Chapter 13: Drunk, the Heart Remains Unaware

Lingxiang was drawing a Talisman in preparation for a rainy day, and just as she was focusing her mind to pinch a seal and channel her power, she heard the waiter knock on the door, saying there was a burly man downstairs looking for her.

When she went downstairs to look, Long Qi was slumped on the floor, still muttering something to himself.

"So this must be Brother Long Qi's master! I never imagined it would be a young girl!" A sturdy man stepped forward and cupped his hands in a salute; it was the bearded guest Long Qi had encountered. "I am Lu Zheng. Today, I was drinking with my own brothers and shared a table with Brother Long. The three of us hit it off immediately and had a few too many cups. I didn't expect him to have such a low tolerance for alcohol. Fortunately, we learned you were at the Wutong Inn during our conversation, so I brought him along on the way."

Upon hearing this, Lingxiang performed a Daoist salute to Lu Zheng: "Thank you for your trouble, Brother Lu."

"Hey~ it's a trivial matter, not worth mentioning. Brother Long is a straightforward person, and the three of us really hit it off. We must drink heartily with him again another day!" Saying this, he cupped his hands and left.

Lingxiang called the waiter to help carry Long Qi back to his room and asked for some hangover soup to feed him. Just as she was about to return to her own room, her dress was tugged by Long Qi.

"Come! Don't go! Let's have another jar!" He said, sitting up.

"You blockhead, I told you to go gather information, yet you got yourself dead drunk!" Lingxiang scolded with a laugh.

Just as she was about to settle him down again, he unexpectedly lay back down, and caught off guard, she slipped and fell onto Long Qi.

The sudden force made Long Qi sober up a little. He opened his eyes and looked at the little person pressed so close to him, but in a flash, his mind became Chaos again.

"You look so beautiful..."

Smelling the reek of alcohol on him, Lingxiang couldn't help but frown and said with disdain: "That goes without saying. Your master is naturally beautiful, a beauty who could topple cities and states, a face that makes fish sink and geese fall, a beauty that puts the moon to shame and makes flowers blush."

Just as she was about to get up after speaking, she was pulled back by Long Qi.

"I don't want you to be my master..."

Lingxiang was stunned upon hearing this, and after a moment, she came to her senses and exclaimed in shock: "Could it be that you want to acknowledge me as your mother?!!"

As soon as Long Qi woke up, he felt his hangover had not yet faded and his head ached unbearably. He struggled to get up to pour some tea, only to discover he was wearing nothing but his undergarments.

He couldn't help but look around: that's right, it was his own room.

But who had brought him back yesterday?

And who had undressed him?

Long Qi patted his head, trying hard to recall, when he suddenly remembered Lingxiang's face.

She seemed to have been lying on top of him last night!

She even seemed to have untied his clothes for him!

What had this tigress done to him!

He had kept his chastity for over a dozen years!

Long Qi wore a look of grief, as if he had lost his parents.

While he was beating his chest and stamping his feet, the door creaked open. Seeing it was Lingxiang, he hurriedly hid back in bed, protecting his body with the quilt, and looked at her defensively.

"What? Yesterday you wanted to honor me as your mother, and today you're at odds with me?" Lingxiang teased.

"Honor you as my mother? What are you talking about?" Seeing Lingxiang walk closer, he squeezed further into the bed, clutching the quilt even tighter.

"You... what do you want? What did you do to me... to me last night?!"

"What do I want? I want to eat you!" Lingxiang said, her eyes like a hungry tiger, opening her mouth toward Long Qi.

Seeing this, Long Qi shrank back.

"I... I'm telling you! Even if you have my body, you... you won't have my heart!"

"Pfft, hahahaha!" His reaction was truly too funny, as if he had been deflowered, causing Lingxiang to laugh uncontrollably.

"Stop being so sentimental! You were acting crazy from the alcohol yesterday, and after I finally settled you down, you vomited all over yourself. I just went to the clothing shop to buy you some clothes," she said, throwing a package to Long Qi, "Put them on quickly and come downstairs to discuss matters. Senior Brother Lu Ying is back."

Lingxiang gave him a look as if she were watching an idiot and then went out.

Thank goodness, thank goodness, he was still pure...

Huh? And what did it mean to honor her as his mother?

"I checked the yamen's records. Mr. Zhuang is a local, with the given name Wei and courtesy name Jingwei. He is considered a schoolteacher. From his household registration, there is nothing amiss with this person."

"Then do we know what illness he has?"

"According to the yamen runners, this person has been weak and sickly since childhood, as if it were brought from his mother's womb. His family sought medical help for years to no avail, and about half a year ago, he showed signs of his lamp running out of oil."

"That is strange. If he was dying, how could he have recovered now..." Lingxiang furrowed her brows, completely puzzled.

When Long Qi came downstairs, he heard this and added: "Speaking of which, Mr. Zhuang got married half a year ago. Could it really be that the 'lucky marriage' cured him?"

Usually accustomed to seeing him looking unkempt, seeing him in a new outfit today, he actually looked quite presentable.

"If a 'lucky marriage' were truly useful, then everyone in the world who encountered a natural disaster or man-made misfortune would just go get married for luck."

"That is also true, but what puzzles me is that Mr. Zhuang's parents have both passed away, and that wine-seller Yao Yi is an outsider. How did they end up as a pair?"

"Mrs. Zhuang is not a local? Then do we know where she came from?" Lingxiang said, looking at Lu Ying.

"I haven't investigated that woman. I only heard she came to look for relatives, but because her relatives moved away, she had nowhere to go, and then she happened to meet Mr. Zhuang, and the two got to know each other."

"Looking for relatives, huh? But come to think of it, the Qionghua Dew she brews is truly Supreme Grade. You can smell the fragrance of the wine from far away, and it tastes incredibly mellow."

Lingxiang glanced at Long Qi with a look of disdain.

"Junior Sister Lingxiang, did you find anything?"

"It is strange. Yesterday I checked the pulses of several people. They all have deficiency syndromes caused by long-term bed rest. Although they look like their souls are not attached to their bodies, it is not the Demon Race's Soul Extraction Technique; they just seem foolish, as if their souls were taken. And the person performing the technique seems to have deliberately spared their lives and did not strike hard."

Hearing this, Lu Ying slapped his forehead and said: "Right, I almost forgot, the Prefect has also been victimized!"

Lingxiang was shocked upon hearing this, and Lu Ying hurriedly told them what he had heard yesterday.

"I was just saying, three people every month, how could one be missing? So it was the Prefect. It seems he must have discovered something, which is why he was targeted." Lingxiang frowned.

"I informed the old Assistant Prefect that you are well-versed in Mysterious Sect Medicine. Junior Sister, do you think we should go and treat him?"

She didn't expect the Prefect to be a Yuanqing Disciple. In that case, both emotionally and logically, she had to take care of this matter.

"Hmm..." Lingxiang pondered for a moment and replied: "That is fine. Anyway, we have no leads right now. If we can save the Prefect, things will be much easier to handle."

After speaking, she ordered Long Qi to pack his luggage and prepare to visit the yamen. Long Qi grumbled to himself: This tigress is treating him like a servant again.

It was said to be packing luggage, but in reality, it was nothing more than some snacks Lingxiang had bought on the street, with the rest being those ghost-drawn talismans of Long Qi.

Once the three were prepared, Lu Ying led them as they hurried toward the prefectural government office; during the journey, Lingxiang seemed as if she were out for a stroll, from time to time chatting with street vendors or buying little trinkets, and by the time they reached the entrance of the office, Long Qi was already carrying an armful of bundles, and even Lu Ying had his hands full.

Looking at Lingxiang, however, she only had a candied fruit skewer in her left hand and a pastry in her right, looking completely carefree.