Only after everyone had gone and the room was empty did the man slowly lift his head. His thin lips curved faintly; that astonishingly handsome face showed not the slightest trace of the dullness from moments before. His clear blue eyes shifted between light and shadow, vast and misty as rippling waters. Looking into them, one seemed to see nothing at all—yet also some unreachable depth within.
“Xiao Mozi.” Yelü Qianxiao rolled the three syllables over his tongue, savoring them slowly. His lips hooked in a cold smile, his emotions impossible to read.
Drip, drip—
At some point, rain had begun to fall outside the hall, fine as silver hairs, quietly soaking Mo Bei’s and Hua Rong’s clothes.
“It’s finally raining!” The latter seemed delighted. Forgetting himself, he stretched out a hand, his smile blooming like a flower.
Mo Bei glanced at him, then at the rather sparse white poplar trees, and asked with knitted brows and a smile, “It doesn’t rain here often, does it?”
“Mm! There’s been a drought for over thirty-eight whole days. Liao City a little farther north is in the middle of a famine right now.” Hua Rong muttered, his small face gradually darkening, a flash of light crossing his eyes. “Eunuch Mo, that’s a strange thing to ask! What do you mean, ‘it doesn’t rain here often’? Aren’t you from Dunhuang?”
Mo Bei’s arm paused. She looked over the colleague before her once more, then said unhurriedly, “I just came here from the south, so I’m not very familiar with the climate yet.” Since rain was scarce, this answer definitely couldn’t be wrong. Judging from the growth of the plants and trees here, this place really resembled the northwest of modern Lanzhou.
“Oh~ So you’re from Xuanyuan Fengcheng!” Hua Rong smiled. “No wonder you look so fair-skinned and short.”
Short? Mo Bei raised a brow, her smile becoming even more refined. Afraid that asking anything too directly would arouse suspicion, she pretended they were close as brothers and slung an arm around his shoulders, lowering her voice a few degrees. “Eunuch Rong has been to Fengcheng?”
The moment Hua Rong heard this, even if he had never been there, he began to brag about places far and wide. His thin lips opened and closed without pause, as if he had no idea what thirst was.
Mo Bei automatically extracted the useful parts from all this nonsense. So it turned out that this world was not unified. Aside from Dunhuang, there was another dynasty south of the Yellow River. And from what he was saying, the region she was in seemed rather like ancient China’s Northern Liao, while the Xuanyuan side was like the Southern Song. Roughly speaking, that was how it could be understood—damned alternate-world transmigration!
Perhaps sensing that something was off, Hua Rong fell silent. He patted his clothes. Nothing! He patted again. Still nothing! He froze on the spot, dumbfounded.
Mo Bei leaned over and asked despite already knowing, “Eunuch Rong, what happened?”
“My money pouch is gone!” Hua Rong clenched his teeth, his face full of a desire to cry but no tears coming.
Holding back her laughter, Mo Bei said solemnly, “Perhaps you left it at Zhinuan Palace. We can go back and look for it. Don’t be anxious.”
“Don’t be anxious? How can We not be anxious? That was silver!” Though he retorted like this, his feet unconsciously followed along. Hua Rong thought to himself that this was truly seeing a ghost in broad daylight. How could a perfectly good money pouch vanish into thin air? Sigh! For now, the only thing to do was go back and search.
Mo Bei led the way in front, moving her heavy left arm, her face full of springtime satisfaction. Who would have thought a little eunuch was so loaded? Did this count as unexpected wealth?
Each harboring their own thoughts, the two had not walked for long before they returned to Zhinuan Palace.
Hua Rong had just been about to push the door open when they heard a clang!
“You fool, do you really think you’re some lord now?”
“Beat him for this prince! Beat him hard!”
“He won’t eat, is that it? Pass down the order—starve this bastard for three days and three nights. Let’s see if he’s still stubborn then!”