Qiu Wuji opened her mouth, then closed it again.
She realized she really didn't know Chu Ge all that well.
For starters, she didn't even know his exact age, or who was in his family, or what he'd done before he started writing, or what his hobbies were.
She knew none of it.
But why should I want to know?
Am I really supposed to be of one mind with you? Have you got the wrong idea about something...?
Qiu Wuji felt a small, stifled swell of annoyance, but in the end she kept it in. She only said, "I'm going back to my room."
Chu Ge watched her back as she went, and rubbed his chin.
What's that attitude supposed to mean?
"Uh—wait." Chu Ge chased after her. "It's already evening. How about we go out for dinner first?"
Qiu Wuji stopped and turned her head with a hint of mockery. "I assumed you were going to tell me to go cook first."
Chu Ge shook his head. "See, this is exactly the proof that you don't know me."
He turned and headed for the door. "I won't deny that having you cook caters to certain inclinations of mine, and I like it a lot... a whole lot. But you're not my maid. You just got back from a trip, and the first thing I do is put you in front of a stove—what would that make me?"
Qiu Wuji said, "Hold on a moment. Why are you walking so fast? You're only doing it to look all imposing, aren't you?"
Chu Ge: "?"
Seems she knows me pretty well after all...
Qiu Wuji slammed the door with a bang, rustled around for a good while, and finally came out in that OL outfit, her face set. "Let's go."
Chu Ge's expression turned strange. "Those clothes haven't been washed."
Qiu Wuji said carelessly, "I used a cleansing spell."
"That's disgusting."
"Since when is that your business?" Qiu Wuji snorted. "It's the only set I have—what am I supposed to do? Was the money I gave you before enough? I want to buy a few more sets."
Chu Ge happily went along. "Fine, we'll go shopping after we eat. Buy several of some other types..."
Qiu Wuji eyed him sidelong. "What types? Cat ears? Maid?"
Chu Ge was dumbstruck. "How did you know—oh. How do you even know about that stuff?"
"This Sect Master knows now. Short skirts, black stockings—they're plainly some people's special fetish, and disgusting beyond words." Qiu Wuji sneered. "And you lied to me that it was all perfectly normal!"
Chu Ge rolled his eyes around and backed away step by step, until he fetched up against the front door.
He was the living picture of a "scared.jpg" reaction image. "Uh... the black stockings were your own idea."
Qiu Wuji ground her teeth for a long moment. "Move it. Why are you planted against the door clowning around?"
Chu Ge was shoved aside with one hand, and Qiu Wuji strode out.
Chu Ge followed behind her with a sigh. "I never should have let you go surfing the internet. You picked that up way too fast. It's really weird—how did you manage to zero in on other people's kinks so precisely?"
Qiu Wuji's face reddened almost imperceptibly.
Precisely? Hardly. Watch videos on Bilibili and the comment sections are full of people volunteering their kinks—watch enough and of course you pick it up.
It really had opened a door onto a new world. Who could have imagined such bizarre things existed? Cat ears, tails—fine, she'd seen people who fancied female monsters before. But how could anyone like them before they'd even taken human form? "It hasn't even transformed yet and I've already started using it"—what kind of people are these?
The elevator arrived.
The two of them ducked in without a word, and only then did Qiu Wuji mutter, "You used my clothes to do unspeakable things, so I can't wear this set anymore either."
How can there be perverts in this world who are into intimate clothing? What's even the practical point?
"?" Chu Ge nearly jumped out of his skin inside the elevator. "When have I ever used your clothes to do unspeakable things?"
Qiu Wuji turned her face away, utterly unconvinced.
Those stockings were twisted up into knots back then, and you're telling me you didn't?
"I fucking didn't!"
"Mm-hm, sure you didn't." Qiu Wuji couldn't be bothered to argue and changed the subject. "Any trouble these past couple of days? The one across the hall?"
"I... forget it." Chu Ge couldn't be bothered to argue a point that couldn't be explained anyway. Though her attitude is odd, isn't it? If I really had, wouldn't you have beaten me up?
Huh...?
"I'm asking you a question!"
"Oh. No, none. She said she's moving out."
Qiu Wuji nodded slightly. "At least she knows better."
"What—if she hadn't given you that answer, you already had a plan for dealing with her?"
"Threats and driving her out if that's what it takes; wiping her memory if that's what it takes. She's never actually crossed us, true. But you're the one who says I'm a sect master of the age, that I can contend for supremacy—so why should I care about a scrap of womanly mercy like that?" Qiu Wuji said mildly. "I've gone along with you on a great many things because I judged you understood this world better than I do, and that your judgment was sounder than mine—not because I must obey you."
Chu Ge sighed. "Feels like you've gotten a lot more hardline since you came back..."
More precisely, ever since she read that supremacy plotline, the resistance inside her had grown stronger and she wanted to assert her own self-determination more... Before, even her beatings had carried a hint of flirtation. The change was too obvious.
Chu Ge understood it perfectly well, but he didn't argue with her. A momentary bad mood; it would pass. Just treat it like that time of the month.
He smiled. "How about hotpot tonight?"
Qiu Wuji's expression shifted slightly. "In this heat...?"
"With a divine artifact like air conditioning, any weather can be springtime." Chu Ge pulled her toward the hotpot restaurant. "Other dishes we can cook at home, but hotpot is the sort of thing ordinary households rarely bother with. Perfect chance to try it."
Qiu Wuji looked at his hand holding hers, her eyes dipping slightly. She said nothing.
When had he first taken her hand like this? What had the situation been?
She couldn't remember; she'd been thinking about something else back then and hadn't paid attention.
But this time I noticed—so why didn't I kick him flying?
It seems he had no particular intent. Wouldn't deliberately pulling free be overreacting—too hung up on appearances?
Before her thoughts could work their way to any conclusion, the two of them had already ducked into the hotpot restaurant.
Looking at the dazzling array of dishes on the menu, Qiu Wuji was certain of one thing: this really wasn't something people made at home.
There's so much to eat...
Night deepened.
Yueying walked slowly into the Miracle Nightclub, put on a ghost-face mask, then wound her way through turn after turn into a hidden elevator.
The elevator descended deep underground—to the underground fight ring.
This was how she made her living.
Underground fighting didn't actually earn much. The house skimmed off the money; she only got a share of her winning purses, and her income was hardly high. If she got hurt, the medical costs would eat more than she brought in.
But it was all she could do.
Because she didn't know how to do anything else.
"Ding." The elevator opened, and the roar of the outside world came rushing at her.
Heavy metal thundering, and in the stands all around, twisted, crazed faces screaming fanatically: "Yueying! Yueying! Tear them apart!"
Her win rate was too high, so she had plenty of supporters.
Some people wanted her to lose a match and offered her more money for it.
But...
It would hurt.
Yueying lifted her head slightly and looked toward the raised platform to one side, where a glass wall stood. The figure behind the glass was impossible to make out.
She knew what he looked like.
A slender, refined-looking man, cold light hidden behind his icy spectacles.