NOVEL NEXT Chapter 216: Is This Who You Call “Somebody Else’s Wife?”
Bathing in the afternoon sun, the ancient streets were still showered with their gorgeous rays. Even though time has taken its toll on the streets, she was reluctant to grow old.
The old teahouse on the street had simple furnishings, not as formal or well-dressed as other teahouses—a small square table, bamboo chairs, shabby china, and a copper teapot. A few snacks were decked out on the table, and a few old people sat around it.
Drinking tea and chatting with one another, listening to soap operas, and gossiping—this is the daily routine of the elderly on Mudan Street.
When young, Yibei and Sumi’s group of friends loved to run over to the teahouse for no other reason than to listen to the old people ramble about mystical stories that could be true or false.
A serpentine woman who is a fairy, or exorcising corpses to beckon the gods, or statues who eat children…
The stories were slightly unsettling, enough to scare children until they sweated, but they couldn’t seem to pry their ears away.
At the time, Yibei’s habit of talking nonsense had already begun to take shape, and he would always find illogical aspects of the story and point them out, making the old people furious and testing the limits of their cerebral haemorrhage and myocardial infarction, causing him to be beaten up by the old people.
Thinking about it now, he felt that the beating he received was not a loss at all. The stories told by the old people were probably true.
Looking for logic in the world of urban legends is simply stupid.
The old teahouse not only sells tea but also sells snacks. The most famous of which is the old couple’s beef offal.
Spicy, but not dry and greasy. Rich, numbing aromas are mixed with the natural, light taste of beef offal. Bursting between the lips, it lingers in one’s memory, making every bite unforgettable.
However, their beef offal was difficult to get after Mudan Street was partially transformed into a tourist destination. The owners are lazy and dislike tourists flocking around to the teahouse just for their food, destroying the tranquillity of the area.
Hence, if any locals wanted to have a bite of their beef offal, they had to inform them in advance.
Walking into the teahouse, he looked around and found the owner, who was lying on a wicker chair with his eyes closed, seemingly meditating.
“Mr. He? I ordered some beef offal.”
The owner didn’t open his eyes. He simply patted the bento next to him and muttered, “Take it. You don’t have to pay. When will you be back home? I’ll take payment in the form of a meal cooked by you.”
“Ah, you’re doing too much,” he said, embarrassed by the subtle praise.
“Now, you know we love your cooking,” the owner said, rolling his eyes. “Nothing to be embarrassed about!”
“Actually, I do want to ask something embarrassing… Are you really not going to share the recipe for your beef offal?”
His father had actually been coveting the secret recipe for the beef offal for a long time. If only Yibei hadn’t been born, he would most definitely have had an affair with the teahouse’s owner to obtain the secret recipe.
“Bah! Get out!”
Well, it doesn’t seem like it.
He took the bento of beef offal with him and went straight to his secret hideout located on the corner of Mudan Street.
However, as soon as he left the teahouse, a figure wearing a snow-white fur coat sneaked into the teahouse.
“Mr. He! Long time no see! Can I ask you something?” Bai Kai greeted him, pulling down his mask and sunglasses.
The owner raised his eyebrows and spat, “How unlucky—first the son, now the lover. Get out of here! I don’t want to deal with two of you in a single day!”
“I’m just here to ask about my godson—he came here to buy the beef offal, correct? Do you know who he bought them for?”
“How would I know? He’s probably munching on them on his own right now,” he mumbled.
Hearing this, he fell into deep thought.
Yes, he might have bought it for himself, but toying with somebody else’s wife… I can’t let her win! Absolutely not!
On the way to the hideout, the boy’s mood was as tangled as the headphone cords that he took out of his pocket.
He felt complicated. He was excited to meet his friend; he was anxious about getting caught; he felt excited again.
However, when he climbed to the top of the tower, all of his complicated emotions disappeared.
The girl was sitting barefoot on the edge of the guardrail, hanging her slender legs over it. The sunlight fell on her side, reflecting a hint of sadness.
The breeze blew through her flowing black hair, bringing with it the scent of osmanthus mixed with the slight scent of pineapples.
“You’re here?” Wikstroemia tilted her head towards Yibei and smiled. “Come, I got you some cold gluten that I bought at the market earlier today. It’s handmade!”
“And,” she smirked, shaking a bottle in the air. “Mulberry wine.”
After seeing the food and wine bought by the Flower, Yibei realised that he probably didn’t have any strange feelings for this woman.
Just friends through food. Nothing more, nothing less.
Yes, making friends through food, and we meet up at a secret location, and she’s married… Nobody is going to fucking believe me!
Well, she herself didn’t believe it either.
She had no idea how dedicated he was to food. She only knew that the boy before her was coveting her beauty like the countless people she met along the way, but this time, she didn’t mind.
According to her handbook, her appearance is a weapon; as long as she wasn’t taken advantage of, she could use her appearance as a weapon.
She devoted herself to studying this handbook, determined to live like a human.
Moreover, after getting along with the boy before her, she thought that he was a friend worth making. Besides, she had little contact with outsiders since she was young.
As she thought about it, Yibei was, of course, blabbering about a random subject, only to interrupt himself and ask, “Some people say I talk too much… You don’t find me annoying, right?”
“Nope,” she smiled. “An elder in my family once said that talking a lot means that you’re an artist, a historian who remembers everything.”
“Don’t know who that is, but I already like them! This is for you, random elder!” he said, raising the paper cup and drinking it in a single gulp.
A young man and a young woman meet in a remote place, with nothing happening. Bai Kai never believes this to be the case.
If nothing happens, could you really call yourself a man?
Far away, on a hillside not far from the tower, Bai Kai squatted in the bushes as he cast a spell to improve his eyesight and hearing, peering into the top of the tower.
“Her skin, these legs, and the waist?”
The buildings obscured her face, but just by seeing her figure, Bai Kai knew that she must be a beautiful woman and vaguely felt that something was very wrong.
If Bei’s first love is a young woman this perfect? He will never forget her, and his life will be over.
Before he wanted to barge in on them, he heard a particularly familiar sentence.
“I once said that talking a lot means you’re an artist, a historian who remembers everything.”
…?
Isn’t that Bei’s mother’s fallacy? How does she… Something is fishy! I have to investigate this! I have to see what she looks like!
In a flash, he left the hillside and headed towards the Night Division.
Since this is the headquarters, Peony Street is tightly governed. Through the surveillance room, you can see almost all corners of Peony Street.
Bai Kai had no intention of abusing his power to use these surveillance cameras to spy on his godson; it was simply unethical and indecent of him to do so.
But it was different now—the words of a dead person came out of the mouth of a living person. This is enough to be considered an urban legend.
As an Operator, it is his duty to investigate urban legends. Completely normal. He silently pushed open the door to the control room, rushed to the console, and brought up a camera pointing towards the direction of the tower before freezing on the spot.
Is that the Flower? How did she meet Bei? Is this who you call somebody else’s wife? Lu Yibei…?
“Wait, they don’t know each other’s identities,” he murmured to himself as he watched the scene on camera. Thinking of this, he smiled. “Destiny is funny; maybe I shouldn’t tell them the truth this early.”
As he spoke, a certain figure flashed in his mind, and his eyes dimmed a little.
Love is pure; if you were to tell somebody that their love is simply the workings of fate, their love might falter.
Which is why arranged marriages and the like are the dregs of traditionalism.
At worst, it might develop into a situation like mine.
“Right, I’ll let them have their little date and give them a surprise when the time comes,” he smiled, fantasising when his godson would bring the Flower over to him, and he would say, “You two were originally meant for each other! This ‘somebody else’ is you, Bei!”
“Ah, if only you were still here. You would laugh at my jokes, right?” Bai Kai sighed, thinking of his godson’s father.
However, he felt that even if they were together, they wouldn’t do anything too drastic, knowing their characters. If anything bad really did happen, a marriage certificate can easily be obtained at the Civil Affairs Bureau.
“She really came here by herself and didn’t even try looking for me. Hanging out with strangers—how annoying! I have to talk to him later,” he murmured to himself.
The Sun was gradually setting, and red clouds filled the sky. Looking out the window, he could feel that his transformation was coming, so he got up, bid farewell to the Flower, and headed towards the University district alone.
Not long after the boy left, the Flower, who had been sitting there for a while, packed up the garbage and was about to return to his old house. At this moment, a fluctuation of psychic energy, like a sword, flooded through the tower.
Feeling this wave getting closer, her eyes darkened as she summoned a long sword and stabbed behind her with lightning speed.
In an instant, two silver arcs of light collided in mid-air, causing sparks to fly everywhere.
The terrifying force rumbled through her hand, and she admittedly felt surprised. At the same time, she felt a whirlpool of dark energy in the palm of her hand, as if her sword was about to fall out of her hands. She immediately turned around and was shocked to see the person standing behind her.
“Master Bai? Is that you?”
In her memory, Bai Kai is a rugged man who wore coats made of sheepskin and a white turban. However, the man before her was wearing an exaggerated fur coat and a pair of large sunglasses, with fine skin, tender flesh, and flamboyant air around him.
If it weren’t for the facial features and his sword techniques that she was quite familiar with, she wouldn’t have known it was him.
“You’re improving fast. You had about half of my skill back then.”
After confirming that the person in front of her was Bai Kai, she immediately lowered her guard, discarding her glamour and returning to her appearance as the feared demon in the Gobi Desert.
She rolled her eyes and immediately pouted at him: “I don’t believe you—my grandpa said that you have the worst talent for swordsmanship among all the people he has taught!”
“Do you really believe that old man who barely practices swordsmanship himself? Then, tell me, why am I the only one of his students to obtain the runes finely tailored for a swordsperson?” Bai Kai pouted back.
“Probably because you suck at using swords, so it’s ironic… hehe!”
“Young people love talking about nonsense every day,” he sighed. “Anyways, when did you come to Huacheng? And why? Why didn’t you come looking for me?”
After listening to his bursts of questions, she was stunned for a moment before remembering the purpose of her trip. Her cheeks turned slightly red as she stuck her tongue out and shuffled her feet on the ground. Suddenly, it was as if her entire body was wrapped in energy as she began to shine brightly, and she flew straight out the window like a beautiful comet made of bouquets.
No! Not now! I can’t be sent back by Master Bai Kai! I haven’t found my Lu Yibei yet!
Meanwhile, on the other side of town.
As the sky dimmed, a moan came from the darkness—sometimes hoarse, sometimes manly—but it soon turned feminine.
A moment later, the Witch walked out of the construction site, sweating profusely. Her eyes felt numb as if her entire body had been hollowed out.
Yes, although the pain was dull compared to last time—an unbearable itch within her bones, coupled with a permanent cold and the whispers of a girl echoing in her ears—she didn’t know which option she preferred more.
Walking out of the construction site, she used the light of the street lamps to look at the strange, black substance in the crystal bottle in her hand and frown.
“A bottle every day… I don’t know how many more bottles I can buy without going broke to store this liquid. I don’t know what will happen if ordinary people come into contact with this.”
She fished out her newly bought phone from a certain brand from her pocket.
Yes! Now that her body no longer heats up, she has the courage to buy a flagship mobile phone again.
Unlocking the phone, she clicked into the urban legend group chat, forwarded more than 30 spam videos, and sent a report as usual, citing that fraudulent information was being spread in the group.
Then, she received a prompt message.
[100 2/3 Cats: Please stop reporting the group. Otherwise, you will be re-examined offline. We will organise your final group entry in the near future. There are currently 5 users ahead of you.]
[vaccaria: @100 2/3 Cats, are you a bot?]
[100 2/3 Cats: Yes.]
[vaccaria: Cool! Let’s play solitaire now.]
[vaccaria: I’ll go first, then you select your card.]
[100 2/3 Cats: Please stop chatting with me.]
Tsk. I’m just trying to be friendly.
After closing the group chat, she opened her address book and dialled Bai Kai.
It beeped twice, and it connected. Bai Kai’s panting rang in his ears, vaguely mixed with the laughter of a girl on the other end.
“Agh… Bei? Is that you? What’s the matter?”
“You’re tired? That’s fast! You can’t keep up with me!” The girl on the other end yelled.
“I’m sorry; I’ll call you back later. You… do your thing,” Yibei said.
After hanging up, she glanced at her phone screen and shook her head.
After hanging up the phone, Lu Yibei glanced at the space that had just darkened and shook his head helplessly.
Shui is reaching that age. Maybe I’ll buy some supplements for him.
Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Huacheng, on top of a hill.
Bai Kai stood there blankly, looking at the cell phone in his hand, and sighed. In the shadowy forest, there was no trace of Wikstroemia.
He couldn’t believe he lost track of her—he was the Night Division’s top three psychics, and he lost track of a young girl. He felt shame.
“Those two brats are a perfect match when it comes to messing with me,” he grumbled. “Fuck!”