “Alright, I'll be quick then, otherwise the wontons will get soggy and won't taste as good.”
In the corridor.
Hong Jiu bent over, squinting as she pressed her ear against the door. She was using a rudimentary Penetration Spell, which barely allowed her to see the outlines of the figures inside, and the voices leaked out in fits and starts. Her face gradually flushed. Mmh, mmh... low and soft, as if someone were holding back. She furrowed her brows and spat softly in disgust.
Yao Wu was hopping with anxiety beside her, but not daring to speak aloud, he grabbed Hong Jiu's shoulders and shook her back and forth. “What do you see? Hurry up and tell me, stop keeping me in suspense!”
Hong Jiu opened her mouth but couldn't find the words. Even though she was an expert in these matters and had been called a temptress for a long time, asking her to describe her colleague's intimate affairs in detail was something she really didn't know how to phrase. Spitting once more, she cast the spell over Yao Wu's eyes and snapped angrily, “Go see for yourself!”
Yao Wu immediately widened his eyes and peered through the door. The image was blurry, as if looking through frosted glass, and he could only make out a man and a woman. The man was holding the woman, his hand stroking her back over and over. The woman's head was bowed, her expression obscured. Yao Wu immediately shut his eyes, muttering with a shudder, “Indecency in broad daylight... in the open sun... Damn you, Lu Yan... you really deserve to die!” He slowly slid down the wall and sat on the floor, staring blankly at the flushed Hong Jiu. Well, this was a classic case of keeping a mistress in a golden house. The two of them had traveled thousands of miles, tracking and sneaking around, only to end up as a couple of eavesdroppers. Hong Jiu opened her mouth but made no sound, yet Yao Wu could tell from her lip movements what she was asking: “What do we do now?”
What to do? He wanted to know too. Who could have guessed that a seemingly upright guy like Lu Yan would do such a thing in broad daylight? And they just had to stumble right into it. Should they leave or stay? Having come all this way without seeing or catching anything, he couldn't bear to just go back empty-handed. But if they stayed, who knew how long they'd have to wait? Yao Wu furrowed his brows, gritted his teeth, and spat out a single word: “Wait!”
Hong Jiu was somewhat speechless, but there seemed to be no other choice. She and Yao Wu squatted by the door like two doormen—neither looking like guardian gods nor proper guards. Squatting there, they both felt incredibly stupid.
The sounds from inside the room continued intermittently. Yao Wu's face turned green. Lu Yan usually looked so weak and frail, so how was he this vigorous? It had been nearly an hour, and he still wasn't done? He turned to look at Hong Jiu, only to find her face completely flushed, her cheeks like peaches, the corners of her eyes red and misty, and her body trembling slightly. Startled, he quickly patted her.
Hong Jiu shuddered at his touch, her voice soft, delicate, and trembling. “Don't touch me! My cultivation technique is running on its own!” The techniques of the Joyous Union Sect would trigger one's blood and qi spontaneously after prolonged exposure to such stimuli. It wasn't that she was emotionally moved; rather, her body had reacted before her mind could.
Yao Wu's head throbbed. My dear lady, of all times for your lousy technique to start running, it had to choose this exact moment to cause trouble. He searched through all his pockets and emptied his storage bag, but he couldn't find a single Heart-Clearing Pill. Sweating with anxiety, he could only pin his hopes on Lu Yan—surely he had some on him?
Just then, the sounds inside the room stopped. Gritting his teeth, Yao Wu pushed the door open.
The air seemed to freeze. Jiang Ci was leaning against the headboard, her robes already changed, though her hair was still loose and ungathered. Lu Yan was holding a bowl, bringing a spoonful of wonton to her lips.
The moment Yao Wu saw Jiang Ci's face, his original intention of asking, “Do you have any Heart-Clearing Pills?” was instantly thrown to the back of his mind. His mouth fell open as he stared at Jiang Ci for a long time, with only one thought remaining in his head.
“Damn it, Lu Yan, you really deserve to die!”
He didn't speak loudly, but the empty corridor carried his voice, echoing over and over. Hong Jiu was still squatting by the wall, the flush on her face not yet faded. The air froze for several breaths. Jiang Ci tilted her head to look at the two at the door, then at Lu Yan, remaining silent. The spoon in Lu Yan's hand paused in midair, the wonton soup still steaming. Yao Wu stared wide-eyed, while Hong Jiu kept her head lowered, neither of them speaking first.
Lu Yan held the bowl, his face expressionless. The wontons were getting cold.
Rate on N.U.
