For the romance that might arrive tonight, Chu Ge spent the whole afternoon writing with everything he had, fingers flying, determined to finish his scheduled chapters before dinner.
Qiu Wuji sat with a cup of hot tea, leisurely turned on the air conditioner, then leaned back in her chair and opened up her laptop.
There was something more and more bourgeois about that pose.
Once the computer booted up, Qiu Wuji unhurriedly searched "where should a guy take a girl out," and the answers were all much the same: the movies, an amusement park, a park.
She thought for a moment, then searched another: "What does it mean when a man wants to take you out?"
The answers overlapped again: "He likes you," "He wants to take things further," "He wants to become lovers."
That "take things further," applied to Chu Ge, always sounded like bad intentions—probably nothing as pure as these answers made out—but overall it didn't go beyond what Qiu Wuji had already figured, so she lazily closed the page.
Experience what a modern girl ought to experience... he makes it sound so pretty.
It's just Chu Ge wishing to court Qiu Wuji, is all.
Going out to have fun is fine—this Sect Master would like to see what's fun, too... As for taking things further, in your dreams. I'll smack your head till it's mush!
This Sect Master understands these modern tricks better and better all the time!
Qiu Wuji stormed into "Fratricide," ready to set up roadblocks for the drivers and slaughter all comers.
Turned out nobody in the group was driving at that moment.
Group chat was always a mess; at any given time different people might be talking about three or more different subjects. Qiu Wuji watched for a good while before she could sort out who was talking about copper mines in Afghanistan, who about a League of Legends match, and who about which school had scored points again.
Then she searched keywords for ages more before she learned what Afghanistan was, what League of Legends was, and what "scoring points" meant.
Modern tricks. This Sect Master really still doesn't get them...
These group members know so much—astronomy and geography, politics and economics, entertainment and games. They know everything.
Anything but Chu Ge's book.
It seemed that driving wasn't the norm after all—or it was just a tiny, tiny part of everyone's daily entertainment. And here I am, an old lady of ten thousand years, getting worked up over nothing.
She couldn't help typing: "Don't you ever talk about Chu Ge's book?"
"This is a League group." The answer came as if it were obvious.
Qiu Wuji: "I thought I saw you talking about it before."
"Oh, sure—except when we're cursing out the cliffhanger hound and the short-and-stubby man. Hey, Sect Master Qiu, let me tell you, a guy who writes as short as Big Chu can't possibly make you happy. Why not consider me instead?"
Lulu was muted for one hour by Administrator Qiu Wuji.
Qiu Wuji muted him on reflex, and only after it was done did she realize. Why did I mute him? Am I really sticking up for Chu Ge?!
Sure enough, someone spoke up: "Oho, she's sticking up for Big Chu. So does that mean Big Chu isn't actually short?"
Qiu Wuji lifted the mute.
Lulu: "Huh? I'm unmuted. Did you come around? So you do want me after all?"
Lulu was muted for one hour by Administrator Qiu Wuji.
Everyone cracked up. The reasons behind the mute and the unmute seemed hilarious. Could this female fan actually like Big Chu?
No wonder Big Chu told everyone to start driving—he had ulterior motives all along.
Then again, back when they didn't know the admin was a woman, everyone was naturally uninhibited. Now that they actually knew she was a girl, people had some class, and no one was likely to drive wild right in front of her. Chu Ge's plan was doomed to die young.
Instead, one of the old admins pulled Qiu Wuji into the Dianniang operations group: "Sect Master Qiu's Star Value has already unlocked three stars, so she can get a cartoon avatar made. I was just talking to character meow about it—how about Sect Master Qiu handles it herself?"
Everyone was treating this as a Qiu Wuji cosplay, cheerfully calling her Sect Master every other line. Qiu Wuji felt a little strange about it, and only said, "Thanks."
"Hey, why are you thanking me? I'm dumping the work on you." The old admin laughed. "Sect Master Qiu, let me tell you, character meow is fine at everything except efficiency. Go one day without cursing them out and they'll drag it half a year. You have to watch them close..."
"Relax. This Sect Master is best at keeping disciples in line."
Still cosplaying... The old admin seemed to foresee Qiu Wuji going berserk in three months when she discovered not even a rough draft had been produced, and quietly lurked without another word.
Unhurriedly, Qiu Wuji picked up her phone, snapped a photo of herself, and was about to send it to character meow. Her finger hovered over the mouse and nearly clicked—then she shook her head, gave it up, went out, picked up brush and ink, and painted a portrait of herself.
The veteran sect master still had some sense about her; if her photo got passed around, that would be no good. A painting didn't matter—the spirit of it was enough.
It has to be beautiful, dashing, and imposing!
Full of confidence, Qiu Wuji painted one brimming with charm, photographed it with her phone, and sent it to character meow: "Make the chibi avatar from this."
The other side was very courteous: "Received. We'll find the very best artist for it."
Qiu Wuji figured it was in the bag, left QQ with an easy mind, and opened the downloaded PDF of the Scripture of Great Clarity to read.
This world's Daoist scriptures really are interesting...
Though even I have to admit what I've been doing lately is absurdly far from cultivating the Dao... tonight there's a movie and an amusement park... Mm, experiencing the ways of the world—nothing to it.
"Where is this? Isn't this supposed to be the amusement park? Uh..."
On the pedestrian street, Qiu Wuji looked at the crowds pressing in on both sides and let the question slip out.
How is this nothing like the amusement park I imagined?!
Chu Ge's cheek twitched twice. "So you're an expert on how dates are supposed to go?"
"Date? Who's on a date with you?" said Qiu Wuji. "Weren't you going to show me the things girls enjoy?"
"There's a park just around this street... but we haven't eaten yet. Candlelit dinner first."
Qiu Wuji's eyes went blank for a second. The search results didn't say anything about this. What is a candlelit dinner?
"Dinner is dinner. If there are lights, why light candles? Nobody's died in our house."
"...Never mind, it's just a saying." Chu Ge looked up at the sunset clouds and smiled. "We'll eat in a bit. There are lots of snacks here, and you've never had any of them—a real shame. Here, try a cone first?"
On the bustling shopping street, the ten-thousand-year-old girl in a white shirt and blue jeans, brand-new white sneakers on her feet and a high ponytail swinging behind her, licked her ice cream cone and trailed along beside the man, her eyes crinkling happily as she ate.
It was delicious—cold, sweet, soft, like the immortals' jade-snow nectar. Yet it was only a mortal thing, and she was eating immortal delight right out of it.
That Chu Ge, hiding it from me for a whole month without a word... How do you make this at home?
Chu Ge told her, a little apologetically: "The last few times I only took you to the mall and supermarket nearby, never anywhere further. Mostly it's my line of work—I'm too much of a homebody..."
"How do you make this at home?"
"I think there's a machine for making it? Never paid much attention. Seems like a hassle, though—no need."
"Why no need?"
"Because if you want to make every tasty thing at home, our place probably can't fit that many machines..."
Seeing that Qiu Wuji had finished her cone, Chu Ge bought two cotton candies and gave her one.
The two of them held their cotton candy and took a bite in perfect sync, then in perfect sync glanced at each other sidelong—each catching the strands of spun sugar at the other's lips. They looked like a pair of smudged-up cats.
"Big Brother, Big Brother." A little girl with roses in her arms tugged at the hem of Chu Ge's shirt. "Your girlfriend's so pretty—won't you buy a flower?"
Chu Ge blinked. "People sell flowers here normally?"
The girl was thrown off by the question. "Big Brother, it's Qixi today."
Qiu Wuji: "..."
Chu Ge broke into a cold sweat. What a coincidence. Twenty-eight years single by sheer skill, never once kept track of the lunar calendar, didn't hang out in the group today, and nobody mentioned it either... No wonder the pedestrian street was busier than he'd expected.
"Uh... I'll take one... no, nine..."
Bang! Fireworks burst all at once in the night sky.
It had gone dark.
Chu Ge raised his head. The brilliant fireworks lit up the darkness, and it seemed he could make out the far-off Silver River, faintly appearing and vanishing in the night sky.
He turned his head. Qiu Wuji was looking up too, her peerless face brighter even than the fireworks.
On the crowded pedestrian street, the surging tide of people seemed to be a dimension away; only her profile was reflected in his heart.
When the golden wind and jade dew meet but once, they surpass countless meetings in the mortal world.