This girl…
Mu Mu truly had no idea what to do with her. Scold her? Somehow, he found himself a little reluctant.
He held out the large lobster toward her.
The girl immediately grew excited and reached for it — then lost her nerve and snatched her hand back, hopping around on the small boat, squealing with delight.
The corner of Mu Mu’s lips finally curved into a faint smile. “If you’re not going to take it, I’ll toss it back into the sea.”
“I’ll take it, I’ll take it!” What an enormous deep-sea lobster — truly massive! In the twenty-first century, she had never once eaten one this big!
At least fifteen or sixteen catties — heavens, what a terrifying thing!
Feng Jiu’er wanted it desperately, but the moment her hand went out, she saw the lobster’s claws snapping and lunging at her, and immediately snatched it back in fright.
Yet the moment she pulled back, she was afraid Mu Mu would actually throw it away — so she hurriedly stretched her little hand back out again.
All in all, she was a bundle of nerves: desperate to have it, unable to summon the courage. Good heavens, it was just a lobster — and yet it was more terrifying than a real fight!
Mu Mu’s smile finally refused to stay hidden, spreading from the corners of his lips all the way up to his brows.
“Frightened, and still you reach for it?” He smiled faintly, then retrieved a red cord from the boat’s basket and, in one swift motion, bound the lobster’s two great claws securely.
He then set the creature down on the deck. “Keep your eye on it — if it escapes, you’re eating only vegetables tonight.”
“Understood.” Feng Jiu’er crouched on the deck and fixed the lobster with an unblinking stare, her eyes never wavering.
Now that its claws were bound it couldn’t bite anyone, but it could still move at astonishing speed.
When Mu Mu returned the second time, he found Feng Jiu’er still crouched on the deck, clutching a stick she’d found from somewhere.
The stick was for keeping the great lobster from escaping — the moment it tried to bolt, one light tap of the stick was enough to send it scurrying back to its spot.
The sight of the little one like this filled his eyes with warm, deep amusement.
Perhaps a lifetime like this wouldn’t be so bad — him looking after her, her needing to do nothing, simply waiting like a child for him to come back and tend to her every need.
“Wow, a king crab!” The waters in this area actually had king crabs — truly extraordinary. How had he managed it? How had he caught one?
Mu Mu set down the tools in his hands, struck the water’s surface with one palm, and swept Liuli — nearly spent with exhaustion — right up out of the sea.
Quite literally swept her, as if a wave had gathered beneath her body and simply carried her back.
Liuli landed on the deck with a thud, gasping for breath, clutching two small river crabs in her hands.
At the sight of her little crabs, Feng Jiu’er immediately wrinkled her nose. “Those poor things — release them!”
Liuli looked so deflated she nearly wanted to cry. She’d worked so hard to catch them, and now she was being told to let them go!
Still, comparing her little crabs to the king crab in the Young Palace Master’s hands — even Liuli herself felt that eating those two tiny creatures would be rather too cruel.
Finally, she raised her hand and let them go.
But she couldn’t really be blamed — this was the deep-water zone, and just managing to dive down here was already quite an achievement for her. She’d never been able to reach the real depths; she’d spotted those two crabs by chance and grabbed them opportunistically.
She was nothing like the Young Palace Master — there were places too deep for her to go.
She had come out here only because she saw the Young Palace Master and thought she might be able to manage it too.
Little did she know that diving into the deep-water zone truly required extraordinary inner cultivation. Without sufficient inner energy, one simply could not go deep enough.
And just moments ago, if the Young Palace Master hadn’t helped her to the surface, she wasn’t sure she’d have had the strength to make it back to the boat on her own.
The deep-water zone was utterly exhausting — not a single moment of rest, hardly even time to breathe!
If she’d known, she would have stayed in the shallows and gathered some shellfish at least — that would have been better than coming back entirely empty-handed like this.
“Go back to the shallows and get some shellfish.” Mu Mu withdrew his gaze from Feng Jiu’er, tossed the king crab carelessly onto the deck, gave the long pole in his hand a swing — and the small boat immediately turned and headed back toward shore.
He was truly impressive — compared to any ordinary helmsman, he was a hundred times better.
Inner cultivation really was extraordinary. A moment ago, that single palm stroke on the water, lifting Liuli clean out — it had been truly breathtaking!
The king crab was beginning to crawl. Feng Jiu’er immediately brought the stick down on its claws, but the king crab showed absolutely no fear of a little wooden stick and continued right on crawling.
Feng Jiu’er panicked. She wanted to grab it with her hands but was afraid of being pinched — and suddenly found herself completely at a loss.
Liuli hurried to join the battle too, but the king crab was simply too enormous, and every time either of them tried to grab it, those claws drove them back.
They watched helplessly as the king crab crept closer and closer to the boat’s edge, both girls shouting and scrambling, completely without any plan.
The great crab was about to crawl off the side! Feng Jiu’er’s stick had nearly battered its legs clean off, and still she couldn’t force it back.
Liuli reached out her hand in desperation, only to be instantly driven back by those razor-sharp claws.
Two grown girls, utterly helpless — and worse still, the crab reached the boat’s edge and was seconds from going over!
Mu Mu could only look on with exasperated amusement. They couldn’t even manage to watch a single crab — did they simply not want to eat it tonight?
With a casual flick of his wrist, the unfortunate king crab landed back on the deck with a heavy smack. Whether it was stunned from the impact or not, it was unable to right itself for quite some time.
Both girls shot him a sharp look and couldn’t help muttering: “Too cruel!”
“……” Mu Mu was at an utter loss for words.
Surely when they were devouring it tonight, they would manage to do it without cruelty?
……
That night, Feng Jiu’er came out of her bath and did not see Mu Mu in the courtyard — and a strange unease settled over her without warning.
In recent days, he had always seemed to be there, whatever the hour.
She had grown accustomed to it. Step out through her door and he was there. His absence now felt oddly jarring.
Not in the courtyard, not in the room next door — his own — not even in the back courtyard after she searched through it.
A faint feeling, like something was missing…
Without quite knowing when or how, she found herself following some inner pull, making her way back to a particular place.
The place where she had spent so many days sleeping. The hidden chamber in the back courtyard. Even without stepping inside, one could somehow sense the cold that emanated from it.
Jiu’er had no idea how to open the hidden chamber — but when she felt someone on the other side about to push the door open, instinct took over, and she stepped back, retreating beneath a tree in the corner of the back courtyard.
It was entirely a reflex, something her body did before her mind could catch up. She didn’t even know why she was hiding — there was no enemy here.
But by the time she was aware of it, she had already concealed herself. Whatever the reason, it was simply an instinctive impulse.
“With the Ninth Prince holding command for three days, the garrison at Phoenix City crushed the forces of Southern Yue. Within two days, the Prince will likely be returning to the imperial capital.” Ye Luosha regarded Mu Mu, her voice low and heavy. “Mu’er, for the sake of our Di imperial clan, this time, you absolutely must not miss this opportunity.”