Pandora's Gift Box

Xue realized it was a useless endeavor in trying to ask help from Han Jing but he couldn't ask Miss Chan Lee could he? "Maybe we could borrow some money from Madam Dongxia to purchase ingredients?" He asked, although even he knew it was a futile thought.

"Woah, seems like you're learning some concepts." The younger man laughed, his shoulders shaking at such a notion. "But unless you have a death wish, don't attempt asking help from our landlady."

"Well, I can't ask help from Miss Chan Lee either." Xue felt his head spin for a moment. "That would defeat the purpose of wanting to help her." He sighed and went over to the table and picked up an orange. Unpeeling the rind around it, the citrus scent filled the air with its sweet aroma. Xue popped a slice into his mouth and relished the sour taste, chewing thoughtfully.

The young man in front of him would know where Miss Chan Lee's university was for sure, maybe he could still strike a bargain with Hua Zhao in secret. The man in question pulled up from his place on the floor, "So I'll be checking what food is available at my place and I'll get ya some."

"Alright." He bowed his head. "Thank you, Han Jing."

Once again he was left with his thoughts. It wasn't the pleasantest of experience for anybody, but he was used to this. To the silence throbbing against his ears, the lack of movement in his vision. Only the sound of him chewing the orange before he swallowed. "Let's see, if I cannot manage to bargain with Hua Zhao or find my old friend, well I'd have to make do with the available ingredients here… which are mostly fruits and vegetables with already diminishing vibrant energy." He fought the urge to hold a hand over his temples, "Perhaps some of the residents inside this apartment are growing herbs—"

A rapid knock broke his train of thoughts.

"Han Jing?"

No voice answered.

Xue tensed slightly, pausing his movements.

He didn't want to call out for a second time, lest he give away his presence inside of Miss Chan Lee's place… but who could that be? Reason would say that he should wait for Han Jing to arrive or for that person to leave. But what could he be afraid of?

His gaze focused on the bracelet that was tied around his wrist.

Only Hua Zhao would have known that he was here and this was supposed to shroud his aura from other spirits. So it had to be human.

Madam Dongxia? They would have called out for him.

Not that it'd make any sense for her to look for him. Not at all. She didn't seem to like him except for tolerating his presence, he couldn't blame her.

There would be no harm in peeking out though?

Xue made his way to the door, listening for any signs of life outside the door. There was none. "Had I been a little too jumpy?" He mused and slowly opened the door.

Nobody was there.

Except for a large crate.

"Huh? Is this for me? Miss Chan Lee?" He frowned and inspected the box but found no inscription or any sign of ownership. It was easy to decide that it would be dangerous to open the box, but it was a little hard to not be curious about what it held? "Well, I'm not bringing this in."

"Xue, I got Peking duck—what's that?" Han Jing stumbled on the staircase, nearly tossing the container in his hands. "Where'd you get that?! Hold on right there!"

He paused from lifting up the lid. "I'm not sure if I feel comfortable eating a duck. Somebody knocked on the door and left it here?"

"Well, sucks for you then. Don't open the box, bring it in the room instead so we can check it in private?"

Xue raised a brow at the suggestion, "You know, I would have expected that you'd be the one who'd be wary of opening gifts from unknown senders."

"Well there's that—but this isn't Pandora's box." Han Jing shrugged as he walked inside the room. "Because that box has already been open."

"Huh?" Sometimes even Xue could be baffled with whatever left Han Jing's lips, but for now he'd bring the box in.

They didn't open it at once, mostly because Han Jing was ravaging the duck all by himself. Xue tried not to stare to save some dignity for the glutton boy, instead he munched on some lettuce. It was a bit dry but it was crisp. Overall a good snack to chew on, it was mostly because he was bored. And he hadn't really seen Chan Lee touching any of the greens at all.

"So this pandora box thing." Han Jing explained with a mouthful of meat in his mouth, "Well it could have been a jar, but it's a Greek thing. An expression nowadays."

"I see? This Pandora's box contained the evils that humanity is experiencing." Xue stared at the box in front of him. "Huh, if that were true, the heroes would have already retrieved such manifestations of evils and sealed it back in the box."

Han Jing shrugged, "I mean it's just a legend, unless…"

"Unless?"

"Oh, you haven't happened to see a female goddess on the moon except for Chang'e did you?" The young man eyed him with interest, a fire within them. "A lovely lady named Artemis perhaps? Or ever seen a man flying with a chariot of fire?"

Xue tilted his head, staring at the young man. "Um, no."

"Well that's a shame. I guess I have to cross it out of my theories then." Han Jing sighed aloud.

"Alright, Han Jing." Xue decided it would be better to not ask. "Should we open the box now?"

"You can open it, lemme duck for cover though." Han Jing pulled himself up. "I'll go outside the flat to be safe."

"Are you saying it's dangerous?" Xue frowned, he had that suspicion… but the crate really seemed to be just that. A crate.

Han Jing was already at the door, "Who knows if it's an ancient bomb or some evil spirit hiding in that box—I'd like to think that I have my faith in your ability to stay alive."

"That...I'm not sure if I should be flattered?"

"Now you're questioning my compliments?!" The young man bursted.

A smile twitched on Xue's lips, it was a bit fun teasing Han Jing… but he probably shouldn't be doing it too much on the poor man. "Not at all, I'll open the box and shout if something bad happens?"

"Impossible if you died on the spot." Han Jing stood behind the door. "I'll be going now."

"I thought he had faith in my ability to survive." The Moon Rabbit shook his head before turning to the box, it didn't look odd. But appearances were quite deceitful… Xue sniffed. And he sniffed again.

He could detect something… but he couldn't identify what.

"It's sealed shut...or rather it's closed tightly to even let a single scent through." He scrunched up his nose and sighed. His hands held the smooth wood, it was made of high quality material. He tapped it slightly, durable too.

And then he ran his nail slightly over it, a fine line etching over the crate before the scratches promptly disappeared...or rather the crate repaired itself.

It had been a little futile hope for him to expect that it was from a human. "Han Jing may have made the good decision." He eyed the shut door and eased himself. Miss Chan Lee would have preferred that Han Jing was safe after all.

He opened the lid of the crate and inside were numerous small ornate treasure chests.

The crate was divided into four layers, and each layer contained five treasure chests. Altogether, there were twenty treasure chests in the crate. Xue picked one up and inspected the contents of the cases, he found an assortment of medicinal ingredients in them.

"Is this a gift? A bribe? A reconciliation?"

He noticed there were ginseng, cinnamon accompanied with glowing red berries, some green mineral rock, tinctures of clear liquid and more. There were some that Xue hadn't encountered before in all his years of elixir making, but upon closer inspection, he couldn't help but shake his head. The purity was clearly extraordinary, opening one of the tinctures and it felt like he was being cleansed through the fragrance of these herbs.

Among them there were the rarer ingredients one would find in a mountain hidden away. Xue identified them as the freshly cut Sage Branch, a sizable amount of Vermillion Flame Bamboo slices and other more alchemical ingredients except for the few odd ones. Who placed creepy toad eyes in them? He shuddered and placed that back into its chest along with what he didn't want to identify as blood and other nastier compounds.

Xue considered the box of medicinal ingredients.

He must have been dreaming wasn't he?

"Oi! Are you alive?!"