In a dress again

Lai Yiteng awoke in an unfamiliar place. He hated that. 

At first he felt extremely groggy, as though he'd slept for a long time. The room he was in was strangely lavish, filled with expensive decorations like rans and ink paintings, all placed tastefully. Peony scented incense burning on a nearby table, with a trail of smoke going into the air.

This wasn't the house in the woods he and Xian Wu lived at.

His head was a mix of confusion, knife-sharp fear, and uncertainty. When Lai Yiteng reached for his knife kept on his belt, it wasn't there. A colorful but loosely tied blue sash was there instead.

Slowly his nerves grew.

The walls in the medium-sized room seemed to grow in closer on him, crushing him down with the weight of the thought that he might be held captive in some place like a cage.

Lai Yiteng stood, and though he swayed once on his feet, rushed to the door and slid it open rapidly.

There was a hallway outside along with other doors, and a garden to the left filled with blooming yellow flowers and shrubs. A wall was not far off from sight.

Knowing that there were no guards nearby and that the door wasn't locked, Lai Yiteng was somewhat consoled. Memories of what happened before he went unconscious also came back to him by now, floating into his mind. 

His face took on a slight shade of red.

He…openly said 'gege this, gege that', and even tackled Xian Wu to the ground...

How shameful. Utterly reprehensible! Lai Yiteng could only scowl at the floor a few moments as he came to terms with his insane behavior at that time, and the unsettling amount of fear that came with it. Knowing that he could snap at the sound of flute music was not comforting to say the least.

Even worse was that Lai Yiteng had been nearly useless in that battle against that strange man.

Still, he would have time to apologize to Xian Wu for all his wrongdoings later. More importantly was the current situation he was in.

Where is this?

Well, Lai Yiteng stepped back inside the lavishly decorated room. He was capable of piecing things together quite well once he noticed a jade green teapot was also on the table next to his bed. One with a dragon climbing around its girth.

Since that strange man that had attacked them left, Xian Wu must have brought him back to Graceful Dragon Sect.

"…" there was no helping it. Lai Yiteng was unconscious anyway, and he'd already decided that he could try going here. It was just that he didn't have the chance to tell Xian Wu that yet.

He poured himself a cup of water and took a drink to improve the soreness of his throat.

Now for the second-most important question.

Why is he wearing a dress?

Not any kind of women's clothing, but finely woven outer and inner sleeves with a wide sash around his chest. The layers disguised any semblance of broad shoulders and angular frame of a man. Lai Yiteng's hair was loose and down, but the only hair ornaments that sat on the desk nearby were flowery hairpins.

Women's clothing again! 

"…" Lai Yiteng wasn't sure if he'd apologize to Xian Wu for his previous insanity after all. Because Xian Wu seemed to be a strange pervert, dressing him up like this.

Unless…Lai Yiteng had another idea.

Perhaps it would make it easier to hide him and bring him to Graceful Dragon Sect if he were dressed as a woman, compared to his infamous image as killer. Yes, that made sense.

Lai Yiteng had no choice but to accept that he was cross-dressing as a woman again.

But at least whoever it was had chosen the softest and most flexible fabrics, ones that weren't as horrible to wear as his previous pure white outfit. This one was quite colorful, as well. A peacock blue sash, green jacket with a motif of feathers and flowers.

Hm.

Lai Yiteng felt too tired and bogged down by the new environment to want to think about why that man who attacked them spoke of 'raising dragons'. He wasn't sure what to do next. The area he was in seemed relatively deserted.

He didn't want to go out to find Xian Wu lest he attracts attention.

Xian Wu, after all, was the Sect Master, he remembered bitterly about Xian Wu lying to him now.

When Lai Yiteng turned around to close the door, not wanting to let more of the summer heat in, he saw something that hadn't been there before. A white plate with three puffy dumplings sitting on it. They looked warm and fresh from the steamer.

But Lai Yiteng did not rejoice over the sudden appearance of such a thing.

He was more anxious about who placed it so quickly, and in a way that he didn't even notice.

If only he had a weapon, his sword. In the next moment a man dropped down from the eave over the doorframe outside. He was hanging upsidedown like a bat. 

"Greetings," said Bo Penglai, his scarf trailing onto the ground.

Lai Yiteng was at first surprised, then rushed backwards.

Weapon, he needed a weapon…Bo Penglai watched the beauty named Lai Yiteng rifle about the room looking for any kind of weapon before saying, "I have your little knife."

Out of his robe, Bo Penglai took out Lai Yiteng's trusty knife that had been with him through thick and thin ever since he escaped Lushang Sect. It was even the same one he used to dismember Gojun An's body. That added another layer of specialness to it. 

"Why do you have this?" Lai Yiteng asked darkly.

"…Sect Master Xian let me take care of it until you were awake. He said he worried you might take your weapon and attack the first thing in sight, so he let me watch over them."

Lai Yiteng paused, then made a small sound of annoyance. Oh, but now that he thought of it…

"You," he said. "You're that lackey of Xian Wu's that I saved?"

Bo Penglai scratched his head helplessly. "Yup. That's me." He picked up the tray of dumplings after jumping down from the rooft and stepped inside. "I got you these dumplings as my sincere way of thanks."

Lai Yiteng motioned for him to leave it on the table nearby. "A useless gift, but it's better than nothing," he commented.

Bo Penglai made a half apologetic face. "I'm very poor. Even if you wanted something better than dumplings in return, I can only offer my services if you were in need. This includes spying, scouting, and even house-building."

He could do beds, too, but Bo Penglai wasn't going to mention that for the sake of his own life on the line.

"So where's Xian Wu," Lai Yiteng questioned, not really caring about this lackey much. It seemed that Xian Wu might have been poisoned again. He was worried.

"Oh…the Sect Master? He's stuck doing paperwork for the past three days straight now."

Now Lai Yiteng was confused. He thought it'd only been a few hours since their battle. Apparently it'd been days. How far off was Graceful Dragon Sect from that place, anyway?

Could this lackey truly be trusted? What happened while he was sleeping?

About one-hundred and more questions appeared in Lai Yiteng's mind as he tried to understand. This was his paranoia and obsession setting in heavily. He needed to know as many details as possible about that blank period within his mind. 

And so he stared intently at Bo Penglai who hadn't yet left the room; This lackey would answer his questions no matter what he had to do to him to get him talking!