Chapter 195: Is Bai Yu Jealous Too?
As night fell, darkness enveloped the streets, with the dim glow from the streetlights failing to provide much visibility, making the desolate and old alley seem all the more eerie, spreading an uncanny vibe.
Crack.
The flicker of a lighter illuminated An Tianhe’s half-aged face as he took a deep drag from his cigarette, the glowing tip flickering in the night.
Exhaling a puff of white smoke, the acrid scent was whisked away by a passing breeze. Pinching the cigarette between his fingers, he patted his collar and casually spat up some phlegm onto a nearby car tire.
“Is that guy Li Tianan not here yet?”
He turned his gaze toward four silhouettes crouched by the street and spoke slowly.
“Master, Li Tianan said he needs some time,” Zhou Li stood up and fished a betel nut from his pocket, handing it to An Tianhe. “But Master, do we really have to wait for this guy? Can’t we just move ourselves? Why do we have to wait on his whim?”
Right here, all they had to do was glance up to see Chen Bingtang’s place.
“No way, we’re waiting for him. Tonight, there’s bound to be more than just us showing up.”
An Tianhe tore open the betel nut and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing as he glanced at his watch and took another hearty puff from his cigarette.
“Still packs a punch, huh? I shouldn’t have bothered with those two female ghosts last night, it’s draining my energy.”
“No worries, Master; just one wounded evil spirit. With all of us here, we’ll be fine.”
“Worried about evil spirits? Please, that’s not what’s on my mind.” An Tianhe slowly exhaled smoke, his eyes narrowing as he gazed down a certain direction on the street. “What I’m concerned about is someone wanting to steal our thunder.”
“Steal our thunder?”
The remaining three stood up and joined An Tianhe, following his line of sight.
At the opposite end of the street, two figures strode over briskly, a man and a woman, one tall and one short. The man donned a black coat and appeared to be in his forties, while the woman was in her twenties, sporting a chic short haircut and exquisite makeup, carrying two black boxes with golden borders.
“Xia Feihang, if I’m not mistaken, I remember claiming this job, right? Isn’t it a bit underhanded to jump in like this?” An Tianhe extinguished his cigarette and tossed it casually on the ground.
“Your job? I wasn’t aware this was your gig. Moreover, who decided one claim means ownership?” Xia Feihang sneered, arms crossed, standing twenty meters away from An Tianhe.
“Hey, don’t forget the rules!”
“Whose rules?” The short-haired woman next to Xia Feihang also exhibited a mocking grin. “The rule I know is that it’s all about skill.”
“Xia Feihang, this task is crucial for me. Cut me some slack, and I’ll make it up to you next time,” An Tianhe ground his teeth in frustration but had to utter those words.
Xia Feihang was considerably stronger than him; if they got into a scuffle, Xia Feihang, despite being outnumbered, still had some tricks up his sleeve. The problem was, this kind of tussling would mean the job is as good as blown, and they would just be handing the evil spirit a buffet.
“I still think Xiao Wang has a point; in situations like this, we need to rely on our own abilities.”
Xia Feihang shrugged, clearly uninterested in continuing the discussion.
An Tianhe narrowed his eyes like a cunning old fox, falling silent as he lit another cigarette.
“Oh, what a lively scene.”
After a brief silence, a flirtatious voice chimed in, and another figure emerged from the darkness. This newcomer seemed to care less about fashion compared to Xia Feihang, dressed in plain casual wear, but still holding a box.
However, it was the woman beside him in a flowing long dress that caught everyone’s attention. Her mature and intellectual aura combined with her alluring black stockings had even An Tianhe looking twice.
In terms of presence, this woman easily overshadowed Xia Feihang’s short-haired assistant.
“Whoa, looks like we’ve got quite the crowd! Our news has spread really well,” Chen Yunshi’s thoughts echoed in Qian Mu’s mind, and she began chattering away excitedly.
“The more, the merrier! We can catch them all! Yunshi, if we round them up and spread the news, there’s no way An Que will just sit idly by.”
Having made arrangements with Bai Yu, Chen Yunshi was also here tonight with the Gatekeeper as her target.
Chen Yunshi surveyed the group with her narrow, fox-like eyes, raising an eyebrow.
“Now that so many have shown up, are we opponents?”
“Don’t worry,” Qian Mu’s voice continued in her mind, “you’ve forgotten? We’re not the only ones here. That Bai Yu will show up too, remember?”
“Her coming… I’m afraid she’ll just eliminate these folks.”
“Good point. But I’m sure she can hold back.”
“Let’s hope.”
While Chen Yunshi and Qian Mu exchanged thoughts, An Tianhe had already struck up a conversation with the casually dressed man.
“Lin Zhou, how’s your master doing? I heard he’s thinking about retiring?”
“My master? He’s okay,” Lin Zhou replied with a smile, seeming much easier to talk to than Xia Feihang.
“So you’re here for…”
“An Ge, whatever you’re here for, I’m here for that too. This evil spirit is something my master insisted I capture, so sorry, we can’t collaborate this time. Let’s all rely on our abilities. Afterward, drinks are on me.”
An Tianhe nodded, keeping his expression neutral, but his hands in his pockets tightened into fists, fingernails digging into his flesh as his expression grew increasingly dangerous.
It had to be that Li Tianan’s doing! That guy just doesn’t want to let go of this evil spirit, and now he’s intentionally spreading word to cause trouble.
What an infuriating scoundrel.
“Master,” Zhou Li furrowed his brows, tugging at An Tianhe’s sleeve.
An Tianhe shot him a look, signaling him to hold off for now.
So what if two more groups had arrived? They still had the numbers on their side.
Five against four—advantage us.
“Brother, these two aren’t giving you any face,” Sun Hai glared fiercely at Xia Feihang, clearly annoyed by his appearance, looking like an overdone successful businessman. Who were they trying to impress, anyway? With glasses on top of that—it’s disgusting!
“If I recall, this territory belongs to Li Tianan, right?” Xia Feihang crossed his arms, noticing Sun Hai’s stare. “This isn’t your territory; you’ll just have to deal with it. Got a problem?”
“Hmph.”
“What’s Li Tianan even doing? An evil spirit shows up and he doesn’t notify anyone?” Xia Feihang coldly remarked, ignoring Sun Hai. “When an evil spirit appears, the surrounding gatekeepers should be alerted to come help. It’s just the rule; if something goes wrong, can Li Tianan shoulder the blame?”
“Come on now, if Li Tianan truly didn’t care, would you and I be standing here?” Lin Zhou casually replied, clearly unimpressed by it all.
“Since we’re just here to help, can’t we all be a little amicable? Why unleash your anger on the evil spirit when the time comes?”
With that, the three parties fell silent.
The task could start anytime now, but the issue was that the territory’s owner hadn’t arrived.
No matter how fiercely they argued, waiting for Li Tianan was the rule.
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Meanwhile, Li Tianan was slowly following a towering white-haired fox, occasionally stealing glances at this talkative creature, which was bigger than a typical wild beast, along with the young girl elegantly sitting on its back.
In his twenty-plus years as a gatekeeper, he thought he had seen it all.
Monsters, evil spirits, even been to Eternal Life Village, courtesy of his master.
He had encountered beings with magical traits before—he’d even received tasks related to them. Once, it was a weasel with claimed heavenly prowess; another time, a magically inclined sheep.
But a fox that could freely control its size and speak with the intelligence of a human? That was a first for him.
Even he couldn’t help but think, This fox must be able to transform into a human, like those legendary fox spirits that thrive on the essence of scholars.
After receiving a disdainful glance from the fox, Li Tianan realized he might be thinking too far.
With that said, such a fox wouldn’t be weak, at least not compared to an ordinary person in red.
The main question was, why was it so terrified of Zhao Mingyue?
Wait, no, not really afraid—more like scared of the entity inside Zhao Mingyue.
His master had warned him about these beings, saying they were immensely proud; not only would they refuse to be ridden, but merely failing to praise them might allow their powers to influence you.
That’s why folklore has those tales about “heavenly beings.”
Such beings are skilled at disguising themselves before humans, pretending to be divine.
Zhao Mingyue had gone all out today, draping herself in a floating blue-and-white gown, something akin to a Hanfu. Initially, she had aimed for a priestess attire and had even spent time intricately braiding her hair, but after rifling through her wardrobe and turning up empty, she settled for the flowing Hanfu and casually styled her hair, sticking in a hairpin that looked silver but was just cheap plastic spray-painted silver.
All of this was inspired by seeing Shuang Er grow big enough for someone to ride.
In certain cultures, deities and priestesses ride foxes.
Lacking priestess garb, surely she could ride a fox in Hanfu, right?
Zhao Mingyue was already quite the catch, and after her transformation, sitting on the back of the moon fox, she exuded even more ethereal energy, her attire in synergy with the white-haired moon fox, giving off an otherworldly vibe that made her appear like a goddess descending from the heavens, drawing everyone’s gaze.
Even Li Tianan, upon first seeing Zhao Mingyue, couldn’t help but wonder who the lucky guy would be to marry her in the future—he must be incredibly happy.
And this wasn’t even sarcastic; it was the real deal.
He found himself thinking how nice it would be if he were twenty years younger.
But, alas, that wasn’t without its downsides.
Zhao Mingyue, being so radiant, was sure to catch the eye of An Tianhe and his group.
Not maybe; it was a certainty.
Sometimes, being too beautiful was actually a curse, especially for girls with no status or backing.
A perfect figure inevitably attracts those with ulterior motives.
Like someone as opportunistic as An Tianhe, assuming Zhao Mingyue didn’t have Bai Yu around, as soon as she caught his eye, he would undoubtedly use his spirit-controlling skills to try something.
But the reality was that if An Tianhe dared to lay a hand on Zhao Mingyue, Bai Yu, fiercely protective, would definitely retaliate against him, and they’d end up turning on him in a bloody confrontation.
Thinking about it, Li Tianan felt a pang of helplessness.
He’d already hinted to Bai Yu to let Zhao Mingyue dress a bit more subtly today, avoiding drawing attention. After all, wouldn’t it be better with less conflict?
But looking at Zhao Mingyue’s current outfit…
She’d turned it up a notch instead!
You could tell just by the number of heads turning and the amount of people snapping pictures of her along the way.
Thank goodness they were in the quieter area of the youth apartments at night; otherwise, with Zhao Mingyue looking like that, she would likely be mobbed for pictures.
Not just because of her looks but also due to the fox beneath her.
There must be countless people who’d never seen a fox larger than a lion or tiger—if this went viral, it would surely create a stir.
As they neared the street leading to the youth apartments, Zhao Mingyue suddenly remembered something.
“Bai Yu, do you think this outfit will attract trouble? The manager did say earlier that those people are no good, and I…”
“It’s fine; why let those worms affect you? If being pretty brings on trouble, then the fault isn’t yours.”
“Thanks for the reassurance, Yu sister.”
“But…”
“Huh?”
“But it’s not suited for combat. Next time you want to wear it, it’s only allowed at home,” Bai Yu said, her tone remaining flat.
Zhao Mingyue froze momentarily. As she had specifically considered the dress’s design, aside from being a tad lengthy, it shouldn’t hamper her fighting, definitely better than those skirts she wore before.
So here’s the kicker.
When she used to wear those skirts, Bai Yu never said anything, so why was she bringing it up this time—calling her skirt inappropriate for a fight?
Zhao Mingyue gradually figured it out, her smile broadening as she lifted her rabbit plush toy.
“Am I smelling some jealousy here, Yu sister?”
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The night continues.
Looking for votes, begging on my knees!
