A Singing Maiden

The morning sun had shown through the clouds, and Lai Mingjie entered his office. His eyes were still closed, and his grumbles were audible. Liu Qiu looked up at him and chuckled as she took his coat and bag from him. He was still wearing his aviators, but his mother forced him to wear a coat at least.

"Rouguang, tell me you got my coffee." Lai Mingjie ended up sitting on the couch for visitors instead of going straight to his inner office. The amount of work he left must be abysmal.

"No, I didn't." Xu Rouguang chuckled as he retreated to the pantry, the room behind Liu Qiu's desk. He closed the door and saved himself from Lai Mingjie's complaints.

Liu Qiu shook her head and clicked her tongue. She knew how much Lai Mingjie needed his coffee, and for Xu Rouguang to forget about them despite holding them every day? She joined Xu Rouguang in the pantry to prepare anything for their boss, but she was surprised Xu Rouguang was cutting a strange peach and sticking a toothpick on its bite-sized portions. From afar, it looked so sweet and addicting.

He gestured with his finger on his lips. He then took the plate and served it to Lai Mingjie who wasn't calming down. Liu Qiu stayed by the pantry door and waited for Lai Mingjie to thrash around. She knew how bad he hated plain fruits, and she doubted the fact that Xu Rouguang didn't know so despite living with his boss.

To be honest, Lai Mingjie wanted to throw a shoe at Xu Rouguang for serving him a fruit. That prick knew how much it dulled his tongue to eat plain fruits... but this one time was an exception. Even Liu Qiu was surprised how bright and big Lai Mingjie's eyes got when he saw what was in front of him. Those were just slices of a strange-looking golden-yellow peach; was it really that good?

"Holy shit, where did you get this?!" Lai Mingjie was visibly excited, like a child staring at his first console game. He grabbed a stick and prompted a slice inside his mouth. Despite it being a peach, the fruit would melt inside his mouth. His face, being used to evil expressions, couldn't show exactly how happy he was when he got his first slice.

"That's a secret." Xu Rouguang giggled as he beckoned Liu Qiu to join them. Needless to say, the two started feasting on the peach that almost killed them with joy.

Liu Qiu couldn't put a finger on its exact taste. It wasn't purely sweet; it tasted like indulgence and prosperity if they were a single fruit. The fruit melted upon contact with her tongue, and just having three slices made her feel like she was twenty years younger.

She didn't know what kind of peach it was, but Lai Mingjie surely did. This golden-yellow peach was a treasure on its own. The God-Given Peach was ambrosia from the heavens; only immortals were allowed to eat it. However, when the demonkind fell, the heavens celebrated and sent its seeds to the mortal realm for the humans to enjoy—hence its name.

The God-Given Peach was too sensitive with its growing conditions that it was said to appear only every ten years. Then again, with the manipulation of heaven and earth essence as well as human technology, those who had seeds could easily grow it. It could easily be mistaken as the God-Shared Apple which was also golden but with gradients of red from the core. The God-Shared Apple was a less-harder find since it was practically the immortals' bloodvein.

Both fruits were rich with heaven and earth essence, giving power to both immortals and demons. As the demonkind had collapsed, the only benefits it gave demons were heavenly tastes and a surge in stamina and energy. It's like a higher form compared to bloodvein which could be grown by any demon with demon essence.

As for humans, it's really good. None could attest if it could make them younger after regular consumption.

The subsequent result was outstanding. The boss managed to pull through two day's worth of workload without breaking a sweat while Liu Qiu felt like she was half her age. The two had gone so efficient that Xu Rouguang couldn't help but laugh at their behavior. They were too enthusiastic for him today.

It wasn't a rumor to say that things from heaven were a lot more desirable than the ones on earth. This notion was the core reason why the demons and the gods went to war in the first place. With an immortal finding a shop in Crimson City which dealt with these products and human currency, Lai Mingjie felt like he was finally having all his luck that was left overdue.

Of course, this begged the question: how much of Xu Rouguang's memories had been lost? He shouldn't remember these things if his memories were wiped out.

Nighttime was normally a peaceful time, and so Lai Mingjie and Xu Rouguang were drinking to the demon king's content. The old granny's God-Given Peach fruited nicely, and they had to consume it in three days before it loses its power. Lai Mingjie asked Xu Rouguang to buy all the peaches along with the heaven's wine she had in stock. This was also the night when Lai Mingjie discovered that Xu Rouguang had a stock of grated God-Shared Apples in the fridge, the secret ingredient of their food recently.

"Hahaha! Who would have thought?!" Lai Mingjie laughed out loudly as he indulged in heaven's wine while Xu Rouguang was peeling God-Shared Apples for him to eat. They pushed the furniture to the side and laid a mat for old times' sake. Even though sitting on straw-matted floors had become a statement, Lai Mingjie still wanted to feel like he was a demon king. "Hey, hey, Rouguang, it's been hundreds of thousands of years since I last had a drink from these beauties! Hahaha! You have no idea how happy I am right now!"

He then looked around before taking another sip. "All that's missing is a singing maiden, and I have crossed out the most important item in my bucket list! Hahaha!"

"A singing maiden, huh." Xu Rouguang hummed as he continued peeling apples. "If I sing, would it be okay?"

"Heh, I haven't heard you sing before. If you infuriate me, I will hit you." Lai Mingjie behaved as rowdy as he used to. He took a huge gulp from the jar and moved his hand as if cueing him to start.

Xu Rouguang had an awfully damaged memory; he didn't even know his name when Duan Sheng found him. However, there were plenty of things that he seemed to remember... that were deemed useless in solving his case nonetheless. Words had come to his mind with a melody. The song that escaped his lips wasn't something humans would even recognize as a song. However, Lai Mingjie was chuckling with glee.

It was a song of a maiden beckoning a bird to come closer. It was poetic and hypnotic even with its seemingly light language. The song was rather long, but Xu Rouguang remembered all the words it had. He enjoyed singing as he peeled apples which he then sliced for Lai Mingjie to pick up and eat. As he continued to sing, Lai Mingjie had turned his legs into pillows before he knew it. The demon king was falling asleep with an empty jug of wine at hand.

Xu Rouguang then came to a stop. Lai Mingjie was already softly snoring with a peaceful look on his face. For a moment, the immortal just felt this scene was too familiar.