An Odd Encounter

"She came suddenly and brilliantly like a falling star."

Ruan Xiaomen, "The Bamboo Chronicles of a Good-for-Nothing"

***

"Mmm…" Ruan Shanqiao muttered as she slowly broke free from her sleep.

*sniff* *sniff*

The familiar aromatic scent of roasted rabbit wafted through the air. Suddenly a sharp bitter scent of burnt food sliced through the aromatic roasted rabbit.

"Huh?!" she sat up in surprise.

"Hmmm… How did you cook such beautiful roasted rabbit?" a voice asked.

Shanqiao blinked as she looked at the young girl crouching next to her fire, cooking rabbit. Around her there were several burnt carcasses of rabbits. The girl pouted as she turned to her with her half-cooked rabbit.

"Can you teach me?"

"Who are you?" Ruan Shanqiao narrowed her eyes. The intruder appeared to be around her age. In addition, the girl appeared to be a cultivation genius. Her intuition told her that she was at least a Fifth Rank cultivator. It raised a red flag in her mind.

"Well, I think it was the sparks that attracted me," the girl answered straightforwardly. "Look."

Shanqiao followed the girl's finger. Around the borders of her protective array, there laid burnt corpses of spirit animals. The sight was quite horrible, especially this early in the morning. She felt her insides flipping inside and out at it.

"It turned around the spirit beasts were quite attracted to your scent, but your array burnt them the moment they touched it." she scratched her chin. "I suppose it's more accurate to say that they were covered in flames before turning to the state they are in front of you."

A bitter scent wafted up from the fire. The two girls looked down at the rabbit in the intruder's hand. It was black and covered entirely by flames.

"Gah!" the young girl let go of the rabbit. She pouted and started to weep childishly. "That's the nineteenth failure!"

Shanqiao looked at the girl. She didn't appear to have any aggression towards her.

"Uh, would you like me to teach you?"

"Will you?" the girl's eyes glistened with enthusiasm.

"Yes, I can…"

"Here!" the girl rummaged inside her space ring and pulled out a mountain of prepared rabbit.

Ruan Shanqiao nearly threw up at the sight. After seeing the burnt up corpses and looking at raw meat was quite nauseating.

The young girl glanced at Shanqiao before quickly cleaning up the corpses outside the array.

"So… what must I do?"

"Well…"

She demonstrating sticking a stick securely through the prepared rabbit. Then the use of two Y-shaped sticks to create a rotisserie for the rabbit.

Soon, an aromatic scent wafted from the rabbit. It's excess fat from its fat coated it, creating a crispy texture. It was quite appetizing to watch the flames gently caress the rabbit. Once the skin had turned a crispy golden brown, they took it off the sticks. The girl ripped the rabbit in two, revealing a soft, juicy meat inside.

"Here."

They each took half a rabbit and tore into the beautiful meat.

"That's how…. you roast a…. rabbit…. properly," Shanqiao remarked between bites. The nauseating sight of the corpses strewn outside the array had already been erased completely from her memory. "Isn't it delicious?"

"Indeed!" the girl next to her agreed.

"How did you get into the array, by the way?"

"It wasn't strong enough to hold me back."

"Oh." They quickly reloaded the rotisserie.

There was awkward silence as they waited for the rabbit to roast.

"What's your name, by the way?" Shanqiao asked finally.

"I'm Han Ruoxi."

'The genius heiress of the Han Family…' Ruan Shanqiao paused. She had immediately recognized the name. While she had been in the Capital City of Xinghe Kingdom, she had often heard of the Han Family. It was incredibly affluent family that controlled one of the most influential sects within the continent. The young mistress was especially famous for reaching the Sixth Rank at the age of ten earlier in the year. 'Why was the famous young mistress of the Han Family in the middle of the Caili Mountains?'

"By the way," Ruoxi interrupted her thoughts. "Why is the young miss of the Ruan Clan in the middle of the mountains?"

'!...' Shanqiao was quiet at the question. "My name is Mei Lukai and I have no connection with the Ruan Clan."

"Ah, so this male identity of yours is called Mei Lukai?" Ruoxi smiled widely. "Ruan Shanqiao, you need to learn to lie better. I'm a master of disguises, so it's fairly easy for me to look through most illusions and disguises. But for others, your hesitation will tell them too much information."

She sighed. She'd been caught, what could she do?

"I had been sent to investigate the commotion in the Capital City of the Xinghe Kingdom," sharp eyes turned towards Shanqiao's increasingly pale face. "Did something happen to the Ruan Clan?"

"..." she had nothing to say to the pointed questions.

Suddenly, in front of Shanqiao's eyes appeared a beautiful hand. The fingers were long and elegant and the hand looked as soft as silk.

"Grab it, Ruan Shanqiao."

'... Should she? At the same time, what did she have to risk?' A defiant look settled in Shanqiao's dark eyes. She took hold of the hand with a strong grip.

The two girls looked up at each other.

Suddenly, a bright white light flooded Shanqiao's vision. Before the white light swallowed her up, she could swear that she had seen a sly smile on Han Ruoxi's face.

***

Han Ruoxi smiled as she caught Ruan Shanqiao and laid her gently.

She had to admit, this Ruan Clan's young miss was incredibly good at disguises. If it hadn't been for the oddly effeminate way she had carried herself when roasting rabbit, she might not have been able to see through it.

Not only that, this young miss was certainly interesting.

Rumors called her total "trash". What made her worse than other good-for-nothings was the fact that she seemed completely unaware of her status. She had even confirmed it the moment she had seen the girl.

But one look at the protective array she had created was enough to show that she had abilities beyond that of a "good-for-nothing".

"Interesting," Ruoxi touched the snow white face gently.