Chapter 94
Chapter 94
*Aside from those two, is there really nothing else? I only want to catch a thief. That’s all.*
A-Pang shook his head. *Those are the only two available at the moment. Oh, this series has a name, too.*
Shengsheng hurriedly cried, *Stop! I don’t want to know.*
*Then does the host confirm the exchange for “Search a Thousand Miles” and “Growing Stronger Every Time I’m Alone”?*
Shengsheng did not confirm immediately. First, she went into the room, changed her clothes, and veiled her face. Only then did she leave.
*Confirm,* she said without the slightest expectation in her voice.
Once the exchange was complete, Shengsheng pictured the hairpin in her mind.
All of a sudden–
An itch spread across her back, as though something were growing out of her body. Then a gust of wind swept her hair forward across her face.
She felt as though she had become heavier, especially across her back.
She reached behind herself in disbelief. Her fingers sank into soft feathers.
A body part that clearly did not belong to a human.
Yet when she turned her head in shock, there was nothing behind her.
Wings she could touch but not see!
Shengsheng pulled Pecky out of her sleeve and clutched the bird in one hand. In an excited whisper, she said, “My darling, we’re family now–in every sense!”
Shengsheng Zhou: literally a bird-person.
Pecky cracked one eye open, then closed it again.
His entire bearing said, *Not interested. Don’t disturb my sleep.*
After planting several kisses on him, Shengsheng stuffed him back into her sleeve.
*Why didn’t Search a Thousand Miles activate on its own this time?*
*Probably because you have wings this time. You’ll have to fly yourself.* A-Pang gazed at Shengsheng’s apparently empty back, a trace of envy in his eyes.
How wonderful. He wanted wings too.
Come on–a winged panda would be incredibly cool, all right?
Shengsheng tried moving her wings. They responded with unexpected ease.
She had barely formed the thought when they began flapping of their own accord, lifting her feet clear off the ground.
This was nothing like that godforsaken way she had flown last time. This time, Shengsheng could not have been more comfortable.
She could fly any way she pleased!
Search a Thousand Miles was being gentle as well. It seemed to feed faint directions directly into Shengsheng’s mind. She knew exactly where the thief was and flew straight there.
Sure enough, it was precisely where she had expected: the courtyard of the main household.
Many servants worked there, and they slept together on a long communal platform bed.
Shengsheng silently opened the window and flew inside.
She hovered above the room, inspecting each person along the heated brick bed.
When she reached the last maid, Search a Thousand Miles suddenly fell silent.
Shengsheng understood.
This was the one.
Just as she considered how to wake the woman, the sleeping maid felt repeated gusts of wind across her head. She wondered which careless fool had left the window open.
Growing impatient, she opened her eyes.
That one look…
showed her the most terrifying sight of her life.
A woman hovered in thin air directly above her head, long hair hanging loose as she stared down.
A draft from nowhere set the white veil swaying across the woman’s face. Her black-and-white eyes, eerie for no reason at all, watched without blinking.
The young maid’s eyes rolled back. She fainted without a sound.
Shengsheng fell silent.
Goodness, that had nearly frightened her to death.
For a moment, she had thought she was about to be discovered.
With tremendous effort, Shengsheng hauled the maid up. The person sleeping beside her rolled over, startling Shengsheng so badly that she nearly dropped her burden.
Shengsheng carried the maid outside, flew to a deserted spot, and dropped her on the ground.
The impact finally woke the woman who had fainted from fright.
The instant she saw Shengsheng, her whole body began shaking uncontrollably. Her face turned deathly white, and she lost her voice altogether.
Shengsheng’s exposed eyes curved with delight. “This is a robbery,” she said cheerfully.
The maid had seen too little of the world. In all her years, this was the first time she had met a ghost who robbed people.
Other evil spirits came to claim lives. This one committed robbery.
Overwhelmed by fear and utterly incapable of thought, the maid did whatever the ghost said.
Trembling, she reached into her clothes and pulled out a little bundle.
From her bosom, no less…
Looking at the side that had suddenly deflated, Shengsheng had no idea what to say.
Mistaking Shengsheng’s expression for dissatisfaction, the maid gritted her teeth and pulled out another.
The once “buxom” young maid was now as flat as an open plain.
She set both little cloth bundles on the ground.
Shengsheng pawed through them with some distaste and, sure enough, found her hairpin inside one.
Taking only her own hairpin would be no different from revealing her identity.
But none of the other things appealed to her.
Left with no choice, she casually picked out two more pieces.
She left the rest to the maid.
The world treated servants unfairly. There was nothing wrong with their being a little greedy.
Money was life.
Shengsheng Zhou understood.
That did not mean other people were allowed to steal her life.
And so, under the maid’s horrified gaze as she nearly fainted again, Shengsheng’s feet left the ground and she flew away like a ghost.
By the time Shengsheng returned to Xiyuan Duanmu’s little courtyard, she had finally laid one worry to rest. She opened her door, only to find someone inside.
“Concubine Duanmu? Why are you here?”
Xiyuan sat on a little stool, both hands resting obediently on her knees, her posture perfectly upright.
Seeing Shengsheng return from parts unknown in the middle of the night, Xiyuan said sheepishly, “Beautiful granny, I came to… Um, haven’t you forgotten to give me something?”
Only then did Shengsheng remember.
She still had not given Xiyuan that rotten thing which had caused her so much misery.
“Oh, so that’s what this is about.”
Shengsheng sat on the bed and nodded.
Xiyuan walked over and made herself thoroughly at home beside her.
But the instant her bottom came down–
Shengsheng let out a bloodcurdling howl.
Xiyuan’s face filled with alarm. “What happened? What happened?”
Had the thing somehow been lost?
Shengsheng’s expression twisted. Through clenched teeth, she said, “You’re sitting on my invisible wings.”
Xiyuan stared blankly for two seconds.
Then she burst into earthshaking laughter. “Hahahaha! Granny, that joke is ancient! You’re still using it? Hahahaha!”
The harder she laughed, the more heavily she settled her weight.
The pain nearly made Shengsheng scream.
Wings truly were a bird-person’s sensitive parts. People said all ten fingers were linked to the heart, but having someone sit on her wings hurt even worse.
The agony left Shengsheng almost incapable of resisting, while the culprit remained entirely oblivious and continued mocking her stale joke.
Lost in pain, Shengsheng suddenly heard a faint, almost inaudible sigh.
Xiyuan’s laughter stopped dead, as if a hand had closed around her throat.
The pain vanished. Shengsheng raised her tear-filled eyes.
At a glance, she saw something resembling Xiyuan sprawled on the floor with her bottom in the air.
And beside Xiyuan stood a man wearing his usual languid expression.