Chapter 8

Surprised at her sudden shout, Bàolì Hua also slit her chopsticks to collect a dumpling… However… she had no experience eating with chopsticks.

Happy at this realization, Heng Xīnyán took this chance to move her chopsticks at a fast pace. Dumplings upon dumplings entered her little mouth and shocked, Bàolì Hua did something very unladylike!

Knowing, she couldn't eat with chopsticks, Bàolì Hua simply dipped her hand in the bowl and shoved three dumplings in her mouth. Chewing quickly as they were hot.

Her small face was a little red as she nodded, "It is delicious!" She swallowed.

Heng Xīnyán gaped at her and Bàolì Hua simply took this chance to grab the bowl and used her hand to shove dumplings in her mouth.

"How dare you!" Heng Xīnyán screamed, standing abruptly and Bàolì Hua paid her no mind as she continued to eat quickly.

By the time, Heng Xīnyán took the bowl, one lonely white dumpling was in it. Heng Xīnyán looked at Bàolì Hua resentfully yet the female merely burped satisfied. "Those were the best!" She cheered, her small palm-sized face red yet a giddy smile remained on her lips.

Heng Xīnyán sneered, "Yes, greedy! They were great!" She scoffed, taking the last dumpling from the bowl to eat, glaring at the female in green as she chewed, Heng Xīnyán slowly felt that Bàolì Hua was displeasing to the eyes.

The female simply wiped her hands on the small cloth before sipping her tea with a satisfied smile.

Heng Xīnyán huffed and she put the bowl down on the table when a knock was heard on their door.

Both females watched the door in alert and Heng Xīnyán decided to answer. "Yes?" She asked.

"Hello, Misses." A soft voice entered the room from the closed door.

"How may I help you?" Heng Xīnyán inquired, standing from the table.

"Master sent your tea room bill," the soft voice continued and the two demonic cultivators paled. Their ruddy faces drained with shock.

"B… Bill?" Heng Xīnyán's voice wavered a little as her siren eyes connected with Bàolì Hua's.

"Yes miss," the girl outside stated.

Heng Xīnyán gulped, "How much?"

"Fifty gold coins, miss," came the girl's voice and Heng Xīnyán saw white as she held onto the wall for support.

F-fifty gold coins? They were currently broke! So that was a hefty amount! Where were they going to squeeze that money out from? Heng Xīnyán's vision was dark, and the soft voice of the girl repeated in her mind. Fifty gold coins... Heng Xīnyán finally saw the vision of the poor.

Bàolì Hua stood, walking towards Heng Xīnyán, she tugged on her arm. Heng Xīnyán looked at her as she followed the female to the veranda.

"What are you doing?" Heng Xīnyán asked anxiously. Bàolì Hua glared at her, "We are going to dine and dash!" she whispered, looking down from the veranda. Heng Xīnyán nodded, feeling that this was their only solution.

"Alright," Heng Xīnyán nodded then she paused, "Wait!" She ran back into the room under Bàolì Hua's eyes. Bàolì Hua's lips twitched lightly as she saw the female in pink, pick up the other silver bowl filled with chestnuts and placed it in her sleeve. Her lips were in a straight line yet her eyes were bright watching the nuts. (A/N: cough... now my mind went somewhere.)

Bàolì Hua watched Heng Xīnyán before her eyes wandered around the room. Seeing the xuan paper filled with the poems she adored. Her feet moved at a quick pace, arriving at the table, her pale hands collected the xuan paper. Looking at the poems with a pleased face, she rolled the paper up and placed it in her green sleeves.

The two guilty thieves then hurried to the veranda, to jump off. Landing in an unlucky vendor's stall that sold fruits with a heavy crash. Heng Xīnyán stole some fruits as the ruckus was loud. Placing them in her sleeves, they ran away under the angry vendor's curses.

Running far away from the tea shop and the crowd of villagers, they stopped at a remote alley in the village as they panted, trying to catch their breaths.

"Great idea, Bàolì Hua!" Heng Xīnyán patted her shoulder with approval as she panted heavily, struggling to breathe.

Bàolì Hua waved her off, "He was going... to rob us anyways!" She stated breathlessly. Heng Xīnyán nodded, then she spoke. "We should start strengthening our physical stamina."

Bàolì Hua agreed, "I bet there will be more days like this."

Heng Xīnyán nodded, "Yeah… we must be more secretive and not so loud next time."

"Yeah," Bàolì Hua nodded, "But the dumplings from that shop were so good!" She clapped her lips, remembering the taste and Heng Xīnyán sighed in agreement.

"Let's leave this, village," Heng Xīnyán muttered after they calmed down.

Bàolì Hua nodded, "Take out the map."

Heng Xīnyán took out the map from her sleeves and opened it. Both females looked at the map.

"Okay, we are in Hu Village, which is near Heavenly Plains," Bàolì Hua mumbled, "If we go West, we will meet Yi Village."

Heng Xīnyán nodded, "Yi Village, we will go."

"On the way, we can strengthen our physical stamina," Bàolì Hua suggested and Heng Xīnyán nodded in agreement.

Soon, Heng Xīnyán frowned. "What is that smell?!" She squeezed her nose.

When Heng Xīnyán asked that, Bàolì Hua smelt the stink overbearing smell that Heng Xīnyán talked about.

A frown formed on her lips as she squeezed her nose. Her eyes roamed the small damp alley they were in and her eyes landed on the dump of garbage.

Holding her pale hand to cover her nose, she recoiled in disgust as she tapped Heng Xīnyán's shoulder to show her.

Heng Xīnyán grimaced, "Okay, let's leave this village."

Bàolì Hua nodded in agreement.

They joined back the busy streets of Hu Village and they avoided the street of Cheng's teashop with their hearts beating fast. When they saw the exit as well as the entrance of the village.

Both females held a smile on their lips as a thought surfaced in both their hearts.

Thank Buddha!

They sighed in relief as they got closer to the exit. Yet, a male in a white Hanfu appeared before them and by the way, he paused. They both knew that he was stopping them. So, Heng Xīnyán and Bàolì Hua looked at the entrance that was a couple of meters away from them, then they looked at the male in white in front of them with blank eyes as guilt and horror for being discovered made them watched the male with caution.

'We're fucked!' Heng Xīnyán thought.

'We're soooooooo fucked!' Bàolì Hua thought.

They both watched the male with lifeless fish-like eyes.

Flustered, the male in white cleared his throat, "Hello, Young Ladies." He smiled trying to lighten the tense atmosphere between them yet the females' eyes opposite him remained the same.

"How may we help you?" Heng Xīnyán inquired sharply. Her siren-shaped eyes watched him with strong caution that had the male in white question what did he do them.

"No, ladies… I came to trouble you. Can I bother these two young misses with a request?" He asked yet the females' eyes before him turned even more lifeless. Thinking something was wrong, the male stuttered out, "I will pay you!"

Heng Xīnyán's eyes brightened, "Oh…" Heng Xīnyán blinked then a bright smile surfaced on her face, "How may we help this gentleman?"

The male in white coughed lightly, "My name is Jiǎndān Yìzé… and I wanted to ask you two maidens to help me fight off a very shameless woman."

Heng Xīnyán's lips twitched and Bàolì Hua was speechless.