Chapter 86 (Patreon)

“You know her?” Chen Haoran asked. The centipede head snapped at him, and he leaned back as far as he could. It’s qi an amorphous blur to his sense.

“Jin, who is this?” Bao Si lifted a brow as she properly looked over him. “He’s handsome.”

Xie Jin flexed his qi and tried to throw the centipede off him. When that failed, he turned to him in desperation. “Brother Chen, get her ass!”

Chen Haoran sent a silent prayer to his self-control because that wasn’t the image he wanted at the moment. Plus, he wasn’t pulling out his sword anytime soon. The centipede tightened around his hand as soon as the thought crossed his mind. “What about your Sister Jia’s house?”

“I’ll pay for it!” The centipede whipped and threw Xie Jin to the floor.

Bao Si padded over to his side with serpentine grace. When she passed him, Chen Haoran saw part of a black centipede tattoo sticking out the neckline of her dress and running up the side of her neck. “Your friend is considerate. Powerful too, if you’re relying on him.” The second centipede head by Chen Haoran chittered. Bao Si cocked her head as if it spoke to her. “And rich too? Quite the package you’ve snagged, Jin. Are you cheating on me? You don’t have to. We could work something out if it's him.”

What. The. Fuck.

“Sister Jia you sold me out!” Xie Jin roared.

“I didn’t!” Sister Jia denied. “I didn’t even know you were in the city! Plus…” She seemed to wilt and looked at Xie Jin with a mix of pity and exasperation. “You had this coming.”

Xie Jin turned his betrayed gaze to Chen Haoran. “This is what happens when you don’t choose inns!”

Chen Haoran conceded that this would never had happened if it weren’t for him. At the same time while this was definitely a precarious situation it didn’t feel dangerous… or at least not lethally dangerous… for himself perhaps.

“Xie Jin,” Chen Haoran said. He shivered at feeling the centipede's legs moving on his neck while he spoke. Even so, he tried to keep his tone even. “Are you in danger? Tell me, and I’ll get us out of here right now.” The centipede tried to dig its legs into his flesh as he said that, but beyond a pinprick sensation, he barely felt it. He still had some means with his Rewards; if needed, he could just destroy his scabbard. He had a feeling it wouldn’t come to that, however.

He was right. Xie Jin sighed and ceased his struggling. “There’s no need for that.” He glared up at Bao Si. “You can release us now, you crazy bitch.”

Bao Si hummed and snapped her fingers. The centipede released them all, and its second head transformed back into a tail end. It shrunk back to its original size before crawling up Bao Si’s leg to her arm and disappearing in her sleeve.

Xie Jin cursed as he sat up and clutched his sleeve. The frantic Gu calmed at its master's touch and settled down. “Was that really necessary?”

Bao Si sat down next to him and buffed her nails. “I’ve found that action is the only way to make you understand how I feel. If you have a problem, then perhaps you should try listening more when I speak.”

Chen Haoran plucked his agitated sloth out of the air to calm him down. Now that he didn’t have a super centipede threatening to open up his neck, he could properly observe Bao Si. Long black hair threaded with black bone beads. A tightly fitted dress of black and green, embroidered with gold thread in a way to evoke scales. Cold black eyes. She was, in a word, eye-catching. Beautiful in the same way a snake was. Chen Haoran wasn’t wrong for struggling to pull his gaze away before. Her presence demanded that much attention, at least.

She was much like Lan Fen in that regard.

He shook that last thought out of his head and went to support Xie Jin. Sister Jia came over and poured out more hot water for them all.

“You didn’t answer my question before, Jin,” Bao Si said.

“He’s my friend,” Xie Jin snapped.

“Chen Haoran,” he said, nodding to Bao Si.

Her eyes curved into crescents. She had a pleasant smile. “A pleasure.”

Xie Jin reached out for the hot water and downed it in one go. “What are you even doing here?”

“I was in the city for business.” She flexed her qi, reminding them of her Ninth-Layer status. Xie Jin grimaced, recognizing whatever it was she meant to say through the action. “I’ve found something more important now, however.”

“Leave me be. I’m helping Brother Chen get settled in the city.”

Bao Si lifted a thin eyebrow. “And you’ll quietly return home once your down with that?”

Xie Jin said nothing, and Bao Si scoffed.

Chen Haoran awkwardly sat to the side and patted Phelps in lieu of anything else to do. It seems he accidentally stumbled onto some personal drama of Xie Jin’s, and he wasn’t quite sure what to do now. He was in the midst of thinking when Phelps snapped at his fingers, something he did when he was begging for food.

Right. Gifts.

“Thank you for hosting us, Sister Jia,” he said. He stood up and reached into his storage bag. “Where I’m from, it's poor manners for guests to arrive without bearing gifts. Please take this as a token of my appreciation.”

“Oh no, I couldn’t-” Sister Jia began, at least until Chen Haoran pulled out a flowering vine of bright pink Sunken Glory flowers. The house was immediately filled with a soft, cherry-like scent. “This-”

“Please accept it.”

He now had the undivided attention of the room and quickly found himself at a loss of what to do next. He tried to hint at Xie Jin to do something with the opportunity through his eyes, but Xie Jin was looking at the Sunken Glory flowers in open confusion.

Right. Might as well continue then.

“I have something for you too, Brother Jin.” He was so glad he had his storage bag. He’d have no other way to explain where his Reward items were coming from otherwise. “My appreciation for all the help you’ve given me so far.”

Xie Jin looked down at the red metal ingot Chen Haoran placed in his hands. “This is…?”

“Scarlet Iron Essence.” Or at least it was. It had been so long since he bought it at the Golden Lily Association Auction that he didn’t even remember what it had turned into after gifting it to Lan Fen compared to everything else he’d gotten when he cleared the place out.

Bao Si watched Chen Haoran’s gift-giving with an amused smile, which only grew wider when he didn’t present a gift to her. “I feel like you’re trying to tell me something, Chen Haoran.”

“I’m not. I just…” He cast a look at Xie Jin. “I still don’t really know who you are.”

“I am Xie Jin’s dear fiance. You may call me Sister Bao.”

Xie Jin snorted. “You wish we were engaged.”

“I do. Our masters do. Our tribes do. You’re the only one who seems to resist.”

“Gee, I wonder why.”

Bao Si dramatically sighed. “I do as well.” She began ticking off her fingers. “I’m talented, powerful, beautiful, and choosing you despite having all that. I’m really left at a loss.”

“That right there,” he bit out. “Is exactly why.”

“Come now Jin, we both know you’re not that small a man.”

“I’m not your easy way out.”

Bao Si narrowed her eyes to slits. “It’s only a little loyalty I ask for. Compared to what you get, is that really too much to ask?”

“A man can only sip from one pond for so long till the water makes his stomach sick.”

“You-”

“Have you known each other for a while?” Chen Haoran interrupted.

Bao Si stared at Xie Jin. “Since childhood.”

“Too long,” Xie Jin said at the same time.

Boy, did he really not sign up for this. He reached into his storage bag one last time and considered what to give Bao Si. Something from the auction perhaps, like Xie Jin, but what? His eyes roamed over her silk dress and settled on her centipede tattoo.

He felt a light, airy sensation on his hand as the item he had in mind appeared. The bolt of silk he pulled out was light blue and nearly translucent. The way it shimmered in the firelight made it look as if he had ripped the fabric off a ghost’s dress.

“Moon Moth silk,” Chen Haoran said. When he bought it, he hadn’t paid too much attention to the original article, which was a shame. The improved version in Bao Si’s hands looked like she was holding liquid moonlight.

“Oh,” Bao Si said, breathless. She looked up at him and smiled. “I like you.”

“Watch out, Brother Chen,” Xie Jin whispered in warning. He let out a yelp when Bao Si pinched his ear and yanked him back.

“You could stand to learn something from him. I have no idea how a brute like you could become friends with such a gentleman.”

“Good karma for my trials, perhaps,” Xie Jin muttered.

“Save the lip for when you return home. You still have explaining to do.”

“Who said I’m going back with you?” Xie Jin growled. “I promised Brother Chen to help him get settled. I’m not leaving.”

“You don’t have a choice,” Bao Si said with a grave look. “Your grandfather is ill.”