Meng Qitang emerged in an oatmeal-colored coat, her soft black hair falling in gentle waves.
The pale red butterfly mark at the corner of her eye seemed even deeper in the winter light.
Lin Linlin stared at the mark by her eye, then reached out and rubbed it lightly. “Beautiful faces aren’t all cut from the same cloth—this mark makes you even more unique!”
She leaned in to nuzzle against Meng Qitang. “My gorgeous girl!”
Meng Qitang felt the warmth of her closeness, her lips pressing together slightly before she finally asked, “00, is your family heirloom a silver tongue?”
She remembered that the Lin family had a smooth-talking ancestor or something…
“What are you talking about,” Lin Linlin said, crossing her arms. She glanced at the watch on her wrist. “It’s nine o’clock—let’s hurry up and get this thing on our wrists washed off.”
“Alright.”
…
The two stepped out of the room, and the doorbell rang.
“It’s Team Leader He,” Lin Linlin said, peeking through the peephole.
Meng Qitang licked her lips, looking rather helpless. “Why didn’t Ruan Yi manage to keep him occupied?”
Clearly, this wasn’t the first time He Muchen had come looking for her.
Lin Linlin chuckled softly, knowing full well that this was a case of “the falling flower has feelings, but the flowing water is indifferent.”
She whispered, “What you can’t have always keeps calling. Everyone at the research institute knows how Team Leader He feels about you. No wonder the White Peacock couldn’t bear to blame you too harshly after losing him.”
Meng Qitang’s delicate brows furrowed slightly. She said in a flat tone, “Calling? Then from now on, I just won’t move in front of him?”
Lin Linlin: “Wouldn’t that mean he’s dead?!”
There was no denying it—Meng Qitang really dared to think.
“Maybe Team Leader He is secreting too much dopamine. It’s definitely his brain’s reward mechanism creating an illusion,” Meng Qitang said, then turned to head back into the room. She couldn’t accept He Muchen’s feelings for her turning into something beyond professional camaraderie.
But Lin Linlin grabbed her by the arm.
“Dear lord, where are you running off to? This is your place.”
Meng Qitang clung to the sofa, refusing to let go, looking back with pleading eyes. “Good 00, just open the door. The thing on my wrist is burning hot.”
Lin Linlin rolled up her sleeve and took a careful look at the slender wrist. The lustrous Peacock Mark seemed to glow under the light.
“What’s going on?” she murmured to herself.
“This ring of marks—it looks like the kind of imprint a snake would coil around someone to express ownership and intimacy…” Lin Linlin frowned, a bad feeling stirring in her chest.
She was also a research team leader at KM Research Institute, specializing in snake-related subjects.
Given Meng Qitang’s condition, it looked very much like a snake had wanted to establish a closer bond with its owner, coiling around her wrist and leaving this mark behind.
And the one that had escaped last night—wasn’t it a White Peacock?
Since when did peacocks coil around people too?
Lin Linlin clicked her tongue. “We can’t let this go on any longer. We need to wash this thing off right away.”
She opened the door and pulled Meng Qitang out with her as she spoke.
He Muchen, standing outside, saw someone emerge and a light flickered in his eyes. “Tang…”
But the first one out was Lin Linlin. He Muchen pressed his lips together, the brightness in his eyes dimming.
Meng Qitang followed her out. Seeing He Muchen, she pretended not to know why he was there, speaking with a slightly awkward tone. “Team Leader He, not a good time—we’re heading out to take care of something.”
He Muchen glanced at Lin Linlin beside her, his burning gaze quietly settling on the hand she had wrapped around Meng Qitang’s.
A flicker of displeasure crossed the man’s handsome face, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.
He smiled lightly, his gaze returning to Meng Qitang’s face, lingering on those captivating eyes he had longed for day and night.
“The road was blocked, and I happened to pass by, so I thought I’d drop by and bring you breakfast.”
“Ah,” Meng Qitang pressed her lips together, her amber eyes glistening as she gave a faint smile. “Thank you, but Team Leader Lin and I have already had breakfast.”
He Muchen had no choice but to let it go.
The atmosphere fell silent in an instant. Lin Linlin rubbed her nose and said, “Team Leader He, Tangtang and I still have urgent matters to attend to, so we won’t stand here in the cold wind with you.”
With that, she turned around—only to see that Meng Qitang had already stepped into the elevator.
Lin Linlin: …She ran off even faster than me? (¬_¬)
The December wind rustled the tree branches, and the scent of roasted sweet potatoes and candied chestnuts wafted through the streets and alleys, colliding the winter chill with the warmth of everyday life.
Lin Linlin shivered the moment she got out of the car. She turned to look at Meng Qitang, only to catch sight of a young couple on the street sharing a roasted sweet potato.
Lin Linlin pursed her lips, then clicked her tongue at the scene not far away. “Tsk tsk tsk, two people sharing one roasted sweet potato—how pitiful! Not like me, I can eat as many as I want all by myself!”
Meng Qitang was stunned, then burst into laughter. “Go ahead and eat, who could ever out-eat you?”
The two of them entered a tattoo shop tucked away in an alley. The shop was spacious, with a minimalist decor style.
Despite its size, only one staff member was present at the moment—the rest were stuck in traffic.
“Hello, what services would you two ladies like?”
…
At the “Snow-Clad Plum Blossom,” Yun Xubai sat leisurely on a luxurious sofa, savoring his tea with lowered brows and a languid demeanor.
The man’s aura was like the bright moon of the mortal world, like clear white snow, or perhaps the gentlest breeze to ever grace the earth.
Beside his hand lay a file on Meng Qitang, specially procured by Yun Beiwang.
“Brother Xu, we have to find a way to get the Peacock Plume back—we can’t just let it stay tangled up in the hands of a mortal!” Yun Beiwang was sweating with anxiety.
He knew what the Peacock Plume meant to them.
Without the Peacock Plume, Yun Xubai would fall into frequent high-fever episodes every spring.
In other words…
Spring comes, and it’s mating season again.
He would become infatuated with, dependent on, and utterly inseparable from the woman who held the Peacock Plume.
How could this be allowed?!
Yun Beiwang picked up the file and looked at Meng Qitang’s cold, stunningly beautiful face, still unmoved. “Brother Xu, since there’s no clear way to get the Peacock Plume back from that mortal’s hands, why don’t we just cut it out of her?”
Hearing this, Yun Xubai lifted his gaze and gave him a light, dismissive glance.
“Sure,” he tapped his slender fingers on the teacup and let out a soft chuckle. “I’ve seen plenty of living people in my time, but this is the first time I’ve met a living King of Hell.”
Yun Beiwang: (⊙_⊙) Really? For real?
“Brother Xu! We can’t afford not to worry—otherwise, you’ll end up performing courtship displays in front of that woman!” Yun Beiwang said, flashing his peacock tail as a demonstration.
“Just like this! Cluck cluck cluck! Cluck cluck cluck!”
What kind of absurd hen-laying-eggs behavior was this!?
Good heavens, was this really the tribe’s most outstanding physician?!
Yun Xubai’s head throbbed. He rubbed his brow and, at his wit’s end, hurled a throw pillow at him, cursing with a laugh for him to get lost.
Suddenly, he clutched his chest, feeling a sharp pang of pain in his heart.
“Brother Xu! What’s wrong?” Yun Beiwang hurried over and saw the peacock mark emerging on Yun Xubai’s brow.
This is…
It’s that mortal’s doing!