Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Lu Boya lived in a high-rise residential complex in the university town called Jing Garden.

I lay over the steering wheel and tilted my head to look out the window at the buildings. “I built this place, you know.”

“You were the contractor?” Lu Boya asked.

“One of the subcontractor crews under the contractor,” I said. “The developer for this complex was Hong Kong’s top Blue Shine Group. The construction companies they worked with were all major firms, and those major firms had hundreds of crews like mine under them.”

Layer after layer of subcontracting, and I was pretty much at the very bottom.

“You made the right choice buying a place here,” I said with a smile. “The quality’s solid. Real materials, no cutting corners. It can withstand a magnitude-seven earthquake, easy. If it collapses, that’s on me.”

Lu Boya said, “I live on the twenty-seventh floor.”

“Twenty-seventh is great. Best floor there is,” I said without thinking. “The lighting’s amazing, and you can even see the lake.”

“What I mean is,” Lu Boya said, the corners of his lips curving up, “I live on the twenty-seventh floor. If it really collapses, will they still be able to find you?”

Me: “…”

Seeing me freeze, Lu Boya laughed again. He unbuckled his seat belt and said, “I’ll head in first. See you next time.”

Only after the fact did it sink in. I scratched at my temple with one finger. …So just now, had he been joking with me?

My celestial being wasn’t cold or arrogant. My celestial being was considerate and even liked to crack jokes. Who wouldn’t like a celestial being like that?

“Too bad. I’m not worthy.”

I let out a breath, started the car again, and drove into the fine curtain of rain.

Halfway there, my phone rang.

“Master Xu!”

A howl came through along with a blast of noisy music.

“Come out for drinks. Yulin Club, Room 304!”

“Wait there,” I said through gritted teeth. “Perfect. I need to talk to you about something anyway.”

Chapter 6

Yulin Club was an entertainment venue with dining, KTV, and guest rooms all under one roof.

I followed the room number and pushed open the heavy private room door.

“…So it turns out I am a drunken butterfly, that vow you made came so lightly, so carelessly… Hey! Master Xu!”

The voice coming from the speakers could only be described as ghosts wailing and wolves howling, completely off-key.

On the small stage, a young man dressed like a gaudy butterfly saw me come in, put down the microphone, and returned to the long sofa.

His left arm was hooked around a girl with long curly hair, and his right hand waved wildly at me. “Get over here.”

I sat down on the sofa beside him and pushed away the chilled beer he handed me with one finger. “I drove here. Can’t drink.”

He didn’t insist. He bent his arm back and drank it himself, his Adam’s apple bobbing a few times as he downed more than half the bottle.

The song “Drunken Butterfly” reached its end over the speakers. The screen flickered, then started replaying it from the beginning.

I resisted the urge to let my fists get itchy and demanded, “You borrowed my car last week, didn’t refill the tank, didn’t wash it, and even changed my driving playlist! Qian Yu, are you tired of living?”

He moved the beer bottle away and waved a hand expansively. “Come on, what kind of relationship do we have? If you start nitpicking over little stuff like that, you’re treating me like an outsider.”

Gas and a car wash were little things, sure, but the playlist-

“Your own taste is garbage, and you dragged me down and made me embarrass myself.” I shot him a murderous glare, practically sharpening my blade. “Don’t even think about driving my car again.”

“Fine, fine. I won’t drive it, I won’t. I won’t touch your car again. Happy?”

Qian Yu couldn’t have cared less. He hugged the girl in his arms and gave her a little shake. “Let me introduce you. My girlfriend, Yingying. Yingying, that’s my ride-or-die buddy, Xu Li.”

“Sister Xu,” Yingying greeted me, sharp enough to read the room.

Before I could say anything, Qian Yu burst out laughing. “Why are you calling her sister? Look at her. From head to toe, what part of her looks like a woman? She’s a real man, Master Xu!”

“Screw off.” I rolled my eyes.

The big screen replayed the “Drunken Butterfly” music video three times before finally switching to the next song.

Yingying walked onto the small stage, took the microphone, and sang while smiling at Qian Yu.

After puckering up and blowing her a kiss, Qian Yu leaned over to me and asked in a low voice, “Well? Pretty, right?”

He made a gesture. “Three LV bags, and she was mine.”

I gave a snort and declined to comment.

“I think she’s prettier than the last one, and the one before that. The key is, she isn’t expensive,” Qian Yu said with feeling. “Great value for money.”

I couldn’t take it and rolled my eyes at him. “Keep using material things to measure girls, and one day you’ll hit a wall and cry over it.”

“It’s not that I want to measure them with material things. They’re the ones who treat me like an ATM first. It’s a fair trade. Everyone gets what they need.” Qian Yu grinned cheekily. “If you ever need one, you can find yourself a… quality man worth five bags.”

“A man who can be won over with money counts as quality?” I scoffed.

“Oh, right. I forgot. Our Master Xu doesn’t like the worldly type.” Qian Yu nudged me with his elbow, waggling his brows. “Master Xu likes them aloof, elegant, cultured. Preferably someone you can put on an altar, who doesn’t eat mortal food and lives solely by breathing immortal air-if you want a man like that, you’ll have to look in the heavenly court. I doubt one exists in the mortal world.”

I picked up the bottled water on the table, twisted it open, took a sip, and murmured to myself, “Not necessarily.”

“What’s not necessarily?” Qian Yu hadn’t heard me clearly.

There might not be one in the heavenly court. There might not be none in the mortal world.

It was just…

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

On the small stage, Yingying sang four or five songs in a row, and Qian Yu applauded loudly.

I clapped along as well, and brought something up in passing. “Get the design drawings for Sunshine Primary School done as soon as possible.”

“You’re rushing me again,” Qian Yu grumbled. “A charity project like Sunshine Primary School won’t make much money. Why are you so eager?”

I looked at the subtitles on the screen and said evenly, “Going to school and getting an education is a big deal.”

“Fine,” Qian Yu said, not taking it seriously. “I’ll have the people under me hurry it along.”