Bai Ruoyao woke up groggily, staring blankly at the stone ceiling of the cave, her memory of the previous day completely blank.
“Miss Bai, are you all right?” Ji Shu had slept soundly in Chu Wusu’s arms the night before, and her complexion was excellent today. Her delicate, pretty face glowed with radiance, making her all the more bewitching.
Bai Ruoyao shook her head and looked toward the voice.
“…Ji Shu? Why does my head feel so swollen?” Her voice paused, and she looked at Ji Shu’s unusually red lips with puzzlement. They seemed—somewhat swollen too?
Ji Shu noticed his gaze and instinctively raised a hand to touch her lips. The moment her fingertips made contact, she drew back slightly as if scalded.
Her body was naturally delicate, and after being kissed over and over by Chu Wusu for so long the previous night, she hadn’t fully recovered today. Faint traces of intimacy were still visible on her red, swollen lips.
“Have you forgotten? We ate hallucinogenic mushrooms yesterday.” Her expression remained unchanged. “There may be some lingering aftereffects.”
“Is that so?”
Bai Ruoyao looked at Ji Shu’s lips with half-belief, then remembered that she too had been poisoned by the mushrooms. Her consciousness had been hazy, and she had stumbled around without knowing what happened, so she stopped questioning it.
So Ji Shu’s lips… must also be because of the mushrooms.
Having never been kissed before, she naturally couldn’t spot any flaws.
“Ahem.” Bai Ruoyao cleared her throat, her eyes flickering slightly, and awkwardly changed the subject. “…Where’s Wusu?”
After all, she had been the one to pick those mushrooms. She inevitably felt a little guilty, but then she thought—she hadn’t done it on purpose, and she had been affected too. Why should she apologize to Ji Shu?
” Young Master went to fetch water.” Ji Shu lowered her eyes and replied, her tone as soft as ever.
“Then I’ll go check on him.” Bai Ruoyao stood up and headed out, but the moment she reached the cave entrance, she ran into Chu Wusu.
Chu Wusu glanced at the two of them, his gaze lingering on Ji Shu for a few extra moments, seemingly without meaning to.
“Eat something, then we’ll set off. Before dark today, we should reach South Mountain.”
Bai Ruoyao rushed to respond, “Great! It’s not safe at night—Wusu, you’re so thoughtful.”
…What does that have to do with being thoughtful? Any normal person would think to hurry and cover as much ground as possible before dark. To flatter Chu Wusu, she really would say anything.
Ji Shu grumbled inwardly. Though her face betrayed nothing, a trace of exasperation flashed through her eyes.
Chu Wusu, with his formidable mind and high opinion of himself, felt nothing was amiss about Bai Ruoyao’s clumsy flattery. Instead, he keenly shot a sidelong glance at Ji Shu, whose expression seemed a little off.
Under that lightly scraping gaze, Ji Shu immediately curved her brows into an ingratiating smile, her face practically declaring—This servant wholly agrees that Young Master is a most thoughtful person.
The corners of Chu Wusu’s lips lifted in satisfaction, and he let her off.
Just as Chu Wusu had said, the three of them arrived at South Mountain just before nightfall.
By now, heroes and wanderers from all corners had gathered at South Mountain. The air buzz with noise and liveliness. Before the sky had fully darkened, candlelight had already flickered to life along the streets, one lantern after another, illuminating the entire mountain town bright as day—a world entirely apart from the dark, gloomy forest they had just left.
They headed straight for the largest inn.
Upon arriving, they were told by the innkeeper that the remaining premium rooms had already been reserved, leaving only two lower-grade rooms with broken windows still vacant.
The corners of Chu Wusu’s lips slowly curled upward. He was clearly smiling, yet there was not a trace of warmth in his peach-blossom eyes.
He wore a half-smile, his tone lazy and careless, yet for some reason it sent a chill down one’s spine.
“Oh? Is that so?”
The shopkeeper’s hair stood on end under that gaze, cold sweat beading on his forehead as he apologized repeatedly: “My good sir, I’m truly sorry. With the Hero’s Gathering at South Mountain these past few days, every inn is full. Our humble establishment really has no rooms to spare…”
Chu Wusu kept smiling, but the coldness in his peach-blossom eyes grew even deeper.
“Aren’t there still empty upper rooms?” Before he could speak again, Ji Shu looked at the shopkeeper with a bright smile, her tone soft, as if discussing the most ordinary little matter.
“Well…” The shopkeeper’s face showed difficulty, and he stammered, “Those were reserved by the Overlord Blade Sect. This humble one wouldn’t dare make that decision…”
“Shopkeeper,” Ji Shu said unhurriedly, still wearing that smiling expression, though her voice dipped slightly at the end, carrying an indescribable hint of danger, “one must… learn to be flexible.”
Chu Wusu found a spot to lean against, boneless, arms crossed, watching with great interest as Ji Shu worked her magic.
—The little fox really is amusing when she threatens people.
Bai Ruoyao caught sight of Chu Wusu’s gaze resting on Ji Shu, and an indescribable sense of crisis suddenly rose in her heart.
“Miss Ji, don’t make things difficult for the shopkeeper.” She stepped forward, her tone gentle yet persuasive, her expression full of understanding. “The shopkeeper has it hard enough. Those rooms were reserved by someone else first. How could we be so unreasonable?”
As she spoke, she deftly stepped on Ji Shu’s foot, while her face wore a gracious, considerate look, hoping to display her own kindness and reasonableness before Chu Wusu.
The shopkeeper felt as if granted a reprieve and nodded repeatedly: “Yes, yes, this young lady speaks sense. Ours is a small business with small profits—please don’t make things hard for us…”
Ji Shu nearly laughed in anger.
It was true she wasn’t a good person, but she was fighting for lodging for all three of them. And Bai Ruoyao, for her own reputation’s sake, didn’t hesitate to undermine her right in front of Chu Wusu.
She turned to look at Bai Ruoyao, the corner of her lips curving into an ambiguous arc: “Miss Bai is quite right. So in Miss Bai’s opinion—where should we stay?”
Bai Ruoyao put on her most understanding expression and answered warmly: “We could squeeze into those two lower rooms.”
As her words fell, ripples stirred in her heart—only two rooms left. Would Wusu… perhaps want to stay in the same room as her?
Ji Shu was speechless with exasperation—who wanted to stay in the lower rooms!
“Miss Bai, you…” She had just opened her mouth to argue when Chu Wusu spoke first.
He had watched the show long enough. Seeing the annoyance rising in the little fox’s eyes made his heart itch, and he finally spoke, lazily.
“That’s enough.”
Bai Ruoyao’s heart leaped with joy—was Wusu fed up with Ji Shu’s domineering temper, about to reprimand her?
“Ruoyao,” Chu Wusu turned to look at her, also wearing a smile of perfect understanding, “since you don’t like staying in upper rooms, you can take the lower room.”
Before his words had even faded, he turned to the shopkeeper. His smile remained, but his gaze suddenly bore down.
“Two upper rooms, one lower room.”
His slender fingers pressed a banknote gently onto the stone table before the shopkeeper. The tabletop didn’t crack, but silently sank into a complete fingerprint-shaped indentation—the banknote nestled snugly within it, utterly motionless.
That Inner Power…
The well-traveled, experienced innkeeper broke into a cold sweat, not daring to say another word. Under Chu Wusu’s pressure—subtle yet unrelenting—he tremblingly reached out to pry the banknote out of the stone table, his very fingertips shaking.
“…Y-yes, of course.”
Ji Shu’s face lit up with delight. Taking the room tokens from the innkeeper, she swiftly slipped the one carved with the character for “lower” into Bai Ruoyao’s hand.
Ignoring the other’s expression, frozen in place, her fox eyes curved into two crescent moons, her voice light as if wrapped in honey: “Ahh—Young Master is so kind to Miss Bai, specially getting you the lower room. Here you go~”
With that, she turned and followed Chu Wusu, but after a few steps seemed to remember something. Looking back, she smiled at the innkeeper, her tone innocent and guileless: “Oh right, if that Overlord Blade Sect comes looking for trouble, Innkeeper, just tell them to take it up with our Young Master.”
Chu Wusu didn’t know whether to laugh or scold. Snapping his folding fan shut, he tapped it lightly—not too hard, not too soft—on her head.