Chapter 8
When I woke the next day, Pei Yu wasn’t beside me.
While it was still early, I fitted the two jigsaw pieces together. They formed a complete scene: above, the main hall, open courtyard, and covered walkways; below, an ancestral hall at the edge of the bamboo grove, with a small gate beside it. Almost half the Su residence was included.
Perhaps I couldn’t keep confining myself to the lady’s room.
To explore more of the map, I took the red umbrella and cloth back into the bamboo grove.
A snow-white figure floated deep among the stalks. As I approached, Su Zhaomei asked without looking up, “What do you want?”
“I’m going to the painting shop to keep my promise to you, brother.”
He was silent a moment. As I walked farther away, he suddenly called, “Go east. The painting shop is half a li away. Don’t take the wrong direction.”
I nodded quickly. “Thank you, brother.”
I agreed to go east, then actually turned onto the incense-scented path to the west. Before an incense stick’s time had passed, an imposing ancestral hall appeared ahead, thick with fragrant smoke.
From outside, I could see a gilded Buddha beneath the hangings, kindly faced, its head covered in fleshy protuberances. It rose all the way to the coffered ceiling. Apart from its surroundings, it looked just like a temple in the human world.
Nothing seemed special here, yet Su Zhaomei apparently feared it.
I had meant to take one look from the entrance and leave. But as I approached, I heard people whispering inside.
Their words were indistinct. Still, I thought I heard… my name.
Maybe just a little closer, and I could hear what they were saying…
After hesitating, I decided to investigate the doorway. At worst, I’d run if anything went wrong, just as I had with the twins.
But the instant I lifted my foot over the threshold, a cold, low call came from behind:
“My lady!”
It wasn’t loud, but it startled me into snatching my foot back!
The next second, the whispers inside swelled explosively into a violent wave of sound!
As though unwilling to let me go, the blast not only threw me several meters away, but tore off the veil he had never removed!
A length of light gauze drifted down before me, weightless as mist or fluff.
A glacial brow. A nose fine as a star.
I caught only a few details before Pei Yu swiftly turned away and practically welded his veil back onto his face.
“My lady, how can you run about like this?”
His voice was level, not especially angry. I explained hastily, “The room was stuffy. I came out to pray to Buddha.”
He gave a faint, mocking smile. “What sort of Buddha is he?
“Better to ask me than him.”
I took his hands. “Then I want to go out for a walk. Will you come with me?”
“…I cannot.” He shook his head. “I manage the Su household. I do not have your freedom to come and go.”
At his refusal, I ventured, “Then… I’ll go alone, and you can have a good rest at home?”
Pei Yu raised a fingertip and brushed my cheek, sounding deeply moved. “My lady grows more considerate every day. Even her words are pleasing now.”
At last, another system message arrived:
[Pei Yu’s affection +5. Current affection: 80/100. “Love Stronger Than Gold” achievement unlocked.]
Before I could consider what the achievement did, he took something from his sleeve and hung it around my neck.
“This will guide my lady home.”
I pinched the little black object. A caption appeared:
Item: [Spirit Horn]
[Brings the dead to life and restores flesh to bare bones. Can revive a character once.]
…Jackpot.
I immediately looked at Pei Yu as the best possible person to cling to. His voice remained gentle. “Go. Be back before dark.”
With his directions, I left through the small gate without trouble.
I didn’t know that, watching me leave, he curled his lips in a cold smile:
“Hide outside and refuse to come home, and I’ll come catch you—”