White Lotus held the bowl of soup and asked, "When your little sister was sick, did you take care of her like this too?"
At the mention of Jiang An'an, a smile naturally bloomed across Jiang Chen's face.
"She's a very good child. Even when she's sick, she doesn't fuss. And as long as you buy her something nice to eat, she's perfectly happy. So I'd buy things for her — Cai's mutton, Uncle Du Dewang's hot pot, the pastries from Guixiang Bakery..."
Jiang Chen counted off Jiang An'an's favorite foods one by one, and the more White Lotus heard, the more sour she felt.
The soup in her hands — it wasn't... it had never been fragrant to begin with.
Your sister falls ill, and you're all about this and that, the finest delicacies. But I risked life and limb to save your hide, and you give me this to drink?
The rage roared inside her, but on her face was a stiff smile.
"Alright. Thank you."
White Lotus cut off Jiang Chen's recitation.
She had noticed that this man was ordinarily rather sparing with his words, but the moment his little sister came up, he suddenly had a great deal to say.
"Mm. Your body is weak — you should talk less." Jiang Chen gestured with his hand. "Go on, drink. There's more in the pot. When you're done, I'll ladle you another."
White Lotus silently filtered out the latter part of his speech. After some hesitation, she brought the bowl to her face.
She stopped abruptly, and looked at Jiang Chen again. Those beautiful eyes blinked. "You want to watch me drink? Want to know what I look like?"
"Sorry, sorry. I forgot. My apologies." Jiang Chen turned to walk out of the cave.
"Hey!" White Lotus called him back. When he had turned around again, she spoke with a hint of laughter in her voice. "Help me take off this veil..."
Her voice was honeyed, sultry, enough to stir a man's heart.
Jiang Chen felt his lips go dry. It was impossible to say he was not curious about what White Lotus looked like. Though their time together had been brief, every encounter had left a deep impression. This woman's figure, her voice, and even the eyes she alone showed — all of it was exquisite beyond compare. Jiang Chen could not deny his curiosity about what lay beneath that veil, nor even a faint, almost secret hope.
And now White Lotus was asking him to take off the veil.
No need to hesitate.
Jiang Chen strode forward, reached out, took hold of the veil, and gently drew it away...
Beneath the veil...
Was a beautiful...
Mask.
A mask of lotus-petal pattern, exquisitely crafted and beautifully composed. It had a strange quality that blended both holiness and eeriness at once.
"Ha ha ha ha!" White Lotus laughed until her whole body shook.
Jiang Chen's hand froze in the air, then he withdrew it limply.
I should have known, he thought.
"Drink your soup." He dropped the words coldly and stalked out of the cave, humiliated once more at being made a fool of.
Behind him, White Lotus's laughter did not stop for a long time.
Jiang Chen stood outside the cave, looking up at the sky, his expression rueful.
Inside the cave, the black bear watched his back, its expression also rueful.
When the laughter finally died down...
"Gulp~"
"Pfft!!"
White Lotus's roar rang out: "Jiang Chen! Are you trying to kill me now? Its foulness is even worse than its ugliness!"
...
"Here, this is a fruit preserve I made myself. I picked the sweetest wild berries, used Water Dao arts to condense the purest water, nourished them with the finest Wood-element vital essence, then carefully controlled the fire and blended them with all my heart." Jiang Chen's face was full of earnestness. "Give it another try?"
White Lotus looked at that garish lump, and with a similarly earnest look, she said: "Jiang Chen, I'm begging you. Just pick the wild fruit for me plain. I like eating them raw. Honestly."
Seeing the pleading in White Lotus's eyes, Jiang Chen felt a great satisfaction.
This was the first time, in Jiang Chen's memory, that White Lotus had ever given in to him. And all for the sake of his transcendent culinary skills.
A man of many talents — the ancients were not wrong!
He went out again, gathered a great heap of wild fruit, and returned. White Lotus ate her fruit in the cave, while Jiang Chen continued to keep watch outside.
He looked at his two "pots" and felt a little troubled.
Was it really that bad?
The so-called pots were just slightly larger stones with a hollow dug out of the middle.
One pot held the wild-greens soup; the other, the fruit preserve.
One pot was a riot of greens and reds; the other, a riot of every color under the sun. They vied in garishness, competing with each other.
He leaned in for a closer look at his own culinary creations. He hesitated for a long time, but in the end he could not bring himself to taste them. After all, White Lotus's reaction had been too dreadful. The night before, when Ji Xuan was pummeling her, she had not cried out as terribly as she did over that soup.
But to simply throw it out? Jiang Chen did not have the heart. He had worked hard on it, put in all his effort.
"Too wasteful..."
Muttering to himself, Jiang Chen's gaze drifted aimlessly, and settled on the black bear, still sitting obediently in place.
"You. Come here." He beckoned.
...
...
Jiang Chen had been gone for a long time now.
He was a Dao Academy student, blessed with talent and willing to work hard. His future was bright. He had his own life, good friends, a dear little sister.
His life had been peaceful and bright.
White Lotus sat quietly in the cave, her eyes vaguely lost.
The truth was, her body had recovered very well. The Flesh-Restoring Soul-Return Art had been a perfect fit for her.
That was a secret art she had only heard of but never mastered — a power that came from the Netherworld Abyss.
This only confirmed her conviction even more.
And yet, for the first time, she felt a flicker of hesitation.
Was it because of that terrible bowl of wild-greens soup?
Or was it the warm embrace that had come so suddenly, just when she had been ready to meet her death?
White Lotus could not say.
She was not by nature a soft person, yet she surprised even herself by playing the weakling for so long.
She let out a long sigh.
But all things have their end, just as the night before had passed.
...
When the Bone Mask Messenger appeared, White Lotus had already drawn her black veil back over her face. Her breathing was deep and steady, showing no signs of serious injury.
Outside the cave, a black bear lay on the ground, foaming at the mouth and completely limp.
"It's just a beast. If you were going to kill it, you could have done so. Why torment it?" The Bone Mask Messenger stood outside the cave and said.
"You're unexpectedly merciful." White Lotus walked unhurriedly out of the cave.
"Seems the rumors were wrong. You haven't been hurt at all." The Bone Mask Messenger, of course, did not care about a foaming black bear. He had only been using it for an opening and continued, "I was beside myself with worry when I heard the news. But I'm glad it was just a false alarm."
White Lotus silently ignored the second half of his speech and said, in a soft voice, "I wonder who it was that wanted my life so badly. Not only did they know my every move, they even managed to get Ji Xuan involved. They really weren't afraid I'd be captured alive and spill every secret of the organization?"
"It certainly wasn't me. If it were, I wouldn't be here alone."
"Of course. If I died now, it would do you no good at all. Later on... well, who can say?"
"Listen to you. No matter when you die, I'll be very sad about it." The Bone Mask Messenger turned and walked away, even taking care to brush aside the branches that blocked the path.
The two moved through the mountain forest, leaves rustling underfoot.
The distance between them was subtle — seemingly close, yet each held their guard against the other.
They could, of course, be comrades fighting side by side, fellow disciples striving for the same ideal. But they could also, in a moment's inattention, become prey for each other.
It had to be said — this feeling of walking on a knife's edge was the state White Lotus knew best.
Her steps grew lighter and lighter. As she walked, she suddenly asked, "Messenger, has anyone ever risked their life for you?"
"Of course!" The Bone Mask Messenger did not turn around. "The people who want to kill me are always risking their lives."
"I suppose so." White Lotus laughed softly. "People like us."