It's Time To Go Home

Hua Zhao frowned as he kept an eye on the spiritual being walking around the streets. Where were they planning to head off to? Perhaps he should have dragged Xue back and dropped him back at Chan Lee's apartment.

Did he even lock the door?!

He paid him a good amount of money and it would all be stolen if the guy didn't at least have the common sense to keep it safe!

How many beings like this had he dealt with? He rubbed his face. Mostly he only needed to stab a saber and cut their head off and he would be done with this. He wasn't supposed to be here to babysit and act like a diplomat or intermediary between the two worlds.

Keeping Chan Lee safe was an important thing, but if this guy got hurt—he could already imagine the girl chewing him out.

It was getting a little tiring to get lectured by every person he encountered. 

Anyhow, this little field trip experience of Xue here could serve as some sort of lesson; the guy was too coddled by her. He would never understand the danger if he was kept inside the house all day.

So he only needed to pay an eye on him.

Other people were eyeing Xue, but it was probably due to his unnatural appearance. The spiritual aura restricting beads were working well. So the problem was his looks. Had it never occurred to Chan Lee and her neighbor that having white hair was an odd color? Maybe the rabbit didn't want his hair to be dyed—it was like dying their fur.

Did the guy still even transform back to a rabbit?

Huli Jing or his fox friend could still use a fox form to reserve spiritual energy—but this guy was keeping his human form despite the restriction of aura. He needed to at least figure things out. 

His phone then rang and he answered the call, "It took you so long." He muttered to his friend. If you asked him though, Bo Ling worked miracles—how did he find someone who knew where Chan Lee was? Or in more important matters now… why did she happen to be there?

Heavenly Jade Pavillion—that guy was probably already there for his morning tea. "The guy will assume it's a forbidden love between a yaoguai and a human." He muttered to himself, hoping that the man came upon that conclusion when they previously encountered Xue.

"Oh, it was nothing. Just a show I was planning to watch, some girl and a fox spirit. Or was it a god? I wasn't sure." He winced as he ended the call with Bo Ling. 

Xue didn't seem too different from your average everyday spirit, especially with the beads restricting an outpour of spiritual aura. He still couldn't understand how they managed to hide at the apartment if his aura hadn't been restricted before.

It must have been some heaven-defying luck that Xue and Chan Lee were fine before he had discovered them.

Now that he saw Xue was now heading back in the direction back home, he sighed in relief. Finally some common sense within their brain. Now he didn't have anything to worry about except for Chan Lee encountering Liu Guiren. It was time to leave.

. . .

Their conversation was going nowhere, even a complete stranger could tell that. Shen An Na stared at the man in front of her, they were simply sipping water. Their conversation had prematurely died, or rather he swatted it all down by not answering. He had raised a brow at her, expecting that she already knew what it all meant.

On top of that, he wasn't even ordering anything—what a cheap guy.

"Do you not want anything? Coffee? Tea?" It would hurt her pride if they left here with just a cup of coffee while the other simply had tap water.

A chuckle escaped his lips. "You want me to order tea here?"

"What's so wrong with ordering from this cafe?"

"There's nothing wrong with this cafe, per se. However, if you want me to order tea, it'd be somewhere else." Liu Guiren placed his glass down and stood up. "Now if there's nothing else that you can bring to the conversation, I shall take my leave."

"You're leaving...just like that?" On occasions such as this, he'd normally stay around and even chat.

"Yes. I'll see you around, Miss Shen."

"You're really hunting someone down, aren't you?"

He simply bowed and left her after that.

. . .

Hua Zhao really hated the bus—and so when he stepped down, it was a breath of fresh air. Except the air wasn't really pleasant smelling at all.

"Oh, what brings you here to the business district, Hua Zhao~?" 

He ignored the guy who began to stroll along with him. They were heading in the same spot, the man seemingly had gone out from somewhere.

"I had a talk with Shen An Na." The guy called after him. "It was pretty interesting, do you wanna hear about it?"

He paused for a moment before he continued forward.

"Hua Zhao, we seem to be heading in the same direction. Why don't we walk together instead of making me appear like a desperate male lover?"

Needless to say, when Chan Lee found the two of them inside the shop, she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

It was barely a few hours of peace before two of the most determined people she ever encountered were at the tea shop at the same time. "Welcome to Heavenly Jade Pavillion." She did a quick curtsy.

"We meet again Miss Chan Lee." Liu Guiren greeted her with another respectful bow.

Hua Zhao on the other hand saluted her, "I came here to get tea. This is Bo Ling's shop, so I'm a regular—who knew that you worked here?!"

Chan Lee tried to keep the smile on her face. Yeah right he was a regular, as if she'd believe something like that. "May I assist the two of you into finding a table or a room?"

"Oh, we're not together." Hua Zhao answered her.

Liu Guiren let out a sigh, "You wound me too much, Hua Zhao. I haven't even invited you yet."

"Two separate rooms then, please follow me." Chan Lee found herself with twice the burden right now as she motioned to the hallway. At least she was nearly done with her shift, Bo Lifen even offered she could get home early if she wanted to.

"Oh, could you be my tea sommelier?"

"Would you attend to me again?"

Two voices, one question .

"Er, my shift is actually over?"

Liu Guiren shrugged, "Well, I suppose I had more than enough tea for the day. Are you leaving after you change? I could give you a ride home."

"I'll probably get a take-out dumpling or something. Mind if I carpool with you, Mister President?"