Chapter 281


    <h4>My Chan’er</h4>


    Li Yundong left the oldma’s quarters after apologizing profusely for all the trouble that he had caused . At one point, he had even offered to go into the mountain to track down the two serpents . The oldma denied the offer, saying that Li Yundong had more important things to focus on . When he asked thema what those "important things" entailed, a cryptic smile was all he got in return .


    Somehow, he had a feeling that thema wasn’t referring to his search for Su Chan .


    Li Yundong arrived at the edge of the forest after a long walk . Surprisingly, the stretch ofnd in front of the pagoda was rtively undamaged even though it had been engulfed in atha’s mes earlier . There were no signs of the giant arhat . Heck, there weren’t even signs that a battle had recently taken ce .


    Weird . But he chalked it up to some super Buddhist magic .


    A minute or two after he entered the forest, Li Yundong heard something: whispersing from a thick undergrowth nearby .


    Li Yundong frowned and crept towards the hedge .


    Two loud shrieks sounded when he yanked the leaves apart . The frightened faces of two women stared back at him .


    "Hey, it’s you..." Li Yundong whispered .


    Lan was there, but she wasn’t the source of his surprise . The other woman was Liu Xia, the female tour guide whose life he had saved from the avnche during his pilgrimage to Tibet .


    Xiaxia . Liu Xia . Right .


    "Wait a minute... Li Yundong narrowed his eyes at the two women . "You two . . . "


    Guess he now knew who his mysterious "aplices" were .


    Liu Xia and Lan shared a nce with each other .


    "You two were following me . "


    His statement seemed to have jolted Liu Xia and Lan out of their stupor as they suddenly screamed and took off into the woods .


    Li Yundong stared after the two women .


    Well . Whatever .


    Go back where you came from...


    With a sigh, Li Yundong took off into the night sky and flew in the direction of Xiyuan temple . He had a riddle to solve and a girlfriend to find .


    ***


    Shaobing .


    Thest time she had one of these, she nearly broke a tooth . Okay . That was an exaggeration . Master’s cold shaobings weren’t that bad . They were just... well, cold . And maybe a bit mediocre in the taste department . They were average . They weren’t bad at all .


    Really .


    Su Chan had teased Master mercilessly the other day when Master snatched the bag of shaobing out of Su Chan’s hands after she hadpared them to Yundong’s cooking . Then again, Master stopped calling Su Chan an ingrate after she herself had taken a bite of the shaobing . After that, the bag mysteriously disappeared, and Su Chan went back to teasing Master mercilessly .


    That was then .


    Now what she wouldn’t give for a chance to taste Master’s shaobing again, preferably fresh from the oven .


    "Hey, youngdy . Are you going to keep staring, or are you going to order something?"


    Su Chan nced up and saw the stall owner—an old man—staring at her strangely . It was almost midnight now; it surprised her that the old man was still out on the streets, bustling about . It was like he had consumed an elixir of youth or something .


    "You’ve been staring at my stall for the past thirty minutes, you know?" The old man’s face crinkled when he smiled . "Would you like to order something?"


    Yeah . I would love to order something . Just that you would call me a thief afterwards and probably try to send me to those men with sticks . Why? Because the few miserable coins in my wallet says so .


    Su Chan returned the old man’s smile with a charming smile of her own .


    Maybe she should just go . She shouldn’t even havee out for supper . What was she even thinking?


    "Look at these!"


    The old man pulled out a tray of freshly baked shaobing . As if her stomach wasn’t torturing her enough already .


    "Crispy and tasty!"


    "Oh . " Su Chan mumbled .


    Okay . Time to go—


    "Give her your best shaobing, sir," a voice sounded beside her . "Put it on my tab . "


    Su Chan whipped her head around and saw a handsome man grinning at her .


    Anger rose inside Su Chan . "You again..." she growled . "Why are you here?!"


    This annoying man had been pestering her for days!


    The man shrugged . "Treating you to shaobing, apparently . "


    "No thanks!" Su Chan stormed off .


    "Whoa, whoa! Youngdy!" the stall owner shouted . "Do you still want your shaobing or not?!"


    Su Chan ignored the stall owner and kept walking .


    "Hey, wait up!" the young man yelled behind her .


    Su Chan ignored the annoying man even though he had just offered to treat her to a bunch of freshly-baked shaobings (which practically had her name written all over them), and that was saying something .


    "Go away!" Su Chan yelled over her shoulder . "And leave me alone!"


    Apparently the young man was too dense to take a hint .


    "Oh,e on... Wait up!"


    The man suddenly grabbed her arm from behind .


    Su Chan turned around and shot the man a re . "Don’t . Touch me . "


    Su Chan fought down the urge to break the man’s hand and then punch the smug grin off his face . But no . She shouldn’t . She shouldn’t get into trouble . Not when she was already in deep trouble .


    "Tsk . Tsk . So feisty . " The man chuckled and removed his hand from her forearm .


    Su Chan turned around and walked away again . Should she fly? Should she use a spell? What if there were Cultivators around?


    Argh! This is such a paaaiiiinnn!


    "Hey... I said wait!"


    The man was suddenly in front of her again, blocking her path .


    "Out of my way!" Su Chan shoved the man aside and stormed past him . "I already told you that I have a boyfriend!"


    Persistence was probably the man’sst name, because he was still following her .


    "We should be friends," he said . "There’s no harm in being friends, right?"


    Su Chan ignored the man and kept walking .


    The man matched her pace and kept yapping, blissfully ignorant of the Su Chan’s murderous thoughts .


    "How about this," said the man when they reached the corner of a street . "Let’s exchange QQ addresses . "


    She didn’t even know what the heck QQ addresses were . All she had was a corn-door address . Not that she would tell him that .


    "Not even a QQ address?" the man said exasperatedly . "Well . That’s a bummer . "


    God, this annoying pest!


    "Ooh! I know . What about MSN? Surely you’ve got an MSN address, right?"


    Su Chan suddenly stopped walking and elbowed the man’s ribs . The man stumbled slightly but caught up to her again .


    Gah!! Should’ve elbowed him harder!


    "Come on, pretty girl," the man pleaded . "Won’t you at least tell me your name?"


    That does it!


    Su Chan spun around and gave the man a hard shove . The guy stumbled backwards until his back crashed into one of those metal contraptions with rubber wheels . Cars! Damn it! Cars! There! She wasn’tpletely clueless when ites to mortal-speak, thank you very much .


    "Leave me alone!" Su Chan screamed, then broke off in a sprint .


    "Hey! Don’t go!"


    What an annoying pest .


    An annoying pest, who was still chasing after her .


    Su Chan slipped into a small alley .


    Shadow Mist!


    With that, she flew into the night sky, away from the alley .


    ***


    Su Chan floated around until she spotted a familiar sight: the semi-circr granite bridge near Mount Qili’s entrance . She flew down andnded on the end of the bridge, then switched back to her normal form .


    I’m hungry...


    For a moment, Su Chan entertained the thought of catching fish in the river under the bridge and then cooking the fish back at the corn-door . But then she remembered thest time she tried to "cook" fish .


    Nuh-uh .


    She wouldn’t have a ce to stay if she blew up the corn-door .


    She sighed and removed her shoes . Then, she leaped off the bridge andnded on the edge of the river . She sat down and dipped her feet into the water . The water felt cool, refreshing . A smallfort on a tough day .


    As Su Chan paddled her feet in the water, her lips began to move . The soft tune of a song filled the dark space under the bridge . Master had taught her that song, saying that she could hum that song whenever she felt lonely, or whenever she missed someone dearly .


    Right now, she was missing not one, but two people .


    Su Chan paused in her humming and sniffed .


    It’s going to be okay . I’ll figure something out... I’ll find a way to help Master . Or at least I’ll die trying...


    Su Chan paddled her feet through the water and resumed humming .


    "You should sing more often," said a voice . "You sing really well . "


    The voice came from above the bridge .


    No... It... It can’t be...


    Su Chan withdrew her feet from the water and stood up . She turned around and looked up at the bridge .


    "B- Beloved..." Su Chan’s voice trembled . "Is that really you?"


    A loud thud sounded when the man leaped down from the top of the bridge .


    The man smiled . "Yes, it’s me . Don’t you recognize me anymore?"


    She might as well be incapable of recognizing him since her vision had long since been blurred by her tears .


    "Y- Yundong..."


    Yundong smiled and opened his arms . "Come here, Chan’er..."


    Su Chan had never moved so fast in her life . Barely a secondter, she found herself crashing into that familiar warmth .


    And she didn’t say a word .


    There would be time for wordster .


    Right now, she needed this .


    This was enough .


    "It’s okay, my Chan’er... It’s okay..." Yundong’s soothing voice matched the rhythm of his hands as he stroked her hair . "Everything’s going to be alright, Chan’er . I promise . Everything’s going to be alright . "