Huai Falls for an Old Friend - Chapter 2

Xie Huai’s expression turned thunderous. He was a breath away from attacking.

I caught him before he could charge out and shook my head.

“You’re just going to let him do this?”

In a blur, Xie Huai carried me several miles away.

He gave a cold snort. “When did you become so merciful? That man wants to use you as a stepping-stone—a ladder to the heavens!”

He was angrier than I was, and I was the one being betrayed.

Had I not stopped him, Yun Jingchen would already have been reporting to the underworld.

I patted Xie Huai on the back. “I know what I’m doing.”

He assumed Yun Jingchen had blinded me so thoroughly that I meant to defend him.

“Fine. Fine! Fine. I shouldn’t have meddled.”

His fists clenched. He flung his sleeve back and stormed away.

I lingered outside awhile before returning. Yun Jingchen was alone in the bamboo cottage.

“Qingqing, why are you back so late?”

He set down his book and took the bamboo basket from me.

“The old woman at the market kept trying to arrange a marriage for me.”

“And what did you tell her?”

A trace of panic entered his eyes.

As I prepared the ingredients for beggar’s chicken, I answered softly, “I told her I already have a fiancé.”

From the corner of my eye, I caught the uncertainty on his face. Then he asked in a testing tone, “I’m leaving for the capital next month to sit the imperial examination. Qingqing, shall we marry in three days?”

I agreed.

“Really?”

Overjoyed, Yun Jingchen paced back and forth.

I added the seasonings one by one, exactly as the master chef at the mortal inn had taught me, terrified that the slightest mistake would spoil the taste.

“Qingqing, one day I’ll make it up to you with the grandest wedding in the world.”

Diced chilies, ginger, minced garlic, scallions… Those went inside the chicken.

“Qingqing, I swear I will never fail you in this life.”

Next came the master chef’s secret sauce on the outside, followed by a wrapping of lotus leaves.

Wait. Where were my lotus leaves?

“Qingqing, I promise I’ll treat you well for the rest of our lives.”

Then one more coating of mud.

What a pity Xie Huai wouldn’t be here to taste it!

“Qingqing, I’m going out to prepare for the wedding. Will you be all right by yourself for the next few days?”

I had barely heard him. I simply nodded.

Not long after Yun Jingchen said goodbye and left with a small bundle, Xie Huai hurried over.

After scanning the cottage and finding no third person, he grinned so widely his mouth nearly reached the back of his head.

“Bai Qingqing, I knew I hadn’t misjudged you. Where did you bury that man?”

Then he feigned shock. “Don’t tell me you threw him into the sea. On behalf of every creature in the ocean, I object.”

I chipped away the clay shell piece by piece. “He went into town to prepare for the wedding.”

Before his chair had even warmed, Xie Huai shot to his feet.

“Are you blind, or have you lost your mind? Why are you so determined to smash your head against a wall?”

I pushed the steaming chicken I’d just uncovered toward him.

Like a puffed-up pufferfish suddenly losing its air, he went from waving his claws to sitting meekly like a baby furball.

He cut off a small piece with a knife and put it in his mouth. One look at his blissful expression told me it had turned out well.

“You eat. I’ll crack open the others.”

If someone volunteered to help, I was hardly going to refuse.

Xie Huai peeled each clay shell with great care, speaking as he worked.

“I’m no good at making this sort of thing, so I just went back to the Eastern Sea and asked Grandpa Turtle to make you a puppet. If anything feels wrong, swap places with it. It can take one strike even from someone as powerful as my father. I know you’re strong, but your brain is muddled right now, isn’t it? Besides, that man may not do much damage, but he’s like a mosquito bite—still disgusting.”

Perhaps afraid I would refuse, Xie Huai dropped the puppet beside me and fled.