Chapter 545: Chapter 268: Until Next Year’s Full Moon Night
The autumn sun was bright, the weather crisp and clear.
Zheng Xiu sat in the carriage with Feng Bei, a cat nestled in his arms. They were carefully nurturing their relationship, trying to leave the shadow of the Cannibal Painting behind them and start anew, rekindling their old flame. When no one was looking, Feng Bei would pretend to gaze at the scenery outside while secretly slipping her hand into his, saying softly, "Go ahead and hold it if you want." Whenever this happened, Zheng Xiu would secretly squeeze her palm with a coded rhythm of nine light taps and one deep one, helping her reacquaint herself with the familiar intimacy of a couple ten years wed.
Putting old wine in a new bottle had its own special kind of joy.
As the Disaster Prevention Bureau’s operations ran more and more smoothly, Zheng Xiu went from clocking in every day in the beginning to now barely showing his face there at all. The accumulation of small changes had finally led to a qualitative shift, allowing him to make a perfect transition into being a hands-off Shopkeeper.
Under Zheng Xiu’s careful guidance, the Disaster Prevention Bureau had gradually taken the shape of a "company." And Zheng Xiu had always believed that the ideal business model was one where he didn’t have to handle everything personally. As long as he provided the funding, it should be able to run as smoothly as a spinning top on its own—that was the mark of a successful enterprise.
The carriage jolted occasionally as it rolled over the bluestone road.
The two of them bounced up and down in the carriage, following the rhythm of the bumps.
Zheng Xiu had stopped by the Disaster Prevention Bureau to pick up a few interesting case files. On the way back, Feng Bei suddenly asked, out of the blue, "You seem to have been getting quite close with them lately, haven’t you?"
Here it comes!
’I knew it,’ Zheng Xiu thought the moment he heard her. ’Even Qing Pi noticed how close I’ve been with those four women. Feng Bei has gone further down her Path than any other Mystic I’ve ever met. Her power is terrifying; there’s no way she could have been kept in the dark.’
"Ahem."
Zheng Xiu gave a dry cough.
Feng Bei’s gaze shifted from the window to Zheng Xiu’s face. She looked into his eyes, a smile that wasn’t quite a smile on her lips. Zheng Xiu saw his own reflection in her pupils; at that moment, her eyes were filled with nothing but his image.
Their clasped hands, where Zheng Xiu had been the one proactively tapping out his code of nine light and one deep, had now changed. Feng Bei’s small hand tightened, her fingers lacing through his. Locking their hands together, she began to knead his palm with a new rhythm: five light, three deep.
Huh?
Zheng Xiu froze. The tables had been turned on him.
This reminded him of their sparring sessions late at night inside the painting, where they would fight to determine not just a winner, but also who lived and who died. Zheng Xiu would often attack her high and low with a move from the Coiling Dragon Eighteen Slashes, "Double Dragon Water-taking." Madam would parry it with ease. Before Zheng Xiu could press his advantage with "Dragon Battles in the Wilderness," she would quickly counter with a combo of her own: "Old Tree Rooting," "Yin-Yang Reversal," "Sunset Mountain Double Reversal," and other terrifying techniques like "Vast Sky, Boundless Wilds, Wind Blows the Grass Low to Reveal the Herds." In the end, he would be thoroughly beaten, throwing down his arms in utter exhaustion. He could never defeat Xie Luohe in the painting. Feng Bei turning the tables on him in the carriage brought back a sudden memory of that alluring terror of being dominated by his Madam.
They say the palm of the hand has many acupressure points.
Some of these points are quite sensitive when pressed.
And pressing them can be rather pleasant.
Zheng Xiu’s heart skipped a beat. He suddenly realized that, without him even noticing, Feng Bei had switched to her "Feng Luohe" personality.
The alluring atmosphere in the carriage was suddenly tinged with the flavor of an "Awkward Situation."
"Listen, let me explain," Zheng Xiu said, his face deadpan. "You know that because you shattered the ’Orchid’ Deceitful Object with one slap, by a strange twist of fate, they became Orchid Mystics. They’ve established a rule, ahem, which is... ’A solitary Orchid in a secluded valley, blooming for me in this life.’ Wait, don’t take off your gloves, don’t..."
"You know about the Orchid. Their Path is more arduous than others. What’s more, they aren’t willing to walk the proper Path, insisting on taking... ahem, a different one. They have to serve tea, fetch water, give massages, rub legs, and all that. It’s hard work for them..."
"But for them, this is an alternative form of cultivation..."
"The deeper they practice, the smoother their Path becomes!"
"And you know, with the Disaster Prevention Bureau just starting out, it’s riddled with holes, a complete mess, battered by storms, on the verge of collapse! I’m knitting my brow day and night, fraught with anxiety, racking my brains, making a thousand miles of progress a day... In short, the Bureau is in desperate need of people right now."
"You? Your techniques are too brutal. You barely leave anyone alive. Unless it’s an absolute last resort, how could I casually ask you to take action?"
"In the future, they will become this King’s capable right and left hands, standing by my side!"
"I know them well. They’re all hardworking, ambitious young people!"
Zheng Xiu glanced guiltily up at the carriage’s ornate canopy. A moment ago, it had been shaking so hard it almost flew off.
Lately, Qing Shisan had been contentedly serving as the Red King’s dedicated driver. The horses were walking, but the carriage was shaking. Qing Shisan couldn’t help but marvel to himself, ’Wow, they’re really going at it.’
As expected of the Red King, he never took the common path. ⅇℯ𝚕.
After a moment, the carriage canopy stopped shaking.
Feng Bei sighed softly. She raised her free hand and gently patted Zheng Xiu’s cheek. If it had been anyone else, that one pat might have snuffed them out of existence. But it was him, the only one who could withstand her cursed nature. Only with him could she live like a normal woman, tending the fields while he tilled the land—how wonderful that would be.
"Yes. It’s my fault."
Feng Bei slowly rested her head on Zheng Xiu’s shoulder, feeling its familiar broadness, and closed her eyes.
The Orange Cat pouted. It squirmed in Zheng Xiu’s arms, wiggling its butt, but its human remained stubbornly unmoved. It could only leap onto the seat behind them, extend its little paws, and pat both of their heads in what seemed to be a blessing.
Feng Bei was kind-hearted. Thinking it over, she did feel the whole situation was her fault, and she blamed herself. In the eyes of a Miracle Master, a Mystic’s life might seem glamorous and uniquely blessed. But Feng Bei’s greatest wish was to be a woman like Xie Luohe. She didn’t understand—they were both Mystics, so why could Xie Luohe be so free and unrestrained, roaming the Jianghu as she pleased, while she was shackled by a Deceitful Object, forced to live such a miserable life? The four women had become Orchid Mystics because of her, a fact for which she secretly blamed herself. So now, even though she knew Zheng Xiu was helping them with their cultivation, she couldn’t bring herself to say a single word of reproach.