Chapter 844: Hello~

On the other side of the door, it was quiet for about two breaths.

Qingque perched by the door, and she could even hear her heart shift from a sprinting mode to idle, the "thump thump thump thump" gradually becoming "thump, thump, thump", finally settling into a rhythm that barely counted as Calm.

Her swollen cheek pressed against the icy wooden door, the chill seeping through her skin and slightly soothing the burning pain.

She closed her eyes, ready to exhale the long breath she had been holding in her lungs.

Just as she was halfway through exhaling, something suddenly slapped against the door from outside.

The object, through the door panel, aligned perfectly with the back of her head on the same horizontal line.

Then a voice—

"Hello~"

Qingque shivered all over.

It crawled up her spine and finally exploded on her scalp.

The gooseflesh on both arms stood up in full.

She looked down at her forearm; the tiny bumps on her fair skin lined up neatly, like the Diviners in Tai Bu Si who were rebuked by Fu Xian and forced to reflect against the wall.

What the heck?

Qingque widened her bright green almond eyes, the pupils nearly popping out of their sockets.

She shifted her head away from the door panel, turned sideways, angled her right ear toward the crack, and the tip of her ear twitched slightly.

It was quiet outside the door.

But whose voice was that?

Her first thought was General.

But her brain refused to match that term with the earlier "Hello~".

Match failed.

The logical part of her mind instantly threw an error, displaying three bold characters plus a punctuation mark: Incompatible!

After all, in her Cognition, Jing Yuan's voice was a lazy baritone, low and full.

But that "Hello~" just now.

Precisely stepped on the vague boundary between "cute" and "pretentious".

Qingque opened her mouth, letting out a silent "ha" from her throat.

She didn't dare to respond.

The silence was like a soaking wet quilt, sealing the whole room tightly.

Qingque crouched by the door, her back against the panel, legs curled up.

The voice outside the door sounded again.

"Excuse my intrusion~"

Still the same tone.

What was even scarier was the wording itself.

Those words bounced from Jing Yuan's mouth, the flowery style rivaling the plaques of Shen Ce Fu.

But with that intonation, the flowery prose turned into an indescribable weirdness, like seeing someone copy a love poem in pink brush on a military bulletin.

Qingque inhaled deeply, tapping her temple with a fingertip.

It hurt.

Her face was still swollen.

Warm sunlight streamed in through the window, the shadows of the wooden lattice clearly stamped on the floor, grid by grid, exactly like the divination board squares used in Tai Bu Si.

The scent of mugwort in the air irritated her nose.

Everything was indisputable; this was reality.

She pinched herself, then slapped herself.

Each of them proved that she was currently standing in a ward of the Dan Ding Department on Luofu Xianzhou, and that indeed a living person stood outside the door— that person being Jing Yuan (?)

Qingque swallowed, feeling her throat as dry as if filled with sand.

She turned her face back to the door panel, striving to keep her voice steady, making each word convey just the right amount of respect and just the right amount of nonchalance.

"General, uh— I saw nothing, heard nothing; I was just passing by, got lost, took the wrong turn, and will leave immediately now, you continue as if I never existed—"

She regretted it halfway through speaking.

Because she realized every sentence she uttered was like the old saying 'the silver is nowhere to be seen.'

The voice outside paused for a moment.

The pause was just right for Qingque to internally curse herself profusely.

Then the voice floated in again, this time even more over the top.

"So— who are you~ can you open the door~ I just want to get to know you~"

Qingque turned around; having her back to the door panel was no longer enough.

She flipped over completely, knees on the floor, both hands braced on the ground, facing the door panel, crouching in a stance ready to spring up at any moment.

Her bright green almond eyes widened to the point of bulging, pupils shrinking to needle‑point specks under the sunlight, the whites glistening faintly with fear.

It's the third sentence.

This is the third line spoken in that tone.

Qingque's internal organs began to revolt.

It felt as if something in her stomach was turning upward, like after devouring an entire platter of fried pastries and then being told the oil had been sitting for six months.

She couldn't hold it, she was about to vomit!

She quietly extended her right hand, pinched the tenderest flesh on the inner side of her left arm, dug her fingernail in, and twisted it ninety degrees.

The pain surged from her arm to the back of her head like electricity; Qingque almost let out a cry, her teeth biting her lower lip and forcing the sound back in.

The pain in her eye socket produced a thin layer of tears, sparkling in the sunlight.

Painful.

A clear, distinct pain.

The flesh hurt, exactly the same as the slap she just received.

This isn't a dream; in a dream, pinching oneself wouldn't hurt.

But this time it's different.

Each wave of pain plainly tells Qingque: this is reality.

And precisely because it's reality, it's even scarier.

General.

The Divine Strategy General of Luofu.

The pillar of the Cloud Cavalry.

One of the Seven-Day Generals of the Imperial Bow.

Each title alone could crush a line of people.

How could a person like that possibly make that sound?

The odd voice was one thing, but on Luofu there are men who deliberately purse their lips when they speak; Qingque had seen a few young men at Tai Bu Si calculating marriage divinations, whose voices rose three pitches when speaking to a girl they liked.

But with the General, it's no longer just an odd voice issue.

It's effeminate! It's sissy!

"Could it be…"

Qingque's mind raced.

As a veteran slacker at Tai Bu Si for years, she was best at finding a rational explanation for an unreasonable situation in a flash.

In this case, the only reasonable explanation is—

"Aftereffects of the treatment?"

Qingque remembered.

The General was sent to the Dan Ding Department after falling into a coma.

Only a few people in Luofu knew the cause of the coma; anyway, Qingque didn't know.

But whatever the cause, the Dan Ding Department certainly gave the General medicine.

She trusted Lord Bai Lu's medical skill, but medicines always have side effects.

What if a certain medicine newly developed by Lord Bai Lu happened to have side effects of 'changing voice tone', 'changing personality', or 'changing behavior patterns'?

And what if the General is currently at the peak of the medicine's effect, and will return to normal once it wears off?

Thinking that, Qingque let out a slight sigh of relief.

Reasonable, very reasonable.

She even began to admire her own clear logical reasoning under such tension.

Then the sound from outside the door rang for the fourth time.

This time it wasn't just speaking.

There was also a knock.

But the rhythm of the knocking was very irregular.