Great Yan, the imperial capital.
Hongyu’s residence.
“So…
you want to travel around Great Yan too?”
Hongyu looked at Ling in surprise.
As usual, she had a wine gourd in her hand.
“What?
Is that so strange?”
Ling responded as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Even a shut-in like Dusk managed to come up with the idea of traveling to find inspiration for her paintings.
Why can’t I do the same?”
As far as Ling was concerned, if someone as reclusive as little Dusk could leave home, there was absolutely nothing strange about her doing so too.
However, Dusk had made one enormous mistake.
She hadn’t brought the old geezer along with her!
“Hey, old geezer.
How about coming with me?”
Ling raised an eyebrow at Hongyu.
“I imagine things would be rather lonely for you if I left and you had to stay here all by yourself.”
Hongyu immediately agreed.
Fortunately, the situation he’d been most worried about hadn’t come to pass.
He’d been concerned that Ling might decide to travel across Great Yan entirely on her own, leaving him, the old man, behind to enjoy his retirement.
It wasn’t that Hongyu was afraid of loneliness like some elderly parent whose children had all moved away.
What worried him was something far more serious.
If Ling really did travel alone, what would happen when Sui’s consciousness began affecting her again?
Thankfully, she still intended to bring him along.
Otherwise, Hongyu would never have allowed her to leave by herself.
Even if he had to shamelessly follow her everywhere, he would have done so.
There was, after all, a limit to how much freedom Hongyu was willing to give the Sui fragments.
And that limit was safety.
As long as their safety could be guaranteed, he was perfectly willing to let them do whatever they pleased.
On that note, Hongyu would like to specifically criticize a certain Shu, who had once planned to seal away demonic contamination entirely on her own.
That girl really knew how to make her guardian worry!
“Alright, then.
I’d be happy to accompany you.”
Hongyu had no objections.
The moment Ling heard his answer, a bright smile appeared on her face.
‘Thank goodness the old geezer agreed.’
‘Otherwise, I would’ve dragged him along one way or another.’
‘And if that didn’t work, I could always make up some excuse to stay here instead.’
After all, as far as Ling was concerned, spending time with Hongyu was far more important than traveling around the world.
Of course, having Hongyu agree to travel with her was the best possible outcome.
“Then there’s no time to waste!
Let’s get going!”
Ling immediately threw an arm around Hongyu’s neck and pressed her cheek against his.
“Stop fooling around.”
Hongyu pushed her face away with an expression of distaste.
“You reek of alcohol…”
‘Seriously, this girl has absolutely no sense of respect for her elders.’
‘Doesn’t she know I don’t particularly enjoy drinking?’
“Oh?
What’s this?
Feeling shy?”
Ling wasn’t the least bit upset about being pushed away.
Instead, she covered her mouth and looked up at Hongyu with an amused expression.
For some inexplicable reason, her expression made Hongyu imagine that she might suddenly develop the face of a hopelessly lovestruck girl.
He could practically hear her saying:
“Kawaii ne~!
You’re so adorable~!”
Otherwise, Hongyu might have suspected he’d somehow transmigrated into another world again.
“No.
I’m disgusted.”
Hongyu answered with absolute conviction.
“So you are embarrassed?”
Ling refused to give up.
“Disgusted.”
Hongyu stood firm.
“You’re embarrassed, aren’t you?”
Ling gradually moved closer.
Chuu.
Something warm and soft suddenly brushed against Hongyu’s cheek.
His eyes widened.
Then, as though he’d received an electric shock, he stumbled backward.
Along the way, he knocked over a chair, sending it crashing to the floor.
He caught himself against a nearby table and turned toward Ling.
The blue-haired woman who had caught him off guard was now looking directly at him.
Her eyes held a mischievous glimmer.
And there was a faint, triumphant smile on her face.
“See?
You are embarrassed.”
Ling crossed her arms, looking every bit like someone who had just won a great victory.
“You’re drunk.”
Hongyu stated it as an absolute fact.
He didn’t even bother phrasing it as a question.
As far as he was concerned, Ling’s unexpected behavior could only have been the result of drinking too much and temporarily losing her judgment.
“No, no, no, old geezer.”
Ling raised one finger and wagged it at him.
“I’m perfectly sober.”
“First of all, I’ve barely had anything to drink.”
“And second, I’m not the kind of person who goes around kissing people just because I’ve had too much alcohol.”
She maintained her smug expression.
However, the faint redness in her cheeks and the barely noticeable trembling of her legs suggested that she was nowhere near as calm as she appeared.
Hongyu stopped responding.
Instead, he turned around and hurried away with movements so stiff that they almost seemed mechanical.
‘Just now…’
‘For a moment, my heartbeat suddenly accelerated…’
‘Why?’
Thump, thump, thump…
Thump, thump, thump…
‘Was it because Ling kissed me?’
Thump, thump, thump…
Thump, thump, thump…
‘My heart is beating so fast…’
‘I’ve never felt anything like this before.’
‘What kind of emotion is this…?’
Hongyu walked even faster, wanting nothing more than to get outside and clear his head.
Unfortunately, he managed to trip over another chair along the way.
He fell straight to the floor.
‘GODDAMMIT!’
‘WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHAIRS IN THIS HOUSE?!’
Thump, thump, thump!
Thump, thump, thump!
Meanwhile, Ling watched Hongyu march away step by step like some malfunctioning machine.
Only after he disappeared did she finally release the breath she’d been holding.
And ever since that unexpected moment, her legs had felt so weak that she could barely keep herself steady.
“F-Finally…”
“He’s finally gone…”
Ling braced herself against the table, breathing heavily.
The calm and composed demeanor she’d maintained just moments earlier had completely vanished.
Her cheeks were flushed, but a satisfied smile lingered on her face.
She recalled the look of astonishment on Hongyu’s face, the way he’d frozen in place, and all the clumsy things he’d done afterward.
Every one of those reactions had completely shattered the image of the “omnipotent” Hongyu she’d always carried in her mind.
Ling touched her still-warm cheeks and couldn’t help laughing.
“Heh.
Yu…
You’re actually pretty adorable…”
“The Grand Warden?
Which one are you asking about?”
Wei Yenwu gave the visitor from the Celestial Masters’ residence a strange look.
‘Good grief.’
‘When I heard someone from the Celestial Masters’ residence was coming, I thought it might be that old bast—’
‘Ahem.
My esteemed teacher, the Grand Tutor.’
‘But instead, they’ve sent me some blonde girl who practically sparks with electricity?’
‘And rather than asking about Lungmen, you’re here to ask about the Grand Warden of the Sui Regulator?’
‘What?
Do you think I’m secretly harboring one of the Sui fragments in Lungmen?’
(Nian: “Achoo!”)
‘You’d better be asking about the first Grand Warden.’
‘Because I know practically nothing about the current one.’
Of course, despite his private complaints, Wei Yenwu maintained an expression that suggested he took the matter very seriously.
If Lin had been there to witness Wei Yenwu acting as though he respected every senior official and institution in Great Yan, he probably would have given him the middle finger.
After all, this bastard visited Lin practically every day to complain about the endless nonsense coming from Great Yan’s upper administration.
Lin had heard so much of it that his ears were practically growing calluses.
Unfortunately, Lin wasn’t present.
And even if he had been, giving Old Wei the middle finger in front of a guest from the Celestial Masters’ residence would hardly have been appropriate.
“I’ve heard that when you were younger, Governor Wei, you greatly admired the first Grand Warden and collected numerous books concerning his life.”
“Today, I’m visiting in my personal capacity as Lin Qingyan.”
“I was wondering whether you might allow me to borrow some of those books?”
In his youth, Wei Yenwu had been at the height of his rebellious spirit.
He’d been bold, energetic, and more than a little arrogant.
It was also the period when he most admired wandering heroes, swordsmen, generals, and other legendary figures.
And as luck would have it, practically every ancient account of Hongyu he’d encountered described someone who possessed at least a little of all those qualities.
It was no exaggeration to say that the first Grand Warden had been Wei Yenwu’s childhood idol.
In fact, Hongyu’s stories had been the main reason young Wei Yenwu once secretly escaped the imperial palace to wander Great Yan, hoping to perform heroic deeds and uphold justice.
Unfortunately, Great Yan had been relatively peaceful at the time, leaving little opportunity for heroic adventures.
And the Grand Tutor had caught up with him almost immediately and administered a thorough lesson with a wooden stick.
Nevertheless, whenever the middle-aged Wei Yenwu—whose youthful rebelliousness had long since been worn down by the burdens of life and his wife’s washboard punishments—remembered those days, he couldn’t help feeling nostalgic.
So when Leizi asked about his collection, Wei Yenwu’s reaction was immediate.
‘Wait!’
‘You admire the first Grand Warden too?!’
‘Then we’re practically kindred spirits!’
Wei Yenwu suddenly felt as though he’d encountered another devoted fan of his favorite legendary hero.
He rose from his seat and smiled warmly.
“Of course, Miss Lin Qingyan!”
‘Why has he suddenly become so enthusiastic…?’
Leizi was somewhat surprised.
Social interactions had never been her greatest strength, and she wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to Wei Yenwu’s sudden friendliness.
However, when she saw the enormous collection of books about Hongyu that he had somehow produced almost instantly, she could only nod blankly.
‘So this is what a devoted fan looks like…’
‘You don’t understand how frightening they can be until you meet one.’