Chapter 33

Chapter 33

She remembered.

Yesterday at the alien ruins, she had promised Lord Weasel to give him an extra serving of chicken breast.

But… she hadn’t paid it any mind and had completely forgotten about it.

Who knew this little beast could hold a grudge?

Qu Yixian, frowning, still found it hard to believe: “It really hid my change?”

Fu Xun said slowly, “Want to go take a look?”

So, besides Qu Yixian, the people who came along to the parking lot to see the “crime scene” included Yuan Ye, Jiang Yun, and even the hotel security and front desk staff.

The weasel was already accurately positioned by the cruiser’s tire, unafraid of the crowd. It tilted its head back, waiting for Qu Yixian to open the door for it.

Qu Yixian unlocked the door and opened the passenger side for Miao Chan.

Without anyone having to lift it, it lightly stepped onto the footboard and easily climbed into the passenger seat.

The onlookers had never seen anything like it, especially Yuan Ye, who blushed with excitement and blurted out, “Brother Xun, how do you usually train it? Miao Chan’s like it’s become a spirit or something!”

Fu Xun, remembering this was the “identification scene,” sighed helplessly: “I didn’t train it. It went astray on its own.”

“Can that be?” Yuan Ye watched Miao Chan deftly retrieve the hidden bills from each stash and popped a few in his mouth. “Looks so professional, totally skilled at the job.”

Fu Xun had no response to that.

He picked up all the bills it had retrieved and, looking expectantly at Miao Chan, said to Qu Yixian, “Count them, see if the numbers match.”

“There’s nothing to count.” Qu Yixian stuffed all the coins into her pocket and met Fu Xun’s gaze. “I was angry because I thought someone had broken into my car, not because of the money.” She glanced at the snow weasel in his arms with a complicated expression and finally squeezed out, “Tonight… tonight I’ll make it up to you with chicken breast.”

This time, Qu Yixian kept her word and went to the cafeteria that afternoon to buy half a jin of chicken breast.

She didn’t know how to cook and was concerned about the weasel’s delicate stomach, so she asked Fu Xun how to prepare it and had the kitchen cook it properly before bringing it back.

——

In the evening, while the four of them gathered around the clay pot to eat,

Qu Yixian brought up the issue of the delayed schedule, waiting for Jiang Yun’s response.

Jiang Yun had rested all afternoon and looked much better. Hearing Qu Yixian, she bit her chopsticks and, after a long silence, said, “The Northwest… this might be the only time I’ll ever come here in my life. I want to continue with the original plan. I’ll compensate you for the lost work and lodging expenses.”

She looked up, tears welling in her eyes. “Qu Jie, is that okay?”

Qu Yixian’s expression was slightly awkward. She glanced at Fu Xun and said, “It’s not about the money, it’s about time.”

Seeing that Jiang Yun didn’t understand, Qu Yixian cleared her throat in the rising steam from the clay pot and gave an example: “For example, your purpose is simple, just to see the scenery. Since you can see it anyway, it doesn’t matter if this spot is first or last. He’s different; he has responsibilities, things he can’t be late or absent for.”

Fu Xun, not in a hurry, glanced meaningfully at Qu Yixian as she handed him the pot.

When exactly did he have responsibilities he couldn’t be late for or absent from that he himself didn’t know about?

Jiang Yun naturally picked up on the obvious excuse. Her spirits sank; she poked at her rice with the chopsticks, muttering after a long pause, “Really… really can’t?”

Her voice was already soft, and this sentence was so quiet it almost merged with the sizzling sound from the clay pot.

Qu Yixian hesitated for a moment.

Her instinct told her it was better to refuse Jiang Yun. No matter what reasons she had, Jiang Yun’s presence was like a dormant volcano—she might erupt at any moment.

She had her suspicions about Jiang Yun falling into the water but couldn’t pinpoint a motive. When she asked Yuan Ye, his answer was casual; apart from showing interest in Fu Xun and having some hidden motives, Jiang Yun hadn’t acted abnormally.

She could only assume she was overthinking.

The stalemate continued.

Fu Xun made the decision for Qu Yixian. His tone was calm: “Fine, we’ll still go to Kekexili tomorrow.”

He picked up a piece of baby cabbage from the clay pot, and when he looked up, he showed even less emotion. “You wasted a day of mine. When I have a free moment, I’ll make you repay it.”

Qu Yixian was left speechless.

She looked at Fu Xun.

He lowered his head, methodically finishing the vegetables and meat in his bowl, seemingly unaware of the undercurrents at the table.

Even though she was displeased, the words had already been spoken and couldn’t be taken back.

Qu Yixian thought for a moment and said, “Then get up early tomorrow, about the same time I knocked on your door today. If you’re late, this trip to Kekexili will be wasted.”

Jiang Yun’s face lit up with joy, her eyes sparkling at Fu Xun. She was too embarrassed to speak words of thanks in front of everyone, so she bit her chopsticks, deliberated for a moment, and only responded to Qu Yixian’s words: “Why would going late mean it’s wasted?”

“Most people going to Kekexili go to see the grassland spirits. If you go late, the Tibetan antelopes will have returned to the mountains. If you really just want to see the scenery, which part of the Northwest isn’t beautiful? There’s no need to travel thousands of miles to Kekexili. Usually, people visiting Kekexili follow the big loop: starting from Xining, hitting all the classic spots, then going from Kekexili to Lhasa, all the way into Tibet.”

Qu Yixian bit into a potato. Even after four years in the Northwest, she never grew tired of these potatoes.

Squinting, she added, in the half-understanding gaze of Jiang Yun, “Anyway, today’s schedule is relaxed. Take some time tonight to do your homework, see what you’ve actually visited on this trip. Otherwise, if someone asks what you saw in the Northwest, you’ll only be able to say beautiful scenery.”

Of course, the second part of her comment she only thought silently. If spoken improperly, it could come off as blunt and cause resentment.

——

The clay pot restaurant was a distance from the hotel. No one drove on the way there, so after eating, they naturally walked back to help digestion.

Once back at the hotel, Qu Yixian showered first.

After nine, the hotel boiler workers had gone off shift, and the hot water supply barely lasted.

When Qu Yixian hosted guests, she often heard complaints from those who stayed in bed and didn’t want to move: that the night shower water was cold, like ice, and the pressure fluctuated, almost ghostly.

After finishing her shower, she let Yuan Ye, who was outside, come in.

He rubbed his ears, and the first thing he said was, “Qu Ye, Brother Xun just came by. He wants you to visit his room after your shower; he has something to tell you.”

Qu Yixian dried her hair and slowly responded with a relaxed, “Oh.”

Unhurriedly, she waited until her hair was dry, changed her clothes, and went upstairs to find him.

Fu Xun and Jiang Yun’s rooms were on the fourth floor of the hotel, across a hallway from each other.

When Qu Yixian arrived, she noticed Fu Xun’s door wasn’t fully closed. A small gap was left on purpose, and a single knock opened it. It seemed intentionally left for her.

She glanced at Jiang Yun’s room across the hall, then stepped inside.

Under the warm yellow light of the entryway, the snow weasel, its rear squeezed into paper slippers, backed up and poked its head out.

The fur on its head was all messy, as if it had been through some disaster, staring blankly at her.

Qu Yixian closed the door behind her and stepped around it into the room.

After a few steps, the light tapping of tiny legs followed her. She walked, it walked; she stopped, it stopped. Somehow, it gave Qu Yixian the feeling that it was guarding the house…

In this standoff, Fu Xun emerged from the bathroom, freshly showered, water still dripping from the tips of his hair.

Seeing Qu Yixian, his expression was casual, signaling her to sit anywhere.

He returned to the luggage area and took a dry towel to wipe his hair.

Qu Yixian didn’t sit.

She leaned against the wall where the entryway met the guest room, arms crossed, and bluntly asked, “I handled Jiang Yun for you, didn’t trouble you, and you still act like a nice guy, letting her stay another day just because she wants to?”

All evening, she had been brooding over this.

Fu Xun, drying his hair, walked back in front of her.

He was much taller than Qu Yixian, and even from above, he didn’t carry an intimidating presence. The cold sharpness that usually emanated from him had softened after the shower—still not soft, but noticeably more gentle.

“Don’t you want to know who she’s acting strangely for? Whoever it’s directed at, letting her stay will naturally reveal that.”

Qu Yixian smiled: “I’m not as curious to dig deep as you think, especially since she’s a… little girl very unfamiliar to me.”

Fu Xun paused mid-motion with the towel, scanning her face, then said, “Even if you refuse this time, she’ll still find a way to get you to agree.”

Qu Yixian shrugged, noncommittal.

She didn’t think she could be manipulated or threatened by Jiang Yun. No matter how scheming the girl was, if she made a move against Qu Yixian, it would be like a mischievous monkey landing in the palm of a Buddha’s hand—utterly powerless.

“Just about this?” she asked.

Her hair half-dried, Fu Xun put down the towel and suddenly leaned in, his face close: “Sleeping here tonight.”

Qu Yixian: “…”

She didn’t dodge, her face showing not the slightest flicker of emotion, just raised an eyebrow and said calmly, “Then you go sleep on the big dormitory bed?”

Seeming to find her reaction amusing, Fu Xun chuckled softly and asked, “You don’t think I’m being lewd?”

Qu Yixian stared at him for a moment, then spat out two words: “Doesn’t seem.”

This time it was Fu Xun’s turn to be puzzled. His voice, tinged with the warm yellow glow of the entryway, hoarse with smoke, asked: “Doesn’t seem what?”

“You don’t joke like that.” Qu Yixian glanced at him, saying, “If it were truly lewd, this wouldn’t even reach the standard.”

Suddenly she smiled, the calm at her brow melting away, like early spring snow on the sunny mountains, sparkling in her eyes: “I think I’m quite lewd myself. Want me to teach you?”

Fu Xun didn’t speak. He leaned in, his gaze level with hers. That look seemed to pierce straight into her heart through her eyes.

At first, Qu Yixian held her composure. She had a thick face; no one staring at her would make her blush.

But gradually, she noticed something off in Fu Xun’s gaze.

His eyes seemed to be searching for something, like a sudden desert sandstorm, sand swirling everywhere.

After a long moment, he finally said: “I can’t find the you I met the first time in you anymore.”

First time?

Qu Yixian frowned: “Hukou of the Yellow River?”

Fu Xun looked slightly surprised: “You remember? But that wasn’t the first time.”

Not the first time?

In Qu Yixian’s memory, only that time at Hukou existed, sleeping on the upper and lower bunks.

After dawn, she climbed her mountains, he crossed his rivers, and from then on, their lives didn’t intersect.

“You didn’t know.” Fu Xun looked into her starkly black-and-white eyes, a rare smile surfacing: “The first time was in Xi’an. You were choosing sugar paintings through a shop window.”

It was just nightfall in Xi’an, the entire bar street lit up. She bent over, choosing sugar paintings through the window.

The light from the display reflected her features, her lips curved slightly, as if she had descended to the human world after a hard journey.

“The second time was the same day,” Fu Xun recalled. “An hour later, on the bar street.”

That was a memory Qu Yixian could barely recall.

It was so vague she couldn’t remember her exact age that year—seems like a university summer vacation. She hadn’t asked her family for money, just managed to gather enough for a plane ticket to Xi’an.

The day she arrived, she didn’t find a hotel or enter a restaurant; all the money she had could only buy one bottle of mineral water. She carried that bottle to the bar street, not yet opened in the afternoon, and found a job as a resident singer.

During the day, she either toured the sights or slept until dark, free of anyone’s control. When night fell, she went to work.

The lively times were truly lively, the lonely times truly lonely. One day she woke in the guesthouse bed, feeling as if she had died once and returned to the human world.

As if that wasn’t enough to shake her, Fu Xun added: “During the time you sang at the bar, I came every night.”

“…Inviting you for a drink every night, and being rejected by you every night.”