Wei Qingming held me close, bid Shopkeeper Tong a "rest well," and headed straight for the second floor. As soon as we were out of the shopkeeper’s sight, I began to struggle violently. I scratched, pawed, gouged, and kicked with everything I had, but given Wei Qingming’s level of cultivation, I couldn't leave so much as a scratch on her. Instead, she simply supported my chest and belly with one palm while the other held my head steady, tucking me into the crook of her arm as comfortably as possible. She carried me back to the room without a single bump. "Good cat, good cat," she coaxed incessantly.
The moment the wind from her sleeve swept the door shut, I wriggled out of her embrace. She only let me go because she chose to loosen her grip; otherwise, there would have been no escape.
I went wild, leaping and bounding across the room, pacing back and forth, pawing at the windows and kicking the door. I knocked over a vase and overturned a washbasin. Wei Qingming wasn't in a hurry; she just stood there with her hands behind her back, a faint smile on her face. Wherever I ran, she followed. What was truly infuriating was that she didn't even use any special footwork or techniques—she simply relied on her height and long legs.
After following me for a while, she perhaps realized we were acting like two children. She stopped paying me any mind and sat down at the table, pouring herself a cup of tea from the pot. She didn't drink it, though. She just let it sit there, looking out the window at who-knows-what, her slender index finger tapping rhythmically on the tabletop. Finally, she withdrew her hand, reached into her robes, and pulled something out—
Damn it, no surprise at all. It was a book.
From then on, no matter how much havoc I wreaked, she didn't spare me a glance. She flipped familiarly to a certain page and actually began to read aloud. She was studying the Demon Tongue, and it was the most basic introductory level stuff: "The white horse ascends to heaven, the black dragon descends to earth." I listened, dumbfounded, nearly bursting into laughter. So this was how humans compiled their Demon Tongue tutorials...
But her voice was deep and pleasant. Having a foundation in the Spirit Tongue, her pronunciation was remarkably clear and precise. As she read further, she reached human poems translated into the Demon Tongue, things like, "The wings of the mayfly, robes so bright and fine..."
"The swallows take flight, uneven are their wings. This lady goes to her future home; far I accompany her into the wilds. I gaze until she is out of sight, and my tears fall like..."
When she reached this line, she seemed to think of something. Her palm gently brushed over the page. Softly, with a faint rustle. The spring night was silent.
My ears twitched. I leaped onto the small table and let out a loud, demanding meow. Only then did Wei Qingming snap back to reality, offering a gentle smile. "Oh, I forgot about you." I continued to meow, and she laughed, scratching the top of my head with her fingertips. "What is it?" She traced her fingers from the crown of my head down to my chin before realization dawned on her. "Ah, you must be hungry?"
I licked my lips, let out a yawn, and gave a satisfied meow.
Wei Qingming began to pull things from her robes. It was like a rain of food. My eyes widened in amazement as she produced one snack after another. As she pulled them out, she murmured, "Ever since I met a certain cat, whenever I see these treats and trinkets, I find myself thinking of her. Without realizing it, I've bought quite a lot."
I remembered the lotus-leaf sticky rice chicken she had produced so casually that night in the tomb. So she...
My heart swelled with a strange, overflowing emotion that felt almost like a dull ache.
But the food smelled delicious. I couldn't help but nudge one of the fish with my nose. Wei Qingming quickly reached out to lift my chin, preventing me from eating. "Easy now, I bought this fish several days ago. It’s not fresh." As she spoke, she pulled the fish away along with its lotus-leaf wrapping, tied it into a messy knot, and tossed it aside. I tried to grab at some salted chicken or smoked rabbit, but she pushed me away again. "You can't eat these oily, salty things either. It's fine for her to eat them, but you'll get sick."
I hissed at her in frustration. She just smiled and produced an exquisite little box. When she opened it, it was filled with steamed river shrimp, still warm and fragrant. She pinched one between her fingers, and I gulped it down in one bite, letting out a contented cry.
She fed me one by one. Occasionally, I would graze her fingers with my fangs or brush my tail against her elbow. Her expression and movements were gentler than I had ever seen—a tenderness she never showed in public, a warmth completely devoid of guard. I recalled she had looked somewhat like this when facing those little wood spirits. She was as kind and trusting toward non-humans as she was suspicious and ruthless toward humans. Just how many cruel things had she endured?
I ate most of the box of shrimp until I was full. I lay lazily on the table, my eyes half-closed. After she used a Water Cleansing Incantation to tidy up, she rested her chin on one hand and groomed my fur with the other. Her gaze drifted out the window again, distant and unreadable. After a while, she probably thought I was asleep, so she took out another scroll. It looked like a case file; it seemed she intended to deduce the details of the investigation until dawn. I suddenly sprang up, bit her collar, and hung off her back while kicking wildly. Wei Qingming said helplessly, "What now? Haven't you had enough to eat?"
I tugged at her, using all my strength to pull her toward the bed. Wei Qingming finally understood, caught between laughter and tears. "You want me to go to bed with you?"
Hey, watch your phrasing! It's a good thing I'm not in human form right now, or I'd definitely give her a piece of my mind!
She lay down quite perfunctorily, still fully clothed, holding me in her arms. One hand was still propped against the pillow to support her head; she was clearly just humoring me and had no intention of sleeping herself. I purred loudly and suddenly lunged at her neck, forcing her to lie flat. She sighed, "Fine, fine. I'll sleep too."
Only then did I settle down contentedly by her side, resting my head in her open palm and nuzzling against it. Wei Qingming lay on her side, stroking me absentmindedly. "Sleep... sleep... when you wake up, I'll send you home..."
Her eyelashes grew heavy, finally sealing shut, and her breathing became steady and long. I pretended to sleep for a long time before I finally dared to open my eyes and look at her closely.
Even in sleep, her arm was positioned with careful precision, loosely supporting herself on the mattress so she wouldn't crush or hurt me. Her pale skin caught the moonlight, shimmering slightly like an ice sculpture made of crystalline snow. This woman spent her days calculating a thousand schemes, never forgetting to wear various faint smiles—appearing so easygoing and harmless, the very essence of a master spy. Why was it that once she fell asleep, the sense of cold austerity and detachment became even stronger?
I brushed her with my furry whiskers. Her brow furrowed slightly. I gently licked her chin and cheek, but she remained unresponsive. It seemed she was truly in a deep sleep. Remembering how happy Shopkeeper Tong was to hear she had slept for even fifteen minutes, I realized perhaps it wasn't that she was too diligent to sleep, but that she had too much on her mind to find rest. I felt a great sense of relief and closed my eyes, drifting into dreamland.
However, I had remembered before falling asleep that I needed to wake up and escape before she did. Otherwise, it would be disastrous if she knocked on my door and found it empty. Around dawn, when Wei Qingming’s arm shifted, I snapped awake. While she was still half-dreaming, I nudged the door open and bolted out.
I dashed back to my own room like a bolt of lightning, transformed back into my original form, and hurriedly moved the washbasin and the tea cups on the table to make the room look lived-in. Then I mussed up the quilts, jumped into bed, and pretended to be asleep.
Fortunately, Wei Qingming was a refined gentleman after all; she wouldn't just knock on a lady's door without reason. Knowing I liked to sleep in, no one came for a long while. It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that a maid from the inn tapped lightly on the door. "Is the young lady awake?"
I let out a lazy, groggy groan before saying, "I'm up. Come in."
The maid was brisk and physically fit—one look told me she was also an agent. She served me with a pleasant smile, helping me wash my face, comb my hair, and serving tea and porridge. I finished my breakfast hastily and finally couldn't help but ask, "Where is my cousin?"
"Young Master Wei is in the courtyard downstairs."
I hurried out of the room and peered down over the wooden railing. Wei Qingming had changed into a celadon-colored gauze robe with interlocking diamond patterns on the borders. She was watching a seven or eight-year-old boy practice with a staff. "Again," she said calmly, holding two fingers together loosely in front of her chest. "If you hit me, you pass."
The boy gave a loud shout and lunged with the staff. Wei Qingming stepped aside and parried—not with her hand, but by using the tip of her sleeve to gently push the staff away. The boy swung the staff in a flurry of attacks, a dizzying blur, while Wei Qingming drifted like a fluttering sleeve, dodging his steps. She used only one hand to spar with him, her two fingers indicating the direction of his attacks. He was just a child, small and weak; even with the staff, he couldn't touch her. The boy didn't lose heart, launching twenty or thirty strikes in a row. Finally, Wei Qingming extended her fingers toward the tip of the staff and gave it a slight tap, signaling that he had passed.
The boy dropped the staff and hugged her, overjoyed. "Brother Wei, I think I've realized something!"
Wei Qingming smiled faintly. This was her usual self—even when facing a child, she maintained a sense of distant affability. But she seemed well-acquainted with this boy, and there was a hint of praise in her smile. "If you practice for ten more days, will you have it mastered?"
The tiger-headed boy hooked the short staff with his toe and caught it in his hand. "I will! When that time comes, will Brother Wei test me again?"
"Huairen, come back." Shopkeeper Tong emerged from under the eaves and beckoned the boy. The two were clearly father and son.
The boy dragged his staff and followed him in a rush. Shopkeeper Tong tossed a small bamboo tube to Wei Qingming and turned back into the building. As Wei Qingming unrolled the letter inside the tube at a leisurely pace, I jumped down the stairs and charged at her with a shout, throwing a punch.
Without even looking up, Wei Qingming flicked the empty bamboo tube. It flew precisely toward me, looking as if it would smack me right in the face. I was forced to change my move mid-air, reaching out to catch it. With a soft *pop*, the bamboo tube transformed into a vibrant peony.
"Bah!" I shouted. "How do you have the nerve to tease me with such amateur illusions?"
Wei Qingming chuckled. She took the flower from my hand and tucked it into my hair at just the right spot, reciting in a low voice: "With such city-toppling beauty, Heaven ordained this late bloom to be pinned in your hair."
I glared at her. "You know how to write poetry?"
For some reason, Wei Qingming laughed out loud, then shook her head. "I have business back in the city. If Miss Su still wishes to look around, wait for Honglu to lead you. Do not wander off on your own."
"I'm going with you!" I hurriedly grabbed her sleeve.
"Not in a hurry to return to the manor?"
"Not in a hurry."
"It's a murder case. Is Miss Su not afraid?"
"I'm not afraid."
Wei Qingming smiled, then suddenly changed the subject. "Did Miss Su happen to see a cat?"
"What! A cat?" I feigned great surprise.
"Round face, low ears," she said softly. "Pure white, like a freshly bloomed gardenia."
***
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
妖族语 | Demon Tongue | The language of the Demon race.
灵族语 | Spirit Tongue | The language of the Spirit race.
净水诀 | Water Cleansing Incantation | A minor spell used for cleaning.
雨过天青 | Sky-after-rain blue | A specific shade of pale blue/green celadon.
方胜 | Lozenge pattern | A traditional interlocking diamond motif.
簪花 | Zanhua | The act of pinning flowers in the hair.
怀仞 | Huairen | The name of Shopkeeper Tong's son.
有此倾城好颜色，天教晚发正簪花 | With such city-toppling beauty, Heaven ordained this late bloom to be pinned in your hair | A quote from a poem by Liu Yuxi.
