"It is said that Shuilian fell in love with a human who helped her; the human was a cultivator. At that time, Shuilian was injured and was helped by humans." Hua Baiyu explained in a mysterious tone. The girl tried to remember how the actual plot of the legend was.
Hong Mei's face became excited when she heard that, "Wow, that's almost similar to my story, eh almost not too similar but almost similar, the only difference is in the love part." She added unimportant things while interrupting Hua Baiyu's conversation.
"Do you want me to continue the story?" Hua Baiyu stared at Hong Mei with a dead fish eye gaze.
Hong Mei grinned. "Sorry, I'll be quiet. Please continue..." While gesturing her hands for Hua Baiyu to continue the story.
"The human didn't know that Shuilian was a fish spirit, so when he found out, the human killed Shuilian and made her into a soup that was efficacious to increase his cultivation. The end." Hua Baiyu continued and immediately finished her story with a calm expression.
Hong Mei was stunned when she heard it.
"Is that all?" Hong Mei blinked her eyes and asked in surprise at the short story.
"So cruel? But didn't they fall in love?"
True, why was that man able to kill the woman he loved? hong Mei wondered again, like there was a big empty plot missing in the middle of the story.
"That's human... And I don't want to take the same steps as Shuilian." Hua Baiyu explained her reasons.
Hong Mei tried to digest the story carefully, and she tapped her chin slowly.
"Hmm... But I'm curious, if Shuilian died and became soup, how would people know her story?"
The blowing night wind once again dropped peach blossom petals which made their hot spring pool covered again with a lush pink flower petals. And the fragrance was so calming. Hua Baiyu then added her story, continuing the previous story.
"That's an old story circulating in Qing Qu. Which is said to be the beginning of the Qing Qu spirit realm separating from the human realm. Have you ever studied the war between races hundreds of years ago?" she asked Hong Mei
.
"Ah, I've read it in class. Is that one of the triggers?" Hong Mei replied curiously.
"Yes, this and that are some of the triggers. So, Hong Mei, learn from history so you don't experience the same thing." That time, Hua Baiyu lifted her white jade like snake tail that had been submerged in water for a long time and stretched it a little.
"Well, it makes sense, but Baiyu, Xaio Yang already knows that you are a spirit, and he is still interested in you!" Hong Mei asked again with a naughty and teasing smile, She liked to bother Hua Baiyu about her love story.
Hua Baiyu took a tired breath and added, "Hong Mei... don't be naive, maybe because he knows I am a spirit, and one day he will definitely take advantage of me then he will take my cultivation, besides I don't want to be too close to humans."
"You are too paranoid, Baiyu. This might be your true love; don't you want to consider it?" Hong Mei said after considering it.
"No."
Hua Baiyu said firmly.
"Hhhh... Okay then." This time, Hong Mei admitted defeat. She gave up and didn't want to argue about this with Hinata anymore.
"Oh, speaking of that, I saw Lan Bing Yue treating you very romantically. Are you two a couple? My eyesight didn't deceive me, right? He seemed very concerned about you." Hua Baiyu asked back, she also felt their attitude was strange.
"Huh? I don't know. Isn't it that he's like that? Since I was locked up by him, we've been like that; he feeds me and cleans me and also treats me, isn't that normal?" Sakura, whose mind was only filled with flowers and clouds, suddenly felt strange. Doesn't that mean he's being nice? Hong Mei asked herself.
"You're insensitive, and what's normal? You guys sound like a married couple who've been married for a long time, and besides didn't he give you that jade earlier? Doesn't that mean he thinks you're important?" Hua Baiyu explained at length.
Hong Mei ah Hong Mei ah...,
You advise people about their love, but you're insensitive about your own love. How did you do that? Hua Baiyu displease thought. She covered her face, unable to understand the thoughts of this fox girl.
"No, I think he treats everyone like that because he's kind. And this jade? Isn't this ordinary jade for delivering messages? Maybe because he thinks of me as his friend too?"
"You're so stupid. No, those are all signs of LOVE!" Hua Baiyu explained at length. Hoping Hong Mei understood what he was talking about.
"Pftt... Eii that's impossible!" Hong Mei laughed and denied it.
She didn't believe that Lan Bingyue, the man who insisted on selling her if Xiao Yang hadn't forbidden it, would fall in love with her. Isn't that a joke?
Hua Baiyu just stared at Hong Mei blankly. "Never mind, I give up."
The night seemed darker, and then a little bit of brightness appeared from the east. The moon was getting ready to descend from the sky, and the two girls had finished showering and fell asleep in their respective rooms.
The next morning
The two girls had arrived at the restaurant that they had promised to come back to 2 days later, and in the room, the informant was already sitting quietly, waiting for them.
"How is it?" Hong Mei asked the man without further ado.
This time, they were back in disguise, wearing the same appearance as two days ago.
The informant handed over two pieces of parchment that had been rolled up and put them in the table bag.
"Here's the list."
Hong Mei took the parchment and gave the man a bag of money. "Here's the rest of the money."
He took it from Hong Mei.
Then, Hong Mei and Hua Baiyu examined the two pieces of parchment carefully. When she saw Hua Baiyu nod after examining it, Hong Mei looked back at the man.
"Hmm, good job. Nice to work with you." Hong Mei said, satisfied.
"I'm glad if you are satisfied with the results of my work." The man replied with a slight smile etched on his face.
"Then we'll go first."
"Sure, Please. Becareful on the way."
After that, Hong Mei and Hua Baiyu returned home.
"Look at this, the list of names, residences and places of business are listed properly. Do we need to check one by one?"
"Yes, yesterday when you were sleeping, I went to check on their previous condition, but the place was empty; there was nothing there anymore, so it was a bit difficult to track their whereabouts again. Besides, with this list we can find them faster."
"Okay, tonight we will move."
When the night fell.
Two black silhouettes moved quickly in the middle of the night.
"Is this the person?" Hong Mei whispered to Hua Baiyu when they had successfully entered the room of someone whose name was on the list. They saw the person sleeping soundly from the dark corner of the room. Only one person was in the bed.
"No, but how about we interrogate him? It seems like this person is related."
"Hmm... It's a bit risky, but let's go. If this person is not related, we will erase his memory of tonight." Hong Mei said to Hua Baiyu then. The two girls nodded their heads in agreement with this decision.
They moved silently and cleared out the people on the list after interrogating them for information. If the person was guilty, Hua Baiyu and Hong Mei would not hesitate to kill them, and if the person was innocent, their memories of the interrogations would be erased.
Hua Baiyu and Hong Mei's goal in this case was only one, namely to avenge Hua Baiyu and her sister on the people who had captured, tortured, and sold Hua Cui, Hua Baiyu's sister.
They did not hesitate to kill the person if the person they captured was truly guilty. However, they did not kill them cruelly.
Seven days passed very quickly. In the city, there were rumors about the mysterious deaths of several powerful and famous people. Rei Shu, as the leader of the city of You Wu, also felt strange about the many mysterious deaths of his city residents lately. Then he ordered the police to investigate the cause and ordered them to immediately arrest the perpetrator.
Meanwhile, the perpetrator in question had now returned to their hometown, and they were sitting beside Hong Mei's uncle's pond in the ocean lush peach forest. Two months have passed in the human realm and Qing Qu it has only been two days.
Peaceful days had returned. Hua Baiyu visited Hong Mei with Hua Cui because the little girl wanted to personally say thank you to Hong Mei and give her a small gift.
They chatted while drinking wine that Hong Mei had dug under Hong Yilan's tree. She dared to do that because Hong Yilan was currently visiting the immortal realm.
Her uncle was an immortal who had special powers as Qing Qu's guardian, so he was given the freedom to descend from the immortal realm and be in the spirit realm as one of the 5 guardians of the spirit realm.
It was really fun to be like that, Hong Mei thought sometimes.
"Oh, and do you remember the lantern festival in the human realm? Wasn't it beautiful? I wish Qing Qu also held the same festival like that." Hinata hoped again, even though the trip to the human realm was very tiring for her. But there were also beautiful things that they could remember on that trip.
"Haha, yeah... I remember- wasn't Xiao Yang always staring at you at that time? His gaze was like he wanted to eat you," Hong Mei joked again as she remembered that.
Hua Baiyu rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Come on, let's not talk about that poor man anymore. Our love is impossible."
Hong Mei, who was previously giggling, chose to cover her mouth and hold back her laughter. "Ahaha, okay, okay..."
"Wow, I didn't expect Jie-jie to meet her lover in the human realm. Tell me, Hong Mei Jie, is that man handsome?" asked Hua Cui, Hua Baiyu's younger sister, curiously.
"Very handsome and also kind," Hong Mei added again, ignoring Hua Baiyu's sharp gaze.
Hua Baiyu sighed tiredly. "Yes, but unfortunately, he is a cultivator. I don't want to deal with them."
"Oh... too bad..." Hua Cui and Hong Mei exclaimed together before they laughed together. It was fun to disturb Hua Baiyu right now. The girl's face turned bright red from holding back her emotions.
However, a voice was heard from behind the tree. Which made Sakura annoyed and shocked.
Hong Yilan's long red mane was visible, and his stiff and angry face was directed at Hong Mei.
Hua Baiyu and Hua Cui were fascinated by the handsomeness of Hong Mei's uncle, who looked very elegant. Xiao Yang was handsome, but Hong Mei's uncle was more attractive than him.
"What is it that I am hearing now, Hong Mei? Where have you been these days after promising not to do anything mischief?"
However, when he saw that Hong Mei brought her friend to visit, he held back his anger a little and controlled his breathing so as not to immediately punish his niece on the spot.