Endless questions

"How long have I been here?"

Bo Penglai felt like he was dying inside. This was already the twenty-fifteenth question. All the others had been extremely minor details. "Week and a half, I think."

"You 'think'? Are you so sloppy you cannot remember the day?" criticized Lai Yiteng. 

"…exactly ten days."

"Where are my personal items?"

"Sect Master has them somewhere! I swear he'll give them back to you. I don't know the details though..."

"And ge-…Xian Wu is busy with work?"

Bo Penglai's mouth twitched from tolerance. "Indeed, he is. He fell behind quite a bit in work recently."

"Is he nearby?" Lai Yiteng asked with hints of anxiety, although he did not allow it to show.

These walls were too clean and lofty, just like Lotus's Sects. He did not like being inside the walls of a Sect again, after all. Everything possible was inscribed with Graceful Dragon Sect insignia here, each item was made of fine and expensive ware.

"Yeah," replied Bo Penglai. "Sect Master Xian's office is two doors down from here, in the other wing of his private mansion. Uh…I'll just go over the story one more time, briefly. He brought you and I here after contacting her ladyship Song. There were no more signs of Chen Yuwen after that. In order to not stir up trouble with other sect disciples, Master Xian decided to have you wear women's clothing."

Lai Yiteng nodded. This much made sense. The collar of this inner shirt was also high, covering up the telling Adam's apple at his neck. On the table nearby was even face veil, light ice-blue, covered his sharp featured chin and drew away from the fact he wore no makeup.

Well…Lai Yiteng would blame Xian Wu for having strange tastes. His veiled bamboo hat had been the best. No lacy face veil or long collared-shirt could replace it!

Speaking of it…

"Bo Penglai, you better be telling the truth about my personal items."

Bo Penglai almost jumped in his shoes. Good heavens, if this guy wasn't his life-saver, he definitely would have made an excuse to run away by now.

"Of course, why would I lie to an honored guest? Besides, Master Xian is obviously-" Bo Penglai stopped himself.

He was going to finish saying 'obviously trying to get your affections, so why would he steal your belongings?' But he remembered that Sect Master Xian specifically said that was NOT the case, so if he messed up and said such a thing…

Lai Yiteng narrowed his eyes dubiously. "What?"

"Er," Bo Penglai smiled lamely, "nothing at all! Well, I think you should consider visiting Master Xian now. He'd been looking forward to seeing you...any kind of alive."

The other questions on Lai Yiteng's tongue were quickly cast aside.

"…he was?" he repeated, but this time not out of compulsion; it was out of disbelief.

Bo Penglai gave a light sigh. "Yup. Come on, I can show you the way there. It's very close." He paused. "Are you alright to walk?"

With a crinkle in his brow, Lai Yiteng nodded. As he stood, after all his legs felt weaker than before, but he was still not in horrible condition. He would never admit to being weak, anyway.

Plus, he needed his stuff back! Altogether it was probably worth a silver or two. His assets might not amount to much, but they were important to him. 

And he needed to verify these matters Bo Penglai told him with Xian Wu. Out of all the people here, ones with double-faces and hidden motives, Xian Wu was the only one he could trust even slightly.

Although even Xian Wu was likely to lie, Lai Yiteng reminded himself.

But at the very least he needed to ask him about what happened that made him go half crazy in the head. Was it really the demon-swaying flute that did that to him? If so, then what did that mean...

Lai Yiteng put on a pair of shoes, then followed exactly three feet behind Bo Penglai.

They walked out to the hallway that overlooked the garden. It was sprawling with greenery, as though whoever planted it didn't bother planning anything and just put what they liked here and there. A large number of ginkgo trees sprouted around a stone table.

There were enough plants that they grew thickly in some places. Lai Yiteng was on guard, this kind of layout allowed any person to hide within, waiting for the right moment to strike. An ambush could come at any time. 

Bo Penglai was walking along the hallway but cautiously glanced back upon hearing silence for so long. Lai Yiteng hadn't run off, did he?

Nope. He saw that the beauty wasn't running, but had a tense expression, stalking along with muscles coiled as though waiting to be attacked. His eyes were sharp like knives as he judged the surroundings. Even when dressed in women's clothing, there was nothing 'soft and gentle' about the atmosphere Lai Yiteng exuded.

It was as cold and distrustful as a lone wolf. 

"…" Bo Penglai wondered how Sect Master Xian dealt with this beauty face to face for so long. It was kind of amazing. He really just wanted to go back to his own bed and laze around for a while. "We're almost there..." 

Even though Bo Penglai got that bonus for building the house, he wasn't even allowed to rest as long as this Lai Yiteng had, put back to work once the stab wound in his stomach healed over. One of his missions had been to monitor Lai Yiteng's rest and alert Master Xian if his condition worsened or if he woke up. All Bo Penglai ended up seeing was Lai Yiteng tossing and turning in bed as though never comfortable, even in sleep. 

How depressing.

…oh well.

Bo Penglai tapped on the double doors that led into Xian Wu's study.

"Sect Master, Lai Yiteng has awoken!"

There was a swear that came from inside the room, loud enough for them to hear.

Lai Yiteng scowled.

After all, this Bo Penglai was just as flakey as the rest, he lied about Xian Wu being excited to see him. Xian Wu did not sound happy to see him, but as though another problem had shown up. Which, could he be blamed? Lai Yiteng knew that there was no reason for anyone to like his company. 

There were the sounds of a chair moving over wood and the shuffling of papers. Then footsteps as Xian Wu hurried to the door.

"Why don't you tell me faster--" Xian Wu started to say as he was sliding open the door in a hurry, "is he still as crazy as before-" he saw Bo Penglai and Lai Yiteng standing outside. Shit.

"Oh." Xian Wu gave a short laugh, his trademark. "Y-Yi'er you're finally awake! How are you feeling?"

Lai Yiteng moved his pupils to the ground. "Fine."

Xian Wu paused, noticing that Lai Yiteng's mood seemed poor. He kept that knowing smile on his face. "Really? You almost died again, and this time coughed up buckets of blood from internal bleeding. You probably feel pretty shitty."

There was a long silence as Lai Yiteng fumed. So what if he felt like shit?

He wasn't going to waste any more time now that he'd woken up again! He'd get back to training, then go and find a way to bring Lushang Sect to ruin...

Within the awkward silence that Xian Wu caused by his senseless words, Bo Penglai knew that his own life would be at risk if he stayed too long and got involved in a lover's spat. He knew he needed to ensure his own life. He saluted at Xian Wu and said, "I'll leave you to it, then, Sect Master! I wouldn't want to be a bother."

Before Xian Wu could object, Bo Penglai hightailed it out of there, leaving him alone with Lai Yiteng.

He had chicken and mushroom-filled dumplings to eat, and enough of Lai Yiteng's questions that were endless like a bottomless pit!