In the end, Lan didn't buy anything at the market. They simply walked around for a long while. Liwei didn't complain about being tired of walking and simply walked a bit ahead of him. However, when his own feet started to hurt, he realized that she must have been tired too.
He glanced at her. Her hands were linked behind her back, which was straight, and her steps were steady. She actually seemed fine. But he wasn't.
"Miss Liu ?" he called.
She stopped and turned around. "Yes ?"
"Uh... should we go now ?"
She gave a faint smile, "If you want. Are you tired ?"
"A bit, yes."
She walked up to him and had to tilt her head up to see his face. "Do you want to sit somewhere ?"
Lan really didn't want to go back to the house now. As much as he originally hated to go out, he was enjoying it at the moment.
He smiled, "I'd like to."
"Then follow me ! I know a very good place !"
During the entirety of this outing, Liwei had only uninterestedly glanced at some stalls. She never stopped to look at an item, she only did when Lan himself stopped somewhere. So if Lan had a general idea of her personality, it would be that she was the uninterested and easily bored type.
So even though it had been only a day, he was still a bit surprised to hear her talk enthusiastically about something.
Once again, she walked in front, and he followed a few steps behind.
The place she mentioned wasn't too far from the street market, and in Lan's estimation, it only took ten minutes to walk there. It was a rather big inn, with a wooden sign hanging on the front facade, that read 'Sun and Moon Inn'.
"What do you think ?" she looked back at him with a smile.
The inn also had tables placed outside, but because the weather didn't look good today, and the sky was dark, no one used them. Instead, they were all inside, and even from where he stood, Lan could see through the open doors that it was bustling.
The windows were open, and light curtains flowed with the wind. Red lanterns hung on both sides of the threshold and were lit up even during the day.
"It seems nice." he honestly said.
"Right ? Come, let's take a seat here." she pointed to a table outside.
This table was the farthest away from the building. There were four wooden pillars surrounding it, on which a red gauze was attached, creating a small ceiling over it.
Lan felt that he had seen too much red ever since he got here. Maybe the book should have been called 'The Land of Red' or something.
But he agreed, and they walked over there. They sat across from each other, and because of the sun rays passing through the gauze, it projected a red shadow on both of them.
I'm serious, I've had my dose of red for at least the rest of the year !, he mentally exclaimed.
"Why is it that only this table is covered ?" he asked.
"Because it's my table."
"Your table ?"
"Yes. I always sit here, so the owner designated this table to be mine. Since she did, I asked her if I could decorate it a bit."
Lan looked up at the half-translucent gauze. "Is this what you call decorate ?"
Liwei smiled, "What ? Do you think it needs more ?" although she asked, she didn't let him the time to answer. "Well, it's an inn table after all, not my personal house. I just needed something to block the sun."
Lan looked at her pale skin and felt that it made sense that she was the kind to avoid the sun.
"So you don't like the sun ?" he asked, but it was more of an affirmation.
Liwei shook her head, "It's bothering."
"I think the same."
"Good. So next time when it's sunny, I won't have to worry about whether or not you'd prefer to remove it."
Lan smiled, "Yes, no worries !"
An old lady approached their table. She was wearing a flowery and colorful dress, and her white hair was tied in a bun, with a green jade hairpin.
"Good evening !" she greeted.
"Hello, madam Zheng !" Liwei smiled.
"Liwei, I see that you brought someone today. So my wish of seeing you accompanied before I die really came true." she chuckled.
"Why would you talk about your death ? You still have a long way to go !"
"I sure hope so." she smiled. "Then why don't you introduce him ?"
"Yes ! This is Lin Xi, he's a friend of mine."
Madam Zheng looked at him with a warm smile, "You're her friend then ? How come I never heard about you ? You're not from here, are you ?"
"You're right, he came here a few months ago, that's when I met him, but at this time I couldn't really consider him anything but an acquaintance. See, as soon as we got a bit close, I took him here !"
Lan was surprised by her lie, but it didn't show on his face. Well, it wasn't like she could tell just anyone that he was a stranger she turned back from his snake form and kept in her house, could she ?
"Did you ?"
"Yes !"
Madam Zheng chuckled, "All right. I'm happy you're not resolute to stay alone anymore. I just made lychee paste-filled rice cake, I'll offer you two some."
"I'll pay for them-"
"No, I'll offer them to you. And it's not up for discussion."
Liwei sighed, "All right, then I'll pay for the drinks."
"As you want."
"Then I'll have jasmine tea. What about you, uh... Lin-ge ?" [1]
She cringed at herself when she called him that. She didn't really know how to refer to him, and had never used honorifics with anyone, but calling him 'ge' seemed the more logical.
Lan didn't pay too much attention to it. After all, honorifics were the same in his world, so he was used to younger people calling him 'ge'.
"Oh, um... I'll take the same thing."
"I'll bring it over right now !" and she left.
Lan looked at her back for a couple of seconds. She seemed very nice, and Lan especially appreciated that she didn't mention the veil covering his face. It seemed that she knew not to be too curious. Then he turned back to face Liwei.
"Not to be nosy, but... are you two related in any way ?"
"No, we're not. But I used to come here often, then I started working here."
"You work here ?"
"Not exactly. I help her with work, but I'm not really hired."
"Oh, I see."
Before Liwei could think of adding anything, she caught something from the corner of her eyes. She turned her face to her right, and from afar, she saw a short humanoid creature, with long hair and pointy ears.
A Shan Nu [2].
Her face darkened, as she glared at him. Shan Nu were spirits working under Immortals ! Then what would a Shan Nu be doing in the village ? Liwei had never seen any of them here ! She glanced at Lan. Could it be a coincidence ?
She looked back at the Shan Nu. Although he wasn't paying any attention to them, she couldn't take any risk. She was about to tell Lan to get up and go back to the house, but her mouth stayed shut.
That was because, not far from the Shan Nu, was Wen Li. She was walking toward him but abruptly stopped when her eyes met with Liwei's. She rushed toward the Shan Nu and seemed to angrily talk to him. When she opened a barrier and threw him inside, Liwei understood that she came up with an excuse to scold him and send him away. She then took large strides toward their tables.
"What just happened ?" Lan asked.
"He serves her. She just sent him back with an array."
Lan looked around, "I guess no one saw ?"
"Right. Mortals can't see them right now."
Before Wen Li could reach their table, madam Zheng put a tray on it. The two turned their heads toward her at the same time.
"I hope I didn't make you wait too long ! I accidentally dropped the water after it boiled, and had to boil it again." she explained embarrassedly.
Liwei frowned slightly. "It's fine, it's fine ! Did you burn yourself ?"
"I didn't. It didn't fall on me."
"Good. Then thank you."
"Thank you." Lan smiled, but because it was covered by a veil, madam Zheng could only tell by his eyes.
She smiled at them and left again. The two looked back to the other side. Wen Li was standing just beside the table, with her arms crossed on her chest. She glared at Liwei.
"Are you serious ? Do you know how risky it is to bring him outside ?" she scolded.
"Then what do you expect ?" Liwei retorted. "Should I just imprison him in my house ?"
"It's better to imprison him for a while than have the three of us killed for good, isn't it ?"
Liwei scoffed, "Who's getting killed ?"
"His life shouldn't be exposed !"
"You say that, but you brought a Shan Nu with you ? Didn't you think further about it ?"
"You think I would have brought him if I had a choice ? If it wasn't that that Song LingYi needed a particular stone from the Heavenly Lake to help his meditation, I wouldn't need to go down the mountain." she said.
The Heavenly Lake was a long lake flowing near this village. Although it was situated in the mortal world, Mortals couldn't cross the barrier surrounding it. The place had a very strong spiritual energy thanks to the spirit stones at the bottom of the water. When in the water, the stones' effect could last forever, but once it was taken out, it usually worked for about five years. Since it was like this, Immortals mostly used it when they wanted to enter secluded meditation.
Because Lan was confused by her reason, Liwei explained it to him. He understood why it made sense.
Song LingYi, he was surely an Immortal, and Wen Li descended the mountain with a Shan Nu to send the stone back. She didn't look like the type to accept errands, but if she didn't, then someone else would have come down, and seeing that there was a village nearby, wasn't there a risk that they'd stop by ? And then there was the risk for him to be noticed. However, pretended to shrug the topic off after the explanation.
Wen Li sighed. "I didn't expect you to be out, so I brought the Shan Nu here pretending I needed something from this place, only to check on you. I sent him away now, but I need to quickly catch up with him in case he messes around. I can't stay longer."
She didn't waste a second to open another array and disappear.
"Who is Song LingYi ?" he asked Liwei.
Couldn't she tell him he was an Immortal ? Was it that big of a deal ? He was sick of pretending not to know that ! It was the only thing he knew in this world, but he had to pretend to be 100% clueless !
"It's an Elder."
Lan was speechless. This... could it count as an answer ? Anyone could be an elder ! This answer wasn't complete !
"An Elder... what ?" When he didn't get an answer after a while, he sighed. "Look, I know you said that I was in some kind of danger, and I understand that the fact that I forgot everything worsens my case. But that's why I think I should know some details ! Who knows, maybe it'll help me recover my memory faster, if I start bit by bit, don't you think ? Like... at least tell me what I am. I already know I'm not a mortal. So... can't you at least tell me that ?"
Liwei sighed. "I know it's frustrating, but you actually misunderstood something. It's more dangerous for you if you remember what happened. Knowledge leads to taking actions, and we're still ignorant about most things. If we risk being too harsh, it won't be in our favor. That, but also... if you know what you are, won't you link yourself to them ? This too leads to being rash. For now, there needs to be a barrier between you and anything that isn't a mortal."
Liwei herself wasn't one hundred percent convinced about this, but Wen Li was and insisted that she explained it to Lan.
Hearing the reasons, he stayed quiet. He wouldn't take any action ! What kind of person did she think he was ? But what could he retort ? Even if he said he wouldn't, how could he convince her ?
"Wait, so you mean that even my kind... they would hurt me if they knew I was alive ?"
So she and Wen Li were Immortals, but didn't trust the rest ? Was there a reason behind this, or were they simply being very careful ? In any case, Lan knew he wouldn't get an answer if he asked anything else, so he internalized the frustration.
But Liwei's answer seemed to clarify his questions. "Who knows who's behind all this ? Wen Li and I came together because we both know each other's intentions, but no one else besides us is trustworthy for now."
Lan sighed but didn't add anything.
~
[1] : ge (哥) : 'older brother', an honorific used to refer to a guy older than you.
[2] : Shan Nu : translates to 'nature spirit'. their appearance ressembles an elf : they're short, have long hair, and pointy ears, as described in the chapter. female shan nu don't exist, they're exclusively male.