After a good night’s sleep, Yusang had almost fallen asleep smiling, though she couldn’t quite figure out what she was so happy about. Was it because Yan Qige had coaxed her? No, no, no, she denied it – that was what he owed her. He bullied and annoyed her far more often than he coaxed her. It must be because she could now freely eat demon cores as snacks in the future. Yes, it must be because of that. She found herself a reason, then happily fell asleep dreaming of many, many snacks.
Who was it that said good dreams, though beautiful, are easily broken? Early the next morning, just as Yusang was still immersed in her beautiful dream of eating countless demon cores as snacks that never ran out, she was tormented awake by earth-shaking knocking at her door.
“Who is it?” Yusang jumped up and shouted in exasperation after reaching her limit of tolerance.
“Your young master wants you to go serve him as he gets up,” came the voice of the inn’s servant boy from outside the door.
“What?” Yusang opened the door, thinking she had misheard.
“Alright, the message has been delivered. Hurry up and go.” The servant boy only regarded her as a maid following her master, so he didn’t give her much courtesy. After speaking, he left.
Yusang naturally didn’t consider Yan Qige to be her actual master, but she still went to the room where he was staying. She wanted to make things clear with Yan Qige – he was not allowed to presumptuously order her around to do this and that anymore.
Arriving outside Yan Qige’s door, she saw it was half-open. Feeling rather resentful, she casually pushed it open and entered, saying as she did: “I need to make something clear with you. I think you’ve misunderstood some things. I’m not…”
Halfway through her words, Yusang abruptly stopped, her eyes widening as she froze in place. She saw Yan Qige with his long hair unbound, standing disheveled by the bedside. A plain-colored undergarment was unfastened, hanging half-open to reveal a large expanse of chest skin. The sight instantly made Yusang feel blood rushing upward, straight to her nasal cavity.
“You’re not what?” Yan Qige asked casually, calmly picking up his clothing ties to fasten them, then leisurely going to retrieve his outer robes to put on.
Yusang suddenly blushed, her eyes darting around the room as if everything looked inappropriate. The words that had been so righteously on the tip of her tongue now somehow became particularly lacking in confidence. After hemming and hawing for a long time, she finally said: “I’m not your maid, so don’t always order me around.”
“If you don’t want to be my maid, then tell me – what do you want to be?”
“Anything is fine, as long as it’s not a maid.”
“Mm, good.”
Yusang was very surprised that Yan Qige had agreed so readily. But before she could feel happy about it, Yan Qige continued: “Then from now on, let’s say you’re my follower.”
“What? Isn’t that the same as being a maid?”
“How could it be the same? A maid merely serves tea, tends to daily needs, and listens to the master’s orders. A follower must also be responsible for managing luggage, and when necessary, must even sacrifice their life to protect their master.”
“Can’t I just not be a servant?” Yusang’s face fell.
Yan Qige finished putting on his outer robe, smoothing his sleeves as he looked at Yusang with some disdain: “It’s possible. With your abilities following me, aside from being a servant, you truly can’t do anything else. I do happen to lack a spirit beast mount, but… never mind, forget about it.”
“I naturally couldn’t be a mount. Actually… you could consider that I could become your good partner for traveling the world, your good companion, and such. We could combine our strengths.” Yusang shamelessly suggested.
“Combine strengths with you? Have I lost my mind?”
“You…” Yusang gritted her teeth.
Yan Qige, who had moved to the mirror to bind his hair, glanced at her sideways. Being swept by that gaze from Yan Qige, Yusang instantly lost her courage and confidence again. Her brows drooped, and she resorted to the shameless tactic of acting coquettish, wheedling: “Just agree with me. I swear I’ll help you a lot.”
Yan Qige ignored Yusang, focusing on arranging his long hair with a jade hairpin. Only then did he turn around somewhat, hooking his finger toward Yusang, who was still putting on a pitiful face, signaling for her to come over.
Seeing this, Yusang thought the tactic had worked and quickly moved closer.
“To follow me without being a maid, and even have demon cores to eat as supplements – all of this is fine, as long as you listen to me and do as I say. Is that acceptable?”
Yusang’s eyes rolled around, feeling that these words seemed to hold no great disadvantage for her, so she nodded repeatedly. Seeing this, Yan Qige was quite satisfied, smiling slightly as he moved his finger again, signaling for Yusang to bring her ear closer.
Half an hour later, Yan Qige’s party of three was having breakfast in the main hall: two dishes of vegetables, one dish of braised beef, a plate of steamed buns accompanied by three bowls of congee. It looked refreshing and smelled quite good too.
Usually, Yan Qige had always been indifferent to matters of food and drink, unlike Yusang, who loved to indulge in small treats. But today, for some unknown reason, he suddenly developed an interest, asking the servant boy if there were any special local pastries in this town, and specifically inquiring about Mingran’s taste preferences.
The servant boy said there was a shop on the front street famous for its good pine nut cakes, renowned as the best in Hulliu Town. Yan Qige then took out some silver coins and gave them to the servant boy, asking him to buy some for Mingran, with the remaining change as his tip. Upon hearing this, the servant boy naturally went off happily. Mingran blushed and lowered her head, saying something about troubling the young master to spend his attention on such matters. Yusang watched all this and snorted unhappily. Yan Qige immediately shot her a look, relaxed his fingers, and the chopsticks between his fingers fell to the ground.
“Go get a new pair,” Yan Qige ordered Yusang.
With a face full of reluctance and unwillingness, Yusang stood up, displaying the attitude of a resentful woman who dared to be angry but not speak out, then went to the inn’s back courtyard. The back courtyard was a small compound, not large, with one well and three rooms. Looking around in all directions and confirming no one was present, Yusang put away the resentful expression from her face and nimbly took out a purple jade compass and one or two yellow talismans that Yan Qige had previously given her from her bosom.
Yusang threw out the yellow talismans while simultaneously touching the ground with her toes and leaping up to act swiftly, holding the purple jade compass in her palm before her with one hand, while curving the fingers of her other hand at her lips.
As Yusang closed her eyes and chanted incantations, the needle in the purple jade compass in her palm began spinning rapidly. The yellow talismans in the air flew around the compass twice before heading straight toward a small wooden house on the right side. Just as Yusang followed the yellow talisman toward the wooden house, a faint tinkling sound came from the direction of the main hall – it was the signal thread bell she had set up at the entrance when she entered the back courtyard. As long as someone entered, it would make a sound that only she could hear.
Yusang dared not delay. She quickly dropped back to the ground and had just put away the purple jade compass and yellow talismans when she indeed saw the servant boy coming in from outside. Upon seeing Yusang, the servant boy’s expression immediately became tense, and he said very displeasedly: “What are you doing here? Outsiders are not permitted to enter and exit the inn’s back courtyard freely.”
“Oh, I came in to get a pair of chopsticks,” Yusang said, while her fingers rapidly moved behind her back, folding the yellow talisman she had just retrieved into a small triangle.
“Get out quickly, get out quickly.” Without allowing any explanation, the servant boy waved his sleeves to drive Yusang away. Yusang stepped back half a step, exerted force with her two fingers behind her back, and lightly tossed the yellow talisman into the threshold of the small room. At the same time, she put on a displeased expression on her face, leaving with bad-tempered complaints.