Chapter 103: Poetic Charm

Lu Xingzhou asked with a smile, "The green of red and green?"

Pei Chuyun gave a faint cold smile, did not answer Xingzhou, but switched to a different word: "The brew of zaofu."

In her heart she thought, this pretty-boy looks every inch the elegant young master of a noble house, probably just a silver-plated spearhead — a military strategist full of tricks but no real learning; he likely doesn't even understand this word "zao."

Lu Xingzhou tapped the table lightly with his finger and said leisurely, "Fire-dragon embroidery, zaofu panli — Miss comes from no ordinary background."

Pei Chuyun was stunned for a moment, her expression even shifting a little.

Lu Xingzhou also thought to himself, it seems Ying Shuang and the others' guess that her background might be that of a young lady from a great house really does have some truth to it. Cultivation texts have plenty of obscure characters, but they generally don't include this sort... what sort of characters are these? They are the jade mats, pendants, carved patterns and ornaments — the typical "culture" played with by families where bells ring and tripods stand.

It was because he was immobile, sitting in the Hall of Yama day after day for so many years without a phone or computer, that he could only read books as a pastime outside of cultivation, and inadvertently read widely, which is how he came to know these things; ordinary cultivators wouldn't know about such useless trivia at all.

Could she really be from the Pei family... that would be no worse than the Huo family. How could a young lady of the Pei family have fallen into the Maiden Harmony Sect?

The thought flashing through his mind, Lu Xingzhou smiled and said, "No matter which family's young lady Miss is, traveling alone surely means you don't want people to know — I won't pry. Here, this place's pork ribs are quite good, Miss should have some."

As he spoke, he actually took a new pair of chopsticks and picked out a piece of pork rib for Pei Chuyun — truly the picture of attentive courtesy.

Pei Chuyun suppressed the strange feeling in her heart and said softly, "Thank you, Young Master."

Anuo poked at her bowl with her chopsticks, looking at her master in puzzlement — you're not really hitting on her, are you...

But she heard Lu Xingzhou laugh and say, "Does Miss Anuo have anywhere she'd like to visit after the meal? This master and disciple are also here for the first time, we could go together."

Pei Chuyun said, "I've heard people say the Hongfa Temple in Menggui City is grand and magnificent, with streams of visitors — I'd like to see it."

"Good, then let's go to Hongfa Temple."

Pei Chuyun lowered her head and ate.

The meal was eaten in a slightly strange atmosphere.

Lu Xingzhou was the very picture of a fine gentleman from a troubled age — a tourist who happened upon a beauty and was striking up a conversation and trying to get close, appearing warm and refined on the surface but actually brazenly trying to tag along, so much so that even the diners nearby were cursing him under their breaths.

Yet this bastard was dashingly handsome, and would often toss out one or two witty lines that made the beauty cover her mouth and laugh.

The diners, conceding they had neither his looks nor his learning, were thoroughly miserable.

In truth, Pei Chuyun didn't feel like laughing at all — even though some of Lu Xingzhou's jokes were genuinely funny — her whole mind was occupied with when this would end... that laughter was entirely put on.

Eating face-to-face like this leaves no room for contact, no way to secretly work a technique.

Speaking of which, last time when she fell into his lap and tried to cast a spell, he had consciously blocked it in advance. What about this time?

As for whether Lu Xingzhou had recognized her this time, Pei Chuyun really didn't dare hold onto her former confidence. On the surface it looked like a chance encounter a thousand miles away, and even the meal had been his invitation first — there was no reason to connect it to a witch of the Maiden Harmony Sect. But Pei Chuyun, having suffered too many losses, couldn't help feeling a little uneasy, and decided to spend more time together before deciding.

If he really hadn't seen through her, and was genuinely trying to flirt with her as just some pretty girl met on the road, then this time she really could make him pay.

After finally finishing the meal, Anuo pushed her master toward the so-called Hongfa Temple, while Pei Chuyun strolled along beside them, taking in the bustling market, her mood considerably better than before.

When she had been tailing them before, no matter where they stopped to buy things, she hadn't dared to buy anything herself, afraid that one turn of the head would lose them. Now it didn't matter — she could look freely and buy whatever she wanted.

And there was a sucker to pay for it too.

Pei Chuyun stopped at a bookstall, her slender hand lightly brushing a poetry collection, somewhat lost in thought.

Lu Xingzhou glanced at it — just a compilation of excerpts from contemporary poets' works — and wondered what Pei Chuyun was thinking as she looked at it.

Logically speaking, the Maiden Harmony Sect's training of its inheritors would include poetry, lyrics, songs, fu, qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting as required courses — these are tools for hooking young noblemen, and also necessary for cultivating temperament. So Pei Chuyun shouldn't have been unable to access these things in the Maiden Harmony Sect — what was there to be lost in thought about?

"Miss Anuo likes this?"

"Mm." Pei Chuyun came back to herself and smiled: "I've run away from home, after all — it's been a long time since I've seen what new works the talented scholars of today have produced, I want to take a look."

Lu Xingzhou tossed a piece of broken silver to the stall owner: "Then we'll take it."

Pei Chuyun thanked him, flipped through it casually, her expression somewhere between a smile and not.

Lu Xingzhou laughed: "What, Miss — that look says you think the quality is poor?"

"Passable, I suppose. Anything that can be handed down through the ages must have some weight to it." Pei Chuyun casually tucked the poetry collection into her robes: "I'll look through it carefully when I rest — it's more important to go to Hongfa Temple with Young Master."

Lu Xingzhou turned to look at her strolling figure and suddenly said, "If your family is an obstacle, Miss could sign with a literary name — you don't necessarily have to use your real name."

Pei Chuyun's heart skipped a beat — what a perceptive man this was! He had actually seen through at a single glance what she wanted.

Yes, of course it wasn't that she couldn't access poetry collections — it was that she couldn't leave her own poems in them. Seeing others' inferior verses able to leave a mark while she could not, the feeling was hard to describe.

She shook her head gently: "No point. If no one knows it's me, then it isn't me."

Lu Xingzhou laughed: "What do you mean, no one knows? At least I know, and Anuo knows."

Pei Chuyun smiled and did not argue.

Lu Xingzhou knew that when scholars used a "literary name" to sign works, it was either because they were so famous that everyone knew whose literary name it was, or because some notable wanted to write "unrefined" tales and the like and didn't want to be identified, so they changed to a pseudonym — like Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng.

If Pei Chuyun wanted to sign her work, it would be closer to the latter — she couldn't let people know who she was. Yet Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng didn't want people to know who he was of his own accord; she, Pei Chuyun, wanted people to know, but didn't dare — so even a pseudonym was pointless.

Lu Xingzhou didn't understand why she didn't dare... logically speaking, crafting a talented woman admired throughout the realm who was actually a witch of the Harmony Sect behind the scenes — wouldn't that persona be quite useful? Why didn't the Maiden Harmony Sect do this?

This must involve some internal issues of the Maiden Harmony Sect, as well as Pei Chuyun's own background — some kind of scruple?

Speaking of which, this little witch is actually a literary girl — who could have guessed that beforehand...

After thinking it over, he finally said: "What Miss can do first is what you don't dare speak of now — that doesn't mean you won't in the future. Wait until the day you can reveal it, and the world will know that this literary name was yours all along, and then see a beauty like a celestial being... I rather look forward to seeing that scene."

Pei Chuyun laughed: "Where would any beauty like a celestial being come from? Young Master mustn't tease me."

Lu Xingzhou replied offhandedly: "In my heart, you are a celestial being."

That remark was already extremely suggestive, yet Pei Chuyun seemed a little distracted and didn't pay it much mind.

In her heart she couldn't help being slightly moved by Lu Xingzhou's proposal. Take a literary name first, start doing it now? And then wait until some day in the future when she could reveal it, and see the scene then.

She bit her lower lip and said softly, "If Young Master were to give me a literary name, what would you call me?"

Lu Xingzhou blinked: "Lady."

"Bah!" Pei Chuyun punched him angrily with an indignant snort: "Lecher."

Anuo stared wide-eyed.

Master, what are you doing, Master?

Jing Ge, watching secretly from afar, was also wide-eyed.

Is this what you meant by secretly following along and being sure to root out the demonic cultivators? By hitting on girls the whole way here?

"Clang!" The sound of the bell-strike came, and Lu Xingzhou raised his head — the solemn Hongfa Temple had already appeared before him.

Outside the temple, the plaza was thick with visitors, the incense smoke flourishing. Buddhist chants rose from all around, accompanied by the rhythmic tolling of the bell; though the crowd was great, the atmosphere was quiet and reverent.

The bell was a signal to see guests off. The great gates of the Buddhist temple stood wide open, and several senior monks clustered around a middle-aged man as he exited, all politely pressing their palms together in greeting: "Take care on your way, my lord."

The middle-aged man returned a Buddhist salutation: "You're too kind, masters — please, stay where you are, no need to see me off."

The murmuring chatter of the worshippers drifted into Lu Xingzhou's ears: "That's the Prefect…"

"Yes — who doesn't know the Prefect reveres the Buddha? In his daily life he, too, loves charity and does many good deeds."

"Master Yuanhui truly has real cultivation, only then could he earn such respect from the Prefect."

"Don't even say it — the incense at Hongfa Temple is incredibly efficacious. Last time I came to pray for a son, the very month I got back to my hometown my wife conceived. This time I've come specially to fulfill my vow."

The worshipper he was talking to suddenly fell silent.

"Conceived that very month — and you can actually verify it?"

"I'm afraid it's already been two months… Rather than coming here to fulfill your vow, wouldn't it be better to go fulfill one next door to your hometown?"

Pei Chuyun finally let out a "pfft" of laughter, and Lu Xingzhou was laughing too: "Shall we go in and pay our respects to the Buddha?"

Pei Chuyun's beautiful eyes swirled, and she asked deliberately: "You're praying for a son too?"

Lu Xingzhou said softly: "I'm praying for a match."

Pei Chuyun's pretty face flushed pink, a touch shy.

A'Nuò cupped her hands together, a faintly troubled look on her face.

Those two really can put on an act… Seriously, how do you learn that trick of going red whenever you want? Can you teach me?

As they spoke, the two of them brushed past the Prefect. Outside the plaza, someone who looked like an attendant came running over, panting: "My lord, Vice-Prefect Huo has already entered the city."

The Prefect was somewhat surprised: "Eh? Didn't the messenger report earlier that he'd arrive in about two days? How so fast?"

"He came incognito first," the attendant said quietly. "It's said that because someone here has been using the Huo family name, word was passed to Vice-Prefect Huo, and he came specifically to have a look."

The Prefect laughed despite himself: "To see someone stealing the family name, does he need to come incognito and look in secret? I'm afraid it's not a name-stealer — it's their family's seventh brother."

The attendant said: "Seems so. I heard that fellow sits in a wheelchair…"

His words suddenly cut off, and the attendant's gaze fixed unblinkingly on the temple gate.

Over there, a child was just pushing a wheelchair into the temple; in the wheelchair sat a strikingly handsome man, accompanied by a girl of a thousand charms.

The Prefect followed his gaze and turned to look, then suddenly laughed: "How interesting… Go and pass word to Vice-Prefect Huo — say the man is here."

(End of chapter)