"You're wearing that in this heat?" In the clothing store, Chu Ge's face twitched as he tried to stop Qiu Wuji. "Jeans get really hot."
"Who says you get a say? Would this Sect Master fear a bit of heat or cold?" Still grumbling on, Qiu Wuji went on: "I've seen other people in a white shirt and blue jeans. Simple, and very pretty. Anyway, it covers my legs and feet up properly — not filthy-minded like you."
Chu Ge, deeply convinced that his daughter had grown up and turned rebellious, had no strength to stop her and could only watch Qiu Wuji disappear into the fitting room.
A moment later, his eyes lit up.
Qiu Wuji in a plain white shirt and blue jeans — she considered it perfectly proper, legs and feet all covered up… but the slim jeans hugged her legs and showed off how straight and long they were, and the shirt carelessly tucked into the waistband only made her waist look slimmer and her curves more striking.
How is this somehow even sexier?
Whether she'd worked the styling out on her own or copied it from pictures online, she had even tied her hair into a high ponytail, and the sheer sexiness and vitality that hit you in the face was enough to make anyone stare.
She really is a clothes hanger. Pretty people look good in anything.
Nearby, other customers were already raising their phones to take pictures. Qiu Wuji sensed something and frowned slightly.
Whereupon every camera that had been pointed at her stopped working.
Chu Ge heard the startled yelps, quietly swallowed, and asked in a low voice, "What did you do to them?"
"Just a little electrical interference. I didn't break anything of theirs."
"…You know, I think you understand me pretty well. You knew to add that last part."
"Hmph." Qiu Wuji asked, "How does this look? Is it strange? Why would they want to take sneaky pictures?"
Chu Ge forced out two words: "I cave."
Qiu Wuji glared at him in exasperation, then thought back: she'd seen the uploader wearing this in some cooking video. It was perfectly normal, and nobody in the comments had suggested it was anyone's special fetish, so it should be fine.
So she couldn't be bothered to argue the point with him and paid for the clothes without complaint. "Speaking of which, why are you following me around while I buy clothes? Are you that bored? Shouldn't you be typing chapters or practicing?"
"Today's ten-thousand-word update is done, but…" Chu Ge thought it over. These days he really did have more on his plate — there was exercise, and sitting meditation to cultivate, and both ate up plenty of time. So he said, "Shall we head back, then?"
Qiu Wuji said, as though casually, "You head back."
"?" Chu Ge asked, puzzled. "Then what about you?"
"I'm not some child. Why do you have to tag along every time I go out?" Qiu Wuji said, face stiff. "Can't I walk around outside by myself? I've been in this world this long — has my range of activity ever gone past three streets?"
"You don't have an ID…"
"Walk down the street like a normal person and nobody checks your ID at all." Qiu Wuji leaned half a chi closer and looked into his eyes with a smile. "I know this world reasonably well by now, Chu Ge. You can't sweet-talk me anymore."
He'd meant to ask whether she regretted it a little, but it seemed there was no need to ask.
Their eyes met at close range. Chu Ge's eyes clearly reflected the Qiu Wuji before him; Qiu Wuji's eyes, deliberately veiled by some art, reflected no image of Chu Ge at all.
Chu Ge looked at her quietly for a good while, then suddenly smiled. "Go early, come back early. And remember, no violence — otherwise people really will start checking your ID."
With that, he turned and walked away.
My girl's all grown up, rebellious now, won't listen, boo hoo, she's not nearly as cute anymore…
Qiu Wuji pursed her lips, watching Chu Ge's back as he walked off with that easy air. You're putting on an act again…
Never mind. His act actually succeeded every time — after all, he understood her far too well. She really did hold that a man ought to be broad-minded and free-spirited; honestly, she even admired that quality in Yan Qianlie. There was a bit of the bearing of an unmatched Demon Lord about it, far more respectable than the Venomous Hand Demon Lord.
He knows everything. That's just playing dirty.
And yet I really do know far too little about him. Doesn't that leave me at a disadvantage…?
That baffling thought flashed through Qiu Wuji's mind; she quickly tossed it to the back of her head and ducked into the nearby subway station.
I've been wanting to ride this so-called subway for ages.
"Please show your health QR code." She was stopped before she even got inside.
Qiu Wuji: ?
And what in the world is a health QR code? None of the dramas I watched said you needed this to get in.
She looked at the security guard's uniform, which resembled a yamen officer's, and under the auntie's wary glare slowly backed out of the subway station.
Sect Master Qiu's first subway journey was declared dead on arrival.
No matter. The dramas also showed people flagging down taxis. Supposedly they're just a bit expensive.
Qiu Wuji glanced at the two-digit balance left in her WeChat wallet after buying new clothes, and her face turned a little bitter. I wonder if it's enough…
A taxi drove past.
Another taxi drove past.
Qiu Wuji waved her hand. Nobody paid her the slightest attention.
This isn't right. In the dramas they stop the moment you wave. Why won't these stop? The one that just went by clearly said it was vacant.
Sect Master Qiu stood at the edge of a no-stopping main road, waving awkwardly, with the nagging feeling that the passersby were looking at her like she was an idiot.
Then a taxi rolled slowly past, the window slid down, and Chu Ge's grinning face appeared from the back seat. "Walk up ahead a bit and turn right — that's where they can actually stop."
Qiu Wuji: …
What do I do about the urge to blow up this car?
The taxi crawled forward. Qiu Wuji, her car-blowing-up plan unexecuted, sprinted after it and finally got in.
Qiu Wuji's first independent outing was declared a failure.
The two sat side by side in the back seat, each bolt upright and prim, neither looking at the other nor saying a word.
Chu Ge felt the powder-keg aura radiating beside him, and knew that if he dared laugh at her twice, this car really would cease to exist…
In the silence, the driver finally couldn't hold it in. "So, where exactly are you two going?"
Qiu Wuji finally spoke. "The Miracle Nightclub."
Chu Ge narrowed his eyes slightly.
A nightclub… Where did Qiu Wuji hear about a place like that? Did she search that wall-walker's soul after all?
In the rearview mirror up front, the driver's eyes had gone a little startled too; he kept sizing the two of them up in the mirror.
A place like this…
Is it a shady one?
At last Chu Ge couldn't help asking in a low voice, "The wall-walker?"
"Mm." Qiu Wuji was no longer giving him the cold shoulder. She said quietly, "Just going to take a look. I won't do anything rash. Don't look at me like that."
"No wonder you changed into something easier to move in." Chu Ge pursed his lips. The problem is, that outfit's way too fresh and clean — doesn't really match a place like that.
Wait, no. I don't even know what a place like that looks like. If I took everything I saw in dramas as real — well, Qiu Wuji's little adventure just now says it all. A living, breathing cautionary tale.
"Since you don't want to do anything rash, then do as I say when we get there." Chu Ge turned serious this time and lowered his voice. "Still trying to run things without me. Don't kid yourself that you understand enough — if you go off and flail around on your own, chances are something's going to go wrong."
Qiu Wuji turned her head and looked out the window.
Outmaneuvered by him again. How humiliating.
What surprised Chu Ge was that the Miracle Nightclub turned out not to be far at all. With the roads clear at night, the taxi ride took only fifteen or sixteen minutes.
The two got out. The nightclub's sign was extremely low-key — the lights behind the words "Miracle Nightclub" were half burnt out — and the frontage looked old and worn.
Seeing Chu Ge tilt his head back and size the place up, Qiu Wuji finally couldn't hold back. "It was this short a trip. Don't tell me you've actually… never even heard of this place?"
Fuck, is there something wrong with being a typing shut-in?
Chu Ge said with a straight face, "If I came to places like this regularly, you probably wouldn't exist."
The driver, parked and waiting for his next fare: "???"
So what exactly is the relationship between you two?