Bai Youwei’s excitement surged.
The more she thought about it, the more certain she felt — it was a proposal.
In the past, between two people getting together, you’d normally date for two or three years first.
But circumstances were different now. From the moment they met, to living together, to how their feelings had developed to this point — they were already sharing a bed. Marriage should have been on the agenda long ago.
…Could it be that her disappearance these past few days had caused him such acute anxiety that he wanted to claim her as his for life?
The gift would be an engagement ring, surely. And if not that, then something similar — a token of commitment.
After all, her excellent mind was always remarkably accurate when it came to deduction.
Bai Youwei couldn’t wait any longer. She soaked for a short while, then quickly wrapped herself in a bathrobe and stepped out of the bathroom.
Her gaze swept around the room, back and forth, and finally settled on Shen Mo.
“Where’s my gift?” Bai Youwei asked.
“Done so quickly?” Shen Mo was straightening the bedding. He glanced toward the table. “I left it over there.”
Bai Youwei looked. On the table sat a paper box — just slightly smaller than a shoebox. By no stretch of the imagination did it look like something containing a ring.
“……” The corners of Bai Youwei’s mouth immediately drooped.
She shuffled over in her slippers and began opening the box, somewhat deflated. “What kind of gift is this…”
“Open it and see,” Shen Mo replied.
Bai Youwei lifted the lid, and immediately furrowed her brows. “What is this — why are you giving me a funeral urn?”
What, did he want them to be buried together when they died?
Even so, this urn was a bit small.
Shen Mo laughed despite himself. “Take it out and look again.”
Bai Youwei pursed her lips and reached in, lifting the “funeral urn” from the box — oh. It wasn’t a funeral urn at all. It was an incense burner.
[Miss Liu’s Incense Burner — Provides enhancement effects to certain items. Must be used together with Miss Liu’s Incense Blend.]
Bai Youwei blinked and looked at Shen Mo in surprise. “Where did you get this?”
Shen Mo said, “Traded for it.”
Bai Youwei repeated his words, “Traded for it?”
The upward lift in her voice conveyed her astonishment.
An item like this was not easy to come by. Someone would have had to enter the “Lady in the Bones” game specifically, actually win the game, and then specifically choose this item as their reward from the burial chamber — and then finally show up at the Shanghai base where Shen Mo happened to run into them.
The odds of that were astronomically slim.
Bai Youwei carefully set the incense burner back down, examining it, then running a hand over it. Cold to the touch, with the texture of old brass, four-sided with patterns of lotus flowers and auspicious clouds — quite elegant.
When she’d first received “Miss Liu’s Incense Blend,” she’d felt it had to be something good — but without the burner, it was as useless as scrap. Now, at last, she’d found its matching piece.
Bai Youwei couldn’t help asking Shen Mo, “How did you manage to trade for it?”
Shen Mo said, “Recently Chu Huaijin has been collecting items around the base, wanting to provide better logistical support for the Kings. For example, players living within a King’s territory don’t need to worry about being pulled into a game — so they can freely exchange their items for daily supplies. Some people also trade item for item. This burner — I traded five items for it.”
“Five items?!” Bai Youwei smacked him on the shoulder. “You spendthrift! Couldn’t you have bargained?!”
Shen Mo laughed, catching her hand. “It’s fine. I won quite a few items in the preliminary rounds — all with fairly useless functions. Better to trade them for the incense burner and see just how effective it really is.”
Then he asked, “Want to put the incense blend in and test it?”
Bai Youwei thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yes, let’s try.”
The description said it “enhances certain items” — but which items, specifically? And to what degree?
—